Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, October 6, 1861

HEADQUARTERS 54TH REGT., O. V. U. S A.,

CAMP DENNISON, OHIO, October 6, 1861.

I do not know, and can scarcely form a conjecture, as to what service my command will be in or as to where I shall be ordered when the regiment is ready for the field. I am now waiting for an equipment and arms. Shall very soon have men enough and am anxious for marching orders to any point away from Camp Dennison. I have been made commandant of the post and have now under my command, not only my own regiment but four others, with artillerists, besides the control of the post hospital, and no small care in itself, as you will imagine when I tell you we had two deaths last night, and have buried twenty-five men since I have been here. If I only had subordinate officers upon whom I could rely these responsibilities would only stimulate me to a pleasant excitement. Indeed I feel always a pleasurable thrill when real earnest work is before me — work that is befitting a man. I have reason to believe that I am popular with the command, that for the most part my men all like me; which is a great point gained in the army. Yet I have been pressed with many and grave obstacles, wholly unforeseen and unprovided for, that perhaps hereafter I shall have an opportunity to explain to you. You may be surprised not to see my name or my regiment mentioned in what is called the Military Column of the newspapers. I have sedulously from the first endeavored to keep away from stupid newspaper puffery or notice. Time, and my own merits, if I have any, will show whether I have judgment and military skill enough to organize, prepare, and drill a regiment for the field and make it serviceable after I get the men into active service, and meanwhile it is worse than absurd to attempt by monied influences or otherwise the manufacture of a fictitious fame.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 175+6

General Robert E. Lee to James A. Seddon, September 9, 1863

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,

September 9, 1863.

HON. JAMES A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War, Richmond, Va.

SIR: The letter of Governor Vance of North Carolina of August 20, with regard to the causes of dissatisfaction among the North Carolina troops in this army, with your indorsement, has been received. I regret exceedingly the jealousies, heart-burnings, and other evil consequences resulting from the crude misstatements of newspaper correspondents, who have necessarily a very limited acquaintance with the facts about which they write, and who magnify the deeds of troops from their own States at the expense of others. But I can see no remedy for this. Men seem to prefer sowing discord to inculcating harmony. In the reports of the officers justice is done to the brave soldiers of North Carolina, whose heroism and devotion have rendered illustrious the name of the State on every battlefield on which the Army of Northern Virginia has been engaged. . . .

I believe it would be better to have no correspondents of the press with the army. . . .

I need not say that I will with pleasure aid Governor Vance in removing every reasonable cause of complaint on the part of men who have fought so gallantly and done so much for the cause of our country; and I hope that he will also do all in his power to cultivate a spirit of harmony, and to bring to punishment the disaffected who use these causes of discontent to further their treasonable designs.

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,

R. E. LEE,

General.

SOURCE: John William Jones, Life and Letters of Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 293-4

General Robert E. Lee to Jefferson Davis, June 10, 1863

HEADQUARTERS ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA,

June 10, 1863.

HIS EXCELLENCY JEFFERSON DAVIS, Richmond.

MR. PRESIDENT: I beg leave to bring to your attention a subject with reference to which I have thought that the course pursued by writers and speakers among us has had a tendency to interfere with our success. I refer to the manner in which the demonstration of a desire for peace at the North has been received in our country.

I think there can be no doubt that journalists and others at the South, to whom the Northern people naturally look for a reflection of our opinions, have met these in such wise as to weaken the hands of the advocates of a pacific policy on the part of the Federal Government and give much encouragement to those who urge a continuance of the war.

Recent political movements in the United States and the comments of influential newspapers upon them have attracted my attention particularly to this subject, which I deem not unworthy of the consideration of your Excellency nor inappropriate to be adverted to by me, in view of its connection with the situation of military affairs.

Conceding to our enemies the superiority claimed by them in numbers, resources, and all the means and appliances for carrying on the war, we have no right to look for exemption from the military consequences of the vigorous use of these advantages, except by such deliverance as the mercy of Heaven may accord to the courage of our soldiers, the justice of our cause, and the constancy and prayers of our people. While making the most we can of the means of resistance we possess, and gratefully accepting the measure of success with which God has blessed our efforts as an earnest of His approval and favor, it is nevertheless the part of wisdom to carefully measure and husband our strength, and not to expect from it more than, in the ordinary course of affairs, it is capable of accomplishing. We should not, therefore, conceal from ourselves that our resources in men are constantly diminishing, and the disproportion in this respect between us and our enemies, if they continue united in their efforts to subjugate us, steadily augmenting. The decrease of the aggregate of this army, as disclosed by the returns, affords an illustration of this fact. Its effective strength varies from time to time, but the falling off in its aggregate shows that its ranks are growing weaker and that its losses are not supplied by recruits.

Under these circumstances we should neglect no honorable means of dividing and weakening our enemies, that they may feel some of the difficulties experienced by ourselves. It seems to me that the most effectual mode of accomplishing this object, now within our reach,, is to give all the encouragement we can, consistently with truth, to the rising peace party of the North. Nor do I think we should, in this connection, make nice distinction between those who declare for peace unconditionally and those who advocate it as a means of restoring the Union, however much we may prefer the former.

