tates, and his men were from the West, whose brave sons
might well afford kindness to women and babes. A key to their conduct
can be found in the "Memoirs" of General W.T. Sherman, the commander who
formed them, and whose views are best expressed in his own words.

The city of Atlanta, from which the Confederates had withdrawn, was
occupied by Slocum's corps of Sherman's army on the 2d of September,
1864. In vol. ii. of his "Memoirs," page 111, General Sherman says: "I
was resolved to make Atlanta a pure military garrison or depot, with no
civil population to influence military measures. I gave notice of this
purpose as early as the 4th of September, to General Halleck, in a
letter concluding with these words: 'If the people raise a howl against
my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not
popularity-seeking. If they want peace, they and their relations must
stop the war.'" On pages 124-6 appears the correspondence of General
Sherman with the mayor and councilmen of Atlanta concerning the removal
of citizens, in which the latter write: "We petition you to reconsider
the order requiring them to leave Atlanta. It will involve in the
aggregate consequences appalling and heartrending. Many poor women are
in an advanced state of pregnancy, others now having young children, and
whose husbands for the greater part are either in the army, prisoners,
or dead. Some say, 'I have such a one sick at my house; who will wait on
them when I am gone?' Others say, 'What are we to do? we have no house
to go to, and no means to buy, build, or rent any; no parents,
relatives, or friends to go to.' This being so, how is it possible for
the people still here, mostly women and children, to find shelter? And
how can they live through the winter in the woods?" To this General
Sherman replies: "I have your letter of the 11th, in the nature of a
petition to revoke my orders removing all the inhabitants from Atlanta.
I have read it carefully, and give full credit to your statements of the
distress that will be occasioned, and yet shall not revoke my orders,
because _they were not intended to meet the humanities of the case_. You
might as well appeal against the thunderstorm as against these terrible
hardships of war. They are inevitable; and the only way the people of
Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at home is to stop
the war, which can only be done by admitting that it began in error and
is perpetuated in p