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diff --git a/6962-h/6962-h.htm b/6962-h/6962-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20d1b21 --- /dev/null +++ b/6962-h/6962-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,22266 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> +<TITLE>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Military Reminiscences of the Civil War V2, by Jacob Dolson Cox</TITLE> +<META HTTP-EQUIV="content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +</HEAD> +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Military Reminiscences of the Civil War V2, by +Jacob Dolson Cox + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Military Reminiscences of the Civil War V2 + +Author: Jacob Dolson Cox + +Posting Date: October 12, 2014 [EBook #6962] +Release Date: November, 2004 +First Posted: February 17, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MILITARY REMINISCENCES--CIVIL WAR V2 *** + + + + +Produced by Steve Schulze, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><br> +</p> +<p style="text-align: center;"><br> +<big><big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>MILITARY REMINISCENCES <br> +OF THE CIVIL WAR</big></big></big></p> +<p style="text-align: center;"><small>BY</small></p> +<p style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">JACOB DOLSON COX, +A.M., LL.D.</p> +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Formerly Major-General commanding +Twenty-Third Army Corps<br> +<br> +</i></p> +<p style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">VOLUME II.</p> +<p style="text-align: center;">NOVEMBER 1863-JUNE 1865<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"> +<p style="font-weight: bold;">CONTENTS<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII</a></p> +<p>GRANT IN COMMAND--ROSECRANS RELIEVED</p> +<p>Importance of unity in command--Inevitable difficulties in a double +organization--Burnside's problem different from that of +Rosecrans--Co-operation necessarily imperfect--Growth of Grant's +reputation--Solid grounds of it--Special orders sent him--Voyage to +Cairo--Meets Stanton at Louisville--Division of the Mississippi +created--It included Burnside's and Rosecrans's departments--Alternate +forms in regard to Rosecrans--He is relieved--Thomas succeeds +him--Grant's relations to the change--His intellectual +methods--Taciturnity--Patience--Discussions in his presence--Clear +judgments--His "good anecdote"--Rosecrans sends Garfield to +Washington--Congressman or General--Duplication of offices--Interview +between Garfield and Stanton--Dana's dispatches--Garfield's visit to +me--Description of the rout of Rosecrans's right wing--Effect on the +general--Retreat to Chattanooga--Lookout Mountain abandoned--The +President's problem--Dana's light upon it--Stanton's use of it--Grant's +acquiescence--Subsequent relations of Garfield and Rosecrans--Improving +the "cracker line"--Opening the Tennessee--Combat at Wauhatchie.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII</a></p> +<p>SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE--END OF BURNSIDE'S CAMPAIGN</p> +<p>Departments not changed by Grant--Sherman assigned to that of the +Tennessee--Burnside's situation and supplies--His +communications--Building a railroad--Threatened from Virginia--His +plans--Bragg sends Longstreet into East Tennessee--Their +cross-purposes--Correspondence of Grant and Burnside--Dana and Wilson +sent to consult--Grant approves Burnside's course--Latter slowly retires +on Knoxville--The place prepared for a siege--Combat at Campbell's +station--Within the lines at Knoxville--Topography of the +place--Defences--Assignment of positions--The forts--General Sanders +killed--His self-sacrifice--Longstreet's lines of investment--His +assault of Fort Sanders--The combat--The repulse--The victory at +Missionary Ridge and results--Division of Confederate forces a +mistake--Grant sends Sherman to raise the siege of Knoxville--East +Tennessee a "horror"--Longstreet retreats toward Virginia--Sherman +rejoins Grant--Granger's unwillingness to remain--General Foster sent to +relieve Burnside--Criticism of this act--Halleck's misunderstanding of +the real situation--Grant's easy comprehension of it--His conduct in +enlarged responsibility--General Hunter's inspection report.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX</a></p> +<p>AFFAIRS IN DISTRICT OF OHIO--PLOT TO LIBERATE PRISONERS AT JOHNSON'S +ISLAND</p> +<p>Administrative duties--Major McLean adjutant-general--His loyalty +questioned--Ordered away--Succeeded by Captain Anderson--Robert +Anderson's family--Vallandigham canvass--Bounty-jumping--Action of U. S. +Courts--of the local Probate Court--Efforts to provoke +collision--Interview with the sheriff--Letter to Governor Tod--Shooting +soldiers in Dayton--The October election--Great majority against +Vallandigham--The soldier vote--Wish for field service--Kinglake's +Crimean War--Its lessons--Confederate plots in Canada--Attempt on +military prison at Johnson's Island--Assembling militia +there--Fortifying Sandusky Bay--Inspection of the prison--Condition and +treatment of the prisoners.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX</a></p> +<p>A WINTER RIDE ON THE CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS</p> +<p>Ordered to East Tennessee--Preparation for a long ride--A small +party of officers--Rendezvous at Lexington, Ky.--Changes in my +staff--The escort--A small train--A gay cavalcade--The blue-grass +country--War-time roads--Valley of the Rockcastle--Quarters for the +night--London--Choice of routes-Longstreet in the way--A turn +southward--Williamsburg--Meeting Burnside--Fording the Cumberland--Pine +Mountain--A hard pull--Teamsters' chorus--Big Creek Gap--First view of +East Tennessee--Jacksboro--A forty-mile trot--Escape from unwelcome +duty--In command of Twenty-third Corps--The army-supply problem--Siege +bread--Starved beef--Burnside's dinner to Sherman.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI</a></p> +<p>WINTER BIVOUACS IN EAST TENNESSEE</p> +<p>Blain's Cross-roads--Hanson's headquarters--A hearty +welcome--Establishing field quarters--Tents and houses--A good +quartermaster--Headquarters' business--Soldiers' camps--Want of clothing +and shoes--The rations--Running the country mills--Condition of horses +and mules--Visit to Opdycke's camp--A Christmas dinner--Veteran +enlistments--Patriotic spirit--Detachment at Strawberry +Plains--Concentration of corps there--Camp on a knoll--A night +scene--Climate of the valley--Affair at Mossy Creek--New Year's +blizzard--Pitiful condition of the troops--Patience and courage--Zero +weather.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII</a></p> +<p>GRANT'S VISIT--THE DANDRIDGE AFFAIR</p> +<p>Grant at Knoxville--Comes to Strawberry Plains--A gathering at +Parke's quarters--Grant's quiet manner--No conversational +discussion--Contrast with Sherman--Talk of cadet days--Grant's +riding-school story--No council of war--Qualities of his +dispatches--Returns by Cumberland Gap--Longstreet's +situation--Destitution of both armies--Railroad repairs and improved +service--Light-draught steamboats--Bridges--Cattle herds on the +way--Results of Grant's inspection tour--Foster's movement to Dandridge +on the French Broad--Sheridan--His qualities--August Willich--Hazen--His +disagreement with Sheridan--Its causes and consequences--Combat at +Dandridge--A mutual surprise--Sheridan's bridge--An amusing blunder--A +consultation in Dandridge--Sturgis's toddy--Retreat to Strawberry +Plains--A hard night march--A rough day--An uncomfortable +bivouac--Concentration toward Knoxville--Rumors of reinforcement of +Longstreet--Expectation of another siege--The rumors untrue.</p> +<p><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII"><span style="font-weight: bold;">CHAPTER +XXXIII</span></a></p> +<p>WINTER QUARTERS IN EAST TENNESSEE--PREPARATIONS FOR a NEW CAMPAIGN</p> +<p>Sending our animals to Kentucky--Consultations--Affair with enemy's +cavalry--Roughing it--Distribution of troops--Cavalry engagement at +Sevierville--Quarters in Knoxville--Leading Loyalists--Social and +domestic conditions--Discussion of the spring campaign--Of Foster's +successor--Organization of Grant's armies--Embarrassments in assignment +of officers to duty--Discussion of the system-Cipher +telegraphing--Control of the key--Grant's collision with +Stanton--Absurdity of the War Department's method--General Stoneman +assigned to Twenty-third Corps--His career and character--General +Schofield succeeds to the command of the Department of the Ohio.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV</a></p> +<p>SCHOFIELD IN EAST TENNESSEE---DUTIES AS CHIEF OF STAFF--FINAL +OPERATIONS IN THE VALLEY</p> +<p>Fresh reports of Longstreet's advance--They are unfounded--Grant's +wish to rid the valley of the enemy--Conference with Foster--Necessity +for further recuperation of the army--Continuance of the quiet +policy--Longstreet's view of the situation--His suggestions to his +government--He makes an advance again-Various demonstrations--Schofield +moves against Longstreet--My appointment as chief of staff in the +field--Organization of the active column--Schofield's purposes--March to +Morristown--Going the Grand Rounds--Cavalry outpost--A sleepy +sentinel--Return to New Market--Once more at Morristown--Ninth Corps +sent East--Grant Lieutenant-General--Sherman commands in the West--Study +of plans of campaign--My assignment to Third Division, Twenty-third +Corps--Importance of staff duties--Colonel Wherry and Major +Campbell--General Wood--Schofield and the politicians--Post at Bull's +Gap--Grapevine telegraph--Families going through the lines--Local +vendetta--The Sanitary Commission--Rendezvous assigned by +Sherman--Preliminary movements--Marching to Georgia--A spring camp on +the Hiwassee--The Atlanta campaign begun.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV</a></p> +<p>GRANT, HALLECK, AND SHERMAN--JOHNSTON AND MR. DAVIS</p> +<p>Grant's desire for activity in the winter--Scattering to +live--Subordinate movements--The Meridian expedition--Use of the +Mississippi--Sherman's estimate of it--Concentration to be made in the +spring--Grant joins the Potomac Army--Motives in doing so--Meade as an +army commander--Halleck on concentration--North Carolina expedition +given up--Burnside to join Grant--Old relations of Sherman and +Halleck--Present cordial friendship--Frank correspondence--The supply +question--Railway administration--Bridge defences--Reduction of +baggage--Tents--Sherman on spies and deserters--Changes in Confederate +army--Bragg relieved--Hardee--Beauregard--Johnston--Davis's suggestion +of plans--Correspondence with Johnston--Polk's +mediation--Characteristics--Bragg's letters--Lee writes +Longstreet--Johnston's dilatory discussion--No results--Longstreet joins +Lee--Grant and Sherman have the initiative--Prices in the Confederacy.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">CHAPTER XXXVI</a></p> +<p>ATLANTA CAMPAIGN: DALTON AND RESACA</p> +<p>The opposing forces--North Georgia +triangle--Topography--Dalton--Army of the Ohio enters Georgia--Positions +of the other armies--Turning Tunnel Hill--First meeting with +Sherman--Thomas--Sherman's plan as to Dalton--McPherson's orders and +movement--Those of Thomas and Schofield--Hopes of a decisive +engagement--Thomas attacks north end of Rocky Face--Opdycke on the +ridge--Developing Johnston's lines--Schofield's advance on 9th May--The +flanking march through Snake Creek Gap--Retiring movement of my +division--Passing lines--Johnston's view of the situation--Use of +temporary intrenchments and barricades--Passing the Snake Creek +defile-Camp Creek line--A wheel in line--Rough march of left +flank--Battle of Resaca--Crossing Camp Creek--Storming Confederate +line--My division relieved by Newton's--Incidents--Further advance of +left flank--Progress of right flank--Johnston retreats.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">CHAPTER XXXVII</a></p> +<p>ATLANTA CAMPAIGN: ADVANCE TO THE ETOWAH</p> +<p>Tactics modified by character of the country--Use of the +spade--Johnston's cautious defensive--Methods of Grant and Sherman--Open +country between Oostanaula and Etowah--Movement in several +columns--Sherman's eagerness--Route of left wing--Of McPherson on the +right--Necessity of exact system in such marches--Route of Twenty-third +Corps--Hooker gets in the way--Delays occasioned--Closing in on +Cassville--Our commanding position--Johnston's march to Cassville--His +order to fight there--Protest of Hood and Polk--Retreat over the +Etowah--Sherman crosses near Kingston--My reconnoissance to the +Allatoona crossing--Destruction of iron works and mills--Marching +without baggage--Barbarism of war--Desolation it causes--Changes in our +corps organization--Hascall takes Judah's division--Our place of +crossing the Etowah--Interference again--Kingston the new +base--Rations--Camp coffee.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">CHAPTER XXXVIII</a></p> +<p>ATLANTA CAMPAIGN: NEW HOPE CHURCH AND THE KENNESAW LINES</p> +<p>Sherman's plan for June--Movements of 24th May-Johnston's position +at Dallas and New Hope Church--We concentrate to attack--Pickett's +Mill--Dallas--Flanking movements--Method developed by the character of +the country--Closer personal relations to Sherman--Turning Johnston's +right--Crossroads at Burnt Church-A tangled forest--Fighting in a +thunderstorm--Sudden freshet--Bivouac in a thicket---Johnston retires to +a new line--Formidable character of the old one--Sherman extends to the +railroad on our left--Blair's corps joins the army--General Hovey's +retirement--The principles involved--Politics and promotions.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">CHAPTER XXXIX</a></p> +<p>ATLANTA CAMPAIGN: MARIETTA LINES--CROSSING THE CHATTAHOOCHEE</p> +<p>Continuous rains in June--Allatoona made a field depot on the +railway and fortified--Johnston in the Marietta lines--That from Pine +Mountain to Lost Mountain abandoned--Swinging our right flank--Affair at +Kolb's farm--Preparing for a general attack--Battle of Kennesaw-The +tactical problem--Work of my division--Topography about Cheney's--Our +advance on the 27th--Nickajack valley reached--The army moves behind +us--Johnston retreats to the Chattahoochee--Twenty-third Corps at Smyrna +Camp-ground--Crossing the Chattahoochee at Soap Creek--At +Roswell--Johnston again retreats--Correspondence with Davis--Mission of +B. H. Hill--Visit of Bragg to Johnston--Johnston's unfortunate +reticence--He is relieved and Hood placed in command--Significance of +the change to the Confederacy and to us.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XL">CHAPTER XL</a></p> +<p>HOOD'S DEFENCE OF ATLANTA--RESULTS OF ITS CAPTURE</p> +<p>Lines of supply by field trains--Canvas pontoons--Why replaced by +bridges--Wheeling toward Atlanta--Battle of Peachtree Creek--Battle of +Atlanta--Battle of Ezra Church--Aggressive spirit of Confederates +exhausted--Sherman turns Atlanta by the south--Pivot position of +Twenty-third Corps--Hood's illusions--Rapidity of our troops in +intrenching--Movements of 31st August--Affair at Jonesboro--Atlanta +won--Morale of Hood's army--Exaggerating difference in +numbers--Examination of returns--Efforts to bring back absentees--The +sweeping conscription--Sherman's candid estimates--Unwise use of +cavalry--Forrest's work--Confederate estimate of Sherman's campaign.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLI">CHAPTER XLI</a></p> +<p>THE REST AT ATLANTA--STAFF ORGANIZATION AND CHANGES</p> +<p>Position of the Army of the Ohio at Decatur--Refitting for a new +campaign--Depression of Hood's army--Sherman's reasons for a temporary +halt--Fortifying Atlanta as a new base--Officers detailed for the +political campaign-Schofield makes inspection tour of his department--My +temporary command of the Army of the Ohio--Furloughs and leaves of +absence--Promotions of several colonels--General Hascall resigns--Staff +changes--My military family--Anecdote of Lieutenant Tracy--Discipline of +the army--Sensitiveness to approval or blame--Illustration--Example of +skirmishing advance--Sufferings of non-combatants within our lines--A +case in point--Pillaging and its results--Citizens passing through the +lines--"The rigors of the climate"--Visit of Messrs. Hill and +Foster--McPherson's death--The loss to Sherman and to the army--His +personal traits--Appointment of his successor.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLII">CHAPTER XLII</a></p> +<p>CAMPAIGN OF OCTOBER--HOOD MOVES UPON OUR COMMUNICATIONS</p> +<p>Hood's plan to transfer the campaign to northern Georgia--Made +partly subordinate to Beauregard--Forrest on a raid--Sherman makes large +detachments--Sends Thomas to Tennessee--Hood across the +Chattahoochee--Sherman follows--Affair at Allatoona--Planning the March +to the Sea--Sherman at Rome--Reconnoissance down the Coosa--Hood at +Resaca--Sherman in pursuit--Hood retreats down the Chattooga valley--We +follow in two columns--Concentrate at Gaylesville--Beauregard and Hood +at Gadsden--Studying the situation--Thomas's advice--Schofield +rejoins--Conference regarding the Twenty-third Corps--Hood marches on +Decatur--His explanation of change of plan--Sherman marches back to +Rome--We are ordered to join Thomas--Hood repulsed at Decatur marches to +Tuscumbia--Our own march begun--Parting with +Sherman--Dalton--Chattanooga--Presidential election--Voting by +steam--Retrospect of October camp-life--Camp sports--Soldiers' +pets--Story of a lizard.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII">CHAPTER XLIII</a></p> +<p>NASHVILLE CAMPAIGN--HOOD'S ADVANCE FROM THE TENNESSEE</p> +<p>Schofield to command the army assembled at Pulaski--Forrest's +Tennessee River raid--Schofield at Johnsonville--My division at +Thompson's--Hastening reinforcements to Thomas--Columbia--The +barrens--Pulaski--Hood delays--Suggests Purdy as a base--He advances +from Florence--Our march to Columbia--Thomas's distribution of the +forces--Decatur evacuated--Pontoon bridge there--Withdrawing from +Columbia--Posts between Nashville and Chattanooga--The cavalry on 29th +November--Their loss of touch with the army.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV">CHAPTER XLIV</a></p> +<p>NASHVILLE-HOOD'S ARMY ROUTED</p> +<p>Defensive works of Nashville--Hood's lines--The ice +blockade--Halleck on remounts for cavalry--Pressing horses and its +abuse--The cavalry problem--Changes in organization--Assignment of +General Couch--Confederate cavalry at Nashville--Counter-movements of +our own--Detailed movements of our right--Difference of recollection +between Schofield and Wilson--The field dispatches--Carrying Hood's +works--Confederate rout.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLV">CHAPTER XLV</a></p> +<p>PURSUIT OF HOOD--END OF THE CAMPAIGN</p> +<p>Night after the battle--Unusual exposure--Hardships of company +officers--Bad roads--Halt at Franklin--Visiting the +battlefield--Continued pursuit--Decatur reoccupied--Hood at Tupelo, +Miss.--Summary of captures--Thomas suggests winter-quarters--Grant +orders continued activity--Schofield's proposal to move the corps to the +East--Grant's correspondence with Sherman--Schofield's suggestion +adopted--Illness--I ask for "sick-leave"--Do not use +it--Promotion--Reinforcements--March from Columbia to Clifton--Columns +on different roads--Western part of the barrens--Fording Buffalo +River--An illumined camp--Dismay of the farmer--Clifton on the +Tennessee--Admiral Lee--Methods of transport--Weary waiting--Private +grumbling--Ordered East--Revulsion of spirits--On the transport +fleet--Thomas's frame of mind at close of the campaign.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI">CHAPTER XLVI</a></p> +<p>CAMPAIGN IN NORTH CAROLINA--CAPTURE OF WILMINGTON</p> +<p>Rendezvous at Washington--Capture of Fort Fisher--Schofield ordered +to North Carolina--Grant and Schofield visit Terry--Department of North +Carolina--Army of the Ohio in the field--Correspondence of Grant and +Sherman--Sherman conscious of his risks but hopeful of great +results--His plan of march from Savannah--Relation of Wilmington to New +Berne--Our arrival at Washington--The Potomac frozen--Peace conference +at Fort Monroe--Interview with Mr. Stanton--The thirteenth amendment of +the Constitution--Political excitement at the capital--A little +dinner-party--Garfield, H. W. Davis, and Schenck--Davis on +Lincoln--Destination of our army--Embarkation--Steamship +"Atlantic"--Visit to Fort Monroe--The sea-voyage--Cape Fear +Inlet--General Terry's lines--Bragg the Confederate +commander--Reconnoitring his lines--The colored troops--"Monitor" +engaged with Fort Anderson--Alternate plans--Marching on Wilmington by +the west bank of the river--My column opposite the town--Orders not +applicable to the situation--Difficulty of communication--Use of +discretion--Wilmington evacuated--A happy result.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII">CHAPTER XLVII</a></p> +<p>THE CONFEDERACY IN STRAITS--JOHNSTON COMMANDS IN THE CAROLINAS--OUR +OPERATIONS FROM NEW BERNE--BATTLE OF KINSTON</p> +<p>The Confederates lose Charleston and Columbia--Facing a +crisis--Hopeless apathy of Southern people--Mr. Davis's +perplexity--Beauregard startles him--Lee calls Johnston to +command--Personal relations of leading officers--Dwindling armies--The +cavalry--Assignments of generals--The Beaufort and New Berne line--Am +ordered to New Berne--Provisional corps--Advance to cover railway +building--Dover and Gum swamps--Bragg concentrates to oppose +us--Position near Kinston--Bragg's plan of attack--Our own +movements--Condition of railroad and river--Our advance to Wise's Forks +and Southwest Creek--Precautions--Conference with Schofield--Battle of +Kinston--Enemy attack our left front--Rout of Upham's brigade--Main line +firm--Ruger's division reaches the field Enemy repulsed--End of first +day's fight--Extending our trenches on the left--Sharp skirmishing of +the 9th--Bragg's reinforcements--His attack of the 10th--Final repulse +and retreat of the enemy.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVIII">CHAPTER XLVIII</a></p> +<p>JUNCTION WITH SHERMAN AT GOLDSBOROUGH--THE MARCH ON +RALEIGH--CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES</p> +<p>Occupation of Kinston--Opening of Neuse River--Rebel ram +destroyed--Listening to the distant battle at Bentonville--Entering +Goldsborough--Meeting Sherman--Grant's congratulations--His own +plans--Sketch of Sherman's march--Lee and Johnston's +correspondence--Their gloomy outlook--Am made commandant of Twenty-third +Corps--Terry assigned to Tenth--Schofield promoted in the Regular +Army--Stanton's proviso--Ill effects of living on the country--Stopping +it in North Carolina--Camp jubilee over the fall of Richmond--Changes in +Sherman's plans--Our march on Smithfield--House-burning--News of Lee's +surrender--Overtures from Governor Vance--Entering Raleigh--A +mocking-bird's greeting--Further negotiations as to North +Carolina--Johnston proposes an armistice--Broader scope of +negotiations--The Southern people desire peace--Terrors of +non-combatants assuaged--News of Lincoln's assassination--Precautions to +preserve order--The dawn of peace.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIX">CHAPTER XLIX</a></p> +<p>THE SHERMAN-JOHNSTON CONVENTION</p> +<p>Sherman's earlier views of the slavery question--Opinions in +1864--War rights vs. statesmanship--Correspondence with +Halleck--Conference with Stanton at Savannah--Letter to General Robert +Anderson--Conference with Lincoln at City Point--First effect of the +assassination of the President--Situation on the Confederate side--Davis +at Danville--Cut off from Lee--Goes to Greensborough--Calls Johnston to +conference--Lee's surrender--The Greensborough meeting--Approach of +Stoneman's cavalry raid--Vance's deputation to Sherman--Davis orders +their arrest--Vance asserts his loyalty--Attempts to concentrate +Confederate forces on the Greensborough-Charlotte line--Cabinet +meeting--Overthrow of the Confederacy acknowledged--Davis still +hopeful--Yields to the cabinet--Dictates Johnston's letter to +Sherman--Sherman's reply--Meeting arranged--Sherman sends preliminary +correspondence to Washington--The Durham meeting--The negotiations--Two +points of difficulty--Second day's session--Johnston's power to promise +the disbanding of the civil government--The terms agreed +upon--Transmittal letters--Assembling the Virginia +legislature--Sherman's wish to make explicit declaration of the end of +slavery--The assassination affecting public sentiment--Sherman's +personal faith in Johnston--He sees the need of modifying the +terms--Grant's arrival.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_L">CHAPTER L</a></p> +<p>THE SECOND SHERMAN-JOHNSTON CONVENTION--SURRENDER</p> +<p>Davis's last cabinet meeting--Formal opinions approving the +"Basis"--"The Confederacy is conquered"--Grant brings disapproval from +the Johnston administration--Sherman gives notice of the termination of +the truce--No military disadvantage from it--Sherman's vindication of +himself--Grant's admirable conduct--Johnston advises Davis to +yield--Capitulation assented to, but a volunteer cavalry force to +accompany Davis's flight--A new conference at Durham--Davis's imaginary +treasure--Grant's return to Washington--Terms of the parole given by +Johnston's army--The capitulation complete--Schofield and his army to +carry out the details--The rest of Sherman's army marches north--His +farewell to Johnston--Order announcing the end of the war--Johnston's +fine reply--Stanton's strange dispatch to the newspapers--Its tissue of +errors--Its baseless objections--Sherman's exasperation--Interference +with his military authority over his subordinates--Garbling Grant's +dispatch--Sherman strikes back--Breach between Sherman and Halleck--It +also grew out of the published matter--Analysis of the facts--My opinion +as recorded at the time.<br> +<br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#CHAPTER_LI">CHAPTER LI</a></p> +<p>PAROLING AND DISBANDING JOHNSTON'S ARMY--CLOSING SCENES OF THE WAR +IN NORTH CAROLINA</p> +<p>General Schofield's policy when left in command--Lincoln's +Emancipation Proclamation in force--Davis's line of flight from +Charlotte, N. C.--Wade Hampton's course of conduct--Fate of the cabinet +officers--Bragg, Wheeler, and Cooper--Issuing paroles to Johnston and +his army--Greensborough in my district--Going there with +Schofield--Hardee meets and accompanies us--Comparing memories--We reach +Johnston's headquarters--Condition of his army--Our personal interview +with him--The numbers of his troops--His opinion of Sherman's army--Of +the murder of Lincoln--Governor Morehead's home--The men in gray march +homeward--Incident of a flag--The Salisbury prison site--Treatment of +prisoners of war--Local government in the interim--Union men--Elements +of new strife--The negroes--Household service--Wise dealing with the +labor question--No money--Death of manufactures--Necessity the mother of +invention--Uses of adversity--Peace welcomed--Visit to Greene's +battle-field at Guilford-Old-Court-House.</p> +<p><br> +<a href="#APPENDIX"><span style="font-weight: bold;">APPENDIX C</span></a></p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a><br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><br> +</p> +<p style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><big><big><big>MILITARY +REMINISCENCES <br> +OF THE CIVIL WAR</big><br> +</big></big></p> +<p style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><big><big><br> +</big></big></p> +<p style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><big><big><br> +</big></big></p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</p> +<p>GRANT IN COMMAND--ROSECRANS RELIEVED</p> +<p>Importance of unity in command--Inevitable difficulties in a double +organization--Burnside's problem different from that of +Rosecrans--Cooperation necessarily imperfect--Growth of Grant's +reputation--Solid grounds of it--Special orders sent him--Voyage to +Cairo--Meets Stanton at Louisville--Division of the Mississippi +created--It included Burnside's and Rosecrans's departments--Alternate +forms in regard to Rosecrans--He is relieved--Thomas succeeds +him--Grant's relations to the change--His intellectual +methods--Taciturnity--Patience--Discussions in his presence--Clear +judgments--His "good anecdote"--Rosecrans sends Garfield to +Washington--Congressman or General--Duplication of offices--Interview +between Garfield and Stanton--Dana's dispatches--Garfield's visit to +me--Description of the rout of Rosecrans's right wing--Effect on the +general--Retreat to Chattanooga--Lookout Mountain abandoned--The +President's problem--Dana's light upon it--Stanton's use of it--Grant's +acquiescence--Subsequent relations of Garfield and Rosecrans--Improving +the "cracker line"--Opening the Tennessee--Combat at Wauhatchie.</p> +<p>It is very evident that, at the close of September, Mr. Lincoln and +Mr. Stanton had become satisfied that a radical change must be made in +the organization of the Western armies. The plan of sending separate +armies to co-operate, as Rosecrans's and Burnside's had been expected to +do, was in itself vicious. It is, after a fashion, an attempt of two to +ride a horse without one of them riding behind. Each will form a plan +for his own army, as indeed he ought to do, and when one of them thinks +the time has come for help from the other, that other may be out of +reach or committed to operations which cannot readily be dropped. It is +almost axiomatic that in any one theatre of operations there must be one +head to direct. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Napoleon used to ridicule the vicious practice of subdividing armies in +the same theatre of war. He called it putting them up in small parcels, "</span><i + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">des petits paquets</i><span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">." Memoirs of Gouvion St.-Cyr, vol. iv.]</span> </p> +<p>The official correspondence of the summer shows a constantly growing +faith in Grant. His great success at Vicksburg gave him fame and +prestige, but there was beside this a specific effect produced on the +President and the War Department by his unceasing activity, his +unflagging zeal, his undismayed courage. He was as little inclined to +stop as they at Washington were inclined to have him. He was as ready to +move as they were to ask it, and anticipated their wish. He took what +was given him and did the best he could with it. The result was that the +tone adopted toward him was very different from that used with any other +commander. It was confidently assumed that he was doing all that was +possible, and there was no disposition to worry him with suggestions or +orders.</p> +<p>When the operations in the Mississippi valley were reduced to +secondary importance by the surrender of Vicksburg, it was certain that +Grant would be called to conduct one of the great armies which must +still make war upon the rebellion. In a visit to New Orleans to consult +with Banks, he had been lamed by a fractious horse and was disabled for +some days. As soon as he was able to ride in an ambulance he was on +duty, and was assured by General Halleck that plenty of work would be +cut out for him as soon as he was fully recovered. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxx. +pt. iv. p. 274.]</span> At the beginning of October he was ordered to +take steamboat and go to Cairo, where he would find special +instructions. This dispatch reached him on the 9th, and the same day he +sailed for Cairo, arriving there on the 16th, when he learned that an +officer of the War Department would meet him at Louisville. Hastening to +Louisville by rail, he met Mr. Stanton himself, who had travelled <i>incognito</i> +from Washington. The Secretary of War produced the formal orders which +had been drawn at the War Department creating the Division of the +Mississippi, which included Rosecrans's, Burnside's, and his own +departments, and put him in supreme command of all. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 404.]</span> +The order was drawn in two forms, one relieving Rosecrans and putting +Thomas in command of the Department of the Cumberland, and the other +omitting this. After consultation with Mr. Stanton, the order relieving +Rosecrans was issued and Grant published his own assumption of command. +His staff had accompanied him, on a hint contained in an earlier +dispatch, and after a day spent with the Secretary of War (October +18-19) he immediately proceeded to Chattanooga. He was hardly able to +mount a horse, and when on foot had to get about on crutches.</p> +<p>It has been commonly assumed that the choice whether he would remove +Rosecrans was submitted to Grant as a personal question affecting his +relations with his subordinates, and that he decided it on the ground of +his dislike of Rosecrans. The records of the official correspondence +seem to me to show the fact rather to be that Rosecrans's removal was +thought best by the Secretary, the doubt being whether Grant would +prefer to retain him instead of meeting the embarrassments incident to +so important a change in the organization of the beleaguered army. Grant +was always disposed to work with the tools he had, and through his whole +military career showed himself averse to meddling much with the +organization of his army. He had strong likes and dislikes, but was very +reticent of his expression of them. He would quietly take advantage of +vacancies or of circumstances to put men where he wanted them, but very +rarely made sweeping reorganization. If any one crossed him or became +antagonistic without open insubordination, he would bear with it till an +opportunity came to get rid of the offender. He hated verbal +quarrelling, never used violent language, but formed his judgments and +bided his time for acting on them. This sometimes looked like a lack of +frankness, and there were times when a warm but honest altercation would +have cleared the air and removed misunderstandings. It was really due to +a sort of shyness which was curiously blended with remarkable faith in +himself. From behind his wall of taciturnity he was on the alert to see +what was within sight, and to form opinions of men and things that +rooted fast and became part of his mental constitution. He sometimes +unbent and would talk with apparent freedom and ease; but, so far as I +observed, it was in the way of narrative or anecdote, and almost never +in the form of discussion or comparison of views. It used to be said +that during the Vicksburg campaign he liked to have Sherman and +McPherson meet at his tent, and would manage to set them to discussing +the military situation. Sherman would be brilliant and trenchant; +McPherson would be politely critical and intellectual; Rawlins would +break in occasionally with some blunt and vigorous opinion of his own: +Grant sat impassable and dumb in his camp-chair, smoking; but the lively +discussion stimulated his strong commonsense, and gave him more assured +confidence in the judgments and conclusions he reached. He sometimes +enjoyed with a spice of real humor the mistaken assumption of fluent men +that reticent ones lack brains. I will venture to illustrate it by an +anecdote of a date subsequent to the war. One day during his +presidency, he came into the room where his cabinet was assembling, +quietly laughing to himself. "I have just read," said he, "one of the +best anecdotes I have ever met. It was that John Adams after he had been +President was one day taking a party out to dinner, at his home in +Quincy, when one of his guests noticed a portrait over the door and +said, 'You have a fine portrait of Washington there, Mr. Adams!' 'Yes,' +was the reply, 'and that old wooden head made his fortune by keeping his +mouth shut;'" and Grant laughed again with uncommon enjoyment. The +apocryphal story gained a permanent interest in Grant's mouth, for +though he showed no consciousness that it could have any application to +himself, he evidently thought that keeping the mouth shut was not enough +in itself to ensure fortune, and at any rate was not displeased at +finding such a ground of sympathy with the Father of his country. +Grant's telling the story seemed to me, under the circumstances, +infinitely more amusing than the original.</p> +<p>During the month which followed the battle of Chickamauga, Rosecrans +had elaborated his report of the campaign. On the 15th of October he +ordered General Garfield to proceed to Washington with it and to explain +personally to the Secretary of the War and the General-in-Chief the +details of the actual condition of the army, its lines of communication, +the scarcity of supplies and especially of forage for horses and mules, +with all other matters which would assist the War Department in fully +appreciating the situation. Garfield's term as member of Congress began +with the 4th of March preceding, but the active session would only +commence on the first Monday of December. There was some doubt as to the +status of army officers who were elected to Congress. General Frank P. +Blair had been elected as well as Garfield, and it was in Blair's case +that the issue was made by those who objected to the legality of what +they called a duplication of offices. Later in the session of Congress +it was settled that the two commissions were incompatible, and that one +must choose between them. Blair resigned his seat at Washington and +returned to Sherman's army. Garfield, who had found camp life a cause of +oft-recurring and severe disease of his digestive system, resigned his +army commission and retained his place in Congress. When he left +Rosecrans, however, he was still hopeful that the two duties might be +found consistent, and looked forward to further military employment.</p> +<p>On his way to Nashville, Garfield made a careful inspection of the +road to Jasper and Bridgeport, and reported it with recommendations for +the improvement of the transportation service. He arrived at Nashville +on the 19th of October, and was met by the rumor that the Secretary of +War and General Grant were at Louisville, and that Grant would come down +the road by special train next day. He telegraphed the news to Rosecrans +with the significant question, What does it mean? Rosecrans knew what it +meant, for Grant's order assuming command and relieving him had been +earlier telegraphed to him, and he had already penned his dignified and +appropriate farewell order to the Army of the Cumberland.</p> +<p>Mr. Stanton awaited Garfield's coming at Louisville, and there was a +full and frank interview between them. The order relieving Rosecrans +ended Garfield's official connection with him, and, even if it had not +been so, it would have been his duty to make no concealments in +answering the earnest and eager cross-questioning of the Secretary. Mr. +Stanton had not only had dispatches full of information from General +Meigs, who now also met him at Louisville, but his assistant, Mr. +Charles A. Dana, had gone early to Chattanooga, had been present at the +battle of Chickamauga, and had there some perilous experiences of his +own. Dana was still with Rosecrans, and had sent to the Secretary a +series of cipher dispatches giving a vivid interior view of affairs and +of men. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxx. pt. i. pp. 220, etc.; vol. xxxi. pt. i. pp. 69-74, +265; pt. ii. pp. 52-70.]</span> The talented journalist had known how to +give his communications the most lively effect, and they had great +weight with the Secretary. They were not always quite just, for they +were written at speed under the spell of first impressions, and +necessarily under the influence of army acquaintances in whom he had +confidence. There is, however, no evidence that he was predisposed to +judge harshly of Rosecrans, and the unfavorable conclusions he reached +were echoed in Mr. Stanton's words and acts. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Since this was written Mr. +Dana has published his Recollections, based on his dispatches, but the +omissions make it still important to read the originals.]</span> The +Secretary of War was consequently prepared to show such knowledge of the +battle of Chickamauga and the events which followed it, that it would +be impossible for Garfield to avoid mention of incidents which bore +unfavorably upon Rosecrans. He might have been silent if Mr. Stanton +had not known so well how to question him, but when he found how full +the information of the Secretary was, his duty as a military +subordinate coincided with his duty as a responsible member of Congress, +and he discussed without reserve the battle and its results. Mr. +Stanton also questioned General Steedman, who was on his way home, and +wrote to his assistant in Washington for the information of the +President, that his interview with these officers more than confirmed +the worst that had reached him from other sources as to the conduct of +Rosecrans, and the strongest things he had heard of the credit due to +Thomas. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. p. 684.]</span></p> +<p>Garfield came from Louisville to Cincinnati, where I was on duty at +headquarters of my district, and found me, as may easily be believed, +full of intense interest in the campaign. I had been kept informed of +all that directly affected Burnside, my immediate chief, but my old +acquaintance with Rosecrans and sincere personal regard for him made me +desire much more complete information touching his campaign than was +given the public. Garfield's own relations to it were hardly less +interesting to me, and our intimacy was such that our thoughts at that +time were common property. He spent a day with me, and we talked far +into the night, going over the chief points of the campaign and his +interview with Mr. Stanton. His friendship for Rosecrans amounted to +warm affection and very strong personal liking. Yet I found he had +reached the same judgment of his mental qualities and his capacity as a +commander which I had formed at an earlier day. Rosecrans's perceptions +were acute and often intuitively clear. His fertility was great. He +lacked poise, however, and the steadiness of will necessary to handle +great affairs successfully. Then there was the fatal defect of the +liability to be swept away by excitement and to lose all efficient +control of himself and of others in the very crisis when complete +self-possession is the essential quality of a great general.</p> +<p>We sat alone in my room, face to face, at midnight, as Garfield +described to me the scene on the 20th of September on the battlefield, +when through the gap in the line made by the withdrawal of Wood's +division the Confederates poured. He pictured the astonishment of all +who witnessed it, the doubt as to the evidence of their own senses; the +effort of Sheridan further to the right to change front and strike the +enemy in flank; the hesitation of the men; the wavering and then the +breaking of the right wing into a panic-stricken rout, each man running +for life to the Dry Valley road, thinking only how he might reach +Chattanooga before the enemy should overtake him, officers and men swept +along in that most hopeless of mobs, a disorganized army. He described +the effort of Rosecrans and the staff to rally the fugitives and to +bring a battery into action, under a shower of flying bullets and +crashing shells. It failed, for men were as deaf to reason in their mad +panic as would be a drove of stampeded cattle. What was needed was a +fresh and well-organized division to cover the rout, to hold back the +enemy, and to give time for rallying the fugitives. But no such division +was at hand, and the rush to the rear could not be stayed. The enemy was +already between the headquarters group and Brannan's division which Wood +had joined, and these, throwing back the right flank, were presenting a +new front toward the west, where Longstreet, preventing his men from +pursuing too far, turned his energies to the effort to break the curved +line of which Thomas at the Snodgrass house was the centre.</p> +<p>The staff and orderlies gathered about Rosecrans and tried to make +their way out of the press. With the conviction that nothing more could +be done, mental and physical weakness seemed to overcome the general. He +rode silently along, abstracted, as if he neither saw nor heard. +Garfield went to him and suggested that he be allowed to try to make his +way by Rossville to Thomas, the sound of whose battle seemed to indicate +that he was not yet broken. Rosecrans assented listlessly and +mechanically. As Garfield told it to me, he leaned forward, bringing his +excited face close to mine, and his hand came heavily down upon my knee +as in whispered tones he described the collapse of nerve and of will +that had befallen his chief. The words burned themselves into my memory.</p> +<p>Garfield called for volunteers to accompany him, but only a single +orderly with his personal aide-de-camp followed him; and he made his way +to the right, passed through the gap at Rossville, saw Granger, who was +preparing to move Steedman's division to the front, and rode on to join +Thomas, running the gantlet of the enemy's fire as he passed near them +on the Kelley farm. He never tired of telling of the calm and quiet +heroism of Thomas, holding his position on the horse-shoe ridge till +night put an end to the fighting, and then retiring in perfect order to +the Rossville Gap, to which he was ordered. This part of the story has +been made familiar to all. An eyewitness has told how, when Rosecrans +reached Chattanooga, he had to be helped from his horse. His nerves were +exhausted by the strain he had undergone, and only gradually recovered +from the shock. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Cist, +The Army of the Cumberland, p. 226.]</span> His first dispatch to +Washington was the announcement that his army had met with a serious +disaster, the extent of which he could not himself tell. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxx. +pt. i. p. 142.]</span> The most alarming feature of the news was that he +was himself a dozen miles from the battlefield and had evidently lost +all control of events. The truth turned out to be that two divisions +would include all the troops that were broken,--namely, Sheridan's, two +brigades of Davis's, and one of Van Cleve's,--whilst seven other +divisions stood firm and Thomas assumed command of them. As these +retired in order, and as the enemy had suffered more in killed and +wounded than our army, Bragg was entitled to claim a victory only +because the field was left in his hands with large numbers of wounded +and numerous trophies of cannon. It was then claimed by some of our best +officers, and is still an open question whether, if Rosecrans had been +with Thomas and, calling to him Granger's troops, had resumed the +offensive, the chances were not in our favor, and whether Bragg might +not have been the one to retreat.</p> +<p>Unfortunately there was no doubt that the general was defeated, +whether his army was or not. The most cursory study of the map showed +that the only practicable road by which the army could be supplied was +along the river from Bridgeport. Lookout Mountain commanded this; and +not to hold Lookout was practically to announce a purpose to retreat +into middle Tennessee. Dana informed the Secretary of War that Garfield +and Granger had urged Rosecrans to hold the mountain, but that he would +not listen to it. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxx. pt. i. p. 215.]</span> He could much better +afford to intrench a division there than Bragg could, for the +Confederates were tied to Mission Ridge by the necessity of covering the +Atlanta Railroad, which was their line of supply, and any troops put +across the Chattanooga valley were in the air and likely to be cut off +if the long and thin line which connected them were broken. Had Lookout +Mountain been held, Hooker could have come at once into his place in +line when he reached the Tennessee, and the reinforced army would have +been ready, as soon as it was rested and supplied, to resume an +offensive campaign. Instead of this, the country was for a month +tortured with the apprehension that the Army of the Cumberland must +retreat because it could not be fed by means of the mountain road over +Walden's Ridge. After the fortifications at Chattanooga were strong +enough to put the place beyond danger from direct assault, it would only +be adding to the danger of starvation to send more men there before a +better line of supply was opened.</p> +<p>The problem which the President and Secretary of War pondered most +anxiously was the capacity and fitness of Rosecrans to conduct the new +campaign. Would he rise energetically to the height of the great task, +or would he sink into the paralysis of will which so long followed the +battle of Stone's River? Dana's dispatches were studied for the light +they threw on this question more than for all the other interesting +details they contained. For the first three or four days, they teemed +with impressions of the battle itself and the cause of the disaster to +the right wing. Then came the assurance that Chattanooga was safe and +could withstand a regular siege. Next, in logical order as in time, was +the attempt to look into the future and to estimate the commander by the +way he grappled with the difficulties of the situation. On the 27th of +September Dana discussed at some length the army feeling toward the +corps and division commanders who had been involved in the rout, and the +embarrassment of Rosecrans in dealing with the subject. "The defects of +his character," he wrote, "complicate the difficulty. He abounds in +friendliness and approbativeness, and is greatly lacking in firmness and +steadiness of will. He is a temporizing man, dreads so heavy an +alternative as is now presented." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxx. pt. i p. 202.]</span> On the 12th of October +he returned to the subject of Rosecrans's characteristics, mentioning +his refusal to listen to the urgent reasons why he should hold Lookout +Mountain to protect his supply line. "Rosecrans," he said, "who is +sometimes as obstinate and inaccessible to reason as at others he is +irresolute, vacillating, and inconclusive, rejected all their arguments, +and the mountain was given up." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxx. pt. i. p. 215.]</span> Picturing the +starvation of the horses and mules and the danger of it for the +soldiers, he added: "In the midst of this the commanding general +devotes that part of the time which is not employed in pleasant gossip, +to the composition of a long report to prove that the government is to +blame for his failure. It is my duty to declare that while few persons +exhibit more estimable social qualities, I have never seen a public man +possessing talent with less administrative power, less clearness and +steadiness in difficulty, and greater practical incapacity than General +Rosecrans. He has inventive fertility and knowledge, but he has no +strength of will and no concentration of purpose. His mind scatters. +There is no system in the use of his busy days and restless nights, no +courage against individuals in his composition, and with great love of +command he is a feeble commander." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Ibid</i>.]</span></p> +<p>It needs no proof that such a report would have great influence at +Washington, and if it at all harmonized with the drift of impressions +caused by the inaction and the wrangling of the summer, it would be +decisive. It was with it in his pocket that Mr. Stanton had +cross-questioned Garfield, and drew out answers which, as he said, +corroborated it. The same correspondence had set forth the universal +faith in Thomas's imperturbable steadiness and courage, and the admiring +faith in him which had possessed the whole army. The natural and the +almost necessary outcome of it all was that Thomas should be placed in +command of the Department and Army of the Cumberland, and Grant in +supreme control of the active operations in the whole valley of the +Mississippi. As to Rosecrans's removal, Grant did not bring it about, he +only acquiesced in it; willingly, no doubt, but without initiative or +suggestion on his part. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Grant's Personal Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 18.]</span></p> +<p>It may be well here to say a word upon the subsequent relations of +Garfield and Rosecrans. In the next winter a joint resolution was +offered in Congress thanking General Thomas and the officers and men +under his command for their conduct in the battle of Chickamauga. The +established etiquette in such matters is to name the general commanding +the army, whose services are recognized, and not his subordinates; these +are included in the phrase, "officers and men under his command." To +omit Rosecrans's name and to substitute Thomas's was equivalent to a +public condemnation of the former. Garfield had been promoted to be +major-general for his conduct in the battle, and it was popularly +understood that this meant his special act in volunteering to make his +way to Thomas after Rosecrans and the staff were swept along the Dry +Valley road in the rout. The promotion was recognized as a censure by +implication on his chief. As Garfield was now chairman of the committee +of the House of Representatives on military affairs, he was placed in a +peculiarly embarrassing position. His sincere liking for Rosecrans made +him wish to spare him the humiliation involved in the passage of such a +resolution, and his generosity was the more stimulated by the knowledge +that his own promotion had been used to emphasize the shortcoming of his +friend. He could not argue that on the battlefield itself there had been +no faults committed; but he was very earnest in insisting that the +general strategy of the campaign had been admirable, and the result in +securing Chattanooga as a fortified base for future operations had been +glorious. He therefore moved to amend the resolution by inserting +Rosecrans's name and modifying the rest so as to make it apply to the +campaign and its results. He supported this in an eloquent speech which +dwelt upon the admirable parts of Rosecrans's generalship and skilfully +avoided the question of personal conduct on the field. He carried the +House with him, but a joint resolution must pass the Senate also, and it +never came to a vote in that body.</p> +<p>When in 1880 Garfield was elected President, and in the midst of a +heated campaign had to run the gantlet of personal attacks infinitely +worse than the picket fire under which he had galloped across the Kelley +farm, a letter was produced which he had written to Mr. Chase, Secretary +of the Treasury, in June, 1863, when he was urging Rosecrans to +terminate the inglorious delays at Murfreesboro by marching on +Tullahoma. In his letter to Mr. Chase he had expressed in warmest terms +his personal affection for Rosecrans, but had also condemned the +summer's delays as unnecessary and contrary to military principles. In +the violence of partisan discussion the letter was seized upon as +evidence of a breach of faith toward his chief, who was now acting with +the political party opposed to Garfield's election. The letter was a +personal one, written in private friendship to Mr. Chase, with whom +Garfield had kept up an occasional correspondence since the beginning of +the war. I had done the like, for Mr. Chase had admitted us both to his +intimacy when he was Governor of Ohio. It cannot for a moment be +maintained that military subordination is inconsistent with temperate +and respectful criticism (for such this was) of a superior, in private +communications to a friend. But it was argued that the relation of chief +of staff involved another kind of confidence. It unquestionably involved +the duty of observing and maintaining perfectly every confidence +actually reposed in him. But the public acts of the chief were anything +but confidential. They were in the face of all the world, and these only +were the subject of his private and friendly criticism. That criticism +he had, moreover, expressed to Rosecrans himself as distinctly as he +wrote it to Mr. Chase, and had declared it publicly in the written +consultation or council of war to which the corps and division +commanders were called. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Ante</i>, +vol. i. p. 483.]</span></p> +<p>But Garfield was also at that time a member of Congress, having +duties to the President, the Cabinet, and his colleagues and fellow +members growing out of that relation. Rosecrans not only knew this, but +was supposed by many to have invited Garfield to take the staff +appointment partly by reason of this. Under all the circumstances, +therefore, the ground of complaint becomes shadowy and disappears. +Rosecrans, however, was made to think he had suffered a wrong. He forgot +the generosity with which Garfield had saved him from humiliation in the +session of 1863-64, and said bitter things which put an end to the +friendly relations which had till then been maintained.</p> +<p>To return to Chattanooga in October, 1863: one thing remained to be +done before a new campaign could begin. A better mode of supplying the +army must be found. Thomas had answered Grant's injunction to hold +Chattanooga at all hazards by saying, "I will hold the town till we +starve." The memorable words have been interpreted as a dauntless +assurance of stubborn defence; but they more truly meant that the actual +peril was not from the enemy, but from hunger. Rosecrans had begun to +feel the necessity of opening a new route to Bridgeport before he was +relieved, and on the very day he laid down the command, he had directed +Brigadier-General W. F. Smith, sent to him to be chief engineer of his +army since the battle, to examine the river banks in the vicinity of +Williams Island, six or seven miles below the town by the river, and to +report upon the feasibility of laying a pontoon bridge there which could +be protected. The expectation had been that Hooker would concentrate his +two corps at Bridgeport, make his own crossing of the Tennessee, and +push forward to the hills commanding Lookout Valley. By intrenching +himself strongly in the vicinity of Wauhatchie, he would confine the +Confederates to Lookout Mountain on the west, and cover the roads along +the river so as to make them safe for supply trains. The only +interruption in the connected communications would then be around the +base of Lookout itself, where the road could not be used, of course, so +long as Bragg should be able to hold the mountain. If, however, a bridge +could be laid somewhere in rear of such a fortified position, the road +on the north bank of the river could be used, for this road ran across +the neck of Moccasin Point, out of range of a cannonade from the +mountain, and after a short haul of a mile or two, the wagon trains +could recross the river by the bridge at the town.</p> +<p>Hooker had showed no eagerness to take the laboring oar in this +business, and excused his delay in concentrating at Bridgeport by the +lack of wagons. General Smith's reconnoissance satisfied him that +Brown's Ferry, a little above the island, would admirably serve the +purpose. A roadway to the river on each side already existed. On the +south side was a gorge and a brook, which sheltered the landing there, +and would cover and hide troops moving toward the top of the ridge +commanding Lookout Valley. Smith reported his discovery to Thomas and +suggested that pontoons be built in Chattanooga, and used to convey a +force by night to the ferry, where they might be met by Hooker coming +from below. Thomas approved the plan, and as soon as Grant arrived, he +inspected the ground in company with Thomas and Smith, and ordered it to +be executed. The boats were completed by the end of a week, and on the +night of the 26th of October the expedition started under the command of +General Smith in person. Brigadier-Generals Hazen and Turchin and +Colonel T. R. Stanley of the Eighteenth Ohio <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Colonel Stanley had been one +of my associates in the Ohio Senate in the winter of 1860-61. On the +origin and development of the plan and its complete execution, see +Reports of General Smith and others, Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. +pp. 77-137.]</span> were assigned to command the three detachments of +troops and boats assigned to the duty, and reported to Smith. Covered by +the darkness and in absolute silence, they were to float down the +stream which flowed around Moccasin Point in a great curve under the +base of Lookout, on which batteries commanded long reaches of the river +both above and below. Reaching the ferry on the enemy's side, they would +land and carry the picket posts with a rush, Hazen to move to the left +and seize the ridge facing the mountain, and Turchin to do the like +toward the right, facing down stream. Colonel Stanley's detachment had +the charge of the boats, which were fitted with row-locks and oars, and +these were to do the ferrying when the proper place was reached. Each +boat contained a corporal and four men as a crew, and twenty-five armed +soldiers. They were fifty in number, besides two flatboats to be used +as a ferry to cross the artillery. The whole force consisted of 5000 +men and three batteries of artillery. The boats carried about a third +of the whole, and the principal columns marched by the road on the +north bank to the places assigned and were concealed in the forest. The +plan worked beautifully. Starting at three o'clock in the morning of +the 27th, the darkness of the night and a slight fog hid the boats from +the Confederate pickets. The oars were only used to keep the boats in +proper position in the current, and great care was taken to move +silently. Colonel Stanley took the lead with General Hazen in one of the +flatboats, having a good guide. The landing on the south bank was +found, and the troops landed and drove off the enemy's picket, which was +taken completely by surprise. The boats were swiftly pulled to the +north bank, where the troops which marched by the road were already in +position. The ferrying was hurried with a will, and before the +Confederates had time to bring any considerable force to oppose, strong +positions were taken covering the ferry, these were covered by an abatis +of slashed forest trees and intrenched. The surprise had been complete, +and the success had been perfect.</p> +<p>Hooker crossed the river on the bridge at Bridgeport, and on the +morning of the 28th marched by way of Running Waters and Whitesides to +Wauhatchie. Geary's division reached Wauhatchie about five in the +afternoon, and about midnight was fiercely attacked by Jenkins' division +of Longstreet's corps. The combat continued for some time, the enemy +having some advantage at first as they attacked Geary's left flank in a +direction from which he did not expect them. Other troops were urged +forward to Geary's assistance, but the enemy retired as they approached +the scene of action and only his division was seriously engaged. He +reported a list of 216 casualties, whilst the Confederates admitted a +loss of about 400. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. pp. 119, 233.]</span> Hooker's +position was made strongly defensible, so that Bragg did not again +venture to disturb it, and the easy lines of supply for Chattanooga were +opened. The subsistence problem was solved.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER +XXVIII</p> +<p>SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE--END OF BURNSIDE'S CAMPAIGN</p> +<p>Departments not changed by Grant--Sherman assigned to that of the +Tennessee--Burnside's situation and supplies--His +communications--Building a railroad--Threatened from Virginia--His +plans--Bragg sends Longstreet into East Tennessee--Their +cross-purposes--Correspondence of Grant and Burnside--Dana and Wilson +sent to consult--Grant approves Burnside's course--Latter slowly retires +on Knoxville--The place prepared for a siege--Combat at Campbell's +station--Within the lines at Knoxville--Topography of the +place--Defences--Assignment of positions-The forts--General Sanders +killed--His self-sacrifice--Longstreet's lines of investment--His +assault of Fort Sanders--The combat--The repulse--The victory at +Missionary Ridge and results--Division of Confederate forces a +mistake--Grant sends Sherman to raise the siege of Knoxville--East +Tennessee a "horror"--Longstreet retreats toward Virginia--Sherman +rejoins Grant--Granger's unwillingness to remain--General Foster sent to +relieve Burnside--Criticism of this act--Halleck's misunderstanding of +the real situation--Grant's easy comprehension of it--His conduct in +enlarged responsibility--General Hunter's inspection report.</p> +<p>One of the first questions which General Grant had to decide was +that of the continuance of the three separate departments of the Ohio, +the Cumberland, and the Tennessee. It was very undesirable to +concentrate the ordinary administrative work of these departments at his +own headquarters. It would overburden him with business routine which +need not go beyond a department commander. He needed to be free to give +his strength to the conduct of military affairs in the field. It was +also convenient to have the active army under a triple division of +principal parts. All these reasons led him to a prompt determination to +preserve the department organizations if the War Department would +consent. The very day of his arrival at Chattanooga (October 23) he +recommended Sherman for the Department of the Tennessee and the +continuance of the others. His wish was approved at Washington, and +acted upon, so that from this time to the end of the war the +organization in the West remained what he now made it.</p> +<p>Before reaching Chattanooga, Grant had telegraphed to Burnside and +had received from him a detailed statement of the numbers and positions +of his troops. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. pp. 680, 681.]</span> Burnside also laid +before him the dearth of supplies and short stock of ammunition, with +the great need of clothing. Unless the railroad to Chattanooga could be +fully reopened, he suggested making a depot at McMinnville, where was +the end of one of the branches of the railway, from which the road to +Knoxville would be considerably shorter than from Kentucky. He also +informed Grant that he had taken steps to repair the wagon road from +Clinton in East Tennessee to the mouth of South Fork of the Cumberland, +the head of steamboat navigation when the stream should be swollen by +the winter rains. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pt. iii. pp. 33, 34.]</span> The problem of supplies for him was as +difficult as for the Cumberland army, and was not so soon solved. It +grew more serious still when the siege of Knoxville interrupted for a +month all communication with a base in Kentucky, in middle Tennessee, or +at Chattanooga.</p> +<p>In reply to an inquiry from General Grant, Burnside, on the 22d, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. i. p. 702.]</span> +gave his opinion as to the relative importance of points in East +Tennessee, pointing out that unless communication with Kentucky were to +be wholly abandoned, the valley must be held nearly or quite to the +Virginia line; Knoxville would be the central position, and Loudon would +be the intermediate one between him and Chattanooga. In a dispatch to +the President of the same date, Burnside said that his command had been +on half rations of everything but fresh beef ever since his arrival in +the valley. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 701.]</span> He also explained that he was improving the wagon road +along the line of projected railroad down the South Fork of the +Cumberland, so that sections of it could be laid with rails and the +wagoning gradually shortened. He had been able to make an arrangement +with the railroad company in Kentucky to assume the cost of the +extension of the line from the northward, and by using his military +power to call out negro laborers and to provide the engineering +supervision, was making considerable progress without any money +appropriations from Congress for this specific purpose. The +quartermaster's department had taken issue with the general as to his +authority to do this; but the President and Secretary of War sanctioned +his acts and would not allow him to be interfered with. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxx. +pt iii, p. 787.]</span> The work stopped when he was relieved of command; +but so long as he was in power, his clear apprehension of the vital +necessity of a railway line to feed and clothe his army kept him +persistent and indomitable in his purpose. The withdrawal of the enemy +southward from Chattanooga, and the conversion of that place into a +great military depot in the spring superseded Burnside's plan, but he +had been right in concluding that East Tennessee could not be held if +the troops depended upon supply by wagon trains.</p> +<p>Grant had hardly reached Chattanooga when Halleck informed him that +it was pretty certain that Ewell's corps of 20,000 or 25,000 men had +gone from Lee's army toward East Tennessee by way of southwestern +Virginia. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +vol. xxxi. pt. i. p. 712.]</span> There thus seemed to be strong +confirmation of rumors which Burnside had before reported. Before the +end of the month there were also signs of a concentration south of +Loudon, and the question became a pressing one, what line of action +should be prescribed for Burnside if the Confederates should thus attack +him from both ends of the valley. He did not credit the rumor as to +Ewell's corps, but began to think that a large detachment from Bragg's +army would attack him from the south. It is curious to find the report +rife that Longstreet would march against Burnside, even before Bragg +had issued orders to that effect. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. p. 718. Oct. 24.]</span> Burnside +himself proposed to take up the pontoon bridge at Loudon, and move it +to Knoxville, for both the Holston and the Little Tennessee were now +unfordable and would protect his flank against small expeditions of the +enemy. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: 2 <i>Id</i>., +p. 756.]</span> His plan was to hold all the country he could and to +concentrate at Knoxville and stand a siege whenever the enemy should +prove too strong for him in the open field. Grant was not yet persuaded +that this was best, and wanted the line of the Hiwassee held for the +present, so that Burnside should draw nearer to Thomas rather than +increase the distance before the Cumberland army should be prepared for +active work in the field. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 770.]</span></p> +<p>Bragg's order to Longstreet to march against Burnside was issued on +the 4th of November. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>. +pt. iii. p. 634.]</span> Railway transportation was provided for the +first stages of the movement, but it was not efficiently used. +Longstreet had no confidence in the result of the expedition, as his +correspondence with Bragg very plainly shows. Stevenson's division of +Hardee's corps was at Sweetwater, the end of the railway at that time, +and about a day's march from the crossing of the Holston at Loudon. Ten +days had been wasted in getting Longstreet's corps to Sweetwater, and +Bragg and he each charged the other with the responsibility for it. +Longstreet asserted that he had been given no control over the railway, +and Bragg insisted that the control was ample. Then the former had urged +that Stevenson's division should be attached to his command, saying +this was his understanding at the start. Bragg replied that he never +had any such intention and that Stevenson could not be spared. +Longstreet retorted that with his present force it would be unreasonable +to expect great results. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii. pp. 635-637, 644, 670, 671, 680, +681, 687: Longstreet's Report, <i>Id</i>., pt. i. pp. 455, etc.]</span></p> +<p>Meanwhile Sherman was hastening to Chattanooga, and the chances for +making the diversion against Burnside profitable to the Confederate +cause were rapidly diminishing. They soon vanished entirely, and Grant's +great opportunity came instead. Longstreet's corps consisted of nine +brigades of infantry in two strong divisions under Major-General McLaws +and Brigadier-General Jenkins, two battalions of artillery aggregating +nine batteries, and a cavalry corps of three divisions and three +batteries of artillery under Major-General Wheeler. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 451, 454.]</span> +Besides these troops a force was collected in the upper Holston valley +to operate from the northeast in conjunction with Longstreet and under +his command. At its head was Major-General Ransom, and it consisted of +three brigades of infantry and three of cavalry, with six batteries of +artillery. The column with Longstreet numbered 14,000 infantry and +artillery, and about 6000 cavalry. It was strengthened when before +Knoxville by Buckner's division about 3300 strong. Ransom's forces +numbered 7500. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: These +numbers are taken from the official returns for October 31st, except +Wheeler's cavalry, which was not then reported and is estimated. +Longstreet's corps is given in the tables, Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. ii. p. 656. Ransom's, <i>Id</i>., pt. iii. p. 644.]</span> On +November 22d Bragg wrote to Longstreet that nearly 11,000 reinforcements +were moving to his assistance, but of what these were made up (except +Buckner's division) does not clearly appear. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 736.]</span></p> +<p>The information Halleck collected at Washington indicated that +Longstreet's column was a strong one, possibly numbering 40,000, but he +urged that Burnside should not retreat. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 145.]</span> +The National forces in East Tennessee consisted, first, of the troops +under General Willcox at Cumberland Gap and the vicinity, 4400; the +Ninth Corps, Brigadier-General Potter commanding, 6350; and part of the +Twenty-third Corps, 7800, with two bodies of cavalry numbering 7400. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. i. p. 811.]</span> Willcox's troops and part of the cavalry were +ordered to hold in check the Confederates under Ransom, one brigade of +cavalry under Colonel Byrd was posted at Kingston to keep up +communication with Chattanooga, and the rest was available to meet +Longstreet, either in the field or behind intrenchments at Knoxville, as +Grant should direct.</p> +<p>Longstreet's army was considerably overrated in the information +received from Washington, but not unnaturally. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Halleck to Grant, <i>Id</i>., +pt. iii. p. 145.]</span> It was assumed that he had with him all three +divisions of his corps, and it was not known that Walker's division was +detached. It had also been known that Stevenson's division was at +Sweetwater two or three weeks before Longstreet assembled his forces +there, and it seemed certain that it was the advance-guard of his whole +command. Indeed Longstreet himself supposed so, and complained because +it was not allowed to remain with him. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 635.]</span> +Concluding, therefore, that Burnside could not safely meet Longstreet in +the field, Grant proposed that he should hold the Confederates in check, +retreating slowly. He believed that in a week from the time Longstreet +showed himself at the Holston River, he could assume the aggressive +against Bragg so vigorously as to bring Longstreet back at speed and +relieve Burnside of the pressure. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 143; to Halleck, p. 154.]</span> Bragg also expected this, and had +ordered that the railway connection should be maintained as far as +possible, looking for a crushing blow at Burnside and a quick +reassembling of his forces. The delays between the 4th and 14th of +November had been fatal to this plan, and it would have been the part +of wisdom to abandon it frankly.</p> +<p>Neither the authorities at Washington nor Grant gave Burnside +credit, at first, for the cheerful courage with which he was ready to +take the losing side of the game, if need be, and thus give a glorious +opportunity to the co-operating army. His chivalrous self-forgetfulness +in such matters was perfect, when it was likely to lead to the success +of the larger cause he had at heart. To reach a more perfect +understanding than could be had by correspondence Grant sent Colonel J. +H. Wilson of his staff to Knoxville to consult personally with Burnside. +This officer was accompanied by Mr. Dana, and their dispatches to Grant +and to the Secretary of War give a clear and vivid picture of the +situation. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. pp. 258, etc; pt. iii. pp. 146, 154.]</span> +Burnside clearly saw the importance of making his stand at Knoxville, +and proposed to fortify that place so that he could stand a siege there. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Burnside to Willcox, <i>Id</i>., +p. 177. B.'s Report, <i>Id</i>., pt. i. p. 273.]</span> He proposed to +draw back slowly from the Holston at Loudon, tolling Longstreet on and +getting him beyond supporting distance of Bragg. When Grant should have +disposed of the weakened enemy in his front, he could easily drive +Longstreet out of East Tennessee into Virginia. Grant approved without +qualification the course taken by Burnside. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Grant to Burnside, <i>Id</i>., +pt. iii. p. 177.]</span> During the siege which followed, there was a +good deal of solicitude about Burnside, but it should be remembered in +justice to him that his own confidence never faltered and was fully +justified by the result.</p> +<p>Prior to the visit of Wilson and Dana he had sent his engineer, +Captain O. M. Poe, to Loudon to remove the pontoon bridge before the +occupation of the south bank of the Holston by the enemy should make it +impossible to save it. The bridge had been made of unusually large and +heavy boats, and it was a difficult task to haul them out of the water +and drag them half a mile to the railway. The south end of the bridge +was loosened and the whole swung with the current against the right +bank, where the dismantling and removal of the boats was successfully +accomplished under the eyes of a cavalry force of the enemy which +watched the performance from the opposite bank. The bridge was carried +to Knoxville and laid across the Holston there. Its size and weight +proved to be great points in its favor for the special use there, and it +was of inestimable value during the partial investment of the town. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Poe's Report, Official +Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. p. 294. Century War Book, vol. iii.]</span></p> +<p>On the 13th of November Longstreet brought up his own pontoons and +laid a bridge near Loudon, and the next day began a vigorous advance +upon Knoxville. Burnside had matured his plans, and opposed the advance +of Longstreet with one division, Hartranft's of the Ninth Corps, and +another, White's of the Twenty-third Corps. He was weak in cavalry, +however, and could only meet Wheeler's corps with a single division +under Brigadier-General Sanders. Burnside had secured Sanders's +promotion from Mr. Stanton when the Secretary was at Louisville in +October, in recognition of the ability and gallantry shown in the +expedition to East Tennessee in June and his other services during the +campaign. By giving Shackelford charge of the cavalry operating in the +upper valley and putting Sanders in command of those resisting Wheeler, +Burnside was sure of vigor and courage in the leadership of both +divisions. Longstreet kept Wheeler on the left bank of the Holston, +directing him to overwhelm Sanders and move directly opposite Knoxville, +taking the city by a surprise if possible. But Sanders opposed a +stubborn resistance, falling back deliberately, and held the hills south +of Knoxville near the river. Wheeler was thus baffled, and returned to +Longstreet on the 17th of November. The absence of his cavalry had been +a mistake, as it turned out; for the Confederate infantry, after +crossing at Loudon to the right bank, had not been able to push Burnside +back as fast as Bragg's plans required, nor had they succeeded at all in +getting in the rear of the National forces.</p> +<p>As soon as it was definitely known at Knoxville that Longstreet was +over the Holston, Burnside went to the front at Lenoir's to take command +in person. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Burnside's +Report, Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. p. 273.]</span> He left +General Parke as chief of staff in general charge of affairs at +headquarters, with Captain Poe in charge of the engineer work of +preparing lines of defence connecting the forts already planned and +partly constructed. Wilson and Dana stayed in Knoxville till the 15th, +and then rode rapidly to the westward, passing around Longstreet's +columns and rejoining Grant at Chattanooga on the night of the 17th, +with latest assurances from Burnside that he would hold Knoxville +stubbornly. Longstreet's tactics were to move one of his infantry +divisions directly at Burnside's position, while with the other he +turned its flank and sought to get to the rear. Burnside met the plan by +the analogous one of alternate withdrawals of a division, one holding +the enemy at bay while the other took post in echelon in the rear and +opposed the flanking column till a concentration could be made.</p> +<p>At Campbell's Station Longstreet attacked with vigor, determined to +finish matters with the force before him. Ferrero's division of the +Ninth Corps had now joined. Hartranft repulsed an attack by McLaws, +whilst the trains and the division of Ferrero passed on, and Ferrero +took a strong position half a mile in rear covering the junction of +roads. White then retired and came into line on Ferrero's left. When +these were solidly in place Hartranft took an opportune moment to +withdraw and came into line on the left of White. The manoeuvres were +perfectly performed, and the fighting of our troops had been everything +that could be desired, meeting and matching Longstreet's veterans in a +way to establish the soldierly reputation of all. The comparatively new +organization of the Twenty-third Corps proved itself equal to the best, +and Burnside declared that he could desire no better soldiers. The same +tactics were continued through the day, and Burnside followed the hard +labor and the fighting of the day with a night march which brought him +to Knoxville on the morning of the 17th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. i. pp. 274, 275, 296.]</span> He had personally handled his little +army through the day with coolness and success, and had raised to +enthusiasm the confidence and devotion of his men. Each side had a +casualty list of about 300.</p> +<p>Wheeler had marched back along the left bank of the Holston half-way +to Lenoir's and crossed at Louisville, joining Longstreet again near +Knoxville on the 17th, as has been already stated. He now took the +advance and pressed sharply in upon the town. General Sanders had been +recalled by Burnside from the south, and entering Knoxville by the +pontoon bridge, passed out to the westward on the Loudon road, meeting +the enemy as he advanced, and gradually falling back to a position a +mile beyond the lines, where he made a stubborn stand and held Wheeler +at bay till night closed the combat. From the fortified points about the +city the cavalry engagement had been in full view, and the heroism of +Sanders and his men was in the presence of a cloud of witnesses. They +made little barricades of rail piles, and though these were frequently +sent flying by the cannon balls and shells with which Alexander's +artillery pounded them all day, they held at nightfall the line Sanders +had been directed to hold in the morning, and had not given back an +inch. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Colonel O. M. +Poe, in "Century War Book," vol. iii. p. 737.]</span></p> +<p>Knoxville was so situated that its outline was a sort of +parallelogram of high ground, averaging a hundred and fifty feet or more +above the river which ran along the town on the south. Two creeks ran +through the town in little valleys, and in the northern suburbs where +the land was much lower than the town it had been practicable, by +damming these streams to make inundations which covered a considerable +part of the northern front and added very materially to the defences. At +the four corners of the parallelogram, enclosed works had been planned +for use by a small garrison, and these had been partly constructed. +Captain Poe, the chief engineer, had staked out infantry lines +connecting these forts, with epaulements for artillery at intervals, and +work had been hastened during the days from the 13th of November, as +soon as Burnside's plan of holding the city had been approved. When the +troops approached the city on the morning of the 17th, the position for +every brigade and every battery had been assigned, and officers were in +waiting to lead each to its place. All the infantry was put in line +except Reilly's brigade of the Twenty-third Corps, which was placed in +reserve in the streets of the town. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Poe's Report, Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. p. 295.]</span></p> +<p>The most important of the forts was at the northwest angle of the +works, upon a commanding hill. It was afterward called Fort Sanders in +honor of the cavalry commander who lost his life in front of its western +face. This work was planned as approximately a square with sides of +about a hundred yards and bastions at the corners. The eastern front had +not been completed, and was now left entirely open, as the northern face +connected with the infantry trench. The ditch was twelve feet wide and +about eight deep, and the parapet was about twelve feet high, making its +crest about twenty feet above the bottom of the ditch. The berme +usually left between the bottom of the parapet slope and the ditch was +cut away so as to leave no level standing-place at the top of the scarp. +This was the work which Longstreet afterward assaulted. Its chief defect +was due to the situation and the contour of the ground around, which +made its position so prominent a salient in the lines that the flanking +fire was necessarily imperfect, leaving a considerable sector without +fire beyond the angle of the northwest bastion. The point of the +bastion was truncated, and a single gun put in the <i>pan coupé</i>. +The three other forts were less elaborate but of similar profile.</p> +<p>As soon as the infantry took position, the men were set +industriously to work to strengthen the defences. The first infantry +trench between the forts had been a mere rifle-pit two and one half feet +deep with the earth heaped in front as it was thrown out, to raise a +parapet. Every hour made the line stronger, and work on it was continued +till nearly every part of it was a good cover against artillery fire. +The critical time was during the 18th of November, when as yet there was +practically no cover between the forts. The cavalry was ordered to +oppose the most determined resistance to the establishment of close +investing lines by the enemy, and Sanders set his men a most inspiring +example. He was a classmate of Captain Poe at West Point, and on the +night of the 17th he shared Poe's blanket. Before dawn he went to the +front, and passed from one to another of the little barricades held by +his dismounted troopers. The Confederates increased the vigor of their +attacks, and if any of our men were driven back by the hot fire, Sanders +would walk deliberately up to the rail-pile and stand erect and exposed +till his men rallied to him. For hours he did this, and his life seemed +to be charmed, but about the middle of the afternoon he was mortally +wounded, and the screen he had so resolutely interposed between the +enemy and our infantry digging in the trenches was rolled aside. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Paper by General Poe in +"Century War Book," vol. iii. p. 737.]</span> The time thus gained had +been precious, though it was bought at so high a price. The lines were +already safe against a <i>coup de main</i>. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Poe's Report, Official +Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. p. 296.]</span></p> +<p>Longstreet's principal lines were north of Knoxville beyond the +railway and the station buildings. He also occupied a line of hills, but +pushed forward strong skirmish lines and detachments to cover the making +of intrenchments closer to the town. There were frequent bickering +combats, but no general engagement. The enemy made efforts to destroy +the pontoon bridge by sending down logs and rafts from above. These were +met by an iron cable boom stretched across the river above the bridge, +borne on wooden floats to keep it at the surface. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Century War Book, vol. iii. +p. 739.]</span> Several efforts were made to drive Burnside's men from +the hills covering the town on the south side of the river, but they +were defeated, and communication was kept up with the valley of the +French Broad River, and supplies enough were brought in to make it +certain that Burnside could not be starved out, although the rations +were reduced to the smallest quantity and the fewest elements which +would support life.</p> +<p>A week passed thus, Burnside being shut off from all communication +with the outer world. The 25th of November came with the almost +miraculous storming of Missionary Ridge by the army under Grant at +Chattanooga. Bragg retreated southward and Longstreet had no longer a +possibility of rejoining him. Yet Burnside knew nothing of it, and did +not dream of the more than complete justification his slow defensive +campaign was having, in the tout and demoralization of the Confederate +army in Georgia in Longstreet's absence. The latter was now forced to +attack the fortifications or to raise the siege of Knoxville. He knew, +at least by rumor, what Burnside was ignorant of,--not only the defeat +of Bragg, but that a force was already moving from Grant's army to the +relief of Knoxville. Bragg had also sent to him a staff officer with +exhortations to prompt action. For a day or two Longstreet tried to +attract Burnside's attention to the south of the river and to other +parts of the lines, and then on the 28th prepared a desperate assault +upon the great salient of Fort Sanders.</p> +<p>The artillery in the fort was under the command of Lieutenant Samuel +N. Benjamin, Second U. S. Artillery, whose battery of twenty-pounder +Parrotts had done good service at South Mountain and Antietam. The +infantry was of Ferrero's division of the Ninth Corps. There was a +slight abatis in front of the fort, and on the suggestion of Mr. Hoxie, +an officer of the railway, some old telegraph wire left at the depot was +used by Captain Poe to make an entanglement by fastening it between +small stumps of a grove which had been felled along the slope northwest +of the bastion at the salient. Longstreet's plan of assault was to +attack the northwest angle of the fort with two columns of regiments, +consisting of Wofford's and Humphrey's brigades of McLaws's division. +Anderson's brigade was to attack the infantry trench a little east of +the fort. Longstreet's instructions were to make the assault at break of +day on the 29th. The columns were to move silently and swiftly without +firing and endeavor to carry the parapet by the bayonet. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Longstreet's Report, +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. p. 461.]</span> The determined +advance of the enemy's rifle pits by his skirmishers in the night of the +28th gave warning of what was to be expected. The morning of the 29th +was damp and foggy, but the watchful pickets detected the formation of +the enemy's columns. About six o'clock the Confederate batteries opened +a heavy fire on the fort, which did not reply, ammunition being too +precious to be wasted. In about twenty minutes the cannonade ceased and +the columns moved to the assault. The fire of our lines was +concentrated upon them, and they lost heavily; but they kept on, +somewhat disordered by the entanglement as well as by their losses, and +came to the ditch. No doubt its depth and the high face of the parapet +surprised them, for they had no scaling ladders. They jumped into the +ditch and tried to scramble up the slope of the earthwork. Some got to +the top, only to be shot down or captured. The guns flanking the ditch +raked it with double charges of canister. Shells were lighted and +thrown as hand-grenades into the practically helpless crowd below. Those +who had not entered the ditch soon wavered and fell back, at first +sullenly and slowly, then in despair running for life to cover. Those +who remained and could walk surrendered and were marched to the +southwest angle of the fort, where they were brought within the lines.</p> +<p>The remnants of the broken columns were rallied behind their outer +lines, but no effort was made to renew the assault. They had done all +that was possible for flesh and blood. The casualties in the assault had +been about 1000, whilst within the fortifications only 13 killed and +wounded were reported. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. pp. 277, 278, 344, 461, 487, 490, +519, 520.]</span> Buckner's division had joined Longstreet a day or two +before the assault, but took no active part in it. Their absence from +Missionary Ridge still further reduced Bragg's army, whilst it did not +give to Longstreet any practical benefit. The division of the +Confederate forces had thus proved to be a great military mistake. Its +only chance had been in a swift attack upon Burnside and a prompt +return, and this chance had vanished with the delays in the railroad +transportation of Longstreet's men to Sweetwater. Prudence dictated that +the expedition should be abandoned on the 13th of November; but the +fear of seeming vacillating, a weakness of second-rate minds as great +as vacillation itself, had made Bragg order the column forward. +Burnside's well-conducted retreat, on the other hand, had lured +Longstreet forward, and the patient endurance of a siege had kept the +enemy in front of Knoxville, and even led to the further depletion of +Bragg by the detachment of Buckner, giving to Grant the very opportunity +he desired. The good fortune of the National commander culminated at +Missionary Ridge. Soldiers believe in good luck quite as much as in +genius, and follow a leader whose star is in the ascendant with a +confidence which is the guaranty of victory. Great opportunities, +however, come to all. The difference between a great soldier and an +inferior one is that the great man uses his opportunities to the full, +and so fortune seems to be in league with him. When Grant had driven +Bragg back on Dalton, the latter could realize what he had lost by his +errors. It was now impossible for Longstreet to rejoin him. It was even +doubtful if Wheeler's cavalry could do so. The whole National army was +between the widely separated Confederate wings, and nothing was left to +Longstreet but a humiliating march back to Lee by way of the upper +Holston and the headwaters of the James River. Pride delayed it, and the +depth of winter favored the delay; but it was a foregone conclusion +from the hour that Wood's and Sheridan's divisions crowned Missionary +Ridge.</p> +<p>For two weeks there had been no communication between Burnside and +the outer world. Lincoln had been full of anxiety, but had found some +comfort in the reports from Cumberland Gap that cannonading was still +heard in the direction of Knoxville. It proved that Burnside held out, +and gave additional earnestness to the President's exhortation to hurry +a column to his relief immediately after Grant's victory. Grant needed +no urging. A report had reached him that Burnside still was confident on +the 23d, and had supplies for ten or twelve days on the scale of short +rations he was issuing. On the very evening of his success he wrote to +Sherman, "The next thing now will be to relieve Burnside." He directed +Thomas to detach Granger's Corps, and this with part of the Army of the +Tennessee would make a column of 20,000 men to march at once for +Knoxville under Granger's command. Three days passed, and Grant, being +dissatisfied that the relieving column was not already far on its way, +directed Sherman on the 29th to take command in person and push it +energetically toward Burnside. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. ii. pp. 45, 49; Sherman's Memoirs, +vol. i. pp. 366, 368.]</span> Sherman immediately went forward, and on +the 1st of December he was over the Hiwassee River, approaching Loudon. +He telegraphed Grant that he would let Burnside hear his guns on the 3d +or 4th at farthest; but he added what throws much light on the feeling +of military men in regard to campaigning in East Tennessee. In his frank +and familiar style he said, "Recollect that East Tennessee is my +horror. That any military man should send a force into East Tennessee +puzzles me. Burnside is there and must be relieved; but when relieved, I +want to get out and he should come out too." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. iii. p. 297.]</span> From a strictly military point of view this was +sound; but Burnside had been sent there more from political than from +military reasons, and it was now too late to think of letting the loyal +mountaineers return under Confederate rule.</p> +<p>Meanwhile at Knoxville Burnside was closely watching the evidences +of Longstreet's purposes and eagerly listening for news from +Chattanooga. On the 1st of December wagon trains began to move eastward +from the besiegers' camp, and on the 3d and 4th more of them, so that it +became probable that Longstreet was about to raise the siege. In the +night of the 3d Captain Audenried, Sherman's aide-de-camp, came into +Knoxville from the south, having made a long circuit with a small body +of cavalry, from Sherman's camp, which on the night of the 2d was forty +miles from the city by the direct road. Colonel Long, commanding +Sherman's cavalry, had selected part of his best mounted men for the +expedition, and Audenried had accompanied him. The good news of +Sherman's approach was thus made certain, and it was evident that +Longstreet's information was earlier than Burnside's. The Confederate +camps were evacuated on the night of the 4th, and on the 5th Burnside, +sending a detachment to follow up Longstreet's retreat toward the east, +sent one of his staff with an escort in the other direction to meet +Sherman. The messenger from Burnside met the head of the relieving +column at Marysville, a day's march for infantry. Sherman halted his +little army, and wrote Burnside that he felt disposed to stop, "for a +stern chase is a long one," since Longstreet had retreated. He rode in +to Knoxville the next day and consulted with Burnside. He was evidently +dubious of any advantage from a pursuit of Longstreet, and Burnside's +disposition was to avoid urging any comrade to undertake an unpleasant +task for his sake. He therefore cordially assisted Sherman in solving +his doubts in favor of taking back all his troops except Granger's +Fourth Corps, and wrote a letter of warm thanks for the prompt march to +his relief, adding his opinion that the Fourth Corps would make him +strong enough to meet Longstreet, and that it was advisable for Sherman +to rejoin Grant with the rest. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. ii. p. 36.]</span> This was accordingly +done, and Sherman was free to give his attention to a winter campaign +toward the Gulf, from which he hoped important results.</p> +<p>Granger did not relish the prospect of a protracted absence from the +Army of the Cumberland, and protested in vigorous and long dispatches to +Thomas, to Grant, to Burnside, to Sherman, and later to Foster, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. iii. pp. +358, 365, 391-393; Sherman's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 368.]</span> but with no +effect, except that Grant was displeased with his original reluctance +to march to Burnside's relief as well as with these protests. The +result showed itself in the spring, when Granger was relieved from the +command of the corps, which was conferred upon Howard.</p> +<p>The raising of the siege brought Burnside into communication with +Cumberland Gap, and he learned that Major-General John G. Foster was at +Tazewell, under orders to relieve him of the command of the department. +This was in apparent accord with the wish which Burnside had expressed, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, vol. i. pp. +527, 528.]</span> but as action had been postponed it was reasonable to +expect that further consultation would be had before he should be +relieved, and that Grant's judgment would be asked in regard to it. +After the controversies which followed the battle of Fredericksburg, +Halleck was habitually unfriendly to Burnside, and we have seen how +uniformly a wrong interpretation was given to the events of the current +campaign. Foster's appointment to succeed Burnside was dated the 16th of +November, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii. p. 166.]</span> and he had been in Kentucky +or near Cumberland Gap during the siege of Knoxville. The day the order +was made relieving Burnside was that on which he was battling with +Longstreet at Campbell's Station, holding him at bay in the slow retreat +upon Knoxville, where he arrived on the 17th. On this morning Grant was +writing him, "So far you are doing exactly what appears to me right," <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 177.]</span> +and this was written after the receipt of Dana and Wilson's full +dispatches of the 13th and 14th, as well as Burnside's of the 13th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 138.]</span> +Yet so strangely was the same information misread by Halleck, that on +the 16th he was telegraphing Grant that Burnside was hesitating whether +to fight or retreat out of East Tennessee. "I fear he will not fight," +he added, "although strongly urged to do so. Unless you can give him +immediate assistance, he will surrender his position to the enemy." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 163. This +dispatch of Halleck seems to have been called out by one of Dana to +Stanton on the 14th in which he said, "Burnside has determined to +retreat toward the Gaps." (Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. p. 259.) +Halleck failed to interpret this in connection with one of the 13th in +which Dana had stated alternate lines of retreat, "if finally +compelled," and Burnside's judgment in favor of the line of Cumberland +Gap in such last resort rather than toward Kingston. (<i>Ibid</i>.) +Dana had fully conveyed, however, Burnside's determination to hold +Knoxville "as long as possible," and his reasons for making a stubborn +fight there. By failing to keep this in mind, the Secretary and +General-in-Chief became unnecessarily agitated, and forgot in their +conduct what was due to Grant almost as much as what was due to +Burnside.]</span> On the next day Burnside entered Knoxville, where +fortifications had been hurriedly built, and the siege began. The heroic +defence of Knoxville lasted three weeks, and when Longstreet withdrew +toward Virginia, the successful general learned that he had been removed +from command at the very moment he was completing, with Grant's +unqualified approval, the preparation for that stubborn resistance which +saved East Tennessee and averted the "terrible misfortune" which Halleck +feared. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pt. iii. p. 145.]</span> The importance of holding East Tennessee, now +that it had been liberated, was urged upon the War Department by +Burnside from the beginning. He had pointed it out when ordered to +abandon it and march to Rosecrans's assistance. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xxx. pt. +iii. p. 904.]</span> So far from hesitating to fight Longstreet, Dana +found him determined to "expose his whole force to capture rather than +withdraw from the country." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +vol. xxxi. pt. i. p. 260.]</span> It was not till Mr. Dana's later +dispatches were received that the misapprehensions were corrected at +Washington. Then the story of the occupation and defence of East +Tennessee was explained, and justice was done the wisdom of the +general's course as well as his patriotic and unselfish spirit. A part +of the trouble had been due to the fact that after Grant reached +Nashville Burnside's correspondence was with him, and, in accord with +military usage, he dropped direct correspondence with Washington, except +when addressed from there.</p> +<p>It was too late, however, to undo what had been done. Foster was in +Kentucky, carrying forward into East Tennessee such detachments as could +be picked up. He reached Knoxville on the 10th of December, and the next +day Burnside turned over the command to him, and started for Cincinnati +by way of Jacksboro and Williamsburg. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. iii. pp. 372, 384.]</span> The President was most hearty in his +approval of Burnside's conduct when once he understood it, and insisted +that after a brief rest he should again enter into active service. +Congress passed strong resolutions of thanks to him and to his troops, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. i. p. 281.]</span> +and it began to be understood that the campaign had been a creditable +one.</p> +<p>It was in such a command that Burnside appeared at his best. The +independence of his campaign gave full play to his active energy, whilst +the bodies of troops were not so large as to prevent his personal +leadership in their combats. In a great army he was at a disadvantage +from lack of true system in handling great and complicated affairs when +he was in chief command; and if his position was a subordinate one he +lacked the sort of responsibility which called out his best qualities, +and he was therefore liable to become the formal intermediary for the +transmission of orders. In such cases, too, he was in danger of +suffering from faults of subordinates whom his kind heart had permitted +to retain important positions for which they were not fit. When acting +immediately under his eye, he could give them energy and courage which +they would lack when left to themselves. The sore spot in his experience +in 1864 was the failure to make full use of the explosion of the mine at +Petersburg, and the Court of Inquiry made it clear that the fault lay +with inefficient subordinates. One of the most prominent of these was +said to have stayed in a bomb-proof instead of leading his command. But +the same officer had done the same thing in Fort Sanders at Knoxville, +as had been officially reported by Captain Benjamin, the Chief of +Artillery; <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. p. 344.]</span> and Benjamin was an officer of +such military and personal standing that a court-martial should +certainly have investigated the case. A mistaken leniency brought bitter +fruit.</p> +<p>The campaign had been a new test for General Grant also, and it is +instructive to follow him in grasping the details of his enlarged +responsibility. When communication with Burnside became difficult and +infrequent, he gave orders to Willcox at Cumberland Gap and to +subordinates of Burnside in Kentucky and Ohio. He provided for starting +supplies to Knoxville by all practicable routes as soon as the siege +should be raised. He cut trenchantly through pretences where he thought +a lack of vigorous performance was covered up by verbosity of reports. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. iii. p. +233.]</span> He was quietly but easily master, and showed no symptom of +being overweighted by his task or flurried by the excitements of a +critical juncture in affairs. He does not impress one as brilliant in +genius, but as eminently sound and sensible. His quality of greatness +was that he handled great affairs as he would little ones, without +betraying any consciousness that this was a great thing to do. He +reminds one of Wellington in the combination of lucid and practical +common-sense with aggressive bull-dog courage. Some telling lines, +developing his traits as he appeared to a critical observer, are found +in a dispatch of General David Hunter to the Secretary of War, giving a +report of his visit to Chattanooga where he was sent to inspect the +army. Hunter was one of the oldest of the regular officers in service, +knew thoroughly Grant's history and early army reputation, and his words +have peculiar significance. Grant had received him with a sort of +filial kindness, making him at home in his quarters, and opening his +mind and his purposes to him with his characteristic modesty and +simplicity of manner. Hunter says: "I saw him almost every moment, +except when sleeping, of the three weeks I spent in Chattanooga.... He +is a hard worker, writes his own dispatches and orders, and does his own +thinking. He is modest, quiet, never swears, and seldom drinks, as he +took only two drinks during the three weeks I was with him. He listens +quietly to the opinions of others and then judges promptly for himself; +and he is very prompt to avail himself in the field of all the errors +of his enemy. He is certainly a good judge of men, and has called +around him valuable counsellors." He naively adds: "Prominent as +General Grant is before the country, these remarks of mine may appear +trite and uncalled for, but having been ordered to inspect his command, +I thought it not improper for me to add my testimony with regard to the +commander." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii. p. 402.]</span><br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</p> +<p>AFFAIRS IN DISTRICT OF OHIO--PLOT TO LIBERATE PRISONERS AT JOHNSON'S +ISLAND.</p> +<p>Administrative duties--Major McLean adjutant-general--His loyalty +questioned--Ordered away--Succeeded by Captain Anderson--Robert +Anderson's family--Vallandigham canvass--Bounty-jumping--Action of U. S. +Courts--of the local Probate Court--Efforts to provoke +collision--Interview with the sheriff--Letter to Governor Tod--Shooting +soldiers in Dayton--The October election--Great majority against +Vallandigham--The soldier vote--Wish for field service--Kinglake's +Crimean War--Its lessons--Confederate plots in Canada--Attempt on +military prison at Johnson's Island--Assembling militia +there--Fortifying Sandusky Bay--Inspection of the prison--Condition and +treatment of the prisoners.</p> +<p>In the sketch I have given of the campaign in East Tennessee, I have +reached the time when I joined the Twenty-third Corps in front of +Knoxville, and became part of the organization with which my fortunes +were to be united till the end of the war. It is necessary, however, to +go back and pick up the threads of personal experience during this +autumn of 1863.</p> +<p>The arrangement of the business of the department which I have +mentioned <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, +vol. i. p. 492.]</span> gave me some work in addition to that which +properly belonged to the District of Ohio and Michigan. I did not appear +officially in it, but under Burnside's instructions to his +adjutant-general on leaving Cincinnati, the questions arising in daily +administration were submitted to me, and on my advice current orders +were issued in Burnside's name. This kept me in close communication with +the general personally as well as officially, and made me aware of the +progress of events more perfectly than I could otherwise have been. The +adjutant-general in charge of the Cincinnati headquarters was Major N. +H. McLean, an experienced officer of the regular army, and most +systematic and able in his administrative duties. He was punctilious in +his performance of duty, and was especially averse to having his +military conduct seem in any way influenced by political motives. Like +many other officers of the army, he made his devotion to his government +as a soldier the basis of all his action, and disclaimed any interest in +politics. But in the summer of 1863 politics in Ohio became too heated +to allow any neutrality or even any hesitation in open declarations of +principle. Vallandigham was a candidate for governor, although an exile +under the judgment of the military court. Local politicians were not +always discreet, and some of them demanded avowals of Major McLean, +which he refused to make, not because of any sympathy with +Vallandigham's partisans, but because he thought it unbecoming his +military character to submit to catechising. This was enough to condemn +him in the eyes of those who literally enforced the proverb that "he +that is not for us is against us," and they sent to the War Department a +highly colored statement of McLean's conduct, accusing him of +disloyalty. Mr. Stanton, in his characteristic way, condemned him first +and tried him afterward. The first we knew of it, an order came sending +McLean off to the Pacific coast,--to Oregon, I believe. General Burnside +protested, and warmly sustained the major as a loyal man and able +officer; but the mischief was done, and it was months before it could +be undone. Indeed it was years before the injury done him in his +professional career was fully recognized and a serious attempt was made +to recompense him.</p> +<p>When Major McLean was thus removed, the business of his office fell +into the hands of Captain William P. Anderson of the adjutant-general's +department, who issued the orders and conducted the correspondence in +General Burnside's name. The captain was a nephew of General Robert +Anderson, and though the general had no sons himself, his near kinsmen +gave striking evidence of the earnest and militant patriotism of a loyal +Kentucky stock closely allied to a well-known Ohio family. The roster of +the members of the family who saw military service is an exceptional +one. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Colonel Charles +Anderson, brother of the general, was in Texas when the Civil War began, +but abandoned his interests there, and coming back to Ohio was made +colonel of the Ninety-third Ohio Infantry, which he led in the battle +of Stone's River, where he was wounded. He was in 1863 made the Union +candidate for lieutenant-governor on the ticket with John Brough, whom +he succeeded as governor when Brough died in 1865.</span></p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Colonel Latham Anderson, son of +Charles, graduated at West Point in 1859 and became a captain in the +Fifth U. S. Infantry and colonel of the Eighth California Volunteers. +His war service was mostly in New Mexico and on the frontier.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Larz Anderson, another brother of the +general, was represented in the War of the Rebellion by five sons who +had honorable records: (1) Nicholas Longworth Anderson was adjutant, +lieutenant-colonel, and colonel of the Sixth Ohio Infantry. He was +severely wounded at Stone's River and Chickamauga. He left the service +at the close of the war as brevet-major-general.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(2) William Pope Anderson enlisted as +a private in the Sixth Ohio Infantry, became sergeant-major and second +lieutenant. He was then appointed assistant-adjutant-general with rank +of captain. He was slightly wounded in the battle of Shiloh.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(3) Edward Lowell Anderson was first +lieutenant and captain in the Fifty-second Ohio Infantry. He was wounded +at Jonesboro, but continued in service to the end of the war.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(4) Frederick Pope Anderson was first +lieutenant in the One Hundred and Eighty-first Ohio Infantry.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(5) Larz Anderson, Jr., was a mere +lad, but served without commission as volunteer aide-de-camp on the +staff of Brigadier-General N. C. McLean.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">William Marshall Anderson, of +Chillicothe, Ohio, another brother of the general, had two sons in the +war service: (1) Thomas McArthur Anderson was captain in the Fourteenth +U.S. Infantry, and after the war became its colonel, and later a general +officer in the Philippines.]</p> +<p>Including the general himself, his brother Charles, and the nephews, +ten kinsmen supported the flag of the country in the field. Such a +family record is so remarkable as to be worthy of preservation.</p> +<p>To return to the affairs of our military administration of the +department and district, the situation was complicated by the fact that +Vallandigham had openly declared a purpose to return to Ohio during his +candidacy. I did not hesitate to let it be known that upon his doing so, +the alternative in his sentence would be enforced, and that he would be +sent to Fort Warren for imprisonment. Mr. Pugh, who had been induced to +accept the nomination for lieutenant-governor with him, made a visit to +Windsor, in Canada (opposite Detroit), where Vallandigham met him. The +result of the conference was that Vallandigham remained quietly in +Canada till the election was over, leaving it to his friends to make as +much political capital out of his exile as they could.</p> +<p>As evidence of the fierceness of the passions roused among his +partisans, a few significant facts may be mentioned. The conscription +law had led, as we have seen, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Henry Reuben Anderson was second lieutenant in the Forty-third Ohio +Infantry, captain in the Sixth U.S. Volunteer Infantry, and after the +war was transferred to the Fourth U.S. Artillery as first lieutenant.]</span> +to wholesale frauds in the form of "bounty-jumping." It was of course +the duty of the military authorities to prevent this by arresting +deserters and holding them to military service and discipline under +their enlistment. A common form of fraud was for a well-grown young man +to offer himself as a recruit, take the oath that he was of lawful age, +receive the hundreds of dollars of bounty, and then bring forward his +parents to claim him as a minor enlisting without their permission. We +always recognized promptly the authority of a writ of <i>habeas corpus</i> +from the Federal courts in such cases, and the judges examined the +recruit and his friends carefully, to detect a fraudulent conspiracy if +there was one. If the case appeared to be free from collusion and the +evidence of minority sufficient, an order of release was made, +conditioned on the repayment to the government of the bounty received +and the expenses of the proceeding.</p> +<p>The depot of recruits for the army was on the south side of the +river in Kentucky; but in any case that was not palpably fraudulent I +directed the officers in charge to bring the recruit to Cincinnati, +where Judge Leavitt's writ could reach him, and to submit the case to +the United States District Court. The following letter will illustrate +this, being one addressed by me to General Tillson, who commanded in +Covington, which, with the region within a radius of some fifteen miles, +was part of my district:--</p> +<p>"HEADQUARTERS, DISTRICT OF OHIO, CINCINNATI,</p> +<p>9th September, 1863.</p> +<p>GENERAL,--Judge Leavitt of the United States District Court called +this morning with a Mr. Eckmann, who wishes to get his son, a minor, out +of the First Heavy Artillery. The boy is named Summerfield Eckmann, and +is in Company C. As you have stated to me that it is practicable to fill +up the place of minors and invalids as fast as they can be got rid of, I +would like to have the case looked into at once, and unless some reason +unknown to me exists, have him sent to report to Colonel Boone at Kemper +Barracks, where the writ from the Federal Court may be served. By +agreement with the father, if the judge should discharge him, the bounty +will be paid back, and you will please send a statement of what amount +was paid and how his account with the government stands. </p> +<p>Very respectfully, your obed't serv't,<br> +(Signed) J. D. Cox,<br> +B. G. Commanding.</p> +<p>Brig. Gen. Davis Tillson,<br> +Com'g, etc., Covington, Ky."</p> +<p>All honest and deserving cases could be satisfactorily disposed of +in this way. But the fraudulent "bounty-jumpers" wanted nothing so +little as a full investigation before the United States Courts. These +cases, therefore, if they appeared in court at all, would be brought +before local judges supposed to be prejudiced against the government and +who would not require restitution. To prevent this, the War Department +issued instructions based on the decision of the United States Supreme +Court in Ableman v. Booth, in which Chief Justice Taney had delivered +the opinion. These instructions directed that in cases arising under the +conscription and recruiting laws, the writ of habeas corpus should be +obeyed only when issued by United States courts. With full knowledge of +these instructions and of the Supreme Court decision which had been a +party shibboleth in the fugitive-slave cases before the war, the Probate +judge of the county seemed bent on provoking a collision with the +National authorities. His court was, among courts of record, that of +inferior jurisdiction in the county, and the higher courts gave us no +trouble. A letter which I wrote to Governor Tod at the close of August +so fully gives the details of the matter and of the view I then took of +it, that I prefer to let it stand as my statement of it, rather than any +paraphrase I could now make. I said:--</p> +<p>"I have the honour to call your attention to a persistent effort on +the part of the Probate Judge of the county to produce a collision +between the sheriff and posse of the vicinity and the United States +government.</p> +<p>"You have probably noticed the newspaper accounts of a habeas corpus +case before Judge ------ some time since, in which the writ was issued +to Lieutenant-Colonel Boone, One Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer +Infantry, commanding at Kemper barracks in this city, directing him to +bring before the court one Hicks, held as a deserter from the army.</p> +<p>"In accordance with instructions from the War Department, based upon +the decision of Chief Justice Taney in the case of Ableman v. Booth, +Lieutenant-Colonel Boone answered in writing, stating that the man was +held by the authority of the United States as a deserter, and that, +without intending any disrespect to the court, it was impossible for him +to deliver the prisoner to the officers of a State court. +Lieutenant-Colonel Boone further attached to his answer and made part of +it the instructions from Washington and the order of Major-General +Burnside promulgating the same, and it was thus made matter of record in +the court that the case was one directly affecting the government of the +United States. The judge was also notified by counsel that it was the +purpose of the Federal officers to take the case to the courts of last +resort should his decision be in accordance with that which he had +rendered in other cases, and that the matter would thus, without doubt, +be ultimately determined by the judicial decision of the highest courts +having cognizance, and that there could be no occasion for collision +between himself and the military authorities.</p> +<p>"The judge issued an attachment against Lieutenant-Colonel Boone for +contempt, and directed Major-General Burnside to be made party to the +record. General Burnside answered in a similar manner to Colonel Boone. +The court made no personal order in General B.'s case, but directed the +sheriff of the county to arrest Lieutenant-Colonel Boone and bring him +before the court. The sheriff went to Colonel Boone's quarters and was +there informed that the writ could not be executed, as, under orders +received, the military authorities would not permit it. The sheriff so +made return to the court, and has, as he informs me this morning, been +again directed peremptorily by the judge to execute the writ at every +hazard.</p> +<p>"The sheriff came to me to know what would be our course if he +should raise the posse comitatus in obedience to the writ. My answer was +that the United States forces would use no aggression, but that I wished +him and the judge to understand distinctly that the writ could only be +executed by overpowering the United States troops in open fight, and +that it became all concerned to consider well before they became overt +traitors by levying war against the Federal government; that I should +regard them as public enemies at the first overt act and use the utmost +vigor against them; and that after suppressing any disturbance they +might create, my first duty would be to arrest the judge and himself and +hand them over to the United States courts to be tried for treason. I +likewise expressed my surprise that in a matter which was avowedly an +undisguised attempt to bring the State authorities into open conflict +with the National government, he had not appealed to the governor of the +State, its chief executive (he being himself but a subordinate), for +instructions. As he professed embarrassment as to his duty, I told him I +would state what in my opinion a loyal sheriff should do in such a +case; and that was to make a written return upon the writ saying that it +could not be obeyed without levying open war against the United States, +and was therefore returned unexecuted.... In view of the circumstances, +I have thought best to lay the matter before you, that you may, if you +see proper, direct the sheriff to take no steps calculated to bring the +State and National authorities into collision, without full +communication with and instruction from yourself as chief executive. I +have no concern as to the success of any forcible attempt upon Colonel +Boone, but regard it as very desirable that no such attempt should be +made, and especially that it should not be precipitated, without your +knowledge, by the action of the Probate Court of this county in +overruling a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States.</p> +<p>"I shall forward a copy of this letter to the Secretary of War for +his information, and have the honor to remain," etc.</p> +<p>There were some amusing incidents connected with the sheriff's +embarrassment which could not properly appear in my letter to the +governor. Both he and the Probate judge were candidates for re-election, +and it seemed certain that the aggressive Vallandigham faction in the +party would control the nominations in the party convention. In such +excited times extreme men are almost sure to take the lead. The sheriff +saw very clearly that there was nothing profitable to him in a forcible +attack upon the United States troops in barracks, and knew that a call +upon the <i>posse</i> would be responded to by nobody but ruffians of +the criminal class who might like an opportunity to gather as a mob with +a pretext of lawful authority. He complained to me with a comical +distress that the judge had taken advantage of him to gain with the +extremists of his party the credit for bold defiance of the government, +whilst he, the sheriff, was left to bear the brunt of the real danger. I +had told him in an earlier interview that if he called out the <i>posse</i> +it would be his duty to lead it in person, and had intimated that I +should direct the soldiers to save bloodshed by carefully marking the +leaders in an attack. I now suggested that if he should inform the judge +that he should summon him first as one of the <i>posse</i> and require +him to march beside him, he would probably find the zeal for a collision +diminished.</p> +<p>Whatever were the reasons which controlled, there was no <i>posse</i> +summoned, and I heard no more of the arrest of Colonel Boone. Both judge +and sheriff lived to look back upon the episode in their lives with +other feelings than those which excited them nearly to desperation in +that singular political campaign. It was not always easy to draw a +satisfactory line in dealing practically with such powdery elements and +social conditions as those of 1863, but the best results seemed to come +from carefulness not to provoke unnecessary collision with political +prejudices and not to interfere with personal liberty more than was +necessary, whilst showing inexorable firmness in carrying out such +measures as we had to adopt. Two cases which arose in Dayton made it +necessary to distinguish between two possible courses, and though there +was a good deal of difference in judgment among loyal men I thought the +event fully justified us in that which we pursued.</p> +<p>The arrest of Vallandigham had left a certain class of people in +Dayton on the verge of violent outbreak. A mob had wrecked the +publishing office of the Union party paper, and we had kept a small +garrison at the city to preserve the peace, The "roughs" of the place +were insolent to the soldiers and their officers, and it required firm +discipline to keep our men as patient as we wished them to be. One day a +wrangle began, and one of the city "rowdies" pulled a pistol and fired +upon a soldier. We arrested the criminal, but whilst we held him, an +indictment was found against him in the local court, and he was demanded +by the civil authorities for trial. We knew very well that in any jury +of that county enough partisans of Vallandigham would be found to +prevent a conviction, but I ordered the man to be delivered up. This was +pretty sharply criticised by the more ardent Union men, but I answered +that it was necessary to find out whether justice could be administered +by the civil authorities before applying military rule.</p> +<p>The delivery of the man was no doubt looked upon as an act of +timidity, and it was not long before we had a repetition of the offence. +I had taken pains to have the garrison at Dayton carefully instructed +that they must be patient and cool, avoiding every provocation, but if +attacked, the aggressor must be punished on the spot. In the second +case, the man who drew his weapon was instantly shot down. There was now +a demand for the soldier to be tried by the local civil court; but I +said that the boot was on the other foot. The charge against the soldier +was for an act performed in the line of his military duty, and of this +our military courts had cognizance. The case was investigated by a +military tribunal and the man justified. The result was every way +satisfactory. Assaulting soldiers lost its attractiveness to town +bullies, and the case in which the civilian had been left to the action +of the civil courts was a standing proof of the inefficiency of those +tribunals in matters where partisan passions entered, and where the +unanimity of a jury was consequently impossible.</p> +<p>The State election occurred in October, and although there had been +great fears of rioting and bloodshed, these fears were happily +disappointed. There had been enough of the preliminary education as to +the relations of the military authorities to the preservation of the +peace, to make it generally understood that disturbances would be +dangerous. The soldiers were, however, kept carefully out of sight +except as they exercised their personal right to vote. They were under +arms at their barracks, and no leaves of absence were given. These +precautions were all that was needed. In Cincinnati the election was +said to be one of the quietest and most orderly ever known. The people +seemed to appreciate the gravity of the situation and to realize that it +must be soberly and thoughtfully met. Hosts of men who would willingly +have been in opposition to the administration party on questions of +economy or of details in the conduct of the war declined to vote for +Vallandigham, whose utterances had been the great matter of debate +during the canvass, and whose disloyalty being thus brought home to the +voters in every neighborhood, had repelled all but the most passionate +of his party friends. John Brough, the Union party candidate, himself a +"war democrat," was elected governor by an unprecedented majority of +over a hundred thousand. The soldiers' vote had helped to swell this +majority, and as returns had to be made from polling-places opened for +each Ohio regiment in the field, there was considerable delay before the +extent of the political victory was fully known. The home vote was +enough for every practical purpose, and it, of course, was known at +once. The returns from the army vote kept adding to the majority, and +gave, day by day, a new stimulus to political interest, one party +rejoicing over the unanimity of the country's defenders, and the other +affecting to see dangers of military despotism. For this reason it was +fortunate that the soldiers' vote was not necessary to decide the +election, and that without it Brough's triumph went beyond any ordinary +measure of party success.</p> +<p>The remarkable result of the election was felt throughout the +country as an indication of renewed determination of the people that the +war must be fought out to the complete crushing of the Rebellion and the +restoration of the Union. There was a noticeable crystallization of +public opinion after it. Reasonable men in the defeated party found it +easy to accept conclusions which were backed up by so great majorities. +Agitation was quieted, and there was an evident disposition to acquiesce +in what was so evidently the popular current.</p> +<p>My aversion for the anomalous position of a military commandant out +of the actual field of war had not been lessened by my experiences of +the summer, and both directly and indirectly I renewed my requests for a +field command. I had been told that the Secretary of War awaited only an +opening which would permit him to assign me to duty with the advanced +grade which had been given me after Antietam, and I had been advised, in +a way that seemed authoritative, to wait patiently for this. It became +evident in the autumn that such waiting was likely to be profitless as +well as wearisome. A regular army officer had a backing in the <i>esprit +de corps</i> at the departments, and Halleck was watchful to give the +full weight of his official influence in favor of such a one. It was, +perhaps naturally, assumed that a volunteer would be assisted by +political friends, and if he did not make use of such influence he would +fall between two stools. After my first appointment I was never aware of +receiving any help from these personal influences, and had gotten +whatever recognition I had from my immediate commanders in the field. +Burnside had intimated that if Hartsuff's ill health should make that +officer retire from the command of the Twenty-third Corps, he would +assign me to it in the expectation that the corresponding rank would +then be conferred by the President. If I have any regret respecting my +own action in seeking active duty, it is that I did not ask for the +command of one of the divisions in the corps on the movement into East +Tennessee. It was Burnside's wish that I should remain in Cincinnati and +I acquiesced; but I have had a lingering belief that my influence with +him would have helped decide him to remain in the West had I been with +him in Knoxville in October and November. Be that as it may, I was +fully determined after the Ohio election was over to cease looking for +anything more than a field command, according to my present rank, and to +be urgent till I obtained it.</p> +<p>In this year the first volume of Kinglake's "History of the Crimean +War" was published, and reading it in the intervals of other duty in +Cincinnati, I found in it lessons of hope and confidence in our armies +that were to me both stimulating and encouraging. It would not be +strange if an English soldier should feel that Kinglake was quite too +frank in his revelation of the mistakes and discouragements which +attended England's first military operations after the "forty years' +peace." But it was precisely this photographic realism and unreserve +which gave the book its peculiar value. I found Lord Raglan and his +subordinates intelligent men, feeling their way through doubts and +mistakes to a new experimental knowledge of their task. I compared them +and their work with what I had seen in our own service when a great army +had to be organized and put in the field and everything had to be +created anew. I saw that we had been no worse off than our neighbors, +and that our tuition in the school of experience had gone on quite as +rapidly as theirs. I thanked Kinglake in my heart for telling us that +Raglan tested what he was doing by asking himself how "the Duke" would +have done had he been there. It was only another way of applying the +lessons of past experience to the present duty; but it seemed peculiarly +human that the English general in the perplexities of his troublesome +problem in the Crimea should summon up the shade of Wellington and ask +how the practical soldier of the Spanish Peninsular War would act were +he deciding for his old staff officer what he must do at the Alma or in +front of Sebastopol.</p> +<p>The student of military history sees that the weak points in the +British army on the peace establishment had been that systematic and +continuous preparation for active war had not been insisted on. It +needed the organizing genius of Roon and Moltke in the Prussian army to +make such a mobilization as that of 1866 and that of 1870, and to show +what is possible in preparing an armed host to take the field. +Preparation for war has had a totally different meaning since those +campaigns, and the start of a day or two in reaching the field was shown +to involve the winning and losing a great campaign. As matters stood in +1854, however, the great military powers of Europe should be considered +as having only the raw material of armies as they had depots of military +stores, and true organization in every department had to be effected +after a declaration of war. Studying it in 1863, it seemed to me that +the only advantage England or France would have had over us at the +outbreak of the Rebellion would have been in the greater number of men +partly drilled and the greater quantities of arms and ammunition in +store. Kinglake taught us that others would have had to go through most +of the discouragements we had experienced, and that our aptitude in +learning had been perhaps greater than theirs would have been. His +unreserved disclosure of the errors and the miseries of the siege of +Sebastopol was infinitely more instructive than any history which hid +the humiliating facts and covered all with the glamour and glory of the +final success. His faithful dealing was in the line of true discipline, +though the reading of his story must have been a sore chastisement of +spirit for many an English soldier and statesman. It was more effective +than the comments of any "war correspondent," however capable; for it +was free from every suspicion of unfriendliness, and was written with +the fullest access to official evidence. I cannot help believing that +the book was no small factor in the general movement in Europe toward a +much more scientific comprehension and a much better practical mastery +of the elements of army organization and administration in times of +peace.</p> +<p>But what I am quite sure of is that its perusal was a source of +great comfort and encouragement to me in the midst of our own struggle; +because it assured me, as I compared Raglan's experience with ours, that +we had not gone so far astray in learning our lesson, and were not so +completely on the dunces' bench, as I had been disposed to fear. We had +plenty of blunders to confess, and there was no room for +over-confidence; but the book prompted every earnest soldier among us to +believe that we could make still better use of our experience, and to +feel bolder in relying on his own judgment and courage in drawing new +expedients from our peculiar circumstances and in developing new +adaptations of military science to our own campaigns. Staff schools +cannot turn out great generals to order, and the man who leads will +continue to be more important than any other element of an army; but no +leader can work well with dull and antiquated tools, and the present +generation can hardly see a great war begun with so little adequate +preparation for it as was common before our great civil strife.</p> +<p>On the 9th of November the humdrum routine at my district +headquarters was interrupted by a dispatch from the officer commanding +at Detroit, Michigan, giving warning of what was more explicitly +reported in one of the 10th, saying that he was positively informed that +within forty-eight hours two armed steamers would attack Johnson's +Island and release the prisoners held there. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, series ii. +vol. vi. pp. 491, 495, 635.]</span></p> +<p>The military prison at Johnson's Island was built for the +confinement of Confederate officers who had been captured in battle, and +their number was so large that to release them would be an enterprise of +no little importance, if successful. The island lay in Sandusky Bay, +within a few hours' sail of several Canadian ports. Its garrison +consisted of a single regiment which had all the employment it needed to +furnish the ordinary prison guards, and would be entirely too weak to +oppose any considerable force attacking from without, especially as it +would be prudent to assume that such an attack would be accompanied by +an outbreak of the prisoners within.</p> +<p>I immediately communicated with Governor Tod and with the Commissary +of Prisoners at Washington, Colonel Hoffman, and on the same day sent a +battery of three-inch rifled cannon and 500 newly raised recruits to +Sandusky. I telegraphed the Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, our consul-general +at Montreal, asking what he could learn in Canada as to the threatened +expedition. He thought it was the mere "bombast" of Confederate +emissaries and refugees in the Canadian provinces, and made light of it. +On the 12th, however, the Secretary of War telegraphed me that Lord +Lyons, the British ambassador, confirmed the report, and directed me to +take energetic action to defeat the expected raid. The dispatch reached +me at nine o'clock in the morning, and as it would be necessary to +consult with the governor and get him to call out a force of State +militia, I telegraphed him that I would go to Columbus on the +half-past-ten train from Cincinnati, and asked him to be ready to call +out the militia as soon as I could see him. I then sent messages to the +commandants of militia regiments near the railway line, requesting them +to call out their men at once in anticipation of an order from the +governor to proceed to Sandusky. I also communicated with my +subordinates in command at Detroit, Sandusky, and Columbus, giving a +hint of my purposes. Finding I was likely to be late at the railway +station, I sent a message to Mr. Woodward, the superintendent of the +Little Miami Railroad, asking him to hold the train for me. The train +had gone when the message reached him, but he ordered out an extra +locomotive, and when I reached the station it was under orders to +overtake the regular train. With an aide-de-camp I mounted the +locomotive, and we were off at speed. The train was overtaken at Xenia, +half-way to Columbus, and I was able to keep my appointment with the +governor.</p> +<p>It happened that there was at this time a plot also to take the camp +of military prisoners at Columbus, indicating a wide-spread scheme among +the Confederate prisoners in Ohio, and General Mason, who commanded +there, did not think it would be safe to reduce his garrison. The +governor acted at once upon my suggestion, and ordered out the militia +regiments which I had warned before leaving Cincinnati. My regular train +had gone on, but Mr. Woodward had provided for a special one from +Columbus, and we were soon speeding on in the hope of making the +connection with a train going West on the Lake Shore Railway. The +connection was made, though it became necessary to make what was then +regarded as extraordinary speed to do it. Over one stretch of the road +we ran twenty miles in eighteen minutes by the watch, and our average +rate was high enough to make it a noteworthy journey. I reached Sandusky +at midnight, and found reports of the militia regiments already on the +way, and that the hostile expedition had not yet left Canada.</p> +<p>There is always a considerable amount of business labor connected +with the sudden assembly of new troops in a city like Sandusky. +Provision must be made for quarters and for their subsistence. The +militia were not like troops accustomed to take the field, and were not +provided with tents. The autumn was well advanced, and severe winter +weather was likely to come at any time. Competent officers had to be +selected to take responsible charge of each of the supply departments, +including arms and ammunition. A battery of Parrott-rifled cannon was +ordered to report to me as well as some heavy coast artillery. The first +organization of means to look after the coming troops and the artillery +being made, the next duty was a personal reconnoissance of my field of +operations. A gentleman put at my disposal a small sailing yacht of +light draught, and with a good crew and a fresh breeze the principal +points of the lower bay were visited, including Johnson's Island.</p> +<p>Sandusky Bay is the largest land-locked body of water connected with +Lake Erie. It is some twenty miles long by three or four wide, its +length running east and west, and narrow tongues of land separating it +from the lake. The mouth of the bay is about a mile wide, but the water +is quite shallow except in the narrow channel, which is sinuous and runs +very close to Cedar Point, the extremity of the long, low sandy cape +which separates the eastern part of the bay from the open water. A +lighthouse on the point and range lights near it give direction to +vessels approaching, which run from the northwest, head on, till they +seem almost ashore at the foot of the lighthouse tower, when they turn +sharply to the southwest, the channel being zigzag up to the city, which +lies on the southeast shore. It did not need a second glance to +determine that Cedar Point was the place to fortify, and that batteries +there would rake any vessel approaching the harbor, as well as on its +way in, if it should succeed in passing the point.</p> +<p>Johnson's Island lies a mile or two inside the entrance to the bay +on the western side. A narrow channel separates it from the land on that +side, which is a high rocky peninsula called Marblehead. The island had +been cultivated as a farm, containing a hundred acres or more, with some +pleasant groves amid the fields, and with a gently undulating surface +which gave it an agreeable variety and a picturesque appearance. The +landing at the island was on the bay side, three or four miles from the +city wharves. If a hostile force should land on the peninsula at +Marblehead, it could not reach the island by reason of the channel which +separates it from the land on the west. The only chance of success for +such a raid was to make a surprise of it before Cedar Point could be +fortified, to enter the bay and land a force sufficient to overpower the +prison garrison before it should be reinforced.</p> +<p>Under the terms of the treaty with Great Britain, our navy was +represented by a single vessel of war on Lake Erie, the steamer +"Michigan," which carried a battery of eight or ten guns. She was +ordered to Sandusky to co-operate with me at the same time that I was +directed to go there. She was commanded by Captain John Carter, a bluff +and hearty seaman of the old school, whom I found cordially ready to +work with me in the most perfect harmony and mutual understanding. I +lost no time in transporting my two rifled batteries to Cedar Point, and +throwing up hasty earthworks to cover them. From the moment they were in +position it was certain that no unarmed steamboat could enter the +harbor. A part of my infantry was encamped in rear of the batteries, +covered by a grove of evergreen trees, near enough to support the guns +if an effort were made to land there. The rest of the infantry was +assigned to increase the garrison on Johnson's Island itself. The news +had spread that there was a concentration of our forces at Sandusky, and +by the time we were ready for an attack the raiders were well aware that +their plans had failed.</p> +<p>Their project had not been a hopeless one if they could have kept it +secret, but that was almost impossible. The leaders in it were commonly +reported to have been some of Morgan's men who had made their way to +Canada when he was captured. By the aid of Confederate agents they had +procured the means to organize a considerable band of adventurers, and +had chartered two steamboats which were to meet them at the mouth of the +Detroit River. The assembly of such a body of men attracted the +attention of the Canadian authorities, and information was sent to Lord +Lyons at Washington. Our officers at Detroit also got wind of it, and +employed the police and detectives to ferret out the facts. The raiders +had assembled, and the boats were ready, when, on the 14th of November, +they learned that their plans were exposed and the chance to succeed was +lost. The less eager ones were quick to abandon the enterprise, and the +bolder spirits found themselves reduced to a handful. So they scattered, +threatening to try it again at some more convenient time.</p> +<p>As soon as the work of preparation at Cedar Point was well under +way, I accepted the invitation of Captain Carter to make a +reconnoissance in the "Michigan." We sailed out of the harbor and made +the tour of the beautiful group of islands known as the Bass Islands, in +the midst of which is the little harbor of Put-in-Bay. We were on the +classic ground where Perry had won his naval victory in the War of 1812, +and although we found no trace of the threatened raid, the circumstances +which took us there added to the interest with which we examined the +scene of Perry's glory. On my return I reported to the Secretary of War +that all present danger had passed, and asked to be allowed to send the +militia home. The weather had become stormy, and the State troops +naturally became impatient when the need of their continued exposure +seemed to be at an end. They were soon allowed to go, but it was wisely +determined to put the heavy guns in a fortification on the island, where +they could command the entrance to the bay and yet be so connected with +the permanent garrison as to avoid the establishment of two camps with +the necessary increase of expense as well as numbers.</p> +<p>This delayed me a fortnight at Sandusky, and the delay was quite as +unwelcome to me as to the militia. I had been away from Cincinnati but a +few days when I received a dispatch from General Burnside, saying that +if I was still minded to accept a field command he thought he could give +me one of his corps. As this was exactly what I had been wishing for, it +will be easily believed that I chafed at the circumstances which seemed +to tie me to the shore of Lake Erie when I longed to be on my way to +East Tennessee. I laid the matter before the War Department by +telegraph, and begged to be allowed to go. Mr. Stanton answered on the +22d that I could not yet leave Sandusky. I hurried the work to be done +there with all possible energy, so as to remove the cause of delay, and +on the 3d of December was gratified to learn that the order had been +issued directing me to report in person to the general in command at +Knoxville. I was not informed that I should not find Burnside there when +I should arrive, and assumed that my work at Sandusky was the only cause +of delay in my orders to go; but I was soon to learn of other changes +which I did not anticipate.</p> +<p>My stay at Sandusky gave me the opportunity to make an inspection of +the military prison at Johnson's Island, and I availed myself of it. As +only officers were confined there, the high average intelligence and +character of these would of course show itself in their personal habits +and in their methods of employing the time, which hung heavy on their +hands. In all such situations the energy and hopefulness of the +individual are the best guaranty for continued good health, whilst +ennui, listlessness, and idleness are the pretty sure forerunners of +melancholy and homesickness, which lead to serious maladies. It would be +hard to find a more salubrious site for a camp than Johnson's Island. +Naturally well drained, diversified with grove and meadow, open to the +breeze from every quarter, washed by the pure waters of Lake Erie, it is +to-day, as it was then, a beautiful and attractive spot. The winter +there is not usually severe. The vast body of water comprising the Great +Lakes modifies the climate and tempers it so that the autumn is +generally prolonged and pleasant. Winter begins late, but is apt to be +changeable and disagreeable, and a raw and backward spring, with +chilling winds off the frozen waters, is the part of the year most to be +dreaded. Native Ohioans insist that there is no climate more wholesome +and pleasant than this lake-shore belt, which is now the land of +continuous vineyards and peach orchards. A native of the Gulf States +would, however, find its winter and spring severe and trying, more from +sudden changes than from any extremely low temperature. Taking it all in +all, it is probable that no place for a prison camp could be found in +the Northern States which would be liable to fewer objections.</p> +<p>The prison itself was constructed in the manner which seemed +simplest and cheapest. A large square on the sloping hillsides was +surrounded with a high wooden fence. On the outside of this, near the +top, was a gallery or balcony supported on brackets.</p> +<p>This was the walk for the sentinels, and from it they had a +commanding view of the interior of the enclosure. Sentry-boxes, looking +like turrets, were at the corners and at intervals on the sides. Within, +the barracks for the prisoners were on the west or northwest side, +leaving the larger space open in front for exercise. The buildings were +of pine boards, roughly but well constructed, so that they were dry and +tight. Rows of bunks ran along the sides, filled with beds of straw. The +shelter and accommodation was decidedly better than that which we made +for our own troops at Camp Dennison, our first camp of instruction. +Through most of the year there was no ground for complaint. In winter, +and especially on winter nights, it would be impossible to keep up +anything like a steady temperature, and the thin shell of the building +would soon chill through in a nipping and frosty air. We had to meet +this difficulty in all winter quarters for troops, and there seemed to +be no way to remove it. If one could be heavily clad, it was generally +more healthful to endure a steady low temperature, than to meet the +alternations of heat and cold which came of the replenishing and dying +out of the fires in stoves during the long winter night. As many men +have many minds, it was almost impossible to secure anything like system +in a long shed-like building occupied by a little democracy of hundreds +of persons.</p> +<p>The food was plain but good in quality, similar to the army ration, +and at the time of my visit was abundant. I took occasion to go through +the barracks unattended by the officers of the garrison, and encouraged +the prisoners to make known any complaints. There were practically none +that were not necessarily incident to the position of a prisoner of war +in actual confinement. The loss of liberty, the weary pacing of the +enclosure in front of their barracks, the lack of interesting +occupation, home-sickness, and general discomfort,--these were the ills +of which they spoke. Among the prisoners was General Jeff. Thompson, of +Missouri,--the ranking officer among them, as I recollect,--and I sought +an introduction to him and talked with him in regard to the prison life. +He was depressed and ailing, though not consenting to go into hospital, +and spoke feelingly of the discouraging monotony and ennui of their +existence, but made no complaint of the administration of the prison in +any way. To be exchanged was the burden of their wishes and prayers, and +in this every one with ordinary human sympathies must feel with them. +Games of chess, draughts, dominoes, and cards were their indoor +amusements, and some of the more energetic kept up an attempt at regular +out-door exercise.</p> +<p>It happened that the chief surgeon of the camp was an old neighbor +of mine, Dr. M. C. Woodworth, and I questioned him closely as to the +medical and sanitary condition. He was a man of the highest character in +his profession and as a citizen. I had absolute confidence in his +uprightness as well as his ability. His statements fully corroborated +the conclusions I drew from my own observation. I was fully satisfied +that the garrison administration was honest and humane, and that the +prisoners suffered only such evils as were necessarily incident to +confinement in a narrow space, and to life in temporary barracks of the +kind used in all military camps.</p> +<p>I learned that those prisoners who had means of their own were +permitted to open private accounts with merchants and bankers in the +city of Sandusky, and had little difficulty in increasing their physical +comforts in many ways. Since the war I have conversed with business men +of that town who personally knew of these arrangements, and who have +given me details of remittances and credits furnished to prisoners, and +of some considerable investments made for them. A certain surveillance +was necessary in such cases to give assurance that no unlawful advantage +was taken of such opportunities, but there was very little if any reason +to believe such leniency was abused.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</p> +<p>A WINTER RIDE ON THE CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS</p> +<p>Ordered to East Tennessee--Preparation for a long ride--A small +party of officers--Rendezvous at Lexington, Ky.--Changes in my +staff--The escort-A small train--A gay cavalcade--The blue-grass +country--War-time roads--Valley of the Rockcastle--Quarters for the +night--London--Choice of routes--Longstreet in the way--A turn +southward--Williamsburg--Meeting Burnside--Fording the Cumberland--Pine +Mountain--A hard pull--Teamsters' chorus--Big Creek Gap--First view of +East Tennessee--Jacksboro--A forty-mile trot--Escape from unwelcome +duty--In command of Twenty-third Corps--The army-supply problem--Siege +bread--Starved beef--Burnside's dinner to Sherman.</p> +<p>The order of the War Department directing me to report in person to +the general commanding in East Tennessee was issued on the 2nd of +December. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii. p. 314.]</span> It was to take effect when I +should have completed my duties at Sandusky, but as I had pressed all +my work forward to completion some days before, in the expectation of +the order, I was prepared to leave at once. A copy of the order was +telegraphed to me on the 3rd, and I left for Cincinnati the same +evening. On reaching the district and department headquarters, I learned +that Burnside was relieved, and that General Foster had passed through +the city, going on toward East Tennessee to assume command of the +department. Longstreet raised the siege of Knoxville the very day I +reached Cincinnati, but this was not yet known, and several days passed +before we had authentic information that the way to Knoxville was open. +There was work to do in closing up the business of the district, packing +papers and books pertaining to my headquarters, and providing for their +safe-keeping. A number of officers belonging to Burnside's command were +waiting an opportunity to rejoin the army, and I arranged a rendezvous +for these at Lexington, Ky., where I would join them. A small troop of +cavalry was detailed to act as our escort, and the quartermaster's +department promised wagons for our baggage and supplies. On the 8th the +news of Longstreet's retreat indicated that the road through Cumberland +Gap to Knoxville was probably open, and sending our horses and baggage +to Lexington by railroad, I left Cincinnati with my staff on Wednesday, +the 9th, for the same place. Reaching there at evening, the next day +was spent in packing our wagons and organizing our little party, and +the cavalcade marched out of the pretty town of Lexington early on the +11th.</p> +<p>My staff was not altogether the same as it was in my Virginia +campaigns. I had lost my friend, Surgeon Holmes, by death. He had been +assigned to duty with me in Cincinnati, but his lungs had become +diseased through exposure in the field, and he had died of consumption a +few weeks before. My aide Captain Christie was similarly affected, and +resigned to prolong his life. He ultimately died of the illness thus +contracted. My aide Lieutenant Conine was appointed colonel of one of +the new colored regiments, and went with it to Virginia. Major Bascom, +my adjutant-general, Major Treat, my commissary, and Lieutenant Theodore +Cox, my aide-de-camp, were ordered to accompany me, and were all that +remained of my old staff. In the place of Conine I secured the detail of +Captain E. D. Saunders, assistant-adjutant-general, who had served +temporarily on my staff during the preceding season. He was the son of +an old resident of Cincinnati, an excellent officer in his department as +well as a gallant soldier, and he remained with me in closest relations +till he fell by my side in the Atlanta campaign in the following year. +His assignment as aide-de-camp was out of the usual course, but it was +allowed in view of the contingency that Major Bascom could not remain +with me if I should not continue in command of an army corps. In this +case Saunders would become my adjutant-general, and this was what in +fact occurred a little later.</p> +<p>At Lexington I found a group of ten or a dozen officers who were +eager to join my party in the ride over the mountains. The one of +highest rank was Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Strong of General Foster's +staff, who had been allowed a short leave of absence when his chief +started for the West, and was now hastening back to duty. I found a +ground for pleasant acquaintance with him in his relationship to Bishop +Bedell of Ohio, a venerated friend of mine as long as he lived. Colonel +Strong was a brother of Mrs. Bedell, and was a refined and cultivated +gentleman. Lieutenant-Colonel James T. Sterling of the One Hundred and +Third Ohio Infantry was also on his way to join his regiment at +Knoxville. He had been a captain in the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, +and served with me in my first campaign in West Virginia, where I had +become attached to him for his military as well as his personal +character. He became my inspector-general in the field. Captain D. W. H. +Day, assistant quartermaster, was also en route to the Twenty-third +Corps in the field, and was directed to take charge of our little train. +His unbounded energy and his power to surmount obstacles so impressed me +that on our reaching Knoxville I had him also assigned to permanent duty +with me in his department. The others passed out of the circle of +permanent acquaintances when the journey was over, but they were all +pleasant travelling companions, and one or two of them would have been +remarkable anywhere for their wit and cheerfulness. It was as happy and +jolly a party as one need wish for in a rough ride of a couple of +hundred miles over the mountains.</p> +<p>Our escort turned out to be only twenty horsemen instead of a full +troop, but these were enough for protection against mere marauders, and +we had to take the chance of meeting organized bodies of the enemy. Four +army wagons were furnished us. One of these was loaded with oats for our +horses, and carried the personal baggage of the cavalry troop. Another +was loaded with ordinary army rations. A third was devoted to mess +supplies of the officers of the party, and as we were going into a +country wasted by war and almost famine-stricken, we each tried to carry +with us a small stock of choice provisions which might eke out a little +comfort to the mess. The fourth wagon carried our personal baggage. +Captain Day had carefully selected strong and serviceable horses for the +teams, and the wagons were minutely inspected to see that they were fit +for the mountain work in a wilderness where wheelwrights could not be +found. It was our purpose to get both forage and provisions on the road +if we could buy them, and to save the stock in our wagons for a time of +necessity or to carry as much as possible into Knoxville.