The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-05-22
LITTLE PHIL WAS THE FOREMOST
MILITARY MAN LIVING.
so SAID HIS GREAT COMMANDER.
WHAT THE IRISH-AAdERICAN HERO
THOUGHT OF GRANT.
The STORY OF LEES SURRENDER.
GEN. GRANT WORE NO SMILE OF
VICTORY ON HIS FACE.

The great demonstration held in New
York recently in dedicating the magnifi-
cent monument which marks the final
resting place of the remains of General
u. s. Grant calls up no more interesting g
memory than the remarkable affection
which existed between the great COM
mander and his comrade-in-arms, Gen.
eral Phil H. Sheridan. During the clos
ing days of the great struggle no man
enjoyed the confidence of Grant to such
complete degree as Sheridan.
In the great Shenandoah Valley cam
paign the only order General Sheridan
received from his commander was to
''go in and win" And during the 10
momentous days beginning March 30,
1866, south of Richmond, Sheridan
neither saw nor heard from Grant until
the day of the surrender of Lee at Ap-
pomattox.
General Badeau, in his sketch of Cen
eral Grant, beginning the war articles
in the Century Magazine" declared it
the firm opinion of General Grant that
"Phil Sheridan is the foremost military
man in the world living" This strong
Endorsement Of General Sheridan, COM
ing from one who himself had COM
manded the greatest army of all history,
is remarkable testimony, founded up
on observation and personal experience
with the man of whom he spoke.
During General Grants last illness,
General Sheridan was In Chicago, and
the Tribune" of that city published the
following "reminiscences under the head
of "A Talk With Sheridan:"
"From day to day, and almost hourly,
during General Grants illness, there
has been one inquirer in this city whose
concern has been manifested by the ear
nestness of his questions about the
brave patient in New York: In his
quiet, unobstrusive, undemonstrative
way, Lieutenant General Sheridan, Cen
eral Grants companion -in-arms, has
SAAS"A SAA%V AO "0o VQ4uCu dt LuS
thought of the struggle that was going
on between the great soldier and a
disease with which his sturdy courage
could not hope to successfully contend.
While the dispatches have been coming
to the office of the general of the army,
and in such moments as he could spare,
Gen. Sheridan has talked about his rela-
tions with Gen. Grant, their joint efforts
to overcome the rebellion, and has told
over again the story of some of the
most memorable scenes in which both
of them participated"
Gen. Sheridan does not readily take
to storytelling, particularly when the
telling of a story involves references to
his own valorous deeds. His difidence.
great now as it was when he was a boy,
is something remarkable in man who
showed an absolute lack of diffidence in
the face of an enemy. To get anything
out of him in the way of incident one
must lead him carefully to the point up
on which information is desired. Then.
in a low, simple, straightforward way,
he will tell his story. 1t will be unimag-
NATIVE, without attempt at dramatic
effect, and without shade of boastful-
ness. Like Gen. Grant, Gen. Sheridan
has sometimes been called reticent and
tactiturn. This is true of him only
when he speaks with strangers or with
curious people whom he suspects of a
desire to hear him blow his own trum-
pet.
The writer dropepd in to see him a
day or two ago, and after chatting
about Gen. Grants condition expressed
some curiousty to know when he had
first come in contact with Gen. Grant.
'Well," said the General, "you see, we
were both attached to the. same regi-
ment in the army. He had gone out of
it after the Mexican war, and my serv-
ice had been continuous from the time
I left West Point until I drifted down
the Tennessee river as an acting quar-
termaster for Gen. Halleck. The battle
of Shiloh had just been fought. Our
army was resting, a short suspension
following the battle. Hearing that Grant
and Mcpherson were both at the front,
I took the first opportunity presented
of reporting to them. Ifound Gen.
Grant with Gen. Mcpherson. He was
sitting in his tent smoking cigar, and
was in his shirt sleeves. Our greeting
was pleasant, and he expressed his graf
ification that had been sent to the
front. had just gone through the Pea
Ridge campaign, and he seemed to have
the notion that could be useful to him
in the advance through Kentucky and
Tennessee. .s - ~ . Z.
s. Il was pretty near Grant from that
time on until was sent East to take
command of all the cavalry in Virginia.
When / met the general at Shiloh he
Was the same n manner that he has