Henry Adams, private secretary of the US Minister to the UK, to his brother, Charles.
London, December 30, 1864
Sturgis came out one evening quite exuberant, and “What will you give for the news?” says he. It was that of Sherman’s arrival at the coast, and Hood’s defeat at Nashville. You may judge of our exultation. It seems at last that this war is going to come to its end. This last campaign will, I suppose, narrow the field of the war to the Atlantic States, and when that is done, the result is inevitable and must come soon. What a fellow Sherman is! and how well Grant is managing! The combinations of this war are getting so tremendous that there will be nothing left for us in a foreign war except to make the moon a basis, and to march our armies overland to conquer Europe. The result has thrown great consternation into the minds of the English, and with reason. This Canadian business is suddenly found to be serious, and the prospect of Sherman marching down the St. Lawrence, and Farragut sailing up it, does n’t seem just agreeable. They are annoyed at Dix’s order. If they are not sharp they will find annoyance a totally inadequate expression for it.
