Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, July 19, 1863

JACKSON, MISS., July 19, 1863.

My Dear Brother:

The fall of Vicksburg and consequent capitulation of Port Hudson, the opening the navigation of the Mississippi, and now the driving out of this great valley the only strong army that threatened us, complete as pretty a page in the history of war and of our country as ever you could ask my name to be identified with. The share I have personally borne in all these events is one in which you may take pride for me. You know I have avoided notoriety; and the press, my standard enemy, may strip me of all popular applause, but not a soldier of the Army of the Tennessee but knows the part I have borne in this great drama, and the day will come when that army will speak in a voice that cannot be drowned. . . .

In the events resulting thus, the guiding minds and hands were Grant's, Sherman's, and McPherson’s, all natives of Ohio. . . .

Jackson will never again be a point where an enemy can assemble and threaten us. . . .  As soon as my detachments are in, I will return to Black River. Our men and officers must have rest. For months in trenches, working day and night in the heat and dust of the roads, all are exhausted and need rest. I hope the Army of the Potomac will finish Lee. Morgan should not escape from Indiana. Love to all.

Your brother,
W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 208-9

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