Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, December 25, 1864

SAVANNAH, December 25, 1864.

This is Christmas Day and I hope truly and really that you and the little ones may enjoy it, in the full knowledge that I am all safe after our long March. I am at this moment in an elegant chamber of the house of a gentleman named Green. This house is elegant and splendidly furnished with pictures and statuary. My bed room has a bath and dressing room attached which look out of proportion to my poor baggage. My clothing is good yet and I can even afford a white shirt. It would amuse you to see the negroes; they flock to me, old and young, they pray and shout and mix up my name with that of Moses, and Simon and other scriptural ones as well as “Abram Linkom,” the Great Messiah of “Dis Jubilee.”

There are many fine families in this city, but when I ask for old and familiar names, it marks the sad havoc of war. The Goodwins, Teffts, Cuylers, Habershams, Laws, etc., etc., all gone or in poverty, and yet the girls remain, bright and haughty and proud as ever. There seems no end but utter annihilation that will satisfy their hate of the “sneaking Yankee” and “ruthless invader.” They no longer call my army, “Cowardly Yanks,” but have tried to arouse the sympathy of the civilized world by stories of the cruel barbarities of my army. The next step in the progress will be, “for God's sake spare us; we must surrender.” When that end is reached we begin to see daylight, but although I have come right through the heart of Georgia they talk as defiantly as ever. I think Thomas' whipping at Nashville coupled with my March will take some conceit out of them.

I have no doubt you hear enough about “Sherman” and are sick of the name, and the interest the public takes in my whereabouts leaves me no subject to write about. Charley¹ and Dayton² promise to write details. All I can do is to make hasty scrawls assuring you of my health and eternal affection.

__________

¹ Mrs. Sherman's brother, General Charles Ewing.

² Colonel L. M. Dayton, aide-de-camp on Sherman's staff.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 319-20.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/19

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, December 16, 1864

NEAR SAVANNAH, December 16, 1864.

I have no doubt you have heard of my safe arrival on the coast. . . . We came right along living on turkeys, chickens, pigs, bringing along our wagons loaded as we started with bread, etc. I suppose Jeff Davis will now have to feed the people of Georgia instead of collecting provisions of them to feed his armies. We have destroyed nearly two hundred miles of railroad and are not yet done. As I approached Savannah I found every river and outlet fortified. The Ogeechee River emptying into Ossabaw Sound was best adapted to our use, but it was guarded by Fort McAllister which has defied the Navy for two years. I ordered Howard to carry it with one division. The detail fell on the 2nd Division of the 15th Corps, and it was the handsomest thing I have seen in this war. The division is the same I commanded at Shiloh in which Buckland, Hildebrand, Cockerill and others were, and Cockerill's Regiment was about the first to reach the interior and is now its garrison, but Cockerill is not in service now. As soon as we got the fort I pulled down the bay and opened communications. General Foster and Admiral Dahlgren received me, manned the yards and cheered, the highest honor at sea. They had become really nervous as to our safety, and were delighted at all I told them of our easy success. I can now starve out Savannah unless events call my army to Virginia. I would prefer to march through Columbia and Raleigh, but the time would be too long, and we may go by sea. I have letters from Grant of the 3rd and 6th. I never saw a more confident army. The soldiers think I know everything and that they can do anything. The strength of Savannah lies in its swamps which can only be crossed by narrow causeways all of which are swept by heavy artillery. I came near being hit the first day in approaching too near to reconnoitre. A negro's head was shot off close by me. The weather is and has been all we could have asked. It is now warm and pleasant, and the live-oaks are sublime; japonicas in blossom in the open air and the orange is but slightly touched by the frost. I expect rain soon and have heavy details at work corduroying the roads in anticipation of such an event. I have some heavy guns coming from Port Royal, and as soon as they come I shall demand the surrender of Savannah, but will not assault, as a few days will starve out its garrison, about 15,000, and its people 25,000. I do not apprehend any army to attempt to relieve Savannah except Lee's, and if he gives up Richmond it will be the best piece of strategy ever made, to make him let go there. We have lived sumptuously — turkeys, chickens and sweet potatoes¹ all the way, but the poor women and children will starve. All I could tell them was, if Jeff Davis expects to found an empire on the ruins of the South, he ought to afford to feed the people. . . .

It was just 30 days from Atlanta till I was sitting with the Admiral on a sea steamer at sea. Grant's letter of the 3rd proposed to bring you down to see me, but his of the 6th looked to my coming to James River. Await events and trust to fortune. I will turn up where and when you least expect me. . . .

__________

¹ These words bear a curious testimony to the accuracy of a stanza in one of the most familiar of war-songs:

How the darkeys shouted when they heard the joyful sound!

How the turkeys gobbled which our commissary found!

How the sweet potatoes even started from the ground

While we were marching through Georgia!

