The national Republican., 1861-11-14
PROCLAMATION OF GEN. SHERMAN

To the People OF south Carolina.
In obedience to the orders Of the President
of the United States of America, have landed
on your shores with small force Of national
troops.
The dictates of a duty which, under these
circumstance, ! owe to great sovereign
State, and to a proud ard hospitable peop!e.
among whom l have passed some of the plea
santest days of my life, prompt me to proclaim
thatwe have come amongst you with no feel
ings of personal animosity-no desire to harm
your citizens, destroy your property, or IT,
terlere with any Of your lawful rights, or your
social and local institutions, beyond what the
causes herein briefly alluded to, may render
unavoidable.
Citizens of S"uth Carolina, the civilized
world stands appalled, at the course you are
pursuing appalled, at the crime you are COM
mitting against your own mother-the best
the most enlightened, and heretofore the most
prosperous Of nations. You are in sta'e Of
active rebellion against the laws Of your
country. You have lawlessly seized upon the
forts, arsenals, and other property, belonging
to our common country, and within your bor-
ders. With this property, you are In arms.
and waging ruthless war against your Con
stituional Government, and thus threate enipg
the existence Of Government which you ar
bound, by the terms of a solemn compact, to
this. you are not only undermining and pre-
pairing the way for totally ignoring your politi
cal and social existence, but you are threaten
ing the civilized world with the odious sen,i
meut that selfgovernment is impossible with
civilized man.
Fellow.citizens, / implore you to pause and
reflect upon the tenor AMI consequences of your
acts. If the awful sacrifices made by the de-
vastation Of our property, the shedding Of
fraricidsl blood in battle the mourning and
wailing Of widows and orphans throughout our
land, are insufficient to deter you from further
pursuing this unholy war, then ponder. be-
tain, result which its further progress mi,s.
necessarily and naturally entail upon your once
happy and prosperous State. Indeed, can you
pursue this fratricidal war, and continue to i'm
brue yopr hands in the loyal blood of your
countTymen, your friends, your kinsmen, for no
other object than to unsawfHlly disrupt the
Confederacy of great people, Contedssacy
established by your own hands-in order to set
up, were 1t possible, an independent Govern
ment, under which you can never live In peace,
prosperity, or quietnessf
Carolinians! we have come among you az
loyal men, fully impressed with our constitu-
tional obligations to the citizens Of your State.
Those obligations shall be performed as far as
| in our power. But be not deceived; the obliga-
| ton of suppressing armed combinations against
the constitutional authorities, is paramount to
all others.
II, in the perfor nance Of this duty, other
minor but important obligations should be in
any way neglected, It must be attributed to the
| necessities of the case; because rights depend
ent on the laws of the State must be neces-
sarily subordinate to military exigencies Gre
ated by insurrection and rebellion.
T. W. SHERMAN,
Brigadier General Commanding,
Headquarters G. G.
Port Royal, S. G, November 8, 1861.