National Republican., 1875-05-26
Rlair and Sharman-

Hon. Montgomery Blair has addressed letter
to the editor Of the Southern Maga=ine, bllshed
in Baltimore, In which he defends his brother,
General Frank p. Blair, from certain aspersons
made by General Sherman in his recently pub
lished memoirs. Mr.. Blair says:
Whatever may have been the opinion OF my
brothers military capacity, Sherman under whom
he served, and whom he succeeded in the COM
mand Of the Fifteenth army corps, Is the nSst to
impute to him q selfish purpose In Joining the
army. Being the recognized leader Of the MILL
tary organization which protected the st. Louis
arsenal from seizure by the State authorities dur
took all the responsibility and shared in all the
danger Of the capture Of Camp Jackson, which
was the first blew struck for the Union, he was
offered nv Mr. Lincoln on General Scott's recon-.
mendatiOD, the first brtRadter KenerAlship for
that service. This he declined peremptorily, and
insisted thstit should be given 10 Captain Lyons,
the regular officer whose aid he had succeeded in
obtaining to command the troops on that occasion,
after applying to Sherman and falling to obtain
his services, who declined on the ground that he
had no confidence in volunteer troops, principle
to which he steadily adhered, taking good care
or lift q finger for it. till commissioned as colo
mel in the regular army. Nor did my brother ever
seek military promotion. 1t was only in response
ton, AFTER the second Bull Run battle, when great
encouragement was felt, and recruiting had
come to a standstIll, and it was necessary for the
Government TO avail itself Of the popularity of
some Of the public men IN Congress- that he and
other Republican leaders left their seats to re-
crui in their districts. He succeeded in recruiting
seven regiments within a very short time, and IL
was with brigade from part Of this force
that, in 1852, he stormed the works at
Chickasaw Bluffs, which protected Vicks-
burg, and which he failed to hold only. because
Sherman failed to support him. / recall two
other signal occasions when the force under my
brothers command failed to secure the fruits Of
well-fOught fields by reason Of Shernan's tim
idity. One was atChattanooga. Having crossed
the river and beaten the enemy in front of them,
the Fifteenth corps was In position to intercept
BrsgR's army in full retreat before Grant, but
Sherman ordered the corps to be withdrawn and
let Bragg escape. Again, at BentonVtlle, where
while Johnston was attempting and failed to
crush Slocum, my brothers corps by rapid "a arch
ing in the direction of the firing, was enabled te
his retreat the division Commanded Dy Mover.
being actually in the camp which Johnston had
left to attack Slocum, he was obliged by Sher-
mans order to withdraw and let Johnston escape.
Hsrdee was also allowed to escape out Of SaVau-
nah. How does It happen that, while command
ing the hnest army that ever took the 1eld, Sher-
tion Of this invarabe failure Is found in his con-
stitutional timidity. This enabled S ydney John
ston, at the head Of twenty. i've thousand men in
Kentucky, to fill him with panic at tho head of
seventy five thousand, and PIjce to stampede him
when relieved and transferred to Missouri The
truth is that he never did anything until he came
under Grants immediate command and had his
nerves steadied by Grants pluck. 1t is not
surprising that so discreet q commander
stpecaly one WSc ashOuRb Ss had 10t s,udisd nsd
algebra at West Point at the Government eX-
Pense, was so incoDsiderate OF himself as to take
up arms for the defense OF that Government
when its enemies held both the State and Ma
tionsl Governments, and when he not only had
no color Of authority to protect him and the men
who stood by him, but was in peril from both Gov
ernments, and did this, too, not only without pay,
but spent all he had In the world TO arm his men.
Nor did my brother aspire to the command of
The Army Of the Tennessee on the death Of Nc
Pherson, or tail In giving General Howard sup
port when he was put in that position. Logan,
who held an older commission than my brother,
did assert his right to succeed TO this command,
and was somewhat restive and discontented when
1t was refused him. But General Howard ex.
pressed himself to me as much gratihsd at my
brothers course, and said the support which my
brother gave him was Of the greatest assistance
to him. There is, indeed, not q circumstance from
first to last to justify Shermans reflection upon
my brother, and confess my surprise that he
should have given utterance to 1t. There was q
slight unples santness between them At the outset
Of their association, growing out Of Sherman's
jumping TO the conclusion. without the slightest
reason, that my brother had prompted some
newspaper disparagement Of him. MY brother
properly resented the fmputation and Sherman
apOlOgiZed.