{"id":1084,"date":"2013-06-29T13:07:30","date_gmt":"2013-06-29T13:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/?p=1084"},"modified":"2016-06-19T14:01:56","modified_gmt":"2016-06-19T14:01:56","slug":"letter-to-william-sherman-december-26-1864","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/letter-to-william-sherman-december-26-1864\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to William Sherman (December 26, 1864)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Contributing Editors for this page include Andrew Villwock and Rhonda Webb<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Ranking<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-size: 36px;\">#120<\/span> on the list of 150 Most Teachable Lincoln Documents<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Annotated Transcript<\/h3>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/40501\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Many, many, thanks for your Christmas-gift&#8212;the capture of Savannah.\u00a0When you were about leaving Atlanta for the Atlantic coast, I was anxious, if not fearful; but feeling that you were the better judge, and remembering that &#8216;nothing risked, nothing gained&#8217; I did not interfere. Now, the undertaking being a success, the honor is all yours; for I believe none of us went farther than to acquiesce.&#8221;\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 1.17em;\">On This Date<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/panel\/this_date\/1864-12-26\" target=\"_blank\">HD Daily Report, December 26, 1864<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelincolnlog.org\/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&amp;day=1864-12-26\" target=\"_blank\">The Lincoln Log, December 26, 1864<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Close Readings<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pWq4uRndUvQ\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>Posted at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pWq4uRndUvQ\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a> by &#8220;Understanding Lincoln&#8221; participant Andrew Villwock, Fall 2013<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iYSn6l-peFo\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe> Posted at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=iYSn6l-peFo\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a> by &#8220;Understanding Lincoln&#8221; participant Rhonda Webb, Fall 2013<\/p>\n<h3>Custom Map<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?msid=214923210427089848626.0004def4e79e2ae545ca4&amp;msa=0&amp;ll=32.245329,-81.099014&amp;spn=0.41349,0.662613&amp;iwloc=0004e0627872b2090f14e\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-3193\" src=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Screen-shot-2014-01-26-at-10.50.41-AM.png\" alt=\"Screen shot 2014-01-26 at 10.50.41 AM\" width=\"484\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Screen-shot-2014-01-26-at-10.50.41-AM.png 692w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/files\/2013\/06\/Screen-shot-2014-01-26-at-10.50.41-AM-300x272.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 484px) 100vw, 484px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?msid=214923210427089848626.0004def4e79e2ae545ca4&amp;msa=0&amp;ll=32.245329,-81.099014&amp;spn=0.41349,0.662613&amp;iwloc=0004e0627872b2090f14e\" target=\"_blank\">View in Larger Map<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>How Historians Interpret<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;While Hood was marching to destruction in Tennessee, Sherman was moving across Georgia in the fabled march to the sea. \u00a0He aimed to emerge at some point on the coast like Savannah or Port Royal where the Navy could pick him up and carry him to Virginia to join Grant in a final crushing movement against Lee. \u00a0At first, Sherman himself was not sure which coastal port he would go to, and until he decided Lincoln and Grant knew only the general objective of his movement. \u00a0Discussing Sherman with the General&#8217;s brother, a United States Senator, Lincoln said: &#8216;I know what hole he went in at, but I can&#8217;t tell what hole he will come out of.&#8217; \u00a0Although Sherman was virtually unopposed and untroubled by supply difficulties because he lived off the country, Lincoln feared for his safety. \u00a0The President worried that the Confederates would concentrate enough forces to trap Sherman in the interior of Georgia. \u00a0Grant assured Lincoln that Sherman had a large enough army to protect himself against any attack and, as Grant expressed it, strike bottom on salt water. \u00a0By December 10, Sherman was in front of Savannah and laid the city under siege and certain capture. \u00a0The Confederates evacuated it on the twenty-first, and Sherman had his base on the ocean. \u00a0In a dramatic telegram to the government, he presented Savannah to the nation as a Christmas present. \u00a0Lincoln was delighted with Sherman&#8217;s success and his despatch. \u00a0He wrote the General a letter of appreciation which was, at the same time, an admirable analysis of the effect of Sherman&#8217;s movement on Southern morale.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=Kg2WPCOTTuQC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;pg=PA345#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\">T. Harry Williams,\u00a0<em>Lincoln and His Generals\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952), 345<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>NOTE TO READERS<\/h3>\n<p>This page is under construction and will be developed further by students in the new \u201cUnderstanding Lincoln\u201d online course sponsored by the House Divided Project at Dickinson College and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. To find out more about the course and to see some of our videotaped class sessions, including virtual field trips to Ford&#8217;s Theatre and Gettysburg, please visit our Livestream page at <a href=\"http:\/\/new.livestream.com\/gilderlehrman\/lincoln\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/new.livestream.com\/gilderlehrman\/lincoln<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Searchable Text<\/span><\/h3>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Executive Mansion, Washington,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Dec. 26, 1864.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">My dear General Sherman.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Many, many, thanks for your Christmas-gift&#8212;the capture of Savannah.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">When you were about leaving Atlanta for the Atlantic coast, I was anxious, if not fearful; but feeling that you were the better judge, and remembering that \u201cnothing risked, nothing gained\u201d I did not interfere. Now, the undertaking being a success, the honor is all yours; for I believe none of us went farther than to acquiesce. And, taking the work of Gen. Thomas into the count, as it should be taken, it is indeed a great success. Not only does it afford the obvious and immediate military advantages; but, in showing to the world that your army could be divided, putting the stronger part to an important new service, and yet leaving enough to vanquish the old opposing force of the whole&#8212;Hood&#8217;s army&#8212;it brings those who sat in darkness, to see a great light. But what next? I suppose it will be safer if I leave Gen. Grant and yourself to decide.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Please make my grateful acknowledgments to your whole army, officers and men.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">Yours very truly\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">A. LINCOLN.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contributing Editors for this page include Andrew Villwock and Rhonda Webb Ranking #120 on the list of 150 Most Teachable Lincoln Documents Annotated Transcript &#8220;Many, many, thanks for your Christmas-gift&#8212;the capture of Savannah.\u00a0When you were about leaving Atlanta for the Atlantic coast, I was anxious, if not fearful; but feeling that you were the better [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10857],"tags":[10873,6088,11642,11630,10865,10862],"class_list":["post-1084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-father-abraham","tag-humility","tag-letter","tag-management-style","tag-military-affairs","tag-private","tag-wartime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1084"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4383,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions\/4383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}