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Wm. T. Sherman

LIFE OF
WM. TECUMSEH SHERMAN.

Late Retired General. U. S. A.

A GRAPHIC HISTORY OF HIS CAREER IN WAR AND PEACE; HIS ROMANTIC YOUTH;
HIS STERN AND PATRIOTIC MANHOOD; HIS CALM AND BEAUTIFUL
OLD AGE; A MARVELLOUS MARCH FROM THE MOUNTAINS
OF TIME TO THE SEA OF ETERNITY.

By W. FLETCHER JOHNSON,

Author of "Stanley's Adventures in Africa," "History of the Johnstown Flood,"
"Life of Sitting Bull and History of the Indian Wars," etc., etc.

Carefully Reviewed, Chapter by Chapter, and with an Introduction
By MAJ. GEN. O. O. HOWARD, U. S. A.

With Numerous Maps and Illustrations.

EDGEWOOD PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1891.

Copyright 1891, by A. R. Keller.

[INTRODUCTION.]

The title of this work is hardly a fair index to the contents.

The "Life of General Sherman," written with any reasonable detail so as to depict his formative period, the gradual development of his energies, the bulk of his achievements and the great consummation of his genius, could not be contained in any three volumes of this size.

The work, so far as the labor of the author, Mr. Johnson, is concerned, is eclectic,—mainly a compendium.

There are beautiful sketches, choice pictorial presentations of Sherman and his environments from childhood to age. But, I do not think that the work, valuable as it undoubtedly is, could in any degree take the place of Sherman's Personal Memoirs.

There are some chapters which have been furnished by war editorials and the writings of field correspondents which the author must have collected and carefully preserved.

Many of these are life-like, and bear the impress and the inspiration of the exciting events amid which they were composed.

There are, furthermore, in this book, chapters which are ingeniously formed and elaborated by quotations from officers who were themselves part and parcel of the campaigns which they describe.

To me, the author appears to have done exceedingly well, and has herein furnished a choice entertainment to his readers.

The part undertaken by me, and to which I have strictly confined myself, has been to review the work, some of it already in proof type, and the remainder in manuscript, going over each chapter with considerable care, and suggesting such changes as I thought the truth of history demanded.

Where one has expressed an opinion and a quotation of that opinion appears, of course no change was admissible; so that I am entirely unwilling to assume that such a quoted writer gave utterance to my own convictions.

For example: different views are given of the fearful struggle during the first day of "Shiloh" at Pittsburgh Landing. A famous journalist takes General Sherman to task for want of epaulements, intrenchments, and other means of defence. He claims that Sherman and Grant were both surprised, as they had known for a week or more that the enemy was close by, and liable to attack.

Certainly the answer to this allegation, and it should be a very clear and decided answer, would be found in any completed history. Our troops had not yet, at that period of the war of the rebellion, made much use of intrenching tools. Grant and Sherman did not design to put their new troops into intrenched camps.

They believed, and very justly, that it was next to impossible to handle them offensively, as we say, against the enemy. But they did have some cover. The woods, ravines, and general contour of the ground gave them protection, and it was in faithful use of this cover that during the battle-storm of the first day near Shiloh church, they were able to hold out till reinforcements came.

This example will suggest others to the reader. Still, the phases presented by the different writers, from whom extracts are taken, afford a kaleidoscopic variety, interesting especially to those of us who lived at the time of the occurrences in question.

Probably none of us can do more than our noble General Sherman, years ago, suggested. He said in substance: We who were involved in the controversies, the battles, and campaigns of the great war, are not the men to write the history. We are like witnesses in court. Each should give his own testimony of what he saw and knew. Somebody else, will in the future, after passion and prejudice shall have subsided, rise up to make a search, a selection, a summation, and so the better evolve the true history.

With regard to General Sherman and his career, in my judgment the more of truthful statements that are made the better. Let eye witnesses give all the evidence they can.

In his heart was a love of truth, a phenomenal loyalty to his country, a fearless and prompt devotion to duty and markedly an absence of aught that was malicious. True, he resented wrong often with a fiery indignation, but he forgave a fault confessed with quick generosity. So that at Lancaster, Ohio, the home of his childhood, at West Point, N. Y., in Florida and South Carolina, where were his early army stations; in California and Louisiana, where he made his civil record; at all places during the war of four years, and at his headquarters, or upon extensive tours; as Commander, after the war, of a military division and finally of a whole army; all his acts, all his orders, and all his writings will bear most careful inspection. They, if truthfully given, will furnish to our youth something for meditation, for instruction, for emulation.

To whatever extent this little volume may contribute such quota, it will be a welcome guest to our people, North and South, East and West.

O. O. HOWARD,
Major-General U. S. Army.

Governor's Island, N. Y. City,
March 19th, 1891.

[CONTENTS.]

[LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.]

[CHAPTER I.]
THE SHERMAN FAMILY.

Honorable Rank in the Mother Country—Early Migration to New England—Settling in the Connecticut Valley—Playing an Important Part at Woodbury—Long Term of Public Service—The Stoddards—A Military Minister—Seeking New Fortunes in the West—An Early Ohio Judge—The Mother of Great Men.

The artificial law of primogeniture has little effect upon the natural law of heredity. In nations where the family descent outranks all other personal or social considerations, degenerate sons—even first sons—of noble sires are often found, and famous families become extinct, or worse. In other nations, where descent is scorned, and the proud individualism of democracy prevails, hereditary genius appears, and families contribute to the service of society and of the State generation after generation of great men. Thus human nature vindicates its disregard of time and places, and establishes itself as the one immutable factor in the life of the world, albeit changeful, capricious, and kaleidoscopic.

In the United States no laws of entail or descent prevail. Yet scarcely elsewhere in the world, within two centuries and a-half, have there appeared so many striking instances of worth and greatness made hereditary. The names that lived at Plymouth and at Massachusetts Bay in the early sixteen hundreds, live now in the late eighteen hundreds, in old plantations, or in the greater and newer England that has risen beyond the Appalachian ranges. With such a name this memoir has to deal.

The name Sherman is not a common one in England, from which country the family migrated to America, but where it occurs in that country's annals it is mentioned with honor and respect. The will of Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby, dated May 23d, 1521, bears the name of Sir Henry Sherman as one of its executors. In the time of Henry VIII. one William Sherman was invested with a knighthood. The Davy manuscripts relating to the County of Suffolk, which are to be found in the British Museum, contain much mention of the Shermans of Laxley, who were the direct progenitors of the American branch of the family. The direct line of the Laxley Shermans is recorded as follows: Thomas Sherman, of Laxley; Thomas Sherman, 2d, of Laxley; Thomas Sherman, 3d, gentleman, of Laxley and Stutson, and afterward of Ipswich; John Sherman, son of Thomas Sherman 2d; William Sherman, eldest son of John. This William Sherman was born in 1588, and married Mary Lascelles, of Nottinghamshire. Their son, John Sherman, came to America in 1634, and settled at Watertown, Massachusetts. He took a prominent part in the military operations of the infant colony, and was known as Captain John Sherman; by which title he is distinguished from his cousin John Sherman, who also lived at Watertown. This Captain John Sherman was the grandfather of Roger Sherman, famous in American history as one of the chief signers of the Declaration of Independence.

MRS. GENERAL SHERMAN.

Two brothers, cousins of Captain Sherman, came to America at the same time with him in 1634. One of these was the Rev. John Sherman, already mentioned, who became famous throughout the New England colonies as the most eloquent preacher and most accomplished mathematician and astronomer of the day. The other was Samuel Sherman, the progenitor of the illustrious subject of this work. These two brothers soon removed from Watertown, Mass., to the Valley of the Connecticut, and thenceforward for several generations the family was conspicuously identified with that colony.

In Cothren's "History of Ancient Woodbury," much mention of Samuel Sherman is to be found. "The Court," says Cothren, "grants Mr. Samuel Sherman, Lieutenant Wm. Curtice, Ensign Joseph Judson, and John Minor, themselves and associates, liberty to erect a plantation at Pomperouge; provided it does not prejudice any former grant to any other plantation or particular person; provided any other honest inhabitants of Stratford have liberty to joyne with them in setleing there, and that they enterteine so many inhabitants as the place will conveniently enterteine, and that they setle there within the space of three years." Again, in the same work, appears the following: "In October, 1675, Wm. Curtiss was appointed by the General Court captain of sixty men to be raised in Fairfield County, to serve in King Philip's war, with power to appoint his inferior officers. In May, 1676, when the people of Woodbury were at Stratford, on account of this war, he and Mr. Samuel Sherman were appointed Commissioners for Stratford and Woodbury. Intimately associated with Captain Curtiss in all that related to the welfare of the new town, was the Hon. Samuel Sherman. He was, at the date of its settlement, undoubtedly the most distinguished man connected with the enterprise. He was from Dedham, Essex County, England. He came to this country in 1634, and previous to the date of the new plantation, had been a leading man in the colony. He had assisted in the settlement of several other towns in the colony, and now undertook the same for Woodbury."

Samuel Sherman died in 1682, leaving a son, John Sherman, who became the leading man of Woodbury and one of the most conspicuous citizens of the colony. Beginning in 1684, he was for forty-four years an Associate County Court Judge; for seventeen sessions a Representative in the Legislature; for two terms Speaker of the Law House; for twenty-five years Town Clerk; and for nine years Judge of Probate for the District of Woodbury, beginning with the organization of that Court in 1719. A direct descendant of John Sherman was Daniel Sherman, of whom it is recorded that on November 17th, 1774, he was Moderator of a great town meeting at Woodbury, held to take into consideration measures for carrying into effect the "Resolves of the late General Congress," and of the House of Representatives of Connecticut, one of which resolves was to have no dealing with the "foes to ye Rights of British America." On September 19th, 1775, another mass-meeting of the people of Woodbury was held, at which a "Committee of Inspection" was appointed, consisting of thirty members. The heads of this committee were Daniel Sherman and Gideon Stoddard, who held their places during the entire War of the Revolution. Again, at a similar meeting held on April 3d, 1777, Daniel Sherman was chosen Moderator and it was "Voted, that the selectmen in this town, for the time being, be a committee, as is specified in the Resolve issued by his honor, the Governor and Committee of Safety, dated March the 18th, 1777, to take care of such soldiers' Famelys as shall Inlist into the Continental army." This order was given by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Council of Safety, which Council was appointed annually by the Assembly and consisted of from nine to fourteen of the most distinguished men in the colony, whose duty it was to assist the Governor when the Assembly was not in session. Daniel Sherman represented Woodbury in this Council for four years, beginning in May, 1777; and another member of the Council was his kinsman, Roger Sherman.

To quote again from Cothren's history: "Daniel Sherman was perhaps the most distinguished man that had arisen in the town to his day. He was a descendant of Samuel Sherman, of Stratford, was a Justice of the Quorum for twenty-five years, and Judge of the Litchfield County Court five years, from 1786. For sixteen years he was Probate Clerk for the District of Woodbury, and Judge of that District thirty-seven years. He represented his native town in the General Assembly sixty-five sessions. This was by far the longest period of time any one has ever represented the town. He was of commanding powers of mind, of sterling integrity, and every way qualified for the various public trusts confided to his care. His son, Taylor Sherman, the fifth from Samuel, was married in 1787 to Elizabeth Stoddard, the great grand-daughter of the parson who shot one Indian after church on Sunday and another before breakfast the next morning. He lived and died as a lawyer and judge in Norwalk, Connecticut. He was one of those who went West to arrange a treaty with the Indians in 1808, and the same year came to Ohio again to make a partition of the Fire Lands. He died in May, 1815, and his widow came to Ohio, and died in Mansfield, in 1848."

The Stoddard family, which became closely allied with the Shermans, demand some notice here. Their American progenitor, Anthony Stoddard, came from the West of England to Boston in 1638 or 1639. His first wife was Mary, daughter of the Hon. Samuel Downing, of Salem, and sister of Sir George, afterwards Lord George Downing. Solomon Stoddard, a son of Anthony, was graduated at Harvard College in 1662 and ten years later was settled as minister at Northhampton, Mass. His son, Anthony, was graduated at Harvard in 1697, and settled at Woodbury, Conn. The first wife of this second Anthony Stoddard was Prudence Wells, and his second, Mary Sherman. The great grand-daughter of Anthony Stoddard and Prudence Wells, Elizabeth Stoddard has already been mentioned as the wife of the Hon. Taylor Sherman, the grandfather of the subject of this work.

Anthony Stoddard was for sixty years minister of the church at Woodbury, at the same time a successful lawyer and physician, and for forty years Clerk of Probate for the District of Woodbury. One Sabbath evening during the French and Indian war, it is related, while walking in his garden after the services at church, the Rev. Anthony Stoddard discovered an Indian skulking with hostile intent among the trees and bushes near by. Without seeming to notice the movements of the intruder, he managed to return to his house and obtain his gun. Going back to the garden he crept to within easy range, took careful aim and fired and the Indian fell dead. He then gave the alarm to his neighbors who barricaded themselves within their houses and kept guard for the night. The next morning Mr. Stoddard observed another Indian near his house, and shot and killed him also.

Both the Shermans and Stoddards were strict Presbyterians, and of Mrs. Taylor Sherman (Elizabeth Stoddard) it is related that she could never be induced to enter a church of any other denomination. "She always made us stand around," says one of her grand-children. "Her will was law. I could coax mother to let me do as I pleased, but never grandmother."

Judge Taylor Sherman, as already recorded, went to Ohio as a commissioner to survey and apportion the Fire Lands. The State of Connecticut ceded to the National Government in 1786 her claim to a part of the great western domain, but reserved a considerable district in what is now northern Ohio, which is even still known as the "Western Reserve." Half a million acres of this, known as the Fire Lands, and comprising the present counties of Huron and Erie, were to be divided among the people of Norwich, Norwalk, New London and other Connecticut towns whose houses had been burned by Generals Arnold, Tryon and other British raiders, to indemnify them for their losses. Judge Taylor Sherman received two sections of land in Ohio to pay him for his work as commissioner, and was much impressed by that country's prospects of future greatness. He, however, returned to Norwalk, where he died in 1815; after which the remainder of his family migrated to Ohio. His wife and daughter went to Mansfield, where the latter married Judge Parker; one of his sons, Daniel, settled at Monroeville as a farmer; and of the other son, Charles R. Sherman, some more extended notice is necessary.

Charles R. Sherman was born in 1790, and during his early life lived in Norwalk, Conn., of which place he was a conspicuous citizen. He was married to Mary Hoyt, a member of a numerous and influential family, who were among the first settlers of Norwalk. Mr. Sherman was admitted to the bar in 1810, and during the administration of President Monroe was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue. While he held this office two of his deputies defaulted for large amounts, and as he was responsible for them, almost his entire fortune was taken to make good the loss. From this financial embarrassment he never fully recovered; but the incident had a most important effect upon the future history of the family, and indeed it is to this turn in affairs, apparently so disastrous, that the subsequent prosperity and greatness of the Shermans may be directly traced.

Charles R. Sherman, being thus apparently ruined by his rascally subordinates, determined to seek new fortunes in the Western country of which his father had given such a glowing account. He at first intended to settle at Zanesville, Ohio, but finally selected Lancaster, in Fairfield County. Having established himself there as a lawyer, he returned to Norwalk for his wife, who meanwhile had become the mother of their first-born, Charles Taylor Sherman. Then, in 1811, he and his wife set out on horseback for Ohio, he carrying their infant child on a pillow on the saddle before him. After a weary and perilous journey, largely through a wilderness, they reached the village of Lancaster and there made their new home. By lovers of curious co-incidences it will be observed with interest that Sir Henry Sherman, the first English Sherman mentioned, was a resident of the County of Lancaster, England.

Mr. Sherman rapidly rose to eminence in Ohio as a painstaking and trustworthy counsellor at law and a most eloquent and forcible advocate. He also maintained the reputation of his family for earnest and practical piety. It is told that, failing one Saturday night to reach the place where Court was to be held on Monday, he, in company with several other eminent lawyers, resolved, out of regard to the day of rest, to remain at the small town where they were over Sunday. There was no minister of the Gospel in that place and so Mr. Sherman, who was then Judge of the Supreme Court, was selected to preach a sermon and conduct other religious exercises, which he did with great acceptability.

At the age of thirty-five, Mr. Sherman was made by the Ohio Legislature a Judge of the Supreme Court. It was an honorable position, and offered prospect of a brilliant future. He did not occupy it long, however. While on the bench at Lebanon he was stricken with sudden illness, and died on June 24th, 1829, being then only forty-one years old. His salary had been small and he had been able to save almost nothing. His widow therefore, was left practically penniless, with eleven children to care for, the oldest eighteen years of age, and the youngest six weeks. This was a desperate situation indeed. But Mary Hoyt Sherman was not the woman to be daunted. She addressed herself to the training and education of her children with energy, patience and prayer, and was remarkably successful in her arduous work. From four of her children she was for a time partially separated in order that they might enjoy the advantages offered to them by kind relatives and friends. Two of them were thus taken into the family of their aunt, Mrs. Parker, one into the family of the Hon. Thomas Ewing and one into the family of her kinsman, John Sherman, a merchant of Mount Vernon, Ohio. The last mentioned child was John Sherman, who has since become one of the foremost of American statesmen, while the ward of Mr. Ewing was William T. Sherman, whose famous career we are now about to consider.

The Hoyt family were Episcopalians, but Mrs. Charles Sherman, on going to the West, found there no church of that denomination, and accordingly attached herself to the Presbyterian Church, of which her husband was a member. Later in life she had an opportunity to return to the Episcopal Church, and remained in its communion until her death, in 1852. She was a woman of quiet and unobtrusive, but most earnest piety. In manner she was courtly and affable, and in temper calm and placid. She had, however, a strong will and great energy. These latter traits were inherited by her illustrious sons, and indeed it is to her example, precepts and untiring labors that we must largely attribute their sterling characters, and the great success which they have achieved in their widely differing life works.

[CHAPTER II.]
BOYHOOD AND CADETSHIP.

