While walking over the deserted cabin and yard, I saw in my mind its whilom owner, the guest of peoples and potentates.

Sherman had an extravagant opinion of General Grant’s abilities. “Grant was the one level-headed man among us all,” he said to me one night, down in the basement of his home. Sherman went to the opera because he was fond of music, though he could not sing a note. If he kissed the pretty women behind the scenes sometimes, or more likely in front of the scenes, it was because the pretty women kissed him. I never saw a man so run after by womankind in my life. It was a great honor to have him touch their hands, their lips. Once in Switzerland, when he was leaving Bern on a train, the whole crowd of American women at the depot, old and young, pretty and ugly, children and all, kissed him.

When I was leaving his home at St. Louis, Miss Lizzie said I should have something to remember my visit by. “Then I want something from the little basement,” I said, “there is where I have spent most of my time.” “Papa, why not give him your paper weight.” It was a little bronze bust of General Grant that he had used on his desk for many years. It has been mine since that evening, though I needed nothing to remind me forever of the hours spent far into the night down in the basement of the Sherman home.

In April, I received an interesting letter from him on taxation:

“St. Louis, Mo., April 25, 1886.

“Dear Byers:​--​I have your letter of the 18th, and though I have nothing to tell you, will answer. I understand that your article on the March to the Sea will be in the North American Review for May, and I will look for it. It might have been better had you applied to the Century Magazine, which seems to invite contributions illustrative of the war, though it seems partial to our adversaries. The absence of Mr. Rice in Europe, too, may be one cause of a relaxed interest in such articles as you could supply. J. R. is rather the workman than the editor, and is governed chiefly by the notoriety of the contribution rather than by the merit of the article.

“Hold on to your farm. This removal to the cheaper land of Dakota will not last long, as that is devoid of wood, and cold in the extreme. As soon as the few inviting places west are filled up, the tide will set back to Iowa. But I really do fear now an internal cause of the diminished value of land. Instead of supporting one government as in Europe, we have to support five​--​National, State, County, Township and Municipal​--​each of which expects for its support enough taxes for the whole. We are merely the nominal owners. The aggregate taxes here and with you, I infer, are equal to rent, and the question is: Who owns the farm? I infer the State does, and the nominal owner is merely the tenant at will. This fact, with the labor organizations, may bring about conflicts such as desolated Asia, hundreds, if not thousands of years ago.

“I will be in Chicago Decoration Day, Indianapolis June 2d, San Francisco Aug. 3–6, in Washington Territory and British Columbia till September, when I must come to Rock Island for the annual meeting of the Army of the Tennessee, Sept. 15–16, then for New York.

“Mrs. Sherman will go East about July 1st, and we will all meet in New York about Sept. 20th. I shall expect to see you at Rock Island.

“With best compliments to Mrs. Byers, and best wishes for your health and success.

“Truly your friend,
W. T. Sherman.”

Later, he wrote me his views on newspapers and war books:

“St. Louis, Mo., June 11, 1886.

“Dear Byers:​--​I have your letter of the 8th, and note that you are now in correspondence with two of the best monthlies of the country. I feel assured that you will get along, though the speculation of buying young cattle and feeding them on your own land is a better business. The newspapers of our country have been as the morning mist, absolutely lost or dissipated by the noonday sun. The monthlies may hang on a little longer. And only printed volumes with indexes, collected in libraries, will be accepted as approximate truth.

“Grant’s book will of course survive all time. Mine, Sheridan’s and a few others will be auxiliary, but the great mass of books purporting to give the history of especial corps, regiments and even individuals, will be swept aside, because the world now demands condensation, and probably in fifty years, one hundred pages will be all that the world will allow for the history of the Civil War. Meantime, you can interest and entertain your readers, for which the journals can pay you what you need, money.

“But I would not advise you to attempt any material change of the public judgment, as recorded by Grant. I prefer, when you use any letter of mine, or any of Grant’s to me, that you insist on their being used with your text, not theirs. If you consent to their expurgating any special letter, the editor will use it with his own introduction, to justify himself in some conclusion heretofore published. I have experienced this and could not find fault, as it was explained by the usual motives for human action. I would insist on the publication of your articles as you made them, with literal or immaterial corrections, when convinced of their necessity.

“We are now pretty well packed up, and no doubt we will be ready for breaking up here July 1st, after which my address will be Palace Hotel, San Francisco. Present us all kindly to Mrs. Byers and the boy, and believe me that I shall always feel a personal interest in your welfare.

“Your friend,
W. T. Sherman.”

On Christmas, he sent me this kindly note:

“New York, Dec. 24, 1886.

“Dear Byers:​--​I was very glad to receive your kind letter of the 20th, and assure you of my continued interest and affection, wishing you and yours all earthly happiness.

“The task on which you have entered, ‘Iowa in War Times,’ will afford you full employment for a year and more, and I trust with reasonable profit. Remember that ‘brevity is the soul of wit,’ and condensation is now the true aim of history. Each regiment will expect you to include a diary of its life, but I know you have industry and patience enough to generalize.

“I shall look out for your article in the North American. I was tempted only yesterday by the Century Magazine to furnish an article on that very subject, which I declined in a letter at some length, claiming that my Memoirs were as full as I can reproduce, and preferring that others like yourself should present the facts in a more agreeable form. To ward off other applicants I have consented to the publication of that letter.

“Truly your friend,
W. T. Sherman.”

The General had now given up his beautiful home in St. Louis, and was about to move to New York. It turned out to be, as he hoped it would, his last change of residence. Again he wrote me. It was his last letter to me from St. Louis, and again he touched on the troubles he had had with American newspapers. In fact his experiences with newspaper correspondents during the war had been such as to make him hate the entire fraternity. There were times when he had unceremoniously driven them away from his army, as mischief makers and traitors.