Rights for this book: Public domain in the USA. This edition is published by Project Gutenberg. Originally issued by Project Gutenberg on 2004-06-01. To support the work of Project Gutenberg, visit their Donation Page. This free ebook has been produced by GITenberg, a program of the Free Ebook Foundation. If you have corrections or improvements to make to this ebook, or you want to use the source files for this ebook, visit the book's github repository. You can support the work of the Free Ebook Foundation at their Contributors Page. The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of General Philip H. Sheridan, Vol. I., Part 1, by Philip H. Sheridan This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: The Memoirs of General Philip H. Sheridan, Vol. I., Part 1 Author: Philip H. Sheridan Release Date: June 2, 2004 [EBook #5854] Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF GENERAL SHERIDAN *** Produced by David Widger MEMOIRS OF GENERAL SHERIDAN, Vol. I., Part 1 PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF P. H. SHERIDAN CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Ancestry—Birth—Early Education—A Clerk in a Grocery Store—Appointment—Monroe Shoes—Journey to West Point—Hazing—A Fisticuff Battle Suspended —Returns to Clerkship—Graduation CHAPTER II. Ordered to Fort Duncan, Texas—"Northers"—Scouting Duty—Hunting—Nearly Caught by the Indians— A Primitive Habitation—A Brave Drummer Boy's Death —A Mexican Ball CHAPTER III. Ordered to Fort Reading, Cal.—A Dangerous Undertaking —A Rescued Soldier—Discovering Indians —Primitive Fishing—A Deserted Village —Camping Opposite Fort Vancouver CHAPTER IV. "Old Red"—Skillful Shooting—The Yalima War —A Ludicrous Mistake—Cut-mouth John's Encounter —Father Pandoza's Mission—A Snow-Storm —Failure of the Expedition CHAPTER V. An Indian Confederation—Massacre at the Cascades of the Columbia—Plan to Relieve the Block-House —A Hazardous Movement— A New Method of Establishing Guilt—Execution of the Indian Murderers CHAPTER VI. Misdirected Vengeance — Honorable Mention —A Change of Command—Educated Oxen—Feeding the Indians—Purchasing a Burying-Ground —Knowing Rats CHAPTER VII. Learning the Chinook Language—Strange Indian Customs —Their Doctors—Sam Patch—The Murder of a Woman —In a Tight Place—Surprising the Indians —Conflicting Reports of the Battle of Bull Run —Secession Question in California—Appointed a Captain—Transferred to the East CHAPTER VIII. Auditing Accounts—Chief Quartermaster and Commissary of the Army of Southwest Missouri—Preparing for the Pea Ridge Campaign—A Difference with General Curtis—Ordered to the Front—Appointed a Colonel ILLUSTRATIONS Steel Portrait—General P. H. Sheridan Lieutenant Williamson's Trail from Fort Reading, Cal., to Fort Vancouver Lieutenant Sheridan's Fight at the Cascades of the Columbia in 1856 VOLUME I. PART 1. By Philip Henry Sheridan PREFACE When, yielding to the solicitations of my friends, I finally decided to write these Memoirs, the greatest difficulty which confronted me was that of recounting my share in the many notable events of the last three decades, in which I played a part, without entering too fully into the history of these years, and at the same time without giving to my own acts an unmerited prominence. To what extent I have overcome this difficulty I must leave the reader to judge. In offering this record, penned by my own hand, of the events of my life, and of my participation in our great struggle for national existence, human liberty, and political equality, I make no pretension to literary merit; the importance of the subject-matter of my narrative is my only claim on the reader's attention. Respectfully dedicating this work to my comrades in arms during the War of the Rebellion, I leave it as a heritage to my children, and as a source of information for the future historian. P. H. SHERIDAN. Nonguitt, Mass., August 2, 1888 PERSONAL MEMOIRS P. H. SHERIDAN.