WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN,
GENERAL, U. S. A.
Born February 8, 1820.
Died February 14, 1891.
This coffin was inclosed for the journey to St. Louis in an outer coffin of chestnut wood, brass bound, with a brass plate bearing the same inscription as the inner. The General's body was dressed in the full uniform of his rank.
The following "Special Order No. 5" was issued from the headquarters of the Grand Army of the Republic, at Rutland, Vt.
"Grand Army of the Republic posts on the route of the funeral train of General Sherman from New York to St. Louis will form at their respective railroad stations and salute remains as train passes."
The President and his Cabinet were invited by General Howard to attend the funeral exercises in New York. Committees from both Houses of Congress were appointed to pay their tribute of respect. From the Senate came Messrs. Evarts, Hawley, Manderson, Pierce, Cockrell and Walthall. From the House Speaker Reed appointed Messrs. Cutcheon, Spinola, Cogswell, Cummings, Grosvenor, Kinsey, Tarsney, Henderson, of Illinois, and Outhwaite.
A sorrowful meeting of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion was held on Monday, February 16, at which these resolutions were adopted:
"In common with the entire country we lament the loss of a great military chieftain whose loyal spirit rightly placed the love of country higher than all earthly obligations, and who was individually a distinct and glorious element in the triumphant struggle of that country for its own survival and for the rights of man.
"As once his fellow soldiers we mourn universally for the dead commander, whose great heart made us all his own and made his own virtues seem to us like personal benefactions.
"As members of this Military Order we deplore the loss of a companion whose honors added to the value of those ties which his fellowship helped to endear, and whose frequent and cordial visits to the New York Commandery will be cherished in our memories as so many occasions to be often and affectionately recalled.
"To his children and relatives, to whom his great renown, his honors and his tenderness do but enhance their loss, we tender all that sympathy may, and trust that a place in our regard henceforth may be accepted by them as a little heritage from him."