THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE 
 
 OF 
 
 LOS 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 CALIFORNIA 
 ANGELES
 
 TRIBUTE 
 
 OP THB 
 
 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 
 
 OP THE 
 
 STATE OF NEW-YORK 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OP 
 
 GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN. 
 
 FEBRUARY 17, 1891. 
 
 NEW- YORK ; 
 PRESS .OF THB CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 
 
 1891.
 
 TRIBUTE 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OT 
 
 GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN. 
 
 To afford the merchants and business men of 
 New- York an opportunity to express, in a public 
 manner, their regard for the memory of General 
 SHERMAN, their sympathy for his bereaved family, 
 and their sense of the loss sustained by the nation 
 of a great soldier, patriot and statesman, a special 
 meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was held 
 Tuesday, February 17th, 1891. 
 
 Mr. CHARLES S. SMITH, President of the Chamber, 
 presided, and said : 
 
 GENTLEMEN : General SHERMAN, the last of the 
 great leaders in our late war, has followed LINCOLN 
 and FARRAGUT, SEWARD and CHASE, GRANT, SHER- 
 IDAN and PORTER to the tomb. 
 
 550261
 
 In the death of SHERMAN this Chamber has not 
 only lost its most conspicuous honorary member, 
 but a friend endeared to us by intimate association, 
 and to whom we are indebted for many kind and 
 considerate acts. It is impossible to appreciate the 
 grandeur of a great mountain peak when standing 
 near its base. And so with the life of a great man. 
 The perspective of time and distance is necessary to 
 determine the exact place which the final judgment 
 of posterity will assign to him. It is absolutely cer- 
 tain that history will write the name of WILLIAM 
 TECUMSEH SHERMAN conspicuously upon the page 
 devoted to those who founded and saved the 
 Republic ; and his memory will be cherished in the 
 hearts of the people as long as patriotic service, 
 unswerving integrity and lovable qualities are ap- 
 preciated among men. 
 
 RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 Mr. J. EDWARD SIMMONS offered the following 
 preamble and resolutions, and moved their adop- 
 tion: 
 
 Whereas, The members of the Chamber of Com- 
 merce but a short time since were called to assemble 
 in the presence of a severe national bereavement to 
 pay their tribute of respect to the character and
 
 noble labors of a distinguished civilian and states- 
 man, having under his care the fiduciary interests of 
 the Republic ; and 
 
 Whereas, To-day, by the dispensation of an all- 
 wise Providence, we meet to pay our tribute of 
 affectionate regard to the memory of a great soldier 
 whose splendid services in the long struggle for the 
 preservation of the Union were as brilliant as they 
 were successful, and whose achievements illustrated 
 the greatness of a soldier who in conquest knew no 
 hate, and in whose magnanimity there was no 
 revenge ; therefore, 
 
 Jtesolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the 
 State of New- York hereby places on record its 
 unanimous sentiment of profound sorrow because of 
 the irreparable bereavement the nation has sustained 
 in the death of our distinguished soldier citizen, 
 General WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 
 
 JResolved, That by the death of General SHERMAN 
 the world has lost one of its greatest military heroes. 
 Pure in heart, of spotless integrity, cool and undis- 
 mayed in danger, he not only won honor and renown 
 from the soldiers of his command, but he invariably 
 inspired them with confidence, friendship and af- 
 fection. He was the soldier of Justice, Right and
 
 6 
 
 Truth, and he has passed from our midst as a bril- 
 liant star pales and vanishes from the morning sky. 
 
 Resolved, That the results achieved by the late 
 war were largely due to the consummate skill, 
 adroit strategy and matchless generalship of WIL- 
 LIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN, and that the people of 
 this Republic are indebted to him for his eminent 
 services in securing to them the inestimable blessings 
 of a united and prosperous country. 
 
 Resolved, That as a public spirited citizen he 
 proved himself to be a capable man of affairs, with 
 a deep interest in many of our local institutions. As 
 an honorary member he has presided over the 
 deliberations of this Chamber, and his genial pres- 
 ence was seldom missed at our annual banquets. 
 Socially he was the peer of those with whom com- 
 panionship had a charm, and illustrated in his inter- 
 course all the qualities of a nobleman in the 
 amenities of life. His home was a haven of repose, 
 and love and gentleness were the angels that minis- 
 tered at his fireside. 
 
 Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce hereby 
 tenders to the family of General SHERMAN the 
 expression of sincere sympathy in the hour of their 
 bereavement.
 
 ADDRESS BY THE HON. CARL SOHURZ. 
 
 GENTLEMEN : The adoption by the Chamber of 
 Commerce of these resolutions which I have the 
 honor to second, is no mere perfunctory proceeding. 
 We have been called here by a genuine impulse of 
 the heart. To us General SHERMAN was not a great 
 man like other great men, honored and revered at a 
 distance. We had the proud and happy privilege 
 of calling him one of us. Only a few months ago, 
 at the annual meeting of this Chamber, we saw the 
 familiar face of our honorary member on this plat- 
 form by the side of our President. Only a few 
 weeks ago he sat at our banquet table, as he had 
 often before, in the happiest mood of conviviality, 
 and contributed to the enjoyment of the night with 
 his always unassuming and always charming speech. 
 And as he moved among us without the slightest 
 pomp of self-conscious historic dignity, only with 
 the warm and simple geniality of his nature, it 
 would cost us sometimes an effort of the memory to 
 recollect that he was the renowned captain who had 
 marshaled mighty armies victoriously on many a 
 battlefield, and whose name stood, and will for ever 
 stand, in the very foremost rank of the saviours of 
 this Republic, and of the great soldiers of the 
 world's history. Indeed, no American could have
 
 8 
 
 forgotten this for a moment; but the affection of 
 those who were so happy as to come near to him, 
 would sometimes struggle to outrun their veneration 
 and gratitude. 
 
 Death has at last conquered the hero of so many 
 campaigns ; our cities and towns and villages are 
 decked with flags at half-mast ; the muffled drum 
 and the funereal cannon-boom will resound over 
 the land as his dead body passes to the final rest- 
 ing place ; and the American people stand mourn- 
 fully gazing into the void left by the sudden dis- 
 appearance of the last of the greatest men brought 
 forth by our war of regeneration, and this last also 
 finally become, save ABRAHAM LINCOLN alone, the 
 most widely beloved. He is gone ; but as we of the 
 present generation remember it, history will tell all 
 coming centuries the romantic story of the famous 
 " March to the Sea," how, in the dark days of 
 1864, SHERMAN, having worked his bloody way to 
 Atlanta, then cast off all his lines of supply and 
 communication, and, like a bold diver into the dark 
 unknown, seemed to vanish with all his hosts from 
 the eyes of the world, until his triumphant re- 
 appearance on the shores of the ocean proclaimed to 
 the anxiously expecting millions, that now the final 
 victory was no longer doubtful, and that the Re- 
 public would surely be saved. 
 
 Nor will history fail to record that this great
 
 9 
 
 general was, as a victorious soldier, a model of 
 republican citizenship. When he had done his 
 illustrious deeds, he rose step by step to the highest 
 rank in the army, and then, grown old, he retired. 
 The Republic made provision for him in modest 
 republican style. He was satisfied. He asked for 
 no higher reward. Although the splendor of his 
 achievements, and the personal affection for him, 
 which every one of his soldiers carried home, made 
 him the most popular American of his day, and 
 although the most glittering prizes were not seldom 
 held up before his eyes, he remained untroubled by 
 ulterior ambition. No thought that the Republic 
 owed him more ever darkened his mind. No man 
 could have spoken to him of the "ingratitude of 
 Republics," without meeting from him a stern 
 rebuke. And so, content with the consciousness of 
 a great duty nobly done, he was happy in the love 
 of his fellow citizens. 
 
 Indeed, he may truly be said to have been in his old 
 age, not only the most beloved, but also the happiest 
 of Americans. Many years he lived in the midst of 
 posterity. His task was finished, and this he wisely 
 understood. His deeds had been passed upon by 
 the judgment of history, and irrevocably registered 
 among the glories of his country and his age. His 
 generous heart envied no one, and wished every 
 one well ; and ill-will had long ceased to pursue him.
 
