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Grant was succeeded
by General Alvin P. Hovey and he added to Grant's order the requirement
that "every man between the ages of eighteen and forty-five take the oath
of allegiance, or leave the city."
These measures
forced many into the Confederate Army and created feelings of hatred
toward the new Union rule
The Irving Block,
which had been used as a Confederate hospital, was now converted into a
prison, where Confederate soldiers or other persons caught aiding the
Confederate Army were confined.
When General
Sherman came to control the city July 21, he was so unreasonably
displeased because Southerners did not take the Federal soldiers to their
hearts and homes that he made harsh and strict laws, adhering to them even
when it took cruelty to do so. The history of this officer's mode of
warfare shows that he never stopped at cruelty. Writing of the feeling of
the people here at that time he said: "It is idle to talk about Union men
here : many want peace and fear war and its results; but all prefer a
Southern, independent government, and are fighting or working for it."
With all the
patriotism he felt for his own cause he seemed utterly uncomprehensive of
this feeling of Southerners, and resented it most vindictively. Again he
wrote, after his arrival in Memphis: "When we first entered Memphis, July
21, 1862, I found the place dead; no business doing, the stores closed,
churches, schools and everything shut up. I caused all the stores to be
opened, churches, schools, theatres and places of amusement, to be
reestablished. I also restored the mayor (whose name was Parks) and the
city government to the performance of their public functions and required
them to maintain a good civic police." |
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But General
Sherman, and not the mayor, governed the city. On August 11, he wrote:
"There is not a garrison in Tennessee where a man can go beyond the sight
of a flagstaff without being shot or captured."
Upon receiving numerous
complaints from citizens and farmers of useless destruction of
their property by his soldiers he replied in the Bulletin,
September 21: "All officers and soldiers are to behave
themselves orderly in quarters and on the march ; and whoever
shall commit any waste of spoil, either in walks of trees,
parks, warrens, fish-ponds, houses and gardens, cornfields,
inclosures or meadows, or shall mali-ciously destroy any
property whatever belonging to the inhabitants of the United
States unless by order of the commander-in-chief of the armies
of said United States, shall (besides such penalties as they are
liable to by law) be punished according to the nature and degree
of the offense, by the judgment of a general or regimental
court-martial. * * * * When people forget their obligations to a
government that made them respected among the nations of the
earth and speak contemptuously of the flag which is the silent
emblem of that country, I will not go out of my way to protect
them or their property. I will punish the soldiers for trespass
or waste, if adjudged by a court-martial, because they disobey
orders ; but soldiers are men and citizens as well as soldiers,
and should promptly resent any insult to their country, come
from what quarter it may. * * * * Insult to a soldier does not
justify pillage, but it takes from the officer the disposition
he would otherwise feel to follow up the inquiry and punish the
wrong-doers.
"Again, armies in
motion or stationary must commit some waste. Flankers must let down fences
and cross flelds; and when an attack is contemplated or apprehended, a
command will naturally clear the ground of houses, fences and trees. This
is waste, but it is the natural consequence of war, chargeable to those
who caused the war. So in fortifying a place, dwelling houses must be
taken, materials used, even wasted, and great damage done, which in the
end may prove useless. This, too, is an expense not chargeable to us, but
to those who made the war; and generally war is destruction and nothing
else."
While in Memphis General Sherman was vigilant in keeping
supplies of all kinds from passing out of the city to supply the
Confederates, but sometimes the guard was eluded and articles
necessary for the comfort of Confederate soldiers were taken
through the lines. When these performances were detected the
offenders were severely punished or, if the offender could not
be found, military laws were made more rigid and often innocent
people made to suffer. At one time Sherman ordered forty persons
to leave Memphis because they had husbands or sons in the
Confederate Army, or because they were "Rebel" sympathizers.
Citizens who would not take the oath of allegiance to the United
States were forced to pay rent for their own dwellings and
stores. He also issued an order to the effect that heads of
families nearest whose residences the dead body of a Federal
soldier or a Unionist might be found, were to be held
responsible and punished accordingly.
