Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1873-1877, 1875-10-08
The Names OF Armies.

| General Sherman is the best ran
dom speechmaker in the country.
I His studies in the artillery may have
cultivated a natural faculty for get
ting the range of things in next to
no time, but whether for that or
some other reason there is no other
man called upon from time to time
to air his vocabulary before miscell-
aneous audiences who so readily falls
into sympathy with the people
about him. or more infallibly grasps
the central thought of the occasion,
or puts it more clearly and vigorous
ly in good words. His speech in
Utica is a new evidence CT his felic-
ity in this respect. and its tribute to
General Thomas evidently reached
every heart of those who knew that
stanch and typical soldier. General
Sherman touched upon topic of
some quaint interest-the circurl-
stance of the naming of armies from
rivers-and said this has been the
fashion for years with different
nations. and [ will take occasion
here to say that l do not know the
reason why In another part of
his speech he said. War consists
in accomplishing some direct result
and he might have added that at
least eight times in ten this result is
accomplished in the valley of some
river, great or small, or at a point
that is necessarily reached by 4
march up or down some watered
valley. Indeed the relation of
armies to rivers in war is constant,
and is, of course, as familiar to
General Sherman as to other soldiers.
So simple circumstance as the
mere want, twicea day at least. of
an enormous quantity of water that
could only be supplied from a river
would itself force an army to follow
the line of stream and camp on its
banks or near some tributary; but
this might be forced still more i'm
perativelv by the fact that rivers are
natural lines OF hiShway-tLe m
INSTRUCTED routes Of the primitive
world. and war. that destroys other
routes. always brings humanity TO
its primitive needs in this respect.
These points may be seen more
clearly on the map Of France and
elsewh here, for there the geography
gives unusual importance, In mill
tary sense, to the rivers, and in that /
country this mode of designating |
armies was first, perhaps system
atically adopted. In the wars OF the !
French Revolution there were the |
armies of the Rhine, or the Moselle,
of the Sombre and Meuse and so on. !
That is to say, armies were formed !
to defend the country from enemies
approaching by those vallies, or to
invade foreign territory in turn by
those lines and the indication
naturally was that the Army
of the Moselle was the army
formed to operate in the valley
of Moselle;;" but that was shortened |
to the name "Mosellc Army" for |
convenience. Subsequently an army
named from one river might CO. !
operate in operations on other rivers. /
as when our Potomac army operated /
on the James; and even then. though !
the original significance is lost, |
the name adheres, because definite
designation is always useful. There
is poetical spirit in every true /
soldier, and to touch q spirit there is
an appeal and an identity in such
names that is superior to what can
be obtained by the numerical desig- |
nations of First Army" Second
Army" &c, as employed in
G ermany.-N. Y. Herald !