Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 1860-1865

By Brooks D. Simpson and Jean V. Berlin

For Professors: Free E-Exam Copies

• Language: English
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Release date: Jul 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9781469620299

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Chapter 1: November 3, 1860–February 25, 1861

For William T. Sherman, the breakup of the United States in the secession crisis of 1860–61 could not have come at a worse time. After years of struggling in various civilian pursuits following his resignation from the United States Army in 1853, he had finally found success as the superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary and Military Academy in Alexandria. Since his arrival in Louisiana in the fall of 1859, he had done much to put the military academy on a sound footing, supervising construction, purchasing books, and overseeing the education and training of a growing student body. Not even the promise of a position as a banker in faraway London, tempting as it was, could pull him away from his new post; rather, he had been looking forward to the day when he could bring the rest of his family to Alexandria. He had spent far too much time away from his wife, Ellen, and his children, who had been residing in Lancaster, Ohio, with Ellen’s father (and Sherman’s foster father), Thomas Ewing Sr. Now, however, all was jeopardized by national events. It does seem that the whole world conspires against us, Sherman sadly remarked.¹

It had not always been this way. Born February 8, 1820, in Lancaster, the sixth child of Charles and Mary Sherman, Tecumseh Sherman was nine years old when his father died. Thomas Ewing, a prominent lawyer and politician who lived up the street from the Shermans, took in the boy; unhappy with the youth’s name—it seemed somehow unfitting to be named after an Indian warrior—the Ewings made sure that he was baptized William. Two years later, Ewing won election to the United States Senate; the clout that came with this position proved helpful in securing an appointment at the United States Military Academy at West Point for the boy known to his friends as Cump. Sherman entered the academy in 1836; upon his graduation in 1840, he ranked sixth in his class and would have ranked even higher but for his indifference to the demerit system. He accepted a commission as a second lieutenant of artillery and over the next six years saw service in Florida during the Second Seminole War followed by tours of duty in Alabama and South Carolina. Transferred to California at the beginning of the Mexican-American War, Sherman failed to see action in the conflict but gained a small slice of immortality as the officer who confirmed the discovery of gold in 1848. On May 1, 1850, he married Ellen Ewing, Thomas Ewing’s daughter, in a Washington ceremony attended by many of the nation’s most prominent political leaders, who no doubt welcomed the respite from the ongoing debate over sectional issues that culminated in a grand compromise agreement later that year.²

The next decade proved a trying one. Ellen did not care for army life and soon decided to return to Lancaster, taking the couple’s daughter, Maria (affectionately known as Minnie), with her; soon they were joined by a second girl, Mary Elizabeth (called Lizzie). Sherman cared little for the arrangement, but it soon became evident that he would have to choose between his career and his family and in 1853 he resigned his commission. His first step as a civilian took him back to California, where he engaged in banking. Determined to make it on his own, he resisted his father-in-law’s efforts to bring him—or, more accurately, Ellen—back to Ohio; he also welcomed the arrival of his first son, William, in 1854. Financial chaos, the appearance of vigilante violence, and Ellen’s desire to return to Lancaster, however, led him to welcome the opportunity to relocate to New York in 1857, only to find himself the victim of the financial panic that spread over the land that fall. Crestfallen, he accepted his father-in-law’s offer to manage a coal and saltworks, then took a turn as a lawyer in Kansas while trying to find other ways to make money, secure his independence, and reunite his family (now grown to four children with another boy, Thomas) under his own roof. I am doomed to be a vagabond, he remarked. I look upon myself as a dead cock in the pit, not worthy of further notice.³ It was at this point that the offer of the superintendency promised a solution to his problems.

It was not as if Sherman was unaware of the storm clouds of secession. He had sat in the galleries as Congress debated the terms of the Compromise of 1850 and at one point secured admission to the floor to hear Daniel Webster’s farewell address to the Senate. While in California, he had provided pointed commentary on events in Kansas, where proslavery and antislavery forces clashed. That his brother John was making a mark as a member of the new Republican party as a congressman only added to his interest. Cump shared none of his brother’s antipathy toward slavery; he despised secessionist fire-eaters and abolitionists alike, even though Ellen’s brother Thomas Ewing Jr. practiced antislavery politics. No sooner had he arrived in Louisiana than he found himself an object of suspicious curiosity, for John Sherman had just endorsed Hinton Rowan Helper’s tract against slavery, The Impending Crisis of the South. Southern congressmen seized on this gaffe to deny Sherman the speakership of the House of Representatives. Cump stuck by his brother but only after reassuring anyone who would listen that John had never read the book.

Sherman had no problem with slavery. I would not if I could abolish or modify slavery, he told Tom Ewing Jr. I don’t know that I would materially change the actual relation of master and slave. Negroes in the great numbers that exist here must of necessity be slaves—a remark remarkable for its ignorance of the free black population in New Orleans. Blacks, he argued, would not work except under coercion; they could never claim equality with whites. All the congresses on earth can’t make the negro anything else than he is, he declared. He must be subject to the white man, or he must amalgamate or be destroyed. He suggested that slave owners might enhance the acceptability of the peculiar institution by adopting reforms to preserve slave families and promote the education of slaves. He even contemplated the purchase of a few slaves as servants for his new home.⁴

But for secession Sherman harbored only hostility. He assailed those Southern politicians who constantly raised the threat of disunion, claiming that they had exaggerated the extent of support for secession in the North. He pledged to resign his post and leave Louisiana should that state leave the Union. In the presidential contest of i860 he expressed his preference for the candidacy of the Constitutional Unionist John Bell, although in the end he did not vote.

