James Montgomery Calhoun (February 12, 1811 – October 1, 1875) was an American politician who served as the sixteenth mayor of Atlanta, Georgia during the American Civil War, best known as the recipient of Union General William T. Sherman's famous "war is cruelty" (often misquoted as "war is hell") letter.
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Early life and education
James Montgomery Calhoun was born on February 12, 1811, at the Calhoun settlement on Long Crane Creek in Abbeville County, South Carolina, to Rebecca (née Tonnyhill) and William Calhoun. His father was a cousin of Democrat John C. Calhoun. His brother was Ezekiel Noble Calhoun, a surgeon of the Confederate Army.
Around 1827, Calhoun moved to Decatur, Georgia, to live with his brother Ezekiel. He attended a village school ran taught by David Kiddoo for two years and began studying law in 1831 under Hines Holt. He was admitted to the bar in February 1832.
Career
Following his admission to the bar, Calhoun practiced law in Decatur. During the Creek War of 1836, he was a captain and commanded a cavalry company at Fort McCrary. Politically, Calhoun was a Whig in a largely Democratic district but was still elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 1837 from DeKalb County. From 1840 to 1850, he practiced law with his brother-in-law William Harris Dabney in DeKalb County. He also practiced law with B. F. Martin, A. W. Stone, and his son William Lowndes Calhoun. He also owned farms. He served in the Georgia State Senate in 1851.
In 1852, Calhoun moved to Atlanta. He served in the Georgia State Senate, representing Fulton County from 1855 to 1856. He was a member of the judiciary committee. He was vice president of the 1860 Constitutional Union Convention.
Mayor of Atlanta
Calhoun served four one-year terms as its mayor from 1862 to 1865. In 1863, he commissioned a volunteer militia to defend his city. When Union troops under the command of William T. Sherman drew near during the Atlanta campaign, much of the population of Atlanta, including Calhoun's wife and children, fled the city. This reduced the population of Atlanta from around 22,000 to less than 3,000 when the Confederate Army of Tennessee retreated from the city on September 1, 1864.
Calhoun surrendered the city to Union forces under Sherman on September 2, 1864, writing, "Sir: The fortune of war has placed Atlanta in your hands. As mayor of the city I ask protection of non-combatants and private property." A marker now stands at the corner of Peachtree Street and Alabama Street indicating where the surrender took place. Sherman replied by ordering the evacuation of the remaining civilian population of Atlanta on September 7, 1864. Calhoun and the city council protested this order, claiming that most of those who had not fled could not leave on account of their age, sickness, pregnancy, or destitution. In response, Sherman wrote back, accusing the Confederates of hypocrisy for invading Union territory and inflicting pains on American citizens, but only complaining when the reverse was done to them:
Gentleman: I have your letter of the 11th, in the nature of a petition to revoke my orders removing all the inhabitants from Atlanta. I have read it carefully, and give full credit to your statements of distress that will be occasioned, and yet shall not revoke my orders, because they were not designed to meet the humanities of the cause, but to prepare for the future struggles in which millions of good people outside of Atlanta have a deep interest. We must have peace, not only at Atlanta, but in all America. To secure this, we must stop the war that now desolates our once happy and favored country. To stop war, we must defeat the rebel armies which are arrayed against the laws and Constitution that all must respect and obey. To defeat those armies, we must prepare the way to reach them in their recesses, provided with the arms and instruments which enable us to accomplish our purpose. Now, I know the vindictive nature of our enemy, that we may have many years of military operations from this quarter; and, therefore, deem it wise and prudent to prepare in time. The use of Atlanta for warlike purposes in inconsistent with its character as a home for families. There will be no manufacturers, commerce, or agriculture here, for the maintenance of families, and sooner or later want will compel the inhabitants to go. Why not go now, when all the arrangements are completed for the transfer, instead of waiting till the plunging shot of contending armies will renew the scenes of the past month? Of course, I do not apprehend any such things at this moment, but you do not suppose this army will be here until the war is over. I cannot discuss this subject with you fairly, because I cannot impart to you what we propose to do, but I assert that our military plans make it necessary for the inhabitants to go away, and I can only renew my offer of services to make their exodus in any direction as easy and comfortable as possible. You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will.
Personal life
Calhoun married Emma Elizabeth Dabney, daughter of Anderson W. Dabney, in 1832. They had 10 children, Emma Elizabeth, William Lowndes, Anna, Chattanooga, Hannah Rebecca, James Tyre, Patrick Henry, John Dabney, Anna Eliza, and Caroline C. His wife died in 1860. He lived on Washington Street in Atlanta.
Calhoun died on October 1, 1875, in Atlanta. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery.