he last degree, as to the roads,
bridges, and resources of the country through which he was marching. On
approaching Atlanta he came to a region through which he had ridden on
horseback twenty years before. That night in his tent, his guides, spies
and advance scouts spread out their maps before Sherman, and to the
astonishment of all, the soldier corrected and amplified them. It seemed
that a score of years before he had formed the habit of making a
detailed study of each region through which he travelled, and of working
out campaigns of attack and defense. His old notes were so accurate as
to prove the basis of an actual campaign for a great army. His contest
with Johnston represented what has been called an inch by inch struggle,
and although Sherman was victorious, when he passed away, the aged
Southern soldier, Johnston, made the long journey to New York to act as
pall-bearer and to testify to the splendid qualities of his great
opponent.

It was Grant himself who called Sheridan "the left arm of the Union." By
universal consent "little Phil" was the most brilliant campaigner of the
group of soldiers of the first class. The story of his victory at
Winchester captured the imagination of the North. The poem describing
that achievement became the most popular poem of the year, and was
recited by all the schoolboys on Friday afternoons, and quoted by all
the politicians on the platform. The North had suffered so many defeats
in the Shenandoah Valley that Sheridan's victory put new heart into the
Union forces, and helped unite the Republican party, making certain the
election of Lincoln.

Indeed, a great German soldier once expressed the judgment that Sheridan
ranked not only with Grant, but with the greatest soldiers of all time.

The work of George H. McClellan was the work of the pioneer and
pathfinder. It is one thing to take a sword, a Damascus blade, and use
it in leadership, and quite another thing to take raw metal and on the
anvil hammer out the blade for a hero's hand. McClellan made the sword;
Grant used it. There is a pathetic passage in Dante's "Vita Nuova": "It
is easier to sing a song than to create a harp." Dante meant that he had
to create the Italian language before he could write the "Paradiso." Now
McClellan's task was to create an army. He took a body of raw recruits
and drilled them; he organized a system of supplies and built up a
purchasing, transporting and storing department; he tested out al