Shermans Military Lessons Of The American Civil War From His Memoirs - William Tecumseh Sherman
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Section one of Sherman's Military Lessons of the American Civil War from his memoirs This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox dot org recording by David Wales. Sherman's Military Lessons of the American Civil War from his memoirs by William Tecumseh Sherman. Chapter twenty five Conclusion Military Lessons of the War Section one Having thus recorded a summary of events, mostly under my own personal supervision during the years from eighteen forty six to eighteen sixty five, it seems proper that I should add an opinion of some of the useful military lessons to be derived therefrom. That civil war, by reason of the existence of slavery, was apprehended by most of the leading statesmen of the half century preceding its outbreak is a matter of notoriety.
General Scott told me on my arrival at New York as early as eighteen fifty that the country was on the eve of civil war. And the Southern politicians openly asserted that it was their purpose to accept as a casus beli the election of General Fremont in eighteen fifty six, but fortunately or unfortunately, he was beaten by Mr Buchanan, which simply postponed its occurrence for four years. Mr Seward had also publicly declared that no government could possibly exist half slave and half free, yet the government made no military preparation, and the Northern people generally paid no attention, took no warning of its coming, and would not realize its existence till Fort Sumter was fired on by batteries of artillery handled by declared enemies from the surrounding islands and from the
around the city of Charleston. General Bragg, who certainly was a man of intelligence, and who in early life ridiculed a thousand times in my hearing the threats of the people of South Carolina to secede from the Federal Union, said to me in New Orleans in february eighteen sixty one that he was convinced that the feeling between the slave and free states had become so embittered that it was better to part in peace, better to part anyhow. well, and as a separation was inevitable, that the South should begin at once, because the possibility of a successful effort was yearly lessened by the rapid and increasing inequality between the two sections, from the fact that all the European immigrants were coming to the northern states and territories, and none to the southern.
The slave population in eighteen sixty was near four millions, and the money value thereof not far from twenty five hundred million dollars. Now, ignoring the moral side of the question, a cause that endangered so vast a moneyed interest was an adequate cause of anxiety and preparation, and the northern leaders surely ought to have foreseen the danger and prepared for it. After the election of Mr Lincoln in eighteen sixty, there was no concealment of the declaration and preparation for war in the South. In Louisiana, as I have related, men were openly enlisted, officers were appointed, and war was actually begun in january eighteen sixty one. The forts at the mouth of the Mississippi were seized and occupied by garrisons that hauled down the United States flag and hoisted that of the state.
The United States arsenal at Baton Rouge was captured by New Orleans militia, its garrison ignominiously sent off, and the contents of the arsenal distributed. These were as much acts of war as was the subsequent firing on Fort Sumter, yet no public notice was taken thereof. And when months afterward I came north I found not one single sign of preparation. It was for this reason somewhat that the people of the south became convinced that those of the north were pusilinimous and cowardly, and And the southern leaders were thereby enabled to commit their people to the war nominally in defence of their slave property. Up to the hour of the firing on Fort Sumter in april eighteen sixty one, it does seem to me that our public men, our politicians, were blamable for not sounding the note of alarm.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–6:25
2
What caused the Civil War and how did early political warnings fail?
6:25–22:25
3
How did Sherman describe the organization of cavalry, artillery, and infantry regiments?
22:25–47:37
4
What logistical principles did Sherman outline for feeding and supplying an army?
47:37–1:11:44
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