Headquarters military division of the Mississippi
in the field, Atlanta, Georgia, September 12, 1864.

James M. Calhoun, Mayor, E. E. Rawson and S. C. Wares, representing
City Council of Atlanta.

Gentlemen:  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 designed to meet the humanities of the case, but to prepare for the future struggles in which millions of good people outside of Atlanta have a deep interest.  We must have peace, not only at Atlanta, but in all America.  To secure this, we must stop the war that now desolates our once happy and favored country.  To stop war, we must defeat the rebel armies which are arrayed against the laws and Constitution that all must respect and obey.  To defeat those armies, we must prepare the way to reach them in their recesses, provided with the arms and instruments which enable us to accomplish our purpose.  Now, I know the vindictive nature of our enemy, that we may have many years of military operations from this quarter; and, therefore, deem it wise and prudent to prepare in time.  The use of Atlanta for warlike purposes is inconsistent with its character as a home for families.  There will be no manufactures, commerce, or agriculture here, for the maintenance of families, and sooner or later want will compel the inhabitants to go.  Why not go now, when all the arrangements are completed for the transfer,—­instead of waiting till the plunging shot of contending armies will renew the scenes of the past months.  Of course, I do not apprehend any such thing at this moment, but you do not suppose this army will be here until the war is over.  I cannot discuss this subject with you fairly, because I cannot impart to you what we propose to do, but I assert that our military plans make it necessary for the inhabitants to go away, and I can only renew my offer of services to make their exodus in any direction as easy and comfortable as possible.

You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will.  War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.  I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace.  But you cannot have peace and a division of our country.  If the United States submits to a division now, it will not stop, but will go on until we reap the fate of Mexico, which is eternal war.  The United States does and must assert its authority, wherever it once had power; for, if it relaxes one bit to pressure, it is gone, and I believe that such is the national feeling.  This