A graphic account of how Adjutant S. H. M. Byers, of the Fifth
Iowa Infantry, carried to Grant before Richmond the news of
General Sherman’s advance through North Carolina on his march
to the sea in 1865 is told in _Harper’s Weekly_. After a
perilous trip, he finally reached Grant’s headquarters at City
Point.
“I ripped open my clothing, handed him my dispatches, and
excitedly watched the pleased changes on his flushed face while
he hurriedly read the great news I had brought from Sherman,”
says Mr. Byers. “General Ord happened in at the moment, and the
good news was repeated to him. Ord clanked his spurs together,
rubbed his hands, and manifested joy. ‘I had my fears, I had my
fears,’ he muttered. ‘And I, not a bit,’ said Grant, springing
from his seat by the window, ‘I knew Sherman--I knew my man.’”
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