The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-28
The Hero of the March to the Sea De.
fends Himselfia a Long Statement.
An Address Which Was to Have Been Deliy-
cred Before the Loyal Legion, but Was
Postponed Because of Hancocks Death.
Fry Bitterly Denounced for Making Use
of Private Correspondence.
He Asserts His Loyalty to Grant, Grumbles at
the Papers. and Submits All the Corre-
Spondence to the Eye of the Public.
SHERMAN TO FRY.

SHERMAN TO FRY.
The Latter Denounced as Forger, and
Almost Called q Thief
New YORK. Feb. 27-The North American
Review for March contains the letter from Gen.
Sherman to Colonel Scott. which was the basis
of the controversy with General Fry, preceded
by an address which was intended to be deliv-
cred before the Loyal Legion at Cincinnati, but
General Sherman says that the sudden and un-
expected death of Gen. w. S. Hancock, the
evening previous. changed the whole character
of the proceedings. The address is as follows:
To my comrades and friends: Whilst seek re-
tirement and peace, the newspapers take great
liberties with me, as with every body else. They
have published that my family will soon leave
st. Louis because we are discontented, each pa
per assigning its own separate reason. There is
no secret about it; all my family connections
and all who have right to be consulted, under
stand the cause perfectly; Ever since the
failure of the Harrison Wire Company, at
st. Louis, which involved my son-in-law
Captain Fitch, and which has resulted in the
removal of his family to Pittsburg we have been
disturbed. Three of my children and seven
there remain to us only three. OF these, the
youngest son, nineteen years old, on whom the
the family must soon depend, will graduate at
st. Louis University in June, 1856; he wants to
20 to Yale College, and | want him to receive the
bestpossible education. His going to New Haven.
in September, will probably result in the few Of
us left going to New York, to be near him. I
shall, however, retain all the property possess
in St. Louis, not much, to be sure, but all T.
have to leave the family when am laid in the
ground. / am perfectly content with my neigh
bors and friends of St Louis, to whom am.
very much attached. and who have done all they
possibly can to make ourstay with them agree
able.
The Fry matter is equally simple when viewed
Alright. Last summer after General Grants
funeral. which l attended. while travelling be-
tween New York, ST. Louis and Chicago, was
collecting matter for the tribute of respect which
/, as president, was required to make TO the
memory of General Grant, our first commander,
before the Society of the Army of the Tennessee,
at our meeting at Chicago on Sept. 9-l0. That
address was universally noted, copied in
all the journals of the day. and was
the result of that correspondence The special
quotation of General Fry in the December
number of the North American Review was not
made from that public address, but from one or
two private letters of inquiry addressed to COL
Robt N. Scott, who had been on General Hal
leck's staff and is now in charge of the war rec
ords at Washington. of whom all army officers
make frequent inquiries for scraps Of informa-
tion. Colonel Scott is a personal friend whom
I have known since boyhood, and his
and 1 wrote to him with the same
confidence I would to my own brother
about family matters. keep no copies of such
letters, and write mine hastily and carelessly,
and it was only on Jan. % two months after,
that / obtained from Colonel Scott copy Of the
correspondence from which Fry had made his
quotation. This correspondence presents the
whole story better than can state it anew. AS
soon as General Fry's article appeared, General
Grants friends called my attention to it. and my
1atfar.hoOk OP retaiuinO M
sion of opinion positive as that used,
naturally requested the editor to ascertain
from General Fry the source of his quotation.
that might explain or ascertain who had rifed
my private letters. General Fry's answer was
evasive. calling on General Sherman to deny the
words and the ''sen timent" before he would SUBJ
stantate his statement. again called on him,
and appealed to the War Department. without
success generally explaining to correspond
ents that I thought it impossible could
have used that particular form Of expression,
and believed that Gen. Fry had nal cious mo-
tive. received, tso late, a notice, by round
about way, from gentleman of Cincinnati,
that Fry was cunningly laying trap to catch
me, and it was not till Jan. 20 that Col.
Scott himself first revealed TO me the actual
source of this mischievous paragraph. Detached
and nsed as text. 1t was as clear a forgery as
was ever perpetrated Taking my letter to Col.
never meant for publication, con-
tend it is eminenty consistent with
my constant friendship for General
Grant, from Shiloh TO the day we deposited his
remains in the tomb at Riverside. The date,
Sept G. 1855. is prior to the publication Of
Grants Memoirs in which, on page 385, he
positively records that his position at Corinth,
in June, 1862, had become so unbearable' that
he had resolved to go to the rear, and was dis
suaded by General Sherman, OF, quoting
his own words, II then obtained permission,
to leave the department but General Sherman@
happened to call on me as l was about starting;
and urged me so strongly not to think Of going
that concluded to remain" General Sherman,
in his Memoirs" 1875, states tho same fact,
with the further addition that he learned Of Gems
Grants purpose to 60 back TO ST. Louis from
General Halleck, himself, and rode to GeneraII
Grants camp for the very purpose of dissuadingd
him from committing this fatal mistake.
Now, it is matter of notoriety that from Feb
ruary to july 1862, General Grant was under q
cloud bounded by the newspapers and by a
clique of officers, of whom Fry was one, untilye
as he himself says, his position became .'nnbear-
able," and during all that time General Sherman
was his steadfast friend. and discovered in him,
those pure, unselfsh, manly qualities whicis1
afterward yielded such precious fruits to our3
country and mankind Can it. then, be wondered
at, after twenty-four years. that General Sher~
man should be little surprised that the habituak
libeler of General Grant tsee his published VOL ),
ume. 1884, ''The Army Under Buell"). should
attempt to assume the character of Grants pane-
.gyrist at his eypensel He obtains from q con-
fdng friend & private letter. publishes 1t to thei
world garbled, ard makes it text for sermon
to General Sherman, and when politely asked
for the source of his quotation. he answeryj
coolly, Better let the case rest whore it is 81
II he thinks he has achieved cheap newspapers
victory over General Sherman, he is welcomesl
The man who got off with my overcoat may keepS
it, for have bought new one.
Now, my friends. / want 10 direct your atten- |
ton to all there is in this case-''much ado about
nothing" At the date Of that letter. Sept. q. |
there was to be meeting Of the Society of tho
Army of the Tennessee, at Chicago Sept 9-10.l
1885. General Sherman was at Lake Minneton-i
ka. and being summoned by the family OF GEN.
Grant at his death. July %, 1885. went to Mounti
MacGregor and remained till his body was en-j
tombed, Aug. 8, 1885. Compelled TO ,ravelI