The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1864-08-31
Gen. Sherman on Recruiting
i'm the Rebel States.
Headers, Military Division of the Mis-
sissippi, in the Field, near Atlanta, :
Georgia, July 80, 1864.

III u HeCOSA SldItCSs
Headq'rs, Military Division of the Mis-
sissippi. in the Field, near Atlanta,
Georgia, July 80, 1864.
John A. Spoonsr, Esq, Agent for Me
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, :.
Nashville, Tennessee.
Sir: Yours from Chattanooga, July
%, is received, notifying me of your ap-
pointment by your State as Lieutenant
Colonel and Provost Marshal of Georgia,
Alabama and Mississippi, under the ast of
Congress approved July 4, 1861.
On applying to General Webster at
Nashville, he will grant you a pass thro'
u lines to those States, and, as 1 have
had considerable experience in those
States 1 would suggest recruiting depots
to be established at Macon and Columbus,
Miss; Selma, Montgomery and Mobile,
Ala, Columbus, Mlledgeyille and Savan-
nah, Georgia.
/ do not see that the law restricts Won
to black recruits. but you are at liberty to
collect white recruits also. 1t is waste of
time and money to open rendezvous in
Northwest Georgia, for l assure you I
have not seen an able. bodied man, white
or black, there fit for a soldier who was
not in this army or the one opposed to it.
You speak of the impression going
abroad that 1 am opposed to the organi,
cation Of the colored regiments.
Ny opinions are usually very positive
and there is no reason why you should
not know them. -
Though entertaining profound rever-
ence for our Congress, 1 doubt their wis
dom in the passage of this law.
First. Because civilian agents about an
army are a nuisance.
Second. The duty of citizens to fight
for their country is too sacred a one to be
peddled off by buying up the refuse of
other States.
Third. 1t is unjust to the brave sol
diers and volunteers who are fighting, as
those who compose this army do, to place
them on a par with the class of recruits
you are after.
Fourth. The negro is in a transition
state, and certainly is not the equal of the
white man.
Fifth. He is liberated from his bon
dage by act of war; and the armies in the
field are entitled to all his assistance in
labor and fighting in addition to the pro-
per quotas of the States.
S'IW lHlS DiuuihS abu UduteTiuS !OI
recruits, white and black, has delayed the
reinforcements Of our armies at the time
when such endorsements would have
enabled US to make our successes perma-
SUenfH. %The law is an experiment
which, PENDING war, is unwise and IN
safe, aud has delayed the universal draft
which 1 firmly believe will become c ecos-
sary to overcome the wide spread resist
ance offered US: and l also believe a uni
versal draft will be wise and beneficial;
for under the Providence of God it will
separate the sheep from tho goats, and
what citizens will fight for
their country, and what will only talk.
No one will infer from this that I am
not a friend of the negro as well as of the
white race; l contend that the treason and
rebellion of the master freed the slave,
and the armies L have commanded have
conducted to safe points more negroes
than these of any other General Officer in
the army; but l prefer negroes for pioneers,
teamsters, cooks and servants, others
gradually to experiment in the art of the
beginning with the duties oflocal
garrisons such las We had at Memphis,
Vicks5urg, Natckez, Nashville and Chat
but 1 would not draw on the
poor race too large a proportion of its &C.
tive, 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 a
proportion of our fighting men
You may show this to the agents ofthe
other States in the same business as your
self. [ am, &C.,
T. w. SHERMAN, Maj. Gen.
Official copy:
l.. III. DAYTON, Aid-de-Camp.