National Republican., 1880-08-09
HANCOCK VS.. SHERIDAN.
TWO Methods OF Dealing With Rebel Sym.
pathizeFs.
What u Onion officer Saw While Serving
with the Army at Win
chester, Va.
A RcmlnI,ccnoe nf thc yYnr.

a "Reminiscences of the War.
An ex.union officer, who has resided in Win
chester since the war, writes TO q comrade in
this city as follows:
| WINCHESTER, VA, August 4, 1880.
DEAR CoLoNEL: 1t Is so long since any Of
u3 here have heard from you that made up my
mind you were out of the country. l am al.
uost the only one of tho old regiment left in
Winchester, and to tell you Gods truth there
is not much encouragement for u northern
man to stay here. You ask me II my recol.
lection is clear In regard TO Hancock's treat
meut of tho union people here, as compared
with Sherdau's2
We'll, / should say IL was. You see our
regiment was about the first to enter Winches
ter, and hi of q place it was. Alexandria
WAS bad enough you know but Winchester
was worse. ii was secosh from one end TO
tho other, the women being meaner aud more
insulting than the meu. All the best of the
men were in the secesh army, and the women
bad things pretty much their own way.
When they met union officer on the side
walk they had n way of picking up their
petticoats and holding pocket handkerchiefs
totheir delicate noses. | was iusulted in that way
by them many n time, but felt that they didn't
know any better, and took no notice of 1t.
good many of these seccsh women havn't got
. cured of their bad manners when they meet
northern man to this day. The worst of 1t
was that somo Of them were attractivc-had
good looks, you know--aud our young officers
used TO mako themselves spoouy over thom.
1t used 10 make mo feel good when these
seccsl girls would snub our spoony
young lieutonants who had a day or
, two before complimcnted them with presents.
Phil Sheridan put an end 10 all that kind Of
nonsense. Less courting and more fighting,
said Sheridan. You remember that he told
7 General Torbert TO so out and whip the id
c rebels or get whipped himself Then he told
= Merritt TO take all those young gentlemen who
were making themselves much too agreeable
with the secesh women with him on u raid up
0 the Luray valley and give them an oppor'
G tunity to kill the encmy's troops or get
/ killed themselves. We had been foolng with
o tho rebels so long and had been so afraid we
c should hurt thom that they got falso notions
4 into their heads All this sort of thing
Y changed, "a you know whom Sheridan camo
@ he made IL lively for tho sccesh people. Ho
s not only whipped them in the field, but he
S made them who stayed at homo take back seats.
: am afraid you will say am getting away
b from my subject colonel. When we entered
!. Winchester, us / said before, our reception
@ was anything but agreeable. Some OF the
3 secesh women on meeting our officers, in addi-
Q tion to pulling their pottcoats tight about
I their ankles and holding their noses, would
cross to the other side of the street. You could
chester op tho fingers of ono of your hands
The most prominent of these were the family
of Mr.. Charles Meredith and the Gnns. There
IS was Mrs. Charles Meredith, God bless hor, as
>, plucky and trne u little woman as ever
, breathed the breath Of life, Her elegant home
" was always open to our officers, and she was
IT kind alike 10 both officers aud men. Then
/. there was Jennie Meredith and the other More
s. dith girls, all ouspofen and kind friends Of
s. our army and ready to share their last meal
9 with us or to watch at the bedside of q
l. wounded soldier Sheridan's first act OH talk
d ing command at Winchester was to find out
/, tho union families, call on them and inquire
k what he could do for them Plain, simple and
@ democratic In his manner he made himself
l. | perfectly at home in the houses of the union
Il families have named; would dine with them,
II aud sup with them, and share their enjoy
y ments Of an evening lie wanted by this eX'
= ample, to impress upon his officers tho neces-
}. sity Of encouraging the union sentiment Of the
o town. Ills headquarters, plain aud simple,
N but spacous. We're always open to the union
v families Of the place, whom he never failed TO
n encourage by word and deed. He sat down
g hard on the secesh people, and made them
talso back seats, and gave front seats TO the
union people.
When Hancock came the democratic char
N acter of things Sheridan had maintained
changed all at once. The fact of it Is, Han
cock is pretty large-sized nabob. His head
T. quarters at onco assumed an exclusive, an
h., aristocratic air. If an ordinary man like me
A. reached him at all it had to be with his hat in
N his hand. That sort Of thing might do In the
d old country, but in this there Is nothing
d august about q general, even as great gen
70 eral as Hancock. He had two scntinels at his
a headquarters, and the officers Oh his staff were
n as peacockish US the general himself. Worse
l. than that ho very soon made tho union fam
l. lilies OF Winchester understand that they were
II not In favor ut his court / am sure | state
10 only what Is true when l say lie never dark
l. ened one OF their doors. If you wrto to Mrs.
s. Charles Meredith she will put you right
k about that On the contrary, he took the
k aged them by his attentions that there was no
A. doing nything with them. He gavo them
rs front seats and made union people take
l. back seats, or none at ALL lie did
that uudcr the mistaken notion that he
was conuiiating, as ho called it,, the pe0'
plo no had whipped so badly. Can't con-
II ciliate these secesh people. There Is where
=, Hancock made his mistake. They don't know
what ConCilHtiOu meSns, and mistake IL for
- cowardice on our part. II wus amusing to
g. hear these people say what Gn elegant gen.
~ tleluan and spendid.lOolsing man General
II Hancock was-so different from that monster
% Phil Sheridan. Tho real difference between
IL them was that while one cOuntenanced aud
20 encouraged union people the other counte'
,. nancod aud encouraged rebels aud filled their
Is heads with mistaken MOTIONS OF Ihclt own
superiorty, Why, colonel, these peoples
heads arc just as full of couceit now as they
were when tho war began, aud l sometimes
D think they would enjoy another war, oven
=. If IL did cost thom us good u threAhing as
:, they got before. As you know fought all
' through the war aud have lived in this val
IS ley ever since, but am not going to vote for
+, Hancock or any other ruNed,shrt general
ID of tho democratic persuasion. No such tahy
r as that for me-
y Now, colonel, isn't there just little too
r much of tho ludicrOus in this thing2 l mean
N this huwahing aud throwing up Of hats on
l. the part OF tho rebels for the man who IN
yaraby whipped them2 Well, let EN- hur-
rail- Yours truly, FIRST NEW YORK.
~ The DnghawuyB,
o The Dishaways held their regular meeting
/. AZ Talmadge hall last night. The speakers
s. one aud all, seemed to eudeayor to exceed
= themselves II such thing were possible, in
~ eoquence and appeals for signors to the pledge
i; 4. f.,,,.s mara nlaAa W 1ulue II u ll1lln.