President Davis in Reply to General Sherman. 275
nor of that Stale by the votes of a larger majority of her people of every race than was ever polled before or since; his elevation to the Senate of the United States, and the respect, admiration and regard which is shown to him, must be particularly vexing to the Shermans, and may have suggested to the General to " hedge '" in his " Memoirs" and con/ess his wrong doing. Such an act of penance, if it brought true and genuine repentance, would have protected the memory of Albert Sidney Johnston, the fame of General Grant and my own repu- tation from the slanders which called forth this exposure. It would also have prevented the United States Senate from having indorsed a falsehood, which is liable to be confessed when another volume of "Memoirs" shall be prepared.
I have in this vindication, not of myself only, but also of the peo- ple who honored me with the highest official position in their gift, been compelled to group together instances of repeated falsehoods deliberately spoken and written by General Sherman — the Blair Post slander of myself, the defamation of the character of General Albert Sidney Johnston, the disparagement of the military fame of General Grant, and the shameful and corrupt charge against General Hamp- ton. I have prepared this examination and exposure only because the Senate of the United States has given to Sherman's slander an indorsement which gives it whatever claims it may have to attention and of power to mislead in the future. Having specifically stamped the statement as false, having proved its author to be an habitual slanderer, and not having a partisan secretary to make a place for this notice of a personal tirade, which was neither an official report nor record made during the war, so as to entitle it to be received at the office of archives, I submit it to the public through the columns of a newspaper which discountenances foul play and misrepresentation, and which was kind and just to me in saying in its issue of January 14. 1885 :
" The Sherman statement was altogether one-sided ; Mr. Davis had yet to be heard from, and for the Republicans of the Senate to force a snap judgment upon the Sherman statement without hearing what Mr. Davis had to say about it, smacks more of the political par- tisan than of the fair-minded adversary." The public, through The Sun, has this, my reply, and can dispense its "even-handed justice" with full knowledge of the facts.
Very sincerely yours,
Jefferson Davis.
