Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-05-06

| tons violent criticism of General
Sherman has been forgo ten | say
shame upon him who thus sought to
humble a man to whom our nation
owed so much as it then did to Gen.
eral Sherman,
When these pans of Generals
| Sherman and Johnston had been re.
jected, General Grant offered to go in
person to Raleigh and notify General
Sherman of the action taken at Wash.
ington. Before he started, Stanton
gave him this order: 1.-The president
desires that you proceed Immediately
to the head quarters Of General Sher.
man, and direct the operations
against the enemy" This order would
seem to take all authority from Sher.
man.
At the same time General Ha,leck,
at Richmond, ordered Generals Meade,
Sheridan and Wright to move in,o
Sherman's department, and to pay no
! attention either to his orders or his
| truce with Johnston. Also, General
| Thomas and the officers under him
| were directed no. to obey Sherman.
And all this without the gallant CON-
mander's knowing anything about it.
in the meantime these orders were
made pub ic throughout the north, the
yellow journals of the day making
them as sensational as they could. AS
a natural consequence people every
where were led to ask, why. what
has Genera Sherman been doing? Is
it possible that after all his splendid
service for his country he has turned
traitOr?"
We down at Raleigh heard little OF
this insulting treatment of our be-
owed commander. Stanton did not
take so much pains 20 publish the
matter to him and to us as he did to
the rest Of the world Had we known
it all then, and Stanton had been with
in our reach, it would surely have
gone hard vi h him. When we did
hear of it, the Indignation OF our
army went up to d white heat 1 never
in any other place or at any other
time saw anything like it, We thought
a thousand times more of Genera
Joseph E. Johnson than of him.
In the meantime we waited, and
hoped that the surrender of Johnston
would soon become an assured fact.
We went into camp in a better place
and soon had everything about us
convenient and pleasant. But for all
that, We were in a state Of suspense
almost painful. We half feared that
affairs might take such turn as to
send us off into another long summer
campaign. We knew we'll that, if
Johns on saw fit to undertake it. he
could lead Us q Lively race back into
Georgia. Alabama and Mississippi. We
hoped he would not do so-did not
be ieve he would-yet did not know.
On the oath Of Aprf we were or
dered out on grand review in the city
We We're not little surprised o find
General Grant sitting by the side of
General Sherman at the reviewing
stand. We wondered why he should
be there. We suspected he had come
TO command further operations against
the enemy, vet We wished it not to be
so.
| used to think my bunk-mate, Eddy
Cole, could prOpheSy 1t seemed to
me that when he go. to looking seri-
Gus and wise he was pretty apt to see
about what was going to be, especia Iy
when he fOretO'd a thing | did not
wish to come to pass. AS we broke
ranks after his review, Sergeant Cole
said, See here, my boy, we've got to
march tomorrow, you may depend up
on /. General Grant has come down
here to lead US against Johnston. Now
YOU just mark my word" Though | /
did not at all want to take his pre-
diction OF Eddy's seriously, had
learned that things were apt to turn
out pretty near Y as he said they
won d. And so I really expected |
marching orders. We got them that
night
The next morning we moved out to- |
ward the northWest--oward the camp |
of General Johnston. We made pretty |
good time, stopping to rest at noon |
about ten miles out. General Johns !
ton had been no flied Of the close OF |
the truce. We did not at ali like it, |
but good soldier, like all other good |
people, does duty whether he likes it |
or not. We remained ali the afternoon
where We had stopped. It was a beau |
tiful spot. and the day was as rare as
one in Madison in June; so we be-
came good natured We had a sort Of
war concert there, and the echoes of
our national songs among the pine
tree was something new for the
place
We spent the night in that same
camp, and the next day. Rebel sol
diers from Lees army were stringing
along the nearby raj road track on
their way to Raleigh, and beyond, and
our orders were not to disturb them |
All this was new to u.s.; but every
thing seemed to show that the war
was at an end and We could not be-
lieve We should have to follow John
ston any fur her
When Sherman had ordered his
truce With Johnston ended, he sent to
him this significant note: Il therefore
demand the surrender of your army
on the same terms as were given to
General Lee at Appomatox, April 9,
instant, purely and simply" On the
18th he had received word from