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			  Chapter XLIV

		    Miscellaneous Biographies


			Hon. John Sherman

   The ancestors of Mr. John Sherman were among the earliest settlers of
Massachusetts. In 1665, but about thirty-five years after the little 
shivering band of pilgrims landed upon Plymouth Rock, Samuel Sherman, then
the head of the family, moved from the settlements scattered through the
forests which darkened the shores of Massachusetts, far back into the almost
unexplored regions of the West, where the silent and solitary waters of the
Connecticut flowed. The journey then occupied a fortnight, as the little
band of emigrants toiled through the tangled and pathless wilderness.
   Mr. Sherman took up his residence near the spot where the Housatonic
River empties its waters into Long Island Sound. The region then belonged
to the Indians, and the place now called Stratford was then known as Capheag.
Here, amidst the sublime gloom of the wilderness, he passed the remainer of
his days.
   The family in England was one of note. The following is a heraldic 
description of its coat-of-arms: Sherman, or a lion rampant; sa. betw. three
oak leaves vert,; on the shoulder, an amulet, for diff. Crest - a sea lion
sejeant, per pale or an arguettee de poix, finned of the first; on the
shoulder, a crescent for diff. Motto - "Conquer death by virtue."
   Mr. Samuel Sherman took a deep interest in the settlement of the town of
Woodbury, Connecticut. He is represented as the most distinguished man 
connected with the enterprise. He owned a large tract of land there, which 
at his death was divided between his sons, Matthew and John. The latter
attained much distinction, and became one of the most influential men in
this state.
   General William Tecumseh Sherman, who conducted the army of the Union
through the most brilliant campaign of the great war of the rebellion, and
whose name will ever be pronounced with veneration by the citizens of the
United States, is a brother of John Sherman, a brief history of whose life
we are now giving. While William was so effectually serving his country 
amidst all the perils of the field of battle, John was rendering not less
efficient service in the Senate of the United States.
   General William T. Sherman, at a New England dinner, gave the following
playful account of his ancestry: "I learned from books alone that in 1634,
fourteen years after the Pilgrim fathers landed at Plymouth Rock, three 
person by the name of Sherman reached the Boston coast - the Rev. John
Sherman, his cousin John Sherman, who was styled the captain, and his brother
Samuel Sherman. The Rev. John Sherman and the other cousin settled at
Watertown, Massachusetts, and it is related of the Rev. John Sherman that
he preached a sermon under a tree there.
   "Samuel Sherman, a young man, about fourteen years of age and adventurous,
emigrated to Connecticut. Samuel was the ancestor of my branch of the family, 
and settled at Stratford, Conn.; and lived there fifty years after reaching
his home. He married and had children, and his second son, John Sherman, 
adopted the legal profession. That John Sherman had another son John, who had 
a son Daniel Sherman, a man of note in his day, a contemporary of Roger
Sherman, and a member of the Council of Safety and the Legislature Assembly.
His youngest child Taylor Sherman, settled at Norwalk, Connecticut, was
Judge of the Probate Court, and was one of those who lost property by Arnold's
descent upon the coast of Connecticut.
   "He also was one of those who inherited part of the land which the State
of Connecticut donated in the Western Reserve, and was one of those who went
to the West to arrange a treaty with the Indians. In 1808 he returned to
Connecticut. He went out again in 1808 and made a partition of the Fire lands.
His son, my father, then a young man of twenty years, married Mary Hoyt, at
Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1810, and their families still live there. My father
went to Lancaster, Ohio, followed by my mother and her child on horseback.
That child was my brother Judge Charles Sherman, of Ohio. I was the sixth
child.
   "Our father died and left us all very bare. But friends came up and assisted
us, and we all reached maturity, and we all married, and the number of children
we had I really cannot keep on counting. The Shermans are a numerous family.
And I may safely assert that they all obeyed the Divine commandment, - and
they went forth, increased and multiplied, and I hope they have done their
share towards replenishing the earth."
   John Sherman was born at Lancaster, the 10th of May, 1823. Upon the death
of his father, eleven orphan children were left to be reared and educated by
the grief-stricken mother. Until John was fourteen years of age he enjoyed
the advantages of common school and the academy at Lancaster. He then, at that
early age, commenced the duties of an active life as junior rodman in an
engineer corps, surveying lands on the Muskingum Improvement, under Colonel
Curtis.
   In this employment he continued, with ever-increasing developments of
manhood and native strength of mind, for about two years. In the year 1840, 
he commenced the study of law in the office of his elder brother, Judge
Sherman, of Mansfield. In the Autumn of 1844 he was admitted to the bar, and 
entered into partnership with his brother Charles, who was then engaged in an
extensive and lucrative practice. Here, in Mansfield, for ten years he devoted
himself with untiring diligence to the labors of his profession. During this
time he was continually rising in public esteem as a man of integrity and
ability. Unambitious of political distinction he devoted but little attention 
to politics, though quite earnestly attached to the principles of the Whig
party.
   The position of the state in which Mr. Sherman resided was strongly Democratic.
But, notwithstanding this, he had so secured the confidence of the community
that he was elected to represent his district in the United States Congress.
Regardless of popularity, he had persistanly avowed his abhorrence of slavery
and his opposition to the perfidious repeal of the Missouri Compromise.
