It may be fairly inferred, from General Sherman's middle name (Tecumseh), that some of his ancestors were Indians. But whether this be true or not, no one can read this statement of his without being convinced that he was a savage. But he was not only a confessed savage, as we have seen, but a confessed vandal as well. He says, on page 256, in telling of a night he spent in one of the splendid old houses of South Carolina, where, he says, "the proprietors formerly had dispensed a hospitality that distinguished the old regime of that proud State:" "I slept (he says) on the floor of the house, but the night was so bitter cold, that I got up by the fire several times, and when it turned low I rekindled it with an old mantel clock and the wreck of a bedstead which stood in the corner of the room—the only act of vandalism that I recall done by myself personally during the war." Since the admissions of a criminal are always taken as conclusive proof of his crime, we now know from his own lips that General Sherman was a vandal.
But we also find, on page 287, that he confessed having told a falsehood about General Hampton, so that we cannot credit his statement that the foregoing was his only act of vandalism. Indeed, we think we have most satisfactory evidence to the contrary. (It will be noted, however, that Sherman makes a distinction between his personal acts of vandalism and those he committed through others.) A part of this evidence is to be found in the following letter from a lieutenant, Thomas J. Myers, published in Vol. 12, Southern Historical Society Papers, page 113, with the following head note:
"The following letter was found in the streets of Columbia after the army of General Sherman had left. The original is still preserved, and can be shown and substantiated, if anybody desires. We are indebted to a distinguished lady of this city for a copy, sent with a request for publication. We can add nothing in the way of comment on such a document. It speaks for itself."
The letter, which is a republication from the Alderson West Virginia Statesman, of October 29, 1883, is as follows:
