The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1875-03-24
Sherman as a Friend Of the South.
RICHMOND, Va, !
Feb. p, 1851
Richmond Dispatch /:

N''HAf FsB. vi y, iis7s.}
Richmond Dispatch:
Our people seem to know very little
about Gen. Sherman as man or as a
soldier. They seem to accept hts pres
ent great rank as the appropriate re-
ward Of his military conduct and ca
pacity.
AS l was repeatedly concerned in
military operations conducted by Sher~
man, or in which he bore a part, wish
to place before you my estimate of him
for whomsoever 1t may interest, and
some facts ''for the future historians of
the war;"
At Manassas and Shiloh, as a division
commander, and at Missionary Ridge,
as corps commander, Sherman was Pc
culiarly unfortunate.
At Missionary Ridge his attack upon
Hardee was the only part of the Federal
attack which failed. 1t was signally
repulsed and defeated.
But his failure as an independent
commander of armies, executing his
own plans, are the most conspicuous
evidences Of his inetf1ciency in the
field.
l think his overweening ambition
often tempted him into ill-considered
and unsound enterprises, and when
he encountered some obstacle which
he had not duly estimated she lost his
head" his nerve failed him and he
fed.
The Cincinnati Gazette stated recent
ly that Gen. Sherman has never won a
battle.
l believe the battle of Chichsaw Bluff
was the only battle he ever FOUGHT.
On that occasion he was sent with over
10000 men to carry Vicksburg by a
coup de main. He landed on the Yazoo
River, ten miles above Vicksburg. De-
cember %, 1862. Instead of marching
at once upon the place, which he could
then have carried easily, he delayed I'M
til December 81 before he attacked Gen.
eral Lees forces (twcnty-three hundred
mem, drawn up along the base of
Chicksaw Bluff, six miles from Vicks-
burg. In the battle which ensued
Sherman was shamefully defeated, and
abandoned the field to Lee, strewn with
his dead and wounded. On December
81 he asked and received from US truce
to bury his dead, and that night he fed.
We expected him to attack us next NOR
ming, and We're going to attack him if
he did not. But when daylight came
there was nothing of his army to be
seen except the smoke of the departing
steamers on which it was embarked.
Lee had only the satisfaction of firing a
few rounds into the last Of these as they
fastened off down the Yazoo. Grant,
coming down the Mississippi, met Sher-
mans retreating command and made
him turn back with him to try Vicks-
burg again. He remained with Grants
army on Youug's Point until March,
1868, when, during a period of very
high water, Sherman conceived the
wild scheme Of getting by Deer Creek
and Sunflower Rivers with combined
naval and land force into the Yazoo
above Vicksburg. At that time the
right wing Of our army, extending
from Vicksburk to Haynes Bluff, was
under my command, and l was ordered
to deal with this curious amphibious
expedition and stop it. The very first
show of force was sufficient. Sherman
retreated precipitately without doing
more than engaging our skirmish line
with his, although his force greatly ex-
ceeding ours.
Sherman's next great Independent expe-
ditiOu took place in 1864 had for its OBJ
jcct the capture of Mobile, then a part of
my command. and was as unsound in con-
ception as it was vague aud impotent in
| a x-o
! columns-one from Vicksburg, under him.
self, $4,000 strong; the other from Mem
phis, 200 miles distant. 1t was command
ed by General A. J. Smith, and was 1000
strong, all cavalry. The two columns
were to unite at Meridian, and thence
move on Selma or Mobile, or both. Could
anything have been more uncertain for
Sherman we'll knew there was lion in the
path. Forrest fell upon A. J. Smith long
before lie got near Meridian, and utterly
destroyed his column. Not man of it
ever saw Meridian-nOt All organized regi-
ment of it regained Memphis. Sherman
himself, with his main body. only escaped
like fate Ey evading the battle offered
HIM at Morton station by General Polk;
made his way to Enterprise, where he
heard of the destruction of his cavalry
corps, and whence he fed back to Vicks-
burg, harrassed all the way by Writ
Adams cavalry, which alone could keep up
with him.
He next appeared as commander of an
army at Dalton, Ga, on his last campaign.
When General Sherman sat out upon that
march to the sea, / do not think he calcu-
lated upon having the way opeued to him
as it was by the Confederate commander
who had been placed over our army after
| Atlanta was reached. Certainly he had no
right to expect such a thing upon any
known principles of war.
Very able critics believe that had John.
ston remained in command of our army
Sherman would have been defeated at At
lanta-and defeat then meant destruction.
So much orSherman's military enterprises
and conduct.
With a good administrative capacity
and powers Of organization and discipline,
Sherman's excessive self-esteem and vani-
| ty, his want of self-reliance and courage in
emergency, and Of sound military discre-
ton, render him very sorry commander
in the field. And it Is to his eternal shame
that, of all the Generals who conducted
raids through our territory, none has left
in his tracks so many traditions of cruelty
and wanton insult to the defenceless vic
tins of his power as Sherman. While Tur-
chin, Milroy, Hunter, and others, were
guilty of ruthless murders of our men, it
was for Andrew johnson, Benjamin Butler
and Tecumseh Sherman to make war upon
our women.
think Sherman's own orders and off,
cial correspondence during his progress
through Georgia and Carolina, after he
was relieved from all fear of attack or OPP
position by Confederate army, will stand
for all future time unparalleled in bar
barity.
Several weeks ago the Richmond Enqui-
rer expressed regret that Sherman had not
been sent to deal with the people of Lou
isiaua instead of Sheridan. A few days
Of ,uard On intaexiexxer from St I.ouis