Through the long summer of 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman kept his sights set on one of the remaining jewels in the Confederate crown: Atlanta. The rail hub fed supplies and reinforcements to the Southern armies, and Sherman resolved to sever that lifeline once and for all. Union artillery rained shells on the city as frightened civilians huddled in their “bombproof” shelters and prayed for General John Bell Hood to repel the invaders. It wasn’t to be. Hood was forced to give up Atlanta on September 1, and Sherman ordered the city’s remaining residents to evacuate. What followed was a combative exchange of letters between two warriors (later published in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion) debating not only the rules of engagement, but the very reasons for the war itself.
Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman to General J.B. Hood
September 7, 1864
General: I have deemed it to the interest of the United States that the citizens now residing in Atlanta should remove, those who prefer it to go south and the rest north. For the latter I can provide food and transportation to points of their election in Tennessee, Kentucky, or farther north. For the former I can provide transportation by cars as far as Rough and Ready, and also wagons; but that their removal may be made with as little discomfort as possible it will be necessary for you to help the families from Rough and Ready to the cars at Lovejoy’s. If you consent I will undertake to remove all families in Atlanta who prefer to go South to Rough and Ready, with all their movable effects, viz, clothing, trunks, reasonable furniture, bedding, &c., with their servants, white and black, with the proviso that no force shall be used toward the blacks one way or the other. If they want to go with their masters or mistresses they may do so, otherwise they will be sent away, unless they be men, when they may be employed by our quartermaster. Atlanta is no place for families or non-combatants, and I have no desire to send them North if you will assist in conveying them South. If this proposition meets your views I will consent to a truce in the neighborhood of Rough and Ready, stipulating that any wagons, horses, or animals, or persons sent there for the purposes herein stated shall in no manner be harmed or molested, you in your turn agreeing that any cars, wagons, carriages, persons, or animals sent to the same point shall not be interfered with….
I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,
W.T. Sherman
Major-General, Commanding
