Life and deeds of General Sherman, including the story of his great march to the sea ...

Front matter

Qass Book

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Preface

The story of General Sherman's brilliant career is one of the most interesting ever told. His early life was spent in poverty and obscurity; he rose to the highest pinnacle of fame. Fortune was against him ; he conquered it ; he was a conqueror throughout his eventful life. Without wealth or outside influence to lift him above his surroundings, he carved his name high before the eye of the world, and died amidst the honors of the nation he defended so nobly.

Like nearly all Americans who have achieved fame, Sherman was a self-made man. He was a patriot who courted sacrifice and death ; he was a leader of undaunted bravery, brilliant strategy, and unfaltering resources. His rank is among the world's greatest heroes, and his place is in the hearts of more than sixty millions of people.

The complete story of his life, contained in this volume, gives a graphic account of his boyhood and youth. The reader sees him struggling with early trials ; the sturdy boy grows into the manly youth, pressing on in his eager pursuit of an education. He enters the Military Academy ; he graduates with iv PREFAc:6.

honor, and is fully equipped for his magnificent military career.

General Sherman is then seen among the Everglades of Florida, at Fort Moultrie in South Carolina, and on the Pacific Coast. The outbreak of the war finds the gallant leader in Louisiana ; he sees that war is inevitable, resigns his position, and appears in Washington.

At the first battle of Bull Run, Sherman is a colonel; he rises to the rank of brigadier of volunteers and is sent to Kentucky. His upward strides are rapid, and the reader next beholds him in command of a division at Shiloh, where he displays consummate generalship and heroism, and saves that famous battle. He is the first to enter Corinth ; he takes command at Memphis; he makes a bold attack on Vicksburg; and next appears upon the world-renowned field of Chattanooga. Through the dense smoke and fiery glare of Missionary Ridge the reader sees the commanding figure now prominent before the nation, whose presence on the field is the signal for victory.

These wonderful exploits, this daring heroism, this extraordinary command of men, these magnificent deeds which thrill two hemispheres, are ^depicted in this work. The theme is brilliant and captivating. Step by step the thrilling history is unfolded ; over the pages armies march and charge, and the reader moves amid startling scenes : the old days of heroism and Spartan bravery are brought back.

The crowning achievement of General Sherman,

PREFACE. V

that which electrified the whole world, that which even military men believed to be impossible, was his celebrated march to the sea. This part of the narrative has an extraordinary interest for the reader, and is told in this volume by General Sherman himself, who was as skilful and fascinating with the pen as he was valiant with the sword. Here the great general showed his remarkable foresight, burned the bridges behind him, pushed into the enemy^s country, met and mastered seeming impossibilities, and put the , plendid climax upon his marvellous career.

We find him at Atlanta with an army which il compelled to subsist upon the surrounding country. Thence he marches to the Adantic. This almost miraculous feat, resulting in the capture of Savannah, the retreat of General Hardee from Charleston, and other events of vast importance, is fully portrayed. The grave doubts as to the result all vanished before the masterly generalship, intrepid courage, and perseverance of the illustrious leader.

Next the reader sees the two great generals, Sherman and Grant, face to face. The bloody days are ended, the smoke of battle lifts from the field, the noise of guns is hushed, and the world looks on in wonder at the closing scenes of the greatest struggle of modern times. Conspicuous in this thrilling period of our history, his majestic form standing in the nation's eye, we see the hero and patriot, the invincible commander. He has received the surrender of Johnston, and has acted a part no less remarkable and

Vi PREFACE*

successful than that of Grant in the Wilderness and before Richmond,

This work also gives a striking picture of General Sherman's life as a citizen. He was a genial man; he was an admirable speech-maker ; he was the idol of the nation : he was honored on every public occasion where his commanding figure was seen ; his loyalty to the old veterans was sincere and unwavering; his popularity. among the army boys was surpassed by that of no other general.

