ATLANTA, GA., September 11, 1864.
Maj.
Gen. W. T. SHERMAN:
SIR: We,
the undersigned, mayor and two of the council for the city of Atlanta, for the
time being the only legal organ of the people of the said city to express their
wants and wishes, ask leave most earnestly, but respectfully, to petition you
to reconsider the order requiring them to leave Atlanta. At first view it
struck us that the measure would involve extraordinary hardship and loss, but
since we have seen the practical execution of it so far as it has progressed,
and the individual condition of the people, and heard their statements as to
the inconveniences, loss, and suffering attending it, we are satisfied that the
amount of it will involve in the aggregate consequences appalling and
heart-rending. Many poor women are in advanced state of pregnancy; others now
having young children, and whose husbands, for the greater part, are either in
the army, prisoners, or dead. Some say, “I have such an one sick at my house;
who will wait on them when I am gone?” Others say, “what are we to do? We have no
house to go to, and no means to buy, build, or rent any; no parents, relatives,
or friends to go to.” Another says, “I will try and take this or that article
of property, but such and such things I must leave behind, though I need them
much.” We reply to them, “General Sherman will carry your property to Rough and
Ready, and General Hood will take it thence on,” and they will reply to that, “but
I want to leave the railroad at such place and cannot get conveyance from there
on.”
We only
refer to a few facts to try to illustrate in part how this measure will operate
in practice. As you advanced the people north of this fell back, and before
your arrival here a large portion of the people had retired south, so that the
country south of this is already crowded and without houses enough to
accommodate the people, and we are informed that many are now staying in
churches and other outbuildings. This being so, how is it possible for the
people still here (mostly women and children) to find any shelter? And how can
they live through the winter in the woods? No shelter or subsistence, in the
midst of strangers who know them not, and without the power to assist them
much, if they were willing to do so. This is but a feeble picture of the
consequences of this measure. You know the woe, the horrors and the suffering
cannot be described by words; imagination can only conceive of it, and we ask
you to take these things into consideration. We know your mind and time are
constantly occupied with the duties of your command, which almost deters us
from asking your attention to this matter, but thought it might be that you had
not considered this subject in all of its awful consequences, and that on more
reflection you, we hope, would not make this people an exception to all mankind,
for we know of no such instance ever having occurred; surely none such in the
United States, and what has this helpless people done, that they should be
driven from their homes to wander strangers and outcasts and exiles, and to
subsist on charity? We do not know as yet the number of people still here; of
those who are here, we are satisfied a respectable number, if allowed to remain
at home, could subsist for several months without assistance, and a respectable
number for a much longer time, and who might not need assistance at any time.
In conclusion, we most earnestly and solemnly petition you to reconsider this
order, or modify it, and suffer this unfortunate people to remain at home and
enjoy what little means they have.
Respectfully submitted.
JAMES M. CALHOUN,
Mayor.
E. E. RAWSON,
S.C. WELLS,
Councilmen.
SOURCES:
John Bell Hood, Advance and Retreat, p. 238-9; The War of
the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and
Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 39, Part 2 (Serial No. 78), p.
417-8
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