SHERIDAN AS A CAVALRYMAN.
Very few wars of as short duration as was that of the late Southern
rebellion produced as many as three great and original military leaders
of the calibre of Sherman, Thomas, and Grant. The ancients could boast
of but one Alexander, one Cæsar, one Hannibal to an era; modern times
of but one Frederick, one Suwarrow, one Napoleon to an age. It took
half a century of constant and almost universal revolution to produce
Napoleon and his prodigies. Only this country, of all the universe,
can to-day boast of possessing a general universally conceded to be a
great military genius, and it has more than one. The rebellion, which
at its outset boasted of commanding nearly all the military talent of
the country, produced in the end only one really great soldier--Joseph
E. Johnston; all the rest were mediocre--hardly respectable, indeed,
if Stonewall Jackson, who was a fair, though unequal counterpart to
Sherman, be excepted. The loyal cause, which was thought to be weak
in its leadership, produced in the end all the really able statesmen
of the revolution, and, with the two exceptions noted, all the great
military leaders. These latter are not confined to the three whom I
have already sketched. Many of Grant's subordinates developed a genius
for war of no ordinary quality, and won on hard-fought fields fame
and reward as successful leaders. No general was ever seconded by
such numbers of able lieutenants, not even Napoleon; and nearly all
of Grant's chief subordinates won splendid reputations for skill,
energy, and daring, the three attributes of greatness accompanying and
necessary to success. When one looks at the developments of the war in
this respect, he may well accept without question Grant's declaration,
lately made in his usual modest style, that the country could readily
have found another than himself to bring about the end of the war
successfully.
[Illustration: PHILIP HENRY SHERIDAN.]
Philip Henry Sheridan, who is one of the most noted and noteworthy
of these subordinates of Grant, must always be looked upon as one of
the miracles of war, not so much from the result as the manner of his
achievements. If he were neither a great strategist, like Sherman, nor
a great tactician, like Thomas, nor both, like Grant, he would still
be a successful leader. I have endeavored to show in the preceding
chapters that the lieutenant general is, as a military leader, complete
in himself, possessing all the attributes of generalship; while
Sherman, embodying nervous intellectual force, and Thomas, representing
physical power, are constituted by nature, as well as by the choice of
Grant, to be his chief subordinate commanders. Sheridan, in character,
is like neither of the others, but is an original genius, and a leader
not unworthy to rank with Sherman and Thomas, or to hold position as
the third subordinate commander of General Grant. He may be said to be
an Inspiration rather than a General, accomplishing his work as much,
not to say more, by the inspiriting force of his courage and example
as by the rules of war. He supplies to the army the passion and fire
which is smothered in Grant and Thomas, and imperfectly developed in
Sherman. He renders an army invincible more by the impartation to it
of his own courage and fire than by any system of organization, and
appears to accomplish by this imparted enthusiasm all that results
under the leadership of the others from discipline. When the future
historian sums up Sheridan's character, with all the facts yet hidden,
as they must be for some years to come, laid profusely before him, he
will hardly rank Sheridan with those who have carefully and wisely
planned. He belongs rather to that class of our officers who have, by
skillful and bold execution, won the distinctive classification of
"fighting generals." He can not be said to have developed any strategic
genius, and his tactics have been of a strange and rather eccentric
character, but it can not be denied that, in every battle in which he
has been prominently engaged, he has given brilliant examples of his
courage, vigor, and skill as a quick, dashing, and stubborn fighter. He
is pre-eminently a "fighting general." He claims to be nothing else,
and can afford to rest his claim on his deeds during the rebellion.
His entire career in private and public has shown him to be impetuous,
passionate, bold, and stubborn. He was born a belligerent. His natural
element is amid the smoke, his natural position in the front line of
battle. He fights vigorously and roughly, and when the tide of battle
flows and ebbs most doubtingly he holds on most grimly. In private
life his great energy is a little curt, and his fiery temper a little
too quick, but his abruptness and belligerency are too honest and
natural to excite condemnation; while his manner, when not excited or
opposed, is distinguished by great courtesy, modesty, and pleasantry.
In battle the wildest and most impetuous of warriors, in peace he is
the "mildest mannered man" that ever scuttled canal-boats on the James
or crossed sabres with a rebel. He is as impetuous as Sherman and as
persistent as Thomas. He is cool and collected in the minor matters
over which Sherman grows nervous, and fiery and bold in great dangers
in which Sherman grows coolest and calmest. Sherman's energy is that
of the brain, inspired; Sheridan's that of the blood, inflamed. In
history Sheridan will stand forth as a type--a representative leader,
even more boldly, if not more prominently, than Sherman, or Thomas,
or even Grant. His was a specialty--he was great in a peculiar line
of duty, history and romance will unite to make him the type of the
"modern cavalier," and he will enjoy, in some degree, the semi-mythical
existence which all representative men hold in history.
Sheridan is descended from the same class of the north of Ireland
emigrants which produced Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson, save that
the parents of the latter were Protestants, while those of Sheridan
were Catholics. Having settled, on their arrival in this country, in a
more populous, thriving, educated, and free district, Ohio, they were
enabled to offer their son better educational advantages than were the
parents of Jackson and Johnson, who had settled in the less civilized
district of North Carolina, and hence young Sheridan became possessed
of a good common-school education in his native place, Perry County,
Ohio, where he was born in 1831. Any number of statements have been
made as to Sheridan's birthplace. Some writers have declared it to be
Boston, while still others have said it was Somerset, Ohio. He was
born, according to his own statement, near the town of Somerset, in
Perry County, Ohio, on the 6th of September in the year named. The
necessities of his family early forced him to manual labor, while
his own inclination led him to study. He was a quick though somewhat
careless student, while his great animal spirits made him early a
rather wild and belligerent youth, fond of a boyish frolic and a trick,
always lively and always generous, sometimes thoughtless in wounding
the feelings of others, but quick to generously heal when in fault.