All readers are interested in personal anecdotes and reminiscences concerning great men. In the long life and checkered career of General Sherman many incidents occurred, and account of which the public is anxious to obtain. Stories of camp-life, long marches hardships of the campaign, and anecdotes concerning General Sherman's private life and intercourse with his old comrades enliven the pages of this volume. Side by side stand with him other brilliant heroes in the nation's struggle, and a picture of him as a man among men is presented.

The demonstration of sympathy and sorrow when his death occurred has scarcely been paralleled in this country. Sherman was loved by everybody, as well as admired. His death struck home to the heart of the nation. All classes of citizens, including the President, members of the Cabinet, army and naval officers, merchants, farmers, professional men, the rich, the poor, vied with each other at his funeral *.n telling of his glory and in honoring his memory.

FiNAi< Obsequies oe Generai. Sherman.— Grand Procession OE Troops and Civic Bodies 529

CHAPTER XXVIIL

BOOK L

STORY OF GENERAL SHERMAN'S LIFE AND DEEDS.

Chapter I

A Remarkable Family. — The Illustrious Commander's Early Life and Struggles. — Born to be a Hero.

A PATRIOTIC American, a wise, brave, skilfui soldier, A sincere, earnest, friendly man, General Sherman died honored and beloved by numberless personal friends and by millions of his countrymen. In a sense broader than that of a military genius. General Sherman was a orreat man. He showed in his war correspondence that he had the learning of the scholar and the wisdom of the statesman. Such men do not die ; they pass on from among their surviving old comrades of camp and field to a grander life, to the reward of men who are good and great.

Like Grant, Meade, and Sheridan, General Sherman had not only military genius ; he had the highest qualities of a citizen of the great Republic. He entered the service of his country as one who was willing, if need be, to die. He gave it no half-hearted, 2 17 halting service, and the mighty energy he so continuously displayed on the march and in the assault was as much the inspiration of his loyal heart as of his alert mind and vigorous body.

A Brilliant Record.

Sherman's education wsls unusually liberal and comprehensive before the war began. He was graduated from the West Point Military Academy with distinction ; he served in the army v/ith credit and usefulness as second and as first lieutenant and as captain. Subsequently resigning his commission, he became a banker and lawyer, and still later on a railroad president and the superintendent of the Louisiana State Military Institute ; which latter position he resigned, when Louisiana seceded from the Union, in a letter that was in the highest degree creditable to his honor and patriotism. He was nearly forty-one years old when the Civil War began, and was then in ilu: fullest vigor of physical and mental health. His fine intelligence, his diverse education, his varied associations and intercourse with men of distinction in different walks of life, had peculiarly fitted him for the great work to which his country called him at the beginning of the war.

The story of his achievements is one of the most glorious and precious records of his country, and most conspicuous In It is that chapter of it known to his countrymen, to the admirers of military genius of all countries — the march through Georgia from the mountains to the sea. It was the grandeur of this

EARLY LIFE AND STRUGGLES.

great movement, the grandeur of Its courage and of its results, which will render it forever remarkable.

No soldier of ancient or modern history more completely burned his bridges behind him than did Sherman when he marched out of Atlanta at the head of i'^it great Union host, the objective point of which was die Atlantic Ocean, the purpose of which was to cut through the Confederacy in Its most vital part, and to bring its chief support, the army of Lee, between two fires, that of Grant and Meade and that of Sherman. As It was planned, it was executed — without a single failure at any point. All that was anticipated from it was reahi^d, and history wrote one of Its most thrilling chapters that day when Sherman, turning his back upon the mountains, set out upon his march to the sea.

It is Impossible to form any just estimate of the value of services such as this Illustrious soldier rendered his country In Its time of greatest need. He was one of those who stood as an Impregnable fortress In defence of national unity. He offered to the cause of Union and freedom all that man has to offer — intellect, strength, and even that for which all things else will be freely sacrificed, life. General Sherman's was the genius of both planning and doing. He thought and he wrought with magnificent courage and effective skill for his country, and his efforts were crowned with success, ^n the sudden making of splendid names his name became one which Inspired armies with confidence and assured the soldierly endeavor which achieved triumphs.

Such men are so truly great that their countrymen

can only reverently salute them and resolve to keep

their deeds in grateful remembrance as they, pass

from the world which was better for their living in it.

