Major-General John A. McClernand to Edwin M. Stanton, June 27, 1863

SPRINGFIELD, ILL., June 27, 1863.

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

Under authority conferred by you in previous correspondence to communicate freely, I inclose the accompanying correspondence* between Major-General Grant and myself. From that correspondence you will learn that General Grant has assumed power to relieve me from the command of the Thirteenth Army Corps and to banish me from the Department of the Tennessee. The ostensible motive for this act is the failure of my adjutant to send General Grant a copy of a congratulatory order communicated to commanders of divisions of the Thirteenth Army Corps, the design of which was to assert the just claims of that corps and to stimulate its soldierly pride and conduct.

The order reflected upon no one, nor was it to have been expected that I could have personally supervised the routine of the adjutant's office in this or any like particular. I was in the presence of the enemy, and my attention and best efforts were due to what was transpiring in the field; besides, sent or unsent, outside of the purpose mentioned, the order effected nothing.

The real motive for so unwarranted an act was hostility—personal hostility—growing out of the early connection of my name with the Mississippi River expedition and your assignment of me to the command of it. This feeling subsequently became intensified by the contrast made by my success at Arkansas Post with General Grant's retreat from Oxford and his repulse at Chickasaw Bayou, and, later still, more intensified by the leadership and success of my corps during the advance from Milliken's Bend to Port Gibson, to Champion's Hill, and to Big Black. In all these battles my corps led the advance and bore the brunt; indeed, I made the dispositions for the battles of Port Gibson and Champion's Hill, also for the battle of Big Black, which was fought on our part alone by my own corps.

During May 19, 20, 21, and 22, I lost 1,487 men killed and wounded before Vicksburg in fruitless attempts to carry the enemy's works, in obedience to General Grant's orders—orders which, under the circumstances, were incapable of execution.

On the 22d, I was the first to attack. I made the only lodgments; held them all day under a scorching sun and wasting fire, while the corps on my right, sustaining repulse, left the enemy to mass upon me. Yet, so far as I have seen, the only dispatch from General Grant noticing me or the Thirteenth Army Corps placed me in the position of bringing up the rear.

The fact that McPherson and Sherman gained the lead for a day or two by reason of the temporary substitution of Jackson for Edwards Station as the objective point of the army's movements, was the occasion for a statement calculated to induce the belief that I was uniformly in the rear. All this, however, is but consistent with the motive that censured me for the Arkansas expedition, which, fortunately for me and the country, terminated in the fall of Post Arkansas, and the attempt to charge me with the failure at Chickasaw Bayou, which occurred before I took command of the Mississippi River expedition.

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 the 22d upon Vicksburg, inclusive; and meantime, until the public service will allow the investigation, that I be restored to my command, at least until the fall of Vicksburg. General Grant cannot consistently object to the latter, because only two days before my dismission he made my command larger than the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps combined by the addition of one division certainly and two others contingently, thus in an emergency, notwithstanding his personal feelings, testifying his confidence in my fidelity and capability. Please early advise me of the determination of the Government in the premises.

Your obedient servant,

JOHN A. McCLERNAND,        

Major General.

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* See McClernand to Halleck, 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. 166-7

Major-General James B. McPherson to Major-General Ulysses S. Grant, June 18, 1863

HDQRS. 17TH ARMY CORPS, DEPT. OF THE TENNESSEE,        

Near Vicksburg, Miss, June 18, 1863.

Major-General GRANT, Comdg. Dept. of the Tennessee:

GENERAL: My attention has Just been called to an order published in the Missouri Democrat of the 10th instant, purporting to be a congratulatory order from Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand to his command The whole tenor of the order is so ungenerous, and the insinuations and criminations against the other corps of your army are so manifestly at variance with the facts, that a sense of duty to my command, as well as the verbal protest of every one of my division and brigade commanders against allowing such an order to go forth to the public unanswered, require that I should call your attention to it. After a careful perusal of the order, I cannot help arriving at the conclusion that it was written more to influence public sentiment at the North and impress the public mind with the magnificent strategy, superior tactics, and brilliant deeds of the major-general commanding the Thirteenth Army Corps than to congratulate his troops upon their well-merited successes. There is a vain-gloriousness about the order, an ingenious attempt to write himself down the hero, the master-mind, giving life and direction to military Operations in this quarter, inconsistent with the high-toned principles of the soldier, sans peur et sans reproche. Though born a warrior, as he himself stated, he has evidently forgotten one of the most essential qualities, viz, that elevated, refined sense of honor, which, while guarding his own rights with zealous care, at all times renders justice to others.

