The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-02-16
MAINE MONDAY MORNING. e,

Major Grants secretary. Speer, on behal
OF the mayor. offered the use of the City hal
to the family as place for the body to lie Il
state. The offer was declined on account o
the expressed wish Of General Sherman.
was also decided not to comply. with the re
quest Of President Harrison that the bod
be taken to Washington and there lie Ii
state. The body will be put in the caske
Tuesday. No one but family and immediat
friends will be permitted to see It.
When the c0rtege arrives at st. Louis
will be met by delegation from Mason''
ley. That gentleman telegraphed his seyl
ces Immediately upon hearing Of the dealt
| Of the general, and they were immediatel,
accepted By the family through Genera
Howard.
William Tscumseh Sherman was born il
Lancaster. o., Feb, s, 1920. His father wa
Judge Charles Sherman of the supreme oour
of Ohio. In July, 1888, he was appointed
cadet at West Point. His four years course a
this institution, while not of unsurpassed
brilliancy, was marked by devotion TO hi
studies and duties that won for him the ad-
miration and respect of his fellow students and
4 his instructors.
Sherman graduated from West Point in July,
l840, the sixth in his class, and received the
| appointment of second lieutenant in the Third
Artillery. In a little over year he was pro-
NOTED to the rank of first lieutenant. He served
in Florida until ls42, and from that date, with
iefinterval, in garrison at Fortress Moultrie,
5. O., until 1876, when he was ordered TO CAL
| ifornia, serving as acting assistant adjutant-
general of the department of California until
February, 1849. He was then transferred to
San Francisco on similar duty on the staff OF
Gen. p. F. Smith, commanding the division OF
the Pacific. Ordered to New York in January,
1850, as bearer of dispatches, he was married
May to Ellen Ewing, daughter of Hon.
Thomas Ewing, then secretary of the interior.
In September of that year he was transferred
to the commissary department with the rank of
captain, and stationed alternately at st. Louis
and New Orleans, until March, 1858, when,
after six months leave of absence, he resigned
from the army Sept. 6, 1858, to engage in the
banking business in San Francisco. He re-
mained there for four years, and then in 1857
he removed to New York, in which year the
affairs of his firm were closed.
A year later he went to Leavenworth, Kan
where he practised law until July, 1859, when
he was elected superintendent of the proposed
military academy in Louisiana. He remained
in that position until he saw that civil war was
inevitable, and then sent in his resignation,
with letter which clearly showed that he
read the signs of the hour. This is the closing
paragraph of the letter: II beg you to take
immediate steps to remove me as superintend-
ent the moment the State decides to secede for
on no earthly account will l do any act or
think any thoughts hostile to the defence of the
old government Of the United States
He went to Washington and had an inter-
view with President and secretary Of war. He
laid his views before them, but they failed to
convince the governments that the struggle was
to be something more than temporary storm.
Seventy-fve thousand troops were called for
and Sherman exclaimed: "You might as well
undertake to extinguish the flames of build
ing with a squirt gun as to put down this re-
bellion with three months troops. We ought"
said he, "to organize at once for gigantic war,
call out the whole military power of the coun-
try, and with its forces strangle the rebellion
in its very BIRTH"
Sherman's request to be relieved "the mo-
ment the State determined to secede" was soon
after granted and he left for ST. Louis, where,
for a short period he held the presidency of a
street railroad. On May IA. 1861. however,
he was appointed colonel of the Thirteenth
Regular Infantry, and soon after his arrival in
Washington was placed in command Of
brigade in Tyler's division, which he led at the
battle of Bull Run, July 81. On Aug. 8 fol-
lowing, his commission of brigadier- general of
volunteers was issued, and Aug. "A he was or
dered to duty in the department of the
Cumberland under Gen. Anderson. He sue
ceeded to the command of that department
Oct. 5, 1861, but was relieved in November
and sent to Missouri.
After brief service on inspection duty he
was (Dec. 23) placed in command of the camp
of instruction and post of Benton Barracks,
from whence, in February, 1862, he was trans
ferred to Paducah. Ky, to aid in the opera
tons then in progress on the Tennessee river.
Here he organized the division which ne sub
sequently commanded at the battle of Shiloh,
April and Z, where his conduct did much to
check disorder and overcome the shock of the
unexpected onset. Gen. Halleck reported that
Shernlan's frmness on the 9th "saved the day."
Gen. Grant officially announced, 81 am in
debted to Gen. Sherman for the success of the
battle" Rousseau. in speaking of his conduct
on that field, said: "No man living could sur
pass him." and Gen. Nelson remarked few
hours before his death, "During eight hours
the fate of the army on the field of Shiloh de-
pended on the life of one man. II Gen. Sher-
man had fallen the army would have been cap
tured or destroyed" The advance upon and
siege of Corinth next followed. resulting in the
evacution of that place May 20.
In the Vicksburg campaign which succeed
ed, Sherman bore prominent part with his
command-in the expedition up Steele's bayou
to the Yazoo (March) the feint upon Haine's
bluff (April 29-Msy l,) movement to Grand
Gulf MAY 1-6,) capture of Jackson MAY IA,
the occupation of Walnut Hills and the sub
sequent assaults upon the land defences of
Yicksburg MAY 1929 in each attempt the
colors of the corps being planted on the ene-
my's works, and in the siege operations which
resulted in the surrender Of the city July 4,
1863, when Sherman, with a detached COM
msnd, was at once ordered to pursue Johns
ton, who, with relieving force, had been
lying east of the Big Black. but retreating
hastily on the news of the surrender. By the
10th he was driven behind the intrenchments
of Jackson. Siege operations were actively
pressed, but on the night of tine 18th Johns
ton succeeded in escaping. Steele's division
pursued to Brandon, and after destroying the
railroads in all directions. Sherman fell back to
the west of the Big Black, along which he lay
when summoned Sept % to the relief of Rose
Grams beleagured army at Chattanooga.
Meanwhile his services had been recognized
at Washington by a promotion to brigadier
general in the regular army to date from July
4. By the 9th of September the last Of his
command were embarked at Vicksburg, and by
Oct. Memphis was reached. He marched
eastward, repairing the railroads as he pro-
ceeded until the 9th, when orders reached
him at Tuscumbia from Gen. Grant, who had
superseded Rosecrans, to abandon all work and
hasten on to Chattanooga.
How he hastened to Chattanooga, defeated
Bragg at Missionary Ridge, drove Johnston
back TO Resaca, crossed the Chsttahoochee,
drove the enemy to Atlantis, and then forced
Hood to evacuate il, is brilliant and remark
able chapter Of history. Then followed the
marvellous march to the sea, whose music will
ring forever in our battle songs.
OF this campaign Gen. Grant wrote: alt was
a most remarkable campaign. He cut loose
from all that was behind him, burned his
bridges, threw aside superhuous baggage, and
marched without provisions into the heart of
the enemy's country. He set at defiance many
of the old and established maxims of warfare,
and when his daring project was first made
public the world was astonished. Military
critics and warriors in this country and in En-
rope predicted the destruction of his army.
SHERMAN, however, trusting in Thomas and
Grant, his own army, his own genius, and
favoring Providence, set out on his march. He
drove before him the troops of the enemy, and
in short time established his headquarters in
the executive mansion at Macon. The soldiers
Jared sumptuously on the fat of the land No
army was ever more contented or in better
condition. The great column swept on through
cities, villages and forests. 1t was ,triumphal
march. All opposition melted before them.
SavaOnah MN he y1o;p 20 he 1al