 10 
 
 Beyond cavil Ms fame was secure, and he enjoyed it 
 as that which he had honestly earned, with a genu- 
 ine and ever fresh delight, openly avowed by the 
 charming frankness of his nature. He dearly loved 
 to be esteemed and cherished by his fellow-men, and 
 what he valued most, his waning years brought him 
 in ever increasing abundance. Thus he was in truth 
 a most happy man, and his days went down like an 
 evening sun in a cloudless autumn sky. And when 
 now the American people, with that peculiar tender- 
 ness of affection which they have long borne him, lay 
 him in his grave, the happy ending of his great life 
 may soothe the pang of bereavement they feel in their 
 hearts at the loss of the old hero who was so dear to 
 them, and of whom they were and always will be so 
 proud. His memory will ever be bright to us all ; 
 his truest monument will be the greatness of the 
 Republic he served so well ; and his fame will never 
 cease to be prized by a grateful country, as one of 
 its most precious possessions.
 
 11 
 
 ADDRESS BY GENERA.L HORACE PORTER. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN : I take a 
 pleasure, mingled with inexpressible grief, in rising 
 to second the very appropriate resolutions submitted 
 in honor of the memory of the last of our pre-eminent 
 military chieftains. While we all share in the 
 general grief of the nation, I know that there are 
 many members of this body upon whom the blow 
 falls individually those who, like myself, have 
 been associated upon terms of intimacy with General 
 SHERMAN, both in war and in peace, and to whom 
 this news come home with a sorrow which is akin to 
 the grief of a personal bereavement. 
 
 By no act of ours can we expect to add one more 
 laurel to his brow. The world has already heaped 
 upon him all its honors. The nation raised him to 
 the highest military rank ; Congress tendered him 
 votes of thanks ; our leading universities vied with 
 each other in conferring upon him their highest 
 degrees ; at home and abroad, clubs and societies 
 made him an honorary member ; innumerable medals 
 have been struck in his honor. We cannot expect 
 to add to his earthly glory. We can only gather 
 together and respectfully testify our esteem for the 
 soldier, our affection for the man. 
 
 While General SHERMAN was a person of marvel-
 
 12 
 
 lous versatility of talent, while lie was a many-sided 
 man, while he possessed rare qualities and had en- 
 joyed a varied experience in most of the useful walks 
 of life, yet his great fame will always rest upon his 
 merits as a soldier. With him the chief character- 
 istics of the soldier seemed unborn. In his very 
 walk, in his very look, there was something which 
 always spoke of the typical soldier ; with his 
 closely-knit brows, his deep, penetrating, restless 
 eyes, his aquiline nose, there was something in his 
 look which savored of the piercing glance of the 
 eagle. In war he was bold in conception, fixed in 
 purpose, and untiring in effort. He was singularly 
 self-reliant, always demonstrated by his acts, that 
 "much danger makes great hearts most resolute." 
 He possessed an intuitive knowledge of topography. 
 He seemed to combine in his own person the patience 
 of a FABIUS with the restlessness of a HOTSPUR. He 
 was fertile in expedients, and quick to adapt the 
 means at hand to the accomplishment of an end. 
 He enjoyed a personal reputation unsullied, of un- 
 impeachable integrity. He had a physique which 
 enabled him to endure all the hardships incident to 
 the most active campaign. It was no wonder that 
 the world placed him in the first rank of the earth's 
 great captains. 
 
 Students of military history, both at home and 
 abroad, have studied his campaigns and made them
 
 13 
 
 their models. They have ranked his work on a 
 level with that of the great masters of military 
 science. 
 
 The popular mind will always be fond of picturing 
 him as a chieftain whose field of military operations 
 covered nearly half a continent ; as a commander 
 whose orders always spoke with the true bluntness 
 of the soldier, as a leader who had penetrated ever- 
 glades and bayous, who had fought from valleys' 
 depths to mountain heights, and marched from 
 inland rivers to the sea. 
 