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 316-8.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/19

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, October 27, 1864

GAYLESVILLE, Ala., October 27, 1864.

. . . I expect very soon now to attempt another feat in which I think I shall succeed, but it is hazardous and you will not hear from me for months. The War Department will know my whereabouts, and the Rebels, and you will be able to guess. . .

You ask my opinion of McClellan. I have been much amused at similar inquiries of John and others in answer to a news paragraph that I pledged ninety-nine votes of the hundred to McClellan. Of course this is the invention of some knave. I never said such thing. I will vote for nobody, because I am not entitled to vote. Of the two, with the inferences to be drawn at home and abroad, I would prefer Lincoln, though I know that McClellan, Vallandigham or even Jeff Davis if President of the U. S. would prosecute the war, and no one with more vigor than the latter. But at the time the howl was raised against McClellan I knew it was in a measure unjust, for he was charged with delinquencies that the American people are chargeable for. Thus, how unjust to blame me for any misfortune now when all the authorities and people are conspiring to break up the Army till the election is over. Our armies vanish before our eyes and it is useless to complain because the election is more important than the war. Our armies are merely paper armies. I have 40,000 Cavalry on paper but less than 5,000 in fact.  A like measure runs through the whole, and so it was with McClellan. He had to fight partly with figures. Still I admit he never manifested the simple courage and manliness of Grant, and he had too much staff, too many toadies, and looked too much to No. 1. When I was in Kentucky he would not heed my counsels, and never wrote me once, but since I have gained some notoriety at Atlanta and the papers announced, as usually falsely, that I was for him, he has written me twice and that has depreciated him more in my estimation than all else. He cannot be elected. Mr. Lincoln will be, but I hope it will be done quick, that voters may come to their regiments and not give the Rebels the advantage they know so well to take. I believe McClellan to be an honest man as to money, of good habits, descent, and of far more than average intelligence, and therefore I never have joined in the hue and cry against him. In revolutions men fall and rise. Long before this war is over, much as you hear me praised now, you may hear me cursed and insulted. Read history, read Coriolanus, and you will see the true measure of popular applause. Grant, Sheridan and I are now the popular favorites, but neither of us will survive this war. Some other must rise greater than either of us, and he has not yet manifested himself. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 314-6.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/18

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, October 21, 1864

GAYLESVILLE, Ala., October 21, 1864.

. . . Since I have become famous for taking Atlanta and writing independent letters I get the most wonderful medley that you can conceive of from all parts of the world. Some are amusing, but all breathe the utmost respect and cannot be disregarded. Some I toss in the camp fire, and some I answer, but usually in a very hasty, imperfect manner; but it seems that my letters now even are sought after like hot cakes.

As long as I am not a candidate I hope none will be published as samples of literary composition. You can read my letters and guess at the meaning, but judging from my copy clerks, some readers would make an awful jumble of my letters, written usually in the small hours of the night, by a single candle on a box. Actually, one man wrote that it was seriously contemplated even to put me up for President!

That was cruel and unkind. You remember when the solemn Committee waited on me at San Francisco to tender the Regular Democratic nomination for Treasurer my answer was that I was ineligible because I had not graduated at the 'Penitentiary.'¹ If a similar committee should be rash enough to venture the other nomination I fear I should proceed to personal violence, for I would receive a sentence to be hung and damned with infinitely more composure than to be the executive of this nation. I send you a few letters that may interest you as samples. . . .

This Army is now ready to march to Mobile, Savannah or Charleston, and I am practising them in the art of foraging and they take to it like ducks to water. They like pigs, sheep, chickens, calves and sweet potatoes better than rations. We won't starve in Georgia. Our mules are doing better on the corn fields than on the bagged corn brought by the railroad. . . .

__________

¹ See p. 142.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 313-4.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/18

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, October 19, 1864

IN THE FIELD, SUMMERVILLE, Geo., October 19, 1864.

. . . Hood is afraid to fight me in open ground and therefore he tries to break up the railroad which supplies my Army. First Forrest got across the Tennessee, but never reached the Chattanooga Road. Next, Hood with three Corps, about 40,000 men, swung round by Dallas and broke the road at Big Shanty to Kenesaw. He stole a march on me of one day, and his men, disencumbered of baggage, move faster than we can. I have labored hard to cut down wagons, but spite of all I can do officers surround me. All the campaign I slept without a tent, and yet doctors and teamsters and clerks and staff officers on one pretext or another get tents and baggage, and now we can hardly move. I'll stop this or dispense with doctors, clerks and staff officers as ‘useless in war.’ Hood got up as far as the Tunnel before I could head him off, but at Resaca I broke through the Gap and he at once commenced to move south, and is now beyond my reach. He may now try to enter Tennessee by way of Decatur. I shall make proper dispositions and if seconded can keep him south, but I cannot get anybody to move as quickly as they should, save some of my old favorites. Corse saved Allatoona, by obeying promptly a message sent him by signals over the head of Hood's army. Mower is also coming to me and when I move south I shall have some smart columns. I am not going to stand on the defensive and you will soon hear of me on a bigger road than that to Meridian. Unless things take a turn not anticipated, you will have to get used to being without letters from me for some time, as it will be impossible to keep up mails much further. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 312.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/18

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, October 11, 1864

ATLANTA, October 11, 1864.

