National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1880-01-31
BOYNTON VS.. SHERMAN.
An Appeal to the Highest Military
Tribunal.
Letter to the Secretary of war-GenoraI
Sherman Invited to Request Military
Trial-Charges and specifications
Presented-SoIneS sharp Cor
respondence Transpiros
"A Lively Outlook.
Charges Agnlnst Goneral W. T. sherman

Charges Against General W. T. sherman
General IL. V. Boynton, correspondent o
| the Cincinnati Gdsette. has addressed letter
to Secretary Ramsey of the War Department,
| In which he says:
"lrrewith / incloso for your information,
and through you for the information of the
! President. in his capacity of the Commander.
| in-Chicf of the Army, q charge, with spccinca-
| tions, against William 4. Sherman, General Of
| tho army, for conduct unbecoming an officer
aud gentleman IN violating the criminal
laws of ths District whicl, defHo
aud punish the crime of slander'T
Tho legal right of a citizen TO prefer such
| charges is fully recognized in an opinion re-
corded IN vol. l6, pago d23. opinions of Tho
| Judge -AdvOcato.Genera of the Army In tho
following words, TO wit:"
General BUynton then quotes from tile re.
corded opinions of tho Judge.AdvocRte.G Gem
eral who holds that
! II can In no way affect the validity Of charges
against an officer that they originate with party
not IN The military service Il s indeed ordinarily
| to the notice Of the local commander any crave
matter Of OiIeuse against al officer within IFS
knowledge. n In NJ doing such person exhibit
commander tsnould he deem the case otherwise a
proper one TO be investigated by court MARTIAL
may either adopt these or may frume entirely new
ones for tho purpose of the trial.
There are three specifications, the first rccit
ing the alleged libel Us published in the Glove.
land Letrder, already noticed in The Ma.
TIoNAL REPUBLICAN,. Specification 2 is based
upon the following correspondence:
WAsHiNGroN Jan. l6 1880.
General IT, r. SIcymdu H'ushingtoa, u. g..
GESERAL: Tho ncloSed interview appears II
the Washington correspondence OF tic Cleveland
Lcddcr OF the 18th instant and, rs you will per
cci iyc. It puports TO give your languagc.
OF course 1 do not object TO That part which
treats of my criticism OF YOUR Memoirs; but am
10th To believe that you used The language con
tained in two brief paragraphs 1 have marked,
namely:
YOU could hire him to do anything r,rmonoy;"
end why, for q thousand dollars, he would SLAM
As these purport to be your exact words am
sure yot can have no hesitation In ininrning ms
II the correspondent IN question reported them
rectly; and ir he did not also sure you will
Very respectfully.
Nv DoYNTos.
The said II. V. Boynton meaning by the
rst part of the above letter that lie did not
object to decent criticism of his treatment of
the McmOrs-to which communication tho
said William r. Sherman General of the
Army, did return reply, written IN his own
hand in the following letters aud figures.
to-wit:
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES,
WAsnISGroS, d. c. Jan. 49, 1880.
SIM have received your lcttcr inclosing a COPY
OF = Cleveland paper which have glanced nt aud
recognize the report Of u young man who came to
me saying that you had slnmlered his father.
Said thought you were capable of doing any
thing for pay, that sluuder was your daily avoca-
ton, and as you had deliberately hllsihed to
me believed you capable of slanderlng your owiI
mother for pay. This is hard thing to sHy OF any
". r. SHERMAN
Specification 8 reCitrs that In the publication
OF his memoirs General Sherman having at
the timo of publication all ncodcd record Of
| the war nt his control aud within easy reach,
did commit grave and ineNcusable errors in
statement, aud did by these writings do great
injustice to noted officers serving with or
under him, notably TO General u. S. Grant, ia
connection with the Forts Henry and Douel.
son campaign and tho "Muich to the Sea-"
| to General y. G. Buell. and tho Army of tho
| Ohio, in connection with the battle OF Pitts
burg Landing; to General George II. Thomas,
! then deceased, and tho Army of tho Cum
berand, in connection with the battles
| OF Chattanooga aud Nashville, und tho as
saut on KonesaW MOlntain tc General
J, b. Mcpherson, thcn deceased, in UOnneo-
| tiOn with the battle of Resaca 30 Gen.
erals John A, Logan and Francis p. Blair, then
| dying with paralysis in connection with tho
battle Of Atlanta; to General George W. Nor
| gan, In connection with the assault on Chcka-
saw Bluff to General William SOOy smith, Ia
connection with the Meridian campaign; TO
Hon. h. VI. Stanton, then deceased in cOnnec-
tiOn with the cotton captured ut Savannah; all
in tho manner more fully set forth in the said
memoirs of General W. Il. Sherman, Written
by himself" and did further claim for him
self honors belonging TO other officers and did
attempt TO make other officers responsible for
various mistakes and failures of his own, and
did print uniounded nspoIsionS against noted
officers, and that because General Boynton,
having exposed such acts in his book, Gonsrai
Sherman gave utterauce to tho libclyus Ian
guHge quoted.