/.* 
 
MEMORIES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MEN WHO SAVED THE UXION 
 
 BY 
 
 BONN PIATT 
 
 \\ 
 
 NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 
 BELFORD, CLARKE & COMPANY 
 
 1887 
 
COPYRIGHT. 
 
 BELFORD, CLARKE & CO. 
 1887. 
 
 p 
 
TO MY BROTHER, 
 
 QL Sanbcrs ftiatt, 
 
 WHOSE DISTINGUISHED SERVICES IN THE LATE WAR, 
 
 SCHOLARLY ATTAINMENTS, AND HIGH CHARACTER, HAVE 
 
 ADDED LUSTRE TO THE NAME WE BEAR, 
 
 THIS BOOK 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. 
 
 MJL99597 
 
"The world knows nothing of its greatest men " 
 
 PHILIP VAN ARTEVKLDK. 
 
 "The real heroes of this war are the great, brave, patient, nameless 
 PEOPLE/ It is to their service through these varied scenes that we now 
 gladly turn. The victory was not won through Generalship it is a libel 
 on the word to say that Generalship delayed for four years the success 
 of twenty-five millions over ten millions, or required a million men in 
 the closing campaigns to defeat a hundred thousand. It was won by the 
 sacrifices, the heroism, the sufferings, the death of the men in the ranks. 
 Their story we now seek to tell. 1 " Ohio in the War," by WHITELAW RKID. 
 
 "West Point turns out shoulder-strapped office-holders. It cannot 
 produce Soldiers ; for these are, as I claim, born, and not made. And it is 
 susceptible of demonstration that the almost ruinous dela3 r in suppressing 
 the rebellion and restoring the Union ; the deadly failure of campaigns 
 year after year ; the awful waste of the best soldiers the world has seen ; 
 and the piling up of the public debt into the billions, was wholly due to 
 West Point influence and West Point commanders. They were command 
 ers, but they were not soldiers. 11 "Recollections of a Private Soldier," by 
 FRANK WILKESON. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 DEDICATION, m 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 v 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, . ....... 27 
 
 EDWIN M. STANTON, . 50 
 
 SALMON P. CHASE, 95 
 
 WILLIAM H. SEWARD, . 132 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS, . . . .172 
 
 APPENDIX : 
 
 McClellan s Own Story, 28 
 
 Grant and Sherman on Thomas 296 
 
 Von Moltke as a Critic, . . . . .298 
 Dangers from France. Testimony of Hon. L. Q. C. 
 
 Lamar, ....... 300 
 
PEEFAOE. 
 
 PURE hero worship is healthy. It stimulates the 
 young 1 to deeds of heroism, stirs the old to unselfish 
 efforts, and gives the masses models of manhood 
 that tend to lift humanity above the common-place 
 meanness of ordinary life. The better instincts of 
 the human race have, through all the ages, recog 
 nized and elevated its heroes into something like 
 objects of religious worship. To such, songs of 
 praise have been sung, eulogies made eloquent, 
 histories written, and great monuments erected. 
 When gods were created by men, their deities began 
 as heroes, and it was what they did on earth that 
 gave them existence and sovereignty in heaven. 
 
 To have such hero-worship healthy it must be 
 true. The false heroes, like false gods, degrade 
 their worshippers ; for let the fraud be ever so well 
 constructed, there is a general instinctive conscious 
 ness that the thing is false. Temples of imposing 
 magnitude may be erected, ceremonies devised, and a 
 priesthood organized, and yet through all, the com 
 mon mind retains the subtle, almost unrecognized 
 thought of falsity in the god. Fraud degrades, and 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 the same fact lies in the worship of the charlatan, 
 and that of the real hero, as in the worship of the 
 false and the true gods. There is no healthy return 
 from the elevation of the unworthy. The young- are 
 not inspired to high deeds, the old grow more cynical 
 and selfish, and the common mind learns to place an 
 unjust value on the cunning that takes to itself the 
 niche in the temple of fame, intended for the truly 
 great. A nation s greatness can be measured by 
 the men it elevates for love and admiration, as it 
 may be known by its gods. The race that worships 
 a monkey-faced dog is inferior to the one that has a 
 Jove, and the latter is second to the one that bows 
 down to the true God. 
 
 There is a popular delusion to the effect that fanat 
 icism is evidence of belief. It is precisely the re 
 verse. Fanaticism means a frenzied assertion of 
 what one wants to believe, but is conscious that it 
 cannot be sustained by reason. One is calm and 
 self-possessed over a belief that calls for no argument 
 or assertion to establish it. When a man asserts, 
 for example, that the sun does not shine, they who 
 hear it have nothing but pity for one born blind, or 
 who is insane. But when an infidel avers his lack 
 of faith in a religious dogma, he arouses the utmost 
 fury in the true believers, and yet the evidence that 
 enforces belief is the same in both instances. If the 
 dogma was as clear as sunlight, a doubt as to its 
 truth would be met with calmness and commiseration. 
 
 This holds good of fanaticism in all faiths. We 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 see it illustrated in the men and matters made prom 
 inent by the late war. Hence to question the great 
 ness of Lincoln is to excite pity or contempt, to doubt 
 that of Grant is to run the chance of being- knocked 
 down. The true believers walk backward and cover 
 their dead with the mantle of concealment, and in 
 so doing- it matters nothing- to them that other dead 
 are trampled on. The man who strews flowers on 
 the tomb of Grant, looks fiercely around to see 
 whether another grave is being- decorated. When 
 my article on Stanton was published in the North 
 American Revieiv, in which I spoke of Thomas as 
 the great military chieftain of the war, I was assailed 
 by numerous journals, that not content with eulog-- 
 izing Grant, proceeded to belittle Thomas. 
 
 This is shameful, and no just mind approves of or 
 seeks to follow the bad example. In this broad 
 land of ours there is space for many monuments. 
 Grant should have all to which he is entitled, and 
 this will not dim the lustre or detract from the fame 
 of one who, winning- many victories, never lost the 
 life of a man through a blunder ; who lived beloved 
 by the brave fellows at his back, and died lamented, 
 leaving- his monument in the hearts of his soldiers. 
 Modest, silent, and strangely solitary he left the 
 record of his deeds to the keeping- of the brave men 
 who made those deeds possible. No press reporter 
 made his headquarters a source of noisy eulogy ; no 
 political party used his name in return for partisan 
 favors. Suspected by the government he did so 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 much to save, he died neglected by the very men 
 whose tenure of power he had made secure. 
 
 This was our great war hero, and we can recognize 
 his merits without detracting from those of others. 
 Grant was a brave man and would fight. The dead 
 at Shiloh, Vicksburg, the Wilderness, and Cold Har 
 bor testify to this. But when he boasted of his con 
 tempt for strategy, he transferred to the dead all the 
 glory of the achievements. As the most eminent of 
 European war critics has said : " the general com 
 manding a hundred and forty thousand men ought 
 to have driven the sixty thousand back on Richmond 
 without material loss." Victories that come of con 
 tinual hammering and attrition are victories of the 
 men who died that an enemy might be destroyed. 
 
 It is time for us to rescue the true from the false ; 
 this not so much for the sake of the heroes of the 
 late war, for they have passed from all earthly influ 
 ences, and it is nothing to them whether bronze or 
 marble monuments mark their graves, or they sleep 
 forgotten in their narrow homes ; but it is for us who 
 survive them, for our children, and the unending 
 generations that will live to enjoy what our great 
 men have accomplished in their behalf. 
 
 It is to aid in this good work that I have written 
 and now publish this little book. I made one of the 
 millions called out to defend our national existence, 
 and it was my good fortune to come in contact with 
 the eminent men who led us through that death- 
 struggle to victory at last. While taking an active 
 
Preface. ix 
 
 part in the war, I found myself, through my tempera 
 ment, more of a looker-on than a participant. I had, 
 instinctively, a horror of war. The cruel brutality 
 sickened me and, so wiping 1 out all ambition in that 
 line, left only a sense of duty to hold me to the ser 
 vice. This enabled me to look at men and events 
 from the stand-point of an observer, and, while 
 claiming for myself no superiority of intellect, I well 
 know that my position enabled me to coolly measure 
 all that has a right to history. 
 
 I saw then what I see now, and what will be 
 recognized hereafter, when popular passion shall 
 have subsided, and prejudice engendered by a deadly 
 strife shall have disappeared, that the armed conflict 
 of the Civil War was but one-third of the burthen 
 imposed upon the great and good men God called to 
 power at Washington. The reader will find, as he 
 peruses these pages, that it is strangely unjust to 
 confine our hero-worship to the men of arms. There 
 is something about the glare and blare of war 
 that blinds the common mind to the greatness that 
 lies back of its smoke and noise. The stranger in 
 Washington, finding at every corner a bronze or 
 marble warrior, would suppose that we were a mili 
 tary power and had behind us grand wars and great 
 victories. Such stranger will be amazed to learn 
 that we are a nation of peaceable farmers, traders, 
 and mechanics, with but one real war to commemo 
 rate ; and, as for victories, nearly all these majestic 
 figures represent heroe.s of defeat. 
 
x Preface. 
 
 To understand why it is that we have more than 
 one military hero to set up in an open space at the 
 capital, we must take a more philosophical view of 
 the late conflict than that indulged in by the popular 
 mind. When the late war broke upon us in all its 
 fury, it found the South partially prepared, and the 
 North taken altogether by surprise. The war ele 
 ment the Confederate leaders could draw from in 
 the Slave States at once, and that the North knew 
 nothing- of, was the fanaticism that for nearly two 
 years kept an army in the field, that girt their 
 borders with a fire that shrivelled our forces, as they 
 marched in, like tissue paper in a flame. How those 
 men fought the world will never know, for it cannot 
 be told. Born and bred amid scenes of turmoil and 
 lawless disturbance, accustomed to arms, and familiar 
 with violent deaths, they were animated by a feeling 
 of wrath that the word fanaticism feebly expresses. 
 For two years this held them to a conflict in which 
 they were invincible. The North poured out its noble 
 soldiery by thousands, and they fought well, but 
 their broken columns and tkinned lines drifted back 
 upon our capital with nothing but shameful disaster, 
 to tell of the dead and dying, the lost colors, and the 
 captured artillery. 
 
 This violence lasted nearly two years. It spent its 
 fury on the solid heroic force of the North. No defeat, 
 however shameful and disastrous, discouraged our 
 noble people. No man worthy of the name of man 
 doubted our eventual success. The land might be 
 
Preface. xi 
 
 appalled at the bloody results of important fights ; 
 desolation might enter into all the households and 
 spread mourning over the country, and yet at every 
 call troops came, and one general failed only to be 
 followed by another. The men at the South, half- 
 starved, unsheltered, shoeless, and in rags, weakened 
 in their victories, and the time came when it was pos 
 sible for a hundred and forty thousand to drive back 
 sixty thousand. I say this grew into a possibility, 
 although in his victorious march from the Rapidan 
 to Richmond the Federal general left in dead behind 
 him more men than the Confederates had in the 
 field. 
 
 The Confederacy reached the zenith of its fortunes 
 at the battle of Gettysburg. It fell as rapidly as it 
 had risen. But it went down fighting. We have to 
 consider all this when we come to measure the war 
 men. It is no exaggeration to say that Grant, 
 Sherman, and Sheridan are great in the eyes of the 
 multitude only because they happened to be in 
 command when the Confederacy fell from sheer ex 
 haustion. Had they been put in the field at the head 
 of our armies when the unfortunate McClellan went 
 down, they would not have lived thirty days. The 
 last doctor, or rather the last dose, has the credit or 
 discredit, in the eyes of the ignorant, of the cure or 
 the killing of the patient. Grant was not only on 
 horseback when the Confederacy ended, but he died 
 under the shadow of Lee s surrendered sword ; and 
 that shadow saved him and his sons from the aw- 
 
xii Preface. 
 
 ful fate of the partners when they sought to realize 
 millions on Army and Navy contracts; and this 
 mighty shadow keeps his tomb green with immor 
 telles from a people that could forgive all to a man 
 who was in at the death of so terrible an enemy. 
 
 It is strange what magic lingers about the moul 
 dering remains of Virginia s rebel leader. His very 
 name confers renown upon his enemies. The pure 
 white hands are folded over a heart once so grand in 
 its emotions that his life seemed that of a saint, and 
 his deeds made so sacred a bad cause that a revolt 
 rose to the dignity of a great war. As 1 have said, 
 the shadow of his surrendered sword not only gives 
 renown to an otherwise unknown grave, but blinds 
 the common mind to the frightful slaughter that led 
 up to that surrender, and the awful corruptions that 
 did more to degrade and destroy our Government 
 than Lee s armed hosts. 
 
 Aside from all other considerations, it does not 
 speak well for the pride of our people that we should 
 be eager to accept such lack of generalship as the 
 inhuman butcheries that followed the continuous 
 "hammering" of a greatly superior force upon a 
 fierce enemy, upon the understanding that we could 
 lose two lives to the enemy s one, and so win through 
 attrition. The sixty thousand dead between the 
 Rapidan and Richmond, the like proportion sleeping 
 in humble graves between Chattanooga and Atlanta, 
 tell of the heroic devotion of the poor fellows who 
 volunteered to fight and, if necessary, die for their 
 
Preface. xiii 
 
 country, but history will fail to find therein material 
 for monuments to generals. 
 
 The mystery attending 1 General Grant s eminence, 
 aside from the fact that he was in at the death of 
 the fierce Confederacy, is of easy solution. After 
 the war, while he hung doubtful between the party 
 he had acted with and the party in power, he was 
 seized on by the last named as so much political 
 capital, and used in that direction for far more than 
 he was worth, Recognizing the inevitable found in 
 the " military bullet-heads," as Hawthorne expressed 
 it, and bound to make Presidents for years to -come, 
 the Republican party made Grant their own. The 
 press of the country, that is, in the main Republican, 
 the tremendous army of office-holders and office- 
 seekers are, and have been, united in making a hero 
 of a man whose operations in the field will not bear 
 inspection, and whose Civil Service and financial 
 operations can be condoned only on the ground of 
 his miraculous ignorance and stupidity. There is 
 nothing so fierce, unforgiving, and unreasonable as 
 political partisanship in the United States ; but this 
 very partisanship renders short-lived the falsehood it 
 seeks to make permanent. Already the noise is 
 dying out, and as the truth comes forth from the 
 Confederate side, dust gathers on the tomb of this 
 one hero built up at the expense of others more 
 deserving. The demand that bids us worship at the 
 shrine of Grant, while we are to turn our backs upon 
 and neglect the real hero of the war, George H. 
 
xiv Preface. 
 
 Thomas, is one that cannot long- be obeyed by the 
 people, especially by the thousands that, serving 
 under him, felt his kindness shown in his care of 
 them, and recognized his greatness in his deeds. 
 
 In common with other and more philosophical 
 observers, I could well leave the proper adjustment 
 of claims to the sober second thought of those coming 
 after us to whose decision we must bow in submis 
 sion, but for the exasperating fact that the admirers 
 of the meretricious, not content with erecting monu 
 ments to their gods, are busy as thieves stealing 
 from the monuments of others. In Italy I have not 
 only seen temples to false gods despoiled to erect 
 churches to the true God, but I have looked on great 
 monuments of art despoiled to build hideous lodging- 
 houses for shop-keepers. It remained for us to 
 mutilate the tombs of the deserving in order to set 
 up memorials to others whose right to praiseworthy 
 recognition is more than doubtful. 
 
 After all, as I have said, the war part of the late 
 civil conflict, that has so absorbed public attention, 
 made but one-third of the task imposed upon the Ad 
 ministration in its defence of our national existence. 
 The weary sweat of anxious toil, the w^ork planned 
 by great minds and carried out by patriotic hearts, 
 in that terrible struggle, seems lost in the roar of 
 the armed conflict amid the glare of devastation 
 that followed the appeal to brute force. The popular 
 mind fails to perceive that lying back of all this 
 noise was hidden the quiet brain power, as in the 
 
Preface. xv 
 
 iron-banded boiler and still cylinder is concealed the 
 noiseless force making- possible the rattle and roar 
 of machinery that come to stun one while the work 
 is being- done. 
 
 Had victory, through armed conflict, been all that 
 Abraham Lincoln and his able advisers and states 
 men were called upon to accomplish, the task had 
 been easy. The people responded with patriotic 
 ardor to the call to arms, a hundred thousand at a 
 time ; the ingenious ability of Salmon P. Chase pro 
 vided the money necessary to keep the army in 
 the field ; and Edwin M. Stanton clothed, armed, 
 organized, and fed. Even without military ability 
 in our generals, it was a mere question of time 
 when the Confederacy would sink exhausted. The 
 great danger that menaced us lay in European 
 interference, against which that greatest of all Sec 
 retaries of State guarded ; and second only to this 
 was the danger from secession, or, as it was popu 
 larly called " copperhead " S3^mpathy that lay coiled, 
 ready to strike at the patriotic North. How this 
 crept into the army itself, and found expression at 
 General McClellan s headquarters, I have striven to 
 tell in these pages. Since they were written, McClel 
 lan s own story has appeared, and in it my reader 
 will find confirmation, strong as proof of Holy Writ, 
 of all that I have asserted. Every page of the story 
 bristles with denunciation of the Government at 
 Washington, and the celebrated Harrison Bar letter 
 is given, in which the great military failure, with 
 
xvi Preface. 
 
 cool audacity, undertakes the entire control of the 
 civil Government. 
 
 Even when public attention is called to the great 
 statesmen at Washington, there is a strange per 
 versity in the popular mind that keeps it from seeing* 
 its favorites precisely as they were. Lincoln, Stan- 
 ton, Chase, and Seward were great enough without 
 exaggeration. To take them precisely as the}^ were 
 is to justify our hero-worship. Our people are not 
 content with that, and their heroes must be idealized 
 beyond recognition to secure content in the popular 
 mind. This is to be regretted ; for, while it adds 
 nothing to the greatness of the popular idols, it robs 
 them of those weaknesses of humanity that insure 
 love as well as admiration. The interest that 
 attaches to human endeavor is based on the sym 
 pathy we feel in the struggle, against odds, of one 
 who fights not only adverse outside influences, but 
 weaknesses within for something higher and better 
 than their lot. The perfect man has nothing of this. 
 He is the God-protected Achilles in the epic where 
 the unprotected Hector is the hero. 
 
 While authors of fiction are coming to understand 
 that the real is the basis of good work, biography is 
 yet held to the old-fashioned Plutarchian process of 
 idealization. And yet biography is supposed to deal 
 with facts, and gets its ground for approving faith 
 in its adherence to nature. When Cromwell ordered 
 the painter to reproduce on canvas the wart nature 
 gave his face, he left us a portrait that told, beyond 
 
Preface. xvii 
 
 the telling- in words, that it was a true likeness of 
 the man that scorned to lie. In like manner, when 
 Froude published the private papers of Carlyle, he 
 gave us a better philosophy than Carlyle had ever 
 written. While the few are angered at the destruc 
 tion of what they wanted to believe, the sympathy 
 of the many is awakened by the dark picture of a 
 great man who struggled wofully through life 
 against bodily ills that would have made a common 
 man a criminal. 
 
 " Give me the truth, 7 said the great Napoleon to 
 his marshals, when they went out to fight without 
 his immediate supervision, and the truth is what we 
 want if we seek to be benefited by history. 
 
 Recognizing this, I wrote, some two years since, 
 for publication, my recollections of Lincoln, and the 
 impression that great man made upon my mind. I 
 strove to depict him as he appeared to me, without 
 the distorting glamor of a great war and a high 
 office. I painted the wart upon his face. This 
 article gave rise to a huge volume of Lincoln litera 
 ture, beginning with some twaddle of General Grant, 
 and ending with the impressions of reporters. I 
 had failed to hit the popular ideal, and my sketch, 
 to which every essay in the book was an answer, 
 appeared at the end, instead of being, as it was in 
 fact, at the beginning. 
 
 Reading that volume, I found interest, if not amuse 
 ment, in the treatment of common belief therein pro- 
 sented. When this is summed up it means an elong- 
 
xviii Preface. 
 
 ated oddity of tears and gross fun. He is the his 
 torical Job Trotter of those troubled times, and when 
 not telling- questionable stories, is weeping- over some 
 case of distress. These narrators do not seem to be 
 aware that they are belittling their subject, and 
 that if they succeeded in securing- a settled convic 
 tion the grandest character in our annals would 
 appear to posterity as a weak clown, ready to jeer or 
 weep at a moment s notice. None of this is true. I 
 saw Lincoln at Springfield, Illinois, shortly before 
 and shortly after his first election to the Presidency. 
 I found him then what lie proved subsequently to be, 
 the man 1 told of in my sketch. This does not differ 
 from the many impressions collected in Allen Thorn- 
 dyke Bice s book, save in two particulars. I said he 
 was a raan of coarse, tough fibre, through which ran 
 a vein of humor; and who, while good-natured in 
 manner, was not remarkable for kindness of heart. 
 To these views the world at large, and these many 
 contributors, take exception. 
 
 It is common for the popular mind to accept a 
 good-natured, easy manner for kindness. The fact 
 is, such manner is proof of the reverse. A man of 
 real kindness in his nature is apt to be rendered irri 
 table in his efforts to remedy or alleviate the 
 many woes and right the many wrongs that beset 
 his path. Old Sam Johnson, for example, had the 
 hide of a bear and the heart of a baby. I have 
 known many such, and so have you, my reader; 
 for a knowledge of, and a sympathy for, those who 
 
Preface. xix 
 
 suffer arouses a just indignation against the wrong 
 doer, and makes the true philanthropist irritable and 
 combative. The good-natured man is the one who 
 selfishly avoids all trouble and, finding that it is 
 easier to go through life in harmony with all, is pro 
 lific of smiles and kind words, and is not sparing of 
 good deeds when such can be done without sacrifice 
 of comfort to himself. 
 
 No better illustration can be had of what I am 
 striving to say than in the true characters of Lincoln 
 and Stanton. The last-named has gone to his grave 
 marked as the hardest man ever in office. And yet, 
 knowing them both intimately, I can say with truth 
 that Stanton had the kinder heart of the two. He 
 was made by nervous disorder extremely irritable, 
 and his manner was, at times, positively brutal. 
 Under this rough exterior beat a heart that made 
 the most tender of husbands, affectionate as a 
 ather, the truest of friends, and when touched by 
 some instance of sorrow and misfortune, the readiest 
 bo act, and act at a sacrifice to his own comfort or 
 well-being. 
 
 It is strange how men can be blind to the effects of 
 bheir own assertions. No man ever rose to eminence 
 as a leader of men through a cultivation of the 
 amiable virtues. The man who has no enemies has 
 no following. To be great one must be positive, and 
 gain strength through foes. A man selects his 
 enemies, his friends make themselves, and from 
 these friends he is apt to suffer. " Save me from my 
 
xx Preface. 
 
 friends," is an old adage. A community chooses 
 its leader very much as one does his blacksmith, not 
 because he is agreeable, but for that he can do the 
 work. There is an instinctive knowledge of this in 
 the people, and in a republic, where the representative 
 represents, we have ability of a certain sort, whether 
 we have honesty or not. Of course this rule fails 
 where money intervenes. The rich have neither 
 morals nor sense, and when they purchase their way 
 into official position, the very foundations of the 
 republic are disturbed. 
 
 The amiable man, who has no views with which 
 to offend, no positive characteristics to antagonize 
 others, no high ambition for which to sacrifice his 
 support, may be an official in times of profound 
 peace, but he cannot be a leader in the hour of peril. 
 It is possible for him to be a politician, and follow 
 the masses, but he cannot be a statesman and lead 
 the people. Let the student look over the brief list 
 of eminent men whom we regard as our statesmen, 
 and note the positive character of each, and how 
 little any one of them was possessed of the weak 
 amiability that is supposed to be popular. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln had a good-natured, easy way, 
 so far as manner went, but beneath this was a firm 
 character the result of temperament and training. 
 The son of poor people, " the white trash of the South 
 spawned on Illinois," as Wendell Phillips tersely 
 expressed it, he worked his way up by the hardest 
 study to a leading position at the bar; The title 
 
Preface. xxi 
 
 of "Honest old Abe," it is well known, was given 
 him because of his plausible affectation of simplicity 
 in dealing- with a jury. And with a jury he was 
 singularly successful because he understood the 
 common men composing that body, and, getting 
 down to the level of their intelligence, played upon 
 their prejudices. " The best school for a lawyer," 
 said the late Tom Corwin, of Ohio, " is a two years 
 service on the jury ; without the knowledge gained 
 there the advocate is certain to fire over the heads 
 of the twelve good and true gentlemen of the panel." 
 Remembering that keen sensibility is the result 
 of culture, and that no study so contracts the intel 
 lect and subdues the emotions as that of the law, 
 we can easily take the measure of this, our greatest 
 man, without any loss to his real greatness. It is 
 of no use to quote instances, against this conclusion, 
 of cases where Lincoln volunteered in, or without fee 
 fought some poor fellows claim through to recog 
 nition. All eminent lawyers, at some time in their 
 lives, have done this, either from pride of opinion, 
 having some principle to establish, or seeking an 
 advertisement as a physician who practises gratis 
 among the poor. I have never known, nor have 
 you, gentle reader, a lawyer who injured his practice 
 through an excessive display of his emotional nature. 
 In embalming a body it is necessa^ to remove the 
 viscera and brain, and in the popular mind some 
 thing of the same process has to be gone through 
 with to make a hero. 
 
xxii Preface. 
 
 That man is great who rises to the emergencies 
 of the occasion, and becomes master of the situation. 
 I was once on board a vessel at sea, when, through an 
 accident to the machinery in a storm, we were 
 threatened with destruction. It was not the captain, 
 nor any of his officers, or the demoralized crew we 
 had to look to for safety. A man before then 
 unknown, save as a quiet passenger, came to the 
 front. I can still hear his clear, clarion-like voice, 
 and see his calm yet determined manner, as he took 
 command and, with force and intelligence, directed 
 our efforts. But for him the rotten, leaky boats 
 would have been launched, and the vessel abandoned. 
 The captain saw the madness of such an attempt, 
 but had not the mastery to enforce his opinion. 
 The unknown man had. We were saved from a 
 cruel death by his presence of mind, clear intellect, 
 and control of others. The lesson learned on that 
 trying occasion has remained with me. It taught 
 me not only to know a leader, but to appreciate the 
 qualities that make him such. 
 
 The indomitable will that overrides all obstacles, 
 strong in its high purpose, has little regard for the 
 weak, and the pathway of such is strewn with wrecks 
 that a kind heart would waste its powers in attempts 
 to alleviate. When, therefore, one tells me that 
 Secretary Stanton pointed to a sofa in his office upon 
 which Lincoln was wont to throw himself and burst 
 into tears, he is telling of a man who said to 
 General Schenck and me, in the darkest period of 
 
Preface. xxiii 
 
 that dreadful war, that he " ate his rations and slept 
 well," and his looks sustained his assertion. That 
 he may have shed tears when Baker was killed I can 
 well believe, but that the man whose iron will and 
 high intellect carried the Government through that 
 terrible war was wont to throw himself upon a sofa 
 and burst into tears is something- common-sense 
 rejects as untrue. In like manner it is generally 
 agreed that his indulgence in coarse jokes and 
 humorous stories came from the necessity for relief 
 from the grave cares incident to his high office. Let 
 this be admitted, and where does it leave these 
 eulogists ? What man of keen, delicate sensibility 
 could find relief from cares of any sort in jests so 
 coarse that they cannot be put to record ? It is well 
 while idealizing a subject to be logical and consistent. 
 Again, this habit, that ran through his life from 
 the time he was a day-laborer until he died a presi 
 dent, is excused only during the four years of the 
 war, when cares were oppressive. The jokes were 
 then a relief to him ! How about the long period 
 previous ? Let us see. While a rail-splitter in his 
 early manhood, he was noted for his jokes and stories. 
 Had he the necessity then for relief ? As a member 
 of the bar he was accustomed to amuse his associates 
 in the same way. Did the reason for relief apply 
 in that case ? As a member of Congress he was 
 a habitue of the cloak-room, holding a circle of 
 amused members, listening to his recital of funny 
 stories. Were the cares of legislation so heavy that 
 
xxiv Preface. 
 
 this was necessary ? It is all nonsense. The habit 
 of life that had come to be a second nature clung 
 to him through the discharge of duties in the high 
 position to which he had been so unexpectedly called. 
 
 Herein lies the real greatness of Abraham Lincoln. 
 There are two sorts of natures that survive the 
 severe strain of high responsibility. One is a dull, 
 coarse temperament that does not know and feel the 
 responsibility. The other is a strong mental and 
 physical nature that accepts the trust .with full confi 
 dence in itself. It is not the work that kills, but the 
 worry. President Lincoln had no worry. With a 
 strong confidence in himself, and a deep reliance on 
 the rule of right that governs our being, he calmly 
 exercised his power without loss of nerve-force, and 
 so ate with appetite, and slept the sleep of the just. 
 He did not forego the amusement he found in the 
 humor that was part of his nature. 
 
 Said Thouvenel, the youthful French diplomat, 
 who wielded such a wide influence under the second 
 empire, in response to my assertion that Louis Napo 
 leon must be a great man to control such a govern 
 ment, " It does not call for more ability to manage an 
 empire than it does to manage a wholesale shoe store, 
 if the emperor only thinks so. See, I lay a narrow 
 plank upon the ground, and any one can walk it. 
 I lift that plank a hundred feet above the earth, and 
 only one in a thousand has nerve enough to do so. 
 The way to govern an empire is not to know that 
 the plank is off the ground . The uncle knew, he had 
 
Preface. xxv 
 
 nerve, the nephew does not know, and nerve is not 
 necessary. Some day he will make a false step and 
 be astonished at his fall." 
 
 Abraham Lincoln saw, with some amusement, and 
 at times no little annoyance, his subordinates fret 
 and worry over their work and sink exhausted from 
 the strain, while he held his strength unimpaired. 
 When after Pope s defeat and McClellan s treachery, 
 he saw our armies resolved into a mob and tumbled 
 back on Washing-ton, he made preparations for a 
 removal of the Government with the same quiet 
 coolness with, which he welcomed the victorious 
 armies to the capital after Lee s surrender. Had the 
 Administration been forced out of Washington, the 
 people of the North would have seen him at Harris- 
 burg or Philadelphia striving to retrieve the terrible 
 disaster with the same cool courage, and quiet re 
 liance in himself and the ultimate triumph of the 
 right, that distinguished him in his hour of victory. 
 He was a grand man, but to assert that he had a del 
 icate temperament, a fine fibre, is to indulge in a con 
 tradictory absurdity ; and to say that he \vas a weep- 
 ing, willowy, impressionable character is monstrous. 
 
 In the historical adjustment of merit due the 
 eminent men of so late a period as the Civil War it 
 is well to remember that we are taught by the rule of 
 evidence to bear in mind that coequal in importance 
 with the character of the witness is the probability 
 of the story. Indeed the highest authority teaches 
 us that the last is of more importance than the first, 
 
xxvi Preface. 
 
 and that if the story is improbable it makes no dif 
 ference how high may be the character of the witness 
 or witnesses, the testimony cannot command belief. 
 The application of this well-recognized rule goes far 
 toward the settlement of conflicting claims and a rec 
 ognition of our true heroes. Judged by this rule, not 
 only Abraham Lincoln, but all the statesmen and 
 soldiers about him seem consistent each with them 
 selves, and more truly great to us, than they appear 
 through the exaggerating medium of popular belief. 
 It is strange now to know that during President 
 Lincoln s term of office, and for years after his death, 
 he was popularly regarded as a shrewd, cunning sort 
 of man, and great stress was placed on his kind, for 
 giving nature. The one now appears as grossly ex 
 aggerated as the other w r as false. To the more 
 thoughtful his great force of character that covered 
 an indomitable will under a calm temperament, to 
 gether with an almost mysterious grasp of intellect, 
 marked the man. Slowly the public mind will come 
 to recognize its hero, and dwell entranced upon that 
 grand central figure of the group God called to the 
 front in the woi ul hour of a nation s peril. 
 
 As stands the pyramid, a mystery 
 Cleaving wedge-like the misty realm of time, 
 And hides within its depths the unknown king 
 Twas built to memorize ; so common fame 
 Covers with cloudy fiction all the real man, 
 And leaves a shadow to the worshippers. 
 
 MAC-O-CHEE, OHIO, February 17, 1887. 
 
7 
 
 Wt 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 No greater truth ever found expression in poetic 
 words than that which Sir Henry Taylor puts in the 
 speech of Philip Van Artevelde, when he says " the 
 world knows nothing 1 of its greatest men." The 
 poet restricted his meaning to 
 
 "The kings of thought, 
 
 "Who wage contention with their time s decay, 
 And of the past are all that will not pass away." 
 
 But it extends as well to those men of affairs who 
 earn the admiration of the crowd they control. This 
 ignorance comes of the fact that great men have ene 
 mies while alive, and friends when dead, and between 
 the two the objects of hate and love pass into histor 
 ical phantoms, far more unreal than their ghosts are 
 supposed to be. With us, when a leader dies all 
 good men go to lying about him, and from the mon 
 ument that covers his remains to the last echo of the 
 rural press, in speeches, sermons, eulogies, and remi 
 niscences, we have naught but pious lies. There is 
 no tyranny so despotic as that of public opinion 
 among a free people. The rule of the majority is 
 to the last extent exacting and brutal . When brought 
 to bear upon our eminent men it is also senseless. 
 
28 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Poor Garfield, with his sensitive temperament, was 
 almost driven to suicide by abuse while alive. He 
 fell by the shot of an assassin, and passed in an in 
 stant to the roll of popular saints. One day it 
 provoked contempt to say a word in his favor, the 
 next it was dangerous to repeat any of the old 
 abuse. 
 
 History is, after all, the crystallization of popular 
 beliefs. As a pleasant fiction is more acceptable than 
 a naked fact, and as the historian shapes his wares, 
 like any other dealer, to suit his customers, one can 
 readily see that our chronicles are only a sort of 
 fiction duller than the popular novels so eagerly 
 read ; not that they are true, but they deal in what 
 we long to have the truth. Popular beliefs, in time, 
 come to be superstitions, and create gods and devils. 
 Thus Washington is deified into an impossible 
 man, and Aaron Burr has passed into a like impos 
 sible human monster. Through the same process, 
 Abraham Lincoln, one of our truly great, has almost 
 gone from human knowledge. I hear of him, read 
 of him in eulogies and biographies, and fail to 
 recognize the man I encountered, for the first time, 
 in the canvass that called him from private life to 
 be President of the then disuniting United States. 
 
 General Robert E. Schenck and I had been selected 
 to canvass Southern Illinois in behalf of free soil and 
 Abraham Lincoln. That part of Illinois was then 
 known as Egypt, and in our missionary labors we 
 learned there that the American eagle sometimes 
 
Abraham Lincoln. 20 
 
 lays rotten eggs. Our labors on the stump were 
 closed in the wigwam at Springfield, a few nights 
 previous to the election. Mr. Lincoln was present, 
 and listened with intense interest to Mr. Schenck s 
 able argument. I followed in a cheerful review of 
 the situation, that seemed to amuse the crowd, and 
 none more so than our candidate for the Presidency. 
 We were both invited to return to Springfield for the 
 jubilee, should success make such rejoicing proper. 
 We did return, for this homely son of toil was elect 
 ed, and we found Springfield drunk with delight. 
 On the day of our arrival we were invited to a sup 
 per at the house of the President-elect. It was a 
 plain, comfortable frame structure, and the supper 
 was an old-fashioned mess of indigestion, composed 
 mainly of cake, pies and chickens, the last evidently 
 killed in the morning, to be eaten, as best they might, 
 that evening. 
 
 After the supper, we sat far into the night, talking 
 over the situation. Mr. Lincoln was the homeliest 
 man I ever saw. His body seemed to me a huge 
 skeleton in clothes. Tall as he was, his hands and 
 feet looked out of proportion, so long and clumsy 
 were they. Every movement was awkward in the 
 extreme. He sat with one leg thrown over the 
 other, and the pendant foot swung almost to the 
 floor. And all the while two little boys, his sons, 
 clambered over those legs, patted his cheeks, pulled 
 his nose, and poked their fingers in his eyes, without 
 causing reprimand or even notice. He had a face 
 
30 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 that defied artistic skill to soften or idealize. The 
 multiplicity of photographs and engravings makes it 
 familiar to the public. It was capable of few expres 
 sions, but those were extremely striking. When in 
 repose, his face was dull, heavy, and repellent. It 
 brightened like a lit lantern when animated. His 
 dull eyes would fairly sparkle with fun, or express as 
 kindly a look as I ever saw, when moved by some 
 matter of human interest. 
 
 I soon discovered that this strange and strangely 
 gifted man, while not at all cynical, was a skeptic. 
 His view of human nature was low, but good-natured. 
 I could not call it suspicious, but he believed only 
 what he saw. This low estimate of humanity blinded 
 him to the South. He could not understand that men 
 would get up in their wrath and fight for an idea. 
 He considered the movement South as a sort of po 
 litical game of bluff, gotten up by politicians, and 
 meant solely to frighten the North. He believed 
 that when the leaders saw their efforts in that direc 
 tion were unavailing, the tumult would subside. 
 " They won t give up the offices," I remember he 
 said, and added, " Were it believed that vacant places 
 could be had at the North Pole, the road there would 
 be lined with dead Virginians." 
 
 He unconsciously accepted for himself and party 
 the same low line that he awarded the South. Ex 
 pressing no sympathy for the slave, he laughed at 
 the Abolitionists as a disturbing element easily 
 controlled, and without showing any dislike for the 
 
Abraham Lincoln. 31 
 
 slaveholders, said only that their ambition was to 
 be restrained. 
 
 I gathered more of this from what Mrs. Lincoln 
 said than from the utterances of our host. This good 
 lady injected remarks into the conversation with 
 more force than logic, and was treated by her hus 
 band with about the same good-natured indifference 
 with which he regarded the troublesome boys. 
 There was an amusing assumption of the coming 
 Administration in the wife s talk that struck me as 
 very womanly, but somewhat ludicrous. For in 
 stance, she said, " The country will find how we 
 regard that Abolition sneak Seward." Mr. Lincoln 
 pat the remark aside, very much as he did the hand 
 of one of his boys when that hand invaded his capa 
 cious mouth. 
 
 We were not at a loss to get at the fact, and the 
 reason for it, in the man before us. Descended from 
 the poor whites of a slave State, through ifiany gen 
 erations, he inherited the contempt, if not tli^-hatred, 
 held by that class for the negro. A self-made man, 
 with scarcely a winter s schooling fi*om books, his 
 strong nature was built on what he inherited, and he 
 could no more feel sympathy for that wretched race 
 than he could for the horse he worked or the hog 
 he killed. In this he exhibited the marked trait 
 that governed his public life. He never rose above 
 the mass he influenced, and was strong with the 
 people from the fact that he accompanied the com 
 mons without any attempt to lead, save in the direc- 
 
;5-> Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 tion they sought to follow. He knew, and saw 
 clearly, that the people of the free States had not 
 only no sympathy with the abolition of slavery, but 
 held fanatics, as Abolitionists were called, in utter 
 abhorrence. While it seemed a cheap philanthropy, 
 and therefore popular, to free another man s slave, 
 the fact was that it was not another man s slave. 
 The unrequited toil of the slave was more valuable 
 to the North than to the South. With our keen bus 
 iness instincts, we, of the free States, utilized the 
 brutal work of the masters. They made, without 
 saving-, all that we accumulated. The Abolitionist 
 was hunted and imprisoned, under the shadow of 
 Bunker Hill Monument, as keenly as he was tracked 
 by blood-hounds at the South. Wendell Phillips, the 
 silver-tongued advocate of human rights, was, while 
 Mr. Lincoln talked to us, being ostracized at Boston, 
 and rotten-egged at Cincinnati. A keen knowledge 
 of human nature in a jury, more than a knowledge 
 of law, in his case, had put our President-elect at the 
 head of his profession, and this same knowledge made 
 him master of the situation when he came to mould 
 into action the stirred impulses of the people. 
 
 I felt myself studying this strange, quaint, great 
 man with keen interest. A newly-fashioned individ 
 uality had come within the circle of my observation. 
 I saw a man of coarse, tough fibre, without culture, 
 and yet of such force that every observation was 
 original, incisive and striking, while his illustra 
 tions were as quaint as -<3sop s fables. He had little 
 
Abraham Lincoln. 33 
 
 taste for, and less knowledge of literature, and while 
 well up in what we call history, limited his acquaint 
 ance with fiction to that sombre poem known as 
 
 "Why should the spirit of mortal be proud ?" 
 
 It was well for us that our President proved to be 
 what I then recognized. He was equal to the awful 
 strain put upon him in the four years of terrible 
 strife that followed. A man of delicate mould and 
 sympathetic nature, such as Chase or Seward, would 
 have broken down, not from overwork, although 
 that was terrible, but from tjie over-anxiety that 
 kills. Lincoln had none of this. He faced and lived 
 through the awful responsibility of the situation 
 with the high courage and comfort that came of in 
 difference. At the darkest period, for us, of the war, 
 when the roar of the enemy s cannon was throbbing 
 along the walls of our Capitol, I heard him say to 
 General Schenck, " I enjoy my rations, and sleep the 
 sleep of the innocent." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln did not believe, could not be made to 
 believe, that the South meant secession and war. 
 When I told him, subsequently to this conversation, 
 at a dinner-table in Chicago, where the Hon. Han 
 nibal Hamlin, General Schenck, and others, were 
 guests, that the Southern people were in dead ear 
 nest, meant war, and I doubted whether he would be 
 inaugurated at Washington, he laughed and said the 
 fall of pork at Cincinnati had affected me. I became 
 somewhat irritated, and told him that in ninety days 
 
34 Men Who Saved the Union, 
 
 the land would be whitened with tents. He said in 
 reply : 
 
 " Well, we won t jump that ditch until we come 
 to it," and then, after a pause, added, " I must run 
 the machine as I find it." 
 
 I take no credit to myself for this power of 
 prophecy; I only said what every one acquainted 
 with the Southern people knew, and the wonder is 
 that Mr. Lincoln should have been so blind to the 
 coming 1 storm. 
 
 The epigrammatic force of his expressions was 
 remarkable, as was also the singular purity of his 
 language. What he said was so original that I 
 reduced much of it to writing at the time. One of 
 these sayings was this on secession : 
 
 " If our Southern friends are right in their claim 
 the framers of the Government carefully planned 
 the rot that now threatens their work with destruc 
 tion. If one State has the right to withdraw at 
 will, certainly a majority have the right, and we 
 have the result given us of the States being able to 
 force out one State. That is logical." 
 
 We remained at Springfield several days, and then 
 accompanied the President-elect, on his invitation, to 
 Chicago. The invitation was so pressing that I be 
 lieved Mr. Lincoln intended calling General Schenck 
 to his Cabinet. I am still of this opinion, and attrib 
 ute the change to certain low intrigues hatched at 
 Chicago by the newly created politicians of that 
 locality, who saw in the coming Administration 
 
Abraham Lincoln. 35 
 
 opportunities for plunder that Kobert C. Schenck s 
 known probity would have blasted. 
 
 Subsequent to the supper we had gatherings at 
 Mr. Lincoln s old law office and at the political 
 headquarters, at which men only formed the com 
 pany; and before those good honest citizens, who 
 fairly worshipped their distinguished neighbor, Mr. 
 Lincoln gave way to his natural bent for fun, and 
 told very amusing stories, always in quaint illustra 
 tion of the subject under discussion, no one of which 
 will bear printing. They were coarse, and were 
 saved from vulgarity only by being so strangely in 
 point, and told not for the sake of the telling as if he 
 enjo}^ed the stories themselves, but that they were, 
 as I have said, so quaintly illustrative. 
 
 The man who could open a Cabinet meeting, 
 called to discuss the Emancipation Proclamation, by 
 reading Artemus Ward, who called for a comic song 
 on the bloody battlefield, was the same man who 
 could guide, with clear mind and iron hand, the diplo 
 macy that kept off the fatal interference of Europe, 
 while conducting at home the most horrible of civil 
 wars that ever afflicted a people. He reached with 
 ease the highest and the lowest level, and on the 
 very field that he shamed with a ribald song, he left 
 a record of eloquence never reached by human lips 
 before. 
 
