Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: September 21, 1863

P. M. — “Rosecrans [at Chickamauga] has been badly beaten”! Such is the shock the dispatch gives us this evening. After months of success one of our great armies is defeated. A concentration of Rebel armies has overwhelmed our noble Army of the Cumberland. How these blows strike my heart! I had just read a joyous dispatch from “L. W. H.”, “Billy Rogers has a baby.” But nerve ourselves, we must. We shall recover from the blow.

I have thought over it and feel easier. I suffer from these blows more than I did from the loss of my sweet little boy. But I suffer less now than I did from Bull Run, or even Fredericksburg. Can Rosecrans hold Chattanooga? Has he lost his army? Will he be driven across the Tennessee? He ought to have stopped his campaign with the capture of Chattanooga, fortified the place, and awaited events. Easy to say so now, but impossible before, I suppose. Jim McKell, Lieutenant Nelson, Colonel Mitchell (Laura's husband), all with Resecrans. Anxious hearts at home.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 436

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: October 2, 1863

Our 5000 prisoners taken at the battle of Chickamauga have arrived in this city, and it is ascertained that more are on the way hither. Gen. Bragg said he had 5000 besides the wounded, and as none of the wounded have arrived, more must have been taken since his dispatch. Every effort is being made on our part to capture the army of Rosecrans — and everything possible is done by the enemy to extricate him, and to reinforce him to such an extent that he may resume offensive operations. Without this be done, the campaign must close disastrously in the West, and then the peace party of the North will have a new inspiration of vitality.

It is now said that Gen. Lee, despairing of being attacked in his chosen position, has resolved to attack Meade, or at least to advance somewhere. It is possible (if Meade has really sent two corps of his army to the West) that he will cross the Potomac again — at least on a foraging expedition. If he meets with only conscripts and militia he may penetrate as far as Harrisburg, and then let Europe perpend! The Union will be as difficult of reconstruction, as would have been the celebrated Campo Formio vase shivered by Napoleon. It is much easier to destroy than to construct. The emancipation and confiscation measures rendered reconstruction impracticable — unless, indeed, at a future day, the Abolitionists of the United States should be annihilated and Abolitionism abolished.

To-day I got an excellent pair of winter shoes from a quartermaster here for $13 — the retail price for as good an article, in the stores, is $75; fine boots have risen to $200!

The enemy's batteries on Morris Island are firing away again at Sumter's ruins, and at Moultrie — but they have not yet opened on the city.

The newspapers continue to give accounts of the Chickamauga battle.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 59-60

Captain Charles Wright Wills: March 15, 1864

Scottsboro, Ala., March 15, 1864.

I am again on court martial duty, with a prospect of a long siege; but we have an experienced President and a Judge Advocate who promises to be a fast worker; so we may get through quicker than we anticipated. The President, Colonel Heath, 100th Indiana, is a Bob Ingersoll for the world, that is, full of anecdote and fond of malt. 'Tis probably fortunate that at this time none of the latter is to be had in our division. I dislike detached service in any shape, but prefer court martial duty to almost any other. Would much rather be with my company, and if it were not considered so nix military would ask to be relieved from this. You can't imagine how proud I am becoming of my company. I have never had an iota of trouble with them. We certainly work as smoothly as any company could. We are all in high feather over the prospect of going to Richmond. Everybody wants to start immediately. If the 15th and 17th corps reach the Rapidan, we doubt your hearing anything more about recrossing the Rapidan and taking positions inside the Washington fortifications. Our corps don't get along well with these Cumberland and Potomac soldiers. To hear our men talk to them when passing them or their camps marching, you'd think the feeling between us and the Rebels could be no more bitter. We are well off by ourselves, but still we don't feel at home. We're too far from our old comrades, 13th, 16th and 17th Corps. This feeling that grows up between regiments, brigades, divisions and corps is very strong and as strange. The 4th and 14th Corps Cumberland chaps our men can endure, although much in the spirit a dog chewing a bone, allows another to come within ten feet. The 11th and 12th Corps Potomac men, and ours never meet without some very hard talk. I must do the Yankees the justice to say that our men, I believe, always commence it, and are the most ungentlemanly by great odds. I do honestly think our corps in one respect composed of the meanest set of men, that was ever thrown together. That is, while on the march they make it a point to abuse every man or thing they see. They always feel “bully,” will certainly march further with less straggling, and make more noise whooping than any other corps in service, but if a strange soldier or citizen comes in sight, pity him, and if he's foolish enough to ask a question, as “what regiment,” or “where are you bound for?” he'll wish himself a mile under ground before he hears all the answers, and ten to one not a whit of the information he asked for will be in any of them. We have no pay yet, and no prospects now, but doing good business borrowing.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 217-8

Captain Charles Wright Wills: November 11, 1863

Winchester, Tenn., November 11, 1863.

