Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-09-17
GENERAL SHERMAN ON GRANT.
Words of Love and Praise for the
Dead Hero.
The Father and Creator Of the Army
of the Tennessee.

or the tennessee.
CHICAGO, Sept. "a magnificent aud
fence assembled at Central Music Hall
tonight, when the set orations of the
Army of the Tennessee reunion were de-
livered. The exercises were opened with
prayer by Bishop Fsllows, who was fol
lowed by Governor Richard j. Oglesby,
who delivered glowing tribute to the
deeds of the Army of the Tennessee. He
was followed by General William T.
Sherman. who spoke in substance as fol-
lows: ..
Comrades of the Armyof the Tennessee:
This is our eighteenth annual reunion,
though twenty eventful years have
trsnspired since the close of the war.
need not repeat to you the trite expires
sion that our ranks are growing thinner,
our hair whittier, and that the eyes which
look up to me and which once kin0led
and flashed at the trumpet's sound, now
seem sad, as though envying the fate of
those fine yeung fellows whose joy and
gallant spirits took their flight in the
glorious days, the memories of which we
have come together to celebrate. Though
in war death makes the battlefield his
harvest, yet in peace he insidiously in
vades the most sacred premises, taking
here the innocent, there the gentle, low
ing wife, again the youth in lusty NAM
hood and the king on his throne.
During our last vacation he has striek-
en- from our list of members the very
head and front, General Ulysses S. Grant,
the same whom in the cold winter of
1862 gathered together at Cairo, Ills,
the fragments of an army, and led them
up the Tennessee river. The creator
and father of the Army of the Tennes
see took his final leave of earth at eight
o'clock and eight minutes on the morn>
ing of July 2S, 1885. from Mt McGregor,
a spur of the Alleghenies, in plain view
of the historic battlefield of Saratoga. He
had finished his life's work and had be-
queathed to the world his example. The
lightniDg's flash carried the sad tidings
to all parts of the civilized earth, and L
doubt whether since the beginning there
ever arose SO spontaneous wal! of grief
to bear testimony before a high heaven
that mankind had lost kindred spirit.
and his countrymen leader. We, his
first war comrades, concede to the famir
ly their superior rights, but claim the
next place in the grand procession of
nourners. We were with him in his
days of adversity as well as prosperity,
and were as true to him as the needle to
the pole We shared with him the trials
and tribulation, as well as labors and
battles of Henry, of DOnelsOn, Shiloh,
Corinth, Iuka, and Vicksburg, when that
transcendent and most valuable of all
victories turned the universal gaze of
our bewildered countrymen to the new
star" in the west which plainly foretold
the man who had dispelled the cloud
which lowered DER our house" and was
to lead US to the triumphant victories of
1865. and to the staple, enduring pros
perity of 1885. Hundreds, yea thousands,
of busy brains and pens are now trying
to comprehend and describe this man
who did so much in so short time, to
trace the mysterious causes of his won
derful career, and to account for known
results. They look to US who were his
daily associates in that critical epoch to
aid them in their commendable work,
and as your President, must on this oc-
casion contribute share.
General Sherman, in speaking of Grant
at West Point, called attention to the
fact that his real name was Ulysses Hi
ram Grant, but through inadvertency he
was entered as U. S. Grant. The speaker
continued:
"His reputation in the Fourth infan
try, in which be served through the
Mexican war and until he resigned his
commission of captain in Oregon, July
81, 1854, was of good, willing officer,
always ready for duty, extremely social
and friendly with his fellows, but in no
sense conspicuous, brilliant or manifest
ing the wonderful qualities afterward
developed in him. 1 did not meet him
after 1857 until the civil war had broken
ont, when chaos seemed let loose and
the gates of hell wide open in every di-
rection. Then came the news of General
Grants attack on the enemy's camp at
Belmont on November Z, 1861, soon folr
lowed by the event at Columbus, Padu-
cab, Henry and Donelson, all so simple,
so direct, so comprehensive that their
effect on my mind was magical. They
raised the dark curtain which before
had almost hidden out all hope for the
future, and displayed the policy and
course of action necessary only to be fol-
lowed with persistence to achieve ultir
mate success. Great as were his achieve
ments, shall ever rate those of Henry
and Donelsen among the best yet. By
one of those accidents so common in war
he had incurred the displeasure of his
superior, General Halleck, whom then
esteemed as the master mind, ruling and
directing the several armies subject to
his orders from his headquarters in st.
Louis, so that when. in March, 1852, l
was permitted to take the field from Pa
ducah with q new division, 1 found Gen.
Grant at Fort Henry under orders from
General Halleck to remain there and
turn over the command of his army, then
flushed with victory under his immedi-
ate leadership, to General c. F. Smith,
hin nnxt In rank IL so hapnanAd that