Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, April 16, 1866

Senator Doolittle came yesterday. I told him I had seen the President on Saturday and learned from him that he (D.) had been at the Mansion on Friday evening. I made known to him the feelings of the President and that he was not prepared for an open rupture, but Doolittle said that would not do. The President must act promptly. We were losing by delay. Wanted to know how Dennison stood and asked me to go with him and call on Dennison.

But the Governor was not in, and we went on to the President's, whose carriage was standing at the door. I said we must not deter the President from his ride, he took so little exercise. Patterson, his son-in-law, we met at the top of the stairs, who told us the President had company through the day, that Smythe had been there and it was, he thought, definitely settled that S. should be Collector at New York. Smythe, from what I hear of him, is better than some of the candidates, perhaps better than any. It has occurred to me that certain New York gentlemen were selecting for themselves, rather than the Administration.

Passing Montgomery Blair's with a view of calling on his father, the former came to the door and asked me in, while he sent for his father. As usual, the Judge was strong in his opinions against Seward, Stanton, and others. He predicts another revolution or rebellion as the inevitable consequence of measures now being pursued. Says there will be two governments organized here in Washington.

Maynard of Tennessee made a similar suggestion at my house two or three evenings since. He believes that the Senators and Representatives of the next Congress will appear from all the States, that those from the Rebel States will, with the Democratic Members from the loyal States, constitute a majority, that they will organize and by resolution dispense with the test oath and have things their own way. The extreme and reprehensible course of the Radicals is undoubtedly hurrying on a crisis, which will overwhelm them, if it does not embroil, perhaps subvert, the government, but the South is too exhausted and the Northern Democrats too timid, narrow-minded, and tired for such a step.

The Fenians are reported to be gathering in some force at Eastport in Maine. The Winooski, gunboat, was sent thither last week with orders to wait instructions. Seward advised that no instructions should, for the present, be sent, but on Saturday I forwarded general orders to preserve neutrality. This evening Seward called at my house and wanted instructions sent by telegraph. Told him I had already sent by mail, but would send a telegram also.

Sperry, Postmaster at New Haven, was at my house last evening, and is very full of Connecticut parties and Connecticut politics, with a professed desire to sustain the Administration, and the usual wish to make the Party in Connecticut and the Administration identical, a work which more distinguished men than he are laboring in vain to effect, not only in that State but elsewhere. What is irreconcilable cannot be made to harmonize. The organization, or those who control the organization, of the Union Party, are studiously, designedly opposed to the Administration, and it is their purpose to break it down, provided they cannot control it and compel unconstitutional action. They have no thought for the country, but are all for party. Sperry is for himself.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 483-5

Diary of Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes: December 12, 1865

Today the credentials of Mr. Maynard and other claimants to seats from Tennessee were referred on motion of Mr. Raymond to the Joint Committee of Fifteen, proposed by the Stevens resolutions. Several attempts were made which by implication gave them some official recognition. These the Union men with a few exceptions voted against, and [they] were all defeated. A motion was then carried by the vote of all except thirty-five Union men to admit these gentlemen under a resolution containing no allusion to their official character, making it purely a courtesy on the part of the House. For this I voted. Seeing there was division among the Ohio and other Union members, I voted to lay it on the table, thinking a little delay and consultation would lead to entire unanimity. The first thing is to keep together, united and harmonious. I am glad to see that this duty is generally recognized.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 11

Colonel William B. Wood to Judah Benjamin, November 20, 1861

HEADQUARTERS,        

Knoxville, November 20, 1861.

SIR: The rebellion in East Tennessee has been put down in some of the counties, and will be effectually suppressed in less than two weeks in all the counties. Their camps in Sevier and Hamilton Counties have been broken up, and a large number of them made prisoners. Some are confined in jail at this place and others sent to Nashville.

In a former communication I inquired of the Department what I should do with them. It is a mere farce to arrest them and turn them over to the courts. Instead of having the effect to intimidate it really gives encouragement and emboldens them in their traitorous conduct. We have now in custody some of their leaders—Judge Patterson, the son-in law of Andrew Johnson; Colonel Pickens, the senator in the legislature from Sevier and other counties, and several members of the legislature, besides others of influence and some distinction in their counties. These men have encouraged this rebellion, but have so managed as not to be found in arms. Nevertheless, all their actions and words have been unfriendly to the Government of the Confederate States. The influence of their wealth, position, and connections has been exerted in favor of the Lincoln Government, and they are the parties most to blame for the troubles in East Tennessee. They really deserve the gallows, and if consistent with the laws ought speedily to receive their deserts; but there is such a gentle spirit of conciliation in the South, and especially here, that I have no idea that one of them will receive such a sentence at the hands of any jury impaneled to try them.

