REMINISCENCES.
LIFE AT THE FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL--EX-PRESIDENT HAYES'S MEMORIES--
GENERAL MEIGS'S TRIBUTE--PROFESSOR HOWE ON SHERMAN'S SCHOOL
DAYS--A VISIT TO THE CATSKILLS--SHERMAN AND JOE JOHNSTON--
TELLING ABOUT RESACA--THINKING OF THE SEA--MARVELLOUS
VERSATILITY--GENERAL ROSECRANS' REMINISCENCES OF SHERMAN AT WEST
POINT.
A pleasant view of General Sherman's life in New York was given by Mr.
Hiram Hitchcock, of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, at which house Sherman
lived before he purchased a home. "He was," said Mr. Hitchcock, "a
guest of this house off and on for many years, and as such he naturally
became very much beloved by our whole household. After General Grant's
funeral was over I spent the evening with General Sherman and he told
me of his plans for the future; that he wanted to move quietly from St.
Louis and locate in New York. He said that he thought he should enjoy
New York very much, and his youngest son was then finishing his course
at Yale, and the change would bring him near to New Haven. After that
the General arranged by correspondence for his rooms on the parlor
floor, Twenty-fifth street side. He came here with Mrs. Sherman and the
daughters, and the youngest son used to come in frequently from Yale.
At his first after-dinner speech in New York--that at the New England
Society dinner--General Sherman referred to having moved to New York,
and said that he had gone into winter quarters down at the Fifth Avenue
Hotel, where there was good grass and water.
"The General was very particular to have everything arranged to suit
Mrs. Sherman. He said that as to himself it did not make very much
difference. He was used to roughing it and he could take anything, but
he wanted Mrs. Sherman to be very nicely fixed and to have things to
her own mind. On the other hand Mrs. Sherman said to me: 'It doesn't
make so very much difference about me, but I wish to have the General
comfortable. Dear old fellow, he has seen a great deal of roughing
it, and I want him to be entirely at ease.' They were very happy and
comfortable here during their two years' stay, which began on September
1, 1886, and General Sherman's idea in having a house was mainly to
make it pleasanter and more agreeable, if possible, for Mrs. Sherman
and the daughters; to give Mrs. Sherman a little more quiet than she
could have at a hotel, although she lived very quietly here.
"During the General's residence here he was, of course, a conspicuous
figure. He was always genial and affable to every one, very easily
approached, and he received and entertained a great many of his old
army companions and aided a vast number of them. In fact, no one
knows how many army men General Sherman has, first and last, assisted
pecuniarily and in various ways, helping them to get positions and
giving them advice and encouragement. He used to meet hosts of friends
and acquaintances in the hotel. I remember his saying once that he
would have to stop shaking hands, for he had lost one nail, and if he
didn't quit soon he would lose them all. If he went to the dining-room,
people from different parts of the country who knew him would get up
and go over to his table and talk to him.
"It was a sort of a reception with him all the time--one continuous
reception. He was very democratic in all his movements, and he always
dined in the public room.
"The General kept one room for a regular working-room for himself.
There he had his desk, a large library, scrap baskets, letter files,
etc., and that is where he was in the habit of receiving his friends.
"As for the society side of his life here, Miss Sherman and her
father had regular weekly receptions during the season, in the large
drawing-room.
"General Sherman was exceedingly particular with reference to financial
affairs. There never was a more honest man born than General Sherman.
He was particular to pay his bills of every sort in full and to pay
them promptly. He could not bear to be in debt. It actually worried him
to have a matter stand over for a day. He knew just exactly how his
affairs stood every day, and he could not bear to owe a man anything
for twenty-four hours. And he was just as honest and frank and faithful
in speech and in every other element of his character. He carried his
character right on the outside, and it was true blue.
"When he went to his house at No. 75 West Seventy-first street, we
kept up our relations with him, and we would occasionally send up
some little thing to him. Soon after he moved we sent him a couple of
packages, and in acknowledgment he sent us this letter:--
"'75 WEST SEVENTY-FIRST ST., Sept. 28th, 1888.
MESSRS. HITCHCOCK, DARLING & CO., Fifth Avenue Hotel, N. Y.
_Dear Sirs_:--I am this moment in receipt of two boxes, the
contents of which will, I am sure, be most acceptable to self and
guests. With profound thanks for past favors, many and heavy,
and a hearty wish for your continued prosperity, I am, and always
shall be, your grateful debtor,
W. T. SHERMAN.'
"Whenever the old General would come to this part of the city he
would drop in. If he was going to the theatre he would call in before
or after the performance--at all hours, in fact, he would come, and
between his engagements. He used to sit in this office and chat. He
was in this office just after Secretary Windom's death, and was asking
about that sad occurrence. The last time he was here was only a night
or two before he was taken sick with the fatal cold which was the
beginning of his last illness. I went to the door with him and bade him
good-night, and he turned and said cheerily, 'Come up, Hitchcock, come
up.' I said, 'I'll be up in a few days,' and off he moved in his quick
way.
"The General was, as everybody knows, a splendid conversationalist. He
had a wonderful fund of anecdote, story and reminiscence, and was a
capital story-teller. He was never at a loss for a ready reply.
"This was one of his comments on a story that he was not quite ready to
believe. 'Oh, well, you can tell that to the marines, but don't tell it
to an old soldier like me.'
"I think there was one very striking peculiarity about General Sherman.
Of course we have seen it in different public men, but I think it might
be said of Sherman fully as strongly as of any other public man, either
in military or civil life, that he was as brave as a lion and as gentle
as a woman. When anything touched him it revealed the sympathy of his
nature. He was wonderfully kind-hearted.
"If there was an uncompromising patriot anywhere in the country it was
General Sherman, and he manifested that in every walk of life, every
expression, every look. He was a true hero. He was not only one of the
great men, but one of the purest men of his time."
Ex-President Hayes was much affected by the death of Sherman, whom he
knew well, though he had not served under him in the army. He said:
"My intimate acquaintance with General Sherman dates only since the
war. I had been on friendly terms with him for about twenty-five years.
He was so well known to the whole people, and especially to the Union
soldiers, that there is hardly any reason for off-hand talk about him.
There are probably few men who ever lived in any country who were known
and loved as General Sherman was. He was the idol of the soldiers of
the Union Army. His presence at soldiers' meetings and with soldiers'
societies and organizations was always hailed with the utmost delight.
When the General was present the enthusiasm created by his inspiring
presence was such as to make him the chief attraction at all important
gatherings. He was always cordial and very happy in his greetings to
his comrades. He was full of the comrade spirit, and all, from the
humblest soldier to the corps commander, were equally gratified by the
way in which they were met and greeted by General Sherman.
"He will be greatly missed and greatly mourned by the whole body of men
who served with and under him, and, indeed, by all the soldiers of all
the armies. He was generally regarded by them as the military genius of
the war. He was a voluminous writer, and a ready, prompt and capital
talker. Probably no man who was connected with the war said as many
things which will be remembered and quoted hereafter as did General
Sherman.
"In figure, in face and in bearing he was the ideal soldier. I think
that it can be said of him as he once said of another, that 'with
him gone, the world seems less bright and less cheerful than it was
before.' The soldiers in looking around for consolation for his death
will find much in the fact that he lived so long--almost twenty-six
years after the final victory. There is also probably some consolation
in the fact that he has gone before age and disease had impaired
his wonderful powers and attractions. He was, in short, the most
picturesque, magnetic and original character in the great conflict. He
was occasionally, in his writings and talk, wonderfully pathetic. I
recall nothing connected with the war that was finer in that way than a
letter which he wrote, probably during the second year of the war, when
his son, about ten years old, who was named after the General, died in
camp. The boy fancied that he belonged to a regiment of his father's
command, and the members of the regiment were very attentive to him
during his sickness, and at the time of his death. General Sherman
wrote a letter to the men of the regiment, thanking them for what they
had done. I cannot now recall the terms of that letter, but I doubt not
that if it were now published many an eye would moisten as it was read.
