Brigadier-General John A. McClernand et al to Major-General Ulysses S. Grant, March 9, 1862

[hd. qrs., 1st Div., Pine Landing, Tenn.]

[March 9, 1862.]

We have heard with deep regret of your having been deposed from your authority as Commander in the field of the forces in this district. Whether, in fact, this be true, we do not pretend to say; much less to make it occasion for censure or reflection upon any. On the contrary, we disclaim not only the feeling but the purpose to do so. Our object is far different—it is simply and singly to perform an act which justice to ourselves as well as to you, equally, requires. Not to perform it would prove ourselves wanting in the sympathy and generosity which become fellow soldiers, who have fought and suffered together. This is our explanation and apology for this hasty note. Reverting to the past, we cannot forbear the expression of our thanks for the uniform urbanity and kindness you have extended to us. Nor in the sterner realities of war are we wanting in reason for awarding you our gratitude and respect. As our Commander at Belmont and Forts Henry and Donelson, besides in numerous mere skirmishes, you were successful. Under your lead the flag of the Union has been carried from the interior further towards the seaboard than by any other hands. You have slain more of the enemy, taken more prisoners and trophies, lost more men in battle and regained more territory to the Union than any other leader. If we have born a part in achieving these results we are proud of it, and are, therefore, naturally concerned in what may darken or disparage them. We place this spontaneous tribute at your disposal for such use as you may think proper to make of it.*

_______________

* This letter was signed by McClernand, Col. William H. L. Wallace, Col. Leonard F. Ross, and eight officers of McClernand's staff.

SOURCE: Simon, John Y., The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Volume 04: January 8-March 31, 1862, vol. 4, p. 338

Diary of Private Edward W. Crippin, Thursday Morning, October 31, 1861

Still cool Regimental muster for Pay. The forces now stationed here are all mustered to day—on the Brigade parade ground—An Order placing Capt. Hart under arrest by Col. Buford¹—was read this evening on Dress Parade.

_______________

¹ Napoleon B. Buford was a graduate of West Point, law student, assistant professor at West Point, 1833 to 1835, civil engineer, Illinois merchant, banker and railroad builder. At the outbreak of the Civil War, his banking business was ruined due to large investments in Southern State bonds. He gave up all his property to satisfy his obligations and was commissioned Colonel of the 27th Illinois Volunteers by Governor Yates. For his gallant conduct at the battles of Belmont, Island No. 10, and Union City he was commissioned Brigadier-General by the President. When he left the service, he held the commission of Major-General. Eddy, Patriotism of Illinois, II., pp. 56-57.

SOURCE: Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1909, p. 230

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Joseph Stockton, September 19, 1862

COLUMBUS, KENTUCKY.  Last Tuesday we received marching orders from Paducah. Wednesday morning about 4 o'clock Co. A with some fifty sick men were placed on board the steamer "Rob Roy," the balance of the regiment being on the steamer "Diamond." Rained hard; of course, we were all soaked. Fifteen miles below Paducah we got aground and stuck there until the steamer "May Duke" came along and took us off. I pitied the poor sick soldiers but could do nothing for them but let them see I was willing if I had the power. We arrived at Cairo and were transferred again to the steamer "Eugene," left Cairo about 9 o'clock and got here at 12. Left three of Co. A in the hospital at Paducah. We are encamped on a bluff some two hundred and fifty feet above the Mississippi river and overlooking the battle ground of Belmont, General Grant's first battle. We are encamped on what was the rebel drill grounds and right below us is the water battery. They have a steam engine to pump water up on the bluff. Nelson Towner is stationed here, on General Quimby's [sic] staff, which makes it pleasant for me.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 2

Major-General John A. McClernand to Edwin M. Stanton, August 24, 1863

SPRINGFIELD, ILL.,        

August 24, 1863.

Hon. E. M. STANTON,
        Secretary of War:

On June 27, ultimo, I had the honor to address you a respectful communication, giving the circumstances attending my removal by General Grant from the command of the Thirteenth Army Corps, and containing, among other things, the following passages:

I ask, in justice, for an investigation of General Grant's and my conduct as officers from the battle of Belmont to the assault of May 22 on Vicksburg, inclusive.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Please early advise me of the determination of the Government in the premises.

Fearing that the foregoing matter, in the multitude of your engagements, has escaped your attention, I write again, respectfully asking that you will please immediately advise me whether the desired investigation will or will not be ordered.

