Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet Part 118

"Executive Mansion, February 14, 1891."

The following resolutions were offered in the Senate and unanimously agreed to:

"_Resolved_, That the Senate received with profound sorrow the announcement of the death of William T. Sherman, late general of the armies of the United States.

"_Resolved_, That the Senate renews its acknowledgments of the inestimable services he rendered its country in the day of its extreme trial, laments the great loss the country has sustained, and deeply sympathizes with his family in their bereavement.

"_Resolved_, That the presiding officer is requested to appoint a committee of five Senators to attend the funeral of the late General Sherman.

"_Resolved_, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the family of the deceased."

Eloquent and appropriate speeches were made by Senators Hawley, Manderson, Morgan and Pierce.

In the House of Representatives the message of the President was referred to the committee on military affairs, for appropriate action thereon and the following resolutions were reported by Mr.

McCutcheon and adopted:

"_Resolved_, That the House of Representatives has heard with profound sorrow of the death, at his home in New York City, on the 14th instant, of William Tec.u.mseh Sherman, the last of the generals of the armies of the United States.

"_Resolved_, That we mourn him as the greatest soldier remaining to the republic and the last of that ill.u.s.trious trio of generals who commanded the armies of the United States--Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan--who shed imperishable glory upon American arms, and were the idolized leaders of the Union army.

"_Resolved_, That we hereby record the high appreciation in which the American people hold the character and services of General Sherman, as one of the greatest soldiers of his generation, as one of the grandest patriots that our country has produced, and as a n.o.ble man in the broadest and fullest meaning of the word.

"We mingle our grief with that of the nation, mourning the departure of her great son, and of the survivors of the battle-scarred veterans whom he led to victory and peace. We especially tender our sympathy and condolence to those who are bound to him by the ties of blood and strong personal affection.

"_Resolved_, That the speaker appoint a committee of nine Members of the House to attend the funeral of the late general as representatives of this body.

"_Resolved_, That a copy of these resolution be forwarded by the clerk of the House to the family of General Sherman."

Eloquent tributes were paid to his memory by Messrs. Cutcheon, Grosvenor, Outhwaite, Henderson, Cogswell, Vandever, Wheeler and Williams.

General Sherman had expressed the desire that his body be buried by the side of his wife in a cemetery in St. Louis. In February, 1890, on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, the members of Ransom Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was the first commander, sent him many congratulatory letters and telegrams. In replying to these, among other things he wrote:

"I have again and again been urged to allow my name to be transferred to the roster of some one of the many reputable posts of the Grand Army of the Republic in New York, but my invariable answer has been 'no;' that Ransom Post has stood by me since its beginning and I will stand by it to my end, and then that, in its organized capacity, it will deposit my poor body in Calvary Cemetery alongside my faithful wife and idolized 'soldier boy.' My health continues good, so my comrades of Ransom Post must guard theirs, that they may be able to fulfill this sacred duty imposed by their first commander. G.o.d bless you all."

I vividly recall the impressive scene in the city of New York when his body was started on its long journey. The people of the city, in silence and sadness, filled the sidewalks from 71st to Courtland street, and watched the funeral train, and a countless mult.i.tude in every city, town and hamlet on the long road to St. Louis expressed their sorrow and sympathy. His mortal remains were received with profound respect by the people of that city, among whom he had lived for many years, and there he was buried by the side of his wife and the children who had gone before him.

In February, 1892, I was requested, by the New York Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, to deliver an address commemorative of General Sherman. I did so, on the 6th of April of that year but, as many of the incidents therein mentioned have been already stated, I only add a few paragraphs from its close:

"And here I might end, but there are certain traits and characteristics of General Sherman upon which I can and ought to speak with greater knowledge and confidence than of his military career. He was distinguished, first of all, from his early boyhood, for his love and veneration for, and obedience to, his mother. There never was a time--since his appointment as a cadet, to her death--that he did not insist upon sharing with her his modest pay, and gave to her most respectful homage and duty. It is hardly necessary in this presence to refer to his devotion to his wife, Ellen Ewing Sherman. They were born in neighboring households, reared from childhood in the same family, early attached and pledged to each other, married when he reached the grade of captain, shared in affection and respect the joys and sorrows of life, and paid the last debt to nature within a few months of each other.

