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001 - Two Prefaces · Shermans Memoirs March to the Sea and Columbia Burning

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  Speaker 1: Two prefhecies two Sherman's March to the Sea and the
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  Speaker 1: Burning of Columbia, South Carolina from his Memoirs. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by David Wales. Sherman's March to the Sea from
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  Speaker 1: his Memoirs by William Tacumsas Sherman, two prefhecies preface to
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  Speaker 1: the first edition. General W. T. Sherman, His Comrades in Arms,
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  Speaker 1: Volunteers and Regulars. Nearly ten years have passed since the
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  Speaker 1: close of the Civil War in America, and yet no
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  Speaker 1: satisfactory history thereof is accessible to the public, nor should
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  Speaker 1: any be attempted, until the government has published and placed
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  Speaker 1: within the reach of students the abundant materials that are
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  Speaker 1: buried in the War Department at Washington. These are in
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  Speaker 1: process of compilation, but at the rate of progress for
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  Speaker 1: the past ten years, it is probable that a new
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  Speaker 1: century will come before they are published and circulated with
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  Speaker 1: full indexes to enable the historian to make a judicious
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  Speaker 1: selection of materials. What is now offered is not designed
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  Speaker 1: as a history of the war, or even as a
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  Speaker 1: complete account of all the incidents in which the writer
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  Speaker 1: bore a part, but merely his recollection of events, corrected
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  Speaker 1: by a reference to his own memoranda, which may assist
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  Speaker 1: the future historian when he comes to describe the whole
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  Speaker 1: and account for the motives and reasons which influenced some
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  Speaker 1: of the actors in the grand drama of war. I
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  Speaker 1: trust a perusal of these pages will prove interesting to
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  Speaker 1: the survivors, who have manifested so often their intense love
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  Speaker 1: of the cause which moved a nation to vindicate its
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  Speaker 1: own authority, and equally so to the rising generation, who
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  Speaker 1: therefrom may learn that a country and government such as
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  Speaker 1: ours are worth fighting for and dying for if need be.
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  Speaker 1: If successful in this I shall feel amply repaid for
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  Speaker 1: departing from the usage of military men who seldom attempt
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  Speaker 1: to publish their own deeds, but rest content with simply
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  Speaker 1: contributing by their acts, to the honor and glory of
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  Speaker 1: their country. William Sherman, General Saint Louis, Missouri, January twenty one,
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  Speaker 1: h eighteen seventy five, Preface to the second edition. Another
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  Speaker 1: ten years have passed. Since I ventured to publish my memoirs,
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  Speaker 1: and being once more at leisure, I have revised them.
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  Speaker 1: In the light of the many criticisms, public and private.
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  Speaker 1: My habit has been to note and pencil the suggestions
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  Speaker 1: of critics, and to examine the substance of their differences,
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  Speaker 1: For critics must differ from the author to manifest their superiority.
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  Speaker 1: Where I have found material error, I have corrected, and
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  Speaker 1: I have added two chapters, one at the beginning, another
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  Speaker 1: at the end, both of the most general character and
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  Speaker 1: an appendix. I wish my friends and enemies to understand
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  Speaker 1: that I disclaim the character of historian, but assume to
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  Speaker 1: be a witness on the stand before the grand Tribunal
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  Speaker 1: of history, to assist some future Napier Allison or Hume
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  Speaker 1: to comprehend the feelings and thoughts of the actors in
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  Speaker 1: the grand conflicts of the recent past, and thereby to
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  Speaker 1: lessen his labors in the compilation necessary for the future
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  Speaker 1: benefit of mankind. In this free country, every man is
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  Speaker 1: at perfect liberty to publish his own thoughts and impressions,
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  Speaker 1: and any witness who may differ from me should publish
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  Speaker 1: his own version of facts. In the truthful narration of
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  Speaker 1: which he is interested. I am publishing my own memoirs,
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  Speaker 1: not theirs. And we all know that no three honest
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  Speaker 1: witnesses of a simple brawl can agree on all the details,
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  Speaker 1: how much which more likely will be the difference in
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  Speaker 1: a great battle covering a vast space of broken ground.
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  Speaker 1: When each division, brigade, regiment, and even company naturally and
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  Speaker 1: honestly believes that it was the focus of the whole affair,
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  Speaker 1: each of them won the battle, none ever lost. That
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  Speaker 1: was the fate of the old man, who unhappily commanded.
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  Speaker 1: In this edition, I give the best maps which I
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  Speaker 1: believe have ever been prepared, compiled by General O. M.
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  Speaker 1: Poe from personal knowledge and official surveys. And what I
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  Speaker 1: chiefly aim to establish is the true cause of the results,
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  Speaker 1: which are already known to the whole world. And it
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  Speaker 1: may be a relief to many to know that I
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  Speaker 1: shall publish no other, But, like the player at cards,
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  Speaker 1: will stand not that I have accomplished perfection, but because
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  Speaker 1: I can do no better with the cards in hand.
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  Speaker 1: Of omissions there are plenty, but of wilful perversion of facts.
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  Speaker 1: None In the preface to the first edition, in eighteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy five, I used these words. Nearly ten years have
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  Speaker 1: passed since the close of the Civil War in America,
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  Speaker 1: and yet no satisfactory history thereof is accessible to the public,
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  Speaker 1: nor should any be attempted, until the government has published
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  Speaker 1: and placed within the reach of students the abundant materials
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  Speaker 1: that are buried in the War Department at Washington. These
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  Speaker 1: are in process of compilation, but at the rate of
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  Speaker 1: progress for the past ten years, it is probable that
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  Speaker 1: a new century will come before they are published and
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  Speaker 1: circulated with full indexes to enable the historian to make
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  Speaker 1: a judicious selection of materials. Another decade is passed, and
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  Speaker 1: I am in possession of all these publications, my last
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  Speaker 1: being Volume eleven, Part three, Series one, the last date
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  Speaker 1: in which is August thirty, eighteen sixty two. I am
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  Speaker 1: afraid that if I assume again the character of profit,
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  Speaker 1: I must extend the time deep into the next century,
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  Speaker 1: and pray meanwhile that the official records of the war
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  Speaker 1: Union and Confederate may approach completion before the next war,
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  Speaker 1: or rather that we as a people may be spared
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  Speaker 1: another war until the last one is officially recorded. Meantime,
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  Speaker 1: the rising generation must be content with memoirs and histories
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  Speaker 1: compiled from the best sources available. In this sense, I
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  Speaker 1: offer mine as to the events of which I was
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  Speaker 1: an eyewitness and participant, or for which I was responsible.
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  Speaker 1: William Sherman, General, retired, Saint Louis, Missouri, March thirty, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty five. End of prephecies