 There is a popular belief that Abraham Lincoln 
 was of so kind and forgiving a nature that his gen 
 tler impulses interfered with his duty. In proof of 
 
36 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 this, attention is called to the fact that through all 
 the war he never permitted a -man to be shot for 
 desertion. The belief is erroneous. There never 
 lived a man who could say " no " with readier facility, 
 and abide by his saying- with more firmness, than 
 President Lincoln. His good-natured manner mis 
 led the common mind. It covered as firm a char 
 acter as nature ever clad with human flesh, and I 
 doubt whether Mr. Lincoln had at all a kind, forgiv 
 ing nature. Such traits are not common to success 
 ful leaders. They, like Hannibal, melt their way 
 through rocks with hot vinegar, not honey. And 
 that good-natured way covers a selfish more gen 
 erally than a generous disposition. Men instinct 
 ively find it easier to glide comfortably through life 
 with a round, oily, elastic exterior, than in an angu 
 lar, hard one. Such give way in trifles and hold 
 their own tenaciously in all the more serious sacrifices 
 demanded for the good or comfort of others. If one 
 doubts what I here assert, let such turn and study 
 the hard, angular, coarse face of this great man. 
 Nature never gave that face as an indication of a 
 tender, yielding disposition. Nor had his habits of 
 life in any respect softened its hard lines. Hazlett 
 tells us, with truth, that while we may control the 
 voice and discipline the manner, the face is beyond 
 command. Day and night, waking and asleep, our 
 character is being traced there, to be read by all 
 men who care to make the face a study. It is 
 common, for example, for the President to be in 
 
Abraham Lincoln. 37 
 
 continual trouble over supposed promises to office- 
 seekers. Mr. Lincoln had none of this. He would 
 refuse so clearly and positively that it left no doubt 
 and no hope, and yet in such a pleasant manner that 
 the applicant left with no ill feeling- in his disappoint 
 ment. I heard Secretary Seward say, in this connec 
 tion, that President Lincoln " had a cunning- that was 
 genius." As for his steady refusal to sanction the 
 death penalty in cases of desertion, there was far 
 more policy than kind feeling in this course. To 
 assert the contrary is to detract from Lincoln s force 
 of character as well as intellect. As Secretary 
 Chase said at the time, " Such kindness to the 
 criminal is cruelty to . the army, for it encourages 
 the bad to leave the brave and patriotic unsup 
 ported." 
 
 The fact is that our war President was not lost in 
 his high admiration of brigadiers and major-gen 
 erals, and had a positive dislike for their methods 
 and the despotism on which an army is based. He 
 ,knew that he was dependent on volunteers for 
 soldiers, and to force on such the stern discipline 
 of the regular army was to render the service 
 unpopular. And it pleased him to be the source of 
 mercy, as well as the fountain of honor, in this 
 direction. 
 
 I was sitting with General Dan. Tyler, of Connect 
 icut, in the ante-chamber of the War Department, 
 shortly after the adjournment of the Buell Court of 
 Inquiry, of which we had been members, when Pres- 
 
38 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 ident Lincoln came in from the room of Secretary 
 Stanton. Seeing- us, he said : 
 
 " Well, gentlemen, you did not survive the war, 
 and now have you any matter worth reporting, 
 after such a protracted investigation ?" 
 
 " I think so, Mr. President," replied General 
 Tyler. " We had it proven that Bragg, with less 
 than 10,000 men, drove your 83,000 under Buell back 
 from before Chattanooga down to the Ohio, at 
 Louisville, marched round us twice, then doubled us 
 up at Perryville, and finally got out of Kentucky 
 with all his plunder." 
 
 "Now, Tyler," said the President, "what is the 
 meaning of all this ; what is the lesson ? Don t our 
 men inarch as well, and fight as well, as these 
 rebels ? If not, there is a fault somewhere. We are 
 all of the same family same sort." 
 
 "Yes, there is a lesson," replied General Tyler. 
 " We are of the same sort, but subject to a different 
 handling. Bragg s little force was superior to our 
 larger number, because he had it under control. 
 If a man left his ranks, he was punished ; if he 
 deserted, he was shot. We had nothing- of that 
 sort. If we attempt to shoot a deserter, you pardon 
 him, and our army is without discipline." 
 
 The President looked perplexed. 
 
 "Why do you interfere?" General Tyler con 
 tinued. " Congress has taken from you all respon 
 sibility." 
 
 " Yes," answered the President, impatiently, 
 
Abraham Lincoln. 39 
 
 " Congress has taken the responsibility, and left the 
 women to howl about me," and so he strode away, 
 and General Tyler remarked that as it was not 
 necessary for the President to see one of these 
 women, to jeopardize an army on such grounds 
 was very feeble. The fact was, however, as I have 
 said, the President had other and stronger motives 
 for his conduct. 
 
 Of President Lincoln s high sense of justice, or 
 rather fair play, I have a vivid recollection. Previ 
 ous to Lee s invasion of Pennsylvania, rumors of 
 which reached Washington in advance of that sui 
 cidal movement on the part of the Confederates, Gen 
 eral Halleck issued one of his non-committal orders 
 to General Schenck, then in command at Baltimore, 
 advising- the concentration of our troops at Harper s 
 Ferry. This referred especially to General Milroy s 
 10,000 men at Winchester. I was sent, as Chief of 
 Staff, to look into Milroy s condition, and empowered 
 to let him remain or order him back, as I might see 
 fit. Winchester, as a fortified place, was a military 
 blunder. It covered nothing, while a force there was 
 in constant peril. I had learned enough in the ser 
 vice to know that a subordinate should take no 
 chances, and I ordered Milroy back to Harper s Fer 
 ry. General Schenck, at Milroy s earnest request, 
 countermanded my order, and three days after, Mil 
 roy found himself surrounded by Lee s entire army. 
 The gallant old soldier cut his way out, with his en 
 tire command. Of course there was a heavy loss of 
 
40 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 material. For this, Milroy was put under arrest by 
 Secretary Stanton, and court-martialled by Halleck. 
 Milroy shielded himself behind Schenck s order, so 
 that the court convened was really trying my gen 
 eral without the advantages given* him, as defendant, 
 of being heard in his defence. General Schenck was 
 summoned to appear, and, instead of appearing, drew 
 up a protest, that he directed me not only to take 
 to the President, but read to him, fearing that it 
 would be pigeon-holed for consideration w r hen consid 
 eration would be too late. It was late in the after 
 noon, and riding to the White House, I was told the 
 President could be found at the War Department. 
 I met him coming out, and delivered my message. 
 " Let me see the protest," said the President, as we 
 walked toward the Executive Mansion. 
 
 " General Schenck ordered me, Mr. President, to 
 read it to you." 
 
 " Well, I can read," he responded, sharply, and as 
 he was General Schenck s superior officer, I handed 
 him the paper. He read as he strode along. 
 
 Arriving at the entrance to the White House, we 
 found the carriage awaiting to carry him to the Sol 
 diers Home, where he was then spending the sum 
 mer, and the guard detailed to escort him drawn up 
 in front. The President sat down upon the steps of 
 the porch, and continued his study of the protest. I 
 have him photographed on my mind, as he sat there, 
 and a strange picture he presented. His long, slen 
 der legs were drawn up until his knees were level 
 
Abraham Lincoln. 41 
 
 with his chin, while his long arms held the paper, 
 which he studied regardless of the crowd before him. 
 He read on to the end ; then looking- up, said : 
 
 "Piatt, don t you think that you and Schenck are 
 squealing, like pigs, before you re hurt ? " 
 
 "No, Mr. President." 
 
 " Why, I am the Court of Appeal," he continued, 
 "and do you think I am going to have an injustice 
 done Schenck?" 
 
 " Before the appeal can be heard, a soldier s rep 
 utation will be blasted by a packed court," I re 
 sponded. 
 
 " Come, now," he exclaimed, an ugly look shading 
 his face, "you and I are lawyers, and know the 
 meaning of the word packed. I don t want to hear 
 it from your lips again. What s the matter with 
 the court?" 
 
 "It is illegally organized by General Halleck." 
 
 " Halleck s act is mine." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Mr. President, the Rules and 
 Regulations direct that in cases of this sort you shall 
 select the court ; you cannot delegate that to a sub 
 ordinate any more than you can the pardoning 
 power;" and opening the book, I pointed to the 
 article. 
 
 "That is a point," he said, slowly rising. "Do 
 you know, Colonel, that I have been so busy with 
 this war I have never read the Regulations. Give 
 me that book, and I ll study them to-night." 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Mr. President," I said. 
 
42 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 giving- him the book, "but in the meantime my 
 general will be put under arrest for disobedience, 
 and the mischief will be done." 
 
 "That s so," he replied. "Here, give me a 
 pencil," and tearing off a corner of the paper Gen 
 eral Schenck had sent him, he wrote : 
 
 All proceedings before the court convened to try General 
 Milroy are suspended until further orders. A. LINCOLN." 
 
 The next morning I clanked into the court-room 
 with my triangular order, and had the grim satisfac 
 tion of seeing the owls in epaulettes file out, never 
 to be called together again. 
 
 With all his awkwardness of manner, and utter 
 disregard of social conventionalities that seemed to 
 invite familiarity, there was something about Abra 
 ham Lincoln that enforced respect. No man pre 
 sumed on the apparent invitation to be other than 
 respectful. I was told at Springfield that this 
 accompanied him through life. Among his rough 
 associates, when young, he was leader, looked up to 
 and obeyed, because they felt of his muscle and his 
 readiness in its use. Among his companions at the 
 bar it was attributed to his ready wit which kept 
 his duller associates at a distance. The fact w r as, 
 however, that this power came from a sense of reserve 
 force of intellectual ability that no one took account 
 of, save in its results. Through one of those freaks 
 of nature that produce a Shakspeare at long inter 
 vals, a giant had been born to the poor whites of 
 Kentucky, and the sense of superiority possessed 
 
Abraham Lincoln. 43 
 
 President Lincoln at all times. Unobtruding, and 
 even unassuming-, as he was, he was not modest in 
 his assertion, and he as quietly directed Seward in 
 shaping- our delicate and difficult foreign policy as he 
 controlled Chase in the Treasury and Edwin M. 
 Stanton in the War Department. These men, great 
 as they were, felt their inferiority to their master, 
 and while all three were eaten into, and weakened by, 
 anxiety, he ate and slept and jested as if his brain 
 and will did not carry the fate of an empire. 
 
 I never saw him angry but once, and I had no wish 
 to see a second exhibition of his wrath. We were in 
 command of what was called the Middle Department, 
 with headquarters at Baltimore. General Schenck, 
 with the intense loyalty which distinguished that 
 eminent soldier, shifted the military sympathy from 
 the aristocracy of Maryland to the Union men, and 
 made the eloquent Henry Winter Davis and the 
 well-known jurist Judge Bond our associates and ad 
 visers. These gentlemen could not understand why, 
 having such entire command of Maryland, the Gov 
 ernment did not make it a free State, and so, taking 
 the property from the disloyal, render them weak 
 and harmless, and bring the border of free States to 
 the capital of the Union. The fortifications about 
 Baltimore, used heretofore to threaten that city, now 
 under the influence of Davis, Bond, Wallace, and 
 others, had their guns turned outward for the pro 
 tection of the place, and it seemed only necessary to 
 inspire the negroes with faith in us as liberators to 
 
44 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 perfect the work. The first intimation I received 
 that this policy of freeing Maryland was distasteful 
 to the Administration came from Secretary Stanton. 
 I had told him what we thought, and what we hoped 
 to accomplish. I noticed an amused expression on 
 the face of the War Secretary, and when I ended, he 
 said dryly : 
 
 " You and Schenck had better attend to your own 
 business." 
 
 I asked him what he meant by "our business." 
 He said, " Obeying orders, that s all." 
 
 Not long after this talk with Mr. Stanton, the gal 
 lant General William Birney, son of the eminent 
 James G. Birney, came into Maryland to recruit for 
 a negro brigade, then first authorized. I directed 
 Birney to recruit slaves only. He said he would be 
 glad to do so, but wanted authority in writing from 
 General Schenck. I tried my general, and he re 
 fused, saying that such authority could come only 
 from the War Department, as Birney was acting 
 directly under its instructions. I could not move 
 him, and knowing that he had a leave of absence for 
 a few days, to transact some business at Boston, I 
 w r alted patiently until he was fairly off, and then is 
 sued the order to General Birney. The general took 
 an idle Government steamer, and left for the part of 
 Maryland where the slaves did most abound. Birney 
 was scarcely out of sight before I awakened to the 
 opposition I had excited. The Hon. Reverdy John 
 son appeared at headquarters, heading a delega- 
 
Abraham Lincoln. 45 
 
 tion of solid citizens, who wanted the Union and 
 slavery saved one and inseparable. I gave them 
 scant comfort, and they left for Washington. That 
 afternoon came a telegram from the War Depart 
 ment, asking who was in command at Baltimore. I 
 responded that General Schenck being absent for a 
 few days only had left affairs in control of his Chief 
 of Staff. Then came a curt summons, ordering me 
 to appear at the War Department. I obeyed, arriv 
 ing in the evening at the old, sombre building. Being 
 informed that the Secretary was at the Executive 
 Mansion, I repaired there, sent in my card, and was 
 at once shown into the presence, not of Mr. Stanton, 
 but of the President. I do not care to recall the 
 words of Mr. Lincoln. I wrote them out that night, 
 for I was threatened a shameful dismissal from the 
 service, and I intended appealing to the public. 
 They were exceedingly severe, for the President was 
 in a rage. I was not allowed a word in my own 
 defence, and was only permitted to say that I would 
 countermand my order as well as I could. 1 was 
 saved cashiering through the interference of Stanton 
 and Chase, and the further fact that a row over such 
 a transaction at that time would have been extremely 
 awkward. 
 
 My one act made Maryland a free State. Word 
 went out and spread like wildfire that " Mr. Linkum 
 was a callin on de slaves to fight foh freedum," and 
 the hoe-handle was dropped, never again to be taken 
 up by unrequited toil. The poor creatures poured 
 
46 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 into Baltimore with their families, on foot, on horse 
 back, in old wagons, and even on sleds stolen from 
 their masters. The late masters became clamorous 
 for compensation, and Mr. Lincoln ordered a commis 
 sion to assess damages. Secretary Stanton put in a 
 proviso that those cases only should be considered 
 wherein the claimant could take the iron-bound oath 
 of allegiance. Of course no slaves were paid for. 
 
 The President never forgave me. Subsequently, 
 when General Schenck resigned command to take 
 his seat in Congress, the Union men of Maryland 
 and Delaware, headed by Judge Bond, waited on the 
 President with a request that I be promoted to 
 brigadier-general, and put in command of the Middle 
 Department. Mr. Lincoln heard them patiently, 
 and then refused, saying: 
 
 " Schenck and Piatt are good fellows, and if there 
 were any rotten apples in the barrel they d be sure 
 to hook em out. But they run their machine on too 
 high a level for me. They never could understand 
 that I was boss." 
 
 Edwin M. Stanton told me, after he had left the 
 War Department, that when he sent a list of officers 
 to the President, my name included, as worthy of 
 promotion, Lincoln would quietly draw his pen 
 through my name. I do not blame him. His great, 
 thoughtful brain saw at the time what has taken us 
 years to discover and appreciate. He understood the 
 people he held to a death struggle in behalf of the 
 great Republic, and knew that, while the masses 
 
Abraham Lincoln. 47 
 
 would fight to the bitter end in behalf of the Union, 
 they would not kill their own brothers, and spread 
 mourning- over the entire land, in behalf of the negro. 
 He, therefore, kept the cause of the Union to the 
 front, and wrote to Horace Greeley the memorable 
 words : " If to preserve the Union it is necessary to 
 destroy slavery, slavery will be destroyed ; and if to 
 preserve the Union slavery is to be maintained, 
 slavery will be maintained." He well knew that the 
 North was not fighting to liberate slaves, nor the 
 South to preserve slavery. The people of the slave 
 States plunged into a bloody war to build a Southern 
 empire of their own, and the people of the North 
 fought to preserve the Government of the fathers on 
 all the land the fathers left us. In that awful con 
 flict, slavery went to pieces. 
 
 We are quick to forget the facts, and slow to recog 
 nize the truths that knock from under us our pre 
 tentious claims to a high philanthropy. As I have 
 said, Abolitionism was not only unpopular when the 
 war broke out, but it was detested. The minority 
 that elected Mr. Lincoln had fallen heir to the Whig 
 votes of the North, and while pledging itself, in plat 
 forms and speeches, to a solemn resolve to keep sla 
 very under the Constitution in the States, restricted 
 its anti-slavery purpose to the prevention of its spread 
 into the Territories. I remember when the Hutchin- 
 sons were driven from the camps of the Potomac 
 Army by the soldiers for singing their abolition 
 songs, and I remember well that for nearty two years 
 
48 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 of our service as soldiers we were engaged in return 
 ing slaves to their masters, when the poor creatures 
 sought shelter in our lines. 
 
 President Lincoln s patriotism and wisdom rose 
 above impulse, or his positive temperament and in 
 tellect kept him free of mere sentiment. Looking 
 back now at this grand man, and the grave situation 
 at the time, I am ashamed of my act of insubordina 
 tion, and although it freed Maryland, it now lowers 
 me in my own estimation. Had the President carried 
 his threat of punishment into execution it would have 
 been just. 
 
 The popular mind is slow of study, and I fear it 
 will be long ere it learns that, while an eminent man 
 wins our admiration through his great qualities, he 
 can hold our love only by his human weaknesses, 
 that make him one of ourselves. We are told that, 
 with the multitude, nothing is so successful as success, 
 yet there is often more heroism in failure than in 
 triumph. The one is frequently the result of acci 
 dent, while the other holds in itself all that endears 
 the martyr to the human heart. The unfortunate 
 Hector is, after all, the hero of the Iliad, and not the 
 invulnerable Achilles, and by our popular process of 
 eliminating all human weakness from our great men 
 we weaken, and, in a measure, destroy their immor 
 tality, for we destroy them. As we accept the sad, 
 rugged, homely face, and love it for what it is, we 
 should accept it as it was, the grandest figure loom 
 ing up in our history as a Nation. Washington 
 
Abraham Lincoln. 49 
 
 taught the world to know us, Lincoln taught us to 
 know ourselves. The first won for us our indepen 
 dence, the last wrought out our manhood and self- 
 respect. 
 
EDWIN M. STANTOK 
 
 IT was my good fortune to know this eminent man, 
 intimately, during 1 the greater part of his public life. 
 My brother-in-law, N. C. Read, while one of the 
 Judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio, when those 
 judges had circuits over the State, came to know 
 Stanton, at Steubenville, through his relative, Judge 
 Tappan, and liking the youth, had him made report 
 er to the court in bane at Columbus. This was in 
 1842, and my pursuit of pleasure and Stan ton s 
 duties brought us together at the State capital every 
 winter for several years. I sought Columbus during 
 the holidays, while Stanton, one of the most indus 
 trious of men, worked there, not only at his official 
 duties, but in perfecting himself in a profession that 
 soon made him conspicuous as one of its leaders. 
 Often, during the summer, he found relaxation at 
 Judge Read s, and my home, on the Mac-o-chee, 
 where the two were wont to pass their vacation. 
 
 Stanton, when I first knew him, and for years 
 after, was young, ardent, and of a most joyous na 
 ture. Possessed of a keen sense of humor, he was 
 free and eager in its enjoyment, and, strange as it 
 may sound to those who knew him in later life, had a 
 
EDWIN M. ST ANTON. 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 51 
 
 laugh so hearty and contagious that it became char 
 acteristic. He was not only a hard student in the 
 line of his profession, but had a taste for light litera 
 ture that made his conversation extremely attrac 
 tive. 
 
 The truth is, Stanton s imagination was through 
 life the larger and most potent quality of his mind, 
 and from first to last he lived in a world so tinctured 
 by it, that his thoughts and acts were mysteries to 
 the commonplace, matter-of-fact minds about him. 
 He shared -this peculiarity with William H. Seward, 
 and the two made up a part of President Lincoln s 
 Cabinet quite distinctive from the other half com 
 posed of Lincoln himself and Salmon P. Chase. 
 The President and his Secretary of the Treasury, 
 while dissimilar in many respects, were one in the way 
 they regarded what the world is pleased to call facts. 
 A dollar, for example, to Mr. Chase was an unit of 
 value, as seen by a banker. In the eyes of Stanton it 
 represented a hard day s labor, and he saw back of it 
 the bread-winner, and all that depends on that word. 
 A battle to the President was a killing and wounding 
 of a certain number of men, and the consequences, to 
 be counted, like a sum in arithmetic. To Stanton or 
 Seward it told of forming empire, for or againt his 
 cause, and each felt that he had a hand in making 
 history, that would go to record in a government on 
 which rested the happiness and prosperity of untold 
 millions. 
 
 Working from such widely separated planes, it is 
 
52 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 singular how well they worked tog-ether. The truth 
 is, however, that human events are more apt to be 
 distorted when seen without this poetic atmosphere 
 than when bereft of its proportionizing qualities, if I 
 may coin a word to express my meaning-. The 
 Gradgrinds of life are half blind, and altogether 
 stupid, from living in a horizon narrowed to a hu 
 manity of Gradgrinds. Stanton was impressed with 
 this belief. In the first years of our intimacy, when 
 to both of us it was a luxury to be alive, he told 
 me of a book he was writing in the odd intervals he 
 snatched from less agreeable studies, on the "Po 
 etry of the Bible." 
 
 " I want to call attention to the fact," he was wont 
 to say, in his earnest manner, " that God, in all his 
 communications with man, clothed his language in 
 the highest imagery. All light, and all color, that 
 make life beautiful are the affair of a little nerve God 
 has endowed us with to enjoy his precious gifts that 
 after all live only in our brain. This principle, I 
 maintain, runs through all, and the highest religion, 
 if not the only religion, is in a true appreciation of 
 God s works. Thus we work our way through 
 Nature up to Nature s God, " 
 
 I do not know what became of the work thus nobly 
 planned. I imagine it was never completed, for 
 Stanton had none of the qualities of an author. 
 With all his poetic temperament and high imagina 
 tive quality, he was a man of action more than of 
 thought, and long before his dreamed-of book, on the 
 
Edivin M. Stanton. 53 
 
 "Poetry of God," was finished, he found himself 
 plunged into the arena of active life, where he moulded 
 great events, leaving to others their record. 
 
 It seems strange to look back and contrast the 
 Stanton of that early day with the hard, bronze, 
 historic figure of a War Minister, whose great brain 
 conceived, and iron hand guided, the terrible conflict 
 that ended in a rebuilding of the great Republic. 
 
 Groups of men are busy, with much noise, in 
 building each a monument to some one savior of the 
 country. This is the faded and threadbare supersti 
 tion of a barbarous past, when the heavy-boned and 
 hard-muscled giant of a leader led his brutal fighters 
 on to victory, long before the qualities of mind were 
 recognized that made the delicate Caesar and the 
 little Napoleon masters of the world. In the hurry 
 of human events that marks our modern wars, mere 
 fighting qualities, even of the best, have little to do 
 in bringing about great results. While campaigns 
 are necessary, the resources that make campaigns 
 possible are of more importance, and the men of the 
 departments who sanction plans, select leaders, and 
 furnish the means are the real heads that make or 
 mar the heroes, and are to be awarded the honor of 
 success or the blame of failure. 
 
 The strangest part, however, as I have said in 
 writing these lines, is to look back and contrast the 
 Stanton of my earlier knowledge with the Stanton of 
 later days. I cannot divest myself of the feeling- 
 that I am considering two widely dissimilar men. I 
 
54 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 can see, as if but an hour since, the youthful advo 
 cate, of medium size, but stout of build, with his clean 
 shaven face, and eyes gleaming- through glasses, for 
 he was near-sighted, his profusion of dark hair, ever 
 dishevelled, as he stood Bible in hand, under the 
 shade of the hickories, at Mac-o-chee, telling us of 
 the " Poetry of God," and the road to heaven through 
 culture and goodness. 
 
 Generous and impulsive to a fault, he seemed to 
 carry his heart in an open hand. I remember a pil 
 grimage he volunteered for me to Zanesville, Ohio, 
 to reknit a love affair of mine after I had been cruelly 
 jilted by a lovely girl. Think, if one can, of the 
 awful War Secretary on such a mission ! 
 
 An absence in Europe and a drifting apart, sepa 
 rated us for a time, and when we met again I was 
 called upon to recognize another man from the 
 Stanton of my youth. 
 
 It was at Washington we met, upon the streets, 
 and I seized the old Stanton by the hand with a cry 
 of delight. For a second the old, well-loved gleam 
 of pleasure lit his face, and then it faded out, and a 
 gloomy, sad expression took its place, and the Stan- 
 ton I once knew was gone forever. His manner, so 
 cold, reserved, and formal, embarrassed me. It was 
 not precisely hostile, it was more an indifference, 
 that annoyed. I knew that it could not be a snub, 
 but I felt as poor Jack Falstaff felt, when the sneak 
 of a king disowned in himself the noble, roystering, 
 generous prince of Jack s former knowledge. 
 
Edwin 3L Stanton. 55 
 
 I accompanied Stanton to his room at the National 
 Hotel, and all the while I saw he was striving- to be 
 pleasant and familiar, and that the effort was in 
 vain. Terminating- the interview as soon as I con 
 veniently could, I left him. At the entrance of the 
 hotel, on the avenue below, I remembered a message 
 I wished to give him, and had forgotten. Hastily 
 ascending I knocked at his door, and, getting no an 
 swer, entered. He was seated at the table, with his 
 face hid in his arm, and as I touched his shoulder he 
 looked up. To my amazement his face was distorted 
 with extreme grief, while tears seemed to blind him. 
 Shocked and astonished, I stammered out my mes 
 sage. 
 
 "Yes, yes," he said, wiping his eyes, "it is very 
 kind of you, Donn, but not now, please, not now." 
 
 To those who knew him, as the great War Secre 
 tary of later life, the stern, vindictive, and often in 
 manner brutal "organizer of victory," this incident 
 will sound incredible. But the sweetest wine makes 
 the sourest vinegar, and the sensitive, imaginative 
 man, in making his fight with the world, had passed 
 to what I saw him. This change dated from the 
 death of his first wife, the dear companion of his 
 early youth, and from that grief he never entirely 
 recovered. 
 
 I happened to be at Washington when Stanton 
 was called to the Cabinet of President Lincoln. It 
 was a strange event. Stanton was not only a Dem 
 ocrat of so fierce a sort that his democracy seemed 
 
56 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 his religion, but he felt, and had openly expressed, 
 his contempt for Abraham Lincoln. I remember an 
 instance of this last that is a painful memory, looking 
 back, as I do, with loving admiration for both these 
 great men. Stanton had won his way to the front as 
 an able advocate, and found himself leading counsel 
 in an important case involving millions. He learned, 
 a few moments before going to trial, that Lincoln 
 had been retained, and expected to make an argu 
 ment. He told me of this, and described, in wrath, 
 the long, lank creature from Illinois, wearing a dirty 
 linen duster for a coat, on the back of which the per 
 spiration had splotched two wide stains that, ema 
 nating from each arm-pit, met at the centre, and re 
 sembled a dirty map of a continent. 
 
 "I said," snorted Stanton, "that if that giraffe 
 appeared in the case I would throw up my brief and 
 leave." 
 
 Lincoln was ruled out, and the worst part of the 
 transaction was that he knew of the insult. Nothing 
 has so impressed the belief I hold in the greatest of 
 all Presidents as this utter ignoring of a brutal 
 affront. It was no assumption of Christian forgive 
 ness. Lincoln could hate with an intensity known 
 only to strong natures, and when just retribution 
 demanded it he could punish with an iron will no 
 appeals for pity could move. But he possessed that 
 strange sense of power that lifted him above personal 
 insult. In a word, he could not be insulted. In his 
 quiet dignity he put shame on the aggressor. He 
 
Edwin M. Sianton. 57 
 
 illustrated this in his own humorous way, when told 
 by a friend that Horace Greeley was abusing- him in 
 a most outrageous manner. 
 
 "That reminds me," he said, " of the big fellow 
 whose little wife was wont to beat him over the head 
 without resistance. When remonstrated with, the 
 man said, Let her alone. It don t hurt me, and it 
 does her a power of good. 
 
 I do not wonder at President Lincoln selecting 
 Stanton to control, at the time, the most important 
 arm of the Government, but I was amazed at Stan- 
 ton s acceptance. 
 
 He was wont to pass some time, almost daily, at 
 our room in the hotel, where, in the society of my 
 dear wife, he seemed to relax from the sombre re 
 serve of busy life. It was a relaxation quite removed 
 from the kindty, impulsive nature of early youth. 
 There was the same sense of humor, but it was cyn 
 ical, and stung, as well as amused. Some days 
 before he entered upon his new duties, I asked him, 
 in the privacy of our room, if the strange report was 
 true. 
 
 " Yes," he responded, " I am going to be Secretary 
 of War to Old Abe." 
 
 " What will you do ? " I asked, meaning as to how 
 he could reconcile his contempt for the President, and 
 their widely dissimilar views, with his service under 
 him. His reply ignored my meaning. 
 
 "Do?" he said; "I intend to accomplish three 
 things. I will make Abe Lincoln President of the 
 
58 Men Wlio Saved the Union. 
 
 United States. I will force this man McClellan to 
 iight or throw up ; and last, but not least, I will 
 pick Lorenzo Thomas up with a pair of tongs and 
 drop him from the nearest window." 
 
 Strange as it is, this last and apparently easiest 
 task was the one he did not accomplish. Lorenzo 
 defied him, and, as Sumner wrote Stanton, "stuck 
 to the last. 
 
 To appreciate the change wrought in the appoint 
 ment of Mr. Stanton, one has to understand the 
 condition of the Government at the time the Hon. 
 Simon Cameron was retired. The war that so un 
 expectedly broke upon us so unexpectedly that the 
 Government itself could not believe in its existence 
 until the roar of Confederate artillery rung in its 
 ears, found a people at the North not only unpre 
 pared, but in profound ignorance of all that was 
 necessary to carry on an armed conflict. All the 
 wars that went to make up our history, as wars are 
 wont to do, had been fought out in skirmishes that 
 left the Government and the body of the people un 
 enlightened as to the necessities of a great conflict, 
 such as the rest of the world is taught and trained 
 through experience to understand. 
 
 The volunteers, accepted from the States, elected 
 their officers, and were, in consequence, constituents 
 instead of privates, and these officers studied, over 
 night, all they attempted to practise the next day ; 
 and while the awkward drill went on, of discipline, 
 the soul and body of an army, there was none. 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 59 
 
 Two facts alone saved us : one was the strange 
 adaptability of our people to any emergency, and the 
 other, that our enemy \vas in as bad condition as 
 ourselves. 
 
 The first roar of "rebel " artillery, as it was then 
 called, aroused our people to such extent, that the 
 roll of the drum heard all over the land was the throb 
 of a mighty impulse set to harsh music, and we de 
 veloped in an instant all the good and bad of a great 
 people. While the patriotic hurried in thousands to 
 the front to fight, the dishonest, in almost like num 
 bers, hastened to the rear to plunder. Looking over 
 the field, from the War Department under Cameron, 
 at Washington, it was difficult to determine which 
 had control, and the direst confusion reigned through 
 both. 
 
 The Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, 
 proved incapable of controlling the one or organizing 
 the other. In the field \ve had confusion utterly con 
 founded, followed by shameful disasters, while, on 
 all sides, organized dishonesty plundered at will. 
 Congress saw from the portals of the Capitol the in 
 solent wave of the Confederate flag, while along the 
 heavy walls echoed the roar of an artillery as insolent. 
 In our despair we called McClellan from a little 
 victory, won by Rosecrans in West Virginia, and 
 labelling him "the young Napoleon, " gave him su 
 preme command. Popular acclamation made this 
 youth, who had all the confidence of genius without 
 its capacity or inspiration, President, in fact. Abra- 
 
GO Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 ham Lincoln, ignorant of all that pertained to the 
 art of war, magnified its importance and difficulties, 
 as one under such circumstances will, and with the 
 modesty so marked in him deferred patiently to those 
 he believed better informed. 
 
 When Mr. Stanton told us that he would make 
 Abraham Lincoln President, he did not mean that 
 he would restore the Union, but that he would rele 
 gate the young Napoleon to his subordinate position, 
 that of being commander. The indifference, not to 
 say arrogance, of our untried Napoleon, is hard to 
 realize now. With princes and the sons of mill 
 ionaires upon his staff, he assumed the airs of a 
 dictator, and it was no uncommon circumstance to 
 see both President and Secretary of War waiting in 
 his ante-chamber, for leisure from mighty reviews 
 and petty detail, for an interview with, the man who 
 had no campaign to communicate, or, if he had, 
 declined taking the Government into his confidence. 
 
 Congress, in its despair, set up this untried dignity 
 in gorgeous uniform, and saw, for nearly a year, a 
 huge army coiled like a sluggish anaconda about the 
 capital, and learned to its dismay that the only orders 
 from headquarters were to " avoid bringing on a 
 conflict," and continued congratulations that "all 
 was quiet on the Potomac." Exasperated beyond 
 endurance, Congress demanded the removal of Simon 
 Cameron as a preliminary step to unhorsing our 
 parade captain. 
 
 President Lincoln, nothing loath, complied with 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. Gl 
 
 this, and, I have reason to believe, hesitated, for some 
 days, between the appointment of the Hon. Joseph 
 Holt and Edwin M. Stanton. Strange to say, the 
 doubt was solved by the interference of General 
 McClellan. He preferred the man who, in the end, 
 made life a burden to the young Napoleon, and his 
 retirement a necessity. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen," said Secretary Stanton to the 
 officers assembled at his first reception, " we will, if 
 you please, have some fighting. It is my business 
 to furnish the means, it is yours to use them. I 
 leave the fighting to you, but the fighting we must 
 have." 
 
 The change wrought by him, in his new capacity, 
 was magical. Disorder and dishonesty disappeared 
 together. The one hid itself in holes, to be hunted 
 out and punished with a certainty that struck terror 
 into the souls of the thieves ; while the other was 
 driven out never to appear again. Huge armies 
 began to move, the great arteries of supply to throb 
 with men and material. The anaconda uncoiled its 
 folds, and stretching out, drove the Confederate flag 
 and artillery from Munson s Hill. The roar of 
 deadly conflict grew remote, and Richmond, in lieu 
 of Washington, was threatened with capture. The 
 stillness about the War Department grew ominous. 
 Instead of quarrelling contractors and clattering 
 epauletted officials, the telegraph ticked out its fate 
 ful information, deadly orders, reports of great 
 battles, and, I am pained to write, shameful dis- 
 
G2 3/e?i Who Saved the Union. 
 
 asters which startled the land. The people felt the 
 master hand, and waited in breathless anxiety for the 
 results, in victory or defeat. Men about the capital 
 saw through the dead hours of the night the lights 
 gleam from the windows where the masterful Secre 
 tary held, without rest, the trembling fate of the great 
 Republic in firm hands under an iron will. 
 
 Few only of us knew of the strain put upon one 
 man in this hour of deadly trial. Edwin M. Stanton 
 had been, of late years, subject to a determination of 
 blood to the brain, and had been warned by his 
 capable physician, that, unless he found entire quiet 
 in abstinence from all excitement, he might die at 
 any moment. Yet notwithstanding these warnings, 
 he threw himself into the great work, fully aware of 
 the danger before him, while Death sat at his board, 
 slept in his bed, and through the long watches 
 of those fearful nights the grim phantom glared 
 upon him, ready at any moment to strike. It was, 
 after all, only a furlough he received from the enemy. 
 God seemed to ordain that he should be spared 
 until his mighty task was ended, and then the pale 
 messenger accompanied him home, tenderly to in 
 scribe upon his monument " To this man, more 
 than to any other, save one, the great Republic owes 
 its life." 
 
 This disorder, added to his mental strain, over 
 whelmed the great Secretary s nervous system, and 
 not only deepened the gloomy spells to which he was 
 addicted, but made him so irritable and impatient 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 63 
 
 that official business with subordinates got to be 
 insult. He was approached by all about him in fear 
 and trembling. And the same ugliness seemed to 
 be contagious. The officer coming from his pres 
 ence, wounded to the quick, gave to others under 
 him the same treatment. 
 
 I remember, one morning, trying to gain admit 
 tance to the Department in advance of the hour at 
 which the place was open to the world. A sentry 
 arrested my entrance at the door. In vain I pleaded 
 an engagement with the Secretary, and asked for a 
 corporal or sergeant to carry in my card. The 
 stupid fellow gave me no comfort. While parley 
 ing with him, Mr. Seward came up, and the guard 
 dropped his musket brusquely across the way of the 
 Secretary of State. Before our great diplomat 
 could make himself known, I said : 
 
 " This is the Secretary of State, my man, and you 
 had better be polite." 
 
 The guard brought his musket instantly to a pre 
 sent, and Mr. Seward passed in. 
 
 " I say, Mr. Secretary," I cried to him, " as I got 
 you admitted, common politeness dictates that you 
 return the favor." 
 
 " Young man," responded the Secretary, looking 
 over his shoulder, " the politeness of this Depart 
 ment is not common," and passed on. 
 
 A subordinate, to deal comfortably with the War 
 Secretary, had to be a mere cipher, so dictatorial 
 and despotic was he. I remember, wiien summoned 
 
G4 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 before him as Judge Advocate of the commission 
 called to investigate the conduct of General Don 
 Carlos Buell in Tennessee, I ventured to say : 
 
 " This is all very well, Mr. Secretary, but I d like 
 to know where you find a law to sanction such a court 
 as this." 
 
 "My noble captain," replied the Secretary, his 
 short upper lip slightly curling, and with the gleam 
 of his white teeth and dark eyes making an expres 
 sion anything but comfortable, "you are commis 
 sioned to obey orders, and not to study law, for it is 
 rather late in life for you to begin that. When I 
 need a legal adviser it is not likely I will call on 
 Judge Piatt. If I am to be met here with the quib 
 ble of a county-court lawyer I will find some other 
 officer." 
 
 The sarcasm stung, for I had been placed on the 
 bench at the age of twenty-five, as Salmon P. Chase 
 said, that I might have an opportunity to learn 
 something of my profession. However, I hid the 
 hurt, and said : 
 
 " All right ; but I would suggest that this is no 
 ordinary inquiry, and a court should be made up of 
 the ablest officers." 
 
 "That is true," responded the Secretary. "You 
 go to the list of officers not on duty, and I will ap 
 point from that." 
 
 I did as directed, and the next day sought the Sec 
 retary with the list of officers in my hand. I met 
 him on the street going to his office, that had been 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. G5 
 
 removed to Winder s Building- to enable the Govern 
 ment to enlarge the old structure. I turned and 
 walked with him, telling him what I had done. He 
 was in a terrible mood, and neither looked at nor 
 spoke to me. At the door of his office the messenger 
 threw it open, and the Secretary, stalking in, banged 
 it into my face. This wooden insult sent a flush to 
 my face. Turning, I saw General Fremont, who 
 had witnessed the affront, and while talking to this 
 remarkable man, the messenger came from the Sec 
 retary s room and, after looking about in a scared 
 manner, asked me if I was " Captain Piety." 
 
 " All but the piety," I replied. 
 
 " Well, I guess you re the man," he said. "The 
 Secretary wants you." 
 
 I went in. Stanton was seated alone at the end of 
 his table. Looking up, he exclaimed : 
 
 " Donn, what in the - - do you want ? " 
 
 "Nothing, sir; not even civil treatment. You 
 directed me to make out a list of officers to compose 
 the Buell court. I have done so, and only came to 
 report the names." 
 
 "Take them to Halleck; that is his business," 
 roared the Secretary. " I can t run the War De 
 partment, let alone trying to run Halleck. Go to 
 him." 
 
 " Mr. Secretary," I said quietly, " I don t mind 
 being jumped on by you any more than if it were my 
 elder brother, but I won t be insulted by General 
 Haileck, as you know I will be if I go as you direct." 
 
66 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 " Insulted ? " he exclaimed, angrily. " I ll see to 
 that. " Here, take him this," and he hastily wrote 
 a note. 
 
 I did as ordered. I appeared before the great Art 
 of War, whose appearance reminded me of two lines 
 in an old ballad which says : 
 
 " His head being larger than common 
 O erbalanced the rest of his fat." 
 
 He read the note I handed him, then, tearing it in 
 two, dropped it in the waste-basket, saying, with all 
 the sarcasm his dull face was capable of : 
 
 " What is your address, captain ? " 
 
 I gave it to him, and then, rising from his chair, 
 he bowed mockingly, and added, " When I need your 
 assistance, I shall certainly send for you, captain." 
 The sarcasm of this was so well done that it raised 
 the dull, epauletted creature in my estimation far 
 above what his stupid book had done. I retired as 
 gracefully as I could, and reported the affair to 
 Stanton. 
 
 "Damn his insolence! Why didn t you pull his 
 nose ? " 
 
 "Because the insult was directed at you," I an 
 swered. "I was only the poor devil of a captain 
 assigned to the duty of carrying it. I wish to God 
 I was out of this." 
 
 My perplexity amused the Secretary. He burst 
 into a laugh, and said, " Oh, never mind Halleck; 
 he can t insult any one. Take the court he gives 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 67 
 
 you, and do the best you can," and, seeing- that I 
 was deeply hurt, he put his arm about my shoulders, 
 in his old caressing- way, and added, " Don t mind me, 
 we are both hasty. This is important business I 
 give you, and I know I can trust you." 
 
 I did my best, and, while on the subject, may as 
 well give the end. The records of that tedious court, 
 so-called, were voluminous. I conveyed them, as 
 duly bound, to the War Department. Mr. Stanton 
 examined me at length as to what had been proven, 
 and I saw an expression very like heat lightning flash 
 over his face when I told him that a certain pet of 
 his had suffered severely. After the death of the 
 Secretary it was discovered that the entire record 
 had disappeared. 
 
 I have my own opinion as to the cause of that dis 
 appearance, but it is only an opinion, and I do not 
 care to state it. Fortunately or unfortunately, the 
 accomplished stenographer employed by the commis 
 sion, Benn Pittman, had yet the original short-hand 
 notes, and restored the awful volume of unmitigated 
 rot. 
 
 History grows more difficult as the world goes on. 
 The art of printing, that is regarded as an aid, is its 
 chief hindrance ; for history is putting to record pop 
 ular belief. The daily journals photograph, through 
 their instantaneous process, these beliefs as facts; 
 and, while this process seems to throw a piercing 
 glare on all events, it only confuses the mind of the 
 impartial investigator. It is an electric light that 
 
68 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 deepens the shadows while it distorts all that it 
 shines upon. The old style of genius patiently delv 
 ing- among- time-stained documents and half-forgotten 
 facts, in search of the truth, was more satisfactory ; 
 for it made events, if not clear, at least consistent, 
 and, while monsters of goodness and wickedness were 
 created, the mass of facts, as recorded, harmonized 
 with each other. We may not have got a true story, 
 but we did receive a lesson that refined and elevated 
 its pupils. 
 
 Through this process, the conduct and character of 
 our great War Secretary suffer unjustly. The late 
 Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, and the late Jere 
 miah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, had a fierce contro 
 versy over Stanton s conduct while a member of 
 President Buchanan s Cabinet. The one maintained 
 that if the other was correct in what he asserted, 
 Stanton was a monster of duplicity and ingratitude. 
 Both were wrong, and, to a certain extent, both 
 were right. Senator Wilson w r as a man all senti 
 ment and of little information, while Judge Black 
 squared all creation on certain principles, and was 
 as narrow in his bigotry as Wilson in his beliefs. 
 Both failed to take into account the impulsiveness of 
 the Secretary, whose feelings often ran away with his 
 better judgment. He w r as bound, by his position in 
 Buchanan s Cabinet, to sustain his chief in his charm 
 ing proposition which asserted that, while a State 
 could not secede from the Union, the Government 
 could not restrain such secession by force. Stanton 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. G9 
 
 saw the absurdity of an attempt to hold the turbulent 
 Union by the rotten ground-rail of a Virginia ab 
 straction, but he looked in wrath that ended in sick 
 ening- disgust at the noisy Abolitionists, who, through 
 their hatred of the master, would scuttle and sink the 
 ship of state. Between these conflicting feelings he 
 gave open expression to his impatience, that Wilson 
 seized on as information, and, after Stanton s death, 
 claimed as evidence of sympathy. 
 
 The truth is the charge against Stanton of betray 
 ing the secrets of Buchanan s Cabinet made by impli 
 cation in the Black- Wilson controversy, and since 
 brought forward directly on the floor of Congress, is, 
 in the light of facts since unveiled, not only untena 
 ble, but grotesquely absurd. In the first place the 
 Cabinet had no secrets to divulg-e, and in the second 
 place, if such existed their betrayal could have been 
 made only to the Confederates. We may wade 
 through the solemn discussions of that helplessly 
 dignified body to find only propositions looking to 
 avoiding the embarrassments of the situation. All 
 that was said and done could have been, and, indeed, 
 was published to the world. But we must remember 
 that in the issue then pressing an imbecile adminis 
 tration for an immediate solution the Confederates 
 were the foes, and the Republican party the ally of 
 the Government. Secretary Stanton s offence was 
 that he conferred with friends and allies. How to 
 save the Union was the problem, and Stanton sought 
 counsel with the incoming administration that was 
 
TO Men Wlio Saved the Union. 
 
 more deepl} interested in the grave question than the 
 one about to expire. But, cries the enemy, he did 
 this secretly. Of course he did. To understand 
 this to the credit of the Secretary, we have to re 
 member that party spirit was more violent and un 
 reasoning- then than at any time in the history of 
 the Republic. 
 