When quite young, Sheridan was variously employed in his native county
in doing odd "chores," among others that of driving a water-cart
about the streets of Somerset, Ohio, and in sprinkling the dusty
thoroughfares of that old-fashioned town. When about twelve years of
age he entered the employment of a Mr. John Talbot, in Somerset, Ohio.
Talbot was an old gentleman who kept a country store in which was sold
every thing useful and ornamental, embracing dry goods and groceries,
confectionery and hardware, from rat-traps to plows, and from woolen
socks to ready-made overcoats, and Sheridan found himself in a
position to learn a little of every thing--every thing, at least, in
the country grocery line. Mr. Talbot was a man who delighted in being
thought, if not by others, at least by himself, a patron of youth, and
he patronized young Sheridan, and was, as he afterward declared, "a
friend to him when a friend was every thing." When Sheridan grew older
and famous, Talbot still continued to patronize him, and once said,
alluding to his former protégé, that, on taking him into his service,
he "perceived that he was smart and active, and took some pains to
instruct him not only in selling goods, etc., for that," he adds, with
great candor, "was our duty and interest," but when a leisure moment
offered he taught him to improve his "slight knowledge of writing,
arithmetic, pronunciation," etc. Young Sheridan did not remain long
with Mr. Talbot, but gave up his service for that of a gentleman named
Henry Dittoe, in the same trade and in the same town as that of Mr.
Talbot. While still here he attracted the attention of the Hon. Thomas
Ritchey, then member of Congress from the Congressional district in
which Perry County was located, and, owing to the influence of an
elder brother and the favorable impression he made upon Mr. Ritchey,
Sheridan obtained, very unexpectedly to him, the appointment of cadet
to the West Point Military Academy. This was immediately after the
close of the Mexican War, when it was a very difficult matter to obtain
appointments for others than the sons and orphans of officers who had
fallen in the war.
He therefore got into West Point pretty much as Mr. Lincoln used to
say General Rosecrans won battles, "by the skin of his teeth." The
fact is, he got out of the Academy with the honors of graduation in
pretty much the same way. The characteristics which had distinguished
him as a boy in his native town soon made him noted at West Point
as the "best-natured and most belligerent cadet" in the Academy. In
fact, his belligerent disposition retarded his advancement in youth
and as a cadet as much as it has since advanced him. He fought so
much at West Point, was so unruly, and "so full of deviltry," that,
despite his fine scholarly attainments, the future great cavalryman
graduated so low down in his class that he could only be commissioned
in the lowest arm of the service instead of the highest, in which he
has since so distinguished himself. As it was, he was a year longer in
his course than nine tenths of his classmates. He entered in 1848, and
should have graduated in 1852, but went over until the next year. I
have been told that, at this late day, he required only "five points"
more to his number of "black marks" to exclude him from the honors of
graduation; and if he had not, toward the close of the session, by
skillful management and unusual control over his quick temper, won the
good opinion of one or two of his tutors, the future major general
would have been forced to leave the Academy as he had entered it,
instead of having the brevet of second lieutenant of infantry in his
pocket. One of his instructors, who had admired his generous character,
employed the argument that belligerency was not a fault in a soldier,
and this is said to have done much in securing him the needed approval
of the West Point staff of instructors and the honors of graduation.
The argument was too powerful to be resisted by educated soldiers, and
Sheridan was consequently sent forth fully authorized to be as great a
belligerent in time of war as he desired.
Sheridan's class at West Point produced very few remarkable men.
The three ablest of his classmates, McPherson, Sill, and Terrill,
perished during the rebellion. McPherson, who graduated at the head
of the class, was a brilliant student, an admirable engineer, but
never a great leader. The student predominated in his organization,
and he lacked in decision and nerve. He rose very high in rank in
the regular army, but it was owing less to his available talents and
practicability than to the care of Grant and Sherman, with whom he was
a great favorite. Terrill made a fine soldier as an artillerist, and
won well-deserved renown and promotion by his admirable handling of his
battery at Shiloh. He was very ambitious of advancement. I was present
at his death at Perryville. His brigade was pushed by General McCook,
the corps commander, into a forest, in which the enemy surprised
and defeated his troops, who were raw recruits, scattering them in
every direction. Terrill's horse was shot under him, and, being thus
dismounted, and left without a command, he turned--the ruling passion
strong in death--to the artillery, and assumed command of a couple of
batteries fighting in General Rousseau's line. Thus returned to the
arm of the service for which education and inclination adapted him,
he did magnificent service. While thus engaged, and while in the act
of sighting a gun of Bush's Indiana battery, he was mortally wounded,
and died a few hours afterward, with a message to his wife unfinished
on his lips. Joshua W. Sill, who was, perhaps, the superior man of
the class of 1853, fell in a similar manner at Stone River. The enemy
had thrown himself upon Sheridan with great energy, and succeeded in
forcing him to retire. Sill was one of Sheridan's brigade commanders,
and in aiding the general to rally the retiring troops, and in leading
them to a charge, he was shot and instantly killed as the enemy were
temporarily repulsed. Sill was a practical man, of great resources,
energy, and courage, small of stature, and compactly built. He was
beloved and admired in the army for his great courtesy, kindness, and
good sense. There were also in Sheridan's class others who became
generals in the volunteer service during the late rebellion. William
Sooy Smith commanded infantry during the greater part of the war, but
conducted the cavalry expedition from Memphis in 1863, intended to
co-operate with Sherman in Mississippi, but miserably failed. R. O.