   The course which many of the leaders of the Democratic party, seemed in
favor of pursuing, by yielding to the claims of the slaveholders, alienated
many from the party, and secured quite a political revolution. Mr. Sherman
was the candidate of those who desired that Freedom should be inscribed upon
our National banner. The majority of the intelligent men who peopled his
district, regardless of the shackles of party, rallied around Freedom's banner, 
and thus Mr. Sherman was elected. Both of the old parties melted away before
the indignant opposition of the people to the proposition to make slavery
the corner-stone of our Republic.
   This event opened to Mr. Sherman a new career, and changed the whole
current of his life. The next year, 1855, he was President of the first
Republican State Convention, which nominated Salmon P. Chase, one of the most
devoted sons of freedom, as Governor of Ohio. When Congress met in December, 
of that year, there was a protracted and intensely exciting conflict between
the friends of freedom and the partisans of slavery, in the choice of a
Speaker for the House of Representatives. Mr. Sherman ardently supported
General Banks, freedom's candidate.
    Outrages had been perpetrated, in Kansas and Nebraska, which roused the
indignation of the North. Mr. Sherman was appointed a member of a committee
formed to investigate those outrages. Three months were employed in Kansas
in taking testimony, amidst all the fierce forays, burnings and murders of
what proved to be but the incipient stage of our civil war. He wrote the
report presented by the Committee. It was so admirably composed in its boldness,
its candor, its enlarged patriotism, that it at once conferred upon Mr. 
Sherman national reputation.
   During three successive Congresses, those of 1856, 1858 and 1860, Mr.
Sherman was re-elected almost without opposition. He actively participated in
the debates, and served faithfully on many important committees. In the 
Thirty-sixth Congress, whose session commenced in December, 1858, there was  
a very fierce controversy over the election of a Speaker. There were three 
parties in the House, the Republican, the Democratic, and the so-called
American. The Democrats had a large majority. The Americans, about thirty in
number, held the balance of power. For nine weeks this almost unprecedented
struggle continued. During this time Congress presented a scene of the most
intense excitement, with occasional disgraceful outbreaks of violence.
   Mr. Sherman was the candidate of the Republican party. Mr. Helper, of
North Carolina, had written a book commending the substitution of freedom
for slavery in the state. Mr. Sherman had recommended this book. This excited
the ire of the pro-slavery party. He was nominated for Speaker by the friends
of freedom. The only charge brought against him by the pro-slavery party was
that he had recommended Helper's book. None of those who affiliated with the
pro-slavery party dared vote for him.
   On many successive ballots Mr. Sherman was within three votes of an election.
The lines were so distinctly drawn that it at length became manifest that
he could not be elected. Thre was also imminent danger that a coalition
would be formed between the Democratic and the American parties, which would
place an advocate of national slavery in the chair. This, at the time, would
have been regarded by all the friends of freedom as a great disaster.
   Mr. Sherman ascertained that three members, who would not vote for him, 
were willing to vote for Mr. Pennington, of New Jersey. He, therefore, urged
that Mr. Pennington should be nominated in his stead. This was done, and Mr.
Pennington was elected. During this Congress, Mr. Sherman acted as Chairman
of the Committee of Ways and Means. This introduced him to the financial
branch of legislature. To this most important and difficult department of
political economy Mr. Sherman has since devoted his untiring energies. It
has become the chief employment of his official life.
   In March, 1861, upon the appointment of Governor Chase as Secretary of the
Treasury, and his consequence resignation of his seat in the United States
Senate, Mr. Sherman was elected to represent Ohio for the full term of six
years. He took his seat at the extra session in March. It then became evident
that the Southern States would carry out their threats to attempt the dissolution
of the Union. There was a lingering hesitatin, even in the Republican party, 
to submit the question to the awful arbitrament of war.
   But Mr. Sherman, from the first, held firmly to the sentiment that the
Union must be preserved, peaceably if we could, forcibly if we must. He urged
immediate preparation for war. He supported every measure to give the army
strength and security. He was placed on the Committee of Finance, with Senator
Fessenden, of Maine, as Chairman. He took a leading part in all the financial
legislation during the war, and has so continued to act until the present 
time. 1874.
   In the year 1864 Mr. Fessenden was Secretary of the Treasury, and Mr.
Sherman, Chairman of the Committee. Since the year 1866 he has continuously
occupied that post. In this most important office, which very few in our 
nation are qualified to fill, he has largely participated in forming and 
passing every measure of finance, banking and currency that has become law.
   On the slavery question he ever occupied what may be called a conservative
position. He regarded the abolition of slavery and its inevitable results, 
the full citizenship of the emancipated, as a necessary incident and consequence
of the war, to be asserted and maintained as rapidly as public policy would 
allow, but not to be pressed so as to jeopard the main issue - the preservation
of the Union. In that respect he was in cordial sympathy with President Lincoln.
   Mr. Sherman was re-elected to the Senate in 1866 and in 1872. His present
term expires in 1879. If he survives his term, this will make a period of 
consecutive service in Congress of twenty-four years. There is not a legislative
body on this globe which contains a larger proportion of truly noble men, -
men of the present character and the most exalted attainments, - than the
Senate of the United States. But among them all there is no name which is now
pronounced, or probably ever will be pronounced, with more veneration than
that of John Sherman.


			Chief Justice Waite.

