Major General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, August 30, 1863

Vicksburg, Mississippi,

August 30, 1863.

YOUR letter of the 8th of August, inclosing one from Senator Wilson⁸ to you, reached here during my temporary absence to the northern part of my command; hence my apparent delay in answering. I fully appreciate all Senator Wilson says. Had it not been for General Halleck and Dana,⁹ I think it altogether likely I would have been ordered to the Potomac. My going could do no possible good. They have there able officers who have been brought up with that army, and to import a commander to place over them certainly could produce no good. While I would not positively disobey an order, I would have objected most vehemently to taking that command or any other, except the one I have. I can do more with this army than it would be possible for me to do with any other without time to make the same acquaintance with others I have with this. I know that the soldiers of the Army of the Tennessee can be relied on to the fullest extent. I believe I know the exact capacity of every general in my command to lead troops, and just where to place them to get from them their best services. This is a matter of no small importance. . . .

The people of the North need not quarrel over the institution of slavery. What Vice-President Stephens acknowledges the cornerstone of the Confederacy is already knocked out. Slavery is already dead, and cannot be resurrected. It would take a standing army to maintain slavery in the South if we were to make peace to-day, guaranteeing to the South all their former constitutional privileges. I never was an abolitionist, not even what could be called antislavery, but I try to judge fairly and honestly, and it became patent to my mind early in the rebellion that the North and South could never live at peace with each other except as one nation, and that without slavery. As anxious as I am to see peace reestablished, I would not, therefore, be willing to see any settlement until this question is forever settled. Rawlins and Maltby¹⁰ have been appointed brigadier-generals. These are richly deserved promotions. Rawlins especially is no ordinary man. The fact is, had he started in this war in the line instead of in the staff, there is every probability he would be to-day one of our shining lights. As it is, he is better and more favorably known than probably any other officer in the army who has filled only staff appointments. Some men, too many of them, are only made by their staff appointments, while others give respectability to the position. Rawlins is of the latter class. My kind regards to the citizens of Galena.

__________

⁸Henry Wilson of Massachusetts (1812-1875), who in 1872 was elected Vice-President of the United States on the ticket with General Grant.

⁹Charles A. Dana (1819-1897), Assistant Secretary of War, and late editor of the New York Sun.

¹⁰Jasper A. Maltby (1826-1867), lieutenant colonel Forty-fifth Illinois Infantry, August, 1861; colonel, November 29, 1862, and brigadier general, August 4, 1863.

SOURCES: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 27-9, 115;  James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins, p. 434

Major General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, March 10, 1863

Young’s Point, Mississippi,

March 10, 1863.

NOW that Congress has adjourned, I have thought possible you might want to make a visit to this part of the country. I need not assure you that I would be most glad to see you here, and have you stay during the contest which will take place in the next thirty days from this writing. You will have time to join me if mails are prompt. The canal through would have been a success by today but for the great rise of water. The river is now several feet above the whole country hereabout, and our canal was dependent for its success upon keeping the water out of it. The upper dam has broken and submerged things generally. To stop this off will take a number of days, but we will do it. In the meantime, so far as I now know and have official reports, the Yazoo Pass expedition is going to prove a perfect success. This is highly important if for no other purpose than to destroy the transportation and embyro gunboats the enemy had there. They have been working for one year on one boat of gigantic proportions up that stream.

Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson, a young man of great merit, who has been put on General Hunter’s staff, but who was on mine as a lieutenant, and I objected to relieving until the present campaign is over, writes to Rawlins in a private letter that our success in getting into Yazoo Pass is due to the energy of C. C. Washburn. He felt an interest in the enterprise and took hold with a will, and with men worthy of the object to be accomplished. I have ordered the army corps of McPherson through that way with additional forces, making him effective men to the number of about twenty-eight thousand. McPherson is one of my best men, and is fully to be trusted. Sherman stands in the same category. In these two men I have a host. They are worth more than a full brigade each. McPherson will effect a lodgment on the high lands on the Yazoo River east bank, and will co-operate with the troops from here. The class of transports adapted to the pass being so limited, some delay will necessarily take place in getting them to their destination. I have sent up the river for all the small class of boats that can be got.

