The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-07-28
General sherman's Speech.

General Sherman's Speech.
-~~~~~--~~~~v.- q
At a banquet given to this distinguish
ed officer in st. Louis, the General made
the following remarks. They contain q
very interesting, truthful and succinct
history Of the war in the West; and the
facts he gives are interesting, coming
from the source they do.
The toast ITO the distinguished guest
of the evening"" was hailed with bound.
less enthusiasm and calls for the Gene
raj, who, on rising, was greeted with a
storm of plaudits. Below is the main
portion of his address, which is Of his.
| torical value:
Here, in st. Louis, probably began the
great centre movement which terlnina-
ted the war--a battle. field such as never
before was seen, extending from ocean to
ocean almost with theright wing and the
left wing, and from the centre here. I re-
member one evening up III the old Plan
ters' House sitting with General Hnlleck
and General Cullum, and We were talk
ing about this, that, and the other. A
map was on the table, and was ex plain
| ing the position of the troops of the en-
envy in Kentucky, when came to this
State; General Halleck knew we'll the
position here, and / remember we'll the
question he asked me--the question oil
the school-teacher to his child-"Sher-
man, here is the line; how will you
brak that line?'
Physically, by aperpendicularforce i"
where is the perpendicular" '"The
line OF the Tennessee River.n General
Halleck is the author ftllat first Begin
ming, and give him credit for it with
pleasure. [Cheers.] Laying down his
pencil upon the map, he said, "There Is
the line and we must take it." The cap
ture of the fort Oh the Tennessee River
by the troops led by Grant followed.
[Cheersl These We're the grand stra-
getc features of that first movement,
and it succeeded perfectly. Cen. Hal
leck's plan went further--not to stop ut
his first line which ran through Column
bus, Bowling Green, crossing the river
at Henryand Donaldson, but to push oil
to the second line which ran through
Memphis and Charleston; but troubles
interviewed at Nashville, and delays fol-
lowed; opposition to the last movement
was made, and myself was brought an
actor on the scene; l remember our as
cent on the Tennessee River; have
SCSh VI StCdulDOdkS W lIO
first went with us there; storms camo
and we did not reach the point we de-
sired. At that time, Gen. C. F. Smith
was in command; he was man indeed;
all the old officers remember him as
gallant and elegant officer, and had he
lived probably some of us younger fell
lows would not have attained our pre-
sent positions. But that's now past We
followed the line-the second line-and |
then came the landing of forces at Pitts |
burg Landing. Whether it was a mis-
take in landing them on the west in
stead of the east bank, it is not neces-
sary now to discuss. think it was not
mistake; there was gathered the first |
great Army of the West--commencing
with only Twelve thousand men, then
twenty, then thirty thousand, and we |
had about thirty-eight thousand in that |
battle; and all I claim for that is that it |
was a contest for manhood; there was
no strategy. Grant was there, and
others of us, all young at that time, and
unknown men, but our enemy was old,
and Sidney Johnson, whom all the Off
GERS remembered as power among the
old officers, high above Grant, myself.
or anybody else, led the enemy on that
battlefield, and I almost wonder how
we conquered. But, as remarked. it
was a contest for manhood-man to man.
soldier to soldier. We fought. and we
held our ground, and therefore account
ed ourselves victorious. (Cheers. y
From that time forward, we had with us
the prestige; that battle was worth mil
lions and millions to us by reason of the
act OF the courage displayed by the brave
soldiers on that occasion; and from that
time to this, / never heard of the first
want OF courage on the part of our
Northern soldiers. lCheers.l 1t then
became game of grand war; armies
were accounted equal, and skill and
generalship came toplay. We gained
there by the movement on Corinth
which Halleck designed here; there his
command ceased, and new shuttle OF
the cards of war was made. Halleck
went to the East and Grant tothe west
but summer overlook us with heat, anu
We could not march. Northern Nissis-
sippi was dry as ashes; 1t waslnipossioie
for men to live and march from stream
to stream and to follow the roads that lie
between these men would have parched
with thirst-Lbeen overcome by heat
Therefore we delayed until fall, and late
that fall met Grant by appointment at
| Columbus: there again we went over the
man and The next thing was to break
tbe line on the Tallahatchie. Many of
Won here remember that movement
You citizens do not understand 1t at all,
for never have yet seen news
paper account of 1t that approx
/ mates to the truth. Laughter Pember-
/ ton commanded the army of the Confed-
eracy in our front. We had superior