The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1867-09-25
NEW ORLEANS CORRESPONDENCE.


new ORLEANS CORRESPONDENCE,
New ORLEANS, September 10, 1867. i
DEMocRAT.-I can write you but a short
letter to-day, and may be an incoherent
one, for press Of business induced by sick
ness of ones colaborers bringsan unusual
amount Of work upon ysor correspondence
hands. 81 81
General Sheridan is gone, and has lett
chaos behind him. The reputation OF this
man is based upon q sandy foundation
He became celebrated as a Captain OF
cavalry at a time when his foes had MO
cavalry to oppose him. Cavalry sheri.
DAM when he made his raids, had to en-.
counter caballeros sin caballos, as the Casti-
lians say oftbeir Impoverished hidalgos. !
The noble quadrupeds Which had boriie
Ashby. and Stuart SO often through the
Yankee lines, and aided in cutting off the
supplies in McClellan's rear, had fgura'
lively gone to grass when little Phil be-
came commander in the Shenandoah,
and the forage and a stray ear Of corn
which escaped the voracityo of starving foot
soldiers were devoted exclusively to the
sustenance Of the horses belonging to the
Light Artillery. Sheridan's cavalry mum.
bered $4,000 men. The horses had the
best of forage and the men themselves had
no object in robbing their 9n,ontares'
| of the ears SO necessary for their efficiency
| in order to satisfy q starving appetite
The friends Of Sheridan lay great stress
upon the impulse which he gave his pa
mic struck troops when they were flying
before the ragged soldiers of Jubal Early
But did they tell the whole story9 Did
they account satisfactorily for. Sheridan't
absence, thirty miles in the rear, when an
adventurous and daring enemy was within
striking distance of his line. Did they &C
knowledge the fact that Early and his me1
were starving, and that, as soon as they
came npon the luxurious supplies of the
Federal Commissariat, nohuman influence
could have kept them in the ranksg Did
they tell all this, and say, also, that the
immense supplies which had accompanied
Sheridan, of Whiskey, Gin, Brandy and
Eother liquors, had intoxicated the "Rebs
to such a degree, that, when "Phil did
succeed in rallying his scattered hosts they
found nonght but victims of intoxicationl
Yet such is the true condition of affairs, Of
they occurred in the Valley of the Shenan
. doah; and this battle, together with biz
advance beyond the retreating columns O
Lee when the latter fell back from Peters
burg and Richmond, without a singh.
mounted cavalryman to guard his retrea
or to pioneer his advance-these tremen
1 dous actions are the foundation of all hi
! military fame. To use q threadbare ex
\ preston, the Confederacy after the thirt
4
/ year of its existence was shell-the int
4 rior was void; as empty as the wandering
air, but for the women and children, tn
| old men, the skulkers and the department
| Of Quartermasters and Commissaries
| Grierson was the first to expose the weak
ness of the interior. He had been hors
trader and circus ring master; his deal
ings had brought him into Tennessee, Lou
isiana and Mississippi, and he was the frs
to ferret out our weak points. He set tn
example to stoneman, to Wilson and th
countless other mounted freebooters tina
afterwards ravaged the interior of th
} South, warning upon defenceless worne
/ and old men and extcrminating rooster
, and bulls, and rams, and gobb1ers. and al
the other progenitors Of the farm yard an
the fields. Such warrior is Sheridan
To call him. a great Captain or dashin
sabreW is ridiculous To call him Do
Quixote would be inappropriate for tina
celebrated Cavalier was crazy, but in all hi
mad freaks he never did 5aught unchiva
rous, and If he attacked windmill it wa
not, like Sheridan, to deprive helpless an
, starving families Of their daily meal, bu
|, because be imagined them many arme
giants who dared him to the fray, Sher
dan is small potatoe. He sacrificed hi
high position as one Of the first officers I
the army Of the United States to pander
l the cowardly vindictivenessof Sumner az
: Thad. Stevens. These illustrious mel
= when snitten on one cheek, turned ais
: the other to the blow, in order to sho
i their Christian humility. But there W.
nothing christian in their forbearance
was the lack Of manly courage which il
duced them to keep silent under the inli,
nifty, but to nourish a dastardly spirit
revenge which was to poison the life bloc
of a whole section Of theft country an
millions Of their brethren. A fit tool ",
General Sheridan in their hands, He ma
be drawer. but he is as spitefnl and VII
dictive. His atrocities in the Shenandoal
Of course, forbade his entrance into Soutl
> ern homes as visitor or a friend, in tn
city. There were too many Louisianial
still surviving to bear testimony to h
! wanton cruelties, for any patriotic famili'
to open their doors for his reception
New Orleans. The old leaven would site
out, ana Phil carried out the dictates,
Thad and Sumner and the otter Congress
man with a zeal and a gusto that shove
if he had been q politician instead Of q Sc
3 dier, that his instincts would have been,
1 mean and as cowardly. "The people
/, New Orleans won't notice me OH the sire