It little becomes Major-General McClernand to complain of want of co-operation on the part of other corps in the assault on the enemy's works on the 22d ultimo, when 1,218 men of my command were placed hors de combat in their resolute and daring attempt to carry the positions assigned to them, and fully one-third of these from General Quinby's division, with the gallant and accomplished Colonel [George B.] Boomer at their head, who fell in front of his own lines, where they were left (after being sent 2 miles to support him) to sustain the whole brunt of the battle from 5 p.m. until after dark, his own men being recalled. If General McClernand's assaulting columns were not immediately supported when they moved against the enemy's intrenchments, and few of the men succeeded in getting in, it most assuredly was his own fault and not the fault of any other corps commander. Each corps commander had the positions assigned to him which he was to attempt to carry, and it remained with him to dispose his troops in such a way as to support promptly and efficiently any column which succeeded in getting in. The attack was ordered by the major general commanding the department to be simultaneous at all the points selected, and precisely at the hour the columns moved, some of them taking a little longer than others to reach the enemy's works, on account of the natural and artificial obstacles to be overcome, but the difference in time was not great enough to allow of any changing or massing of the enemy from one part of the line to the other.

The assault failed, not, in my opinion, from any want of co-operation or bravery on the part of our troops, but from the strength of the works, the difficulty of getting close up to them under cover, and the determined character of the assailed.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAS. B. McPHERSON,        

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. 163-4

Major-General William T. Sherman to Lieutenant Colonel John A. Rawlins, June 17, 1863

HEADQUARTERS FIFTEENTH ARMY CORPS,        

Camp on Walnut Hills, June, 17, 1863.

Lieut. Col. JOHN A. RAWLINS,
        Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of the Tennessee:

SIR: On my return last evening from an inspection of the new works at Snyder's Bluff, General Blair, who commands the Second Division of my corps, called my attention to the inclosed publication in the Memphis Evening Bulletin of June 13, instant, entitled “Congratulatory Order of General McClernand,” with a request that I should notice it, lest the statements of fact and inference contained therein might receive credence from an excited public. It certainly gives me no pleasure or satisfaction to notice such a catalogue of nonsense—such an effusion of vain-glory and hypocrisy; nor can I believe General McClernand ever published such an order officially to his corps. I know too well that the brave and intelligent soldiers and officers who compose that corps will not be humbugged by such stuff.

If the order be a genuine production and not a forgery, it is manifestly addressed not to an army, but to a constituency in Illinois, far distant from the scene of the events attempted to be described, who might innocently be induced to think General McClernand the sagacious leader and bold hero he so complacently paints himself; but it is barely possible the order is a genuine one, and was actually read to the regiments of the Thirteenth Army Corps, in which case a copy must have been sent to your office for the information of the commanding general.

I beg to call his attention to the requirements of General Orders, No. 151, of 1862, which actually forbids the publication of all official letters and reports, and requires the name of the writer to be laid before the President of the United States for dismissal. The document under question is not technically a letter or report, and though styled an order, is not an order. It orders nothing, but is in the nature of an address to soldiers, manifestly designed for publication for ulterior political purposes. It perverts the truth to the ends of flattery and self-glorification, and contains many untruths, among which is one of monstrous falsehood. It substantially accuses General McPherson and myself with disobeying the orders of General Grant in not assaulting on May 19 and 22, and allowing on the latter day the enemy to mass his forces against the Thirteenth Army Corps alone. General McPherson is fully able to answer for himself, and for the Fifteenth Army Corps I answer that on May 19 and 22 it attacked furiously, at three distinct points, the enemy's works, at the very hour and minute fixed in General Grant's written orders; that on both days we planted our colors on the exterior slope and kept them there till nightfall; that from the first hour of investment of Vicksburg until now my corps has at all times been far in advance of General McClernand's; that the general-in-chief, by personal inspection, knows this truth; that tens of thousands of living witnesses beheld and participated in the attack; that General Grant visited me during both assaults and saw for himself, and is far better qualified to judge whether his orders were obeyed than General McClernand, who was nearly 3 miles off; that General McClernand never saw my lines; that he then knew, and still knows, nothing about them, and that from his position he had no means of knowing what occurred on this front. Not only were the assaults made at the time and place and in the manner prescribed in General Grant's written orders, but about 3 p.m., five hours after the assault on the 22d began, when my storming party lay against the exterior slope of the bastion on my front, and Blair's whole division was deployed close up to the parapet, ready to spring to the assault, and all my field artillery were in good position for the work, General Grant showed me a note from General McClernand, that moment handed him by an orderly, to the effect that had carried three of the enemy's forts, and that the flag of the Union waved over the stronghold of Vicksburg, asking that the enemy should be pressed at all points lest he should concentrate on him. Not dreaming that a major-general would at such a critical moment make a mere buncombe communication, I instantly ordered Giles A. Smith's and Mower's brigades to renew the assault under cover of Blair's division and the artillery, deployed as before described, and sent an aide to General Steele, about a mile to my right, to convey the same mischievous message, whereby we lost, needlessly, many of our best officers and men.

