The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-09-09

Mr.. d. M. Martin has handed us the |
following letter from General Sherman
to himself, which we beg our readers to
read carefully. 1t shows the animus of
the country in fighting for the Union,
and the stupendous, insane folly of Sc
cession, by which fatal act the South
has lost so much:
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THR) |
MISSISSIPPI, In THE FIELD, NEAR ATLANTA
ss.H Georgia. August 10, 1854 J
Daniel NJ. Martin, Sand Mountain, OPP
p0site Beltefo,ste. i zaFG Ia IL
My DEAR OLD FRIEND: When in
Larkinsville last winter inquired after
you and could get no positive answer
| wish you had sent me your letter of
January 22-which have Just received
for could have made you feel at ease
at once. Indeed do well remember our
old times about BeilefOnte, and the ride
We took to the corn mill, and the little
farm where admired the handsome
colt, and tried to buy it. Time has worn
and suffering, and I also, no longer
young, but leading an hostile army on
the very road / came when l left Belle
fonte, and at this moment pouring into
Atlanta the dread missiles of war-seck-
Ing the lives of its people. And yet |
am the same William Tecumseh Sher-
man you knew in 1874, with as warm a
heart as ever, and anxious that peace
and plenty shall prevail in this land,
and to prove it, I defy Jefferson Davis
General Lee or General Hood to make
the sacrifice for peace that will person.
ally and officially. / will to-day lay
down my power and my honor-already
won-will strip myself naked, and my
| child and wife-stark naked in the
world as we came, and begin life anew,
if the people of the South will but cease
the war, elect their members of Con
gress, and let them settle by argument
and reason the questions growing out Of
slavery, instead of trying to divide oul
country into two angry halves, to quar-.
rel and to fight to the end oftine. Oul
country cannot be divided by an East
and West line, and must be one, aud II
we must fight let us fight it out now, and
not bequeath it to our children. 1 was
never politician, but resigned from the
army and lived in California till 1857,
when I came back with my wife and
three children, who wanted to be near
home-Mr. Ewing's, not Mr.. Corwin's-
but had the old army so ground in my
composition that civil pursuits We're too
tame, and accepted an offer as presi-
dent ofthe Louisiana Military Academy
Therefore, at the time of Lincoln's cleo
ton wasat Alexandria, on Red river
| saw, and you must have seen, that the
Southern politicians wanted to bring
about secession, separation. They coulC
have elected Mr.. Douglas, but they SC
managed that LincOln's election wa.
more certain, and after they had accom-
plished this, was it honest and fair fol
them to allege it as cause of war? Die
not Mr.. Breckenridge, as Vice President
In hisseat, declare Mr.. Lincoln the lawful.
ly elected President Ofthe United States?
Was it ever pretended the President
was our Government? Don't you know
that Congress makes the laws, the SUI
preme Court judges them, and the Pres
ident only executes them? Don't you
know that Mr.. Lincoln, of himself
could not take away your rights? Now
was in Louisiana, and while the plan
! tiers and mechanics and industrial PEG
pie were happy and prosperous, the pol
, iticians and busy-bOdies were schemine
and plotting, and got the Legislature t.
pass an ordinance of secession, which
was submitted to the people, who voted
against it-yet the politicians voted the
! State out, and proceeded to take posses
sion of the United States mint, the
L
| old flag and insulted it. That, too, be.
fore Mr.. Lincoln had got to Washing
| ton. / saw these things, and begged
Bragg. and Beauregard, and Governor
Moore, and a host of personal friends,
l To beware, In that was high treason.
\ Rut they answered the North was made
mn of mean manufacturers, of traders,
| Of farmers, who would not fight. The
| neonle of the North never dreamed OF
, interfering with the slaves or property
| of the South. They simply voted as
they had right to do, and they coult
not understand why the people Of thu
South should begin to take posses
sion of the United States forts and ar
senals till our Government had dom
something wrong something Oppressive
, The South began the war. You know
1T. I and millions of others living q
the South know it, but the people of thu
North were as innocent of it as you
little grand children. Even after fort
had been taken, public arms stolen IRON
our arsenals and distributed among TIN
angry militia, the brave and homes
o freemen of the great North could no
h realize the fact, and did not until Beau
i. / regard began to fire upon garrison {,
e the United States troops in fort bull
DIV Tile GOIlILOil ttOdouiJ " oA'S 'h''
g country. Then, as by a mighty up
heaval, the people rose and began t.
q think of war, and not until then. l re
signed my post in Louisiana in March
1861, because of the public act on thu
part of the State in seizing the United
l States arsenal at Baton Rouge, anC
went to Saint Louis, where l readily GO
. lucrative employment, hoping that some
change would yet avert the war. But Il
came, and and all my military educa-
tion had to choose. l repeat that then
90 now. I had as much love for the
honest people of the South as any mar
living. Had they remained true to the
Y, country l would have resisted, ever
H.. with arms, any attack upon their right
+ even their slave rights. But when, a
u a people, they tore down our old flag
O. and spit upon it, and called us towards
and dared us to the contest, then
took up arms to maintain the integ
rity of our country, and punish the me
who challenged US to the conflict.
Il This not a true picture? Surprising tn
:. North had patiently submitted, VIII,
q would have been the verdict OF histor
and the world? Nothing else but tt
81 North was craven and coward. Wi
Won saw the North is craven and cowal
z now Cruel and inhuman as this w
- has been. and may still continue to b
If was forced upon us. We had no choic
And we have no choice yet. We mt