The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1864-08-24
Gen. Sherman on Recruiting in the Rebol
States.

Gen. Sherman writes with the direct
ness of an honest and frank soldier in
+ the following letter;
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIvIsIoN)
/ OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN Tux FIELD,
/ NEAR ATLANTA, GA, July so, ls64.N
JOHN a. Spooner. Esq. agent for TIE
( Commonwealth or Massachusetts,, -NosAriiie,
Tenn,
+ SIR: Yours from Chattanooga, July IS
is received. notifying me of your appoint
ment by your State as Lieutenant Colonel
and Provost Marshal of Georgia, Ala
bama and Mississippi, under the act of
Congress approved July 4. 1864, 10 re
cruit volunteers to be credited 10 the
States respectively.
On applying to Gen. Webster. at Nash
Vile. he will grant you a pass through
our lines to those States, and, as have
1 had considerable experience in those
States, would suggest recruiting depots
TO be established at Macon and Columbus,
Miss. Selma Montgomery, and Mobile
Ala. and Columbus, Milledgcvillc and
Savannah. Ga.
+ / do not see that the law restricts YOU
I to black recruits, but you are at liberty
/ to collect white recruits also 1t is waste
o! time and money to open rendezvous in
North west Georgia. for ! assure You |
have not seen an able bodied man, black
or white, there. fit for a soldier, who was
not III this army or the one opposed to it.
You speak of the impression going
abroad that l am opposed to the orga
nization of colored regiments.
My opinions are usually very positive,
and there is no reason why you should
not know them.
! Though entertaining profound rev
erencc for our Congress, l do doubt their
wisdom in the passage of this law:
L. Because civilian agents about AN
! army are n nuisance.
=. 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.
g. 1t is unjust to the brave soldiers and
volunteers who arc fighting as those who
compose this army do, to place them on
par with the class of recruits you are
Z after.
t. The negro is in a transition state
and is not the equal Of the white man.
). 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, in addition to the proper
quotas of the States.
q. This bidding and bartering for re
cruits, white and black, has delayed the
re enforcement of our armies at the times
! when such re endorsements would have
enabled US to make our success perma-
nent.
& The law is an experiment which,
pending war, is unwise and unsafe, and
has delayed the universal draft which ]
firmly believe will become necessary to
fh.
offered us; and l also believe the uni
versal draft will be wise and beneficial,
for under the Providence Of God il will
separate the sheep from the goats, and
4 demonstrate what citizens will fight for
their country, and what will only talk
No one will infer from this that am
not friend of the negro as well as the
/ white rsee> contend that the treason and
rebellion 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 TIE
army; but prefer negroes for pioneers,
tea1nsters, cooks and servants, others
gradually to experiment in the art of the
+ soldier, beginning with the duties of
local garrisons, such as we had at Mem
I phis, Nicksburg, Natchez, Nashville and
i Chattanooga; but l would not draw on
j 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 feeble
and helpless.
These are some of my peculiar notions,
! but / assure you they are shared by
large proportion Of our fighting men.
/ am, DC.
! [signed] w. T. SHERMAN, Maj. Gen.