If they want eternal war, well and good;

we accept the issue, and will dispossess them

and put our friends in their places…three years ago,

by a little reflection and patience,

they could have had a hundred years of peace and prosperity,

but they preferred war;

very well…Next year their lands will be taken;

for in war we can take them,

and rightfully too, and in another year

they may beg in vain for their lives.

 

 

—Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman

From Vicksburg, Mississippi

Letter to Major Roswell M. Sawyer

Assistant Adjutant General of Sherman’s army

Huntsville, Alabama

January 31, 1864