Tyler and B. F. Chamberlain were well known for services in the Potomac
Army. General John M. Schofield attained to some prominence during the
war, although he had more to do with combating the prejudice which
existed against him in the War Office and the army than in fighting
the rebels. William R. Boggs, who graduated fourth in Sheridan's
class, failed as a rebel brigadier, and at the close of the war turned
his attention, like Lee, to teaching young ideas how to shoot. John
R. Chamblis, H. H. Walker, and John S. Bowen, who were also rebels,
were failures. Hood was the only success among the seceding members
of the class. He owed his rapid promotion from colonel to lieutenant
general in the rebel army to something of the same qualities which won
his promotion for Sheridan. Hood was not less bold and impetuous than
Sheridan, but he lacked Sheridan's sound sense and quick judgment, and
doubtless would not have made the rapid progress he did but for the
aid and friendship of Jeff. Davis. Sheridan and Hood met in battle but
once during the rebellion. It was at Chickamauga, and that encounter
cost Hood his leg, although Sheridan was defeated. Hood commanded a
division of Longstreet's corps, Sheridan one of McCook's divisions.
Eight years of almost profound peace followed Sheridan's graduation,
and little opportunity offered for advancement. In May and June, 1855,
Sheridan, then promoted to be a lieutenant, was in command of Fort
Wood, New York Harbor, but in the July following he was ordered to San
Francisco in charge of a body of recruits. On arriving there he was
detailed to command an escort of cavalry intended for the protection
and assistance of Lieutenant Williamson and the party engaged in
the survey of the proposed branch of the Pacific Railroad from San
Francisco to Columbia River, Oregon. Sheridan succeeded shortly after
in getting himself detached from this command and ordered to join a
battalion of dragoons under Major Raine, of the Fourth Infantry, then
on an expedition against the Yakima Indians, and expecting active
service and severe warfare. In this expedition he distinguished himself
by gallantry at the "Battle of the Cascades" of the Columbia River
(April 28, 1856). Although his action on the occasion is not described,
it is not difficult to imagine it as of the same character as the later
deeds of daring which have distinguished him. He was rewarded for his
gallantry by being placed in command of the Indian Reservation of the
Coast Range. Here he was engaged for a year in keeping the Conquillo
Indians on Yakima Bay in proper subjection, and in building the
military post and fort at Yamhill.
From this distant post he was recalled in 1861 to find himself
promoted, by the resignation of large numbers of the Southern officers
of the army, to a captaincy in what was then Sherman's regiment, the
Thirteenth Infantry. He was ordered to join his regiment at Jefferson
Barracks, and thus became attached to the Trans-Mississippi, or Army
of the Southwest, in which he saw his first service in the present
war. Although this army had gone through a campaign under Lyon, the
preparations for another under Fremont, and was then under command of
Halleck, it was so far from being organized that Sheridan could find
no active duty, and was placed upon a military commission to inquire
into certain alleged irregularities of the Fremont administration of
Missouri affairs. About that time General Curtis, who had assumed
command of the troops in the field, was ready to begin an active
campaign, and Sheridan was appointed acting chief quarter-master,
with which the duties of commissary were at that time blended. He was
out of place and felt it, and his success as a quarter-master was
very indifferent indeed. He used to laugh and say many months after
that providing "hard-tack and sow-belly," as the soldiers called the
crackers and pork which formed the chief ingredients of their rations,
was not exactly in his line; and he was very fond of relating, in
connection with the remark, his first experience in restricting the
contraband traffic in salt with the rebels. As chief quarter-master,
it was his duty to take such steps as would not only provide for his
own troops, but deprive the rebels of contraband supplies. Hearing
that Price, then at Springfield, was suffering for salt, he employed
every means to stop the export of that article beyond our lines;
and, congratulating himself on his success, used often to say, with
a chuckle, that "the rebels were actually starving for salt." When
the advance of the army took place, and Price was hastily driven out
of Springfield, the only article left behind was, much to Sheridan's
disgust, an immense quantity of salt which had been smuggled through
our lines. He ever afterward professed himself disgusted with his
quarter-mastership, and fortunately soon after got himself under arrest
and sent to the rear.
Officers generally look upon arrests as misfortunes. Sheridan's arrest
was the turning-point in his fortunes, since it placed him, after
a brief delay, on the staff of a rising major general and in the
line of promotion. The circumstances of his arrest are not without
interest, as showing one or two of his characteristics. Like many
regular officers of the army as organized in 1861, Sheridan was in
favor of carrying on the war by striking hard blows at the organized
armies of the rebels, and generously providing for the people,
who, while remaining at home, under United States protection, as
non-combatants, still surreptitiously furnished men and material to
the rebels. It is difficult to conceive the "Ravager of the Shenandoah
Valley" entertaining any of these false notions of sympathy, yet such
were Sheridan's feelings at the time, so strict a stickler was he
for military discipline. He has overcome this too delicate and nice
consideration for the interests of rebel aiders and abettors, and,
like the country, has been educated by war in the belief that treason
is to be fought with fire. Feeling thus during the Pea Ridge campaign,
Sheridan was particularly disgusted with the ravages committed by a
regiment of Kansas Jay-hawkers in General Blunt's division, and used
often to denounce them in unmeasured terms. He was so much embittered
against the regiment and opposed to their style of warfare, that when
General Blunt ordered him to impress a large amount of provender from
the citizens for the use of the army, he replied in any thing but
decorous terms, declining to execute the order, and intimating in
conclusion that he was not a Jay-hawker. General Blunt, of course,
relieved him and preferred charges against him. Sheridan was ordered to
report to Halleck. The letter was forwarded as evidence against him,
and fell into Halleck's hands. That officer, having a just appreciation
of a good joke, laughed heartily over the letter; and, sharing
Sheridan's prejudices against "jay-hawking" and "bummers" generally, he
caused the charges to be withdrawn, and in May, 1862, ordered Sheridan
to duty on his own staff as acting chief quarter-master.