 The political structure formed by the fathers was 
 intended in two of its branches, the judicial and 
 executive, to be colorless so far as politics are con 
 cerned. The Constitution so carefully framed was 
 meant to be a protection to the minority. But this 
 Government on paper developed in practice into a 
 rule of party in which the minority is possessed of 
 no right that the majority is bound to respect. The 
 party in power has come to be not only a despot 
 ism of numbers but the Government itself, and all 
 opposition to it assumes the rank flavor of treason. 
 It is difficult at this day to realize the intolerant 
 and bigoted feeling and conduct of the Democracy 
 in power at the time the South seceded and Presi 
 dent Buchanan was called on to vacate his position 
 in favor of a minority President, a vulgar rail-splitter 
 from the wilds of Illinois. Up to that time the mere 
 expression of opinion in favor of free-soil was met by 
 violence that threatened death. Members of Con 
 gress went to their seats armed with revolvers, and 
 the Democratic side courted attack. Sumner had 
 been stricken down in his place in the Senate, and 
 a reign of terror had been inaugurated such as 
 
Edwin J/. Stanton. 71 
 
 had been before unknown in the history of our 
 country. Mr. Stanton had sense enough to know 
 that all this violence only hastened on what it had 
 been created to prevent, and he had sufficient pru 
 dence not to peril his own influence by defying- it. 
 While his life-long- Democracy revolted against the 
 doctrines of the incoming party, he recognized the 
 fact that it was incoming, and, appreciating the 
 eminent men who were put to the front, he sought 
 to counsel with them. He could not betray the 
 administration of which he made a part, for it pos 
 sessed, as I have said, nothing the imparting a 
 knowledge of which would constitute a betrayal. 
 His sin, in the eyes of his associate, Jeremiah S. 
 Black, at that date, and since in those of the Hon. 
 Joseph Wheeler, was that he had any intercourse 
 with Abolitionists. He took them into the confi 
 dence of the outgoing administration when both 
 parties were supposed to be acting, if not together, 
 at least in opposition to the common enemy. As 
 I have said, we must remember that this occurred 
 at a time when party spirit was resolving itself into 
 an armed conflict, and that while President Bu 
 chanan deplored secession he despised its Republican 
 opponents, and those who see so much to condemn in 
 Mr. Stan ton s secret conference, find no blame for a 
 President who not only failed to secure his successor 
 safe entry to the Capital, but openly expressed his 
 contempt by permitting the President-elect to go 
 from a hotel unaccompanied to the Capitol, to take 
 
72 Men Wlio Saved the Union. 
 
 the oath of office. The poor old politician little 
 dreamed that he then lost an opportunity of shedding 
 a grace on himself by introducing to the people the 
 man so good and so great that even this formal 
 official recognition would have, in a measure, re 
 flected a better light on the dying administration, 
 That had the sense to see the coming wrong 
 But not the heart to fight. 
 
 This is all there is left of the shadow that bitter 
 but feeble enemies seek to cast upon the tomb of the 
 great War Secretary. 
 
 I cannot believe that a man of Stanton s force of 
 character and fixed opinions was suddenly converted 
 from a pro-slavery Democrat to an Abolitionist. He 
 was not the man to be stricken down in his sin, and 
 rise in his righteousness, from one blow. It is my 
 opinion that he took the place tendered him by Pres 
 ident Lincoln precisely as he would have accepted a 
 retainer from a client in an important case. He saw 
 from the beginning that the issue was to be fought 
 out to the bitter end. He found no difficulty in mak 
 ing the case his own. It was his habit ; and, in this 
 instance, it came easy ; for, while he loathed the anti- 
 slavery organization, he loved the Union with the 
 strongest pulsations of a heart that had in it truer 
 guidance than the loftiest leader of the Abolitionists 
 had in the light of his brain. 
 
 In the same way, General McClellan hurries into 
 print to charge Edwin M. Stanton with treachery to 
 the man who claims to have made the Secretary. 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 73 
 
 Tliis is natural, and of easy solution. When the 
 "Young 1 Napoleon" graciously consented to the 
 selection of Stanton as Secretary of War, he did so 
 under the impression that he was to have the same 
 sort of humble supporter Simon Cameron had been. 
 He awakened to the fact that it was one thing- to 
 have a sympathizing- friend in a brother Democrat, 
 giving him what lawyers call street opinions on sup- 
 posable cases, and quite another to have the same 
 man made master, with the responsibility of an 
 empire thrown upon his shoulders. 
 
 Stanton assumed the powers of Secretary with the 
 solemn resolve to execute its duties to the best of his 
 ability, without fear, affection or favor. He failed in 
 many instances, as I shall show, but not in respect 
 to McClellan. His first important move grew out of 
 the very intimacy that is made the foundation of this 
 charge. Stanton saw, as did Lincoln, Seward, and 
 Chase, that only half the enemy was under arms at 
 their front ; that the other half, far more deadly, was 
 coiled in silence at their rear. 
 
 Lincoln was a minority President. The unknown 
 rail-splitter of Illinois had no hold on the affections 
 of the people he presided over. He told us once that 
 he felt like a surveyor in the wild woods of the West, 
 who, while looking for a corner, kept an eye over his 
 shoulder for an Indian. The late Whigs and imme 
 diate Free-soilers voting against the extension of 
 slaver^ 7 , more from the necessity of having some sort 
 of a platform on which to rally than opposition to 
 
74 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 slavery, accepted without enthusiasm the President 
 a minority had elected ; while the Democrats at the 
 North felt, as deeply as Stanton himself, nothing- but 
 natred and contempt for the cause. 
 
 The firing- on our flag* at Sumter, that so aroused 
 the war spirit at the North, disconcerted and dis 
 couraged the democratic sentiment at the same 
 North, but did not kill it. It was observed, and it 
 must be remembered, that, as the thousands wheeled 
 into line and marched to the front, it was under cries 
 of "Save the Union," and not to free the negro. 
 They went out to punish and put down the miscre 
 ants who had dragged in the dust the flag of our 
 fathers, and they gave the Abolitionists the cold 
 shoulder for being, as they believed, the real cause 
 of all this turmoil. How long this war spirit would 
 last was the question. Lincoln believed it would 
 continue with our success in the field. He and his 
 Cabinet suddenly awakened to quite another fact, and 
 that was that, while a victory seemed to arouse the 
 rebel spirit at the North, and a demand w r as heard 
 to cease fighting and negotiate with the wrong-doers 
 for peace, a shameful defeat, that sent mourning- 
 through the households of the patriotic, seemed to 
 arouse a spirit that not only silenced open discontent, 
 but sent thousands on thousands of brave fellows to 
 the field to retrieve the disaster. 
 
 It was impossible to tell how long* this state of 
 affairs would continue. Our great statesmen in 
 control at Washington well knew that this rebellious 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 75 
 
 discontent grew on delay. Hence Stanton s demand, 
 " We will have some fighting, gentlemen." 
 
 He awakened to another startling fact, and that 
 was that this spirit of distrust in the Government 
 had crept into the army. West Point, that teaches 
 everything but patriotism and the art of war, had 
 been prolific of pro-slavery Democrats. Taught blind 
 obedience to the powers that be as the essence of 
 soldiership, and having known no other power than 
 a pro-slavery Government, the West Pointers divided 
 at the sound of the first gun, and while one-half, ac 
 knowledging allegiance only to their States, went 
 South, the other half, recognizing their obligations 
 to the National Government, remained faithful, and 
 yet, with few exceptions, secretly despising the rule 
 of Abolitionists. This feeling arose from the addi 
 tional fact that West Point is more of a social feature 
 than a military school, and as reformers are not 
 fashionable, seldom, if ever, even respectable, the 
 cadet had a horror of the howling Abolitionist. 
 
 These are unpleasant things to say now, but I am 
 giving Stanton s views at the time, and the views 
 shared by his eminent associates. We look back, 
 and wonder at the cold neglect awarded George H. 
 Thomas, the most brilliant and successful soldier of 
 the war, but Lincoln had been taught to distrust a 
 West Point Democrat, and that distrust was deep 
 ened ~by Thomas Virginia birth. 
 
 " This man has no heart in the cause," said Stan- 
 ton of McClellan, " he is fighting for a boundary if 
 
76 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 he fights at all ; our great difficulty is to make him 
 fight at all." 
 
 I have not the space here to follow the " Young- 
 Napoleon through his fearful disasters on the 
 James. Stan ton maintained to the last hour of his 
 life that these defeats came as much from disloyalty 
 as incapacity. I differ from him. The same lack of 
 capacity that brought defeat saved us from any 
 well-defined project of treachery. The man who 
 shrank from a move on Richmond, after Malvern 
 Hill, had not in him the stuff to make a Catiline. 
 
 I have nothing to do with the war, save so far as 
 the facts go to disprove the charges now made against 
 the dead Secretary. Stanton told me after he left the 
 War Department to die, that " all the time the huge 
 army lay coiled about Washington, a distrust of the 
 Government, as a nest of vicious Abolitionists, was 
 insidiously cultivated among the men ; and, after 
 the terrible defeats before Richmond, when distress 
 from sickness and disaster depressed the army, the 
 men were taught to believe that the Government 
 had abandoned them to their cruel fate. This was 
 so marked," continued the Secretary, speaking in 
 gasps, " that when Lincoln visited the camps a fear 
 was felt at headquarters that he would be insulted, 
 and orders were issued to cheer the President when 
 he appeared." Instead of holding to all that we had 
 gained through such terrible loss of blood and 
 money, the entire army had to be returned to the 
 fortifications of Washington, before Lincoln dared 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 77 
 
 put another general in command. McClellan s 
 restoration was a mistake, but it originated in the 
 same fact. Lincoln said: "This man may not be 
 the best to continue as our general, but he has the 
 confidence of the men, and is the only one able to 
 reorganize our forced after these defeats. We must 
 bear with him awhile longer." 
 
 I have not space to treat of this McClellan affair 
 further than is necessary to illustrate the character 
 of Secretary Stanton. If the democratic general 
 had his plan of a campaign, he was as remarkable for 
 keeping it to himself as he was cautious in putting it 
 in operation. Nothing but repeated orders could 
 force him to move, and the only interference he could 
 complain of was in the directing that Washington 
 should not be uncovered. 
 
 The true story of the late war has not been told. 
 It probably never will be told. It is not flattering 
 to our people, and, as I have said, unpalatable truths 
 seldom find their way into history. All books, so 
 far, are confined to the armed conflict, which was 
 but one-third of the war the administration was 
 called on to prosecute. I have referred to the dis 
 loyal feeling that fairly honeycombed with treason 
 the Northern States. There was another third of 
 the conflict, that concerned the power at Washing 
 ton, that the able Seward, under Lincoln, managed 
 with eminent ability, and that was the danger from 
 foreign interference. Had the war powers of Europe 
 combined, as they were disposed to do, in a recogni- 
 
78 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 tion of the Confederacy, I should now be writing 
 this under the Northern Republic of America. This 
 fear was never made prominent, for it was not policy 
 to have it known ; but it hung on the horizon like a 
 heavy cloud, with muttering thunder, that Lincoln 
 and his Cabinet were forced to see and hear. 
 
 Now, our capital was in the country of the enemy. 
 Sandwiched between Virginia and Maryland, with 
 treason simmering in the one and at a boil in the 
 other, it was in continual peril. To lose that capital 
 at any time was to fetch on from Europe, not only 
 recognition, but armed interference. The clear, capa 
 ble brain of Seward saw this, and hence the order 
 from the Secretary of War that kept an army well in 
 hand, not so much to repel the attacks of an organ 
 ized force, as to keep in subjection a people whose 
 stones and clubs would have been as much to the 
 purpose as Lee s armed brigades of disciplined men. 
 
 I am pained to write, striving to do so with truth, 
 that against other charges of injustice on the part 
 of the great Secretary I can make no defence. With 
 all his eminent ability, with all his earnest, honest 
 desire to do his duty to the Government he served, 
 he was, without exception, more subject to personal 
 likes and dislikes, more vindictive in his gratification 
 of the last, than any man ever called to public sta 
 tion. Nothing but his wonderful ability and great 
 force of character saved him and his cause from 
 utter wreck in this direction. Not only so, but it 
 seemed to me that both Stanton and Seward were 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 79 
 
 drunk with the lust of power. They fairly rioted in 
 its enjoyment. While Lincoln and Chase were as 
 pure and simple in this as children, with no such 
 morbid desire to gr&tify, with no personal friends to 
 favor, and no enemies to punish, Stanton and Seward 
 not only revelled in despotic authority, but Stanton 
 used the fearful power of the Government to crush 
 those he hated, while he sought, through the same 
 means, to elevate those he loved. His official busi 
 ness became a personal affair, and the enemies he 
 sought to destroy were, with some exceptions, in his 
 estimation the foes of the Government. 
 
 Of the many instances memory brings to mind, 
 the most cruel one may indeed write infamous was 
 the treatment of General Rosecrans. William S. 
 Rosecrans, a brave, patriotic soldier, with brilliant 
 qualities as a commander, and many striking defects, 
 had wounded Stanton in a way never to be forgotten 
 or forgiven. 
 
 "Old Rosy," as his soldiers affectionately called 
 him, and, in so doing, gave the man in two words, 
 did not know one man from another. In regard to 
 character he was color-blind, and, of course, did not 
 recognize a great man when he saw him certainly 
 not, unless under epaulettes manufactured at West 
 Point. He regarded Stanton as a clerk to the Presi 
 dent, and the President as an impertinent interfe 
 rence in the management of the great war, which 
 interference he regretted that the Constitution pre 
 vented removing. 
 
80 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 I have said lie had brilliant qualities as a general 
 in command. He could plan a campaign and fight 
 a battle equal to any officer in the United States. 
 But in the selection of his subordinates he could not 
 distinguish George H. Thomas from Alexander Mc- 
 Dowel McCook, and in receiving instructions or ad 
 vice from his superiors, he could not see that they 
 were apt to be wiser than he, from their having 
 escaped what he was pleased to call a military 
 education. In the personal intercourse first had 
 between the Secretary and the soldier occurred a 
 mutual misunderstanding of each other that con 
 tinued to the end. Nature has given to all its creat 
 ures an instinctive knowledge of their enemies. 
 This enmity really had its origin in ignorance, but it 
 is doubtful whether any amount of information 
 would have corrected the difference. Rosecrans saw 
 before him, as I have said, a mere clerk, and instead 
 of sweeping the floor with his new plumes, with 
 bated breath and humble attention, as other generals 
 were wont to do, he not only held his perpendicular 
 with the martial bearing becoming the sashed and 
 gold-embroidered soldier, but with a soldier s indif 
 ference to the views of a clerk and civilian on mat 
 ters of war. Of course, the Secretary resented such 
 extraordinary conduct, and could see no good in the 
 shallow brigadier. 
 
 A vacancy of a major-generalship in the regular 
 service occurring, some time after Stanton assumed 
 the duties of Secretary, he issued a circular to all 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 81 
 
 the generals open to such promotion, offering- the 
 position to the one achieving the first victory. 
 
 The Secretary did not entertain the highest opinion 
 of his epauletted subordinates, and did not know that 
 he was wounding men who, whatever may be said 
 of their military capacity or patriotism, had, through 
 training and association, a nice sense of honor. All 
 of these felt what Rosecrans alone had boldness 
 enough to resent. Seizing his pen, always as fatal 
 to himself as his sword to the enemy, he worded a 
 rough rebuke that went home to the heart of the 
 author of the circular. After that this brave man 
 and efficient officer had, first, neglect, and then 
 cruel punishment and abuse from the Secretary. 
 
 When the Army of the Cumberland required a 
 new commander, after the failure of General Buell, 
 Chase urged Rosecrans, and Lincoln called him to 
 the place, in spite of Stanton s opposition. The Sec 
 retary of War preferred Thomas, not only because he 
 had learned to admire and believe in that greatest of 
 all our generals, but for that he had sworn " Rosy " 
 should never again be officer of his. I speak of what 
 I know, for I had excited Stanton s wrath by urging 
 the selection of Rosecrans, and I remember well the 
 day when he entered the War Department, flushed 
 with anger, for I happened there, and said abruptly 
 to me, " Well, you have your choice of idiots ; now 
 look out for frightful disasters." 
 
 No army in the field called for the same patient 
 consideration and care as that of the Cumberland. 
 
82 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 The success of our campaigning turned on a question 
 of transportation. The enemy, occupying the inner 
 lines of a circle, could, with comparative ease, con 
 centrate on any point selected, while to the geograph 
 ical difficulties before us were added the dishonesty 
 of our agents furnishing supplies and the wanton 
 improvidence of our men, who, feeling the huge Gov 
 ernment at their backs, were, with all their courage 
 and endurance, as improvident as children. We 
 wasted in a day what would have sustained a Euro 
 pean army for a month. 
 
 We had three armies in the field, and if my reader 
 will turn to the map he will see that, while one 
 operated on the James, the other had the Mississippi. 
 The third, Rosecrans force, struck through the 
 interior from Louisville, and for six hundred miles 
 over the enemy s territory had to depend on a single 
 line of railroad. Rosecrans had more trouble to 
 keep open this line, and after every victory and suc 
 cessful turn, to accumulate supplies, than he had to 
 whip the enemy. The two armies, right and left of 
 him, moved on with ease, and while their generals 
 were congratulated on their mamjeuvres, Rosecrans 
 was censured for delay, although at every halt he 
 \von a victory and rebuilt his railroad. His objec 
 tive point was Chattanooga, the Gibraltar of the 
 South. Nature built the impregnable fortifications 
 of the place, while almost impassable mountains 
 stretched their palisades east and west for two hun 
 dred miles. 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 83 
 
 Rosecrans, after delays Stanton could not or 
 would not appreciate, and the people grew impatient 
 over, penetrated these mountains, turned Bragg s 
 flank, and forcing- the Confederate to a fight on equal 
 terms, repulsed him and fell back on Chattanooga. 
 He had accomplished his objective point. He had 
 won the apparently impregnable fort, from which 
 our armies operated from that out, and his reward 
 was, to be dismissed under a cloud of lies, in the most 
 insulting and brutal manner. This was so evident, 
 that Thomas, who had won our victory at Chicka- 
 mauga from the very jaws of defeat, repudiated the 
 call made on him to succeed Rosecrans, and only 
 accepted when forced, after he had put on record 
 his high appreciation of his late commander. 
 
 Stanton s impulses have placed his memory in a 
 false position, and I fear that in stating so broadly 
 his enmities I shall add to this erroneous impression. 
 Strong as were his feelings, there was one sentiment 
 that overrode and controlled all others, and that was 
 his patriotism. The cases of Milroy and Rosecrans 
 really make exceptions to his general conduct. When, 
 through his own choice or that of the President, he 
 gave a general command, he did all in his power to 
 make that command a success. He was really at 
 tached, personally, to McClellan until he discovered 
 that officer s incapacity, and he had, on the other 
 hand, a dislike for Grant ; yet to both he gave his 
 best endeavors and all the resources of his depart 
 ment. 
 
84 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 That there was feeling- between Stanton and Grant 
 can be learned from Grant s memoirs, in which that 
 general repays Stanton s efforts/ m his behalf by 
 striving 1 to put the Secretary to record as an im 
 becile. 
 
 It is not generally known how this personal differ 
 ence came about. The history of Grant s military 
 career exhibits to the ordinary reader the fact that 
 the great Secretary not only gave the General unlim 
 ited command, but hurried to his support all the 
 resources of the Government. The fact is, however, 
 that Stanton, in common with his eminent associates, 
 had a contempt for the mere military man. This, of 
 course, is not shared by the general public. Through 
 all ages the man-killer has been the hero in the pop 
 ular mind. The false yet fascinating- glamour of war 
 blinds the masses to the fact that a mere leader of 
 men is such through an absence of the higher intel 
 lectual qualities. His self-reliance that makes him 
 eminent is the result of ignorance. The more we 
 know the less we seem to ourselves to know ; and 
 while the leader acts with the promptness necessary 
 to success the thoughtful mind hesitates, making 
 obstacles impossibilities. Had Buell, for example, 
 known less he would have been more successful. The 
 common mind takes no note of the fact that when the 
 war came on men totally unknown to the country as 
 great in any respect, not only came to the front, 
 but thrust aside all the statesmen whom the country 
 had loved and followed. Nor do these people see that 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 85 
 
 when the war ended the continuance of such military 
 men in power proved a nuisance and a burden. 
 
 Had Grant died under the shadow of Lee s sur 
 rendered sword, before he could have been used by the 
 politicians, few would venture to question a monu 
 ment, however unjust, that would rise above the 
 shaft dedicated to the memory of Washington. As 
 a politician and history will record the fact he did 
 more to destroy our Government through corruption 
 than he did to sustain it with his sword. 
 
 Stanton, with his usual frankness, had no hesita 
 tion in expressing his contempt for Grant, but he 
 always added, " The man will fight." This con 
 tempt came from an event not generally known, but 
 nevertheless a fact. When the Army of the Cumber 
 land was cooped up in Chattanooga, with starvation 
 or surrender staring it in the face, Stanton hurried 
 west to meet Grant at Louisville and consult him as 
 to the best means for relieving our beleaguered forces. 
 The day on which they met was given to these 
 considerations, and the wire between Chattanooga 
 and Louisville trembled with continuous messages. 
 When night came the two men separated with an 
 understanding that after an hour devoted to rest and 
 refreshment, they should meet again and continue 
 their labor. The next morning General Grant was 
 to leave for Chattanooga. 
 
 When the time came for the meeting Grant did not 
 appear. Stanton waited impatiently, receiving the 
 telegrams that continued to pour in, and at last se-t 
 
86 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 for the General. He could not be found. It was 
 suggested that he had gone to the theatre. The 
 Secretary, amazed and disgusted, had the theatres 
 searched without success. At last, long after mid 
 night, the General was found in a place, and under 
 circumstances, not necessary to relate to those who 
 knew the habits of this renowned warrior. Had he 
 been of a sensitive nature he would, under the savage 
 reprimand of the Secretary, have then and there 
 disappeared from history, as his supposed friend, 
 General Sherman, said, on another occasion at Don- 
 elson. 
 
 A like misunderstanding attends the personal dif 
 ference between Stanton and Sherman. 
 
 It is popularly believed that this personal differ 
 ence between these two men originated in the usur 
 pation of power indulged in by General Sherman in 
 making terms of surrender with General Johnson. 
 By these terms Sherman coolly undertook to settle all 
 the political issues of the war. He put the President, 
 Congress, and the courts aside, and for the time 
 being arrogated to himself all the powers of the 
 Government. 
 
 The President w r as aroused at this egotistical 
 exhibit of a subordinate, but Stanton, Chase, and 
 Seward were indignant, especially the first named. 
 
 The fact is, however, that Stanton s wrath at 
 Sherman antedated this event, and had birth in Sher 
 man s march to the sea. That Sherman s army 
 should further penetrate the South and really cut the 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 87 
 
 Confederacy in two by destroying 1 the railroads, and 
 the stores, building s, and machine-shops at Augus 
 ta, the great Southern military manufactory and 
 arsenal, and not only sever but hold the lines by 
 which the Confederate Army at Richmond received 
 reinforcements and supplies, but at the same time 
 leave a sufficient force with Thomas to hold the Con 
 federate Army under Hood in check, was the expec 
 tation of the War Department at Washington. 
 
 Instead of this, Sherman disappeared from the 
 front with nearly his entire force, and, while avoiding 
 all enemies except the Georgia militia, left Thomas 
 with only twenty-two thousand men scattered over 
 half of Tennessee to cope with an army that had 
 come near proving too much for the one hundred 
 thousand veterans Sherman had led against Atlanta. 
 
 A panic, which extended to the headquarters 
 before Richmond, seized the Government at Wash 
 ington. And well it might. The Government learned, 
 to its consternation, that while Sherman had aban 
 doned all that had been gained through such a vast 
 expenditure of blood and treasure, for a holiday 
 march to the sea, the Confederacy contemplated 
 a stroke that was to revive the drooping fortunes of 
 its cause, and justify France in at last interfering 
 from Mexico in the desperate struggle. To this end 
 Hood had been furnished with all the men and means 
 in the power of the Confederate Government to 
 gather on the Tennessee in order to cut Sherman s 
 communications and march to the Ohio. The Gov- 
 
88 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 eminent regarded Sherman s march, as he conducted 
 it, as a monstrous blunder until Thomas gave relief 
 by defeating- Hood at Nashville. It was a desperate 
 chance, which no other man than George H. Thomas 
 could have made a success. 
 
 Lincoln, with a philosophy which accepted as well 
 all that ended well, forgave the blunderer; but 
 Stanton did not ; and when Sherman added insult to 
 injury by undertaking the reconstruction of the 
 South, Stanton expressed himself in terms far more 
 forcible than polite. 
 
 It matters little how much a man may be warped 
 by the rough usage of the world, or how moulded 
 into another form lay contact with adverse circum 
 stances, there yet remains hidden in him the youth 
 that, as the poet tells us, is the father of the man. 
 Stanton s great force of character and impulsive 
 nature became fierce and aggressive, not through 
 lack of kindly feeling on his part, but, as I have said, 
 from disease that overwhelmed his nervous system, 
 and from the strain of the onerous duties so unex 
 pectedly thrust upon him. A man in a high place 
 who devotes himself to a small object and ignores 
 the weightier responsibilities of his position, may 
 retain his composure and improve his health. This 
 was not Stanton. His great patriotic heart felt, as 
 his brain recognized, the difficulties and responsibil 
 ities of his place, and, with his eye single to the good 
 of the whole country, he assumed and struggled con 
 stantly under the entire weight of his office. In 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 89 
 
 commenting upon his defects, we have to take into 
 account the trying- period of four years during which 
 he acted so important a part. The country he loved 
 with intense earnestness was in the direst peril. 
 Huge armies were enrolled and hastily organized 
 under his immediate direction to do battle for the 
 Government, and almost every hour brought news of 
 shameful disasters and defeats of the brave men he 
 was instrumental in sending to the front. In judging 
 of his impatience and comparative cruelty, and of 
 the many cases of positive injustice, we must take 
 into consideration all these circumstances and sur 
 roundings. He worked in the midst of a tremendous 
 tumult, and one man only seemed to rise above the 
 confusion and disorder to a calm consideration, not 
 only of the great struggle going on, but of all the 
 details in which inoffensive men and helpless women 
 were trampled under. That man was Abraham 
 Lincoln. While Stanton grew furious almost to in 
 sanity over the failures of his generals that sent 
 desolation and misery to the households all over the 
 land, Lincoln was not only cool and quiet, but found 
 time and patience to help the hurt, and sympathize 
 with the unfortunate who came in contact with him. 
 We should do Edwin M. Stanton great injustice 
 were we to omit these mitigating circumstances. 
 That he was impatient, tyrannical, and sometimes 
 unjust, we have to admit, but, as I have said, these 
 were defects traceable to his ill-health and to the 
 press of affairs crowded into those four years of 
 
90 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 national trial. His heart, under all its rough exte 
 rior, would beat kindly when reached by suffering-, 
 and in proof of this we have the fact that in all that 
 time it was open to the common soldier. No man 
 from the ranks appeared about the Department with 
 a complaint that he did not receive immediate atten 
 tion from the great Secretary ; and when such atten 
 tion was obtained, there was no rank, however high, 
 that could exempt the wrong-doer from investigation 
 and punishment. These were not the acts of a 
 demagogue seeking popularity with the commons. 
 Stanton had no ambition beyond the conquest of the 
 South, and felt that he did not know that his life 
 could be extended beyond his term of office in the 
 War Department; and he had, therefore, no other 
 motive than the discharge of his immediate duties. 
 
 In illustration of his kind disposition when ap 
 proached from the ranks, I have the following story 
 from an officer who happened to be present on the 
 occasion to which I refer. 
 
 It was during the morning hour when the Secre 
 tary s office was open to all comers, and therefore 
 crowded with the usual collection of contractors, 
 officers, Members of Congress, and others having 
 business with the Department. Into this crowd came 
 a young man, scarcely indeed more than a boy, rag 
 ged, dirty, and evidently in ill-health. He stole in 
 timidly and stood leaning against the wall near the 
 door as if too feeble to stand alone. The Secreta 
 ry, whose keen eye seemed to take in all about him. 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 91 
 
 saw the poor fellow, and brushing- aside the officers 
 crowding- about him, called the boy to him and said: 
 " Well, my lad, what can I do for you ? " 
 
 The soldier, without saying- a word in repry, drew 
 a letter from his pocket and handed it to the Secre 
 tary. The letter was torn open and hastily read, and 
 when read Stanton cried, "Come here, all of you, 
 and as they gathered about him, read the letter 
 aloud, and then holding it up, added, " I would 
 rather be worthy of this letter than have the highest 
 commission in the Army of the United States." 
 
 It was an appeal from George H. Thomas in 
 behalf of the bearer, a survivor of the men sent South 
 by Gen. O. M. Mitchell to burn the bridges and de 
 stroy the railway communications of the Confederates 
 before the battle of Shiloh. The youth s companions 
 had been caught and hanged, and he had escaped 
 more dead than alive. Reaching the Union lines, 
 nearly a year elapsed before he was able to leave the 
 hospital, and General Thomas urged earnestly that 
 he might be rewarded. 
 
 Again turning to the boy, Stanton asked, with 
 considerable emotion in his voice, what he could do 
 for him. 
 
 The lad said, " Let me g-o home. I want to see 
 my mother." 
 
 "You shall go home," said the Secretary, "and 
 when you return to the army it shall be as an offi 
 cer. This is the sort of devotion that is needed in 
 the service." 
 
92 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Edwin M. Stan ton left the War Department, not 
 only wrecked in health, but utterly ruined in fortune. 
 The accumulation of an independence accomplished 
 through long- years of toil at the bar disappeared 
 during his term of service, and he left the office a 
 poor man. It is the system of our great Republic 
 to develop mediocrity in office, to say nothing of 
 dishonesty, by its economy in the way of compensa 
 tion for services. When to this we add the uncer 
 tain tenure of office, we get at one source of the 
 demoralization felt in our civil service. 
 
 Mr. Stanton left few friends in the Administration 
 that his patriotic efforts had made successful. His 
 unfortunate manner had offended the officers of the 
 army, and irritated the politicians ; while his hon 
 esty had antagonized the element that was to govern 
 the country after the w T ar. President Grant, as we 
 have seen, hated him. He could, therefore, hope for 
 no support for his dependent family from the Gov 
 ernment he had done so much to preserve. He made 
 an attempt to resume his practice under circum 
 stances that made a kind-hearted Justice of the 
 Supreme Court go to his sick-room to hear an argu 
 ment. That Justice found the intellect clear and 
 vigorous as ever, but saw that the hand of death 
 was on the advocate. 
 
 A vacancy at last occurring in the Supreme Court, 
 all the prominent Republicans of House and Senate 
 went in a body and demanded of the President the 
 
Edwin M. Stanton. 9:> 
 
 commission that was reluctantly given. It came only 
 in time to gratify the eyes of a dying man. . 
 
 Stan ton had his defects, but he had no weaknesses. 
 His very sins had a fierce strength in them, that 
 helped on, instead of retarding his work. He could 
 crush a personal enemy under the iron heel of his 
 military power, but the men he favored, such as 
 Hooker, Pope, and Thomas, were eminently fitted for 
 the tasks assigned them. 
 
 Stanton s was the master-mind of the war. To 
 his indomitable will and iron nature we owe all that 
 we accomplished in that direction. When he saw, 
 after the battle of Gettysburg, that the Confederacy 
 was sinking from sheer exhaustion, he crowded on 
 men to stamp it out. He knew that Lee was leaving 
 a highway of human bones to mark Grant s road 
 from the Rapidan to Richmond ; that we were hav 
 ing more killed than the Confederate generals had 
 in command ; he knew that Sherman s march on 
 Atlanta was a succession of bloody defeats, and he 
 said, " He can give five men to their one, and win ; 
 these victories to the rebels are disasters they can 
 not afford." He knew that forty thousand of our 
 poor fellows were dying of exposure and starvation 
 in Confederate prisons, yet when Grant wrote him 
 that to liberate that number of healthy rebels would 
 be the ruin of Sherman, the exchange was stopped. 
 There was no sea of blood, no waste of treasure, to 
 stand in the way of a restored Union and the empire 
 of a continent. 
 
04 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 He finished his great work, resigned his commis 
 sion of office and his life at the same instant, for lie 
 staggered from his Department on the arm of Death. 
 The terrible strain that a fierce nature had actually 
 lived on, gave way, and the relaxation meant disso 
 lution. The silver cord did not snap ; it unravelled 
 and fell to pieces. He died in the golden glow of his 
 greatness, and was spared that most pitiable of all 
 spectacles, the hero who survives himself. It was a 
 cold, tempestuous night, when this stormy nature 
 sank to its last repose, and the Carnot " who organ 
 ized victory " surrendered quietly to the victor over 
 all. 
 
 As the smoke of battles and the mist of conflicting 
 passions pass away, five grand, stern figures loom 
 up before us, standing strange and solemn as fates 
 raised by destiny to save our Government in its hour 
 of periJ . The monument to Lincoln has not yet been 
 built. When it is, the column that holds aloft the 
 form of our greatest man of that trying period 
 should have supporting- the base four bronze figures 
 of Chase, Seward, Stanton, and Thomas. And so 
 will history, in the hearts of the people, group those 
 to whom we owe our existence as a Nation. 
 
(Bust in the Capitol at Washington.) 
 SALMON P. CHASE. 
 
SALMON P. CHASE. 
 
 THIS gentleman, New Englander by birth, came to 
 the West when quite a youth. A man of fine intel 
 lect and rare culture, he had a cold, unimpulsive 
 temperament that gave to his manners a dignified 
 reserve that repelled familiarity and interfered mate 
 rially with his popularity. His fine presence, for he 
 was tall, erect, and admirably proportioned, with his 
 grave manner, impressed the crowd, and created re 
 spect without liking. These qualities are, however, 
 more potent in the end than more genial ones. Many 
 a statesman honored in his grave owed his success in 
 life to the length of his legs and the solemnity of his 
 countenance. The late Tom Corwin, of Ohio, a man 
 of genius and infinite humor, on one occasion, when 
 lecturing me for my disposition to joke with a crowd, 
 said : 
 
 " Don t do it, my boy. You should ever re 
 member that the crowd always looks up to the ring 
 master and down on the clown. It resents that 
 which amuses. The clown is the more clever fellow 
 of the two, but he is despised. If you would succeed 
 in life you must be solemn, solemn as an ass. All 
 tlie great monuments of earth have been built over 
 solemn asses." 
 
96 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Salmon P. Chase was anything- but a solemn ass. 
 His intellectual attainments put him at the head of 
 his profession, that of lawyer, before they made him 
 conspicuous as a politician. He was a hard student, 
 and his thoughtful processes assimilated, well and 
 rapidly, the information he acquired. 
 
 Looking at Chase through life, and regarding his 
 characteristics since his death, I find now, as I found 
 when we were friends, a mystery in his being a 
 reformer. As I have said, his motive for action was 
 not in his heart. He had no impulses of that sort 
 that I could ever discover. The elevated plane upon 
 which he guided his life, a singularly pure and just 
 one, came of his stern sense of duty. This was not 
 difficult, for he had no youth. He was born an old 
 man in that respect, and had no heartfelt impulses 
 to fetch on indiscretions. He never used tobacco in 
 any form, nor wine save as social decorum called for 
 its use. He had passion without sentiment, and 
 when he married it was with more regard for the 
 proprieties of life than the gratification of a lover s 
 mad impulse, and herein lies the contradiction that 
 makes him a mystery. He had a high regard for 
 the proprieties of life and none whatever for the law. 
 Now reform is not reputable. Intrenched wrong 
 finds its most powerful defence in its respectability. 
 They who seek to undermine the respectable are low 
 fellows, and the very name assumed by the reformer 
 becomes one of reproach. Long after the death of 
 our Saviour to be called a Christian was to have 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 97 
 
 applied a term of fearful stain which justified imme 
 diate and shameful death, as cruel and shameful as 
 that awarded our God by the respectable classes of 
 Jerusalem. When Salmon P. Chase gave in his 
 open adhesion to the anti-slavery cause he was called 
 an Abolitionist. He might as well, considering- the 
 effect, have been denounced as a thief or a burglar. 
 His reputable friends and having married into a 
 wealthy and aristocratic family, he had many such 
 looked down on him with pity and contempt. 
 
 Chase, in his shy, awkward way, cultivated young 
 men remarkable for their evidence of intellect or 
 show of eccentricity. I was one of his proteges. I 
 write this without claiming any compliment on that 
 score. One defect in this eminent statesman was his 
 ignorance of human nature. He did not know one 
 man from another save in the man s profession. He 
 took those very men at the valuation acquaintance 
 put on them. This ignorance added greatly to his 
 success, for we lose more through our suspicions 
 than we gain through our credulousness. We are 
 given to the strange belief that back of every man s 
 act lies a selfish motive, and this, although we are 
 taught by a study of ourselves that nearly all our 
 actions originate in impulses or from circumstances 
 over which we have no control, or from both, and 
 seldom, if ever, from a cold, calculating consideration 
 of how we may use others to our own advantage. 
 At the same time, Chase s confidence gave his up 
 right character its only taint in the eyes of the world. 
 
98 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 He had around him, from first to last, about the 
 worst set of men that ever environed a leader, and 
 these gave interpretation to many of his acts. These 
 fellows, of course, used him to enrich or elevate them 
 selves, and the people at large held their master 
 responsible. 
 
 On this matter of good or bad human nature Mr. 
 Chase could reason, in a general way, with the terse 
 epigrammatic force so peculiar to him, without being* 
 able to make personal application of his knowledge. 
 I remember, for example, visiting the Ohio peniten 
 tiary with him while he was Governor of the State. 
 Returning, we walked to the Capitol. After a long 
 silence, the Governor said, (l There is not much differ 
 ence between the convicts imprisoned in those walls 
 and the ordinary run of people outside." This did 
 not surprise me, for I had long before learned my 
 friend s character blindness, but when he continued 
 I was surprised : These poor fellows are not wick 
 ed, they are weak ; they have not sense enough to 
 be cautious, nor have they enough strength of char 
 acter to resist temptation. The law catches the 
 small rogues, the big rascals are too wary to ap 
 proach the net. I think sometimes that our criminals 
 are not in the penitentiary but in the churches. The 
 cool, selfish villains wear the cloak of religion and 
 hedge themselves about with the intensest respecta 
 bility. They are our bad men, and from them we 
 suffer." 
 
 " Yes," I added, " that was the sort that crucified 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 99 
 
 Christ. He suffered, not for his treason, but that he 
 was a low fellow the associate of the poor and an 
 agrarian who taught that property was continuous 
 theft before that Frenchman made his discovery. 
 The wealthy Moses and sons, the high priests, the 
 aristocrats of that day and place just sickened over 
 such vulgar notions." 
 
 "You do wrong," said my friend, " to habituate 
 yourself, as I perceive you do, to vulgarizing the 
 great truths of revelation. It was an awful event, 
 let the motives and passions of poor human nature 
 have been what they may. We should see only our 
 Christ crucified, and not the horrible crowd that did 
 the deed without knowing what they did." 
 
 There was no cant, not the slightest shade of hy 
 pocrisy in this rebuke. Chase was truly of a deeply 
 religious nature. He believed with the trusting faith 
 of a child in the truths of revelation, not as an ab 
 stract thing separate and apart from his daily life, 
 but this faith colored all his character, and entered 
 into the most minute details of his life. We have to 
 remember, in this connection, that he amended the 
 Proclamation of Emancipation by that closing invoca 
 tion to the Supreme Being which President Lincoln 
 had forgotten, or probably never thought of. 
 
 In common with half a dozen other young fellows 
 admitted to the bar, but not admitted to the practice, 
 I had the honor of Chase s intimacy, and it is amus 
 ing to look back upon the patronizing manner in 
 which we sought to protect him. Of all shades of 
 
100 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 political opinion save that of anti- slavery, we felt a 
 sorrow that our great man should be engaged in 
 such a vile business as acting and laboring with Abo 
 litionists. To us, as to the community generally, an 
 Abolitionist was not only a negro thief, but an asso 
 ciate of negroes and a disturber of the peace. None 
 the less did we cling- to, and seek to give Mr. Chase 
 our protection. 
 
 He was to speak, one night, at a little school-house 
 some four miles from Cincinnati, and notice had been 
 served on him that if he did he would be mobbed. 
 This had no effect on Chase. He was a brave man, 
 and a threat of violence only made him the more de 
 termined to fill his appointment. Finding- our per 
 suasion of no effect, we armed ourselves and made 
 part of the little crowd assembled in the school-house 
 to hear the anti-slavery advocate. Save ourselves, 
 the audience was mostly made up of the long-haired 
 men and short-haired women peculiar to all reforms. 
 The room was small, and lighted by a few tallow 
 dips, which flared and sputtered from the air through 
 the open windows, for it was summer. The meeting 
 being organized, Mr. Chase was introduced and 
 began his argument. He was not a fluent speaker, 
 and had a voice more guttural than resonant. With 
 few g-estures he spoke in an even, unemotional way, 
 as if addressing a court. He g-ot little aid from the 
 expression of his fine face, for being extremely near 
 sighted, he had a way of contracting his eyelids, as if 
 he were turning his sight in on himself. He had 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 101 
 
 uttered but few sentences, however, before a wild yell 
 from outside, which seemed to go up from every 
 quarter, startled the little audience, and immediately 
 a quantity of eggs were thrown in with great force 
 through the windows. The audience rose to its feet, 
 the women screamed, more in wrath, than fear, and 
 the men gave utterance to more profanity than I 
 thought the fanatical were capable of. We, of the 
 body-guard, rushed out, firing 1 our pistols right and 
 left, doing no harm that I ever heard of, but putting 
 the ruffians so effectually to flight that we had no 
 further interruption of that sort. Pistols were things 
 not counted on by the crowd accustomed to ride over 
 Abolitionists without resistance. When we returned 
 to the house, Mr. Chase was wiping- a rotten egg from 
 his bosom with a delicate linen handkerchief, and he 
 then went on with his speech, with no other sign upon 
 him than a heightened color on his handsome face. 
 Through this sort of thing a refined, dignified gentle 
 man came up to be recognized, in the end, as the able 
 leader, if not orator, of a party destined to conduct a 
 great war, and control the Government for a quarter 
 of a century after. How he came to be an Abolition 
 ist in the first instance is as strange as that in the 
 end he should be thrust aside by the party that he 
 had done so much to make a power. 
 
 It was in the office of Chase and Ball, on Third 
 Street in Cincinnati, that the Republican party of 
 to-day was born. Doctor Gamaliel Bailey, a man 
 remarkable for his combination of thought and 
 
102 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 action, called the little group of strong men together. 
 There were present Chase, Birney, Lewis, and others 
 whose names I have forgotten, and before them 
 Doctor Bailey laid his plan of an organization. He 
 said it was absurd to have a party outside of the 
 Constitution making war on the Government itself. 
 While the organic law might be a compact with hell, 
 it could not be successfully assailed in an open rebel 
 lion . The proper course was to accept the guarantees 
 of the Constitution as to slavery in the States, but to 
 oppose its extension. This, in the end, would be the 
 death of the iniquity, for as slave labor exhausted the 
 soil it lived on, more territory was as necessary for 
 its existence as the air we breathe. 
 
 This shrewd proposition was at once adopted by 
 the leading minds of the anti-slavery class. The 
 fanatics, however, for a time, gave as much trouble 
 to these practical chiefs as the Whig and Democratic 
 parties. It was not until the fight grew fierce over 
 Kansas and Nebraska that the rank and file swung 
 into line, and by holding the balance between the 
 evenly divided parties, as to numbers, became a 
 power in the land. 
 
 I have often thought since, that had the Southern 
 slaveholders possessed the ability which distinguished 
 these early Abolitionists what a different result we 
 would be putting to record. If, instead of setting up 
 a Government of their own, these Southern leaders 
 had fought for what they were pleased to term their 
 rights under the Constitution and the flag of our 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 103 
 
 Union, they would have had the sympathy of a 
 majority of the North and the co-operation of nearly 
 the entire Democratic party on the free side of Mason 
 and Dixon s line. But when they seceded into a con 
 federacy, threw out an alien flag, and fired on Sum- 
 ter, they changed the issue from a question of States 
 rights under the Constitution to an armed conflict 
 between rival sections ; and the war went on, not to 
 save or destroy slavery, but to save or destroy the 
 nation. 
 
 This was Chase s thought as well as my own. I 
 have often heard him say that we owed more to Jeff. 
 Davis for his folly, than to Abraham Lincoln for his 
 cautious wisdom. 
 
 The Whig party, that was born of the old Fed 
 eral organization and Henry Clay, and had great 
 men and great measures, without principles other 
 than a conservatism of property privileges, went to 
 pieces, and the anti-slavery organization fell heir to 
 its votes. Before this, however, Chase, holding the 
 balance of power, was first made Senator and after 
 ward Governor of Ohio. 
 
