SHERMAN, William Tecumseh (1820-1891). General. Autograph letter signed ("W.T. Sherman") to his foster brother, Thomas Ewing, Alexandria, [Lousiana], 8 January 1861. 4 pages, 4to (7¾ x 9¾ in.), Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy stationery, light stain on final page affects last letter of signature, otherwise very fine.
SHERMAN LAMENTS THE ONSET OF WAR: "SLAVERY IS NOT THE CAUSE BUT THE PRETEXT"
A moving letter in which Sherman contemplates the secession of the South and the impact that it might have upon his career. After resigning from the Army in 1853 and subsequently spending four years as a lawyer, Sherman accepted the position of Superintendent at the newly established Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy.
Nearly three weeks after South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union, a troubled Sherman expresses his concerns to his former law partner and future Union general, Thomas Ewing (1829-1896): "My position is complicated, and it is proper you should understand it. The election for Members of the Convention took place yesterday, and the Convention still will meet Jan 23. There is not the shadow of a doubt that Louisiana will secede. All people now say that the question is beyond mending." On January 26, Louisiana voted for secession, becoming the sixth state to leave the Union. Sherman criticizes secession, but shrewdly predicts its future and the uncertainty of its outcome: "Of course I regard this as all madness, all folly. It however has clearly illustrated the weakness of our Government, and bodes some change-- and that change must be violent. From the best information that reaches me it also seems probable that even the middle states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia & Maryland will fall off. Even if they do not join the Southern Confederacy, will at least quit the Union, and thus the new Combinations--All this is in the future, and I doubt if any living man foresees the End." Having spent twelve pleasant years living in the South, Sherman boldly asserts a deeper foundation of disunion: "I am now satisfied that Slavery is not the Cause but the pretext, and that when these important defections take place, what will be the new Combinations?"
The ominous shadow of secession and the threat of war created uncertainty about Sherman's future at the Academy, but did not force him to resign despite his continued loyalty to the Union: "I owe no allegiance to Louisiana. I am working like any laboring man for my hire. I need that hire to maintain my family. If they were in personal danger it would be my duty to be near them, but they are in no danger. If I am, I am paid for it. And there is no personal danger that I would weigh in the scale with the mortification of hanging about loose and unemployed...so long as I can remain here with honor, it does seem suicidal to quit." Exemplifying the bonds of trust and friendship that were commonly split by the onset of civil war, Sherman states that he retains the confidence of his southern friends and comrades, despite his views: "I know I stand well with the best men here--they respect me none the less for being attached to the Union, and I have never concealed my opinion the Union should be maintained by force if necessary, & possible...I will engage in no act hostile to the U.S. unless being here is an act of hostility, and I think my necessities justify my hesitation. After Disunion it may be this Direction will not be left me."
Sherman concludes by clarifying the predicament he faces: "I cannot afford to leave here unless I know I can do something right away...I feel more a stranger in Ohio, than in any other part of the United States. Still if I could find employment I would come--but I repeat I know nothing there to do...I hope I can hold to my present post for a couple months longer. From present appearances -- Washington will be a scene of strife and contention in February, if Maryland and Virginia espouse the cause of the South."
After Louisiana's secession, Sherman resigned, but not without concern for the result: "It looked like the end of my career, for I did not suppose that 'civil war' could give me an employment that would provide for the family" (Sherman, Memoirs, Lib. of America, 1990, p. 184). Sherman was offered a commission as a Colonel of 13th United States Infantry when the war began, which he accepted. Serving well at the First Battle of Manassas and later under Grant in the West, he received several promotions, ending the war as a Major General and one of the Union's most successful commanders.
rovenance: Paul C. Richard Autographs, 1979.