We are going through a campaign here such as has not been heard of on this continent before. The soldiers see the position of the enemy in front of them, but I presume do not see how they are to attack. Their camp ground is several feet below water, held in its place by the levees. Constant rains falling keep the roads almost impassable. With all this the men are in good spirits, and feel confident of ultimate success.

The health of this command is a subject that has been very much exaggerated by the press. I will venture the assertion that there is no army now in the field showing so large a proportion of those present with their commands being ready for duty. Really our troops are more healthy than could possibly have been expected, with all their trials. Although I have told you but little of plans here, it is more than I am in the habit of writing on this subject. You will excuse me, therefore, from saying how I expect to co-operate with McPherson, at least until you come down. General Washburn will have command of a very important cavalry expedition from the Yazoo River if all other plans succeed. . .

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 23-6

Major General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, November 7, 1862

La Grange, Tennessee,

November 7, 1862.

NOT having much of special note to write you since your visit to Jackson, and knowing that you were fully engaged, I have not troubled you with a letter. I write now a little on selfish grounds. I see from the papers that Mr. Leonard Swett is to be called near the President in some capacity. I believe him to be one of my bitterest enemies. The grounds of his enmity I suppose to be the course I pursued whilst at Cairo toward certain contractors and speculators who wished to make fortunes off of the soldiers and government, and in which he took much interest, whether a partner or not.⁷  He called on me in regard to the rights of a post sutler for Cairo (an appointment not known to the law) whom he had appointed. Finding that I would regard him in the light of any other merchant who might set up there, that I would neither secure him a monopoly of the trade nor his pay at the pay table for such as he might trust out, the sutler never made his appearance. If he did he never made himself known to me. In the case of some contracts that were given out for the supply of forage, they were given, if not to the very highest bidder, to far from the lowest, and full 30 per cent, higher than the articles could have been bought for at that time. Learning these facts, I immediately annulled the contracts.

Quite a number of car-loads of grain and hay were brought to Cairo on these contracts, and a change of Quartermaster having taken place in the meantime the new Quartermaster would not receive them without my order, except at rates he could then get the same articles for from other parties. This I refused to give. The contractors then called on me, and tried to convince me that the obligation was binding, but finding me immovable in the matter, asked if General Allen’s approval to the contract would not be sufficient. My reply was, in substance, that General Allen was Chief Quartermaster of the Department, and I could not control him. They immediately left me, and, thinking over the matter, it occurred to me that they would go immediately to St. Louis and present their contract for approval without mentioning the objection I made to it. I then telegraphed to General Allen the facts, and put him on his guard against these men. For some reason, however, my dispatch did not reach St. Louis for two days. General Allen then replied to it, stating that those parties had been to him the day before, and knowing no objection to the contract he had approved it.

The parties then returned to Cairo evidently thinking they had gained a great triumph. But there being no money to pay at that time, and because of the bad repute the Quartermaster's Department was in, they were afraid to take vouchers without my approval. They again called on me to secure this. My reply to them was that they had obtained their contract without my consent, had it approved against my sense of duty to the government, and they might go on and deliver their forage and get their pay in the same way. I would never approve a voucher for them under that contract if they never got a cent. I hoped they would not. This forced them to abandon the contract and to sell the forage already delivered for what it was worth.

Mr. Swett took much interest in this matter and wrote me one or more letters on the subject, rather offensive in their manner. These letters I have preserved, but they are locked up in Mr. Safford’s safe in Cairo. I afterwards learned from undoubted authority that there was a combination of wealthy and influential citizens formed, at the beginning of this war, for the purpose of monopolizing the army contracts. One of their boasts was that they had sufficient influence to remove any general who did not please them.

The modus operandi for getting contracts at a high rate, I suppose, was for a member of this association to put in bids commencing at as low rates as the articles could be furnished for, and after they were opened all would retire up to the highest one who was below any outside person and let him take it. In many instances probably they could buy off this one for a low figure by assuring him that he could not possibly get the contract, for if he did not retire it would be held by the party below. You will see by the papers that I am on the move. If troops are furnished me to keep open my lines of communication, there will be no delays in this department. Once at Grenada I can draw supplies from Memphis, and save our present very long line.

