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Show - - - A Picture by an Obscure Newspaper Artist ArtistInspired ArtistInspired Inspired Thomas Buchanan Read to fo W Write WriteAn rife rifeAn An American Classic- Classic ClassicSheridan's Classic-'Sheridan's Classic 'Sheridan's Sheridans - ' Sheridan's Sheridans ' Ride ' \ v _ yf = - f = - y- y - ar _ - _ f - "P P " tI tIne ne , C c ! : 1 1C x . J ; t s sa r rJ rvia via w J _ 3 5 - - SHERIDAN S RIDE TO THE FRONT-From FRONT From - a drawing by Sol Eytinge Jr , which appeared first in inHarper Harper S Weekly in 1864 and was reprinted in 1867 with a statement by Thomas Buchanan Read say sayins ins that it inspired him to write his famous poem Sheridan s Ride By ELMO SCOTT WATSONReleased WATSONReleased WATSON WATSONReleased Released by w \ Western estern Newspaper Un on iSEVENTY i ) ' > EVENTY FIVE years ago this thlS month occurred an event eventwhlch eventwhich events SEVENTY which whlch is familiar famll1ar to every American Amencan American- American Americant AmericanSheridan - t ' Sheridan Shendan sRlde sRide s ' Ride Rlde For it was on the morning mornmg of October 19 1864 1864that 1864that 1864that that Gen Phil Phll Sheridan Shendan famous cavalry leader in m the theUmon theUnion theUnion Umon Union army was aroused from sleep in m a house in m WinChester Wm Win Wmchester WinChester chester Vd Va V d b by } ) a staff officer who reported heavy artilleryfiring artlIIery artillery artlIIeryfinng artilleryfiring finng firing from the direction dlrectIon of Cedar Creek where his army v .as as was . as stationedThereupon stationed stationedThereupon < Thereupon Fighting Flghtmg Phll Phil Phllmounted Philmounted Philmounted mounted his hlS coal black blackcharger blackcharger blackcharger charger , Rienzi Rlenzl androde and rode rodetoward rodetoward rodetoward toward the sound of the theguns theguns theguns guns ' to find that his army armywas armywas armywas was being bemg routed by a sur surpnse surprise surprise pnse prise attack by Gen Jubal A Early Earl ) of the Confederate Confederatecavalry Confederatecavalry Confederatecavalry cavalry How he checked theflight the theflIght theflight flIght of his hlS disorganizedtroops llisorgamzed disorgamzed llisorgamzedtroops disorgamzedtroops troops gathered up thestragglers the thestragglers thestragglers stragglers formed a new newl1ne newline newline l1ne line of battle and transformed transformedwhat transformedwhat transformedwhat what seemed to be a dlsas disas dlsastrous disastrous disastrous trous defeat into mto a Union Umon VIC vie VICtory vietory vietory tory is too familiar famll1ar a story to toneed toneed toneed need retelling retellmg hereIt hereIt here hereIt It was one of the most dra dramatle dramatic dramatic matle matic incidents mCldents of the War Be Between Between Between tween the States but it is not improbable lID mz lIDprobable mzprobable probable that the memory ofSheridan of ofSherIdan ofSheridan SherIdan s exploit might have become be become become come dimmed through the passing pass passmg passing mg ing of the years had it not beenfor been beenfor beenfor for HenryWddsworth HenryWddsv.orth HenryWadsworth a poet For ror just lust as Henry Wddsv.orth Wddsvorth Wadsworth . Longfellow helped helpedImmortahze helpedimmortalize helpedimmortalize Immortahze immortalize Paul Re\ Re Reere \ ere by wnt writ wntmg writing writing mg ing a poem about his famous ride rideat rideat rideat at the opening openmg of the Revolution Revolutionso so did Thomas Buchanan Read Readperform Readperform Readperform perform a similar service for forPhil forPhil forPhil Phil ShendanBut SheridanBut