Your obedient servant,

JOHN A. McCLERNAND,        

Major-general.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 24, Part 1 (Serial No. 36), p. 158

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Tuesday, October 14, 1862

This morning our camp is staked off, and we take our position and stake our tents. Our brigade now consists of the Seventh, Fiftieth and Fifty-seventh Illinois, and the Twenty-second and Eighty-first Ohio, commanded by Colonel A. J. Babcock, of the Seventh. There is a commotion in the Second Division. The Cincinnati Commercial, with W. D. B.'s lying communication, villifying and basely misrepresenting the heroic Second Division, who so bravely stemmed the current of battle on Corinth's sanguinary field, has been circulated. The heroes of Belmont, Fort Donelson and Shiloh rage to-night, and adding still more to this correspondent's villification, comes the congratulatory address of General Rosecrans, with the following remarkable passage : "I desire especially to offer my thanks to General Davies and his Division, whose magnificent fighting on the third more than atones for all that was lacking on the fourth.” As a defense, we will simply transcribe the circular of “Justice," written by a soldier of the Second Division, which gives a clear exposition of facts relative to the history of the Second Division in the two day's battle at Corinth:

“They did fail to do what they should have done, namely: there were captured by the whole army of Rosecrans, two thousand two hundred and sixty-eight prisoners, and the Second Division (Davies'), captured only one thousand four hundred and sixty of that number, mostly on the fourth; they should have captured the whole. Then again the whole army captured fourteen stand of colors; Davies' Division captured ten of these on the fourth; they should have taken all! They fought Van Dorn and Price's army on the third, alone, and whipped them. This was right. On the fourth they fought with others and whipped the enemy; they should have done it alone and would have done so but for the giving may of troops on the right flank-names I will not mention. Now, the Second Division well know they should have done all these things alone, and they must throw themselves upon the clemency of a forgiving country. The throbbing patriot's heart will

have some sympathy, and the facts will atone for the short-comings of the Second Division when they are told that they went into action on the third with two thousand nine hundred and twenty-five officers and men, the balance of the Division being detailed in and about Corinth. Loss, seventy-five officers; total loss, one thousand and four. Forgive these “lacking and erring boys of the Northwest, for next time they will try and do better.”

We remain in this camp, uninterrupted until November the 2d, when we are ordered inside the fortifications, the greater portion of the troops having left on an expedition southward. It is said our Division will remain and garrison Corinth for awhile. Our regiment is now camped close to Corinth, on the old battle field of October the 4th, and the probability is that we will remain here for some time, and in view of these indications, the Seventh is soon at work fixing up its quarters, building chimneys and fire places; and making general preparations for the approaching cold weather. The Seventh having its complement of mechanics, it is not long until the quarters are made quite comfortable, and as we look along the officers’ line this evening we behold a neat row of chimneys, the work of the genial and accommodating “General Grant” of Company K. Of course the officers will all vote the General their hearty thanks.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 118-20

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: November 13, 1861

This morning the steamer Aleck Scott proceeds down the river loaded with the Belmont prisoners, accompanied by federal officers from Cairo, Fort Holt and Bird's Point, for the purpose of consummating an exchange. They are met by the rebel steamer Prince, about half way from Cairo to Columbus, with the Union prisoners, accompanied by a party of Confederate officers, [regailed] in their most dashing colors. Meeting under a flag of truce, the steamers are soon lashed together, and Generals Grant and Polk commence the conference relating to an exchange. The Union officers are in the meantime invited on board the rebel steamer, and are soon mingling promiscuously among the “Southern Empire men.” Friendly, social exchanges were made, but in the language of Tom. Carlyle, “they had their share of wind.” With their gaudy glitter they paced the Prince's deck and vauntingly declared the old Union should die; that they would never surrender to the United States government. The exchange having been consummated, the Aleck Scott and Prince commenced moving in opposite directions, one northward and the other southward. Cheer after cheer rolled from each steamer as they separated. Ere long these men will engage in the carnival of blood. How sad to know that these fostered men, beneath the shadow of the flag, should thus assail the country that gave them birth. The Seventh's officers, Colonel Cook, Lieutenant Colonel Babcock, Major Rowett, Captains Monroe, Mendell, Holden, Allen and Hunter, Lieutenants Johnson, Church, Ring, Smith, Roberts, and others, are now landed at Fort Holt from the steamer Aleck Scott, much elated with their trip to Dixie. From what we can learn, they have been "funny fellows” to-day, but this is neither here nor there. These officers, with their glittering gold, their dangling swords, their feathery plumes and manly faces, carryed with them an impression that will forsooth be the cause of forbodings to the traitors. We imagine that they will have unpleasant dreams to-night.