"The same affection and care were bestowed upon his children. Many of his comrades will recall the visit of his wife and his son Willie, a lad of thirteen, at his camp on the Big Black, after the surrender of Vicksburg. Poor Willie believed he was a sergeant in the 13th United States Infantry. He sickened and died at Memphis on his way home. No one who reads it but will remember the touching tribute of sorrow his father wrote, a sorrow that was never dimmed, but was often recalled while life lasted.

"General Sherman always paid the most respectful attention to women in every rank and condition of life--the widow and the orphan, the young and the old. While he was often stern and abrupt to men, he was always kind and gentle to women, and he received from them the homage they would pay to a brother. His friends.h.i.+p for Grant I have already alluded to, but it extended in a lesser degree to all his comrades, especially those of West Point. No good soldier in his command feared to approach him to demand justice, and everyone received it if in his power to grant it. He shared with them the hards.h.i.+ps of the march and the camp, and he was content with the same ration given to them. Simple in his habits, easy of approach, considerate of their comfort, he was popular with his soldiers, even while exacting in his discipline. The name of 'Uncle Billy,'

given to him by them, was the highest evidence of their affection.

"He was the most unselfish man I ever knew. He did not seek for high rank, and often expressed doubts of his fitness for high command. He became a warm admirer of Abraham Lincoln as the war progressed, and more than once expressed to him a desire for subordinate duty. He never asked for promotion, but accepted it when given. His letters to me are full of urgent requests for the promotion of officers who rendered distinguished service, but never for his own. When the bill for the retirement of officers at the age of sixty-three was pending, he was excepted from its operation.

He telegraphed me, insisting that no exception should be made in his favor, that General Sheridan should have the promotion and rank of general, which he had fairly earned. This was granted, but Congress with great kindness continued to General Sherman the full pay of a general when he was placed on the retired list.

"In his business relations he was bound by a scrupulous sense of honor and duty. I never knew of him doing anything which the most exacting could say was dishonorable, a violation of duty or right.

I could name many instances of this trait, which I will not, but one or two cases will suffice. When a banker in California, several of his old army friends, especially from the south, trusted him with their savings for investment. He invested their money in good faith in what were considered the very best securities in California, but when Page, Bacon & Co., and nearly every banker in San Francisco, failed in 1855, all securities were dishonored, and many of them became worthless. General Sherman, though not responsible in law or equity for a loss that common prudence could not foresee, yet felt that he was 'in honor' bound to secure from loss those who had confided in him, and used for that purpose all, or nearly all, of his own savings.

"So, in the settlements of his accounts in Louisiana, when he had the entire control of expenditures, he took the utmost care to see that every dollar was accounted for. He resigned on the 18th of January, and waited until the 23rd of February for that purpose.

The same exact accountability was practiced by him in all accounts with the United States. In my personal business relations with him, I found him to be exact and particular to the last degree, insisting always upon paying fully every debt, and his share of every expense. I doubt if any man living can truly say that General Sherman owes him a dollar, while thousands know he was generous in giving in proportion to his means. He had an extreme horror of debt and taxes. He looked upon the heavy taxes now in vogue as in the nature of confiscation, and in some cases sold his land, rapidly rising in value, because the taxes a.s.sessed seemed to him unreasonable.

"While the war lasted, General Sherman was a soldier intent upon putting down what he conceived to be a causeless rebellion. He said that war was barbarism that could not be refined, and the speediest way to end it was to prosecute it with vigor to complete success. When this was done, and the Union was saved, he was for the most liberal terms of conciliation and kindness to the southern people. All enmities were forgotten; his old friends.h.i.+ps were revived. Never since the close of the war have I heard him utter words of bitterness against the enemies he fought, nor of the men in the north who had reviled him.

