Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1866-03-02
Cor. of the bloomington Qll.) Pantagraph.
RecOlieCtlOns or General sherman.

A great many of the peculiar charac-
teristics of General Sherman have al
ready been narrated, still he is one of
whom the people like to learn all they
can, for he possesses many marked
traits of character. He is graceful and
skillful rider, but a very awkward walk
er. He does not impress men ut first
meeting him. l have often heard OFF,
GERS speak OF their first impressions up
on seeing him, and well remember 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 il wonderful. He knew and could
call by name most of the officers Of his
army. Only think of over twenty-five
thousand of them. His vast and accu-
army was also surprising. ..
Gen. 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 va
ious posts from Huntsville, Ala, to
Knoxville, Tenn. Soon aftcrward he
went to General Sherman and said !:
general, how will l find the number OF
troops and where they are posted, to or
der supplies t. them, or can learn that
from Your Adjutant General
III give you that" said the General
He then first gave him the different de.
| artments, their olndarits, command.
ing officers names, and the number OF
troops in each. Then he gave the diff.
fcrent corps commanders names, their
locations and the number of troops i'm
each corps. "Now," said he, I will
give you the divisions;' and he went
on to give the numerous divisions, loca-
n. 4 =
now I'll give you the brigades," which
of any before. "Now l will give you
the regiments" "That will do. That
is all want" said Gen. Bcukwith. All
this he gave standing by the fire with
out looking at book or note. But
you never see the man fully till you see
him i'm battle. He then takes "a " beat, !"
and PAGES back and forth like sentinel
on duty, every nerve alive, talking, jok-
ing, laughing and giving orders all i'm
the same breath. But woe to the officer
that fails In his duty at such time.
saw Gen. Stanley approach him after
he failed to come up in time mt the bat
tie OF Jonesboro, Ga, when we were
fighting for Atlanta, and would have
captured most OF Hoods army had Stan
ley done his duty. His denunciation of
him was perfectly whitening.
There Is another peculiarity of his
that was very remarkable tn us during
the Georgia and Carolina canlpaigns.--
He frequently came to the head of the
column at u halt caused 10y the crossing
Of u river or the bridging of a swamp
i. you simply answered his questions
he would most likely speak very freely
of his plans and arrangements, but Ii
you asked him question he was Off at
once, and not a word more could be got
from him. My regiment chanccd to be
the first one across the SaIkuisatchic
river. In few minutes the general
came over. told him had learned the
enemy were concentrating at Branch
Vile. Let them hold IL, said he, ~
don't want it. 1t will do them much
more good to concentrate at Columbia y
That was the first intimatiOn that we
had of our destination; and it was so dur
ing the whole march, that Gen. Sher-
man himself would tell the junior OFF,
GERS 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 II.
THE Cedar Rapids people are in troub-