We should bear in mind that the friends of peace at the North must make concessions to the earnest desire that exists in the minds of their countrymen for a restoration of the Union, and that to hold out such a result as an inducement is essential to the success of their party. Should the belief that peace will bring back the Union become general the war would no longer be supported, and that, after all, is what we are interested in bringing about. When peace is proposed to us it will be time enough to discuss its terms, and it is not the part of prudence to spurn the proposition in advance merely because those we wish to make it believe, or affect to believe, that it will result in bringing us back to the Union. We entertain no such apprehensions, nor doubt that the desire of our people for a distinct and independent national existence will prove as steadfast under the influence of peaceful measures as it has shown itself in the midst of war.

If the views I have indicated meet the approval of your Excellency you will best know how to give effect to them. Should you deem them inexpedient or impracticable I think you will nevertheless agree with me that we should at least carefully abstain from measures or expressions that tend to discourage any party whose purpose is peace.

With the statement of my own opinion on the subject, the length of which you will excuse, I leave to your better judgment to determine the higher course to be pursued.

I am with great respect, your obedient servant,

R. E. LEE,

General.

SOURCE: John William Jones, Life and Letters of Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 248-9

Major General William T. Sherman to Thomas Ewing, March 31, 1865

IN THE FIELD, GOLDSBORO, N. C.,

March 31, 1865.

. . . I have already been to see General Grant and am back before the enemy or newspaper spies revealed it. I have a clear view of another step in the game, and think I am on the right road. It does seem to me that one or two more such chasms in our enemy's ranks and resources will leave him gasping and begging for quarter. It is perfectly impossible for me in case of failure to divest myself of responsibility as all from the President, Secretary of War, General Grant, etc., seem to vie with each other in contributing to my success.

You need not fear my committing a political mistake, for I am fully conscious of the fact that I would imperil all by any concessions in that direction. I have and shall continue to repel all advances made me of such a kind.

I would like to see my family occasionally, but it seems impossible. It is manifest I am in the rapids and must go on till the cataract is passed and the boat in smooth water.

SOURCE: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 337-8

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, January 15, 1865

SAVANNAH, Geo., January 15, 1865.

. . . It may be some days yet before I dive again beneath the surface to turn up again in some mysterious place. I have a clear perception of the move, but take it for granted that Lee will not let me walk over the track without making me sustain some loss. Of course my course will be north. I will feign on Augusta and Charleston, avoid both and make for Columbia, Fayetteville and Newbern, N. C. Don't breathe, for the walls have ears, and foreknowledge published by some mischievous fool might cost many lives. We have lived long enough for men to thank me for keeping my own counsels, and keeping away from armies those pests of newspaper men. If I have attained any fame it is pure and unalloyed by the taint of parasitic flattery and the result is to you and the children more agreeable, for it will go to your and their benefit more than all the surface flattery of all the newspaper men of the country. Mr. Stanton has been here and is cured of that Negro nonsense which arises, not from a love of the Negro but a desire to dodge service. Mr. Chase and others have written to me to modify my opinions, but you know I cannot, for if I attempt the part of a hypocrite it would break out at each sentence. I want soldiers made of the best bone and muscle in the land, and won't attempt military feats with doubtful materials. I have said that slavery is dead and the Negro free, and want him treated as free, and not hunted and badgered to make a soldier of, when his family is left back on the plantations. I am right and won't change.¹ The papers of the 11th are just in and I see Butler is out. That is another of the incubi of the army. We want and must have professional soldiers, young and vigorous. Mr. Stanton was delighted at my men and the tone which pervades the army. He enjoyed a good story, which is true, told by one of my old 15th corps men. After we reached the coast we were out of bread, and it took some days for us to get boats up. A foraging party was out and got a boat and pulled down the Ogeechee to Ossabaw and met a steamer coming up. They hailed her and got answer that it was the Nemeha, and had Major General Foster on board; the soldiers answered “Oh H—1, we've got twenty-seven Major-Generals up at camp. What we want is hard tack.” The soldiers manifest to me the most thorough affection, and a wonderful confidence. They haven't found out yet where I have not been. Every place we go, they hear I lived there once, and the usual exclamation is, The “Old Man” must be “omnipresent” as well as “omnipotent.” I was telling some officers the other day if events should carry us to Charleston I would have advantage because I know the ground, etc., etc. They laughed heartily at my innocence, for they knew I had been everywhere. But really my long sojourn in this quarter of the world from 1840 to 1846 was and is providential to me.

I have read most of the current discourses about me, those you sent inclusive; but take more interest in the London Spectator, the same that reviewed my Knoxville Campaign. He is surely a critic, for he catches the real points well. The Times utterly overstates the cases and the Dublin papers are too fulsome. Our American papers are shallow. They don't look below the surface. I receive letters from all the great men, so full of real respect that I cannot disregard them, yet I dread the elevation to which they have got me. A single mistake or accident, my pile, though well founded, would tumble; but I base my hopes of fair fame on the opinion of my own army, and my associates. . . .

I will surely be off in the course of this week, and you will hear of me only through Richmond for two months. You have got used to it now and will not be concerned though I think the chances of getting killed on this trip about even. If South Carolina lets me pass across without desperate fighting, her fame is gone forever. . . .

I would not be surprised if I would involve our government with England. I have taken all the cotton as prize of war, thirty thousand bales, equal to thirteen millions of dollars, much of which is claimed by English merchants. I disregard their consular certificates on the ground that this cotton has been notoriously employed to buy cartridges and arms and piratical ships, and was collected here for that very purpose. Our own merchants are equally culpable. They buy cotton in advance and take the chances of capture, and then claim. . . .

