Diary of Edward Bates, December 31, 1861 – First Entry

Ever since last date, the weather has been mild and beautiful. . . .

I do wonder at the slowness of our military movements. Byrnside's expedition has not yet sailed.⁵⁷ He says he is ready, he says he is ready and yet he does not go — And the Naval men say that they are ready, and yet they do not go—

And just so with Butler's expedition⁵⁸ — It does not go. Meanwhile, all this charming weather is lost, and I fear that, at last, they will start just in time to catch the storms of winter.

I hear that a Reg[imen]t. of Caval[r]y has been sent to Sherman, in S. Carolina.⁵⁹

[Marginal Note.] Jan.y. 4 [1862]. I hear today, that Gen Sherman has taken a point on the Charleston and Savanna[h] R. R. near to Charleston[.]

We are expecting daily important news from the West. A great battle is imminent, near Bowling Green K.y. between the insurgents under A. S. Johns[t]on⁶⁰ and Buckner⁶¹ and our army under Buell.⁶² If Halleck⁶³ can only cooperate, and simultaneously, move upon Columbus, we may [stand] to win advantages decisive of the war. But I fear that their arrangements are not as perfect as they ought to be.

There is an evident lack of system and concentrated intelligence — Of course, I did not expect exact system and method in so large an army raised so suddenly, but surely, many of the deficiencies ought before now, to have been corrected.

For months past (and lately more pressingly) I have urged upon the President to have some military organization about his own person — appoint suitable aid[e]s — 2 — 3 — or 4 — to write and carry his orders, to collect information, to keep the needful papers and records always at hand, and to do his bidding generally, in all Military and Naval affairs. I insisted that, being “Commander in chief” by law, he must command — especially in such a war as this. The Nation

requires it, and History will hold him responsible.

In this connexion, it is lementable [sic] that Gen McClellan — the General in chief, so called — is, and for some time has been incapacitated by a severe spell of illness (and Genl. Marcy,⁶⁴ his chief of Staff — and father in law, is sick also[)]. It now appears that the Genl. in chief has been very reticent — kept his plans absolutely to himself, so that the strange and dangerous fact exists, that the Sec of War and the Prest. are ignorant of the condition of the army and its intended operations!

I see no reason for having a Genl. in chief at all. It was well enough to call the veteran Lieut. Genl. Scott so, when we had no enemies in the [sic] in the field, and no army but a little nucleus

of 15.000 men. But now that we have several mighty armies and active operations spreading over half a continent, there seems to me no good sense in confiding to one general the command of the whole; and especially, as we have no general who has any experience in the handling of large armies — not one of them ever commanded 10.000 under fire, or has any personal knowledge of the complicated movements of a great army.

If I were President, I would command in chief — not in detail, certainly — and I would know what army I had, and what the high generals (my Lieutenants) were doing with that army.⁶⁵

As to the Slidell and Mason affair, see my notes, elsewhere, at large.⁶⁶

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⁵⁷ See supra, Nov. 29, 1861.

⁵⁸ See loc. cit.

⁵⁹ See supra, Nov. 13, 1861.

⁶⁰ Albert S. Johnston, West Point graduate of 1826 who had served in the U. S. Army, 1826-1834, in the Texas Army, 1836-1837, in the Mexican War, and again in the U. S. Army from 1849 until he resigned when Texas seceded. He served with distinction in high command in the Confederate Army until he was killed in battle on April 6, 1862. At this time he was commanding in Kentucky.

⁶¹ Simon B. Buckner of Kentucky, West Point graduate of 1844, had served in the Army in Mexico and on the frontier, but had resigned in 1855. He had organized an effective Kentucky militia in 1860-1S61 and commanded Kentucky's troops during the period of her neutrality. He tried to keep both Confederate and Union forces out of Kentucky, but when this failed he threw in his lot with the Confederates, became a brigadier-general, and at this time was fighting under Johnston.

⁶² Don Carlos Buell of Indiana: West Point graduate of 1841 who had served in Mexico; officer in the Army, 1841-1861; brigadier-general of volunteers in 1861. He had been sent by McClellan to command the Army of the Ohio and to organize the Union forces in Kentucky. He marched on Bowling Green on February 6, 1862, and drove the Confederates temporarily back into Tennessee.

⁶³ Supra, Nov. 13, 1861, note 37.

⁶⁴ Randolph B. Marcy, West Point graduate of 1832 who had served In Mexico, on the frontier, and in Florida. He was McClellan's chief-of-staff until McClellan was displaced and then he was sent to the West on inspection duty.

⁶⁵ For an interesting study of this problem of the assumption of supreme military command by Lincoln see Sir Frederick Maurice's Robert E. Lee, the Soldier, 73-75, 223-224, and his Statesmen and Soldiers of the Civil War, 59-117.

⁶⁶ Supra, Nov. 16, Nov. 27, Dec. 25, 1861.

SOURCE: Howard K. Beale, Editor, The Diary of Edward Bates, published in The Annual Report Of The American Historical Association For The Year 1930 Volume 4, p. 217-9