Sherman, William Tecumseh (1820-1891) to John Conness
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03341.01 Author/Creator: Sherman, William Tecumseh (1820-1891) Place Written: St. Louis, Missouri Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 9 January 1876 Pagination: 4 p. ; 21 x 14 cm. Order a Copy
Commander in Chief of the Army Sherman writes to Conness about the quarrel he had with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton over the terms of Confederate General Joseph Johnston's surrender in 1865. Sherman suggests that he may have acted wrongly. " ... I do not profess to be infallible, or more than mortal. I have made some fearful mistakes in life which in a retrospect would be corrected, among them in regard to Mr. Stanton." Admits that he felt Stanton was trying to destroy him, " ... because he supposed I was not acting in full harmony on the then policy with the Negros - And failing there, he had used the last possible opportunity in making public the Johnston Terms at a time of profound National Excitement." Written on stationary marked Headquarters Army of the United States.
The surrender terms Sherman proposed to General Johnston were so liberal that they were promptly rejected by President Andrew Johnson, Stanton, and General Henry Halleck. Sherman felt attacked, insulted, and humiliated. He describes the incident in his Memoirs.
Headquarters Army of the United States,
St. Louis, Mo. Jan 9 1876
Hon John Conness
Mattapan Mass,
My Dear Sir,
I have received your frank and good letter of Jan 5, and assure you of my sense of obligation for its Contents. I do not profess to be infallible, or more than Mortal. I have made some fearful mistakes in life which [2] in a retrospect would be Corrected, among them in regard to Mr. Stanton.
I have always admitted his strong character, and Eminent services, but at the Close of the War, I was Convinced that he had Come to Savannah to destroy me, because he supposed I was not acting in full harmony on the then policy with the Negros - And failing there, he had Used the last possible opp[3]ortunity in making public the Johnston Terms at a time of profound National Excitement. I then thought if I tamely submitted he would have Crushed me out of sight - If wrong in this I did him & myself a great wrong.
I am always glad to have letters such as yours for they assure me that all human actions are of mixed wrong and right, and the wise can discriminate.
May I ask you to inform [4] me if you be the Hon John Conness who was in the Senate from Oregon at the Class of the Civil War -
Truly yr Friend,
W. T. Sherman
General -
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