The triumph of Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln, Sherman observed, made secession inevitable, for many Southern whites believed that the new president espoused abolitionist principles. The prospect of disunion, war, and chaos depressed him. Despite the General Anarchy that would ensue, a mad foolish crowd was determined to destroy the nation. Although Sherman was determined to leave the state should Louisiana secede, he did not know what the future held for him. I see every chance of long, confused and disorganized Civil war, and I feel no desire to take a hand therein, he remarked. Indeed, he was not sure whether it would be wise to resist secession: only if the states bordering the Mississippi River joined the disunion movement was there a sufficient reason for a war.⁵

Passion and ignorance ruled the day. To one of his instructors at the academy, David F. Boyd, Sherman railed against the insanity of secession. You, you the people of the South, believe there can be such a thing as peaceable secession. You don’t know what you are doing. . . . The country will be drenched in blood. . . . Oh, it is all folly, a crime against civilization. War would be costly, especially to the South. The North can make a steam-engine, locomotive or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical and determined people on earth—right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. … If your people would but stop and think, they must see that in the end you will surely fail ⁶

But the time for sober reflection had passed. When People believe a delusion they believe it harder than a real fact, Sherman told Minnie. Men have ceased to reason, and war seems to be courted by those who understand not its costs, and demoralizing results, he observed as Louisiana prepared to secede. Civilians are far more willing to start a war than Military men and so it appears now. Yet it was also obvious to him that if the politicians had helped bring on the crisis, they would not be able to manage it. My notion is that this war will ruin all Politicians & that military Leaders will direct the events, he predicted. With that in mind, he left Louisiana on February 24. When next he returned, he would be wearing the uniform of a major general in the United States Army.⁷

1. WTS to EES, December 23, 1860.

2. The best full biographies of Sherman are John F. Marszalek, Sherman: A Soldier’s Passion for Order (New York, 1993), and Lloyd Lewis, Sherman: Fighting Prophet (1932; reprint, Lincoln, Neb., 1993). Michael Fellman’s Citizen Sherman (New York, 1995) provides an incisive and provocative analysis of Sherman’s personality, mentality, and character.

3. Marszalek, Sherman, 119.

4. Lewis, Sherman, 119, 120, 129.

5. WTS to EES, November 3, 23, 1860, January 8, 1861; WTS to JS, December 9, 1860.

6. Lewis, Sherman, 138.

7. WTS to Minnie Sherman, December 15, 1860; WTS to George M. Graham, January 16, 1861; WTS to JS, January 18, 1861.

TO ELLEN EWING SHERMAN

Louisiana State Seminary of Learning

and Military Academy.

Alexandria, Novr. 3, 1860

Dearest Ellen,

This is Saturday evening, and I am seated at the office table where the Academic Board has been all week examining Cadets[.] We have admitted in all some eighty and rejected about a dozen, for want of the elementary knowledge required for admission.¹ Tonight Saturday we close the business and on Monday Recitations begin. Still Many more will straggle in, and I expect we will settle down to about a hundred and twenty, less than we had reason to expect, but quite enough for comfort.

Joe² got here on Monday last and is here, helping receive, unpack and distribute stores, and he helps blow the calls—a Bugler I picked up in New Orleans, a kind of circus man. I hardly know what to do with Joe and he will be on my hands till something turns up. I had him make a list of the contents of some boxes, but his spelling is so bad that I cannot get him to help me in writing—I will take two of the Cadets for that purpose but what with treasurers accounts and the voluminous Correspondence I fear I will not be able to take reasonable exercise.

Poor Clay has fallen away much and I have him fed on oats at about a dollar a bushel, & hay $60 a ton but he dont appear to appreciate it—I have not had a chance to ride him this week, but made Joe take him to exercise this afternoon. Tomorrow Sunday also I must write all the day and Same next week, but then I hope to take some relief. Our House has now the 2nd coat of plaster all save the lower hall and as the scaffolding is removed it looks very well. The house will be good in every respect, and I hope to drive the Plasterer away in ten days—the Carpenter can finish up in ten more days and the painting ought not to take more than a month, so that by Christmas it will be done. A fence has to be built—I intend if affairs move along slowly—to furnish it in part, and occupy it by January—At present we have our old mess which smacks of the same old pork Grease—The Country is very poor and nothing can be bought here but stewed beef & pork—vegetables are out of the question save Potatoes at about $5 the barrel. Professors Vallas³ & St. Ange⁴ still are ugly, but I dont expect much trouble—only as the Board have divided my authority I will take less interest in details. People here now talk as though Disunion was a fixed thing—men of property say that as this constant feeling of danger of abolitionism exists they would rather try a Southern Confederacy—Louisiana would not secede but should South Carolina secede, I fear other Southern states will follow, and soon General Anarchy will prevail—I say but little, try & mind my own business, and await the issue of Events.

Sunday—here I was interrupted and occupied till bedtime and postponed balance to this Sunday—The day is beautiful—I have taken a long stroll embracing the new Houses which more & more please me on each visit—I think them admirably planned, and adapted to the circumstances & climate. Joe has gone to church and so have the Professors and many of the Cadets. Bye the way—Dr. Clark⁵ our Surgeon a young gentleman (engaged to Miss Boyce⁶ en confidence) has asked me to convey to you the assurances of his distinguished respect & consideration, and his wish that you Shd. hurry down—he says on his way south he fell in with Wash Young,⁷ and by a mere accident they found we were mutual acquaintances—Wash of course spoke well of me, but of you he deal in panegyric especially on the Subject of Eucre,⁸ and Dr. Clark says of all things Eucre is his delight—he is very young say 23—a real London Cockney in dress and manner, but withal a well bred Gentleman a la Paris. We dont play cards in the College Building, so you may count on as much Eucre as you please of evenings. I think our house will be ready Christmas but with the Exception of general preparation, I ask nothing till November is passed. I think Joe is disposed to be well pleased, and every body here likes his appearance. He thinks his sister would be benefitted by this climate. I feel very well indeed—and am free of cold or asthma—I notice with much pleasure what you say of the children. Affectionately,

W. T. Sherman

ALS, InND: Sherman Family Papers.

