The Portland daily press., 1880-01-31

War. ,
appearance in print of the language of the |
said William T. Sherman, General OF the |
Army, as recited in the first specification OF
this charge, and contained in the interview |
hereunto attached and marked (A,) the said
Henry v. Boynton did address to the said
William T. Sherman a communication in the
following letters and figures, to wit:
WASHINGTON, JAM 16, 1880.
Gen. W. T. Sherman, Wdshangton, II. e.:
GENERAL: The enclosed interview appears
in the Washington correspondence OF the
Cleveland Leader of the 18th instant, and, as
you will perceive, it purports to give your Ian
guage.
treats of my criticism of your Memoirs; but
am 10th to believe that you used the language
contained in the two brief paragraphs l have
marked, namely:
"sYou could hire him to do anything for
money! and, why, for thousand dollars, he
would SANDER his own mother
"As these purport to be your exact words,
am sure YOU can have no hesitation in inform
ing me if the correspondent in question report
ed them correctly; and if he did not, am also
sure you will promptly disayow them.
every respectfully,
the said III. V. Boynton meaning by the first
part of the above letter that he did not object
TO decent criticism of his treatment of the
Memoirs-to which communication the said
William T. Sherman, General of the Army,
did return a reply written in his own hand, in
the following letters and figures, to w.t.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OFF
''THE UNITED STATES,
washington, D. c., Jan. 16, $780,
"H Y. Boystom.: II
s'SIR have received your letter enclosing
copy of Cleveland paper, which L have
glanced at, and recognized as the report OF
young man wno came to me saying that you
had slandered his father.
81 said L thought you were capable OF doing
anything for pay; that SANDER was your daily
avocation, and as you had deliberately falsited
as to me, I believed you capable OF slandering
your own mother for pay. This is hard thing
to say of any man, but believe it of you.
f..signeO W. T. SHERMAN
And he, the saidWiliam I. Sherman, Gen
eral of the Army, did subsequently exhibit the
same to divers and sundry persons, and thus
for a second time did violate the criminal
laws of the District in which he is stationed,
to wit, the laws defining and furnishing the
crime of SANDER iii the District of Columbia.
This at his residence at No. SIS Fifteenth
street, in the city of Washington, on or about
the 10th day Of January, 1880, and at the
HEADQUARTERS of the Army of the United
States at Washington, d. c., on or about the
18th day of January, 1880, in derogation OF his
high office. and in violation of the SD Article
of War.
SPECIFICATION III. In this, that he, Will
liam I. Sherman, General of the Army, hav-
ING written and caused to be published two
volumes entitled memoirs of General w. T.
Sherman, written by HIMSELF" purporting to
give an accurate account OF those events in the
late civil war with which he was connected;
he, the said William 7. Sherman, having had
at the time of publishing the said Memoirs all
needed records of the war at his control and
within easy reach, did, in writing the said
Memoirs, commit grave and inexcusable errors
in statement, and did by these writings do
great injustice to noted officers serving with or
under him, notably to General o. S. Grant in
connection with the Forts Henry and Donel-
son campaign and the "March to the Sea-"
to General D. c. Buell. and the Army of Ohio,
in connection with the battle of Pittsburgh
Landing; to General George I'll. Thomas, then
deceased, and the Army OF the Cumberland,
in connection with the battles OF Chattanooga
and Nashville, and the assault on kenesaw
Mountain; to General j. B. Mcpherson, then
deceased in connection with the battle of
Resaca; to Generals John A. Logan and
Francis P. Blair, then dying with paralysis, in
connection with the battle of Atlanta; to
General George W: Morgan, IN connection
with the assault on Chickasaw Bluff; to Cen
eral VIM. Sooy Smith, in connection with the
Meridian campaign; to Hon. E. M. Stanton,
then deceased, in connection with the cotton
captured at Savannah; all in the manner more
fully set forth in the said Memoirs OF General
W. T. Sherman, written by Himself" and
did further claim for himself honors belonging
to other officers, and did attempt to make
other officers responsible for various mistakes
and failures of his own, and did print I'M
founded aspersions against noted officers; and
these various errors, unjust assertions, and I'M
founded claims and aspersions having been
partially exposed by Henry V. Boyn-
ton, writer of honorable charac-
ter and fair reputation, by comparing
the writings of the said William T. Sherman,
General of the Army, with the official records
of the war, and publishing the same in vol
ume entitled '.Sherman's Historical Raid:
The Memoirs in the Light of the Record"
herewith attached and marked BID he, the
said William T. Sherman, General of the
Army, for the general purpose of breaking the
force of those comparisons, and especially OF
breaking the force of that portion of them
which charged him with improperly claiming
to have originated the march from Atlanta to
Savannah, commonly known as the March to
the Sea, when, as had been again and recently
pointed out from the records by the said Hen
ry V. Boynton, the credit of its origin belonged
to General U. S. Grant, and also for the pur-
pose of breaking the force of that part OF these
comparisons which pointed out that the said
Memoirs took away the credit of planning the
campaign of the Cumberland and the Tennes-
see rivers from General Grant and assigned it.
to General Halleck, he, William t. Sherman,
General of the Army, did say to Eugene III.
Cowles newspaper reporter, repeating and
adopting the words of said Cewles, and addists
words of his own "Boynton, in his review Of
my Memoirs, made very many false and unjust
statements, contradictory of my account of
things in the war, and to strengthen his posi-
ton he went to the Confederate records and
made garbed accounts of these to sustain his de-
NAL of my assertions. Every word of this is
true. Boynton's garbling of the Confederate
records was most palpable and reckless. But
what could you expect of the man? Every
body knows him to be a notorious slanderer
You could hire him to do anything for money.
A man of character and Christian-bah! He |
is entirely without character. Why, for a
thousand dollars he would SANDER his own
mother. Nobody Of character wishes to dirty
their hands with such creature. would not
bother with such vermin as he He is very
persistent and energetic in the manufacture of |
falsehood, 1.-THE said William T. Sherman |
thus violating the criminal laws of the Dis
trict of Columbia, to wit, the laws defining and |
Furnishing the crime of SANDER, in derogation |
of his high office as General of the Army of |
the United States, and in violation of the SD |
Article of war.
This at the Headquarters of the Army of
the United States, at Washington, d. c., on
Or about the 18th day of January, 1880.
The above charge and specification are adj |
dressed to the Secretary of War, and court