Showing posts with label Samuel P Heintzelman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Samuel P Heintzelman. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, August 15, 1864—9 p.m.


CITY POINT, VA., August 15, 18649 p.m.                       
(Received 6.30 a.m. 17th.)
Major-General HALLECK,
Washington, D. C.

If there is any danger of an uprising in the North to resist the draft or for any other purpose our loyal Governors ought to organize the militia at once to resist it. If we are to draw troops from the field to keep the loyal States in harness it will prove difficult to suppress the rebellion in the disloyal States. My withdrawal now from the James River would insure the defeat of Sherman. Twenty thousand men sent to him at this time would destroy the greater part of Hood's army, and leave us men wherever required. General Heintzelman can get from the Governors of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois a militia organization that will deter the discontented from committing any overt act. I hope the President will call on Governors of States to organize thoroughly to preserve the peace until after the election.

U.S. GRANT,            
Lieutenant-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 42 (Serial No. 88), p. 193

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Major-General Henry W. Halleck to Major-General George B. McClellan, December 2, 1861

CONFIDENTIAL.]
SAINT LOUIS, MO., [December 2,] 1861.
Maj. Gen. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN,
Commander-in- Chief, Washington, D.C.:

GENERAL: As stated in a former communication, Brig. Gen. W. T. Sherman, on reporting here for duty, was ordered to inspect troops (three divisions) at Sedalia and vicinity, and if, in the absence of General Pope, he deemed there was danger of an immediate attack, he was authorized to assume the command. He did so, and commenced the movements of the troops in a manner which I did not approve, and countermanded. I also received information from officers there that General S[herman] was completely "stampeded" and was "stampeding" the army. I therefore immediately ordered him to this place, and yesterday gave him a leave of absence for twenty days to visit his family in Ohio. I am satisfied that General S[herman's] physical and mental system is so completely broken by labor and care as to render him for the present entirely unfit for duty. Perhaps a few weeks' rest may restore him. I am satisfied that in his present condition it would be dangerous to give him a command here. Can't you send me a brigadier-general of high rank capable of commanding a corps d'armée of three or four divisions? Say Heintzelman, F. J. Porter, Franklin, or McCall. Those of lower grades would be ranked by others here. Grant cannot be taken from Cairo, nor Curtis from this place at present. Sigel is sick, and Prentiss operating against insurgents in Northern Missouri. I dare not intrust the "mustangs" with high commands in the face of the enemy.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
 H. W. HALLECK,               
Major-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 52, Part 1 (Serial No. 109), p. 198

Friday, March 29, 2019

Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas: General Orders, No. 12, April 27, 1861

General Orders,
No. 12.
WAR DEP’T, ADJT. GEN.'S OFFICE,
Washington, April 27, 1861.

1. The Military Department of Washington will include the District of Columbia, according to its original boundary, Fort Washington and the country adjacent, and the State of Maryland as far as Bladensburg, inclusive. Col. J. K. F. Mansfield, inspector-general, is assigned to the command, headquarters Washington City.

2. A new military department, to be called the Department of Annapolis, headquarters at that city, will include the country for twenty miles on each side of the railroad from Annapolis to the city of Washington, as far as Bladensburg, Md. Brig. Gen. B. F. Butler, Massachusetts Volunteers, is assigned to the command.

3. A third department, called the Department of Pennsylvania, will include that State, the State of Delaware, and all of Maryland not embraced in the foregoing departments. Major-General Patterson to command, headquarters at Philadelphia, or any other point he may temporarily occupy.

4. Bvt. Col. C. F. Smith, having been relieved by Colonel Mansfield, will repair to Fort Columbus, N.Y., and assume the duties of superintendent of the recruiting service; to which he was assigned in Special Orders, No. 80, of March 15. Major Heintzelman, on being relieved at Fort Columbus, will repair to this city, and report for duty to the department commander.

5. Fort Adams, Rhode Island, is hereby placed temporarily under the control of the Secretary of the Navy, for the purposes of the Naval Academy now at Annapolis, Md.

The necessary transfer of property will be made by the departments interested.

By order:
L. THOMAS,
Adjutant-General.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 2 (Serial No. 2), p. 607; Jessie Ames Marshall, Editor, Private and Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler During the Period of the Civil War, Volume 1: April 1860 – June 1862, p. 52 which contained an extract (No. 2) of this order mentioning Butler.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Major-General George B. McClellan to Edwin M. Stanton, June 24, 1862 – 3:15 p.m.

REDOUBT NO. 3, June 25, 1862 3.15 p.m.

The enemy are making a desperate resistance to the advance of our picket lines. Kearny's and one-half of Hooker's are where I want them.

I have this moment re-enforced Hooker's right with a brigade and a couple of guns, and hope in a few minutes to finish the work intended for to-day. Our men are behaving splendidly. The enemy are fighting well also. This is not a battle; merely an affair of Heintzelman's corps, supported by Keyes, and thus far all goes well. We hold every foot we have gained.

If we succeed in what we have undertaken it will be a very important advantage gained. Loss not large thus far. The fighting up to this time has been done by General Hooker's division, which has behaved as usual — that is, most splendidly.

On our right Porter has silenced the enemy's batteries in his front.

GEO. B. McCLELLAN,
Major-General, Commanding.
Hon. E. M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 11, Part 1 (Serial No. 12), p. 50

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Major Wilder Dwight: March 15, 1862

camp Near Winchester, March 15, 1862.

Of all the platitudes and jingles that ever amused and deluded a chivalrous people, the assertion, “You can't subjugate a State,” is the wildest. These people were first subjugated to secession, and now they are rapidly being subjugated back to loyalty. Subjection is what vast numbers of them sigh for. If only they were sure that the Union authority would last. Therein lies McClellan's wisdom. No step backward, is his motto. With such tactics, and with a bold and confident advance, I care not whether we fight battles or follow retreats, though the former is far better, we restore the Union.

