The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1875-06-04
ATTENTIONS TO SHERMAN.
Shiloh and the March to the Sea.

The following communication is pub
lished in the New York Herald of Sat |
urday:
The publication by General Sherman
of his history of the war Of the rebellion |
will not be likely, in my opinion, to
provoke any answer from General Grant. |
1t is one of Grants peculiarities- pc
cularity that his friends have always re-
gretted-that no sort of misrepresenta-
tion of his conduct can draw from him
contradiction or explanation. Not even
to save his position or his reputation
could he be induced, after the battle of
Shiloh, to give 10 the public a history of
the few days preceding that battle and
of the circumstances that occasioned his
being taken by surprise by the rebel at
tack. At Shiloh l was a soldier in Gen.
McClernand's division. ] knew, as ev-
erybody else knew who was there present
that by ten O'Clock in the morning Of
Sunday, April 6, 1862, Sherman's divis-
ion had been scattered TO the winds, and
that it no longer existed as an organized
force, and that for the remainder of the
day Sherman, though wounded. served
as a volunteer aid to General McClern-
and. It is known that the rebels began
the battle by attacking Sherman, and
it is a fact not to he disputed that the
rebels lay, the night before, so near to
Sherman's lines that they could almost
hear the snoring of the Union troops.
The fact that the Unionists were taken
by surprise was patent, and the country
holding the commanding general respon-
sible. changed the name he had won at
Donelson from Unconditional Surrender
Grant to Unexpected Surprise Grant.
Grant bore, not with patience but with
fortitude, the obloquy that should have
been visited upon another. Sherman,
not Grant, was responsible for the sur
prise.
In Corinth, Miss, in the summer of
1862, John A. Rawlins himself told me
that at nine o'clock on the night before
the battle Sherman, in answer to a letter
from Grant advising him to be vigilant,
as there was reason to applehend an at
tack, sent a dispatch (which Rawlins
said he had xeptl stating that there was
no enemy within striking distance of
his front, and that Grant need have no
anticipations of battle. On the
strength of that assurance Grant went
down to Savannah, where he was arous-
ed from sleep by the vollsys Of rebel
musketry which moved down Sherman's
men as his drummers beat the long roll.
The publication of that dispatch would
have ended Sherman's career, but Grant
generously forbore, and Sherman now
shows his appreciation of that forbear-
ance by his self fglorifying epic.
Again, with reference to the concep-
tion of the long walk from Atlanta to
Savannah, poetically called the "March
to the Sea-" there may be a difference
of opinion as to who is entitled to the
credit of the valuable portion of that
plan. General William S. Hillyer told
me that he was in Grants tent when
Sherman's dispatch arrived proposing
to march through Georgia. After read
ing the dispatch Grant handed it to
Hillyer, and asked him what he thought
of the idea. Hillyer said he thought
the plan capital one. Grant answered,
"Why, you notice that Sherman proposes
to move with all his forces through the
State, and to subsiSt on the country, and
says that Hood will follow him. Now,
after Sherman has swept the country
far and near Tor subsistence, which he
must do, what will Hood find to feed
his army with? Instead of pursuing,
Hood would go straight to the Ohio.
1t would be madness for Sherman to at
tempt to go to Savannah without leav-
ing behind him force strong enough
to take care of Hood. A force must be
collected, in the first place, able To cope
with Hood, and then Sherman may
march through the State with great ad-
vantage to us" Let any man consider
what the effect of Sherman's proposition
if carried out as it was originally made,
would have been.
In conclusion, beg to ask you, how
many prisoners Sherman took, how
many cannon did he capture, how ma
ny armies break up2 At Vicksburg,
in December, 1872, he was defeated; at
Atlanta Hood got away with his forces,