We are all well. Forrest is threatening our road in Tennessee but I think ample steps are in progress to meet and defeat him. Should he temporarily destroy our road we are well prepared with accumulated supplies here, and our repairing facilities are so distributed that breaks can be speedily repaired. Should Hood's main army attempt our rear I think we can make him suffer. Georgia is now open to me and steps are being perfected at other and distant points that will increase the value of my position here.

The telegraph brings me word that Grant is not idle about Richmond. I know his perseverance and have no apprehensions that in the end he will [not] worry Lee out. Sheridan's success up the valley of the Shenandoah will again threaten Lee's line of supply which is by Gordonsville and Lynchburg, also that same road is being attacked at a point further west from another quarter. I am in advance of all the other columns and therefore should not be in a hurry, but if the enemy is restless I may go ahead. Our men are now well classified, well rested and ready to go wherever I lead.

The people of the South have made a big howl at my moving the families of Atlanta, but I would have been a silly fool to take a town at such cost and left it in the occupation of a helpless and hostile people. The War Department has simply been silent, has not committed itself one way or the other, so that the whole measure rests on me, but I am used to such things. Some of the correspondence between Hood and myself has been published, and the whole has been sent to Washington where at some day it will also be published and I think Gen'l Hood will have no reason to glorify. I have letters of thanks from the Mayor of Atlanta and Col. ____¹ who was the Confederate officer appointed to receive the families and transport them to the south. Instead of robbing them, not an article was taken away, not even the negro servants who were willing to go away. And we even bought the provisions which I know to have been Confederate stores distributed to the people at the last moment and were really our captured property.

__________

¹ Blank in MS. The Memoirs (II, 545) show this officer to have been Col. Clare. His letter is there printed.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 310-1.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/18

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, September 17, 1864

September 17, 1864

I have had some sharp correspondence with Hood¹ about expelling the poor families of a brave people, which correspondence in due time will become public, and I take the ground that Atlanta is a conquered place and I propose to use it purely for our own military purposes which are inconsistent with its habitation by the families of a brave people. I am shipping them all, and by next Wednesday the town will be a real military town with no women boring me every order I give. Hood no doubt thought he would make capital out of the barbarity, etc., but I rather think he will change his mind before he is done.

__________

¹ In this correspondence, Sherman wrote: “You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.” (Memoirs, II, 126.) Before Sherman's death in 1891, the more familiar saying, “War is hell,” began to be ascribed to him. He could not recall having uttered it, and caused a search of newspapers and other reports to be made, in vain. It may have been dropped in conversation, or in one of his informal talks to military gatherings; this he did not deny. Indeed, W. F. Hinman's Story of the Sherman Brigade (1897) records (p. 333) his having spoken the words at a reunion of his brother's Brigade at Caldwell, O. Inquiry at that place has confirmed the report through the recollection of a veteran. Yet on the completion of St. Gaudens's equestrian statue in New York, Sherman's coining of the phrase was not thought to be so clearly established as to permit the sculptor's use of the following admirable quatrain by Dr. Henry van Dyke:

This is the soldier brave enough to tell

The glory-dazzled world that War is hell:

Lover of peace, he looks beyond the strife,

And rides through hell to save his country's life.

(Atlantic Monthly, July, 1904.)

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 309.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/17

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, August 2, 1864

NEAR ATLANTA, Geo.,

August 2, 1864.

. . . I have for some days been occupying a good house on the Buckhead Road, about four miles north of Atlanta, but am going to move in the morning more to the right to be nearer where I expect the next battle. You have heard, doubtless, full accounts of the battles of the 20th, 22nd, and 28th, in all which the enemy attacked a part of our lines in force, but was always repulsed with heavy loss. But I fear we have sustained a reverse in some cavalry that I sent around by the rear to break the Macon road. It was commanded by McCook,¹ a cousin of Dan's. They reached the railroad and broke it; also burned a large number of the baggage wagons belonging to the enemy, and were on their way back when they were beset by heavy forces of cavalry about Newnan and I fear are overpowered and a great part killed or captured. Some 500 have got in and give confused accounts, but time enough has elapsed for the party to be back, and I hear nothing further of them. Somehow or other we cannot get cavalry. The enemy takes all the horses of the country, and we have to buy and our people won't sell. Stoneman is also out with a cavalry force attempting to reach our prisoners confined at Andersonville, but since McCook's misfortune I also have fears for his safety. I am now moving so as to get possession of the railroad out of Atlanta to the south — we already have possession of those on the north and east — when it will be difficult for Hood to maintain his army in Atlanta. This army is much reduced in strength by deaths, sickness, and expiration of service. It looks hard to see regiments march away when their time is up. On the other side they have everybody, old and young, and for indefinite periods. I have to leave also along the railroad a large force to guard the supplies; so that I doubt if our army much exceeds that of Hood. No recruits are coming, for the draft is not till September, and then I suppose it will consist mostly of niggers and bought recruits that must be kept well to the rear. I sometimes think our people do not deserve to succeed in war; they are so apathetic.

McPherson was shot dead. I had his body brought up to me, and sent it back to the railroad. He was shot high up in the breast with a bullet, and must have fallen from his horse dead. Howard, who succeeds him, is a fine gentleman and a good officer. . . .  I expect we will have a hard fight for the railroad about the day after to-morrow, and [it] must be more heavy on us as we must attack. I am always glad when the enemy attacks, for the advantage then is with us. Now our line is as strong as theirs, but being on the outer circle is longer. I see that Grant has sprung his mines at Petersburg, and hope he will succeed in taking that town, as it will be a constant threat to Richmond, but Richmond itself can only be taken by regular siege. Atlanta is on high ground and the woods extend up to the forts which look strong and encircle the whole town. Most of the people are gone — it is now simply a big fort. . . .

__________

¹ General E. M. McCook.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 304-6.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/17

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, July 29, 1864

IN THE FIELD, NEAR ATLANTA,

July 29, 1864.

Since crossing Chattahoochee I have been too busy to write. We have had three pretty hard battles. The enemy attacked my centre as we were fairly across the Peachtree Creek, and got badly beaten. Next as we closed in on Atlanta he struck our extreme left and the fighting was desperate. He drove back a part of the left, but the men fought hard and when night closed our losses amounted to 3,500 and we found nearly 3,000 dead rebels. Making the usual allowance the enemy must have sustained a loss of 10,000. Yesterday I shifted the Army of the Tennessee to my extreme right and in getting into position it was again attacked and repulsed the attack. The fight was mostly with the 15th Corps. Logan commanded it. McPherson's death was a great loss to me. I depended much on him. In casting about for a successor I proposed Howard who is a man of mind and intellect. He is very honest, sincere and moral even to piety, but brave, having lost an arm already. But he was a junior Major General to Hooker who took offense and has gone away. I don't regret it; he is envious, imperious and braggart. Self prevailed with him and knowing him intimately I honestly preferred Howard. Yesterday's work justified my choice, for Howard's disposition and manner elicited the shouts of my old corps, and he at once stepped into the shoes of McPherson and myself. I have now Thomas, Schofield and Howard, all tried and approved soldiers. We are gradually drawing our lines close up to Atlanta, fortifying our front against the bold sallies, and I now have all the cavalry out against the roads between Atlanta and Macon. I am glad I beat Johnston, for he had the most exalted reputation with our old army as a strategist. Hood¹ is a new man and a fighter and must be watched closer, as he is reckless of the lives of his men. It is wonderful with what faith they adhere to the belief that they whip us on all occasions though we have them now almost penned up in Atlanta. If no reinforcements come I think I will cut them off from all communication with the rest of the confederacy. . . .

__________

¹ On July 18 Sherman had learned that Hood had superseded Johnston in command of the Confederate forces in Atlanta.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 303-4.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/16

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, July 26, 1864

IN THE FIELD, NEAR ATLANTA, Geo.,

July 26, 1864.

I got your long letter and one from Minnie last night and telegraphed you in general terms that we are all well. We have Atlanta close aboard, as the sailors say, but it is a hard nut to handle. These fellows fight like Devils and Indians combined, and it calls for all my cunning and strength. Instead of attacking the forts which are really unassailable I must gradually destroy the roads which make Atlanta a place worth having. This I have partially done, two out of three are broken and we are now maneuvering for the third.

I lost my right bower in McPherson,¹ but of course it is expected, for with all the natural advantages of bushes, cover of all kinds, we must all be killed. I mean the general officers. McPherson was riding within his lines behind his wing of the army, but the enemy had got round the flank and crept up one of those hollows with bushes that concealed them completely. It has been thus all the way from Chattanooga, and if Beauregard can induce Davis to adopt the Indian policy of ambuscade which he urged two years ago, but which Jeff thought rather derogatory to the high pretenses of his cause to courage and manliness, every officer will be killed, for the whole country is a forest so that an enemy can waylay every path and road, and could not be found.

Poor Mac, he was killed dead instantly. I think I shall prefer Howard' to succeed him. . . .

