Description:

Jefferson Davis ALS Re: Sherman's March to the Sea, Beauregard, Hood's "disastrous campaign"

Jefferson Davis (1808-1889). Autograph Letter Signed, “Jefferson Davis”, 2pp on blind-embossed ruled bifold stationery, 5” x 8”, Beauvoir, Mississippi, October 11, 1884. To Colonel Robert Nicholson Scott (1838-1887), compiler of Civil War records, U.S. War Department. Expected mailing folds with separation at vertical folds. Toning, discoloration and minor soiling. Mounting remnants at verso. With RR Auction Certificate. In near fine condition and boldly signed.

In full: "Yours of the 8th inst. has been this day received, and the enclosure compared. It is in the main correct, the alterations you will find restored by pencil erasure & interlineation. You were correct in the supposition that it was a telegram; and that together with the fact that it was addressed to one fully informed of my views, will account for its brevity. The telegram to which mine was a response was, I believe, the one which announced a change of the place of campaign; which Genl. Beauregard accepted at Augusta, and thence, was to proceed to execute. The last sentences of my telegram conveyed to Genl. Beauregard my disatifaction [sic] at the change, & doubt as to the expected result. If the subject is of sufficient interest to you, to induce you to read further of it, allow me to refer to a work entitled "Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government" vol. 2 pp 567 et seq. and to Genl. Hood's book "Advance and Retreat" pp 270 et seq. Hood writing after his disatrous campaign into Tennessee, and the but little interrupted march of Sherman through Ga. in the absence of Hood's Army, was too truthful and manly to attempt to avoid responsibility by transferring it to me, or by showing how far he would have to start behind Sherman, after he had allowed Sherman to move southward & eastward, while he (Hood) was marching to the northward and westward."

In the here offered letter, Davis recounts his dissatisfaction with Beauregard's actions during the war. Davis considered many of Beauregard's plans to be impractical for an army as inexperienced as the Confederates, and throughout the war, Davis and Beauregard would argue about Beauregard's tendencies to devise grand strategies based on formal military principles. Beauregard's outspoken and combative nature led to a strained relationship with Davis, and in 1863, Beauregard was removed from his post and placed in command of the defenses of Charleston, South Carolina.

Davis's also references the "little interrupted march of Sherman through Georgia". Major General William T. Sherman's "March to the Sea" was a military campaign conducted through Georgia which began on November 15, 1864 with Sherman's troops leaving Atlanta, recently taken by Union forces, and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21, 1864. Although Beauregard took command of the defenses, he couldn't see that John Bell Hood had no men to send to engage Sherman. A "disatrous campaign", the operation debilitated the Confederacy and helped lead to its eventual surrender. Davis here claims that he told Beauregard: "The last sentence of my telegram conveyed to Genl. Beauregard my dissatisfaction at the change and doubt as to the expected result." 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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