Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, February 25, 1863

Had a brief call from General McClellan this p.m. He looks in good health, but is evidently uncomfortable in mind. Our conversation was general, — of the little progress made, the censoriousness of the public, of the dissatisfaction towards both of us, etc., etc. The letter of General Scott, of the 4th of October, 1861, complaining of his disrespect and wanting obedience, is just brought out.

I well remember an interview between these two officers about the period that letter was written, the President, myself, and two or three others being present. It was in General Scott's rooms opposite the War Office. In the course of conversation, which related to military operations, a question arose as to the number of troops there were in and about Washington. Cameron could not answer the question; McClellan did not; General Scott said no reports were made to him; the President was disturbed. At this moment Seward stated the several commands,—how many regiments had reported in a few days, and the aggregate at the time of the whole force. The statement was made from a small paper, and, appealing to McClellan, that officer replied that the statement approximated the truth. General Scott's countenance showed great displeasure. “This,” said the veteran warrior, “is a remarkable state of things. I am in command of the armies of the United States, but have been wholly unable to get any reports, any statement of the actual forces, but here is the Secretary of State, a civilian, for whom I have great respect but who is not a military man nor conversant with military affairs, though his abilities are great, but this civilian is possessed of facts which are withheld from me. Military reports are made, not to these Headquarters but to the State Department. Am I, Mr. President, to apply to the Secretary of State for the necessary military information to discharge my duties?”

Mr. Seward explained that he had got his information by vigilance and attention, keeping account of the daily arrival of regiments, etc., etc. There was a grim smile on the old soldier. “And you, without report, probably ascertained where each regiment was ordered. Your labors and industry, Mr. Secretary of State, I know are very arduous, but I did not before know the whole of them. If you in that way can get accurate information, the Rebels can also, though I cannot.”

Cameron here broke in, half in earnest and half-ironical, and said we all knew that Seward was meddlesome, interfering in all the Departments with what was none of his business. He thought we had better go to our duties. It was a pleasant way of breaking up an unpleasant interview, and we rose to leave. McClellan was near the open door, and General Scott addressed him by name. “You,” said the aged hero, “were called here by my advice. The times require vigilance and activity. I am not active and never shall be again. When I proposed that you should come here to aid, not supersede, me, you had my friendship and confidence. You still have my confidence.”

I had, in the early stages of the War, disapproved of the policy of General Scott, which was purely defensive, — non-intercourse with the insurgents, shut them out from the world by blockade and military frontier lines, but not to invade their territory. The anaconda policy was, I then thought and still think, unwise for the country. The policy of General McClellan has not been essentially different, but he was called here with the assent if not by the recommendation of General Scott. It was evident from what transpired at the interview here mentioned that Mr. Seward, who had been in close intimacy with the veteran commander at first, had transferred his intimacy to the junior general, and the former felt it, — saw that he was becoming neglected, —  and his pride was wounded.

That Seward kept himself well informed in the way he stated, I think was true, and he likely had his information confirmed by McClellan, with whom he almost daily compared notes and of whom he made inquiries. But McClellan is by nature reticent, — in many respects a good quality. Seward has great industry and an inquiring mind, and loves to possess himself of everything that transpires. Has an unfortunate inclination to run to subordinates for information. Has in Meigs a willing assistant, and others who think it a compliment to be consulted by the Secretary of State, and are ready to impart to him all they know of the doings and intentions of their superiors. He has by his practice encouraged the President to do likewise and get at facts indiscreetly; but the President does this because he feels a delicacy in intruding, especially in business hours, on the heads of Departments. S. has no such delicacy, but a craving desire to be familiar with the transactions of each Department.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 240-3

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: March 18, 1862

My war archon is beset for commissions, and somebody says for every one given, you make one ingrate and a thousand enemies.

As I entered Miss Mary Stark's I whispered: “He has promised to vote for Louis.” What radiant faces. To my friend, Miss Mary said, “Your son-in-law, what is he doing for his country?” “He is a tax collector.” Then spoke up the stout old girl: “Look at my cheek; it is red with blushing for you. A great, hale, hearty young man! Fie on him! fie on him! for shame! Tell his wife; run him out of the house with a broomstick; send him down to the coast at least.” Fancy my cheeks. I could not raise my eyes to the poor lady, so mercilessly assaulted. My face was as hot with compassion as the outspoken Miss Mary pretended hers to be with vicarious mortification.

Went to see sweet and saintly Mrs. Bartow. She read us a letter from Mississippi — not so bad: “More men there than the enemy suspected, and torpedoes to blow up the wretches when they came. Next to see Mrs. Izard. She had with her a relative just from the North. This lady had asked Seward for passports, and he told her to “hold on a while; the road to South Carolina will soon be open to all, open and safe.” To-day Mrs. Arthur Hayne heard from her daughter that Richmond is to be given up. Mrs. Buell is her daughter.