We arrived here at 9 this a. m., our brigade making the distance from Salem, 11 miles, in three hours. That, we call fast walking. I wrote you last from Florence., Ala., on the 1st inst. From there we marched to Rodgersville and thence up the right bank of Elk river to Fayetteville, where we crossed there onto this place. Rumor says that we draw 20 days' rations here. It is three-fourths official, too. It is certain that we leave here in the morning, but nobody knows where for. We could certainly march to Chattanooga in six days, but could go much quicker by the railroad from Decherd station, which is only two miles from here. The wagon road from here to Chattanooga is awful. But one brigade has ever marched it. The mountains commence right here and continue to, the Lord knows where. Our brigade is to be mounted immediately. In the last 60 miles marching we have mounted 800 or nearly half. The citizens along the road very kindly furnished all of stock and equipments. My company was mounted four days ago. Company C is to be mounted next. As fast as the men are mounted they are put out as foragers for more horses, etc. The first day my company was mounted we got 30 horses, and would have done better, but confound me if I could take horses from crying women, although I am satisfied that half of their howling is sham, got up for the occasion. My first day's foraging almost used me up. We had fed our horses and I went to unhitch a mule from the fence to give him in charge of one of the men, and the brute scared and jerked the rail from the fence and started like lightning. The end of the rail struck me on the calves of my legs and elevated my boots five feet. The attraction of gravitation brought me down to the globe and I landed with a great deal of vim on a rock about the size of our parlor floor, and as smooth as a peach stone. The only severe injury either the rock or myself sustained was a very badly sprained wrist. I got that. My left hip and left shoulder were hurt some, but the wrist has pained me so confoundedly that I don't count them. It has pained me so for the last two days and is so tender that I could stand neither the jolting of a horse or wagon. I tried to ride my horse this morning; we were in column and had to strike a trot and that beat me. Think I will be all right for the saddle in a few days, though will have a tender wrist for a good while. Well, our division came through in the advance and our brigade has had the lead most of the time. We have had plenty of forage, but light issues of regular rations probably average. Half Morgan L. Smith's and John E. Smith's divisions are close up to us, will be here to-morrow. Osterhaus and Dodge are behind them. We have five divisions all told, probably 25,000 or 30,000 men. We met here the first troops belonging to the Army of the Cumberland.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 200-2

Edwin M. Stanton to Major-General William S. Rosecrans, July 7, 1863

WAR DEPARTMENT,         

Washington, July 7, 1863.

Major-General ROSECRANS,

Tullahoma, Tenn.:

We have just received official information that Vicksburg surrendered to General Grant on the 4th of July. Lee's army overthrown; Grant victorious. You and your noble army now have the chance to give the finishing blow to the rebellion. Will you neglect the chance?

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 23, Part 2 (Serial No. 35), p. 518

Major-General Henry W. Halleck to Major-General William S. Rosecrans, July 24, 1863

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.]

HDQRS. OF THE ARMY,   

Washington, D.C., July 24, 1863.

Major-General ROSECRANS, Nashville:

GENERAL: The tone of some of your replies to my dispatches lately would indicate that you thought I was unnecessarily urging you forward. On the contrary, I have deemed it absolutely necessary, not only for the country but also for your own reputation, that your army should remain no longer inactive. The patience of the authorities here has been completely exhausted, and if I had not repeatedly promised to urge you forward, and begged for delay, you would have been removed from the command. It has been said that you are as inactive as was General Buell, and the pressure for your removal has been almost as strong as it has been in his case. I am well aware that people at a distance do not appreciate the obstacles and difficulties which they would see if nearer by; but, whether well founded or without any foundation at all, the dissatisfaction really exists, and I deem it my duty, as a friend, to represent it to you truly and fairly; and I think I ought to do so, if for no other reason, because it was at my earnest solicitations that you were given the command.

