Nashville, Feb. 3, 1864.
. . . General Grant
reached Louisville yesterday afternoon and despatched me he would not come on
here till Friday unless it was absolutely necessary. I replied to him that
important matters demanded his attention here, to which I have received no
answer, and infer he is on his way. The train is behind time, and will not
arrive before twelve o'clock to-night. Here is his proper place, and his
country and friends may rest assured he will never be absent by any counseling
of of mine, while I maintain my present official relations to him.
I received last
evening an answer from the Honorable E. B. Washburne to my
letter to him dated 20th ultimo, in which he says, after speaking of the
efforts he made to see me while in New York: “It would have given me great
pleasure to have made my congratulations to you and your wife personally. I
communicate them to you now and through you to Mrs. Rawlins. I would always be
willing to underwrite for a Connecticut girl at a very small rate of premium.”
He adds: “The bill creating a Lieutenant Generalcy is sure to become a law and
that General Grant will be the hero honored with the rank thus created.” If so,
I may if I desire it no doubt obtain a prominent position in the army, but as I
now view things I shall seek for no situation in that direction. To be at home
with wife and children is the highest ambition of my life.
. . . Everything is
quiet, no reports of alarm or threatened movements of the enemy from any part
of our long-extended lines to-day. Major General Schofield, late of the
Department of Missouri, has been assigned to command the Department of the
Ohio. He relieved General Foster, and I hope he may prove competent for his new
place. Knoxville is his headquarters and his position is the most difficult of
any in the country. He went forward to-day.
Adjutant General
Lorenzo Thomas, whom you met at Vicksburg, and one of his sons, also passed on
from here to-day for Knoxville. He did not congratulate me on my new relations.
I suppose he is past the age of thinking of these civilities. He is, however,
the first of many of my army acquaintances, who had had the pleasure of seeing
you, that overlooked this civility. The General was very cordial in his
greetings, however, and I have no doubt it was meeting so many here that caused
him to neglect the matter alluded to.
SOURCE: James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins,
p. 394-5
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