Met Mr. Chesnut, who said: “New Madrid¹ has been given up. I do not know any more than the dead where New Madrid is. It is bad, all the same, this giving up. I can't stand it. The hemming-in process is nearly complete. The ring of fire is almost unbroken.”

Mr. Chesnut's negroes offered to fight for him if he would arm them. He pretended to believe them. He says one man can not do it. The whole country must agree to it. He would trust such as he would select, and he would give so many acres of land and his freedom to each one as he enlisted.

Mrs. Albert Rhett came for an office for her son John. I told her Mr. Chesnut would never propose a kinsman for office, but if any one else would bring him forward he would vote for him certainly, as he is so eminently fit for position. Now he is a private.

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¹ New Madrid, Missouri, had been under siege since March 3, 1862.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 146-7

John Lothrop Motley to Mary Benjamin Motley, June 17, 1861

Washington,

June 17, 1861.

My Dear Mary:  . . . After being at home three days, I left by the afternoon boat of Saturday, 15th, for New York, where I was obliged to remain all Sunday till 6 P.M. I did not find Mr. Grinnell, unluckily, who is out of town for the summer. In the night I came on to Washington, reaching here at six this morning. I went up to the State Department in the forenoon, and had the merest moment of a conversation with Mr. Seward, who begged me to come and dine with him to-day at seven, and requested, as it was his despatch day, to defer all further colloquy until then. I had afterward a very brief interview with the Secretary of War, Cameron, to whom Governor Andrew begged me to give some information concerning Cobb's battery of flying artillery, which is of more interest to the War Department than to you, so I will not enlarge on that subject. I also introduced Tom, who had something to communicate concerning Gordon's regiment; and the secretary took occasion to say that Massachusetts — and, indeed, all New England — did everything so well that improvement seemed impossible, and that the country was more indebted to it than could ever be repaid for its conduct in the present crisis.

Afterward I saw a small crowd waiting on the pavement, and Lee, who was with us (and who, as you know, has a place in the War Department), told me that they were waiting to see General Scott come out of his office. It reminded me of the group I so often saw in Piccadilly waiting to see Lord Palmerston come out. We stood looking on, too, and very soon he appeared. He has a fine, soldierly, and yet benignant countenance, very much resembling Dr. Reynolds in face as well as stature, and not seeming much older than he. Presently Lee, who knows him very well, went up and mentioned my name. He turned round with much vivacity, with his hand stretched out very cordially, and expressed himself very happy to make my acquaintance, being pleased to add that my writings were “an honor to the age.” Of course I say these little things to you because it will please you and the children. He asked us to come and see him of an evening, and I certainly shall do so as soon as possible.

No one here knows what the plans of the campaign are; all is conjecture. You will see by the papers that go with this that Harper's Ferry has just been evacuated by the rebels. Those with whom I converse seem to imagine that the plan is to strengthen and improve day by day the great national army, gradually surrounding the rebellion by an impenetrable cordon, and thus compelling them, by sheer exhaustion, to lay down their arms before the close of the year. The blockade, bankruptcy, and famine, it is thought, will be potent enough without many very severe pitched battles. The show of force is already so imposing and so utterly beyond any previous calculation of the rebels that they are thought to be rapidly demoralizing, while, on the other hand, every day strengthens the government. There are at least 100,000 well-furnished government troops here and in the immediate neighborhood, or within twelve hours' march, and they are coming daily. The government has plenty of money, plenty of men, and is constantly improving its commissariat and arranging all the details of a great war. It has entered into no man's head that the rebellion is not to be put down. I doubt not that the English government have been fully informed upon this point now, for when I expressed this sentiment just now to Lord Lyons, he responded, “Certainly not; it is only a question of time.”

I went to see him after leaving Mr. Seward. In fact, Seward was kind enough to send me there in his carriage. I found him little changed from the Dresden days, except that he has grown stouter. He was very cordial, frank, and friendly, and we had a long and full conversation on American affairs. He was himself sure that every thinking person in England would deplore a rupture between the two countries as a calamity too painful to contemplate, and that all his efforts would be to avert it.

There is a review of 8000 government troops on the sacred soil of Virginia going on just now. General McDowell invited us to go. My dinner engagement prevents me, but Tom has gone. The town is full of troops. A Massachusetts regiment left Boston the day we did, and a Michigan regiment arrived the same day. All are enlisted for the war just now. There is no lack of good officers. McClellan, who commands the Western Division and is next to Scott, is very competent to command the whole if anything should happen to the veteran. But of that there seems no fear. He looks vigorous, healthful, and young. There seems nothing senile about him.