 He possessed one conspicuous characteristic which 
 I am sure all have noticed, and that was that in all 
 his writings, in all his speeches, he always uttered 
 the loftiest sentiments of patriotism. Tn his ad- 
 dresses to the old and young, he never failed to 
 inculcate in their minds the principle that the 
 highest type of virtue in the citizen or the soldier 
 is a love of country. Who can ever forget the 
 last time we met him in this very Chamber, when 
 he honored us by coming here and delivering that 
 memorable address of welcome to the Pan-American 
 Congress, an address so full of historical incidents, 
 so replete with the loftiest sentiments of patriotism, 
 so expressive of his pride in the progress of the 
 country, and his unalterable faith in its great 
 future. So marvellous was that address, that when 
 he ceased to speak a painful sense of stillness
 
 14 
 
 seemed to fall upon the ear, and the representatives 
 of all the Americas sat spellbound under the charm. 
 His death has caused a gap in this community 
 which time and men can never fill. We thought we 
 had a right to expect, from the elasticity of his step, 
 from the activity of his life, from the possession of all 
 his marvellous faculties, that we might have him here 
 among us and enjoy his companionship for years to 
 come ; but Providence ordered it otherwise, and we 
 can only bow to the decree. We have said our last 
 farewell to the illustrious soldier, the silver cord has 
 been loosed, the golden bowl has been broken, and 
 his spirit has winged its flight from earth ; we shall 
 not meet the great leader again until he stands 
 forth to answer to his name at roll call on the morn- 
 ing of the last great reveille. The laurel on his brow 
 is now intertwined with the cypress, the flag he so 
 often upheld has dropped to half-mast, the echo of 
 his guns has given place to the tolling of cathedral 
 bells, and America finds herself once more standing 
 within the shadow of a profound grief. There is 
 some consolation, some compensation in his death 
 it is the consciousness that the country and the 
 world are better for his having lived therein ; that 
 he has handed down to posterity the richest legacy 
 which man can leave to man the memory of a good 
 name the inheritance of a great example.
 
 15 
 
 ADDRESS BY THE HON. ABEAM S. HEWITT. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT : I came here prepared to listen, 
 not to speak, and after the singularly eloquent and 
 just tributes which have been made to the memory 
 of our departed hero, I feel reluctant to trench upon 
 ground which has been covered by the resolutions 
 and the graceful remarks of the President, Mr. 
 SCHURZ and General PORTER. But it occurs to me 
 that I may with propriety refer to some points in 
 the career of General SHERMAN which shed a new 
 light upon his character and lustre upon his fame. 
 These incidents are known only to me, and it is not 
 inappropriate to make them known to others. We 
 all remember the agitation of the country at the 
 time when the Electoral Commission was passing in 
 1877, upon the disputed succession to the Presidency. 
 General SHERMAN was then at the head of the army. 
 The term of President GRANT was coming to a 
 close ; the electoral count had not been finished, and 
 there was great apprehension on the part of patriotic 
 men that Congress might break up without deciding 
 who had been elected President. The horrors of the 
 Civil War from which we had emerged seemed about 
 to be renewed. 
 
 Profoundly impressed with the dangers of the 
 situation, it occurred to me that I ought to have a
 
 16 
 
 consultation with General SHERMAN, and to ask Mm 
 what would be his course as commanding officer of 
 the army of the United States in case the count 
 should not be completed. We had an interview in 
 which I explained the situation and discussed the 
 dangers which might follow. He coincided with 
 me as to the peril before us, when I asked him what 
 his course would be in case the count should not be 
 finished, and the services of the army might be re- 
 quired to preserve public order. I told him that 
 suggestions had been made that President GRANT, 
 under the circumstances, ought to hold over in 
 order to prevent the chaos which would ensue from 
 a vacancy in the office of President. I asked General 
 SHERMAN whether, under such circumstances, he 
 would obey the orders of President GRANT. He 
 replied : 
 
 "Mr. HEWITT, I have sworn to obey the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States, and I will perform my 
 duty. The term of President GRANT ends at twelve 
 o'clock on the 4th of March. He will then be in no 
 position to give orders to me, and I shall receive no 
 orders from him, but I will take care that the 
 dangers of anarchy shall not be experienced by the 
 country. The people have elected a President, and 
 a competent authority will be found to declare who 
 is elected, and I shall obey the orders of the one who
 
 17 
 
 shall be declared to be President of the United 
 States." 
 
