General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, January 23, 1875

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES,        

ST. LOUIS, Mo., Jan. 23, 1875.

Dear Brother:

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You will be surprised and maybe alarmed, that I have at last agreed to publish in book form my Memoirs of a period from 1846-65, in two volumes, prepared at great cost of labor and care.

I have carefully eliminated everything calculated to raise controversy, except where sustained by documents embraced in the work itself, and then only with minor parties. I submitted the manuscript to ——— last summer, and he was emphatic that it ought to be published in the interest of history. Bancroft did the same, though he never saw the manuscript, and I thought I had best show it to but few, as after all the responsibility rests on me....

Affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 343