"A very noble trait in the character of General Sherman was the
fidelity of his friendships. His loyal support of Grant under all the
circumstances cannot be surpassed in all the history of the relations
between eminent men engaged in a common cause."
"I recall a telegram received from General Sherman one November day in
1864," said General W. S. Rosecrans, "while I was in the Department of
the Missouri. The telegram read: 'I start to-day for Atlanta and will
make Rome howl.'
"And he did it, too," continued General Rosecrans. "I had known
General Sherman since 1838, although I was not thrown much with him
in service. In 1850 he was paying court to Miss Ewing, and after their
engagement he came all the way to Newport to invite me to the wedding.
"I had always been a great admirer of General Sherman. His character
as a man was one to command admiration. Of course it is difficult to
select for comment thereon any particular passage of a life that was so
busy and so full of great deeds."
General Meigs said: "The first time I met General Sherman was on the
return of McDowell's army. I called on him at his headquarters across
the river from Bull Run. Sherman at that time was in the prime of life,
and the measure I then took of him has been fully justified. His nature
was naturally genial and democratic, notwithstanding his West Point
training.
"While we were talking, an enlisted man--an Irish soldier--approached,
and in rich Irish brogue asked the General to put his finger in the
muzzle of his gun to see that it was clean. Sherman tried to put him
off, but the Irishman insisted, when, to get rid of him, Sherman
complied and laughingly remarked: 'Now go off and mind your business.'
"Previous to the war he had served on the Cherokee Commission, and his
experience at that time, he afterward told me, was valuable, as the
Cherokee reservation was located in a large portion of the country
through which he subsequently travelled with his army. Even while in
Washington he was continually exploring the country, and in a very
short time had its topography thoroughly mapped in his mind. I may
say that there never was a great general--and Sherman certainly ranks
among the greatest--who did not possess this invaluable faculty, which
Marmont, in his treatise on the service of war, says enables a man not
only to see what lies directly before him but what lies far beyond the
scope of his vision. Another valuable trait he possessed was that he
reached his conclusions promptly and then acted upon them. More than
one general failed to achieve greatness in the Union army because he
hesitated when he should have acted.
"General Sherman socially was one of the most charming of men. If he
was brilliant on the field of battle, in the social circle he was the
prince of entertainers. His manhood was symmetrical, his talents as a
general of the first rank and his fame immortal."
Professor W. P. Howe, of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, a son of Sherman's old
schoolmaster, wrote as follows in the Iowa _State Register_:
"My father had the high privilege of very largely moulding the
character and the career of General Sherman, as well as the destiny of
many others who afterwards became distinguished in the history of our
beloved country. General Sherman and Senator John Sherman were both
students under my father's care and instruction for several years,
at the high school and female seminary located at Lancaster, Ohio.
My father, the late Professor Samuel L. Howe, was for many years the
principal of said academy, and here, in the above quiet little village,
was the family home of the Shermans. Mrs. Sherman, the mother, was at
the time a widow, living a quiet and secluded life, but a woman of
great force of character, and determined that her children should have
the fullest opportunity for mental and moral development. My father
fitted young Sherman for West Point, and was careful and thorough to
the last degree in everything pertaining to his profession. But he
was especially devoted to the inculcation of moral principle, heart
culture, in the minds of his pupils. He constantly instilled these
great essential principles into the receptive minds of the young men
under his care with all the power at his command. And when love failed
to accomplish the work, then physical discipline was called in. Now
the Sherman boys were proud, high-spirited fellows, like most American
lads, and often wanted their own way, and at one time the government
of the academy depended upon who should rule, they or their teacher.
Being duly informed, the widow Sherman attended the college in person
and said the proper correction should be administered under her own
eye,--and it was thus given, but I have often heard my good father
say that the boys gave him a long and severe struggle, and that his
clothing was badly torn and disarranged in the contest. But here was
General Sherman's first great and grand lesson in discipline; a lesson
no doubt, which proved of immense value to him during the remainder of
life. From this time forward the boys were the models of the school,
and occupied the front rank both in moral and mental leadership.
