The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1891-02-18
Sherman and Porter.
THE SOLDIER AND THE NAVAL OFFICER
PASS AWAY ON SUCCEEDING DAYS.
SKETCHES OF THEIR LIVES.

After an illness of about a week, General
w. L. Sherman passed away at his home in
New York last Saturday afternoon at ten
minutes before two o'clock. His disease
was erysipelas, which was complicated
with bronchial trouble and pneumonia.
During the greater part of the time he was
conscious, but it was with great difficulty
that he talked at all. On Wednesday even
ing Rev. Father Matthew A Taylor, a
Catholic priest of the Church of the Blessed
Sacrament, was sent for by members of the
family, and he was at the house for an hour,
during which extreme JUNCTION was admin
istered. This was done at the request of
the children, although General Sherman
was probably not conscious at the time and
he had never been Catholic. \ great
deal of pain to the family and friends was
caused by a sensational and incorrect ac-
count of this circumstance, published by
the NeU York Times Senator John Sher-
man has taken the trouble to write the
Times to say that, had his brother been in
full possession of his faculties at the time,
he would undoubtedly have complied with
the wishes of his children that he receive
the sacred rite of the Catholic church. The
senator closed his letter by saying: Ger
tainly if | had been present | would, at the
request of the family, have assented to, and
reverently shared in, an appeal to the AL
mighty for the life here and hereafter of my
brother, whether called a prayer or extreme
JUNCTION, and whether uttered by priest or
preacher or any other good man who be-
lieved what he spoke and had an honest
faith in his creed. | hear that your re-
porter uttered a threat to obtain informa-
ton which cannot believe you would for
moment tolerate. We all need charity for
our frailties, but / can feel none for any one
who would wound those already in dis
tress." In his last moments the general
was unconscious.
General Sherman was born at Lancaster,
o., February s, 1920, and was thus at his
death just seventy. one years of age. The
family traces its history back to Samuel
Sherman of Essex, England, who came to
this country in 1854, with his brother, Rev.
John Sherman, and his cousin, Captain
John Sherman. Roger Sherman of Con-
necticut, one of the signers of the Declare
ton of Independence, was descendant of
the captain, and General Sherman traces
his descent from the clergyman. His father
was Charles h, sherman, noted lawyer,
his mother, Mary Hoyt, and he was sixth
in the family of eleven children. His
father was stricken down with cholera
while judge of the supreme court Of Ohio,
leaving a family to be taken care of by
a wife in straitened circumstances, or by
relatives aud friends who were kindly dis
posed. William L. was adopted into the
family of Hon. Thomas Ewing, one of the
foremost men of his day. He graduated
from West Point in 1910, and served in the
Florida war in 1907 9, and in the South
until 1916. At the breaking out of the Mex
lean war he was acting as a recruiting Of
fcer in the East and he at once asked TO be
sent to the front. He arrived in California
about the time of the conflict of authority
between Kearney, Stockton and Fremont.
He returned from California in 1850 and OBJ
tanned a six months leave of absence dur
ing which time he married Miss Ellen b.
Ewing, daughter of Hon. Thomas Ewing,
who was then secretary of the interior.
On the 9th of September of this year he
was assigned to a post in st. Louis as COM
missary, being transferred to New Orleans
in 1852. He resigned in 1858 and went into
the banking business in San Francisco and
in New York In September, 1858, he en-
tered law firm in Leavenworth, Kansas,
where he remained until July, 1859, when
he was elected superintendent of the Lou
isiana Military College, resigning his posi-
ton there in January, 1861, On the first
day of May, 1861, he was colonel of the
Thirteenth United States infantry; May II,
he was brigadier-general of volunteers;
May /, 1862, he was a major-gcneral OF vol
unteers; July A, 1868, a brigadier-general in
the regular army; August r. 1864, major
general in the regular army; July 20, 1866,
acknowledgement Of the armies of the
United States, and full general on March
81, 1869. This is a most remarkable record,
and the bare mention of these facts shows
that Sherman was soldier of the first quail
ity.
On the 10Th of February, 1862, Grant was
assigned to the new military district OF
West Tennessee, with limits not defined,
and General Sherman to the command OF
the district of Cairo. Sherman had been TO
West Point with Grant, but graduated