___________

¹ Sherman's unwillingness to weaken his army by increasing it with any but the most effective fighting men was frequently construed as an evidence of hostility to the negro. His true feeling on this subject is shown especially in the account of Stanton's visit to Savannah in the Memoirs (Vol. II, chap. xxii). The clear remembrance of those who knew him best warrants the belief that his knowledge of the South gave him a sympathetic understanding of the moral effect of employing negro troops, which increased his reluctance to include them in his army.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 327-30.  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 2/20

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, March 10, 1864

STEAMBOAT Westmoreland,

APPROACHING MEMPHIS, March 10, 1864.

Again I am approaching you. I have done all I undertook, and am now en route for Huntsville, but must stop it may be a week at Memphis to complete certain matters made necessary by General Grant's orders received yesterday, when I expect to come to Cairo and Louisville and Huntsville. I do not think I can come to Cincinnati, for too much rests with me now, and however disposed, I must go on for the spring campaign which I judge will be the most sanguinary of all. . . .

I have just received from General Grant a letter in which he gives me and McPherson credit for having won for him his present high position. . . .

I have no doubt you were amused at the thousand and one stories about my Meridian trip. It certainly baffled the sharp ones of the press and stampeded all Alabama, but in fact was a pleasant excursion. Weather was beautiful, roads good and plenty to eat, what fighting we had was all on one side. Our aggregate loss is 21 killed, 68 wounded, and 81 missing, 170 all told. But in a day or two I will send you my report which will be clear and explicit. I have sent 10,000 men up Red River under General A. J. Smith with Admiral Porter to co-operate with General Banks. They are to be gone only thirty days when they come around to me at Huntsville. I want to make up my army there to 40,000 men. So when we cross the Tennessee look out. Grant in command, Thomas the Centre, Schofield the Left and Sherman Right—if we can't whip Joe Johnston, we will know the reason why; Banks in the meantime to come out of Red River and swing against Mobile. If he had been smart he could have walked into Mobile when I was in Meridian. I am down on Wm. Sooy Smith. He could have come to me, I know it, and had he, I would have captured Polk's army; but the enemy had too much cavalry for me to attempt it with men afoot. As it was I scared the Bishop out of his senses. He made a clean run and I could not get within a day's march of him. He had railroads to help him, but these are now gone. Had I tolerated a corps of newspaper men how could I have made that march a success? Am I not right? And does not the world now see it? ...

On my way down I picked up at Natchez a prisoner of war, Professor Boyd, my favorite among the officers of the academy at Alexandria. I never saw a man evince more gratitude. He clung to me till I came away. Stone promised to be kind to him and to exchange him the first opportunity. He told me all about the people up river and said they talked about me a great deal, some with marked respect and others with bitter hatred. . . .

Many of the negroes are gone and the present trip up Red River will clean out the balance. Boyd tells me the motto over the door of the Seminary is chiselled out. You remember it in my letter of resignation: 'By the liberality of the General Government of the United States. The Union, Esto perpetua.' The fools! Though obliterated it lives in the memory of thousands and it may be restored in a few days. I wanted to go up Red River, but as Banks was to command in person I thought best not to go. Grant wanted me to command, but I reported my reason as before stated. Banks ranks Grant and myself. But now Grant will be Lieutenant-General and will command all he pleases. Of course I can get anything I want, but as soon as the spring campaign is over I want to come here and look after the Mississippi. Like the story of Gil Blas, Here lies my soul.' Though Willy died here his pure and holy spirit will hover over this the grand artery of America. I want to live out here and die here also, and don't care if my grave be like De Soto's in its muddy waters.¹ . . .

__________

¹ It was at General Sherman's own request that he was buried, in 1891, at St. Louis by the side of his son.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 284-6.  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 2/12

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, April 10, 1863

CAMP AT VICKSBURG, April 10, 1863.

. . . I was really amused at a circumstance to-day that may be serious. Grant has been secretly working by night to place some 30 pound rifle guns as close up to Vicksburg as the water will permit, about 2,300 yards, and to cover them against the enemies’ cross batteries, but to-day got the Memphis papers of the 7th giving a minute and full account of them and their location. Now he knows as we all do that the Secesh mail leaves Memphis before day, as soon as the morning papers are printed, reaches Hernando about 11 A. M., and the telegraph carries to Vicksburg the news in a few minutes. This explains a remark which Major Watts of the Confederate Army made to me at parting day before yesterday. We met per appointment on a steamboat just above Vicksburg, and after a long conference relating to exchange of prisoners, Watts, who is a very clever man, remarked: “don’t open those batteries to-morrow (last) night, for I am to give a party and don't want to be interrupted.” Of course the newspaper correspondents, encouraged by the political generals and even President Lincoln, having full swing in this and all camps, report all news secret and otherwise. Indeed with a gossiping world a secret is worth more than common news. Grant was furious, and I believe he ordered the suppression of all the Memphis papers. But that won't do. All persons who don't have to fight must be kept out of camp, else secrecy, a great element of military success, is an impossibility. I may not, but you will live to see the day when the people of the United States will mob the man who thinks otherwise. I am too fast, but there are principles of government as sure to result from war as in law, religion or any moral science. Some prefer to jump to the conclusion by reason. Others prefer to follow developments by the slower and surer road of experience. In like manner Grant has three thousand men at work daily to clear out Willow Bayou, by which he proposes to move a large part of the army to Carthage and Grand Gulf: also a secret, but I'll bet my life it is at this moment in all the Northern papers, and is known through them to the Secesh from Richmond to Vicksburg. Can you feel astonished that I should grow angry at the toleration of such suicidal weakness, that we strong, intelligent men must bend to a silly proclivity for early news that should advise our enemy days in advance? Look out! We are not going to attack Haines' Bluff or Greenwood or Vicksburg direct, but are going to come round below by Grand Gulf! All the enemy wants is a day or two notice of such intention and Grand Gulf becomes like a second Vicksburg! But this is a secret, remember, and though it is the plan it is not a good plan. We commit a great mistake, but I am not going to advise one way or the other. The government has here plenty of representatives, and they must make the plans, and I will fill my part, no more, no less.

