The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1891-02-19
GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN:


figure intke Great American Con-
fict.
His was brilliant, cratic,
bold, reckless war genius, and he
contributed more than any other
Federal General to the conquest
of Southern arms and the de
struction of our military resour-
ces.
General Sherman was the only
military man at the North who
comprehended at the beginning
the magnitude of the undertaking
and the Secretary of War, in the
fall of 1861, gave out that he was
crazy, for having submitted a
plan for the prosecution of the
war, calling for three hundred
thousand troops. He insisted,
from the first that the South
could only be defeated by the
plan of campaign that his march
through Georgia, South and
North Carolina finally concluded.
The cadet appointment he re-
ceived to West Point, when a boy,
was intended for his brother
John, the Senator, the member
of congress securing it having
confounded their names He
was transferred. from Charleston
harbor Notifications, 1913, to the
Pacific coast in the height of the
gold fever in California. In 1850
he was sent to Washington bear
er of dispatches to President
Taylor, and there married the
daughter of Secretary Ewing, OF
the Interior.
Resigning from the army here
turned to San Francisco as the
managing partner in a successful
banking house. During his resi-
dence there occurred thegreat con
4ict between the State author
tiles and Vigilance Committees,
in which he rendered signal SER
vice to the authorities in restor-
ing law and order.
After quitting California, Gen
eral Sherman was chosen by the
State of Louisiana for the head
of her Military Seminary, at
Alexandria, where he remained
until the Summer of 1861, when
he resigned, went to ST. Louis
and took charge of the street car
system, declaring that he had no
sympathy with the feelings or
the men of either side, who had
brought on the war, and that he
would take no part in it. In the
fall of 1861, he was conmisioned,
unsolicited, Major General, and
offered high command in the
Western Army, land was prevailed
upon to accept. From that time
he was III active command in the
field until the surrender of Gener-
al Johnston to him at Greensbo-
70, in May, 1866.
Many Southern people who fell
in the way OF General Sherman
during the progress of the war
complained of the harshness of
his treatment, and the excuses
he permitted in his army, and
'Sherman's Bummers"t to great
extent rendered his name infa-
nous among Southern people.
While all admitted and admired
his genius, they deprecated and
despised his methods, and the
lustre of his fame will always re-
main dimmed and his military
career at discount among the
generation of SOuterners who
witnessed the trying scenes and
participated in the stirring events
of twenty-five and thirty-years
ago. @
The Cambridge College Civil
Service Reform Association
has received from President Har-
rison a reply to it's communica-
ton suggesting that ''the recent
outbreak among the Sioux af-
fords convincing evidence of the
necessity of a change in the
manner ofappointing the officials
of the Indian bureau The as
cociation gets cold comfort. The
President assures it, on the
strength fan officialreport, that
the Indian service is in better
condition now than ever before.
He gives his personal testifno-