Personal Recollections of Sherman's Campaigns in Georgia and the Carolinas

by George W Pepper

  The orator's voice becomes more melodious, rich and impassioned. Every eye is fixed, and as he paints the wrongs of Ireland, every hand is clenched. As he approached the close of the oration, he became peculiarly animated and eloquent; his unwilling auditors are profoundly interested and with a rapidity of utterance which fixes a reporter like a statue in admiration and defies all attempt at writing, he rose gradually in the distinctness and elevation of his tones, and poured forth a stream of sweet, silvery, classical and patriotic eloquence which riveted every hearer, producing a tremendous effect.

  This was without exception the most powerful effort of eloquence I ever heard in my life. It was supposed that the fire and splendor of his speech would not be suited to the cool headed Scotch-Irish of the North. There is reason to believe that the gifted orator thought so of himself and for a year he resisted all invitations to visit the North. At last he ventured, and like another Caesar, he came, he saw, he conquered. There is combined in him the eloquence of the orator, the acuteness of a schoolman, the profoundness of a philosopher, and the heroic devotion to liberty of a Curtius.

  We well remember Meagher's visit to the North. We sat by his side. He stood up; he began; fact was piled upon fact. In the short space of half an hour distance was annihilated and time forgotten, and the audience found itself surrounded by the oppressors of Ireland," amidst whips, fetters packed juries, leagues, murder, famine and death! The soul of the orator which kindled as he advanced, burned within him, and the flame communicated itself to the whole of the vast assembly. To such as were capable of calm and natural observation the scene was grand, sublime. It was indeed a solemn moment, and the man was made for it. He paused, gave a lightning glance at the atrocities of England, the glorious prospects of Young Ireland and the grandeur of a free government; then concentrating all his energies of thought, and feeling, and voice, exclaimed :

  "Whatever may be the consequences, will spent At the risk of my life and all I hold dear, I will avow that the Government of England is unjust, mean, and contemptuous. If the friends of Ireland will not hear, I will turn and tell it to my God! Nor will I desist, till the greatest of crimes, English domination, is removed. Swear it that the time has come! Swear it that the rule of England is unjust, illegal and a grievance! Swear it, that henceforth, you shall have no law-givers, save the Senate and the Commons of the Kingdom! Swear it, that as you have been the garrison of England for years, from this out you will be the garrison of Ireland! Swear it, that the flag which floats next year from the battlements of Derry shall have the inscription of: Land for the landless, and liberty for six millions of Irishmen.' Swear it, that you shall have another anniversary to celebrate — that another obelisk shall cast its shadow on the Boyne — that hereafter your children, descending to that river may say, ' this is to the memory of our fathers! they were proud of the victory which their grandsires won upon these brooks, but they ambitioned to achieve a victory of their own — their grandsires fought and conquered for a King — our fathers fought and conquered for a Republic — be their memories pious, glorious, and immortal!'"

  Honored Meagher! True patriot! Gallant soldier! Faithful friend! All hail!

  The whole of his career in Ireland subsequently to this, and up to his arrest, was worthy of the man who uttered these immortal words— words compared with which the famous oath of Demosthenes is as nothing, and words more worthy than any we know within the compass of history or eloquence to be placed side by side with those of a great hero, when in the midst of his foes, to their contusion he exclaimed : " I can and will retract nothing, because it is neither safe nor wise to do anything contrary to conscience ! Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise! God help me.”

  The British Government trembled at the gathering storm that, threatened the dismemberment of the Empire. Matters were coming to a climax — Meagher was arrested — the mockery of a trial was given him — his fate was sealed, and he was sentenced to be hung. His bearing during the trial was grand, elevated, and heroic.

