The National tribune., 1885-01-01
LITTLE AND GREAT.
Grant, Sherman, Sheridan - Fort
Monroe. Not Fortress Monroe.
BY WILLIAM HOWARD MILLS, LATE U. 8. A.

BY WILLIAM HOWARD MILLS LATE U. 8. A.
The difference between little and great SOL
dlers-was very great
What old soldier does not remember the
| bombastic. gorgeous Second Lieutenant, who
came to the front late in the war, expecting to
be successful in gaining command of the
armies in the field, as he had been in gaining
his appointment through political preferment?
He was mats for the enlisted men, who had
served from tie first. and was generally cracked
when he least expected.
The names of the gallant Mcpherson, the
| intrepid and hattle-winning Thomas, "the
superb Hancock, ,""Old Rosey," the handsome,
solderly Wright, Fighting Joe" Hooker,
Meade Sedgwick, Mansfield, the modest Slo-
cum.-but the list is long, and the reader can
continue it at pleasure,-stand high upon the
| scroll Of history.
Who that saw him, can forget Gen. Grant at
| Fort Henry, Donelson, Vicksburg, Wilderness,
| Spottsylvania, the explosion at City Point, and
on the day before and the morning of April 8,
1867
On that day his uniform was old and seedy; he
was minus sash, belt and sword, wore slouch
| hat, pants tucked in his boots and was covered
with the red mud of Virginia from head to
foot as he rode rapidly from one point to an
other
Apparently, he was oblivious to the presence
! of his loyal legions and wrapped in the
deepest thought. At one time, during the
campaign, us he rode past the Regu-
lars of the Fifth Corps and they chcercd
him-they never cheered until victory was
won-he turned in his saddle toward the men
whose devotion he had reason to know, and
sr,led-just little satisfied smile, as if TO say
Thank you !"-and away he went.
Gen. Lee was one of the greatest Gen.
erals the war produced; but contrast the
| difference between Grant and Lee at Appomat-
tox. IL would have read better in history, had
Grant met the disappointed Lee with little
mere style about him, but style was not what
! he had been working up Who that has talked
with him in latter years Of the part he took in
the war, but admires his simplicity and mag
ranimity in giving the credit to the officers
and men who fought under him?
| Who can say he is not-as / say he is,
| judging him as men are judged by their
| deeds-the greatest General who ever lived? :?
He had no Waterloo! Would that he could
| know what the historian, who writes after the
participants in the great struggle have all
passed away, will say of him as soldier, states
man and citizen.
| All honor to him, for having lately declined
pension of S5.0o0a year which Congress would
have conferred upon him. At the call Of the
people, he surrendered the place of all others
| his heart desired - that of General of
the Army-to serve the people as President.
| Upon the expiration of his second term, the
people should have returned to him. as nearly
| as possible, that they deprived him of. He
should have been Immediately placed upon the
retired list as a General, with all the pay and
emoluments of the Office
The dear old man-not so very old, either
has been unfortunate Of late. First, he fell
and sustained an exceedingly painful injury
worse than the breaking of limb-in the
breaking of muscle of the thigh. For long
time he was confined to his bed. Then his
life blood was nearly sapped by bols. Next
came that terrible veteran eXcruciator neu-
ralgia.
The enemy of all soldiers rheumatism, then
undertook to beat at home, the man who had
never been beaten upon the battlefield.
He has the sympathy of the entire Nation;
but the entire Nation should do more than
sympathize-it shoutd piece him upon The retired
list Of the Army unanimously and at once.
George Washington was appointed Lieuten-
ant-General and Conmanderin Chief of the
Army (which title was superseded by Act of
March 3 1888, directing I" that the Commander
| of the Army of the U. S. shall be commissioned
by the style of General of the Armies of the
u. S.'")--after he had served two terms as
President-Juy g. 1898, and served until his
death, Dec. a. 1899.
Then, there is the great and magnificent
Sherman the first and only man who compre-
hended the greatness of the struggle we were
engaged III at an early day, unless Gen. Ma
thaniel Lyon be excepted. Gen. Lyon was
without doubt, at the time of his death, the
greatest General the war had produced There
is no knowing what he might have attained to-
had he not met an untmcly death-had he not
been sacrificed to incompetency.
Who that ever fought under the impetuous
dashing, fiery, crowding, victorious Sheridan has
ceased to love him? Upon all proper occasions
he got down from his high horse" and
m w hn
him; thus showing his appreciation of their
deeds, and that, though far above them in rank
in sympathy he was lot greater than the least
among them.
Speaking of Sheridan, reminds me Of a diff
ference that once existed between another ex-
army officer and myself, as to the official des-
ignation of Fort Monroe, which is printed in
the steamboat-posters Of the day and almost
universally spoken of, as Fortress Monroe"
We were one day together in the office
of the Leutcnant-Gcneral at the War De-
partment, and l asked him the official desig-
nation of "the works at Old Point Comfort"
when he sent for, and gave me, a copy Of the
following order:
HEADQUARTERS THE ARMY,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL's OFFICE
WASHINGTON, February 8, 1892
Order No. II. lhN'fac'I
l. 1t is the order of the Secretary of War that all
the Military Posts designated as Cl,,tonments ne
hereafter called Forts, and that the works at Old
Point Comfort be called Fort Monroe and not For
tress Monroe.
By order of MajorGencral Aacomb
r. JONES
Adjuant- General
Below which he wrote:
1t was called Fortress Monroe from 1919 TO 1892
p. II. SHERIDAN,
Lieutenant General
Congress ought to pass the bill introduced
last session and make the Lieutenant-Gene
General, as he fairly and honestly won the
distinction, not only at the head Of his gal
liant cavalrymen over and over again-at Five
Forks, at Appomattox-but by his impetuosity
and successful success, on every field where en-
gagged.
Kilpatrick's Dash Around Atlanta.
To THE EDITOR VIM. w. Watkins's letter
is splendid. / am glad to see some one that has
courage enough to speak up in behalf of our
grand old comrade and brave commander.
Comrade Watkins is, however, mistaken in the
regiment that went south Of Jonesboro 1t
was the bloody Sd Ind. that went to Bear Creek
Station, and was to join the command at Jones'
boro, but the rebs countermanded the order,
and we made our way back TO Sandtown safely.