William T. Sherman writes to his wife from Louisiana about the election

Colonel William T. Sherman was writing to his wife in Ohio from Alexandria, Louisiana, where he was the first director of the Louisiana State Seminary, later Louisiana State University.  He gave her local results -- Breckinridge first, then Bell, then Douglas -- and said that he had not voted, though he was eligible, but probably would have voted for Bell.  National results had not yet reached Alexandria but he observed that if secession were the final outcome  "it would be unwise for us to be here. Still I hope for quiet..." (By John Osborne)