Sherman's Ancestors.

The Sherman family from which William Tecumseh Sherman sprang was of English descent. In the rec ords of the British Museum there is an account of the Shermans of Laxley, in the county of Suffolk, dating as far back as 1616. There was another branch of the family in Dedham, Essex county. The first Sherman whose name is found recorded in this country was Edmond, who, with his three sons, Edmond, Samuel, and John, was at Boston before 1636. In the History of Anciejit Woodbury, Connecticut, it is stated that Samuel Sherman, the Rev. John Sherman, and Captain John, his first cousin, arrived from Dedham in 1634. This Captain John was the ancestor of Roger Sherman, the signer of the Declaration of Independence. The Ohio Shermans trace their descent from Samuel Sherman and his brother John, the clergyman.

All these Shermans and their children were men of prominence in their respective places. They were justices, judges, commissioners, representatives in the Assembly, town-clerks — in fact, they were good office-seekers, lucky in getting what they wanted, and pretty deserving men generally. In religion they

EARLY LIFE AND STRUGGLES. 21

were rigid Presbyterians. In politics, when the struggle for independence came, they were rebels.

The Family Settles in Ohio.

When James Monroe became President in 1817, he made Lawyer Charles R. Sherman, of Norwalk, Conn., a collector of internal revenue Two of his deputies robbed the Government, and involved him in financial embarrassment from which he never recovered. In the hope of bettering his condition he went West in 1 82 1, leaving his wife behind him in Connecticut. A year later he sent for her, and under the escort of some friends and neighbors she travelled on horseback over the Alleghanies, holding her infant child on a pillow in front of her. The new home was in Lancaster, O. Mr. Sherman in a short time won great prominence as an able, eloquent, and judicious advocate.

His reputation soon extended over the entire Statev and his practice was very large and fairly remunerative. In 1823, when he was only thirty-five years of age, the Legislature of Ohio elected him a judge of the Supreme Court.

This was upon the recommendation of his fellowcitizens, as follows :

"Somerset, Ohio, July 6, 1821.

" May it please your Excellency :

" We ask leave to recommend to your Excellency's favorable notice Charles R. Sherman, Esq., of Lancaster, as a man possessing in an eminent degree those qualifications so much to be desired in a judge

of the Supreme Court.

" From a long acquaintance with Mr. Sherman we are happy to be able to state to your Excellency that our minds are led to the conchision that that gentleman possesses a disposition noble and generous, a mind discriminating, comprehensive, and combining a heart pure, benevolent, and humane. Manners dignified, mild, and complaisant, and a firmness not to be shaken and of unquestioned integrity.

"But Mr. Sherman's character cannot be unknown to your Excellency, and on that acquaintance without further comment we might safely rest his pretensions

"We think we hazard little in assuring your Excellency that his appointment would give alniost universal satisfaction to the citizens of Perry county."

He was soon after appointed a judge of the Supreme Court, and served in that capacity to the day of his death. Admirably fitted for the bench, his written opinions prove that he possessed a fine legal mind. His manner was kind and considerate, and to know him was to be his friend. The salary attached to the office was barely sufficient to support himself and his large family, so that v/hen he suddenly died at Lebanon, O., June 24, 1829, in the noon of his fame and at the age of forty-one, those dependent on him were almost totally unprovided for, and the family was suddenly thrown on its own resources.

In this emergency the rcjavives and friends of her

EARLY LIFE AND STRUGGLES. 23

husband came to the assistance of the widow and her eleven children. Two of them were adopted by an aunt. John, afterward United States Senator and ex- Secretary of the Treasury, went to live with an uncle, and Thomas Ewing, who had then been United States Senator and Secretary of the Treasury, took William Tecumseh into his family and educated him as one of his own children.

Adopted by Mr. Ewing.

The story of the adoption is interesting. Mr. Ewing, who was not only a warm friend, but also a distant relative of Judge Sherman, drove across the country to the Sherman home as soon as he heard of the death. He knew the family was large, that they were very poor, and he resolved to take one of the children until the fortunes of the house grew brighter. Mrs. Sherman was unable to decide which one of the little ones to surrender. After a tearful consultation she and her eldest daughter accompanied Mr. Ewing out of doors, where the boys were romping on the grass.