 I replied, "General SHERMAN, the difficulty is 
 that the two Houses may disagree, and there may 
 be no completion of the count. What would you 
 then do?" 
 
 He said, " I trust that the responsibility will not 
 be placed upon me, but if it shall happen that I 
 must elect between the two undoubted candidates 
 for the office, and Congress shall break up without 
 declaring the result in consequence of the failure of 
 the House to do its duty, I shall be constrained to 
 recognize the mandate of the Senate of the United 
 States as decisive of the question." 
 
 I said to him, " General, there is no precedent for 
 such a course, and the Senate will not have the right 
 to decide the question." 
 
 To this he replied : "It must be decided by some- 
 body ; and in the presence of a danger which 
 involves the safety of the Union and the peace and 
 order of the country, the General of the army would 
 be compelled to recognize the underlying principle 
 that the safety of the people is the supreme law." 
 
 I replied : " General, I do not see that you can 
 take any other course, because it would be a fatal 
 precedent if the President should hold over, and it 
 was mainly to get your opinion upon that point that 
 I have sought this interview."
 
 18 
 
 Of course, I knew what his decision meant, and 
 that the candidate, whose election I had advocated, 
 would not be recognized by him as President. I 
 knew also that the country would be saved from 
 civil war. It was the knowledge of this fact that 
 contributed very largely to the completion of the 
 count. Certainly, great gratitude is due to General 
 SHERMAN for his military services, but I think we 
 will all recognize now that his action in a moment of 
 public peril preserved the stability of the country, 
 and entitles him to the highest credit for firmness 
 and patriotism. We not only owe to him the com- 
 pletion of the civil war, and the regeneration of the 
 Republic, but he is entitled to our gratitude for 
 having preserved us from untold calamities which 
 would have followed a conflict between political 
 parties, dividing every family and household in the 
 land. 
 
 One other fact, and I am done. When General 
 SHERMAN was about to be retired from the office of 
 General, in consequence of having reached the statu- 
 tory limitation, which in the army was 62 years, there 
 was a very general desire on the part of the public, 
 concurred in by the members of Congress, to repeal 
 the limitation of the statute in his case, as it had 
 been made inoperative in the [case of Admiral 
 PORTER. As I was Chairman of the Sub-Committee 
 in charge of the Army Appropriation Bill, I was
 
 19 
 
 asked to see General SHERMAN, and ascertain 
 whether an amendment to the bill, removing the 
 statutory limitation in his case, would be acceptable. 
 His reply was instantaneous : 
 
 " No ; I am a soldier and a citizen. I always 
 obey the law ; I do not desire to have a change in 
 my favor, as it expresses the judgment of the people 
 in regard to the duration of military service. Be- 
 sides, there are other officers who have rights in the 
 premises. If I remain here, others will be deprived 
 of promotion. No ; I will not accept any lengthening 
 of my term of service ; but when the time arrives for 
 me to retire, I will go into the ranks of private life 
 and perform my duties as a citizen, leaving to others 
 the exercise of military power which belongs to this 
 office." 
 
 I know of nothing more beautiful in the character 
 of any man who has ever come under my notice than 
 the inherent patriotism which characterized every 
 element of General SHERMAN'S character. I know 
 of nothing more admirable than the unselfish way 
 in which he was ready to lay down rank and power 
 on the altar of Justice. He has set an example to 
 us, and to the generations who are to come after us, 
 the value of which cannot be estimated. If the time 
 should ever come when selfish ambition should lead 
 towards a military despotism, the example of 
 General SHERMAN will, I am sure, save us from im.
 
 20 
 
 pending calamity, and will encourage the people to 
 preserve their Government even at the cost of for- 
 tune and life.
 
 21 
 
 ADDRESS BY MB. WILLIAM E. DODGE. 
 
