Laid-back Sherman

[Severon]

I think that the reason Sherman became a ladies man and an entertainment lover is because he needed some relief from people like Stanton calling him a villain for his treaty with Johnston.

 

[The Iron Duke]

because he needed some relief from people like Stanton calling him a villain for his treaty with Johnston.

Sherman's refusal to shake hands with Stanton at the Washington Grand Review is one of my favorite moments of the war.

 

[K Hale]

Mine too! When I saw the thread entitled "The Snub" I actually expected it to be about Sherman and Stanton, instead of McClellan and Lincoln.

Ellen Sherman was horrified, by the way, and paid a call on Mrs. Stanton to try and make up for it.

 

[OpnOlympic]

I doubt that Sherman was ever really 'laid-back' in our 20th Century term, but he probably would seem 'more' calm when comparison with his early career in the war.
It is possible that Sherman became more calm as he percieved his plan was working and Thomas would be facing the AoT as he marched against Ga. Militia.
I am not belittling his courage or his generalship, merely noting, what many others have noted, that Sherman had a less than sure hand in tactical command, of which he was probably the most aware. After, leaving Hood's army behind, the knowledge that he could anticipate clear sailing to the Atlantic, could have had a calming affect on his nerves.

 

[Severon]

Sherman's refusal to shake hands with Stanton at the Washington Grand Review is one of my favorite moments of the war.

If I was mad at someone like that and had been treated the way Sherman had, I would have not shaken his hand either.

I like the way Bruce Catton put it "Sherman was a good hater."

 

[K Hale]

Sherman was treated badly in the aftermath of the assassination, for no reason except bureaucratic hysteria. Halleck jumped on the wacky-weed bandwagon too. I don't like Halleck but he had been Sherman's friend... that's no way to treat someone, let alone your friend.

 

[Baggage Handler #2]

I doubt that Sherman was ever really 'laid-back' in our 20th Century term, but he probably would seem 'more' calm when comparison with his early career in the war.
It is possible that Sherman became more calm as he percieved his plan was working and Thomas would be facing the AoT as he marched against Ga. Militia.
I am not belittling his courage or his generalship, merely noting, what many others have noted, that Sherman had a less than sure hand in tactical command, of which he was probably the most aware. After, leaving Hood's army behind, the knowledge that he could anticipate clear sailing to the Atlantic, could have had a calming affect on his nerves.

The times I've done any real racing I'd get a little jumpy during the planning stage and the week or so before the event. Depending on the type of race involved, I'd be pretty tense the morning of, but whenever I actually got going, all that disappeared and I felt pretty good. All of the machinery is working and moving along together and none of the cr@p you'd prepared for had happened. In other words, all the midnight oil is now paying dividends and you actually know you studied & prepped it hard enough. That's a really really good feeling.

Except for bicycle racing, of course. That was just pure pain. You do that because it feels so good when you stop.

I can easily see Sherman in the planning stage as being jumpy. There's nothing to do but proofread and double check figures. It would probably have been a tremendous relief to him to sock someone on the nose.
Once things started moving - the giant machinery of the army comes to life and doesn't spontaneously combust - he'd just about have to get regular again.

 

[Baggage Handler #2]

If I was mad at someone like that and had been treated the way Sherman had, I would have not shaken his hand either.

I like the way Bruce Catton put it "Sherman was a good hater."

I wonder under my breath if the phrase that goes with "REMF" had yet been coined.

 

[K Hale]

I just looked up REMF in UrbanDictionary, and wow, there were a bunch of those in the CW.

 

[OpnOlympic]

Very true, Baggage Handler #2, and, at the time, Sherman had a lot to be worried about. But, instead, he was so confident that he argued long and hard, in the face of the evident reluctance of Grant And Lincoln, actively seeking to change their minds about a plan that, at the time, seemed to border on madness.
From all that I can learn, the only source of real concern to Sherman was at the very beginning of his march, (when it was not at all a given that Hood would let him march to the sea without a major battle), relaxing only when he had advanced far enough Eastr, that it was certain that the AoT was not behind him.
In the end, the most important battle concerning the March to the Sea, was getting Grant and Lincoln to agree to it.