I fear the people will regard the retreat from Manassas as a disappointment to our arms, and almost a Rebel success. I fear that they will think McClellan's preparation and generalship wasted. A little patience, however, may show that they are wrong. We have gained an immense moral victory over the Rebellion, and a short time hence we shall begin to see palpable material results. Only let us not, by a sudden and rash revulsion, begin at once to undervalue our foe. Nothing but the presence everywhere, in the seceded States, of Union bayonets will accomplish the Union's restoration. That is a work of some time and struggle, yet it must be done. The most dangerous heresy seems to me to be the suggestion that the States, having gone out, are to be governed as Territories. This involves the admission of the theory we went to war against. Martial law may be necessary within the States for a time; but the State, as well as the national government, is to be restored, or our contest is fruitless. Changes, rapid and unexpected, are the order of the day. Heintzelman's promotion to a corps d’armée leaves open his division. Yesterday, when I went to town, I found that General Hamilton was promoted to the command of that division. He went off yesterday afternoon, regret following him from every one. He is a great loss to us. His departure leaves a brigade vacant; accordingly our regiment is to-day transferred to Hamilton's old brigade, and Colonel Gordon, as senior Colonel, assigned to its command, as Acting Brigadier. This is a pleasing change, and it gives the Colonel room to show himself. It probably, for the present, may find me in command of the regiment, as Colonel Andrews is still on detached duty; but I shall make every exertion to have him returned to the regiment, in justice to him. He has fairly earned the right to the command, and I should not feel content to have him or the regiment deprived of it, though my own personal ambition might be gratified by so desirable a command. I hope I can sink myself in seeking always the welfare of the regiment, and the interest of so faithful an officer and friend as Colonel Andrews. I think more and more, though I am unwilling to write about it, that we missed the cleverest chance at cutting off and bagging Jackson and his force that ever fell in one's way. Caution is the sin of our generals, I am afraid; but military criticism is not graceful, and I will waive it for the present. Yet if you knew how we ache for a chance at fighting, how we feel that our little army corps out in this valley has no hope of it, you would not wonder that a leaden depression rests heavily upon us, as we think of our hesitating and peaceful advent to Winchester. And now why we do not push on upon Jackson at Strasburg passes my limited conjectural capacity to guess. I presume the reason to be that his evanescent tactics would be sure to result in his evaporation before we got there.

This morning a few companies of cavalry, four pieces of artillery, and five companies of infantry, Massachusetts Thirteenth, went out on an armed reconnoissance, and chased Colonel Ashby's cavalry several miles. The cavalry were too quick for them, and our own cavalry has no more chance of catching them than the wagon train has. They are admirably mounted and thoroughly trained. Where our men have to dismount and take down the bars, they fly over fences and across country like birds.

General Banks has just gone off to Washington. Conjecture is busy, again, with “why”? My guess is, that we have outlived our usefulness in the Shenandoah Valley, and that we shall make a cut through the gap into the path of the Grand Army. At any rate, nothing more can happen this side the mountains, and I certainly hope we shall not be absorbed into any force that is to be handled by General Fremont.

Our little town of Berryville is also called, as you may see on some of the maps, Battletown, probably with prescient sarcasm on –––'s anticipated cannonade of that peaceful agricultural implement, the threshing-machine. Who shall say that we are not engaged in the noble task of fulfilling prophecy and making history!

It is now Sunday morning. After two days' cloud and rain, we have bright sunshine. Colonel Andrews comes back to the regiment, and Colonel Gordon assumes his slippery honors as provisional brigadier.

I should like to go to church with you this morning, even in an east wind. Instead of it, however, I must content myself with thinking of you in my wind-swept camp near Winchester. I see that Governor Letcher appoints Winchester as a place of rendezvous for his new levy of militia. I only wish they would obey his order.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 211-3

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Major Wilder Dwight: August 30, 1861

camp Near Darnestown, August 30, 1861.

It is broad, bright noon; the men are cooking their breakfasts, the sun is drying out their clothes, the tents are ready to pitch, the Brigade Quartermaster is sitting in our tent rehearsing his exploits on the road, — how one teamster beat a horse's eye out; how, if another had hawed instead of geeing, all would have been well; how the one-line Pennsylvania saddle team-driving is better than our four-rein driving of our wagons; how this and how that would have made the march easier, and a day march instead of a night one. And such a march! But I must go back and bring myself from Washington. I wrote a hurried scratch one evening while listening to General Heintzelman's account of Bull Run. My next day was busy with the providing for my companies, and getting a delivery of the wagons to government. I was quartermaster, commissary, colonel, major, and all in one. At last, however, I succeeded in arranging things to my mind, and went out of town to my camp at Georgetown. Here I had collected the three companies which had come as escort of three separate trains. Here, too, I had packed two of the trains.

On Wednesday morning we made a good start from camp, and Captain Handy, of the Webster regiment, led the column briskly. We marched nineteen miles, a strong day's work. It was a cloudy, drizzly day. The companies came into camp at four o'clock. Tents were pitched, supper got briskly. Captain Mudge, Lieutenants Shaw and Robeson were the officers of the company from our regiment.

Mr. Desellum,* who lived near our camping-ground, invited us to supper with him, and gave us what we all prized, — a good one. Appetite and digestion wait on one another on a march. Mr. Desellum was a character. He had lived on his place all his life, and never gone beyond the limits of the two adjoining counties; his father and grandfather were rooted in the same soil. He gave me a full account of the surrounding country, and also a capital map. Both he and his maiden sister were ardent Union lovers, and bitter in their hatred of Jeff Davis. He was very calm and intelligent, formal and precise, full of talk of the war, of the battles of Napoleon, &c. He lives with his sister in their faultlessly clean home, with twenty-five negroes. When asked if he owned slaves, “No, the slaves own me,” which, I think, expresses his conscientious performance of his duties. I gave orders to have reveillé at four o'clock in the morning and to have a brisk start. I took pleasure in attempting to realize some of my theories about the march, and had great satisfaction in accomplishing a good breakfast and an early start; and before eight o'clock in the morning my men had marched from their camp on Muddy Creek to Nealsville, eight miles. There we met the report that the regiment had left Hyattstown, and was on the march with the whole column. I halted my detachment, and galloping on, met General Banks at the head of his division. I reported to him, and got his order to direct my companies to join their regiments when they came up. Then I went on myself, back to see our regiment; I found them halted in a wood in the driving rain. After a greeting with the Colonel, whom I found acting as brigadier of our brigade in the absence of Colonel Abercrombie, I went back again to wait with my companies the slow progress of the column. It rained hard. The wagons made slow work. At about one o'clock our regiment, the first of the Second Brigade, reached us at Nealsville. There we turned off down towards Darnestown, — a charming name!
At last we were pointed to a camping-ground at a place called Pleasant Mountain, — a valley or hill, I can't say which. But where were our wagons? Far back on the heavy, wet, and swampy road. Just at dusk the regiment fell down, tired, into the wet stubble, and the fog settled chill upon it. The evening star looked mildly down, but it gave no cheer. Colonel Andrews was sick, Colonel Gordon in charge of the brigade. I did what I could, — got the guard posted, good fires built of the neighboring rail-fences, in the absence of other wood, and then, wet and tired, lay down myself. The march was mismanaged by the higher powers. It was wretched to see our cold and hungry men lying down dripping and supperless in the cold fog to sleep. The start was a late one. The rain ruined the road, and the delays were so many that the large column made a poor business of its day's work. This morning at five I hurried off to get up the wagons. The sun rose clear. By dint of activity, getting a party to mend road, &c., the wagons came in about ten o'clock, and hope revived. I also got a cup of tea and a breakfast, and I revived. Such is our life. I have certainly been active for a week, and now, to-day, comes shoe distributions and muster-rolls, &c. I quite envy those regiments that are quiet and in position near Washington, with every facility for order, discipline, drill, food, &c.; but, as Birdofredum Sawin says, “I’m safe enlisted for the war,” and come what will, I will be content. Though last evening, in the fog and dark and cold, I felt, as I lay down with wet feet and wet clothes, a little like grumbling at the stupidity of our Adjutant-General, who planned and executed our uncomfortable march, which hit me just as I wanted a little rest. I was happy to wake up this morning with only a little sensation of stiffness, which wore off in my early ride of six miles. During my ride I snatched a breakfast at a farm-house, and enjoyed the sensation of health and sunshine. Though I began this letter at noon, I am finishing it by candle-light. It has been interrupted variously; at this moment the Colonel comes to my tent, and says, “That is a beautiful sight,” pointing to the camp-fires and lights on the hills about us. The Webster regiment is just opposite us, and their band is now playing. We are within six miles of the Potomac. Everything here looks every day more like business; but we have not the presence of McClellan, and one who has just come from that present influence misses it as he would the quick pulse of health. The coming man is not a mere phrase. There is no cant, either, in the phrase. How we have waited for him! And has he come? I hope. Discredit all rumor. That is my advice. . . . .

