Col. Horatio
C. King 1
New York--
My Dear Sir,
I am just back from Cleveland and find your valued letter of May 8. 2
I have made so many
appointments
for May & June, and find so much to do here that it will be worse than
deception to
pretend to
come to your Hartford Springfield meeting. 3 As a matter of
course these Army
meetings have
a special charm to me, and I am sure I do a full share in their attendance,4
(but?)
must renew
my anguish to be excused.
Surely in the vast array of distinguished survivors, you cannot fail to
have a strong
attendance,
and the memories of the war will rise spontaneously and give real interest
to your
meeting.
The present war of Congress against our army forces me here to defend the
Small
heroic Remnandt
of Regulars5 who are surrounded by Indians6 and
dangers of the most
unpleasant
kind, and ^these look to me to guard their Rear. There is now a Bill in
Congress which
under the plea
of Economy, may pass and strip our profession of all claim to respect7--
With thanks I am truly
Your (indecipherable word)
W.T. Sherman 8
1. Colonel Horatio
C. King, (1837-1918), Dickinson College, Class of 1858. King was a lawyer,
an editor and
publisher,
and a colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War. In October 1865 King
was awarded the
Congressional
Medal of Honor for distinguished bravery. At the time of this letter, King
is the secretary of the Army of the Potomac, which will be discussed shortly.
He held this position from 1877 until 1904.
George Leffingwell Reed, A.B., ed.,
Dickinson College Alumni Record 1905, (Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College:
1905).
2. King and
Sherman knew each other quite well, as is evidenced by more letters written
by Sherman to King. (These letters
can be found in the Dickinson College Archives)
Also, three
months after Sermon's death King gave an address on the late general, citing
many of the
conversations
and personal moments between the two.
Horatio C. King, "General Sherman"
( Address delivered at Brattleboro, VT., 3 months after Sermon's death,
May 30, 1891.) (Transcript can be found in Dickinson College Archive)
3. In
the letter to which Sherman is replying, King has invited Sherman to attend
the annual reunion of the Army of the Potomac, Sherman was not actually
a part of this Army, but as a well known general and supporter of the army
in general, Sermon's presence was annually requested.
Horatio C. King, "General Sherman"
(Address) (Found in Dickinson College Archive)
The Army of the Potomac was the army created to defend Washington, D.C.
during the Civil War. The army,
under the leadership
of General George B. McClellan, started as a very diverse, undisciplined,
and unorganized group, only to become the best army that the United States
had had up until that time. The army was noted for its exceptional morale
and loyalty.
Shannon, Fred A., "Potomac, Army of
the", Dictionary of American History Vol. IV (1940), 324.
4. Though Sherman was unable to attend this particular meeting of the Army, in King's address on the general he notes that Sherman gladly attended the reunions many times, evidence that Sherman did not regard these meetings as insignificant events, but rather as something very important.
5. Although
research has not produced any specifics as to the group that Sherman is
defending, one book does mention that at around the time that this letter
was written, Sherman was indeed in a battle of Congress. Evidently Congress
had grown antagonistic to the regular army, for the most part because the
war was over and it was now peacetime, and was gradually reducing its appropriations
to the Army for pensions and expenses. This is likely a result of
the Southern Democrats' return to Congress after the withdrawal of Reconstruction
troops from the south. Sermon's military attributes could not have
made him very popular with these Southerners. The book suggests that the
final decision on the bill would be made in the early summer of 1878, and
this is likely the reason that Sherman is unable to attend the reunion.
James M. Merill, William Tecumseh
Sherman, (New York: Rand McNally, 1971), 366-7.
6. The term
'Indians' does not seem to be a literal term, but rather one that suggests
the nature of those that
Sherman is
battling in Congress. Sherman was known to have a prejudice towards Indians,
and it seems that he wished to portray his political opponents, who, like
the Indians, wished to weaken the United States Army, in the same unfavorable
light. However, the term 'Indians' is not indisputably metaphorical.
At this time there were still groups of Indians on the Great Plains that
posed a considerable threat to the regular army patrolling that area of
the country.
Michael Fellman, Citizen Sherman: A Life of William Tecumseh Sherman, (New
York: Random House, 1995), 17.
7. This is the bill previously discussed which will keep Sherman from attending the meeting of the Army of the Potomac.
8. William Tecumseh
Sherman (1820-1891), General of the Union Army of the Civil War, who led
the infamous 'March through the South', which resulted in the burning and
pillaging of several Southern cities. At this time, Sherman was the Commander-in-Chief
of the United States Army. He had replaced Ulysses S. Grant, who was elected
President of the United States.
Oliver L. Spaulding, Jr., "Sherman,
William Tecumseh", Dictionary of American Biography XVII-XVIII (1935):
93-97.