Sheridan Shendan SheridanBut But there is another man who whoshould whoshould whoshould should be mentioned along W1th with W1thRead withRead withRead Read in m connection with this tills famous fa famous famous mous poem You probably havenever have havenever havenever never heard of him for he was a aspecial aspecIal aspecial special artist for an illustrated Illustrat Illustrateel illustratad eel ad weekly newspaper and al although although although though he helped make a piC pre tonal pictonal pretonal record of the greatest CIV civil civilwar civilwar war the world had e\ e et ever eer \ er known knownhIS knownhis knownhis hIS name is all but forgotten now nowBut nowBut nowBut But if you will leaf through the thefiles thefiles thefiles files of Harper s Weekly until you youcome youcome youcome come to the September 14 1867 1867ISsue 1867issue 1867issue ISsue you will find reproduced reproducedthere reproducedthere reproducedthere there the picture shown above aboveand aboveand aboveand and with it this statementWe statementWe statement statementWe aboveI I We reproduce on this page theinteresting the themterestmg theinteresting mterestmg interesting engraving engravmg of Shendan Shen Sheri Shendan Sheridan dan published pubbshed s Ride to the Front pub pubished bshed ished ] three ' years ago and mconnection In Inconnection inconnection connection \ with Ith it we give thespIrited thespirited the 'spirited spirited 'spiritederses ' spIrited t \ \erses erses erses of T Buchanan BuchananRead BuchananRead BuchananRead Read now well known and ad admle.d admired admired mired throughout t the ecountry country It wIll be seen by the note notefrom from the distinguished dlstmgUlshed author authorthat authorthat that the poem was inspired msplred by bythe bythe the picture of Mr EytingeNe Eytmge Eytinge EytmgeNev Ne Nev v York Aug 23 29 28 1867 itSl 1867Ed itSlEd 16S7Ed Ed Harper ilarper s WeeklyDear WeeklyDear Weekly WeeklyDear questionIt Dear fa 1 S > r In rep y to your quesUo question [ ) It g ves yes me pleasure to acknowledge thatthe that thatthe thatthe the spirited spIrlled picture which whJch you publishedo publishedof published of ( Shcr Sher dan s Hide Ride insp Inp , red me iMththe .ltll ltll Kith Kiththe . .ltllthe the final Impulse to write wrlt'1 wrlt1 writq ' the poem poemVery Very respectfullyT resPeclfullyT resPeclfully respectfully T BUCHANAN READ READFrom READFrom From this it is evident that thatSol thatSol Sol Eytinge Eytmge Jr who was one oneof oneof of Harper s Weekly s specIal specialartists specialartists artists during durmg the Civil war warper warper per yi Q o-i o i < ! - deserves some of the cred it for the poem And it is qUite qUitelIkely quitelikely quitelikely lIkely that he portrayed portra'ed portraed ) ' that his histone histonic histone tone tonic scene more accurately than thandid thandid thandid did Read \ who ho was an artist as aswell aswell aswell well as a poet poetou \ou ou lou I \ ou will noticein noticem notice m in Read s painting pamtmg of Sheridan Shendan s sRide sRide Ride wh ch is reproduced with W'I'7 WI7 " " ' - ' - " [ f . f4 //4 4 / / F --1W 1W , . " ! ; ; , 1 < v ys ys"l F / t 1t i ( " 1 " "lI "ly a " aa " , "l l I . 0 ' " y a { afit , . ' > . < : " fit , it\ it itk Xa ' \ , k ' ' " 'i i ' ? KGf ' " r < : ' " ' " Uf ; 4yyF " \ .d d . .d6'IW K ' . . % \ \6'IW 6'IW 6IW \ " ' ; . ' ) . { ; > " ' . . ' , 4 ' . : > " " ' 1f ' ; 1f3 " . -/3 3 ' - / : ? qj qjN qjY I .t t . , - \ \ , fi : ; j : N f/ f fP / . P ' .g g . ; b bv { g'r gr ? ' } . } , , } 1 1.t \ : ; ' v 'P P : ( / # 1 r 1 1I I ; ' * ) : ; . , . , . - " , . 't t ' . ; ' - < " ,1 1 , ; i f 7 Y / ; 'J J ' : ' . " I : . tV M ? / , . _ f/.f f.f f .f / . > " # ' ; 1 : : > rfr ' < ' , / 4/1 4 1 ' ' " "w/ "w w "w2 . " . ; / " , " / , , . / ; { ' " . " ' , : ; r : , . .r'J- .rJ .r'J rJ ' . - .r'JPJ " : " . ? : > . , * /2 2 / % " ? , " s < . " " . . ! t tSHERIDAN - . 01 < T01 T- T > - ' " PJ PJt1rt -t1rt t1rt - " ' . _ Jo : ' . " " " , - : ; - : . _ . - - . # _ , ; : . , . - .f f . . BuchananRead SHERIDAN S RIDE-From RIDE From - the painting by Thomas Buchanan Read author of the famous poem by that name LIttlePhil this article that hehows he shows \hows hows dhows ! \ Little 'Phil Phil ' Phil impeccably dressed in m his hisgeneral hisgeneral hisgeneral general blackhat s uniform w \ ith his ills black hat set firmly on his head as he ashe v.aves vaves waves . . his sword in m his nght right righthand nghthand hand while his charger Rlenzl Rienzi Rlenzlseems Rienziseems Rienziseems seems to be suspenced in m midair mid midair midair , air with WI th all four feet off theground thegroundAccording the theground theground ground groundAccordmg groundAccording According Accordmg to the testimony ofmen of ofmen ofmen men who saw Sheridan Shendan as hedashed he hedashed hedashed dashed toward Cedar Creek on onOctober onOctober onOctober October 19 1864 the reality real1ty was wasqUite wasquite wasquite qUite different from Read s PIC pie PICtured pielured pictured tured lured version of it Instead of ofbeIng ofbeing obeing ( beIng a veritable ventable fashion plate of 'flcer flcer ' ficer fieey Sheridan Shendan and his mount mountwere mountwere mountwere were dust covered and gnmy grimy gnmyMost grimyMost grimyMost Most of the time during durmg his nde ride ndehe ridehe ridehe he was carrying carrymg his Ius cap m in his hishand hishand hishand hand because he always had d dif difficulty difficulty ficulty in m keeping keepmg a hat on hISround hisround his hisround round bullet like hke head ' In another an another another other respect Eytinge Eytlnge s picture plciure isundoubtedly IS ISundoubtedly isundoubtedly undoubtedly more accurate histoncally hIs hIstoncally historically toncally torically than Read s It sho vsSheridan vs vsShendan vsSheridan Shendan Sheridan with a full beard instead m in mstead instead stead of a moustache and photo photographs photographs photographs graphs taken during durmg the Ci\ Ci Cn Ciil \ il II v w \ , ar am arconfirm amconfirm arconfirm confirm Eytinge Eytmge s accuracy m in mthis inthis inthis this detail as well as the deta 1 1of 1of 1of of his \ wearing earmg a cap instead of a ahat ahat ahat hat for his headgear headgearIf If Read was inaccurate maccurate as a apamter apainter apainter pamter painter he was equally careless of facts as a wflter-unless wflter unless writer-unless writer writer - unless of ofcourse ofcourse ofcourse course poetic license is suffi sufficlent sufficient sufficient clent cient justification Iustifrcation for error In Inthe Inthe Inthe the first place Sheridan Shefldan wasn ttwenty ttwenty t ttwenty twenty miles away as the thepoem thepoem thepoem poem has it It was only 13 or14 or 14 miles from Winchester Wmchester to Ce Cedar dar Creek and Sheridan had hIS hisfirst first view of his disorganizedarmy dlsorgamzed disorganized dlsorgamzedarmy disorganizedarmy army at Mill Creek less than amile a am amile m mile Fromthere e from Winchester Wmchester From there ifthere frontIfthere to the actual front-If front If frontif front -if if - there was such a thing tillng on that day thatday of near panic pamc and near dls dis dlsasterIt disasterit disaster aster-It aster It - it wasn t much more than thanmne thannine thannine mne nine or ten m miles es |
