The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-08
HISTORIES OF REGIMENTS.

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HISTORIES OF REGIMENTS.
To many people the histories OF the Indi- /
ana regiments which participated in the 1
war for the Union may not seem impor- /
tant. but those who witnessed the exer-
cises attending the dedication of the monu-
mcnt will doubtless have other views when |
they recall the fragments OF regiments and |
other commands which marched through /
the streets OF indianapolis. Quite num-
Der OF regiments have had histories written, |
some OF which are well considered and are |
histories. while too many are histories Of
campaigns. army corps and even Of the |
civil war. One OF the latter has recently |
been issued i'm which nalf the space is de- |
voted to the regiment and more to criti-
csnls of campaigns and leaders. full OF
bias. which is the result Of considering but
one side. Into this book. as the history of
a regiment, is injected an Interview in
which General Grant is made to use pro-
fame language, a thing he never did under
any conditions II is also made to appear
that General Grant sent a large part Of an
army corps into East Tennessee to spend a
large part of the winter of 1884 simply to
get even with an officer who had displeased
him. The writer also declares that it was
the capture Of the heights of Missionary
Ridge without orders which made General
Grant lieutenant general! And this after
his successful campaign against Vicks-
burg and the surrender to him of the largest
army that had ever surrendered 10 that
date. The writer, a man who served three
years. largely in clerical positions, declares
that Sherman's plan of his march to the
sea was in defiance of the science of war
and would have resulted in disaster IL the
Confederates had had any men with which
to confront himl He sets forth that the
march to the sea was attended by outrages
on the part of Sherman's army which were
a blot upon our civilization.
This is the sort of stuff which is printed
as the history of one of the excellent rest-
ments that was sent into the service the
same month that most of the regiments,
from sixty to seventy, were mustered into
the service. The part of the book devoted
to the history of the regiment proper is
we'll. The deeds of the regiment and de-
tachments of it, and of men whose names
are given, are told, thus rescuing from
oblivion a chapter for history, showing the
patriotic devotion and valor of one resi-
ment. There are biographies of men who
served, with their pictures, a roster of each
company which accounts for every man at
4 la data nf ST. nnrf fhof is aicfn
useful now and invaluable in the future
when some one will undertake to write a
history of Indiana in the war for the Union
BETTING the part it took in that great
struggle. For the rest it is a repetition of
the many feeble but malignant attempts to
belittle Ulysses S. Grant and William T.
Sherman-two men who cannot be COM
pared, but two men, nevertheless. who
were anxious to fill any place where they
could serve their imperiled country.
There are thirty or forty regiments and
batteries, at least that were conspicuous
for their rare service, of which not a line
that can be called history has been put into
that form of writing which can only be
done by men who were present. They are
now old men, and soon they will be no
more but there are men yet living, who are
not writer's even, who can tell the story Of
a regiment and the deeds of now unknown
men which could be edited by some person
who would not obliterate the life and move
ment for the sake of rounded periods or
grammar as it is taught. Regimental or
CARNATIONS should attend to this matter
now. If they can do nothing more, they
can have camp fires and tell the things
they saw and a part Of which they were,
while a stenographer in a quiet corner can
write down their words. But let them be
the histories of regiments and the expert
ences of men who served in regiments. and
not accounts Of campaigns, great battles
and the like, of which there already
more accounts than are needed, and some
which are worse than unnecessary.