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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 1963)
Total Waf Concept Developed By MERTON T. AKERS United Press International In the late summer of 1863 President Lincoln was think ing about how to reconstruct the rebellious states of Mis sissippi, Louisiana and Ar kansas, now that they had been occupied. He had to de cide soon or Congress would seize the initiative. He wanted the opinions of '"cool and discreet men," he said through Maj. Gen. Hen ry W. Halleck, Union army commander. Halleck passed along the word to several generals, one of them William Tecumseh Sherman, camped at the mo ment on the Big Black Riv er east of Vicksburg, Miss. into words - and ultimately into action. Sherman knew more about the South and its people than most. So he started his an swer - "private and confi dential" - to Halleck by point ing out that all states, north and south, had a stake in the Mississippi River and in keeping it open to navigation. "The inhabitants of the country." he wrote, "on the Munongahela, the Illinois, the Minnesota, and Yellowstone and Osage are as directly con cerned in the security of the Lower Mississippi as those who dwell on its very banks in Louisiana. . . "I would deem it unwise at this time, or for years to "Write me your views f ul-1 come, to revive the state gov- ly," Halleck told Sherman in a letter from Washington dated Aug. 29, 1863 and head ed "private." Sherman did . . .in many words - 2,700 of them. Closely reasoned . . .highly realistic . - . many paragraphs border ing on poetry. ' "Uncle Billy" had medi tated at many a campfire since 1861. Then he had been called "crazy" by newspa pers because he said the Ci vil War would be a long one and that hundreds of thou sands of soldiers must be re cruited and thousands of mil lions spent before the South could be defeated. iNot only that, but the war must be carried to the South - to city, hamlet and farm -with gun and torch until the will to fight was extinguished and the gray armies crushed. .That was "total war" in the modern sense. And Billy Sherman was the first leader in the war to re alize that and to put thoughts ernments of Louisiana, etc They chose war ... we ac cepted the issue, and now they begin to realize that war is a two-edged sword . . . I know them well . . ." For the President's eye he divided Southerners into four classes. "First. The large planters, owning lands, slaves and all kinds of personal property. These are, on the whe;, the ruling class. They are edu cated, wealthy, and easily ap proached ... In some dis tricts they are bitter as gall . . . in others they are con servative. I know we can manage this class, but only by action. Argument is ex hausted, and words have lost their usual meaning ... it is better to allow the planters, with individual exceptions, gradually to recover their plantations . . . "Second. The smaller farm ers, mechanics, merchants and laborers. This class will prob ably number three-fourths of the whole; have in fact, no PAGES 1 to 8 SECTION B MedfordSITribune MEDFORD. OREGON, MONDAY, AUGUST 26. 1963 real interest in the establish' ment of a Southern Confed eracy, and have been led or driven into war on the false theory that they were to be benefitted somehow - they knew not how . . . These are the real tiers eclat of the South and hardly worthy of a thought . . . they will fol low blindly the lead of the planters . . . The Southern pol iticians, who understand this class, use them as the French do their masses - seemingly consult their prejudices while they make the orders and en force them. We should do the same. "Third. The Union men of the South ... 1 have little respect for this class . . . They give us no assistance or in formation ... I account them as nothing in this great game of war . . . "Fourth. The young bloods of the South: sons of planters, lawyers about town, good billiard - players and sports men who never did work and never will. War suits them, and the rascals are brave, fine riders, bold to rashness and dangerous subjects in every sense. They care not a sou for niggers, land or anything. They hate Yankees per se, and don't bother their brains about the past, present, or fu ture. As long as they have good horses, plenty of forage, and an open country, they are happy. This is a larger class than most men suppose . . . These men must be killed or employed by us before wc can hope for peace . . ." Sherman came to liie con clusion that "a civil govern ment now . . . would be sim ply ridiculous" for such a people. Interests of the United Stales "demand