I would never have revealed so unwelcome a truth had General MCClernand, in his process of self-flattery, confined himself to facts in the reach of his own observation, and not gone out of the way to charge others for results which he seems not to comprehend. In cases of repulse and failure, congratulatory addresses by subordinate commanders are not common, and are only resorted to by weak and vain men to shift the burden of responsibility from their own to the shoulders of others. I never make a practice of speaking or writing of others, but during our assault of the 19th several of my brigade commanders were under the impression that McClernand's corps did not even attempt an assault.

In the congratulatory order I remark great silence on the subject. Merely to satisfy inquiring parties, I should like to know if McClernand's corps did or did not assault at 2 p.m. of May 19, as ordered. I do not believe it did, and I think General McClernand responsible.

With these remarks I leave the matter where it properly belongs, in the hands of the commanding general, who knows his plans and orders, sees with an eye single to success and his country's honor, and not from the narrow and contracted circle of a subordinate commander, who exaggerates the importance of the events that fall under his immediate notice, and is filled with an itching desire for "fame not earned."

With great respect, your obedient servant,

W. T. SHERMAN,        

Major-General, Commanding.

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. 162-3

Major-General Ulysses S. Grant: General Orders No. 50, August 1, 1863

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 50.}

HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE TENNESSEE,        

Vicksburg, Miss., August 1, 1863.

I. All regularly organized bodies of the enemy having been driven from those parts of Kentucky and Tennessee west of the Tennessee River, and from all of Mississippi west of the Mississippi Central Railroad, and it being to the interest of those districts not to invite the presence of armed bodies of men among them, it is announced that the most rigorous penalties will hereafter be inflicted upon the following classes of prisoners, to wit: All irregular bodies of cavalry not mustered and paid by the Confederate authorities; all persons engaged in conscripting, enforcing the conscription, or in apprehending deserters, whether regular or irregular; all citizens encouraging or aiding the same; and all persons detected in firing upon unarmed transports.

It is not contemplated that this order shall affect the treatment due to prisoners of war, Captured within the districts named, when they are members of legally organized companies, and when their acts are in accordance with the usages of civilized warfare.

II. The citizens of Mississippi within the limits above described are called upon to pursue their peaceful avocations, in obedience to the laws of the United States. Whilst doing so in good faith, all United States forces are prohibited from molesting them in any way. It is earnestly recommended that the freedom of negroes be acknowledged, and that, instead of compulsory labor, contracts upon fair terms be entered into between the former masters and servants, or between the latter and such other persons as may be willing to give them employment. Such a system as this, honestly followed, will result in substantial advantages to all parties.

All private property will be respected except when the use of it is necessary for the Government, in which case it must be taken under the direction of a corps commander, and by a proper detail under charge of a commissioned officer, with specific instructions to seize certain property and no other. A staff officer of the quartermaster's or subsistence department will in each instance be designated to receipt for such property as may be seized, the property to be paid for at the end of the war, on proof of loyalty, or on proper adjustment of the claim, under such regulations or laws as may hereafter be established. All property seized under this order must be taken up on returns by the officer giving receipts, and disposed of in accordance with existing regulations.

III. Persons having cotton or other produce not required by the army, will be allowed to bring the same to any military post within the State of Mississippi, and abandon it to the agent of the Treasury Department at said post, to be disposed of in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may establish. At posts where there is no such agent the post quartermaster will receive all such property, and, at the option of the owner, hold it till the arrival of the agent, or send it to Memphis, directed to Capt. A. R. Eddy, assistant quartermaster, who will turn it over to the properly authorized agent at that place.