SOURCES: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 18-20

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: November 6, 1861 – Evening

We receive[d] orders to hold ourselves in readiness to move at a moment's notice, in light marching order.

SOURCES: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 17

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: November 7, 1861

. . . morning . . . we move[d] from the Fort, marching down the river towards Columbus, Kentucky. While passing down along the shore, we behold transports descending, loaded down with troops, and we come to the conclusion that there is something in the wind. Proceeding as far as Elliott's Mills, we receive orders to halt and remain here until further orders. Colonel Babcock having been absent at St. Louis, on business for the regiment, returns this afternoon. About two o'clock we hear something that sounds very much like thunder. It is the cannon's deep, harsh tones, telling us that a battle is raging. It is the first time such sounds have ever fallen upon our ears. We are expecting every minute to receive orders to move forward. There is now à death-like silence where the Seventh stands. All are anticipating that ere the sun's rays fade from the Mississippi they will see blood flow. But it seems that our time has not yet come. Remaining here until the day is well nigh gone, a messenger arrives telling us that Grant to-day has fought the great battle of Belmont; that he has been repulsed; that the Seventh is in danger of an attack from an overwhelming force now marching towards us from Columbus. We immediately re-cross Mayfield creek, and take the backward track for Fort Holt, where we arrive at 2 o'clock the next morning.

SOURCES: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 17-8

Captain Chauncey McKeever to Major-General John C. Frémont, November 9, 1861

CINCINNATI, November 9, 1861.

Major-General FRÉMONT:

General Grant did not follow his instructions. No orders were given to attack Belmont or Columbus.

CHAUNCEY McKEEVER,             

Assistant Adjutant-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 53 (Serial No. 111), p. 507

Captain John A. Rawlins to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, December 30, 1861

Headquarters, District of Cairo,        

December 30, 1861.

DEAR WASHBURNE:

Yours of the 21st is at hand. I was no less astounded at the contents of your note than you must have been at the information reported to you.

I thank you for the confidence manifested by you in the frank manner of your inquiry. I feel that you of all other men had the right, as you would feel it your duty, to investigate the charge. I know how much you have done for General Grant and how jealous you are of his good name, and assure you it is appreciated not only by General Grant but by all his friends.

I will answer your inquiry fully and frankly, but first I would say unequivocally and emphatically that the statement that General Grant is drinking very hard is utterly untrue and could have originated only in malice.

When I came to Cairo, General Grant was as he is to-day, a strictly total abstinence man, and I have been informed by those who knew him well, that such has been his habit for the last five or six years.

A few days after I came here a gentleman made him a present of a box of champagne. On one or two occasions he drank a glass of this with his friends, but on neither occasion did he drink enough to in any manner affect him. About this time General Grant was somewhat dyspeptic and his physician advised him to drink two glasses of ale or beer a day. He followed this prescription for about one or two weeks (never exceeding the two glasses per day) and then being satisfied it did him no good, he resumed his total abstinence habits, until some three or four weeks after the Battle of Belmont, while he was rooming at the St. Charles Hotel, Colonel Taylor of Chicago, Mr. Dubois, Auditor of State, and other friends, were visiting Cairo, and he was induced out of compliment to them to drink with them on several occasions but in no instance did he drink enough to manifest it to any one who did not see him drink. About this time Mr. Osborne, President of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, our mutual friend J. M. Douglas, and several of their friends made a visit to Cairo, and gave a dinner (or lunch) on the cars, to which the General and I were invited with others; champagne was part of the fare. Sitting near the General I noticed that he did not drink more than half a glass. The fact of his drinking at all was remarked simply because of his usual total abstinence.

But no man can say that at any time since I have been with him has he drunk liquor enough to in the slightest unfit him for business, or make it manifest in his words or actions. At the time I have referred to, continuing probably a week or ten days, he may have taken an occasional drink with those gentlemen and others visiting Cairo at that time, but never in a single instance to excess, and at the end of that period he voluntarily stated he should not during the continuance of the war again taste liquor of any kind, and for the past three or four weeks, though to my knowledge frequently importuned on visits of friends, he has not tasted any kind of liquor. Ever since I have been with General Grant he has sent his reports in his own handwriting to Saint Louis, daily when there was matter to report, and never less than three times a week, and during the period above referred to he did not at all relax this habit.

If there is any man in the service who has discharged his duties faithfully and fearlessly, who has ever been at his post and guarded the interest confided to him with the utmost vigilance, General Grant has done it. Not only his reports, but all his orders of an important character are written by himself, and I venture here the statement there is not an officer in the Army who discharges the duties of his command so nearly without the intervention of aides, or assistants, as does General Grant.

Some ten or twelve days ago an article was published in the Chicago Tribune, charging frauds on the Quartermaster's Department here, in the purchase of lumber at Chicago. General Grant immediately sent Captain W. S. Hillyer, a member of his staff, to Chicago, with instructions to thoroughly investigate and report the facts. That report and a large mass of testimony substantiating the charge had been forwarded to St. Louis when orders came from Washington to investigate the charge. The investigation had already been made. Thus time and again has he been able to send back the same answer when orders were received from St. Louis in reference to the affairs of this District.

I am satisfied from the confidence and consideration you have manifested in me that my statement is sufficient for you, but should the subject be mooted by other parties, you can refer them to Colonel J. D. Webster, of the 1st Illinois Artillery, General Grant's Chief of Staff, who is well known in Chicago as a man of unquestionable habits. He has been counsellor of the General through this campaign, was with him at and all through the Battle of Belmont, has seen him daily and has had every opportunity to know his habits. I would further refer them to General Van Renssalaer, who was specially sent to inspect the troops and investigate the condition of the District by Major General McClellan, and Generals Sturgiss and Sweeny, who were sent here by Major General Halleck for the same purpose. These gentlemen after a full and thorough investigation returned to St. Louis some two weeks ago. I know not what report they made; but this I do know, that a few days after their return an order arrived from St. Louis creating the District of Cairo, a District including Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, and all of Kentucky west of the Cumberland, a District nearly twice as large as General Grant's former command. I would refer them to Flag Officer A. H. Foote of the U. S. Mississippi Naval Fleet, a man whose actions and judgments are regulated by the strictest New England standard, a strict and faithful member of the Congregational Church who for months has had personal as well as official intercourse with the General.

If you could look into General Grant's countenance at this moment you would want no other assurance of his sobriety. He is in perfect health, and his eye and intellect are as clear and active as can be.

That General Grant has enemies no one could doubt, who knows how much effort he has made to guard against and ferret out frauds in his district, but I do not believe there is a single colonel or brigadier general in his command who does not desire his promotion, or at least to see him the commanding general of a large division of the army, in its advance down the Mississippi when that movement is made.

Some weeks ago one of those irresponsible rumors was set afloat, that General Grant was to be removed from the command of the District, and there was a universal protest expressed against it by both officers and men.

I have one thing more to say, and I have done, this already long letter.

None can feel a greater interest in General Grant than I do; I regard his interest as my interest, all that concerns his reputation concerns me; I love him as a father; I respect him because I have studied him well, and the more I know him the more I respect and love him.

Knowing the truth I am willing to trust my hopes of the future upon his bravery and temperate habits. Have no fears; General Grant by bad habits or conduct will never disgrace himself or you, whom he knows and feels to be his best and warmest friend (whose unexpected kindness toward him he will never forget and hopes some time to be able to repay). But I say to you frankly, and I pledge you my word for it, that should General Grant at any time become an intemperate man or an habitual drunkard, I will notify you immediately, will ask to be removed from duty on his staff (kind as he has been to me), or resign my commission. For while there are times when I would gladly throw the mantle of charity over the faults of friends, at this time and from a man in his position I would rather tear the mantle off and expose the deformity.

Having made a full statement of all the facts within my knowledge, and being in a position to know them all and I trust done justice to the character of him whom you and I are equally interested in,

I remain, your friend,

John A. Rawlins.

SOURCE: James Harrison Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins, p. 68-71

Senator James Harlan, May 9, 1862

I shall detain the Senate for but a moment longer.

