In Their Own Words Union Soldiers

"If you bring these leaders to trial, it will condemn the North, for by the Constitution, secession is not a rebellion. His [Jefferson Davis] capture was a mistake. His trial will be a greater one. We cannot convict him of treason."

  Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, 1867

 
"I can not say I like it [Emancipation Proclamation] for you know I don't like Negroes any better than you do, yet I go in for any thing to weaken the enemy. I am willing to fight for any means to restore and preserve the Union and Constitution. As it was but for the sake of freeing Negroes never." 

  A. W. Osgood, Company "G" 23rd New York Vols, Letter written from Ruffins Camp, Belle Plain, Va., March 11th, 1863
 
"...the Union must obtain full victory as essential to preserve the economy of the country. Concessions to the South would lead to a new nation founded on slavery expansion which would destroy the U.S. Economy." 

 Pamphlet No 14. "The Preservation of the Union A National Economic Necessity," The Loyal Publication Society, printed in New York , May 1863, by Wm. C. Bryant & Co. Printers.

 

"Extermination, not of soldiers alone, that is the least part of the trouble, but the [Southern] people." His charming and nurturing wife Ellen wrote back that her fondest wish was for a war "of extermination and that all [Southerners] would be driven like the Swine into the sea." 

General Sherman’s letter of July 31, 1862 to his wife (from his Collected Works).
 
"Help me to dodge the nigger--we want nothing to do with him. I am fighting to preserve the integrity of the Union and the power of the Govt--on no other issue. To gain that end we cannot afford to mix up the negro question--it must be incidental and subsidiary. The President is perfectly honest and is really sound on the nigger question."  

 General George B. McClellan
 
"Until we can repopulate Georgia, it is useless to occupy it, but the utter destruction of it's roads, houses, and PEOPLE  will cripple their military resources….I can make the march, and make Georgia howl."    

Gen. W.T. Sherman  

 
"Negro Jails Not Interfered With"
 
"It was believed that the Federal soldiers were interested in the freedom of slaves and aided them in many ways. It is true, quite a number of the would-be freedmen joyfully followed the army, but the majority repented and tried to get back. I met a number of them at the North during a business trip in June 1865, and at different times later on, all of whom regretted leaving and used every means possible to get South again---many even walked back. One poor fellow offered to give any kind of paper, that he would serve me all his life, if I would only take him home. Strange to say, although Sherman 's men---bummers we'll call them---destroyed property indiscriminately, they surely spared two "nigger jails" as they were termed and they are standing to this day. And I know of one case at least where a black man who, it was said, made insulting remarks to a Yankee soldier, was shot dead on the spot.  General Sherman passed at the time and inquired into matter; his comment was to the effect that his men were excited. "Bury him boys, dont be so brash another time." And the murdered colored citizen was buried on the southwest corner of the Bull and Lumber Street lot."
 
(Memorabilia and Anecdotal Reminiscences of Columbia, South Carolina, Julian A. Selby, R.L. Bryan Company, 1905) 
 
"Our method of warfare is different from that in Europe . We are not fighting against enemy armies but against an enemy people; both young and old, rich and poor must feel the iron hand of war in the same way as the organized armies. In this respect my march through Georgia was a wonderful success."

General Sherman to General Grant, End of January, 1865.
 
"If I thought this war was to abolish slavery, I would resign my commission, and offer my sword to the other side."

Ulysses S. Grant

 
"A nation preserved with liberty trampled underfoot is much worse than a nation in fragments but with the spirit of liberty still alive.  Southerners persistently claim that their rebellion is for the purpose of preserving this form of government." 

Private John H. Haley, 17th Maine Regiment , USA

 

"All the Congresses on earth can't make the Negro anything else but what he is; he must be subject to the white man, or he must amalgamate or be destroyed. Two such races cannot live in harmony, save as master and slave. Mexico shows the result of general equality and amalgamation, and the Indians give a fair illustration of the fate of Negroes if they are released from the control of the whites."

 General William T. Sherman, July, 1860.
 

"Our method of warfare is different from that in Europe . We are not fighting against enemy armies but against an enemy people; both young and old, rich and poor must feel the iron hand of war in the same way as the organized armies. In this respect my march through Georgia was a wonderful success." 

 General Sherman to General Grant, End of January, 1865
 

“We do not like the negroes. We do not disguise our dislike.”

Senator John Sherman, Ohio, (General Shermans brother)

 

"The niggers, as a general thing, preferred to stay at home, particularly after they found out that we wanted only the able-bodied men, and to tell the truth, the youngest and best looking women. Sometimes we took them off by way of repaying influential secessionist. But a part of these we soon managed to lose, sometimes in crossing rivers, sometimes in other ways."

 Thomas J. Myers, Lieutenant , U.S. , February 26, 1865

 

"Only a despotic and imperial government can coerce seceding States." 

 William Seward, US Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln, to Charles Francis Adams, minister to England , 10 April 1861

 
“I turned about, and there behind me, riding between my two lines, appeared a commanding form, superbly mounted, richly accoutered, of imposing bearing, noble countenance, with expression of deep sadness overmastered by deeper strength. It is none other than Robert E. Lee! … I sat immovable, with a certain awe and admiration.”
 
Union General Joshua Chamberlain at Appomattox