Sold – William T. Sherman Will Be Damned If He’ll “Apologize” to the People of Georgia

Union general who took Atlanta and whose famous March to the Sea devastated Georgia (and then went on to do the same in South Carolina). His troops brought the war home to the southern people, as they worked their way through those states, wrecking railroads, destroying crops, burning buildings and pillaging everywhere. The March helped bring the Civil War to a quick end, and also, by involving civilians and not just soldiers, constituted the inauguration of modern warfare.

William T. Sherman Autograph Letter Signed, 2 pages 8vo, February 17, 1890, to R. C. Loushey. “I am glad to learn that we are to have the pleasure of your company on Tuesday the 25th inst. There will be 16 – all gentlemen – the full capacity of my dining room. I am equally pleased to learn that you are going over the ground we fought over – if it will be day light you will see it was a hard road to travel with 50 or 60 thousand men ahead. Everybody in that region knows my name – but I do not profess to have many personal friends among them. I have been to Atlanta and Savannah several times since the war, and always found Senator Brown & sons most friendly – also Judge Erskine and Genl. Gordon the present governor. You may safely present to them my reciprocal good wishes. They all know that I prosecuted war against them with vindictive earnestness, but when peace came endeavored to befriend them. But if they expect me to apologize for any act done, they are d___ly [damnably] mistaken.”

It’s not surprising that Sherman didn’t have many friends in Georgia, though the ones that he does cite were the leaders of the state. The Brown he mentions was Joseph E. Brown, wartime Governor of Georgia and afterwards a U.S. Senator. General John B. Gordon had been one of Lee’s last corps commanders and was then governor. Erskine was Judge John Erskine, a prominent Atlantan whose house Sherman destroyed during the war, and who served as U.S. Judge for the District Court of Georgia from 1865 to 1883. Perhaps they were cordial because Sherman is correct in stating that he attempted to befriend the South at war’s end; he was bitterly criticized in the North for doing so.

After Lee surrendered at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, Gen. Joseph Johnston sought terms for surrendering his army as well. In a meeting on April 18, Sherman submitted very liberal terms to Johnston, providing for an armistice, disbanding armies following the deposit of arms in state arsenals, recognition of state governments, establishment of Federal courts, restoration of political and civil rights, and a general amnesty. The Union leadership, when they heard these terms, rejected them outright, and Grant instructed Sherman to re-negotiate terms similar to those given Lee. This letter is certainly unique in our experience, with Sherman telling how he made war, then attempted friendship, and culminating with his very historic refusal to apologize for the March to the Sea.