 That man is great who rises successfully to the 
 emergency in which he is called to act. Chase, in 
 the Senate, represented nobody save Morse and 
 Townsend, the two pivotal votes on which he was 
 returned ; but his dignity and power made his sov 
 ereign State glad to recognize him as her Senator, 
 at a time when our House of Lords held the high 
 est political intellect in the land, and was not, as 
 
104 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 now, an incompetent collection of millionaires. As 
 Governor he not only consolidated and held the 
 Whig vote, but he drew over a large Democratic 
 support of young men glad to recognize a leader 
 of such brain and power. 
 
 When the newly-organized party met at Chicago 
 to nominate a presidential candidate, Chase stood 
 prominent as an available man. The Seward party 
 fighting Chase fortunately opened the way to the 
 nomination of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 President Lincoln called Chase to the Cabinet as 
 Secretary of the Treasury. This was a casualt} 7 . 
 Had Mr. Lincoln known of the war that was to 
 follow his inauguration, it is not likely that he 
 would have selected a man so entirely ignorant of 
 finance, and all that pertains to that vexed busi 
 ness, as this man, who had never given the subject 
 a thought, let alone any study. An illustration of 
 this is found in the Secretary calling- in the good 
 Father Edward Purcell, of Cincinnati, to advise 
 with him as to what measures w r ere the best to 
 carry on the fiscal agency of a great Government, 
 so strangely intrusted to his untried hands. 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury proved an eminent 
 Secretary on the fact I see demonstrated every da}^ 
 and that fact is that a man is the most success 
 ful in the business which he knows the least about. 
 The man who buys to gratify his own taste is the 
 man who will be his own only customer when it 
 comes to selling again. The ignorant man, seeking 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 105 
 
 to cater to the tastes and wants of his patrons, is 
 eager to learn, and open to all information in that 
 direction. The manager of a theatre who does not 
 know Shakespeare from Dion Boucicault, and looks to 
 the box office for guidance on the stage ; the book 
 seller, ignorant of the inside of all books, who looks 
 solely to the purchaser of books; the editor who 
 writes down to the depraved tastes of the multitude; 
 the shoemaker who looks to the corns and bunions 
 of his buyers instead of his own, are all illustrations 
 of what I say. Salmon P. Chase not only took the 
 good father into his confidence, but listened with 
 inexhaustible patience to the practical financiers who 
 knew less on the subject that made their business 
 than any other class of men in the country. 
 
 The war came on. It \vas the costliest war ever 
 known to a civilized people, for we had to pay cash 
 for our experience. To get up a regiment called for 
 as much money as to govern a State not less than 
 a million dollars per year for each thousand men. 
 To put an army of seventy-five thousand armed men 
 into the field, and to keep them there, bade fair to 
 bankrupt the Government. The Secretary, in this 
 awful emergency, found at his back an empty treas 
 ury and a ruined credit. There was no time to levy 
 and collect taxes, and had there been the secession of 
 the Southern States carried out our great staple 
 on which our wonderful prosperity had been built, 
 and the artillery that shot down our flag at Sumter 
 utterly prostrated the business of the country. 
 
106 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 The only way open was to borrow, and even that 
 seemed closed to the anxious Government at Wash 
 ington. Capital is not only sensitive to danger, but 
 from that very fact is selfish, and with no touch 
 whatever of patriotism. We read of noble women 
 contributing their jewelry to a cause, of pious men 
 of God melting their bells into cannon, but we never 
 read of money -getters fetching out their hidden bags 
 under patriotic impulse in aid of a forlorn hope. 
 
 The country was aroused to a frenzy by the inso 
 lence of the South in firing on the flag of the Fa 
 thers, and men, God bless them, volunteered to fight 
 in such numbers that the Government found difficulty 
 in enrolling and arming them. Capital was also 
 vociferous. It took the iron-bound oath of allegiance 
 at all hours. It made speeches of much sound, if 
 not eloquence, urging men to volunteer, but no man 
 brought out his hoarded gold to aid the struggling 
 Government in its hour of peril. 
 
 The able Secretary lost no time in appeals to the 
 Shylocks. He turned to the noble, patriotic people, 
 who were wheeling into line to the roll of the drums, 
 for the credit he needed, and issued the greenback. 
 A history of this transaction is curiously illustrative 
 of the two men, Lincoln and Chase, concerned therein. 
 Of course the idea of issuing money directly by the 
 Government to meet an emergency was as old as 
 governments themselves. But Amasa Walker, a 
 distinguished financier of New England, had a 
 thought that was new. He suggested that the notes 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 107 
 
 thus issued directly from the Government to the peo 
 ple as currency should bear interest. This for the 
 purpose not only of making the notes popular, but 
 for the purpose of preventing- inflation by inducing 
 people to hoard the notes as an investment when 
 the demands of trade failed to call them into circula 
 tion as a currency. This idea struck Mr. David 
 Taylor, of Ohio, Avith such force that he sought Mr. 
 Lincoln and urged him to put the project into imme 
 diate execution. The President listened patiently, 
 and at the end said, " That is a good idea, Taylor, 
 but you must go to Chase. He is running that end 
 of the machine, and has time to consider your propo 
 sition." 
 
 Taylor sought the Secretary of the Treasury, and 
 laid before him Amasa Walker s plan. Chase heard 
 him through in a cold, unpleasant manner, and then 
 said, " That is all very well, Mr. Taylor, but there 
 is one little obstacle in the w&y, that makes the plan 
 impracticable, and that is the Constitution." 
 
 Sa3 r ing this, he turned to his desk as if dismissing- 
 both Mr. Taylor and his proposition at the same 
 moment. The poor enthusiast felt rebuked and hu 
 miliated. He returned to the President, however, 
 and reported his defeat. Mr. Lincoln looked at the 
 would-be financier with the expression at times so 
 peculiar to his homely face, and that left one in 
 doubt as to whether he was jesting or in earnest. 
 
 " Taylor," he exclaimed, "go back to Chase and 
 tell him not to bother himself about the Constitution. 
 
108 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Say that I have that sacred instrument here at the 
 White House, and I am guarding 1 it with great 
 care." 
 
 : Mr. David Taylor demurred to this on the ground 
 that Mr. Chase showed by his manner that he knew 
 all about it and didn t wish to_be bored by any sug 
 gestions. 
 
 " We ll see about that," exclaimed the President, 
 and taking a card from the table he wrote upon it : 
 
 "The Secretary of the Treasury will please consider Mr. 
 Taylor s proposition. We must have money, and I think this 
 a good way to get it. A. LINCOLN." 
 
 Armed with this, the real father of the greenbacks 
 again sought the Secretary. He was received more 
 politely than before, but was cut short in his advo 
 cacy of the measure by a proposition for both of them 
 to see the President. They did so, and Mr. Chase 
 made a long and elaborate constitutional argument 
 against the proposed measure. "Chase," said Mr. 
 Lincoln, after the Secretary had concluded, " down 
 in Illinois I was held to be a pretty good lawyer, and 
 I believe I could answer every point you have made, 
 but I don t feel called upon to do it. This thing 
 reminds me of a story I read in a newspaper the 
 other day. It was of an Italian captain, who run 
 his vessel on a rock and knocked a hole in her bottom. 
 He set his men to pumping and he went to prayers 
 before a figure of the Virgin in the bow of the ship. 
 The leak gained on them. It looked at last as if the 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 109 
 
 vessel would go down Avith all on board. The cap 
 tain, at length, in a fit of rage at not having his 
 prayers answered, seized the figure of the Virgin 
 and threw it overboard. Suddenly the leak stopped, 
 the water was pumped out, and the vessel got safely 
 into port. When docked for repairs, the statue of 
 the Virgin Mary was found stuck head-foremost in 
 the hole." 
 
 " I don t see, Mr. President, the precise application 
 of your story," said Mr. Chase. 
 
 " Why, Chase, I don t intend precisely to throw 
 the Virgin Mary overboard, and by that I mean the 
 Constitution, but I will stick it in the hole if I can. 
 These rebels are violating the Constitution to destroy 
 the Union, I will violate the Constitution, if neces 
 sary, to save the Union, and I suspect, Chase, that 
 our Constitution is going to have a rough time of it 
 before we get done with this row. Now, what I 
 want to know is whether, Constitution aside, this 
 project of issuing interest-bearing notes is a good 
 one." 
 
 "I must say," responded Mr. Chase, "that with 
 the exception you make, it is not only a good one, 
 but the only way open to us to raise money. If you 
 say so, I will do my best to put it into immediate and 
 practical operation, and you will never hear from me 
 any opposition on this subject." 
 
 The people eagerly accepted the loan which the 
 capitalists were prompt to depreciate and dishonor. 
 
 No one can measure correctly the masterly man- 
 
110 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 agement of this statesman, who does not accept and 
 appreciate the difficulties that beset his way. The 
 intense selfishness of the class that owed its all to 
 the Government he was struggling- to sustain, bade 
 fair to be more fatal to us than all the armed legions 
 of the South, fierce and successful as they were. 
 While our soldiers in the field and the laborer left at 
 home accepted the greenback at par, hungry, unpa 
 triotic capital higgled over its marble counters, dis 
 counting the currency that was the life-blood of our 
 Government. It was not until after the fortunes of 
 war took a turn, and the " lost cause," through ex 
 haustion, staggered from fields that were disasters 
 to it, although shouted over as victories, that the 
 money power came out cautiously at first, not in aid 
 of the Government, but to invest for a profit. Gov 
 ernment bonds were bought with greenbacks got at 
 a ruinous discount, and these same bonds were 
 pledged for redemption in coin. 
 
 I write this without feeling against the capitalist. 
 We must take the world as it is. I suppose a rich 
 man is as necessary to our existence as any other 
 objectionable creature the necessity for the existence 
 of which is a mystery. He does live, and his living 
 was a sad obstacle in the way of success to our im 
 perilled nationality. To appreciate, as I have said, 
 the eventual triumph of Salmon P. Chase, we must 
 know, and appreciate, the capitalist. 
 
 The peculiar power, the sacredness that attaches 
 to money, in tke eyes of men, has always been a 
 
Salmon P. Chase. Ill 
 
 .mystery to me. Now, it is accepted as the right of 
 Government, when threatened with violence, to enter 
 the poor man s hut and bid him come out and 
 .shoulder his musket to light for his Government. 
 The poor fellow, with more or less tearful leave- taking 
 of the family of which he is the humble bread-winner 
 and without waiting to negotiate a gold-bearing 
 bond marches out to be killed or mutilated, with no 
 other compensation than his miserable pittance, that, 
 if wounded, attenuates into a pension if his Govern 
 ment survives, or if killed he has the sweet ceremony 
 .of strewing flowers over his grave. 
 
 How the heart thrills to the memory of the noble 
 response our poor men made to this demand. One 
 remembers those broad-shouldered handsome fellows, 
 in the bloom of life, crowding the cars in laughter, 
 amid the roll of drums, the waving of banners, with 
 flowers thrown to them from trembling hands, and 
 farewell smiles that covered Caching hearts. And 
 one remembers how they returned in wooden boxes 
 or limped home with mangled bodies, or never re 
 turned, but filled unknown graves in far-off battle 
 fields, and even now seems to hear the desolation 
 that, like a low, wailing undertone to the strains of 
 triumph, swept over all the land. 
 
 Well, if the Government, in this way, can take 
 the poor man s life, can it not take the rich man s 
 money ? What is there so sacred about this thing 
 that it must be guarded above life ? What is it, in 
 .gold, that the blood-stain does not tarnish, and why 
 
112 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 is it that what God shuts out from heaven as ac 
 cursed should be our god on earth ? 
 
 I hear the capitalist denouncing 1 this as demagog- 
 ism, as insincere, and not true. Does not capital 
 pay the taxes ? Does not capital give these soldiers 
 their wages, and insure them their pensions ? No, it 
 does nothing of the sort, and you add insult to injury 
 by the assertion. For a thousand years the wisest 
 law-makers have been striving to make accumulated 
 capital pay its share of taxation, and they are as 
 near the impossible now as when they began. As 
 well try to make the p3 7 ramid support itself on its 
 apex. Taxation reaches down to the base ; but the 
 base is labor, and labor pays all. The man riding to 
 mill on a sack of grain does not relieve the horse under 
 him by shifting the sack, even if the rider transfers it 
 to his shoulder. The sons of the men who went out to 
 fight are paying the debt that grew out of their 
 fathers service, are paying the pensions, and, more 
 than all, are redeeming the bonds that have in fact 
 been paid twice over before their redemption. 
 
 No better illustration of the stress under which 
 the Government labored can be given than the crea 
 tion of the national banks. To fetch these moneyed 
 corporations, the banks, in accord with, not to say 
 support of, the Government that gives them protec 
 tion, the most extraordinary privileges were granted 
 them. To farm out the fiscal agency found in the 
 creation of a circulating medium was no new thing, 
 but to permit these corporations to purchase Govern- 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 113 
 
 rnent bonds in depreciated currency, at a heavy dis 
 count, and then accept the same bonds at par as a 
 basis for a circulating medium, was an arrangement 
 that nothing but the poverty and distress of the 
 treasury could justify. Secretary Chase claimed, in 
 extenuation, that he meant this to be only a war 
 measure, to cease when the armed conflict ended. 
 That this extraordinary system rests entirely on the 
 indebtedness of the Government, and must cease 
 when that indebtedness is paid, gives plausibility to 
 his plea. 
 
 A national debt, however, of the magnitude of that 
 left us by the war is of slow liquidation. Before 
 the eminent War Treasurer died he saw the conse 
 quence of his blunder, and that a costly and oppres 
 sive system of banking had been fixed upon the 
 people for all time to come. It had a certain hold 
 upon the favor of business men, from a false contrast 
 that it offered between our present system and that 
 of the old State banks which preceded it. This con 
 trast is false, for the evil complained of in the banks 
 of a State s creation was not in the legitimate bank 
 ing they did, but in the currency they issued and on 
 which they did their business. These were notes of 
 the banks authorized by the States, and were at a 
 heavy discount beyond the limits of their several 
 territories. The war which obliterated State lines 
 existing under the old colonial superstition of 
 sovereignty gave us a nation and a nation s credit 
 for a currency. The national banks are precisely 
 
114 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 the same as the old State banks no better, no worse 
 .- but the currency in which their business is done 
 differs, and in this difference lies the benefit of 
 national banking-. 
 
 Secretary Chase saw clearly the evil he had 
 inflicted upon the people he had served, and his 
 anxiety to secure the Presidency originated in his 
 earnest desire to correct this one great blunder of 
 his administration. He had called into existence a 
 .financial S3 r stem that, instead of being firm, uniform, 
 and safe, lived on a fluctuation which swings contin 
 ually from one extreme to the other, and is, there 
 fore, uncertain, unstable, and dangerous. 
 
 To understand this it is necessary to recognize the 
 fact that money as a measure of value is an ab 
 stract idea made practical by the Government. 
 Based on coin, it gets its use through the stamp or 
 sanction of the Government. The trading world, in 
 the ages past, selected the material through which 
 to express this idea of value a material which 
 above all others has a quality that prohibits its use 
 as a circulating medium, and this is its scarcity. 
 Were coin, gold and silver, abundant enough to 
 serve as a currency it would lose its great quality 
 and be no better than iron and lead. When the 
 Government, then, coins and stamps the precious 
 metal it merely takes the necessary step to keep 
 alive the visible symbol of an abstract proposition. 
 
 Money for circulation through which exchange is 
 facilitated, like all other commodities, is measured 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 115 
 
 by the great measure of value. When, therefore, a 
 note of the value of one dollar is issued, it is not 
 itself the dollar, for we read on it a promise to pay 
 that amount, and its value rests on the credit of the 
 Government making- the issue. In this the Govern 
 ment does not differ from the individual. If the 
 people have confidence, the promises of the Govern 
 ment pass at par. If not, they fall below until, like 
 the old Continental paper, or that of the Southern 
 Confederacy, they cease to possess any value what 
 ever. 
 
 It is, therefore, a popular delusion which tells us 
 that the scarcity or abundance of this circulating 
 medium affects prices. It is the paper that is fluc 
 tuating, and not the products. We, accepting the 
 general belief, cannot comprehend how it is that 
 during our greatest depression in business there is: 
 a heavier volume of currency out than when trade 
 is active and the times prosperous. The Govern 
 ment, in its ordinary expenditures, may issue 
 promises to pay as money, to the fullest extent, 
 without creating trade or restoring confidence. A 
 man may have his coffers stored with gold, let alone 
 greenbacks, and he will not use five dollars to pur 
 chase a barrel of flour until he can see where that 
 barrel can be placed at a profit. 
 
 What we mean by the evil of a swollen or a 
 contracted currency is the evil of an over-stimulated 
 or depressed credit. And this power we have 
 placed in the hands of a few corporations. All our 
 
116 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 business is done on credit, from the greenback of the 
 Government to the book account of the grocer. 
 Now were trade dependent on the actual wants of 
 the community, it would be in a measure stable, 
 uniform, and safe. To stimulate this in a healthy 
 manner the natural greed of humanity is sufficient. 
 But there is such a tiling as artificial stimulation, 
 and such a thing as gambling, and herein lies the 
 evil of farming out the credit of the Government 
 to a few corporations. It is in accord with their 
 selfish interests to stimulate credit when trade is 
 healthy and active, as it is their safety to contract 
 when over-excited speculation ends and pay-day 
 arrives. Now, while a man will not employ five 
 dollars in the purchase of a barrel of flour until 
 satisfied that he can sell at a profit, he may be 
 induced to believe that a profit will be found in the 
 future, or, what is more common, to make one of a 
 combination which, controlling the market, can force 
 a profit. 
 
 It is the duty of a Government to give the people 
 a circulating medium, and this to the fullest extent 
 of its credit. Mr. Chase saw this fact, and in it the 
 error of his act in creating the national banks, but 
 he never could divest his mind of the popular confu 
 sion about money as a measure of value and money 
 as a circulating medium. When Chief- Justice of the 
 Supreme Court, he joined the majority in deciding 
 that notes of the Government were not legal tenders 
 under our Constitution. Whether unconstitutional 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 117 
 
 or not, to one s common-sense the absurdity of the 
 conclusion is confounding. What the Government 
 issues the Government is bound to receive, and that 
 which the Government deals in as money is, of neces 
 sity, money. 
 
 A man of culture seldom fairly appreciates the 
 mind, however strong-, that has not passed through 
 the ripening process of educational training. This 
 fact stood between Chase and Lincoln. The Secre 
 tary felt, rather than saw, the superiority of his Pres 
 ident, and attributed the masterful control of the 
 greater man to the power of his higher position. In 
 addition to this, Salmon P. Chase was the only 
 member of the Cabinet who was shocked at the coarse 
 humor of their chief. The Secretary of the Treasury 
 had little of this quality in him, and the little he pos 
 sessed was a refined sort quite foreign to the indeli 
 cate, coarse wit of Mr. Lincoln. Chase put to record 
 the solemn fact that when the Cabinet was called 
 together to consider the Emancipation Proclamation, 
 the President opened proceedings by reading to the 
 amazed Secretaries nearly all of Artemus Ward s 
 book, then just published. All the Cabinet, except 
 Mr. Chase, laughed loudly over Artemus, and the 
 President, looking in the face of his solemn Secreta 
 ry, persisted, and with his constitutional advisers, 
 laughed more boisterously than ever. 
 
 The fact had come to be recognized, by President 
 and Cabinet, that Chase s disturbed condition was in 
 itself a source of amusement, and Mr. Lincoln seldom 
 
118 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 lost an opportunity to entertain himself and others in 
 this direction. Some of these occasions both Stanton 
 and Chase related to me, the one in an aggrieved 
 tone, and the other between bursts of laughter, and 
 the reader may judge of their sort when I state that 
 scarcely one would bear printing. 
 
 To these small matters may be attributed Chase s 
 withdrawal from the Cabinet. The place was not 
 only overladen with heavy responsibility, but ren 
 dered irksome by the President s treatment. He 
 seemed to have no true appreciation of the labors 
 and success of his subordinates. All that Chase, 
 Stanton, and Seward accomplished in their several 
 departments w r as taken as a matter of course, and 
 something by no means unusual. He expended no 
 anxiety on the cares of his own position, lost no sleep, 
 nor appetite, nor flesh under the enormous weight 
 placed upon his shoulders, and he could not compre 
 hend why his subordinates should be troubled by a 
 sense of responsibility or seek comfort in praise. 
 
 Salmon P. Chase has been severely commented on 
 for what is called his intriguing against his chief for 
 the place of President. This is unjust. To seek the 
 Presidency is an honorable ambition, and Chase not 
 only felt under no obligation to the man he honestly 
 believed he had made a success, and his ambition was 
 stimulated by the loftiest patriotism. He knew that 
 unless he continued to hold command of the system 
 of finance he had introduced that system would 
 cause more evil in time of peace than it had accom- 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 119 
 
 plished good in the hour of war. And experience is 
 proving- the wisdom of his prophecy. To-day the 
 Government is kept on a war footing by the very 
 measures Chase inaugurated to end the war. 
 
 In addition to this, our Secretary saw the evil of an 
 irresponsible military rule, which Seward and Stan- 
 ton, under sanction of the President, had inau 
 gurated. Chase never approved of this arbitrary 
 power in which his associates delighted, nay rioted. 
 " We are doing more to destroy self-government by 
 these arbitrary arrests and illegal punishments in 
 the North than the Confederates of the South in their 
 attempt to wipe us out as a nation." " Again," he 
 said, " the evil of war comes after the war, it leaves 
 an army of cripples, an army of thieves, and an army 
 of prostitutes. We shall suffer more from West 
 Point than we have suffered from the rebellion. The 
 taste for military glory will give us a succession of 
 military imbeciles for rulers." 
 
 Having succeeded to all that made him eminent 
 through independent votes based on Democratic doc 
 trines, Chase appealed to the Democratic Party for 
 a nomination. He nearly succeeded. A drunken 
 harangue made by an eminent Democrat the night 
 before the nomination lost him Ohio and just enough 
 votes to insure defeat. 
 
 The elevation of this troublesome subordinate to 
 the position of Chief Justice of the United States Su 
 preme Court is generally attributed by thoughtless 
 minds to Mr. Lincoln s shrew r dness in thus shelving 
 
120 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 a dangerous rival. I do not concur in this. Abra 
 ham Lincoln felt no fear of a civilian. He did have 
 a wholesome regard for the military men the war 
 had brought to the front, and the one man of all 
 others he was careful to keep from that front was 
 the first idol of the Free-soil, afterward Republican 
 Party, John C. Fremont. He recognized in the 
 popular Pathfinder a man of genius who, to a 
 thoughtful mind, added the qualities which go to 
 make a leader of men. He sent Chase from the 
 noisy arena of the political world to the solemn 
 quiet of our highest court with no other thought 
 than that which generally actuated him of finding 
 the fittest man for any position. 
 
 The circumstances attending the selection of Mr. 
 Chase as furnished me by the eminent jurist Justice 
 Field were as follows : 
 
 " In the spring of 1864," writes Mr. Justice Field, 
 " Chief Justice Taney was taken very ill, and 
 reported to be dying. The prospect of a speedy 
 vacancy in the office of Chief Justice naturally led to 
 suggestions as to his probable successor. In the 
 previous year a majority of the Justices, at the 
 instance of Mr. Justice Davis, and through him in 
 formed President Lincoln that, in case of a vacancy 
 in the office during the recess of the Court, they 
 would be pleased to see the appointment given to 
 Mr. Justice Swayne. But at this time (1864) Mr. 
 Justice Miller and I had some conversation on the 
 subject of the succession, and we both came to the 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 121 
 
 conclusion that Secretary Chase was the proper man 
 for the place, as he was familiar with all the ques 
 tions out of which had grown the Civil War, and 
 was acquainted with all the legislation of Congress 
 during its progress, and with the new revenue and 
 currency systems in particular. For these reasons, 
 and he also being an eminent jurist, and of broad 
 intellect, we considered his appointment to be very 
 desirable. 
 
 " We did not make any comparison between him 
 and Mr. Justice Swayne, for whose qualifications 
 and character we had the highest appreciation. Our 
 preference for Mr. Chase was based on the grounds 
 I have stated. On the same day, while walking on 
 Penns3 r lvania Avenue toward Willard s Hotel, I met 
 Mr. Chase, and after the ordinary salutations, asked 
 him how he would like to be Chief Justice. He 
 seemed surprised at the question and asked me what 
 I meant. I replied, giving him the information we 
 had of the condition of Chief Justice Taney, and the 
 probability that he would not live through the day, 
 and stating that Mr. Justice Miller and I had sug 
 gested his name as the Chief Justice s successor. 
 He replied that he had not thought of the position, 
 but he was evidently interested in the suggestion, 
 for he turned and accompanied me as far as Willard s 
 Hotel. In the course of our conversation he asked 
 me if I had consulted Mr. Sumner on the subject. I 
 replied that I had not, but that I would see him 
 immediately. Mr. Sumner then lived at the corner 
 
122 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 of F and Thirteenth Streets. I went to his room, 
 and there found him at his desk surrounded by 
 papers. I told him my object in calling-. He 
 replied : 
 
 "* I will see the President at once. And he im 
 mediately rose from the table and left the house for 
 that purpose. 
 
 " Chief Justice Taney recovered from his illness and 
 the subject of his successor was, of course, dropped. 
 At the end of the term I called to pay my respects to 
 him. I found him exceedingly feeble, so much so 
 that when I gave him my photograph, which he had 
 requested, I noticed that his sight had failed him, 
 and I was pained by the thought that I was proba 
 bly looking upon his venerable face for the last time. 
 I went immediately from his residence to the White 
 House to see the President. I found him engaged 
 with Mr. Holt and apparently absorbed in the 
 matter which w r as the subject of their consultation. 
 I remarked that I had called to pay my respects 
 before leaving for California, and also to say that, in 
 all probability, before next term of the Supreme 
 Court, the duty would devolve upon him of appoint 
 ing a Chief Justice, and that I desired to say a few 
 words to him on that subject. He then asked me if 
 I could not remain in the city a day longer for that 
 purpose. I said I could, and he made an appoint 
 ment for me to see him at twelve o clock the next 
 day. At our interview, on the following day, he 
 said, before I mentioned Mr. Chase s name : 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 123 
 
 * <C I suppose you favor the appointment of Mr. 
 Chase to the Chief Justiceship. 
 
 " He probably got that impression from his inter 
 view with Mr. Sunnier, who had doubtless reported 
 to him the conversation he had with me about a 
 month before. The President then asked me how 
 the profession would take the appointment of Mr. 
 Chase, and said he entertained a very high regard 
 for him. He also remarked that there were parties 
 who were endeavoring to put up a bar between 
 him and Mr. Chase, but that he would not let them 
 do it. In the course of the conversation he asked 
 me how Mrs. Sprague would like the appointment of 
 her father ; that he had heard the remark attributed 
 to her that her father was not to be set aside by a 
 place on the bench. To that inquiry I made no 
 reply. 
 
 " The impression left upon my mind from that con 
 versation was, that he was favorably disposed to 
 Mr. Chase s appointment as successor to Chief Jus 
 tice Taney. 
 
 "Some weeks afterwards Mr. Taney died, Mr. 
 Chase was appointed to succeed him, and his appoint 
 ment was unanimously confirmed without the usual 
 reference to a committee." 
 
 Salmon P. Chase carried to his high position on 
 the Supreme Bench not only a well-trained intellect 
 of great power, but one singularly well fitted 
 through the temperament that sustained and con 
 trolled it, for judicial duties. Although a partisan 
 
124 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 through life, no man could more readily divest him 
 self of party bias, when it became necessary to look, 
 as a judge, impartially upon both sides. In this he 
 was greatly helped by his religious convictions 
 which, without creating a bigot, made every breath 
 he drew a prayer. 
 
 As one of the leading minds of President Lincoln s 
 powerful Cabinet he had been, very unwillingly it is 
 true, a party to much that in the ways of war did 
 violence to the recognized trusts of our Constitution. 
 The war power had ridden down and nearly de 
 stroyed all that it had been carried on to sustain and 
 perpetuate. To divest his mind of the passions en 
 gendered by such a strife, and calmly and justly 
 adjudicate upon cases when the late enemy was a 
 party in Court, called for all the higher powers of 
 his admirable mind and character. Fortunately, as 
 I have said, through all the conflict, he had retained, 
 in a measure, his composure and religious sense of 
 right, so that it was possible for him to sit in 
 judgment where he had once been the partisan. 
 
 The Supreme Court of the United States is the 
 only part of the Government at Washington still 
 existing in all the purity and strength with which 
 the entire political structure was created by the 
 fathers. It yet remains a perfect to\ver amid the 
 ruins that time, war, and decay have made its sur 
 roundings. What the fathers meant, this great 
 tribunal tells with no uncertain sound, and to pre 
 side as Chief Justice of this grave Court, the late 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 125 
 
 Secretary of a War Administration was called. No 
 more trying- moment could have been selected to 
 test the fairness and ability of this eminent man. 
 
 The war of arms had ceased. The terrible con 
 flict, waged by men who soaked with blood every 
 foot of ground they abandoned, had worn itself out 
 before overwhelming numbers, and, from the ruin 
 left, the Government was called upon to reconstruct 
 our empire. How to accomplish this made a ques 
 tion with the solving of which Secretary Chase had 
 much to do, and to consider and decide many real 
 and important matters of dispute he then put on the 
 ermine. 
 
 The Secretary Chase had said to the writer of 
 this, that : 
 
 " If the Southern people had fought in the Union 
 for the Union, as the fathers gave it to us, without 
 setting up an alien government under an alien flag 1 , 
 they would have had a better chance for success." 
 
 What he meant by this was that the Southern 
 people would have had, in that case, the active sym 
 pathy and support of the Northern Democracy, that 
 was thrown out and silenced by the formation of the 
 alien government under which the Confederates 
 fought. Not only this, but the Southern leaders 
 swept from under themselves their one ground of 
 excuse for armed resistance. 
 
 The truth is that Chase was a more consistent 
 and far abler States rights man than any of the 
 Southern statesmen, if we except Henry A. Wise 
 
126 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 and John Tyler. He and William H. Sevvard as 
 governors of Ohio and New York, had set up the 
 sovereignty of the State against the aggressions of 
 the slave power. In addition to this he belonged to 
 a class of reformers who believe that when the argu 
 ment is made the cause is won. Able as such 
 advocates generally are, they fail to take into ac 
 count that through the ignorance and passions of 
 the multitude the argument is unheard, to say 
 nothing of the din of a conflict in which the voice of 
 reason is drowned. 
 
 The Secretary was much amused by a comment I 
 made on old John Tyler and his peace convention, 
 then in session at Washington. I said that the ven 
 erable ex- President reminded me of the story told "of 
 the ol<J gentleman who tried his first vo3 T age at sea. 
 He retired to his stateroom, pulled on his night-cap, 
 and carefully adjusted himself to repose. W^hen the 
 vessel left the smooth waters of the harbor and 
 began rolling upon the waves of the ocean in some 
 thing of a storm, he sent his man to the captain to 
 request that officer to stop the sailors from running 
 about, for they shook the vessel so that it made him 
 sick. 
 
 Said Chase, on another occasion, long after the 
 war : 
 
 11 There was no appeal to reason that would have 
 prevented the war, and there was no exercise of 
 reason that could save us from the fatal conse 
 quences. It is no exaggeration to say that, while we 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 127 
 
 freed the negro, we enslaved ourselves, and how 
 much soever State sovereignty may be as you say 
 a colonial superstition, the rotten ground-rail of a 
 Virginia abstraction, it was the only system upon 
 which the conflicting interests could be reconciled, 
 and thereby the freedom of a people spread over a 
 wide continent be preserved. This centralization of 
 power at Washington must be checked, or the late 
 war will prove the forerunner of many wars." 
 
 Chase was at the time he uttered this a candidate 
 for nomination at the hands of the Democracy. 
 
 It seems strange that one so imbued with the doc 
 trines of States rights should be the author of re 
 construction as it was enforced by the Government 
 at Washington upon the people so lately in revolt. 
 I am not certain as to his authorship of that scheme. 
 I first heard it stated on the floor of the House by 
 the Hon. Samuel Shellaberger, of Ohio, and I am 
 under the impression that the entire project found 
 birth in the fertile brain of that distinguished repre 
 sentative. The process of reasoning that brought 
 both Chase and Seward to the position they held at 
 the close of the war was clear and conclusive. It 
 taught that the old thirteen States having entered 
 the Union were bound by the legitimate results of 
 such act. When, therefore, new territory was added 
 by purchase and conquest, and States were called 
 into existence by the Government at Washington, 
 very much as a State creates new counties, they were 
 impressed with a character that bound the old thir- 
 
128 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 teen to something 1 more than the first compact called 
 for. It was very much as if the Siamese twins had 
 agreed to the ligature that bound them together, 
 and then found that a severance would prove the 
 death of one or both. Of course each was bound 
 to fight for that which was self - preservation. 
 When, therefore, the Southern States abandoned 
 their rights as States of the Union, and set up a 
 foreign Government, they shifted their ground, how 
 ever untenable, to one that depended altogether upon 
 their power to maintain themselves by force of arms. 
 Having defeated them in this there was but one 
 course open to the Government, and that was to 
 treat them as territories, and for Congress to recon 
 struct the South precisely as States had been made 
 from the Louisiana purchase, or California conquest. 
 The conclusions reached by the Chief Justice and 
 afterwards embodied with some emendations, ap 
 pears in a letter written by him to Mr. Justice Field, 
 which I copy as follows : 
 
 WASHINGTON, April 30, 1886. 
 
 MY DEAR JUDGE : It grieved me very much to hear from 
 your brother, Mr. Cyrus W. Field, that you have been quite 
 ill. I supposed that you were now in or very near California. 
 You must take the best care of yourself, not only for the sake 
 of your family but of your country, which now needs true 
 patriotism as well as legal learning upon the bench. I feel all 
 the interest of a warm personal friendship in your welfare. 
 It is not in my nature to forget friends eve*"- when serious 
 differences of judgment and political affii ities come in to 
 make separation ; and no such differences come between us. 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 129 
 
 Do you remember when, just before the end of the term in 
 the spring of 1864, you met me on the avenue, and expressed 
 your warm wish that I might fill the place I now occupy ? If 
 you have forgotten it, I have not, nor shall I ever forget it. 
 It took me by surprise, but was very grateful to my feelings. 
 What do you think of the plan of reconstruction, or rather 
 of completing reconstruction, presented by the Committee of 
 Fifteen ? To me it seems all very well, provided it can be 
 carried ; but I am afraid it is, as people say, rather too big a 
 contract. So far as I have had opportunity of conversing 
 with Senators and Representatives, I have recommended to 
 confine constitutional amendments to two points : (1) No 
 payment of rebel debt and no payment for slaves ; (2) No rep 
 resentation beyond the constitutional basis. And, as so many 
 are trying their heads at form, I drew up these two amend 
 ments according to my ideas, as follows : 
 
 ARTICLE 14. Section 1. Representatives shall be appor 
 tioned among the several States according to their respective 
 numbers ; but whenever in any State the elective franchise 
 shall be denied to any of its inhabitants, being male citizens of 
 the United States, and above the age of twenty-one years, for 
 any cause except insurrection or rebellion against the United 
 States, the basis of representation in such State shall be 
 reduced, in the proportion which the number of male citizens 
 so excluded shall bear to the whole number of male citizens 
 over twenty-one years of age. 
 
 Section 2. No payment shall ever be made by the United 
 States for or on account of any debt contracted or incurred in 
 aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States ; or 
 for or on account of the emancipation of slaves. 
 
 And I proposed farther that the submission of this article to 
 the States should be accompanied by a concurrent resolution 
 to this effect : 
 
 " That whenever any of the States which are declared to be 
 in insurrection and rebellion by the proclamation of the Presi 
 dent of the United States, dated July 1, 1862, shall have rati 
 fied the foregoing article, Senators and Representatives from 
 such ratifying State or States ought to be admitted to seats in 
 the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, in the 
 
130 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 like manner as for States never declared to be in insurrection ; 
 and that, whenever the said article shall have been ratified by 
 three-quarters of the several States, Senators and Representa 
 tives ought in like manner to be admitted from all the States." 
 
 It has really seemed to me that on this basis the completion 
 of reorganization by the admission of members in both Houses 
 of Congress would be safe ; and I have greatly doubted the 
 expediency of going beyond this. In two other important 
 respects the report of the committee does go be} r ond this : (1) 
 Prohibiting the States from interfering with the rights of 
 citizens ; (2) Disfranchising all persons voluntarily engaged in 
 rebellion until 1870 ; and (3) In granting express legislative 
 power to Congress to enforce all the new constitutional pro 
 visions. Will not these propositions be received with some 
 alarm by those who, though opponents of secession or nulli 
 fication, yet regard the real rights of the States as essential to 
 proper working of our complex system ? I do not myself 
 think that any of the proposed amendments will be likely to 
 have injurious effects, unless it be the sweep of disfranchise- 
 ment; but I repeat, that I fear the recommendation of too 
 much ; and, I add, that it seems to me that nothing is gained 
 sufficiently important and sustainable by legislation to warrant 
 our friends in overloading the ship with amendment freight. 
 
 But this letter is too long. Pardon and answer. Have you 
 read the opinion and the dissent in the Bank case? 
 
 Yours cordially, S. P. CHASE. 
 
 The real biographer of this great man will regret 
 that the subject was ever called to other duty than 
 that which he last adorned. Salmon P. Chase had, 
 to an eminent degree, a judicial mind and tempera 
 ment. He heard with patience and judged with im 
 partiality the testimony of all sides, and, to a quick 
 appreciation of the truth, he added the highest cour- 
 
Salmon P. Chase. 131 
 
 age to judge and determine. He found the silk robes 
 of this high office only after the care which kills had 
 sapped the most precious vitality of his perfect 
 physique. What he might have done as a jurist in 
 his prime may be learned from what he. accomplished 
 as Chief Justice in his decline. His stay upon the 
 bench was brief, but long enough for his fame. 
 
 No account of Salmon P. Chase is complete with 
 out reference to his domestic life. It made, if not 
 the larger, certainly the more important and more 
 graceful part. Married thrice, he lost, in each in 
 stance, soon after marriage, the fair women he had 
 selected, and, tenderly devoted to his household, he 
 lived to be both father and mother to the two charm 
 ing girls in whose sunny presence he seemed to 
 garner all the peace and comfort he possessed on 
 earth. No one can remember him, who knew him at 
 all, separate and apart from the daughter who, 
 inheriting his intellect and force of character, added 
 the charm of tact and womanly beauty that made 
 his home a salon, where the gracious being, princely 
 in her deportment and popular in her sweet conde 
 scension, wielded an influence strange to this coarse 
 American world of ours. This lovely and accom 
 plished woman lived in her father, sharing alike his 
 cares and his ambitions. She seemed to die in his 
 death, for her brilliant career clouded into trouble and 
 shameful calumny from the date of his funeral, so that 
 the sad event is doubly sorrowful, and on the monu 
 ment to his memory we may write a double epitaph. 
 
WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
 
 IT was on my first visit to the National Capitol 
 that, sitting in the gallery of the old Senate Cham 
 ber, I had pointed out to me by a friendly member 
 of the House the famous political leaders of that 
 day. The Senate was not then, as now, mainly made 
 up of merely rich men. They were indeed mostly poor 
 in purse, but rich in intellect. I saw Clay, Cass, 
 Douglas, Benton, and others, about whose names our 
 history clusters as light about the stars. 
 
 We had about exhausted the list of celebrities 
 when a slender, hook-nosed, gray-eyed, homely man 
 rose to address the Senate from the outer circle of 
 the chamber. His voice was harsh and unpleasant, 
 and his manner extremely angular and awkward. 
 1 made a move to leave, when my friend from the 
 House caught me by the arm and said, "Don t go, 
 that is Seward of New York." I had no particular 
 interest in Seward of New York, but fortunately 
 obeyed my friend. I at once observed that he com 
 manded the attention of the Senate. One and all 
 ceased reading, writing, and conversation, and turned 
 toward the speaker. I saw Douglas look with inter 
 est, and Clay Avith an expression of contempt. From 
 
WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
 
William H. Seivard. 133 
 
 these, however, I turned to regard the orator. For 
 a few moments he stood by his desk, whirling- a pair 
 of glasses in his hand, and then stepped back and 
 leaned upon the railing immediately in the rear of 
 his seat. He clasped his arm about the pillar, 
 and with the other hand grasping the rail, half 
 braced and half leaning, held his awkward position 
 throughout nearly the entire hour of his speech. He 
 had not spoken ten minutes before a startling proposi 
 tion sent a sensation, expressed in a murmur and a 
 motion, over the entire Senate. I soon lost all sense 
 of his awkward pose and harsh voice in the subject- 
 matter of his discourse, it was so original, startling, 
 quaint, and, at times, truly eloquent. In common 
 with the listening Senate I sat spell-bound, and when 
 he ended amid a general murmur of disapprobation, 
 I could scarcely realize that he had occupied an hour 
 and a quarter. Expressing w r arm admiration, my 
 friend offered me an introduction to the orator. 
 
 The New York Senator received us affably. He 
 seemed much amused and gratified at my frank 
 avowal of admiration, and ended the short interview 
 by inviting us to dinner on the following Sunday. 
 
 I found the statesman living as becomes a Sena 
 tor. He had a furnished house to himself, and it 
 was a handsome house handsomely furnished. This 
 was unusual at that time. Washington City was a 
 Southern town, and while the Government built 
 costly edifices for its use, the inhabitants and polit 
 ical representatives made little or no display. While 
 
134 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 
 
 the South made all the money the country enjoyed, 
 it retained very little for social comfort or display, 
 or, indeed, for any purpose except gambling. The 
 gambling- resorts made as much of a feature at the 
 National Capital as they did at Baden-Baden of that 
 day, or at Monaco of this. The political representa 
 tives lived as they pleased, or as their pockets per 
 mitted, generally at hotels or boarding-houses. The 
 few wealthy men among them expended their money 
 in the summer time at Saratoga. There was no 
 public opinion brought to bear to restrain them from 
 any sort of life in which they might choose to in 
 dulge at the National Capital. General Cass, for 
 example, a wealthy man, had rooms in a building on 
 the avenue that wicked correspondents said had 
 prostitutes up-stairs and negroes in the cellar. 
 This, however, was not put to print, for correspond 
 ents were few and timid. The fact is, Washington 
 City belonged to the Government, and at that time 
 subordinated the newspapers as much as the news 
 papers now subordinate Washington. In those 
 days, if an enterprising journalist ventured to criti 
 cise a public man, a public man armed with a club 
 would appear next day in the gallery. Nowadays, 
 if a representative is too severely criticised he invites 
 his critic to a little supper at John Chamberlin s, 
 and explains things over a bottle of wine. The bold 
 Ben. Butler once remarked on the floor of the House 
 that if a newspaper man pointed his finger at a 
 member the member ran into a hole. Mere wealth 
 
William H. Seivard. 135 
 
 in those earlier days was laughed at, and well it 
 might be. Washington City was a mud-hole in 
 winter, and a cloud of dust in summer. Hacks 
 stalled in the mire in the main avenue at one season, 
 while at the other pulverized continents were whirled 
 to and fro on every square by turbulent winds. 
 The one man, and no other, Alec. Shepherd, had not 
 come to change this unloved capital, as if by magic, 
 through an expenditure of twenty millions, into the 
 most beautiful city on the continent. 
 
 I was surprised and delighted, therefore, to find 
 my new admiration surrounded by such luxury as 
 his house presented. A good-looking mulatto boy 
 opened the door, in answer to our ring, and we were 
 at once ushered into the library, where we found Mr. 
 Seward in a much-faded silk gown and old slippers, 
 busily at work, assisted by two clerks. He received 
 us cordially, but did not suspend his labor. He 
 talked and wrote at the same time until dinner was 
 announced. Without changing gow r n or slippers, he 
 led the way, followed by his guests and clerks and 
 proceeded at once to the business of dining. His 
 family w^as not witli him, so he took liberties with 
 the meal that had in it all the ceremony to which the 
 servants were accustomed. 
 
 Later in life I should have found Mr. Seward a 
 charming conversationalist. Then, however, I was 
 at the period of life w r hen a man carries relics in his y 
 mind, and is apt to be tremendously in earnest. 
 Mr. Seward was good-naturedly cynical. I was 
 
136 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 shocked at the absence of seriousness, and swung 
 over to a painful belief that my great man had no 
 convictions, or rather no principles. He laughed 
 at what I held sacred. I ventured to remark, for 
 example, that his appeal to a higher law had caused 
 great excitement. 
 
 "Ik was an imprudent speech," he said in reply, 
 "and I ought to have been more careful." 
 
 " Not," I said, " if you believe it." 
 
