[July 1, 1863.]
One of the men who
gave himself up is confined here here is about three miles from here his wife is
sick expected to die he is poor & without Servants the man has behaved well & is anxious to
give his parole & be with his wife can I parole him as I should do if it
was left with me all quiet on Black
river this Eve
SOURCE: John Y.
Simon, Editor, The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Volume 8, p. 449
Sherman has had a
Scout out to Bolton. He can discern no indication of troops having passed
South. Johnston must be watched at all points however. Big Bayou should be
obstructed as high up as possible, except where we use the crossing
U. S. Grant Maj.
Genl.
The President yet remains with the army, and the indications are that a great and perhaps final battle is near. Tom writes me, dating his letter “Headquarters Army of the James, near Hatcher's Run,” saying he had scarcely slept for forty-eight hours, the army having commenced moving on the evening of the 27th, and his letter was dated the evening of the 29th. General Ord must, therefore, have moved his army from before Richmond, crossed the James, and got below Petersburg. I infer, therefore, that the demonstration will be on that plan, and I trust defeat and capture of Lee and his army.
Greeley's letter of last summer to the President, urging peace for our “bleeding, bankrupt, ruined country” has been published in England. This was the letter which led to the Niagara conference. I advised its publication and the whole correspondence at the time, but the President was unwilling just then, unless Greeley would consent to omit the passage concerning our ruined country, but to this Greeley would not consent, and in that exhibited weakness, for it was the most offensive and objectionable part of his letter.
How it comes now to be published in England I do not understand. I should have preferred its appearance at home in the first instance. Poor Greeley is nearly played out. He has a morbid appetite for notoriety. Wishes to be noted and forward in all shows. Four years ago was zeal or willing — to let the States secede if they wished. Six months later was vociferating, “On to Richmond.” Has been scolding and urging forward hostile operations. Suddenly is for peace, and ready to pay the Rebels four hundred millions or more to get it, he being allowed to figure in it. He craves public attention. Does not exhibit a high regard for principle. I doubt his honesty about as much as his consistency. It is put on for effect. He is a greedy office-hunter.
A telegram from the President this morning to the War Department states that a furious fight is going on. Sheridan has got west of Petersburg on the South Side Railroad, creeping from the west, at the same time Grant has ordered an advance of our lines. Wright and Parke are said to have broken through the Rebel lines. General Ord is fighting, but results unknown. General Halleck states that Lee has undoubtedly sent out his force to protect the railroad and preserve his communications, that this has left Richmond weak, and Ord is pressing on the city. I inquired if Ord was not below Petersburg at Hatcher's Run. He said no, that was newspaper talk. Told him I had supposed otherwise.
On going to the War Department a few hours later to make further inquiries, I carried with me Tom's letter, but Halleck was not there. Stanton, however, maintained the same ground until I read Tom's letter, when he yielded.
[June 19, 1863.]
Col Whiting at
Warrenton writes that a contraband tells him he heard his Master, that Genl
Johnston is on an Island in Hines County Miss with one hundred & fifty
thousand men & is going to attack us also Warrenton Col Whiting is about to
arrange Signal to all the Gunboats to his aid if necessary I find Genl Smith
pretty well advanced he can mine the parapet of a redoubt tonight or tomorrow
Is now in the ditch Shall I tell him to mine or Shall I get Batteries well
advanced on every approach.
SOURCE: John Y.
Simon, Editor, The Papers of Ulysses S.
Grant, Volume 8, p. 397
The island referred
to by Contraband must be where Jeff and Joe Davis' plantations are. Of course
no such rumor as a large force being there can be true. You had better send
your Cavalry to Hankersons Ferry to Scout down Black River, from there to the
Miss and up by Warrenton to see if they can discover anything. Hines County is
beyond Black River. Get batteries as well advanced as possible during the day
and night. We want a general cannonading tomorrow. Gen. Lauman you know is
attached to your corps.
[June 19, 1863.]
There is a citizen
living about four miles from your Headquarters, who I understand is scouting
about the county very suspiciously. He rides a very fine brown stallion, and
may be known by the Provost Marshal 13th Corps. Arrest him and have the horse
kept by some one of your staff until it is determined what should be done with
him.
SOURCE: John Y.
Simon, Editor, The Papers of Ulysses S.
Grant, Volume 8, p. 397-8
[June 19, 1863.]
There is a partially
organized regiment of Colored troops in your corps. Please order them together
with their women and children to proceed at once to Chickasaw Bayou Landing,
where they will go into Camp and furnish such details for fatigue duty as may
be required in the Commissary, Ordnance and Quartermaster's Department at that
place; and at the same time complete their organization.