Why He Was Named Tecumseh—His Adoption by Mr. Ewing—Character in Boyhood—Work as a Surveyor—Appointment to a Cadetship—From Lancaster to West Point—"Old Hickory"—Letters to His Sweetheart—A Youthful Philosopher—Character and Standing as a Cadet.

William Tecumseh Sherman was the sixth of the eleven children of Judge Charles R. Sherman, and John Sherman, the great Senator and national financier, the eighth. It is related that the distinctive family names had been exhausted upon the first five children, and when the sixth was born, perplexity arose as to how he was to be christened. William was presently adopted, but the father was not satisfied with it alone. Another must be chosen, and it must be a warrior's name; for, said the Judge, "likely enough this little chap will be a fighter." Finally Judge Sherman determined to call his baby by the name of Tecumseh, the illustrious Shawnee warrior and statesman, who had been killed in battle some seven years before. This Indian chief was well-known in that part of Ohio, and had often saved the lives of settlers there and averted bloodshed by his wise counsels and peaceful influence, and it was in fact more because of these benign features than on account of his powers in war that Judge Sherman admired him and gave his name to the boy.

Our hero was born at Lancaster, Ohio, on February 8th, 1820, and was consequently nine years old when his father fell a victim to Asiatic cholera. Little is to be recorded of those early years. They were spent in the customary manner of childhood, modified in a measure by the breezy, vigorous life of the sparsely settled frontier community, and cherished tenderly by a fond father and mother. When the catastrophe of death broke the family circle, "Cump" was a merry, active, bright-eyed, red-haired boy, fonder of play than of work or study, but truthful and trustworthy beyond a doubt.

And what now? The members of the bar who had been associated with Judge Sherman saw clearly that the widow could not properly care for all those eleven children, and they felt that it would be a privilege to aid her. The foremost of them, Thomas Ewing, a lawyer and statesman of national reputation, was quick to act. "I will adopt one of the boys," he said; and forthwith he proceeded to the stricken home and laid his offer before Mrs. Sherman. He was a distant relative as well as a warm friend of the family, and Mrs. Sherman, with mingled grief and joy, accepted his proposition. But which boy should he take? "I must have the smartest of the lot," said Mr. Ewing. "Well," replied the mother, "come and look at them and take your pick." So they went out to where the children were at play, but Mr. Ewing was undecided. "They all look alike to me," he said. But the mother and her eldest daughter soon made the choice. "Take 'Cump,' Mr. Ewing," they said; "he's by far the smartest." So Mr. Ewing picked up the nine-years-old urchin from where he was playing on a sand bank, and took him away in his carriage to a new home. "He ever after treated me as his own son," wrote General Sherman of his adopted father in later years; and indeed the boy soon won the hearts of all the Ewings, so that they loved him as much as though he belonged to them by birth instead of by adoption.

For seven years thereafter "Cump" was a member of the Ewing household, and attended the local school at Lancaster. He ranked high in his classes and was generally regarded as a promising boy. "There was nothing specially remarkable about him," Mr. Ewing wrote in later years, "excepting that I never knew so young a boy who could do an errand so correctly and promptly as he did. He was transparently honest, faithful and reliable. Studious and correct in his habits, his progress in education was steady and substantial."

One other thing, however, is to be recorded of these years. Mr. Ewing had a pretty little daughter, named Nellie, who was "Cump's" favorite playmate and upon whom "Cump" untiringly lavished all the chivalric attention of his boyhood. She was his sister by adoption, but even in these early years the boy seemed to hope that one day she would be more than a sister to him. And when he left home, at the age of sixteen, his adieus to her were more tender and more reluctant than to all the others.

One incident of his boyhood life deserves to be recorded. In 1834 he was large and strong for his age, and fond of labor and adventure. Canal construction was then being greatly pushed in Ohio, and it was planned to build one from the great Ohio Canal at Carroll, eight miles from Lancaster, and run down the Hocking Valley to Athens and thence to the Ohio River. A Mr. Carpenter, of Lancaster, had charge of the preliminary surveys, and recruited his force of assistants from among the youth of that town. Young Sherman was delighted at the opportunity for serious work and adventure, and rejoiced when he was chosen together with three other boys from his school. He was appointed a rod-man. They worked during the fall of 1834 and spring of 1835, laying out two experimental lines for the canal, and each boy received half a dollar in silver for each day's work. This was the first money young Sherman ever earned.

Mr. Ewing was now United States Senator, and had within his gift an appointment to a cadetship at West Point. During the fall of 1835 and spring of 1836, Sherman devoted himself chiefly to grammar, geography and mathematics, in which studies he would have to be examined to enter the Military Academy. In the spring of 1836 he received his appointment. Mrs. Ewing provided him with a liberal outfit of clothes, etc., and on May 20th he left Lancaster in a stage coach for Zanesville. There he took passage on a coach on the Great National Road. Three days later he reached Frederick, Maryland, whence there was a steam railroad to Washington. But he was afraid of this strange device, and continued his journey by coach. When he got to Washington he put up for the night at Gadsby's Hotel, and next morning hunted up Senator Ewing. The latter lived in a boarding house, and to that house young Sherman removed at once, for the week which he was to spend at the Capitol. He saw more of Washington in that week than he ever saw in his many subsequent visits. "Old Hickory" Jackson was then President, and at the height of his fame. Sherman spent a full hour gazing at him with boyish awe through the picket fence that surrounded the White House grounds. Jackson was pacing up and down the gravel walks within. "He wore a cap," says Sherman, "and an overcoat so full that his form seemed smaller than I had expected. I also remember Postmaster-General Amos Kendall, Vice President Van Buren, Messrs. Calhoun, Webster, Clay, Cass, Silas Wright," etc.

From Washington he went by rail to Baltimore, thence by boat to Havre de Grace, by rail to Wilmington, Delaware, and by boat to Philadelphia. Thence by boat to Bordentown, New Jersey, by rail over the old Camden and Amboy railroad to Amboy, and by boat to New York. He spent a week with his uncle on Brooklyn Heights, and with another relative on White Street, New York, and then took passage on the steamboat "Cornelius Vanderbilt," up the Hudson, to West Point, where he was duly entered as a cadet. West Point was not as large a school then as now. But the routine of military discipline and instruction was fully established, very much as it has remained ever since. Colonel R. E. De Russy was the Superintendent, and Major John Fowle, Commandant of Cadets. The chief members of the faculty were: Professors Mahan, engineering; Bartlett, natural philosophy; Bailey, chemistry; Church, mathematics; Weir, drawing; and Berard, French. That was in June, 1836. In the summer of 1838 he had a vacation of two months, which he gladly spent with the Ewings. With that exception, he was absent from Lancaster and present at West Point continuously until his graduation in June 1840. His scholastic career was not unlike that in the school at Lancaster. He stood high, but not highest, in his class. There were forty-two men in that class, Sherman ranked sixth. George H. Thomas was twelfth. Other members were R. S. Ewell, Stewart Van Vliet, Bushrod R. Johnson, George W. Getty, William Hays and Thomas Jordan.

By far the most interesting feature of his cadet life was the correspondence he maintained with Miss Ellen Ewing. More characteristic letters were never penned. Years afterward the stern War Secretary, Stanton, perusing his vigorous letters from the front, declared that Sherman wrote as well as he fought. These earlier epistles were a fitting prelude to the more serious writings of after years. They were sprightly and vivacious, touched with humor, often eccentric, sometimes inclining to egotism, but always intensely earnest and decidedly vigorous. He was not as much a lover of "society" then as in his later life, for on one occasion he wrote: "We have two or three dancing parties each week, at which the gray bobtail is a sufficient recommendation for an introduction to any one. You can well conceive how the cadets have always had the reputation, and have still, here in the East, of being great gallants and ladies' men. God only knows how I will sustain that reputation." As he got nearer and nearer to the actual army, he was more and more impressed with the responsibilities that would be placed upon him, and he almost shrank from them. One day in 1839 he wrote of himself: "Bill is very much elated at the idea of getting free of West Point next June. He does not intend remaining in the army more than a year, then to resign and study law, probably. No doubt you admire this choice; but to speak plainly and candidly, I would rather be a blacksmith. Indeed, the nearer we come to that dreadful epoch, graduation day, the higher opinion I conceive of the duties and life of an officer of the United States Army, and the more confirmed in the wish of spending my life in the service of my country. Think of that!"

The commonest topics in his letters, however, related to the practical details of life. "The last encampment," he once wrote, "taken all in all, I think was the most pleasant one I have ever spent, even to me, who did not participate in the dances and balls given every week by the different classes; besides the duties were of altogether a different nature from any previous ones, such as acting as officers upon guard and at artillery drills, practicing at target-firing with long twenty-fours and thirty-twos, mortars, howitzers, etc., as also cavalry exercise, which has been introduced this year." He was not slow in taking to the knack of command. "As to lording it over the plebs, to which you referred, I had only one, whom I made, of course, 'tend to a pleb's duty, such as bringing water, policing the tent, cleaning my gun and accoutrements, and the like, and repaid in the usual and cheap coin—advice; and since we have commenced studying, I make him 'bone,' and explain to him the difficult parts of algebra and the French grammar, since he is a good one and a fine fellow; but should he not carry himself straight, I should have him 'found' in January and sent off, that being the usual way in such cases, and then take his bed, table and chair, to pay for the Christmas spree."

Sherman had already learned to do his own thinking, in politics and other matters, and he was not at all backward in revealing that fact to his fair correspondent. He gravely discussed the most important National topics, and hesitated not to express radical and positive opinions. His foster-father, Mr. Ewing, was a Whig, but the bumptious cadet did not approve of that party. In the Presidential campaign of 1840, when Mr. Ewing was laboring hard for the election of William Henry Harrison, Sherman wrote to Miss Ewing: "You, no doubt, are not only firmly impressed, but absolutely certain, that General Harrison will be our next President. For my part, though, of course, but a 'superficial observer,' I do not think there is the least hope of such a change, since his friends have thought proper to envelope his name with log-cabins, ginger-bread, hard-cider and such humbugging, the sole object of which plainly is to deceive and mislead his ignorant and prejudiced, though honest, fellow citizens; whilst his qualifications, his honesty, his merits and services are merely alluded to!"

Nor was he overawed by the superior attainments of his instructors, and of the Examining Board. Rather did he seem to regard the "Board of Visitors" as subjects for him to examine and criticise. "There is but little doubt," he wrote, "of the Board being nearly as well selected as circumstances would admit of. Party seems to have had no influence whatever, and, for my part, I am very glad of it. I hope that our Army, Navy, and the Military Academy, may never be affected by the party rancor which has for some time past, and does now, so materially injure other institutions." Again he wrote: "I presume you have seen the register of cadets for the last year, and remarked that I still maintain a good standing in my class; and if it were not for that column of demerits it would still be better, for they are combined with proficiency in study to make out the standing in general merit. In fact, this year, as well as the last, in studies alone, I have been among the stars—" meaning among the first five in the class. "I fear I have a difficult part to act for the next three years," he wrote, as graduation day approached, "because I am almost confident that your father's wishes and intentions will clash with my inclinations. In the first place, I think he wishes me to strive and graduate in the Engineer Corps. This I can't do. Next to resign and become a civil engineer.... Whilst I propose and intend to go into the infantry, be stationed in the Far West, out of the reach of what is termed civilization, and there remain as long as possible."

SHERMAN'S BIRTHPLACE, LANCASTER, OHIO.

In June, 1840, he received his diploma. The class had originally numbered more than one hundred, but had been reduced to forty-three. In reviewing, from the point of view of maturer years, his life at West Point, General Sherman wrote: "At the Academy I was not considered a good soldier, for at no time was I selected for any office, but remained a private throughout the whole four years. Then, as now, neatness in dress and form, with a strict conformity to the rules, were the qualifications required for office, and I suppose I was found not to excel in any of these. In studies I always held a respectable reputation with the professors, and generally ranked among the best, especially in drawing, chemistry, mathematics and natural philosophy. My average demerits, per annum, were about one hundred and fifty, which reduced my final class standing from number four to number six."

It is of interest to observe that Sherman's rank at West Point was higher than that of Grant, who was graduated three years later. Grant stood twenty-first in his class. In the details of engineering and of deportment, especially, Sherman surpassed his illustrious comrade. But from this fact no moral may profitably be drawn, except that of Mr. Toots, that such "grades" are of no consequence whatever. For many of those who far outranked both Grant and Sherman at the school, remained in after life unknown to fame.

[CHAPTER III.]
EARLY MILITARY DUTIES.

Winding Up the Seminole War—Comedy and Tragedy in the Florida Wilderness—The Capture of Coacoochee—Service at Fort Moultrie—Getting Acquainted with the scene of His Greatest Campaign—Secession Talk—Outbreak of the Mexican War—Rebuked for too Much Zeal—The Long Voyage to California—Arrival at Monterey.

Immediately after his graduation at West Point, in June, 1840, Sherman received the usual leave of absence of three months. He hastened back to Lancaster, eager to be with Miss Ewing again, and spent most of the furlough there, visiting his relatives at Mansfield for a short time. Presently he received an appointment and commission as Second Lieutenant in the Third Artillery, and was ordered to report for duty at Governor's Island, New York, at the end of September. On going thither he was assigned by Major Justin Dimock, who commanded the recruiting rendezvous, to take charge of a company of recruits about to sail for Florida. Early in October this company, with three others, sailed for Savannah under command of Captain and Brevet Major Penrose. At Savannah they were transferred to a small steamer which took them by the inland route to St. Augustine, Florida. General Worth arrived at St. Augustine at the same time with the Eighth Infantry, and General Zachary Taylor had then the chief command in Florida, with headquarters at Tampa.

Sherman was now detached from the company of recruits, which belonged to the Second Infantry, and sent to join his own regiment at Fort Pierce, on the Indian River. He went thither by steamer and anchored off the bar of Indian River. A whale boat came out and took him and his baggage with the mails through the surf over the bar, and into the mouth of Indian River Inlet. There he was transferred to a smaller boat and pulled through a channel among the Mangrove Islands. It was now night and thousands of pelicans and other birds were roused from their roosts on the islands, while the water about them swarmed with fish which could be seen in the phosphoric wake of the boat. The pilot entertained Sherman with many stories of the Indian War, which was then in progress, and of hunting and fishing in the Florida wilderness. Thus they made their way up to Fort Pierce, which was situated on a sand bluff. There were six or seven log houses thatched with palmetto leaves, for the officers quarters, and large log barracks for the men. Sherman was at once assigned to service with Company A, commanded by Lieutenant Taylor.

No Indian fighting was at this time in progress, so Sherman spent a part of his time hunting, and fishing with the pilot who brought him up the river. Thus he learned the arts of shark spearing, trolling for red fish, and taking sheep's head and mullet, which were found there in great abundance. He also caught many green turtles in nets, these animals being so common that the soldiers actually grew tired of eating them and preferred salt beef. In November, however, operations against the Indians began. This work consisted chiefly in capturing scattered fragments of the Seminole tribe and sending them on to the Indian Territory. The expeditions were mostly made in boats, and there was seldom much fighting. One day, however, several Indian warriors were killed. One of the soldiers, Sergeant Broderick, was so elated at his skill in shooting an Indian, that on returning to the post he got very drunk. While in this condition he became too attentive to the wife of one of his comrades, and the injured husband, a half-witted man, appealed to Lieutenant Taylor for protection. Taylor carelessly replied: "Haven't you got a musket? Can't you defend your own family?" An hour later the husband actually did shoot and kill Broderick. For this he was arrested and sent to St. Augustine, Lieutenant Taylor and the pilot, Ashlock, going along as witnesses.

About a month later, Ashlock re-appeared in his old boat with two uncommonly pretty women, aged about fourteen and eighteen respectively. They were sisters, and the elder was introduced as Mrs. Ashlock. The pilot had met and married her during the progress of the murder trial at St. Augustine. Soon after, Ashlock, leaving the ladies at the Fort, started back with the whale boat across the bar. In crossing the bar the boat was upset by the surf, and Ashlock and all his crew but one man were drowned, Ashlock himself, strangely enough, being unable to swim. The bereaved ladies were courteously cared for by the officers, and presently returned to St. Augustine. Sherman afterward met these ladies again at St. Augustine, and yet again he saw the younger one many years later at Charleston, South Carolina. She was then happily married to an army officer, who had a fad for inventing new guns, etc., upon which Sherman did not look with much favor; he was bothered with too many would-be geniuses. And thus ended this romance of the Florida wilderness.

One day in the summer of 1841 a number of Indians came to the post accompanied by a negro named Joe, who spoke English. They said they had been sent in by the famous Seminole Chief, Coacoochee, or Wild Cat, and showed a passport signed by General Worth who had succeeded General Taylor in supreme command at Tampa. They said that Coacoochee himself was close by and would come to the post "if it was all right." Major Childs said it was all right, and sent Sherman with eight or ten mounted men to accompany Joe, and one Indian, to bring in the great chief. Six or seven miles away they found Coacoochee, a handsome young Indian of twenty-five years, and a dozen other warriors, and invited them to go to the Fort. They had some little difficulty in persuading them to do so, but finally Coacoochee dressed himself in all his finery and went to the Fort. There he said he was tired of the war and wanted to go with his people to the Indian Territory, but he wanted rations for a month, which time it would take to get his people together for the journey. This was agreed to and then the great chief got gloriously drunk. A few days later he went away, but frequently sent back messengers for more whiskey and provisions. At the end of the month he was but little nearer ready to travel than before.

A council was accordingly called, at which Coacoochee became drunk again. Then Sherman and some of his men put the whole party in irons, and they were promptly shipped off to the Indian Territory. Among Sherman's associates were Lieutenants Ransom, Ord, George H. Thomas, Field, and Van Vliet, all of whom afterward attained distinction.

