The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1864-08-25
Gen. Sherman on Recruiting in the
Rebel States,

hUUUl Dt0ICDt
Gen. Sherman writes with the directness
of an honest and frank soldier in the follow
ing letter
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF
THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD,
NEAR ATLANTA, Ga. July 80, 1864.
John A. Spooner, Esq, Agent for the Com
monwealth of Massachusetts, Nashville,
Tenn.,:
SIR Yours from Chattanooga July 28th
is received, notifying me of your appoint
ment by your State as Lieut.. Colonel and
Provost Marshal of Georgia. Alabama and
Mississippi, under the act of of Congress ap-
proved July 4, 1864, TO recruit volunteers 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 have had con-
siderable experience in those States, would
suggest recruiting depots to be established
at Macon and Columbus, Miss, Selma,
Montgomery and Mobile Ala, and Column
bus, Milledgevile and Savannah, GA.
| do not see that the law restricts you to
black recruits, but you are at liberty to
collect white recruits also. 1t is waste Of
time and money to open rendezvous i'll
Northwest Georgia, for | assure that | 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 it,
~ You speak Of the impression going abroG d
that | am opposed to the organization OF
colored regiments.
My opinions are usually very positive,
and there is no reason why you should rot
know them.
Though entertaining profound revererc e
for our Congress do doubt their wisdom in
the passage of this law
l. Because civilian agents about an army
are nuisance.
q The duty of citizens to fight for their
country is too sacred a one to bepeddled off
by buying up the refuse of other States
8. 1t sis unjust to the brave soldiers 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.
4. The negro is in a transition state, and
is not the equal of the white man.
s. He is liberated from his bondage by
act of war; and the armies in the field are
entitled to all his assistance in labor and
fighting, mad diton to the proper quotas of
the States
g. This bidding and bartering for recruits,
white and black, has delayed the reinforce
ment of our armies at the time when such
reinforcements would have enabled us to
make our successes permanent.
Z, The law is an experiment which, pend
ing war, is unwise and unsafe and has de-
ayed the universal draft which firmly be-
ieve will become necessary to overcome the
wide spread resistance offered us; and also
believe the universal draft will be wise and
beneficial; FOR UNDER THE PROVI-
DENCE 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 | 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 i'll the army but l 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,
Nash Vile and Chattanooga but | would
not draw Oh the poor race for too large a
proportion Of its active, athletic young men,
for some must remain to seek new homes
and provide for the old and young--the fee
ble and the helpless
These are some of my peculiar notions,
but assure you they are shared by large
porportion OF our fighting men
You may show this to the agents Of the
other States in the same business as your
self [ am &c.
(Signed,) t. w. SHERMAN, Maj. Gen.
Official copy
/, NJ. DAYTON, Aid de-Camp