"Brigadier-General Stone, who commanded a brigade in the Fifteenth Army
Corps in 1864, submitted for publication some personal reminiscences
of General Sherman. In one of these interviews, he (Sherman) paid the
following just and generous tribute to his old teacher:
"'General Stone, I consider Prof. Samuel L. Howe to be one of the best
teachers in the United States. I owe more to him for my first start in
life than to any other man in America.'
"Any teacher, any family, might well be proud of a tribute like the
above, coming from such an exalted source, and very truthfully may
I add to the above that during all of his life General Sherman
entertained the highest regard for, and ever manifested a lively and
affectionate interest in, his venerated teacher and his family.
"In the year 1877 my revered and honored father departed this life at
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and perhaps the following autograph letter from
General Sherman, written to me in reference to that event, may still
more clearly illustrate the affectionate and lovable side of that great
man's character:--
"'HEADQUARTERS U. S. ARMY, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
April 26th, 1877.
WARRINGTON HOWE, ESQ.
"'_Dear Friend_:--I have received your letter, with the newspaper
slip containing the full and just tribute to your father, the
late Samuel L. Howe. I regret extremely that in my perambulations
over this great country of late years, I never had the chance to
meet your father, which I wanted to do. And now, though forty
long and eventful years have passed since I left his school at
Lancaster, Ohio, I can recall his personal appearance to mind as
clearly as though it were yesterday. I have always borne willing
testimony to his skill and merits as a teacher, and am sure that
the thorough modes of instruction in arithmetic and grammar
pursued by him prepared me for easy admission to West Point, and
for a respectable standing in my class. I have heard from time to
time of the changes that attended his useful career, and am glad
to learn that he has left behind the flourishing academy at Mt.
Pleasant, Iowa, with children qualified to take up his work where
he left off, and carry it to completion.
"'I beg you will convey to your mother the assurance of my great
respect and sympathy in her great affliction. I recall her also
to memory; a young mother, living in the house of "Papa" Boyle,
close by the school-house built by Mr. Howe in the old orchard,
and it is hard for me to realize that she is now a widow and a
grandmother. I feel sure, however, that Mr. Howe has left behind
him hundreds and thousands that revere his memory, and will
perpetuate it by deeds and virtues which his example and precept
suggested. Truly your friend,
'W. T. SHERMAN.'
"The above letter has been preserved by me with religious care during
all these years, and will be so long as life shall last. In a few
brief closing words permit me to say that the high privilege of having
moulded and directed such a character as that of General Sherman--a
character which has so eminently honored our country and blessed the
age in which we live--is a matter of honorable and just pride to any
man and family and a constant source of inspiration to high and noble
living."
Mr. Charles F. Wingate said of Sherman, as he knew him near the end of
his life:
"I had heard General Sherman at the famous dinner given many years
ago, at the St. Nicholas Hotel, where General Grant, Henry Ward
Beecher, Lawrence Barrett and Joseph Howard, Jr., also made memorable
speeches, but I never came in personal contact with the hero of the
March to the Sea, until the summer of 1889, when he made a too brief
visit to Twilight Park, in the Catskills. He had been staying at the
Mountain House, I think, and rode over with two ladies of his family
to call upon some friends in the Park, so that I had an opportunity
of talking freely with him. My previous impressions were all upset by
this experience. Instead of the hard-featured, grim martinet, depicted
in his photographs, loquacious, opinionated and over-bearing, whom I
expected to see, the great General impressed me as almost handsome,
with fine, courtly, dignified bearing, affable, unpretentious,
kind-hearted and without the slightest trace of vanity or egotism. I
watched him critically during his entire stay, and was unable to detect
any sign of self-consciousness. He seemed as natural, as warm-hearted
and as simple as a child. He greeted everybody with cordiality, and
made us all feel at ease in his company.