Writing from Fort Pierce in 1841, Sherman gave this sketch of his existence there: "Books we have few, but it is no use—we cannot read any but the lightest trash; and even the newspapers, which you would suppose we would devour, require a greater effort of mind to reach than we possess. We attribute it to the climate, and bring up these lazy native Minorcans as examples, and are satisfied. Yet, of course, we must do something, however little.... The Major and I have a parcel of chickens in which we have, by competition, taken enough interest to take up a few minutes of the day; besides I have a little fawn to play with, and crows, a crane, etc., and if you were to enter my room you would doubt whether it was the abode of man or beasts. In one corner is a hen, setting; in another, some crows, roosted on bushes; the other is a little bed of bushes for the little fawn; whilst in the fourth is my bucket, washbasin, glass, etc. So you see it is three to one." Again: "I have yet more pets than any bachelor in the country—innumerable chickens, tame pigeons, white rabbits and a full-blooded Indian pony—rather small matters for a man to deal with, you doubtless think, but it is far better to spend time in trifles, such as these, than in drinking or gambling."

Life in Florida did not lessen his fancy for the Western frontier. "We hear that the new Secretary of War intends proposing to the next Congress to raise two rifle regiments for the Western service. As you are in Washington I presume you can learn whether it is so or not, for I should like to go in such a regiment, if stationed in the Far West; not that I am the least displeased with my present berth, but when the regiment goes North, it will, in all likelihood, be stationed in the vicinity of some city, from which, God spare me." Lieutenant Sherman prided himself on his downright way of saying things, and in one of his letters he wrote: "If you have any regard for my feelings, don't say the word 'insinuation' again. You may abuse me as much as you please; but I'd prefer, of the two, to be accused of telling a direct falsehood than stating anything evasively or underhand; and if I have ever been guilty of such a thing it was unintentionally."

On November 30th, 1841, Sherman was promoted to be First Lieutenant of Company G, and was ordered on duty at St. Augustine, which place he reached before Christmas. He had a pleasant time there, but in February he was sent on to Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay, Alabama. There he remained until June, when he was ordered to Charleston, South Carolina. There he remained at Fort Moultrie for nearly five years. His life there was one of strict garrison duty, with plenty of leisure for hunting and social entertainment. He formed many pleasant acquaintances in Charleston, especially among wealthy families, who spent the Summer on Sullivan's Island.

His duties and pleasures, did not, however, alienate him from the sweetheart of his boyhood, for he kept up as frequent and interesting a correspondence with Miss Ewing as he had done at West Point. In the summer of 1863 he got a leave of absence for three months and spent that time with her at Lancaster. In November of that year he set out to return to Charleston by way of New Orleans. Part of the way he travelled with Henry Stanbery, afterward Attorney General of the United States. At Cincinnati he spent some time with his two brothers, who were employed in the Gazette printing office. He spent a week at St. Louis, visiting the arsenal and Jefferson Barracks, and was much impressed with the future possibilities of the city, which then had only about 40,000 inhabitants.

So he returned to Charleston, and there he was a busy student, concerning himself chiefly with observations of the country from a professional point of view. Says Mr. Reid in his "Ohio in the War": "Nothing could more strikingly exhibit the foundations of that wonderful knowledge of the topography and resources of the South which was afterwards to prove so valuable, than this scrap of a letter to Philemon Ewing: 'Every day I feel more and more in need of an atlas, such as your father has at home; and as the knowledge of geography, in its minutest details, is essential to a true military education, the idle time necessarily spent here might be properly devoted to it. I wish, therefore you would procure for me the best geography and atlas (not school) extant.'" Writing from Fort Moultrie he said: "Since my return I have not been running about in the city or the island, as heretofore, but have endeavored to interest myself in Blackstone. I have read all four volumes, Starkie on 'Evidence,' and other books, semi-legal and semi-historical, and would be obliged if you would give me a list of such books as you were required to read, not including your local or State law. I intend to read the second and third volumes of 'Blackstone' again; also 'Kent's Commentaries,' which seem, as far as I am capable of judging, to be the basis of the common law practice. This course of study I have adopted from feeling the want of it in the duties to which I was lately assigned.... I have no idea of making the law a profession; but as an officer of the army, it is my duty and interest to be prepared for any situation that fortune or luck may offer. It is for this alone that I prepare and not for professional practice."

Soon after getting back to Charleston he was assigned to duty in the upper part of Georgia and Alabama, and on this errand he travelled over the region in which, many years later, he conducted one of his greatest campaigns. Thus he acquired knowledge which was afterward of incalculable value to him and to the National Government.

In the winter of 1844–45, he was on a deer hunting expedition on the Carolina coast, and got his right arm thrown out of joint by an accident. Being thus disabled he got a leave of absence and went North, going as usual to the centre of attraction at Lancaster. In March he returned to Fort Moultrie, just at the time when Congress provided for the annexation of Texas and war with Mexico was expected. He remained at Fort Moultrie, however, for some time longer. Charleston was then a proud, aristocratic city, and considered itself a most important place in the Union. There was already much talk about the right of secession and there were often angry controversies over the subject, even at the officers' own mess-tables. But Sherman at this time had no idea that such talk would ever go further than it had already gone in 1832–33, when "Nullification" was so promptly stamped out by President Jackson and General Scott.

In the spring of 1846 Sherman was at Fort Moultrie, under the command of Captain, afterward General, Robert Anderson. Among other officers there at the time were Henry B. Judd, George B. Ayres, William Gates, Martin Burke, E. D. Keyes, T. W. Sherman, H. B. Field and Joseph Stewart. George H. Thomas and John F. Reynolds had already gone on to join General Taylor's army in Texas. In April, Sherman was sent to Governor's Island, New York, and thence to the recruiting station at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Soon after this he received authority to open a recruiting station at Zanesville, Ohio, to his great delight, for Lancaster and Miss Ewing were only thirty-six miles away.

When news arrived of the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma he became much excited at the prospect of actual war and hurried back to Pittsburgh. There he found a letter from his friend Ord, then at Baltimore, saying that his company had just received orders to go to California and urging him to go also. Sherman at once wrote to the Adjutant-General, at Washington, D. C., applying for active service. Then, in his impatience and without authority, he left a corporal in charge of his office and hastened to Cincinnati. There he reported to Colonel Fanning, a veteran officer, and asked to be sent on to the front. But Fanning, instead of appreciating the young soldier's zeal, gave him a hearty scoring for leaving his post without orders, and told him to get back to Pittsburgh as quickly as he could. Sherman obeyed, but of course stopped off at Lancaster on the way. He arrived at Pittsburgh late in June and found there awaiting him an order relieving him from the recruiting service and assigning him to Company F, then under orders for California. He made up his accounts, turned over the balance of cash to the physician, and in a few hours was on his way to New York where his company was already aboard ship and ready to sail for California by the way of Cape Horn.

Sherman and his fellow officers went aboard on July 14th, 1846, and set off on their long voyage. The "Lexington" was an old ship, formerly a sloop of war but now a store ship. Sherman and Ord roomed together. On the voyage they drilled the men as thoroughly as possible. They amused themselves with various games, but no gambling was allowed. On "crossing the line" a few of the greenhorns were put through the usual ceremonies, but the officers were exempted. In sixty days they reached Rio Janeiro, where they had a jolly time for a week. Sherman's companion in his rambles about town was Lieutenant, afterward General Halleck. They saw the Emperor and his family. Their first supper in the city was a sumptuous meal and the bill footed up to 26,000 reis. This sum staggered them, until they found out that it meant only about $16.

From Rio they proceeded to Cape Horn, which they rounded in very rough weather, and in sixty days reached Valparaiso, where they remained ten days. About the middle of January they neared the California coast, which they had to approach cautiously because no trustworthy charts were then in existence. They made their landing at Monterey, and there learned that the Californians had broken out into an insurrection, that the fleet under Commodore Stockton was down the coast near San Diego, that General Kearney had been defeated in battle, and that the whole country was in a pretty bad plight. Accordingly they got their weapons into shape for immediate use and expected to begin fighting the moment they set foot on the shore. It was January 26th, 1847, when they dropped anchor in the bay of Monterey, after a voyage of one hundred and ninety-eight days from New York.

[CHAPTER IV.]
AMONG THE FORTY-NINERS.

Days of Idleness at Monterey—Adam and Eve—Sunday Diversions—Who is Governor?—General Fremont—The Discovery of Gold and the Rush for the Mines—Domestic Economy of Camp Life—Negro Fidelity—Back to the East—Marriage of Sherman and Miss Ewing—How he Heard Webster's Speech—A Shady Travelling Companion—Entering and Quitting the Law.

The voyagers of the "Lexington" found Monterey a particularly peaceful and sleepy place, despite the war-like rumors that had greeted them, and Sherman was compelled to drop into a life of dull routine in the Quartermaster's department. Monterey was inhabited by about a thousand persons, Americans, Spaniards, Mexicans and Indians, mixed. They were a kind and pleasant people, apparently with nothing to do. Horses and cattle were ridiculously cheap, and game of all kinds was abundant. Coffee, sugar and such supplies were, however, scarce and costly. The half dozen shops in the town were almost empty and seldom patronized, and the people spent their time mostly in riding, dancing and shows of all kinds. Every Sunday there was a grand ball, and Sherman pronounced the girls very graceful dancers. Soon after their arrival the officers were invited to witness a play called "Adam and Eve." "Eve was personated," says Sherman, "by a pretty young girl known as Dolores Gomez, who, however, was dressed very unlike Eve, for she was covered with a petticoat and spangles. Adam was personated by her brother, who has since become somewhat famous. God Almighty was personated, and Heaven's occupants seemed very human."

Sherman spent a month at Monterey, doing some routine work, studying a little Spanish, and cultivating the acquaintance of the people. On one occasion he and Ord went on an excursion inland. They stayed over night at the house of Senor Gomez, father of the young people who had played Adam and Eve, and then rode to the old Mission of St. John the Baptist. It was Sunday, and they went to church, Ord's gorgeous uniform attracting much attention. After church the priest tucked up his robes, and betook himself to playing billiards, while the rest were cock-fighting and horse racing. Sherman improved the opportunity to buy a splendid new horse.

News soon came of the quarrel between General Kearney, Colonel Fremont and Commodore Stockton, as to the right of supreme authority on the coast. General Mason and Commodore Shubrick also laid claim to supreme control. So the young officers were asking, "Who the devil is Governor of California?" One day Sherman and the others were aboard the frigate "Independence" when General Kearney approached on board another ship, the "Cyane." Kearney soon came aboard the "Independence," dressed in an old dragoon coat, and an army cap to which he had added the broad visor cut from a full dress hat, to screen his face and eyes from the hot sun. As he was received by the officers on the "Independence" one of them exclaimed, "Fellows, the problem is solved; there is the Grand Vizier (Visor), ——! He is Governor of California!" And in fact Kearney and Shubrick at that very meeting came to a most cordial understanding, Kearney being recognized as the supreme commander.

Fremont still disputed Kearney's authority, however, and soon came down to Monterey. Sherman called on him and took tea with him, but, he says, "left without being much impressed." Kearney and Sherman after this went up to Los Angeles, to replace the authority which Fremont had set up there. The country was peaceful and Sherman's experiences and observations were picturesque rather than important. He also went up to Sonoma, and Yerba Buena, as San Francisco was then called.

In the spring of 1848, Sherman went with Colonel Mason to Santa Barbara, where he had a good time hunting deer and bear in the mountains, and ducks and geese on the Salinas Plains. In the course of a few hours he had shot as many geese and ducks as could be loaded on a mule's back. Sometimes he killed as many as nine with one discharge of his gun.

At about this time one day two Americans came to the office at Monterey to see the Governor (Mason). Their business was most important, for they brought specimens of placer gold which had just been found. Captain Sutter had found it in the tail-race of a saw mill he was building at Colma, and he wanted a title for his property. This was the commencement of the gold discoveries which revolutionized California and startled the world. Soon every one was talking of gold, and the excitement became feverish. Soldiers began to desert and rush to the mines. Sherman himself did not escape the infection, and soon convinced Colonel Mason that it was their duty to go and investigate the matter personally. So in June, 1848, Sherman set out with four soldiers, a negro servant and a number of horses and mules. On reaching Sutter's place he heard from Captain Sutter himself the story of the discovery of gold by Marshall, the workman who built the mill. As Marshall was working in the ditch which was to carry off the water, he saw some particles of yellow metal. He picked them up and the thought flashed into his mind that they were gold. He hurried to Captain Sutter and showed them to him. Sutter attached little importance to the discovery and told Marshall to go back to work and say nothing about it. But he at once sent the specimens down to Governor Mason. Marshall could not keep his secret, however, and soon the other men wanted to gather the gold. Marshall threatened to shoot them if they did so. Thereupon they went fifteen miles further down the stream, and they discovered one of the richest placer mines in the world.

While Sherman was travelling about in the gold country his soldiers deserted him and all his followers, except the negro servant, and when he got back to Monterey he found the same state of demoralization there. Every one was crazy over gold. But in September, 1848, official news of the treaty of peace with Mexico reached them, and most of the soldiers were regularly mustered out. In September and October, Sherman, Mason and others made a second visit to the mines, and during that fall Sherman, Ord and Warner camped on the bank of the American River, near Sutter's Fort. Sherman was cook, Ord washed the dishes and Warner looked after the horses. They soon dismissed Ord from his position, however, because he would only wipe the tin plates with a tuft of grass, while Warner wanted them thoroughly washed with hot water. So Warner took to washing the dishes and Ord cared for the horses.

General Persifer F. Smith came out to California in February, 1849 to take supreme command, arriving at Monterey on the first steamship that reached that coast. Sherman became his Adjutant-General, and went up to San Francisco with him. General Smith and his family had much trouble with their servants, who all deserted them for the gold mines excepting one little negro, named Isaac, who was cook, chambermaid and general man and maid of all work. Accordingly, domestic affairs were chaotic. Breakfast was announced at any time between ten and twelve, and dinner according to circumstances. "Many a time," says Sherman, "have I seen General Smith, with a can of preserved meat in his hands, going toward the house, take off his hat on meeting a negro, and on being asked the reason of his politeness, he would answer that they were the only real gentlemen in California." Indeed the fidelity of Isaac and of Colonel Mason's negro boy, at a time when white men laughed at promises as things made only to be broken, gave Sherman a kindly feeling of respect for negroes which he never lost.

Having little official business on hand, Sherman and some of his comrades made a contract with Colonel J. B. Stevenson to survey his projected city of "New York of the Pacific" at the mouth of San Joaquin River and to mark out a channel through Suisun Bay. For this they were well paid, but the city never was built. After this Sherman surveyed a large ranch in Sacramento Valley and had some lively experiences with grizzly bears. All his earnings he invested in real estate at Sacramento, on which he made good profit. He was an interested witness of the great rush of prospectors to the coast in 1849, of the organization of government under a State Constitution, the election of Fremont and Gwin as Senators, and all the picturesque scenes that the rising community in those days presented.

SHERMAN ENTERING U. S. SENATE.

In the fall of 1849 his friend Warner was surveying Feather River and its source, Goose Lake. While engaged in that work he was murdered by Indians, and Sherman was much shocked and grieved at the loss. It was impossible at that time to punish his murderers, and it was not until the next Spring that his scattered bones were found and buried.

Sherman now became anxious to return to the East, chiefly, it is surmised, on account of his old playmate at Lancaster. Accordingly, he induced General Smith to send him home with dispatches. In January, 1850, he went down to Monterey to bid his friends there good-bye, and then took passage on a steamer for Panama. There they crossed the Isthmus, partly on mule-back and partly in a canoe. Thence they made their way to New York by steamer. Senator Gwin, Ord and A. J. Smith were members of the party, and Sherman brought along two Spanish boys from Monterey to put into college at Georgetown, D. C. Sherman's party on reaching New York put up at Delmonico's Hotel, on Bowling Green. The next day Sherman went to General Scott's office and delivered General Smith's dispatches, and was "ordered" (not invited) to dine with him the next day. At the dinner General Scott entertained his guests with stories of the Mexican war. Sherman felt deeply the fact that the country had passed through a foreign war and that his comrades had participated in great battles, while he himself had not even heard a hostile shot. He thought that his last chance was gone and his career as a soldier at an end. But Scott startled him with the prophecy that the country would soon be plunged into a terrific civil war.

After a few days in New York, General Scott sent him on to Washington. Mr. Ewing was then Secretary of the Interior, and Sherman, of course, became a member of his family. Sherman soon went to call on President Taylor at the White House. He had never seen him before, though he had served under him in Florida in 1840–41. He had a long and very pleasant chat with him, and was, he says, most agreeably surprised at his fine personal appearance, and his pleasant, easy manners.

As soon as possible Sherman obtained six months' leave of absence. He visited his mother at Mansfield, Ohio, and then returned to Washington. There, on May 1st, 1850, he was married to his first and only love, Ellen Boyle Ewing. The ceremony occurred at the house of Mr. Ewing, on Pennsylvania Avenue, opposite the War Department building. A large and distinguished company attended, including President Taylor and all the members of his Cabinet, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Thomas H. Benton, and many other prominent statesmen. The young couple made a wedding journey to Baltimore, New York, Niagara Falls and Ohio, returning to Washington on July 1st.

President Taylor took part in the celebration of the Fourth of July, and immediately afterward was taken ill and died. Sherman was present in the gallery of the Senate chamber when Fillmore took the oath of office and succeeded to the Presidency. He also attended General Taylor's funeral as an Aid-de-Camp.

Important political changes soon came on, which were watched by Sherman with much interest. Mr. Ewing resigned his office as Secretary of the Interior and became Senator. Sherman listened to many of the interesting debates that took place in the Senate at this time. He heard Webster's last speech in the Senate before he entered Fillmore's Cabinet. Learning that Webster was to make a speech, he went to the Capitol at an early hour, but found all the galleries already overcrowded. Anxious to hear the speech, he appealed to Senator Corwin, who asked him what he wanted. Sherman said he wanted him to take him to the floor of the Senate, adding that he had often seen from the gallery persons on the floor no better than he was. Corwin asked him in a quizzical way if he was a foreign ambassador. Sherman said he was not. A Governor of a State? No. A member of the House of Representatives? No. Ever received a vote of thanks from either house? No. Well, Corwin explained, those were the only persons entitled to go upon the floor; but there was just one other chance. "Have you any impudence?" "Yes, if occasion calls for it." "Could you become so interested in talking with me as not to see that door-keeper?" "Yes, if you will tell me one of your funny stories." So Corwin took Sherman's arm and walked around the vestibule for a few minutes with him, and then led him through the doorway into the Senate Chamber. The door-keeper began asking him if he was an Ambassador, or Governor, or Representative, but Sherman paid no attention to him, pretending to be so absorbed in Corwin's story as not to hear him. Once in, Corwin told the young man to take care of himself, and he did so.

