Show in the time of prosperous peace let Us remember those who D ed to make it possible GENERAL SHERMAN THE MAN by major general howard states army retired gen sherman and myself each corn a brigade in the first battle of bull run I 1 had heard much about capt sherman formerly of the artil lery in the regular service but I 1 had with him only a passing acquaintance while we were in the east when he first came to washington from louisi ana he could not understand the ap parent apathy of the war department he knew that secession was a reality and that a terrible war was upon us in the west my first meeting with aberman was at chattanooga in a large upper room of a private house where before his coming gen grant brought together a bevy of west ern generals among them thomas talmer gordon granger and myself we were talking in a social way when sherman who had come up from bridgeport ala a distance of twenty miles from his head of column to re port progress to grant burst in upon us his tall sinewy figure never for a moment still his high head and hand some brow with a few wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and across his forehead his keen bright searching ing look and his deep toned melodious sronce presented a man once seen nev er to be forgotten our spring campa agn of 1864 by these movements under the untiring indefatigable general was continued for days during which we were under fire of artillery or musketry every day except three these three were occasioned by gen joe johnston the confederate commander passing suddenly and unexpectedly below the etowah river the night before sherman atlanta in person he was near my in the vicinity of jones boro ga he was too restless 0 o sleep about midnight he heard from the north sounds of shells explode ng and other sounds like that of musketry he walked over to a farm house and called the farmer out to listen to the reverberations which came from at lanta the distance was twenty miles sherman asked the farmer if he had lived thare for any length of time he answered that he had and that these sounds were e those of a battle after these reverberations there was qu et till about dawn when nai heard again a renewal of the elpio he could not determine in his mind whether or not there was a real battle not long after sunrise rumors came in that hood bad abandoned his alon and was in retreat at last as the day wore on a dispatch came from gen stating that hood had gone and that the twentieth corps had marched into the city As soon as this news was in his hand sherman amounted his horse and rode back to JAt lanta then he sent that memorable tele gram atlanta Is ours and fairly I 1 won to the administration at washing ton and to the people at large sher man had really burst from the clouds i atlanta won was indeed a bow of promise to america and to the world that right and justice would soon pre vail and that the american union would be restored again on dec 23 1864 sherman who bad been away in the harbor vis alting the admiral of the navy there in mcharge came back and joined gen and mys if who had entered savaniah ah a dav before the next morning after hardee s evacuation of the city sherman was delighted that we were not obliged to make a siege or attempt to carry savannah by as sa it A siege would have taken much time and an assault owing to the few approaches would have been a very costly one to our troops he had hardly spoken to me before he turned away to prepare a dispatch for the president here Is the message he sent I 1 beg to present to you as a christ mas present the city of savannah with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition and also about twenty five hundred bales of cotton the armies under sherman had a very refreshing rest tor a few days on january 1 when I 1 was pay ing my respects to gen frank blair at blair s headquarters sherman came in in his usual ansi style and s eting down beside me with some memoranda in his hand he said quiet ly howard I 1 want you to transport your army of the tennessee by water over to beaufort S march north ward cross to the main land and be at go by the of this month can you do if I 1 did not take time to make mor than a rough calculation but said the time is lather short but we will be there if it can be done he added that slocum would march up the savannah cross at S stera ferry and be at robertsville Roberts ville about the same time that I 1 should reach pocataligo I 1 may remark that six divisions of the army of the tennes see were at go at the required time the other division went with general slocum who was very much delayed by the h gh water at sisters ferry so that we bad to wait several days for the left wing to get into position thus began the memorable march through the carolinas after that d f march with all its sl irmi shing accidents and battles sherman sen us a congratulatory order which ered the whole field of operations P seems now a little boastful but it ex presses the simple truth so complete a success in military operations extend ng over half a con is an achievement that entities t to a place in the military history of the world at a later period he wrote I 1 con sider this march as a means to an end and not an essential act cf war the important move from atlanta to savannah is one step in the direction of richmond were I 1 to ex press my measure of the relative im of the march to the sea and of that from savannah northward I 1 would place the former 1 and the lat ter 10 I 1 venture a word regarding sher man s moral and sp ritual makeup from a long and close observation of one aho allowed me to be his friend I 1 am sure sherman while I 1 knew him never purposed to do a wrong act sudden impulses sometimes clouded his judgment while he abominated quackery and hypocrisy he had great admiration tor good men especially for christian men loyalty to family loyalty to friends loyalty to society about him loyalty to duty and country he quickly observed in another and this was the pervading quality among the marked characteristics of his own great soul new york herald |