The morning call., 1891-03-08
Life Of the Hero Who Led The March
From Atlanta to the Sea.
BE HAD A REMARKABLE MEMORY.
Where Howard and Sherman First M8t-Al III
Giielt Illustrating General SheTnalS
Powers Of Endurance "A wonderful
Milt-Well Informed On all Subjects
He Was a Man WHO Never MfdititGd the
Doing Of q Wrong Thing.

In letter to the New York World Gen
eraI o. o. Howard pays the following tro-
ute TO the late General Sherman:
When l first knew General sherman he
was as welcomed as model cadet at
West Point or Annapolis His head was
more noticeable tlan the rest Of his body
His high forehead. clear eye with sandy
hair and ruddy complexion allied him at
once to the Anglo-Saxon type. His step
was strong and quick, and an energy Of
action marked him in a high degree even up
10 his last sickness at Il years of age.
He once remarked that he preserved his
health by simple living, eating principally
meat and bread. never trusting to condl-
ments and dressing for an appetite. Though
he attended many festivities and partici-
pated in hundreds Of public dinners, yet he
was always careful in his diet; he evidently
had taken pains all his life to preserve a
strong and vigorous body, which lie might
well do building as he did upon superb
constitution, the inheritance OF a grand
parenTage.
AS Illustrating his powers of endurance,
we now call to mind tile bloody and pro-
longed work on the field Of Shiloh; the
almost unendng toll and Reconnaissance.
marching, watching and lighting Of Vicks-
burg; the rapid fall campaign, gathering his
army il the Mississippi Valley, and pushing
it thence through a series Of untold hard
ships and exposure on to Chattanooga; the
struggle for the rocky, inaccessible heights
at the north end of Missionary Ridge; the
Immediate day and night exposure and toll
of hundred miles to Knoxville and back;
and, while others were resting, the return to
VickSburg, and the conducting Of winter
campaign to Meridian, Miss, and back to
VickSburg Bluffs; the regatherlnE OF his
hosts; the assuming OF q new command near
Chattanooga; the combining OF the three
armies or parts OF them, in front OF
Dalton and the more than hundred
days marching hither ana thltheT, with
battle after battle III close conjunction with
his enteTpTising enemy, Joseph h johnson
his taking Of Atlanta; his pursuit OF Hood,
who partially turned him back Tor another
100 miles; his march from Atlanta TO
Savannah, and his almost immediate march
a campaign much more trying, much
harder Of execution and more prolonged
through the swamp> Of the Caro!lnas on to
the hnal couSuHmatiOn at Bentonville.
These works, OF which he was the head, re-
Quired on his pant tremendous physical
strength. No railway coach, steamer,
ambulance or easy carriage ever was used
by MIN TO relieve Tie physical work. Rough
riding and long continued on the back Of
horse or mule, carried him through those re-
markable days. Who cannot see that he
had a constitution, a develop ment, phys
ical structure. full Of health and unhagging
energy
A WONDERFUL MIND.
When we touch upon the subject Of Sher-
mans intelligence we find 4 mind illumi-
mated and wonderfully expanded, and yet
unique in all its parts. few days since
noticed that Chauncey NJ. Depew, who has
been so intimately associated with General
Sherman in New \ oTk, said IN substance
that he had never met a man with more
active and well-replenished mind.
As to perception, so far as eXternals are
concerned, l never knew an officer in the
field who more quickly took IN the tOpO-
gTaphy Of a country, and when once mas
tered it always remained in his mind as
precise and detailed mapping OF the sltua-
ton In Studies whether you tried him on
the subject Of finance, mathematics, the
camp and garrison equipage, or TatiOns for
an army, scientific studies, Ike geology or
mueTalOgy, Ills observation was clear and
keen. His perception OF differences and
contrasts never failed him. ! hardly think
that as a cadet at West Point, business
nan in California, au instructor in Louis
lana, an officer of the old army General OF
volunteers, OF as the lead OF the regular es-
tabishment, OF when aiding the projection
of the Pacific Railway, any problem was
ever presented to his ardent mind that was
not sooner or later properly and completely
solved, and generally, unless there WAS
extraordinary detail, solved with unsual
celebrity.
Once was near General Sherman at At
lanta. He had great many plans tor diff
fereut objects and different bodies Of troops,
and which he was just then about TO put
into execution, when suddenly they were all
interrupted by an unexpected flank move
ment OF the Confederate General Hood. /
found that he had anticipated what was IN
expected by others, and he said to- me at
once, II will wait. II Hood passes a GER
tain point, turn my whole army back upon
hun, except one corps under General Slocum,
which shall be left TO hold Atlanta.
SHERMAN on HORSEBACK.
II we cunliHe ourselves for a moment to
the mental application of this maa, there is
perhaps 10 better illustration Of IL than that
given in General Grants phrase sherman
bones all day on his horse" es Tor hours
on that Carolina campaign have noticed
him with his horse going almost at Will,
diminishing or increasing his speed accord
ing to his fancy, while his master would
lean his head forward and be silent for long
periods of time, evidently intensely apply
ing himself to some problem steadily held
before his mental gaze.
When We remark the organizing power we
can best test it by results. l do not think
that General Sherman, keen as he was in
observation, always read men who were
near at hand as well as Napoleon did; but
his confidence in those that he chose, his
strong personal magnetism and his ability
to impart quickly and accurately his ideas,
often in graphic fUrm, illumined other
minds, and lifted some men that would
have been mediocre into places Of compaIa-
tive success. No one excelled him in ener-
giving those whom he chose to aid him.
Perhaps the most remarkable quality Of
his mental makeup was his marvellous
memory. Probably ut the close OF the war
he could call 500 officers by name. lie had
learned rapidly from youth to manhood,
ana he appeared to have forgotten nothing
that lie had ever learned His quarter
master, Easton, went to him for the solution
of transportation problems as 10 a written
authority. In ten minutes he would demon
strate to his Chief Commssary the number
Of rations that would support his different
armies for week or a month. he was APP
parenty abreast Of the great engineer,
Granville NJ Dodge, in train running,
brIdge-buiidlng ana railroad construction.
lie was little ahead Of the Confederate
Hood in all his quick CORES pondence in
VOlYlDg the laws OF war and Of rdtOns,
and whenever General Blair and myself
came to him to decide Between us upon some
historical point awakened by our prox-
unity in the CarOlinas to an old Revolu-
tionary battlefield, Sherman had it at his
tongues end, and, whatever the difference,
we happily bowed to his decision This in-
dicates fundamental requirement and ex-
tTaordinary memory.
sHERMAN's PROPHETIC VISION.
NV friend named prophetic vision"
Surely General Sherman manifested that
early in his career. He saw the conflict be-
fore 1t came and he measured its proper
tioas ard predicted what came to pass 1t
was that wonderful viyidness in trunping
I'D things 10 come, what would succeed and
what would fail, aud telling it with plain
ness, That caused tile Cincinnati Commercial
10 call him crazy. II was great shame. but
when his prophecies began to be realized
and prove themselves true the minor proph-
els became like those of Baal and dlsap
peared. Sherman triumphed over them, for
he fUretOld the Simple truth.
His power Of expression has always stood
him well in hand. From the President TO
the humbest companion-in-arms who was
associated with him there has been joy and
refreshment.
Sometimes, as with almost all men who
are frank and free in speech, he would
dOubtess say things that might better have