BATON ROUGE, January
28, 1861.
MY DEAR SIR: Your
letter was duly received, and would have been answered ere this time could I
have arranged sooner the matter of the five hundred dollars. I shall go from
here to New Orleans to-day or to-morrow, and will remain there till Saturday
after next, perhaps. I shall expect to meet you there, as indicated in your
note to me.
I need not tell you
that it is with no ordinary regret that I view your determination to leave us,
for really I believe that the success of our institution, now almost assured,
is jeopardized thereby. I am sure that we will never have a superintendent with
whom I shall have more pleasant relations than those which have existed between
yourself and me.
I fully appreciate
the motives which have induced you to give up a position presenting so many
advantages to yourself, and sincerely hope that you may, in any future
enterprise, enjoy the success which your character and ability merit and
deserve. . .
Colonel Bragg
informs me that the necessary orders have been given for the transfer and
receipt by Major Smith of the public property.
I herewith transmit
a request to the secretary to convene the Board of Supervisors, that they may
act as seems best to them in the premises.
In the mean time,
Major Smith will command by seniority the cadets, and the Academic Board will
be able to conduct the scientific exercises of the institution until the Board
of Supervisors can have time to act. . .
P.S. Governor Moore desires
me to express his profound regret that the state is about to lose one who we
all fondly hoped had cast his destinies for weal or for woe among us; and that
he is sensible that we lose an officer whom it will be difficult, if not
impossible, to replace.
SOURCE: Walter
L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 353-4
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