__________

¹ The death of General McPherson, July 22, was a grievous personal and military loss to Sherman. Not long afterward he wrote to Mrs. Sherman: "You have fallen into an error about McPherson. He was not out of his place or exposing himself more than I and every General does daily — he was to the rear of his line, riding by a road he had passed twice that morning. The thing was an accident that resulted from the blind character of the country we are in. Dense woods fill all the ravines and hollows, and what little cleared ground there is is on the ridge levels, or the alluvion of creek bottoms. The hills are all chestnut ridges with quartz and granite boulders and gravel. You can't find an hundred acres of level, clear ground between here and Chattanooga, and not [a day] passes but what every general officer may be shot as McPherson was."

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 301-3.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/16

Maj. General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, July 9th, 1864

IN THE FIELD NEAR CHATTAHOOCHEE,

July 9th, 1864.

. . . We are now on the Chattahoochee in plain view of the City of Atlanta 9 miles off. The enemy and the Chattahoochee lie between us, and intense heat prevails; but I think I shall succeed. At all events you know I never turn back. I see by the papers that too much stress was laid on the repulse of June 27th. I was forced to make the effort and it should have succeeded; but the officers and men have been so used to my avoiding excessive danger and forcing back the enemy by strategy that they hate to assault; but to assault is sometimes necessary for its effect on the enemy. Had this assault succeeded I would have then fought Johnston with the advantage on my side instead of his having all the benefit of forts, ground, creeks, etc. As it was I did not give him rest but forced him across the Chattahoochee, which was the first great object. I have already got Schofield and Garrard across the river and therefore can cross the army when I choose. . . . The army is very large and extends from Roswell factory at the north around to Sandtown, but my centre is directly in front of Atlanta. I will have to manœuver some hereabouts to drive the enemy and to gain time to accumulate stores by rail to enable me to operate beyond reach of the railroad. Thus far our supplies have been ample and the country is high, mountainous, with splendid water and considerable forage in the nature of fields of growing wheat, oats and com, but we sweep across it leaving it as bare as a desert. The people all flee before us. The task of feeding this vast host is a more difficult one than to fight. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 300-1.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/16

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, June 30, 1864

IN THE FIELD, NEAR MARIETTA,

June 30, 1864.

. . . It is enough to make the whole world start at the awful amount of death and destruction that now stalks abroad. Daily for the past two months has the work progressed and I see no signs of a remission till one or both and all the armies are destroyed, when I suppose the balance of the people will tear each other up, as Grant says, re-enacting the story of the Kilkenny cats. I begin to regard the death and mangling of a couple thousand men as a small affair, a kind of morning dash — and it may be well that we become so hardened. Each day is killed or wounded some valuable officers and men, the bullets coming from a concealed foe. I suppose the people are impatient why I don't push on more rapidly to Atlanta, but those who are here are satisfied with the progress. It is as much as our railroad can do to supply us bread, meat and corn, and I cannot leave the railroad to swing on Johnston's flank or rear without giving him the railroad, which I cannot do without having a good supply on hand. I am moving heaven and earth to accomplish this, in which event I shall leave the railroad and move to the Chattahoochee, threatening to cross, which will I think force him to do that very thing, when I will swing round on the road again. In that event he may be all ready and attempt to hold both road and river, but my opinion is he has not force enough to do both. In that event you will be without news of us for ten days. I think we can whip his army in fair battle, but behind the hills and trunks our loss of life and limb on the first assault would reduce us too much; in other words, at this distance from home we cannot afford the losses of such terrible assaults as Grant has made. I have only one source of supply. Grant had several in succession. One of my chief objects was to prevent Joe Johnston from detaching against Grant till he got below Richmond, and that I have done. I have no idea of besieging Atlanta, but may cross the Chattahoochee and circle round Atlanta breaking up its roads. . . .

The worst of the war is not yet begun. The civil strife at the North has to come yet, and the tendency to anarchy to be cured. Look at matters in Kentucky and Missouri and down the Mississippi and Arkansas where shallow people have been taught to believe the war is over, and you will see trouble enough to convince you I was right in my view of the case from the first. . . .

I hardly think Johnston will give me a chance to fight a decisive battle, unless at such a disadvantage that I ought not to accept, and he is so situated that when threatened or pressed too hard he draws off leaving us a barren victory. He will thus act all summer, unless he gains a great advantage in position or succeeds in breaking our roads. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 299-300.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/15

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, June 26, 1864

IN THE FIELD, NEAR MARIETTA, Geo., June 26,1864.

. . . I have written but little because my thoughts and mind have been so intent on other matters. Johnston has fallen back several times abandoning long lines of intrenchments, but he still occupies a good position with Kenesaw Mountain as the apex of his triangle embracing Marietta. His wings fell back four miles one day and I thought he had gone, but not so.

