Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-11-14

ca led on to amend 4he above extract
Im the preface, we should have made
il read as follows: "The object of the
PIE 'ent compilation is to show how
diff it is to reduce TO and retain
within the focus Of political capital for 8
= CREST party the history Of great war. u
General Boynton la6ors through two
hundred and seventy-six ages to show
First-That Grant was actually the
man who held the country up by the
tail.
Second-Thst Edwin NJ Stanton ts
the man who firmly guyed Grant by his
mill airy cOat-tatls, while the country
was belt G held up
Third-Thst Sherman came near
6 losing the country at BentOnville, and
would have done so but fer the extreme
. dXedness of the grip by which Grant
maintained his tail hold, and the ipfiexi-
ale firmness with which Stanton guyed
. The military cost-tails of the command
er-in-chitf at that trying moment,
This eeems to US to be fair state nert
of The programme, and, so far as judici
us selections frem the archives and
careful sitting and pruning Of official re-
ports, letters, and kilograms can accom-
plisb, B0ynton has fulfilled his mission
His compilations and comments show
tbat Shermsn's memory was at fault on
some points, his judgment inaccurate
, Oh otE ere, and his vanity equal to the
, occasion on al points. There is no ad-
Missile d ubt that BoyntOn's ingenious
compilation, taken az whole, places
the general of the army at ditadvar-
tsge. And, if there were no mitigating
circumstance to be pleaded in favor OF
General Sherman, the case would be
conclusively made out against him. 1t
must be taken into sccount, however,
that the "official data" OF the war be.
tween the United States aud the Con-
'ederacy are not, in themselves, infalli-
bic. And it must further be cor sidered
that in this, almost alone Of all the wars
that ever occurred on the face OF the
earth, there We're elements and influ-
ences at work in the shape OF party
necessities and political intrjgues, the
effect of which was to so dIstott or
pervert the facts as they occurred, as it
will be forever impossible to write it's
true history from the fils9 of official
papers. add to this fact the facility
with which such uncomfortable papers
as happen to creep into the files OF the
war department. have been from time to
time spirited away, and we reach the
conclusion that be tween the mendacity
of the Federal commanders during the
wal, and the kleptomania of Republican
| politicians since its el use, the historian
who desires to write the truth, and it
only, will have but comparatively little
| use Tor the "official y0EpsEe.i' The point
| in General Shermsn's favor, and one
which cannot fail ID weigh heavily with
the dispsssionate researcher of the future, |
is that he was the least given to lying in |
his official reports ofaI the Federal com.
manders. This is point which Boyn-
ton neglects to take into account, and |
this neglect will be fatal to his book
whenever it is subjected to the proper
sort OF scrutiny. 1t is notorious fact
that in no army of the civilized world
was there ever higher grade OF intelli-
gence and soldierly quality IN the rank
and file, combined with lower grade of
talent, personal honor, and officer-like
qualifications in the 'feld and staff"
than was true of the Federal army. The
proportion OF real soldiers to pretenders
or pOltroons was very small in the gen.
eralship of the Union forces. For every
Mcclellan, Buell., Thomas, or Sedgwick,
there were a dozen Buffers Hallecks, ;
Popes, Sheridaus, Logans, Dodges, or I
GaIf1elds. That is 10 say, for every true {
aud sterling soldier wearing the "starsr
in the Federal army, there were dozen {
thieves, braggarts, Tuffians, jsckasses,
imbeciles, and poltrOops; while for every !
keen tactician and able strategist like
Sherman, there were half a dozen bull
headed fellows like Grant, who knew '
no other way OF getting over stone t
wall except by putting it down with the l
devoted heads Of their luckless rank and {
file. The result was that eight millions 6
Of people in the south, without govern {
ment, without credit, without armies, J
without arsensls, without navy, with g
out commerce, without manufactures, }
with sealed ports, and with the easiest !
country to invade and the hardest to l
defend on the face ofthe globe, were able i
10 hold out for four years against nineteen r
millions in the north, rich in everything q
n which their antagonists were 4
deficient, and free from all the en- b
and disadvantages under '
which their antagonists staggered until 4
hey fell. The value of General Sher- :
mans book TO the cause of truth and to Il
he interests of history arises from the b
act that it stripped from a good many t
tiled frauds their thin veneering, that n
expressly or by Implication gave the
credit for the oisadv an. G
ages under which they struggled, land it q
or at least whenever such n
ustice did noe conflict with the vanity b
# its author, accorded justice to the CT
military abilities OF the generals, and to II
he soldieriy excellence of the rank and G
lie of the Confederacy. 1t is true L
hat Sherman did injustice in his d.
memoirs to Buell., Thomas, and b
1Pherson; than whom the Federal b
ause did not develop three more n
allant, accomplished, or chivalric fC
Oldiers. But we can forgive him this
1justice in view of the justice he meted A
ut to that ridiculous old bag of wool,
islleck; to that beastly trysnt, usurper, "
nd ruffian, Stanton; to that detestable sr
ummer and inflated bladder, John p
Iogsn, and to numerous others of the bs
sme Ilk and category. If Boynton's n,
oek stopped with correcting the in or
Istice done to Buell., Thomas, and in
JEFFERSON, 1T would be valuable accom- AZ
to the memoirs. But by "
Ding beyond thst legitimate limit, Al
nd attempting the impossible in h,
he shape Of an effort TO defend Halleck, of
tanton, and Logan, and to exalt Grant. ii,
oynton 80 nearly neutralizes the good tn
leTe is 10 part Of his book as practi- W,
lily to destroy its value as whole. IN
be concluding portions of BOynton's in
box are devoted TO discussion of what an
author calls Shelmsn's surrender to III
De Johnston. We had supposed that wi
ie puollc mind was so folly made up rsl
q the subjects suggested by this branch tn
tne discussion that hot even an apolo- IN
81 Tor Stanton or a euiogist for Grant or
OuId care TO fly in the face of the set. RI,
go opinion. Shermsn's wise, humane, 90
ID liberal terms were r. jected by Grant ON
ID stanton. The results Of that reiec- sri
On are before US In the nine years %,
story of the csrpetbsggery and au
gger1sm that has cured the south and IN,
sgrAced the nation for the last nine nf
ssrs? This carpetbaggery and this mr.,
ggerism have at last become things so IL
lclean, carcasses so foul, and stencil eri
horrible, that even their prime -,
lthors are trying to wash their hands 81.
them. We do not believe that even nj
oynton will have the hardihood to II,
.iend them. And this caFpetbaRgery ~,
~ this niggerism are the vindication Es
Sherman's terms with Joe Johnston. ev
e needs no other. They will yindicate az
8 terms with Johnston from the at tn
cks offar keener critics than Boyntop. 90.
w York Worlds Review OF Boyntopl ~
General Sherman's book is a good tn.
'ok to "pitch into" 1t has NOT vat n,S
en- fairly reviewed in its entirety- 20,
rhaps 1t never will be-but il has been 10
bjected 10 detail to Beener adverse the
llicism than any contemporary work az
equal or approximate Interest. Not. ale,
thstanding its pretensions and its sal
thor's opportunities, it can hardly be lik
ID that the book under consideration apt
accomplishes what might ella
thought to be its object. A ''review" TIA
Is In no sense, for 1t deals but with for,
ached parts Of the book, and those strtt
y such as can be made to bsar, or he
m to bear, an uufavorable construc- ttrc
D. II Is book that will fall fat, An
lply because every one who reads il the
has read the memoirs viii proba. the