"To him it was a territorial war; one that could not have been avoided. Its seeds had been planted in the history of the colonies, in the const.i.tution itself, and in the irrepressible conflict between free and slave inst.i.tutions. It was a war by which the south gained, by defeat, enormous benefits, and the north, by success, secured the strength and development of the republic. No patriotic man of either section would willingly restore the old conditions. Its benefits are not confined to the United States, but extend to all the countries of America. Its good influence will be felt by all the nations of the world, by opening to them the hope of free inst.i.tutions. It is one of the great epochs in the march of time, which, as the years go by, will be, by succeeding generations of freemen, cla.s.sed in importance with the discovery of America and our Revolutionary War. It was the good fortune of General Sherman to have been a chief actor in this great drama, and to have lived long enough after its close to have realized and enjoyed the high estimate of his services by his comrades, by his countrymen, and by mankind. To me, his brother, it is a higher pride to know and to say that in all the walks of private life--as a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a soldier, a comrade, or a friend--he was an honorable gentleman, without fear and without reproach."

CHAPTER LIX.

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1890-91 IN OHIO.

Public Discussion of My Probable Re-election to the Senate--My Visit to the Ohio Legislature in April, 1891--Reception at the Lincoln League Club--Address to the Members--Appointed by the Republicans as a Delegate to the State Convention at Columbus--Why My Prepared Speech Was Not Delivered--Attack on Me by the Cincinnati "Enquirer"--Text of the Address Printed in the "State Journal"-- Beginning of a Canva.s.s with Governor Foraker as a Compet.i.tor for the Senators.h.i.+p--Att.i.tude of George c.o.x, a Cincinnati Politician, Towards Me--Attempt to Form a "Farmers' Alliance" or People's Party in Ohio--"Seven Financial Conspiracies"--Mrs. Emery's Pamphlet and My Reply to It.

During the winter of 1890-91 the question of my re-election to the Senate was the subject of newspaper discussion not only in Ohio, but in other states. As a rule the leading newspapers in the eastern states strongly favored my return to the Senate, and much the larger number of Republican papers in Ohio expressed the same desire. In the west, wherever the free coinage of silver was favored, a strong opposition to me was developed. I had not expressed any wish or intention to be a candidate and turned aside any attempt to commit me on the subject. I could quote by the score articles in the public prints of both political parties highly complimentary to me, but most of these turned upon free coinage of silver, which I did not regard as a political issue.

After the adjournment of Congress on the 4th of March the Cincinnati "Enquirer" formally announced, as "upon the a.s.surance of the Senator himself," that I would not again be a candidate for re-election.

The next day that paper repeated that a well-known Sherman man, whose name was not given, said: "Your article is correct. Mr.

Sherman is not, nor will he be again, a candidate for the Senate."

Both declarations were without foundation, and I supposed the intention of the "Enquirer" was to force a contest among Republicans for the nomination. I paid no attention to these publications, but they were the basis of comment in the newspapers in Ohio. The discussion of this question extended to other states, and indicated the desire of a large majority of the papers, east of the Mississippi River, that I be re-elected. I insert an extract from a long article in the Chicago "Inter-Ocean" of the 22nd of March, 1891:

"The most important event looked for in 1892 is that of a successor to John Sherman in Ohio, and already the matter is being discussed, as well it might be, and the interest is by no means confined to that state. John Sherman belongs to the whole country, and it is no reflection upon the usefulness of any other public man to say that his retirement to private life would be the greatest strictly personal loss the nation could now maintain."

I do not care to quote the many kindly opinions expressed of me at that period.

I returned to Ohio early in April on a brief visit to Mansfield, and to pay my respects to the general a.s.sembly, then in session at Columbus. At Mansfield I was met by a correspondent of the "Enquirer"

and answered a mult.i.tude of questions. Among others I was asked if I would respond to the call of the members of the Ohio legislature to meet them at Columbus. I answered: "Yes, I will go to Columbus on Tuesday next, and from there to Was.h.i.+ngton, to return here with my family in May for the summer." He said: "Is there any significance in this Columbus visit?" I answered: "None whatever so far as I know." In leaving he said: "Tell me, did your trip here at this time have any reference to your fences, their building or repair?"

