"Late in the summer of 1864, I was relieved from detached service in the west, and ordered to report to the general commanding the military division of the Mississippi. I found General Sherman at Atlanta, seated in the parlor of his headquarters, surrounded by several of his generals, and shall never forget the kindness with which he received me when he heard that I was a stranger in the western army; he said, "Very well; I will retain you on my staff." The expression of gentleness, sympathy, and consideration which accompanied this brief announcement, made an impression upon me which will be fully understood by any officer who has had the fortune to be suddenly ordered to a strange and distant field of duty, where anxiety and embarrassment awaited him. The incident is introduced here because it gives the key-note to a striking feature in the character of General Sherman.
"A striking evidence of his sense of justice and his unselfishness may be seen in his refusal to accept the commission of a major-general in the regular army which was offered him previous to the fall of Atlanta. In his letter declining the honor, he said: 'These positions of so much trust and honor should be held open till the close of the war. They should not be hastily given. Important campaigns are in operation. At the end, let those who prove their capacity in merit be the ones appointed for these high honors.'
"General Sherman's memory is marvellous. The simplest incidents of friendly intercourse, the details of his campaigns, citations of events, dates, names, faces, remain fresh in his mind. A soldier who may have addressed him long years ago in the swamps of Florida; some heroic deed of an officer at Shiloh; a barn or a hill-side in Georgia; a chance expression of your own which you may have forgotten; minutest description of the plan of the campaign; whatever he has seen, heard, or read, he remembers with astonishing accuracy. Napoleon had a similar trait.
"He is also remarkably observant, especially of the conduct and character of the officers of the army. He sees what many persons suppose it is impossible for his eye to reach. In an army of 70,000 men, it might be reasonably imagined that the commanding general is too far removed from the great mass to know or be known by them; but when it is remembered that Sherman has marched during this campaign alternately with one and another corps, it ceases to be a matter of surprise that he is thoroughly acquainted with the character of the different organizations. In truth, nothing escapes that vigilant and piercing eye, from the greatest to the minutest detail of the command.
"General Sherman is sociable in the best sense of the word. When the responsibilities of the hour are cast aside—and he throws them off with the utmost facility—he enters into the spirit of a merry-making with all the zest and appreciation of the jolliest of the party. He has a keen sense of wit and humor; and not unfrequently he is the centre and life of the occasion. He converses freely, yet he is reticent to the last degree, knowing how to keep his own counsel, and never betraying his purpose. He is cautious and often suspicious; yet no man ever accused him of deceit or dishonesty either in word or deed. His unmeasured scorn and contempt are visited upon pretense, new philanthropy, arrogance, self-conceit, or boasting; but he never fails to recognize and pay a hearty tribute to unpretentious merit, courage, capacity, Christian manliness and simplicity. He is not prodigal of promises, but his word once given is [{285}] sacred as holy writ. General Sherman is terribly in earnest in his method of conducting war, but he is neither vindictive nor implacable. He once said to a Methodist preacher in Georgia who had, by voice and example, helped to plunge the nation into war: 'You, sir, and such as you, had the power to resist this mad rebellion; but you chose to strike down the best government ever created, and for no good reason whatsoever. You are suffering the consequence, and have no great reason to complain.'
"Yet there is a depth of tenderness akin to the love of woman behind that face, which is furrowed with the lines of anxiety and care, and those eyes, which dart keen and suspicious glances. Little children cling to the general's knees and nestle in his arms with intuitive faith and affection. During our sojourn in Savannah his headquarters and private room became the play-ground of hosts of little ones, upon whom the door was never closed no matter what business was pending.
"General Sherman's integrity seemed to pervade every trait in his character. His intense dislike of the men who have been interested in the war only to make money out of it, is well known. From the first instant of the rebellion pecuniary considerations were cast aside by the general, and he has given himself wholly to the service of his country. He knows the value of money, but he can say with honorable pride that the atmosphere of integrity and honesty about him withers and destroys the lust of gain. Not even the taint of suspicion in this regard has ever been cast upon him nor upon the officers associated with him.
