Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1867-10-09
Sheridan in the North.

For more than seven years Gen Sheridan
has been uninterruptedly in the service O
the country During the war he was con
stantly with the army, and when the Re
! bellion ended was at once ordered to the
! South West. No man has earned the right
to brief rest by harder work, yet this visit
to the North appears to be reluctantly per-
mitted. The President, when he removed
Sheridan from the command of the Fifth
District, reversed Grants order recalling
him to Washington, and sent him at once
to fight the Indians. That he is now in
New ork is we presume, due to the inter
vention OF Gen Grant; and important as
our Indian affairs may be, we are sure that
they will suffer no injury by his brief alb
sence. On the contrary, Sheridan s
Northern journey is of no small benefit to
the country; we have long wanted to see
the hero of the Shenandoah and New-Or-
leans, and are rejciced and cheered that he
is with us Whatever his politics may be.
there is no patriotic citizen who does not
welcome the man whose name is q SYNONYM
OF all that makes military fame splendid
and enduring.
Enthusiasm could go no further than the
namc of Sheridan has carried it. In Bal
timore, where the people took him prisoner
and carried him in triumph on the shoulders
OF crowd in Philadelphia, and in all the
towns along his route, his reception was
trlumphal march. And wild as the well
come is, it has an element of earnestness
which proves it to be more than a sudden
excitement. Years have passed since Sberi-
dan fought his battles, and the story of the
Shenandoah has long ceased to startle or
surprise the war has passed into history.
and the sober Judgment of the people has
weighed its worth and measured the repu-
tations Of its HEROES. But the glory of his
achievements dazzles us still We do not
forget how the. magic of his presence
changed defeat into victory at Winchester.
or how, in the darkest days Of the war, his
name was inspiration to our army and dis
enlargement to the foe. Many brilliant
regulations have faded since Lee surrender
ed, but Sheridans is not among them: time
has not only confirmed but increased it. In
the just and critical estimate of the war
Sheridan IS included as one of the main
clements of success. There is little doubt
that the next generation will confirm the
judgment Of this-that he is one of the few
absolutely great generals that America has
produced. Thus the enthusiasm with
which he Is received is not the result of
temporary excitement; it is based upon
conviction.
Nor must it be forgotten that since his
military fame was won, Gen. Sheridan has
been placed in a position of extraordinary
difficulty. Long before Congress had fixed
the principles of Reconstruction he was
charged with its responsibility. He was
taken from the head of his cavalry and |
placed at the head of a State. No mere
military man could have ruled treacherous
Louisiana and turbulent Texas as Sheridan |
did. Unusual capacity for administration |
supplied the want of experience, and his |
government was not of conqueror. but Of
A friend. So far as we knet4 his admins
ration in the South, his great aim was to
DO Just. lie suppressed disloyalty with an
ron hand, but there is no instance in which
ais punishment Of individuals was arbitrary
II severe; he was resolved that the Recon
'truction acts, letter and spirit, should be
enforced in his department, but he never
uttered the service Of any party, or med
lied with the politics of the people he gov
'rned. lie was removed from his command
because he chose to obey the plain meaning
i the law, rather than the forced eonstruc-
ion the President wished to substitute. and
ould have no higher compliment than the
increased affection and confidence Of the