To-morrow we are going across the Potomac to see the encampments, the fortifications, etc. Pay no heed to anything you may see from time to time of intentions of the rebels to attack Washington. They are as likely to attack Boston. The thing I believe to be utterly out of the question, although Scott would like nothing better than that they should try it on.

I dine with Lord Lyons to-morrow, and I dare say I shall spend the rest of the week here. I have not quite decided whether to go to Fortress Monroe or not, but probably shall do so. Secretary Cameron has given us a pass recommending us especially to the commander of troops, etc., etc. I may as well repeat what I said in my last, that here, as in Boston, every one to whom I speak thanks me for the article in the “Times.” Lord Lyons said it was considered the principal document in the whole affair, and the French minister said the same thing. Everybody says it has done much good, and it most sincerely rejoices me to hear it.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, editor, The Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley in Two Volumes, Library Edition, Volume 2, p. 136-40

John Lothrop Motley to his Family, June 14, 1861

Woodland Hill,

June 14, 1861.

My Dearest Mary And Dearest Darlings: My note from Halifax, with the announcement which you must have seen in the papers, will have told you enough of my voyage.¹ It was a singularly favorable one, and we reached Boston Wednesday morning at eight o'clock. I found my dear mother looking not worse than I had anticipated, but very feeble. She had had an attack of neuralgic pain the day before, and was not able to come out of her room. She was, however, pretty well the next day, and is not very much changed in the face, although she has evidently become more infirm.

My father seems a good deal older, but is very active and in vigorous health. All the various members of the family are very well. I walked out about eleven o'clock, and went first to the State House to see Governor Andrew. He received me with the greatest cordiality, I may say distinction, and thanked me very warmly for my papers in the “Times.” I may as well mention once for all that not a single person of the numbers with whom I have already spoken has omitted to say the same thing. You know how enthusiastic our people are when pleased, and you can therefore imagine the earnest and perhaps somewhat exaggerated commendations which I receive.²

The paper was at once copied bodily into the Boston and New York papers, with expressions of approbation, and I make a point of stating this to you, both because I was myself surprised at the deep impression which the article seems to have made here, and in order that you may let any of our English friends who are interested know that the position taken in the article is precisely that which is recognized by all men throughout the free States as the impregnable one in this momentous conflict.

The reason why I am saying so much about it now is simply because it is the text, as it were, to all I have, or probably shall have, to say on the subject of American politics in my letter to you. Any one who supposes that this civil war is caused by anything else than by an outrageous and unprovoked insurrection against a constituted government, because that government had manifested its unequivocal intention to circumscribe slavery and prevent forever its further extension on this continent, is incapable of discussing the question at all, and is not worth listening to. Therefore it is (and with deep regret I say it) that there is so deep and intense a feeling of bitterness and resentment toward England just now in Boston. Of course I only speak of Boston, because, having been here but two days, I have as yet taken no wider views, and I intend, when I write, to speak only of that “which I do know.” The most warm-hearted, England-loving men in this England-loving part of the country are full of sorrow at the attitude taken up by England. It would be difficult to exaggerate the poisonous effects produced by the long-continued, stinging, hostile articles in the “Times.” The declaration of Lord John Russell that the Southern privateers were to be considered belligerents was received, as I knew and said it would be, with great indignation, especially the precedent cited of Greece struggling against Turkey, to justify, as it were, before England and the world, the South struggling against the United States government. This, then, is the value, men say to me every moment, of the antislavery sentiment of England, of which she has boasted so much to mankind. This is the end of all the taunts and reproaches which she has flung at the United States government for being perpetually controlled by the slavery power, and for allowing its policy to be constantly directed toward extending that institution. Now that we have overthrown that party, and now that we are struggling to maintain our national existence, and, with it, liberty, law, and civilization, against the insurrection which that overthrow has excited, we are treated to the cold shoulder of the mother-country, quite as decidedly as if she had never had an opinion or a sentiment on the subject of slavery, and as if the greatest war of principle which has been waged, in this generation at least, was of no more interest to her, except as it bore on the cotton question, than the wretched squabbles of Mexico or South America. The ignorance, assumed or actual, of the nature of our Constitution, and the coolness with which public speakers and writers have talked about the Southern States and the Northern States, as if all were equally wrong, or equally right, and as if there had never been such a state in existence as the one which the queen on her throne not long ago designated as the “great Republic,” have been the source of surprise, disappointment, and mortification to all. Men say to me, We did not wish England to lift a little finger to help us, we are not Austria calling in Russia to put down our insurrections for us, but we have looked in vain for any noble words of encouragement and sympathy. We thought that some voice, even of men in office, or of men in opposition, might have been heard to say, We are sorry for you, you are passing through a terrible ordeal; but we feel that you are risking your fortunes and your lives for a noble cause, that the conflict has been forced upon you, that you could not recede without becoming a byword of scorn among the nations. Our hands are tied; we must be neutral in action: you must fight the fight yourself, and you would be ashamed to accept assistance; but our hearts are with yon, and God defend the right. But of all this there is not a word.

