“No matter which way we turn there arises difficulties which seem insurmountable.”

“No matter which way we turn there arises difficulties which seem insurmountable – In case Lincoln is elected, they say S. Carolina will secede and that the Southern States will not see her forced back – Secession must result in Civil War, anarchy and ruin to our present form of Government – but if it is attempted it would be unwise for us to be here. But I still hope for quiet”

This is Sherman, writing to his wife Ellen, in a letter dated November 10, 1860. He had written her a week prior, expressing similar fears but he still has hope that things will pass.

I think in Cump’s heart though he knew they wouldn’t. He states in his memoirs that there was “a storm that was lowering heavy on the political horizon”. He knew by this point he could not have his family in Louisiana because… “Political excitement was at its very height, and it was constantly asserted that Mr. Lincoln’s election would imperil the Union.“

Despite the turmoil, Sherman admits to basically ignoring it though..

“I purposely kept aloof from politics, would take no part”.

This is classic Sherman, especially since we know that years later he a) never endorsed his friend General Ulysses S. Grant for President and b) made it abundantly clear when people wanted him to run for President, that he most definitely would NOT being doing such a thing.

“IF NOMINATED I WILL NOT RUN. IF ELECTED I WILL NOT SERVE”

And he said this while (most likely) giving what I love to call the “Sherman stare”…

I beg to present you the famous “Sherman stare”…

To further add to the fact Cump was clearly just keeping to himself, and wanted nothing to do with politics, he did NOT vote in the 1860 election. At all. In the same letter to Ellen, he writes:

“I received a note from a friend advising me to vote – Technically I was entitled to vote, as I entered Louisiana just a year ago, but I thought I ought not to vote in this election, and did not…”

WAIT?! WHA..???

He goes onto state he would have preferred Bell but he knew Bell didn’t have a chance.Bell was leader of Constitutional Union party. His running mate was Edward Everett (yes, the dude that gave the long speech that no one remembers at Gettysburg right before Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address).

If Uncle Blingy was to vote, it was not going to be for Lincoln.

Sherman was worried, however, about not voting and how it would be seen by those close to him in Louisiana:“If I am to hold my place by a political Tenure I prefer to again to turn vagabond – I would not be surprised to learn that my not voting was construed into a friendly regard for Lincoln, and that might result in my being declared a Public Enemy”

Sherman simply hoped that since the election was over, “all this hard feeling will subside and peace once more settle on the country”.

When Sherman wrote this letter to Ellen on November 10, the election was over but he had not yet had word of the results. When he found out a few days later, he stated “the election of Mr. Lincoln fell upon us all like a clap of thunder”. Despite his inner fears, Sherman still describes himself as “keeping aloof from all cliques and parties” and hoping “that the threatened storm would blow over”.

We know it didn’t.

On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.

And Cump was not happy. The man who had chosen to remain aloof, keep his head down and do his job, was about to let the fierce patriot shine through.

BUT…

That is for another post.

Guest Post: Civil War Book Gems from the Past

**Huge thank you to Jon, one of our listeners, for this first guest blog post!**

If you are of a certain age your parents or grandparents had either one of these two

books or something very similar. As the nation approached the Centenary of the

American Civil War, publishers were quickly printing books of dubious historical

valve. Some were like these two picture books offering a little text and a lot of Civil

War imagery. Others were removing part from the Official Records and publishing

them with very little extra commentary, dry but useful reading. Yet these were

meaningful to many. For me I cut my eyeteeth on these books. I bring this up as I

have carried these from house to house over the years; they were the detritus from

my adoptive father’s father life. When he passed away my grandmother proceeded

to rid the home of all of his stuff and so I picked up two books and an

Squadron/Signal model catalogue (which cost me plenty over the years).

Now these are not great books, lets be honest if I saw these at a book show I would

of moved on, but as a child of the 70s and an interest in history this was gold. I

owned two Civil War books. Now over the years I have added to my collection like a

bulimic academic adding and purging my collection, often with regrets. Now with e-

books and server space my collection is honestly out of hand, not that I will admit it.

This is not a 7-step session were I am looking for help, hell no. As Erasmus said,

“When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and

clothes.”

So what is this rambling about? Look at your bookshelves. Do you have a Civil War

gem from the past that you have carried from place to place? Do you have a

paperback Bruce Catton? How about the ever-present Time Life Civil War series?

Maybe it is The Centennial History of the Civil War or The American Heritage The

Civil War. We are all fellow travelers looking for the next great, or even good book

that supports an existing interest. Yes I will buy more books about Gettysburg or the

Peninsula Campaign, but I have also looked at picking up a couple off books on the

Mine Run Campaign and Bristoe Station, a topic that is new to me. Please take the

time and offer up the gems that got you started on the forum or our social media

pages. We really want to know.

“I say but little, try & mind my own business...": Sherman & Sessession, Part 1

Today’s post begins in 1859 where we find the red-headed Ohioan & future Civil War General living in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas helping his foster brothers Hugh & Tom Ewing with their law practice. Yup, Sherman was in the Prairies “managing property” (whatever that means) for them. His other option had been staying in Ohio and managing a salt mine for his foster father, Tom Ewing. Since Sherman, at times, seems to equate Ohio as being the equilvalent of the seventh level of Hell (particularly Lancaster), he decided to GTFO and go to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. One is reminded of this game...

F%$&. No thanks.

Sherman, however, needed money for his ever growing family (Yes, Ellen was pregnant again when he left for Kansas).

