Chapter 18:
- Opinions of Jeff. Davis' Cabinet officers on Sherman's terms.
General Sherman, in his Memoirs, returns with increased violence to his old attack upon Secretary Stanton, and attempts to hold him chiefly responsible for a course in regard to the Sherman-Johnston terms, which at the time was approved by the President, General Grant, General Halleck, every member of the Cabinet, and by the loyal North. He attempts to convey the impression that Mr. Stanton exceeded his authority in the matter, by the statement that President Johnson, and nearly all the members of the Cabinet assured him, after his arrival in Washington, that they knew nothing of Mr. Stanton's publications setting forth the nature of his terms and the reasons of the Cabinet for rejecting them. This is an attempt to escape upon a technicality. The President, and every member of the Cabinet, had united in rejecting the terms on the grounds which Mr. Stanton made known. It is doubtless true that none of them, except Mr. Stanton, knew that these reasons were to be made public in the shape they were till they saw them in the newspapers. And, as the Secretary of War ‘offered no word of explanation or apology,’ General Sherman concluded to insult him in public, which he seems to think he afterward did, by refusing to take Mr. Stanton's hand, or as he expresses it, speaking of his own behavior on the stand at the great review, ‘I shook hands with the President, General Grant, and each member of the Cabinet. As I approached Mr. Stanton, he offered me his ’