The only true plan was the one we started with. The Grand Army should be on the main land moving south along the road and roads from Memphis, Holly Springs and Corinth, concentrating on Grenada; thence towards Canton where the Central Road crosses Big Black and then on Vicksburg. The gun-boats and a small army should be here, and on the first sign of the presence of the main force inland we should attack here violently.

This was our plan at Oxford in December last, is my plan now and Grant knows it is my opinion. I shall communicate it to none else save you or your father. . . .  It is my opinion that we shall never take Vicksburg by operations by river alone.

The armies on the Rappahannock and in Kentucky pause for us at Vicksburg. That is folly; all ought to press at the same instant, for the enemy has the centre or inside track, can concentrate on any one point and return to the others in time. Their position is very strong, and they have skill, courage and intelligence enough to avail themselves of all advantages. Their country is suffering terribly by the devastations of our armies and the escapes of their slaves, but nothing seems to shake their constancy or confidence in ultimate success. Could the North only turn out her strength, fill promptly our thinned ranks, keep their counsels, hold their tongues, and stop their infernal pens and press we could make things crash, and either submission or utter horrible ruin would be their fate.

It may be, however, that God in his wisdom wants to take down the conceit of our people and make them feel that they are of the same frail materials of mortality as the other thousand millions of human beings that spin their short webs and die all over earth. In all former wars virtues lost sight of in time of peace have revived, and to any one who looked it is unnecessary to say that our governments, national, state, county and town, had been corrupt, foul and disgraceful. If war will change this, it will be cheaply bought. . . .

The last flag of truce brought me from Vicksburg a beautiful bouquet with compliments of Major Hoadley and Major Watts, the same who wanted me not to fire last night to interrupt his party. The trees are now in full leaf, the black and blue-birds sing sweetly, and the mocking bird is frantic with joy. The rose and violet, the beds of verbena and mignonette, planted by fair hands now in exile from their homes occupied by the rude barbarian, bloom as fair as though grim war had not torn with violent hands all the vestiges of what a few short months ago were the homes of people as good as ourselves. You may well pray that a good God in His mercy will spare the home of your youth the tread of an hostile army. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 246-9.  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 2/03.

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, March 13, 1863

CAMP BEFORE VICKSBURG,

March 13, 1863.

. . . The waters are still rising and Kilby Smith's Brigade is roosting on the levee with bare standing room. McClernand's Corps is at Milliken's Bend, and my Corps strung along the levee for four miles. The levee is about ten feet wide at top with sloping sides and can hold all the men and maybe horses in case of an absolute flood. We have not steamboats enough to float us and if we had there is no dry land to go to. An expedition has entered the Yazoo from above, and when it is heard from we probably will make another dash at Vicksburg or Drumgould's. I see the whole North is again in agonies about the amount of sickness down here. It is not excessively hot, more than should be expected, not more than we had on the Potomac and Tennessee, and our supplies are the best I ever saw. There is a deep laid plan to cripple us laid by Jeff Davis who is smart and knows our people well. By a few thousands of dollars well invested in newspapers he can defeat any plan or undertaking. Many really well disposed men have come from St. Louis, Cincinnati and Washington and have been amazed by the falsehood of these stories. Only one man of the regulars has died since we left Memphis. My old regiments are all in fine health and spirits. Some of the new regiments have passed through the ordeal which afflicts all new troops. . . .

The War Department have not given me any staff, and yet have taken from me the right to appoint any. The truth is now as it always was, that persons at a distance are neglected and those near the seat of power petted. We have made further progress than any army, with less means. In Vicksburg we meet our match and time must solve the difficulty; but so long as our camps are full of newspaper spies revealing each move, exaggerating our trouble and difficulties and giving grounds for discontent, success cannot be expected.

The new Conscript Law is the best act of our government and Mr. Lincoln can no longer complain of want of power. He now is absolute dictator and if he don't use the power some one will. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 242-3.  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 2/02.

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, February 26, 1863

CAMP NEAR VICKSBURG, February 26, 1863.

