FORT SHERIDAN.
BY LIEUT. ERNEST VAN D. MURPHY, FT. SHERIDAN, ILL.
In 1888 the United States Government, following its traditional policy in the bestowal of names on its fortifications and the stations of its armed forces, selected and gave to the new military post recently established on the shores of Lake Michigan, the name of “Fort Sheridan,” in commemoration of that illustrious Irish-American soldier, General Philip H. Sheridan, who had, but a few years previously, died while in chief command of the army. Placed as it is, on the high bluffs overlooking the blue waters of our exclusively American Sea, the natural advantages of the site combined with the carefully thought out scheme of construction, to say nothing of the care and interest that has been manifested by the various commanding officers, who have, since its foundation been charged with the carrying out of the designs of the War Department, all combine to make the post, as a whole, a worthy memorial of its gallant namesake.
The French, far back in the colonial period, recognized the importance, to their schemes of trade and colonization, of the control of the great natural channels of communication between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley, and to secure their supremacy established a number of military posts in northern Illinois—Fort St. Joseph on the eastern side of Lake Michigan; Fort Crevecœur and Kaskasia among others. Following the French, the British and afterward the American Governments continued the policy of the French and kept up a number of establishments whose functions were mainly to provide a measure of control over the Indian inhabitants. Fort Dearborn, on the present site of the City of Chicago, was built in 1804 and was kept up until the settling of the country and the consequent removal west of the aborigines made its further maintenance unnecessary.
STEPHEN FARRELLY, ESQ.,
Of New York City.
A Life Member of the Society, and a Member of the Executive Council.
These early posts in the northwest were, as a rule, mere stockades, with such block-houses and angles let into the trace as were necessary to prevent dead spaces and command the ditch. They provided shelter from the rifle fire of that day but were of little value against artillery. So today, Fort Sheridan, the successor of Fort Dearborn, is not, from a military standpoint, a place of even temporary defense, much less a stronghold. The control of the natural and artificial ways of communication between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi, is dependent now, as a century ago, not on heavy ordnance and great fortifications, nor on our naval strength on the lakes, for unfortunately we have none—but depends directly upon such forces of the mobile army as the government may have available at a crisis. Thus it may be seen that Fort Sheridan, as one of the largest stations of the regular army, plays an important part in the subject of the strategical defenses of our northern frontier. Its central location, with the unparalleled railroad facilities of Chicago at hand; the water routes of the lakes and the excellent road system of the northern-central states permit the garrison to be moved rapidly and surely to the points at which its presence, in time of national need may be necessary.
The reservation consists of about 700 acres of grass and woodland, nearly level and but very little cut up ravines. Not being handicapped by the presence of old structures, the barracks, quarters and other buildings built when the post was started present a handsome appearance. They represent the most approved methods of construction of their time and through their simplicity of design and large details they permit of ready and economical maintenance and bid fair to endure for years. During the summer months, from April to November, and in the winter when weather conditions are favorable the garrison, a regiment of Infantry, a squadron of cavalry, a battalion of Field Artillery, and such details of the special arms, the Signal Corps, Hospital Corps, etc., is busy carrying on its training for active service or in providing for its own immediate necessities. For it must be understood the government’s immense plant,—two hundred and odd buildings, five hundred horses and mules, the grounds and the valuable machinery of war must be cared for by the ones who use them. Thus it is that the soldier not only does his own cooking and general housekeeping but works for the general good of the little city in which he lives; grooming horses, driving teams, hauling supplies, or if his capabilities lie in that direction working as carpenter or mason on the buildings of the post. His housekeeping and other work, that in civil life is usually looked out for by his mother or wife, he must, in the army, do to live, after that comes the training in the fighting arts which finally decide wars. The military year is divided into two seasons, the season of practical work, carried out in the open, and the season of theoretical work, carried on indoors and outside as circumstances permit. The theoretical training is carried on usually in the winter but as a matter of fact there is some overlapping.
The pleasant summer weather brings thousands of the residents of Chicago to the post. Lunch basket in hand, they make a peaceful invasion and forget the heat, smoke and soot of their city surroundings as they wander through the clean grass and shady groves. Then, too, the training of the soldier, be he of the cavalry, the “eyes of the service”; the artillery with its scientific leanings; or of the “walk-a-heaps,” as the Indians call the infantry—the backbone of all armies; all present much of interest to the civilian, who, unless he visits their stations rarely sees the regular soldier, save, perhaps as he marches by in some celebration of national importance, or toils, in heavy marching order through the country districts carrying out some manœuvre problem.
Thus it may be seen that the American people, through their representatives, have, in Fort Sheridan, erected and maintained, to the memory of their gallant general, not a cold, dead memorial of stone, but a living, vital monument, a link in the defenses of the nation, and have placed it where his deeds and the work going on under the shadow of his name, serve as an inspiration to the patriotism of the youth of our second city.