   Morrison Remick Waite wsa born in Lyme, Connecticut, on the 29th of Nov.,
1816. His father, Henry Matson Waite, occupied the distinguished post of 
Chief Justice of Connecticut. With such parentage, his early advantages of
education were of a high order.
   In the year 1837 he graduated at Yale College. He commended the study of
law in his father's office. Intending to make the West his home, he closed
his studies in Maumee City, in the extreme northwestern portion of Ohio. Here
he entered upon the practice of law in partnership with Mr. Samuel M. Young.
In 1850 the firm removed to the flourishing City of Toledo, where soon after
Mr. Waite entered into partnership with a younger brother, which has continued
to the present time, 1874. The following discriminating sketch of his
character is abbreviated from an article in Zion's Herald, written by one who
had taken great pains to obtan accurate information respecting his character
and career:
   Mr. Waite has quietly and unostentatiously pursued his professional labors,
growing in influence and power both as a lawyer and as a citizen. He has been
generally regarded in the law circles of Ohio for some years as the leading
counselor and advocate in the northwestern part of that state, and as one of
the ablest lawyers in that section of the Union. His practice has been very
large and lucrative, and has brought with it an ample and honestly-acquired
fortune. He has steadily refused to embark in any of the numerous speculative
enterprises of recent years, no matter how alluring they might be, which have
generally resulted in enriching a few men at the expense of the many.
   He is a man of kind heart and genial manner, of fine social qualities and
reasonably free in the dispensation of his bounties. He has not only kept 
himself free from personal and social vices, but he is also a man of religious
principles and associations.
   It is conceded by all who know him that he is a man of strict probity and
integrity of character, of decided convictions, and of courteous and conciliatory
manners. It is also conceded that he is a man of strong and solid abilities, 
and of more than average acquirements as compared with other members of the 
legal profession in the class to which he belongs. It it, moreover, claimed
by branches of the law, and that he is a constant and thorough student. It is
also stated by one who has opportunities of ascertaining the facts of the 
case, that Judge Waite is well informed in history, literature, philosophy,
and the sciences, and that he is a close student of the social, political,
and financial questions of the day.
   In politics he was a Whig until the formation of the present Republican
party, with which he was uniformly voted. At the same time he is quite free
from mere partisan feelings. He has never held any political office, excepting
as a member of the State Legislature in the years 1849 and 1850, although
often urged to permit the use of his name as a candidate for the Federal
Legislature and for other offices. In 1862 he consented, at the request of a
large and influential portion of his party, to run for Congress against James
M. Ashley, the regular nominee of his party in his district. The votes cast
were nearly equally divided between the two Republican and the one Democratic
candidates - Mr. Waite receiving in Toledo 2,500 votes, which was 1,500 in 
excess of the usual vote of his party in that city. It has always been claimed
that he was defeated by dishonorable means on the part of Ashley's friends.
   Mr. Waite has several times received the tender of a seat on the bench of
the Supreme Court of Ohio, but he has preferred hitherto to remain at the
bar. His popularity, gained by the qualities of mind and habits of life which
he has illustrated among his acquaintances, is shown not only by the number
of votes he received in his canvass for Congress, but in his election by the
unanimous votes of the electors of Toledo as a member of the late Constitutional
Convention of Ohio, and of which he was the President.
   As is generally known, Mr. Waite was appointed in 1871 one of the counsel
to prepare the case of the United States and present the same before the 
Court of Arbitration at Geneva, as provided for in the Treaty of Washington.
   It is undoubtedly true that the chief burden of the case, on the part of 
the United States, fell upon Mr. Cushing; but if any one will take pains to 
examine the reports of the case, and of the arguments as recently published
by the Appletons, as well as those arguments submitted orally as those
submitted in writing, and make inquiries of persons qualified to give an 
opinion, he will be satisfied that Mr. Waite contributed very materially to
the success of the case of the United States, and to the peaceful settlement
of long outstanding and bitterly contested questions of the greatest moment.
   Among his associates Judge Waite has the reputation of possessing a 
vigorous intellect, which readily grasps the facts and law of a case. He has
a sound and well-balanced judgment, and a large share of practical common
sense. He is blessed with robust health, is industrious in his habits, and 
possesses an equable temper. These qualities will find ample scope and play
in his new sphere. There is additional ground for satisfaction in believing
that as his appointment to the Chief Justiceship was not prompted by motives
of the party, or political policy, he entered his office untrammeled by 
close political alliances, and free from the biases and prejudices engendered
and fostered by party split and party contests.
   Judge Waite was married to Miss Amelia C. Warner, of Lyme, Conn., September
21, 1840, and they have a family of four children living, one having died
in infancy.
   It is a trite saying that no man is responsible for his ancestors. Is it
not quite as true that to a great extent a man's ancestors are responsible 
for him? It is true that, save in exceptional instances, we estimate men by
the rank, age, wealth, or influence of their families; by what may be called
the incidents of their birth and condition in life. The only true tests of
character and merit are, however, to be found in the man himself - in what
he does and says and is. Nevertheless, the inquiry in regard to any one who
comes to the front, and assumes the discharge of important public trusts - 
what are the traits and qualities which he may be justly said to have inherited
from his fathers - is not an unworthy or unprofitable one. Let us briefly
interrogate the records in regard to Judge Waite's ancestors.