We have worked our way forward until we are in close contact — constant skirmishing and picket firing. He is afraid to come at us, and we have been cautious about dashing against his breastworks, that are so difficult to undertake in this hilly and wooded country.

My lines are ten miles long, and every change necessitates a large amount of work. Still we are now all ready and I must attack direct or turn the position. Both will be attended with loss and difficulty, but one or the other must be attempted.

This is Sunday and I will write up all my letters, and to-morrow will pitch in at some one or more points.

I am now 105 miles from Chattanooga, and all our provisions have come over that single road, which is almost daily broken somewhere, but thus far our supplies have been ample. We have devoured the land and our animals eat up the wheat and corn field close. All the people retire before us and desolation is behind. To realize what war is one should follow our tracks. . . .

Though not conscious of danger at this moment, I know the country swarms with thousands who would shoot me, and thank their God they had slain a monster; and yet I have been more kindly disposed to the people of the South than any general officer of the whole army.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 297-8.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/15

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, June 12, 1864

IN THE FIELD, RIO SHANTY, Geo.,

June 12, 1864.

. . . That it should have devolved on me to guide one of the two great armies on which may depend the fate of our people for the next hundred years I somewhat regret. Yet you know I have been drawn into it by a slow and gradual progress which I could not avoid. Grant was forced into his position, and I likewise. I think thus far I have played my game well. Had my plans been executed with the vim I contemplated I should have forced Johnston to fight the decisive battle in the Oostenaula Valley between Dalton and Resaca; but McPherson was a little over-cautious, and we cannot move vast armies of this size with the rapidity of thought or of small bodies.

For the past ten days, our movements have been vastly retarded by rains. It has rained hard all the time and to-day harder than ever, a steady cold rain. I am in an old house with a fire burning, which is not uncomfortable. Johnston was 60,000 Infantry, 15,000 Cavalry and a good deal of militia. We must have a terrific battle, and he wants to choose and fortify his ground. He also aims to break my road to the rear. I wish we could make an accumulation of stores somewhere near, but the railroad is taxed to its utmost to supply our daily wants.

The country is stripped of cattle, horses, hogs, and grain, but there are large fine fields of growing oats, wheat and corn, which our horses and mules devour as we advance. Thus far we have been well supplied, and I hope it will continue, though I expect to hear every day of Forrest breaking into Tennessee from some quarter. Jno. Morgan is in Kentucky, but I attach little importance to him or his raid, as we don't draw anything from Kentucky, and there are plenty of troops there to capture and destroy him. Forrest is a more dangerous man. I am in hopes that an expedition sent out from Memphis on Tupelo about the 1st of June will give him full employment. I have also ordered A. J. Smith with the force he brought out of Red River to move against Mobile by way of diversion. Johnston is now between me and Marietta. As soon as these clouds and storms clear away I will study his position and determine to assault his line or turn it and force him back of the Chattahoochee. As long as I press him close and prevent his sending anything to Lee I fulfill my part of the Grand Plan. In the meantime Grant will give Lee all the fighting he wants until he is sick of the word. Every man in America should now be armed, and all who will not help should be put in petticoats and deprived of the right to vote in the affairs of the after nation. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 296-7.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/15

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, June 9, 1864

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

ACWORTH, Geo., June 9, 1864.

I don't know that you can find this place on your map, but it is on the main road from Chattanooga into Georgia, 7 miles in front of Allatoona, 12 from Marietta and 30 from Atlanta. The army lies about the place, extending east, north and south. We are replenishing our wagons with ammunition, forage and provisions. The railroad to our rear is all in good order except the bridge across Etowah burned by the enemy, which will soon be done. I am forced to move with due deliberation to give time for other combinations from Memphis and New Orleans, in Mobile, etc. But we will soon move forward to the Chattahoochee eleven miles beyond Marietta. Johnston may fight us at the ridge of hills just this side of Marietta, but I think I can dislodge him and this will leave the great battle on or near the Chattahoochee, the passage of which he must dispute. He has a strong, well-disciplined army, but I think we can lick him on any thing like fair terms. So I will not run hot-headed against any works prepared for us. He thinks he checked us at Dallas. I went there to avoid the Allatoona pass, and as soon as I had drawn his army there I slipped my cavalry into Allatoona pass and round the main army in its front, a perfect success. I never designed to attack his hastily prepared works at Dallas and New Hope Church, and as soon as he saw I was making for the railroad around his flank he abandoned his works and we occupied them for a moment and moved by the best road to our present position. We have captured several of their mails and it is wonderful to see how the soldiers talk of driving me back to the Ohio, and then returning to their loving families in Tennessee and Kentucky. I fear they count without their host, as they will have an awful reckoning if they attempt to pass over or around this army.