I do not see my report of the battle of Iuka in print. As the papers in General Rosecrans’s interest have so much misrepresented that affair, I would like to see it in print. I have no objection to that or any other general being made a hero of by the press, but I do not want to see it at the expense of a meritorious portion of the army. I endeavored in that report to give a plain statement of facts, some of which I would never have mentioned had it not become necessary in defense of troops who have been with me in all, or nearly all, the battles where I have had the honor to command. I have never had a single regiment disgrace itself in battle yet, except some new ones at Shiloh that never loaded a musket before that battle. . . .

__________

⁷Leonard Swett (1825-1889), a successful Illinois lawyer and an intimate friend of President Lincoln, made the nomination speech for the latter in the Chicago Convention of 1860, which the writer happened to hear, and in 1887 he delivered the oration at the unveiling of the Lincoln Statue in Chicago. During the war Mr. Swett had charge of a large number of cases for the Government, earning a high reputation both as a civil and as a criminal lawyer. He said to Grant at Cairo, “We are the lowest bidders and insist upon having the contract; if not, the matter will be placed before the President;” to which the General calmly replied, “I shall buy the hay in open market at a lower rate than you offer it, and will transport the hay on your road [the Illinois Central], of which I shall take immediate possession.” Grant then added, “If I find you in this military district at the expiration of twenty-four hours, you will be imprisoned and probably shot.” Hastening to Washington the indignant lawyer laid the matter before Lincoln, who said, “Well, Swett, if I were in your place, I should keep out of Ulysses Simpson's bailiwick, for to the best of my knowledge and belief Grant will keep his promise if he catches you in Cairo. In fact, Leonard, you had better ‘take to de woods,’ as the colored brother remarked.” Mr. Swett, who in later years became one of the General's greatest admirers, and who was one of the 306 that strongly urged Grant’s nomination for a presidential third term, told this story as here related by the present writer.

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 18-22, 114-5

Major General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, June 19, 1862

Corinth, Mississippi,

June 19, 1862.

YOUR letter of the 8th inst., addressed to me at Covington, Ky., has just reached me. At the time the one was written to which it is an answer I had leave to go home or to Covington, but General Halleck requested me to remain for a few days. Afterward when I spoke of going he asked that I should remain a little longer if my business was not of pressing importance. As I really had no business, and had not asked leave on such grounds, I told him so, and that if my services were required I would not go at all. This settled my leave for the present, and for the war. So long as my services are required I do not wish to leave. I am exceedingly obliged to you for the interest you have taken in the appointment recommended by me, and also for the assurance that the Secretary of War receives it with such favor. I will endeavor never to make a recommendation unsafe to accede to.

I shall leave here on the 21st for Memphis, where my headquarters will be located for the time being. Western Tennessee is fast being reduced to working order, and I think, with the introduction of the mails, trade, and the assurance that we can hold it, it will become loyal or, at least, law-abiding. It will not do, however, for our arms to meet with any great reverse and still expect this result. The masses this day are more disloyal in the South from fear of what might befall them in case of defeat to the Union cause than from any dislike to the Government. One week to them (after giving in their adhesion to our laws) would be worse under the so-called Confederate Government than a year of martial law administered by this army. It is hard to say what would be the most wise policy to pursue toward these people, but for a soldier his duties are plain. He is to obey the orders of all those placed over him, and whip the enemy wherever he meets him. “If he can” should only be thought of after an unavoidable defeat. If you are acquainted with Senator Collamore of Vermont, I would be pleased if you would say to him that there is a young colonel in the Eleventh Illinois Regiment, a native of his State, that I have taken a great interest in for his gallantry and worth. I mean Colonel Ransom.⁶ He has now been wounded three times in separate engagements, but never showed a willingness to relinquish his command until the day was decided, and always declines a leave to recover from his wounds lest something should transpire in his absence.

__________

⁶Colonel Ransom. Thomas E. G. Ransom (1834-1864), major Eleventh Illinois Infantry, July 30, 1861; colonel, February 15, 1862; and brigadier general, November 29, 1862. He was among the most gallant of our young volunteer officers of the Army of the Tennessee.

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 15-7, 114

Washington News

WASHINGTON, March 25. – The commission appointed by Gen. Wool to inquire into the condition of vagrants or contrabands, say in their official report that they stated with the general proposition that the military power have not only the right but it is among its privileges to avail itself of any and all means within its control to perfect its discipline, to render its position secure or make it effective for an advance against an enemy, and for these ends it has the right to employ for service or use anything which a military necessity may demand.  At the same time they consider that necessity is the only proper measure by which this power can be exercised.  The number of contrabands is given as 1508.  Those distributed at Fortress Monroe, 691; at Camp Harris, 743; at Camp Butler and Newport News 74.

Little inclination is manifested by them to go North.  Comparatively few contrabands come to our camps.  The navy is decidedly popular with them; they are treated as boys and receive pay every month.

The Commission point out various abuses and suggest remedies.

It further appears from the report, that Gen. Wool has issued an order that hereafter all wages by them will be paid the contrabands for their own use and support under such regulations as may be deemed proper.

Representative Steel, a member of the Government Contractor’s Investigating Committee, returned to-day from Cairo, whither he was accompanied by his Colleague, Mr. Washburne. – Their business was to look into the Quartermaster’s and other departments.  The discoveries and suggestions of this Committee have been the means of saving large amounts of money to the Government.

Petitions in favor of a general uniform bankrupt law are to be received.

Until further orders, no boats or vessels will be allowed to visit Mount Vernon.

WASHINGTON, March 26. – The House having addressed an inquiry to the Secretary of War regarding the purchases of vessels for carrying water, he replied to-day by enclosing a letter from Assistant Secretary Tucker, explaining these purchases.

Frequent applications are made as to the disposal of public lands in the Territory of Nevada, but as the land districts have not yet been organized therein, no claims can now be located.  There seems to be no doubt that those who at present occupy lands will be secured in their locations by future legislation.

A Democratic conference was held last night, continuing in session until a late hour.  The call was signed by all excepting four or five of the members of Congress who were elected as Democrats.  Representative Corning presided, and Pendleton and Steele acted as Secretaries.

An injunction was placed on all present not to reveal the proceedings.  It is however, ascertained from private conversation to-day, that the conference was principally confined to the consideration of the resolutions reported from a committee, of which Vallandigham was chairman, declaring in substance, that the restoration of the Union and maintenance of the Constitution, would require that the organization and principles of the democratic party of the United States should be fully and faithfully adhered to by all good citizens without distinction of section or party, to co-operate with the democrats in support of the constitution and restoring the old Union.

A committee of one from each State represented by a democrat, either in Senate or House, was appointed to report at a future conference.  The names of the members are not yet known.

It is understood that several messengers from the Border Slave States were present, and participated in the proceedings.

The entire number at the meeting was about forty.  The proceedings are represented as having been harmonious.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 29, 1862, p. 3

Major General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, June 1, 1862

Camp near Corinth, Mississippi,

June I, 1862.

INCLOSED I send a letter addressed to the Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, which I would be pleased if you would cause to be delivered with any recommendation that you may deem proper. Lieutant Dickey is the son of Col. Dickey of the Fourth Illinois Cavalry, and brother-in-law of the late General W. H. L. Wallace, who fell at the battle of Shiloh. Although Lieutenant Dickey has served under my command almost from his first entrance into service, I can not answer from personal knowledge as to his qualifications; but General Judah, who recommends him, is an experienced officer, and fully qualified to judge of his merits.

The siege of Corinth has at last terminated. On Friday morning it was found that the last rebel had left during the preceding night. On entering the enemy's intrenchments, it was discovered that they had succeeded in taking off or destroying nearly everything of value. General Pope is now in full pursuit of the retreating foe, and I think will succeed in capturing and dispersing many of them. There will be much unjust criticism of this affair, but future effects will prove it a great victory. Not being in command, however, I will not give a history of the battle in advance of official reports.

