The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-02-15
GENERAL w. t. SHERMAN.

After an illness Of nearly n week. General
| William Tecumseh Sherman died yesterday
afternoon at ten minutes before o'clock.
The event has been anticipated throughout
! the country for several days past, for from
the first the General has been steadily grow
inc worse. and though very contradictory Dul-
/ letins have been sent out hourly from his bed
! side the general tenor Of the reports showed
that there was but little 10 base hope upon
and that death was only the matter Of very
short time.
The North will 30 in the deepest mourning
over General sherman, for he WAS. undoubt-
edlv by long odds, the best general officer
which that section produced during the late
,,ar between the States-that is, after any
Northern general was able 10 make any rep
utotion at all. There were some better than
he placed in command of the Northern armies
al the beginning Of The struggle; but they had
tremendous difficulties to encounter. At that
time the flower ofthc South opposed them, and
50 long az that continued to be the case, even
such an accomplished and brilliant COM
mander as Mcclellan stood no chance. The
transcendant genius Of the Southern military
leaders. backed up by the yigor and young
manhood Of the South. was more than a match
for any army, no matter by whom command
ed. which the North could put in the field
against the Southern States. II was only
after about three years of hard fghung:-in
which the South had to depend upon herself
alone. and when every loss, even of single
man, was irreparnble, while her enemies had
the resources Of the world to draw upon-that
bvsheer force Of overwhelming numbers alone
the Northern arms were enabled to gain pres
tige. and Northern generals 70 acquire some
other reputation than that Of being badly de-
fcated. Nothing proves the truth of this
more than the very career Of General Sher-
man, for at the first battle of Manassas, where
he commanded an Independent battery Of
artillery. he was completely routed, and all
his guns fell into the hands Of the Southern
army 10 be turned against himself.
Notwithstanding this. after Northern mill
tary leaders began to be able TO gain repute,
General Sherman was certainly tho most
capable Of them all. II may not have re-
quired much acumen to know that his force
was sufficiently large TO be divided in two,
and that one-half Of it could safely be en-
trusted to watch the shattered remnants
of Hoods army in Tennessee, while the
other half could make an unobstructed
march 10 the sea: but such as it did require
Sherman possessed. He made his march
through Georgia and South Carolina; cap
tured Savannah and Charleston, and was then
in position to sufficiently reinforce the already
tremendous army of Grant to enable that
general after so many months Of fruitess
fighting and terrible losses. to oyerwhelm Gen.
Lee.
While Sherman should be given due credit
for all that he accomplished. however, the
South cannot forget the useless vandalism
and inhumanity which marked his progress.
He himself said that ''war was the science
of barbarism." and he certainly lived up 10
thatmotto. The burningof Atlanta and Column
bia, and the warfare thus made upon women
and childen and helpless non-comba'ants,
were wholly incxcusable. and indefensi-
bic even rs barbaric warfare For .his reason
the South will willingly pay the memory Of
! General Sherman such tribute as may be eX-
pected Of her. She Is ready 10 be governed
by the spirit Of charity, and say nothing ex-
cept good of the dead. She is also ready to
acknowledge that after the war WAS over,
while the action Of Grant, Sheridan, and
others promoted and kept alive sectional hate
and tended to further distress and Cypress
| the South, ne maintained az least a neutral po-
sition and did nothing go add 90 the humii;a-
ton of this section. Therefore the South
is ready to accord 10 the dead war
lior all that his yalor and military
prowoss demand and 10 more. II She
should attempt TO shed crocodile tears she
would only sacrifice her own seli-respect and
Justly excite the contempt of her enemies
Sherman with the record of all his deeds done
in the body has passed away from the fruil-
ties asperties and animosties Of earth. May
his soul rest in peace