   Thus it may be seen that our new Chief Justice comes of good stock. "Blood
is thicker than water," and good blook is better than bad. It will be seen, 
also, that he has inherited an instinct for the profession of the law, and
for judicial and administrative functions. This is certain, that he has never
failed in any position he has taken, and it may reasonably be expected that
with experience he will fill the office of Chief Justice with credit to
himself and to the satisfaction of the people.


			General William Tecumseh Sherman

   Our deplorable civil war developed no higher military ability, in any
officer, than that displayed by General William Tecumseh Sherman. It is
probably that it will be the decision of military critics, capable of forming
an intelligent opinion, that the most brillian campaign of the war, that 
which exhibited the highest qualities of intellectual power, of statesmanship
and of strategy was the wonderful march from Atlanta to the sea. Phycical
courage is a very common-place quality. There was never a more gallant soldier
to head a charge then the unintellectual Murat. But in General Sherman's
campaign there were developed truly Napoleonic powers, qualities which would
adore the highest positions in civil as well as military life. A sketch of his
life ought not therefore to be omitted in the historical annals of Ohio.
   William Tecumseh Sherman was an elder brother of Ohio's illustrious senator, 
John Sherman. He was born at Lancaster, Ohio, on the 8th of February, 1820.
When but nine years of age his father, a man of much distinction, and one of
the Judges of the Supreme Court, died. The widowed mother was left with
eleven young children, and with but little property. The father justly admired
the character of the renowned Indian Chieftain Tecumseh and attached his name
to the new-born infant.
   The Shermans were held in highest respect. The members of the bar knowing
how light must be the purse left with Mrs. Sherman decided to educate some 
of the children of their beloved and reveled brother in the legal profession.
   Hon. Thomas Ewing, then in the prime of his powers, after some inquiries
selected William as the child of his adoption. For seven years the bright
and energetic boy was kept in school at Lancaster. His frank, generous, amiable
disposition won the love of all who knew him.
   When seventeen years of age Mr. Ewing secured a cadetship at West Point
for his young protege'. In June 1836, William entered that renowned military
school, and remained there, with but one furlough of two months, until his
graduation in 1840. He stood as sixth as his class, and entered the artillery
corps. A strong attachment had very naturally arisen between William T. Sherman
and Miss Ellen, a daughter of Mr. Ewing. A lively correspondence was kept up
between the two, during their years of separation. Many portions of this
correspondence have been published. His tastes inclined him very strongly to
a military life. Just before his graduation he wrote to Miss Ewing:
   "The nearer we come to graduation day, the higher opinion I conceive of 
the duties and life of an officer of the United States army, and the more
confirmed is the wish of spending my life in the service of my country."
   In some respect the campaign, which resulted in the election of General
Harrison, digusted his friends and must have disgusted the general himself.
The intelligent voters of the United States were called upon to place in the
presidential chair a man, really of high merit and noble qualifications for 
the office, upon the ground that the leather string of his door-latch was
always out and that he could give his guests a drink of hard cider. The innate
good sense of young Sherman led him to despise such arguments. He wrote to
Miss Ewing:
   "You no doubt are certain that General Harrison will be our next president.
I do not think that there is the least hope of such a change, since his
friends have thought proper to envelope his name with log cabins, gingerbread, 
hard cider and such humbugging, the sole object of which is plainly to deceive
and mislead his ignorant and prejudiced through honest fellow citizens, whilst
his qualifications, his honesty, his merit and services are merely alluded to."
   He had at that age the usual qualities of a frank, impetuous, and very
decided young man. He was at the farthest remove from what was called a 
"lady's man." The frivolities of fashionable life had no charms for him. He
loved solitude, books, and earnest employments, which would task his energies.
Most of the young graduates at West Point dreaded exceedingly banishment to
a military post, far away in the wilderness, where wolves and panthers 
roamed, and Indians still more wild. But the poetic nature of young Sherman 
craved adventures in the midst of those solitudes. Just before graduating, 
he wrote a friend:
   "I propose and intend to go into the infantry, be stationed in the Far 
West, out of the reach of what is termed civilization, and there remain as
long as possible."
   He was appointed first lieutenant, and was sent to Florida, mostly on
garrison duty, though he participated in several expeditions against the
Indians. It was a weary life one was compelled to lead in that frontier post, 
where every fiber of the body seemed enervated by the sultry clime. There 
were but few books to be had, and they were soon exhausted. Vigorous study
seemed impossible. Lieutenant Sherman endeavored to beguile the hours by
surrounding himself with pets. A soldier who can find joy in "tending 
innumerable chickens, tame pigeons, white rabbits, a little fawn, crows, a 
crane, and a full blooded Indian pony," must have a warm heart.
   In 1842 Lietenant Sherman was removed, with his company, to Fort Morgan, 
at the entrance to Mobile Bay, and soon after was transferred to Fort
Mouldrie, in Charleston harbor. Here he could not resist the hospitality of 
the Charlestonians; and though his choice amusements were hunting and 
fishing, he passed many agreeable hours in cultivated social circles, which
his presence ever adorned.
   He was next appointed on a board of officers to examine the claims of
Georgia and Alabama, for horses furnished the army in the Seminole war. He 
availed himself of this opportunity to study, with the utmost diligence, the
face of the country in a military point of view. Little did he then imagine
that he was to lend an army through those wide-spread territories, and that
the information he was then so carefully storing up, of the topography and
resources of the South, would prove of inestimable practical advantage to 
him in the course of a few years.