Yours, truly,

H. W. HALLECK,

General-in Chief.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 23, Part 2 (Serial No. 35), p. 552

Edwin M. Stanton to Charles A. Dana, September 30, 1863 – 6:30 p.m.

WAR DEPARTMENT,          

September 30, 1863 — 6.30 p.m.

Maj. C. A. DANA,

Nashville :

Your action retaining Surgeon Clendenin is approved. Report whether medical assistance and supplies are adequate. On Monday the President's order was sent to Rosecrans removing Crittenden and McCook, ordering them to Indianapolis for a court of inquiry, consolidating their corps, and appointing General Gordon Granger commander of the consolidated corps. If Hooker's command get safely through, all that the Army of the Cumberland can need will be a competent commander. The merit of General Thomas and the debt of gratitude the nation owes to his valor and skill are fully appreciated here, and I wish you to tell him so. It was not my fault that he was not in chief command months ago.

EDWIN M. STANTON.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 30, Part 3 (Serial No. 52), p. 946

Diary of John Hay: November 2, 1863

The President says Butler has been tendered Foster’s department, while Foster goes to relieve Burnside, who resigns. It is not yet known whether Butler will accept.

I asked about Rosecrans. The President says he sees no immediate prospect of assigning him to command; — that he had thought, when the trouble and row of this election in Missouri is over, and the matter will not be misconstrued, of sending Rosecrans to Missouri and Schofield into the field. He says that it was because of Grant’s  opposition that Rosecrans is not in the Army of the Cumberland. When it was decided to place Grant in command of the whole Military Division, two sets of orders were made out, one contemplating Rosecrans’s retention of the command of his own army, and the other his relief. Grant was to determine the question for himself. He said at once that he preferred Rosecrans should be relieved, — that he (Rosecrans) never would obey orders. This consideration of course involves a doubt as to whether Rosecrans should be placed in command of a district from which Grant must, to a certain extent, derive supplies and reinforcements on occasion.

To-night Schenck sent for copies of the correspondence between the President and Bradford. The Tycoon came into my room with the despatch in his hands, clad in an overcoat, pure and simple, reaching to his knees, and sleepily fumbled for the papers in his desk till he found them, and travelled back to bed. . . .

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 117-8; For the whole diary entry see Tyler Dennett, Editor, Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and letters of John Hay, p. 114-5.

Diary of John Hay: Sunday, October 19, 1863

The President told me this morning that Rosecrans was to be removed from command of the Army at Chattanooga. Thomas is to take his original army and Grant to command the whole force including Hooker’s and Burnside’s reinforcements. He says Rosecrans has seemed to lose spirit and nerve since the battle of Chickamauga.

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 110; For the whole diary entry see Tyler Dennett, Editor, Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and letters of John Hay, p. 102.

Major Charles Fessenden Morse: October 28, 1863

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

Major Charles Fessenden Morse: October 15, 1863

Wartrace, Tenn., October 15, 1863.

You see where I am at once, but before telling you how it came about I will go back a little. My last letter was from Nashville, dated the 8th. The next day, Friday, the railroad was reopened. I took a train about two, P. M., and started to find my regiment. At Murfreesboro, where we arrived about five, I came across General Williams and staff, who told me that the Second was at Christiana, about ten miles further on. It was after dark before we got there, but the regiment was near at hand, and I soon found myself in camp again, much to the surprise of the Colonel and other officers, who welcomed me with open arms. That night, I returned to first principles, hard bread and coffee out of a tin cup, sleeping under a shelter tent with no covering but my rubber cloak. We were roused up before daylight in the morning, to start on a long march towards Tullahoma. I started on foot, but one of General Ruger's aides soon after furnished me with an ancient Government animal which had been turned away as unfit for service and was caparisoned with a saddle and bridle of the country, in a very lamentable state of decay; however, this was better than walking, so I mounted him, not without serious misgivings that I should suddenly be lowered to the ground by reason of his knees giving way under him. This did occur once when I urged him to a trot, but I stuck manfully to my seat and made him rise with me.