He sat near General Scott and not far from Webster, and heard the whole of the speech. He has recorded that it was heavy in the extreme, and he was disappointed and tired long before it was finished. The speech could not, in Sherman's estimation, be compared with Mr. Clay's efforts.

At the end of July all the family went home to Lancaster and Sherman was soon sent to St. Louis. In September, 1852, he was sent thence to New Orleans. But he soon applied for and obtained a leave of absence, desiring to go to San Francisco with a view to settling there. So he sent his family back to Ohio and went himself to California by the way of Nicaragua. When he boarded the steamer bound from San Juan del Sur for San Francisco there was a great rush for state-rooms. Just as he had secured his, a lady who had been a fellow-passenger from New Orleans asked him to secure one for her and her lady friend. The purser answered that there was not another left, and so put down their names for the other two berths in Sherman's state-room, promising to make other arrangements as soon as the vessel was off. So down went the entry, "Captain Sherman and ladies." A few minutes later the purser gave Sherman a berth in another state-room, so that the two ladies had the room to themselves. At every meal the steward invited Sherman to bring "his ladies" to the table, and they had the best seats there. The two ladies were, Sherman says, the most modest and best behaved on the ship. But soon after his arrival at San Francisco he discovered that one of them at least—the one who had asked him to secure the state-room for her—was a notorious woman.

It was a poor ship they travelled in, and the weather was foggy. In trying to make San Francisco harbor they ran aground, and Sherman went off in a small boat to reach the city and bring help. He came near getting drowned, but finally reached the city and sent back help to the stranded vessel. All the passengers were taken off and brought to the city in safety and the next night the ship went to pieces. Had even a slight storm arisen when they ran aground, probably not one of the passengers would have escaped.

Sherman now went into business in San Francisco. In the summer of 1853 he returned East and took his family back to the Pacific coast. On September 6th he resigned his commission in the army and devoted himself earnestly to various business enterprises, but the unhealthy state of speculation disgusted him. Presently there was a financial panic, in which Sherman and those associated with him lost considerably. But he held on there with varying fortunes until the spring of 1857, when he returned with his family to New York. Again in 1858, he went to San Francisco and closed up his business there, making full payment of all dues and then after some experience in St. Louis and elsewhere, settled his family at Lancaster in the fall of 1859.

Among his various adventures at this period was the practice of law. The young Ewings, his brothers-in-law, were establishing themselves as lawyers at Leavenworth, Kansas, and Sherman, after living for some time on a farm of 160 acres which he owned, near Topeka, joined their law firm. For two years he strove to be a lawyer, but with indifferent success. While the Ewings rose rapidly among the foremost leaders in the law and the politics of the State, their eccentric office partner gained but little influence and no prominence; the citizens knew little of him. "It happened one day," says an old copy of The Leavenworth Conservative, "that Sherman was compelled to appear before the Probate Judge, Gardner, we believe. The other partners were busy; and so Sherman, with his authorities and his case all mapped out, proceeded to court. He returned in a rage two hours after. Something had gone wrong. He had been pettifogged out of the case by a sharp petty attorney opposed to him in a way which was disgusting to his intellect and his convictions. His amour propre was hurt, and he declared that he would have nothing to do with the law in Kansas. That afternoon the business was closed, partnership dissolved, and in a very short time Sherman was on his way to a more congenial clime and occupation.

[CHAPTER V.]
THE CRISIS OF A CAREER.

Sherman in the Prime or Manhood—Great Events Approaching—How He Came to be a Schoolmaster—Organization of the Seminary—Political Talk—His View on Slavery—The Campaign of 1860 and Election of Lincoln—Secession—Sherman's Prompt Decision to Stand by the Union—Resignation of His Principalship—Departure for the North—Fate of the Seminary.

Sherman's real history begins with 1859. Up to that time, as we have seen, his life was one of preparation, checkered, adventurous, often picturesque, always earnest. Yet it comprised no word or act of vital import or permanent value to the world. Whether hunting in Florida, or mingling in gay society at Charleston, or watching the rush for gold and the rise of a new State in California, or banking in New York, or practicing law in Kansas, he did nothing that unfolded his own character to the fullest extent, or seriously impressed the history of the nation. The most interesting personal feature of those years was his long courtship and happy marriage; the incident of most public value, undreamed of at the time, was his horseback journeys through Northern Georgia. Neither of these, however, had his career been ended at that time, would have secured him more than a local and a transient fame. The work of his life yet lay before him.

It is interesting to observe, in passing, as significant of his general character, that he was admitted to practice law at the Kansas bar, not on the strength of his legal attainments nor because he had successfully passed the required examination, but simply on the score of his general intelligence. He did not, in fact, profess to be a lawyer in the technical sense of the term. He had indeed studied a few of the ordinary law books, but he could hardly have passed a satisfactory examination. He arranged, therefore, to enter partnership with Thomas Ewing, Jr., on this basis: Ewing, who was a thorough lawyer, was to manage all the business in the Courts, and Sherman was to look after collections, agency work, etc., such as his business experience had qualified him to attend to. It was necessary even under these circumstances for him to obtain a lawyer's license, so he went one day to Judge Lecompte, of the United States Court, and mentioned the matter to him. The Judge told him to go to the Clerk and get a license. "But," said Sherman, "shall I have to be examined?" "No," said the Judge, "we will admit you on the strength of your general intelligence."

Behold our hero, then, in the midsummer of 1859; a tall, slender man in the prime of life, who had never known a day's ill health, and whose mind and body were brimming with ambition and energy that had not yet found scope for full expansion. He had weighed many things in the balance of practical achievement, but had found them all wanting. His heart was set upon a soldier's life, but as yet he had been compelled to remain amid scenes of inglorious peace. He had missed the opportunities of the Mexican war, and the sanguinary prophecies of General Scott had lacked fulfilment.

But now the shadows of great events began to fall thickly all about him. He had already witnessed the Free State Struggle in California, and had seen Fremont triumphantly elected Senator. The same conflict was now rapidly assuming national dimensions. The old Whig party had melted away, and a new and stronger party had arisen in its place. Already the new organization had fought a great presidential campaign with Fremont as its leader, and had shown a strength that promised success when next it should measure forces with its opponent. In Congress the new party was an important factor, and there Sherman's brother, John, was one of its most conspicuous leaders. Although in his cadet days Sherman had not been in full sympathy with the Whig partisanship of his foster father, the whole bent of his nature was now strongly toward freedom as against slavery, and toward nationalism as against sectionalism and secession. But not yet did he even dream of the nearness and the magnitude of the coming struggle, and the mighty part that he was destined to play therein.

He was invited, in July, 1859, to become the head of a new military school at Alexandria, Louisiana. The national government sometime before had given to that State a considerable tract of public land, the proceeds from the sale of which were to be used in founding "a seminary of learning." For some time the authorities of Louisiana discussed the name and scope of the proposed institution, and finally adopted the title of "Louisiana Seminary of Learning," to which Sherman afterward added "and Military Academy." Sherman appears to have obtained the principalship of this seminary through the influence of Major Don Carlos Buell and General G. M. Graham, and not, as has been alleged, through the personal friendship of General Bragg and General Beauregard. Indeed, the latter two gentlemen had nothing to do with it, and did not know of his appointment until it was actually made. Sherman had written to Buell, who was on duty in the War Department at Washington, applying for a place as army paymaster. Buell replied by sending him a prospectus of the Louisiana Seminary and advising him to apply for the principalship. Sherman did so, and soon after was informed by Governor Wickliffe that he had been appointed to the desired position. Sherman was made principal and professor of engineering; Anthony Vallas was professor of mathematics and philosophy; Francis W. Smith was professor of chemistry; David F. Boyd was professor of languages, English and Ancient; and E. Berti St. Ange was professor of French and Modern languages.

Sherman went to Louisiana in the autumn of 1859 and reported for duty to Governor Moore, who had succeeded Governor Wickliffe. Governor Moore sent him in his own carriage to Alexandria, and there Sherman and General Graham looked over the ground and made plans for the Seminary. The college building stood on a tract of four hundred acres of pine land, and was under the charge of a carpenter named James. It was a large and handsome house, but did not contain a chair or table or blackboard, or indeed any of the essentials of school work. Sherman accordingly set to work at once to supply the deficiencies. He engaged James and three other carpenters, and set them to work making furniture out of some of the fencing of the place and a lot of boards that were piled near the house.

The Governor issued a notice on November 17th, announcing that the seminary would be open on January 1st, 1860. On the latter date some sixty students reported to the principal. Sherman organized the school as nearly as possible on the basis of West Point, with roll calls, etc., but without uniforms or muskets. He himself attended to the business of the institution and gave but little actual class instruction. There were seventy-three students during the first term, and fifty-nine of them passed the examination on July 30th, 1860. Meantime Sherman had secured new legislation, granting the school a larger fund for its maintenance, and generally increasing its efficiency and scope.

While advocating the cause of the school before the legislature he necessarily spent much time at Baton Rouge, and there was drawn into the political discussions that were then rife. His brother, John Sherman, was the Republican candidate for the Speakership of the House of Representatives at Washington, and was regarded through the South as an "Abolitionist"—a synonym for all that was monstrous and devilish. For this reason W. T. Sherman was looked upon with suspicion in Louisiana, and many people openly expressed their doubt of the propriety of retaining him at the head of an important State institution. One evening Sherman took dinner at the Governor's, and there met General Bragg and a number of leading politicians. After the ladies had left the table, the gentlemen took to talking politics, and General Moore, referring to John Sherman's candidacy for the Speakership, asked Colonel Sherman to speak his own mind frankly on the subject of slavery and the political conflict between the North and the South.

Sherman responded frankly and fully. He declared that his brother was not an Abolitionist in the radical sense of the term. He was, of course, opposed to slavery, but did not advocate any forcible interference with existing institutions at the South, although he would resist their extension into other parts of the country. As for himself, Sherman declared that if he were a citizen of Louisiana and a member of the legislature, he would earnestly strive for the amelioration of the condition of the negroes; he would forbid the separation of families in the sale of slaves; and he would abolish the laws which forbade slaves to learn to read and write. He talked in this strain at some length and with his characteristic earnestness and vigor, and supported his views by citing illustrations from his own experience and observation. His remarks deeply impressed the whole country, and when he stopped speaking the Attorney-General of the State, who was present, struck the table a tremendous blow with his fist and exclaimed: "By ——, he is right!" After that there were no complaints of Sherman's political unfitness for his place.

There was a vacation from August 1st to November 1st, and Sherman went North, to New York, to purchase additional supplies for the school, and then to Lancaster to visit his family, who had remained there pending the construction of a suitable house at Alexandria. He also went to Washington and influenced the War Department to grant to the school a supply of muskets and other accoutrements for the military drill. Returning to Alexandria in October he went to work with great energy to get the new buildings ready for the opening of the school on November 1st. On the latter date about one hundred and thirty cadets were present, and the work of the school was resumed.

Sherman's house was now ready, and he moved into it. He did not, however, send for his family because serious storms were visible in the political skies. The presidential campaign then closing had been unprecedentedly bitter, and it was evident that the election of the Republican candidate would immediately be followed by the most extreme measures on the part of the South. Sherman took no part in the political discussion, although his associates tried to force him into it. On election day he was openly told that it would be advisable for him to vote for Bell and Everett, that being the Presidential ticket most in favor in Louisiana. "I openly said I would not," says Sherman, "and I did not."

Lincoln was elected and the event startled the South. It was recognized there at once that extension of the slave power into the territories was impossible in the future, and that therefore the future growth of the nation would be in the direction of free soil and free men. The most incendiary and revolutionary talk was heard everywhere. Sherman kept quietly at his work, but he noticed that his cadets began taking their declamations from the speeches of Calhoun, Yancey and other Southern extremists, selecting especially passages in defence of slavery and in praise of State rights.

No one ventured, however, to approach him upon the subject, although his opinions were pretty generally understood, namely, that secession was treason and treason meant war. When President Buchanan announced in his annual message to Congress, in December, 1860, that the General Government had no power to prevent a State from seceding, Sherman was startled and began to fear the dissolution of the Union.

South Carolina soon passed acts of secession, and agents came to Louisiana to persuade the Government of that State to do likewise. Sherman saw that the mass of the people were opposed to it, but that the politicians would certainly force them into it. Such was the case. But before the formal act of secession was passed, Governor Moore, in the name of the State, seized upon all the United States forts at the mouth of the Mississippi and the Federal arsenal at Baton Rouge. He was prompted to do this by Benjamin and Slidell, the two Senators from Louisiana. Sherman was strongly and bitterly impressed by the seizure of the arsenal. The arsenal was commanded by Major Haskins, an excellent and loyal officer, who, however, feared to resist the State's demand, because he knew that the cowardly administration at Washington would not support him in such a refusal; so he surrendered to General Bragg.

Some of the arms stored in the arsenal were sent up to Alexandria, and Sherman was ordered by the Governor to receipt for them and take care of them. Thus, he says, he was made the receiver of stolen goods, goods that were the property of the United States; and this grated terribly on his loyal feelings. Indeed it was this event that brought affairs, with him, to a crisis, and immediately, a week before the actual ordinance of secession was passed, he wrote as follows:

"Louisiana State Seminary of Learning
"and Military Academy,
"January 18th, 1861.

"Governor Thomas O. Moore, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

"Sir: As I occupy a quasi-military position under this State, I deem it proper to acquaint you that I accepted such position when Louisiana was a State in the Union, and when the motto of the Seminary was inserted in the marble over the main door: 'By the liberality of the General Government of the United States. The Union—esto perpetua.'

"Recent events foreshadow a great change, and it becomes all men to choose. If Louisiana withdraws from the Federal Union, I prefer to maintain my allegiance to the old Constitution as long as a fragment of it survives, and my longer stay here would be wrong in every sense of the word. In that event, I beg you will send or appoint some authorized agent to take charge of the arms and munitions of war here belonging to the State or direct me what disposition should be made of them.

"And, furthermore, as President of the Board of Supervisors, I beg you to take immediate steps to relieve me as superintendent the moment the State determines to secede; for on no earthly account will I do any act, or think any thought, hostile to or in defiance of the old Government of the United States. With great respect, etc.,

"W. T. Sherman."

Accompanying this, he sent a private letter to the Governor, in which he said: "I take it for granted that you have been expecting for some days the accompanying paper from me. I have repeatedly and again made known to General Graham and Dr. Smith that, in the event of a severance of the relations hitherto existing between the Confederated States of this Union, I would be forced to choose the old Union.... I have never been a politician, and therefore undervalue the excited feelings and opinions of present rulers, but I do think if this people cannot execute a form of Government like the present, that a worse one will result.... I entertain the kindest feelings toward all, and would leave the State with much regret. Only in great events we must choose one way or the other."

To Dr. S. A. Smith, president of the Board of Supervisors, he wrote a long letter, relating what he had written to the Governor, and saying that under the circumstances he felt it would be highly improper for him longer to remain at the head of the school. "The more I think of it, the more I think I should be away, the sooner the better."

A few days later he received a reply from Governor Moore, in General Bragg's hand-writing, expressing much regret at the loss of his services, and assurances of respect, confidence and admiration. Dr. Smith also wrote to him in a similar strain on January 28th, and added in a postscript: "Governor Moore desires me to express his profound regret that the State is about to lose one who we all fondly hoped had cast his destinies for weal or for woe among us." The Board of Supervisors and the Academic Board also adopted resolutions expressing deep regret at his departure and the highest appreciation of the value of his services.

In the latter part of February, 1861, Sherman turned over all the Seminary property to his successor and then went down to New Orleans to draw the salary due him and close up all his business relations with the State. During the few days he spent at New Orleans, he lived at the St. Louis Hotel, and usually sat at the same table with General and Mrs. Bragg, with whom he was on most friendly terms. He also met General Beauregard, two of whose sons had been at the Alexandria Seminary. Beauregard was at that time sent for by Jefferson Davis to be made Brigadier-General, and this made Bragg jealous, because in the United States army Bragg had been Beauregard's senior officer. Talking about this one day at the hotel table, Mrs. Bragg remarked to Sherman: "You know that my husband is not a favorite with the new President." "Why," said Sherman, "I did not know that he had ever met Mr. Lincoln." "I didn't mean your President," replied Mrs. Bragg with emphasis, "but our President."

Business was going on in New Orleans as usual. The Louisiana State flag was flying over all the Federal buildings and elsewhere throughout the city, and along the river ships displayed every flag on earth except the Stars and Stripes. Everybody seemed to regard the change of government as complete and final, and believed that secession would be quietly acquiesced in by the nation, although men were steadily being enlisted and armed to defend the State. Amid such scenes, on February 25th, Sherman bade farewell to his friends, and set out for his old home at Lancaster.

The Alexandria Seminary was broken up by the war. All the faculty and students joined the Rebel army excepting two professors and one student. Sherman met several of his former associates during the war, and for many years after the war maintained a friendly acquaintance with them. The Seminary was re-organized in 1865, but a few years later was totally destroyed by fire. Governor Moore's plantation was laid waste during the war, and Sherman was afterward of great service to him in regaining possession of his property.

HON. JOHN SHERMAN

[CHAPTER VI.]
THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR.

The South Excited and Ready—The North Indifferent and Unprepared—Sherman's Interview with Lincoln—His Plain Talk to his Brother—Disgusted with the Politicians—A St. Louis Street Railroad President—War Talk in St. Louis—A Clerkship Declined—His Loyalty Doubted—Prophesying a Great Struggle—Bloodshed in St. Louis—Back to Washington—In Service at Last.