1. This was the beginning of the second year of the academy’s operations.

2. Joe Miller had come to Alexandria from Lancaster, Ohio, as WTS’s servant.

3. Anthony Vallas, a Hungarian who had fled his country during the revolution of 1848, was professor of mathematics and philosophy at the academy.

4. E. Berte St. Ange, a former marine in the French navy, was professor of French and modern languages.

5. Powhatan Clark was assistant professor of chemistry.

6. Louise Boyce was the daughter of Henry Boyce, an old friend of Sherman’s who had been made the United States district judge for western Louisiana in 1850.

7. Possibly George Washington Young, Maryland’s largest slaveholder and Hugh Boyle Ewing’s father-in-law.

8. A card game.

TO ELLEN EWING SHERMAN

Louisiana State Seminary of Learning

and Military Academy.

Alexandria, Novr. 10, 1860

Dearest Ellen,

We have had a week of cold stormy rains, but it has cleared off and today is bright and warm. I am going into town today and will leave this at the Post office—The Election came off on Tuesday and resulted in Alexandria for a majority for Breckinridge¹—next Bell²—next Douglas³—Of course there were no votes for Lincoln[.]⁴ Indeed he has no ticket in this State—I received a note from a friend advising me to vote⁵—I thought the matter over, and concluded I would not vote—Technically I was entitled to a vote, as I entered Louisiana just a year ago, but I thought I ought not to vote in this election, and did not—I would have preferred Bell, but I think he has no chance, and I do not wish to be subject to any political conditions[.] If I am to hold my place by a political Tenure I prefer again to turn vagabond—I would not be surprised to learn that my not voting was construed into a friendly regard for Lincoln, and that it might result in my being declared a public Enemy. I Shall however rest under a belief that now as the Election is over, all this hard feeling will subside and peace once more settle on the Country. We have no Returns as yet-Maybe the mail tonight will bring some returns from New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio, those large states that determine this Election, but I do not count on any clear Knowledge till next Monday.

We began our Recitations last Monday and things have settled down into order & system. Joe is with me, and occasionally blows a call, but generally is employed as about my office—his expenses are at my cost, and I hardly know how to place him.

The plastering of the houses was much delayed by the stormy weather, but hope this will be done in ten days. As many more will enable the Carpenters to finish the Interior, and the painter will occupy as much more—allowing for delays and usual interruptions I think the House will be ready before Christmas—Before December 1, I will tell you exactly what is best to be done—I hate to have you come as it were on a mere visit but I dont know but that is the wisest course—we have been too much separated already and its Effect has not been good, but that is past and cannot be helped.

No matter which way we turn there arises difficulties which seem insurmountable—In case Lincoln is elected, they Say S. Carolina will secede and that the Southern States will not see her forced back—Secession must result in Civil War, anarchy and ruin to our present form of Government—but if it is attempted it would be unwise for us to be here: But I still hope for quiet.

All the cadets are now quartered, clothed and at their lessons. I can now give more of my time to our private interests—I enclose a slip from a tax receipt which gives a description of that 40 acre piece in Illinois. I know the Deed is recorded, and I feel certain I sent it to St. Louis to either Obear or Sherman, for you remember they once effected a sale, and you would not execute the Deed. I have looked everywhere for the Deed, and though I find a sketch, and other description of it, I know I had the Deed at Leavenworth. Let Phil⁶ prepare for you such a deed as will ensure the property to you, and either send it to me for execution or bring it as you may think best.

Give my love to all the Children I am quite well, affectionately yrs.

W. T. Sherman

ALS, InND: Sherman Family Papers.

1. John C. Breckinridge (1821–75) of Kentucky, vice president of the United States (1857–61), ran for president on the Southern Democratic ticket.

2. John Bell (1797–1869) of Tennessee ran as a Constitutional Unionist.

3. U.S. senator Stephen A. Douglas (1813–61) of Illinois was the Northern Democratic candidate.

4. Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) won the presidential election of 1860 without carrying a single slave state.

5. George Mason Graham wrote to Sherman on November 5 to urge him to vote, saying that others would think he supported Lincoln if he did not cast a vote for someone else. SFP.

6. Philemon Beecher Ewing (1820–96) was Ellen Sherman’s brother and a lawyer in Lancaster, Ohio.

TO ELLEN EWING SHERMAN

Louisiana State Seminary of Learning

and Military Academy.

