Cadet William T. Sherman to John Sherman, April 13, 1839

MILITARY ACADEMY, WEST POINT, N.Y., April 13, 1839.

Dear Brother:

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It appears that although you were pleased with Cincinnati as a city, you were not with the visit, taken all in all. From this I judge that your speculations did not turn out as well as expected. You must not be astonished if I say that if such be the case I am glad of it, because, had you succeeded, your attention would have been turned from your present business, with your success in which so many are interested. I presume by this time you must be nearly done with the works on the Muskingum. Those dams and locks of which you have spoken will no doubt be some of the finest specimens of workmanship in Ohio, and the more I think of it, the more I regret that I did not go and see them last summer. By the arrangement I suppose steamboats will be able to go up as far as Zanesville. I presume you have heard of these Maine difficulties before now. All is now calm in that quarter, the troops having been withdrawn from the disputed territory by both parties, and as far as our Government is concerned the thing is in a fair way of being amicably adjusted, but doubts are entertained with regard to the course which England will adopt. All anxiously await the return of the steamship Great Western which carried out the news, and as the time of her usual return has passed by several days, it is supposed that the time of her departure from England had been delayed in order to receive the news by the ship Liverpool, that left New York about eight or ten days after her; and as among the latter were the proceedings of Congress and the President's message, there is every reason to expect by this vessel some decisive news, and if they are ready for war, I think we will soon be. For my part, there is no nation that I would prefer being at variance with than the British, in this case more especially as our cause is plainly right and just. If anything occurs soon, I will write again or send the paper containing it. . . .

Your affectionate brother,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, pp. 7-8