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."