A manuscript journal kept by Col. Joseph Crain Audenried of the U. S. Army over the course of Gen. William T. Sherman's 10-month tour of Europe and the Middle East in 1871-72. The volume is datelined Washington D.C., 31 October 1871, and bears entries ranging from that day to 17 September 1872. Entries were made as circumstances allowed: some describe the events of a single day, and some a period of a week or more. In either case, they are effectively contemporaneous with the events they describe, and combine to provide a sustained and often detailed narrative of the trip. Sherman's tour was motivated by his deep disillusionment with circumstances in Washington and by a very real desire to travel in Europe, which he had never done. In a letter of 8 July 1871 to his brother John, he lamented his loss of authority, as General of the Army, to the Secretary of War: "My office has been by law stript of all the influence and prestige it possessed under Grant, and even in matters of discipline and army control I am neglected, overlooked, or snubbed." Thus Sherman readily accepted Rear Admiral James Alden's offer of passage to Europe aboard USS Wabash, flagship of the Navy's European Squadron. The President was agreeable to the plan, granting Sherman leave of absence, and the general sailed from New York on 17 November 1871. He would be gone for ten months, visiting Spain, France, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Switzerland, France again, and Great Britain. Sherman travelled as a private citizen —an "observing traveller", as he put it—and not as a representative of the government. But with prompting from the U. S. diplomatic corps, most of the capitals he visited were fully cognizant of his arrival: among the heads of state with whom he had audiences were Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, Pope Pius IX, the Ottoman Sultan Abdlaziz I, Tsar Alexander II of Russia, and Franz Joseph I of Austria. The tour was also an informal military fact-finding mission. Sherman visited the battlefields of the Crimean, Austro-Prussian, and Franco-Prussian wars, met with senior military personnel, toured forts, armories, and academies, and inspected troops. And, of course, he visited the monuments and natural wonders that were essential to any grand tour, with greater curiosity and enthusiasm than most. He was accompanied by Audenried almost the entire time; the only other aide-de-camp on the trip was the President's son, Lt. Fred Grant. The journal's text reveals very occasional, and minor, additions and corrections, presumably in Audenried's hand.