General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, July 2, 1881—3 p.m.

THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH Co.,        

Dated, WASHINGTON, D.C., July 2, 1881.    

Received at MANSFIELD, OHIO,

3 P.M.                    

To Honorable John Sherman:

President Garfield was shot in the back toward the right side, the ball ranging downwards - not yet found. Pulse good and appearances favorable.

Has been brought to the White House. The assassin is from Chicago, an ex-consul at Marseilles, described as a lawyer, politician, and theologian. He is in custody. All sorts of rumors afloat, but the above is all that is known to me. I went in person to the depot immediately, and found all his Cabinet present.

W. T. SHERMAN,

General.        

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 350

General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, July13, 1881

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES,        

WASHINGTON, D. C., July 13, 1881.

Dear Brother: Nobody now sees the President except the doctors, and we are compelled to base our opinions on the bulletins which are sent by telegraph all around the country.

These warrant us to believe that Garfield will recover, but after a long, painful process, leaving him crippled or emaciated. It is too bad that the law is so unequal to the punishment of the man who intended to murder him.

Yours,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 351-2

General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, August 29, 1881

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES,        
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 1881.

Dear Brother: The President is sensibly better to-day, and all the friends and family feel encouraged. If to-morrow he be on the upward mend I shall go to New York, New London, Worcester, and Boston, to be gone ten days, but if you have occasion to write, the letter will be forwarded. But you may be sure that I shall be here in case of necessity. The Cabinet desire that the prisoner, Guiteau, be regularly tried by the courts. We can defend the jail against the world, unless there be treachery. But when the time comes to take him from the jail to the court-house we cannot use soldiers, for the law prohibits their use as a posse comitatus. I apprehend no violence here even if the President dies, but sooner or later Guiteau will die. The feeling is too universal for him ever to escape.

Affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 352-3