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There is a brief letter in the records, not quoted in the Memoirs, which contains a sentence fitted for the close of a chapter on the operations at
Nashville and
Savannah.
Mr. Lincoln had written
General Sherman, in a letter before quoted:
‘Now, the undertaking being a success, the honor is all yours; for I believe none of us went further than to acquiesce.
And taking the work of General Thomas into the count, as it should be taken, it is indeed a great success.
Not only does it afford the obvious and immediate military advantages, but in showing to the world that your army could be divided, putting the stronger part to an important new service, and yet leaving enough to vanquish the old opposing force of the whole (Hood's army), it brings those who sat in darkness to see great light.’
To which
General Sherman replied:
‘I am gratified at the receipt of your letter of December 26th, at the hands of General Logan, especially to observe that you appreciate the division I made of my army, and that each part was duly proportioned to its work.’
Two pictures will rise here before the mind.
In one appears
General Thomas, struggling in the face of a veteran and concentrated enemy, then far outnumbering him at every point, to collect enough fragments to give battle, finally accomplishing the task, and achieving victory.
In the other picture,
Sherman, with sixty-two thousand selected men, thoroughly armed and equipped, marches down to the sea unopposed, summons
Hardee's ten thousand to surrender, who first refuse, and three days thereafter escape.
And yet
General Sherman was especially gratified with the conceit that each part of his army was duly proportioned to its work.