. . . Now, it is superfluous for me to say to you that I am not expressing my own opinions in what I am writing. In my character of your own correspondent, I am chronicling accurately my first impressions on arriving here. You see that the language I hear does not vary so much in character as in intensity from that which I have used myself on all occasions in England to our friends there. But the intensity makes a great difference, and I am doing my best, making use of whatever influence and whatever eloquence I possess, to combat this irritation toward England, and to bring about, if I can, a restoration of the old kindliness.

You cannot suppose that I am yet in condition to give you much information as to facts. One thing, however, is certain, there is no difference of opinion here. There is no such thing as party. Nobody asks or cares whether his neighbor was a Republican, or Democrat, or abolitionist. There is no very great excitement now, simply because it is considered a settled thing, which it has entered into no man's head to doubt, that this great rebellion is to be put down, whatever may be the cost of life and treasure it may entail. We do not know what General Scott's plan is, but every one has implicit confidence in his capacity, and it is known that he has matured a scheme on a most extensive scale. There are now in Washington and Maryland, or within twelve hours' march of them, about 80,000 Union troops. There are, including these, 240,000 enrolled and drilling and soon to be ready. The idea seems to be that a firm grasp will be kept upon Maryland, Washington, Western Virginia, and that Harper's Ferry, Richmond, and Norfolk will be captured this summer; that after the frosts of October vast columns of men will be sent down the Mississippi, and along it, cooperating with others to be sent by sea; that New Orleans will be occupied, and that thus with all the ports blockaded, and a cordon of men hemming them in along the border of the Middle States, the rebellion will be suffocated with the least possible effusion of blood. Of course there will be terrible fighting in Virginia this summer, and I am by no means confident that we shall not sustain reverses at first, for the rebels have had longer time to prepare than we, and they are desperate. General Scott promises to finish the war triumphantly before the second frost, unless England interferes. This was his language to the man who told me.

You see that it was no nightmare of mine, this possibility of a war with England. General Scott loves and admires England, but there is a feeling in Washington that she intends to recognize the Southern Confederacy. This would be considered by our government, under the present circumstances, as a declaration of war; and war we should have, even if it brought disaster and destruction upon us. But I have little fear of such a result. I tell every one what is my profound conviction, that England will never recognize the “Confederacy” until the de facto question is placed beyond all doubt, and until her recognition is a matter of absolute necessity. I have much reliance on Forster. I know that his speech will do infinite good, and I doubt not that Buxton will be warm and zealous. I hope that Milnes and Stirling will keep their promise. But what nonsense it is for me to tell of what you know already, and what I shall know in a few days!

Yesterday afternoon I came out here to stop for a couple of nights. My first object was to visit Camp Andrew. This is the old Brook Farm, the scene of Hawthorne's “Blithedale Romance,” and his original and subtle genius might, I should think, devise a new romance out of the wonderful transformation effected now in that locality.

Five regiments, in capital condition, have already gone from Massachusetts to the seat of war, being, as you know, the very first to respond to the President's summons. We have more enlisted for the war, which are nearly ready to move, and will have their marching orders within a fortnight. Of these the crack one is Gordon's regiment—the Massachusetts Second. Lawrence Motley is one of the first lieutenants in this corps, and you would be as pleased as I was to see what a handsome, soldierly fellow he is. And there is no boy's play before his regiment, for it is the favorite one. All the officers are of the jeunesse doree of Boston —Wilder Dwight, young Quincy, Harry Russell, Bob Shaw, Harry Higginson of Dresden memory, and others whose names would be familiar to you, are there, and their souls are in their work. No one doubts that the cause is a noble and a holy one; and it is certainly my deliberate opinion that there was never a war more justifiable and more inevitable in history.

We went to the camp to see the parade. To my unsophisticated eye there was little difference between these young volunteers and regular soldiers. But of course my opinion is of little worth in such matters. I had a good deal of talk with Colonel Gordon. He is about thirty, I should think. He graduated first in his class at West Point, served through the Mexican War, and is, I should think, an excellent soldier. He is very handsome, very calm and gentle in manner, with a determined eye. You will watch, after this, with especial interest the career of the Massachusetts Second.

