The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-02-15
oESEHAL SIBERIAN Is DEAD.


Not since the death Of General Grant has
the patriotic heart of America been stirred
by deeper and sincerer grief than viii re-
spond to the fateful tidings that the brave,
true and noble spirit Of General Sherman
has passed away to join the bivouac Of the
gallant dead. The last survivor Of the
prominent trio Of our civil war-0rant,
Sherman, Sheridan-is no more.
Without disparagement Of any other, it
may be claimed that among al the promi-
nent generals Of that unhappy conflict, and
among sll Of modern times, for that matter,
Sherman by all military critics is awarded
an honored position in the front rank q
master of high strategy. As , brilliant
example in this line-seldom matched and
never surpassed-impartial history will
transmit to remotest generations an &C
count of his wondrous march "from At
lanta to the sea-" But this, though the
most famous of his achievements, was
rather characteristic than exceptional.
Throughout his long military career,
whether in subordinate or . command
ing position, he was notable for the UNI
varying clearness of his judgment, the
steady balance of his mind and will, his
rapt absorption in the matter then in
hand. If, through all Of his grades Of adj
vancement from sub-lieutenantt to the head
Of the American army there was fieck or
flaw In Shermsn's performance Of military
duty, or failure to make the best of his
opportunities, the records have failed to
show it. In these respects-in the even,
unvarying excellence of his conduct In
every emergency-his rareer has few par
allels in the annals Of history.
But il was not simply % military man
that General Sherman won recognition for
transcendent qualities. The splendor Of
his mental equipment was also manifested
on various occasions when called into the
councils of leading statesmen in connec-
ton with the policy which should control
the government in the difficult task of re-
constructing the lately rebellious and Sc
coded states. On these points he drew
the line broad and clear between generous
forgiveness Of brave but fallen and re-
pentant foe, and mawkish sentimentality
in treating with the arrogant assertion Of
technical rights under strained construc-
ton of the constitution.
General Sherman was perhaps tho only
American who ever failed to reach out his
hand for it, when by doing so he could
have grasped the presidency. That on
more than one occasion he could have had
it for the asking is . familiar fact. But,
on the contrary, when an attempt was
made to tempt him with that high honor
and proud distinction, in the terse phrase
and with the sharp logic which were
among his leading characteristics, he gave
cogent reasons, which none other than he
would have ventured to advance, why he
was not the man for the occasion and
could not accept.
But full justice to General Sherman can
not be rendered by . mere reference to his
grand career as q military chieftain and
his clear, well-balanced comprehension of
public affairs. These were admirably
rounded out by the purity and nobility of
his private and domestic life. His home
attachments were Of the tenderest and
truest, and his home life was ideal in its
happy relations. In all business and social
affairs his honor and integrity were almost
puritanical in their rigidity.
This serves as pleasant reminder that
from first to last, from Washington to
Sherman, all of the heroes whom the
American people have truly revered, have
been not only great on the field Of battle
or in affairs of state, but have been equally
conspicuous for high moral principle, for
business integrity and laudable regard
for domestic virtue. George Washington,
Abraham Lincoln, U. S. Grant and w. T.
Sherman are no less entitled to renown for
their private virtues than for their public
achievements, are no less estimable for
their goodness than for their greatness. In
these respects there is a marked distinc-
ton between the accepted heroes Of Amer
lean history and those of any other coun-
try. As rule, in these latter, greatness
and virtue have seemed incompatible.