The paucity of news from the army at this time in Northern papers is most satisfactory to me. My circular was exactly right. Every officer and soldier should keep his friends and family advised of his own adventures and situation, whilst the busy and mischievous scribblers for newspapers are discountenanced. I know my course is right and meets the unqualified approval of all good soldiers. The press is angry at my term, the 'cheap' flattery of the press. We all know that Generals and aspirants bribe these fellows by the loan of government horses and other conveniences not at their individual cost but at the cost of the United States, and in return receive the cheap flattery of the press. The press caused the war, the press gives it point and bitterness, and as long as the press, both North and South, is allowed to fan the flames of discord and hostility, so long must the war last. The Southern press is just the same, and as long as people look to the press for truth and counsel so long will war and anarchy prevail. The liberty of the press, like that of individuals, must be restrained to just limits consistent with the good of the whole, and every fool must not be allowed to print and publish falsehood and slander as he pleases. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 294-6.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/15

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, May 22, 1864

KINGSTON, GEO., May 22, 1864.

To-morrow we start again for Atlanta. I would like to go back and give you a connected narrative of events, but I know that it would take more time than I can devote to it and I suppose you will have curiosity enough to read everything with Sherman at the top of the page. I believe the world now admits my right to maintain public silence and recognizes it as a military power. The officers and soldiers too have realized that by bringing up McPherson's army with secrecy and despatch and putting it through Snake Creek Gap unobserved [?] that I saved them the terrible door of death that Johnston had prepared for them in the Buzzard Roost. We were forced to attack at Resaca, and there too by catching the strong and weak points I enabled the army to fight at as little disadvantage as possible; and following up quick and strong we gave Johnston no time to fortify, though every pass was barricaded all the way down. I think we inflicted more loss on the enemy than we sustained ourselves, and up to this time we have taken 15 guns, 2,500 prisoners and a large lot of property. Of course, being compelled to guard our communications, our strength is diminished as we advance and that of the enemy increases. I have no doubt we must have a terrific battle at some point near the Chattahoochee. The main roads, however, [?] cross the Etowah thirteen miles from here, and for six miles lay among hills that afford strong positions. These I must avoid, and shall move due south to Dallas and thence to Marietta and the Chattahoochee Bridge. You will no doubt recognize this very country as the one I was in twenty years ago and to which I took such a fancy. Yesterday I rode my lines and passed quite close to Col. Tumlin's place, the same where the big mounds are where I stopped in going from Marietta to Bellefonte and back.¹ I will probably pass by those same big mounds to-morrow. The weather is oppressively hot and roads dusty. I do hope we will have rain as it is choking to soldiers and mules. Our larger trains make a fearful dust.

I will put up a map to go to you by the mail by which you can trace our progress. Thomas is my centre and has about 45,000 men; McPherson my right, 25,000; and Schofield my left, 15,000; in all 85,000 men, a vast army to feed and to move. I can't move about as I did with 15 or 20,000 men. I think I have the best army in the country, and if I can't take Atlanta and stir up Georgia considerably I am mistaken. Our greatest danger is from cavalry, in which arm of service the enemy is superior to us in quantity and quality, cutting our wagons or railroads. I have on hand, however, enough for twenty days and in that time I ought to determine a good deal. You will no doubt have full accounts of the fighting. At Rocky Face I made our display to attract attention away from McPherson. At Resaca we had some pretty sharp fights; one, Hooker pressing down from the north, another the 15th Corps dashing for position close to the enemy's flank and holding it against repeated night assaults, and Sweeny's division holding the pontoon bridge at Lay's Ferry; all were well and handsomely done. In pursuit I tried hard to strike in behind Johnston with my cavalry, but they did not accomplish it; but we did force the enemy to abandon the line of the Coosa and Etowah which was the first step in the game. Our next is to force him behind the Chattahoochee, and last to take Atlanta and disturb the peace of central Georgia and prevent reinforcements going to Lee. If that Banks force could only go to Mobile now, there would not be a shadow of doubt of full success.

__________

¹ See Memoirs, II, 42.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 291-4.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/14

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, May 20, 1864

KINGSTON, GEO., May 20, 1864.

I have no doubt you will complain of neglect on my part, but you have sense enough to see that my every minute has been taken. According to appointment with General Grant I got everything as far ready as possible on the 5th and started from Chattanooga on the 6th. Troops had to be marched and collected from all parts of the country without attracting attention, and I got McPherson up to Chattanooga and on Johnston's flank before he suspected anything more than a detachment of Thomas' command.