Colonel Cogswell's charger was also of the Rosinante pattern, and being white showed his “points” to a still greater advantage. Thus mounted, you can imagine we did not make a very imposing appearance. We marched till eight P. M., accomplishing about twenty-four miles, and camped in a corn field. We were off again before daylight the next morning, and marched fifteen miles to within four miles of Deckard, camping on the banks of the Elk Run, over which there is an important railroad bridge. For the present, this bridge is to be guarded by our regiment, the Third Wisconsin, One Hundred and Seventh New York, First Tennessee Black Regiment, a battery and a few other detachments. Our camp was right alongside of the “darks.” Their Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel came over to see us and proved to be very pleasant gentlemen; they were profuse in their offers of hospitality. This is one very noticeable characteristic of western officers; no matter how rough they are, or how much they blow for their army, etc., they are perfectly liberal in their ideas and are as hospitable as men can be, offering us horses, rations or anything else we want. They brag a great deal of the fighting and marching of the Army of the Cumberland, and pretend to think that the Army of the Potomac has done very little of either, but the western regiments in our corps give these gentlemen very emphatic information as to our fights and losses, and they seldom have as good stories to tell in return. They acknowledge to have been very severely handled both at Stone River and Chickamauga, although at the former place, the enemy retreated and we claimed a victory.

To go back to the black regiment. The night of our arrival, we all went over to see dress parade. We were told beforehand by Colonel Thompson (formerly of General Rosecrans' staff) that his men had not been in camp quite a month and had not yet been drilled on account of the heavy amount of picket duty, so we went prepared to excuse a great deal. I was very agreeably surprised by the whole appearance of the regiment; the men had a soldierly bearing, marched well, and stood in line better than nine-tenths of the white regiments I have seen. I didn't have an opportunity, myself, but the Colonel and Major both visited their picket line, and said that they never saw sentinels do their duty better. These men are nearly all of the blackest description, and very ignorant.

All our privates went over to see their parade. I would not want any severer critics. During the whole ceremony I saw no sneering or attempt to laugh, and after it was all over and the companies were marching off, our men applauded by a very hearty clapping. I looked upon this as a very strong indication of what the general feeling would be among our troops.

Monday morning, I received a telegram ordering me to report at corps headquarters at Wartrace. I was very much surprised at receiving it, as General Slocum had given me no intimation of it at Nashville. I felt sorry to leave the regiment so soon again; but, of course, there were some reasons that made me glad to get to headquarters. I received that night the written order appointing me Provost Marshal and acting Assistant Adjutant General of the Twelfth Corps.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 147-50

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Tuesday, November 15, 1864

Started early this morning for the Southern coast, somewhere, and we don't care, so long as Sherman is leading us. The Army of the Tennessee forms the right, while the Army of the Cumberland is moving off in the direction of Milledgeville, Georgia. There are about sixty thousand men of all arms, and they are in fine spirits and well clothed for the campaign. The roads are good and the weather fine for marching. We went into bivouac for the night about twelve miles from Atlanta. The country is very thinly settled and there is nothing to forage. All is quiet at the front — none of the rebels in sight.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 229

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Tuesday, October 25, 1864

Still lying in camp. The supply train of the Fifteenth Army Corps returned with rations late this evening, but the supply train of the Seventeenth Corps has not yet come in. It is reported that the army of the Tennessee is going on a march of four hundred miles. The route is supposed to be down through the States of Alabama and Mississippi and then up through to Memphis, Tennessee.¹ We are to take rations for thirty days and clothing for sixty days. The armies of the Ohio and of the Cumberland, it is said, are to garrison Atlanta² and also to hold the railroad between Atlanta and Nashville. The Twenty-third Army Corps moved out today to Cedar Bluffs.

_______________

¹ This was the first hint at “marching through Georgia,” but the camp rumor had it Alabama and Mississippi. — Ed.

² We learned later that it was Chattanooga instead of Atlanta, and that the two armies were to be united under the command of General Thomas. — A. G. D.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 224

Army of the Cumberland: June 24-26, 1863

3A 23

ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND

June 24-26, 1863

Moving south about 3 mi. E., the XX Federal Corps (McCook) was stopped at Liberty Gap, 6 mi. S. E., by the 5th & 15th Arkansas Inf., of Liddell’s Brigade, later reinforced by Cleburne’s Division.  With its 1st (Jeff C. Davis) & 2nd (R. W. Johnson) Divisions heavily engaged, the XXth Corps sideslipped east to Hoover’s Gap, marching thence to Manchester.