Alexandria, Novr. 23, 1860

My Dearest Ellen,

We are having a cold raw day, and I avail myself of it to do a good deal of indoor work. I was out for some hours directing the making of the fence around our new house, but the work within perused very slowly indeed—Our House is all plastered, and the Carpenters are putting in the doors, windows and casings. Also the Painter is tinkering around, but at present rate, the building will not be ready before Christmas. I now have all arrangements made for your coming down about that time, but prudence dictates some caution, as political events do seem portentous. I have a letter from the Cashier that he sent you the First of exchange, the second I now enclose to you for $290. But by the very mail which brought it came the rumor that the Banks were refusing exchange on the North, which cannot be true. Also that Goods were being destroyed on the Levee in New Orleans and that the Custom House was closed. I also notice that many Gentlemen, who were heretofore moderate in their opinions now begin to fall into the popular current and go with the mad foolish crowd that Seems bent on a dissolution of this Confederacy—The extremists in this Quarter took the first news of the election of Lincoln so coolly, that I took it for granted all would quietly await the issue-but I have no doubt that Politicians have so embittered the feelings of the People, that they think the Republican party is bent on abolitionism and they cease to reason or think of consequences. We are so retired up here, so much out of the way of news, that we hear nothing but stale exaggerations, but I feel that a change is threatened, and I will wait patiently for a while. My opinions are not changed. If the South is bent on dissolution of course I will not ally our fate with theirs, because by dissolution they do not escape the very danger at which they grow so frantically mad. Slavery is in their midst and must continue but the interest of slavery is much weaker in Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia & Maryland than down here. Should the Ohio River become a Boundary between the two new Combinations, then will begin a new change. The extreme South will look on Kentucky & Tennessee as the North, and in a very few years the Same confusion & disorder will arise, and a new dissolution, till each state, and may be each county will claim separate Independence. If South Carolina precipitate this Revolution, it will be because she thinks by delay Lincoln’s friends will kind of reconcile the middle wavering states, whereas now they may raise the cry of abolition and unite all the slave states. I had no idea that this would actually begin so soon, but the news from that Quarter does look as though she certainly would secede, and that Alabama, Georgia, Florida & Texas would follow suit—all these might go, and Still leave a strong rich Confederated Government—but then comes Mississipi and Louisiana. As these rest on the Mississipi and control its mouth, I know that the other States north will not submit to any molestation of the navigation by foreign states—If these two States go and Arkansas follows suit, then there must be war—fighting, and that will continue till one or the other party is subdued. If Louisiana call a convention I will not move, but if that convention resolves to secede on a contingency that I can foresee, then I must of course quit. It is not to be expected that the State would consent to trust me with arms & command if I did not go with them full lengths—I dont believe Louisiana would of herself do anything—but if S. Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississipi & Texas resolve no longer to wait, then Louisiana will do likewise. Then of course you will be safe where you are. As to myself I might have to go to California, or some foreign Country, where I could earn the means of living for you & myself. I see no chance in Ohio for me. A man is never a prophet in his own land and it does seem that nature for some wise purposes, may be to Settle wild lands does ordain that men shall migrate, clear out from the place of their birth.

I did not intend to write so much but the day is gloomy, and the last news from New Orleans, decidedly so, if true—Among ourselves it is Known that I am opposed to disunion in any manner or form—Prof. Smith¹ d[itt]o, unless Lincoln should actually encourage abolitionism after installed in office—Mr. Boyd² thinks the denial to the Southern People of access to new Territories is an insult to which they cannot submit with honor, and Should not let the consequences be what they may[.] Dr. Clark is simply willing to follow the fortunes of the South, be they what they may. Vallas & St. Ange, Foreigners dont care—but will follow their immediate self interests.

Thus we stand, about a fair sample of a mixed crowd—but tis now said all over the South this issue is made, and better secession now, when they can, then wait till it is too late. This is a most unfortunate condition of things for us, and I hardly know how to act with decency and firmness, and like most undecided men, will wait awhile to See what others do. If feeling in S.C. continues, they must do something, else they will be the laughing stock of the world—and that is what they dread, for of all the States they can least afford to secede, as comparatively she is a weak & poor state. This on the contrary is destined to be a Rich & powerful one. Love to all,

W. T. Sherman

ALS, InND: Sherman Family Papers.

1. Francis W. Smith, a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia, was professor of chemistry at the academy; he would serve in the Confederate army and was killed in April 1865 during Lee’s final retreat from Richmond.

2. Professor David F. Boyd taught French and other modern languages.

TO ELLEN EWING SHERMAN

Louisiana State Seminary of Learning

and Military Academy.

Alexandria, Novr. 26, 1860

Dearest Ellen,

I commenced writing a letter last night to Minnie, but a friend sent us out a newspaper of New Orleans Nov. 22, which had come up from New Orleans in a Boat. For some reason the papers come to us very irregularly. The stage whenever it has passengers leaves behind the Paper mail, and only brings the Bags when there are few or no passengers. Well of late though letters come about as usual our papers come along very straggling—well this newspaper so received brings inteligence how true I know not of a panic in New York-Baltimore Virginia and every where.¹ Of Course panics are the necessary consequence of the Mammoth Credit System, the habit of borrowing which pervades our Country, and though panics transfer losses to the wrong shoulders still they do good.

But along with this comes the Cause, the assertion that South Carolina will secede certain, Georgia do. and Alabama. Mississipi will of course and with her Arkansas & Texas. This will leave Louisiana no choice. If these premises be true, then indeed is there abundant cause for panic, disorder, confusion Ruin & Civil War. I am determined not to believe it, till to withold belief would be stupidity—This paper also announces that Governor Moore² has called the Legislature together for Deer. 10, and specially to consider the crisis of the Country, and to Call a Convention.

You know that the Theory of our Government is, as construed by southern Politicians that a state, one or more may withdraw from the Union, without molestation, and unless excitement abates Louisiana will follow the lead of her neighbors—You will hear by Telegraph the action of the Conventions of South Carolina & Alabama—Should they assert their right to Secede, and initiate measures to that end, then you may infer that I will countermand my heretofore preparations for a move—Then it would be unsafe even for you to come south. For myself I will not go with the South in a Disunion movement, and as my position at the head of a State Military College would necessarily infer fidelity and allegiance to the State as against the United States, my duty will be on the first positive act of Disunion to give notice of my purpose.

December 10 the Legislature meets[.] It is hardly possible a Convention will be called before January, and until the Convention acts, the State is not committed. Still I think the tone of feeling in the Legislature will give me a Clue to the future.

I confess I feel uneasy from these events, and more so from the fact that the inteligence comes so piecemeal and unsatisfactory. Yrs. affectionately,

W. T. Sherman

ALS, InND: Sherman Family Papers.

1. There had been a financial panic in New York City on November 12 causing heavy selling on the New York Stock Exchange with a steep decline in prices.

2. Thomas O. Moore (1803–76) had been elected governor of Louisiana earlier that year.

TO ELLEN EWING SHERMAN

Louisiana State Seminary of Learning

and Military Academy.

Alexandria, Novr. 29, 1860

Dearest Ellen,

This is a Holiday—Thanksgiving & prayer, but holidays & Sundays are my worst days as then the Cadets are idle and mischievous.

