CHAPTER XVIII.

SOME WAR CORRESPONDENCE.

SHERMAN'S CHARACTERISTIC LETTERS--CONGRATULATIONS TO PORTER AT VICKSBURG--VIEWS ON THE REORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY--THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR AND THE SPIRIT OF THE SOUTH--MANNERS AND MORALS OF THE SOLDIERS--NO WANTON SPOLIATION OF THE ENEMY'S PROPERTY--THE HEROIC CARTRIDGE BOY OF VICKSBURG.

Early in this volume mention was made of Sherman's ability as a letter-writer. Perhaps in no other way can so good an idea be gained of his mental characteristics as by perusing a few of his epistles, penned amid the scenes of war in which he was so important an actor. As soon as Vicksburg had fallen, for example, and before any attempt was made toward the next move in the bloody game, he wrote thus to Admiral Porter, with whom he had formed a strong and lasting friendship:

"I can appreciate the intense satisfaction you must feel at lying before the very monster that has defied us with such deep and malignant hate, and seeing your once disunited fleet again a unit; and better still, the chain that made an inclosed sea of a line in the great river broken forever. In so magnificent a result I stop not to count who did it. It is done, and the day of our nation's birth is consecrated and baptized anew in a victory won by the united Navy and Army of our country. God grant that the harmony and mutual respect that exists between our respective commanders, and shared by all the true men of the joint service, may continue forever and serve to elevate our national character, threatened with shipwreck. Thus I muse as I sit in my solitary camp out in the wood far from the point for which we have justly striven so long and so well, and though personal curiosity would tempt me to go and see the frowning batteries and sunken pits that have defied us so long, and sent to their silent graves so many of our early comrades in the enterprise, I feel that other tasks lie before me, and time must not be lost. Without casting anchor, and despite the heat and the dust and drought, I must go again into the bowels of the land to make the conquest of Vicksburg fulfil all the conditions it should in the progress of this war. Whether success attend my efforts or not, I know that Admiral Porter will ever accord to me the exhibition of a pure and unselfish zeal in the service of our country.

"Though further apart, the navy and army will still act in concert, and I assure you I shall never reach the banks of the river or see a gunboat, but I will think of Admiral Porter, Captain Breese, and the many elegant and accomplished gentlemen it has been my good fortune to meet on armed or unarmed decks of the Mississippi Squadron."

In 1863 new levies were raised for the armies, by conscription. The Conscription Act was resisted by Rebel sympathizers and the criminal classes generally in several places, notably in New York City, where the atrocious "Draft riots" occurred. Elsewhere the call was responded to with patriotic cheerfulness. Sherman had some decided views as to the manner in which the new troops should be employed. He thought it would be a waste of material to organize new regiments, while in the field there were skeleton regiments enough to make, if filled up, a magnificent army. To the Governor of Ohio he wrote on this subject:

"The President of the United States is now clothed with a power that should have been conferred just two years ago, and I feel assured he will use it. He will call for a large mass of men, and they should all be privates, and sent so as to make every regiment in the field equal to one thousand men. Time has convinced all reasonable men that war in theory and practice are two distinct things. Many an honest patriot, full of enthusiasm, zeal, and thirst for glory, has in practice, found himself unequal to the actual requirements of war, and passed to one side, leaving another in his place; and, now, after two years, Ohio has in the field one hundred and twenty-six regiments, whose officers now are qualified, and the men of which would give tone and character to the new recruits. To fill these regiments will require fifty thousand recruits, which are as many as the State could well raise. I therefore hope and pray that you will use your influence against any more new regiments, and consolidation of old ones, but fill up all the old ones to a full standard. Those who talk of prompt and speedy peace know not what they say."

In the same letter he referred to the attitude of the South and the probable future of the war.

"The South to-day is more formidable and arrogant than she was two years ago, and we lose far more by having an insufficient number of men than from any other cause. We are forced to invade--we must keep the war South; they are not only ruined, exhausted, but humbled in pride and spirit. Admitting that our armies to the front are equal to the occasion, which I know is not the case, our lines of communication are ever threatened by their dashes, for which the country, the population, and character of the enemy are all perfectly adapted.

"Since the first hostile shot, the people of the North have had no option, they must conquer or be conquered. There can be no middle course. I have never been concerned about the copperhead squabblings; the South spurns and despises this class worse than we do, and would only accept their overtures to substitute them in their levies, in the cotton and corn-fields, for the slaves who have escaped. I do not pretend, nor have I ever pretended to foresee the end of all this, but I do know that we are yet far from the end of war. I repeat that it is no longer an open question; we must fight it out. The moment we relax, down go all our conquests thus far. I know my views on this point have ever been regarded as extreme, even verging on insanity; but for years I had associated with Bragg, Beauregard and extreme Southern men, and long before others could realize the fact that Americans would raise their hands against our consecrated government, I was forced to know it, to witness it. Two years will not have been spent in vain if the North now, by another magnificent upheaving of the real people, again fill the ranks of your proven and tried regiments, and assure them that, through good report and evil report, you will stand by them. If Ohio will do this, and if the great North will do this, then will our army feel that it has a country and a government worth dying for. As to the poltroons, who falter and cry quits, let them dig and raise the food the army needs--but they should never claim a voice in the councils of the nation."