SOURCE: John Y.
Simon, Editor, The Papers of Ulysses S.
Grant, Volume 8, p. 398
[June 19, 1863—8:30
p.m.]
Capt Haines reports
that the fourth Miss [Coloured] is very necessary working by day in the
trenches Cannot I keep them for that work a few days longer & thus save the
men of other regts.
SOURCE: John Y.
Simon, Editor, The Papers of Ulysses S.
Grant, Volume 8, p. 398
GENERAL: Inclosed I respectfully transmit the letters of Maj. Gen. W. T. Sherman, commanding Fifteenth Army Corps, and Maj. Gen. J. B. McPherson, commanding Seventeenth Army Corps, of date, respectively, the 17th and 18th instant, relative to the congratulatory order of Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand to his troops, a copy of which order is also herewith transmitted, together with copies of the correspondence relating thereto, and my order relieving General McClernand from the command of the Thirteenth Army Corps and assigning Maj. Gen. E. O. C. Ord to the command thereof, subject to the approval of the President.
A disposition and earnest desire on my part to do the most I could with the means at my command, without interference with the assignments to command which the President alone was authorized to make, made me tolerate General McClernand long after I thought the good of the service demanded his removal. It was only when almost the entire army under my command seemed to demand it that he was relieved.
The inclosed letters show the feelings of the army corps serving in the field with the Thirteenth Corps. The removal of General McClernand from the command of the Thirteenth Army Corps has given general satisfaction, the Thirteenth Army Corps sharing, perhaps, equally in that feeling with the other corps of the army. My action in the relieving of Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand from the command of the Thirteenth Army Corps and the assignment of Maj. Gen. E.O. C. Ord to that command I trust will meet the approval of the President.*
* See also McClernand to Halleck, June 24, p. 165
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. 158-9
I have found it
necessary to relieve Major-General McClernand, particularly at this time, for
his publication of a congratulatory address calculated to create dissension and
ill-feeling in the army.* I should have relieved him long since for general
unfitness for his position. Major-General Ord is appointed to his place,
subject to the approval of the President.
* See Dana
to Stanton, June 19, p. 102; McClernand to Halleck and Stanton, June 27,
pp. 165, 166
McClernand last night was relieved of his command and ordered to report to Washington for orders. As the matter may be of some importance, I telegraph the correspondence connected with it. The congratulatory address spoken of in General Grant's first letter is one that first reached here in the Missouri Democrat of June 11. In it he claims for himself most of the glory of the campaign; reaffirms that on May 22 he held two rebel forts for several hours, and imputes to other commanders a failure to aid him to keep them and take the city. The letters are as follows:
Though the congratulatory address in question is the occasion of McClernand's removal, it is not its cause, as McClernand intimates when he says incorrectly that General Grant has taken exceptions to this address. That cause, as I understand it, is his repeated disobedience of important orders, his general insubordinate disposition, and his palpable incompetence for the duties of the position. As I learned by private conversation, it was, in General Grant's judgment, also necessary that he should be removed, for the reason, above all, that his relations with other corps commanders rendered it impossible that the chief command of this army should devolve upon him, as it would have done were General Grant disabled, without most pernicious consequences to the cause.
Lauman's division,
having for some days past been temporarily attached to the Thirteenth Corps,
will remain under Ord's command. Herron will continue to report directly to
department headquarters. Captain Comstock takes general charge of the siege
works on the lines of both Lauman and Herron. The siege works here are steadily
progressing on the right and center, rather in the way of enlargement of
covered ways and strengthening of the lines than of direct advances. On the
front of the Thirteenth Corps and the extreme left, our works constantly
approach those of the enemy. On the right of our center, however, an important
advantage was this morning gained by General Ransom, who during the night pushed
his trenches so that at daylight his sharpshooters were able to take in reverse
the whole right flank of the main rebel fort in his front, called Fort Hill. He
soon drove out the enemy, killing and wounding many, and will be able to crown
the rebel parapet with his artillery whenever the order is given. The rebels are
constructing an interior battery to cover the works they have thus virtually
lost. Trustworthy advices from Jackson to the 16th show that Joe Johnston had
withdrawn his troops thence. A few guards were all the troops there. As I have
before reported, Breckinridge was at Clinton. The rebels are endeavoring to
establish at Demopolis, on the Tombigbee, the gun-carriage factory we burned at
Jackson. Ten thousand troops from Bragg had passed through that place—re-enforcements
to Joe Johnston. No cavalry was among them nor any heavy artillery.
Weather is hot;
thermometer at 95 degrees. The springs from which we get water are becoming
bad. They are full of lime from decayed shells.
