Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-10-01
DAVIS ON SHERMAN.
SHARP LITTER FROM THE yx-pREsl'
DENT OF THH coSfEpERAcY'
sherman Denounced as a falsiher MT
Davis vindiestes Himself, sener'"
Grant, Albert Sidney Johnston
Wade Hampton, and
Others.
rrv telegraph to the DIspa,ch.l

standing controversy between himself
and General ". T. sherman. The letter
l. dated Beauyoir. Mss, September %,
1856. and begins as follows:
.Atvsrious times. aud fro n many OF my
friends have been asked 10 furnish re.
nv TO Genera v. i. SheTmaus S0-oaleu
,eIoy, 10 the war Department, which the
IpHfd STATES senate ordered printed -
Executive Docuu. ent No. 80. Forty eighth
Congress - cond SESSION nave beeh
cOmpellCd ON mQul causes 20 postpone tne
tepy % these Invitations, nnd have, IN
some instances Geci ned Tor me lllue
being TO undo ffak8 the labor. me senso
Of the great Injustice done me anu tne
p<ople represented by tie senate making
a malicious assault Of General Sher-
man public document ana giving
10 hts slauder the Importance Whlcu
necessarily attached 20 an eEecntlte c o.l-
munication To- the senate MS ItV.ut5
caused the request foT reply by me 70 ne
messed with very great eaTnestneSs. FOR
ms reason have decided TO furnish areply
for publ cation IN The Baltimore sun, ae
history OF my public ne pears eVlue,ieo .
that / did ali la nay power 10 prevent the
war: thRt I ala nothing 10 prccipitete the
collision: that Cd not seek the position
OF Chief Executive. but / advised my
mat history General sherman may
slspderOusly assai by his statements,
but he cannot alter Its constituency
nor can the Republicans OF the senate
change It's unbTOkeu story OF faithful SER
Vice 10 the Union OF the Constitution uutu
by command of my sovereign state win.
drew ss her ambassador from the United
states Senate FOr all the acts OF my pub
tic lie as President OF the Confederate
eiates ] Rm responsible at the bar Of his.
tory, and must ACCEPT her verdict whlch l
shall DO without the least Apprehension
thafitwill be sway ed from the truth by tho
malicious faiEehoOds ~ General sherman,
even when stRmyef as an Executive Doc
ument by lhe nited states Senate"
Mr. Davis then recites the statement
made by General Sherman before the
gathering Of ex.Union soldiers 10 1894
that he (Shermsn) had seen letter from
Mir. Davis to q United States senator,
in which he Davis said he would turn
Lees army against any State that might
attemp. to secede from the southern
COnfederacy.
Mr.. Davis then quotes his letter to
the St. Louis Republican, printed at
that time, denying the truth Of Sher-
mans statement aud interviews had
subsequently by reporters with Shsr-
man, to whom the latter said This
is an affair between two gentlemen. |
will take my time about it, and write
TO Mr.. Davis myself. We will settle
the matter between us"
"It is hardly necessary for me 10 say"
continues Mr. Davis that General Sner.
nan did not wfite TO me, and We have not
settled the matter between us OiherW Sc
than is / sefued it-by denouncing ms
statement g. false and himself as SIAN
iercr. There the matter would nave rested,
so FAR as WAS concerned. but when the lr
II Yartmcut Of The United states was m le
lie custodian Of bis SANDER aud hepubd-
can senators hlcRme us eudOIsers aud Inc
sfntt.uCuis u-aes 81 Frank Blair POST were
ined into Official Importance. II became
duty allie 10 myself ard 10 lue psope /
Isrfefer led 10 'u.lOw the SANDERS Win my
ftbIsIaud 80 expose alike It's author aud
be trtorssIs-'
Mr. Davis reviews st length the pro
aless Of the controversy, reciLins the
denial Of every senator from the south
ern States that be had received such
letter as that spoken Of by Sherman,
and accusing sherman, first, Of trying
10 substitute letter from Alexander
II. Stephens TO Herschel V. johnson
for the alleged Davis letter; then Of
representing that the Davis letter was
lost in the confusion of the rebellion
archives in the War Department and,
finally, Of pretending that he had seen
he alleged letter az Raleigh, n. O., aad
iptimating that it was addressed 70
Governor Vance. Mr. Davis quOtesth
published denial of Governor Vance
that be had ever received such letter
from him, ard says;
my alleged Raleigh letter has never
been found. sherman says 10 was sent 10
Nashville. savannah, washington, ana ~:
Lou.s and may have been nnauy nuflel
1u Chicago iu The great IRE IN 1871; b0i IN
al is travels no or or person bni SHERMAN
saw H. MOI single Ofictf a. any btHl-
quarters lad been produced who read u,
and n passes belief th2t in the excitement
ard closing days OF the war aud during my
Imprisonment when every letter OF mime
was carefully examined 20 hnd evidence
upon which 10 convict and destroy me, npt
an officer st al those headquarters shoui.
have read that letter. Every iar-mludeo
man must therefore conclude mat Genefal
~neTu am stated at the GiRud-AIny tpAJ
wifi. and deliberate ialhehood ana lhat
his motive had It, lL-p1Ni on IN lAaL mean
malice which has cIaTacterIed ais acts ana
writings IN other respects toward southern
people
The so-cslel " Historical Statement
Concerning the Public Policy Of the Ex-
ecutiye Department Of the Confederate
States" as the Sherman letter to the
War Department is headed 10 that ex-
ecutiye document, opens with the fol-
lowing statement;
"Thst tt sherman had seen papers which
convinced me that even Mr.. Davis Fresl-
dent OF the southern COnfed'racy. mad
during the progress O! the war changed ms
States right doctrines and had threatened
To Use forCe-even Lees army-shoGld any
State Ot the COniedeTacy attempt 10 sscede
from that Government
With the mental process By which
General Sherman is convinced | have
no concern, but the papers in which ne
alleged that Il threatened" TO use
force against he States Of the COniede-
Iacy ought 10 be tangible and pro-
6uct able in " historical statement"
Tie Senate ought to have demanded the
production Of proofs, and on the failure
to produce them, and after denial By
the senators, who General Sherman al
ltgtd had received them, such a ." his
toiieal statement" already branded
with falsehood and unsupported by
evidence, ought TO have been rejected
with only the wonder how it got before
the Senate.
1t is apparent that this o-called "his.
torlcal statement " had been seen By
the Republican senators, and that they
were not ignorant OF its real character
when the Hawley resolution was under
discussion in the Senate. Those sena'
tors then knew that General sherman
had, in his letter OF January 6, 1885,
TO the Secretary Of War, changed the
issue between US from one of yerscity
TO rambling, shutting discussion Of a
conspiracy and Of conspiratOrs
in the winter Of l860-'6l, and that
which at Frank Blair Post may have
been "a white lie," not intended for
publication, came before the Senate as
a historical statement, bOlstered with
other falsehOOdse equally withOutfounda'
tiOn or support in anything written
or uttered by me. 1t now survives as
an "executiye document Of pic
tuiesque preysriea,iOn. know no.
thing Of any conspiracy or cOnspira'
tors There WAS no secrecV abOut any