   We see this same remarkable development of character upon his return to
Fort Moultrie. There is, in this respect, much in General Sherman's career
which reminds the student of history of the intellectual activity of Napolean
I. He wrote from Fort Moultrie:
   "Since my return I have not been running about in the city or the island
as heretofore, but have endeavored to interest myself in Blackstone. I have
read all four volumes; Starkie on Evidence, and other books, semi-legal
and semi-historical. I would be obliged if you would give me a list of such
books as you were required to read, not including your local or state law. I
intend to read the second and third volumes of Blackstone again; also Kent's
Commentaries, which seems, as far as I am capable of judging, to be the basis
of the common law practice.
   "This course of study I have adopted from feeling the want of it in the
duties to which I was lately assigned. I have no idea of making the law a
profession. But as an officer of the army, it is my duty and interest to be 
prepared for any situation that fortune or luck may offer. It is for this 
alone I prepare, and not for professsional practice."
   After serving a short time at the Augusta arsenal, and attending a 
court-martial at Wilmington, when the Mexican war broke out he was sent to
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on recruiting service. Soon we find him on 
ship-board, sailing around Cape Horn, for California. There he became 
aid-de-camp to General Persifer F. Smith, and assistant adjutant-general to
Stephen W. Kearney. These duties he discharged so faithfully as to secure the
warm commendation of his superior officers.
   In the year 1850 he returned to the States, and was married to Miss Ewing, 
at the residence of her father. These happy nuptual were graced by the presence
of Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and Zachary Taylor. Soon after his marriage
he was breveted captain for meritorious services, and was sent first to
Missouri and then to New Orleans.
   There can be hardly any employment more wearisome to an energetic young
man than garrison duty in time of peace. The pay is small, and the daily
routine exceedingly irksome. Promotion was very slow. Captain Sherman had now
been thirteen years in the army. Acting for a time as commisary, he had been
thrown among business men. The practical abilities he had displayed induced
some wealthy gentlemen of St. Louis, who wished to establish a banking house
at San Francisco, to offer him the position of manager.
   He resigned his commission in the army, and at the close of the year 1853, 
repaired to the Pacific coast, doubtless intending to make that his residence
for the remainder of his life. But man proposes; God disposes. In this new
sphere of business he gained the respect of the whole community, and established
a character of unswerving integrity. For five years he devoted himself to his 
banking duties, and in 1857 removed to New York, where he again established
himself as a banker.
   His family connections were numerous and influential. Some of the 
brothers-in-law had established themselves in Kansas. Captain Sherman yielding
to their solicitations, repaired to this new and thriving realm, where he
opened a law office, for which duties his previous studies had well prepared
him. His brother Ewings were his law partners, and they divided the labors
of the office between them. The firm attained much eminence, and exerted a 
powerful influence in moulding the destinies of the state.
   The practice of law in a frontier town, with all its petty and painful
details, was not congenial labor for so impetuous and enterprising a spirit
as General Sherman possessed. Louisiana was then establishing a military
academy. Captain Sherman had spent many years in the South. He was well 
known, and his superior abilities were recognized. He was offered the position
of superintendent, with an annual salary of five thousand dollars. A better
choice probably could not have been made.
   In 1859 he entered upon these new duties. The spirit of rebellion was 
beginning to manifest itself with ever-increasing strength. Captain Sherman
was found to be so very efficient and successful in conducting the affairs
of the new institution, that the utmost efforts were made to win his adhesion
to the cause of secession. His invariable reply was:
   "It is the duty of the soldier to fight for, never against, the flag to
which he has sworn allegiance."
   Events moved rapidly. Treason and secession grew rampant. When it became
manifest that Louisiana would join in the atrocious rebellion, Captain
Sherman wrote the following noble letter to the governor:
   "Sir:-As I occupy a quasi military position under this state, I deem it
proper to acquaint you that I accepted such a position when Louisiana was a
state in the Union, and when the motto of the seminary, inserted in marble
over the door, was:
   "'By the liberality of the General Government of the United States. The
Union; Esto Perpetua, let it be perpetual.'
   "Recent events foreshadow a great change, and it becomes all men to choose.
If Louisiana withdraws from the Federal Union, I prefer to maintain my 
allegiance to the old Constitution as long as a fragment of it survives; and
my longer stay here would be wrong in every sense of the word. I beg you to
take immediate steps to relieve me as superintendent the moment the state
determines to secede; for on no earthly account will I do any act, or think
any thought, hostile to or in defiance of the old Government of the United
States."
   Captain Sherman returned to St. Louis. Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated
President. Hon. John Sherman, the younger brother of Captain Sherman, was in
the Senate of the United States. Captain Sherman hastened to Washington. He
knew the South and its resources. He knew the maniacal fury with which the
southerners had drawn the sword, and that they would not sheathe it until
they were compelled to do so by the most direful of war's energies. He did
everything in his power to rouse the Government to a conviction of the
terrible struggle upon which it had entered.
   His warnings, then deemed extravagant, have since proved to be dictated by
sober judgment. The North and the South were alike deceived. The southerners
thought the northerners all cowards, became they despised street brawls and 
eschewed the duel. They imagined that a few chivalric southrons would chase
northern armies as lions pursued the sheep.
