Dear Brother: I read
carefully your speech,1 and your reasoning is very close; much more
so than Thurman's and others, and I was glad you could make so good a defence.
I know that our soldiers hate that kind of duty terribly, and not one of those
officers but would prefer to go to the plains against the Indians, rather than
encounter a street mob, or serve a civil process.
But in our
government it is too hard for our troops to stand up in the face of what is
apparent: that the present government of Louisiana is not the choice of the
people, though in strict technical law it is the State government. I recognize
the great necessity of standing by the lawful
State government,
but the soldiers do not. The quicker you allow the people to select their own
governors the better, and if necessary pile on the effort to secure a fair
election, and prevent intimidation of voters.
I was always
embarrassed by the plain, palpable fact, that the Union whites are cowardly,
and allow the rebel element that loves to fight, to cow them. Until the Union
whites, and negroes too, fight for their own rights they will be trodden down.
Outside help sooner or later must cease, for our army is ridiculously small, in
case of actual collision. It is only the memory of our war power, that operates
on the rebel element now. They have the votes, the will, and will in the end
prevail. Delay only gives them sympathy elsewhere. . . .
1 On the Louisiana matters. The "Louisiana
matters" were the reconstruction difficulties which so many of the
Southern States were experiencing. General Sherman objected to the detailing of
army officers to assist the State authorities in keeping the peace.
SOURCE: Rachel
Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between
General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 343-4
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