CAMP BEFORE VICKSBURG,
March 13, 1863.
. . . The waters are still rising and Kilby Smith's Brigade
is roosting on the levee with bare standing room. McClernand's Corps is at
Milliken's Bend, and my Corps strung along the levee for four miles. The levee
is about ten feet wide at top with sloping sides and can hold all the men and
maybe horses in case of an absolute flood. We have not steamboats enough to
float us and if we had there is no dry land to go to. An expedition has entered
the Yazoo from above, and when it is heard from we probably will make another
dash at Vicksburg or Drumgould's. I see the whole North is again in agonies
about the amount of sickness down here. It is not excessively hot, more than
should be expected, not more than we had on the Potomac and Tennessee, and our
supplies are the best I ever saw. There is a deep laid plan to cripple us laid
by Jeff Davis who is smart and knows our people well. By a few thousands of
dollars well invested in newspapers he can defeat any plan or undertaking. Many
really well disposed men have come from St. Louis, Cincinnati and Washington
and have been amazed by the falsehood of these stories. Only one man of the
regulars has died since we left Memphis. My old regiments are all in fine
health and spirits. Some of the new regiments have passed through the ordeal
which afflicts all new troops. . . .
The War Department have not given me any staff, and yet have
taken from me the right to appoint any. The truth is now as it always was, that
persons at a distance are neglected and those near the seat of power petted. We
have made further progress than any army, with less means. In Vicksburg we meet
our match and time must solve the difficulty; but so long as our camps are full
of newspaper spies revealing each move, exaggerating our trouble and difficulties
and giving grounds for discontent, success cannot be expected.
The new Conscript Law is the best act of our government and
Mr. Lincoln can no longer complain of want of power. He now is absolute
dictator and if he don't use the power some one will. . . .
SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of
General Sherman, p. 242-3. A full copy of this letter can
be found in the William
T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives
(UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/02.
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