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 (Serial No. 92), p. 836-7
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