The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-09-24
Gen. Sherman'S Army
THE GREAT EXODUS ORDER.
It Will Not Be Withdrawn.
1T WAS ISSUED FOR PEACE.

IEADouAR1fRs MILITARY DrusroN or ruE
MIssIssrrt IN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, Ca, Sep.
tembcr y, 1s6i.-Jamcs NJ Calhoun, Mayor, r.
X. Rawson, aud s. c. Wells, representing City
Council Of Atlanta Gentlemen Il have your
letter Of the 18th IN the nature Of petition 70
revoke my orders removing all the inhabitants
from Atlanta. have read 1t carefully, and give
full credit to your statements Of the distress that
will be occasioned by IT, and yet shall not revoke
my order, simply because my orders are not
designed to meet the humantes of the case. bat
TO prepare for the future struggles in which mil
lions, yea hundreds Of millions of good people
outside OF Atlanta, have deep interest.
We must have peace, not only at Atlanta but
in all America. To secure this we must stop the
war that now desolates our once happy aud
favored coJntry. To stop war we must defeat the
Rebel armies that arc arrsyed against the laws
and Constitution, which all must respect and
obey. To defeat these armies we must prepare
the way to reach them in their recesses provided
| with arms and instruments which enable us 20
| accomplish our purpose.
Now, know the vndctivc nature Of our
enemy, and that we may have many years Of
! military operations from this quarter, and there
fore deem IL wise and prudent to prepare in time.
] The use Oi Atlanta for warike purposes is incOn-
sistcnt with III character as home for families.
! There viii be no manufactures, commerce. or
agriculture here for the maintenance OF families
and sooner or later want will compel the inhabi-
tants 20 60. Why not go now, when all the
! arrangements are completed for the transfer,
instead Of waiting till the plunging shot OF con
/ tending armies will renew the scene Of the past
month Of course, | do not apprehend any such
thing at this moment, but you do not suppose
! that this army will be here till the war is over
| ] cannot discuss this subject with You fairly
] DprauCp | mi n, tyIa %,
do, hut assert that my military plans make it
| necessary for the inhabitants to go away and
can only renew my offer OF services TO make their
exodus in any direction as easy and comfortable
as possible. You cannot qualify war in harsher
| terms than will.
War Is cruelty, and you cannot refine It; aud
| those who brought war on our country deserve
| all the curses and maledictions n people can pour
| out know had no hand in making this war
ana know / will make more sacrifices to-day
than any OF you to secure peace. But you cannot
have peace and division OF our country. If the
| United States submits to division now, it will
not stop, but will 90 on till we reap the fate of
! Mexico, which is eternal war. The United States
does and must assert its authority wherever il has
power; If II reaxes one bit 10 pressure is gone
and know that such is not the national feeling
| This feeling assumes various shapes, but always
| comes back 20 that of Union.
Once admit the Union, once more acknowledge
the authority of the National Government, aud
instead Of deyoting your houses and streets and
roads TO the dread uses of war, l, and this army,
/ become at once your protectors and supporters,
/ shielding you from danger, let it come from what
| quarter il may l know that a few individuals
| cannot resist torrent of error and passion such
as has swept the South into rebellion; Snt you
can point out, so that we may know those who
desire Government and those who insist on war
| and its desOlatiOn.
You might MS well appeal against the thunder
| storm as against these terrible hardshps of war.
! They are inevitable, and the only way the people
/ OF Atlanta can hope once more to live il peace
| and quiet at home is to stop this war which can
alone be done by admitting that 1t began in error
and is perpctuated in pride. We don't want your
negroes or your horses or your houses or your
lands, or anything you have; but " do want and
will have just obedience to the laws of the
United States. That we will have and if it in-
wolves the destruction of your Improvements, we
cannot help it, You have heretofore read public
sentiment in your newspapers that live by false.
hood and excitement, and the quicker you seek
for truth in other quarters the better for you.
repeat, then, that, by the original compact of
government, the United States had certain rights
in Georgia which have never been relinquished,
and never will be; that the South began war by
seiZng forts, arSenalS, mints, custom houses, &C.,
&c, long before Mr.. Lincoln was installed, and
before the South had one jOt or title Of prov1ca
ton. myself have seen in Missouri Kentucky,
Tenness zee, and Mississippi hundreds and thou
sands of women and children fleeing from your
armies and desperadoes, hungry, and with bleed
ing feet. In Memphis, Nlcksburg, and Mssis-
sippi we fed thousands upon thousands of the
families of Rebel soldiers left on our hands, and
Now that war comes home to you, you feel very
different; yOu deprecate its horrors, but did not
feel them when you sent carloads of soldiers and
ammunition, and moulded shell and shot TO carry
war into Kentucky and Tennessee, and desoate
the homes of hundreds and thousands Of good
people, who only asked to live in peace at their
old homes, and under the Government of their
inheritance. But these comparisons are idle. /
want peace and believe il only be reached
through Union and war, and wilt ever conduct
war purely with view to perfect and early sue
cess.
But, my dear sirs, when that peace docs come,
you may call on me for anything. Then Will |
share with you the last cracker aud watch with
you TO shield your homes and families against
danger from every quarter. Now YOU must go,
and rake with you the old and feeble; feed aud
nurse them, and build for them in more quiet
: places proper habiatons to shield them ag iinst
the weather, until the mad passions of men cool
! down, and allow the Union and peace once more
! to settle on your old homes at Atlanta. Yours,
: in haste, w. T. SHERMAN, Major General.
GeneJ al HOward's COngraiuiRtOry order
10 the Army of the Tennessee.
! HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT AND ARMY OF
( TIE TENNESSEE, EAST POINI, Ga, September 9,
. lSGi-GeneTal Field Orders, No. lG.--It is with
! pride, qualification, and sense Of Divine favor,
! that congratulate this noble army upon the sue
| ccssful termination Of the campaign.
| GOur officers claim for you wonderful record
for example, march of four hundred (iD0)
/ miles, thirteen (l3) distinct engagements, four
thousand (iOOO) prisoners, and twenty (2O) sands
VI NOtoIo CuIIuIcu, anu LlteG tuOuS Auu kdbJJ) OF
| the enemy's dead buried in your front.
Your movements upon the enemy's flank have
] been bold and successful; first upon Rc,acd,
| second upon Dallas, third upon Kcnesaw, fourth
/ upon Nclajack, tifth, via Roswell, upon tue
/ Augusta railruad, sixth upon EZRA Church."
! TO the southwest of Atlanta, and seventh IpDl
I JcnesbOrn and the Macon railroad. Atlinta was
: evacuated while yOu were lighting al Jon ssboro
The country may never know with what
/ patience, labor, and exposure you have tugyed
away at every natural and artificial ObS'ace IN It
| an enterprsinS and confident enemy could inter
/ pose The terrific bat les you have fought may
never e rCalZ, d or credited still a glad acclaim
, is already greeting you from the Glvernmcut
| and people, in view Of the results you have
/ helped TO gain, and believe a sense of the mag
[ nitude of the achievements of the last hundred
| days will not abate, but increase with time and
history.
Our rejoicing is tempered, as it always must
be, by the soldiers sorrow at the loss of his COM
! panOns in-arms. On every hillside, in every
| valley throughout your long and circuitousroute
| from Dalton TO Jonesboro you have barred them.
| Your trusted and beloved commander fell in