the continu ance of the simple military rule, till after all the organ ized armies of the South are dispersed, conquered, and sub jugated . . . We cannot . . . attempt to reconstruct parts of the South as we conquer it, THIS WAS THE CIVIL WAR till all idea of the establish ment of a Southern Confed eracy is abandoned. . ." Shermon wrote on: "Another great and impor tant natural truth is still in contest, and can only be solv ed by war. Numerical major ities by vote have been our great arbiter. Heretofore all men have cheerfully submit ted to it in questions left open, but numerical majorities are not necessarily physical ma jorities. The South, although numerically inferior, contend that they can whip the North ern superiority of numbers, and therefore by natural law they contend they are not bound to submit . . . War alone can decide it . . . "Can we whip the South'.' "I would banish all minor questions, assert the broad doctrine that as a nation the United States has the right, and also the physical power, to penetrate to every part of our national domain, and that we will do it - that we will do it in our own time and in our own way; that it makes no difference whether it be one year, or two, or ten, or twenty . . . that we will not cease till the end is at tained ... "I would not coax them, or even meet them halfway, but make them so sick of war that generations will pass TO JOIN CENTER Portland - H'Pli - Dr. Donald Pickering, former director of the Oregon Primate Research Center near here, has an nounced he will join the Del ta Regional Primate Center in Louisiana. TAURUS APR 21 I MAY 31 hp,37-3?.42-57 STAR GAZER $ MAR. 22 54-78-80-901 GEMINI 4856-60-63 65-68-74 CANCIR i JUNE 23 JULY 23 -J) 5- 7-20-25 2841-45 no 1 JULY 2 AUG 23 4.11-14-17 36-43-81-871 VIRGO AUG. 2 SEPT. 22 p3ilO.12.l5.3S 66-69-82-89 -Bv CLAY R. POLLAN- M Your Daily Activity Guide M r According (o the Stars. I' To develop messoge for Monday, read words corresponding to numbers of your Zodiac birth sign. 1 Attend 31 And M Avrio':e 2 Don't '32A'fo.rS 62 Arneoro.Ke - 3 Lady 33 Hang ftj Wnte 4 Short 34 Ahead! 6.t Person 5 batch 35 Writing ebOr. 6 Luck . 36 Save 6ft Travel 7 01 37 Better cJVvheti 8 To 3S Your 68 Send 9 Personal 39 Listen cJ Rus-nes 10 Important 40 There I ' 70 A-d IITr.DS 41 On 71 Are lIGorm 42To 7?oo 13 Worry 43 You 7!-Receptive 14 And 44 Onto 74Tetecroru 15 Through 45 Way 75Tcdav loFull 4hBlls 7oTemper 17 Visits 47 The 77 for 18 Suck 48 You TPWlrol lOSm.Us 49 Visit 79 Original 30 Good MJYou'vs POIr 21 To 51 And 81 Front 23 On 52Kev FO A-e 23 Hard 5-i Pecr-le S-i Need 24 Your MGM 8-1 Sound 25 New 55Thev fi5 Plans 2nWork Sr. Should nnAdviri 27 Wardrobe 57 Professional P7 Eoredorn 28 Is 5S Steering 88 It 29 Romantic 59 Wheel 89 Indicated 30 Speed 60 Phone 90 Takes (IjpGooJ (pJ.Uvcrst sJNauul ifPT. OCT. 2-13-40-614" 107-72-83-86 23 23.v SCORPIO OCT 24 c. ,, NOV. 22 "2 24.29-32 yr- SAGITTARIUS NOV. 23 (S CLC. 22 IJ 33-44-47-58 'e 59.70-76 CAPRICORN LUC 23 '. JAN. 20 Vl 18 21-53-263" i I -36-79-85 SJ AQUARIUS 49-52-53-55! 71-73-75 PISCES 20 I"-.. 1 !? WAR 2 I- 8- 9 27 146-51-62 away before they again would appeal to it . . . "The only government rwded or deserved by the States of Louisiana, Arkan sas, and Mississippi, now ex ists in Grant's army . . . "The people of this coun try have forfeited all right to a voice in the councils of the nation . . ." There was more, much more in Sherman's argument for "total war." "Excuse so long a letter," he wrote at the end. ' He forwarded the letter, dated Sept. 17, 18G3, via the headquarters of his superior, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, to General Halleck. Halleck reported back that Lincoln had read it and want ed to publish it if Sherman approved. "At the time, I preferred not to be draw n into any newspaper controversy," Sherman replied, perhaps re membering the news stories that had said he was "crazy." Lincoln never published the letter but Sherman did in his memoirs 12 years later. HYDRO-BRUSH QUIK CAR WASH CAR WASH CAR WAXING EASY TO FIND: Right Be hind Parks D' Alba and 4-H-FFA Center In the Fairgrounds. for your greater convenience... DA . rvi Aii , AT As an additional service le customers, Pacific Power & Light Co.. hat completed arrangements for a pay station at White City. When accompanied by service bills, payments may' now be made at the CASCADE VARIETY In The CASCADE SHOPPING CENTER AT WHITE CITY Payments made by mail should be addressed to Pacific Power & Light Company; P.O. Box 1592; Medford, Oregon Pacific Power & Light Go. 216 W. 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