" Well," said Mr. Ewing, " which one of 'em shall I take ? They all look alike to me."

The distressed mother* was still unable to decide, when the daughter, snatching up one of them in her arms and holding him out, said, "Well, Mr. Ewing, if you must take one, take ' Cump,' because he is the smartest."

"All right, then — 'Cump' it is," said Mr. Ewing, taking the child in his arms and placing him in his

24 GENERAL SHERM/^.

carriage. Mr. Ewing took him to his family, and, says General Sherman, " ever after treated me as his own son." " Cump " was then nine years of age, having been born in Lancaster, February 8, 1820. His father knew and admired the Indian chief Tecumseh, which accounts for his middle name.

You nor Sherman was sent to the Lancaster Academy by his benefactor. It was the best educational establishment in the place — as good a school, in fact, as any in Ohio at the time. He studied all the ordinary branches, including Latin, Greek, and French. The years passed on, and one day a note came from Senator Ewing, who was in Washington, notifying him to prepare for the Military Academy at West Point. Previous to this, however, Sherman was allowed in 1834 to work during that fall and the following spring as rodman for a surveyor who was making surveys for a canal to connect with the great Ohio one at Carroll, eight miles above Lancaster. He was paid a silver half-dollar for each day's actual work, and this was the first money he earned.

MAJOR-GENERAL llEiNRY \V. S LOCUM.

Chapter II

Education at West Point. — Chasing Savage Seminoles in the South.

During the autumn and spring of 1835-36 young Sherman worked hard studying mathematics and French, the chief requisites for admission to West Point. The letter of appointment came early in 1836 from the Secretary of War, Mr. Poinsett. Sherman made the journey to Washington to see Mr. Ewing. A week was spent at the capital. General Jackson was then at the height of his power, and General Sherman has left it on record how he spent an hour looking through the wooden railings which then ran around the White House at " Old Hickory " as he walked up and down inside. In less than thirty years his own fame as a soldier was destined to surpass that of the hero of New Orleans.

The start for the academy was made, and on June 1 2 he stepped, in New York, on board the steamer Cornelius Vanderbilt, and finished the last stage of his journey.

He joined the class of 1836 and went through the regular course of four years, graduating in June, 1840, No. 6 in a class of forty-three. The class originally was more than one hundred. "At the academy," says the general, " 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 drawing, chemistry, mathematics, and natural philosophy. My average demerits per annum were about one hundred and fifty, which reduced my final class standing from No. 4 to No. 6." Early Service in the South.

After graduation and the usual three months' furlough he was commissioned second lieutenant in the Third Artillery, and ordered to report the following September at Governor's Island in New York harbor. There he was placed in command of a company of recruits preparing for service in Florida. In less than a month the company, with three others, was ordered to Savannah, Ga. They embarked in a sailing vessel for that port, where they were transferred to a small steamer and taken to St. Augustine, Fla. General Taylor was then in command in Florida, with headquarters at Tampa Bay.

The Third Artillery, Sherman's regiment, occupied the posts along the Atlantic coast from St. Augustine to Key Biscayne, his own company being stationed at Fort Pierce, on the Indian River. He was detached from the company of recruits and joined his own command. In November preparations were be-

MESS HALL.

NQRIH BARRACKS,

ACADEMV^BUILDIRa

BARRACKS.

AT WEST POINT.

gun for active operations against the Indians, the object being to catch the scattered bands of Seminoles then on the Peninsula and send them to join their tribe in the newly-estabhshed Indian Territory. The Hfe was not without its perils. The Indians did not want to leave, and frequently offered resistance with disastrous consequences to themselves as well as to the military

First Promotion.

In November, 1841, Sherman received his first promotion, being made the first lieutenant of Company G. He left Fort Pierce and joined his new command at St. Augustine. Shortly afterward he was placed in command of a detachment of twenty men at Picolata, on the St. John's River. He remained there only a few months, having been ordered on duty which took him to Pensacola. Thence he was sent to Fort Morgan, Mobile Point.

