Fort Donelson, Tennessee,
February 21, 1862.
SINCE receiving your letter at Fort Henry events have
transpired so rapidly that I have scarcely had time to write a private letter.
That portion of your letter which required immediate attention was replied to
as soon as your letter was read. I mean that I telegraphed Colonel C. C.
Washburn,3 Milwaukee, Wis., asking him to accept a place on my
staff. As he has not yet arrived, I fear my dispatch was not received. Will you
be kind enough to say to him that such a dispatch was sent, and that I will be
most happy to publish the order the moment he arrives, assigning him the
position you ask.
On the 13th, 14th, and 15th our volunteers fought a battle
that would figure well with many of those fought in Europe, where large
standing armies are maintained. I feel very grateful to you for having placed
me in the position to have had the honor of commanding such an army and at such
a time. I only trust that I have not nor will not disappoint you. The effect
upon the community here is very marked since the battle. Defeat, disastrous
defeat, is admitted. Yesterday I went to Clarkesville4 with a small
escort, two of our gunboats having preceded me. Our forces now occupy that
place, and will take possession of a large amount of commissary stores,
ammunition, and some artillery. The road to Nashville is now clear, but whether
my destination will be there or farther west can't yet be told. I want to move
early, and no doubt will.
__________
3 Cadwallader Colden Washburn (1818-1882),
colonel Second Wisconsin Cavalry, October 10, 1861; brigadier general, July 16,
1862; and major general, November 29, 1862. After the Civil War he was elected
to Congress and in 1872, became Governor of Wisconsin. Later he was an
unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate. His brother, also a
Congressman, wrote the family name with a final "e," but in no
instance within the editor's knowledge did Grant ever add that letter when
writing to Mr. Washburne
4 Suit was brought after the war for about one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars by the owners of whiskey in Clarkesville,
destroyed as a matter of precaution by a chosen committee, to prevent its
falling into the hands of the victorious Northern army, said to be advancing on
the town, — its commander being reported as intoxicated, and utterly unable to
control his troops. The owners brought suit in 1865 against the members of the
committee, consisting of the wealthiest citizens of the town. At the first
trial the jury disagreed as to whether Grant was drunk or sober, the decision
in the case turning on that point; in the second the verdict was that the
commander was intoxicated, and on the third trial that he was perfectly sober,
so that the committee finally lost their case and were compelled to pay, but
not the full value of the whiskey, as the parties compromised the case,
receiving about twenty per cent. of its value. This statement was received in
August, 1897, by the writer, from a United States District Judge of Tennessee,
who was one of the counsel employed in the curious case.
SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 4-5 & 112-3
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