It is not easy to imagine a greater difference between two sections of one nation than existed between the North and South in the early months of 1861. In both, the same great topic overshadowed all other interests; and both enjoyed full information concerning it. Both, indeed, were deeply and equally concerned in the settlement of the great controversy that was already convulsing the nation. Yet the sentiment that prevailed in the one section varied as widely from that in the other as though they were situated upon different planets.

In Louisiana, before he left that State, and in the other parts of the South through which he travelled on his way to the North, Sherman found everywhere the keenest public interest in the impending conflict, which was, then and there, seen to be inevitable. Preparation was being feverishly pushed on every hand. States were seceding. Federal forts, arsenals and other property was being confiscated. Federal officers were proving recreant to their trusts, and were casting in their lot with the insurgents. Politicians were preaching secession, and the public heart was rapidly being fired with the same unholy flame.

But when he reached Illinois and Ohio and other Northern States, the scene was entirely changed. All was calm and placid. No one seemed seriously to think of serious trouble. The commercial instinct prevailed. Men were too busy making money to pay attention to politics. Others felt too secure in the established order of things to believe that any great change was at hand. Sherman was impressed with the idea that either the North had no adequate realization of the true state of affairs, which was scarcely credible, or, which seemed far more likely, it would tamely submit to a dissolution of the Union. The supine weakness of Buchanan had not aroused the North to shame, nor had the aggressive treason of the conspirators who surrounded him excited its righteous wrath. It is related that Horace Greeley, on hearing of the manner in which a long-suffering but at last indignant public had overwhelmingly routed at the polls the venal ring that had long plundered and oppressed it, threw up his hands in exultation and exclaimed with an oath, "This is a great people when it gets mad!" The North had not yet "got mad," and its greatness was not yet apparent.

Soon after coming North, Sherman proceeded to Washington, where Lincoln had just been inaugurated as President, John Sherman was now a Republican leader in the Senate, having been appointed in place of Chase, who had entered the Cabinet. Washington was enough of a southern city to be filled with war talk. Sherman's old friend, Anderson, had just moved his troops from Fort Moultrie into Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, and had announced his patriotic determination to hold that post for the Government at all hazards. Southern members of Congress and office holders in the Departments, even in the War Department, were openly talking treason of the rankest kind.

Sherman was one day at this time taken by his brother John to the White House, where he had a long interview with the President. On learning that Sherman had just come from the South, Lincoln inquired of him "how they were getting along down there." Said Sherman, "They think they are getting along swimmingly. They are preparing for war." "Oh, well," replied Lincoln, "I guess we'll manage to keep house." This remark greatly disappointed Sherman and he changed the subject as quickly as possible. As he left the White House, however, he relieved his mind most emphatically to his brother. "John," he exclaimed fiercely, "you damned politicians have got things in a hell of a fix, and you may get out of them as you best can!"

Thoroughly disgusted with Washington and the politicians, Sherman went back to Lancaster. His brother John begged him to remain at the Capitol and to be more patient with the President, but the impetuous soldier would not listen to him. At Lancaster he found letters from friends at St. Louis urging him to come on there and assume the presidency of a street railroad, which was sure to prove profitable. He quickly decided to do so, and on March 27th set out for St. Louis with his family. On April 1st they took possession of a house on Locust street, where Charles Ewing and John Hunter, law partners, boarded with them. Sherman was elected president of the street railroad company, which had a paying line in full operation, and tried to devote himself strictly to business. This, however, was impossible. The air was full of politics and of war. The Governor of Missouri and all the leading politicians openly sympathized with the seceding States. The troops at the State Camp of Instruction in Lindell's Grove were commanded by a Southern sympathizer, although he was a Northerner and a West Point man. There were, however, some loyal men about, among them being John M. Schofield, B. Gratz Brown, Clinton B. Fisk and Frank Blair—whose brother, Montgomery Blair was in Lincoln's Cabinet. These patriotic men had organized, chiefly among the German population of the city, four or five regiments of loyal "Home Guards." Nathaniel Lyon, also, kept his handful of Federal troops at the arsenal true to the Nation. Day by day the situation grew more strained. Sherman tried to keep out of the trouble, and talked freely with only a few intimate friends. But day by day it became more evident that a tremendous conflict was close at hand, and day by day the earnest soldier and ardent patriot felt himself more strongly drawn away from his street railroad and toward the defence of the Nation.

Meantime he was not forgotten at Washington, where his brother John was strongly urging his interests. On April 6th he received a telegraphic dispatch from the Postmaster-General, Montgomery Blair, saying: "Will you accept the chief clerkship of the War Department? We will make you Assistant Secretary of War when Congress meets." Sherman promptly telegraphed back, "I cannot accept," and then wrote by mail as follows:

"I received, about nine o'clock Saturday night, your telegraph dispatch, which I have this moment answered, 'I cannot accept.' I have quite a large family, and when I resigned my place in Louisiana, on account of secession, I had no time to lose; and, therefore, after my hasty visit to Washington, where I saw no chance of employment, I came to St. Louis, have accepted a place in this company, have rented a house, and incurred other obligations, so that I am not at liberty to change. I thank you for the compliment contained in your offer, and assure you that I wish the Administration all success in its almost impossible task of governing this distracted and anarchical people."

This letter gave great offence at Washington, and some members of the Cabinet prophesied that Sherman would join the secessionists. Another attempt, however, was soon made to secure his services for the Government, this time personally by Frank Blair. Blair asked Sherman to come to his house one night, and there told him that the Government had determined to relieve General Harney, who then commanded the Military Department of Missouri, and that a change would soon be made. "It is in my power," said Blair, "to appoint a Brigadier-General to command the Department, and if you will take the place you shall have it." Sherman replied that he had already, while in Washington, offered his services to the Government, and that they had been declined; he had now made business engagements which he could not readily break; and that while the offer was complimentary and tempting, he must decline it. Blair argued the point with him for some time, but to no avail, and soon thereafter Nathaniel Lyon was appointed to the place.

The attack upon Fort Sumter by the Charleston insurgents at last startled the North, although even then not many seemed to realize the magnitude of the struggle that had begun. Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers for three months, thinking this force would be sufficient to suppress the rebellion. But Sherman regarded this movement with contempt. "You might as well attempt to put out the flames of a burning house with a squirt gun," he exclaimed, indignantly. And again, "You want to organize the whole military power of the North at once for a desperate struggle." A little later, at Washington, talking with Murat Halstead, the editor of The Cincinnati Commercial, he said: "You don't know anything about this people. Why, if we should have a reverse beyond the Potomac, the very women of this city would cut the throats of our wounded with case knives." So while Sherman's loyalty was doubted by some, others began to regard him as an alarmist.

The call of patriotism presently become louder and more urgent than the demands of business, and on May 8th Sherman wrote as follows to Simon Cameron, Secretary of War:

"I hold myself, now, as always, prepared to serve my country in the capacity for which I was trained. I did not and will not volunteer for three months, because I cannot throw my family on the cold charity of the world. But for the three years' call, made by the President, an officer can prepare his command and do good service. I will not volunteer as a soldier, because rightfully or wrongfully I feel unwilling to take a mere private's place, and, having for many years lived in California and Louisiana, the men are not well enough acquainted with me to elect me to my appropriate place. Should my services be needed, the records of the War Department will enable you to designate the station in which I can render most service."

From this it appears that Sherman fully appreciated his own abilities, and was not willing to have them underrated by others. It should be added in explanation that he had already declined to go Ohio and take command of a three months' volunteer regiment, and that the Government had now decided to add eleven regiments to the regular army. It was in one of these new regiments of regulars that he offered to accept and hoped to receive an appointment.

On the very day after this letter was written, an incident occurred at St. Louis which greatly strengthened Sherman's anxiety to get to work in the national cause. On that day he took his children down to the arsenal. Inside the arsenal walls they found four regiments of the "Home Guards," receiving cartridges. General Lyon, who was then in command, was rushing about in great excitement. Evidently serious business was on hand; whether offensive or defensive did not appear.

But the next morning the city was startled with the news that the "Home Guards" were about to attack Camp Jackson—the State camp of instruction in Lindell's Grove—where, as already stated, secession influences prevailed. Throughout the city people shut up their houses and prepared for fighting. Many of Sherman's friends set out for the camp to see what would happen, but Sherman, although he felt intensely interested and excited, remained at home. With his son Willie, seven years old, he walked up and down the sidewalk before his house, listening for sounds of war. A Miss Dean, who lived across the way, called out to him and asked him if he knew what was going on, saying that her brother-in-law was a surgeon in the camp, and she was afraid he would get killed. Sherman replied that he did not think the soldiers at the camp would attempt to resist General Lyon, who was in lawful command. To this the fire-eating lady replied that the soldiers at the camp belonged to the first families of St. Louis, and that they would certainly fight to the bitter end. "Oh, pshaw," said Sherman, "the first families don't like to get killed any better than common folks." Just at that moment a man came running down the street from the camp, shouting, "They've surrendered! The camp has surrendered!" And Miss Dean, mortified at the cowardice of the first families, went into the house and slammed the door.

Sherman now started toward the camp, his boy Willie still with him. Soon he met Frank Blair's regiment, escorting the Camp Jackson prisoners. There was a great crowd in the street, some "damning the Dutch," cheering the prisoners, and hurrahing for Jeff. Davis; and others, though not so many, encouraging the loyal troops. Much confusion prevailed everywhere. Presently a drunken rowdy tried to pass through the ranks of the troops (Regulars). A sergeant pushed him back. The fellow violently assaulted the sergeant, and then the sergeant knocked him down, and he rolled some distance down a grassy bank. The man gathered himself up, and, with a great deal of drunken backing and filling, climbed up the bank again and drew a pistol. The Regulars had by this time moved on, and a regiment of the Home Guards had come up and occupied their place. The fellow fired his pistol at one of the officers and struck him in the leg. Forthwith the soldiers began to fire over the heads of the crowds, and there was a general stampede. Some of the bullets went low, and several of the crowd were wounded. Charles Ewing threw Willie Sherman on the ground and covered him with his own body. Captain Sherman also lay down to escape the bullets, and Hunter got behind a hillock. There they lay until the firing ceased, when they got up and started for home by way of some of the back streets. They afterward found that two or three men and a woman and a child had been killed. General Lyon put a loyal guard in charge of the vacant camp, and marched the prisoners down to the arsenal, where some were paroled, and others held for a long time until they were regularly exchanged as prisoners of war.

Soon after this, on May 14th, Sherman received a letter from his brother Charles, who was in Washington, telling him to come on to the National Capitol at once, as he had been appointed Colonel of the Thirteenth Regiment of Infantry in the Regular Army. To this there could be but one reply. He wound up business affairs at St. Louis at once and went on to Washington; leaving his family at their St. Louis home, however, because he expected to be allowed to raise his own regiment, and organize it, which he intended to do at St. Louis. On reaching Washington he was gratified to find that, as he expressed it, "the Government was trying to rise to a level with the occasion." Lincoln had taken affairs into his own hands. Without any Congressional authority he had ordered the raising of the new regiments of regulars, in addition to the 75,000 State volunteers. "Even this call," says Sherman, "seemed to me utterly inadequate; still it was none of my business." Sherman took the oath of office and received a list of officers who had been appointed to his regiment. Then he reported in person to General Scott, and asked to be allowed to return to St. Louis and enlist his regiment. To this the General would not agree. "Your Lieutenant-Colonel can raise the regiment," he said. "I want you right here." So, seeing that he would have to remain on duty in Washington, Sherman sent word to his family to pack up and go home to Lancaster. He also resigned the presidency of the railroad company, and thus once more was wholly embarked upon a military career.

"He was now," says Mr. Reid in "Ohio in the War," "in his forty-second year.... His thirteen years of army life had brought no distinction. McClellan, Fremont, Halleck, Hooker, Rosecrans and a score of other young retired officers of the Army were remembered as brilliant soldiers, according to the standard of those old army days. Sherman had left no name. The eight years of civil life that followed had added little to his fortune and nothing to his fame.... But the heart of the man was sound to the core, and his impulsive abandonment of his place in Louisiana did more than all his life thus far to fix him in men's minds. He was soon to enter upon a wider career, but the days of his success were still distant, and a severe probation yet awaited him."

[CHAPTER VII.]
BULL RUN

"On to Richmond!"—Sherman's Brigade at Bull Run—Features of Battle—Sherman's Official Report—The Stampede back to the Potomac—How Sherman Dealt with Mutineers—A Threat that the President Thought he would Execute—Re-organization and Promotion—General McClellan Assumes Command—Sherman's Frank Criticisms and Uncomfortable Truth-Telling and Consequent Unpopularity.

When Sherman was at last assigned to active army duty at Washington, on June 20th, 1861, Lieutenant-General Scott was Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Brigadier-General J. K. Mansfield commanded the troops in and about Washington, and Brigadier-General Irvin McDowell commanded the Federal troops south of the Potomac. The North had come to a realization of the fact that actual war was at hand, and the cry "On to Richmond!" was being vigorously uttered. There was an idea that an immediate and vigorous forward movement would crush the rebellion at a blow. Sherman found that this view was generally held by the army officers, among whom he moved a great deal in company with his brother John, and his old friend and classmate, George H. Thomas.

A considerable volunteer army under General Patterson moved down from Pennsylvania and crossed the Potomac at the beginning of July, and there were now plenty of troops at Washington to render that city secure from attack. The appearance of the troops in and about Washington was good, but they were evidently altogether unused to war. Scarcely two regiments wore the same uniform, and their arms were of all sorts and patterns. Sherman talked much with General Scott about the plans for the war, and was taken deeply into his confidence. The gallant old General fretted much at the clamors of the newspapers for an immediate advance on Richmond, and at the frequent interference of the President and Secretary of War with his plans. It was his idea to organize a "Grand Army of Invasion," which he would lead in person, although at that time he was very old and physically incapacitated for service in the field.

Congress met on July 4th, and Lincoln sent it a vigorous message, announcing that war had begun, that there could be no more thought of compromise, and that he wanted four hundred thousand men and four hundred million dollars to suppress the rebellion and save the Union. The Southern members of Congress had now left Washington, and the general atmosphere of that Capitol was more wholesome and patriotic. Indeed, Congress seemed fully in sympathy with the popular zeal and daily re-echoed the cry "On to Richmond!" And the same cry was taken up by the three months' volunteers; who were the first to be panic-stricken, when actual fighting was begun.

The Rebels now had two armies in front of Washington; one at Manassas Junction, under General Beauregard, and the other at Winchester, under General Joe Johnston. Goaded on by the popular clamor, General Scott hurried his preparations for an advance, and about the middle of July ordered his armies forward. McDowell was to attack Beauregard, and Patterson was to move against Johnston. Sherman was put in command of a brigade of five regiments at Fort Corcoran. This was the Third Brigade of the First Division of McDowell's army, the division being commanded by General Tyler, who was a West Point man, but had as yet seen no real fighting.

Sherman took command of these troops at the beginning of July, and at once set about preparing four of the five regiments for service in the field. These were the Thirteenth New York, the Sixty-ninth New York, the Seventy-ninth New York, and the Second Wisconsin; all volunteer regiments, strong and in good condition; and Sherman congratulated himself on having the best brigade in the army. He had some difficulty with the New York Sixty-ninth, an Irish regiment, which had volunteered early in April for ninety days, but had not been mustered in for a month thereafter. Many of the men wanted to go home at the end of ninety days from the date of enlistment, but Sherman referred the matter to the War Department, and obtained an authoritative decision that the men must serve for ninety days from the date of mustering in.

About the middle of July the division moved forward, and on July 18th had a skirmish at Centreville, in which four or five of Sherman's men were killed. This engagement assured the Federal commanders of the fact that the Rebels were in strong force just beyond Bull Run, and that a serious battle was imminent. That battle occurred on July 21st, but there is no need here to rehearse its confused story in detail. It was, in Sherman's judgment, afterward frankly expressed, one of the best-planned battles of the war, but one of the worst fought. The Federal army was composed of good troops, well organized; but they had no real knowledge of war and had not yet learned the lesson of military obedience. Moreover, they had the false idea that at their first volley and charge the enemy would be routed. There have been volumes of controversy about the battle in after years, mostly productive of little good. Perhaps it need now only be said that the conflict was little creditable to either side.

Sherman personally led his brigade in the battle. It was his first serious fighting, and he was of a nervous and excitable temperament; yet he displayed remarkable coolness and steadiness. He entered the action early in the afternoon, and pursued the retreating enemy for more than a mile. Then he had to assume the defensive, and, after a determined struggle, his brigade was beaten, regiment by regiment, and driven back in disorder. When the panic set in his men joined in it, and their retreat was, in his own words, "disorderly in the extreme." The total loss of his brigade was 111 killed, 205 wounded and 293 missing. His own conduct, however, was such as to impress favorably his friends at Washington, and, on the request of the Ohio members of Congress, he was, on August 3d, appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers. His commission was dated May 17th, and was accepted on August 16th.

Following is Sherman's official report of the operations of his brigade at Bull Run, made to Captain Baird, Assistant Adjutant-General of the First Division:

"The brigade was composed of the Thirteenth New York Volunteers, Colonel Quimby; Sixty-ninth New York, Colonel Corcoran; Seventy-ninth New York, Colonel Cameron; Second Wisconsin, Lieutenant-Colonel Peck, and Company E, Third Artillery, under command of Captain R. B Ayres, Fifth Artillery. We left our camp near Centreville, pursuant to orders, at 2.30 A. M., taking place in your column next to the brigade of General Schenck, and proceeded as far as the halt before the enemy's position, near the stone bridge at Bull Run. Here the brigade was deployed in line along the skirt of timber, and remained quietly in position till after 10 A. M. The enemy remained very quiet, but about that time we saw a regiment leave its cover in our front, and proceed in double-quick time on the road toward Sudley Springs, by which we knew the columns of Colonels Hunter and Heintzelman was approaching. About the same time, we observed in motion a large force of the enemy below the stone bridge. I directed Captain Ayres to take position with his battery near our right, and opened fire on this mass, but you had previously directed the two guns belonging to this battery; and, finding the smooth bore guns did not reach the enemy's position, we ceased firing, and I sent a request that you should send to me the thirty-pounder rifled gun attached to Captain Carlisle's Battery, at the same time I shifted the New York Sixty-ninth to the extreme right of the brigade. There we remained till we heard the musketry fire across Bull Run, showing that the head of Colonel Hunter's column was engaged. This firing was brisk, and showed that Hunter was driving before him the enemy, till about noon when it became certain that the enemy had come to a stand, and that our force on the other side of Bull Run was all engaged, artillery and infantry.

