Friday, January 25, 2013

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, July 28, 1863

CAMP 18 M. E. OF VICKSBURG,
July 28, 1863.

Dear Brother:

Since my return from Jackson, I have been very busy — every general officer but two has gone on furlough, and everybody wants to go. . . .

The railroad comes within four miles of my tent, and I have its exclusive use and a telegraph at my elbow. If you come down you will find your name a passport, but should that fail you, see General Grant or McPherson in Vicksburg, and they will put you through. I don't think there is any danger on the river now unless it be on the Ohio, which you can avoid by taking cars to Cairo. Vicksburg is worth seeing, and a glance will tell you more than reams of paper why it took us six months to take the place. I am camped near Big Black, four and one-half miles northeast of where the railroad crosses it. My depot of supplies is at the crossing. Col. J. Condit Smith is my quartermaster, and should you reach that point before I am advised by telegraph, apply to him and he will send you to my camp. I have four divisions here much reduced, but still a good stock. In the riots of New York I recognize the second stage of this war, but I trust our Government will deal with them summarily. The war has progressed as fast and as successfully as should be.

Your brother,
W. T. SHERMAN

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 209-10

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