It is a singular fact that Sheridan was a protégé and favorite of
both Halleck and Grant, who had not a thought, feeling, or interest
in common. To have equally pleased Halleck, the theoretical, and
Grant, the practical soldier--Halleck, the wily and polite lawyer,
and Grant, the simple-minded, straightforward soldier--Halleck, who
attempted to rise by arts, and Grant, who trusted solely to action
for promotion, required very great qualities in a mind as young as
Sheridan's. The secret of his success in pleasing both doubtless lies
in the fact that he attempted to please neither. Sheridan has been
one of the most honest of our generals. There was nothing tricky
about him; his comrades all felt that he used no underhand influence
to rise. Yet to the friendship inspired in these two very opposite
natures by his honest and straightforward conduct Sheridan is doubtless
somewhat indebted for his rapid advancement from a captaincy to a major
generalcy in three years. When one reflects upon the rapidity of his
promotion, the days of France under the empire appear to have come
to us, and Bulwer's preposterous promotion of his hero in the play
becomes highly probable. "Promotion is quick in the French army," said
old Damas. Verily not more so than in the national army of the United
States during the rebellion.
General Halleck was at the time of this occurrence before Corinth, and
thither Sheridan repaired, to find himself suddenly and unexpectedly
transferred from the regular to the volunteer service as colonel of
the Second Michigan Cavalry, in place of Gordon Granger, who had been
promoted. Halleck had, with an appreciation which he subsequently
frequently displayed in organizing the United States armies, noticed
Sheridan's qualities, and placed him in the branch of the service for
which he was best qualified: But even Halleck did not fully appreciate
the admirable qualities of his young protégé, and failed, when
intrusted shortly after with the absolute organization of the armies,
to advance him to the position for which the quicker appreciation of
Grant afterward singled him out, after observing his conduct in one
battle only.
His promotion to colonel aroused the ambition of Sheridan, who had
before modestly hoped to eventually become a major. He now had
opportunities to distinguish himself, and immediately went to work to
improve the opportunity, determined to win rank and fame before the
close of the war, which, having now changed its character, also gave
promise of being long and adventurous, and full of occasions for one in
his arm of the service.
His regiment was brigaded with that of Colonel W. L. Elliott, who,
as the ranking officer, became brigade commander, and under his
leadership Sheridan made his first campaign as a cavalryman. It was
the famous raid around Corinth and upon Beauregard's communications at
Boonesville, which was noted at the time as one of the first and most
successful adventures of our then rapidly improving cavalry, and won
for its leader a reputation for dash that the loyal press, with very
questionable taste, continually compared to the daring of Stuart and
Morgan in their bloodless raids against weak outposts and unguarded
rear-lines. This irregular warfare of the rebel cavalry had not, up to
that time, partaken of the bloody character which has since been given
the cavalry encounters of the war, and Elliott and Sheridan were among
the first to expose the fallibility and weakness of the boasted rebel
cavalry when vigorously opposed. Elliott never accomplished any thing
afterward, and it is half suspected that Sheridan did the work on the
occasion which made Elliott famous.
It was but a short time after this affair that a second opportunity to
distinguish himself was offered Sheridan on the same field, and, taking
advantage of it, he fought his first cavalry battle.
This engagement, although of a minor character, served to illustrate
his characteristics as a quick, dashing, stubborn fighter, as more
brilliantly developed in Sheridan at more important engagements.
The rebels were commanded by General James H. Chalmers, who attacked
Sheridan's single regiment with a brigade of cavalry, evidently
expecting little resistance. Sheridan was not required, by the
importance of the post he commanded nor the position of the army whose
front he covered, to hold his ground, and could have with propriety
declined battle, and fallen back on the infantry line; but it was
not in the heart of the "belligerent cadet" to decline an invitation
to battle from any gentleman. He drew up his regiment in line, and
received the attack in handsome style. Chalmers's first repulse taught
him that he should have to proceed with his attack more systematically,
and he brought up his line for a more regular and general assault.
While he was thus engaged, Sheridan, with perhaps more enterprise
than sound discretion, in view of the insignificance of the stake
for which he contended, sent a detachment on a detour to the rear
of the rebel position. These, by strenuous exertions, succeeded in
effecting this purpose, and made an attack from that direction, while
Sheridan, attacking from the front, succeeded in surprising the rebels
and driving them from the field in confusion. Chalmers, his opponent
in this engagement, subsequently won, under Bragg and Forrest, a
character for belligerency similar to that now enjoyed by Sheridan,
but he was not as uniformly successful, and his belligerency got him
into difficulty. Bragg arrested him for his failure to carry the
works at Munfordsville, Kentucky, in September, 1862, when Chalmers
had assaulted them without orders. He subsequently got into like
difficulties with Forrest, but his readiness to fight and general good
qualities brought him safely out of his troubles. In the engagement
at Boonesville his readiness to fight was evinced to Sheridan's
satisfaction, while Sheridan's superior endurance and enterprise were
made apparent to the rebel at the same time.
It was this success which made Sheridan a brigadier general. It has
always been an unfortunate feature of our army organization that there
is no provision for the promotion of the deserving in the branch of
the service in which they have won distinction, and for which they
have evinced high qualifications. A colonel of cavalry shows himself
eminently deserving of promotion by his services in that branch, and he
is promoted to be brigadier general of _infantry_, and not only taken
from the line of the service for which he is best fitted, but, though
promoted in rank, is sent to command an inferior arm of the service.