He was now quartermaster and commissary. The following June found him in Fort Moultrie, the regiment having been changed from the Gulf posts to those on the Atlantic. " We remained at Fort Moultrie," says General Sherman, " nearly five years, until the Mexican war scattered us for ever. Our life there was of strict garrison duty, with plenty of leisure for huntine and social entertainment. We soon formed many and most pleasant acquaintances in the city of Charleston, and it soon happened that many of the families resided at Sullivan's Island in the summer season, where we could reciprocate the hospitalities extended to us In the winter." This life was interrupted by a brief leave of absence in 1843, which he spent in Ohio and in visiting some of the principal Southern cities.

First March through Georg-ia.

An order came from the War Department at Washington in January, 1844, which, curiously enough, took him through the country over which he was in after years to sweep at the head of a conquering army on one of the most famous expeditions in all military history — the " march to the sea." It was a detail to assist Colonel Churchill, the inspector-general of the army, in taking depositions in Upper Georgia and Alabama concerning certain losses by volunteers ii? Florida of horses and equipment by reason of the failure of the United States to provide sufficient forage, and for which Congress had made an appropriation.

The order directed him to go to Marietta, where Churchill was conducting the investigation. It was all over in two months, when Sherman rode south on horseback by way of Rome, Allatoona, Marietta, Atlanta, Madison, and Augusta, Ga. "Thus, by a mere accident," says Sherman, " I was enabled to traverse on horseback the very ground where, in after years, I had to conduct vast armies and fight great battles. That tiie knowledge thus acquired was of infinite use ^Q me, and consequently to the Government, I have always felt and stated."

SERVICE IN THE SOUTH. 31

Meets with an Accident.

ifn the winter of 1 844 his right shoulder was dislocated by the fall of his horse while hunting deer on the Cooper River. He suffered severely, and spent a short leave of absence which was allowed him in the North. He was back in Fort Moultrie by March, 1845. Congress had about this time passed a joint resolution providing for the annexation of Texas, then an independent republic, and the army and the country looked for an immediate war with Mexico. General Taylor had assembled some regiments of infantry and one of dragoons at Fort Jessup, La., and the orders from Washington were that he should extend military protection to Texas against the Indians or a "foreign country'' when the terms of annexation were agreed to. The terms were accepted in July, and he moved his troops to Corpus Christi, at which point during the summer and fall of 1845 ^^s concentrated the army that in the spring of the following year was to begin the Mexican War.

CHAPTER III. A Recruiting Officer. — Stirring Times in California

A CO. '^ \Ny of Sherman's regiment was ordered fr'jm Fort ivouitrie to Corpus Christi, but it was net his, and before the other companies were directed to follow Shermaj was detached for recruiting service, May I, 1846. That detail took him out of the Mexican War and deprived him of the promotion it brought to so many. Perhaps it also preserved him for the greater work he was to do. The recruiting order wrought him back again to Governor's Island. The Pittsburgh district was given to him, and he took up his headquarters at the St. Charles Hotel in that city early in May. Recruits were in very active demand, and he was authorized to open a sub-rendezvous at Zanesville, Ohio.

He had been at Pittsburgh only a few weeks when the stirring news of the battle of Palo Alto excited the entire country. " That I should be on recruiting service," says Sherman, " when my comrades were actually fighting was intolerable, and I hurried to my post at Pittsburgh. I wrote to the adjutant-general at Washington, asking him to consider me as an applicant for any active service, and saying that I would willingly forego the recruiting detail, which I well knew

STIRRING TIMES IN CALIFORNIA. 33

plenty of others would jump at. Impatient to approach the scene of active operations, without authority — and, I suppose, wrongfully — I left my corporal in charge of the rendezvous, and took all the recruits I had made in a steamboat to Cincinnati, turning them over to Major N. C. McCrea, commanding at Newport Barracks. I then reported to Cincinnati, where the superintendent of the Western recruiting service Inquired by what authority I had come away from my post. I argued that I took it for granted he wanted all the recruits he could get to forward to the army, and did not know but that he might want me to go along. Instead of appreciating my volunteer zeal, he cursed and swore at me for leaving my post without orders, and told me to go back to Pittsburgh."

