Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1904-05-27

app OdCncS, WOulu nave DeeH very
costly one to our troops. He had
hardly spoken to me before he turned
away to prepare a dispatch for the
President. Here Is the message he
sent:
II beg to present to you as Christ
mas present the city of Savannah,
with one hundred and fifty heavy guns
and plenty of ammunition, and also
about twenty-five hundred bales Of
cotton
The armies under Sherman had .
very refreshing rest for a few days.
On January 1, 1865, when l was pay
ing my respects to Gen. Frank Blair
at Blair's headquarters, Sherman
came in in his usual brisk style, and.
sitting down beside me with some
memoranda in his hand, he said quiet
ly, Howard, l want you to transport
your Army of the Tennessee by water
ward, cross to the main land and be
at Pocataligo by the 18th of this
month. Can you do it?"
did not take time to make more
than rough calculation, but said:
1.-THE time is rather short, but we will
be there if it can be DONE"
He added that Slocum would march
cp the Savannah, cross at Sisters
Ferry, and be at Robertsville about
the same time that | should reach
Pocataligo l may remark that six
divisions of the Army of the Tennes-
see were at Pocataligo at the re-
quired time. The other division went
with General Slocum, who was very
much delayed by the high water at
Sisters Ferry, so that we had to wait
several days for the left wing to get
into position.
Thus began the memorable march
through the Carolinas. After that diff
ficult march, with all its skirmishing,
accidents and battles, Sherman sent
us a congratulatory order which COW
cred the whole field of operations. 1t
seems now little boastful, but it ex.
presses the simple truth:
$50 complete success in military
operations, extending over half a con-
tinent, is an achievement that entities
it to place in the military history of
the world"
At later period he wrote: 81 con-
slider this march as a means to an
end and not an essential act of war.
The important move from
Atlanta to Savannah Is one step in the
direction of Richmond Were to ex-
press my measure of the relative i'm.
portance of the march to the sea and
of that from Savannah northward, I
would place the former 1 and the lat
ter TO-"
My estimate of Gen. Sherman ~
high. His intellect furnished a mine
rich in pearls, sparkling with dia-
monds. yet completed after Natures
own order. He was ever at home in
science or commerce or art, and never
failed to interest votary in his own
field of research.
His perception was like flash of
light. Stand him upon a hilltop and
instantly he took in the topography of
the country. AS the hills and valleys
and roads of Georgia demonstrated,
where he had once mentally grasped
the situation, the map always re-
manned photographed upon the tablet
of his memory
had once learned. He led his quarter.
masters in their plans and estimates
for his army. He was quicker than
his chief commissary in figuring the
rations for months supply.
l venture a word regarding Sher.
mans moral and spiritual makeup.
From long and close observation of
one who allowed me to be his friend,
am sure Sherman. while knew
him, never purposed to do wrong
act. Sudden impulses sometimes
clouded his judgment.
While he abominated quackery and
hypocrisy, he had great admiration for
good men, especially for Christian
men. Loyalty to family, loyalty to
friends, loyalty to society about him,
loyalty to duty and country he quickly
observed in another, and this was the
pervading quality among the marked
characteristics of his own great soul.
New York Herald.