IV. Within the county of Warren, laid waste by the long presence of contending armies, the following rules to prevent suffering will be observed:

Major-General Sherman, commanding the Fifteenth Army Corps, and Major-General McPherson, commanding the Seventeenth Army Corps, will each designate a commissary of subsistence, who will issue articles of prime necessity to all destitute families calling for them, under such restrictions for the protection of the Government as they may deem necessary. Families who are able to pay for the provisions drawn will in all cases be required to do so.

V. Conduct disgraceful to the American name has been frequently reported to the major-general commanding, particularly on the part of portions of the cavalry. Hereafter, if the guilty parties cannot be reached, the commanders of regiments and detachments will be held responsible, and those who prove themselves unequal to the task of preserving discipline in their commands will be promptly reported to the War Department for muster-out. Summary punishment must be inflicted upon all officers and soldiers apprehended in acts of violence or lawlessness.

By order of Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant:

T. S. BOWERS,        

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 24, Part 3 (Serial No. 38), p. 570-1

Mrs. Mary Duncan to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, April 26, 1863

Major General Halleck,

Genl in Chief

My dear Sir

I had intended leaving for Washington tomorrow but as circumstances will prevent said trip for a few days I now enclose the letters of Genl Scott and Dr. Metcalf and must beg permission to state my case on paper. – My father in law Dr. Duncan of Miss. (a northerner by birth) has always been a staunch & devoted unionist – and to avoid unpleasant strife with his neighbors (as he is now nearly eighty years old) has remained on his own private country seat near Natchez -  having been off said estate on only two occasions in nearly two years! None of his sons (or sons in law) are in the rebel army, – although they were all conscripted & my husband – Mr. Henry Duncan – would neither serve nor obtain a “substitute.” The Duncan family have had many thousand bales of cotton destroyed by the rebel authorities, have been vilified (even in the public journals) threatened with arrest and confiscation and have suffered peculiarly for their well known unionism. Then when the union troops descended the Mississippi river (on which Stream - ninety miles above Vicksburg opposite Lake Providence there are nine plantations belonging to the United family) we were horribly depredated on, lost very many negroes – & had nearly all the provisions taken away – while my brother-in-law – Steven Duncan Jr had his house stripped of everything including mantle pieces! – Having obtained a “permit” from Washington, I went South the last of January and returned here (to my sister) about three weeks since & when in plantation regions – I applied at once to Gen Grant & the admiral, – found them both most kind & courteous & they on a full hearing our miserably unfortunate position (between guerillas & Federal soldiers) promised protection from other Foraging parties. Genl McPherson was also very kind and I had a delightful visit to the Fleet – having met with nothing but civility from the officers in command. – I had not heard from my husband for my for six months prior to my departure from N. Y. – I had not been south for six months prior to my departure from N. Y. – I had not been south for nearly two years – so the terrible condition of things “below the line” was a double shock to me although – I well know that in war – the innocent must often times suffer for the guilty. Mr. Duncan insisted on my return north as the neighbors threatened us with the arrest & the Union troops (especially the Kansas regiments) were very troublesome despite “protection” papers, while guerilla bands were in unpleasant proximity. Therefore I left the unhappy country & as soon as Vicksburg falls – Mr. Duncan would join me here. – We have been compelled to hire our negroes – & – even as it is – have lost great numbers of them. – so that I think, Dear General, our position doubly trying – as we have been equally pillaged & maltreated by friend & foe, & nothing but Genl Grant’s justice & the kindness of the Admiral – (for the Duncan loyalty was well known to the fleet) saved us from entire ruin. As you perhaps know that “foraging” is an extremely elastic term often times. – & on Mississippi river it seems to include anything that a soldier may see fit to seize. My object, Dear Genl, in thus addressing you, is to claim & request that which – as long-suffering Unionists we have a right to ask viz. – direct protection from headquarters – for owing to the orders of Gen Grant that our property should not the pillaged – & that some fragment should be left from the wreck – various complaints have been made in the newspapers – & the charge of disloyalty implied. Of course there are many officers who would gladly avail of the privilege of seizing our property if the opportunity were aforded them – & I know that some of the men who are under arrest for the violation of our “protection” papers – would too gladly revenge themselves by circulating falsehoods concerning us. I can give every proof of our abiding Unionism, – if you wish other testimony than my own word of honor as a lady – & I can refer you to anyone who knows us for further evidence on the subject. – Will you kindly inform me – Dear Genl – whether the negroes of loyalist (now hired laborers) can be forcibly seized & made to serve the soldiers! & will you not be so good as to give some especial order for the protection of our property? Otherwise Genl Thomas’s new plans may have a direct influence in completing our ruin. Are not Union people to be protected! (even if they are on the Mississippi river!) – & will you not put an end to our agonizing doubts on the matter – by granting me orthodox protection – such as cannot be violated! General Grant has been most kind but – even his orders are violated by our troops & I do not understand clearly whether Genl Thomas will be authorized to countermand Genl Grant's protection of us! So pray be so kind – Dear Genl as to take some speedy step in our favor. Otherwise – we can hardly fail to meet the same doom allotted to rebels. for of course – many of our officers will be tempted by hope of gain (as the Dunkin plantations should be “worked” to advantage by them) to declare that we ought not to have protection. I have no words wherewith to express my heartfelt gratitude to Genls Grant & McPherson & to the Admiral, for they were all most kind & just. Still – I prefer to have your warrant in this ghastly crisis. & make my appeal to you – as one who bears the highest character for honor and justice. Feeling assured that I shall not appeal in vain. If you will kindly promise me a few moments conversation – on my arrival in Washington – I should be greatly indebted for I fully expect to be there during present week. but is it asking too much my – Dear Sir to beg one line in response – telling of your kind intentions in our behalf? For you can imagine my painful anxiety & suspense as all we own on earth is planted in Mississippi mud – & although a northern woman – I have great interests at stake in above state – the best proof that I can offer – perhaps – of my loyalty is in the order issued for my arrest by Mrs Jefferson Davis! As someone informed her Royal Highness that “Mrs Henry Duncan was going south as a Union spy!” The southern journals mildly suggested the propriety of hanging poor old Dr. Duncan –  (who you make per chance have known as a former Vice-President of the “Colonization Society.”) If you would like me to send you a score of letters – bearing witness to our Unionism – I can do so by the return mail, but you need only refer to any chance authority to learn that the Duncan family has never yet been disgraced by a traitor! A line to Genl Grant – & another to Gen Thomas – would be regarded as a great favors Dear General for with your protection – I could be in comparative peace.— forgive this long letter but – I cannot can condense the matter & explain it satisfactory. I will promise, however to be more brief in conversation. I should indeed be greatly indebted by one word and reply—

Yours very sincerely

Mary Duncan.

233 Fifth Avenue                                                                                                                          New York

April 26th [1863]

Dr Duncan has also two sugar plantations in La. — on Bayou Teche — near Franklin & as said States are now in our (Union) lines – can they not be protected?

SOUCE:  This letter was listed and sold at auction oakauctions.com on September 10, 2020. Accessed October 28, 2021

Diary of 5th Sergeant Osborn H. Oldroyd: June 18, 1863

Aiming at the Court House.

I was relieved from guard at 9 A. M. and returned to camp. There has been very heavy firing all day, and it is rumored that Pemberton will try to break through our lines; but if he tries that game he will find it dangerous enough. It is no easy matter to climb over the bulwark of steel now encircling this city.

The weather is getting altogether too hot for comfort. A few sunstrokes have occurred, but without proving fatal so far. One poor fellow even dropped at midnight, when I have been-moonstruck. There are more ways than one of shirking a battle, for which purpose some are even willing to part with a finger or toe.

 If the rebels are short of provisions, their ammunition seems to hold out, for they are quite liberal in their distribution of it. But when Sherman begins firing from the east, McClernand from the west, McPherson from the rear, and the mortars from the north, then look out for big fire-works.

The cannon are all pointed towards the town, but some of the shells fall far short of it. When these burst in mid-air, we can see a small round cloud of smoke left behind, and then there is a sharp lookout for fragments to be scattered in every direction. Our artillerymen have had such good practice during the siege, that they can generally drop a shell wherever they want to.

Boys at the front have time for sport which is not to be interrupted even by stray shells. I noticed four of our boys playing euchre, when a shell from the enemy came careering just above their heads; but they treated it with entire indifference. Another group I saw playing “seven-up” under a blanket caught at the four corners in the hammers of muskets stuck in the ground, and thereby forming a very good shelter from the sun. A shell burst right over this group, scattering its fragments all around, but even this failed to disturb the game, further than to call forth the timely comment, “Johnny passes.”

A game of euchre, with a shell for trumps.

SOURCE: Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, A Soldier's Story of the Siege of Vicksburg, p. 56-8