Book excerpt: Although the first proper Notre Dame commencement - conferring degrees on two candidates - took place in 1849, General William Tecumseh Sherman was Notre Dame's first graduation speaker with a truly national reputation. He attended Notre Dame's ceremony in 1865, just months after accepting the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate army. Sherman, whose sons had been students at Notre Dame, came less to give an address than to utter words of thanks for the kindness shown to his family, who had found refuge in the area during the war. When prevailed upon to speak he offered some extemporaneous remarks, calling on Notre Dame graduates and students to be ready at all times to perform bravely the battle of life.