  The following speech, delivered in the dock, when asked why sentence of death should not be passed on him, has never been surpassed either for elegance of composition or haughty defiance of the power that was about consigning him to a felon's death. This and Emmet's dying speech stand pre-eminent :

  "My lords," he said,” it is my intention to say a few words only. I desire that the last act of a proceeding which has occupied so much of the public time should be of short duration. Nor have I the indelicate wish to close the dreary ceremony of a State prosecution with a vain display of words. Did I fear that hereafter, when I shall be no more, the country I have tried to derive would think ill of me, I might, indeed, avail myself of this solemn moment to vindicate my sentiments, and my conduct. But I have no such fear. The country will judge of those sentiments and that conduct in a light far different from that in which the jury by which I have been convicted have viewed them; and by the country, the sentence which you, my lords, are about to pronounce, will be remembered only as the severe and solemn attestation of my rectitude and truth. Whatever be the language in which that sentence be spoken, I know that my fate will meet with sympathy and that my memory will be honored. In speaking thus, accuse me not, my lords, of an indecorous presumption. To the efforts I have made in a just and noble cause I ascribe no vain importance, nor do I claim for those efforts any high reward. But it so happens, and it will ever happen so, that 'they who have tried to serve their country, no matter how weak the effort may have been, are sure to receive the thanks and the blessings of its people.

  "With my country, then, I leave my memory — my sentiments — my acts— proudly feeling that they require no vindication from me this day. A jury of my country, it is true, have found me guilty of the crime of which I stood indicted. For this I entertain not the slightest feeling of resentment towards them. Influenced as they must have been by the charge of the Lord Chief Justice, they could have found no other verdict. What of that charge? And strong observations on it, I feel sincerely, would ill befit the solemnity of this scene; but I would earnestly beseech of you, my lord, you, who preside on that bench, when the passions and prejudices of this hour have passed away to appeal to your conscience, and ask of it, was your charge as it ought to have been, impartial and indifferent between the subject and the crown.

  “My lords, you may deem this language unbecoming in me, and perhaps it may seal my fate. But I am here to speak the truth, whatever it nay cost. I am here to regret nothing I have ever done — to retract nothing I have ever said. I am here to crave, with no lying lip, the life I consecrate to the liberty of my country. Far from it; even here — here, where the thief, the libertine, the murderer, have left their footprints in the dust; here, on this spot, where the shadows of death surround me, and from which I see my early grave in an unanointed soil opened to receive me — even here, encircled by these terrors, the hope which has beckoned me to the perilous sea upon which I have been wrecked, still consoles, animates, enraptures me. No, I do not despair of my poor old country, her peace, her liberty, her glory. For that country I can do no more than, bid her hope. To lift this island up-to make her a benefactor to humanity, instead of being the meanest beggar in the world — to restore to her native powers and her ancient constitution — this has been my ambition, and this ambition has been my crime. Judged by the law of England, I know this crime entails the penalty of death; but the history of Ireland explains this crime, and justifies it. Judged by that history, I am no criminal — you (addressing Mr. M'Manus) are no criminal — you, (addressing Mr. Bonohue) are no criminal — I deserve no punishment — we deserve no punishment. Judged by that history, the treason of which I stand convicted loses all its guilt, is sanctified as a duty, will be ennobled as a virtue.

  With these sentiments, my lord, I await the sentence of the court Having done what I felt to be my duty — having spoken what 1 felt to be the truth, as I have done on every other occasion of my short career, I now bid farewell to the country of my
birth, my passion, and my death — the country whose misfortunes aver invoked my sympathies— whose factions I have sought to still — whose intellect I have prompted to a lofty aim — whose freedom has been my fatal dream. I offer to that country, as a proof of the love I bear her, and the sincerity with which I thought, spoke, and struggled for her freedom — the life of a young heart, and with that life, all the t hopes, the honor, the endearments of a happy and honorable home. Pronounce then, my lords, the sentence which the law directs — I am prepared to hear it. I trust I shall be prepared to meet its execution. I hope to be able, with a pure heart and perfect composure, to appear before a higher tribunal — a tribunal where a Judge of infinite goodness, as well as of justice, will preside; and where, my lords, many — many of the judgments of this world will be reversed."

  After this came the convict ship, with all its loathsome associations — wanderings by sea and by land for many a bleak day and weary night — exile and loneliness in the backwoods of Australia — the escape, with its many dark and chequered reverses.