Whilst in the middle of nowhere, Uncle Blingy (as we also call him here on the podcast) got bored. Quickly. He wanted back in the Army because he was always “perfectly at home with sound of bugle and drum”. He craved the order of military life. He craved the commradary that came with it. Having not been in the Army for a few years at this point, he was given a taste of what he loved so much when he visited his friend from his West Point days, Stewart Van Vliet. Van Vliet was stationed at Fort Riley. The visit certainly paid off, since Sherman was granted a contract to oversee the maintenance of the road back to Leavenworth. As O’Connell writes in "Fierce Patriot" "It was exactly what Sherman needed. It brought some money into Hugh and Tom’s firm, but mostly it was a tonic for his [Sherman’s] spirits."

A tonic he perhaps didn’t realize he needed. One night, he met up with a column of cavalry who were returning from scouting. He ended up trading stories with them. Between this and being at Fort Riley (and probably just being f%^*ing bored), O’Connell argues that it made Sherman realize how much he missed the army. Sherman stated “it makes me regret my being out of service thus to meet my old comrades, in the open field, just where I most like to be”.

He wanted back in. On June 11, 1859, Sherman wrote to Major D.C. Buell, who was assistant adjutant-general in the War Department in Washington, D.C. He was looking for a vacancy in said department. The reply was such that there was no openings in D.C. but…GUESS WHAT?

There’s this military academy that’s being established in Louisiana AND they need a Superintendent. YOU SHOULD APPLY TO THIS NEW MILITARY SCHOOL IN THE SOUTH (sidenote: anyone else raising their eyebrows? Military Academy. South. There is talk of secession. There is political turmoil between north and south. Hmmmm…why are they building a military academy down there? Sherman does not really seem to question this either.)

But he applied. Sherman wrote a few letters and in July of 1859, he received a reply from Governor Wickliffe in Louisiana that they would, indeed, like to have him as the Superintendent. A few sources state that General Bragg and General Beauregard (yes, very soon to be Generals in the Confederate Army) had a hand in him getting this position...

BUT because it wouldnt' be studying something to do with the Civil War if there wasn't conflicting evidence...

Sherman states in his memoirs that neither of these men had a hand in getting him the position:

"During the Civil War, it was reported and charged that I owed my position to the personal friendship of General Braggs and Beauregard, and that, in taking up arms against the South, I had been guilty of a breach of hospitality and friendship. I was not indebted to General Bragg, because he himself told me that he was not even aware that I was an applicant, and had favored the selection of Major Jenkins, another West Point graduate. General Beauregard had nothing whatever to do with the matter..."

He could also be throwing a bit of shade their way too for the their parts in the Civil War but hey, they threw shade at him. Especially Beauregard. At Shiloh. It involved Cump’s tent and a certain southern General using it. Cump was, literally, not a happy camper after Day 1 of Shiloh. More on that some other time (like when we cover Shiloh in an episode in the near future).

Whatever the case and whoever the hell his references were and what strings were pulled or not pulled, Sherman got the job. It paid $3,500.00 a year, a considerable sum in those days.

He found himself in Louisiana in Autumn of 1859, overseeing the building of this soon-to-be military academy near Alexandria, Louisiana. The Academy was to open in January of 1860. Sherman describes it is in his memoirs stating that "it was located on an old country place of 400 acres of pineland, with numerous springs, and the building was very large, and handsome."

Louisiana State Seminary & Military Academy as it would have looked when Sherman was Superintendent.

Sherman had to work quickly when he got there, since the Academy was slated to open on January 1, 1860. We all know when it comes to being quick, Blingy is the master (especially at marching to places like the sea through states called Georgia). He immediately found carpenters that could finish the inside of the school (mess-tables, benches, blackboards, etc) while he worked on corresponding with the professors of the Academy and the Board of Directors. There was also other administrative things he had to take care with his fellow professors and the Board of Directors – bylaws, making the opening date official, how much tuition would be, what the exact name of the school would be, etc.

The Seminary opened, as planned, on January 1,1860. Tuition was $60.00 for the year. There were 60 Cadets that first day, with 16 of them having their tuition covered by the State of Louisiana. By mid-winter, that number had went to 73. Sherman describes the school as being very much like West Point or the Virginia Military Institute “but without uniforms or muskets”. There were, however, roll-calls, sections and recitations. It wasn’t exactly like completely being back in the Army, but Sherman, nonetheless, seems to have been back in his element and, dare I say, happy. Sherman states in his memoirs that he was always treated with “the greatest courtesy and kindness”.

Flash foward to November of 1860 now. The election for the President of the United States is loomin with these 4 candidates running...

Sherman writes a letter to wife Ellen on November 3, 1860. He talks of life at the Academy, and his horse Clay whom he feeds “oats at about a dollar a bushel & hay $60 a ton but he don’t appear to appreciate”. He also mentions the turmoil that is slowly bubbling towards the surface. Turmoil that he hopes will pass:“People here talk not as though Disunion was a fixed thing – men of property say that as this constant feeling of danger of abolitionism exists they would rather try a Southern Confederacy – Louisiana would not secede but should South Carolina secede, I fear other Southern states will follow and soon General Anarchy will prevail – I say but little, try & mind my own business, and await the issue of Events”. He carries on in his letter, speaking of the beautiful weather, that when Ellen moves down there (yes, his plan was to move his family to Louisiana to be with him), and she “may count on as much Euchre as you please” in the evenings, especially as he has a friend, Dr. Clark, that enjoys playing Euchre. He says the house for them will be ready by Christmas but he says he wants to wait until after November to start the process of moving. One can surmise he is doing this because he is waiting to see how things go with the election.

And that is where we will leave Sherman. Things are unstable politically, and it clear he knows this. As was always his way with politics, Sherman is steering clear, minding his own business as he himself stated in his letter to Ellen & hoping, that the fears he relayed to Ellen would not be realized.