Volume 14 , Issue 36

Sheridan On War - 1888

In The Evening bulletin, dated Thursday, November 29, 1888, published in Maysville Kentucky, there was an opinion expressed in General Sheridan's Memoirs. The following is what Gen. Sheridan thought of war, as expressed in his memoirs that were published in November, 1888.

Sheridan did not hold war to mean simply that lines of men shall engage each other in battle and material interests be ignored. He mentioned that war was but a duel, in which one combatant seeks the other's life; war means much more, and is far worse than this. He also wrote that those who rest at home in peace and plenty see but little of the horrors attending such a duel, and even grow indifferent to them as the struggle goes on, contenting themselves with encouraging all who are able-bodied to enlist in the cause, to fill up the shattered ranks as death thins them.

Sheridan's memoirs also stated, "It is another matter, however, when deprivation and suffering are brought to their own doors. Then the case appears much graver, for the loss of property weighs heavy with the most of mankind; heavier often than the sacrifices made on the field of battle. Death is popularly considered the maximum of punishment in war, but it is not; reduction to poverty brings prayers for peace more surely and more quickly than does the destruction of human life, as the selfishness of man has demonstrated in more than one great conflict."   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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