title: Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan Volume 1
author: P. H. Sheridan
description: (Volume 1 details his ancestry and childhood through 1864, illustrations and maps)  Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831  August 5, 1888) was one of the Unions greatest heroes during the Civil War, earning lasting fame for his work in both the West and the East. One of General Grants closest and most trusted generals, Sheridan led the cavalry corps in the East from 1864 to the end of the war, burning the Shenandoah Valley, keeping Jeb Stuarts cavalry at bay during the Overland campaign (and mortally wounding Stuart at Yellow Tavern). Sheridan also pierced the Army of Northern Virginias line during the siege of Petersburg, defeating George Pickett at the Battle of Five Forks and leading to the capitulation of Richmond and Petersburg on April 2, 1865. Lee would surrender on April 9, thanks in no small part to Sheridans pursuit of his retreating army.
  
  But Sheridan was far from done with his military career. He became one of the instrumental figures in the Indian Wars on the Great Plains, effectively subjugating the natives as the United States pressed westward. Historians today criticize his brutal treatment of the natives. He also served as an observer during the Franco-Prussian War over in Europe, and he covers all of these events in his memoirs.
zlib_text: # PERSONAL MEMOIRES OF P. H. SHERIDAN, VOLUME 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 ch