"There was a group of carpenters--all native Americans--working upon
a new cottage near by, who were naturally anxious to see the General,
especially as some of them had served in the war. He went over to meet
them in the frankest manner, and when an old veteran, some seventy
years of age, said to him, 'I am glad to see you, General,' Sherman
responded in his hearty manner, I know you're glad to see me and I'm
glad to see you, too,' and he shook hands with the delighted workman in
true democratic fashion.
"His remarkable vigor was shown by the quietness with which he mounted
a steep stairway leading to a cottage on a hillside. The exertion
did not affect him in the least and he seemed the youngest and most
alert of the party. When offered some refreshment on the piazza, he
raised his glass and, glancing around, said, 'Gentlemen, in the famous
words of John Phenix, I impair my own health by drinking yours.'
While seated there, he told many interesting anecdotes of famous men
whom he met--Lincoln, Grant, Von Moltke, Bismarck and others. He did
not monopolize the conversation and only spoke of his experience in
response to questions. One of the gentlemen present had been connected
with the United States Sanitary Commission, and this fact suggested
some of the topics touched upon. Reference was made to the horrors
of war and the difficult position of a commander who has to order
an assault which he knows will lead to great sacrifice of life.
Sherman replied that such matters become a necessity, and are part of
the soldier's business, however trying. Personal feelings cannot be
considered on such occasions.
"As we left the cottage, he turned and looked around, saying, with a
characteristic laugh, 'How are the points of the compass here? I am an
old campaigner and like to know the exact location of places where I
have been entertained, so that I can find them again.'
"I was anxious that my boy, who was off fishing, should see the hero of
the war, at the impressionable age of youth, and he fortunately came up
just then with a son of MacGahan, the famous war correspondent in the
Balkans. Sherman had known the latter intimately, having traveled 500
miles in his company during his Russian journey. He greeted both boys
in a fatherly fashion, and at my request gave each of them a visiting
card as a memento of the meeting. Presently I ventured to say:
"'General, these youngsters have no conception of a commander doing
anything but prancing around in full uniform, on a fiery steed, or
leading charges sword in hand, and cutting down a score of fellows with
his own hand. Won't you tell them if you ever did any actual fighting
like Cæsar and Alexander, and how many hundred men you have killed?'
"Sherman laughed good-naturedly, and patting the boys on the head said
that he was usually away from the thick of the fighting, and he only
remembered once engaging personally in it. He and his staff were under
fire, and he noticed one man on the other side who seemed to be in
plain view, and who was peppering them as fast as he could load and
fire. Acting upon a sudden impulse Sherman turned to a Union soldier
standing near by, and seizing his rifle took a snap-shot at the Rebel,
who disappeared, 'and that,' said Sherman, 'was the only time I ever
shot any one.'
[Illustration: SHERMAN SENTIMENTS APPROVED.]
"Reference being made to his Russian visit, he related an account of
a grand reception which he attended in St. Petersburg, where he was
introduced to two charming ladies who spoke English, and invited him to
call at their residence. To his dismay, Sherman could not find any card
or scrap of paper to set down the address, so he gallantly wrote it on
his white glove.
"'It was one of those regular Russian names--two coughs and a sneeze,'
he explained, 'and I never could have remembered it otherwise.'
"And so the hour passed pleasantly until the carriage returned, and the
hero drove off with his companions, leaving a delightful impression
upon all who had met him. These may seem trifling incidents, but
they picture the defender of the Republic as he appeared in familiar
intercourse toward the close of his remarkable career. Only a month
before his death I received a note written in his neat chirography
apologizing for his failure to attend the annual dinner of the Twilight
Club, to which he had been especially invited. There is a certain
quaintness in the abbreviations and a stately sweep in the signature
which suggests Washington's letters. It is a model of easy courtesy:
"'_Dear Sir_: I thank you for your kind remembrance and
invitation for the 8th inst. of your Twilight Club, and regret
that during my two weeks' absence at Washington and Phila., from
which I have just returned, my factotum has committed me to more
engagements next week than I can fulfil. With best compliments to
Yr. brother, I am sincerely yours,
WM. T. SHERMAN.'
"Other and far less occupied men will ignore or forget such matters,
but General Sherman was punctilious in the performance of the smallest
duty."