 

[Baggage Handler #2]

Very true, Baggage Handler #2, and, at the time, Sherman had a lot to be worried about. But, instead, he was so confident that he argued long and hard, in the face of the evident reluctance of Grant And Lincoln, actively seeking to change their minds about a plan that, at the time, seemed to border on madness.
From all that I can learn, the only source of real concern to Sherman was at the very beginning of his march, (when it was not at all a given that Hood would let him march to the sea without a major battle), relaxing only when he had advanced far enough Eastr, that it was certain that the AoT was not behind him.
In the end, the most important battle concerning the March to the Sea, was getting Grant and Lincoln to agree to it.

... and that's one of the things he's dealing with in the planning stage.
"Can I pitch this to my boss?"

If you've played chess and tried to think through all the possible combinations of exchanges possible in 5 or 6 moves, then add into that a great deal of uncertainty (vagaries of weather, inaccurate intel, an unforeseen move by the opposition) and add to that the waiting to hear from your own brass, and you have a recipe for a guy acting snippy.

Jackson, I've read, would stay up for a day or two in a row putting together a plan before an engagement in the valley. T.E. Lawrence, I remember reading, commented that he was no great genius, just distressingly thorough. There wasn't much of a "wing it" to them, and as smoothly as the March to the Sea went, the planning must have been just nuts by 18th century standards.

 

[Baggage Handler #2]

I just looked up REMF in UrbanDictionary, and wow, there were a bunch of those in the CW.

Kind of a blunt force thing to see it in print, eh?

I do apologize for the reference to an obscenity.

 

[K Hale]

But it's so fitting!

 

[wilber6150]

Sherman's refusal to shake hands with Stanton at the Washington Grand Review is one of my favorite moments of the war.

Im trying to find out more about this incident does anyone have anything on it?

 

[K Hale]

Im trying to find out more about this incident does anyone have anything on it?

Sherman came up onto the reviewing stand and cut Stanton dead, walked right past him. Ellen Sherman was mortified and invited Mrs. Stanton to tea, or some such.

I have pictures from the Grand Review...

Sherman is over on the right, wearing white gloves and talking up a storm to Gideon Welles. I think that's George Thomas next to him. Looks like Meade in the center and of course Grant over on the left. I can't ID any of the others.

Now Stanton appears in the picture next to Grant, second from left. Sherman still yakking to Welles. I wonder if Stanton is giving the stink-eye in Sherman's direction.

 

[Glorybound]

Great photos K. Don't think I've ever seen these. Thanks.

 

[pamc153PA]

Who's the guy all the way over on the right in the second picture? And the women in the back row--wives?

I liked those pics! It's fun to see candids of the CW, not just posed shots.

 

[Nathanb1]

Sherman came up onto the reviewing stand and cut Stanton dead, walked right past him. Ellen Sherman was mortified and invited Mrs. Stanton to tea, or some such.

I have pictures from the Grand Review...

Sherman is over on the right, wearing white gloves and talking up a storm to Gideon Welles. I think that's George Thomas next to him. Looks like Meade in the center and of course Grant over on the left. I can't ID any of the others.

Now Stanton appears in the picture next to Grant, second from left. Sherman still yakking to Welles. I wonder if Stanton is giving the stink-eye in Sherman's direction.

Andrew Johnson next to Grant.

 

[K Hale]

Andrew Johnson next to Grant.

Yeah! Who is the man on the far right in the second picture? He looks famous.

 

[Elennsar]

Grant looks like he would rather be elsewhere. Almost like he wants to hide something.

Maybe its just the way the picture is cropped, and Grant's sad look in general, but its rather striking.

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/july/abraham-lincoln-cabinet.htm

I think we see Bates, if I am applying my identification from this correctly.