Civil War History - Secession and PoliticsWas it Slavery, or was it States Rights? Perhaps it was the election of Lincoln? What were the real reasons for Southern Secession and what were the political issues in this time of war? Find your answers here in the Secession and Politics Disussion.
“It has been observed that there is no character so uniformly bright as not to possess some dark stain; but while we assent to the truth of this observation, that charity which hopeth all things should lead us to believe that there are no hearts so darkly vicious as not to be illuminated by some beams of the light of virtue. To suppose Sherman an exception to this rule would be illiberal. The unbounded license, which he allowed his soldiers in the states of Georgia and the Carolinas, has greatly aggravated the horrors of war. As a strategist and commander of men, Sherman has displayed the highest order of military genius. Throughout his recent campaign, when he had to pass through an unknown country, cross rivers, support his troops, etc., he certainly exhibited a singleness of purpose, a fertility of resource, which wins him a high place among the soldiers if history. He seems to be cool without apathy, cautious without being dilatory, patient without being dispirited, personally brave without being rash. Judged by Napoleon’s test, ‘Who did all that?” he is, in my opinion, the most successful of the Federal officers who have played a prominent part in the history of the war.”
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If I am reading Lee's thoughts correctly he is giving Sherman credit for ending the war. Colonel Archer Anderson said in a speech after the war that it was Sherman who ended the war.
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"...Of the siege of Petersburg, I have only time to say that in it
for nine months the Confederate commander displayed every art by which genius and courage can make good the lack of numbers and resources. But the increasing misfortunes of the Confederate arms on other theatres of the war gradually cut off the supply of men and means. The Army of Northern Virginia ceased to be recruited, it ceased to be adequately fed. It lived for months on less than one-third rations. It was demoralized, not by the enemy in its front, but by the enemy in Georgia and the Carolinas.
- Colonel Archer Anderson
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Whether we like it or not Sherman was acting on orders from his superiors. General Halleck even told him to sow salt into the ground as he went through South Carolina. Sherman refused.
It can be said that the burning of property is more humane that killing men. As a man of Southern birth I have decided to move forward and not be held back by the events of the war.
"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."- Paul Boese
Rick
__________________ "We made a great mistake in the beginning of our struggle.... We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers"
- Robert E. Lee
The Battle Flag of The Madison Light Artillery (Louisiana) MOODY'S BATTERY - 24 Pound Howitzers
Alexander's Battalion
Longstreets Corps
Ahmen Rick, well said and it goes a long way in summing up this thread.
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
Could you please tell me where you got the Lee quote about Sherman from? I would appreciate it.
Nice post, by-the-way.
Sincerely,
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
"Madam, do not train up your children with hostility to the government of the United States. Remember, we are all on country now. Dismiss from your mind all sectional feeling, and bring them up to be Americans."
Robert E. Lee, 1867.
Sincerely,
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
Your Lee quote is perhaps counterbalanced by the following:
William Preston Johnston, the son of Albert Sidney, frequently lunched with Lee during the period in which he occupied the chair of history & literature at Washington College, Lexington. He frequently wrote memoranda of these conversations, often on the same day. On one occasion he wrote:
By the by, the other day, he spoke to me of the vindictiveness and malignity of the Yankees, of which he had no conception before the war.
This quote appears on page 6 of the April 1966 issue of Civil War Times Illustrated. The author of the article speculates that “Lee probably did not realize that Johnston would make notes of the conversations, which may account for his illuminating frankness.”
And I feel that this report has been refuted, if memory serves, by one of the most foremost Lee biographers. Perhaps you may know something on this? Perhaps the author of the article might have alluded to this point?
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
William Preston Johnstons account was refuted, quite in concrete. IIRC along the lines of some of the conversations never having happened. I too don't recall the author off hand and would much appreciate it if someone recalls.
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
Could you please tell me where you got the Lee quote about Sherman from? I would appreciate it.
Nice post, by-the-way.
Sincerely,
Unionblue
Hummm? I have been collecting interesting quotes of our Patriots for many years. I will try to find the source this evening when I have more time. I consider all of the Confederate Generals who worked for unity after the war as Patriots. Mainly, Lee, Longstreet, Forrest and JE Johnston. There were others but IMO these did the most to reunify our country.
__________________ "We made a great mistake in the beginning of our struggle.... We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers"
- Robert E. Lee
The Battle Flag of The Madison Light Artillery (Louisiana) MOODY'S BATTERY - 24 Pound Howitzers
Alexander's Battalion
Longstreets Corps
__________________ "We made a great mistake in the beginning of our struggle.... We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers"
- Robert E. Lee
The Battle Flag of The Madison Light Artillery (Louisiana) MOODY'S BATTERY - 24 Pound Howitzers
Alexander's Battalion
Longstreets Corps
Don't know anything about William Preston Johnston, but regarding this Pepper fellow, please see my post in An Interview With General Lee in regard to his perported quote from Lee on Grant.
__________________ -
"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
Ancestors in USA Army: 6th IA Inf, 11th IL Cav, 1st AL Cav; 122nd NY Inf; 6th MI Cav; 35th MA Inf; 100th IL Inf; 1st CO Inf/Cav; 22nd IN Inf
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