John Sherman

HON. JOHN SHERMAN.

One of the greatest of Ohio’s sons, as well as one of the most prominent and influential of our national characters, passed away in the person of John Sherman, who departed this life October 22, 1900, at his home in Washington, D. C. He was buried at Mansfield. Mr. Sherman belonged to a distinguished family. America has produced families no less illustrious than those of old England or the Continental countries. But America’s families are eminent through the law of heredity and not the law of patent nobility. The Adamses and Washburns, the Harrisons, the Bayards and the Shermans are notable examples of this law.

John Sherman was born in Lancaster, Ohio, May 10, 1823. He was descended from a long line of Puritan ancestors in Massachusetts and Connecticut. His father, Charles Robert Sherman, was a man of great legal ability and acumen. He was elected by the legislature as a judge of the supreme court of Ohio in 1823, and served until his death, June 24, 1829. Judge Sherman left a wife, eleven children and no property. The children had to “shift for themselves.” The school of life was their academy. They graduated with the highest honors. After Judge Sherman’s death, John came to Mt. Vernon to live with a cousin. In 1837, at the age of fourteen, he obtained a position as rodsman on the government works on the Muskingum river, but after two years’ service was dismissed because of his open advocacy of the principles of the Whig party. He then turned his attention to the law, came to Mansfield, took up his residence with his brother Charles, in whose office he pursued his legal studies and was admitted to the Bar May 11, 1844. His public and political career began with his being a delegate from Ohio to the National Whig convention at Philadelphia in 1848, of which body he was secretary. In 1854 he was elected to congress as an anti-Nebraska Republican from the Thirteenth (Mansfield) district. He was re-elected to congress in 1856, 1858 and 1860. In the thirty-sixth congress (1858) he was the Republican candidate for speaker and came within two votes of being elected. On March 23, 1861, Mr. Sherman took his seat in the United States senate, to which he had been elected by the Ohio legislature. He was reelected to the senate in 1856, in 1872, 1881, 1886 and 1892. In 1867 he introduced the Refunding act, which was adopted in 1870, without the resumption clause. In 1874, he introduced the famous Resumption act, which passed the senate the same year and the

* house early in 1875. This bill fixed the date for its going into effect as January 1, 1879. In 1877, Mr. Sherman was appointed secretary of the treasury by President Hayes, and thus had the interesting and unique experience of carrying out the crowning triumph of his fiscal policy, which he, as senator, had originated and advocated. The resumption of specie payments by the government was accomplished, despite the dismal forebodings of other acknowledged financiers. He resigned the senatorship March 4, 1897, to accept the office of secretary of state in President McKinley’s cabinet. He occupied this position until April 28, 1898, when the arduous duties incident to his office and his own declining health necessitated his retirement from public life — a public life extending over half a century, a period of service almost unparalleled in American history.

In 1880, John Sherman was the most prominent candidate for the presidency, but James A. Garfield’s speech, in nominating Mr. Sherman so captivated the convention, that the nominator himself became the nominee of the party. Again in 1884, Mr. Sherman’s name was formally presented to the National convention, but James G. Blaine was nominated. In 1888 John Sherman was the foremost candidate in the National convention, leading all others in several ballots, but Benjamin Harrison was nominated.

John Sherman was no ordinary man. He averaged above the level of modern statesmen. From the beginning of the Civil war to the time of his retirement in 1898, Mr. Sherman was a most notable figure in the halls of congress for many years. He was four times elected to the House of Representatives and six times to the United States Senate. He was twice a cabinet officer. Such a career was only possible to a man of high qualities and commanding talent. In his long and unbroken official career, Mr. Sherman held the confidence of the public, not only of his native state, but the entire country, and will be classed in history as a statesman and politician of the highest class. He was an influential participant in many of the great events of our national, history during the period of the Civil war, and the days of the subsequent reconstruction. He was a close student of all economical and political questions. He was not an enthusiast nor a popular orator. He never posed for applause, he never “played to the grand stand,” he never indulged in the graces of rhetoric, he was never magnetic. He was cold, austere and dignified. His mind was not brilliant, but legal and judicial. His power of analysis was remarkable. His reasoning clear and logical, and his conclusions convincing. He was listened to and followed and elected, because of the belief that he was a safe guide. In sentiment and speech he lacked descriptive power, humor, wit, geniality and pathos. Like Brutus, he “only spoke right on.” He was a man of indomitable industry, he ever worshiped at the shrine of work. He succeeded more by close application than all else. He was never a demagogue. He was a natural financier. Monetary matters were the normal subjects of his mind and study; the favorite field of his thought and action, as military affairs were to his distinguished brother, General William Tecumseh Sherman, who was one of our greatest soldiers and chieftains.

hon. john sherman's last speech.

Mr. Sherman's last appearance before a public audience was at the annual meeting of the Richland County Historical society held in the common pleas court room of the Mansfield courthouse, Saturday, June 2, 1900. Mr. Sherman was at home for the summer, and was invited to attend the meeting. He came in during the afternoon session, and as he entered the room, the audience rose to receive him, and the officers of the society advanced and extended him hearty greetings, and having acknowledged the same, Mr. Sherman walked over to Judge Sloane, grasped him by the hand and the two engaged for a few moments in conversation, after which he spoke to and shook hands with a number of persons in the audience. He then took the seat which had been assigned to him. At the conclusion of Judge Sloane’s address, Senator Sherman was called upon for remarks, and spoke briefly, as follows:

“Mr. President, Friends and Neighbors:

“I am overcome by your most friendly greeting and enthusiastic reception, so unexpected and so complimentary. When I entered this room I had no idea of making a speech. You ought to have called on some of these other men who could have given you a better one; there is George Carpenter and there is (naming different men who were in the audience) all these men ought to say something. But I can assure you that it is a great pleasure to be with you today and to listen with you to the very able, interesting and instructive address by my old friend, Judge Sloane, of Sandusky, who has given us an address which is every word history, real truthful history, and from which all of us may learn. It is full of interesting facts and data and sketches of pioneer days in Northern Ohio. It will be valuable to preserve; teachers and scholars in the public schools and students of history should read the address carefully. It is complete in data and statistics. You can not expect an address from me after this address of Mr. Sloane on our Pioneer days and I will only attempt to tell you how glad I am to be here and what a great pleasure it is for me to be with you my friends upon this occasion and to see around me so many old familiar friends whom I have known so long and so well. This has been my home nearly all my life, having lived here more than sixty years, and while called by public duties for a portion of my time each year to Washington yet I have always been glad to return to my Mansfield home and I can never forget the kindness shown me here, the friendships, the honors heaped upon me by friends and neighbors here in Ohio, but I am taking more of your time than I had intended and must bring my remarks to a close. Again I thank you one and all for your kind welcome and wish you all God's blessing."

Senator Sherman's speech, although brief, was specially noteworthy as the last public address in his long and eventful career, and was his last appearance before a public audience. His death occurred a few months later.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

As printed in History of Richland County, Ohio, from 1808 to 1908 : also biographical sketches of prominent citizens of the county (1908). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.