794 



SHERMAN, WILLIAM TECUMSEH. 



instruction near St. Louis, and on Feb. 13 he 

 was ordered to assume command of the post at 

 Paducah. Here, from new troops arriving, he 

 organized a division for himself, and on March 

 10 embarked it on transports and moved up the 

 Tennessee. With this division, on April 6 and 

 7, he participated in the bloody battle of Shiloh, 

 or Pittsburg Landing, holding the right of the 

 line, near Shiloh church. His command in- 

 cluded 12 regiments and 4 batteries, and his 

 total loss in killed, wounded, and missing was 

 2,034. He lost 7 guns on the 6th, and capt- 

 ured 7 on the 7th. Soon after this action 

 he was promoted to major-general of volunteers. 

 In the advance on Corinth in May, Sherman 

 commanded on the extreme right. When the 

 enemy abandoned Corinth. Halleck's army was 

 broken up, and Sherman's division was employed 

 in repairing the railroads. In July Halleck was 

 called to Washington as military adviser to the 

 President, and thenceforth Sherman was under 

 the immediate command of Grant. His head- 

 quarters were now at Memphis. 



A letter written by Sherman at this time to 

 his brother is interesting as showing how the 

 slate of affairs appeared to him. The following 

 is an extract : 



For six weeks I was marching along the road from 

 Corinth to Memphis, mending roads, building bridges, 

 and all sorts of work. At last I got here, and found 

 the city contributing gold, anna, powder, salt, and 

 everything the enemy wanted. It was a smart trick 

 on their part thus to give up Memphis, that the de- 

 sire of gain to our Northern merchants should supply 

 them with the things needed in war. I stopped this 

 at once, and declared gold, silver, treasury notes, and 

 salt as much contraband of war as powder. I have 

 one man under sentence of death for smuggling arms 

 across the lines, and hope Mr. Lincoln will approve 

 it. But the mercenary spirit of our people is too much, 

 and my orders are reversed, and I am ordered to en- 

 courage the trade in cotton, and all orders prohibiting 

 fold and silver to be paid for it are annulled by or- 

 ers from Washington. Grant promptly ratified my 

 order, and all military men here saw at once that gold 

 spent for cotton went to the purchase of arms and 

 munitions of war. But what are the lives of our sol- 

 diers to the profits of the merchants ? After a whole 

 year of bungling the country has at last discovered 

 that we want more men. All knew it last fall as now, 

 but it was not popular. Now, 1,300,000 men are re- 

 quired when 700,000 were deemed absurd before. We 

 should be in Jackson, Meriden, and Vicksburg. Still 

 I must not growl. I have purposely kept back and 

 have no right to criticise, save that I am glad that 

 papers have at last found out we are at war and have 

 a formidable enemy to combat. Of course I approve 

 the confiscation act, and ought to be willing that the 

 Government should amend that article of the Con- 

 stitution which forbids the forfeiture of land to the 

 heirs. My full belief.is we must colonize the country 

 de novo, beginning with Kentucky and Tennessee, and 

 should remove 4,000.000 of our people at once south 

 of the Ohio river, taking the farms and plantations of 

 the rebels. I deplore the war as much as ever, but if 

 the thing has to be done, let the means be adequate. 

 Don't expect to win such a country or subdue such a 

 people in one, two, or five years it is the task of half 

 a century. Although our army is thus far south, I 

 can not stir from our garrisons. Our men are killed 

 or captured Avithin sight of our lines. . . . To attempt 

 to hold all the South would demand an army too 

 large even to think of. We must colonize and settle 

 as we go South, for in Missouri there is as much 

 strife as ever. Enemies must be killed, or transported 

 to some other country. 



In December, in co-operation with a plan of 

 Grant's to attack the Confederate army com- 

 manded by Gen. Pemberton on the Tallahatchie, 

 Sherman moved down the eastern bank of the 

 Mississippi, accompanied by Porter's fleet of gun- 

 boats, to attack Vicksburg in the rear. But un- 

 expected natural obstacles were met, and the 

 sudden capture of Grant's depot of supplies at 

 Holly Springs thwarted the undertaking. Sher- 

 man vainly attacked the defenses on the north 

 side of the city and lost 1,800 men. 



In January, 1803, Gen. McClernand assumed 

 command of the two corps commanded by Gens. 

 Sherman and George W. Morgan, and at Sher- 

 man's suggestion the whole force ascended Ar- 

 kansas river 100 miles to attack Fort Hindman 

 or Arkansas Post. They landed on the 10th, and 

 the next day, assisted by the fire of the gun- 

 boats, assaulted the work and captured it with 

 its garrison of nearly 5,000 men. The loss to the 

 national force was about 1,000. The fort was 

 dismantled and its stores taken on board the 

 boats, and the expedition returned. Grant now 

 took command in person of the movement on 

 the Mississippi and divided his army into four 

 corps, of which Sherman commanded one, the 

 Fifteenth. In the operations that resulted in the 

 siege and capture of Vicksburg Sherman's corps 

 bore a conspicuous part, and he was made a 

 brigadier-general in the regular army, to date 

 from July 4, 1803, the day the city was sur- 

 rendered. 



Soon after the fall of Vicksburg Gen. Halleck 

 addressed a letter to Gen. Sherman, saying that 

 k the question of reconstruction in Louisiana, 

 Mississippi, and Arkansas will soon come up for 

 decision of the Government, and not only the 

 length of the war but our ultimate and com- 

 plete success will depend upon its decision," and 

 intimating that the President would like the 

 views of generals in the field. In answer, Sher- 

 man wrote a long letter, from which the follow- 

 ing significant and characteristic passages are 

 taken : 



I would deem it very unwise at this time, or for 

 years to come, to revive the State governments of 

 Louisiana, etc., or to institute in this quarter any civil 

 government in which the local people have much to 

 say. They had a government so mild and paternal 

 that they gradually forgot they had any at all save 

 what they themselves controlled ; they asserted an 

 absolute right to seize public moneys, forts, arms, and 

 even to shut up the natural avenues of travel and 

 commerce. They chose war they ignored and de- 

 nied all the obligations of the solemn contract of 

 government, and appealed to force. We accepted the 

 issue, and now they begin to realize that war is a two- 

 edged sword, and it may be that many of the inhab- 

 itants cry for peace. I know them well, and the very 

 impulses of their nature ; and to deal with the in- 

 habitants of that part of the South which borders on 

 the great river, we must recognize the classes into 

 which they have divided themselves: 



First. The large planters, owning lands, slaves, and 

 all kinds of personal property. These are, on the 

 whole, the ruling class. They are educated, wealthy, 

 and easily approached. In some districts they are 

 bitter as gall, and have given up slaves, plantations, 

 and all, serving in the armies of the Confederacy ; 

 whereas, in others, they are conservative. None dan- 

 admit a friendship for us, though they say freely that 

 they were at the outset opposed to war and disunion. 

 I Itnow we can manage this class, but only by action,. 

 Argument is exhausted, and words have lost their 