I do not seem to myself to have given anything like a picture of the active life of the past week, but Colonel Andrews wants my help about rations, the Chaplain wants my letter for the mail, I want time for various things, and so good night.
_______________

* See Appendix VII.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 86-9

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Major Wilder Dwight: August 26, 1861

Washington, August 26th, 1861.

I am probably to leave for home, i. e. camp, to-morrow. Everything has gone quite well with me. I put up with my classmate, A. S. Hill, who is the correspondent of the Tribune. I slept as well as one can in a bed. To-day I have been in the saddle pursuing quartermasters, providing rations, arranging for a departure to-morrow if possible. I dined with William, and this evening we have been out together to see General Couch's camp. William is in fine spirits, full of energy and go. He is making his regiment as perfect as the material will allow, and is full of his work. I should be glad to feel in trim for a letter, but I am too tired for it now; besides, General Heintzelman, who had a brigade, and was wounded at Bull Run, is in the room where I write, and is talking of the fight with one or two newspaper men who are in Hill's room, which is the Tribune head-quarters. The General is an unpretending man, and his conversation is interesting, my letter not. He says that' a sufficient cause for the loss of the battle of Bull Run is, that a regiment appeared in front of Griffin's battery, within one hundred yards. The cannon were loaded with canister, just ready to fire. An officer of our army came up and begged Griffin not to fire, as the troops were our own. They carried no flag; the cannon were turned, and fired to another point, then the regiment opened fire, killed all the cannoneers, and took the battery. The discharge of that canister would have cut that regiment to pieces, and changed the result in that part of the field.' These words are just from his lips. It shows the importance of a uniform uniform, and it shows the folly of States' rights in every shape. But it is not very profitable to speculate upon the various explanations of defeat. I think we are drawing lessons from that battle. I think, too, that McClellan's spirit is a fine one. Certainly there is more vigor, military ardor, and glow here than with our column. Another influence and a stronger spirit is at work here, and I want to get within its range.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 85

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Captain William D. Sedgwick to his Cousin, June 5, 1862

Headquarters Division,
Near Fair Oaks Station, June 5, 1862.
My dear cousin:

The General asks me to write you a short account of our recent battle, he himself being too much engrossed by the various occurrences constantly demanding his attention as commanding officer to find time to write you at sufficient length. I do it very gladly, for though it is so long since I have seen you that my recollections of you, though very pleasant, are somewhat vague, both my Aunt Catherine's great affection for you, and my own well-deserved affection for your brother the General, lead me to regard the writing to you as a very pleasant task. Saturday, about noon, a firing heavier, closer, and more sustained than that which we have been so long accustomed to hear roused us all. General Kearny, who had just stopped to make a call on the General, remounted his horse and galloped off in great haste to his own command. After the interchange of a few despatches from Heintzelman to Sumner, and Sumner to headquarters, we got under arms and marched as rapidly as possible, crossing the Chickahominy River and swamp over a bridge we had recently built, but which recent heavy rains had in great part carried away. To get through our artillery seemed impossible. Men went in up to their waists; horses floundered and fell down. Three pieces only of the leading one of our four batteries could be dragged through in time to assist in resisting the first attack that awaited us.

About four o'clock, having marched about three and one half miles over roads which, when not swamp, were all deep mud, we formed line in a bog and pushed forward on to the crest of a higher piece of ground. Our regiments were soon ranged on two sides of a rectangle facing two sides of a wood. The enemy, who had previously utterly routed Casey's division on the other side of the railroad track, driving them out of their camp and capturing many guns, advanced upon us along and through the woods, and came up in great numbers and with their best troops, including their boasted Texas Brigade and Hampton Legion, North and South Carolinians, Georgians, Mississippians, and Tennesseeans. By a little before five o'clock our whole lines were blazing, the enemy having come up to within one hundred and fifty, and in some instances, in their endeavour to take our artillery, which was doing savage execution, up to within twenty yards.

Their attack was so fierce that for a few moments we were uneasy lest our men should give way; but they held their ground as steadily as veterans and fired better than the enemy, whose attention was divided by a regard for protection of their own persons by the cover of the woods, from which, indeed, they rushed out several times, but only to fall back again. We have buried about two hundred of their dead and attended, say, one hundred of their wounded prisoners, besides capturing a considerable number. These prisoners say that Davis, Lee, Johnston, Magruder, and Floyd were all on the field near Fair Oaks Station, and had assured their troops of an easy victory. They had declared it impossible that we should succeed in crossing with any of our artillery. Magruder recognized his old battery, now commanded by Lieutenant Kirby and beautifully worked (all the pieces came up during the fight), and swore he would have it, but finally gave it up, saying, “All hell can't stand such a fire as that!” Some of the prisoners were much afraid that we would butcher them, but the greater number appeared to have learned that their newspaper accounts of our cruelties were lies, and had no fears. I have seen a good many terrible sights, bad wounds, mangled bodies, but I dare say you would not thank me for giving you any details. A regiment of another division fighting alongside of us captured an omnibus and some buggies in which some “ladies” of Richmond had driven out to see the Yankees whipped.

The next morning we expected the enemy to renew the attack with strong reinforcements, and were up after bivouacking under a tree. In the meantime Richardson's division, which followed us, and the remainder of our artillery had come up. They did not attack as early as we expected, and when they did (about half-past seven) Richardson's division bore the brunt of the fight, assisted by only a portion of General Sedgwick's command. This second battle was fought chiefly on our left, and, though very fierce, lasted but a few hours. We again drove them back, and since then they have appeared disinclined to make any general attack, though they “feel” us occasionally, but very cautiously.