   The northerners supposed that the South could make but a feeble fight;
that, alarmed by the menaces of a servile insurrection, they would soon throw
down their arms and cry for mercy. This was almost the invariable opinion of
intelligent men in the North. Captain Sherman happened to know better. As he 
was urging upon President Lincoln the necessity for the most prompt and 
vigorous measures, that sagacious man replied:
   "We shall not need many men like you, Captain Sherman, to bring this
conflict to an end. The affair will soon blow over."
   A call was issued for seventy-five thousand volunteers to serve for three
months. The announcement of this measure to the Secession Congress at
Montgomery created roars of laughter. Captain Sherman exclaimed, in sober
sadness:
   "What folly! You are sleeping on a volcano. You need to organize the whole
military power of the North for this desparate struggle. You do not understand
this people. Why, if we should have a reverse beyond the Potomac, the very
women of Washington would cut the throats of our wounded soldiers with their
case-knives."
   He was deemed insane. The fact was that he was almost the only sane man
in the nation. We were the insane ones, who imagined that seventy-five
thousand volunteers would close the war in a three months' campaign. Though
not a little disheartened by the languid movements, he accepted a commission
as Colonel of the Thirteenth Regular Infantry. Well instructed military officers
were then greatly needed to organize the shapeless masses of the infantry.
Colonel Sherman reported to General Scott, and was intrusted with the command
of a fort near Washington. His regiment was called into action in the disastrous
defeat at Bull Run. In this dreadful panic his regiment, notwithstanding the
coolness and efforts of its commander, was swept away in extreme confusion
by the surging billows of the fugitives.
   General Robert Anderson was placed in command of the Department of Kentucky.
He knew Colonel Sherman, and, appreciating his high military abilities, 
asked that he might serve under him. As General Anderson in consequence of
ill health retired, Colonel Sherman by seniority was placed in supreme 
sacrificed by an injudicious movement. Modestly the young general remonstrated
against assuming responsibilities so immense. He entreated General Anderson
and the President not to place him in so conspicuous a position. At the same
time he expressed his readiness to enter upon any perils and any severity of
labor. 
   It was then generally supposed that an army of ten or twelve thousand men
was amply sufficient to hold Kentucky in check. The state contained a population
of over a million. Two hundred thousand were able-bodied men. They were mostly
violent secessionists, and skilled in the use of a rifle. The adjoining
Confederate States of Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas could pour in many
thousands at a few days' warning, to aid their rebel brethren in Kentucky.
General Sherman saw all this with clear vision.
   The Secretary of War visited Louisville. "How many men," he inquired, "does
your department need?"
   "Sixty thousand," was the prompt reply, "to drive the enemy out of Kentucky,
and two hundred thousand to finish the war in this section."
   Again he was deemed insane. But when a few months afterward a million and
a half of men marshaled under the stars and stripes, all candid men were 
ready to admit that there was at least some method in General Sherman's madness.
   It must indeed have been distressing to General Sherman to accept a
command with the full assurance that he had by no means the requisite force
to meet its responsibilities. The War Department, surprised at the large
demand of the general, relieved him of his command and sent him to Benton
Barracks, in Missouri, to drill recruits.
   But such ability and energy as General Sherman possessed could not be
repressed. When General Grant moved upon Fort Donelson, General Sherman was
stationed at Paducah to forward supplies. When the expedition was sent up
the Tennesse, General Sherman was placed in command of one of the divisions.
Here his military abilities shone with great luster and gave him daily
increasing reputation.
   When General Grant assumed the command in the place of General Smith, he
found General Sherman, his former companion at West Point, in the advance
at the unaccountable and fatal encampment at Pittsburgh Landing. We have no
space here to describe this sanguinary and awful conduct. Whoever was
accountable for the faults displayed on that occasion, it is generally admitted
that his coolness and courage did much to check the panic and retrieve the
distress of that melancholy day. He had three horses shot under him, and was
wounded in the hand. General Halleck, who was by no means accustomed to use
the language of unmerited panegyric, wrote:
   "General Sherman saved the fortures of the day on the 6th, and contributed
largely to the glorious victory of the 7th."
   General Halleck now assumed the command, exercising caution even exceeding
the rashness which had previously been displayed. General Sherman was assigned
to the most important positions. Twice he met the enemy with an admirable
disposition of his forces, and his victory was complete.
   After the evacuation of Corinth, General Sherman was ordered westward to
Memphis. Irritated by the conduct of the secessionists in that region, who
were perpetuating nameless guerilla outrages, firing murderously upon passing
steamboats, and as spies keeping the enemy informed of every movement, he
issued orders, as he set out on his march towards Vicksburg, which have been
denounced as unnecessarily severe. Perhaps they were so. Perhaps a more 
thorough acquaintance with the annoyances the general had encountered in the
very heart of the rebellion, from both men and women, whose malignaty knew
no bounds, would be in some degree modify that opinion.
   General Sherman reached Vicksburg on Christmas eve, at the head of
forty-two thousand men. The record of this eventful siege would require a
volume instead of a few paragraphs which can be alloted to it here. It is
enough to say that the measures won the cordial approval of General Grant. 
In the herculean attempt to burst into the Yazoo through the entanglement of
the bayous. Admiral Porter testified that "no other general could have done
better, or as well as Sherman."