"No," I said, "I came here to build a barn. I am just about to commence it." He bade me good-bye without saying a word about my declining or being elected as Senator.

I went to Columbus on the 7th, arriving late in the evening, but not too late to meet many gentlemen and to give to a correspondent of the "Commercial Gazette" an interview. On the next day, in pursuance of a custom that has existed in Ohio for many years, I, as a Senator elected by the legislature, was expected to make a formal call upon that body when in session, and during my visit to eschew politics. Accompanied by a committee of the senate I called upon Governor Campbell. We were then and had always been personal friends. He accompanied me to the senate, which took a recess, when brief and complimentary addresses were made, and I thanked the senate for the reception. After handshaking and pleasant talk I was escorted to the house of representatives, where the same simple ceremony was observed. I visited the state board of equalization, then engaged in the important duty of equalizing the taxes imposed in the several counties and cities of the state. At their request I expressed my opinion of the system of taxation in existence in Ohio, which I regarded as exceedingly defective by reason of restrictive clauses in the const.i.tution of the state adopted in 1851.

In the evening of this day I was invited to a reception at the Lincoln League club. I insert the report published the next morning in the "State Journal."

"The reception to Senator John Sherman at the Lincoln League club rooms last night was a rousing enthusiastic affair. The rooms were crowded with members of the league and their friends, while most of the state officials, members of the general a.s.sembly and the state board of equalization were present. Several Democrats were conspicuous in the crowd, and all parties, old men and young, vied with each other in doing honor to Ohio's great statesman. During the evening Governor Campbell, accompanied by his daughter, came in to pay his respects to the distinguished guest and was cordially received. He was called upon for a speech and responded briefly in his usual happy vein. He expected to meet with the Republicans this fall again and would a.s.sist at some one's obsequies, but just whose it would be he did not know.

"During the short visit the governor's daughter was the recipient of marked attention, and divided honors with her father in handshaking.

"The feature of the evening was the welcome accorded Senator Sherman and his speech. Everybody was eager to shake hands with him, and for over an hour he was so engaged.

"He was introduced by President Huling in his usual happy manner, and responded feelingly in a short speech, which was received with enthusiasm. Senator Sherman said:

'Gentlemen:--I appear before you to-night, not as a partisan, not as a Republican, although I do not deny my fraternity, nor as a Democrat, but simply as a native son of Ohio. My friend has made a very eloquent speech to you, but I have come to greet you all, to thank you for the support that has been extended to me by the people of Ohio, not only by those of my political faith, but also those who have differed from me. I have often been brought in contact with Democrats whom I cherish as my friends. You all know your honored and venerable statesman, Allen G. Thurman. We differed on political issues, but we never quarreled with each other. When any question affecting the interests or prosperity of Ohio was concerned we were like two brothers aiding each other. When we came to discuss political questions, upon which parties divided, we put on our armor. I knew that if I made the slightest error, he would pick me up and handle me as roughly as anyone else, and he expected the same of me. And so with Mr. Pendleton, who is now dead. I regarded him as one of the most accomplished men I ever met; always kind, always genial, possessing all the attributes of a gentleman. When discussing any question affecting the interest or honor of Ohio there was no difference of opinion between us.

When I met him a short time before his death, at Homburg, I felt that I would not see him again. In politics there ought to be kindness and fairness. Men of adverse opinions may be true friends while they honestly differ on great public questions.

'Now, gentlemen, I think I have said all I ought to say. This is a social meeting and, as I understand it, you came here to greet me as one of your public servants. I wish to express my obligations to the people of Ohio for their generosity and for their long- continued support. I am glad indeed to greet you and give you a good Buckeye greeting. All I can do is to thank you.'"

On the 6th of June I was appointed by the Republicans of Richland county as a delegate to the state convention. In a brief speech to the county convention, I said:

"The next state convention will be a very important one in many respects. In one or two matters the business has already been done.

It has been settled that Major McKinley will be nominated Governor of Ohio, and that he will be elected. Of the balance of the ticket I say nothing. There are so many good men for candidates that we can make no mistake in any of them."