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| The more accurate, if less pithy, version of Sherman's famous quote. |
On June 5, 1884 William Tecumseh Sherman uttered words we would long to hear from a
good many venal, corrupt, stupid or simply clueless
folks who look into the mirror each morning and think, “there is the next President of the United States.” Of course I am particularly thinking of the
ever swelling mob of Republican candidates—twelve, I think,
at this writing and as many as 16 by mid-summer. A sorrier and more discouraging lot is hard
to imagine.
Although variations are attributed
to Sherman, the most commonly accepted is, “I do not choose to run. If nominated I will not accept. If elected I will not serve.”
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| A selection of most,but not all, of the current Republican Presidential field, declared and undeclared. A perfect storm of dwarfs and miscreants. |
Sherman rose to fame as Ulysses S. Grant’s favorite subordinate and most reliable commander. They shared an unvarnished view of war stripped of myths of gallantry and chivalry. Early in the Civil War Grant recalled Sherman after he had suffered a mental breakdown. Years later Sherman said, “Grant stood by me
when I was crazy, and I stood by him
when he was drunk, and now we stand
by each other.”
As the General in charge of cleaving
the Confederacy in half and
destroying its industrial and
transportation heartland in his drive from Tennessee
to Atlanta, the burning of
Atlanta, the March to the Sea and
then across South Carolina, Sherman
was credited with creating modern total war not only on enemy armies, but on enemy civilian populations. He is cited for pithy quotes in unapologetic
defense of his ferocity including, most famously “War is Hell” and “War is
cruelty. There’s no use trying to reform it. The
crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”
This made him the most hated man in the South, where generations of mothers
frightened their children to obedience by threatening them with “Sherman’s justice.”
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| Sherman as Post-Civil War Commanding General. |
It also made him wildly popular in
the North. Upon Grant’s election to the Presidency in
1868, Sherman was the inevitable choice for Commanding General of the Army, a post he held until his retirement
in 1883.
Those years coincided with some of
the bloodiest Indian Wars on the frontier, which the General pursued
with the same grim determination
that marked his Civil War service. He
said, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian” and is one of several people to
whom the quote “nits make lice” is attributed as defense for
killing children.
In 1884 the Republican Party was divided and in disarray. Chester
Alan Arthur, the accidental
President who rose to the White
House from the Vice-Presidency
with the assassination of James
Garfield, was wildly unpopular. The former Collector of the Port of New York and a product of the Spoils System had unexpectedly become a
reformer and advocate of Civil Service reform,
which put him at odds with the Party’s Stalwart
faction. But he was also no trusted
by party liberals and reformers. It was apparent that Arthur would not get the
nomination for a full term.
Maine
Senator James G. Blaine was the front runner, but he had many enemies
in the party himself. The Democrats were expected to surge that
year as more Southern states emerged from Reconstruction. Recalling electoral success with Generals
Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, and
Garfield, it was natural for party leaders to turn to the most famous and
popular surviving General of the late War
of Rebellion.
Sherman would have none of it. The nomination went to the Plumed Knight, Blaine, who promptly
lost the election to Democrat Grover
Cleveland.
Sherman died in 1891 at the age of
71 after spending his final years in retirement giving speeches to Grand Army of the Republic gatherings and business groups.
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