I have yours of the 14th inst. and indeed I think all your letters have come somewhat in bunches, but I think all are at hand up to that of the 14th. Of course, I will heed your counsel about the newspaper correspondents, but it is hard for me to know that they are used to spy out and report all our acts of omission and commission to be published at home to prejudice the cause and advance that of the enemy. It is hard enough to know that we have a strong well organized and vindictive enemy in front and a more dangerous insidious one within our very camp. These causes must defeat us unless the people have resources enough to learn by the slow and sad progress of time what they might so much easier learn from books or the example of our enemy. We look in vain to their newspapers for scraps from which to guess at the disposition of their forces, and know and feel all the time that every thing we do or attempt to do is paraded in all our newspapers which reach Vicksburg by telegraph from Richmond, Va. or Memphis long before we are ourselves advised. I feel also that our government instead of governing the country is led first by one class of newspapers, then another, and that we are the mere shuttle-cocks flying between. We get all the knocks and rarely see one grain of encouragement from “home.”  I see the eulogies of the brave and heroic acts of men at Springfield, Illinois, and Cincinnati, and rarely anything but the paid and hired encomiums of some worthless regiment here, that, understanding the notions of our people, can get cheap reputation by writing for the press, and neglecting all their duties here. The further we penetrate, the further we remain from home, the less we are esteemed or encouraged. I did not intend to resign unless the public opinion of the North made it prudent for the President to recall me nominally to some other command, or unless I detected in my own corps some symptoms of the natural results of the continued attacks of the press. In either event being foot-loose I would be justified before God and man in making my own choice of vocation. My old troops believe in me, but in this move I had a new batch that did not know me and I had reason to apprehend mistrust on this point, as some of them are known to me, like, to be mere politicians who come to fight not for the real glory and success of the nation but for their own individual aggrandizement. Let any accident befall me or any temporary rumor like that at Vicksburg, the same howl will be renewed because these buzzards of the press who hang in scent about our camps know full well that death awaits them whenever I have the power or when time develops their true character and influence. You in Ohio have one or two papers to conciliate, here we have all — St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Cincinnati, Charleston, Atlanta and Vicksburg. Now these are all antagonistic save in one particular, in esprit de corps. They stand by each other as a profession, but each gathers facts and draws its pictures to suit the home market, and really the Southern correspondents are the more fair. Were I to judge of public opinion by the tone of the press I would say we were here regarded as an enemy to the North and rather favorable to the South. Of course, I shall no longer attempt to exclude spies from camp, and allow these to come and go freely and collect their own budgets. The ram Queen of the West was captured by the enemy in Red River and yesterday came close up to Vicksburg with the Rebel flag flying in defiance. We have an iron boat below, the Indianola, but night before last heavy firing was heard until about one o'clock, when it ceased, and this fact being followed by the appearance of the captured ram looks bad. I fear the Indianola is gone, and that the enemy has recovered the use of the river below Vicksburg. This to us is a bad blow, and may lead to worse consequences. I at once established a battery of 20 pound rifles below the town and made other dispositions, but the ram has again gone below. I fear for the safety of the Indianola. If sunk it is not so bad, but if like the Queen of the West she has fallen into the hands of the enemy, it may prove a calamity. Rain, rain, — water above, below and all round. I have been soused under water by my horse falling in a hole, and got a good ducking yesterday walking where a horse could not go. No doubt they are chuckling over our helpless situation in Vicksburg. Accounts from Yazoo and Providence Lake favorable, but rain, rain, and men can't work —  indeed hardly a place to stand, much less lie down. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 239-42.  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 2/01.

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, January 28, 1863

CAMP NEAR VICKSBURG, January 28, 1863.

... The politician thinks results can be had by breath, but how painfully it begins to come home to the American people that the war which all have striven so hard to bring on and so few to avert is to cost us so many thousands of lives. Indeed do I wish I had been killed long since. Better that than struggle with the curses and maledictions of every woman that has a son or brother to die in any army with which I chance to be associated. Of course Sherman is responsible. Seeing so clearly into the future I do think I ought to get away. The President's placing McClernand here and the dead set to ruin me for McClernand's personal glory would afford me a good chance to slide out and escape the storm and trouble yet in reserve for us. Here we are at Vicksburg on the wrong side of the river trying to turn the Mississippi by a ditch, a pure waste of human labor. Grant has come and Prime¹ is here and they can figure it out, but the canal won't do. We must carry out the plan fixed up at Oxford. A large army must march down from Oxford to Grenada and so on to the rear of Vicksburg, and another army must be here to cooperate with the gun-boats at the right time. Had Grant been within sixty miles of Vicksburg, or Banks near, I could have broken the line of Chickasaw Bayou, but it was never dreamed by me that I could take the place alone. McClernand or Grant will not undertake it. Not a word of Banks. I doubt if he has left or can leave or has any order to leave New Orleans. Therefore here we are to sit in the mud till spring and summer and maybe another year. Soldiers will soon clamor for motion, life, anything rather than canal digging. The newspapers are after me again; I published an order they must not come along on pain of being treated as spies. I am now determined to test the question. Do they rule or the commanding general? If they rule I quit. I have ordered the arrest of one, shall try him, and if possible execute him as a spy. They publish all the data for our enemy and it was only by absolute secrecy that we could get to the Post of Arkansas without their getting ahead. They did reveal our attempt to attack Haines's Bluff. I will never again command an army in America if we must carry along paid spies. I will banish myself to some foreign country first. I shall notify Mr. Lincoln of this if he attempt to interfere with the sentence of any court ordered by me. If he wants an army he must conform to the well established rules of military nations and not attempt to keep up the open rules of peace. The South at the start did these things, and the result has been, they move their forces from Virginia to Mississippi and back without a breath spoken or written. . . .

__________

¹ Captain Prime of the Engineer Corps.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 237-9.  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 1/150.

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, August 20, 1862

MEMPHIS, August 20, 1862.