I have been here at this station for three months, half the time in command of the post, and I have had a good opportunity of learning the feeling pervading this country. It is hostile to the Confederate Government. They will take the oath of allegiance with no intention to observe it. They are the followers and slaves of Johnson and Maynard, and never intend to be otherwise. When arrested they suddenly become very submissive, and declare they are for peace and not supporters of the Lincoln Government, but yet they claim to be Union men. At one time, whilst our forces were at Knoxville, they gave it out that great changes were taking place in East Tennessee, and the people were becoming reconciled and loyal. At the withdrawal of the army from here to the Gap, and the first intimation that the Lincoln army was like to penetrate the State, they were in arms, and scarcely a man, with only a few honorable exceptions, but what was ready to join them and make war upon us.

The prisoners we have tell us that they had every assurance that the army was already in the State, and would join them in a very few days; that the property of Southern men was to be confiscated and divided amongst those who would take up arms for Lincoln.

I have to request, at least, that the prisoners I have taken be held, if not as traitors, as prisoners of war. To release them is ruinous; to convict them before a court at this time next to an impossibility; but if they are kept in prison for six months it will have a good effect. The bridge burners and spies ought to be tried at once, and I respectfully request that instructions be forwarded at as early a day as practicable, as it needs prompt action to dispose of these cases.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. B. WOOD,        

Colonel, Commanding Post.

Hon. J.P. BENJAMIN,
        Secretary of War.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 250-1

Acting Brigiadier-General Samuel P. Carter to Horace Maynard, November 21, 1861

HEADQUARTERS EAST TENNESSEE BRIGADE,        

Camp Calvert, near London, Ky., November 21, 1861.

Hon. HORACE MAYNARD:

DEAR SIR: The copy of Evening Star received this evening assures me you have not forgotten me.

We are still here, together with Third Regiment Kentucky Volunteers. Why all the other forces were withdrawn is a question to be answered at Louisville. By the papers you will have seen that we, too, left on the night of the 13th, by orders of General Schoepf, in company with the Ohio and Indiana troops, as it seemed, by orders which should have been given me that day, but which were not received until two days afterwards, not only unnecessarily, but contrary to General Thomas' directions.

I was intensely mortified at the hesitancy of some of our Tennesseeans to move on when they found they had to take the road leading to Crab Orchard. They had got the impression we were returning to Camp Robinson to winter, but after I spoke a few words to them they obeyed the order to march. Many fell out during the night and some deserted. Our losses amount to about 40 to 45. We were without transportation, and were forced to leave almost the entire camp standing and every one of our sick behind. The roads were in a terrible state, and large numbers of men from the various regiments fell out on the way from sheer exhaustion. When I reached Dr. Josslin's I learned for the first time we were to return to this place.

Our men are most anxious to return to Eastern Tennessee, not so much to see their families as to drive the rebels from the country. We are all inclined to think that help will be deferred until it is too late to save our people. This ought not to be so.

Two or three batteries and 10,000 men, provided even with powder and lead for the people, could save Eastern Tennessee at this time. Will help never come?

General Thomas has left Crab Orchard, and we are here to look out for ourselves. To-night I have sent out between 600 and 700 men in the direction of Flat Lick, 8 miles above Barboursville, to try and cut off some of the thieving rebel scouts and to gain correct intelligence of their whereabouts.

I think it probable that we shall in a few days move on Somerset. I have no information as to the plans of General Buell. Can you not get those in power to give us a few more men and permission to make at least an effort to save our people? Do try. They are even now in arms, and must be crushed unless assistance soon reaches them.

Two men came in from Carter this evening who have been nearly six weeks on the way.

With respect, yours, truly,

S. P. CARTER.

[Indorsement. ]

DECEMBER 3, 1861.

Please read and consider this letter.

A. L.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 468-9

Acting Brigadier-General Samuel P. Carter to Horace Maynard, November 25, 1861

HEADQUARTERS EAST TENNESSEE BRIGADE,        

Camp Calvert, November 25, 1861.

Hon. HORACE MAYNARD:

MY DEAR SIR: A day or two after I wrote you I received orders to break up at this place and join General Thomas. I had sent on a portion of our sick to Crab Orchard and a portion of our commissary stores, but fortunately I was unable to obtain wagons enough to move the whole and was detained until this morning, when I received other orders from department headquarters to remain at London. I know not what will be the next move, but hope most sincerely it may be towards Eastern Tennessee. If something is not done, and that speedily, our people will be cut up and ruined. A column should be ordered to move into Eastern Tennessee, one detailed for that purpose and no other, to go without reference to any other movement, with the specific object of relieving our people, simply on account of their loyalty and as though it were entirely disconnected with any military advantages. I intend to say that our people deserve protection and should have it at once, and independently of all outside considerations.

I sent on 21st between 600 and 700 men, under Lieutenant-Colonel Spears, to Flat Lick, a point 8 miles below Cumberland Ford, for the purpose of obtaining information of the enemy, and with the hope they would fall in with a portion of them and cut them up. Some of our men went nearly to the Ford. None of the rebels were there. From best information the force at the Gap was only about 2,000. Zollicoffer, with some 6,000, was at Ross, in Anderson County.

If we had a battery I believe we could go into Tennessee, and then, if we could carry arms or even powder and lead to furnish to our people, I believe we could stay there.

Will help ever come? I do not mean contingent aid, but special and direct.

We are getting along well. Most of our men have returned who left on night of 13th, and all are elated at the orders to remain here. If it be possible, have it so arranged that the Eastern Tennesseeans shall not again, except in case of urgent and pressing necessity, be ordered back towards Central Kentucky. Many would sooner perish in battle than turn their backs towards the Tennessee line again.

Will you please write me if the President has ever acted on the petition which you forwarded from the officers of the two regiments to commission me as brigadier-general, and, if so, the reason for his non-compliance, as well as what you can learn of his intentions in regard to that matter.With best wishes, I am, yours, very truly,

S. P. CARTER

[ Indorsement. ]

DECEMBER 3, 1861.

Please read and consider this letter.

A. L.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 469-70

Benjamin Franklin Cheatham

Benjamin Franklin Cheatham

Benjamin Franklin Cheatham was born at Nashville in 1820. At twenty-six years of age he entered the army for service in the Mexican War. As captain and colonel he won fame in this war and at its close was appointed major general of Tennessee volunteers. In 1849 he went with the great throng of fortune hunters to the gold fields of California, but soon returned to Tennessee. At the beginning of the Civil War he was made a brigadier general in the Confederate Army and served with distinguished honor throughout the war, rising to the rank of major general. He was a stern, hard fighter, but a kind man, much beloved by his soldiers, who affectionately called him "Old Frank." Of course they never used this title in speaking to their general, but around their camp fires they rarely gave him any other. It is a custom among soldiers to nickname the commanders they love.

After the Civil War General Cheatham returned to Nashville. When General Grant became President he offered General Cheatham an appointment in the civil service of the United States, but Cheatham did not accept it. The two men were warm personal friends, though they had taken opposite sides in the war. In 1872 General Cheatham, Andrew Johnson, and Horace Maynard were candidates for congressman at large. That is, Tennessee was entitled to one more representative in Congress than there were districts in the state, so one representative had to be elected by the votes of all the people of the state. Maynard was elected. In 1875 Cheatham was made Superintendent of State Prisons, and held the position for four years. In 1885 he was appointed postmaster at Nashville, but died in September, 1886.

SOURCE: Gentry Richard McGee, A History of Tennessee from 1663 to 1914, p. 211-2

George S. Denison to Salmon P. Chase, September 19, 1862

New Orleans, Sept. 19th, 1862.

Dear Sir: Hon. A. J. Hamilton will present this letter to you, and also a letter of introduction from myself. In this private letter I wish to add a few statements not proper for an open letter.

Mr. Hamilton refused to leave his seat in the House of Representatives, when Texas seceded. After his term expired, he returned to Texas, and has constantly fought secession up to the time of his forced departure from the State.

Mr. Hamilton is well known throughout Western Texas, and probably has more influence there than any other man. He is brave and determined, and stands high in the estimation of all honest men. Whatever statements he makes to you you can rely on implicitly.

Mr. H. thoroughly appreciates the character of the present struggle, and imposes no conditions upon his loyalty. This is the man to make Western Texas a Free State and he will do it wisely and surely. He knows the country and the people and is such an orator as they love to listen to.

Col. Hamilton can raise a Brigade of Union troops in Texas more quickly than any other man in the State, and I believe he only wants an authority to raise such a Brigade when an expedition goes there.