I leave here in a day or two for Covington, Ky., on a short leave of absence. I may write you again from there if I do not visit Washington in person.

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 13-4

Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, September 3, 1861

Cairo, Illinois

September 3, 1861.

YOUR very kind letter was received at Jefferson City, and would have been answered at once but for the remark that you were about to start for New York city and would not receive it for some days. I should be most pleased to have you pay me the visit here, or wherever I may be, that you spoke of paying me there.

In regard to the appointment of Mr. Rawlins,¹ I never had an idea of withdrawing it so long as he felt disposed to accept, no matter how long his absence. Mr. Rawlins was the first one I decided upon for a place with me, and I very much regret that family affliction has kept him away so long. The past would have been a good school of instruction for him in his new duties; the future bids fair to try the backbone of our volunteers. I have been kept actively moving from one command to another, more so perhaps than any other officer. So long as I am of service to the cause of our country I do not object, however.

General Fremont has seen fit to intrust me with an important command here, my command embracing all the troops in southeast Missouri and at this place. A little difficulty of an unpleasant nature has occurred between General Prentiss and myself relative to rank, he refusing to obey my orders; but it is to be hoped that he will see his error, and not sacrifice the interest of the cause to his ambition to be senior brigadier general of Illinois, as he contends he is.

In conclusion, Mr. Washburne, allow me to thank you for the part you have taken in giving me my present position. I think I see your hand in it, and admit that I had no personal claims for your kind office in the matter. I can assure you, however, my whole heart is in the cause which we are fighting for, and I pledge myself that, if equal to the task before me, you shall never have cause to regret the part you have taken.

__________

¹ John A. Rawlins (1831-1869), joined General Grant's staff in August, 1861, and served with him to the close of the rebellion. He became Secretary of War in March, 1869. Grant was greatly attached to him, and deeply mourned his death.

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 1-2 & 111

Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, January 23, 1862

Head-Quarters District of Cairo,

Cairo, January 23, 1862.

THE bearer, Captain A. S. Baxter,² who goes to Washington by my order, in hopes of doing something for the relief of this much distressed portion of our Army, is at present my District Quartermaster. I am at last satisfied that I have an efficient and faithful servant of the Government in Captain Baxter, and anything that you can do to further the object of his mission will not only be regarded as a personal favor to myself, but will serve to advance the cause you and I both have so much at heart. Captain Baxter can tell you of the great abuses in his Department here and the efforts I have put forth to correct them, and consequently the number of secret enemies necessarily made. I am desirous of retaining Captain Baxter in his present position, and if promotion to a higher grade is necessary to enable me to do so, I would very much desire that the promotion be given.

__________

² While the world was honoring General Grant on the seventy-fifth anniversary of his birth, Algernon Sidney Baxter (1819-1897), one of the earliest members of his staff, was dying. He was a son of the Chief Justice of Vermont, and at the age of seventeen went to Boston, the Mecca of most New England boys. When the war began he was a merchant in St. Louis, where he became acquainted with Grant. He immediately abandoned business for the army, serving on the General’s staff at Fort Donelson and Shiloh, with the rank of captain. At Shiloh, Baxter carried to General Lew Wallace that celebrated dispatch which has caused so much dispute. Grant, in his “Personal Memoirs,” says: “Captain Baxter, a quartermaster on my staff, was accordingly directed to go back and order General Wallace to march immediately to Pittsburg by the road nearest the river. Captain Baxter made a memorandum of this order. . . . General Wallace has since claimed that the order delivered to him by the captain was simply to join the right of the army.”  Baxter’s condition of health compelled him soon after to leave the service, when he entered Wall Street, pursuing a successful career in the great metropolis, where he died at the age of seventy-eight. He was the last survivor of those who served on Grant's staff in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh.

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 3 & 111-2

Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, February 21, 1862

Fort Donelson, Tennessee,

February 21, 1862.

