WILLIAM SOOY SMITH

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES
St. Louis, Missouri, July 11, 1875.

General J. D. WEBSTER, Chicago, Illinois

DEAR GENERAL:  General W. Sooy Smith feels aggrieved and wronged by my account of his part in the Meridian campaign, in my “Memoirs,” pages 394, 395, and properly appeals to me for correction.  I have offered to modify any words or form of expression that he may point out, but he asks me to completely change the whole that concerns him.  This, of course, I will not do, as his part was material to the whole, and cannot be omitted or materially altered without changing the remainder, for his failure to reach Meridian by February 10th was the reason for other movements distant from him.  I now offer him, what seems to me fair and liberal, that we submit the points at issue to you as arbitrator.  You are familiar with the ground, the coincident history, and most, if not all, the parties.

I propose to supply you with

1.  Copy of my orders placing all the cavalry under General Smith’s orders (with returns).

2.  My letter of instructions to him of January 27th.

3.  My official report of the campaign, dated Vicksburg, March 7, 1864.

4.  General W. Sooy Smith’s report of his operations, dated Nashville, Tennessee, March 4, 1864.

After reading these, I further propose that you address us questions which we will answer in writing, when you are to make us a concise, written decision, which I will have published in close connection with the subject in controversy.  If General Smith will show you my letter to him of this date, and also deliver this with his written assent, I will promptly furnish you the above documents, and also procure from the official files a return of the cavalry force available at and near Memphis on the date of my orders, viz., January 27, 1864.

With great respect, your friend and servant,

W. T. SHERMAN, General.

NOTE:—­General Smith never submitted his case to the arbitration offered.  The whole will be made clear by the publication of the official records, which are already in print, though not yet issued.  His orders were in writing, and I have no recollection of the “peremptory” verbal orders to which he refers, and quotes as from me.

ST. Louis, Missouri, 1895.  W. T. S.

MAYWOOD, ILLINOIS, July 14, 1875.

General W. T. SHERMAN, Commander-in-Chief, etc.

DEAR GENERAL:  Your letter of the 11th of July reaches me just as I am starting to spend the first vacation I have ever allowed myself —­in the Territories, with my wife and son.

It indicates a spirit of fairness from which we have better things than an arbitration to hope for.  Though, if we should reach such a necessity, there is no one living to whom our differences might more properly be referred than to General Webster.  I make no objection to your writing your “Memoirs,” and, as long as they refer to your own conduct, you are at liberty to write them as you like; but, when they refer to mine, and deal unjustly with my reputation, I, of right, object.