On my return from the North, I was pleased to find your very
welcome and interesting letter of the 30th ult., and I hasten to assure you,
your friendship for the General, your devotion to our common country and heroic
manifestation of interest in the welfare and success of our army here, through
evil as well as good report, in the dark of the Nation's despondency as well as
in the light of its victories are truly and honestly appreciated, and to you,
more than to any one in congress, the great heart of this army warms with
gratitude as the true representative and bold and uncompromising defender. ...
So give yourself no concern in the matter of the Cavalry regiment you speak of,
for the general fully understands your motives, and knows them to be prompted
solely by a desire for the public service and in friendship to him.
. . . I see by the papers the bill creating a
lieutenant-generalcy is still undisposed of. As far as Gen. Grant may be
regarded in connection with it, I only say that if the conferring of the
distinguished honor on him would be the taking him out of the field or with a
view to the superseding of Gen. Halleck, he would not desire it, for he feels
that if he can be of service to the government in any place it is in command of
the army in the field, and there is where he would remain if made a
lieutenant-general; besides he has great confidence in and friendship for the
general-in-chief and would, without regard to rank, be willing at all times to
receive orders through him.
The advocacy of the New York Herald and other papers
of the general for the presidency, gives him little concern; he is unambitious
for the honor and will voluntarily put himself in no position nor permit
himself to be placed in one he can prevent that will in the slightest manner
embarrass the friends of the government in their present grand effort to
enforce its rightful authority and restore the Union of the states. Of his
views in this matter I suppose he has fully acquainted you.
The presence of Longstreet in East Tennessee is much to be
regretted. Had Gen. Grant's orders been energetically, and with a broader
judgment, executed by Gen. Burnside, Longstreet would have been forced to
continue his retreat from Knoxville to beyond the Tennessee line. The General's
official report will show the facts and orders and will be satisfactory, I have
no doubt, to the government. Our forces in the Holston Valley, east of
Knoxville, have been compelled by Longstreet to fall back toward Knoxville.
Whether he intends to again undertake the capture of that place, or simply to
extend his forage ground, is not as yet known. In either design, he must be
foiled. Gen. Grant, Gen. W. F. Smith, and myself go forward to-morrow to
Chattanooga that the General may be enabled to give his personal attention to
affairs in the direction of Knoxville.
SOURCE: James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins,
p. 433-4
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