Sunday, June 8, 2014

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, February 22, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Division,
Fifteenth A. C, Young's Point, La.,
Opposite Vicksburg, Feb. 22, 1863.
My Dear Mother:

I send other papers, to show the condition and feeling of our army here towards General Sherman. The public have been systematically, basely, infamously imposed upon by the journals or their paid hirelings. God knows we have enough to endure from the apathy and indifference of friends at home to say nothing of traitors and open treason. You say “it may have been wise, but not well in General Sherman to muzzle the press.” You do not, cannot know all. General Sherman has had neither the power nor the will, to muzzle the press, but he has endeavored, and I am sorry to say, most unsuccessfully, to drive from among the camp followers of the army, the scoundrels, who by tergiversation, misrepresentations, and actual falsehood impose alike upon the credulity of the people and those who are honest among the conductors of the press. General Sherman has been actuated by the purest patriotism, and would not lend himself to the contemptible chicane and meanness by which certain individuals have been puffed up or written down. Therefore these villains have conspired and confederated together to slander him and villify his command.  One, . . . the correspondent of the New York . . . who wrote one of the most shamefully false articles of all that appeared (and all were false), describing the affair at Chickasas Bluffs, admitted to General Sherman, in my presence and in answer to my questions, that because General S. was known to be opposed to the presence of professional newspaper correspondents in the army, therefore he had determined to league with others of the fraternity who were here and revenge themselves by writing him down. That neither he nor they knew anything about him, but they had determined among themselves to renew the old slander of his insanity, because they supposed that would be most injurious to him. He also admitted that his letters were false, and based upon false information. This he did in writing, and was subsequently tried by court martial, his confreres, meanwhile, making their escape. His letter to the . . . was copied into the Vicksburg papers, and the enemy actually had the reading of it before we did, and became possessed of most valuable information to them. They had never regarded our falling back from the bluffs as a retreat, but supposed the withdrawal was stratagem on the part of Sherman, and cautioned their generals against the result. Immense plans were disarranged, and in consequence of their publications much public treasure has been wasted and many lives lost. We know that very many of these newspaper correspondents are paid spies. We know that many of them are in certain interests, some in that of cotton speculators, some in that of gold brokers, some paid by combinations of bankers, who all use the intelligence they give the people for the furtherance of specific views. Hence you perceive the mischievous tendency of the productions of these canaille against the public weal, as well as the government, but aside from this a far more terrible effect is produced in the demoralization of the army and the shaking of the confidence of the soldiers in their leaders. The withdrawal of the army from Chickasas was regarded as one of the most brilliant military achievements of the war, by the army. Officers were enthusiastic and it was regarded as equal to a victory in its effects upon the minds of the men. That the army was . . . in splendid condition for battle was evidenced by their conduct at Post Arkansas, immediately thereafter. Yet no sooner were the newspapers received than their spirits were dampened and their ardor cooled by the first intelligence they had received, that they had been defeated and that their favorite general was in disgrace (for they may say what they please in Ohio, General Sherman is the favorite of this army and to-day is the hero of the West in fact, whether he has the reputation or not). Very well! from whom does the information come to depress the feelings and outrage the sensibilities of the army? — not from the public at home, but through the public journals, who, to use the mildest terms, have been imposed upon by at most five or six individuals, each one of whom is infamous in character, and because of his infamy, is fit for his nefarious trade. They find themselves cramped, and with a fiendish malignity, gratify their private revenge at the expense of a nation. To pull down Sherman they would sacrifice his army, to sacrifice that, they would betray the commonwealth. . . . Some of the journalists have a character to sustain, these have none, and it is these that should be scourged like hounds from every corps, division, and regiment of our army, whenever or whatever its service. We endorse General Sherman fully in this matter, and I refer you to the enclosed document marked “A,” a copy of the original which was signed by all the officers of the “Old Division” with enthusiastic alacrity. The public are entitled to and should have early information of the movements of our armies, when such information may be transmitted without notice to the enemy, but all such information should be under supervision and censorship, for the most obvious reason, and no personal allusion to the character or behavior of any officer or soldier should be permitted; what that leads to the most obtuse can see. . . . For my record I point with what I believe is an honest pride to the official reports of my commanding generals, now part of the archives of the nation, and I would not exchange the autograph letters of General Sherman which I now enclose to you, for all or any of the newspaper fame that I have seen bestowed on any man.

If I succeed in securing my promotion through legislative channels, it is well; I think I deserve it. I think it not only due to me from my country, but that it will enable me to render her more effectual service. I do not ask it as a favor — I demand it as a right; and I am admonished that without the demand the right will not be accorded. Therefore, and properly, the action of my personal and political friends to bring me properly to the attention of the appointing power, to urge upon the Senate the propriety of remembering those who are placing their lives in peril to save the Republic, to remind the President of the propriety of selecting for his generals those who are most competent to lead his armies in the field. Whether I receive my promotion or not you and my friends will have been made to know that my immediate commanding generals think I deserve it, and that I have the confidence of my brother officers with whom I have served so long and so arduous a campaign.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 271-4

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