Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-08-19
A SIGNIFICANT LETTER.
GEN. sherman ON Negroes, and
ON Recruiting i'm the Confederate
states.

The following letter is significantin In more
ways than one. The reader will not fail 70
observe that Gen. SHERMAN proposes 70
pass the Yankee Recruiting Agent through
our lines to Georgia, Alabama and Missis-
sippi; and, having had considerable expert
ence in those States HIMSELF he suggests
that Governor ANDREWS man (SPooNER)
locate his Recruiting Depots at Macon, Co
lumbus, Selma, Montgomery, Mobile, Co.
lumbus Milledgeville, and Savannah! This
suggestion must have been quite as refresh
ing to the Yankee Agent as cold shower
bath would have been in that Southern cli-
mate on the 3Oth of last month! To appre-
ciate the coolneSs Of the joke, the reader
need only glance at good war map to see
that all the places the General names are
in the hands of the rebels! 1t would be
rich to find an Aminidab Sleek from Boston
down in the Southern Confederacy recruit
ing Americans of African descent to NIL
the quota of Massachusetts!
1t will be seen that the General regards
a universal draft necessary to overcome
the widespread resistance offered us;" and
he thinks it will be good thing to demon
strate how many of the loyal leaguers
who talk SO much in favor of war are will
ing to go and fight. Read the letter;
HEADo'Rs MILITARY DIVISION OF THE)
MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD, :
NEAR ATLANTA, GA, July 30, 1S64)
John A. Spooner, Esq, agent for he Common
toealth Of Massachusetts,, NashU'lle, Tenn:
SIR:-Yours from Chattanooga, July %,
Is received, notifying me of your appoint
ment by your State as Lieutenant Colonel
and Provost Marshal of Georgia, Alabama
and Mississippi, under the act of Congress
approved July A, 1854, to recruit volun-
teers to be credited to the States respectively.
On applying to Gen. Webster, at Nash
vile. he will grant you pass through our
lines to those States, and, as I hare had con-
siderable experience in those States, ,osuld sug-
aest recruiting depots TO be established at Macon
and Columbus, Mss, Selma, Montgomery and
Mobile, Ala, and Columbus, Milledgeuthe and
Savannah, Ga.
do not see that the law restricts you to
black recruits, but you are at liberty to col
lect white recruits, also. 1t is waste OF time
and money to open rendezvous in North
west Georgia, for | assure you l have not
seen an able-bodied man, black or white,
there, fit for soldier, who was not in this
army or the one opposed to 1t.
You speak of the impression going abroad
that am opposed to the organization of
colored regiments.
MY opinions are usually very positive,
and there is no reason why you should not
know them.
Though entertaining profound reverence
for our Congress, ! do doubt their wisdom
in the passage of this law:
l. Because civilian agents about an ar
my are nuisance.
2. The duty of citizens to fight for their
country is too sacred one to be peddled
off by buying up the refuse of other
States.
8. 1t is unjust to the brave soldiers and
volunteers who are fighting, as those who
compose this army do, to place them on
par with the class of recruits you are after.
4. The negro is in a transition state,
and is not the equal of the white man.
5. He is liberated from his bondage by
act of war: aud the armies in the field are
entitled to all his assistance in labor and
fighting in addition to the proper quotas of
the States.
6. This bidding and bartering for re-
cruits, white and black, has delayed the re-
enforcement of our armies at the times
when sIch re. endorsements would haveen-
abled us to make our success permanent.
7. The law is an experiment which,
pending war, is unwise and unsafe, and
has DELAYED the universal draft which l
firmly believe will become necessary to
overcome the widespread resistance offered
us; and also believe the universal draft
will be wise and beneficial; for under the
Providence of God it will separate the
sheep from the goats, and demonstrate what
citizens will fight for their country, and
what will only talk.
No one will infer from this that l am not
a friend of the negro as well as the white |
race; contend that the treason and rebel |
lion of the master freed the slave, and the |
armies / have commanded have conducted |
to safe points more negroes than those OF
any general officer in the army; but pre-
fer negroes for pioneers, teamsters, cooks |
and servants, others gradually to expert
ment in the art of the soldier, beginning |
with the duties of local garrisons, such as |
we had at Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez,
Nashville and Chattanooga; but l would
not draw on the poor race for two large a
of its active, athletic young
men, for some must remain to seek new
homes and provide for the old and young,
the feeble and helpless.
These are some of my peculiar notions,
but | assure you they are shared by large |
of our fighting men.
am, &C.,
TSigned W.T.. SHERMAN, Maj. Gen.