New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-10-08
TWO VIRGINIA SOLDIERS.
GEORGE II. THOMAS AND JOSEPH E.
JOHNSTON.


GREAT CoMMANDERs-GE JOHNSTON
sc6 Robert NJ A0'"SS' ~ '''
A dozen or fifteen years ago lady hVihs i'll
the suburbs of Cincinnati saw her neighbor' d
gentleman who had won national disunctoh III
law and politics, bent in an ungraceful ana uii-
comfortable attitude with his eye at Knot
hole in a fence. SO wrapped up was he IN MS
occupation that he did not hear her approach
nor know of her presence till she had touched
him on the shoulder. He Straightforward himself
UP with confusion painted all over his face
What are you looking at, Mr. Groesbeck!
asked she.
The color deepened in his cheeks.
You have caught me at it. and might as
we'll confess" he replied; Il was looking at
cockfight. l am ashamed of IT, but the TACT Is
i can't help liking a cockfght."
The world loves soldier more than 1t
does lover. This is one Of the reasons why
biographies Of military men and tales OF bat
ties and campaigns have so fascinating an in
terest. Half their readers neither understand
the full significance of what is printed in them
nor care to. They enjoy them as they enjoy
works of fiction The fact is that such books
are a bond between and our primitive nature.
They permit us to look through the cracks in
the veneer which call civilization. With all
devotion, real affected, to the arts or
peace to intellectual and moral progress we
turn with a singular thrObbing of the heart TO
accounts of carnage and boodshed. 1t is the
Old Adam of primitive man asserting himself
For this reason the battles of all history are
fought over and over again, and every genera
ton is called anew to create regulations Tor
the great soldiers of the world. Comparing the
soldier with the representative of any other
.ixy trr1n "a a
a rule. there is less real basis for fame in his
case than in any other Yet he enjoys more
His success dazzles as the success of no other
man can; but since it is made under circum-
stances which invariably cause judgment 10
wait upon feeling il is almost certain 10 be
falsely estimated. Military biography is bound
to be controversy, and as in war one man must
succeed at the cost of another 1t seems impos-
sible to determine the mental and moral attn
butes and the value of the deeds OF one general
without entering upon criticism OF the char-
ecter and conduct of another. This fact is
strongly illustrated in these biographi Of Cen
eral Thomas and General Johnston Both are
polemics-the first fierce. undignified and vim
dictive in spirit; the second calm, temperate.
Identified reserved. This difference in the
books Is made particularly noticeable from the
fact that there are not few parallels IN the
of the two men, IN saying tHlS theiN
is no intention to institute a comparison be
tween them, though it is more than likely that
were they living neither would be ashamed of
having his name thus linked with that OF the
other Both were sons of Virginia ana
proud of the glorious position of that state in
the history Of their country. Both were trained
soldiers Both were in the service OF the united
States when the War of the Rebellion broke OUT
Both were prompt in the offer or their SWORDS
-oite to the service Of his country, the other 10
the service of his State Both were men OF
sterling character and pre-eminent ablity IN
their profession. Both gave the best or their
labors unhesitatingly and self-sacrihcngly TO
the prosecution of the war, and both were com
PEELED TO endure unjust criticism, the hostlhty
of those whom chance and circumstance had
made their superiors I'm authority the huini-
iation Of wrongful accusations and the prefer
ment of their interiors by their respective gov
ernments. Both were deprived Of the fruits OF
their labors at critical times that others
might profit and both accepted numerous acts
calculated to wound the pride of the soldier
with dignified protest silent confidence In
the ultimate justice of history. AS Thomas was
robbed by Sherman of the flower OF his army
for the March to the Sea against no enemy and
left to prove the heroism of the Northern SOL
dery the potency OF his influence and the
greatness Of his stragetic genius through the
agency of a raw, manned and disappointed rab-
ble so Johnston. repeatedly outraged in feeling.
was given the command of Braggs defeated
army and asked to do the impossible with it.
The men had really much in common besides
their misfortunes, and it is perhaps as sisnill-
cant a comment can be made upon the treat
r,ent which they endured with much manli-
ness and dignity that the Confederate soldier.
who won the admiration of his opponents be-
cause of the manner in which he conducted the
retreat which il fell to him always 10 make.
received the same treatment from his govern
ment as did the Federal soldier who was the
most uniformly successful commander i'll the
whole war.
Though military biography seems of necessity
TO be controversy. it is yet pity that so many
writer's confound criticism with calumny and
dispiaise with blackguardism The friends of
General Thomas have greater reason than the
friends of any of the commanders in either army
to feel bitter because of the treatment received
hy their hero That he was the finest type of the
trained soldier which the Northern armies con
tanned is now generally admitted, even General
Sherman, who by using him as A stepping
stone, citing his name as that of greater than
Lee %hen General Wolseley few years ago
sought to put the rebel commander on pedestal
as the greatest general of our civil War That he
was treated to scant recognition throughout the
war; robbed of the credit for his finest achieve
ments while in the field and deliberately ig-
nored after rebellion had been crushed, so that
the figures most conspicuous at the close might
become popular heroes. there is as little doubt
Those who knew. admired and loved him will
naturally feel resentment against those who
wronged him SO long as they remember the in
justice. But they will not help his fame much
by writing of him in the manner Of Dom Plat
Colonel Piatt one Of those newspaper cor
respondents who seek to be entertaining through
ribaldry and forcible through vituperaton. At
his best he was too deficient in the judicial fac
ulty, too narrow and too unfair to be intrusted
with such a task; and he took 1t up toward the
close Of his life when his infrmites of temper