the "war party" at the North, and that, coupled with the conclusion
above reached, made, as Sherman so forcibly stated it, "a complete,
logical whole."

General Sherman then went on to give in his masterly way the
advantages and disadvantages of the several objectives open to him
as the goal of his march, reserving to himself finally the choice
between three,--Savannah, Mobile, and Pensacola,--trusting to
Richmond papers to keep Grant well advised of his movements and of
his final choice of the objective; and then, near the close of this
letter, in discussing the military aspects of his proposed march,
upon which he was about entering, he reverted to the old theory of
the line of the Tennessee--"on the supposition always that Thomas
can hold the line of the Tennessee, and very shortly be able to
assume the offensive as against Beauregard."

DID IT INVOLVE WAR OR STATESMANSHIP?

It is impossible not to admire the thoroughness with which Sherman
had considered all possible or even imaginary difficulties in his
way, nor to suppress a smile at the supreme confidence with which
he set out, with sixty thousand of the best soldiers in the world,
upon a march through a fine healthy country laden with abundance
of supplies for men and animals, at a time when only two armies in
the South were strong enough to offer him any serious opposition,
both of them farther from his line of march than he was from his
goal when he started, one besieged by Grant in Petersburg, and the
other already commencing an aggressive campaign against Thomas in
Tennessee! It is equally impossible to speak seriously of the
apprehension of some geographers and logisticians that Hood would
interfere in some way with Sherman's march through Georgia. Hood
could not have got within two hundred miles of Sherman before the
latter had destroyed as much of Georgia as he wished, and then
captured Savannah. Of course Sherman was not disturbed by any
apprehension that Hood might possibly oppose the march to Savannah.
He could have meant by what he said in his despatches on the subject
only that Hood would be compelled by "public clamor" to return to
Georgia to defend that State against Sherman's _further_ operations.
Hence his strong insistence that Thomas pursue Hood with energy,
and thus keep him out of his (Sherman's) way.

It had never occurred to me, if the fact ever existed, that the
rebellion could not be suppres