The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-04-05
Sherman and stanton.

Commenting on the biography OF
Edwin NJ Stanton, tho secretary OF
war during the time of the rebellion,
excepting for brief period at its be-
ginning, the Boston Herald says:
1.-THE biography presents effectively the JUS
LITIGATION of Secretary Stanton in disapprov-
ing the terms on which General Sherman
accepted GeneralJ ohnston's surrender at the
close of the war OF the rebellion. The &C
tion was that of the President, and it was a
Judgment universally shared by those in
authority"
The Herald says, further, that Seen
eral Sherman was much mortified by
this treatment of his action, and STAN
ton, who was always prompt to accept
responsibility, had to bear alone the
weight of his displeasure."
The ''displeasure" of General Sher-
man was the effect of causes only in
cidentally connected with the dlsap-
proval of the terms of surrender he
had proposed to General Johnston, com
manding the Confederate armies ia
North Carolina and other sections of
the South. General Sherman was too
good soldier, too well understood the
duty of entire subordination to the will
of his superiors, to feel affronted at
the mere disapproval of any act, or
proposed act, of his. After Lees sur
render, he had, April Is, 1865, ar
ranged with General Johnston terms
for the surrender of the Confederate
forces under his command. The ar
ticles of agreement dealt with political
as we'll as military questions-ques
tions which President Lincoln had in-
structed General Grant, several weeks
before, when General Lee was asking
for a conference, he would hold in
his own hands. This instruction had
never been supplied to General Sher-
man. On the contrary, General Sher.
man AYERS in his Memoirs that Secre-
tary Stanton, during his visit to Sa-
vannah, soon after the fall of that city,
had authorized him "to control all mat
ters, civil and military"
The agreement with General Johnston
was sent for approval to Washington,
with letters fully explaining the mill
tary situation, the document reciting
on its face the fact that neither party
had authority to make final terms in
volving civil or political questions.
General Sherman "cared little whether
they were approved, modified, or dis
approved in TOTO" But he wanted in
structions. What aroused his undying
anger against Stanton was the public
use he made of the agreement, his i'm
putation of dishonor, and his wholly
unnecessary brusqueness in expressing
his disapproval.
At that time the secretary of war
was in the habit of supplying to the
press a daily bulletin of such important
events as could properly be communi-
Gated to the public. In due course of
time the New York papers were re-
ceived at General Sherman's head
quarters at Raleigh. In the New York
Times he read the bulletin the war
department had sent out Immediately
after General Sherman's despatch bearer
had arrived in Washington. The bull
letiu recited the substance of the ne
gotiations. 1t declared that certain
disposition of his forces General Sher-
man had made would probably" open
the way for Jefferson Davis, who was
then fleeing from his Federal pursuers,
to escape to Mexico or Europe with his
''plunder," which, the secretary said,
was reported to be very large, "includ-
ing not only the plumber of the Rich
mond banks, but previous accumula-
tions," amounting to some S13,000,000
in gold. The browning act of infamous
suggestion in this bulletin was the pub
LEGATION of a despatch from Richmond
OF statement, "by respectable par
ties" that Davis and his fellow fugi-
tives "hope to make terms with Gen.
eral Sherman, or some other comman-
der, by which they be permitted, with
their effects, including this gold plumb
er, to 60 to Mexico or Europe. John
ston's negotiations look to this end"
This was the adder that stung Gen
eral Sherman and envenomed all the
blood of the high spirited warrior.
There could be no forgiveness for the
man who in hot haste rushed that cal
jimmy on to the bulletin boards of all the
nation. His righteous anger became
consuming flame, and it never burned
out. Stanton was never forgiven, and
he never ceased to feel the smart of
Sherman's fierce displessure. Stanton
was utterly and deplorably wrong.
General Sherman, Of all men, to be
bribed with Davis plundered gold to
allow the arch traitor to escapel The