The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-11-06
GENERAL P. Fl. SHERIDAN.
How the New Chief
Looks, Acts and Dresses.
RumOr that Secretary FOIger Will Be Nom
mated Judge of the Court of
CIaims-Capital Notes.
THE HEAD OF THE ARMY.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Sheridan in His ONCE
How He Dresses and Looks.

Lieutenant-GeneralS Sheridan in His Office
How He Dresses and Looks.
Washington Letter.
General Sheridan took possession of the
office as commandments of the armies
of the United States yesterday. 1 found him
this morning in the seat so lately occupied
by bluff Tecumseh Sherman. 1t is one of
the best rooms in the War Department build
ing. 1t looks out upon Pennsylvania
avenue, just across from Corcoran's art gal
lery, and from it's east windows you have a
good view of the White House grounds The
room is large and it is hung with oil paint
ings of western views the taste of Sherman,
who liked nothing better than life on the
plains. The General sits at desk in the east
end of the room, and Sheridan was sitting
there as 1 entered to-day. Sheridan
looks much more like a soldier than
Sherman He is very erect, though short
and fat, and his air is martial and command
ing. He dresses better than Sherman, and
looks as though he took more care of his per-
sonal appearance. He has a large face, a
broad full forehead, and fat cheeks of dark
red. He wears no beard, but his mustache
gray and well-trimmed is decidedly hand
some He is by no means bad-looking man
brave look, and though his face bears many
wrinkle, as though much care had devolved
upon him, it is a very pleasant one. His
eyes form its chief characteristic. They are
gray, small, and as sharp as a needle. They
seem to look right through you, and they
always look right at you when he is talk
ing. They show you that they have a
soul behind them, and if their owner
is angry they can, as the blood and
thunder novel says, glare with look of
baeful hate. General Sheridan has short,
stiff gray hair, smoothly combed. broad
shoulders, and short heavy legs. He would,
l think, look bigger on horseback than on
foot, and doubt not that as a calvary COM
mander he presented a very striking appear
anoe.
Both Sheridan and Sherman are good ex-
amples of self-made men. Sheridan is espe-
cially so. His father was you know, Cath
Ollie Irishman in Perry county, O., and Phil.
learned to work as soon as he learned to eat
potatoes. His father, L am told, worked on
the road, and young Sheridan used to drive
sprinkling cart through the streets OF the lit
tie town OF Somerset when he was hardly old
enough to hold the lines. As he got older he
did odd chores about the neighborhood, and
when he arrived at the age of twelve,
he became a clerk in John Tai
bots store. 1t was like the usual coun-
try store of those days-everythin was
sold, and dry goods, groceries and hardware
were dealt out over the same counter.
While working here little Phil. got to know
the member of Congress from the district,
and he, liking the boy, procured an appoint
ment for him at West Point AT West Point
Sheridan, from all accounts, was a pretty
wild boy. He was a good enough scholar
and he studied hard enough, but he got into
so many fights and was so full of deviltry
generally, that it took him five years instead
of four to get through. Among his class
mates were General Mcpherson and General
John NJ. Schofield, as we'll as Sill and Terrill,
and Hood of the confederate army. Sheri-
dan was twenty-five years old when he grad
uated His first service was in Texas and
Oregon, where he stayed two years. He next
went among the troops guarding the In
dams and served here until the opening of
the rebellion, at which time he was holding
the rank of captain. When the war broke
out he was appointed colonel, and at Stone
River rose to the rank of major-general.