 "My young friend," he said, "we are warned to 
 keep to ourselves what we do not believe. It is as 
 well, frequently, to conceal what we do believe. 
 There is apt to be public damnation in both. We 
 are all bound by tradition to the tail end of a paper 
 kite called a Constitution. It is held up by a string 
 that, one of these days, a wind, a little stronger than 
 usual, will break, and then we shall all tumble." 
 
 I had been born and brought up to a belief in the 
 Constitution that was second in sacred earnestness 
 only to my belief in the truths of Holy Writ. 
 
 "Why, Mr. Senator," I said in some heat, "you 
 certainly do not believe that of our Constitu 
 tion?" 
 
 " I certainly do," he replied, " but I generally 
 keep it to myself. A written Constitution is a 
 superstition that presupposes certain impossibilities. 
 The first is that it can express all the wisdom of the 
 past, and anticipate all the wants of the future. It 
 supposes that its creators were both saints and sages. 
 We have had those two classes, but never the two 
 
William H. Setvard. 137 
 
 qualities united in one class. The saints were not 
 sages, and the sages were not saints." 
 
 I broke into a hot defence of the sacred instrument, 
 to which he listened very politely, and, when I ended, 
 said abruptly : 
 
 " That is in your blood ; you are a Huguenot by 
 descent, and all your opinions are convictions. I 
 knew a relation of yours, once, John H. Piatt. He 
 gave a large fortune to the support of the Govern 
 ment, in the war of 1812, and in consequence died 
 in prison, where he was held for debt. You see your 
 uncle was a patriotic saint, but he was not a sage ; 
 however," he added, "we will not let loose our 
 opinions, for nothing makes a devotee so mad as to 
 pull the stuffing out of his god, and we never can 
 succeed by making people mad." 
 
 In my youthful impetuosity, I forced the cynical 
 Senator back to a consideration of the, then to me, 
 sacred Constitution. With some signs of slight 
 irritation, he said, and his words proved so strangely 
 prophetic that the slight impression made then has 
 since deepened into wonder : 
 
 "This Constitution is to us at the North a great 
 danger. While we are devoting ourselves to it as a 
 sacred ark of covenant we lose sight of the fact that 
 the Southerners are using it as a shield to cover their 
 wicked designs. They are laying the foundation for 
 a Southern Empire. It is their policy to use the 
 Government of the United States in an acquisition of 
 Cuba, and they will stretch that Constitution to its 
 
138 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 furthest limit for the extension of slave territory. 
 When these thing s are done it will be good-by 
 Union, and we can hold them to their allegiance by 
 no appeal to that sacred instrument, but only by an 
 appeal to arms." 
 
 These opinions, specimens of which cling- to my 
 memory, gave me a distaste for my new found 
 admiration. This was subsequently increased by 
 the discovery that his opposition to slavery was 
 based entirely upon his intellectual processes, and 
 not upon his heart. He had no pit} r for the slave, 
 and no dislike for the master. Indeed, he was a 
 great favorite with the last named. He had con 
 tempt for them, however, which he concealed as 
 carefully as he did his contempt for the Constitution. 
 He began life as a school-teacher at the South, and 
 had been treated with a condescending indifference 
 by the unenlightened masters, the memory of which 
 clung to him through life. He really looked down 
 upon them in the same cynical way that he did upon 
 their slaves. I wondered then that so able a man, 
 such a profound student and clear- thinking philoso 
 pher should, with these cynical ways, have such a 
 large popular following. I learned afterward that 
 I had seen only half the man ; the other half was the 
 intriguing, popular, successful man of affairs, Thur- 
 low Weed. How these two dissimilar characters 
 came to be united illustrates the real greatness of 
 William H. Seward. Such unions of unlike qual 
 ities in two men, joined as one, have been and 
 
William H. Seward. 139 
 
 are known in France, but nowhere else. Indeed, so 
 far as we are concerned, there has been no second 
 William H. Seward, and no reproduction of Thurlow 
 Weed. 
 
 William H. Seward had all the higher qualities of 
 statesmanship. Of a delicacy of temperament that 
 indicated genius, he possessed a mind of rare pow 
 er, which he filled with vast stores of information 
 through patient and impartial study. His mind was 
 singularly suggestive, and sustained by a courage 
 and industry that moulded these suggestions into 
 measures of legislation highly beneficial to the peo 
 ple he served. 
 
 Our land is prolific of politicians, and strangely 
 barren of statesmen. The difference between the 
 two classes is strongly marked. The politician fol 
 lows, the statesman leads. The one is the guide, 
 philosopher, and friend of humanity. The other is 
 the servant. The fact that we have our Government 
 reduced to writing in a few simple rules makes it easy 
 for a common man to aid in its administration. If 
 he is careful to study the passions and prejudices of 
 his fellow-citizens, and to always utter with intense 
 solemnity the platitudes of popular truths, he can 
 claim any office, and so serve his constituents as to 
 live beloved and die lamented. 
 
 With the statesman the task is more difficult. He 
 must not lead so far in advance as to be lost sight 
 of, nor lead too directly in the direction of which the 
 popular mind may not approve. The man of all time 
 
140 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 who combined the cunning- shrewdness of the politician 
 with the powers of statesmanship was Abraham 
 Lincoln. As President controlling- Stanton and 
 Chase, he made these eminent men popularly success 
 ful, and the only great man in his Cabinet who could 
 win without his aid was Mr. Seward. This eminent 
 diplomat seemed to have recognized his own defects 
 that stood in the way to popularity at an early day, 
 and remedied these by making Thurlow Weed a part 
 of himself. 
 
 No life of Seward is complete without including- the 
 bad side of the statesman. Born and bred in New 
 York, Thurlow Weed inhaled from his earliest youth 
 the atmosphere of political intrigue that famous 
 leaders, such as Hamilton and Burr, had developed 
 there hi advance of all other parts of the United 
 States. The governing- element that exists in the 
 masses under a republic was first felt and utilized in 
 that prosperous State, and at an early day politicians 
 put in practice the Jeffersonian doctrines that were 
 only theory in Virginia, where they had birth. 
 
 Thurlow Weed, a man of no learning but of keen 
 instincts, had a knowledge of human nature, made 
 perfect through its low but correct estimate of aver 
 age humanity. The student of books, who learns to 
 attribute intellectual motives to human action, in 
 stead of learning- the currents that sway through the 
 impulses of passion, of which impulses ignorant preju 
 dice is the most potent, finds himself alone and at a 
 loss when dealing with the masses. History, which 
 
William II. Seicard. 141 
 
 is made up of the stories of dead kings and famous 
 captains, is to such student a snare and a delusion. 
 Nor is this remedied by a study of literature, where 
 a motive is assigned to every act for dramatic effect. 
 If the delver in libraries would pause to consider 
 himself, and learn from such study how much of his 
 own life was made up of impulse, that had no origin 
 in reason, and how far moulded by influences over 
 which he had no control, he would have a light 
 thrown upon his studies not to be obtained from other 
 sources. 
 
 William H. Seward seemed to realize this when he 
 allied himself to Thurlow Weed, and the cunning, 
 unscrupulous leader of men readily accepted the 
 advantages offered him through a partnership 
 with genius and learning. That man is great who 
 can use the brains of others to carry on his work. 
 The leader who finds himself swamped in details 
 had better throw up his leadership, for he has under 
 taken the impossible. No event in Seward s career 
 shows such ability as this life-long partnership with 
 Weed. He turned over to his subordinate the work 
 he could not do, and it proved the work that built 
 his pedestal, and gave him the power that comes 
 through official position. 
 
 Political life to an American citizen has all the 
 fanaticism of religion and all the fascination of 
 gambling. At that early day politics had not yet 
 crystallized into two hostile camps that differ from 
 each other only in name and the possession of the 
 
142 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 offices, and the first popular impulse seized on by 
 Weed was that which made war on the Masons. 
 
 One looks back in wonder at a deadly antagonism 
 to a secret order which had given proof of its purity 
 and bond for its good behavior in the many great 
 and good men, from Washington down, who had 
 prided themselves on being members. But such war 
 against the order was a fact, and on that war Seward 
 rode into power. Weed availed himself of that 
 popular prejudice, although one can well see that 
 had Masonry been the selfish, wicked organization 
 claimed, Weed himself would have seized on it to 
 further his own questionable ends, and appeared 
 before the world as an honored and accepted Mason. 
 
 An event, difficult now to comprehend, or explain, 
 occurred about that time to give venom and force to 
 the attacks on the order. A renegade Mason pub 
 lished a book purporting to give the secrets and 
 ceremonies of this ancient body. Shortly after this 
 publication the author, Morgan, disappeared from 
 earth. It was claimed that he had been kidnapped 
 and murdered by Masons, and wrath and horror drove 
 the populace insane. To avow one s self a Mason then 
 was to imperil one s life. All New York seemed to 
 resolve itself into a detective corps, and details were 
 developed that added fuel to the fire already kindled 
 in the excited popular mind. The body of a man in 
 a state of unrecognizable decay, and which was be 
 lieved to be that of the perjured Morgan, was fished 
 from the lake. Weed and his followers accepted the 
 
William H. Seward. 143 
 
 find, and it was said of him that he remarked, when 
 told that the body could not be that of Morgan, " It 
 is a good enough Morgan to serve until after the 
 election." Weed died denying this, and his denial 
 will be accepted by the more thoughtful. While 
 true to reputation, it was not true to fact. Weed was 
 too cunning, too cautious, to be guilty of any such 
 indiscretion. He was not one of those weak charac 
 ters, naturally good, who seek to appear clever by 
 seeming bad. He posed through life as a man of 
 lofty virtue. Perhaps he deceived himself in this, and 
 really believed that while he was not a perfect exam 
 ple of goodness, he was far better than the average 
 man. This is not uncommon with such actors, and 
 some deceive the world ; the majority only succeed 
 in deceiving themselves. 
 
 That war on Masonry is now recognized as a fool s 
 fight. Morgan s book, that sold through so many 
 editions as a revelation, now convinces a man not a 
 member of the order that either Masons have no 
 secrets of sufficient importance to justify killing in 
 case of betrayal, or that the book is a lie, for Morgan 
 fails to give the awful secret of the ancient order. 
 One reads in amusement the so-called revelation, that 
 goes on like a tread-mill from page to page in weary 
 labor to the end without getting the reader up to or 
 within the hidden horror. 
 
 Seward seems to have taken no note of Weed s 
 means, but accepted the results without question. 
 These means made our statesman Governor of New 
 
144 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 York, Senator, a prominent candidate for a presiden 
 tial nomination, and, eventually, Secretary of State. 
 
 How far the able diplomat was conscious of his 
 other half s wrong-doing it is difficult to ascertain. 
 One unacquainted with the facts reading- Weed s 
 memoirs will close the book impressed with the belief 
 that, as between Seward and Weed, the last named 
 was the more virtuous of the two. The same cun 
 ning duplicity may have deceived Seward. One 
 doubts this. The diplomatic statesman of the war 
 was too great a man to be thus defrauded. 
 
 How unscrupulous Weed was in all financial affairs 
 the writer of this has reason to remember. He took 
 part in that opening disaster of the war known as 
 the First Bull Run. He is cognizant of a fact that 
 goes far to account for our defeat, and which seems 
 to have escaped the notice of our war historians. 
 That fact is that defective arms were put in the hands 
 of the poor fellows who so bravely marched out to a 
 cruel slaughter. 
 
 W T hen the war burst so unexpectedly upon the 
 Government at Washington, to arm and equip even 
 seventy-five thousand men made a problem difficult 
 of solution. It takes time to manufacture guns, and 
 this necessary time our authorities could not com 
 mand. It was sought to purchase in Europe, and, as 
 a consequence, we marched from camp at Centreville 
 to find and whip the enemy armed, mainly, with 
 muskets bought abroad. Our gallant men found 
 locks breaking and barrels bursting with far more 
 
William H. Seward. 145 
 
 danger to themselves than to the enemy we assailed. 
 I remember that at the assault at Blackburn s Ford 
 George Wilkes and, I believe, General Baird or 
 General Fry, I forget which, assisted by others, 
 rallied a number of the stragglers from the fight as 
 they poured along the road to the rear. One of the 
 gallant West Pointers remonstrated with the retreat 
 ing volunteers. " Well, give us guns we can shoot, 
 and we ll fight," said one of the men. 
 
 An impromptu inspection followed, and out of 
 twenty muskets only one was found in a serviceable 
 condition. These were Belgian muskets, purchased, 
 it was said, through the agency of Weed and Sand- 
 ford, and were condemned guns bought of the con 
 tractor, after condemnation, by our patriotic agents. 
 
 Now I know, as the entire army knew, that these 
 pot-metal semblances of guns were utterly worth 
 less. Whether the story then told, and generally 
 believed, that they came through the agency of 
 Weed and Sandford is true, I do not know, but it is 
 not too late to investigate. Weed is dead, but Simon 
 Cameron, then Secretary of War, and Henry Sand- 
 ford are yet alive. It behooves them, at least, to 
 make denial. 
 
 This is a serious charge, and I must not be consid 
 ered its author. It was made on the field of battle 
 by men with the worthless arms in their hands, 
 by the side of the dead and dying. It is hard 
 to believe that, in the hour of deadly peril to the 
 nation, the brave fellows who volunteered to fight 
 
146 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 were made the victims of a treachery that dis 
 counts treason, in its greed for money stained with 
 the heart s blood of the patriots called to the front. 
 Camp-follow T ers rob the dead, and, it is said, some 
 times murder the wounded. These are fiends in hu 
 man shape, but they are saints by the side of the 
 cold-blooded, selfish scoundrels, who, with the roar 
 of the deadly strife sounding- in their ears, swindled 
 the Government through spoiled food, rotten shoddy, 
 and useless arms for the men who tendered their 
 lives in behalf of their flag and country. 
 
 Should an investigation be had, I have but one fact 
 to offer, and that is one well known to the survivors 
 of the First Bull Run, that we lost the battle mainly 
 through worthless muskets. Who purchased the 
 condemned guns, and who pocketed the tainted 
 money, I do not know, I only serve notice on Simon 
 Cameron and Henry Sandford that they, with Thur- 
 low Weed, were charged with the crime. 
 
 Thurlow Weed was the pioneer of the horde of 
 plunderers that fattened on our Government in the 
 woeful hour of peril. While thousands on thousands 
 marched to the front and made tender of their pa 
 triotic lives to the Republic in its time of need, 
 these men hurried to the rear, to the sound of the 
 enemy s guns, to fatten on the spoils the struggle 
 made available. And when the fight was over, 
 they robbed us of our victory by showing to the 
 world that we had grown in our war a more 
 deadly enemy to self-government than the armed 
 
William H. Seward. 147 
 
 host we had conquered in the field. At the end of 
 nearly a century, they made the Republic more of a 
 doubtful experiment than when the Fathers launched 
 it out of the Revolution. They who were despica 
 ble thieves in the beginning- were respectable mill 
 ionaires at the end, and the equality of political 
 rights secured by the Fathers is rendered of no avail 
 by the inequality of property that, hedged in by 
 law, strengthened by monopoly, and made perpetual 
 through corporations, gives us the same woes that 
 for ages have held labor to a condition of unrequited 
 toil in Europe, where one class that produces all 
 enjoys nothing, while another class that produces 
 nothing enjoys all. 
 
 For nearly a century the best government under 
 the sun, founded on the proposition that all men are 
 born equal, held four millions of blacks in abject 
 slavery. The convulsion that freed us from this 
 shameful inconsistency resulted in a corrupt domin 
 ion of money that has so degraded our civil service, 
 that to elect an official is to commission a thief, and 
 the Republic, which should be a model and an ex 
 ample to ail humanity, is a by-word and a reproach. 
 
 This recognition of a melancholy fact has carried 
 me some distance from Wm. H. Seward, and I am 
 glad that it is so. Knowing this eminent man 
 intimately, and studying his character and career 
 from a strictly impartial standpoint, I can well hope 
 that it is possible to make his purity consist with his 
 Weed partnership. I know that, as I have ad- 
 
148 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 mitted, this is difficult, and, to a casual observer, 
 seems impossible; but I am satisfied that it can be 
 done. Seward, with his delicate organization and 
 keen, suggestive mind, had trained himself in the 
 traditions of a past which taught its disciple that 
 worldly wickedness indicated ability. To be bad 
 was to be clever. The Fathers of our Government 
 received from Europe the doctrine held among 
 leaders, that innocence was not only Utopian, but an 
 indication of weakness, and so practised lives in 
 imitation of their models that had in them more 
 of sin than usefulness. A devotion to wine, women, 
 and infidelity gave proof of superior intellect, while 
 the Walpolian maxim that every man has his price 
 made the then estimate of humanity. That such 
 characters in our immortal patriots fail to reach 
 us, and that we have scant knowledge of such traits 
 in them, is due to the fact that the masses of the 
 revolutionary era were more virtuous than their lead 
 ers, and that on these leaders tombs we have re 
 corded, " Not what they were, but wiiat they should 
 have been." If my reader doubts this let him study 
 carefully the private life of the greatest saint, in pop 
 ular estimation, of that day. I refer to Alexander 
 Hamilton, the friend of Washington, and the so- 
 called martyr slain by Burr. 
 
 I have no thought of asserting in this that William 
 H. Seward was at all a bad man. With no turn for 
 women, and no taste for wine, he neither gambled 
 nor stole. He affected a wickedness he did not feel. 
 
William H. Seward. 149 
 
 because such affectation was, in his estimation, good 
 form in a statesman. Had an evil act been proposed 
 to him, he would not have resented the proposal 
 because it was bad, but for that it was insulting-. 
 Of refined, gentlemanly instincts and high training, 
 he was willing to condone in others practices not foi 
 a moment to be tolerated in himself. No man, for 
 example, could denounce the sin of slavery with 
 more power than he, and yet no Abolition leader was 
 so intimate and popular with slave-holders as our 
 distinguished diplomat. Thurlow Weed was to 
 Seward a breakwater that kept the ruder and morey 
 vulgar features of political corruption from his sight/ 
 He knew all this. Riding in the calm security of his 
 quiet life, he heard, without seeing or being disturbed, 
 the ugly waves beyond. Among the sober, earnest 
 men of the Abolition faith with whom he acted he 
 was regarded as insincere. His intimacy with and 
 friendship for the fire-eaters of the South added to 
 the suspicion, and his light cynical tone in treating 
 of all topics made the hot-gospellers of the Anti- 
 Slavery Army more than doubt him. 
 
 We begin life with the discovery that all good 
 things are dull, and we too generally end in con 
 sidering all dull things good. Not only this, but to 
 convince others, one must prove one s self an earnest 
 believer. This is not consistent with a cynical or 
 light treatment of the faith. There was a Judas 
 who betrayed, but not a jester who amused among 
 the apostles. 
 
150 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 This is not touching- on the shrewd observation of 
 Torn Corwin, of Ohio, that the world has a contempt 
 for the man that amuses it. A cynical, philosoph 
 ical mind like Seward s might, and probably did, 
 scorn to amuse and create distrust. The contempt 
 was all on one side. He had a way of not only look 
 ing" through shams, even earnest emblems of 
 something held sacred by the popular mind, but of 
 tearing off the outside and exposing the bran stuff 
 ing of an idol. For example, I met him the day after 
 the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, and 
 complimented the Administration upon the paper. 
 
 "Yes," he said, " we have let off a puff of wind 
 over an accomplished fact." 
 
 " What do you mean, Mr. Seward ? " 
 
 " I mean that the Emancipation Proclamation was 
 uttered in the first gun fired at Sumter, and we 
 have been the last to hear it. As it is, we show our 
 sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where 
 we cannot reach them, and holding them in bondage 
 where we can set them free." 
 
 With these unpopular qualities, Seward would 
 never have worked to the front and become a leader 
 of men but for this partnership with Thurlow Weed . 
 Possessed of more force of character than intellect, 
 Thurlow Weed made up in cunning all he lacked in 
 brain. His opinions were convictions so long as 
 they harmonized with the majority, and on that 
 majority depended his earnestness in their utterance. 
 He realized at an early day that nothing so offends 
 
William H. Seivard. 151 
 
 as unpopular views, and he made it a point never to 
 offend in that way. As he had no views of his 
 own, this was easy. He felt that if Seward knew 
 less he would be more successful, and would have 
 dissolved the partnership or never entered into it 
 but for the fact that some brain and a little culture 
 were necessary in the political field of New York. 
 The masses had not yet learned to disregard intellect 
 in their leaders, and the memories of Hamilton, Burr, 
 De Witt Clinton, and the influence of Van Buren, 
 Silas Wright, Marcy, and other statesmen, was 
 yet upon them. Thurlow Weed, with his peculiar 
 shrewdness, turned over to his co-worker all the 
 honors of office, while retaining- to himself all the 
 emoluments that came from success. He realized 
 the fact that there was but one man with whom he 
 could harmonize in such work, and when poor Hor 
 ace Greeley, whose brain and popular pen he and 
 Seward had used for all they were worth, proposed 
 taking to himself a little of the influence to be ob 
 tained from official recognition, the two gave the 
 able editor to understand that they could not approve 
 of any such ambitious design on the part of their 
 editor. Horace Greeley, who to the ignorance and 
 trusting simplicity of a child added a strange power 
 of persuasion with his pen, could not understand that 
 he was disqualified for office because he knew too 
 much, and could not be controlled by the two for 
 whose information on any subject he had a profound 
 contempt. 
 
152 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Thurlow Weed was as strange as Seward was 
 remarkable. Tall, slender, awkward, and solemn, 
 in his ways, he had a stoop in his shoulders that did 
 not come from study of books, but from bending 
 over in a confidential way to hear what others had 
 to say. He was the most confidential man in man 
 ner I ever encountered. In my first interview 
 with him, after an hour s talk on my part, I left im 
 pressed with his superior sagacity, until, in humility, 
 I came to remember that I had done all the talking. 
 He won men as a heartless belle wins lovers, through 
 the use of his ears, and in this he had not only un 
 wearied patience, but a confidential air that im 
 pressed his victim, as the belle does her admirer, with 
 the belief that he was the only one in all the world 
 in whom he thus confided. His manner, in this re 
 spect, was simply superb. He never spoke save in 
 a subdued tone, as if he feared others might hear 
 what he was very careful never to utter. The in 
 tense expression of his mysterious eyes, as he looked 
 at arid listened to his victim, discounted the fascina 
 tion sung of in the Ancient Mariner. What can you 
 do with a man who leads you to a remote corner of 
 a room and, in the most deferential manner, tells 
 you nothing in a low, confidential tone ? 
 
 I find myself returning in this to Thurlow Weed. 
 The truth is, the student of history delving in the 
 facts necessary to a knowledge of our great diplo 
 mat, whose intellect, character, and position had so 
 much to do with the preservation of the Republic, 
 
William II. Seward. 153 
 
 cannot separate Seward from Wood. An old story 
 illustrates lio\v tliis stood. It tells us of Seward, 
 when Governor of New York, trying to convince the 
 driver of a stage-coach of the fact. The cunning 
 old whip looked incredulously, from the corners of 
 his fishy eyes, at the little hook-nosed man at his 
 side, and gave expression to his belief that he had an 
 escaped lunatic on the box. Seward, much amused 
 and slightly irritated, cried out to an old friend and 
 prominent politician standing upon the porch of a 
 tavern before which the coach had drawn up : 
 
 " I say, Tom, tell this aged man of the reins that 
 I am Governor of New York, or he will tumble me 
 off." 
 
 " I won t tell any such lie, William." 
 
 " Sir," replied Seward, " do you mean to say that 
 I am not?" 
 
 "Certainly I do." 
 
 " Who is, then ? " 
 
 " Thurlow Weed, of course." A roar of laughter 
 from the inside testified to the wit of the sally, which 
 was good because so ludicrously true. 
 
 Weed made a great success of his cleverly organ 
 ized machine in New York, and he secured Seward 
 upon the pedestal at Washington, where his brilliant 
 parts won him a national reputation. At Chicago, 
 however, Weed s management proved Seward s de 
 feat when the attempt was made to nominate New 
 York s favorite as the candidate of the newly-organ 
 ized party. Seward was undoubtedly the leading 
 
154 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 aspirant for the nomination, and would have been 
 more popular than Lincoln at the polls. This be 
 cause the great body of voters to be relied on were 
 old Whigs. This political organization was, in its 
 day, eminently respectable and conservative. Its 
 voters knew Seward, and while distrusting- him, they 
 had not the fear they felt when called on to support 
 a low, vulgar rail-splitter of Illinois. He, Lincoln, 
 was supported by the vile Abolitionists whom they 
 considered cranks, possessed of no regard whatever 
 for our national progress and high business interests. 
 This would have nominated Seward had not Weed, 
 to overcome the outside pressure at Chicago, im 
 ported a body of roughs from New York City to 
 roar down the Illinois crowd. These bully-grog 
 bruisers were then new to conventions, and they 
 frightened and offended the men they were intended 
 to influence. The writer of this had been selected as 
 a delegate to the Convention, and, although cheated 
 out of his seat, made a part of the Chase contingent 
 from Ohio. Our headquarters were next to those 
 of the Seward people from New York, and I well 
 remember the deep disgust expressed for the vulgar, 
 noisy, drunken crowd that hurrahed, till hoarse, for 
 Seward. The Republican party was then new, and 
 influenced, if not led, by the thoughtful, true-hearted 
 Abolitionists, and the entire Convention, with the 
 exception of this Seward element, approached the 
 duty devolving upon it in the prayerful spirit of men 
 who felt that grave issues were in their hands. 
 
William H. Seward. 155 
 
 The first ballot placed Seward and Lincoln in the 
 lead, nearly evenly balanced, and the conduct of the 
 Seward claqueurs gave the majority to Lincoln. 
 Weed was not to blame. His knowledge of human 
 nature did not include the earnest, honest men who 
 first came forward to lead a forlorn hope, and who 
 were amazed and much distressed to mid themselves, 
 after the election, victors. 
 
 Fortunately for the country the newly-elected 
 President called to his Cabinet the two great men, 
 Seward and Chase, who had contended in the Con 
 vention for the honor he had so strangely won. 
 
 This was Providence, that g-ave us the advantage 
 from the start ; especially was it so in the case of 
 Seward. Of all the eminent men brought to the. 
 front in that revolution, William H. Seward was the \ 
 only one who looked down the confused and darkened \ 
 future with the eye of a prophet. He alone, from \ 
 his superior knowledge of the South, saw that we 
 stood upon the crumbling precipice of a terrible civil / 
 war, and what he did, through superior intelligence, / 
 and what his associates did through ignorance, saved / 
 to us the Capital, and, through that salvation, the/ 
 Union itself. 
 
 Looking back over those hours pregnant with 
 startling events, the student of history marvels at 
 the stupidity of the South in permitting the inaugu 
 ration of Lincoln at Washington. The seat of g*ov- 
 ernment was in the enemy s country, and why it 
 should have been abandoned to the North is difficult 
 
150 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 to comprehend, until we get at the reason for the 
 fact, when it is simple enough. The leaders of the 
 South could no more be made to believe that the 
 people of the North would fight, than our leaders 
 could be convinced that the South meant war, and in 
 addition to this, the men who appealed to arms to 
 enforce their secession were satisfied that if the 
 appeal ever came to any such bloody issue, the Dem 
 ocrats of the North would not only side with them, 
 but take up arms in their behalf. This received 
 sanction in the pitiful and prayerful appeals from 
 Democrats in the free States to their brethren in the 
 South to spare the Union, as if the fate of the nation 
 trembled in the hands of the lordly slaveholders. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln could not be made to realize the 
 existence of the gathering storm. He would not 
 admit that the masses could be aroused to a bloody 
 war against their brothers upon a mere abstract 
 political proposition, such as States Rights, as if 
 that had anything to do with the civil conflict. Had 
 he not made the argument, and won his cause, in 
 that famous war of words between Douglas and 
 himself ? States Rights was a worn-out superstition 
 at the best, but he relied mainly on his assertion 
 that no people ever got up and went to killing on an 
 abstract proposition. Other eminent men of our side 
 held that the South had no resources. "They will 
 have to come to us for arms without money to pay 
 for them," said Hannibal Hamlin ; " and for coffins," 
 added John P. Hale. " To put a regiment in the 
 
William H. Seward. 157 
 
 field costs more than the income of an entire Southern 
 State," said Mr. Speaker Banks; and so, while Jeff. 
 Davis calmly waited for Virginia to pass her ordi 
 nance of secession, with no protection for our national 
 capital save General Winfleld Scott and the Marine 
 Band, the President gave his days and nights to 
 selecting office-holders for the positions from which 
 the Democrats, much to their surprise and disgust, 
 were being dismissed. The unbelieving North made 
 no preparations, and the South only such as it thought 
 necessary to enforce the popular cry of, " Let the 
 erring sisters depart in peace." 
 
 Mr. Seward feared that the South would begin at\ 
 the beginning, and , seizing on the Capital, prevent the \ 
 inauguration of the President elect. To prevent this I 
 he gave adhesion to the belief then prevalent, as I / 
 have said, that there would be no armed conflict. I 
 He desired to see the representatives from the revolt- / 
 ing States leave Washington in peace. To this end / 
 he made his famous conciliation speech in the Senate, / 
 which, while deluding the Confederate leaders into a/ 
 sense of security, disappointed and disgusted theu 
 radical men at the North. The wrathful chiefs oy 
 the turbulent South were lulled into a belief in 
 Northern non-resistance, and left f ulry convinced that 
 on their first armed demonstration, and perhaps 
 before, they would be invited back to negotiate terms 
 of separation. Indeed their only anxiety was in the 
 fear that some sort of terms might be agreed on that 
 would perpetuate the hated union. Their most 
 
158 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 noted leader said, " If a blank sheet were given us 
 upon which to write the terras on which we might 
 remain, the sheet would be returned unstained by 
 ink." They were more anxious to get the slave 
 States committed to secession than they were to 
 commit the North to any terms of abject submission. 
 It w r as not their policy to fetch on an armed collision 
 before a solemn compact had been entered upon, com 
 mitting the slave States to a position their pride 
 would force them to uphold, after once making- it 
 known to the world. Hence Jeff. Davis waited on 
 Virginia s legislature, when he could have seized 
 Washington with an armed mob of Virginians. 
 
 There is another fact to be kept in view, and that is 
 that, so far as the war issues were concerned at home, 
 Washington City was of small importance. Its loss 
 would not, in the end, have affected the result. Our 
 National Capital differed from the capitals in Europe 
 in not being a great commercial centre, and had no 
 significance be3^ond that which attaches to a place 
 selected for a Government to meet and transact bus 
 iness that could have been quite as well carried on at 
 any other point. The only effect of its loss would 
 have been to arouse to greater wrath the loyal 
 people of the free States. The effect on the govern 
 ments of Europe, however, where our peculiar insti 
 tutions were not clearly understood, would have been 
 widely different and disastrous to our cause. It 
 would have been taken to be as significant as the 
 loss of London or Paris under like circumstances. 
 
William H. Seward. 159 
 
 It is well for us that the stupid sense of security 
 founded upon the belief that the North would not 
 attempt coercion at the point of the bayonet, and the 
 ignorance of our own Government, that made it re 
 gard the disturbance South as so much bluster, that 
 would die out on the fact being- demonstrated that 
 the North was not to be intimidated by such political 
 demonstrations and threats, prevented any move 
 ment looking- either to the defence or the capture of 
 the Capital. That there Avas no danger that any 
 effort against the Capital would be made was the 
 view taken by President Lincoln and all of his 
 Cabinet, save William H. Seward. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was duly inaugurated, a grand 
 inauguration ball followed, and the President and 
 Cabinet turned their attention to filling the offices 
 from the immense horde that crowded Washington. 
 Nor did they give any serious attention to the ordi 
 nances of secession being passed by the Southern 
 States, or to the arming- and drilling of troops until 
 they were startled by the guns fired on Sumter, 
 which sent a thrill throughout the loyal States, and 
 brought a people to their feet in wrath that subju 
 gation alone could appease. 
 
 President Lincoln tendered, and Mr. Seward ac 
 cepted, the portfolio of the State Department. This 
 was given the distinguished Senator, not because 
 of any peculiar fitness he was known to possess for 
 the position, but for that it was considered the 
 highest place in the Cabinet; and Mr. Seward, 
 
1GO Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 having- received, next to Mr. Lincoln, the greatest 
 vote in the Convention at Chicago, was thought, 
 therefore, to "be entitled to the place. In the same 
 way Salmon P. Chase was assigned to the Treasury, 
 and Simon Cameron to the War Department. All 
 the prominent candidates for the Presidential nomi 
 nation were thus provided for. 
 
 The State Department had been, before the war of 
 1861, a mere show place, and could have been wiped 
 out without any great loss to our Government. 
 Through all the Administrations, from that of 
 Washington down to Buchanan, the Secretary of 
 State had posed as a grave figure-head, possessed of 
 a great name and little or no power. Our infant 
 Republic, separated by wide seas from the nations 
 of Europe, and not only separated from, but antag 
 onized by, our form of government, saw no necessity 
 for the delicate and complicated machinery that goes 
 to make up state-craft, and so, while organizing a 
 State Department, left that department without the 
 power that gives it significance. Jealous of irre 
 sponsible and unguarded trusts, the framers of our 
 Government confined the treaty-making power to 
 the President and Senate. The President alone, 
 nor the Senate alone, can commit the Government 
 to any proposition in that direction, and the re 
 sult is that all such covenants are negotiated for 
 at Washington. The Secretary of State is power 
 less in this behalf, and the consequence is that we 
 have been, and must ever remain, under our Const!- 
 
William H. Seivard. 161 
 
 tution, without a diplomatic corps such as exists 
 and is recognized as necessary by European govern 
 ments. We send gentlemen abroad under the 
 imposing titles of Ministers, but they are in reality 
 only clerks of the State Department, sort of Gov 
 ernment Post-offices in Europe, where they play at 
 being diplomats, much to the amusement of the 
 able and polished gentlemen of the real diplomatic 
 corps. 
 
 There is really no great loss in being deprived 
 of a diplomacy that has come to be synonymous with 
 duplicity, and presupposes evil designs to be met and 
 overcome by evil practices. War in Europe has 
 been defined by an eminent Russian statesman as 
 disorganized diplomacy, and, as a rule, one is as 
 iniquitous as the other. As we have no boundaries 
 to be affected, no political or other rights to be en 
 dangered, our entire diplomacy can be reduced to the 
 one axiom, promulgated by Secretary Marc}% of 
 demanding nothing but the right, and submitting to 
 nothing that is wrong. Ordinarily, under this state 
 of fact, we can well dispense with the farce of sending 
 to Europe our successful stump orators under the 
 high-sounding titles of Envoys Extraordinary, Min 
 isters Resident, or Charge d Affaires to disport them 
 selves at courts in gold-embroidered garments, 
 greatly to the amazement and entertainment of 
 European statesmen. 
 
 There are, however, exceptions to all rules, and 
 ours came when the South, in revolt, sent her ablest 
 
1G2 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 men to Europe for the purpose of soliciting inter 
 ference in her behalf. It was necessary to meet 
 these advocates with a like array of eminent men 
 from our side. This was the grave duty imposed on 
 William H. Seward when he accepted the position 
 of Secretary of State. He came to the place well 
 equipped for the trust, and he had been trained 
 through trial in high places to a quick use of all he 
 possessed. Of a delicate, sensitive organization, he 
 retained through intellectual acquirements all the 
 lightning-like perceptions which we call, for lack 
 of a better word, instinct ; and to this he added the 
 highest moral courage. How suggestive was his 
 brilliant mind one can learn by a study of the many 
 measures which, as a leader of his great State, he 
 originated when that State was solidifying after the 
 revolution into what it remains at this day. His 
 are impressed on 
 
 organic laws of New York that have since spread 
 out through, the Union over a continent. He SstT 
 developed opposition to corporate monopolies, andif 
 he failed to restrain altogether that monstrous evil 
 from which the whole country now suffers, it was no 
 fault of his. He, among the first, favored a system 
 of public education. He was the advocate of public 
 j works, such as the enlargement of the Erie Canal, as 
 well as other improvements in aid of the cheap dis 
 tribution of products. He removed the onerous 
 disabilities imposed upon foreigners. The reform in 
 courts of law, since so generally copied by other 
 
William H. Seward. 163 
 
 States, came from him. He suggested and carried 
 to success a geological survey of the State. He 
 got up a general banking 1 system, and established 
 asylums for the insane. To William H. Seward 
 belongs the credit of abolishing the brutal and bar 
 barous practice of imprisonment for debt, while he 
 quieted effectually the great anti-rent war that at 
 one time threatened the political and social life of his \ 
 State. 
 
 The most marked and memorable event of this 
 statesman s life, while Governor of New York, is to / 
 be found in the resistance he made to Virginia, when 
 the Governor of that old Commonwealth made a 
 demand on him to return to the courts of Virginia 
 two sailors charged with abducting slaves. Mr. 
 Seward took, and maintained with great ability, the 
 ground that a crime made such by State law, that 
 was not recognized as a crime at common law, could 
 not be sustained outside the locality where such 
 statutory provision existed. In this Governor 
 Seward ignored the guarantees of the Constitution, 
 " that compact with hell," as the Abolitionists des 
 ignated the sacred instrument which, based on an 
 equality of human rights, provided for the enforce 
 ment of the saddest form of human servitude. If 
 the free States could be made to return fugitive 
 slaves to their masters, then, under the recognized 
 rule that laws carry in themselves all provisions 
 necessary to their enforcement, the kidnappers of 
 slaves could also be returned for punishment. 
 
1C4 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 It is singular, looking- back on those stirring 
 times, to note that the Abolitionists were the strict 
 est advocates of States Eights, and went beyond 
 Calhoun himself in subtle arguments to sustain that 
 superstition of Colonial times which gave sover 
 eignty not only to each separate Colony of the old 
 thirteen, but extended the principle to the new States 
 that were made by the General Government, very 
 much as a State makes a county. Not only did the 
 officials of New England, in common with Governor 
 Seward of New York, claim a sacred soil equal to 
 that of Virginia, but Governor Chase set up the 
 same sort of sovereignty for Ohio. The absurdity 
 of all this became yet more apparent after the war 
 opened, when the powers at Washington had to rely 
 upon Avar governors for troops, while the seceded 
 States resolved themselves into a military despotism, 
 with its acknowledged head at Richmond. 
 
 Mr. Seward entered upon his duties as Secretary 
 of State with a clear head and high courage. One 
 reads the many-volumed despatches from his pen to 
 our agents abroad during those four years with 
 mingled amazement and admiration, not unmixed 
 with pity. There is a precision and clearness in these 
 state papers unsurpassed at home or abroad in like 
 documents, and there is a calm conservative tone in 
 dicative of a courage that lie who reads between the 
 lines, by the light of the terrible events then being 
 enacted, knows had little foundation in fact. The 
 great impending danger to a cause that carried in its 
 
William H. Seward. 
 
 bosom the existence of empire was foreign interfe 
 rence, and we know that every line of these brave 
 utterances was penned with a sinking- heart. Had 
 the smallest power of Europe recognized the Confed 
 eracy, not only would the greatest war power, that 
 of France, have immediately intervened, but such 
 recognition would have made available the millions 
 ready for investment in King Cotton and his empire. 
 Louis Napoleon, the imbecile, who so long masque 
 raded in the garb of the Little Corporal, and with 
 such fatal effect, not only openly avowed himself 
 ready to accept the new political organization of the 
 South, but backed her emissaries in their appeals to 
 England for a like avowal. 
 
 The novel Congress, made up mainly of represent 
 atives from the free States, in its unpatriotic greed, 
 instead of aiding the sorely perplexed Administra 
 tion, threw the deadliest obstacles in the way of the 
 Secretary of State. The war was unpopular in 
 Europe because of the cotton famine that followed 
 its beginning, from our blockade of Southern ports, 
 and while the Confederacy was offering free trade, 
 our Congress seized on the opportunity presented 
 by the absence of Southern representatives to enact 
 the highest tariff ever imposed upon an intelligent 
 people. The insolence of this challenge to all the 
 world was only equalled by its stupidit} T . We not 
 only wantonly offended the powers upon whose inac 
 tion depended our existence as a nation, but at a 
 time when we needed the greatest income from cus- 
 
166 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 toms to carry on the war, we ran up a Chinese wall 
 of prohibition against income that was only sur 
 mounted by a loss of credit and a consequent fall 
 of value in our currency. The augmentation of 
 prices to the foreign importer overrode our prohi 
 bition. This was the statesmanship of our leaders 
 in Congress that well-nigh proved fatal to the 
 Republic. 
 
 Secretary Seward penned his brave sentences amid 
 the drift of wrecked armies that floated back upon 
 the Capital through which they had marched to 
 martial music, rising and falling upon the w r ide ave 
 nues like the waves of a resistless sea, and he heard 
 for nearly two years the brief tales of shameful dis 
 asters, broken in all that time by only one victory 
 gained in the West under the leadership of the only 
 great man under epaulets, the man whose name 
 was destined to be associated with victories alone. 
 The name of George H. Thomas sounded in his ears 
 like the trump of the archangel awakening the dead 
 to an immortal resurrection. The small creatures 
 that pecked at great events beyond their ability 
 to compass sneered at Seward s continued assertions 
 that the trouble would end in ninety days. They 
 little dreamed that this was meant for far-off shores, 
 where it had potent influence among men ignorant 
 of the serious effects of the disasters that made up the 
 record of our unavailing efforts. To the same end 
 he encouraged public amusements, and ctimulated 
 the wife of the President to gayeties at the Execu- 
 
William H. Seward. 167 
 
 tive Mansion, where the sound of revelry failed to 
 drown the cry of defeat. 
 
 We can well understand now why the nephew of 
 his uncle sought to aid the Confederacy in its evil 
 designs, for after his attempt through Mexico to 
 destroy our Government he was ignominiously 
 snuffed out at Sedan. Then the world opened its 
 stupid eyes to the fact that Napoleon le petit had 
 not even sense enough to be a successful charlatan. 
 The imperial robes of the great man whose Napo 
 leonic dynasty he burlesqued had not, at the date of 
 our war, collapsed into a heap of rags, and the poor 
 actor who wore them was not only a terror to our 
 Secretary, but to all Europe. It was not then known 
 that his empire was a mere shell, honeycombed with 
 rot that enriched the little rogues w r ho bowed before 
 him to the utter destruction of all power. We now 
 learn from those state papers that while Louis 
 Napoleon openly avowed his malign designs against 
 our Republic, his diplomatic agents at London were 
 insidiously at w r ork upon the English ministry in an 
 effort to perfect an alliance that would join these 
 two great war powers in fatal hostility to our 
 cause. 
 
 The British Government failed the French Em 
 peror, but we have no cause to be thankful for 
 any kindly feeling toward us, or any sense of justice 
 on the part of our cousins. They were animated 
 by no high principle nor any feeling of sympathy. 
 Mr. S3 ward, realizing this, caught up and used only 
 
168 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 appeals to the selfish interests of the shop-keepers, 
 whose business dominated not only official action in 
 affairs at home, but the world over. The English 
 Ministry saw a few Confederate cruisers sweep our 
 commerce from the seas, and knew well that, in case 
 of war, Yankee privateers would, in turn, destroy 
 their entire mercantile marine, and so turned a deaf 
 ear to the diplomatic pleadings of their ally. While 
 our Secretary presented officially, with as much 
 point and clearness as polite diplomatic language 
 would allow, the interests of the English in the 
 premises, he sent among the merchants and manu 
 facturers of England men who could talk openly 
 and with force upon the issues likely to arise should 
 war be declared. Two of these, the Rev. H. W. 
 Beecher and Archbishop Hughes, were men of sur 
 passing ability, and this ability the Secretary sup 
 plemented with the cunning of Thurlow Weed. The 
 three did effective work, and England not only left 
 the Confederacy to its fate, but, through her ex 
 ample, held harmless the hands of the imperial 
 imbecile of France. 
 
 It was, however, while Europe, restrained by 
 England, hung threateningly upon our horizon that 
 an event occurred that well-nigh proved fatal to us. 
 A stupid naval officer boarded a British merchant 
 man and took from her decks two Confederate 
 emissaries, Messrs. Mason and Slidell. This at any 
 time was cause enough for war. Our Administra 
 tion was shocked and startled, and yet Secretary 
 
William H. Seward. 169 
 
 Seward entered upon the discussion of the Tiffair 
 as calmly as if we were in a condition to enforce 
 any rights that might make a side for us in the 
 diplomatic conflict. He knew that there was noth 
 ing 1 for us but a humiliating- return of the emis 
 saries, and an apology for the so-called outrage. 
 Our naval officer had traversed our own doctrine 
 of the sacred character of our decks at sea that 
 led to the war of 1812, while England s indignation 
 was in direct antagonism to what England had 
 practised for a thousand years in her claimed right 
 of search. The unhappy Secretary admitted the 
 wrong, and our Government ordered restitution, 
 not because we recognized the violation of interna 
 tional law, in thus forcibly abducting enemies from 
 the decks of a power with which we were at peace, 
 bat for that our captain did not seize the vessel 
 itself, and bring it into port for a trial of the of 
 fenders. From the opening of the despatch to its 
 close Mr. Seward argued against our side with 
 subtle ingenuity, and made his conclusion so obvious 
 that there was not much loss of dignity in his 
 graceful retreat. 
 