Your order,
relieving me and assigning Major-General Ord to the command of the Thirteenth
Army Corps, is received. Having been appointed by the President to the command
of that corps, under a definite act of Congress, I might justly challenge your
authority in the premises, but forbear to do so at present. I am quite willing
that any statement of fact in my congratulatory
[order] to the Thirteenth Army Corps, to which you think just exception may
be taken, should be made the subject of investigation, not doubting the result.
* * * * * * * * * *
IV. Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand is hereby relieved from the command of the Thirteenth Army Corps. He will proceed to any point he may select in the State of Illinois, and report by letter to Headquarters of the Army for orders.* Maj. Gen. E. O. C. Ord is hereby appointed to the command of the Thirteenth Army Corps, subject to the approval of the President, and will immediately assume charge of the same.
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. 164-5
[W]e move to our new and fresh cà mping ground, near battery C, Captain Hackney will remember the day we moved, for if we remember correctly the ague shook him like an earthquake, but the soldier's medicine proved a sure remedy. What a god-send! While here our camp and picket duties are heavy. Lieutenant Ring is now detached from his company, having been detailed as Police Officer of Corinth. General Ord has indeed made a good selection, but has damaged Company H. Contrabands are coming in daily. While in this camp some of the boys bring in one of these exiles from bondage, to enlist as a company cook, followed by his master, who enters complaint. The General being strictly averse to the "peculiar institution,” makes disposition of the case by compelling the old man to take the oath of allegiance and make his exit from the lines.
SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 84
I had a telegram from Tom this morning, stating that Colonel Stedman was mortally wounded and would probably not survive the night, that General Ord desired his promotion without delay, that it might be received before his death, and wishing me to call at once on the President. I did so, who responded readily to the recommendation, and I then, at his request, saw Secretary Stanton, who met me in the right spirit.
While at the President's Blair came in, and the President informed us he had a telegram from Greeley, desiring the publication of the whole peace correspondence. Both Blair and myself advised it, but the President said he had telegraphed Greeley to come on, for he desired him to erase some of the lamentations in his longest letter. I told him while I regretted it was there, the whole had better be published. Blair said it would have to come to that ultimately. But the President thought it better that that part should be omitted.
I remarked that I had seen the Wade and Winter Davis protest. He said, Well, let them wriggle, but it was strange that Greeley, whom they made their organ in publishing the protest, approved his course and therein differed from the protestants. The protest is violent and abusive of the President, who is denounced with malignity for what I deem the prudent and wise omission to sign a law prescribing how and in what way the Union shall be reconstructed. There are many offensive features in the law, which is, in itself, a usurpation and abuse of authority. How or in what way or ways the several States are to put themselves right — retrieve their position - is in the future and cannot well be specified. There must be latitude given, and not a stiff and too stringent policy pursued in this respect by either the Executive or Congress. We have a Constitution, and there is still something in popular government.
In getting up this law it was as much an object of Mr. Winter Davis and some others to pull down the Administration as to reconstruct the Union. I think they had the former more directly in view than the latter. Davis's conduct is not surprising, but I should not have expected that Wade, who has a good deal of patriotic feeling, common sense, and a strong, though coarse and vulgar, mind, would have lent himself to such a despicable assault on the President.
There is, however, an infinity of party and personal intrigue just at this time. A Presidential election is approaching, and there are many aspirants, not only for Presidential but other honors or positions. H. Winter Davis has a good deal of talent but is rash and uncertain. There is scarcely a more ambitious man, and no one that cannot be more safely trusted. He is impulsive and mad and has been acute and contriving in this whole measure and has drawn Wade, who is ardent, and others into it. Sumner, I perceived, was bitten before he left Washington. Whether he has improved I am not informed. Sumner is not a constitutionalist, but more of a centralist than the generality of our people, and would be likely to sanction what seem to me some of the more offensive features of this bill. Consolidating makes it more a government of the people than of the States.
The assaults of these men on the Administration may break it down. They are, in their earnest zeal on the part of some, and ambition and malignity on the part of others, doing an injury that they cannot repair. I do not think Winter Davis is troubled in that respect, or like to be, but I cannot believe otherwise of Wade and others; yet the conduct of Wade for some time past, commencing with the organization of the present Congress in December last, has, after the amnesty proclamation and conciliatory policy of reconstruction, been in some respects strange and difficult to be accounted for, except as an aspiring factionist. I am inclined to believe that he has been bitten with the Presidential fever, is disappointed, and, in his disappointment, with a vague, indefinite hope that he may be successful, prompted and stimulated not only by Davis but Colfax, he has been flattered to do a foolish act.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 94-6