Some interesting personal reminiscences of Sherman, beginning at the
end of the war, were given by a writer in the New York _Evening Post_.
"The first time I remember seeing Sherman near at hand," he said, "was
at the grand review at Washington in May, 1865, when, dismounting from
his horse at the grand stand as his army marched by, he ascended the
steps to meet the President and Cabinet. My seat was close by, so that
I could almost touch him as he passed up, and I can never forget his
firm, vigorous step, still less the nervous quivering of his lip and
the bristling up of his tawny moustache as he met Secretary Stanton,
who had treated him so roughly about Johnston's capitulation. He drew
back as Stanton stood ready to extend his hand and, bowing slightly,
took his seat. It reminded me of a tiger-cat or lion meeting an enemy
and ready to spring at his throat. There is no question that Sherman,
though a generous enemy, was a good hater.
"The next occasion which brings him to mind is my return from Florida
in 1870, when I met an ante-bellum acquaintance, Col. Archie Cole.
He had been on Lieut.-Gen. Joe Johnston's staff, and told me, in
grandiloquent language, of the plans they had concocted for trapping
and destroying Sherman at Atlanta, which he said would have changed the
whole result of the war. These plans, he boasted, were only disturbed
by Jefferson Davis's appointment of Hood in the place of Johnston. I
heard the story without much accepting it, but did accept Col. Cole's
invitation to meet Gen. Joe Johnston at his rooms at a Savannah hotel,
where, accordingly, I encountered the great rebel, and got from
him a pretty strong confirmation of the idea, then prevailing among
Gen. McClellan's friends, that he (McClellan), having the ironclad
_Merrimac_ on his flank at Norfolk, was fully justified by military
axioms in going to Yorktown instead of taking the James River base
before the wonderful _Monitor_ met and repulsed the Confederate ram.
"I did not ask Johnston about his proposed capture of Sherman, but on
my way North met and sat by the latter at Wm. H. Aspinwall's dinner
party, in New York, given to General Sherman, two or three days after
I had seen Johnston and his staff officer at Savannah. Among others,
there was present a rebel, from Richmond, perhaps a Major-General,
who was then making iron at the Tredegar Works. In a pause in the
conversation I said to General Sherman: 'I have just been South, where
I saw your old opponent, Joe Johnston, and had a talk with him and one
of his staff officers; the latter thought you were in a very tight
place at Atlanta, and that Johnston's removal changed the whole history
of the war. I suppose when General Johnston was removed by Jeff. Davis,
you must have been mighty glad to see him replaced by an inferior,
mad-cap soldier like Hood? How was it?' 'Well,' said the General, with
his usual frankness, 'of course I was glad to lose Johnston from my
front, but it really made no great difference in the long run, and one
day, when Johnston (who had been at West Point with me) and I were
sitting under a shade tree in North Carolina, waiting to hear whether
his terms of capitulation were ratified by Grant, I said, "Tell me,
Joe, did it make any difference, except a few days, more or less in
time, and some bloodshed? We had beaten you then, and, with the pick of
the Northern armies at my elbow, you could not long have stopped our
march." Johnston readily acceded to that,' said Sherman, 'and that was
the simple truth and all there was to it.'
"Finding him ready, as usual, to speak out, notwithstanding his having
the rebel Major-General sitting opposite, I said, 'I saw too, General,
what they call down there "Sherman's monuments"--blackened chimneys
and ruins--painting you as quite a monster of cruelty.' The General's
face grew grave, and he tersely said, the company all attention now,
'I'll just tell you the only case when I hesitated to push discipline
and punish my officers for wilful destruction. Of course marauders and
camp-followers burned, robbed, and committed outrages we could not
always reach, but the one other case was this. One day Colonel ---- of
the ----th Ohio, was brought to headquarters under arrest for burning a
plantation house. On being questioned he said:
"'Well, General, I have no defence to make; shoot me, but hear my
story first. (He was not a literary fellow, and did not put into Latin
"Strike but hear.") Escaping from prison some time ago, I was caught by
bloodhounds and d----d rebels, and brought to this plantation house;
while I lay there, torn and bleeding, the owner came out and kicked and
cursed me, and I swore if I lived I would pay him off. I have gone and
done it, and am now ready for a file of men and muskets to square my
accounts.'