Heavy rains since Sunday have rendered all the bridges below us impassable, and we have to depend upon the railroad bridge. We have now got up pretty much all our stores and effects by rail to Fair Oaks, and are ready for future developments. The ground, just now, is so universally wet and heavy that I should say no grand movement is likely to be made on either side. I need not tell you that the General rode into and through showers of bullets as imperturbably as if they were so many hailstones. Looking at him half persuaded me that there was no danger, though it seemed, now and then, as if our not being touched was almost equivalent to riding through a hail-storm without encountering a pellet. Our men behaved so well that the General and General Sumner expressed the highest satisfaction with them. Hereafter he will feel much of the same confidence in them which they so justly repose in him.

Hoping that I may have an opportunity to become reacquainted with you after this war is over,

I am, very sincerely,

Your affectionate cousin,
Wm. D. Sedgwick

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 57-62

Friday, May 29, 2015

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, October 9, 1863

Fairfax, Oct. 9, 1863.

I saw that paragraph in the “Herald,” — it is not true. I had orders from Heintzelman to clear out the whole country inside of Manassas Junction more than a month ago. I began it, and the parties arrested were sent back from Washington almost as fast as I sent them there. I also had orders to burn the houses of all persons actively assisting Mosby or White. I have burnt two mills and one dwelling-house, the latter belonging to a man who can be proved to have shot a soldier in cold blood the day after the battle of Bull Run, and to have afterwards shot a negro who informed against him. This man was taken at his house at midnight in rebel uniform, with two other soldiers; he claimed to belong to a Virginia Cavalry regiment and to be at the time absent on furlough, and denied being one of Mosby's men; he had no furlough to show, however, and we knew that he had been plundering sutlers and citizens for more than a month. I therefore ordered his house to be burned; it was done in the forenoon and our men assisted in getting out his furniture. I wrote Mosby saying that it was not my intention to burn the houses of any men for simply belonging to his command ; that houses would be burnt which were used as rendezvous; that that particular house was burnt because it harboured a man who was apparently a deserter and was known to be a horse-thief and highwayman, a man obnoxious equally to both of us (officers acting under orders) and to all citizens. I shall probably have to burn other houses, but it will be done with all possible consideration. You must not feel badly, not more badly than is inevitable,  — I hope you will always write about such things: it will make me more considerate, and in such cases one cannot be too considerate.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 311-3

Monday, May 25, 2015

Brigadier-General John Sedgwick to his Sister, January 15, 1862

Alexandria, Virginia,
January 15, 1862.
My dear sister:

General Burnside has sailed with his expedition, but to what point is still unknown to the many. When the expedition was first started the intention was to have it operate with the army here on the Potomac; but it has since been increased to three times the size it was originally intended to be. The general impression seems to be that it is to land to operate against Norfolk, or near by on the North Carolina coast. We shall probably know before you receive this. Did I ever tell you that Mr. Heine, Kate Sedgwick's husband, is close by? He is a Captain of volunteers, and attached to the staff of General Heintzelman as topographical engineer. I see him quite frequently. He is a very pleasant and agreeable gentleman. The weather is such now, and has been for several days past, that no move could be made, if one was in contemplation. Several inches of snow on the ground, and still raining and sleeting. I can only guess for myself that no great move will be made from here till the army in front is partly broken by the expeditions already sent or that are to sail. It is too hazardous to undertake to move such large bodies of comparatively undisciplined men against almost equal numbers in a fortified position. Another Bull Run, and Washington is gone. They are doing nothing in Congress except scrambling after contracts, and other things of less importance.

I mean to come home for a few days, and as soon as I can, but General McClellan does not want to allow any one to go. Answer immediately.

Your affectionate brother,
J. S.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 35-6

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Major Henry L. Higginson, September 14, 1863

Centreville, Virginia, Sept. 14, 1863.

My Dear Henry, — I was glad to see your fist on an envelope some weeks ago. I ought to have written you sooner, but it is so infernally quiet here now that to get together material for a letter is a labour.

I am glad, old fellow, to hear that your wound is at length convalescent. It would have been a bore to carry a ball in it all your life, with a chance of its giving you a twinge any minute. . . .

You ask me no end of questions about the army. As if we take interest in the army. We are an independent, fancy department, whereof I command the cavalry, and we take no interest in wars or rumours of wars. I have seen men who profess to be going to and from the “front,” — but where is the “front”? We are in the “front” whenever General Halleck has an officer's application for leave to endorse. Stanton is so fond of us, however, that he keeps us on the safe “front” —  the “front” nearest Washington, whereby I am debarred from the rightful command of a brigade of five regiments in Gregg's division, which Gregg offered me, and which he applied for me to take, my own regiment being one of the five. But Stanton is very fond of us, and keeps us where it is safe.1

. . . I hope you will be kept at home until next January, for between now and then I mean to be married (if President Lincoln and General Lee do not interfere), and I shall be glad to have your countenance, so do not let your wound heal itself too rapidly. What do you hear from Frank? Give him my love, when you write. Tell him I gave him myself as a sample to be avoided, and I now give him Rob Shaw as a pattern to be followed. I am glad Frank remained in that regiment. It is historic. The Second Massachusetts Cavalry and some others are more mythic. . . .

About coloured regiments, I feel thus, — I am very glad at any time to take hold of them, if I can do more than any other available man in any place. I will not offer myself or apply for a place looking to immediate or probable promotion. If one goes into the black business he must go to stay. It will not end by the war. It will open a career, or at any rate give experience which will, inevitably almost, consign a man to ten or twenty years' hard labour in Government employ, it seems to me. Since Shaw's death I have had a personal feeling in the matter to see black troops made a success; a success which would justify the use (or sacrifice) made of them at Wagner.

Do you know the President is almost ready to exchange your brother Jim, and leave Cabot (it might have been Frank just as well) in prison at Charleston, after all the promises that have been made by the officers of the Administration? This is disgraceful beyond endurance almost.2
_______________

1 The Government and Major-General Heintzelman, commanding the Department of Washington, fully appreciated the advantage of having so efficient a cavalry commander and well disciplined a force in the neighbourhood. But they had to resist other competitors, for, besides the desires of General Gregg to have Lowell and his regiment in the Army of the Potomac, another general repeatedly importuned the War Department for them. Major-General N. P. Banks (Department of the Gulf), in his report to General Halleck, March 27, 1863, speaking of his need of cavalry, says: —

I feel especially the loss of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, raised expressly for my expedition; for, besides its strength, I relied upon Colonel Lowell to infuse the necessary vigour into the whole cavalry service.”

Again, April 18, 1863, General Banks sends the following message to Major-General Halleck: —

“I beg leave, at the risk of being considered importunate, to repeat my earnest request that more cavalry be sent to this department.  . . . If you will send me the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, raised expressly for my command, with their arms and equipments, I will mount them here from the horses captured on this expedition. Its commander, Colonel Lowell, is personally nearly as important to us as his regiment."

As late as September, General Banks was still pleading for the cavalry. General Halleck answered: “In regard to Colonel Lowell's regiment, I need simply to mention the fact that it is the only one we have for scouts and pickets in front of Washington.”

2 The officers here spoken of are Captain James J. Higginson, of the First Massachusetts Cavalry (who was captured in the fight at Aldie, where his brother, the Major, was wounded), and Captain Francis Lee Higginson, his younger brother, and Captain Cabot J. Russel, both of the Fifty-Fourth. As has been said, Captain Russel's family were not sure of his death. When the news of the raising of coloured troops was heard in the South, it had been threatened that captured privates should be sold to slavery and the officers treated as felons. This threat was not carried out, but difficulties arose about exchanges; and in this matter, and that of their payment, the course of the Administration and of Congress was for a long time timid and discreditable.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 302-4, 443-4

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, August 31, 1863


Centreville, Aug. 31, 1863.

I told you last week that Stanton had ordered a Court of Inquiry about some horses taken from us by Mosby, — his order said “horses taken from Thirteenth New York Cavalry.” I wrote at once that the horses were lost by Second Massachusetts Cavalry, my regiment, and that I wished to take the blame, if there was any, until the court settled where it belonged. He made General Stoneman President of the Court, and that vexed me, for all such courts hurt a fellow's chances, and Stoneman had intimated that he was likely to give me command of one of his three Cavalry Depots, which would have been very pleasant winter-quarters. Now, whatever the court may find, I do not consider myself at all to blame, and really I shall not care for the finding, but I am ashamed to say that last week my pride was somewhat hurt and I felt a good deal annoyed, although Heintzelman had told me he was more than satisfied, was gratified at what had been done. In our arrangements for catching Mosby, as he took off the horses, Captain ——, one of my best fellows, had the most important post; — he went insane in the afternoon, and Mosby's gang got enough the start to escape us.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 298-9

Monday, May 4, 2015

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, September 8, 1862

Less sensation and fewer rumors than we have had for several days.

The President called on me to know what we had authentic of the destruction of the Rebel steamer in Savannah River. He expressed himself very decidedly concerning the management or mismanagement of the army. Said, “We had the enemy in the hollow of our hands on Friday, if our generals, who are vexed with Pope, had done their duty; all of our present difficulties and reverses have been brought upon us by these quarrels of the generals.” These were, I think, his very words. While we were conversing, Collector Barney of New York came in. The President said, perhaps before B. came, that Halleck had turned to McClellan and advised that he should command the troops against the Maryland invasion. “I could not have done it,” said he, “for I can never feel confident that he will do anything effectual.” He went on, freely commenting and repeating some things said before B. joined us. Of Pope he spoke in complimentary terms as brave, patriotic, and as having done his duty in every respect in Virginia, to the entire satisfaction of himself and Halleck, who both knew and watched, day and night, every movement. On only one point had Halleck doubted any order P. had given; that was in directing one division, I think Heintzelman's, to march for the Chain Bridge, by which the flanks of that division were exposed. When that order reached him by telegraph, Halleck was uneasy, for he could not countermand it in season, because the dispatch would have to go part of the way by courier. However, all went off without disaster; the division was not attacked. Pope, said the President, did well, but there was here an army prejudice against him, and it was necessary he should leave. He had gone off very angry, and not without cause, but circumstances controlled us.

Barney said he had mingled with all descriptions of persons, and particularly with men connected with the army, and perhaps could speak from actual knowledge of public sentiment better than either of us. He was positive that no one but McClellan could do anything just now with this army. He had managed to get its confidence, and he meant to keep it, and use it for his own purposes. Barney proceeded to disclose a conversation he had with Barlow some months since. Barlow, a prominent Democratic lawyer and politician of New York, had been to Washington to attend one of McClellan's grand reviews when he lay here inactive on the Potomac. McClellan had specially invited Barlow to be present, and during this visit opened his mind, said he did not wish the Presidency, would rather have his place at the head of the army, etc., etc., intimating he had no political views or aspirations. All with him was military, and he had no particular desire to close this war immediately, but would pursue a line of policy of his own, regardless of the Administration, its wishes and objects.

The combination against Pope was, Barney says, part of the plan carried out, and the worst feature to him was the great demoralization of his soldiers. They were becoming reckless and untamable. In these remarks the President concurred, and said he was shocked to find that of 140,000 whom we were paying for in Pope's army only 60,000 could be found. McClellan brought away 93,000 from the Peninsula, but could not to-day count on over 45,000. As regarded demoralization, the President said, there was no doubt that some of our men permitted themselves to be captured in order that they might leave on parole, get discharged, and go home. Where there is such rottenness, is there not reason to fear for the country?

Barney further remarked that some very reliable men were becoming discouraged, and instanced Cassius M. Clay, who was advocating an armistice and terms of separation or of compromise with the Rebels. The President doubted if Clay had been rightly understood, for he had had a full and free talk with him, when he said had we been successful we could have had it in our power to offer terms.

In a conversation this morning with Chase, he said it was a doubtful matter whether my declining to sign the paper against McClellan was productive of good or harm. If I had done it, he said, McClellan would have been disposed of and not now in command, but the condition of the army was such under his long manipulation that it might have been hazardous at this juncture to have dismissed him. I assured him I had seen no moment yet when I regretted my decision, and my opinion of McClellan had undergone no change. He has military acquirements and capacity, dash, but has not audacity, lacks decision, delays, hesitates, vacillates; will, I fear, persist in delays and inaction and do nothing affirmative. His conduct during late events aggravates his indecision and is wholly unjustifiable and inexcusable.

But I will not prophesy what he will do in his present command. He has a great opportunity, and I hope and pray he may improve it. The President says truly he has the “slows,” but he can gather the army together better than any other man. Let us give him credit when he deserves it.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 115-8

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, July 1, 1863

POOLESVILLE, July 1, 1863.

On Friday night at half past ten, I got orders to report next day to General Slocum. As I had to get in my patrols from a space of over thirty miles and had besides to reduce the baggage of the Regiment from eight wagons to two, I didn't start till 8.30 the next morning, made a comfortable march of twenty-five miles, reported as ordered, and went quietly into bivouac for the night, as I supposed. But about 11 came two despatches from General Heintzelman, one ordering me to remain at Poolesville, or to return if I had left, the other notifying me that General Halleck sent the same order. I was considerably disturbed, and telegraphed at once to General Hooker and to General Heintzelman and notified General Slocum. In the morning, 4 o'clock, I got order from General Hooker to report to General French, and from French to report immediately; also orders from Heintzelman to take no orders that did not come through his, Heintzelman's, Headquarters. This was embarrassing, but I decided with much reluctance to obey Heintzelman, as he was backed by Halleck, though I was sorely tempted to stay with Hooker in the Army of the Potomac. So I moved down the Potomac about fifty-seven miles, and, when I reached the mouth of the Monocacy, met some of my wagons with the news that the rebels in strong force had crossed the Potomac at the very ford I was especially to watch; that there had been no picket there at all, and no notice had gone either to Washington or to Hooker till nearly twelve hours after the crossing. Of course I was troubled, expecting that I should be made the scapegoat, although I was only to blame for having been unmilitary enough to express a wish to General Hooker to serve in a more active place and to leave the “all quiet along the Potomac” to some poorer regiment. I had no forage, but fortunately had rations in the wagons, which I issued, and started in pursuit.1 I made excellent time and was far ahead on the Washington side, of any other troops. It was in an interval of pursuit, after two nights without much sleep, that I wrote that disagreeable pencil note. We did a good deal of hard marching Monday and Tuesday, but captured a lieutenant and four privates, and managed to keep Heintzelman pretty well informed of the movements of the Rebels who were in large force (Stuart with three brigades and Wade Hampton's legion), but I was still anxious lest I should be placed in arrest for leaving my post without orders from proper authority, — as not a word had I heard from Heintzelman, — and was very much relieved yesterday afternoon, when a despatch arrived stating that the General Commanding was gratified with my activity, and ordering me back to Poolesville as before. So back I have come, making a march of over thirty miles after 5 o'clock last evening, and reaching here in just the condition to enjoy amazingly the six hours of balmy languor which I have indulged in, — and then at length came the wagons and a general refreshment and reorganization of toilette. . . .

Wars are bad, but there are many things far worse. I believe more in “keeping gunpowder dry” than you do, but am quite convinced that we are likely to suffer a great deal before the end of this.
_______________

1 Colonel Lowell, in a report to headquarters at Washington during this pursuit, telling that the enemy are apparently out of reach, unless driven back towards him by Hooker's cavalry, cheerfully ends thus: Rations are out to-day, but I can manage, if you have any information that they are likely to return this way. Shall wait here for orders from you.”

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 268-70, 428-9

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, June 26, 1863

Poolesville, June 26, 1863.

We have come to Poolesville just at the right moment — the whole army is passing here. I have seen a great many officers whom I know — especially at Headquarters, which are here to-night.

While I have been writing this, I have received orders to march to-morrow to Knoxville, to report to Major-General Slocum for temporary duty.1
_______________

1 General Hooker, commanding the Army of the Potomac, sent this order to Lowell, who was at Poolesville, Maryland, watching the Potomac for spies, blockade-runners, guerrillas, or important raids. Lowell obeyed, and reported to Slocum, and was sent to Sandy Hook. June 28, Major-General Schenck, commanding Middle Department at Baltimore, was hastily notified from Washington: “A strong brigade of the enemy's cavalry have crossed . . . near Poolesville. Colonel Lowell, with five companies of the 2d Mass. Cavalry, who are there, should be warned, so that he may be ready for an attack.” Then Halleck, General-in-Chief, learned that Lowell was not there, and telegraphed Hooker: “Lowell's cavalry is the only force for scouts in this department, and he cannot be taken from General Heintzelman's command.” Lowell was also telegraphed to take no orders from General Hooker, and to return and watch the fords from Poolesville to Harper's Ferry. But unhappily Stuart had passed in his absence. Lowell's force was not large enough to cope with the rebel force, had he been there, and the raid seems to have resulted in more good than harm. General Doubleday, in his Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, says: “It is thought that he [Stuart] hoped by threatening Hooker's rear to detain him and delay his crossing the river, and thus give time to Lee to capture Harrisburg, and perhaps Philadelphia. His raid on this occasion was undoubtedly a mistake. When he rejoined the main body, his men were exhausted, his horses broken down, and the battle of Gettysburg was nearly over.”

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 267, 428

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, June 1, 1863

Camp Brightwood, June I, 1863.

I am cross; — “rumpled and harassed” don't begin to express my condition. I feel as if I were playing soldier here, and that I always disliked in peace, and disliked still more in war, — and now I'm doing it.

Now for narrative. Our move to-day was tolerably satisfactory, no end of “bag and baggage,” certainly ten or twelve times as much as there should have been; but we broke up a permanent camp, and reestablished it, and had plenty of daylight to spare. We are now near Fort Stevens, about four miles north of Washington, on rough ground thickly studded with oak stumps; not so pretty a site as our last, but much healthier; we do not present so attractive an outside to visitors, but in reality are probably better off. I have two companies and a half on picket at points fifteen miles apart, and am expecting some night alarms, knowing it to be all play and got up for drill purposes. I would much prefer to drill my men for the present in my own way, not in General Heintzelman's way, hence I am cross, — it is very unmilitary to be cross.

I foresee that this camp is going to be a very cross place, — rough camps always are, — they are so hard to keep clean. It is astonishing how much easier it is to make men do their military duty than it is to make them appreciate neatness and cleanness.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 251-2

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Diary of Gideon Welles, Friday, September 12, 1862

A clever rain last night, which I hope may swell the tributaries of the upper Potomac.

A call from Wilkes, who is disturbed because I press him so earnestly. Told him I wished him off as soon as possible; had hoped he would have left before this; Rebel cruisers are about and immense injury might result from a single day's delay. I find the officers generally dislike to sail with him.

A brief meeting of the Cabinet. Seward was not present. Has met with us but once in several weeks. No cause assigned for this constant absence, yet a reluctance to discuss and bring to a decision any great question without him is apparent.

In a long and free discussion on the condition of the army and military affairs by the President, Blair, Smith, and myself, the President repeated what he had before said to me, that the selection of McClellan to command active operations was not made by him but by Halleck, and remarked that the latter was driven to it by necessity. He had arranged his army corps and designated the generals to lead each column, and called on Burnside to take chief command. But Burnside declined and declared himself unequal to the position. Halleck had no other officer whom he thought capable and said he consequently was left with no alternative but McClellan.

"The officers and soldiers," the President said, “were pleased with the reinstatement of that officer, but I wish you to understand it was not made by me. I put McClellan in command here to defend the city, for he has great powers of organization and discipline; he comprehends and can arrange military combinations better than any of our generals, and there his usefulness ends. He can't go ahead — he can't strike a blow. He got to Rockville, for instance, last Sunday night, and in four days he advanced to Middlebrook, ten miles, in pursuit of an invading enemy. This was rapid movement for him. When he went up the Peninsula there was no reason why he should have been detained a single day at Yorktown, but he waited, and gave the enemy time to gather his forces and strengthen his position."

