The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-22
BRAVE MEN FEAR A FIGHT.
Nearly ALI Our Great Generals Con-
fess to Weak Moments.

Detroit Free Press: ASK any man
who ever followed General Sheridan in
one OF his dashing charges, and he will
declare with all the emphasis at his
command that no Drawer man than
| Little Phil" ever wore a sword or
went into battle. One enthusiastic ad-
mirer speaks of him as the typical
American fighter of his generation, and
all laud the daring which won him such
| rapid promotion and such signal vic
! tories.
| Long following the war Sheridan sat
beside the late Charles A Dana at an
evening dinner party. General said
Mr.. Dana, with his wOnted directness,
between ourselves, were you ever
afraid in battle?"
i MY dear fellow" came the imme-
date reply, II have never seen the be-
| ginning of a battle without fear. and
had 1 followed my first impulse
would have run away every time. The
men who say they have never known
fear are liars and humbugs!"
General Grant. of whom a griZZled
old veteran said that he hadn't a nerve
! in his body or cowardly drop of blood
used almost precisely the same Ian
guage as did Sheridan, and always dis
| trusted man who loved to Vaunt his
own fearlessness. Hancock, with his
! magnificent figure. his martial mein
and his gallant conduct, was the idol
of his men, who called him 1.-The Su-
perb," yet he said in his own impress
sive way that there were times imme-
diately preceding a general engage
ment that it was with the most deter
mined exercise of will power that he
overcame his sense Of apprehension.
"Stonewall' Jackson, whose title
every soldier that ever fought with him
or against him knows to be a we'll
earned one. said that he depended upon
moral rather than physical courage,
and that on the days>that he fought
with the most intrepidity it was not the
excess of his own spirit that moved him
so much as the desire to inspire his
men by an example of courage. Sher-
man had the heartiest contempt for
soldiers who declared that they feared
nothing or nobody" and it was the
opinion of this same general who made
the famous march to the sea that they
were responsible for much of the in
competency, confusion and disgrace in
1861.
Farragut was our greatest naval hero
of the war. and his exploit while dashed
to the rigging of the Hartford in Mo-
bile bay has given him a place among
the immortals of history, yet he was
soldier upon principle. He never did
anything for dramatic effect He was
mild-mannered and tempered, and
did his bravest deeds from a sense Of
duty rather than animal courage. When
he came down from his perilous place
aloft on the Hartford where he had
won the fame that will live forever, he
wept like as a woman would over the
poor fellows who had been killed and
We're laid out on the deck.
Jefferson. who was physically timid,
thought that Washington was born
without a sense of fear; but those who
are closer readers of character attrib-
ute the bravery of the great leader to
that more exalted courage which can
overcome fear. 1t is conceded on all
sides that Mad Anthony Wayne was
something of a daredevil, yet he was
much the same stamp of a man as
Sheridan. and Sheridan knew what fear
was The latter, with Sherman in
council. once estimated that one soldier
out of four. in the volunteer service,
would prove coward and fail to meet
the demand made upon him when the
greatest nerve and perSiStency was re-
quired. They hunted cover when things
became hot. They would fall to the
ground pretending to be sick, wounded
or exhausted.
One thing clearly established in the
late war was that the best soldiers did
not come from the tough city quarters.
where brute courage is supposed to be
at it's best, but from the ranks of bust
ness. professional and industrial life.
merchants, clerks. lawyers, artisans,
farmers sons, college students and So
cietV men