SINCE receiving your letter at Fort Henry events have transpired so rapidly that I have scarcely had time to write a private letter. That portion of your letter which required immediate attention was replied to as soon as your letter was read. I mean that I telegraphed Colonel C. C. Washburn,³ Milwaukee, Wis., asking him to accept a place on my staff. As he has not yet arrived, I fear my dispatch was not received. Will you be kind enough to say to him that such a dispatch was sent, and that I will be most happy to publish the order the moment he arrives, assigning him the position you ask.

On the 13th, 14th, and 15th our volunteers fought a battle that would figure well with many of those fought in Europe, where large standing armies are maintained. I feel very grateful to you for having placed me in the position to have had the honor of commanding such an army and at such a time. I only trust that I have not nor will not disappoint you. The effect upon the community here is very marked since the battle. Defeat, disastrous defeat, is admitted. Yesterday I went to Clarkesville⁴ with a small escort, two of our gunboats having preceded me. Our forces now occupy that place, and will take possession of a large amount of commissary stores, ammunition, and some artillery. The road to Nashville is now clear, but whether my destination will be there or farther west can't yet be told. I want to move early, and no doubt will.

__________

³ Cadwallader Colden Washburn (1818-1882), colonel Second Wisconsin Cavalry, October 10, 1861; brigadier general, July 16, 1862; and major general, November 29, 1862. After the Civil War he was elected to Congress and in 1872, became Governor of Wisconsin. Later he was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate. His brother, also a Congressman, wrote the family name with a final "e," but in no instance within the editor's knowledge did Grant ever add that letter when writing to Mr. Washburne

⁴ Suit was brought after the war for about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars by the owners of whiskey in Clarkesville, destroyed as a matter of precaution by a chosen committee, to prevent its falling into the hands of the victorious Northern army, said to be advancing on the town, — its commander being reported as intoxicated, and utterly unable to control his troops. The owners brought suit in 1865 against the members of the committee, consisting of the wealthiest citizens of the town. At the first trial the jury disagreed as to whether Grant was drunk or sober, the decision in the case turning on that point; in the second the verdict was that the commander was intoxicated, and on the third trial that he was perfectly sober, so that the committee finally lost their case and were compelled to pay, but not the full value of the whiskey, as the parties compromised the case, receiving about twenty per cent. of its value. This statement was received in August, 1897, by the writer, from a United States District Judge of Tennessee, who was one of the counsel employed in the curious case.

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 4-5 & 112-3

Major General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, March 22, 1862

Savannah, Tennessee,

March 22, 1862.

I HAVE received two or three letters from you which I have not answered, because at the time they were received I was unwell and busy, and either your brother or Rowley were about writing. I am now getting nearly well and ready for any emergency that may arise. A severe contest may be looked for in this quarter before many weeks, but of the result feel no alarm.

There are some things which I wish to say to you in my own vindication, not that I care one straw for what is said individually, but because you have taken so much interest in my welfare that I think you are fairly entitled to all facts connected with my acts.

I see by the papers that I am charged with giving up a certain number of slaves captured at Fort Donelson. My published order on the occasion shows that citizens were not permitted to pass through our camps to look for their slaves. There were some six or seven negroes at Donelson, who represented that they had been brought from Kentucky to work for officers, and had been kept a number of months without receiving pay. They expressed great anxiety to get back to their families, and protested that they were free men. These I let go, and none others. I have studiously tried to prevent the running off of negroes from all outside places, as I have tried to prevent all other marauding and plundering.

So long as I hold a commission in the army I have no views of my own to carry out. Whatever may be the orders of my superiors and law I will execute. No man can be efficient as a commander who sets his own notions above law and those whom he has sworn to obey. When Congress enacts anything too odious for me to execute, I will resign.