I suggested that this dilatory, defensive policy was partly at least the result of education; that a defensive policy was the West Point policy. Our Government was not intended to be aggressive but to resist aggression or invasion, — to repel, not to advance. We had good engineers and accomplished officers, but that no efficient, energetic, audacious, fighting commanding general had yet appeared from that institution. We were all aware that General Scott had, at the very commencement, begun with this error of defense, the Anaconda theory; was unwilling to invade the seceding States, said we must shut off the world from the Rebels by blockade and by our defenses. He had always been reluctant to enter Virginia or strike a blow. Blair said this was so, that we had men of narrow, aristocratic notions from West Point, but as yet no generals to command; that there were many clever second-rate men, but no superior mind of the higher class. The difficulty, however, was in the War Department itself. There was bluster but not competency. It should make generals, should search and find them, and bring them up, for there were such somewhere, — far down perhaps. The War Department should give character and tone to the army and all military movements. Such, said he, is the fact with the Navy Department, which makes no bluster, has no blowers, but quietly and intelligently does its work, inspires its officers and men, and brings forward leaders like Farragut, Foote, and Du Pont. The result tells you the value of system, of rightful discrimination, good sense, judgment, knowledge, and study of men. They make ten times the noise at the War Department, but see what they do or fail to do. The Secretary of War should advise with the best and most experienced minds, avail himself of their opinions, not give way to narrow prejudices and strive to weaken his generals, or impair confidence in them on account of personal dislikes. We have officers of capacity, depend upon it, and they should be hunted out and brought forward. The Secretary should dig up these jewels. That is his duty. B. named Sherman and one or two others who showed capacity.

"McClellan," said B., "is not the man, but he is the best among the major-generals." Smith said he should prefer Banks. Blair said Banks was no general, had no capacity for chief command. Was probably an estimable officer in his proper place, under orders. So was Burnside, and Heintzelman, and Sykes, but the War Department must hunt up greater men, better military minds, than these to carry on successful war.

Smith complimented Pope's patriotism and bravery, and the President joined in the encomiums. Said that Halleck declared that Pope had made but one mistake in all the orders he had given, and that was in ordering one column to retreat on Tuesday from Centreville to Chain Bridge, whereby he exposed his flank, but no harm came of his error. Blair was unwilling to concede any credit whatever to Pope; said he was a blower and a liar and ought never to have been intrusted with such a command as that in front. The President admitted Pope's infirmity, but said a liar might be brave and have skill as an officer. He said Pope had great cunning. He had published his report, for instance, which was wrong, — an offense for which, if it can be traced to him, Pope must be made amenable, — “But,” said he, "it can never, by any skill, be traced to him." "That is the man," said Blair. "Old John Pope,1 his father, was a flatterer, a deceiver, a liar, and a trickster; all the Popes are so."

When we left the Executive Mansion, Blair, who came out with me, remarked that he was glad this conversation had taken place. He wanted to let the President know we must have a Secretary of War who can do something besides intrigue, — who can give force and character to the army, administer the Department on correct principles. Cameron, he said, had got into the War Department by the contrivance and cunning of Seward, who used him and other corruptionists as he pleased, with the assistance of Thurlow Weed; that Seward had tried to get Cameron into the Treasury, but was unable to quite accomplish that, and after a hard underground quarrel against Chase, it ended in the loss of Cameron, who went over to Chase and left Seward. Bedeviled with the belief he might be a candidate for the Presidency, Cameron was beguiled and led to mount the nigger hobby, alarmed the President with his notions, and at the right moment, B. says, he plainly and frankly told the President he ought to get rid of C. at once, that he was not fit to remain in the Cabinet, and was incompetent to manage the War Department, which he had undertaken to run by the aid of Tom A. Scott, a corrupt lobby-jobber from Philadelphia. Seward was ready to get rid of Cameron after he went over to Chase, but instead of bringing in an earnest, vigorous, sincere man like old Ben Wade to fill the place, he picked up this black terrier, who is no better than Cameron, though he has a better assistant than Scott, in Watson. Blair says he now wants assistance to "get this black terrier out of his kennel." I probably did not respond as he wished, for I am going into no combination or movement against colleagues. He said he must go and see Seward. In his dislike of Stanton, Blair is sincere and earnest, but in his detestation he may fail to allow Stanton qualities that he really possesses. Stanton is no favorite of mine. He has energy and application, is industrious and driving, but devises nothing, shuns responsibility, and I doubt his sincerity always. He wants no general to overtop him, is jealous of others in any position who have influence and popular regard; but he has cunning and skill, dissembles his feelings, in short, is a hypocrite, a moral coward, while affecting to be, and to a certain extent being, brusque, overvaliant in words. Blair says he is dishonest, that he has taken bribes, and that he is a double-dealer; that he is now deceiving both Seward and Chase; that Seward brought him into the Cabinet after Chase stole Cameron, and that Chase is now stealing Stanton. Reminds me that he exposed Stanton's corrupt character, and stated an instance which had come to his knowledge and where he has proof of a bribe having been received; that he made this exposure when Stanton was a candidate for Attorney for the District. Yet Seward, knowing these facts, had induced and persuaded the President to bring this corrupt man into the War Department. The country was now suffering for this mistaken act. Seward wanted a creature of his own in the War Department, that he might use, but Stanton was actually using Seward.

Stanton's appointment to the War Department was in some respects a strange one. I was never a favorite of Seward, who always wanted personal friends. I was not of his sort, personally or politically. Stanton, knowing his creator, sympathized with him. For several months after his appointment, he exhibited some of his peculiar traits towards me. He is by nature a sensationalist, has from the first been filled with panics and alarms, in which I have not participated; and I have sometimes exhibited little respect or regard for his mercurial flights and sensational disturbances. He saw on more than one occasion that I was cool when he was excited, and he well knew that I neither admired his policy nor indorsed his views. Of course we were courteously civil, but reserved and distant. The opposition in the early days of the Administration were violent against the Navy management, and the class of Republicans who had secretly been opposed to my appointment joined in the clamor. In the progress of events there was a change. The Navy and my course, which had been assailed, — and which assaults he countenanced, — grew in favor, while my mercurial colleague failed to give satisfaction. His deportment changed after the naval success at New Orleans, and we have since moved along harmoniously at least. He is impulsive, not administrative; has quickness, often rashness, when he has nothing to apprehend; is more violent than vigorous, more demonstrative than discriminating, more vain than wise; is rude, arrogant, and domineering towards those in subordinate positions if they will submit to his rudeness, but is a sycophant and dissembler in deportment and language with those whom he fears. He has equal cunning but more force and greater capacity than Cameron; yet the qualities I have mentioned and his uneasy, restless nature make him, though possessed of a considerable ability of a certain sort, an unfit man in many respects for the War Department in times like these. I have sometimes thought McClellan would better discharge the duties of Secretary of War than those of a general in the field, and that a similar impression may have crossed Stanton's mind, and caused or increased his hate of that officer. There is no love lost between them, and their enmity towards each other does not injure McClellan in the estimation of Blair. Should McClellan in this Maryland campaign display vigor and beat the Rebels, he may overthrow Stanton as well as Lee. Blair will give him active assistance. But he must rid himself of what President Lincoln calls the "slows." This, I fear, is impossible; it is his nature.
__________

1 General Pope's father was Judge Nathaniel Pope, of the United States District Court for Illinois.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 123-9

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Abraham Lincoln to Major General George B. McClellan, May 9, 1862


FORT MONROE, VA., May 9, 1862.
Major-General McCLELLAN:

MY DEAR SIR: I have just assisted the Secretary of War in framing the part of a dispatch to you relating to army corps, which dispatch of course will have reached you long before this will.

