Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-02-23
RecolIeet,on. OF Cen. sherman.


COrresp'nce of the B oomington (n1 Pantagrsph.
A great many of the peculiar charae-
~teristics of Gen. Sherman have already
been narrated, still he is one of whom the
people like to learn all they can, for he
possesses many marked traits of eharse-
ter. He is a graceful and skillful rider,
but a very awkward walker. He does not
impress men at first meeting him. l have
often heard officers speak of their first inn
p~ressions upon seeing him, and l well re-
member my own, but the more one sees Of
him, and the longer they serve under him,
the better they like him. His memory of
men is wonderful. He knew and could
call BY name most of the officers of the
army. Only think of over twenty-five
thousand OF them. His vast and accurate
knowledge of the details of his army was
also surprising.
General Beckwith was appointed Chief
Commissary of the Military Division of
the Mississippi, in the early part of 1864,
when the army was scattered in the vari-
GUS posts from Huntsville, Ala, to Knox
vile, Tenn. Soon afterward he went to
General Sherman and said General,
how will 1 find the number of troops and
where they are posted, to order supplies
to them or can 1 learn that from your
Adiutant-Generalf
I'm give you that" said the General.
He then first gave him the different de-
partments, their boundaries, commanding
officers, and the number of troops in each.
Then he gave the different corps COM
handing officers names, their locations
and the number of troops in each corps.
"Now," said he, al will give you the di-
visions; y and he went on to give the
numerous divisions, locations, numbers,
etc, as before. "And now I'll give you
the brigades," which he did, giving the
minutes as full as of any before. Now
l will give you the regiments" "That
will do. That is all 1 wait" said General
| Beckwith. All this he gave standing by
the fire, without looking at a book or a
note.
But you never see the nan fully till you
see him in battle. He then takes a "beat,
and PAGES back and forth like a s~eRtinel on
duty, every nerve alive, talking, joking,
laughing, and giving orders all in the
same breath. But woe 10 the officer that
fails in his duty at such a time. l saw
General Stanley approach him after he
failed TO come up in time at the battle OF
JonesbOro, Ga, when we were fighting
for Atlanta, and would have captured
most of Hoods army had Stanley done
his duty. His denuneiation of him was
perfectly whitening.
There is another popularity of his that
was very remarkable to US during the
Georgia and Carolina campaigns. He
frequently came to the head of the column
at a halt caused by the crossing of a river
or the bridging of a swamp. If you sim
ply answered his questions he would most
likely speak very freely Of his plans and
arrangements, but if you asked him a
question he was off at once, and not q
word more could be got from him. My
regiment CHANGED to be the first one across
the S~alkahatchie river. In a few minutes
the General crossed over. l told him
had learned the enemy we're concentrating
at Branchville. "Let them hold it." said
he, al don't want it. 1t will do them
much more good to concentrate at Column
bia." This was the first intimatiOn we
had had of our destination and it was SC
during the whole march, that General
Sherman himself would tell the junior
officers and men more of where we were
going or what intending to do, than any
of his subordinate Generals would, though
many of them must have known all
about it.