Mr. H. is to Western Texas, what Brownlow, Maynard and Johnson are to East Tennessee.

In common with all Union men of Texas, I hope he will receive that encouragement to which his abilities and unfaltering loyalty entitle him, and under his wise management Western Texas will be freed, at the same time, from rebellion and Slavery.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 314-5

Brigadier General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, August 19, 1861

FORT CORCORAN, August 19, 1861.

. . . Among my regiments are three who claim to have been enlisted only for three months, but the Secretary of War has decided they are in for two years. In each of the regiments there has been a kind of mutiny, not open and decided, but a determination to do no duty.

Yesterday, Sunday, I had two companies of regular cavalry and one of artillery ready to attack one of these regiments. For some hours I thought I would have to give an order to fire, but they did not like the artillery and have gone to duty; but I think this is a bad class of men to depend on to fight. They may eat their rations and go on parade, but when danger comes they will be sure to show the white feather.

Still, they are now in a state of subjection. I went over to Washington on this business some days ago, saw the President and General Scott; at the table of the latter I met Robert Anderson for the first time. I only had a few words with him, but on Saturday he sent for me to meet him at Willard's. There I found Senator Johnson, a Mr. Maynard, and two or three other members of Congress from Kentucky and Tennessee. One of them, Senator Johnson I think, premised by saying that it was the determination of the government to send assistance to the Union men of Kentucky and Tennessee; that there were large numbers of them who merely needed arms, money and organization; that Anderson was the proper general to organize and lead the movement; but that his health was liable at any moment to fail him, and the President had agreed that he might select any three of the Brigadiers to go with him; that he had at once asked for me, and two others, Burnside and Thomas, which was conceded; that when McClellan heard I was asked for he did not want to spare me, as he thought there remained imminent danger of an attack here. Then Anderson said he would prefer to wait a few days till things assumed a more settled shape — say seven to ten days, at the expiration of which time I should be relieved, and ordered to Kentucky. I have said or done nothing one way or other, but in about seven days I will, if nothing threatening happens, apply for relief that I may stop at Lancaster to see you, for a day or so. I expect to go to Louisville and thence through East Kentucky and Tennessee, to see myself the state of the country, and if possible, to organize resistance to the southern Confederacy. It is a matter of great importance and upon it may hang the existence of the present government.

Most assuredly events have favored the southern Confederacy, and instead of making friends, the administration seems to have lost ground, not only in the South and Middle States, but also in the North. The clamor for discharge on every possible frivolous pretext has been a severe blow to the army and may be to the country. I hear that the new enlistments drag. This every reasonable person must have apprehended from the foolish cry first raised, a mere impulse sure to be followed by reaction. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 217-8.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 1/139.

In A Nice Fix

In the breaking out of the present difficulties a good many East Tennesseans, with treason in their hearts, left and went over to the bosom of King Abraham, thinking, no doubt that they would return to their houses in a very short time with a sufficient army to protect them in their treason.  Sixteen months have gone by, and these poor deluded fools are no nearer that object they set out to accomplish than they were the day they started.  They cannot get back to their homes, and never will.  If the war was ended, and arrangements made for their return they could not live here.  They would be looked upon and treated as tories – loathed and despised – forsaken even by the cowardly wretches who persuaded them to leave their homes and dear ones for a situation in the Federal army.  Those of them that have left property behind have forfeited it to their government, and their families will be bereft of it.  Who is responsible for this state of things?  Such men as Andy Johnson, Horace Maynard, Bill Brownlow, and the smaller lights of toryism, who were suffered to run over the country and preach treason to the people.  In this county such pettifoggers as Mitch Edwards and Dr. Brown were applauded for their treachery, while men who were older and wiser were scoffed and hooted at for their loyalty.  These vile miscreants are no receiving their just reward at the hands of an indignant people.  There never was a more just retribution visited upon a corrupt set of men.  They sowed the storm – let them receive the fury of the whirlwind.  They deserve it.  They have no home, and are entitled to none in the Southern Confederacy.  They deserted her in infancy.  When she needed help the cowardly scoundrels shrank from the task and went over to the enemy – in her manhood she will never receive to her bosom these arch traitors.  East Tennessee is and will be a part of her dominion, the opinion of the Lincolnites to the contrary notwithstanding. – {Cleveland Banner.

– Published in The Daily Rebel, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Saturday, August 9, 1862, p. 1