The Irish standard., 1906-01-20

s1UAS " Nulp Lee, ana WOulO De OlS.
honored if helped by Sherman. Fin
ally Grant yielded, Sherman went back
to North Carolina. and March % Sher-
idan got his orders to move out and
reach the right and rear" of Lee, and
force him out of his intrenched lines
if possible
should he come out and attack US,
or get himself where he can be at
, tackled, move in with your entire force
in your own way, with the full re-
lance that the army will engage or
follow the enemy, as circumstances
dictated" These We're the final orders
of General Grant, that led to Lees
surrender-the beginning of his end
and they we'll show how much Grant
relied upon and trusted Sheridan.
The very next morning Sheridan was
in the saddle again, and our whole
cavalry moved out, With the infantry
rain set in. and the bottoms dropped
out of the Virginia roads. Both horses
and soldiers became stalled in the mud
and quicksands, and March 80 Grant
ordered a halt and partial return to
the railroad again.
This Disguised Sheridan, and mount
ing powerful gray Captured at Mis-
sionary Ridgc) he rode six miles
through the mud and rain. from Din
wddie Court House to Grants head
quarters at Gravelly Run. and earn
estly protested that they would all be
ridiculed and ruined if they did not
go ahead-just as Burnside was after
his famous Mud March (January, 1869,
as burnside stuck in the mud!" He
said the roads were just as bad for
Lee as they were for us, and If lie
could set every man to work Cor
duroyng" thcm and If Grant would
let him alone. he would go on and
break in on Lees right at Five Forks,
and force him out of his lines and
whip him, mud or no mud.
Rawlins, Grants chief of staff, was
of the same opinion and insstcnt,
until Grant quietly susgcstcl: We'll,
Rawlins, | think you had better take
commund!" But he paid more atten-
ton to Sheridan. ANA finally decided:
We'll, we will go on''-a momentOus
decision Back Sheridan. delighted,
rode. still through the mud and rain,
hespattcrrd from head to foot, ana the
next day but one uftcrwnrd he diu
strike Lee at Five Forks, and force,
him on, of his lines. and whipped
him: taking six pieces of artillery
thirteen battleflags. and nearly six
thousand prisoners.
This brilliant victory, conceived and
executed wholly by Sheridan, COM
PEELED Lee to let go his hold on Rich
lnnnd and Petersburg and move out TO
MS fortified lines, and from there on
to ApponattoX Court House and his
final surrender (April - it was mainly
Creek, April 6. Sheridan again hit tn"
Confederates ana took six generals.
ten thousand prisoners, and wired
Grant bacll with the main army):
IF the thing is pressed, l think Lee
will surrender" Grants laconic reply
was: Press things!" Then Sheridan
n Il
purpose that he outmarched Lee with
both his cavalry and infantry, and on
the morning Of April 9. when Lee
broke camp at Appomattox, intending
to retreat still farther suddenly Sheri-
dan appeared ahead, blocking his way,
with Meade hurrying up in his rear.
And then and there to him and the
Confederacy came the end of all
things.
sary to speak more here. But it is the
truth of history that in all the opera
tons leading up to it, Sheridan was
literally the right hand of Grant, hit
ting like a fail or striking like a
battering ram, and what this spring
campaign of 1865 would have been
without him, do not venture to say.
1t Is enough to say that without him
the campaign of 1864 before Peters,
burg awaited but little, and that with
the campaign of 1865 resulted glor-
iously.
To conclude clearly he was not Il
popinjay. like Wheeler: nor a partisan
like Forrest-a slave driver turned
soldier; nor Prince Rupert. like Jeb
Stuart; but he was veritable Henry
of Navarro, plumed knight for the
! Union. and will rank among great
commanders; if not of the first rank
yet well up among the first; and, I'M
questionably would have risen higher
had the war lasted and opportunity oc-
CURED.
He has been compared to Kearny
but he had more breadth and keen
ness than kearny. though less mill
tary learning and culture. He has
been compared to Murat but that
beau sabreur had not half of Sheri-
dams brains. nor 1.-THE of his integ-
rity and patriotism. In some respects
ne was to Grant what Stonewall jack
oct !,