. . . I see the Cincinnati papers are finding fault with me again. Well, thank God, I don't owe Cincinnati anything, or she me. If they want to believe reporters they may. Eliza Gillespie can tell you whether I take an interest in the sick or no. I never said I did not want cowards from the hospital. I said the Sanitary Committee had carried off thousands who were not sick, except of the war, and for my part I did not want such to return. Men who ran off at Shiloh and escaped in boats to Ohio and remain absent as deserters will be of no use to us here. This is true and those deserters should know it; but the real sick receive from me all possible care. I keep my sick with their regiments, with their comrades, and don't send them to strange hospitals. Our surgeon has a very bad way of getting rid of sick instead of taking care of them in their regiments, and once in the general hospitals they rarely return. This cause nearly defeated us at Shiloh, when 57,000 men were absent from their regiment without leave. McClellan has 70,000 absent from his army. This abuse has led to many catastrophes, and you can't pick up a paper without some order of the President and Secretary of War on the subject.

If the doctors want to do charity let them come here, where the sick are, and not ask us to send the sick to them. As to opening the liquor saloons here, it was done by the city authorities to prevent the sale of whiskey by the smugglers. We have as little drunkenness and as good order here as in any part of the volunteer army.

Cincinnati furnishes more contraband goods than Charleston, and has done more to prolong the war than the State of South Carolina. Not a merchant there but would sell salt, bacon, powder and lead, if they can make money by it. I have partially stopped this and hear their complaints. I hope Bragg will bring war home to them. The cause of war is not alone in the nigger, but in the mercenary spirit of our countrymen.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 231-2.  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 1/147.

Late News By The Mails

NORFOLK, May 10 – 6 P. M.

Gen. Wool has just entered the city in company with Mayor W. N. Lamb and a committee of the city government.  The last of the rebel troops left this morning and the city was left in the care of the Mayor as the representative of the civil power.  On the approach of our troops the Mayor went with a flag of truce to the city limits, and an arrangement was soon made between the Mayor and Gen. Wool that the city should be given up on the promise of Gen. Wool that private property should be respected during the march on Norfolk.

Three regimental cavalry camps were found deserted apparently a day or two since.  Gen. Weber’s regiment, the New York 20th, was advanced on landing to reconnoiter.  Some six miles from the beach, the Half Way House, so called, they found a place which had been prepared for a battle field.  Trees and bushes had been felled and rifled-pits built, and early in the morning, as was ascertained, several guns were placed in position.  At this point some of the recruits of the 41st Virginia regiment were captured.  They report Sewall’s Point abandoned on the preceding night by four companies, which had garrisoned the place for some weeks past.  A negro was also captured at this place who stated that it was the intention of the enemy to destroy the bridge over Tanner’s Creek and then evacuate Norfolk.

Part of Max Weber’s regiment was pushed forward on the road to the bridge, and the enemy was found posted on the opposite side of Tanner’s Creek with three guns.  The bridge had been set on fire and was still burning at the time.  Some six or eight shots, however, were fired without effect, and our men, being beyond musket range, did not reply.  The creek being about a quarter of a mile wide, our forces were withdrawn, and started on another road considerably longer, and reported to be defended by a strong battery.  Not the slightest opposition was made, however, to our advance, and fortifications, which were a mile and a half from Norfolk, were found to have been evacuated after spiking the guns.  They were extensive works and finely constructed.

They arrived at Norfolk, after a tiresome march, at 5 o’clock, without firing a gun and found the whole rebel force gone, the last leaving this morning.

Mayor Lamb, with a committee of the city government authorized for the purpose, met Gen. Wool with a flag of truce at the city limits, and after a brief consultation the city was surrendered to the United States forces.  Gen. Wool then proceeded to the City Hall with the Mayor, followed by a large crowd, where he issued the following proclamation:

HEADQUARTERS DEPT. OF VIRGINIA,

NORFOLK, May 10, 1862.

The city of Norfolk having been surrendered to the Government of the United States, military possession of the same is taken, in behalf of the National Government by Major General John E. Wool. – Brigadier General Viele is appointed Military Governor for the time being.  He will see that all citizens are carefully protected in their rights and civil privileges, taking the utmost care to preserve order, to see that no soldiers be permitted to enter the city except by his order or by the written permission of the commanding officer of his brigade or regiment; or he will punish summarily any American soldiers who shall trespass upon the rights of any of the inhabitants.

(Signed)

JOHN E. WOOL,

Major General.

Gen. Viele immediately appointed Mr. F. D. Davis his Military Secretary.  The very first parties who entered the city were newspaper correspondents.  Gen. Wool returns to camp outside the city, and probably to Fortress Monroe to-night.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, May 14, 1862, p. 1

Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant to Mary Frances Grant, October 25, 1861

Cairo, October 25th, 1861.

Dear Sister:

I have gone longer this time without writing to you than I intended and have no good excuse for it. I have received two letters, at least, from you and father since my last, one of which wanted special answer. As I have not that letter before me I may fail to answer some points. As to my not taking Columbus there are several reasons for it which I understand perfectly and could make plain to any one else, but do not feel disposed to commit the reasons to paper. As to the needlessness of the movements of troops I am a better judge than the newspaper reporters who write about it. My whole administration of affairs seems to have given entire satisfaction to those who have the right to judge, and who should have the ability to judge correctly. I find by a little absence for the few last days (under orders) that my whole course has received marked approbation from citizens and soldiers, so much so that many who are comparative strangers to me are already claiming for me promotion. This is highly gratifying but I do not think any promotions should be made for the present. Let service tell who are the deserving ones and give them the promotion. Father also wrote about a Mr. Reed. He is now here and will probably be able to secure a position. I do not want to be importuned for places. I have none to give and want to be placed under no obligation to any one. My influence no doubt would secure places with those under me, but I become directly responsible for the suitableness of the appointee, and then there is no telling what moment I may have to put my hand upon the very person who has conferred the favor, or the one recommended by me. I want always to be in a condition to do my duty without partiality, favor, or affection. — In the matter of making harness I know that a very large amount is wanted. Maj. Robert Allen, Chief Quartermaster for the Western Department, stationed in St. Louis, has the letting of a great deal. Father remembers his father well. He is a son of old Irish Jimmy, as he used to be called about Georgetown to distinguish him from the other two Jimmy Allens. He is a friend of mine also. — This letter has proven so far more one to Father than to yourself, but I direct it to you that you may reply. I write in great haste having been engaged all the evening in writing orders, and still having more to do. — I send you with this the likeness of myself and staff. No. 1 you will have no difficulty in recognizing. No. 2 is Capt. J. A. Rawlins, A. A. Gen. Nos. 3 & 4 Capts. Lagow & Hillyer, Aides-de-Camps, No. 5 Dr. Simons Medical Director.