 So, through the grave crisis of our fate, this great 
 man served his fellow-men to the triumphant end. 
 Unseen, all-seeing, he and his fellow-laborers at 
 Washington shaped our work, directed our energies, 
 and guarded us from peril. Then, when the task 
 was ended, quietly retired, making no claim for 
 recognition, asking no reward other than that which 
 
170 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 came of conscious power and a conscientious dis 
 charge of duty. 
 
 How discouraging to the student of history to see 
 men so great neglected, their services unrecognized, 
 their work unknown, while epauletted creatures, 
 upon whose imbecility rests the responsibility of 
 uncalled-for carnage that spread mourning and 
 cruel desolation over all the land, are rewarded in 
 life and honored to immortality in death. Had it 
 not been for the bullet of Booth, that shocked the 
 masses into a recognition of Lincoln, the greatest 
 man of all our age would have shared the fate 
 of Stanton, Chase, and Seward, and gone down to a 
 forgotten grave, amid the roar of artillery that told 
 of the burial of men the earth were better had they 
 never been born. 
 
 In the heart of New York, a bronze statue of 
 heroic size has been erected to the memory of New 
 York s greatest statesman. It will darken into 
 slow decay, as his memory fades into oblivion with 
 out probably one of the busy millions knowing that, 
 for four years, nothing stood between that great 
 commercial centre and the utter ruin of a bombard 
 ment but the subtle intellect and patriotic heart of 
 that one man. Without a navy, possessed of no 
 coast defences, our cities on the sea were at the 
 mei cy of the weakest naval power of Europe. 
 
 In all this I detract nothing from the fame of 
 Lincoln. Seward was a greater man in one thing, 
 but not in all things, than Abraham Lincoln ; and 
 
William H. Seward. 171 
 
 were we the enlightened people we claim to be, the 
 great Secretary s name would live along the pages 
 of our history as that of one whose cultured mind, 
 indomitable will, high courage, and pure patriotism, 
 made a debt we were proud to acknowledge, thus 
 honoring ourselves in honoring him. 
 
MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS. 
 
 THE intellectual qualities which go to make a 
 successful military man are not of the highest 
 order. Indeed, if we analyze the forces which are 
 brought into play, we are driven to the conclusion 
 that military success is more a matter of tempera 
 ment than of intellect. The man of action cannot 
 well be a man of thought, for the last quality em 
 barrasses if it does not destroy the first. To be 
 prompt to act on a given emergency, with that 
 implicit confidence in one s self that inspires con 
 fidence in others, is a trait not in harmony with the 
 studious, considerate use of one s judgment which 
 creates distrust and doubt when one should have 
 quick, decisive action. 
 
 Of all the great captains memorized in bronze 
 and marble from the earliest historic period, two 
 only are noted as men of thought. One of them 
 was Julius Ccesar, the other the great Napoleon. 
 The rest when called upon to act in other capacity 
 than that of killing successfully exhibit pitiable fail 
 ure. 
 
 If the subject of this article were only to be re 
 garded as a successful general I would not be found 
 
(Bronze Statue in Washington.) \ 
 GENERAL GEO. H. THOMAS. 
 
George H. Thomas. 173 
 
 putting liis achievements to record. But he held in 
 himself a strange compound of thoughtfulness and 
 action, and in this respect he towers above his asso 
 ciates in arms. He would have been great in any 
 useful pursuit of life, and in the line on which 
 circumstances called him to act, he is the man about 
 whom clusters all the military glory of a civil conflict 
 on either side to which we, as a people, can point 
 with pride. Quiet and unassuming, he did his duty 
 a duty that saved, as much as one man could save, 
 the great republic, and then as quietly sought his 
 grave, leaving his great deeds his only monument. 
 He left no memoirs, those button-holding pertinaci 
 ties in print, in which small men, in small ways, beg 
 to be regarded as great creatures, but, folding his 
 cloak about him, gave the world freedom of opinion 
 as to what he had accomplished in behalf of human 
 ity, and laid down to moulder in his unmarked 
 grave. 
 
 George Henry Thomas was a Virginian through 
 several generations. As he was of English origin 
 on one side, and French on the other, he should, if 
 there is anything in heredity, have had the dash of 
 the one and the staying power of the other ; at least 
 these are national traits which we attribute to these 
 races with the same childlike faith in which we attrib 
 ute ill-temper to red hair, and deceit to the female 
 possessors of bead-like black eyes. Thomas biog 
 rapher, as he is dealing with a Virginian, fetches 
 in the English Cavaliers, very much as all negro- 
 
174 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 tinted skins of that great commonwealth fall back 
 on Pocahontas. 
 
 The early settlers of our continent were hard 
 working- and, let us hope, honest laborers, and if any 
 of noble blood found refuge here they came, with a 
 few exceptions, as criminals escaping conviction or 
 as convicts escaping punishment. The great Vir 
 ginia, home of the Cavaliers, was for a period a penal 
 colony. 
 
 The haste in which we seek to dishonor the graves 
 of our ancestors is pitiable. All the parade of im 
 aginary pedigrees and emblazoned coats-of-arms, 
 stolen from families fallen into decay, shame us as a 
 people. That our honored forefathers braved the 
 dangers of an unknown sea, the perils and hardships 
 of the howling wilderness ; that they with indomi 
 table will and through hard labor conquered a con 
 tinent, and changed the wild cry of animals and the 
 yell of Indians into the hum of busy life a waste 
 into a garden is of more honor to us, their 
 descendants, than if we could trace back our lineage 
 to robber barons whose only mission on earth was 
 to torture and destroy. 
 
 George Henry Thomas had none of this false pride 
 in his nature. He was wont to tell with glee how, 
 when he a boy, he made a saddle for himself, 
 which his father was not able to purchase, by watch 
 ing the saddler day after day construct one, he fol 
 lowing at home the lesson learned at the shop until 
 the saddle was completed. That he would have 
 
George H. Thomas. 175 
 
 made a first-class mechanic we can well believe, for 
 he had that in him which would have insured success 
 in any walk of life. 
 
 HIS YOUTH. 
 
 The early youth of our man was as quiet and 
 uneventful as his later years were full of tumult and 
 stirring- events. He retained to the last that quiet 
 self-poise which reminds one of the eagle balancing 
 his pinions on the storm-cloud while all else is in the 
 hurried confusion of seeming destruction. 
 
 The home life of old Virginia, in its patriarchal 
 simplicity, was exceedingly beautiful. One acquaint 
 ed with it can picture the quiet old mansions gleam 
 ing white amid their oaks, rude enough in their 
 architecture, but so home-like in their calm. Gener 
 ations of intermarriage had made all akin, while the 
 ties of family strengthened the domestic bond that 
 found something nearer and dearer to live for than 
 the mere pursuit of wealth. Their homes were full 
 of sweet human gossip, and proud, yet kindly, they 
 lived out the quiet lives of brave men and chaste 
 women in striking- contrast to the money-getting 
 world around them. 
 
 Whether it is our peculiar climate, or some other 
 subtle cause, that develops the nerves at the ex 
 pense of all else, we are a restless, moving race 
 without that sense of home which so distinguishes 
 Virginians. We are Arabs in boots and our rest 
 ing-places in life are no better than tents, giving us 
 
176 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 shelter, and wanting- in all those sweet associations 
 that make of a locality a fairyland. Arid yet in the 
 home itself is planted all that makes a people really 
 great. In it a mother s love and a father s care 
 train good citizens, and give stability to govern 
 ment that is secured by no other process. We are 
 enthusiastic over common schools and public insti 
 tutions and firmly determined to make the peda 
 gogue do the duty of the parent. We build 
 houses, not for homes, but as show places, to sell and 
 build again. Our very cemeteries are public parks, 
 in which the sacred memories of the beloved dead are 
 lost in the exhibition of grand avenues and costly 
 monuments. We cart our wealth to the verge of 
 the unknown land and leave its evidence to the liv 
 ing in a stunning monument. The mourners hurry 
 back to business to keep the dead man s notes from 
 protest. How 7 this sort of life is marring our des 
 tiny as a people is manifest in the frightful increase 
 of insanity and crime. 
 
 The perfect and beautiful influences of home life 
 as practised in old Virginia make one of the no 
 ticeable incidents of the late civil conflict. Virginia, 
 the cradle of patriots, presidents, and statesmen, was 
 not remarkable for either her wealth or intellect 
 ual life. No authors were born to her ; no books 
 were made; no millionaires larded the lean earth 
 with their ill-gotten gains ; but the standard of man 
 hood was on an average so high, the love and re 
 spect for the old commonwealth so strong, that 
 
George H. Thomas. 177 
 
 the entire war centred around her capital. The 
 States that had thrown off the Union on a plea of 
 State sovereignty immediately crystallized into a 
 solid government with its head at Richmond, and 
 when Virginia fell the cause was lost. 
 
 I have dwelt upon this subject because in the 
 home training of George Henry Thomas may be 
 found so much that in subsequent years made him 
 famous. He w-as a man of such sterling integrity, 
 so frank, brave, and truthful, so tender in his na 
 ture, generous in his impulses, so sensitive to the 
 calls of honor, and so true to duty, that we are 
 forced back to the early years when such qualities are 
 impressed upon the plastic nature of youth. What 
 a mother, what a father General Thomas must have 
 possessed ! 
 
 All boys are born liars because lying is the 
 consequent result of weakness the diplomatic ref 
 uge of helplessness. There is no moral training in 
 a school. The popular superstition which tells us 
 that teaching a child from books elevates its nature, 
 and is all that is called for in the way of training, is 
 curing itself through the most costly of learning, 
 that of experience. We have got far enough along 
 to realize that the majority of criminals inflicting 
 humanity are educated criminals. 
 
 George H. Thomas had graduated at the South 
 ampton Academy and had entered upon the study 
 of law when the genial John Y. Mason offered Mr. 
 Rochelle, George s uncle, a cadetship at West Point. 
 
178 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 The choice of the place was left to the young man 
 and promptly accepted. 
 
 Having- passed the examination, George returned 
 home by way of Washington to thank the Hon. John 
 Y., then his member of Congress, for his kind pat 
 ronage. The Hon. solon said to the youth : " No 
 cadet appointed from our district has ever gradu 
 ated at West Point, and if you fail I never want to 
 see you again." He spoke to one whose lexicon had 
 no such word as fail. 
 
 WEST POINT. 
 
 This academy is a little school on the Hudson, 
 popularly supposed to produce military men. As 
 war is not a science, hardly an art, one is puzzled 
 to know how it can be taught, and even if it could 
 be, the learned professors would find themselves 
 troubled, as all learned professors are, to create the 
 mind necessary to apply the science after the teach 
 ing. Of a thousand pupils most admirably instruct 
 ed in law or physic, one only is capable of using the 
 information gained. 
 
 There is a popular superstition to the effect that 
 in training one to habits of study, and an active 
 use of the memory, mind is actually created, and of 
 the thousand all are capable of being lifted to the 
 same intellectual level. People cannot compre 
 hend, nor be made to believe, that in an} r school the 
 same inequality prevails that obtains in common 
 life. The many are stupid, the few alone are 
 
George H. Thomas. 179 
 
 thoughtful. We are well aware of the fact that man 
 may be taught all that science and art can contrib 
 ute and yet remain a fool. It is not the accumula 
 tion of facts that gives intellectual power, but the 
 ability to use the information so obtained. 
 
 There is a n^stery in the public mind about 
 West Point that would be ludicrous, did it not carry 
 such grave consequences. It is believed that 
 through some unknown and unknowable process of 
 education the little academy graduates Napoleons 
 every year. The ancient chestnut which tells us of 
 the machine that takes in swine and turns out 
 sausage has its parallel in what is believed of West 
 Point. Raw youths, whose lack of natural ability 
 would cause one to doubt the propriety of making 
 them clerks in a country store, are captured by 
 members of Congress, and in a few years gradu 
 ate into office where the lives of men and perhaps 
 the safety of the country depend on their ability. 
 
 The mystery is readily solved. There is nothing 
 taught at West Point that differs from the teaching of 
 any other academy of like pretensions save the train 
 ing of the soldier, and therein lies the most ludicrous 
 feature of the whole affair. There is nothing in the 
 training of the soldier, however important and neces 
 sary it may be, that helps on or benefits the officer. 
 After being taught to touch elbows, fire a gun, mount 
 guard, and dig a ditch, the poor fellow is as far re 
 moved from what the academy claims to create as 
 when he first began. He is nothing more nor less than 
 
180 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 a drill-sergeant. As well asert that one must know 
 how to shoe a horse as preliminary to riding as to 
 claim that the drill of the private is necessary to the 
 making of an officer, and in the duties of an officer, as 
 I have said, there is no science. To march out, find 
 the enemy, and fight him successfully has no rules 
 which can "be reduced to practice. General Halleck 
 wrote a book on the art of war which was about as 
 useful in a campaign as a treatise on infant baptism 
 would have been, and when Halleck was called upon 
 to practise what he taught, he imitated, in a feeble 
 way, the great Napoleon, who conquered Europe by 
 setting at naught all the wisdom of the schools. 
 And the famous captain left but one axiom as the 
 net purport and result of all his experience, and that 
 is of no use to the average graduate, for it sa3^s, 
 " The art of war is a calculation of chances." 
 
 In warlike Europe, save in England, a different 
 system prevails. The war powers have been a thou 
 sand years in perfecting the private. Promotion 
 from the ranks is kept open under the belief that ac 
 tual service is a better school to graduate in than 
 any academy. While the Government will under 
 take to make a private, the creation of the officer is 
 left to the wisdom of God. The Almighty is no re 
 specter of rank, and genius crops out in the most 
 unexpected places. The great Napoleon claimed for 
 his armies an irresistible morale, because, he said, 
 every soldier felt that he carried the baton of a 
 marshal in his knapsack. We exhaust our military 
 
George H. Thomas. 181 
 
 genius in the supposed creation of an officer. When 
 that is done we point to the proud creature and say : 
 "Behold our army." We have in ninety-nine out 
 of a hundred cases graduated an incompetent. He 
 is the natural result of a dull plodding nature and a 
 good memory, and in this our little military institu 
 tion does not differ from all other schools and acad 
 emies the world over. 
 
 The process might be more of a success but for 
 the fatal defect, lying at the foundation, of being 
 built on the English system that has an aristocrat 
 for an officer, and a servant, to use the mildest term, 
 for a private. As we have no born aristocrats the 
 school undertakes to create them. Of two boys 
 taken from the same family, one may be trained at 
 West Point into a superior being and the other made 
 his dog. This is so clearly the fact that it is found 
 impossible to get self-respecting Americans to enlist, 
 and our regular army is made up of foreign-born 
 creatures of the most degraded sort. 
 
 This feature alone would have been fatal to West 
 Point, in the publicity it obtained during the late 
 war, but for patronage it affords the Congressmen, 
 aud we know how dear is official patronage to the 
 ordinary solon. What we need to popularize West 
 Point is a law requiring a graduate to serve one 
 year in the field as a private, one year as a corporal, 
 one year as a sergeant, and then, a seasoned soldier, 
 he should be subject to a competitive examination 
 before being commissioned. 
 
182 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 What reason can be urged against thus bringing 
 our own military school into harmony with the great 
 principle of equality that underlies our Republic? 
 The French system of comrades off duty and stern 
 discipline in service is the true one for us. Especially 
 is this so if we can elevate the rank and file without 
 loss to the officer. 
 
 I have dwelt at some length in giving a view of 
 West Point which will be new to many, and, proba 
 bly unpopular with all, because in it lies the extra 
 ordinary success of our General. West Point 
 taught him more than West Point intended to teach. 
 George H. Thomas was slow of study all thought 
 ful men are ; he was not so eager to possess facts as 
 to know the reasons for them, and as facts are 
 abundant and of easy accumulation, and the reasons 
 are few and obscure, the rapid accumulators of the 
 first are many, and the philosopher a rare excep 
 tion. 
 
 We can well imagine the deep-eyed, heavy-browed 
 youth investigating, with painful care, all that was 
 presented to him for study and thereby developing 
 the thought processes that served him so well in 
 after life. It was not what West Point taught him, 
 but what West Point failed to teach, upon which he 
 afterward graduated into greatness. The defects 
 of the school first called his attention to more in 
 our military system, and their study enabled him, 
 while in the war, to call order out of chaos, and 
 create an army that was irresistable in the field. 
 
George H. Thomas. 183 
 
 "The success of an army/ 7 lie said to the late 
 President Garfield, after the war, " depends more 
 on the drill and discipline of the men than on 
 the ability of their officers. Recognizing- this, I 
 applied myself to that from the start. What is the 
 good of a hundred thousand men when 3 T ou can fight 
 only a thousand ? Owing to a neglect of this and the 
 lack of time necessary to apply the remedy we fought 
 the late war with brigades and not with armies, and 
 as the enemy was on the defensive and generally 
 intrenched, we fought at a loss." 
 
 " Again," he said, "the brave men I drilled and 
 cared for, the men whose confidence I won, made 
 me all I can claim to be as a commander." 
 
 We shall see, as we progress, how strikingly true 
 the above was, barring the modesty that eliminated 
 his own clear intellect and force of character from 
 the reasons for success. 
 
 MEXICO. 
 
 In the invasion of Mexico Thomas was first called 
 upon to exercise the military talent that his self- 
 teaching at West Point had developed. The field 
 afforded the young lieutenant of artillery was not 
 wide, and save the record of a prompt discharge of 
 duty, and quiet coolness under fire, there is nothing 
 to indicate the high qualities which subsequently 
 made him so conspicuous. He seems to have been 
 of the command, under General Taylor, that first 
 occupied the soil of Texas, and, subordinate to Major 
 
184 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Brown, made part of the garrison of the fort oppo 
 site Matamoras that for a week was besieged by the 
 Mexicans. A fearful bombardment of five days 
 resulted in the killing of Major Brown and one 
 private. After this achievement the siege was 
 raised in consequence of victories won by General 
 Taylor at Palo Alto and Kesaca de la Palma. 
 
 Subsequently, in the battles about Monterey, he 
 was brevetted captain for " gallant and meritorious 
 services," and one General, J. P. Henderson, in his 
 enthusiasm, goes so far as to say, after compliment 
 ing young Thomas and his men for their "bold 
 advance," that "when ordered to retire he reloaded 
 his piece, fired a farewell shot at the foe, and retired 
 under a shower of bullets." George H. Thomas was 
 a young man at the time when this extra shot was 
 contributed to the poor Mexicans, and it may be that 
 for once in his life he exhibited an impulse ever after 
 so foreign to his nature. I am inclined to think, 
 however, that the noble general of volunteers drew 
 on his imagination for this one act of unordered 
 audacity. The fame of the young officer, thus made 
 conspicuous by General Henderson s account of 
 "another shot" and the unpleasant "shower of 
 bullets," reached the home of George, and the citizens 
 thereof were considerably excited. A meeting was 
 called at Jerusalem and Captain James Magil was 
 selected to preside. " Colonel Wm. C. Parker rose," 
 the rural press of that locality tells us, " and in his 
 naturally eloquent and happy style proceeded to 
 
George H. Thomas. 185 
 
 deliver a spirit-stirring- eulogy upon the character 
 and conduct of our hero." He then proposed "the 
 following 1 resolutions, which were adopted by accla 
 mation," and are so dignified and forcible that I 
 copy them entire : 
 
 Resolved, That whilst we glory in the unfailing fame which 
 our heroic army in Mexico has acquired for herself and coun 
 try, our attention has been especially drawn to the military 
 skill, bravery, and noble deportment of our fellow-countryman, 
 George H. Thomas, exhibited in the campaign of Florida, at 
 Fort Brown, Monterey, and Buena Vista, in which he has 
 given ample proof of the best requisites of a soldier patience, 
 fortitude, firmness, and daring intrepidity. 
 
 " Resolved, That as a testimonial of our high appreciation of 
 his character as a citizen and a soldier, we will present to him 
 
 a sword, with suitable emblems and devices, and that 
 
 be appointed a committee to collect a sum sufficient for the 
 purpose, and cause to be fabricated a sword to be presented to 
 the said George H. Thomas through the hands of his noble and 
 heroic commander, Major-General Z. Taylor." 
 
 THE WAR OF SECESSION. 
 
 Fourteen years after this presentation of a fabri 
 cated sword Thomas neighbors, friends, and rela 
 tives were startled by his adhesion to the cause of 
 the Government in the war which broke with such 
 violence upon the country. Their grief was only 
 rivalled by their wrath and indignation. 
 
 Much injustice has been done our general in refer 
 ence to this act by both friends and foes. That one 
 should charge him with offering his sword to the 
 
186 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Confederate authorities is as untrue as the claimed 
 fact that he did not hesitate as to his course. 
 
 Thomas was a strange compound. He had not 
 only a thoughtful turn, as I have said, but with this 
 was joined a promptness of action that seems foreign, 
 indeed antagonistic, to that quality. With great 
 force of character he possessed a delicacy of organ 
 ization that made him shrink, like a girl, from either 
 praise or blame. While governed by a clear, high 
 sense of duty, he felt keenly all the affectionate ties 
 made part of him by his early training and home 
 associations. That he fully appreciated the painful 
 embarrassment forced upon him by cruel events may 
 be taken for granted. His education at West Point 
 afforded him no guidance and gave him no relief. 
 West Point taught everything but the art of war and 
 patriotism. In its adhesion to the doctrine of blind 
 obedience to orders the cadet ceases to be a citizen 
 without becoming a soldier. The nice distinctions 
 every voter in the land was called to consider be 
 tween the old colonial doctrine of State sovereignty 
 and the power of the General Government were not 
 included in the academy s curriculum. Each grad 
 uate was left to judge for himself between the blind 
 obedience to orders from his State and those of the 
 General Government. 
 
 That George H. Thomas paused in painful anx 
 iety between his duty and his inclination is true, for 
 that was the nature of the man. But this never 
 extended so far as to make him doubtful as to the 
 
George H. Thomas. 187 
 
 use of his calling-. He could still continue under 
 the command of his Government, or he could resign 
 and return to private life. This is precisely the issue 
 he made up for himself, and the possible resignation 
 was made more favorable by an event which occurred 
 about this time. In a railroad accident he received 
 an injury to his spine that for a space made military 
 duty impossible. The effects of the injury accom 
 panied him through life and g ave rise to that slow 
 ness of motion which was thought by the ignorant a 
 part of his character. While in doubt as to the result 
 of his injuries he was looking* about for some means 
 to win the daily bread necessary to himself and the 
 dear woman he had made his wife. It was at this 
 time that he wrote the following letter that has been 
 made the basis of so many cruel and unjust attacks : 
 
 Colonel Francis H. Smith, Supt. Virginia Military Institute, 
 Lexington, Va. 
 
 DEAR SIR : In looking over the files of the National Intelli 
 gencer this morning-, I met with your advertisement for a 
 commandant of cadets and instructor at the institute. If not 
 already filled I will be under obligations if you will inform me 
 what salary and allowances pertain to the situation, as from 
 present appearances I fear it will soon be necessary for me to 
 be looking up some means of support. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 GEO. H. THOMAS, Major U. S. Army. 
 
 That is all. He was " looking up some means of 
 support," and the means contemplated is as far from 
 any tender of service to the then unformed Confed 
 erate Government as an offer to enter the ministry. 
 
188 Men Who Saved tJte Union. 
 
 Thomas possessed in himself a noiseless machine 
 that consumed its own smoke. He made no confes 
 sions, uttered no whining complaints, perpetrated 
 no egotistical or other memoirs. A grand, silent 
 man, he left his deeds to speak for themselves, and, 
 with impressive dignity, to history his proudest vin 
 dication. We know enough of him now to realize 
 that w r hen his sense of duty made its appeal he 
 responded promptly to its call, regardless of the 
 sacrifice of feeling from which it caused him to 
 suffer. 
 
 The man who could so entirely subjugate his hon 
 orable ambition to his sense of justice as to decline a 
 great command tendered him by the Government 
 when he thought such acceptance would be a wrong 
 to a brother soldier, was not the man to play fast 
 and loose with his conscience at a time when the 
 Government of his allegiance was in peril. The fact 
 that, after the w^ar, he pronounced the charge a 
 falsehood settles the matter forever. 
 
 We are yet too near the awful conflict, which 
 shook our country from centre to circumference, to 
 deal justly with either the men or the events of that 
 war. Although a new generation is here, and the 
 men who grasped, in the bitter hate of a death 
 struggle, at each other s throats, have mainly passed 
 away, and new men are taking up the threads of life, 
 the inherited feeling is yet upon us so potently that 
 it is difficult to render justice to either side. 
 
 It is hard for us to realize that the men who took 
 
George II. Thomas. 189 
 
 up arms in behalf of State sovereignty were not only 
 earnest but honest. We forget, or fail to know, that 
 while at the North the masses had passed impercep 
 tibly from the ties and bondage of the old colonial 
 idea of State sovereignty to belief in our fabric as 
 that of a nation, the South, with its sparse, rural 
 population, mainly a mass of provincial ignorance, 
 held to the colonial idea with a faith and pertinacity 
 difficult to appreciate. It was not faith alone, it 
 was fanaticism. " Men do not get up and fight over 
 a purely mental proposition," said President Lincoln. 
 The belief born with them through many generations 
 was so strong that to question it was to question 
 their sanity, and to deprive them of their supposed 
 right by force was regarded as a wrong to be resist 
 ed to the death. So strong was this faith that the 
 leaders at the South believed that secession would 
 be accomplished without violence. They had not 
 only their own people to build on, but the known 
 sympathy of the Democratic party at the North and 
 the avowed opinions of such men as William H. 
 Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Horace Greeley, and 
 Edwin M. Stanton. "Let the erring sisters depart 
 in peace," said General Win Held Scott, and the sen 
 timent was echoed far and wide. Had not this 
 opinion prevailed the result might have been differ 
 ent from what we are now so happy to chronicle. 
 While Jefferson Davis and his group of Southern 
 leaders were calmly waiting for Virginia to pass her 
 act of secession our National capital was without a 
 
190 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 garrison. It could have been captured and held by 
 a regiment of Virginia militia. 
 
 I have treated of this at some length because of 
 its bearing on the mind of George H. Thomas. His 
 thoughtful intellect and studious habits forced these 
 considerations upon him. He could not, indeed, have 
 attempted to put them aside, as I happen well to 
 know. I first made his personal acquaintance when, 
 as Judge Advocate of the so-called Buell Commis 
 sion, I summoned him before it. His cool, quiet, 
 incisive statement of the circumstances and situa 
 tions of BuelPs unfortunate campaign, the first and 
 last given us, won my admiration, and I seized 
 the first opportunity after the war to cultivate 
 an intimacy. This occurred at Washington while 
 Thomas w r as there awaiting a command. The late 
 President Garfield, an enthusiastic admirer of the 
 Nashville hero, accompanied me in our visits. 
 
 George H. Thomas to a casual acquaintance was 
 not a pleasant companion. His cold, quiet manner 
 and extreme reticence made such intercourse exceed 
 ingly awkward. His deep, thoughtful eyes, heavy 
 brows, and firm chin, made one feel as if he were 
 gazing into the mouth of a cannon, and the cannon 
 said nothing. 
 
 Few men, however, could resist the kindly, persist 
 ent ways of Garfield. He soon brought Thomas 
 out in his real characteristics, and we were delighted 
 to find that our stern-appearing hero had not only 
 the modesty of a girl, but the simplicity in manners 
 
George H. Thomas. 191 
 
 of a child. He talked to us freely, and we were sur 
 prised to find that all the delicate, intricate conditions 
 presented to him, when called on to act between his 
 native State and the Government he had sworn to 
 support, had been ably weighed and justly decided. 
 
 There was one subject from which he shrunk with 
 an innate diffidence he could not conquer, and that 
 was any reference to his own merits. I remember 
 his blushing- embarrassment at the praise we gave 
 his masterly management at Nashville. 
 
 "Gentlemen," he said, "you award me more 
 praise than I deserve. The Government at Wash 
 ington, and the general before Richmond could not 
 know what we knew, that the Confederate Army 
 was demoralized, and that the longer we held them 
 at bay the weaker they became. While we in Nash 
 ville were comfortable, sheltered, well fed, and gain 
 ing every day in strength, poor Hood and his rag 
 ged, badly-supplied men were lying out on the bleak 
 hills about the place, being continually thinned out 
 by sickness and desertion." 
 
 THOMAS UNDER PATTERSON. 
 
 About the first service rendered in our army by 
 the then Colonel Thomas is singularly illustrative of 
 his high sense of justice and his courage. He was 
 under General Patterson, and his first victory, a 
 small affair, was rendered significant by the fact 
 that in it he attacked at Falling- Waters Thomas J. 
 Jackson, and so the subsequently-known Stonewall 
 
192 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Jackson crossed swords with the afterwards famous 
 Rock of Chickamauga. The two great captains of 
 the war met early in the field, and each, on his side, 
 carried to his grave about all the foundation for 
 true hero-worship to which the war of arms gave 
 rise. 
 
 Yet it is not of this that I wish to treat, but of 
 Thomas subsequent conduct when his general fell 
 under the displeasure of both Government and peo 
 ple. It was Patterson s duty to hold General Joseph 
 E. Johnson s forces at bay while General McDowell 
 fought our first great fight at Bull Run. This Pat 
 terson failed to accomplish, and the solemn indigna 
 tion of the Government, together with the wrath of 
 the people, fairly pulverized the poor old Pennsyl- 
 vanian . 
 
 It was aggravating. I made one of the unfortu 
 nate volunteers in that tumultuous combat of two 
 armed mobs, that fought each other in a promiscuous 
 manner by regiments and brigades with a stunning 
 noise and very little execution. At three P.M. of 
 that beautiful Sunday, the conflict hung doubtful 
 that is, each side w r as in doubt as to which should run 
 away at that critical moment the forces under 
 General Joseph E. Johnson appeared with loud yells, 
 and we immediately advanced on Washington. 
 
 Colonel George H. Thomas came promptly to the 
 defence of his general. It was a gallant act and 
 strictly in accord with the character of a noble man. 
 He could have remained silent. He was a subordi- 
 
George H. Thomas. 193 
 
 nate and therefore held free from any responsibility. 
 Yet although General Patterson failed to act upon 
 the suggestions of his able colonel, Thomas never 
 theless came boldly forward in a vindication of the 
 unfortunate man. 
 
 This event is the more striking to me because of 
 the contrast afforded by the conduct of another 
 eminent officer about the same time. 
 
 My general, Schenck, had been ordered by Gen 
 eral McDowell, in establishing Camp Upton, to 
 throw out a small detachment on the railroad in the 
 direction of Vienna. General Schenck not only 
 obeyed instructions to the letter, but accompanied 
 the regiment detailed, to see that the order was 
 properly executed. General Schenck availed him 
 self of the railroad, and as the command approached 
 Vienna it was fired upon by a section of artillery 
 which, by some accident, happened to be there. 
 Ten men were killed and the little command thrown 
 into the most direful disorder. 
 
 The storm of ridicule and condemnation that was 
 poured upon the head of my general has no parallel 
 in the prolific abuse of the press. One looks back at 
 it now with amazement. What it was all about, 
 wherein was the blame, are questions which no man 
 can answer. We were blind worshippers of West 
 Point at that time, and one sentence from General 
 McDowell, informing the non-combatants of the press 
 that General Schenck had merely obeyed orders, 
 would have quieted down the absurd storm. But 
 
194: Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 General McDowell, unlike the generous Thomas, 
 preserved a portentous silence, thus indirectly in 
 dorsing- the abuse. 
 
 The time came, not long after, when General 
 McDowell needed the sort of defence denied Robert 
 C. Schenck. Such need never came to Thomas. 
 
 DEFEAT OF ZOLLIKOFFER. 
 
 George H. Thomas, promoted to the rank of 
 Brigadier-General of Volunteers, was ordered to 
 Kentucky to serve under Anderson in a general 
 conquest of territory. It was the mad desire of the 
 Administration not so much to defeat Confederate 
 armies as to conquer territory. It could not com 
 prehend that to disperse an army was to have the 
 territory as a consequence. 
 
 Thomas was not impressed with this territorial 
 theory, and before leaving Washington he sug 
 gested the plan of a campaign that, if successful, 
 would go far towards crippling the Confederates 
 in their stronghold. It was to invade Tennessee 
 through Cumberland Gap and not only occupy a 
 portion of the county disaffected toward secession, 
 but cut one of the railways upon which the Confed 
 erate Army of Virginia depended for supplies. 
 
 The plan was favorably considered and Thomas 
 left under the impression that he would be employed 
 to aid, at least, in executing the strategic move 
 which he had originated. He was soon taught a 
 different lesson, and learned, to his mortification, 
 
George H. Thomas. 195 
 
 that he was distrusted by the authorities at Wash 
 ington as a loyal soldier. How this lack of confi 
 dence pained him we can well understand, and how 
 it followed him to the end of his career history 
 teaches us. 
 
 In Kentucky he addressed himself to the work he 
 saw necessary a work which from that time out 
 made his success so remarkable. This included not 
 only the drill and discipline of his troops, but a care 
 of them that made him quartermaster and commis 
 sary in one and gained for him not only an efficient 
 force, but a love that found expression in the pet 
 name of " Pap Thomas " that was his to the end. 
 
 While thus engaged he learned that with his plan 
 of campaign accepted another general, O. M. Mitch 
 ell, but a few days his senior, had been selected to 
 carry it into effect. This General Thomas, whom 
 General Sherman, in his memoirs, assures us, with 
 Sherman s peculiar self-complacency, shrank from 
 an independent command and this Badeau, in that 
 work of fiction known as "The Military Life of 
 Grant," reiterates this modest, shrinking officer 
 immediately protested against the injustice done 
 him and asked to be relieved from the service 
 ordered. He was not relieved, but his campaign 
 was never attempted. 
 
 Operating, as our forces were, in an enemy s 
 country it was difficult for an ordinary officer to 
 know either the position or number of the armies op 
 posed to him. Every native felt it his patriotic duty 
 
196 . Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 to deceive, and the air was full of the gravest exag 
 gerations as to the Confederate numbers and intent. 
 
 Thomas was, however, no ordinary officer. His 
 cool, clear head took in all that it was necessary to 
 know, and he soon satisfied himself that if the Con 
 federate general, Albert Sidney Johnson, had one- 
 fourth the number of men wild rumor gave him and 
 Sherman, Buell, and others believed him to have, he 
 would not be acting so cautiously on the defensive. 
 The South never suffered from a lack of enterprise, 
 and during the game of brag and bluff played by the 
 Confederate officers with so much success, this made 
 them not only accept battle when offered, but take 
 the initiative, and attack superior numbers. Facts 
 developed since the war sustain Thomas in his first 
 estimate, for we have learned that nearly fifty thou 
 sand men undei; Buell were held in check by less 
 than fourteen thousand under Albert Sidney Johnson. 
 
 The difficulties attending an advance, however, 
 were of a sort to check the ardor of any officer who 
 gave thought to the preparations necessary to suc 
 cess. Raw recruits were hurried to the front with 
 out necessaiy supplies, often without uniforms, and 
 sometimes without arms. 
 
 George H. Thomas, went to work, with indomi 
 table will, as I have said, organizing and equip 
 ping- the men assigned to his brigade. He was 
 much annoyed, while thus engaged, by that historical 
 absurdity, Andrew Johnson, who insisted upon an 
 immediate invasion of East Tennessee. Thomas 
 
George H. Thomas. 197 
 
 was quite as willing- to march in that direction, but 
 not until he had troops and supplies sufficient to 
 make the move promise reasonable success. Thomas 
 indifference to the interference of the Tennessee 
 Senator did not serve to strengthen confidence in 
 his loyalty at Washington. 
 
 The work he accomplished soon told for itself in a 
 victory over a superior force led by Generals Crit- 
 tenden and Zollikoffer. 
 
 The long-continued and disastrous defeats inflicted 
 by the Confederates on the Union forces, with, in 
 almost every instance, an inferior force, had widely 
 dissimilar effects in the two sections of country 
 concerned. While the heroic qualities of our North 
 ern people aroused them to more vigorous efforts, 
 the Confederates at the South were made over-con 
 fident. In this way Zollikoffer and Crittenden, 
 when threatened by Thomas, instead of remaining 
 in their fortifications, and so availing themselves 
 of the advantages of their position, moved boldly 
 out and challenged our general to a fight on equal 
 terms. 
 
 Having arrived within ten miles of the Confeder 
 ate fortifications General Thomas halted his little 
 army to enable Schoeff to join him as ordered. His 
 advanced regiments were posted on the roads lead 
 ing to the enemy s position with cavalry and infan 
 try pickets thrown well to the front to guard 
 against surprise. His object then being to concen 
 trate his forces for an advance, as well as to protect 
 
198 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 his army against an attack should the Confederates 
 venture out of their fortifications, he ordered Gen 
 eral Schoeff to send three regiments to his position 
 and awaited their arrival. 
 
 The Confederate generals moved out from their 
 fortifications on the Cumberland before daylight 
 January 19, 18G2, expecting- to brush aside the 
 picket line and chase an armed mob from the field 
 to the music of the rebel yell. This had been the 
 order of battle up to date. Instead, however, of 
 surprising 1 the Union Army, the} 7 were themselves 
 surprised to find a strong, well-posted picket line, 
 that fought and fell back so slowly and obsti 
 nately, that it looked for awhile as if the battle was 
 to be fought on this fringe- work of our army, and 
 when at last, they succeeded in reaching our lines, 
 the} 7 were received and treated in a way that 
 silenced the rebel yell and in less than an hour 
 drove them from the field in disorder. They had 
 encountered a novel force evolved from the Napo 
 leonic brain of a great military man who knew how 
 to utilize the raw material found in a heroic race. 
 
 The result of this victory, both North and South, 
 was as startling as had been that of the first Bull 
 Run. The Northern heart was mightily lifted up, 
 %vhile at the South there was a corresponding de 
 pression. This last came from a strange feeling 
 which spread through the Confederacy that a new 
 element has entered into the contest. Before that 
 the South had fought from positions selected by its 
 
George H. Thomas. 199 
 
 own officers, with all the advantages given by a 
 defensive line, and greatly inferior forces had won 
 important victories. In this fight the forces were 
 equally tested in a fair field, with no advantage to 
 either, and the Confederates had lost. For the first 
 time they came in contact with what seemed vet 
 eran soldiers, and instead of driving a mere militia 
 before them were forced to retreat. 
 
 This was the first battle of our Civil War that 
 was not a casualty. It was fought on a plan well 
 matured by the general in command, and a 
 compact, well-handled force carried into effect the 
 victory that had been organized in advance. Vic 
 tories were rare at the time, and this brilliant 
 success of our brave fellows and their able com 
 mander stirred the hearts of the people into renewed 
 effort, whilst it lifted into hope the despondent Gov 
 ernment at Washington. Orders of congratulation 
 fell upon the army in thick profusion, but in none 
 did the name of the Virginian who won the victory 
 appear. For such service, or for none at all, officers 
 of small calibre were lifted into responsible posi 
 tions. But this name, the brighest and bravest of 
 all, was left without any mention. " Let the Vir 
 ginian wait," said the President, and he was of all 
 men the one to wait. Thomas could bide his time 
 and put to shame the men who abused and the men 
 who doubted him. 
 
 It is greatly to be regretted that his plan of inva 
 sion through Cumberland Gap was not attempted. 
 
200 - Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 If successful, and it had every prospect of success, 
 the blow struck the Confederacy would have been 
 well-nigh fatal to it, and might have shortened the 
 war in the West by at least two years. But 
 Andrew Johnson became eager to capture Nashville 
 and use an army of a hundred thousand men to hold 
 his Governorship secure, and after the success of 
 Grant at Fort Donelson opened the way, had 
 sufficient influence to attain his end. The Govern 
 ment, instead of striking an effective blow at the 
 enemy s army, went into the profitless business of 
 conquering territory. 
 
 Albert Sidney Johnson, who had been calling fran 
 tically for reinforcements that could not be given 
 him, saw, with intense satisfaction, the armies of 
 the Union move off in a vain attempt to hold a 
 State that had its title at his headquarters. 
 
 UNDER BUELL. 
 
 General Don Carlos Buell, assigned to the command 
 of the Army of the Ohio, was a brave gentleman of 
 clear, cultivated mind and soldierly bearing. He had 
 however, two fatal defects that embarrassed him in 
 all his campaigns and proved his ruin in the end. In 
 the first place he labored under the delusion that, in 
 commissioning him to command, the Government 
 gave him an army as well as commission. His second 
 defect was his infatuated belief that war is a science 
 to be learned from books. 
 
 A genuine soldier, hoAvever, he obeyed orders, and 
 
George H. Thomas. 201 
 
 when directed to conquer and hold Tennessee so that 
 Andy Johnson could develop the supposed Union 
 feeling*, he placed the War Governor in possession of 
 Nashville, and spread his army over the State to 
 keep down the rebels, or rather uphold the Union sen 
 timent. 
 
 About this time occurred an historical episode 
 that the pen of the chronicler cannot treat with too 
 much consideration and dignity. 
 
 The great Halleck, West Point s proudest product, 
 left the War Department and took the field in per 
 son. When he threw the weight of that person, and 
 it was hefty, into the scales of war, the scales 
 trembled. It was his lofty duty to repair the disas 
 ter at Sh iloh, and move the united forces of various 
 arms and armies from that shameful field to the 
 supposed objective point of Corinth. 
 
 As the camp at Sliiloh had been carefully pitched 
 and left unprotected in order to invite an attack, and 
 make a surprise possible, so that thousands of poor 
 fellows were slaughtered while arming, and those 
 who could escape were driven in disorder to the river, 
 Halleck, more cautious, moved a short distance 
 during the day and fortified at night. The enemy 
 as leisurely fell back, and as leisurely moved his 
 supplies, so that the embodied art of war found no 
 one to oppose his possession of the sleepy village of 
 Corinth. 
 
 This was a bloodless affair, without results, but 
 having accomplished it very much, in conclusion, as 
 
202 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Sam Weller said when the boy mastered the alpha 
 bet, " vether it was vortli while to go so far for 
 so little vasa question of taste," the great Halleck 
 withdrew to his office in Washing-ton and gave his 
 ponderous mind to meditation and potent suggestion. 
 
 He accomplished one other good thing, he made 
 George H. Thomas a major-general and gave him 
 the position Grant would have held but for that 
 officer s conduct at Shiloh. 
 
 After the fall of Corinth Thomas asked to be 
 relieved from his command of the right wing and 
 reassigned to his old command in the Army of the 
 Ohio. He was moved to this by two considerations. 
 His generous nature would not permit him to accept 
 promotion at the expense of a brother officer. In the 
 second place he sought to return to the brave men 
 whose confidence he had gained, and whose efficiency 
 he had painfully trained, until, under all circum 
 stances, they stood by him like veterans. With these 
 men he continued throughout the war. He was 
 wont to speak of them with an enthusiasm quite 
 foreign to his habit : 
 
 " The bravest fellows and the finest soldiers in the 
 world." He said. 
 
 There is no question but that the rank and file 
 called from civil life to battle for our Union had in 
 them the making of the best troops ever put under 
 arms. Young, brave, active, intelligent, it only 
 needed a little instruction to make them all that a 
 general could demand. 
 
George H. Thomas. 203 
 
 The trouble with us, however, was that these 
 brave men had no instruction. The drill-sergeants 
 of West Point were elevated to high office. They 
 were brigadier and major-generals, and were too 
 lofty to concern themselves about the only thing 
 they were competent to teach. Now the importance 
 of drill, as taught at West Point, is grossly exagger 
 ated, the larger share of it being for show only, but 
 a part of it is necessary for the purpose of handling 
 troops. The poor men got it neither from West 
 Point nor from their elected officers. 
 
 The measure taken by the men who made up our 
 volunteer army of the officers over them was singu 
 larly accurate, and generally openly expressed in 
 good-natured contempt or rough admiration. It 
 was from this intuitive knowledge of human nature 
 that General Thomas so soon obtained the loving 
 confidence of his troops. He was careful to cut 
 down the drill to what was actually necessary, and 
 while kind and considerate in looking after the com 
 fort of his men he was yet the strictest of disciplina 
 rians. Always grave, dignified, and reserved, he 
 yet invited confidence by his untiring attention to 
 the needs of those dependent upon him. 
 
 Buell s campaign in Tennessee and Kentucky was 
 about as forlorn a failure as any that disgraced our 
 armies in the war, but this was no fault of Buell s. 
 His one great duty, after keeping Andrew Johnson 
 in possession of the War Governorship of Tennessee, 
 was to keep open his line of communications to 
 
xlOJ: Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Louisville, Kentucky. With John Morgan in his 
 rear this was no easy task. That enterprising- officer 
 tore up the railroad on which Buell depended for 
 supplies as rapidly as twenty-five or thirty thousand 
 men could relay it. 
 