"'What,' said Sherman, 'could I do? I had to pass it by quietly; but
that was the only case when I forgave such a breach of the orders only
to burn buildings under certain exigencies of war.' All this was said
earnestly, but without exaggeration, and I shall not soon forget his
face and the withering look he cast at our vis-á-vis rebel, who sat
and took the medicine like a good enough fellow, as he really was.
"The last time I saw General Sherman was when Porter brought him, in
the _Tallapoosa_, to Cape Cod and stood next to him at a deer hunt.
The General was brimming over with the enjoyment of his holiday, and
when at night the boys and girls sang his old war songs, I thought they
would never get him back to the ship."
One evening, it is related, General Sherman went into a club of which
he was an honorary member. At that time a hot Presidential campaign
was going on and the subject most warmly discussed at the club that
evening was politics. When the General entered the room there was a
spontaneous cry for his opinion. General Sherman was not a politician,
and he said that he would rather not say anything about the campaign.
But he told a story, and it was a good story--a military tale which
described a driving charge in the face of shot and shell. This story
was about the battle of Resaca, and when it was ended a young man went
up to General Sherman and asked him what the battle of Resaca was. For
a moment General Sherman was taken back. "Resaca," he said, "don't you
know about Resaca?" Then, while every one was waiting to shake hands
with him or to get a word with him, he stood in one corner with the
young man and spent fifteen minutes in telling him all about Resaca.
Meanwhile his many friends stood about waiting for him to end his
conversation with the young man, to whom the General had never before
spoken.
Sherman once remarked, in conversation with a friend, that a woman had
asked him how he felt when he got ready to make his great march to the
sea. The General had a wonderful smile, which spoke volumes. He looked
afar off, and then turning quickly said: "When she asked me what I
thought, I said to her that I thought of the sea."
Colonel L. M. Dayton, who served on Sherman's staff during the war,
said that what struck him most in the General's character was his
versatility. "I cannot help believing," he said, "that as a general he
was greater than any other the war produced. He planned a campaign to
its uttermost limit before he began active operations. For instance, in
the Vicksburg campaign, while General Grant might not have figured out
his movements beyond the actual capture of that city itself, General
Sherman in his place would have outlined clearly what he would do with
his men after the siege and what disposition he would make of the
baggage and siege guns.
"When we started out from Atlanta on the march to the sea nobody knew
what our objective point on the Atlantic coast was except a few members
of the staff and the authorities at Washington. Everybody else simply
knew that we were going to march across Georgia to the coast. When
General Sherman reached Savannah, which of course was all along known
to the authorities as our objective point, he was greatly surprised
to find that a gunboat had been despatched down the coast to meet him
there. The captain of this gunboat had succeeded in ascending Ossabaw
Sound and the Ogeechee River, which lies just back of Savannah, and
made instant communication with the General. An important official
document which had been brought down in this way was handed to General
Sherman in my presence. When he received it he got excited and seemed
vexed about something. I noticed his color rising and a look of
irritation in his eye as well as the nervous motion of the left arm
which characterized him when anything annoyed him. It seemed, for
instance, as if he was pushing something away from him.
"'Come here, Dayton,' said he, and we went into the inner room of the
building where he made his headquarters. As soon as we got inside he
began to swear, and I could see that he was greatly opposed to the
suggestions that had apparently been contained in the document. 'I
won't do it,' he would say to himself several times over; 'I won't do
anything of the kind.'
