Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-06-03
sHERKAN's MEMOIRS.

sHERkAN's MEMOIRS.
General Sherman has mistaken not
only the temper Of the officers and sol
diers of his late command but Of the
whole American public. His book is
we'll written and readable, and there is a
peculiar air Of candor all through it, es-
pecially when speaking in self-praise or
deprecatingly Of q fellow.oficer. But
there is a supercilious, arrogant spirit
running through all the pages that will
not elevate the distinguished general in
the estimation Of his countrymen Of this
or coming generations. In his case We
can more fully realize the force Of the
s%criptural invocation: "0h, that mine
enemy would write q book" Had he
kept his counsels wisely be would have
passed into history a much greater man
than with this book of conceits on his
back. And he is not only conceited and
unfair toward subordinate officers, some
ST them dead, but has the effrontery to
admit his own duplicity. In reference
to the burning Of Columbia he now states
that be thinks the FIRE was accidental, or
rather. that the town took fire from some
burning cotton. He coolly remarks;
In my official report OF this ~conAagra
tion l distinctly charged it to General
Wade Hampton, and confess I did so
poihtediy, "a shake the faith of bis peo-
pie in him, for he was in my opinion a
braggart, and protested to be the special
champion Of South Carolina.
The admission seems to be based on
the presumption that a deliberate false
hood was justi6able when dealing with
one he chose to characterize as a bragg
CART" It will not answer General Sher-
man as q defense to say that he was
dealing blows to q crushed rebellion or
that the end justified the despicable
means. The world had given him credit
at least for the honor and candor Of o
well-bred soldier, but he has lived long
enough to refute this idea by his own
words, written down ten years after the
close Of the war. That he should have
written on the defensive and in self
praise was human, but to admit that he.
charged an atrocious crime to adefeated
enemy merely to crafty malicious
feelings must be humiliating to every
honorable soldier on either side. In
these few words he confesses that
he was moved by most petty
and contemplate motives Of
personal dislike toward General
Hampton, because, as he assumes,
Hampton was the champion Of South
Carolina. This settles the question
ef~fectuslly as to who is the braggart.
Sherman's comrades are now to sit in
judgment on his course during and since
the war, and we are greatly mistaken if
the verdict is not hat he loved Sherman
more than he loved the Union cause or
anybody else in it. The most soathing
criticism ZONES not from the ex. Confed-
crates, for they are not particularly in
terested, but from his own side-from
the officers who served with him for
years and know bis weaknesses as we'll
as his better qualities. 1t often hap
pened on both sides that a good staff
officer or two at the side Of a poor Gen.
eral made him a great man, he receiving
all the credit Of course while they per-
formed the drudgery and we're never
heard Of unless in a gingerly mention in
some official report. This is quite pos
sibly one Of those cases; We will see
when the rank and file are all heard
from. Old Tecumseh has started 9
thousand fretful pens against himself
and before it is all over he will be ready
to excIaim with that great aud good
man. Henry Ward Beecher, when abOui
to be caught without his Sunday mask
II wish / were dead"
-A-@H