Saturday, April 8, 2023

Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, November 11, 1866

UNITED STATES SHIP SUSQUEHANNA (off Sandy Hook),
Nov. 11, 1866.

Dear Brother: I had to make this trip to escape a worse duty, and to save another person from a complication that should be avoided.

I am determined to keep out of political, or even quasipolitical office, and shall resign before being so placed, though I cannot afford to resign.

I hope that Congress will not let power pass into the hands of such men as Butler, Phillips, etc. extreme men, as much so as Davis, Cobb, etc. We have escaped one horn of the dilemma, and ought if possible the other. But it is too late to argue anything, but I feel that if we cannot be calm and temperate in our country, we have no right to go to Mexico to offer ourselves as their example and special friends. You can write me, through the Navy Department, as I may run to New Orleans where Sheridan could hold a letter for me, but I expect little the next two months. . . .

Affectionately,
W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 282-3

No comments: