President William Jefferson Clinton
Remarks as Delivered
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
November 7, 2001
( . . . )
"In the Civil War, General Sherman waged a brilliant military campaign to cut through the South and go to Atlanta. It was significant and very helpful in bringing the Civil War[sic] to a close in a way to, thank God, save the Union. On the way, General Sherman practiced a relatively mild form of terrorism-he did not kill civilians, but he burned all the farms and then he burned Atlanta, trying to break the spirit of the Confederates."
( . . . )
Clinton also suggested that 911 was payback for the Siege of Jerusalem in June of 1101 A. D. or perhaps slavery and the treatment of Native Americans.
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From Generals In Bronze
General Pleasonton
James Edward Kelly
Pleasonton — I was offered command of the Army of the Potomac.
Kelly — Why didn't you take it?
Pleasonton — I wasn't like Grant. I refused to pay the price.
Kelly — Why, what was the price?
Pleasonton — The terms offered were these:
The war must not be ended until the South was crushed,
Slavery abolished,
And the President reelected.
General Porter on General Pleasonton.
I (Kelly) told General Porter that General Pleasonton told me that he had been offered command of the Army of the Potomac, but had refused to pay the price, and that when I asked him what the price was, and he (Pleasonton) said, that if he took command, that the war was to continue until the President was [re] elected and some other terms which I forget, and that Grant had accepted these terms
Porter — I have heard that the terms were offered, but I do not believe that they were offered to Pleasonton.
Kelly — What were the terms? Do you recall them?
Porter — The terms were that the war should be continued till the South was crushed, Slavery abolished, and the President reelected.
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The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (1880 —1901)
* Series 1 — Volume 38 (Part IV)
HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field,, Big Shanty, June 23,1864.
Maj. Gen. J. B. STEEDMAN
Commanding District of the Etowak, Chattanooga:
GENERAL: As the question may arise, and you have a right to the support of my authority, I now decide that the use of the torpedo is justifiable in war in advance of an army, so as to make his advance up a river or over a road more dangerous and difficult. But after the adversary has gained the country by fair warlike means, then the case entirely changes.
The use of torpedoes in blowing up our cars and the road after they are in our possession, is simply malicious. It cannot alter the great problem, but simply makes trouble.
Now, if torpedoes are found in the possession of an enemy to our rear, you may cause them to be put on the ground and tested by wagon-loads of prisoners,
or, if need be, citizens implicated in their use.
In like manner, if a torpedo is suspected on any part of the road, order the point to be tested by a car-load of prisoners, or citizens implicated, drawn by a long rope.
Of course an enemy cannot complain of his own traps.
W. T. SHERMAN,
Major-General Commanding.
n.b. The torpedoes refereed to were land mines developed by Brigadier General Gabriel J. Raines, CSA during the Battle of Yorktown in 1862.
Raines had previously employed explosive booby traps during the Seminole Wars in Florida in 1840.
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The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (1880 - 1901)
* Series 1 - Volume 39 (Part III)
HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field,, Rome, Ga., October 29,1864.
Brigadier-General WATKINS, Calhoun, Ga:
Cannot you send over about Fairmount and Adairsville, burn 10 or 12 houses of known secessionists, kill a few at random and let them know it will be repeated every time a train is fired upon from Resaca to Kingston.
W. T. SHERMAN,
Major-General Commanding.
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The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (1880 - 1901)
Series 1 - Volume 35 (Part I)
No. 18.
Report of Lieut. M. B. Grant, C. S. Engineers, of engagement at
Olustee.
C. S. ENGINEERíS OFFICE,
Savannah, April 27, 1864.
COLONEL: In obedience to your instructions, I have the honor to submit the following report upon the battle of Ocean Pond, fought February 20, near Ocean Pond, on the line of the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Railroad, in Columbia County, Fla., between the Confederate forces under Brig. Gen. Joseph Finegan and the Federal forces under Brigadier-General Seymour:
( . . . )
This fight occurred upon ground which furnished a fair field to both parties, and no advantage to either. The advantage of the enemy upon this occasion consisted in the superiority of numbers and equipment. Their force was, at the lowest estimate, twice that of ours. As usual with the enemy, they posted their negro regiments on their left and in front, where they were slain by hundreds, and upon retiring left their dead and wounded negroes uncared for, carrying off only the whites, which accounts for the fact that upon the first part of the battle-field nearly all the dead found were negroes.
This victory, like many others, was mainly due to the superior fighting qualities of our troops, their determination and unflinching valor. So far as I was able to learn there was no preconceived plan of battle or combined movement of our troops after General Colquitt put them in position on the field.
( . . . )
M. B. GRANT,
Lieutenant, Corps of Engineers.
Col. D. B. HARRIS,
Chief Engineer, Dept. of S. Carolina, Georgia, and Fla.
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