HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, D.C.,
December 30, 1864.*
Maj. Gen. W. T.
SHERMAN,
Savannah:
MY DEAR GENERAL: I
take the liberty of calling your attention, in this private and friendly way,
to a matter which may possibly hereafter be of more importance to you than
either of us may now anticipate. While almost every one is praising your great
march through Georgia and the capture of Savannah, there is a certain class,
having now great influence with the President, and very probably anticipating
still more on a change of Cabinet, who are decidedly disposed to make a point
against you — I mean in regard to “Inevitable Sambo.” They say that you have
manifested an almost criminal dislike to the negro, and that you are not
willing to carry out the wishes of the Government in regard to him, but repulse
him with contempt. They say you might have brought with you to Savannah more
than 50,000, thus stripping Georgia of that number of laborers and opening a
road by which as many more could have escaped from their masters; but that
instead of this you drove them from your ranks, prevented then, from following
you by cutting the bridges in your rear, and thus caused the massacre of large
numbers by Wheeler's cavalry.
To those who know
you as I do such accusations will pass as the idle winds, for we presume that
you discouraged the negroes from following you simply because you had not the
means of supporting them and feared they might seriously embarrass your march.
But there are others, and among them some in high authority, who think, or
pretend to think, otherwise, and they are decidedly disposed to make a point
against you.
I do not write this
to induce you to conciliate this class of men by doing anything which you do
not think right and proper and for the interest of the Government and the
country, but simply to call your attention to certain things which are viewed
here somewhat differently than from your standpoint. I will explain as briefly
as possible: Some here think that, in view of the scarcity of labor in the
South, and the probability that a part, at least, of the able-bodied slaves
will be called into the military service of the rebels, it is of the greatest importance
to open outlets by which the slaves can escape into our lines, and, they say,
that the route you have passed over should be made the route of escape and
Savannah the great place of refuge. These I know are the views of some of the
lending men in the administration, and they now express dissatisfaction that
you did not carry them out in your great raid.
Now that you are in
possession of Savannah, and there can be no further fears about supplies, would
it not be possible for you to reopen these avenues of escape for the negroes
without interfering with your military operations? Could not such escaped
slaves find, at least, a partial supply of food in the rice fields about
Savannah, and occupation in the rice and cotton plantations on the coast?
I merely throw out
these suggestions; I know that such a course would be approved by the
Government, and I believe that a manifestation on your part of a desire to
bring the slaves within our lines will do much to silence your opponents.
You will appreciate
my motives in writing this private letter.
Yours, truly,
H. W. HALLECK.
_______________
* General
Sherman’s reply of January 12, 1865, refers to this letter as dated January
1st, but General Halleck’s copy is dated as here given.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
44, p. 836-7
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