AUGUSTA ARSENAL, GA., Aug. 29, 1845.
My Dear Brother:
*
* * * * * * * * *
I got back from Key
West earlier than I anticipated by taking advantage of a small pilot boat that
happened to be going to Charleston from Key West. In it we returned in four
days, which contrasted somewhat with the passage out of eighteen days; but the Gulf
Stream was favorable in the first instance, but not in the latter. A few days
ago I was ordered here and assigned to duty with the company that occupies the
arsenal, and on the same day an order arrived from Washington for one more
company to sail for Arkansas Bay. Everybody supposed the Colonel would send the
company to which I belonged, because we, its officers, are all young and
unmarried, whereas the others were all differently situated; but in army
affairs age has precedence of merit, and an older Captain Burke was sent,
leaving us again behind. There are still two companies at Ft. Moultrie; and in
case of a requisition for more men, we, or rather my old company, will
certainly go, in which case I have the Colonel's promise that speedy notice
will be given me, and I be ordered to go along. Also I am promised to go in
case this company goes, thus securing two chances, which will inevitably enable
me to go to Texas, in case more troops be required, and then most heartily will
I give all the aid I can to further the views of Government to extend the
"Area of Freedom." . . . As to Texas having been annexed for the sole
purpose of extending slavery, I do not believe. Some politicians may do so, and
abolitionists may act upon that decision and affect it; but if matters be
permitted to take a natural course, the result will be as surely the reverse as
water flows down hill.
SOURCE: Rachel
Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between
General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 28
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