"It is hard to say. He has given no evidence of uneasiness, except when he called for 'Cump' (P. T. Sherman, his son), on Thursday. It then occurred to me that he wanted to say a last word to the young man. But I may have been mistaken. At any rate, when 'Cump' went to him he was unable to tell him what was on his mind."
The illustrious patient grew weak again at midnight, and at an early hour Saturday morning, February 14, it was known that his death was only a question of a few hours. At four o'clock his family was all summoned to his room and never left it, except for a few minutes, until the end. The alarming attack which seized the patient soon after six o'clock precipitated death. The doctors hurriedly held another consultation, did what they could to relieve his distress and then decided that hope must be abandoned.
The chloroform plasters which had been placed on Sherman's chest, failed to help. The police officers then cleared the sidewalk and streets of all passengers, and people began to wait for the end. At 8.35 o'clock Dr. Janeway left the house, to which he did not again return. His face and his few words told plainly that he had no hope.
About half an hour before the General's death the watchers discerned signs of approaching dissolution. First the old soldier's fingers began to grow cold, then the fatal coldness crept slowly up his arms, and over his body. As the end approached, the General's head, which had been resting on a large pillow, was lowered gradually in the hope that he might be enabled to breathe easier. Although he died from suffocation, caused by the mucus from his inflamed throat filling his lungs, there were no longer indications of suffering on his part. Those who were nearest his head say that they heard a gentle sigh escape his lips and then all was over. It was just 1.50 o'clock when the famous soldier expired. There was no clergyman of any denomination in the house during the day.
Within a minute or two after General Sherman's death one of his men-servants stepped outside of the front door and said: "It is all over."
Kneeling at the bedside, as the soldier's spirit left its earthly tenement, were the General's son, P. T. Sherman, his four daughters, the Misses Rachel and Lizzie Sherman, Mrs. Fitch and Mrs Thackara; his brother, Senator John Sherman; his sons-in-law, Lieutenants Fitch and Thackara; his brother-in-law, General Thomas Ewing; his physician, Dr. Alexander, U. S. A., and his nurse, Miss Elizabeth Price, of the New York Hospital. The other son, the Rev. Thomas E. Sherman, was on the ocean, hastening homeward, but too late. Generals Slocum and Howard were then in the room below.
General Sherman seems to have had a presentiment of his fate some weeks before it actually befell him. One day he said to General C. H. T. Collis, who mentioned Grant's birthday—April 27:
"Oh, well, Collis, I'll be dead and buried before then."
"I tried hard to cheer him," said General Collis, "and pretended to believe he was joking, but he became serious and added after awhile: 'I feel it coming sometimes when I get home from an entertainment or banquet, especially these winter nights. I feel death reaching out for me, as it were. I suppose I'll take cold some night and go to bed, never to get up again.' The words were prophetic."
In accordance with General Sherman's often expressed desire, the body did not lie in state; and the public so respected the grief of the family as not to besiege the house to gaze upon the remains of the hero. General Howard sent over a guard from the army post on Governor's Island, and with General Slocum, by invitation of the family, took charge of the arrangements for the funeral obsequies. The body of the deceased General was placed in a coffin exactly like that in which Mrs. Sherman was buried. The General chose her's himself, and gave express orders that his own should be like it. It was of oak, lined with cream-colored satin, and had silver handles. On a silver plate was the following inscription: