The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-12-02

in a recent issue of the New Orleans Plea
yune:
| HEADQUARTERS 4
MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
Qn the Field,)
NEAR ATLANTA, Ca. Aug. 10, 1854.
Daniel M Martin, Sand Mountain
Dear Friend-When in Larkinsville, las
| winter, inquired after you and could ge
no positive answer. wish You had sen
me your letter OF January 22-which hav
just received-for I could have made yo
feel at ease at once. Indeed do 1 we'll re
member our old times about Bellefonte an
the ride We took to the corn mills, and tn
little farm where admired the handsom
colt and tried to buy it. Time has worl
on and you are now an old man in want
and suffering, and also no longer young
but leading hostile army on the very roa
l came when-I left Bellefonte and at. thi
moment pouring INTO Atlanta the dreat
missiles OF war, seeking the lives of its peo
pie. Aud yot I am the same William Te
cumseh Sherman that you knew in 1914
with as warm a heart as ever, and anxiou
that peace and plenty shall prevail in thi
land, and, to prove it. | defy Jeff Davis
General Lee and General Hood to make tn
sacrifice for peace that 1 will, PERSONAL,
and officially.
l will to-day lay down my power ant
hoDor-already won-will strip mysel
naked, and my wife and child stark naked
in the world as we came, and begin lif,
anew, If the people of the South will but
cease the war, elect their members to Con
gress and let them settle, by argument anC
reason, the questions growing out of slav
cry, instead of trying to divide our country
into two angry halves, to quarrel and fight
to the end of time. Our country cannot
be divided by an east and west line, and
must be one, and if we must fight let uf
fight it out now and not bequeath it to
our children. I was never d politician, but
resigned from the army and lived in Cali.
fornia till 1857, when came back with my
wife and three children, who wanted to be
near home-Mr. Ewing's, not Mr.. Corwin' e
but had the old army so ground in my
composition that civil pursuits were too
tame. and [ accepted an offer as president
Il IL: Louisiana Military Academy. There
lore, at the time of Lincoln's election
was at Alexandria on Red river.
l saw, and you must have seen, that the
Southern politicians wanted to bring about
secession-separation. They could have
elected Mr.. Douglass, but they so managed
that Lincoln's election was made certain,
and, after they had accomplished this, was
it honest or fair for them to allege it as a
cause of war? Did not Mr.. Breckenridge,
as Vice-President, in his seat, declare Mr..
Lincoln the lawfully elected President OF the
Uuited States? Was 1t ever pretended the
President was our Government? Don't you
know that Congress makes laws, the su-
preme court judges them, and the President
only executes them? Don't you know that
Mr.. Lincoln OF himself could not take away
your rights? Now, l was in Louisiana;
and while the planters and mechanics and
Industrious people were happy and pros
porous, the politicians and busybodies were
scheming and plotting, and he got the Leg
islature to pass an ordinance of secession,
which was submitted to the people, who
voted against it; yet the politicians voted
the State out, proceeded to take
possession OF the United States mint, the
forts, the arsenal, and tore down our flag
and insulted it. That, too, before Mr..
Lincoln had got to Washington. l saw
these things, and begged Bragg and Beaure-
gard and Governor Moore, and q host of
personal friends, to beware. In that was
high treason. But they answered: The
North was made up Of mean manufacGur.
ers, Of traders, OF farmers, who would not
fight. The people of the North never
dreamed of interfering with the slaves or
of the South. They simply voted
as they had right to do, and they could
not understand why the people OF the South
should begin to take possession OF the
United States forts and arsenals until our
had done something wrong
oppressive. The South began
the war. You know it. I and millions of
others living at the South know it; but the
people of the North were as limo, ent OF it
as your little grandchildren. Even after
iorts had been taken, public arms stolen
rom our arsenals and distributed among
the angry militia the brave and honest
ireemen of the great North could not real
ze the fact, and did not until Beauregard
began to fire upon garrison OF United
States troops in fort built by the common
mighty upheaval, the people rose and be-
gan to think war, and not until then.
l resigned my post in Louisiana in March,
1861, because OF the public act on the part
of the State in seizing the United States
arsenal at Baton Rouge, and went to St.
Louis, where l readily got lucrative en-
)loyment, hoping some chance would yet
avert war. But it came, and and all of
military education, had to choose. l re-
)eat that then, as now, had as much love
or the honest people of the South as any
nan living. Had they remained true to
5he country l would have resisted, even
With arms, any attack upon their rights
wen their slave rights. But when. as
people, they tore down our old flag and spat
lpon it and called us towards, and dared
Is to the contest, then took up arms to
the integrity OF our country, and
punish the man who challenged us to the
conflict. Is this not true picture? Sup
Jose the North had patiently submitted,
What would have been the verdict OF his
%1,o. N<>%1 vo1o 11,v% %ho+
he North was craven and coward. Will
,ou say the North is craven and coward
low?.
Cruel and inhuman as this war has been,
md may still continue to be, it was forced
lpon us. We had no choice. And we have
10 choice yet. We must 60 on, even to the
nd OF time; even if it result in taking a
Million OF lives and desolating the whole
and, leaving desert behind. We must
maintain the integrity OF our country. And
he day will come when the little grand
hid you love so we'll will bless us, who
ought that the United States OF America
hould not sink into infamy and worse
han Mexican anarchy, by the act ofSouth-
,rn politicians who care no more for you,
n such as you, than they care for Hotten-
;ots. l have never underrated the magni-
;ude OF this war, for I know the size OF the
south and the difficulty OF operating in it.
But l also know that the Northern races
lave, ever since the world began, had more
patience and more perseverance than the
southern races. And SO will it be now; we
will persevere to the end. All mankind
hall recognize in us a brave and stubborn
ace. not to be deferred by the magnitude
# the danger. Only three years have passed,
md that is but minute in nations life,
nd see where where we are. Where are the
laughty planters of Louisiana who COM
Jared our hard-working, intelligent whites
II the North with their negroes?
The defeats we have sustained !
ave hardly made pause in
ur course, and the vaunted braves OF |
tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Mis- |
ouri ETC., instead OF walking roughshod |
yer the freemen OF the Norte, are engaged |
I stealing horses and robbing your old |
eople for living, while our armies now
read in every Southern State. AMI ) our |
iggest armies in Virginia and Geor,'a lie
ehind forts and dare not come on, Ind |
ght us towards OF the North who have
ome five hunored miles into their country |
D accept the challenge.
But my dear old friend | have bored
ou too much. My handwriting is not
lain, but you have time to study it out
nd, as you can understand, have great
cal of writing to do, and it must be done
hurry. Think of what have written.
ak it over with your neighbors and ask
oursa1f If IL in vOnr trials and tribula-