The Background
One of the more bizarre events in Atlanta history that never gets the discussion it deserves occurred in January 1879, when the city hosted General William Tecumseh Sherman—yep, the same man whose army (partly) burned down the place just 14 years earlier.
As Commanding General of the Army, Sherman was conducting an official tour of military installations in the Southeastern United States and stopped for three days in Atlanta, where he was received—well, cordially would probably be the best word.
The Atlanta Constitution described his arrival by train:
“A large crowd collected along sidewalks to see the general of the army. The depot was comfortably filled, mostly with white people. A sort of light, good-humor pervaded the crowd, spiced up with curiosity to see the man who had burned Atlanta. There was no perceptible indignation or feeling of prejudice. . . there were jokes flying to and fro.”1
Most of those spectators probably didn’t even live in Atlanta during Sherman’s previous visit.
In 1860, Atlanta had fewer than 10,000 residents and was only the fourth-largest city in Georgia.2 By 1880, it had more than tripled in size to 37,400, becoming the state’s largest city.3
For his 1879 visit to Atlanta, Sherman toured the rebuilt city by carriage and was feted with a ball at nearby Fort McPherson,4 where he also conducted a formal inspection of the troops and facilities.5 6 He spent two nights in the Kimball House Hotel, meeting a string of local dignitaries, including the mayor and the state governor.7
Sherman was complimentary of Atlanta’s growth since the Civil War, telling the Constitution:
“I see the streets are the same, but the city is wonderfully changed, and has an appearance of enterprise and thrift that is admirable. When I was here during the war my men liked Atlanta very much. It was one of the healthiest points through which we passed. All our soldiers fared well here and found the climate very pleasant.”8
Ah, but they didn’t like the city enough to spare it.
One of Sherman’s visitors in Atlanta was E.P. Howell, then the editor-in-chief of the Constitution, who wrote a letter to the general shortly after he embarked for Florida.
Howell asked Sherman to share his observations of Georgia and Atlanta, hoping that “it might be the means of attracting the attention of those who have capital as well as those who control and give direction to the tide of immigration.”
Sherman was happy to oblige—his full response appeared in the Constitution and was subsequently reprinted by newspapers throughout the country. It’s now published here.
In the letter, Sherman had measured praise for Georgia’s growth, comparing it to western states like California, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Kansas, while noting that “Georgia has not kept pace…”
Sherman specifically identified Atlanta and the northern part of the state as ripe for development, and concluded that “North Georgia is now in a condition to invite emigration from the northern states of our union and from Europe, and all parties concerned should advertise widely…”
His words were timely, as Georgia—like most Southern states—had been slow to embrace immigration, though it was considered essential for the region’s future economic success. Only Texas had made a concerted effort on that front, establishing a dedicated immigration bureau in 1871.9
When the Georgia legislature finally passed a half-assed immigration bill in October 1879,10 it was described by the Constitution as an “experimental measure” that “did not come up to the desires of the real friends of immigration in the state…”11
Notably, the legislation established a state commissioner of immigration, who was appointed by the governor.12 13 Based in New York, the commissioner was tasked with luring immigrants to Georgia, but the position wasn’t even paid.14
The New South.
Letter From General Sherman.
In Which He Discusses the Industrial and Agricultural Resources of the South—What is Needed for its Further Development—Some Sound Views from a High Authority.
Atlanta, Ga., February 1, 1879.
“General W.T. SHERMAN—DEAR SIR: In the course of several conversations while you were in Atlanta, you were pleased to refer to the growth and prosperity of the city and the material progress made by the people after the war. You also spoke of the healthfulness of our climate and the advantages offered here to capitalists and industrious immigrants.
“Your position during the war gave you an opportunity to study carefully our state, and especially Atlanta. By the time this reaches you, you will have passed entirely across the state, and I have thought that if you could be induced to write the result of your observations with respect to the natural advantages of our soil, climate, and the resources of our section, it might be the means of attracting the attention of those who have capital as well as those who control and give direction to the tide of immigration.
“I know that continual demands, official and social, are made upon your time, but I was so struck with the aptness of some of your comments and the practical nature of your suggestions that I have ventured to address you this letter.”
