Lee Rosencrans and White Sulphur Letter (Manifesto)

5fish

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I hear Ron Chernow mention this letter but he called it a manifesto Lee signed. Rosencrans is there asking Lee:

Unexpectedly, however, he found himself involved in the controversy. General
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W. S. Rosecrans, one of the managers of the Democratic campaign, knew that some of the leading Southerners visited "The White" every summer, and he came down from New York to see if he could procure from them a statement of their acceptance of the results of the war, and of their willingness to deal justly with the Negroes. This, in General Rosecrans's opinion, might offset the Republican propaganda and help the Democratic thicket.6


Link: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Robert_E_Lee/FREREL/4/21*.html

Here is White Sulpher Letter:

Staunton Spectator, September 8, 1868 Gen. Rosecrans and Gen. R. E. Lee
Page 2 (Column 02)Full Text of Article:

The conference of Gen. Rosecrans with Gen. R. E. Lee and other distinguished Southern men at the White Sulphur Springs has excited interest in all parts of the country, and the public have manifested a feverish anxiety to learn the character of the correspondence which took place between the parties. The letter of Gen. Rosecrans is long, and we have not the space to publish it in this issue, but we give below the reply of Gen. Lee and others which will enable the reader to learn the substance of it. The whole people of the South, with possibly the exception of mangy scallawags diseased with the leprosy of Radicalism, will heartily endorse the able and patriotic letter of Gen. Lee and the other distinguished men whose signatures are attached thereto. The National Intelligencer denominates it a "masterly letter," and says "it is a calm, judicious, pacific, earnest and eminently paper." Here it is:

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS

WEST VA., August 26, 1868.

GENERAL -- I have had the honor to receive your letter of this date, and in accordance with your suggestions I have conferred with a number of gentlemen from the South in whose judgment I have confided, and who are well acquainted with the public sentiment of their respective States. They have kindly consented to unite with me in replying to your communication, and their names will be found with my own appended to this answer. With this explanation, we proceed to give you a candid statement of what we believe to be the sentiment of the Southern people in regard to the subject to which you refer.

Whatever opinions may have prevailed in the past in regard to African slavery, or the right of a State to secede from the Union, we believe we express the almost unanimous judgment of the Southern people when we declare that they consider that those questions were decided by the war, and that it is their intention in good faith to abide by that decision. At the close of the war, the Southern people laid down their arms and sought to resume their former relations with the United States Government.-- Through their State Conventions they abolished slavery and annulled their ordinances of secession, and they returned to their peaceful pursuits with a sincere purpose to fulfill all their duties under the Constitution of the United States, which they had sworn to protect. If their action in these particulars had been met in a spirit of frankness and cordiality, we believe that ere this old irritations would have passed away, and the wounds inflicted by the war would have been in a great measure healed. As far as we are advised, the people of the South entertain no unfriendly feeling towards the government of the United States, but they complain that their rights under the Constitution are withheld from them in the administration thereof.

The idea that the Southern people are hostile to the negroes, and would oppress them if it were in their power to do so, is entirely unfounded. They have grown up in our midst, and we have been accustomed from childhood to look upon them with kindness. The change in the relations of the two races has brought no change in our feeling towards them. They still constitute the important part of our laboring population. Without their labor, the lands of the South would be comparatively unproductive. Without the employment which Southern agriculture provides they would be destitute of the means of subsistence, and become paupers, dependent on public bounty. Self-interest, even if there were no higher motive, would therefore prompt the whites of the South to extend to the negroes care and protection.

The important fact that the two races are, under existing circumstances, necessary to each other is gradually becoming apparent to both, and we believe that but for the influences exerted to stir up the passions of the negroes that the two races would soon adjust themselves on a basis of mutual kindness and advantage.

It is true that the people of the South, together with the people of the North and West, are, for obvious reasons, opposed to any system of laws which will place the political power of the country in the hands of the negro race. But this opposition springs from no feelings of enmity, but from a deep seated conviction that at present the negroes have neither the intelligence nor other qualifications which are necessary to make them safe depositories of political power. They would inevitably become the victims of demagogues, who for selfish purposes would mislead them, to the serious injury of the public.

The great want of the South is peace. The people earnestly desire tranquility and the restoration of the Union. They deprecate disorder and excitement as the most serious obstacle to their prosperity. They ask a restoration of their rights under the Constitution. They desire relief from oppressive misrule. Above all, they would appeal to their countrymen for the re-establishment in the Southern States of that which has justly been the right of every American -- the right of self-government. Establish these on a firm basis, and we can safely promise on behalf of the Southern people that they will faithfully obey the Constitution and laws of the United States, treat the negro with kindness and humanity, and fulfill every duty incumbent on peaceful citizens loyal to the Constitution of the country.

We believe the above contains a succinct reply to the general topics embraced in your letter, and we venture to say on behalf of the Southern people and of the officers and soldiers of the late Confederate army, that they will concur in all the sentiments which we have expressed.

Appreciating the patriotic motives which have prompted your letter, and reciprocating your expressions of kind regard, we have the honor to be,

Very respectfully and truly,

R. E. Lee, of Va.,
W. J. Green, N.C.,
G. T. Beauregard, La.,
Lewis E. Harvie, Va.
Alex. H. Stephens, Ga.,
P. V. Daniel Jr., Va.
C. M. Conrad, La.,
W.T. Sutherlin, Va.
Linton Stephens, Ga.,
A. B. James, La.,
A. T. Caperton, W. Va.,
T. Beauregard, Texas,
John Echols, Va.,
M. O. H. Norton, La.,
F. S. Stockdale, Texas,
T. P. Branch, Ga.,
Jos. R. Anderson, Va.,
Jeremiah Morton, Va.
W. T. Turner, W. Va.,
John B. Baldwin, Va.
C. H. Suber, S. C., Geo. W. Bolling, Va.
E. Fontaine, Va.,
Theo. Flourney, Va.,
John Letcher, V.,
James Lyons, Va.
B. C. Adams, Miss.,

To Gen. W. S. Rosecrans, Minister to Mexico.

White Springs, Va.


There is a letter from Rosencrans to Lee but I can not find it... Here is a link with a mural made of Lee and Rosencrans meeting at White Sulpher Springs...

http://rosecransheadquarters.org/Rosecrans/WhiteSulphurManifesto/Lee.htm
 
I just realized the title is misleading... The thread is more about Lee then Rosecrans... Unless Rosecrans letter to Lee makes him come across as racist...
 
I found this tidbit: It seems Rosecrans had correspondence with many X confederates in the post-war years and was synthetic to the south...


This letter is indicative of Lee's public position on freedmen and the restoration of the Union. Privately he spent his days in bitter reflection. But when he conferred with former enemies on public statements, he often took up this conciliatory tone of moderation.

The collection is rich with others' response to the letter - published throughout the South. Nathan Bedford Forrest, P. G. T. Beauregard, and John Brown Gordon number among the many former Rebels who wrote Rosecrans in support of both the letter and Rosecrans's efforts to to initiate correspondence with Lee on the subject. Even Lee himself wrote a brief note of thanks (I'm holding Lee's letter in the picture on the left...cool, yes?).

link.. http://cosmicamerica1.blogspot.com/2011/04/william-s-rosecrans-robert-e-lee-and.html
 
Here is a narrative of the meeting of Rosecrans and Lee and the other X-conferences at White Sulphur Springs 1868... by former Texas governor and friend of Lee's, Mr. Stockdale... starts on the bottom page 497 and ends on page 500 the most insightful part is the last paragraph with Lee talking to Stockdale...

https://books.google.com/books?id=o...e&q=rosecrans letter to Robert e. Lee&f=false

You see why Lee always manages and measure every word he spoke after the war...
 
You read the paragraph in bold print and you learn quickly of Lee's true opinion of the x-slaves... no suffrage for them...
 
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