</p> +<p>I had telegraphed to Burnside as soon as I reached Cincinnati, +formally reporting myself as under his orders for duty in the field by +permission of the Secretary of War. I expressed my regret to hear of his +leaving the command, and urged my assignment to duty before he laid down +his authority. No answer to my dispatch was received, and the fact was +that full communication with Burnside by the Cumberland Gap route was +not opened till the 9th of December, so that my letter was among the +correspondence received by Burnside the day he turned over the command +to Foster. Another cause of uneasiness to me was the change of +department boundaries made in the order assigning General Foster to +command. The States north of the Ohio were separated from the +department, and I was apprehensive that other changes might occur which +would make me fall between two stools. That there was danger of just +such disappointments turned out to be very true. My anxious +determination to get forward to Knoxville with the least possible delay +was justified, and I had reason to congratulate myself on acting +promptly upon it.</p> +<p>Our cavalcade presented a gay appearance as we marched out of +Lexington on Friday morning. There were twelve or fifteen officers, all +well mounted and followed by a group of servants riding and leading our +extra horses. Part of the cavalry troop led the way, the guidons +fluttering in the van. Behind us came an ambulance and the army wagons +with clean white canvas covers and well-groomed teams of four horses +each, driven in army fashion by a driver astride of the near +wheel-horse, a mounted wagon-master superintending the whole. The little +column was closed by a squad of the cavalry acting as rear-guard. There +had not been any severe winter weather as yet, and though the road was +sloppy, the sun was bright overhead, and its beams flashed from our +side-arms and equipments. Our first day's ride was to take us to +Richmond, a thriving town twenty-five miles away, the county-seat of +Madison County, and a good turnpike road made this an easy day's +journey. We were in the rich blue-grass region, and though all of +central Kentucky showed the marks of war's ravages, this region was +comparatively unscathed, and the beautiful rolling country was neither +abandoned nor untilled. Horses and cattle were noticeably few, for raids +like Morgan's had been frequent enough to teach the peril of having +flocks and herds to tempt the enemy. Farmers gave more attention than +before to agriculture proper and the raising of crops which would +directly support the family. There was nothing dispiriting in the view +of the country on this first day's ride, and though a winter landscape +can hardly be exhilarating when it is leafless and bare, gray, and a +little sombre in color, we found ourselves under no stress of sympathy +with misfortune or want, as is so often the case with the soldier.</p> +<p>On leaving Richmond our really rough work began. The roads would +have been bad enough at any time, but the hard use by army trains in bad +weather and the entire lack of repair had made them execrable. All the +ordinary methods of keeping highways in order by local administration +were suspended by the war, and the only work done upon them was what +each wagon-master could do with his drivers to mend the worst places so +that his train could get through. As we could not be sure of finding +food for man or beast on the road, it was necessary to gauge our speed +by the distance our wagons could make, so that we should not be +separated from them. About twenty miles a day was the maximum, and +though we sometimes got a little further, there were days when our +journey was much less. South of Richmond and on the border between +Madison and Rockcastle counties, we crossed Big Hill, the first of the +outlying ranges of the Cumberland Mountains. These great ridges are +nearly parallel to each other, and even the "gaps" in them are so high +that there is always a long and hard pull for wagon teams in surmounting +them. Over the summit we came down into the valleys tributary to the +Rockcastle River. Twenty or twenty-five miles away another summit marks +the boundary between this valley and the principal depression in which +the Cumberland River finds its devious course to the south and west. The +rocks are sandstone through which the Rockcastle River has cut deep +gorges and chasms, and the weathering of the cliffs has left the strata +and crevices exposed with so much of the regularity of layers of masonry +as to tell at once the story of the impression made on the early +explorers of the region, and the suggestion by Nature herself of a name +for the beautiful stream that dashes along to join the Cumberland many +miles below.</p> +<p>Our second day's journey ended far from any village or tavern, in +this romantic valley. A pouring rain had begun about noon, and we +plodded and splashed along till we reached a large log house which +seemed a convenient halting-place as far advanced as our wagons could be +brought. The house belonged to a thrifty widow. Half of it was simply +furnished, and in this part she and her children lived. The other half +was a large unfurnished room with the walls of hewn logs and a great +fireplace of stone in the middle of the long side of the room. Out of +this opened a little bedroom, a mere closet, in which the spare bed for +guests was placed. The widow put these two rooms at our disposal. A +roaring fire was soon burning on the hearth, our saddles and horse +trappings were arranged on the sides of the room to serve as pillows, +and blankets were brought in from the ambulance. Supper was got, partly +from our own stores, cooked with the help of the family, and we were +early ready for bed. The guest chamber was assigned to me, but it was so +small that for the sake of ventilation the door was kept open, and the +ruddy firelight flashed upon as picturesque and as merry a group as one +could wish to see. A weary day in the saddle made all of us ready for +sleep, and quips and jokes soon died out as one after another seemed to +drop off into forgetfulness. The physical fatigue of the day made one of +the party develop a phenomenal capacity for snoring in his heavy sleep, +and in the quiet his nasal trumpeting grew more pronounced. It proceeded +by phrases, as it were, each effort stronger than the preceding, till a +fortissimo passage came and ended with a snort which echoed through the +room and was followed by perfect silence. From the corner of the room +came a drawling voice with a sigh as of deep relief, "Thank God <i>he's</i> +dead." The shout of laughter which followed showed that nearly all had +roused themselves for the <i>finale</i>, and the badgered performer of +the music lost much of the real comfort of his night's rest by his fear +of committing himself to a complete oblivion which might subject him to +another chaffing bout from his companions.</p> +<p>Another wet and uncomfortable day's ride brought us to London, an +unattractive village at the parting of the ways, the principal road +leading on to Cumberland Gap, and another on the right going to a ford +of the Cumberland River at Williamsburg, where there would be again a +choice of routes up the Elk Fork of the Cumberland between the ridges +known as Jellico Mountain and Pine Mountain. The left wing of Burnside's +column had taken this route in October, and after crossing the +Cumberland had climbed Jellico Mountain on their right hand, and reached +the headwaters of Emory River, a tributary of the Tennessee which breaks +through the mountains at Emory Gap, the easiest route into East +Tennessee. Another road kept in the valley of Elk Fork till a place was +reached where Pine Mountain, on the left, could be scaled, and once over +its summit a hard road led to Big Creek Gap in the Cumberland Mountains, +and thence by way of Jacksboro to Knoxville.</p> +<p>At London we were met with news from East Tennessee which made me +reconsider the question of our route. We heard from Cumberland Gap that +after General Foster had joined Burnside at Knoxville, Longstreet had +moved in force to Rutledge, where he intercepted this line of +communication, and that Knoxville could not be reached by that road for +some time to come. This seemed to make it necessary to turn off to the +south. As between the road to Emory Gap over Jellico Mountain and that +to Big Creek Gap over Pine Mountain, the best evidence seemed to +indicate the latter as the easier, but with the qualification which +travellers in so wild a region have often to face, that whichever way +you go you will wish you had gone the other. The name of Williamsburg on +the Cumberland sounded as if it might be a considerable town, but the +man who gave us the route warned us that we should find "it's not much +of a 'burg neither when you git thar." Our ride into London had been on +Sunday, and was surely a work of necessity if not of mercy. Captain B. +had found his horse a little shaky in coming down the steep hills, and +at one little stream the jaded beast came down on his knees in the +water. The captain with affected seriousness argued that it was a +punishment for travelling on the day of rest, but was effectually +silenced by the wag of the party, who humorously remarked, "Ah! if your +horse is so weak on Sunday what would have become of him and you on a +week day?" London did not afford us any lodgings that tempted us +indoors, and we wrapped ourselves in our blankets and slept on the open +veranda of a dilapidated house, building a camp-fire in the yard in +front. The rain had ceased, and we preferred the frosty air to the +narrow and stuffy quarters we should otherwise have had to take.</p> +<p>The evening of the 14th of December brought us to the Cumberland +River, and as it was rising from the heavy rain of the preceding week, +we should have been glad to get over at once, but the wagons could not +overtake us till night, and we stopped at a country-house on the north +side where we were made quite comfortable. About one o'clock in the +morning, however, I was awakened by voices in the room below me, and +recognized that of Captain French of Burnside's staff, who was asking +the farmer to light a fire and prepare to receive the general and his +party, who were a little behind, wet and nearly frozen. I got up and +dressed myself, went downstairs to greet the captain, who was soon +joined by the rest of the party. The general had come by the route I was +taking, but his wagons had broken down on the mountain-side, and he had +been obliged to abandon them. The party had picked up somewhere an +old-fashioned stage-coach on thorough braces, and this was drawn by ten +mules. They had packed on the backs of other mules such of their +personal effects and stores as they could, and had left the rest by the +roadside. They had halted for the night on the south side of the river, +but at midnight had been roused by the news that the river was rising, +and that they must pass the ford at once if they expected to get over. +In the darkness of the night it had been both difficult and perilous, +for the ford was diagonal to the course of the stream, and there was +great danger of getting into deep water. They were all soaking wet and +chilled, covered with mud, and as forlorn and unkempt a set of men as +was ever seen. They warmed and partly dried themselves by the fire, and +pushed on as soon as day began to break, for the general was impatient +to get forward. Colonel Goodrich, Colonel Richmond, Major Van Buren, and +the personal staff were with him, and as my own staff had been well +acquainted with them, it was an interesting rencounter with all the +events of the Knoxville campaign to discuss. The general had sent his +proposal to me to join him, the very day Longstreet reached the Holston +River at Loudon, and when it had become evident that the Confederates +were committed to an active campaign in East Tennessee. General Hartsuff +had found that he could not endure the work, and had decided to leave +before Knoxville should be invested. My regret that I could not start at +once was diminished by the fact that the investment was complete before +I could possibly have reached Knoxville, so that no time had been lost. +But all the circumstances showed that Burnside had regarded his request +to be relieved as indefinitely postponed, and the appointment of General +Foster to succeed him was unexpected. He had not heard that I was on my +way, but after meeting me sent a dispatch to Foster as soon as he +reached the telegraph line. He had informed Foster at Knoxville of his +purpose in having me join him, and sent this message in a friendly wish +to promote my interests.</p> +<p>As soon as the general and his party were off, we began our +preparation to cross the river. Their experience had shown that the +increase of difficulty in keeping the ford at night was more than would +probably come from the rise of the water. I therefore ordered everything +to be ready as soon as it was broad daylight. We had eaten our breakfast +and were in the saddle as soon as we could see clearly. Captain Day +carefully examined the ford with a few of the cavalrymen, and fixed the +landmarks which would guide us to the shallowest places. With these +precautions and by carefully following directions we got over without +mishap. The water did not quite reach the bodies of the wagons, and by +lifting our feet out of our stirrups we got over dryshod. The stream was +swift, and the only way to keep one's direction safely was to look ahead +and not downward. Had we tried it in the night, we should no doubt have +fared as badly as our friends who had preceded us.</p> +<p>A day's hard journey for the wagon teams brought us to the foot of +Pine Mountain at the point where the road leaves the bed of Elk Fork to +climb the steep ascent. We were now only nineteen miles from Jacksboro, +in the valley of the Clinch, but the distance was multiplied by the +cumulating difficulties of the way. We were not far from Cross Mountain, +a ridge which, as its name indicates, connects the long parallel ranges +of Jellico, Pine, and Cumberland mountains. We must climb Pine Mountain +to its crest, descend along the shoulders of Cross Mountain near the +head of the valley, then scale the side of Cumberland Mountain to reach +Big Creek Gap, from which the valley of East Tennessee would open before +us. We camped for the night and prepared for an early start in the +morning. The teams were well fed and groomed, and the whole equipment +was carefully inspected to see that everything was ready for the strain +of the rough work of the morrow.</p> +<p>The morning of the 16th was fair and frosty, and we were astir +early. Pine Mountain loomed before us like the steep roof of some vast +gothic cathedral. The ridge seemed as straight as a house ridge, and we +could not see that any natural depression made the ascent much easier in +one place than another. Our road ran up a spur of the mountain till the +regular slope was reached, then turning to the right it gradually +mounted the steep incline by a diagonal course on a long shelf cut in +the hillside, with here and there a level spot on which the teams could +breathe. From where we stood in the valley the mountain face looked +precipitous, and the road a mere line gradually rising along its front. +It would have been bad enough if it had been a metalled road in good +order; but it was only a rough track alternating in mud and rock, that +had never been good even in mid-summer, and it was now next to +impassable. Under the direction of Captain Day and the wagonmaster the +teams were doubled, two of the wagons being left in the valley till the +others should reach the summit, when the teams were to be brought back. +When they came to the long and hard pull, the drivers gave us a good +sample of army wagoning, their yelling and cracking of whips keeping up +a continual chorus, and at specially hard points the quartermaster and +wagon-master joined in the music like the baying of a pack of hounds, +while the horses seemed to be stimulated to almost frantic action. This +could not be kept up long, and when one of the level breathing-places +was reached all subsided into quiet, while the steaming and puffing +horses regained their wind for another effort.</p> +<p>Five miles of advance was the utmost we could make on that day, but +this was fifteen for the teams, as they had to be brought down the +mountain over the same road and drag up the wagons which had been left +at the foot. Our party of cavaliers waited lazily in the valley till the +first of the wagons were near the summit, and then rode on to overtake +them on the other side of the ridge. It was an easy and picturesque ride +for us who were well mounted, but a wearing labor and strain for the +teamsters and their animals. We congratulated ourselves on the care with +which the "outfit" had been selected at Lexington, for we came through +without accident on a road where wrecks were plentier than milestones.</p> +<p>We had sweet slumber that night in the keen air of the mountain top, +and were ready for the last day of mountain work. We were fourteen miles +from Jacksboro, and were resolved to reach the little town before night. +The road was unlike the long inclined plane cut in the side of Pine +Mountain. We were in the midst of a mass of irregular stony hills, all +of them part of the highlands between the summits of the two ranges. It +was hard and rough work, but we were not obliged to double the teams +again. The last ascent of the Cumberland Mountains toward Big Creek Gap +was over bare rock much of the way, the sandstone strata lying +horizontal, and the road being a gigantic staircase in which the steps +were sometimes a foot each, but oftener more, with an occasional rise of +fully four feet in the edge of the rocky outcrop. In the road the sharp +edges of these stairs had been rounded off, partly by wear and a little +by mechanical means, but they distinctly retained the stair-like +character and looked absolutely impracticable. At the worst places the +teamsters would halt and throw together stones or branches of trees to +fill the angle in the rock, then mounting, a whoop and a crack of the +whip was the signal for the team to dash at the obstacle. The horses' +shoes would strike fire from the level rock of the long "treader" above, +the wagon would be bounced up the step, when a little bit of level would +bring them to another rise in the staircase. We zigzagged along as the +road sought the easiest places among the rocks, and perseverance at last +had its reward when we crowned the summit and looked down into the +broad and beautiful valleys of the Clinch and the Holston, the lovely +tributaries which form the Tennessee River.</p> +<p>Our first look into Big Creek Gap was a startling and pleasurable +surprise which has remained indelibly fixed in memory. Clouds had been +hanging about the top of the mountain, and as we ascended the last slope +and reached the crest, they hung so low over us that we could almost +touch them. It was not like going into a fog, as is usually the case in +climbing mountains, but these seemed smooth as silk on the under surface +and hung over us as well defined as the covering of a tent. This gave to +the prospect an accidental and very peculiar effect that one might not +see again in crossing the pass a hundred times. As we looked eastward +from the depression in the crest in which our roadway ran, a great +circling amphitheatre lay before us, almost perfect in the symmetry of +its curves. The ridge on right and left which formed its outer margin +was higher than the spot on which we stood, and the silky clouds over +our heads rested on it as on the walls of a natural coliseum, like the <i>velum</i> +of canvas of the ancient gigantic structure in Rome, except that here, +nature outdoing all art, spread the lovely awning over the whole vast +and cavernous auditorium a mile or more across. The gloom of the +interior threw the retreating slopes into a mysterious shadow in which +it were easy to imagine them peopled with ranks of ghostly auditors +gazing upon the stage. It was there, full in our faces, that the most +startling and almost incredible effect was visible. The circle of the +mountains was there broken by an opening flanked on either side by +stupendous perpendicular cliffs, and we looked through it upon a +charming landscape bathed in glorious sunshine. A blue stream dashed +foaming through the great gap and wandered off to join the river beyond. +The broad and undulating valley fifty miles across was backed by +another mountain wall which towered opposite to that from whose +battlements we were gazing, not a long and level ridge like so many of +those in the Alleghanies, but a picturesque Alpine mountain scene, with +peaks snow-clad and dazzling in the sunlight,--the Great Smokies, the +noblest of all the mountain groups of the Appalachian chain. The gloom +and shadow of our vast amphitheatre held us in awe, while the brilliancy +of the scene beyond the great stage opening seemed to draw us to it as +to a promised land. We sat upon our horses, spellbound, gazing upon +what seemed at once too grand and too beautiful to be real. Had we been +superstitious like soldiers of an ancient time, we might have seen a +miraculous portent in it; and even as it was, such sentiment as may be +permitted in the sceptical spirit of our own day could find a happy +omen in the scene. We were entering upon a new chapter in our military +lives, and it was cheering to us, in entering East Tennessee, through +the great gate that opened before us, to have so charming a picture to +lure us on. We wound down the mountain side, happy but quiet. There was +no one among us so lacking in earnest character as to be unmoved. We +had left the wagons far behind, and the clinking of our horses' shoes +upon the rocks was the only sound which broke the silence till the +roaring and laughing brook that gives a name to the pass met us and +rollicked beside us, as we went out between the giant cliffs into the +broad and cheerful valley.</p> +<p>At Jacksboro we entered the theatre of active warlike operations, +and found ourselves in the usual atmosphere of rumors. It was of course +known that Longstreet had retreated to the northeast after raising the +siege, but some insisted that he was moving down the valley again, and +that Foster was to be shut up in Knoxville as Burnside had been. It was +evident that there was no definite information on which any of these +local opinions were based, and I was satisfied that our road was open +and safe. The only risk was from some raiding column of cavalry, and we +must take our chances as to that. After a good night's rest, I decided +on the morning of the 18th to take with me Colonel Strong of General +Foster's staff and Colonel Sterling, and leaving the wagons behind, to +make the forty miles to Knoxville in a single day's ride. What we had +heard of the destitution in the city made it seem best that most of the +party should remain with the wagons and the supplies, and so avoid the +risk of throwing too many guests upon the hospitality of headquarters. +We took a few of the cavalry as an escort, and both horses and men were +in such good condition and so hardened to the road that we scarcely +broke from a trot in the whole distance, except to stop for resting and +feeding our nags at noon.</p> +<p>We reached Knoxville in the afternoon, and Colonel Strong was warmly +welcomed by those of the staff who were present, but the general was +absent at the front. He was expected back the next night, however, and +comfortable quarters were provided for us meanwhile. My instinctive +fears of complications in regard to my own assignment to duty proved to +be true. The very day I left Lexington General Foster had issued an +order assigning me to command the District of Kentucky, and it had +passed me on the road. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii. pp. 383, 394.]</span> My +determination to obey literally the order from the War Department to +report in person, and the haste with which I had started, proved my +salvation from the kind of duty at the rear which I was bent on +escaping. The District of Kentucky would have been even worse than that +of Ohio, for the strife between political factions embroiled every one +who commanded there, and the order to me had been issued because the +officer in command was obnoxious to one of these factions.</p> +<p>General Foster returned on the 19th, and on my reporting to him I +found at once the benefit of General Burnside's representations in +regard to me. Colonel Strong was also well aware of my earnest wish for +field service, and the friendship which had grown up on the road, no +doubt, made him an influential advocate with his chief. The general +received me very kindly, and said that his action had been based on the +supposition that I would prefer duty in Kentucky during the winter +rather than make the rough journey over the mountains at that season. On +my assuring him that my coming without waiting to communicate with him +was because of my earnest request to the War Department for service in +the field, he was evidently pleased and immediately revoked the orders +already made, and assigned me to the Twenty-third Corps, to command it +as the senior general officer present. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. iii, p. 457.]</span></p> +<p>I had been eight days on the road from Lexington, and the rest of +the party who remained with the wagons were a day longer in reaching +Knoxville. It had given me a vivid appreciation of the impossibility of +supplying an army in East Tennessee by wagon trains over the mountains. +The roads by Cumberland Gap or by Emory Gap were less precipitous, but +they were more muddy. The forage was exhausted along all the routes, and +till grass should grow large trains of supplies were not to be thought +of. The effort to force trains through in the autumn had been most +destructive to the teams. Noticing how the way was lined by the +carcasses of dead horses and mules, we kept an accurate count one day of +the number of these. In the twenty miles of that day's journey we +counted a hundred and fifty dead draught animals. The movement of +wagon-trains had, of course, been suspended when Longstreet advanced +upon Knoxville, and bad weather had hardly begun then. Beef cattle could +be driven in herds, but the country was so stripped of forage that the +danger of starvation by the way made this mode of supply nearly as +hopeless as the other.</p> +<p>The only permanent solution of the subsistence problem was to be +found in enlarging the facilities for railway communication at +Chattanooga so that that town might become a great depot from which the +East Tennessee troops could draw as soon as the railroad to Knoxville +should be repaired, or light steamboats be brought to the upper +Tennessee and Holston rivers. They showed us at Knoxville samples of the +bread issued to the garrison during the siege. It was made of a mixture +of all the breadstuffs which were in store or could be procured, but the +chief ingredient was Indian corn ground up cob and all. It was not an +attractive loaf, but it would support life, though the bulk was out of +proportion to the nutriment. The cattle had been kept in corral till +they were too thin and weak to be fit for food, but there was no other, +and the commissaries killed the weakest and issued them as rations +because these would otherwise die a natural death. Sherman and his staff +had expressed their astonishment that an appetizing dinner had been +spread for them at Burnside's headquarters; <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Sherman's Memoirs, vol. i. +p. 368.]</span> but they would have wondered more if they had known of +the way in which the town and vicinity had been ransacked to do honor to +the welcome guests who had relieved the beleaguered army. General Poe +vividly describes the straits they were in, and the heroic sort of +hospitality which had hunted far and wide for something fit to set +before the leader of the column which had raised the siege. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Battles and Leaders of the +Civil War, vol. iii. p. 745.]</span> There had been no danger of actual +starvation, but only the coarsest of bread and the poorest of beef could +be distributed. Eating, in such circumstances, was not a pleasure, and +the pangs of real hunger were necessary to make the ration at all +palatable. The withdrawal of the enemy relieved the situation somewhat, +for it opened the country to foraging parties, and every kind of +produce which money could tempt the people to part with was bought and +brought into the camps. It was little enough at best, and three months +of pinching want were to be endured before anything like regular +supplies could be furnished to the army. It was to such a house of +destitution we had come, but we had come voluntarily to share the +labors and the triumphs of our comrades in the field and we had no +regrets.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</p> +<p>WINTER BIVOUACS IN EAST TENNESSEE</p> +<p>Blain's Cross-roads--Hanson's headquarters--A hearty +welcome--Establishing field quarters--Tents and houses--A good +quartermaster--Headquarters' business--Soldiers' camps--Want of clothing +and shoes--The rations--Running the country mills--Condition of horses +and mules--Visit to Opdycke's camp--A Christmas dinner--Veteran +enlistments--Patriotic spirit--Detachment at Strawberry +Plains--Concentration of corps there--Camp on a knoll-A night +scene-Climate of the valley--Affair at Mossy Creek--New Year's +blizzard--Pitiful condition of the troops--Patience and courage--Zero +weather.</p> +<p>The Twenty-third Corps was encamped at Blain's Cross-roads, +seventeen miles northeast of Knoxville, on the road to Rutledge, where +Longstreet was supposed to be. The Fourth Corps, under General Granger, +and the Ninth, under General Parke, were in the same neighborhood. The +cavalry corps covered the front and flanks on both sides of Holston +River. A concentration of the Army of the Ohio and its reinforcements +had been made there to meet a rumored return of the Confederates toward +Knoxville after an affair at Rutledge in which Longstreet had captured a +wagon-train loaded with supplies for us. I left Knoxville on the morning +of the 21st of December, accompanied by my staff officers, and rode to +Blain's Cross-roads. I found the corps under temporary command of +Brigadier-General Mahlon D. Manson, of Indiana, who had commanded one of +the divisions in the preceding campaign. Manson occupied an old log +house too small for himself and staff. There was but one bed in it, and +at night the general occupied this, whilst his staff slept in their +blankets on the floor. We had travelled leisurely, as I wished to study +the country between Knoxville and the camp, and we reached the corps too +late to make any arrangement for the night, and had to cast ourselves on +our comrades' hospitality. I was most heartily welcomed by General +Manson, who did the best he could for me by offering me the half of his +own bed, whilst the staff took similar lodgings with his officers in a +shed veranda at the back of the house lying snugly together, wrapped in +their blankets. Manson was a burly, whole-souled man, brave and loyally +unselfish, and turned over the command to me with a sincerity of +subordination which won my confidence at once. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. iii. pp. 462, 463.]</span> It was not a comfortable night in the +overcrowded log house for either hosts or guests, but it was made cheery +by the hearty soldiers' welcome we received, and we sat late around the +crackling fire in the stone chimney after we had eaten with a relish, +known only in camp, the best supper which the meagre rations of the +army could furnish.</p> +<p>Our first occupation next day was to establish my own headquarters, +for a military man does not feel at home until his little camp is set in +some decent nook with the regularity and order which shows good system, +and with the sentinel pacing before the entrance. I have always found it +most comfortable and most healthful to live under canvas, even in +winter, in the sparsely settled parts of the country. It might be +different in Europe or in the more densely peopled States at the East, +but in the West and South a house cannot always be found in proper +proximity to the line, and changing from house to tent and back again is +much more dangerous to health than adherence to what seems the more +exposed kind of life. There is also a question of discipline and <i>morale</i> +involved, and the effect of example at headquarters is felt through the +whole command. With no little difficulty we found four old tents without +flies, but these were carefully pitched in a clean place accessible to +all parts of the corps, and when we were installed in them we had a real +satisfaction in being at home and ready for business. Our difficulty in +procuring four poor tents was simply an index of the scarcity of all +supplies and equipments. The depots at Cincinnati and Nashville were +packed with everything we wanted, but there had been no time to get them +forward when the siege began, and now the impassable mountain roads cut +us off as completely as a circle of hostile camps. We especially felt +the lack of the flies for the tents in roughing it. This extra roof +makes as great a difference in keeping a tent habitable in wet weather, +as an extra cape or a poncho does in keeping the rain off one's person, +or in civil life the omnipresent umbrella. Our overcoats and ponchos +kept out the wet in the longest march, but without a fly the tent roof +and walls would drip with moisture. In Captain Day, however, I had a +quartermaster whose indomitable energy would not be long baffled, and in +his journeys to and fro in charge of the supply trains of the corps he +kept a sharp eye out for whatever would make our headquarters outfit +more efficient. The warehouses at Knoxville were searched, and a better +tent found in one place and a fly in another gradually brought our +little camp into what soldiers regard as a home-like condition. The +clerical work and the official correspondence of the command could then +go on; for the headquarters of an army corps in the field is as busy a +place as a bank or counting-house in a city. It is the business centre +for a military population of 12,000 or 15,000 men, where local +government is carried on, and where their feeding, clothing, arming, and +equipping are organized and directed, to say nothing of the military +conduct in regard to the enemy, or of the administration of affairs +relating to the neighboring inhabitants.</p> +<p>The troops were in bivouac, generally in the woods about us, where +shelter could be made in ways well known to lumbermen and hunters. The +most common form was a lean-to, made by setting a couple of crotched +posts in the ground with a long pole for a ridge. Against this were laid +other poles and branches of trees sloping to the ground on the windward +side. The roof was roughly thatched with evergreen branches laid so that +rain would be shed outward. A bed of small evergreen twigs within made a +comfortable couch, and unlimited firewood from the forest made a camp +fire in front that kept everybody toasting warm in ordinary weather. The +regimental and company officers had similar quarters, improved sometimes +by a roof of canvas or tarpaulin beneath the evergreen thatch. There +were but few days in the East Tennessee winters when such shelter was +not a sufficient protection for men young and accustomed to hardship. +It was in fact more comfortable than life in tents at division and +corps headquarters, but with us tents were a necessity on account of +the clerical business which I have mentioned.</p> +<p>The want most felt was that of clothing and shoes. The supply of +these had run very low by the time Burnside had marched through Kentucky +and Tennessee to Knoxville, and almost none had been received since. +Many of the soldiers were literally in rags, and none were prepared for +winter when Longstreet interrupted all communication with the base of +supplies. Their shoes were worn out, and this, even more than their +raggedness, made winter marching out of the question. The barefooted men +had to be left behind, and of those who started the more poorly shod +would straggle, no matter how good their own will was or how carefully +the officers tried to enforce discipline and keep their men together.</p> +<p>The food question was in a very unsatisfactory way, but had improved +a good deal after the siege of Knoxville was raised. Some herds had been +brought part of the way, and had been kept together, so that they were +driven in as soon as the road was open. Some were captured and some were +lost, but enough arrived so that the meat ration was pretty regularly +issued in full weight. A large amount of pork had been salted and packed +at Knoxville, and was issued as an occasional change from the ordinary +ration of fresh beef. The "small rations" of coffee, sugar, salt, etc., +were almost wholly wanting, and our soldiers had been so accustomed to a +regular issue of these that the deprivation was a very serious matter. +As to breadstuffs, none could be got from our depots and we were wholly +dependent upon the country. We put all the mills within our lines under +military supervision, and systematized the grinding so that the supply +of meal and flour should be equitably distributed to the army and to +the inhabitants. As the people were loyal, there was no wish on the +part of the military authorities to take corn or other grain without +payment, and the people brought in freely or sold to us on their farms +all that they could spare. Still the supply was short, and was soon +exhausted in the vicinity of the army, so that we had to send forage +trains to great distances and with very unsatisfactory results. During +the whole winter we rarely succeeded in obtaining half rations of +bread, and oftentimes the fraction was so small as to be hardly worth +estimating. In such a situation corn could not be taken for horse-feed, +and as the long forage in our vicinity was exhausted, the animals were +in pitiful condition. In many instances artillery horses dropped dead +of starvation at the picket rope.</p> +<p>The Fourth Corps was no better off than ourselves. Granger had left +the Army of the Cumberland immediately after the battle of Missionary +Ridge, and although the situation at Chattanooga had been a good deal +mitigated, no considerable supplies of clothing had then arrived. The +distress was therefore universal in our East Tennessee army. Learning +that Sheridan's division was encamped not far from us at Blain's +Cross-roads, I rode over to find Colonel Emerson Opdycke of the One +Hundred and Twenty-fifth Ohio, who was in that division. He was a +townsman of mine, and our families were intimate, and other neighbors +and friends were with him. I could give them later news from home than +any of them had, for until the end of the year the newspapers I brought +from Cincinnati were the latest in camp. I found Opdycke's camp like our +own. He was in the woods, under a lean-to shelter such as I have +described, with a camp-fire of great logs in front of it. He was just +opening the first letters he had got from home since the battle of +Chickamauga in September, and these had been a long time on the way, for +they had gone to Chattanooga and had come by casual conveyance from +there. His statements fully agreed with the reports I had got from the +Twenty-third Corps officers in regard to the condition of the troops. It +was the same with all. They would not suffer greatly if they could +remain in the forest encampments till shoes and clothing could come to +us, but any active campaigning must produce intolerable suffering.</p> +<p>Our mess wished to celebrate Christmas by a dinner at which a few of +our comrades might share the luxury of some canned vegetables and other +stores we had brought from Ohio, and we sent a man with a foraging party +that was going twenty miles away for hay and corn. After a diligent +search he succeeded in getting a turkey and a pair of fowls, and we kept +the festival in what seemed luxurious style to our friends who had been +through the campaign. The spirit of officers and men was all that could +be wished, for they thoroughly understood the causes of their privation, +and knew that it was unavoidable. Their patriotism and their moral tone +were magnificently shown in the re-enlistments which were at this time +going on. The troops of the original enlistment of 1861 were now near +the end of their term of three years, and it was the wise policy of the +government to let the question of a new term be settled now while the +winter was interrupting active operations. Regiments whose term of +service would expire in the spring or summer of 1864 were offered a +month's furlough at home and the title of "veterans" if they would +re-enlist. The furlough was to be enjoyed before the opening of the next +campaign, and the regiments were to be sent off as fast as +circumstances would permit. We knew that the home visit would be a +strong inducement to many, but we were astonished and awed at the noble +unanimity of the popular spirit of the men. Almost to a man they were +determined to "see it out," as they said. The re-enlistment was accepted +by companies, but there was great pride in preserving the regimental +organization as well. The closing week of the year was devoted to this +business, other duty being suspended as far as circumstances would +permit. When a company had "veteranized" by the re-enlistment of a +majority, they announced it by parading on the company street and giving +three rousing cheers. These cheers were the news of the day, and the +company letter and the number of the regiment passed eagerly from mouth +to mouth as the signal of a new veteran company was heard. Some +companies re-enlisted without an exception. In one regiment there were +only 15 men in the ten companies who did not sign the new rolls. In fact +only the physically disabled with here and there a discontented man were +omitted in the veteran enlistment. It was a remarkable incident in the +history of the war and a speaking one. It illustrates better than +anything, except the original outburst of patriotism in 1861, the +character of the men who formed our rank and file. Could we only have +had then an efficient system of filling up these veteran regiments by +new recruits, the whole would have made an incomparable army; but, alas, +we were to see them reduced to a handful while new regiments were +organized, only (as it looked to us in the field) to give the +"patronage" of the appointments to politicians, or to reward successful +recruiting instead of soldierly ability tested in action.</p> +<p>Soon after General Foster was assigned to the department he reissued +an order which Burnside had made earlier but had revoked, by which +Brigadier-General Samuel D. Sturgis was appointed to the command of the +cavalry corps. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii, p. 394.]</span> Sturgis had commanded a +division of the Ninth Corps in Maryland and Virginia, and was one of +those whose dismissal Burnside had demanded for the insubordination +which followed the battle of Fredericksburg. Good policy would have +dictated that he should be sent to some other command; but he was +ordered to report to Burnside, and had no active employment until Foster +arrived. The cavalry corps had had several lively engagements with the +Confederate horse, and was now concentrated near Mossy Creek, where it +was supported by a brigade of infantry from the second division of the +Twenty-third Corps, in command of Colonel Mott of the One Hundred and +Eighteenth Ohio. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 488, 489, 562.]</span> Our information showed that Longstreet's +forces were now concentrated about Morristown, and that nothing larger +than scouting parties came across to the west side of the Holston. It +became prudent, therefore, to transfer part of our forces from the +Rutledge road over to that which runs from Knoxville along the line of +the railroad to Morristown. Both the railroad and the wagon-road cross +the Holston at Strawberry Plains and go up the valley on the east side +of the river by way of New Market and Mossy Creek. On the 24th and 25th +I was directed to send two more brigades to Strawberry Plains, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 490.]</span>one +of which was put over the river to cover the reconstruction of the +railway bridge which was going on. This was the long trestle which had +been burned by Sanders in the preceding summer, and had since been +repaired and destroyed by the opposing armies alternately. On the 27th I +was ordered to move the other division of the corps to Strawberry +Plains, thus concentrating my command in that vicinity. Our distance +from Knoxville would be about the same as at Blain's Cross-roads, but +the divergence of the roads made our march some six or eight miles +across the country.</p> +<p>It was a great hardship to the men to abandon the huts they had made +with a good deal of labor, and which were the more necessary for them by +reason of the destitution which I have described. Nor was it pleasant +for us at headquarters, for we had got our own establishment into a +condition of tolerable comfort. Some brick had been got from a ruined +and abandoned house, and with them a chimney with an open fireplace had +been built at the back of one of our tents, which thus made a cheerful +sitting-room for our mess. It is a soldier's proverb that comfortable +quarters are sure to bring marching orders, and we were only +illustrating the rule. The march was made in the afternoon through rain +and mud, and we reached Strawberry Plains just before nightfall in the +short midwinter day. The Plains were a nearly level space in a curve of +the river, though the village of the name was on some rough hills on the +other bank at the end of the long trestle bridge. The level lands had +been for some time occupied by the cavalry, and were so cut into +mud-holes and defiled in every way as to be unfit for an infantry camp. +A little on one side, however, was an isolated gently rounded hill +covered with a mixed forest of oak and pine. With a little crowding this +would make a clean and well-drained camp for the division I had brought +with me. The brigades were placed so that they encircled the hill on the +lower slopes with openings between leading to the top, on which I placed +my headquarters. The little quadrangle of tents on the top, the +forest-covered slopes, the busy soldiery below making new camps for +themselves, made a romantic picture despite the discomforts. I cannot +better show the impression made at the moment than by quoting from a +letter written home the next day: "When we arrived, the rain was pouring +in torrents, the dead leaves, wet and deep, soaked our boots and made it +slow work to kindle a fire, and as we stood about in our overcoats +heavy with water, we were not especially impressed with the romance of +the scene; but when we had found a few old pine-knots to start the fire +with, and the heavy smoke of the damp leaves changed to a bright +flame,--when the tents were pitched, a cup of hot coffee made, and we +sat about the fire watching the flashing light on the deep green of the +pines and the beautiful russet of the oak leaves with the white of the +tents beneath, the few square yards about us were made as lovely as a +fairy scene shut in by the impenetrable gloom beyond. The old witchery +of camp life now came over us, we forgot rain and cold, singing and +chatting as merrily as if care were dead, till finally rolling in our +blankets under our tents, we went to sleep as sweetly and soundly as +children."</p> +<p>A day or two of bright mild weather followed, and the troops got +themselves fairly well sheltered again. The cutting of trees for huts +and for firewood thinned out the forest, and the elevation of the camp +above the surrounding country exposed us to the wind, as we soon learned +to our cost. Whilst the fair days lasted, we had a favorable example of +an East Tennessee winter, as is shown by the further quotation from the +home letter just cited. "I am sitting in the open air," I said, "before +the camp-fire of great logs, writing upon my atlas on my knee, which is +more comfortable than doing it in the chilly shade of the tent. I wish +you could have seen our camp last night. We were grouped around the +fire, some sitting and lolling on the logs drawn up for fuel, some in +camp chairs. The smoke from the camps about us made the whole air hazy. +Over the tents through a vista of pine-trees the moon was rising red +through the thickened air, while overhead the stars were shining. The +wonderful perspective the firelight makes in the forest, here brought +out and deepened the mass of color of the evergreens, there made the +bare trunk and limbs of a leafless oak stand like a chalk drawing +against the black background, and again it gave rich velvety warmth to +the brown of the dead leaves which hung thick on some trees, while the +gloom beyond and the snug enclosure of our little quadrangle of tents +shut us in with a sense of shelter, and completed a picture that would +have made Rembrandt die of envy." We were hardened by our continuous +exposure so that we felt no discomfort in sitting thus in the open air +till late in the evening, though we woke in the morning to find the dead +leaves which made our carpet stiff and crisp with the frost. Still, it +was much milder than the Christmas weather of northern Ohio, or we could +not have taken it so easily.</p> +<p>On the 29th the cavalry had a lively affair with the enemy at Mossy +Creek, some twenty miles above us. General Sturgis was making a +reconnoissance of the country between the French Broad and the Holston +rivers, sending the cavalry partly toward Dandridge on the former +stream, under command of Colonel Foster, and partly toward Morristown, +under Brigadier-General W. L. Elliott of the Cumberland army. Elliott +was supported by Mott's brigade of infantry, part of which acted under +his orders. Foster found no enemy, but Elliott had advanced about three +miles beyond Mossy Creek when he encountered the cavalry corps of the +Confederates, advancing, apparently, with a purpose similar to ours. The +infantry were posted by Sturgis upon a ridge half a mile beyond the +railway bridge at Mossy Creek, and the cavalry with the artillery were +ordered to retire slowly to the same position. The enemy under +Major-General William T. Martin consisted of two divisions of horsemen +and two batteries of artillery. They closely followed our retiring +troops, who made cool resistance and drew back slowly and in order. When +the position of the infantry was reached, the whole force was halted to +receive the Confederate attack. Sturgis had two batteries of artillery +with his corps, but had sent a section of each with Colonel Foster, and +Elliott now placed the remaining sections on right and left of the road, +each supported by infantry. Martin boldly attacked till he found himself +confronted by Mott's infantry, which opened upon him with a withering +fire. The artillery also fired canister upon the advancing enemy, and +our horsemen, dismounting, extended the line and did good execution with +their carbines. The first assault being repulsed, Martin was unwilling +to give it up so, and bringing his artillery into better position +renewed the fight. A sharp skirmishing combat was kept up for several +hours, when the enemy retreated. Darkness came on soon after, and the +pursuit was not pushed far. Our losses had been 17 killed and 87 +wounded. That of the enemy was reported to be much more severe. The +result of the engagement was to repress the enterprise of the +Confederates, so that Mossy Creek remained for some time our undisturbed +outpost in the valley. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. pp. 625-641.]</span></p> +<p>On New Year's eve we had a change of weather which rudely broke in +upon our dream of a steady and mild winter. It had been raining nearly +all day, and we had just turned in about ten o'clock in the evening when +a sudden gale sprung up from the northward. The water-soaked ground did +not hold the tent pins very well, and the rattling of canvas warned us +to look after the fastenings. The staff were all quickly at work, the +servants being, as usual, slow in answering a call in the night. The +front of our mess tent blew in, and the roof and sides were bellying out +and flapping like a ship's sail half clewed up. I caught the door-flaps +and held them down to the pole with all my strength, shouting to the +black boys to turn out before the whole should fly away. Then we had a +lively time for an hour, going from tent to tent to drive the pins +tighter and make things secure. We had just got them snug, as we +thought, and began to listen to the roaring of the wind with something +like defiance, when a "stick-and-clay" chimney, which Colonel Sterling +and my brother had at the back of their tent, took fire and was near +setting the whole encampment in a blaze. This made another shout and +rush, till the chimney was torn away from the canvas and the fire +extinguished. The gale was so fierce that the sparks from the camp-fires +rolled along the ground instead of rising, and we should have burned up +had not the rain kept the tents soaking wet. It grew cold so fast that +by the time we had made the encampment safe, the wet canvas froze stiff. +It must be confessed that we did not sleep well that night, and we got +up in the morning aching with cold. It still blew a gale, though the +sky was clear and the thermometer had fallen to zero. It was a typical +cyclone coming as a cold wave from the North, and, as we afterward +learned, was exceptional in its suddenness and bitterness along the +whole line from Minnesota to northern Georgia.</p> +<p>The soldiers in the camps had slept but little, for they were +obliged to keep awake and near the fires to escape freezing. No one who +has not lived in tents or in bivouac in such a time can understand what +real suffering from cold is. Exposure by day is easy to bear compared +with the chill by night when camp-fires burn low and men lie shivering, +their teeth chattering, while extreme drowsiness makes exertion painful +and there is danger of going off into the sleep that knows no waking. On +New Year's day morning the ground was frozen solid. All huddled about +the fires, but the gale was so fierce that on the windward side there +seemed to be no radiation of heat, so completely was the fire blown away +from that side of the logs. On the leeward side the smoke suffocated and +the sparks burned one, and men passed from one side to the other +doubting which was the more tolerable.</p> +<p>I spent a good part of the morning going through the regimental +camps and giving such encouragement and cheer as I could. The patience +and courage of the troops were marvellous, though many of the men were +in a pitiable condition as to clothing. They were tatterdemalions in +appearance, but heroes at heart. Some had nothing but drawers upon their +legs, their trousers being utterly worn to rags. Some had no coats and +drew their tattered blankets about them, sitting upon their haunches, +like Indians, about the camp-fires. I do not recall a single querulous +or ill-natured complaint. It was heart-breaking work to see their +misery, but they were so intelligent that they knew as well as I did +that it had grown out of the inevitable fortunes of war, in spite of the +utmost efforts of their commanders to get supplies forward as soon as +the siege of Knoxville had been raised. I estimated that fully one-third +of the command had lost and worn out some material portion of their +clothing, so as to be suffering for lack of it. A little thing which +added greatly to the discomfort of the men was that in some whole +brigades they had been without soap for two months. This made +cleanliness impossible, and clustering about the fires as they were +forced to do, they became so begrimed that a liberal supply of soap +would have been necessary to restore their color and show to what race +they belonged. Yet, hungry, cold, ragged, and dirty, they responded +cheerily to my New-Year's greetings, and at this very time the +"veteranizing" was going on without a check until nearly every one of +the old regiments re-enlisted for another term.</p> +<p>At our headquarters on the hill-top we realized that our picturesque +situation had its disadvantages, for we were doubly exposed to the force +of the wind. We were on a high dome, as it were, with nothing whatever +to make a lee or break the power of the icy gale. In one or two of the +tents, furnaces or stoves of stone had been made, on the pattern of +those we had used in West Virginia in 1861. The trench in the ground +with flat stone covering level with the tent floor and connected with an +opening on the outside, proved the most successful device. We collected +in these, and used every manner of pastime to kill the tedious hours +till the subsidence of the wind made our usual outdoor life and activity +possible again. Our efforts at meals were a woeful sort of failure. +Cooking under such difficulties was more a name than a fact, and we left +the mess tent shivering and hardly less hungry than we entered it. But +all things have an end, however tedious they seem in passing, and the +2d of January seemed pleasant in the comparison, for the "blizzard" was +over, and the weather was calm though cold.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</p> +<p>GRANT'S VISIT--THE DANDRIDGE AFFAIR</p> +<p>Grant at Knoxville--Comes to Strawberry Plains--A gathering at +Parke's quarters--Grant's quiet manner--No conversational +discussion--Contrast with Sherman--Talk of cadet days--Grant's +riding-school story--No council of war--Qualities of his +dispatches--Returns by Cumberland Gap--Longstreet's +situation--Destitution of both armies--Railroad repairs and improved +service--Light-draught steamboats--Bridges--Cattle herds on the +way--Results of Grant's inspection tour--Foster's movement to Dandridge +on the French Broad--Sheridan--His qualities--August Willich--Hazen--His +disagreement with Sheridan--Its causes and consequences--Combat at +Dandridge--A mutual surprise--Sheridan's bridge--An amusing blunder--A +consultation in Dandridge--Sturgis's toddy--Retreat to Strawberry +Plains--A hard night march--A rough day--An uncomfortable +bivouac--Concentration toward Knoxville--Rumors of reinforcement of +Longstreet--Expectation of another siege--The rumors untrue.</p> +<p>In the midst of the severest suffering of the army from cold and +want, General Grant came in person to inspect the condition of affairs +in East Tennessee. He reached Knoxville on the 30th of December, and +after spending two or three days with General Foster, came up to +Strawberry Plains. The first intensity of the cold wave had passed by, +but it was still "zero weather" when he came: indeed he had waited in +Knoxville for a little moderating of the temperature, but finding that +it continued very cold, his desire to complete the inspection hurried +him on. The corps and division commanders accompanied him in a ride +through the camps that he might see the destitution of the army, and the +necessity for sparing the troops all unnecessary exposure. The great +trestle bridge across the Holston was examined, and the features of the +topography which made Strawberry Plains an important point in military +operations covering Knoxville and the line of communication with +Cumberland Gap.</p> +<p>At the end of the ride we gathered in General Parke's quarters for +what I supposed would be a discussion of the situation and a comparison +of views as to our future work. It was my first meeting with Grant, and +I was full of interest in observing him. On the ride he had been quietly +attentive, making no show of curiosity, asking few questions, carrying +himself in an unpretentious business-like way. In the social meeting at +General Parke's I was disappointed that the conversation did not take +the direction of a military discussion. Grant did not seem to desire +further information, but was satisfied with what he had seen. He took no +lead in conversation, and it was evident that he almost wholly lacked +facility in that way. What he said was kindly; there was nothing like +surliness in his manner; but he seemed to be without the faculty of +drawing other people out and putting himself in easy accord with them. +No doubt his interviews with General Foster had contained all that was +necessary for making up his mind as to our situation except the personal +inspection he was now engaged in; but had he been Sherman, he would have +gone over the phases of the matter which could properly be made the +subject of general discussion, would have emphasized whatever could be +made encouraging, and exhorted to patience and courage in doing the +present duty. Grant did nothing of the kind. He smoked and listened, and +did not accept any of the openings which others made for conversation +upon the campaign.</p> +<p>A majority of the officers in the group were West Point men, and +college life is always a resource for small-talk when other subjects +fail. The experiences of the military school, the characteristics of +friends and classmates there, the qualities of the officers and +professors, escapades and larks at Benny Havens' were found to have +perennial freshness and interest. Grant evidently enjoyed this, and +began to talk more freely. One could see that he did not lack the sense +of humor, and he told an anecdote simply but without failing to make its +points tell. His voice lacked volume, and seemed thin and rather +high-keyed. It was half-deprecatory in tone, with an air of shyness, and +he had a way of glancing quickly from one to another, as if looking for +signs of response to his venture into talk. As he went on, this wore off +to some extent, and he laughed quietly over the reminiscences he was +telling. He told very well a story of his experience in the +riding-school, where the riding-master in his time was an amusing sort +of tyrant. Grant's strong point was horsemanship, and the riding-master, +whether seriously or as a joke, determined to "take down" the young +cadet. At the exercise Grant was mounted on a powerful but vicious brute +that the cadets fought shy of, and was put at leaping the bar. The bar +was raised higher and higher as he came round the ring, till it passed +the "record." The stubborn rider would not say enough, but the stubborn +horse was disposed to shy and refuse to leap. Grant gritted his teeth +and spurred at it, but just as the horse gathered for the spring, his +swelling body burst the girth and rider and saddle tumbled into the +ring. Half stunned, he gathered himself up from the dust only to hear +the strident, cynical voice of the riding-master calling out, "Cadet +Grant, six demerits for dismounting without leave!"</p> +<p>I believe Grant's story is the only memory I brought away from what +I had imagined would be a council of war presided over by the most +prominent figure in our armies, soon to command them all. As a council +of war it certainly did not fill the ideal of an eager and earnest young +officer; but if we supplement it by a reading of the daily and hourly +dispatches in which the clear practical judgment, the unswerving faith +in final success, the unbending will, the restless energy and industry, +the power to master numberless details, and a consciousness of capacity +to command, all plainly stand forth as traits of Grant's character, we +can see that a judgment based only on the incidents of the meeting +around the fireplace in the shabby house at Strawberry Plains after our +ride on that bitter winter's day would be very misleading.</p> +<p>Grant's visit had plainly shown him that the great problem with us +was the clothing and subsistence of the troops, and that our very +existence depended on it. He therefore determined to ride over the +mountains by way of Cumberland Gap, and form his own judgment as to the +truth of the reports of the impassable condition of the roads. The +weather had hardly moderated at all when he left us on the 4th of +January, and this long and severe journey was proof of his forgetfulness +of personal comfort in his devotion to duty. Before following him +further in his investigation, it may be profitable to go back and note +some of the circumstances which brought him to Knoxville.</p> +<p>When Longstreet raised the siege of Knoxville, he took position near +Rogersville, where he would be in reach of the unbroken part of the +railway connecting him with Virginia, which now became his base. His +force continued unchanged, and was not materially increased or +diminished until the winter was nearly over, when the cavalry which +belonged to the Army of Tennessee was ordered back into Georgia. Like +Foster, he was reduced to inaction for lack of clothing and supplies. +Forage had become very scarce in every part of Tennessee, and it was +with great difficulty that the horses were kept alive in either army. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. iii. pp. 817, 819.]</span> To go into cantonments, sheltering the men +as well as possible, to send all extra horses to the rear and wait for +the springing of the grass and the settling of the roads when winter +should be over, was the dictate of common-sense, as was clearly seen by +everybody on the ground. It was not pleasant to leave the loyal men of +the upper counties of the valley to suffer under the Confederate +occupation; but nothing short of a continuous and reliable line of +supplies would enable Foster to occupy the country up to the Virginia +line. There was no gate to be shut behind Longstreet if he were driven +out. He could come back as soon as our troops withdrew. Marching and +countermarching would destroy the nearly naked and barefoot troops +without accomplishing any permanent good.</p> +<p>The authorities at Washington were beset by the well-grounded +complaints of the loyal representatives of the upper valley, and had +become blind by habit to the difficulties of supplying and moving troops +among the mountains in winter. From the first week after Foster relieved +Burnside, Halleck complained that Longstreet was not driven beyond the +Virginia line and kept there. These complaints were repeated to Grant, +and the latter promised, in dispatches of the 23d and 24th of December, +to go to Knoxville in person. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii. pp. 472, 479.]</span> In the last +of these he said, "If Longstreet is not driven from Tennessee, it shall +not be my fault." He came, and saw that it was not Foster's fault, and +that no more than Foster could he make a winter campaign with men in +such a state of destitution. As I have already said, droves of beef, +cattle, and hogs could be brought "on the hoof," in poor condition it is +true, but fit to be eaten. Yet soldiers could not campaign on fresh +beef and pork only, and bread stuffs and all vegetable food were +practically not to be had; so of coffee, sugar, salt, and the small +rations generally. This, however, was the least part of the trouble, for +the condition of the army as to clothing and shoes was simply +appalling. When many had not even rags to cover their nakedness, and +none were clad as civilized men should be to face the winter's snows and +rains, it was nonsense to talk of campaigning. Grant saw this at a +glance when he reached our camps. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. pp. 19, 43.]</span> We have not +the whole situation when even this is told. Wagons and teams, artillery +with their horses, cavalry with theirs, are as necessary as infantry; +and when foraging trains could hardly collect forage enough to feed the +animals seeking it, those that were left at the picket rope had to die +there. To talk, then, of hauling supplies for man and beast in a +marching column was preposterous.</p> +<p>It was quite proper to ask whether the impracticability of bringing +wagon trains over the mountains was as complete as we reported, and +Grant's horseback journey back into Kentucky when the thermometer was at +zero is sufficient proof that he found it imperatively necessary to +settle that question also with his own eyes and without delay. We shall +see presently what he reported. He knew before he left Chattanooga that +the railroad from Nashville was hardly supplying Thomas's army. To +Foster's appeals for at least some clothing and shoes by that route, +General Meigs, who was there, replied that it could only be done "at the +cost of starvation to our animals or short rations to our men" in the +Army of the Cumberland. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +vol. xxxi. pt. iii. p. 476.]</span> He said that the railroad must be +"not only repaired, but rebuilt," before it could do more than supply +the troops already dependent on it. General McCallum, the superintendent +of military railroads, had gone west, and was inspecting the Nashville +and Chattanooga Road, and carefully studying the problem of its +possible capacity. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 422, 444.]</span> In consequence of this a change was made in the +local superintendence, and Mr. Adna Anderson was put in charge of +operating the line, while Mr. W. W. Wright was made constructing +engineer. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +vol. xxxii. pt. ii. pp. 371, 372.]</span> Under their energy and ability +it was repaired and operated so that East Tennessee as well as Sherman's +army in Georgia were abundantly supplied during the Atlanta campaign; +but this is part of the history of the next spring and summer. To +reduce the number of mouths to feed at Chattanooga, Grant sent portions +of the Army of the Tennessee into northern Alabama, where they could be +supplied by boats coming up the Tennessee River. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. iii. pp. 429, 496, 502.]</span> The same considerations influenced +him in assenting to Sherman's plan of the Meridian Expedition, where the +troops engaged in it could live partly at least on a country not yet +ravaged by armies, whilst they would make a diversion in favor of the +weakened army left with Thomas. It is safe to say that no such division +of efforts would have occurred if the railroad had been ready to supply +the concentrated army on an advance into Georgia. Sherman understood it +to be an interlude, and expected to be back and join the main army by +the time the railroad should be repaired and supplies accumulated. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 498.]</span> +As auxiliary to the line of supplies, the railroad from Bridgeport to +Decatur was also to be repaired, so as to connect with steamboats at +the latter place.</p> +<p>In Foster's department the same energy was directed toward improving +the communication with Chattanooga. The hull of the light-draught +steamboat which Colonel Byrd had found under construction at Kingston +was taken as a model, and two more were put on the stocks. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, vol. i. p.523. +Official Records vol. xxxi. pt. iii. p. 483.]</span> Pontoon bridges were +prepared for use at different points on the river. Lumber was cut to +rebuild the great railway bridge at Loudon and the long trestle at +Strawberry Plains. The little train of "twenty-odd cars" which Burnside +had captured was carefully guarded and kept running on the only bit of +railroad in East Tennessee that was now open, viz., that from Loudon +through Knoxville to Strawberry Plains. Herds of cattle were threading +mountain paths to avoid the deep mud of the wagon roads from Kentucky, +and on those roads desperate but too often fruitless efforts were making +to push forward some wagon-loads of shoes and clothing.</p> +<p>In the consultations at Knoxville Foster had plainly stated his own +conviction that the only wise course was to abandon the thought of +aggressive warfare until spring; to station the troops so as to cover +Knoxville, but to select their positions chiefly with reference to +collecting forage and breadstuffs; to send all unnecessary animals to +the rear and in every way to simplify to the utmost the problem of +carrying the army through the winter, preserving it for active use when +the change of season and the improvement of the railway line should make +regular supplies possible. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. i. pp. 281 <i>et seq</i>.]</span> +Grant listened and suspended his judgment till he had examined the +situation for himself. An accident to General Foster had increased the +complication of affairs. He was occasionally suffering from lameness +resulting from an old wound in the leg, and had found on his first +journey over the mountains that he was in danger of being disabled by +it. Within a fortnight after he reached Knoxville, his horse fell with +him in passing over some slippery rocks, and caught the wounded leg +under him. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pt. iii. p. 502.]</span> This completely disabled the general for active +field service, and on the advice of his surgeon he asked to be relieved. +This request was forwarded on the 26th of December, and Grant had been +notified of it on the same day. It could not be acted on at once, and +during the few weeks that Foster remained at the head of the +department, he was obliged to remain in Knoxville, entrusting to General +Parke, as senior officer, the active command of combined movements in +the field.</p> +<p>When General Grant reached Nashville, he reported to the War +Department the results of his visit to us. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xxxii. pt. +ii. p. 99.]</span> He said that he found the troops so destitute of +clothing and shoes that not more than two-thirds of them could march; +that the difficulty of supplying them even with food was so great that +it was not advisable to send reinforcements; consequently that the +policy advised by Foster must be followed and active operations +suspended. Of his own journey he said, "From the personal inspection +made, I am satisfied that no portion of our supplies can be hauled by +teams from Camp Nelson [Ky.]." He proposed, on the first rise of the +Cumberland River, to send supplies by steamboat up the Cumberland to the +mouth of the Big South Fork, in the hope that as this was a new route +some forage for the teams could be got along it, and that wagoning would +be possible by that line into East Tennessee. It did not turn out to be +so, and the only relief we got was by way of Chattanooga, where +light-draught steamboats added something to the facilities for supply. +As his own most pressing needs were relieved, General Thomas sent the +steamboat "Lookout" with a small cargo of shoes and clothing to Loudon. +There our little railway train met the boat and brought the goods to +Knoxville, so that in my own command we began to receive a little about +the 10th of January. It was very little, but it was greatly encouraging +as a foretaste of better things to come.</p> +<p>On the 12th General Foster was obliged to telegraph Grant that +things had grown worse rather than better since his visit. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. pp. 71, 72.]</span> Many animals were dying daily. The +weather was still intensely cold, and floating ice combined with high +water, in the Holston had twice broken the pontoon bridge at Knoxville. +Food for man and beast was all eaten out on the north side of the +Holston River, and he proposed to move most of the troops to the south +and east of the French Broad, in the hope of finding a region in which +some corn and forage might still remain. The great trestle bridge at +Strawberry Plains was completed, and a strong post would be left there +to protect it. A regiment was at work upon the bridge at Loudon. To +diminish the number of mouths to be fed, Foster gave the "veteran +furlough" at this time to several more of the regiments which had +re-enlisted. Trustworthy evidence showed that Longstreet was quite as +badly off as we were, and that he was not likely to move unless, like +us, he was forced to do so to find forage. Cavalry parties had reported +to us that there were considerable quantities of corn in the +neighborhood of Sevierville, and this was the inducement to send most of +our troops to that side of the French Broad River. To avoid any +appearance of retreat, it was ordered that we march from Strawberry +Plains to Dandridge, which was a flank movement to our right, one day's +march. There we should extemporize some sort of ferry to cross the +French Broad and seek camps in regions which promised some supplies, but +within supporting distance of our several detachments. The men whose +clothing was most lacking and who were without shoes would remain in our +present camp and be temporarily attached to the post established to +protect the bridge. The cavalry, which had been near Mossy Creek +(fourteen miles up the Holston), was directed to move straight across +the angle between the two rivers, and cover the flank march of the +infantry to Dandridge. It was thought probable that the cavalry might +subsist for a short time in the neighborhood of Dandridge and in the +valley of the Nolachucky, the principal tributary of the French Broad +from the north; indeed, the time of crossing the larger river by the +infantry was not fixed, but would be determined by our good or bad +fortune in finding forage and bread-stuffs near Dandridge. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. pp. 82, 87, 99, 101.]</span></p> +<p>The 15th of January was the day fixed for the march. The weather was +not so cold as it had been, but was very raw and uncomfortable. At the +last moment General Foster found it necessary to have a consultation +with Parke and Granger; and Sheridan, whose division of the Fourth Corps +led off on the road, was directed to select positions for the infantry +of that corps and mine as we reached Dandridge. He was also authorized +to assign mills to the use of the different commands so as to +systematize our means of supply and prevent disorder. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. p. 102.]</span> The march was nineteen miles to Dandridge, +and our positions were about a mile in front of the village, on the +hills covering it. Both the Fourth and the Ninth Corps had remained in +their camps at Blain's Crossroads up to this time, and the Ninth now +took my place at Strawberry Plains, covering Knoxville from that +direction. It had less than 4000 men present for duty. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 292.]</span> +Our moving column consisted of Sheridan's and Wood's divisions of the +Fourth Corps and parts of three brigades from the Twenty-third; less +than 10,000 men in all. The ground was frozen, and as we were moving +over roads which had not been much travelled, the way was comparatively +smooth for our artillery and wagons. It was not so much so for the +infantry, and the little unevenness being sharpened by frost, quickly +cut through the men's old shoes. Those who were barefoot were ordered to +stay behind, but the shoes of others were in so bad a state that there +were places where I saw the road marked with bloody tracks from the +wounded feet of the soldiers.</p> +<p>Reaching Dandridge a little in advance of my command, I reported to +Sheridan, and he showed me the line he had selected, on which we were to +occupy the left. Colonel Sterling, my inspector-general, was assigned +the duty of placing the brigades in position as they arrived. The +cavalry had preceded us, and we found them occupying the town and +picketing the roads toward Morristown and the elbow of the Nolachucky +River northeast of us, locally called the Bend o' Chucky. A range of +hills known as Bay's Mountain was the water-shed between the valleys of +the Holston and the French Broad, and we expected the cavalry to cover +the front on a line from Kimbrough's Cross-roads near the mountain to +the Bend o' Chucky. This line would be nine or ten miles from Dandridge, +and would communicate also with Mott's brigade of my command, which had +been left in its post at Mossy Creek, on the Holston, under orders to +fall back deliberately to Strawberry Plains if attacked by superior +forces. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. p. 99.]</span> If these positions could be +held, the cavalry could not only collect the forage in the Nolachucky +valley as far up as their detachments could reach, but would also +threaten the left flank of Longstreet's position at Morristown.</p> +<p>Those who only knew Sheridan after the war would hardly recognize +him in the thin and wiry little man I met at Dandridge. His hollow +cheeks made his cheekbones noticeably prominent, and his features had a +decided Milesian cast. His reputation at that time was that of an +impetuous and vehement fighter when engaged, rousing himself to a +belligerent wrath and fury that made his spirit contagious and +stimulated his troops to a like vigor. At other times he was +unpretentious and genial, and whilst regarded as a good division +commander was not thought of as specially fitted for large and +independent responsibilities. He was not considered cool enough for the +broader duties of a commander, and indeed had had rather bad luck in the +great battles of Stone's River and Chickamauga, where the qualities +called for were those which enable a perfectly self-possessed officer to +extricate his command from a perilous position. He has told me himself +that he was slow in learning to have confidence in his own power to +direct in such cases, and that it was only after he had tested himself, +step by step, that he came to rely on his own judgment and will, as he +did in the Shenandoah valley and at Five Forks. It was his blazing +impetuosity in action that made Grant think of him as specially fitted +for a cavalry leader, and his growth into the able commander of an army +was a later development of his talents. He received me very cordially, +and in our trying wintry experience at Dandridge began a friendly +acquaintance which continued unbroken till his death.</p> +<p>General Thomas J. Wood was not with his division, and it was under +the command of General August Willich, whom I had seen drilling Robert +McCook's German regiment, the Ninth Ohio, as its adjutant, at Camp +Dennison in the spring of 1861. I had expected to find Brigadier-General +William B. Hazen in temporary command during Wood's leave of absence, +but when I went to his quarters was surprised to find him in arrest. +Hazen had been one of the first of the officers of the regular army with +whom I became acquainted at the beginning of the war, and he had offered +to accept a staff position with me. I had a real regard for him, and +naturally offered my friendly services in his present predicament. It +seemed that Sheridan had called on him for a report as to the condition +of things in his front, and Hazen had taken advantage of some +peculiarity of the situation which he thought Sheridan did not +sufficiently understand, to make a report which was ironical and so +irritating that Sheridan's answer was to order him to keep his quarters +in arrest. Their quarrel, however, dated from the battle of Missionary +Ridge, where Sheridan accused Wood's division, and Hazen in particular, +with usurping the honors of being first on the crest and capturing part +of Bragg's artillery. Sheridan honestly thought his division entitled to +the honor, but the official evidence seems to me to be against him. At +any rate, it began a very pretty quarrel which never was wholly made up, +and which had many queer little episodes, in war and in peace, on the +Indian frontier and at Washington, for many years thereafter. Hazen was +an officer of real ability, of brilliant courage and splendid personal +presence. His fault was that he was too keen in seeing flaws in other +people's performance of duty, and apt to dilate upon them in his +official reports when such officers were wholly independent of him. This +made him a good many enemies notwithstanding his noble qualities and his +genial kindliness to his friends. A military officer usually finds it +hard enough to submit gracefully to the criticisms of his superiors, +and naturally takes it ill if this prerogative is exercised by those of +equal grade without authority. Such a practice puts into the official +records matter which does not belong there, and which, however honestly +stated, may be very unjust, because all the explanatory circumstances +are not likely to be known to the critic. At any rate, the person +criticised is not amenable to that tribunal, and this is enough in +itself to cause a sense of injury. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +See Review of General Hazen's Narrative of Military Service, "The +Nation," Nov. 5, 1885.]</span> Sheridan took very kindly my mediation in +Hazen's behalf, and probably had never intended more than a temporary +arrest. After Granger came to the front and resumed command of the +corps, I heard no more of the trouble.</p> +<p>We had escorted a small train in which were some wagon-loads of +clothing and shoes for the cavalry, and the mounted corps remained at +Dandridge during the 15th of January, issuing these supplies. The rear +of our infantry column came up on the next day, so that we were +assembled and in position before evening. The cavalry moved out in the +afternoon of the 16th, part on the right toward the Nolachucky River, +and the left toward Kimbrough's Cross-roads on the Morristown road. The +right wing found the enemy's cavalry in their front about five miles +from town, but the left wing found Kimbrough's occupied by Longstreet's +infantry. His whole force, except Ransom's division, had advanced upon +information of the movement of our cavalry on the 14th. In doing this +Longstreet had turned the position of the brigade of infantry left at +Mossy Creek, and Colonel Mott retired on the 16th to Strawberry Plains +in accordance with his orders. Toward evening the cavalry on our right +were driven back in a lively skirmish, and those on the left were +recalled to give them support. The whole were united and repulsed the +enemy's horsemen, taking position for the night about a mile in front of +our infantry camps. On the 17th the enemy's infantry advanced, and +reached the posts of our cavalry in the afternoon. Longstreet now made a +vigorous attack with his troops of both arms, and gradually drove back +our horsemen, who resisted him with their carbines, fighting dismounted. +Sheridan supported the cavalry with some infantry and a lively +skirmishing combat continued for an hour or two till darkness came on. +The affair was something of a surprise to both parties. Longstreet had +evidently made his movement in the hope of giving our cavalry a lesson +which might check their enterprise and make them keep their distance, +and was astonished to come upon our infantry at Dandridge. We were in +motion to put our infantry on the south side of the French Broad, and +were equally surprised to find the enemy in force on the same route.</p> +<p>General Parke and General Granger had ridden over from Strawberry +Plains and reached Dandridge in the afternoon. Hearing of the presence +of what was reported to be the whole of Longstreet's army, and not +liking to accept battle with superior forces with the river at his back, +Parke had caused an examination of the river to be made, and learned +that just below the town was a shallow, fordable at an ordinary stage of +water, and now about waist-deep for the men. In the low physical +condition of our troops and their lack of clothing he very wisely +thought it would not do to make them march through the river, but +devised a foot-bridge by putting army wagons end to end and making a +path over the boxes of the wagons. Sheridan was ordered to detach a +brigade immediately to make this bridge, and it set to work at once. The +plan was to march the infantry to the south side of the river and +afterward remove the wagons, covering the operation by the cavalry who +could then ford the stream, which though very cold and running with ice +was not impracticable for horsemen.</p> +<p>About dusk, as the skirmishing in front ceased, Sheridan and myself, +with Sturgis, the commandant of the cavalry, were called to meet +Generals Parke and Granger at a house in the town to report the +condition of affairs in our front and to receive orders for marching. +The bridge had been completed, as was supposed, and the brigade which +had made it had been ordered across, when, on reaching the land on the +left bank, they found, to their amazement, that they were upon an island +with an equally deep and wide channel beyond! This news had just been +received when we assembled at headquarters. Sheridan was greatly +mortified at the blunder, but there was then no help for it. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. i. p. 79.]</span> It was impracticable to complete the bridge +before morning, and it was doubtful if wagons enough could be got +together. My own command was on the extreme left of the line, partly +covering the road back to Strawberry Plains, and we had not been +engaged. The fighting had been in front of the centre and right. I could +therefore throw no light on the question of the enemy's force. The +information from other parts of the line and from prisoners left no +doubt that infantry had engaged in the attack late in the afternoon and +that Longstreet was present in force. There was therefore no dissent +from the conclusion that it would be unwise to accept a battle with the +river behind us, and orders were given to leave the position in the +night and retire to Strawberry Plains. The wagons and most of the +artillery were to follow the advance-guard, which was Sheridan's +division, my command to march next, and Willich's (Wood's) division of +the Fourth Corps to be the rear-guard. The cavalry were to march on a +road a little to the right, leading to New Market, and would thus cover +our flank. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: For the +Dandridge expedition, see Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. i. pp. 79 <i>et +seq</i>.]</span></p> +<p>Granger had been ailing for a day or two and had not been with the +troops. He was lying on a bed in the room where we met, and the rest of +us sat about the fireplace, a tallow candle being on a rude table in the +middle of the floor. Sturgis came in later than the others, having had a +longer ride. He was a handsome fellow, with full, round features, sharp +black eyes, and curly black hair and mustache. He had been seated but a +few minutes when he noticed a bottle of whiskey on the table and a glass +which had been placed there as camp hospitality for any one that wanted +it, but had apparently been neglected. Glancing that way, Sturgis said, +"If I had a little bit of sugar, I believe I'd take a toddy." A colored +boy produced a sugar-bowl and the toddy was taken. The conversation ran +on a few moments, when, as if it were a wholly new suggestion, the same +voice repeated, "If I had a little bit of sugar, I believe I'd take a +toddy;" and again the attendant did the honors. Our orders were received +and we were about ready to go to our commands, when again, with polite +intonation and a most amusing unconsciousness of any repetition, came +the words, "If I had a little bit of sugar, I believe I'd take a +toddy." The incident was certainly a funny one in itself, but I should +not have cared to repeat it had not the official records of Sturgis's +defeat by Forrest in the Tishimingo affair later in the year emphasized +the mischief of lax habits as to temperance. The judgment of his +superiors and of those who knew him well was made severer by the +knowledge of his weakness in this respect. Railway officers insist upon +absolute sobriety in locomotive engineers; but if there be one +employment in which such coolness of head is more absolutely essential +than in another, I believe it is in commanding troops in the field. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See Marbot's Memoirs, vol. +ii. p. 242, for results of Wittgenstein's reliance on an intemperate +officer, Kulnieff, in the Russian campaign of 1812.]</span> Sturgis's +military downfall was a severe lesson, but he gave every evidence +afterward of having learned it, and "lived cleanly" through many years +of service after the Civil War was over.</p> +<p>The march back to Strawberry Plains began by starting the wagon +train to the rear as soon as it was dark. Sheridan's division was drawn +out soon afterward. My command was ordered to leave the line at eight +o'clock, and Willich's to follow when the road should be clear as far as +the first defensible ridge beyond the village where a rear-guard could +make a successful stand. The cavalry were to maintain their position +till morning and cover the movement. It was about half-past eight when +my column closed up upon the wagons ahead of me, but as they had not yet +climbed the first hill, we found ourselves necessarily halted in the +main street of the village. General Willich had prudently placed a tent +a little to the right of the road where it leaves the town, and there he +made his quarters until the column should completely pass that point. He +could thus keep his division in their bivouac in support of the cavalry +till he knew the rest of the little army had cleared the place and +could secure some rest, whilst he was still in easy communication with +both the marching column and his own men. He reaped the advantage of +his forethought. As my command had to assist the wagons and the +artillery, no such means of bettering the situation was possible for us. +I had notified Willich that I would be in person at the extreme rear of +my command so that he could communicate with me most promptly and +obtain my support if he were seriously attacked. The brigade in the +lead was directed to give the wagons and cannon every help in getting +forward, and the column was ordered to keep well closed up.</p> +<p>The day had been a mild one in comparison with the fortnight +preceding, and rain set in early in the evening. The surface of the +clayey roads soon became very slippery, then cut into deep ruts, and the +moisture was just enough to give the mud the consistency of tenacious +putty. The teams, half starved, were very weak, and it seemed as if they +would never mount the hills before them, which were the southern end of +the ridge of Bay's Mountain, separating the Holston valley from the +Nolachucky. Three or four teams had to be united to drag up a single +cannon or caisson, and the time as well as the distance was thus trebled +or quadrupled. In some instances more than twenty horses were thus +hitched to a single piece, besides having infantrymen at the wheels as +thick as they could cluster, pushing and lifting. The column which was +halted thus waiting for the wagon trains and artillery to climb a hill, +grew weary of standing. The men would break ranks and sit down in the +fence corners, where they built little camp-fires, and, rainy as it was, +they fell asleep leaning against each other in these little bivouacs. +Then would come word from the front to close up, and the regimental +officers would give the command to fall in. The men would rouse +themselves, the column would march, perhaps less than a hundred yards, +when the road would be blocked again, the men would again seek the +fence corners and stir up the fires that had been left by those who +were now in advance. Thus in cold and wet and weariness the night wore +on, till when day broke about six o'clock next morning we had put a +distance of less than two miles between us and the village, and +Willich's division had barely reached the first wooded ridge beyond the +town.</p> +<p>During all the last hours of the night we were anxious lest we +should be attacked by the enemy, who by crowning the hills above the +road would have had us at great disadvantage. I had concerted with +General Willich a plan of action if we were assailed, but the enemy took +no advantage of our situation, and I have always believed that as the +meeting at Dandridge was a mutual surprise, by a similar coincidence +both parties were retiring at the same time. Our cavalry moved off +toward New Market at daybreak, but it was not till late in the forenoon, +when we had toiled on several miles further, that the Confederate +cavalry approached our infantry rear-guard and accompanied its march for +a time with some light skirmishing.</p> +<p>The weather grew colder during the day, and in the afternoon the +rain changed to moist driving snow. The sleepy, weary troops toiled +doggedly on; the wagons and the cannon were helped over the bad places +in the way, for we were determined not to abandon any, and the enemy was +not hurrying us. When night fell, on the 18th, my own command and +Willich's division were still three miles from Strawberry Plains, though +Sheridan's division and part of the wagon train had reached that place +and crossed the Holston. We halted the men here and went into bivouac +for the night. It had been a wretchedly cheerless and uncomfortable +march, but the increasing cold and flying snow made the camp scarcely +less inclement. The officers were, as was frequently the case, worse off +than the men, for they could not carry their rations in haversacks, and +the separation from the wagons in such a desolate country meant a +prolonged fast. The delay caused by the rain and mud had been +unexpected, and the march we had hoped to make in the night had taken +more than twenty-four hours. During that time myself and staff had not +eaten a mouthful, and we had no expectation of seeing food till we +should get across the Holston next day and reach our headquarters +wagons. Better luck happened us, however. We found a deserted and +unfinished log cabin which had a roof and a stick-and-clay chimney, +though it had no floor or chinking. The snow drove through between the +logs, but the roof was over our heads and we soon had a lively fire +roaring in the chimney. Some bundles of corn-stalks were found in a +field near by, and of these we made a bed on the ground in front of the +fire, and began to think we might forget our hunger in thankfulness for +fire and shelter such as it was. But still better was in store for us. +One of our tired forage trains had gone into park near us, and the +teamsters offered to share their supper with us. They had corn "pone," +some salt pork, and for a rarity some newly arrived coffee. We sat on +the corn-stalks around the fire with an iron camp-kettle in the midst +containing the black coffee which we dipped out with battered tin cups, +and we held in our hands pieces of the corn-pone and slices of fried +pork, congratulating each other on the unexpected luxury of our supper. +Hunger and fatigue were so good a sauce that it seemed really a luxury, +and we banished care with an ease which now seems hardly credible. The +supper ended, sleep was not long a-wooing, though my rest was more +broken than that of the others, for frequent dispatches came from +headquarters which I had to answer, and orders had to be sent to the +troops to continue the march on the morrow in accordance with the +directions which I had received. I had provided myself in Cincinnati +with a field dispatch book in form of a manifold letter-writer which I +myself carried in a sabretasch during all the rest of the war. In this, +by means of the carbon sheets and agate-pointed stylus, a dispatch and +its copy were written at once, and a valuable record kept of every day's +business. I could sit by the bivouac fire and write upon my knee without +troubling a weary aide-de-camp to make a copy. I had in my saddle +portmanteau also a little pair of brass candlesticks screwing together +in form of a large watch-case, so that I could be provided with a light +at the root of a tree in the darkness, if it was necessary to send or +receive dispatches where there was neither shelter nor fire. These were +necessaries; for food we could take our chances.</p> +<p>We halted the troops in wooded slopes where they were sheltered from +the storm and where the evergreen boughs were speedily converted into +tents of a sort, as well as soft and fragrant beds. Their ration was +still scant, but nearly all of them picked up some addition to it on a +day's march, so that the camps were more cheerful than they had been in +the intensely severe weather of the first half of the month. On the next +day we continued the movement, passing through Strawberry Plains and +three miles further on the road to Knoxville. The Fourth Corps troops +were ordered to go to the last-named city, there to cross the Holston +and move out toward Sevierville into the country we had expected to +reach by way of Dandridge. The Ninth Corps remained a little longer at +Strawberry Plains.</p> +<p>On the 18th of January General Foster's plans were unsettled by a +dispatch received from General Grant, dated at Nashville on the 16th, +but in some manner delayed in transmittal. This conveyed the rather +startling information that Longstreet had been reinforced by a division +of Ewell's Corps with expectation of another also, and that the +Confederate commander was in fact moving in force on Knoxville. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. pp. 109, 127.]</span> The source of the information is not +disclosed, but the news was stated with a positiveness uncommon with +Grant. It reached Foster just as he had Parke's report of our having +most unexpectedly met Longstreet's infantry at Dandridge and of our +retreat on Strawberry Plains. The news was without foundation, for +Longstreet had not been reinforced and his movement had no other +significance than that which I have given it; but, coming on the heels +of the accidental collision at Dandridge, there was a curious +coincidence in the events which gave strong apparent confirmation to the +report, and it was a matter of course that Foster should accept it as +true and act upon it.</p> +<p>He directed the sick and all extra baggage to be sent at once to +Knoxville. Part of the Fourth Corps troops were ordered to the same +place. The cavalry, except two regiments left with General Parke for +picket duty, was ordered to pass through Knoxville toward Sevierville to +obstruct any further movement of the enemy on the Dandridge line. Parke +was ordered to hold the rest of the army together, resisting +Longstreet's advance, and retiring deliberately on Knoxville. +Preparations were made to destroy the long trestle bridge at Strawberry +Plains, and this important structure was devoted to ruin for the third +or fourth time since Sanders entered the valley in the preceding summer. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. pp. 129, 162.]</span> Grant had said to Foster that the +impossibility of supplying more troops in East Tennessee made it useless +to send reinforcements, and that he must keep between Longstreet and +Thomas, retiring toward Chattanooga if necessary. Halleck complicated +the situation by telegraphing direct to Thomas that he must aid Foster +to any extent needed, and that the line from Knoxville to Cumberland +Gap must be maintained at all hazards. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 130.]</span> +Foster reported to Grant that he had so greatly improved the defences +and armament of Knoxville that it could not be taken, and that he would +not retire further than this place unless it were explicitly ordered. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 138.]</span> +This was in accordance with General Grant's wish, and his confidence in +the information as to Longstreet's reinforcement was such that he +telegraphed Halleck on the 20th that the siege of Knoxville was about to +be renewed. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. p. 149.]</span> The chronic inability of +Halleck to understand East Tennessee affairs is shown in his insistence +on still maintaining the Cumberland Gap line, which was necessarily +uncovered whenever the enemy approached Strawberry Plains. Chattanooga +had now become our base, and remained so for all troops in East +Tennessee till the end of the war. We at the front got the first +authentic information which disproved the report of Longstreet's +reinforcement and showed that he had retired to Morristown. Foster was +thus enabled to telegraph Grant on the 20th that the evidence did not +sustain the report, and that he doubted whether the Confederate +commander would again attempt Knoxville. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 151.]</span><br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER +XXXIII</p> +<p>WINTER QUARTERS IN EAST TENNESSEE--PREPARATIONS FOR A NEW CAMPAIGN</p> +<p>Sending our animals to Kentucky--Consultations--Affair with enemy's +cavalry--Roughing it--Distribution of troops--Cavalry engagement at +Sevierville--Quarters in Knoxville--Leading Loyalists--Social and +domestic conditions--Discussion of the spring campaign--Of Foster's +successor--Organization of Grant's armies--Embarrassments in assignment +of officers to duty--Discussion of the system--Cipher +telegraphing--Control of the key--Grant's collision with +Stanton--Absurdity of the War Department's method--General Stoneman +assigned to Twenty-third Corps--His career and character--General +Schofield succeeds to the command of the Department of the Ohio.</p> +<p>In connection with the movements of concentration about Knoxville, +General Foster carried out his scheme of sending back to pasture in +Kentucky and Tennessee all the horses and mules, except a very few teams +needed to distribute supplies and two or three horses at each division +headquarters for the commanding officer and an aide or two. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. pp. 203-204.]</span> The animals were herded and driven +together, an escort of cavalry accompanying them, and the whole put in +charge of Captain Day of my staff, as quartermaster, the same whose +energy in our journey over the mountains I have already noted. This +measure definitely committed us, of course, to a quiet and defensive +line of conduct for the next three months. On the 21st of January we +were deliberately closing in around Knoxville, where the Fourth Corps +was already concentrated, and General Foster had called upon the three +corps commanders to meet him at his headquarters in the city for the +purpose of putting in official form our opinion upon the necessity of +suspending active operations in view of the condition of the troops and +animals. We met there on the next day, and submitted our reports in +response to interrogatories on several points. My own statement +summarized the facts in regard to the supplies of food, forage, +clothing, and the impossibility of drawing anything more from the +country except some very limited quantities of bread-stuffs. My +conclusion was that economy of life, animals, property, and (taking the +next six months together) of time also, required that the troops should +go into permanent quarters for a short period to be devoted to +recuperation, drill, and instruction, organization of means of supply, +and general preparation for an active campaign in the spring. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. p. 176.]</span> I, however, added that this was on the +hypothesis that no imperative military reasons existed for continued +active campaigning; for in presence of such a necessity every officer +and man of the corps would most cheerfully continue to undergo every +hardship and endure every privation. There was complete unanimity among +us in regard to the subject, and General Foster's orders were issued +accordingly.</p> +<p>Whilst we were in conference, reports came in from General Willcox, +who had been left in command of the Ninth Corps at Strawberry Plains, +that the enemy were pressing him rather vigorously. Word came also from +General Spears that hostile infantry and cavalry had appeared in large +force at Blain's Cross-roads. Sturgis also reported from the direction +of Sevierville that the whole rebel army had gone to Strawberry Plains. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 163, 174.]</span> +Toward evening of the 22d our troops had come within some five or six +miles of Knoxville, but the enemy showed so strong a disposition to +attack that Foster ordered me to return to the front, take command of +both corps (Ninth and Twenty-third) and of the cavalry with them, and +check the Confederates, as there was some danger that our troops would +change the concerted movement into a precipitate retreat. General Parke +was suffering in health from recent exposure and remained in Knoxville. +Galloping out from the town, I reached the troops a little before dark, +halted them, and by a personal reconnoissance satisfied myself that only +cavalry were before us. Our men had passed some wooded hills which were +important to cover our position and give a starting-point for an +aggressive movement on our part. Reversing their movement, I reoccupied +these hills, brusquely driving back the enemy's advance-guard and +checking their main body. It was now dark, and putting our forces in +line of battle ready for an advance at daybreak, they were allowed to +bivouac for the night, whilst I rode rapidly back to Knoxville, in +accordance with my arrangement with General Foster to report to him in +person the particulars of the situation. He approved my suggestion that +I should advance the whole line in the morning and settle the question +what force was before us. The wagons had come into the town, and my +headquarters with them; so taking each of us a blanket, myself and the +two staff officers who had accompanied me (Colonel Sterling and my +brother) rode back again at midnight to the front, and rested till +daybreak on the rough floor of a log cabin. The line then was advanced, +but the enemy had taken the hint from the preparations of the evening +and had decamped. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. p. 184.]</span> Detachments went in +pursuit some eight miles, but the Confederates had definitely withdrawn, +and we obtained conclusive proof that only their cavalry had followed us +across the Holston River.</p> +<p>The interrupted movement toward Knoxville was resumed, but it +required me to remain another night in roughest bivouac, and another day +without food, except as a mouthful could be found at hazard. I had begun +the Dandridge movement with a cold which threatened pneumonia, but had +grown steadily better through all the exposure, finding, as often +happened to me in the course of the war, that the physical and mental +stimulus of active campaigning even in the worst of weather was tonic +and health-giving.</p> +<p>As soon as the situation was cleared up by trustworthy information +of Longstreet's movements, General Foster resumed his plans for winter +quarters. His first intention of sending the Fourth Corps toward +Sevierville was modified by Grant's directions to put that corps where +it could most readily rejoin the Army of the Cumberland. He therefore +ordered me to move the Twenty-third Corps in that direction, and +formally united to the corps the brigade of East Tennessee troops under +Brigadier-General James G. Spears, which had theretofore been an +independent organization. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. p. 162.]</span> Sturgis, who had +marched with most of the cavalry on the route thus assigned to me, +reported that the road was the worst he ever saw, and, with all the +experience of bad roads we had had, this meant that it was impracticable +for our few and weak teams. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Ibid.</i>]</span> +This put an end to all hope of living on the country, and Foster +accepted the necessity of distributing his troops about Knoxville and +along the lines leading to Chattanooga.</p> +<p>On the 22d of January orders were issued assigning the Fourth Corps +to quarters extending from Kingston to Loudon along the river and +railroad. The Ninth Corps took post between Campbell's Station and +Knoxville. The Twenty-third Corps encamped at Knoxville and in the +immediate vicinity. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 183.]</span> The cavalry occupied the country southeast of the +Holston holding a front on the French Broad River. A few small outposts +further up the valley were maintained for observation.</p> +<p>A brilliant cavalry combat near Sevierville on the 27th ended the +active work under General Foster's command. Longstreet, hearing of the +presence of our cavalry south of the French Broad, directed General +Martin, commanding his cavalry corps, to get his forces across the river +and meet Sturgis at once. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. p. 611.]</span> The latter had +McCook's division in advance, supported by Garrard's near Pigeon River. +Martin advanced upon McCook, but was surprised to find his adversary +seize the initiative. Learning of the Confederate advance, McCook +marched to meet them on the road leading to Fair Garden. Martin was +driven back, his right (Morgan's division) being routed by a gallant +charge led by Colonel La Grange, First Wisconsin Cavalry, who commanded +a brigade. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Id. pt. i. +pp. 139, 141.]</span> Two regimental commanders, seven other commissioned +officers, over a hundred privates, and two pieces of artillery were +captured by the charge. General Morgan's battle-flag was also among the +trophies. Our own casualties amounted to only thirty-one. Martin beat a +hasty retreat across the French Broad to Dandridge, and Longstreet +frankly admitted Martin's defeat with a loss of 200 men and the two +guns. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>. pp. +149-150.]</span> He attributed it to the inefficiency of his cavalry +commander, and urged that one more competent be sent him. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>pt. ii. p. 632.]</span> +Sturgis followed on the 28th to Fair's Island Ford near Dandridge, where +he was met by Armstrong's division of the Confederates. Longstreet now +passed over an infantry force in rear of our cavalry, and they fell back +to Maryville. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 653.]</span> Both parties found the winter work too costly, and were +now glad to take a few weeks for rest and recuperation.</p> +<p>As my headquarters were assigned to Knoxville, I had the opportunity +of increasing my knowledge of the people and of the social complications +which grew out of the war. I found quarters for myself and Lieutenant +Theodore Cox, my aide, at the house of Mr. Cowen, a young merchant of +the city, whose father was one of the prominent business men. The house +was on the north side of a suburban street running parallel to the +river, and not far from the buildings of the East Tennessee University, +which were partially fortified and connected with Fort Sanders by a line +of infantry trench. The fields on the opposite side of the road were +open, and sloped down to the river bank, and in these my headquarters +guard pitched their tents and the general quarters of the staff were +also placed. A near neighbor, in the direction of the college, was the +Rev. Dr. Humes, rector of the Episcopal parish, and after the war +President of the University. General Burnside had spoken of him as a +noble man, of devoted loyalty as well as earnest piety, and I was glad +to know him as one who by his high intelligence and character was an +authority on all that related to Holston valley. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Thomas W. Humes, S.T.D. He +has, since the war (1888), published a volume devoted to the East +Tennessee loyalists, entitled "The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee."]</span> +John Williams, John M. Fleming, and O. P. Temple were among those who +represented the Union sentiment of Knoxville, as did Perez Dickinson +among the merchants. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Since this chapter was written, Chancellor Temple has contributed a +valuable work to the history of the Rebellion, in his "East Tennessee +and the Civil War," Cincinnati. 1899.]</span> John Baxter, afterward +Judge of the United States Circuit Court, was a strong and wise friend +of the government. Horace Maynard represented the district in Congress +both before and after the war, and was regarded at Washington as its +official representative even in the period when the Confederate +occupation made him an exile from his home. William G. Brownlow was in +Knoxville also, having returned as soon as our army had opened the way. +His son, "Colonel Jim," was doing gallant service at the head of the +First East Tennessee Cavalry. Around this group of leading men were +arrayed the great majority of the people, devoted in their attachment to +the Union. The men of property among them had sometimes been forced to +dissimulate in order to protect their persons and their possessions; +but now that the National army was in the valley, there was no mistaking +the earnest satisfaction and the hearty sympathy of these people. There +was a minority who had been open Secessionists, and these had been +influential beyond their numbers, by reason of their wealth and social +standing; for here, as well as everywhere else in the South, owners of +slaves easily became champions of the extreme doctrines of what they +called the constitutional guaranty of their property. They claimed to +include most of the "upper class" in their numbers, though this was by +no means true in this region.</p> +<p>The feelings of both Union men and Secessionists were very bitter, +and social life was as strongly marked by these divisions as the hostile +camps. The number of slaves was comparatively small, but they were the +house servants in the towns, and their disposition to assert their +liberty added to the social turmoil. The mistress of the house where I +lodged hired her cook from a neighbor who claimed the woman as a slave; +but the employer found herself obliged to make another bargain with the +cook, and to pay her a second wage in order to keep her at work at all. +The Unionists of East Tennessee were not yet fully advanced to the +emancipation of the slaves as a result of the war. Parson Brownlow had +fiercely denounced the Secessionists for arguing that secession was +necessary to preserve property in slaves. Our army commanders thought it +prudent not to agitate this question, and contented themselves with +keeping within the limits of the statutes and the general orders of the +War Department, which forbade military interference to return fugitives +to the masters or to compel their obedience. The matter was left to work +itself out, as it rapidly did.</p> +<p>After the first of February the weather became settled and gave us a +more favorable opinion of the East Tennessee climate. We had sharp +frosts at night with occasional light flurries of snow, but the days +were usually bright, it thawed about midday, and the average temperature +was such as to make active exercise delightful. The summits of the Great +Smoky Mountains were covered with snow, and made a picturesque framing +for the natural loveliness of the valleys. The roads were nowhere +metalled, and the alternate freezing and thawing made them nearly +impassable; but if we had been able to bring forward proper forage and +supplies, we should have overcome the other obstacles to active +campaigning. As it was, we could only await the approach of spring, when +the settling of the roads and the opening of railroad communication with +Chattanooga and Nashville would make it possible to bring back from +Kentucky and feed our horses which had been sent to the rear.</p> +<p>There was, beside, the question of the change necessary in the +command of the department, since there was no probability that General +Foster's health would permit him to retain it and he had urgently +requested that his successor should be assigned to duty. Indeed, the +question of organization reached down to the regiments and brigades, and +was a burning one in all the armies of Grant's Military Division. +Besides this, the revival of the grade of Lieutenant-General was already +mooted in Congress, and it was nearly a foregone conclusion that Grant +would have the command of all the armies and the task of co-ordinating +their movements. Our little army in East Tennessee was agitated not only +with the speculations as to our new commander, but with debates as to +our probable part in the next campaign, and the forces which would be +given to us with which to do our work. Would the Ninth Corps remain in +the department, or would it be ordered to the East for duty under +Burnside, as was already rumored? Would our task be simply to garrison +East Tennessee; should we make Longstreet's army our objective and +follow him into Virginia; or should we be united to Sherman's and +Thomas's armies for a campaign in Georgia? We eagerly listened for every +hint which might be dropped at headquarters, but Grant's proverbial +reticence left us to our conjectures, and each question was answered +only when official orders were finally published. Much that was very +blind to us is now easily traced in the Official Records.</p> +<p>When General Foster informed the War Department that the opening of +his old wound made it necessary to relieve him of command in East +Tennessee, the President was in some perplexity in regard to several +prominent officers. He was disposed to find some adequate employment for +Rosecrans, who was still backed by a very strong political coterie in +Washington. He was convinced that injustice had been done Burnside, and +was thinking of sending him with the Ninth Corps, largely increased in +numbers, to his old field of successful work on the Carolina coast. The +opposition of influential politicians of Kansas and Missouri to +Schofield, whose confirmation as major-general was still obstructed in +the Senate, he felt as a personal hostility to himself. Grant was also +desirous of suitable assignments to command for McPherson, W. F. Smith, +and Sheridan. The almost certain passage of the bill to give a higher +grade in the army, and the assumption that Grant would be promoted to +it, gave the opportunity to make a satisfactory arrangement of all these +cases. Burnside's return to active work and the removal to the East of +the Ninth Corps were determined on, with General Parke's return, at his +own desire, to the position of Burnside's chief of staff. McPherson was +to take the Army of the Tennessee when Sherman should be promoted to the +command of the Military Division of the Mississippi. Smith and Sheridan +were to have high assignments in the Eastern army. Rosecrans was sent to +Missouri, and Schofield, to his great content, was appointed to command +the Army of the Ohio. These changes were gradually shaped in the +correspondence of Grant with army headquarters during the fall and +winter. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii. pp. 122, 277, 458, 529, 571; vol. xxxii. +pt. ii. pp. 79, 80, 182, 202, 209, 229, 230, 251, 336; also a curious +letter of Hooker to Stranton, <i>id</i>., pp. 467-469. See also +Schofield's "Forty-six Years in the Army," pp. 108-110. I have treated +these changes more in detail in chapter vii. of Force's "General +Sherman" (Great Commanders' series). See preface of the work last named.]</span> +They were followed by others in the corps divisions and brigades, so +that the organization of all the Western armies took permanent form +before Grant was called to Washington to assume his new rank at the +beginning of March.</p> +<p>In regard to general officers the question of assignments and +promotions was always an embarrassing one for commanders of armies in +the field. As the law prescribed the maximum number of major-generals +and of brigadiers, political and military pressure combined to keep the +list always full. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: In +reply to Grant's request for the promotion of General W.F. Smith, +Halleck Informed him, on Jan. 13, 1864, that there was not only no +vacancy, but that by some error more had again been appointed that the +law authorized, and some already in service would have to be dropped. +Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. p. 80. As to brigaders, see +Halleck to Grant, <i>Id</i>., p. 481.]</span> Closest watch was kept by +politicians and others at Washington, and if a vacancy occurred, the +pressure to fill it was exactly such as would be made for a civil office +in the gift of the government. Officers of the regular army found in +General Halleck a powerful support, and it was assumed that those +appointed from civil life would be looked after by their political +friends. The effort which was made by the War Department in the winter +to force into active service or into retirement all officers who for +any cause had been "shelved" was well intended, but in practice it +accentuated the feeling of experienced commanders that a radical reform +was essential. An intelligent system was demanded, reaching from top to +bottom of the army, separating its discipline, its assignments to duty, +its promotions and its removals from political influences, and making +merit alone the basis of advancement. In the condition of public +affairs no such thorough work was possible. The embarrassments of army +commanders had been very bluntly explained to the War Department in the +confidential dispatches of Mr. Dana from Chattanooga. His judgments may +sometimes have been hasty, but he gives a very vivid picture of the +mischiefs which follow from having incompetent, intemperate, or +inefficient men saddled upon an army. The same dispatches, however, +showed also how unwillingly the commanders resorted to extreme severity +with men toward whom they had feelings of personal kindness. In strong +hands like Grant's or Sherman's the power to get promptly rid of such +incumbrances (which Dana recommended) would be ably used and work well. +As to political considerations, the President on more than one occasion +admitted that he felt obliged, at times, to let these control his +action, instead of reasons based on the efficiency of the army. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: For Dana's dispatches on +this subject, see Official Records, vol. xxx. pt. i. p. 220; vol. xxxi. +pt. i. pp. 69, 73, 265; pt. ii. pp. 54, 63. In his published +"Recollections of the Civil War" (1898), Mr. Dana has omitted some of +his most trenchant personal criticisms.]</span></p> +<p>Along with the graver embarrassments which General Grant found in +organizing his armies for a new campaign were smaller ones, which though +sometimes concerned with trivial matters were not on that account likely +to be less annoying. When the general visited us at Knoxville and +Strawberry Plains in the severe weather of early January, he came +practically unattended. He had with him Lieutenant-Colonel C. B. +Comstock of the engineers, who continued in confidential staff relations +to him to the end of the war, well known then and ever since as an +officer of rare ability and discretion. At Knoxville Grant received a +dispatch in cipher which he could not read because the telegraph +operator at his headquarters at Nashville alone had the key. This gave +him great annoyance and might have had very serious consequences. When +therefore he reached Nashville on his return ride over the mountains, he +directed the operator to reveal the key to Colonel Comstock, who was +always with him. The operator of course reported the fact to the +superintendent of military telegraphs at Washington (Colonel Anson +Stager), and on the report of the latter to the Secretary of War, Mr. +Stanton ordered the operator summarily dismissed from his employment, +and formally reprimanded Colonel Comstock as if the revelation had been +merely on his personal order. Of course Grant, who had never dreamed +that he was treading upon anybody's toes, immediately assumed the full +responsibility. He showed the folly of making details of method override +the public necessity to which they were subservient, and asked that the +operator should be restored to his employment and not made to suffer for +obeying his personal order. He said: "I could see no reason why I was +not as capable of selecting a proper person to intrust with this secret +as Colonel Stager." One would think this ought to have ended the +matter, but it did not, though the operator was restored to duty. Mr. +Stanton had the old cipher thrown away, issued a new one, and stuck to +the plan of trusting it to an ordinary civilian operator, whilst it was +not allowed to be known to the commanding general or the most +responsible staff officer. Grant made the sensible suggestion that the +key be given to military officers only, and be kept from the civilian +operators; but Mr. Stanton adhered to the farcical notion of carrying on +a cipher correspondence which should be open to the irresponsible +transmitter, but secret as to the responsible commanding general to whom +it was addressed. If it were meant for a system of espionage upon the +general by thus inseparably tying to him a civilian over whom he had no +control, like an agent of a secret police reporting to a Fouche or a +Savary, it would be an intelligible though bungling contrivance; but as +a means of secret communication with a general it was ridiculous in the +extreme. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. pp. 150, 159, 161, 172, 323, 324, 361.]</span></p> +<p>The telegraph operators were young men who had learned the art +usually in the northern telegraph offices and were hired for military +service like other civilian employees. The operator at Grant's +headquarters at Nashville had a busy place, and could not be spared to +accompany the general whenever he visited a distant post, even if such +inseparable attendance had been agreeable to the commander. Many of the +operators were faithful and intelligent men, but there were some who +were not; and an incident occurred in the Nashville campaign in the next +year which showed what mischiefs were likely to happen when a telegraph +operator was cowardly or untrustworthy. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See "The Battle of +Franklin," by the present writer, pp. 29, 30.]</span></p> +<p>Returning to the affairs of the Army of the Ohio, at the same time +that General Schofield was ordered to report to Grant for duty, +Major-General George Stoneman was sent from the East with a similar +order. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. pp. 166, 182.]</span> It had not then been +announced that the Ninth Corps would return to the East, and apparently +assuming that the Army of the Ohio would include more than one corps of +infantry, General Grant suggested the assignment of Schofield to the +department and Stoneman to the Twenty-third Corps. This was ordered +accordingly on the 28th of January. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 229, 251.]</span> Stoneman's last service had been as Hooker's chief +of cavalry in the Chancellorsville campaign, and under Hooker's orders +he had been upon a separate expedition of cavalry during that +unfortunate battle. In the general miscarriage of the campaign, he was, +with questionable justice, held responsible in part for the failure and +was displaced. In the general plan of setting everybody to work again, +he was sent to Grant, though, as time had brought about a more +favorable judgment regarding him, it would have been fair to assign him +to duty again with the Army of the Potomac. I think he expected the +command of the cavalry of the western army, but Grant had selected +Brigadier-General William Sooy Smith for that position, and looking +about for suitable duty for Stoneman, the Twenty-third Corps was seen +to have no permanent commander assigned by the President, and Stoneman +was nominated for it. As events turned out, the appointment was for a +very short period.</p> +<p>My command of the corps with the rank of brigadier was of course +anomalous, and would necessarily be temporary unless the appropriate +rank were restored to me. Had Burnside remained in East Tennessee, it is +probable that his wish would have prevailed; but he was absent, and I +was a comparative stranger, forming new relations to Grant and his +principal subordinates. Foster had also assured me that he would wish no +change in the corps command if he stayed at the head of the Department, +but as his health caused his withdrawal, the new arrangements were made +without consulting him. Under these circumstances there was nothing for +me to do but to accept the inevitable and take such active work as my +seniority in my present rank would give.</p> +<p>When General Foster learned that he would soon be relieved, he very +cordially offered to do anything in his power to further my wishes in +regard to any choice of duty when I should be superseded in the corps. I +replied that my strong desire was to get the most active field service, +and as it was doubtful whether the corps would not be kept to garrison +East Tennessee, I would like to be transferred to the Army of the +Cumberland, which was certain to make the next campaign in Georgia. On +his suggestion I wrote a letter to General Grant asking the transfer on +the grounds stated. This application General Foster forwarded with a +letter of his own supporting it in very friendly manner. Nothing came of +this, but it was the reason for the delay which occurred in my +assignment to permanent work in the Army of the Ohio. Some of my friends +in the Fourth Corps, knowing that Sheridan was to leave his division, +had suggested my appointment there, but the surplus of general officers +prevented. Major-General Newton, one of those who came west from the +Potomac army, was assigned to that division. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. i. p.18.]</span></p> +<p>Generals Schofield and Stoneman reached Knoxville on the 9th of +February, and the changes in command were promptly made. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. ii. pp. +356, 358, 359, 364, 365.]</span> For a fortnight I was off duty, awaiting +orders. General Foster took his leave of us, thoroughly respected by +all, though his crippled physical condition had interfered with his +personal activity.</p> +<p>My separation from the corps command only affected myself and my two +personal aides-de-camp. I had recommended Major Bascom, my +adjutant-general, and Major Treat, my commissary, for permanent +positions on the corps staff, and these recommendations were kindly +adopted by General Stoneman, so that they ceased to belong to my +military family, though both offered to follow my fortunes. The other +staff appointments were in the nature of details, most of which were +temporarily continued. Pending General Grant's action on my application, +I remained at Knoxville, looking on and making the acquaintance of the +officers newly arrived.</p> +<p>General Stoneman was a tall, thin man, full bearded, with large +eyes. He had an air of habitual sadness, or gravity approaching it, and +was commonly reputed to have an irritable temper, but I saw nothing of +it. I think he would have made an acceptable commander of the corps if +fortune had left him in that position. His place in the regular army +(Major of the Fourth United States Cavalry <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: He and General Sturgis were +the two majors of the same regiment.]</span>) had led to his assignment +to a cavalry command at the East, and he returned to that arm of the +service a little later. Grant took a dislike to Stoneman, partly on +account of the manner in which he had been sent to him from the East. +When the suggestion was made that, if the opposition in the Senate to +Schofield's confirmation should defeat his promotion, Stoneman should +succeed to his command, Grant dryly replied that he did not know General +Stoneman's merits. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. p. 394]</span> Even a year later he +showed the same distrust by speaking of him as an officer who had +failed. This was by no means just, but showed the persistence of Grant's +impressions. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: General +Stoneman retired from the army at the close of the war and made his +home in California, of which State he became governor.]</span></p> +<p>With General Schofield's arrival began my close association with him +which was to last until the end of the war. In person he was a solid, +rather stout man, of medium height, with a round bald head and long +black beard coming down on his breast. He had a reputation for +scientific tastes, and had, after his graduation at West Point, been +instructor in astronomy there. He was two or three years my junior in +age, and was among the younger general officers. The obstruction, thus +far, to his confirmation in his higher grade so far resembled my own +experience as to be a ground of sympathy between us. As I was glad of +his better luck in his prompt reappointment, I may also say that his +hearty recognition of my own service and experience inspired me with +sincere friendship. I look back to my service as his subordinate with +unmixed satisfaction.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</p> +<p>SCHOFIELD IN EAST TENNESSEE--DUTIES AS CHIEF OF STAFF--FINAL +OPERATIONS IN THE VALLEY</p> +<p>Fresh reports of Longstreet's advance--They are unfounded--Grant's +wish to rid the valley of the enemy--Conference with Foster--Necessity +for further recuperation of the army--Continuance of the quiet +policy--Longstreet's view of the situation--His suggestions to his +government--He makes an advance again--Various demonstrations--Schofield +moves against Longstreet--My appointment as chief of staff in the +field--Organization of the active column--Schofield's purposes--March to +Morristown--Going the Grand Rounds--Cavalry outpost--A sleepy +sentinel--Return to New Market--Once more at Morristown--Ninth Corps +sent East--Grant Lieutenant-General--Sherman commands in the West--Study +of plans of campaign--My assignment to Third Division, Twenty-third +Corps--Importance of staff duties--Colonel Wherry and Major +Campbell--General Wood--Schofield and the politicians--Post at Bull's +Gap--Grapevine telegraph--Families going through the lines--Local +vendetta--The Sanitary Commission--Rendezvous assigned by +Sherman--Preliminary movements--Marching to Georgia--A spring camp on +the Hiwassee--The Atlanta campaign begun.</p> +<p>On assuming command in East Tennessee, Schofield was met by +directions from General Grant, full of fresh urgency that Longstreet +should be driven beyond the Virginia line. The occasion for this was the +receipt of new intelligence that Longstreet was reinforced from the +East, and would make another effort at an aggressive campaign. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. p. 337.]</span> The recurrence of this stereotyped form of +alarm looked very much like information sent from the Confederates +themselves for the purpose of keeping us on the defensive; but perhaps +it is only of a piece with other evidence which shows the slight value +of all information which is not got by contact with the enemy. The truth +was that none of the reports that Ewell and others had been sent to +Longstreet had any foundation. He was left to his own resources, with +only the authority to call his next neighbor in southwestern Virginia +to his assistance if he were in danger of being overwhelmed. But Grant +was annoyed by these recurrent alarms, and his aggressive nature chafed +at it. "I intend to drive him out or get whipped this month," he said +to Thomas before Schofield's arrival; and on the 11th of February he +wrote to the latter: "I deem it of the utmost importance to drive +Longstreet out immediately, so as to furlough the balance of our +veterans and to prepare for a spring campaign of our own choosing, +instead of permitting the enemy to dictate it for us." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. p. 367.]</span></p> +<p>Nothing would have pleased Schofield better than to have had +Longstreet come down to Knoxville and fight there, but the cogent +reasons which had made Foster suspend active operations and devote every +energy to getting his men and animals in condition for a vigorous spring +campaign, had lost none of their force. Our animals had already been +sent away to save their lives, and by the help of the little steamboats +built at Kingston and for which General Meigs had sent engines from the +North, we were beginning to receive at Knoxville some of the clothing +for which our men were suffering.</p> +<p>Grant had already ordered Thomas to be prepared to march at once to +reinforce Schofield, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 359.]</span> when he had a personal interview at Nashville with +General Foster, who was on his way home. Foster so fully explained the +impossibility of supplying troops much further up the valley than +Knoxville, and the absolute need of building up the physical strength of +man and beast after the half starvation since winter set in, that Grant +yielded to the inevitable and directed Schofield to remain on the +defensive till the approach of spring should give a prospect of activity +which should not be destructive to the little army. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. pp. 373-375.]</span> He ordered that the re-enlisting +veterans should have their furloughs as soon as possible, and that men +and animals should have all the rest they could get, preparatory for +early operations in the spring.</p> +<p>After his retreat from Knoxville, Longstreet had kept up an active +correspondence with Mr. Davis, and with Lee, Johnston, and Beauregard, +in reference to further plans of campaign. The ease with which Thomas +could reinforce Schofield was so plain to him that he saw nothing +attractive in another advance on Knoxville. The plan which seemed to +attract him most was to mount his infantry on mules and make a dash +through the mountains into Kentucky by way of Pound Gap. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 652-789, +790-792.]</span> To collect ten thousand mules and send them to him, to +make a depot for rations and forage at Abingdon sufficient to support +the column on its journey through the mountains, to furnish a train to +carry it,--all this seemed evidently chimerical to those to whom he +proposed it. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 760.]</span> The Confederacy had all it could do to feed its existing +armies where they were, and was living from hand to mouth.</p> +<p>The thing which the Confederate government seemed most to desire was +that Longstreet should effect a junction with Johnston and the two open +an offensive campaign against Thomas. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.,</i> pp. 806, 808, +810.]</span> The evil consequences of Bragg's blunder in detaching +Longstreet before the battle of Missionary Ridge became more evident +every day; but how were the commands to be reunited? A long and perilous +flank march must be made by both armies, with an almost certainty that +Grant would concentrate first and fall upon them in succession.</p> +<p>Longstreet was restless and anxious to do something pending this +discussion, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. p. 699.]</span> and resolved to try an +advance from Morristown upon Knoxville. He began his movement just as +Grant had concluded to allow Schofield's army to remain quiet till +spring. On the 19th of February he reached New Market, seven or eight +miles above Strawberry Plains and twenty-five from Knoxville. The +information he got gave him the idea that our troops were "demoralized," +and that it was a favorable opportunity for an effort to capture +Schofield's army. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.,</i> +p. 735.]</span> He was quite wrong as to the <i>morale</i> of our troops, +though we were depleted by furloughs and were nearly immovable for lack +of train animals. He urged Johnston to move toward Knoxville to +co-operate with him, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.,</i> +p. 744.]</span> but Polk was now in trouble by reason of Sherman's march +from Vicksburg upon Meridian and Johnston was ordered to assist Polk. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.,</i> p. 763.]</span> +Then Grant, to balk both efforts, ordered Thomas to make a demonstration +against Johnston, which was effective in preventing co-operation in +either direction. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.,</i> +p. 480.]</span></p> +<p>Schofield was at first disposed to regard the enemy's advance as an +effort to find forage and to strip the country more bare than it already +was, if that were possible. On the 18th, however, Longstreet advanced +again, and threatened to cross the Holston at Strawberry Plains, +scouring the country in the angle between that river and the French +Broad. The rumors which reached Schofield were <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.,</i> p. 415.]</span> +that his real purpose was to cross the French Broad, move along the foot +of Chilhowee Mountains and make his way to Johnston. It is very probable +that this was his real purpose. On the 19th he was ordered to send at +any rate Martin's cavalry to rejoin Johnston, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.,</i> p. 772.]</span> +and to make the junction complete would so evidently please the +Confederate government that it may be assumed Longstreet would do it if +he saw the way open. Schofield therefore prepared to concentrate and +move in either direction, but took no active step for a few days. On the +23d the information was sufficient to make it clear that Longstreet was +not moving in force toward Georgia, but was retiring toward Morristown, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. pp. 449, 455.]</span> and Schofield immediately issued +orders of march to his troops to follow. The fact was that Longstreet +was so much disturbed by the withdrawal of Martin's cavalry <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Martin's cavalry at this +time was what remained of Wheeler's corps which had accompanied +Longstreet from Bragg's army the previous autumn.]</span> that he +declared this forced him to leave East Tennessee and place his forces at +Bristol on the Virginia border. On getting a second dispatch from Mr. +Davis, he modified his reasons, saying that Schofield had been +reinforced from Chattanooga. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pp. 788-790.]</span> This was incorrect, for the Fourth Corps was the +only part of the Army of the Cumberland which joined the Army of the +Ohio at any time during the winter, and only Wood's division of it +participated in Schofield's present movement. He also wrote as if he had +been near enough to Knoxville to discover for himself that the +fortifications were greatly strengthened;<span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 810.]</span> +but as he had not approached nearer than seventeen miles, he could +hardly have gained much information on this subject. No doubt rumors of +work on the defences of the city had spread through the country during +the winter, but there could hardly have been any discovery at this time. +The use of it to smooth the appearance of an abortive effort was only a +passage in military apologetics.</p> +<p>I had been awaiting orders in Knoxville a fortnight when the advance +against Longstreet began, and as no definite answer had come to my +application for transfer, General Schofield invited me to act as his +chief of staff in the field during active operations or until my +assignment to permanent duty should be settled. I gladly accepted the +general's proposal and joined headquarters at once. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See Official Records vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. p. 495.]</span> Our little army consisted nominally of +parts of three corps, but the column in the field consisted of one +division of the Twenty-third Corps, under the immediate command of +General Stoneman, one of the Fourth Corps under Brigadier-General Thomas +J. Wood, and the skeleton of the Ninth Corps under General Parke. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>. p. 455.]</span> +We had also Colonel Garrard's division of cavalry. Another division of +the Twenty-third Corps under Brigadier-General Milo S. Hascall was left +as the garrison of Knoxville, with the heavy artillery organization +under Brigadier-General Davis Tillson and a small detachment of cavalry. +Hascall was particularly directed to scout far out to the eastward, +watching for any attempt of the enemy to pass along the mountain base, +as well as against any effort to capture the city by a <i>coup de main</i>.</p> +<p>Our marching column numbered 13,873 officers and men, distributed +thus: Wood's division, 5477; Parke's detachments of two divisions of the +Ninth Corps, 3031; Stoneman with the second division of the Twenty-third +Corps, 3363; Garrard's cavalry, 2002. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>. pp. 502, 504.]</span> +Longstreet's forces were 20,787, of which 5034 were cavalry. Schofield's +purpose was essentially that of a reconnoissance in force to learn +definitely the composition and apparent plans of the enemy, though +willing to accept a defensive battle if a favorable opportunity should +occur. If Longstreet were finally leaving East Tennessee, Grant's +intention was to send all troops of the Fourth Corps back to Thomas, so +as to concentrate the Army of the Cumberland in preparation for the +spring campaign in Georgia. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 456, 490.]</span></p> +<p>On the 24th of February we were at Strawberry Plains. The long +trestle bridge of the railway had been destroyed when our forces had +concentrated at Knoxville a month before, and our first task was to +complete a wagon bridge across the Holston so that we could move onward +toward New Market and Morristown with a possibility of keeping up a +supply of food. We did not wait for the bridge to be completed, however, +and orders were issued on the 26th to begin crossing, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. p. 474.]</span> using flatboats for the men, whilst the +artillery and wagons used a ford that was then passable. Grant did not +expect Schofield to march his infantry farther than Strawberry Plains, +but to push the reconnoissance beyond that point with cavalry. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Id., p. 495.]</span> +Schofield, however, felt that to do his work thoroughly, his horsemen +should be strongly and closely supported. On the 29th our headquarters +were at New Market and the column on its way to Morristown. We overtook +it in the afternoon and occupied the town that evening. As so often +happens in war, our movement had hardly begun when the fine weather +ended, and we marched from Strawberry Plains in pouring rain, over +wretched roads which rapidly became worse. This delayed the troops and +only part were at Morristown when darkness fell. These were disposed so +as to cover the town in front with pickets well out, and a detachment of +cavalry a mile or two farther forward. Most of the horsemen were on our +flanks, covering roads by which our position could be turned.</p> +<p>All the information we could get pointed to an abandonment of East +Tennessee by the enemy, but it was hard for us to believe that the +sudden retreat of Longstreet, after his announced intention to attack +Knoxville, was not under orders which indicated a plan we ought to +fathom. We had heard of his first purpose at many places on our road, +for it is almost impossible to keep the people of the country from +learning the destination of a moving column, and now the inhabitants who +remained at Morristown were aware that Longstreet's men regarded Bristol +as their destination. There were, however, rumors and some evidence that +Longstreet had stopped his retreat and was about to turn upon us. This +called for a careful disposal of our troops and preparation for +supporting them promptly with those that were still on the road. As +nothing came of it, there would be no reason for mentioning it, except +that it was the occasion for an amusing bit of personal experience of my +own.</p> +<p>Some of the more pronounced Secessionists had left the town with +Longstreet, through fear that the loyalists might take vengeance on them +for some of the wrongs they had suffered. We occupied as headquarters a +house thus vacated, but it was absolutely empty and gave us only a roof +over our heads. We had a few camp stools and a camp desk or two, and +slept on the bare floor wrapped in our blankets, with our saddles for +pillows. Late in the evening some loyal men brought in such reports of +the enemy advancing to attack us at daybreak, that as a measure of +prudence determined to go the "grand rounds" an hour or two before day, +and especially to visit the cavalry outpost at the front and send +forward a reconnoissance from it to make sure of full warning if there +was any need of it. When I was roused by the sergeant of the +headquarters guard and my horse was brought to the door, it was not a +night for a pleasure excursion. A cold winter rain was pouring down, and +the blackness of darkness was intense. I took only a single orderly with +me, buttoned my cape close over my great-coat, pulled down the rim of my +felt hat and started off, trusting to my horse to keep the road till my +eyes should get a little used to the darkness. As both armies had +encamped around the town, the fences were of course all gone and the +wagons had cut so many tracks to right and left that it seemed all road, +or rather all mire and no road. Whilst we were among the camps the +smouldering camp-fires were of some help, but when we got beyond these +we could only splash along cautiously, steering for the smaller fires +which marked the picket reserves. Beyond the line of sentries there was +nothing to guide us, and keeping our direction as well as we could, we +plodded on until a faint glimmer showed the camp of the cavalry outpost. +It was in an open wood, and the dying camp-fires gave only light enough +to show the tall trunks of the forest trees, black against a background +of dull red. Part of Longstreet's army had been in cantonments here +during the winter, and many of the huts were still standing, their dim +outlines and irregular forms hardly visible, but giving an air of weird +mystery to the surroundings. Some of these huts were occupied by the +cavalry, and the first we came upon had as its tenant an Irish dragoon, +and him we turned out to guide us to the captain's quarters. The +occasionally flashing light only seemed to make the darkness visible, +and the Irishman told us to follow him closely, "and look out," says he, +"for there's pits every little way where thim ribils dug foundations for +their chimbleys." He started on and I followed, keeping my horse's nose +close to his shoulder. Suddenly he disappeared, and as I jerked my +horse back on his haunches, Paddy sung out: "Och! I've found one, sorr!" +and sure enough he had gone in, head and heels, in one of the "pits." +He scrambled out and cautiously led my horse around the hole, but we +had hardly gone a rod further before Pat went out again, like a candle, +with "Be jabers, I've found another." But he took his mud baths +good-humoredly, and led us without further accident to the captain. From +him I got the reports from the vedettes at the front, and after +ordering a reconnoissance to be pushed well forward, turned back to +inspect the infantry line of sentinels. These were generally found on +the alert and well instructed, but as we went across ditches and miry +fields we came suddenly upon one asleep in a fence corner where he had +tried to make some shelter from the storm. When the horses halted beside +him, he sprang up bewildered, and stood bolt upright, trying to look at +us, evidently uncertain whether we were rebels, but too confused to +utter a single word. I ordered him to call the corporal of the guard, +and asked him if that was the way he guarded the camp. He began to +stammer out denials of being asleep with a foreign accent and in broken +English, which made his stupidity seem more stupid. I reported him to +the officer of the guard, but finding he was a raw recruit, I refrained +from ordering him before a general court-martial, and directed a +lighter summary punishment that his regimental officers could impose.</p> +<p>After examining the more important part of the line, we splashed +back to quarters as day was breaking, got a fire built in our cheerless +room, hung my coat, which was heavy with water, before it to dry, and +crossing my mud-cased legs, sat down for half an hour of rest and +revery, listening for carbine shots at the front that would tell if the +scouting party had found an enemy. The rest of the staff were still +sleeping, oblivious of war's alarms and preparing for the work of the +day by trusting the watching to those on duty, as they would be trusted +in turn when similarly on guard. How often were such incidents repeated, +night and day, through campaign after campaign, till they became so +familiar that it seems almost puerile to mention them!</p> +<p>On beginning the movement to Morristown, orders had been given to +press the rebuilding of the railroad bridge at Strawberry Plains, for +our continuance so far from our supplies depended upon it. We had no +trains of wagons to keep up our communication with our base, and the +utmost we could do was to carry four or five days' supply with us. We +therefore spent three or four days in vigorous efforts to gain +information of the enemy by means of our cavalry. We learned that +Longstreet held the line of Bays Mountain, where the railway passes +through Bull's Gap, thirteen miles above Morristown. His right flank +seemed to be at Rogersville on the Holston, and his left rested near the +Nolachucky beyond Greeneville. We could not learn that any of his forces +except Martin's cavalry had left him, though we were mystified by the +disappearance of Ransom's division from the accounts of the enemy's +organization. The fact was that that officer was transferred to the +cavalry command, and the organization of his division was merged in the +others.</p> +<p>On the 2d of March Grant directed that McCook's division of cavalry +should go back to Thomas as soon as they could possibly be spared, and +on Schofield's reporting the results of our reconnoissances, he advised +the latter not to bring on an engagement, but to content ourselves with +holding as much of the country as we could. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. iii. p. 14.]</span> The bill creating the grade of +lieutenant-general was now the law, and Grant had been promoted to it. +On the invitation of the President he was about to go to Washington for +consultation, keeping in telegraphic communication with his department +commanders. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 17.]</span> Consequently it agreed well with his views to let affairs +remain quiet during his absence. The rains continued, however, and even +if he had desired further advance it would have been out of the question +till the bridge at Strawberry Plains was rebuilt. The rations brought +with us were exhausted, and on the 4th we withdrew the infantry +fourteen miles, to a position four miles above New Market, where we +hoped to be able to feed the troops with our few wagons, until the +railroad should again be available.</p> +<p>Headquarters in the field were established at New Market, and I +remained there with authority to direct and support the cavalry +movements actively kept up in our front. General Schofield was thus +enabled to spend part of his time at Knoxville attending to the clothing +and supply of the troops, the gathering of reinforcements, return of +veterans, and all the matters of department administration which centred +there. In case of the necessity of combined action in Grant's absence, +Thomas was authorized to assume command.</p> +<p>The Holston bridge at Strawberry Plains was completed on March 11th, +and our forces were at once put in motion for Morristown, where we once +more encamped on the 12th. Nothing new had been learned of the enemy; +but there was nothing to learn, for Longstreet quietly occupied the line +of Bays Mountain, and, like ourselves, was busy getting his troops +clothed and shod, while he discussed with the Richmond authorities +various plans of campaign. The cavalry ordered back to Johnston was +making its way along the base of the mountains, and occasional news of +their advance was exaggerated into stories of all Longstreet's army +being in motion. Schofield very wisely thought the best way to know what +his enemy was doing was to be as near him as practicable without +assaulting his strong positions with an inferior force, and therefore +ordered the fresh advance as soon as the railway could be made to +transport supplies.</p> +<p>On the 14th Grant was again at Nashville, and took immediate steps +to send the Ninth Corps to Burnside at Annapolis, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. iii. p. 67.]</span> in accordance with an arrangement which +was settled at the Washington conferences. Schofield was directed to +have no delay in getting the Ninth Corps off, and he issued his formal +orders to that effect on the 16th. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 82.]</span> This reduced the forces in East Tennessee to a very small +number, but a bold front was preserved and active reconnoitering kept +up. On the 18th Stoneman's infantry was placed at Mossy Creek, between +New Market and Morristown, and Wood with two brigades of his division +was ordered to Rutledge about half-way to Cumberland Gap. The other +brigade was placed at Strawberry Plains to protect the stores +accumulated there. The cavalry which remained to Schofield was divided, +part reporting to Stoneman and part to Wood, and the country was +carefully watched from the Nolachucky on the east to Cumberland Gap on +the northwest. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxii. pt. iii. pp. 88, 89.]</span> I was personally +directed to keep headquarters in the field, with power to act, in +emergencies and in matters of detail, in Schofield's name, while the +general returned to the department headquarters at Knoxville, where he +made to Sherman, as his now superior, a full report of the situation, +with suggestions as to the future work of the army of the Ohio. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 96.]</span> +It was now settled that a new campaign, both East and West, should open +in April, if possible, and everything else was to be made subservient to +preparation for it. Steps were taken to bring back the furloughed +veterans, to remount the cavalry in Kentucky and bring it forward, and +to secure such additional infantry as should enable Schofield to take +the field with three strong divisions of foot, and at least two of +horse, besides leaving about ten thousand men in Kentucky and five +thousand in East Tennessee.</p> +<p>The question what should be the work of the Army of the Ohio had +naturally interested us who belonged to it, and while Grant was in +Washington I prepared and submitted to General Schofield a sketch of a +plan of campaign. It was based on the assumption that the Army of the +Potomac would not operate by its left along the lowlands of Virginia, as +McClellan had done, but would follow the railway through Culpepper and +Orange Court House to Richmond. This route was in a high and healthy +country, the streams would be crossed where they were comparatively +insignificant, and the natural obstacles to an advance seemed much less +formidable than upon the coast line. True, the army would have to depend +upon the railway for its supplies, but so must Sherman in the West, and +the Virginia line was only a fraction of his in length. It had the +advantage of covering the Shenandoah valley as it advanced, and saving +the large detachment which had to be devoted to that region and to the +protection of Washington. But besides this (and this was the feature +directly affecting us in East Tennessee), it opened for the Army of the +Ohio a rôle of usefulness which seemed to me very important.</p> +<p>If Schofield were to take the field in Georgia, he could carry to +Sherman, at most, some twelve or fourteen thousand infantry and six or +eight of cavalry. The proper protection of Kentucky and East Tennessee +required just about the same number of troops. His active column in the +decisive campaign would therefore be only half of the forces in his +department. Whenever it should be apparent that Georgia was our field of +operations, Longstreet's twenty thousand men would be set free to join +Lee in Virginia (as actually happened), or could be used in any other +theatre of operations, whilst our garrisons could not be greatly reduced +because small raids of mounted men could harry the wide expanse of +country behind us unless all the important points were fully guarded. +This also was demonstrated by our actual experience, and was a plain +deduction from facts and principles. To drive Longstreet into Virginia +and destroy the railroad so that he could not return was, therefore, to +force the enemy to do the thing most advantageous to himself; that is, +to concentrate his forces at the East in entire security that he would +not be troubled by any advance on our part into southwestern Virginia.</p> +<p>If, on the other hand, we could move eastward along the railroad, we +could bring our supplies to our camps as we advanced. Sherman's army +behind us would make our base at Chattanooga safe; the great mountain +barrier on the right would so cover our flank that scarce any force need +be left in Tennessee, but all could be put in the aggressive column: the +troops in Kentucky could be brought forward as we progressed, for our +movement would cover that district; finally, on reaching the New River +valley we could be joined by the forces in West Virginia. The advance, +therefore, instead of being with a dwindling column would be with a +growing one, and when the Army of the Potomac should approach the valley +of the James, we should be ready with about forty thousand to come into +line as the right wing of that army. Approaching Richmond from the north +and west, the south side railroad would be at once in our grasp, and +that to Petersburg within easy reach.