The critic. (Washington, D.C.) 1890-1891, 1891-02-18
GENERAL SHERMAN ON THE WAR.
A Letter Written In 1862 Proposing to
Seize the Lnnd in the South.

A Letter Written In 1862 Proposing to
Seize the Land in tho South.
Ex-United States Commissioner A. ].
Williams of Cleveland, Ohio, n member
of the Loyal Legion, gives out for publi
cation the followind letter written by
General Sherman TO his brother, Senator
John Sherman, in 1862 while the General
was at Memphis
MEMPHIS, TENN, Aug. IS, 1882.
My DEAR BROTHER: / have not written
to you for SO long that / suppose you
think have dropped the correspondence.
For six weeks was marching along the
road from Corinth TO Memphis, mending
roads, building bridges, and all sorts of
work. At last got here and found the
city contributing gold, arms, powder salt,
and everything the enemy wanted. 1t
was smart trick on their part thus to
give up Memphis, that the desire of gain
to our Northern merchants should supply
them with the things needed in war. ]
stopped this at once, and declared gold,
silver, Treasury notes, and salt as much
contraband of war as powder.
have one man under sentence of death
for smuggling arms across the lines, and
hope Mr.. Lincoln will approve 1t. But
the mercenary spirit of our people is too
much, and my orders are reversed and j
am ordered TO encourage the trade in
cotton, and all orders prohibiting gold,
silver and notes to be paid for IL are am
nulled by orders from Washington.
Grant promptly ratified my order, and all
military men here saw ut once that gold
spent for cotton went to the purchase of
arms and munitions of war; But what
are the lives Of onr soldiers to the profits
| of the merchants?
| After whole year of bungling the
country has at last discovered that we
want more men. All knew it last fall as
| well as now, but IL was not popular. Now
100000 0he General evidently in
tended only 100000 men are required
| when 100000 was deemed absurd before.
| II will take time to work up these raw rn-
cruits and they will reach us in October,
when we should be in Jackson, Meridian
| and Vicksburg. Still / must not growl
| have purposely put back and have no
| right to criticise, save that am glad the
| papers have at last found out we are at
war and have formidable enemy to
| combat.
OF coursc,'I approve the coniiscation
act, and would be willing to revolutionize
the Government so as to amend that arti-
Gle of the Constitution which forbids the
| forfeiture of land to the heirs. My full
belief is we must colonize the country de
moro, beginning with Kentucky and Ten
nessee, and should remove four million
of our people at once south of the Ohio
River, taking the farms and plantations
of the rebels. ] deplore the war as much
as ever but if the thing has to be done let
the means be adequate. Don't expect to
overrun such country or srbdue such
| people in one two or five years. II is
the task of half century. Although our
Army is thus far South, it cannot stir
from our garrlsons. Our men are killed
or captured within sight of our lines. |
tx,... Il 1t,.f1f. Il
but's-about 1900 men; am building u
strong fort, and think this is to be one of
the depots and bases Of operations for fu-
| ture movements.
The loss of Halleck is almost fatal.
We have no one to replace him. Instead
of having one head we have five or six,
all independent of each other. | expect
our enemies will mass their troops and fall
uron our detachments before new re-
inforcements come. | cannot learn that
there are any large bodies OF men near us
here. There are detachments at Holly
Springs and Senatobia, the present ter
mini of the railroads from the South, and
all the people of the country are armed
rs guerrillas. Curtis is at Helena, eighty
miles south, and Grant at Corinth.
Braggs army from Tripoli has moved to
Chattanooga and proposes to march on
Nashville, Lexington and Cincinnati.
They will have about 5000 men. Buell.
is near Huntsville with about 10000, and
| suppose detachments of the new lcvies
can be put in Kentucky from Ohio and
Indiana in time.
The weather is very hot and Bragg
can't move his forces very fast, but | fear
he will give trouble. My own opinion is
we ought not TO venture too far into the
interior until the river is safely in oui
possession, when we could land at any
point and strike inland. To attempt to hold
all the South would demand All army Ia
large even to think of. We must colo.
nize and settle as we go South, for IN
Missouri there is as much strife as ever
Enemies must be killed or transported tc
some other country.
Your affectionate brother
w, II. SHERMAN,