Seymour, Truman (1824-1891) to Ira Harris
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05050 Author/Creator: Seymour, Truman (1824-1891) Place Written: Folly Island, South Carolina Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 30 November 1863 Pagination: 4 p. ; 24.8 x 19.8 cm. Order a Copy
General Seymour writes to Harris, a United States Senator from South Carolina. Replies to Harris's question regarding what the Union can do to engage and defeat Charleston. States "It all is comprised in a single word- Nothing. Expectations of brilliant fears of arms here must be disappointed- there is now nothing to be done." Referring to General Quincy Adams Gillmore, commanding Union operations in Charleston Harbor, writes "General Gillmore came here with an express understanding that he was to remove, or place beyond power of offence, the chief obstacle to the entrance by the monitors into the harbor- Fort Sumter... Delays have ensued, under one pretext or another, until the inner works of the Harbor are decidedly stronger than when the first attack was made- and all the Monitors can do is to go in- Expend their ammunition fruitlessly- and come out. They cannot destroy, or subdue, the hostile Batteries: we cannot follow them up... Naval cooperation is an essential failure... We can burn Charleston. Ought we to do it! We gain nothing, because its destruction confers no advantage." Writes that General Ulysses S. Grant should seize the two remaining railroads of the Confederacy. Suggests other strategies for defeating the Confederacy in South Carolina, including invading Charleston from the ground, not through the harbor. Accompanied by paper backing.
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