General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, May 25, 1875

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES,

ST. LOUIS, MO., May 25, 1875.

Dear Brother: . . . No matter how unwise were my conditions with Johnston they were secret, and his [Stanton's] divulgence was a betrayal of me; and Stanton knew it. At all events, he himself made so much clamor that history is not perfect unless the matter be wholly explained, and I think I have done it fairly.¹

 . . . I believe, had I submitted to Stanton's and Halleck's insults of 1865, I should have been swept aside like any other piece of war rubbish at the reorganization of the army. . . .

Yours affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN.

_______________

¹ See Sherman’s Memoirs.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 345