   I would not detract one iota from General Grant's well-earned fame when
we state General Sherman suggested the plan of running the batteries and
marching up from the south, so as to attack the works at Vicksburg in the 
rear. As an honest biographer, I am bound to say that General Sherman did 
not, at that time, enjoy the confidence of the intelligent people of the 
North. Many stories were told, greatly to his disadvantage, representing him
as expressing himself with very undue emphasis as friendly to slavery and 
hostile to emancipation. I have no heart to repeat those stories, to the injury
of one who merits a nation's gratitude. But historical verity compels me to
allude to them. To conceal Grant's movement, it was necessary to make a 
feint against Haines' Bluff, which of course could not be a successful
attack. The magnanamous General Grant said to his friend Sherman:
   "I hate to ask you to do it; because the ferver of the North will accuse
you of being rebellious again."
   The measure was skillfully performed, and the end accomplished. And now
almost every day brought its battle; and General Sherman was continually in
the hottest of the fight. General Grant, in his official report, bore the
most emphatic testimony to the military ability displayed by General Sherman
in his demonstration upon Haines' Bluff, in his subsequent rapid march to 
join the arrey, in his management at Jackson, and in "his almost unequaled
march from Jackson to Bridgeport, and passage of the Black River."
   General Sherman's commanding powers as a soldier secured for him immediate
promotion as brigadier-general in the regular army. Ohio had then one hundred
and twenty-six regiments in the field, which was nominally a force of one
hundred and twenty-six thousand men. But the ravages of the war had been such
that fifty thousand new recruits were wanted to full up those regiments. On
the 11th of October General Sherman left Memphis to march as rapidly as possible
to Chattanooga, to the relief of General Rosecrans.
   The march through the heart of the enemy's country was very difficult. It
was not till the middle of October that Sherman reached Chattanooga. The
great battle was soon fought. To the victory General Sherman contributed an
essential part. Soon after this General Garnt, in reward for his signal services,
was raised to the high dignity of the lieutenant-generalship. Magnanimously
he wrote to his beloved companion in arms:
   "Dear Sherman - I want to express my thanks to you and McPherson as the
men to whom, above all others, I feel indebted for whatever I have had of
success. How far your advice and assistance have been of help to me, you know.
How far your execution of whatever has been given you to do entitles you to
the reward I am receiving you cannot know as well as I."
   In Sherman's reply he said, in words which do alike honor to his intelligence,
his modesty, and his high patriotic principles. "You do yourself injustice
and us too much honor, in assigning to us too large a share of the merits
which have led to your high advancement. You are now Washington's successor, 
and occupy a position of almost dangerous elevation. But if you can continue, 
as heretofore, to be yourself, simple, honest, and unpretending, you will 
enjoy through life the respect and love of friends and the homage of millions
of human beings who will award you a large share in securing to them and 
their descendants a government of law and stability."
   Sherman received the appointment of chief commander of the department 
between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi River. He met Grant at Nashville, 
where, quietly seated at a table with a map before them, in long consultations
they planned the ensuing campaigns. He was now intrusted with independent
command, having a vast force at his disposal. Plans were decided upon which
would task the energies of the highest military genius. The following sketch
of remarks made by Sherman will give the reader some idea of the grandeur of
the plans in contemplation.
   "At a signal given by you Schofield will drop down to Hiawassee and march
on Johnson's right. Thomas, with forty-five thousand men, will move straight
on Johnson wherever he may be, and fight him to the best advantage. McPherson,
with thirty thousand of the best men in America, will cress the Tennessee at
Decatur and feel for Thomas. Should Johnson fall behind the Chattahoochie I
would feign to the right, but pass to the left, and act on Atlanta. This is
about as far ahead as I feel disposed to look."
   The three armies which General Sherman had under his command numbered one
hundred thousand men. General Johnson was, perhaps with the exception of
General Lee, the ablest commander of the Confederacy. Early in April the
renowned campaign of General Sherman to Atlanta, Savannah and Raleigh was
commenced. With sixty thousand men he made a march of over a thousand miles, 
through the heart of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, until his
victorious columns were blended with the trimumphal army of General Grant in
the possession of Richmond, and the hideous rebellion was quelled.
   This wonderful campaign of Sherman was, beyond all question, the most
brilliant achievement of the war. It was brilliant, but it was awful. No tongue
can tell the woes which resulted from that dreadful march. The rebels always
fought from behind carefully prepared ramparts. These formidable works, bristling
with artillery and musketry, the patriot troops were compelled to storm.
Though the rebels were ever beaten, and driven to other intrenchments in the
rear, the Union victories were purchased at a fearful sacrifice of life. Each
death sent a wail of grief to some distant home. In these dreadful battles
the patriots lost on the first forty miles of their march, nearly five thousand
men. The rebels lost perhaps half as many more. Thus the groans, which rose
from the mangled and the dying on these fields of blood, were echoed back
from between eight and nine thousand woe-stricken families. Many children
were made orphans; many maidens lost their lovers; many mothers were 
widowed and doomed to life-long want.
   But onward advanced the impetuous columns of Sherman, sweeping all opposition
before them. In one short battle on the 27th of May, three thousand patriot
soldiers were torn to pieces by the terrible enginery of war, while the rebels, 
behind good breastworks, lost but four hundred and fifty. At length, through
a long series of bloody battles. Atlanta was reached and captured. Seventy-two
days had been occupied in advancing one hundred miles. In one of the battles
before that strongly intrenched city General Sherman struck down five thousand
rebel soldiers while his own loss was but six hundred. But these five thousand
men were our fellow-countrymen, with parents, and many with wives and children, 
whose tears have not yet ceased to flow.
