Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1875-01-13
.HrnruANs MILITARY CAREER
some Pact. About TITS mnS,. aud
harRet.i

Aud presents some iaCiS which The
people Of the country will now read
with interest:
The conception OF General Sheri-
dams character which the extremists
of the Southern press have constantly
held up To their readers, and which
most OF their readers seem Ia con-
~Ider the true One, Is That he il "A
drunken, tyranulcdl bully; fierce and
tnerciless to the weak, aud cowardly
fearful of an equal toe. Nobody knows
that Sheridan II no such man az that
better than those who have most per-
sisteutly described him 40. The de-
scription is false enough To be iudic-
rous, if the spirit which has prompted
II WAS not such as To keep away ali lu-
dicrous suggestions.
As great deal will be written about
him presently based on that idea, it is
well enough to say something about
the sort of man he really is. And, in
the first place, he doesn't indulge in
debauchery. Ia regard TO drinking,
he is not total abstinence man, but
be is very temperate and prudent
man. His manners and address are
those of soldier who has spent most
of life in the field, aud who Is accus-
toned to command-brusque often,
but tempered by sense of what is due
10 himself and to others. He is "A kind
ly-natured and generous man. In all
the garrisons IN his frontier life he was
favorite with all the children about
the post.
When he was "a Lieutenant in com.
Gnand of IA compouy his men We're ex-
ceedingly devoted TO him. When he
was stationed with his company at an
Indian agency, as he was for some
time, the Indians would be satisfied
with his word, and grow quiet when
the agent could do nothing with them.
Only kindly and just man could in
spire such feelings. He was a brave
man, and made "A reputation as a gal
liant officer, full of resources, before the
rebellion. In an outbreak among the
Oregon Indians, he. with forty men,
was besieged In an old and weak
block-ho at the Cascades by fifteen
hundred or two thousand Indians.
lie held it for several days until il was
nearly battered to pieces by bullets,
and until it was apparent that the In
dians were working themselves up to
an assault, which would have Destroyed
his command, when he moved them
by night to an island in the middle of
the river, where the indians were
afraid to approach him. He displayed
here both his courage and his resour-
oes. Even after the rebellion began
he was ordered To report TO General
Curtis in Missouri for duty Is commits
sary. 4 certain claim was presented
for payment which he knew TO be
fraudulent and refused to pay. Curtis
ordered him To pay il and he again re-
fused and Curtis put him in arrest.
A ffAr rpaaIuirgr ('nFtlsf nTHar hn mn
have been legally safe in paying the
claim, but he would not, on any con-
dition, be party to "A fraud. Halleck
who knew of what stuff he was made
ordered him to st. Louis, released him,
got him appointed Colonel of "a volun-
teer cavalry regiment, and sent him to
the field. He was soon promoted and
entered on the career of achievement
that made him famous.
In the short time lie was with the
regiment be impressed it with a char
acter which made it develop into one
Of the most efficient cavalry regiments
in the service. The occasion alleged
for most of the abuse directed against
him is the destruction of all property
fit for army supplies in the valley of
Virginia. We have no time to go into
the merits Of that order. 1t is iusti-
fed by all capable military critics, and
is denounced by two classes: those
who think that war ought To be car
ried on in I: peaceable manner, and
those who abuse the order because it
was directed against their side. What
ever the merits or dement's of the or
der may be, they don't affect Sheri-
dan. The order came from Washing
ton, from his superior officers, and he
Obeyed it as soldier. Whatever may
be said of the way the order was car
ried out does not affect him, as its car
rying out was intrusted to Custer and
Averill, both, by the way, good Demo-
Gratis, as General Ewing, who eXeGu-
ted similar orders in Western Mis-
souri,, is a good Democrat. And on
the bare facts, whatever sentimental
bOsh may be spouted aud written
about this order, the history of war
fare shows no instance in which SINH
lar orders, and history is full of them,
we're more mercifully carried out and
with more consideration for the inhab-
ttants.
Many even Of those who admire
and are grateful To Sheridan do not
fully appreciate him. They look
upon him merely as ready and dash-
ing cavalry officer, skillful and success
full in carrying out the plans of others,
and do not give him credit for his
stronger parts. The fact is, he was
gallant General aud is man of very
vigorous intellect, hard student and
keen observer, capable of making
broad congratulations. When he was
abroad he was with Bismarck, by that
great mans invitation, in daily ASSOC
citation for several weeks. Bismarck
would not have wasted more than one
interview on a strange tourist if he had
not found in him something great and
coDgenial. Sheridan Is very free from
sectional prejudice. He feels no an
tagonism 10 the people Of the South.
He laid that aside when the war end
ed. He is not an arbitrary man. He
respects an honest difference of Opin-
ion and regards any one more highly,
whatever the relations in which they
stand, who stands by his own opinion
and expresses them frankly and man
fully.
We are confident that the country
will soon be satisfied that General