SHIELDS. 



to Chattahoocliee river. July 4 was celebrated by 

 a battle of Thomas at Smyrna; on the 17th the 

 Chattahoochee was crossed, and on the next day 

 Sherman learned that Johnston had relinquished 

 his command and Hood assumed his place. On the 

 20th came the battle of Peach Tree Creek, and 

 on the 22d the battle before Atlanta, when the gal- 

 lant Gen. McPherson was killed. On Aug. 12 Sher- 

 man learned that he was commissioned a major-gen- 

 eral in the regular army, and heard of Farragut's 

 success in entering Mobile Bay, which he regarded 

 as a valuable auxiliary for future operations. Ou 

 Sept. 1 Hood evacuated Atlanta, which was forth- 

 with taken possession of by the Union troops. Here 

 Sherman received the thanks of the nation commu- 

 nicated to him in a letter from the President, as well 

 as warm complimentary letters from Grant and Hal- 

 leek. The total loss of the Union Army for the 

 campaigu, from May 6 to Sept. 15 that is, on the 

 inarch from Chattanooga to Atlanta amonnted to 

 31,687 killed, wounded, and missing ; the loss of 

 the Confederates was 34,979. By order of Gen. 

 Sherman the civil population of Atlanta were re- 

 quired to leave the city, and this was in a great 

 measure carried out by the exodus of large numbers 

 to Hood at Rough and Beady whence they were 

 conveyed to their destinations southward. 



In the beginning of October Hood l>egan a move- 

 ment westward, thus removing himself from Slier- 

 man's front. This movement was soon converted 

 into a northerly one, Hood's object being to draw 

 Sherman back from Georgia by assailing his line of 

 communications and threatening Tennessee and 

 Kentucky. The device was unavailing. Sherman, 

 on satisfying himself of Hood's purpose, thought 

 it sufficient to send Thomas back to Nashville to 

 defend the line of the Tennessee and check Hood 

 from troubling his rear, and himself prepared for 

 his southward march to the sea. On Nov. 16 the 

 movement began, his army numbering 62,000 men, 

 with Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard in command of the 

 right wing and Maj. Gen. H. W. Slocum of the 

 left. The immediate objective point was Savannah, 

 but the ulterior point was Grant's army before Rich- 

 mond. Hood's withdrawal had left the way open to 

 Sherman. On Dec. 13 Fort McAllister, at the mouth 

 of the O/eechee river, was captured, and Savannah 

 invested by sea and land. Gen. J. B. Hardee, who 

 occupied the city, evacuated it on Dec. 21, and next 

 day it was formally occupied by the Union troops 

 and the " March to the Sea " accomplished. 



Savannah was now made the Union base, and 

 preparations were made for an advance through the 

 Cai-olinas to Richmond. On Feb. 1, 1866, the move- 

 ment began and was continued without noticeable 

 incident to Columbia. This beautiful town, taking 

 fire from some burning cotton, was more than half 

 reduced to ashes. Sherman was in no way respon- 

 sible for the fact, though the citizens laid the blame 

 on him. Hardee evacuated Charleston, Feb. 18. 

 Sherman, on March 21 had a sharp action at Ben- 

 toiuville, N. C., with Gen. Johnston commanding 

 the Confederates, resulting in the retreat of the lat- 

 ter with a loss of 2343, the Union loss being 1604. 

 When at Smithfield, on April 11, in pursuit of Gen. 

 Johnston, who had retreated on Raleigh, Gen. Sher- 

 man received news of Lee's surrender on the 9th at 

 Appomattox Court-house. 



A truce was at once arranged between Gens. Sher- 

 man and Johnston, and a convention agreed to in re- 

 g.ird to the terms of peace. This convention, how- 

 ever, being political as well as military, required the 

 assent of the government. Meantime Pres. Lincoln 

 was assassinated, and Prcs. Johnson and his cabinet, 

 thinking that Sherman had exceeded his author- 

 ity, i>ei-emptorily countermanded his action. Gen. 

