“With the renewal of my thanks for your having so beautifully, so ably, so nobly advocated the cause of humanity, which is the cause of Christ,
“I am, Sir, with high respect, your obedient servant,
“Robert Anderson.”
In a later letter General Anderson returned to the subject:—
“The sentiments you express in your speech are such as become a Christian and a patriot. We, as a nation, are not at liberty to follow the example of men who claim to owe allegiance to a Government not recognized among nations,—the self-assumed name of which will, by God’s blessing, soon sink into oblivion.”
General Donaldson, of the Army of the Cumberland, and of the staff of the distinguished General Thomas, wrote from Nashville:—
“Though but slightly acquainted with Mr. Sumner, I trust he will allow me to tender my thanks as an American for his noble resolutions on the subject of Retaliation. They are greater than any speech, and such as a Howard might have written, had he lived in the days of the mighty crime.”
Such were some of the voices, not only from citizens, but from the Army.