If Sherman was deemed merciless in war, he was superbly generous when the
fighting was over. To Joseph E. Johnston he offered most liberal terms of
surrender for the Southern armies. Their acceptance would have gone far to
prevent the worst of the reconstruction enormities. Unfortunately his
first convention with Johnston was disapproved. The death of Lincoln had
removed the guiding hand that would have meant so much to the nation. To
those who have read his published correspondence and his memoirs Sherman
appears in a very human light. He was fluent and frequently reckless in
speech and writing, but his kindly humanity is seen in both.
[Illustration: BUZZARD'S ROOST, GEORGIA, MAY 7, 1864]
In the upper picture rises the precipitous height of Rocky Face as Sherman
saw it on May 7, 1864. His troops under Thomas had moved forward along the
line of the railroad, opening the great Atlanta campaign on schedule time.
Looking down into the gorge called Buzzard's Roost, through which the
railroad passes, Sherman could see swarms of Confederate troops, the road
filled with obstructions, and hostile batteries crowning the cliffs on
either side. He knew that his antagonist, Joe Johnston, here confronted
him in force. But it was to be a campaign of brilliant flanking movements,
and Sherman sat quietly down to wait till the trusty McPherson should
execute the first one.
In the lower picture, drawn up on dress parade, stands one of the finest
fighting organizations in the Atlanta campaign. This regiment won its
spurs in the first Union victory in the West at Mill Springs, Kentucky,
January 19, 1862. There, according to the muster-out roll, "William Blake,
musician, threw away his drum and took a gun." The spirit of this drummer
boy of Company F was the spirit of all the troops from Minnesota. A
Georgian noticed an unusually fine body of men marching by, and when told
that they were a Minnesota regiment, said, "I didn't know they had any
troops up there." But the world was to learn the superlative fighting
qualities of the men from the Northwest. Sherman was glad to have all he
could get of them in this great army of one hundred thousand veterans.
[Illustration: THE SECOND MINNESOTA INFANTRY--ENGAGED AT ROCKY FACE RIDGE,
MAY 8-11, 1864