Wartrace, Tenn., October 28,1863.
When I wrote you last, I thought we were off immediately for
the front, but the following day brought a great many changes of orders, the
final ones being that General Slocum, with one division, should remain on the
railroad, and that the other division should concentrate at Bridgeport, to
march from there to Chattanooga.
Although we are very pleasantly situated here and are living
very comfortably, I should very much prefer to be with the main army at the
front. Rumor says that Buell is to be Grant's chief of staff. I hope this may
be so; I don't think that he has ever been justly appreciated. Old officers of
the regular army say that Buell is the abler man of the two. Of course, now
that Rosecrans is down, every cur has to have his snarl and bite at him. The Washington
Chronicle has indulged in one of its characteristic articles about him. In
some degree, I think he has brought it upon himself; he was before the public a
great deal in the newspapers while he was in command of the Army of the
Cumberland, and very often made public speeches and wrote public letters.
There is no use for a general to try and get popularity by
anything except his acts; newspaper talk does very well for a time, but it does
not last or produce any impression on sensible men. Every one knows, nowadays,
that he can get a puff by entertaining a correspondent well, and that the
latter will natter his vanity by praising his military ability. The men who
stand best to-day with the army have hardly ever had their names in print
except in public documents, like Sedgwick, Sykes, Hancock and their class.
SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written
During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 151-2
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