</p> +<p>The objection to such a plan which would first occur to a critic, +would be that convergent movements from so distant bases are +proverbially uncertain; but this objection is greatly weakened by a +study of the topography of the country. The Holston valley is so +isolated that, approached by the railway line with a good base behind +the column, it is strongly defensible, and if the advance is so timed as +not to pass the New River before the Army of the Potomac should be +swinging in toward Richmond from the northwest, Lee's army would be too +fully occupied to make a detachment strong enough to oppose us, and the +line by which he would operate against us would be threatened by the +army of our friends. There would also be a safe line of retreat always +open for us, in case of check. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Napoleon was a master of strategy who fully appreciated the objections +to exterior lines, but in the campaign of Wagram in 1809 he ordered +Marmont to lead a column from Italy to Vienna by a route having strong +resemblances to that which I have sketched. He regarded the character of +the route itself, protected as it was by mountain ranges, and giving +the assurance of a line of retreat, as making an exception to ordinary +cases and overcoming the objections which would have been conclusive +against attempting it in an open country.]</span> Another interesting +feature in this plan is that if railway communication between Sherman +and the Potomac Army had been opened in the summer of 1864, it would +have been an interior line of immense importance, not improbably +modifying essentially the final campaign of the war.</p> +<p>General Schofield thought well enough of my sketch to adopt it as a +suggestion to General Grant, which he submitted as soon as the latter +returned from the East. The General-in-Chief had, however, already made +arrangements which committed him to operating by the left of the Potomac +Army. He had sent General W. F. Smith to Fortress Monroe for the purpose +of taking the field at the head of the movable part of Butler's Army of +the James, and Burnside's command at Annapolis was at that time expected +to make another line of operations from the seacoast in North Carolina. +There was also a disposition to leave in Sherman's hands all the +departments which constituted the Military Division of the Mississippi, +and allow him to concentrate the movable forces of all in his operations +against Johnston. Grant therefore adhered to his original purpose of +destroying enough of the railroad near the Watauga River to make a +serious obstruction to hostile movements against East Tennessee from +the east, and turn everything that could be spared into the advance +upon Atlanta. Another thing which had weight with him was the fact that +Schofield's confirmation as major-general was still delayed and opposed +in the Senate, and he intended, if it were finally defeated, to +consolidate the Department of the Ohio with that of the Cumberland under +General Thomas. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. iii. p. 11.]</span></p> +<p>On the 29th of March General Sherman visited Schofield at Knoxville, +and a full understanding was reached regarding the place the Army of the +Ohio was to take in the great campaign of the spring. All the troops in +the department were to constitute the Twenty-third Corps, and Schofield +was to command the moving column in the field as well as the department. +To avoid the inconvenience of having a double head to this column, +Stoneman was to be transferred to the command of the cavalry in place of +Sturgis, and Schofield was to be assigned to the formal command of the +corps. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxii. pt. iii. pp. 221, 268, 312.]</span> Sturgis was then +to be sent to Memphis to take command of the column there organizing +for the purpose of operating against Forrest.</p> +<p>As to operations in the upper valley of the Holston, it was +determined to occupy Bull's Gap at an early day, and to keep up such an +apparent purpose of advancing as should detain Longstreet in East +Tennessee as long as possible. If he retreated he was to be followed, so +as to induce him to burn the railway bridges, and thus to avoid +disclosing our own purpose of leaving that portion of the valley which +we should plainly proclaim if we ourselves should destroy the railway. +Everything was to be ready for movement, and at the last moment, if the +enemy had not already done it, we were to burn railway bridges and tear +up the track for a considerable distance. Then the divisions which were +to take the field in Georgia were to march rapidly to Cleveland, and +come in on the left of Sherman's grand army as he advanced from +Chattanooga.</p> +<p>As the plan of campaign thus took definite shape, it gave the +occasion also for a settlement of my personal problem of permanent +assignment to duty. It had become evident that there was no room for +transfer to another command, and the active part marked out for the +Twenty-third Corps removed the only ground for wishing it. No better +soldiers could be found than those which made up our divisions, and my +acquaintance with General Schofield had ripened into a confidence which +made me entirely content to follow him as my commander. He warmly +invited me to continue permanently in the position of chief of staff, +but gave me the alternate choice of one of the divisions of the active +column. My preference for responsible command in the field decided me to +take a division, and by his further permission I chose the third, in +which were a considerable number of officers who had served with me in +other campaigns. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. iii. p. 245.]</span> I would not be +understood, however, to depreciate the position of chief of staff of +such a department and army. Properly filled, few positions in active +service could be pleasanter or more useful. I had tested this during the +six weeks preceding, and had found the associations and the duty every +way most agreeable. The general was always prompt to assume his proper +responsibility and to order the movements or the administrative acts +which are peculiarly the province of the commander; but he gave me the +task of arranging the subordinate details, and the authority to direct +them in his name. To distribute the parts each corps or division was to +perform; to co-ordinate all the arrangements so that they should move +harmoniously; to bring to a common centre all the information, external +and internal, which affected the conduct and efficiency of the whole; +to supervise the matters of organization, of equipment, and of supply; +to consult with the medical director as to hospital work and the +sanitary condition of the army, and to be guarantor that the common end +is vigorously and intelligently pursued by every part of the army,--all +this, as scarcely needs telling, makes a chief of staff the right arm +of the commander, and his most trusted adviser and confidant. He makes +his commander feel free to give his own thought to the larger problems +of a campaign, with confidence that the whole machinery of the army +will work smoothly toward the object which he has in view. I did not +then, nor do I now, underestimate the importance of the duty which an +industrious staff officer may thus perform, and I had found it made +personally pleasant by the even temper and appreciative justice of +General Schofield's rule. I had, however, formed so strong a +predilection for the immediate and active conduct of troops in the +field, that this determined me to choose the division command. In the +new organization of the corps I should, in this, report directly to the +general, and should be next in rank to him (in the infantry) by virtue +of seniority, so that in his absence, or when two divisions were +temporarily detached from the army, I should exercise a superior +command. These were advantages which every experienced soldier estimates +highly, and I was to enjoy them, until good fortune and the steady +friendship of my superiors gave me, a second time, and this time in +permanent form, the corps command with the rank belonging to it. There +was no mistake, therefore, in my choice of duty; and considering the +part Sherman's whole army was to play in the remaining campaigns of the +war, it was a matter of personal good fortune also that the Army of the +Ohio became an integral part of the great western organization, and +marched southward, not eastward.</p> +<p>On the staff I had been thrown into intimate relations to Colonel +William M. Wherry, senior aide-de-camp, and Major J. A. Campbell, +adjutant-general. These officers continued to the end of the war in +these positions, which they filled with great credit and usefulness. +Major Campbell was admirably fitted for the supervision of the records +and the correspondence of the army, and for reducing to the form of +clear and succinct orders the directions of the general. He was +accurate, systematic, and untiring; always at his post, whether it were +at his desk in camp, or by the side of his chief in the field. Of +slight, almost frail body, with an intellectual face, he looked unequal +to rough field work, but showed a stamina in fact which many a more +robust man envied. Colonel Wherry was the incessantly active personal +representative of the general, intrusted with his oral orders, and +making for him those examinations and investigations which are only +satisfactory when the commander has learned to trust the eye and the +cool judgment of his assistant as his own. Wherry had been with General +Schofield from the first campaign in Missouri in 1861, and both were +with Lyon when he fell at Wilson's Creek. He remained his confidential +aide through the whole war, and for years afterward, being early +appointed from Missouri to the line of one of the new regiments of the +regular army. Lithe, graceful, and genial, he was always welcome, when +he came to a point where fighting was going on, to learn for the general +the actual situation or to bring his orders. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Wherry is now (1899) +Brigadier-General of the United States Army, retired, after brilliant +service in the campaign of Santiago, Cuba.]</span></p> +<p>During the winter the division of the Fourth Corps commanded by +Brigadier-General Thomas J. Wood had been in closest connection with us. +It had taken part in all the marchings and countermarchings of the +period when I was chief of staff, and I had thus begun an acquaintance +with its commander which was to grow into lasting friendship. General +Wood was colonel of the Second Regular Cavalry, a Kentuckian who had +earnestly taken the National side, and an influential officer of the old +army. His intelligence and activity were very marked, and his courage +was of the cool indomitable character most highly prized in divisions of +a great army. Of medium height, solid but not large build, dark hair and +complexion, high forehead, he was a noticeable man in any assemblage of +officers. A fluent talker, attentive to polite forms of speech as well +as of conduct, he was liked and respected throughout the army, and +especially in the Army of the Cumberland, where he had served throughout +the war. He had won promotion by gallant and meritorious services again +and again, when at the battle of Chickamauga it was his ill fortune to +receive the famous order to "close up on Brannan and support him." The +situation made the order ambiguous, but Wood understood it to mean that +he should move to the left till he should find himself in rear of +Brannan's division, since another division was between them in the line. +He thought it a strange order, but thought also that Rosecrans must +know why he sent it, and that it was "his not to reason why" but to +obey. The obedience opened the gap through which Longstreet's men +poured, breaking the line and routing part of the right wing. Wood took +the place assigned him by Thomas in the horse-shoe curve around the +Snodgrass hill, and did his full share of the desperate fighting which +held that part of the field. But he had thus become the subject of a +controversy, and the friends of Rosecrans charged him with a too literal +obedience, and a failure to use a sound discretion in his action. The +result was that whilst Rosecrans was removed from active field service, +Wood still found himself under a cloud, and opposed by influences which +stood in the way of his promotion till the war was almost ended. He +continued to be distinguished in every engagement of the Atlanta +campaign and that of Nashville, and no division saw harder or more +honorable service than his.</p> +<p>The first week in April saw the changes in the organization of the +Twenty-third Corps which I have indicated. On the 3d I was relieved of +staff duty and assigned to the third division, with orders to proceed at +once to Bull's Gap and take temporary command of the corps whilst +General Stoneman should hasten to Kentucky to prepare the cavalry corps +for active service. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. iii. pp. 245, 259, 268.]</span> I think +the change was agreeable to Stoneman, for he was most at home with +mounted troops and liked that service. Schofield's permanent assignment +to the Twenty-third Corps was made on April 4th by the President, +though the general had still to await for some time the action of the +Senate on the confirmation of his promotion. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. iii. p. 258.]</span> His enemies were still persistent, and +even succeeded in obtaining a report of the Senate committee against his +confirmation. General Sherman wrote to his brother, the senator, in +behalf of his subordinate;<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 332, 343.]</span> but it was not till General Grant was back in +Washington and used his powerful personal influence that the +confirmation was finally secured after the campaign had opened. It +seemed at one time that not even the manifest mischief of deranging the +organization of the army, as deliberately settled by both Grant and +Sherman, would overcome the political hostility arrayed against him. +This was without any reasonable foundation. Although Schofield was not +given to political discussion, my closeness to him enabled me to know +that he was an earnestly loyal man whose heart was warmly engaged in the +National cause. He believed in emancipation as a right and politic war +measure, and in fighting the rebellion vigorously till it should be +conquered. He had made enemies among the Kansas politicians because he +tried to prevent the war on that frontier from degenerating into a +vendetta when murder and robbery should take the place of civilized +warfare. Some influential radicals in Missouri were hostile because he +held the scales even between them and the conservative Union men.</p> +<p>At Bull's Gap I found the corps headquarters in a shingle-palace +which had been built for a hotel at the railway station, and which was +now the only house there. It was empty as a barn and fast going to ruin, +but it gave shelter for our office work. Wood's division of the Fourth +Corps was put in march to join the Army of the Cumberland, and we were +left to watch the enemy and await the moment when the destruction of the +railway and our own march southward should begin. We soon had a curious +bit of evidence that Longstreet had finally abandoned the expectation of +re-occupying East Tennessee. It was found in the applications made by +women to join their husbands who were in the Confederate service. The +"grapevine telegraph" was an "institution" during the whole war. News +which was either interesting or important was passed on through the +lines, and it was impossible to be so rigid in precautions as greatly to +delay it. To stop it was utterly futile. Longstreet had hardly received +the orders from his government to prepare to rejoin Lee's army in +Virginia, when the headquarters of our army at Knoxville felt the +pressure of applications for leave to pass the lines. On the 6th of +April a party of forty women and children came up by railway, to be sent +through the lines under a flag. They were of course without tents or +any means of camping out, and the crazy building in which I had my +quarters was that night as crowded and as picturesque as an Asiatic +caravanserai. The rain and the almost impassable roads made their +journey anything but one of pleasure, but by the aid of the few wagons +at the post they went forward in a day or two. A second party, about as +large, followed in the course of a week, and had even a rougher time +than the first. There were delays on the part of their friends, in +sending trains and escort to meet them at the break in the railway, but +the hope of rejoining loved ones gave them courage, and they bore +cheerfully their sufferings and privations.</p> +<p>The bitterness of the feud between the loyalists and disunionists in +the Holston valley can hardly be imagined by those who did not witness +it. The persecutions of the loyal mountaineers had been such that when +their turn of ruling came they would have been more than human if they +had not retaliated. The organization of home-guards gave to these armed +bodies of men the power, and with it came the temptation to abuse it. +The memory of the men who had been hanged for bridge-burning, and of +those who had languished and died in prison charged with no crime but +disloyalty to the Confederacy, was a constant stimulus to severity. +Their blood seemed to cry from the ground. We found a constant necessity +for moderating their passions, and it was not always possible to keep +them within the bounds of civilized warfare. My experience in West +Virginia was repeated with some phases of still greater intensity. When +we got these loyal men away from home, campaigning on distant fields, +there was no trouble in enforcing discipline, and they showed no more +fierceness of personal retaliation than other troops. I suspect this +will everywhere be true, in greater or less measure, and that in all +wars it will be found for the interest of humanity not to allow local +troops to garrison their own homes.</p> +<p>The scouts and irregular organizations were, as usual, the most +likely to fall into excesses. I had an example of this, falling under my +own eye at the time I am speaking of, and showing how, under this +intense exasperation, the "bush-whacking" degenerated into guerilla war +in which no quarter was given on either side. I had sent out a +reconnoissance of a party of Indiana cavalry accompanied by some thirty +of the Tennessee scouts, the whole force about a hundred in number. They +had encountered a hostile party of "irregulars" some thirty strong, and +had routed them. They brought in fifteen prisoners, and reported ten of +the enemy killed. Those who were captured had all surrendered to the +Indiana men, and the Tennesseeans were disposed to complain that quarter +had been given. True, the party which had been attacked was said to have +committed great outrages, and to have been engaged in forcing loyal men +into the Confederate Army under their conscription laws. The chief of +the scouts came to my quarters, and I put to him the ordinary question +as to the luck of his last expedition. "Oh," said he, in a dejected +nasal tone; "some pretty good luck and some bad luck." "What bad luck?" +said I, thinking some of his men had got hurt. "Oh, them Indiana cavalry +fellows let the captain of the gang and fourteen of his men surrender +to 'em." "And what became of the rest?" "<i>We</i> had to deal with +them," said he, significantly; "and they didn't surrender." Such is +civil war when it becomes a deadly feud between old neighbors and +acquaintances.</p> +<p>The month of April ran on with continued activity of reconnoitring +parties, but no larger movements. The spring was unusually backward. +There was a flurry of snow on the 16th, but it did not lie on the +ground, and about the 20th lovely spring weather began in earnest. The +best evidence we had that our lines of communication were getting in +more efficient condition, was the arrival of an agent of the Sanitary +Commission with a large shipment of fresh vegetables for gratuitous +distribution. We were sorely in need of them. There was a good deal of +incipient scurvy in camp, and scarce any one was wholly free from +disorders caused by too restricted diet. Our regular rations were bacon +and flour, varied occasionally by a small issue of dried white beans or +rice. This was nutritious enough, but after some months' steady use, +nature pretty imperatively demanded a change. The noble organization of +the Commission had been watching for the opportunity, and the arrival of +a generous supply of potatoes, onions, and pickled cabbage made feast +days for everybody from the general down. At my headquarters we had been +confined to the soldiers' rations, and it was impossible to get anything +else. The only ferment to raise our bread was saleratus, and we had +become very tired of saleratus biscuit. No luxuries ever tasted so well +as these plain vegetables. Our physical condition craved them, and they +were food and medicine at once. The sauerkraut was finely shaved cabbage +laid down in brine, and a steaming platter of it made the <i>pièce +de résistance</i> of our camp dinner as long as it lasted. The +onions we sliced and ate raw with a dressing of vinegar. The gusto with +which we enjoyed this change of diet remains a vivid remembrance after a +quarter of a century, and is the best proof of our need of it. The +health of the whole camp was restored, and we were "hard as nails" +during the year of rough campaigning that was to follow.</p> +<p>The first week in May was the time of rendezvous for Sherman's grand +army in northern Georgia, and with the opening of the last week in April +the signal was given to destroy the railroad between Bull's Gap and the +Watauga River, or further if the enemy should leave the crossing of that +stream unharmed. Our position at the gap was high in the cleft of Bays +Mountain through which the railway passes and then turns southeastward +to the Nolachucky. The road then goes up the valley of that stream and +over a ridge to the Watauga, which runs to the northwest, joining the +Holston again by a route which is nearly at right angles to the general +trend of the valley. The Watauga is not easily fordable at an ordinary +stage of water, and thus the triangle between the Holston on the left, +the Watauga in front, and the Nolachucky on the right, made the +debatable ground of the upper valley. Whilst we held the barrier at +Bull's Gap the enemy could not stay on the hither side of the Watauga, +nor could we pass the river and stop short of a strong position an equal +distance beyond.</p> +<p>We made a strong demonstration of cavalry supported by infantry, as +if we were determined to cross the Watauga and push on into Virginia. +The Confederate cavalry set fire to the bridge, as we expected them to +do. One brigade was ordered to Jonesboro, to march back destroying all +the railway bridges and tearing up and twisting the iron rails as far as +possible. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxii. pt. iii. pp. 477, 492.]</span> With another force I +began in person a similar work of destruction on the section nearest +Bull's Gap. Time could only be given us for this work till the 27th of +April, but on the evening of that day my division was reunited at the +gap, having torn up and twisted about one third of the track over a +space of fifty miles, and thoroughly destroyed all the wooden bridges. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 500, 512.]</span></p> +<p>The footsore and sick were put on a railway train, and with the rest +I began the march for Knoxville. As General Sherman was urgent for speed +in our movement, the columns were kept near the railway and the trains +were run to meet them, taking the men in detachments. The first day of +May found us at Charleston, the crossing of the Hiwassee River, with two +divisions of the Twenty-third corps and with General Schofield in our +midst. A new division from Indiana was on its way, by rail, to join us +at Cleveland, and it was certain that we could be in our place as left +wing, before the 5th, the day assigned by Sherman. Two days were given +to getting up and organizing our trains, and on Tuesday, the 3d, we +marched at daybreak, with our field organization complete. The Atlanta +campaign was begun. General Schofield went over to Chattanooga to meet +Sherman, and the command of the corps on the march was committed to me. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., xxxviii. pt. +iv. pp. 5, 22, 32, 48.]</span> On the 4th, leaving Cleveland, we crossed +the Georgia line and advanced to Red Clay, where, with the Army of the +Cumberland on our right, the union of Sherman's forces in the field was +completed.</p> +<p>At the Hiwassee we were a hundred and forty miles from Bull's Gap, +and had made the distance in three days, marching half the way and being +carried the other half by rail. In going south we seemed to meet the +advancing spring. In the upper valley we could only see a suspicion of +green, here and there, on an early tree, but at our Sunday camp at +Charleston in a fine bend of the Hiwassee, a fresh green robe covered +all the hills, and the sun was so bright and warm that the shade of my +clean new tent was very comfortable. It would be hard to find a scene +better making a romance of campaigning than that about us. Chilhowee and +the great Smoky Mountains piled their deep blue masses against the +eastern horizon, whilst at our feet rolled as beautiful a river as ever +bore a musical Indian name. The grassy banks rise about a hundred feet +above the water, and then the hills roll and rise around us in charming +variety. Near the water's edge a great spring pours out from the bank in +a swift steady stream two yards wide and six inches deep, giving sweet +and pure water enough for a whole army, and the zigzag paths to it are +filled with picturesque groups of soldiers loaded with camp kettles or +canteens. We should have been dull indeed if we had not felt the +exhilaration of the scene.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV</p> +<p>GRANT, HALLECK AND SHERMAN--JOHNSTON AND MR. DAVIS</p> +<p>Grant's desire for activity in the winter--Scattering to +live--Subordinate movements--The Meridian expedition--Use of the +Mississippi--Sherman's estimate of it--Concentration to be made in the +spring--Grant joins the Potomac Army--Motives in doing so--Meade as an +army commander--Halleck on concentration--North Carolina expedition +given up--Burnside to join Grant--Old relations of Sherman and +Halleck--Present cordial friendship--Frank correspondence--The supply +question--Railway administration--Bridge defences--Reduction of +baggage--Tents--Sherman on spies and deserters--Changes in Confederate +army--Bragg relieved--Hardee--Beauregard--Johnston--Davis's suggestion +of plans--Correspondence with Johnston--Polk's +mediation--Characteristics--Bragg's letters--Lee writes +Longstreet--Johnston's dilatory discussion--No results--Longstreet joins +Lee--Grant and Sherman have the initiative--Prices in the Confederacy.</p> +<p>The threshold of the new campaign is a fit place to pick up the +threads of the relations of Sherman to his superiors and his +subordinates, and to notice the manner in which he laid out the +responsible work before him.</p> +<p>Grant had no thought of suspending operations in winter, further +than circumstances should make it imperative. As soon as the siege of +Knoxville was raised, he applied himself earnestly to the question, What +next? His first choice would have been to start from Chattanooga as a +base, and make the Confederate Army his object. The insuperable obstacle +to this was the impossibility, at the time, of supplying the forces +already collected on the upper Tennessee. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. iii. p. 503.]</span> The railroad to Nashville must be practically +rebuilt and made much more efficient than it was, or both Thomas's and +Foster's armies would be tied fast without the possibility of advancing. +To make it possible to feed Sherman's auxiliary force, he sent it down +the river to Bellefonte, some thirty miles below Bridgeport, opened +steamboat communication with it, and set it at work repairing the +railway from Nashville to Decatur and from Decatur to Stevenson. This +would furnish an additional line to Chattanooga when completed, and +would make an accumulation of stores there a possibility. He saw the +risks involved in this scattering of forces, but he had no choice; they +must scatter to live. He did not mean that the army should be inactive, +however; as early as the 7th of December, 1863, he wrote quite fully to +Halleck suggesting a movement from the lower Mississippi on Mobile, +using for this purpose the forces that would be relieved from guarding +the lines about Chattanooga. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii. p. 349.]</span></p> +<p>By the middle of the month he had begun to organize a cavalry force +under Gen. W. Sooy Smith, to move against Forrest in West Tennessee, and +was giving shape to other plans of activity. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 429, 431, +473.]</span> Sherman had taken a short leave of absence to visit his +family upon the death of one of his sons, a bright lad, whose loss was a +severe bereavement. On his return to duty, he was directed to go down +the Mississippi, visit the important posts of his department, and take +steps to suppress guerilla interference with the navigation of the +Mississippi. Before leaving his command, he had suggested an active +movement of part of his army in northern Alabama, to break up the +railroad in the neighborhood of Corinth, whilst he himself led a force +up the Yazoo River to attack Granada from the south, with a similar +purpose. He thought he could do this and get back in time to take part +in the "plan of grand campaign" which Grant was studying. In the same +letter he said he deemed Sooy Smith "too mistrustful of himself for a +leader against Forrest," and suggested Brigadier-General Joseph A. +Mower, of whose energy and courage he had a high opinion. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. iii. p. 445.]</span></p> +<p>On the subject of the necessity of protecting the river navigation +by every means, Sherman expressed himself in superlatives, as he was apt +to do, but his meaning was plain and sensible. He said to Logan, to +secure its safety "I would slay millions. On that point I am not only +insane, but mad," and will convince the natives that "though to stand +behind a big cotton-wood and shoot at a passing boat is good sport and +safe, it may still reach and kill their friends and families hundreds of +miles off." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i> +vol. xxx. pt. iii. p. 459.]</span> Out of this discussion came finally +his suggestion of an extensive movement from Vicksburg upon Meridian for +the purpose of destroying the railway lines, especially in the vicinity +of the latter place, and of isolating the region bordering on the +Mississippi, so that a small force could garrison it and protect +commerce. The suggestion was adopted by Grant. With Sherman's column the +cavalry under Sooy Smith was to co-operate. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 473, 527.]</span></p> +<p>Meridian was made the objective point of this movement, though Grant +intimated to Halleck that if Sherman found it would not too greatly +prolong the subordinate campaign, he might march on Mobile. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, vol. xxxii. pt. +ii. p. 100.]</span> When the march began, Sherman allowed it to be given +out that he would attack Mobile, but this was to deceive the enemy. In +his correspondence with General Banks he limited his task to that which +has been stated, though he asked Banks to help him keep up the notion +that Mobile was aimed at, as it would deter the enemy from heavily +reinforcing General Polk by the garrison there and by troops sent from +Atlanta. "I must return to the army in the field in Alabama in +February," said he, "but propose to avail myself of the short time +allowed me here in the department, to strike a blow at Meridian and +Demopolis." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. p. 114.]</span> In this view the movement +was a success, notwithstanding the failure of the cavalry column to +co-operate. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 498.]</span> The biographer of General Polk disputes the importance +and the permanence of the interruption of railway communication in +Mississippi; <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Leonidas +Polk, Bishop and General, vol. ii. p. 309.]</span> but it is certain that +no important hostile movement from that region was made again till +Hood's campaign against Thomas a year later, and that was seriously if +not fatally delayed by the want of railway communication between +Florence or Tuscumbia and the interior of the Gulf States.</p> +<p>On his first visit to Washington after he became lieutenant-general, +Grant found that it was the general expectation of members of Congress +that he should infuse his personal energy into the next campaign of the +army in Virginia. He learned also that the President, the Cabinet, and +General Halleck despaired of the accomplishment of this by any +stringency of orders from a distance, and thought it could be done only +when he should be near enough to solve questions as they arose by his +personal presence and influence. As a subordinate, few men could do +better service than General Meade; but he seemed to develop a caution +amounting almost to inaction in the presence of the Confederate Army +under General Lee. This had allowed the Richmond government to send +Longstreet's corps to reinforce Bragg at the west; and it was because +the grand opportunity was not improved by Meade that it became necessary +to send Hooker a thousand miles with the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps to +reinforce Rosecrans. Halleck expressed the sentiment of the +administration and of the country when he wrote to Grant on December +13th, "As General Meade's operations have failed to produce any results, +Lee may send by rail reinforcements to Longstreet without our knowing +it. This contingency must also be considered." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. iii. p. 396.]</span> It was, in fact, what Longstreet strenuously +urged his government to do. As late as February 17th, when it was +certain that Grant would soon be in command of all the National armies, +Halleck, in a long letter of which the burden was that Lee's army must +be made the objective in the Eastern campaign, plainly intimated that +Meade could not give the Army of the Potomac the necessary aggressive +energy. "Meade retreated before Lee with a very much larger force," he +said, "and he does not now deem himself strong enough to attack Lee's +present army." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +vol. xxxii. pt. ii. pt. ii. p. 411]</span> After mentioning the +opportunities to break or defeat the enemy which had been lost or not +improved at Antietam and Chancellorsville, he adds that of Meade after +Gettysburg, and continues: "I am also of opinion that General Meade +could have succeeded recently at Mine Run had he persevered in his +attack." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 412.]</span> Pointing out that McClellan had operated by exterior +lines, and Burnside, Hooker, and Meade by interior ones, and that all +had alike failed, he argues that this does not prove anything against +either line of operation, whether by the James River or by Culpepper; +but the sound military principle still is to avoid scattering the +eastern army by North Carolina expeditions and the like, which were then +mooted, and to concentrate the forces in the east against Lee's army +and fight it out to a finish. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>. +p. 413.]</span> The letter is an able one, but the reference to it is +now made for the sole purpose of showing how the problem was placed +before General Grant when the supreme responsibility was cast upon him. +He accepted the view so ably presented. He did not allow the proposed +expedition to be made by Burnside, though he had himself favored it +before; but united his troops to the army on the Rapidan. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. p. 143.]</span> He kept up for a time a nominal duality of +organization, not putting Burnside under Meade or Meade under Burnside. +This made an ostensible reason for the next step, which was to take the +field there in person and try what effect his own inflexible will might +have in giving an aggressive impetus to that army. It seemed to him to +be a choice between that and a continued dead-lock to the end of the +chapter. Thus it was that Grant gave up his own desire to continue at +the head of the western armies which he had led to successive and +glorious victories. Thus it was that Sherman was right in saying to +him, "Like yourself, you take the biggest load." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. iii. p. +313.]</span> The decision was not prompted by egotism. There was no +vanity in Grant's composition. He simply saw, as he thought, that in +that way decisive progress might be made, and so he quietly went that +way.</p> +<p>Sherman's relations to Halleck had always been close and most +friendly. Outside of official communications they had kept up a personal +correspondence, part of which is found in the Official Records. From the +day when it became apparent that Grant was to become lieutenant-general, +Sherman yielded to his impulse to comfort and reassure his older friend +on what must necessarily involve disappointment if not humiliation. In a +long letter from the Mississippi in January, he takes pleasure in +telling how he had spoken in public of Halleck's good qualities and +talents. "I spoke of your indomitable industry and called to mind how, +when Ord, Loeser, Spotts, and I were shut up in our stateroom, trying to +keep warm with lighted candles and playing cards on the old Lexington, +off Cape Horn, you were lashed to your berth studying, boning harder +than you ever did at West Point." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pt. ii. p. 261.]</span> This was on their voyage out to California +during the Mexican War. In a cordial answer (February 16th), Halleck +said he expected Grant to receive the promotion, and should most +cordially welcome him to the chief command, glad himself to be relieved +from so thankless and disagreeable a position. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. p. 408.]</span> He enlarged upon its difficulties, though +he did not see, apparently, that it had been in his power to take the +field as Grant afterward did, and that it was by his own act that he +had become "simply a military adviser of the Secretary of War and the +President." He bore witness to the fact that there was more harmony in +the western army than in the eastern, saying, "There is less jealousy +and backbiting and a greater disposition to assist each other." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>.]</span> In +reply Sherman assured Halleck of his own belief that Grant would prefer +to command the "army of the centre" which was to advance from +Chattanooga, and did not want the position of general-in-chief at +Washington. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 498.]</span></p> +<p>At the beginning of April Sherman wrote again to Halleck, expressing +his belief that he could make his army a unit in action and feeling. "We +have never had," he said, "and God grant we never may have the +dissensions which have so marred the usefulness of our fellows whom a +common cause and common interests alone ought to unite as brothers." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. iii. p. +222.]</span> It was in this letter that he asked Halleck to say to the +President that he would prefer not to be nominated to the vacant +major-generalship in the regular army. "I have now all the rank +necessary to command, and I believe all here concede to me the ability, +yet accidents may happen, and I don't care about increasing the distance +of my fall. The moment another appears on the arena better than me, I +will cheerfully subside. Indeed, now, my preference would be to have my +Fifteenth Corps, which was as large a family as I feel willing to +provide for; yet I know Grant has a mammoth load to carry. He wants +here some one who will fulfil his plans, whole and entire and at the +time appointed, and he believes I will do it. I hope he is not +mistaken. I know my weak points, and thank you from the bottom of my +heart for past favors and advice, and will in the future heed all you +may offer, with the deepest confidence in your ability and sincerity."</p> +<p>A single reference more will complete this sketch of the relations +of those prominent men. The week before the opening of his campaign +(April 24th) Sherman wrote again: "I see a mischievous paragraph that +you are dissatisfied and will resign; of course I don't believe it. If I +did, I would enter my protest. You possess a knowledge of law and of the +principles of war far beyond that of any other officer in our service. +You remember that I regretted your going to Washington for your own +sake, but now that you are there you should not leave." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. iii. p. 469.]</span> This hearty friendship and cordial +comradeship lasted unbroken till Halleck's too famous advice to Mr. +Stanton after Lincoln was assassinated, to direct Sherman's subordinates +in the Gulf States and in the West not to obey the orders he might +issue in pursuance of his convention with the Confederate General +Johnston. That was a sore blow which shattered this lifelong +friendship, though it now seems probable that had Halleck's dispatch to +Stanton not been published without the rest of the correspondence, +Sherman might have found possible a more innocent meaning for his words +than they seemed to have when they were read by themselves. This, +however, is not the place to discuss that subject. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See Chap. L., <i>post</i>.]</span></p> +<p>In considering Sherman's means of supplying his army in the field, +we must note the situation and connections of Nashville, which made it +naturally the principal depot for operations in Alabama and Georgia. A +hundred and eighty-six miles by rail south of the Ohio River, centrally +situated as the capital of Tennessee, it was directly connected with +Chattanooga by a hundred and fifty miles of railroad, and indirectly by +way of Decatur, Alabama, and Stevenson, a line thirty-five miles longer. +These railway connections would of themselves make Nashville an +important post, but it had also the advantage of water communication +with the Ohio. It lies at the southern bend of the Cumberland River, the +course of which is nearly due north from the city to its mouth, and the +stream is navigable for steamboats the greater part of the year. The +Tennessee, a much larger river, is nearly parallel to the Cumberland in +this part of its course, and a partially constructed railroad from its +banks at Johnsonville to Nashville, seventy-odd miles, was completed +during the winter. With these three lines of communication, there was +very little danger that the great Nashville depot could run short of +munitions or rations, or be seriously isolated by raids of the enemy. It +was to communication between Chattanooga and Nashville that Sherman had +to give his best thought and will. The War Department had sent out +Colonel McCallum, the General Superintendent of Military Railways in +January, and improvements had then been begun, which under Sherman's +energetic command made a brilliant success of this part of the military +administration through the whole campaign. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See "Sherman" (Great +Commanders Series), pp. 199 <i>et seq</i>. Also letter of McCallum to +Stanton, Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. pp. 143-145: Order +appointing Adna Anderson general superintendent of transportation and W. +W. Wright chief engineer of construction, <i>Id</i>., p. 365: +Sherman's order organizing the military use of the railways, <i>Id</i>., +pt. iii. p. 279.]</span> The management of the railways in use was given +to Adna Anderson, and the engineering and bridge-construction to W. W. +Wright. These gentlemen were both civil engineers and experts in +railroad building and management. Military rank was given them later in +order to enable them to control officers and men of the army on proper +occasions. Their skill and energy were of inestimable value to the army, +and gave them brilliant reputations which they fully earned. They +remained in their military railway duties to the end of the war, and +were distinguished in the same profession in civil life to the end of +their lives. When Sherman assumed command of the Division of the +Mississippi, about eighty carloads a day was the limit of the capacity +of the road and the delivery at Chattanooga. It was only half of what +was needed to insure rapid progress of the campaign. By the 1st of May +it had increased to a hundred and thirty cars a day, with exceptional +days on which the delivery ran higher; but a steady average of a hundred +and fifty (the needed quantity) had not been reached, and every day's +advance into Georgia would increase the length of the line. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. iii. pp. 466, 490.]</span></p> +<p>In a characteristic letter to General Thomas, Sherman explained the +necessity of having the railway management directed from his own +headquarters instead of those of the Army of the Cumberland, and in one +to Mr. Lincoln he tersely repelled the idea that he was unduly hard on +the inhabitants of the country and their business. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 489; and +vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 25, 33.]</span> General Meigs, the +quartermaster-general, who knew the country by personal inspection, +fully agreed with Sherman and wrote him on April 20th, advising him to +"resist the pressure of civilians and private donations and supplies; +march your troops, and devote the cars solely to transportation of +military necessities.... Many civilians," he added, "can give +charitable, patriotic, benevolent, and religious reasons to be allowed +to go to the front; the reasons are so good that nothing but an absolute +and unchangeable prohibition of all such travel will do any good." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xxxii. pt. +iii. p. 434.]</span></p> +<p>The business management of the military railways was a matter of +greatest importance, but it must be supplemented by an adequate system +of defence. To cut the long line and interrupt the communications of the +army would, of course, be the constant effort of the enemy. Every wooden +bridge across a stream was a most vulnerable point. A burnt bridge meant +a delay of trains till it could be rebuilt, and Sherman's estimate that +he must receive at the front a hundred and fifty car-loads daily, shows +how soon trouble would be caused if the steady roll of car-wheels should +cease. For the freight cars of that day, ten tons made a load, and with +the light locomotives and iron rails then in use, twenty or thirty cars +made a full train. A system of blockhouses for the protection of the +bridges had been gradually developed by the engineers of the Army of +the Cumberland on suggestions made by General Halleck and others, and +was under the charge of Colonel W. E. Merrill, who enlarged and +improved it. This able officer was retained at the head of the +defensive system, and his success in it was noteworthy. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Colonel Merrill has given a +valuable memoir on the construction and use of the blockhouses, in "Ohio +Loyal Legion Papers," vol. iii. p. 389. After the war, he was for many +years United States Engineer in charge of Ohio River improvements.]</span></p> +<p>With a careful system of railway work went also thorough study of +the wagon trains necessary in the field to carry the baggage of the +army, its ammunition, and a few days' rations, its hospital supplies, +and the records and papers of all the business departments. Besides the +supplies for men, the food for the teams, for the cavalry horses, and +for the horses of mounted officers makes in the aggregate a bulk and +weight astonishing to those who for the first time undertake the +calculation. Great droves of beef cattle accompanied the march, and were +coming forward on all the roads from the country in the rear where they +could be bought and collected. The purchase, driving, coralling, +feeding, and distributing of these made, of itself, a great business for +the commissaries of subsistence. The introduction of the shelter tent of +two india-rubber blankets got us rid of the regimental trains, which at +the beginning of the war had been the most unwieldy of all our <i>impedimenta</i>. +The two soldiers who were thus partners in the little house they +carried on their backs, clubbed all their arrangements for comfort, and +by working together greatly reduced the hardships of campaigning. +Sherman applied the full force of his mind and the strong impulse of his +personal example to discarding everything not essential to the army +work, and to securing the utmost mobility in his columns. Throughout the +campaign his own headquarters looked small and bare compared with those +of many of his subordinates. Some writers have ridiculed this, as if it +were a mere "fad" of the general; but it was both wise and shrewd to +keep before the army the constant lesson that privation was necessary, +and that the orders on the subject must be obeyed, since the commander +set the example of obedience. It was akin to Bonaparte's marching on +foot through the burning sands of Syria after his repulse from St. Jean +d'Acre. It was speaking to the soldiers in the ranks a language which +they understood, and which helped them in their arduous work more than +proclamations.</p> +<p>A marked trait of Sherman's military intellect was his accurate +judgment of the force of his enemy, and his freedom from the common +fault of overestimating the army opposed to him. In his correspondence +with General Thomas in April, discussing the preparations for the +campaign and the severe reduction of burdens to a scale which was +"rather the limit of our aim than what we can really accomplish," he had +occasion to acknowledge the receipt of information concerning the enemy +which Thomas had collected. "I read the reports of your scouts with +interest," he said, but added, "I usually prefer to make my estimate of +the enemy from general reasoning rather than from the words of spies or +deserters." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxii. pt. iii. p. 323.]</span> The remark is significant. +Prior to the opening of a campaign, whilst affairs are quiet, pretty +reliable information of an enemy's strength and positions may usually be +got; but when the time of action comes, the very air is full of +excitement, and the "secret service" is apt to be a machine for +self-delusion. Precedent knowledge supplemented by actual contact with +the enemy is the best reliance for a capable general. His own reasoning +from trustworthy data at the earlier point of departure, is, with such +aids, his best guide. He knows where his enemy must be and what his +force ought to be, better than his spies, or the enemy's deserters who, +by a common stratagem, may be really hostile spies stuffed with the +disturbing information they are sent to reveal.</p> +<p>In the Confederate Army changes had also been occurring under the +stress of Bragg's great defeat which culminated in the loss of +Missionary Ridge on the 25th of November. Dissatisfaction with the +conduct of the campaign was prevalent in both military and civil +circles. Lee pointed out the embarrassment which must result to +Longstreet from Bragg's misfortune, especially as the retreat of the +latter had been promptly followed by Grant's occupation of Cleveland. +Communication between Longstreet and Bragg was thus interrupted, and +unless short work was made of Burnside, Longstreet would have to retreat +into Virginia or North Carolina. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +vol. xxxi. pt. iii. p. 779.]</span> In the letter to President Davis +which contained these suggestions, Lee added a strong hint that +Beauregard was the most available officer of proper rank to succeed to +the command of which Bragg asked to be relieved on the 29th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. ii. p. 682.]</span> +The unfortunate Bragg coupled with this request another; namely, that +the causes of the defeat should be investigated. In his official report <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxi. +pt. ii. p. 665]</span> he attributed it to a panic amongst the troops +holding the apparently impregnable heights of Missionary Ridge, and he +characterized the conduct as shameful. "The position was one," he said, +"which ought to have been held by a line of skirmishers against any +assaulting column." He declared that our troops reached the crest so +exhausted by climbing as to be powerless, and that "the slightest effort +would have destroyed them." One who stands on that ridge and looks down +into the valley can easily agree with this opinion, and believe that no +commander would order his troops to attack the position in front. The +impulse of Wood's and Sheridan's divisions to attack, and the +feebleness of the resistance of the astonished Confederates, are both +phenomenal, and in a superstitious age would certainly have been +attributed to supernatural influences.</p> +<p>The truth, however, seems to be that the confidence of the +Confederate Army in its leader had declined so far that it lost hope +when opposed to the prestige of the conqueror of Vicksburg, and was +morally prepared for disaster. Mr. Davis's prompt acceptance of Bragg's +retirement can only be understood in this way, for the general was with +good reason reckoned a favorite with the Confederate President. Except +for this loss of prestige he would have been answered as Lee was when he +made a similar suggestion after Gettysburg,-that confidence was +undiminished, and that neither the army nor the people wished for a +change.</p> +<p>Bragg was directed to turn over the command to Lieutenant-General +William J. Hardee, next in rank, and the evidence indicates that Hardee +could have retained it, had he been willing. But, surpassed by none in +ability and soldierly quality in command of a corps, he shrunk from the +burden of chief responsibility for a campaign, and declined the +permanent appointment. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii. p. 764.]</span> Mr. Davis seems to +have taken no notice of Lee's suggestion of Beauregard, but asked +whether Lee himself could not, even temporarily, go to the West and by a +vigorous campaign restore the prestige of the Army of Tennessee. Lee +calmly presented the objections to this, from the point of view of the +army of northern Virginia as well as that of the western army; though he +submitted fully to the decision the President might reach after further +consideration. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pp. 785, 792.]</span> Mr. Davis was convinced that it would be unwise to +transfer Lee, but he did not take kindly to the idea of appointing +Beauregard. The estrangement between them which began in the first +campaign in Virginia had not been removed, but had rather been +intensified by the fact that Beauregard had, as he thought, failed in +the command of the army after A. S. Johnston fell at Shiloh, and now +seemed to have a party of friends and supporters in the Confederate +Congress who were looked upon as an organized opposition to his +administration. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: For +some indications of this, see Beauregard's letters to Pierre +Soulé and to W. Porcher Miles, Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. +iii. pp. 812, 843. Davis's Rise and Fall of the Southern Confederacy, +vol. ii. p. 69.]</span></p> +<p>Whilst the subject was under consideration, General Polk, who was a +warm friend both of President Davis and of General Johnston, wrote to +Mr. Davis a strong letter urging Johnston's appointment. He advocated it +on the double ground of the wish of the army and of the country. He did +not ignore the fact that the personal friendship once existing between +Davis and Johnston had been broken, but appealed to the sense of public +duty to yield to a general desire, and to motives of magnanimity to +overlook personal differences. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii. p. 796.]</span></p> +<p>Beauregard and Johnston were in fact the only ones, out of the five +officers of the full rank of general, who were available to take Bragg's +place; for the Confederate grades were much less flexible than ours, +where any major-general by assignment of the President acquired the +legal right to command an army, and a superiority over him who had just +laid down the power. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii. p. 835.]</span> Mr. Davis felt the +embarrassment keenly, but finally decided to appoint Johnston. On the +16th of December the latter was ordered to turn over the command of the +Army of the Mississippi to Lieutenant-General Polk, and proceed to +Dalton to assume command of the Army of Tennessee. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: General W. W. Mackall, who +had been chief of staff to Johnston and Bragg in turn, wrote to Johnston +on December 9th: "I never did believe that Mr. D. would give you your +place as long as he can help it; but he can't." The letter has other +piquant passages. <i>Id</i>., p. 801.]</span></p> +<p>The result of conferences with Lee, and correspondence with +Longstreet and others, had been the conviction on the part of the +Confederate President that the only promising military policy in the +West was for the Army of Tennessee to take early aggressive action, +turning Chattanooga by the east, getting between Thomas and Schofield by +the occupation of Cleveland, and, if both the National commanders kept +within their fortifications, move boldly over the Cumberland Mountains +by way of the gaps near Kingston. As part of this plan Longstreet should +advance close to Knoxville, and join Johnston either by turning +Knoxville on the east before Johnston passed far beyond Cleveland, or by +the west if Johnston had got to Kingston.</p> +<p>This indication of the wishes of the Richmond Government was +gradually developed. The earliest suggestions were of the necessity for +a prompt renewal of the aggressive. Mr. Seddon, Secretary of War, in the +letter informing Johnston of his transfer (December 18th), had said it +was hoped that he would assume the offensive as soon as the condition of +the army would allow it. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxi. pt. iii. p. 843.]</span> A few days later +(December 23d) Mr. Davis himself wrote, quoting General Bragg as to the +good effect a prompt resumption of the initiative would have on the <i>morale</i> +of the army, and General Hardee as to the fit condition of the troops +for action. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 856.]</span> To this he added that an "imperative demand for prompt +and vigorous action arises, not only from the importance of restoring +the prestige of the army, and averting the dispiriting and injurious +results that must attend a season of inactivity, but from the necessity +of reoccupying the country upon the supplies of which the proper +subsistence of our armies materially depends."</p> +<p>Johnston's reply (January 2d) was a presentation of the difficulties +in the way of action. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +vol. xxxii. pt ii. p. 510.]</span> He said that Bragg and Hardee had +made the considerable reinforcement of the army a precedent condition of +resuming the offensive. His conclusion was that without large +reinforcements there was "no other mode of taking the offensive here +than to beat the enemy when he advances and then move forward." A +fortnight later he said: "My recent telegrams to you have shown, not +only that we cannot hope soon to assume the offensive from this +position, but that we are in danger of being forced back from it by the +want of food and forage, especially the latter." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 559.]</span> +The shortness of forage he attributed to bad management of the Georgia +Railroad, owned by the State. Supposing this were remedied (as a little +later he said it was), he compared the advantages of two routes of +advance into Middle Tennessee,--one by Rome, Gunterville, and +Huntsville, the other by East Tennessee through the Cumberland +Mountains. He pronounced in favor of the former, which would turn the +mountains by the south and save the task of surmounting them. If, whilst +this was going on, the National army should push for Atlanta, two or +three thousand cavalry could, he thought, prevent it from reaching that +place in less than a month. Large reinforcements were, however, +essential for any aggressive movement. He was willing to try the East +Tennessee route and unite with Longstreet, if he were satisfied that +the country could furnish the provisions and forage for the march. To +both of these routes, he preferred one which should make a base still +farther west, in northern Mississippi.</p> +<p>At the beginning of February he reviewed the situation as he then +believed it to be, and concluded that it was impracticable to assume the +offensive from northern Georgia. He advised the collection of as large +an army as possible in northern Mississippi, with a bridge equipage for +the passage of the Tennessee. This army, he thought, should be larger +than his and Folk's united. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. ii. p. 644.]</span></p> +<p>Sherman's Meridian expedition now interrupted the discussion of +plans for a month, except that Mr. Davis suggested a movement of +Johnston's army to strike Sherman's column in co-operation with General +Polk. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. +729.]</span> Assuming that Sherman was aiming at Mobile, Johnston +declared it impossible to strike him before he should establish a new +base. Hardee's corps was, however, put in motion to reinforce Polk. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 769.]</span> +Beauregard was ordered to send ten thousand men from his department on +the southern seacoast to Johnston, if possible, but he reported that it +was not practicable. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 772.]</span></p> +<p>It must be said that making the correspondence a personal one on the +part of Mr. Davis, instead of carrying it on through the War Department, +was a waiving of etiquette, and thus it was also a step toward a cordial +and frank understanding. It must equally be noted that General +Johnston's tone remained that of cold formality, and his letters do not +show the hearty readiness to bend his views to meet those of the +President which is always apparent (for instance) in the letters of +General Lee. The situation was not one in which a general may say, "I +need certain supplies, equipment, transportation or pontoon bridges, and +must have them before I can move." The Confederate cause was +unquestionably in great straits, and calling for men and means was a +good deal like Glendower's call, "Will they come?" Every commanding +officer was expected to act with what he had or could get, were it much +or little. Very warm friends of Johnston saw that his attitude was one +likely to increase estrangement. General Polk, the mutual friend who had +probably thrown the casting influence which gave Johnston the command, +wrote to him through a confidential intimate of both (Colonel Harvie, +Johnston's inspector-general), suggesting that he take private steps +toward a reconciliation with Mr. Davis. He urged the general, as he had +urged the President, that private feeling and personal pride should be +sacrificed to the cause in which both were engaged. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. p. 593.]</span> The appeal seems to have failed, and cold +formality continued to be the tone of Johnston's communications with the +government. About the first of March Mr. Davis dropped the +correspondence, turning it over to General Bragg, now his chief of staff.</p> +<p>Johnston had written to Bragg (February 27th) that the President's +letters had given him the impression that a forward movement was +intended <i>in the spring</i>; but if this were so, much preparation +would be necessary, and large reinforcements and equipment. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 808.]</span> +He assumed that Longstreet was to unite with him, if the President's +plan had not changed. This treatment of the matter as problematic and +intended only as a plan for the spring, must be admitted to be somewhat +exasperating to Mr. Davis, as the pressure from Richmond since the 18th +of December had been for immediate aggressive action, and had been so +emphatically put that to speak of it as creating only "an impression" +sounded very like a sneer, and was unfortunate if not so intended.</p> +<p>Bragg answered in good temper, and after disposing of the matters of +business, he added: "The enemy is not prepared for us, and if we can +strike him a blow before he recovers, success is almost certain. The +plan which is proposed has long been my favorite, and I trust our +efforts may give you the means to accomplish what I have ardently +desired but never had the ability to undertake. Communicate your wants +to me freely and I will do all I can to give you strength and +efficiency. We must necessarily encounter privations and hardships, and +run some risk; but the end will justify the means." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. iii. p. 592.]</span></p> +<p>This, of course, implied prompt action whilst Grant's forces +remained scattered and were still suffering from the dearth of supplies +which had so nearly approached starvation and nakedness. Schofield's +forces were at Knoxville, over a hundred miles northeast of Chattanooga. +Part of Sherman's were on the Meridian expedition or now returning to +Vicksburg on the Mississippi. Another part, under Logan, were about +Huntsville, as far to the southwest as Schofield was to the northeast. +In this condition of things a quick blow at Thomas would find him +isolated. He could be turned by the north before Schofield could join +him if he stayed in his fortifications, and he could be fought on equal +terms in the field if he came out of his lines. This made the southern +opportunity. To wait for spring was to wait for Grant and Sherman to +concentrate the now scattered armies, to have them clothed and fed, and +to have the horses and mules ready for a campaign. It is no wonder the +government at Richmond thought it worth while to "encounter privations +and hardships and to run some risk."</p> +<p>Lee had been in Richmond and was in accord with this plan. He wrote +to Longstreet on the day after the date of Bragg's letter just quoted, +urging him to drop all other schemes and to unite in influencing +Johnston to adopt it. "If you and Johnston could unite and move into +Middle Tennessee," he said, "it would cut the armies of Chattanooga and +Knoxville in two and draw them from those points, where either portion +could be struck at as opportunity offered.... By covering your fronts +well with your cavalry, Johnston could move quietly and rapidly through +Benton, cross the Hiwassee, and then push forward in the direction of +Kingston, while you, taking such a route as to be safe from a flank +attack, would join him at or after his crossing the Tennessee River. The +two commands, upon reaching Sparta, would be in position to select their +future course; would necessitate the evacuation of Chattanooga and +Knoxville, and by rapidity and skill unite on either army." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. iii. p. 594.]</span></p> +<p>There were no doubt difficulties in the way--when are there not? But +we who were in Grant's command are glad that we were not called upon to +meet the enemy under this plan of campaign vigorously executed. We did +not lack faith that we could defeat it, but we were much better pleased +to have the enemy await the completion of our own preparation and allow +us to take the initiative. It cannot be denied that it was based on +sound strategy. With his usual considerateness, Lee said that Johnston +and Longstreet on the ground should be better able to judge the plan and +to decide; but he urged it with much more earnestness than was common in +his letters. That Johnston rejected it must be admitted to be very +strong evidence that he lacked enterprise. His abilities are undoubted, +and when once committed to an offensive campaign, he conducted it with +vigor and skill. The bent of his mind, however, was plainly in favor of +the course which he steadily urged,--to await his adversary's advance, +and watch for errors which would give him a manifest opportunity to ruin +him.</p> +<p>Longstreet had written to Johnston on the 5th of March that Mr. +Davis had directed a conference between them on the practicability of +uniting their armies between Knoxville and Chattanooga, with a view to +the movement into Middle Tennessee. Longstreet thinks he can make his +part of the movement, but must leave the question of supplies to +Johnston after they unite. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxiii. pt. ii. p. 587.]</span> +Lieutenant-General John B. Hood, who had been assigned to a corps in +Johnston's army, wrote to Mr. Davis on the 7th that the army was well +clothed, well fed, with abundant transportation, in high spirits, +anxious for battle, and needing only a few artillery horses. A junction +with Longstreet's army he thought would make it strong enough to take +the initiative, and he strongly supported the plan of moving before +Grant could concentrate. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 606.]</span></p> +<p>Johnston wrote to Bragg on the 12th that no particular plan of +campaign had been communicated to him. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 613.]</span> +He does not appear to have telegraphed a brief inquiry on this subject, +but wrote at some length in regard to his requirements before he could +be in condition to take the field. He referred to his first opinion in +favor of a defensive campaign as unchanged. The ordinary course of mail +seems to have required about a week for a letter to reach Richmond. It +happened that on the same day Bragg at Richmond was writing to Johnston +outlining the plan of campaign mentioned above, adding that it was +intended to throw a heavy column of cavalry into West Tennessee as a +diversion, and that if by rapid movement Johnston could capture +Nashville, Grant would be in a precarious position. The President, on +assurance of the immediate execution of the plan, would order to him +5000 men from General Polk, 10,000 from Beauregard, and Longstreet's +command estimated at 16,000, but which was really nearer 20,000. Putting +these reinforcements and Johnston's own army at lowest figures, his +column would amount to 75,000 men. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. iii. p. 614.]</span></p> +<p>After posting his letter of the 12th, Johnston went on an inspection +tour to Atlanta, and there on the 13th he received and answered +Longstreet's letter of the 5th. He pronounced impracticable the plan +submitted to them, and reiterated his fixed opinion that it was best to +wait for Grant's advance. In any event, he thought a forward movement +should "wait for the grass of May." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 618.]</span> He argued that it was better to let the enemy's forces +advance, and fight them far from their base and near his own. Bragg, on +the other hand, had urged the recovery of the populous region of Middle +Tennessee as necessary both for obtaining army subsistence and forage, +and for the recruitment of the ranks. Both these resources he estimated +very highly, and as Tennessee was still claimed as a seceding State, the +Confederate conscription laws would be enforced there. On the other +hand, every movement in retreat cut off a part of their area for +supplies and men, was discouraging to the army, and was followed by +numerous desertions of soldiers whose families were within our lines.</p> +<p>In answering Longstreet, Johnston had said that he would execute +zealously any plan the President would order; but he evidently insisted +on definite and formal commands if he were to depart from his +preconceived views to which he held tenaciously. On the 16th of March he +wrote again, this time in answer to Bragg's of the 7th. After telling of +the impossibility of collecting artillery horses in northern Georgia, he +mentions Longstreet's letter to him, to say that he thinks the point of +junction suggested is too near the enemy, and that his army should have +an accumulation of eighteen or twenty days' supplies before entering +upon such a movement. They must also have ordnance stores for a +campaign, and wagon trains to carry it all. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. iii. p. 636.]</span> Two days later he received Bragg's full +letter of the 12th sent by the hand of Colonel Sale as special +messenger, and he now answers by telegraph. He says that Grant is back +at Nashville, and is not likely to stand on the defensive. To meet at +Dalton his expected advance, the reinforcements that had been spoken of +must be sent at once. "Give us those troops," he says; "and if we beat +him we follow. Should he not advance, we will thus be ready for the +offensive. The troops can be fed as easily here as where they now are." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 649.]</span> +Next day he elaborated the same ideas in a letter, adding the suggestion +before made by him that the line of advance by way of North Alabama was +a preferable one to the route through East Tennessee.</p> +<p>The telegram was answered from Richmond whilst the longer letter was +on its way. The answer conveyed the information that Grant would not +personally lead the western army, but would turn over its command to +Sherman. It also briefly noted the fact that Johnston had not accepted +the aggressive policy on which the large reinforcements were made +conditional. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: I do not +find this dispatch in the Official Records. It is given in Johnston's +"Narrative of Military Operations," p. 298.]</span> He replied that his +dispatch expressly accepted taking the offensive, and the only +difference was as to details. He therefore repeats the urgent request +that the troops be sent at once. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxii. pt. iii. p. 666.]</span></p> +<p>It is not easy to accept his interpretation of his former dispatch. +Waiting indefinitely to see whether the National army would advance, and +declaring the administration plan impracticable, hardly looks like +assuming the initiative. It was not a difference as to details. The very +gist of the subject under discussion was a prompt advance against the +parts of our army before they could be united for any purpose. The +question would naturally arise, What might happen in the places from +which troops were drawn, if they were not used by Johnston immediately? +The latter had already said to Longstreet that his requisitions on the +commissaries and quartermaster's departments for supplies and +wagon-trains were so large as to make filling them "a greater +undertaking than anything yet accomplished by those departments, and if +they succeed, it will not be very soon." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. iii. p. 618.]</span> Yet these were only part of the +conditions which he considered essential to any advance.</p> +<p>There seems to have been no rejoinder to Johnston's last telegram, +and the subject was dropped. Longstreet was persuaded by his +correspondence with Johnston that the combined movement could not be +made, and turned to the scheme (already mentioned), of mounting his +troops and making an expedition from southwestern Virginia into +Kentucky. This was decisively rejected by the Richmond government. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 748.]</span> +Grant was now known to be in Virginia, inspecting the commands there and +preparing for an active campaign. Concentration on both sides, and not +further morselling of armies was to be the wholesome order of the day, +and Longstreet was soon ordered to report to Lee. Between Bragg and +Johnston correspondence was limited to the current business of the army, +and general plans of campaign were not again mentioned. In April, +Johnston became uneasy at the silence which indicated that the President +regarded it unprofitable to discuss plans with him, and sent Colonel B. +S. Ewell of his staff to Richmond to make explanations in person. He +was politely received, and his visit no doubt tended to relax a little +the strain in the relations between Mr. Davis and Ewell's chief; but it +was too late to accomplish what had been hoped for in January. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. iii. pp. 839, 842.]</span> Spring had come, and Sherman's +concentration was in progress; indeed it was almost completed. Ewell +reported to Johnston again on the 29th of April. On the 1st of May +Schofield was at the Hiwassee River in touch with the left wing of +Thomas's army, whilst McPherson was closing in on the right.</p> +<p>The certainty that Grant was in Virginia had brought the Confederate +government to the conclusion that Lee must be reinforced by Longstreet +and by whatever troops Beauregard could spare. The Atlantic coast States +were thus to supply Lee with men and means. About four thousand men were +to be immediately added to Johnston's army, mostly drawn from Mobile. +Polk's infantry would be sent to him also, if, as was nearly certain, +Sherman's advance on Atlanta should prove to be our great effort in the +West. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. +841.]</span> The doubt whether one of our columns might not move through +Alabama made it necessary to continue to the last moment ready for +either event. The Gulf States would then become the feeders of +Johnston's army in the campaign.</p> +<p>The very unsatisfactory relations between Mr. Davis and General +Johnston cannot be overlooked if we would judge intelligently the events +of the Atlanta campaign. It may be that the general was right in +thinking a winter advance impracticable, though Lee's concurrence in the +President's plan is no small argument in its favor. It is, nevertheless, +the indisputable province of a government to determine, in view of the +whole situation, political and military, whether continued operations +are necessary. The army is organized for the sole purpose of reaching +the ends at which its government aims in the war. The expenditure of +life and treasure should be stopped and the government should sue for +peace, unless its armies can be relied upon to act in hearty +subordination to its view of the existing exigencies. The general should +meet it with absolute ingenuousness and the promptest and clearest +decision. He should act at once or ask to be relieved in time to let +another carry out the plan. Mr. Davis, like Mr. Lincoln on several +occasions, had reason to feel that a prolonged discussion had in fact +thwarted him, and that he had not the cordial service he might fairly +expect.</p> +<p>One of the results of the financial embarrassments of the +Confederacy was the great and growing depreciation of its paper +currency. Its officers in the field found their pay a merely nominal +pittance, and those who had no independent fortune were reduced to the +greatest straits. Interesting evidence of this has been preserved in +petitions forwarded to the War Department in February, asking that +rations might be issued to them as to the private soldiers. The scale of +prices attached to their petition was that at which the government sold +the enumerated articles to its officers, and was supposed to show the +average cost and not a market price fixed by the retail trade. They paid +for bacon $2.20 per pound, for beef 75 cents, for lard $2.20, for +molasses $6 per gallon, for sugar $1.50 per pound, for a coat $350, for +a pair of boots $250, for a pair of pantaloons $125, for a hat from $80 +to $125, for a shirt $50, for a pair of socks $10. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt. ii. p. 658.]</span> Their statements were verified and +approved by their superiors, and General Johnston, in forwarding the +petitions, said that at existing prices the pay of company officers was +worth less than that of the private soldiers. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 661.]</span><br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI</p> +<p>ATLANTA CAMPAIGN: DALTON AND RESACA</p> +<p>The opposing forces--North Georgia +triangle--Topography--Dalton--Army of the Ohio enters Georgia--Positions +of the other armies--Turning Tunnel Hill--First meeting with +Sherman--Thomas--Sherman's plan as to Dalton--McPherson's orders and +movement--Those of Thomas and Schofield--Hopes of a decisive +engagement--Thomas attacks north end of Rocky Face--Opdycke on the +ridge--Developing Johnston's lines--Schofield's advance on 9th May--The +flanking march through Snake Creek Gap--Retiring movement of my +division--Passing lines--Johnston's view of the situation--Use of +temporary intrenchments and barricades--Passing the Snake Creek +defile--Camp Creek line--A wheel in line--Rough march of left +flank--Battle of Resaca--Crossing Camp Creek--Storming Confederate +line--My division relieved by Newton's--Incidents--Further advance of +left flank--Progress of right flank--Johnston retreats.</p> +<p>The history of the campaigns of 1864-1865 under Sherman have been +given in another form, and I need not repeat the narrative of the +connected movements of his forces. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +See "Atlanta," and "The March to the Sea, Franklin and Nashville."]</span> +I shall confine myself to the more personal view of events as they came +under my own eye, and to such additional knowledge as the publication of +the Records has brought within our reach.</p> +<p>Nashville and Chattanooga, being large depots of supply, were +fortified and furnished with garrisons. A few other points had also to +be garrisoned in some force, besides the numerous small posts and +blockhouses. But after all deductions, Sherman still expected to take +the field with an army of a hundred thousand men of all arms, and this +was what he did. His returns for the 30th of April show his strength to +have been 93,131 infantry, 12,455 cavalry, and 4537 artillery. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. i. p. 115.]</span> His cavalry were not all at the front, +and fell short of the nominal strength. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. 23, +24; Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 26.]</span></p> +<p>General Johnston's similar returns for the end of April show his +army actually present at Dalton to have consisted of 54,500 infantry, +cavalry, and artillery, not including part of a brigade at Resaca and +some detachments <i>en route</i>. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +vol. xxxii. pt. iii. p. 866.]</span> General Polk was on his way to join +with 14,000 men, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 670, 737, 740.]</span> and these with about +5000 increase of Hardee's and Hood's corps reached Johnston before he +was seriously engaged with Sherman, giving him an army of 75,000 men. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: For a careful analysis of +these forces, see "Century War Book," vol. iv. p. 281, a statistical +paper by Major E. C. Dawes; also "Atlanta," Appendix A. For the meaning +of "effective total" in Confederate returns, see <i>ante</i>, p. 482.]</span> +The Richmond government only delayed ordering Polk to join Johnston +until it was certain that Sherman intended to operate with a single army +upon the Atlanta line, and Polk went even beyond what they seemed to +expect of him in carrying the troops of his department to the army at +Dalton.</p> +<p>Although he was not aware of the urgency of the Confederate +government with Johnston to induce him to take the initiative and +operate by turning our left flank, Sherman had considered the +possibility of this. The Fourth Corps had been concentrated at Cleveland +on the East Tennessee and Georgia Railway about a dozen miles north of +the Georgia state line and thirty-five miles from Dalton. The line of +this railway was the easy road out of northern Georgia into Tennessee, +and pretty closely followed the old Federal road. Had Johnston marched +northward, he must have taken this route, and would have found his way +barred by the Fourth Corps, which was strong enough to retard his +advance till Sherman could have concentrated to meet him. The railways +made a nearly equilateral triangle of the country between Cleveland, +Chattanooga, and Dalton. It was thirty-eight miles from Chattanooga to +Dalton, and twenty-seven to Cleveland. The east side of the triangle was +near the Cooyehuttee Creek, a stream heading quite close to Cleveland +and uniting, below Dalton, with the Connasauga. This valley is narrow +west of the river, and is, much of the way, separated by a high and +sharp ridge from the very broken country, which makes up the greater +part of the triangle, where the branches of the Chickamauga run +northward in parallel valleys till they unite near Chattanooga, and +empty into the Tennessee. For nearly forty miles, therefore, the waters +on the east side of the dividing ridge run southward to the Gulf of +Mexico, whilst on the west side they run northward to the Ohio.</p> +<p>Going south from Chattanooga, the railroad and the wagon roads have +to thread their way from one valley to another, the latter climbing +painfully the high ridges intervening, the former taking shorter cuts by +deep excavations and tunnels. Within sight of Chattanooga the north end +of Missionary Ridge is pierced for the railway where Grant's left wing +fought in the battle which closed General Bragg's career as a commander +in the field. Some twenty miles further on, another ridge is tunnelled +where the railroad passes from the Chickamauga valley into that of Mill +Creek, a small tributary of the Cooyehuttee, flowing eastward into that +river in front of Dalton. Here, at Tunnel Hill, had been Johnston's +advanced post during the winter, and Thomas's had been above Ringgold on +the top of Taylor's ridge facing it on the west. But as Tunnel Hill did +not extend many miles northward, and could be turned in that direction, +the Confederates had made Dalton their intrenched camp, and were +prepared to retire from Tunnel Hill whenever Sherman should advance in +force.</p> +<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="images/2-36-1.jpg" title="Map" + alt="Map" style="width: 552px; height: 800px;"><br> +</p> +<p>The position at Dalton was an impregnable one to an attack in front +on the Chattanooga road. Mill Creek breaks through the Chattanooga +Mountains (here known by the local name of Rocky Face), by a crooked +gorge flanked by precipitous cliffs called the Buzzards Roost. The west +side of Rocky Face is a nearly perpendicular wall, and in the Mill Creek +gorge, spurs from the sides so project as to enfilade the entrance like +bastions. A little north of the gorge a larger spur from the ridge runs +down to the east, connecting with a subordinate parallel ridge, and from +the lower slope a line of heavy earthworks continued the defences toward +the Cooyehuttee. Mill Creek had been dammed so as to make an inundation +in the gorge, and the Confederates held the ridge and cliffs on both +sides as well as the fortified line in the lower ground. Some three +miles north of Mill Creek Gap, Rocky Face and Tunnel Hill break down +into smaller disconnected hills, and here about Catoosa Springs a bit of +more open country made a practicable connection between the centre of +the Union Army at Ringgold and its left wing advancing from Cleveland. +Johnston hoped that Sherman would dash himself against the walls of +Rocky Face and suffer severe loss in doing so; and if the ridge was +turned on the north by part of the Union Army, this wing would find +itself in presence of the strong earthworks skirting Mill Creek, and +would be so separated from the centre that he could reasonably hope to +crush it. Sherman, of course, could know little of the Confederate +position till he was near enough to reconnoitre it, and must find out by +experiment how the nut was to be cracked.</p> +<p>On Thursday, the 5th of May, the Army of the Ohio under General +Schofield was at Red Clay, a hamlet just south of the Georgia state +line. My own division (the third) was encamped a mile in advance, at +some springs which furnished a good supply of water. General Judah's +division (the second) was at Red Clay. General Hovey's division (the +first) was still at Blue Springs, Tennessee, covering the army trains +and the repairs of the railway. The cavalry covered the left flank and +reconnoitred forward toward Varnell's Station, skirmishing with the +enemy's horse. The valley was a narrow one, tributary to the principal +valley of the Connasauga, and, near my camp, was filled with a dense +thicket of loblolly pine, a second growth which came up in the exhausted +light soil of abandoned fields, and which we were to become very +familiar with as we advanced into Georgia. As we could not see out in +any direction except that of the road, I covered my front with a +slashing of the trees by way of a rough abatis to prevent a surprise. We +were now the left flank of the grand army.</p> +<p>When we passed Cleveland, the Fourth Corps took up its line of +march, bearing away to the westward of ours and went into position at +Catoosa Springs, about eight miles southwest of Red Clay, with a ridge +intervening. Here General Howard became the left of the Army of the +Cumberland, having Palmer's Corps (the Fourteenth), next beyond him +facing Tunnel Hill, and Hooker's (the Twentieth) still farther to the +southwest, marching by way of Woods Station over Taylor's Ridge upon +Trickum in the upper valley of the East Chickamauga. Thomas's army was +the heavy centre of the grand army, and his infantry was about +two-thirds of the whole. This great preponderance of one organization +was faulty in a purely military point of view, but Grant and Sherman +both felt that it would not be wise to disturb the <i>esprit de corps</i> +of the Cumberland Army by subdividing it, or to offend Thomas by +diminishing it, and, anyhow, no such change could have been made without +the concurrence of the President.</p> +<p>General McPherson's Army of the Tennessee was to constitute +Sherman's right, but was a little delayed in its concentration. At this +time it contained only Logan's Corps (the Fifteenth) and the left wing +of the Sixteenth (Brigadier-General G. M. Dodge in command). It was +moving behind the Army of the Cumberland, to Lee and Gordon's Mills, and +thence upon Villanow. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 39.]</span> General Kenner +Garrard's strong division of cavalry accompanied McPherson's movement.</p> +<p>Sherman was anxious to allow the enemy as little time for +preparation as might be, yet, as he had to give McPherson a day or two +to come into line, he set Saturday the 7th of May as the time for the +more complete concentration, and an attack upon Tunnel Hill if Johnston +should continue to hold it. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 38.]</span> Accordingly, on Saturday morning all the columns were in +motion. Palmer advanced against the ridge of Tunnel Hill in front, and +Howard coming from the north turned the flank of the ridge. The hill was +held by the Confederate cavalry under Wheeler, supported by Stewart's +division of infantry, who were ordered to resist our advance with +stubbornness enough to force the display of Thomas's forces. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 672.]</span> +A lively skirmishing fight was kept up till Howard's men advanced toward +the flank and rear of the position, when the enemy retreated within Mill +Creek Gap. Wheeler was ordered to let a brigade of cavalry retire up +the valley of Mill Creek, outside of Rocky Face, and to cover Dug Gap, +through which runs the road from Villanow to Dalton. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>.]</span></p> +<p>My division marched from its camp in front of Red Clay over the +ridge by Ellidge's Mill to Dr. Lee's on the main road from Varnell's +Station to Ringgold, and near the northern end of Tunnel Hill ridge. +Here we came into close connection with the Fourth Corps. The rest of +the Army of the Ohio followed, the rear-guard holding a gap looking +eastward above Ellidge's Mill, and the cavalry covering the front and +flank to Varnell's Station. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 48, 54.]</span> Our supply station was moved over to Ringgold on the +Chattanooga line, and the railroad at Red Clay was soon abandoned. In +the movement all the division commanders were ordered to report to me in +the absence of General Schofield.</p> +<p>At Dr. Lee's I met Sherman and Thomas for the first time. They had +come over from Ringgold to reconnoitre for themselves and observe the +effect of Howard's movement turning Tunnel Hill. The house stood upon a +knoll looking southward over farm fields and rolling country to the +sharp end of Rocky Face, and when my column halted near by, I rode +forward with General Schofield to meet the army commander. It was a +bright May morning, and a picturesque group was gathered on the sloping +lawn in front of the house. The principal officers were dismounted, +their horses and escort in the background. An occasional puff of white +smoke on the slope of Tunnel Hill in the distance marked the attack +going on there, but it was too far away for the cannonade to be more +than a muffled sound, not interrupting the conversation. Sherman was +tall, lithe, and active, with light brown hair, close-cropped sandy +beard and moustache, and every motion and expression indicated eagerness +and energy. His head was apt to be bent a little forward as if in +earnest outlook or aggressive advance, and his rapid incisive utterance +hit off the topics of discussion in a sharp and telling way. His +opinions usually took a strong and very pronounced form, full of the +feeling that was for the moment uppermost, not hesitating at even a +little humorous extravagance if it added point to his statement; but in +such cases the keen eye took a merry twinkle accentuated by the +crow-foot lines in the corner, so that the real geniality and kindliness +that underlay the brusque exterior were sufficiently apparent. The +general effect was of a nature of intense, restless activity, both +physical and mental. In conversation he poured out a wealth of original +and striking ideas, from a full experience, observation, and reading; +his assertions would be strong and confident, highly colored by the glow +of momentary feeling, unsoftened by the modifications and exceptions +which have to tame down broad generalizations before they are put in +practice. One did not know him long before discovering that in +responsible action he did not lack the prudence which took all probable +contingencies into account. His practical work in the field was never +reckless, but his boldest outlines of plan were worked out with +thoughtful caution in detail and full provision for possible +disappointment. When discussing a situation with his familiars, after +strongly stating his own view he would add, "Now what is Joe Johnston's +game?" and he would analyze his adversary's possible moves with a candor +and insight that left no doubt of his full comprehension of the problem +before him. In carrying out a plan he was free from the common weakness +of giving increased weight to doubts when the conflict is joined, and +making a timid execution of a strong purpose; he knew when it was time +for debate to stop (even with his own thoughts), and to bend every +energy to decisive action. All this was, of course, not visible in the +first meeting at Dr. Lee's, but no one could doubt that here was a most +original and interesting character, and I soon acquired an undoubting +conviction that of all the men I had met, he was the one to whose +leadership in war I would commit my own life and the lives of my men +with most complete confidence. In him the combination of intellectual +insight with fertility of invention and with force of will in execution +was of the highest order. I felt that if the end we aimed at was a noble +and worthy one, the price he asked us to pay was reasonable, and the +object was worth the sacrifices he called for: we were therefore +enthusiastic in our obedience.</p> +<p>General Thomas was in person and manner a strong contrast to +Sherman. Equally tall, he was large and solidly stout, with an air of +dignified quiet and deliberation. His full beard was not of so stubbly a +cut as Sherman's, his countenance was almost impassive, and the lines of +his brow gave an air of sternness. His part in the conversation was +less, his words much fewer and less expressive, but always clear and +intelligent. His manner was kindly, but rather reserved, and one felt +that his acquaintance must be gradually cultivated. His reputation for +cool intrepidity and stubborn tenacity could not be excelled, and no +soldier could approach him without a deep interest and respect that was +not diminished by his natural modesty of demeanor. Better acquaintance +with him made one learn that his intellect was strong and broad, and his +mind had been expanded by general reading, with some special scientific +tastes beyond his military profession. He was a noble model of patriotic +devotion to country, and of the private virtues that make a great +citizen. His military career had been an important one from the +beginning of the war. Second in rank in the armies of Buell and +Rosecrans in 1862 and 1863, at the great battles of Stone's River and +Chickamauga he had held his wing of the army defiant and invincible when +other parts were swept back by the Confederate impetuosity. No sobriquet +conferred by an admiring soldiery was more characteristic than the "Rock +of Chickamauga." Between him and Sherman the old affection of +schoolmates at the Military Academy was still warm. Sherman still called +him "Tom," the nickname of cadet days, and Thomas evidently enjoyed, in +his quiet way, the vivacious talk and brilliant ideas of his old friend, +now his commander. His army so much outnumbered the organizations of +McPherson and Schofield that, as a massive centre, it was necessarily +the chief reliance of Sherman for the results of the campaign, and was +personified in its leader's weight and deliberation; while the lighter +organizations of the Tennessee and the Ohio were thrown from flank to +flank in zigzag movements from one strategic position to another as we +penetrated into Georgia.</p> +<p>Grant's plan of having the armies of the East and West begin +simultaneous movements on the first days of May had been responded to by +Sherman with the information that on the first of the month his three +armies were in mutual support, and that he would "draw the enemy's fire +within twenty-four hours of May 5th." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 1.]</span> The delay in McPherson's reaching his +position, slight as it was, had to be considered in ordering other +movements in view of the promise to Grant to get into immediate contact +with the enemy, and helped in the decision to let Thomas's army advance +strongly in the centre and engage the enemy if the chance seemed at all +favorable, while McPherson made the flanking movement by way of Snake +Creek Gap. On the 4th Sherman had telegraphed Grant that he would "first +secure the Tunnel Hill, then throw McPherson rapidly on his (the +enemy's) communications, attacking at the same time cautiously and in +force." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. +25.]</span></p> +<p>McPherson's orders went to him on the evening of the 5th, directing +that whilst the movements of Thomas and Schofield already described were +in progress, on Saturday the 7th he should "secure Snake Creek Gap, and +from it make a bold attack on the enemy's flank or his railroad at any +point between Tilton and Resaca." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 39.]</span> Sherman expressed the hope that Johnston would fight at +Dalton, but should he fall back along the railroad McPherson was to hit +him in flank. "Do not fail, in that event," he continued, "to make the +most of the opportunity by the most vigorous attack possible, as it may +save us what we have most reason to apprehend, a slow pursuit, in which +he gains strength as we lose it." McPherson was assured that Thomas and +Schofield would prevent Johnston from turning on him alone, and the +sound of battle at the north would show the greater necessity for rapid +movement on the railroad. "If once broken to an extent that would take +them days to repair, you can withdraw to Snake Creek Gap, and come to us +or await the development according to your judgment or information you +may receive." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 39.]</span></p> +<p>Sherman's orders to Thomas were to take Tunnel Hill, and threaten +Dalton in front, but not to attack its defences "unless the enemy assume +the offensive against either of our wings, when all must attack directly +in front toward the enemy's main army, and not without orders detach to +the relief of the threatened wing." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 40.]</span> With similar orders to Schofield, Sherman added: "As soon +as Tunnel Hill is secured to us, I shall pause to give McPherson time +for his long march; but we must occupy the attention of all the enemy, +lest he turn his whole force on McPherson, which must be prevented. +Therefore, on the sound of heavy battle always close up on Howard and +act according to circumstances. We will not be able to detach to +McPherson's assistance, but can press so closely from this direction +that he (Johnston) cannot detach but a part of his command against him." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 38.]</span></p> +<p>These lucid orders show that Sherman was not contemplating merely a +flanking movement to make Johnston retreat and yield territory; on the +other hand he strongly expressed the desirability of forcing conclusions +as near his own base as possible, and showed his apprehension of the +disadvantages which must come from stretching still further his long +line of communications. The same desire and the same apprehension were +constant with him throughout the campaign, and it was with an +unwillingness growing at times into impatience that he found himself +compelled to follow Johnston's slow and skilful retreat. It was not till +the change of the Confederate commanders that aggressive tactics on the +part of the enemy gave the opportunity for severe punishment and led to +the speedy destruction of the hostile army. Herein lies the key of the +whole campaign.</p> +<p>The possession of Tunnel Hill enabled Sherman to look into Mill +Creek Gap, the break in Rocky Face, and the first look was enough to +show how desperate would be an attack either upon the precipitous cliffs +or into the fortified gorge. His orders for the 8th of May were for +Thomas to threaten the Buzzard Roost pass and try to get a small force +on Rocky Face ridge. Schofield from Dr. Lee's was to feel along the same +ridge southward toward the gap and the signal station which the enemy +had established above it on Buzzard Roost. It was to be a skirmishing +advance, but no battle, attracting the enemy's attention whilst +McPherson was seizing on Snake Creek Gap in Johnston's rear. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 56.]</span></p> +<p>On our part, Schofield ordered Judah's division to ascend the north +point of Rocky Face and press along the sharp ridge southward. My own +division was to occupy the passes looking toward Varnell's Station, +sending a regiment to support the cavalry there. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 55, 66, 85.]</span> +General Thomas, seeing no chance of getting to the top of Rocky Face +from the west, had ordered the Fourth Corps to attempt it from the +north, and Howard had sent in Newton's division to do this before +Schofield received his orders for the day. The latter therefore put +Judah's division in support of Newton's, extending the line along the +east base of the ridge, and called up Hovey's division into close +support. With my own division I advanced southeastwardly to hills in +that direction, keeping abreast of the movement on Rocky Face. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 82, 83; pt. +ii. p. 675.]</span></p> +<p>Sherman had conjectured that the hill-tops would be found to be +plateaus on which troops might manoeuvre to some extent, but they proved +to be sharp and steep to the very summits, and composed of loose rock of +every size, but all as angular as if from fresh cleavage. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. ii. p. 675; pt. iv. p. 84.]</span> Harker's brigade of +Newton's division had the advance, but even a brigade was too large a +body for combined action, and Colonel Opdycke with his regiment (One +Hundred and Twenty-fifth Ohio) took the lead. He made a demonstration as +if to turn the north point and go up the eastern side; then leaving the +brigade skirmish line to continue to push there, he rapidly moved again +to the west side and climbed swiftly to the ridge. Here was only room +for four men to march abreast, but charging from rock to rock he +succeeded in advancing about a third of a mile southward along the ridge +to a breastwork of stone where the enemy, who had fought bravely for +every "coign of vantage," were finally enabled to check him. He also +threw together a heap of stones to cover and enable him to hold the +ground he had gained. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pt. i. p. 367.]</span></p> +<p>Schofield in person had followed the advance of Judah's division, +and reconnoitred along the ridge parallel to Rocky Face on the east. It +was plain that there was little chance of getting near Buzzard Roost by +following Harker's path along the knife-like summit, and he was disposed +to let Judah try the effect of a night attack upon the fortified outpost +at the enemy's signal station in front of Harker. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. iv. p. 83.]</span> +Sherman realized that he could not hope to carry the Dalton lines from +the west and north, and that Johnston was too well satisfied with his +defensive position to leave it unless some part of our army was +compromised by making a false move. McPherson, however, was entering +Snake Creek Gap with so little opposition as to show that the importance +of that pass was not understood by Johnston, if indeed he knew of its +existence. Sherman therefore determined to keep up active +demonstrations with watchful observation of the enemy for another day, +whilst the decisive part of McPherson's movement should go on, and was +already planning to transfer Hooker's Corps to McPherson's column as +soon as the latter should hold the outlet of his gap. He wrote to +Schofield, "We must not let Johnston amuse us here by a small force +whilst he turns on McPherson." He sometimes suspected this was being +done, and had been uneasy during the day at the absence of cannonade +from Johnston's lines. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 83, 84.]</span> The orders +for the 9th were that Thomas should continue to push along the crest of +Rocky Face from the north and make demonstrations on other parts of his +line, whilst Schofield cautiously swung his left flank out toward the +east at right angles to the principal ridge and made a strong +reconnoissance of the enemy's lines in the immediate front of the town. +At midnight Sherman learned that Hooker had made an effort to carry +Rocky Face at Dug Gap, two or three miles south of Buzzard Roost, and +had failed with considerable loss to Geary's division, which was engaged.</p> +<p>At daybreak on the 9th, my own camp was astir. The division advanced +beyond the left flank of the position of Hovey's, then swung the left +forward and moved southward astride of the ridge parallel to Rocky Face +on the east. Judah's division connected our movement with the left flank +of the Fourth Corps across the intervening valley. Hovey's division +marched in rear of my left flank as a reserve. McCook's division of +cavalry covered the extreme flank at Varnell's Station, under orders to +demonstrate on the direct road to Dalton as our infantry advanced. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 98-100.]</span> +The enemy resisted with strong outposts and skirmish lines posted in +several strong barricades of timber and stones. We drove him from these +and continued the movement till we confronted the main line of +intrenchments. Schofield intended to attack these as soon as Newton's +division of the Fourth Corps (which was our pivot) should be able to +force the position in its immediate front on the crest of Rocky Face, +but Newton was obliged to report that Harker's brigade had failed in its +effort, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 102.]</span> and Schofield ordered us +to stand fast where we were.</p> +<p>McCook had found a superior force of Confederate cavalry under +Wheeler on the Dalton road; his advanced brigade under Colonel La Grange +had been roughly handled, and that officer was captured. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 96.]</span> +General Stoneman was, however, advancing from Charleston with the +cavalry of the Army of the Ohio, and the affair was of no great +significance, though the Confederates claimed a considerable victory for +their horse. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 683.]</span></p> +<p>Our movement had been an interesting one. As we went forward on the +ridge, we could see Judah's line keeping pace with us in the valley and +on the lower slopes of Rocky Face, whilst Newton's men continued the +line to the summit, where Harker was having a sharp combat in which both +artillery and small arms were brought into play. Off beyond our left was +a separate rounded height, Potato Hill, on which the enemy had artillery +which annoyed us, and to which our own guns answered. The space between +was filled with skirmishers, horse and foot, and a rattling fusillade +accompanied our march. It was evident that the lines before us were very +formidable and held in force, and that the reconnoissance had been +pushed as far as possible; to go further would commit us to a desperate +attack upon intrenchments. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +When Johnston's retreat gave us possession of Dalton, we found the +works of a very strong character, putting that front quite beyond a <i>coup-de-main</i>. +I examined them myself later in the campaign.]</span> But Sherman did +not desire to do this. He wished to keep the enemy employed so that he +could not send a great force against McPherson, and thus to give the +latter a chance to make a success of the movement against Resaca. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 98.]</span> Toward evening he directed Schofield to +fall back to a strong defensive position again, as from the news he got +from McPherson he was sure Johnston must either attack us or retreat on +the next day, and he wished to be ready for a prompt transfer of his +army to Snake Creek Gap. But Schofield thought a night movement too +uncertain in that broken and tangled country, especially as he had not +been pleased with the handling of Hovey's division during the day, and +obtained permission to bivouac for the night where we were, sending a +couple of infantry regiments to support McCook's cavalry and cover our +flank. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. +99, 119.]</span></p> +<p>During the night Sherman learned that McPherson had not succeeded in +taking Resaca or breaking the railroad, and had retired to the mouth of +Snake Creek Gap. Johnston was, of course, now aware of the turning +movement, and before morning we had evidence that he was changing the +positions of his army to meet the new situation. Sherman immediately +turned his whole energy to transferring his army to McPherson's +position. Hooker's Corps leading off was followed by Palmer's, and this +by ours. Howard's was ordered to remain in position covering the +Chattanooga railway, and to follow Johnston directly through Dalton when +he left his intrenchments. The movement could not be begun till the +11th, as Stoneman with the cavalry of the Army of the Ohio was marching +from Cleveland, and another day was needed to enable him to get upon our +left flank, the place assigned him in the combined advance. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 112, 113, +126.]</span> Three days' rations in haversacks and seven more in wagons +gave provisions for a short separation from our base, and orders to send +back all baggage to Ringgold were strictly enforced.</p> +<p>At daybreak of the 10th I advanced my skirmishers to reconnoitre the +enemy's lines, which were found to be still held in force, and his +troops on the alert. We then proceeded to wheel the whole of the corps +backward in line of battle, ready to halt at any moment, and engage the +enemy if he should come out and attack us. My division being on the +flank, it was to regulate the movement, Judah's conforming to mine on +the right, and Hovey's in reserve immediately in rear of mine. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 123, 131.]</span> We were under a warm skirmish fire +of infantry in front, and the enemy's cavalry on our left flank also +followed up the movement sharply. Reinforcing the skirmish line till +the enemy was driven back, a good position in rear was selected for my +second line and it was made to lie down. My first line was then marched +slowly to the rear over the other, to another position, where it halted +and lay down in turn, whilst the other rose and marched to the rear in +a similar manner. Making the troops lie down avoided the danger, +incident to such a manoeuvre under fire, that the men in second line +would be confused by the passing of the first line through their ranks +and break their organization. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Officers experienced in war know that manoeuvres which are easy and of +fine effect on parade are difficult and even dangerous under fire, and +that it is wise to simplify the tactics as much as possible. Marshal +Saint-Cyr, whose reputation for tactical skill was second to none in +the wars of the French Republic and Empire, thus speaks of the matter +in his comments on the battle of Novi, apropos to the break of the +French division Watrin, which was in two brigade lines: "La +première, attaquée avec vigueur par le +général Lusignan appuyé par Laudon, ne soutint +qu'un moment le choc, et se rabattit sur la seconde; elle +espérait se reformer en arrière de celle-ci, en faisant +ce qu'on appelle une passage de ligne; mais il fut +démontré une fois de plus, que cette manoeuvre, qui fait +un assez bel effet à la parade, ne peut réussir à +la guerre lorsqu'on est suivi par un ennemi actif. La premiere +entraîna la seconde dans un mouvement rétrograde; de plus +elle y apporta assez de confusion pour que ces deux lignes +réunies crussent n'avoir d'autre parti à prendre que +celui de la fuite," etc. Mémoires, vol. i. p. 257. There can be +no question as to the general soundness of this criticism, and we +should not have continued the movement described if we had been +attacked in force. We should then have fought where we stood, bringing +the reserves to support the front line. It justifies, however, the +precaution of selecting carefully the alternate positions and making the +rear line lie down.]</span> When we came opposite the positions assigned +us in the extension of the Fourth Corps line, the division changed +front to rear on right battalion and so swung into its place. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. ii. p. 675.]</span> Sherman had sent Captain Poe, his chief +engineer, to observe our movement from the crest of Rocky Face held by +Newton's troops, and congratulated Schofield upon it, saying it "was +described to me by Captain Poe, as seen from the mountain, as very +handsome." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pt. iv. p. 121.]</span> In his full report made at the close of the +campaign, General Schofield referred to it as "a delicate and difficult +one, owing to the character of the ground, the position and strength of +the enemy, and our comparative isolation from the main army." He adds: +"I regarded it as a complete test of the quality of my troops, which I +had not before had opportunity of seeing manoeuvre in presence of the +enemy." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pt. ii. p. 510.]</span></p> +<p>Schofield had been so dissatisfied with General Hovey that on the +same day he asked to have him removed from the command of the division, +notwithstanding his high personal esteem for him and his confidence in +his personal gallantry. The trouble seemed to be in the comprehension of +orders and in the grasp of the surrounding circumstances. Sherman did +not feel at liberty to act on the request, as Hovey had been assigned to +the new division, before it took the field, in fulfilment of a promise +of General Grant under whom Hovey had served in the Vicksburg campaign, +and had been recommended for promotion as a recognition of good conduct +at the affair of Champion Hill. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pt. iv. p. 122. Brigadier-General Alvin P. Hovey had been a Judge of +the Supreme Court of Indiana, and a "War Democrat" in politics. His +subsequent withdrawal from the army and his connection with Sherman's +famous protest against promotions given under stress of personal and +political influences at Washington would not be entirely clear without +mention of the incident here told.]</span></p> +<p>Johnston seems to have heard rumors of Sherman's original plan to +send McPherson's column against Rome, much further in rear, and he +remained under the impression that this was the meaning of the movements +he now heard of, until McPherson was in possession of Snake Creek Gap. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 674, 675.]</span> On the 7th he had urged Polk to +hasten his concentration at Rome, and ordered Martin's division of +cavalry to Calhoun to cover the communications with Polk, and protect +the railroad south of the Oostanaula. Brigadier-General Cantey was at +Resaca with at least four thousand men, his own and Reynolds's brigades +with fourteen pieces of artillery. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 679, 682.]</span> Movements toward his rear were reported to +Johnston, and all his subordinates were on the alert to find out what it +meant; the cavalry was ordered to watch all gaps south of Dug Gap, but +no mention is made of Snake Creek Gap till McPherson had passed through +it. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. +681, 683, 686, 687.]</span> Then Cantey was told to hold Resaca firmly, +and call on Martin for assistance if he needed it. Cars were sent to +bring a brigade from Rome, intrenchments were made to cover the south +end of the Resaca bridge; Major Presstman, chief engineer, was sent to +mark out more extensive works about Resaca, and Hood was ordered there +with considerable reinforcements. As soon, however, as it was known +that McPherson had retired to Sugar Valley, Hood was called back to +Dalton, and Johnston requested Polk to hasten in person to Resaca and +take command, hurrying forward his corps as fast as possible. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 687, 689.]</span> +This was the situation on the evening of the 10th of May.</p> +<p>When we took our position on the ridge of Rocky Face as the left of +the line, the division was somewhat exposed to a flank attack, and I +ordered the fallen timber on the hillside to be thrown together to make +obstruction to any hostile advance, besides the usual tactical +precautions of outposts and reserves. This, like the slashing made at +Red Clay a few days before, was suggested by the difficulty of knowing +what was going on around us in a country covered by dense forests with +only small cultivated openings here and there. In this instance it was +only the gathering of logs and tree-tops already lying on the ground, +and utilizing them as a means of delaying an enemy till our lines could +be formed. From such beginnings grew up our more and more elaborate +system of intrenched camps; a natural evolution of campaigning in a +country only partially cleared, with no roads worthy of the name.</p> +<p>To pass such a defile as Snake Creek Gap with an army was no small +undertaking. Hooker was ordered to clear a second track, so that two +lines could march by the flank at once, but this could only be +imperfectly done in the time at command. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 126, 135, 145.]</span> Careful orders in detail were +made, fixing the time for each corps and division to move, keeping the +roads filled night and day. Wagons were sent by the rear to Villanow, +and the regular subsistence trains were stopped at Ringgold and Tunnel +Hill till the Confederate army should be dislodged. For night marching +men were stationed with torches at the forking of paths, and boards +were nailed to trees as finger-posts.</p> +<p>Early on the morning of the 12th May, my division left its position +on Rocky Face and marched through Tunnel Hill station. General +Schofield, finding the shorter road to Snake Creek Gap blocked by wagons +of the Cumberland Army, ordered a detour to the west, and we marched +over to the Trickum and Villanow road, some two miles, and then pushing +southward got within three miles of Villanow. It was evident that our +movement and that of the whole army were visible from the high ridge of +Rocky Face. Johnston was aware of them, and telegraphed to Richmond that +Sherman was moving to Calhoun or to some point on the Oostanaula. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 698.]</span> He put everything in motion upon his +interior line to Resaca, and the last of his infantry left Dalton that +night, covered by a cavalry rear-guard. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 160.]</span> +Howard entered the place next morning.</p> +<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="images/2-36-2.jpg" title="Map" + alt="Map" style="width: 600px; height: 660px;"><br> +</p> +<p>Taking only a short rest, my division marched again at one o'clock +through Villanow and Snake Creek Gap into Sugar Valley, followed by +Judah's division of our corps, the other (Hovey's) being left to guard +the gap and the trains. McPherson's army covered the direct road to +Resaca, having Kilpatrick's cavalry on its right flank toward the +Oostanaula; Thomas's army was in the centre, consisting of two corps +(Hooker's and Palmer's) in Howard's absence; and Schofield was ordered +to continue the curve to the left, my own division being the flank and +directed to rest the left upon the ridge or near it, facing northward.</p> +<p>The different corps advanced from McPherson's intrenchments to the +new line which was near Camp Creek on the Resaca road, facing east, +thence curving north and west through a quarter circle to my position on +the left close to the dominant ridge, and about four miles north of +Sugar Valley P. O. on the main Dalton road. I sent Hanson's brigade +forward to reconnoitre toward Tilton (where Howard was), and it reached +Martin's store, at the forks of the Dalton and Tilton roads and the +crossing of Swamp Creek. A Confederate division had left that position +only an hour before, marching toward Resaca. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. ii. p. 675. In the official Atlas (compiled after the war), +plate lvii. map 2, Martin's Store is given as Roberts' Store, and the +position of the enemy there is marked.]</span></p> +<p>Later in the afternoon the centre and left of the whole army swung +forward toward the east into the line along Camp Creek, quite away from +the Dalton road. Reilly's brigade of my division was therefore left as a +detachment covering that road until we should know that Howard had +advanced beyond Tilton. A regiment of Hanson's brigade was left as an +outpost at Martin's store, and the rest of the brigade marched across +country by the right of companies to the front, keeping touch with +Judah's division and this with the left of the Army of the Cumberland. +It was a rough march over ridges and streams through the forest, on the +long outer curve, of which the pivot was several miles to the southeast.</p> +<p>Sherman had hoped to be in time to interpose between Resaca and +Johnston's army, as he had said in his orders of the 12th, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. iv. p. 158.]</span> +but the Confederates had the short interior line, and Johnston had been +able to concentrate about Resaca in the course of the 13th, his +rear-guard resisting Howard's advance at Tilton, and his left under Polk +holding some high hills west of Camp Creek in front of Resaca which +commanded the railroad bridge over the Oostanaula. With the latter +exception his chosen line of defence was on the broken ridge between the +Connasauga River and Camp Creek, which were nearly parallel to each +other for some miles.</p> +<p>On the morning of the 14th the advance was renewed, guided as before +by the progress of the Army of the Tennessee on the right and continuing +the wheeling movement toward the east. My right brigade (Manson) +continued its connection with the rest of the army, but Reilly's had a +very difficult and laborious march. I ordered it to advance a mile upon +the road it had covered during the night, and then by the right flank to +position in line with the rest of the command. After leaving the road +Reilly had to break his way through the woods, crossing sharp and deep +ravines and watercourses, with no path or landmark to guide him. It was +especially difficult for the artillery, and that they got through at all +proved that the officers and men were experts in woodcraft. The regiment +at Martin's store remained there as an outpost during the day.</p> +<p>Reilly came into line about ten o'clock, and we rested an hour till +our flankers reported Howard's corps within supporting distance coming +from Tilton. We were on the west bank of the main stream of Camp Creek, +where its upper course makes an angle with the lower, some small +branches coming into it from the northeast. The valley itself was open, +and the change in its direction allowed it to be enfiladed by the +enemy's batteries at the angle. Generals Thomas and Schofield were +together upon a hill having a commanding view, and at the word from +them, "The line will advance," we moved forward into the valley from the +slope before them. Each brigade was in two lines, and the artillery was +left on the hither side of the valley to cover the movement and reply to +the enemy's cannonade. The skirmish line had been advanced to the edge +of the woods on the far side, and kept the lead until we approached the +Confederate trenches. We passed over two or three ridges and ravines, +driving back the skirmishers of the enemy, and charged the line of +earthworks on the crest of a higher ridge. Our men dropped fast as we +went forward, but the line was carried and the Confederates broke from +the next ridge in rear, some two hundred yards away. The direction of +these ridges was such that our left was constantly thrown forward as we +passed from one to another.</p> +<p>Judah's division on our right had not succeeded in crossing Camp +Creek, and our flank was exposed to a galling artillery fire, as the +ridge on which we were had its shoulder bare when it came out into the +valley, whose curve gave the enemy an enfilading fire upon us. His +infantry sought also to drive us out of the position we had captured, +and the fighting was heavy for an hour or two. But Howard's corps came +up on our left, and we made firm our hold on the hills we had gained, +forcing the Confederates to adopt a new line curving to the eastward.</p> +<p>The division had lost 562 men, and our ammunition was nearly +exhausted. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. ii. pp. 676-679.]</span> Wagons could not +follow us, and toward evening Generals Thomas and Schofield arranged to +relieve us with Newton's division of Howard's corps, let us replenish +the cartridge boxes, and then pass to the left. This brought again the +Army of the Cumberland together, and gave us our usual position on the +flank. Newton's men came over part of the ground we had traversed, and +as they crossed the open we saw them under the enemy's cannonade, the +balls here and there bowling them over like tenpins. Harker's brigade +came up to relieve Manson's, which was the most exposed, and Manson and +I were standing together arranging the details, our horses being under +cover in the edge of the wood. Harker rode up to confer with us and +learn the situation, and as we talked, a shell exploded among us, the +concussion stunning Manson and a fragment slightly wounding Harker. +Manson's experience was a curious illustration of the effect of such an +accident. He was unaware of his hurt, and only thought, in the moment of +failing consciousness as he fell, that the motion was that of his +companions flying upward instead of his own falling; and on coming to +himself in the hospital began to speak his sorrow for what he supposed +was the death of his friends. He himself never fully recovered from the +effects of the concussion. Colonel Opdycke's regiment was one of the +first in the winning column, and his men were hardly placed in the line +before he was led back, wounded; but as soon as his wound was dressed +and he had recovered a little from the shock, he was back at his post. +The place was so hot a one that Harker's brigade also exhausted its +ammunition and had to be relieved before the left of my own line was +moved.</p> +<p>The captured position was firmly held by Howard's corps, whilst +Hooker's, which had been relieved by the Army of the Tennessee, was +marched to the left of Howard's, extending the line across the ridge +toward the Connasauga and turning the enemy's flank. The whole +Twenty-third Corps was also united during the night and moved to +Hooker's support, where next day Hood made strong efforts to drive our +line back. My own and Judah's division were held in reserve, but Hovey's +was put in on Hooker's left, extending the line practically to the +river, and the division took a gallant part in repulsing Hood. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. ii. p. 511.]</span></p> +<p>On the extreme right McPherson had bridged the Oostanaula at Lay's +Ferry and made demonstrations on Calhoun. The whole Army of the +Tennessee had pressed forward to Camp Creek, and toward evening of the +14th forced a crossing and carried some hills near its mouth which +commanded the railway bridge. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iii. pp. 92, 377.]</span> Polk's +Confederate corps made strong efforts to dislodge McPherson's men, but +failed, and the latter intrenched the position. As Johnston had not +succeeded in dislodging Sherman at either flank of the position, and the +course of the Oostanaula made it possible for Sherman to put himself +upon the railway near Calhoun, the Confederate general evacuated the +Resaca position in the night of the 15th, retreating southward toward +Kingston and Cassville.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER +XXXVII</p> +<p>ATLANTA CAMPAIGN: ADVANCE TO THE ETOWAH</p> +<p>Tactics modified by character of the country--Use of the +spade--Johnston's cautious defensive--Methods of Grant and Sherman--Open +country between Oostanaula and Etowah--Movement in several +columns--Sherman's eagerness--Route of left wing--Of McPherson on the +right--Necessity of exact system in such marches--Route of Twenty-third +Corps--Hooker gets in the way--Delays occasioned--Closing in on +Cassville--Our commanding position--Johnston's march to Cassville--His +order to fight there--Protest of Hood and Polk--Retreat over the +Etowah--Sherman crosses near Kingston--My reconnoissance to the +Allatoona crossing--Destruction of iron works and mills--Marching +without baggage--Barbarism of war--Desolation it causes--Changes in our +corps organization--Hascall takes Judah's division--Our place of +crossing the Etowah--Interference again--Kingston the new +base--Rations--Camp coffee.</p> +<p>The opening period of the campaign had developed the conditions of +warfare in so broken and difficult a country, and they were only +emphasized by the later experiences of both armies. Positions for +defence could be intrenched with field-works whilst the hostile army was +feeling its way forward through dense forests and over mountain ridges. +To carry such positions by direct assault was so costly that the lesson +of prudence was soon learned and such attacks were more and more rarely +resorted to. Sherman had moved upon the enemy at Resaca as promptly as +the deployment and advance could be made after the turning movement and +the passage of the Snake Creek defile; but we found Johnston strongly +placed, on ground naturally difficult of approach, with works which gave +his men such cover as to overcome any advantage we had in numbers. +Still, the enemy found in turn that we could make counter-intrenchments +and quickly extend them till we turned his flanks and threatened his +communications, when he must either retreat or assault our works, and +that, if he assaulted, the balance of losses would turn so heavily +against him as to fatally deplete his army. Johnston carefully and +systematically maintained this defensive, and in Virginia, after Lee had +tried the policy of attack in the Wilderness, he became as cautiously +defensive as Johnston. Grant was slower than Sherman in learning the +unprofitableness of attacking field-works, and his campaign was by far +the more costly one. The difference in such cases goes much farther than +the casualty list; it was shown in October, when Sherman's army was +strong and well-seasoned, but Grant's was so full of raw recruits as +almost to have lost its veteran quality. There were special reasons +which led Grant to adhere so long to the more aggressive tactics, which +would need to be weighed in any full treatment of the subject; but I am +now only pointing out the fact that in both the East and the West the +lesson was practically the same. Aggressive strategy had the advantage +it always has, but defensive tactics proved generally the better in so +peculiar a field of operations.</p> +<p>Between the Oostanaula and the Etowah was the most open portion of +northern Georgia, and it was possible for Sherman to move his army +southward in several columns of pursuit on parallel roads (such as they +were) without extending his front over a width of more than eight or ten +miles. He was eager to bring the Confederates to battle in this region, +and urged his subordinates to make haste. The assignment of routes to +the different columns gave the centre to General Thomas, following the +railroad in general, but putting his three corps upon as many country +roads, when they could be found. General Schofield with the Twenty-third +Corps was ordered to get over to the old Federal road which runs through +Spring Place (east of Dalton) to Cassville. General McPherson with his +two corps was sent by the Rome road and such parallel road as might be +available, keeping communication with the centre. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 216.]</span> Beyond him, on the extreme right, +Davis's division of the Cumberland Army supported Garrard's cavalry +division in a movement upon Rome by the west side of the Oostanaula. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 198, +202-204.]</span> The object of the last-mentioned movement was the +destruction of the Confederate machine-shops and factories at Rome, as +well as to cover the flank against movements along the main route of +travel from Alabama. The extreme left flank was to be covered by the +cavalry of the Ohio Army under General Stoneman.</p> +<p>In making such an advance, success as well as comfort depends upon +the care with which the several columns are led, so that each shall keep +its place, progressing equally with the others, and avoid above all +things cutting into and interrupting those moving on its right or left. +Each must keep the common purpose in view, and avoid obstructing the +rest, for nothing is more wearisome to the troops and ruinous to the +plans of the commander than to have the lines of advance cross each +other. In our march of the 17th our own corps was fated to feel the full +annoyance and delay of such an interference.</p> +<p>General Thomas ordered Howard's corps to cross by the bridges at +Resaca, followed by Palmer's, which was diminished by the absence of +Davis's division. He also ordered Hooker's corps to march by the long +neck between the Oostanaula and Connasauga rivers to Newtown, and cross +the Oostanaula there. Hooker would then follow such roads as he could +find within two or three miles of Howard's line of march toward +Adairsville. Sherman and Thomas both were with Howard. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 202, 209, +210, 216, 217.]</span></p> +<p>Schofield ordered the divisions of the Twenty-third Corps to cross +the Connasauga at different places, and make their way by different +roads eastward to the Federal road crossing of the Coosawattee, turning +south after crossing that river and marching till abreast of Adairsville +and some four or five miles distant from it. As we had to gain several +miles of easting and to cross two rivers before marching southward, ours +was, of course, much the longer route; and as the pontoons were all in +use at Resaca and Lay's Ferry, we had to find fords or build +trestle-bridges.</p> +<p>I marched my own division to Hogan's Ford on the Connasauga, two +miles below Tilton, and there crossed in water so deep that the men had +to strip and carry their clothes and arms on their heads. Once over we +pushed for the Federal road and the crossing of the Coosawattee at +Field's Ferry. The other two divisions of the corps crossed the +Connasauga at or near Fite's Ferry, where were trestle-bridges. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 210.]</span></p> +<p>General Hooker started upon the Newtown road, which runs southward +some miles upon a long, narrow ridge which here separates the Oostanaula +from its tributary; but before he had gone far he learned that the +crossing at Newtown (the mouth of the Connasauga) was unfordable, and +other means of getting over doubtful. He now turned abruptly to the +east, crossed the Connasauga at Fite's, and marched toward McClure's +Ford on the Coosawattee. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 205, 206.]</span> In moving out from Hogan's (or Hobart's) Ford, I +had learned that the road from the north which crosses the Coosawattee +at McClure's was probably the principal and shortest route to Cassville +and had reported this to General Schofield, who ordered Judah's and +Hovey's division to take the most direct roads to McClure's. These +columns, however, ran into Hooker's, which were making for the same +point and had headed Schofield's off, having the inner of the concentric +routes on which we were marching. Neither at McClure's nor the more +distant ferry at Field's Mill was there any bridge or tolerable ford, +and Hooker was no better off than he would have been at Newtown. This +movement had wholly disjointed Sherman's plan of keeping the three +armies upon separate lines of march. Finding no means for rapid +crossing at McClure's, he pushed one of his divisions to Field's, and +so occupied and blocked both of the Coosawattee crossings, which by the +orders should have been wholly at Schofield's disposal. We found +ourselves obliged therefore to camp on the north side of the Coosawattee +on the night of the 16th, instead of being well over that river and +ready for a prompt advance on the 17th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 210, 211, 220, 221, 225, 226.]</span> Hooker himself +might much better have obeyed his original orders. He reported to +Thomas at ten o'clock on the morning of the 17th that he was not yet +over, and had not the means of constructing a bridge that would stand; +in short, that he had been "bothered beyond parallel." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 221.]</span> +When Schofield requested that he would allow our troops to take +precedence of the Twentieth Corps wagons at either the ferry or the +bridge, so that Sherman's expectation might not be disappointed, Hooker +suggested that we should march back to Resaca and follow Thomas across +the bridges there, thus getting into the place he himself should have +taken if the Newtown crossing had been really impossible! <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 227.]</span></p> +<p>Modern systems lay great stress upon the most scrupulous care on the +part of corps commanders to follow the roads assigned them, and to avoid +trespassing upon those assigned to others. Moltke has even condensed the +whole strategic art of moving troops into "marching divided in order to +fight united," and to avoid interference and confusion of columns <i>en +route</i> is quite as essential as to keep tactical manoeuvres on the +battle-field from crossing each other. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See Prince +Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen's Letters on Strategy (Wolseley Series), vol. ii. +pp. 160, 161, 185, 237, etc.]</span> No better proof of the necessity of +the rule could be given than this. Sherman was most anxious to bring +Johnston to battle in the open country between the two rivers, and +ordered his subordinates to press the pursuit and to engage the enemy +wherever he might be overtaken, trusting to the quick advance of the +several columns to their support. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 201, 202, 211, 220, 232, +242.]</span> Anything which delayed the columns or put them on different +roads from those indicated by the commanding general, directly tended to +thwart his plans. All of Sherman's dispatches during the 17th, 18th, +and 19th of May show his disappointment at not getting forward more +rapidly.</p> +<p>Johnston seemed disposed, in the afternoon of the 17th, to meet +Sherman's wish for a decisive battle, and had selected a position a mile +or two north of Adairsville, where the valley of the Oothcaloga Creek +seemed narrow enough to give strong positions for his flanks on the +hills bordering it. Preliminary orders were given and the cavalry was +strongly supported by infantry to hold back Sherman's advance-guard till +the deployment should be completed. The skirmishing was so brisk that, +at a distance, it sounded like a battle; but upon testing the position +by a partial deployment, Johnston concluded that his army would not fill +it, and he resumed his retreat on Cassville and Kingston, hoping that +Sherman's columns would be so separated that he could concentrate upon +one of them, and so fight his adversary in detail. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Narrative, pp. 319, 320.]</span></p> +<p>Schofield had pressed the march of his troops after getting over the +Coosawattee, but the interruptions had been such that the distance made +was not great, though the time was long and the troops were more tired +than if they had made double the number of miles on an unobstructed +road. My division was on the extreme left flank and in advance. After +crossing the river at Field's Mill, the infantry by Hooker's foot-bridge +and the artillery by the flat-boat ferry, I marched at ten o'clock in +the evening and reached Big Spring Creek at two o'clock in the morning +of the 18th. Resting only till five o'clock, we marched again, going +southward on the Cassville road three miles, thence westward on the +Adairsville road five miles to Marsteller's Mill. The other divisions of +our corps took roads westward of that which I followed, and the cavalry +under Stoneman passed beyond our left flank, scouting up the valley of +Salequa Creek as far as Fairmount and Pine Log Post-Office. Hooker moved +two of his divisions toward Calhoun after getting over the Coosawattee, +and these regained the position relative to the rest of Thomas's army +which the corps had been ordered to take. The other division +(Butterfield's), which had crossed in advance of my own at Field's Mill, +was necessarily on roads assigned to Schofield's command, and a good +deal of interference was inevitable. Hooker was personally with this +division, and in the afternoon of the 18th met General Schofield at +Marsteller's Mill, and then went forward about six miles to the foot of +the Gravelly Plateau, Butterfield's division going still further +forward on its top. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 238-242. The Atlas of the +Official Records does not give the routes of all the columns of either +Hooker's or Schofield's corps, nor does it give the line of march of the +cavalry on our left. The march of my own division is fixed by the +memoranda of my personal diary of the campaign. The official "Atlas" +(Plate lviii.) gives two mills as Marsteller's. It is difficult to +identify the several roads, but my own line of march was the principal +Cassville road leading from Field's Mills and ferry through Sonora until +we reached the road running directly to Adairsville. On this last we +marched to Marsteller's Mills. Our route on the 19th is also +incorrectly marked on the map. See Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. +iv. p. 256.]</span></p> +<p>General Schofield assembled the corps at the mills and rested for +the night. Early on the 19th my division took the advance and marched +southward on by-roads till we overtook Hooker's corps and found it in +line of battle, its movement being disputed by the enemy's cavalry. +Schofield deployed his corps on Hooker's left, my division taking the +extreme flank and advancing in line to the south fork of Two Run Creek. +Crossing this, we went forward to a position a mile northeast of +Cassville, briskly skirmishing with part of Hood's corps. We found that +we were opposite the extreme right of the Confederate position, which +was a strong one on the hills behind Cassville; but an exchange of +artillery shots satisfied us that we to some extent enfiladed their +intrenchments. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. ii. p. 680.]</span> The concentration of +Thomas's army with Schofield's made a continuous line facing the enemy +on the north and west. Night was falling as we took position.</p> +<p>Johnston had followed the railroad to Kingston, where he was joined +by French's division coming to Polk's corps from Rome, and still stuck +to the general line of the railway to Cassville, though this led him by +a considerable detour to the east. His manifest policy was to make the +largest use of the railroad to move his baggage and supply his troops, +for wagon trains were not over-abundant with the Confederates. He +naturally reckoned also that Sherman could not go far from the same +line, and as the road crossed the Etowah near the gorges of the +Allatoona hills, he wished to lead the national commander into that +difficult country from the north, instead of taking the more direct +wagon-roads from Kingston toward Marietta. Could Sherman have been sure +of the route his adversary would take, no doubt he would have +concentrated his columns by shortest roads on Cassville, gaining +possibly a day thereby. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pt. iv. pp. 242, 266.]</span></p> +<p>The position on the hills behind the village of Cassville was so +strong a one, and Johnston so much desired to offer battle at an early +day, that he resolved to retreat no further and to try conclusions with +Sherman here. He signified this in an unusually formal manner by issuing +a brief and stirring address to his troops, in which he said that as +their communications were now secure, they would turn and meet our +advancing columns. "Fully confiding in the conduct of the officers and +the courage of the soldiers," he said, "I lead you to battle" <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 728.]</span> But when our left flank crossed Two Run +Creek and partly turned the right of his position, his corps commanders, +Hood and Polk, became so uneasy that they protested against giving +battle there, and induced Johnston to continue the retreat through +Cartersville across the Etowah River. He saw the mistake he had made as +soon as it was done, and never ceased to regret it. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Narrative, p. 323, etc.]</span> +The Richmond government had been disappointed at his retreat from Dalton +and Resaca and its continuation through Adairsville. His strained +relations with Mr. Davis were rapidly tending toward his deprivation of +command. But more strictly military reasons made his change of purpose +very undesirable. Hardly anything is more destructive of the confidence +of an army than vacillation. The order to fight had been published, and +even a defeat might be less mischievous than the sudden retreat in the +night without joining the battle which had been so formally announced. +Either the order had been an error or the retreat was one. Every soldier +in the army knew this, and the <i>morale</i> of the whole was +necessarily affected by it.</p> +<p>Sherman had no mind to follow the enemy into the defiles of +Allatoona from Cartersville. His position at Kingston offered a far more +easy way to turn that fastness by the south, if he could replenish his +stores, rebuild the bridges behind him, and make Kingston the base for a +march upon Dallas and thence on Marietta. On the 20th of May his orders +were issued for the new movement, to begin on the 23d with preparation +for a twenty days' separation from the railroad. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 271.]</span> My own duty on the 20th was to follow +the enemy's rear-guard to the river and learn the condition of the +bridges and crossings. The division marched early, most of the distance +to Cartersville being made in line of battle, the opposition being at +times stubborn. The purpose of this was probably to prepare for the +destruction of the bridges, which were burned as soon as the rear-guard +crossed. We sent detachments to destroy the Etowah Mills and Iron Works +a few miles above; <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pp. 286, 298.]</span> meanwhile General Schofield concentrated the Army +of the Ohio at Cartersville, General Thomas occupied Kingston as the +centre, and McPherson came into position on the right near the same +place. General J. C. Davis's division had occupied Rome, finding there +important iron-works and machine-shops as well as considerable depots of +supplies. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 264.]</span> General Blair was advancing from Decatur, Ala., with the +Seventeenth Corps, under orders to relieve Davis at Rome, when the +latter would rejoin Palmer's corps at the front.</p> +<p>The ten days which had passed since the movement to turn the enemy's +position at Dalton was begun, had been in literal obedience to the order +to march without baggage. At my headquarters we were, in fact, worse off +than the men in the ranks, for, although the private soldier finds his +knapsack, haversack, canteen, and coffee-kettle a burden and a +clattering annoyance, he soon learns to bear them patiently, for they +are the necessary condition of the comparative comfort of his bivouac +when the day's march is over. The veteran, indeed, clings to them with +eager tenacity, when he has fully learned that they are his salvation +from utter misery. But the officer, whose hours of halting are crowded +with important business, and whose movements must be light and quick +whenever occasion arises, cannot carry on his person or on his horse the +outfit necessary for his cooking and his shelter. We had been full of +the most earnest zeal to respond thoroughly to the general's wishes, and +had not tried to smuggle into wagons or ambulances any extra comforts. +We had left mess chests behind, and had used our fingers for forks and +our pocket-knives for carving, turning sardine boxes into dishes, and +other tins in which preserved meats are put up into coffee-cups. Such +roughing can be kept up for a week or two, but it is not a real economy +of means to make it permanent. A compromise must be found in which the +wholesome cooking of food and the shelter in a rainstorm, without which +no dispatches can be written or records kept, may be made to consist +with the lightness of transportation which active campaigning requires. +The simple, closely packed kitchen kit of a Rob-Roy canoe voyager was +more or less completely anticipated by the devices and inventions born +of necessity in our campaign in Georgia. The remainder of the season +bore witness that we could organize our camp life so as to secure +cleanliness of person and healthful living without transgressing the +reasonable rules as to weight and bulk of baggage which Sherman insisted +on. Every day proved the reasonableness of his system, without which the +campaign could not have been made.</p> +<p>The tendency of war to make men relapse into barbarism becomes most +evident when an army is living in any degree upon the enemy's country. +Desolation follows in its track, and the utmost that discipline can do +is to mitigate the evil. The habit of disregarding rights of property +grows apace. The legitimate exercise of the rules of war is not easily +distinguished from their abuse. The crops are trampled down, the fences +disappear, the timber is felled for breastworks and for camp-fires, the +green forage is used for the army horses and mules, barns and houses may +be dismantled to build or to floor a bridge,--all this is necessary and +lawful. But the pigs and the poultry also disappear, though the +subsistence officers are issuing full and abundant rations to the +troops; the bacon is gone from the smoke-house, the flour from the bin, +the delicacies from the pantry. These things, though forbidden, are half +excused by sympathy with the soldier's craving for variety of food. Yet, +as the habit of measuring right by might goes on, pillage becomes wanton +and arson is committed to cover the pillage. The best efforts of a +provost-marshal with his guard will be useless when superior officers, +and especially colonels of regiments, encourage or wink at license. The +character of different commands becomes as notoriously different as that +of the different men of a town. Our armies were usually free from the +vagabond class of professional camp-followers that scour a European +battlefield and strip the dead and the wounded. We almost never heard of +criminal personal assaults upon the unarmed and defenceless; but we +cannot deny that a region which had been the theatre of active war +became desolate sooner or later. A vacant house was pretty sure to be +burned, either by malice or by accident, until, with fences gone, the +roads an impassable mire, the fields bare and cut up with innumerable +wagon-tracks, no living thing to be seen but carrion birds picking the +bones of dead horses and mules, Dante's "Inferno" could not furnish a +more horrible and depressing picture than a countryside when war has +swept over it. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 273, 297, 298.]</span></p> +<p>The orders issued from our army headquarters in Georgia forbade +soldiers from entering houses or stripping families of the necessaries +of life. Most of the officers honestly tried to enforce this rule; but +in an army of a hundred thousand men, a small fraction of the whole +would be enough to spoil the best efforts of the rest. The people found, +too, that it was not only the enemy they had to fear. The worse +disciplined of their own troops and the horde of stragglers were often +as severe a scourge as the enemy. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +See Hood's orders, Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. v. pp. 960, 963.]</span> +Yet I believe that nowhere in the world is respect for person and +property more sincere than among our own people. The evils described are +those which may be said to be necessarily incident to the waging of +war, and are not indications of ferocity of nature or uncommon lack of +discipline.</p> +<p>In the organization of the Army of the Ohio, General Schofield made +an important change by assigning Brigadier-General Hascall to command +the second division in place of General Judah. In the battle of Resaca +the division suffered severe loss without accomplishing anything, and +General Schofield found, on investigation, that it was due to the +incompetency of the officer commanding it. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 243.]</span> The brigade commanders, in their +reports, complained severely of the way in which the division had been +handled, and the army commander felt obliged to examine and to act +promptly. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pt. ii. pp. 581, 610, 611.]</span> Judah was a regular officer, major of +the Fourth Infantry, a graduate of West Point in the class of 1843, but +lacked the judgment and coolness in action necessary in grave +responsibilities. General Schofield kindly softened the treatment of the +matter in his report of the campaign, but in his personal memoirs he +repeats the judgment he originally acted upon. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Schofield's Report, <i>Id</i>., +pt. ii. p. 511; Forty-two Years in the Army, p. 182. In the passage of +his memoirs last referred to, General Schofield had been using the case +of General Wagner at Franklin to give point to "the necessity of the +higher military education, and the folly of intrusting high commands to +men without such education" (p. 181); but he also distinctly recognizes +the fact that such education is gained by experience, and the fault of +those he uses as illustrations was that they had not learned either by +experience or theoretically. I have discussed the subject in vol. i. +chapter ix., <i>ante</i>. There must be knowledge; but even this will +be of no use unless there are the personal qualities which fit for high +commands.]</span> The crossing of the Etowah River on May 23d was again +the occasion of an interference of columns, because Sherman's orders +were not faithfully followed. To McPherson was assigned a country bridge +near the mouth of Connasene Creek, to Thomas one four miles southeast +of Kingston, known as Gillem's Bridge, and to Schofield two pontoon +bridges to be laid at the site of Milam's Bridge, which had been +burned. There were fords near all these crossings which were also to be +utilized as far as practicable. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Sherman's general plan was given to his subordinates in person, but he +repeated it to Halleck, Official Records vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 274. +Thomas's order is given, <i>Id.</i>, p. 289, and accompanying sketch, +p. 290. Gillem's Bridge in the Atlas is called Free Bridge, plate +lviii. Schofield's place for pontoon bridges is fixed by his dispatch +to Sherman, <i>Id.</i>, p. 284, my own dispatch, <i>Id.</i>, p. 298, +and my official report, <i>Id.</i>, pt. ii. p. 680. The line of march +and place of crossing as given in the Atlas are incorrect.]</span> We +marched from Cartersville on the Euharlee road by the way of the hamlet +of Etowah Cliffs, till we reached the direct road from Cassville to +Milam's Bridge, when we found the way blocked by Hooker's corps, which +had possession of the pontoons which Schofield's engineer had placed. +Hooker, however, was not responsible for this, as he had been ordered +to change his line of march by a dispatch from Thomas's headquarters +written without stopping to inquire how such a change might conflict +with Schofield's right of way and with Sherman's plans. Halted thus +about noon, we were not able to resume the march till next day, as +Hooker had ordered his supply trains to follow his column. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. iv. pp. +283, 291. Schofield to Sherman and reply, <i>Id.</i>, pp. 296, 297. +When I wrote "Atlanta," I supposed Hooker acted without orders.]</span> +The incident only emphasizes the way in which we learned by experience +the importance of strict system in such movements, and the mischiefs +almost sure to follow when there is any departure from a plan of march +once arranged. There was, of course, no intention to make an +interference, and the difficulty rarely, if ever, occurred in the +subsequent parts of the campaign.</p> +<p>In preparation for the movement to turn Johnston's new position at +Allatoona we were ordered to provide for twenty days' absence from +direct railway communication. Within that time Sherman expected to +regain the railway again and establish supply depots near the camps. +Meanwhile Kingston was made the base, and was garrisoned with a brigade. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 272, 274, 278.]</span> The returning veterans were +coming back by regiments and were fully supplying the losses of the +campaign with men of the very best quality and full of enthusiasm. Nine +regiments joined the Twenty-third Corps or were <i>en route</i> during +the brief halt at the Etowah. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +p. 291.]</span> The ration was the full supply of fresh beef from the +herds driven with the army, varied by bacon two days in the week, a +pound of bread, flour, or corn-meal per man each day, and the small +rations of coffee, sugar and salt. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +p. 272.]</span> Vegetables and forage were to some extent gathered from +the country. The coffee was always issued roasted, but in the whole +berry, and was uniformly first-rate in quality. The soldiers carried at +the belt a tin quart-pail, in which the coffee was crushed as well as +boiled. The pail was set upon a flat stone like a cobbler's lapstone, +and the coffee berries were broken by using the butt of the bayonet as a +pestle. At break of day every camp was musical with the clangor of +these primitive coffee-mills. The coffee was fed to the mill a few +berries at a time, and the veterans had the skill of gourmands in +getting just the degree of fineness in crushing which would give the +best strength and flavor. The cheering beverage was the comfort and +luxury of camp life, and we habitually spoke of halting to make coffee, +as in the French army they speak of their <i>soupe</i>.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER +XXXVIII</p> +<p>ATLANTA CAMPAIGN: NEW HOPE CHURCH AND THE KENNESAW LINES</p> +<p>Sherman's plan for June--Movements of 24th May--Johnston's position +at Dallas and New Hope Church--We concentrate to attack--Pickett's +Mill--Dallas--Flanking movements--Method developed by the character of +the country--Closer personal relations to Sherman--Turning Johnston's +right--Cross-roads at Burnt Church--A tangled forest--Fighting in a +thunderstorm--Sudden freshet--Bivouac in a thicket--Johnston retires to +a new line--Formidable character of the old one--Sherman extends to the +railroad on our left--Blair's corps joins the army--General Hovey's +retirement--The principles involved--Politics and promotions.</p> +<p>Sherman's general plan of campaign for the month of June was to move +his army in several columns upon Dallas, and then along the ridge +between the Etowah and Chattahooche rivers on Marietta. As Johnston was +at Allatoona and his cavalry was active all along the south bank of the +Etowah, our left flank was not only covered by Stoneman's cavalry, but +Schofield was purposely held back a day's march so as to cover the rear +as well as the flank, which was exposed to a possible attack from +Johnston as we marched south and opened a space between us and the +river, uncovering the supply trains which filled the roads over which +the troops had passed.</p> +<p>After crossing the river at Milam's bridge on May 24th, we turned +eastward through Stilesborough, to and across Richland Creek, reaching +the road on the upland which runs from Cassville to Marietta by way of +Rowland's Ferry. Stoneman, who had crossed the Etowah with his division +of horse at Shellman's Ford on the 22d, and covered the laying of the +pontoon bridges at Milam's, went back to look after a raid by the +Confederate cavalry at Cass Station, and was not able to return to his +position south of the river until the evening of the 24th, when he +scouted the road toward Allatoona. Having the advance, my division +marched southward on the Marietta road to Sligh's Mill, where the road +forks, the right-hand branch turning southwest, along the ridge, to +Huntsville, better known in the neighborhood as Burnt Hickory. This +place was about half-way on the direct road from Kingston to Dallas, and +was the rendezvous for the Cumberland Army for the night. We camped at +Sligh's Mill, being joined by Hascall's division of our corps. Hovey's +division and the corps trains took the road from Stilesborough up +Raccoon Creek, some miles west of us and covered by our march. The Army +of the Tennessee reached VanWert, some miles west of Burnt Hickory, on +the Rome and Dallas road.