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Sherman |
While
Van Dorn and Forrest were raiding Union supply lines, William Sherman
was beginning the very movement they were trying to stop. On October
19th Abraham Lincoln had appointed John McClernand to command a new
army to attempt to take Vicksburg. This worried Grant, who planned
for the capture of that Confederate stronghold to be his next
mission. Spurred to action by this threat to his command, he moved
quickly, and ordered his trusted subordinate William Sherman to move
down the Mississippi River to Vicksburg while Grant converged with
him, marching overland.
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US transport on the Mississippi |
It
was 150 years ago today that Sherman boarded a transport in Memphis,
Tennesse and set out down river, beginning this new campaign. That
say he wrote to his brother, Senator John Sherman, saying:
Dear
Brother:
I embarked
to-day on the Forest Queen and will have 20,000 men in boats by noon
and be off for the real South. At Helena I will get about 12,000
more. Like most of our boasts of the “Myriads of the northwest
sweeping away to the Gulf,” “breaking the back bone,” &c.
&c., the great Mississippi expedition will be 32,000 men.
Vicksburg is well fortified and is within telegraphic and railroad
reach of Meridian, Mobile, Camp Moore and Grenada, where Pemberton
has 30,000 to 35,000 men. Therefore don't expect me to achieve
miracles. Vicksburg is not the only thing to be done. Grant is at
Coffeeville! (?) with say 40,000 men. He expected me to have the same
but they are not here. We can get the Yazoo, can front in any and
every direction and can take Vicksburg, clean out the Yazoo, capture
or destroy the fleet of enemy's gunboats and transports concealed up
about Yazoo city — and do many other useful things. Blair is down
at Helena and will doubtless form a part of the expedition. He will
have a chance of catching the Elephant by the tail and get a good
lift.
Of course the
pressure of this force acting in concert with Grant must produce good
results. Even if we don't open the Mississippi, by the way an event
not so important as at first sight, until the great armies of the
enemy are defeated — we are progressing. I wish Burnside and
Rosecrans were getting along faster, but I suppose they encounter the
same troubles we all do. . . .
I rise at 3
A.M. to finish up necessary business and as usual write in haste. . .
. I am very popular with the people here and officers and
indeed with all my men. I don’t seek popularity with the “sneaks
and absentees” or the “Dear People.” . . .
Affectionately,
W. T. SHERMAN.
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John Sherman |
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