The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1891-02-20
sHERM AN AND PORTER.
Continued from LIST page

CT cans as Gen. sherman. President Harris
n at once sent a feeling message to congrt
H. saying:
\, No living American was 20 loved and yer
" rated as he. To look upon his face. TO near
y fled. He served his country not FOR fame, n
n out OF sense of professional duty, but Tor 10
y OF the flag and for the beneflccnt civil Insult
s. tons OF which 1t is the emblem. he was I
2, ideal soldier and shared to the fullest the esp
!. du CORPS Of the army, but he Cherished the CIV
institutions organized under tho constitutlo
|. pctuated in undiminlshed usefulness and homo
lie was In nothing an imitator. profoun
J. student of military science ana precedent, J
drew from them PRINCIPLES ana sHgges"Vhn On, II
= campaigns will centinue to be the p,ontao q
9 study Of the military profession throughout u
: world. His genial nature made him cemrae
every soldier of the great Union army. y
= presence was 80 welcome and inspiring AZ "a
: camp. fire of commandery as his. HIS cSree
! was complete; his honors were full.
Gen. Hawley In the senate saio IN" ne was vss.
soldiers OF the world. In time OF peace
had been great either, glowing and abound
! ing with love of country and Of ak human
|ity,Y Senator Morgan said: "Wc differe'
with him and contested campaigns anu oattle
fields with him; but we welcome tDe nistor!
Of the great soldier as the proud inheritance
of our country
r.
ing In to the family by the thousand IRON
every part Of the country. -.
One cruel episode connected with the
event was the noise raised about Catholic
| REST being brought secretly into the house
to administer extreme JUNCTION to the dying
are all Catholics, though be was not. Sena-
| tor Sherman In a noble letter says:
Certainly If had been present would at the
request Of the family have assented to and rev
erentiy shared In an appeal to the Almighty Tor
whether called prayer or extreme JUNCTION,
and whether uttered by priest or preacher,
or any other good man who believed what he
We all need charity for our frallties. but can
feel none for any one who would wound those
already in distress.
VIM. Tecumseh Sherman came from a
family of long distinction, and one that like
the Adames, the Washburns and several
others shows the power of brains In Ameri.
can life. Roger Sherman Of Connecticut was
of one branch of 1t. The father of the sena-
tor and general was judge Of the Ohio Su.
preme court, who was collector of the port
of New Haven under Monroe and being
ruined by the defacation of deputy went
west TO seek his fortune anew. But he was
poor though distinguished and when he died
leaving family of eleven children, the family
b al to be broken up and William was adopt.
ed and brought up by Gen. Thomas Ewing,
a notable statesman Of that day who secured
for the boy at West Point. Will
liam graduated there IN 1910 sixth in a class
Of AZ. was sent to Florida as a lieutenant of
artillery and saw the end of theSeminOe war
Shortly after, at the beginning of the Mex.
lean war, Sherman was sent to California by
way of the Horn, and acted as adjutant to
sifer F. Smith. 1t was he who sent the first
courier to the war department with
of the discovery Of gold. He re.
turned East In 1850 and married Ellen Boyle.
daughter of his early patron Thomas Ewing,
who was then secretary OF the interior 10
President Taylor's cabinet. In 1858 he re.
signed his commission and went to San
Louis clearinghouse of Lucas, Turner & Co..
which rode through the great stress OF 1850,
but in 1857 1t discontinued business and Sher.
man returned to New York, still In connec
ion with the banking company, and year
alter went to Kansas, where, having studied
aw somewhat, he was admitted to the bar.
lot after an examination but on the ground
II his general Intelligence, But he was soon
lfter appointed superintendent of the new
Louisiana military academy,a position which
le held only about year and resigned be-
;aCse of the approaching war His letter to
Gov. Moore shows the patriotism that ami
mated his whole career:
Recent events i0re6nauOW great change, and |
i becomes all men to choose. If Louisiana
withdraw from the federal Union, | prefer to |
maintain my allegiance to the constitution as |
ong as a fragment OF 1t survives, and my long |
stay here would be wrong in every sense of the
yorl :. l beg you to take immediate
teps to relieve me, for on no earthly account
viii do any act or think any thought hostile
o or in defiance of the United States.
AS soon as hostilites broke out he offered
lis services, was May 10, 1861 commissioned
ooneI of the regulars, took part creditaby
u the first Bull Run, was promoted to be
rigader. was transferred to the west, won
at Shiloh, Vicksburg and Chica-
1auga, relieved Burnside at Knoxville in
1868, and In January, 1864, COM
handed the Meridian expedition for the de-
truction of rebel stores and railroads, then
,as assigned to command of the Mississippi
vision and of the armies of the Cumberland
nder Gen. Thomas, the Tennessee under !
en- Mcpherson and the Ohio under Gen $
chofeld, and planned and carried out the {
tlanta campaign and the March to the Sea
! which his military renown chiefly rests.
he campaign preceding The fall of Atlanta, e
which Gen. Joe Johnston faced him, was \
'obable the finest exhibition of military C
fence In all history. Johnston bad much a
e smaller army, but the advantage of int. Q
Or lines. He fell back step by step, warily Il
atchiDg all the time 10 catch the pursuer II
BIO was chasing him into his country, at a
anu Iell upon niih' week aIter q
eek, this chess-board like strategy continued d
d both the commanders have since borne h
stimony that each was unable to outwit or e
tmaneuyre the other at any point. At At "
lta the dashing Hood succeeded the eau Il
us Johnston, the city fell, and Hood, fol. Il
wing one Of JEFF Davis strange military It
lions, struck off up into Tennessee, leav. b
: the way through Georgia opento Sherman II
10 promptly improved the opportunity "
,ich he had long been planning for, left al
lomas to crushingly defeat Hood at Nash ID
lie, and marched 800 miles to Savannah In
days, living on the land, and capturing n,
1t important city, with great quantity of q,
ton and some supplies of war. The re-
taken with what 1t demonstrated, "
, exhaustion of the resources Of the COR
leracy, looks now to have been very sim
thing, but at the time there were plenty >!
good critics who thought 1t ruinOus, q dis n
ard, In abandoning any base of supplies 10 nl
heart of an enemy's country, of all the &
es Of the war, and sure to result In the de- A
uction of the army. So 1t would II the %
nfederacy had been In full vigor. As 1t 81
s the conception showed Sherman's genius sc
penetrating beyond the surface of things, re
the execution with the destruction of the In
{ stores of the C0nfederacy made its rain re
vitable. In the beginning of the war Sher- ID
N was the only military maa In the country
o could appreciate the dimensions of the rt- Of
lion, he warned the administration that 1t be
! going to be no three-months' war; and be dc
scented plan for the western campaign, or
ing for 100000 men whi.h be said would an
indispensable and which the event proved wi
be. These admonltlons and these plans
re characterized as ''insane" BY the war te,
artment and ~ the early years Of the war IN,
title OF crazy actuahy chung 10 Sherman, So
atty reta-ding bis advancement. de
rom Savannah he Immediately planned to lar
rch through the CaroliDas northward, and ws
cooperate with him Gen. Schofield and his :
e were sent to Goldsboro, n. T.. Sherman