Another vigorous letter was called out by an order from the Adjutant-General, under which all regiments which had been depleted more than one-half were to be consolidated by reducing the number of their companies, and mustering out the supernumerary officers. This would have made many gallant regiments consist of only two or three hundred men each, and indeed such was the actual result in many cases. Against this order Sherman protested strongly and with effect.

On one occasion a lady complained bitterly of some alleged misconduct of the soldiers, and this prompted him to write a long communication on the subject of army morals and discipline.

"Mrs. Z----," he said, "has fallen into a common error in saying it was useless to complain of a whole regiment to Brigadier-General Smith or Major-General Sherman. We naturally demanded more specific complaint against incendiary acts than a mere vague suspicion that the ---- did all iniquitous things, when twenty other regiments were camped round about Memphis, six thousand vagabonds and refugees hanging about, and the city itself infested by gangs of thieves and incendiaries, turned loose upon the world, and sheltered in their deeds of darkness by charging them upon soldiers. Neither General Morgan L. Smith or myself ever failed to notice a specific complaint against any soldier of our command, if accompanied by reasonable proofs; but we did, and rightfully too, resent a mere general charge that every fire originating from careless chimneys, careless arrangement of stove-pipes, and the designing acts of wicked incendiaries, should without even an attempt at proof, be charged to the ----. That regiment is one of the bravest and best disciplined in our service, and being composed mostly of young and energetic men from the city of ----, is somewhat famous for its acts of fun, frolic, mischief, and even crime, with a perfect skill in evading detection and pursuit. They are lawless and violent, and, like all other volunteer soldiers, have for years been taught that the people, the masses, the majority, are 'king,' and can do no wrong. They are no worse than other volunteers, all of whom come to us filled with the popular idea that they must enact war, that they must clean out the Secesh, must waste and not protect their property, must burn, waste and destroy. Just such people as Mrs. Z. have taught this creed, sung this song, and urged on our men to these disgraceful acts; and it is such as Morgan L. Smith and W. T. Sherman who have been combating this foul doctrine. During my administration of affairs in Memphis I know it was raised from a condition of death, gloom, and darkness, to one of life and comparative prosperity. Its streets, stores, hotels, and dwellings, were sad and deserted as I entered it, and when I left it, life and business prevailed, and over fourteen hundred enrolled Union men paraded its streets, boldly and openly carrying the banners of our country. No citizen, Union or Secesh, will deny that I acted lawfully, firmly and fairly, and that substantial justice prevailed, with even balance. I do feel their testimony better than the hearsay of any would-be notoriety."

Sherman did not approve of wanton destruction of the enemy's property, although he was ruthless enough when the exigencies of war required it. He wrote thus to General Steele:

"I most heartily approve your purpose to return to families their carriages, buggies, and farming tools, wherewith to make a crop. War at best is barbarism, but to involve all--children, women, old and helpless--is more than can be justified. Our men will become absolutely lawless unless this can be checked. The destruction of corn or forage and provisions in the enemy's country is a well-established law of war, and is as justifiable as the destruction of private cotton by the Southern Confederacy. Jeff. Davis, no doubt, agrees that they have a right to destroy their people's cotton, but the guerrillas do not stop to inquire whose cotton they burn; and I know, as you know, the Confederate Government claim the war-right to burn all cotton, whether belonging to their adherents or to Union men. We surely have a similar right as to corn, cotton, fodder, etc., used to sustain armies and war. Still, I always feel that the stores necessary for a family should be spared, and I think it injures our men to allow them to plunder indiscriminately the inhabitants of the country."

An incident at Vicksburg, which has been immortalized in verse by Whittier, formed the topic of one of Sherman's official dispatches to Secretary Stanton, as follows:

"I take the liberty of asking, through you, that something be done for a young lad named Orion P. Howe, of Waukegan, Illinois, who belongs to the Fifty-fifth Illinois, but is at present at his home wounded. I think he is too young for West Point, but would be the very thing for a midshipman. When the assault at Vicksburg was at its height, on the 19th of May, and I was on foot near the road which formed the line of attack, this young lad came up to me wounded and bleeding, with a good healthy boy's cry: 'General Sherman, send some cartridges to Colonel Walmbourg, the men are all out.' 'What is the matter with my boy?' 'They shot me in the leg, but I can go to the hospital; send the cartridges right away.' Even where we stood, the shot fell thick, and I told him to go to the rear at once, I would attend to the cartridges, and off he limped. Just before he disappeared over the hill, he turned, and called, as loud as he could, 'Calibre 54.'

"I have not seen the boy since, and his Colonel, Walmbourg, on inquiry, gives me his address as above, and says he is a bright, intelligent boy, with a fine preliminary education.

"What arrested my attention then, was--and what renews my memory of the fact now, is--that one so young, carrying a musket-ball wound through his leg, should have found his way to me on that fatal spot, and delivered his message, not forgetting the very important part, even, of the calibre of the musket, which you know is an unusual one.

"I'll warrant that the boy has in him the elements of a man, and I commend him to the Government as one worthy the fostering care of some one of its national institutions."