Yours truly,
E.P. HOWELL.
ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA., FEBRUARY 4, 1879.
‘Captain E.P. Howell, Editor Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia—My Dear Sir: Your most acceptable letter of February 1 reached me here yesterday, and I avail myself of the first moment of leisure to reply.
‘My opportunities for studying the physical features of Georgia have been even larger than you mention. In 1843-4 I went from Augusta to Marietta in a stage (when Atlanta had no existence); thence to Belfonte, Alabama, on horseback, returning afterwards all the way on horseback to Augusta by a different road; again, in 1864, I conducted, as all the world knows, a vast army from Chattanooga to Atlanta and Savannah, and just now have passed over the same district in railway cars. Considering the history of this period of time (35 years), the development of the country has been great, but not comparable with California, Iowa, Wisconsin, or Kansas, in all which states I have had similar chances for observation. The reason why Georgia has not kept pace with the states I have named is beyond question that emigration would not go where slavery existed. Now that this cause is removed there is no longer any reason why Georgia, especially the northern part, should not rapidly regain her prominence among the great states of our union. I know that no section is more favored in climate, health, soil, minerals, water, and everything which man needs for his material wants, and to contribute to his physical and intellectus development. Your railroads, already finished, giving your people cheap supplies, and the means of sending in every section their surplus products of the soil or of manufactures. You have immense beds of iron and coal, besides inexhaustible quantities of timber, oak, hickory, beech, poplar, pine, etc., so necessary in modern factories, and which are becoming scarce in other sections of our busy country.
‘North Georgia is peculiarly adapted to fruit orchards, to gardens and small farms; and all you need to make it teem with prosperity is more people from that class of northern farmers and manufacturers, and that other large class of European emigrants, which has converted the northwest from a wilderness into comfortable homes for millions of contented people.
‘I have crossed this continent many times, by almost every possible route, and feel certain that at this time no single region holds out as strong inducements for industrious emigrants as that from Lynchburg, Virginia to Huntsville, Alabama, right and left, embracing the mountain ranges and intervening valleys, especially East Tennessee, North Georgia and Alabama. I hope I will not give offense in saying that the present population has not done full justice to this naturally beautiful and most favored region of our country, and that two or three millions of people could be diverted from the great west to this region with profit and advantage to all concerned. This whole region, though called “southern,” is in fact, “northern”—viz: it is a wheat-growing country; has a climate in no sense tropical or southern, but was designed by nature for small farms and not for large plantations. In the region I have named, North Georgia forms a most important part; and your city, Atlanta, is its natural center or capital. It is admirably situated, a thousand feet above the sea, healthy, with abundance of the purest water, and with granite, limestone, sandstone and clay convenient to build a second London. In 1864 my army, composed of nearly a hundred thousand men, all accustomed to a northern climate, were grouped about Atlanta from June to November without tents, and were as vigorous, healthy and strong as though they were in Ohio or New York. Indeed, the whole country from the Tennessee to the Ocmulgee is famous for health, pure water, abundant timber, and with a large proportion of good soil, especially in the valleys, and all you need is more people of the right sort.
‘I am satisfied from my recent visit, that northern professional men, manufacturers, mechanics, and farmers may come to Atlanta, Rome and Chattanooga with a certainty of fair dealing and fair encouragement. Though I was personally regarded the bete-noir of the late war in your region, the author of all your woes, yet I admit that I have just passed over the very ground desolated by the civil war, and have received everywhere nothing but the kind and courteous treatment from the highest to the lowest, and I heard of no violence to others for opinions’ sake. Some union men spoke to me of social ostracism, but I saw nothing of it, and even if it does exist it must disappear with the present generation. Our whole framework of government and history is founded on the personal and political equality of citizens, and philosophy teaches that social distinctions can only rest on personal merit and corresponding intelligence, and if any part of a community clings to distinctions founded on past conditions, it will grow less and less with time and finally disappear. Any attempt to build up an aristocracy or a privileged class at the south, on the fact that their fathers or grandfathers once owned slaves, will result in a ridiculous failure and subject the authors to the laughter of mankind. I refer to this subject incidentally because others have argued the case with me, but whether attempted elsewhere in the south. I am certain it will not be attempted in Georgia.