Tennessee Historical Commission

LOCATION: Across the road from Christiana Middle School, 4675 Shelbyville Pike (US Route 231), Christiana, Tennessee.

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, July 29, 1864

Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, July 29, 1864.

Your letters of the 24th and 27th arrived this evening. They are written in very bad spirits, and I am tempted to scold you for indulging in such. I want you to recover your original elasticity of spirits which characterized you in the early days of our married life, when you were always sure something was going to turn up. You must now try to look on the bright side and hope for the best. I think we have a great deal to be thankful for, and things might be much worse.

I had a visit yesterday from our old friend the Rev. Mr. Neill. He was very complimentary to me, and promised to call and see you on his return to Philadelphia. He was here as agent of the Christian Commission.

Yesterday I went to see General Grant at City Point. He said he wanted an officer to go to Washington to take command of the Department of West Virginia, Susquehanna, Baltimore and Washington. That not wishing to take any one from the field, he had suggested Franklin, but they had declined to have Franklin. He then suggested my name, to which he had received no reply, but a message from the President asking him to meet him at Fortress Monroe. I made no reply to Grant, except to say I was ready to obey any order that might be given me. So far as having an independent command, which the Army of the Potomac is not, I would like this change very well; but in other respects, to have to manage Couch, Hunter, Wallace and Augur, and to be managed by the President, Secretary and Halleck, will be a pretty trying position that no man in his senses could desire. I am quite indifferent how it turns out. I think the President will urge the appointment of Halleck; but Grant will not agree to this if he can help it.

Grant told me Sherman has assigned Howard to McPherson's command.1 This had disgusted Joe Hooker, who had asked to be and had been relieved. To-morrow we make an attack on Petersburg. I am not sanguine of success, but hope for the best.

_______________

¹ Army of the Cumberland

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 216-7

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, December 11, 1863

Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, December 11, 1863.

I have not heard a word from Washington, but from what I see in the papers, and what I hear from officers returning from Washington, I take it my supersedure is decided upon, and the only question is who is to succeed me. I understand the President and Secretary Chase are very anxious to bring Hooker back; but Halleck and Stanton will undoubtedly oppose this. A compromise may perhaps be made by bringing Thomas¹ here, and giving Hooker Thomas's army.

I have very kind letters from Gibbon and Hancock, both hoping I will not be relieved, and each saying they had not lost a particle of confidence in me. Many officers in the army have expressed the same feeling, and I really believe the voice of the army will sustain me. This, though, goes for nothing in Washington. I will not go to Washington to be snubbed by these people; they may relieve me, but I will preserve my dignity.

_______________

¹ Major-General George H. Thomas, commanding the Army of the Cumberland.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 160-1

Brigadier-General James A. Garfield to Corydon E. Fuller, May 4, 1863

Headquarters

Army Of The Cumberland,

Murfreesboro, May 4, 1863.

My Dear Corydon: — Yours of April 1 was received by the hand of Lieut. Beeber, and I assure you it was read with great pleasure. When I was in Washington last winter, I saw Mr. Colfax, who spoke very kindly and highly of you. I have now fully recovered my health, and for the last three months have been hardy and robust. My duties are very full of work here, and I have never been more pressingly crowded with labors than now. I have not retired, on an average, before two o'clock for the last two months and a half. Gen. Rosecrans shares all his counsels with me, and places a large share of the responsibility of the management of this army upon me, even more than I sometimes wish he did.

This army is now in admirable condition. The poor and weak material has been worked out, and what we now have is hard brawn and solid muscle. It is in an admirable state of discipline, and when its engineries are fully set in motion it will make itself felt.

From all the present indications, it can not be long before we meet the rebel army now in our front, and try its strength again. When the day comes, it bids fair to be the bloodiest fighting of the war.

