Winding Up the Seminole War—Comedy and Tragedy in the Florida Wilderness—The Capture of Coacoochee—Service at Fort Moultrie—Getting Acquainted with the scene of His Greatest Campaign—Secession Talk—Outbreak of the Mexican War—Rebuked for too Much Zeal—The Long Voyage to California—Arrival at Monterey.

Immediately after his graduation at West Point, in June, 1840, Sherman received the usual leave of absence of three months. He hastened back to Lancaster, eager to be with Miss Ewing again, and spent most of the furlough there, visiting his relatives at Mansfield for a short time. Presently he received an appointment and commission as Second Lieutenant in the Third Artillery, and was ordered to report for duty at Governor's Island, New York, at the end of September. On going thither he was assigned by Major Justin Dimock, who commanded the recruiting rendezvous, to take charge of a company of recruits about to sail for Florida. Early in October this company, with three others, sailed for Savannah under command of Captain and Brevet Major Penrose. At Savannah they were transferred to a small steamer which took them by the inland route to St. Augustine, Florida. General Worth arrived at St. Augustine at the same time with the Eighth Infantry, and General Zachary Taylor had then the chief command in Florida, with headquarters at Tampa.

Sherman was now detached from the company of recruits, which belonged to the Second Infantry, and sent to join his own regiment at Fort Pierce, on the Indian River. He went thither by steamer and anchored off the bar of Indian River. A whale boat came out and took him and his baggage with the mails through the surf over the bar, and into the mouth of Indian River Inlet. There he was transferred to a smaller boat and pulled through a channel among the Mangrove Islands. It was now night and thousands of pelicans and other birds were roused from their roosts on the islands, while the water about them swarmed with fish which could be seen in the phosphoric wake of the boat. The pilot entertained Sherman with many stories of the Indian War, which was then in progress, and of hunting and fishing in the Florida wilderness. Thus they made their way up to Fort Pierce, which was situated on a sand bluff. There were six or seven log houses thatched with palmetto leaves, for the officers quarters, and large log barracks for the men. Sherman was at once assigned to service with Company A, commanded by Lieutenant Taylor.

No Indian fighting was at this time in progress, so Sherman spent a part of his time hunting, and fishing with the pilot who brought him up the river. Thus he learned the arts of shark spearing, trolling for red fish, and taking sheep's head and mullet, which were found there in great abundance. He also caught many green turtles in nets, these animals being so common that the soldiers actually grew tired of eating them and preferred salt beef. In November, however, operations against the Indians began. This work consisted chiefly in capturing scattered fragments of the Seminole tribe and sending them on to the Indian Territory. The expeditions were mostly made in boats, and there was seldom much fighting. One day, however, several Indian warriors were killed. One of the soldiers, Sergeant Broderick, was so elated at his skill in shooting an Indian, that on returning to the post he got very drunk. While in this condition he became too attentive to the wife of one of his comrades, and the injured husband, a half-witted man, appealed to Lieutenant Taylor for protection. Taylor carelessly replied: "Haven't you got a musket? Can't you defend your own family?" An hour later the husband actually did shoot and kill Broderick. For this he was arrested and sent to St. Augustine, Lieutenant Taylor and the pilot, Ashlock, going along as witnesses.

About a month later, Ashlock re-appeared in his old boat with two uncommonly pretty women, aged about fourteen and eighteen respectively. They were sisters, and the elder was introduced as Mrs. Ashlock. The pilot had met and married her during the progress of the murder trial at St. Augustine. Soon after, Ashlock, leaving the ladies at the Fort, started back with the whale boat across the bar. In crossing the bar the boat was upset by the surf, and Ashlock and all his crew but one man were drowned, Ashlock himself, strangely enough, being unable to swim. The bereaved ladies were courteously cared for by the officers, and presently returned to St. Augustine. Sherman afterward met these ladies again at St. Augustine, and yet again he saw the younger one many years later at Charleston, South Carolina. She was then happily married to an army officer, who had a fad for inventing new guns, etc., upon which Sherman did not look with much favor; he was bothered with too many would-be geniuses. And thus ended this romance of the Florida wilderness.