  America had welcomed him to her bosom; he now stood beside her in her hour of need. His pen of light and his burning words fired many a brave heart to uphold the flag of the Union with its best blood.

  His military reputation stands boldly forth from the first Bull Run, through the Peninsula's gloomy campaigns; on Antietam's bloody plains; in that desperate charge on the heights of Fredericksburg; through Chancellorsville, until he sheathed his sword.

  Meet him in sociable moments, he is overflowing with wit and humor of the raciest kind; caustic and cutting against intriguers, speculators and political charlatans, but genial and flowing towards his friends; full of buoyant vivacity, wit, humor and historical lore, there is no more genial, instructive or delightful companion than General Thomas Francis Meagher.

  General Meagher, during the war, delivered a number of grand and impassioned orations in defense of the Union. But, at the risk of choosing a passage which some may think eclipsed by others more rhetorical and brilliant, we will give an extract from his great speech on universal suffrage:

  "Nor should we be less liberal — less just in fact — to our black comrades of the battle-field. By their desperate fidelity to the fortunes of the nation, in many a fierce tempest of the war — 'a fidelity all the more heroic that they fought in chains, and with the devotion of martyrs,' repaid with torrents of generous blood, the proscription and wicked bondage in which, under the Stars and Stripes, they had been for generations held — by their desperate fidelity and splendid soldier ship, such as at Fort Wagner and Port Hudson, gave to their bayonets an irresistible electricity, the black heroes of the Union army, have not only entitled themselves to liberty, but to citizenship, and the Democrat who would deny them the rights for which their wounds and glorified colors so eloquently plead, is unworthy to participate in the greatness of the nation, whose authority these disfranchised soldiers did so much to vindicate."

  Right, brave Meagher! A nobler song of triumph — a more beautiful and thrilling appeal for equal rights to all — verse or prose have not yet concentrated to the great events which have, the past few years made an era in the future history of the world. General Meagher had command for some time of the Etowah district, under Sherman; he formerly served in the -Potomac Army at the head of his splendid division until it was reduced to less than three hundred muskets. General Meagher is now Acting Governor of Montana Territory, where his geniality, executive ability, and shining rhetoric have made him troops of friends.

  Thomas Francis Meagher is in Appearance a splendid specimen of a genuine Celt. He is of medium height— a captivating personnel — florid face, brilliant eyes, flowing with the fires of patriotism. He has a thorough lilesian countenance, large, open, genial, plump, and ruddy. His voice is rich and capable of every modulation. He is not only a scholar, a gentleman, a patriot, a soldier, but an orator of splendid gifts.

  GENERAL SHERMAN.

  When the history of the war will be faithfully written out, and the deeds of daring and heroism of men and armies shall be given to the world, the march from Atlanta to Raleigh will fill a conspicuous page, and the name of W. T. Sherman will go down to coming ages as among the greatest chieftains of modern times. I feel conscious of the difficulty of grasping a theme so vast as the character, career, and moral position of such a man. Sherman is, beyond all doubt one of the class that we designate great men. Every age has its great men — men who stand higher than their fellows, who in the splendor of their genius, the extent of their attainments, the power of their achievements, the depth of their insight, the grandeur and goodness of their sentiments and feelings, stand grandly out from their fellows, distinct and noble amid the scenery and transactions of the world, and who claim almost universal respect.

  Great men, rightly regarded, are demonstrations of the possibilities of our race and age— specimens oi what humanity may become— they exalt our conception of it, and. they supply a great deal of its impulse.

  General Sherman is great as a military captain, the greatest perhaps in the completeness and combination of his military qualities. If he is the Achilles of the camp, he is also the Nestor; his position in either department constitutes him a hero.

