The Rebels are upon
us. Having visited upper Maryland, they are turning their attention hitherward.
General Wallace has been defeated, and it was yesterday current that General
Tyler and Colonel Seward were prisoners, the latter wounded. But it seems only the
last is true of the latter.
There is now a call
from the War Department for gunboats at Havre de Grace, Gunpowder and Bush
Rivers. Have ordered off three, but was afraid they would not arrive in season,
for the call was not made and its necessity was scouted at Headquarters until
the Rebels had cut the York and Baltimore Road. We have word by telegram this P.M.
that the bridge over Gunpowder has been burned but a gunboat was on hand. Have
no particulars.
Tom G. Welles was
this day appointed to the staff of General McCook. I regret his passion for the
service and his recklessness and youth.
The Rebel pickets appear
in strength in front of Forts Stevens and DeRussy on the borders and within the
District lines. Went to Stanton, but got from him nothing at all. He exhibits
none of the alarm and fright I have seen in him on former occasions. It is
evident he considers the force not large, or such that cannot be controlled,
and yet he cannot tell their number nor where they are.
I rode out this
evening to Fort Stevens, latterly called Fort Massachusetts. Found General
Wright and General McCook with what I am assured is an ample force for its
defense. Passed and met as we returned three or four thousand, perhaps more,
volunteers under General Meigs, going to the front. Could see the line of
pickets of both armies in the valley, extending a mile or more. There was
continual firing, without many casualties so far as I could observe, or hear.
Two houses in the vicinity were in flames, set on fire by our own people,
because they obstructed the range of our guns and gave shelter to Rebel
sharpshooters. Other houses and buildings had also been destroyed. A pretty
grove nearly opposite the fort was being cut down. War would not spare the
tree, if the woodman had.
I inquired where the
Rebel force was, and the officers said over the hills, pointing in the
direction of Silver Spring. Are they near Gunpowder or Baltimore? Where are
they? Oh! within a short distance, a mile or two only. I asked why their
whereabouts was not ascertained, and their strength known. The reply was that
we had no fresh cavalry.
The truth is the
forts around Washington have been vacated and the troops sent to General Grant,
who was promised reinforcements to take Richmond. But he has been in its
vicinity more than a month, resting, apparently, after his bloody march, but
has effected nothing since his arrival on the James, nor displayed any strategy,
while Lee has sent a force threatening the National Capital, and we are without
force for its defense. Citizens are volunteering, and the employees in the navy
yard are required to man the fortifications left destitute. Stanton and
Halleck, who scouted Fenton's application and bluffed my inquiries, are now the
most alarmed men in Washington.
I am sorry to see so
little reliable intelligence. It strikes me that the whole demonstration is
weak in numbers but strong in conception that the Rebels have but a small
force. I am satisfied no attack is now to be apprehended on the city; the
Rebels have lost a remarkable opportunity. But on our part there is neglect,
ignorance, folly, imbecility, in the last degree. The Rebels are making a show
of fight while they are stealing horses, cattle, etc., through Maryland. They
might easily have captured Washington. Stanton, Halleck, and Grant are asleep
or dumb.
The waste of war is
terrible; the waste from imbecility and mismanagement is more terrible and more
trying than from the ravages of the soldiers. It is impossible for the country
to bear up under these monstrous errors and wrongs.
SOURCE: Gideon
Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and
Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 71-3