General Halleck, in an official communication addressed to the adjutant general of the State of Iowa, has mentioned the Iowa troops at the battle before Fort Donelson as “the bravest of the brave.” Nor do I know that General Grant, or any other general, has ever withheld just commendation. I therefore repeat that I have no personal grievance to redress for myself or for the troops of my State. And I would have remained silent on this subject in the Senate, if the speech of the Senator from Ohio had not made it necessary for me to speak; for I do not deem the Senate Chamber the proper place for criticisms on the conduct of a general in the field. I think it much better to present our personal convictions in relation to the character of our generals to the Secretary of War and to the President. For myself, I uniformly pursue this course, and regret that it has, in my judgment, become necessary to depart from it in this case. But, sir, it is often as dangerous and as wicked to praise the unworthy and incompetent as to detract from the meritorious. If my convictions are correct, it would be a crime for me to remain silent, and suffer influences to originate in the Senate Chamber which may result in restoring a general to an active command whom I and the people I in part represent deem unworthy of such a trust.

Iowa has sent to the field about twenty thousand troops. They have behaved, I think, well on every battle-field where they have appeared. As far as I know, no Iowa regiment has ever faltered in the discharge of duty, however perilous. Their numbers have been reduced by the casualties of the field and camp nearly one fourth. They give their lives with firmness to aid in restoring the supremacy of the laws. But, sir, they believe, and I believe, that a large per cent. of this loss was useless, and is justly attributable to the carelessness or inability of General Grant. And he shall not, with my consent, be continued in command. There is nothing in his antecedents to justify a further trial of his military skill. At Belmont he committed an egregious and unpardonable military blunder, which resulted in almost annihilating an Iowa regiment. At Fort Donelson, the right wing of our army, which was under his immediate command, was defeated and driven back several miles from the enemy's works. The battle was restored by General Smith, the enemy's works were stormed, and thus a victory was finally won. And so on the battle-field of Shiloh, his army was completely surprised, as I believe from all the facts I can procure, on Sunday, and nothing but the stubborn bravery of the men fighting by regiments and brigades, saved the army from utter destruction. The battle was afterwards restored and conducted by General Buell and other generals, who came on the field during the evening and night; and our forces ultimately succeeded in completely routing the enemy.

Now, sir, with such a record, those who continue General Grant in an active command will, in my opinion, carry on their skirts the blood of thousands of their slaughtered countrymen. With my convictions, I can neither do it myself nor silently permit it to be done by others.

SOURCE: The Congressional Globe, The Second Session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, p. 2036-7

3rd Sergeant Charles Wright Wills: November 20, 1861

Bird's Point, November 20, 1861

Part of Pitt's (Col. W. Pitt Kellogg's) cavalry are here. We are glad to see them as it will relieve us of considerable picket duty. But otherwise cavalry are of not much service in this brushy, swampy country. That fox of a Jeff Thompson that we chased down to New Madrid last week, had the impudence to follow us right back and we had hardly got our tents pitched here at the Point before he passed within 12 miles of us to the river above, and captured a steamboat. Report says that there were nearly a dozen officers on the boat, and a paymaster, with money to pay off the Cape Girardeau troops. Jeff is a shrewd one, and the man that captures him will do a big thing. Back in the country where we were, he made the natives believe that he whipped Ross and company at Fredericktown, and killed 400 federals with a loss of only ten of his men. Don't it almost make you sick the way that 17th brag and blow about themselves? That affair at Fredericktown didn't amount to a thing. From the best information I can get, there was not to exceed 50 Rebels killed, and I'm sure not that many. Thompson is stronger to-day than ever. This thing of sending infantry after him is all bosh, although we tried it again yesterday. It failed of course. The boys came back through the rain last night about 10, tired and mad as the deuce. A thousand cavalry may possibly get him some day, but they will be sharp ones, sure. In this fight at Belmont 1,200 of our men at first completely whipped 2,400 of theirs, four regiments, then the whole of ours, 2,600 ran like the devil before and through 5,600 of theirs. These are the true figures.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 43-4

3rd Sergeant Charles Wright Wills: November 13, 1861

Bird's Point, November 13, 1861.

