Stanton informed me
this P.M. that Halleck had gone from Richmond to Fortress Monroe and he wished
certain persons, whom he named, should be sent in a naval vessel to Fort
Warren, certain others to Fort Delaware, others to Fort McHenry. He still urged
secrecy, but in less than an hour our regular dispatches by mail stated the
facts. Others also had them.
General Sherman is
here. I have not yet met him, but I understand he is a little irate towards
Stanton and very mad with Halleck. This is not surprising, and yet some allowance
is to be made for them. Sherman's motives cannot be questioned, although his
acts may be. Stanton was unduly harsh and severe, and his bulletin to General
Dix and specifications were Stantonian. Whether the President authorized, or
sanctioned, that publication I never knew, but I and most of the members of the
Cabinet were not consulted in regard to the publication, which was not in all
respects correct. General Grant, who as unequivocally disapproved of Sherman's
armistice as any member of the Administration, was nevertheless tender of
General Sherman, and did not give in to the severe remarks of Stanton at the
time.1
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1 At a later period President Johnson assured
me that Stanton's publication was wholly unauthorized by him, that he knew
nothing of it until he saw it in the papers. We were all imposed upon by
Stanton, who had a purpose. He and the Radicals were opposed to the mild policy
of President Lincoln, on which Sherman had acted, and which Stanton opposed and
was determined to defeat. — G. W.
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