The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-08-18
General Sherman on Jefr Davis.

There is q good deal of satisfaction in
having General of the army who can
talk as well as fight. The former fac
ulty may sometimes betray an old SOL
dies into controversies that might bet
ter be avoided, but it also enables him
to defend himself, his associates, and
his country on public occasions against
Misrepresentation and malice. The
late reunion of the Army of the Poto-
mac at Hartford gave General Sherman
such an opportunity, and he improved
it with readiness, skill, and vigor that
will make him new friends and win him
new laurels throughout the land. He
took up such extracts as he has read
from JEFF Davis recent book and ex-
posed their falsity in terms that will
make the ex-President of the ex-Con-
federacy squirm when he reads General
Shermau's comments. .- '..s.--.r.
General Sherman proved conclusively
that SO far as Davis purported to give
the true history of the s'March to the
Sea-" and especially in regard to the
removal of the non-combatants from
Atlanta and the burning of Columbia,
Davis has made deliberate and con-
scious attempt to falsify history. The
facts in regard to these incidents fortu-
nately do not rest upon the prevailing
sentiment of the South at the close OF
the war. They have been investigated
by impartial juries. The humanity and
decency attending the removal of the
non-combatant population of Atlanta
has been fully attested by Major Gener-
al Clare, confederate officer acting as
a representative of General Hood, and
the international investigation of the
British claims for the loss of property
| in the burning of Columbia proved that
the city was not fired by Union troops,
but perished as the result of Confeder-
ate recklessness in igniting cotton TO
keep it out of the hands of the Union
army. jeff Davis is thus convicted Of
an effort to CRAFTY his hatred of the
North at the expense of demonstrated
facts, and to keep alive the sectional
feeling of the South among future gen.
erations, by vouching for the rumors
and theories which took their rise
among vanquished people at q time
when they were not capable of judging
fairly. Z sHcrs lse.0s. .sas5.-s~ 81 -
The strongest point which General
Sherman made against JEFF Davis, how
ever, was his defense of the Confeder-
ate Generals Hood and Johnston against
the assaults which Davis made upon
them as means for glorifying himself.
1
his orders by. surrendering when he
did, and not prolonging the War by a
retreat toward Texas. Upon that
charge General Sherman makes the
following comment: I aa3 srf1 T
Now, many humane and good men believed
that, after yicksburg and Gettysburg, the
rors and devastation which afterward resulted
are ohargeable to the Confederate authorities
Whatever may be the Judgment OF mankind
|
American citizen of the North or South bu
will feel a debt Of gratitude to General John
stopping the war when he did, in defiance O
Davis orders. To have resolved the War ir
StS Of Ias ss
: have been an unpardonable crime against hu
Dreaded such an event, and and Would % not h hav, v
believed that a man of such weight and expe
= not Davis. in his new book. revealed the trptl
over his own signature. General Johnston
ly able to indicate his soldieriy fame agains
this and other filings which Davis has cast a
TO show how blind Davis seemed to have be
come to the humanities of war, how little sym
and Seaths of his own soldiers. To advise an,
dee toward Texas, thousands of miles through
relentless foe delaying for a few short week
and months his own hopeless fate.
There is every reason to believe tina
the purpose Of JEFF Davis was precisel,
what General Sherman hints alto pro
long the struggle into a guerrilla war
, fare. 1t would have been a disgrace Il
modern civilization and a great wrong
upon the very people over whose wei
fare Davis had been called 10 preside
There may have been q more cowardt
, and scurvy motive In this effort of Davi
to prolong the war than General Sher
/ man has given. His highest purpose
perhaps, was to furnish himself witt
an opportunity for escaping the penalt,
of treason which he believed would b
visited upon him. That he entertaine,
an abject fear of personal injury wa
made manifest by his fight and the cir
cumstauces of his capture. 1t is no
improbable that he estimated that hi
} chances for escape would be improved
or that an opportunity would be al
, forded for making terms which woul,
! save his life, through hopeless pro
: longation of the war for few weeks
1t did not matter to him that the live
J of hundreds and perhaps thousands @
! men might be sacrificed by this means
if he could only rescue his own misera
BILE existence; and even his ultimate es
: cape from the just penalty of his Grim
: has not consoled him for the failure c
0 his selfish and cowardly scheme.
: General Sherman is entitled to ne,
c gratitude for his exposure of JEFF Davis
1 It is to be hoped he will read the la
ter's book entire and follow up hi
pointed and forcible exhibition of il
falsehoods- This book was written b
!, Davis with the double purpose of glor
= flying his own part in the most wicke
of all modern rebellions and of perpetl
ating the sectional hatred which fir
. led to the war and grew upon its n
4 suits among certain classes. If it ca
a be plainly shown that the book teen
a with falsehoods and that the author hs
Z been actuated by base motives in ever
view he takes of the struggle, the
: Davis account of the "Rise and Fa
/ of the Southern Confederacy" may bt
: come monument to the hevillainy rathe
: than to the glory of the man who wrot
: it.-CacGgo Tribune.
: I'm Europe they are Just beginnin
Il to learn that It is advantageous to us
steam plows. but then nobody has
: tract of land large enough to justify th
: purchase of these modern necessities
modern American agriculture. The
!. form joint-stock companies which pul
I = chase the plows and rent them to farm
2 ers, the same as custom threshing m,
= chimes are operated in some of th
- smaller growing districts of this coul
. try. Several of such companies hay
!, been organized on the continent
: Europe. 1t would astonish them @