He went back, and the following June received orders relieving him from the recruiting business, and assigning him to Company F, then under orders for California. This brought him once more to Governor's Island.

Early Days in California.

Over in Brooklyn the United States storeship Lexington was then being fitted out for the long journey around Cape Horn to California. The Lexington at last was ready, In July, 1846, and they sailed. Among that party of officers were Ord and Halleck. It was a slow, tedious voyage. The first port made was Rio de Janeiro, at the end of sixty days. They had a good time on shore for a week, seeing Dom Pedro and his then young empress, the daughter of the king

34 GENERAL 8HERMAN.

of Sicily. Throne and empress have passed away, ind only Dom Pedro himself remains, the last perhaps of all.

The Lexington resumed her voyage, and in October saw the snows of the Cape. In sixty days from Rio, Valparaiso was reached. There they heard news about the war, the events of which up to that time had been a sealed volume. At last, about the middle of January, the California coast began to loom up, and wlien the high mountains about Santa Cruz came in view a boat with Lieutenant Henry Wise, master of the Independence frigate, that they had left at Valparaiso, came alongside. He told them that California had broken out into insurrection ; that General Kearney had reached the country and been beaten in a severe battle ; and much else which was not strictly fact.

Ready to Fight.

When the old Lexington dropped anchor in the Bay of Monterey, Jan. 26, 1847, after a voyage of two less than two hundred days from New York, all on board were ready to fight at once. But when they went on shore, nothing could be more peaceful than Monterey. No fighting was necessary. Sherman was then quartermaster and commissary, and he had abundance of work on his hands for a few weeks. But he soon had leisure enough, and he employed it in learning something about the country in which the chances of war, although it was all peace to him, had thrown him. Sherman was not making much history

STIRRING TIMES IN CALIFORNIA. S6

then, but the vivid story of the scenes and incidents in those distant California days which he tells shows that- if he was denied the chance to make history, he knew how to write it.

Making Surveys.

Sherman was acting assistant adjutant- general of the Department of California until February, 1849, when he was transferred to San Francisco on similai duty on the staff of General Persifer Smith, commanding the Division of the Pacific. There was very little to do, and General Smith encouraged Sherman and two or three other officers to go into any business that would enable them to make money. Sherman made a contract to survey Colonel J. D. Stevenson's newly-projected city, which was to be called " New York of the Pacinc," at che mouth of the San Joaquin River. The contract embraced also the making of soundings and the markmg out of a channel through Suisun Bay. For this work he got five hundred dollars and ten or fift^ien lots. Sherman sold enough lots to make an additional five hundred dollars, "and," he tells us, " let the balance go, for the ' City of New York of the Pacific ' never came to anything."

Subsequently he made a bargain with a Mr. Hartnett to survey his ranch at Consumnees River in the Sacramento Valley. General Ord was associated with him in this work. It took about a month to make this survey, which, when finished, was duly plotted, and for -it they received one-tenth of the land or two sub-dlvislons. Sherman by the sale of the land subsequently realized three thousand dollars. Ord and he did some work for a man named Bailor, who paid them five hundred dollars a day for the party. He invested these earnings in Sacramento Cit}' lots, on which he made fair profit.

General Smith had promised Sherman that he would send him East the first opportunity, and the chance came in December, 1849. Smith was in Oregon, and from there he sent despatches to Sherman, to be delivered in person to General Winfield Scott, who was then in New York. He came back by way of Panama. Scott questioned him closely, he s;4ys, in regard to affairs on the Pacific coast, and " Uartled me with the assertion that *our country was 01 the eve of a terrible civil war.' He interested me by anecdotes of my old army comrades in his recent battles around the city of Mexico, and I felt deeply the fact that our country had passed through a foreign war, that my comrades had fought great battles, and yet I had not heard a hostile shot. Of course I thought it the last and only chance in my day and that my career as a soldier was at an end."