"The document was an official order from Secretary Stanton, approved by
General Grant, for General Sherman to wait with his army at Savannah
for transports which had been sent down the coast to convey them by sea
to the mouth of the James, and then to ascend that river to co-operate
with Grant. General Sherman had all along intended to march his army up
the coast, across country, and he sat down at once and wrote a letter
to General Grant explaining to him why he was opposed to taking a sea
voyage with his men; how he thought such an experience would demoralize
them with sea-sickness, confinement in close quarters and lack of
exercise, and how he had decided to take all the responsibility and
march them up by land, in accordance with his original plans. He said
he would be at Goldsboro, N. C., on the 21st day of March, 1865, and
that if any other orders were sent to him there they would reach him
promptly. So closely did he calculate that on the 23d of March he was
in possession of Goldsboro.
"As Sherman had at that time practically an army of a hundred thousand
men, which could easily annihilate any opposition he might meet with
on his march, the wisdom of his course was at once apparent to the
authorities, and no attempt was made to interfere with his execution of
his plans. As a matter of fact he did encounter Joe Johnston on the
way up the coast and defeated him at Bentonville. That, I believe, was
his last battle. No other general would have dared to do what Sherman
did in this instance. The boldness of his military genius and his keen
insight into the future were admirably illustrated by it."
General Rosecrans, who has already been quoted, had many reminiscences
of Sherman, beginning with his cadet days at West Point, which school
he entered two years later than Sherman. To Mr. Frank G. Carpenter, the
well known writer, General Rosecrans said:
"Sherman was two classes above me, but he was one of the most popular
and brightest fellows in the academy. I remember him as a bright-eyed,
red-headed fellow who was always prepared for a lark of any kind, and
who usually had grease spots on his pants. These spots came from our
clandestine midnight feasts, at which Sherman usually made the hash.
He was considered the best hash maker at West Point, and this in our
day was a great honor. The food given the cadets then was furnished by
contract. It was cheap and poor, and I sometimes think that the only
meals we relished were our midnight hash lunches. We prepared for them
by slipping boiled potatoes into our handkerchiefs when at the table
and hiding these away inside our vests. One of us would steal a lump of
butter during a meal, and by poking it into a glove we could fasten it
by means of a fork driven into the under part of the table and keep it
there until we got ready to leave. In addition to this we would steal
a little bit of bread, and some of the boys had in some way or another
got hold of stew-pans. After the materials were gotten, one of the
boys who had a retired room where there was least danger of discovery
would whisper invitations to the rest to meet him that night for a hash
feast. When we got there Sherman would mash the potatoes and mix them
with pepper, salt and butter in such a way as to make a most appetizing
dish. This he would cook in the stew-pan over the fire. We had grates
in those days, and when it was done we would eat it sizzling hot on our
bread, which we had toasted. As we did so we would tell stories and
have a jolly good time, and Sherman was one of the best story-tellers
of the lot. He was by no means a goody-goody boy, and he was one of
those fellows who used to go down to Benny Haven's of a dark night, at
the risk of expulsion, to eat oysters and drink beer.
"Not long ago, while General of the army, he went to West Point,
and, in company with the commandant of cadets, made an inspection
tour of the barracks. He was'nt looking for contraband goods, but he
got to talking about our old school days at West Point, and he said:
'When I was a cadet one of the considerations was as to what we were
to do with our cooking utensils and other things during our summer
vacations, and we used to hide our things in the chimney during the
summer months. I wonder if the boys do so still.' This visit was made
during the month of June, and when Sherman said this he was in one of
the cadet's rooms. As he spoke he went to the fire-place and stuck his
cane up the chimney. As he did so a frying pan, an empty bottle, a suit
of citizen's clothes and a board which had been stretched across the
chimney came flying down, and the cadets who occupied the room were
thunder-struck. General Sherman laughed, and telling the commandant not
to report the young men, he went to another room.
"Sherman," continued Gen. Rosecrans, "stood sixth in his class at West
Point, and he was very high in mathematics. He could have taken the
honors, but he did not care for study, and he was blunt in his ways.
He had no policy or diplomacy about him, and if one of the professors
asked him to do a problem he would blurt out at times, 'I can't do
it.' 'Why?' the professor would ask. 'Well, sir, to be frank with you,
I haven't studied it.' Nevertheless, he stood so well as an honest,
bright student that he was never punished for such remarks, but his
carelessness, of course, cut down his average."