William Sherman Letters document,

HEADQUARTERS 5th Div. ARMY OF THE TENN.,

CAMP BEFORE Corinth, May 31, 1862.

ORDERS No. 30.

The General commanding 5th Division Eight Wing takes this occasion to express to the officers and men of his command his great satisfaction with them for the courage, steadiness and great industry displayed by them during the past month. Since leaving our memorable camp at Shiloh we have occupied and strongly entrenched seven distinct camps in a manner to excite the admiration and high commendation of General Halleck. The division has occupied the right flank of the Grand Army, thereby being more exposed and calling for more hard work and larger guard details than from any other single division, and the Commanding General repeats that his officers and men have promptly and cheerfully fulfilled their duty, have sprung to the musket or spade according to the occasion, and have just reason to claim a large share in the honors that are due the whole army for the glorious victory terminating at Corinth on yesterday, and it affords him great pleasure to bear full and willing testimony to the qualities of his command that have achieved this victory, a victory none the less decisive because attended with comparatively little loss of life.

But a few clays ago a large and powerful rebel army lay at Corinth with outposts extending to our very camp at Shiloh. They held two railroads extending North and South, East and West across the whole extent of their country, with a vast number of locomotives and cars to bring to them speedily and certainly their reinforcements and supplies. They called to their aid all their armies from every quarter, abandoning the sea coast and the great river Mississippi that they might overwhelm us with numbers in the place of their own choosing. They had their chosen leaders, men of high education and courage, and they dared us to leave the cover of our iron clad gunboats to come and fight them in their trenches, and the still more dangerous ambuscades of their Southern swamps and forests. Their whole country from Eichmond to Memphis and from Nashville to Mobile rang with their taunts and boastings, as to how they would immolate the Yankees if they dared to leave the Tennessee River. They boldly and defiantly challengedus to meet them at Corinth. We accepted the challenge and came slowly and without attempt at concealment to the very ground of their selection, and they had fled away. We yesterday inarched unopposed through the burning embers of their destroyed camps and property, and pursued them to their swamps till burning bridges plainly confessed they have fled and not marched away for better ground. It is a victory as brilliant and important as any recorded in history, and any officer or soldier who has lent his aid has just reason to be proud of his part. No amount of sophistry or words from the leaders of the Rebellion can succeed in giving the evacuation of Corinth under the circumstances any other title than that of a signal defeat, more humiliating to them and their cause than if we had entered the place over the dead and mangled bodies of their soldiers. We are not here to kill and slay, but to vindicate the honor and just authority of that Government which has been bequeathed to us by our honored fathers, and to whom we would be recreant if we permitted their work to pass to our children marred and spoiled by ambitious and wicked rebels. The General commanding while thus claiming for his division their just share in this glorious result, must at the same time remind them that much yet remains to be done, and all must still continue the same vigilant patience, industry and obedience till the enemy lay down their arms and publicly acknowledge that for their supposed grievances they must obey the laws of their country and not attempt its overthrow by threats, by cruelty and by war. They must be made to feel and acknowledge the power of a just and mighty nation.

This result can only be accomplished by a cheerful and ready obedience to the orders and authority of our own leaders, in whom we now have just reason to feel the most implicit confidence. That the fifth division of the right wing will do this, and that in due time we will all go to our families and friends at home, is the earnest prayer and wish of your immediate commander.

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major- General.

[The following was written in lead pencil on the same sheet:]

Dear Brother : Of course the telegraph has announced the evacuation of Corinth. I have sent to General Thomas commanding Right Wing my report. You ask for a copy. This is wrong, as official reports are the property of the War Department. I have sent Ellen the rough draft to keep and I have instructed her to make and send you a copy. We have had no battle and I cannot imagine why Beauregard has declined battle. I was on the extreme right and yesterday pushed into the town and beyond it, but their army had gone off and I was ordered back to this camp.

Pope and Buell are in pursuit, I understand, around by the left, but you will have the result long before you can receive this letter.

I send you a copy of my Division Order which is public, inasmuch as it is issued to my own command. Its publication would interest no one, but lest you should print it on the supposition that it would interest people, I express the wish that it be not published until Halleck's announcement of the abandonment of Corinth be first made public.

I cannot imagine what turn things will now take, but I do not think Halleck will attempt to pursue far. I think that Beauregard cannot now subsist his army or hold it together long.

It must divide to live, and the greatest danger is that they will scatter and constitute guerilla bands. The people are as bitter against us as ever, but the leaders must admit now that they have been defeated. I hope all this army with some exceptions will be marched forthwith to Memphis. A part could be spared for Huntsville, Ala., and Nashville, but as to pursuing overland it would be absurd. We want the Mississippi now in its whole length and a moment should not be lost. I am glad the President has called for more men. He cannot have too many, and the more men the sooner the work will be done. All is not yet accomplished, although certainly great strides have been made. If McClellan succeeds at Richmond and we can take Memphis, we could afford to pause and let events work. Banks' repulse was certain. Three converging armies whose point was in possession of the enemy was worse generalship than they tried to force on me in Kentucky of diverging lines with a superior enemy between. Our people must respect the well-established principles of the art of war, else successful fighting will produce no results. I am glad you are pleased at my report at Shiloh. It possesses the merit of truth and you may safely rely on it, for I make no points but what I can sustain. Your speech was timely and proper for you. You could explain, whereas I had to report actual facts without fear or favor. I will write when more at leisure. The enemies' works are very extensive. They must have had 100,000 men.

Your brother,

W. T. SHERMAN.