OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - HISTORY: Chapter 44 Part B (Abbott, John S. C., 1875)
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			Part 2
 
   In General Sherman's reply he said, "I give full credit to your statement
of the distress that will be occasioned, and yet shall not revoke my order, 
simply because my orders are not designed to meet the humanities of the case, 
but to prepare for the future struggles in which millions, yea hundreds of
millions, outside of Atlanta have a deep interest.
   "The use of Atlanta for warlike purposes is inconsistant with its character
as a home for families. You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will.
War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it. And those who brought war on our
country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. You
might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against the terrible
hardships of war.
   "When peace comes, you may call upon me for anything. Then I will share 
with you the last crust, and watch with you to shield your homes and families
against danger from every quarter. Now you must go and take with you the old
and feeble. Feed them and nurse them, and build for them, in more quiet
places, proper habitations to shield them against the weather, until the mad
passions of men cool down, and allow the Union and peace once more to settle
on your old homes of Atlanta."
   "War is cruelty. You cannot refine it." This sentiment was certainly true
in the sense in which General Sherman used it. You cannot throw bomb shells
affectionately, and make cavalry charges in a gentle and loving spirit, and
bombard cities without endangering the limbs of mothers and maidens. It was
not very modest for the Secessionists to call upon our government to protect
the families of those soldiers who were fighting for the destruction of the
Union. It was right for General Sherman to demand that the Confederate
government, which was even then starving tens of thousands of northern 
prisoners of war at Andersonville, to support the families of those men whom
the government had enlisted for the entire overthrow of our nationality.
   We cannot follow General Sherman in his heroic march to Savannah. On the
22d of December, 1865, he telegraphed President Lincoln:
   "I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the City of Savannah, with one
hundred and fifty heavy guns, and plenty of ammunition, and also about 
twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."
   On the 15th of January he recommended his march through South Carolina to
Raleigh, in North Carolina. About the middle of March he entered Raleigh, 
the victor in innumerable battles, and having severely punished and greatly
weakened the enemy, his magnificent campaign was ended. The foe could no
longer oppose him, and he had reached a point from which he held unobstructed
communication with the army of General Grant. On the 12th of April, as these
triumphant columns were approaching Raleigh, the joyful shout ran along the
lines, "Lee has surrendered his whole army to Grant." Sherman issued the 
following order, which was read to the assembled staff officers and commanders
of brigades:
   "The general commanding announces to the army that he has official notice, 
from General Grant, that General Lee surrendered to him his entire army on
the 9th instant, at Appomattox Court House.
   "Glory be to God and our country; and all honor to our comrades in arms
towards whom we are marching. A little more labor, a little more toil on
our part, and the great race is won, and our Government stands regenerated
after its four years of bloody war."
   Two days after this, on the evening of the 14th, General Johnston sent in
a flag of truce, with proposals for surrender. At that time there was great
diversity of opinion, or rather there was no established opinion, respecting
the proper mode of reconstructing the Rebel States, and thus reorganizing
the Union. General Sherman made proposals to Johnston, to be submitted to 
the President, which he supposed to be in accordance with the views of the
Government. He was mistaken. The Government rejected them, and so did the 
nation at large. But no one can doubt the purity of General Sherman's motives, 
in his earnest desire to reunite the North and South in the bounds of a 
lasting peace. General Sherman being informed of the rejection, at Washington, 
of the memorandum of agreement, notified General Johnston of the fact, and
demanded surrender upon the same terms granted to General Lee. Johnston's
condition was hopeless, and the surrender was made.
   The renown of General Sherman was now such that very many urged his claims
as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. When that high office
was conferred upon General Grant, the position of Lieut. General, which he
was thus called upon to vacate was, by universal asset, conferred upon 
General Sherman. From that day to this his popularity has been on the increase,
and some will deny that he merits the gratitude of a nation which he has so
efficiently and faithfully served.