When the relish of
war had penetrated this stern soldier's nature it glutted him and he knew
no quarter, no mercy, no pity for one in distress, if that one, man, woman
or child, was an enemy. Such was the spirit of warfare with Indian and
other savage natures long ago. One writer said of Sherman: "I challenge
the world to produce a person who will say that Sherman was ever touched
by the pleadings of any woman, even though she asked for what belonged to
her. Like the cobra, he plunged his deadly fangs into everything that
moved within his reach." He expressed his own insatiableness in a letter
to Brigadier-General J. A. Rawlings:t "I know that at Washington I am
incomprehensible, because at the outset of the war I would not go it blind
and rush headlong into a war unprepared and with an utter ignorance of its
extent and purpose. I was then considered unsound; and now that I insist
on war pure and simple with no admixture of civil compromise, I am
supposed vindictive. You remember that Polonius said to his son Laertes:
'Beware of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, bear it that the opposed
may beware of thee.' What is true of a single man is equally true of a
nation. I would make this war as severe as possible, and show no symptoms
of tiring till the South begs for mercy.'
General Sherman
used the slaves during his rule in Memphis for public work. He ordered
that all negroes who apply for work shall be employed as laborers on the
fortifications, and draw rations, clothing, and one pound of tobacco per
month, but no wages will be allowed until the courts determine whether the
negro is slave or free. Officers are forbidden to employ them as servants.
The negroes employed as laborers will be allowed to return to their
masters at the close of any week, but owners are not allowed to enter the
lines in search of slaves. The post quartermaster is also authorized to
employ negroes on the same conditions and, when necessary, to take them by
force. Division quartermasters may employ negroes to drive teams and
attend horses. Commanders of regiments may cause negroes to be employed as
cooks and teamsters, not exceeding sixty-five for each regiment. In no
case will any negro employed under the above conditions be permitted to
wear arms or wear uniforms."
The mud in Memphis at this
period was terrible, the streets being almost impassible. An
English press correspondent named William H. Russell, then
touring the South, wrote of our unattractive city : "I wonder
why they gave it such a name of old renown, This dreary, dismal,
muddy, melancholy town?"
A letter from a
woman in January, 1863, written to a friend away from Memphis, describes
the city as desolate in appearance and in reality. She wrote: "All
residences between Tennessee and Shelby Streets from Vance out toward Fort
Pickering, have been destroyed, and their former site is now filled with
fortifications and tents of the enemy." The trees and shrubbery were also
destroyed in this district."
The illness and fatality of
Federal soldiers in Memphis was great in 1863 in the hospitals,
112 deaths being reported for the week ending March 14th. Many
residences were demanded for hospitals and other uses of the
soldiers, and the above mentioned lady writing to a friend,
describes the situation thus: "An officer walks in and says:
'Your house is wanted for General 's headquarters. He gives you
three days to move out and orders that no provisions or stores,
or furniture be moved.' All slaves, carriages and horses are
taken possession of, and sentinels placed round the house to
enforce obedience to orders. When the premises are no longer
needed, the silver plate, queensware and best articles of
furniture are packed up to grace the mansions of the plunderers
in the North. In this way many have been stripped of everything.
Books, pianos, music and many other things which these generals
and colonels have no use for, are destroyed. Books are used for
waste paper and pianos are beaten to pieces with axes. Negro
men are taken to work on fortifications and their families are
crowded into uncomfortable and unwholesome quarters to suffer
and die of neglect and despondency. Few people have the
possession and use of their own property. Nearly all the
stores and warehouses are either used or rented by the Federal
government, which makes no repairs and pays no taxes.
Union meetings are frequently held, and sometimes processions,
but nearly everybody engaged in them are newcomers and
strangers"
Sherman's reign did not last
always and when Major-General Hurlbut was sent to relieve him in
December, 1862, Memphis people felt thankful. This change of
officers did not mean that harsh rule was at an end but
conditions were somewhat relieved and, as Colonel Keating says,
"the people breathed more freely." |