</p> +<p>We lay at Sligh's Mill during the 25th, till five P.M., <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 311.]</span> giving time for McPherson to approach +Dallas, and for Thomas to continue his movement of the centre upon the +same place. We were then to march to Burnt Hickory and follow Thomas to +Dallas. But the enemy was also active and modified our program. His +cavalry had reported our concentration in front of Kingston, and the +laying of our pontoons at Milam's bridge on the 23d. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 737.]</span> +They had also made a reconnoissance to Cass Station, and found nothing +there but the wagons of the Twenty-third Corps, of which a number were +captured and destroyed. Satisfied that Sherman was marching southward in +force, Johnston immediately put his army in motion. Hardee's Corps, +being his left, marched to Dallas and took position south of the town, +covering the main road to Atlanta and extending its line northeast +toward New Hope Church. Hood was assigned to the right at the church, +and Polk had the interval in the centre, upon the main road they had +travelled from Allatoona. The line was along the ridge dividing the +headwaters of Pumpkin Vine Creek, which flows northward into the Etowah, +from the sources of the Sweetwater and Powder-spring creeks which empty +into the Chattahoochee at the south.</p> +<p>The movement was begun on the 24th, and in the forenoon of the 25th +the Confederate troops were taking the positions assigned them, covered +by their cavalry. A captured dispatch gave Sherman useful information, +and he directed that instead of marching straight to Dallas, Hooker +should test the appearance of hostile force toward New Hope Church, +turning off on the Marietta road at Owen's Mill. This brought on the +fierce combat at New Hope Church, where Hood's Corps held its line +against Hooker's very vigorous attack. The fighting began about four +o'clock in the afternoon and lasted till darkness put an end to it. All +the other troops of the grand army were hurried forward. McPherson +continued his march to Dallas, Thomas hastened the Fourth Corps to +Hooker's support, holding part of the Fourteenth as a general reserve, +and Schofield was directed to hasten the march of the Twenty-third Corps +by way of Burnt Hickory.</p> +<p>My division marched from Sligh's Mill at five o'clock, and on +reaching Burnt Hickory took the road Hooker had travelled to Owen's +Mill, accompanied by Hascall's division, Hovey's being left near Burnt +Hickory to protect the trains. A thunderstorm with pouring rain came on +soon after we started and lasted through the night. On reaching the road +behind Hooker, we found it filled with his wagons, and the storm, the +darkness, and the obstructed road produced a combination of miseries +which made the march slow and fatiguing to the last degree. We plodded +on till midnight, but had not yet reached Pumpkin Vine Creek, when we +halted for a little rest, and to get further orders from Schofield, who +had before nightfall gone on to communicate with Sherman. Word came that +he was disabled by an accident when on his way back to us, and I was +directed to lead the two divisions forward and report to Sherman. After +a halt of an hour the men fell into ranks again, and pressing the +toilsome march, reached the field at daybreak. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 303, 311, 320. The official Atlas is again +inaccurate in making our line of advance from Sligh's Mill follow the +Marietta road instead of that to Burnt Hickory (Huntsville).]</span></p> +<p>By Sherman's orders we joined the Fourth Corps (Howard's), extending +its line to the left, and the whole swung forward through a terribly +tangled forest till we passed Brown's saw-mill and reached the open +valley which was the continuation of that in front of Hooker, and took +our extreme left over the Dallas and Allatoona road. We had met with a +strong skirmishing resistance, for Johnston was manifestly unwilling to +give up the control of the road we had crossed. Having thus partly +turned the Confederate position on our left, Sherman hoped that +McPherson might complete their dislodgment by a similar flanking +movement through Dallas on our right. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 321, 322.]</span> +The distances, however, were greater than we estimated, and though +McPherson kept with him Davis's division of Palmer's Corps (greatly to +Palmer's disgust), <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pp. 316, 324.]</span> he was still unable to connect his line with +Hooker's, and occupied an isolated, salient position in front of Dallas +which would be perilous if Johnston were able to concentrate upon him.</p> +<p>The enemy's line was along one of the smaller branches of Pumpkin +Vine Creek, and Sherman ordered for the 27th that McPherson should press +toward the left down the little valley, whilst Howard, with one division +of his own corps withdrawn from the line and one division of Palmer's +which had been in reserve, should push out beyond our left and turn the +enemy's right near Pickett's Mill. A brigade of the Twenty-third Corps +moved in the interval to cover Howard's flank and keep connection with +the intrenched line. The almost impenetrable character of the forest +made the movement slow, and it was late in the afternoon when Howard +reached the enemy's position. He found they too had been busy in +extending their lines, though pretty sharply recurved, to the eastward. +The fierce combat did not succeed in carrying the Confederate position, +but it gained good ground near the mill, better covering all the roads +toward the railway. The left wing of the Twenty-third Corps swung +forward to Howard's position, and all intrenched strongly upon it.</p> +<p>On May 28th McPherson was ordered to prepare for moving to the +extreme left, continuing the extension of our line toward the railroad. +Suspecting this, the Confederates made a fierce attack upon the position +in front of Dallas, but were repulsed with heavy loss. At McPherson's +request his movement was delayed a little, lest it should seem to be +forced by Johnston's attack. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 339, 340.]</span></p> +<p>Sherman had been very unwilling to give up the hope of putting +Johnston's army to rout in a decisive engagement, and to accept, +instead, the patient flanking movements by which he should force upon +his adversary the dilemma of abandoning more and more of Georgia, or of +himself making attacks upon intrenched lines. In writing to Halleck +after the battle of Resaca, he had said that although the campaign was +progressing favorably, he knew that his army "must have one or more +bloody battles such as have characterized Grant's terrific struggles." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 219.]</span> +But the affairs at New Hope Church and Pickett's Mill show that the +country was so impracticable that it was not possible to deliver an +attack by his whole army at once, and so to give real unity to a great +battle. He was therefore brought, perforce, to accept the systematic +advance by flanking movements, and to avoid assaults upon intrenched +positions on the forest-covered hills. He knew that this policy would +bring a time when the enemy could no longer afford to retreat and must +resort to aggressive tactics, even at the risk of destruction to his +army. It was a curious repetition of the ancient colloquy,--"If thou art +a great general, come down and fight me.--If thou art a great general, +make me come down and fight thee." It may be readily admitted that in +such a country as Central Europe other methods would have been feasible +and preferable; but in the tangled wildernesses of Virginia and Georgia +the matter was brought to the test by leaders who had courage and will +equal to any, and the result was a system which may be confidently said +to be the natural evolution of warfare in such environment. Johnston +knew that his retreat, though slow, was giving dissatisfaction to +President Davis at Richmond, but he saw also that to assault Sherman's +lines meant final and irretrievable disaster, and he continued his +patient and steady defence. Our progress around his right warned him +that the New Hope Church position must soon be abandoned, and a new one +was already selected, closer to Marietta, with Kennesaw, Pine and Lost +mountains, for its strongholds.</p> +<p>The two or three days during which General Schofield had been +disabled had brought me into closer personal relations with Sherman than +I had enjoyed before, and was the beginning of an intimate friendship +which lasted as long as he lived. I had the opportunity of learning more +of his characteristics and his methods, and saw how sound his judgment +was, and how cool a prudence there was behind his apparent +impulsiveness. The untiring activity of his mind turned every problem +over and over until he had viewed it from every point and considered the +probable consequences of each mode of solving it. At bottom of all lay +the indomitable courage and will which were only stimulated by +obstacles, and which stuck to the inexorable purpose of keeping the +initiative and making each day bring him nearer to a successful end of +the campaign.</p> +<p>By the 1st of June McPherson had brought the Army of the Tennessee +into close connection with the centre, where Palmer's Corps of the +Cumberland Army had its three divisions reunited (except one brigade), +relieving us and enabling Thomas to draw out Hooker's Corps as a +reserve. The orders for the 2d were that we were to pass to the left +beyond Howard's Corps, and push out upon the Burnt Hickory and Marietta +road, turning the enemy's flank and reaching, if possible, the +cross-roads where it intersected a second road leading from New Hope +Church to Ackworth, a little in rear of the enemy's lines. The object +was to cover more completely the connections with the railroad south of +the Etowah, and to gain positions which would take in reverse portions +of the Confederate lines. Hooker's Corps was ordered to support this +movement on our extreme left. The cavalry were ordered to make a +combined effort to reach Allatoona Pass on the railroad, and to hold it +till Blair's (Seventeenth) Corps, coming from Alabama by way of Rome, +could arrive and occupy it in force. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 348, 349, 362, 366, 367.]</span></p> +<p>Stoneman with the cavalry of the Army of the Ohio entered Allatoona +on June 1st, and reported the gorge a place he could hold against a +superior force. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 379.]</span> General Johnston was so well persuaded that his position +was no longer tenable that he issued the same day a confidential order +directing a withdrawal, but recalled it late in the day in view of the +changes evidently going on at our extreme right, and so remained a few +days longer. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 753.]</span> On the morning of the 2d, the preliminary changes in the +line being completed, Schofield marched with the Twenty-third Corps to +the left until he reached the Burnt Hickory and Marietta road, near the +Cross Roads Church, or Burnt Church, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 396.]</span> +then turning to the east and guiding his left on the road he pushed +forward through an almost impenetrable forest where it was impossible to +see two rods. There was great difficulty in keeping the movement of the +invisible skirmish line in accord with the line of battle, which we +directed by compass, like a ship at sea. In the advance, my +adjutant-general, Captain Saunders, was mortally wounded by my side, as +we were riding, unconscious of our danger, through an opening out of our +skirmishers in a momentary loss of direction. There were extensive +thickets of the loblolly pine occasionally met, where these scrub trees +were so thick and their branches so interlaced that neither man nor +horse could force a way through them, and the movement would be delayed +till these densest places were turned by marching around them. The +connection would then be made again, the direction of the skirmishers +rectified, and the advance resumed. The regiments advanced by the right +of companies in columns of fours at deploying distance, but not even the +men of a company could see those on right or left, so dense was the +tangle.</p> +<p>We passed over the divide separating Pumpkin Vine Creek, and its +branches from Allatoona Creek, and the sharp skirmishing began as we +approached the latter. The afternoon was well advanced when we reached +the creek, and a heavy thunderstorm broke as our line forded the stream +and pushed up the hill on the other side. We now drew the artillery fire +from an intrenched line on the crest which we could not see, and for a +time the mingled roar of the thunder and of the enemy's cannon was such +that it was hard to tell the one from the other. My advanced line closed +in as near the intrenchments as possible, whilst the second remained on +the hither side of the creek. At my request Hascall's division swung +still farther out to the left to develop the line of the enemy's works, +and Schofield asked Butterfield's division of Hooker's Corps to advance +on the extreme flank. He found that Hascall developed the full extent of +the Confederate line, and thought it a good opportunity to take the +position in reverse. Butterfield, however, declined to do more than move +up to Hascall's support in rear, and night fell before Schofield could +accomplish anything decisive. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 386. In this instance the +question of relative rank by date of commission was slightly involved. +Butterfield claimed to rank Schofield and declined to do more than is +stated. Schofield's Report, <i>Id</i>., pt. ii. p. 512; Schofield's +Forty-six Years in the Army, p. 130.]</span></p> +<p>The downpour of rain had been such that the creek, which was +insignificant when we first came to it, became unfordable before sunset, +and gave me no little concern for the first line of my division, which +was over it. It was ordered to cover itself with such abatis as could be +speedily made and to intrench, whilst we improvised footbridges for +crossing to its support if it should be attacked. I announced that my +headquarters for the night would be immediately in rear of the centre of +my second line; but when the pressure of duty was off and I was at +liberty to go to the position I had named, I found that it was one of +the densest parts of a pine thicket, and I could not even get back of +the troops in line till a path was cut for me by a detachment of men +with axes. They cleared a narrow way for a few rods, and then widened it +out into a circular space at the foot of the trunk of a great tree so +that there was room for a camp-fire, and for two or three of us to +bivouac, but most of the staff remained at a more approachable place a +little in rear. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 396.]</span> We regarded it so +important that the notice given to subordinates of our whereabouts at +night should not be misleading, that we stuck to the place that had +been named, in spite of the inconvenience and discomfort. The fall of +rain is amusingly illustrated by the fact that in the height of the +storm my knee-boots filled with the water running off me, and I emptied +them as I sat in the saddle by lifting first one leg and then the other +up in front of me till the water ran out of the boot-top in a stream. I +had been a little ailing for a day or two, and my sleep was not as sound +as it usually was even in close contact with the hostile lines. In the +wakeful hours the loss of my friend and able staff officer, Captain +Saunders, filled me with mournful thoughts; for though the daily work +under fire had exposed all the little circle at headquarters to +casualties, our good fortune hitherto had bred a sort of confidence in +immunity, and the sudden fall of him who had been the centre of the +staff group and a personal favorite with all was a heavy blow to us when +we had time to think of it.</p> +<p>Next morning Schofield arranged with General Thomas to relieve +Hovey's division of our corps which had been on our right, and marching +this division beyond Hascall's on our extreme left, the whole line went +forward. The Confederate intrenchment in my immediate front was +completely outflanked, and was found to be a detached position which the +enemy abandoned when threatened by Hascall's advance, and my men at once +occupied it. The movement was continued until Hovey's division was upon +the interior Dallas and Ackworth road near Allatoona church, whilst my +division and Hascall's held the cross roads which had been covered by +the fortifications we had captured. Hooker's Corps passed beyond Hovey, +covering the flank to the eastward. Sherman now hastened the extension +of the line toward the railroad by passing the whole army behind us, +till by the 6th we became the extreme right flank of the army. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. ii. p. 681; <i>Id.</i>, pt. iv. p. 407.]</span> Johnston +had abandoned his position on the night of the 4th, falling back on the +new line he had selected with his left resting on Lost Mountain and his +right upon Brush Mountain, the next eminence north of Kennesaw. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. iv. pp. +408, 758.]</span></p> +<p>The abandonment of the New Hope line gave us the opportunity to +examine it, which, of course, we did with great interest. It was about +six miles long, of the most formidable character of field +fortifications. The entry in my diary says of them that we found them +"very strong, both for artillery and infantry, with abatis carefully +sharpened and staked down. They have never before shown so much industry +and finished their defensive works with so much care." When it is +remembered that these lines could only be approached through forests +which hid everything till we were right upon them, it will easily be +believed that we congratulated ourselves that the enemy was manoeuvred +out of them and was being crowded back till he must soon assume the +aggressive and assault our works.</p> +<p>Sherman's new positions placed McPherson's army on Proctor's Creek, +a branch of the Allatoona in front of Ackworth on the railroad, Thomas's +army between Mt. Olivet Church and Golgotha, covering the principal +roads from Cassville and Kingston to Marietta and Lost Mountain, whilst +Schofield was placed in echelon on the right flank, covering the +hospitals and trains until the base could be transferred to the railway. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 423, 428, 430.]</span> My own division was left for +some days in the position we had carried on the 3d, about a mile +separated from the rest of the line. A pontoon bridge was laid at the +Etowah railway crossing till the great bridge could be constructed, and +General Blair, who was on the 6th at Kingston, with two divisions of the +Seventeenth Corps, was ordered to march to Ackworth by this direct +road. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. +424.]</span> Blair's command was the only important reinforcement +received by Sherman during the campaign, and just about made up for the +losses by battle and by sickness up to the time of its arrival. A more +open belt of country lay along the western side of the line from +Kennesaw to Lost Mountain, and Sherman hurried the readjustment of his +forces in the hope of a decisive engagement with Johnston by the 9th of +June or soon afterward.</p> +<p>A change now occurred in the organization of our corps which +afterward became a matter of so much historical notoriety that it may be +worth while to give the particulars with accuracy. General Hovey +tendered his resignation as a division commander, and asked a leave of +absence to await the action of the President upon it. The reasons +assigned by him were his dissatisfaction and unwillingness to serve +longer with his division, which he claimed should be increased by five +regiments of Indiana cavalry, recruited at the same time and in +connection with his infantry regiments, and, as he asserted, with some +assurance that they should be one organization under him. He also +intimated that he had reason to expect promotion which had not been +given him.</p> +<p>I have already mentioned some dissatisfaction on General Schofield's +part with him at the beginning of the campaign, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, p. 214.]</span> +but the middle of the campaign seemed so inconvenient a time to make a +change that Schofield sought earnestly to smooth the matter over, and +tried to obtain for Hovey other troops to increase the size of his +division. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 439.]</span> Sherman had no infantry +which was not a regular part of other divisions, and could not increase +Hovey's command in that way. He said that he could not tolerate the +anomaly of combining five cavalry regiments with infantry in a division +of foot, and that, in fact, the regiments were along the railroad, +protecting our communications and could not be spared. He invited Hovey +to a personal conference, and urged him to withdraw his resignation, to +take time at least for reflection, and not insist upon changes in the +midst of a campaign and in the presence of the enemy. The appeal was +unsuccessful, and Sherman telegraphed to the War Department that Hovey +was discontented because he was not made a major-general, and that, +though he esteemed him as a man, he should recommend the acceptance of +the resignation. On the paper itself he endorsed a full statement of the +circumstances and his recommendation that General Hovey be allowed to +resign. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 433, 439, 443, 448.]</span></p> +<p>The official censure of General Sherman having been thus spread upon +the records of the War Department, and that department having made a +tender of resignation in the presence of the enemy a cause for summary +dismissal of inferior officers, the surprise of the army may be imagined +when, on July 25th, Sherman was notified from Washington that Hovey and +Osterhaus had been promoted to be major-generals,--the first by brevet, +the other to the full grade. To Sherman himself the thing was +exceedingly galling, for not only was his action in Hovey's case +reversed, and that which he condemned made the occasion for reward, but +he had, only the day before, in asking to have Howard transferred to the +command of the Army of the Tennessee, made vacant by McPherson's death, +added a special request on the general subject of promotions. "After we +have taken Atlanta," he had said, "I will name officers who merit +promotion. In the mean time I request that the President will not give +increased rank to any officer who has gone on leave from sickness, or +cause other than wounds in battle." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pt. v. p. 241.]</span> This language had manifest reference to the cases +in hand, and was, no doubt, based on rumors of what was about to happen: +but it was too late, for a dispatch from Colonel Hardie, +Inspector-General, was already on the way to him, announcing the +promotions by order of the War Department.</p> +<p>Sherman's indignation boiled over in his reply, which said: "I wish +to put on record this, my emphatic opinion, that it is an act of +injustice to officers who stand by their posts in the day of danger to +neglect them and advance such as Hovey and Osterhaus, who left us in the +midst of bullets to go to the rear in search of personal advancement. If +the rear be the post of honor, then we had better all change front on +Washington." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. v. p. 247.]</span> The vigor of this protest +carried it to Mr. Lincoln's personal attention, and he answered it, +admitting that it was well taken, but urging reasons for his action +which show only too well that they were more political than military. A +Presidential campaign had just begun, and with all his great qualities, +Mr. Lincoln was susceptible to reasons of political policy in the use of +appointments to office. He referred to the recommendations for +promotion that Grant and Sherman had given these officers in a former +campaign, and to "committals" which had been drawn from him which he +"could neither honorably nor safely disregard." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 259.]</span> +In the case of Osterhaus the President added that his promise had been +given "on what he thought was high merit and somewhat on his +nationality." In short, Indiana and Missouri were doubtful States, and +the German vote was important. But what idea of military promotions was +that which, in such a war and in the midst of such a campaign, advanced +officers to the highest grade upon personal importunity, not only +without consultation with their commanding general in the field but in +spite of his protest; which does not seem even to have asked the +question what was going on in Georgia and what would be the effect of +such action upon the army there! If there had been unlimited power of +promotion, the case might have been less mischievous; but Congress had +limited the number of officers, so that vacancies were now filled, and, +for the Atlanta campaign and Sherman's army in Georgia, these two were +the only promotions that could be given, and of those whom Sherman +recommended for the grade of major-general for service in that campaign +when Atlanta was taken, not one then received it. When these things are +remembered, Sherman's indignation will be seen to be righteous, and his +protest a memorable effort in favor of good military administration. In +replying to the President he apologized for the freedom of his language +and assured Mr. Lincoln of his confidence in the conscientiousness of +his general course, but he did not soften or blink the facts. "You can +see," said he, "how ambitious aspirants for military fame regard these +things. They come to me and point them out as evidence that I am wrong +in encouraging them to a silent, patient discharge of duty. I assure you +that every general of my army has spoken of it, and referred to it as +evidence that promotion results from importunity and not from actual +service. I have refrained from recommending any thus far in the +campaign, as I think we should reach some stage in the game before +stopping to balance accounts or to write history." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. v. p. 271.]</span></p> +<p>Some promotions to the rank of brigadier were made in the Potomac +Army at this time, and Grant was notified that there were three or four +other vacancies in that grade. This led him to say he would like to have +them given to such men as Sherman might recommend. He added: "No one can +tell so well as one immediately in command the disposition that should +be made of the material on hand. Osterhaus has proved himself a good +soldier, but if he is not in the field I regret his promotion." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 260.]</span> +As it had been Grant's former recommendation which had been the +strongest ostensible ground of the promotion, this remark of his is +important as pointing out the true principle in such matters. +Recommendations of such a sort are always on the implied condition that +the claim shall not be forfeited by subsequent conduct, and Grant said +in substance that the circumstances had altered the cases and relieved +him (and the administration too) of any obligation.</p> +<p>To complete the discussion, it must be noted that there were three +brigadiers from Indiana in the Twenty-third Corps at this time, and +Hovey was not only the junior of the three but had been the least +actively employed in the campaign. Manson had been stricken down in the +battle of Resaca whilst heroically leading his men to the capture of the +rebel position, and never fully recovered from the injury. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, p. 221.]</span> +Hascall distinguished himself at every step of the campaign. Both left +the service at last without any further recognition. It was common fame +in the army that they were not favored by Governor O. P. Morton, the +dominant political influence in their State. Hovey's further service was +not in the field, but as commandant of the District of Indiana. +Osterhaus returned to the Fifteenth Corps and served creditably in +Sherman's remaining campaigns. Hovey's division was broken up, one +brigade being added to Hascall's division and the other to mine. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 448.]</span><br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX</p> +<p>ATLANTA CAMPAIGN: MARIETTA LINES--CROSSING THE CHATTAHOOCHEE</p> +<p>Continuous rains in June--Allatoona made a field depot on the +railway and fortified--Johnston in the Marietta lines--That from Pine +Mountain to Lost Mountain abandoned--Swinging our right flank--Affair at +Kolb's farm--Preparing for a general attack--Battle of Kennesaw--The +tactical problem--Work of my division--Topography about Cheney's--Our +advance on the 27th--Nickajack valley reached--The army moves behind +us--Johnston retreats to the Chattahoochee--Twenty-third Corps at Smyrna +Camp-ground--Crossing the Chattahoochee at Soap Creek--At +Roswell--Johnston again retreats--Correspondence with Davis--Mission of +B. H. Hill--Visit of Bragg to Johnston--Johnston's unfortunate +reticence--He is relieved and Hood placed in command--Significance of +the change to the Confederacy and to us.</p> +<p>In the month of June we had more than three weeks of pouring rains, +making a quagmire of the whole country. The "dirt roads," which were the +only ones, were soon destroyed by the heavy army wagons, and even the +place where they had been could not be distinguished in the waste of mud +and ruts which spread far and wide. Sherman found the intrenchments +Johnston had left "an immense line of works," and congratulated himself +that they had been turned with less loss to himself than he had +inflicted on the enemy. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 408.]</span> The first +reconnoissances found that Johnston had retreated so far that, from the +commander downward, we all harbored the hope that he had retreated +beyond the Chattahoochee. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 427.]</span> To prepare for our next step, the railway crossing of +the Etowah must be completed and our depot of supplies advanced to +Allatoona. The gorge there was almost as defensible on the south as on +the north, and Sherman set Captain Poe, his engineer, to work laying out +fortifications to cover its southern mouth and thus prepare for holding +it by a small garrison as a secondary base if we should have to leave +it again to make a wide turning movement. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 428.]</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="images/2-39-1.jpg" + title="Vicinity of Marietta, June 20,--July 4, 1864." + alt="Vicinity of Marietta, June 20,--July 4, 1864." + style="width: 600px; height: 559px;"><br> +</p> +<p>We were not long in learning that Johnston was not over the +Chattahoochee, but had only fallen back to a shorter and more formidable +line about Marietta, covering the railway where it passed through the +defiles of Kennesaw Mountain, extending his left centre to the isolated +knob of Pine Mountain, and thence recurving his flank by way of Gilgal +(Hard-Shell Church in local nomenclature) toward Lost Mountain, which +was held by his cavalry.</p> +<p>At the first appearance of a retreat by the Confederates beyond the +Chattahoochee, Sherman's mind naturally turned to the plans of campaign +which should follow his approach to Atlanta as they had been indicated +by General Grant at the beginning of operations in the spring, and he +inquired of Halleck whether the intended movement of the fleet under +Farragut and part of the southwestern army under Canby against Mobile +had been ordered. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 418.]</span> Halleck answered +that it had been suggested to Canby, but that Grant had, just then, all +he could attend to on the Chickahominy. The fierce battles in Virginia +had culminated on June 3d, in the terrible struggle at Cold Harbor, +where the assault had been so costly as almost to produce dismay +throughout the country, and in all our armies to enforce the lesson of +caution in attacking such works as the enemy was now habitually +constructing. The feeling was hinted at by Sherman in his dispatch to +Washington on the 5th, when he said that although he should probably +have to fight Johnston at Kennesaw, he would not "run head on to his +fortifications." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 408.]</span></p> +<p>Amid the discouragements incident to the incessant rains the army +gained positions closely enveloping Johnston's lines, and we who +constituted the right flank, pushing out from hill to hill and from +brook to brook, gradually outflanked the enemy and forced him to swing +back his left. On the 14th he let go of Pine Mountain, where General +Polk was killed and General Johnston himself had a narrow escape from +our artillery fire while they were reconnoitring our positions from its +summit. On the 16th we were close upon the Gilgal and Lost Mountain +line, and the enemy again withdrew that flank beyond Mud Creek, which +with Noyes's Creek <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Noyes's Creek was pronounced Noses Creek by the negroes and the people +of the neighborhood, and the name took that form in our reports at the +time. It was afterward corrected in the Official Records.]</span> and +Olley's are the tributaries of the Sweetwater (before mentioned) which +flows southward into the Chattahoochee. Sherman was on the lookout for +weak places in his adversary's line where he might break through and +change into a rout the war of positions which was too much like siege +operations to suit him. He said to Halleck that Johnston had declined +the assault which must have followed our so close contact, "and +abandoned Lost Mountain and some six miles of as good field-works as I +ever saw." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 498.]</span> Still keeping the right +shoulder forward, we crowded in upon the new line, and in the night of +the 18th the enemy retreated from the intrenchments behind Mud Creek to +those of Noyes's Creek, whilst at the same time he drew back his extreme +right behind Noonday Creek, compacting his lines with the purpose of +transferring a corps to his left, where we now began to threaten his +communications.</p> +<p>Again there was a momentary belief that Marietta was abandoned, but +again it was premature, for the apex of the angle was stoutly held at +the rocky crest of Kennesaw. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 519.]</span> There was nothing for it but to continue the swing of +the right flank. In his instructions to Thomas, Sherman said, "Until +Schofield develops the flank we should move with due caution; but the +moment it is found or we are satisfied the enemy has lengthened his line +beyond his ability to defend, we must strike quick and with great +energy." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 509.]</span></p> +<p>The waters were up in all the streams, and Noyes's was wholly +unfordable. Following the Sandtown road southward, my division was +stopped by the creek, and the enemy's artillery and dismounted cavalry +held a good position on the other side, having removed the flooring of +the bridge. In a brilliant little affair by a part of Cameron's brigade, +the bridge was carried, and the whole division was soon across and +intrenched at the crest on the south side, covering the intersection of +the Sandtown road with that from Marietta to Powder Springs Church. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviiii. pt. iv. pp. 534, 540.]</span> On the morning of June 22d, the +rest of Schofield's corps crossed the creek and took the Marietta road, +whilst Hooker's corps swung forward from the right of the Cumberland +Army to keep pace with Schofield. My own division at the same time +marched southward on the Sandtown road to Cheney's farm, near the +crossing of Olley's Creek, the next in the series of parallel valleys +trending to the southwest. Cheney's was also at the crossing of the +lower road from Marietta to Powder Springs village, which forked near +Kolb's farm, the northern branch being that on which Schofield was +advancing with Hascall's division. But Hood's corps was also upon this +road, having marched in the night from the extreme right of Johnston's +army to extend the left and meet our aggressive movement. This brought +on the bloody affair of Kolb's (or Culp's) farm, Hood making a fierce +attack on Schofield's left and Hooker's right, which was repulsed. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Atlanta, p. 108, etc.]</span> +The enemy had to content himself with extending southward the line +confronting ours, till it passed over the ridge behind Noyes's creek and +covered the valley of Olley's. Schofield had called me with three +brigades to Hascall's support, leaving one (Reilly's) at the Cheney +farm. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, +vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 558, 559, 566-569.]</span></p> +<p>Hood's attack had checked the flanking movement from which Sherman +had hoped good results. Johnston had also been able to stretch out his +right so that the works in front of McPherson seemed to be held in force +enough to make an assault unpromising. On the reports of subordinates as +to their uneasiness at the stretching of their lines, Thomas suggested +to Sherman that the lines be contracted and strengthened. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 581.]</span> +At the same time reports were received that Confederate cavalry had +crossed the Etowah in our rear, and had begun to make use of torpedoes +to derail and destroy trains on the railway. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 579.]</span> Yet Garrard's cavalry on our left +reported the enemy's horse superior in numbers, and were unable to make +such progress there as Sherman had expected. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 542, 555.]</span> +It began to look like a dead-lock, and that, of all things, was what +Sherman could not endure. With grim humor he wrote to Thomas, "I suppose +the enemy with his smaller force intends to surround us!" <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 582.]</span> +The only alternative seemed to be to find the places where that smaller +force was most attenuated and break through by main strength. He +notified his subordinates that this must be done on the 27th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>. and p. 588.]</span> +As a preliminary, he ordered demonstrations to be kept up on both flanks +to draw the enemy away from the centre. His formal order, issued on the +24th, directed General Thomas to select a point of attack near his +centre. McPherson was directed to make a feint with his cavalry and one +division of infantry on the left, but to make his real attack at a point +south and west of Kennesaw. Schofield was likewise to make a +demonstration on the extreme right, in front of my division, but to +attack a point as near as practicable to the Powder Springs road, which +was the scene of the affair of the 22d. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>.]</span> The +tactical details were all left to the subordinate army commanders.</p> +<p>On the 25th Sherman visited our positions in person, and accompanied +the active reconnoissances which we were making. The result he stated in +an evening dispatch to Thomas, saying, "I found that the enemy had +strengthened his works across the Powder Springs road very much, having +made embrasures for three complete batteries, all bearing on that road. +Line extends as far as can be seen to the right, mostly in timber and +partly in open ground. The enemy is also on his [Schofield's] right +flank on the other side of Olley's Creek." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 589.]</span> The outcome of this was a modification +of Schofield's orders, so that instead of attacking seriously in force, +he should make strong demonstrations to attract the enemy to our wing of +the army as much as possible, and thus assist Thomas and McPherson in +their attacks near the centre.</p> +<p>It was with reluctance that Sherman was brought to the determination +to make a front assault. His preference and his earlier purpose had been +to make an equal force to Johnston's keep the Confederates in their +works whilst the remainder of his own army should move from our right +and attack beyond Johnston's left flank. He had thought the opportunity +was come when we had secured the crossing of Noyes's Creek, and he +indicated the morning of the 22d for an advance on the Powder Springs +and Marietta road which we then commanded. In his dispatch to Thomas on +the 21st, he said, "I feel much disposed to push your right, supported +by Schofield and Stoneman's cavalry, whilst McPherson engages attention +to his front, but keeps ready to march by his right to reinforce you." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 546.]</span></p> +<p>The founderous condition of the whole region had made every movement +slow, and in the same note to Thomas, Sherman had summed it up in the +two words: "Roads terrific." Yet on the morning of the 22d the way to +Marietta by the Powder Springs road was only contested by cavalry, +though Johnston's ever-watchful eye had seen the danger and by his order +Hood was marching his corps from the other flank of the army to meet +Sherman's extension by our right. In going to examine McPherson's lines +himself, Sherman had added to his dispatch, "If anything happens, act +promptly with your own troops and advise me and your neighbor, +Schofield, who has standing orders to conform to you." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>.]</span> The +situation was, in fact, exactly what he had been hoping for. The flank +of the enemy was exposed, and we had the opportunity to use the broad +road leading to Marietta to turn it. Could Hooker, supported by +Hascall's division of our corps, have reached Zion's Church before Hood, +or at the same time with him, it seems almost certain that the position +gained would have compelled Johnston to abandon Kennesaw and Marietta at +once, and fall back to the line of the Nickajack if not beyond the +Chattahoochee. In that case the battle of Kennesaw would not have been +fought.</p> +<p>In the evening of the 22d, when Sherman received Hooker's answer to +a question sent him during the progress of the combat in the afternoon, +and found the latter laboring under the conviction that the whole of +Johnston's army was in his immediate front, he was naturally annoyed at +so exaggerated a view of the situation. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 558.]</span> Thomas received similar reports from +Hooker and a call for reinforcements, and though he said he "thought at +the time he was stampeded," <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 559.]</span> he sent to him a division from Howard's corps. The truth +was that one brigade of Hooker's corps and one of Schofield's were the +only ones that had suffered at all severely, the total list of less than +300 casualties being about equally divided between them. Hood had been +repulsed with a loss of more than 1000. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Atlanta, p. 113.]</span> When +to these circumstances are added those which have before been mentioned, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, pp. 258, 259.]</span> +we can understand how Sherman began to fear that, in the systematic +flanking operations he had been carrying on, his army was losing the +energetic aggressive character without which he could not profit +decisively by the opportunities which might offer. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See Sherman's personal +letters to Halleck of July 9th, Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. v. +p. 91; to Grant of June 18th, <i>Id</i>., pt. iv. p. 507; and of July +12th, <i>Id</i>., pt. v. p. 123.]</span> Adding still further the +difficulty, amounting almost to an impossibility, of supplying the wing +of the army most distant from the railroad, and the probability that +Johnston's army was stretched into a line even thinner than his own, it +will not seem strange that he concluded it was time to try whether a +bold stroke would not break through the Confederate defences and rout +his adversary. I am saying this from the standpoint of our own +experience in the wooded and sparsely settled region we were operating +in. From a European point of view, an aggressive policy of attack would +be taken as a matter of course, and the only questions open for debate +would be the tactical ones as to the method of making the assault and +the points at which to deliver it. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +For a recent summary of the discussion of "Attack or Defence," see +Letters and Essays of Captain F. N. Maude, R. E. (International Series), +p. 70; also his "Cavalry and Infantry" (same series), p. 127, etc.]</span></p> +<p>The attack was made on the 27th, and failed to carry the enemy's +works, though our troops were able to hold positions close to the ditch +and to intrench themselves on a new line there. The casualties in the +action were 2164. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: In +Logan's Corps, 629 (Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iii. p. 85); in +Howard's, 756 (<i>Id</i>., pt. i. p. 205), and in Palmer's, 779 (<i>Id</i>., +p. 509).]</span> Some of the best officers who took part in the assault +were of the opinion that had the supports been well in hand, so as to +have charged quickly over the first line when it was checked and lost +its impetus, the works in front of Davis's division would have been +carried. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: McCook's +Brigade at Kennesaw Mountain, by Major F. B. James of the Fifty-Second +Ohio; Ohio Loyal Legion Papers, vol. iv. pp. 269, 270.]</span> It is +hardly necessary to say that at the present day an entirely different +deployment and organization of the attacking forces would be considered +essential, and the preparation by concentrated artillery fire would be +much more thorough than was practicable then. The dense forest made the +cannonade almost harmless at the points chosen for assault, and the +attack was one of infantry against unshaken earthworks. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: For description of the +battle, see "Atlanta," chap. x.]</span></p> +<p>In Sherman's visit to our position on the 25th, he had arranged with +Schofield the general plan for our demonstrations on the 26th and 27th. +Hascall's division was to make a feint of attack near the Powder Springs +road, whilst mine should force the crossing of Olley's Creek near +Cheney's, on the Sandtown road, build a temporary bridge over the creek +a mile or two above, and make a strong show of a purpose to attack +beyond Hascall's right flank by crossing with a brigade there. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: </span><span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Official Records</span><span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 589, 592.]</span></p> +<p>The valley of Olley's Creek was broad and open, and the country +beyond my right was more practicable than the tangled wilderness on the +northern slope of the watershed. We had got beyond the denser thickets +of the loblolly pine, and could better see what we were about. The old +Sandtown road south of Cheney's crossed the creek on a wooden bridge +which was commanded by a fortified hill a little beyond where a battery +of artillery swept the bridge and its approaches. The stream widened out +after passing the bridge and ran between low and marshy banks with +bluffs further back. I had placed Reilly's brigade astride the road at +Cheney's with Myer's Indiana battery of light twelves, smooth-bore +bronze guns. A gap of more than a mile lay between Reilly and the other +three brigades of the division after I had marched to Hascall's support +on the 22d. The lower branch of the Powder Springs road was parallel to +the creek and not far from it, and my artillery near the right of the +three brigades was on an advancing knoll where the guns not only +commanded the valley before them, but Cockerill's Ohio battery of +three-inch rifles swept nearly the whole space to Reilly's position. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 568.]</span></p> +<p>To give more effect to our demonstration, Sherman directed that it +begin on the 26th, and preparations were made to build a bridge in front +of Byrd's brigade, which was ordered to cross the stream when Reilly's +effort against the lower bridge should begin. Our first information was +that the fortified hill in front of Reilly was held by infantry, and as +the work was in form a redoubt, its garrison of course on foot, we +assumed that it was a detached outwork of the Confederate line. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 597.]</span> Reilly kept up a cannonade of the hill +in front of him during the 26th, and made some attempts to get over the +stream at the bridge, but did not seriously try to force the passage. A +temporary bridge was laid at Byrd's position, and soon after noon he +crossed the creek with little opposition, our artillery thoroughly +commanding the further bank. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +p. 599]</span> I personally accompanied Byrd's movement. The artillery +of Hascall's division as well as my own was turned on the enemy's works +when they came out into the open. The hills along this part of Olley's +Creek were not a continuous ridge, but knobby and somewhat detached; the +higher land marking the edge of the plateau about Marietta was further +back, and the Confederate line of works followed it. Byrd's direction +of march was nearly parallel to the Sandtown road, and by advancing +about a mile and a half he reached the summit of a rough wooded hill +about six hundred yards from the main ridge, with open ground +intervening. He was here from half a mile to a mile east of the +Sandtown road, and from the fortified hill in front of Reilly, which was +on the continuation of the same ridge, though with ravines interrupting +it. The position was a very threatening one, and if any demonstration +could draw the enemy in that direction, this seemed likely to do it. I +directed Byrd to intrench on the crest, drawing back the flanks of the +brigade so as to be ready for attack from any direction. Our movement +had been sharply resisted by the enemy, but so far as we could see, +only by dismounted cavalry. Sherman had said that he did not care to +have Reilly force the passage of the creek that afternoon, for a strong +threatening of the fortified hill would be more likely to draw the +enemy that way than actually capturing it. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 597.]</span> On my reporting to General Schofield in +the evening the position of Byrd's brigade with the favorable look of +the country beyond, it was arranged that Byrd's bridge should be made +stronger for permanent use, and that Cameron's brigade should follow him +at daylight in the morning. With my whole division except Barter's +brigade, which was left to cover Hascall's right flank, I was to test +what further progress could be made on the Sandtown road. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 598-600.]</span></p> +<p>At peep of day on the 27th we were astir, anxious to get our part of +the day's work well advanced before the more serious engagement at the +centre should begin. Another battery had been sent to Reilly, and he was +directed to silence the enemy's guns and find a way across the creek +under cover of his own if he could, but if this failed, to storm the +bridge.</p> +<p>Cameron was over Byrd's bridge at four o'clock, and was ordered upon +reaching the ridge in rear of Byrd to push boldly along it toward the +fortified hill the other side of the Sandtown road in front of Reilly. +Byrd's orders were to hold his position with the main body of his +brigade, but to throw out detachments and skirmishers in all directions +to watch the enemy and to get information of the country. Leaving +Cameron as soon as he was well on his way, I rode to Reilly in front of +the Cheney farm, and found that at five his dispositions for forcing the +passage of the stream were well under way. He had determined to try it +some distance below the bridge, at a place where, though the banks were +swampy, the creek was fordable, and the hills behind gave good +opportunity to use the artillery and put the men across under shelter. +My chief of artillery, Major Wells, was with him, selecting places for +the batteries and getting them in position. Soon after six I was with +Cameron again, and before eight was back at Reilly's position, urging +each to all the speed which the strong skirmishing opposition would +permit. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 619.]</span> As it was necessary to +pass from one position to the other by way of the roads at the rear, it +made hard riding for one who wished to be as much as possible with the +active heads of columns.</p> +<p>Soon after eight o'clock part of Reilly's brigade got over the swamp +and creek under cover of the artillery, uncovering the bridge at the +road where the rest crossed; Cameron's was now coming into close +co-operation from the east, and a dashing charge by both carried the +hill. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. +ii. pp. 683, 703, 720.]</span> It was now half-past eight, and the +cannonade which preceded the attacks at the centre was opening heavily +behind us. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pt. i. pp. 199, 632.]</span> The captured position was a commanding one, +and the view from it covered the whole region from Kennesaw to Lost +Mountain. Cameron was left there whilst Reilly followed the retreating +enemy with orders to advance as far as he could toward the Marietta and +Sandtown road, which was supposed to come into the old Cassville and +Sandtown road a mile or two ahead. We now knew from prisoners that the +force opposed to us was the division of Confederate cavalry under +Jackson, and that they were not closely supported by infantry.</p> +<p>The hill had been held by Ross's brigade, which retreated to another +eminence half a mile further down the road. Reilly again advanced, +supported by Cameron. Ross was again dislodged and retreated upon the +rest of the division at the junction of the roads above mentioned. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. iv. pp. +799-801.]</span> As we advanced it became evident that the principal +ridge on which Johnston's army was broke down into separate hills as it +came forward toward the forks of the main roads, and it seemed feasible +to hold some of these in such a way as to make mutually supporting +positions from Byrd to Reilly, covering a front of two miles and +commanding the lower part of the Nickajack valley, in which the Marietta +road ran. Reilly was put in one of these positions with his right +across the road on which we had come, two miles south of Cheney's; +Cameron was ordered forward upon high ground near Reilly's left, and +Byrd was directed to straighten out his line on his right and reach as +far as he could toward Cameron. All were ordered to intrench as rapidly +and thoroughly as possible, for it was plain that we now commanded a +short road to the railway in Johnston's rear, and that he must drive us +out or abandon the Kennesaw line he had clung to so stubbornly.</p> +<p>I had sent my aide, Mr. Coughlan, with the orders to Byrd, and when +the line was extended and skirmishers partly covered the front, he came +back to me by a direct course from Byrd to Cameron and Reilly, with the +daring and intelligence which made him a model staff officer, and +reported that a continuous ridge connected the brigades so that pickets +could be well placed in the interval to give warning of any hostile +attempt to pass between. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. pp. 620, 621. Lieutenant +Coughlan was afterward killed in the heroic performance of duty at the +battle of Franklin. See "Franklin," p. 114.]</span>A small hill a few +hundred yards in front of the main line better commanded the Marietta +road, and upon this I directed Reilly to build a lunette for an advanced +guard of a regiment and a battery.</p> +<p>The whole affair was one of the minor class in war, but it had a +special interest, in our ignorance of the topography of the country, +because it revealed a way to Johnston's line of communications, which +could not be seen and was not suspected when Sherman made the +reconnoissance with us on the 25th, and saw the Confederate lines +crossing the Powder Springs road and stretching away far beyond our +right. In my field dispatch to General Schofield I said: "The possession +of the end of the ridge, if we can hold it, I am now sure will prevent +the enemy from extending his line along it, since it would be +necessarily flanked and enfiladed by our positions. The only objection +is the extension relatively to the strength of my command and the +distance from supports. Upon carefully re-examining the ground my +conviction is strengthened that it is exceedingly desirable to hold all +we have gained, and if Hascall's place could possibly be filled by +troops drawn from other parts of the line, it would give all the force +needed to make a <i>point-d'appui</i> which would be safe and +exceedingly available for future movements in this direction if they +become necessary. I only suggest this by way of indicating the +impression made on my own mind by the position." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 621.]</span></p> +<p>Reilly was three miles distant from Barter's brigade, which covered +the right of the continuous line of the army intrenchments, and it was +certainly risking something to extend the brigades of a single division +so far, but it would have been a great disappointment to us to have been +called back. General Schofield instantly saw the advantage, and in +answering my dispatch, said, "I do not think the importance of the +position you have gained can be over-estimated, especially in view of +the failure elsewhere and probable future movements." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>. See map, p. +255.]</span> He ordered Stoneman's cavalry to aid me in holding the +ground and in picketing the intervals, and reported to General Sherman +the details of the operation. The latter determined to make use of the +advantage gained, and said, "If we had our supplies well up, I would +move at once by the right flank, but I suppose we must cover our +railroad a few days." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Dispatch to McPherson, <i>Id.</i>, p. 622.]</span> We were left, +therefore, for a little while in our exposed position, whilst the whole +army made strenuous efforts to get forward supplies enough for a few +days' separation from the railway. The weather had begun to favor us. +The day of the affair at the Kolb farm (22d) had been the first fair day +of the month, and the continuous clear skies and hot suns rapidly dried +the roads. Sherman sent Captain Poe to make an engineer's examination +of our position and reconnoissance in front. The report confirmed his +purpose of making us the pivot in a swinging movement of the whole +army. On the 29th Generals Thomas and Howard accompanied General +Schofield and myself in a similar inspection, to help fix the details +of the movement for the Army of the Cumberland. Crittenden's brigade of +dismounted cavalry reported to me for temporary duty as infantry with +my division. On the 1st of July Hascall's division was relieved by the +extension of Hooker's corps, and Schofield with his whole corps in hand +advanced a mile upon the Marietta road toward Ruff's Mill. Johnston's +failure to attack was proof that he was preparing for retreat, and +Sherman pressed the movement of his own army.</p> +<p>On the 2d Johnston knew that McPherson's army was marching to +interpose between him and the Chattahoochee, and issued his orders for +the evacuation of the Marietta lines in the night, and the occupation of +the position beyond the Nickajack. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. v. p. 860.]</span> But Thomas and +McPherson both followed so vigorously that the Confederate general saw +that he could not cover the crossings of the river which Stoneman's +cavalry was already reaching on our right, and in the night of the 4th +he again retired, this time to intrenchments with both flanks resting on +the river and covering the railway bridge with two or three of the +principal ferries. With his usual prudence, Johnston had prepared both +these lines with the aid of the Georgia militia under General Gustavus +W. Smith, who, being himself an engineer, was admirably fitted to +co-operate with the plans of the staff.</p> +<p>Again a few days had to be given to repairs of the railroad and a +readjustment of the depots and means of supply, whilst careful +reconnoissances of the river were made both above and below the +Confederate position. Schofield's corps was placed in reserve near the +railway, at Smyrna Camp ground, and on the 8th my division was assigned +the duty of making a crossing of the Chattahoochee, and laying pontoon +bridges at Isham's ford and ferry at the mouth of Soap Creek, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: In the official Atlas, pl. +lx., two creeks are named Rottenwood. The upper one of these with +paper-mills upon it is Soap Creek. The ford was sometimes called Cavalry +Ford in the Confederate dispatches. For particulars of the movements at +this period of the campaign, see "Atlanta," chap. xi.]</span> about nine +miles above the railway crossing of the river. Johnston does not seem +to have been well served by his cavalry on this occasion, for the +crossing was gained and two bridges laid with only trifling opposition, +and my division was over and strongly intrenched before any +concentration of the enemy was made in my front. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. v. pp. 85, 89, 93.]</span> This, of course, decided Johnston +to abandon the northern bank of the river, and he selected a strong +position behind Peach-tree Creek as the next line of defence for +Atlanta, burning the railway bridge and other bridges behind him.</p> +<p>Several days were occupied by Sherman in moving McPherson's command +to Roswell, twenty miles above the railway, and building a +trestle-bridge there, in accumulating supplies and organizing +transportation for another considerable absence from the railroad. By +the 17th the army was over the Chattahoochee, McPherson on the left, +Schoneld next, and Thomas from the centre to the right. A general wheel +of the whole toward the right was ordered, to find and drive back the +enemy upon Atlanta.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the relations between General Johnston and the Confederate +government had reached a crisis. He had regularly reported the actual +movements of his army, but had carefully avoided any indication of his +intentions or of his hopes or fears. When, on the 5th of July, he +retreated to the position at the Chattahoochee crossing, his dispatch +briefly announced that "In consequence of the enemy's advance toward the +river below our left, we this morning took this position, which is +slightly intrenched." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. v. p. 865.]</span> Mr. Davis replied +on the 7th, expressing grave apprehensions at the situation, pointing +out the dangers of the position, and saying that other places had been +stripped to reinforce him, that further increase was impossible, and +that they now depended on his success. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 867.]</span> +By an unfortunate blunder of a subordinate, the dispatch was not sent in +cipher as was intended, and Johnston knew that the contents with its +implied criticism was known to the telegraphers along the line and was +practically public property. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 871]</span> this was not soothing to the general's feelings, even +when explained. His answer said that he had been forced back by siege +operations, and had no opportunity for battle except by attacking +intrenchments. He suggested that the enemy's purpose to capture Atlanta +might be foiled by sending part of the 16,000 cavalry believed to be in +Alabama and Mississippi to break up the railroads behind Sherman and +force him to retreat. Davis replied with the intimation that Johnston +must know that no such force was available in the West, and that it +would be much more to the purpose to use the cavalry he had for that +task of pressing importance. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 875]</span> He sent also by letter fuller details of the stress under +which General S.D. Lee was in the Department of Mississippi, showing +that the hands of that officer were more than full. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: The letter, however, did not +reach Johnston till after he had been relieved of command.]</span> On the +10th Johnston had forwarded a laconic dispatch, saying, "On the night +of the 8th the enemy crossed at Isham's Cavalry Ford; intrenched. In +consequence we crossed at and below the railroad, and are now about two +miles from the river, guarding the crossings." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. v. p. 873.]</span> On the 11th he telegraphed, recommending +the immediate distribution elsewhere of the prisoners at Andersonville. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p.876]</span></p> +<p>It cannot be denied that there was a certain justification for Mr. +Davis's conclusion that the circumstances foreboded the yielding of +Atlanta without the desperate struggle which the importance of the +position demanded. Had Johnston expressed any hopefulness, or said, what +was the fact, that he was himself coming to the determnation to try the +effect of a bold attack whilst Sherman's army was in motion, he would +probably have been left in command. But the personal estrangement had +gone so far that he confined himself rigidly to the briefest report of +events, leaving the Richmond government to guess what was next to +happen. His attitude was in effect a challenge to the Confederate +President to trust the Confederate cause in Georgia to him absolutely, +or to take the responsibility of removing him. The Hon. B. H. Hill, who +was in Richmond, at Johnston's request, to learn if it was possible to +reinforce him, telegraphed him on the 14th, "You must do the work with +your present force. For God's sake, do it." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 879.]</span> +Governor Brown offered to furnish 5000 "old men and boys" for the local +defence of Atlanta in the emergency, in addition to the similar number +of the militia reserves already in the field. These were 'promptly +accepted by Mr. Davis and the order was issued to arm them. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 878, and +vol. lii. pt. ii. pp. 691-695, 704. The correspondence between Mr. Hill +and Mr. Seddon, Secretary of War, is especially instructive as to the +issue between Johnston and Davis.]</span></p> +<p>Before acting further the Confederate President sent out General +Bragg to Atlanta to examine on the spot and report upon the condition of +affairs. Bragg arrived on the 13th and reported that an entire +evacuation of Atlanta seemed to be indicated by what he saw. The army +was sadly depleted, he said, and reported 10,000 less than the return of +June 10th. He could find but little encouraging. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. v. p. 878.]</span> On the following two days he visited +Johnston twice and was "received courteously and kindly." "He has not +sought my advice," Bragg added, "and it was not volunteered. I cannot +learn that he has any more plan for the future than he has had in the +past. It is expected that he will await the enemy on a line some three +miles from here, and the impression prevails that he is now more +inclined to fight. The enemy is very cautious, and intrenches +immediately on taking a new position. His force, like our own, is +greatly reduced by the hard campaign. His infantry now very little over +60,000. The morale of our army is still reported good." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 881.]</span></p> +<p>The receipt of this dispatch with Johnston's of the 16th seems to +have decided President Davis to make a change in the command of the +army, and on the 17th Hood was appointed to the temporary rank of +general in the Provisional Army and ordered to relieve Johnston. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 885, 887, +889.]</span> Hood shrank from the responsibility in the crisis which +then existed, and suggested delay till the fate of Atlanta should be +decided; but Mr. Davis replied, "A change of commanders, under existing +circumstances, was regarded as so objectionable that I only accepted it +as the alternative of continuing in a policy which had proved so +disastrous. Reluctance to make the change induced me to send a telegram +of inquiry to the commanding general on the 16th instant. His reply but +confirmed previous apprehensions. There can be but one question which +you and I can entertain: that is, what will best promote the public +good; and to each of you I confidently look for the sacrifice of every +personal consideration in conflict with that object." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. v. p. 888.]</span></p> +<p>Johnston magnanimously assisted Hood in completing the movements of +the army during the 18th to the Peachtree Creek position and explained +to him his plans. These were, first, to attack Sherman's army when +divided in crossing that difficult stream, and, if successful, to press +the advantage to decisive results. If unsuccessful, to hold the +Peachtree lines till Governor Brown's militia were assembled;<span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Johnston says ten thousand +of these were promised him instead of five. Narrative, p. 348.]</span> +then, holding Atlanta with these, to draw the army back through the town +and march out with the three corps against one of Sherman's flanks, with +the confidence that even if his attack did not succeed, with Atlanta so +strongly fortified he could hold it forever. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Narrative, p. 350.]</span></p> +<p>In reading his more elaborate statement of the plans of which the +above is an outline, one cannot help thinking how unfortunate for him it +was that he did not give them to Mr. Davis as fully as he gave them to +Hood! In answer to the pressing inquiry of the 16th for "your plan of +operations so specifically as will enable me to anticipate events," he +had replied, "As the enemy has double our number, we must be on the +defensive. My plan of operations must therefore depend upon that of the +enemy. It is mainly to watch for an opportunity to fight to advantage. +We are trying to put Atlanta in condition to be held for a day or two by +the Georgia militia, that army movements may be freer and wider." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 883.]</span> +A good understanding with his government was so essential, just then, +that the most reticent of commanders would have been wise in sending in +cipher the whole page in which he tells the specific details of his +purposes and their alternates as he gave them to Hood. Had he done so, +it is quite safe to say that he would not have been removed; but +reading, in the light of the whole season's correspondence, the dispatch +he actually sent, we cannot say that Mr. Davis was unreasonable in +finding it confirm his previous apprehension. Had the general fully and +frankly opened to Bragg the same purposes, the latter could not have +sent the hopeless message which clinched the President's decision.</p> +<p>Johnston said in his final message to Davis that the enemy had +advanced more rapidly and penetrated deeper into Virginia than into +Georgia; and that confident language by a military commander is not +usually regarded as evidence of competency. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. v. p. 888.]</span> There was much force in both points, but +they do not touch the heart of the matter. Between Lee and his +government there was always a frank and cordial comparison of views and +perfect understanding; so that even in disaster it was seen that he had +done the best he could and was actively planning to repair a mischief. +On the other hand, they got from Johnston little but a diarist's +briefest chronicle of events with no word of hopeful purpose or plan. It +was not necessary that he should use "confident language," but words +were certainly called for which expressed intelligent comprehension of +the situation and fertility in purposed action according to probable +contingencies. His advice to Hood showed that he only needed to be +equally frank with the Richmond authorities. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Mr. Davis has discussed his +relations to Johnston in chapter xlviii. of his "Rise and Fall of the +Confederate Government," vol. ii. pp. 547, etc.; but the most succinct +statement of his views is found in a paper prepared for the Confederate +Congress, but withheld. See his letter to Colonel Phelan, Meridian, +Miss., O. R, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 1303-1311.]</span></p> +<p>The assignment of Hood to the command was, of course, in the belief +that he would take a more energetic and aggressive course. He seems to +have been free in his criticisms of his commander, and upon Bragg's +arrival had addressed to him a letter which it is hard to view as +anything else than a bid for the command. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. v. p. 880.]</span> It said Johnston had failed to use +several opportunities to strike Sherman decisive blows; that yet the +losses of the army were 20,000; that under no circumstances should the +enemy be allowed to occupy Atlanta; that if Sherman should establish his +line at the Chattahoochee, he must be attacked by crossing that river; +that he had so often urged aggressive action that he was regarded as +reckless by "the officers high in rank in this army, who are declared +to hold directly opposite views." He concluded by saying that he +regarded it a great misfortune that battle was not given to the enemy +many miles north of the present position.</p> +<p>When Johnston learned from Hood's report <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. iii. p. +628.]</span>(dated February 15, 1865) the nature of the latter's +statements and criticisms, he notified the Richmond government as well +as Hood that he should demand that the latter be brought before a +court-martial; <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Id., p. +637.]</span> but it was then April, on the very eve of the collapse of +the Confederacy, and the discussion was left for continuance in the +private writings of the parties and their friends. Johnston affirmed +that in the only instances in the campaign in which it could be said +that a favorable opportunity for battle had not been seized, Hood +himself had been prominent in protesting against an engagement or had +himself failed to carry out the orders given. In his service as +commander of the army, Hood became involved in disputes as to fact with +Hardee and Cheatham as well as with Johnston, and the result was +damaging to his reputation for accuracy and candor. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Johnston's case is stated in +his "Narrative," chapters x. and xi.; Hood's in his "Advance and +Retreat," chapters v. to ix. In connection with these, Hardee's Report +of April 5, 1865, is of interest (Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. +iii. p. 697), and his letter to General Mackall (<i>Id.</i>, pt. v. p. +987).]</span></p> +<p>The change of commanders undoubtedly precipitated the ruin of the +Confederate cause; yet we must in candor admit that the situation was +becoming so portentous that human wisdom might be overtaxed in trying to +determine what course to take. Of one thing there is no shadow of doubt. +We of the National Army in Georgia regarded the removal of Johnston as +equivalent to a victory for us. Three months of sharp work had convinced +us that a change from Johnston's methods to those which Hood was likely +to employ, was, in homely phrase, to have our enemy grasp the hot end of +the poker. We knew that we should be kept on the alert and must be +watchful; but we were confident that a system of aggression and a +succession of attacks would soon destroy the Confederate army. Of course +Hood did not mean to assault solidly built intrenchments; but we knew +that we could make good enough cover whilst he was advancing against a +flank, to insure him a bloody repulse. The dense forests made the +artillery of little effect in demolishing the works or weakening the <i>morale</i> +of the defenders, and it was essentially an infantry attack upon +intrenched infantry and artillery at close range.</p> +<p>The action of the Confederate government was a confession that +Sherman's methods had brought about the very result he aimed at. The +enemy had been manoeuvred from position to position until he must either +give up Atlanta with its important nucleus of railway communications and +abandon all northern Georgia and Alabama, or he must assume a desperate +aggressive with a probability that this would fatally reduce his army +and make the result only the more completely ruinous. This was the +meaning of the substitution of Hood for Johnston.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL</p> +<p>HOOD'S DEFENCE OF ATLANTA--RESULTS OF ITS CAPTURE</p> +<p>Lines of supply by field trains--Canvas pontoons--Why replaced by +bridges--Wheeling toward Atlanta--Battle of Peachtree Creek--Battle of +Atlanta--Battle of Ezra Church--Aggressive spirit of Confederates +exhausted--Sherman turns Atlanta by the south--Pivot position of +Twenty-third Corps--Hood's illusions--Rapidity of our troops in +intrenching--Movements of 31st August--Affair at Jonesboro--Atlanta won--<i>Morale</i> +of Hood's army--Exaggerating difference in numbers--Examination of +returns--Efforts to bring back absentees--The sweeping +conscription--Sherman's candid estimates--Unwise use of +cavalry--Forrest's work--Confederate estimate of Sherman's campaign.</p> +<p>In advancing from the Chattahoochee, the arrangements Sherman made +for the supply of his army provided separate lines for the trains of the +three columns. McPherson' s wagons would reach him from Marietta by way +of Roswell and the bridge which General Dodge built there. Schofield's +had their depot at Smyrna and came by the wooden bridge which we built +at the mouth of Soap Creek to replace the pontoons. The latter were of +canvas, and whilst unequalled for field use, were unfit for a bridge of +any permanence, because the canvas would be destroyed by long +continuance in the water. As soon as they could be replaced by a pier or +trestle-bridge of timber, they were taken up, cleaned and dried, and +then packed on their special wagons for transport. This train was in +charge of a permanent detachment of troops who became experts in the +handling and care of the material and in laying the bridge. The brigade +of dismounted cavalry in my division was left at the river as a guard +for the wooden bridge which was kept up till the railway bridge was +built and opened for use. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. v. p. 163.]</span> Thomas's troops, +who were more than half the army, drew their supplies from Vining's +Station byway of bridges at Power's Ferry (mouth of Rottenwood Creek) +and Pace's Ferry, a mile below.</p> +<p>Grant sent warning of rumors afloat that reinforcements would be +sent Johnston from the east, and in advancing from the Chattahoochee by +a great wheel to the right, Sherman extended his left so that McPherson +should move to the east of Decatur and break the Georgia Railroad there, +whilst Garrard with his division of cavalry should continue the +destruction toward Stone Mountain and make the gap as wide as possible. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 158.]</span></p> +<p>This movement made the distance travelled by McPherson and Schofield +a long one, and extended their front largely, whilst Thomas was much +more compact. But when once the railway should be so broken that +Johnston's direct communication with the east would be interrupted, +McPherson and Schofield would both move toward their right, and in +closing in upon Atlanta, come into close touch with Thomas. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 167.]</span></p> +<p>It was whilst this movement was progressing, on the 20th of July, +and was near its completion, that Hood made the attack already planned +by Johnston, upon Thomas's columns, crossing Peachtree Creek by several +roads converging at Atlanta. It involved the right of Howard's corps, +the whole of Hooker's, and the left of Palmer's. It was a fierce and +bloody combat, in which the Confederates lost about 6000 men in killed +and wounded, whilst the casualty lists of Thomas's divisions amounted to +2000. Again, on the 22d, the second part of Johnston's plan was tried, +and Hardee's corps, moving by night through Atlanta and far out to the +southward of Decatur, advanced upon the flank of McPherson's army, +whilst Cheatham at the head of Hood's own corps advanced from the +Atlanta lines and continued the attack upon the centre and left of +McPherson and upon the right of Schofield. A great battle raged along +five miles of front and rear, but at evening the worsted Confederates +retired within the fortifications of the city, a terrible list of 10,000 +casualties showing the cost of the aggressive tactics. The losses on the +National side were 3500, heavy enough, in truth, but with very different +results on the relative strength of the armies and their <i>morale</i>. +But the end was not yet. On the 28th McPherson's army, now under the +command of Howard, was marching from the left wing to the right, to +extend our lines southward on the west side of Atlanta, when once more +Hood struck fiercely at the moving flank at Ezra Church, but again found +that breastworks grew as if by magic as soon as Howard's men were +deployed in position, and again the gray columns were beaten back with a +list of 5000 added to the killed and disabled. Howard had less than 600 +casualties in the action. It was only a week since Johnston had been +relieved, and matters had come to such a pass in his army that the men +stolidly refused to continue the assaults. From our skirmish line their +officers were seen to advance to the front with waving swords calling +upon the troops to follow them, but the men remained motionless and +silent, refusing to budge. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +For details of these engagements, see "Atlanta," chaps, xii.-xiv.]</span></p> +<p>During the first half of August Sherman extended his lines +southward, until my own division, which was the right flank of the +infantry lines, was advanced nearly a mile southeast of the crossing of +the Campbelltown and East Point roads on high ground covering the +headwaters of the Utoy and Camp creeks. We were here somewhat detached +and encamped accordingly in a boldly curved line ready for action on the +flanks as well as front. It was now the 18th of August and Sherman +devoted the next week to the accumulation of supplies, the removal of +sick and wounded to the rear, getting rid of impedimenta, and general +preparation for a fortnight's separation from his base. My position had +been selected with reference to this plan, as a pivot upon which the +whole of the army except the Twentieth Corps should swing across the +railways south of Atlanta.</p> +<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="images/2-40-1.jpg" + title="Map of the Atlanta, GA area, showing the Federal and Confederate lines." + alt="Map of the Atlanta, GA area, showing the Federal and Confederate lines." + style="width: 578px; height: 800px;"><br> +</p> +<p>The movement began on the 25th, and we stood fast till the 28th, +when we began our flank movement on the inner curve of the march of the +army, taking very short steps, however, as we must keep between the army +trains and the enemy. On the 30th Schofield moved our corps from Red Oak +Station, on the West Point Railroad, a mile and a half directly toward +East Point, so as to cover roads going eastward toward Rough-and-Ready +Station on the Macon road. We were hardly in position before our +skirmishers were briskly engaged with an advancing force of the enemy's +cavalry, and we felt sure that it was the precursor of an attack by Hood +in force. It proved to be nothing but a reconnoissance, and showed that +Hood was strangely misconceiving the situation. Its chief interest to me +at the moment was in the experiment it enabled me to make of the speed +with which my men could cover themselves in open ground in an +emergency. The division was astride the East Point road, the centre in +open fields where no timber could be got for revetment, and only fence +rails to give some support to the loose earth. Giving the order to make +the light trench of the rifle-pit class, where the earth is thrown +outward and the men stand in the ditch they dig, in fifteen minutes by +the watch the work was such that I reckoned it sufficient cover to repel +an infantry attack, if it came. It would be an extraordinary occasion +when we did not have more warning of an impending attack; and the +incident will illustrate the confidence we had that in forcing the enemy +to assume aggressive tactics, the campaign was practically decided.</p> +<p>On the 31st, as Sherman's left wing, we held the Macon Railway at +Rough-and-Ready Station, Howard, as right wing, was across Flint River, +closing in on Jonesboro, whilst the centre under Thomas filled the +interval. Hood had sent Hardee with his own and Lee's (late Hood's) +corps to defeat what was supposed to be a detachment of two corps of +Sherman's army, and a sharp affair had occurred at the Flint River +crossing, where Howard succeeded in maintaining his position on the east +side. On hearing of our occupation of Rough-and-Ready, Hood jumped to +the conclusion that it was preliminary to an attack on Atlanta from the +south, and ordered Lee's corps to march in the night and rejoin him at +once. Getting a better idea of the situation before morning, he stopped +Lee and prepared to evacuate Atlanta. On September 1st Sherman closed in +on Jonesboro, his latest information indicating that two corps of the +enemy were assembled there. Late in the day he learned of the +disappearance of Lee's corps, but assumed that Hood was assembling +somewhere near. He tried hard to concentrate his forces to prevent +Hardee's escape, but his scattered army could not be united till +nightfall.</p> +<p>In the night Hood blew up the ordnance stores at Atlanta, and +hastening to join Lee by roads east of Sherman's positions, he marched +on Lovejoy Station. Hardee evacuated Jonesboro also, and before morning +the Confederate army was assembled again upon the railroad, five miles +nearer to Macon. Atlanta was occupied by the Twentieth Corps on the 2d, +and Sherman ordered his army to return to the vicinity of that city for +a period of rest. Hood's conduct for the past three days had been the +result of complete misapprehension of the facts; but its very +eccentricity had been so incomprehensible that no rule of military +probabilities could be applied to it, and before Sherman could learn +what he was doing, the time had passed when full advantage could be +taken of his errors.</p> +<p>The condition of Hood's army at the close of the campaign was +anything but satisfactory to him. His theory was that his offensive +tactics would keep up the spirit and energy of his men and constantly +improve their <i>morale</i>. When he found that they were, on the +contrary, discouraged and despondent, and could not be induced to repeat +the assaults upon our positions which had followed each other so rapidly +in the last days of July, he querulously laid the blame at the door of +his subordinates. He called the attack upon Howard's advance at Flint +River "a disgraceful effort" because only 1485 were wounded, and asked +to have Hardee relieved and sent elsewhere. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. v. pp. 1021, 1023, 1030. Hardee had before asked to be +relieved. (<i>Id</i>., pp. 987, 988.) For Hood's final, urgent request +and the result, see vol. xxxix. pt. ii. pp. 832, 880, 881.]</span> True, +he had telegraphed Hardee that the necessity was imperative that the +National troops should be driven into and across the river, and that the +men must go at them with bayonets fixed; but it was his own old corps, +now under Lieutenant-General S. D. Lee, that made the principal attack +and was repulsed. Lee was not one of the officers who might be presumed +to be discontented with Johnston's removal, but had been brought from +the Department of Mississippi, at Hood's suggestion, to take the corps +when the latter was promoted, and had won Davis's admiration by his +zeal. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. +892, and vol. lii. pt. ii. p. 713.]</span> It would be hard to find +better proof that the trouble lay in the consciousness of the men in the +line that they were asked to lay down their lives without a reasonable +hope of benefit to their cause. The discouragement pervaded the whole +army, and is seen in Hood's own dispatches hardly less than in others. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Hood to Davis, September 3, +two dispatches, <i>Id</i>., vol. xxxviii. pt. v. p. 1016. In another, +p. 1017, he repeated an earlier suggestion to remove the prisoners from +Andersonville. When Johnston had done this, it was made one of the +charges against him. See Davis to Lee, <i>Id</i>., vol. lii. pt. ii. +p. 692. For Hardee's opinion of the situation, see <i>Id</i>., vol. +xxxviii. pt. v. p. 1018.]</span> In a labored letter to Bragg on +September 4th, he unconsciously shows how his own total misunderstanding +of Sherman's movements was the prime cause of his disaster, whilst the +shame at the result leads him to charge it upon others. As to the +spirit of the army, nobody has given more telling testimony, for he +says, "I am officially informed that there is a tacit if not expressed +determination among the men of this army, extending to officers as high +in some instances as colonel, that they will not attack breastworks." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. lii. +pt. ii. p. 730. This letter seems to have come to light since the first +publication of the records of the campaign, and is found in the +supplemental volume.]</span></p> +<p>In the correspondence between Johnston and the Confederate +government regarding the numerical force of his army, he naturally +emphasized his inferiority to Sherman in numbers as an explanation of +his cautious defensive tactics and his retreating movements. The +introduction into the Southern returns of a column of "effectives" as +distinguished from the number of officers and men "present for duty," <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, vol. i. p. +482.]</span> led to a habitual underestimate by their commanding +officers. On several occasions Johnston defended his conduct of the +campaign by asserting that his army was less than half the size of +Sherman's, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 795.]</span> and this necessarily led +to an examination of his returns. These regular numerical reports are of +course the ultimate authority in all disputes, and we find the Richmond +government doing just what the historian has to do,--comparing the +estimates of the general with his official returns. Officers of all +grades and of the highest character fall into the error of memory which +modifies facts according to one's wish and feeling. Thus at the +beginning of this campaign we find General Bragg, speaking for the +President, saying that General Polk's "estimates and his official +returns vary materially." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +vol. lii. pt. ii. p. 659.]</span> Nobody could be freer from intentional +misstatement than the good bishop-general. We find the same +discrepancies at the East as well as the West. Lee, Jackson, Longstreet, +and their subordinates fall into the same error. It is therefore the +canon of all criticism on this subject, that nothing but the +statistical returns in the adjutant-general's office shall be received +as proofs of numbers, though, of course, the returns must be read +intelligently.</p> +<p>Conscious of straining every nerve to reinforce the great armies in +the field, Mr. Davis naturally asked what it meant when the army in +Georgia was said to be so weak. General Bragg assisted him with an +analysis of Johnston's last returns. Writing on June 29th, he refers to +the last regular return, that of June 10th, which is the same now +published in the Official Records. In using it, therefore, we agree with +the Confederate government at the time in making it conclusive. It shows +that Johnston's army had present for duty 6538 officers and 63,408 +enlisted men, or, in round numbers, was 70,000 strong. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. iv. p. 805; <i>Id</i>., pt. iii. p. 677.]</span> The +"effectives" are given as 60,564; but this, as we know, is the result of +subtracting the number of the officers and non-commissioned staff from +the aggregate present for duty. But in addition to the troops named, +Bragg very properly adds that Johnston "has at Atlanta a supporting +force of reserves and militia, estimated at from 7000 to 10,000 +effective men, half of whom were actually with Johnston near Marietta." +We thus have from Confederate authorities the proof that the army was +nearly 80,000 strong on June 10th, after the first month of the +campaign had closed, including the engagements at Dalton, Resaca, New +Hope Church, Dallas, and Pickett's Mill.</p> +<p>To complete the examination of the same return, it is necessary to +notice that the "aggregate present" is given at 82,413, or 12,500 more +than the "present for duty." This includes "extra-duty men," such as +clerks at headquarters of the organizations from Johnston's own down to +brigades and regiments, men permanently detailed for any special +service, men in arrest, etc. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Hood's dispatch of September 5, <i>Id</i>., pt. v. p. 1021; and his +Order No. 19, vol. xxxix. pt. ii. p. 835.]</span> It is here that good +administration in an army seeks to reduce the number of those who are +withdrawn from the fighting ranks, and to make the "aggregate present" +agree as closely as possible with the "present for duty." I shall +presently note the result of such an effort.</p> +<p>Sherman's return of "present for duty" on May 31st, just after Blair +had joined him with the Seventeenth Corps, was the largest of the +campaign, being 112,819. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. i. p. 117.]</span> By the end of +June it was reduced to 106,070, when Johnston's was 59,196 without the +reserves and militia. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pt. iii. p. 679.]</span></p> +<p>When Hood assumed the command, Bragg visited the army a second time, +and gave new impulse to the effort to increase its effective force. On +July 27th, in a very full report to Mr. Davis, he says, "the increase by +the arrival of extra-duty men and convalescents, etc., is about 5000, +and more are coming in daily. The return of the 1st of August will show +a gratifying state of affairs." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +vol. lii. pt. ii. p. 714.]</span> This promise was fulfilled when that +return showed a diminution in the "present for duty," since the 10th of +the month, of only 7403, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +vol. xxxviii. pt. iii. p. 680.]</span> although the period included the +bloody engagements of Peachtree Creek, Atlanta, and Ezra Church.</p> +<p>The Confederate conscription included the whole able-bodied +population, and details as for extra duty were the means by which +physicians, clergymen, civilian office-holders, etc., were exempted from +service in the army. These lists were rigidly scrutinized, and the +laxity which had grown was corrected as far as possible. The aggregate +of Hood's army, "present and absent," on August 1st, was 135,000, though +his "aggregate present" was only 65,000. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid.</i>]</span> It +included, of course, prisoners of war, deserters, and men otherwise +missing, besides the class last mentioned. The extent to which the +efforts to bring back absentees succeeded, is shown by the return for +September 20th, when the aggregate of the "present and absent" falls to +123,000, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iii. p. 637.]</span> though the "present for +duty" are almost as numerous as at the end of July. The difference of +12,000 shows how many were added to the army in this way, and these are +in addition to the thousands which Bragg spoke of as gained by +transferring non-combatants present with the army to the list of those +present for duty.</p> +<p>It is only by examining Hood's returns in this way that they become +intelligible, for his rolls of those present for duty hardly diminish at +all during the whole month of August, being 51,793 on the 1st, 51,946 on +the 10th, and 51,141 on the 31st. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 680-683.]</span> On September 10th he reports 46,149, and on the +20th 47,431, the first of these returns including his losses in the +final combats of the campaign and the fall of Atlanta, and the latter +indicating a gain by the exchange of prisoners with General Sherman. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xxxix. pt. +ii. pp. 828, 850.]</span> By ignoring all the additions to his fighting +force from the sources which I have enumerated, Hood was able to claim +that his total losses while in command of the army were 5247. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xxxviii. +pt. iii. p. 636.]</span> The absurdity was indicated by Hardee, who +replied in his official report that the losses in his own corps, which +was only one third of the army, "considerably exceeded 7000" during the +same period. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 702.]</span></p> +<p>Sherman's returns show a steady diminution of his available numbers +during July and August, though, as he himself has said, it was not +altogether from casualties on the battlefield and the diseases of the +camp. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Memoirs, vol. ii. +p. 134.]</span> The term of service of all the troops enlisted in the +spring and summer of 1861 for three years was now ended, and an interval +occurred in which the new levies under the law to enforce the draft had +not yet reached the field, and the army was depleted by the return home +of the regiments which had not "veteranized" in the last winter. He had +present for duty, on July 31st, 91,675 officers and men; on August +31st, 81,758. Sherman's statement of his losses in battle and his +comparison of them with his opponents is a model of candor and +fairness. With the light we now have, he might properly have increased +considerably his estimate of Johnston's casualties. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. +131-136.]</span></p> +<p>General Hood was quite right in arguing, in his memoirs, that the +wounded in a campaign are not all a permanent loss to an army, "since +almost all the slightly wounded, proud of their scars, soon return to +the ranks." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Advance and +Retreat, p. 217.]</span> But what I have said above shows that he was +entirely astray when he concluded that the difference in the returns of +his effective force at the beginning and end of the campaign would show +the number of killed and permanently disabled. The absence of data as to +the additions to his field force through the means which I have +analyzed, shows how absurd a result was drawn from his premises. The +reports of casualties are not unfrequently faulty, but with all their +faults they would be much more valuable if a complete series existed +which could be compared and tested. It would require a minute +examination of all returns, from companies to divisions, to determine +accurately how many men returned to duty after being wounded or +captured. The imperfect state of the Confederate archives would prevent +this, if it were otherwise practicable. The statistical returns are +conclusive for what they actually give, but inferences from them must be +drawn with care. As an illustration (in addition to those already +given) it may be noted that the Confederate cavalry made no returns of +casualties or losses, and they do not appear at all in the Medical +Director's report which General Hood makes the basis of his own +assertions. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. iii. p. 687.]</span> How grave an omission +this is will be partly seen from the fact that Wheeler's corps, which +reported 8000 men present for duty on August 1st (the last return made), +was in such condition when he reached Tuscumbia after the raid in the +rear of Sherman's army, that its adjutant-general doubted if more than +1000 men could be got together. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Letter of General Forrest to General Taylor, Sept. 20, 1864, Official +Records, vol. xxxix. pt. ii. p. 859.]</span></p> +<p>The use of the cavalry in "raids," which were the fashion, was an +amusement that was very costly to both sides. Since Stuart's ride round +McClellan's army in 1862, every cavalry commander, National and +Confederate, burned to distinguish himself by some such excursion deep +into the enemy's country, and chafed at the comparatively obscured but +useful work of learning the detailed positions and movements of the +opposing army by incessant outpost and patrol work in the more +restricted theatre of operations of the campaign.</p> +<p>From Chattanooga to the Chattahoochee, good work was done by +Stoneman and McCook in scouting upon the front and flanks of the army, +and by Colonel Lowe in vigilant guard of the railway close in rear of +Sherman's movements; but the use of mounted troops in mass was not +satisfactory, and as to the raids on both sides, the game was never +worth the candle. Men and horses were used up, wholesale, without doing +any permanent damage to the enemy, and never reached that training of +horse and man which might have been secured by steady and systematic +attention to their proper duties. Forrest, of the Confederates, was the +only cavalry officer whom Sherman thought at all formidable, and he +showed his high estimate of him by offering, in his sweeping way, to +secure the promotion of the officer who should defeat and kill him. In +another form he expressed the same idea, by saying he would swap all the +cavalry officers he had for Forrest. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: The matter took an odd turn, +when on the report that General Mower had defeated Forrest in West +Tennessee and that the brilliant cavalry leader had fallen in the +action, Mower got his promotion, but it turned out that it was Forrest's +brother, a colonel, who was killed--"a horse of another color." Mower, +however, was worthy of promotion "on general principles." See Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. v. p. 471; vol. xxxix. pt. i. p. 228; <i>Id</i>., +pt. ii. pp. 130, 142, 219, 233.]</span></p> +<p>High as was the National estimate of the importance of Sherman's +campaign, Southern men rated it and its consequences quite as high as we +did. In the conferences at Richmond, at which Mr. Hill had represented +the strong desire of Governor Brown and General Johnston for +reinforcements, Mr. Davis had made his apprehension of the disastrous +results which would follow the loss of Atlanta the reason of his urgency +for a more aggressive campaign. In closing the interviews, Mr. Seddon, +the Secretary of War, and Mr. Hill showed their sense of the importance +of the crisis by exchanging letters which were diplomatic memoranda of +the conversations. Mr. Hill repeated his conviction that the fate of the +Confederacy hung upon the campaign. He said that the failure of +Johnston's army involved that of Lee; that not only Atlanta but Richmond +must fall; not only Georgia but all the States would be overrun; that +all hopes of possible foreign recognition would be destroyed; in short, +that "all is lost by Sherman's success, and all is gained by Sherman's +defeat." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. lii. pt. ii. p. 706.]</span> Governor Brown had accompanied +Mr. Hill's effort by a dispatch in which he declared that Atlanta was +to the Confederacy "almost as important as the heart is to the human +body." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. +680.]</span> So far from taking exception to these strong expressions, +Mr. Davis based his action in regard to General Johnston upon the +absolute necessity of a military policy in Georgia, which would hold +Atlanta at all hazards. When the city fell, the whole South as well as +the North knew that a decisive step had been taken toward the defeat of +the rebellion.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI</p> +<p>THE REST AT ATLANTA-STAFF ORGANIZATION AND CHANGES</p> +<p>Position of the Army of the Ohio at Decatur--Refitting for a new +campaign--Depression of Hood's army--Sherman's reasons for a temporary +halt--Fortifying Atlanta as a new base--Officers detailed for the +political campaign--Schofield makes inspection tour of his +department--My temporary command of the Army of the Ohio--Furloughs and +leaves of absence--Promotions of several colonels--General Hascall +resigns--Staff changes--My military family--Anecdote of Lieutenant +Tracy--Discipline of the army--Sensitiveness to approval or +blame--Illustration--Example of skirmishing advance--Sufferings of +non-combatants within our lines--A case in point--Pillaging and its +results--Citizens passing through the lines--"The rigors of the +climate"--Visit of Messrs. Hill and Foster--McPherson's death--The loss +to Sherman and to the army--His personal traits--Appointment of his +successor.</p> +<p>At the close of the first week in September the Army of the Ohio +encamped at Decatur, and prepared for a month's rest. My division took +position on the east of the little town, Hascall's on the south, and our +division of cavalry under Colonel Israel Garrard was east of us, with +outposts and patrols watching the roads in that direction as far as +Stone Mountain. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. v. p. 828.]</span> The Army of the +Cumberland was encamped about Atlanta itself, and the Army of the +Tennessee was at East Point. As Sherman cheerily announced in general +orders, we might expect "to organize, receive pay, replenish clothing, +and prepare for a fine winter's campaign." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 801.]</span></p> +<p>It was of course probable that Hood would use the interval, which +was even more welcome to him than to us, in similar preparation for +resuming the struggle, though the resources of the Confederacy were so +strained that the Treasury was in debt to the soldiers for ten months' +pay. He told the government that "it would be of vast benefit to have +this army paid," <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. v. p. 1027.]</span> but this +expressed his desire rather than a hope. Depression reigned in his camps +about Lovejoy's Station, of which the name was a mockery. Dissent was +rife among his general officers, and with the whole army he had lost +prestige by the costly failure of his campaign. A period of rest might +relieve the discouragement somewhat, and stringent means were to be +used to bring absentees and conscripts to the ranks. Hardee was +transferred to Savannah; Mackall, Johnston's devoted friend, was removed +from the head of the staff, and other changes of organization were made +with a view to give Hood the men of his own choice in important +positions. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: These were +mostly in accordance with Hood's recommendations to General Bragg when +the latter visited him at the end of July. See Bragg to Davis, <i>Id.</i>, +vol. lii. pt. ii. p. 713.]</span></p> +<p>Sherman was fully aware that he would have many advantages in +pushing after Hood at once, but besides his army's real need of rest, he +was clear in his judgment that he must, at this stage of affairs, +prepare for a campaign on a great scale to be continued through the +winter till great results should be achieved. If the line of operations +was to be extended toward Mobile, as was contemplated by General Grant +at the opening of the campaign, or if Hood should retreat toward the +east, in either case he must make Atlanta a fortified base. Experience +had proven that his long line of communications was liable to +interruption, and would be still more so as he penetrated further into +Georgia. He must have a well-supplied and well-protected depot in the +same relations to the next forward movement that Chattanooga had been to +the campaign just finished. He wanted to get his share of the drafted +men under the conscription law now in operation, to fill up the places +of regiments whose terms had expired, and to be assured that Canby from +New Orleans would co-operate in a settled plan. He was already revolving +in his mind other problems which Hood might possibly open for solution; +but the probability seemed strong that the Confederate army would bar +the way to his advance, and must be beaten and driven back again. His +first task, therefore, was to prepare Atlanta for his uses. "I want it," +he said, "a pure Gibraltar, and will have it so by October 1st." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Dispatch to Halleck, +September 9th. See also that of September 4th, in which his ideas were +fully outlined. Official Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. v. pp. 794, 839.]</span> +This use of the town made it necessary to remove the resident citizens, +sending north those who were loyal and ordering south those who adhered +to the Confederacy. As a fortified depot must be ready for a siege, +trade and free intercourse with the surrounding country could not go on. +The inhabitants, therefore, would be dependent on the army for food, +their industries must cease, and it was more merciful to them, as well +as a military necessity, to send them away. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Sherman to Hood, <i>Id</i>., +p. 822.]</span></p> +<p>The temporary interruption of active campaigning was eagerly seized +upon as an opportunity for leaves of absence by those whose private and +family affairs urgently called for attention. The presidential campaign +was on, and in consultation with Governor Morton of Indiana, Secretary +Stanton selected half a dozen officers from that State, which was +politically a doubtful one, to vary their labors in the field by +"stumping the State" for a month. The form of the request indicates the +feeling as to the character of the civil contest. "In view," said the +Secretary, "of the armed organizations against the Government of the +United States that have been made throughout the State of Indiana and +are now in active operation in the campaign for Jefferson Davis, this +department deems it expedient that the officers named should have leave +to go home, provided they can be spared without injury to the service." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. v. p. 802. Among these appears the name of Colonel Benjamin +Harrison, 70th Indiana, afterward President. Sherman's characteristic +reply was sent from camp near Jonesboro, on 6th September: "The +officers named in your dispatch of the 5th will be ordered to report to +the Governor of Indiana for special duty, as soon as I return to +Atlanta, which will be in a day or two unless the enemy shows fight, +which I am willing to accept on his own terms if he will come outside +of his cursed rifle-trenches." <i>Id</i>., p. 809. I don't recall any +other instance of a regular military detail for a political campaign.]</span> +Generals Logan and Blair also went North for similar work in Illinois +and Missouri.</p> +<p>In the middle of September General Schofield left the army for a +time, to visit Knoxville and Louisville, within his department, on +official business, and extended his absence for a brief reunion with his +family north of the Ohio. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +vol. xxxix. pt. ii. p. 379; pt. iii. p. 10.]</span> This left me in +command of the Army of the Ohio, and Hood's later movement upon our +communications prevented Schofield's return till the end of our active +campaign in October. A liberal issue of furloughs to enlisted men, +especially convalescents in hospital, was made, so that we might get +them back in robust health and good spirits when the fall campaign +should open. General Hascall resigned and left us, and the command of +his division passed to General Joseph A. Cooper, who had been promoted +from the colonelcy of the Sixth East Tennessee. My own division was +temporarily commanded by General James W. Reilly, who had been promoted +on my recommendation from the colonelcy of the One Hundred and Fourth +Ohio. Hascall had commanded his division with marked ability throughout +the campaign, but had become discouraged by the evidences that he need +expect no recognition from the Indiana governor, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See <i>ante</i>, vol. i. +pp. 406, 485; vol. ii. p. 253.]</span> whose influence was potent if not +omnipotent in the promotion of Indiana officers. The recently announced +promotion of Hovey over him seemed to him equivalent to an invitation to +resign, and he acted upon it.</p> +<p>The resting-spell at Decatur was the natural time for such changes +in organization as had become necessary. The death of my +adjutant-general, Captain Saunders, in June, made it necessary to fill +that very important position, and my aide, Lieutenant Theodore Cox, was +promoted to it. His regiment (the Eleventh Ohio) was just completing its +term of enlistment, and he would be mustered out of service with it, +unless a new appointment were given him, fairly won, as it had been, by +two years of meritorious service. My request was so cordially backed by +Generals Schofield and Sherman that there was no hesitation at +Washington, and I secured for the rest of the war an invaluable +assistant, whose system, accuracy, and neat methods made the business of +my headquarters go on most satisfactorily.</p> +<p>My inspector-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Sterling, felt obliged to +resign for business reasons connected with events in his father's +family, and I had to part with another faithful friend and able officer. +As the adjutant-general is the centre of the formal organization, +keeping its records, carrying on its correspondence, and formulating the +orders of his chief, so the inspector-general is the organ of discipline +and of soldierly instruction as well as the superintendent of the +outpost and picket duty, which makes him the guardian of the camp and +the head of the intelligence service when no special organization of the +latter is made. He should be one of the most intelligent officers of +the command, and a model of soldierly conduct. It was no easy thing to +fill Colonel Sterling's place, but I was fortunate in the selection of +Major Dow of the One Hundred and Twelfth Illinois, a quiet, modest man, +a thorough disciplinarian of clear and strong intellect, and of that +perfect self-possession which is proof against misjudgment in the most +sudden and terrifying occurrences.</p> +<p>I had brought with me from East Tennessee, as my chief of artillery, +Major Wells, who had commanded an Illinois battery, and who directed the +artillery service of the division with great success. My medical +director was Surgeon-Major Frink, of Indiana, who, though he took the +position by virtue of his seniority in the division medical staff, was +as acceptable as if I had chosen him with fullest knowledge of his +qualifications. The topographer was Lieutenant Scofield of the One +Hundred and Third Ohio, educated in civil engineering, and indefatigable +in collecting the data by which to correct the wretched maps which were +our only help in understanding the theatre of operations. He was a +familiar figure at the outposts, on his steadily ambling nag, armed with +his prismatic compass, his odometer, and his sketch-book. The division +commissary of subsistence was Captain Hentig, a faithful and competent +officer who worked in full accord with Captain Day, the energetic +quartermaster who had come with me over the mountains the preceding year.</p> +<p>A general officer's aides-de-camp are usually his most intimate +associates in the military family, and were sometimes selected with too +much regard to their social qualities. Those of a major-general were +appointed on his nomination, but a brigadier-general must detail the two +allowed him, from the lieutenants in his command. When commanding a +division, custom allowed him to detail a third. They were the only +officers technically called the personal staff, the others being +officers of the several staff corps, or merely detailed from regiments +to do temporary duty. Thus, no inspector-general was allowed to a +brigadier, but when commanding a division or other organization larger +than a brigade, he was permitted to detail an officer of the line for +the very necessary and responsible duty. The aides are authorized to +carry oral orders and to explain them, to call for and to bring oral +reports, and as the general's confidential and official representatives +they should be of the most intelligent and soldierly men of their grade. +All the other staff officers may be called upon to act as aides when it +is necessary, but these are <i>ex officio</i> the ordinary go-betweens, +and, if fit for their work, are as cordially welcomed and almost as much +at home with the brigade commanders as with their own chief.</p> +<p>My senior aide, after my brother's promotion, was Lieutenant +Coughlan of the Twenty-fourth Kentucky, a handsome young Irishman of +very humble origin, to whom the military service had been the revelation +of his own powers and a noble inspiration. He was lithe and well set up, +though by no means a dandy; would spring at call for any duty, by night +or by day, and delighted the more in his work, the more perilous or +arduous it was. He was captured in the last days of our operations about +Atlanta; <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxviii. pt. v. p. 623.]</span> but the exchange of +prisoners negotiated by Sherman gave me the opportunity to secure his +return after a month's captivity and imprisonment at Charleston. Two +months later he died heroically in the battle of Franklin. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xlv. pt. +i. p. 356.]</span></p> +<p>Lieutenant Bradley of the Sixty-fifth Illinois was second on the +list, an excellent officer who was competent and ready to assist the +adjutant-general in his department when work there was pressing.</p> +<p>The third was Lieutenant Tracy of the One Hundred and Fourth Ohio, a +man of original character. Tall and angular, there was a little stoop in +his shoulders and a little carelessness in his dress. His gait was a +long stride, and he was not a graceful horseman. His exterior had a good +deal of the typical Yankee, and our Connecticut Reserve in Ohio, from +which he came, has as pure a strain of Yankee blood as any in New +England. But whoever looked into his sallow and bony face was struck +with the effect of his large, serious eye, luminous with intelligence +and will. Devotion to duty and perfect trustworthiness, with zeal in +acquiring military knowledge, were the qualities which led to his +selection for staff duty. When we were preparing for the great swing of +the army to the south of Atlanta, my division had been advanced close to +the enemy's position near East Point, where, from a strong salient in +their works, their line curved back toward the east. Our position was to +be the pivot of the movement, and we intrenched the top of a +forest-covered knoll separated from the Confederate lines by a little +hollow in which ran a small affluent of Camp Creek. Our pickets were +directed to advance as close to the enemy as practicable, so that any +attempt to make a sally would be detected promptly. Tracy had been +directed to accompany the officer of the day and see that the outposts +were in proper position. Early next morning General Schofield visited +me, and desired to see in person the point most advanced. I called Tracy +for our guide, and from the trenches we went down the slope, through the +woods, on foot. A spur of the hill went forward, and as we neared the +edge of the forest Tracy signalled to go quietly. Stooping carefully in +the undergrowth, we noiselessly advanced to a fence corner where a +sentinel stood behind a tree. Halting a few paces away, Tracy motioned +to us to avoid moving the bushes, but to approach the fence and look +between the rails. Doing so, we found the fence at the border of a +little strip of hollow pasture in which the brooklet ran, and across it +on the other slope, frowning upon us, was a formidable earthwork, an +embrasure and the muzzle of a great Columbiad looking directly at us. +The enemy's sentinels had been driven in, so that, where we looked, one +was pacing his beat at the counterscarp of the ditch. As we drew back to +a distance at which conversation was prudent, Tracy asked with a grim +little smile whether the picket line was sufficiently advanced. The +whole was characteristic of his thoroughness in the performance of duty +and his silent way of letting it speak for itself. He was struck in the +breast and knocked down by a spent ball in the assault by Reilly's +brigade at Utoy Creek on August 6th, but in a week was on duty again, +though he never wholly recovered from the injury to his lungs. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Being in delicate health +after the war, he was made Governor of the National Home for disabled +soldiers at Dayton, Ohio, and died in 1868 from an abscess of the lung +caused by the old injury.]</span></p> +<p>Officers were detailed from the line for other staff duty, such as +ordnance officer, commissary of musters, etc., and there was no lack of +good material. The general officer who sought for sober, zealous, and +bright young soldiers for his staff could always find them. They were +his eyes and his hands in the responsible work of a campaign, yet their +service was necessarily hidden a good deal from view, and their +opportunities for personal distinction and rapid promotion were few +compared with those of their comrades in actual command of troops.</p> +<p>It was interesting to observe the rapid progress in all the +essentials of good discipline made in commands which were permanent +enough to give time for development of order and system. We were +fortunate in Sherman's army in having in himself and in the three +commanders next in rank examples of courteous treatment of subordinates +coupled with steady insistence upon the prompt and right performance of +duty. Under such a <i>régime</i> intelligent men grow sensitive +to the slightest indication of dissatisfaction, and a superior officer +has to weigh his words lest he give more pain than he intended. An +amusing instance of this occurred during the campaign just ended. Late +one evening my division was directed to make a movement at sunrise next +day, and the camp was quiet in sleep before my orders were sent out to +the brigade commanders. He who was assigned to lead the column was an +excellent officer, but irascible, and a little apt to make his staff +officers feel the edge of any annoyance he himself felt. Some strain of +relations among his assistants at his headquarters happened to be +existing when my order came. He had turned in for the night and was +asleep when his adjutant-general came to his tent to report the order. +Not fully aroused, he made a rough and bluff reply to the call, really +meaning that the staff officer should issue the proper orders to the +brigade, but in form it was a petulant refusal to be bothered with the +business. The adjutant took him literally at his word and left him. Next +morning I was in the saddle at the time set, and with my staff rode to +the brigade to accompany the head of the column, when, lo, his command +was not yet astir, though in the rest of the camp breakfast was over, +the tents struck, and officers and men were awaiting the signal to fall +in. I rapped with my sword-hilt on the tent-pole, and when the +dishevelled head of the colonel appeared, his speechless astonishment +told the story of some great blunder. I did not stop for particulars, +but only said, "Your brigade, colonel, was to have had the place of +honor in an important day's work; as it is, you will fall in at the rear +of the column. Good-morning, sir." He stood, without a word, till we +rode off, and then turning to an aide who had come to him, exclaimed, "I +wish to God he had cursed me!"</p> +<p>In the movement upon Atlanta, after crossing the Chattahoochee, we +were not met in force till we came to Peachtree Creek and the extension +of that line southward. The country was similar in character to that +near Marietta, with openings of farming lands along the principal roads, +but probably three fourths of the country was covered with forest. In +answer to questions from home as to what our continuous skirmishing in +such advances was like, I took as a sample the 20th of July, when we +were pushing in to connect with General Thomas's right, and he was +making his way to and across Peachtree Creek, where the battle was to +rage in the latter part of the day.</p> +<p>"My camp last night," I said, "was formed of three brigades in two +lines across the principal road, another brigade in reserve, and the +artillery in the intervals, all in position of battle. A strong line of +pickets and skirmishers covered the front and flanks some three hundred +yards in advance. In the morning we drew in the flanks of the skirmish +line, reducing it to about the length of one brigade across the road, +and it was ordered to advance. The men go forward, keeping the line at +right angles to the road, stopping for neither creek nor thicket; down +ravines, over the hills, the skirmishers trotting from a big tree to a +larger stone, taking advantage of everything which will cover them, and +keeping the general form of the line and their distance from each other +tolerably correct. The main body of the troops file into the road +marching four abreast, with a battery near the leading brigade. +Presently a shot is heard, off on the right, then two or three more in +quick succession, and a bullet or two comes singing over the head of the +column. 'They've started the Johnnies,' say the boys in the ranks, and +we move on, the skirmish line still pushing right along. It proves to be +only a rebel picket which has fired and run to apprise their comrades +that the 'Yanks' are coming. Forward a few hundred yards, when, bang, +bang, and a rattle of rifles too fast to count. The column is halted, +and we ride to the skirmish line to see what is up. A pretty strong body +of 'rebs' is about some old log houses with a good skirmish line on +either side where our men must approach over two or three hundred yards +of open fields. A regiment is moved up to the nearest cover on each side +of the road, a section of artillery rattles up to the front, the guns +are smartly unlimbered and pointed and a couple of shells go screaming +into the improvised fort, exploding and scattering logs and shingles +right and left. Out run the rebs in confusion, and forward with a rush +and a hurrah go our men over the open, getting a volley from the other +side. Into the woods they go. The rebs run; two or three are caught, +perhaps, as prisoners, two or three of ours are carried to the rear on +stretchers, and on we go again for a little way. This is light +skirmishing. Sometimes we find extemporized breastworks of rails or +fallen trees, requiring more force to dislodge the enemy, and then, +finally, we push up to well-constructed lines of defence where we halt +for slower and heavier operations."</p> +<p>The inhabitants within our lines about Atlanta had a hard time of +it, in spite of all efforts to mitigate their suffering. Their +unwillingness to abandon their homes was very great, and it was very +natural, for all they had was there, and to leave it was to be beggared. +They sometimes, when within range of the artillery, built bomb-proofs +near their houses, and took refuge in them, much as the people of the +Western plains seek similar protection from tornadoes. In closing in on +the west side of the town, near the head of Utoy Creek, we took in a +humble homestead where the family tried to stay, and I find that I +preserved, in another of my home letters, a description of the place and +their life there.</p> +<p>"Just within my lines" (this was written on August 11th), "and not +ten paces from the breastworks, stands a log house owned by an old man +named Wilson. A little before the army advanced to its present position, +several relatives of his, with their families, came to him from homes +regarded as in more imminent danger, and they united their forces to +build, or dig, rather, a place of safety. They excavated a sort of +cellar just in rear of the house, on the hillside, digging it deep +enough to make a room some fifteen feet square by six feet high. This +they covered over with a roof of timbers, and over that they piled earth +several feet thick, covering the whole with pine boughs, to keep the +earth from washing. In this bomb-proof four families are now living, and +I never felt more pity than when, day before yesterday, I looked down +into the pit, and saw there, in the gloom made visible by a candle +burning while it was broad day above, women sitting on the floor of +loose boards, resting against each other, haggard and wan, trying to +sleep away the days of terror, while innocent-looking children, four or +five years old, clustered around the air-hole, looking up with pale +faces and great staring eyes as they heard the singing of the bullets +that were flying thick above their sheltering place. One of the women +had been bed-ridden for several years before she was carried down there. +One of the men was a cripple, the others old and gray. The men ventured +up and took a little fresh air behind the breast-works; but for the +women there is no change unless they come out at night. Still, they +cling to home because they have nowhere else to go, and they hope we may +soon pass on and leave them in comparative peace again."</p> +<p>In an earlier chapter I have spoken of the easy descent from careful +respect for the rights of property to reckless appropriation of what +belongs to another, to robbery and pillage. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, pp. 233-235.]</span> +I find an instance of it given in one of the letters I have been +quoting, which is the contemporary record of the thing itself which we +had to deal with. It occurred on July 5th, when the whole army was in +motion, hurrying past our position southeast of Marietta and following +up Johnston's retreating army. "Some soldiers went to a house occupied +only by a woman and her children, and after robbing it of everything +which they wanted, they drove away the only milch cow the woman had. She +pleaded that she had an infant which she was obliged to bring up on the +bottle, and that it could not live unless it could have the milk. They +had no ears for the appeal and the cow was driven off. In two days the +child died, of starvation chiefly, though the end was hastened by +disease induced by the mother's trying to keep it alive on food it could +not digest. I heard of the case when the child was dead and two or +three of the neighbors were getting together stealthily to dig its +grave." One of them came to me to beg permission to assist, and to +explain that the little gathering meant nothing hostile to us. I got the +facts only by cross-questioning, for the old man was abject in his +solicitude not to seem to be complaining, and did not give the worst of +the story till my hot indignation at what I heard assured him of +sympathy and of a desire to punish the crime.</p> +<p>"A woman came to me the same morning, and said the cavalry had taken +the last mouthful from her, telling her they were marching and hadn't +time to draw their rations, but that she would be fed by applying to us +of the infantry column. The robbers well knew that we were forbidden to +issue rations to citizens. They sacked the house of an old man with +seven daughters by a second wife, all young things. He came to me in +utter distress--not a mouthful in that house for twenty-four hours, +their kitchen garden and farm utterly ruined, the country behind in the +same condition, and he without means of travelling or carrying anything +if he tried to move away." I added, "Of course in such extreme cases I +try to find some way of keeping people from death, and usually send them +to the rear in our empty wagon trains going back for supplies, but their +helpless condition is very little bettered by going."</p> +<p>Such things were done chiefly by the professional stragglers and +skulkers, and the stringent orders which were issued in both Sherman's +and Hood's armies did not easily reach men who would not report for duty +if they could help it. The country people could not tell who had done +them the mischief, and the rascals would be gone before the case came +before any superior officer who would interest himself in it. I must +not, however, suppress the comment I made in the letter quoted. "The +evil is the legitimate outgrowth of the hue and cry raised by our +Christian people of the North against protecting rebel property, etc. +Officers were deterred from enforcing discipline in this respect by +public opinion at home, and now the evil is past remedy. The war has +been prolonged, the army disintegrated and weakened, and the cause +itself jeoparded, because discipline was construed as friendliness to +rebels." Straggling and its accompanying evils may be said to be the +gauge of discipline in an army. There were brigades and divisions in +which it hardly occurred; there were others in which the stragglers were +a considerable fraction of the whole.</p> +<p>During the evacuation of Atlanta by the citizens, there was a good +deal of migration beyond our lines among those who were not compelled to +go. In Decatur applications were made to me daily, and we kept a record +of the passes we issued, trying to know the purpose and motives of those +going away, for, of course, a good deal of it was with the intent to +carry intelligence to the enemy. The reasons given were often amusing. +Two ladies applied, one day, for leave to go to Florida, which they +claimed as their home. They said they had been visiting kinsmen in +Decatur when the advance of our army brought them within our lines +before they were aware of it. When asked why not stay with their friends +till the armies should move away, they answered that they were sure they +could not endure the rigors of the climate! The phrase became a byword +at our headquarters, where we were longing for the invigorating breezes +of the North.</p> +<p>We had a visit, about the middle of September, from two gentlemen of +some prominence in the public affairs of Georgia,--Mr. Hill and Mr. +Foster. They came ostensibly to seek to obtain and remove the body of +Mr. Hill's son, who had fallen in the campaign, but I suspected that +they represented Governor Brown, who was known to be in a state of +exasperation at the results to Georgia of a war begun to assert an ultra +doctrine of State rights, but which had destroyed every semblance of +State independence and created a centralized government at Richmond +which ruled with a rod of iron. Mr. Hill was the same who had +represented Governor Brown and General Johnston at Richmond in the +mission in July, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, +p. 272.]</span> and whilst he did not formally present any subject +except that of getting his son's body, our conversation gave me +sufficient knowledge of his views on the subjects of controversy to make +me deeply interested in the outcome of the visit to General Sherman +which I arranged for him. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +See Sherman's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 137.]</span> Nothing of present +practical importance came of the interviews, but the voluminous and +bitterly controversial correspondence between the Georgia Governor and +the War Department of the Confederacy is a curious revelation of the +antagonistic influences which had sprung up in the progress of the war. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. lii. +pt. ii. pp. 736, 754, 778, 796, 803.]</span></p> +<p>The death of General McPherson in the battle of Atlanta had been a +great loss to the army, but to Sherman it was the loss of an intimate +friend as well as an able subordinate. They had been closely associated +under Grant in all the campaigns of the Army of the Tennessee, and their +mutual attachment and confidence was as strong as their devoted loyalty +to their great chief. My own acquaintance with McPherson had been +slight, but yet enough to enable me to understand the warm personal +regard he inspired in those who came to know him well. I met him first +on the day we passed through Snake Creek Gap into Sugar Valley, before +the battle of Resaca. We had to learn from him the positions of the +troops already advancing toward the town, and I rode with General +Schofield to his tent for this purpose. Schofield and he had been +classmates and room-mates at West Point, and McPherson revealed himself +to his old friend as he would not be likely to do to others. His +affability and cordial good-will struck one at once. His graceful +bearing and refined, intelligent face heightened the impression, and one +could not be with him many minutes without seeing that he was a lovable +person. An evenly balanced mind and character had given him a high grade +as a cadet, and at the beginning of the war he was serving as a captain +of engineers. Being appointed to General Grant's staff, he won +completely the general's confidence, and his promotion was rapid, +following closely behind that of Sherman.</p> +<p>His death was sincerely mourned, and his place as a soldier was not +easy to fill. Sherman would have given the command of the Army of the +Tennessee to General Logan, who was next in rank in it, but the strong +opposition of General Thomas made him conclude that this would be +unwise. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See Sherman, in +The Great Commanders Series, pp. 229, 332.]</span> If he made a selection +outside of the Army of the Tennessee, Hooker had first claim by +seniority of rank, but both Sherman and Thomas lacked confidence in +him. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, +vol. xxxviii. pt. v. p. 272.]</span> When Howard was selected on Thomas's +suggestion, Hooker was doubly offended, for Howard had been his +subordinate at the beginning of the year, and there had been no love +lost between them. Hooker now asked to be relieved from further service +in Sherman's army, and he retired from active field service,--Slocum, +another of his former subordinates, with whom he had a violent quarrel, +being appointed to the command of his corps on Thomas's nomination. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 272, 273.]</span> +Halleck, in a letter to Sherman of September 16th, gave pointed +testimony to facts which showed why Hooker was personally an +unacceptable subordinate. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 857.]</span> Sherman insisted, with good reason, that Hooker had no +real grievance, as he was left in command of his corps, and Howard's +promotion was in another and independent organization, the Army of the +Tennessee. He also declared that no indignity was intended or offered, +and that he simply performed his own duty of selection in accordance +with what he believed to be sound reasons. As to Logan, he took pains to +praise his handling of the Army of the Tennessee after McPherson's +death, and to emphasize his own high opinion of him as an officer and +the respect in which he was held by the whole army. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. v. p. 522.]</span><br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><br> +<a name="CHAPTER_XLII"></a>CHAPTER XLII</p> +<p>CAMPAIGN OF OCTOBER--HOOD MOVES UPON OUR COMMUNICATIONS</p> +<p>Hood's plan to transfer the campaign to northern Georgia--Made +partly subordinate to Beauregard--Forrest on a raid--Sherman makes large +detachments--Sends Thomas to Tennessee--Hood across the +Chattahoochee--Sherman follows--Affair at Allatoona--Planning the March +to the Sea--Sherman at Rome--Reconnoissance down the Coosa--Hood at +Resaca--Sherman in pursuit--Hood retreats down the Chattooga valley--We +follow in two columns--Concentrate at Gaylesville--Beauregard and Hood +at Gadsden--Studying the situation--Thomas's advice--Schofield +rejoins--Conference regarding the Twenty-third Corps--Hood marches on +Decatur--His explanation of change of plan--Sherman marches back to +Rome--We are ordered to join Thomas--Hood repulsed at Decatur marches to +Tuscumbia--Our own march begun--Parting with +Sherman--Dalton--Chattanooga--Presidential election--Voting by +steam--Retrospect of October camp-life--Camp sports--Soldiers' +pets--Story of a lizard.</p> +<p>General Hood had been pretty well informed of what was going on in +Sherman's army, and was disposed to take advantage of the reduction of +our forces by furloughs and the absence of numerous officers on leave. +The Confederate President had visited him, and changes in his army had +been ordered which made the organization more to his mind. Hardee being +sent to Savannah to command a department on the coast, General Cheatham +succeeded to the command of the corps. Hood proposed to cross the +Chattahoochee some twenty miles west of Atlanta, and move on Powder +Springs, where he could reach the railroad and force Sherman to attack +him or to move south. In the latter case he proposed to follow, and had +urged that the forces in central Georgia be increased so as to resist +Sherman's progress if it should be toward Augusta or Macon. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxix. pt. ii. pp. 847, 862.]</span></p> +<p>Mr. Davis had been convinced by the campaign just ended that Hood's +fiery energy needed the guidance of a better military intellect, and the +plan of placing a common head over Hood's and Taylor's departments had +occurred to him. Beauregard was the officer whose rank, next to +Johnston, indicated him for the command, but he was disaffected toward +Davis, and his friends in Congress were active in opposition to the +government. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, +p. 183.]</span> General Lee had suggested Beauregard to take Hood's +place, and had sounded him as to his willingness to do so after +discussing with him the whole situation in Georgia. Lee felt able, +thereupon, to assure the President that Beauregard would accept the +assignment; saying, "I think you may feel assured that he understands +the general condition of affairs, the difficulties with which they are +surrounded, and the importance of exerting all his energies for their +improvement." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxix. pt. ii. p. 846.]</span> But having learned Hood's +plan of operating upon Sherman's communications, and being impressed +anew by his visit with the energy of Hood's nature, which quickly +reacted from the discouragement following the fall of Atlanta, he partly +accepted Lee's suggestion, modifying it by giving Beauregard the +supreme direction of affairs in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, +whilst leaving Hood free to carry out the plan of campaign which he +proposed, and to retain the command of his army except when Beauregard +might be actually present with it. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 880.]</span></p> +<p>General Forrest with his cavalry corps had already been ordered to +make a raid upon the railways in Tennessee in pursuance of a suggestion +of his own, and on September 16th he started northward. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 818, 835.]</span> +This plan very well accorded with Hood's, and when the latter +determined, later in the campaign, himself to invade Tennessee, +Forrest's orders were extended so as to direct a junction with him. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxix. pt. iii. p. 843.]</span></p> +<p>On September 24th Sherman learned that Forrest was at Athens and +Pulaski on the railway from Decatur to Nashville. He had sent a +detachment to burn bridges on the Memphis road also, and the whole of +middle and western Tennessee was afire with the excitement of the new +raid by the doughty Confederate leader. He received the surrender of the +garrison at Athens without serious resistance, but by the time he +approached Pulaski, burning bridges as he went, General Rousseau, who +was in command of the district, had concentrated force enough to repulse +him. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. +ii. pp. 450, 455, 456, 870, 876, 879.]</span> After that Forrest attacked +no considerable post, and did not reach Sherman's principal line of +communications, but making circuitous routes in the region about +Columbia, finally retreated across the Tennessee River at Florence on +the 5th and 6th of October. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pt. i. p. 547.]</span></p> +<p>On getting the news of Forrest's raid, Sherman sent back two +divisions of the Army of the Cumberland to Chattanooga, and one from the +Army of the Tennessee to Rome. He also sent General Thomas to +Chattanooga to bring into co-operation all the troops posted in +Tennessee and northern Georgia. This scattering of his forces to protect +his railways proves how low an estimate he put upon the efficiency of +Hood's army, and his willingness to receive an attack from it. When he +moved northward after Hood, a week later, he left the Twentieth Corps to +hold Atlanta, and had with him little more than half of the forces with +which he had made the Atlanta campaign; but they proved enough.</p> +<p>My own command had been quietly resting at Decatur with nothing more +exciting to do than to send out foraging parties and reconnoissances, +when on Friday, September 30th, I got a dispatch from General Sherman +which put us on the alert. He told me that Hood had part of his infantry +over the Chattahoochee, and was evidently combining desperate measures +to destroy our railways. After referring to his arrangements to +checkmate Forrest, he gave the "nub" of his own ideas as follows: "I may +have to make some quick countermoves east and southeast. Keep your folks +ready to send baggage into Atlanta and to start on short notice.... +There are fine corn and potato fields about Covington and the Ocmulgee +bottoms. We are well supplied with bread, meat, etc., but forage is +scarce, and may force us to strike out. If we make a countermove, I will +go out myself with a large force and take such a route as will supply +us and at the same time make Hood recall the whole or part of his +army." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxix. pt. ii. p. 540.]</span> I answered that we would be +"minute men," and also informed General Schofield by telegraph that we +might resume active work any moment. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 541.]</span></p> +<p>Next day Sherman had evidence that Hood was crossing the +Chattahoochee with his whole army, and wrote to General Howard and to me +that if Hood should swing over to the Alabama railroad and try to get +into Tennessee, he would, if Grant consented, draw to him the troops +south of the Etowah, leave Thomas with the rest, and make for Savannah +or Charleston by way of Milledgeville and Millen. By the destruction of +the east and west roads, Georgia would thus become a break in the +Confederacy. But should Hood move upon our communications between the +Chattahoochee and the Etowah, he would turn upon him. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xxxix. pt. +iii. p. 6.]</span> The latter was the movement Hood actually made, and +the March to the Sea was postponed for a few weeks.</p> +<p>I need not repeat here the details of the October campaign, which I +have given elsewhere. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +See "Atlanta," chap. xvii.; and for the growth and completion of the +plan of the March to the Sea, reference is made to the Life of General +Sherman (Great Commanders Series), chap. x.]</span> On the 2d Sherman was +aware that the enemy was advancing on Marietta; but far from hurrying +to anticipate him there, we were held back yet another day that Hood +might be lured far enough to let us strike him in rear. General Corse +at Rome was ordered to reinforce Allatoona pass and hold stubbornly +there, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 8.]</span> and then, on the 3d and 4th, +Sherman was in motion, trying to catch the enemy in that rough country +on the border of the Etowah. On the 2d I had sent a division to make a +strong reconnoissance eastward to Flat Rock, and a brigade to Stone +Mountain to make sure that no enemy was near us in that direction, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 33.]</span> +and on its return we followed the rest of the army northward, Slocum's +corps remaining in garrison at Atlanta, as before mentioned.</p> +<p>There had been continuous heavy rains, and all the rivers were +swollen, which retarded Hood's movements as well as ours; but he showed +commendable prudence, did not advance with his main body beyond Dallas, +and operated by detachments on the railway, which he broke near +Ackworth, but did no serious damage. On the 5th Corse and Tourtelotte +made their fine defence of the position at Allatoona against French's +division, and on the 6th my reconnoissance proved that Hood had +concentrated again in the neighborhood of Dallas. The two most important +bridges on the railroad were now safe, those crossing the Chattahoochee +and the Etowah; and as Forrest had failed to reach the line from +Chattanooga to Nashville, Hood's plan of campaign had failed and +Sherman's communications were unbroken. Unwilling to confess defeat, +Hood now determined to make a considerable circuit westward, cross the +Coosa below Rome and march by the Chattooga valley upon Resaca, where +the bridge over the Oostanaula was next in importance to that at +Allatoona. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 804.]</span> As the enemy's first +movement from Dallas was westward, Sherman had to look for information +as to his further course. Strengthening the garrison at Rome, he waited +at Allatoona for news, discussing with General Grant by telegraph his +own plan of marching upon Savannah if Hood moved far westward. The +latter repeated to his government his purpose to follow Sherman if he +did so. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>.]</span> +The storms and floods had done much more damage than Hood, several of +the large bridges being injured and smaller ones carried away.</p> +<p>At Allatoona Sherman's headquarters were close to my own, and he +opened to me his views of the situation. He did not propose to leave the +railway line to follow Hood far; but if the opportunity offered to fight +him near the line, he would seize it. If Hood entered Tennessee near the +Georgia line, he would follow and destroy him; but he was already +confident that his enemy would not dare do this, and pointed to Muscle +Shoals as the nearest point at which he was likely to cross the +Tennessee River. He hoped that General Grant would consent, in this +case, to his own march on Savannah, and promised to lead Hood a lively +chase if the latter turned back to follow him. Once a new base on the +sea was reached, he would turn upon and crush his opponent.</p> +<p>His plan had a personal interest for myself, for as we were out of +communication with General Schofield and might march southward any day, +he thought it probable that he should separate the Twenty-third Corps +from the Department of the Ohio and take it with him, making my command +of it permanent. He assumed that Schofield would prefer to remain in the +higher position of department commander, rather than leave it for the +field command of the corps, which was a good deal weakened by the hard +service of the summer.</p> +<p>From the 10th to the 13th of October the army moved in echelon by +short marches to Rome, and on the date last named I was ordered to push +a reconnoissance with the corps and General Kenner Garrard's division of +cavalry down the Coosa far enough to settle the question where Hood had +gone. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, +vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 230.]</span> We started early and made thirteen +miles in the forenoon, routing the enemy's cavalry holding that road and +capturing two cannon. It was definitely learned that Hood had taken up +the pontoon bridge and gone north. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 250.]</span> Meantime the enemy had appeared at Resaca, and as soon +as it was certain that they were in force Sherman put everything in +rapid motion in that direction. He had warned Thomas on the 11th, and +directed him to reinforce Chattanooga and Bridgeport. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 251.]</span> +There was again a chance that Hood might be caught between the forces. +He had approached Resaca from the west, by the north bank of the +Oostanaula, on the 12th, but his summons of the place being defied, he +did not assault, but after some threatening demonstrations marched north +to Dalton. He plainly felt that he had no time to spare, but it was +just as plain that in his haste he was accomplishing nothing.</p> +<p>My march down the Coosa had put me in the rear on the movement north +from Rome. I reached Resaca on the 15th, in the early afternoon, having +received authority from Sherman to pass the trains and push forward. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 294.]</span> +The Army of the Cumberland had followed Hood to Dalton and Buzzard +Roost, the Army of the Tennessee had driven his cavalry out of Snake +Creek Gap and occupied it, and we were halted at Resaca to support +either. General Schofield had reached Chattanooga on the 13th, and was +given command of all troops in that vicinity by General Thomas, who was +at Nashville. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 253.]</span> Schofield had in hand the +two divisions which had been sent back from Atlanta a fortnight before, +besides the garrison; and other troops were on the way to him from +Nashville. But communication with Sherman was interrupted, and Hood had +better knowledge of the full situation. Learning that Chattanooga was +held strongly, Hood marched from Buzzard Roost by way of Villanow over +Taylor's Ridge into the Chattooga valley, up which he had just come. +Prisoners told us that his army was out of provisions, as they had +failed in the hope of capturing depots of stores. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. i. p. 791.]</span> +He must get back within reach of his own depots. Gadsden had been made a +temporary base, and he made haste to reach the valley of the Coosa, in +which it lay.</p> +<p>Sherman had wished that the rumor would turn out to be true which +gave the neighborhood of Bridgeport as the place at which Hood would +enter Tennessee; <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pt. iii. pp. 296, 312.]</span> but if he did so anywhere from +Guntersville to Chattanooga, it would be possible to head him off by +General Thomas's forces whilst our principal army closed in upon him +from the rear. During the 16th Snake Creek Gap was cleared of the timber +blockade which Hood had made to delay our chase, and my corps reached +Villanow. The Army of the Tennessee was at Ships Gap, and that of the +Cumberland in close support. We here learned definitely that Stewart's +corps of Hood's army had marched southward from Villanow to Subligna on +the east side of Taylor's Ridge, and the main body from Lafayette to +Summerville on the west side. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pp. 310, 311.]</span></p> +<p>After a day spent in reconnoissances and renewal of communications +with Chattanooga and Nashville, we marched again on the 18th, Sherman +leading the main army from Lafayette southward, whilst he ordered me to +march from Villanow by way of Subligna to Gover's (or Mattox's) Gap, and +thence to Summerville, following the enemy's corps which had gone that +way. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, +vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 325.]</span> We reached Subligna at noon, driving +vedettes and patrols of the enemy's cavalry as we advanced. From +Subligna I sent Major Wells of my staff with a regiment over the +mountain by a bridle path, to inform General Sherman of our progress. He +had an unexpectedly long and rough march, but reported as ordered. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 351.]</span> +We continued the march to Gover's Gap, drove away a cavalry rear-guard, +and repaired the road which ran along a bench cut in the precipitous +hillside. An easy way of communication with Sherman in the Chattooga +valley was thus opened, after a day's march of twenty-two miles. General +Kenner Garrard with his cavalry had followed a parallel valley further +east, toward Dirt-town, and joined me at Gover's Gap soon after my +arrival there. We now marched through Melville to Gaylesville, where +the army was concentrated on the 20th. The Twenty-third Corps was placed +in advance, near Blue Pond, where a bridge over the Chattooga was to be +rebuilt, and one division was sent to Cedar Bluff, a pretty village on +the Coosa, where it covered the main road down the valley from Rome to +Gadsden. I made a reconnoissance to Center, over the Gadsden road, and +learned definitely that the whole army of Hood was at Gadsden. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 346, 357, +359, 361, 364, 369. 376, 399, 423.]</span></p> +<p>Sherman's wish that Hood would cross the Tennessee near Stevenson +was very sincere. He approved the movement by Schofield to occupy +Trenton with the two divisions still under his command, but he +disapproved the directions given by Thomas to place troops at Caperton's +Ferry, which was on the direct road to Stevenson. He wanted that door +left open till Hood should have part, at least, of his army over the +Tennessee River. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 335.]</span> He felt so sure, however, that Hood would not fall into +such a trap, that his dispatches reiterate the opinion that if the enemy +crossed the river at all, it would be west of Huntsville or at Muscle +Shoals. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 333, 357, 395.]</span> He was turning +his whole mind to the March to the Sea, and studying the contingencies +which it involved. In a long dispatch to Halleck on the 19th <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 357-358.]</span> +he had mapped out his general scheme, and gave his reasons why he must +have alternates in his choice of objectives, though his real aim would +be Savannah. He therefore named, as the points where the Navy should +watch for him, Charleston, Savannah, Pensacola, and Mobile, saying, "I +will turn up somewhere." On the 22d, writing to General Grant, he +reviewed the ground and the effect which it would have on the +Confederacy when the Georgia railroads were destroyed and he should +"bring up with 60,000 men on the seashore about Savannah or +Charleston," concluding, "I think this far better than defending a long +line of railroad." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 395.]</span> At the outset Thomas had advised Sherman, in view of the +fact that General Grant had not yet been able to carry out his plan to +take southern seaports as a preliminary to an advance beyond Atlanta, to +"adopt Grant's idea of turning Wilson loose rather than undertake the +plan of a march with the whole force through Georgia to the sea." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Id., p. 334.]</span> General +James H. Wilson had been sent from Grant's army to be chief of cavalry +with Sherman, and Thomas's suggestion was that until Grant's part of the +general plan should be accomplished, activity should be limited to the +defence of the territory already occupied, except as cavalry raids +might harry the Confederate country. But Sherman answered, "To pursue +Hood is folly, for he can twist and turn like a fox and wear out any +army in pursuit. To continue to occupy long lines of railroad simply +exposes our small detachments to be picked up in detail and forces me to +make countermarches to protect lines of communication. I know I am +right in this, and shall proceed to its maturity." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxix. pt. iii. p. 378.]</span> He set to work to organize the two armies +in such force that Thomas should feel content with his means of meeting +Hood if the latter should not turn back after the Georgia column.</p> +<p>General Schofield had been feeling his way southward with Wagner's +and Morgan's divisions, and on the 19th Sherman ordered him to move by +the most direct route to Alpine, overtaking the column which was +marching on the west side of the Chattooga valley, as I was doing on the +east. Sherman added the direction to keep the command as it was till +they should meet in person. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +p. 366.]</span> This had reference to his purposes in regard to myself +and the Twenty-third Corps, which have been mentioned.</p> +<p>On the 21st Schofield's column reached Alpine, and he rode forward +to Sherman's headquarters at Gaylesville. I had gone up from my own +headquarters to make some report to Sherman, and was with him when +Schofield arrived. Our greeting was a warm one. The present situation +and what had occurred since the parting at Atlanta was of course the +first topic of conversation, and I had the keen pleasure of hearing +Sherman praise the handling of the corps during the past months in much +stronger terms than he had used to me alone. Then followed the forecast +of the future. Sherman put strongly his belief that Hood would not cross +the Tennessee above the Shoals, and his purpose to march to Savannah as +soon as the enemy should be definitely committed to a movement across +Alabama. He then touched upon the details of organization, and referring +to the fact that the corps was weak in numbers and that it would be +perhaps unpleasant for Schofield to leave the command of his department +for an indefinite period, suggested that he should consent to the +temporary absence of the corps. Schofield very promptly replied that he +should prefer almost any alternative to the mere administrative work of +the department and its garrisons in East Tennessee and Kentucky. He said +that if Hood should not follow the southern movement, but should turn +his whole force upon Thomas with desperate purpose to drive him out of +Tennessee, another veteran corps, though a small one, might make all the +difference between defeat and victory. Sherman replied that he would +consider the whole matter carefully and adjourned the discussion, +requesting that Schofield should confer fully with me.</p> +<p>We continued the conference at the corps headquarters, and I agreed +with General Schofield that no military duty was so little attractive as +the perplexing semi-political administration at the rear, adding that +till the war ended I desired to be with the biggest and most active +column in the west. I frankly said that it was this consideration that +made with me the great attraction of the arrangement Sherman had +suggested. Schofield expressed the strong conviction that Hood would not +follow Sherman, and that in middle Tennessee the real fighting must be +done. He had no idea of putting the corps in garrison anywhere, but felt +sure that Thomas must concentrate everything he might have for most +active field work, and that in strictest military sense our task, if we +were there, would be not less important or less honorable than that of +our comrades who marched eastward. It would, besides, give us the +opportunity to fill up the corps with the new regiments that were coming +forward, when otherwise, with the expiration of the term of some we had +and the casualties of a new campaign, we should probably find it reduced +to a single division. Schofield's clearly expressed purpose to seek the +most active field work with Thomas in a campaign against Hood's army if +we went back to middle Tennessee brought me to agreement with his +views, and I promised to support them in my next interview with General +Sherman, as I did. I still look back with pleasure to this incident as +proof of the hearty comradeship between Sherman and his subordinates, +which continued to be shown toward me by both him and Schofield to the +end. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: My memory is +supported, in this matter, by home letters written at the time.]</span></p> +<p>Sherman postponed his decision till he was quite sure what course +Hood would take, for the latter was concentrating his army at Gadsden +and having a conference with Beauregard on the day of the interviews on +our side which I have narrated. After agreeing with his immediate +superior upon the plan of entering Tennessee at or near Guntersville, +Hood started on the morning of the 22d, but in accordance with +confidential directions he gave his corps commanders, his column changed +direction at Benettsville, taking the Decatur road, which there branched +to the left and forced the marching westward. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 831, 835, 81, 843.]</span> The gloss which he +afterward put on the matter was that he changed his plan in consequence +of information that Forrest could not join him as he expected. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Advance and Retreat, p. 20.]</span> +This does not bear examination. Forrest was, under the orders of General +Taylor, preparing a raid into western Tennessee to bring out all the +supplies that country contained and to break up the railway to Memphis, +sending the iron to repair the road in the vicinity of Tuscumbia, where +the base for the new operations in middle Tennessee would be. On the +20th Hood had himself informed Taylor of his purpose to cross at +Guntersville, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 835.]</span> and Wheeler's cavalry was +relied upon to cover the movement till middle Tennessee should be +reached. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 845.]</span> On the 22d Taylor was directed to have Forrest open +communication with Hood "by letter or otherwise," and act for the time +under his orders, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid.</i>]</span> +but no immediate interference with what Forrest was doing in western +Tennessee was indicated. The only reasonable interpretation of Hood's +conduct is that when he faced the consequences of a movement to +Guntersville with Sherman at Gaylesville ready to close the <i>cul de +sac</i> behind him, even his audacity shrunk from the plan, and he +proved the truth of Sherman's prediction that he would not dare to do +it. Beauregard explicitly says that the change in Hood's plan was made +after leaving Gadsden, where it had been definitely arranged. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. p. 662.]</span></p> +<p>On our side several days were spent in watchful observation. I +returned to my division, Schofield resumed the command of the Army of +the Ohio, and the divisions he had led from Chattanooga joined the +Fourth and Fourteenth Corps, to which they belonged. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, vol. xxxix. pt. +iii. pp. 401, 402.]</span> Thomas was informed that the Fourth Corps +would be sent back to him with about 5000 men from other commands who +were not quite in condition for the March to the Sea, but who would be +fit for post garrison. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 408.]</span> Sherman's recommendations for promotions earned in the +past campaigns were made on the 24th, in urgent and explicit terms, +endorsing the approval expressed by the separate army commanders, and +saying that if the law did not allow the addition to the number of +general officers, he believed that "the exigencies of the country would +warrant the muster out of the same number of generals now on the list +that have not done service in the past year." We who were thus +recommended thought we had the right to feel that the terms of approval +used by such a commander gave a military standing hardly less than the +actual gift of a grade from the government. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 413. See +Appendix C for the language used by Sherman, and for the recommendation +of General Schofield.]</span></p> +<p>On the 25th reports came from the light-draft gunboats patrolling +the Tennessee River that the enemy was making demonstrations at several +points below Guntersville, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 436.]</span> and next day +Sherman ordered the Fourth Corps to march to Chattanooga and report to +General Thomas. He also issued his order that "in the event of military +movements or the accidents of war separating him from his military +division," Thomas should "exercise command over all troops and garrisons +not absolutely in the presence of the general-in-chief." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Id., p. 442.]</span> He +pointed out to Thomas that Chattanooga and Decatur were the points to be +held "to the death;" that it would not be wise to move into West +Tennessee unless he knew that the enemy had followed south, as he +thought they would do when they found him starting from Atlanta; and +that when Thomas was ready for aggressive movements, his line of +operations should be against Selma. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Id., pp. 448, 449.]</span></p> +<p>On the 27th of October Schofield wrote to Sherman, giving details of +the reduction in numbers of the divisions of the corps now in the field, +and renewing his urgency for some arrangement to increase its force. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Id., p. 468.]</span> The news +from the west now made it certain that Hood was before Decatur, and +Sherman issued orders on the 28th for the army to march to Rome. His +purpose in this was double. He would try the effect on the enemy of the +apparent start toward the east, whilst he concentrated his army on the +railroad which was now repaired and which gave him the means of rapidly +reinforcing General Thomas to any extent that might become necessary. He +informed Halleck that he had sent the Fourth Corps back and that he +might send ours also, though he still thought it probable that his +movement on Macon would make Hood "let go." He urged the hastening of +reinforcements to Thomas. Rosecrans promised to send General A. J. Smith +with his two divisions back from Missouri, and Sherman only waited to +get his sick and wounded to the rear, and to accumulate at Atlanta the +supplies he reckoned it necessary to take with him. His determination +to send us back to join the Fourth Corps was shown by his confidential +dispatch to Colonel Beckwith, his chief commissary, that he might +reduce his estimates for rations to enough for 50,000 men to go south. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 476, 477.]</span></p> +<p>Our orders to march came at noon, and we started at once, with the +information that from Rome we should go back to Tennessee. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Id., pt. i. p. 793.]</span> +In the evening of the same day Sherman definitely advised Thomas of his +decision to send Schofield to him, and the outline of the arrangements +for the new campaign was completed. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Id., pt. iii. p. 484.]</span> General R. S. Granger went with +reinforcements to the aid of Colonel Doolittle, who commanded the post +at Decatur, and that place was held against Hood, who was too short of +supplies to delay long. He hastened on to Tuscumbia, where his new base +was established, and where he halted to collect the means for the +invasion of Tennessee, near the great bend of the river. He first gave +orders to lay his pontoons at Bainbridge, at the foot of Muscle Shoals, +the place named by Sherman as his probable crossing; but the lack of +supplies and the desire for better preparation prevented, and he moved +on, reaching Tuscumbia on the 30th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Id., p. 866.]</span></p> +<p>Our march to Rome was lengthened by our taking the right, leaving +the more direct roads for other parts of the army. We crossed the Coosa, +following the road to Jacksonville for five miles, and then turned east +on the so-called river road. This, however, proved impassable, and, next +morning, we were obliged to retrace our steps to the Jacksonville road, +and going an hour's march on it reach the road from Centre to Cave +Spring, which we followed to the latter place, which takes its name from +a remarkable spring breaking out beneath a mountain, a considerable +brook at once. Some sixty feet up the hill-side is the mouth of a cave +at the bottom of which is the underground stream, which finds its way +out by another fissure. The village was the rendezvous where Beauregard +overtook Hood on the evening of the 9th of October, and held their first +consultation in regard to the campaign. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxix. pt. i. p. 796.]</span> It was a pretty place which had not +suffered the ravages of war; the situation was a lovely one, and there +were there a public Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb and some other public +buildings. Our countermarch had lengthened the day's journey to +twenty-two miles.</p> +<p>On the 30th my division marched to Rome and encamped on the Calhoun +road, two or three miles northeast of the town. At Rome I made my +farewell visit to General Sherman at his headquarters. He talked freely +of his plans to the group of officers who were present, and in the final +hand-shaking with me said that Hood had now put so large a space between +them that the March to the Sea could not be interfered with, and that +whatever hard fighting was to come in the campaign would fall to the lot +of us who were going back to middle Tennessee. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: The fullest resume of +Sherman's views when on the point of starting is found in his letter to +Grant of November eth. Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. pp. +658-661.]</span> Our movement northward was through Calhoun and Resaca +to Tilton, where we were to take railway trains for Nashville; but the +rolling stock was overtasked in the rush of work to complete Sherman's +preparations, and we marched on to Dalton. An autumnal rainstorm had +come on, and though we had good camping ground, our impatience at the +delay made our stay of three or four days at the ruined village anything +but pleasant. On the 3d of November I noted in my pocket-diary that it +was one of those rainy, gusty days "when the smoke from the camp-fire +fills your eyes whichever side of the fire you get." As we had gone +northward we met large numbers of officers and men who had been on +leave, and who were now hurrying to join their commands. Two of my own +staff rejoined us in this way, and a brand-new brass band that had been +recruited for Casement's brigade came also, making that command proud +as peacocks for a while.</p> +<p>Our stay at Dalton gave me the opportunity in the intervals of the +storm to ride out and carefully examine the positions the enemy had held +at the beginning of May. In the progress of an active campaign the +soldier rarely has an opportunity to make such an examination of +fortified positions out of which the enemy has been manoeuvred, and I +had eagerly seized every chance to do this interesting and instructive +work as we had come back through our lines about Marietta and Allatoona. +Here at Dalton Johnston's positions had been plainly impregnable, and I +congratulated myself that my division had not been ordered to assault +them when we made our reconnoissance in force, before Sherman began the +turning movement through Snake Creek Gap.</p> +<p>Whilst waiting for our railway trains we heard of Hood's +demonstration at Decatur, and of his repulse and his march toward +Florence. We knew that he had not yet crossed the Tennessee, and that +our delay was not causing embarrassment to General Thomas at Nashville. +I got one of my brigades away on November 6th, and the others on the +7th, going with Casement's, which was the last. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 655, 673.]</span> As we ran into Chattanooga, we were +all alert to see the place which had become of such historical +importance, for we had advanced into Georgia in the spring by roads far +to the east, and I had never visited it. We reached the town just as the +sun was setting and the long storm was breaking. My headquarters were in +a freight car, and with the side doors slid wide open, we sat on our +camp-stools in the doorway watching our progress. Fort Phelps on its +isolated hill stood up black and sharp against the western sky, which +was gray-clouded, with a long rift, blood red where the sun was breaking +through, whilst still further to the left the huge shoulder of Lookout +Mountain threw its deep shadows over the landscape. From the other side +a fine reach of the Tennessee River opened before us, backed by the +mountainous ridges on the north, gleaming in the level sunlight.</p> +<p>We did not leave our train, but after a short delay started again +for Nashville. The crowded state of the road made frequent halts +necessary, and when day broke we had made only eight miles. As we ran +between the high hills, they were in their most gorgeous autumn dress; +and, free from care, we enjoyed it all as a holiday outing, calling each +other's attention to every new combination of mountain and river, and of +changing schemes of brilliant color. It was the Presidential +election-day, and in accordance with the provisions of the statutes, we +opened the polls in my box car, and the officers and men voted at the +halts of the train when they could get to the voting place. Colonel +Doolittle of the Eighteenth Michigan, commandant of the post at Decatur, +joined us at Stevenson, coming into my car to vote. From him we learned +the details of Hood's attempt upon the Decatur post, and got interesting +news, throwing light upon the situation before us. At my invitation he +remained with us till we reached Nashville, and the acquaintance thus +formed led to an arrangement for his temporary service with me after the +battle of Franklin. As I wrote home, we voted by steam for "A. Linkum," +seeing the end of the war manifestly approaching. The election for Ohio +State officers had occurred in October when we were on the march after +Hood, and at a noon halt we turned an ambulance into a polling booth in +a grove on the banks of the Etowah River, where I voted with one of the +Ohio regiments.</p> +<p>Our little October campaign had been a good example of what soldiers +regard as pleasant work. There had been constant activity, with no +severe fighting, and the weather had been, for the most part, +magnificent. The rains had ceased at the end of the first week of the +month, and from that time till we halted from our chase on the banks of +the Coosa in the edge of Alabama we had a succession of bright, cool +days, and comfortable nights. It had been like a hunt for big game on a +grand scale, with excitement enough to keep everybody keyed up to a high +pitch of physical enjoyment, ready for every call to bodily exertion. +The foliage was ripening and changing in the equable autumnal airs +without frost, and the results were often very surprising and very +beautiful. The gum-tree <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Liquidambar Styraciflua.]</span> is very common in the open fields of +that part of Georgia, and each fine rounded mass had its own special +tint, bright crimson, green-bronze, maroon, or pure green; and when a +camp-fire was lighted in a grove of such trees the evening effect was a +thing to remember for a lifetime. The regimental camps were all alive +with diversions of different sorts from the time of the halt at the end +of a march till tattoo sounded. Each had its trained pet animals, and +the soldiers exhausted their skill and patience in teaching these varied +tricks. One regiment had a pair of bull-terrier dogs that played a game +which never failed to amuse. At a signal one of the dogs would seize a +firebrand by the unburnt end and start off on a run through the camp; +the other would follow at speed, trying to trip up the first, to collar +him or push him over, and so force him to drop the brand. The second +would then grasp it and the chase would be renewed, doubling in and +out, over logs, or through a group of lounging men, scattering them +right and left, the yelp of the chasing dog accompanying the blazing +meteor as it cut odd figures in the darkness, and the shouting laughter +of the men encouraging the dogs to new efforts to outdo each other. The +intelligence of the dogs in playing the game with apparent recklessness, +yet without getting burnt, was something wonderful.</p> +<p>I had myself an interesting experience with a beautiful little +creature. Coming one day suddenly into my tent, I surprised a little +gold and green lizard on my camp desk. The desk was a small portable +one, with lid falling to make the writing-table, set on a trestle, and +my appearance scared the little animal into a pigeon-hole, which it took +for a way of escape. I sat down on my camp stool in front of the desk, +and resumed my writing, watching, also, to see what my prisoner would +do. Its little jewel eyes shone in the recess of its prison cell, and +soon it cautiously came to the front; but the first move of my hand +toward it made it dodge back into the darkness. Two or three times this +was done, and I got no nearer to it; so I changed my tactics. I placed +my hand against the next pigeon-hole, extending one finger over the +occupied one, and waiting in perfect quiet for a few moments, my beauty +came slowly forward over the paper files to the mouth of the pigeon-hole +near my finger. With great caution and gentleness I stroked its head and +it remained quiet. A few more strokes and it seemed pleased and rapidly +grew tame. It ceased to be afraid of my motions, and did not try to get +away. At intervals, as I sat, the acquaintance was renewed, and the +little thing seemed to become fond of me, running about on my papers, +climbing my arm to my shoulder, and running back to its home if any one +entered the tent. In short, I had followed the example of the private +soldiers and had a pet. When we marched I put it on my hat rim as I +mounted my horse, thinking it would soon leave me; but it did not. It +sat on my hat-crown like a most gorgeous aigrette, or took a little tour +around the hat-band or down on my shoulders. I forgot it when busy, but +it stayed by, and at the end of a march, when my tent was pitched again +and my desk in the usual place, it resumed its home there and thrived on +the flies it caught. It was with me for some weeks and became known at +headquarters as an attache of the staff. The day we followed Hood +westward from Resaca through Snake Creek Gap, I had dismounted, and was +talking with General Whitaker, commanding a brigade in the Fourth Corps, +whose men with mine were cutting out the timber blockade in the Gap. I +had no thought of my lizard, but one of his orderlies caught sight of +it on my shoulder. With the common prejudice among the soldiers that +the harmless thing was a deadly poisonous reptile, he stood a moment +staring and half transfixed, thinking me in deadly peril. Then, with a +jump, he struck it off my shoulder with his open hand, and stamped it +dead with his heavy boot heel, sure he had saved my life. But when one +of my attendants exclaimed reproachfully, "There, you've killed the +general's pet," the poor fellow slunk away, the picture of shame and +remorse. Pets were sacred by the law of the camp, and he felt and +looked as if he were a murderer. No doubt he was also stupefied at the +idea that such a thing could be a pet, but in the matter of pets, as in +some other things, he bowed to the law, "His not to reason why!"<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII"></a>CHAPTER XLIII</p> +<p>NASHVILLE CAMPAIGN--HOOD'S ADVANCE FROM THE TENNESSEE</p> +<p>Schofield to command the army assembled at Pulaski--Forrest's +Tennessee River raid--Schofield at Johnsonville--My division at +Thompson's--Hastening reinforcements to Thomas--Columbia--The +barrens--Pulaski--Hood delays--Suggests Purdy as a base--He advances +from Florence--Our march to Columbia-Thomas's distribution of the +forces--Decatur evacuated--Pontoon bridge there--Withdrawing from +Columbia--Posts between Nashville and Chattanooga--The cavalry on 29th +November--Their loss of touch with the army.</p> +<p>Our railway train reached Nashville in the forenoon of Wednesday the +9th of November, and I at once visited General Schofield to report my +arrival and get further orders. He had himself reported to General +Thomas by telegraph when we reached Calhoun on the last day of October, +and Pulaski, eighty miles south of Nashville, had been given as the +rendezvous for our corps with the Fourth. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxix. pt. iii. p. 538.]</span> Thomas was taking a cheerful view of the +situation now that the Twenty-third Corps had been ordered to him, and +on the 3d of November, in giving Sherman an outline of the progress of +events, said that if Beauregard "does not move before Sunday (6th), I +will have Schofield and Stanley together at Pulaski, and he can then +move whenever he pleases." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Id., p. 618.]</span> Schofield got part of Cooper's division off on +Thursday, with arrangements for the rest to follow, and took the railway +train himself next day. Thomas's plans then were to send the troops +through Nashville without stopping, but he asked Schofield to stop for +a short consultation. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Id., p. 624.]</span> Without waiting for this, however, he issued his +order on Friday, assigning Schofield to command the troops assembling at +Pulaski to operate in front of that place. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxiv. pt. iii. p. 638.]</span> This was a graceful act toward an officer +of his own grade as a department commander, when as yet it was an open +question whether the assignment by the President to command a +department and army in the field gave precedence over officers in other +organizations, senior in date of commission, but not so assigned. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: The matter has been decided +in the affirmation by the War department and the decision had been +transmitted in Halleck's letter to Sherman dated October 4th, but the +interruption of communications had prevented its reaching Sherman for +some time, and Thomas had not received it when he made the order. For +the whole discussion and correspondence, see <i>Id</i>., vol. xxxviii. +pt. v. pp. 734, 753, 797; vol. xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 64, 638, 666, 684, +685, 691, 692, 703, 704; vol. xlv. pt. i. p. 959.]</span></p> +<p>When Schofield reached Nashville on the 5th, he found Thomas busy +with a new problem. Forrest had set for him by his raid down the +Tennessee valley on the west side. A gunboat had been captured, and +demonstrations opposite Johnsonville by the raiders had been followed by +the unnecessary destruction of a fleet of transports, three gunboats at +the landing, and vast quantities of stores. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xxxix. pt. +i. p. 861, 864, 866.]</span> The place was the terminus of a railway from +Nashville to the Tennessee River, and was an intermediate depot of +supplies in a low stage of water in the rivers. At other times +steamboats could ascend the Cumberland all the way to Nashville. The +exaggerated reports of the enemy's force and apparent purpose to cross +the river there made Thomas think it wise to modify his plans for the +moment, and he ordered Schofield to proceed at once to Johnsonville with +the two brigades of the Twenty-third Corps then in hand, Moore's and +Gallup's, intending to concentrate the whole corps there as fast as they +should come from Georgia. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 647.]</span></p> +<p>As soon as Sherman could decipher Thomas's dispatches, he warned the +latter of the danger of a false move, as only Forrest's cavalry was down +the river, and Hood's army was known to be at Florence. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxix. pt. iii. p. 647.]</span> When Schofield got to Johnsonville, he +soon saw the real state of affairs, and advised Thomas that the two +brigades were enough. He instructed General Cooper as to improving the +defences of the town, and returned to Nashville on the 7th. Next day he +made a hurried visit to Pulaski to examine the situation there, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 708.]</span> +where was now the railway terminus of the line to Decatur, the bridges +and trestles about Athens having been destroyed by Forrest in his +September raid. He got back to Nashville before day on the 9th, and was +ready to meet me on my arrival there. From him I got full information of +the situation, and orders to take my division to Columbia, where he +expected to join me in two or three days.</p> +<p>Leaving Nashville in the afternoon, we learned on reaching Franklin +that a wreck on the railway near Spring Hill obstructed the track, and +our trains were halted till the way should be cleared. We had made only +twenty miles; the weather had changed again to a cold, drenching rain. +Thursday, the 10th, was clear and cold, and whilst waiting for the +railway to be open again, I made my first acquaintance with the pretty +village on the banks of the Harpeth in which I was to feel a much more +lively interest three weeks later. As soon as the railway officials +could put the trains in motion we resumed our journey. Reilly's brigade +gets to Spring Hill, half-way to Columbia, but the insufficiency of +siding at that place makes it impracticable to handle all the trains +there, and the rest of us are stopped at Thompson's Station, three miles +short. We leave the cars and go into camp so as to release the trains +for other work, whilst we organize again for field operations, though +our wagons had not reached us. Strickland's brigade of Cooper's division +has accompanied us and is attached to my command temporarily. Some five +miles north of Columbia there is a break in the railway, and we are +delayed till it can be repaired and communication with Columbia fully +opened. The two or three days intervening are spent in getting forward +horses for the artillery, rations, and advance stores, so as to become +again a self-dependent unit of the army. We found the country in this +part of Tennessee richer and finer than any we had campaigned in, much +more open, with well-tilled farms.</p> +<p>The news we got indicated that Forrest had joined Hood at Florence, +and that the enemy was preparing there for a forward movement. I opened +communication with the Fourth Corps at Pulaski, and was under orders, to +join them whenever an advance of Hood should make it necessary. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 748, 749.]</span> On the 11th Sherman still inclined +to the opinion that Beauregard would order Hood to follow him, as soon +as his southward march should really begin. "I rather think you will +find commotion in his camp in a day or two," he said to Thomas; for his +own preparations were now complete, and his communications with the +North were to be cut next day. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 746.]</span> The humorous side of things struck him forcibly, and in +giving to Captain Poe, his engineer, directions to destroy the +foundries, workshops, and railway buildings at Atlanta, he had added, +"Beauregard still lingers about Florence, afraid to invade Tennessee, +and I think slightly disgusted because Sherman did not follow him on his +fool's errand." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 680.]</span> The irony fitted Hood better than Beauregard, for the +latter had not taken personal direction of the active army; but the +relations between the two Confederate generals were very imperfectly +known to us, and we naturally assumed that Beauregard was himself +responsible for the immediate conduct of the whole.</p> +<p>The progress of the work of reinforcing Thomas was not quite as +rapid as it seemed. Grant had sent General Rawlins, his chief of staff, +from Petersburg to St. Louis to see that A. J. Smith's corps went +promptly forward from Rosecrans's department. Besides the 9000 in +Smith's immediate command, 5200 men were collected from posts on the +Mississippi and Ohio, and were put in motion toward Nashville. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxix. pt. iii. p. 684.]</span> Rawlins's report on the 7th, that these +were starting, was understood by Thomas to apply to the whole of Smith's +force, and he therefore reckoned on their reaching him in a few days. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 685.]</span> +Rawlins in fact expected Smith's own divisions to leave St. Louis on the +10th, but even this was much sooner than they reached the river. The +same news was sent to Sherman, and he expressed his joy that these +veteran reinforcements were on the way, and his confidence that the +enemy was now checkmated. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 686.]</span> The result was a little over-confidence in all quarters, +which probably had its influence in making Thomas less energetic in +concentrating the troops available in Tennessee than he would have been +had he known that Smith's 9000 would not reach Nashville till the last +day of the month. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See +"Franklin and Nashville," pp. 132 <i>et seq</i>.; "Battle of Franklin," +pp. 40, 41.]</span></p> +<p>On the 13th I marched to Columbia, and Schofield went in person to +Pulaski, where he assumed command. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt iii. pp. 764, 768.]</span> Wooden +pontoons were sent the same day to Columbia for the crossing of the Duck +River there, and the bridge was completed at ten o'clock in the +evening. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pt. i. p. 795.]</span> As the river was too high to ford, we had encamped +on the north side, in the tongue made by the horse-shoe bend to the +southward. We occupied the fine open wood on rolling ground, and made +ourselves as well acquainted with the village and surrounding country +as time would allow. Columbia, on the south bank of the river, had been +a centre of education and refinement, and several college buildings +were there, surrounded by ample groves. The neighborhood was the home +of the Polks and the Pillows and other people of national reputation, +whose ample estates lay on the roads diverging from the town. Between +the village and the railway bridge below the place was an isolated hill +on which was an enclosed redoubt, commanding the crossing. It was a +strong position when connected with sufficient forces near by, but too +small and too detached to have much independent value.</p> +<p>Leaving Strickland's brigade as a garrison for the town, the rest of +my command marched next morning toward Pulaski, reaching Lynnville, +eighteen miles south of the river, where a road from Lawrenceburg comes +into the turnpike. I was pretty strong in artillery, having five +batteries, two of which properly belonged to the second division. Ten +miles south of Columbia we left the open country and entered a hilly, +forest-covered region, with cultivation only in the narrow valleys of +small streams. This high water-shed between the Duck River and the Elk +extends nearly all the way from the plateau of the Cumberland westward +to the Tennessee River, where it has made its great bend to the north. +It is known as the "barns" (barrens), and is desolate enough. In many +places one may travel for miles without seeing a house. Wood-chopping +and charcoal-burning for smelting furnaces seemed to be the principal +industry.</p> +<p>On the 15th we continued our march in a heavy, cold rain to Pigeon +Creek, two miles north of Pulaski, making sixteen miles. General +Schofield met me there, and we examined the country westward some three +miles, our reconnoissance determining him to keep the division at the +turnpike crossing of the creek, where we accordingly encamped. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. p. 357.]</span> It had been confidently expected that Hood would +march northward by the time we could reach Pulaski, but he delayed, and +it was a week later before he really opened his new campaign. Various +things combined to give plausible reasons for his delay. He could not +get the supply of stores which he needed. The gap in his railroad from +Cherokee to Tuscumbia was not rebuilt. The weather was continuously cold +with heavy rains, and the roads going from bad to worse. The truth, no +doubt, was that Sherman's march southward had a most perplexing effect, +raising portentous problems as to its result upon the Confederacy, and +reducing Hood's own campaign to a secondary place in the general +progress of the war. Torn by doubts, he seemed willing to find excuses +for postponing action, hoping to see clearer light on the future before +committing himself to a decisive movement. An interesting item in the +discussion between the Confederate generals was that Hood suggested +Purdy as a better base than Tuscumbia, and proposed to abandon the work +of rebuilding the railroad near that place. Purdy was some twenty-five +miles north of Corinth on the Mobile and Ohio Railway, and not far from +the old battlefield of Shiloh. Its landing-place on the Tennessee River +was nearly opposite Savannah, and it was there that Grant had stopped +his steamboat for a conference with General Lew Wallace on his way to +Pittsburg Landing the morning of the great battle. It is probable that +Hood thought it advantageous to take a line by which he might avoid the +risk of expeditions from Decatur, and could more safely turn +Schofield's position at Pulaski, by operating further from our line of +railroad and making it necessary for us either to retire rapidly toward +Nashville, or meet him so far from our supply line as to be dependent, +like himself, on wagon transportation. Beauregard approved the change +of base if made after the first stage of the campaign should be +complete, and planned a scheme of floating booms armed with torpedoes +to protect the pontoon bridge when it should be laid there. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 900, 905; vol. xlv. pt. i. p. 1210.]</span> The road +from Savannah through Waynesborough to Columbia was a turnpike, and +would be safer for wagon trains than that from Florence, because so much +further from posts on our railway. It would also be a better line of +retreat in case of disaster. The plan was not tried, because the +withdrawal of our forces from Decatur and Pulaski removed the dangers +which Hood apprehended, and made his communications secure. The rains +raised the river so much that the bridge laid at Florence was no longer +protected by its situation between Muscle Shoals above and Colbert +Shoals below, and the Confederates had reason to fear that it would be +destroyed by gunboats coming up the river. The navy had been unfortunate +in the destruction of gunboats at Johnsonville, but Rear-Admiral S. P. +Lee had been sent to take command of the river fleets co-operating with +Thomas, and was planning active work with heavier vessels. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xxxix. pt. +iii. p. 734.]</span></p> +<p>On the 14th the river had risen eighteen feet at Florence, and +Hood's bridge was with great difficulty kept in its place. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xlv. pt. +i. p. 887.]</span> The same day General Wheeler informed him of Sherman's +concentration at Atlanta, the destruction of the railroad above, and +the strong rumors of the march on Augusta and Savannah. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 1206.]</span> +Forrest had not yet joined Hood, but did so in two days. Beauregard +heard, through Taylor, of the movement of reinforcements to Thomas from +Memphis and below, as well as of A. J. Smith's from St. Louis. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 1208-1209.]</span> +On the 17th he got authentic news of Sherman's start from Atlanta, and +ordered Hood to "take the offensive at the earliest practicable moment, +and deal the enemy rapid and vigorous blows, striking him while thus +dispersed, and by this means to distract Sherman's advance into +Georgia." Hood replied that he had only one third of the quantity of +rations accumulated which he needed for beginning the campaign. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. p. 1215.]</span> Beauregard himself left Tuscumbia for Montgomery +and Macon, giving Hood the choice either to send part of his troops to +Georgia or to take the offensive immediately. Under this spur Hood gave +orders for an advance on the 19th, but there was still some cause of +delay, and Beauregard reiterated, on the 20th, the peremptory order to +"push an active offensive immediately." Next day all were in motion, and +Hood issued a brief address to his troops, saying, "You march to-day +to redeem by your valor and your arms one of the fairest portions of +our Confederacy." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 1220, 1225,1226,1236.]</span></p> +<p>During the week we were at Pulaski the rain had made our camp +anything but a pleasant one, yet, as we were daily in expectation of +Hood's advance, we could do nothing to improve our shelter or the means +of warming our tents. The forests were near enough to furnish us the +fuel for rousing camp-fires, and we made the most of them. At night I +fastened back the flaps of my tent, and a blazing pile of logs threw in +heat enough to temper the cold, and one slept sweetly in the fresh air +as long as the wind was in the right direction. The day Hood advanced +the rain changed to snow, driving in flurries and squalls all day. +Marching orders for the 22d came in the evening, and we prepared for an +early start to Lynnville, for the enemy was making for Columbia through +Lawrenceburg, and we must anticipate him. The night was a freezing one, +the mud was frozen stiff on the surface in the morning, making the worst +possible marching for the infantry, while the artillery and horses broke +through the crust at every step. Our only consolation was in the +reflection that it was as bad for Hood as for us. By getting off at +break of day my division reached Lynnville by noon, and took position on +the north and west of the village. Wagner's division of the Fourth Corps +followed and reported to me. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlv. pt. i. pp. 974, 985.]</span> I gave them +positions on the south and west. Schofield remained another day at +Pulaski with two divisions of the Fourth Corps, but joined me at noon of +the 23d, and under his orders I marched my division ten miles further +north to the crossing of the road from Mount Pleasant to Shelbyville. +Starting at three, we forced the pace a little, and went into position +at six in the twilight. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 357, 998.]</span> The rest was a short one, for we were off again at +four in the morning, hastening the march for Columbia in the cold and +thick darkness. Schofield had learned in the night that the cavalry on +the Lawrenceburg road had been driven back to Mount Pleasant, and that +the advance of Hood's infantry was at the former place. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 989.]</span> +There was no time to lose if we were to reach Columbia in time to cover +a concentration there. At the two-mile post south of the town a +cross-road turns westward, leading into the Mount Pleasant turnpike +where it crosses Bigby Creek, three miles out from Duck River. I turned +the head of column upon this road, and reached the turnpike just in time +to interpose between Capron's brigade of cavalry retreating into +Columbia and the Confederates under Forrest who were sharply following. +The rest of our horse were covering the flank of the Fourth Corps, which +was on the march from Lynnville. It was close work, all round. My men +deployed at double-quick along the bank of the creek, and after a brisk +skirmish Forrest withdrew out of range. The head of the Fourth Corps +column came up about eleven o'clock, having left Lynnville at three. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 1017, 1018, +1020, 1021.]</span> We naturally supposed Hood's infantry to be in close +support of the cavalry, but they were still at Lawrenceburg, and +learning that Forrest had been foiled in the effort to take Columbia, +did not advance beyond Mount Pleasant till the 26th, though the cavalry +made a vigorous reconnoissance on the 25th, giving us another lively +skirmish in which my division had some fifteen casualties. My +headquarters' tents were pitched in the grounds of Mrs. Martin, a member +of the Polk family.</p> +<p>At Columbia we found General Ruger in command when we arrived. He +had been transferred from the Twentieth Corps, and ordered to ours at +the time we left Georgia, and Schofield had assigned him to the second +division. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 661, 682, 700, 748.]</span> He joined +the two brigades at Johnsonville, but at Schofield's request Thomas +ordered him on the 20th to bring one brigade (Moore's) to Columbia, +where Strickland's of the same division already was. The railroad from +Johnsonville was broken by some raiders on the 21st, so that Ruger was +delayed, and only reached Columbia himself in the afternoon of the 23d. +Moore's brigade did not arrive till half-past two o'clock of the morning +of the 24th. Under Thomas's orders he at once, upon his arrival, sent +two regiments of Strickland's brigade down Duck River to Williamsport +and Centreville to hold crossings there. It thus happened that +Strickland was left with only his own regiment (Fiftieth Ohio), till, +some new reinforcements coming forward, other regiments were +temporarily assigned to him. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +vol. xlv. pt. i. pp. 378, 955, 985, 999.]</span> Until he reached +Columbia, therefore, Schofield did not know that Strickland had been +reinforced, and we all supposed that our safety depended on my getting +there before the enemy.</p> +<p>Thomas also ordered General Cooper to march from Johnsonville on the +24th, with his own brigade, direct to Centerville and Beard's Ferry, +some fifty miles. There he would be in communication with the two +regiments sent down from Columbia to Williamsport, and he was put in +command of the whole. He was thirty miles from our principal column, and +posted his troops to observe the crossings through some fifteen miles of +the river's course. He arrived at Beard's Ferry on the evening of the +28th, and was there only a day and a half, when our retreat to Franklin +made it necessary for him also to fall back. He was beset by guerilla +parties, so that he was almost without communication with his +commanders, and being thrown on his own resources, made his way back to +Nashville with a series of adventures. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. p. 370.]</span> Ruger's division was thus deprived of half its +veteran troops at the battle of Franklin.</p> +<p>It must be noted also that it was not till the 24th that the troops +at Decatur and Huntsville were ordered back, the withdrawal being made +on the 25th. General R. S. Granger's old troops were then placed at +Stevenson, and those recently recruited were sent to Murfreesborough.</p> +<p>Granger reported that the public property, except some forage, had +been removed; but by what seems to have been a misunderstanding with the +naval officers about convoying transports, the pontoon bridge was only +detached at its southern end, and was neither taken up stream nor +destroyed. It swung with the current against the northern shore, and +proved of great use to Hood in his retreat a month later. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 1003, 1027, +1046. See also "Franklin and Nashville," p. 125.]</span> The continued +hope that A. J. Smith's corps would arrive in time to reach Pulaski or +Columbia before we should have to retreat counted for much, no doubt, in +Thomas's postponement of decisive action; but it can hardly be disputed +that the true military course would have been to strip his garrisons to +the bone immediately after Sherman marched southward, concentrate at +Pulaski a force superior to Hood's, and give him battle if he dared to +advance north from Florence. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +For the forces on both sides in Tennessee, see Official Records, vol. +xlv. pt. i. pp. 52-54, 678-679; "Franklin and Nashville," pp. 132-136; +"The Battle of Franklin," pp. 9, 208. I discussed the same subject in +"The Nation" for Nov. 9, 1893, p. 352.]</span></p> +<p>As it was too late for concentration at Duck River or south of it, +Schofield was limited to a careful defensive, though he was willing to +receive Hood's attack upon our lines. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. p. 1017.]</span> The latter, however, did no more than keep up a +combat of skirmish lines, whilst he looked for ways to turn the +position. Schofield, on his part, prepared a short interior line to be +held by part of his troops when it was time to cross the river with the +rest. In the night of the 25th this movement was made, and for a couple +of days more our forces were divided, part holding the short line on the +south side, and the greater portion encamped in the bend on the north +bank, closely watching the development of the enemy's evident purpose to +cross some miles above us. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 1039, 1086-1091.]</span></p> +<p>The crossing of the river had been arranged for the early evening, +the Fourth Corps moving first into the short line on the south of the +river; and when this was done, I was to march two brigades of my +division through the lines and across the river to the north bank by the +pontoon bridge. There were delays in the change of position by the +Fourth Corps, and it was past midnight when I was notified that they +were in place and commenced my own movement. At that time a rain-storm +had set in which made our whole operation uncomfortable in the wet and +darkness, but especially the seeking a bivouac for the troops after we +got over the river. We halted the men and parked the trains about a mile +from the bridge at three o'clock. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 358.]</span> I had a tent roughly pitched, and got a little sleep, +but was roused at daybreak by musket firing, which sounded as if it were +right among us. I sprang up with the feeling that I had been caught +napping in a double sense; but a little examination showed that the +enemy's pickets and our own were skirmishing on the other side of the +river. The Confederates had pushed in a reconnoissance to find out what +we had been at, and in the damp air the sound of the firing on the +opposite bank where the flank of our new line rested was so loud and +seemed so close that it had deceived me.</p> +<p>The remainder of our little army was brought over in the night of +the 27th, and on the 28th Forrest's cavalry was over the upper fords of +the river, pushing back our mounted troops and covering the laying of a +pontoon bridge at Davis's ford, five or six miles above Columbia, where +Hood's principal column of infantry crossed next day.</p> +<p>In the night of the 27th it occurred to General Thomas that Hood's +advance left the bridge at Florence open to an attack, and on the next +day he sent an officer to General Steedman, commanding at Chattanooga, +with the suggestion that the latter should throw his force of 5000 men +against Tuscumbia and destroy Hood's crossing of the Tennessee. Steedman +was to use the railroad to Decatur, taking along the pontoons which +Thomas supposed had been carried to Chattanooga from Decatur two days +before, and relaying that crossing for the purposes of the expedition. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. pp. 1100, 1125, 1126.]</span> There seems to have been hesitation +in letting Thomas know that the Decatur pontoons had not been brought +away, and Steedman said he would take his infantry by rail, send his +cavalry by steamboat transports, and use these boats to cross the troops +instead of pontoons. On further reflection, however, Thomas found that +Hood's movement on the 28th to turn Schofield's left made the plan too +adventurous, and on the 29th he revoked the order, directing Steedman +to take his men to Cowan. Strong posts were thus established at +Murfreesborough, Stevenson, and Cowan on the railroad between Nashville +and Chattanooga, under the impression which Thomas retained till after +the battle of Franklin, that Hood would not advance on Nashville, but +would march toward one of the three places named. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. pp. 1159, 1160.]</span></p> +<p>A concentration in force at Decatur two weeks earlier, and an +advance toward Tuscumbia, would have had much to recommend it, and it +would perhaps have been the surest way to defend the line of the +Tennessee; but it was now too late for that, as it was also too late to +affect Hood's determination to seek an early battle with Schofield. +Despite his hesitation to leave Florence and Tuscumbia, and his plea +that his supplies were insufficient, Hood had found on reaching Mount +Pleasant that he could live on the country, and telegraphed Beauregard +that he found food enough and anticipated no further trouble on that +score,--a confession that he might have advanced at the beginning of the +month. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. +1245, 1254.]</span> If Steedman had made the expedition, therefore, it +would not have brought Hood back, and would only have wasted a strong +division in a useless collateral operation. The scattering of 20,000 men +along the Chattanooga route, "in small packages" (to use Napoleon's +phrase), cannot be regarded as sound, though Steedman was more available +at Cowan than at Chattanooga, and he got to Nashville "by the skin of +his teeth" when the battle of Franklin proved that the enemy was aiming +at that place, and made Thomas see the desirability of greater +concentration. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Thomas's order to Steedman to bring his troops from Cowan to Nashville +was dated at 5.35 P. M. of the 30th, and his forces arrived, part on the +1st and part on the 2d of December, the last of the trains being +attacked by the enemy five miles out of Nashville. <i>Id</i>., pp. 503, +1190.]</span> He then ordered Steedman to bring his division to +Nashville; but Rousseau, with Milroy's and Granger's commands, were +still left at Murfreesborough and beyond. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 1153.]</span></p> +<p>I have already told the story of the march to Franklin, and the +fierce battle at that place, in the Scribner Series, "March to the Sea; +Franklin and Nashville," and in "The Battle of Franklin," and will not +repeat it here. The effect of the belief that Hood would march eastward +toward Murfreesborough had, however, so strong an influence upon General +Wilson, the cavalry commander, that it is instructive to trace it in his +dispatches. It seems to have been the cause of the loss of touch with +our infantry during that important movement.</p> +<p>In the middle of the night of the 28th Wilson had reason to think +that two divisions (Buford's and Jackson's) of Forrest's cavalry were +north of Duck River upon the Lewisburg and Franklin turnpike, about +Rally Hill, the rest of Hood's army on the Columbia and Shelbyville road +in rear. They had driven our own horse away from the river, and the best +Wilson had been able to do was to concentrate his troops about Hurt's +Cross-roads, some miles further north on the same road. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. p. 1143.]</span> His communication with Schofield was through +Spring Hill by a cross-road, and by that route he sent a report at three +o'clock in the morning of the 29th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>.]</span> He then +had information that the enemy were laying pontoon bridges for the +infantry, though the place was not accurately fixed. He thought it very +clear that they were aiming for Franklin by the turnpike he was on, and +said he would stay on that road and hold them back as much as he could. +He indicated Spring Hill or Thompson's Station as the points on the +Columbia turnpike where cross-roads would bring Schofield's couriers to +him, and said he would try to get no further back than the Ridge +meeting-house, due east from Thompson's Station. There he would leave +the turnpike and take a still more eastern course toward Nolensville. He +closed the dispatch with, "Get back to Franklin without delay, leaving +a small force to detain the enemy. The rebels will move by this road +toward that point." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Ibid</i>.]</span></p> +<p>These positions will be understood if we note that the Lewisburg and +Franklin turnpike is some twelve miles in a direct line east of that +from Columbia to Franklin where they cross the river, and that these +roads converge toward the last-named place twenty-three miles north. +Nolensville is about twelve miles northeast of Franklin and considerably +nearer Nashville. As one goes north on the Lewisburg turnpike, after +passing Rally Hill and Hurt's Cross-roads, the next important crossing +is at Mount Carmel, where the road from Spring Hill to Murfreesboro +intersects the turnpike. Three miles still further on, a road from +Thompson's Station is crossed at the so-called Ridge meeting-house. All +these cross-roads gave the means of regaining touch with Schofield's +main column; but the cavalry commander was so dominated by the belief +that Forrest was making directly for Nashville by roads still further +east, that he proposed neither to join the infantry by the cross-roads, +nor to adhere to the converging one leading to Franklin, but would go to +Nolensville. The imperative form of his suggestion to his commanding +officer to "get back" shows not only the force of this mental +preoccupation, but a forgetfulness that Schofield might have other +information and be under a necessity of forming other plans for the +day's operations to which the cavalry must be subordinate.</p> +<p>The whole of Hood's force had not crossed the river, but two thirds +of Lee's corps and nearly all the artillery were still in Columbia, and +made their presence known by a vigorous cannonade in the early morning +of the 29th. The enemy's infantry was not marching to the Lewisburg +turnpike, but was seen making for Spring Hill by roads five miles east +of Columbia, and Forrest was in touch with their right flank. Schofield, +under orders from Thomas, was obstructing the lower fords of the river, +and trying to get orders through to General Cooper, directing him to +concentrate his forces and retire from Centerville. The concentration of +our cavalry had been so complete that when it took an independent line +of retreat it ceased, for the time, to be any efficient part of +Schofield's forces, and left him without cover for his flank or means of +rapid reconnoissance. For conclusive reasons he held during the day of +the 29th the line from Spring Hill to the Duck River; but after ten +o'clock in the morning Wilson was wholly out of the game, looking off to +the east for Forrest, who had gone west from Hurt's Cross-roads and +Mount Carmel to attack our infantry at Spring Hill. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. pp. 1144, 753, 769.]</span></p> +<p>At noon, north of the Ridge church and the road to Thompson's +Station, Wilson was still of the opinion that the whole of the enemy's +cavalry had gone to Nashville by eastern roads through Peytonsville, +Triune, and Nolensville. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 1144.]</span> At two in the afternoon he repeated the same opinion in +a dispatch to Thomas, although he had heard heavy artillery firing in +the direction of Spring Hill since eleven o'clock. He warned Thomas to +look out for Forrest at Nashville by next day noon, but promised to be +there himself before or very soon after he should make his appearance. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 1146.]</span> +At four o'clock he was four miles east of Franklin, still looking toward +Nolensville for the enemy, who had "disappeared," and still of the +opinion that Forrest had turned his left flank before he left Hurt's +Cross-roads in the morning. The heavy firing he had heard all day had, +however, awakened solicitude for Schofield. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 1145.]</span> +After nightfall he sent a scout back on the road he had travelled, +nearly to the Ridge meeting-house, where was found a cavalry picket of +the enemy, and a large camp was said to be discovered near by,--probably +the light of the camp-fires at Thompson's Station, where they were +still burning when Schofield placed Ruger's division there in the +evening. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 342.]</span> At ten o'clock Wilson had concluded that it was "probable +that a part of the enemy's cavalry this afternoon aimed to strike your +rear or flank at Thompson's Station," as he wrote to Schofield, and had +marched a mile and a half toward Franklin, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. p. 342.]</span> where at the Matthews house his headquarters +remained next day, when connection with the army had again been made. +Nothing more than scouting parties and patrols from Forrest's column had +gone north of Mount Carmel during the day. The adventures of the march +had emphasized the danger that a preconceived opinion of probabilities +may make an officer misinterpret such real facts as he may learn, or +let very slight evidence take the place of thorough knowledge got by +bold contact with the enemy. The experience also teaches how sure +mischiefs are to follow the forgetfulness of the principle that, in +such operations, it is the primary duty of the cavalry to keep in touch +with the main body of the army, and where orders from the commanding +general may be promptly received and acted on. Schofield, in fact, had +no communication with his cavalry during the whole day, and none of +Wilson's messages had reached him after the retreat from Hurt's +Cross-roads began. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 343.]</span><br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV"></a>CHAPTER XLIV</p> +<p>NASHVILLE--HOOD'S ARMY ROUTED</p> +<p>Defensive works of Nashville--Hood's lines--The ice +blockade--Halleck on remounts for cavalry--Pressing horses and its +abuse--The cavalry problem--Changes in organization--Assignment of +General Couch--Confederate cavalry at Nashville--Counter-movements of +our own--Detailed movements of our right--Difference of recollection +between Schofield and Wilson--The field dispatches--Carrying Hood's +works--Confederate rout.</p> +<p>At Nashville, when we reached there on the 1st of December, after +the battle of Franklin, we were left for a couple of days in bivouac. +The city had been covered by a line of interior earthworks, suitable for +a moderate garrison, with strong forts on commanding hills. The +Cumberland River, in its general course from east to west, partially +encloses the town on north and west by one of its bends, and the +Chattanooga Railroad runs out of the place not far from the river, +passing under St. Cloud Hill, on which was Fort Negley, one of the +strongest of the defensive works. Southwest of this, about eight hundred +yards, was the Casino block-house on a still higher eminence, and some +five hundred yards northwest of the Casino was Fort Morton, on a summit +connected with the other. My division was assigned to the line including +these forts, which formed the strong southern salient of the original +city defences. Other troops of our corps continued the line on my left +to the river, and Steedman's division was placed in advance of the left, +along Brown's Creek, which was crossed by the Murfreesborough turnpike. +From Fort Morton the original works continued northwestwardly, skirting +the city to the Hyde's Ferry turnpike. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Atlas, pl. lxxiii.]</span> +But the army now collected needed more room, and instead of turning back +at the Casino the line was continued southwest till it reached a +prominent hill near the Hillsborough turnpike. There it turned to the +northwest, following a succession of hilltops to the river, enclosing +the whole of the bend in which the city was. The Fourth Corps occupied +the part of the line next to us on the right, and General A. J. Smith's +detachment of the Army of the Tennessee was on the right of all. Until +the eve of the battle of Nashville the cavalry were concentrated at +Edgefield, on the north side of the Cumberland.</p> +<p>Hood had followed us up promptly from Franklin, and established his +lines nearly parallel to ours on our centre and left, though they were +shorter in extent, and a wide space near the river on our right was only +occupied by his cavalry. In my own immediate front, looking down from +the Casino block-house, were the Nolensville and Franklin turnpikes with +the Alabama Railroad, along which we had retreated. Near my right was +the Middle Franklin turnpike, which goes southward, a mile or two +distant from the main road, into which it comes again below Brentwood. +It is known locally as the Granny White pike. My headquarters were in +rear of Fort Morton, at the dwelling of Mrs. Bilbo, a large house with a +pillared portico the full height of the front. We had two rooms in the +house for our clerical work, and pitched our tents in the dooryard. A +short walk along the ridge led to the Casino, from which was a fine +outlook southward and eastward.</p> +<p>During the time of the ice blockade from the 9th of December to the +13th, the slopes in front of the lines were a continuous glare of ice, +so that movements away from the roads and broken paths could be made +only with the greatest difficulty and at a snail's pace. Men and horses +were seen falling whenever they attempted to move across country. A man +slipping on the hillside had no choice but to sit down and slide to the +bottom, and groups of men in the forts and lines found constant +entertainment in watching these mishaps. There had been a mingling of +snow and sleet with the rain which began on the 8th, and this compacted +into a solid ice sheet. On a level country it would have caused much +less trouble, but on the hills and rolling country about Nashville +manoeuvres were out of the question for nearly a week.</p> +<p>The dissatisfaction of General Grant with the delay in taking the +aggressive had begun with the withdrawal from Franklin on the 1st. +Objections to waiting for new supplies of cavalry horses were not +peculiar to this campaign. The waste of animals had been a constant +source of complaint through the whole war. On the 5th Halleck made a +report to Grant that 22,000 new cavalry horses had been issued at the +posts where Thomas's forces were equipping, since September 20th. This +was exclusive of those used in Kentucky or sent to Sherman. "If this +number," he said, "without any campaign is already reduced to 10,000 +mounted men, as reported by General Wilson, it may be safely assumed +that the cavalry of that army will never be mounted, for the destruction +of horses in the last two months has there alone been equal to the +remounts obtained from the entire west." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. p. 55.]</span> It was on this report that Stanton's famous +dispatch was based, "If he waits for Wilson to get ready, Gabriel will +be blowing his last horn." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 84.]</span> Halleck repeated the same in substance to Thomas, adding, +"Moreover, you will soon be in the same condition that Rosecrans was +last year,--with so many animals that you cannot feed them. Reports +already come in of a scarcity of forage." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 114.]</span> +Yet, to remove as far as possible the causes of delay, Grant directed +mounted men from Missouri to be sent to Nashville, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. p. 130.]</span> and even the "pressing" of horses in Kentucky was +permitted, sure as it was to be abused in practice. This soon brought +protests from the leading loyal men of Louisville. Mr. Speed (U. S. +Attorney-General) and Mr. Ballard (afterward Judge of the U. S. Courts) +telegraphed Mr. Stanton, "Loaded country wagons with produce for market +are left in the road; milk-carts, drays, and butchers' wagons are left +in the street--their horses seized." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 139.]</span> +Indeed, from the very beginning of the war, the cavalry problem had been +an insoluble one. Raw recruits could not be made to take proper care of +horses, to groom them, to ride them with judgment, or to save their +strength. We campaigned in regions where forage was scarce and where it +could not be brought up from the rear. A big cavalry force would starve +when not moving, yet exaggerated reports of the enemy's mounted troops +made a constant clamor for more. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +An interesting contribution to the practical discussion of the subject +is found in Sherman's letter to General Meigs, Quartermaster-General +from Savannah, December 25th, ending with, "If my cavalry cannot remount +itself in the country, it may go afoot." (Official Records, vol. xliv. +p. 807.) For the discussion of it in Rosecrans's campaign of '63, see <i>ante</i>, +chap, xxiii. See also Official Records, vol. xxiii. pt. ii. pp. 300, +320.]</span> The attempts to use them in large bodies were rarely +successful, and the more modest duties of outpost and patrol in +connection with the infantry columns were distasteful. All this +knowledge, combined with the special causes of impatience now existing, +gave to Grant's dispatches a more and more urgent tone, leading up to +the "Delay no longer" of the 11th. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +vol. xlv. pt. ii. pp. 70, 97, 143.]</span> To judge fairly the attitude +of both Grant and Thomas, this must not be overlooked, whilst we must +also remember that the new element of the icy covering of the earth in +the immediate vicinity of Nashville was so exceptional that it was not +appreciated or fully understood at the East.</p> +<p>The halt at Nashville was the occasion for some temporary changes in +the organization of my division. Colonel Henderson had not fully +recovered from the ill-health which had interrupted the command of his +brigade, and having obtained a leave of absence to go home for a few +weeks, the command of this brigade remained with Colonel Stiles. General +Reilly also found the need of recuperation and was granted a short +leave. It happened that Colonel Doolittle, who had distinguished himself +in command of the post at Decatur, had got back from a short absence, +and reached Nashville after communications with Murfreesborough were +interrupted. Not being able to join his proper command, I was glad to +make arrangements to give him temporary service with me and to renew the +pleasant acquaintance made on our journey from Georgia. He acted as +chief of staff for a few days till Reilly left, and I then assigned him +to command Reilly's brigade, where there was no officer of sufficient +experience. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii. pp. 86, 187.]</span></p> +<p>Another change which occurred was among the general officers, and +strongly illustrated the chafing likely to arise under such +circumstances. In pursuance of a policy before mentioned, the War +Department was bringing pressure to bear upon officers to make them +accept any active service suitable to their rank, or resign and leave +room for promotions for others, since Congress refused to enlarge the +number of general officers. Major-General Darius N. Couch had been, +during the war, hitherto connected with the Army of the Potomac, but had +drifted out of active service and was "waiting orders." Grant had +suggested that he be sent to command the district of Kentucky, relieving +Burbridge, whose administration was not satisfactory to the +General-in-Chief. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pp. 16,28.]</span> But political influences at Washington did not favor +this change, and Couch was ordered to report to General Thomas for duty, +and by him was sent to the Fourth Corps to report to General Stanley. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. p. 58.]</span> The latter was just going on "sick leave" on +account of his wound received at Franklin, and without being assigned +to any division, Couch, by rank, assumed temporary command of the corps +in the absence of the regularly assigned commandant. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 72.]</span> +The immediate result of this was to supersede Brigadier-General Wood, +who had been second in rank in the corps through the year, and was one +of the oldest officers in the Army of the Cumberland. In the +rearrangement of divisions when the temporary command would cease, it +would displace General Kimball, who was also one of the most +experienced brigadiers, and would reduce him to a brigade. The +dissatisfaction thus caused in Thomas's own department made him +transfer the problem to Schofield and the Army of the Ohio. Thomas +proposed to Couch to take a division, therefore, in the Twenty-third +Corps. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>.]</span> +Schofield was induced to consent to this, as it was accompanied by an +arrangement for the speedy organization of a division of new troops, to +which General Ruger could be assigned whilst Couch should take that +which Ruger now commanded. When the new scheme was laid before Couch, he +replied with dignity that he would readily serve where he was ordered, +but could not, of his own election, take a position that would throw him +into a lesser command. The formal orders making the changes were then +issued. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pp. 86, 103, 104.]</span> We had two good brigadiers in our corps, who +had recently proved their capacity to take the new division,--Reilly, +who had been distinguished in the battle of Franklin, and Cooper, who +had conducted his brigade by a most perilous and circuitous retreat from +Centerville to Nashville; <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +"Battle of Franklin," chap. vii. and p. 206.]</span> but the commissions +of these dated only from the taking of Atlanta, and being juniors on the +list of general officers, their claims to the larger command were not +considered very strong.</p> +<p>My own position was the one most affected by the advent of a senior +in rank into the corps. I had been senior of the division commanders in +East Tennessee as well as in the Atlanta campaign, and actually in +command of the corps in the absence of its regular chief or his +assumption of still wider duties. As second in rank, one is necessarily +in confidential possession of much knowledge which he would not +otherwise have, for the possibility that accidents of the campaign may +throw the larger command upon him requires that he should have the means +of judgment and action in such an event. He is therefore in much closer +relations to his superiors than he would be as division commander +merely. Again in marches and in any scattering of forces, as senior, his +command will be extended over other portions of the corps in the absence +of the commander, and I had not infrequently found myself in command of +another division beside my own, either by definite orders or by +operation of the articles of war. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +"Battle of Franklin," pp. 277, 278.]</span> When to this is added such +command as fell to me in the October campaign in Georgia, and in the +battle of Franklin, which could not have been mine if I had not stood +next to Schofield in the corps, it will be seen that for me it was the +practical loss of a grade, as it would have been for General Wood in the +Fourth Corps if General Couch had remained there. My only purpose in +noting these things is to make intelligible the feeling in the army +that such transfers are not good administration, except where they are +in the nature of promotion for brilliant service. The feeling was also +strong that the loss of one's footing in one large army, unless caused +by exceptional reasons, fully understood, is a reason against a transfer +to another, where, in generous rivalry, all have been striving to merit +advanced instead of diminished grades. In justice to General Schofield, +however, I must not omit to say that he fully appreciated my situation, +and with an earnestness which outran anything I could claim, exerted +himself to secure my promotion and to make me eligible to the permanent +assignment to the corps' command when his own authority was afterward +enlarged. General Couch's position was by no means a desirable one for +him; for he could not be ignorant of the sentiment of the army, and he +would probably have preferred a division in the Potomac Army to one in +ours, for there in spite of a temporary eclipse, he had a fixed and +honorable reputation which would justify a reasonable expectation of +regaining prominence in it. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +In the spring of 1863 General Couch was the senior corps commander in +the Army of the Potomac, and as such was nominally in command on the +field in the battle of Chancellorsville during the temporary disability +of General Hooker. Shortly after that battle he asked to be transferred +to some other command, and was assigned to the Department of the +Susquehanna in Pennsylvania, where the duty was merely administrative. +In reducing these organizations in the fall of 1864, he became a +supernumerary. See Walker's Second Army Corps, pp. 234, 235.]</span></p> +<p>Without going into a narration of the battle of Nashville, it may be +worth while to remark that the publication of the official records +increases the importance of the absence of Forrest's cavalry, which gave +the opportunity for an almost unopposed advance of Thomas's right in the +manoeuvres of the 15th December to turn Hood's flank. We had known that +Chalmers, one of Forrest's division commanders, had been sent to cover +the four miles of space intervening between the left of the Confederate +line and the river. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +"March to the Sea, Nashville," etc., pp. 107, 114.]</span> Chalmers' +report now tells us that he had only Colonel Rucker's brigade with him, +the rest of the division having been sent to the other flank. He asserts +that, after leaving one regiment on the Granny White turnpike in +immediate touch with the infantry line, he had only 900 men left. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. p. 765.]</span> With so small a force he, of course, could hardly +do more than observe and report the advance of our three cavalry +divisions. Coleman's brigade of infantry which had held the Hillsborough +and Hardin turnpikes was recalled to the main line early in the day, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Walthall's Report, Official +Records, vol. xiv. pt. i p. 722]</span> and as it moved away without his +knowledge, Chalmers, on learning it, supposed it was driven back. It +left uncovered the cavalry baggage train on the Hardin turnpike, which +was captured by part of Colonel Coon's brigade of our horse. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Chalmers' Report. <i>Id</i>., +p. 765; Coon's Report, <i>Id</i>., p. 589.]</span> Chalmers then took +Rucker's brigade to the Hillsborough turnpike so as to cover more +closely the infantry flank, and left only one regiment to delay the +advance of our cavalry on the roads nearer the river.</p> +<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="images/2-44-1.jpg" + title="Map: Battle of Nashville." alt="Map: Battle of Nashville." + style="width: 600px; height: 695px;"><br> +</p> +<p>During the night of the 15th and the morning of the 16th the +movement of Cheatham's corps to Hood's left had been observed by both +our infantry and our cavalry. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii. pp. 217, 224.]</span> As part of +these troops had been seen marching northward on the Granny White +turnpike, Schofield very naturally took into consideration the +probability of their being new reinforcements coming to Hood from the +rear. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. +214.]</span> The extension of the enemy's fortified line to our right +had made it necessary to extend my division in single line without +reserves, and even then they were stretched almost to the +breaking-point. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Cox's +Report, <i>Id</i>., pt. i. p. 407.]</span> Thomas began his inspection +of the line at Wood's position on the left in the forenoon, and came +westward visiting the commands in turn. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Wood's Report, <i>Id</i>., +p. 131; A. J. Smith's Report, <i>Id</i>., p. 435; "Franklin and +Nashville," p. 118; Schofield's "Forty-six Years in the Army," p. 246.]</span></p> +<p>At ten o'clock in the morning Wilson had most of his cavalry +"refused, on the right of Schofield, the line extending across and +perpendicular to the Hillsborough turnpike." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. p. 220. In the dispatch quoted, the name is given +"Murfreesborough" by a manifest clerical error. Schofield's right was +near the Hillsborough turnpike, the Murfreesborough turnpike being +beyond the other flank of the whole army.]</span> A regiment had been +sent to try to reach the Granny White turnpike, but had been driven off +and reported Cheatham's infantry moving to the left upon it. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 224.]</span> +Wilson reported this to Schofield, adding, "The country on the left of +the Hillsborough pike, toward the enemy's left, is too difficult for +cavalry operations. It seems to me if I was on the other flank of the +army I might do more to annoy the enemy, unless it is intended that I +shall push out as directed last night." [Footnote; <i>Id</i>., p. 216. +See also Schofield's "Forty-six Years," p. 244.] Schofield acknowledged +the receipt of this information at 11.15, and forwarded it to General +Thomas. In view of the apparent concentration of the enemy's forces in +his front, he advised Wilson, until he should receive other orders from +Thomas (who was then on the left with General Wood), to hold his forces +"in readiness to support the troops here, in case the enemy makes a +heavy attack." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii. p. 216. See also Schofield's "Forty-six +Years," p. 244.]</span> At half-past one his dispatch to Thomas, from +his position on the field close to my own, fixes with clearness the +situation at that hour. "Wilson is trying to push in toward the Granny +White pike, about a mile south of my right. My skirmishers on the right +are supporting him. The skirmishing is pretty heavy. I have not +attempted to advance my main line to-day, and do not think I am strong +enough to do so. Will you be on this part of the line soon?" <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. p. 215; see also Stiles's Report, <i>Id</i>., pt. i. p. 431.]</span></p> +<p>In a letter written in 1882, to assist me when preparing to write my +account of the battle of Nashville, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +"Franklin and Nashville," etc., chap. vi.]</span> General Schofield gave +me his recollection of the situation on our right during the morning of +the 16th of December. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Letter of June 1, 1882.]</span> "I had gone back to Nashville in the +night preceding," he said, "to persuade Thomas to order Wilson to remain +on my right and take part in the battle the next morning, and A. J. +Smith to close up on our left. Thomas had only partially adopted my +views, and had not given Wilson any orders to attack. I had waited +impatiently all the morning, and until some time after noon for Wilson +to get orders from Thomas, or to comply with my request to put his +troops in without waiting for orders. Finally, some time after noon, +Wilson had consented to go in with his cavalry (I relieving him of all +responsibility), and I had directed you, with your reserve brigade, +which was not then in contact with the enemy, to support Wilson or join +with him in attacking the enemy's flank." When Schofield received the +proposal from McArthur through Couch, that an assault should be made on +Shy's hill, in the angle of the enemy's line, by one of McArthur's +brigades, supported by Couch, he "became impatient," he says, "for +Wilson and Stiles [my flank brigade] to get possession of the commanding +ground to the enemy's left-rear, so as to prepare the way for your [my] +assault upon his intrenched line." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +See also General Schofield's discussion of the events of the 16th, in +his "Forty-six Years," pp. 263-275.]</span> The field dispatch of General +Couch in regard to supporting McArthur was dated at 2.30 P.M. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. p. 217.]</span></p> +<p>General Schofield sought an opportunity to compare recollections +with General Wilson, and wrote me again on the 29th of June, 1882, +saying that he was greatly surprised to find that Wilson did not +recollect the proposal and request stated above, but thought that +General Thomas had come in person to his position on the Hillsborough +turnpike, and about 10 or 10:30 o'clock A.M. had given him the orders +under which he then undertook to advance against Hood's left-rear. +Wilson also associated with it the capture of a dispatch from Hood to +Chalmers, urging the latter to drive the Yankee cavalry from his left +and rear, as otherwise he could not hold the position. This dispatch, +Wilson said, he promptly sent to Thomas. As the conference between +Schofield and Wilson was for the purpose of assisting me in getting +undisputed facts for the history of the campaign, I was permitted to +know the result and to have the contents of a letter from Wilson to +Schofield of date of June 28, 1882, restating his recollection. In +pursuance of my rule to avoid as far as possible the debate of +subsidiary controverted points in my connected history, I omitted any +reference to them in this instance. General Schofield's memory is, +however, so strongly supported by the field dispatches, that it does not +seem difficult now to reach a sound historical judgment.</p> +<p>It is plain that during the earlier part of the day General Wilson +was reporting through General Schofield, who forwarded to General Thomas +the information received. At some time before noon the latter had +completed his examination of the position of the Fourth Corps on the +left of the army, so that General Wood was at liberty to ride to General +Steedman's headquarters on the Nolensville turnpike. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol xlv. +pt. i. p. 131.]</span> Thomas passed westward to General Smith's +headquarters at the centre, where he seems still to have been at three +o'clock, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 435.]</span> or at the time of the arrangement between McArthur and +Couch, which the latter places at half-past two. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. ii. p. 217.]</span> +Thomas then visited General Schofield's position, where he was when the +final assault was made and the enemy routed. General Wilson's reports +make no mention of a visit from General Thomas on the 16th, and the +contents of his dispatches show that there had been none up to eleven +o'clock, when Thomas was with Wood on the other flank of the whole army. +It can hardly be necessary to mention the extreme improbability of the +commander's omission to visit Schofield's quarters near the +Hillsborough turnpike, if he were going by that road to Wilson, who was +also on it. We must conclude that General Wilson is mistaken in his +recollection. That he saw General Thomas at Schofield's position late in +the day, is conceded by all. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +The account in "Franklin and Nashville," etc., p. 119, must be modified +in accord with the facts above stated.]</span></p> +<p>We find no mention in the records of any capture of an important +dispatch from Hood to Chalmers, except that found on the person of +Colonel Rucker, when he was wounded and captured at 6.30 P.M., trying to +hold the pass of the Brentwood hills on the Granny White turnpike, in +the darkness, two hours after the collapse of Hood's line. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. p. 218.]</span> This dispatch seems to have strongly resembled +the language used by Wilson in his letter to Schofield in 1882. It is +said to have stated that Chalmers' cavalry must take care of this flank. +In sending the information to General Johnson, Wilson added, "Go for +him with all possible celerity, as Hood says the safety of their army +depends upon Chalmers." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Wilson to Johnson, Id., p. 222.]</span> As we have already noted, +Rucker's brigade, just routed, was all there was of Chalmers' division +on that flank except a regiment covering trains making for Franklin.</p> +<p>The Confederate records support this view. Chalmers' report relates +the skirmishing during the morning in which Rucker was holding the +Hillsborough turnpike against Wilson, and the attempt on our side to +move to the Granny White turnpike, from which Hammond's detachment was +driven back. He says that with one regiment and his own escort he "held +the enemy in check for more than three hours." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. i. p. 765.]</span> +This agrees very well with the situation as indicated in General +Schofield's dispatch of 1.30 P.M., when a serious effort was making on +our side to reach that road. Chalmers reported the fact that the +regiment was hotly beset, and Hood's adjutant-general, in acknowledging +it at 3.15 P.M., said, "Your dispatch, saying you were fighting the +enemy with one regiment on the Granny White pike, received. General Hood +says you must hold that pike; put in your escort and every available +man you can find." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pt. ii. p. 697.]</span> Chalmers reports that he received this about +4.30, when the regiment had been driven back; that he then moved up +Rucker's brigade, which had reached the same turnpike nearer Brentwood, +and after a sharp struggle it was routed. "By this time," he adds, "it +was so dark that it was impossible to re-form the men, or, indeed, to +distinguish friend from foe, so closely were they mingled together." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. p. 766.]</span> It was in this <i>mêlée</i> that +Rucker was wounded and captured.</p> +<p>In preparation for the attack in concert with A. J. Smith's command, +my flank brigade (Stiles's), which had been in echelon on our right, was +ordered to swing forward in touch with our cavalry advance. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: My Report, <i>Id</i>., p. +407.]</span> My own main attack was to be upon the bastion which made +the flank of the enemy's works before us. I ordered Doolittle's brigade +to charge straight at it. Casement's brigade, on Doolittle's left, was +to march by the right flank at double-quick in rear of Doolittle, so as +to become a second line to him and support the advance as might be +necessary. The skirmishers of Stiles's brigade had accompanied the +cavalry advance since half-past one, and in the final effort his troops +in line were to take part as already stated. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See Schofield to Thomas, +1.30 P. M., <i>Id</i>., pt. ii. p. 215; Stiles's Report, <i>Id</i>., +pt. i. p. 431; my own Report, <i>Id</i>., p. 407, and sketch map +accompanying the latter, <i>Id</i>., p. 408; also "Franklin and +Nashville," etc., pp. 119-122.]</span> After personal conference with my +brigade commanders to insure complete mutual understanding, I rode to +the hill in rear of my lines where Thomas and Schofield were together, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Marked 2 in map, p. 359.]</span> +watching for the concerted attack upon Shy's hill in the salient angle +of Hood's lines.</p> +<p>When Smith's men were seen to reach the summit of Shy's Hill, I +received the signal from Schofield, and galloped down the hill toward +Doolittle; but he also had caught sight of the movement, and his brigade +was already charging on the run when I reached him. The excited firing +of the enemy was too high, and Doolittle's men entered the works with +very little loss. The collapse was general. As soon as we were over the +works, I was ordered to stand fast with my command and give General +Smith's command the right of way down the Granny White turnpike. +Doolittle's brigade had carried the bastion in front of our right and +the curtain adjoining it, and his line halted immediately in rear of +these, partly facing the turnpike. He had captured a four-gun battery of +light twelves in the bastion and another of the same number in the +curtain, with the artillerists and part of the supports. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See the official reports +cited above, and special reports as to the guns, Official Records, vol. +xlv. pt. ii. pp. 234, 235; also regimental reports, Twelfth Kentucky, <i>Id</i>., +pt. i. p. 417, One Hundredth Ohio, <i>Id</i>., p. 420, and Eighth +Tennessee, <i>Id</i>., p. 423.]</span> Stiles, advancing with the +cavalry, was halted a short distance in front of Doolittle, facing +southward on the right of the turnpike. Casement was halted in the +trenches from which Doolittle had started. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Casement's Report, <i>Id</i>., +pt. i. p. 425. All the reports on the National side except that of the +cavalry refer to the concerted attack on Shy's hill as the signal for +the general advance. The Confederate reports also speak of the carrying +of that salient as the cause of the rout. In his second report, dated +Feb. 1, 1865, and in his letter to General Schofield in 1882, cited +above, General Wilson says that it was on his personal report of what +his men were doing on the enemy's left rear that Thomas ordered the +final assault.]</span><br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XLV"></a>CHAPTER XLV</p> +<p>PURSUIT OF HOOD--END OF THE CAMPAIGN</p> +<p>Night after the battle--Unusual exposure--Hardships of company +officers--Bad roads--Halt at Franklin--Visiting the +battlefield--Continued pursuit--Decatur reoccupied--Hood at Tupelo, +Miss.--Summary of captures--Thomas suggests winter-quarters--Grant +orders continued activity--Schofield's proposal to move the corps to the +East--Grant's correspondence with Sherman--Schofield's suggestion +adopted--Illness--I ask for "sick-leave"--Do not use +it--Promotion--Reinforcements--March from Columbia to Clifton--Columns +on different roads--Western part of the barrens--Fording Buffalo +River--An illumined camp--Dismay of the farmer--Clifton on the +Tennessee--Admiral Lee--Methods of transport--Weary waiting--Private +grumbling--Ordered East--Revulsion of spirits--On the transport +fleet--Thomas's frame of mind at close of the campaign.</p> +<p>The night after the battle of Nashville was one we were not likely +to forget. Twilight was falling when we halted, after the crushing of +the Confederate lines, and as we were likely to join in the pursuit +before morning, I had announced that I would be found with Doolittle's +brigade. Owing to the darkness and a gathering storm, the troops having +the advance did not get far, but the risks of missing dispatches that +might be sent in haste made me adhere to my rule of staying where I had +said I might be found. This kept the staff and headquarters in the space +a little in rear of the captured line of works, a spot unclean and +malodorous. We built a camp-fire, and tried to clean off spots on which +we could sit on the ground; but a heavy rain soon came on, and as we +were in the woods, the light soil soon made a mire, and we were forced +to stand upright and take the weather as it came. The extreme weariness +of standing about, with nothing to vary the monotony, physically tired +and sleepy, in the reaction from the excitement of the afternoon, was +something which cannot be understood unless one has had a similar +experience. We had hoped our servants might find us during the evening +and bring us something to eat; but the advance over hills and +intrenchments had made it hard to follow our course even in daylight; +but in the darkness and storm they entirely failed to find us. We felt a +good deal like "belly-pinched wolves," but we had no den in which we +could "keep the fur dry." Indeed, the suffering of a dog that was with +us was a thing we often referred to as illustrating our utter +discomfort. A fine pointer, astray in northern Georgia, had attached +himself to me in October, and had been constantly with us, leaping and +barking with joy whenever I mounted my horse. He was with us now, and +when the rain came on he stood in the mud like the rest of us, finding +no spot to lie down in. He grew tired and sleepy, and looked wistfully +about for a place he could consent to lie in, but gave it up, and +spreading all four legs well apart he tried to stand it out. +Occasionally his eyes would close and his head droop, his body would +slowly sway back and forth till he made a greater nod, his nose would go +into the mud, and gathering himself up he would lift his head with a +most piteous whine, protesting against such headquarters.</p> +<p>The longest night must have an end, and early in the morning one of +our black boys found us, bringing with him on horseback a haversack full +of hard-tack, and in his hand a kettle of coffee which we soon made +piping hot at the camp-fire, and found the world looking much more +cheerful. The storm continued, however, and made the pursuit slower and +more difficult than it would have been in better weather. The cavalry +had the advance, supported by A. J. Smith's troops on the Granny White +turnpike, and by Wood's Fourth Corps on the Franklin turnpike. We were +ordered to follow Smith. Our camp on the evening of the 17th was not far +from Brentwood between the two roads which come together a little +further on after crossing the Little Harpeth, some seven miles from +Franklin and the larger stream of the same name.</p> +<p>Our headquarters the second night after the battle were an +improvement on those of the night before. We found a knoll which was +fairly drained, we borrowed a tarpaulin from a battery, and with +fence-rails made of it a lean-to with back to the storm. A pile of +evergreen boughs made a couch on which we lay, and a camp-fire blazing +high in front made a heat which mitigated even the driving December +storm. Our faithful black boys had coffee-pots and haversacks, so that +we did not go supperless. I wrote home that my overcoat with large cape +weighed about fifty pounds with the water in it, but it kept my body +dry, and I found it better to wear it than to put on a rubber +waterproof, for perspiration did not evaporate under the latter.</p> +<p>Our private soldiers wore the rubber poncho-blankets above their +overcoats in wet weather, and two "pardners" would make a shelter tent +of the pair of waterproofs which had metal eyelets to adapt them to this +use. Veterans carefully selected the place for the tent, pitched it in +good form, trenched it so that the water would flow off and not run into +the tent; then with their bed of cedar boughs, their haversacks and +coffee-kettles, they were not worse off than the officers,--better off +indeed than their company officers who trudged afoot like themselves.</p> +<p>Transportation was so difficult to get that, in pressing forward, +baggage was reduced to smallest possible allowance. In bad roads such +wagons as we had were far behind the troops, and the company officers +were exposed to severe hardships by the delay. I laid their condition +before General Schofield, in a letter which better tells the tale than I +could now give it from memory alone. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. p. 312.]</span> "From the time we left Nashville," I wrote, +"until last night [21st December], these gentlemen had no shelter, and +only such food as they could obtain from the private soldiers, being far +worse off than the men, since the latter had their shelter-tents and +their rations in haversacks. The officers' rations and their cooking +utensils are in the regimental wagons, which are necessarily left +behind in movements such as we have lately made, and they must either +furnish themselves with knapsacks and haversacks, and carry their +cooking utensils upon their own persons or those of their servants, or +be utterly destitute. Even if they do this, the wagons of the +commissary of subsistence are also at the rear, except upon ordinary +days of issue, and it would be necessary to issue to them precisely as +is done to the soldiers in the ranks, and so break down the last +vestige in distinction in mode of life between them and their commands. +As it is, I state what I know from personal observation when I say that +no individuals in any way connected with the army are enduring so much +personal suffering and privation upon the present campaign as the +officers of the line. As I know the commanding general will be most +desirous to make any arrangement which is feasible to reduce the amount +of discomfort, I take the liberty of suggesting that during the winter +campaign the transportation for each regiment be one wagon for +regimental headquarters and for company books and papers, desks, etc., +as now, and in addition one pack-mule for each company. The pack-mules +make little or no obstruction in the road, are easily moved to flank or +rear in case of manoeuvre of troops, and will be up with the command +when the regiment goes into camp. Unless some such arrangement is made, +I fear many of our officers will break down in health, and many more, +becoming disgusted with the hardships of the service, and especially +with the difference between themselves and their more fortunate +brethren of the staff and staff-corps, will seek to leave the army. In +many commands some similar arrangements to the one I have suggested +have been surreptitiously made; but as I have rigidly enforced the rule +turning over to the quartermaster all unauthorized animals, I am the +more desirous of obtaining for the gentlemen of the line whom I have +the honor to command such authority to regulate their transportation as +will save them from the apparently unnecessary hardships they have of +late endured, without detracting from the mobility of the division." +The plan suggested was one we had used in exigencies in the Atlanta +campaign, and General Schofield immediately authorized it for winter +use.</p> +<p>The cold rainstorm, in which the battle of Nashville had ended, +lasted for a week, turning to sleet and snow on the 20th and clearing +off with sharp cold on the 24th. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlv. pt. i. pp. 360, 361.]</span> Worse weather +for field operations it would be hard to imagine. The ordinary country +roads were impassable, and even the turnpikes became nearly so. They had +never been very solidly made, and had not been repaired for three +years. In places the metalling broke through, making holes similar to +holes in thick ice, with well-defined margin. These were filled to the +brim with water, and churned into deep pits by the wheels of loaded +wagons. It required watchfulness to see them, as the whole surface of +the road was flowing with slush and mud. When a wheel went into one, the +wagon dropped to the axle, and even where there was no upset it was a +most difficult task to pry the wagon out and start it on the way again. +The wagon-master was lucky if it did not stop his whole train, and it +was no uncommon thing for a mule to be drowned by getting down in one +of these pits. Hood's rear-guard under Forrest and Walthall destroyed +bridges behind them, of course, and that our cavalry with the head of +our infantry column were able to keep close on the enemy's rear till +they passed Pulaski is good proof of the energy with which the pursuit +was conducted. Yet it was necessarily slow, for it was confined to one +road, the rest being impassable, and flanking operations could only be +made on a small scale when in contact with the enemy.</p> +<p>When we reached Franklin on our southward march, we were halted for +a day, so that we might not crowd too much upon the rest of the column, +and I took advantage of the opportunity to study the condition of the +battlefield there. My division camped between the Columbia and the +Lewisburg turnpikes, on the ground over which the Confederates had +advanced to attack it in the battle. Portions of the second line of +works close to the Carter house and the retrenchment across the Columbia +road had been levelled, but the principal defences were as we had left +them. The osage orange-trees which we had used for abatis had been +evenly cut away by the bullets, and the tough fibres hung in a fringe of +white strings, the upper line quite even, and just a little lower than +the top of the parapet. The effect was a curiously impressive one as we +looked down the line we had held and thought what a level storm of lead +was indicated by this long white fringe, and what desperate charges of +Hood's divisions they were that came through it, close up to the line of +this abatis. Every twig was weeping with the cold pouring rain of the +dark midwinter storm, and this did not lessen the gloomy effect of the +scene. At the Carter house we learned from the family many incidents of +their own experience during the battle and of the scenes of the next +day. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See "Franklin," +chap. xv.]</span></p> +<p>Our position in the rear of the marching columns put upon us the +duty of building bridges, repairing roads, and improving the means of +supplying the troops in front. We consequently made halts, one of two or +three days at Spring Hill, and another in our old camps north of Duck +River, where we had held the line of the river on the 28th and 29th of +November. The day after Christmas we moved over the river and encamped +in front of Columbia, on the Pulaski turnpike. We remained here for +several days, whilst the Fourth Corps and the cavalry, making Pulaski +their depot for supplies, followed Hood until he crossed the Tennessee +on the 28th and 29th of December. The line of the Confederate retreat +was stripped bare of supplies and forage, and every energy was devoted +to rebuilding railroad bridges and getting the road opened to Pulaski so +that wagon transportation might be limited to the region beyond the head +of the rails. Thomas had ordered Steedman's and R. S. Granger's +divisions to Decatur by rail, going by way of Stevenson. Once there, +they were to operate in the direction of Tuscumbia and Florence, seeking +to destroy Hood's pontoon bridges crossing the Tennessee. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. p. 260.]</span> The light steamboats in the upper river were +reckoned on to take supplies from Chattanooga, where an abundance was in +depot. Steedman reached Decatur on the 27th of December, and Granger +joined him from Huntsville, but Hood had reached Bainbridge, at the foot +of Muscle Shoals on the 25th; <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 731.]</span> and next day had a bridge there, built in part of our +pontoons which had been floated down from Decatur. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, p. 343.]</span> +He assembled the remnants of his army at Tupelo, Miss., fifty miles +south of Corinth. The inspection report of January 20th showed 18,708, +infantry and artillery, present for duty; Forrest's cavalry not +reported. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlv. pt. i. p. 664.]</span> Thomas's prizes in the two +days' fighting at Nashville were reported by him as amounting to 4462 +prisoners and fifty-three pieces of artillery. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 40.]</span> +The pursuit after the battle doubled the number of the prisoners, +gathered large numbers of deserters, and considerably increased the +number of guns captured. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 46, 48, 51.]</span></p> +<p>On the 29th of December Thomas indicated to General Halleck his +opinion that all had been done which was now practicable, and his +purpose to put his forces into winter quarters,--A. J. Smith's corps +with most of the cavalry at Eastport, where the Mississippi and Alabama +line reaches the Tennessee River; the Fourth Corps at Huntsville, Ala., +and the Twenty-third at Dalton, Ga. Steedman's and Granger's divisions +were already at Decatur, and would hold that important position, with +which direct railway communication from Nashville would be opened as +quickly as the road could be repaired from Pulaski southward. Thomas +also outlined for the spring a concerted advance of the columns into +southern Alabama. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii. p. 402.]</span> The same day he +issued his order to Schofield to prepare at once for the march of a +hundred and fifty miles to northern Georgia. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 409.]</span> +A march of the same distance southward along the Mobile and Ohio Railway +would have carried us to Hood's camps at Tupelo, with a prospect of +immediate results, and we were not exhilarated by the order, which, +however, was countermanded on the 30th in consequence of dispatches +received by Thomas from Halleck.</p> +<p>General Grant had, on the 16th, authorized Sherman to make his own +plan for a new campaign, and the latter had indicated the march from +Savannah to Columbia and thence to Raleigh as that which he would make +if left to himself. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +vol. xliv. pp. 727-729.]</span> The necessity of reducing the war +expenses as soon as possible, as well as more purely military reasons, +seemed to the General-in-Chief to make a continuous winter campaign +imperative, and by his orders Halleck had directed Thomas not to go into +winter quarters, but to assemble his army at Eastport and prepare for +further active work. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +vol. xlv. pt. ii. p. 441.]</span> Grant rightly concluded that Hood's +army would be sent to the Carolinas as soon as Sherman marched +northward. He was therefore considering combinations of Thomas's with +Canby's forces for the capture of Mobile and a movement on Selma, Ala., +which was the only great armory and manufacturing centre now remaining +to the Confederates in the Gulf States. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. pp. 419, 420.]</span> Our army was a good deal worn with the +hardships of the campaign, our wagon trains had not been brought up to +the requirements for full field service, and we were receiving new +troops which were not yet fully assimilated to the old; but the +advantages of following up our successes by unflagging efforts in the +West as well as in the East, and of making the "long pull and a pull all +together" which would end the war, were so plain that all responded +cheerily to the call.</p> +<p>But in the Twenty-third Corps a new element entered into the debate, +which resulted, a fortnight later, in orders for us to move in a widely +different direction. On the 27th, the day that we received at Columbia +the news that Sherman had taken Savannah, Schofield wrote an unofficial +letter to Grant, suggesting that the corps would no longer be needed for +the spring campaign which Thomas was then planning, and that with its +increase of strength it might be of more use in Grant's own operations +in Virginia if it was not practicable for us to rejoin Sherman. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 377.]</span> +Circumstances were making Schofield's situation in Tennessee +uncomfortable, for, as he said in the same letter, he was in an +anomalous position, nominally commanding a department and an army, but +practically doing neither. Such considerations reinforced the military +reasons, but the latter were strong enough to establish the wisdom of +his suggestion to Grant. He wrote at the same time to General Sherman, +indicating that his strongest wish would be to join the army at Savannah +if it should be feasible, for he recognized the great military +importance of now concentrating against Lee. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: "Forty-six Years," p. 254.]</span> +It happened that on the same day that Schofield was writing these +letters, Grant was writing to Sherman, expressing his pleasure in the +latter's confidence of his ability to march through the Carolinas, and +his own belief that it could be done. "The effect of such a campaign," +he said, "will be to disorganize the South, and prevent the organization +of new armies from their broken fragments." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xliv. +p. 820.]</span> Giving a sketch of the situation in the West, he thought +Sherman's advance would force the Confederacy to use Hood's broken army +without allowing it time to collect its deserters and reorganize. As it +would thus be "wiped out for present harm," he was considering the plan +of ordering A. J. Smith away from his temporary connection with Thomas's +main army, and bringing him with ten or fifteen thousand men to +Virginia to make his own army strong enough to deal effectually with +Lee, whether the Confederate general continued to defend Richmond or +should abandon that city. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Ibid</i>.]</span> +Schofield's suggestion fitted so well the plan Grant was revolving in +his mind, that he decided to bring the Twenty-third Corps East, instead +of Smith's. On the 7th of January he directed Thomas to send Schofield +and the corps to him with as little delay as possible, if he were sure +that Hood had gone further south than Corinth. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xlv. pt. +ii. p. 529.]</span> When Thomas received the order on the 11th, he was at +Paducah on the Ohio River, and about to start up the Tennessee by +steamboat. We were at Clifton on the Tennessee, after a hard march of +some seventy miles southwest from Columbia, and were awaiting steamboats +to take us up to Eastport, wholly ignorant of the surprise that was in +store for us. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pt. i. p. 363.]</span> Even Schofield had received no word from Grant as +to his action.</p> +<p>In making this outline of the changing plans of our superiors, I +have outrun the current of my personal experience in which some things +may be worth noting. On the day after the battle of Nashville, I was +conscious of malarial poisoning from the specially unwholesome +conditions of our bivouac on the night of the 16th, but was so confident +in the vigor of my constitution in throwing off such ailments that I +paid no attention to my health, and kept about my duties with my +ordinary activity. I found, however, that my strength was not equal to +the demands upon it, and by the time we reached the Duck River on the +23d of December, I was glad to find quarters at the house of Mrs. +Porter, in the bend of the river, where we had been during the two days +before the battle of Franklin, and where we were again received with a +kindness and hospitality which was wonderful when one considers how the +passing and repassing of armies had ruined the country and overstrained +the sympathies of the people.</p> +<p>Fortunately for me, our movements were suspended for a week and we +made but one change of camp, crossing to the south side of the river, +and taking the position in front of Columbia which I have already +mentioned. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, +p. 373.]</span> My medical director, Surgeon Frink, gave me heroic +treatment, and by the time we marched again on the 2d of January, I was +able to do my ordinary duties, though I did not become quite well again +till I reached the sea-coast and got a complete change of climate. At +this time we were expecting to go into winter quarters, and when, on +29th December, I learned that orders were issued for the corps to winter +at Dalton, I requested and received a leave of absence for thirty days, +to go home and recover my health. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlv. pt. i. p. 361.]</span> My order had been +issued, turning over the command to Colonel Doolittle, the senior +brigade commander present, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pt. ii. p. 476.]</span> when I learned from General Schofield that the +active campaign was to be resumed and that he had abandoned the purpose +he had formed of going north himself as far as Louisville. I +immediately rescinded my own order, and marched with the command. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 426, 474, +475, 486.]</span></p> +<p>During the pursuit of Hood from Nashville, Thomas had followed in +person the Fourth Corps, which was in advance of ours, and Schofield had +no opportunity of personal conference with him, so that our only +knowledge of his purposes was got from the formal correspondence with +his headquarters. When Colonel Doolittle sent forward his communication +reasserting the capture of the battery in the curtain of the Confederate +works on the 16th of December, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Ante</i>, +p. 366.]</span> it was accompanied by my own and indorsed by General +Schofield. It reached Thomas at Duck River, and he made it the occasion +of indorsing upon it a recommendation for my promotion to the grade of +Major-General. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii. pp. 234, 235.]</span> On the 19th, from +Franklin, General Schofield made his own recommendation in terms which +I may be pardoned for feeling more pride in than in the promotion +itself. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See Appendix C.]</span> +This was earnestly supported by General Thomas and forwarded on the +20th. The only vacancy in the grade was one made by the resignation of +General McClernand, and to this I was assigned, as of the 7th of +December, the date of General Schofield's report of the battle of +Franklin, though the official notice of the promotion did not reach me +till the 15th of January, at Clifton, as we were about to take +steamboats for our movement to the East. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. pp. 273, 274; <i>Id</i>., pt. i. p. 364. Army Register for +1865, pp. 54, 95. Another vacancy occurred on the 13th December, by the +resignation of General Crittenden, and to this General W. B. Hazen was +appointed for his assault of Fort McAllister near Savannah. (<i>Ibid</i>.) +On December 22d Mr. Stanton asked Thomas to make a list of promotions +he desired to recommend, but informed him that there was then no vacancy +in the grade of Major-General, and only two in that of Brigadier. +(Official Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii. p. 307.) General Schofield thinks +that Stanton, in the dispatch last mentioned, referred only to +vacancies in the regular army. (Forty-six Years, p. 279.) The +circumstances and the whole correspondence seem to me inconsistent with +this view. Thomas made out his list on the 25th, and it was for +promotions in the volunteer service only. (Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. p. 343.) Thomas's own promotion as Major-General in the regular +army was made on the 24th. (<i>Id</i>., pp. 318, 329.)]</span></p> +<p>Before leaving Columbia, General Schofield had, on the 28th of +December, a consultation with his three division commanders in regard to +the assignment of the new regiments, to the number of twelve or +thirteen, which had been added to the corps. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: These included two or three +which had been temporarily attached at Franklin, but were now made +permanent parts of the organization.]</span> It was agreed that it was +best to preserve the older organizations of divisions and brigades, and +to strengthen these by some new regiments, while the rest of the new +regiments were organized into a division under General Ruger. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. p. 409.]</span> Schofield had the promise of several other +regiments whenever they should come forward; and by correspondence with +Halleck and with the Governor of Illinois, as well as with Thomas, he +was actively striving to bring the corps to the proper strength of three +full divisions. At the end of the month we had 15,000 men, with at +least two other regiments ordered to join us, one of them convalescing +from the measles, which was very apt to run through a new organization +taking the field. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pp. 426, 436, 445, 461, 473, 475.]</span> The new troops were nearly all +officered by men of experience, and contained many veterans who had +re-enlisted. We thus welcomed back valuable men who had served in the +corps, and came to us with increased rank and a renewed zeal which made +our reinforcements at once nearly equal to seasoned troops.</p> +<p>Our orders to march from Columbia on the 1st of January were in +pursuance of the orders Thomas had received to concentrate his army at +Eastport and Tuscumbia for the continuance of the campaign. The Fourth +Corps was <i>en route</i> to Huntsville, and Thomas did not change its +destination, as he thought it could take part in new movements as well +from that position as from Tuscumbia. A. J. Smith's corps had already +been ordered to Eastport for winter quarters, and had marched from +Pulaski by way of Lawrenceburg and Waynesborough, reaching Clifton on +the 2d of January, where it awaited steamboat transportation. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. pp. 396, 410, 420, 427, 486. Clifton is called Carrollville in +official Atlas, pl. cxlix. The former name is that used in the +dispatches and which we found in use by everybody. The roads and +topography in the map are very incorrect.]</span> Thomas himself was at +Pulaski, and went back by rail to his headquarters at Nashville, whence +he took a steamer to convey his field headquarters and staff by way of +the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers to Eastport. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. pp. 470, 530, 567.]</span></p> +<p>We marched from Columbia on the morning of the 2d of January, 1865, +following the turnpike to Mt. Pleasant, ten miles, through some of the +finest farms in the State. The afternoon was spent in organizing the +corps to move in separate columns by division, each with its own supply +train; for the information we got as to the condition of the roads made +it wise to try any country roads which had not been used by the armies. +It was arranged that Couch's division should march by the turnpike to +Waynesborough, wind by a ridge road through the "barrens" north of the +turnpike, and Ruger should follow me some distance, and then take an +intermediate road through Laurel-Hill Factory, leaving an interval of a +day's march between our columns. Couch's division was preceded by the +engineer battalion of the corps, as pioneers to repair the turnpike. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 475, 486.]</span> +Promptly at six o'clock on the 3d, my division marched from Mt. +Pleasant, continuing for five miles on the Waynesborough turnpike, then +turning to the right upon the Gordon road, we climbed by a steep and +long hill to the barren ridge which is the watershed between the Duck +River and Buffalo River. Five miles from the turnpike our way ran into +the Beaverdam road, which we kept for five miles further to the fork of +the Ashland road, turning to the left. Here we camped and waited for our +trains, which had slow work in climbing the ridge, for it had rained +all the morning, and the roads were slippery. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. i. p. 362; +pt. ii. p. 498.]</span></p> +<p>It was noon of the 4th before the trains overtook us, and I then +ordered an issue of rations to lighten them, and we started again, with +a citizen for a guide. We followed the Perryville road seven miles to +the headwaters of Grinder's Creek, a tributary of Buffalo River, and +down the creek three miles, the road being a mere track in its bed. We +now turned to the right over a ridge and came down into Rockhouse Creek, +the course of which we followed to the river. I had learned that we must +ford the Buffalo, and from the wet weather it would be whole leg deep. +It was getting late in the day, and Rockhouse Creek had to be crossed +many times; so I passed the order along the line not to try to bridge, +but to march straight through the creek and make the more important +crossing of the river before going into camp. This seemed hard, in the +month of January, when, as it had cleared and was cold, ice was forming +in the still places of the stream; but I heard that open farm lands +bordered the river on the other side, and if our wading was done all at +once, we could make the men dry their clothes and shoes with less danger +to health than if we began another day with a soaking. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. i. p. 362.]</span></p> +<p>It grew dark several hours before we reached Buffalo River, the +column plodding along in the wooded ravine. I had turned out from the +road to wait for the brigades to pass, and have a word with the +commanders in turn, and was picking my way to the head of column again, +when I overheard one of those little colloquies between soldiers which +give real pleasure to an officer. A fresh recruit was grumbling at +marching in the darkness and in the water, and wondering what generals +could mean by putting such hardships upon the soldiers, when a veteran +by his side answered cheerily, "When you've been in this division as +long as I have, you'll know there's some good reason for pushing us this +way; so take it easy, and don't growl. The General knows what he's +about." I turned further out into the darkness, with a feeling that it +would cheapen the brave man's words to let him learn who had heard him, +but the evidence of the trust which is the foundation of soldierly +devotion gave a deep satisfaction. When the column reached the river, +which was about seventy-five yards wide, fires were lit on both sides as +guides to the ford, and though it was near nine o'clock, the men were +not permitted to rest till they had thoroughly dried themselves around +the great fires of fence-rails. They did not need orders to boil their +coffee and cook a hot supper in their bivouac. The broad fields between +the hills and the river were illuminated far and wide, and the stillness +of the dark valley was transformed into the noisy activity of the armed +host. All in the camp were "merry as grigs," and did not need to be told +why the march had been prolonged into the night. But the fun of the +soldier was the grief and dismay of the farmer.</p> +<p>The place belonged to an elderly man named Churchill. We had to make +use of his house for headquarters, and while our boys were cooking our +supper, a busy group of officers was seated about the crackling fire in +an open fireplace, writing dispatches and orders, receiving reports, and +sending messages, while in the shadows of the background the farmer and +his wife were moving uneasily about, looking out of door or window, and +wringing their hands at the vision of destruction which had suddenly +descended upon them. The old man protested at the burning of his fences, +naturally enough, and all we could say was that, in the end, if he could +prove his loyalty, he would be indemnified for his loss; but this was +small consolation, and we pitied him whilst we applied the pitiless code +of military necessity to save the troops from worse mischiefs.</p> +<p>The ridge road we had followed had been so completely a wilderness +that we saw but one inhabited house for fifteen miles. The hillsides +were covered with a young forest, the original woods having been cut off +and made into charcoal for the iron furnaces of the region. In good +weather it would have been easy marching through the region, for the top +of the ridge was fairly level, winding along in a general westerly +direction; but as the road had never been "worked," and was a mere wagon +track, it soon became muddy, and our wagons cut it so deeply as to spoil +it for the use of any who were to follow us, and to make about fifteen +miles a day the most we could ourselves accomplish.</p> +<p>Starting again on the 5th, we marched through Ashland, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: In the Atlas, pl. cxlix., +Ashland is erroneously placed north of Buffalo river.]</span> up the +valley of Forty-eight-mile Creek and thence along a ridge to +Waynesborough, encamping just beyond the town. Our road ran into the +turnpike two miles east of the village, and we met Couch's division at +the junction of the roads. We took the advance, which we kept during the +next day's march to the Tennessee, reaching Clifton toward evening of +the 6th, after a very hard day's work, the weather beginning with rain +in the morning and turning to sleet and snow after noon. We pitched our +tents in the snowstorm, locating the camp more than a mile from the +landing-place, as the eligible ground nearer was occupied by Smith's +corps, which was waiting for transports to take them up the river.</p> +<p>It was a desolate outlook. A few chimneys and two or three houses +marked the site of what had once been a flourishing village, but which +had been burned in the guerilla warfare of the last year. The landscape +was bare, the trees having disappeared in the demand for camp-fires, as +different bodies of troops had camped there from time to time. The bluff +above the river was level and monotonous, and the great turbid stream +rolling northward reflected only the heavy stormy skies. The only +consolation we could gather was that Eastport, for which we supposed we +were bound, was more desolate, more muddy, and a worse camping-ground.</p> +<p>The other divisions of the corps halted at Waynesborough for two or +three days, till transports should take Smith's corps away and give us +our turn at the landing. General Schofield joined me on the afternoon of +the 7th, and on Sunday, the 8th, a fleet of transports came down the +river, convoyed by three gunboats under Rear-Admiral Lee. They had taken +part of Smith's troops to Eastport and had returned for the rest. A +pleasant recollection of the time is the acquaintance then begun with +the Admiral, which was afterwards renewed at Washington when I met him +in the attractive circle of the Blair families, both the elder Francis +P. Blair, and Montgomery, with whom Admiral Lee was connected by +marriage. When the fleet was gone again, the rest of our corps gathered +at Clifton, but we seemed shut off from all communication with the outer +world. We had broken our connection with the country we had left, in the +expectation of having our base on the lower Tennessee, and our supplies +were getting short. An occasional steamboat would go by us, steaming up +the river without stopping. Feeling the necessity of getting news from +General Thomas below, General Schofield ordered me, on the 9th, to send +a piece of artillery to the river bank and force up-bound boats to stop +and report. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii. p. 557.]</span> On the same day Schofield +issued his order for the movement by transports up the river, giving the +method of shipping the troops by divisions, each with its own +artillery, baggage, and ordnance trains. Open barges were provided for +the artillery and ordnance, and these were to be lashed alongside the +steamboats on which the troops and the regimental baggage would be +loaded. The method was arranged in consultation with Admiral Lee, to +whom the division commander was ordered to report during the transit. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid.</i>]</span> The +intent was to keep each division together as a military unit, with its +baggage, guns, and trains, so that it could take care of itself when +landed. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. +557.]</span></p> +<p>Nearly a week passed, the only variation in the monotony being the +changes of the weather, which went through the cycle of raining, +snowing, clearing, thawing, and freezing which had been regularly marked +during the season. The delays in reaching the up-river rendezvous, the +complete absence of all news, the wearying effect of waiting, all told +upon the troops in a depressing way. General Schofield evidently had +little faith that much would be done before spring, and the fact that he +had heard nothing from his letters to Grant and Sherman left him without +the means of relieving the general tendency to apathy and discontent +under which we were suffering. In my own case I had the further +discomfort of physical ailing, for though the worst symptoms of my +illness had been mitigated, I was far from my usual vigor. The +undeniable result of this appeared in my home letters, and it would not +be altogether honest to suppress the hearty bit of private grumbling +which I indulged in.</p> +<p>Writing on the 13th, after noting the utter lack of stability in the +weather and its effect on our operations, I broke out on the personal +results of the winter campaigning. "I am getting ragged and barefoot," I +said. "My boots are worn out, my coat is worn out, my waistcoats are +worn out, my hat is worn out, and I am only whole and respectable when I +am in my shirt and drawers. If I ever get near civilization again, I +shall be obliged to lie abed somewhere till I can get some clothes made. +I don't wonder the Washington people want to have the campaign go on, +and if they would apply a little of the 'go ahead' to the army on the +James, would appreciate it still better. Here we know to an absolute +certainty that the army is stuck in the mud; but the administration +would not believe General Thomas when he told them so, and force him to +pretend to move, with the fear of being superseded hanging over him, +whilst he knows that any effective movement is impossible. We can ruin +our horses and mules, and put half our men in hospitals without getting +twenty-five miles from the Tennessee unless the weather changes, and +this is all we can do. Hood can laugh at us unless the Mobile and Ohio +Railroad can be repaired as we go and be made to furnish us supplies. If +this could be done, or if the season would permit us to chase the rebels +right into the gulf, I would be perfectly content to stay, and in fact +couldn't be coaxed to go home; but knowing what I know, I feel perfectly +sure that I might as well be making a biennial visit to my family as +not."</p> +<p>On the day after this letter was written General Thomas came up the +river with a fleet of transports which we were ordered to take for a +movement down instead of up the river. The word spread that we were +going to join Sherman, and though this meant journeys by boat, by rail, +and by ocean ships, two thousand miles or more, our camps leaped from +apathy to enthusiasm, such creatures of circumstance we are! Looking +back at the situation, I have to admit that Grant's plan of keeping +everything moving was the right one, and that if hopeful energy and +enterprise could have combined Canby's movements with ours, and we had +all been told that this active co-operation was afoot and would soon +take us southward where we would meet the coming spring while Tennessee +was still shivering in the winter storms, we should all have caught the +spirit of the opportunity and cheered our leaders on. But this impulse +in an army must come from the head downward. The trudging columns +perfectly know the fatigue, the cold, the mud. They very imperfectly +catch the larger view which stimulates to great effort by the hope of +great results. In a council of war the division commanders would +probably advise delay in sympathy with the hardships of the troops, when +the same officers would have sprung with ardor to the work under a brief +and strong appeal from a confident leader, presenting the broader +reasons for energetic persistent activity. It was this quality of +leadership in Sherman which made Grant say to Stanton in December, "It +is refreshing to see a commander, after a campaign of more than seven +months' duration, ready for still further operations without wanting any +outfit or rest." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii. p. 264.]</span></p> +<p>Thomas did not stop at Clifton except to send us his orders, and +went on to Eastport, arriving there on the morning of the 15th. From +that place he reported that Hood's infantry, much disorganized, was at +Tupelo, West Point, and Columbus, Miss. Forrest's cavalry, in similar +condition, was about Okolona. Roads were almost impracticable, but the +high water in the river made it easy to get supplies to Eastport by the +largest steamers. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pp. 586, 593. General Schofield does not remember seeing General Thomas +in Tennessee after December 25th ("Forty-six Years," p. 276), and this +accords with my impression that Thomas did not stop at Clifton long +enough for us to visit him.]</span> As to our new movement, Mr. Charles +A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, had been intrusted with the +supervision of the transfer, and sent west Colonel L. B. Parsons of the +Quartermaster's Department to collect a fleet of steam-boats at +Louisville for the purpose. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 560, 568, 586.]</span> But meanwhile, under Thomas's orders, the +fleet of transports had been collected and had come for us, and the +troops were joined by Colonel Parsons when they reached the Ohio. He +then took charge of the transportation by boat and by rail. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Dana's Recollections, pp. +253, 254.]</span> As the transfer would take ten days or more, Schofield +arranged to go on in advance to close up business at Louisville and for +consultations with Grant and Halleck by telegraph. I went with him to +Cairo, where we took railway trains, and I was authorized to go to my +home in Ohio to recuperate until he should telegraph me from Washington. +The command of the corps <i>en route</i> was given to General Couch. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. +pt. ii. p. 588.]</span> As we were leaving the Military Division of the +Mississippi, Colonel Doolittle was obliged to give up the command of +Reilly's brigade and return to his own regiment. Reilly rejoined the +corps after we reached North Carolina. The convalescents of Sherman's +army and his recruits were collected in a provisional division under +General Thomas Francis Meagher, took steamboats at Nashville, and made +part of the same general transfer to the East. There was an amusing +coincidence when the brilliant Irish "patriot" telegraphed that his +fleet had started, "the Saint Patrick leading the way." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 564, 600, +613.]</span> Colonel Wright, Sherman's efficient chief of railway +construction, had been ordered, a little earlier, to proceed eastward +with one division of the construction corps with the object of joining +Sherman at Savannah. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +p. 393.]</span> Changing circumstances, however, brought him as well as +Meagher's division into our column a little later, as will soon appear. +In a similar way General S. P. Carter joined us by transfer from duties +at Knoxville, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 620.]</span> and General George S. Greene, of the Twentieth Corps, +who had been serving on a court-martial at Washington, was also +temporarily attached to our command till he was able to join his own +organization, which was with Sherman. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 623.]</span></p> +<p>The reduction of Thomas's forces could not have been altogether +agreeable to him, though he no doubt preferred it to the continuance of +a winter campaign under imperative orders from Washington. He had not +ceased to believe that it was better to rest and refit his army till +spring;<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. +621.]</span> but Grant insisted that he "must make a campaign or spare +his surplus troops," and though Thomas was a model of obedience to +orders, his continued opposition of opinion, frankly expressed, +naturally led to the detachment of our corps. The discussion of the +subject between Grant and Halleck clearly stated the reasons which were +conclusive. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii. pp. 609, 610, 614; also vol. xlvii. pt. ii. +pp. 101, 859.]</span> Thomas suffered mentally under the pressure and the +criticisms of the whole campaign, and we may personally share his pain +in sympathy with the noble man, whilst we admit that Grant's views were +such as the situation demanded. Those who knew Thomas intimately knew +that he was a man of quick feeling if of slow action; and his nature +was truthfully described by his quartermaster, Colonel Donaldson (who +was an old and intimate friend), in a letter to General Meigs, after a +parting interview on the steamboat as Thomas left Nashville for +Eastport. "He opened his heart to me," says Donaldson. "He feels very +sore at the rumored intentions to relieve him, and the major-generalcy +does not cicatrize the wound. You know Thomas is morbidly sensitive, and +it cut him to the heart to think that it was contemplated to remove +him. He does not blame the Secretary, for he said Mr. Stanton was a fair +and just man." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +vol. xlv. pt. ii. p. 561.]</span><br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI"></a>CHAPTER XLVI</p> +<p>CAMPAIGN IN NORTH CAROLINA--CAPTURE OF WILMINGTON</p> +<p>Rendezvous at Washington--Capture of Fort Fisher--Schofield ordered +to North Carolina--Grant and Schofield visit Terry--Department of North +Carolina--Army of the Ohio in the field--Correspondence of Grant and +Sherman--Sherman conscious of his risks but hopeful of great +results--His plan of march from Savannah--Relation of Wilmington to New +Berne--Our arrival at Washington--The Potomac frozen--Peace conference +at Fort Monroe--Interview with Mr. Stanton--The thirteenth amendment of +the Constitution--Political excitement at the capital--A little +dinner-party--Garfield, H. W. Davis, and Schenck--Davis on +Lincoln--Destination of our army--Embarkation--Steamship +"Atlantic"--Visit to Fort Monroe--The sea-voyage--Cape Fear +Inlet--General Terry's lines--Bragg the Confederate +commander--Reconnoitring his lines--The colored troops--"Monitor" +engaged with Fort Anderson--Alternate plans--Marching on Wilmington by +the west bank of the river--My column opposite the town--Orders not +applicable to the situation--Difficulty of communication--Use of +discretion--Wilmington evacuated--A happy result.</p> +<p>On Thursday the 26th of January, 1865, I received a telegram from +General Schofield directing me to join my command without delay, and I +started from my home in northern Ohio the same evening. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 131.]</span> I had spent a week in a delightful visit +with my family after two years of absence from them, and had been +rapidly improving in health. The growing faith that the campaign of the +winter and spring would end in complete victory for the national arms +created an ardent zeal to be about it and to have an active hand in the +final scenes. Our orders had indicated Annapolis as our port of +rendezvous, and our destination the Army of the Potomac in front of +Petersburg. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +vol. xlv. pt. ii. pp. 529, 586.]</span> On reaching Annapolis Junction +in the night of the 28th, I learned that my division was in Washington, +and followed it, arriving there in the morning of the 29th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: To get an adequate idea of +the task of transporting an army corps so great a distance, one should +look at Colonel Parsons's report, including 250 dispatches. Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 215-284.]</span></p> +<p>The change from Annapolis to Washington and Alexandria had been made +by Grant upon a suggestion of General Halleck that there was no shelter +at Annapolis for such a body of troops, whilst there was enough at the +capital. As the winter weather was then severe, this thoughtfulness +saved the command much suffering. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +vol. xlv. pt. ii. p. 596.]</span> The military situation had also +changed materially by the capture of Fort Fisher on the North Carolina +coast, on the very day we embarked on the transports at Clifton (January +15th). This capture by the forces under General A. H. Terry was one +step in the preparation of a new base for Sherman in his march +northward through the Carolinas, and Grant was most anxious that it +should be followed by the occupation of Wilmington. His desire to +strengthen his own army was made secondary to his determination to make +Sherman's movement an assured success. He wrote to Sherman on the 21st +that he would send Schofield to Wilmington, if, as was rumored, the fall +of that place had followed the capture of Fort Fisher. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xlvii. pt. +ii. p. 102.]</span> On the 24th he had made up his mind to send Schofield +there anyhow, and was going himself to inspect the fort and the +situation at the mouth of Cape Fear River. He telegraphed for Schofield +to join him on this visit to Terry, and the outline of the new campaign +was then arranged. A new department of North Carolina was decided upon, +Schofield was to command it, his army in the field to consist of two +provisional corps besides the Twenty-third, of which Terry was to +command one, and the other for a time fell to me. This field force was +to retain our old title of the Army of the Ohio. On Schofield's +recommendation the brevet rank of major-general was given to General +Ruger, and that of brigadier to Colonel Henderson of the One Hundred +and Twelfth Illinois, for services at Franklin. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 121, 179, 190, 201.]</span> Sherman had heard of the +fall of Fort Fisher before he broke his communications with Savannah, +and was assured of a new base there, even if the line from New Berne to +Goldsborough should not be opened.</p> +<p>The correspondence between Sherman and Grant at this time is very +characteristic of both men, and throws a bright light on their unselfish +friendship and their earnest purpose to bring the war to a successful +end without rest or delay. In his letter of the 21st of January, after +giving the latest details of his situation, Sherman adds: "I am told +that Congress meditates a bill to make another lieutenant-general for +me. I have written to John Sherman to stop it if it is designed for me. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See Sherman Letters, p. 245.]</span> +It would be mischievous, for there are enough rascals who would try to +sow differences between us, whereas you and I now are in perfect +understanding. I would rather have you in command than anybody else, for +you are fair, honest, and have at heart the same purpose that should +animate all. I should emphatically decline any commission calculated to +bring us into rivalry, and I ask you to advise all your friends in +Congress to this effect, especially Mr. Washburne. I doubt if men in +Congress fully realize that you and I are honest in our professions of +want of ambition. I know that I feel none, and to-day will gladly +surrender my position and influence to any other who is better able to +wield the power. The flurry attending my recent success will soon blow +over and give place to new developments." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 103. In the same letter Sherman referred to the +farewell order General Butler had addressed to his troops on being +relieved of command. "I am rejoiced that Terry took Fisher," Sherman +said, "because it silences Butler, who was to you a dangerous man. His +address to his troops on being relieved was a direct, mean, and +malicious attack on you, and I admired the patience and skill by which +you relieved yourself and the country of him." In the address referred +to, Butler had said: "I have been chary of the precious charge confided +to me. I have refused to order the useless sacrifice of the lives of +such soldiers, and I am relieved from your command. The wasted blood of +my men does not stain my garments." (O. R, vol. xlvi. pt. ii. p. 71.) +Such a publication made its author liable to court-martial, but Grant +took no public notice of it, except to oppose his further assignment to +duty. <i>Id</i>., vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 537, 562. See also Sherman to +Admiral Porter, <i>Id</i>., p. 104, and Grant to Sherman, <i>Id</i>., +p. 859.]</span></p> +<p>Replying on the 1st of February, Grant said: "I have received your +very kind letter, in which you say you would decline, or are opposed to, +promotion. No one would be more pleased at your advancement than I, and +if you should be placed in my position and I put subordinate, it would +not change our relations in the least. I would make the same exertions +to support you that you have ever done to support me, and I would do all +in my power to make our cause win." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 193.]</span></p> +<p>That Sherman knew his campaign in the Carolinas would involve great +risks, and had no blind confidence in his fortune, was shown by his +reply to the well-known letter of congratulation which President Lincoln +sent him upon the surrender of Savannah: <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xliv. p. +809, and Sherman's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 166.]</span> "The motto 'Nothing +venture, nothing win,' which you refer to, is most appropriate, and +should I venture too much and happen to lose, I shall bespeak your +charitable inference." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 18.]</span></p> +<p>In writing to Grant also, on the 29th of January, in a very full and +interesting letter, he said: "I expect Davis will move Heaven and earth +to catch me, for success to my column is fatal to his dream of empire. +Richmond is not more vital to his cause than Columbia and the heart of +South Carolina." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 155.]</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="images/2-46-1.jpg" + title="\Map: Northeast Georgia / South Carolina border area" + alt="Map: Northeast Georgia / South Carolina border area" + style="width: 800px; height: 560px;"><br> +</p> +<p>The general plan which he adopted was to threaten both Charleston +and Augusta with the wings of his army, keeping the enemy in doubt as to +his purpose as long as possible, whilst he pushed his centre rapidly +toward Columbia. He had no mind to waste time in serious operations +against Charleston, for he knew that it must fall when his advance +threatened to cut it off from communication with Richmond. From Columbia +he planned to march on Raleigh by way of Goldsborough, the last-named +place being connected by railroad with both Wilmington and New Berne, +and being therefore the objective of General Schofield's movements from +both seaports. Beaufort, the harbor of New Berne, was deeper than the +mouth of Cape Fear River, and was therefore to be made the principal +base of supply for Sherman when he should enter North Carolina; but +Wilmington was so much further south that prudence required it to be +first occupied and provisioned to give Sherman temporary supply, if any +contingency should make it necessary to him before the railroad from New +Berne to Goldsborough could be rebuilt. These subsidiary operations in +North Carolina were to be our special task. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: For connected historical +treatment of Sherman's march northward, and of the capture of Fort +Fisher, see "March to the Sea," etc., chaps, viii.-xi.: Life of Sherman +(Great Commanders' Series), chap. xii.]</span></p> +<p>On reaching Washington, I found that my troops were just arriving on +trains from the West. They were temporarily placed in barracks in the +city, till the fleet of transports should be ready. The unusual severity +of the winter had frozen the Potomac, and Annapolis was also blocked +with ice, so that the quartermaster's department had to wait two or +three days for a change of weather, before fixing the point of +departure. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 154.]</span> The time passed pleasantly +for me, since it gave me the opportunity of renewing old acquaintance +with public men, and of observing for myself the spirit which animated +political circles at the capital. Mr. Lincoln with Mr. Seward had gone +to Fort Monroe to meet Mr. Stephens and others, commissioned by the +Richmond government to confer informally as to the possibilities of +peace. The Confederate officials were at Grant's headquarters on the 1st +of February, "very desirous of going to Washington to see Mr. Lincoln," +as the General-in-Chief wrote Sherman incidentally. From his interview +with them, Grant was convinced that "the peace feeling within the rebel +lines is gaining ground rapidly," but he added, "This, however, should +not relax our energies in the least, but should stimulate us to greater +activity." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 194.]</span></p> +<p>Going to pay my respects to Secretary Stanton at the War Department, +I was met by him in an exceedingly cordial way, and in parting, after an +interesting visit, he congratulated me on my promotion, saying I owed +nobody any thanks for it, as it had been fully and fairly won. I owe it +to him to mention this, for so much was current about the brusqueness of +his intercourse with army officers, that he is entitled to the testimony +that, on this as on all other occasions when I met him personally, +nothing could be kinder or more considerate than his manner to me.</p> +<p>My visit to Washington happened to include the day on which the +constitutional amendment abolishing slavery passed the House. +Breakfasting with Chief-Justice Chase, I met also Henry Ward Beecher, +and the great historical event was, of course, the central subject of +conversation. The forecast by such men of the effect upon the country +and upon the world made a blending of solid wisdom with brilliant +eloquence not to be forgotten. My friend Governor Dennison was +Postmaster-General, and in his house I had full opportunity to judge of +the keen, almost feverish interest with which public men and leading +citizens were following the rapid march of both military and civil +affairs. Coming, as I was, out of the rough winter campaign of the West +for a brief halt in the centre of political activity, before sailing to +the swamp-lined shores of Carolina, there was something almost unreal, +though fascinating, in the contrast of the excitement of the field with +the totally different but scarcely less absorbing excitement which I saw +in every face.</p> +<p>Garfield arranged a little dinner at which, besides himself, I met +General Schenck and Henry Winter Davis, all of them playing leading +roles in the House of Representatives. We four were alone, and it was a +rare opportunity for me to hear unrestrained discussion of everything in +public affairs. Nearly every phase of current political and military +events was treated in brilliant and trenchant criticism, and the +conversation turned at last upon the peace conference going on at Fort +Monroe. Mr. Davis was a Marylander, who was second to none in +uncompromising loyalty to the Union, and had an acknowledged +pre-eminence in eloquent advocacy of the National cause. He, however, +did not understand or appreciate Mr. Lincoln, and in the celebrated +"Wade and Davis manifesto" of the previous year, had opposed the +re-election of the President. He now let loose in a witty and scathing +denunciation of Lincoln and all his works. The current epithets among +the President's opponents, of which "baboon" was one of the mildest, +were flung at him with a venom that, to me, was half shocking and half +comical. The soldier habit of making the Hurrah for Lincoln our +answering war-cry to the Hurrah for Davis of our enemies in the field, +made a bewildering puzzle of such an outburst. The meeting with the +Southern commissioners was denounced as a weak compromising of our +cause. He saw no force in the argument that weak hearts among us would +be strengthened when they saw that now as upon former overtures the +Confederate authorities insisted upon independence as the necessary +condition of peace, whilst Mr. Lincoln stood firmly for restoration of +the Union and abolition of slavery as the essentials. The curious fact +was that such a man, ably busied for four years in political +co-operation with the President, living in the same city, in frequent +personal contact with him, had utterly failed to measure his character +and his intellect, or to get even a glimmering idea of what lay beneath +that ungraceful exterior and that quaint and humorous speech. The +elegant orator and polished man of the world felt no magnetism but that +of repulsion; and his senses were so dulled by it that he never guessed +the wisdom and the breadth, the subtle policy and the deep +statesmanship, the luminous insight and the unfaltering purpose which +now seem writ so plain in Lincoln's words and deeds.</p> +<p>General Schenck did not appear to differ greatly from Davis, but +what he said was in short, trenchant sentences, interjected from time to +time. Garfield treated the outburst as a sort of extravaganza, and in +his position as host did not seriously debate, but rallied his friend +with good-humored persiflage, met his outbursts with jovial laughter and +prodded him to fresh explosions by shafts of wit. It was a strange and +not altogether exhilarating experience for me; but I had afterward to +learn that the belittling view of Lincoln was the common one among +public men in Washington. The people at a distance got a juster +perspective, and knowing him by his written papers and his public acts, +divined him better and gave him a loyal support hardly to be +distinguished from their devotion to the cause of the country itself. We +may fairly conclude that the failure of so many men near the President +to understand him is not creditable to their sagacity; but we must also +admit that a first impression and a superficial view would in his case +be almost surely misleading, and that to correct it would take better +opportunities for an intimate study of the man than most public men +would have, and most would not care to seek them. The belittling view of +men in power fits best our self-esteem.</p> +<p>As soon as General Schofield got back from his trip to Fort Fisher +with Grant, he had issued his orders for our movement which was to take +place as soon as the ice would permit our transports to enter or leave +the harbors on Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac. My own division was to +take the lead and sail to Cape Fear River. Couch's would come next and +land at Beaufort for operations on the New Berne line. Ruger's (the new +troops) would sail last, and find orders at Fort Monroe in going down +the bay, deciding whether its destination should be Wilmington or +Beaufort. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 135.]</span> Meagher's provisional +division of detachments belonging to Sherman's army was temporarily +attached to us, for it was too late to join Sherman by way of Savannah. +Meagher had ordered it to rendezvous at New York, but Grant changed its +destination to Washington with the purpose just stated. Its commander +had gone on to New York in advance without any understanding with army +headquarters, and the convivial and unsystematic Irishman thereby fell +into trouble. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pp. 116, 119, 126, 204, 293.]</span></p> +<p>On Thursday the 2d of February, General Schofield was able to issue +his final orders for embarkation. Only vessels enough for two brigades +of my division had been able to reach Alexandria, and Casement's brigade +was sent by rail to Annapolis to take ship there and to be followed +immediately by Meagher's provisional command. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 213.]</span> +Friday was spent in getting troops on board the ships at Annapolis and +systematizing their accommodation for the voyage. One of our transports +was the "Atlantic," Captain Gray, which, as the crack ship of the +Collins Line of New York and Liverpool packets, had led the van of the +ocean greyhounds in the days of wooden hulls and side-wheels. General +Schofield and myself made our headquarters on this ship. On each of the +other vessels the senior officer was made responsible for all the troops +on board, and was confidentially authorized, after it should enter +Chesapeake Bay, to instruct the master of the ship to make the best of +his way to Cape Fear Inlet as the rendezvous for the division. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 293.]</span> +General Grant had asked the War Department to arrange for a patrol of +the coast by the navy during the transit of Schofield's little army. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 284.]</span></p> +<p>On Saturday the 4th we had expected to start at daybreak, but a +heavy fog delayed us. When it lifted, we made our way slowly down the +Potomac, the drifting ice obstructing the passage so that we could only +go at a snail's pace, backing and filling to keep in the ice openings +and to save injury to the vessel. Starting at ten o'clock, we only +reached the head of Kettlebottom Shoals by nightfall of the short winter +day, making less than twenty miles. The passage of the shoals was too +dangerous for so large a vessel in the dark, and we dropped anchor for +the night. I had made it my first task on Friday evening to have a +complete understanding with Captain Gray, and to get his suggestions as +to the orders I desired to issue for the conduct and discipline of the +troops while on board ship for which I was responsible. He was a +gentleman of ability and large experience in his profession, and +co-operated with me so cordially that our week on board the "Atlantic" +was a most comfortable one, full of interest and enjoyment, though we +met rough weather outside the capes. My order was issued on Saturday and +rigidly enforced during the voyage. By Captain Gray's invitation I made +my office in his chart-room on the upper deck, enforcing regular tours +of duty for officers and men of the division, of whom nearly 2000 were +on board. In the intervals, when the captain was not himself on the +bridge, we exchanged stories of our very different experiences, and I +found his conversation both interesting and instructive. We had besides, +of course, the large circle of comrades and old friends in the cabin, +and for those who escaped sea-sickness the hours never hung heavy. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br> +[Footnote: As the Records do not seem to contain many orders for the +conduct of troops on transport ships, I insert that which I made for +this voyage. It was, of course, supplemental to the Army Regulations of +1863, chap, xxxvii.</span></p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">"Special Orders</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">No. 9.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">HEADQUARTERS, THIRD DIV., 23D ARMY +CORPS,<br> +Steamship Atlantic, February 4, 1865.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The following regulations will be +strictly observed by the officers and men of this command during the +present voyage:</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">1. No open lights will be allowed in +any part of the ship occupied by troops. The ship's lanterns will be +arranged by the officers of the vessel in such a way as to light the +decks during the night, and will not be opened or interfered with by the +men.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">2. No smoking will be allowed in any +part of the vessel used for sleeping except the open decks. The men may +smoke in the open air upon the upper decks, and the brigade commander +will provide for giving proper airing, and opportunity to smoke, to the +men quartered below. Officers will smoke, either upon deck or in the +smoking-room near the water-closets.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">3. The division and brigade +commissaries will make arrangements with the steward of the ship for +cooking the men's coffee and doing other necessary cooking for the +command, and for serving the same out at regular hours.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">4. The canteens of the men may be +filled with drinking water once each day, the men being marched by +companies under their proper officers to the pump in the fore part of +the ship for that purpose.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">5. The brigade commander, in +consultation with the commander of the ship, will arrange for the +perfect policing of the quarters, sinks, etc.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">6. The starboard side of the upper +and main decks abaft of the engine, will be kept clear of men and +reserved for the use of officers, both of the command and of the ship, +during the day; and such portion of this space as may necessarily be +occupied by the men for sleeping at night, will have a passage kept +entirely clear for the use of the officers and crew of the vessel in +working her at night. No men will at any time be allowed to go upon the +roofs of the houses on the upper deck.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">7. Proper roll-calls will be +established, and the line officers will be strictly required to attend +them, and to make close personal inspections daily of the condition of +their men, and to be personally in command of them when marched out for +water, or coffee, or when on duty.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">8. An officer of the day will be +daily appointed by the brigade commander, and shall have full charge of +the execution of this order, and supervision of all the police +arrangements of the command. Proper line officers will be detailed on +guard duty, and sentries will be regularly posted at the bulkhead of the +ship storeroom on the forward lower deck, at the sinks, over the lights +at night, and on the middle line of the decks reserved under paragraph +six.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">9. The officer of the day, after +reporting at brigade headquarters each day, will report to the captain +of the ship, in order that the ship's officers may know to whom to apply +for any enforcement of these regulations.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">By command of Major-General Cox.</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(Signed) THEO. Cox,<br> +Capt. and Ass't Adj't-General."</p> +<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. +p. 303.]</p> +<p>Weighing anchor at daybreak on Sunday morning, we passed Kettle +Bottom Shoals safely, and found much more open water in the lower river. +The day was mild and calm, and we made good progress to Fort Monroe, +where we stopped in the evening to take on board a supply of ammunition. +While this work was going on, I took advantage of the opportunity to +land in a small boat and pass through the place by moonlight. As one of +the largest and most important of the fortresses of the old style, with +heavy walls of masonry, casemated, and with regular moat, it was an +interesting study to a soldier, and all the more so as we were then in +the full heat of the discussion of the relative value of such formal +works compared with mere earthworks, of which Fort Fisher, to which we +were bound, was a very striking example. It was admitted that modern +ordnance could soon knock the walls into a rubbish-heap, but Fort Sumter +had raised the supplementary debate, whether the rubbish-heap did not +begin a new chapter in the defence, longer and more important than the +first period of attack.