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were often employed in guarding rebel property and restoring slaves to rebel masters; while the national granaries were opened to supply the famishing families of men in arms against their government.
It was hoped by such leniency to induce the prodigals to return.
But the hope was vain, and the leniency misplaced; the rebels accepted every proffered aid or alms, and remained as obdurate as ever.1 The obstinacy, even the heroism they displayed made harsher measures indispensable; and in the end contributed to their completer conquest.
Since the population, as well as the armies, of the South was united in rebellion, the population, as well as the armies, must undergo whatever was necessary for its subjection.
A change thus came over the spirit of the North, and Grant embodied and represented this change.
He saw that it was necessary to deprive the South of its resources as well as of its armies, for both were part of its military power.
It was he who introduced and enforced the rule that all property useful to the enemy, adding to their strength, or assisting them to carry on the war, should be destroyed.
This rule, laid down by him, was applied with equal rigor by Sherman at the West,2 and Sheridan at the East; it was applauded
1 ‘We have tried three years of conciliation and kindness without any reciprocation; on the contrary, those thus treated have acted as spies and guerillas in our rear and within our lines.’—Halleck to Sherman, September 28, 1864.
2 ‘When the rich planters of the Oconee and Savannah see their fences and corn and hogs vanish before their eyes, they will have something more than a mean opinion of the Yanks. Even now our poor mules laugh at the fine corn-fields, and our soldiers riot on chesnuts, sweet potatoes, pigs, chickens, etc. The poor people come to me and beg us for their lives, but my customary answer is: “Your friends have broken our railroads which supplied us bountifully, and you cannot suppose our soldiers will suffer when there is abundance within reach.” ’—Sherman to Halleck, October 19, 1864.
New York Appleton 1885.
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