WASHINGTON, D. C.,
August 17, 1861.
. . . I have not undressed of a night since Bull Run, and
the volunteers will not allow of sleep by day. Two regiments have mutinied,
claiming that the United States has no right to hold their services. Under the
influence of a battery of artillery and squadron of regular cavalry the number
who refused duty dwindled down to sixty-five in one regiment and thirty-five in
another, all of whom were marched down to the Navy Yard and placed in irons on
board a man-of-war. The remainder of the men and officers of these regiments
are sick of the war and want to go home. McClellan still thinks Beauregard will
attack the city. Most assuredly he should do so, but it may be he will not.
I was over here a few days ago and met Robert Anderson who
sent for me today. It seems he is to organize some kind of a force in Kentucky
and Tennessee to support the general government, and has asked for me. The
President agrees to send me as soon as McClellan can spare me and McClellan
will not leave me go, until he conceives the city to be out of danger — say one
week – then I am to be sent into Kentucky post haste. Whether I am to be
allowed to stop a day at Lancaster or not I cannot imagine, but I suppose not.
I will endeavor to stop to see you for a moment, but I know how it will be — McClellan
will not relieve me from duty till the latest moment, when Anderson will be
calling for me in Kentucky. The bluer the times the more closely should one
cling to his country. . . .
I do not know why we should not have a government. The old
government was as mild as any on earth, and it may be that it is the best; but
true it is, its administration had become very corrupt. Even now, it is hard to
hold her people to their allegiance; but we must have a future, and a
government, and I will not attempt to advise or guide events till I see some
end to this muddle. Thus far, the Union party has the worst of the fight, and
our armies are too scattered. If they order me to any place I'll go if I can.
With Anderson I suppose we will have to go into Kentucky and Tennessee to
organize an army in the face of that prejudice which you complained so much
about in Missouri. That prejudice pervades the public mind and it will take
years to overcome. In all the southern states, they have succeeded in
impressing the public mind that the North is governed by a mob (of which
unfortunately there is too much truth) and in the South that all is chivalry
and gentility.
Out of this chaos some order in time must arise, but how or
when I cannot tell. . . .
I have just sworn in as a Brigadier General, and therefore I
suppose I might as well admit the title. . . .
SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of
General Sherman, p. 215-7. A full copy of this letter can
be found in the William
T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives
(UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 1/139.
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