Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1873-11-29
THE GAZETTE.
SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMB. %.
COMMUNICATED.


GEN. SHERMAN.-Geu d. II. Maury 10
communication to the Richmond Enquirer
gives his opinion Of General Sherman as fol-
lows:
Viewed by the standard Of honor used by
the military men of this age PRIOR to the late
war, General Shermans record will be tound
very uuworthy>of imitation:
If we except General Butler, perhaps no
commander more cruelty violated the principles
Of humanity than General Sherman did. his
own words and his own correspondence shall
condemn him. ALTHOUGH the government has
suppressed portion OF his military correspon,
deuce, for reasons we may conjecture, enough
remains to show that Sherman 5 ideas OF mill
tarv honor are very peculiar, aud should De
carefully eliminated from any model designed
for the education of young soldiers.
We will give some '.gleannlngs from General
Sherman dispatches, which seem to justify
our opinion of his principles Of war.
JUN 7,h, 1864 Their utter destruction
factories in Georgia. is right, and meets my
entire approval and to make the matter CON-
plete You will arrest the owners and employees
and send them under guard, charged with trea .
son, to Marietta.
'Should YOU, under the impulse of anger, pat
ura at contemplating such perfdy, hang the
wretch, approve the act beforehand
July l4th TO General j. +. Smith: III
YOU entertain bare Suspicion against any taml-
~ send it to the North. fgu.r'llas trouble the
roads or the rivers they should be shot without
mercy.
September Sth 1864 II won't allow trade
or manufactures of any kind. but will remove
the present population aud make Atlanta a
purely military town - This barbarous threat
was actually executed by him.
Nov. II uS64:) Last night We burned
Rome, and ia TWO more days We will have At
lanta"
Dec. 5 (lS64:) "Bair can burn the bridges
and culverts and burn enough barns TO mark
the progress of the head of bis column"
Dec %: 10 General Grant-''lf you can
hold Lee, can 90 on aud smash South Caro-
lima all to pieces.
This seems very unfair division of labor.
When General Halleck suggests to him to
have Charleston destroyed by some accident, .
and to SOW salt upon its site,
Sherman replies, December "A,
1--WE are not only fighting hostile ar
mics, but hostile people and We must make
old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard
hand of var"
TO terrified lady, who demonstrated against
the cruelty or his acts, ne IS sara 10 nave IT,
piled, Madam, war means cruelty.
His dispatches and correspondence between
the 10th and 2lst December have beeu sup
pressed by the Government !
And then referring to West Point Academy
under its present management, Gen. Maury
says:
''If West Point ever was desirable school
for the education of young gentlemen. it can
not be SO now, and We believe no Vlrglnlan
can wisely subject his son to the Influences
which must surround him there
If military education be desired by young
man, have we not an Academy in Lexington
equal to all of our prospective requirements
While it is in no respect Inferior in the stan
dard of attachments TO West Point in its best
days.
The Influence of Lee and of jackson. hovers
about it's elves and the examples of Rhodes,
Patton, Latimer, and hundred other OF its
gallant spirits, animate the virtues of the
young gentlemen of the Virginia Military To-
sti,ute. The very flower of Southern youth
have for more than thirty years resorted there
for the foundation of an education which Is at
once liberal and practical, and 10 which social
and moral Influences hold their controlling
place. D. II. Nj.