Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-11-22
No. l..
THE OLD WAR GENERALS,
Those Now Living and their Present
Pursuits.
Washington Correspondence.


Only eighteen years ago that the re-
bellion closed" said an old army officer to
me the other day, "but the Generals of the
war are fast going out of sight" Then
he went on to say. Meade, Thomas, Gar
field, Hooker, Fitzpatrick, Burnside and
Halleck are dead The next few years
will see that list heightened General
Grant is well on toward 20. He comes to
Washington often, and walks quietly about
the streets, with his cigar in his mouth,
better dressed than when he was President,
and looking as if life agreed with him.
Sherman is GA, and he looks older, but the
family is hardy and he is likely to see
1900. The youngest of all the great lead
ers is Sheridan, now to command the army,
and he is but 81. Sheridan was a Major
General at 80. Fitz-John Porter appears
here every winter, white-haired and
broken in trame-a little old gentleman,
who looks back to twenty-three years of
disgrace. His old commander, Mcclellan,
now rotund man, with bending shoulders,
has not changed much of late. He is rich,
and entertains we'll in his New York city
home, but the activity Of his life is over.
He likes still to tell of his campaigns
Pleasanton, the hero of 100 cavalry fights,
lives quietly here, and can be found any day
reading the papers in one of the offices on
Newspaper row. His hair and mustache
are white, and his voice gentle as a wom-
ans. You can say the same of
Rosecrans, the idol of the Army of the
Cumberland. He and his wife live almost
unnoticed, on Capitol during the time
he spends here attending to his duties as
a California Congressman. His complex
ion is like youths, and his hair, with
military cut white as snow. The man who
commanded 10000 men at Chicamauga
seems abashed at the confusion in Con-
gress, and seldom rises to speak. Generals
Hawley and Logan are the other most dis
tinguished generals in Congress. Both are
81 years old, but neither has gray hair.
General Rosecrans will be reinforced this
winter by an old companion in the West
ern army, General Slocum of Brooklyn. he
has been in Congress before. He served,
believe, four years soon after the close of
the war. General Sickles is practicing law
in New York, and Stoneman is Governor
ofCalifornia. Doubleday, who was in Ft
Sumpter when it was fired upon, lives in
New York, and is writing a book while
Humphreys, Hunter and Crittenden may
where they own fine houses and live hand
somely ON the retired Ii t. Fremont is no
longer rich. He and his wife, Jesse Ben
ton Fremont, are forgotten in crowded
New York. The general whom the
Vermont troops worshipped, Geo.
j. Stannard, with one arm gone
and half dozen wounds, sits up
at the capitol during the session, tending
the door of the members gallery of the
house. The democrats promise that he
shall not be disturbed. He is so inoffen-
sive that the pushing women almost over
power him on the days when crowd
visits the capitol, and yet he sayed the day
at Gettysburg, and fell with three wounds
while leading a forlorn hope at Petersburg.
Mcdowell is on the retired list; Don Carlos
Buell. runs an iron furnace in Kentucky;
Banks is a United States Marshal; Han
cock, Schofeld and Pope are still Major
Generals. out the last or them will retire in
three years. General Howard is at Omaha,
a Brigadier. General Terry is the young
est OF the BrigadieIs who won fame in the
war. With good luck he will succeed
Sheridan in command of the army: Gen
eral Wright, with benevolent face and pa
triarchal beard, has turned from war to
projects of river and harbor improvement.
Gilmore, Parke and Weitzel, once COM
corps and armies, are now in
charge OF lighthouses and Notifications.
Grierson, the famous cavalry general of the
western armies, is broiling in Texas with
the mounted colored regiment which he
commands. They are all getting well on
towards the downward track In ten years
there will not be a general officer of the
war in active life.o