Governor Moore has issued his proclamation calling the Legislature together for Deer. 10, and the Proclamation is couched in ugly language, different from his usual more conservative tone. It is manifest to me now that the Leading Politicians of the State have conferred together and have agreed to go out of the Union, or at all events to favor the new Doctrine of Secession—The Legislature will determine the call of a convention, and the convention will divide very much according to the other events that may occur in the meantime—This imposes on us a change of purpose and it will not do for you or any one to come south unless this state of feeling changes—I know the Governor and believe him an Excellent thermometer of the political Atmosphere of Louisiana—I hear that business is dead in New Orleans, all of which is an evidence that the abolitionists have succeeded in bringing on that Irresistible Conflict.

I am sick of this everlasting subject [.] The truth has nothing to do with this world—Here they know that all you in Ohio have to do is to steal niggers and in Ohio though the people are quiescent yet they believe that the South are determined to enlarge the area of niggers—Like Burton in Toodles I say Damn the Niggers—I wish they were anywhere or be kept at their work.

I observe more signs of a loosened discipline here—Boys are careless and last night because the Supper did not please them, they smashed the crockery & made a riot generally—Pistols were fired which scared Joe very much—his education has been neglected, but I think he will get used to it—We have dismissed five Cadets and others must share their fate—I fear the Institution is in danger from causes which arose after I left last summer.¹ The alterations made after I left were wrong in principle causing Genl. Graham² to resign, and since then he will take no interest in our affairs. Govr. Moore is intent on Politics, same of Dr. Smith³—so we are left to the chances of the caprices of a panel of wild Boys. Still this is a small matter susceptable of remedy, but the Secession movement underlays the very safety of everything.

I have just received your letter about the vulgarities practiced at the Common schools.⁴ I regret the imperfections of these Schools, but the Question is—have you any better—Education is in part compulsory, and can only be imparted early—If the boys in Lancaster are not worse than other boys, what you say wont happen long, for some boy will take the matter up and thrash the offenders. As to the morals & religion of boys, you must guard that at home—same of Girls—I wish we had a choice, but I see none—If we ultimately settle here, we will have no schools at all, and the boys here are a hundred times worse than in Lancaster.

Every servant Girl you get will be carried off by siege in three months, and even Children are liable to be corrupted. I was in hopes, in Lancaster boys had not reached that progress in Civilization & Christianity but it seems they Keep up with the Times. I can only say that I know our Children will soon have to shift for themselves—it is in the order of nature—with some education they Stand a better chance, than without. If to avoid contact with immoral & vulgar boys you deprive them of the opportunity to read. …

AL (incomplete), InND: Sherman Family Papers.

1. Vallas and St. Ange had been successful in changing the academy’s curriculum to a more liberal arts-oriented program than the traditional military one with the backing of parents who thought Sherman was too strict with cadets.

2. George M. Graham, half-brother of Richard B. Mason, Sherman’s army commander and friend in California, had been on the original Board of Supervisors for the academy. A supporter of both Sherman and a military curriculum, he had resigned in the wake of the recent changes at the institution.

3. Dr. S. A. Smith (died ca. 1874), a member of the state senate, had replaced Graham on the Board of Supervisors; he would become a surgeon in the Confederate army and medical director of the Trans-Mississippi Department by the end of the war.

4. EES to WTS, November 21, i860, SFP. The boy who sat next to Sherman’s daughter Minnie at the school in Lancaster had been making "the most indecent exposure of his person" to her. Also, boys were urinating on girls through a hole in the fence as they went to their bathrooms, and a teacher of the older girls made passes at his students and had allegedly impregnated one. Ellen wanted Sherman’s opinion as to whether she should withdraw their children and teach them at home, since he had wanted them to attend the public school; implied was the argument that such behavior would not be tolerated at a Catholic school.

TO THOMAS EWING SR.

¹

Louisiana State Seminary of Learning

and Military Academy

Alexandria, Deer. 1, 1860

Hon. Thos. Ewing

Dear Sir

Since I last wrote you I have observed a marked change in public opinion here—I was in town all day yesterday, with a Dr. Smith, Senator in the State Legislature, who is the Vice President of our Board of Supervisors and who is just from New Orleans—He is originally from Kentucky, but was an active supporter of Breckinridge in this state. He tells me he was surprised at the tone of feeling in New Orleans, which he described, and which I find corroborated by the Editorials of all the leading City papers. All go to the effect that secession is a sure thing, the only questions being the times when and how. Immediate Secession, unqualified and unconditional is the prevailing sentiment, the Bell party going even further than the Breckinridge adherents. Dr. Smith will attend the Session of the Legislature next week, the 10th inst, and says the calling of a convention will be the first and inevitable step—this will be he says unanimous—next the arming of the state, and putting herself in an attitude of defense—to this he says there will be no opposition. The convention will meet in January and the Questions submitted to them will be immediate Secession, or a General convention of all southern states, Louisiana to instruct her Delegates, to demand that the Northern States shall repeal the Laws adverse to slavery, and give pledges of future good behavior—Dr. S. thinks it will be all the Conservative men of this state will attempt, to carry this latter alternative against the adherents of the immediate secession: but I told him that for the South to demand of the North such conditions would be idle. The machinery of a Democratic Government is too slow, to bring about such pledges under a pressure when public feeling cannot be moulded by men—It occurs to me that Texas might withdraw from the Confederation, resuming her status as before the Treaty²—It might be that S. Carolina, Georgia Alabama and Florida might also fall out, & arrange by Treaty for the break of our Commercial Sea bond, but the moment Mississipi Arkansas, & Louisiana declare an independence, sovereign & complete, with a right to control, interrupt or tax the Commerce of the Mississipi, justly and fairly a storm would arise in those states bordering on the Territories, that would be fearful as compared with anything heretofore known on this Continent. They argue, however as their policy will be free trade, no possible interruption can occur to the usual navigation: but however they may start, some tax and obstruction will result, and then of course retaliation & war.