 He was in this condition when Kirby Smith in 
 vaded Kentucky and Braxton Bragg crossed the 
 Tennessee River at Chattanooga to march north 
 ward and form a junction with Smith. While 
 Bragg executed this daring march, cutting loose 
 from his base of supplies and living on the country 
 Buell gathered together his eighty-two thousand and 
 fell back on Louisville, where his command was 
 augmented to a hundred thousand. 
 
 The Government, alarmed and discouraged at this 
 extraordinary operation, relieved Buell and tendered 
 the command to Thomas. Here again was an act 
 on the part of Thomas that convinced his associates 
 and the authorities at Washington that he distrusted 
 himself to such an extent that he could not be forced 
 into a command involving a heavy responsibility. 
 
 It does seem strange, looking back, as I do, at the 
 feverish ambition, the miserable jealousies, the low 
 intrigues which shamed our armies, that one man 
 can be found, so possessed of genuine manhood as to 
 be above all this selfish greed for office. Of course 
 rank meant power power in its possessor to prove 
 the value of his work in a field where the destinies 
 of the Republic hung doubtful on bloody results 
 and the eyes of the world were upon the men en- 
 
George H. Thomas. 205 
 
 gaged in the conflict. No man felt this more keenly 
 or was more hurt when slighted than George H. 
 Thomas, but his sense of justice and honor held his 
 ambition in check, and he sleeps beneath his honored 
 name, that name itself an epitaph of praise that 
 Shakespeare s pen could not embellish. 
 
 The Government did not press the command upon 
 our great soldier, and Buell, in return for this gen 
 erous conduct, made him second in authority, but 
 failed to give him anything to command. 
 
 The trouble with Buell I have stated before, and it 
 resulted necessarily in his consulting no one, and 
 sharing 110 responsibility with his subordinate. 
 
 When, therefore, the army was offered Thomas 
 he was forced to say that, although next in rank 
 to Buell, he knew so little of the Army of the Ohio 
 that he could not well take command at an hour 
 when its general was about to fight a great battle. 
 
 The great battle was fought. It occurred near 
 Perryville, Kentucky, occupied two hours, was 
 fought and finished without the knowledge of Buell 
 and with no one on the field authorized to take com 
 mand in his absence. 
 
 It was on the 7th of October that Buell put his 
 forces in line of battle and announcing his intent to 
 light the next day retired to his headquarters four 
 miles in the rear of the centre. As he had not 
 consulted Bragg as to the time of the engagement 
 there was some confusion occasioned by his throwing 
 three divisions on the Union left wing. This at first 
 
206 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 seems a bold move on the part of the Confederates, 
 but a study of the front presented by our army 
 shows the attack not to have been so desperate 
 after all. The assault was made on the left of our 
 army commanded by General McCook, and as the 
 troops formed on his right had moved away, there 
 was an opening- between McCook and Rosseau, of 
 which two divisions of the Confederates took advan 
 tage, and hurrying in, turned their backs on six 
 divisions of our army, and wiped McCook s com 
 mand from the field. This extraordinary fight, 
 which went on with the utmost f uiy for two hours, 
 was in sight of our centre, and in hearing of our 
 right, and neither centre nor rig-lit moved to assist 
 their overpressed comrades. Had General Thomas, 
 then at the extreme right, been empowered to act, 
 he would have been along the whole line, and when 
 the desperate attack was made could have swung 
 around that line and caught the furious Confederates 
 in their own trap. Unfortunately he was not in 
 command, and so, in those two hours, the enemy left 
 dead upon the field eight hundred and fifty-one of 
 our men with two thousand eight hundred and 
 thirty-one wounded. It was one of the bloodiest 
 affairs of the war and, with the exception of Shiloh, 
 the most shameful. 
 
 UNDER ROSECRANS. 
 
 Buell w^as relieved of his command, and Thomas 
 should have succeeded him. They who assert so 
 
George H. Thomas. 207 
 
 positively that self-distrust restrained this ablest 
 officer of them all from accepting- the post to which 
 he was entitled, should know the chagrin he suffered 
 when the position was given to Rosecrans. He pro 
 tested, and that my readers may appreciate his feel 
 ings, I give the protest in full. Here it is, addressed 
 to General Halleck : 
 
 "Soon after coming to Kentucky I urged on the Gov 
 ernment to send me twenty thousand men properly equipped 
 to take the field, that I might at least make the attempt to 
 take Kiiox ville and secure East Tennessee. My suggestions 
 were not listened to, but were even passed by in silence. 
 But without boasting, I believe that I have exhibited at 
 least sufficient energy to show that if I had been intrusted 
 with that expedition at that time (fall of 1881), I might have 
 conducted it successfully. Before Corinth I was intrusted 
 with the command of the right wing, or Army of the 
 Tennessee. I feel confident that I did my duty patriotically 
 and with a considerable amount of credit to myself. As 
 soon as the emergency was over I was relieved and ordered 
 to the command of my old division. I went to my duties 
 without a murmur, as I am neither ambitious nor have I 
 any political aspirations. On the 30th of September I re 
 ceived an order through your aid, Colonel McKibben, plac 
 ing me in command of the Department of Ohio, and direct 
 ing General Buell to turn over the command of his troops 
 to me. This order came just as General Buell had, by ex 
 traordinary efforts, prepared his army to pursue and drive 
 the rebels from Kentucky. Feeling that a great injustice 
 would be done him if not permitted to carry out his plans, 
 and that I would be placed in a situation to be disgraced, 
 I requested that he might be retained in command. The 
 order relieving him was suspended, but to-day I find him 
 relieved by General Rosecrans, my junior, although I do 
 
208 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 not feel conscious that any just cause exists for overslaugh 
 ing me by placing me under my junior, and I, therefore, 
 am deeply mortified and grieved at the course taken in this 
 matter." 
 
 General William S. Rosecrans is a man of genius, 
 who looks to large results with a healthy contempt 
 for all details. Could " Old Rosy," as he was called 
 by his troops, be put in command of a well-drilled 
 and disciplined army, well supplied, and ready to 
 march, he would plan you a magnificent campaign 
 and fight it out to victory. But no such army pre 
 sented itself, and the man who planned campaigns 
 had to make one, and put in all his sleepless nights 
 and laborious days to a work which, in other lands, 
 is done by his subordinates and the Government. 
 
 Rosecrans was unfortunate in being promoted 
 against the wishes and protests of Stanton and 
 Halleck. He was selected by Salmon P. Chase and 
 President Lincoln. I have given the details of this 
 selection elsewhere, and I learned from it that 
 Edwin M. Stanton, with all his patriotism, force of 
 character, and fine intellect, was not a just man 
 where his feelings got the better of his judgment. 
 
 General Thomas, as we have seen, protested 
 against the assignment of Rosecrans to the com 
 mand on the ground, not only of service, but of 
 seniority, yet when he learned that Rosecrans 
 commission antedated his own he submitted to the 
 wrong done him. 
 
 There was, however, in this a trick, which one 
 
George H. Thomas. 209 
 
 finds difficult to comprehend as having- been per 
 petrated by the Government at Washing-ton. Rose- 
 crans commission as Major-General of Volunteers 
 was issued August 16, 1862. This made him the 
 junior not only of General Thomas, but of McCook 
 and Crittenden. To obviate this awkward state of 
 affairs, the date of Rosecrans commission was 
 changed to March 21, 1862. Now, as the President 
 had, under the law, a right to assign to duty without 
 regard to the traditions and practices of the regular 
 army, one fails to understand the reason for this 
 clumsy attempt at concealment, which amounted, in 
 fact, to forgery. 
 
 When Thomas learned the fact, he said : "I have 
 made my last protest while the war lasts. You may 
 put a stick over me if you choose to do so ; I will 
 take care, however, to so manage my command, 
 whatever it may be, that it shall not be involved in 
 the mistakes of the stick. 
 
 From that time out to the end of the war, no 
 more protests or complaints went up from the great 
 soldier. 
 
 General Rosecrans offered to continue Thomas in 
 his honorary position as second in command. But 
 our general had realized too clearly the absurdity of 
 this, and, declining it, he was assigned the command 
 of the centre composed of four divisions, the right 
 was given to Major-General McCook, and the left 
 to Major-General Crittenden. 
 
 General Thomas was anxious to put in operation 
 
210 Men Wlio Saved the Union. 
 
 his old plan of invasion through Cumberland Gap, 
 and so cut the enenry s great line of supply. Rose- 
 crans did not approve. He entertained the infatua 
 tion of the politicians, that it was territory for which 
 he was fighting- ; and so moved on to Nashville to 
 regain Tennessee. 
 
 There was much talk over and high consideration 
 given the loyal citizens. I once, on an occasion 
 previous to this campaign, accompanied Generals 
 Rosecrans and Schenck to see President Lincoln 
 concerning the Io3 r al citizens of West Virginia, 
 where we had seen some hard service. I sat silent 
 until Rosecrans had about exhausted the subject, 
 when the President turned abruptly to me, and 
 asked what I knew about the people of West 
 Virginia. 
 
 " Well, Mr. President," I replied, " there are two 
 sorts of people in West Virginia, as General Rose 
 crans says ; they are the disloyal and the loyal. The 
 difference between them is this : The disloyal man 
 shoulders his musket and goes out to fight; the 
 loyal man remains at home to hide behind laurel 
 bushes and shoot us for our boots. 1 
 
 Great injustice has been done General Rosecrans. 
 He was the beau-ideal of a soldier brave, dashing, 
 self-confident, and full of resource. As I have said, 
 had he been put in command of veterans, well dis 
 ciplined, armed and provisioned, he would have 
 fought his way to Richmond. This sort of man, 
 however, lacks organizing ability ; and to mould new 
 
George H. Thomas. 211 
 
 recruits into efficient soldiers as Thomas did to 
 bring- a department through a thorough knowledge 
 of detail and choice of subordinates up to a smoothly 
 working machine were tasks quite beyond him. 
 
 He did not, in this respect, differ from his associates 
 in arms with the exception of Thomas. McClellan, 
 for example, has gone into history as a great organ 
 izer. He kept an immense force about Washington 
 for nearly a year. He certainly got his men into 
 white cotton gloves, and perfected his reviews to 
 such extent that they were imposing. But he kept 
 his raw recruits raw recruits all the same under the 
 one general order, " Avoid engagements." With the 
 Confederate flag waving its insults on Munson s Hill, 
 he trained his troops into a strange awe of the enemy, 
 when by continuous skirmishing he could have ac 
 customed them to a service that is the only one 
 in which to make the soldier. 
 
 Rosecrans began with the old cry to the W^ar 
 Department for troops and supplies. Instead of 
 moving at once against Bragg, he delayed at Nash 
 ville to repair railroads and restock depots, and he 
 got, in return for his efforts, scant support, and 
 no sympathy from that Department. The line of 
 railroad from Louisville to Nashville called for more 
 men to protect and keep it in running order than 
 all of Tennessee was worth. 
 
 Thomas asked only for a column of twenty thou 
 sand men to penetrate to the heart of the Confederacy 
 through Cumberland Gap and Knoxville, but this 
 
212 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 plan was put aside to conquer territory in Tennessee, 
 and give the loyal element the blessing- of Andrew 
 Johnson as Governor at Nashville. 
 
 THOMAS AT STONE RIVER. 
 
 On the 28th of December, 1862, Rosecrans moved 
 out in the direction of Murfreesboro. Major-General 
 McCook was in command of the right, Thomas of 
 the centre, and Crittenden of the left. Marching on 
 parallel roads the entire command came, on Dec. 
 30th, abreast on the banks of Stone River, in front 
 of Bragg ? s army holding Murfreesboro. Rosecrans 
 had an idea, as on many such occasions, that the 
 enemy was in full retreat, and to hurry him on he 
 ordered Crittenden forward across the river. This 
 gallant officer soon discovered that, instead of re 
 treating, the enemy was there in full force, strongly 
 posted and evidently disposed to dispute every foot 
 of ground he occupied. The hasty withdrawal of 
 Crittenden s forces transferred the idea of the enemy s 
 retreat from Rosecrans brain to that of Bragg, and 
 the plucky Confederate changed his purpose from a 
 defensive battle to one of attack. 
 
 The story of the battle which followed can be told 
 in few words. 
 
 The enemy, crossing the river, fell in such force 
 upon Rosecrans right that McCook s command was 
 doubled up and driven, in wild confusion and with 
 great loss, upon Thomas holding the centre. Our 
 able general and his gallant troops not only held 
 
George H. Thomas. 213 
 
 their own, but changed front and shifted position, in 
 the face of a victorious foe, with such cool precision, 
 that they held the field. Failing- to break the centre 
 and so perfect his victory, Bragg 1 shifted his forces 
 from our right to the left, and made a desperate 
 effort to double that back as he had McCook s com 
 mand. Failing- in this he abandoned the offensive, 
 and at night occupied his old position of the morning. 
 Such was the condition when the conflict ended for 
 the day. It proved the cool courage and staying 
 powers of the troops under Thomas, and to these 
 qualities may be attributed the fact that our army 
 was not defeated and driven back in disorder upon 
 Nashville. As it was it was so shattered that Rose- 
 crans called a council of war to determine the neces 
 sary moves to secure a safe retreat. That such retreat 
 was not resorted to, and that our forces were held on 
 the field until victory, a great victory, was awarded 
 us, came, it is said, from two odd circumstances : At 
 the council of war, held that evening, a fierce discus 
 sion arose as to the necessity of a retreat. In this dis 
 cussion General Thomas took no part. Indeed, worn 
 out by the fatigue of a terrible day, he settled back 
 in a corner and fell asleep. Being awakened to give 
 his opinion, he merely said, " This army cannot re 
 treat," and again fell asleep. About midnight, 
 after the council had adjourned, Rosecrans, ac 
 companied by McCook, rode to the rear to select a 
 new position for the next day s struggle. On the 
 banks of a small creek two miles toward Nashville 
 
214 Men W ho Saved the Union. 
 
 General Rosecrans observed a line of fires, built, 
 contrary to orders, by his own wagoners, and 
 jumped to the conclusion that these were the fires of 
 the enemy. "The enemy are in our rear," he said, 
 and attributed Thomas oracular utterance to a 
 knowledge of the fact. So riding back at a gallop 
 to where his officers were still assembled he an 
 nounced that "we must fight or surrender." 
 
 The two armies seem to have been equally demor 
 alized by the fierce struggle of the 30th, for they lay 
 in sight of each other for two days without either 
 making an effort to renew the fierce conflict. I have 
 no doubt that, if the truth were known, Bragg had 
 under consideration the propriety of a retreat, at 
 the very time when Rosecrans was consulting his 
 subordinates on the necessity of falling back. 
 
 As it was, Colonel John F. Miller led some regi 
 ments of Negley s division, without orders from his 
 immediate commander, and in violation of one 
 from another general of division, and, attacking the 
 Confederates under General Breckenridge, drove 
 them, in a brilliant charge, from a position which 
 proved to be the key of the situation. Bragg, who had 
 changed his plan from offensive to defensive oper 
 ations, saw that his position was no longer tenable, 
 and so, acknowledging defeat, retired at night-fall, 
 leaving his dead and wounded behind him, but get 
 ting away with his material in a manner that should 
 not have been permitted. 
 
 This victory confounded Rosecrans enemies at 
 
George H. Thomas. 215 
 
 Washington and carried him to the top crest of 
 favor in the popular mind. But the fact is none the 
 less clear that he owed his success to the able subor 
 dinate, who in this instance, as in all others where 
 he took part, won the victory from an acknowledged 
 defeat. The silent soldier, who carried so unpretend 
 ingly the brains of a great commander, saw, without 
 complaint, the credit of this noble work given to an 
 other. He was of too large a nature to be troubled 
 with jealousy, even when he saw the laurels which he 
 had justly gained made a present to his inferior. 
 
 For six months following this victory Rosecrans 
 remained at Murfreesboro, not idle, for he had his 
 men building fortifications and bridges, repairing 
 railroads and striving to get the necessary supplies 
 for a forward movement. The glow of his achieve 
 ments died out in the delay, and the authorities at 
 Washington, while denying him men and material 
 liberally given to other commanders, grew clamor 
 ous in their demands for immediate action. 
 
 It was while lying here that General Thomas, in 
 common with other officers, asked for a brief leave 
 of absence to visit his family. It was granted, but, 
 upon second thought, our general concluded not to 
 avail himself of the favor and so remained. He 
 never solicited or received another, nor lost a day 
 from duty during the entire war. The general used 
 to tell, in this connection, and in great glee, of a 
 soldier who approached him one day with a request 
 for a furlough, 
 
216 Men Who Saved ihe Union. 
 
 " I don t know, my man/ he replied, " that I can 
 spare you. Suppose an ugly fight were to come off 
 in your absence, what would I do ? " 
 
 " Don t think, general, I have much prospect of a 
 fight round here. Besides I ain t seen my woman 
 for nigh onto eight months." 
 
 "Oh, that s nothing-, my good fellow," said 
 General Thomas, " I have not seen my wife for two 
 years." 
 
 The man looked at his commander with a queer 
 squint, and as he transferred his quid from one side 
 of his mouth to the other, said : " You ain t ! Well, 
 general, I ain t one of that sort." 
 
 TULLAHOMA CAMPAIGN. 
 
 After his defeat at Stone River Bragg fell back, 
 selecting a strong position between Shelbyville and 
 Wartrace, north of Duck River, intending at that 
 point to resist the further advance of Rosecrans 
 toward Chattanooga. Rosecrans found his position 
 so strongly fortified by nature as well as by art, that 
 an attack in front might prove disastrous, and he did 
 what had been much talked of before in the war, but 
 never executed. Whilst making a heavy demonstra 
 tion against the right of Bragg s front he ordered a 
 flank movement with the main body of his army 
 which rendered the Confederate position untenable, 
 and drove Bragg with all his forces back over the 
 Tennessee River into Chattanooga. In all this 
 admirably executed plan, General Thomas led the 
 
George II. Thomas. 217 
 
 flunking- force and to his skill and energy and the 
 endurance of the men we owe the success of the 
 movement. 
 
 The weather was exceedingly inclement, the rain 
 fell incessantly, and the roads over which they had 
 to march would have been to any other army impas 
 sable. We may appreciate this when we recollect 
 that a certain historical dark night is held to be a 
 reasonable excuse on the part of an eminent gen 
 eral for not obeying orders when his march was 
 held to be of vital importance to the army under 
 General Pope. 
 
 The Government at Washington did not seem to 
 appreciate this great and almost bloodless victory, 
 and immediately assailed General Rosecrans with 
 orders to move forward without delay, and regard 
 less of the obstacles in his front. To do this was 
 simply impossible. Every victory achieved by any 
 commander on this line was followed by a return of 
 the army to the work of rebuilding railroads and 
 accumulating supplies. As it required at least one- 
 fourth of Rosecrans forces to keep open the roads 
 after rebuilding them, it was impossible to comply 
 with these demands from Washington until sufficient 
 supplies were gathered together to make the move 
 ment reasonably safe. 
 
 The writer hereof knows something of this from 
 experience. The day after Rosecrans moved out of 
 Nashville, the so-called Buell Commission or Court of 
 Inquiry left the same place for Louisville. I was the 
 
218 Men Wlio Saved the Union. 
 
 Judge Advocate and the duty of finding- transporta 
 tion for the honorable court devolved upon me. I 
 found that in one day almost the whole railroad had 
 been destroyed by John Morgan and his merry men, 
 from within a few miles of Nashville to the Ohio 
 River. The perils of that trip remain vividly 
 imprinted upon my memory. The escape from cap 
 ture by \vandering bands of guerillas were many and 
 almost miraculous. How we trudged on foot, 
 travelled in wagons, turned hand-cars on pieces of 
 road that remained intact, would make a volume 
 about as interesting as a romance. In twenty -four 
 hours the railroad as a means of transportation had 
 ceased to exist. 
 
 Before Rosecrans could loosen his hold upon this 
 railroad, he had to transport his supplies, and fetch 
 up his troops, and, in addition to this, knowing that 
 our animals would have to be foraged off the country, 
 the general had to wait until the growing corn was 
 sufficiently matured to afford a supply. Of course 
 this called for a long and, to the authorities in 
 Washington, exasperating delay. It was claimed 
 that while Rosecrans remained idle the armies to the 
 right and left of him were in danger, as the Confeder 
 ates were at liberty to draw for reinforcements on 
 the forces in front of him. The telegraph lines, 
 when left unbroken, were employed, almost con 
 tinually, in conveying peremptory orders which had 
 in them as little sympathy as knowledge of the situ 
 ation and common-sense. 
 
George H. Thomas. 219 
 
 Chattanooga was not only the gateway to the 
 South, but it covered and held secure one of the main 
 lines of transportation upon which the Confederate 
 Army in front of Richmond depended for its rein 
 forcements and supplies. The wild, picturesque 
 beauty of the place had been moulded by nature 
 into a great fortification. It lies upon the left bank 
 of the Tennessee, which river is itself impassable 
 when guarded by almost any force, while Lookout 
 Mountain that towers upon the southwest rises in 
 a perpendicular precipice almost from the water s 
 edge. To the east rises the lofty Missionary Ridge, 
 running almost parallel with the Tennessee from 
 Chattanooga valley to Chickamauga Creek, well- 
 nigh as impassable in the face of an enemy as the 
 river itself. 
 
 Now from Lookout Mountain southwest for eighty 
 miles the continuous crests of the Sand Mountains 
 present an almost unbroken palisade. Stretching 
 from Chattanooga northeastwardly are other 
 ranges of mountains, so that flanked on both sides 
 there seems to be built by nature almost impregna 
 ble barriers against an invading army. Into this 
 stronghold Bragg withdrew his forces, fully im 
 pressed with the belief that he was at last secure 
 from the Union Ariiry. 
 
 Rosecrans knew that it would be impossible to 
 disturb the enemy by w r ay of his front. He therefore 
 tried upon Bragg precisely the same strategy that 
 had driven him from Duck River. This time, how- 
 
Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 ever, it was upon a much larger scale and so auda 
 cious in execution that the Confederate general had 
 no suspicion of what was in store for him. 
 
 Sending 1 a portion of Crittenden s corps, number 
 ing seven thousand men, under the gallant Hazen, 
 over the mountains, Rosecrans made sufficient dem 
 onstration in front to occupy the attention of Gen 
 eral Bragg, while he advanced his entire army to 
 Bridgeport, Stevenson, and vicinities, southwest of 
 Chattanooga. This done with great skill, he passed 
 the river, and crossed rapidly over Sand Mountain, 
 his troops making roads as they went, into Lookout 
 Valley, and posted his army, the left resting at 
 Wauhatchie, seven miles from Chattanooga, and his 
 right at Valley Head, thirty-five miles distant, the 
 whole facing Lookout Mountain and threatening 
 Bragg s line of communications, and in this way 
 completely turning the flank of the famous fortifica 
 tions. 
 
 The first news that the astonished Confederate 
 general had of the situation was that a large force 
 of all arms was menacing his line of communica 
 tions toward Dalton. He hastily evacuated Chatta 
 nooga, as he claims, for the purpose of protecting 
 his line, and of taking our army in detail as its three 
 corps crossed the mountains and appeared in the 
 valleys beyond. If this latter was any part of his 
 design it was never executed. He posted his army 
 from Lee and Gordon s Mills to Lafayette, facing the 
 passes of Pigeon Mountain, intending, as he says, to 
 
George H. Thomas. 2;>1 
 
 strike the head of Rosecrans column as it debouched 
 into the valley. His opportunity to accomplish this 
 was greatly strengthened by the conduct of Gener 
 al Alec. McDowel McCook, commanding the right 
 wing of the Union Army. This officer having, after 
 a deal of labor and pains, scaled the mountains, 
 seems to have instinctively divined Bragg s inten 
 tion, for instead of moving to the left up the Broom 
 Town Valley and joining his forces to the centre 
 under Thomas, which he could have done in a day, 
 not only came to a halt and lost two days consider 
 ing what he should do next, but then marched back 
 over the mountains and lost several more days get 
 ting to Thomas rear. 
 
 Believing that Bragg w r as in full retreat, and 
 urged on from Washington, where the same impres 
 sion prevailed, Rosecrans ordered a general and 
 rapid pursuit. Against this General Thomas earn 
 estly remonstrated. He urged upon General Rose- 
 crans to abandon the idea of the pursuit of an eiien^ 
 the nature and extent of whose movements he had 
 no means of knowing. He advised Rosecrans to 
 secure the fruits of his brilliant strategy, establish a 
 new base of supplies at Chattanooga, rest his army, 
 well-nigh exhausted by continuous labor, perfect his 
 communications with the rear, and replenish his 
 stores. He could then move out against Bragg 
 with assurance of securing the results of a victorj-, 
 should he gain one. 
 
 But this was precisely what was not tolerated at 
 
222 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 the impatient War Department in any of the several 
 armies of the United States. Rosecrans delay had 
 come to be a by-word and source of abuse. His 
 order to pursue Bragg- was both unfortunate and 
 fortunate. It prevented his holding 1 Chattanooga 
 with his line of supplies open, but it sent Crittenden 
 out of Chattanooga upon Bragg s right and rear 
 and awakened that officer to the fact that he had 
 better be taking* care of himself instead of trying- to 
 attack Rosecrans army corps in detail. 
 
 Thomas caution and g-ood sense saved the army 
 from utter ruin. Instead of pushing- on in rapid 
 pursuit, he moved so slowly that when his advance 
 division came in contact with Bragg s army he had 
 the right and left wings of the Union forces in sup 
 porting distance. 
 
 CHICKAMAUGA. 
 
 On the 19th of September, 1863, the two armies en 
 countered each other in a blind sort of a way in the 
 midst of a dense forest on Chickamauga Creek. The 
 nature of the country prevented any accurate esti 
 mate of numbers or position of opposing- forces until 
 the same were developed by hard fighting. 
 
 General Thomas commanded our forces on the 
 line, and when night came, putting an end to the 
 first day s conflict, it found a drawn battle with ter 
 rific slaughter, but in which neither side had gained 
 any apparent advantage. 
 
 Night, falling upon forest and broken openings 
 
George II. Thomas. 223 
 
 strewn thick with dead and d3 r ing, found both 
 armies fearfully shattered from the desperate strug 
 gle, but each confronting- the other determined to 
 renew the conflict with the early dawn. The relative 
 conditions of the armies on the second day were 
 materially changed from those of the first. Nearly 
 every brigade of the Army of the Cumberland had 
 been hotly engaged, while one division of Bragg s 
 army had not been at all, and two others but 
 slightly under fire. During the night General 
 Longstreet arrived with a reinforcement of veterans 
 from Lee s army. This threw the weight of num 
 bers and fresh troops on the side of the Confederate 
 commander, and he moved his whole army to the 
 west bank of the Chickamauga, assigned Generals 
 Polk and Longstreet to the command of his right and 
 left wings, and ordered General Polk to begin the 
 attack in force against the left wing of the National 
 Army at daybreak. 
 
 In the meantime, as the firing of the first clay s 
 battle ceased, General Thomas selected a new posi 
 tion and posted the five divisions he had commanded 
 during the day so as to offer a strong and compact 
 front to the expected assault. 
 
 General Rosecrans, after a council of war with 
 his general officers, directed the withdrawal of 
 McCook s and Crittenden s corps from the positions 
 held during the day. Two of McCook s divisions 
 were posted on the right of Thomas, two of Critten 
 den s stationed in reserve on the slopes of Missionary 
 
224 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Ridge, and another division [Negley s of his own 
 corps] was promised to Thomas to cover his left 
 flank. 
 
 During 1 the night the National Army was on the 
 march filing into position, and covering their front 
 with fortifications rudely constructed of logs and 
 rails. Then, this done, amid the gloomy darkness 
 of the dense forest, and in grim silence, broken only 
 by the cries of the wounded, it awaited the day and 
 the fierce onset of the enemy. 
 
 But one brigade of the promised division reached 
 Thomas left, and this furnished only a weak, thin 
 line to secure his exposed flank. 
 
 As the day advanced and the thick mist which 
 obscured the battlefield lifted, fresh divisions of 
 Breckenridge and the veteran troops of Cleburne 
 assaulted Thomas left in a furious charge. Upon 
 the steadiness of the troops holding this flank 
 depended the safety of the Union Army. Again and 
 again Bragg threw his gallant men upon Thomas 
 line only to bo driven back with great loss. In 
 charge and counter-charge the contending lines 
 swayed back and forth, but, despite the tremendous 
 efforts of the Confederates, the divisions of Thomas 
 stood firm and unbroken. The Confederate lines 
 overlapped those of the Union Arm} 7 , but such was 
 the slaughter General Cleburne losing five hun 
 dred in a few minutes and one of Breckenridge s 
 brigades being literally swept from the field by the 
 Union fire the Confederates did not dare to swing 
 
George H. Thomas. 225 
 
 their forces into Thomas rear. The furious assault 
 swept down the line from left to right and on 
 Thomas front was repulsed at every point. 
 
 But on the right of the army there was no Thom 
 as, and when Longs treet, with his splendid veterans, 
 moved to the attack, instead of finding a strongly 
 posted compact line of battle to contest his advance, 
 he met only disconnected fragments of a line, sta 
 tioned with flanks exposed, or columns in motion 
 changing position under blind orders blindly obeyed. 
 These he swept before him as a tempest drives the 
 leaves. McCook s divisions, though fighting desper 
 ately at great disadvantage, and without hope, were 
 hurled headlong from the field. Crittenden s corps 
 was involved in the rout and the whole right and 
 reserve of the army crushed and rolled in a confused 
 mass of struggling humanity to the rear. The 
 artillery of these corps, unable to manoeuvre in the 
 thick forest, and over the broken ground, and 
 deprived of infantry support, was captured, or rush 
 ing madly in flight doubled the " confusion, havoc, 
 and dismay." 
 
 The commanding general, believing all lost, has 
 tened from the field to Chattanooga to save what 
 he could from what he believed to be overwhelming 
 disaster, and was followed by two of his corps com 
 manders and the routed portion of their forces. 
 
 This left Thomas and the five divisions under his 
 immediate command, aided by such fragments of the 
 routed right as, gifted with undaunted courage, and 
 
226 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 moved by a noble patriotism, reported to him for 
 duty, notably General Hazen, who moved in with 
 his brigade from Palmer s division of Crittenden s 
 routed corps. With these from noon to night he 
 confronted the whole Confederate Army full of 
 enthusiasm and confident of victory. Here he richly 
 earned the gratitude of the nation and the title of 
 the Rock of Chickamauga. 
 
 I cannot go into the details of this tremendous 
 struggle when assault after assault was repulsed, 
 when with both flanks turned and columns of the 
 enemy in the rear, with ammunition almost ex 
 hausted, this splendid soldier and his unflinching 
 men held their position and forced back the charging 
 Confederates with awful slaughter. Troops were 
 moved from left to right and from right to left, or 
 faced to the rear as the overwhelming numbers of 
 the enemy bore down upon them, and, without a 
 thought of yielding, this last hope of the Union 
 Army fought on, waiting 1 for night or death. At 
 last the enemy, calling up all remaining reserves, 
 gathered for one final and desperate attempt to 
 break these unyielding lines. Down upon flanks and 
 rear they came in one great enveloping stream of 
 fire and death. It was Bragg s last and crowning 
 effort, and upon its failure or success hung the fate 
 of an army and the future of a nation. 
 
 As I have said, General Rosecrans, whose head 
 quarters were on the extreme right, seeing the terri 
 ble rout, hurried from the field to Chattanooga. He 
 
George H. Thomas. 227 
 
 had but one thought, and that was to prepare the 
 pontoons over the Tennessee in order to save what 
 he could of his shattered army. 
 
 As General Rosecrans and his chief of staff rode 
 to the rear, amid the mass of our panic-stricken 
 men, wounded soldiers on foot and in ambulances, 
 riderless horses, hurrying- wagons the teams lashed 
 on by panic-stricken drivers, and all the evidences of 
 a frightful rout, the roar of a deadly conflict was 
 heard on the right of their line of retreat. What 
 could this protracted struggle, under such circum 
 stances, mean ? was the question that puzzled the 
 chief of staff, General Garfield, and at his own sug 
 gestion he parted from his general and rode to the 
 front. 
 
 How common it is, when considering the vicissi 
 tudes of life, to find some pivotal point upon which 
 seems to turn the destiny of a fortunate or unfortu 
 nate career. Thus, had Rosecrans sent his chief of 
 staff to look after that pontoon bridge, and gone 
 himself to the front, he could have rallied Critten- 
 den s retreating reserve on Rossville, and, strength 
 ening Thomas left wing, would, undoubtedly, have 
 driven the almost exhausted Confederates from the 
 field. We have had many disquisitions on this, but 
 these philosophers forget that had Rosecrans acted 
 other than he did he would not have been Rosecrans. 
 From the time of his birth until this fatal day at 
 Chickamauga his individuality had been forming for 
 just such an emergency as this. Brutus lingered, in 
 
228 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 doubt, at home on the morning of Caesar s assassin 
 ation, 
 
 When Rome s proud fortune trembled on 
 
 A dagger s point. 
 
 We speculate upon an if, and on a future built on a 
 moment s delay, but we do not see that through gen 
 erations of men, the blood of despotism and the blood 
 of assassination ran slowly, converging to a point 
 where the two streams met, and that the meeting and 
 its consequences were as much links in the chain of 
 events as the more commonplace occurrences of life. 
 
 The turning-point in this gallant soldier s career 
 was no more on that road to Chattanooga, nor as 
 much, as in his infatuated selection of Alec McCook 
 to command the right wing of the Arir^ of the Cum 
 berland. I make no pretension to an extraordinary 
 knowledge of human nature. Having discovered at 
 an early day that I did not know myself I dropped 
 all pretensions to an intuitive knowledge of other 
 men. But the protracted investigation of Buell s 
 brilliant but unfortunate military career brought 
 Alec McCook vividly to view, and the night before 
 Rosecrans moved out of Nashville on the campaign 
 which ended so disastrously to him at Chickarnauga 
 I earnestly protested against his trust in McCook. 
 Rosecrans is a frank, brave, truthful soldier, a lov 
 able man, and having served under him in Virginia 
 I could not refrain from taking this liberty with 
 two friends, for Alec McCook is one I number in 
 this list. 
 
George H. Thomas. 229 
 
 Immediately after the battle of Chickamauga, 
 General Garfield passed through Baltimore on his 
 way to Washing-ton as a member-elect of Congress. 
 The Hon. Henry Winter Davis gave him a dinner, 
 to which General Schenck and stalf were invited. 
 In eloquent utterances, and with earnest manner, 
 Garfield told that dinner-party the story of the 
 battle. 
 
 "It was not a defeat," he said, "but a great 
 victory, only we at headquarters did not know it. 
 It was about three in the afternoon, when riding 
 with General Rosecrans toward Chattanooga, that 
 the continuous roar of a battle on the centre and 
 left, struck us as indicating an obstinate defence and 
 I suggested the propriety of my riding back and 
 ascertaining the exact condition of affairs on 
 Thomas front. Receiving assent to this, I turned 
 and made my way, as best I could, in the direction 
 of the conflict. It was no easy matter ; the road 
 was crowded with fugitives, men, ambulances, and 
 wagons, all bent each on getting ahead of the other 
 out of the way of the yelling rebels. No one inex 
 perienced in such a rout can conceive of the disor 
 ganization and wild dismay of such a mass. I suc 
 ceeded at last, and I shall never forget my amaze 
 ment and admiration when I beheld that grand 
 officer holding his own with utter defeat on each 
 side and such wild disorder in his rear. He had 
 the moment before repulsed a terrific assault, and 
 his unmoved line of bronzed veterans stood Toy their 
 
230 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 guns as grim and silent as a line of rock. Thomas 
 greeting to me was as quiet as if on parade, and, on 
 my asking him as to the situation, he replied : 
 
 " We have repulsed every attack so far, and can 
 hold our ground if the enemy can be kept from our 
 rear. 
 
 " He had scarcely uttered these words w r hen the 
 head of a column appeared on our left as we faced to 
 the rear. It came rapidly, the men yelling and firing 
 as they marched ; and for a few painful moments 
 we were in doubt whether they were friends or foes. 
 The doubt was dispelled by the appearance of men 
 on the right who seemed to rise from the ground. 
 They came at double time, and we could see and hear 
 the officers cheering them on. It was dear old 
 General Steadman coming to our rescue. They 
 came in column, formed into line, and advanced 
 firing. We saw the enemy hesitate, waver, fall 
 back, and disappear, as at the same moment a 
 terrific assault was made on our front. This, too, 
 was repulsed and again there came the deadly lull, 
 harder to bear than active fighting, for knowing 
 our isolated position, one felt there was no telling 
 from what quarter the next attack would be made. 
 As to this anxiety I speak for myself, my heart was 
 in my mouth, but for Thomas, from first to last 
 he stood unmoved, receiving reports and giving 
 orders, as if the situation were not utterly desperate. 
 Once only he exhibited any feeling. We were 
 moving along the line to encourage the men and 
 
George II. Thomas. 231 
 
 to make inquiry regarding the ammunition, when 
 Thomas approached a man whose coolness and 
 courage he had noticed, and shaking the brave 
 fellow s hand, thanked him for his gallant conduct. 
 The man stood embarrassed for a second, and then 
 exclaimed : 
 
 " General Thomas shook that hand, if any fellow 
 ever tries to take it I ll knock him down. 
 
 From that hour until night this short line of twen 
 ty-five thousand men held the field against the en 
 tire rebel army and then fell back in good order to 
 Chattanooga. 
 
 Pap Thomas, from that out, became in the hearts 
 and mouths of the men the Rock of Chickamauga. 
 That rock is his pedestal of honor, and so long as the 
 memory of the terrible conflict which cemented in 
 blood our people as a nation remains, that monu 
 ment will grow clearer and brighter against its 
 background of war-clouds, and the able, grand, si 
 lent, untainted man will be fairly worshipped when 
 the little tin gods now rattled about among the 
 groundlings are forgotten. 
 
 " I will leave it to history to do me justice," he said, 
 and the slow moving hand of the impartial chron 
 icler is at work. History is generally the crystalliza 
 tion of popular beliefs. " It is, said the great Napo 
 leon, "the facts agreed on." If these, the popular 
 beliefs and facts agreed on, were to be settled by the 
 partisans who rule to-day, Thomas would have but 
 scant justice, as little after death as they accorded him 
 
232 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 in life. He won his laurels on the blunders of the 
 men who are the heroes of the hour, and they can be 
 recognized only in obscuring him. Fortunately these 
 noisy worshippers make but a part of the American 
 nation, while amid the English-speaking people, of 
 which these blind devotees are a small minority, 
 history will speak, and the history to which he 
 appealed will do his memory justice. 
 
 AT LAST IN COMMAND. 
 
 The immediate displacement of Rosecrans was 
 as unjust as the manner of doing- it was brutal. 
 
 All our popular generals, save one, rose to emi 
 nence on the bodies of the brave fellows their blun 
 ders sacrificed. Had the same justice been rendered 
 them that was shot at the head of Rosecrans by tele 
 graph, Grant and Sherman would have terminated 
 their military careers at Shiloh. We learned war 
 from defeat, and made generals out of our disasters. 
 Indeed up to this time Rosecrans had won more 
 fights and suffered fewer defeats than his rivals 
 who did not hesitate to sit in judgment on him, 
 and join his vindictive enemy of the War Depart 
 ment in howling him down. * 
 
 To this course there was one exception. Thomas 
 had put himself on record as opposing and protest 
 ing against the one move that culminated in the ruin 
 of his general. His kindness of heart, and love 
 for his profession, and his high sense of honor re 
 belled against the injustice done General Rosecrans 
 
George H. Thomas. 233 
 
 and the brutality of its execution. He refused to 
 accept the command tendered, and when, at last, 
 it was forced upon him he made his first act an 
 expression of admiration for, and confidence in, his 
 late commander. This was in accepting- Rosecrans 
 first move on falling- back to Chattanooga, and not 
 only proceeding to put it in execution, but giving- his 
 late general full credit for its ingenious inception. 
 
 Under cover of Thomas invincibles the army \vas 
 once more in Chattanooga, and the first vital ques 
 tion that demanded solution from the brain of the 
 commander was how to keep the troops supplied. 
 The only line left open was a mountain road sixty 
 miles in length, so wretchedly bad that horses and 
 mules fell exhausted and died by the hundreds. 
 
 The great War Secretary had roared so wrathf ul- 
 ly and loud over Rosecrans blunders that a panic 
 existed at Washington, and at the headquarters of 
 our Virginia Army, lest Rosecrans should evacuate 
 Chattanooga and run away. The man who had been 
 trusted in the most perilous and important enter 
 prises, who had scored more victories to his credit 
 than any other officer in the field, that this man 
 would lose both head and heart was not supposable, 
 and that Edwin M. Stanton entertained such an idea, 
 only proves that when he became blind through prej 
 udice and passion he was stone blind. Under the 
 impulse thus given, General Grant telegraphed 
 Thomas : 
 
 " Hold Chattanooga at all hazards." 
 
234 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 The response was characteristic ; it read: 
 "We will hold the town till we starve." 
 
 In this Thomas spoke for the brave men under his 
 command. He had mingled with them, shared their 
 blankets and rations, had studied their nature, and 
 knew that they would stand by him unflinching- under 
 the fires of hell, and, if so ordered, would eat their 
 own shoes before surrendering. How he loA T ed those 
 men ! In the grand review, at Washington, after 
 the war, when his bronzed veterans swung by this 
 silent man, who so controlled his emotions that in 
 the hour of deadly peril he appeared quiet and self- 
 composed as when on parade, he said, through a 
 mist of tears, " They made me." Modest to the last, 
 he did not add, as he might have done, " And I made 
 them." Taking the raw recruits, as he told the 
 writer of this, " The best material on earth," he not 
 only moulded it into soldierly efficiency, but infused 
 into the ranks his own heroic qualities that made his 
 men like the Old Guard of Napoleon, the terror of 
 a continent. 
 
 How to save that ariiry, shut up in Chattanooga, 
 from starvation taxed the brain of the great coin" 
 mander. 
 
 General Longstreet, after the battle of Chattanoo 
 ga, suggested to General Bragg that they should 
 cross the Tennessee River east of Chattanooga, and 
 by operating northward force Rosecrans to fall back 
 on Nashville. After that to follow the railroad to 
 
George H. Thomas. 235 
 
 Knoxville, defeat Burnside, and then from that 
 point move on our army in Middle Tennessee. 
 
 Looking- back now, one sees clearly that this was 
 the thing to do. But Braxton Bragg- was not equal 
 to the emergency. He lost the fruits of his victory 
 in an attempt to besiege Chattanooga. He left out 
 the important facts that Hooker held the line of sup 
 plies, and Thomas was in command of the army he 
 proposed starving. From Stone River, where he 
 experienced the fighting qualities of our men under 
 Thomas, he seems to have lost all the enterprise and 
 dash that distinguished him in cutting loose from his 
 base of supplies, and with an inferior army forcing 
 Buell back on the Ohio and defeating us at Perry ville. 
 
 Now when General Rosecrans fell back from the 
 battlefield of Chickamauga to Chattanooga he found 
 Loofvout Valley and all the south side of the river in 
 possession of the Confederates, cutting off the availa 
 ble lines of supplies, and the problem presented the 
 Government general, as I have said, was how to 
 save his army from starvation. 
 
 General Rosecrans, a man of genius, solved the 
 problem, and, strange to say, with ease. Succes s in 
 the field depends greatly in doing the unexpected. 
 There is a mystery in the unknown, as General Wm. 
 Preston, of Kentucky, said to me once, that is terror, 
 and makes the wild elephant fly from the first man it 
 encounters. What Rosecrans proposed could have 
 been easily defeated had Bragg been aware of his 
 design. One brigade in a movement that would 
 
236 Hen Who Saved the Union. 
 
 have taken not more than twenty minutes could 
 have rendered the execution of the plan impossible. 
 But Bragg encountered the unexpected and failed. 
 
 Before old Rosey could put his plan in operation 
 he was superseded by General Thomas and General 
 Thomas found himself under the orders of Grant, 
 who, in the panic developed at the War Department 
 by Secretary Stanton, had hurried to Chattanooga. 
 It appeared at one time that the entire Government 
 would migrate to that stronghold . The War Depa rt- 
 ment got as far as Louisville, moved by its wild fear, 
 not of Bragg, but of Rosecrans. 
 
 General Grant accepted the proposed plan. He 
 had his choice between that and starvation. It was 
 a simple affair, but daring as it was simple, and 
 consisted merely in dropping a force down the river, 
 after night, in boats of a pontoon bridge to be thrown 
 across the stream at Brown s Ferry. Now from 
 Moccasin Point to the ferry in question, a distance of 
 nearly three miles, the enemy had their picket posts 
 on the edge of the river. 
 
