GENERAL PHILIP H SHERIDAN CIVIL WAR BATTLES INDIAN WARS

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There can be no doubt that the publication of Sheridan's memoirs will prove almost as important a contribution to history and to literature as General Grant's and that the work will equal it in life and interest. Each is indispensable in an American home." (Mark Twain) PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF P. H. SHERIDAN GENERAL UNITED STATES ARMY IN TWO VOLUMES 1888,1888 FIRST EDITION Like General Grant, Philip Sheridan was convinced by Mark Twain to write his autobiography as a way of ensuring a comfortable position for his family after his death. Grant passed away only five days after completing his manuscript, Sheridan finished his a week before his first heart attack, passing away two months later. It's all here and in his own words! Philip H. Sheridan's rise from humble beginnings as the son of Irish immigrants to obtaining through his own endeavors an appointment to West Point, his early military years on the frontier and his experiences in the Indian Wars . In 1861 the Civil War broke out and he rose from first lieutenant to captain, to brigadier general of volunteers and then to major general. Noticed by then Lieutenant General Grant for his daring and brilliant charge up Missionary Ridge, he was placed in charge of Grant's cavalry. Sheridan was the most able cavalry leader on the Union side. Exceptionally gifted with personal magnetism, he combined intelligent courage with careful, vigilant tactics. On August 7th, 1864 he was appointed to command the newly formed Army of the Shenandoah with instructions to clear the valley of Confederates. This was the greatest appointment of his military career, and he proved himself fully equal to it. His campaign was brilliant and decisive. He defeated General Early at Winchester and again at Fisher's Mill. Then followed perhaps the most controversial act of his career. In order to make the region useless to the Confederates, he destroyed all means of subsistence; so that, as he reported, "even a crow flying over the place would have to take his rations with him." One of the most fruitful regions of the South was left in utter desolation with non-combatants on the verge of starvation. In his memoirs Sheridan gives his reasons for the "burning." Meanwhile General Early advanced again, and on the morning of October 15, 1864, while Sheridan was at Winchester, 15 miles away, Early surprised the Federals at Cedar Creek and drove them back. Upon hearing of the defeat Sheridan hurried back to the field, rallied his men, and counterattacking, won a thorough victory. ( This success was dramatized by Thomas Buchanan Read in his poem, "Sheridan's Ride.") In 1865 General George A. Custer of Sheridan's army defeated the remains of Early's command at Waynesboro. Sheridan, now a major general in the regular army, turned eastward destroying Confederate communications as he went. After his victory at Five Forks (April 1865), he pursued General Robert E. Lee vigorously and cut off the Confederate retreat at Appomattox Courthouse , forcing Lee's surrender. The remainder of Sheridan's military career began with commanding an American force on the Mexican border to watch the struggle between Maximilian, who had been set up as emperor of Mexico by Napoleon III in 1864, and the Liberals seeking his overthrow. This was followed by his appointment to head the Department of the Missouri to pacify the Plains. With minimal troops to support this assignment, Sheridan again resorted to his Shenandoah Valley strategy. He urged Congress to encourage the hunting and slaughter of the vast herds of buffalo on the Great Plains: "Let them kill, skin and sell until the buffalo is exterminated." He played a large role in the decimation of the buffalo, but on the other hand, the protection of the Yellowstone Area was Sheridan's personal crusade. He lobbied for its preservation and for its expansion that there might be room for remaining herds of elk and buffalo. As early as 1875, Sheridan promoted military control of the area to prevent destruction of natural formatio... read more

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