General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, August 28, 1874

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES,        

ST. LOUIS, Mo., Oct. 23, 1874.

Dear Brother:

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

I am now established here with a good headquarters, corner of 10th and Locust, where I can dispatch promptly all business that properly devolves on me. I have, as I have always had, the smallest possible staff and a most inexpensive establishment, and therefore am not regarded by the non-combatant staff who flock in Washington, as a friend of that ornamental part of the army. But here I am in easy communication with, and in perfect harmony with, the real working army. . . .

But if let alone, I will do what devolves on me by law and custom, and endeavor to injure no one; but of those fellows in Washington who have served through several great wars, and boast that they have never heard a shot, and never had to do the dirty work of campaigning, I will speak out and Congress will have to notice it.

The Republican newspaper in Washington, their organ, intimates that inasmuch as I have removed from Washington, I am not in harmony with the Administration and should resign. By my office I am above party, and am not bound in honor or fact to toady to any body. Therefore I shall never resign, and shall never court any other office, so they may reserve their advice to men who seek it. . .

I have always expressed a desire that some good man, a statesman of experience if he can be found, be selected for President. General Grant has had enough to recognize the obligation of the country to the army, and the time has come to return to the civil list. In no event and under no circumstances will I yield to this, my final determination. . . .

Yours affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 340-1