#Shermans like what does a 9 yr old enjoy is it politics and misery because thats what Im going with

[tipsywench]

Found a collection of letters that Sherman wrote right before the Civil War broke out, when he was the superintendent of an academy in Louisiana and for a short time thought his family might join him. He started writing to his 9 year old daughter about how he had tried planning a new life for them:

I know you would all like the house so much — but dear little Minnie, man proposes and God disposes — what I have been planning so long and patiently, and thought that we were all on the point of realizing, the dream and hope of my life, that we could all be together once more in a home of our own, with peace and quiet and plenty around us. All, I fear, is about to vanish...

Which is a depressing topic itself but then he slips into politics and talk of war and about halfway through realizes his daughter will have no idea wtf he’s ranting about so includes this little disclaimer:

You cannot understand this but Mama will explain it to you.

And then he eventually realizes perhaps Ellen should read the letter first, so he writes just for his wife and states:

. . . I started to write a letter to Minnie but got drawn into this political strain that is not for her but you. Read her so much of the letter as you please and the rest to yourself. 

The idea of him getting so worked up that he forgot who he was writing to is pretty much 100% Sherman. And I’m laughing at how he basically went: “Ellen I’m dumb, censor my letter for me. Thanks.”

#william tecumseh sherman #civil war #history #Shermans like what does a 9 yr old enjoy is it politics and misery because thats what Im going with