. . . Gordon's regiment will, it is hoped, be taken into the permanent service after the war, as the regular army must always be on a much larger scale than before. In that case these officers will have a profession, which has been one of the great wants for young men of rich families in our part of the country.

I am now going into town, when I shall post this letter and order your Boston newspaper. No event has taken place, of any very great moment, since I left you. General Scott, I am very glad to say, is in no hurry. He is too old a campaigner and strategist to wish to go unprepared into petty conflicts to furnish food for telegrams. The thing is to be done on a great scale. There is no thought of peace, and there is a settled conviction in the minds of the most pacific by nature that, even had the United States government been base enough to acknowledge the Southern Confederacy, it would necessarily have been involved in war with it. There are at least half a dozen casus belli, which, as between two belligerent nations, could only be settled by the sword, unless the North chose to go on its knees and accept the dictation of the South. There is no need of saying more. The Mississippi alone speaks war out of its many mouths. The Union hardly intended, when it bought Louisiana and the Mississippi valley, in order to take it from the control of one enemy, to make a present of it to another and more bitter foe.

The girls here are all pretty and nice. N____ sings very well, with a fine, fresh, ringing voice, and gave me “The Star-Spangled Banner” last night with great spirit. God bless you all, dearest ones. I will write from Washington.

Ever most affectionately,

J. L. M.

I shall go to see Mrs. Greene³ to-day, who is in town and in good health. It was impossible for me to do so yesterday, as I was detained by many visitors. Amory came almost the first. He is delightful as ever, and sends his love to you.

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¹ Mr. Motley's anxiety in this crisis of American affairs led to a sudden visit to Boston, his family then expecting to follow him. His appointment to the post of United States minister to Austria, which became vacant after his return, changed the plan.

² At the beginning of the Civil War Mr. Motley wrote an elaborate letter to the London "Times," explaining clearly and comprehensively the nature of the Union and the actual causes of the struggle. There was so much misunderstanding upon the subject that the letter was of the greatest service. It was republished in the United States, and universally read and approved.

³ Sister to Lord Lyndhurst

SOURCE: George William Curtis, editor, The Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley in Two Volumes, Library Edition, Volume 2, p. 128-36

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

The Rebels taking a gloomy View of their Situation

The following significant article from the Richmond Examiner of the 16th inst., shows that the rebels are uncomfortably oppressed by the view of their present situation:

* * * “While the political leaders of the South have been reposing in dreams of approaching peace and while our accomplished captains of engineers have been expending their remarkable scientific ingenuity in the erection of works as wonderful, and almost as extensive and quite as valuable as the Chinese wall to resist invading forces from a given direction, the enemy have gradually and at leisure gathered up their immense resources and concentrated their tremendous energies to envelope the Confederacy with their armies and fleets and to penetrate the interior from some one of many alternate points.  Although they can now do nothing, they have their general programme in perfect order for execution when the weather changes in the ordinary course of the earth around the sun and it this moment we find ourselves in the face of superior forces wherever we look whether to the North, the East, or the West, or the South itself.  General Sydney [sic] Johnston has to strain every nerve to prevent the military as well as the geographical heart of the country from slipping out of his grasp.  Generals Joseph Johnson [sic] and Beauregard are held by McClellan on the Potomac as in a vice.  A gigantic armament is ready to attempt the descent of the Mississippi, and their fleet on the Atlantic seacoast and the Gulf are too freshly before the attention to require remembrance.  Such are the fruits of a policy purely defensive.  Without even the hesitancy which would come of a possible interruption, the enemy have thus surrounded the Southern Confederacy, and if permitted to repeat as often as may be desired their efforts to penetrate its heart, they will necessarily attain the place and the time where success awaits them.

“There is now but one chance of success from the net that has been coolly drawn around us. – it is to concentrate our energy on one point, and cut it through, to convert our defensive into an offensive war, and transfer the scene of at least part of these hostilities to the enemy’s own country.  Situated as we are it is only possible at one point – and that is Kentucky.  If the forces that we are dispersing to the four corners of the continent every day to meet the new menaces were collected under the hand of General Sydney Johnson [sic] till a column was formed sufficient to enable him to manoeuvre with some possibility of success over the plains of that region he might hurl back the army in front of him, at present, and penetrate the State of Ohio.  The attainment of the object would render worthless all the plans of the enemy.  The circle of armies would be in the condition of the constrictor whose back has been broken, the scene of war would be transferred to his own territory, and everyone who has witnessed the ravages of armies in any of the invaded districts of Virginia knows what a precious blessing is designated in that brief phrase.  He would be attacked beyond his defences.  The alarm and confusion of the United States would paralyze its Government and its Generals, and the entire arrangement by which we suffer now and dread great disasters in future would be immediately reversed.