By this fault of organization not only does the army lose the service
of the person thus promoted out of his sphere, but often the promotion
becomes the ruin of the recipient, who may be totally unfitted for this
new line of duty. There are numerous examples of this. Among several
of these failures, which have resulted from this cause, two of the
most notable were of persons in Sheridan's own class. I have elsewhere
already noticed how Terrill, who, as a captain of artillery, gained a
great reputation for his successful handling of his battery at Shiloh,
and who was promoted to be a brigadier general of infantry, to utterly
fail and throw away his young life in his chagrin and desperation.
McPherson's success outside of the engineer corps was no greater.
He graduated at the head of his class, distinguished himself as an
engineer, was promoted rapidly from captain to corps commander, only to
find himself totally unfitted for such duty, and in time to waste, by
his inadaptation to infantry and his lack of decision, the rich fruits
of Sherman's successful strategic march through Snake Creek Gap upon
Resaca.
Sheridan's fate was not exactly the reverse of this, for, when taken
from the cavalry, for which he was eminently fitted, and made brigadier
general of infantry, his success at first was not encouraging; but
under the various tests which these charges have proved to be, he was
more uniformly successful than any officer I remember placed in the
same position. I know, indeed, of no general officer who was subjected
to so many tests as Sheridan. He was alternately commanding cavalry
and infantry, then both together, constantly changing from one line of
operations to another, and thus being subjected to the study of new
lines and new topography, besides being forced to meet and overcome
the prejudices against new commanders local to every army. In fact,
Sheridan may be said to have begun his career anew three several
times, and his ultimate success in spite of these obstacles shows the
superiority of his mettle.
Immediately on his promotion Sheridan was placed in command in Kentucky
of a division of raw troops, for the organization of which he was not
so well fitted as for fighting them. The command was under General
Nelson. Shortly afterward Nelson was killed, and the reorganization
of his army, and its incorporation with that of General Buell, placed
Sheridan in command of a division of partly disciplined veteran troops.
A short time subsequently the army was again reorganized by Rosecrans,
and Sheridan was given a division and assigned to the corps of General
A. McD. McCook. Sheridan's division suffered defeat at Stone River
and Chickamauga. But amid those disasters and defeats the fighting
qualities of the "little cadet" found illustrations as brilliant, but
not so familiar as those of his greater victories at Cedar Creek, Five
Forks.
Stone River was a battle in which the endurance of the soldiers rather
than the generalship of their leaders gave us possession of a field
in which the enemy retained, until his abandonment of the field, the
tactical and strategic advantage. Each corps, and even each division,
"fought on its own hook;" there was no generalship, no plan, no purpose
on our part. The official reports tell very elaborately of a grand
plan, and how, despite the reverses of the first day, it was carried
out to brilliant and successful completion, but that plan was arranged
after the battle was finished. There was no such plan before the
battle, for, like all of Rosecrans's battles, Stone River was fought
without any definite plan. Bragg was the tactician of Stone River.
He assumed and held the offensive during the whole engagement, and
our forces were kept continually on the defensive. It is a singular
fact, that so ignorant was Rosecrans of the position of the enemy, so
absolutely without a plan was he, that on the very morning of McCook's
disastrous defeat he ordered General Crittenden to occupy the town
which the enemy were covering in strong force, declaring that they
had evacuated it. General T. J. Wood protested against the blind
obedience which General Crittenden would have given to this command,
and, pending the reference of the remonstrance to Rosecrans, McCook
was attacked and whipped. The soldiers fought the battle on our part,
not the general commanding the army; and it was Thomas, Rousseau,
Sheridan, Negley, Wood, and Palmer, as leaders, who saved the day,
and retrieved the disaster precipitated by McCook's incompetency,
and Rosecrans's incapacity, from extreme nervousness, to direct a
large column of troops. Sheridan's division was posted on the left
of McCook's corps, which, being struck in flank and rear, was very
quickly and unexpectedly doubled up and thrown back upon Sheridan's
division, which was thus forced, while fighting a division in its
front, to turn and form a defensive _crotchet_ to the whole army, thus
being compelled to expose one or the other of its flanks. It was forced
back by superior numbers until its line of battle described three
sides of a square, and these being broken after a terrible resistance,
it was forced to retreat through a dense forest of cedars, in which
artillery could not be moved, to the line formed by the reserves
under General Rousseau. While the rest of the corps had been rapidly
driven, Sheridan's division fought for hours desperately, losing all
the brigade commanders, seventy other officers, and nearly one third
of the men killed and wounded. The other divisions of McCook's corps,
under Jeff. C. Davis and R. W. Johnson, were never rallied until they
reached Nashville, while Sheridan's fell back upon the line of reserves
and fought for two days afterward. This result was entirely owing to
the personal exertions, daring, and skill of Sheridan; and his conflict
formed such a brilliant episode of that badly-managed battle, and his
abilities shone so prominently in contrast with the delinquencies of
others, that he was at once made a major general.
In the dark cedars at Stone River he kept his men together, when almost
surrounded or entirely cut off, only by being at all times along the
front line of battle with them; by well-directed encouragement to the
deserving, and the blackest reproaches to the delinquents; by alternate
appeals and curses, and a constant display of a daring which was
inspiring, and in the presence of which no man dared betray himself a
coward.