<br> +</p> +<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="images/2-46-2.jpg" + title="map of south-central North Carolina at the South Carolina border" + alt="map of south-central North Carolina at the South Carolina border" + style="width: 800px; height: 640px;"><br> +</p> +<p>As soon as the ammunition was on board and properly stowed, our +voyage was resumed, and at daybreak we had passed out of Chesapeake Bay, +joining our consorts of the transport fleet near Cape Henry, and were +running down the coast along the even line of keys which lie as a +breastwork against the Atlantic Ocean outside of the much indented coast +proper of North Carolina. The wind was moderate and off shore, so that +Captain Gray laid his course straight for Cape Hatteras, with only +offing enough to keep in a good depth of water,--say fifteen or twenty +miles. At intervals during the day we could see isolated clumps of +pine-trees rising out of the water, like low-lying, blue clouds, so that +we could hardly say that we were wholly out of sight of land. We passed +Cape Hatteras late in the afternoon, about sunset, and as the coast now +trends much more to the westward, with concave lines from Hatteras to +Cape Lookout (near Beaufort), and from Lookout to Cape Fear, our course +took us farther out to sea. I woke on Tuesday morning to find the ship +pitching heavily and heavy rain sounding loud on the deck over my head, +driven by gusts of wind. Doubts as to the reliability of my "sea legs" +made me prudently keep my berth till about ten o'clock, when I went on +deck to find a dense fog and a high running sea. The rain had ceased, +but the succeeding fog was a worse obstacle to navigation. We were +nearly at our destination, and were feeling our way slowly along. My +"doubts" vanished in the fresh air, and the bit of real seafaring was +exhilarating. Most of the cabin passengers, however, failed to show +themselves on deck, and the soldiers and officers whom duty kept there +did not all enjoy it greatly. The recruiting regulations, just then, +allowed transfers to the gunboat service of soldiers who had any +experience even in inland navigation, and the impulse to change had made +the subject a "burning question," even while we were in the West The +inveterate practical jokers now had their opportunity, and a man leaning +uneasily over the lee rail was sure to be offered the chance to enlist +in the navy, with glowing eulogies of its superior comfort compared with +marching in the mud. In the middle of the afternoon we dropped anchor +in nine fathoms, but toward evening the fog lifted, and we ran further +in, anchoring in seven fathoms, about a mile off the shore. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. i. p. 927.]</span> Fort Fisher was abreast of us, on Federal +Point, its big parapet looking like a long, low hill, with knobs upon +it, rising from the beach of glittering white sand against a background +of the pine forest. Admiral Porter's fleet lay at their moorings all +around us, a few of the lighter vessels having crossed the bar and run +into the mouth of Cape Fear River behind the fort, where the river +channel was nearly parallel to the sea beach and less than a mile from +it. We were at New Inlet, between Federal Point and Smith Island, or +rather the long, narrow key which runs northward from the island. Cape +Fear is the sharp southern point of Smith Island, some seven miles south +of where we lay, and the old entrance was south and west of the cape, +between the island and the mainland. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See official Atlas, pl. +cxxxix.]</span></p> +<p>The landing of the troops was a difficult task, for the roughness of +the sea made it impossible for another vessel to lie alongside the +transports, and we had to resort to the slow and somewhat dangerous +method of transferring the men from the ships to a light-draft steamer +in the ship's small boats. A little wharf was on the inner side of +Federal Point, but there the water was so shallow that even the +light-draft propeller could not get to the wharf, and another transfer +had to be made. Crossing the bar could only be done at high water or +near it, and the time for work was consequently so much shortened that +the whole of the 8th and 9th was used in landing the division. At sunset +of the 9th the sea went down enough for the propeller to come alongside; +the headquarters tents and baggage were transferred to her, and we took +leave of the good ship "Atlantic." By the time this transfer was made, +the tide was too low to let us pass in over the bar, and we had to pass +the night on the dirty propeller, lying outside till eight o'clock of +Friday the 10th, when we ran in at high tide, and after the second +transfer resumed our character of land forces on the sandy shore of +North Carolina. All the saddle horses of the command were, however, upon +a freight ship that did not arrive for several days, and mounted +officers who had lived in the saddle for years found it slow and +tiresome work to wade on foot through the soft sands in the performance +of military duty.</p> +<p>General Terry with his forces was holding a line across Federal +Point about two miles above Fort Fisher, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. i. p. 910.]</span> and I directed my own troops to encamp a +little in rear of Terry's line. My own quartermaster arranged with the +chief of that department on the ground to send our headquarters tents +and baggage with the division. Meanwhile, taking the little river +steamboat which had made our final transfer to the shore, I visited +General Schofield, who had his headquarters temporarily on the steamer +"Spaulding," assigned to the medical department for hospital use, but +which at the time had no sick or wounded on board. Like myself, he was +for the nonce dismounted, and as he was contemplating movements up both +sides of Cape Fear River, some means of ready communication with both +banks was a necessity. With him I visited Admiral Porter on the +flag-ship "Malvern," and a movement for next day, the 11th, was +arranged. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. p. 927.]</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="images/2-46-3.jpg" title="Map" + alt="Map" style="width: 542px; height: 800px;"><br> +</p> +<p>General Bragg was in command of the Confederate Department of North +Carolina, to which he was assigned when General Lee, being made by law +general-in-chief of the army, superseded him in the similar duties he +had been performing by appointment of President Davis. Bragg's +headquarters were at Wilmington. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 1088, 1099.]</span> Hoke's +division was mostly in intrenchments across Federal Point about four +miles above Fort Fisher, his right resting at Sugar-loaf Hill on the +left bank of the river, and his left near the lower end of Myrtle Sound. +Opposite Sugar-loaf, at Old Brunswick, was Fort Anderson, a strong +earthwork with ten pieces of heavy ordnance, garrisoned by General +Hagood with his brigade of two thousand men. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Atlas, pl. cxxxii.; +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. pp. 911, 1077.]</span> The channel +of the river was obstructed by torpedoes and other defensive devices. +The enemy's fortifications on Smith Island and near Smithville had been +abandoned when Fort Fisher fell, opening the way into the river above +them.</p> +<p>On board the "Malvern" it was arranged that a monitor and other +vessels of the fleet which could cross the bar should ascend the river +and engage Fort Anderson, whilst Terry's troops, supported by my +division, should make a strong reconnoissance of Hoke's lines and, if +they were found to be strongly held, establish counter lines near them, +so that most of the forces could then be used for flanking operations. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 958.]</span> +Returning to my command, I found it encamped as had been ordered, and +our headquarters tents in comfortable shape by the zealous labors of our +servants aided by the headquarters guard. General Terry kindly sent +over four horses as a mount for myself and my most necessary staff +officers in the movement to begin in the morning. One of the first +questions a soldier asks in regard to his camping-place is, Where is +water to be got? One's first impression would be that on this flat +tongue of sand covered only with a sparse growth of pines and scrub +live-oak, with the ocean on one side and a tidal river on the other, +fresh water would be scarce and brackish. But we were agreeably +disappointed to find that near us, in the middle of the sands, was a +juniper swamp and pond of which the water was sweet and wholesome, +though from the juniper roots it had the bright brown color of coffee.</p> +<p>On the 11th the movement was made as planned. Hoke's outposts and +pickets were driven from their rifle-pits, and his main line at +Sugar-loaf well reconnoitred. Terry's new line was established within +small-arm range of the enemy and intrenched so that Hoke might be +obliged to hold his own position in force. In the advance I was much +interested in observing the conduct of the colored troops in General +Paine's division, for I had never before seen them in action. They were +well disciplined and well led, and went forward with alacrity in capital +form, showing that they were good soldiers. I rode well forward +purposely to watch their skirmishers, and was greatly pleased to see the +pace they took and the lively way in which they followed up the +Confederate outposts when once these were started.</p> +<p>When the new position was taken up, I went to the river bank, and +there, from a sand breastwork so white that it looked like a snow-drift, +I watched with my field-glass a duel between the monitor "Montauk" and +Fort Anderson. The monitor, which lay about a mile from the fort, was of +the original single-turret form, armed with the large-calibre +smooth-bores, which were fired with great deliberation and with +surprising accuracy. I could not see how any rifled guns could have +improved on their practice. The conical shot would, of course, have +excelled in penetrating power and in range, but the big round shells +seemed to be put just where the gunners wished. A group of men stood on +the deck of the monitor behind the turret, and they frequently came out +from its cover to watch the effect of the firing, having time to step +back again, between the flash of the enemy's gun and the passing of the +shot. The deck of the monitor, being almost awash, was no mark at all +for the artillerists in the fort, and it would be the merest chance if a +ricochet shot struck it. If it did, the very low angle of impact made it +fly off without doing any harm. The turret was dented with some centre +shots, as I saw when I visited the vessel later, but it was practically +impregnable to the ordnance the Confederates used. On the other hand, +the direct fire from the ship was limited in its effect to the +displacement of earth on the parapet or the knocking away of the cheeks +of the embrasures. The body of the garrison was kept out of range, and +the artillerists were so close to the rampart that when shells exploded +over them, the fragments flew beyond and there were few casualties.</p> +<p>General Terry was left to hold the new line established in face of +Hoke with Paine's division and Abbott's brigade, whilst my division and +Ames's (of Terry's command) were marched back to camp near Fort Fisher. +Schofield's own idea had been to send me with my own and Ames's +divisions across the river to operate against Fort Anderson by the west +bank and, by taking it, force the enemy to evacuate the Sugar-loaf +position opposite. By thus concentrating on the bank most weakly held, +we would by a sort of see-saw work them back till they must give up +Wilmington or fight for it in the open. I was directed to be ready to +cross the river on the 12th, but the order was countermanded, and it was +determined to try a plan which would avoid the necessity of dividing the +forces on the two sides of a large river. Colonel Comstock of Grant's +staff, who had accompanied Terry as engineer in the taking of Fort +Fisher <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvi. pt. ii. p. 30.]</span> and who was still with us, had +made a reconnoissance up the coast on the 11th, and found at Big Hill, +three miles south of Masonboro Inlet, a position from which it seemed +practicable to cover the collection and launching of enough pontoon +boats to ferry a column of troops across Myrtle Sound. If this could be +done with secrecy and speed till enough were over to make head against +the enemy while the rest were crossing, Hoke's position would be turned +and he would have to fall back upon more open country, where our whole +force could be manoeuvred against him.</p> +<p>On Comstock's suggestion Schofield determined to try the plan, which +was a promising one if winds and waves would permit. The navy was to tow +the boats to the place of rendezvous with a body of engineer troops +under Comstock's orders, whilst Schofield led Ames's and my divisions by +the shore. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 403,404.]</span> The movement was made +after dark on the evening of the 12th, but the bad weather had hardened +down into a regular northeaster, and it proved impossible to tow the +pontoon boats through the heavy sea. After a night of severe exposure we +returned to camp to find many of our tents flattened by the gale. After +a day's rest the effort was renewed on the 14th, but as the admiral +reported that the sea was too rough for even the smaller steamers to go +outside, the plan was modified so as to try drawing the boats on their +trucks, though the number of our draft animals was as yet very small. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 426, 427.]</span> +What with the heavy surf on the beach and the deep, soft sand beyond it, +the weak teams could not pull the trucks far, and gave out before we +reached the chosen position. As we turned back after midnight the moon +was just rising, and the scene was a wild one, with the flying clouds +and the foaming waves silvered by the moonlight; but the rarest sight +was, just as half the moon's great disk was above the horizon, a ship +of war stood against it, exactly framed in the semicircle of light as +if drawn in black on the silver surface. The plan was an interesting +one and would probably have succeeded in favorable weather, but the +winter storm forbade. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 437.]</span></p> +<p>Then came the resumption of the original purpose, and I was assigned +to command the column advancing from Smithville up the other bank of the +river. One brigade of Couch's division (Moore's) had arrived, and it was +ordered to report to me. Ames's division was also in the column till +Fort Anderson was evacuated in the night of the 18th, when it rejoined +Terry and I moved on against the Confederate position at Town Creek. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. i. p. 960; +pt. ii. pp. 492, 493.]</span> Ferrying the unfordable stream, Hagood's +brigade was attacked and routed on the 20th, capturing two cannon and +nearly 400 prisoners, including Colonel Simonton the commandant, Hagood +himself having gone to Wilmington. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pp. 495, 509.]</span> On the 21st we pressed on to Brunswick Ferry, and +saved part of the pontoon bridge there which the enemy had not been able +to destroy completely. An advance-guard was got over on Eagle Island, +the large swampy island lying in front of Wilmington, where the remnant +of Hagood's brigade held the narrow causeway. Bragg had been to +Richmond on an official visit, but was back at Wilmington and saw that +the time to evacuate had come. The naval stores were set on fare, and +the dense black pillars of smoke from the warehouses of resin and +turpentine told us the story. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pp. 1241-1245.]</span></p> +<p>My route from Town Creek around Mcllhenny's mill-pond to Brunswick +Ferry had taken me some three miles back from the river, and the broad +swamps and rice-fields intervening made communication with General +Schofield on the "Spaulding," very slow and difficult. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Atlas, pl. cxxxii.]</span> +The sequel well illustrates the importance of complete confidence on the +part of a subordinate that his chief will sanction and heartily approve +the use of full discretion in circumstances where quick and full +intercourse is impossible. By long service with General Schofield, I +knew that he was no martinet, snubbing any independence of action, but +an officer of sound and calm judgment, fairly considering the reasons we +might have for any departure from the letter of an order. General +Terry's troops were facing the greater part of Hoke's division in a +position nearly opposite the mouth of Town Creek, and were meeting with +stubborn resistance. It was known that Hardee's command, having +evacuated Charleston, was moving northward to unite with the +Confederates in North Carolina, and it was supposed to aim at reaching +Wilmington. There were rumors that he had already joined Bragg.</p> +<p>In these circumstances General Schofield had said to me, by a +dispatch in the morning, "If you can destroy the bridge over Brunswick +River or break the railroad to-day, do so, but be ready to cross the +river early this evening near the mouth of Town Creek." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 520]</span> Early in the afternoon I reported progress, +saying: "My head of column reached this place [Brunswick Ferry] about +one o'clock. The rebels had partially destroyed their pontoon bridge, +but from the creek I got several boats, and have put a regiment over on +the island. They got most of the way across, when the enemy opened with +one gun, commanding the straight road. As the rest of the island seems +impracticably swampy, this checked our reconnoissance; but there can be +little doubt the rebels are evacuating. They have made immense fires, +the smoke of which you must have seen, indicating that they are +destroying turpentine, etc. A few skirmishers were on the opposite side +of Brunswick River when we reached it, but they ran at once. The enemy +has destroyed all flatboats within reach, but I may hunt some up. I am +pushing a reconnoissance further up the river, by way of threatening to +cross above the island, and so hasten their movements. I shall put my +command in position covering the crossing and the Georgetown road, and +watch the movements, in the town. The railroad bridge across Brunswick +River is partially destroyed, and we hear the cars on the other side of +the town from here. I cannot doubt that General Terry will have an open +road in the morning, and think from the general indications that I am +entirely secure here. I will face in all directions and get all the +intelligence I can, while awaiting orders. There is no railroad or +other bridge over Cape Fear River." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 521.]</span></p> +<p>Whilst this report was on the road to Schofield, a messenger who +left the general about noon was slowly working his way to me, bearing +this message: "My last report from General Terry indicates that he will +not be able to force the enemy back from the position held by him last +evening. General Terry thinks Hoke has his whole force in his front. It +will therefore be necessary to transfer your troops to the east bank of +the river to-night. The men will be put across in small boats near the +mouth of Town Creek, unless Terry succeeds in effecting a lodgment +higher up. In the latter event I will signal you. Otherwise move your +troops to the mouth of Town Creek without further orders. Let your +artillery and animals go down to Fort Anderson. I will have them sent +from that place by steamers to Federal Point this evening. If you can +destroy the bridges over Brunswick River to-day, do so; but in any event +be ready to commence crossing the river by dusk or earlier, if +practicable. You might perhaps send back a brigade or two while the +others are doing the work." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Ibid.</i>]</span></p> +<p>At six o'clock, in the dusk of the evening, this letter reached me, +and I instantly replied: "Your dispatch directing movement is only just +received, the messenger having lost his way. As I am eight miles from +the mouth of Town Creek, and it is already dark, your directions cannot +be literally followed, and the circumstances impress me so strongly with +the belief that the enemy are about to evacuate Wilmington to-night that +I venture to send one brigade now and wait further orders before +withdrawing all. It will take all night to get the whole command to Town +Creek, and it seems impossible to cross them all, beginning at an hour +so much later than you anticipated when sending the dispatch. Some +engineers on the railroad who have come into my lines, several other +citizens, and a number of slaves, all agree in reporting the intention +of evacuating immediately. The destruction of immense quantities of +property since I came up this evening looks the same way. I have +collected and repaired nearly all of the pontoons and materials of the +bridge, and had begun relaying them when your dispatch came. I cannot +retire my own force now without it appearing a retreat. I would be +entirely willing to stay here with one brigade, and should feel quite +confident that I could at any time bring it off safely, if we remained +here several days even. Thinking you would not desire more troops at +Town Creek than you can cross to-night, I ... think it right to send the +one brigade, and if more can cross, I can still send them, so as to be +not much behind the others if the messenger makes reasonable haste. I +believe I mentioned in a former dispatch that the rebels themselves +destroyed the Brunswick River railroad bridge." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 522.]</span></p> +<p>The orderly who reached me had been landed from a small boat and +made his way to me on foot, and as he had eight or nine miles to walk by +a wretched road, it was not strange that he was late in reaching me. +Giving him his supper whilst I wrote my dispatch, I then mounted him on +a horse, and sent with him another mounted man to bring the return +message. My first messenger had tried to reach the river through the +swamps at several points, but had not succeeded in getting within +hailing distance of any vessels in the stream. He happened, however, to +fall in with the second messengers in his wanderings, and was now taken +to the place where a small boat was to be sent, and so it happened that +both my dispatches reached Schofield together, but not till about +half-past ten. Meanwhile, the general having heard nothing whatever from +me, and getting unfavorable reports from Terry, wrote me again at a +quarter-past seven.</p> +<p>He said: "My orderlies and your signal officer seem to have got +lost, and I have heard nothing from you since 10.30 A. M. I sent an +order to you by an orderly on foot about noon, but do not feel at all +certain that it has reached you. I want you to move back abreast of the +fleet, just above the mouth of Town Creek, to-night, and be ready to +cross the river at dawn of day in the morning. Send all your wagons and +horses to Fort Anderson. The men will cross in small boats. Better send +a regiment with your wagons, horses, and artillery. Should the enemy be +in force in your front, it might be necessary to cross Town Creek before +crossing the river. About this, act according to your judgment. I +intended you to cross the river to-night, but it is now too late." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 522.]</span></p> +<p>But whilst this last orderly was on his dark and weary way to me, my +two dispatches finally got through, and at 10.20 Schofield wrote me from +the cabin of the "Spaulding" as follows: "Your dispatch of 6 P.M. is +just received, and is highly satisfactory. The one of an earlier date, +but the hour not given, came at the same time. About seven o'clock I +sent another to you directing you to come back. I hope this will reach +you in time to take its place. My orders were based on General Terry's +report of an increase of the force in his front, and that of prisoners +that Hardee's forces had arrived from Charleston. I think you would +certainly have learned it if the latter were true That you have sent one +brigade back is well. You may send another as soon as you get this +dispatch. Keep the other two where you are until daylight in the +morning. Then, if the rebels have gone, you can enter the town, taking +care to hold the river crossings. If the enemy has not gone, or you are +not positive that he is going, then move back and cross the river as +before directed." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvit. pt. ii. p. 522.]</span></p> +<p>Immediately after this, Schofield wrote me another dispatch, +briefer, but of the same general purport. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 523.]</span> +It was probably sent by way of precaution, in case any accident happened +to the bearer of the other. Arrangements had been made to get over some +horsemen so as to speed these dispatches, and they came through to me by +midnight. But meanwhile my perplexity as to my duty was intensified. I +had put over the Sixteenth Kentucky upon Eagle Island, and made them +throw up a breastwork across the cause-way facing that of the enemy, +which was near the main channel of Cape Fear River. They were exploring +the swamps, seeking information and preparing to force the position in +the morning. My confidence in my forecast was such that I did not cease +work on the repair of the pontoons, and had the crossing ready for use +late in the evening, but awaited further orders with great anxiety. At +11.45, however, came the order dated at 7.15, reiterating the direction +to withdraw. Moore's brigade had gone under the first order, Henderson's +was waiting ready to march, and I started it for Town Creek. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 524.]</span> +Reilly's (Colonel Sterl in command) began to follow. The march in a dark +night made it proper to leave reasonable intervals between the +brigades, and I was still waiting with Casement's brigade, and had not +destroyed the pontoon bridge, when, at midnight, I got Schofield's +dispatch of 10.20, which had come through in less than half the time +other messages had taken, under his eager orders to force the horses +through at speed. I at once recalled Sterl, and with great satisfaction +wrote to the General, "Your dispatch of 10.20 received in time to stop +two brigades. Henderson's and Moore's have gone forward and will report +at the river above Town Creek. I will inform you of any changes in the +morning. The railroad employes who came in to me informed me positively +that Hardee's troops had not come here." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 523.]</span> My outpost on the island was replaced, and +before day dawned we knew that the last of the enemy had disappeared +from our immediate front and that Wilmington was evacuated. Bragg had +carefully removed all boats from our side of the channel, but citizens +anxious to prevent us from firing on the town came over in skiffs, and +we learned that the Confederate forces had marched away toward +Goldsborough, leaving the way open for Terry's march into the city, +which took place in the early morning of the 22d, which we were happy +to recall was Washington's Birthday.</p> +<p>It has seemed worth while to give the correspondence at such length, +because it well illustrates the difficulties under which officers must +labor in war, and the necessity for a good deal of freedom of action and +of discretion in deciding upon his course, when the commander of a +detached column finds his communication with headquarters obstructed and +retarded by accidental circumstances. Had General Schofield's methods +been rigid in requiring literal obedience, my command would have +abandoned the advantages we had gained, and the campaign might have +taken quite another turn. My complete confidence in the liberality of +his judgment when the facts should be all known, encouraged me to a +course which would otherwise have been impossible. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: In 1870 Moltke had adopted +the wise rule of leaving to subordinates of the higher grades very large +discretion, and to avoid trammelling them by detailed orders or by +prematurely communicated plans. "The very lack of instructions gave +them liberty and imposed on them the duty of acting on their own +responsibility, in case unforeseen events should require such prompt +action that orders from the Supreme Commander could not be waited for." +(Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, Strategy, vol. i. p. 324.) It was even looked +upon as "an unwarranted censure" on the subordinate "if anything was +enjoined unnecessarily," or which was within the proper knowledge and +discretion of the officer. <i>Id</i>., vol. ii. p. 39.]</span> There was +with me a very efficient squad of the Signal Corps, under Lieutenant +Ketchum, which had kept up flag communication with the "Spaulding" and +across the river in our advance from Smithville to Town Creek, but when +we advanced to Brunswick Ferry, Mr. Ketchum found it impossible, on +account of the course of Brunswick River and the dense woods upon the +banks, to establish any station from which he could communicate with +any of the vessels in the river below, or with General Terry on the +east bank of the Cape Fear. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. pp. 915, 916.]</span> This threw us +unexpectedly upon messengers as the only go-betweens, and led to the +embarrassments which have been described.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII"></a>CHAPTER XLVII</p> +<p>THE CONFEDERACY IN STRAITS--JOHNSTON COMMANDS IN THE CAROLINAS--OUR +OPERATIONS FROM NEW BERNE--BATTLE OF KINSTON</p> +<p>The Confederates lose Charleston and Columbia--Facing a +crisis--Hopeless apathy of Southern people--Mr. Davis's +perplexity--Beauregard startles him--Lee calls Johnston to +command--Personal relations of leading officers--Dwindling armies--The +cavalry--Assignments of generals--The Beaufort and New Berne line--Am +ordered to New Berne--Provisional corps--Advance to cover railway +building--Dover and Gum swamps--Bragg concentrates to oppose +us--Position near Kinston--Bragg's plan of attack--Our own +movements--Condition of railroad and river--Our advance to Wise's Forks +and Southwest Creek--Precautions--Conference with Schofield--Battle of +Kinston--Enemy attack our left front--Rout of Upham's brigade--Main line +firm--Ruger's division reaches the field--Enemy repulsed--End of first +day's fight--Extending our trenches on the left--Sharp skirmishing of +the 9th--Bragg's reinforcements--His attack of the both--Final repulse +and retreat of the enemy.</p> +<p>Upon our occupation of Wilmington, Bragg retreated northward along +the line of the railroad toward Goldsborough, which was the crossing of +the Wilmington and Weldon Railway with that from New Berne to Raleigh. +Sherman had captured the capital of South Carolina, and in his movement +northward his left wing had followed the railroad from Columbia toward +Charlotte, N. C, as far as Winnsborough, forty miles, for the purpose of +making a permanent break in that line of communication before turning +his columns eastward toward Cheraw and Fayetteville on his way to +Goldsborough, the rendezvous he had fixed for his junction with +Schofield's army. Beauregard, whose command now included South Carolina, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 1202, 1204.]</span> had moved with the forces under +his immediate command from Augusta, through Columbia to Charlotte, and +was calling to him all the Confederate troops operating against Sherman. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 1193, 1202, 1217, 1238.]</span> On the 14th of +February he had ordered Hardee to evacuate Charleston, and the +unwelcome proof that South Carolina was lost so alarmed Mr. Davis that +he urged Hardee to hold on as long as possible. But both Lee and +Beauregard became uneasy lest Hardee should be caught before he could +join the rest, and despite Mr. Davis's bitter disappointment, the +evacuation was made in the night of the 17th, Hardee being sick abed for +a few days, and turning over the command to General McLaws. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 1177, 1181, +1195, 1201-1202, 1204, 1223, 1258.]</span></p> +<p>The loss of Charleston, the original cradle of secession, seemed a +portent to the people of the South, and well-nigh destroyed all hope. +Governor Magrath of South Carolina had written Mr. Davis, a month +before, that the fate of the Confederacy was involved in the early +movements of Sherman's march from Savannah, and that he was in earnest +correspondence with the Governors of North Carolina and Georgia, urging +extraordinary efforts. "Richmond will surely fall when Charleston is +lost," he said, adding emphatically, "To retain Richmond until +Charleston is lost is to sacrifice both." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 1035.]</span> +Davis was not blind to the consequences, or to the nature of the crisis. +A week before Magrath's letter was written, the Confederate President +had sent a dispatch to Governor Brown of Georgia, declaring the absolute +necessity of making Hardee strong enough to stop Sherman on the line of +the Combahee, which he rightly said was stronger than any position that +could be occupied further north. He ended with the appeal, "We must +look forward, and leave discussions of the past to a more convenient +season." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 1016.]</span> Governor Vance of North Carolina issued a proclamation +powerfully appealing to his people for a final rally, using the failure +of the recent peace conference at Fort Monroe as proof that there was +only subjugation offered us, the mere details of which they [Lincoln and +Seward] proposed to settle. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 1189.]</span> But the whole +South was already in apathetic despair under the conviction of their +helplessness to check the triumphant march of Sherman's 60,000 veterans +or prevent his junction with Schofield's 30,000. Instead of growing by +an enthusiastic rally of the old men and the boys, the Southern army was +dwindling by steady small streams of deserters, no longer able to +repress the impulse to go to their helpless families within the Union +lines. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Lee to Vance, +Id., p. 1270.]</span> The appeals of the governors produced no result, or +only called out responses in the press, never ventured before, saying +the desperate efforts had already been made, the physical power of the +States was exhausted, it was vain to talk of independence, it was time +to make real overtures for peace. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 1250-1255.]</span></p> +<p>The military outlook for the South was certainly gloomy enough. +Distrusting Beauregard's ability to deal with his perplexing problem, +Mr. Davis had asked Lee (on the 19th) whether it was possible for him to +get away from Petersburg long enough to go to Beauregard and advise him +after a personal conference. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +p. 1222.]</span> But Lee could not leave his post for a moment with any +confidence that Grant's iron grip would not crush the defences of +Petersburg and bring the final struggle. Davis became still more +troubled when, on the 21st, Beauregard sent him a dispatch indicating +his belief that Lee must join him at Salisbury with part of his forces, +say 20,000 men, give Sherman battle there," crush him, then to +concentrate all forces against Grant, and then to march on Washington to +dictate a peace." Beauregard's evident opinion that he was wholly +unable to cope with Sherman was much more depressing than his +light-hearted suggestion of marching on Washington to dictate a peace +was inspiring. Davis sent it to Lee, saying it was "of a startling +character," and urged that the General-in-Chief should direct the +concentration of the forces in the Carolinas. He sent also General +Gilmer, his chief of engineers, to Beauregard to examine the situation, +to advise with him and report. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 1229, 1237, 1238.]</span></p> +<p>In this condition of affairs, Beauregard's retreat into North +Carolina, where Bragg commanded and was senior in rank, made a new +complication; whilst the fall of Wilmington and the danger of Hardee's +being cut off before he could unite with the Confederate forces trying +to resist Sherman, made a climax of embarrassments which imperatively +required the appointment of some one to command in chief in the +Carolinas. The same current of opinion in the Confederate Congress which +had resulted in Lee's assignment by law (February 9th) <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. i. p. 1.]</span> +to command all the Confederate armies, indicated General Johnston for +the post second in importance. Indeed, the knowledge of Mr. Davis's +determination not to intrust Johnston with another army in the field +entered into the motives for taking the military command out of the +President's hands, for it was understood that Lee believed Johnston to +be the man best fitted for the second place. Action could be no longer +delayed, and the very day of our occupation of Wilmington, Lee +telegraphed to Johnston to assume command, concentrate all available +forces, and drive back Sherman. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pt. ii. p. 1247.]</span> For the moment Bragg was not directed to report +to Johnston, but consideration for the unpleasant personal relations +between them since the Atlanta campaign could not stand long in the way. +Beauregard accepted loyally his subordination to Johnston, and, his +health not being very strong, was assigned at his own request to +administrative duties at Raleigh, including the collection and +forwarding of troops, their supply in the field and the management of +the relations to the civil authorities of North Carolina, with nominal +position of second in command. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 1248, 1399.]</span></p> +<p>Johnston had been at Lincolnton, N. C., when notified of his +appointment, and in accepting the call to duty, gave his opinion that it +was too late to concentrate troops enough to drive back Sherman. He +promised, however, to learn from Beauregard the actual situation, and to +do all in his power to collect the army and resist Sherman's advance. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 1047.]</span> +He met Beauregard at Charlotte, and on the 25th of February assumed +command. As to his means of resistance, the returns show a significant +dwindling in each of his corps. Hardee had reported, on January 20th, +25,290 present for duty in his department. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 1032.]</span> +Hood's army at Tupelo, at the same date, returned 18,708 infantry and +artillery, which were soon nearly all in motion for the Carolinas. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xlv. pt. +i. p. 664. General Taylor volunteered to send the whole to Beauregard +except French's division, which he said was very weak. Some Mississippi +troops were given a short furlough, others took "French leave" (<i>Id</i>., +vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 1059, 1174, 1194), and delays in transportation +occurred, so that it is very hard to say how many of the Army of +Tennessee were actually in the final combats in North Carolina. They all +seem to have gathered there before the final surrender at +Greensborough.]</span> Bragg's return for his command in North Carolina +on February 10th was 11,206. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 1154.]</span> Besides these, there were some militia from Georgia and +South Carolina estimated at 1450, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 1084.]</span> and Butler's division of cavalry, more than 3000 +strong, had been sent from Lee's army in Virginia. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>.]</span> Here +were, then, between 55,000 and 60,000 men apparently available to oppose +Sherman, and making a larger army than the Confederate generals +attributed to him when he started from Savannah. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: When Beauregard took command +of the forces in South Carolina, etc., on February 16th, he reckoned +them at "about 20,000 effective infantry and artillery, more or less +demoralized," and said of Sherman's army that it numbered "nearly double +our force." (Dispatch to Lee, Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. +1202.) This would make Sherman about 40,000 strong. Beauregard's +underestimate of his own force is in accordance with the common habit of +officers who are somewhat discouraged and wish to be reinforced.]</span> +It was not strange, therefore, that when, at a conference of Beauregard +with Hardee and others in Augusta on February 3d, the troops relied on +for the campaign were estimated at 33,450, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 1084.]</span> +Mr. Davis noted by his indorsement on the paper that the previous +returns showed a larger force present for duty. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 1086.]</span> +He however added that the language "relied on as effectives" might +account for the difference. But when on the 21st Beauregard, in the +dispatch proposing that Lee should send part of his army to Salisbury, +N. C., said, "Hardee and myself can collect about 15,000 exclusive of +Cheatham and Stewart, not likely to reach in time," <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 1238.]</span> +the startling effect on the Confederate President was the most natural +thing in the world. Armies seemed to vanish in thin air.</p> +<p>On taking command, Johnston had accepted his predecessor's estimates +of both his own forces and those of Sherman. From Charlotte, N. C., he +wrote Lee that his opponent now seemed to be moving eastward, aiming at +Fayetteville. This place he thought he might make the point of +concentration for Hardee's troops, coming from Charleston to Cheraw by +railroad, and those with Beauregard, which were in the main the +divisions of Hood's army, coming forward piecemeal, and now amounting to +something over 9000 men. He suggested that Bragg should join him at +Fayetteville also. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 1271. At the end of February, the portions of S. D. Lee's corps +which had joined Beauregard had 2502 present for duty, Cheatham's 4697, +Stewart's 1694, Engineers 185; total, 9078. (<i>Id.</i>, pp. 1285, +1326.) The rest of the Army of Tennessee were still in Georgia on their +way to the front.]</span> The Confederate cavalry was now led by Wade +Hampton, who was made lieutenant-general to outrank Wheeler, who was not +regarded equal to the responsibility. The latter retained two +divisions, and the rank of corps commander under Hampton. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: The complaints of marauding +by Wheeler's cavalry had been loud and bitter, and inefficiency was +charged. D. H. Hill to Hardee, Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. +1046; Do. to Iverson, pp. 1047, 1068; Beauregard to Lee, p. 1165; Davis +to Hampton, 1207. For Wheeler's earnest defence, see <i>Id</i>., pp. +987, 1004.]</span> As soon as it was evident that Sherman was likely to +reach the North Carolina border, Johnston was authorized to control +Bragg's operations also. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 1320.]</span> This was, of course, a personal grief to the latter, +who asked to be relieved; but in the critical condition of affairs +personal feelings had to give way, and Bragg's request went unanswered. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 1328.]</span> +He did not insist upon it and gave loyal support to Johnston. General D. +H. Hill had been sent from Virginia to report to Beauregard, and was +commanding at Augusta, Ga., when Sherman's march eastward from Columbia +relieved Augusta from danger, and Hill at his own request was ordered to +join Beauregard. S. D. Lee was absent from his corps by reason of a +wound he had received at Nashville, and Hill was assigned to its +temporary command. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pp. 1002, 1003, 1272, 1317.]</span> The growing decay of discipline and +organization was shown by the irregularity of reports, and for the few +weeks the war still went on, Johnston had to content himself with +abbreviated returns, which contained only the numbers of effectives and +aggregates present. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 1382.]</span> Even these were not regularly sent up, and could not be +made to agree with the lists of paroles when the surrender finally +occurred. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: See chap. li. <i>post</i>.]</span></p> +<p>Upon our occupation of Wilmington, Schofield turned his attention at +once to the opening, of the line from Beaufort and New Berne to Kinston +and Goldsborough. Terry's troops were sent to follow Bragg northward. +Couch's division of the Twenty-third Corps joined mine at Wilmington. +Meagher's provisional command of detachments of Sherman's army had +reached New Berne; but its commander had given such dissatisfaction by +his failure to remain with it and conduct its shipment from Annapolis, +that Grant directed that he should be relieved and sent home. Such had +been the result of a spicy correspondence between Grant and Halleck +which called up poor Meagher's notorious failings. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 305-306, 316-318, 501, 509, 561.]</span> Schofield had +asked for the assignment of Terry to a corps to comprise the troops in +the department not belonging to the Twenty-third Corps, and of myself +to the permanent command of the latter corps;<span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 559.]</span> +but, pending action on this, he determined to send me to New Berne to +take command of the so-called District of Beaufort and the troops +assembling there, which would constitute three divisions. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 579, 580.]</span> +General Palmer, who had been there for a long time, coming in the small +steamer "Escort" to visit Schofield and consult concerning the advance +from that base, I went back with him, and was accompanied by General +Carter, whose coming from Tennessee has already been mentioned and who +was to supersede Meagher. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pt. i. pp. 930, 931.]</span> As my assignment to this duty was intended +to be temporary, I took only part of my staff with me, and assigned +General Reilly, who had now joined us, to the temporary command of the +division. General Couch was assigned to command the two divisions of our +corps which were at Wilmington. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pt. ii. pp. 581, 607, 620.]</span> A storm delayed the departure of the +"Escort" from Cape Fear Inlet, but we reached New Berne in the evening +of the last day of February. Next day I formally assumed command and +organized the forces, distributing the garrison troops and Meagher's +men between the two divisions to be commanded by Palmer and Carter, but +keeping Ruger's division of the Twenty-third Corps intact. This last +had been sent direct to Beaufort and arrived there about the same time +with myself. It had not been with us on the Cape Fear River. An +immediate advance was ordered for the 2d of March, to cover the work of +railroad building. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 607, 620, 637, 638.]</span></p> +<p>Colonel Wright, chief of railway construction, had joined Sherman at +Savannah, and from thence had been sent to Schofield to rebuild the New +Berne-Goldsborough road under his directions. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 157, 356, +384.]</span> Palmer's forces occupied a position at Batchelder's Creek, +nine miles above New Berne on the road to Kinston, and the railroad +building began there. Had we been well provided with wagon-trains, it +would have been easy to march at once to Kinston, on the left bank of +the Neuse, a little over thirty miles from Newberne, and hold that place +whilst the railroad was built, obstructions removed from the river, and +easy communications opened both by rail and by water. But we were +almost destitute of wagons, having only ten to a division. This tied us +close to the end of the rails, for after carrying our necessary baggage +to the camping-place, it was the utmost the few wagons could do to +bring rations and ammunition a very few miles from the nearest +temporary station on the railroad. Dover and Gum swamps were practically +continuous to within three miles of Kinston, and steady rains had put +most of the road under water. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 654, 683.]</span> This necessarily slow progress gave the enemy time +to arrange for concentrating upon us.</p> +<p>The importance of trying to check our columns advancing from the +sea-coast was seen by General Johnston as soon as he learned the +situation in North Carolina. On the 3d of March, when he supposed +Schofield to be continuing his movements up Cape Fear River, he had +inquired of Bragg whether it were not feasible to interpose between +Schofield and Hardee. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 1318, 1329.]</span> As soon as +it was known that Schofield was not marching against Hardee, Bragg sent +Hoke with his division to Kinston, and on the 6th telegraphed to +Johnston that my forces were advancing and were within nine miles of the +town. He believed that the union with him of the troops near +Goldsborough would "insure a victory." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 1334.]</span> +Johnston immediately ordered all the forces he was moving towards Hardee +to report to Bragg at Goldsborough for use in a quick effort to defeat +us, with the purpose of uniting them with Hardee immediately afterward +to strike at Sherman's advancing columns. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid.</i>.]</span> It was +boldly conceived, and was manifestly the best plan the circumstances +admitted. All the detachments of the Army of Tennessee were hurried +without change of cars toward Kinston. D. H. Hill had command of them as +ranking officer present. It was not pleasant for him to report to +Bragg, for a bitter quarrel begun in the Chickamauga campaign had never +been appeased, and in giving him the order, Johnston added, "I beg you +to forget the past for this emergency." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 1338.]</span> +From Davis downward, personal griefs had to be smothered in the crisis, +and it is due to them all to remember that they did work together +earnestly for their dying cause.</p> +<p>On the 7th of March, Hill reached Kinston with Lee's corps. Hoke's +division had preceded him and advanced to Southwest Creek and occupied +the lines of intrenchments earlier made along its left bank. This stream +was a tributary of the Neuse River and was then unfordable. It described +roughly a curve with a radius of about three miles around Kinston, and +had for a long time been regarded as the principal defensive line +against National troops advancing from New Berne. Several roads radiated +from Kinston, crossing Southwest Creek. The Neuse road kept near the +bank of the river, going east. Then came the railroad following a nearly +straight line to New Berne. The Dover road forked from the Neuse road +not far from the town, and took a devious way through the swamps in the +same general direction. The upper Trent road ran more nearly south +toward Trenton, and followed the course of the Trent River. The +Wilmington road went southwesterly toward the city of that name. The +several bridges over the creek were from a mile to two miles apart, but +had been destroyed or dismantled, and earthworks for artillery had been +prepared commanding them. The whole constituted a formidable line of +fieldworks when held by an adequate force. Whitford's brigade and a +detachment of cavalry had been the only Confederate force at Kinston at +the beginning of our campaign, but Bragg had now assembled there +Hagood's brigade, which had numbered 2000 in front of Wilmington, and a +similar force of North Carolina militia under General Baker, besides +Hill and Hoke. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Hill's +Report, Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. p. 1086.]</span> Johnston +had also informed Bragg that Cheatham's corps and more than half of +Stewart's were on the way by rail, under the same orders as Hill's. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. ii. p. +1339.]</span> These constituted in fact all of Johnston's army except +Hardee's column, which was still in South Carolina.</p> +<p>The necessity for haste was such, however, that upon Hill's arrival +in the night of the 7th, Bragg determined to attack me at once, in the +belief that he was strong enough to do so successfully. Hill's corps was +accordingly marched to Southwest Creek before day, and relieved Hoke's +division in the works extending from the Dover road crossing to the +railroad, whilst Hoke, with Clayton's division of Lee's corps besides +his own, marched to the upper Trent and Wilmington bridges with orders +to sweep down and attack my lines in flank and rear. The plank had been +relaid on the bridges which had been held by outposts, and a new bridge +had been built of felled trees between the Dover road bridge and the +railroad. At the sound of Hoke's attack, Hill was to cross by the +last-mentioned bridges, and fall upon our front with all the rest of the +Confederate forces. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. p. 1087.]</span></p> +<p>On our side, Colonel Wright had found that some miles of the +railroad had only been partially destroyed, and as iron for six miles +had been received when I reached New Berne, he was able to put seven +miles of track in passable condition by the evening of the 4th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. ii. pp. +654, 683.]</span> On that day I had concentrated at Core Creek, twenty +miles from New Berne by the wagon roads, and the head of the rails was +only one or two miles behind. On the 6th Palmer's and Carter's divisions +were advanced to Gum Swamp, seven miles further, taking four days' +rations, and Ruger's was to follow on the 7th. On this march I found +that for five miles beyond Core Creek the railway had only been +capsized, ties and rails together, and was lying in the ditch by the +roadside. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pp. 706-708.]</span> Relying on the more rapid construction this would +enable Colonel Wright to make, I ordered a still further advance for the +7th, hoping to reach Southwest Creek. There we must expect to halt for +several days, for the total destruction of the railroad for the last +ten or twelve miles from Kinston made it probable that a mile a day was +the utmost the construction corps could rebuild, to say nothing of the +bridging which would also be necessary.</p> +<p>For our own sake, as well as to provide for getting forward large +quantities of supplies for Sherman's army when we should join him, it +would be necessary to organize a line of river transportation to +supplement the railroad. Heavy obstructions to navigation had been +placed in the Neuse River, a little above New Berne, as a defence +against an iron-clad ram the Confederates had built at Kinston. As, +however, she could only come down the river on a freshet, owing to her +great draft, I had, upon leaving New Berne, ordered that the +obstructions be removed, and light-draft steamboats and flats procured +to bring supplies to some point near our camp, or to ferry troops across +if I found it advisable to shift my line of operations to the north bank +of the river. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 707.]</span></p> +<p>On Tuesday, the 7th, the command was in motion, Palmer's division +following the railroad, except Claassen's brigade, which had been sent +the previous afternoon by the Dover road to Wise's Forks, where it +crosses the lower Trent road, which ran diagonally across our front +toward the Neuse River. In the skirmish at Wise's Forks, and from a +deserter, it was learned that Hoke had joined the Kinston forces with +his division, and there were rumors of other reinforcements arriving. +Advancing along the railroad, Palmer reached the drier ground near +Southwest Creek and came under artillery fire from guns intrenched on +the other side of the creek. The country here was wooded, and was +traversed by an old road, called the British road, running parallel to +the creek from half a mile to a mile from it. The lower Trent road also +crossed the railroad not far from the British road crossing. Palmer +halted his line in front of the British road covering all the crossings, +and advanced outposts and pickets to the creek. Boughton's brigade was +on the left of the railroad, and Harland's on the right. The latter +detached a regiment to the Neuse road to guard against any attempt by +the enemy to cross the creek beyond our right. Major Dow of my staff was +also sent with a troop of cavalry to reconnoitre the banks of the river, +seeking for a place where steamboats might land supplies and communicate +with us. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 723-725.]</span> Ruger's division moved +forward from Core Creek to Gum Swamp.</p> +<p>On my left, the Twelfth New York Cavalry, Colonel Savage, +reconnoitred both Trent roads, under orders to reach out as far to the +south as they could, covering Claassen's position at Wise's Forks and +giving early notice of any hostile movement in the vicinity. Carter's +division delayed its march till it could load up with rations and then +followed the Dover road to Claassen's position. On reaching Wise's Forks +we found that Claassen had most of his brigade at the crossing of the +British road in front, with a detachment of 300 men at Jackson's Mills, +where the Dover road crossed the creek. He had smaller detachments also +upon the British road on both flanks. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. i. pp. 976, +981, 989.]</span> I directed General Carter to relieve Claassen's brigade +with one of his, that Claassen might rejoin Palmer and make the latter +strong enough to spare a detachment to test the condition of the Neuse +road crossing of the creek and the presence of the enemy there. Carter +sent Upham's brigade to the British road crossing to relieve Claassen, +and put the other two in line across the Dover road in front of Wise's +Forks, Malloy's on the right of the road and Splaine's on the left with +a recurved flank. Upham seems to have marched the whole of his brigade +to Jackson's Mills and to have left only a picket post at the British +road. He established a skirmish line in rifle-pits close to the creek, +and placed a section of artillery which was with him where it would +command the bridge site on the Dover road. His picket line connected +with Palmer's division on the right, and with the outpost at the +British road on the left. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pp. 993, 997.]</span> Toward evening the cavalry reported that they had +found a picket post of the enemy at the bridge on the upper Trent road, +had driven it off, taken up the plank of the bridge and piled them on +the hither side of the creek, and had established there a picket of +their own. Their scouting parties reported no enemy at the Wilmington +road crossing. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. p. 976.]</span> The division commanders were +directed to have Southwest Creek in front carefully reconnoitred, to +find narrow places where an infantry crossing might be made by an +improvised bridge of felled trees. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Ibid</i>.]</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="images/2-47-1.jpg" title="Map" + alt="Map" style="width: 632px; height: 800px;"><br> +</p> +<p>My habit was to keep my own headquarters well at the front, and I +had purposed moving them from Gum Swamp to Wise's Forks on the 7th, but +during the day I received word that General Schofield had arrived at +Beaufort from Wilmington, coming by sea. We arranged that he should come +up for a consultation with me next morning, and to facilitate this, I +left my headquarters with Ruger's division, and after a personal visit +to Palmer and Carter, I rode back to Gum Swamp in the evening. General +Schofield was to come up to the end of the track on the railroad in the +morning, and I sent led horses to meet him. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 722-724.]</span> The telegraph was made to keep pace +with the progress of the railway, and from its upper station we had the +aid of flag signals along the railroad bed to Palmer's headquarters. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt i. p. 918.]</span> +The information we had received of Hoke's presence made it all the more +important that we should get out of the swamps, where we could only +operate by head of column, to the drier region along Southwest Creek, +where the lower Trent road and the British road would give us +communication between our flanks and some chance to manoeuvre. These +reasons had made me push forward on the 7th, though the movement put us +ten miles above the head of the rails and made it sure that we should be +short of supplies. As soon as the troops were in position the few +wagons with them were unloaded and hurried back, first for ammunition +and then for rations. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pt. ii. p. 734.]</span> We then had no knowledge of the arrival of any +part of Hood's army in North Carolina, and although my provisional corps +was far short of being solidly organized, and the troops were either +new or unused to field service, I felt no concern lest Hoke should take +the offensive alone.</p> +<p>General Schofield had joined me at Gum Swamp about nine o'clock on +the morning of the 8th, and after our conference we had mounted to ride +to General Palmer's headquarters to see what prospect there might be for +securing a crossing near the railroad which would permit preparation for +rebuilding the railroad bridge. A note now came from General Carter at +Wise's Forks telling of information received from a negro that a large +body of the enemy had crossed Southwest Creek at the Wilmington road +early in the morning. As the cavalry had a picket at the upper Trent +bridge and were supposed to be patrolling beyond the Wilmington road, +the information did not seem threatening, but I sent back directions to +have the cavalry ordered to do their work thoroughly by instantly +testing the truth of the information. Carter was also ordered to support +the cavalry with a regiment of infantry. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 734.]</span> The message from the front was followed +almost instantly by another, saying that a heavy force of the enemy had +penetrated between Upham's brigade and the rest of the division, almost +simultaneously with a report from the cavalry that their picket had been +driven from the bridge at the Trent road. As that picket was two miles +in front of Upham's left on the British road, it was too evident that +the duty of the horsemen had not been well done. Ruger was ordered to +march his division at speed to the front, and we galloped to Wise's +Forks. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. +i. pp. 977, 994.]</span></p> +<p>The account I have before given of the enemy's dispositions for the +day's work <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, +pp. 429, 430.]</span> makes it easy to understand the situation as we +found it. Hoke, with his own and Clayton's divisions, had turned +northward on the British road after getting over Southwest Creek, and as +he approached the Dover road, had deployed and advanced upon Upham's +flank. The latter, upon the first intimation of an enemy's approach, had +hurried the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts to the British road and placed +it in line about a quarter of a mile south of the Dover road, which +was, of course, his connection with the rest of the division. He also +ordered to the same point the section of artillery, and directed the +left battalion of his other regiment (Fifteenth Connecticut) to change +front also to the south. These orders were judicious, but the odds were +too great to make them successful. Far outflanked on either hand, the +Massachusetts regiment was put to rout, all the horses of one of the +guns were killed, and though the men cut the traces and tried to save +the gun by hand, they had to abandon it, while the other retreated on +the run toward the main position. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. pp. 997-999.]</span> General Hill +had crossed the creek at the improvised bridge on hearing the sound of +Hoke's engagement, but finding a swamp between him and Upham's right, +had to make a circuit of it, driving back our pickets in the interval +between Carter's and Palmer's divisions. Turning toward the noise of +Hoke's firing, he intercepted the right battalion of Upham's +Connecticut regiment, and took many of them prisoners. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., p. 1087.]</span> +Most of the rest of the regiment finding Hoke's division partly +surrounding them, and all other retreat cut off by Hill, surrendered to +Hoke. Colonel Upham and most of the Massachusetts regiment succeeded in +reaching our main lines, though in confusion. All this was not done, +however, without fighting, which took time, and as the whole engagement +was in forest or swamp, the enemy was a good deal delayed in his +movements and in rectification of lines.</p> +<p>When we reached the field Carter had gone in person toward Upham's +position, having first sent a regiment forward on the Dover road to try +to reopen communication with him. Palmer was ordered to send his reserve +brigade rapidly to extend his left and assist Carter. But as there was +still an interval between them, the regiment of cavalry which had come +in on the left was transferred to the centre and ordered to make a +strong skirmishing fight till Ruger's division could arrive on the +ground. Palmer at the same time was ordered to demonstrate strongly +toward the creek. Riding forward on the Dover road, I found Carter with +the regiment from his division, still energetically striving to reach +Upham. As the sound of the battle showed that the enemy was also in +front of our centre, it was evident that we must make a concentration of +our forces till the divisions were in touch with each other. I therefore +directed Carter to make his main line in front of Wise's Forks as solid +as possible, concentrating his artillery near the Dover road, and to +limit the activity of the advanced regiment to bold skirmishing, drawing +it back to the main line as the enemy advanced in force.</p> +<p>Hoke had evidently supposed that Upham's detachment on the British +road was the flank of our principal position, and was surprised at +finding strong demonstrations from the direction of Wise's Forks, now +partly in his own rear. This checked his progress and made him turn upon +Carter. The advanced regiment retired as ordered, and when it was within +the lines the enemy was saluted with such a fire of artillery and +musketry as instantly checked him. Although he repeated his efforts to +force the position at the Forks several times, they all were futile, and +Carter had at no time the least difficulty in holding his main line +firmly.</p> +<p>In Palmer's division, when Hill's advance across the creek drove +back the pickets and threatened to pass the left flank of Boughton's +brigade, this officer drew back his left to the British road and threw +up a hasty barricade there. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. p. 992.]</span> Claassen's brigade +was sent to prolong Boughton's line to the left, and Ruger's division +having come up, the connection between Palmer and Carter was secured, +the latter advancing his brigades so as to make a better continuous +line. The attacks of Hoke and Hill extended across Ruger's front, but +nothing heavier than brisk skirmishing occurred on Boughton's line. +Claassen's brigade was sent forward toward Jackson's Mill, accompanied +by my aide, Captain Tracy, in order to locate the left of the enemy's +line, and determine the extent of his forces in front of our left and +centre. No strong opposition was met till the Dover road came in sight, +where the enemy were seen moving toward Hoke's position in front of +Carter. Claassen was followed back in his orderly retirement to his +position on Ruger's right, and was attacked there, but easily repulsed +his assailants. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. pp. 982, 990.]</span></p> +<p>Palmer had reported sharp skirmishing across his front all the way +to the Neuse road on his right, and had drawn his lines back a little, +so as to keep them in front of the British road, contracting his right +and extending his left, as the sound of the fighting showed that the +heaviest attacks were falling upon Carter. By the middle of the +afternoon a continuous line of breastworks had been made along the whole +of Palmer's division in front of the British road. Ruger had extended it +diagonally till it joined Carter's right, the latter continuing it +across the Dover road in front of Wise's Forks to a difficult swamp on +the extreme left. For our left, the lower Trent road served for our +communication along the front, and for our right the British road was +used in like manner.</p> +<p>Late in the day there were indications of an attempt to turn +Palmer's right on the Neuse road, and this, which added to the +complexity of the situation, seems to have grown out of an excentric +movement of the Confederate left under Hill. In crossing Southwest Creek +to make his attack, he tells us the plan had been that when Hoke should +strike our flank on the Dover road, he should cut off any retreat on the +British and Neuse roads. This would be best accomplished by pushing +straight from his bridges for the British road. But having made a +circuit about a swamp to the rear of Upham's right, he received a note +from Bragg's headquarters saying that Hoke wished he would enter the +British road from the Neuse road, which implied a long circuit to their +left. As Hoke had himself made the bridge by which Hill had crossed, and +knew the field better than the rest by his skirmishes of the previous +day, it is evident that there was an error in interpreting his wish. But +as Hill was on ground unknown to him, and Bragg's dispatch directed +Hoke's suggestion to be carried out, Hill obeyed, and turned his troops +down the right bank of Southwest Creek, feeling the way to the Neuse +road through swamps and woods. Reaching the outlet of the British road +at half-past four without seeing signs of our retreat that way, and the +distant firing showing that Hoke was not advancing, Hill thought it too +late to venture further, and marched back by the way he had come five +miles to his bridge. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. p. 1087.]</span> His presence had +been observed by our pickets and skirmishers, and was naturally +interpreted by Palmer as the advance of a new column which had crossed +the creek by the Neuse road. It, of course, gave an exaggerated +impression of the enemy's strength, and as prisoners had been taken +belonging to Lee's corps, who reported part of Hood's old army present +with Bragg in command of the whole, we had to take into account the +contingency of our having on our hands the formidable force thus +indicated. Hill was met at his bridge by orders to cross to the left +bank and join Hoke by recrossing at Jackson's Mills and following the +Dover road. He effected the junction about midnight. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>.]</span> Hoke +had been keeping up a skirmishing fight in the latter part of the day, +and at night intrenched himself across the Dover road just in front of +the British road. Hill, after joining him, continued the line northward, +parallel to ours, and therefore crossing the British road again, +recurving toward the creek. Our breastworks were made stronger, and we +kept our teams hard at work bringing up ammunition and supplies. +General Schofield went back to New Berne to get into communication with +the rest of his department, and try to hurry forward the two old +divisions of the Twenty-third Corps, who were marching to join us. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 743-751.]</span> My own orders were to remain on the +watchful defensive whilst the construction of the railroad toward us +went on energetically. On Thursday, the 9th, we husbanded our resources, +for our ammunition was running short and the roads through the swamp +were nearly impassable. We extended our works on Carter's left, +recurving them so as to cross the lower Trent road, and, though we had +no troops at the moment except one regiment of Ruger's to put into +these intrenchments, they were ready for prompt occupation by any we +might send there if another effort were made to turn that flank. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. i. pp. 978, +995.]</span> With this in view, General Ruger was directed to put one of +his brigades in reserve, extending the rest of his troops to fill the +vacancy so made, and covering the front with abatis and slashed timber. +Pickets were advanced and every effort made to obtain information and +keep close watch of the enemy's movements. About ten o'clock General +Palmer reported a force moving toward the Neuse road which, after +demonstrating there for some time, marched back again. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. ii. pp. +747, 749-750.]</span> This seems to have been an effort to repeat the +movement of Hill on the previous afternoon, but this time by Hoke's +division. Finding Palmer's line in good earthworks, Hoke made no attack, +and returned to his position, though Bragg's order declared that +"success must be achieved." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 1359.]</span> While this was going on, Hill advanced his line and +drove in Carter's skirmishers; but these being reinforced, quickly +retook their rifle-pits, and Hill retired to his own works. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. i. p. 1087.]</span> Bragg's delay in testing conclusions with +us was due, in part no doubt, to the fact that Stewart's corps of the +Army of Tennessee was <i>en route</i> to him, and the railway was being +worked energetically to bring up these reinforcements. They arrived +during the day, and the final attack upon us was arranged for Friday, +the 10th. Stewart's men were under the command of General Walthall, the +senior division commander present. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 1088.]</span></p> +<p>In the night of Thursday and the early morning of Friday, the active +skirmishing of the enemy was so continuous as to remind us of the days +in the Georgia campaign when the intrenched lines of the opposing armies +faced each other in the narrow valley near New Hope Church. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. ii. p. 769.]</span> +Bragg ordered Hoke's troops to be relieved by Walthall's, and to make a +considerable circuit to their right, seeking to reach the lower Trent +road in our rear, and, advancing upon it, attack Carter's division in +reverse. The sharp skirmishing had covered these changes of position. +Upon hearing the sounds of Hoke's attack, Walthall and Hill were to +assist him by strong demonstrations, but, as the latter says, in +deference to his report that the men were very unwilling to attack +earthworks, "their experience in the late campaign [in the west] not +being favorable to such an undertaking," no actual assault was ordered, +but doubled skirmish lines were to advance as far as possible. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. i. p. 1088.]</span></p> +<p>On our side we were watchful and expectant, my orders to the +divisions being that whenever one part of the line should be engaged, +the rest should push forward strong skirmish lines to test the extent of +the enemy's deployment, and gain the information on which I could act in +reinforcing either wing from the other. General Greene, who was on his +way to rejoin Sherman, volunteered for duty as a staff officer, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. i. p. 979.]</span> as did General Stiles of my own division of +the Twenty-third Corps, who was likewise returning to his proper +command. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: General George +S. Greene, division commander in the Twentieth Corps, had commanded a +division in the Twelfth Corps, before its consolidation into the other. +He was the same who was distinguished at Antietam (<i>ante</i>, vol. i. +pp. 321-331). He graduated at West Point in 1823, and was a descendant +of General Greene of the Revolutionary War, a military stock well +continued in F. V. Greene of the Engineers, a general officer in the +late Spanish War.]</span> The absence of most of my own staff made their +help most acceptable.</p> +<p>General Schofield was on his way up from New Berne, and horses were +awaiting him at the end of the railway when, about half-past eleven, +Hoke's attack came with much more energy and resolution than the +Confederates had shown before. Ruger's reserve brigade (McQuiston's) was +ordered over to the left at once, a brigade he had loaned to Palmer +(Thomas's) was ordered back, and Palmer was ordered to send another +brigade if the enemy was quiet in his front. Hoke's attack lapped so far +over the lower Trent road as to threaten the Dover road also, and lest +General Schofield should be in danger of capture, I directed Palmer to +signal down the railroad track for him to await further news from us +before leaving the train. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pt. ii. p. 772.]</span></p> +<p>The artillery of both Carter's and Ruger's divisions were +concentrated upon Hoke, who was surprised to find our line so well +prepared to meet him. For nearly an hour, however, the fighting was +fierce; but it then began to flag a little, and I at once ordered +McQuiston's brigade to charge, throwing the left forward upon Hoke's +flank. This was decisive, and the enemy broke and fled. Walthall and +Hill were now advancing against Carter's right and against Ruger, and as +the line of the latter was very thin, I had to recall McQuiston in the +full tide of pursuit and send him back to the centre double quick. He +brought in nearly 300 prisoners, and our left was relieved of all +danger. For a while my headquarters group was in a hot place. General +Greene had his horse shot under him, one orderly had an arm taken off by +a shell, two others were wounded, and several had horses killed.</p> +<p>The men of Stewart's and Lee's corps were to have co-operated with +Hoke, but the difficulty of movement over such blind and wooded country +caused delay which gave time for me to reinforce the centre. The +artillery was hurried to the same position, and the Confederates were +defeated easily, their unwillingness to assault breastworks being +increased by the sight of Hoke's men in disordered flight. At half-past +twelve I was able to send word to General Schofield that the road was no +longer threatened by the enemy, and he joined us before the fighting at +the centre was over. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. p. 978; pt. ii. p. 772.]</span> +Bragg withdrew to the intrenchments he had occupied on the 9th. The +certainty that two corps of the Army of Tennessee were represented in +the attack besides the troops of Bragg's own department, added to the +lack of supplies and munitions, made us quite willing to remain on the +defensive and await the arrival of Couch, who was within a day's march +of us with the two veteran divisions of the Twenty-third Corps. The +construction of the railroad and the hurrying forward of ammunition were +ordered with strenuous urgency, and messages to Couch made him force +the marching to join us. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +The officer who was sent by Schofield to hasten Couch's march found my +old division at the head of the column slowly filing over a rickety +foot-bridge in the darkness, grumbling at the continued plodding in the +mud. He shouted to them the news of our fighting and my possible need of +help. The cry went up from the men, "If General Cox wants us, he can +have us," and they dashed into the stream in solid column, forcing the +pace till they reached the field.]</span> Bragg retreated in the night of +the 10th and was speeding back to Goldsborough by rail, for Johnston +was now hastening to join Hardee, who was retreating before Sherman out +of South Carolina.</p> +<p>The numbers which Hill and Walthall brought to Bragg were smaller +than we inferred from our knowledge of the organizations present. We +took prisoners belonging to four divisions of Hood's old army. Hoke's +division and the brigades of Whitford, Hagood, and Baker had all been +stronger in numbers than similar organizations of our own. We were +necessarily wholly ignorant of the causes which had reduced the +divisions coming from the West, and indeed learned of their presence in +North Carolina only through the prisoners we took in the engagement and +the deserters who came into our lines. As we have seen, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, p. 424.]</span> +the number of Hood's men in the State at the beginning of the month was +over 9000, with other detachments on the way. Bragg's other forces were +an equal number. After all the casualties of the campaign, the Army of +Tennessee reported 11,442 present on April 7th, of which 8953 were +"effectives." When they were paroled at Greenesborough on April 26th, +17,934 appeared and signed the papers. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. i. pp. 1059, 1066. In the table of the paroled, Cheatham's +two divisions (his own and Brown's) are listed in Hardee's corps, and +with those of Stewart's and Lee's corps, less Anderson's (late +Talliaferro's) division, make the total given.]</span> It is impossible +to tell exactly what part of these were at Kinston. Hill's claim that he +had but little over 1300 effectives in five brigades of Lee's corps is +not credible. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 1088. For my criticism of his amusingly erroneous statements in +regard to Antietam, see "The Nation," No. 1538, p. 462, and No. 1543, p. +71.]</span> It is certain that Bragg knew I had three divisions and that +he believed his force was the stronger. Our losses had been 1337, of +which 900 were the "missing" in Upton's brigade and the cavalry. Bragg +made no formal report of the campaign or of his losses in this part of +it.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII"></a>CHAPTER +XLVIII</p> +<p>JUNCTION WITH SHERMAN AT GOLDSBOROUGH--THE MARCH ON +RALEIGH--CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES</p> +<p>Occupation of Kinston--Opening of Neuse River--Rebel ram +destroyed--Listening to the distant battle at Bentonville--Entering +Goldsborough--Meeting Sherman--Grant's congratulations--His own +plans--Sketch of Sherman's march--Lee and Johnston's +correspondence--Their gloomy outlook--Am made commandant of Twenty-third +Corps--Terry assigned to Tenth--Schofield promoted in the Regular +Army--Stanton's proviso--Ill effects of living on the country--Stopping +it in North Carolina--Camp jubilee over the fall of Richmond--Changes in +Sherman's plans--Our march on Smithfield--House-burning--News of Lee's +surrender--Overtures from Governor Vance--Entering Raleigh--A +mocking-bird's greeting--Further negotiations as to North +Carolina--Johnston proposes an armistice--Broader scope of +negotiations--The Southern people desire peace--Terrors of +non-combatants assuaged--News of Lincoln's assassination--Precautions to +preserve order--The dawn of peace.</p> +<p>Reconnoitring parties sent toward Kinston on the 11th showed that +only a rear-guard occupied that town and that we could occupy it when we +pleased. General Couch joined us on the 12th, and Hoke having sent in a +flag of truce offering to exchange prisoners, of whom we had nearly 400, +I sent Major Dow of my staff with General Schofield's answer declining +to do so. The major found no enemy on our side of the Neuse. The +railroad bridge was burned and the middle part of the wagon bridge +destroyed. The roads were so nearly impassable that we could hardly feed +the troops where we were, and whilst the railroad building went on, we +hastened also the opening of a supply line by water. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. i. pp. 933, 934; pt. ii. pp. 801, 802, 814.]</span> Commander +Rhind of the navy efficiently co-operated in this, and we marched to +Kinston bridge on the 14th, laid pontoon bridges on the next day, and +occupied the town. The Confederate ram had been burnt and her wreck lay +a little below the bridge. The transports and their convoying war vessel +did not get up till the 18th, but as they then brought a hundred +thousand rations, we were able to begin accumulating stores at Kinston +as an advanced depot. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 836-839, 880, 883.]</span> +Small additions to our wagon-trains also arrived, and orders were issued +to march toward Goldsborough on the 20th. Meanwhile 2000 men had been +set at work getting out railroad ties and timber for bridges. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 836, 851.]</span></p> +<p>During the halt at Kinston we partly reorganized the troops in view +of the approaching union with Sherman. The officers and men who belonged +to the divisions in Sherman's army were separately organized into a +division under General Greene, so that they could easily be transferred +to their proper commands. The rest of Palmer's and Carter's divisions +were united in one under Carter, and Palmer was assigned to the District +of Beaufort, from which I was relieved. Ruger's division remained in my +provisional corps with the other two. General Stiles was assigned to a +brigade in Ruger's division. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pp. 839, 895.]</span></p> +<p>On Monday, the 20th, we were in march for Goldsborough, leaving a +brigade to garrison the post at Kinston and protect the growing depot +there. On Sunday we had heard all day the very distant artillery firing, +which we knew indicated a battle between Sherman and Johnston. It was a +scarcely distinguishable sound, like a dull thumping, becoming somewhat +more distinct when one applied his ear to the ground. We judged that +this final battle in the Carolinas was near Smithfield, and we were not +far out of the way, for Bentonville was only a little south, and either +place about fifty miles from us. Two days' march took us into +Goldsborough with no opposition but skirmishing with the enemy's +cavalry. We found the railroad uninjured, except that the bridges were +burned; but they were small and would not delay Colonel Wright long when +the large one at Kinston should be completed. Captain Twining, General +Schofield's engineer and aide, had carried dispatches to Sherman on the +20th, and the latter was now in full possession of the story of our +movements since the fall of Fort Fisher. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 942.]</span> On the 22d Sherman was able to announce in +field orders the retreat of Johnston toward Raleigh and our occupation +of Goldsborough, whilst Terry had laid his pontoons across the Neuse +completing the connection with Wilmington also. His declaration for the +whole army that the "campaign has resulted in a glorious success" was +more than justified. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pt. i. p. 44.]</span></p> +<p>On Thursday, the 23d, Sherman joined us in person, and we paraded +the Twenty-third Corps to honor the march-past of Slocum's Army of +Georgia, the Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps, as they came in from +Bentonville. Sherman took his place with us by the roadside, and the +formal reunion with the comrades who had fought with us in the Atlanta +campaign was an event to stir deep emotions in our hearts. The general +did not hesitate to speak out his readiness, now that his army was +reunited, to meet the forces of Lee and Johnston combined, if they also +should effect a junction and try to open a way southward. The men who +had traversed the Carolinas were ragged and dirty, their faces were +begrimed by the soot of their camp-fires of pine-knots in the forests, +but their arms were in order, and they stepped out with the sturdy swing +that marked all our Western troops. Our men were in new uniforms we had +lately drawn from the quartermaster, and the tatterdemalions who had +made the march to the sea were disposed to chaff us as if we were new +recruits or pampered garrison troops. "Well, sonnies!" a regimental wag +cried out, "do they issue butter to you regularly now?" "Oh, yes! to be +sure!" was the instant retort; "but <i>we</i> trade it off for soap!" +The ironical emphasis on the "we" was well understood and greeted with +roars of laughter, and learning that our men were really those who had +been with them in Georgia and had fought at Franklin and Nashville +before making the tour of the North to come by sea and rejoin them in +North Carolina, they made the welkin ring again with their greeting +cheers.</p> +<p>Keeping close watch of Sherman's movements, as hinted at in the +Southern newspapers, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Till the capture of Columbia, the Southern newspapers gave Sherman's +movements with satisfactory accuracy, and Grant's information on the +subject was chiefly drawn from them. Afterward a more rigid censorship +was enforced. Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 385, 405, 428, +441, 455, 472, 499, etc.]</span> Grant concluded on the 22d that he must +have reached Goldsborough, and wrote him congratulations on the same day +that Sherman announced to his army the good result. "I congratulate you +and the army," said Grant, "in what may be regarded as the successful +termination of the third campaign since leaving the Tennessee River +less than one year ago." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +p. 948.]</span> He briefly but clearly outlined his own plans. Sheridan +was to start with his cavalry on the 25th, and, passing beyond the left +of the lines before Petersburg, to strike the Southside railroad as +near the town as might be, and destroy enough of it to interrupt its +use by the enemy for three or four days. This done, he was to push for +the Danville Railroad, do the like, and again cut the Southside road +near Burkesville. After that Grant would leave Sheridan at liberty to +join Sherman or to return to his own army. At the same time he would +himself diminish the forces in his investing lines to the smallest that +could hold them, and with all the rest crowd to the westward to prevent +Lee from following Sheridan. He would attack if Lee should detach part +of his army to follow Sheridan or to join Johnston, or would fight a +decisive battle if the Confederates came out in force. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 948. See also p. 859.]</span> The general principles +which resulted in Five Forks and the abandonment of Richmond are here +clearly evident, and Sherman could plan his own work accordingly.</p> +<p>The latter was also writing on that day to the Lieutenant-General, +taking up the thread of his own story from the time he reached +Fayetteville and learned that Johnston had been put in command of all +the forces opposing him. He sketched the sharp combat between Slocum and +Hardee at Averasborough on March 16th, where the latter had taken a +strong position across the narrow swampy neck between Cape Fear River +and North River at the forks of the Raleigh and Goldsborough roads. +Hardee was working for time, as Johnston was collecting his forces at +Smithfield after Bragg's unsuccessful blow at us near Kinston. A day's +delay was gained at heavy cost for the Confederates. At Bentonville, on +the 19th, Johnston had concentrated his army and struck fiercely at +Slocum again, for the almost impassable mud had made it necessary for +Howard's wing to seek roads some miles to the right. Slocum had to give +some ground and draw back his advanced division to a better position, on +which he formed the rest of his troops, Kilpatrick's cavalry covering +his left. Here he repulsed all further efforts of Johnston and held his +ground till Sherman could bring forward the right wing, when the enemy +was forced to intrench and was put on the defensive. On the 21st +Howard's extreme right broke through or turned the line, and nearly +reached Johnston's headquarters. The blindly tangled swampy ground +prevented full advantage being reaped from this success, and Johnston +managed to hold on till night, when he abandoned his lines and retreated +on Raleigh. Sherman's casualties of all sorts in the two engagements of +Averasborough and Bentonville were 2209. He had buried on the abandoned +fields 375 of the Confederate dead, and held 2000 prisoners. Johnston's +wounded were 1694 at Bentonville, besides several hundred at +Averasborough. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Sherman +to Grant, Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 949; his report, Id., +pt. i. pp. 27, 66, 76; Johnston's do., Id., pp. 1057, 1060.]</span> The +last battle in the Carolinas had been fought, Johnston had added to his +reputation as a soldier by quick and strong blows skilfully delivered, +first at Schofield, then at Sherman; but his numbers were not enough to +make either blow successful, and the junction of our armies at +Goldsborough made further fighting a mere waste of life, unless he and +Lee could unite for a final effort. This Grant would not permit, and +Johnston's message to Lee on the 23d was in substance the old one from +Pavia, "All is lost but honor." "Sherman's course cannot be hindered by +the small force I have. I can do no more than annoy him. I respectfully +suggest that it is no longer a question whether you leave your present +position; you have only to decide where to meet Sherman. I will be near +him." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, p. +1055.]</span></p> +<p>General Lee, from his own point of view, saw with equal clearness +the net that was closing round him. He had telegraphed to Johnston on +the 11th, "I fear I cannot hold my position if road to Raleigh is +interrupted. Should you be forced back in this direction both armies +would certainly starve." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pt. ii. p. 1372.]</span> On the 15th he repeated, "If you are forced +back from Raleigh and we deprived of the supplies from east North +Carolina, I do not know how this army can be supported." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 1395.]</span> +But while he pointed out the vital importance of repulsing Sherman, he +did not urge rashness in giving battle without prospect of success. +Supplies in Virginia, he said, were exhausted. The western communication +by Danville was now his only reliance. Since sending Hoke, Conner, and +Hampton south, his forces were too weak to extend his lines, and he +apprehended the very break in the Danville road which Grant was +planning to make by Sheridan. "You will therefore perceive," he added, +"that if I contract my lines as you propose, with the view of holding +Richmond, our only resource for obtaining subsistence will be cut off +and the city must be abandoned; whereas, if I take a position to +maintain the road, Richmond will be lost." If Sherman could not be +checked, "I cannot remain here, but must start out and seek a favorable +opportunity for battle. I shall maintain my position as long as it +appears advisable, both from the moral and material advantages of +holding Richmond and Virginia." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 1395.]</span> Danville, he saw, +was his necessary aim if he broke away, and he pointed out the +advantages they would have for manoeuvre if Sherman could be kept well +to the east, giving them more room and a wider region to live upon after +uniting. But Grant saw all this too, and the inexorable tenacity and +vigor with which, a few days later, he pushed Lee north of the Danville +line and cornered him at Appomattox, showed that his measure of the +situation was as accurate as Lee's, and that he knew the quick ending of +the war depended on his preventing at all hazards the junction of the +Confederate armies. Nothing in military history is more interesting +than the comparison of the letters and dispatches of the leaders on both +sides in this crisis. Grant was not content with being upon Lee's heels +when he abandoned Richmond, as he had promised Sherman he would be. He +would do better. Well served by Sheridan's fiery energy, he would +out-foot his adversary in the race for Danville, and even block his +path on the road to Lynchburg when the junction with Johnston had to be +given up.</p> +<p>For us at Goldsborough a day or two was delightfully spent in free +conferences with Sherman and in getting from his own lips the story of +his wonderful campaigns since we parted from him in Georgia. All the +empty wagons of his enormous trains were now sent back to Kinston under +escort to bring up clothing and supplies, and he thought a delay of a +fortnight might be necessary to get ready for further active movements. +He fixed April both as the date for opening a new campaign, and +suggested to General Grant that when he had his troops properly placed +and the supplies working well, he might "run up and see you for a day or +two before diving again into the bowels of the country." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 969.]</span> On the 25th the railroad was running to +Goldsborough, and Colonel Wright was anxious to have the general go over +the road with him and see for himself its condition and what had been +acomplished as well as what was still needed to make its equipment +ready for the heavy work of another campaign. Accordingly Sherman put +Schofield temporarily in chief command, and after an inspection trip on +a locomotive with Colonel Wright, he continued his journey to City Point +in a steamer belonging to the quartermaster's department. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. iii. pp. +19, 20.]</span> His memorable visit to Grant and Lincoln, there, will be +considered in connection with the negotiations with Johnston a little +later. Having spent the 27th and 28th of March there, he was sent back +by Admiral Porter in a fast vessel of the navy, reached New Berne on the +30th, and rejoined us at Goldsborough the same evening.</p> +<p>His return was a matter of some personal interest to me, for it +brought my permanent assignment to the command of the Twenty-third Corps +by Presidential order. The other troops under Schofield were organized +into a new corps with Terry for commandant, and as changes had vacated +the original Tenth Corps organization, that number was given to Terry's. +Schofield had asked for these appointments immediately after our +occupation of Wilmington, but the letters had not reached General Grant, +and action had not been taken. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 559.]</span> At Goldsborough he +had renewed the request which Sherman cordially indorsed, and the latter +carried the papers with him to City Point, where the matter was acted +upon at once by the President and General Grant. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 960, 961; +pt. iii. pp. 18, 34. See also Appendix C.]</span></p> +<p>Schofield's promotion to the rank of brigadier-general in the +regular army had been recommended by Grant as a reward for the capture +of Wilmington, with the remark that he ought to have had it from the +battle of Franklin. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pt. ii. pp. 545, 558.]</span> Mr. Stanton replied that the nomination +would be made as requested, "subject, however, to his obedience to +orders. I am not satisfied with his conduct in seizing the hospital boat +'Spaulding' to make it his own quarters," he said; adding, "I have +directed him to give it up. If he obeys the order promptly, I will send +in his nomination; otherwise I will not." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 562.]</span> +By an odd coincidence, the order to Schofield with the Secretary's +reprimand was written on the same day Grant was making his +recommendation for promotion, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +p. 545.]</span> and it well illustrates Stanton's characteristic +impulsiveness and hasty temper which made him act on first reports, when +a quiet investigation of facts would have changed his view and saved +the feelings of his subordinates. An order forbidding the use of +hospital boats for other military purposes, diverting them from hospital +use, had been issued on February 8th, the day we reached Cape Fear +Inlet after our sea voyage, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +p. 342.]</span> and by another coincidence Schofield had made the +"Spaulding" his temporary headquarters on the same day. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. i. p. 927.]</span> +Not being a clairvoyant, Schofield knew nothing of the order which was +then being written in the adjutant-general's office at Washington, and +which did not reach him till his temporary use of the vessel had ended. +Moreover, as he was as yet without his tents or horses, and as he +intended his troops to operate on both sides of Cape Fear River, his +prompt progress with the campaign depended on his ready communication +with both banks, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, +p. 405.]</span> and the boat had been named as available for the purpose +by the quartermaster responsible for the army transports and vessels. As +it was a question of successful handling of his forces, the discretion +would have belonged to the general commanding the department to make an +exception to a rule, if the order had been in his hands instead of +being wholly unknown to him. Still again, the use he made of the boat +helped instead of hindering its availability as a hospital, for he kept +it close to the advancing lines on the river banks so that the wounded +were brought to it with greatest ease, and it had in fact no sick or +disabled men on board till they were brought there under these +circumstances. Lastly, the superior medical officer of the department +was a member of Schofield's staff, wholly in accord with his views, and +the complaint had been sent by the subordinate surgeon on the boat +directly to the surgeon-general at Washington without the knowledge of +the department medical director. To have referred it back to the +general for his comments, calling his attention to the order, would +have been regular and would have resulted in commendation of his action +instead of disapproval. When Grant received the Secretary's dispatch, +Colonel Comstock had returned from Wilmington, and from him the general +got the information which enabled him to remove Stanton's +misapprehension, so that the appointment was made before Schofield knew +of the complaint. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 562, 582.]</span> Nearly a +month later he made a full statement of the circumstances to put himself +personally right with the Secretary. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 832.]</span> +The latter had borne no ill-will to Schofield, but even at the closing +period of the war had not learned to temper his zeal with considerate +patience.</p> +<p>The work which occupied us the ten days of April which we spent at +Goldsborough was chiefly that of organizing our trains and collecting +supplies in our depots, so that the foraging on the country which had +been necessary in Georgia and South Carolina might cease, now that we +had railway communication with a safe base on the Atlantic. Sherman had +informed his principal subordinates that when he reached North Carolina +he would resume the regular issue of supplies as far as possible, and +put an end to the indiscriminate seizing of whatever the army needed. It +had answered its purpose in the long marches from Atlanta to Savannah +and from Savannah to Goldsborough, where the condition of success was +cutting loose from the base; but the tendency to demoralization and loss +of discipline in troops which practise it too long, made a return to +regular methods very desirable.</p> +<p>As the army had approached the North Carolina line, General Blair, +commanding the Seventeenth Corps, had written to Howard, his immediate +superior: "Every house that we pass is pillaged, and as we are about to +enter the State of North Carolina, I think the people should be treated +more considerately. The only way to prevent this state of affairs is to +put a stop to foraging. I have enough in my wagons to last to +Goldsborough, and I suppose that the rest of the army has also. . . . +The system is vicious and its results utterly deplorable. As there is no +longer a necessity for it, I beg that an order may be issued to prohibit +it. General Sherman said that when we reached North Carolina he would +pay for everything brought to us and forbid foraging. I believe it would +have an excellent effect upon the country to change our policy in this +respect." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 717; pt. iii. pp. 46, 47.]</span> +Stringent orders were at once issued to modify the system and prevent +the abuses of it, but it was not practicable to stop foraging entirely +till the junction of the forces was made at Goldsborough. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 718, 728, 760, 783.]</span> The regular issue of +rations furnished by the government was then resumed, except that long +forage for horses and mules could not be obtained in this way and was +collected from the country;<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pt. iii. pp. 7-9.]</span> but even then the correction of bad habits in +the soldiery was only gradually accomplished.</p> +<p>The evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg on the morning of the 3d +of April was not known to Sherman till the 6th, when Grant's letter +reached him containing the joyful news. On Saturday, the 8th, it was +confirmed, with particulars of Lee's disastrous retreat. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 89, 99, +100, 109.]</span> That night there was a noisy jubilee in our camps. +Regular artillery salutes were fired, but the soldiers also extemporized +all sorts of demonstrations of their joyfulness. The air resounded with +cheers, with patriotic songs, with the beating of drums, with the music +of the brass bands, with musket firing; whilst beautiful signal rockets +rushed high into the air, dropping their brilliant stars of red, white, +and blue from the very clouds. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pt. i. p. 936.]</span></p> +<p>So long as Lee held fast at Petersburg, Sherman's plan had been to +feint on Raleigh, but make his real movement northward, crossing the +Roanoke above Gaston and marching between Johnston and Lee. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. iii. p. +102.]</span> Now, however, as he wrote Halleck, he would move in force +upon Raleigh, repairing the railroad behind him and following the +Confederate army close in whatever direction it should move. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 118.]</span> +Grant's letter of the 5th, giving his opinion that Lee was making for +Danville with an army reduced to about 20,000 men, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, P. 99.]</span> +reached Sherman on the 8th, and he immediately answered it, saying: "On +Monday [10th] all my army will move straight on Joe Johnston, supposed +to be between me and Raleigh, and I will follow him wherever he may go. +If he retreats on Danville to make junction with Lee, I will do the +same, though I may take a course round him, bending toward Greensborough +for the purpose of turning him north.... I wish you could have waited a +few days or that I could have been here a week sooner; but it is not +too late yet, and you may rely with absolute certainty that I will be +after Johnston with about 80,000 men, provided for twenty full days +which will last me forty. I will have a small force here at +Goldsborough and will repair the road to Raleigh." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 129.]</span></p> +<p>On Monday we marched,--Slocum with the Army of Georgia straight for +Smithfield, Howard with the Army of the Tennessee going north to +Pikeville and then turning toward Raleigh, keeping to the right of +Slocum and abreast of him on parallel roads. Schofield with our Army of +the Ohio moved a little to the left of Slocum in echelon, my corps +taking the river road on the left (north) bank of the Neuse to Turner's +Bridge, a little below Smithfield, and Terry's going through Bentonville +somewhat further to left and rear. Kilpatrick with the cavalry covered +the march of this flank. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 123.]</span> It will be seen that this order of movement assumed that +Johnston was at or near Smithfield, where our latest information put +him. My corps had been somewhat scattered to cover our communications +with Kinston and Newberne, and I was ordered to concentrate at +Goldsborough on the 10th, advancing-from there on the 11th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 134.]</span> +My old division, which had been commanded by General Reilly since he +joined us at Wilmington, was for the rest of the campaign led by General +Carter, Reilly's uncertain health making him anticipate the quickly +approaching end of the war by resigning. Ruger and Couch continued in +command of the first and second divisions respectively. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pt. i. p. 936.]</span></p> +<p>My own march was impeded by the slow progress of the pontoon-train +which had been sent ahead of my column, where a part of Slocum's +supply-train also moved. For this reason we found numbers of stragglers +on our way and evidences of pillaging by which I was exasperated. We +halted at noon of the 11th near a large house belonging to a Mr. +Atkinson, a man of prominence in the region. The mansion had a Grecian +portico with large columns the whole height of the building. Part of the +furniture and the carpets had been removed, but evidences of refinement +and intelligence were seen in the piano and the library with its books. +With my staff I rested and ate my lunch in the spacious portico, and +moving on when the halt was over, I had hardly ridden half a mile when a +pillar of white smoke showed that the house was on fire. I sent back a +staff officer in haste to order an instant investigation and the arrest +of any authors of this vandalism. The most that could be learned was +that some stragglers of another corps had been seen lurking in the house +when we moved on, and soon after fire broke out in the second story, +having been set, apparently, in a closet connected with one of the +chambers. Efforts were made to extinguish it, but it had found its way +into the garret and had such headway that the house was doomed. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. i. p. 936.]</span> This was the first instance in my +experience where a dwelling had been burned when my troops were passing, +and I was greatly disturbed by their apparent responsibility for it. My +anger was increased by repetitions of similar outrages during the +afternoon. From our camp at Turner's Bridge I issued an order directing +summary trial by drum-head court-martial and execution of marauders +guilty of such outrages, whether belonging to my own corps or +stragglers hanging on at its skirts. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. iii. p. +189.]</span> The evidence seemed conclusive that the crimes were +committed by "bummers" who had separated themselves from the army when +marching up from Savannah, and were following it for purposes of +pillage. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 281.]</span> It was reported that +Atkinson was a "conscription agent" of the Confederate government, and +this perhaps was the incentive in his case for the outrage. As a +precaution, I ordered sentinels to be left at dwellings on our march, to +be relieved from the divisions in succession, the last to remain till +our trains had passed and then join the rear-guard. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 189.]</span></p> +<p>In the march of the 12th Howard remained on the east side of the +Neuse with a pretty widely extended front, aiming for the crossing of +the river due east of Raleigh, at the Neuse Mills and Hinton's Bridge. +Slocum crossed at Smithfield and took the roads up the right bank of the +Neuse. Schofield crossed at Turner's Bridge, and sought roads further +west, intending to reach the main road leading from Elevation to +Raleigh. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +pp. 163, 164, 187-189.]</span> At Smithfield we learned that Johnston was +at Raleigh, but we did not know that he had heard of Lee's surrender +and had no longer a motive to hold tenaciously to the central part of +the State. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 777.]</span> It was on our march of Tuesday, the 12th, that the news +of the surrender reached us, and was greeted with extravagant +demonstrations of joy by both officers and men. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: For a vivid description of +the scene, see "Ohio Loyal Legion Papers," vol. ii. p. 234, by A. J. +Ricks, then a lieutenant on my staff, since Judge of U. S. District +Court, N. Ohio.]</span> Sherman had got the news in a dispatch sent by +Grant on the 9th, as soon as the capitulation was complete, and which +contained the terms he had offered Lee, with their acceptance. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 140.]</span> Replying at once, Sherman said, "I hardly +know how to express my feelings, but you can imagine them. The terms +you have given Lee are magnanimous and liberal. Should Johnston follow +Lee's example, I shall of course grant the same. He is retreating +before me on Raleigh, but I shall be there to-morrow." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 177.]</span> He indicated his hope that Johnston would +surrender at Raleigh, but should he not do so, his own plan would be to +push to the south and west to prevent the enemy's retreat into the Gulf +States. "With a little more cavalry," he said, "I would be sure to +capture the whole army." He issued also a Special Field Order, +announcing to the army the momentous news. "Glory to God and to our +country, and all honor to our comrades in arms toward whom we are +marching. A little more labor, a little more toil on our part, the great +race is won, and our government stands regenerated after four years of +bloody war." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 180.]</span> Such were the words which created a tumult of emotion in +the heart of every soldier, when they were read that day, a beautiful +spring day, at the head of each command. The order reached me near +mid-day at a resting halt of the corps, and with bared heads my staff +listened to the reading. We then greeted it with three cheers, I myself +acting as fugleman, and the tidings sped down the column on the wings of +the wind.</p> +<p>Late in the same day a delegation met Slocum's advance-guard coming +from Raleigh in a car upon the railroad with a letter from Governor +Vance making overtures to end the war, so far as North Carolina was +concerned. The little party was headed by ex-Governor Graham and Mr. +Swain, men who had led the opposition to secession till swept away by +the popular whirlwind of war feeling, and who now came to acknowledge +the victory of the National Government. Mr. Graham had been the +candidate for Vice-President in 1852, nominated by the Whig party on the +ticket with General Scott. Sherman received them kindly, and gave a +safeguard for Governor Vance and any members of the State government who +might await him in Raleigh, though, after a conference with Graham and +his party in regard to their present relations to the Confederate +government, he wrote to Vance, "I doubt if hostilities can be suspended +as between the Army of the Confederate Government and the one I command, +but I will aid you all in my power to contribute to the end you aim to +reach, the termination of the existing war." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 178.]</span></p> +<p>The Twenty-third Corps marched eighteen miles on the 12th, and, as +General Schofield reported, found that "Slocum's bummers had been all +over the country," foraging it bare. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 187.]</span> +On the 13th we marched within two miles of Raleigh, making nineteen +miles, the Army of Georgia entering the city just ahead of us. Sherman +was with the head of Slocum's column, expecting to meet Governor Vance, +but such delays had occurred to the train taking his messengers that +Vance lost confidence, and had left the city ahead of Hampton's cavalry, +the rear-guard of Johnston's army. Hampton was bitterly opposed to all +negotiation by Vance, holding it to be treasonable, and had put such +obstacles in the way of Graham's party as to make Vance think that they +had been arrested and that the mission had failed. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 178, 196.]</span> +Graham and Swain, however, were still there, and at once waited upon +Sherman, who established his headquarters in the governor's mansion. The +news, as it came to us in the marching column, was that Vance had met +Sherman in person and surrendered the capital of the State; but the +facts turned out to be as I have stated them. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. i. p. 937.]</span></p> +<p>A trifling incident gave us pleasure as we were approaching our camp +near Raleigh, and, with the soldiers' disposition to interpret +fortuitous things in earth and air, was greeted as a good omen. A great +tree stood at the roadside, and, perched upon a dead limb high above the +foliage and overhanging the way, a mocking-bird poured forth the most +wonderful melodies ever heard even from that prince of songsters. +Excited but not frightened away by the moving host beneath, the bird +outdid its kind in its imitations of other birds, and in its calls and +notes of endless variety, whistling and singing with a full resonant +power that rose above all other sounds. The marching soldiers ceased +their talk, listening intently and craning their necks to get a sight of +the peerless musician. It was a celebration of the coming peace, unique +in beauty and full of sweet suggestions.</p> +<p>On the 14th the greater part of the army moved westward a few miles +in front of Raleigh, the Twenty-third Corps closing up to the eastern +suburbs of the town. Sherman issued his marching orders for the 15th, +beginning, "The next movement will be on Ashborough, to turn the +position of the enemy at Company's shops in rear of Haw River Bridge and +at Greensborough, and to cut off his only available line of retreat by +Salisbury and Charlotte." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. pp. 208, 217.]</span> This march +had hardly begun, however, when it was temporarily suspended and was +never resumed. Our last hostile march against the Confederate armies had +been made. Mr. Badger, the last senator from the State in the National +Congress, and other leading men, including Mr. Holden, the leader of +the Union element in the State, had joined Mr. Graham's party, and +Sherman had been busy with them, negotiating informally to obtain the +withdrawal of North Carolina from the Confederacy. The general was +willing that the executive and legislature of the State should come to +Raleigh for this purpose, but refused to suspend hostilities against +Johnston's army except upon direct overtures for surrender on the part +of the latter. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 221.]</span> Whilst these conferences were in progress, others had +been going on at Greensborough, and as a result General Johnston had +sent a letter requesting an armistice. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., p. 206.]</span> +Sherman immediately replied in terms which brought about the halt and +temporary truce between the two armies and a personal conference three +days later. Thus opened the famous negotiations, the story of which +will be told in the next chapter.</p> +<p>Whilst the Southern people had shown wonderful fortitude and +patience as long as a hope of success remained, they were most anxious +to be spared the horrors of war when there was no compensating advantage +to be looked for. The dread of our armies had been increased by the +exaggerations which the Confederate authorities had used to excite the +people to desperate resistance, and the terror now reacted in a general +popular demand for surrender. The story of the burning of Columbia had +been given to them as a wanton and deliberate barbarity on Sherman's +part, and the delegation which met him could hardly believe their own +senses when they heard his earnest expressions of desire to end the war +at once and save the people from suffering and the country from +devastation.</p> +<p>An experience of my own as we entered Raleigh gave me a startling +view of the abject terror which had seized upon helpless families when +they found themselves defenceless in our hands. In the night of +Wednesday, the 12th, Hampton had made it known that the rear-guard which +he commanded must retire before daylight, and the frightened people had +at once begun to close their windows and sit in gloomy expectation of +what the morning would bring. Early on Thursday Kilpatrick's cavalry +clattered through the town, and on the further side some skirmishing +occurred and an occasional cannon shot was thought to be the opening of +battle. Slocum's infantry marched through after the cavalry +advance-guard, and the heavy rattling of cannon and caissons with the +shouting of the drivers of the trains seemed a pandemonium to +unaccustomed ears. Sherman had issued stringent orders that no mischief +should be done and no looting permitted in the city, and all the +superior officers were earnest in enforcing the orders, so that I +believe no town was ever more quietly occupied by an army in actual war. +On Friday morning I was placing my own troops in the suburb and +arranging to assume the guard of the city, left to us by the camping of +the main body of the army beyond its western limits. An officer of the +general staff came to me, saying he had been appealed to in a most +piteous way for protection by a lady who with her household of women and +children could endure the terror and suspense no longer. Knowing that I +was to be in immediate charge of the place, he had given assurances that +I would remove all cause for fear, but had still been begged to ask me +to come in person and relieve their great distress. I went with him to +one of the most comfortable homes of the town. The family had been +collected in the parlors since midnight of Wednesday. They had not dared +to retire to sleep, but clung about the mother and mistress. The +windows were close shut, the rooms lit by candles, and pale, jaded with +the long nervous strain, momentarily fearing the breaking in of those +they had been taught to look upon as little better than fiends, their +hollow eyes showed they were perilously near the limit of human +endurance. I earnestly vouched for the good intentions of our generals, +and promised the most ample protection. I assured them of sympathy and a +purpose to give them the same safety as I should wish for my own wife +and children if they were in a like situation. A guard was ordered for +the house and the neighborhood. They were urged to open the windows to +the cheerful light and to resume their ordinary way of life. The passing +of the panic and the revival of confidence was a sort of return from the +shadow of death and was most touching to behold. It added a new element +of thankfulness that such terrors for the helpless were not to be +renewed, since peace was really coming to heal the terrible wounds of +war.</p> +<p>There was a moment when we once more feared we might not be able to +save the city from vengeance. It was when, on the 17th of April, the +news of Lincoln's assassination reached us. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 221.]</span> Sherman had received the dispatch in +cipher just as he was starting for his conference with Johnston at +Durham Station, and had enjoined absolute secrecy upon the telegraph +operator till his return in the evening. General Stiles, one of my most +trusted subordinates, had been made commandant of the post of Raleigh +with a garrison of three battalions of infantry, a brigade of reserve +artillery, and the convalescents of the Army of the Ohio. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 217.]</span> +As soon as Sherman returned from his visit to Johnston, he sent for me +and told me the terrible news of Lincoln's murder. He expressed the +great fear he had lest, on its becoming known, it should be the occasion +of outbreaks among the soldiers. He charged me to strengthen Stiles's +garrison to any extent I might think necessary, to put strong guards at +the edge of the city on the roads leading to the several camps, to send +all soldiers off duty to their proper commands, and in short, till the +first excitement should be over, to allow no one to visit the city or +wander about it, and to keep all under strict military surveillance. +Schofield and the other army commanders were with him, and all were +seriously impressed with the danger of mischief resulting and with the +need of thorough precautions. Sherman's general order announcing the +assassination was then read, but its distribution and publication to +the army was delayed till I should have time to prepare for +safeguarding the city. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 238.]</span> Fortunately the announcement of the first convention for +the disbanding of all the remaining armies of the Confederacy +accompanied the exciting news, and as it was regarded as the return of +general peace, the effect on our army was that of deep mourning for the +loss of a great leader in the hour of victory rather than an excitement +to vengeance in a continuing strife. There was no noteworthy difficulty +in preserving order, and, though the inhabitants of Raleigh had a day or +two of great uneasiness, the beautiful town did not suffer in the +least. Its broad streets, lined with forest trees, and the ample +dooryards in the lush beauty of lawns and flowers were no more +trespassed upon than the avenues and gardens of Washington, and nobody +suffered from violence.<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_XLIX"></a>CHAPTER XLIX</p> +<p>THE SHERMAN-JOHNSTON CONVENTION</p> +<p>Sherman's earlier views of the slavery question--Opinions in +1864--War rights vs. statesmanship--Correspondence with +Halleck--Conference with Stanton at Savannah--Letter to General Robert +Anderson--Conference with Lincoln at City Point--First effect of the +assassination of the President--Situation on the Confederate side--Davis +at Danville--Cut off from Lee--Goes to Greensborough--Calls Johnston to +conference--Lee's surrender--The Greensborough meeting--Approach of +Stoneman's cavalry raid--Vance's deputation to Sherman--Davis orders +their arrest--Vance asserts his loyalty--Attempts to concentrate +Confederate forces on the Greensborough-Charlotte line--Cabinet +meeting--Overthrow of the Confederacy acknowledged--Davis still +hopeful--Yields to the cabinet--Dictates Johnston's letter to +Sherman--Sherman's reply--Meeting arranged--Sherman sends preliminary +correspondence to Washington--The Durham meeting--The negotiations--Two +points of difficulty--Second day's session--Johnston's power to promise +the disbanding of the civil government--The terms agreed +upon--Transmittal letters--Assembling the Virginia +legislature--Sherman's wish to make explicit declaration of the end of +slavery--The assassination affecting public sentiment--Sherman's +personal faith in Johnston--He sees the need of modifying the +terms--Grant's arrival.</p> +<p>To understand Sherman's negotiations with Johnston, we must recall +the general's attitude toward the rebellious States and his views on the +subject of slavery. Originally a conservative Whig in politics, +deprecating the anti-slavery agitation, as early as 1856 he had written +to his brother, "Unless people both North and South learn more +moderation, we'll 'see sights' in the way of civil war. Of course the +North have the strength and must prevail, though the people of the South +could and would be desperate enough." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Sherman Letters, p. 63.]</span> +In 1859 he was still urging concessions instead of insisting on the +absolute right, saying, "Each State has a perfect right to have its own +local policy, and a majority in Congress has an absolute right to govern +the whole country; but the North, being so strong in every sense of the +term, can well afford to be generous, even to making reasonable +concessions to the weakness and prejudices of the South." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Sherman Letters, p. 77.]</span> +He returned to the same thought in 1860, saying, "So certain and +inevitable is it that the physical and political power of this nation +must pass into the hands of the free States, that I think you all can +well afford to take things easy, bear the buffets of a sinking dynasty, +and even smile at their impotent threats." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 83.]</span></p> +<p>The world is familiar with the ringing words with which he threw +away his livelihood and turned from every attractive outlook in life, +when, Secession having actually come, he said to the governor of +Louisiana, "On no earthly account will I do any act or think any thought +hostile to or in defiance of the United States." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 106.]</span> +But he was also one of the clearest-sighted in seeing that when slavery +had appealed to the sword it would perish by the sword. In January, +1864, he expressed it tersely: "The South has made the interests of +slavery the issue of the war. If they lose the war, they lose slavery." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 222.]</span> +At the end of the same month he said, "Three years ago, by a little +reflection and patience, they could have had a hundred years of peace +and prosperity; but they preferred war. Last year they could have saved +their slaves, but now it is too late,--all the powers of earth cannot +restore to them their slaves any more than their dead grandfathers." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol, +xxxii. pt. ii. p. 280.]</span> And in the same letter, written to a +subordinate with express authority to make it known to the Southern +people within our lines, he said of certain administrative regulations: +"These are well-established principles of war, and the people of the +South, having appealed to war, are barred from appealing for protection +to our Constitution, which they have practically and publicly defied. +They have appealed to war, and must abide <i>its</i> rules and laws." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxii. pt ii. p. 279.]</span></p> +<p>Two years later Thaddeus Stevens, as radical leader in Congress, +enounced the same doctrine in no more trenchant terms. Sherman was +explicit in regard to its scope, but he differed from Stevens in the +extent to which he would go, as a matter of sound policy and +statesmanship, in applying the possible penalties of war when submission +was made. It is clear that he insisted there could be no resurrection +for slavery, and that the freedmen must be protected in life, liberty, +and property, with a true equality before the law in this protection; +but he held that they were as yet unfit for political participation in +the government, much less for the assumption of political rule in the +Southern States.</p> +<p>In a friendly letter which General Halleck wrote to Sherman +immediately after the capture of Savannah, he said with a freedom that +long intimacy permitted: "Whilst almost every one is praising your great +march through Georgia and the capture of Savannah, there is a certain +class, having now great influence with the President and very probably +anticipating still more on a change of cabinet, who are decidedly +disposed to make a point against you--I mean in regard to 'Inevitable +Sambo.' They say that you have manifested an almost <i>criminal</i> +dislike to the negro, and that you are not willing to carry out the +wishes of the government in regard to him, but repulse him with +contempt." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +vol. xliv. p. 836.]</span> In short, it was said that his march through +Georgia might have been made the means of a general exodus of the +slaves, and ought to have been.</p> +<p>Sherman made a humorous reply, saying he allowed thousands of +negroes to accompany his march, and set no limit but the necessities of +his military operations. "If it be insisted," he said, "that I shall so +conduct my operations that the negro alone is consulted, of course I +will be defeated, and then where will be Sambo? Don't military success +imply the safety of Sambo, and <i>vice versa</i>?... They gather round +me in crowds, and I can't find out whether I am Moses or Aaron or which +of the prophets. . . . The South deserves all she has got for her +injustice to the negro, but that is no reason why we should go to the +other extreme. I do and will do the best I can for negroes, and feel +sure that the problem is solving itself slowly and naturally. It needs +nothing more than our fostering care." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 36.]</span></p> +<p>The Secretary of War was broadly hinted at in Halleck's letter, but +when Mr. Stanton visited Sherman at Savannah, the latter understood that +his mind was disabused of any unfavorable impressions he may have had. +Mr. Stanton had assembled a score of the leading colored preachers as +the most intelligent representatives of their race, and examined them by +written questions respecting their hopes and desires, their attitude in +regard to military service, and in regard to living among the whites or +separately. He learned that they generally preferred to try life in a +separate community of their own, and that they were strongly opposed to +the methods by which State agents were trying to enlist them as +substitutes for men drafted in the Northern States. He even went so far +as to ask these men whether they found Sherman friendly to the colored +people's rights and interests or otherwise! The answer was that they had +confidence in the general, and thought their concerns could not be in +better hands. Some of them had called upon him on his arrival, and now +said that they did not think he could have received Mr. Stanton with +more courtesy than he showed to them. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 41.]</span> +Sherman's order relating to the allotment of sea-island lands to the +freedmen for cultivation, and to the methods of procuring their +enlistment as soldiers <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 60.]</span> was drafted while +Mr. Stanton was with him, and he affirms that every paragraph had the +Secretary's approval. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 250.]</span></p> +<p>In his feelings toward the men chiefly responsible for secession and +the war, Sherman had never measured his words when expressing his +condemnation and wrath. In a letter to General Robert Anderson, written +only a few days before meeting Johnston in negotiation, he had spoken +with deepest feeling of his satisfaction that Anderson was to raise +again the flag at Fort Sumter on April 14th (the fatal day on which also +Lincoln died), saying he was "glad that it falls to the lot of one so +pure and noble to represent our country in a drama so solemn, so +majestic, and so just." To him it looked like "a retribution decreed by +Heaven itself." Reminded by this thought of those who had caused this +horrid war, he exclaimed: "But the end is not yet. The brain that first +conceived the thought must burst in anguish, the heart that pulsated +with hellish joy must cease to beat, the hand that pulled the first +laniard must be palsied, before the wicked act begun in Charleston on +the 13th of April, 1861, is avenged. But 'mine, not thine, is +vengeance,' saith the Lord, and we poor sinners must let him work out +the drama to its close." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 107.]</span> Such was the man +who went to meet General Johnston on the 17th of April; and in +considering what he then did, we must take into the account the +principles, the convictions, and the feelings which were part of his +very nature.</p> +<p>Still further, we must remember that he had, less than three weeks +before, a personal conference with the President at City Point, and had +obtained from him personally the views he held with regard to the terms +he was prepared to grant to the several rebel States as well as to the +armies which might surrender, and the method by which he expected to +obtain an acknowledgment of submission from some legally constituted +authority, without dealing in any way with the Confederate civil +government. General Sherman is conclusive authority as to what occurred +at a conference which was in the nature of instructions to him from the +Commander-in-Chief; and the more carefully we examine contemporaneous +records, the stronger becomes the conviction that he has accurately +reported what occurred at that meeting.</p> +<p>"Mr. Lincoln was full and frank in his conversation," says Sherman, +"assuring me that in his mind he was all ready for the civil +reorganization of affairs at the South as soon as the war was over; and +he distinctly authorized me to assure Governor Vance and the people of +North Carolina that as soon as the rebel armies laid down their arms and +resumed their civil pursuits, they would at once be guaranteed all their +rights as citizens of a common country; and that to avoid anarchy, the +State governments then in existence, with their civil functionaries, +would be recognized by him as the government <i>de facto</i> till +Congress could provide others." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Sherman's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 327.]</span></p> +<p>When the general met Mr. Graham and others, he was aware that +General Weitzel at Richmond had authorized the Virginia State government +to assemble, Mr. Lincoln being on the ground. The views expressed in the +famous interview at City Point had taken practical shape. In +correspondence with Johnston while they were awaiting action on the +first convention, Sherman referred to Weitzel's action as a reason for +confidence that there would be "no trouble on the score of recognizing +existing State governments." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 266.]</span></p> +<p>With the burden of the terrible news of Lincoln's assassination, +Sherman went up to Durham Station to meet the Confederate general on the +17th of April. His grief was mingled with gloomy thoughts of the future, +for it was natural that he as well as the authorities at Washington +should at first think of the great crime as part of a system of +desperate men to destroy both the civil and the military leaders of the +country, and to disperse the armies into bands of merciless guerillas +who would try the effect of anarchy now that civilized military +operations had failed. We did injustice to the South in thinking so, but +it was inevitable that such should be the first impression. As soon as +we mingled a little with the leading soldiers and statesmen of the South +we learned better, and the period of such apprehensions was a brief +one, though terrible while it lasted.</p> +<p>But we must here consider what were the motives and purposes which, +on his part, Johnston represented, when he came from Greensborough to +meet his great opponent. To understand these we must trace rapidly the +course of events within his military lines. When Petersburg was taken +and Richmond evacuated, Mr. Davis with the members of his cabinet went +to Danville, where he remained for a few days, protected by a small +force under General H. H. Walker. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. pp. 741, 750.]</span> Beauregard +was at Greensborough, collecting detachments to resist an expedition +which General Stoneman was leading through the mountains from Tennessee. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 751.]</span> +Johnston was at Smithfield with the main body of his forces, watching +our army at Goldsborough and preparing to retreat toward Lee as soon as +the latter might escape from Grant and give a rendezvous at Danville or +Greensborough. The retreat from Petersburg made a union east of +Danville probably impracticable. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +pp. 682, 737.]</span></p> +<p>Grant's persistent and vigorous pursuit soon turned Lee away from +the Danville road at Burkesville, pushed him toward Lynchburg, and +destroyed all hope of union with Johnston. Davis had no direct +communication with Lee after reaching Danville, and his position there +being unsafe, after Grant had occupied Burkesville, he went to +Greensborough. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. pp. 750, 787.]</span> From Danville, on the +10th, he telegraphed Johnston that he had a report of the surrender of +Lee, which there was little room to doubt. He also asked Johnston to +meet him at Greensborough to confer as to future action. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 777.]</span> +The dispatch was, by some accident, prevented from reaching Johnston on +the 10th, and Davis repeated it on the 11th, so that the news reached +the Confederate headquarters only a day before we got it, on our march +from Smithfield. On the same day (11th) Davis informed Governor Vance of +the disaster, and suggested a meeting with him also. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 787.]</span> +He also forwarded to Johnston the suggestion of Beauregard (which he +approved), that all the Confederate forces north of Augusta should +concentrate at Salisbury.</p> +<p>The best evidence that Vance regarded the cause of the Confederacy +as lost is found in his resolve to send a deputation to meet Sherman +without waiting to confer with Davis. Johnston issued on the 11th his +orders for the continued march of his army westward from Raleigh along +the railroad, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 789.]</span> and himself proceeded to Greensborough by train, to have +the appointed conference. Whilst Davis and he were together on the 12th, +Stoneman's cavalry, which had been in the vicinity the day before and +had made a break in the Danville road, was heard of at Shallow Ford, on +the Yadkin, about thirty miles west. Part of the troops at +Greensborough were at once sent to Salisbury, which was about the same +distance from the Yadkin ford. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 791.]</span> At the same time came a cipher dispatch from Colonel +Anderson of Johnston's staff, whom the latter had left at Raleigh, +saying that Governor Vance was sending Messrs. Graham and Swain to meet +Sherman, presumably by permission of Hardee, who was senior officer in +Johnston's absence. Colonel Anderson had taken the responsibility of +asking Hampton not to let them pass his cavalry outposts. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 791.]</span> By Davis's direction, Johnston at once +telegraphed Hardee to arrest the delegation and to permit no intercourse +with us except under proper military flag of truce. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid.</i>]</span> Vance +was of course informed by Hardee, and replied that he intended nothing +subversive of Davis's prerogative or without consulting him. He also +said that Johnston was aware of his purpose. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 792.]</span> +In saying further, however, that the initiative had been on Sherman's +part, he was dissembling. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +See the letters, <i>Id.</i>, p. 178.]</span> The difficulty put in the +way of his representatives in getting beyond the Confederate lines is +thus accounted for, as well as his failure to remain in Raleigh on our +arrival. Davis found it politic to accept the explanation, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 792.]</span> +but we may safely assume that the matter was discussed between him and +Johnston, and that it led to its discussion with his cabinet also; for +Johnston remained with him till the 14th, leaving to Hardee the +direction of the army on the march, which was ordered to be pressed +towards Greensborough. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pp. 796, 797.]</span> The troops at Danville were called to the same +rendezvous, and General Echols, with those in West Virginia, was ordered +to make his way through the mountains to the northwestern part of South +Carolina. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pp. 795, 796.]</span></p> +<p>In a formal conference with his advisers on the 13th (Thursday), all +of the cabinet officers except Benjamin declared themselves of +Johnston's and Beauregard's opinion, that a further prosecution of the +war was hopeless; that the Southern Confederacy was in fact overthrown, +and that the wise thing to do was to make at once the best terms +possible. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Johnston's +Narrative, pp. 397-400.]</span> Davis argued that the crisis might rouse +the Southern people to new and desperate efforts, and that overtures for +peace on the basis of submission were premature. The general opinion, +however, was so strong against him that he reluctantly yielded, and, to +make sure that he should not be committed further than he meant, he +himself dictated, and Mr. Mallory, the Secretary of the Navy, wrote, +the letter to Sherman, signed by Johnston, asking for an armistice +between all the armies, if General Grant would consent, "the object +being to permit the civil authorities to enter into the needful +arrangements to terminate the existing war." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 206.]</span> The form of each sentence of the letter +is significant, in view of its authorship, but most so is the plain +meaning of that just quoted, to make a complete surrender upon such +terms as the National government should dictate. In like manner the +opening sentence, "The results of the recent campaign in Virginia have +changed the relative military condition of the belligerents," was a +confession in diplomatic form of final defeat. Before sending the letter +to Sherman, Johnston copied it with his own hand, in order, no doubt, +to have a duplicate for his own protection, as well as to preserve +secrecy. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: The only +difference is that in his copy he put the date of the 13th at its head +(the true date), whilst the original which he says he sent to Sherman +(Narr., p. 400) was dated the 14th, when it would be sent from his +outposts; a bit of forethought on Mr. Davis's part, which guarded +against Sherman's suspicion that it had been prepared at a distance and +had travelled more than a day's journey. Both of the duplicates are in +the war archives, that written by Mr. Mallory having the indorsement in +Sherman's own hand of its receipt on the 14th. (Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 206, note.) In the Records Sherman's indorsement of +the receipt of Johnston's dispatch is "12 night." This seems to be a +clerical error, and should be "noon." (See <i>Id</i>., pp. 209, 215, +216, and Sherman's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 346.) Mr. Davis's account is not +inconsistent with Johnston's, which he had seen. (Rise and Fall, vol. +ii. pp. 681, 684.)]</span></p> +<p>Sherman lost not a moment in answering, 1st, that he had power and +was willing to arrange a suspension of hostilities between the armies +under their respective commands, indicating a halt on both sides on the +15th; 2d, that he offered as a basis the terms given Lee at Appomattox: +3d, interpreting Johnston's reference to "other armies" which he desired +the truce to include as referring to Stoneman (whom we had heard of in +Raleigh as burning railway bridges on both sides of Greensborough <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 197.]</span>), he said that Stoneman was under his +command, and that he would obtain from Grant a suspension of other +movements from Virginia. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +p. 207.]</span> All this was strictly within the limits of Sherman's +military authority and discretion.</p> +<p>The 15th of April (Saturday) was a day of pouring rain, making the +roads almost impassable for wagons, as they were already cut up by the +retreating army and by our advance. Sherman expected a reply from +Johnston early, for he had directed Kilpatrick on Friday afternoon to +send his answer at once to the Confederate lines. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 215.]</span> +He was annoyed at the delay, and sent up Major McCoy of his staff to +Morrisville on the railway, where Kilpatrick's headquarters were, taking +with him a telegraph operator to open an office there. But Kilpatrick +had gone to his own outposts toward Hillsborough, and his staff seem to +have been in no hurry to forward Sherman's letter, so that it was +delivered to Hampton at sundown of the 15th instead of the 14th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 222, 233, +234.]</span> A locomotive engine was sent to McCoy on Sunday (16th), and +with it he went on to Durham, taking his telegrapher along. Some +torpedoes had been found on the road below, and McCoy diminished the +risk from any others, by putting some empty cars ahead of the locomotive +to explode them if there should be any. He got through safely, however, +found Kilpatrick at Durham, opened telegraphic communication with +headquarters at Raleigh, was authorized to read and transmit by the +wire Johnston's reply, and so was able before night to give his +impatiently waiting chief the Confederate general's proposal to meet in +conference between the lines next morning, and to return Sherman's +consent. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. pp. 229-231.]</span></p> +<p>Meanwhile Kilpatrick had been sending dispatches saying he did not +believe Johnston could be trusted, that his whole army was marching on, +that the delay was a ruse to gain time, and that no confidence could be +placed "in the word of a rebel, no matter what may be his position. He +is but a traitor at best." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 224, 233.]</span> Sherman answered: "I have faith in General +Johnston's personal sincerity, and do not believe he would use a +subterfuge to cover his movements. He could not stop the movement of his +troops till he got my letter, which I hear was delayed all day +yesterday by your adjutants' not sending it forward." His faith in +Johnston's honorable dealing was justified, but the delay had brought +the Confederate infantry to the neighborhood of Greensborough. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 234. Also +Johnston's Narrative, p. 401.]</span></p> +<p>On the 15th Sherman had sent both to Grant and to the Secretary of +War copies of Johnston's overture and his own answer. He added that he +should "be careful not to complicate any points of civil policy;" that +he had invited Governor Vance to return to Raleigh with the civil +officers of the State, and that ex-Governor Graham, Messrs. Badger, +Moore, Holden, and others all agreed "that the war is over and that the +States of the South must resume their allegiance, subject to the +Constitution and laws of Congress, and that the military power of the +South must submit to the National arms. This great fact once admitted," +he said, "all the details are easy of arrangement." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 221.]</span> He directed this to be sent by a swift +steamer to Fort Monroe and from there by telegraph to Washington. As +this dispatch was sent part of the way by telegraph, it should have +reached Washington more than three days ahead of the convention signed +on the 18th and carried to the capital by Major Hitchcock, who left +Raleigh in the night of that day:<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 246.]</span> but no answer +seems to have been made to it, unless it be in a dispatch of Grant on +the 20th in which he directed the movement of Howard's and Slocum's +armies to City Point in case Johnston surrendered. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 257.]</span></p> +<p>On Monday (April 17th), with the burden of the knowledge of +Lincoln's assassination on his mind, Sherman went up to Durham by rail, +accompanied by a few officers. There he met General Kilpatrick, who +furnished a cavalry company as an escort, and led-horses to mount the +party. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. +234, 235.]</span> The bearer of the flag of truce and a trumpeter were in +advance, followed by part of the escort, the general and his officers +came next, the little cavalcade closing with the rest of the escort in +due order. They rode about five miles on the Hillsborough road, when +they met General Wade Hampton advancing with a flag from the other +side. The house of a Mr. Bennett, near by, was made the place of +conference. When Sherman and Johnston were alone, the dispatch +announcing Mr. Lincoln's murder was shown the Confederate, and as he +read it, Sherman tells us, beads of perspiration stood out on his +forehead, his face showed the horror and distress he felt, and he +denounced the act as a disgrace to the age. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 349,]</span> +Both realized the danger that terrible results would follow if +hostilities should be resumed, and both were impelled to yield whatever +seemed possible to bring the war to an immediate end. In this +praiseworthy spirit their discussion was carried on, Johnston saying +that "the greatest possible calamity to the South had happened." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Johnston's Narrative, p. +402.]</span></p> +<p>Johnston's first point was that his proposal of the 14th had been +that the civil authorities should negotiate as to the terms of peace, +while the armistice should continue. Sherman could not deal with the +Confederate civil government or recognize it. It could only dissolve and +vanish when the separate states should make their submission, and these +were the only governments <i>de facto</i> with whom dealings could be +had. Postponing this matter, they proceeded to the practical one,--the +terms that could be assured to the armies of the South and to the States.</p> +<p>Here they found themselves not far apart. As to the troops, nothing +more liberal could be asked than the terms already given to Lee. Sherman +knew of Mr. Lincoln's willingness that the State governments should +continue to act, if they began by declaring the Confederacy dissolved by +defeat, and the authority of the United States recognized and +acknowledged. He had no knowledge of any change in the policy of the +government in this respect, and what he had said to Governor Vance's +delegation was satisfactory to both negotiators.</p> +<p>But how as to amnesty? Here Sherman was also able to give Lincoln's +own words, declaring his desire that the people in general should be +assured of all their rights of life, liberty, and property, and the +political rights of citizens of a common country on their complete +submission. Lincoln wanted no more lives sacrificed, and would use his +power to make amnesty complete. He could not control the legislative or +the judicial department of the government, but he spoke for himself as +executive. An agreement was easy here also.</p> +<p>What, then, as to slavery? Sherman regarded it utterly dead in the +regions occupied by the Confederates at the time of the Emancipation +Proclamation (Jan. 1, 1863), and Johnston frankly admitted that +surrender in view of the whole situation acknowledged the end of the +system which had been the great stake in the war. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 243.]</span> The Thirteenth Amendment of the +Constitution, abolishing slavery, had then been accepted by twenty +States, Arkansas did so three days later, and the six Northern States +which had been delayed in action upon it were as certain to ratify as +that a little time should roll round. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Rickey's Constitution, p. +43.]</span> It was therefore no figure of speech to say that slavery was +dead: Sherman, Johnston, and Breckinridge knew it to be true. But +Johnston urged that to secure the prompt and peaceful acquiescence of +the whole South, it was undesirable to force upon them irritating +acknowledgments even of what they tacitly admitted to themselves was +true; further, that the subject was not included in the scope of a +military convention. If slavery was in fact abolished by Mr. Lincoln's +proclamation, it was for Congress and the courts so to declare it, and +two soldiers arranging the surrender had no call to assert all the legal +consequences which would flow from the act. Sherman yielded to this +argument, not from any doubt as to the fact of freedom, but from a +certainty of it so complete that he would not prolong dispute to obtain +a formal assent to it. He was the more ready to do so as he insisted +that he acted simply as the representative of the Executive as +Commander-in-Chief, and neither could nor would promise immunity from +prosecutions under indictments or confiscation-laws. He said also that +whilst he agreed with Mr. Lincoln in hoping no executions or long +imprisonments would occur, he advised the leading men in the Confederate +Government to get out of the country.</p> +<p>As to the disposal of the arms in the hands of the Confederate +soldiers from North Carolina to Texas, both knew that little of +practical moment depended on the form of the agreement. So many arms +were thrown away, so many were concealed by soldiers who loved the +weapons they had carried, that even in our own ranks no satisfactory +collection of them could be made. But a real and present apprehension +with both officers was the scattering of armed men in guerilla bands. If +the law-abiding were disarmed and those who scattered and refused to +give up their weapons were at large, how could the States preserve the +peace? To this point Sherman said he attached most importance. This was +not an afterthought when defending his action; he wrote it to Grant in +the letter transmitting the terms when they were made. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 243.]</span> The same thought was forced home on the +Confederates by their experience at the time. Before the negotiations +were finally concluded, bands of paroled men from Lee's army, and +stragglers were able to stop trains on the railroad on which Johnston's +army was dependent for supplies, and it would have been intolerable to +leave the country at the mercy of that class. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 818, 819.]</span> +To keep the troops of each State under discipline till they deposited +the arms at State capitals, where United States garrisons would be, and +where the final disposal of them would be "subject to the future action +of Congress," seemed prudent and safe; and this was agreed to. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 243, 244.]</span></p> +<p>In the first day's conference it seemed clear that the generals +could easily agree upon all they thought essential, except the exclusion +of Mr. Davis and his chief civil officers from any part in the +negotiations and making the terms of amnesty general. An adjournment to +Tuesday was had to give Johnston time to consult with General +Breckinridge, the Secretary of War, and for Sherman to reflect further +on the amnesty question. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Sherman's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 350; Johnston's Narrative, p. 404.]</span> +As soon as the latter reached Raleigh, he dispatched to Grant, through a +staff officer at New Berne, a brief report of the "full and frank +interchange of opinions" with Johnston. "He evidently seeks to make +terms for Jeff. Davis and his cabinet," he said. The adjournment was +mentioned with its reason; and to negative any thought that he might +neglect military advantages by the delay, he said, "We lose nothing in +time, as by agreement both armies stand still, and the roads are drying +up, so that if I am forced to pursue, we will be able to make better +speed. There is great danger that the Confederate armies will dissolve +and fill the whole land with robbers and assassins, and I think this is +one of the difficulties that Johnston labors under. The assassination of +Mr. Lincoln shows one of the elements in the rebel army which will be +almost as difficult to deal with as the main armies." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 237.]</span></p> +<p>When the two generals met again on Tuesday, General Breckinridge was +with Johnston's party, and the latter requested that he might take part +in the conference; but Sherman adhered to his position that he would +deal only with the military officers and objected to Breckinridge as +Secretary of War. Johnston suggested that he might be present simply as +a general officer, but adding that his personal relations to Mr. Davis +would greatly aid in securing final approval of anything to which he +assented. With this understanding he was allowed to be present. Mr. +Reagan, Postmaster-General, had also come with Breckinridge to General +Hampton's headquarters, but did not proceed further. He was busy there, +Johnston tells us, in throwing into form the terms which the general +thought were fairly included in the conversational comparison of views +on the previous day, with the exception of the amnesty, which was made +general without exceptions. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Johnston's Narrative, p. 404.]</span> This must, of course, have been +from notes written at Johnston's dictation.</p> +<p>Sherman was now informed that the Confederate general had authority +to negotiate a military convention for the surrender of all the +Confederate armies, and that if the terms could be agreed upon, the +Davis government would disband, like the armies, and use the influence +of its members to secure the submission of all the several States. +Johnston, on his part, would be content with the conclusions informally +reached on Monday, except that he wanted the principle inserted of +amnesty without exceptions. Mr. Reagan's draft was produced and read. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 806.]</span> It contained a preamble stating motives +for the action proposed, and professed to be no more than a basis for +further negotiation. A note appended to it referred to several things +necessary to a conclusion of the business which might be subsequently +added. The preamble, as well as this note, was no proper part of the +terms, and Sherman entirely objected to any preamble of the kind, +wishing to include only the things necessary to an agreement. He +therefore took his pen, and then and there wrote off rapidly his own +expression of the points he had intended to agree to, but explicitly as +a "memorandum or basis" for submission to their principals.</p> +<p>They were, <i>First</i>, the continuance of the armistice, +terminable on short notice; <i>Second</i>, the disbanding of all the +Confederate armies under parol and deposit of their arms subject to the +control of the National government; <i>Third</i>, recognition by the +Executive of existing State governments; <i>Fourth</i>, +re-establishment of Federal Courts; <i>Fifth</i>, guaranty for the +future of general rights of person, property, and political rights "so +far as the Executive can;" <i>Sixth</i>, freedom for the people from +disturbance on account of the past, by "the Executive authority of the +government;" the <i>seventh</i> item was a general résumé +of results aimed at. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p 243.]</span> The most striking difference between this statement and +that which Mr. Reagan had drawn, besides the omission of the preamble, +was the express limitation of the proposed action by the powers of the +National executive, with neither promise nor suggestion as to what the +courts or Congress might or might not do.</p> +<p>In transmitting the memorandum through General Grant, Sherman wrote +that the point to which he attached most importance was "that the +dispersion and disbandment of those armies is done in such a manner as +to prevent their breaking up into guerilla bands," whilst there was no +restriction on our right to military occupation. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 243.]</span> As to slavery, he said, "Both generals +Johnston and Breckinridge admitted that slavery was dead, and I could +not insist on embracing it in such a paper, because it can be made with +the States in detail." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid.</i>]</span> +He also referred to the financial question, and the necessity of +stopping war expenditures and getting the officers and men of the army +home to work. Writing to Halleck as chief of staff at the same time, he +referred to the same topics, expressed his belief, from all he saw and +heard, that "even Mr. Davis was not privy to the diabolical plot" of +assassination, but that it was "the emanation of a set of young men of +the South who are very devils." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +p. 245.]</span> He told Halleck that Johnston informed him that +Stoneman's cavalry had been at Salisbury, but was then near Statesville, +which was on the road back to Tennessee, about forty miles west of +Salisbury and double that distance west of Greensborough.