The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-05-28

o ti" .I''idi 'lilIlOn has been that
wisii- G,,.rr..l Sherman commanded the
amy which march from Atlanta to Sa
vnnnah and from thence to Richmond
the conception Of the plan belongs to
General Grant. 1t is we'll that this
question should be decided. In many
RESPECTS the march to the sea stands out
from the Rebellion as the most brilliant
achievement Of the war On the 18TH
of September, 1851, General Grant
wrote to Sherman that he did not know
what to do with Sherman's army, and
was'disturbed by the difficulties of sup
plying it, and intimated that it might
be well to threaten Macon and Augusta.
To this letter General Sherman replied
saying he would not hesitate to cross the
State Of Georgia with GO, 600 men, haul
| iug some stores and depending on the
| country for the balance; that where a
million Of people find subsistence ny
| army won't starve" lie did not believe
/ in penetrating Georgia without an OBJ
| icct beyond. ''It would be productive
of much good. | can start East, and
make & circuit South and back, doing
vast damage to the State, but resulting
in no permanent good, and by threaten
ing to do so hoIda rod over the Geor-
gianS, who are not over loyal to the
South" lie concludes by advising
that Grants and Canby's armies should
be reinforced, and that he should keep
Hood employed, and put his own army
III lime order for march ON Augusta,
Columbia and Charleston. THE pos
session OF the Savannah river is more
fatal to ihe possibility of Southern indie
pendenec. He may stand the fall of
Richmond, but not the. fall of GeOrgia.
''lf yOu can whip Lee and | can march
to the Atlantic, / think Uncle Abe will
give us twenty days absence to see the
young folks" This is the first indiea-
tion in this correspondence of what
alterward became the famous march to
the sea.
GRANT HESTTATES OVER THE MARCH.
To this letter Grant answered, Sep
trmber 9th: ''It would be better to
drive Forrest out of Tennessee, as n first
step to do anything else you may feel
your force sufficient for" But Sher-
man would not abandon his sea dream.
On the 9th of October he tclegraphed to
Thomas; ii want to destroy all the
roads below Chattanooga, including At
lanta, and to make for the sea coast"
and again to Grant: II can make this
march and can make Georgia howl
Gen. j. H. Wilson was sent down to
command the cavalry, Grants idea evi-
IDENTIFY being that Wilson at the head of |
the cavalry might do in Georgia what |
Sheridan had done in Virginia, ''and |
i'rlnt, said Sherman, advised thatWH- |
son should be sent South to accomplish
all that liad proposed TO do with the
main army; but had not SO much faith
in cavalry as lac had, and preferred the
the tiiSt." Grant again urged Sherman
20 destroy Hoods army before thinking
of his march across to the .,a, and the
next day Sherman answered him that
Thomas WI strong enough to handle
Hood, and that ''tIIe best results would
follow the contemplated movement |
through Georgia" Evidently this dis |
patch decided General Grants mind, |
far the 2d- of November he teigrapIIed: |
81 do not :, e that you can withdraw |
without giving up all We have gained in
territory. | say, then, 80 on as you pro
pose This. o." ss,yS General Sherman, |
''waa th, tlrSt time that General Grant |
asscntcd to- the march to the sea, and, |
although many of his warm friends and
admirers insist that lac was tie author
and protector OF that march, and that
l simply executed his plans. General
Grant Las never, in nay opinion, thought
ug said 80,
SHERMAN AND STANTON.
The difficulty between General Sher-
man and Secretary Stanton was one Of
ilir painful events Of the war and To be-
attributed solely, We think, to il,e pccu-
Iiar Gcuperment Of the two men. Stan
ton paid Sherman "A visit ON tlIe 18th OF
january and ordered all the eottnn to
he sent North. by .lIc order "f Stanton
ail tIe marks were Obliterated from this
cotton. winch Sherman Thought
strangely Of at the time. and even more
50 now" For | am assured" he says
.'ilat claims, real or fictitious, have
been proved up against this identical
cotton of three times the quantity actu-
ally captured, and that reclamatiOns
I:ty,. been allowed for more than the
actual quantity eaptured-namely, 3D.
UuJ l,aI.-s" Stanton remained with
Sherman for some days, seemingly very
curious about matters and things in gen
cr.d" He did not think that some Of
Shermari's Generals lad shown kind
ness To the negro, AMI he complained Of
General Jefferson g. Davis. Sherman
defended his Generals, claiming that
they felt Il sympathy for the negroes, but
'.nf a different sort from that OF Mr.
Stanton, which was not the power OF
humanity but Of politics" There wasa
conference between Secretary Stanton
aud "a delegation Of negroes, and among
the questions addressed to them was
this: ''State what i the feeling Of the
coiored people toward General Sherman
aud how far do they regard his Srnti-
mrnt- and actions a. friendly to- their in
tcr,.sts or otherwise The answer was
that they had the utmost confidence ia
Sherman ''as man in the providence
Of God set apart specially to accomplish
this work" This was certainly SingII-
| lar interview; and Sherman, comment
ing upon il, says with naive and, We
| think, pardonable vanity: ''It certain
| Is WAS II strange fact that great Secre-
| tary Of War should have catechised he
| groes concerning the character Of
| General who had commanded 100, 600
men in battle, had captured cities, con
Quoted g., 600 men successfully across
i. guU miles Of hostile territory, and had
int brought tens Of thousands Of freed
men to "a place of security. But because
IL lI.d not loaded down his army with
| I.r,.Ir.F- Of fB,u-au1- aF fr..e.l-