I wish to say a few words to you privately on this subject. I ordered the army corps organization not only on the unanimous opinion of the twelve generals whom you had selected and assigned as generals of divisions, but also on the unanimous opinion of every military man I could get an opinion from, and every modern military book, yourself only excepted. Of course I did not on my own judgment pretend to understand the subject. I now think it indispensable for you to know how your struggle against it is received in quarters which we cannot entirely disregard. It is looked upon as merely all effort to pamper one or two pets and to persecute and degrade their supposed rivals. I have had no word from Sumner, Heintzelman, or Keyes. The commanders of these corps are of course the three highest officers with you, but I am constantly told that you have no consultation or communication with them; that you consult and communicate with nobody but General Fitz John Porter and perhaps General Franklin. I do not say these complaints are true or just, but at all events it is proper you should know of their existence. Do the commanders of corps disobey your orders in anything?

When you relieved General Hamilton of his command the other day you thereby lost the confidence of at least one of your best friends in the Senate. And here let me say, not as applicable to you personally, that Senators and Representatives speak of me in their places as they please without question, and that officers of the Army must cease addressing insulting letters to them for taking no greater liberty with them.

But to return: Are you strong enough – are you strong enough, even with my help – to set your foot upon the necks of Sumner, Heintzelman, and Keyes all at once? This is a practical and very serious question for you.

The success of your army and the cause of the country are the same, and of course I only desire the good of the cause.

Yours, truly,
 A. LINCOLN.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 11, Part 3 (Serial No. 14), p. 154-5

Saturday, February 1, 2014

George Bancroft to Elizabeth Davis Bancroft, December 16, 1861

Monday, December 16, 1861.

MY DEAR WIFE,  . . . Keeping down my sorrow  at heart for the woes of our poor country, which under  incompetent hands is going fast to ruin, I have much  to say of my proceedings yesterday, more than I can  find time for. But here is the Outline. I breakfasted with Mr. Chase, which occupied from 8½ to l0¼. His views are good; his integrity and ability make him the  first man in the cabinet; but he cannot find money so  abundantly as to meet the extravagant and excessive  demands on the government. His constitutional views on the south go but a little beyond mine; he applies to all the states in rebellion what I think there is no doubt may be applied to those formed out of Louisiana.

I wished to see Lander,1 and asked where he lived. Mr. Chase was so good as to offer to go with me. I found in Lander a man, if not of genius, of inspiration; brave, hardy, fearless, of immense executive ability; full of ideas, a poet and a very good one. He married about 14 months ago a person of whom he seemed very fond; and she in return, enters into his tales of battles and his zeal for desperate service. “The Lord thinks for me,” he said to me. He has written a poem which he calls “Inspiration,” in which he carries out the thought that underlies the remark I have just quoted. What he repeated of it to me I liked very much. He said he had not shown the poem to his wife till he had been married six months; but when he read or rather repeated it to her and she entered into his conception, she rose in his affection a hundred per cent. They seemed very happy: he is recovering from the bad wound he got at Edward's Ferry, and she was his companion, and nurse, and delight. I was so attracted that I remained with him till after one o'clock.

Just at three I went by appointment to the President. We discussed when we had met before: he remembered seeing me at Springfield, Illinois, but had forgotten our interview at Brady's. He wanted to know if I had seen Gen. McClellan. I said no. “I will take off my slippers,” said he, “and draw on my boots and take you over.”  I liked the novelty of the thing. He went through the processes of getting ready, and we walked to McClellan's. The President rang, and began asking the servant if he could see McClellan, and then checked that form of speech, and sent in word, who were waiting to see him. The general came in to us very soon, and we sat talking on indifferent things, the army, the prospect in Tennessee, the railroad recommended by the President from Kentucky south. Of all silent, uncommunicative, reserved men, whom I ever met, the general stands among the first. He is one, who if he thinks deeply keeps his thoughts to himself. However with what I knew before, I was able to extract something; and I shall probably see him again. The President is turning in his thoughts the question of his duty in the event of a slave insurrection; he thinks slavery has received a mortal wound, that the harpoon has struck the whale to the heart. This I am far from being able to see.

I invited myself to dine with the Hoopers. We had Sumner, and two others. In the evening young Lowell2 came in, of whom by the way, I spoke at large to McClellan, giving him the praises that are his due. Sumner at once vindicates and censures the administration. After this I called on Gen. Heintzelman, one of the bravest and best soldiers in the army. He was in the Bull's Run fight. I wound up the evening with a long talk with the famous Griffin, of Griffin's batteries, who, if not overvalued by his superior Barry, would have saved the battle of Bull's Run. . . .
__________

1 Gen. F. W. Lander, author of Rhode Island to the South and other war poems.

2 Charles Russell Lowell

SOURCE: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, The Life and Letters of George Bancroft, Volume 2, p. 145-7

Saturday, January 25, 2014

From Washington

Herald’s Dispatch.

WASHINGTON, May 18.

The recall of Gen. Hunter is fully determined on.  His proclamation will be made the subject of a communication by the President to Congress, and in that way to the country, unmistakeably [sic] condemning the course of General Hunter, as the policy of the Administration in the conduct of the war.  An effort has been made to have Gen. Bonham placed in command of the department of the South.  It is stated that if he could have had the consent of Gen. Hunter, he would long ago have recaptured Sumter, and restored Federal authority in Charleston.  Probably hereafter army officers will be required to attend exclusively to military duties, and leave the management of social and political affairs to the Government.

The intelligence received from the department of the South, states that our army is impatient at the kind of duties assigned them.

Accounts form McClellan’s army are, that Gen. Sumner has been relieved from active service in consequence of his refusal to reinforce Gen. Heintzelman at the battle of Williamsburg.


Special to Times.

Memphis papers of the 14th are looking for a battle at Corinth with terrible interest.  They estimate the Federal army at 60,000, and insist that it is greatly demoralized.  They say they don’t allow themselves to think of being defeated.

Beauregard is undoubtedly at Corinth.


WASHINGTON, May 18.

They navy department has received a communication from Com. Dupont, dated Port Royal, May 13th, giving an account of the capture of several rebel schooners.  No other news of importance.

The Post Office department directs that all mail matter destined for Burnside’s command be sent to New York.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, May 20, 1862, p. 2