One thing is settled in my mind: direct blows at the rebel army — bloody fighting — is all that can end the rebellion. In European wars, if you capture the chief city of a nation, you have substantially captured the nation. The army that holds London, Paris, Vienna, or Berlin, holds England, France, Austria, or Prussia. Not so in this war. The rebels have no city, the capture of which will overthrow their power. If we take Richmond, the rebel government can be put on wheels and trundled away into the interior, with all its archives, in two days. Hence our real objective point is not any place or district, but the rebel army wherever we find it. We must crush and pulverize them, and then all places and territories fall into our hands as a consequence.

These views lead me to hope and believe that before many days we shall join in a death-grapple with Bragg and Johnston. God grant that we may be successful. The armies are nearly equal in numbers, and both are full of valiant soldiers, well drilled and disciplined.

I am glad to hear of your success in the Chronicle, and especially in the triumph in your region over the copperheads.

The little circumstance you related to me of the soldier in the 51st Indiana, touches my heart. I wish you would write a letter for me to Joseph Lay, and express my sympathy with him for the loss of his brave son, who was many times with me under the fire of the enemy. I want to know of the health of his family, and especially of that little one to whom the affection of the father gave my name.

John E. McGowan is here, visiting me. He is a Captain in the 111th Ohio. He wishes to be kindly remembered. Give my love to Mary, and let me hear from you both. With the love of other days, I am, as ever,

Your brother,

James.

SOURCE: Corydon Eustathius Fuller, Reminiscences of James A. Garfield: With Notes Preliminary and Collateral, p. 336-7

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, October 24, 1863

IUKA, Miss., October 24, 1863.

. . . I have had a pretty bad cold for the past two days and am delayed here by bad breaks on the Railroad ahead. The Tennessee is also swollen, and I expect all sorts of trouble in getting over, unless boats are sent up the Tennessee. We have had some fighting ahead with the enemy's cavalry, a pretty formidable body sent ahead from Mississippi, the same division that was in my front at Big Black and all of Wheeler's cavalry that escaped from Tennessee; but I can engage their attention and then divert their minds from the road which supplies Rosecrans' army. Grant I suppose now is at Nashville, and will by his presence unite the army more in feeling than it seems hitherto to have been. He is so unpretending and honest that a man must be base who will not yield to him. The only possible danger is that some may claim his successes hitherto have been the result of accident, but there too I hope they will find themselves mistaken. I have telegraphic notice from Memphis that he has assumed command of the Armies of the Cumberland, Ohio and Tennessee, and that I am to command the latter. My desire has always been to have a distinct compact command, as a Corps, but spite of my efforts I am pushed into complicated places that others aspire to and which I wish they had. But with Grant I will undertake anything in reason. . . .

I see your thoughts as mine dwell with poor Willy in his grave. I do not, and you should not, reproach yourself a moment for any neglect of him. He knew and felt every moment of his life our deep, earnest love for him. The day he came on board the Atlantic¹ I think I observed that usual suppressed feeling of pride at having secured that gun. I know I joked him about it and think he received it in his usual manner, and yet at that moment he must have felt the seed of that disorder which proved so fatal. He did not know it then, and we could not so quickly detect the symptoms. . . . God knows and he knows that either of us, and hundreds of others, would have died to save him. . . .

__________

¹ The boat from Vicksburg to Memphis. See Memoirs, I, 376.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 279-80.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/07.

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, December 29, 1863

LANCASTER, OHIO, Dec. 29, 1863.

My Dear Brother:

 . . . I hear you have gone on to New York, and therefore I must go off without seeing you. I have been off the line of communication since leaving Memphis, save a few hours at Bridgeport, during which I had hardly time to put my official signature to papers demanding my hand. I have made a report of our movements up to the return to Bridgeport and enclose it with this, a copy which I brought here, and which you may keep, only, of course, under the confidence of absolute secrecy until the War Department thinks proper to make the original public. . . .

I suppose you will read this report, and I invite attention to the part referring to the assault on Tunnel Hill. I know that Grant in his report will dwell on this same part. I was provoked that Meigs, looking at us from Chattanooga, should report me repulsed, and that Mr. Stanton should publish his letter as semi-official. Meigs apologized to me for using Thomas's name instead of mine throughout, which he charged to a copyist, but made no amends for the repulse. The whole philosophy of the battle was that I should get, by a dash, a position on the extremity of the Missionary Ridge, from which the enemy would be forced to drive me, or allow his depot at Chickamauga station to be in danger. I expected Bragg to attack me at daylight, but he did not, and to bring matters to a crisis quickly, as time was precious, for the sake of Burnside in East Tennessee, Grant ordered me to assume the offensive. My report contains the rest. Again, after the battle, Granger was ordered to push for Knoxville, but his movements were so slow that Grant, impatient, called on me, and my move was the most rapid of the war and perfectly successful. I could have gone on after Longstreet, but Burnside ranked me, and it was his business, not mine. So I reinforced him all he asked, and returned.

