[Savannah, Georgia,
December 31, 1864.]
I hear the soldiers talk as I ride by, “There goes the old
man. All’s right.” Not a waver, doubt,
or hesitation when I order, and men march to certain death without a murmur if
I call on them, because they know I value their lives as much as my own. I do
not feel any older, and have no gray hairs yet. My health is good, and, save a
little rheumatism in my right arm during the last march, I have not been
indisposed a day, and even then I rode daily my march. ... I do not fear want
of appreciation, but, on the contrary, that an exaggerated faith will be
generated in my ability, that no man can fulfil. . . . I cannot do anything looking to permanency
till the war is ended. Thomas’ success in Tennessee, which was part of my plan,
will go far to assure the safety of the Ohio Valley.
SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The
Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837
to 1891, p. 241-2
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