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.
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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.
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