The Washington herald., 1910-12-11

their coats, after which they were drum
med out of camp Sheridan never had
any trouble with cGv Idly officers after
that"
Why sheridan Was. Successful.
"If you were asked to explain the bril-
liant success achieved by your brother,
what would you say?"
Naturally, ! shouldn't want 10 say
very much Stin I was with him for
twenty-seven years and understood him.
perhaps. better than did any one else.
He was a very persistent man. If he at
tempted anything. he kept at II until 1t
vas done Having won a battle, he
would follow the enemy until his men
AMI horses were worn out. Then he had
a marked talent for geography and to-
Biography The maps we obtained in the
South were old and unreliable Sheridan
had new ones made, and seemed TO know
intuitively the location OF roads that were
not marked. Standing on an elevation, he
would get the topography of' a region
at a single glance. IN war. OF course. il
is necessary to know how to reach a
place Although Sheridan was never
whipped, he realized that il was vital TO
know how TO run and where to run il it
were no longer prudent or possible to
fight. SO he had the whole country In his
head at the start of every battle. More
over. he took good care Of his men, in
camp and on the march, believing they
would pay him back when they had the
chance. and they always did"
What was his conduct in the fieid?''
while planning a fight he was terse
with his verbal orders and physically
uneasy. He would breathe quickly and
his lips would sometimes twitch. once
the battle was on. however. he sat in
his saddle, narrowly watching the whole
field, and gave his orders without any
show OF nervousness or excitement At
Missionary Ridge he was the only gen
eral officer 10 lead his troops on horse
back. riding up the steep slope with his
men, his aids, necessarily, being mounted
also, and right at hand He carried the
colors himself at Five Forks, In Vir-
ginia, going over the rife pits at the
head OF his troops and defeating part of
Lees army His loss that day was Ss4
men. as against $500 for the Confed-
crates"
"OId Brainss and Grant.
when did you first see Gen. Grantg'
early in 1862 But I was not very
much impressed-nobOdy was. There was
more talk about Sherman at that time.
But Halleck was TO end the war, we
thought Old Brains. We called him.
Gen. John Pope had cleats nailed on
tree, so that he could climb up and put
his field glass on Corinth. which. he
regularly reported TO Halleck, was about
to be evacuated. One day I picked up
piece OF paper near Halleck's tent.
Doubtless it had been blown through the
door by the wind In Halleck's hand
writing 1 read;
=" Johnny Pope. he climbed tree.
That into C0finth he might 49,
He said the Rets had 'Tacatei.
yarn that be had often stated
Pope was a horrible poet, but / treas
ured the bit OF paper for its military
value. However. I lost il somewhere IN
Dixie before the war was over
us It true that Gen. Sheridan once
made an invidious observation about
Texas"
THE United States meant to drive
Macmillan out of Mexico Sheridan was
in command of 5000 troops. and Grant
had chosen him TO lead the invasion.
After a long, hot drive during a pro-
tracted drought and through a hog
wollow' most OF the way from Victoria
To Galveston, we were registering at a
hotel when a reporter rushed in and
asked:
General. what do you think Of
Texas?
The inquiry was not opportune
Sheridan was covered with alaH dust
and his clothing was soaked with per-
spiration. He turned around savsgely
and said: why, If I owned both places
1 should live in he'll and sell Texas
"A country editor along the Rio Grande
in commenting on Sheridans verbal ex-
ploSion. said: Damn a man that doesn't
stick up for his own country The With
cism pleased Sheridan immensely"
The poets also have put some terrible
oaths' in your brothers mouth"
Yes, know. Several OF the reporters
who followed the army likewise thought
that a general should swear and swagger
lit made what they wrote more interest
ing and sensational, ! suppose. But Gen.
Sheridan used profane langage so seldom
that / do not remember of ever hearing
him swear at all. He made no noise
about being pious, but he believed in the
religion Of his father and mother"
Copyright. 1910. By James B. Mcrrow-l