JACKSON, MISS., July
19, 1863.
My Dear Brother:
The fall of Vicksburg and consequent capitulation of Port
Hudson, the opening the navigation of the Mississippi, and now the driving out
of this great valley the only strong army that threatened us, complete as
pretty a page in the history of war and of our country as ever you could ask my
name to be identified with. The share I have personally borne in all these
events is one in which you may take pride for me. You know I have avoided
notoriety; and the press, my standard enemy, may strip me of all popular
applause, but not a soldier of the Army of the Tennessee but knows the part I
have borne in this great drama, and the day will come when that army will speak
in a voice that cannot be drowned. . . .
In the events resulting thus, the guiding minds and hands
were Grant's, Sherman's, and McPherson’s, all natives of Ohio. . . .
Jackson will never again be a point where an enemy can
assemble and threaten us. . . . As soon
as my detachments are in, I will return to Black River. Our men and officers
must have rest. For months in trenches, working day and night in the heat and
dust of the roads, all are exhausted and need rest. I hope the Army of the
Potomac will finish Lee. Morgan should not escape from Indiana. Love to all.
Your brother,
W. T. SHERMAN.
SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The
Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837
to 1891, p. 208-9
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