"In person, General Sherman is nearly six feet in height, with a wiry, muscular, and not ungraceful frame. His age is only forty-seven years, but his face is furrowed with deep lines, indicating care and profound thought. With surprising rapidity, however, these strong lines disappear when he talks with children and women. His eyes are of a dark brown color, and sharp and quick in expression. His forehead is broad and fair, sloping gently at the top of the head, which is covered with thick and light brown hair, closely trimmed. His beard and moustache, of a sandy hue, are also closely cut. His constitution is iron. Exposure to cold, rain, or burning heat seems to produce no effect upon his powers of endurance and strength. Under the most harassing conditions I have never seen him exhibit any symptoms of fatigue. In the field he retires early, but at midnight he may be found pacing in front of his tent, or sitting by the camp fire smoking a cigar. His sleep must be light and unrestful, for the gallopping of a courier's horse down the road instantly wakes him, as well as a voice or a movement in his tent. He falls asleep as easily and as quickly as a little child—by the road-aide, upon the wet ground or the hard floor, or when a battle rages near him. His mien is never clumsy or commonplace; and when mounted upon review he appears in every way the great captain that he is.
"When sounds of musketry or cannonading reach his ears, the general is extremely restless until he has been satisfied as to the origin, location, and probable results of the fight in progress. At such moments he lights a fresh cigar, and smokes while walking to and fro; stopping now and then to listen to the increasing rattle of musketry; then muttering 'Forward,' will mount old 'Sam,' a horribly fast-walking horse, which is as indifferent to shot and shell as his master, and starts off in the direction of the fire.
"One afternoon during the Atlanta campaign the general paid a visit to General Hooker, who had pitched his headquarters in a place almost as much exposed to the fire of the enemy as any that could have been found along the line. The two generals seated themselves comfortably, with their feet planted against the trees, watching the operations immediately in front and in full view of the rebels. Very soon a rebel shell passed them, shrieking overhead, clearing the crockery from the dinner-table with amazing rapidity, and frightening the cook Sambo, who afterward excused himself on the ground that his mate had been killed the night before by one of 'them things.' Another shell quickly followed, demolishing a chair which had just been vacated by an officer. Meanwhile the rifle bullets were singing and 'fiezing' about in a reckless way, chipping the bark from the trees, and cutting their leaves and branches. Still the two generals sat, discussing military questions, with the utmost indifference until the sun went down; while the staff officers, not seeing any fun in the business, carried on their own conversation as companionably as could reasonably be expected in a spot where the protecting trees were five to ten feet apart.
"The general's habits of life are simple. Primitive almost as first principles, his greatest sacrifice will be made when he resigns campaigning for a more civilized life. He has a keen sense of the beauty of nature, and never is happier than when his camp is pitched in some forest of lofty pines, where the wind sings through the tree-tops in melodious measure, and the feet are buried in the soft carpeting of spindles. He is the last one to complain when the table-fare is reduced [{286}] to beef and 'hard tack,' and, in truth, he rather enjoys poverty of food as one of the conditions of a soldier's life. I remember that he apologized to our guest, the secretary of war, one day at Savannah, because certain luxuries, such as canned fruits and jellies, had found their way to his table.
"'This,' he remarked, 'is the consequence of coming into houses and cities. The only place to live, Mr. Secretary, is out of doors in the woods.'
"General Sherman's patriotism is a vital force. He has given himself and all that he has to the national cause. Personal considerations, I am sure, have never influenced him. Doubtless he is ambitious, but it is impossible to discern any selfish or unworthy motive, either in his word or deeds. I do not believe it possible for a man more absolutely to subordinate himself and his personal interests to the great cause than he. His patriotism is as pure as the faith of a child; and, before it, family and social influences are powerless. His relatives are the last persons to receive from his hand preferment or promotion. In answer to the request of one nearly allied to him that he would give his son a position on his staff, the general's reply was curt and unmistakable: 'Let him enter the ranks as a soldier, and carry a musket a few years!'
