December 1, 1860
William Tecumseh Sherman to John Sherman,
"If Texas should draw off, no great harm would follow — Even if S. Carolina, Georgia, Alabama & Florida would cut away, it might be the rest could get along, but I think the secession of Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas will bring war — for though they now say that Free Trade is their Policy yet it wont be long before steamboats will be taxed and molested all the way down"
(Sherman’s Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 1860-1865, eds., Brooks D. Simpson and Jean V. Berlin [University of North Carolina Press, 1999], p. 15).
December 9, 1860
William Tecumseh Sherman to John Sherman,
"it would be folly to liberate or materially modify the condition of the Slaves." On the other hand, "if States secede on this pretext, it will be of course only the beginning of the end. Slavery is common to all the Southern States – Let secession once take place on that point, and let these States attempt to combine they will find that there are other interests not so easily reconciled — and then their troubles will begin" ibid, 16.
January 8, 1861
William Tecumseh Sherman to Thomas Ewing,
"Slavery is not the Cause but the pretext" ibid, 32.
January 20 1861
William Tecumseh Sherman to Mrs. Sherman
"Down here they think they are going to have fine times. New Orleans a free port, whereby she can import Goods without limit or duties, and Sell to the up River Countries. But Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore will never consent that N. Orleans should be a Free Port, and they Subject to Duties" ibid, 46.
February 1 1861
William Tecumseh Sherman to John Sherman,
"They want free trade here — to import free, and send their goods up the Rivers free of all charges but freight & insurance — New York, Boston, Phila. & Baltimore could not afford to pay duties if New Orleans is a Free port" ibid, 50.
June 6, 1862
William Tecumseh Sherman to Mrs. Sherman
"I will get even with this miserable class of corrupt editors yet. They are the chief cause of this unhappy war. They fan the flames of local hatred and keep alive those prejudices which have forced friends into opposing hostile ranks."
November 24, 1862.
William Tecumseh Sherman to John Sherman,
"Thousands will perish by the bullet or sickness; but war must go on — it can't be stopped.The North must rule or submit to degradation and insults forever."
August 22, 1862
Abraham Lincoln to Horace Greeley,
"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union."
June 2, 1863
William Tecumseh Sherman to Mrs. Sherman
"Vox populi, vox humbug."