  This distinguished soldier is sprung of Puritan lineage. His ancestry runs back to the family of Sherman’s, who in the seventeenth century, gave to the early settlements of New England some of their purest and best names. William Tecumseh Sherman was born at Lancaster, Ohio, February 8th, 1820. His father dying while he was young, he was adopted into the family of the Hon. Thomas Ewing, who secured for him a cadetship at West Point. Nothing of brilliant promise or of great eminence appeared in the early days of our hero — he was remarkable, however, for those habits on which his fame chiefly rests — he grew up like the oak, the emblem of the man, gnarled and knotted, somewhat stunted at first in appearance, and not shooting up rapidly as the willow or poplar, but gradually unfolding, and growing — the oak's slowness, with the oak's tardiness. No precocity of genius, no conceptions of intellect, intimated the mature greatness of the soldier warrior. He was educated and brought up in stern submission and discipline by a mother of no common intellect.

  After graduating at West Point, in 1540, he entered the army as Second Lieutenant in the Third Artillery. His first military services were in the Seminole war in Florida so great was the confidence reposed in him that he was ordered to California on important business; performing it faithfully and efficiently, he was promoted to a Captaincy and appointed Commissary of Subsistence.

  In the disastrous battle of Bull Run, he commanded a brigade, and saved the army from utter ruin by his own personal courage and skill. Generals McDowell and Burnside, in their official reports, make honorable mention of his brave services, and Congress, then in session, confirmed his appointment as Brigadier General. He was soon after assigned to the Department of the Cumberland. At one time he was deemed insane, because, appreciating the magnitude of the work in Kentucky, he said that it would require two hundred thousand men to make a forward movement to the Gulf. With Buckner's army of twenty-five thousand men, with a population hostile, subsequent events confirmed the wisdom and vindicated the calculation of General Sherman. In view of the evil winds that blew upon him through the daily press from one end of the country to the other, Sherman might say with Hamlet:

  “I am but mad, North, Northwest, when the wind is Southerly, I know a hawk from a hand -saw."

  He resigned his commission in 1853, and entered the banking firm of Lucas, Turner & Co., in San Francisco. His position not being congenial to his tastes he left it, to accept the Presidency of the Louisiana Military Academy, which he held until the outbreak of the rebellion. This was Sherman's sch6ol of discipline, and helped greatly to form his character. The closing sentence of his noble and patriotic letter to Governor Moore, resigning the position, furnishes the secret of his subsequent fame: " For on no earthly accost will I do any act, or think any thought, hostile to, o
r in defiance of the old Government of the United States" Like thousands of his countrymen, he regarded the cause of slavery, to a certain extent, as being identified with the safety of the Union and the Constitution. This was a delusion, and the cannon pointed at Fort Sumpter, dispelled the delusion from his mind. Abandoning his fine prospects in the South, he hastened to offer his services to the Government. On the 13th of June, 1861, he was offered, and accepted the Colonelcy of the Thirteenth Infantry of the Regular Army.

  In April 1862, he was put in command of a division in Grant's army, at Pittsburgh Landing. Here he commenced that series of brilliant battles which resulted in those great victories which have made his name immortal. General Rousseau, who witnessed Sherman's handling of troops, said of him: “He gave us our first lesson in the field, in the face of an enemy; and of all men I ever saw, he is the most untiring, vigilant, and patient. He fights by the week." At Shiloh his old legion met him, just as the battle was ended, and at sight of him, placing their hats upon their bayonets, gave him three cheers. He was promoted to Major General, May 1st, 1862, and in the December following was made commander of the Fifteenth Corps. His rapidly succeeding victories, in the siege Vicksburg; at Mission Ridge, at Resaca, at Atlanta — are well known to our readers, and have won for him the admiration and the honor of his country. His triumphant march through Northern Georgia intoxicated the Nation with joy; the people poured upon the victor every demonstration of esteem and gratitude; they knew hardly where.to stop in the prodigality of their rewards and honors.

  Sherman's fame rests chiefly on the Georgia and Carolina campaigns. General Grant took command of the army, just after the terrible battle of Chicamauga, in which, if not defeated, our army had but little to boast of. Grant gave way to Sherman, and Bragg to Johnston, the latter one of the best Generals in the Confederate service. General Johnston had a large army, which he soon disciplined and rendered efficient; and though Sherman flanked him from Dalton into his works around Atlanta, he felt that he had no mean antagonist.