Home once more. We all call this home now. Just as we landed last night the Iowa 7th was forming for dress parade. One company had but 11 and another but 15 men; all that came out of the Belmont fight safely. Other companies had half and some three-fourths of their men they started with. General Grant tries to make out that there were about 150 or 175 men lost on our side, but I’ll stake my life that we lost not less than 500. I am sure that the 22d Illinois lost not less than 175, the 7th Iowa at least 200, and the other three regiments 150 more. Grant says that he achieved a victory and accomplished the object of his expedition. It may be so (the latter part of it) but almost every one here doubts the story. He says his object was to threaten Columbus, to keep them from sending reinforcements to Price. Well he has threatened them, had a fight, and why they can't send reinforcements now as well as before, is more than I know. I never will believe that it was necessary to sacrifice two as good regiments as there were in the West, to accomplish all that I can see has been done this time. Altogether there were some 6,000 men from here, Cape Girardeau and Ironton, on the expedition that our regiment was on marching by different roads. Grant says now that we were all after Jeff Thompson. I don't believe it. I think the Paducah forces were to take Columbus, Grant was going to swallow Belmont, we were to drive all the guerrillas before us to New Madrid, and then with Paducah forces and Grant's we were to take Madrid and probably go on to Memphis or maybe join Fremont with our Army of say 15,000 men. Well, Grant got whipped at Belmont, and that scared him so that he countermanded all our orders and took all the troops back to their old stations by forced marches. There was some very good fighting done at Belmont by both sides. The 22d Illinois and 7th Iowa did about all the fighting, and sustained much the heaviest loss. The boys are not the least discouraged and they all want to go back and try it again. The whole camp has the Columbus fever, and I don't believe there are 20 men that would take a furlough if they thought an advance would be made on Columbus while they were absent. The enemy there are very well fed, clothed and armed. Arkansas and Tennessee troops with some Mississippians. The retreat was a route, for our men were scattered everywhere. I don't care what the papers say, the men that were in it say that every man took care of himself, and hardly two men of a regiment were together. The men ran because they were scattered and saw that the force against them was overwhelming, but the universal testimony is that there was no panic, nine out of ten of the men came on the boats laughing and joking. They had been fighting six or seven hours, and cannon and musketry couldn't scare them any more. There are hundreds of stories, and good ones, out but I always spoil them by trying to put them on paper.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 42-3

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 9, 1861

Gen. Winder and all his police and Plug Ugly gang have their friends or agents, whom they continually desire to send to Maryland. And often there comes a request from Gen. Huger, at Norfolk, for passports to be granted certain parties to go out under flag of truce. I suppose he can send whom he pleases.

We have news of a bloody battle in the West, at Belmont. Gen. Pillow and Bishop Polk defeated the enemy, it is said, killing and wounding 1000. Our loss, some 500.

Port Royal, on the coast of South Carolina, has been taken by the enemy's fleet. We had no casemated batteries. Here the Yankees will intrench themselves, and cannot be dislodged. They will take negroes and cotton, and menace both Savannah and Charleston.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 91

Brigadier-General John A. Rawlins to Mary Emeline Hurlburt Rawlins, April 27, 1864

Culpepper C. H., Va., April 27, 1864.

. . . A few more days and all will be ready for the spring campaign. General Burnside's corps has reached Washington, and the head of his column arrived at Fairfax C. H., some distance this side, to-night. General Sherman has gone forward from Nashville to Chattanooga, not to return till he has tried with Joe Johnston for the mastery of Georgia. Sigel is in readiness, and all of Butler's troops but six regiments are up. These forces will move simultaneously at the appointed time, which will be before you receive this letter unless other orders than those out are given. So you see we have not been idle.

Colonel Bowers and myself finished yesterday General Grant's report of the battle of Belmont. It is a very creditable one and places that engagement in its true light for transmittal to posterity, so far as could be known to our side. I have long since learned that an action creditable in itself can be best presented in the garb of real facts. So whenever you see any report with which I have had anything whatever to do, depend upon it, the historian who accepted it as true will most certainly not deceive the searchers after truth.  . . . I entered the service September 12, 1861. We shall move from here in a day or two. . . .

SOURCE: James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins, p. 425-6

Brigadier-General John A. Rawlins to Mary Emeline Hurlburt Rawlins, April 16, 1864

April 16, 1864.