"The history of the combat of those dark cedars will never be known,"
wrote the only historian who has as yet truly written of Stone River,
Mr. W. S. Furay, of the Cincinnati Gazette, a young man of very
extraordinary abilities, and the most conscientious of all the war
correspondents whom I met in the army. "No man," he adds, "could see
even the whole of his own regiment, and no one will ever be able to
tell who they were that fought bravest, or they who proved recreant
to their trust. It was left to Sheridan to stay the successful onset
of the foe. Never did a man labor more faithfully than he to perform
his task, and never was leader seconded by more gallant soldiers. His
division formed a kind of pivot, upon which the broken right wing
turned in its flight, and its perilous condition can easily be imagined
when the flight of Davis's division left it without any protection from
the triumphant enemy who now swarmed upon its front and right flank;
but it fought until one fourth of its number lay bleeding and lying
upon the field, and till both remaining brigade commanders, Colonel
Roberts and Shaeffer, had met with the same fate as General Sill."
When Sheridan had extricated his command from the forest and got in
line with the reserves, he rode up to Rosecrans, and, pointing to the
remnant of his division, said,
"Here is all that is left of us, general. Our cartridge-boxes contain
nothing, and our guns are empty."
The Tullahoma campaign, which followed that of Stone River, offered
few opportunities for the display of any other quality of the
soldier in Sheridan than that of energy. The pursuit of Bragg, which
formed the main feature of that campaign, required rapid marching,
but no fighting. After the expulsion of the rebels from Tullahoma
and Winchester the general pursuit was abandoned, as the enemy had
reached the mountains, and only Sheridan's division and Stanley's
cavalry received orders to pursue the enemy across the mountains to
the Tennessee. Sheridan moved with great alacrity, hoping to reach
the bridge over the Tennessee at Bridgeport in time to save it from
destruction. He moved so rapidly that he reached the river before
Stanley's cavalry, which had been ordered by an indirect route through
Huntsville. He succeeded in saving the greater part of the bridge.
He used to tell with great glee that on reaching Bridgeport he found
numbers of the rear-guard of Bragg's army sitting on the burned end of
the bridge, and asking his advance on the opposite bank of the river
if "they were part of Stanley's cavalry." The infantry had moved so
rapidly in pursuit that the enemy had all the while mistaken them for
cavalry.
Sheridan has since displayed the same energy in moving, with better
effect. The surrender of Lee was, without doubt, the effect of
the admirable and vigorous execution by Sheridan of Grant's plan
of operations from Five Forks to Burkesville Junction. It will be
remembered that Sheridan, by rapid movements, placed his forces at
Jettersville before Lee had reached Amelia Court-house, and thus
cut off all retreat to Danville. His dispatches relating to those
operations partake of the vigor of the actual movements, and handsomely
illustrate his energy.
"I wish you were here yourself," he wrote to Grant--a compliment that
the little lieutenant general may be proud to point to. "If things are
pressed," he added, "I think Lee will surrender."
"Press things," was Grant's order. It needed no other. Sheridan pushed
forward rapidly, struck right and left, punishing the enemy wherever
found, and at last forcing Lee to surrender. Grant returned the
compliment with interest in writing his final report of the closing
operations of the war. He describes, in his peculiarly forcible
language, that, on the eve of the battle of Winchester and the
beginning of Sheridan's valley campaign, he went to Sheridan's quarters
to examine his plans, forces, material, etc., and found that he had
only a single instruction to give his lieutenant--"Go in!"
"Press things" and "go in" are instructions as laconic as they are
indefinite. They betray Grant's practicability and plainness, and honor
Sheridan. It is, perhaps, better to be the one addressed in such terms
than even the author of them. Sheridan is not less plain and forcible
in his language than Grant, as witness his various reports, the
quotations above, and his opinion of Texas. "If I owned," he once said,
"Texas and hell, I would sell Texas and live in the other place."
The battle of Chickamauga, as far as McCook and Sheridan were
concerned, was only a repetition of Stone River. McCook's corps,
consisting then of Davis's, Sheridan's, and Negley's divisions, was
again defeated. General Negley, very unfortunately for that gallant
officer and gentleman, was taken from his division in the heat of
battle and ordered to the command of a number of batteries, and the
division suffered badly, while the other division, under General
Jefferson C. Davis, was scattered in every direction. Sheridan, who had
formed the extreme right, had a desperate though ineffectual fight,
but, after being separated from the rest of the army, eventually cut
his own way out, brought in his division about half organized, and
took his place in the line at Rossville, to which Thomas fell back at
night. On this occasion, as at Stone River, Sheridan was a subordinate.
The disaster to his division was general to his corps, and resulted
from the incapacity of others, and not his own bad management. He was
powerless to avert, he could only partly retrieve the disaster. On
both occasions he did so with a skillful hand, by the most strenuous
exertions, and at great personal risk.
Chattanooga was the battle in which Sheridan caught the eye of Grant,
who there selected him without hesitation for the important position
which he subsequently filled. Sheridan's division formed the right of
the centre column, which, in the engagement at Chattanooga on November
25, 1863, assaulted and carried Mission Ridge, and, breaking the rebel
centre, assured the victory. His men were kept in position waiting for
the signal to assault for over thirty-six hours, and they and their
leader had grown very nervous, half fearing the battle would be won
too soon by Sherman and Hooker, and the chance for glory stolen from
them, when at last the wished-for signal came, and away to the charge
sprang the assaulting columns. General T. J. Wood commanded one column,
and he and Sheridan strove with a lofty ambition, in which there
was nothing that a saint could condemn, to reach the summit first.
