We insist on talking and thinking about the Iraq insurgency as if it were new or unexpected; yet the most elementary sense of history will throw doubt on this proposition. General Sherman at the end of the Civil War, winding up one of those most sustained and successful campaigns in human history, agonized over the terms of surrender, and made every effort to assure that the Confederate forces dispersed in an orderly manner, lest the “vanquished” disintegrate into a mob. “What we now want,” he said “is the new form of law by which common men may regain the positions of industry, so long disturbed by the war.” Protesting when he was overruled, he said, “I now apprehend that the rebel armies will disperse; and instead of dealing with six or seven States, we will have to deal with numberless bands of desperadoes.
In the end, matters worked out mostly to Sherman’s liking, although the history of Reconstruction, and indeed the long history of the opening of the American West may be regarded as an extended coda to the Union victory.
It’s interesting to note that Sherman’s concern for good civil order extended to his own troops as well as the enemy. Here he is in his farewell letter to the Army that had followed him in the long march across the Confederacy:
To such as remain in the service, your general need only remind you that success in the past was due to hard work and discipline, and that the same work and discipline are equally important in the future. To such as go home, he will only say that our favoured country is so grand, so extensive, so diversified in climate, soil, and production, that every man may find a home and occupation suited to his taste; none should held to the natural impatience sure to result from our past life of excitement and adventure. You will be invited to seek new adventures abroad; do not yield to the temptation, for it will lead only to death and disappointment.
William T. Sherman, Memoirs 870 (Library of America ed. 1990)
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