Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant		Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman

Sherman and Grant met at West Point when Sherman was a senior classman and Grant a 17 year old boy. They were not friends at the Academy because Sherman was three years ahead of the younger man. They met again briefly in St. Louis in the 1850's, but did not see each other again until the beginning of the civil war. Their relationship was cemented during the battle of Shiloh and thereafter, Grant and Sherman were close, though their friendship was severely tested when Grant became President. On the surface, they were dissimilar, but the differences never hindered their affection for each other. Sherman was nervous, volatile, emotional, and it was physically impossible for him to stay seated. Grant was as calm and content to sit for hours, scarcely moving. Even the way they smoked cigars betrayed their basic differences: Sherman lit one from the other, never finishing a smoke, tossing it away excitably after a few vigorous puffs. Grant smoked reflectively and slowly. Sherman was active and volcanic, Grant was placid and unhurried. Despite their different personalities, Grant and Sherman were a lethal combination in the civil war. Always subordinate, Sherman respected and trusted Grant's judgment implicitly. Only once, during the Vicksburg campaign, did Sherman openly question Grant's orders, when he predicted the campaign would result in disaster. When Vicksburg surrendered, Sherman was the first to congratulate his chief and freely admitted he had been wrong. Grant was intense in his loyalty and covered Sherman's back on several occasions. At Chattanooga, Joe Hooker's performance was creditable and Sherman's contributions negligent, but in the official report of the battle, Grant reversed praise and blame. He extolled Sherman to the detriment of Hooker, whom he distrusted and thought immoral. He never missed a chance in praising Sherman in conversation or in his correspondence. In most cases, Sherman reciprocated, but as the years went by, he could be brutally critical of his friend. Some of this was due to his innate excitability, and he said whatever came to to mind. Sometimes Sherman forgot that whatever he said in private usually became public. It embarrassed him when some of his more intemperate remarks found their way into the newspapers. One of Grant's failings was his blind trust in the judgments of other people, and jealous subalterns tried to turn Grant against Sherman in the 1870's. They were not successful, but Sherman was hurt and irritated that Grant had lent them an ear. The publication of his Memoirs in 1875 offended the President's loyal sycophants who whispered, "You won't find yourself in the book, General. It seems Sherman doesn't think you were in the war." Horrified, Grant retired to his cottage at Long Branch, sat down with the 2-volume work and laboriously went over it with a pencil. He admitted he was as hurt as he had ever been at the possibility of Sherman denigrating him in print. Ultimately, Grant thought the book was more than fair to him and found little fault with Sherman's . During his trip around the world, Grant's letters to Sherman remained warm and trusting. On one occasion the General approached his traveling companion, John Russell Young, and emotionally waved a piece of paper. "Read this letter from Sherman," he said with tears in his eyes. "People may wonder why I love Sherman. How could I help loving Sherman - and he has always been the same during the thirty years I have known him. He was so at West Point." Sherman continued to visit Grant up until his final illness and was a pall bearer at his funeral. Below are some of the more telling and powerful comments that Sherman made about his his commanding officer: "He is as brave as any man should be, he has won several victories such as Donelson, which ought to entitle him to universal praise, but his rivals have succeeded in pulling him down. He is not a brilliant man... but he is a good and brave soldier, tried for years; is sober, very industrious and as kind as a child. Yet he has been held up as careless, criminal, a drunkard, tyrant and everything horrible." - in a letter to Ellen Sherman, June 6, 1862 "I believe you are as brave, patriotic and just as the great prototype Washington; as unselfish, kind-hearted and honest as a man should be; but the chief characteristic is the simple faith in success which I can liken to nothing else than the faith a Christian has in a a Savior. My only points of doubt were in your knowledge of grand strategy, and of books of science and history, but I confess your common sense have supplied all these. I know wherever I was that you thought of me, and if I got in a tight place you would come if alive. - in a letter to USG, 3-10-1864 "General Grant is so absorbed in his politics that he seems to forget his old associations and obligations. I will do nothing to complicate him, but I must look out for myself. General Grant has gone back on me and I fear on the Army itself. his reasons (for doing so) I am unable to fathom unless toadies are trying to step between us." - in a letter to John Sherman, 1871. "I do not feel that General Grant is as true to his friends as they have been to him; yet I see no alternative - for there is no better man who is willing to be in his place." - in a letter to Warner, 3-26-72 "Grant is the greatest soldier of our time if not of all time... he fixes in his mind what is the true objective and abandons all minor ones... he dismisses all possibilities of defeat. He believes in himself and in victory. If his plan goes wrong he is never disconcerted but promptly devises a new one and is sure to win in the end. Grant more nearly personified the American character of 1861-5 than any other living man. Therefore he will stand as the typical hero of the great Civil War in America." -to General Ruslin and to the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, 1866. "Grant was not the saint and perfect man described by panegyrists, but had some human infirmities and weaknesses which would have clouded any public character of less strength. He played poker all through his presidential career for money. Instead of getting up and leaving when stories were told involving obscenity with wit... he stayed and encouraged them by his hearty laughter and enjoyment. I know of too many things behind the curtain to go further than I have gone, and therefore want to stop right here." - in a letter to the President of Harvard, 1889. "I have stood by Grant in his days of sorrow. He sat in his tent (at Corinth, 1862), almost weeping at the accumulated charges against him. He had made up his mind to leave for good. I begged him, and he yielded. I could see his good points and his weak points better than I could my own, and he now feels I stood by him in his days of dejection and he is my sworn friend." - in a letter to Ellen. My Source: Ulysses S. Grant Homepage