Sheridan gloried in the deed. He could not contain himself, and yet he
rode along the front line, half leading, half directing his men, as
clear-headed as if the cross-fire of the twenty rebel batteries that
opened upon his men were directed against charmed lives, and he knew
them to be futile as against him. During the charge he took a canteen
of whisky from his aid, Captain Avery, and, filling a cup which he
carried, raised it with a gesture toward Bragg's head-quarters, which
were plainly visible on the mountain crest, saying, in imitation of
the soldiers, "How are _you_, Mr. Bragg?" Before he could drink the
liquor, a rifle-ball carried away cup and beverage. Sheridan exclaimed,
"That's damned ungenerous!" There was no time for more, and he spurred
forward, and soon again formed part of his front line. His horse was
killed under him, and he led the remainder of the assault on foot,
reaching the summit with the first, and, as horses were not plentiful
on the ridge, he sprang upon one of the fifty captured guns, swinging
his sword over his head, and shouting for joy with his men, while, at
the same moment, he poured invective after invective on the heads of
the rebels whom he was unable to pursue. Before the battle was ended,
Grant, having left his head-quarters in Orchard Knob, rode along the
summit of the ridge, and before the fire of the enemy had ceased he had
marked Sheridan for future use. Chattanooga was the flood-tide of his
fortunes, and, without knowing it at the time, he that day launched his
bark anew. Henceforth his abilities were not to be lost by his being
made subordinate to men of inferior calibre. He was henceforth to win
great successes, not retrieve, in some degree, the great disasters of
others.
Sheridan did not know for months after of his good fortune on that
day. On the contrary, his friends soon after had reason to imagine
that he was again under a cloud. It was but a few months after this
memorable battle that Gordon Granger and Sheridan were relieved of
their commands. It was generally known that Granger had offended Grant
by his delay in moving with Sherman to Burnside's aid at Knoxville, and
it was supposed that both he and Sheridan were laid on the shelf. I met
the latter as he passed through Nashville, and he told me that he did
not then exactly know his destination, except that it was Washington
City. The announcement was soon made, however, that he had been placed
in command of all of Grant's cavalry on the Potomac, and those who knew
Sheridan learned to appreciate more highly the clearness with which
Grant read the characters of his subordinates. Returning Sheridan to
the cavalry service was not by any means the least important of Grant's
services to the country.
It was not intended, in the scope of this chapter, to give a detailed
statement of the events of Sheridan's life. The purpose was rather to
make the public more familiar with his character than his history.
The prominent points of his later career are as well known to all
as myself. I have often had cause to regret that I have no personal
recollections of Sheridan's remarkable campaign in the Shenandoah
Valley. I should have been particularly glad to have had an opportunity
to witness and to analyze the wonderful effect of Sheridan's presence
on his men during the rout at Cedar Run. It can not be accounted for on
any theory, however philosophical, framed by a person who was not an
eye-witness, while it might be comprehended in the light of a minute
and graphic description of the manner of the general on that occasion.
His success in restoring order, and then confidence, was doubtless due
to his decisive manner, while the subsequent restoration of _morale_
was owing to the promptness with which the offensive was resumed.
The control which Sheridan then held over his men is certainly very
remarkable, in view of the short time during which he had commanded
them, and the condition in which he found them on this day. Absent
at the beginning of the battle of Cedar Creek, it will be remembered
that he pushed forward to the front to find his troops retreating
rapidly, and, although not pursued, much demoralized. Demoralized
does not necessarily, as I have found by experience on more than one
doubtful field, imply defeat. Sheridan appears to have felt so; for, on
being told by a colonel whom he met that the "army was whipped," the
indomitable Sheridan exclaimed, "You are, but the army isn't." His
presence seemed to inspire the men with a new purpose. He possesses a
secret similar to that of Cadmus. Though not making soldiers spring
ready-armed from the earth as Cadmus did, he creates an enthusiasm
which gives additional power and strength to those he has. On the
occasion alluded to, so powerful was this inspiring presence that, in
an incredible short space of time, he had his routed men re-formed
in line, and ready to receive the onslaught of the enemy. But the
enemy, intent on rifling the captured camps, had not pursued in force,
and Sheridan found waiting was in vain. The confidence of the troops
had been restored by the presence of their leader, the facility with
which he re-established the broken lines, and the cheering language
and encouraging tone of his conversation and orders. He fully
re-established the morale of the men when, finding the enemy failed to
pursue, he ordered an advance. The fact that he did advance on the same
day of the rout serves to show, among Sheridan's other great qualities
as a leader, his decision and daring. There are few generals, in our
own or any other service, who would have conceived the idea, or for a
moment entertained the purpose of immediately resuming the offensive.
Two years before, pursuit after a victory, not to mention pursuit after
a defeat, was held to be impossible. The fact that Sheridan was able on
this occasion to resume the offensive with complete success shows how
absolute was the confidence of the men in this comparative stranger,
who had plead, entreated, cursed, and browbeat the flying army into
order again. The magnificent ride from Winchester to the field, which
at the time was made in all the accounts the salient feature of the
battle, grows commonplace when compared to "Little Phil's" ride among
the routed masses of his corps. He may be said to have been every where
at once, for his presence was felt in every battalion. His orders,
so brilliantly illustrated and varied by his peculiar and numerous
oaths, found their natural echoes in the cheers of the men, in whose
hearts his presence restored confidence. The rapidity with which he
rallied his broken lines and brought order out of chaos is incredible
even to those who have seen the "belligerent cadet" in the midst of
battles; and to one who has never witnessed the singular effect which
the reception of orders to attack have on men, it will still remain
incredible how he so far restored the confidence and morale of his
troops as to enable him on that occasion to snatch victory from defeat.
There was some occasion for the display of the same personal daring,
and the exercise of the same influence by example, on the part of
Sheridan, at the battle of Five Forks. His _presence_ on every part
of that contested field, it is now generally conceded, had as much to
do as generalship with the final result of that battle, where every
thing depended on the persistence of the attack on the weak point which
Sheridan had discovered. It is doubtful if success would have followed
the efforts of a general who had been content to _direct_ the battle.
Sheridan _led_. He was in the front line, under the heaviest fire, at
all times, waving his sword, encouraging his men, exhorting them to
incredible deeds, and, as usual with him, swearing alternately at the
enemy and his own skulkers. He is represented by those present as the
"impersonation of every thing soldierly." He rode up and down the
lines, under fire, continually waving his sword, commanding in person,
exhorting them to seize the opportunity within their grasp, and sweep
their enemies to destruction. It is related of him, and the story is
characteristic enough to be true, that, at the conclusion of the first
day's unsuccessful battle at Five Forks, while striding up and down in
front of his field head-quarters, apparently absorbed in deep and calm
thought, he suddenly startled his staff by breaking out in a series of
horrible oaths, in which he swore he would carry the rebel lines next
day, or "sink innumerable fathoms into hell."
Despite several remonstrances which I have received from him and his
friends, I must say that Sheridan occasionally indulges in oaths, but
one can easily find it in his heart to forgive them. They are merely
the emphasis to his language. Oaths are said to be fools' arguments.
Sheridan throws them at one in a discussion not from a want of more
forcible arguments, but from a lack of patience to await the slow
process of logical conclusions. For this same reason he heartily
despises a council of war, and never forms part of one if he can
possibly avoid it. He executes, not originates plans; or, as Rosecrans
once expressed it in his nervous manner, "He fights--he fights!"
Whatever is given Sheridan to do is accomplished thoroughly. He does
not stop to criticise the practicability of an order in its detail, and
at the same time does not hesitate to vary his movements when he finds
those laid down for him are not practicable. He does not abandon the
task because the mode which has been ordered is rendered impossible by
any unexpected event. If the result is accomplished Sheridan does not
care whose means were employed, or on whom the credit is reflected.
He grasps the result and congratulates himself, the strategist of the
occasion and the men, with equal gratification and every evidence of
delight. His generous care for the reputation of his subordinates,
his freedom from all petty jealousy, his honesty of purpose, and the
nobleness of his ambition to serve the country and not himself, his
geniality and general good-humor, and the brevity of his black storms
of anger, make him, like Grant, not only a well-beloved leader, but one
that the country can safely trust to guard its honor and preserve its
existence. It is easy for one who knows either of the two--Grant and
Sheridan--to believe it possible that, during all the period in which
they held such supreme power in our armies, not a single thought of how
they might achieve greatness, power, and position, at the expense of
country, has ever suggested itself to their minds. There are few other
characters known in profane history of whom the same thing can be truly
said.
Sheridan goes into the heat of battle not from necessity merely. The
first smell of powder arouses him, and he rushes to the front of the
field. It is related of him that when the engagement of Winchester
began, he stood off a little to the rear, as Grant would have done, and
endeavored to calmly survey the field and direct the battle. But it was
not in his nature to remain passive for a great while. When the fight
warmed up and became general, he could stand it no longer, and, drawing
his sword, he exclaimed, "By God, I can't stand this!" and rode into
the heat of the engagement.
The belligerent in Sheridan's organization is often aroused without
the stimulus of the smell of gunpowder. In 1863, while Sheridan was
encamped at Bridgeport, Alabama, he invited General George H. Thomas,
then encamped at Deckerd, Tennessee, to examine the works erected at
Bridgeport and the preparations going on for rebuilding the bridge.
I was then at Deckerd, and being invited to accompany the party to
Bridgeport, did so. At one of the way-stations the train halted for
an unusually long time, and Sheridan, on asking the conductor, a
great, burly six-footer, the reason, met with a somewhat gruff reply.
Sheridan contented himself with reproving his manner, and ordered him
to proceed with the train. The conductor did not reply, and failed
to obey. After waiting for a time, Sheridan sent for the conductor,
and demanded to know why he had not obeyed. The fellow answered, in
a gruff manner, that he received his orders only from the military
superintendent of the road. Without giving him time to finish the
insulting reply, Sheridan struck him two or three rapid blows, kicked
him from the cars and into the hands of a guard, and then ordered the
train forward, acting as conductor on the down and return trip. After
starting the train he returned to his seat near General Thomas, and,
without referring to the subject, resumed his conversation with that
imperturbable dignitary.
On another occasion Sheridan detected an army news-vender in some
imposition on the soldiers, and, without waiting for an explanation,
he seized him by the back of the neck and thumped his head against the
car, although he had to stand on tiptoe to do it.
Sheridan's appearance, like that of Grant, is apt to disappoint one
who had not seen him previous to his having become famous. He has none
of the qualities which are popularly attributed by the imagination
to heroes. "Little Phil" is a title of endearment given him by his
soldiers in the West, and is descriptive of his personal appearance. He
is shorter than Grant, but somewhat stouter built, and, being several
years younger and of a different temperament, is more active and wiry.
The smallness of his stature is soon forgotten when he is seen mounted.
He seems then to develop physically as he does mentally after a short
acquaintance. Unlike many of our heroes, Sheridan does not dwindle as
one approaches him. Distance lends neither his character nor personal
appearance any enchantment. He talks more frequently and more fluently
than Grant does, and his quick and slightly nervous gestures partake
somewhat of the manner of Sherman. His body is stout but wiry, and set
on short, heavy, but active legs. His broad shoulders, short, stiff
hair, and the features of his face, betray the Milesian descent, but no
brogue can be traced in his voice. His eyes are gray, and, being small,
are sharp and piercing, and full of fire. When maddened with excitement
or passion these glare fearfully. His age is thirty-four, but long
service in the field has bronzed him into the appearance of forty, yet
he is one of the most elegant of young bachelors, and answers fully
to the description of the first Scipio, "_Et juvenis, et cœlebs, et
victor._"
[Illustration: JOSEPH HOOKER.]