 ME. PEESJDENT AND GENTLEMEN or THE CHAM- 
 BER : Some of us who are here remember, with 
 deep emotion, those last days of the war, and how 
 the tension under which we had been held for so many 
 years was loosened when news came of the surrender 
 of LEE. We remember how, by a common impulse, 
 great masses of the people gathered in Wall Street, 
 in Pearl Street and in William Street, and from a 
 hundred thousand throats went up that glad dox- 
 logy of thanksgiving to GOD. 
 
 LINCOLN and GRANT and SHERMAN we had loved 
 and trusted before. Then they were enshrined in 
 our hearts. Years have come and gone years of 
 peace and prosperity and marvellous advance ; but 
 the lustre of these great names has never grown 
 dim, and we have loved them more and honored 
 them more sincerely as those years went by. 
 
 LINCOLN'S tragic death, GRANT'S political life and 
 his long, lingering illness, touching our hearts, kept 
 those two great souls from the enjoyment and honor 
 which would have come to them if they had lived 
 as SHERMAN did. 
 
 As has been so well said to-day, SHERMAN really 
 lived in posterity. His life has been most unique. 
 
 After a magnificent preparation for work after a
 
 22 
 
 great life of heroic courage and grand service for the 
 country he loved so much, he came to the duties of 
 a simple citizen with a heartiness and sincerity and 
 fullness of life that made him loved by everybody. 
 
 There has been something very delightful about 
 the life of General SHERMAN in New- York. Even 
 during this last winter, wherever he has been he has 
 met with a love and admiration which have been 
 wonderful. Into whatever company he came he was 
 easily first. "Where he sat was the head of the 
 table." And, although I think he had but little 
 vanity or egotism, he must certainly have enjoyed 
 the admiration of the people about him just as a 
 father loves the glad sparkle in the eyes of his chil- 
 dren when he comes to them. 
 
 Some great men need no eulogy. They have im- 
 pressed themselves so fully upon the age that no 
 words will add to the impression they have left. 
 The most eloquent words that can be spoken of such 
 men are but weak. In the full heart of every patri- 
 otic man here, tender and grateful thoughts, moving 
 more rapidly than the words of any speaker, will be 
 to each one a better eulogy of the life of such a man 
 as SHERMAN. 
 
 I think that as merchants there is a peculiar fitness 
 in our gathering to express our love and honor for 
 the memory of this great man. 
 
 During the war no class of people in this country
 
 23 
 
 did more loyal service than the merchants of this 
 city. They gave freely of their money and their 
 time ; many gave ^themselves or their children. 
 They had everything at stake. 
 
 When SHERMAN swung off towards the sea, with 
 those splendid soldiers, HOWARD and SLOCUM, and 
 was lost to sight, what a tension of feeling there 
 was through all this city. We knew it was the 
 crisis of the war, and our hearts bounded with hope 
 and gladness when the news came that he had 
 reached the sea, and that the beginning of the end 
 had come. 
 
 So much has been said, and said so well, as to the 
 character of this grand old man, that I shall say 
 nothing more, but I hope I shall be pardoned for a 
 single word as to the lesson these great lives teach 
 us. Their personal presence has gone. There is 
 nothing now but the happy memory of grand and 
 heroic service. 
 
 But we must remember that peace has duties as 
 great, and dangers as real, as war. There is an 
 opportunity for full and heroic lives to be lived in 
 these times, and if these great souls could come 
 back to life, I know there is nothing would nil their 
 hearts with such delight as to feel that some of the 
 robustness of manhood, and vigor in action, they 
 showed in war, were being shown by us in our daily 
 lives and duties here.
 
 24 
 
 Republics have not gone down in wars. They 
 have gone down from the enervation that came with 
 luxury and self-indulgence, and all the dangers that 
 follow wealth and prosperity. 
 
 We, as merchants, as men of affairs, who have a 
 stake here, must take our stand valiantly, and try 
 to preserve the heritage they have left us. 
 
 The other night I had the privilege of attending a 
 mos t impressive gathering. The great hal I of Cooper 
 Institute was filled to overflowing, and almost as 
 many on the outside, of those who had been the 
 recipients of the bounty and the wise and thoughtful 
 kindness of our dear friend, the late Mr. PETER 
 COOPER. 
 
