The Irish standard., 1906-01-20

| right through you: a fighting nose and
| face; short neck, dark hair; was quick
and energetic in his movements. full
OF confidence and conccit--in short,
WAS the beau ideal of fighting Irish.
American.
He assumed command of the caval-
ry corps of the Army Of the Potomac
May s. 1864, and Immediately began to
| rrorganiZe and consolidate it.
With the opening of the Wilderness
campaign events moved rapidly, and
he soon began to show what stuff there
was in him. Jeb Stuart, Lees crack
cavalry commander (and a splendid
one he was). had been making trouble
as usual, the previous two years, when
he rode around the Army of the Po.
tomac and raided pretty much ad lib.
| itum (vide the Antietam and Gettye.
burg campaigns) and Meade ana
Sheridan were in consultation abova
him and his doings.
Suppose you let me try my hana
on him." suggested Sheridan.
Meade, tall and gray bearded, from
his greater height looked down on
Little Phil" and answered in his
cautious way:
You had better let Jeb Stuart
| alone! He is q dangerous man to fool
With"
This nettled Sheridan, and he hot
ly replied:
20. bother Jcb Stuart! l know him
well, and can whip him to pieces, IL
you will only let mel"
Meade reported this to Grant. and
that great commander wisely and char
acteristically decided instantly:
Did Sheridan say that? Well then,
let him go out and do it."
And the very next day Sheridan was
| off, and rode around Lees right, and
| rode straight after Stuart until he
| found him in the environs of Rich
| lnond. and in less than a week smashed
his redoubtable horsemen and killed
Stuart himself, destroying the prestige
of the Confederate cavalry forever
Subsequently, early in June, Sheri-
dan rode around Lees left, and fought
his cavalry and infantry at Trevil-
lian, on the Virginia Central Railroad;
breaking the road and seriously dam
| aging Lees communications and SUD-
plies, and, drawing the Confederate
cavalry off in that direction, thus
opened the way for Grants advance
| to the James.
Grants Wilderness campaign as a
whole, 1t must be confessed, was
bloody and disappointing. But he had
grimly made up his mind ITO fight it
| out on that line, IL it took all summer"
and pluckily stuck to it, as he ought
to have done. About the middle of
June he crossed the James and sat
down before Petersburg, holding Lee
as In wise. but unable to compel his
surrender.
Secure within his marvellous lines,
Lee soon began to play his old game
of menacing Washington, by the way
OF the Shenandoah Valley. hoping thus
to induce Grant to relax his hold or
finally to retire like Mcclellan But
this time he mistook his adversary.
Grant retained his deathlike grip on
Petersburg; but. detaching Sheridan,
sent his young lieutenant to the val
ley, with orders to clean it of Con-
federates and destroy all military sup
plies there, and thus close that back
door to Washington for the rest of the
war.
This was Sheridan's first indepen-
dent command. He had fairly earned
it by his gallantry and good sense.
and right we'll did he justify it. He
no longer had Rosecrans. or Thomas.
or Grant to lean on or consult with;
but now, widely separated from army
headquarters. had to think and plan
and act for himself. Mr.. Stanton,
looking him all over through his i'm
perious spectacles, thought him too
young for such a grave command, but
lf. Il F., Il . - aatl ls