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The tragic death of Lincoln aroused public sentiment to the highest point of resentment. The new President was ostentatious in his demand for vengeance upon the Southern leaders. Stanton was most violent in his cry for the swiftest retribution, and it was in this changed condition of sentiment and of authority that Sherman's terms, accorded to Johnston in obedience to the peaceful purposes of Lincoln, were sent to the government for approval or rejection. Stanton immediately proclaimed the rejection of the terms of surrender in a dispatch given to the public press, in which he denounced Sherman with unmingled ferocity as having acted without authority and surrendered almost every issue for which the war had been fought. So violent was this assault upon Sherman from Stanton that soon after, when Sherman's victorious army was reviewed in Washington by the President and Secretary of War, Sherman refused the proffered hand of Stanton before the multitude. President Johnson subsequently assured Sherman that Stanton's public reflection upon him had not been seen by the President nor any of Stanton's associates of the Cabinet until it had been published. Admiral Porter, who was the remaining witness to the instructions received by Sherman, took down notes immediately after the conference ended, and within a year thereafter he furnished Sherman a statement of what had occurred, in which he fully and broadly sustained Sherman as to Lincoln's instructions. I assume, therefore, that it is true beyond all reasonable dispute that Sherman in his original terms of Johnston's surrender in North Carolina implicitly obeyed the directions of Lincoln, and was therefore not only fully justified in what he did, but would have been false to his trust had he insisted upon any other terms than those he accepted.-A. K. MCCLURE.

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THE fame of General Sheridan has been impressed on the popular memory by his dashing ride from Winchester to retrieve the fortune of a field almost lost. He is therefore generally regarded as a hardriding, hard-fighting soldier, whose constant success and rapid rise to fame were due to personal bravery, aided, per

haps, by exceptional good luck. Yet General Grant, who had the best opportunity of knowing thoroughly his capacity, selected him as his cavalry leader in his campaign against Lee, and bears, in his "Memoirs," emphatic testimony to Sheridan's ability as a general of the highest rank.

Philip Henry Sheridan was the second son of John and Mary Sheridan, humble Irish immigrants, who came to the United States in 1828, and settled at Somerset, in Ohio, in the next year. Here Philip was born, on the 6th of March, 1831. The father was a laborer, who afterwards became a contractor for road-making. The son was a rollicking boy, ever ready for a frolic or a fight, and fond of "playing soldier." About the time of the Mexican war, by favor of the Congressman of his district, he was appointed to the Military Academy

at West Point, and became the room-mate of General Henry W. Slocum, who helped him in his studies. His unfortunate propensity for breaking rules and a fight with a fellow-student, delayed his graduation for a year; but in 1853 he finished his course, being number thirty-four in a class of fifty-two.

His first service was in Texas; but in 1854 he was transferred, with his regiment, the Fourth Infantry, to Oregon, where he spent six years, partly in protecting gold-seekers from the hostility of the Indians. His gallantry in some affairs caused him to be made commander of the Indian Reservation. In this remote post he was occupied for months after the Civil War had broken out in the East, and raised his comrades to the command of regiments and brigades. When he was recalled in September, 1861, he expressed the modest wish that he "might get a captaincy out of the thing."

In course of the winter he realized his wish, being made captain in the Thirteenth Infantry, whose colonel was W. T. Sherman. Sheridan was employed first at St. Louis in auditing claims, and afterwards as quartermaster and commissary on the staff of General S. R. Curtis. When General Halleck took the field, after the battle of Shiloh, he recommended Sheridan to be colonel of the Second Michigan Cavalry. The colonel led his regiment to Booneville, Missouri, and was soon in command of a brigade; and after a brilliant fight, on the 1st of July, was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers. From Missouri the young brigadier went to form a part of Buell's army, in Kentucky; fought at Perryville, and marched to Nashville, where he came under the command of General Rosecrans.