 Grant quietly visited Gen. Sherman, and then the 



! latter granted to Johnston the same terms that had 

 I been granted to Gen. Lee. Johnston surrendered on 

 ; April 26 at Durham's Station, N. C., and the brilliant 

 campaign, as well as the war, was at an end. On May 

 23, at Washington, Gen. Sherman witnessed the re- 

 I view of the Army of the Potomac under Gen. Meade, 

 and on the 24th his own army was similarly reviewed. 

 j "It was," says Sherman in his Memoirs, "in my judg- 

 ment the most magnificent army in existence 65,000 

 men in splendid physique who had just completed a 

 march of nearly 2000 miles in a hostile country." 



Gen. Sherman on leaving Washington returned 

 to his native place in Ohio, where he rested for 

 j a time in the bosom of his family. On the parti- 

 j tion of the whole country into five military divi- 

 | sions he was appointed to the command of the 

 j second, or that of the Mississippi (afterward the 

 | Missouri), with headquarters at St. Louis. Under 

 ' the act of Congress, July 28, 1866, Grant was made 

 ! general, and Sherman succeeded him as lieutenant- 

 : general, in the regular army. In October lie was 

 ordered to escort the newly appointed U. S. minister 

 to Juarez, recently elected President of Mexico, as a 

 significant protest against the occupation of that 

 country by the Emperor Maximilian and French 

 troops. Nov. 10, he embarked with the minister for 

 Vera Cruz, and, after considerable search for the 

 headquarters of the patriots, having, as he thought, 

 put him <; rapjim-t with Juarez, returned to his dvities 

 in St. Louis. In January, 1868, Sherman was pres- 

 ident of a board to compile a code of Articles of 

 War and Army Regulations, the other members be- 

 ing Gens. Sheridan and Auger. On Grant's inaugu- 

 ration as President in Match, 1869, Sherman was 

 appointed general of the Army of the United States. 

 This office he held till he reached the age prescribed 

 by law for the retirement of army officers. He was 

 'relieved, at his own request, Nov. ], 1883, and was 

 succeeded by Gen. P. H. Sheridan (q. t> ). He then 

 took up his lesidence in St. Louis, but afterward re- 

 moved to New York City. 



Gen. Sherman's qualities as a soldier have beeu 

 thus tersely summed up by one well competent to 

 judge. " Above all his other excellences shone his 

 promptitude, celerity, and immeasurable activity. 

 What for somo commanders were winter-quartera 

 were to him a bivouac. Always ready for the start, 

 indefatigable on the march, omnipresent in battle, 

 relentless in pursuit, Gen. Sherman made himself 

 not only more feared but more respected by the 

 j enemy than any general in the national armies save, 

 perhaps, the one who commanded them all." 



(J. H.) 



SHIELDS, CHARLES WOODRUFF, Presbyterian di- 

 vine, was born at New Albany, Ind., April 4, 1825. 

 He graduated at Princeton in 1844 and studied the- 

 ology there. After a brief pastorate at Hempstead, 

 L. I., lie became pastor in Philadelphia in 1850, 

 where he remained until, in 1865, he was made pro- 

 fessor in Princeton College. His department was 

 the relation of religion to science, and to this was 

 afterward added modern history. He has been an 

 advocate of liturgical worship and of the union of 

 Christian churches. He published PhitotapMa Ul- 

 tima (1861), and several works, historical and critical, 

 on Presbyterian liturgies. 



SHIELDS, JAMES (1810-1879), general, was born 

 in 1810 in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland, and 

 came to this country when 16 years old. In 1832 

 he settled at Kaskaskia, 111., and began practice as 

 a lawyer ; and was elected, in close succession, mem- 

 ber of the legislature, auditor, and, in 1843, judge 

 of the supreme court. In 1845 he was made commis- 

 sioner of the U. S. land office. When war was lie- 

 gun with Mexico he was appointed a brigadier-ga- 

 eral and given command of the Illinois contingent ; 

 was shot through the body at Cerro Gordo, and 