One day in the summer of 1841 a number of Indians came to the post accompanied by a negro named Joe, who spoke English. They said they had been sent in by the famous Seminole Chief, Coacoochee, or Wild Cat, and showed a passport signed by General Worth who had succeeded General Taylor in supreme command at Tampa. They said that Coacoochee himself was close by and would come to the post "if it was all right." Major Childs said it was all right, and sent Sherman with eight or ten mounted men to accompany Joe, and one Indian, to bring in the great chief. Six or seven miles away they found Coacoochee, a handsome young Indian of twenty-five years, and a dozen other warriors, and invited them to go to the Fort. They had some little difficulty in persuading them to do so, but finally Coacoochee dressed himself in all his finery and went to the Fort. There he said he was tired of the war and wanted to go with his people to the Indian Territory, but he wanted rations for a month, which time it would take to get his people together for the journey. This was agreed to and then the great chief got gloriously drunk. A few days later he went away, but frequently sent back messengers for more whiskey and provisions. At the end of the month he was but little nearer ready to travel than before.

A council was accordingly called, at which Coacoochee became drunk again. Then Sherman and some of his men put the whole party in irons, and they were promptly shipped off to the Indian Territory. Among Sherman's associates were Lieutenants Ransom, Ord, George H. Thomas, Field, and Van Vliet, all of whom afterward attained distinction. Writing from Fort Pierce in 1841, Sherman gave this sketch of his existence there: "Books we have few, but it is no use—we cannot read any but the lightest trash; and even the newspapers, which you would suppose we would devour, require a greater effort of mind to reach than we possess. We attribute it to the climate, and bring up these lazy native Minorcans as examples, and are satisfied. Yet, of course, we must do something, however little.... The Major and I have a parcel of chickens in which we have, by competition, taken enough interest to take up a few minutes of the day; besides I have a little fawn to play with, and crows, a crane, etc., and if you were to enter my room you would doubt whether it was the abode of man or beasts. In one corner is a hen, setting; in another, some crows, roosted on bushes; the other is a little bed of bushes for the little fawn; whilst in the fourth is my bucket, washbasin, glass, etc. So you see it is three to one." Again: "I have yet more pets than any bachelor in the country—innumerable chickens, tame pigeons, white rabbits and a full-blooded Indian pony—rather small matters for a man to deal with, you doubtless think, but it is far better to spend time in trifles, such as these, than in drinking or gambling."

Life in Florida did not lessen his fancy for the Western frontier. "We hear that the new Secretary of War intends proposing to the next Congress to raise two rifle regiments for the Western service. As you are in Washington I presume you can learn whether it is so or not, for I should like to go in such a regiment, if stationed in the Far West; not that I am the least displeased with my present berth, but when the regiment goes North, it will, in all likelihood, be stationed in the vicinity of some city, from which, God spare me." Lieutenant Sherman prided himself on his downright way of saying things, and in one of his letters he wrote: "If you have any regard for my feelings, don't say the word 'insinuation' again. You may abuse me as much as you please; but I'd prefer, of the two, to be accused of telling a direct falsehood than stating anything evasively or underhand; and if I have ever been guilty of such a thing it was unintentionally."

On November 30th, 1841, Sherman was promoted to be First Lieutenant of Company G, and was ordered on duty at St. Augustine, which place he reached before Christmas. He had a pleasant time there, but in February he was sent on to Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay, Alabama. There he remained until June, when he was ordered to Charleston, South Carolina. There he remained at Fort Moultrie for nearly five years. His life there was one of strict garrison duty, with plenty of leisure for hunting and social entertainment. He formed many pleasant acquaintances in Charleston, especially among wealthy families, who spent the Summer on Sullivan's Island.

His duties and pleasures, did not, however, alienate him from the sweetheart of his boyhood, for he kept up as frequent and interesting a correspondence with Miss Ewing as he had done at West Point. In the summer of 1863 he got a leave of absence for three months and spent that time with her at Lancaster. In November of that year he set out to return to Charleston by way of New Orleans. Part of the way he travelled with Henry Stanbery, afterward Attorney General of the United States. At Cincinnati he spent some time with his two brothers, who were employed in the Gazette printing office. He spent a week at St. Louis, visiting the arsenal and Jefferson Barracks, and was much impressed with the future possibilities of the city, which then had only about 40,000 inhabitants. So he returned to Charleston, and there he was a busy student, concerning himself chiefly with observations of the country from a professional point of view. Says Mr. Reid in his "Ohio in the War": "Nothing could more strikingly exhibit the foundations of that wonderful knowledge of the topography and resources of the South which was afterwards to prove so valuable, than this scrap of a letter to Philemon Ewing: 'Every day I feel more and more in need of an atlas, such as your father has at home; and as the knowledge of geography, in its minutest details, is essential to a true military education, the idle time necessarily spent here might be properly devoted to it. I wish, therefore you would procure for me the best geography and atlas (not school) extant.'" Writing from Fort Moultrie he said: "Since my return I have not been running about in the city or the island, as heretofore, but have endeavored to interest myself in Blackstone. I have read all four volumes, Starkie on 'Evidence,' and other books, semi-legal and semi-historical, and would be obliged if you would give me a list of such books as you were required to read, not including your local or State law. I intend to read the second and third volumes of 'Blackstone' again; also 'Kent's Commentaries,' which seem, as far as I am capable of judging, to be the basis of the common law practice. This course of study I have adopted from feeling the want of it in the duties to which I was lately assigned.... I have no idea of making the law a profession; but as an officer of the army, it is my duty and interest to be prepared for any situation that fortune or luck may offer. It is for this alone that I prepare and not for professional practice."

