"Though further apart, the navy and army will still act in concert, and I assure you I shall never reach the banks of the river or see a gunboat, but I will think of Admiral Porter, Captain Breese, and the many elegant and accomplished gentlemen it has been my good fortune to meet on armed or unarmed decks of the Mississippi Squadron."
In 1863 new levies were raised for the armies, by conscription. The Conscription Act was resisted by Rebel sympathizers and the criminal classes generally in several places, notably in New York City, where the atrocious "Draft riots" occurred. Elsewhere the call was responded to with patriotic cheerfulness. Sherman had some decided views as to the manner in which the new troops should be employed. He thought it would be a waste of material to organize new regiments, while in the field there were skeleton regiments enough to make, if filled up, a magnificent army. To the Governor of Ohio he wrote on this subject:
"The President of the United States is now clothed with a power that should have been conferred just two years ago, and I feel assured he will use it. He will call for a large mass of men, and they should all be privates, and sent so as to make every regiment in the field equal to one thousand men. Time has convinced all reasonable men that war in theory and practice are two distinct things. Many an honest patriot, full of enthusiasm, zeal, and thirst for glory, has in practice, found himself unequal to the actual requirements of war, and passed to one side, leaving another in his place; and, now, after two years, Ohio has in the field one hundred and twenty-six regiments, whose officers now are qualified, and the men of which would give tone and character to the new recruits. To fill these regiments will require fifty thousand recruits, which are as many as the State could well raise. I therefore hope and pray that you will use your influence against any more new regiments, and consolidation of old ones, but fill up all the old ones to a full standard. Those who talk of prompt and speedy peace know not what they say."
In the same letter he referred to the attitude of the South and the probable future of the war.
"The South to-day is more formidable and arrogant than she was two years ago, and we lose far more by having an insufficient number of men than from any other cause. We are forced to invade—we must keep the war South; they are not only ruined, exhausted, but humbled in pride and spirit. Admitting that our armies to the front are equal to the occasion, which I know is not the case, our lines of communication are ever threatened by their dashes, for which the country, the population, and character of the enemy are all perfectly adapted.
"Since the first hostile shot, the people of the North have had no option, they must conquer or be conquered. There can be no middle course. I have never been concerned about the copperhead squabblings; the South spurns and despises this class worse than we do, and would only accept their overtures to substitute them in their levies, in the cotton and corn-fields, for the slaves who have escaped. I do not pretend, nor have I ever pretended to foresee the end of all this, but I do know that we are yet far from the end of war. I repeat that it is no longer an open question; we must fight it out. The moment we relax, down go all our conquests thus far. I know my views on this point have ever been regarded as extreme, even verging on insanity; but for years I had associated with Bragg, Beauregard and extreme Southern men, and long before others could realize the fact that Americans would raise their hands against our consecrated government, I was forced to know it, to witness it. Two years will not have been spent in vain if the North now, by another magnificent upheaving of the real people, again fill the ranks of your proven and tried regiments, and assure them that, through good report and evil report, you will stand by them. If Ohio will do this, and if the great North will do this, then will our army feel that it has a country and a government worth dying for. As to the poltroons, who falter and cry quits, let them dig and raise the food the army needs—but they should never claim a voice in the councils of the nation."
BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN.
Another vigorous letter was called out by an order from the Adjutant-General, under which all regiments which had been depleted more than one-half were to be consolidated by reducing the number of their companies, and mustering out the supernumerary officers. This would have made many gallant regiments consist of only two or three hundred men each, and indeed such was the actual result in many cases. Against this order Sherman protested strongly and with effect.
On one occasion a lady complained bitterly of some alleged misconduct of the soldiers, and this prompted him to write a long communication on the subject of army morals and discipline.