The Fifteenth Corps, now Logan's, and Dodge's division of the Sixteenth Corps are now at work on the railroad from Nashville to Decatur, and from Decatur to Stevenson, thus making a triangle of railroad which it is estimated will relieve the great difficulty of supplies which has paralyzed the Army of the Cumberland. This will take five weeks. I leave my headquarters at Huntsville, and go in person down the Mississippi to strike some lateral blows, to punish the country for allowing guerillas to attack the boats. I go on Friday to Cincinnati, and thence to Cairo, where with Admiral Porter I will concert measures to produce the result. I expect to send one expedition up the Yazoo, and go myself with another up Red River, levying contributions to make good losses to boats, and punish for deaths and wounds inflicted. I think we can make people feel that they must actually prevent guerillas from carrying out their threats that though we have the river, it will do us no good. My address will be Memphis, for a month, and Huntsville after. We can hardly fashion out the next campaign, but it looks as though we should have to move from the Tennessee River. I should prefer to take Mobile and the Alabama as well as the Chattahoochee, and move east from Montgomery and Columbus, Miss.

I wish you would introduce a bill in Congress increasing the number of cadets on this basis — one from each congressional district per annum. In districts not represented, vest the appointments in the Secretary of War out of boys not over eighteen in the armies in the field, to be selected in any manner that may be prescribed by law, or by the regulation of the President. This would hold out to young fellows the prospect of getting a cadetship. Last summer we were called on to recommend candidates, and I was amazed to find so many worthy applicants. All who came forward for examination preferred West Point to a commission. The great want of the army is good subordinate officers. The army is a good school, but West Point is better. It is useless to deny that a special preliminary education is necessary to the military officers, and the cheapest school is now at West Point and is susceptible of infinite increase. . . .

I think the President's proclamation unwise. Knowing the temper of the South, I know that it but protracts the war by seeming to court peace. It to them looks like weakness. I tell them that as they cool off, we warm to the work. That we are just getting ready for the war, and I know the effect is better than to coax them to come back into the Union. The organization of a Civil Government but complicates the game. All the Southern States will need a pure military Government for years after resistance has ceased. You have noticed the debate in Richmond, on the President's proclamation. That is a true exhibit of the feeling South. Don't fall into the error that the masses think differently. Of course property-holding classes South deplore the devastation that marks the progress of their own and our armies, but the South is no longer consulted. The Army of the Confederacy is the South, and they still hope to worry us out. The moment we relax, they gain strength and confidence. We must hammer away and show such resistance, such bottom that even that slender hope will fail them.

I still am opposed to all bounties. The draft pure and simple, annual, to fill vacancies in the ranks. Pay of men in the front increased to even forty dollars a month, and that of men at depots and to the rear diminished to a bare maintenance if not less. Four hundred dollars bounty is an absurd commentary where two-thirds draw bounty and remain absent from their rank and are discharged for disability without hearing a shot. Deal with the army as you would if you were hiring men for special work. Pay those who do the work high; those who are sick, unfortunate, or shirking, pay little or nothing. The same of officers from the major-general to lieutenant. The President must make vacancies for the rising officers, the "creations" of the war. I am willing to quit if a younger and better man can be found for my place. . . .

Your affectionate brother,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 216-9

Army Of The Cumberland, June 24, 1863: Murfreesboro, Tennessee

ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND

JUNE 24, 1863

Moving to Bradyville, 14 mi. S. E., the XXI Corps, (T. L. Crittenden) advanced against minor confederate resistance on Manchester, to rendezvous with the rest of the Army under cover of Granger’s feint at Shelbyville.  This flanked the Army of Tennessee out of its position in the Duck River heights and caused withdrawal to Chattanooga.

SOURCE:  Interpretive Marker at 1439 N. W. Broad Street, Murfreesboro, Tennessee