The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-08-03
A Visit TO Sheridan,

n Vlsll ~ DubTluhuN
In October, 1854, just after the ar
rest of the Baltimore merchants, / WIS.,
tied Sheridan at his headquarters in the
Shenandoah Valley. He had finished
the work of clearing out the valley by
the battle of Cedar Creek on October
10, and the Government wanted to
recognize the victory by promoting him
to the rank of major-general in the
regular army. There were numerous
volunteer officers who were also officers
in the regular army, and it was regarded
as considerable distinction. The APP
pointment was made, and then, as
an additional compliment to General
Sheridan, instead of sending him the
commission by an ordinary officer from
the department, Mr.. Stanton decided
that would better deliver it. started
on October %, going by special train to
Harper's Ferry, whittier I had tele-
graphed for an escort to be ready for
me. l was delayed, go that did not
get away from Harper's Ferry until
about FIVE O'Clock on the morning of
October 90 1t was distanceof about
fifty miles to Sheridan, and by riding
all day got there about eleven O'Clock
at night. Sheridan had gone to bed,
but in time of war one never delays in
carrying out orders, whatever their ma
ture. The general was awakened, and
soon was out of his tent, and there, by
the flare of an army torch, and in the
presence of few sleepy aide-de-camp
and of my own tired escort, presented
Sheridan his commission as major
general in the regular army. He did
not say much, nor could he have been
expected to under the circumstances,
though he showed lively satisfaction in
the Governments appreciation of his
services, and spoke most heartily, l
recall, of the manner in which the AID.
ministration had always supported him.
The next morning, after this little
ceremony, the General asked me if l
would not like TO ride through the
army with him. It was exactly what
l did want to do, and we were soon on
horseback and off. We rode through
the entire army that morning, dis
mounting now and then 10 give me an
opportunity to pay my respects to Off
GERS whom l knew. l was struck in
riding the lines by the universal dem
onstration of affection for Sheridan.
Everybody seemed to be personally at
tached to him. He was like the most
popular man after an election-the
whole force everywhere honored him.
Finally l said to the General: 81 wish
you would explain one thing to me.
Here Lind all these people, of every
rank-generals, sergeants, corporals,
and private soldiers; in fact, everybody
- manifesting a personal affection
for you that / have never seen in
any other army, not even in the
Army of the Tennessee for Grant. l
have never seen anything like it. Tell
me, what is the reason?"
Mr.. Dana," he said, 81 long ago
made up my mind that it was not a
good plan to fight battles with paper
orders; that is, for the commander to
stand on hill in the rear and send his
aides-de-camp with written orders to
the different commanders. My prac-
tice has always been to fight in the
front rank"
"But, General" l said, "that is dan
gerous. In the front rank man is
much more liable to be killed than he
is in the rear"
SWELL" said he, 81 know that there
is certain risk in it, but in my judg.
ment the advantage is much greater
than the risk, and have come to the
conclusion that this is the right thing
to do. That is the reason the men like
me. They know that when the hard
pinch comes am exposed as much as
any Of Them"
"But are you never afraid2" / asked.
"If was l should not be ashamed of
it," he said. eff / should follow my
natural impulse l should run away-al-
ways, at the beginning of the danger;
the men who say they are never afraid
in battle do not tell the truth"
I talked great deal with Sheridan
and his officers, while at Cedar Creek,
on the condition Of the valley and what
should be done to hold it. The active
campaign seemed to be over in that re-
gion for the year. The enemy was 80
decidedly beaten and scattered and
driven 30 far to the south that he could
scarcely be expected to collect his
forces for another immediate attempt.
Besides, the devastation of the valley,
extending, as it did, for distance of
about 100 miles, rendered it almost i'm.
possible that either the Confederstes or
our own forces should make new cam
paign in that territory. 1t looked to me
as if, when Sheridan had completed the
same process down the valley to the vi
cinity of the Potomac, and when the
stores of forage which were yet to be
found were all destroyed or removed,
the difficulty of any new offensive oper-
ations on either side would be greatly
increased.
The key to the Shenandoah Valley
was, in Sheridan's judgment, the line
of the Opequan Creek, which was
rather deep canon than an ordinary
water course. Sheridan's idea I un-
derstood to be TO fall back to the proper
defensive point upon that creek and
there to constrct Notifications which
would effectually cover the approach TO
the Potomac. Northumberland by Chas.