Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-09-18
SCANDALOUS LETTER,

n,
The letter of Gen. Sherman in response to
an invitation to to present at reunion of
tho surviving soldiers of the federal and
confederate armies at Salisbury, N. c., is al
most brutal in TIE bad taste it DISPLAYS.
While stating that it would be agreeable to
him to visit that place on suitable occa-
sion, he says that this would not be suoh
an occasion. He sRys:
There we're few Union soldiers in North Caro-
lima during the war, though we believe the
people generally were opposed to secession,
and will ray that their meeting, if confined
to the surviving soldiers Of North CaroliLa,
will be in fact confederate reunion, where |
would certainly be out Of place. All soldiers
herOisni. and this reunion will hardly be an
exception, and it would be a strange sight f"r
Gen. Sherman to cheer the victories of his enc.
mics and respond to the claim that because the
soldiers of North Carolina were brave and true
TO their State and section, their cause was as
sacred as ours, which finally triumphed, aud
made our Union more glorious and more re.
splendant than before.
The allegation that this would be con-
federate reunion instead of reunion of
both armies, is gratuitous insult to the
gentlemen who were so ill-advised as to in
vite the distinguished boor to be present,
and the implication that he would be expect
ed to elorify the valor of those against
whom he fought, to the detriment of his
own army, is still moro odious reflection
upon the chivalrous instincts of those
gentlemen. It does not harm brave SOL
der to acknowledge the bravery of those
who fought against him, but it seems that
Gen. Sherman is of different opinion, and
thinks it his duty, long after the war has
ceased, to heap indignity and insult upon
them. This is not the course true soldier
or true gentleman pursues. There is no
doubt but such a man as Sherman would be
out of place in a gathering of soldiers Of
any description where he was under any OBJ
legations whatever to restrain the malignity
of his heart, Or his thorough ill-br eeding.
Further along in his screed Gen. Sherman
acknowledges "that the soldier element was
the first to lay aside the angry partisan feel
ings of the war, and are now leaders in the
new epoch which is sure to add wealth and
prosperity to our whole country" Then
why does he not unite with them in their
very laudable purpose? Is he 80 far lacking
in common sense as not to know that when
men holding the position to which he has
been exalted are tho foremost in Offering in
suits to brave though misguided men, others
will follow his example? Why is he so little
of a soldier and 80 much of a partisan? Ii
it not because he knows that the only hope
of his brothers advancement to the exalted
position he Graves is in keeping the fires Of
sectional strife still burning? It is unbe-
coming in the general of the army to be a
partisan, and especially to exhibit such des-
picable partisanship az is shown in this let
ter. 1t is doubly censurable from the fact
that he not only insults those who fought
against him, but also many who served in
his own command as bravely, we venture to
assert, as did the commanding officer him
self. The letter was not only in bad taste,
but is calculated to provoke needless ami
mosities, and to detract from what little
esteem Gen. Sherman's cratic and grossly
partisan course has allowed to remain among
the American people.