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a pity there should ever be another.”[From the Charlotte Bulletin.! Correspondence Between Gen. Sherman andilcn. Hampton.IIdq’ks Mii/t I)iv. of the Miss., ) In tbe Field, Feb. 24, 1805. (Lieut. Gen. Wade Hampton., Comd'g Cavalry Forces, C. A.:General : It is officially reported to me that our foraging parties are murdered after capture, and la-belk-d Death to all Foragers. One instance of a Lieutenant and seven men near Ohesterville, and another o twenty “ hear a ravine, 80 rods from the main road about three miles from Feastervillo.— 1 have ordered « similar number of prisoners in our hands to be disposed of in like manner.I hold about 1,000 prisoners captured in various nays, and ean stand it as long as you, but I hard-y think these murders are committed with vour knowledge; and would suggest that you give no-t ce to the people at large that every life taken by Hern simply results in the death of one of your Confederates. JOf course you cannot question my right to forage on the country. It is a war right as old as history. J he manner of exorcising it varies with circumstances, and if the civil authorities will supply my requisitions, I will forbid all foraging.— Hut I find no civil authorities who can respond to ca Is for forage or provisions, and therefore must collect directly of the people. 1 have no doubt this 1-. the occasion of much misbehavior on the part of our men, but I cannot permit an enemy to iud^e or punish with wholesale murder. °Personally I regret the bitter feeling engendered by this war; but they were to be expected, and I simply allege that those who struck the first blow and made war inevitable, ought not in fairness to reproach us for the natural consequences. I merely assert our war right to forage, and my resolve to protect my foragers, to the extent of life for life.I am, with respect,Your obedient servant,[signed] W. T. SHERMAN,nm • . t .r MaJ- Gen- U- S.Official: Jno. M. Oley,A. A. Oen’l.Headquarters in the Field, )February 27, 18(55. )Maj. Gen. W. T. Shermato, If. S. Army: •General: 'Your communication of the 24th inst., reached me to day. In it you stale that your foraging parties were “ murdered ” after capture and j ou go on to say that you had “ ordered a similar numder of prisoners in our hands to-be disposed of in like manner.” That is to say, you have ordered a number of Confederate soldiers to be “ murdcicd.”You characterize your order in proper terms, forthe public voice even in your own country, whereit seldom dares to express itself in vindication oftruth, honor or justice, will surely agree with youm pronouncing you guilty of murder, if your order is earned out.Hefore dismissing this porlion of your letter, Ibeg to assure you that for every soldier of mi “ murdered ’ by you, 1 shall have executed at or,*.. two of yours, giving, in all cases, preference to any officers who may be m my hands.In lefcrcnce to the statement you mako regarding the death of your foragers, I have only to say that I know notmng of it ■ that no orders given by me authorize the lulling ot prisoners after capture, ana that I do not believe that my men killed anyol yours except under circumstances in which it was perfectly legitimate and proper they shouldkill them.It is a part of the system of the thieves whom you designate as your foragers, to fire the dwellings of those citizens whom they have robbed.lo cheek this inhuman system, which is justly execrated by every civilized nation, I have directed my men to shoot down all of your men who are caught burning houses. This order shall remain in force, as long as you disgrace the profession ofdwellings 8 y0Ur men to destl'°y privateYou say that I cannot, of course, question your right to torage on the country. “ It i8 a rUt aa old as history. I do not, sir, question this right. Hut there is a right older even than this, and onemore inalienable—the right that every man has todefend his home, and to protect those who arc dependent upon him. And from my heart I wish that cfrery old man and boy in my country, who cun fire a gun, would shoot down, as he would a wild beast, the men who are desolating their land, burning their houses, and insulting their women.You are particular in defining and claimingwar rights. May I ask if you enumerate among them the right to tire upon a defenceless city with-out. notice; to burn thar. city to the ground after it had been surrendered by the authorities, who c aimed, though in vain, that protection whieh is always accorded in civilized warfare to non-com baton to; to fire the dwelling-houses of citizens, after robbing them, and to perpetrate even darker crimes than these—crimes too black to be mentioned?You have poriniited, if you have not ordered, the commission of these offences against humanity and the i ules of war. You fired into the city of Columbia without a word of warning. After its surrender by the Mayor, who demanded protection to private property, you laid the whole city in ashes, leaying amid its ruins thousands of old men and helpless women and children, who are likely to perish of starvation and exposure. Your line of march can be traced by the lurid light of burning houses, and in more than one household there is an agony far more bitter than that of death.The Indian scalped his victim regardless of sex or age. but with all his barbarity, he always respected the persons of his female captives. Your soldiers, more savage than the Indian, insult those whoso natural protectors are absent.In conclusion, I have only to request that whenever you have any of my men “ disposed of, or murdered,” for the terms appear to be synonymous with you, you will let me hear of it, in order that I may .know what action to take in the matter. In
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Weekly Standard
Raleigh, North Carolina, US
Wed, Mar 15, 1865
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