 I was touched by a remark made by a dis- 
 tinguished speaker, who had been chosen when a 
 pupil of the school to make an address to Mr. 
 COOPER on one of his birthdays. He said Mr. 
 COOPER gave them good advice in reply, and then 
 added, " Young men, my object in business has 
 been to make as much money as I could honestly 
 and honorably, but my object in life has been to do 
 good to those who are about me." 
 
 If such a great impulse can come into our lives, 
 drawing us away from the dangers that come in 
 these days of prosperity and peace, we can establish 
 our manhood and do our duty with something of 
 the same magnificent courage shown by those great 
 souls who have left us.
 
 26 
 
 The President submitted the following letter from 
 General THOMAS HILLHOUSE, who was unable to 
 attend the meeting : 
 
 NEW- YORK, February 17, 1891. 
 
 DEAR SIR : I regret that circumstances will prevent 
 me from attending the meeting of the Chamber of 
 Commerce to-day, but I do most sincerely approve 
 the object and purpose for which it is called. 
 
 One by one the great commanders of the Civil 
 War disappear from the theatre of their memora- 
 ble achievements. GRANT, SHERIDAN, THOMAS, 
 MEADE, and now SHERMAN. They have done their 
 work ; they have fought their last battles ; and it 
 only remains for history to record their deeds, and 
 to give them their proper rank amongst the great 
 commanders of the world. 
 
 These are not words of mere adulation. If sec- 
 tional animosities are forgotten ; if a race has been 
 set free ; if the Union, one and indivisible, still re- 
 flects its benignant light throughout the world ; if 
 " government of the people, by the people and for the 
 people has not perished from the earth," it is due in 
 no small measure to the men who so successfully led 
 the armies of the Union to final victory. They were 
 the trusted lieutenants of the great President in his 
 struggle to maintain the integrity of this Govern- 
 ment. They took up their work with faith in them-
 
 26 
 
 selves, faith in the cause, and faith in the magnificent 
 armies they commanded, and they accomplished it. 
 
 And now SHERMAN. He too has followed his 
 comrades in arms ; he too has joined " the innumera- 
 ble host that moves to the pale realms of shade ;" 
 but he was spared to see the end of the contest in 
 which he bore so conspicuous a part. The army 
 confided to him, he directed with consummate skill 
 to a definite purpose, and that purpose had been 
 accomplished. The Confederacy had been rent in 
 twain ; its heart had been pierced. Not to him 
 had his Commander-in- Chief to address the de- 
 spairing cry of the Roman Emperor, " VARUS, 
 restore me my legions." There they were, singed 
 with the fire, and begrimed with the smoke of 
 battle on those ever memorable days of May, 1865, 
 when the armies of the Union marched through 
 the Capital, the very embodiment of the power 
 of the people put forth in defence of their Constitu- 
 tion and Government. No man in the vast assem- 
 bly that witnessed the pageant doubted that the 
 spirit of disunion had been crushed. No doubter, 
 but believed in the right and the power of the Gov- 
 ernment to defend its existence by a coercion of 
 arms, when a coercion of laws had failed. The right 
 and the power had received their complete and final 
 vindication. 
 
 Of SHERMAN, as one of our great commanders,
 
 27 
 
 this is not the time nor place to speak at length. 
 The history of the vast military operations of our civil 
 war, that is to be the final authority, will not appear 
 until the passions, the prejudices and the prefer- 
 ences of the present generation shall have passed 
 Into oblivion. Then some future JOMINI, out of the 
 abundant materials at hand, will weave a narrative 
 of those operations, comprehensive in its scope, and 
 just in its criticisms of men and measures. Is it 
 hazardous to predict, that the " March to the Sea " 
 will be regarded as one of the most brilliant and 
 decisive of all the campaigns of the war, and the 
 commander, who so successfully conceived and ex- 
 ecuted it, one of the greatest masters of military 
 science ? 
 