In the desperate battle of Stone River, or Murfreesboro, on the last day of 1862, Sheridan, commanding a division of McCook's corps, bore the brunt of the Confederate Cleburne's attack on the left wing. It had its three brigade commanders killed, and seventy other officers, and nearly half its men killed or wounded. After these severe losses it was obliged to give way, in spite of Sheridan's heroic efforts. Yet his stubborn resistance of the left, with that of Thomas in the centre, enabled Rosecrans to form a new line of battle and finally to compel Bragg to withdraw. Sheridan was rewarded

by being made major-general of volunteers. In Rosecrans' advance, in the following May, Sheridan led the way, and finally reached Chattanooga. In the battle of Chickamauga, on the 19th and 20th of September, Sheridan's division was separated from the rest of the Union army and driven back to Chattanooga, where, with all the rest, he was besieged until relieved by General Grant.

When the new commander undertook to dislodge the enemy from Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, Sheridan was directed to take the line of rifle-pits at the base of the hill; but, seeing that the most effectual way to accomplish the object was to capture the summit, he sent back word that he was going on. The Union troops pierced the Confederate lines, and did not rest until they held the summit. Sheridan's men were the first to cross the crest, and when the whole army of the enemy was compelled to retreat, they pressed their rear-guard till long after dark. Sheridan wished to push on to Chickamauga, but was restrained by his superiors, who afterwards regretted that his suggestion was not taken. Sheridan spent the winter in Tennessee; but in March, 1864, when Grant was called to the command of the armies in the East, he urged upon President Lincoln the need for an energetic leader of cavalry with the Army of the Potomac. "How would Sheridan do?" said Halleck, who was present. "The very man I want," replied Grant.

Sheridan, therefore, on April 4, 1864, took command of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac, and was soon ready to take the field. In the bloody battles of the Wilderness his cavalry covered the front and flanks of the infantry; but he was soon directed by Grant to strike out and sweep around Lee's army and cut his communications. Sheridan moved directly towards Richmond, and after destroying much stores and recapturing Union prisoners, encountered the Confederate cavalryman, J. E. B. Stuart, who had thrown his force in the way at Yellow Tavern. In the severe fight that ensued Stuart was killed, and Sheridan was able to enter the outer defences of Richmond; but not being able to hold them, pushed on to the Chickahominy river, where he was obliged again to fight, and after some peril escaped to the James river

and opened communication with General Butler at Haxall's Landing. Grant, in his "Memoirs," lauds Sheridan's exploits in this raid in the highest terms, declaring that the main army was thereby "freed from annoyances of the cavalry of the enemy for more than two weeks." Sheridan, rejoining Grant, took part in the later battles of the campaign. In June he was sent into the Shenandoah Valley, to assist in bringing General Hunter's army to unite with that of Grant; but, though he inflicted severe damage on the enemy, the main purpose was not effected.

After General Early had in July advanced from Richmond by way of the Shenandoah Valley so as to threaten and almost capture Washington, Grant determined that this inviting highway and harvest-field of the enemy must be cleared so as to prevent such raids in future. For this purpose, in August, he put Sheridan in command of the Middle Military Division, comprising 30,000 men, of whom 8,000 were cavalry. The campaign that ensued was a succession of advances and retreats, with sharp fighting at intervals. The battle of Opequan, on September 14th, was a severe defeat for Early, and it was followed by another at Fisher's Hill, after which Sheridan advanced to Harrisonburg, while his cavalry pushed on to Staunton.

Having driven out the enemy, he proceeded to execute Grant's orders, and destroyed the barns, mills, forage and whatever might be serviceable to troops throughout the valley. When the Union army, thus engaged, was withdrawing, it was followed by the enemy's cavalry, and the camp at Cedar Creek was surprised on the 19th of October before daybreak. The whole Union force was driven back in confusion for some miles. Sheridan had been absent on business in Washington, but had returned as far as Winchester, when he heard reports of cannon. Riding beyond Winchester he encountered men and teams in hurried flight. Dashing onward up the turnpike with an escort of twenty men, he reached his army eleven miles from the town, and was hailed with shouts of joy. He speedily united the corps, formed a compact line, and ordered an advance. The Union army responded with an irresistible onset, and the repulse of the Confederates became a complete

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