"Here you sent me the order to cross over with the whole brigade to the assistance of Colonel Hunter. Early in the day, when reconnoitering the ground, I had seen a horseman descend from a bluff to a point, cross the stream and show himself in the open field. And, inferring we should cross over at the same point, I sent forward a company as skirmishers, and followed with the whole brigade, the New York Sixty-ninth leading. We found no difficulty in crossing over, and met no opposition in ascending the steep bluff opposite with our infantry, but it was impassable to the artillery; and I sent word back to Captain Ayres to follow, if possible, otherwise to use his discretion. Captain Ayres did not cross Bull Run, but remained with the remainder of your division. His report herewith described his operations during the remainder of the day. Advancing slowly and continuously with the head of the column, to give time for the regiments in succession to close up their ranks, we first encountered a party of the enemy retreating along a cluster of pines. Lieutenant-Colonel Haggerty of the Sixty-ninth Regiment, without orders, rode over and endeavored to intercept their retreat. One of the enemy, in full view and short range, shot Haggerty, and he fell dead from his horse. The Sixty-ninth opened fire on this party, which was returned; but, determined to effect our junction with Hunter's Division, I ordered this fire to cease, and we proceeded with caution toward the field, when we then plainly saw our forces engaged. Displaying our colors conspicuously at the head of our column, we succeeded in attracting the attention of our friends, and soon formed the brigade in rear of Colonel Porter's. Here I learned that Colonel Hunter was disabled by a severe wound, and that General McDowell was on the field. I sought him out and received his orders to join in the pursuit of the enemy, who were falling back to the left of the road by which the army had approached from Sudley Springs. Placing Colonel Quimby's Regiment of Rifles in front, in column by division, I directed the other regiments to follow in line of battle, in the order of the Wisconsin Second, New York Seventy-ninth, and New York Sixty-ninth.

GEN. JNO. C. FREMONT.

"Quimby's Regiment advanced steadily down the hill and up the ridge, from which he opened fire upon the enemy, who had made another stand on ground very favorable to him, and the regiment continued advancing as the enemy gave way, till the head of the column reached the point near which Rickett's Battery was so severely cut up. The other regiments descended the hill in line of battle, under a severe cannonading, and the ground affording comparative shelter against the enemy's artillery, they changed directions by the right flank and followed the road before mentioned. At the point where this road crossed the bridge to our left, the ground was swept by a most severe fire by artillery, rifle, and musketry, and we saw in succession several regiments driven from it, among them the Zouaves and battalion of marines. Before reaching the crest of the hill the roadway was worn deep enough to afford shelter, and I kept the several regiments in it as long as possible; but when the Wisconsin Second was abreast of the enemy, by order of Major Wadsworth, of General McDowell's staff, I ordered it to leave the roadway by the left flank and to attack the enemy. This regiment ascended to the brow of the hill steadily, received the severe fire of the enemy, returned it with spirit, and advanced delivering its fire. This regiment is uniformed in gray cloth, almost identical with that of the great bulk of the secession army, and when the regiment fled in confusion and retreated toward the road, there was a universal cry that they were being fired upon by our own men. The regiment rallied again, passed the brow of the hill a second time, and was again repulsed in disorder.

"By this time the New York Seventy-ninth had closed up, and in like manner it was ordered to cross the brow of the hill and drive the enemy from cover. It was impossible to get a good view of the ground. In it there was one battery of artillery, which poured an incessant fire upon our advancing column, and the ground was irregular, with small clusters of pines, affording shelter, of which the enemy took good advantage. The fire of rifles and musketry was very severe. The Seventy-ninth, headed by its Colonel (Cameron), charged across the hill, and for a short time the contest was severe. They rallied several times under fire, but finally broke and gained the cover of the hill. This left the field open to the New York Sixty-ninth, Colonel Corcoran, who, in his turn, led his regiment over the crest, and had in full open view the ground so severely contested. The firing was very severe, and the roar of cannon, musketry, and rifles, incessant. It was manifest the enemy was here in great force, far superior to us at that point. The Sixty-ninth held the ground for some time, but finally fell back in disorder.

"At this time Quimby's Regiment occupied another ridge to our left, overlooking the same field of action, and similarly engaged. Here (about 3.30 P. M.) began the scene of disorder and confusion that characterized the remainder of the day. Up to that time, all had kept their places, and seemed perfectly cool, and used to the shell and shot that fell comparatively harmless. Crossing Bull Run, I sought it at its last position before the Brigadier crossed, but it was not there; then passing through the wood, where, in the morning we had first formed line, we approached the blacksmith's shop, but there found a detachment of Rebel cavalry; then made a circuit, avoiding Cub Run bridge, into Centreville, where I found General McDowell. From him I understood that it was his purpose to rally the forces and make a stand at Centreville.

"But about 9 o'clock at night I received from General Tyler, in person, the order to continue the retreat to the Potomac. This retreat was by night, and disorderly in the extreme. The men of different regiments mingled together, and some reached the river at Arlington, some at Long Bridge, and the greater part returned to their former camps at or near Fort Corcoran. I reached this point at noon next day, and found a miscellaneous crowd crossing over the aqueduct and ferries. Conceiving this to be demoralizing, I at once commanded the guard to be increased, and all persons attempting to pass over to be stopped. This soon produced its effect. Men sought their proper companies and regiments, comparative order was restored, and all now posted to the best advantage.

"Our loss was heavy, all around us; but the short exposure to an intense fire of small-arms, at close range, had killed many, wounded more, and had produced disorder in all the battalions that had attempted to destroy it. Men fell away talking, and in great confusion. Colonel Cameron had been mortally wounded, carried to an ambulance, and reported dying. Many other officers were reported dead or missing, and many of the wounded were making their way, with more or less assistance, to the buildings or hospitals. On the ridge to the west we succeeded in partially re-forming the regiments, but it was manifest they would not stand, and I directed Colonel Corcoran to move along the ridge to the rear, near the position where we had first formed the brigade. General McDowell was there in person, and used all possible efforts to reassure the men. By the active exertions of Colonel Corcoran, we formed an irregular square against the cavalry, which was then seen to issue from the position from which we had been driven, and we began our retreat towards that ford of Bull Run by which we had approached the field of battle. There was no possible order to retreat, although for an hour it had been going on by the operations of the men themselves. The ranks were thin and irregular, and we found a stream of people stirring from the hospital across Bull Run, and far toward Centreville.

"After putting in motion the irregular square, I pushed forward to find Captain Ayres's Battery, occupied chiefly at the point where Rickett's Battery was destroyed. Lieutenant-Colonel Haggerty was killed about noon, before we effected a junction with Colonel Hunter's Division. Colonel Cameron was mortally wounded leading the regiment in charge, and Colonel Corcoran has been missing since the cavalry charge near the building used as a hospital."

After the battle, Sherman made his way back to Centreville, where he saw General McDowell, and reorganized as far as possible his disordered regiments. During the night they marched back to Fort Corcoran, and expecting the Rebels to pursue them, placed themselves in a state of defence. By July 25th many of his men, especially the New York Sixty-ninth Regiment, became sick of war, and wanted to go home. One captain of the Sixty-ninth grew mutinous, and in the presence of a number of the soldiers declared that he was going home at once, with or without permission. Sherman turned upon him sharply and said: "If you attempt to leave without orders I will shoot you like a dog!" The man weakened and went back to his place in the fort, and no more such talk was heard.

That same day, Lincoln and Seward came down to the camp in an open carriage. "We heard," said Lincoln, "that you had got over the big scare, and we thought we would come over and see the boys." Sherman escorted them about the camp, and then called out his troops on parade. Lincoln stood up in the carriage and made a most effective address to them. When the soldiers tried to cheer him he stopped them, saying: "Don't cheer, boys. I rather like it myself, but Colonel Sherman says it is not military, and we had better defer to his opinion." Lincoln praised the condition of the troops highly, and the effect of his speech and visit was excellent.

When the President entered Fort Corcoran, Sherman in the carriage with him, the mutinous captain of the Sixty-ninth New York, whom Sherman had threatened to shoot, came forward and said: "Mr. President, this morning I went to speak to Colonel Sherman, and he threatened to shoot me." "Threatened to shoot you?" echoed Lincoln. "Yes, sir; he threatened to shoot me." Lincoln looked at the officer, then at Sherman, and then, stooping over, said to the Captain, in a whisper loud enough to be heard by others: "Well, if I were you, and he threatened to shoot, I would be mighty careful, for he looks like a man who would do just what he says." The officer sneaked away amid the laughter of the by-standers, and the President afterward remarked to Sherman: "Of course, I didn't know anything about it, but I thought you knew your own business best."

General McDowell now had his headquarters at the Arlington House, and was busily reorganizing his army. All the subordinate officers were in great trepidation, lest they should be held responsible for the disaster of the battle. General McClellan had been sent for, and changes in command were occurring daily. One evening, as a number of the officers were gathered in the Adjutant-General's office, a list of newly-appointed Brigadiers was announced. The list comprised the names of Sherman, Heintzelman and several other Colonels, all of whom had shared in the panic at Bull Run. None of them could believe that they had actually been promoted, and Heintzelman exclaimed, with an oath: "It's all a lie! Every mother's son of you will be cashiered." The appointments, however, were actually made; and when McClellan assumed command, he confirmed the organization made by McDowell. Sherman received several new regiments, built two new forts, and organized an elaborate system of drills. He was now convinced that there was a long, hard war ahead, and he made up his mind to prepare for it as thoroughly as possible.

During the month of August, troops kept pouring in. McClellan talked about organizing an army of one hundred thousand men, with one hundred field batteries. Sherman was anxious for him to come to the south of the Potomac and prepare for real work in the field, but McClellan tarried at his comfortable house in Washington. Sherman then thought, and frankly declared that he thought, it a mistake, and this opinion he always retained. On account of this and other expressions, Sherman became unpopular both with McClellan and his favorites. His frank truth-telling about the panic at Bull Run, both in his own command and in the commands of others, gave great offense. He was never at all backward in expressing his opinions, and at this time he enjoyed unusual freedom of utterance. His nature was nervous, outspoken and arbitrary, and his experience as Principal of the Military Seminary in Louisiana had enhanced his mandatory air.

[CHAPTER VIII.]
SERVICE IN KENTUCKY.

Serving Under Anderson—Critical Condition of the State—Seeking Help in Other States—A Visit to Fremont—That Famous Interview with Cameron—How the Story of Sherman's Insanity was Started—Attacks and Insults—Sherman's Official Correspondence—His Request for 200,000 Men—An Extraordinary Newspaper Article—Sherman Transferred to Missouri—Halleck's Confidence in Him—Planning the Donelson Campaign.

The difference of military views between Sherman and McClellan increased; and while Sherman was steadily striving to get his raw troops into the best possible condition and ready to repulse the Rebel attack that was hourly expected, he felt that there was no prospect of future usefulness or advancement for him in the Army of the Potomac. He was therefore much pleased and relieved, when, about the middle of August, his old friend Robert Anderson, the hero of Fort Sumter, now a Brigadier-General, asked him to accept a command in the Army of the Cumberland, in Kentucky. The State of Kentucky was claimed by the South, but the Legislature was now ready, as soon as the Government offered it proper support, to take sides openly with the North. Anderson had been appointed to command the military department of the Cumberland, including Kentucky and Tennessee, and had the privilege of selecting four of the new Brigadier-Generals to assist him. He wanted Thomas, Don Carlos Buell, Burnside and Sherman. It had long been Sherman's desire to return to the West, and he was very glad to be associated with Anderson, under whom he had served at Fort Moultrie; so he quickly accepted the proposition. A day or two later Anderson and Sherman had a talk with President Lincoln about it, and secured his consent to the arrangement, although Lincoln at first objected to the appointment of Thomas, who was a Virginian. So many Southern officers had gone over to the enemy, that Lincoln hesitated to commission any. But Sherman and Anderson convinced him that Thomas was and would remain as true as steel. "I'll be responsible for his loyalty," said Anderson, "with my life."

At this interview Sherman was careful to impress upon Lincoln his earnest desire to fill a subordinate place and not, under any circumstances, to be intrusted with independent command. Lincoln declared himself delighted to hear this, saying that he had all along been greatly troubled to find places for the many Generals who wanted to be Commander-in-Chief.

The official order, No. 114, making these appointments, was issued on August 24th. A few days later Sherman was relieved, and was succeeded by Fitz-John Porter, and immediately he set out for Cincinnati, where he met Anderson and Thomas. On September 1st and 2d, these officers met Messrs. Harlan, Speed, Jackson and other prominent Kentuckians, and discussed with them the general political and military situation. At this time the Legislature was in session, ready to declare for the Union as soon as General Anderson was prepared to defend it against the Southern armies. William Nelson, a naval officer, acting as Brigadier-General of Volunteers, commanded a Federal force at Camp Dick Robinson, near Nicholasville, and Brigadier-General Rousseau commanded another camp at Jeffersonville, opposite Louisville.

The State was threatened with invasion by two Rebel armies marching from Tennessee. One came from Nashville, under the lead of Albert Sidney Johnston and S. B. Buckner, and the other from Cumberland and Gap, under Crittenden and Zollicoffer. Anderson soon realized that the Federal forces at hand were not able to resist these two armies, and decided at once to send Sherman to the Governors of Indiana and Illinois for help, and also to General Fremont, who was now in command at St. Louis, while Anderson himself and Thomas would go to Louisville and organize the military forces there.

Sherman found Governor Morton, of Indiana, as busy as could be raising and equipping regiments, which, however, were all sent either to McClellan or to Fremont. He found Governor Yates, of Illinois, equally diligent, but all his troops were sent to Fremont. So he hastened to St. Louis. There he found much activity and preparation. When he inquired for General Fremont he was told, "You needn't suppose that he will see you!" Then he was told that Fremont was assuming extraordinary dignity, surrounding himself by elaborate guards and a showy court, and that he delighted in showing his authority by keeping State Governors and other important men waiting for days before he would condescend to grant them an interview.

"Oh, shucks!" said Sherman; "he'll see me!" So early the next morning, at sunrise, he went to Fremont's headquarters. A sentinel with a naked sword was on guard at the door. Sherman inquired if Fremont was up yet. The guard said he didn't know. "Then find out!" said Sherman in a peremptory tone. The sentry called for the corporal of the guard, to whom Sherman addressed the same inquiry; the same answer was given, and then Sherman repeated the same command. The corporal went into the house, and a few minutes later the front door opened and Isaiah C. Woods, an old California acquaintance of Sherman's, came out. Sherman had a friendly chat with him, and told him that he must see Fremont at once. So Woods returned to the house and in a few minutes Sherman was ushered into Fremont's presence. Fremont was very cordial, but was unable to offer Sherman any immediate assistance as, he said, he must first drive the Rebel army out of Missouri.

That afternoon Sherman left St. Louis and returned to Louisville. He found that city surcharged with excitement. The Legislature had declared for the Union, and the Rebel armies were rapidly advancing through the State. A. S. Johnston was entrenched at Bowling Green, Zollicoffer was at Somerset, Pillow and Polk occupied Columbus, and Buckner was rapidly advancing on Louisville. The Federal commanders were utterly unprepared to cope with them. Grant had a strong force at Paducah, but Anderson at Louisville was practically helpless. Buckner's Rebel army was only thirty miles away and would perhaps already have been in Louisville had not a loyal citizen, named Bird, displaced a railroad rail, and thus wrecked the train which was bringing Buckner's advance guard. This incident caused some delay to Buckner and saved the city.

Sherman set to work vigorously, bringing into the city all available troops and getting them ready for action. His headquarters were at Muldraugh's Hill, where he massed his troops. But now a new trouble arose. Worry and anxiety told seriously upon Anderson and he declared that he must resign his command or he would die. On October 8th, he did actually resign, and Sherman, as the senior Brigadier-General, succeeded him in command. This was much against Sherman's own wishes, and in direct violation of the agreement between him and President Lincoln. He protested to the War Department against being put in Anderson's place, and was assured that Buell would be soon appointed to relieve him.

The work of organizing for defence went steadily on, and the Rebel advance was for a season checked. The Government at Washington appeared, however, to be devoting nearly all its attention to McClellan and Fremont, and to be neglecting the army in Kentucky altogether. This was Sherman's feeling at the time. But about the middle of October, Simon Cameron, the Secretary of War, accompanied by Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas and six or seven newspaper men, paid Sherman a flying visit at Louisville. Cameron asked Sherman to talk freely about the situation, assuring him that the interview was entirely confidential.

Sherman accordingly spoke with his customary frankness. He complained that the new troops, as fast as they were enlisted, were sent either to McClellan or to Fremont, and that he got none of them; that his forces were utterly inadequate to cope with the enemy, and that the Rebel army under Johnston could take Louisville any day. Cameron expressed great astonishment at this, and declared that the Kentucky Senators and Representatives had assured him that they had plenty of men in Kentucky, and only needed arms. Sherman said that this was not true, that the young men were going over to the Rebels wholesale, and that the supply of arms furnished was scanty in quantity and defective in quality.