"In no instance is it possible for the general to favor the advancement of soldiers upon mere political grounds; bravery and capacity are the considerations which weigh with him. When a paper is handed to him for endorsement, accompanied by questions relative to promotion, he leaves the selection of the candidate to army or corps commanders, reserving his own opinion until the proper time.
"He has had as great responsibilities to meet as any man of the age, but there has never yet been an instance when he was not equal to the occasion, even to the acceptance of a new truth. Few men have so harmoniously united common sense and genius as General Sherman."
THE OLD HOUSE BY THE BOYNE. By Mrs. J. Sadlier. 12mo., pp. 375. New York: D. & J. Sadlier & Co. 1865.
Another new story by Mrs. Sadlier! "Why, it is only the other day," the reader will naturally exclaim, "I read one also from her pen." But such is the fact. "The Old House by the Boyne" is, however, her latest production, and well does it sustain her reputation as one of our best living Irish novelists at home or abroad. Mrs. Sadlier is thoroughly Irish in her stories, and her sole object in them all is the elevation and edification of her countrymen and countrywomen on this side the Atlantic. A most praise-worthy object, and one which must in the end bring forth good fruit. The low and the vulgar, which the English novelists, and we are sorry to say some Irish writers also, take particular pains to bring forward as the leading characters in their works, find no place in Mrs. Sadlier's books. All that is good and generous in the Irish character is given its true value, and when necessity compels her to describe the ruffian, she does so in such a manner as to make the reader abhor his actions, and not as other writers have done—make him a sort of a hero, as if his crime was the rule and not the exception.
Her descriptions of Irish manners, customs, and characteristics can always be relied upon as correct, for she has made the Irish character her constant study, and beside, she feels for the miseries and misfortunes of that unfortunate but generous and kind-hearted people.
Mrs. Sadlier has done much for the Catholic literature of America. Her works, original and translated, put together, make a large library in themselves, and every year sees additions to them. We trust she will be spared a good longtime yet, to aid by her prolific pen the good cause in this country.
THE PEEP O' DAY; or, John Doe, and Crohoore of the Billhook. By the O'Hara Family. A new edition, with Introduction and Notes. By Michael Banim, the survivor of "The O'Hara Family." Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4. New York: D. & J. Sadlier. 1865.
These are the first four parts of "The Works of the Brothers Banim," known as "The O'Hara Family," now publishing in numbers by the Sadliers. The Banims were, without an exception, the most powerful Irish novelists of the present century. Their style of writing was altogether different from that of Griffin, who was their superior in describing some phases of Irish life. All through Griffin's writings can be found that deep religious feeling which he never for a moment lost sight of. The Banims, although Catholics, launch [{287}] out more boldly into the world of passion and folly, and give us more dramatic scenes; more of reality than the "gentle Griffin" could possibly allow his pen to write. For this reason we look upon Banim's works as bolder and more vivid pictures of Irish life, as it existed forty years ago, than Griffin's. Griffin's are sounder and safer reading, for no word ever escaped his pen that could not be uttered in any society.
The present editor, Mr. Michael Banim, says in the preface to the first volume "that my brother and myself were joint producers of the stories now about to be republished. This being the case, it will, I trust, be conceded that the editorship has not been intrusted, by the publisher, to unfit hands. It is my intention, as each volume appears, in condensed shape, to state in how far I have been concerned therewith. It is my intention also, as we go on, to append notes here and there. It will be my endeavor to make these notations as little cumbrous as possible, and to throw into them whatever of anecdote or historical reference may appear to me interesting to the reader."
So far the notes are highly interesting. We only wish the publishers had given us the work in volumes, just as it appears in Dublin, instead of in numbers. We do not like to read a story by "piecemeal," hence our objection to the publication of novels in monthly or semi-monthly parts. When the whole is completed and published in bound volumes, these writings will be a valuable addition to our literature.
REMY ST. REMY; or, The Boy in Blue. By Mrs. C. H. Gildersleeve. 12mo., pp. 352. New York: James O'Kane. 1865.