Introductory.

HE last of the great military figures in the strife for the preservation of the American Union passed away with General William Tecumseh Sherman. Death withheld its hand till he grew ripe in years, and came into the full enjoyment of the honors he so hardly won and so richly deserved. The illustrious soldier had time to culti vate the arts of peace, to gauge the nation he had helped to save, and in turn, to be measured by the standards of patriotic citizenship and ennobled manhood.

As soldier or citizen his is a unique figure. It stands out in history as one of a mighty group of generals whom the wars of half a century, and on two continents, called into prominence and crowned with laurels. It stands also as one of that lesser group of martial heroes whom the blandishments of political life and civil occupation could not swerve, and whose later ambitions found their gratification in philosophic contemplation and liberal devotion of matured energy to the ends of enlightened citizenship.

Many, indeed most, of the great leaders of the Union army came into prominence slowly. They were evolutions of their time, survivals, so to speak, of the ordeals which quickly consumed a host of the best favored and most promising. Sherman was a matured man when the echoes of Sumpter startled the nation. He was past forty. He had not distinguished himself as a military cadet at West Point. Hating the desultory life of a recruiting officer, he burned for action and distinction on the fields of Mexico,

but had the misfortune to be consigned to the wastes of Lower California-an enemy's country, but far removed from the roar of cannon and scenes of strife. Dissatisfied with the hum-drum existence of the remote camp, he tasted of the speculative excitement incident to the discovery of gold on the Pacific coast. The taste was bitter. At last he drifted into the tame life of a military professor in a Southern college. Here he subsisted for a brief time, unmarked by the world, unmeasured by events.

Only when the great rebellion burst upon the country did the rolling stone settle. The dissatisfied, unrooted man then found a place and mission. Let it stand to his everlasting credit that, despite his environment, he obeyed the spirit of loyalty, and threw his future in with that of his country. He understood the situation from the very firstunderstood better than most men of his time, so well indeed as to invite derision for his counsels, and subject himself to the charge of illusory statements and unbalanced judgment. Piqued at this, yet firm in his conviction, and thoroughly fixed in his devotion, he practically devoted himself, and fell in with the fortunes of one who seemed to grasp the Western situation, and who awakened the country with the capture of Fort Donaldson. The genius which proved too commanding to escape question, was yet not too proud to co-operate with that of another, on the lines which both sanctioned. The man, the officer, sunk himself in his cause. Duty was paramount to distinction. Shiloh must be fought, Memphis must fall, the Yazoo must be threaded, Vicksburg must surrender, the grand march must be made to Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge must close a two years' chapter of blood, before the discredited genius of the Cumberland Army, or the insane commander at Paducah, comes out into the clear sunlight of distinction,

and stands "right face" with the great chieftains of his time.

In all places, thus far, Sherman had proven true; at all points, able. He had been brave where others shrank; prompt, where others dallied; obedient, where others murmured. He could grasp and endure; organize and effect. Time and service had come to his vindication. Plan and victory had established his genius. Grant trusted him implicitly. Lincoln and the authorities looked to him as the one best fitted to shape and fight the future campaigns of the West, and to co-operate with the armies of the Potomac and the East. The soldiers grew to love him, and they fought with confidence under his lead. The nation sounded his praise, and looked for victory where he floated the flag of his battalions and raised his voice in command.

Under these auspices he launched his greatest campaign, a campaign largely of his own creation, and for which he was to be wholly responsible, and, therefore, one in which he was rightfully independent as to details. It was boldly conceived and admirably executed. It lasted for a year, and was unmarred by defeat or unsullied by retreat. It was a campaign in which fully 60,000 men were to be kept active, in which innumerable obstacles were to be surmounted, in which a powerful enemy had ever to be faced, and in which long lines of supplies had to be maintained and new bases of operations constantly formed. By and by, as theories invited and results warranted, it was to be a campaign of daslı and sweep, a grand rush through an enemy's country, a daring effort to reach a distant coast in the rear of hostile lines. And further it was to be a campaign of co-operation, a union of the Western and Eastern armies, whose position and number should effectually prevent either the relief or escape of the confederate forces then hemmed within the Peters

burg lines. The fall of Atlanta, the triumphal "March to the Sea" the invasion of the Carolinas, the surrender of Johnston's army, the consummation of all things as designed and mapped, render this campaign one of the most notable in history. Its results thrilled the entire country. It will never cease to be a study among military men. It gave to Sherman a permanent rank among the world's great generals, and fixed his name forever in the memory of a grateful people.

After victory had become final and the Union of States assured, the conquering army passed in grand review before its generals in Washington. Sherman could not help exclaiming, "It is the most magnificent army in existence." In this just and proud recognition of the organized energies which had saved the country there is also that which contributes glowingly to the characters of those who gave these energies shape and direction. Sherman could see his will in the faces of his veterans, and detect his discipline in their tread. In their magnificent numbers and triumphant air, he could read the story of his perfect vindication, and confidently point to history to note, that he, almost alone, had gauged the magnitude of the struggle from the start, that he was not unwise when he implored an early call for troops in the beginning, that he was not insane when he protested against the small size of the first levies and refused to risk the lives of a handful of new recruits in a country thickly studded with armed men and fortified places. All his predictions had been fulfilled to the letter; every demand he had made for men and supplies had been met thrice over before he was permitted to stand in his place and witness the triumphal procession from the bivouac to the hearthstone.

We associate with Grant the impression of resistless force. with Sheridan the sudden energy that sweeps all barries,

Sherman was the professional and practical soldier. He mapped his campaigns after the manner of Von Moltke. He studied topography, knew roads, mastered the details of a campaign in advance, as no other general did. It was said of him that if the maps of the continent were lost, he could reproduce them county by county. From rifle pit to forti

fication, he knew the art of defence, and no formation, manouvre or march in assault or attack escaped his attention. The reports of his campaign teem with reasons for this or that move, and show on every page his pride in the work of a soldier, who is both made and born.

It was supreme command of the art of war that placed Sherman among the greatest of generals. His retreats were as masterly as his advances. The former, as at Vicksburg, and the latter, as in the Atlanta campaign, are models. His "March to the Sea" added a new chapter to military science, and settled the possibility of invasion with an army as its own base. Many generals fought great battles successfully and executed long and intricate campaigns favorably, but no one combined to the same extent the factors which constituted a military situation and worked a military problem with greater ease and certainty. The difficult operations which led to Atlanta, would have been impossible in the hands of almost any one except Sherman, and they became possible with him only by reason of the care bestowed on their preparation and that quickness of perception and nicety of movement which enabled him to divine the plans of his opponent and to thwart his intentions in time.

It is a pleasure to make history of these things for the benefit of mankind. It is even more of a pleasure to record the fact that this great soldier deepened the love, pride and devotion of his countrymen through twenty-five years of peace. He quit the battle-field crowned with its highest