Cameron was alarmed at these statements, and promised to do all in his power to help Sherman. Then Sherman unrolled a big map, and pointed out the great importance of resisting the Rebel advance along the Kentucky line. McClellan was guarding one hundred miles with one hundred thousand men, and Fremont one hundred miles with sixty thousand men, while he had only eighteen thousand men to guard over three hundred miles. He ought to have, he said, sixty thousand men at once for defensive purposes, and if he was to assume the aggressive he would need two hundred thousand. These estimates startled Cameron, and when he returned to Washington, a few days later, he spoke of them as "insane." The word was quickly taken up, and soon the whole country was ringing with the startling intelligence that the Commander of the Army of the Cumberland was a madman. Before this, however, Sherman had written as follows to Adjutant-General Thomas:

"On my arrival at Camp Dick Robinson, I found General Thomas had stationed a Kentucky regiment at Rock Castle Hill, beyond a river of the same name, and had sent an Ohio and an Indiana regiment forward in support. He was embarrassed for transportation, and I authorized him to hire teams, and to move his whole force nearer to his advance-guard so as to support it, as he had information of the approach of Zollicoffer toward London. I have just heard from him, that he had sent forward General Schoepf with Colonel Wolford's Cavalry, Colonel Steadman's Ohio Regiment, and a battery of artillery, followed on a succeeding day by a Tennessee brigade. He had still two Kentucky regiments, the Thirty-eighth Ohio, and another battery of artillery, with which he was followed yesterday. This force, if concentrated, should be strong enough for the purpose; at all events, it is all he had or I could give him.

"I explained to you fully, when here, the supposed position of our adversaries, among which was a force in the valley of Big Sandy, supposed to be advancing on Paris, Kentucky. General Nelson, at Maysville, was instructed to collect all the men he could, and Colonel Gill's Regiment of Ohio Volunteers. Colonel Harris was already in position at Olympian Springs, and a regiment lay at Lexington, which I ordered to his support. This leaves the line of Thomas's operations exposed, but I cannot help it. I explained so fully to yourself and the Secretary of War the condition of things, that I can add nothing new until further developments. You know my views, that this great centre of our field is too weak, far too weak, and I have begged and implored till I dare not say more.

"Buckner still is beyond Green River. He sent a detachment of his men, variously estimated at from two to four thousand, toward Greensburg. General Ward, with about one thousand men, retreated to Campbellsburg, where he called to his assistance some partially-formed regiments, to the number of about two thousand. The enemy did not advance, and General Ward was, at last dates, at Campbellsburg. The officers charged with raising regiments must, of necessity, be near their homes to collect men, and for this reason are out of position; but at our headquarters near Greensburg and Lebanon, I desire to assemble as large a force of the Kentucky Volunteers as possible. This organization is necessarily irregular, but the necessity is so great that I must have them, and, therefore, have issued to them arms and clothing during the process of formation. This has facilitated their enlistment; but, inasmuch as the Legislature has provided money for organizing the Kentucky Volunteers, and intrusted its disbursement to a board of loyal gentlemen, I have endeavored to co-operate with them to hasten the formation of these corps.

"The great difficulty is, and has been, that, as volunteers offer, we have not arms and clothing to give them. The arms sent us are, as you already know, European muskets of uncouth pattern, which the volunteers will not touch.

"General McCook has now three brigades—Johnson's, Wood's, and Rousseau's. Negley's Brigade arrived to-day, and will be sent out at once. The Minnesota Regiment has also arrived, and will be sent forward. Hazzard's Regiment, of Indiana troops, I have ordered to the mouth of Salt Creek, an important point on the turnpike-road leading to Elizabethtown.

"I again repeat that our force here is out of all proportion to the importance of the position. Our defeat would be disastrous to the nation; and to expect of new men, who never bore arms, to do miracles, is not right."

It does not appear that Secretary Cameron made any effectual effort to correct the rumors of Sherman's insanity, and the latter accordingly soon found himself a target for much merciless criticism. "My position," says Sherman, "was unbearable, and it is probable that I resented the cruel insult with language of intense feeling." His resentment added fuel to the flames, and the situation became most serious when, at the beginning of November, McClellan, who was probably not favorably disposed toward him, was made Commander-in-Chief of all the armies in the field. One of McClellan's first acts was to demand by telegraph, a full report from Sherman of the disposition of the forces in Kentucky. Sherman replied as follows on November 4th, addressing himself to the Adjutant-General, Lorenzo Thomas:

"In compliance with the telegraphic orders of General McClellan, received late last night, I submit this report of the forces in Kentucky, and of their condition:

"The tabular statement shows the position of the several regiments. The camp at Nolin is at the present extremity of the Nashville Railroad. This force was thrown forward to meet the advance of Buckner's army, which then fell back to Green River, twenty-three miles beyond. These regiments were substantially without means of transportation, other than the railroad, which is guarded at all dangerous points, yet is liable to interruption at any moment, by the tearing up of a rail by the disaffected inhabitants or a hired enemy. These regiments are composed of good materials, but devoid of company officers of experience, and have been put under thorough drill since being in camp. They are generally well clad, and provided for. Beyond Green River, the enemy has masked his forces, and it is very difficult to ascertain even the approximate numbers. No pains have been spared to ascertain them, but without success, and it is well known that they far out-number us. Depending, however, on the railroads to their rear for transportation, they have not thus far advanced this side of Green River, except in marauding parties. This is the proper line of advance, but will require a very large force, certainly fifty thousand men, as their railroad facilities South enable them to concentrate at Munfordsville the entire strength of the South. General McCook's Command is divided into four brigades, under Generals Wood, R. W. Johnson, Rousseau and Negley.

"General Thomas's line of operations is from Lexington, toward Cumberland Gap and Ford, which are occupied by a force of Rebel Tennesseeans, under the command of Zollicoffer. Thomas occupies the position at London, in front of two roads, which lead to the fertile part of Kentucky, the one by Richmond, and the other by Crab Orchard, with his reserve at Camp Dick Robinson, eight miles south of the Kentucky River. His provisions and stores go by railroad from Cincinnati to Nicholasville, and thence in wagons to his several regiments. He is forced to hire transportation.

"Brigadier-General Nelson is operating by the line from Olympian Springs, east of Paris, on the Covington and Lexington Railroad, toward Prestonburg, in the valley of the Big Sandy, where is assembled a force of from twenty-five to thirty-five hundred Rebel Kentuckians waiting reinforcements from Virginia. My last report from him was to October 28th, at which time he had Colonel Harris's Ohio Second, nine hundred strong; Colonel Norton's Twenty-first Ohio, one thousand; and Colonel Sill's Thirty-third Ohio, seven hundred and fifty strong; with two irregular Kentucky regiments, Colonels Marshall and Matcalf. The troops were on the road near Hazel Green and West Liberty, advancing toward Prestonburg.

GEN. THOMAS' BIVOUAC AFTER THE FIRST DAY'S BATTLE.

"Upon an inspection of the map, you will observe these are all divergent lines, but rendered necessary, from the fact that our enemies choose them as places of refuge from pursuit, where they can receive assistance from neighboring States. Our lines are all too weak, probably with the exception of that of Prestonburg. To strengthen these, I am thrown on the raw levies of Ohio and Indiana, who arrive in detachments, perfectly fresh from the country, and loaded down with baggage, also upon the Kentuckians, who are slowly forming regiments all over the State, at points remote from danger, and whom it will be almost impossible to assemble together. The organization of this latter force is, by the laws of Kentucky, under the control of a military board of citizens, at the capital, Frankfort, and they think they will be enabled to have fifteen regiments toward the middle of this month, but I doubt it, and deem it unsafe to rely on them. There are four regiments forming in the neighborhood of Owensboro', near the mouth of Green River, who are doing good service, also in the neighborhood of Campbellsville, but it is unsafe to rely on troops so suddenly armed and equipped. They are not yet clothed or uniformed. I know well you will think our force too widely distributed, but we are forced to it by the attitude of our enemies, whose force and numbers the country never has and probably never will comprehend.

"I am told that my estimate of troops needed for this line, viz., two hundred thousand, has been construed to my prejudice, and therefore leave it for the future. This is the great centre on which our enemies can concentrate whatever force is not employed elsewhere."

Two days later Sherman wrote again:

"General McClellan telegraphs me to report to him daily the situation of affairs here. The country is so large that it is impossible to give clear and definite views. Our enemies have a terrible advantage in the fact that in our midst, in our camps, and along our avenues of travel, they have active partisans, farmers and business-men, who seemingly pursue their usual calling, but are in fact spies. They report all our movements and strength, while we can procure information only by circuitous and unreliable means. I inclose you the copy of an intercepted letter, which is but the type of others. Many men from every part of the State are now enrolled under Buckner—have gone to him—while ours have to be raised in neighborhoods, and cannot be called together except at long notice. These volunteers are being organized under the laws of the State, and the 10th of November is fixed for the time of consolidating them into companies and regiments. Many of them are armed by the United States as home guards, and many by General Anderson and myself, because of the necessity of being armed to guard their camps against internal enemies. Should we be overwhelmed, they would scatter, and their arms and clothing will go to the enemy, furnishing the very material they so much need. We should have here a very large force, sufficient to give confidence to the Union men of the ability to do what should be done—possess ourselves of all the State. But all see and feel we are brought to a standstill, and this produces doubt and alarm. With our present force it would be simple madness to cross Green River, and yet hesitation may be as fatal. In like manner the other columns are in peril, not so much in front as rear, the railroads over which our stores must pass being exposed. I have the Nashville Railroad guarded by three regiments, yet it is far from being safe; and, the moment actual hostilities commence, these roads will be interrupted, and we will be in a dilemma. To meet this in part I have put a cargo of provisions at the mouth of Salt River, guarded by two regiments. All these detachments weaken the main force, and endanger the whole. Do not conclude, as before, that I exaggerate the facts. They are as stated, and the future looks as dark as possible. It would be better if some man of sanguine mind were here, for I am forced to order according to my convictions."

Distrust of Sherman increased at the War Department. Whether or not he was really considered insane, the Government hesitated to intrust to him the command of the increased forces it was presently to place in Kentucky. Accordingly, on November 12th, Sherman was relieved from command and was sent to the Missouri, to drill and organize volunteers. His successor in command at Louisville was General Don Carlos Buell. The extraordinary extent to which the rumors of his mental unsoundness were carried, may be appreciated after perusal of the following passage, which occurred in an editorial in The Cincinnati Commercial—a paper supposed to be friendly to Sherman—early in December, 1861:

"The painful intelligence reaches us in such form that we are not at liberty to discredit it, that General W. T. Sherman, late Commander of the Department of the Cumberland is insane! It appears that he was at times, when commanding in Kentucky, stark mad. We learn that he at one time telegraphed to the War Department three times in one day for permission to evacuate Kentucky and retreat into Indiana. He also, on several occasions, frightened the leading Union men of Louisville almost out of their wits by the most astounding representations of the overwhelming force of Buckner, and the assertion that Louisville could not be defended. The retreat from Cumberland Gap was one of his mad freaks. When relieved from the command in Kentucky, he was sent to Missouri and placed at the head of a brigade at Sedalia, where the shocking fact that he was a madman was developed by orders that his subordinates knew to be preposterous and refused to obey. He has, of course, been relieved altogether from command. The harsh criticisms which have been lavished upon this gentleman, provoked by his strange conduct, will now give way to feelings of the deepest sympathy for him in his great calamity. It seems providential that the country has not to mourn the loss of an army through the loss of the mind of a General into whose hands were committed the vast responsibilities of the command in Kentucky."

This article in The Commercial was based on information furnished by a Washington correspondent of that paper. Sherman received a copy of the paper containing the editorial while he was with his family at Lancaster. He read it carefully, threw down the paper, and exclaimed nervously, "Well, now, I shouldn't be surprised if they fastened that on me. It's the hardest thing in the world for a man to prove himself sane when many people think him insane." His family and friends did not take the matter so calmly. They attributed the article to General McClellan, and would never be persuaded that he did not inspire it. As a matter of fact, McClellan's confidential adviser, Colonel Key, had actually been sent out to see Sherman and to report on his mental condition, and had reported that, in his opinion, Sherman was not sufficiently master of his judgment to warrant the intrusting to him of an important military command.

It will be of interest to quote at this point from a letter which was written some months afterward by General Halleck, referring to the current reports of Sherman's madness.

"The newspaper attacks are certainly shameless and scandalous, but I cannot agree with you, that they have us in their power 'to destroy us as they please.' I certainly get my share of abuse, but it will not disturb me."

Among those who stood by Sherman firmly was Grant, who had from the first unbounded faith in him; a feeling which Sherman fully reciprocated. It is told that, late in the war, some one sought to win Sherman's favor by speaking disparagingly of Grant. "It won't do, sir," said Sherman. "It won't do at all. Grant is a great general, he stood by me when they said I was crazy, and I stood by him when they said he was drunk, and now, by thunder, sir, we stand by each other."

Halleck treated Sherman kindly during the months of his career in Missouri, but the popular clamor against him continued. After camp inspection work at Sedalia and service at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Sherman was sent to Paducah, Kentucky, to command the post there. This was on February 13th, 1862. At about this time Fort Henry and Fort Donelson were captured, and Bowling Green was evacuated by the Rebels. It is interesting to recall that one day, just before these great events, Sherman, Halleck and other officers were discussing at St. Louis the general plan of the campaign. The question arose, "Where is the Rebel line?" It was indicated as passing through Bowling Green, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Columbus. Halleck asked, "Where should it be broken by our forces?" "In the centre," replied Sherman promptly. Then Halleck pointed out that the line of the Tennessee River cut the centre of the Rebel line, and that there would properly be the point of attack. As Grant conducted the Donelson campaign under Halleck's orders, Sherman always felt that Halleck was to be credited with the strategy; but certainly the execution of it was due to Grant.

[CHAPTER IX.]
SHILOH.

The Gloomy Winter of 1861–2—Exultation over Donelson—The Advance up the Tennessee—Responsibility for the Encampment at Pittsburgh Landing—Controversies over the Battle—Varying Accounts—Sherman's Personal Heroism—Number of Troops Engaged on Both Sides—Services of the Army of the Ohio—Losses of the two Armies.

The winter of 1861–62 was a time of gloom and depression to the Union. Vast armies were in the field, and the wealth of the Government was being poured out most lavishly for their support. Yet they remained chiefly inert, while the active and energetic Southern leaders strengthened the position of the Rebel hosts and promoted the claims of the Rebel cause upon the sympathetic interest of the world. A few small bodies of Union troops encountered the enemy here and there, with results not cheering to the Nation. And there was throughout the North such a feeling of discouragement and gloom as only those who personally experienced it can fully realize.

The eyes of the Government and of the Nation were chiefly fixed upon McClellan, the "Young Napoleon," from whom great things were expected. But they were to be gladdened not by the glory of his achievements, but by a sunburst of victory from another quarter, from that very central western region which, according to Sherman's bitter complaints, had hitherto been so much neglected. The news of the triumphs of Grant and Foote at Forts Donelson and Henry, in February, 1862, literally thrilled the heart of the Nation. For the first time Northern valor was grandly vindicated, and for the first time since Bull Run, a cheerful confidence in the victory of the Union cause prevailed. "Unconditional Surrender" Grant became the hero of the hour, and his terse message to Buckner, "I propose to move immediately upon your works," was exultingly re-echoed from Maine to California. Even the stern War Secretary, Stanton, who had succeeded Cameron, was moved to enthusiastic expressions of joy.

This campaign on the Tennessee, for the conception and direction of which Sherman should doubtless be largely credited, was, however, merely the beginning of incomparably greater operations, in which Sherman himself played a most important part. After the fall of Donelson, Grant incurred the displeasure of Halleck and was removed from the command of the Army of the Tennessee, and General Charles F. Smith, who had distinguished himself greatly at Donelson, was appointed to take his place. Smith accordingly directed the forward movement of the victorious army, southward, up the Tennessee River, but presently fell sick, at Savannah, Tennessee, and a few weeks later died. Thus Grant was restored to his command, and thenceforth was responsible for the conduct of the campaign.

Who was responsible for the encampment of the army at Pittsburgh Landing, however, has been a matter of dispute. To place the army there, instead of on the other side of the river, has been criticised as a serious error. Grant's friends have sought to free him from blame by saying that the choice was made by Smith, while Grant was in disgrace and practically under arrest. As Smith was dead when this statement was made, he could not reply to it. Grant himself made no effort to exculpate himself at Smith's expense. He has left it on record that when he was restored to his command, on March 13th, he found his army partly at Savannah, on the northeast bank, and partly at Pittsburgh Landing, on the southwest bank, nine miles apart. He at once moved them all to the latter place, but personally remained at Savannah, awaiting the arrival of Buell, who was to join him there with his Army of the Ohio. Lew. Wallace was with his division at Crump's Landing, on the southwest bank, five miles below Pittsburgh Landing, where he had been placed by Smith and where Grant was well satisfied to let him remain. By this acceptance of the place selected by Smith, Grant practically approved it; and by remaining there for three weeks, until the battle was fought, he made himself entirely responsible for the whole situation, a responsibility which he never sought to evade.

Concerning the arrangement and management of the Federal army during the three weeks before the battle, there have been voluminous and bitter controversies. Sherman was in a measure responsible for whatever was done, or left undone, since he was at Pittsburgh Landing all the time, while Grant spent half of his time at Savannah; and Sherman was the adviser of McClernand, who was the actual senior. The Rebels were known to be massed in force at Corinth, only a score of miles away, under their ablest and bravest commanders. Sherman himself had been, before the rendezvous was made at Pittsburgh Landing, sent out to cut the communication between the two points, to prevent a sudden advance of the enemy. In this he had not been successful. The errand was then accomplished by W. H. L. Wallace, but the damage done was quickly repaired by the Rebels and the line of approach restored. With such danger of attack staring them in the face, the troops made no elaborate preparations for defence. General Buell and other critics have charged them with the most astounding and culpable negligence. The army, according to Buell, had no line or order of battle, although it was on the enemy's ground and the enemy was confronting it in force; it had no defensive works of any sort; no outposts, properly speaking, to give warning of or to check the advance of an enemy; and no recognized head in the absence of its Commander, who spent half his time nine miles away. And so, continues this drastic critic, the enemy advanced upon it and formed in line of battle only a mile and a half away without being checked or even observed; and the actual attack was a complete and overwhelming surprise to the Union army. In this view the Rebel commander, General Beauregard, coincides, characterizing the attack as "one of the most surprising surprises ever achieved."

