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Veteran of the Civil War Writes [uminatingly of Many De tails of That Con flict. JOR GEN. OLIVER OTIS HOWARD waited long the refore publishing his Auto biography, (the Baker-Tay lor Company, two apbiey 8vo,. $5 net.) but one who is familiar with other narra sives by other Generals of the civil war will perceive, when he reads this latest contribution to the literature of that struggle, that the man who commanded Sherman's right wing on the March to the Sea and up through the Carolinas had something material to add to the earlier histories. At Gettysburg, after he as sumed command, on the death of Gen. Reynolds, of the right wing there, he per formed perhaps his most indispensable service, in early recognizing the tactical advantage of Cemetery Hill and tena ciously holding that position—a course which Gens. Merde, Slocum, and other officers subsequently commended. But the South ern campaigns were projected on longer lines, were prolonged over greater periods, while a certain glamour, a touch of the romantic, tinges in our imaginations the heroic cutting of all communications . 4s Gen. Thomas was detached, with the Army of the Cumberland, and sent Chat tanooga ward to watch and defeat Hood; the departure from Atlanta; the plunging into an unknown region to encounter what merely could be conjectured; where an army of £ 80 would have to subsist on the country through which it would march. Gen. Howard was born in Maine, was graduated from Bowdoin, and later from the Military Academy at West Point, the Government institution to which he soon returned as instructor in mathematics, and to which, after the war and after much experience on the Pacific Coast and in fighting the Indians, he came again as head. Having chosen—as, graduating near ly at the head of his class, he had a right to do—the ordnance arm of the service, he was for a time at Watervliet Arsenal at West Troy...When called into active service in 1861 he was at West Point, was thence summoned to Maine to take command of the Third Maine Regiment as its Colonel—a regiment that was one of the first to resume marching through Baltimore after the deadly assault there on the Sixth Massachusetts. His chapters on early battles—the first and second Bull Run, Fair Oaks, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville—should especially inter est those who have studied those engage ments through other meritorous histories, such as that of the Comte de Paris. He contributes something toward the solution of several controverted questions, espe cialy those relating to the tactics and generalship of the Union commanders at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, re spectively. His story of the battle , Gettysburg, in which he very prominently participated throughout, is equally clear. On one moot question, whether Gen. Sickles was justi fied in taking his early advanced position, he sides with that officer, maintaining that that action, which hindered and delayed the Confererate attack on the Round Tops, permitted us to concentrate sufficient forces on and about them to hold the po sition against the repeated assaults of Longstreet's columns. Lee most vividly describes as an eye witness the charge of Pickett’s division and its Substantial anni hilation. Transferred with his Eleventh Corps to the West, they became part of the army under Grant and Sherman at Chatta nooga, and of Sherman on the desperate ly contested campaign that terminated with the capture of Atlanta. This narra tive most usefully supplements that in Gen. Sherman's Memoirs, it presents facts which the chief commander did not mention. This applies not only to the fighting from Chatanooga down, but to our relentless outflanking of the Confed erates, which, continued after the battle of Peach Tree Creek and combined with the cutting of Gen. Hood's communica tions with the South, compelled him to evacuate Atlanta—an act preceded by the blowing up of his magazines and the de stroying of great masses of supplies. Those who are debarred from studying the voluminous records published by the Government may profitably consult these volumes and those of Gen. Sherman, for an account of the campaign that made safe and possible the March to the Sea. On the death of Gen. McPherson at Peach Tree Creek, Gen. Howard was assigned to the command of the Army of the Ten nessee, which, composed of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, constituted Sher man's right wing on the campaign from Atlanta to Savannah and thence up into North Carolina. This army participated in hotly-contest ed battles about Atlanta, both before and after the actual seaward March was gun. That movement from Atlanta cul minated in compelling Hardee to evacuate Savannah. The author's story of the campaign northward from Savannah re veals the obstacles which the skillful gen eralship of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, commander of the Confederate forces, ‘in terposed. The armistice that “followed Gen. Grant's victory at’ Appomattox fore shadowed peace, and with that event ‘this history of the campaign closes. It was a fitting culmination of Gen. Howard's ‘mili tary career in that war, that on Gen. Sherman’s insistence he rode by the side of that victorious leader in the grand re view of the Western troops as on May 24, 1865, they marched through the streets of Washington. Necessarily, Gen. Howard narrates his services during the exciting events of the reconstruction period and as Commission er of the new Bureau of Refugees, Freed men, and Abandoned Lands, provided for by act of Congress. Gen. Sherman praised Howard's fitness, but foresaw that the task would be a herculean one. He sub mitted regulations, the adoption of which read: “Approved, June 2, 1865. Andrew Johnson, President of the United States.” Into the history of that bureau it was en tirely appropriate that its chief Commis sioner should enter. Criticism was in evitable. Yet Gen. Howard had his quin dication.. Congress passed a resolution de claring that ‘‘in successfully organizing and administering with fidelity and abil ity the Freedman’s Bureau * * * he is deserving of the gratitude of the Amer ican people’; and a court of inquiry, the appointment of which he demanded, (Gen. Sherman: was at the head of it,) found that in all matters that had come before the court ‘in its thirty-seven days’ care ful and laborious investigation, the court finds that Gen. Oliver Q. Howard did his whole duty, and believes that he deserves, well of his country.” War, in Gen. Howard's estimation, was justifiable only for the vindication of some great, overmastering cause. The conflict ended, he always sought to re lieve the sufferings of the wounded of both combatants. As commander of two departments, that of the Columbia and that of the Platte—the latter including the Rosebud Reservation and that of Pine Ridge—he sought to accomplish what he could by persuasion and conciliatory measures. [In all possible ways he en couraged, piety and religious observances He even fixes the time and the place— in Florida, oh a campaign against the Seminoles—of his experiencing what is commonly called ‘‘ conversion.” These well-printed, clearly written vol umes exhibit the career of a trained war rior, yet one who never incurred the re proach discharged by ‘Tacitus against those who ‘‘make a solitude and cli it peace. While commander of the Depart ment of the East he was a familiar fig ure in our streets. He now nominally has his domicile in Burlington, Vt. He and Gen. Grenville M. Dodge are the two sur viving commanders of corps d'armée in the fiercely contested 1564 campaign: from Chattanooga to Atlanta,
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New York Times
New York, New York, US
Sat, Sep 19, 1908
Page 30
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USA 09 Jun 2026
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