Now for myself I have told the Governor & all in Authority that as long as Louisiana is a part of the United States I will serve here in my present sphere, and moreover in case of domestic insurrection or molestation from without, I will head the Cadets under my Command, but that I will do no act inconsistent with my allegiance to the General Government: that as long as the form of Govt. indicated by the Constitution of the U.S. is in existence, that I will stand by it—As I have no other means of existence now save this, I will stay here till the Convention meets and does some act of Treason. Then I shall quit—but when to go is a question I cannot solve, and must trust to the confusion that must result from the dissolution of this Govt. I must therefore change my whole plan, and leave Ellen where she is, till this storm either subsides, or passes away, or until I can do something else: If I leave here suddenly & unexpectedly, I will fetch up at St. Louis—Clay has been very sick, is so still, but I begin to have hopes. Give Ellen the benefit of your advice as to probabilities &c—I am in good health but must have continuous and active employment. as ever with respect,

W. T. Sherman

ALS, DLC: Thomas Ewing and Family Papers.

1. Thomas Ewing Sr. (1789–1871), Ellen’s father and Sherman’s foster father, was a former United States senator and cabinet member in several administrations who still practiced law before the Supreme Court.

2. WTS is thinking of the annexation treaty entered into between Texas and the United States, designed to bring Texas into the Union. Although President Tyler signed it in 1844, the Senate turned it down. Its terms, however, formed the basis for the annexation resolution granting Texas statehood, which was passed by Congress in March 1845 and implemented the following December.

TO JOHN SHERMAN

¹

Louisiana State Seminary of Learning

and Military Academy.

Alexandria, Deer. 1, 1860.

Dear Brother,

When I last wrote you I had observed what I thought a general quiet, and determination to submit as heretofore to the General Election of Lincoln,² and as the House which has been under construction for me was drawing to a completion I gave Ellen notice to hold herself ready to start about the 15 instant with all the family, so as to get out of Ohio before the close of the River, and to take advantage of the present condition of Red River. But the whole case has changed. The quiet which I thought the usual acquiescence of the People was merely the prelude to the storm of opinion that now seems irresistable—Politicians have by hearing the prejudices of the people, and moving with the current have succeeded in destroying the Government—It cannot be stopped now I fear—I was in Alexandria all day yesterday, and had a full and unreserved conversation with Dr. S. A. Smith, State Senator, who is a man of education, property, influence and qualified to Judge—He was during the canvas a Breckinridge man, but though a Southern in opinion is really opposed to a dissolution of our Government. He has returned from New Orleans where he says he was amazed to See evidences of Public sentiment which could not be mistaken—The Legislature meets Dec. 10—at Baton Rouge—the calling a Convention forthwith is to be unanimous—the Bill for arming the State ditto—The Convention will meet in January, and only two questions will be agitated—Immediate dissolution, a declaration of State Independence, a General Convention of Southern States with instructions to demand of the Northern States to repeal all laws hostile to Slavery, and pledges of future good behavior.

Of course this latter demand cannot from the nature of an anarchical Democratic Government ever be entertained & therefore if these things be so, and all the Public prints of New Orleans confirm these views of Dr. Smith, Uncle Sam is already a Sick old man—whether the South or North be benefitted is a question that no man can solve—If Texas would draw off, no great harm would follow—Even if S. Carolina, Georgia, Alabama & Florida would cut away, it might be the rest could get along, but I think the secession of Mississipi, Louisiana and Arkansas will bring war—for though they now say that Free trade is their Policy yet it wont be long before steamboats will be taxed and molested all the way down. Therefore when the Convention meets in January, as they will assuredly do, and resolve to secede, or to elect members to a General Convention with instructions inconsistent with the nature of things I must quit this place for it is neither right for me to Stay nor would the Governor be justified in placing me in this position of Trust for the moment Louisiana assumes a position of hostility then this becomes an arsenal & fort. I wont move however until the last moment for I am at a loss what else to do. I will watch the proceedings of Congress with deep interest, and catch at the first chance of reconciliation—Let me hear the moment you think dissolution is inevitable. What Mississipi and Georgia do, this State will do likewise. Affectionately,

W. T. S.

ALS, DLC: William T. Sherman.

1. John Sherman (1823–1900), WTS’s brother and closest sibling, was a Republican congressman from Ohio at this time.

2. On October 23, WTS had written JS, If Lincoln be elected, I dont apprehend resistance, and if he be as Mr. Ewing say a reasonable moderate man things may move on, & the South become gradually reconciled. Still, Ewing’s and JS’s identification with Lincoln would make WTS more ‘Suspect’ in Louisiana. WTS would leave the state if he could, but in the absence of other opportunities he planned to stay, keeping a low profile and concentrating on his work. DLC: WTS.

TO JOHN SHERMAN

Louisiana State Seminary of Learning

and Military Academy.

Alexandria, Dec. 9, 1860

Dear Brother,

I am in receipt of yours from Mansfield.¹ I have also just seen an extract of the Presidents message—mails are very irregular and we have a foretaste of that confusion that will follow the disruption of our Government. Our whole Government is based on the idea that the People are always good & virtuous. Consequently it has always been the case that prejudice and popular caprices could overrule and override the Law. In the North you cannot enforce the fugitive slave law—in the South you cannot punish a man or set of men who hang another on a naked suspicion of being unsound on the Slavery question, or on a Filibustering scheme—These are mere illustrations of the same fact that you cannot enforce the Laws when in the locality there is a prejudice. I have an idea that all attempts at Reconciliation will fail—that S. Carolina will secede, and that other States will follow and that a change of violence is to begin not affecting the Slavery alone, but all other interests, property, representations &c.

I think it would be folly to liberate or materially modify the condition of the Slaves. Their labor & its fruits are necessary to the civilized world, and American slavery is the most modified form of compulsory labor. Any tampering with it is unkind to the negros, and causes the very natural outburst of passion of the whites—But if States secede on this pretext, it will be of course only the beginning of the end. Slavery is common to all Southern States—Let secession once take place on that point, and let these States attempt to combine they will discover that there are other interests not so easily reconciled—and then their troubles will begin[.] For this reason I will not stay South if Louisiana secedes from the Union—as long as she is in the Union I will presume she will remain, but the moment she cuts loose even by a Declaration, I must settle up my affairs here and start again, the fourth time in the last four years. Each time from Calamity—California, New York, Leavenworth & now Louisiana but the recent Financial affairs make me more & more content that I am unconnected with Banking & Credit, the most disastrous of all vocations. If Louisiana Secede I will quietly settle up here, and proceed by steamboat to St. Louis. The Legislature is now in session—The Convention will be called in January, and if some great Change do not occur in the meantime, or unless I am wrongly informed this State will follow S. Carolina, Georgia, Alabama & Mississipi. This will disorganize the whole army, and resignations without number will occur: if a chance offer got me a place in the Inspector Genl. Dept. or in the Adjut. Generals Department—If these States slide off, better let them go—reorganize the East Middle & West, but not west of the Rocky Mountains in a Compact strong Republic. Let California Oregon (damaged) & New Mexico slide into their original obscurity—if S. Carolina alone secede we might depend on her feeling the absurdity of her position and coming back humbled & subdued—but if all the Southern States Secede, twould be folly to coerce. The only feasible plan would be to make a compact confederacy of states, that have common binding self interests to hold them together. I will not send for Ellen as long as this condition of things lasts, and I would not stay here long if I had employment elsewhere that would maintain my family. Colonel Jo. Taylor,² Brother of Zachary, was very friendly to me in Washington. He married Judge McLean’s³ daughter I think—but he may go with the South in this question, as I hear his nephew, the Generals son⁴ who owns a plantation in this State is firm for secession. Many of my personal friends here say that this Slavery Question must be settled now, and they demand certain promises from the northern Legislatures that I do not believe can be obtained by coaxing or force, & therefore that Such conditions cannot be had, they think they ought to combine for common safety. Maj. Town-send,⁵ Buell,⁶ and Shiras⁷ are all friendly and would give you notice of any opening, but if we are on the eve of Revolution—the past will all be buried, and new men & new leaders will arise, to be swept away by succeeding tides. I (damaged) wish I were where I could watch events, but I cannot offer to give up present means of livelihood—Yrs.

W. T. Sherman

ALS, DLC: William T. Sherman.

1. On November 26, JS wrote discussing the election results, which he had predicted, and secession, declaring that the South should submit to electoral will. He also offered to do what he could with the new secretary of war to get WTS back into the regular army. DLC: WTS.

2. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph P. Taylor (1796–1864), brother of the late president, stayed with the Union. He had been serving in the U.S. Army since 1841 as assistant commissary general and became commissary general in 1861 and brigadier general in 1863.

3. John McLean (1785–1861) of Ohio had served in Congress, on the Ohio State Supreme Court, and as postmaster general before President Andrew Jackson appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1830.

4. Richard Taylor (1826–79) would vote for secession at the Louisiana Convention the next month; he then joined the Confederate army and reached the rank of lieutenant general in May 1864. Both he and his uncle had welcomed WTS to Louisiana.

5. Edward D. Townsend (1817–93) of the Adjutant General’s Office, who would become General Winfield Scott’s chief of staff in March 1861.

6. Don Carlos Buell (1818–98) was also in the Adjutant General’s Office at this time.

7. Alexander E. Shiras (1812–75), a former instructor at West Point, was in the Commissary General’s Office. He served there through the war and was also on the United States Sanitary Commission.

TO MARIA BOYLE EWING SHERMAN

¹

Louisiana State Seminary of Learning

and Military Academy.

Alexandria, Dec. 15, 1860

Dearest Minnie

I have been intending to write you a good long letter and now I wish I could send you all something for Christmas—but I all along thought Mama, and you and Lizzy, Willy Tom & all² would be here in our New House, by New Years day. The House is all done, only some little painting to be done. The stable is finished but Poor Clay has been very sick. He is very poor. Sometimes I think he looks better & then again worse—All animals coming from the North to the South have to undergo a change. I thought that was what ailed Clay, but I know now he has distemper, and may be {Glanders}. At all Events I am afraid Clay will never live in the new stable which I built for him. He is still in the Old Stable belonging to the Seminary, whereas the new one is near the New House about four hundred yards distant. I have just had finished a plain board fence around the New House, 200 feet front by 330 deep. In the middle of which stands the House. In the front yard are growing some small oak trees to give shade in the hot summer days. Now however it is raw and cold, the leaves are off, and it looks like winter though thus far we have had no snow. Maybe we will have snow at Christmas. In the back yard I have prepared for a Small Garden, but the soil is poor and will not produce much except early peas, lettuce, turnips and sweet potatos. The House itself looks beautiful, two Front porches, and one back—All the windows open down to the floor like doors, so that you can walk out on the Porch, Either up stairs or down stairs. I Know you would all like the House so much—but my Dear little Minnie, Man proposes and God disposes—What I have been planning so long and patiently, and thought we were all on the point of realizing, the dream and hope of my life, that we could all be together once more, in a home of our own, with peace, and quiet & plenty around us, all I fear is about to vanish and again I fear I must be a wanderer leaving you all to grow up at Lancaster without your papa. Men are blind & crazy, they think all the people of Ohio are trying to steal their slaves & incite them to rise up and kill their masters. I know this is a delusion—but when People believe a delusion they believe it harder than a real fact, and these People in the South are going for this delusion, to break up the Government under which we live. You Cannot understand this but Mama will explain it to you—Our Governor here has gone so far now that he cannot change—and in a month maybe you will be living under one Government, and I another—This cannot last long, and as I know it is best for you all to stay in Lancaster, I will not bring you down here at all, unless some very great change takes place. If this were only a plain college I could stay with propriety, but it is an arsenal with guns and powder, and balls—and were I to Stay here I might have to fight for Louisiana & against Ohio. That would hardly do—You would not like that I know—and yet I have been asked to do it. But I hope still this will yet pass away, and that our House and garden will yet see us all united here in Louisiana.