</p> +<p>A week now intervened, in which the important papers were journeying +to Washington and the orders of the government coming back. On the 20th +Sherman had occasion to inform Johnston of steps he had taken to enforce +the details of the truce, and as evidence that he had not mistaken Mr. +Lincoln's views in regard to the State governments, he enclosed a late +paper showing that "in Virginia the State authorities are acknowledged +and invited to resume their lawful functions." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 257.]</span> +The convention seemed therefore in harmony with the course actually +pursued by the administration at Washington, and the negotiators were +justified in feeling reassured.</p> +<p>Another day passed, and as other incidents in the relations of the +armies needed to be communicated to Johnston, Sherman recurred again to +the encouraging feature of the leave to assemble the Virginia +legislature, but added some reflections on points which he thought might +require more explicit treatment than they had given, and he suggested +Johnston's conference with the best Southern men, so that he might be +ready to act without delay if modifications should be required in the +final convention. "It may be," he said, "that the lawyers will want us +to define more minutely what is meant by the guaranty of rights of +person and property. It may be construed into a compact for us to undo +the past as to the rights of slaves, and 'leases of plantations' on the +Mississippi, of 'vacant and abandoned' plantations. I wish you would +talk to the best men you have on these points, and if possible, let us, +in the final convention, make these points so clear as to leave no room +for angry controversy. I believe if the South would simply and publicly +declare what we all feel, that slavery is dead, that you would +inaugurate an era of peace and prosperity that would soon efface the +ravages of the past four years of war. Negroes would remain in the South +and afford you abundance of cheap labor, which otherwise will be driven +away, and it will save the country the senseless discussions which have +kept us all in hot water for fifty years. Although, strictly speaking, +this is no subject of a military convention, yet I am honestly convinced +that our simple declaration of a result will be accepted as good law +everywhere. Of course I have not a single word from Washington on this +or any other point of our agreement, but I know the effect of such a +step by us will be universally accepted." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 266.]</span></p> +<p>On the same day (21st), he was replying to a letter from an +acquaintance of former days residing at Wilmington. In this reply he +spoke out more vigorously his own sentiments: "The idea of war to +perpetuate slavery in the year 1861 was an insult to the intelligence of +the age." War being begun by the South, "it was absurd to suppose we +were bound to respect that kind of property or any kind of property. . . +. The result is nearly accomplished, and is what you might have +foreseen." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 271.]</span></p> +<p>On the 23d he sent a bundle of newspapers to Johnston and Hardee, +giving the developments of the assassination plot and the hopes that the +Sewards would recover. In the unofficial note accompanying them, he +said: "The feeling North on this subject is more intense than anything +that ever occurred before. General Ord at Richmond has recalled the +permission given for the Virginia legislature, and I fear much the +assassination of the President will give a bias to the popular mind +which, in connection with the desire of our politicians, may thwart our +purpose of recognizing 'existing local governments.' But it does seem to +me there must be good sense enough left on this continent to give order +and shape to the now disjointed elements of government. I believe this +assassination of Mr. Lincoln will do the cause of the South more harm +than any event of the war, both at home and abroad, and I doubt if the +Confederate military authorities had any more complicity with it than I +had. I am thus frank with you, and have asserted as much to the War +Department. But I dare not say as much for Mr. Davis or some of the +civil functionaries, for it seems the plot was fixed for March 4, but +delayed awaiting some instructions from Richmond." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 287.]</span></p> +<p>The whole tenor of this letter speaks most clearly the faith which +personal intercourse with Johnston had given Sherman in his honor and +his sincerity of desire that the war should end. The same had been +expressed in an official note of the same date in which Sherman had said +in regard to his directions to General Wilson in Georgia: "I have almost +exceeded the bounds of prudence in checking him without the means of +direct communication, and only did so on my absolute faith in your +personal character." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 286.]</span> The faith was not misplaced and was not disappointed.</p> +<p>The correspondence thus quoted reveals to us Sherman's thoughts from +day to day, the real opinions and sentiments which he intended to embody +in the convention, and his recognition of the probability that its +provisions would need more explicit definition before the final acts of +negotiation. It shows, too, how frank he was in warning Johnston that +the terrible crime at Washington had changed the situation. It seems +indisputable that this open-hearted dealing between the generals made it +much easier for them to come together on the final terms, by having +revealed to Johnston the motives and convictions which animated his +opponent in seeking the blessing of peace as well as in applying the +scourge of war.</p> +<p>As further evidence of what Sherman told us, his subordinates, of +the terms agreed upon, I quote the entry in my diary of what I +understood them to be, on the 19th, the day following the signing of the +convention, after personal conversation with the general: "Johnston's +army is to separate, the troops going to their several States; at the +State capitals they are to surrender their arms and all public property. +Part of the arms are to be left to the State governments and the rest +turned over to the United States. The officers and soldiers are not to +be punished by the United States Government for their part in the war, +but all are left liable to private prosecutions and indictments in the +courts." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. p. 938.]</span></p> +<p>In the evening of the 23d Sherman heard of the arrival at Morehead +City of Major Hitchcock, his messenger to Washington, and he at once +notified Johnston that the dispatches would reach him in the morning. He +asked the latter to be ready "to resume negotiations when the contents +of the dispatches are known." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pt. ii. p. 287.]</span> When Major Hitchcock came up on a night train +reaching Raleigh at six in the morning, to Sherman's great surprise +General Grant came also, unheralded and unannounced. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 286.]</span><br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_L"></a>CHAPTER L</p> +<p>THE SECOND SHERMAN--JOHNSTON CONVENTION--SURRENDER</p> +<p>Davis's last cabinet meeting--Formal opinions approving the +"Basis"--"The Confederacy is conquered"--Grant brings disapproval from +the Johnston administration--Sherman gives notice of the termination of +the truce--No military disadvantage from it--Sherman's vindication of +himself--Grant's admirable conduct--Johnston advises Davis to +yield--Capitulation assented to, but a volunteer cavalry force to +accompany Davis's flight--A new conference at Durham--Davis's imaginary +treasure--Grant's return to Washington--Terms of the parole given by +Johnston's army--The capitulation complete--Schofield and his army to +carry out the details--The rest of Sherman's army marches north--His +farewell to Johnston--Order announcing the end of the war--Johnston's +fine reply--Stanton's strange dispatch to the newspapers--Its tissue of +errors--Its baseless objections--Sherman's exasperation--Interference +with his military authority over his subordinates--Garbling Grant's +dispatch--Sherman strikes back--Breach between Sherman and Halleck--It +also grew out of the published matter--Analysis of the facts--My opinion +as recorded at the time.</p> +<p>When Grant reached Sherman's headquarters on the morning of the 24th +of April, Johnston had not yet been notified of the action of the +Confederate government as to the agreed "Basis" of surrender. Having got +Sherman's dispatch of the evening before, he telegraphed to General +Breckinridge, the Secretary of War at Greensborough, that there must be +immediate readiness to act. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 834.]</span> Breckinridge, +however, had gone to Charlotte, about eighty miles down the road, near +the South Carolina line, where Mr. Davis held the last meeting of his +cabinet, and procured from each of them his formal, written opinion and +advice. Davis himself now telegraphed the result to Johnston, saying: +"Your action is approved. You will so inform General Sherman, and if the +like authority be given by the Government of the United States to +complete the arrangement, you will proceed on the 'Basis' adopted." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 834.]</span> He added that further instructions would +be given as to the subordinate details which, by common consent, must be +added to the "Basis" to perfect it.</p> +<p>The cabinet opinions were unanimous in favor of approving the +"Basis." Benjamin's, Reagan's, and Attorney-General Davis's were dated +the 22d, Breckinridge's the 23d, and Mallory's the 24th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 821, 823, +827, 830, 832.]</span></p> +<p>In varying words they all admitted what Mallory put most tersely, in +saying "The Confederacy is conquered." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 833.]</span> +Several of them discussed the possibility of carrying on a guerilla +warfare, but could see in it no useful result. They agreed that if +Johnston retreated to the Gulf States, the troops would disperse +spontaneously. Virginia and North Carolina would separately withdraw +from the Confederacy, and the other States would follow. Benjamin +expressed the common opinion that the terms of the convention "exact +only what the victor always requires,--the relinquishment by his foe of +the object for which the struggle was commenced." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 822.]</span> +He also well formulated their judgment that, as political head, Davis +could not make peace by dissolving the Confederacy; but as +commander-in-chief he could ratify the military convention disbanding +the armies. "He can end hostilities. The States alone can act in +dissolving the Confederacy and returning to the Union according to the +terms of the convention." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Ibid.</i>]</span> +Reagan alone spoke of hopes that by submission the States might procure +advantages not mentioned in the "Basis," and found comfort in the fact +that it contained "no direct reference to the question of slavery." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 824.]</span> Taken together, these important documents +contain the strongest possible admission of the utter ruin of the +Confederacy and of the simple truth that there was nothing left for +them but to surrender at discretion, with such dignity as they might. Of +themselves the cabinet opinions changed the situation, and made it +impossible to resume plans of further resistance after the convention +was rejected at Washington. With them the Confederate Government +vanished.</p> +<p>For it was a disapproval that Grant had brought. On receiving the +"Memorandum, or Basis," from Sherman, on the 21st, he had at once seen +that the latter had acted in ignorance of the facts: first, that Mr. +Lincoln had himself, two days before his death, withdrawn the permission +for the Virginia legislature to assemble; and second, that he had, a +month before Lee's surrender, directed that military negotiations should +not treat of any subject of civil policy. In view, therefore, of the +tendency to severity which followed the assassination, it was evident +that the convention would not be approved, and, as soon as action had +been taken by the President in cabinet meeting, Grant wrote a calm and +friendly letter to Sherman, in explanation of the rejection of the +"Basis," inclosing Stanton's formal notice and order to resume +hostilities. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pp. 263, 264.]</span> These were intrusted to Major Hitchcock, but, as +we have seen, Grant accompanied the messenger in person.</p> +<p>Sherman having, only the day before, learned of the change of policy +with regard to Virginia, and notified Johnston of its probable effect, +was prepared in part for the disapproval, and was personally glad to be +rid of political negotiation. He made no objection or remonstrance, but +even before discussing the subject with Grant, wrote his notice to +Johnston of the termination of the truce within forty-eight hours, as +agreed. With this he sent a note stating his orders "not to attempt +civil negotiations," and demanding surrender of Johnston's own army "on +the same terms as were given General Lee at Appomattox." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. pp. 293, 294.]</span> These dispatches were dated at six +in the morning of the 24th, a few minutes after Grant's arrival. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Grant to Stanton, <i>Id</i>., +p. 293.]</span></p> +<p>Sherman then explained to the General-in-Chief the military +situation, the position of his several corps, his readiness to make the +race with Johnston for Charlotte, the completed repair of the railroad +through Raleigh to Durham, the accumulation of supplies, and the +improved condition of the country roads. The truce had worked him no +disadvantage from a military standpoint, but the contrary. The only +thing which annoyed him in the dispatches from Washington was the last +sentence in Mr. Stanton's communication to Grant, saying, "The President +desires that you proceed immediately to the headquarters of General +Sherman and direct operations against the enemy." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 263.]</span> +The implication in this was a distrust of him which was wholly unjust, +and he replied to it, "I had flattered myself that by four years' +patient, unremitting, and successful labor I deserved no such reminder." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 302.]</span> +In a letter to Grant of the same date he put upon record the fact that +he had reason to suppose that his "Memorandum" accurately reflected Mr. +Lincoln's ideas and purposes, and that he was wholly uninformed of the +instructions in regard to negotiating upon civil questions. He stood by +his opinions on the propriety of using the <i>de facto</i> governments +in the separate States as agents of submission for their people. He +pointed out that the military convention did not meddle with the right +of the courts to punish past crimes, and stated that he admitted the +need of clearer definition as to the guaranty of rights of person and +property. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Ibid.</i>]</span> +The points he thus discussed were those he got from Grant orally, for he +had, as yet, no other knowledge of the criticisms made by President +Johnson or his cabinet.</p> +<p>Grant's sincere friendship and his freedom from the least desire to +exhibit his own power had made him act as a visitor rather than a +commander. He appreciated Sherman's perfect readiness to accept the +methods dictated by the civil authorities, and saw that his zeal was as +ardent as it was at Atlanta or Savannah. The results of the honest +frankness of the dealings between Sherman and Johnston were speedily +seen. The Confederate general perfectly understood the meaning of the +notice to end the truce, and that his great opponent would do his +military duty to the uttermost. Whilst ordering his army to be ready to +move at the expiration of the truce, he also declared to Mr. Davis, in +asking for instructions, that it were better to yield than to have +Sherman's army again traverse the country. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 835.]</span> Davis suggested, through Breckinridge, +that the infantry and artillery might be disbanded, but the cavalry and +horse-batteries brought off to accompany the high civil officers who +would try to reach the Southwest. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Ibid.</i>]</span> +Johnston replied that this would only provide for saving these +functionaries from captivity. This might be done by Mr. Davis moving +with a smaller cavalry escort, without losing a moment. To save the +people, the country, and the army, an honorable military capitulation +ought to be made before the expiration of the armistice. He said that +his subordinate commanders did not believe their troops would fight +again, and that news was received of the fall of Mobile, with 3,000 +prisoners, and the capture of Macon, with a number of prominent +generals. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +P. 836.]</span> Early on the 25th Breckinridge assented to the +capitulation, but directed that General Wade Hampton, with the mounted +men who chose to follow him, might join the President. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 837.]</span> +Upon this, Johnston wrote Sherman, asking that instead of a surrender +and disbanding in the field, his army might have the arrangement for +going home in organizations which had been made by the Memorandum of the +18th, giving as a reason that Lee's paroled men were already afflicting +the country, collecting in bands which had no means of subsistence but +robbery. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 304.]</span> Sherman then appointed a +new conference at Durham, for the 26th, at noon. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>.]</span> He had +learned from Grant that it was believed at Washington that Davis had +with him a large treasure in specie, making for Cuba by way of Florida, +and sent at once a dispatch to Admiral Dahlgren, naval commander at +Charleston, asking that officer to try to intercept him. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 310.]</span></p> +<p>General Grant's complete satisfaction with Sherman's personal +attitude and readiness to accept the action of the President was shown +in his wish to return at once to Washington. He prepared to start from +Raleigh on the morning of the 26th, taking a steamer from New Berne on +arriving there. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 309.]</span> He expected, of course that the surrender would be +completed and the result telegraphed him by the time his vessel was +ready to start, but he was also moved by delicacy toward Sherman and the +desire to relieve him from every appearance of supervision which his +stay at Raleigh might give. Sherman, however, was also chivalrous, and +requested Grant not to leave till he should see the capitulation +finally signed. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 312.]</span> All this, it must be remembered, was in entire ignorance +of the follies perpetrated at the War Department during those days.</p> +<p>The hour fixed for the new conference at Durham was the same at +which the armistice would expire; but Sherman, having the troops in +readiness to start at a moment's notice, ordered that no movement should +be made till his return. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 314.]</span> An accident to his railroad delayed Johnston two or +three hours, but on his arrival a brief conference satisfied him that +the only course to pursue was to surrender on the terms given to Lee, +and to trust to Sherman's assurance that such arrangements would be made +in executing the capitulation as would guard against the evils of the +dispersion of his army without means of subsistence, which both +officers justly feared. As in Lee's case the language used avoided terms +which implied being prisoners of war even momentarily, but provided +that after delivering the arms to an ordnance officer at Greensborough +(excepting side-arms of officers) and giving an "individual obligation +not to take up arms against the Government of the United States, . . . +all the officers and men will be permitted to return to their homes, +not to be disturbed by the United States authorities so long as they +observe their obligation and the laws in force where they may reside." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 313.]</span></p> +<p>At half-past seven in the evening Grant was able to write his +dispatch to Stanton, Secretary of War, that the surrender was complete, +and by using the telegraph to New Berne and Morehead City, and from Fort +Monroe to Washington, the news reached Washington at ten in the morning +of the 28th. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 311.]</span> The same evening, and by same means of transmittal, he +also informed Halleck at Richmond of the surrender, and recalled all his +troops out of Sherman's theatre of operations. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: On April 16th Halleck had +been assigned to command the Department of Virginia, thus relieving him +of duty as chief of staff of the army in which General Rawlins succeeded +him. On April 19th his command was made the Military Division of the +James, including besides Virginia such parts of North Carolina as +Sherman should not occupy. (Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt, iii. pp. +230, 250.) In reading the Official Records of this period, it must be +borne constantly in mind that from two to four days was required to +convey dispatches from Sherman to the War Department and <i>vice versa</i>,--the +longer time in case they were sent by mail, and the shorter when use +was made in part of the telegraph lines.]</span> After hearing the +details of Sherman's conversations with Johnston, and approving the +suggestions of liberal arrangements looking to getting the Confederate +troops quickly and quietly back to peaceful industry at their homes, +Grant parted with us at Raleigh on the 27th, and returned as rapidly as +possible to Washington, where the influence of his calm judgment and +executive ability was sorely needed.</p> +<p>The orders for National forces in North Carolina except Schofield's +troops to march homeward were issued on the 27th. Kilpatrick's division +of cavalry was attached to Schofield's command, and the Army of the Ohio +thus reinforced was left to garrison the Department of North Carolina. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 323.]</span> To General Schofield was also intrusted +the preparation of the printed paroles for all the troops included in +the capitulation, so that there might be uniformity. To him also was +committed the conclusion of the supplementary terms needed for the +liberal execution of the convention, as had been discussed at the +personal meeting of the commanders, at which he had been present. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 320, 322.]</span> +Johnston sent in a draft of what he had understood to be thus informally +arranged, the most important items of which were the "loan" to the +Confederates of their army animals and wagons for farming purposes, the +retention of a portion of their arms to enforce order and discipline +till the separate organizations should reach their homes, and the +extension of the privileges of the convention to naval officers of the +Confederacy. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 321.]</span> With slight modifications these were accepted by General +Schofield and carried out. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +pp. 350, 355, 482.]</span> A large issue of rations to Johnston's troops +had been voluntarily added without any request or stipulation. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Schofield's Forty-six Years +in the Army, p. 352, etc.; Sherman's Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. 362, 363; +Johnston's Narrative, pp. 412-420. General Schofield's recollection is +that he wrote the convention of the 26th, Johnston and Sherman being +unable to agree: but as it was in substance a transcript of the +Grant-Lee terms of April 9th, according to Sherman's note to Johnston of +the 24th demanding their acceptance "purely and simply" (Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 294), the account I have given seems to +me best supported by all the evidence.]</span> Both parties understood +that Johnston's command included all Confederate troops east of the +Chattahoochee, though this is not stated in the terms. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Grant to Halleck, Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 312; Johnston to York, <i>Id.</i>, p. +854; Do. to Governor Brown, <i>Id.</i>, p. 855. Sherman's Field Order +No. 65, <i>Id.</i>, p. 322.]</span> At the earnest request of the +Confederate general, none of our troops were sent up to Greensborough, +where his headquarters and principal camp were, until the printing of +the paroles was completed and staff officers sent to issue them on April +30th. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. +349, 350, 35l. 483.]</span> Sherman wrote a farewell letter to Johnston +on the 27th, telling of his instructions to General Schofield to give +him ten days' rations for 25,000 men, "to facilitate what you and I and +all good men desire, the return to their homes of the officers and men +composing your army." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 320.]</span> He spoke also of his directions to "loan" to them enough +animals fit for farming purposes to insure a crop. Concluding, he said: +"Now that war is over, I am as willing to risk my person and reputation +as heretofore, to heal the wounds made by the past war, and I think my +feeling is shared by the whole army. I also think a similar feeling +actuates the mass of your army, but there are some unthinking young men +who have no sense or experience, that unless controlled may embroil +their neighbors. If we are forced to deal with them, it must be with +severity, but I hope they will be managed by the people of the South." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid.</i>]</span> His +Field Order No. 65, announcing the end of war east of the Chattahoochee, +referred to the same purpose "to relieve present wants and to encourage +the inhabitants to renew their peaceful pursuits and to restore the +relations of friendship among our fellow-citizens and countrymen." He +directed that "great care must be taken that all the terms and +stipulations on our part be fulfilled with the most scrupulous +fidelity, whilst those imposed on our hitherto enemies be received in a +spirit becoming a brave and generous army." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 322]</span></p> +<p>A copy of this order was enclosed in Sherman's letter to Johnston, +and the latter replied in a similar noble tone. "The enlarged patriotism +manifested in these papers," he said, "reconciles me to what I had +previously regarded as the misfortune of my life--that of having had you +to encounter in the field. The enlightened and humane policy you have +adopted will certainly be successful. It is fortunate for the people of +North Carolina that your views are to be carried out by one so capable +of appreciating them. I hope you are as well represented in the other +departments of your command; if so, an early and complete pacification +in it may be expected.... The disposition you express to heal the wounds +made by the past war has been evident to me in all our interviews. You +are right in supposing that similar feelings are entertained by the mass +of this army. I am sure that all the leading men in it will exert their +influence for that object." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 336.]</span></p> +<p>Down to this moment the progress of events had been full of +satisfaction to Sherman, and of gratification to his noble ambition. If +the implication contained in the order sending Grant in person to his +headquarters had pained him, Grant's perfect handling of the situation +had prevented the wound being deep, and Sherman was pleased, on the +whole, to be relieved of negotiations on all civil questions. But the +day after Grant had left him,--when he had issued his admirable Order +No. 65, and exchanged chivalrous sentiments with Johnston,--when he had +completed his work in his great campaign and, leaving to Schofield the +finishing of the administrative task in North Carolina, was turning his +face homeward full of anticipation of rejoining family and friends, with +his great career in a retrospect which was altogether gratifying--at +this culmination of his glory as a soldier and his pride as a patriot, +he received the sorest blow and the deepest wound he ever knew.</p> +<p>The mail, on the 28th, brought a copy of the "New York Times," +containing Mr. Stanton's now famous dispatch to General Dix dated the +22d, sent for the purpose of general publication, in which he made known +the fact that Sherman had entered into a convention with Johnston, that +it was disapproved by the President, and that Sherman was ordered to +resume hostilities. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 285.]</span> Had the newspaper +publication stopped here, it would still have been a grave indiscretion, +for the news of what was done in Washington usually reached the enemy +more promptly than it came to our officers at the front, and the +enterprising spies at the capital would have thought their fortunes +made by getting on the 22d orders which did not reach Sherman, in fact, +till the 24th, with official comments of which the general was ignorant +till the 28th.</p> +<p>But this was the least of the faults of this curious document. It +said that Sherman had entered into "what is called a basis of peace." No +such name was given the paper, and the manner of attributing it misled +the public as to its character. It suppressed the fact that the +"Memorandum" was by its terms wholly without binding effect if not +approved by the President. Without saying so, it persuasively led the +reader to believe that Sherman had violated instructions issued by Mr. +Lincoln on March 3d, which in fact were never published till it was done +in this dispatch, and were wholly unknown to the general, who believed +he was acting in accordance with President Lincoln's wishes given him +orally at the end of March. It spoke of orders sent by Sherman to +Stoneman "to withdraw from Salisbury and join him" as opening "the way +for Davis to escape to Mexico or Europe with his plunder, which is +reported to be very large." Only complete ignorance of the actual +military situation could account for so erroneous a statement. Davis was +in the midst of Johnston's whole army, most of which was halted by the +truce at Greensborough. Stoneman, on a brilliant cavalry raid, passed +rapidly from the North near Greensborough a week before, had struck +Salisbury on the 13th, and immediately marched northwest, on his return +to East Tennessee, whence he had started. He was at Statesville, forty +miles on his way, when Sherman and Johnston made the armistice on the +18th, of which he did not hear a word till he was over the mountains on +the 23d. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. i. pp. 334, 335.]</span> Sherman first heard of +Davis's "plunder" from Grant on the 24th, and immediately asked the navy +to frustrate any efforts to take it out of the country. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, p. 494.]</span> +Davis did not leave the protection of Johnston's army till he knew that +Stoneman was far away and his road was clear. In fact, it was only when, +after the rejection of the first convention, Johnston had begun +negotiations for the separate surrender of his own forces, and further +delay would have made him a prisoner. As to the "plunder of the banks" +thus published by the Secretary, it turned out that officers of Carolina +banks who had taken their assets to Richmond for protection against the +perils of war, had taken advantage of the protection of Mr. Davis's +escort to carry them home when Richmond fell. As to the specie +treasure, rumored to be many millions, about forty thousand dollars was +at Greensborough paid to Johnston's soldiers at the rate of $1.17 to +each, and the remainder, except a small sum, seems to have been +distributed to the cavalry escort, about 3000 strong, which protected +Mr. Davis to the Savannah River and then dispersed; the sum was +thirty-five dollars per man, given as part of their arrears of pay. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. pp. 801, 803, 820, 850; <i>Id.</i>, vol. xlix. pt. i. +pp. 548, 551, 552, 555; Davis's Rise and Fall, vol. ii. pp. 691, 695; +Johnston's Narrative, p. 408; Sherman's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 373.]</span> +The statement in Mr. Stanton's dispatch regarding this "plunder," copied +from one received from Halleck, which in turn was based on anonymous +rumor, was so couched as to give credit to the imputation that Sherman +was to be duped or bribed to allow Davis with his effects, "including +this gold plunder," to escape. Not only did the form of the publication +give this impression, but that it was in fact so understood and treated +is simple matter of history.</p> +<p>Even this was not all. There were appended to this nine enumerated +criticisms, most of which were baseless. The first declared that both +Sherman and Johnston knew the former had no power to do what was done in +the Memorandum. What was done in fact was to transmit to the government, +for its acceptance or rejection, Johnston's offer to disband all the +remaining armies of the Confederacy, wherever situated, on the terms +which were stated. The "Memorandum" itself said that the generals lacked +power "to fulfil these terms;" but that they had power to make a truce +till the government of the United States considered the proposal, is too +plain for serious dispute. Yet Mr. Stanton's criticism implied that the +arrangement had not been merely proposed, but had been actually +concluded, for the strictures otherwise had no meaning.</p> +<p>The second said that "it was a practical acknowledgment of the rebel +government." On the other hand, Sherman had utterly refused to deal with +or acknowledge that government in any way. The effect of ratification of +the terms would have been its silent disappearance without being named. +If the argument were worth anything, it would have been much more potent +against the exchanges of prisoners which had been carried on through +commissioners of both governments. But the next clause had the added +bugbear that the arms when deposited at the State capitals might be +"used to conquer and subdue the loyal States." This suppressed the fact +that by the "Memorandum" the arms were "to be reported to the chief of +ordnance at Washington City subject to the future action of the Congress +of the United States." The allowance of arms to local authorities to +preserve order was a necessity so self-evident that, in the face of +this objection by Mr. Stanton, General Schofield, in supplementary +terms of the final surrender, allowed Johnston's troops to retain part +of the arms in this way, and no whisper of further objection was made. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 482.]</span></p> +<p>The third objection was that "it undertook to re-establish the rebel +State governments that had been overthrown." This was untrue in fact. It +proposed that the executive should recognize actually existing +governments <i>de facto</i> in the States, for the purpose of renouncing +the Confederacy and acknowledging under oath their allegiance to the +United States. For the purpose of such submission, it would seem clear +that it would be an advantage to have it made by Vance, and Magrath, and +Brown, and the rest who had been the real rebels, rather than by new men +whose essential representative character might be denied. The subsequent +history of reconstruction gives small support to the opinion that +anything was gained which might not have been got more effectively by +dictating the civil changes and terms of peace to these old State +governments rather than to such provisional makeshifts as were afterward +used. But the objection was, after all, not against Sherman, but against +the dead Lincoln under whose oral authority Sherman was acting, and who +had put the same in clearest written terms in his correspondence with +General Weitzel and Judge Campbell after Richmond was in our possession. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Dana to Stanton, April 5th: +"Judge Campbell and Mr. Meyer had an interview with the President here +this morning to consider how Virginia can be brought back to the Union. +All they ask is an amnesty and a military convention to cover +appearances. Slavery they admit to be defunct," etc. (<i>Id</i>., vol. +xlvi. pt. iii. p. 575.) Lincoln to Grant, April 6th, says he had put +into Judge Campbell's hands "an informal paper" repeating former +propositions and adding "that confiscations shall be remitted to the +people of any State which will now promptly and in good faith withdraw +its troops and other support from resistance to the government. Judge +Campbell thought it not impossible that the rebel legislature of +Virginia would do the latter if permitted, and accordingly I addressed a +private letter to General Weitzel with permission for Judge Campbell to +see it, telling him that if they attempt this, to permit and protect +them, unless they attempt something hostile to the United States," etc. (<i>Id.</i>, +p. 593.) Lincoln to Weitzel, April 6th. (<i>Id.</i>, p. 612.) Dana to +Stanton, April 7th. (<i>Id.</i>, p. 619.) Dana to Stanton, April 8th, +with enclosures of papers by Judge Campbell giving the contents of Mr. +Lincoln's written memorandum to him. (<i>Id.</i>, pp. 655-657.) When +Mr. Lincoln got back to Washington, Lee having surrendered with the +Virginia troops and the rebel legislature of Virginia not having +assembled or acted, the President withdrew his permission for them to +meet, saying he had dealt with them as men "having power de facto" to +do what he wished but which was already done. Lincoln to Weitzel, April +12th. (<i>Id.</i>, p. 725.)]</span></p> +<p>The fourth criticism was that by the terms proposed the State +governments "would be enabled to re-establish slavery." Apart from the +admissions of leading men of the South, and the facts already collated, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, pp. 481, 485.]</span> +Mr. Stanton, in saying this, ignored the Proclamation of Emancipation, +on which, in his conversation with Judge Campbell, Mr. Lincoln had been +entirely willing to rest. The Southern jurist had recognized the +solidity of the legal ground "that if the proclamation of the President +be valid as law, it has already operated and vested rights." This the +judge had stated to his fellow-citizens as a fact in the situation not +to be ignored, and had repeated it in his letter of April 7th to General +Weitzel in a stronger form, if possible, saying, "The acceptance of the +Union involves acceptance of his proclamation, if it be valid in law." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlvi. +pt. iii. pp. 656, 657.]</span> The condition of its legal validity was +not an insertion by Campbell--it was the expression of Mr. Lincoln +himself, conceding the authority of the courts to pass upon the +question as he had done in his amnesty proclamation. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Gorham's Stanton, vol. ii. +p. 235.]</span> Mr. Stanton had these things before him, hardly a +fortnight old, when he made his singular publication. They add no little +to the difficulty of determining the true motives of his appeal to the +public.</p> +<p>The fifth objection was the possibility of resulting liability for +the rebel debts, which could hardly have been seriously meant.</p> +<p>The sixth was that it put in dispute the loyal State governments and +the new State of West Virginia. As to the latter, the "Memorandum" was +based on Mr. Lincoln's action in Virginia, and assumed that question to +have been determined, so far as the executive was concerned. The +criticism, like some of the rest, was aimed at what Mr. Lincoln had +done, which was thus flogged over Sherman's shoulders; for the latter +was, as we have to reiterate, ignorant that on Mr. Lincoln's return to +Washington he had been induced to cancel what he had done. From any +point of view but that of a momentary party advantage, it is hard to see +the evil of submitting contesting State governments to the decision of +the Supreme Court. Those of Louisiana and Arkansas were swept away very +soon by Congressional action, and they were the only ones intended to be +reached by the Sherman-Johnston "Memorandum."</p> +<p>The seventh declared that it "practically abolished the confiscation +laws and relieved the rebels of every degree, who had slaughtered our +people, from all pains and penalties for their crimes." Those who had +"slaughtered" were primarily the officers and soldiers of the armies, +and no fault was found with Grant's extension of amnesty to them by the +Appomattox terms. It was true, besides, that the whole male population +of the South, of military age, was part of the army, and that even State +officers were "furloughed" to enable them to perform public duties of a +civil nature. We have seen that Sherman carefully limited immunity to +the action of the executive, that he meddled with no laws, and said that +all the people were still liable to what the judicial department of the +government might do. But he had also acknowledged, upon reflection, that +clearer definition would be desirable in this respect, and had asked +Johnston to be ready to act upon this. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 266.]</span> It is our privilege, moreover, judging +after the fact, to note how little Stanton's objection practically +meant, and how much better Sherman represented the deeper purpose of the +American people, since neither Mr. Davis nor any of his chief +counsellors suffered "the pains and penalties for their crimes."</p> +<p>The eighth criticism was that the "Memorandum" offered terms "that +had been deliberately, repeatedly, and solemnly rejected by President +Lincoln, and better terms than the rebels had ever asked in their most +prosperous condition." Mr. Stanton could hardly have forgotten, when +writing this, that they were in fact not only based on what Sherman had +learned of his policy from Mr. Lincoln himself, as we have seen, but +they were what President Lincoln had repeatedly offered and the +Confederates had repeatedly rejected, the last rejection being after the +Hampton Roads conference in the first days of February. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Nicolay and Hay's "Lincoln," +vol. x. pp. 122, 123, 128]</span></p> +<p>Exactly what was meant by the ninth criticism it is hard to say. It +is said that the "Memorandum," if adopted, would "relieve the rebels +from the pressure of our victories" and leave them "in condition to +renew their efforts to overthrow the United States government and subdue +the loyal States whenever their strength was recruited and any +opportunity was offered." As it provided for the disarming and +disbanding of every Confederate company, left our victorious troops free +to garrison every State, and gave protection to individuals only so long +as they were obedient to the National government, we must regard the +apprehension of new efforts to subdue the loyal States as fantastic and +not serious.</p> +<p>It was inevitable that such a manifesto to the public should be +greatly exasperating to Sherman. Seeing also the manner in which it was +interpreted by the newspapers, he believed that it was purposely so +worded as to imply what it did not explicitly assert, and to hold him up +to the nation as one little better than a traitor. He was very emphatic +in saying that being overruled did not trouble him; it was the public +perversion of what he had done, attributing to his "Memorandum" what the +publication of its text would have contradicted, which outraged his +feelings. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. pp. 335, 345.]</span> Grant frankly adhered +to his opinion that in the actual condition of affairs he could not +himself advise the ratification of the terms proposed; yet he saw the +injustice done Sherman, and condemned it. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 410, 531.]</span> +Their relations continued as cordial as ever, and his influence was +potent in preventing further ill results from following the quarrel.</p> +<p>The publication was followed by other acts of Mr. Stanton which +increased the irritation. On the 27th of April he informed Halleck, +Canby, and Thomas that "Sherman's proceedings" were disapproved, and +ordered them to direct their subordinates "to pay no attention to any +orders but your own or from General Grant." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xlix. pt. +ii. p. 484; vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 321.]</span> This was a day after +Johnston had made his final surrender under the second convention, and +when Grant had been two days with Sherman. It led to Halleck's ordering +Meade to pay no attention to the truce, even after the surrender of +Johnston was signed, and might have caused serious results if Grant had +not been very prompt in giving counter-orders to Halleck. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 312.]</span> +All the department commanders naturally understood Stanton's language in +sending Grant to North Carolina, as superseding Sherman in command, +though in fact this was not done. They concluded that if any new terms +were made with Johnston the action would be in Grant's name, and his +signature would verify the truce. But as Grant did not do this, and +everything remained in Sherman's hands as before, the actual surrender +was ignored and credit refused, by order of the Secretary of War, to the +armistice declared while the paroles were being issued. Stanton took no +steps to correct this, and for two weeks the strange muddle continued +in the Southwest. This came to such a pass that on May 8th Sherman +inquired of Grant whether "the Secretary of War's newspaper order" had +taken Georgia out of his command. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 434.]</span> Grant replied, "I +know of no order which changes your command in any particular," and, in +his patient rôle of peacemaker, suggested that the necessity of +prompt communication when Sherman was not in telegraphic communication +with Washington had caused some irregularities. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., p. 445.]</span></p> +<p>One of the minor incidents in Stanton's course of action throws so +strong light on his methods and was so irritating an example of the <i>suppressio +veri</i> that it must be mentioned. Immediately after his interview with +Sherman in the early morning of the 24th, Grant had sent a dispatch to +Stanton, which the latter sent to General Dix for publication in the +following form: "A dispatch has just been received by this department +from General Grant, dated Raleigh, 9 A. M., April 24th. He says: 'I +reached here this morning, and delivered to General Sherman the reply to +his negotiations with Johnston. Word was immediately sent to Johnston, +terminating the truce, and information that civil matters could not be +entertained in any convention between army commanders.'" <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 311.]</span> +Taken in connection with the previous publication, this was naturally +interpreted to mean that Grant had sent the "word" to Johnston, and it +strengthened the current against Sherman. The dispatch as sent by Grant +was this: "I reached here this morning and delivered to General Sherman +the reply to his negotiations with Johnston. <i>He was not surprised, +but rather expected their rejection</i>. Word was immediately sent to +Johnston terminating the truce, and information that civil matters could +not be entertained in any convention between army commanders. <i>General +Sherman has been guided in his negotiations with Johnston entirely by +what he thought was precedent authorized by the President. He had before +him the terms given by me to Lee's army and the call of the rebel +legislature of Virginia authorized by General Weitzel, as he supposed +with the sanction of the President and myself. At the time of the +agreement General Sherman did not know of the withdrawal of authority +for the meeting of that legislature. The moment he learned through the +papers that authority for the meeting had been withdrawn, he +communicated the fact to Johnston as having bearing on the negotiations +had</i>." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 293.]</span> I have italicized the +omitted parts to show how absolutely essential they were to a true +statement of Sherman's attitude, and how grave was the offence against +fair dealing to suppress them after the appeal to the public had been +made by the first publication. The dispatch is also historically +important as proof of the ideal character of Grant's disinterestedness +and frank friendship for Sherman in this juncture.</p> +<p>Mr. Stanton's habit of impetuous action without reflection, upon +first impressions and imperfect knowledge, was notorious, as was his +constitutional inability to admit that he had been in the wrong. Once +aroused, he was a fierce combatant, using any weapon that came to hand, +inquiring only whether it would hurt his opponent. When obliged to see +that he had judged wrongly, his silence was the only confession: he was +seldom equal to a candid apology. If a tacit retreat was accepted by the +other party, he might endeavor to compensate for the wrong in some other +manner. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: On this subject +General E. D. Townsend, as adjutant-general, is a most competent and +conclusive witness. (Townsend's Anecdotes of the Civil War, p. 137.) Two +little matters occurring at nearly the same time with the Sherman +quarrel perfectly illustrate this characteristic in Stanton. General +Townsend was in charge of the funeral escort of Lincoln's body, and in +New York a photograph was taken of the coffin, in state, in the City +Hall, with the drapery of the alcove formed of national flags and crape, +with Admiral Davis and General Townsend as guard of honor at head and +foot. Stanton read of it in a newspaper, and without further knowledge +sent a violent and undignified reprimand to Townsend, ordering him to +relieve and send back to Washington the officers on duty, and to seize +and destroy the plates. A telegraphic correspondence followed, bringing +in the photographers, Henry Ward Beecher, H. J. Raymond, and the +military officers, with the proof that there was nothing to find fault +with, but rather the desirable preservation of a memento of a memorable +scene. There was a retreat, but no apology by the Secretary. (Official +Records, vol. xlvi. pt. iii. pp. 952, 965, 966). The other was the +permission given the Episcopal clergy in Richmond to continue Divine +service in the churches if they omitted the prayer for the Confederate +President in their liturgy, that being treated as a demonstration in +favor of the insurgent government. General Weitzel was in command, and +Mr. Lincoln was in the city when the question first arose whether, in +addition to the above prohibition, the clergy should be required to +insert, affirmatively, a prayer for the President of the United States. +Weitzel supposed he was acting in accordance with Mr. Lincoln's +direction not to be sticklish in little things, stopped at the +prohibition, as was generally done by commanders in the field, on the +ground that to order a form to be inserted in any liturgy where it did +not exist, would be ridiculous for a government based on total +separation of church and state. Stanton, hearing of it through Mr. C. +A. Dana, informed Weitzel that his action was "strongly condemned," and +that he was "unwilling to believe that a general officer of the United +States, commanding in Richmond, would consent to such an omission of +respect to the President." Weitzel asked whether the direction would +apply to Roman Catholics, Hebrews, and other churches having a +prescribed liturgy, and Stanton replied <i>ex cathedra</i>, in the +affirmative, repeating his reprimand. Weitzel now appealed to the +President, and the absurd controversy was stopped. Stanton seems to +have acted at first in ignorance that individual ministers had no power +to insert a prayer into the formal liturgy; but he could not yield when +better informed, and a temperate memorial of the local clergy stating +the canonical difficulty and their earnest intention to have the change +made with all speed possible, is in the Records, "disapproved by order +of the Secretary of War"! (<i>Id</i>., pp. 619, 677, 678, 684, 696, +711, 737). Perhaps the nearest historical parallel is Napoleon's order +to the Russian clergy to pray for him instead of the Czar in 1812. +(Fezensac, Souvenirs Militaires, 4th ed., liv. 2, chap. i. p. 233.)]</span></p> +<p>Sherman was not the man to submit to what he considered and called +an outrage, and when made aware of it, he struck back with all his +force. He exposed and denounced the perversions of fact and +misstatements of what he had done, and demanded the publication of the +original "Memorandum" with his statement of its relations to Mr. +Lincoln's policy and wishes as stated by the dead President himself. +Grant advised him to omit some of the expressions of his official +report, but he refused and courted an official investigation, whilst he +clearly stated his duty and his purpose to obey without question such +orders as were given by competent authority. He was quite too large a +man to be made the victim of a manifest wrong, and when once the case +was fairly presented, the purity of his motives and the reasonableness +of his belief that he was acting under highest authority were generally +acknowledged, even by those who supported a severer policy toward the +Southern States. The President and nearly all the members of the Cabinet +assured him that the published bulletins had been without their +knowledge, and cordially strove to soothe his wounded feelings. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: For the correspondence, see +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. pp. 302, 334, 345, 371, 410, 476, +515, 547, 576, 581, 582, 586, 662; <i>Id</i>., pt. i. p. 40. See also +Sherman's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 375; Conduct of the War, vol. vi. p. 3.]</span> +The genuineness of character, patriotism, and subordination tempered by +proper self-respect, which he exhibited, did not diminish the public +regard, but rather heightened it. As to the debatable questions of +policy involved in his first convention, he proudly left them to the +judgment of time.</p> +<p>The breach of friendship between Sherman and Halleck, which was also +caused by Mr. Stanton's bulletins, was especially to be regretted. Their +early close relations as young officers going "around the Horn" to +California have already been mentioned, as well as the warm personal +correspondence between them during the Atlanta campaign. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ante</i>, pp. 174-176.]</span> +He had been grateful also for Halleck's friendly conduct toward him in +his period of depression in 1861, and expressed it strongly in a long +letter when Atlanta had fallen and he had won his commission as +major-general in the regular army. "I confess I owe you all I now enjoy +of fame," he said, "for I had allowed myself in 1861 to sink into a +perfect 'slough of despond.'" Halleck's friendship and encouragement had +put him in the way of recovering from this. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xxxviii. pt. v. p. 791.]</span> But now his faith in human nature was +rudely shocked by finding, apparently, this friendly hand joining in the +hardest blows at his fame and honor.</p> +<p>In the first of Stanton's bulletins concerning him, Sherman found +copied the dispatch from Halleck giving the rumor of Davis's great +"plunder," and the hope of the Confederate leaders to "make terms with +Sherman or some other commander," by which they would be permitted to +escape out of the country with this treasure. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xlvii. pt. +iii. p. 286.]</span> The sting of this was in the apparent insinuation +that Sherman might be bought. It naturally roused him to explosive +wrath. Had Mr. Stanton quoted the final sentence of Halleck's dispatch, +it would have shown that the latter intended no such thing. It +concluded, "Would it not be well to put Sherman and all other commanding +generals on their guard in this respect?" <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xlvi. pt. +iii. p. 887.]</span> The apparent insinuation was in the Secretary's +bulletin by the omission of this sentence from the quoted dispatch. Had +Sherman seen the dispatch as Halleck wrote it, he would not have been +angered by it.</p> +<p>But on the 28th there appeared in the New York papers another +dispatch of Halleck to Stanton, dated the 26th, and saying that his +subordinates were ordered "to pay no regard to any truce, or orders of +General Sherman suspending hostilities, on the ground that Sherman's +agreements could bind his own command and no other." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 953.]</span> +This was upon receipt of a dispatch from Beauregard stating "that a new +arrangement had been made with Sherman." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlvi. +pt. iii. p. 953.]</span> In the same dispatch Halleck suggested that +orders be telegraphed through General Thomas to General Wilson, at the +head of a strong cavalry column in Georgia, to mind no orders of +Sherman, but, with other commanders in the Gulf States, to "take +measures to intercept the rebel chiefs and their plunder," now +estimated, rather indefinitely, at "from six to thirteen millions."</p> +<p>The folly of such publications was egregious, and justified +Sherman's sarcasm that if anybody was conniving at Davis's escape, it +was the officer who gave them to the public. It was, however, the +direction to disregard his new truce, embracing Johnston's troops alone +and based on their actual surrender, that stirred anew his indignation. +He had made a short inspection tour down the coast after starting his +columns northward, and saw the dispatch in newspapers he received at +Morehead, May 4th, on his return there by steamer from Savannah. In +writing General Grant, he characterized Halleck's action as an insult. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xlvii. pt. +iii. p. 388.]</span> Fortunately, he had met at Savannah an officer of +General Wilson's staff, Captain L. M. Hosea, who had made an adventurous +journey across half Georgia to open communications, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 371.]</span> +and in sending a steamboat up to Augusta with supplies for Wilson, he +had hurried Captain Hosea back with such full information as enabled +Wilson to observe scrupulously the final convention with Johnston whilst +vigorously pushing his efforts to capture Davis. These efforts were +successful on the 10th. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +vol. xlix. pt. i. pp. 515, 526.]</span></p> +<p>Sherman's sense of military honor was violated and shocked by the +orders disregarding his truce, which were "cordially approved" by the +Secretary of War. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +vol. xlvi. pt. iii. p. 967.]</span> Grant suggested that Halleck's +action was so connected with Mr. Stanton's orders that it might not seem +so bad on fuller information, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 410.]</span> but Sherman's +sense of injury was such that in passing Richmond on the 8th he refused +Halleck's offered hospitality, saying that after the dispatch of the +26th of April friendly intercourse was impossible. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 435.]</span> +Halleck's was the "soft answer which turneth away wrath," and it is due +to him to remember it. "You have not had during this war, nor have you +now, a warmer friend and admirer than myself. If, in carrying out what I +knew to be the wishes of the War Department in regard to your +armistice, I used language which has given you offence, it was +unintentional and I deeply regret it. If fully aware of the +circumstances under which I acted, I am certain you would not attribute +to me any improper motive. It is my wish to continue to regard and +receive you as a personal friend. With this statement I leave the matter +in your hands." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 454.]</span></p> +<p>But what had occurred seemed to Sherman to be so ingeniously fitted +together as parts of a malignant plan, that he replied, "I cannot +consent to the renewal of a friendship I had prized so highly till I can +see deeper into the diabolical plot than I now do." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>.]</span> His +words were all the bitter expression of a heart wounded beyond endurance +by wrongs which seemed too palpable and plain for discussion or +explanation. In the distribution of commands on the peace establishment +made soon afterward, Halleck went to the Pacific coast and did not live +long. It is to be feared that no opportunity for a full understanding +between him and Sherman occurred, though the latter was as placable as +he was impetuous; and when he found, as he soon did, that his fame and +reputation had not suffered permanent injury, he ignored the past so +far, at least, as to show that he harbored no lasting enmity.</p> +<p>Yet Halleck was probably right in saying that he had done nothing +but what he deemed his duty, and with no unfriendly purpose toward +Sherman. His dispatch of the 26th of April was only one of a series, and +it was made to have a different effect, taken by itself, from what it +would have had if read in its connection with the others. There is no +reasonable doubt that Stanton's angry purpose had been to humiliate +Sherman by practically superseding him in command. Halleck knew this and +went to Richmond, where he assumed command on the 22d, with full +knowledge of the sentiment which then ruled the War Department. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlvi. +pt. iii. p. 891.]</span> In the afternoon of the same day, Grant, on his +way to North Carolina, telegraphed him that the truce would be ended as +soon as he could reach Raleigh, and ordered him to send Sheridan with +the cavalry toward Greensborough, sending also a corps of infantry along +as far as Danville. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 888.]</span> This assumed that by the time these troops could enter +Sherman's theatre of operations the truce would have been terminated; +for Sheridan was then at Petersburg, and the Sixth Corps at Burke's +Station. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., +p. 895.]</span> The cavalry could not be ready to march before the 24th +(at the earliest) and did not start in fact till the 25th or 26th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 931, 947.]</span> +Neither it nor the infantry got beyond Danville or entered North +Carolina before they were halted by Grant's order to Halleck of the +26th, received in the morning of the 28th. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 954, 997.]</span> +No interference with Sherman's truce, either the first or the second, +actually occurred. Halleck knew that the first truce would be ended as +soon as the two days' notice could expire after Grant reached Raleigh, +and long before his troops could come into contact with Johnston's. But +he was also moving them by Grant's order, and must not only obey, but +must assume that the first truce was no longer in question. It was not +necessary or proper for him to explain fully to his subordinates all he +knew of Grant's journey and purpose. For their direction it was enough +to say they were not to regard the truce which had been made on the 18th +and was currently spoken of as "Sherman's truce." Had Sherman known of +Grant's order to Halleck and the assumed situation on which it was +based, he would not have regarded Halleck's language an insult. Without +such knowledge it looked very much like it.</p> +<p>Halleck, however, had to face the question how his subordinates must +act if, on coming near the enemy, Johnston should claim a new armistice. +He shared the War Department opinion that the negotiation was not +sincere on the part of the Confederates, but was a ruse to gain time for +Davis's escape with the imaginary "plunder." A pretended armistice is an +old and familiar stratagem in warfare. It would seem that Halleck fully +believed that Grant would assume actual command, on reaching Sherman (as +he had commanded when with Meade during the past campaign), and +concluded that any real armistice again made would be in Grant's name. +Any other would be a sham or would have been made before Grant was +present. Under such circumstances he could not be blamed for telling his +subordinates that only Grant's authority or his own must bind them. He +was mistaken, in fact, for Grant's arrival was not even known to +Johnston, and Sherman concluded the final convention as if Grant had +still been in Washington. The curtness of telegrams often creates +ambiguities, and when Sherman saw in print Halleck's dispatch of the +26th separated from the rest of the series, he naturally gave to it the +meaning which hurt him so. Had he known the rest of the story, he would +have seen no treachery to old friendships. The sin was in the +unprecedented publications which embroiled everything. In truth, +Halleck's order to Meade was more guarded in form than the language of +his dispatch to Stanton, for Meade was only told to ignore "any +agreements made by General Sherman before the arrival of +Lieutenant-General Grant." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvi. pt. iii. p. 941.]</span></p> +<p>A curious theoretic question was raised by Halleck's incidental +statement that an armistice by Sherman could only bind his own army. +Sherman said he must defend his truce at all hazards till it was duly +terminated. Each was right in a sense, but fortunately the laws of war +and military regulations would prevent practical difficulty arising. If +Sheridan had advanced to Greensborough, Sherman would have met him +there, and by virtue of his superior rank would have assumed command and +responsibility for the united forces. Besides the orders and +instructions from the President he already had, he would have to act in +view of any authentic instructions or information which Sheridan might +bring. On the other hand, if Halleck had accompanied his own forces, his +seniority would have made Sherman his subordinate in the common field of +operations; but as commander, he would have to respect, at his own +peril, all the rights which Johnston had acquired under the principles +of international law. The situation had perplexities only so long as the +generals were playing at cross-purposes by reason of imperfect +knowledge. Their intelligence and character were such that duty would +have been plain to both as soon as they came together.</p> +<p>Stanton made no public explanation of his conduct, but in a +conversation with General Howard, he asserted that Sherman's order to +his troops announcing the armistice, by saying that when ratified it +would "make peace from the Potomac to the Rio Grande," had put the +government on the defensive, and made it seem proper to publish reasons +for disapproving the terms. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 476.]</span> This does not touch the question of +the wisdom or folly of the matter published, or of its form. Sherman's +reason for mentioning the prospect of a general and speedy peace was +that the condition of his army under the news of Lincoln's assassination +was such that he felt it necessary to soothe his excited soldiery with +the hope of soon marching home in triumph, thus turning their thoughts +from the vengeance which would have been inevitable if fighting were to +be resumed. Instead of appreciating this, Mr. Stanton seems to have +jumped to the conclusion that it was an act of vanity or of political +ambition which was to be squelched <i>per fas aut nefas</i>, and in +his passionate and hasty action he compromised the whole administration.</p> +<p>We who were Sherman's subordinates in the field knew so well his +integrity and patriotism that we sympathized strongly with his +indignation at the appeal to popular sentiment against him. Yet the +sense of duty to the country and to the government prevented thoughtful +men from being blind partisans of our chief. Without full means of +judging of the possible effect of the first convention, if carried out, +some of us were disposed to believe that there must have been a mistake +on his part, since we were not able to believe that the Secretary of War +would publish his "nine reasons" if they had no solid support and were +not approved by the President and Cabinet. My personal opinion I wrote +in my diary at the time, and I reproduce it to show the contemporaneous +sentiment of one who was both a warm supporter of the government and a +warm friend of the general. What I have written above will also show how +far further investigation and fuller knowledge have modified my +judgment. "Friday, April 28th.... Some of the Northern papers are very +bitter on Sherman for the terms first offered by him, and it is manifest +from the dispatches sent by the Secretary of War to New York to be +published there, that the new administration is willing to give Sherman +a hard hit. He made a great mistake in offering to Johnston the terms he +did, but he has done the country such service that the administration +owed it to him to keep the thing from the public and to come kindly to +an understanding with him, instead of seeming to seek the opportunity to +pitch upon him as if it desired to humble him. In conversation this +morning he showed that he felt their conduct very sorely, but I hope he +will keep out of controversy with them in regard to it. He complains +with justice that they have refused to give any instructions to guide +military officers as to the policy to be adopted, and then, when these +are forced to act, seem to take pleasure in repudiating what the +officers have done, and in humbling them or exposing them to popular +odium."<br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><br> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="CHAPTER_LI"></a>CHAPTER LI</p> +<p>PAROLING AND DISBANDING JOHNSTON'S ARMY--CLOSING SCENES OF THE WAR +IN NORTH CAROLINA</p> +<p>General Schofield's policy when left in command--Lincoln's +Emancipation Proclamation in force--Davis's line of flight from +Charlotte, N.C.--Wade Hampton's course of conduct--Fate of the cabinet +officers--Bragg, Wheeler, and Cooper--Issuing paroles to Johnston and +his army--Greensborough in my district--Going there with +Schofield--Hardee meets and accompanies us--Comparing memories--We reach +Johnston's headquarters--Condition of his army--Our personal interview +with him--The numbers of his troops--His opinion of Sherman's army--Of +the murder of Lincoln--Governor Morehead's home--The men in gray march +homeward--Incident of a flag--The Salisbury prison site--Treatment of +prisoners of war--Local government in the interim--Union men--Elements +of new strife--The negroes--Household service--Wise dealing with the +labor question--No money--Death of manufactures--Necessity the mother of +invention--Uses of adversity--Peace welcomed--Visit to Greene's +battlefield at Guilford-Old-Court-House.</p> +<p>On Thursday, the 27th of April, the same day on which Sherman issued +his order announcing the final agreement for the surrender of Johnston's +army and the homeward march of most of his own forces, General Schofield +issued his own order declaring "the duty of all to cultivate friendly +relations with the same zeal which has characterized our conduct of the +war, that the blessings of union, peace and material prosperity may be +speedily restored to the entire country." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. 330.]</span> He invited all peaceably disposed persons to +return to their homes and resume their industrial pursuits. He promised +also the loan of captured horses, mules, and wagons to those who had +been deprived of their own by the armies, and food for the needy during +the period when all must be busy planting if the season were to be made +of any avail for agriculture. His order concluded with these words: "It +will be left to the judicial department of the government to punish +those political leaders who are responsible for secession, rebellion, +and civil war with all its horrors. Between the Government of the +United States and the people of North Carolina there is peace." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 330.]</span></p> +<p>In a separate order of the same date, to remove all doubt as to the +end of slavery, he declared that "by virtue of the proclamation of the +President of the United States, dated January 1, 1863, all persons in +this State heretofore held as slaves are now free, and it is the duty of +the army to maintain the freedom of such persons." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., p. 331.]</span> +He recommended immediate fair contracts of hiring and the resumption of +profitable industry, so that disorganization of labor might be avoided. +He told the freedmen that it was not well for them to congregate about +towns or military camps, and that they could not be supported in +idleness. All classes of people were thus put upon the footing Sherman +had intended in his first convention with Johnston, and Schofield's +orders issued whilst Sherman was still with us at Raleigh may be +received as an authoritative interpretation of the latter's views.</p> +<p>The Confederate troops were mostly concentrated about Greensborough +upon the railroad from Richmond through Danville and Charlotte to +Columbia in South Carolina, and the line of railroad we had followed +from Goldsborough to Raleigh continued westward to Greensborough. +Outposts, Confederate as well as National, remained at stations between +the two armies, but no collision had occurred since the truce +established on the 19th. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id</i>., +p. 250.]</span> Mr. Davis had remained at Charlotte in the interval +between the two conventions, but when the separate surrender of +Johnston's army was determined, he started southward with a vague +purpose of joining some of the smaller organized armies released from +the armistice by our administration's rejection of the terms of +Sherman's first convention. He tells us that he still hoped that he +might cross the Mississippi with such forces as could be concentrated, +joining Kirby Smith, who commanded there, and in the last resort +carrying a body of irreconcilables out of the country into Mexico. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Davis, Rise and Fall, vol. +ii. pp. 694, 696.]</span> A line of retreat southward had been agreed +upon in case Johnston should not surrender, and some accumulations of +supplies had been made at Chester, S. C., and other points upon it. +General Bragg had been placed in command there, reporting directly to +Davis or the Confederate War Department, <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 836.]</span> and some cavalry in West Virginia under +General Echols had been ordered to pass by mountain routes to the same +region. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. +795.]</span> As soon as the truce was ended by the notice of the 24th, +Davis started southward by the route indicated, which kept well to the +westward of Columbia by way of Abbeville, aiming to cross the Savannah +River above Augusta at the pontoon bridge near the junction of Broad +River with the Savannah. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +vol. xlix. pt. i. p. 548.]</span> His party disintegrated before he +entered Georgia, and he was nearly alone with his family when he was +captured thirty or forty miles southeast of Macon.</p> +<p>General Wade Hampton was one of those who preferred any alternative +rather than surrender, and had opposed even the terms of the first +convention to which Davis had assented. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, vol. xlvii. pt. +iii. p. 813.]</span> He promised that he would bring to Davis's support +"many strong arms and brave hearts,--men who will fight to Texas, and +who, if forced from that State, will seek refuge in Mexico rather than +in the Union." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +p. 814.]</span> On the 25th, when Johnston's surrender was already +resolved upon, Breckinridge sought to arrange that Hampton, with his +cavalry, might join Davis, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. p. 837.]</span> but Sherman +insisted on the capitulation of the army as a unit, and Hampton was +included. The latter had visited Davis during the first armistice and +obtained his permission to bring out the cavalry before the surrender, +but on his return to his command, on April 26th, he found that the +surrender had been made. Setting up the claim that the arrangement made +with Davis had detached his troops from Johnston's army, although they +were actually serving in it, he notified Johnston that they and he would +not regard themselves as embraced in the capitulation, unless +Breckinridge, the Secretary of War, should say they were within it. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 841.]</span> +He had given orders to Wheeler to move the command toward South +Carolina, and Butler's division was moving in the same direction. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 841,847.]</span> +Johnston, feeling that his honor as a commander was involved, sent +peremptory orders to Hampton to march back to the position near +Hillsborough which he had abandoned. He gave Wheeler similar orders. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 844, 846. +See also Johnston to Sherman, <i>Id.</i>, p. 336.]</span> Breckinridge +gave Hampton the opinion that the troops were bound by the capitulation, +though Hampton himself might not be. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 851.]</span> +The latter thereupon informed Butler and Wheeler that he could give them +no orders, and asked leave of Johnston to withdraw his former letter, +substituting one which only claimed personal exemption from the +surrender. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pp. 845, 847.]</span> In transmitting this, he sent a long letter of +apology, explaining his embarrassment. He asserted that in his +consultation with Mr. Davis a plan was agreed upon to enable the latter +to leave the country. He must now either leave him to his fate or go +with him under the ban of outlawry. He thought his personal duty was to +go, but would leave his command to abide the terms of the convention, or +if any joined him, he said, "they will be stragglers like myself." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 846.]</span> Enough "straggled" to make up Davis's +escort to about 3000 men, comprising six brigade organizations; but +Hampton seems to have thought better of the determination to be an +outlaw, and though he did not give his parole with the rest of +Johnston's command, he did not join Davis. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Davis, Rise and Fall, vol. +ii. pp. 689, 690.]</span> His explicit statement of the aim of Davis's +flight warrants us in concluding that the dream of further military +operations beyond the Mississippi was never a serious purpose. After the +disbanding of the escort at the Savannah River, Breckinridge and +Benjamin reached the coast of Florida and escaped to Cuba. Mallory and +Attorney-General Davis seem to have reached their own homes; Reagan +remained with his chief, and was captured; <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., pp. 694, 695.]</span> +Bragg and Wheeler were captured near Athens, in Georgia, using +questionable ruses to escape. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlix. pt. i. pp. 550, 551.]</span> General +Cooper, the adjutant and inspector-general of the Confederate army, +remained at Charlotte, and received the benefit of Johnston's +capitulation, while he did all in his power to preserve the Confederate +archives, which were there in railway cars. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id</i>., vol. xlvii. pt. +iii. pp. 842, 848.]</span> This digression to follow the fate of Mr. +Davis and the group of civil and military notables who were with him in +his southward flight, will help us understand some of the peculiar +incidents attending the paroling of Johnston's army at Greensborough. I +will now return to events of which I was a witness.</p> +<p>On Sunday, the 30th April, the printed blanks for the paroles were +ready, and Brevet Brigadier-General Hartsuff, inspector-general on +Schofield's staff, was put in charge of the details of their issue. He +went up to Greensborough from Raleigh, accompanied by about a dozen +officers detailed from the department and corps staff. It had been +intended that he should take with him a guard of a regiment I had +selected for the purpose, but at Johnston's request the troops were held +back a few days. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. pp. 349, 351, 483.]</span> +Schofield had arranged the general scheme of subdividing the State into +military districts, of which I was to command the western, whilst +Major-General Terry took the central, and Brigadier-Generals Palmer and +Hawley retained the coast districts which they already had. In +anticipation of the formal order, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote:<i>Id.</i>, +p. 396.]</span> the detachment to guard the arms and stores which should +be received came from my command, and I detailed the One Hundred and +Fourth Ohio, a regiment which had won high praise in the review at +Raleigh for its splendid form and discipline, and which was an orderly, +reliable body of men in battle as on parade. It was ordered to take +along also its excellent brass band and drum corps, for I meant to have +the duties of a garrison performed in the presence of the Confederates +with all the honors.</p> +<p>Sherman had left Raleigh in the evening of Friday (28th), to make a +brief tour to Charleston and Savannah, by sea, nominally to inspect that +part of his command, but really to pass the time whilst the body of his +army was marching to Washington, and to avoid visiting that city in the +irritation he felt at his treatment by the Secretary of War. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 337, 338.]</span> +Johnston had arranged, on the 1st of May, to send General Hardee down to +Raleigh for personal consultation with Schofield in regard to details of +the homeward march of his troops, but the satisfactory arrangement of +the supplementary terms made this unnecessary. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pp. 366, 857.]</span> +Schofield determined to go to Greensborough himself, starting early on +Tuesday morning (2d), and I was asked to accompany him. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, p. 376.]</span> +We left Raleigh by train at seven o'clock, with the One Hundred and +Fourth Ohio as a guard, and at Durham were met by a dispatch from +General Hartsuff, saying that the whole Confederate army was "dissolving +and raising the devil." I telegraphed for another regiment to follow +us, and we went on to Hillsborough. There we met General Hardee, who +joined our party, and we went on to Greensborough. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 376.]</span></p> +<p>As the train left Hillsborough, we passed through a body of +Confederate cavalry, and were within the enemy's lines. I confess it was +with a curious, half-uneasy sensation that I thus for the first time +found myself on the wrong side of the Confederate outposts without +having driven them in by a hostile advance. It was not easy to orient +one's self at once with the new condition of things, and it would hardly +have been a surprise to find that we had been entrapped by a ruse.</p> +<p>This soon wore off, however, and Hardee made the journey a very +agreeable one to us. He had been commandant of cadets at West Point just +before the war, and had from the first an "inside" view of the +rebellion. His "Tactics," adapted to our army use from the French, had +been the authoritative guide of our army drill, and by that means his +name had been made very familiar to every officer and man among us. His +military career had been among the most distinguished, and he had +commanded a corps in front of us during the whole Atlanta campaign. +There was therefore no lack of subjects for conversation, and the time +ran rapidly away. Hardee was in person and bearing a good type of the +brilliant soldier and gentleman. Tall and well formed, his uniform well +fitting and almost dandyish, his manner genial and easy, his +conversation at once gay and intelligent, it would be hard to find a +more attractive companion, or one with whom you would be put more +quickly at ease.</p> +<p>Our mission naturally led us into a review of the war, and we asked +him what had been his own expectation as to the result, and when he had +himself recognized the hopelessness of the contest. "I confess," said +he, laughing, "that I was one of the hot Southerners who shared the +notion that one man of the South could whip three Yankees; but the first +year of the war pretty effectually knocked that nonsense out of us, and, +to tell the truth, ever since that time we military men have generally +seen that it was only a question how long it would take to wear our army +out and destroy it. We have seen that there was no real hope of success, +except by some extraordinary accident of fortune, and we have also seen +that the politicians would never give up till the army was gone. So we +have fought with the knowledge that we were to be sacrificed with the +result we see to-day, and none of us could tell who would live to see +it. We have continued to do our best, however, and have meant to fight +as if we were sure of success."</p> +<p>Amongst many other things, our talk turned upon the Atlanta +campaign, and he told some interesting facts in regard to Hood's +obstinate holding on at Atlanta when Sherman was executing the movement +around the place on the south. It happened that my own division held the +pivot point close to the works of the city on the southeast, and +Hardee's corps occupied the lines in front of us. He said an old woman +had been brought to him who said she had gone to General Cox's +headquarters to beg some provisions, and the general had told her she +could have none, as the soldiers had not enough for themselves. I had no +remembrance of such an incident, and such applications were hardly +likely to reach a general officer unless he wished to catechise the +person for information's sake; but a laugh was raised at my expense as +Hardee in telling the story repeated some profane camp expletives as +having added emphasis to the refusal, according to the old woman's +account of it. Schofield merrily rallied me on a change of habits of +speech when not with my usual associates, and refused to credit my +protestation that the story only proved that she had seen some wicked +commissary of subsistence. Hardee helped the fun by pretending to think +of other proof that the woman was right; but he went on to give the +matter real historical interest by telling how he had taken the woman to +Hood that he might learn what she said she had seen and heard. On her +repeating the expression about our not having rations enough for +ourselves, Hood exclaimed, "There, Hardee! It proves that it is just as +I told you. Wheeler [his cavalry commander who was on a raid] has broken +Sherman's communications; he is short of provisions and is retreating +north by the Sandtown road. The troops that have moved from the north of +the city have gone that way."</p> +<p>The Sandtown road was a well-known road going northward from the +Chattahoochee River at the place named, which was some miles west of the +Chattanooga Railroad. It was a plausible explanation of Sherman's +movements as far as they then knew them, but had no better foundation +than Hood's own hopes and wishes. Yet, Hardee said, Hood stuck to this +view till in our swinging movement to the south, we broke his railway +communication with Jonesboro. Then came his hasty evacuation of Atlanta, +the destruction of his stores, the explosion of his ammunition, and the +night march to reassemble his army at Lovejoy's station. He confidently +believed that the siege was raised till Sherman's army was astride of +his principal line of retreat, and it was only by the most desperate +exertion that he escaped from utter ruin.</p> +<p>On reaching Greensborough we were at once escorted to General +Johnston's headquarters, the One Hundred and Fourth Ohio being ordered +to remain near the station till more complete arrangements were made. +Our object had been to have force enough to guard the arms and stores +against petty pillage or destruction, but not enough to provoke a +collision with the larger organizations of the Confederates. Johnston +had declined the hospitality of citizens of Greensborough, partly from a +motive of delicacy, as I suspect, fearing he might compromise those who +would thus be indicated as his friends, though his usual custom was to +live under canvas rather than in a house. His tents were pitched in a +grove in the outskirts of the town, and he awaited us there. It seemed +to us, as we approached, that the little encampment was not quite so +regular and trim as our own custom required. The wall tents did not sit +quite so squarely upon the ground, and the camp was not laid out with +regularity. The general indirectly apologized for some of these things +by saying that we could not expect the discipline in his army to be +fully maintained when all knew that it was on the eve of being +disbanded. Indeed our presence there with a detachment of our own troops +was partly the consequence of the tendency to disintegration and the +consequent breaking down of discipline which was rapidly going on, of +which the dispatch which met us on the way was a warning. We learned +that the officers of the staff had for several nights stood guard over +their own horses, efforts to steal them having been successful in one or +two instances. The general himself was the only one who had been exempt +from guard-duty. The soldiers knew that the war was over and that there +was in fact no superior power to enforce military subordination. They +were anxious to make their way homeward, and fearful that they might be +treated as prisoners of war if they remained. A horse or a mule was too +valuable a prize not to be a great temptation; they naturally thought +that as there was no longer a Confederate States government, the men to +whom arrears of pay were due had a right to whatever they could seize, +and they were not disposed to distinguish between public and private +property. The guards set to protect the commissary stores would wink at +the pillage of them or assist in it, and the men were inclined to defy +any authority exercised in the name of the Confederacy. They remembered +the relentless character of the conscription which put them in the +ranks, and were kept together chiefly by the assurance that they should +all be promptly paroled and helped on their homeward way. The strongest +consideration was perhaps the announcement that the parole would be a +necessary protection to them against subsequent arrest. It was a curious +fact that the moment the blue-coated sentinels began to pace the "beats" +around the warehouses, parks of artillery, etc., the submission of these +men to the United States authority was most complete. They were +scrupulously respectful in their bearing and language, and the groups of +them who gathered about with an earnest sort of interest, would obey +the slightest direction of the sentry with a cordiality and alacrity +which was in singular contrast with the sort of ostentation of defiance +they showed toward their own officers.</p> +<p>I have anticipated a little in order to give some idea of the +condition of things in Johnston's army, and will return to our interview +with the general himself. He welcomed us with dignity, though there was +a little reserve in his courtesy that was naturally due to the gravity +of the responsibility and the duty imposed upon him. Hardee, as a +subordinate, free from this burden, could afford to give way to a +natural <i>bonhommie</i>, and the difference of situation emphasized +the distinctive traits of the men. Johnston was a smaller man than +Hardee, his uniform showed less care for appearances, his manner was +quieter, but no one would for a moment fail to see that he was the +commander. His quiet tones were clear, his gravity was full of conscious +power, and the deference shown him by his subordinates was earnest and +respectful.</p> +<p>The preliminary details of our task were soon settled. General +Schofield had already promised rations to the Confederate troops whilst +awaiting the issue of the certificates of parole, and on their way home; +to give them railway transportation as far as railroads were running, +and to carry out Sherman's offer to let the Confederate horses and mules +be distributed as far as they would go, to assist the men on their way, +and in putting in a crop for their families' support as soon as +possible. When the necessary business was disposed of, the conversation +became more general.</p> +<p>General Schofield inquired what was the number of officers and men +to be paroled. Johnston replied that he could hardly be definite as he +would like to be: his morning report of "effectives" gave only the men +answering to their names with arms in their hands in the line of battle. +It would not include stragglers or men detached or on special duty. His +last return of effectives showed, as he said, about 16,000 men. Wade +Hampton, with much of his cavalry, had refused to come in to +Greensborough to be paroled with the rest, and were supposed to be +either disbanded or to be making their way southward. Johnston thought +the place of these might be made up by the classes not enumerated in the +return of effectives, and that there might therefore still be about +16,000 in camp who would present themselves to be paroled. He then added +that in this campaign their reports and returns had not been kept up +promptly, and that he had relied for practical use upon a summary of the +morning reports of "effectives." <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +See pp. 424, 425, <i>ante</i>.]</span> There could be no question as to +his complete frankness and sincerity in this. The inquiry was put to +make sure that we had enough printed blanks for the paroles, and it was +a matter of mutual interest to get their issue completed with as little +delay as possible. The Official Records, moreover, confirm his statement +as to the abbreviated returns and the numbers they gave, while making +clear their loose inaccuracy. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. ii. p. 1382; pt. i. p. 1059; pt. iii. +p. 839.]</span> The most important fallacy in the Confederate return of +"effectives" was that by giving only the arms-bearing men answering to +the roll-call, it omitted the growing large class of stragglers hanging +about the camps many of whom might be in line when an engagement +occurred.</p> +<p>The number of officers and men actually paroled by us in the +Carolinas turned out to be 39,012, which included men in hospitals, some +naval officers and sailors, the quartermaster's and other special duty, +detachments, etc. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pt. i. p. 1066.]</span> Johnston's inspector-general reported on 3d May +the number of "final papers" issued to the army proper at 27,749, and +the number of men who received their share of the silver distributed on +April 28th was 32,174, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, +pt. iii. pp. 850, 867.]</span> the difference being in the cavalry, +where 5000 men disbanded or went off with Hampton before the paroles +were issued. The report of the paroles shows also that the Carolina +troops had nearly all vanished during the campaign, the Western troops +of Hood's old army making the great bulk of those who stayed with the +colors.</p> +<p>Johnston was very warm in his recognition of the soldierly qualities +and the wonderful energy and persistence of our army, and the ability of +Sherman. Referring to his own plans, he said he had hoped to have time +enough to collect a larger force to oppose Sherman, and to give it a +more complete and efficient organization. The Confederate government had +reckoned upon the almost impassable character of the rivers and swamps +to give a respite till spring,--at least they hoped for this. "Indeed," +said he, with a smile, "Hardee here" (giving a friendly nod of his head +toward his subordinate) "reported the Salkehatchie swamps as absolutely +impassable; but when I heard that Sherman had not only started, but was +marching through those very swamps at the rate of thirteen miles a day, +making corduroy road every foot of the way, I made up my mind there had +been no such army since the days of Julius Caesar." Hardee laughingly +admitted his mistaken report from Charleston, but justified it by saying +that all precedent was against such a march, and that he would still +have believed it impossible if he had not seen it done.</p> +<p>All the Confederate officers from Johnston downward were very +earnest in impressing upon us their confidence that the army gave up the +struggle without bitterness, and that we could rely not only upon their +keeping their parole in good faith, but in their anxiety to become again +good citizens of the United States in every sense of the word. The +assassination of Mr. Lincoln was spoken of, as both an odious crime and +an extremely great misfortune to the South, tending to involve the +future in gloomy doubt by reason of the probable effect upon Northern +public sentiment and upon the policy of Congress and the new +administration. Hardee said that for himself he thought he should go +abroad for a time, till the heated and exasperated feeling at the North +should subside, and then return to his home and his private affairs. I +do not remember that Johnston opened his mind on this point, and think +he was gravely reticent, scarcely choosing to share with strangers, in +our relation to affairs, the deep anxiety he must have felt. Hardee's +means were understood to be more ample than most of the Southern +officers possessed, and a course that was feasible for him was not so +for most of them. The task of winning a mere livelihood was by no means +a promising one for men left without a profession and without property, +in a country that seemed to be irretrievably ruined.</p> +<p>When we closed the interview, I am very sure that we of the National +side had already formed a very high opinion of the personal character of +the distinguished officers we had met, and had begun to feel a sincere +sympathy with them in their manifest purpose to meet honorably and +manfully the demands of the new situation. I recorded at the time my own +feeling that I had rarely met a man who was personally more attractive +to me than General Johnston. His mode of viewing things was a high one, +his thoughts and his expression of them were refined, his conscientious +anxiety to do exactly what was right in the circumstances appeared in +every word and act, his ability and his natural gift of leadership +showed without effort in his whole bearing and conduct.</p> +<p>An incident which occurred at the time General Johnston left +Greensborough is striking proof of the scrupulous exactness he was +determined to exercise in carrying out the terms of the surrender. He +had gone southward as far as Charlotte to superintend the last movement +of his forces as a body and the final disbanding, and before parting +with the members of his staff learned that one of them had preserved as +a relic a little cavalry guidon of silk in the form of a national flag +scarce larger than a handkerchief. The general immediately reclaimed it, +and afterward sent it back under the provision of the surrender which +agreed that all captured flags in the hands of the Confederates should +be restored. He apologized for the staff officer, saying that he knew no +wrong had been meant and the little flag had been regarded as a trifling +but interesting relic; yet he felt that there should be no limitation on +their part in carrying out strictly the terms agreed upon. The manner +in which all this was done, quite as much as the thing itself, showed +the earnestness and sincerity of his purpose to do everything in his +power to enforce the spirit as well as the letter of every promise he +had made for himself and his army. He had returned to his home at +Danville, Va., before he had been able to send to us this flag with +another that had been omitted, and his solicitude in regard to it, even +in the midst of anxiety in regard to his family, was shown by a note +which accompanied the parcel. It ran as follows:--</p> +<p>"DANVILLE, June 5th, 1865.</p> +<p>GENERAL,--I have requested Major Shackford, Provost Marshal of this +post, to forward to you a small box containing the color, standard, and +guidon which I mentioned to you in Greensborough.</p> +<p>I beg you to explain to Major-General Schofield that they were not +in my possession when we were in Greensborough, nor until I reached +Charlotte, and that they were not sent to him from that place because I +expected to visit Raleigh and there deliver them to him. This visit was +prevented by the condition of my family. You may remember that the same +cause, as I explained to you orally, prevented my delivering them to you +in person.</p> +<p>Most respectfully,</p> +<p>Your ob't serv't,</p> +<p>J. E. JOHNSTON.</p> +<p>MAJOR-GENERAL Cox,<br> +U. S. Army."</p> +<p>General Schofield and myself passed the night at the house of +ex-Governor Morehead, who had urged us to do so. Our host had been one +of the leading Whigs of North Carolina in the <i>ante-bellum</i> days, +and with his friends and neighbors Gilmer and Graham had opposed +secession at the beginning; but with the instinct of politicians, they +had striven to lead the current they could not stop when once it had +carried them away. The house was a comfortable villa in the Italian +style, with a tower overlooking the rolling country for a long distance. +The architecture was simple but effective, and the house had evidently +been a home of comfort and ease in better times. We were frankly and +cordially welcomed, and allowed to see the mixed feelings with which the +reassembled family accepted the collapse of the Confederacy. Among the +young people was a son of the governor who had been desperately wounded +but had recovered. The rebellion had had their devoted support, but they +said, "That is all past now," and seemed eagerly desirous to get into +accord with the new order of things. The young man told of his army +adventures, and compared notes with us as to camp life in the different +armies. We were struck with the strong comparison he made in speaking of +his wound. A bullet had entered his mouth and passed out at the back of +his neck, and he said it felt, for all the world, as if a city lamppost +with its cross-bar had been dragged through his head. I have no doubt +this gave as good an idea of the sensation as possible, for I have +often heard wounded men speak of the feeling of having received a +terrible blow from some big and heavy thing, when hit with a +musket-ball. The ladies entertained us with half-gay, half-pathetic +stories of the way home-life had run on during the long campaigns, and +of the ingenuity they were obliged to use to supply the place of +tasteful articles of dress or adornment when the blockade had become +stringent, and when each little community was thrown almost wholly upon +its own resources. The head of the house discoursed more gravely of the +situation of the country at large, and tried to forecast the future. Now +that the surrender was made, he was anxious that the army should be +disbanded and sent home as soon as possible, for the disposition of the +Confederate soldiers to pay their arrears by pillage made him fear that +his own farm would be stripped bare before they got away. There is no +doubt that there was a good deal of cause for such anxiety, especially +for leading men whom the private soldiers were disposed to hold largely +responsible for all their woes. It was no slight test of character and +good breeding, under such anxieties, for the family to pay delicate and +courteous attention to the comfort of their guests, and to keep as far +as possible in the background everything that might betray their own +troubled feelings.</p> +<p>On Wednesday (3d May) General Schofield returned to Raleigh, leaving +me in responsible command of the district. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. pp. 394, 407.]</span> By administering the parole to the +troops by companies and regiments, keeping a number of officers at work +and using abundant clerical assistance in verifying the copies of rolls, +the task had been completed in a couple of days, and General Johnston +began to move his men southward. General Cheatham with the Tennessee +troops marched across the Great Smoky Mountains, but the others were +ordered to rendezvous at West Point in Georgia, which was a central +place for all who lived in the Gulf States, from which they could most +readily reach their homes. While they remained together they were fed by +us, and we furnished rations sufficient to sustain them on the journey. +Our ration, too, was quite a different thing from theirs, and the men +seemed more affected by this bestowal of unwonted and abundant supplies +than by any other incident in the surrender. They said it seemed hardly +possible that men who were but yesterday arrayed in deadly hostility to +them, could now be supplying their wants so liberally.</p> +<p>Whilst they stayed they seemed never to tire of watching our men on +duty and on the various parades. Our guard-mounting was particularly a +show affair. From the moment the music struck up on the parade ground, +and the detachments for the guard from the different companies began to +file out and march into place, there was always a large concourse of the +men in gray making a most interested body of spectators. The smart +appearance of the men, the rapid inspection of arms, of haversacks and +knapsacks, the march in review, the assignment to posts, the final +marching off the field, all seemed to give them great enjoyment. They +said they had not paid much attention to the formalities which so +greatly relieve the drag and labor of military life even in the field, +and they were ready with cordial and appreciative praise of the +discipline and finish in drill which they saw.</p> +<p>As the Confederate troops left Greensborough, I concentrated my own +corps there, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official +Records, vol. xlvii. pt. iii. pp. 376, 384, 396, 502.]</span> sending one +of the infantry divisions to Salisbury, and Kilpatrick's cavalry +division to posts still farther toward the southwest. A visit of +inspection which I made to Salisbury gave me the opportunity of +examining the site of the recent prison camp there. The treatment of our +prisoners by the Confederate authorities is a repellent subject, and I +would gladly pass it by and say nothing discordant with the tone of +high honor and respectful good-will which marked the conduct of the +leading officers of the Confederate forces in the field. We may fairly +admit that the resources of the Confederacy had been so taxed that food +and clothing were hard to procure, and that their armies in the field +were ill-fed and in rags. There is, however, a limit beyond which a +government calling itself civilized may not go, and as the public +opinion of the world, crystallized into what we call international law, +will not permit the wholesale decapitation of prisoners, as might be +done by a king of Ashantee or Dahomey, so it forbids the herding of +captive men in a mere corral, leaving them utterly without shelter of +any sort through the sleet and rain of winter, near the North Carolina +mountains. It forbids starving them to death or leaving them to rot with +scurvy because they are not supplied with wholesome food and medicines. +It is the plain duty of a civilized government to parole and send home +military prisoners who cannot be fed or sheltered. If controversies as +to exchange existed, such conduct would have been the surest way to +shame us out of any position that was wrong, and the public opinion of +the world would have been powerful in making it the more profitable +way, as it was the only one not utterly barbarous. I speak with a +solemn sense of the obligation to avoid every railing accusation when I +say that it would have been humane and civilized in the comparison, if +the prisoners at Andersonville and Salisbury had been shot down by +fusillades or quickly poisoned by wholesale (as Napoleon was accused of +doing at Jaffa) instead of subjecting them to death by starvation and +exposure which swept them away at a rate no plague ever rivalled or +approached. I have seen too much of the Southern people, in arms in the +field and in their homes, to believe for one moment that they would +knowingly approve the treatment our prisoners received. But their own +reputation before the world makes it their duty to fix the +responsibility for a great crime upon those whose commands or whose +criminal negligence caused horrors which are among the most odious +things in the world's history.</p> +<p>I had seen at Wilmington and Goldsborough the condition of +train-loads of these released captives. Their situation has been +surgically and medically recorded in the surgeon-general's official +reports. There is no room for dispute. They were men reduced to idiocy +and to the verge of the grave by the direct effects of hunger and +exposure and the diseases necessarily connected with such suffering. +They were not of the dregs of humanity, who might be said to fall into +animality when the restraints of society and of discipline were removed. +They were many of them men who had respected positions and refined +surroundings at home. These were the victims who looked vacantly with +glazed eyes and could mumble no intelligent response when asked their +names, where was their home, what was the name of the mother that bore +them.</p> +<p>At Salisbury the pen in which part of the prisoners had been kept +was still to be seen. There were, as I remember it, two levels or +"benches" in it, and in the little bluff or slope from one to the other +were still to be seen the holes the poor prisoners had dug to make a +little cave in the earth that would drain itself and give some shelter +from the winter weather. I talked to women of the place who with tears +upon their faces told of the efforts some of them had made to have the +worst of the treatment corrected, or to procure some mitigation of the +want and hardship. The evidence seemed conclusive that any marks of +common sympathy or Christian pity were repelled by the officials in +charge of the prisoners and treated as indications of disloyalty to the +Confederate government.</p> +<p>The Confederacy was full of places where the almost limitless forest +afforded timber without end, and the labor of the prisoners themselves +under the same guards that garrisoned the prison would have comfortably +housed and warmed them, and then the scant and wretched rations would +not so soon have been the cause of emaciation and disease. The risk of +escape would not have been great, and I doubt if as many would have got +away as in fact managed to do so in the actual circumstances. The almost +certainty of sickness and death nerved many a man to incredible +exertions to be free, who would have waited more patiently for an +exchange if his condition had been less intolerable or less sure of a +fatal result. But even if there had been some more escapes, it would be +no argument in favor of the horrible system which was adopted. There is +no resemblance between the situation of prisoners in a pen, and that of +soldiers in bivouac. The latter build shelters of rails or of brushwood, +if they have no shelter-tents, and they are very rarely stinted in +firewood. Their active life helps to preserve their vigor. To liken +these to men without shelter of any kind and without fire enough to cook +by, herded inside a ring-fence in winter weather, is an abuse of words. +Enough of the shocking subject!</p> +<p>As soon as headquarters baggage could be brought up I established my +own camp in the northern edge of Greensborough, in a grove which was +part of the grounds attached to the mansion of Mr. Dick, since that time +judge of the United States District Court. The first impression of the +people was that all government was now in the hands of the army, and we +had no little difficulty in correcting it. The policy of the government +was to recognize the ordinary courts and local magistrates, and to +support their authority in preserving the peace, punishing crimes, and +determining ordinary civil rights. The political organization of the +State was left subject to such changes or conditions of reconstruction +as might be prescribed by national statute. The army, however, was the +present palpable fact. The muskets and the cannon were physical engines +of power that everybody could see, and everybody knew that the +commandants of department and district could use them if need be. There +was, therefore, a national tendency, both in civil magistrates and in +the people, to refer all sorts of questions to the military authorities. +I tried in good faith to make it understood within my own district that +we were averse to meddling with local affairs, and wished the ordinary +current of civil administration to run on in its accustomed channels +till it should be replaced by that which should have the new authority +of a reconstructed state under Acts of Congress. I not only promulgated +this through the military channels, but I accepted several invitations +to address the people at different points and explain our attitude and +purpose during the interregnum, and to give them serious advice as to +their conduct in the very trying circumstances in which they were. It +need hardly be said that the gist of this advice was to recognize the +absolute death of the system of slavery, to deal with the freedmen with +perfect sincerity as free laborers who were at liberty to make the best +bargain they could for their labor, and to confine for the present their +political activity to the duty of keeping alive such local magistracies +as would prevent the community from falling into anarchy. There was a +wistful solicitude noticeable in people of all classes to know what was +to become of them. Their leaders had educated them to believe that the +success of the National arms would mean the loss of every liberty and +subjection to every form of hateful tyranny. Yet they almost universally +showed a spirit of complete resignation to what might come, and a wish +to conform obediently to everything enjoined by the officers of the +occupying army. It was the rarest thing in the world to meet with +anything like sullen resistance or hostile or unfriendly utterances. <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: The same disposition in the +people was noticed elsewhere in the South. Halleck said, in a dispatch +of April 22d, "From all I can learn, Richmond is to-day more loyal than +Washington or Baltimore." (Official Records, vol. xlvi. pt. iii. p. +888.) Sherman sent similar reports from Savannah. (<i>Id</i>., vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 371.)]</span> My own stay in North Carolina did not +extend into the period of the provisional governments authorized by +Acts of Congress, and I was not personally witness to the varying +phases of sentiment among the people at that time.</p> +<p>The political character of North Carolina during the war had been +different from that of the Gulf States. We found very few indeed who +were known as "original Secessionists." The "old Whigs" had given the +tone to public sentiment, and the community as a whole had sincerely +desired that the Union might be preserved. Yet a society based upon +slavery had such community of interest with the States further south +that it was soon dragged into the secession vortex. When once war had +begun, the growth of hostility against what was regarded as their public +enemy was rapid, and in every State a war party in time of war has a +great advantage over the opposition. The charge of "giving aid and +comfort to the enemy" is too powerful a weapon against the minority, and +the outward appearance was soon that of almost complete unanimity in the +desperate struggle to make secession a success. Party leaders were borne +along upon the current, and vied with each other in extravagant +professions of devotion to the Confederacy.</p> +<p>In such circumstances the men who were at heart opposed to the war +thought they were doing all that was wise or prudent in making what they +called a constitutional opposition to the Davis government, professing +to acquiesce in the Confederate organization, but urging the negotiation +of peace on the best attainable terms. In the fever of actual conflict +the following of such men was small, although it seemed plain to me that +a majority of the people of the State sympathized with them at heart.</p> +<p>The outspoken Union men were, almost as a matter of course, treated +as traitors, and lived under a reign of terror. In the mountains, where +their numbers were considerable, they were the victims of a relentless +guerilla warfare, as the same class was upon the other slope of the +Great Smokies in East Tennessee.</p> +<p>Out of these classes came the elements of new struggles for +political power. The minority naturally felt that their time had now +come, and were not altogether patient with the principles of our +democratic Constitution, which require that a majority shall not be +disfranchised, and which therefore make it practically impossible that a +minority shall rule. At the time I am speaking of, these elements were +quiet in the first stunning effect of the collapse of the Confederacy; +but we could see the tendencies to antagonisms that were to agitate the +State during the next decade.</p> +<p>The negroes were, of course, of none of these parties. Very few of +the whites were in favor of emancipation on principle, though all +accepted it as the inevitable result of the war. Tacitly or avowedly, +they all admitted that the fate of the "system" had been the real issue +at stake, and that the surrender meant universal freedom. But the +colored people were ignorant, and had cherished strange illusions as to +the change which was to come to them. It was a common belief among them +that the whites were to be stripped of all property, and the land to be +given to them. We had heard curious discussions among them around the +camp-fires, in which they had apportioned the real and personal property +among themselves. The faith that they were each to have "forty acres and +a mule" was of a little later growth. The first noticeable thing among +them after the surrender was the almost universal disposition to quit +work. It would have been very natural that they should wish for a great +holiday, and try to realize their freedom by extending it at their own +will, and thus prove to themselves that no man was their master. But in +addition to this, they seemed to fear that any continuance of the +relation of laborers for their former masters would cover some waiver of +their right to freedom. Yet, as they had hopes that the real estate +would be given to them by the National government, they were disinclined +to leave the old home. The outcome was that for a time they occupied +their old quarters and asserted a kind of proprietorship in them, whilst +they "struck" from labor.</p> +<p>When it is remembered that the kitchen of Southern houses is a +detached building of which the servants have exclusive occupation, it +will easily be understood that the situation was anything but +comfortable for housekeepers. Oftentimes they could neither hire cooks +nor get access to the open kitchen fire and the rude utensils which the +colored people appropriated as their own. According to my observation, +the Southern white women were very systematic and thorough in the +supervision of household work, but were necessarily ignorant of the +actual manipulation. They knew what flour and other ingredients to weigh +out for a batch of bread, but they had never done the baking. Some of +them tried their first experiments over the open fire with "Dutch ovens" +and other primitive implements, whilst a group of colored women sat +around commenting drolly but most exasperatingly upon the results. As a +temporary compromise, we were obliged to "clear the kitchen" by military +authority, making it known that that was part of the "house," and that +if the mistresses of the mansion had to do their own work, it was not +necessary that it should be done before such an "audience." Such a +social crisis is always short, but it is very severe. No doubt those who +have gone through it look back upon it as one does upon the day after a +fire, when the wretchedness of dirt and destruction seems hopeless, +but, like other mundane things, soon passes away and is spoken of as +all "part of a lifetime."</p> +<p>A delicate and amiable lady, whose fortune at her marriage had been +of that ample sort which was measured in Southern parlance as "a hundred +negroes," herself told me, with a mixture of tearful pathos and +recognition of the comic side of it, of her own first efforts to make a +batch of soda biscuit for her husband and children after she got +possession of her kitchen. She knew all about the rule, but in new +practice the rule didn't work. The ingredients got wrongly mixed; the +fire was too hot or not hot enough; some biscuits were burnt to a crisp, +some were not cooked, and none were eatable, and her heart was ready to +break at the prospect of her family's condition till something could be +done to remedy the trouble. In more than one household our officers' +messes helped tide over the painful interval by giving camp hospitality +and friendly assistance to their new neighbors. We frequently heard +housekeepers say that if they only had the snug ranges of Northern +kitchens within the house they would have made light of the labor; but +their outdoor kitchens and primitive methods, which produced appetizing +results in the hands of colored cooks who had been brought up to them, +were killing upon those who had been delicately reared.</p> +<p>We saw more of the domestic form of this social anarchy than of farm +labor, for the outdoor work could wait, whereas the indoor work could +not. The same difficulty was everywhere, however, and the intelligence +of the community soon hit upon temporary expedients. Such men as Mr. +Gilmer and Judge Dick took the lead in advising the colored people to +avoid their apprehended risk of compromising their freedom, by hiring +out temporarily to work for others than their old masters. By thus +changing about, the consciousness of working under a voluntary contract +was stronger, and the uneducated brain was less puzzled to tell whether +any change of situation had really come. We did our best to dispel the +notion that wealth and idleness were to follow emancipation, and to +encourage the freedmen to resume industrious labor as the foundation of +real freedom and independence. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: +See General Schofield's Order No. 46; Official Records, vol. xlvii. pt. +iii. p. 503.]</span> The peaceful character of the colored people was +shown even in what they supposed was a great revolution in their favor. +There was no rioting or angry disturbance,--no effort to accomplish +anything by force. They abandoned for the time their usual employments, +and congregated in their quarters or in groups about the streets, +waiting for some great thing to happen. There was, of course, plenty of +talk and some excitement, but even this gradually diminished; and as +they began to realize that without work there would be no food, they +made such bargains as suited them, and the affairs of the plantation and +of the house began to move on. The owners of property did not hope for +profits; they expressed themselves earnestly as anxious only that such +crops might be raised as would save the community, white and black +alike, from absolute destitution. I know of prominent examples of +well-known men offering the farm hands all that they could raise for +that season if they would only go to work and plant something which +could still ripen into food. The season was advancing, and a little +delay was very dangerous. The last chance for a crop in that year would +soon be gone. The influence and advice of sagacious and prudent men was +never more useful, for society seemed to be resolved into its original +elements when all authority but the military went for nothing. As +soldiers, we refrained from meddling in civil affairs, but it was +understood that we should preserve the peace and allow no force to be +used by others. It was a time when everybody felt the need of being +patient and conciliatory, and the natural authority of known character +and wisdom asserted itself. Everybody soon went to work to make a +living, and the burning problems of political and social importance were +postponed.</p> +<p>A serious inconvenience was immediately felt in the lack of a +circulating medium. The Confederate currency was at once made worthless +by the failure of the rebellion, and there was nothing to take its +place. The extent to which its depreciation had gone was amusingly shown +by a printed notice and list of prices I found posted in a country +tavern, already some months old. In it the price of a dinner was put at +ten dollars, and other meals and accommodation in proportion. Still this +currency had served for business purposes, and it being gone, the +community had to go back for the time to primitive barter.</p> +<p>We had opportunity to notice to what great straits the people had +been reduced for two years in the matter of manufactured goods of all +kinds. Factories of every sort were scarce in the South when the war +began, and resources of every kind were so absorbed in the war that +there was no chance for new ones to spring up. Carriages, wagons, and +farm implements went to decay, or could only be rudely patched up by the +rough mechanics of the plantation. The stringent blockade shut out +foreign goods, and the people were generally clothed in homespun. In +many houses the floors were bare because the carpets had been cut up to +make blankets for the soldiers. Ladies made their own shoes of such +materials as they could find. They braided their own hats. They showed a +wonderful ingenuity in supplying from native products the place of all +the articles of use which had formerly been imported from foreign lands +or from the North. Taste asserted itself, perhaps all the more in such +discouraging circumstances, and feminine refinement and love of +adornment worked marvels out of the slenderest materials. A home-made +straw hat ornamented with feathers of barnyard fowls and domestic birds +was often as jaunty and as pretty as any Parisian bonnet. Simple dyes +were made to give to coarse cotton stuffs a lively contrast or harmony +of pure colors as effective as the varied and elaborate fabrics from the +European looms. In some respects this self-dependence heightened the +personal advantages of those who excelled in ingenuity, in taste, and in +skill; for the clothes indicated better the character of the wearer than +those which are made on one pattern in the shop of a fashionable +mantua-maker.</p> +<p>Adversity has such uses and such compensations that I should hardly +reckon the poverty of the Southern States during 1864-65 as a burden +greatly felt in private life. All such things are comparative, and where +all the people undergo the same privations, the odious comparisons and +jealousies between richer and poorer disappear in a measure. A simple +life full of great enthusiasms is one a philosopher may find much +satisfaction in, and has, many a time, been pictured as an ideal +calculated to bring out the best qualities of men and women and +therefore to make life more truly enjoyable. I greatly doubt if Southern +people, in looking back on the war time, find anything to regret in the +simple fare and plain dress of the enforced economy of that period. The +real griefs and burdens, if I am not mistaken, came from other sources. +Among thoughtful people there must have been from the summer of 1863 +serious doubts of the possibility of a successful outcome of their +struggle, and a growing and unhappy conviction that the fearful waste of +life and treasure would be in vain. They must have had grave misgivings +also as to the righteousness of a cause which championed an institution +condemned by the whole world and in conflict with the general progress +of Christendom. To see their best and bravest consumed in the fire of +successive battles, and to be waiting only till the slaughter should +make it impossible to keep armies in the field, must have been a grief +and a suffering which made all physical deprivations seem small indeed.</p> +<p>I think I cannot be mistaken in the judgment I formed at the time, +that to the great body of the Southern people it was a relief that the +struggle was really over; that they breathed more freely and felt that a +new lease of life came with peace. They had been half conscious for a +good while that it must end so, and they were in the mood to be at least +resigned, if not readily to profess the pious conviction that "it was +all for the best." With the reactions and political exasperations that +came later, I have here nothing to do. My purpose has been to reproduce, +as far as my memory serves, the scenes and the surroundings of that last +military duty of the great war. Why it was that the mellowness of spirit +which seemed then so prevalent could not have ripened without +interruption or check into a quicker and more complete fraternization, +belongs to another field of inquiry. The military chronicler stops where +he was mustered out.</p> +<p>A summer ride which a party of us took to the battlefield of +"Guilford-Old-Court-House" may be worth noting as an encouragement to +believe that our descriptions of the scenes of our own engagements need +not become unintelligible even in the distant future. Among the combats +of our Revolutionary War, Guilford Court House ranks high in importance; +for the check there given to the invading British army under Lord +Cornwallis by the Continental forces under General Greene was the +turning-point in a campaign. Greensborough is the present county-seat of +Guilford County, and the "Old Court House," a few miles distant, has +disappeared as a village, a few buildings almost unused being the only +mark of the old town. Natural topography, however, does not change its +material features easily, and in this case a cleared field or two where +the forest had formerly extended seemed to be the only change that had +occurred in the past century. With General Greene's official report of +the battle in our hands, we could trace with complete accuracy every +movement of the advancing enemy and his own dispositions to receive the +attack. We could see the reasons for the movements on both sides, and +how the undulations of surface and the cover of woods and fences were +taken advantage of by either commander. Military principles being the +same in all times, we found ourselves criticising the movements as if +they had occurred on one of our own recent battlefields. It brought the +older and the later war into almost startling nearness, and made us +realize, as perhaps nothing else could have done, how the future visitor +will trace the movements in which we have had a part; and when we have +been dust for centuries, will follow the path of our battalions from +hill to hill, from stream to stream, from the border of a wood to the +open ground where the bloody conflict was hand to hand, and will comment +upon the history we have made. It pointed the lesson that what is +accurate in our reports and narratives will be recognized by the +intelligent critic, and that the face of the country itself will be an +unalterable record which will go far to expose the true reasons of +things,--to show what statements are consistent with the physical +conditions under which a battle was fought, and what, if any, are warped +to hide a repulse or to claim a false success. Nature herself will thus +prove the strongest ally of truth.</p> +<p>NOTE.--General Cox was the spontaneous choice of the "Union Party" +of Ohio for Governor, and was nominated at its Convention held in +Columbus, June 21,1865, while he was still engaged in his military +duties in North Carolina. At a ratification meeting, held in the evening +after the Convention, Senator Sherman said, speaking of the ticket: "It +is headed by a gentleman who is not only a soldier, but a statesman and +scholar,--a man of the highest and purest character,--a man who, in all +the walks of life, will be a model for us all. I thank you for that +nomination,--although I believe the people made it before the Convention +met." At a reception in honor of General Sherman given in Columbus, July +13, 1865, the general himself was called on to speak. After mentioning +Grant, whose fame was secure, and McPherson, his beloved companion in +arms, he said: "And here is General Cox, who is your candidate for +Governor,--a man who did his whole duty from first to last and did it +well and will do it to the end."</p> +<p>General Cox was elected by a handsome majority, served one term, +returned to the practice of the law, and in 1869 was appointed Secretary +of the Interior, by General Grant. Retiring to private life at the end +of twenty months, he occupied many positions of trust and honor: +President of the Toledo and Wabash Railroad, Member of Congress from the +Toledo District, President of the Cincinnati University, Dean of the +Cincinnati Law School, etc. His reading was extensive; his scholarship +profound. In microscopic research he attained world-wide distinction and +he received the Gold Medal of Honor at the Antwerp Exposition of 1891, +for excellence in micro-photography.</p> +<p>He was thrice honored with the degree of LL.D., the last time by +Yale College, in June, 1877. As an indication of the esteem in which he +was held by those among whom he went as an armed invader, it should be +mentioned that one of the degrees was conferred by the University of +North Carolina, in June, 1870.</p> +<p>He was a member of the American Philosophical Society, the +Massachusetts Historical Society, the Royal Microscopical Society, the +American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Military +Historical Society of Massachusetts, the Cobden Club, and a number of +others.</p> +<p>His contributions to the magazines, historical, literary, and +scientific, were numerous, and his series of critical and biographical +reviews in "The Nation," from the beginning of its publication to the +summer of 1900, constitutes a most valuable and interesting commentary +on public men and affairs and military operations at home and abroad.</p> +<p>His public addresses, many of which were published in pamphlet form, +were marked for their literary finish, their wealth of learning and +suggestion, their deep philosophical insight, and their lofty patriotism.</p> +<p>He had little leisure for writing books, but has contributed to the +literature of the war several articles in "Battles and Leaders of the +Civil War"; the volumes on "Atlanta," and "The March to the Sea, +Franklin and Nashville," in the Scribner War Series; "The Second Battle +of Bull Run," in which he took issue with the findings of the Second +Court of Inquiry in the Fitz-John Porter case; "Franklin," a detailed +account of that battle, together with the events leading up to it and +the controversies following it; the last half of Force's "Sherman" in +the Great Commander Series; and the above "Military Reminiscences." +However much men may differ with his conclusions, none who knew him +personally ever questioned his candor and sincerity, and his disposition +to be absolutely fair in his treatment of others.</p> +<p>W. C. C.</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"> +<p><br> +</p> +<p><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX C</span> </p> +<p>TESTIMONIALS OF COMMANDERS</p> +<p><i>Rosecrans, in his Report of the Campaign of</i> 1861, <i>Nov.</i> +25, 1861. <i>Official Records, vol. v.p.</i> 259.</p> +<p>"It is a great pleasure to say to the commanding general that I have +found General Cox prudent, brave, and soldierly, and I specially commend +his prudence and firmness in occupying Cotton Hill, details of which are +given in his report in the appendix."</p> +<hr style="height: 2px; width: 50%;"> +<p><br> +<i>Rosecrans, in Correspondence with McClellan</i>, <i>Nov.</i> 19, +1861, <i>asking for Changes in Officers, etc.</i> <i>Official Records, +vol. v.p.</i> 657.</p> +<p>"General Cox is the only reliable man here;" <i>i. e.</i>, of the +brigadiers with him at Gauley, Schenck having gone home sick.</p> +<hr style="height: 2px; width: 50%;"> +<p><br> +<i>McClellan, to Army Headquarters, after South Mountain and Antietam</i>,<i>Oct.</i> +5, 1862. <i>Official Records, vol. xix. pt. ii. p.</i> 383.</p> +<p>"MAJOR-GEN. HALLECK, General-in-Chief.</p> +<p>In compliance with your instructions, General Cox has been ordered +to report to you for duty on the Kanawha. General Cox's gallant services +in the battle of South Mountain and at Antietam, during which, after +Reno's fall, he commanded an army corps, contributed greatly toward our +success in those hard-fought engagements. He has been recommended by +General Burnside, his immediate commander, for promotion. Although I am +now to lose the services of this valuable officer with this army, it is +no more than an act of justice to him that I should concur in the +recommendation of General Burnside, which I do most cordially and +earnestly, and request that the promotion be made at once. <br> +(Signed) GEORGE B. McCLELLAN, Maj.-Gen."</p> +<hr style="height: 2px; width: 50%;"> +<p><br> +<i>Schofield to Sherman, after the Atlanta Campaign. Official Records, +vol. xxxix. pt. ii. p</i>. 366.</p> +<p>"HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF THE OHIO,<br> +DECATUR, GA., Sept. 12th, 1864.</p> +<p>MAJOR-GEN. W. T. SHERMAN, Commanding Military Division of the +Mississippi.</p> +<p>GENERAL,--I have the honor to recommend for promotion the following +named officers of my command for gallant and meritorious services during +the campaign just ended:</p> +<p>Brigadier-General J. D. Cox is now the senior Brigadier-General of +Volunteers in active service. He has held various important commands +during the war and was appointed Major-General in 1862, but his name was +withdrawn from the list sent to the Senate for confirmation, because of +the limitation by law of the number of Major-Generals authorized to be +appointed. General Cox commanded the 23d Army Corps for some time +previous to the assignment of Major-General Stoneman to that command. +During the summer's campaign he has commanded the third division of that +corps under my immediate personal observation. I have no hesitation in +saying that I have never seen a more able and efficient division +commander. General Cox is possessed of a very high order of talent and +superior education. As a commander he is discreet, energetic, and brave. +As a just reward for long, faithful, and efficient service, and as an +act of justice to the army and the country, I earnestly recommend that +Brigadier-General J. D. Cox be appointed Major-General of Volunteers.</p> +<p>I earnestly hope all the appointments above recommended may be made. +Should the number of vacancies in the grades of Major-General and +Brigadier-General not justify the appointment of so large a number from +this army, I respectfully request that the officers who may not be +appointed may receive the Brevet of the rank for which they are +recommended. Very respectfully,<br> +Your obedient servant,<br> +(Signed) J. M. SCHOFIELD,<br> +Major-General Commanding."</p> +<hr style="height: 2px; width: 50%;"> +<p><i>Sherman to Halleck, after the Atlanta Campaign. Official Records, +vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p.</i> 413.</p> +<p>"HEADQUARTERS, MIL. DIV. OF THE MISS.<br> +IN THE FIELD, GAYLESVILLE, ALA., Oct. 24,1864.</p> +<p>GENERAL H. W. HALLECK, Chief of Staff, etc.</p> +<p>GENERAL,--I always designed to canvass the claims to promotion of +all aspirants in the army, so as to save the President the invidious +task of judging among so many worthy men, all of whom can only be known +to him by the record. But events and movements have followed each other +so rapidly that my army commanders have not been able to attend to the +matter, but have sent into my office the detached papers of each. These +I herewith inclose, indorsed with my own individual opinion. I have not +General Thomas' list, but will instruct him to send it direct from +Nashville, where he now is. If necessary [<i>sic</i>] to promote to +divisions and brigades the officers now exercising the rank of +major-general and brigadier-general, it be necessary to create +vacancies, I do think the exigencies of the country would warrant the +muster out of the same number of generals now on the list that have not +done service in the past year.</p> +<p>The following persons should be promoted to the rank of +major-general: . . .</p> +<p>Army of the Ohio: Brig.-Gen. J. D. Cox to be major-general....</p> +<p>All these are actual division commanders, men of marked courage, +capacity, and merit, who are qualified to separate commands....</p> +<p>I am, with respect, your obedient servant,<br> +(Signed) W. T. SHERMAN,<br> +Major-General."</p> +<hr style="height: 2px; width: 50%;"> +<p><br> +<i>Schofield to Thomas, after the Battles of Franklin and Nashville. +Official Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii.</i> p. 273.</p> +<p>"HEAD QUARTERS, ARMY OF THE OHIO,<br> +FRANKLIN, TENN., Dec. 19, 1864.</p> +<p>MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE H. THOMAS, Commanding Dep't of the Cumberland.</p> +<p>GENERAL,--I have the honor to enclose herewith a letter to Maj.-Gen. +Halleck, Chief of Staff, urging the promotion of Brig.-Gen. Cox, and to +urge that it may be forwarded with your indorsement. Unless General Cox +can obtain the promotion which he has so often earned, he will soon quit +the service, which would be an irreparable loss to my command.<br> +I am, general, Very Respectfully,<br> +Your obed't serv't,<br> +(Signed) J. M. SCHOFIELD, Maj.-Gen."</p> +<hr style="height: 2px; width: 50%;"> +<p><br> +<i>Schofield to Halleck, after the Battles of Franklin and Nashville. +Official Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii. p. 273.</i></p> +<p>"HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF THE OHIO,<br> +FRANKLIN, TENN., Dec. 19, 1864.</p> +<p>MAJOR-GENERAL H. W. HALLECK, Chief of Staff, U. S. Army, D. C. +GENERAL,--I desire earnestly to ask your attention, and, through you, +that of the President and Secretary of War, to the claims of +Brigadier-General J. D. Cox to promotion. It is unnecessary to recite, +in detail, the services of so distinguished an officer. He has merited +promotion scores of times by skilful and heroic conduct in as many +battles. He is one of the very best division commanders I have ever +seen, and has often shown himself qualified for a higher command.</p> +<p>Permit me to say that in overlooking the merits of such an officer +as General Cox, the Government has, unintentionally of course, committed +an act of great injustice, and one which must soon deprive the country +of his services. An officer cannot exercise for three years a command +which he is universally admitted to be eminently qualified for, and yet +be denied the corresponding rank, while his juniors, notoriously less +deserving, are promoted, without feeling such mortification and chagrin +as must drive him from the army.</p> +<p>Excuse, General, the earnestness with which I refer to this matter. +I do not exaggerate the merits of the case; on the contrary, I do not +half state it.<br> +I am, General, very respectfully,<br> +Your obedient servant,<br> +J. M. SCHOFIELD,<br> +Major-General."</p> +<hr style="height: 2px; width: 50%;"> +<p><br> +<i>Thomas to Halleck, after the Battles of Franklin and Nashville. +Official Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii. p. 274.</i></p> +<p>[Indorsement] "HEAD Q'RS, DEP'T OF THE CUMBERLAND.<br> +IN THE FIELD, TENNESSEE, Dec. 20, 1864.</p> +<p>Respectfully forwarded, earnestly recommending the promotion of +Brig.-Gen. J. D. Cox to the grade of Major-General. His services on the +Atlanta campaign entitle him to the promotion asked for, and at the +battle of Franklin he was eminently distinguished for personal courage +as well as for the skilful management of his command.</p> +<p>(Signed) GEORGE H. THOMAS,<br> +Maj.-Gen. Com'g."</p> +<hr style="height: 2px; width: 50%;"> +<p><br> +<i>Thomas to Halleck, Dec. 23, 1864, again recommending General Cox for +Promotion. Official Records, vol. xlv. pt. ii. pp. 234, 235.</i></p> +<p>"HEADQUARTERS THIRD DIVISION, 23D ARMY CORPS.<br> +ON GRANNY WHITE PIKE, December 17, 1864.</p> +<p>MAJ. J. A. CAMPBELL, Ass't Adj't-Gen., Army of the Ohio.</p> +<p>MAJOR,--I have the honor to claim for my command the capture of +eight pieces of the enemy's artillery, in the charge made by the first +brigade last evening. The four pieces captured by the Eighth Tennessee +Infantry, as stated by Colonel Doolittle in the accompanying dispatch, +were not put under guard at the moment, and a guard was subsequently put +over them and the pieces claimed by McArthur's division, Sixteenth Corps.</p> +<p>J. D. Cox,<br> +Brigadier-General Commanding."</p> +<hr style="height: 2px; width: 50%;"> +<p><br> +[Inclosure] "H'DQ'RS, 1ST BRIGADE, 30 Div., 23d ARMY CORPS. IN THE +FIELD, December 17, 1864.</p> +<p>CAPT. THEODORE Cox, Ass't Adj't-General.</p> +<p>SIR,--I have the honor to report that in the charge on the enemy's +works yesterday, my brigade captured eight pieces of artillery, light +twelves, instead of four as reported verbally. The four pieces claimed +by McArthur's division, Sixteenth Corps, were taken by the 8th +Tennessee, who drove the enemy from them. The 12th Kentucky took the +other four pieces. CHAS. C. DOOLITTLE, Col. 18th Michigan Inft'y, +Commanding."</p> +<p>[First Indorsement] "HEAD Q'RS, ARMY OF THE OHIO, FRANKLIN, TENN., +Dec. 19th, 1864.</p> +<p>Respectfully forwarded to Head Quarters Department of the Cumberland.</p> +<p>(Signed) J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General."</p> +<p>[Second Indorsement] "H'DQ'RS DEP'T OF THE CUMBERLAND, DUCK RIVER, +TENN., Dec. 23, 1864.</p> +<p>Respectfully forwarded to Maj.-Gen. H. W. Halleck, Chief of Staff, +recommending that Brig.-Gen. J. D. Cox be promoted to the grade of +Major-General.</p> +<p>(Signed) GEO. H. THOMAS,<br> +Maj.-Gen. U. S. Vols., Commanding."</p> +<p>RECOMMENDATION FOR CORPS COMMAND</p> +<p>"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA, WILMINGTON, N. C., +February 24, 1865.</p> +<p>LIEUT.-GEN. U. S. GRANT, Commanding Armies of the United States. +City Point, Va.</p> +<p>GENERAL,--I respectfully request that the troops in this department +which do not belong to the Twenty-third Army Corps may be organized into +an army corps, and that Maj.-Gen. Alfred H. Terry be assigned to its +command. Also that Maj.-Gen. J. D. Cox may be assigned to the command of +the Twenty-third Army Corps.</p> +<p>I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,<br> +J. M. SCHOFIELD,<br> +Major-General."<br> +<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. p. 559.]</span></p> +<hr style="height: 2px; width: 50%;"> +<p><br> +[<i>Letter of same date</i>.]</p> +<p>"... I have asked for the assignment of General Cox and General +Terry to corps commands, both because the strength of my command renders +it desirable, and because it will enable me to leave either the one or +the other in command of the column which I may not be with at any time." <span + style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Ibid</i>.]</span></p> +<p><br> +"HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF THE OHIO,<br> +GOLDSBOROUGH, N. C., March 22, 1865.<br> +LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, City Point, Va.</p> +<p>Near a month ago I wrote you a letter requesting that Maj.-Gen. J. +D. Cox be assigned to the command of the Twenty-third Army Corps, and +that the remaining troops in this department be organized into a corps +in command of Maj.-Gen. A. H. Terry. Having received no reply, I presume +that my letter did not reach you; therefore I beg leave to renew the +request. But if it be not deemed advisable to organize a corps for +General Terry, I nevertheless respectfully request that Major-General +Cox may be assigned to the command of the Twenty-third Corps.<br> +J. M. SCHOFIELD,<br> +Major-General."</p> +<p><br> +[Indorsement] "GOLDSBOROUGH, N. C., March 23, 1865.</p> +<p>I approve this. I know that General Cox is a good officer, and +General Terry has the best possible reputation. General Schofield will +want two corps organizations as soon as possible.<br> +W. T. SHERMAN,<br> +Major-General, Commanding."<br> +<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. ii. pp. 960, 961.]</span></p> +<hr style="height: 2px; width: 50%;"> +<p><br> +"CITY POINT, VA., March 25, 1865.</p> +<p>HON. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War, Washington.</p> +<p>General Schofield recommends and I approve the appointment of +General Cox to the command of the Twenty-third Corps. He also asks the +organization of the balance of the troops in his department into a corps +under General Terry. This will be of great advantage to his command. I +would suggest that Terry's corps be called the Tenth.</p> +<p>U. S. GRANT,<br> +Lieutenant-General."<br> +<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: <i>Id.</i>, pt. iii. p +18.]</span></p> +<hr style="height: 2px; width: 50%;"> +<p><br> +"GENERAL ORDERS No. 49.</p> +<p>WAR DEP'T, ADJ'T-GENERAL'S OFFICE,<br> +WASHINGTON, March 27, 1865.</p> +<p>By direction of the President, the following assignments are hereby +made:</p> +<p>I. Maj.-Gen. A. A. Humphreys, to the command of the Second Army +Corps.</p> +<p>II. Maj.-Gen. J. G. Parke to the command of the Ninth Army Corps.</p> +<p>III. Maj.-Gen. J. D. Cox to the command of the Twenty-third Army +Corps.</p> +<p>IV. All other troops in North Carolina not belonging to corps in +General Sherman's army will constitute the Tenth Army Corps, of which +Maj.-Gen. A. H. Terry is assigned to the command.</p> +<p>By command of the Secretary of War,<br> +E. D. TOWNSEND,<br> +Assistant Adjutant-General." <br> +<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">[Footnote: Official Records, vol. +xlvii. pt. iii. p. 34.]</span><br> +</p> +<hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"> +<p><br> +</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="INDEX"></a>INDEX<br> +<br> +</p> +<p>NOTE. For economy of space the usual abbreviations for proper and +geographical<br> +names are employed. Other abbreviations are:</p> +<p>A., army;<br> +a. a. g., assistant adjutant-general;<br> +a. d. c., aide-de-camp;<br> +adm., admiral;<br> +adm'n, administration; <br> +A. C., army corps;<br> +art., artillery;<br> +bat., battery;<br> +br., brevet;<br> +brig., brigade, brigadier;<br> +capt., captain;<br> +cav., cavalry;<br> +ch., church;<br> +ch'f, chief;<br> +C. H., courthouse;<br> +co., company;<br> +col., colonel;<br> +com., commodore;<br> +com'd'g, commanding;<br> +com'r, commander;<br> +conf., confederate;<br> +cr., creek;<br> +C. S. A., Confederate States Army;<br> +dep't, department;<br> +dist., district;<br> +div., division;<br> +gen., general;<br> +Gov., Governor;<br> +h'dqu'r's, headquarters;<br> +inf., infantry;<br> +insp., inspector;<br> +l't, lieutenant;<br> +maj., major;<br> +mt., mountain;<br> +pos., position;<br> +reg., regular;<br> +reg't, regiment;<br> +R., river;<br> +R. R., railroad;<br> +Sec'y, secretary;<br> +sta., station;<br> +U. S. A., United States Army;<br> +U. S. V., United States Volunteers.</p> +<p>The rank of officers is given as of the date when the events +described in the text occurred.</p> +<p>ABBOTT, Jos. C., colonel 7th New Hampshire, commanding brigade, at +Federal Point, North Carolina.</p> +<p>Aides-de-camp,<br> + intimate association with commanding officer;<br> + how appointed;<br> + duties of,</p> +<p>Ames, Adelbert, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding division at Federal Point and Ft. Fisher, North +Carolina;<br> + with General Cox's column on Cape Fear River.</p> +<p>Amnesty,<br> + approved by Lincoln;<br> + discussed by Sherman and Johnston;<br> + extended to all in arms at Lee's surrender;<br> + sustained by popular feeling.</p> +<p>Anderson, Adna, operates Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad.</p> +<p>Anderson, Chas., colonel 93rd Ohio;<br> + wounded at Stone's River;<br> + elected Lieutenant Governor of Ohio.</p> +<p>Anderson, Edw. L., captain 52nd Ohio,<br> + wounded at Jonesboro.</p> +<p>Anderson, Fred. Pope, lieutenant 181st Ohio.</p> +<p>Anderson, Geo. B., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at South Mountain.</p> +<p>Anderson, Geo. T., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + assaults Ft. Sanders.</p> +<p>Anderson, Henry R., captain 6th U. S. Infantry</p> +<p>Anderson, Larz, brother of General Robt.<br> + Anderson, had five sons in Union army.</p> +<p>Anderson, Larz, Jr., aide-de-camp on staff of<br> + General North Carolina McLean.</p> +<p>Anderson, Latham, colonel 8th Cal.</p> +<p>Anderson, Nicholas L., colonel 6th Ohio,<br> + wounded at Stone's River and Chickamauga.</p> +<p>Anderson, Richard H., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Maryland Heights;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Anderson, Robt., lieutenant colonel 9th Pennsylvania, commanding<br> + brig, at Antietam.</p> +<p>Anderson, Thos. McA., captain 14th U. S.<br> + Infantry, later colonel same.</p> +<p>Anderson, Wm. M., brother of General Robt.<br> + Anderson, had two sons in Union army.</p> +<p>Anderson, Wm. P., captain and assistant adjutant-general at<br> + Cincinnati.</p> +<p>Andersonville, confederate treatment of prisoners at.</p> +<p>Ankele, Chas., major 37th Ohio, at Princeton,<br> + West Virginia</p> +<p>Andrews, Lorin, President Kenyon College,<br> + colonel 4th Ohio.</p> +<p>Anthony, Sister, hospital work at Camp<br> + Dennison.</p> +<p>Antietam, battlefield described;<br> + map of;<br> + fords of;<br> + battle on the right;<br> + battle on the left;<br> + conduct of, criticised; losses at.</p> +<p>Appointments, general officers U. S. A.,<br> + laws regulating;<br> + practice concerning.</p> +<p>Army of the Potomac, shares in McClellan's<br> + errors as to enemy's strength and supports his views;<br> + its failures contrasted with success of western armies.</p> +<p>Army Corps,<br> + 1st,<br> + at South Mountain and Antietam;<br> + losses at Antietam;<br> + 2nd,<br> + at South Mountain and Antietam;<br> + 4th,<br> + marches to relief of Knoxville;<br> + at Blain's Cross-roads;<br> + privations in E. Tennessee;<br> + withdrawn to Knoxville;<br> + winter quarters between Kingston and Loudon;<br> + Wood's div in pursuit of Longstreet;<br> + returns to Army of the Cumberland;<br> + concentrates at Cleveland;<br> + connects Army of Cumberland with Army of the +Ohio;<br> + at Tunnel Hill;<br> + Newton's division at Rocky Face;<br> + during Hood's Tennessee campaign;<br> + General Couch assigned to;<br> + dissatisfaction in corps;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + in pursuit of Hood.<br> + 5th,<br> + at Antietam.<br> + 6th,<br> + at Alexandria;<br> + in reserve at Crampton's Gap;<br> + not at Antietam when fight began.<br> + 9th,<br> + Kanawha division attached to;<br> + at Fox's Gap, South Mountain;<br> + extreme left at Antietam;<br> + waiting for orders to advance;<br> + difficulties in carrying bridge and fords over +the Antietam;<br> + overcomes them all and drives enemy into +Sharpsburg;<br> + attacked in left and rear by A. P. Hill's +division;<br> + maintains its position;<br> + losses at Antietam;<br> + moved by sea from North Carolina to Ft. Monroe;<br> + sent to Falmouth, Virginia, and Warrenton to +join Pope;<br> + Kanawha division detached and sent to West +Virginia;<br> + sent to Kentucky much weakened by malarial +disease;<br> + recuperates in Kentucky;<br> + moves into E. Tennessee;<br> + movements in E. Tenn;<br> + at siege of Knoxville;<br> + at Blain's Cross-roads;<br> + Strawberry Plains;<br> + in winter quarters;<br> + ordered East again with Burnside in command.<br> + 12th,<br> + covers trains of Pope's army;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + losses at Antietam;<br> + in support of Sedgwick.<br> + 14th,<br> + at Tunnel Hill;<br> + at Resaca;<br> + deprived of Davis' division;<br> + reunited at New Hope Church;<br> + at Peachtree Creek;<br> + at Averasborough and Bentonville.<br> + 15th,<br> + at Villanow;<br> + at Dallas;<br> + at Roswell;<br> + at Atlanta;<br> + at Ezra Church;<br> + at Bentonville;<br> + on march to Raleigh.<br> + 16th, same as last.<br> + 17th<br> + moves from Decatur, Alabama, via Rome to +Allatoona;<br> + and Ackworth;<br> + in North Carolina<br> + 20th,<br> + at Bridgeport and Wauhatchie, Tennessee;<br> + at Dug Gap;<br> + through Snake Creek Gap;<br> + at Resaca;<br> + off its beat;<br> + again, at crossing of the Etowah;<br> + assaults confederate lines at New Hope Church +and is repulsed;<br> + in reserve;<br> + flanking movement near Ackworth;<br> + at Kolb's farm;<br> + at Peachtree Creek;<br> + holds Atlanta;<br> + at Averasborough and Bentonville;<br> + on march to Raleigh;<br> + marches through Raleigh.<br> + 23d,<br> + organized;<br> + pursuit and capture of Morgan raiders;<br> + scattered and fatigued by the chase;<br> + ordered back to Kentucky;<br> + advance into E. Tennessee;<br> + service in E. Tennessee;<br> + at Loudon;<br> + in battle of Campbell's Station;<br> + at siege of Knoxville;<br> + at Blain's Cross-roads;<br> + privations;<br> + unanimous re-enlistment;<br> + at Strawberry Plains;<br> + sufferings from intense cold;<br> + marches to Dandridge;<br> + back to Strawberry Plains;<br> + winter quarters at Knoxville;<br> + march to Morristown;<br> + good soldiers;<br> + at Rocky Face;<br> + at Resaca;<br> + reinforced by nine new regiments at the Etowah;<br> + at Burnt Hickory;<br> + swings to the left;<br> + forces crossing of Noyes's Creek;<br> + advances to Cheney's;<br> + at battle of Kolb's farm;<br> + forces crossing of Olley's Creek and gains +threatening position beyond enemy's left flank;<br> + holds position while Sherman's army passes to +rear and right;<br> + forces crossing of Chattahoochee at Soap Creek;<br> + extreme right flank of army southwest of +Atlanta;<br> + Cox's division covers itself by field +intrenchments in fifteen minutes;<br> + October campaign, 1864, General Cox in command;<br> + ordered to report to Thomas;<br> + march to Dalton;<br> + cars to Nashville;<br> + at Columbia, Tennessee;<br> + at Pulaski;<br> + race back to Columbia;<br> + at Columbia;<br> + at battle of Franklin;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + follows Smith's corps in pursuit of Hood;<br> + recruited to 15,000;<br> + hard winter march from Columbia to Clifton, +Tennessee;<br> + transported from Clifton to Washington: shipped +to North Carolina;<br> + ascends right bank of Cape Fear River, captures +Ft. Anderson, Town Creek, and compels evacuation of Wilmington;<br> + at battle of Kinston;<br> + losses at Kinston;<br> + dress parade at Goldsborough in honor of +Sherman's arrival;<br> + march to Raleigh;<br> + at Raleigh;<br> + at Greensborough.</p> +<p>Army Headquarters, business centre for a large military population.</p> +<p>Army Pets.</p> +<p>Army Regulations, necessity for careful study of.</p> +<p>Atlanta Campaign;<br> + decisive importance of, recognized by Southern leaders.</p> +<p>Atlanta, Battle of.</p> +<p>"Atlantic,"<br> + Collins line steamship used in transporting part of 23d +army corps to North Carolina.</p> +<p>Audenreid, Jos. C., captain,<br> + and aide-de-camp on Sherman's staff, rides around enemy's +lines into Knoxville.</p> +<p>Augur, Christopher C., appointed major general</p> +<p>Averasborough, North Carolina, battle of.</p> +<p>Badger, George E.,<br> + ex-senator from North Carolina, joins Graham's peace +delegation;<br> + mentioned.</p> +<p>Baker, Lawrence S., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + in command of North Carolina militia at Kinston.</p> +<p>Ball, Hon. Flamen,<br> + attorny for Burnside in Vallandigham <i>habeas corpus</i> +case.</p> +<p>Ballot,<br> + extension of, to soldiers in the field.</p> +<p>Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,<br> + importance of;<br> + Union forces collected on line of.</p> +<p>Banks, N. P., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding forces in Shenandoah Valley;<br> + defeated by "Stonewall" Jackson;<br> + in charge of defences of Washington.</p> +<p>Barbarism,<br> + tendency of war to make men relapse into;<br> + efforts of officers to curb tendency;<br> + of Union armies exaggerated to keep up war spirit of +Southern people.</p> +<p>Barker, C. W., major 12th Ill. cavalry,<br> + in West Virginia</p> +<p>Barlow, Francis C., colonel 61st New York,<br> + desperately wounded at Antietam.</p> +<p>Barnett, James, colonel 1st Ohio Artillery,<br> + in West Virginia</p> +<p>Barriger, John W.,<br> + captain and commissary on General Cox's staff;<br> + good qualities.</p> +<p>Barter, Richard F., colonel commanding brigadier,<br> + in 23d army corps, at Olley's Creek</p> +<p>Bascom, Gustavus M.,<br> + aide-de-camp on General Cox's staff;<br> + promoted to major;<br> + accompanies General Cox to E. Tennessee;<br> + transferred to Stoneman's staff.</p> +<p>Bates, Joshua H., brigadier-general Ohio Vol. Infantry,<br> + at Camp Dennison.</p> +<p>Batteaux,<br> + used for transportation of supplies from head of navigation +to Kanawha Falls;<br> + more economical than wagon transportation.</p> +<p>Baxter, John, loyalist,<br> + lawyer at Knoxville, afterwards U. S. Circuit Judge for 6th +Circuit.</p> +<p>Beauregard, P. G. T., lieutenant general Confederate States Army,<br> + suggested by Lee to succeed Bragg;<br> + Davis takes no notice of suggestion;<br> + ordered to reinforce Polk with 10,000 men;<br> + replies, impracticable;<br> + in command Western Department;<br> + confers with Hood;<br> + says latter departed from plans agreed on;<br> + criticised by Sherman;<br> + hears of Thomas' expected reinforcements and orders Hood to +take aggressive immediately;<br> + commands forces in the Carolinas;<br> + orders Hardee to evacuate Charleston;<br> + confesses inability to resist Sherman's march;<br> + startles Davis;<br> + retreats into North Carolina;<br> + superseded by Johnston;<br> + estimates of forces contradicted by official returns;<br> + at Greensborough;<br> + declares further prosecution of war hopeless.</p> +<p>Becker, Gottfried, lieutenant colonel 28th Ohio,<br> + at South Mountain.</p> +<p>Beecher, Henry Ward,<br> + meeting with General Cox;<br> + correspondence with Stanton about photographs of Lincoln +cortege.</p> +<p>Bell, T. S., Pt colonel 51st Pennsylvania,<br> + killed at Burnside bridge.</p> +<p>Benham, H. W.,<br> + captain of engineers;<br> + consults about fortifying Gauley Bridge;<br> + appointed brigadier general;<br> + at Carnifex Ferry;<br> + Cross Lanes;<br> + near Gauley Bridge;<br> + ordered to move to rear of Floyd's position on Cotton Hill +and intercept retreat;<br> + fails to do so;<br> + Rosecrans orders court-martial, but McClellan suppresses it;<br> + transferred to another department.</p> +<p>Benjamin, Judah P., attorny-general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Davis' last cabinet meeting;<br> + decides States alone can dissolve confederacy and return to +their allegiance;<br> + escapes to Cuba.</p> +<p>Benjamin, Samuel N., lieutenant 2nd U. S. Artillery,<br> + at Antietam;<br> + at Ft. Sanders;<br> + reports cowardice of commanding officer.</p> +<p>Bennett, residence of, near Durham, North Carolina,<br> + where Sherman and Johnston discussed terms of surrender.</p> +<p>Bentonville, North Carolina,<br> + battle of;<br> + sound of battle heard fifty miles away.</p> +<p>Beverly, West Virginia,<br> + concentration of confederate troops at;<br> + importance of situation;<br> + abandoned after battle of Rich Mountain</p> +<p>Big Creek Gap, fine view through.</p> +<p>Big Sandy River,<br> + as transportation route to E. Tennessee</p> +<p>Big Sewell Mountain,<br> + reached by Cox's advance;<br> + occupied by General Cox;<br> + difficulty of hauling supplies to;<br> + compels retirement.</p> +<p>Birkhimer's "Military Government and Martial Law" cited.