Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/269

 President Davis in Reply to General Sherman. 263

Stephens- Johnson letter was the letter, and here's the original,^' but he reported to the War Department that "\\\e particular letter of Mr. Davis" was found by him in Raleigh.

Senator Vance, upon hearing of the alleged Raleigh letter, promptly- denied all knowledge of it, and wrote to the Washington Post, under date of December 13, 1885, that :

" Every letter ever written to me on a political topic by President Davis is to be found faithfully copied on the official letter-books of the executive department of North Carolina. Those letter-books were taken from me by General Sherman's troops at the closing of the war, and are now in possession of the War Department in this city. Aside from the letter-books. General Sherman never saw any letter addressed to me by President Davis. Although I have not seen those books and read their contents in almost twenty years, I am quite sure that no such letter can be found there. I could not have forgotten such a letter had it been received by me. The sug- gestion, therefore, that I am the person referred to in General Sher man's statement is entirely untrue. The attempt of some newspapers to give probability to this suggestion, by alleging that I was in bitter hostility whilst Governor of North Carolina to the administration of Mr. Davis, is based also upon a misrepresentation of the facts."

Senator Vance at the same lime sent to the Washington Post a copy of my letter to him of date November i, 1862, which he said " contains no such expression as a threat against States attempting to secede from the Confederacy, but does contain this expression : ' I feel grateful to you for the cordial manner in which you have sustained every proposition connected with the public defence.' This much is due to truth. I do not wish to pose as a martyr to the circumstances of those times, or as one ready to turn upon his associates after defeat. I desire to take my full share of responsi- bility for anything I did and said during those unhappy times.

" Great as were the abilities, and high as were the courage and faithfulness of Mr. Davis, I have no disposition to load him with all the misfortunes of defeat."

Before the publication of the above letter from Senator Vance in the Washington Post, interviews with Senator Vance had developed the fact that a correspondence had taken place during the war be- tween Governor Vance and myself, and at that General Sherman also grasped as the foundation for his slander. A St. Louis Re- publican reporter, on the 15th of December, 1884, asked General Sherman, "Was Senator Vance, the Senator referred to in your