. . . I have been very busy, so much so that up to this hour, 10 P. M., I have just found a moment to write to you, and while I write Colonel Bowers is waiting for my assistance in fixing up General Grant's old report of the battle of Belmont, Mo., for his new record book, and I have no idea of getting to bed before one or two A. M. You see I am never where work is not referred to me. Among the letters I wrote to-day was an official letter to General Butler on the subject of the exchange of prisoners. It requires a full acknowledgment of the validity of the Vicksburg and Port Hudson paroles, and a release to us of a number of officers and men equal to those we captured and paroled at those places, before another one of theirs will be exchanged, and also exacts the same treatment for colored soldiers while prisoners and the same conditions in their exchange and release as for white soldiers. I wrote this document with great care, I assure you, and although it is plain and clear in its meaning and seems to be written without labor, yet I measured it with my best judgment. I expect it to end further exchanges for the present.

I am recovering from my recent very sick turn slowly, and hope in a few days to feel as well as I did just preceding it. ...

SOURCE: James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins, p. 418

Brigadier-General John A. Rawlins to Mary Emeline Hurlburt Rawlins, March 6, 1864

LouisvIlle, March 6, 1864.

. . . I have just returned from the theatre, not at all delighted with having gone, but the General would go, and I deemed it at least courteous to go with him . . . I sat with the General and other officers of rank in a private box, and witnessed the play of Jane Short or the Royal Favorite. During its performance I was supremely disgusted . . . with the eagerness or willingness rather, of him we love to say is so modest and unassuming to acknowledge the notice people are taking of him. In one who had less reputation for modesty it would be pardonable. Oh, greatness, how dost thou lift up . . . those whom thou favorest! I feel that to go with them is ascending heights too far above the level of my plebeian birth; beyond the reach of any influence I can exert for my country's good. A few short weeks will determine this. And believe me, dearest, should my sad forebodings be realized, and I can find an honorable way in which to retire from a service in which my usefulness is questionable, I shall do so. I write this not from anything that has occurred between the General and me, for let me assure you, he was never more kind and mindful of me than now. I had a long talk with him on the subject of General Wilson's letter, as we came from Nashville, and he agrees with me in every particular . . .

I talked to him upon the importance of an able and accomplished corps of staff officers, should he be the recipient of the high honor in connection with which his name is mentioned, namely, the Lieutenant-Generalcy, and before we get to Washington I shall assure him of my readiness to withdraw from his staff in order to enable him to fill my place with an educated and finished soldier. As Lieutenant-General he will be the first in military position in the United States, and my military education is not such as to fit me for his chief of staff, hence it becomes me to withdraw and allow one who is fitted for it to take the place. True, were I vain enough I might claim to retain the place, for I have been with him throughout his thus far brilliant career; have been his stay and support in his darkest hours, and never I trust his injudicious friend. I have shared with him the hardships of the camp, borne with him the fatigues of the march, and braved with him the dangers of battle from the bloody plain of Belmont to the crimson fields of Chattanooga. In all, to the best of my ability, I have served my country and him; and trust my beloved wife and children will never blush at the mention of my name. But I grow dizzy in looking from the eminence he has attained and tremble at the great responsibility about to devolve upon him.

We leave here in the morning by boat for Cincinnati. . . . Do not forget me in your prayers, but forget me rather than the cause of my country to which I have given the best years of my life. . . .

SOURCE: James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins, p. 400-1

Brigadier-General John A. Rawlins to Mary Emeline Hurlburt Rawlins, February 13, 1864

Nashville, February 13, 1864

. . . This is my thirty-third birthday. In looking back to my earliest remembrance of events, how full of anxiety and fears, of cherished but disappointed hopes my life has been, and still withal how fortunate in the realization of my most extravagant youthful dreams! In some things I flatter myself I have held my own. I entered life poor, and am in that position now. I had the warm love of my parents, and have now, never having for a moment estranged them from me. In my young heart of high hopes they inculcated principles of virtue, honesty and patriotism. In the light of these I have sought ever to walk, but that I have many times deviated, it were sinful to deny. Yet beyond the reach of their pure rays and the whispering of conscience I have never wandered. In youth I had many friends, who in numbers and warmth of affection have multiplied as the sphere of my acquaintance has extended. With only such an education as a sparsely settled country afforded, I passed creditably from manual to mental labor, from the plough to the bar, and from civil to military life, thereby exchanging the sweets of peace for the bitterness of war. I have attained in rank the highest grade but one in the army, and been honorably connected with the most important successes of our arms, passing unharmed, although exposed in person, through the battles of Belmont, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, the battles in the campaign and siege of Vicksburg, and in those about Chattanooga. In my domestic relations I have been peculiarly fortunate and most happy, not without sorrow, however, death having entered and for a while cast a gloom of sadness over my home. This was the loss of my first wife whom I loved so well for her amiability of manner, gentleness, sweetness of disposition and virtue. Few of earth's daughters were so lovely; none in Heaven stands nearer the throne. . . .