 It was after the evacuation of Atlanta that SHER- 
 MAN, as he tells us in his Memoirs, decided to cut 
 loose from his base and lead his victorious armies 
 to the sea an inspiration of genius, like his views 
 on the conduct of the war at an earlier period, re- 
 garded with doubt and anxiety in official circles, 
 only to be triumphantly vindicated by its complete 
 success. "None of us went further than to ac- 
 quiesce," was the frank admission of the President. 
 The obstacles to be encountered, and the means at 
 hand to overcome them, had been measured with 
 almost scientific exactness, and when the campaign, 
 had been finished by the fall of Savannah and the
 
 28 
 
 surrender at Greensboro, there was no dissent from 
 the conclusion, that it had been more fruitful in 
 grand results than any of the events of the war, save 
 only the almost cotemporaneous surrender at Ap- 
 ponmttox, and the disintegration of the Confederate 
 Government. 
 
 But the military fame of SHERMAN will not rest 
 wholly on his march to the sea. To the diligent 
 student, the operations that preceded it are full of 
 interest and instruction. From Dalton to the cross- 
 ing of the Chattahoochee he was confronted by as 
 consummate a master of defensive warfare as either 
 side had produced. Here on a field admirably 
 adapted to the most brilliant display of strategy and 
 tactical skill, these great leaders contended for vic- 
 tory ; and when SHERMAN entered Atlanta, his ob- 
 jective point, he had already earned his place in the 
 front rank of our Commanders. 
 
 Of SHERMAN, the patriotic citizen, free from all 
 political ambition, intent only on employing his 
 great talents for the public good, the verdict of the 
 people has long since gone forth, and it is voiced to- 
 day in the public expressions of sorrow which the 
 announcement of his death has called out through- 
 out the land. Such a verdict was doubtless more 
 precious in his eyes than all the distinctions of 
 office, or all the attractions of wealth. His civic 
 virtues will not pale even before the splendor of his
 
 29 
 
 military renown. His loyalty was intense. It per- 
 vaded his whole being. It gave him strength and 
 patience to endure official mistakes and popular de- 
 lusions. To him the flag of his country was verily 
 the symbol of her greatness. In its defence he un- 
 hesitatingly turned his back on a lucrative and con- 
 genial position in civil life, and from a loyal citizen 
 he became a loyal soldier. "I will maintain my 
 allegiance to the Constitution as long as a fragment 
 of it remains," were the short, sharp, decisive words 
 in which he made known his resolution. When the 
 contest was over, no persuasion could induce him to 
 accept political preferment, even the highest in the 
 land. On retiring from his position as General of 
 the Army, he chose rather to return to private life, 
 without a single badge of distinction, save the price- 
 less services he had rendered his country. 
 
 Such was SHERMAN, true type of all that is best in 
 our manhood, shining example of the ideal citizen 
 and soldier, to be read and pondered by all men, 
 who, whether under a reign of law or in the throes 
 of revolution, desire to act well their parts. What a 
 glorious life was his to live, what a glorious death, 
 to die in the full assurance, coming from the hearts 
 and consciences of the people, that he had nobly
 
 80 
 
 performed his duty, that he had deserved well of 
 the Republic. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 (Signed,) THOS. HILLHOUSE. 
 
 To the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, 
 New- York. 
 
 The preamble and resolutions were unanimously 
 adopted. 
 
 A Committee, consisting of the President of the 
 Chamber, ALEXANDER E. ORB, WILLIAME. DODGE, 
 ABEAM S. HEWITT, J. EDWAUD SIMMONS, SAMUEL 
 D. BABCOCK, JOHN H. INMAN, MOERIS K. JESUP, 
 RICHARD T. WILSON and WILLIAM H. WEBB was 
 appointed to attend the funeral of General SHERMAN. 
 
 CHARLES S. SMITH, 
 
 President. 
 
 G-EORGE WILSON, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 NEW- YORK, February 17, 1891.
 
 UNIVERSITY , OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 -Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE' on the last date stamped below. 
 
 JUN 1 3:1.950 
 
 APR 2 6 1961 
 
 FormL9 15m-10,'48(B1039)444
 
 I 
 
 New v ork Dham- 
 
 467.1 ber of Commerce 
 
 _th4 
 
 memory of "-en- 
 eral 7f:u T. Sherman. 
 
 JUfl 
 
 1 3 
 
 E 
 
 467.1 
 
 S551T4 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A 001 155590 1