Mama tells me you have sore throat but I hope it will be well long before this gets to Lancaster, and that you will have nice times at Christmas. Tell Lizzie & Willy and Tommy that Mama tells me all about them in her letters. Your loving Papa—

W. T. Sherman

ALS, OHi: William T. Sherman Papers.

1. Maria Boyle Ewing Sherman (1851–1913) was WTS’s eldest child.

2. Mary Elizabeth Sherman (1852–1925), William Tecumseh Sherman Jr. (1854–63), Thomas Ewing Sherman (1859–1915), and Eleanor Mary Sherman (1859–1915), Sherman’s other children at this time.

TO HUGH B. EWING

¹

Louisiana State Seminary of Learning

and Military Academy.

Alexandria, Dec. 18 1860

Dear Hugh

I have received your letter which is in my office not sixty steps off, but I am too old Fogyish to pass along the Gallery in view of a sentinel in my gown and Slippers & therefore answer it without a second Reading.

Your fathers guarantee is better than that 2nd mortgage, and therefore merits no objection from me. But the money is Ellen’s; and I know she cannot afford to risk anything and therefore I must say that for her sake I prefer that note should not pass into third hands now.

This state, & Mississipi and Arkansas will secede from the Union in all January. St. Louis will feel the blow as much as any City in our country. The makers of that note Hanencamp & Hines, may prefer to let the note go by default & with it the property—Now Ellen holds two other notes, and if this note of the series falls into third hands, they may obtain all the security, viz. the 7 Morgan Street lots—You cannot imagine such a catastrophe—I can—and I say it is not only possible but probable.

It seems to me either we are all dreaming, the people are dreaming, the Legislature is mad or Louisiana will declare herself independent within 40 days. The convention meets Jan. 23. & those who were in the Legislature last week were almost unanimous for secession.² They appropriated unanimously half a million for arms, and this is one of the arsenals, and if I Stay here after she declares herself independent & hostile, then I am in the nature of a Traitor to Uncle Sam. Poverty may drive a man to any extreme, but I hope I may feel able to escape that fate. I shall hold on to the last minute solely for the pay. You & Your father also take to borrowing so easily, that I fear you will be illy prepared for the crash that must follow the general chaos. I did have hope till I noticed that Buchanan failed to reinforce Anderson.³ Had he sent thither a large force, instead of being a threat, it would have made Southern states respect a Government, which they now regard as too pusillanimous to be worth saving. To abandon Robt. Anderson at Fort Moultrie is fatal, and no doubt Genl. Cass so regarded it.⁴ It has the same effect as Johnsons abandoning the Jail in San Francisco.⁵ I feel deeply the absolute importance of protecting Ellens means as far as possible, for I know not where I will turn up again, or how long it may be before I can again provide the means she must have for the support of herself & children. If you must use that note, why so be it—if you can possibly hold on to maturity, only some weeks now, do so for mercy’s sake, lest it should not be paid. If not paid it could be a first lien, and I see no chance of saving the balance. In case of a general break up, the makers of that note however solvent will ask themselves—is the Property worth what remains due—some $6000? and their conclusion may be, it is not—I Know you regard me as an alarmist but I think I have reason.

I thought I had saved something here, as I failed to ask for a $500 due me as Supt. in charge of this arsenal, till I wanted it for my new House—when I did ask for it at Baton Rouge I discovered that though the Salary was created by law, the money was not specifically appropriated, and therefore I cannot draw it until the close of the next Legislature which will not be till next spring, when the State will have drained her Treasury for defences & arms, and therefore I regard it as a very bad egg.

Clay is fast sinking of a distemper—I will try the desperate remedy of tracheaotomy tomorrow, but there is not one chance in ten of recovery now. I have done all in my power to save him. Money matters are very bad here and every where. The universal system of credit is as fatal as the anarchical form of all our Governments. They will require a terrible remedy—Congratulate yourself that at least you & yours are in a snug retired Corner, where personal danger cannot come—Love to Henrietta⁶ Yrs. affectionately

W. T. Sherman

ALS, OHi: William T. Sherman Papers.

1. Hugh Boyle Ewing (1826–1905), Ellen’s brother, was a lawyer.

2. On December 10, i860, the Louisiana state legislature had called for a secession convention to begin meeting on January 23, 1861.

3. Major Robert Anderson (1805–71) had been asking for reinforcements to Fort Moultrie and garrisons for Fort Sumter since he assumed command there in November. After a December 10 meeting with President James Buchanan, the South Carolina congressional delegation was reporting that the Federal government would not act on Anderson’s requests.

4. Secretary of State Lewis Cass had resigned from James Buchanan’s cabinet on December 12, i860, in protest of the president’s refusal to reinforce Anderson.

5. In May 1856, California governor J. Neely Johnson proved unable to prevent the San Francisco Vigilance Committee from taking justice into its own hands when its members broke into the city jail, seized James Casey, a newspaper editor who had killed a rival editor who had revealed Casey’s criminal record, and lynched him. At the time Sherman headed the city’s militia.

6. Henrietta Young Ewing had married Hugh in 1858.

TO ELLEN EWING SHERMAN

Louisiana State Seminary of Learning

and Military Academy.

Alexandria, Dec. 18, 1860

Dearest Ellen,

I have just finished a letter to Boyle,¹ in answer to one from him asking my consent to use that note you gave him of Hanenkamp & Hines due next February, and to substitute your fathers guarantee in lieu of the mortgage in St. Louis. I write him that if possible that note Should not be parted with now—for this reason—You have two others—If Disunion takes place, Hanenkamp & Hines will not pay that note, but