Friday, October 4, 2013

Brigadier General William T. Sherman to Thomas Ewing, April 27, 1862

April 27, 1862

We all knew we were assembling a vast army for an aggressive purpose. The President knew it. Halleck knew it, and the whole country knew it, and the attempt to throw blame on Grant is villainous. The fact is, if newspapers are to be our government, I confess I would prefer Bragg, Beauregard or anybody as my ruler, and I will persist in my determination never to be a leader responsible to such a power.

I am not in search of glory or fame, for I know I can take what position I choose among my peers.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 225-6 which states this letter was written to his father-in-law, Thomas Ewing; Scribner’s Magazine, Volume 45, No. 4, April 1909, p. 409, which states this letter was written to Sherman’s brother-in-law, Thomas Ewing, Jr.

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