WASHINGTON, D.C., April
17,1864.
My Dear Brother:
. . . Our finances are bubbling up and down in that
feverish state where a panic might easily come. Chase is a man of ability, but
in recent measures he has failed. I have been generally the laboring one in the
Senate, on these measures, though very often my judgment has been against them.
I have felt like a subordinate officer, who, while he does not approve the plan
of operations, yet deems it his duty fairly to execute his part of it rather
than by fault-finding to impair it. The war is daily driving us to
extraordinary measures, and our form of Government is not unit enough to
carry them out. We are embarrassed by state banks, state laws, and local issues
and interests. The other day a determined effort was made in New York to run
gold up to 200, but was promptly met by a free sale by the Government of gold
and exchange, and the movement failed. It was aided by this very bad news from
Fort Pillow, not so bad from the loss of men, but from the question of retaliation
raised by the massacre of negro troops. We all feel that we must either disband
negro troops or protect them. It is fearful to think about the measures that
may be necessary, but what else can we do? An investigation will be made by the
Secretary of War and by Congress, and if the rebels are determined to massacre
prisoners, then a new and terrible stage of this war will be commenced. . . .
Affectionately yours,
JOHN SHERMAN.
SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The
Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837
to 1891, p. 233-4
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