[The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman Vol. II. by William T. Sherman]@TWC D-Link bookThe Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman Vol. II. CHAPTER XXIII 44/101
I also authorized General Howard to send back by this opportunity some of the fugitives who had traveled with his army all the way from Columbia, among whom were Mrs.Feaster and her two beautiful daughters. I immediately prepared letters for Secretary Stanton, Generals Halleck and Grant, and Generals Schofield, Foster, Easton, and Beckwith, all of which have been published, but I include here only those to the Secretary of War, and Generals Grant and Terry, as samples of the whole: HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD, FAYETTVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, Sunday, March.
12, 1885. Hon.E.M.STANTON, Secretary of War. DEAR SIR: I know you will be pleased to hear that my army has reached this point, and has opened communication with Wilmington. A tug-boat came up this morning, and will start back at 6 P.M. I have written a letter to General Grant, the substance of which he will doubtless communicate, and it must suffice for me to tell you what I know will give you pleasure--that I have done all that I proposed, and the fruits seem to me ample for the time employed. Charleston, Georgetown, and Wilmington, are incidents, while the utter demolition of the railroad system of South Carolina, and the utter destruction of the enemy's arsenals of Columbia, Cheraw, and Fayetteville, are the principals of the movement.
These points were regarded as inaccessible to us, and now no place in the Confederacy is safe against the army of the West.
Let Lee hold on to Richmond, and we will destroy his country; and then of what use is Richmond.
He must come out and fight us on open ground, and for that we must ever be ready.
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