er the conclusion of the war General Sherman was, for four years,
stationed at St. Louis, as Commander of the Military Division of the
Mississippi. He was a notable public character, with a reputation for
bravery that none dare assail, and a record as a soldier that made him
one of the nation's heroes. He stood next to Grant in position, merit,
and popularity; and when, in 1869, General Grant was elected to the
presidency, Sherman, who had been named lieutenant-general in 1866,
was promoted to the vacant post as general of the army, with
head-quarters at Washington.

He visited Europe in 1871-72 and, both because of his own brilliant
record, and his official position as head of the American army, he was
everywhere received with honor and distinction. Returning home he
wrote his "Memoirs;" they were published in 1875, and stamped him, in
the opinion of critics, as "by far the ablest writer among America's
military men."

On February 8, 1884, he was placed upon the retired list--"turned out
to grass," as he expressed it, "and told I could spend the rest of my
days in peace and retirement." As an especial mark of the nation's
pride in his record, he was, as the order stated, "placed upon the
retired list of the army, without reduction in his current pay and
allowances," and the President in the same order publicly put on
record the gratitude of the American people "for the services of
incalculable value rendered by General Sherman in the War for the
Union, which his great military genius and daring did so much to end."
It was a fitting tribute to the man who had worn the uniform of his
country for forty years, faithful to every trust and equal to every
emergency, and who had risen through every grade from a cadetship and
a lieutenancy, to the proud eminence of General of the Armies of the
United States.

The twenty-six years that were his after the close of the great
struggle in which he had been one of the central figures, were filled
with a quiet enjoyment of life and a wide personal popularity.
Wherever he went he was a living hero, welcomed and honored as such by
the people who owed so much to his wise brain and his unsheathed
sword. He could have been President of the United States, had he been
willing to accept the nomination that was offered him; instead, he
declined with peremptory and characteristic bluntness, and he is, it
is believed, the only man who ever did refuse that high office.

After his retirement