"Permit me to say, the unprecedented measure you propose transcends in studied and iniquitous cruelty all acts ever before brought to my attention in this dark history of the war. In the name of God and humanity, I protest, believing you are expelling from homes and firesides wives and children of a brave people."
Sherman read these words with some irritation and with some contempt, and then promptly replied, saying:
"You style the measures proposed 'unprecedented,' and appeal to 'the dark history of war for a parallel as an act of studied and ingenious cruelty.' It is not unprecedented, for General Johnston himself very wisely and properly removed the families all the way from Dalton down, and I see no reason why Atlanta should be excepted. Nor is it necessary to appeal to 'the dark history of war,' when recent and modern examples are so handy. You yourself burned dwelling-houses along your parapet; and I have seen, to-day, fifty houses that you have rendered uninhabitable because they stood in the way of your forts and men. You defended Atlanta on a line so close to the town that every cannon-shot, and many musket-shots from our line of investment, that overshot their mark, went into the habitations of women and children. General Hardee did the same thing at Jonesboro' and General Johnston did the same last summer at Jackson, Mississippi.
"I have not accused you of heartless cruelty, but merely instance these cases of very recent occurrence, and could go on and enumerate hundreds of others, and challenge any fair man to judge which of us has the heart of pity for the families of 'brave people.' I say it is kindness to these families of Atlanta to remove them at once from scenes that women and children should not be exposed to; and the 'brave people' should scorn to commit their wives and children to the rude barbarians who thus, as you say, violate the rules of war as illustrated in the pages of its 'dark history.'
"In the name of common sense, I ask you not to 'appeal to a just God' in such a sacrilegious manner—you who, in the midst of peace and prosperity, have plunged a nation into war, dark and cruel war; who dared and badgered us into battle; insulted our flag; seized our arsenals and forts that were left in the honorable custody of a peaceful ordinance sergeant; seized and made prisoners even the very first garrisons sent to protect your people against negroes and Indians; long before any other act was committed by the, to you 'hateful Lincoln Government;' tried to force Missouri and Kentucky into rebellion, in spite of themselves; falsified the vote of Louisiana; turned loose your privateers to plunder unarmed ships; expelled Union families by the thousands, burned their houses, and declared by acts of your Congress the confiscation of all debts due Northern men for goods had and received. Talk thus to the Marines, but not to me, who have seen these things, and who will this day make as much sacrifices for the peace and honor of the South as the best-born Southerner among you. If we must be enemies, let us be men, and fight it out as we proposed to-day, and not deal in such hypocritical appeals to God and humanity.
"God will judge us in due time, and he will pronounce whether it will be humane to fight with a town full of women and the families of 'a brave people' at our back, or to remove them in time to places of safety among their own friends and people."
There was also some correspondence between the two Generals on the subject of the exchange of prisoners. Hood began it, and Sherman replied, consenting to such an exchange, man for man, and equal for equal, and then added:
"By your laws all men eligible for service are ipso facto soldiers, and a very good one it is; and, if needed for civil duty, they are simply detailed soldiers. We found in Atlanta about a thousand of these fellows, and I am satisfied they are fit subjects of exchange; and if you will release an equal number of our poor fellows at Andersonville I will gather these together and send them as prisoners. They seem to have been detailed for railroad and shop duty, and I do not ask for them an equal number of my trained soldiers, but will take men belonging to any part of the United States Army subject to your control.
"We hold a good many of your men styled 'deserters,' who are really stragglers, and would be a good offset to such of our stragglers and foragers as your cavalry picked up of our men; but I am constrained to give these men, though sorely against the grain, the benefit of their character, pretended or real."
This did not suit Hood, who replied: