Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-12-25
GENERAL SHERMAN.

UHUt ho nus 10 oUy OJ htS OtcH hcLtfe-
menf, and Other Matters Pertaining to
the Army.
New YORK, Dec. 22.-Gen. Sherman,
in an interview, says of the proposition
to make Gen. Grant a captain general in
the army:
81 have no complaint to make. l
simply say that that is rank hitherto
unknown in our army, and that Congress
would have to enact legislation to define
his duties and to decide who is to COM
mand the army-the general or the cap
tain general. AS it is no one knows
whether he is to be placed above the gen.
eral or below, or what the captain gener-
aPS duties are to be-"
II suppose the very title indicates that
he would be the captain. as it were, of
the generals
"Well, it is rank unknown anywhere,
except in Spain, for even in Cuba the
office has certain civil functions attached
to it besides the military duties The
rank of general has certainly been the
highest thus far known to our country
You know there have been only three
generals-General Washington, General
Grant and myself" General Sherman
said this without the slightest ostentation,
but with evident feeling, and he added,
as if in continuous current of thought:
''No, | have not the slightest objection
toward General Grant being retired from
the service, which could be done by an
act of Congress, which would give him
three -fourths of the salary of $l3, 800
That would prevent such confusion and
complication as would arise from this new
rank of captain general. The only possi-
BILE objection which any one in the army
could have against that would be that as
the number of retired officers is limited
to four hundred, it would, perhaps, keep
some one else out"
''You can not be retired as yet, Gen
eral?''
'sTo begin with, there is no provision
of law for the retirement of either the
general or the lieutenant general. / am
thoroughly independent. | can't be re-
tired by the President, unless Congress
enacts some new legislation That, of
course, would be different thing. Then,
l am not yet sixty-two. | am only sixty,
and instead of having been forty years in
service, as the law requires, l have only
served thirty-two, as was out.of service
for some years after resigning my COM
mission as captain. So you see that even
if the present law were applicable to the
general of the army, can not be retired
as YETI
ttHow did all this talk about your prob
able retirement originate, General?'
"Well, was willing to make a sacrifice
for General Schofield, who was anxious
to leave West Point and take command
of one of the divisions | told him to
wait a year of two and then | would see
if perhaps could not arrange
matters SO as to bring General Sheridan
to Washington and take my place, while
| perhaps could travel on general in
spection duty, as Admiral Porter does
This would have left Sheridan's place
open for him Of course we could not
have two generals of the army in Wash
ington-myself and Sheridan-and under
the proposed assignment there would
even be three, and so while | was will
ing to sacrifice myself for the benefit of
the service, | simply remain at my post
now"
"You wrote to the President about
General Ord's retirement %
eyes, did. did not protest against
it as it has been stated, but l simply want
ed the army to know that l had not done
it. General Ord is one of the bestsoldiers
in our army. He has always been sue
cessful, always been in the thick of the
fight and has been several times wounded
and is the support of very large family
This kept him very poor. felt that l
was compromised by his retirement, be-
cause General Miles, who married my
niece, was appointed in his place Now
General Miles is very worthy officer, but
| did not want every soldier to think, Oh,
Sherman did that because he wanted to
make room for the man who married his
niece. Moreover, felt that if any one
had to be retired, General Mcdowell was
the one, for while General Ord has always
been successful, General Mcdowell has
not been so. General Mcdowell is the
better Office General, but General Ord is
the better fighting General, and it is in
the field-that's where we want our SOL
diers.''