*I was in the Senate all day At night I went up to the Presidents
and had a talk with him about Genl McClelland whose loyalty is beginning to be
questioned in some quarters I asked him if he still had confidence in
McClellands fidelity. He assured me he had, and that he had never had any
reason to doubt it. That he had now gone to Fortress Monroe with his Command, with
orders to move on Richmond without delay, and that only on yesterday when
McClelland came to take leave of him preparatory to marching, he shed tears
when speaking of the cruel imputations upon his loyalty, and defending himself
against them The President added that Genl Scott, and all the leading military men
around him, had always assured him that McClelland possessed a very high order
of military talent, and that he did not think they could all be mistaken — yet
he was not fully satisfied with his conduct of the war — that he was not
sufficiently energetic and aggressive in his measures — that he had studied McClelland
and taken his measure as well as he could — that he thought he had the capacity
to make arrangements properly for a great conflict, but as the hour for action
approached he became nervous and oppressed with the responsibility and
hesitated to meet the crisis, but that he had given him peremptory orders to move
now, and he must do it. *Whilst we were
in conversation Secretary Stanton came in.
Supposing he had private business I proposed to leave, but both
he and the President insisted that I should remain, and I did so. Stanton then
commenced a conversation about McClelland, saying that there was a very general
distrust of his loyalty growing up in the Country. He then took from his pocket
a letter, which he said he had just received from one of the first men of the
Nation, who was known to both the President and myself, but whose name he would
not mention, and read from it a passage stating that McClelland some time in
1860 had been initiated as a Knight of
the Golden Circle by Jeff Davis — that Davis still had great power and
influence over him, and that he would do nothing against the rebels which would
be inconsistent with his obligations as a Knight of the golden Circle, and that
disaster would come upon us as long as he was continued in the Command. Stanton
added that he did not believe these* imputations of disloyalty, but they were
believed extensively and did us injury1 When we left the President
Stanton took me in his carriage and brought me home. As we rode down the Avenue
he expressed the opinion that McClelland ought to have been removed long ago,
and a fear that he was not in earnest, and said that he did not think he could
emancipate himself from the influence of Jeff Davis, and feared he was not
willing to do any thing calculated greatly to damage the cause of secession,
*and that if I would propose to the President to appoint Col N B Buford of
Illinois, a Majr Genl. and give him the Command of the army here he would
second my application.
He said that when McDowell was appointed he was greatly dissatisfied
— thought him unfit for the place, and when he lost the battle of Bull Run he
denounced him fiercely; but since he became Secy of War, and had had much
official communication with McDowell, and heard his explanations of the battle
of Bull Run he was satisfied he had done him injustice, and with shame
for having said it, he took back all he had said That he was
now satisfied that he was an able officer, more able than any on the Potomac,
and an earnest, gallant man intent upon doing his duty &c.
__________
1 From various sources suggestions may be derived
connecting McClellan with the treasonable organization known as the
"Knights of the Golden Circle." In the diary of Edward Bates, under
date of October 28, 1864, there is inserted a pamphlet entitled "General
McClellan's Record: His Sympathy with the South — Read for Yourselves."
This pamphlet consists of twelve pages and is made up of communications from
various parties denouncing McClellan as a traitor and comparing him with
Benedict Arnold. Says a correspondent of the Cincinnati Times, October 20,
1864: "It is rumored that McClellan is known to be a member of the . . .
Knights of the Golden Circle and that after due deliberation by that order they
decided that Mac should fight for the South on free soil, that Mac said he
never intended to order an engagement . . . that Mac received Rebel letters
during the engagement at Antietam and was in Lee's lines," etc. On the
same date Bates pastes in his diary a newspaper clipping which is evidently
taken from the Cincinnati Times. It is a communication to "Mr.
Editor," signed by Edgar Conkling and dated Cincinnati, October 24, 1864.
The writer mentions the "conclusive testimony . . . of General McClellan's
treason," and demands a full publication of the facts in order to defeat
the "election of the traitor to the Presidency." Bates writes this
comment in the margin: "These fierce denunciations do no good, but great
harm. McClellan has faults enough, both negative and affirmative, and his party
is in the same condition. These charges of treachery and treason, not well
established by proof, do but take off the edge from other accusations which
cannot be defended, thus discrediting the best-founded objections against him, and
exciting a popular sympathy for him as a persecuted man." It should be
added that membership in the Knights of the Golden Circle, if such membership
antedated the Civil War, would not necessarily imply treason. A convention of
the "Knights," held at Raleigh, N. C, in May, 1860, issued an Address
to Citizens of the Southern States, which shows that the order originated at
Lexington, Ky., July 4, 1854, and that its early purpose was to combat emigrant
aid societies and similar abolition activities, to anticipate the North in the
settlement of Mexico, and to acquire that country for the purpose of increasing
the area of the South which otherwise could no longer hope to obtain beneficial
laws through Congress. For the privilege of examining the diary of Edward Bates
in manuscript the editors are indebted to the courtesy of Miss Helen Nicolay, of
Washington, D. C. The Address to Citizens of the Southern States, issued by
order of a convention of the Knights of the Golden Circle, Raleigh, N. C, May
7-11, 1860, is to be found among the broadsides in the Manuscripts Division of
the Library of Congress, Washington.
SOURCE: Theodore Calvin Pease, editor, The Diary of
Orville Hickman Browning: Volume 1, 1850-1864, p. 537-9
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