The slave population m 1860 was near four millions, and the money value thereof not far from twenty-five hundred million dollars. Now, ignoring the moral side of the question, a cause that endangered so vast a moneyed interest was an adequate cause of anxiety and preparation, and the Northern leaders surely ought to have foreseen the danger and prepared for it. --General Sherman, MEMOIRS OF GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN
CHAPTER XXV. CONCLUSION--MILITARY LESSONS OF THE WAR
__________________ Thea
No one has permission to use any material from any of my posts on any CWT forum, the archives, or any other forum without my express written permission.
General Bragg, who certainly was a man of intelligence, and who, in early life, ridiculed a thousand times, in my hearing, the threats of the people of South Carolina to secede from the Federal Union, said to me in New Orleans, in February, 1861, that he was convinced that the feeling between the slave and free States had become so embittered that it was better to part in peace; better to part anyhow; and, as a separation was inevitable, that the South should begin at once, because the possibility of a successful effort was yearly lessened by the rapid and increasing inequality between the two sections, from the fact that all the European immigrants were coming to the Northern States and Territories, and none to the Southern.
__________________ Thea
No one has permission to use any material from any of my posts on any CWT forum, the archives, or any other forum without my express written permission.
__________________ "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
"The government of the United States may now safely proceed on the proper rule that all in the South are enemies of all in the North."
William T. Sherman, letter to Salmon P. Chase, secretary of the treasury, August 1862.
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
"I cannot feel kindly toward Gen. Sherman. He was a monster and I want the whole world to know it."
Elizabeth Avery Meriwether, more than 50 years after Appomattox.
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
"Oh, it is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization."
William T. Sherman, Union General, on receiving word of the secession of South Carolina, December 24, 1860.
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
"I see every chance of a long, confused and disorganizing civil war, and I feel no desire to take a hand therein."
William T. Sherman, letter to his wife, January 1861.
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
"If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity seeking."
William T. Sherman, recalling his words on entering Atlanta, September 2, 1864, in his Memoirs, 1875.
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
"Three years ago by a little reflection and patience they could have had a hundred years of peace and prosperity...Last year they could have saved their slaves, but now it is too late...Next year their lands will be taken...and in another year they may beg in vain for their lives."
William T. Sherman, of Southerners, January 1864.
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
Lincoln liked General Sherman and called his conquest of Savannah in December 1864 "my Christmas present."
When senators pressed Lincoln as to the general's course through Georgia in the following spring, he recounted Sherman's encounter with a Georgian plantation owner.
A gray-haired gentleman sat on the veranda of hiss pillared mansion as Sherman rode up to get water. The owner heard Sherman referred to as a general.
"So you're a general?" he said as he offered Sherman a jug of water.
Sherman nodded.
"How many men do you have?" queried the planter.
"About a million," was Sherman's dry reply.
"Where are you headed for?" was the next question.
"I'm not sure I should answer that," said the Union Army general.
"Oh I wouldn't tell anybody," the Southerner insisted.
"But this is knowledge not to be released publicly," stated Sherman.
"Oh I wouldn't tell anybody where you're going."
"You promise?" demanded General Sherman.
"Yes, I swear on the honor of a gentleman," said the Georgian, crossing his heart.
"All right," said Sherman, "lean over and I'll whisper it in your ear."
The man bent over and then he heard Sherman's scream.
"I'm going where I goddam please!"
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
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