Soon after getting back to Charleston he was assigned to duty in the upper part of Georgia and Alabama, and on this errand he travelled over the region in which, many years later, he conducted one of his greatest campaigns. Thus he acquired knowledge which was afterward of incalculable value to him and to the National Government.

In the winter of 1844–45, he was on a deer hunting expedition on the Carolina coast, and got his right arm thrown out of joint by an accident. Being thus disabled he got a leave of absence and went North, going as usual to the centre of attraction at Lancaster. In March he returned to Fort Moultrie, just at the time when Congress provided for the annexation of Texas and war with Mexico was expected. He remained at Fort Moultrie, however, for some time longer. Charleston was then a proud, aristocratic city, and considered itself a most important place in the Union. There was already much talk about the right of secession and there were often angry controversies over the subject, even at the officers' own mess-tables. But Sherman at this time had no idea that such talk would ever go further than it had already gone in 1832–33, when "Nullification" was so promptly stamped out by President Jackson and General Scott.

In the spring of 1846 Sherman was at Fort Moultrie, under the command of Captain, afterward General, Robert Anderson. Among other officers there at the time were Henry B. Judd, George B. Ayres, William Gates, Martin Burke, E.D. Keyes, T.W. Sherman, H.B. Field and Joseph Stewart. George H. Thomas and John F. Reynolds had already gone on to join General Taylor's army in Texas. In April, Sherman was sent to Governor's Island, New York, and thence to the recruiting station at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Soon after this he received authority to open a recruiting station at Zanesville, Ohio, to his great delight, for Lancaster and Miss Ewing were only thirty-six miles away.

When news arrived of the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma he became much excited at the prospect of actual war and hurried back to Pittsburgh. There he found a letter from his friend Ord, then at Baltimore, saying that his company had just received orders to go to California and urging him to go also. Sherman at once wrote to the Adjutant-General, at Washington, D.C., applying for active service. Then, in his impatience and without authority, he left a corporal in charge of his office and hastened to Cincinnati. There he reported to Colonel Fanning, a veteran officer, and asked to be sent on to the front. But Fanning, instead of appreciating the young soldier's zeal, gave him a hearty scoring for leaving his post without orders, and told him to get back to Pittsburgh as quickly as he could. Sherman obeyed, but of course stopped off at Lancaster on the way. He arrived at Pittsburgh late in June and found there awaiting him an order relieving him from the recruiting service and assigning him to Company F, then under orders for California. He made up his accounts, turned over the balance of cash to the physician, and in a few hours was on his way to New York where his company was already aboard ship and ready to sail for California by the way of Cape Horn.

Sherman and his fellow officers went aboard on July 14th, 1846, and set off on their long voyage. The "Lexington" was an old ship, formerly a sloop of war but now a store ship. Sherman and Ord roomed together. On the voyage they drilled the men as thoroughly as possible. They amused themselves with various games, but no gambling was allowed. On "crossing the line" a few of the greenhorns were put through the usual ceremonies, but the officers were exempted. In sixty days they reached Rio Janeiro, where they had a jolly time for a week. Sherman's companion in his rambles about town was Lieutenant, afterward General Halleck. They saw the Emperor and his family. Their first supper in the city was a sumptuous meal and the bill footed up to 26,000 reis. This sum staggered them, until they found out that it meant only about $16.

From Rio they proceeded to Cape Horn, which they rounded in very rough weather, and in sixty days reached Valparaiso, where they remained ten days. About the middle of January they neared the California coast, which they had to approach cautiously because no trustworthy charts were then in existence. They made their landing at Monterey, and there learned that the Californians had broken out into an insurrection, that the fleet under Commodore Stockton was down the coast near San Diego, that General Kearney had been defeated in battle, and that the whole country was in a pretty bad plight. Accordingly they got their weapons into shape for immediate use and expected to begin fighting the moment they set foot on the shore. It was January 26th, 1847, when they dropped anchor in the bay of Monterey, after a voyage of one hundred and ninety-eight days from New York.