“At present Gen. Johnson confronts superior forces of the enemy under Buell, one of the most cautious painstaking and able Generals on the other side.  General Buell has now; immediately in front of Johnson, an army of seventy six thousand men (Yes, 110, men – Eps) and can bring to bear on us, and other given points, thirty thousand more.  What the Confederate commander has may not be stated, but it is probably enough to hold his present strong position against any numbers that might attack him there or pass him on either side, get to his rear and cut off his supplies.  This he can do by leaving a sufficient army in front of Gen. Johnson while he can still send upon the right or left flank a force as large as he leaves behind.  That this is the plan of Buell is now no longer doubtful.  He has placed a force of 8,000 men at Glasgow, thirty miles to the eastward of Bowling Green threatening the rear of Gen. Johnson while it is within easy supporting distance of two other posts held in strong force by the enemy.  If the plan of Buell is successful it may result in a great disaster.  To defeat him it is absolutely necessary that more men should at once be sent to Bowling Green.  Gen. Johnson must have a force sufficient to attack Buell in front with a good chance of success and by so doing will not only defeat his scheme on the centre of the Confederacy, but immediately transfer the war to the State of Ohio, and thus save the whole South from the great danger of being overrun in the first fine weather of the coming spring.

“We are satisfied that, beyond the flattering possibilities of a foreign intervention, the only rational hope we can entertain of a speedy termination of this war, is to be found in an offensive campaign across the Ohio, from the point that Gen. Johnson now defends.  The best line of advance imaginable to strike at the vitals of the North which are the Lake States, is that through Kentucky.  The country is a plain, the people are not actively hostile, supplies without stint and the great resources of the North are beyond.  The enemy understand this and are making tremendous efforts to secure Kentucky to them without the possibility of escape.  This season of inaction, from the inclemency of the skies, is a precious boon of Providence to us, we can now determine on a plan, and prepare for its execution in a short time, that will render naught and abortive all the costly and complicated devices of the adversary.”

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 4

The Desperation Of The Rebel Cause – The Federal Military Cordon – A Wail From Rebeldom – The War Drum To Be Beaten – Plenty Of Work For Court House And Cross Road Orators.

(From the Richmond Enquirer January 27.)

If the plans of McClellan are indeed now developed, and if he has been placing a military cordon around us, with a view to crush us by a simultaneous constriction as the anaconda crushes its victim, there is one element of resistance the force of which he has not allowed for.

The very difficulties with which our enemies hope to surround us – the very danger with which they urge us on every side – will add to the heroism of our fighting and the energy of our movements.  Press the war home upon us, cut off all retreat and all temporizing, cause every man to see and feel that his immediate safety depends upon the instant success, and it will add vigor to our blows and an endurance to our courage that will make every soldier count at least double.  Pent up even a coward and he will fight.  Make a brave man desperate and he is irresistible.

* * * In the threats that fall upon our ears, and the great fleets that they are sending to our various frontiers, our enemies are giving us a call to arms that should rouse every spirit in the land.  Their great boasts and small performances heretofore, in the true style of Mexican grandiloquence, have tended to make us careless and almost lethargic.  We have learned to despise our enemy – always a source of danger.  We have heard his battle sound so often when there has been no battle, that we have ceased to notice it.  There is peril in this.  The enemy knows that what they purpose to do they must now do quickly.  Their own people are dividing.  Some are weary of an inglorious and fruitless war.  Others are in despair at the dilatory proceedings.  The funds are fast failing.  Europe, too is weary of waiting and will soon interfere in behalf of the interests of commerce.  The appearance of vigor is absolutely necessary to keep the cotton manufacturers from outbreak.

Hence McClellan is moving his legions, and probably in earnest.  Are we ready?  The war drum should sound throughout our confederacy.

The war spirit must be revived.  We want war speeches at our court houses and crossroads.  Our people should rouse up and organize as one man, and prepare for the most determined war.  See ye not the circle of fire that is uniting around you?  Here ye not the tramp of the enemy’s advancing lines and the rush of his coming steps?  The shock of tremendous strife is upon us.  As a free and independent people we have either to conquer or to die, and we are resolved not to die.  The time is come when every one who has the spirit of a man must show it.

