The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1891-02-16
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1901.



William Tecumseh sherman.
The great warrior has fought his last
battle, and like all the warriors that
preceded him he has been conquered,
and in that conquest General W. I.
Sherman, the last most prominent
figure OF one OF the greatest wars
OF modern ages, disappears. One by
ono the great warriors go, each sever
ing link that binds the present with
tho past, each transferring their names
to the pages OF history, while we shall
see their faces no more on the land on
which they fought. On Friday it
was David D. Porter, the most striking
figure amongst the naval heroes, who
left us; on Saturday 1t was sherman
who divided public opinion as to
whether he or General Grant were the
leading characters in our army during
the civil war. But it Is of Sherman we
would now speak.
Like all great heroes he grayitated
TO the high position he attained. But
few men are born heroes. They reach
their high position by their peculiar
abilities that make them failures in
the other avenues of life. This was
tue Of Grant, 1t WAS specially true OF
Sherman. He made very creditnble
student at West Point, but his career
was not brilliant one from the time
he left that institution until he was
put In command and led an army OF
6l,000 men from Atlanta to tho sea. He
rrled almost every kind of business. A
position in the regular army he gave
up with disgust, and as Spectator in
lands in California he failed; he tried
law, but had no success, and the
greatest distinction he won before thu
war was as the teacher of militar!
scho ol in Louisiana. He seemed some
how to take root nowhere and though
h. roamed over the West and South h
fund no place that suited him very
long, nobody seemed to want him.
When the civil war came he was 4
years of age, and though true to hi!
country, he found himself an obiec
tor to tho plan Of President Lincol
to call out 5000 men, not that h
did not want the rebellion put down
but because the government did no
comprehend tie enormity OF tn
struggle upon which 1t was entering
With true patriotic vision he predicted
that the struggle would last between
four and five years, and that after al
the volunteer forces OF the natio
ware exhausted, the governmeI
would be compelled to resort to
draft to supply the army with soldier.
He seemed to be one Of the few me-
who took in the whole situation.
took the government two years to sc
where Sherman stood. Neither wa
Sherman successful at the beginnin
of the war. The first year he was di,
credited and removed from one con
mand. His views were so dtvergei
to those of the head of the govern
ment that he was looked upon as
crank. But with the third year Of Il
wnr it was found that this crank, di
credited and distrusted before, WI
right after al 1t took the COVER
ment all this time to get on the rig
track. Sherman was there from Il
me the first gun was fired on SUI
ter. Then commenced Sherman
great campaign. The last two yea
OF the war were his. and in that tin
he rose to a height that but few I'M
ever attain.
At a single step he took his pla
among the great ehiettains of the aG
He had but one campaign, that W
eroagh. Beginning at Nashville wi
one of the grandest armies that e.
trod the g ODE, lie pierced the enem.
country, living ON the country he co
quered, he and his army disappear
from public view, but nearly yt
afterwards the government nav
forces az Savannah saw signalled frt
Sherman's advance; Ppm here" SA
man solved the great problem OF
war. The besom of war swept a thin
mile swath from Atlanta, through {
heart OF Georgia, and from theI
through North aud Seaith Carolina
Goldsboro. His campaign ended
capturing Johnson's army. few de
after Grlnt had tagged Lee at APP
mattox. The rebellion was at an 81
The man who found no resting pit
before the war, and was discredited
first years Of the war, was now di,
ing the honors with Grant as the le
Ing hero of the war lie came VI
the stage late in the war but he ca
like mighty avalanche, bearing
before II. Sherman's march to the
will live in historys brightest pul
and OF him 1t may be said that in
he saved his land and in peace the
ton loved him.
ONE OF the most effective election
Ing documents the Republicans co
publish would be the rearrangemen