Arizona republican., 1906-10-17
Correct Clothes for Men

recall all the circumstances of the let ter. but my impression is that some one told me the president was anxious for news of how l was progressing. and I wrote that 1 was begging away, and intended to fight it out on that line if 1t took all summer" Then. with d merry twinkle of his eye. he said: Ut took longer than all summer, but I kept begging
 Speaking of Grant. recalls a conver- sation I once had with Gen. c. O. Howl ard We were travelling together and discussing various commanders. Grants character as a commander was mentioned when Gen. Howard said TO my mind one of Grants greatest characteristics was his utter self abne- gatiOn. This was illustrated al Peters burg and has never received the high cOmmendatiOn it deserves. While Sher- man was making his march from Sa- vannah, Grant was subjected to the severest criticism for not driving Lee from Petersburg. No doubt exists that had Grant desired he could have forced Lee from that stronghold, but he wait
 ed, ObliviOus to all criticism. If he pushed Lee out, the Army of Northern Virginia could have readily escaped to the south. and there. strengthened by the cOnfederates under Taylor and
 others. prolonged the war many months. Grant knew this, and he wait ed until Sherman had got so near that final escape for Lee was impossible
 and then drove his forces over and round Petersburg to win victories fo-
 his own glory
 Of all the generals have talked
 
 was Sherman. To talk with him or
 rather to listen while he talked. was
 like being amid the fresh ocean breez-
 es. He threw conventionalities aside
 and talked with a crispness and fresh
 ness that was truly fascinating. All
 through his converse tions there were
 flashes of the genius of the man that
 marked his great personality. I once
 made some remark about the unjust
 criticisms that had been indulged in
 by the press against some of the com
 manders during the war. when he said
 Yes, they said I was crazy. I wasn't.
 but it is a wonder I escaped being
 driven crazy while in Kentucky. There
 was the war department sending me
 a dozen contradictory orders a day;
 Mcclellan would follow it up with an
 other half dozen: Fremont at St. Louis
 would jump on me with a hundred
 suggestions as to what ought to be
 done. the rebels in Kentucky were bOthering the life out of me and the
 uniOnists were clamOring for prOtec-
 ton and a thousand other impossible things, and then. worse than all, the newspaper correspondents were worry ing me to death to find out what I was
 going to do, what I was not going 10
 do; what l thought the rebels would
 do. l believe that it was old Peter the Great who said he only had two law yers in his empire and he intended to hang one Of them as soon as he return ed If the government at the very outset of the war. had ordered every
 newspaper man excluded from the army, the war would have ended at ] least a year earlier than it did, and thousands of lives would have been saved. Many of the newspaper cor respondents were really gifted with a
 military Instinct, and knowing the re- ! sources of the army would instinctive- | ly discern what movement ought to be
 made, and would at once flash it to l their papers; the papers would get tC the south, and, you know, forewarned | is fOreaTmed- More than one very promising projected movement had tc ] be abandoned because some sharI . | One day in 1886 I was with him on a train on the Vandalia road. He was | on his way to attend a campfire oi l the c. A R.. at Indianapolis, when we | reached Greencastle a committee from Indianapolis boarded the train. AfteI ] the intrOductions were made, one oi | the committee remarked that at the ] campfire would be an old relic that would be of interest to him. The gen ! eraI asked what it was. and was in- | formed it was the flag with which ! he had waved the signal Hold the | fort" The following conversation | took place:
 And you are sure you have got the
 right flag You know there were about ! forty of those flags"
 Yes, We are sure about it, for We got it from the son Of the man who 1 waved the signal
 ! Well, I am glad you have got the | right one, and there is no mistake about it. The man who waved the ] signal ought to know"
 | Pretty soon the committee moved tC ! another part of the car, and Genera l sherman turned to me with one Oi | his hearty laughs You heard said he, what that man said about tn, ] flag. He has got the right one and nc | mistake; he got it from the son oi ! the man who waved the signal Well ! all I have to say about it is that l never sent any such message I was not coming. but I was going. I had l ordered Corse to Altoona, but did not ! know whether he had got there. and ] ! signaled Where is Corse2' The reply ] came harL~ fh-- hn nae fort and