HEADQUARTERS 15 ARMY
CORPS,
BEFORE VICKSBURG, April
29th, 1863.
. . . He [Grant] is down at Carthage, the fleet is below
Vicksburg, and I was on the point of following when the order was
countermanded; then I got an order that he would like to have a feint made on
Haines' Bluff, provided I did not fear the people might style it a repulse. I
wrote him to make his plans founded on as much good sense as possible and let
the people mind their own business. He had ordered me to attack Vicksburg and I
had done so. Now to divert attention from his movement against Grand Gulf he
wants another demonstration up Yazoo. Of course I will make it and let the
people find out when they can if it be a repulse or no. I suppose we must ask
the people in the press, i. e. some half-dozen little whipsnappers who
represent the press, but are in fact spies in our camp, too lazy, idle, and
cowardly to be soldiers. These must be consulted before I can make a simulated
attack on Haines' Bluff in aid to Grant and Porter that I know are in a tight
place at Grand Gulf. Therefore prepare yourself for another blast against
Sherman blundering and being repulsed at Haines' whilst McClernand charges
gallantly ashore and carries Grand Gulf, etc. But when they take Grand Gulf
they have the elephant by the tail. I say the whole plan is hazardous in the
extreme, but I will do all I can to aid Grant. Should, as the papers now
intimate, Grant be relieved and McClernand left in command you may expect to
hear of me at St. Louis, for I will not serve under McClernand. . . . I start
in an hour to make the demonstration up the Yazoo. I shall have ten regiments
of infantry, two ironclads, the Mohawk and De Kalb, and a parcel
of mosquitoes. I don't expect a fight, but a devil of noise to make believe and
attract any troops in motion from Vicksburg towards Grand Gulf back. I think
Grant will make a safe lodgment at Grand Gulf, but the real trouble is and will
be the maintenance of the army there. If the capture of Holly Springs made him
leave the Tallahatchie, how much more precarious is his position now below
Vicksburg with every pound of provision, forage and ammunition to float past
the seven miles of batteries at Vicksburg or be hauled thirty-seven miles along
a narrow boggy road. I will be up Yazoo about three days. . . . I am not
concerned about the Cincinnati Gazette. The correspondent's insinuations
against Grant and myself about cotton are ridiculous. Grant is honest as old
Jack Taylor, and I am a cotton-burner. I have even forbidden all dealing in
cotton and not an officer of my command ever owned a bale. As to myself, I
would burn every parcel of it as the bone of contention and apple of discord.
Now that Mr. Chase has undertaken to manage cotton as well as finance I wish
him a good time with it. . . .
SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of
General Sherman, p. 256-8. 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 2/03.
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