</p> +<p>Blair, Frank P., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + prefers command in Sherman's Army to seat in Congress;<br> + commands 17th army corps;<br> + marches from Decatur, Alabama, to Rome, Kingston, and +Ackworth;<br> + his corps makes good Sherman's losses in Atlanta campaign;<br> + sent to Missouri to stump;<br> + wants to stop foraging in North Carolina</p> +<p>Blenker, Louis, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + ordered to join Fremont;<br> + does not arrive in time to participate in advance.</p> +<p>Blizzard,<br> + fearful in E. Tennessee, Jan. 1864.</p> +<p>Blockhouses,<br> + construction and use in railroad defence.</p> +<p>Bloodgood, Edw., lieutenant colonel 22nd Wisc.,<br> + captured with his command by Forrest.</p> +<p>Bloody Lane,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Bluestone River, West Virginia,<br> + operations on.</p> +<p>Bondurant, J. W., captain Alabama artillery,<br> + at South Mountain</p> +<p>Bonticou, Jos. C., lieutenant 2nd Kentucky, scout,<br> + mistakes McCook's tents for enemy's camp.</p> +<p>Boone courthouse, West Virginia,<br> + confederate militia routed at.</p> +<p>Boone, Thos. C., lieutenant colonel 115th Ohio,<br> + commanding Kemper Barracks, Cincinnati.</p> +<p>Border States,<br> + slavery question most troublesome in;<br> + military administration in;<br> + distasteful.</p> +<p>Boughton, Horace, colonel 143rd New York,<br> + commanding brig, at battle of Kinston.</p> +<p>Bounty Jumping,<br> + evils and extent of;<br> + arrest of deserters and efforts to prevent frauds.</p> +<p>Boyle, Jere. T., brigadier-general United States Volunteers,<br> + in Morgan raid;<br> + commanding 1st division 23d army corps</p> +<p>Bradley, D. C., lieutenant 65th Ill.,<br> + aide-de-camp on General Cox's staff.</p> +<p>Bragg, Braxton, general Confederate States Army,<br> + invades Kentucky;<br> + sends large forces to Johnston's assistance in Mississippi;<br> + reinforced by Longstreet's corps before Chickamauga;<br> + forces of, opposing Rosecrans;<br> + weakened by absence of Morgan;<br> + losses at Chickamauga;<br> + unable to break line of supplies for Chattanooga;<br> + orders Longstreet to E. Tennessee;<br> + intends crushing Burnside and quick return;<br> + defeated at Chattanooga;<br> + Longstreet's return cut off;<br> + evil consequences;<br> + asks for investigation;<br> + want of confidence in;<br> + directed to turn command over to Hardee;<br> + quoted by Davis;<br> + correspondence with Johnston;<br> + with Hood;<br> + goes to Atlanta to examine condition of affairs and reports;<br> + exposes habitual underestimate of their forces by +confederate generals;<br> + commanding department of North Carolina;<br> + headquarters at Wilmington;<br> + forced to evacuate by General Cox;<br> + forces of, Feb. 10th;<br> + serves under Johnston;<br> + concentrates all forces and attacks General Cox at Kinston;<br> + mistaken order;<br> + waits for reinforcements;<br> + final attack at Kinston;<br> + repulsed;<br> + forces of, at Kinston;<br> + at Chester, South Carolina;<br> + captured near Athens, Georgia</p> +<p>Brannan, John M., brigadier-general United States Volunteers;<br> + at Chickamauga.</p> +<p>Breckinridge, John C., Secretary of War Confederate States Army,<br> + admits slavery to be dead;<br> + takes part in Sherman-Johnston conference;<br> + at Davis' last cabinet meeting;<br> + decides Hampton's troops bound by capitulation but H. +himself free to ignore;<br> + escapes to Cuba.</p> +<p>British Army,<br> + weak points revealed;<br> + not so apt in learning new lessons as our own.</p> +<p>Brough, John, Union Democrat,<br> + defeats Vallandigham.</p> +<p>Brown, Rev. Fred. T., chaplain 7th Ohio,<br> + trip from Sutton to Gauley through enemy's lines to bring +Cox information.</p> +<p>Brown, Jos. E., Governor of Georgia,<br> + tenders 5000 militia for defence of Atlanta;<br> + urges reinforcements to prevent fall of Atlanta;<br> + exasperation with confederate government;<br> + bitter correspondence with confederate war department;<br> + mentioned.</p> +<p>Brownlow, James P., colonel 1st E. Tennessee Cav.</p> +<p>Brownlow, Wm. E., "Parson,"<br> + leading loyalist at Knoxville.</p> +<p>Buckner, Simon B., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + commanding in E. Tennessee;<br> + joins Longstreet in siege of Knoxville.</p> +<p>Buell, Don Carlos, major general United States Volunteers,<br> + General Cox ordered to join;<br> + order countermanded on Rosecrans' protest;<br> + objects to invasion of E. Tennessee;<br> + sends Garfield to Big Sandy, and Morgan to Cumberland Gap;<br> + retreats before Bragg;<br> + ordered before military commission;<br> + why Rosecrans chosen to succeed.</p> +<p>Buford, Abram, brigadier-general Confederate States Army,<br> + commanding division Forrest's cavalry</p> +<p>Buford, N. B.,<br> +appointed major-general United States Volunteers;<br> +not confirmed.</p> +<p>Bull Run,<br> + second battle of, guns heard at Washington;<br> + news of Pope's defeat reaches Washington.</p> +<p>Bull Run bridge,<br> + stout defence by Scammon.</p> +<p>Burbank, Sidney, major, mustering officer at Camp Jackson.</p> +<p>Burdsall, Henry W., commanding ind. Co. Ohio Cavalry.</p> +<p>Burnside, Ambrose E.,<br> + twice declines command of Army of Potomac and urges +McClellan's retention;<br> + commanding right wing;<br> + first impressions of;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + sharp reply to Hooker's report;<br> + relations with McClellan;<br> + command divided at Antietam;<br> + leaves Cox in command of 9th army corps;<br> + understanding of McClellan's plans;<br> + practically without command;<br> + order to attack, when received;<br> + efforts to hurry advance;<br> + McClellan's true friend;<br> + heartily advocates emancipation and advises McC. on subject;<br> + forwards Porter's dispatches about Pope to Washington;<br> + held responsible by Porter for his court-martial;<br> + grieved by division of his command, and McC.'s withdrawal +of confidence;<br> + and unjust reprimand;<br> + explains delay;<br> + fine appearance on field;<br> + cordial manners, popularity with his troops;<br> + sincerity and unselfishness;<br> + appointed to succeed McC. in spite of his protests;<br> + dispiriting effect of his defeat at Fredericksburg;<br> + ordered to Department of the Ohio;<br> + plans for occupying E. Tennessee;<br> + headquarters at Cincinnati;<br> + character and habits of;<br> + General Order No. 38;<br> + warns Cincinatti papers against publishing military +information;<br> + causes arrest and trial of Vallandigham;<br> + suppresses "Chicago Times";<br> + overruled by the President;<br> + plans campaign into E. Tennessee;<br> + efforts to agree with Rosecrans on plan of advance;<br> + directed to send 9th army corps to Vicksburg;<br> + departure with staff for E. Tennessee;<br> + recall;<br> + organizes raids into West Virginia, E. Tennessee, and S. W. +Kentucky;<br> + efforts to catch Morgan;<br> + declares martial law in southern Ohio, during Morgan raid;<br> + imprisons Morgan and his officers in Ohio penitentiary;<br> + dramatic announcement of fall of Vicksburg;<br> + rejoices in return of 9th army corps;<br> + Halleck's unjust treatment of;<br> + concentrates forces and advances into E. Tennessee;<br> + captures General Frazer and 2500 men at Cumberland Gap;<br> + impossibility of co-operating with Rosecrans;<br> + congratulated by President and Halleck;<br> + asks to be relieved;<br> + organizes and arms E. Tennessee volunteers;<br> + directed to move toward Chattanooga and support Rosecrans;<br> + inability to reach River before battle of Chickamauga;<br> + explains to War Department;<br> + concentrates near Loudon;<br> + attacks confederate General Jones and drives him into +Virginia;<br> + relations with Rosecrans;<br> + informs Grant of his situation and necessities of troops;<br> + opposes Longstreet;<br> + well-conducted retreat to Knoxville;<br> + relieved of command;<br> + habitual unfriendliness of Halleck;<br> + Congress passes resolutions of thanks;<br> + at his best in such commands;<br> + lack of system and other faults;<br> + offers General Cox corps command in E. Tennessee;<br> + recommends him for such appointment to General Foster;<br> + plans another expedition to North Carolina;<br> + not allowed to carry it out.</p> +<p>Burnside's Bridge,<br> + across the Antietam;<br> + least promising point of attack;<br> + carried by Cox's command;<br> + losses at.</p> +<p>Butler, Benj. F., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + relieved of command;<br> + criticises Grant in farewell order;<br> + further assignment to command opposed by Grant.</p> +<p>Butler, M. C., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + sent to assist Johnston in driving back Sherman;<br> + included in Johnston's capitulation.</p> +<p>Butterfield, Daniel, major general United States Volunteers,<br> + interferes with Schofield's advance;<br> + declines to act on his request;<br> + claims to outrank S. and disputes his authority.</p> +<p>Buzzard Roost,<br> + strong defensive position at Dalton, Georgia;<br> + attacks on, by Newton, and Geary.</p> +<p>Byrd, Robt. K., colonel E. Tennessee volunteers;<br> + commanding cavalry in E. Tennessee;<br> + at crossing of Olley's Creek</p> +<p>Cameron, Daniel, commanding brig, in Cox's division 23d army corps,<br> + carries bridge over Noyes' Creek;<br> + supports Byrd beyond Olley's Creek;<br> + intrenches between Byrd and Reilly.</p> +<p>Camp Dennison, Ohio<br> + camp of instruction;<br> + laid out by General Cox;<br> + huts built;<br> + floors laid;<br> + drilling of militia;<br> + water works;<br> + routine at;<br> + measles at;<br> + re-enlisting of three months men at.</p> +<p>Camp Jackson, near Columbus, Ohio,<br> + first depot of recruits.</p> +<p>Camp Lookout, West Virginia;<br> + amusing incident.</p> +<p>Campbell, John A., ex-justice U. S. Supreme Court,<br> + confederate peace commander.</p> +<p>Campbell, John A., major and assistant adjutant-general on +Schofield's staff.</p> +<p>Canby, Edw. R., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + Grant plans movement by.</p> +<p>Cantey, James, brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Resaca.</p> +<p>Carnifex Ferry, West Virginia,<br> + map of;<br> + battle of.</p> +<p>Carrington, Henry B., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + superseded by Hascall at Indianapolis;<br> + restored at Morton's request;<br> + active in prosecuting Knights of Golden Circle.</p> +<p>Carter, John C.,<br> + captain U. S. steamer "Michigan";<br> + aids in defeating plot to release rebel prisoners.</p> +<p>Carter, Samuel P.,<br> + assists in re-occupation of Kanawha valley;<br> + commanding division of mounted troops;<br> + advance into E. Tennessee;<br> + joins 23d army corps;<br> + succeeds Meagher in command of division at Beaufort, North +Carolina;<br> + in advance on Kinston;<br> + good conduct in first day's battle;<br> + again, on final assault;<br> + commanding division composed of Palmer's and his own;<br> + transferred to third (Cox's) division of 23d army corps, +when latter assumes corps command.</p> +<p>Casement, John S., major 7th Ohio,<br> + brings 400 to Charleston after surprise at Cross Lanes;<br> + colonel of 103rd Ohio;<br> + recruits new brass band for his brigade;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + on expedition to North Carolina;<br> + on advance up right bank Cape Fear River</p> +<p>Cavalry,<br> + activity of confederate;<br> + raids usually costly affairs;<br> + difficulties of mounting;<br> + enormous waste of horses;<br> + outpost and patrol duties more important than showy raids.</p> +<p>Cave Spring, Georgia,<br> + description of;<br> + rendezvous for Hood and Beauregard.</p> +<p>Chalmers, James R., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + commanding division in Forrest's cavalry, at battle of +Nashville.</p> +<p>Chantilly, battle of.</p> +<p>Chaplains, army.</p> +<p>Charleston, South Carolina,<br> + fall of, has depressing effect on Confederacy.</p> +<p>Charleston, West Virginia,<br> + strategic position;<br> + taken by General Cox;<br> + inundated;<br> + headquarters of General Cox winter of 1861-2;<br> + remissness of city officials;<br> + reoccupied by General Cox.</p> +<p>Chase, Salmon P.,<br> + Secretary of Treasury;<br> + differences with President Lincoln:<br> + corresponds with Garfield;<br> + chief justice, entertains General Cox.</p> +<p>Chattanooga, Tennessee,<br> + siege by Bragg;<br> + line of supplies opened;<br> + lines of communication with Nashville and North;<br> + fortified and garrisoned.</p> +<p>Cheatham, Benj. F., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + controversy with Hood;<br> + at battle of Atlanta;<br> + succeeds to command of Hardee's corps;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + joins Bragg's army in North Carolina;<br> + after capitulation, moves across Great Smoky Mountains with +Tennessee troops.</p> +<p>Chickamauga, battle of.</p> +<p>Chief Command, strain of, as compared with subordinate position.</p> +<p>Chief of Staff, importance of position</p> +<p>Christ, B. C., colonel 50th Pennsylvania,<br> + commanding brigade at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Christian, Wm. A., colonel 26th New York,<br> + commanding brig, at Antietam.</p> +<p>Christie, S. L.,<br> + captain and aide-de-camp on General Cox's staff;<br> + resigns on account of ill health.</p> +<p>Cincinnati,<br> + headquarters Department of the Ohio;<br> + in 1863 a centre for rebel sympathizers;<br> + refuge for Southern women;<br> + defended against Morgan raiders;<br> + enthusiasm over surrender of Vicksburg.</p> +<p>Claassen, Peter J., colonel 132nd New York,<br> + commanding brig at battle of Kinston.</p> +<p>Clarke, Melvin, lieutenant colonel 36th Ohio,<br> + at South Mountain</p> +<p>Clay, Cassius M., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + not assigned to duty;<br> + resigns and is appointed min. to Russia.</p> +<p>Clayton, H. D., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Kinston;<br> + falls on Upham's flank.</p> +<p>Cluseret, Gustave,<br> + colonel and aide-de-camp on Frémont's staff;<br> + amusing controversy with General Milroy;<br> + military chief of Paris commune in 1870.</p> +<p>Cobb, Howell, brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at South Mountain</p> +<p>Coburn, John, colonel 33rd Indiana commanding brigade,<br> + captured by Van Dorn.</p> +<p>Cochrane, John, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + war Democrat, consults McClellan about Emancipation +Proclamation;<br> + publishes recollections of interview;<br> + attempts to bring McClellan and Chase into harmony.</p> +<p>Cockerill, Giles J., commanding battery D 1st Ohio artillery,<br> + at Kolb's farm.</p> +<p>Coffee,<br> + value of, in army rations;<br> + improvised coffee-mills.</p> +<p>Colburn, A. V., colonel and assistant adjutant-general on +McClellan's staff,<br> + accompanies him on rides about Washington.</p> +<p>Coleman, Aug. H., lieutenant colonel 11th Ohio,<br> + leads charge up Cotton Mountain, West Virginia;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + killed at Burnside bridge.</p> +<p>Coleman, D., colonel Confederate States Army,<br> + commanding brigade at battle of Nashville.</p> +<p>Colored Troops,<br> + excellent conduct in skirmish at Federal Point.</p> +<p>Colquitt, Alfred H.,<br> + colonel Confederate States Army commanding brigade at +Antietam.</p> +<p>Comly, James M.,<br> + major 23d Ohio;<br> + repulses attack at Pack's Ferry, West Virginia</p> +<p>Comstock, C. B.,<br> + lieutenant colonel engineers on Grant's staff;<br> + gets key to cipher dispatches;<br> + reprimanded by Stanton;<br> + accompanies Terry's expedition against Ft. Fisher;<br> + suggests flanking Hoke's position at Federal Point;<br> + plan adopted by Schofield, but fails on account of heavy +gales and deep sands;<br> + explains Schofield's use of hospital steamer "Spaulding".</p> +<p>Confederate Army,<br> + dwindles as hopes of success vanish;<br> + disorders threatened on capitulation;<br> + complete submission to U. S. authority;<br> + paroled and sent home;<br> + manifest interest in drill and discipline of U. S. troops.</p> +<p>Confederate Currency,<br> + enormous depreciation of. 195.</p> +<p>Conine, Jas. W.,<br> + lieutenant and aide-de-camp on General Cox's staff;<br> + appointed colonel of 5th U. S. Colored troops.</p> +<p>Connecticut Troops,<br> + 8th Infantry at Antietam;<br> + 11th Infantry at Antietam;<br> + 15th Infantry at Kinston.</p> +<p>"Contrabands,"<br> + slaves of confederate officers coming into Union lines;<br> + term gradually applied to all escaped slaves;<br> + difficulties in treatment of.</p> +<p>Cook, Asa M., captain 8th Massachusetts Artillery,<br> + at South Mountain</p> +<p>Coon, Datus E., colonel United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding 2nd brigade Wilson's cavalry at Nashville;<br> + captures enemy's cavalry baggage train.</p> +<p>Cooper, Jos. A., colonel 6th E. Tennessee,<br> + promoted brigadier general and assigned to command 2nd +division 23d army corps;<br> + at Johnsonville, Tennessee;<br> + ordered to Beard's Ferry;<br> + masterly retreat from.</p> +<p>Cooper, Samuel, adjutant and inspector general Confederate States +Army,<br> + capitulates with Johnston's army;<br> + tries to preserve confederate archives.</p> +<p>Corps Commander,<br> + takes precedence over ranking major generals not assigned +to corps command.</p> +<p>Corse, John M., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + successfully defends Allatoona.</p> +<p>Cotton Mountain, West Virginia,<br> + overlooking Gauley, seized by Floyd;<br> + annoying fire from;<br> + Floyd's position on, carried by Cox and Schenck.</p> +<p>Couch, Darius N., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Yorktown;<br> + ordered to observe A. P. Hill at Harper's Ferry;<br> + should have come on field of Antietam not later than Hill;<br> + but did not appear;<br> + reports to General Thomas for duty, assigned to 4th army +corps;<br> + owing to dissatisfaction in that corps assigned to 23d army +corps;<br> + outranks General Cox and displaces him as second in command;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + on march from Columbia to Clifton;<br> + commands 23d army corps <i>en route</i> from Clifton to +Washington;<br> + sails with his division to Beaufort, North Carolina;<br> + commands two divisions 23d army corps left at Wilmington;<br> + ordered to support of Cox at Kinston;<br> + commands 2nd division 23d army corps under General Cox.</p> +<p>Coughlan, James,<br> + lieutenant 24th Kentucky and aide-de-camp on General Cox's +staff;<br> + daring ride at Olley's Creek;<br> + captured near Atlanta, exchanged, and killed at Franklin.</p> +<p>Councils of War,<br> + why they never fight.</p> +<p>Cox, Jacob D.,<br> + in Ohio Senate;<br> + assists Governor Dennison in enrolling and organizing State +militia;<br> + appointed brigadier general O. S. V. April 23d, 1861;<br> + inspects State arsenal with McClellan;<br> + in command of Camp Jackson;<br> + inspects site with McClellan and lays out Camp Dennison;<br> + first lessons in camping out and brigade drill;<br> + extensive reading of military works;<br> + all but one of his regiments ordered away;<br> + ill effects of repeated change of command;<br> + appointed brigadier general United States Volunteers;<br> + confirmed;<br> + ordered to Kanawha valley with raw regiments not yet +equipped;<br> + begins operations on a base 100 miles broad;<br> + with 3400 men ordered to drive out Wise, who had 4000;<br> + begins advance July 11th;<br> + wild rumors;<br> + affair at Scary Creek;<br> + turns enemy's flank at Tyler Mountain;<br> + captures Charleston;<br> + presuming colonels;<br> + quiet manner often led to similar difficulties;<br> + experience with newspaper correspondents;<br> + captures Gauley Bridge with 1500 stands of arms and +munitions of war;<br> + congratulated by McClellan and Rosecrans;<br> + establishes post at Gauley, scouts in all directions, sends +out detachments to deceive enemy;<br> + left with only 1800 men to oppose Wise and Floyd with 8000;<br> + suppresses mutinous excitement;<br> + meets Rosecrans at Cross Lanes;<br> + joined by McCook's brigade;<br> + at Camp Lookout;<br> + at Big Sewell Mountain;<br> + skirmish with Wise's legion;<br> + difficulty of obtaining supplies forces retirement to Camp +Lookout;<br> + holds post at Gauley during occupation of Cotton Mountain +by Floyd;<br> + carries Cotton Mountain by front attack up river face;<br> + commands District of Kanawha, headquarters at Charleston;<br> + ordered to report to Buell in Kentucky, countermanded on +Rosecrans' protest;<br> + first military execution ordered;<br> + weeding out incompetents and improving drill and discipline +of Kanawha division;<br> + scrutiny of correspondence between confederates and +residents within the lines;<br> + dealing with non-combatants;<br> + disapproves of test oaths;<br> + policy with regard to escaped slaves;<br> + controversies with owners;<br> + prefers seasoned volunteers to regulars;<br> + rapid improvement of volunteer officers;<br> + rebuilds bridge at Gauley;<br> + uses batteaux for transportation on upper Kanawha;<br> + reports to Frémont 8500 seasoned troops under his +command;<br> + pursuant to Frémont's plan of campaign moves to +Princeton, West Virginia;<br> + affair at Princeton;<br> + retires to Flat Top Mountain, on advices that Jackson's +defeat of Banks upsets campaign;<br> + ordered to Washington with his command;<br> + Kanawha division marches 90 miles in 3-1/2 days fully +equipped, over mountain roads;<br> + impressions of Secretary Stanton;<br> + in defences of Washington under McClellan;<br> + meets Pope and McDowell retreating to Washington;<br> + commends general scheme of Pope's campaign;<br> + learns through his scouts of Lee's invasion of Maryland;<br> + methods of collecting and sifting information;<br> + condemns McClellan's spy system;<br> + ordered to report to Burnside;<br> + first impressions;<br> + attached to 9th Corps and takes advance;<br> + shocked at straggling in Army of Potomac;<br> + meets General Reno;<br> + good impression made by Kanawha division;<br> + at the Monocacy;<br> + at Frederick, Maryland;<br> + supports Pleasanton;<br> + commands in action at Fox's Gap, South Mountain;<br> + Reno arrives late in day, is killed almost immediately, and +Cox succeeds to command of the corps;<br> + expresses his pride in the conduct of the Kanawha division;<br> + meets McClellan and principal officers of Army of Potomac +at headquarters;<br> + retained in command of 9th Corps;<br> + part it was to take in the battle;<br> + carries Burnside bridge and fords in front and drives +confederate right wing back to Sharpsburg;<br> + movement arrested by arrival of A. P. Hill's division from +Harper's Ferry and flank attack;<br> + holds his position and sleeps on battlefield;<br> + gets hints of a project to make McClellan dictator;<br> + consulted by McC. as to how he should treat Emancipation +Proclamation;<br> + warns him against putting himself in opposition to +administration;<br> + accompanies Lincoln in ride over battlefield of Antietam;<br> + promoted to major general and command of 9th Corps;<br> + ordered to return to Kanawha valley, overrun by confederate +forces in his absence;<br> + commands District of West Virginia;<br> + takes leave of 9th Corps;<br> + Stanton;<br> + and Chase;<br> + reports to General H. G. Wright at Cincinnati;<br> + impressions of;<br> + inspects commands of Morgan and Lightburn;<br> + contracts for wagons and transportation;<br> + reoccupies Kanawha valley, driving out Loring, Echols, and +Jenkins;<br> + administration of affairs in West Virginia;<br> + headquarters at Marietta;<br> + staff reorganized;<br> + appointment as major general not confirmed;<br> + severe disappointment;<br> + evils of subjecting military appointments to political +action;<br> + reports to General Schenck at Baltimore;<br> + ordered to Columbus to assist Governor in enrolling and +organizing conscripts;<br> + commands Military District of Ohio, headquarters at +Cincinnati;<br> + relations to Burnside;<br> + disinclined to arrest Vallandigham followers;<br> + District of Mich, added to his command;<br> + acting chief of staff for Burnside;<br> + transacts business of the Department of the Ohio, in +Burnside's name;<br> + firm dealing with extreme Democratic partisans;<br> + nomination fails because it had support of neither regular +army officers nor politicians;<br> + secures approval of immediate commanders;<br> + urgent to obtain field command;<br> + reads Kinglake's "Crimean War" and derives comfort from +record of experiments and blunders in English Army;<br> + defeats plot to free prisoners on Johnson's Island;<br> + offered corps command in E. Tennessee by Burnside;<br> + investigates treatment of prisoners at Johnson's Island;<br> + ordered to report to commanding general in E. Tennessee;<br> + winter ride over Mountains;<br> + meets Burnside and staff coming out;<br> + assigned to command District of Kentucky;<br> + distaste for such commands;<br> + assigned to command 23d army corps;<br> + at Strawberry Plains;<br> + first meeting with Grant;<br> + reports to Sheridan at Dandridge, in;<br> + retreat to Strawberry Plains;<br> + drives back rebel advance toward Knoxville;<br> + threatened with pneumonia;<br> + winter quarters at Knoxville;<br> + yields command of 23d army corps to Major General Stoneman;<br> + asks for command of Sheridan's division 4th army corps;<br> + Major General Newton gets it;<br> + meets Schofield;<br> + acts as chief of staff for Schofield;<br> + amusing occurrence on grand rounds;<br> + at Newmarket, E. Tennessee;<br> + at Morristown;<br> + offers plan of campaign for Army of the Ohio;<br> + approved by Schofield;<br> + offered permanent position as chief of staff, or division +in 23d army corps;<br> + takes latter;<br> + second in command to Schofield;<br> + ordered to join Sherman, drives enemy out of E. Tennessee +and destroys railroad back to Knoxville;<br> + march to Dalton;<br> + first meeting with Sherman and Thomas;<br> + commands extreme left at Dalton;<br> + retires left wing in presence of enemy;<br> + movement praised by Sherman and Schofield;<br> + protects exposed flank by fallen timber;<br> + beginning of field intrenchments;<br> + marches through Snake Creek Gap and takes position on left +of army;<br> + carries intrenchments on confederate right at Resaca;<br> + commands advance and extreme left on march from Resaca to +Cassville;<br> + outflanks confederate army and forces abandonment of +position before Cassville;<br> + follows confederate rearguard to crossing of Etowah River;<br> + privations when marching without baggage;<br> + on march to New Hope Church lines;<br> + assumes command of 23d army corps on Schofield's becoming +disabled;<br> + turns confederate position at New Hope Church;<br> + closer relations with Sherman;<br> + unseen perils, narrow escape;<br> + heavy rains and discomfort;<br> + gloomy thoughts;<br> + occupies position on extreme right, separated a mile from +rest of army;<br> + forces crossing of Noyes' Creek;<br> + supports Hascall at Kolb's farm, against Hood's attack;<br> + forces crossing of Olley's Creek, intrenches in commanding +position beyond enemy's left flank;<br> +holds position gained, three miles from continuous lines of Sherman's +army, for several days;<br> + effects crossing of Chattahoochee at Soap Creek;<br> + extreme right flank southwest of Atlanta;<br> + his division covers its front with intrenchments in fifteen +minutes;<br> + at Decatur, Georgia;<br> + in command of Army of the Ohio during October campaign;<br> + mild reproof of brig, commander who prefers a cursing;<br> + in pursuit of Hood;<br> + Sherman plans to take 23d army corps on march to the sea +with Cox in command;<br> + Schofield protests, Cox yields;<br> + resumes command of his own division;<br> + recommended for promotion by Schofield and Sherman, App. C;<br> + farewell to Sherman;<br> + march to Dalton; visits Chattanooga;<br> + and Nashville;<br> + votes for Lincoln, on train;<br> + pet lizard; at Franklin, Tennessee;<br> + at Columbia;<br> + at Pulaski;<br> + race back to Columbia;<br> + writes book on "Battle of Franklin;"<br> + at Nashville, after retreat from Franklin;<br> + position as second in command, reduced by appointment of +Major General Couch to a division;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + exposure on night after battle;<br> + pursuit of Hood;<br> + revisits Franklin and studies battlefield;<br> + also Spring Hill and Columbia;<br> + rebuilds bridges and improves roads;<br> + suffers from malarial poisoning;<br> + obtains sick leave;<br> + does not use it, as active campaigning is proposed;<br> + earnestly recommended for promotion by Schofield and +Thomas, App. C;<br> + appointed major general as of Dec. 7, to fill vacancy +caused by McClernand's resignation;<br> + hard march from Columbia to Clifton;<br> + still suffering from malaria;<br> + goes home while 23d Corps is transported from Clifton to +Washington;<br> + rapid improvement in health, and new zeal; rejoins corps at +Washington;<br> + interviews with Stanton, Chase, Garfield, Dennison, +Schenck, Henry Ward Beecher, Henry Winter Davis, and others;<br> + sails with his division to Cape Fear River, North Carolina; +at Federal Point;<br> + commands column ascending right bank of Cape Fear River, +capturing Ft. Anderson<br> +and Town Creek, with two cannon and 400 prisoners, and compelling +evacuation<br> +of Wilmington;<br> + uses discretion in not strictly obeying Schofield's orders;<br> + permanent assignment to command 23d army corps urged by +Schofield, App. C;<br> + takes command of troops at New Berne, North Carolina, and +advances on Kinston;<br> + two battles at Kinston;<br> + losses at Kinston, chiefly in Upham's brigade, which was +surprised;<br> + hears sound of battle of Bentonville, fifty miles away;<br> + occupies Goldsborough;<br> + permanently assigned to command 23d army corps, App. C;<br> + march to Raleigh;<br> + vigorous measures to stop pillage and arson;<br> + precautions against soldiers wreaking vengeance for +assassination of Lincoln;<br> + commands western district of North Carolina, with +headquarters at Greensborough;<br> + interview with General Hardee;<br> + with Johnston;<br> + visit to Salisbury, confederate treatment of prisoners +denounced;<br> + recognizes local courts and magistrates;<br> + notes complete submission on part of North Carolina people +to results of the war;<br> + limits authority to preserving the peace;<br> + visits Guilford-Old-Court-House, and battlefield;<br> + sentiments inspired thereby.</p> +<p>Cox, Theodore, brother of above, vol.<br> + aide-de-camp, at South Mountain and Antietam;<br> + lieutenant in 11th Ohio and aide-de-camp by appointmentt;<br> + at skirmish before Knoxville;<br> + at Knoxville;<br> + adjutant general on General Cox's staff;<br> + accuracy and business system of;<br> + issues orders for good conduct of troops on shipboard.</p> +<p>Crane, Orrin J., major 7th Ohio, at Antietam.</p> +<p>Cranor, Jonathan, colonel 40th Ohio, in West Virginia</p> +<p>Crawford, Samuel W., brigadier general United States Volunteers, at +Antietam.</p> +<p>Creighton, Wm. R., lieutenant colonel 7th Ohio,<br> + comes in with Tyler after surprise at Cross Lanes;<br> + reproaches himself with cowardice;<br> + record of gallantry, until killed at Ringgold, Georgia</p> +<p>Crittenden, Eugene W., colonel commanding cavalry<br> + brigade in 23d army corps, reports to General Cox at +Olley's Creek</p> +<p>Crittenden, Thos. L., major general United States Volunteers, in E. +Tennessee.</p> +<p>Crome, G. L., lieutenant McMullin's battery;<br> + killed at South Mountain</p> +<p>Crook, Geo., captain 4th U. S. Infantry, colonel<br> + 36th Ohio, at Cross Lanes;<br> + Summersville;<br> + personal description of;<br> + captured at Cumberland;<br> + first vote; at Lewisburg, West Virginia;<br> + defeats Heth;<br> + attached to Kanawha division;<br> + reports to Pope at Warrenton, Virginia;<br> + commanding brig, in Kanawha division;<br> + supports Scammon;<br> + at South Mt;<br> + attached to Sturgis' division at Antietam;<br> + carries ford of Antietam above Burnside bridge;<br> + promoted brig, general;<br> + ordered to Clarksburg, West Virginia;<br> + commands Kanawha division;<br> + marches from Clarksburg to Gauley Bridge;<br> + at Gauley Bridge;<br> + transferred to Rosecrans' command in Tennessee;<br> + commends discipline of Kanawha division,</p> +<p>Cross Lanes, West Virginia,<br> + 7th Ohio surprised at and routed;<br> + consultation of Rosecrans and Cox at.</p> +<p>Cutler, Hon. Wm. P.,<br> + M. C. from Marietta, Ohio, expresses popular distrust of +Lincoln's ability.</p> +<p>DALTON, Georgia,<br> + geography of vicinity;<br> + impregnable to attack from north or west;<br> + operations about;<br> + strong character of defensive works.</p> +<p>Dana, Chas. A.,<br> + Assistant Secretary of War;<br> + cipher dispatches to Stanton about Rosecrans and his +officers;<br> + visits Burnside at Knoxville;<br> + reports to Grant;<br> + judgment of army officers at Chattanooga;<br> + advises Stanton concerning interview between Lincoln and +confederate peace commanders;<br> + concerning prayers for the President in Episcopal churches +at Richmond.</p> +<p>Dandridge, E. Tennessee, affair at;<br> + a surprise all around;<br> + both armies retreat.</p> +<p>Davis, David, Justice of U. S. Supreme Court,<br> + change in views regarding trial by military commissions in +Indiana;</p> +<p>Davis, Henry Winter, M. C. from Maryland,<br> + dines with General Cox in Washington;<br> + opposes re-election of Lincoln;<br> + witty and scathing denunciation of L.</p> +<p>Davis, Jefferson, President Confederate States Army, advises<br> + with Lee about successor to Bragg;<br> + differences with Beauregard and Johnston;<br> + finally appoints Johnston;<br> + urges aggressive action;<br> + correspondence with Johnston;<br> + plans thwarted by long discussion;<br> + begs Johnston to retreat no further;<br> + receives no encouragement from him;<br> + sends Bragg to Atlanta to examine and report on condition +of affairs;<br> + relieves Johnston and appoints Hood;<br> + convinced Hood needs intellectual guidance;<br> + urges Hardee to hold Charleston, and stop Sherman on line +of Combahee River;<br> + startled by Beauregard's confession of inability to stop +Sherman;<br> + notes difference between B.'s estimate of forces available +and official returns;<br> + goes to Danville on fall of Richmond;<br> + thence to Greensborough, North Carolina;<br> + orders arrest of Governor Vance's peace commanders;<br> + advised by all his generals and cabinet that further +prosecution of war was hopeless;<br> + authorizes Johnston to negotiate with Sherman;<br> + holds last cabinet meeting at Charlotte;<br> + unanimous decision that confederacy is conquered;<br> + assents to Johnston's surrender;<br> + reputed "plunder" nearly all paid out to Johnston's troops +and his personal escort;<br> + tries to escape beyond Mississippi;<br> + captured S. E. of Macon.</p> +<p>Davis, Jeff. C., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding division in Army of the Cumberland;<br> + movement on Rome;<br> + occupies Rome;<br> + attached to McPherson's command temporarily;<br> + assault on Kennesaw.</p> +<p>Dawes, Ephraim C., major 53rd Ohio,<br> + analysis of opposing forces in Atlanta campaign.</p> +<p>Dawes, Rufus R., lieutenant colonel 6th Wisc.,<br> + at Antietam;<br> + "Service with the Sixth Wisconsin," cited.</p> +<p>Day, D. W. H., captain and assistant quartermaster,<br> + accompanies General Cox on winter ride to E. Tennessee;<br> + selects wagons and teams;<br> + marks fords;<br> + keeps teams moving;<br> + secures tents and flies for army headquarters;<br> + in charge of horses and mules sent from E. Tennessee to +Kentucky for pasture;<br> + energy commended.</p> +<p>Dayton, Ohio,<br> + assaults on soldiers at, not punished by local courts;<br> + how punished.</p> +<p>DeCourcey, John F., colonel 16th Ohio,<br> + in West Virginia campaign fall of '62;<br> + moves on Cumberland Gap.</p> +<p>Defensive Tactics,<br> + generally better in rough country.</p> +<p>Dennison, Wm., Governor of Ohio,<br> + prepares State for war;<br> + appoints McClellan major general;<br> + sends two regiments to Washington;<br> + incessant work;<br> + urges McClellan to occupy West Virginia in force;<br> + at Washington;<br> + mediates between Lincoln and McClellan;<br> + supported by Cox in Ohio senatorial contest;<br> + postmaster general;<br> + entertains General Cox.</p> +<p>De Trobriand, P. R., colonel 55th New York,<br> + says New York 7th furnished 300 officers for Union army.</p> +<p>De Villiers, Chas. A.,<br> + brigadier major on General Cox's staff;<br> + captured outside of lines at Scary Creek;<br> + escapes and reports for duty at Gauley;<br> + hazardous ride to report occupation of Cotton Mountain by +Floyd;<br> + crosses New River, scales cliffs and assaults enemy on +Cotton Mountain.</p> +<p>Devin, Thos. C., colonel 6th New York Cavalry,<br> + ordered to report to General Cox.</p> +<p>Dick, Robt. P., resident of Greensborough, North Carolina,<br> + in whose grove army headquarters were established, since +appointed U. S. District Judge;<br> + advises colored people to hire out to others than their old +masters.</p> +<p>Dickson, Wm. M.,<br> + cited as to Key's influence over McClellan.</p> +<p>Discretion,<br> + to be exercised by subordinate on detached service in +obeying orders issued without full knowledge of his position.</p> +<p>Doddridge, cashier of a Charleston, West Virginia bank,<br> + Union man;<br> + paymaster in Union army.</p> +<p>Dodge, Grenville M., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + commands 16th Corps;<br> + builds bridge over Chattahoochee at Roswell.</p> +<p>Donaldson, James L., colonel United States Volunteers, chief +quartermaster at Nashville,<br> + describes Thomas's feelings after Nashville campaign.</p> +<p>Doolittle, Chas. C., colonel 18th Michigan,<br> + commanding post at Decatur, repulses Hood;<br> + joins General Cox at Stevenson;<br> + chief of staff for General Cox;<br> + takes command of Reilly's division 23d army corps;<br> + carries enemy's intrenchments and captures eight guns at +battle of Nashville;<br> + and returns to his own regiment when 23d Corps goes to +Washington.</p> +<p>Doubleday, Abner, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding division, at Antietam.</p> +<p>Douglas, Stephen A.,<br> + speech at Columbus after fall of Ft. Sumter;<br> + pledges support of Dem. party to Lincoln's administration.</p> +<p>Dow, Tristram T., major 112th Ill.,<br> + appointed inspector general on Cox's staff;<br> + reconnoitres fords before Kinston;<br> + carries message from Schofield to Hoke.</p> +<p>Draft,<br> + preferred to system of raising new regiments and letting +old ones die out;<br> + Sherman cited;<br> + act providing for;<br> + weakened by commutation clause;<br> + insignificant numbers drafted in Ohio.</p> +<p>Drayton, Thos. F., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at South Mountain</p> +<p>Duke, Basil W., brigadier general Confederate States Army, history<br> + of Morgan raid cited.</p> +<p>Dunham, Robert T., captain and assistant adjutant-general on<br> + General Geo. W. Taylor's staff at Bull Run<br> + bridge,</p> +<p>Dunker Church, on battlefield of Antietam,</p> +<p>Durell, Geo. W., captain battery D Pennsylvania Artillery,<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Duryea, Abram, brigadier general United States Volunteers, at<br> + Antietam.</p> +<p>Early, Jubal A., brigadier general Confederate States Army, at<br> + Antietam.</p> +<p>East Tennessee,<br> + plans for Union advance into, Rosecrans';<br> + approved by McClellan;<br> + Frémont's;<br> + ignorance of topography: combination of the two adopted;<br> + fails because separate columns defeated and driven back by +Jackson before concentration effected;<br> + occupation of E. Tennessee urged by Lincoln on all general +officers in the West;<br> + Burnside's plan;<br> + proposes railroad from Danville to;<br> + Chattanooga best base for supplies;<br> + confederate forces in;<br> + map of;<br> + rejoicing of people at Burnside's coming;<br> + terror and indignation when he was ordered to leave and +join Rosecrans;<br> + military operations in;<br> + Sherman's horror of;<br> + importance of holding;<br> + impossibility of supplying army in, by mountain roads;<br> + terrible destruction of draft animals;<br> + privations of army in, during winter of;<br> + almost unanimous re-enlistment, in spite of hardships;<br> + absence of forage;<br> + fearful blizzard;<br> + sufferings of troops;<br> + bitterness of feeling between loyalists and secessionists.</p> +<p>East Tennessee troops,<br> + unwillingness to serve away from home;<br> + discipline lax, courage and devotion unexcelled;<br> + 1st Cavalry;<br> + 1st Infantry;<br> + 6th Infantry;<br> + East Tennessee University, at Knoxville, fortified;</p> +<p>Echols, John C., brigadier general Confederate States Army, pursues<br> + Lightburn down the Kanawha;<br> + supersedes Loring in command of West Virginia forces;<br> + resumes positions abandoned by Loring;<br> + retreats before General Cox;<br> + ordered to make his way from West Virginia into N. W. part +of South Carolina,</p> +<p>Effective Total,<br> + meaning of, in confederate reports;<br> + leads to habitual underestimate of their forces by +confederate commanders.</p> +<p>Elliott, Washington L., colonel 47th Ohio, in<br> + West Virginia;<br> + in E. Tennessee;<br> + at Mossy Creek</p> +<p>Ellsworth Zouaves, equal in drill to West Point cadets,</p> +<p>Emancipation Proclamation, how received in McClellan's army.</p> +<p>Enyart, David A., lieutenant colonel 1st Kentucky,<br> + routs confederate militia at Boone courthouse, West +Virginia;<br> + crosses Kanawha, scales cliffs and helps capture Cotton +Mountain</p> +<p>Episcopal Clergy, at Richmond,<br> + ordered by Stanton to pray for the President of the U. S.</p> +<p>Evans, N. G., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + in Maryland campaign;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Ewell, Benj. S., colonel Confederate States Army,<br> + on Johnston's staff;<br> + sent to Richmond to explain Johnston's position;<br> + reports to Johnston.</p> +<p>Ewell, R. S., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + division of, at Antietam,</p> +<p>Ewing, Hugh, colonel 30th Ohio,<br> + in Kanawha Division;<br> + reports to Pope at Warrenton, Virginia;<br> + at South Mountain</p> +<p>Executive Power,<br> + exercised in spite of adverse judicial decisions,</p> +<p>Ezra Church, battle of,</p> +<p>Fairchild, Harrison S., colonel 89th New York,<br> + at South Mountain; at Antietam.</p> +<p>Fayette courthouse, West Virginia,<br> + advanced post;<br> + Union troops.</p> +<p>Ferrero, Edw., colonel 51st New York,<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + in E. Tennessee;<br> + at Ft. Sanders.</p> +<p>Field Intrenchments,<br> + development of;<br> + facility in making;<br> + costliness of assaulting;<br> + at New Hope Church;<br> + at Cold Harbor; at Ezra Church;<br> + confederate troops refuse to assault breastworks;<br> + at Kinston.</p> +<p>Fitch, E. P.,<br> + quartermaster on General Cox's staff;<br> + arrives at Alexandria with trains and baggage of Kanawha +Division;<br> + at Antietam; chief quartermaster District of West Virginia</p> +<p>Flat-top Mountain, West Virginia,<br> + barrier to approach from S. W. Virginia;<br> + advance of Kanawha Division to;<br> + key point for movement to S. West Virginia;<br> + description of;<br> + abandoned by U. S. troops.</p> +<p>Floyd, John B.,<br> + unites with Wise to drive Union forces out of Kanawha +valley;<br> + surprises and routs 7th Ohio at Cross Lanes;<br> + mysterious inaction thereafter;<br> + defeated at Carnifex Ferry;<br> + differences with Wise;<br> + marches to Fayette courthouse;<br> + and occupies Cotton Mountain, from which he shells Gauley +Bridge;<br> + driven off the Mountain by General Cox;<br> + escapes capture by reason of Benham's inactivity;<br> + indirectly commends General Cox's administration of Kanawha +District.</p> +<p>Foraging,<br> + easily degenerates into pillaging and arson;<br> + Blair and Howard recommend its prohibition;<br> + Sherman promises to stop it after reaching North Carolina;<br> + vigorous measures of General Cox to repress;<br> + country near Raleigh stripped bare by Slocum's "bummers".</p> +<p>Force, Manning F.,<br> + lieutenant colonel 20th Ohio;<br> + brig, general, married sister of General Pope's wife.</p> +<p>Foreign Intervention, threatened. 485.</p> +<p>Forrest, Nathan B., brigadier general cavalry Confederate States +Army,<br> + captures Col. Bloodgood's command near Nashville;<br> + compared with Morgan;<br> + successful handling of mounted troops;<br> + Mower promoted for reputed defeat of;<br> + ordered to join Hood, captures Athens, repulsed at Pulaski;<br> + ordered to raid Western Tennessee;<br> + causes panic and destruction of three steamboats and stores +at Johnsonville;<br> + joins Hood at Florence;<br> + covers Hood's turning movement east of Columbia;<br> + attacks at Spring Hill;<br> + absence seriously felt by Hood at battle of Nashville;<br> + commands rearguard on Hood's retreat;<br> + at Okolona.</p> +<p>Forts,<br> + masonry and earthworks discussed.</p> +<p>Ft. Anderson, Cape Fear River,<br> + attacked by "Montauk" and gunboats;<br> + captured by General Cox.</p> +<p>Ft. Fisher,<br> + captured by General Terry;<br> + where described.</p> +<p>Ft. Sanders, Knoxville, E. Tennessee,<br> + named after General W. P. Sanders;<br> + described;<br> + assault on, by Longstreet's forces, repulsed.</p> +<p>Ft. Sumter,<br> + bombardment announced in Ohio Senate;<br> + occasions popular uprising, without distinction of party;<br> + flag raised again by Anderson.</p> +<p>Foster, Abby Kelley,<br> + shouts "Glory to God" when bombardment of Sumter announced.</p> +<p>Foster, John G.,<br> + appointed major general United States Volunteers;<br> + succeeds Burnside in E. Tennessee;<br> + assigns General Cox to command 23d army corps;<br> + Sturgis to cavalry corps;<br> + demonstrates to Grant impossibility of winter campaign;<br> + disabled by fall of horse;<br> + gives veteran furlough to several regiments;<br> + concentrates at Knoxville;<br> + sends horses and mules to pasture in Kentucky;<br> + permanent winter quarters;<br> + retires from command on account of ill health;<br> + again explains to Grant, at Nashville, impossibility of +winter campaign in E. Tennessee.</p> +<p>Foster, John W. colonel United States Volunteers,<br> + operations in E. Tennessee;<br> + at Mossy Creek</p> +<p>Fourth U. S. Artillery, battery B,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Fox's Gap, in South Mountain,<br> + captured by Kanawha Division under General Cox.</p> +<p>Franklin, battle of,<br> + undeceives Thomas as to Hood's intentions;<br> + where described.</p> +<p>Franklin, F. E., major 37th Ohio,<br> + at Princeton, West Virginia</p> +<p>Franklin, Wm. B., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + ordered to join Pope;<br> + slow in moving;<br> + assigned position near Alexandria;<br> + relieved on charges preferred by Pope;<br> + reinstated at McClellan's request;<br> + with 6th army corps, held in reserve, at Antietam.</p> +<p>Frazer, John W., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + captured with 2500 men by Burnside at Cumberland Gap.</p> +<p>Frederick, Maryland,<br> + confederate army concentrates near;<br> + evacuated by;<br> + a loyal city;<br> + demonstration on arrival of Union troops;<br> + grand army encamped near.</p> +<p>Frémont, John C., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + commands Mountain Department;<br> + appointment on political grounds;<br> + plan for advance on E. Tennessee;<br> + modifies it on Rosecrans' suggestion;<br> + separate columns defeated before concentration effected;<br> + relieved of command;<br> + not again assigned to duty.</p> +<p>French, Samuel G., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + joins Johnston's army at Kingston, Georgia</p> +<p>French, W. H.,<br> + captain and commissary on Burnside's staff.</p> +<p>French, Wm. H., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>French's Mill, West Virginia,<br> + operations near.</p> +<p>Frietchie, Barbara,<br> + a fictitious character.</p> +<p>Frink, Chas. S.,<br> + surgeon major, General Cox's division;<br> + treats General Cox for illness due to exposure after battle +of Nashville.</p> +<p>Frizell, Jos. W.,<br> + lieutenant colonel 11th Ohio;<br> + traps confederate cavalry near Hawk's Nest, West Virginia</p> +<p>Fry, Jas. B., colonel and assistant adjutant-general U. S. A.,<br> + on Lincoln's reasons for certain military appointments;<br> + provost-marshal-general at Washington;<br> + ably administers draft laws.</p> +<p>Furnace,<br> + for tent, field construction.</p> +<p>Gallup, Geo. W., lieutenant colonel 14th Kentucky commanding brigade +in 23d army corps,<br> + at Johnsonville, Tennessee</p> +<p>Garfield, Jas. A.,<br> + in Ohio Senate;<br> + resolves to enter army;<br> + defeated in election for colonel of 7th Ohio;<br> + appointed colonel of 42nd Ohio;<br> + in Big Sandy valley;<br> + Rosecrans' chief of staff;<br> + sums up answers of general officers and urges Rosecrans to +advance;<br> + influence of his report;<br> + sent to Washington with Rosecrans' report after battle of +Chickamauga;<br> + questioned by Stanton;<br> + tells General Cox the story of Chickamauga;<br> + leaves army to enter Congress;<br> + chairman of commission on military affairs;<br> + regard for Rosecrans;<br> + letter to Chase about R.'s inaction at Murfreesborough;<br> + defended;<br> + entertains General Cox in Washington;<br> + draws out his guests.</p> +<p>Garland, Samuel, Jr., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + killed at South Mountain</p> +<p>Garnett, Robt. S., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Beverly, West Virginia;<br> + retreats after battle of Rich Mountain;<br> + killed near Carrick's Ford;<br> + lacking in enterprise.</p> +<p>Garrard, Israel, colonel cavalry United States Volunteers,<br> + in East Tennessee;<br> + at Decatur and Stone Mountain, Georgia</p> +<p>Garrard, Kenner, brig, general,<br> + commanding cavalry division in McPherson's army;<br> + movement on Rome;<br> + reports confederate cavalry at Kennesaw superior in numbers;<br> + destroys Georgia RAILROAD east of Atlanta;<br> + in pursuit of Hood.</p> +<p>Garrett, John W., President B. and Official Records R. Co.,<br> + suggests dictatorship of McClellan.</p> +<p>Gauley Bridge, West Virginia,<br> + key point of Kanawha valley;<br> + captured by General Cox with 1500 stand of arms and +munitions of war;<br> + importance of position;<br> + map of;<br> + how fortified;<br> + Rosecrans' headquarters;<br> + cannonaded from Cotton Mountain by Floyd;<br> + bridge reconstructed;<br> + burned on Lightburn's retreat;<br> + supplies forwarded to, by batteaux on upper Kanawha;<br> + Lightburn's abandonment of, criticised;<br> + reoccupied by General Cox.</p> +<p>Geary, John W., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Wauhatchie;<br> + assaults Rocky Face, at Dug Gap, repulsed with loss.</p> +<p>Georgia,<br> + map of northern.</p> +<p>Gibbon, John, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + high opinion of volunteers;<br> + deficient knowledge of military history;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Gibbs, Ira B.,<br> + lieutenant and com's'y on General Cox's staff;<br> + shoots Serg. Joyce of 2nd Kentucky for refusing to obey +orders;<br> + courtmartialed and acquitted;<br> + excused from attending execution of a mutineer.</p> +<p>Gibson, Horatio G., captain 2nd Ohio Artillery,<br> + at South Mountain</p> +<p>Giddings, Hon. Joshua R., consul general at Montreal,<br> + makes light of plot to releases confederate prisoners.</p> +<p>Gilbert, Samuel A., colonel 44th Ohio,<br> + in second Kanawha campaign;<br> + marches his brigade 60 miles in 52 hours, in E. Tennessee</p> +<p>Gillmore, Quincy A.,<br> + brigadier general commanding District of Kentucky;<br> + resists Pegram's raid and drives him out of Kentucky</p> +<p>Gilmer, Jeremy F., major general Confederate States Army, Davis' +Chief of Engineers,<br> + sent to advise with Beauregard.</p> +<p>Gilmer, John A.,<br> + one of Governor Vance's peace commanders.</p> +<p>Goldsborough, North Carolina,<br> + place of meeting of Sherman's and Schofield's armies.</p> +<p>Goodrich, E. R.,<br> + lieutenant colonel, and chief comm's'y on Burnside's staff.</p> +<p>Goodrich, Wm. B.,<br> + colonel commanding brigade in Greene's division at battle +of Antietam;<br> + killed at Antietam.</p> +<p>Gordon, Geo. H., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Graham, Milton,<br> + lieutenant colonel 11th Kentucky Cavalry</p> +<p>Graham, Wm. A., ex-Governor of North Carolina,<br> + heads Vance's peace delegation;<br> + candidate for Vice President on ticket with Scott;<br> + mentioned.</p> +<p>Granger, Gordon,<br> + captain and mustering officer at Camp Dennison;<br> + states reasons why theoretical knowledge of regular army +officers so small;<br> + appointed major general United States Volunteers;<br> + at Chickamauga;<br> + sent to relief of Knoxville;<br> + dissatisfaction of Grant and Sherman;<br> + in E. Tennessee;<br> + at Dandridge.</p> +<p>Granger, Robt. S., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + sent to reinforce Col. Doolittle at Decatur;<br> + posted at Stevenson;<br> + suffers pontoon bridge to fall into hands of Hood;<br> + ordered to Decatur again.</p> +<p>Grant, U. S., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + high opinion of volunteers;<br> + accepts emancipation policy as best;<br> + policy of attrition;<br> + captures Vicksburg;<br> + "copious worker and fighter, but a very meagre writer";<br> + growing faith of administration in;<br> + in command of Division of the Mississippi;<br> + approves substitution of Thomas for Rosecrans;<br> + reticent and averse to controversy;<br> + hears in silence and decides;<br> + good story about Washington;<br> + at Chattanooga;<br> + culmination of good fortune;<br> + sends Granger and Sherman to relief of Knoxville;<br> + characteristics;<br> + visits army in E. Tennessee;<br> + reticence;<br> + riding-school story;<br> + sees for himself condition of troops and mountain roads;<br> + reports destitution and impracticability of supplying army +by mountain roads;<br> + correspondence with General Foster;<br> + asks promotion of Sherman, McPherson, and W. F. Smith;<br> + embarrassments about cipher dispatches;<br> + objects to Stoneman;<br> + correspondence with Schofield;<br> + appointed lieutenant general and goes to Washington;<br> + scatters army at Chattanooga, to secure supplies and forage;<br> + puts Sherman in charge of Western armies and assumes +command in Virginia;<br> + plans simultaneous advance of eastern and western armies;<br> + slow to learn unprofitableness of assaulting intrenched +positions;<br> + on appointments of brigadiers in Sherman's army;<br> + confidence in McPherson; secures his rapid promotion;<br> + dissatisfied with Thomas;<br> + reasons for his feeling;<br> + favors winter campaigns by Sherman and Thomas;<br> + plans advance on Selma and Mobile;<br> + orders Schofield and 23d corps sent to Washington;<br> + praises Sherman's readiness for further operations;<br> + sends Schofield to carry out new plan of campaign in North +Carolina;<br> + unselfish attitude toward Sherman;<br> + relieves Butler and opposes his further assignment to +command;<br> + receives confederate peace commanders at his headquarters;<br> + congratulates Sherman;<br> + outlines his own plans;<br> + prevents Lee's union with Johnston;<br> + recommends Schofield's appointment as brigadier in regular +army and permanent assignment of Cox and Terry to corps commands;<br> + brings administration's disapproval of Sherman-Johnston +convention to Sherman;<br> + considerate treatment of Sherman;<br> + returns to Washington;<br> + condemns injustice to Sherman;<br> + smooths away causes of Sherman's irritation.</p> +<p>"Grape Vine Telegraph,"</p> +<p>Great Smoky Mountains,<br> + picturesque character of.</p> +<p>Greene, Geo. S., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Antietam;<br> + in 20th Corps and on court-martial at Washington;<br> + goes to North Carolina, with General Cox and volunteers as +staff officer at Kinston;<br> + commands provisional division of returning officers and men +belonging to Sherman's army.</p> +<p>Grigsby, A. J., colonel commanding Winder's brigade, Jackson's +division,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Guerillas, in West Virginia,<br> + annoyance by and suppression of.</p> +<p>Guilford-Old-Court-House, North Carolina,<br> + and battlefield visited.</p> +<p>Gunn, W. A.,<br> + locates line for railway from Danville to E. Tennessee</p> +<p>Guthrie, J. V., colonel 1st Kentucky,<br> + correspondence with General Cox, App. Army;<br> + in West Virginia</p> +<p>Guyandotte, West Virginia,<br> + taken by 2nd Kentucky;<br> + occupied.</p> +<p>Habeas Corpus, writ of,<br> + used to release minors enlisting without parents' consent;<br> + U. S. officers directed not to recognize, unless issued by +U. S. Courts.</p> +<p>Hagood, Johnson, brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Ft. Anderson, N. C;<br> + routed at Town Creek by General Cox, losing two cannon and +400 prisoners;<br> + repulsed at Kinston.</p> +<p>Halleck, Henry W.,<br> + commands Western Department;<br> + authorizes Pope to send for General Cox's Kanawha Division;<br> + commits defence of Washington to McClellan;<br> + sacrifices Pope;<br> + owed his appointment as commander in chief largely to Pope;<br> + expected to take command in the field;<br> + but does not, and remains bureau officer until close of war;<br> + responsible in part for McClellan's slow pursuit of Lee in +Maryland;<br> + sends McClellan peremptory orders to advance after Antietam;<br> + persistently favors regular army officers over volunteers;<br> + directs Burnside to advance into E. Tennessee;<br> + correspondence with Burnside shows forgetfulness and lack +of appreciation;<br> + inconsistency between official and private letters to +Rosecrans;<br> + fails to understand distances and difficulties of +transportation in E. Tennessee;<br> + indecision of character;<br> + wrong interpretation of Burnside's reports and action;<br> + thinks personal presence of Grant with Army of Potomac +indispensable;<br> + criticises Meade;<br> + friendly relations with Sherman;<br> + correspondence with;<br> + on enormous waste of cavalry horses;<br> + tells Sherman he is accused of hostility to the blacks;<br> + assigned to command Department of Virginia;<br> + orders Meade to pay no attention to Sherman's truce;<br> + forfeits Sherman's life-long friendship by his orders and +dispatches after Sherman-Johnston convention;<br> + goes to Pacific coast at close of war and dies soon after;<br> + disclaims personal hostility to Sherman;<br> + explanation of his attitude;<br> + notes complete submission to U. S. authority at Richmond.</p> +<p>Hamilton, Schuyler,<br> + appointed major general United States Volunteers;<br> + resigns.</p> +<p>Hammond, John W.,<br> + lieutenant colonel 65th Indiana at battle of Nashville.</p> +<p>Hampton, Wade, brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at the Monocacy;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + appointed lieutenant general to outrank Wheeler;<br> + opposed to Vance's peace negotiations;<br> + retires from Raleigh;<br> + arranges for interview bet. Johnston and Sherman;<br> + refuses to be included in Johnston's capitulation.</p> +<p>Hancock, Winfield S., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Antietam;<br> + sent from 6th Corps to command Richardson's division 2nd +Corps;<br> + classmate of McClellan.</p> +<p>Hanson, Chas. S., lieutenant colonel 20th Kentucky,<br> + captured at Lebanon, Kentucky</p> +<p>Hardee, Wm. J.,<br> + lieutenant general Confederate States Army;<br> + succeeds Bragg in temporary command Army of Georgia;<br> + declines permanent command;<br> + quoted by Davis;<br> + sent to reinforce Polk;<br> + forces increased;<br> + at Dallas;<br> + at battle of Atlanta;<br> + controversy with Hood;<br> + at Jonesboro;<br> + impeaches Hood's statement of his losses;<br> + transferred to Savannah;<br> + evacuates Charleston;<br> + rumored junction with Bragg;<br> + fails to reach Wilmington;<br> + forces of;<br> + low estimate contradicted by official reports;<br> + reports to Bragg at Goldsborough;<br> + at Averasborough;<br> + commands army in absence of Johnston;<br> + arranges details of capitulation with Schofield;<br> + reputation and character of;<br> + end of war only a question of time after first year;<br> + humorous report of General Cox's treatment of old woman +asking for provisions;<br> + reported Salkehatchie swamps impassable when Sherman was +marching through them at rate of 13 miles a day;<br> + determines to go abroad for a time.</p> +<p>Hardie, Jas. A.,<br> + colonel United States Volunteers and inspector general</p> +<p>Harker, Chas. G., commanding brig, in Newton's division 4th army +corps,<br> + at Rocky Face;<br> + relieves Hanson's brigade at Resaca;<br> + wounded at Resaca.</p> +<p>Harland, Edw., colonel 8th Conn.,<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + commanding brigade in Palmer's division at Kinston.</p> +<p>Harper's Ferry,<br> + attacked by Jackson;<br> + and taken;<br> + A. P. Hill left in charge of.</p> +<p>Harrison, Benj., colonel 70th Indiana,<br> + detailed to stump State of Indiana in 1864.</p> +<p>Hartranft, John F., colonel 51st Pennsylvania,<br> + at Antietam;<br> + in E. Tennessee;<br> + repulses McLaws at Campbell's Station</p> +<p>Hartsuff, Geo. L.,<br> + captain and assistant adjutant-general on Rosecrans' staff;<br> + appointed brigadier general, wounded at Antietam and +appointed major general;<br> + assigned to command 23d army corps;<br> + sent to arrange plans with Rosecrans for simultaneous +advance;<br> + commands District of Kentucky;<br> + directed to capture Morgan raiders;<br> + disabled by old wounds;<br> + attends to office business at Knoxville;<br> + decides to retire;<br> + inspector general on Schofield's staff, in charge of +paroling Johnston's army;<br> + telegraphs "Johnston's army dissolving and raising the +devil".</p> +<p>Harvie, Edwin J.,<br> + inspector general on General Johnston's staff.</p> +<p>Hascall, Milo S.,<br> + commands District of Indiana;<br> + removed on Governor Morton's application;<br> + commands 3rd division 23d army corps;<br> + in E. Tennessee;<br> + transferred to 2nd division same;<br> + near New Hope Church;<br> + distinguished services throughout campaign, never +recognized;<br> + not favored by Governor Morton;<br> + at Kolb's farm;<br> + moves to Cox's position south of Olley's Creek;<br> + at Decatur, Georgia;<br> + resigns on account of Governor Morton's hostility and +Hovey's promotion over him.</p> +<p>Hatch, John P., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + calls for three cheers from Pope's army on learning that +McClellan was in command again;<br> + Pope's dissatisfaction with;<br> + takes position on Cox's left in defences of Washington.</p> +<p>Haupt, Herman, colonel and military superintendent of railways,<br> + at Alexandria, Virginia,</p> +<p>Hawley, Jos. R., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commands coast District of North Carolina</p> +<p>Hayes, Rutherford B., lieutenant colonel 23d Ohio,<br> + Judge Adv. at trial of Gibbs;<br> + at Princeton, West Virginia;<br> + criticised by General Reno;<br> + charge of pillaging brought out in Presidential campaign;<br> + wounded at South Mountain;<br> + letter in regard to discipline of Kanawaha Division</p> +<p>Hazen, Wm. B., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Chattanooga;<br> + ordered in arrest by Sheridan at Dandridge;<br> + good qualities and faults of;<br> + released on mediation of General Cox.</p> +<p>Heintzelman, Samuel P., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + temporarily commanding Franklin's corps.</p> +<p>Henderson, Thos. J., colonel 112th Ill., commanding brig, in Cox's +division 23d army corps,<br> + absence on account of illness;<br> + brevet brigadier general;<br> + in advance up right bank Cape Fear River</p> +<p>Heth, Henry, brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + in West Virginia;<br> + at Pearisburg;<br> + at narrows of New River;<br> + French's;<br> + defeated by Crook at Lewisburg, West Virginia</p> +<p>Hill, Ambrose P., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Bull Run bridge;<br> + at Harper's Ferry;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Hill, Benj. H.,<br> + goes to Richmond to ask that Johnston be reinforced;<br> + correspondence with Seddon;<br> + visits Union army to obtain body of son and confer with +Sherman.</p> +<p>Hill, Chas. W., brigadier general Ohio Valley Infantry,<br> + in West Virginia</p> +<p>Hill, Daniel H., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + left to guard Richmond;<br> + rearguard in Maryland;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + commanding at Augusta, Georgia, ordered to join Johnston in +North Carolina;<br> + reports to Bragg at Kinston;<br> + captures many prisoners from Upham's brigade;<br> + attack on hastily intrenched line repulsed;<br> + forces of, at Kinston.</p> +<p>Hines, Jonathan D., major 12th Ohio,<br> + in charge of scouts in W, Virginia;<br> + on reconnoitring expeditions;<br> + in charge of sentinels in rear on retreat from Big Sewell +Mountain</p> +<p>Hines, Thos. H.,<br> + captain cavalry in Morgan's raid.</p> +<p>Hitchcock, Ethan A., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + chairman committee to revise Articles of War, and army +regulations.</p> +<p>Hitchcock, Henry, major and assistant adjutant-general on General +Sherman's staff,<br> + carries "Memorandum" between Sherman and Johnston to +Washington;<br> + brings back disapproval--and Grant.</p> +<p>Hobson, Edw. H., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + in Morgan raid.</p> +<p>Hoffman, Wm.,<br> + colonel and comm's'y of prisoners at Washington.</p> +<p>Hofmann, J. Wm., lieutenant colonel 56th Pennsylvania,<br> + succeeds to command of brigade, at Antietam.</p> +<p>Hoke, Robt. F., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Federal Point, North Carolina;<br> + retreats when General Cox threatens Wilmington;<br> + opposes advance of General Cox at Kinston;<br> + routs Upham's brigade of new troops;<br> + repulsed by Carter;<br> + repulsed again with heavy loss;<br> + offer to exchange prisoners declined.</p> +<p>Holden, Wm. W., leader of Union element in North Carolina,<br> + joins Graham's peace delegation,<br> + mentioned.</p> +<p>Holmes, Wm. W., major, surgeon 12th Ohio,<br> + brigadier surgeon on General Cox's staff;<br> + dies of consumption.</p> +<p>Holmes Co., Ohio,<br> + armed resistance to draft.</p> +<p>Hood, John B., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + mentioned;<br> + rosy picture of condition of Johnston's army;<br> + corps increased;<br> + at Resaca;<br> + at New Hope Church;<br> + repulses Hooker's assault;<br> + attacks advanced brigades of Hooker's and Schofield's corps +at Kolb's farm;<br> + succeeds Johnston, and assumes aggressive;<br> + criticism of Johnston;<br> + involved in disputes with Hardee and Cheatham as well as +Johnston;<br> + reputation for accuracy and candor damaged;<br> + appointment gives satisfaction to Union army;<br> + unsuccessful attacks on Union forces at Peachtree Creek;<br> + Atlanta;<br> + Ezra Church;<br> + at Jonesboro;<br> + evacuates Atlanta;<br> + reports refusal of his army to attack intrenched positions;<br> + forces of, Aug. 1st;<br> + Sept. 20th;<br> + absurd minimizing of his losses in battle;<br> + depression in his army;<br> + changes his subordinate officers;<br> + plans to renew struggle;<br> + recrosses Chattahoochee;<br> + fails to injure Sherman's communications;<br> + futile October campaign;<br> + plans for invasion of Tennessee;<br> + repulsed at Decatur, Alabama;<br> + delays crossing the Tennessee River;<br> + ordered by Beauregard to resume offensive at once;<br> + adopts tactics of skirmishing advance while looking for +ways to turn Schofield's position;<br> + terrible repulse at Franklin, where described;<br> + takes position at Nashville;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + escapes owing to cold rainstorms and impassable roads;<br> + severe losses at Franklin, Nashville, and on retreat;<br> + forces of Jan. 20, 1864;<br> + part of his army present at battle of Kinston, North +Carolina;<br> + constitutes bulk of those who capitulated with Johnston.</p> +<p>Hooker, Jos., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + assigned to command Porter's corps;<br> + afterwards, McDowell's;<br> + in pursuit of Lee;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + Burnside's stinging reply to untrue report of, note;<br> + ordered to extreme right at Antietam;<br> + his march;<br> + at battle of Antietam;<br> + wounded and retires;<br> + sent with two corps to reinforce Rosecrans at Chattanooga;<br> + at Tunnel Hill;<br> + assault on Rocky Face, fails;<br> + at Snake Creek Gap;<br> + at Resaca;<br> + ordered to cross Oostanaula at Newtown;<br> + instead, takes route assigned to Schofield and delays +latter;<br> + does same at crossing of Etowah;<br> + assaults confederate lines at New Hope Church repulsed;<br> + movements near;<br> + repulses attack by Hood's corps at Kolb's farm;<br> + reports whole of Johnston's army in his immediate front;<br> + reinforced;<br> + at Peachtree Creek;<br> + offended at Howard's promotion to command Army of Tennessee;<br> + unacceptable to Halleck, retires from active service.</p> +<p>Hopkins, Henry H.,<br> + notorious secessionist in Kanawha valley;<br> + controversy with General Cox over escaped slave.</p> +<p>Hosea, Lewis M.,<br> + captain on General Wilson's staff, adventurous ride through +Georgia and<br> + back to carry dispatches to Sherman.</p> +<p>Hovey, Alvin P., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Dalton;<br> + at Rocky Face;<br> + handling of division not satisfactory to Schofield;<br> + who asks his removal;<br> + Sherman declines to remove;<br> + at Snake Creek Gap;<br> + at Resaca;<br> + hindered by Hooker on march to Cassville;<br> + movements near New Hope Church;<br> + tenders resignation as division commander;<br> + its acceptance recommended by Sherman;<br> + promoted to be major general by brevet, on political +grounds;<br> + Sherman's indignation;<br> + honored above other brigadiers in same corps who outranked +him and<br> + were rendering distinguished service.</p> +<p>Howard, Oliver O., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + commands 4th army corps;<br> + at Tunnel Hill;<br> + at Rocky Face;<br> + at Dalton;<br> + at Resaca;<br> + comes to support of Cox;<br> + holds position captured by Cox;<br> + crosses at Resaca;<br> + turns confederate right at Pickett's Mill;<br> + at Olley's Creek;<br> + at Peachtree Creek;<br> + commands Army of the Tennessee;<br> + at battle of Ezra Church;<br> + at Jonesboro;<br> + accompanies Sherman's march to the sea;<br> + turns Johnston's left at Bentonville;<br> + on march to Raleigh.</p> +<p>Howe, Albion P., captain 4th U. S. artillery,<br> + in West Virginia</p> +<p>Humes, Rev. Thos. W., S. T. D.,<br> + loyalty and learning;<br> + President of E. Tennessee University;<br> + author of "The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee".</p> +<p>Humphreys, Benj. G., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + assaults Ft. Sanders.</p> +<p>Hunter, David, major general United States Volunteers,<br> + sent to inspect army at Chattanooga;<br> + report concerning Grant.</p> +<p>Hurlbut, Stephen A.,<br> + appointed major general</p> +<p>Illinois Troops,<br> + 19th Infantry;<br> + 65th Infantry;<br> + 112th Infantry;<br> + 5th Cavalry;<br> + Barker's Cavalry;<br> + Schambeck's Indiana Cavalry</p> +<p>Inactivity in field, evil results of.</p> +<p>Indiana Troops,<br> + 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 14th, and 15th +Infantry;<br> + 33rd Infantry;<br> + 51st Infantry;<br> + 63rd Infantry;<br> + 65th Infantry;<br> + 70th Infantry;<br> + 23d Cavalry</p> +<p>Information of enemy's strength, how gained.</p> +<p>Inspector General, important duties of.</p> +<p>Intemperance in army officers, evils of.</p> +<p>Interference with lines of march of other columns condemned;<br> + illustrations.</p> +<p>Irvine, James, colonel 16th Ohio,<br> + fails to intercept remnant of Garnett's force.</p> +<p>Irwin, Wm. H., colonel 49th Pennsylvania,<br> + commanding brigade at Antietam.</p> +<p>Jackson, Thos. J. ("Stonewall"),<br> + defeated at Kernstown;<br> + defeats Milroy at McDowell;<br> + Banks in Shenandoah valley;<br> + captures Manassas Junction, burns Bull Run bridge;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Jackson, Wm. H., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + commanding division in Forrest's cavalry</p> +<p>Jenifer, W. H.,<br> + colonel at Princeton, West Virginia</p> +<p>Jenkins, A. G.,<br> + colonel of cavalry under Floyd;<br> + trapped by Frizell at Hawk's Nest;<br> + cavalry raid in West Virginia;<br> + opposed by Cranor;<br> + covers Loring's retreat;<br> + and Echols';<br> + abandons Tyler Mountain;<br> + forces of.</p> +<p>Jenkins, Micah, brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Wauhatchie;<br> + in E. Tennessee</p> +<p>Johnson, Andrew, Mil. Governor of Tennessee,<br> + asks to have E. Tennessee troops returned to their homes;<br> + Governor of Tennessee</p> +<p>Johnson's Island, Sandusky Bay,<br> + military prison;<br> + plot to release confederate prisoners at, defeated;<br> + description of, and surroundings;<br> + treatment of prisoners.</p> +<p>Johnson, Richard W., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + in Tennessee;<br> + at Battle of Nashville.</p> +<p>Johnston, Jos. E., lieutenant general Confederate States Army,<br> + resigns commission in U. S. army;<br> + McClellan's principal opponent;<br> + urged by Longstreet to unite with him near Knoxville;<br> + ordered to assist Polk near Meridian;<br> + prevented from doing either by demonstration of Thomas;<br> + appointed as successor to Bragg;<br> + expected to assume aggressive;<br> + objects;<br> + prolonged discussion;<br> + lack of enterprise;<br> + bent on defensive campaign;<br> + demands reinforcements;<br> + unsatisfactory relations with Davis;<br> + forces opposed to Sherman;<br> + skilful avoidance of battle in the open;<br> + fails to anticipate McPherson's move;<br> + fortifies Resaca, abandons Dalton;<br> + evacuates Resaca;<br> + careful defensive;<br> + decides to give battle near Adairsville;<br> + concludes not to;<br> + retreats to Kingston and Cassville;<br> + issues orders to join battle at Cassville;<br> + revokes them on statements of Hood and Polk that Union left +(General Cox) enfiladed their position;<br> + retreats across the Etowah;<br> + abandons New Hope lines;<br> + lets go Pine Mountain;<br> + withdraws left flank behind Mud Creek;<br> + abandons lines about Marietta;<br> + retires behind Chattahoochee;<br> + relations with confederate administration reach a crisis;<br> + gives Davis no encouragement that he will hold Atlanta or +attack enemy;<br> + had he revealed his plans would have been retained;<br> + demands that Hood be courtmartialed;<br> + removal equivalent to a Union victory;<br> + attacks at Peachtree Creek and Atlanta made in accordance +with his plans;<br> + underestimate of his forces;<br> + assumes command in the Carolinas;<br> + forces at his disposal;<br> + foresees importance of checking Schofield's advance;<br> + orders Bragg to strike at General Cox;<br> + attacks Slocum at Bentonville;<br> + repulsed;<br> + losses at Averasborough and Bentonville;<br> + at Raleigh;<br> + requests armistice;<br> + confers with Davis;<br> + declares further prosecution of war hopeless;<br> + sends dispatch to Sherman requesting conference;<br> + distress when advised of Lincoln's assassination;<br> + admits slavery is dead;<br> + will surrender all armies east of Mississippi;<br> + notified of termination of truce;<br> + signs capitulation on terms granted to Lee;<br> + form of parole;<br> + asks for loan of confederate animals and enough arms to +enforce discipline;<br> + capitulation includes all east of Chattahoochee River;<br> + reply to Sherman's farewell letter;<br> + orders to Hampton;<br> + sends Hardee to confer with Schofield about details;<br> + meets Schofield and Cox;<br> + unable to approximate number of troops to be paroled;<br> + praises Sherman and his army;<br> + "no such army since days of Julius Cassar";<br> + gives up struggle without bitterness;<br> + denounces assassination of Lincoln;<br> + scrupulous integrity illustrated;<br> + moves southward with his troops.</p> +<p>Jomini,<br> + importance of his books to theoretical training of an +officer.</p> +<p>Jones, David R., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Jones, John R., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Jones, Samuel, major general Confederate States Army,<br> + commanding in E. Tennessee;<br> + forces of;<br> + retreats and burns bridges;<br> + resumes the aggressive;<br> + driven out of E. Tennessee</p> +<p>Judah, Henry M., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding division in 23d army corps;<br> + on Morgan raid;<br> + at Dalton;<br> + at Rocky Face;<br> + near Resaca;<br> + on march to Cassville;<br> + hindered by Hooker;<br> + relieved.</p> +<p>Kanawha Division,<br> + training of;<br> + marching powers;<br> + hardiness and self-reliance;<br> + composition of;<br> + marches 90 miles over rough mountain roads in 3-1/2 days;<br> + transferred to Washington;<br> + train of, supplies 9th army corps with rations;<br> + two regiments report to Pope at Warrenton;<br> + two resist Jackson at Bull Run bridge;<br> + rest occupy defences about Washington;<br> + united again;<br> + temporarily attached to 9th Corps;<br> + takes advance from Washington to South Mountain;<br> + reviewed and praised by General Reno;<br> + wrongly accused of straggling and pillaging;<br> + at the Monocacy;<br> + captures Fox's Gap and turns confederate position at South +Mountain;<br> + opposed to more than double its number;<br> + fine conduct of;<br> + losses at South Mountain;<br> + captures 600 prisoners;<br> + on march to Antietam;<br> + divided just before battle of Antietam;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + ordered to Clarksburg, West Virginia;<br> + leaves Army of the Potomac.</p> +<p>Kanawha River,<br> + course and character of;<br> + advance of General Cox up;<br> + impracticability of invading E. Virginia by this line;<br> + unpublished letters and dispatches relating to campaign in;<br> + abandoned by Lightburn;<br> + annexed to Department of the Ohio;<br> + recovered and occupied by General Cox.</p> +<p>Kautz, August V., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + pursues Morgan raiders.</p> +<p>Kearney, Philip, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + killed at Chantilly.</p> +<p>Keith, F. M., major 117th Ohio,<br> + defends Hamilton, Ohio, against Morgan raiders.</p> +<p>Kelley, B. F.,<br> + colonel 1st West Virginia;<br> + takes Philippi, West Virginia;<br> + character and services of;<br> + under McClellan;<br> + commands upper Potomac;<br> + guards B. & Official Records R.</p> +<p>Kelley, Wm., jailer at Charleston, West Virginia,<br> + denounced.</p> +<p>Kennedy, Robt. P.,<br> + lieutenant and assistant adjutant-general on Scammon's +staff.</p> +<p>Kentucky Troops,<br> + 1st Infantry;<br> + 2nd Infantry;<br> + threatened mutiny;<br> + mentioned;<br> + 14th Infantry;<br> + 16th Infantry;<br> + 20th Infantry;<br> + 24th Infantry;<br> + 5th Cavalry;<br> + 9th Cavalry;<br> + 11th Cavalry;<br> + Simmonds' battery in West Virginia;<br> + attached to Kanawha division;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Ketchum, Edgar, lieutenant signal corps U. S. A.,<br> + at Cape Fear River</p> +<p>Key, Thos. M.,<br> + Democratic leader in Ohio Senate;<br> + thought people gone stark mad;<br> + supports war measures;<br> + aide-de-camp on McClellan's staff;<br> + satisfied slavery ought to be abolished;<br> + influence over McClellan.</p> +<p>Kilpatrick, Judson, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding cavalry at Resaca;<br> + covers Union left at Bentonville;<br> + on march to Raleigh;<br> + clatters through Raleigh;<br> + thinks Johnston not to be trusted;<br> + furnishes escort for Sherman on way to meet Johnston;<br> + attached to Schofield's command.</p> +<p>Kimball, Nathan, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding division in 4th army corps;<br> + displaced by assignment of Couch to the corps.</p> +<p>Kinglake's Crimean War,<br> + published in 1863;<br> + read with interest by General Cox;<br> + inspires him with hope and confidence in Union army.</p> +<p>Kingsbury, Henry W., colonel 11th Conn.,<br> + at Antietam;<br> + killed at Burnside bridge.</p> +<p>Kinston, North Carolina,<br> + situation of;<br> + field works before;<br> + battles of;<br> + confederate ironclad in Neuse River destroyed;<br> + map of vicinity;<br> + occupied by Union forces;<br> + base of supplies.</p> +<p>Knights of the Golden Circle.</p> +<p>Knoxville, E. Tennessee,<br> + situation and fortifications;<br> + invested by Longstreet.</p> +<p>Kolb's (Culp's) Farm,<br> + battle of.</p> +<p>Kountz, W. J.,<br> + captain in charge of water transportation on Kanawha.</p> +<p>La Grange, Oscar H., colonel 1st Wisc. Cavalry,<br> + at Sevierville, E. Tennessee;<br> + captured by Wheeler at Dalton.</p> +<p>Lane, P. P., captain in 11th Ohio,<br> + bridges Elk River at Charleston, West Virginia;<br> + manages ferries across Kanawha, improvises ferryboats, etc.;<br> + later colonel of regiment.</p> +<p>Laurel Mountain,<br> + fortified and held by Garnett.</p> +<p>Lawton, Alex. R., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Antietam;<br> + wounded.</p> +<p>Leavitt, Humphrey H., Judge U. S. District Court. Cincinnati,<br> + hears Vallandigham <i>habeas corpus</i> case and refuses +writ;<br> + good effects of his decision;<br> + issues writs of <i>habeas corpus</i> for release of minors +enlisting without parents' consent.</p> +<p>Lee, FitzHugh, brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at South Mountain</p> +<p>Lee, Robt. E.,<br> + resigns commission in U. S. Army;<br> + appointed major general and commander in chief of Virginia +forces;<br> + plans invasion of West Virginia;<br> + arrives at Lewisburg, West Virginia, and takes command of +army;<br> + at Big Sewell Mountain;<br> + retires to Meadow Bluff;<br> + admits quieting effect of Cox's administration in Kanawha +valley;<br> + moves into Maryland;<br> + accurate information as to Cox's transfer to Washington;<br> + unites with Jackson;<br> + concentrates near Frederick, Maryland;<br> + copy of orders for Maryland campaign falls into McClellan's +hands;<br> + escapes disaster by McClellan's slowness;<br> + withdraws to Sharpsburg;<br> + plans with reference to McClellan's lack of aggressiveness;<br> + force greatly inferior to McClellan's for two days before +battle;<br> + enabled to concentrate whole army except one division;<br> + left wing almost destroyed at Antietam;<br> + had no better success than western generals when opposed to +Grant;<br> + orders Loring to clear Kanawha valley;<br> + learned that General Cox was ordered to return to Kanawha +valley within three days after order was issued;<br> + defeated at Gettysburg;<br> + suggests Beauregard as successor to Bragg;<br> + declines to assume command of Bragg's army;<br> + deference and cordiality in dealings with confederate +administration;<br> + urges union of Johnston and Longstreet and aggressive +campaign;<br> + becomes as cautiously defensive as Johnston;<br> + general in chief of Confederate States Army;<br> + sees net closing around him;<br> + too weak to extend lines at Petersburg;<br> + unable to unite with Johnston;<br> + surrender reported to Davis and Johnston.</p> +<p>Lee, S. D., lieutenant general Confederate States Army,<br> + in Department of the Mississippi;<br> + at Jonesboro;<br> + ordered to Atlanta;<br> + commands Hood's old corps;<br> + at Flint River;<br> + at Columbia;<br> + wounded at Nashville, turns command over to D. H. Hill.</p> +<p>Lee, Samuel P., rear admiral U. S. N.,<br> + in command of river fleets co-operating with Thomas;<br> + transports A. J. Smith's corps to Eastport.</p> +<p>Letcher, John, Governor of Virginia,<br> + proclaims secession of State, transfers Virginia troops to +Confederate States Army.</p> +<p>Liberty of speech,<br> + abused by Vallandigham and followers.</p> +<p>Lightburn, Jos. A. J., colonel 4th West Virginia;<br> + character of;<br> + protects line of supplies, Kanawha division;<br> + suppresses guerillas;<br> + left in command of Kanawha district, when General Cox was +transferred to Washington;<br> + Lee learns forces of;<br> + destroys stores and bridges, and retreats down valley;<br> + retreat panicky and unnecessary;<br> +advances up valley under General Cox;<br> +relieved of command of division.</p> +<p>Lincoln, Abraham, President of U. S.,<br> + restores McClellan to command;<br> + embarrassed by dissensions of officers;<br> + grants all of McClellan's requests;<br> + distrusted by his party;<br> + Emancipation Proclamation;<br> + visits battlefield of Antietam;<br> + urges McClellan to follow up his success;<br> + military sagacity;<br> + exceeds authority in appointing major and brig, generals;<br> + proclamation against treasonable practices;<br> + commutes Vallandigham's sentence;<br> + practically revokes his own proclamation and Burnside's +order No. 38;<br> + ardent wish to relieve loyal E. Tenneseeans;<br> + quaint description of Grant;<br> + congratulates Burnside;<br> + authorizes him to hold E. Tennessee;<br> + anxious about B.'s safety;<br> + approves B.'s conduct in E. Tennessee;<br> + makes promotions on political grounds;<br> + congratulates Sherman;<br> + popular estimate of, better than politicians';<br> + policy as to confederate States on submission announced to +and followed by Sherman;<br> +authorizes Virginia legislature to assemble;<br> + recalls permission;<br> + policy opposed and criticised by Stanton;<br> + funeral cortége photographed, in New York City Hall;<br> + in Richmond, when Stanton orders prayers for the President +of the U. S. to be read in churches.</p> +<p>Logan, John A., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Huntsville, Alabama;<br> + commands 15th army corps;<br> + sent to Illinois to stump State;<br> + why not promoted to command Army of the Tennessee;<br> + praised by Sherman for his handling of that army at battle +of Atlanta.</p> +<p>Long, Eli, colonel 4th Ohio Cavalry,<br> + on relief expedition to Knoxville,</p> +<p>Longstreet, James, major general Confederate States Army,<br> + unites with Jackson against Pope;<br> + at Boonsboro, Maryland;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + withdraws to Sharpsburg;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + no more successful than western generals when transferred +to the West;<br> + sent to reinforce Bragg;<br> + at Chickamauga;<br> + moves on Knoxville;<br> + invests city;<br> + assaults Ft. Sanders;<br> + repulsed;<br> + raises siege and retires toward Virginia;<br> + at Rutledge, E. Tennessee;<br> + at Morristown;<br> + lack of clothing and supplies;<br> + attacks Union forces at Dandridge;<br> + admits defeat at Sevierville;<br> + plans of campaign;<br> + forces, opposed to Schofield;<br> + ordered to rejoin Lee's army;<br> + later to join Johnston;<br> + again to report to Lee.</p> +<p>Loomis, Cyrus O., colonel 1st Mich, Artillery in West Virginia</p> +<p>Loring, Wm. W.,<br> + brigadier general Confederate States Army, in West Virginia;<br> + reinforces Lee;<br> + sent to Stanton;<br> + commanding all West Virginia forces;<br> + ordered to push things in West Virginia;<br> + attacks Siber, and is repulsed;<br> + drives Lightburn out of Kanawha valley;<br> + retreats on arrival of General Cox;<br> + relieved from command;<br> + forces of.</p> +<p>Love, John, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + defends Vernon, Indiana, against Morgan raiders.</p> +<p>Lowe, John W., colonel 12th Ohio,<br> + at Scary Creek, West Virginia;<br> + killed at Carnifex Ferry.</p> +<p>Lowe, Wm. W., colonel 5th Indiana commanding 3rd Cavalry Division,<br> + protects railway in rear of Sherman's advance.</p> +<p>Lyons, Lord, British Ambassador,<br> + reports plot to release confederate prisoners;</p> +<p>Lytle, Wm. H., colonel 10th Ohio;<br> + wounded at Carnifex Ferry.</p> +<p>McArthur, John, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at battle of Nashville.</p> +<p>McCallum, Dan'l C., superintendent of transportation,<br> + inspects Nashville and Chattanooga railroad;<br> + suggests needed improvements.</p> +<p>McClellan, Geo. B.,<br> + consulted by Governor Dennison;<br> + personal appearance;<br> + appointed major general Ohio Valley Infantry;<br> + inspects Ohio State arsenal;<br> + selects site for Camp Dennison;<br> + takes General Cox's regiments to West Virginia;<br> + appointed major general in regular army;<br> + victory at Philippi credited to;<br> + moves against Garnett;<br> + Pegram surrenders to;<br> + appointed commander Army of the Potomac;<br> + rhetorical dispatches contrasted with personal demeanor;<br> + characteristic faults shown in first campaign;<br> + relieved from command of all other forces except Army of +Potomac;<br> + at Alexandria, Virginia;<br> + greets General Cox cordially, explains importance of his +duties;<br> + discusses Peninsular campaign;<br> + dress and popular bearing;<br> + in command again;<br> + cheered by Pope's army;<br> + habitual overestimate of Lee's army;<br> + victim or accomplice of secret service;<br> + false estimates fatal to success;<br> + predicted Pope's defeat;<br> + responsible for delay in Franklin's movement;<br> + Porter and Franklin reassigned to their commands and +McDowell<br> + relieved at his request;<br> + plenary powers;<br> + slow advance in pursuit of Lee;<br> + secures copy of Lee's orders;<br> + loses his advantage by delay;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + breaks up organization of his army on eve of battle;<br> + examines battlefield under fire;<br> + does not appreciate importance of time;<br> + personally selects positions for different divisions;<br> + plan of battle at Antietam;<br> + dilatory habits and orders responsible for failure to crush +Lee;<br> + no co-ordination of corps movements;<br> + orders Burnside to attack;<br> + unjust criticism of 9th Corps advance;<br> + fails to support 9th Corps when attacked by fresh troops +from<br> + Harper's Ferry;<br> + talks with General Cox;<br> + politics;<br> + consults his officers about emancipation proclamation;<br> + issues General Order No. 163;<br> + tempted to assume dictatorship;<br> + chafes at Lincoln's suggestion to follow up victory;<br> + defeats Lincoln's plans without openly antagonizing;<br> + compared to Marshal Daun;<br> + weakened morale of army;<br> + removed from command;<br> + "Own Story" exposes his weakness;<br> + confidential relations with Burnside;<br> + favoritism toward Porter;<br> + jealous of Burnside;<br> + unjust reprimand of B. in unsigned dispatch;<br> + effect of reprimand on their relations;<br> + not assigned to duty again;<br> + superior to any other commander of Army of Potomac until +Grant came.</p> +<p>McCook, Alex. McD.,<br> + inspector and mustering officer at Camp Jackson;<br> + colonel 1st Ohio Inf;<br> + opinion on expediency of Rosecrans' advance.</p> +<p>McCook, Daniel, major and paymaster U. S. A.,<br> + mortally wounded in fight with Morgan raiders.</p> +<p>McCook, Edw. M., brigadier general U. S. Cavalry,<br> + at Sevierville, E. Tennessee;<br> + rejoins Thomas;<br> + covers left flank at Varnell's;<br> + defeated by Wheeler;<br> + useful scouting in Atlanta campaign.</p> +<p>McCook, Robt., colonel 9th Ohio;<br> + at Carnifex Ferry;<br> + Cross Lanes;<br> + character of;<br> + brigade attached to Cox's command;<br> + "Battle of Bonticou";<br> + at Gauley Bridge;<br> + advance on Fayette courthouse</p> +<p>McCoy, James C., major and aide-de-camp on Sherman's staff,<br> + opens communication with Johnston.</p> +<p>McDowell, Irvin, major general United States Volunteers,<br> + maps country about Washington;<br> + disliked by McClellan;<br> + under McC.'s orders at Washington;<br> + absence from his command before second battle of Bull Run,<br> + disarranges Pope's plans;<br> + relieved at McClellan's request;<br> + requests Court of Inquiry;<br> + unscrupulously maligned;<br> + ordered before a courtmartial.</p> +<p>McElroy, Jas. N.,<br> + captain and assistant adjutant-general on General Cox's +staff;<br> + appointed major 20th Ohio;<br> + lieutenant colonel, returns to duty on General Cox's staff +as inspector general.</p> +<p>McLaws, Lafayette,<br> + major general Confederate States Army;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + in E. Tennessee;<br> + commands troops on evacuation of Charleston.</p> +<p>McLean, N. H.,<br> + major and assistant adjutant-general at Cincinnati;<br> + accused of disloyalty and sent to Pacific coast;<br> + Burnside's protest.</p> +<p>McMullin, Jas. R., captain 1st Ohio Battalion;<br> + attached to Kanawha division;<br> + at South Mountain</p> +<p>McPherson, Jas. B.,<br> + appointed major general United States Volunteers;<br> + assigned to command Army of the Tennessee;<br> + Sherman's right before Dalton;<br> + goes through Snake Creek Gap, without opposition;<br> + fails to take Resaca, or break railroad;<br> + captures position commanding railroad bridge at Resaca, and +compels its evacuation;<br> + march to Kingston;<br> + crosses the Etowah;<br> + moves on Dallas;<br> + repels fierce assault;<br> + swings over to Ackworth;<br> + seeks to interpose between Marietta and the Chattahoochee;<br> + moves to Roswell and crosses Chattahoochee;<br> + attacked on front and left flank at Atlanta;<br> + death of, a great loss to army and personal loss to Sherman;<br> + affability and high character.</p> +<p>McQuiston, John C., colonel 50th Ohio,<br> + commanding brig, in Ruger's div, 23d army corps at Kinston;<br> + captures 300 prisoners.</p> +<p>McRae, D. K., colonel 5th North Carolina,<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Mackall, W. W., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + chief of staff to Bragg and Johnston;<br> + removed from that position by Hood.</p> +<p>Magilton, Albert L., colonel 4th Pennsylvania res.<br> + commanding brigade at Antietam.</p> +<p>Magrath, A. G., Governor of South Carolina,<br> + says fate of confederate involved in Sherman's march from +Savannah;<br> + mentioned.</p> +<p>Mahone, Wm., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at South Mountain</p> +<p>Mallory, S. R., Secretary of Navy in Davis' cabinet,<br> + writes letter sent by Johnston to Sherman inviting +conference;<br> + at last cabinet meeting;<br> + reaches his home after capitulation.</p> +<p>Malloy, A. G., colonel 17th Wisc,<br> + commanding brigade in Carter's division at Kinston.</p> +<p>Mansfield, Jos. K. F., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + assigned to command Banks' (12th) corps;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + mortally wounded;<br> + movements and losses of his corps.</p> +<p>Manson, Mahlon D., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + pursues Morgan raiders;<br> + commands 2nd division 23d army corps;<br> + relieved by White;<br> + in temporary command of corps;<br> + turns command over to General Cox;<br> + at Resaca;<br> + severely injured.</p> +<p>Marcy, Randolph B.,<br> + father-in-law of General McClellan and chief of staff;<br> + responsibility for Burnside's reprimand.</p> +<p>Marietta, Georgia,<br> + military operations near;<br> + map of vicinity.</p> +<p>Marshall, Humphrey,<br> + brigadier general Confederate States Army</p> +<p>Martial Law,<br> + when proper, outside field of military operations;<br> + declared in S. Ohio counties during Morgan raid.</p> +<p>Martin, Wm. T., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + in E. Tennessee;<br> + defeated at Sevierville;<br> + ordered to join Johnston with cavalry;<br> + at Calhoun and Resaca.</p> +<p>Mason, John S., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding camps at Columbus;<br> + ordered to suppress draft riots;<br> + precautions against plots to release confederate prisoners.</p> +<p>Massachusetts Troops,<br> + 21st;<br> + 27th;<br> + 8th Artillery,</p> +<p>Matthews, Stanley,<br> + lieutenant colonel 23d Ohio,</p> +<p>Maury, Dabney H., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + in E. Tennessee;<br> + at Mobile.</p> +<p>Maynard, Horace,<br> + M. C. from E. Tennessee;<br> + asks to have E. Tennessee regiments returned to their homes;<br> + influential representative,</p> +<p>Meade, George G., brigadier general,<br> + at Antietam;<br> + succeeds to command of 1st Corps;<br> + appointed major general;<br> + inactivity after Gettysburg and consequences;<br> + excessive caution.</p> +<p>Meagher, Thos. F., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding provisional division of Sherman's convalescents +and new recruits;<br> + leaves his command without authority;<br> + relieved;<br> + spicy correspondence concerning;<br> + command turned over to General Carter.</p> +<p>Measles,<br> + a dangerous camp disease,</p> +<p>Meigs, Montgomery C., quartermaster general,<br> + nearly correct estimate of Lee's forces;<br> + at Chattanooga;<br> + never saw such roads;<br> + reports strength of position and confidence of army;<br> + approves seizure of railroads by Sherman.</p> +<p>Merrill, W. E.,<br> + colonel and eng., in charge of railroad defences;<br> + on construction and use of blockhouses.</p> +<p>Michigan Troops,<br> + 18th;<br> + 25th;<br> + 1st Artillery</p> +<p>Military Executions,</p> +<p>Militia,<br> + contained more well-drilled regiments than regular army at +outbreak of war.</p> +<p>Militia, Ohio,<br> + lack of uniforms and equipment;<br> + elect their own officers;<br> + should have been officered by young regular army officers;<br> + re-enlistment of;<br> + high character of;<br> + called out during Morgan raid;<br> + and to resist attempt to release confederate prisoners.</p> +<p>Miller, D. R.,<br> + house and barn at Antietam,</p> +<p>Milligan, Lambdin P.,<br> + condemned to death for treasonable practices by military +commission;<br> + discharged by U. S. Supreme Court.</p> +<p>Milroy, Robt. H.,<br> + brigadier general in West Virginia;<br> + defeated by Stonewall Jackson;<br> + ordered to Kanawha valley;<br> + character of;<br> + promotion urged by Governor Morton;<br> + lack of transportation;<br> + at Beverly;<br> + controversy with Col. Cluseret;<br> + lacked judgment.</p> +<p>Minors,<br> + enlisting without parents' consent, how released,</p> +<p>Missionary Ridge,<br> + depressing effect of loss on confederacy;<br> + natural strength of;<br> + no commander would have ordered front attack.</p> +<p>Monocacy River,<br> + skirmish at.</p> +<p>"Montauk," monitor,<br> + excellent practice in bombardment of Ft. Anderson, North +Carolina,</p> +<p>Moor, August, colonel 28th Ohio,<br> + in West Virginia;<br> + at Raleigh courthouse;<br> + at Princeton;<br> + at Wolf Creek;<br> + French's;<br> + commanding 2nd brigade Kanawha division;<br> + at the Monocacy, captured;<br> + paroled;<br> + valuable hint.</p> +<p>Moore, Orlando H., colonel 25th Michigan,<br> + repulses Morgan's attack on Green River bridge;<br> + commanding brigade in 23d army corps;<br> + at Columbia;<br> + in movement up right bank, Cape Fear River</p> +<p>Morehead, John M., ex-Governor of North Carolina,<br> + entertains Schofield and Cox at Greensborough;<br> + war experiences of family.</p> +<p>Morell, Geo. W., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Antietam,</p> +<p>Morgan, Edwin D., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + resigns.</p> +<p>Morgan, Geo. W., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + Cumberland Gap expedition;<br> + bad condition of command;<br> + E. Tennessee and Kentucky troops discontented;<br> + in Kanawha valley;<br> + ordered to Cincinnati.</p> +<p>Morgan, John H., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + raid into Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio;<br> + captured and imprisoned in Ohio penitentiary;<br> + escapes;<br> + futility of raid from military standpoint;<br> + wholly unauthorized.</p> +<p>Morris, Thos. A.,<br> + brigadier general commanding Indiana brigade;<br> + takes Philippi, West Virginia;<br> + pursues Garnett;<br> + captures cannon and wagons.</p> +<p>Morton, Oliver P., war Governor of Indiana,<br> + favors Milroy's promotion;<br> + urges appointment of Rosecrans to succeed Buell;<br> + dominant influence in Indiana appointments and promotions;<br> + asks for detail of army officers to stump State.</p> +<p>Mott, Samuel R., colonel 118th Ohio,<br> + in E. Tennessee;<br> + at Mossy Creek</p> +<p>Mountain Department,<br> + constituted, and Frémont placed in command;<br> + abolished when Frémont relieved.</p> +<p>Mountain Howitzers,<br> + use of.</p> +<p>Mower, Jos. A., brigadier general U. S. A.,<br> + recommended by Sherman to succeed Sooy Smith in cavalry +command;<br> + promoted major general on mistaken report that he had +defeated and killed Forrest.</p> +<p>Mumma House,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Myers, Jas. H., captain 23d Indiana Bat.,<br> + at Cheney's.</p> +<p>Nagle, James, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Nashville,<br> + situation and lines of communication;<br> + fortified and garrisoned;<br> + conditions before battle of;<br> + map of part of battlefield;<br> + Schofield and Wilson's attack at.</p> +<p>Neff, Geo. W., lieutenant colonel 2nd Kentucky,<br> + captures Guyandotte, West Virginia;<br> + taken prisoner at Scary Creek;<br> + defends Camp Dennison against Morgan raiders.</p> +<p>New Berne, North Carolina,<br> + base of supply for Sherman's army.</p> +<p>New Hope Church,<br> + fighting at;<br> + formidable character of works.<br> +New Jersey,<br> + Taylor's brigade, disorderly retreat from Bull Run bridge;<br> + honorable exceptions;<br> + 13th Infantry at Antietam.</p> +<p>Newspaper Correspondents,<br> + difficulties of officers in field with;<br> + "write down" some;<br> + and make fictitious reputations for others.</p> +<p>Newton, John, major general United States Volunteers,<br> + assigned to command Sheridan's division, 4th army corps;<br> + at Rocky Face, Georgia</p> +<p>New York Seventh Regiment,<br> + equal in drill to West Point cadets;<br> + furnished 300 officers for other volunteer regiments.</p> +<p>New York Troops,<br> + 51st;<br> + 6th Cavalry, attached to Kanawha division temporarily;<br> + 12th Cavalry, at Kinston;<br> + 4th Heavy Artillery, reports to General Cox.</p> +<p>Night retreats,<br> + not to be commended, panicky conditions.</p> +<p>Noble County, Ohio,<br> + resists the draft.</p> +<p>Non-Combatants,<br> + usual treatment of;<br> + losses and perils of, in field of operations;<br> + straits of.</p> +<p>Officers,<br> + qualifications of good;<br> + business training helpful to;<br> + Union, usually serving in grades above their rank;<br> + unfit, retained upon roster, deprived capable, of their +just reward;<br> + best qualities not learned at school;<br> + good subordinates not always fit for high command.</p> +<p>Official Returns,<br> + preferable to general estimates of commanding generals;<br> + of confederate forces in North Carolina confessedly +defective.</p> +<p>Ohio Democrats,<br> + at first opposed to putting down secession;<br> + revulsion of feeling after bombardment of Sumter;<br> + nominate Vallandigham for Governor.</p> +<p>Ohio Senate,<br> + when bombardment of Sumter announced;<br> + members drill on State House terrace.</p> +<p>Ohio State Election, fall of '63,<br> + excitement attending;<br> + soldiers vote in;<br> + overwhelming defeat of Vallandigham;<br> + good effect of, felt throughout North.</p> +<p>Ohio Troops,<br> + in general;<br> + 1st;<br> + 3rd;<br> + 4th;<br> + 5th;<br> + 7th;<br> + 8th;<br> + 9th;<br> + 10th;<br> + 11th;<br> + 12th;<br> + 13th;<br> + 14th and 15th;<br> + 16th;<br> + 17th;<br> + 18th;<br> + 19th;<br> + 20th;<br> + 21st;<br> + 22nd;<br> + 23d;<br> + 26th;<br> + 28th;<br> + 30th;<br> + 34th;<br> + 37th;<br> + 40th;<br> + 42nd;<br> + 44th and 47th;<br> + 50th;<br> + 52nd;<br> + 61st;<br> + 89th, 91st, and 92nd;<br> + 93rd;<br> + 100th;<br> + 103rd;<br> + 104th;<br> + 115th;<br> + 118th;<br> + 125th;<br> + Cavalry, see BURDSALL, LONG, and PFAU;<br> + Artillery, see BARNETT, COCKERILL, and McMULLIN.</p> +<p>Osterhaus, Peter J., brig, general,<br> + promoted major general on political grounds;<br> + returns to 15th army corps, and serves throughout war.</p> +<p>Paine, Chas. J., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding div of colored troops at Federal Ft., N C..</p> +<p>Palmer, Innes N., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Beaufort, North Carolina;<br> + Batchelder's Creek;<br> + Gum Swamp;<br> + in front of British Road;<br> + ordered to support Carter;<br> + and demonstrate toward Southwest Creek;<br> + exaggerated impression of enemy's strength;<br> + at second battle of Kinston;<br> + division incorporated with Carter's under command of latter;<br> + commands District of Beaufort.</p> +<p>Palmer, John M.,<br> + major general United States Volunteers;<br> + at Tunnel Hill;<br> + in Snake Creek Gap;<br> + at Resaca;<br> + crosses river at Resaca, following Howard;<br> + deprived of Davis' division;<br> + complains;<br> + corps reunited;<br> + at Peachtree Creek</p> +<p>Parke, John G.,<br> + Burnside's chief of staff;<br> + character and services;<br> + appointed major general;<br> + assigned to command 9th army corps;<br> + sent to Vicksburg with corps;<br> + returns and goes on sick leave;<br> + leads 9th army corps to Cumberland Gap;<br> + chief of staff in E. Tennessee;<br> + in command 9th army corps;<br> + meeting with Grant;<br> + at Dandridge;<br> + resists Longstreet's advance toward Knoxville;<br> + health impaired;<br> + resumes staff position.</p> +<p>Paroles,<br> + for Johnston's army prepared by Schofield;<br> + General Hartsuff takes charge of their issue;<br> + difficulty of ascertaining number required;<br> + number actually paroled;<br> + speedy accomplishment of.</p> +<p>Parsons, L. B., colonel quartermaster's department,<br> + supervises transfer of 23d army corps from Clifton, +Tennessee, to Washington.</p> +<p>Partisan Rangers,<br> + organized under confederate auspices, little better than +guerillas,<br> + methods of, condemned by Stuart;<br> + Lee;<br> + and Rosser</p> +<p>Patrick, Marsena B., brig, general,<br> + reports to General Cox in lines about Washington;<br> + appointed provost marshal with extended powers to prevent +straggling<br> + at Antietam</p> +<p>Peachtree Creek, battle of;<br> + planned by Johnston, fought by Hood</p> +<p>Pearisburg, Virginia, operations near</p> +<p>Pegram, John, lieutenant colonel,<br> + held position at Rich Mountain;<br> + attacked in rear by Rosecrans;<br> + surrenders to McClellan.</p> +<p>Peirpoint, F. H., Governor of West Virginia;<br> + holds rebel sympathizers as hostages for safety of Union +men;<br> + courts established by, ignored;<br> + calls for help in West Virginia</p> +<p>Pemberton, John C., lieutenant general Confederate States Army,<br> + surrenders Vicksburg.</p> +<p>Peninsular Campaign,<br> + discussed by McClellan.</p> +<p>Pennsylvania Troops,<br> + 10th res. infantry;<br> + 51st;<br> + 8th Cavalry;<br> + Bat. D.</p> +<p>Perry, Hon. Aaron F.,<br> + attorny for Burnside in Vallandigham <i>habeas corpus</i> +case.</p> +<p>Pfan, Philip, captain 3rd Ohio ind. cavalry,<br> + at Princeton, West Virginia</p> +<p>Phelps, Walter, Jr., colonel 22nd New York,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Philippi, West Virginia,<br> + captured by Morris.</p> +<p>Pickett's Mill, Georgia,<br> + operations at.</p> +<p>Pine Mountain, E. Tennessee,<br> + difficulties of ascent.</p> +<p>Piper's house,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Pleasanton, Alfred, brigadier general<br> + commanding cavalry division Army of Potomac;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + classmate of McClellan.</p> +<p>Poe, Orlando M., lieutenant of topographical engineers on coast +survey.<br> + assists Governor Dennison in organizing regiments;<br> + engineer on Burnside's staff, E. Tennessee;<br> + removes heavy pontoon bridge from Loudon to Knoxville;<br> + fortifies Knoxville;<br> + describes privations during siege;<br> + praises Cox's movement retiring left wing at Dalton;<br> + fortifies Allatoona;<br> + examines Cox's position south of Olley's Creek</p> +<p>Poffenberger, J.,<br> + house and barn at Antietam.</p> +<p>Political Appointments,<br> + mostly lawyers;<br> + political leaders naturally foremost in enlisting men;<br> + President selected from these officers for 3 months service;<br> + not bad, if method adopted to get rid of known incompetents;<br> + evils in actual practice;<br> + condemned by Governor Tod;</p> +<p>Polk, Leonidas, lieutenant general C. S, A.,<br> + opposes Sherman in Mississippi;<br> + urges Johnston's appointment as successor to Bragg;<br> + commands Army of the Mississippi;<br> + reinforced;<br> + urges reconciliation of Johnston with Davis;<br> + ordered to reinforce Johnston;<br> + concentrates at Rome;<br> + at Resaca;<br> + position between Dallas and New Hope Church;<br> + killed at Pine Mountain;<br> + underestimate of his own forces.</p> +<p>Pontoons, canvas,<br> + unequalled for field use, but unfit for permanent bridges.</p> +<p>Pope, John, captain,<br> + consulted by Governor Dennison;<br> + commands Army of Virginia;<br> + orders ridiculed;<br> + drafted under direction of Stanton;<br> + admits bad taste of;<br> + hostility of Army of the Potomac;<br> + General Cox ordered to join, with Kanawha division;<br> + disliked by McClellan;<br> + retires within defences of Washington after second Battle +of Bull Run;<br> + army affronts him by cheering McClellan;<br> + character and mistakes of;<br> + unfair treatment of;<br> + general conduct of campaign skilful;<br> + plans disarranged by McDowell's absence from his command +and Porter's inactivity;<br> + slow movement of Peninsular Army to his relief;<br> + prefers charges against Porter and Franklin;<br> + permanently retired from active service;<br> + orders on assuming command disapproved by Lincoln and +McClellan;<br> + sarcastically criticised by Fitz-John Porter;</p> +<p>Porter, David D., rear admiral with fleet off Cape Fear;<br> + visited by Schofield and Cox;<br> + transports Sherman from City Point to New Berne.</p> +<p>Porter, Fitz-John, major general United States Volunteers,<br> + inaction before second battle of Bull Run;<br> + relieved from duty and corps assigned to Hooker;<br> + reinstated at McClellan's request;<br> + on march, South Mountain to Antietam;<br> + classmate and intimate friend of McClellan;<br> + in reserve at Antietam;<br> + with John W. Garret at McClellan's headquarters;<br> + letters to Burnside forwarded to Washington;<br> + sarcastic comments in, most damaging evidence against +Porter;<br> + becomes unfriendly to Burnside;<br> + notoriously favored by McClellan;<br> + extraordinary effort to make a record against Burnside;<br> + erroneous report in regard to withdrawal of Burnside's +corps at Antietam;<br> + ordered before a court-martial;<br> + cashiered.</p> +<p>Porterfield, G. A.,<br> + colonel commanding confederate forces at Philippi, West +Virginia</p> +<p>Potter, Robt. B., colonel 51st N.Y.,<br> + at Antietam;<br> + president military commission to try Vallandigham;<br> + commanding division in 9th army corps, returns from +Vicksburg ill and unfit for service;<br> + commands 9th army corps temporarily.</p> +<p>"Present for Duty,"<br> + only fair basis of comparison between Union and Confederate +armies;<br> + See EFFECTIVE TOTAL.</p> +<p>Presstman, Stephen W., major and church engineer on Johnston's staff,<br> + marks out defences at Resaca.</p> +<p>Prices in Confederacy in 1864.</p> +<p>Princeton, West Virginia,<br> + battle of.</p> +<p>Privations of officers,<br> + when marching without baggage.</p> +<p>Probate Court, Hamilton Co., Ohio,<br> + tries to arrest U. S. officers for contempt of court.</p> +<p>Promotions,<br> + affected by politics;<br> + should be based on merit alone;<br> + evil tendency of opposite policy;<br> + those recommended by Sherman for promotion on account of +distinguished services in Atlanta campaign could not be advanced because +vacancies had already been filled by appointments made on political +grounds.</p> +<p>Pugh, Geo. E.,<br> + counsel for Vallandigham;<br> + visits V. in Canada.</p> +<p>Raglan, L'd,<br> + dependence on what Wellington would have done.</p> +<p>Railroads,<br> + in Kentucky and Tennessee seized and administered by +Sherman in interests of his army;<br> + system of defences for.</p> +<p>Raleigh, North Carolina,<br> + occupied by Union troops;<br> + abject terror of inhabitants;<br> + guarded by General Cox;<br> + measures taken to prevent outbreak on news of Lincoln's +assassination.</p> +<p>Raleigh courthouse, West Virginia</p> +<p>Ransom, Robt., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + in E. Tennessee;<br> + transferred to cavalry command.</p> +<p>Rawlins, John A., brigadier general United States Volunteers, chief +of staff for General Grant,<br> + sent to St. Louis to hurry reinforcements to Thomas.</p> +<p>Raymond, H. J.,<br> + correspondence with Stanton about photograph of Lincoln +cortège in City Hall, New York.</p> +<p>Reagan, John H., p. m. general in Davis' cabinet,<br> + excluded from conference between Sherman and Johnston;<br> + draft of agreement presented by Johnston and rejected by +Sherman;<br> + at last cabinet meeting;<br> + captured with Davis.</p> +<p>Rear-guard,<br> + place of honor on retreat.</p> +<p>Regimental Histories,<br> + value to the historian limited to actual experience of +regiment, camp gossip about other commands and generals usually +worthless.</p> +<p>Regular Army officers,<br> + should have officered volunteer regiments at the start;<br> + professionals usually more likely to succeed than amateurs;<br> + lacked, however, experience in high command or large +operations;<br> + few above rank of captain fit for field service;<br> + theoretical knowledge comparatively small;<br> + contempt for books;<br> + study of strategy and grand tactics, begun after war broke +out;<br> + familiar with post and garrison duty and army regulations;<br> + slavish adherence to French precedents;<br> + marked conservatism prevented adoption of new and improved +weapons;<br> + indifference and lack of patriotism;<br> + unwillingness to go beyond orders;<br> + spontaneity drilled out of;<br> + superiority to volunteer officers limited to knowledge of +company and battalion drill, army regulations and administration;<br> + keeping up separate organization with its grades, belittled +actual command in military operations, and resulted in grading regular +officers who had done little or nothing, above volunteers who had +worthily commanded divisions and corps.</p> +<p>Reilly, Jas. W., colonel 104th Ohio,<br> + commanding brigade in 23d army corps, at siege of Knoxville;<br> + at Resaca;<br> + at Cheney's;<br> + forces crossing of Olley's Creek at Cheney's;<br> + intrenches three miles from continuous line of Union +intrenchments;<br> + in temporary command 3rd division 23d army corps;<br> + promoted on recommendation of General Cox;<br> + at Spring Hill, Tennessee;<br> + gets leave of absence, after Franklin;<br> + rejoins corps in North Carolina;<br> + commands Cox's division when latter assumes command of +corps;<br> + resigns on account of ill health.</p> +<p>Reno, Jesse L., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + commands 9th army corps;<br> + praises marching of Kanawha division;<br> + observes affair at the Monocacy;<br> + approves Cox's advance on Fox's Gap;<br> + comes to Cox's position just before sunset;<br> + killed a few minutes afterward;<br> + succeeded by General Cox in command of corps;<br> + classmate of McClellan.</p> +<p>Resaca,<br> + fortified and occupied by Johnston;<br> + map of;<br> + natural strength of position;<br> + battles around;<br> + evacuated by Johnston.</p> +<p>Reynolds, D. H., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Resaca.</p> +<p>Reynolds, Jos. J.,<br> + in command of Cheat Mountain district;<br> + repulses attack by Loring;<br> + at Romney;<br> + opinion as to expediency of Rosecrans' advance.</p> +<p>Rhind, Alex. C., commander U. S. N.,<br> + at Kinston.</p> +<p>Rice, Henry M., senator from Minnesota,<br> + questions power of President to appointment additional +major and brig, generals.</p> +<p>Rich Mountain, West Virginia,<br> + fortified by Garnett;<br> + held by Pegram;<br> + battle of.</p> +<p>Richardson, Israel B., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + supports cavalry advance toward Antietam;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + mortally wounded.</p> +<p>Richmond, Lewis,<br> + lieutenant colonel and assistant adjutant-general on +Burnside's staff, leaves E. Tennessee.</p> +<p>Ricketts, Jas. B., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Ricks, Augustus J., lieutenant on staff of General Cox, since Judge +of U. S. District Court N. District of Ohio,<br> + vivid account of celebration of Lee's surrender in +Sherman's army.</p> +<p>Rifled Guns,<br> + superiority over smooth-bores.</p> +<p>"Rigors of Climate,"<br> + laughable excuse for going South in August.</p> +<p>Ripley, Roswell S., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Rockcastle River, Kentucky,<br> + picturesque character of.</p> +<p>Rocky Face, Georgia,<br> + description of;<br> + natural defence of Dalton;<br> + northern extremity carried by Newton;<br> + sharp and rugged character of ridge.</p> +<p>Rodman, Isaac P., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + in Maryland campaign;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + first position at Antietam;<br> + ordered to cross at ford below Burnside's bridge;<br> + killed at Antietam;<br> + on left at Antietam.</p> +<p>Rosecrans, Wm. S.,<br> + captain and engineer on McClellan's staff;<br> + appointed brigadier general in regular army;<br> + at Rich Mountain, West Virginia;<br> + succeeds McClellan in Department of West Virginia;<br> + comes to Gauley and assumes chief command;<br> + defeats Floyd at Carnifex Ferry;<br> + characteristics of;<br> + at Big Sewell Mountain;<br> + on the retreat;<br> + in camp near Gauley;<br> + mode of dealing with privates;<br> + strong excitement when Floyd seized Cotton Mountain;<br> + plan for capturing Floyd's army;<br> + foiled by Benham's inactivity;<br> + plans expedition into E. Tennessee;<br> + physical obstacles;<br> + winter quarters at Wheeling;<br> + sends reinforcements to Buell;<br> + attitude in regard to escaped slaves;<br> + new plan for advance into E. Tennessee;<br> + turns over command to Fremont;<br> + sent to conduct Blenker's division to Fremont;<br> + regards Porter as McClellan's confidential adviser;<br> + appointed major general;<br> + directed to move on Chattanooga;<br> + inability to agree with Burnside;<br> + unwillingness and inaction;<br> + secures opinions of division commanders;<br> + Garfield's summing up;<br> + dissatisfaction of administration;<br> + forces of, opposed to Bragg;<br> + inactivity enables Bragg to send reinforcements to Johnston;<br> + on promotion as a reward for merit;<br> + again urged by Stanton and Halleck to advance;<br> + querulous disposition;<br> + drives Bragg out of Tennessee;<br> + plans, after reaching Chattanooga;<br> + demoralized by defeat at Chickamauga;<br> + relations with Burnside;<br> + relieved from command;<br> + sends Garfield to Washington with his report;<br> + conduct at Chickamauga;<br> + described by Dana;<br> + House resolution of thanks fails in Senate;<br> + resents Garfield's letter to Chase;<br> + plans for supplying army at Chattanooga;<br> + sent to Missouri;<br> + sends A. J. Smith with two divisions to Thomas.</p> +<p>Ross, L. S., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Olley's Creek;<br> + driven off by Reilly and Cameron.</p> +<p>Rosser, Thos. L.,<br> + colonel 5th Virginia Confederate States Army;<br> + condemns "Partisan Rangers" in Virginia</p> +<p>Rousseau, Lovell H.,<br> + appointed major general;<br> + repulses Forrest at Pulaski;<br> + at Murfreesborough.</p> +<p>Rucker, E. W., colonel Confederate States Army,<br> + commanding brigade in Chalmers' cavalry division at battle +of Nashville;<br> + wounded and captured.</p> +<p>Rue, Geo. W., major 9th Kentucky Cavalry,<br> + in Morgan raid.</p> +<p>Ruffin, Thos. Jr.,<br> + colonel 13th North Carolina</p> +<p>Ruffner, Lewis,<br> + prominent Union man in West Virginia</p> +<p>Ruger, Thos. H., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + transferred from 20th army corps to 2nd division 23d army +corps;<br> + joins at Johnsonville, Tennessee;<br> + at Columbia;<br> + Franklin;<br> + assigned to command new division 23d army corps;<br> + on march from Columbia to Clifton;<br> + brevet major general;<br> + reports to General Cox at Beaufort, North Carolina with new +division;<br> + at Gum Swamp;<br> + at battle of Kinston;<br> + repulses Hoke's attack;<br> + mentioned.</p> +<p>Rullett and Clipp houses,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Sale, John B., military secretary of General Bragg,<br> + takes special message to Johnston.</p> +<p>Salisbury, North Carolina,<br> + confederate treatment of prisoners at;<br> + prison pen described.</p> +<p>Sanders, Wm. P., colonel 5th Kentucky cavalry,<br> + raid into E. Tennessee;<br> + pursuit of Morgan raiders;<br> + defeated at Richmond;<br> + turns tables on Scott at Lancaster;<br> + made brigadier general;<br> + resists Wheeler in E. Tennessee;<br> + splendid conduct before Knoxville;<br> + mortally wounded.</p> +<p>Sanitary Commission reaches E. Tennessee with needed supplies.</p> +<p>Saunders, E. D.,<br> + assistant adjutant-general on Gen Cox's staff;<br> + killed while riding at his side;<br> + loss severely felt.</p> +<p>Savage, Jas. W., colonel 12th New York Cavalry,<br> + at Kinston.</p> +<p>Scammon, E. P., colonel 23d Ohio,<br> + at Canfex Ferry;<br> + history and characteristics;<br> + succeeds to command of Schenck's brigade;<br> + at Fayette courthouse;<br> + at Flat Top Mountain;<br> + at Princeton;<br> + at French's;<br> + commands 1st brigade Kanawha division;<br> + at Bull Run bridge;<br> + at the Monocacy;<br> + supports Pleasanton;<br> + attached to Rodman's division;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + promoted;<br> + commands division in Kanawha valley;<br> + at Fayette courthouse;<br> + heads off Morgan at Pomeroy, Ohio</p> +<p>Scary Creek, West Virginia,<br> + skirmish at.</p> +<p>Schenck, Robt. C., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + in West Virginia;<br> + movements near Gauley;<br> + efforts to intercept Floyd;<br> + leaves West Virginia on account of ill health;<br> + under Fremont in Mountain Department;<br> + appointed major general;<br> + political acquaintance and influence secures confirmation;<br> + commands District of Maryland with West Virginia annexed;<br> + attitude toward Lincoln.</p> +<p>Schleich, Newton,<br> + brigadier general Ohio Valley Infantry.</p> +<p>Schofield, John M.,<br> + appointed major general in 1862, not confirmed;<br> + reappointed as of first date;<br> + opposition to confirmation;<br> + appointed to command Army of the Ohio;<br> + arrives at Knoxville;<br> + instructed to drive Longstreet out of E. Tennessee;<br> + impossibility of making campaign explained;<br> + remains on defensive;<br> + reports to Sherman;<br> + instructed to join him;<br> + even temper;<br> + permanently assigned to command 23d army corps;<br> + unites with Sherman's army;<br> + left wing of army before Dalton;<br> + manoeuvres at Dalton;<br> + dissatisfied with Hovey;<br> + asks to have him removed;<br> + praises Cox's movement, retiring left wing;<br> + orders advance at Resaca;<br> + advances on extreme left from Resaca to Cassville;<br> + hindered by Hooker's getting on his line of march;<br> + concentrates at Cartersville;<br> + appoints Hascall commander 2nd division in place of Judah;<br> + again hindered by Hooker;<br> + movements south of the Etowah;<br> + disabled by fall of horse;<br> + turns command over to General Cox;<br> + resumes command;<br> + question of rank with Butterfield;<br> + outflanks confederate army and compels abandonment of New +Hope lines;<br> + at Kolb's farm;<br> + demonstrates on extreme right;<br> + says importance of position gained by General Cox, south of +Olley's Creek, cannot be overestimated;<br> + at Smyrna;<br> + across the Chattahoochee;<br> + builds wooden bridge;<br> + wide circuit east of Atlanta;<br> + attacked by Cheatham at Atlanta;<br> + at Rough and Ready;<br> + at Decatur, Georgia;<br> + turns command of corps over to General Cox during October;<br> + classmate and roommate of McPherson;<br> + commands all troops in Chattanooga and vicinity;<br> + objects to being relegated to Department command;<br> + resumes command of Army of the Ohio;<br> + wants corps filled up to its quota;<br> + reports to Thomas;<br> + commands all forces assembling at Pulaski;<br> + at Columbia;<br> + limited to careful defensive;<br> + holds on at Columbia under orders from Thomas;<br> + deprived of benefit of cavalry;<br> + earnestly demands General Cox's promotion;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + in pursuit of Hood;<br> + asks to have 23d corps transferred to eastern army;<br> + corps filled up;<br> + at Clifton, Tennessee;<br> + transferred with corps to Washington;<br> + appointed to command Department of North Carolina;<br> + headquarters on steamer "Spaulding," controversy over;<br> + efforts to flank Hoke out of position on Federal Point;<br> + approves General Cox's discretion in not obeying orders;<br> + asks permanent assignment of General Cox to 23d Corps +command, and General Terry to new corps<br> + in advance on Kinston;<br> + in temporary command of Sherman's army;<br> + promoted to brigadier general in regular army;<br> + on march to Raleigh;<br> + commands District of North Carolina;<br> + prepares paroles and arranges details of capitulation of +Johnston's army;<br> + loans horses to the needy and issues rations to Johnston's +troops;<br> + proclaims an end of slavery;<br> + confers with Hardee at Greensborough.</p> +<p>Schurz, Carl,<br> + appointed major general United States Volunteers</p> +<p>Scofield, Levi T., lieutenant 103rd Ohio,<br> + topographer on General Cox's staff.</p> +<p>Scott, Thos. M., brig, gen, Confederate States Army,<br> + raid into southern Kentucky;<br> + defeated by Sanders at Lancaster.</p> +<p>Scott, Winfield, General U. S. A.,<br> + mistake in discouraging service of regular army officers +with volunteer regiments.</p> +<p>Seddon, Jas. A., Secretary of War, Confederate States Army,<br> + correspondence with Johnston;<br> + correspondence with B. H. Hill.</p> +<p>Sedgwick, John, major general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Antietam;<br> + severely wounded.</p> +<p>Separate Commands,<br> + evils of, in same field of operations;<br> + ridiculed by Napoleon.</p> +<p>Sevierville, E. Tennessee,<br> + cavalry combat at.</p> +<p>Seward, Wm. H., Secretary of State,<br> + goes with Lincoln to meet confederate peace commander's.</p> +<p>Seymour, Truman, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Shackelford, Jas. M., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + in Morgan raid;<br> + captures Morgan and most of his command;<br> + operations in E. Tennessee</p> +<p>Shelter Tent,<br> + substituted for all other kinds;<br> + advantages of.</p> +<p>Sheridan, P. H.,<br> + first vote;<br> + appointed major general United States Volunteers;<br> + reasons for opposing Rosecrans' advance in Tennessee;<br> + at Chickamauga;<br> + at Missionary Ridge;<br> + in E. Tennessee;<br> + at Dandridge;<br> + personal appearance;<br> + slow development as a commander;<br> + builds bridge which lands on an island;<br> + retreats to Strawberry Plains;<br> + transferred to eastern army;<br> + part assigned in final round-up of Lee's army.</p> +<p>Sheriff of Hamilton Co., Ohio,<br> + directed to arrest U. S. officers for contempt of court;<br> + comical perplexity.</p> +<p>Sherman, Hon. John,<br> + senator from Ohio;<br> + correspondence with Wm. T.</p> +<p>Sherman, Wm. T.,<br> + appointed colonel of regulars;<br> + high opinion of volunteers<br> + studies evolutions of the line after Bull Run;<br> + acquiesces in Emancipation policy;<br> + urges draft to fill up regiments in the field;<br> + commands Department of the Tennessee;<br> + hastens to Chattanooga;<br> + marches to relief of Burnside;<br> + horror of E. Tennessee;<br> + dissatisfied with Granger;<br> + good dinner at Burnside's headquarters, explanation of;<br> + Meridian expedition;<br> + promoted to command Mil. Division of the Mississippi;<br> + visits Schofield at Knoxville;<br> + urges confirmation of his appointment as major general;<br> + correspondence with Halleck;<br> + modest estimate of his own powers;<br> + studies problem of supplying his army in the field;<br> + takes possession of railroads from Louisville to Nashville +and Nashville to Chattanooga;<br> + cuts down personal and headquarters baggage to bare +necessities and sets example himself;<br> + accurate judgment of opposing forces;<br> + concentrates for Atlanta campaign;<br> + forces of;<br> + personal appearance and characteristics;<br> + cordial relations with Thomas;<br> + orders for operations about Dalton;<br> + satisfied Johnston's position could not be carried by +assault;<br> + orders demonstrations to cover McPherson's movement;<br> + congratulates Schofield on Cox's movement retiring left +wing;<br> + declines to relieve Hovey;<br> + presses after Johnston when he evacuates Resaca;<br> + unwilling to give up hope of general engagement;<br> + compelled by results to avoid assaults on intrenched +positions;<br> + losses on campaign compensated by arrival of Blair's (17th) +corps;<br> + recommends acceptance of Hovey's resignation;<br> + indignation at promotion of Hovey and Osterhaus;<br> + foresees probable necessity for attack at Kennesaw;<br> + uneasy at stretching of lines;<br> + hopes to break through enemy's lines;<br> + orders demonstrations on both flanks and assaults by two +columns in middle<br> + both assaults fail;<br> + might have succeeded if followed up;<br> + recognizes importance of position gained by General Cox on +right flank forces confederates to give up Atlanta or assume desperate +aggressive;<br> + closes in on Jonesboro;<br> + occupies Atlanta;<br> + steady diminution in forces of;<br> + offers promotion to any one who will capture or kill +Forrest;<br> + odd mistake, resulting in promotion of General Mower;<br> + orders citizens to leave Atlanta;<br> + leaves of absence and furloughs freely granted;<br> + orders certain officers to report to governors of Indiana +and Mo. for duty--on the stump;<br> + courteous treatment of subordinates;<br> + would have given Logan command of Army of Tennessee but for +Thomas' opposition;<br> + praises L.'s handling of that army at battle of Atlanta;<br> + sends back troops to protect railroads against Hood's raid;<br> + leaves 20th army corps to garrison Atlanta;<br> + plans March to the Sea;<br> + pursuit of Hood;<br> + tires of countermarching to protect his communications;<br> + praises Cox's management of 23d army corps;<br> + recommends his promotion to be major general;<br> + urges Halleck to send reinforcements to Thomas;<br> + orders Schofield to report to Thomas with 23d Corps;<br> + cuts communications and starts on March to the Sea;<br> + plans campaign from Savannah, north;<br> + inspiring quality of his leadership;<br> + unselfish relations to Grant;<br> + opposes bill providing for another lieutenant general;<br> + knows Carolina campaign involves great risks;<br> + where described;<br> + general outline;<br> + captures Columbia;<br> + effects junction with Schofield and Terry, confident he can +whip Lee and Johnston combined;<br> + battles of Averasborough and Bentonville;<br> + losses at;<br> + leaves Schofield in command, goes to City Point to consult +Lincoln and Grant;<br> + endorses Schofield's request that Cox be assigned to +permanent command of 23d Corps and Terry, of new corps;<br> + prohibits foraging after reaching Goldsborough;<br> + moves upon Raleigh;<br> + extravagant demonstrations of army, on learning of Lee's +surrender;<br> + receives Governor Vance's peace delegation;<br> + negotiates informally for withdrawal of North Carolina from +confederacy;<br> + on Johnston's request agrees to an armistice;<br> + stringent orders against pillage and arson;<br> + fears outbreak of army on hearing news of Lincoln's +assassination;<br> + measures to prevent;<br> + announces first step toward disbandment of confederate +armies;<br> + attitude before war on slavery question;<br> + emphatic statements that if the South loses the war it +loses slavery;<br> + freedom for the blacks to be secured, but they are unfit to +assume political rule;<br> + set no limits on their following the army, except military +necessity;<br> + representative colored men had confidence in him;<br> + allots Sea-island lands to freedmen for cultivation with +Stanton's approval;<br> + wrath against men chiefly responsible for secession and war;<br> + conference with Lincoln only three weeks before he met +Johnston;<br> + understood his policy to involve guaranty of rights as +citizens, as soon as rebels laid down their arms, and recognition of +existing State governments as <i>de facto</i> to prevent anarchy;<br> + aware that Weitzel had authorized Virginia legislature to +assemble with Lincoln's consent;<br> + not aware that permission was revoked;<br> + meets Johnston with heavy burden of Lincoln's assassination +on his mind;<br> + expresses full confidence in Johnston's sincerity;<br> + sends full copies of Johnston's overture and his reply to +Grant and Stanton;<br> + no notice taken of them;<br> + witnesses Johnston's distress when advised of Lincoln's +assassination;<br> + declines to deal with confederate government;<br> + will recognize <i>de facto</i> State governments only;<br> + gives Johnston Lincoln's views;<br> + regards slavery as utterly dead, but does not insist on +irritating acknowledgments;<br> + reasons for depositing arms at State capitals;<br> + loses nothing by delay, while negotiations in progress;<br> + drafts memo or basis of agreement to be submitted to +respective principals;<br> + sends it to Grant;<br> + urges on Johnston a public declaration that slavery is dead +and predicts an era of good feeling to follow;<br> + says war to perpetuate slavery was an insult to the +intelligence of the age;<br> + warns Johnston of intense feeling at the North over +Lincoln's assassination;<br> + changes the situation;<br> + notifies Johnston of termination of truce and demands +surrender of his army on terms given to Lee;<br> + resents Stanton's distrust as evidenced in orders to Grant +to direct operations against the enemy;<br> + supposed the memo reflected Lincoln's ideas and purposes;<br> + asks Grant to remain until capitulation finally signed;<br> + farewell letter to Johnston;<br> + field order No. 65;<br> + deeply wounded by Stanton's press dispatches condemning his +conduct;<br> + first heard of Davis' "plunder" through Grant;<br> + takes immediate steps to prevent his escape with it;<br> + imputation of Stanton that he could be bribed;<br> + strikes back at Stanton in letter to Grant and in his +report;<br> + popular regard for, soon asserts itself;<br> + life-long friendship for Halleck destroyed by latter's +"plunder" dispatch, and orders to disregard his truce;<br> + refuses H.'s proffered hospitality, and denounces +"diabolical plot" to ruin him;<br> + says he will defend his truce at all hazards;<br> + theoretic discussion of his right and ability to do so;<br> + sympathy of his subordinates;<br> + leaves Raleigh, visits Charleston and Savannah;<br> + notes complete submission to U. S. authority in Savannah.</p> +<p>Siber, Edward, colonel 37th Ohio,<br> + at Raleigh courthouse;<br> + retreats before Loring;<br> + operates on south bank of Kanawha.</p> +<p>Sigel, Franz, major general United States Volunteers,<br> + commands 11th Corps;<br> + Pope's proposal to consolidate Kanawha division with, and +put all under Hooker.</p> +<p>Sill, Joshua W.,<br> + ordnance officer at Camp Dennison;<br> + character and heroic death at Stone's River</p> +<p>Simmonds, Seth J., captain Kentucky battery,<br> + attached to Kanawha division;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Simonton, Chas. H., colonel commanding brigade Confederate States +Army,<br> + captured at Town Creek by General Cox.</p> +<p>Sisters of Charity,<br> + in hospitals at Camp Dennison.</p> +<p>Skirmishing Advance,<br> + described.</p> +<p>Slack, John Jr.,<br> + deputy U. S. Marshal at Charleston, West Virginia</p> +<p>Slavery,<br> + question, most troublesome in all border States;<br> + admitted to be dead as result of war;<br> + Sherman urges upon Johnston frank acknowledgment of fact, +as likely to usher in era of good feeling;<br> + end of, in North Carolina, proclaimed by Schofield.</p> +<p>Slaves,<br> + common belief among, that property of whites was to be +taken away and divided among them;<br> + difficulties in getting them to work;<br> + embarrassments of housekeepers.</p> +<p>Slemmer, Adam J., major 16th U. S.,<br> + at Ft. Pickens;<br> + inspector general on Rosecrans' staff;<br> + good qualities.</p> +<p>Slocum, Henry W., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Antietam;<br> + succeeds Hooker in command of 20th Corps;<br> + left to garrison Atlanta;<br> + commands Army of Georgia, composed of 14th and 20th Corps;<br> + march past 23d Corps at Goldsborough;<br> + chaffing between soldiers;<br> + at battles of Averasborough and Bentonville;<br> + on march to Raleigh;<br> + "bummers" of, forage country bare near Raleigh;<br> + marches through Raleigh.</p> +<p>Smith, Andrew J., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + ordered to reinforce Thomas at Nashville;<br> + delayed in starting;<br> + at Nashville;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + supports cavalry in pursuit of Hood;<br> + ordered to Eastport;<br> + at Clifton awaiting transportation.</p> +<p>Smith, Benj. F., leading lawyer and "new state man,"<br> + in West Virginia;<br> + U. S. District Atty., father of Major Smith of Confederate +States Army;<br> + demands return of son's escaped slave, refused by General +Cox;<br> + acts as advocate for return of others' slaves.</p> +<p>Smith, E. Kirby, major general Confederate States Army,<br> + threatens Cincinnati;<br> + commanding in trans-Miss, department.</p> +<p>Smith, Gustavus W., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + commands Georgia militia and prepares line of defence on +Nickajack Creek, and Chattahoochee.</p> +<p>Smith, Wm. F., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + at Antietam;<br> + consulted by McClellan as to what he should do about +Emancipation Proclamation;<br> + chief engineer, Army of the Cumberland;<br> + opens new line of supply for Chattanooga;<br> + transferred to Eastern Army;<br> + on the James.</p> +<p>Smith, W. P.,<br> + master of transportation on Kanawha River</p> +<p>Smith, Wm. Sooy, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + selected by Grant to command cavalry of Western army;<br> + ordered to co-operate with Sherman's column;<br> + fails to do so.</p> +<p>Soldier Vote,<br> + in Ohio State election, 1863;<br> + in 1864.</p> +<p>Southern People,<br> + complete submission immediately after the war;<br> + reaction and political exasperation.</p> +<p>South Mountain,<br> + passes of;<br> + battle of.</p> +<p>Spears, Jas. G., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + in Morgan's command;<br> + at Blain's Cross-roads;<br> + assigned to 23d army corps</p> +<p>Spies,<br> + army, false reports of Lee's strength;<br> + worse than useless to McClellan;<br> + conscious, or unconscious, purveyors of false news.</p> +<p>Splaine, Henry, colonel 17th Massachusetts,<br> + commanding brigade in Carter's division at battle of +Kinston, North Carolina.</p> +<p>Sprague, Wm., Governor of R. I.,<br> + on McClellan's favoritism for Porter.</p> +<p>Staff Officers,<br> + services hidden from view, chances for promotion less than +those of line officers;<br> + qualifications and appointment of.</p> +<p>Stafford, Leroy A., colonel 9th La.,<br> + commanding brigade at Antietam.</p> +<p>Stager, Anson, colonel,<br> + suerintendent of military telegraphs at Washington.</p> +<p>Stahel, Julius,<br> + appointed major general United States Volunteers.</p> +<p>Stanley, David S.,<br> + appointed major general United States Volunteers.</p> +<p>Stanley, Timothy R., colonel 18th Ohio,<br> + at Chattanooga;<br> + in Ohio Senate at outbreak of war.</p> +<p>Stanton, Edwin M., Secretary of War,<br> + first meeting with;<br> + disapproves of restoring McClellan to command;<br> + pleasant leavetaking;<br> + maintains right of President to appoint additional major +and brigadier generals;<br> + reports six major generals at home with no assignments to +duty;<br> + informs himself about conditions of things in Rosecrans' +army;<br> + dismisses telegraph operator for revealing cipher to +Grant's engineer;<br> + adopts new cipher known only to operators;<br> + this system criticised;<br> + asks Sherman to detail certain officers to stump northern +States;<br> + impatience with Thomas before battle of Nashville;<br> + cordial manner with General Cox;<br> + petulance about Schofield's use of hospital steamer for +headquarters;<br> + inquires about Sherman's treatment of the negro;<br> + approves his allotment of sea-island lands to the freedmen;<br> + dispatch to Dix, reflecting on Sherman;<br> + false implications of;<br> + refutation;<br> + nine criticisms of Sherman-Johnston Convention considered;<br> + objections, really to Lincoln's policy;<br> + position against amnesty not sustained by the people;<br> + orders Sherman's subordinates not to obey his orders;<br> + ignores capitulation, while paroles were being issued;<br> + <i>suppressio veri</i>;<br> + mutilates Grant's dispatch for publication;<br> + constitutional inability to admit that he was in the wrong;<br> + publishes Halleck's "plunder" dispatch in garbled form;<br> + evident purpose to humiliate Sherman;<br> + makes no public explanation;<br> + tells Howard that Sherman had put administration on the +defensive;<br> + regarded Sherman's convention and dispatch as acts of +vanity to be put down.</p> +<p>Starke, Wm. E., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Harper's Ferry;<br> + killed at Antietam.</p> +<p>Steedman, James B., brig, gen, United States Volunteers,<br> + questioned by Stanton about Rosecrans and Thomas;<br> + at Chickamauga;<br> + ordered to Tuscumbia to destroy Hood's bridge of boats;<br> + later ordered to Cowan and Nashville;<br> + at Nashville;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + ordered to Decatur, Alabama</p> +<p>Sterl, Oscar W., colonel 104th Ohio,<br> + commanding Reilly's old brigade in 23d army corps, in +movement up right bank of Cape Fear River.</p> +<p>Sterling, Jas. T., lieutenant colonel 103rd Ohio,<br> + accompanies General Cox on winter ride to E. Tennessee;<br> + at Dandridge;<br> + at skirmish before Knoxville;<br> + inspector general on General Cox's staff, resigns for +business reasons.</p> +<p>Stevens, Isaac J., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + killed at Chantilly.</p> +<p>Stevens, Thaddeus,<br> + radical leader in Congress.</p> +<p>Stevenson, Carter L., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + in E. Tennessee</p> +<p>Stewart, Alex. P., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Tunnel Hill;<br> + on way to join Bragg at Kinston, North Carolina;<br> + arrives in time for second battle.</p> +<p>Stiles, Israel N., colonel 63rd Indiana,<br> + succeeds Henderson in command of brigade in 23d army corps;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + volunteers as staff officer at battle of Kinston;<br> + commands brigade in Rugers division;<br> + commands post at Raleigh;<br> + garrison under, strengthened to prevent outbreak after news +of Lincoln's assassination.</p> +<p>Stone's River, battle of,<br> + resemblance to Antietam.</p> +<p>Stoneman, Geo, major general United States Volunteers,<br> + reports to Grant for duty;<br> + assigned to command 23d army corps;<br> + why relieved from command in Army of Potomac;<br> + arrives at Knoxville;<br> + personal appearance;<br> + disliked by Grant;<br> + in pursuit of Longstreet;<br> + at Mossy Creek;<br> + placed in command of cavalry;<br> + on march, Resaca to Cassville;<br> + movements near the Etowah;<br> + enters Allatoona and reports ability to hold it;<br> + aids General Cox in holding position south of Olley's Creek;<br> + crosses Chattahoochee;<br> + good work from Chattanooga to Chattahoochee;<br> + raid from E. Tennessee into North Carolina</p> +<p>Straggling,<br> + in Army of Potomac;<br> + in confederate army;<br> + measures to prevent;<br> + in Kanawha division</p> +<p>Strategy,<br> + principles of, easily learned;<br> + same in all times.</p> +<p>Strawberry Plains, E. Tennessee,<br> + strategic importance of;<br> + railroad bridge at, alternately destroyed and rebuilt;<br> + hardships of troops at;<br> + threatened by Longstreet.</p> +<p>Streight, Abel D., colonel 51st Indiana commanding cavalry brigade,<br> + captured with his brigade near Rome, Georgia</p> +<p>Strickland, Silas A., colonel 50th Ohio,<br> + commanding brigade in Cooper's division 23d A.C., at +Columbia.</p> +<p>Strong, Jas. H., lieutenant colonel on Foster's staff,<br> + accompanies General Cox on winter ride to E. Tennessee;<br> + advocates General Cox's appointment to field command.</p> +<p>Stuart, J. E. B., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + praises fighting of 11th and 12th Ohio, at Bull Run bridge;<br> + learns of Cox's transfer from West Virginia to Washington +on day he left Parkersburg;<br> + at the Monocacy;<br> + covers movements of Lee's army in Maryland;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + ride around McClellan's army arouses false ambition in +cavalry commanders.</p> +<p>Sturgis, Samuel D., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding division in 9th army corps;<br> + at South Mountain;<br> + first position at Antietam;<br> + carries Burnside bridge;<br> + on the left before Sharpsburg;<br> + in pursuit of Morgan raiders;<br> + commands cavalry, corps in E. Tennessee;<br> + skirmish at Mossy Creek;<br> + "takes a toddy";<br> + at Sevierville;<br> + reports hopeless condition of roads;<br> + sent to Memphis to operate against Forrest.</p> +<p>Summers, Geo.,<br> + ex-M. C. and prominent citizen of West Virginia;<br> + compelled by force and imprisonment to take oath of +allegiance to Confederacy;<br> + offers to take oath of allegiance to U. S.</p> +<p>Sumner, Edwin V., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + commands left wing (2nd and 12th Corps) in Antietam +campaign;<br> + none of his command in 2nd battle of Bull Run;<br> + placed in centre at Antietam;<br> + his corps ordered to support Hooker;<br> + left practically without command;<br> + misconception of Hooker's position;<br> + died March 21, 1863.</p> +<p>Supplies for army in Chattanooga,<br> + how forwarded;<br> + for Sherman's army, arrangements for forwarding.</p> +<p>Susini, famous basso,<br> + helps celebrate fall of Vicksburg.</p> +<p>Swain, David L., ex-Governor of North Carolina,<br> + in Vance's peace delegation to Sherman;<br> + mentioned.</p> +<p>Swinton, Wm., newspaper correspondent,<br> + threatens and proceeds to "write Cox down"; inconsistency +exposed.</p> +<p>Taylor, Geo. W., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + fatally wounded at Bull Run bridge.</p> +<p>Taylor, Richard, lieutenant general Confederate States Army,<br> + orders Forrest to raid Western Tennessee;<br> + informs Beauregard of reinforcements moving to Thomas;<br> + offers to send all of Hood's army, except French's +division, to Beauregard.</p> +<p>Temple, O. P., Chancellor, Knoxville, Tennessee,<br> + author of "East Tennessee and the Civil War".</p> +<p>Tents,<br> + preferable to houses for army officers.</p> +<p>Terry, Alfred H., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + captures Ft. Fisher;<br> + at Federal Point;<br> + unable to force Hoke's position opposite Town Creek;<br> + enters Wilmington after Cox's flanking movement compels +evacuation;<br> + follows Bragg northward;<br> + assigned to command new corps designated as the 10th;<br> + on march to Raleigh;<br> + commands central district of North Carolina</p> +<p>Test Oaths, little value of;<br> + illustrated by case of Summers.</p> +<p>Thirteenth Amendment to U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery,<br> + ratified by requisite number of States.</p> +<p>Thomas, Geo. H., major general United States Volunteers,<br> + reasons for opposing Rosecrans' advance in Tennessee;<br> + saves day at Chickamauga;<br> + succeeds Rosecrans in command of Army of the Cumberland;<br> + House resolution of thanks;<br> + at Chattanooga;<br> + sends part of his own supplies to army in E. Tennessee;<br> + commands centre of Sherman's army in Atlanta campaign;<br> + personal appearance and characteristics;<br> + cordial relations with Sherman;<br> + at Tunnel Hill and Dalton;<br> + at Resaca;<br> + from Resaca to Kingston;<br> + changes Hooker's line of march so as to interfere with +Schofield;<br> + supports Hooker at New Hope Church;<br> + suggests necessity of contracting and strengthening lines +about Marietta;<br> + visits Cox's position south of Olley's Creek;<br> + follows up Johnston's retreat from Marietta vigorously;<br> + at Peachtree Creek;<br> + at Jonesboro;<br> + warned to protect Chattanooga and Bridgeport;<br> + advises Sherman to turn Wilson loose;<br> + reinforced and put in command of all forces not taken by +Sherman;<br> + cheerful over prospects;<br> + disturbed by Forrest's raid;<br> + does not concentrate rapidly; reinforcements delayed;<br> + wrong impression as to Hood's intentions;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + prizes in battle and in pursuit of Hood;<br> + proposes going into winter quarters;<br> + ordered to send 23d army corps to Grant;<br> + urges promotion of General Cox;<br> + personal movements in Tennessee;<br> + mental suffering under unjust criticism.</p> +<p>Thomas, Minor T., colonel 8th Minn.,<br> + commanding brig, in Ruger's division at battle of Kinston.</p> +<p>Thompson, M. Jeff., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + prisoner at Johnson's Island.</p> +<p>Tillson, Davis, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding post at Covington, Kentucky;<br> + commanding heavy artillery at Knoxville.</p> +<p>Tod, David,<br> + Governor of Ohio;<br> + bewails system of military appointments;<br> + warns persons resisting the draft to desist;<br> + calls out militia to oppose Morgan;<br> + advised of Hamilton Co. sheriff's attempt to arrest U. S. +officers;<br> + calls out militia to defeat plots to release confederate +prisoners.</p> +<p>Toland, J. P., lieutenant colonel 34th Ohio.</p> +<p>Tompkins, C. Q., colonel Confederate States Army,<br> + ex-U. S. officer;<br> + home near Gauley;<br> + courteous treatment of family;<br> + residence of, used as headquarters by Rosecrans.</p> +<p>Toombs, Robt., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Tourtelotte, John E., colonel 4th Minn.,<br> + commanding brig, at Allatoona.</p> +<p>Town Creek, North Carolina,<br> + confederate position at, captured by General Cox with two +guns and 400 prisoners.</p> +<p>Townsend, E. D., adjutant general U. S. A.,<br> + anecdotes of Stanton;<br> + in charge of funeral escort of Lincoln's body.</p> +<p>Tracy, Edw. E., lieutenant 104th Ohio,<br> + aide-de-camp on General Cox's staff;<br> + wounded at Utoy Creek;<br> + appointed Governor of Dayton Soldiers' Home;<br> + personal appearance and characteristics;<br> + anecdote;<br> + reconnoissance with Claassen's brigade at Kinston.</p> +<p>Transfers of officers from one army to another not generally good +administration.</p> +<p>Treasonable practices,<br> + President's proclamation against;<br> + Burnside's order No. 38;<br> + Burbridge's order No. 42;<br> + practically annulled.</p> +<p>Treat, Richard B.,<br> + brigadier quartermaster on General Cox's staff;<br> + adjutant general;<br> + transferred to Stoneman's staff.</p> +<p>Trimble, Isaac R., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Tunnel Hill, Georgia;<br> + view of confederate position at Dalton, from.</p> +<p>Turchin, John B., colonel 19th Ill.,<br> + court-martialed;<br> + sentenced to be dismissed Aug. 6, 1862;<br> + appointed brigadier general Aug. 5, 1862, and confirmed;<br> + opinion as to expediency of Rosecrans' advance;<br> + at Chattanooga.</p> +<p>Twining, Wm. J.,<br> + captain eng. and aide-de-camp on Schofield's staff, takes +message to Sherman.</p> +<p>Tyler, Erastus B.,<br> + colonel 7th Ohio;<br> + surprised at Cross Lanes.</p> +<p>Upham, Chas. L., colonel 15th Conn.,<br> + commanding brig, in Carter's division at battle of Kinston;<br> + cut off from rest of division and routed by Hoke;<br> + losses at Kinston.</p> +<p>Upton's Hill,<br> + fortified for defence of Washington;<br> + occupied by General Cox.</p> +<p>Upton's Manual,<br> + an improvement on the book previously studied at West Point.</p> +<p>Vallandigham, Clement L.,<br> + sensational case of;<br> + character and views;<br> + speech at Mountain Vernon, Ohio;<br> + arrested by Burnside;<br> + tried before military commission;<br> + convicted and sentenced to confinement in Ft. Warren;<br> + application for <i>habeas corpus</i> refused;<br> + sentence commuted by Lincoln to expulsion beyond our lines;<br> + incites Holmes Co. to resist the draft;<br> + application to U. S. Supreme Court to annul sentence denied;<br> + nominated for Governor of Ohio and overwhelmingly defeated.</p> +<p>Van Buren, James L., major and aide-de-camp on Burnside's staff,<br> + leaves E. Tennessee</p> +<p>Vance, John L., captain 4th West Virginia</p> +<p>Vance, Zebulon, Governor of North Carolina,<br> + issues proclamation calling for final rally to repel +invaders;<br> + makes overtures to Sherman to end war;<br> + loses confidence and leaves Raleigh;<br> + Davis orders arrest of his peace commanders;<br> + invited by Sherman to return to Raleigh;<br> + mentioned.</p> +<p>Van Cleve, Horatio P., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + opinion against expediency of Rosecrans' advance;<br> + at Chickamauga.</p> +<p>Van Dorn, Earl, major general Confederate States Army,<br> + captures Coburn's brigade near Franklin, Tennessee</p> +<p>Vicksburg, news of surrender,<br> + how received in Cincinnati.</p> +<p>Virginia,<br> + passes ordinance of secession;<br> + admitted to confederacy;<br> + topography of.</p> +<p>Virginia Troops,<br> + 22nd, largely composed of young men from Charleston West +Virginia;<br> + 44th, at Beverly, West Virginia;<br> + 8th Cavalry</p> +<p>Volunteers,<br> + high character and spirit of;<br> + superior to recruits for regular army;<br> + many volunteer regiments not excelled in drill by regulars;<br> + methods of discipline necessarily milder;<br> + after a year's service, superior in everything that gives +assurance of victory in battle;<br> + in 1862 as well fitted for their work as any army in the +world;<br> + so said Grant and Sherman;<br> + many need not have shunned competitive examination with +regulars in studies pursued at West Point.</p> +<p>Volunteer Officers,<br> + at first elected by militia;<br> + afterwards appointed by Governor;<br> + necessity for sifting;<br> + military aptitude often wanting in men brave and +intelligent;<br> + fitness in subordinate position not always proof of +capacity for high command;<br> + ignorance of tactics and regulations seldom overcome by men +of advanced age;<br> + business training helpful to;<br> + rapid advance of many young volunteers;<br> + peers of any officers of their grade in regular army or any +other;<br> + value of West Point training before the war exaggerated;<br> + comparative merits and defects of regular army officers;<br> + costly conservatism of regular officers and prejudice +against improved weapons;<br> + distinction between volunteers and regulars should have +been abolished, and officers promoted on their merits.</p> +<p>Von Blessingh, Louis,<br> + lieutenant colonel 37th Ohio.</p> +<p>Von Borke, Heros, major on staff of J. E. B. Stuart,<br> + amusing report of.</p> +<p>Von Moltke favors giving largest discretion to subordinates on +detached service.</p> +<p>Wade, Hon. Benj. F., Sen. from Ohio,<br> + opposes re-election of Lincoln;<br> + "Wade-Davis Manifesto."</p> +<p>Wagner, Geo. D., brigadier general commanding division in 4th army +corps,<br> + reports to General Cox.</p> +<p>Wagner, O. G., lieutenant of eng.,<br> + superintends fortifications at Gauley;<br> + modest young man of great promise, killed at Yorktown.</p> +<p>Walker, Henry H., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + protects Davis and cabinet at Danville, Virginia</p> +<p>Walker, John G., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + at Harper's Ferry;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Walthall, E. C., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + commands rear-guard on Hood's retreat from Nashville;<br> + destroys bridges and obstructs roads;<br> + commands Stewart's corps at battle of Kinston;<br> + forces of, at Kinston.</p> +<p>Washington,<br> + at time of General Cox's arrival with Kanawha division;<br> + defences of;<br> + country about;<br> + McClellan in charge of defence;<br> + necessity for covering and defending prevented full +adoption of McClellan's plans.</p> +<p>Watson, P. H., Assistant Secretary of War.</p> +<p>Way, Wm. B., major 9th Michigan Cavalry,<br> + in Morgan raid.</p> +<p>Webb, Alex. S., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + estimate of Lee's forces in seven days' battles.</p> +<p>Weitzel, Godfrey, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + mentioned;<br> + major general at Richmond, Virginia</p> +<p>Welker, Hon. Martin, M. C. from Wayne Co., Ohio,<br> + urges arrest of Vallandigham followers;<br> + appointed judge of U. S. District Court N. District of Ohio.</p> +<p>Wells, Henry W.,<br> + major and chief of artillery on General Cox's staff;<br> + rough march over mountain road to carry information to +Sherman.</p> +<p>Welsh, Thos., colonel 45th Pennsylvania,<br> + commanding brigade at South Mountain;<br> + at Antietam;<br> + returns from Vicksburg with 9th army corps, and dies of +malarial fever.</p> +<p>West Point Academy,<br> + course limited before the war;<br> + requirements for admission, common country school education;<br> + graduates of, equal to sophomores in leading colleges;<br> + no instruction in strategy or grand tactics;<br> + little French;<br> + mental furnishing for field work not superior to that of +any well-educated man;<br> + physical training and drill, good;<br> + but no opportunity for most to exercise command;<br> + battalion evolutions the highest known;<br> + graduates of, not fitted--by their course alone--for high +command.</p> +<p>West Virginia,<br> + importance of occupying;<br> + map of;<br> + loyalty to Union;<br> + mountain regions impracticable for military operations on +large scale;<br> + sentiment of leading families divided;<br> + bitter feeling between Union men and secessionists;<br> + intensified by Loring's invasion;<br> + attached to District of Maryland<br> + See KANAWHA VALLEY.</p> +<p>West Virginia Troops,<br> + in general;<br> + 1st and 2nd;<br> + 4th;<br> + 5th;<br> + 8th;<br> + 9th;<br> + 13th;<br> + and Cavalry;<br> + Daum's battery</p> +<p>Wharton, Gabriel C., colonel commanding brigadier Confederate States +Army,<br> + in West Virginia;<br> + repulsed at Pack's Ferry;<br> + in pursuit of Lightburn.</p> +<p>Wheeler, Jos., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + authorizes Morgan's raid into Kentucky;<br> + in E. Tennessee;<br> + at Tunnel Hill and Dug Gap;<br> + defeats McCook and captures Col. La Grange;<br> + forces of, reduced from 8000 to 1000 after raid in rear of +Sherman's army;<br> + relied on to cover Hood's movement into Tennessee;<br> + informs Hood of Sherman's rumored march to the sea;<br> + complaints of his inefficiency;<br> + included in Johnston's capitulation;<br> + captured when trying to escape.</p> +<p>Wherry, Wm. M.,<br> + colonel and aide-de-camp on Schofield's staff;<br> + brigadier general in war with Spain.</p> +<p>White, Carr B., lieutenant colonel 12th Ohio,<br> + in Kanawha valley;<br> + in Kanawha division;<br> + at South Mountain</p> +<p>White, Julius, brig, general,<br> + expedition into West Virginia;<br> + pursues Morgan raiders;<br> + succeeds Manson in command and division 23d army corps;<br> + in E. Tennessee</p> +<p>Whitford, John N., colonel commanding brigade Confederate States +Army,<br> + at Kinston.</p> +<p>Whiting, W. H. C., major general Confederate States Army,<br> + at South Mountain</p> +<p>Whittier, John G.,<br> + his poem "The River Path," recalled at Gauley.</p> +<p>Whittlesey, Chas.,<br> + colonel and eng. on Cox's staff;<br> + appointed colonel of 20th Ohio.</p> +<p>Willcox, Orlando B., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + reports to General Cox at South Mountain;<br> + first position at Antietam;<br> + at Burnside bridge;<br> + on heights near Sharpsburg;<br> + commands District of Indiana, returns to 9th army corps, +with new division of Indiana troops;<br> + goes to Cumberland Gap;<br> + to Morristown;<br> + posted at Greeneville;<br> + at Cumberland Gap and vicinity.</p> +<p>Williams, Alpheus S., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + succeeds to command of 12th army corps on death of +Mansfield;<br> + at Antietam.</p> +<p>Williams, John S., colonel 5th Kentucky, commanding brigadier +Confederate States Army,<br> + at Princeton, West Virginia;<br> + pursues Lightburn down the Kanawha.</p> +<p>Williams, Seth, brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + assistant adjutant-general on McClellan's staff;<br> + afterwards served on Burnside's staff.</p> +<p>Willich, August,<br> + adjutant 9th Ohio;<br> + commands Wood's division on march to Dandridge;<br> + commands rear-guard on retreat from D.</p> +<p>Wilmington, North Carolina,<br> + importance of, as base of supplies for Sherman's army;<br> + General Cox compels evacuation of.</p> +<p>Wilson, Hon. Henry, Sen. from Massachusetts, chairman committee on +Military Affairs,<br> + offers resolution questioning power of President to appoint +additional major and brigadier generals.</p> +<p>Wilson, Jas. H., colonel on Grant's staff,<br> + sent to Knoxville to consult with Burnside;<br> + reports to Grant;<br> + sent to be chief of cavalry for Sherman;<br> + deceived as to Hood's intentions;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + operating in Georgia;<br> + captures Jeff. Davis.</p> +<p>Winter Quarters,<br> + in E. Tennessee</p> +<p>Wisconsin Troops,<br> + 6th Infantry;<br> + 22nd Infantry;<br> + 1st Cavalry</p> +<p>Wise, Henry A., ex-Governor of Virginia,<br> + invades Kanawha valley;<br> + forces of, opposing General Cox;<br> + retreats beyond Gauley;<br> + forces of, not well handled;<br> + ludicrous contrast between promise and performance;<br> + joined by General Floyd;<br> + fails to co-operate with Floyd;<br> + repulsed at Pig Creek;<br> + retreats beyond Hawk's Nest;<br> + and Big Sewell Mountain;<br> + quarrels with Floyd, ordered to report to Richmond.</p> +<p>Wofford, Wm. T., brigadier general Confederate States Army,<br> + assaults Ft. Sanders.</p> +<p>Wolf Creek, West Virginia,<br> + affair at.</p> +<p>Wolford, Frank, colonel 1st Kentucky Cavalry,<br> + famous command "Huddle on the hill, boys";<br> + pursues Morgan raiders;<br> + commands ind. cavalry brigade;<br> + defeated near Loudon.</p> +<p>Wood, Thos. J., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + advises against Rosecrans' advance in Tennessee;<br> + at Chickamauga;<br> + at Missionary Ridge;<br> + in pursuit of Longstreet;<br> + at Rutledge;<br> + character of;<br> + explanation of error at Chickamanga;<br> + returns to Army of the Cumberland;<br> + dissatisfied with Couch's assignment to 4th army corps;<br> + at battle of Nashville;<br> + supports cavalry in pursuit of Hood;<br> + to winter at Huntsville, Alabama</p> +<p>Woodruff, W. E., colonel 2nd Kentucky,<br> + captured outside the lines at Scary Creek</p> +<p>Woodward, E. W.,<br> + suerintendent Little Miami railroad</p> +<p>Woodworth, Dr. M. C.,<br> + surgeon at Johnson's Island.</p> +<p>Worthington, Thos.,<br> + publishes abridgment of Hardee's Tactics;<br> + furnishes waterworks for Camp Dennison;<br> + irascible temper.</p> +<p>Wound,<br> + sensation produced by bullet.</p> +<p>Wright, Elias, lieutenant 4th N. J.,<br> + reports ten men to Scammon at Bull Run bridge.</p> +<p>Wright, Horatio G., brigadier general United States Volunteers,<br> + commanding Department of the Ohio;<br> + description of;<br> + plan of West Virginia campaign;<br> + appointed major general, and fails of confirmation;<br> + suppresses disloyal newspapers.</p> +<p>Wright, W. W.,<br> + constructing engineer Nash. and Chatt. railroad;<br> + ordered east with view to joining Sherman at Savannah;<br> + sent to North Carolina, to rebuild New Berne and +Goldsborough railroad;<br> + rapid work;<br> + bridging Neuse River;<br> + completes railroad to Goldsborough.</p> +<p><br> +<br> +</p> +<BR> +<BR> +<BR> +<BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Military Reminiscences of the Civil +War V2, by Jacob Dolson Cox + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MILITARY REMINISCENCES--CIVIL WAR V2 *** + +***** This file should be named 6962-h.htm or 6962-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/9/6/6962/ + +Produced by Steve Schulze, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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