A good looking set aren't they? I expect Julia here the latter part of next week. I wish you could come at the same time and stay a week or two. I think it would pay you well. Won't you try to come? If it were at all necessary I would pay the expense myself to have you come. Give my love to all at home. I think I will send you several more of my photographs, one for Uncle Samuel, one for Aunt Margaret, one for Aunt Rachel and one for Mrs. Bailey.

Your Brother,

ULYS.

SOURCE: Jesse Grant Cramer, Editor, Letters of Ulysses S. Grant to His Father and His Youngest Sister, 1857-78, p. 61-3

Brig. Gen. U. S. Grant & Staff

Captain Lagow                                                        Capt. J. A. Rawlins
Gen'l Grant
Capt. Hillyer                                                                   Dr. Simmons

Taken October 1861
At Cairo Ill.

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons

A correspondent of the New York Times . . .

. . . has been sent home from Port Royal for having insinuated in one of his letters that Gen. Sherman prefers inaction, by saying that in the matter of the late attack on the mainland, he was “induced to move.”

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 3

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, March 24, 1864

On March 24, 1864, General Sherman writes from his headquarters, then at Nashville, Tenn.

I went to Cincinnati with Grant to see Ellen. I stayed but two days, and am now here. I go to Decatur, Huntsville, and Chattanooga, to be gone a week, and then return here. I shall have plenty to do. I am bored for photographs, etc. I send you the only one I have, which you can have duplicated, and let the operator sell to the curious. Give Grant all the support you can. If he can escape the toils of the schemers, he may do some good. He will fight, and the Army of the Potomac will have all the fighting they want. He will expect your friendship — we are close friends. His simplicity and modesty are natural and not affected. Whatever part is assigned me I will attempt, cost what it may in life and treasure. . . .

And again he writes: —

Grant encourages his juniors and takes pleasure in supporting them. . . . Newspaper men are afraid of me, and I hope before the war is much older we shall be allowed to conscript every citizen of good physique found about our camps, on the ground that he has fled to escape the draft. Such an order would have an admirable effect.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 223-4

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, April 3, 1863

CAMP BEFORE VICKSBURG, April 3, '63.

My Dear Brother:

I received your long letter from Mansfield, for which I am much obliged. You certainly have achieved an envious name in the Senate, and I confess I am astonished at your industry and acquirements. I readily understand how, in a revolution of the magnitude that now involves us all, older men should devolve on you and the younger school of men the legislation and experiments necessary to meet a state of facts so different from the common run of events. The Finance Bill and Conscription Acts of the late Congress in my judgment may keep the management of the affairs of the nation in the hands of the Constitutional Government. Anything short of them, the war would have drifted out of the control of President and Congress. Now if Mr. Lincoln will assume the same position that Davis did at the outset, he can unite the fighting North against the fighting South, and numerical force systematized will settle the war. I know the impatience of the people, but this is one of the lessons of war. People must learn that war is a question of physical force and courage. A million of men engaged in peaceful pursuits will be vanquished by a few thousand determined armed men. The justice of the cause has nothing to do with it. It is a question of force. Again we are the assailants, and have to overcome not only an equal number of determined men, however wrongfully engaged, but the natural obstacles of a most difficult country. . . .

They [i.e. newspaper correspondents] are unknown to me, appear in disguise of sutlers' clerks, cotton thieves and that class of vultures that hang around every army. I never saw or heard of Knox till he had published his falsehoods; and when I did send for him, and he admitted how false he had been, he enunciated the sentiment that his trade was to collect news — he must furnish reading matter for sale, true, if possible; otherwise, false. . . .

It is absurd to say these correspondents relieve the anxiety of parents, friends, &c. My soldiers write constantly and receive immense numbers of letters. This is right, and if newspapers will report only local matters and discuss matters within their knowledge, parents and families would not be kept half frantic with the accounts of sickness, death, massacres, &c., of their children and relatives. We have hundreds of visitors from every quarter to examine our camps, because correspondents represented us as all dying, when the truth is no army was ever better provided for and supplied. We are camped on narrow slips of levee and ground, because all else is under water. To get on dry ground we must go back to Memphis or Helena. . . .

McPherson is a splendid officer. Grant is honest and does his best. I will do as ordered. I will suggest little, as others talk of my failing to take Vicksburg and I want them to try a hand. . . .

Affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 196-8

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, March 14, 1863

CAMP BEFORE VlCKSBURG, March 14, '63.

Dear Brother:

* * * * * * * * * *

The Conscript Bill is all even I could ask, it is the first real step toward war. And if Mr. Lincoln will now use the power thus conferred, ignore popular clamor and do as near right as he can, we may at last have an army somewhat approximating the vast undertaking which was begun in utter, blind, wilful ignorance of the difficulties and dangers that we were forced to encounter. . . .

I have been much pleased with your course in Congress, and regret that anything I have done or may do has given you trouble or concern. I could easily have been popular, as I believe I am with my own command, by courting the newspaper men; but it does go hard to know that our camps are full of spies revealing our most secret steps, conveying regularly to the enemy our every act, when a thousand dollars won't procure us a word of information from Vicksburg. I know the press has defeated us, and will continue to do it, and as an honest man I cannot flatter them. I know they will ruin me, but they will ruin the country too. . . .

Napoleon himself would have been defeated with a free press. But I will honestly try to be patient, though I know in this, as in other matters, time must bring about its true result, just as the summer ripens the fruits of the season. . . .

My corps is alone here at the neck opposite Vicksburg, fighting off the water of the Mississippi which threatens to drown us. Grant is here on board a boat and Admiral Porter at the mouth of Yazoo.

Affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 193-4

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, February 12, 1863

CAMP BEFORE VICKSBURG, Feb. 12, 1863.

Dear Brother:

I have hitherto sent you original papers or copies to satisfy any one of the falsehood of the attacks against me in the late Vicksburg matter. I had a newspaper reporter arrested and tried by a court-martial, but by the rulings of the court I infer they are of opinion that to make the accused come within the order of the War Department the fact should be proven that the very substance of the objectionable matter went to the enemy. I have been unable to find the identical matter, but in every Southern paper I get I find abundance of evidence to show that Northern papers furnish the Southern leaders abundant and timely notice of every movement. I send you two to show this fact. In the Vicksburg “Whig” (?), at the bottom of the last column of the first page you will see that it states positively that a correspondent of one of the Northern journals wrote in advance of the federal plans in the late move on Vicksburg. Had they received three days notice of our coming to the Post of Arkansas, they could have so reinforced that it would have cost us a siege. But then we were beyond the power of the press and succeeded. And so it must ever be. These newspaper correspondents hanging about the skirts of our army reveal all plans, and are worth a hundred thousand men to the enemy. . . .

I have no faith in the canal here, save we may enlarge it to pass supplies for gunboats below, which will enable the latter to keep supplies from Vicksburg, via the river, but we in no wise threatened Vicksburg, for the bluffs extended many miles below the outlet of the canal. The river is bank full and threatens to overflow our camps — but I have more faith in the efforts above at Yazoo Pass and Lake Providence. The former may admit us to the Yazoo from above and the latter may open a channel down the Tensas to Red, or by Atchafalaya below Port Hudson. If Banks had orders to meet me at Vicksburg on Christmas he has been slow of execution, for I cannot hear that he has even felt of Port Hudson. At all events we have not heard from him save via New York. Grant is now up at Lake Providence, McClernand and my corps are here in sight of Vicksburg, but the great Mississippi flows between us.

Affectionately your brother,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 190-1

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, February, 1863

HEADQUARTERS, I5TH ARMY CORPS,

CAMP BEFORE VICKSBURG, Feb. , 1863.²

Dear Brother:

I now know the secret of this last tirade against me personally.

Of course newspaper correspondents regard me as the enemy of their class. I announced that all such accompanying the expedition were and should be treated as spies. They are spies because their publications reach the enemy, give them direct and minute information of the composition of our forces, and while invariably they puff up their patrons, they pull down all others. Thus this man Knox, dating his paper upon the Steamer Continental, the headquarters of Generals Steele and Blair, gives to these general officers and their division undue praise, and libels and abuses all others. This not only plays into the hands of our enemies by sowing dissensions among us, but it encourages discontent among the officers who find themselves abused by men seemingly under the influence of officers high in command. I caused Knox’s communication to be read to him, paragraph by paragraph, and then showed him my instructions, by my orders made at the time, and the official reports of others, and how wide he was of the truth. And now I have asked his arrest and trial by General Grant, on charges as a spy and informer. The 57th Article of war, which is a Law of Congress, is as follows: “Who shall be convicted of holding correspondence with, or giving intelligence to the enemy, either directly or indirectly, shall suffer death, &c.”  I will endeavor to bring in all the facts, by means of the evidence of officers who took part in all these events. My purpose is not to bring Knox to death or other severe punishment, but I do want to establish the principle that citizens shall not, against the orders of the competent military superior, attend a military expedition, report its proceedings, and comment on its officers. . . .

Affectionately your Brother,

W. T. SHERMAN.

In the above letter to John Sherman, General Sherman enclosed the following copy of General Orders No. 67, in regard to the giving of intelligence to the enemy, together with his own comments upon them.

. . . Now, to every army and almost every general a newspaper reporter goes along, filling up our transports, swelling our trains, reporting our progress, guessing at places, picking up dropped expressions, inciting jealousy and discontent, and doing infinite mischief. We are commanded absolutely to proceed against them under the 57th article of war. Shall the laws of Congress be obeyed? Shall the orders of the War Department be respected? Or shall the press go on sweeping everything before it. ...

The press has now killed McClellan, Buell, Fitz-John Porter, Sumner, Franklin, and Burnside. Add my name and I am not ashamed of the association. If the press can govern the country, let them fight the battles.

__________

² Date uncertain.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 187-9