Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-12-05
4rh. rweutv.Tbird Army COrps."

titled the aTwenty-Third Army Corps
by General L. R, Sherwood, late a member
of that military organization, now editori=
ally connected with the Toledo Daily
Commercial. This poem was read before
the Twenty-Third Army Corps Associs-
ton, which convened at Cincinnati on the
3Oth ultimo to celebrate the First Ami
versary of the Battle of Franklin, and
was in response to an invitation extended
at the time of the organization of the so
| ciety. by members of the second division
of the corps, in North Carolina, soon af
ter the surrender of the rebel General
Johnston 10 Major General Sherman
Poems written to order are.generally, and
for valid reasons, failures. The author,
instead of writing under the inspiration
of the muse, and producing much or little
according as he is moved by the @dixine
impulse IS likely to defer to the eleventh
hour, when, under the pressure Of haste
and an acute sensitiveness to the lapse Of
time, dizziness is pretty sure 10 prevail.
Although there is much in General Sher-
woods poem to approve, the candid critic
will be compelled to class it with the hot
house poetry we have described. The
poem covers a period of nearly two years,
and embraces the principal incidents in
the East Tennessee campaign Of Burnside,
the Atlanta campaign under Sherman, the
Nashville campaign under Thomas, and
the campaign in North Carolina immedi-
ately preceding the close If the war.
Dwelling, as the writer does, upon incl
dents of the march and field, and shower
ing praise upon a number Of commanders
who were never identified with the corps
to which the poem is dedicated, it is at
least cause for astonishment that not one
of the various soldiers of eminenceby whom
the corps was successfully commanded
not one of the brave soldiers who
held subordinate commands or served
within it's named. Burnside, who, as
an army commander, had the Twenty
Third Corps under his control; Thomas,
who temporarily heldthe same relation
to it; Sherman, who, as commander of
the Grand Army, was still further re
moved from it; Mcpherson, who was
never connected with it in any degree;
and Harker, a brigade commander in the
Fourth Corps, all come in for merited
praise; but the long list of glorious names
to which the veterans of the gallant
Twenty-Third are wont to turn with pride,
seems to have been purposely omitted.
The Twenty-Third Army Corps without
Schofeld and Cox is like a ship without
a keel, or "Hamlet" without the ghost.
This popularity of the poem is so notice
able that it is difficult to repress the
thought hat it is attributable to personal
vindictiveness. This we sincerely hope
is not the case, for such a spirit would be
unworthy SO chivalrous a soldier as we
had supposed Gen. Sherwood to be but
it is certainly remarkable that in all those
ffty-eight stanzas there is no place for
Schofeld, Cox, Couch, Sturges, Hartsuf,
Manson, Haskell, Carter, Riley, Strick-
land, Easement, Stiles, White; Mclean
names familiar to every n who has
marched under the flag of the Twenty
Third Corps, ONE of which are identified
with the most glorious pages of its his
tory.
General Sherwood writes poetry, but it
cannot be classed as poetry of a high
order. His versification is uneven, his
rhythm uncertain, and his ideas a strange
blending of fine poetry and the most prosy
prose. At times, rhythm and measure are
sacrificed to literalness of description, as in
the following, wherein the days preceding
the battle of Nashville are described
s.For twenty bleak days our gallant boys stood
In trenches of snow, and skirmished with Hood,
Till, mid the darkness one shadowy- night,
Old Thomas msrshalled MS on the right,
Leaving the left with a skirmish line slight,
And the black battalions to feign atight;"
in other instances, fact is made subservi-
ent to fancy, as in this stanza, which as
cribes to Thomas the management of the
retreat from Pulaski to Nashville, whilst
that old veteran was all the time in his
headquarters at Nashville r9is
sand it was well that staunch old Thomas held
The first command DER that impetuOus bead;
A hand less steady and defeat had knelled
Its fearful story TO our bleeding land. HH
So mastery he managed his retreat,
That when at Franklin Hood attacked our right,
He thought to make his victory complete,
Aud send us northward in ignoble flight
The truth is here perverted, and injus-
tice lone to a distinguished commander,
General Schoield, who not only conducted
the retreat, but planned and fought the bat
tie of Franklin, assisted by such able SOL
diers as Cox, Stanley, Couch and Opdycke.
General Sherwood would succeed, per-
haps, as a song-writer. We base this opin-
ion upon the five closing %stanzas, differing
in style from, and rising far above, the
other portions of the poem. We copy en-
tire this patriotic song-an invoca-
ton to the starry banner"-as we desire
to present the better as well AS the inferior
parts of the poem: -,v
See that banner it no longer
Bears the stigma Of dishonor; .ru
All that cursed it has been spoiled
And the foe that basely toreit
Learned to feel that freemen bore it,
When his subtlearts were foiled.
See that banner foes assailed it,
While our hearts in woe bewailed it,
But a million heroes hailed it,
And in awe around it knelt
SwOTe they to foTsake it never, r-. t.-
Swore the traitor bands to sever, ..
Life was little, il forever
Foreign power must be felt.
Heroes to the mast head nailed it, 3 orr
Cleansed it when the traitor trailed it,
And when weaker allies failed IL.