GENERAL PHILIP HENRY
SHERIDAN
~ Post Civil War ~
At the end of the war Sheridan was sent to Texas to maintain
peace with Mexico. Napoleon III had installed Maximilian and
Carlota to the throne of Mexico. By maneuvering and threats he
was able to install peace and force France to withdraw their
claims. After serving sometime in New Orleans, La. as head of
Reconstruction he was relieved after much controversy and was
ordered to take command of the Department of the Missouri in
Sept. 1867. Here he was ordered to subdue the Indians and place
them on reservations. Several treaties were drawn up, few of
which were kept due to the white man's encroachment on the Indian
reservations.
In 1869, after Grant became president and General Sherman
became General of the Army, Sheridan was appointed lieutenant
general with headquarters in Chicago. In this capacity he
traveled throughout the west and from this knowledge was later
instrumental in having Yellowstone declared a national park. He
also went to Europe as an observer with Prussia in the French and
Prussian War. Returning to Chicago he presided over the Great
Chicago Fire of October 7-8, 1871. He brought troops into the
city to stop looters and directed fire fighting and
reconstruction.
On June 3, 1875, Sheridan married Miss Irene Rucker, the
youngest daughter of Gen. Daniel H. Rucker. She was 22 years
younger than Phil. The couple had four children --- Mary, Irene
and Louise (twins), and Philip Henry Jr. None of the girls
married. Philip Jr. married and had a son, Philip II. In 1883
Gen. Sherman reached retirement age. Lieutenant General Sheridan
assumed the nation's highest military office at the comparative
youthful age of fifty-two. In 1887 he had built a summer cottage
in Nonquit, Mass. overlooking Martha's Vineyard. The next year he
suffered a series of heart attacks. Congress revived the grade of
full General and he was given his fourth star by President Grover
Cleveland. He was the fourth man in U.S. history to be so
honored. (Washington, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan) At 10:30
p.m., Sunday, August 5, 1888, Philip Henry Sheridan passed away
at Nonquit, Mass. He lay in state at St. Matthew's Church in
Washington, D. C., and was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery
August 11th. General Sheridan's father and mother, brothers
Patrick and John, and sister Mary are buried in Holy Trinity
Cemetery in Somerset, Ohio. Brother Michael, who was Phil's aide
during the Civil War, is buried in Arlington Cemetery.
~ Compiled by Bob Miller, Somerset, Ohio
