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camps surrounding Washington and in one of these had William T. Sherman for his guide. Sherman, standing by the roadside, was recognized by Lincoln and Seward, “who rode side by side in an open hack” and, on his inquiring if they were going to his camps, he received from Lincoln the reply, “Yes, we heard that you had got over the big scare, and we thought we would come over and see the boys.” The President asked Sherman to get into their carriage and direct their course. Sherman perceived his emotion and his desire to speak to the men, so he ventured to utter a word of caution. “Please discourage,” he said, “all cheering, noise or any sort of confusion; we had enough of it before Bull Run to ruin any set of men; what we need is cool, thoughtful, hard-fighting soldiers—no more hurrahing, no more humbug.” The Commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States took the advice of his Colonel in good part and, on reaching the first camp, stood up in his carriage and made, as Sherman characterized it, “one of the neatest, best and most feeling addresses I ever listened to, referring to our late disaster at Bull Run, the high duties that still devolved on us and the brighter days yet to come. At one or two points the soldiers began to cheer, but he checked them with: ‘Don’t cheer, boys. I confess I rather like it myself but Colonel Sherman here says it is not military; and I guess we had better defer to his opinion.’” 1 As he went the rounds, he made the same speech to other soldiers. The effect of his visit was good and proved an earnest of the hold he was soon to acquire on the army. 55 Sherman thought Bull Run a well-planned battle but badly fought, and Johnston agreed with him. “If the tactics of the Federals had been equal to their strategy,” wrote

Note 1. W. Sherman, I, 189. [back]

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