MaineMilitia.com

While I am currently studying the Atlanta and Tennessee campaign of 64, I've come across a very interesting correspondence between General Sherman and General Hood in early September of 1864.
Sherman wrote Hood asking that all the citizens of Atlanta be relocated in case a battle should take place there. His true intentions however were to house his troops and use the city to any of the army's needs.
Hood declined respectfully. But the correspondence became hot when Sherman wrote a rash letter in reply that set the stage of an argument upon some deep seeded feelings.
I will share some of what these two commanders wrote.
Sherman wrote Hood on the 7th of September,
"You who in the midst of peace and prosperity have plunged a nation into war-dark and cruel war; who dared and badgered us to battle, insulted our flag, seized our arsenals and forts that were left in the honorable custody of peaceful ordnance sergeants, seized and made "prisoners of war" the very garrison sent to protect your people against negroes and Indians, long before any overt act was committed by the hated Lincoln Government; tried to force Kentucky and Missouri into rebellion, in spite of themselves; falsified the vote of Louisiana; turned loose your privateers to plunder unarmed ships; expelled Union families by the thousands, burned their houses, and declared, by an act of your Congress, the confiscation of all depts due to Northern men, for good had and received!
If we must be enemies, let us be men, and fight it out as we propose to do and not deal in such hypocritical appeals to God and humanity. God will judge us in good time, and he will pronounce whether it be humane to fight with a town full of women and the families of the brave people at our back., or to remove them in time to places of safety among their own friends and people." -W. T. Sherman

I believe that Sherman forgot that when Fort Sumter and other Forts in the South surrendered to the will of the soil they stood on in 1861 all the so called prisoners were sent back North with all their baggage and dignity unharmed. Did he not forget the 100 gun salute following the battle of Fort Sumter?
However, it was Sherman and other Federal commanders who did not send Southern fighting men back South from the captured Forts Donelson and Henry.
As for the crimes of deporting citizens and burning homes he also seemed to forget general orders 9,10, and 11 in Missouri which ordered the Federal removal of Southron citizens from their homes and the murdering of hundreds of civilians there.
He also did not bear in mind his own Special Order # 11 to his army which stated, "There is a class of people (in the South), men, women and children, who must be killed or banished before you can hope for peace and order. Next year their lands will be taken, for in war we can take them, and rightfully too, and another year they may beg in vain for their lives."

On the 9th of September, General Hood replied to Sherman's letter containing real facts.
"You charge my country with 'daring and badgering you to battle.' The truth is, we sent commissioners to you, respectfully offering a peaceful separation, before the first gun was fired on either side. You say we insulted your flag. The truth is, we fired upon it, and those who fought under it, when you came to our doors upon the mission of subjugation.
You say we seized upon forts and arsenals and made prisoners of the garrisons sent to protect us against negroes and Indians. The truth is, we, by force of arms, drove out insolent intruders and took possession of our own forts and arsenals...'
You say that we tried to force Kentucky and Missouri into rebellion in spite of themselves. The truth is, my government from the beginning of the struggle to this hour, has again and again offered, before the whole world, to leave it to the unbiased will of these states, and all others, to determine for themselves whether they will cast their destiny with your government or ours; and your government has resisted this fundamental principal of free institutions, with the bayonet, and labors daily, by force and fraud, to fasten its hateful tyranny upon the unfortunate freemen of these states.
You say we falsified the vote of Louisiana. The truth is, Louisiana not only separated herself from your government by nearly a unanimous vote of her people, but had vindicated the act upon every battlefield from Gettysburg to the Sabine, and has exhibited an heroic devotion to her decision which challenges the admiration and respect of every man capable of feeling sympathy for the oppressed or admiration for heroic valor.
You say that we turned loose pirates to plunder your unarmed ships. The truth is, when you robbed us of our part of the navy, we built and bought a few vessels, hoisted the flag of our country, and swept the seas, in defiance of your navy, around the whole circumference of the globe.
You say we have expelled Union families by thousands. The truth is, not a single family has been expelled from the Confederate States, that I am aware of;
You order into exile the whole population of a city; drive men, women, and children from their homes at the point of the bayonet, under the plea that it is to the interest of your government, and on the claim that it is an act of 'kindness to these families of Atlanta.'
Butler only banished from New Orleans the registered enemies of his government, and acknowledged that he did it as punishment. You issue a sweeping edict, covering all the inhabitants of a city, and add insult to the injury heaped upon the defenseless by assuming that you have done them a kindness.
You came into our country with your army, avowedly for the purpose of subjugating...
You say, 'You say let us fight it out like men.' To this I reply-for myself, and I believe for all the true men, aye, and women and children, in my country-WE WILL FIGHT YOU TO THE DEATH! Better to die a thousand deaths than to submit to live under you or your government and your n*groe alleys!"-General Hood

I have always been very dismayed (yet not surprised) that most Civil War documentaries include only one line from Hood's last letter to Sherman. As you may guess, as it was in Ken Burn's documentary, only Hood's last sentence was quoted...