Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-02-27
The sherman-Boynton Controversy.

GEN. SHERMAN TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR.
Gen. W. T. Sherman, In his letter to the Sec
comm Communication mi covering The charges against
him by II. v. BOynton Of conduct unbecomlng
an officer and gentleman, in speaking OF him
In abusive terms says "Ihe cnarge lid ltset Is an
vice, and name which has stood 60 years with
out single imputation on my honor or 1ntegri-
ty." Gen. Sherman admits having character
lied Boynton as charged, but asserts that he can
OF Grant, Thomas, Logan or Blair, or any other
great man whom he assumes to defend against
the statements made in his (Sherman's) book,
the General says he has never heard that they
have made Boynton their attorney. He adds:
ITO the living and to the friends Of the dead
am ever responsible for ever word spoken or
written. I yield to no man in my love and ven
Grafton Of my comrades, and have been for fif-
teen years. on all suitable occasions, their eulo-
gist. All men have their good qualities and
their human defects, and In accounting for the
actual results Of terrible civil war was forced
like every commander, to account for actual re-
suits. If ever In my life at any time have done
VIII any swba the To-
umpire and abide by his Judgment" Gen. sher-
man further says that, while ready to answer
before any court the charges brought by Boyn-
United States the heavy cost of military trial,
and that his premature publication OF the mat
ter of scandal was intended to avoid the only
will be remembered that the President has since
dismissed the matter with the suggestion that
Mr. Boynton may attain his object before civil
tribunal. -
GEN. BOYNTON, IN HIS LETTER
to the Secretary of War, says that Gen. Sher-
man declines, when this opportunity is offered
him, to ask that the character OF his Memoirs,
over which he forced the pending controversy,
may be submitted to military court, In which
alone they can be effectively tested, and takes
the somewhat novel ground that the "rfghtful
tribunal" to try the specifications relating TO
this branch of the subject Is an army reunion.
Gen. Boynton addS-"On the other hand, the
President, who has the authority to order a
court under such circumstances as attend this
case whether an accused officer does or does not
desire it, has decided that the civil remedies are
ample. That the civil courts are open for the
trial of the crimes of slander and libel Is not
matter of such doubt as to need high official de-
cision. But my attempted proceeding, recog-
nized both by the Judge advocate general and
by Gen. Sherman himself as legal, was for the
military offense Of conduct unbeceming an
officer and gentleman an onense not known
To the civil courts. By the Presidents decision,
no military officer will hereafter inSure his army
standing, at least during the term of this ad-
ministratiOn, by denouncing any citizen through
the public press In language OF the fOuleSt abuse
even though he repeat this language to the Pre-
sident In Official form. Against decision which
fully justifies this construction, as citizen,
most respectfully protest While this decision,
In its terms, is as broad as the army, the high
body OF its officers renders 1t certain that the
Presidents Indulgence win be rarely, II ever
needed by any offfcer below its General"