“The men who carried me to Mexico, are the men who kept me back from Richmond,” – as Scott is reported to have said to Lincoln. – Let McClellan’s experience be made as bitter.  Scott is a traitor to his State, McClellan is a traitor to the principles he formerly avowed. – Companions in infamy, let them be consigned to the fellowship of defeat.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 8, 1862, p. 2

The Expected Blow

Very much of the new we reprint from the rebel journals we interpret by the rule of contraries, so that their averment that Beauregard has gone to New Orleans, of instance, persuades us that he will soon turn up a good way from that city.  Still, we are inclined to believe their late story that Jeff. Davis has set out for the South West, because, many reasons concur in designating that as his most desirable locality.  We believe the Rebels will not meet our great Potomac Army in open battle, but will [wait] for opportunities to attack portions of it in superior force, as lately as Winchester; but should no such be afforded them, they will gradually retire as our main body advances, hoping only to detain it in Virginia until the season is too far advanced and the heat too fervid for offensive operations in the Cotton States.  Such seems to be the general purpose of the present Rebel strategy in Virginia.

On the other hand, we see much that indicates a determination on the part of Secession chiefs to strike a sudden and heavy blow in the South-West.  They are evidently concentrating their forces at Corinth or some other point near the south line of Tennessee, with intent to hurl the great mass of them suddenly on an exposed detachment of ours, thus repeating the lesson of Bull Run, Wilson’s Creek, and Lexington.  We Trust they are to be baffled in this game by the cautious energy of Gen. Halleck; and, if they should not be able to fight at the advantage they meditate, we believe they will make a virtue of necessity, and fight a desperate battle any how, hoping by success to recover Tennessee, or at any rate protect “the South proper” form invasion and restoration to the Union.  The vigor and skill of our generals are quite likely to interfere with these calculations; but we are satisfied that, if left to their own devices, the Rebel chiefs will not soon fight a great battle in Virginia, but will fight one in the South-West.

The “Anaconda” plan of surrounding and crushing a rebellion exposes those who adopt it to great and obvious hazards.  Since Napoleon’s early campaign, every tyro in the art of war understands that the first canon is, “Be strongest at the point of actual and decisive conflict, no matter how weak everywhere else.”  The rebels profited by their fidelity to this rule at Bull Run, and in most of their triumphs, as we have since done at Fort Donelson, Roanoke Island, &c.  To comprehend the value and importance of this rule is easy enough; to obey and profit by it requires a mastery of the military art.  But the rebels, holding the inferior position and operating upon much the shorter lines of communication, can conform to it more easily than the Unionists who confront them.  And only a most resolute offensive on all points can prevent an army engaged in active operations, as has been recently witnessed.  And their advantage of position is so fairly counterbalanced by our command of the seas and our superiority in both gunboats and transports on the Western rivers, that it should not, and probably will not, be allowed to prove of much avail.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 3

From The 2d Iowa Cavalry

BENTON BARRACKS, Mo., Feb. 11^th, 1862.

FRIEND SANDERS: Benton Barracks is yet or “abiding place,” and though some with little faith may suppose from the past that it may long continue to be, yet I think the time of our departure is near at hand.  Among the vast multitude of soldiers that are now taking their appointed places in the grand “forward” which has commenced, the 2d Iowa Cavalry will soon be “counted in.”  The regiment received last week over four hundred revolvers and are expecting the balance daily.  As soon as received they will be ready.

On the 5^th the regiment took an airing to and through the city.  Yesterday, by order of Gen. Halleck, it marched to the city and was reviewed by him.  The St. Louis Democrat says: “They appeared without exception, to be in the finest possible condition and moved with the precision and confidence of veteran troops.”  The streets were thronged with “lookers on.”  The column passed through several of the principal streets.  A close observer by following the column could make out a very correct “check roll” of loyal citizens, and of those who scorn the banner that ever has and now is securing to them all the blessings of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  As the column moved through Main street the majority of the business men looked hard at us.  “Secesh” when looking at sights of this kind are no doubt impressed with an idea that fearful realities are very soon to be experienced from similar movements.

Through the streets which the column moved many ladies and all the children thronged the doors and windows, and most of the ladies, and all of the little ones were for the Stars and Stripes.  Hundreds of flags were flung to the breeze, and waving of signals by the hands of many fair ladies, gave the cheering proof, that they are for “Union.”  In many cases the schools on the streets through which we passed, had intermission, and at one place, on Washington Avenue, the young misses ranged themselves on the walk, and sung as we passed, the “Red, White, and Blue.”  It was an inspiring scene.  May this be the last time they may ever be called to witness the force of arms as necessary to enforce obedience to and uphold the supremacy of the “Constitution and the Laws.”