‘Therefore, I shall believe and maintain that North Georgia is now in a condition to invite emigration from the northern states of our union and from Europe, and all parties concerned should advertise widely the great inducements your region holds out to the industrious and frugal of all lands; agents should be appointed in New York to advise, and others at Knoxville, Chattanooga, Rome, Atlanta, etc., to receive immigrants and to point out to them on arrival where cheap lands may be had with reasonable credit, where companies may open coal and iron mines, where mills may be erected to grind wheat and corn, spin cotton, and to manufacture the thousand and one things you can now buy from abroad; and more especially to make known that you are prepared to welcome and patronize men who will settle in your region and form a part of your community.
‘Your growth and development since the war have been good, very good—better than I was prepared to see; but compare it with San Francisco, Denver, Portland, Oregon, Leavenworth, Chicago, St. Louis, or hundreds of places I could mention, less favored in climate and location than Atlanta. These cities have been notoriously open to the whole world, and all men felt perfectly at liberty to go there with their families, with their acquired wealth and with their personal energy. You must guarantee the same, not superficially or selfishly, but with that sincerity and frankness which carry conviction.
‘Personally, I would not like to check the flow of emigration westward, because of the vast natural importance of that region, but I do believe that every patriot should do what he can to benefit every part of our whole country, and I am sure that good will result from turning a part of this great tide of human life and energy southward along the valleys of the Alleghany mountains, especially of East Tennessee, Northern Georgia and Alabama, and if I can aid you in this good work I assure you that I will do so with infinite pleasure.
‘Excuse me if I ask you as an editor to let up somewhat on the hobby of “carpet-baggers.” I know that you personally supply the term only to political adventurers, but others, your readers, construe it otherwise. I have resided in San Francisco, Leavenworth and Saint Louis, and of the men who have built up these great cities, I assert that not one in fifty was a native of the place. All, or substantially all, were carpet-baggers, i.e, immigrants from all parts of the world, many of them from the south.
‘Our supreme court, congress, and our most prominent and intellectual men, now hail from localities of their own adoption, not of their birth.
‘Let the emigrant to Georgia feel and realize that his business and social position result from his own industry, his merits and his virtues, and not from the accidental place of his birth, and soon the great advantages of climate, soil, minerals, timbers, etc. etc., will fill up your country, and make Atlanta one of the most prosperous, beautiful and attractive cities, not alone in the south, but of the whole continent, an end which I desire quite as much as you do.
‘Our nation has passed its infancy with the usual diseases peculiar to that period of life, and now, in its second century, it enters on its epoch of manhood. In this you, a younger man, have more at stake than I. I beg of you to look ahead and not behind, and to encourage by word and example every effort to make Georgia the contented home of three or four millions of industrious and virtuous people.
‘For your personal courtesy to me on my recent visit I give you hearty thanks, and will, on my return to Washington, be most happy to hear from you further on this and kindred subjects. With respect, your friend,’
W.T. SHERMAN15
References
- “Two Receptions.” The Atlanta Constitution, January 30, 1879, p. 1. ↩︎
- Georgia in 1860 – New Georgia Encyclopedia ↩︎
- 1880 Census: Volume 1. Statistics of the Population of the United States ↩︎
- “Two Receptions.” The Atlanta Constitution, January 30, 1879, p. 1. ↩︎
- ibid. ↩︎
- ↩︎
- “Wm. T., Come, Sir!” The Atlanta Constitution, January 31, 1879, p. 1. ↩︎
- ibid. ↩︎
- The Bureau of Immigration in Texas: History and Impact – Texas State Historical Association ↩︎
- Sine Die.” The Atlanta Constitution, October 16, 1879, p. 1. ↩︎
- “Georgia’s Immigrant Agent.” The Atlanta Constitution, October 23, 1879, p. 1. ↩︎
- ibid. ↩︎
- “Fontaine’s Facts.” The Atlanta Constitution, December 14, 1879, p. 1. ↩︎
- ibid. ↩︎
- Sherman, W.T. “The New South.” The Atlanta Constitution, February 11, 1879, p. 1. ↩︎