Grant made no detailed reply to these charges, merely saying, as to the lack of fortifications, that at that time the pick and spade were little used in the Western armies, and that he considered drill and discipline of more value than mere earthworks. Sherman himself thought very highly of the Pittsburgh Landing site, as of great strategic importance and as easy of defence. At a later period of the war, he says, the place might in one night have been rendered impregnable. That it was not fortified, he freely admits; and he adds that it was probably well that it was not thus fortified. It was next to impossible to move raw troops from fortified lines in such offensive work as that contemplated by Grant and Sherman. The story of a surprise, he indignantly repudiates, from first to last.

As this volume is not written for purposes of controversy, no discussion of these points will be indulged in here. The two sides of the case will be presented to the reader, and he may draw his own conclusions, if he has not already done so. Whatever that verdict may be, it cannot seriously affect the transcendent fame of Sherman.

Grant was superseded, as we have seen, by C. F. Smith, on March 4th, 1862. At this time Sherman was busy at Paducah, sending out boats and organizing troops, which he hoped soon to be allowed to lead in the field. The movement up the river was now begun, and on March 10th, Sherman, to his great satisfaction, was ordered to join it. He at once embarked with his four brigades, and proceeded to Fort Henry, where he reported to Smith, and was ordered to wait near by for the remainder of the army. A day or two later, he was sent on, escorted by two gunboats, to cut the Memphis and Charleston Railroad between Tuscumbia and Corinth. On his way up the river he was impressed with the importance of Pittsburgh Landing, and sent back word to Smith that it ought to be occupied. He landed at the mouth of the Yellow River, and tried to reach the railroad and destroy it. But the country was flooded, and an advance was impossible; so he returned. Smith sent him back to take possession of Pittsburgh Landing, along with General Hurlbut, and told him to make room there for the whole army.

Sherman occupied Pittsburgh Landing on March 16th, and immediately marched inland about ten miles to a cross-road hamlet called Monterey, or Pea Ridge, where he learned that the enemy were gathering in force at Corinth. His idea was to take the offensive. To throw up fortifications would, he thought, make the raw recruits more timid. Presently other divisions came up, until the bulk of the army was at the landing.

Pittsburgh Landing, then, was an insignificant settlement of two or three cabins on the Tennessee River, near the mouth of Snake Creek. The country there is rolling, almost hilly. The table-land comes boldly up to the river, forming abrupt bluffs along the water-edge. At that time the country was well wooded and thinly populated. A couple of miles back from the Landing was a little log meeting-house, called Shiloh Church, and from this the place has become popularly known as the battleground of Shiloh. It was at such a place as this that the Union army of 32,000 or 33,000 men lay, awaiting the enemy's attack, although Sherman was anxious to attack the enemy instead.

About the first of April, the Rebel cavalry began skirmishing and raiding along the front of the Union camp, and on April 4th actually captured a number of pickets. That was Friday. On Saturday nothing of importance occurred, though skirmishing was continued, and the sounds of battle were heard at Savannah, where Grant lay abed, injured by the fall of his horse. The weather was wet, the roads miry. Sunday morning there was more skirmishing, then the whole Rebel army came through the woods with a rush, and one of the greatest battles of the war had begun.

Accounts of this tremendous conflict vary greatly. In the succeeding chapters will be found Sherman's own official report, giving his version, and also that of The Cincinnati Gazette's correspondent, which presents most forcibly the other view—that of the surprise. But upon one point all the numerous narratives are agreed, and that is, Sherman's personal valor in the battle, and his consummate ability in rallying and leading his men in action. Grant was on the field on Sunday, going from division to division, to encourage the commanders; but he "never deemed it important to stay long with Sherman." Sherman held the most critical position, and his troops had never been under fire before. But his constant presence inspired them with such courage that the most of them stood and fought like veterans of a long campaign. Sherman was shot twice, once in the hand and once in the shoulder, and a third bullet passed through his hat; and several horses were shot under him. But nothing made him waver for a moment. To him, the post of danger was the post of honor.

The severest critic of Sherman's management at Shiloh, was General Buell. Yet he frankly says of Sherman that, when he met him on that very field, he appeared a frank, brave soldier, ready without affectation or bravado to do anything that duty required of him.

When the battle began on Sunday morning there were about 33,000 Federal troops at Pittsburgh Landing, and on the evening of that day General Lew. Wallace arrived from Crump's Landing with some 5,000 more. But as many men fled from the field, panic-stricken, without firing a shot, it is not likely that on that day there were at any time more that 25,000 men in line. This is Grant's estimate. The next day, Buell came up with the Army of the Ohio, 20,000 strong. And then, there were the two gunboats, the Tyler and Lexington, which rendered valuable service.

Reports of the strength of the Rebel force vary. According to General Beauregard, it contained more than 40,000 men on the first day of the battle, although, he says, he was not able to get more than 20,000 into action on the morning of the second day. Official records state that the effective Rebel forces, at the beginning of the battle, included 35,953 infantry and artillery and 4,382 cavalry, a total of 40,335. From these figures it is apparent that the two armies were, on the first day, by no means equally matched, the Rebels having a preponderance of about 7,000 men, while on the second day the Union army was numerically by far the stronger.

The Union loss in the two days' fighting was 1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded and 2,885 captured or missing; total, 13,047. Of these, Buell's Army of the Ohio lost 241 killed, 1,807 wounded and 55 captured or missing; total, 2,103. The official report of Rebel losses was 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing; total, 10,699. This, Grant says, cannot be correct, for the Union troops after the battle buried, by actual count, more Rebel dead than thus reported in front of Sherman's and McClernand's divisions alone. The estimate of the Union burial parties was that fully 4,000 Rebel dead lay on the whole field.

[CHAPTER X.]
OFFICIAL REPORTS ON SHILOH.

Sherman's Own Story—How his Troops were Posted—The Attack—Troops in Disorder—Grant and Buell at the Bivouac—The Battle Resumed in the Morning—Death of General Johnston—Gallant Conduct of Individual Officers—Grant's Official Report—Special Mention of Sherman for his Gallantry as a Soldier and his Skill as a Commander.

Few battles have been more discussed, or more vigorously discussed, than that of Shiloh, or Pittsburgh Landing. In these often acrimonious controversies, Sherman himself took a leading part. It is doubtful if an agreement as to the facts in the case can ever be reached; certainly the flood of argument, narration and abuse that has been poured forth has not materially tended toward such a settlement. The chief point at issue is, whether or not the Federal officers, especially Sherman, were surprised by the enemy. That they were, and that they were not, have both been stated and restated with every possible accumulation of emphasis. Perhaps it will best serve the present purpose to rehearse here, side by side, two narratives of the battle, both written at the time and on the spot, the one giving, in his own language, Sherman's account of the battle, the other the account written by one of the ablest newspaper correspondents in the war.

The gist of Sherman's own report, addressed to Captain Rawlins, Grant's Assistant Adjutant-General, was as follows:

"I had the honor to report that on Friday, the 4th instant, the enemy's cavalry drove in our pickets, posted about a mile and a half in advance of my centre, on the main Corinth road, capturing one First Lieutenant and seven men; that I caused a pursuit by the cavalry of my division, driving them back about five miles, and killing many. On Saturday the enemy's cavalry was again very bold, coming down to our front; yet I did not believe he designed anything but a strong demonstration. On Sunday morning, early, the 6th instant, the enemy drove our advance guard back on the main body, when I ordered under arms all my division, and sent word to General McClernand, asking him to support my left; to General Prentiss, giving him notice that the enemy was in our front in force, and to General Hurlbut, asking him to support General Prentiss. At this time, 7 A. M., my division was arranged as follows:

"First Brigade, composed of the Sixth Iowa, Colonel J. A. McDowell; Fortieth Illinois, Colonel Hicks; Forty-sixth Ohio, Colonel Worthington; and the Morton Battery, Captain Behr, on the extreme right, guarding the bridge on the Purdy road, over Owl Creek.

"Second Brigade, composed of the Fifty-fifth Illinois, Colonel D. Stuart; Fifty-fourth Ohio, Colonel T. Kilby Smith; and the Seventy-first Ohio, Colonel Mason, on the extreme left, guarding the ford over Lick Creek.

"Third Brigade, composed of the Seventy-seventh Ohio, Colonel Hildebrand; Fifty-third Ohio, Colonel Appler; and the Fifty-seventh Ohio, Colonel Mungen, on the left of the Corinth road, its right resting on Shiloh meeting house.

"Fourth Brigade, composed of the Seventy-second Ohio, Colonel Buckland; Forty-eighth Ohio, Colonel Sullivan; and Seventieth Ohio, Colonel Cockerill, on the right of the Corinth road, its left resting on Shiloh meeting-house.

"Two batteries of artillery, Taylor's and Waterhouse's, were posted, the former at Shiloh, and the latter on a ridge to the left, with a front fire over open ground between Mungen's and Appler's Regiments. The cavalry, eight companies of the Fourth Illinois, under Colonel Dickey, were posted in a large open field to the left and rear of Shiloh meeting-house, which I regarded as the centre of my position. Shortly after seven A. M., with my entire staff, I rode along a portion of our front, and when in the open field before Appler's Regiment, the enemy's pickets opened a brisk fire on my party, killing my orderly, Thomas D. Holliday, of company H, Second Illinois Cavalry.

"The fire came from the bushes which line a small stream which rises in the field in front of Appler's camp, and flows to the north along my whole front. This valley afforded the enemy cover, but our men were so posted as to have a good fire at him as he crossed the valley and ascended the rising ground on our side.

"About eight A. M. I saw the glistening bayonets of heavy masses of infantry to our left front, in the woods beyond the small stream alluded to, and became satisfied for the first time that the enemy designed a determined attack on our whole camp. All the regiments of my division were then in line of battle, at their proper posts. I rode to Colonel Appler, and ordered him to hold his ground at all hazards, as he held the left flank of our first line of battle, and I informed him that he had a good battery on his right and strong support in his rear. General McClernand had promptly and energetically responded to my request, and had sent me three regiments, which were posted to protect Waterhouse's battery and the left flank of my line. The battle began by the enemy opening a battery in the woods to our front, and throwing shell into our camp.

MAJOR-GENERAL O. O. HOWARD.

"Taylor's and Waterhouse's batteries promptly responded, and I then observed heavy battalions of infantry passing obliquely to the left across the open field in Appler's front; also other columns advancing directly upon my division. Our infantry and artillery opened along the whole line, and the battle became general. Other heavy masses of the enemy's forces kept passing across the field to our left, and directing their course on General Prentiss. I saw at once that the enemy designed to pass my left flank, and fall upon Generals McClernand and Prentiss, whose line of camps was almost parallel with the Tennessee River, and about two miles back from it.

"Very soon the sound of musketry and artillery announced that General Prentiss was engaged, and about 9 A. M. I judged that he was falling back. About this time Appler's Regiment broke in disorder, followed by Mungen's Regiment, and the enemy pressed forward on Waterhouse's Battery, thereby exposed. The three Illinois regiments in immediate support of this battery stood for some time, but the enemy's advance was vigorous, and the fire so severe that when Colonel Raith, of the Forty-third Illinois, received a severe wound, and fell from his horse, his regiment and the others manifested disorder, and the enemy got possession of three guns of this (Waterhouse's) battery.

"Although our left was thus turned, and the enemy was pressing our whole line, I deemed Shiloh so important, that I remained by it, and renewed my orders to Colonels McDowell and Buckland to hold their ground; and we did hold these positions until about 10 o'clock A. M., when the enemy had got his artillery to the rear of our left flank, and some change became absolutely necessary. Two regiments of Hildebrand's Brigade (Appler's and Mungen's) had already disappeared to the rear, and Hildebrand's own regiment was in disorder. I therefore gave orders for Taylor's Battery, still at Shiloh, to fall back as far as the Purdy and Hamburgh road, and for McDowell and Buckland to adopt that road as their new line. I rode across the angle, and met Behr's battery at the cross-roads, and ordered it immediately to come into battery, action right. Captain Behr gave the order, but he was almost instantly shot from his horse, when drivers and gunners fled in disorder, carrying off the caissons, and abandoning five out of six guns without firing a shot.

"The enemy pressed on, gaining this battery, and we were again forced to choose a line of defence. Hildebrand's Brigade had substantially disappeared from the field, though he himself bravely remained. McDowell's and Buckland's brigades maintained their organization, and were conducted by my aids so as to join on General McClernand's right, thus abandoning my original camps and line. This was about half-past 10 A. M., at which time the enemy had made a furious attack on General McClernand's whole front. He struggled most determinedly, but finding him pressed, I moved McDowell's Brigade directly against the left flank of the enemy, forced him back some distance, and directed the men to avail themselves of every cover—trees, fallen timber, and a wooded valley to our right.

"We held this position for four long hours, sometimes gaining and at other times losing ground, General McClernand and myself acting in perfect concert, and struggling to maintain this line. While we were so hardly pressed, two Iowa regiments approached from the rear, but could not be brought up to the severe fire that was raging in our front, and General Grant, who visited us on that ground, will remember our situation about 3 P. M.; but about 4 P. M. it was evident that Hurlbut's line had been driven back to the river, and knowing that General Wallace was coming with re-enforcements from Crump's Landing, General McClernand and I, on consultation, selected a new line of defence, with its right covering a bridge by which General Wallace had to approach. We fell back as well as we could, gathering in addition to our own, such scattered forces as we could find, and formed the new line. During this change the enemy's cavalry charged us, but were handsomely repulsed by an Illinois regiment, whose number I did not learn at that time or since.

"The Fifth Ohio Cavalry, which had come up, rendered good service in holding the enemy in check for some time and Major Taylor also came up with a new battery, and got into position just in time to get a good flank fire upon the enemy's column as he pressed on General McClernand's right, checking his advance, when General McClernand's Division made a fine charge on the enemy, and drove him back into the ravines to our front and right. I had a clear field about two hundred yards wide in my immediate front, and contented myself with keeping the enemy's infantry at that distance during the day. In this position we rested for the night. My command had become decidedly of a mixed character. Buckland's Brigade was the only one that retained organization. Colonel Hildebrand was personally there, but his brigade was not. Colonel McDowell had been severely injured by a fall of his horse, and had gone to the river, and the three regiments of his brigade were not in line.

"The Thirteenth Missouri, Colonel Crafts J. Wright, had reported to me on the field, and fought well, retaining its regimental organization, and it formed a part of my line during Sunday night and all Monday. Other fragments of regiments and companies had also fallen into my division, and acted with it during the remainder of the battle.

"Generals Grant and Buell visited me in our bivouac that evening, and from them I learned the situation of affairs on other parts of the field. General Wallace arrived from Crump's Landing shortly after dark, and formed his line to my right and rear. It rained hard during the night, but our men were in good spirits and lay on their arms, being satisfied with such bread and meat as could be gathered at the neighboring camps, and determined to redeem on Monday the losses of Sunday. At daybreak of Monday I received General Grant's orders to advance and recapture our original camps.

"I despatched several members of my staff to bring up all the men they could find, and especially the brigade of Colonel Stuart, which had been separated from the division all the day before; at the appointed time the division, or rather, what remained of it, with the Thirteenth Missouri, and other fragments moved forward, and occupied the ground on the extreme right of General McClernand's camp, where we attracted the fire of a battery located near Colonel McDowell's former headquarters.

"Here I remained patiently awaiting for the sound of General Buell's advance upon the main Corinth road. About 10 A. M., the firing in this direction, and its steady approach, satisfied me, and General Wallace being on our right, flanked with his well-conducted division, I led the head of my column to General McClernand's right, formed line of battle facing south, with Buckland's Brigade directly across the ridge, and Stuart's Brigade on its right, in the woods, and thus advanced steadily and slowly, under a heavy fire of musketry and artillery. Taylor had just got to me from the rear, where he had gone for ammunition, and brought up three guns, which I ordered into position to advance by hand-firing. These guns belonged to Company A, Chicago Light Artillery, commanded by Lieutenant P. P. Wood, and did most excellent service.

"Under cover of their fire, we advanced till we reached the point where the Corinth road crosses the line of General McClernand's camp; and here I saw, for the first time, the well-ordered and compact Kentucky forces of General Buell, whose soldierly movement at once gave confidence to our newer and less disciplined forces. Here, I saw Willich's Regiment advance upon a point of water-oaks and thicket, behind which I knew the enemy was in great strength, and enter it in beautiful style. Then arose the severest musketry fire I ever heard, and lasted some twenty minutes, when this splendid regiment had to fall back. This green point of timber is about five hundred yards east of Shiloh meeting-house, and it was evident here was to be the struggle. The enemy could also be seen forming his lines to the south. General McClernand sending to me for artillery, I detached to him the three guns of Wood's Battery, with which he speedily drove them back; and seeing some others to the rear, I sent one of my staff to bring them forward, when, by almost Providential decree, they proved to be two twenty-four-pounder howitzers belonging to McAllister's Battery, and served as well as guns ever could be.

"This was about 2 P. M. The enemy had one battery close by Shiloh, and another near the Hamburgh road, both pouring grape and canister upon any volume of troops that advanced from the green point of water-oaks. Willich's Regiment had been repulsed, but a whole Brigade of McCook's Division advanced, beautifully deployed, and entered this dreaded wood. I ordered my Second Brigade, then commanded by Colonel T. Kilby Smith, (Colonel Stuart being wounded,) to form on its right, and my Fourth Brigade, Colonel Buckland, on its right, all to advance abreast with this Kentucky brigade before mentioned which I afterward found to be Rousseau's Brigade of McCook's Division. I gave personal direction to the twenty-four pounder guns, whose well-directed fire first silenced the enemy's guns to the left, and afterward at the Shiloh meeting-house.