The people who have been so anxiously waiting until they had almost began to think patience no longer a virtue, can, no doubt, now begin to see that in his own good time McClellan is ready.  The grand advance has begun.  The “Anaconda” from his head on the Potomac, along his heavy folds down the Atlantic coast to the Gulf, and throughout his extensive coils to the Kansas border, is beginning to enclose within his mighty embrace the “hell” of Secessiondom.  His colossal proportions are now beginning to writhe with powerful contortions, and as one after another of his massive folds overlapping each other crowd its resistless sway with deadly effect into the vitals of rebellion, the arch-traitors themselves, as they hear the reverberating shouts of victory resounding in thunder tones throughout the loyal States, and witness it re-echoed from thousands of loyal hearts within the borders of their fair land they would consign to infamy and despotism, will themselves begin to recoil from his terrible embrace; and as the “beginning of the end” begins to loom up before their astonished gaze, they will cry out for the mountains and the rocks to fall and cover them from the wrath of “Abraham.”

Gen. Curtis is after Price with something worse than a “sharp stick;” a victory awaits us there, and not only there, but very soon everywhere.

There are now but three full regiments here – the 2d Iowa Cavalry, the 1^st and 2d Michigan Cavalry, with their batteries.  The first battalion of the Iowa 1^st Cavalry is also here.  From present indications, I think we will go direct to Tennessee, and very probably with Gen. Halleck himself.  He will no doubt soon take the field in person.  When the “Sunny South” greets our vision, I will let you know the result of my observations.  That such may very speedily be the case is the earnest desire of every one in the 2d cavalry.

The regiment, under the daily, thorough instruction if its efficient officers, has become very proficient in drill.  Its health is rapidly improving, and but few are now in the hospital.  Forty three have died since we have been in this camp, but the regiment now seems to be acclimated.

The weather is fine, feeling for the past two days very spring like.  As I write, the doors are wide open.  It is quite muddy, but a few days will cause it to dry up.

As I have written twice as much as I intended, and perhaps twice as much as you wish, I come to a “halt.”

DIFF.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, February 17, 1862, p. 2

The Constricting of the Anaconda

The Richmond, Va. Papers are becoming excessively frightened in view of the constricting of the coils of the great anaconda which has encircled them within its folds. The only consolation that the Enquirer can find is, that if you pen up even a coward he will fight; that the very means taken by the Government to suppress the rebels will cause them to fight more desperately. True, but very many of them have no faith in their cause and would avail themselves of the earliest opportunity presented – as we have a notable case in Kentucky – and lay down their arms. The Enquirer gives in detail examples of men thus penned up and fighting their way through in Scott’s army in Mexico, which with all its communications cut off, with the enemy behind and before and on each had, yet triumphed. The Enquirer must remember that it has no pusillanimous Mexican soldiers to fight now, but men, armed with the right, men who will fight as desperately as the foe against whom they contend. Scott with ten thousand men fought Santa Anna with thirty five thousand soldiers and a hundred pieces of heavy ordnance and took a city of one hundred and eighty thousand men, hence the Enquirer argues, that the South can successfully contend against the avalanche of soldiers that will come upon it from the north. The comparison is an extreme one and the reasoning absurd. The northern soldiers will find no Churubuscos, or Chapultepecs in Virginia; no Thermopylaes among its mountain vastnesses where a hundred men can put ten thousand to flight. Its Richmond may rather prove a city of Mexico and the rebel forces that environ it, be made to strike the treasonable rag they have so long flaunted in the eyes of freedom, to numerically inferior force.

The Enquirer may have “learned to despise its enemy,” as it asserts, but the men of the South are not all cast in the same mould. Gladly would many of them, aye the great mass of them, return to allegiance if they felt sure of being guaranteed in the possession of the rights they enjoyed before the demagogues of the South entailed upon their fair country this miserable rebellion – an instance of this has been given within a few days by the loyalty and manifestations of joy exhibited by the Southerners, as the Federal gunboats passed up the Tennessee river even into the State of Alabama. Willingly would they ground their arms and beat the sword into the pruning hook, if not urged on by the specious traitors who feel that for themselves there is not alternative but victory or the gallows. Men fight desperately, most true, when their lives, their houses, all their hearts hold most dear are at stake; but when contending against a Government whose protection they have so long enjoyed and which has guaranteed them the social and political privileges that no other people on the face of the globe have possessed, and when assured that by laying down their arms they shall still be fully protected in their rights, they have not the heart to fight with enthusiasm. The Enquirer may appeal to the people of the south by all the force of rhetoric that a bad cause can command, but it will not avail; the spirit of its soldiers is broken by delay and an inglorious and fruitless war, and all the oratory of its rebel statesmen and Generals cannot again rouse up the war feeling in their breasts. The doom of treason is sealed and the pour, misled soldiers of the South feel that they have been deceived.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, February 14, 1862, p. 2