   General Sherman's care of his soldiers and tender regard for the feelings
of his officers won for him the warmest affection of his whole army. He intended
to make Atlanta the base of his infinitely important future operations, which
were kept a profound secret even from his subordinate officers. He deemed it
needful that the whole of Atlanta should be converted into a military fortress,
and that no rebel families should be left there to consume his provisions, 
spy out his plans and communicate them to the enemy. He therefore issued an
order that all the inhabitants should leave the place. Those who professed
to adhere to the Union, were to be carefully transported to the North, within
the Union lines, there to be tenderly fed and housed at the expense of the
government. Those who adhered to the rebellion were ordered to go to the 
south, within the rebel lines, where the Confederate Government was bound to 
take care of them. The Mayor of Atlanta, remonstrating against this order, 
addressed the following pathetic appeal to General Sherman:
   "It involves in the aggregate consequences appalling and heart-rendering.
Many poor women are in the advance state of pregnancy. Others have young
children, and their husbands are either in the army, prisoner or dead. Some
say, 'I have such an one sick at home. Who will wait on them when I am gone?'
Others say, 'What are we to do? We have no houses to go to, and no means to
buy, build or rent any. No parents, relatives or friends to go to.'
   "The country, south of this, is already crowded with refugees, and without
houses to accommodate the people. Many are now starving in churches and other
out buildings. This being so, how is it possible for the people here, mostly
women and children, to find any shelter? How can they live through the Winter
in the woods?"
			Part 2
   

   In General Sherman's reply he said, "I give full credit to your statement
of the distress that will be occasioned, and yet shall not revoke my order, 
simply because my orders are not designed to meet the humanities of the case, 
but to prepare for the future struggles in which millions, yea hundreds of
millions, outside of Atlanta have a deep interest.
   "The use of Atlanta for warlike purposes is inconsistant with its character
as a home for families. You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will.
War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it. And those who brought war on our
country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. You
might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against the terrible
hardships of war.
   "When peace comes, you may call upon me for anything. Then I will share 
with you the last crust, and watch with you to shield your homes and families
against danger from every quarter. Now you must go and take with you the old
and feeble. Feed them and nurse them, and build for them, in more quiet
places, proper habitations to shield them against the weather, until the mad
passions of men cool down, and allow the Union and peace once more to settle
on your old homes of Atlanta."
   "War is cruelty. You cannot refine it." This sentiment was certainly true
in the sense in which General Sherman used it. You cannot throw bomb shells
affectionately, and make cavalry charges in a gentle and loving spirit, and
bombard cities without endangering the limbs of mothers and maidens. It was
not very modest for the Secessionists to call upon our government to protect
the families of those soldiers who were fighting for the destruction of the
Union. It was right for General Sherman to demand that the Confederate
government, which was even then starving tens of thousands of northern 
prisoners of war at Andersonville, to support the families of those men whom
the government had enlisted for the entire overthrow of our nationality.
   We cannot follow General Sherman in his heroic march to Savannah. On the
22d of December, 1865, he telegraphed President Lincoln:
   "I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the City of Savannah, with one
hundred and fifty heavy guns, and plenty of ammunition, and also about 
twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."
   On the 15th of January he recommended his march through South Carolina to
Raleigh, in North Carolina. About the middle of March he entered Raleigh, 
the victor in innumerable battles, and having severely punished and greatly
weakened the enemy, his magnificent campaign was ended. The foe could no
longer oppose him, and he had reached a point from which he held unobstructed
communication with the army of General Grant. On the 12th of April, as these
triumphant columns were approaching Raleigh, the joyful shout ran along the
lines, "Lee has surrendered his whole army to Grant." Sherman issued the 
following order, which was read to the assembled staff officers and commanders
of brigades:
   "The general commanding announces to the army that he has official notice, 
from General Grant, that General Lee surrendered to him his entire army on
the 9th instant, at Appomattox Court House.
   "Glory be to God and our country; and all honor to our comrades in arms
towards whom we are marching. A little more labor, a little more toil on
our part, and the great race is won, and our Government stands regenerated
after its four years of bloody war."
   Two days after this, on the evening of the 14th, General Johnston sent in
a flag of truce, with proposals for surrender. At that time there was great
diversity of opinion, or rather there was no established opinion, respecting
the proper mode of reconstructing the Rebel States, and thus reorganizing
the Union. General Sherman made proposals to Johnston, to be submitted to 
the President, which he supposed to be in accordance with the views of the
Government. He was mistaken. The Government rejected them, and so did the 
nation at large. But no one can doubt the purity of General Sherman's motives, 
in his earnest desire to reunite the North and South in the bounds of a 
lasting peace. General Sherman being informed of the rejection, at Washington, 
of the memorandum of agreement, notified General Johnston of the fact, and
demanded surrender upon the same terms granted to General Lee. Johnston's
condition was hopeless, and the surrender was made.
   The renown of General Sherman was now such that very many urged his claims
as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. When that high office
was conferred upon General Grant, the position of Lieut. General, which he
was thus called upon to vacate was, by universal asset, conferred upon 
General Sherman. From that day to this his popularity has been on the increase,
and some will deny that he merits the gratitude of a nation which he has so
efficiently and faithfully served.