SOURCE: James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins, p. 398-9

Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to Governor Israel Washburne Jr, April 3, 1862

Executive Office, Iowa, April 3, 1862.

Hon. Israel Washburne, Jr., Governor of Maine, Augusta, Maine:

Sir: — I have just received a certified copy of the resolution of the general assembly of your state in reference to “our victories in the west.”

Please accept my thanks for the compliment paid to our western troops.

Permit me, however, to state that in my judgment strict justice has not been done to the troops from Iowa. The troops of Illinois are specially selected in the resolution for commendation for their gallant conduct at Fort Donelson. Too much honor cannot be given to the Illinois men for their gallantry there, unless, as in this case, it is done by preferring them to the troops of other states. The men of Illinois did bravely and well, and I shall never seek to pluck one leaf from the wreath of honor they there so nobly won; but it is not true, as is implied in the resolution, that they did more bravely or better than the men of Iowa. There was not any better fighting done by any of our troops at Fort Donelson than at the right of their entrenchments. There the crest of a long and steep hill was covered by well built rifle pits, defended by three of the best regiments in the rebel service. To their left, some 1,500 yards, was a rebel battery that swept the face of the hill with a cross fire. The face of the hill had been heavily timbered, but every standing tree had been cut down and thrown, with the tops down hill, in such manner as most effectually to retard the approach of an attacking force. At that point, through the fallen timber, exposed to that cross fire, and in the face of the three rebel regiments behind the rifle pits, a regiment of western men, with fixed bayonets, with guns at the trail, and without firing a shot, steadily and unswervingly charged up the hill and over the entrenchments, and planted the first union flag on that stronghold of treason. The men who did this were men of Iowa. The flag borne by them and the first planted on Fort Donelson now hangs over the chair of the speaker of the house of representatives, and will soon be deposited in our State Historical Society as one of the most sacred treasures of the state.

I cannot, therefore, by my silence, acquiesce in the implied assertion of the resolution of your general assembly that any other troops did better service at the capture of Fort Donelson than the troops of Iowa.

Three other Iowa regiments were engaged in the same fight, and although our gallant second, from the fact that they led the charge, deserved and received the greater honor, all did their duty nobly. Elsewhere than at Donelson — at Wilson's Creek, at Blue Mills, at Belmont, and at Pea Ridge — our Iowa men have been tried in the fiery ordeal of battle, and never found wanting. Their well earned fame is very dear to our people, and I trust you will recognize the propriety of my permitting no suitable occasion to pass of insisting upon justice being done them.

I have sent a copy of this letter to his excellency the governor of Illinois.

Very respectfully, your Obdt. Sevt.,

Samuel J. Kirkwood

SOURCES: State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa Historical Record, Volumes 1-3, Volume 2, No. 3, July 1886, p. 327-8;  Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 180-1, which I believe incorrectly dates this letter as April 8, 1862, since this letter does not mention the Battle of Shiloh, which took place on April 6th & 7th, it is likely that April 3rd is the correct date for this letter.

Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to Senator James W. Grimes, March 24, 1862

How about our Brigadiers? You know I long ago recommended Crocker, Dodge and Perczel and I yet think them among our best colonels as you will find when they are tried. Dodge has been tried at Pea Ridge and has turned out just as I expected. I think him one of the very best military men in the State. Has Lauman been appointed? He acted manfully at Belmont and deserves it. Tuttles charge at Donelson is one of the most brilliant of this or any other war. I have been on the ground he charged over, and I believe that none but Iowa troops could have done it. Vandever did nobly at Pea Ridge, so far as I have learned, and all our colonels and all our men will do the same as they get the chance.

Can't we get some more Brigadiers? What is the situation about Washington generally? Don't things look more hopeful? Take time to write me a long letter showing just how things stand. I thank you for your speech on the navy and the gallant Foote. He is a man all over.

SOURCE: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 214