HDQRS. MILITARY
DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field,
Atlanta, Ga., September 14, 1864.
General J. B. HOOD, C. S. Army,
Commanding Army of Tennessee:
GENERAL: Yours of September
12 is received and has been carefully perused. I agree with you that this
discussion by two soldiers is out of place and profitless, but you must admit
that you began the controversy by characterizing an official act of mine in
unfair and improper terms. I reiterate my former answer, and to the only new
matter contained in your rejoinder I add, we have no “negro allies” in this
army; not a single negro soldier left Chattanooga with this army or is with it
now. There are a few guarding Chattanooga, which General Steedman sent to drive
Wheeler out of Dalton. I was not bound by the laws of war to give notice of the
shelling of Atlanta, a “fortified town” with magazines, arsenals, foundries,
and public stores. You were bound to take notice. See the books. This is the
conclusion of our correspondence, which I did not begin, and terminate with
satisfaction.
I am, with respect,
your obedient servant,
W. T. SHERMAN,
Major-General,
Commanding.
SOURCES: John Bell Hood, Advance and Retreat, p.
235-6; The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records
of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 39, Part 2 (Serial
No. 78), p. 422
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