I see the credit of attacking the enemy by the way of the Tennessee and Cumberland is variously attributed. It is little to talk about it being the great wisdom of any general that first brought forth this plan of attack. Our gunboats were running up the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers all fall and winter watching the progress of the rebels on these works. General Halleck no doubt thought of this route long ago, and I am sure I did. As to how the battles should be fought, both McClellan and Halleck are too much of soldiers to suppose that they can plan how that should be done at a distance. This would presuppose that the enemy would make just the moves laid down for them. It would be a game of chess, the right hand against the left, determining beforehand that the right should win. The job being an important one, neither of the above generals would have intrusted it to an officer whom they had not confidence in. So far I was highly complimented by both.

After getting into Donelson General Halleck did not hear from me for near two weeks. It was about the same time before I heard from him. I was writing every day, and sometimes as often as three times a day. Reported every move and change, the condition of my troops, etc. Not getting these, General Halleck very justly became dissatisfied, and was, as I have since learned, sending me daily reprimands. Not receiving them, they lost their sting. When one did reach me, not seeing the justice of it, I retorted, and asked to be relieved. Three telegrams passed in this way, each time ending by my requesting to be relieved. All is now understood, however, and I feel assured that General Halleck is fully satisfied. In fact, he wrote me a letter saying that I could not be relieved, and otherwise quite complimentary.

I will not tire you with a longer letter, but assure you again that you shall not be disappointed  in me if it is in my power to prevent it.

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 6-9

Major General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, May 14, 1862

Camp near Corinth, Mississippi,

May 14, 1862.

THE great number of attacks made upon me by the press of the country is my apology for not writing to you oftener, not desiring to give any contradiction to them myself. You have interested yourself so much as my friend that should I say anything it would probably be made use of in my behalf. I would scorn being my own defender against such attacks except through the record which has been kept of all my official acts, and which can be examined at Washington at any time. To say that I have not been distressed at these attacks upon me would be false, for I have a father, mother, wife, and children who read them, and are distressed by them, and I necessarily share with them in it. Then, too, all subject to my orders read these charges, and it is calculated to weaken their confidence in me and weaken my ability to render efficient service in our present cause.⁵ One thing I will assure you of, however, – I can not be driven from rendering the best service within my ability to suppress the present rebellion, and, when it is over, retiring to the same quiet it, the rebellion, found me enjoying.  Notoriety has no charms for me, and could I render the same services that I hope it has been my fortune to render our just cause without being known in the matter, it would be infinitely preferable to me.

Those people who expect a field of battle to be maintained for a whole day with about thirty thousand troops, most of them entirely raw, against fifty thousand, as was the case at Pittsburg Landing while waiting for re-enforcements to come up, without loss of life, know little of war. To have left the field of Pittsburg for the enemy to occupy until our force was sufficient to have gained a bloodless victory would have been to leave the Tennessee to become a second Potomac. There was nothing left for me but to occupy the west bank of the Tennessee and to hold it at all hazards. It would have set this war back six months to have failed, and would have caused the necessity of raising, as it were, a new army.  Looking back at the past, I can not see for the life of me any important point that could be corrected. Many persons who have visited the different fields of battle may have gone away displeased because they were not permitted to carry off horses, fire arms, or other valuables as trophies. But they are no patriots who would base their enmity on such grounds. Such, I assure you, are the grounds of many bitter words that have been said against me by persons who at this day would not know me by sight, yet profess to speak from a personal acquaintance.

I am sorry to write such a letter, infinitely sorry that there should be grounds for it. My own justification does not demand it, but you are entitled to know my feelings. As a friend I would be pleased to give you a record weekly at furthest of all that transpires in that portion of the army that I am or may be connected with, but not to make public use of. . . .

__________

⁵ About the same period the General says in a letter to his father: “You must not expect me to write in my own defence, nor to permit it from any one about me. I know that the feeling of the troops under my command is favorable to me, and so long as I continue to do my duty faithfully it will remain so. I require no defenders.” In his second inaugural address Grant gave expression to his sense of the injustice done to him by shameful and vindictive criticism, saying in conclusion, “Throughout the war and from my candidacy to the present office, in 1868, to the close of the last presidential campaign, I have been the subject of abuse and slander, scarcely ever equalled in political history, which to-day I feel that I can afford to disregard, in view of your verdict, which I most gratefully accept as my vindication.”

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 10-12 & 113-4