The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1867-03-29
Gen. Sherman In His Camp.


Gen. Sherman In His Camp.
The following extract, descriptive
of Lieut.. General Sherman as he was
often to be seen at midnight, restless
and thoughtful, when all his army was
sleeping, will be recognized as exceed
ingly truthful by many soldier who
had occasion to visit his headquarters
at such an hour:
The canvass cover, toward which
the eyes of both were now eagerly di-
rected, like the others on the line,
which were the homes Of the Gener-
ais military family, was open from the
front so that the slightest movement
of its inmate could be observed from
the outside. They could now see
that the General had risen from his
cot Thrusting his bare feet into a
pair of slippers, he unrolled from a
scrap of newspaper a cigar, and then
stepped out from such protection as
the tent offered from the falling dew
into the open grounds. He looked up
into the sky and then out into the
darkness in an absent, half-abstracted
way
The night air was chilly and the
camp fire had burned low. Gather
ing the ends of the charred rails to-
gether, he heaped them upon the still
smouldering ashes; then, taking a
camp stool from the tent, he sat down
before the fire, which he had now
kindled into blaze; he lighted his
cigar, and, with his elbows resting up
on his knees, gazed earnestly into the
bed of Goals and flame. The bright
light shone full into the iron face
marked with strong lines of thought
and care.
The bold forehead seemed to pro-
lect itself higher and broader among
the short scrub growth of oss-grain-
ed hair The light caught upon the
unbuttOned wristband. taking warm
er glow from the red shirt hardly
covering his bare neck.
A strange, grand figure was this
sitting there, whose subtle brain at
that moment was working out one Of
the great events in the fate of the ma
ton.
The flame of the fire now gathered
new strength, faring up into the night,
revealing the interior of the tent in
clearer outline. 1t was not gorge
Gus pavilion, carpeted with velvet and
gold, hung with tapestry of silk and
wool, furnished with luxurious couch
and ease-inviting lounge, with liyeried
servants to anticipate its owners
slightest wish, surrounded by triple
sentinels to guard him from every
harm.
There was a singular simplicity, al
most poverty, which marked the
headquarters of the great Captain.
The tent was single piece of cot
ton cloth, stretched from a ridge pole,
where it was held firm to the ground
on either side by wooden pegs. A
cross-legged camp cot, small camp
chest, which is half covered with uni
form thrown upon it, makes up the
scanty furniture. Beside a single
candle, burned to its socket, there
lies volume of Waverley. A letter
book answers for a writing table; a
valise is the Generals only travelling
baggage.
A number of maps, some opened,
and all well worn, lie upon a blanket
which answers for a floor to the tent,
There was very little pretension about
this menage of the commander who
had millions at his disposal. There
was no Roman Consul nor modern
Emperor travelling in grand state,
with pompus mien and brilliant re-
tinue, but citizen general of the Re
public, not borrowing dignity from
adveutitious surroundings, but, in
the simplicity of an unselfsh devotion
TO his country, doing the work which
lay before him.
There was weired grandeur, SUI
pernaturally picturesque, in this in
tense stiffness, this silent, motionless
figure of the chief of thousands of
strong men, who slept while he sat
watching the central figure in the
grand picture. In the spectral fire.
light it seemed almost alone, for the
line of tents receded in the darkness
on either side The moon now and
then burst through the masses of
heavy clouds revealing groups of tents
on the distant hillside; horses and
mules were crouched upon the
ground; while behind them rose a
forest of pines; filled with the mys-
terious shadows and graceful tree
tops melting into the vail of blue.
ATTENTION SANLoRNs. Al persons