Dalton lies in a valley, but the road passes through a gap which was a most formidable place. I drew Johnston's attention to it whilst I moved the army round through a gap thirty miles further south and appeared on his rear and flank. He hastily evacuated Dalton and succeeded in getting into Resaca, eighteen miles, where he had prepared a strong position. This we attacked at all points, getting closer and closer whilst I got a bridge across the Oostenaula, and again threatened his rear. Again he started and we chased him fighting all the way to Cassville, and to-day the army is pushing him across the Etowah. Having a railroad and familiar with all the byeways he has got off, but at a cost of about 6,000 men. We have a thousand prisoners, have killed and wounded 5,000, and have ourselves lost less than 4,000. We have had no time to count noses. The enemy burned the railroad bridge at Oostenaula, but we have repaired it and now have the telegraph and cars to the very rear of our army. The whole movement has been rapid, skilful and successful, but will be measured by subsequent events. Difficulties increase as we go, for I have to drop men to guard our roads, whereas our enemy gathers up his guards and collects other reinforcements. I will cross the Etowah and Chattahoochee and swing round Atlanta. If I can break up that nest it will be a splendid achievement. Grant's battles in Virginia are fearful but necessary. Immense slaughter is necessary to prove that our Northern armies can and will fight. That once impressed will be an immense moral power. Banks' utter failure is awful, as that force should now be at Mobile. It may be that Canby can straighten out matters. Banks was so intent on civil government that he underrated the military features of his territory. All attempts at civil government in the midst of war are folly.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 290-1.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/14

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, May 4, 1864

CHATTANOOGA, May 4, 1864.

. . . We are now moving. Thomas's whole army is at Ringgold, Schofield is on his left near Red Clay, and McPherson is here and moves out to-morrow. I will go to Ringgold to-morrow and will then be within five miles of the enemy. We may have some of the desperate fighting of the war, but it cannot be avoided, deferred or modified. I will as heretofore do my best and trust to the troops. All my dispositions thus far are good. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 289-90.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/14

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, April 27, 1864

NASHVILLE, April 27, 1864.

. . . To-morrow I start for Chattanooga and at once prepare for the coming campaign. I will have 20,000 less men than I calculated, from the Red River disaster¹ and two divisions of McPherson, whose furlough won't expire. These furloughs have, as I feared, impaired if not lost us this campaign. When men get home they forget their comrades here, and though Governors are very patriotic in offers of troops their acts fall far short of their promises. Our armies are now weaker than at any former point of the war. My old corps has dwindled away to 10,000 though we had promises that all the regiments would come with two or three hundred recruits each, but the recruits seem to have pocketed the money and like selfish men staid at home.

I will begin with Schofield, 12,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry; Thomas, 40,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry; and McPherson, 20,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry. Combined it is a big army and a good one, and it will take a strong opposition to stop us once in motion.

Dalton will be our first point, Kingston next, then Allatoona and then Atlanta. All the attacks of the enemy on Paducah, Fort Pillow and in North Carolina are to draw us off from our concentration. As soon as we move they will attempt to cut in behind and cut our roads and fight us in front. So we are forced to detach men to guard our railroads all the way from Louisville to Chattanooga. . . .

__________

¹ The failure of the Red River expedition under General Banks. See p. 285.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 288-9.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/13

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, March 12, 1864

MEMPHIS, March 12, 1864.

. . . Of all the expeditions sent out this spring mine has been best conducted and most successful simply because of the secrecy and expedition with which it was planned and executed. Had the enemy been informed of these in advance by our prying correspondents I might have shared the fate of Seymour.² He did not go forty miles from his base, whereas I went one hundred and eighty-two miles. I have written Grant a long letter and begged him to adhere to his resolution not to stay at Washington. He would not stand the intrigues of politicians a week. He now occupies a dazzling height and it will require more courage to withstand the pressure than a dozen battles. I wonder if you kept a certain despatch Halleck made me from Corinth in June 1862 and my answer from Moscow. I foretold to Halleck his loss, and the fact that the man who won the Mississippi would be the man. I wish you would hunt it up — I know I saw it among your papers — and show it to Phil to satisfy him, however extravagant my early assertions may have seemed, how they are verified by time. I feel that whilst my mind naturally slights the events actually transpiring in my presence it sees as clear as any one's the results to be evolved by time. Now Halleck has more reserve book-learning and knowledge of men than Grant, and is therefore better qualified for his present post; whereas the latter by his honesty, simplicity, candor and reliance on friends, is better suited to act with soldiers. I would rather occupy my present relation to the military world than any other command and therefore must serve out this campaign which is to be the test. All that has gone before is mere skirmishing. The war now begins, and with heavy well-disciplined masses the issue must be settled in hard fought battles. I think we can whip them in Alabama and it may be Georgia. . . . No amount of poverty or adversity seems to shake their faith: niggers gone, wealth and luxury gone, money worthless, starvation in view within a period of two or three years, and causes enough to make the bravest tremble. Yet I see no signs of let up — some few deserters, plenty tired of war, but the masses determined to fight it out. . . .

² In the previous month General Truman Seymour had met defeat in Florida.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 286-8.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/12