Dear Brother: . . . Belknap has acted
badly by me ever since he reached Washington. . .
General
Grant promised me often to arrange and divide our functions, but he never did,
but left the Secretary to do all those things of which he himself, as General,
had complained to Stanton. I don't think I ever used the expression often
imputed to me of saying that the Secretary of War is only a clerk to the
President. It is the opinion of many lawyers that the Secretary of War himself
has no right to issue a military order to officers and soldiers that his office
is civil etc., etc. The President is constitutional commander-in-chief, and
when the Secretary issues his order he ought to recite the fact; whereas orders
are issued by the Adjutant-General by order of the Secretary of War. This is
done daily, and I cannot command unless orders come through me, which they do
not, but go straight to the party concerned. This is the real question at issue
between us. Congress ought to clearly define the relation between the Secretary
of War and a General of the army. It is not the case now, but the Secretary of War
exercises all the functions of the Commander-General under a decision of the
Attorney-General. . . .
SOURCE:
Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence
Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 346
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