Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1881-06-11
GEN. SHERMAN ON THE NEGROES.
His Own Explanation OF His famous
Order OF Jan. 10, 1865.

Gen. Sherman has written q letter to
Judge Charles Cowley, of Lowell,
Mass, which that gentleman incor
porated in a Decoration Day address ed
lvered by him in Beaufort, s. G. The
letter concerns the famous order oi
Gen. Sherman setting apart the Islands
from Charleston south, the abandoned
rice-f fields along the rivers for thirty
miles back from the sea, and the coun.
try bordering the st. Johns River,
Florida, to the settlement of the negroes
made free by President Lincoln. Gen.
Sherman says:
"Those orders were made after full
conference with the Secretary of War,
who had come to Savannah for the pur-
pose of recreation and consultation.
Those orders went as far as existing law
and the Constitution warranted, and
would have provided homes and occu-
patton to the vast numbers of freedmen
men, women and children, who already
occupied those lands, as also those who
had followed my army from Georgia to
the sea coast. The reasons why those
orders did not fulfill the full measure of
our intentions were that the war ter
minated few months after, viz, in
April, and the Constitution regained its
full force See Section 3, Article LII.
The Congress shall have power to de-
clare the punishment of treason; but
no attainder of treason shall work cor
ruption of blood, or forfeiture except
during the life of the person attainted.
Therefore, could not and did not at
-,
titles, to continue only as long as war
existed, and as long as we had power to
enforce possession. Even Congress can
not divest the heir of his title to land
owned by rebel father, much less a
military commander.
"My army was far away from our
supplies, and it was with infinite difficult
ty l could procure for it the food, cloth
ing, and stores necessary for daily main
tenance, much less to fill our wagons
for the next campaign across the Caro-
inas to Virginia, which campaign, I
contended, was one of the principal
causes of the sudden collapse of the
Southern Confederacy. Had l post
poned the execution of that campaign
in order to feed the vast crowd of refu-
gees at and near Savannah, we might
have been forced to wait another year
under load of expense, which might
have proved fatal to the government
itself. At least, such was the expressed
opinion of Mr.. Stanton, who had come
to Savannah partly to represent this
fact, to stimulate my further move
ments, and to give me the full benefit
of his official authority to hurry up the
necessary preparations. Some people
at the South, as well as North, were SO
wrapt with the humanitarian idea to
help the poor slave that they would
have ignored the greater purpose-to
use our magnificent armies, then full of
confidence, strength, and experience, to
conquer our defiant enemy, thus to Gre
ate peace and give ample time TO adjust
all the civil questions resulting from
the var itself. / have always felt most
kindly toward the colored people of the
United States, and wish them all success
in their laudable efforts to maintain the
status of free and equal citizens of our
great Republic Whenever it has been
my duty to speak to then have gen.
orally advised them to shake off their
old feeling of dependence on the white
race; to depend on themselves and on
the practice of industry, thrift, and the
virtues common to all mankind, to
reach that higher plane of civilization
to which they have a perfect right to
aspire, and now a good opportunity to
gain.