 T^e fifteen hundred men embarked upon the pon 
 toons were put under command of Gen. Hazen, a 
 brave, brainy man, eminently fit to manage such a 
 hazardous expedition. Ge . Turchin, another brave 
 and capable officer, was ordered to cooperate by 
 marching with his brigade and a battery across the 
 peninsula formed by the river, while Gen. Hooker, ad 
 vised by telegraph, promised to put his command 
 into Lookout Valley in time to support the movement. 
 
George H. Thomas. 237 
 
 For once in the history of our war, three different 
 commands, moving" from three different points, con 
 centrated successfully upon an objective, and Bragg 
 awakened in the morning to the fact that relief had 
 penetrated his siege, and that the army in Chatta 
 nooga under command of the ablest general of the 
 Government, George Henry Thomas, was not only 
 secure but in a condition to threaten the Confederacy 
 from that important strategic point. 
 
 One cannot help dwelling- on that movement at the 
 dead hour of midnight as it floated in silence down 
 the swift river. Hugging the right bank, it swept 
 by the camp-fires of the foe, every second laden 
 with the fate of mighty armies, when a shout, a 
 word even, or a broken oar would have aroused the 
 enemy, and sunk our boats. 
 
 Our blessed American people have short memories, 
 and in the hurry of great events, treading many 
 upon the heels of others, the man who planned and 
 the man who executed this daring and important 
 movement seem forgotten. Rosecrans passed under 
 a cloud, mostly smoke from the War Department, 
 out of the army and the fort he saved, to be abused, 
 while the gallant Hazen has since been fairly pil 
 loried before the public by low malice and envy. 
 
 SIEGE OF CHATTANOOGA. 
 
 After Rosecrans daring operation had been per 
 fected and the line opened not only for supplies but 
 reinforcements, Bragg moved on the suggestion of 
 
238 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Long-street and detached that able officer with his 
 corps to defeat Burnside at Knoxville. 
 
 When Thomas proposed to penetrate East Ten 
 nessee through Knoxville and cut one of the Confed 
 erate lines of supply, that city was an objective of 
 some importance. But now that Chattanooga was 
 held by our forces Burnside \vas not only of no im 
 portance in Knoxville, but a standing menace of dan 
 ger to our cause. But the maggot of territory was 
 working in the military brain, and it was blind to the 
 fact that the territory was held at the headquarters 
 of three Confederate armies ; one under Lee at Rich 
 mond, another under Bragg 1 at Chattanooga, and a 
 third under Kirby Smith, west of the Mississippi. 
 
 Grant at Chattanooga was troubled in his mili 
 tary mind by this territorial craze, and his plans 
 for offensive operations were shaped by his ideas in 
 this behalf. He accordingly ordered Thomas to make 
 an attack on the northeastern end of Missionary 
 Ridge with all the troops he could bring- to bear, and 
 so force Bragg to recall Longstreet. Thomas saw the 
 utter absurdity of this move, and so remonstrated. 
 
 General Grant, in his report and other official 
 utterances at the time, gives the true history of this 
 affair and the proof is ample that the action of Gen 
 eral Thomas was wise and judicious. 
 
 Badeau, busily engaged in building- up the military 
 reputation of one man at the expense of another, 
 indulges in grave misrepresentations, and quotes 
 General Sherman to substantiate his statements. 
 
George II. Thomas. 239 
 
 Both Badeau and Sherman make their deep-sea 
 soundings with a pack-thread, and it is not their fault 
 that they failed to do better. They could not com 
 prehend the man who, untainted by mean ambition, 
 had an eye single to success, and calmly discounted 
 obstacles when ordered to accomplish the impossible. 
 But we cannot forgive them for deliberately putting 
 lies to record as history, and it is astounding that 
 they should dare to do so with overwhelming evi 
 dence of the truth before them. 
 
 The proud, silent, sensitive man had, from the 
 promptings of patriotism, severed the ties of family 
 and friendship, but he possessed that honorable 
 ambition ever felt by genius, when realizing its su 
 periority over associates of ordinary ability. Gen 
 eral Thomas knew that in command of the brave 
 fellows he had trained to love and obey him he could 
 find the enemy and defeat him without any of the 
 bloody disasters that had shamed us before the 
 world. Stung to the quick and sick at heart from 
 the injustice done him, and the lack of confidence 
 shown in his loyalty by the Government, he said : 
 " I will protest no more. I serve hereafter under 
 any one ordered over me, and in any field designated, 
 without complaint," and crowding down his disap 
 pointment and disgust he went quietly about his 
 work, taking orders from his inferiors with an appar 
 ently patient indifference that was called "shrink 
 ing- from responsibility." 
 
 It is painful, even now, to look back through that 
 
240 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 hour of peril to us as a nation, read the shameful 
 record of blunders and the frightful butchery of 
 brave men, and realize that walking- unnoticed 
 among the padded, epauletted incapables was the 
 great war genius of our continent, a greater than 
 Napoleon, for to his knowledge of war he added a 
 patriotism that immolated self upon the altar of his 
 country. 
 
 The more exasperating memory is the complacent, 
 patronizing toleration of the incapables who hap 
 pened to be in command when the great Confederacy, 
 after a gigantic struggle, fell from sheer exhaustion. 
 
 MISSIONARY RIDGE. 
 
 Well, the war went on. Sherman at last came 
 up with the Army of the Tennessee, and Grant felt 
 strong enough to assume the offensive. Bragg, 
 who, on throwing his lines around Chattanooga, 
 found the impregnable defences weak from a lack of 
 men to man them, had permitted the golden oppor 
 tunity to slip from his grasp. Had Thomas executed 
 Grant s blind order to attack the extremity of Mis 
 sionary Ridge he would have so weakened his long 
 line of defence as to have given Bragg his choice of 
 point of attack. Now the advantages were reversed, 
 and with nearly a third more men added to the Gov 
 ernment forces and his own weakened by Long- 
 street s detachment, Bragg found that not only was 
 the offensive impossible, but even the defensive in 
 doubt. 
 
George H. Thomas. 241 
 
 To the curious student who delves carefully 
 through a war s history there are no more amusing 
 pieces of military literature than the reports of com 
 manding generals after engagements. If a victory 
 is put thus on record the solemn recorder takes all 
 the credit to himself, with patronizing reference to 
 subordinates who faithfully executed his sagacious 
 orders and the men who did the fighting. If, on the 
 contrary, it is an undoubted disaster, the blame is 
 shifted to the shoulders of said subordinates who 
 failed to execute and the men who failed to fight 
 out said judicious plans. 
 
 The battle or battles that drove Bragg from 
 Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain illustrate 
 this. Grant, who had the merit of being a fighting 
 character, and believed in himself, planned one 
 engagement and his subordinate officers and men 
 fought to a successful conclusion quite another. 
 The orders, like Jack Cade s bricks, are there to tes 
 tify, so deny it not. But Grant, Sherman, and the 
 erudite Badeau do deny, and all join in a record that 
 gives the general commanding (Grant) the credit 
 of the result. 
 
 One can understand Sherman in this, for the war 
 was fought from beginning to end by this wonderful 
 man, if we are to believe his own story, while all the 
 credit he cannot take to himself by reason of absence 
 or other slight obstacle he graciously gives to Grant. 
 Nor can we fail to appreciate the literary Badeau, for 
 he is a recognized author of fiction. But Grant s ap- 
 
242 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 proval of Badeau s " Military History," with his 
 own orders so clearly contradicting- the so-called 
 historical statements, is inexplicable unless it "be 
 accounted for by the general, in common with the 
 rest of mankind, having- failed to read what Badeau 
 had written. 
 
 It was Grant s purpose to have Sherman turn 
 Bragg s right. This was supplemented by directing 
 Hooker to turn his left, while Thomas command 
 should make a demonstration against his centre, 
 which was supposed to be impregnable. 
 
 Now Sherman did not successfully turn Bragg s 
 right, and though Hooker drove in his left he was 
 brought to a stand-still by Chickamauga Creek, 
 which presented an impassable barrier until he 
 could throw bridges across and pass his troops over 
 to press his attack. But the centre under Thomas, 
 with its divisions commanded by Wood, Baird, 
 and Sheridan, not only demonstrated against the 
 steep, rocky, cannon-crowned heights, but, to the 
 amazement of the general commanding who wit 
 nessed the scene, charged up the apparently per 
 pendicular palisades without orders from him, and 
 drove the Confederates from their works. 
 
 The fact is that the men ordered to make the dem 
 onstration found themselves called to a halt at the 
 base of Missionary Ridge. The position was unten 
 able. The officers in command had their choice to 
 make the desperate advance or to retreat. To remain 
 where Grant s orders left them was assured death to 
 
George H. Thomas. 243 
 
 the whole command. It did not take these brave 
 fellows long- to decide. As I have said, they charged 
 up and carried the heights before them. Who among 
 them gave the order, if any one, is not known. It is 
 known, however, that Hazen s brigade led, were the 
 first upon the ridge, first to capture guns and turn 
 them upon the enemy. 
 
 Grant and Thomas stood together, surrounded by 
 their staff officers, when this unexpected assault 
 upon the enemy s centre was made. Grant turned 
 fiercely upon Thomas. 
 
 " Who gave that order ? " he demanded. " No one 
 that I know of," responded Thomas quietly. " It is, 
 however, the thing to do." 
 
 "It shall be investigated," said Grant, little 
 dreaming that volumes would be written, published 
 and claimed to be approved by him, trying to show 
 that this grand success was a preconceived idea of 
 his own. 
 
 These were the men of the Army of the Cumber 
 land, the same columns that marched under Buell 
 in through the mass of panic-stricken fugitives at 
 Shiloh, and swung their eagles to victory on the 
 field of defeat the men who won at Stone River, and 
 that day showed themselves worthy to be com 
 manded by the Rock of Chickamauga. 
 
 It was the result of the training of brave men 
 under fire until they were brought to know that they 
 could march and fight equally with, if not superior to 
 any force in the field, and to feel that so long as they 
 
244 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 touched elbows and faced the enemy under the com 
 mand of the man they loved and believed in they 
 were irresistible. 
 
 This was the lesson of the war, and, dull students 
 that we are, the lesson seems lost. A commander 
 can make or mar an army. McClellan, for example, 
 organized and trained his forces for defeat. For 
 nearly a year he drilled his men to avoid engage 
 ments. With an inferior force lying- in sight, his one 
 comforting bulletin was, "All quiet on the Potomac." 
 Instead of training his white-gloved battalions to the 
 actualities of war, he developed a mysterious awe of 
 the unknown that lay beyond the intrenchments and 
 guns of the enemy. When that wretched blunder of 
 Ball s Bluff occurred he hastened to imprison and 
 persecute a capable, noble-hearted subordinate, and 
 spread an actual panic through his entire army. 
 
 Small wonder that his cotton-gloved divisions were 
 tumbled back from before Richmond, and all thanked 
 God with pious fervor that they were safe again be 
 hind the fortifications of Washington. 
 
 The philosophy of the victories at the West is to 
 be found in the fact and the reason for it, that our 
 brave fellows were taught to believe in themselves 
 through training under fire. 
 
 I remember vividly the impression made upon me 
 after leaving our army in Virginia, and living with 
 that of the West at Nashville. I found myself not 
 only among men of a different sort, but men who 
 seemed to breathe a different atmosphere. The awe 
 
George H. Thomas. 245 
 
 that amounted almost to fear in the armies of the 
 East had no existence among- the men of the West ; 
 but there was a spirit that thought, spoke, and 
 treated the foe with an indifference that amounted 
 to contempt. The morale was superb, and had it 
 been accompanied throughout by the drill and disci 
 pline given to part by General Thomas, we would 
 have won every battle, even over the blunders of 
 commanding- generals. But the indifference of the 
 men became recklessness in the officers, and our brave 
 fellows often, on the most trying occasions, found 
 themselves unavailing food for powder. 
 
 THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 
 
 Much praise and a wide popularity have been 
 awarded General Sherman for his campaig-n from 
 Chattanooga to Atlanta. This campaign not only 
 condoned for the follies and frightful disasters of his 
 past, but gave him carte-blanche for any foll\ r or 
 imprudence he might perpetrate in the future. 
 
 Newspaper editors who have no time, and the 
 masses who have no inclination to study are unani 
 mous in regarding the Atlanta Campaign as a 
 brilliant success and Tecumseh Sherman as the 
 greatest general our continent ever produced. The 
 much-used maxim from the French, that there is 
 nothing that succeeds like success, in its real signifi 
 cation is applicable to this man and his military ca 
 reer. What the shrewd Frenchman meant was the 
 
246 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 confounding of sham success with real achievement in 
 the popular mind. To the impartial student of mil 
 itary history this campaign was something of which 
 the patriotic mind should be ashamed. 
 
 General Sherman marched out with one hundred 
 thousand men, and they were veterans. He had 
 under him such men as Thomas, McPherson, Davis, 
 Palmer, Logan, Stanley, Hazen, and Hooker, the 
 flower of American military ability, and all that the 
 power and wealth of a great government could 
 supply was poured out to him with unsparing hand. 
 Thomas army alone, under Thomas, could have 
 marched to Richmond. Sherman s armies were in 
 good health, armed with the best material Yankee 
 ingenuity could invent and perfect, and the brave 
 fellows were ready to march wherever ordered. 
 
 Opposed to this splendidly equipped force was the 
 Army of the Confederacy under Jos. E. Johnson, 
 numbering really all told not over sixty thousand men. 
 They were poorly clad, worse fed, badly supplied 
 with arms and ammunition, and with all life for the 
 contest taken out of them, for the Confederacy was 
 falling as rapidly as it had risen. They closed up 
 their thin lines with no hope of reinforcements, and, 
 although one is forced to admit that they fought to 
 the end with courage and endu ranee \vhich the world 
 will never appreciate, this one hundred thousand 
 men under Sherman ought to have defeated them 
 and taken Atlanta without great loss. There was 
 no point between the two places such as Chatta- 
 
George H. Thomas. 24? 
 
 nooga, where the Confederate general could make a 
 hopeful stand, no place where he could escape being 
 flanked upon one or both sides. Had a capable 
 general, such as Thomas, been in command that 
 would have been the result. As it was, counting 
 the casualties of our army, we find that Sherman 
 lost in killed and wounded, died and missing, about 
 two- thirds the number of troops Johnson had under 
 his command. In a word, Sherman bought Atlanta 
 with the blood of thirty-five thousand of the gallant 
 fellows who marched under our colors. This is called 
 a brilliant campaign, and on this rests the fame of 
 our popular general. Brilliant it was with the hue 
 of patriotic blood, but in no other way. 
 
 It is a little strange to note the change in popular 
 feeling brought about during this terrible war. 
 When it began, as I have told, the gallant General 
 Schenck and a more capable officer never lived lost 
 ten men while obeying written orders from a supe 
 rior officer. The roar of wrathful indignation that 
 went up over the land at the sacrifice of human life 
 was something amazing. General Schenck was 
 denounced, ridiculed, and abused by the press and 
 the people to such an extent that, had it not been 
 for his indomitable will, he would have been driven 
 from the service. Three years thereafter General 
 Sherman builds his reputation upon the wanton 
 slaughter of thousands of our best men. 
 
 The blundering stupidity of this campaign is made 
 manifest in the history of the very first move. 
 
248 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 General Sherman consulted General Thomas as 
 to a plan of campaign, but unfortunately did not 
 follow his advice. The hero of Chickamauga quietly 
 traced upon the map a proposition that bade fair to 
 annihilate the enemy. Johnson s army, between fifty 
 and sixty thousand strong, lay in front of Dalton, 
 Georgia, manning the almost inaccessible heights 
 and passes of Rocky Face Ridge and Buzzard Roost, 
 with a small force of about three thousand men 
 stationed at the fortified town of Resaca to hold his 
 communications secure. Thomas proposed to throw 
 his Army of the Cumberland, sixty thousand strong, 
 through Snake Creek Gap, which he knew to be 
 unguarded, in the rear of Johnson on his line of 
 communication, between Dalton and Resaca, while 
 Sherman held him at Dalton with the remainder of 
 his forces. In this way the Confederate commander 
 would be forced to fight Thomas at a disadvantage 
 or, abandoning Dalton and his communications, re 
 treat eastward through a rough and broken country, 
 where his army Avould have been cut to pieces or 
 disorganized. General Thomas was confident that 
 should the Confederates turn on him he could defeat 
 them with the Army of the Cumberland alone, as he 
 had done before. This plan Sherman refused to 
 adopt, alleging as a reason that he desired to hold 
 Thomas army as a rallying-point for the other two 
 armies, though what he wanted with such rallying- 
 point, unless he expected his other two armies that 
 numbered about as many men as Johnson had to 
 
George II. Thomas. 249 
 
 run away, is hard to understand. We are forced to 
 attribute Sherman s wilfulness to the jealousy felt 
 Toy a general who never won a victory toward one 
 who never suffered a defeat. 
 
 Sherman, however, was forced to accept enough 
 of this plan to rob Thomas of the credit and himself 
 of success. He sent the Army of the Tennessee, 
 twenty-three thousand strong, under General Mc- 
 Pherson, through Snake Creek Gap, not to throw 
 themselves in the rear of Johnson as Thomas pro 
 posed, but with orders to destroy the railroad be 
 tween Dalton and Resaca, then to fall back on Snake 
 Creek Gap and lie in readiness to attack Johnson s 
 flank as he passed in retreat from Dalton on this 
 line kindly left open for him, as, doubtless, Sherman 
 expected him to do. 
 
 What was the good of all this no man can under 
 stand, and the only effect of McPherson s feeble 
 effort was to demonstrate the wisdom of Thomas 
 plan. He found the gap occupied by a slight force 
 which he brushed aside, and marched within a mile 
 and a half of the Confederate intrenchments at 
 Resaca, which for three days after his appearance 
 were manned by not more than three thousand 
 infantry. Having thus warned the enemy of what 
 might befall him, that gallant officer, having exe 
 cuted his order, fell back on Snake Creek Gap and 
 fortified. Had Thomas with his sixty thousand men 
 been there in McPherson s stead, as he proposed, he 
 would have occupied and held Resaca to the utter 
 ruin of the Confederate general. 
 
250 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 Sherman, having- executed this brilliant manoeuvre, 
 made some active demonstrations against the moun 
 tain-sides which he could not scale, and would have 
 remained there, probably to this day if the Com 
 mittee on the Conduct of the War could have found 
 patience for such delay, had not Johnson discovered 
 the insecurity of his own position, through the feeble 
 demonstration of McPherson, and fallen back to his 
 fortifications at Resaca with the loss of but few 
 men. 
 
 Here is an anecdote illustrative of Thomas char 
 acter : When he heard that McPherson had given 
 as an excuse for not throwing 1 his army in the rear 
 of Johnson, that the dense forest prevented it, he 
 quietly remarked : " Where were their axes ? " and 
 a day or so after, large portions of the army marched 
 through this same impassable woods. 
 
 This mistake at Resaca was but the beginning of a 
 hundred days of campaigning- made up of blunders 
 and disasters, which nothing- but the overwhelming- 
 numbers of the Union Army, the ability of Sherman s 
 subordinates, and the endurance and gallantry of his 
 men enabled him to carry to a successful termina 
 tion, which was accomplished at last in spite of his 
 terrible errors. 
 
 The battle of Resaca, with its direct, bloody, and 
 ineffectual attacks on the Confederates intrenched 
 position, ended in Johnson s again withdrawing in 
 good order, although Sherman had a bridge and 
 every opportunity to put his army in his rear and 
 cut off his retreat. 
 
George H. Thomas. 251 
 
 The combined Union armies moved in pursuit 
 southward toward Cassville, Georgia. Johnson was 
 disposed to accept battle north of the Etowah River, 
 but being- dissuaded by his corps commanders, re 
 treated behind that stream to Allatoona Pass, where 
 he began to gather slight reinforcements, and Sher 
 man paused in his pursuit to rest his men. 
 
 The only action worthy of record on this march 
 was the capture of Rome, Georgia, with its immense 
 machine-shops and iron-works, great stores of cot 
 ton, and some artillery. This was accomplished by 
 General Jeff. C. Davis, commanding a division of Gen 
 eral Thomas army. This, Davis, who with all of 
 Thomas subordinates had been trained never to 
 lose an opportunity to hurt the enemy, did without 
 orders from the Commander-in-Chief, and as far 
 as that Commander-in-Chief was concerned Rome 
 and its plant, so valuable to the Confederacy, might 
 have remained intact to this day. 
 
 General Sherman laid waste the property of the 
 private citizen, and blackened the heavens with the 
 smoke of burning dwellings and cotton-gins, but the 
 property especially valuable to the Confederate Gov 
 ernment he treated with great consideration, as wit 
 ness this case of Rome, and that of the great Confed 
 erate arsenal sand ammunition factories at Augusta. 
 
 After a few days rest Sherman crossed the Etowah 
 with his three armies and moved to turn Johnson s 
 left flank, Allatoona Pass being a fortified position of 
 great strength. 
 
^ Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 At New Hope Church he ordered an assault on 
 Johnson s intrenched lines, which resulted in the 
 usual slaughter with no compensating- gains. In 
 this assault the National forces lost fifteen hundred 
 men killed and w-ounded, the Confederates less than 
 one-third that number. 
 
 Having thus failed, Sherman moved toward the 
 enemy s flank and Johnson fell slowly back, holding 
 every point to the last, until he threw himself within 
 his heavily fortified lines extending from Kenesaw 
 to Pine Mountain. This \vas a position impregnable 
 in front, the record of which fact Sherman, to gratify 
 his personal vanity, insisted on writing 1 upon the 
 rebel parapets in Union blood. 
 
 Selecting perhaps the strongest point along the 
 Confederate lines on Kenesaw Mountain he ordered 
 an -assault in force. 
 
 General Thomas who thoroughly understood the 
 condition of affairs in front, the great strength of the 
 enemy s intrenchments, and who never hesitated to 
 put his gallant veterans into action when there was 
 any assurance of success, opposed this order. On 
 the other hand, he suggested that the Army of the 
 Tennessee, McPherson commanding, be ordered to 
 advance against Johnson s position from the north, 
 where the way was open. 
 
 Noth withstanding- his protest and wise advice 
 Thomas was peremptorily ordered to make the 
 assault. It was a desperate piece of work, costing 
 fearfully in the loss of valuable officers and fifteen 
 
George H. Thomas. 253 
 
 hundred men, and giving 1 nothing- in return for the 
 sacrifice. The Confederate loss was only one hun 
 dred and thirty-six killed and wounded. 
 
 General Thomas, in reporting the result, said : 
 " We have already lost heavily to-day without gain 
 ing any material advantage. One or two more such 
 assaults would use up this army." 
 
 Again replying to Sherman s request for his opin 
 ion regarding a flank movement he said : " What 
 force do you propose moving- with ? If with the 
 greatest part of the army, I think it decidedly better 
 than butting against breastworks twelve feet thick 
 and strongly abattised." 
 
 These opinions from a soldier of transcendent abil 
 ity and iron nerve, who had with his devoted men 
 faced fearful odds in what seemed to be a hopeless 
 struggle at Chickamauga, ought to be sufficient 
 comment on Sherman s mad course. And let it be 
 remembered that they are not quoted from memoirs 
 written in piping times of peace, but from official 
 communications made to his commander and for 
 which he was, as a soldier, responsible. 
 
 But if anything further is needed it will be found 
 in Sherman s attempted explanation of his bloody 
 attack and wretched failure, which he made to Gen 
 eral Halleck. He says : 
 
 " The assault I made was no mistake ; I had to 
 do it. The enemy and our own army and officers 
 had settled down into the conviction that the assault 
 of lines formed no part of my game, and the moment 
 
-25-i Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 the enemy was found behind anything" like a para 
 pet, why, everybody would deploy, throw up coun 
 ter-works, and take it easy, leaving 1 it to the i Old 
 Man to turn the position." 
 
 As for " taking- it easy," the bone-marked lines 
 and blood-stained intrenchments from Tunnel Hill 
 to Lovejoy Station, tell a different story. But here 
 is a man who, urged on by his mad ambition and 
 insane vanhVv, in the face of the advice and opposi 
 tion of his ablest officer, sends whole brigades of 
 devoted men against impregnable works, and de 
 votes the very flower of his countrymen, without the 
 hope or chance of material gain in any way, merely 
 to gratify a personal whim. He was willing- and 
 anxious to sacrifice the lives of any number of his 
 men to ward off a possible suspicion that he was 
 over-cautious and afraid to assault intrenched lines. 
 He should have led the assault in person, as that 
 would probably have resulted in placing General 
 Thomas in command of the armies, which would, in 
 some degree, have compensated for the bloody cost. 
 
 Said an eminent Union officer, now a pet of his 
 party in Ohio : " So far as that wanton slaughter of 
 our troops was concerned, it had its origin in Sher 
 man s heartless vanity. As we marched on, gaining 
 almost bloodless triumphs through superior numbers 
 that enabled us to flank the enemy at every stand 
 taken, Grant was having- bloody fig-hts that filled 
 the newspapers with sensations. This was too much 
 for Sherman, and he immediately ordered an assault 
 
George H. Thomas. 255 
 
 that was so utterly hopeless that he should have 
 been court-martialled for murder. But his point was 
 gained. The newspapers were laden with a tremen 
 dous battle at Kenesaw Mountain under Sherman, 
 and the men who died and the men who crawled 
 home crippled for life were the victims of his insane 
 ambition. 
 
 " He was in error when he wrote Halleck to the 
 elfect that officers and men had concluded that the 
 old man would not fig-lit. The fatal conclusion that 
 officers and men had arrived at was that the old man 
 could not fig-lit. All we accomplished was done by 
 the old man s subordinate officers in spite of him." 
 
 Failing 1 in this desperate attack Sherman did 
 what he should have done before, moved his right 
 flank in order to force Johnson to evacuate his un 
 assailable lines. In this he succeeded. 
 
 The command of the Confederate Army was 
 transferred to General Hood, and that bold and 
 dashing 1 officer, assuming the offensive with great 
 vigor and impetuosity in front of Atlanta, endeav 
 ored to execute a plan conceived by General John 
 son to defeat and crush the Army of the Cumberland 
 as it advanced across Peach Tree Creek. His ac 
 tion was well and skilfully planned and carried into 
 execution with great courage, but it failed utterly. 
 Hood fell with great fury upon the Army of the 
 Cumberland as it was crossing the stream, and 
 though Thomas had been weakened by the detach 
 ment of Wood s and Stanley s divisions, he was 
 
25G Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 hurled back with fearful slaughter and without, 
 from first to last, gaining* a single advantage. 
 General Thomas was in the thickest of the fight, di 
 recting his artillery in person, and, by his personal 
 presence and prompt action, saved the flank of his 
 army. Here Thomas proved the truth of his words, 
 when he asked permission to throw his army in 
 Johnson s rear at Resaca, that he could defeat the 
 Confederate Army with the Army of the Cumber 
 land alone. 
 
 This defeat was a terrible blow to the enemy, who 
 after an unavailing, despairing struggle fell back 
 southward, leaving Atlanta to fall into the hands of 
 the National armies. 
 
 No impartial reader can review the history of this 
 campaign without seeing and acknowledging that 
 whenever General Thomas advice and plans were 
 followed success was assured, and whenever his ad 
 vice was set at naught disaster was the result. 
 
 FRANKLIN AND NASHVILLE. 
 
 The military gentlemen who have indulged in 
 memoirs, and the so-called historians who have given 
 us books on the war, have omitted the larger facts 
 connected with the struggle. Jt will sound strange 
 to such, and to a majority of my readers, when I say 
 that the Confederacy was never so near success 
 as at the time when Sherman s army took Atlanta, 
 and Grant was driving in the enemy at Richmond. 
 
George H. Thomas. 257 
 
 It was to the Confederates the darkest hour that 
 precedes the morn, only owing 1 to George H. Thomas 
 that morn never dawned. To understand this we 
 have to know that from the first firing- on Sumter to 
 the last gun at Appomattox the Confederate Govern 
 ment had rested its last and highest hope, and 
 reasonably so, on European interference. They had 
 counted correctly on the fact that Cotton was king. 
 The dethronement, for the time being, of that 
 monarch not only paralyzed trade at home, but sent 
 distress to every trading mart the world over. That 
 in England, France, and Germany was greater than 
 in the United States, for here, possessed of an inflated 
 currency that strangely held its own, the Govern 
 ment was in the market as a purchaser of all the 
 produce North and West. The reaction to this 
 at home did not come on until 18TG, but in Europe 
 the distress had no such source of relief. The 
 S3 mpathies of the aristocracy in England and of the 
 military Government of France were on the side of 
 the Confederates. In this they were sustained by 
 the traders who felt the oppression of the war. 
 
 For three years during the strife the South had 
 its ablest advocates in Europe negotiating for the 
 interference to which it was entitled in the first year 
 of the conflict. England through her cautious policy 
 of late years hesitated, while Russia dallied with 
 the temptation. The most active, bitter, and influ 
 ential of the war powers abroad acting against us 
 was that under Louis Napoleon. Having completed 
 
258 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 his combination with all the Governments abroad, 
 except England, the emperor threw an army into 
 Mexico for the avowed purpose of setting- up an 
 imperial government, but really intending to make 
 Mexico a base of operations in behalf of the 
 Confederacy against the United States. His aid, 
 although offered early, came late and at a moment 
 when the Confederacy was about to fall from ex 
 haustion. It was calculated at Richmond that if a 
 brilliant stroke could be accomplished, however mad 
 and futile it might appear so far as the mere Confed 
 eracy was concerned, it would not onry strengthen 
 the purpose of Louis Napoleon, but revive again the 
 drooping spirits of such Northern Democrats as 
 opposed the war. 
 
 To this end it was purposed to have Hood move 
 his entire army from before Sherman and make an 
 advance to the Ohio River. It was counted that the 
 effect of this would be to force Sherman back, as they 
 had before forced back Buell to our northern border. 
 
 Wherever the Confederate Army appeared, for 
 whatever purpose it might have in view, it was nec 
 essary to meet it with an army of the Government. 
 Until the armed forces of the Confederacy were de 
 stroyed or captured the war would, of course, go on. 
 
 While the authorities at Richmond were preparing 
 for this desperate move, an event of the most extra 
 ordinary character occurred, that is when looked at 
 from a military point of view, that ever happened in 
 any war. 
 
George H. Thomas. 259 
 
 General Sherman with sixty thousand men sud 
 denly disappeared from the front. Had the earth 
 opened and swallowed the entire force it could not 
 have more effectually been removed from its legiti 
 mate field of operations. 
 
 It seems that General Thomas had suggested to 
 his commander, Sherman, that he be permitted to 
 take his little army of three corps and march across 
 Georgia, destroying Augusta and moving on to the 
 aid of Grant at Richmond . It appears that Sherman 
 seized on this bold proposition and proceeded at once 
 to put it in execution, but, as always, with enough 
 difference to insure its ruin. Sherman was troubled 
 with the fear that having accomplished all that con Id 
 be done at Atlanta, he would be ordered with the bulk 
 of his forces to Richmond to serve under Grant. To 
 avoid this he marched his army from the front to 
 fight the Georgia militia, and waste time in a useless 
 march to the sea, and the authorities at Richmond 
 found themselves presented with an extraordinary 
 opening for their move to the Ohio. 
 
 Hood had under his command for the purpose 
 some fifty thousand men, as a desperate effort had 
 been made to augment his forces for this expedition. 
 
 Sherman had scarcely disappeared before a panic 
 broke out at Washington, and spread through the 
 country, even to the headquarters of the impertur 
 bable, immovable Grant before Richmond. They all 
 knew that nothing stood in the way of Hood s success 
 but the name of Thomas. This officer had been left 
 
260 Men W ho Saved the Union. 
 
 with about twenty-two thousand men, scattered from 
 Knoxville, Tennessee, to Florence, Alabama. Beside 
 this he had been ordered to garrison and hold all 
 the important points gained at the cost of so much 
 blood and treasure, in order that Andy Johnson 
 might continue Governor of Tennessee. 
 
 It was thoroughly known at Washington, as well 
 as at headquarters before Richmond, that Kirby 
 Smith had been ordered to cross the Mississippi and 
 join his forces to those of Hood, and he was on 
 his way for that purpose when Sherman disap 
 peared. To augment the terrors of the situation 
 this all occurred late in the fall, when the con 
 centration of the twenty -two thousand was difficult, 
 and appeared impossible. 
 
 It looked to the authorities at Washington, cogni 
 zant of all the facts, that there was really nothing 
 in the way of Hood s advance to the Ohio, and they 
 well knew that such a bold stroke successfully played 
 would revive the dying fortunes of the Confederates 
 by inviting an invasion from Mexico by the French. 
 One has only to read the telegrams, now of record, 
 that poured in upon Thomas, to realize that that 
 great man had thrown upon him for the third time 
 the salvation of the Union. To vindicate the fact, I 
 have so f requently asserted, that of all the military 
 men doing service for the Government Thomas 
 alone is entitled to. the position of first and foremost, 
 I want nothing more than these telegrams. They 
 tell their story in the brief wording of the wire that 
 
George II. Thomas. 261 
 
 seems to have vibrated with fear and anxiety. 
 Another fact goes to confirm this statement, and it 
 is a most deplorable one. Owing- to the poverty of 
 the Confederacy the prisoners taken by its armies 
 were subject not only to the most painful privation, 
 but were dying of disease and from exposure. The 
 Government at Washington, from a sense of hu 
 manity alone, was hurrying through exchanges as 
 rapidly as they could be arranged, when Grant 
 telegraphed Secretary Stanton that if this were 
 continued and thirty thousand healthy Confederates 
 added to the armies of the South it would prove the 
 ruin of Sherman. There seemed to be more anxiety 
 at headquarters over Sherman than about Thomas. 
 This, however, is easily accounted for, as, in addition 
 to the foregoing facts, there remained the further 
 one that the general commanding at Richmond had 
 sanctioned the March to the Sea, and must therefore 
 have been held responsible for the ruinous results 
 that stared the Government in the face. 
 
 During all this, General Thomas, regardless of the 
 clamor about him, proceeded calmly yet swiftly to 
 collect the detachments of his little army upon 
 which so much depended. He knew, as was also 
 well known at Washington, that he could count on 
 no reinforcements, save A. J. Smith s division from 
 Missouri, which was slow in coming. Every man at 
 the command of the War Department had been sent 
 to Grant and Sherman, and the last named had not 
 only deprived Thomas of all the troops he dared take, 
 
262 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 but had dismounted the cavalry and unhorsed the 
 artillery that he left behind to mount his own troops, 
 and marched away. We cannot wonder at the con 
 sternation felt at Washington and before Richmond, 
 but we do wonder at the cool, quiet courage of the 
 man, who, without complaint or remonstrance of any 
 sort, proceeded to do the best he could under circum 
 stances that would have discouraged one of less 
 heroic mould. 
 
 Sherman turned his back, leaving Hood on the 
 banks of the Tennessee with no force in position to 
 dispute his crossing. It is said in defence of Sherman, 
 who was then within a short distance of the Confed 
 erate Army, that he expected Hood to follow him. 
 Why the Confederate general should do this puzzles 
 one to understand. He could as well have disbanded 
 his army as have been guilty of any such folly. On 
 the contrary, with the country left at his mercy, even 
 without the expected co-operation of the French 
 emperor, he could by crossing the Tennessee cut the 
 communications with Chattanooga and Atlanta and, 
 moving on toward the Ohio, have undone in one 
 bloodless campaign all -that the Government had 
 accomplished in a three years expenditure of blood 
 and treasure. 
 
 Sherman abandoning his only proper objective, 
 Hood s army, marched away with the bulk of the 
 Army of the West splendidly equipped. Hood lay 
 on the south bank of the Tennessee with the crossing 
 at Florence in his grasp, his command, to use his 
 
George H. Thomas. 263 
 
 own words, " entirely recovered from the depression 
 created by frequent retreats," intact, and but 
 slightly, if at all, reduced in numbers. 
 
 Between Hood and Nashville, when his intentions 
 were finally fully developed, on his immediate front 
 were four small brigades of cavalry and, guarding 
 a line fifty miles in length from north of Pulaski to 
 Centreville on Duck River, eighteen thousand infan 
 try under General Schofield. His instructions from 
 General Thomas were to fight at Pulaski if the 
 enemy advanced against him in that direction, but if 
 Hood endeavored to turn his flank he was to concen 
 trate his command at Columbia on the line of Duck 
 River. Thomas was striving to hinder and delay 
 Hood until he could unite his forces from the scat 
 tered garrisons with recruits from the North and 
 the troops promised from Missouri, and then con 
 fronting the Confederate general offer a decisive 
 battle. 
 
 General Hood, after putting his army north of the 
 Tennessee, pushed forward and forced Schofield back 
 upon Columbia. The Missouri reinforcements un 
 der A. J. Smith were much delayed, and the new 
 recruits from the North and colored troops reporting 
 to Thomas did not more than fill the places vacated 
 by veterans discharged by reason of expiration of 
 service or sent home to vote, and it w r as necessary 
 to retard Hood s advance as much as possible. 
 
 Hood moved on Columbia and put in execution 
 his plan to hold Schofield at that point by a feigned 
 
264 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 attack upon his front ; while crossing- Duck River he 
 would throw seven divisions of infantry and a heavy 
 force of cavalry in the Union rear, and so annihilate 
 or capture Schofield s little army. He succeeded 
 admirably in deceiving* Schofield, a general open to 
 such treatment, placed his troops exactly where he in 
 tended and, but for the remarkable energy of Gen 
 eral Stanley, the errors of Hood s corps commanders, 
 and an almost miraculous combination of circum 
 stances would have captured Schofield s entire com 
 mand and assured the success of his northward 
 march. 
 
 General Thomas instructions to Schofield at this 
 stage were, that if he could not hold Columbia he 
 should fall back and take up a new position at Frank 
 lin. Schofield believed, as witness his own report, 
 that Hood had at least between forty or fifty thou 
 sand men. On the 28th of November his cavahy 
 commander reported that Hood was crossing Duck 
 River in force and moving on his rear. At 3.30 
 A.M. of the 29th, General Thomas instructed him by 
 telegraph, " I desire you to fall back from Colum 
 bia and take up your position at Franklin." 
 
 Hood, having crossed the river, moved at the 
 head of his army at daybreak and placed seven of 
 his divisions twelve miles in Schofield s rear, on his 
 line of retreat to Franklin, at Springhills. During 
 this movement of the enemy, regardless of General 
 Thomas order, General Schofield was leisurely wait 
 ing- further information. Half of one division of his 
 
George H. Thomas. 265 
 
 army was clown Duck River, and the remainder of his 
 command strung- along- the Franklin Pike from Co 
 lumbia to Spring-hills, with General Stanley and one 
 division of the old Fourth Corps in advance. At 3 
 P.M. General Schofield started from Columbia with 
 his rear division for Spring-hills. At that very hour 
 Hood, with his seven divisions, was in sight of the 
 town, and had ordered Cheatham s corps to take and 
 hold the Franklin Pike while he moved the remain 
 ing four divisions to his support. Here, then, were 
 seven Confederate divisions, closed up within sup 
 porting distance, with Schofield s line of retreat 
 almost in their grasp, and that general s three di 
 visions stretched over twelve miles of road, and 
 encumbered with heavy trains. 
 
 Fortunately for the safet^y of the Union Army, 
 which seemed hopelessly involved, General Stanley 
 with one division of the Fourth Corps of Thomas 
 old Army of the Cumberland entered Springhills 
 from the south as Hood s army moved on the place 
 from the west. 
 
 Deploying two brigades in a long, thin, weak line to 
 cover the town, he sent forward the remaining brigade 
 to cover the approaches and contest the advance of 
 the Confederates. Here, at this critical moment, 
 was one division against nearly the whole Confed 
 erate Army, with the fate of Thomas command, the 
 failure or success of Hood s campaign, and the very 
 salvation of the nation -depending on its steadiness 
 and courage. And a most gallant and obstinate 
 
266 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 defence they made, holding- the line from the early 
 afternoon until 7 P.M., when Schofield arrived seven 
 hours behind the Confederate general. 
 
 Schofield s little army had then, when night fell, 
 seven divisions of the enemy on its front and flank 
 and two pressing hard upon its rear, while its train 
 of five hundred wagons and artillery had to pass 
 close along and in front of the enemy s lines, in 
 order to escape toward Nashville. Thanks to the 
 splendid skill of General Stanley, and the coolness of 
 his men, the little army passed under the guns, and in 
 sight of the camps of the enemy, and fell rapidly 
 back upon Franklin. 
 
 There was not time to cross the Harpath Eiver 
 before Hood s exulting Confederates, now moving in 
 hot pursuit, should be upon them; part of the 
 National Army, therefore, faced about and took posi 
 tion south of Franklin, with their flanks resting 
 upon the river, and hastily threw up intrenchments 
 to cover the crossing of the trains and hold the 
 enemy in check until night should enable the whole 
 force to withdraw. 
 
 Here, considering the time it lasted, occurred one 
 of the most remarkable and bloodiest actions, and to 
 the Confederates one of the most signal disasters of 
 the war. 
 
 The Union forces were posted in a single in 
 trenched line, with only one brigade in reserve, and 
 with two brigades stationed in the open field, covered 
 only by a slight breastwork, a third of a mile in 
 
George H. Thomas. 267 
 
 front of the main line. The position of these brigades 
 was a grave error and came near resulting- in a 
 calamity. 
 
 When Hood s army arrived in view of the Union 
 position it was formed in column of attack, and, with 
 out a moment s hesitation, swept down in splendid 
 order to overwhelm the National troops. Led by 
 their general officers, knoAving their superior num 
 bers, and confident of victory, the Confederates came 
 on, and with a steadiness of movement under the 
 fire of the Federal guns that would have appalled 
 any but thoroughly disciplined troops. The two 
 advanced brigades, though resisting to the last, 
 were enveloped and brushed away, and, rushing 
 back, pursued and pursuers poured over the works 
 in a confused mass. Two Federal batteries were 
 seized in an instant and turned to enfilade the 
 National lines. Fortunately, one of the retreating 
 brigades, leaping over the parapet, turned and, firing 
 a volley into the enemy, manned part of the vacated 
 works. And then was made one of the most re 
 markable charges on record. The Reserve Bri 
 gade, placed there by no act of the commanding 
 general, but by the foresight of its commander, 
 without waiting for orders, and led by Colonel 
 Opdyke and General Stanley, who galloped on the 
 field at that moment, charged the victorious Con 
 federates, and, though suffering fearful loss, drove 
 them with the bayonet over the works, leaving 
 behind them hundreds of their dead and wounded. 
 
268 Men IT Ao Bared the Lnion. 
 
 The guns were turned again to the front with fatal 
 effect to the enemy. 
 
 Again and again Hood sent his charging columns 
 against the Union line, but in vain, and when night 
 fell upon the field, five of his generals lay dead 
 before the intrenchments, six were wounded, while 
 one thousand seven hundred and fifty enlisted men 
 were killed and four thousand wounded. 
 
 The credit of this victory belongs to Stanley and 
 Opdyke, and to General Cox, who commanded the 
 Twenty-third Corps. As for Schofield, he was across 
 the Harpath two miles in the rear, and so far from 
 the country being indebted to him for any display of 
 valor or foresight, the great risk and danger of this 
 action, as well as the peril at Springhills were the 
 result of his failure to promptly obey the orders of 
 General Thomas. 
 
 The army having escaped from the clutches of 
 Hood s vastly superior force, and crossed the Har 
 path in time to avoid another flanking move on the 
 part of the Confederates, was now drawn within the 
 defences of Nashville, and the preparations which 
 resulted in Hood s total overthrow were continued. 
 
 Now while the self-poise, calm courage, and great 
 energy of General Thomas during the progTess of 
 tins work must excite the admiration of all who 
 honor true manhood, the course of his superiors 
 in command can only give rise to astonishment and 
 derision. 
 
 Sherman, hundreds of miles away, ignorant of the 
 
George H. Thomas. 269 
 
 condition of affairs, but not ignorant of the fact that 
 Thomas had in front of him the very army that had 
 held a hundred thousand veterans under his own 
 command at bay for months, and which he feared to 
 march away from with less than sixty thousand 
 trained soldiers, telegraphed : 
 
 "Why he [Thomas] did not turn on him [Hood] 
 at Franklin after checking and discomfiting him, 
 surpasses my understanding." 
 
 Why Sherman with his greatly superior forces 
 did not " turn on him " when he lay within reach at 
 Florence, and make an end of him, before going on 
 his holiday jaunt to Savannah, surpasses the under 
 standing of all men save the wilfully blind, self-con 
 fident chieftains who write memoirs, and the incom 
 petent adulators who indite so-called history. 
 
 The policy of General Thomas was to avoid battle 
 until A. J. Smith s troops should join him, and his 
 scattered detachments could be united. Could he 
 have concentrated his forces at Franklin previous to 
 the action there, he would have risked a general en 
 gagement and doubtless could have routed and 
 dispersed Hood s army as he did afterwards at 
 Nashville. 
 
 However, as it was, the 1st of December found 
 General Thomas, with all the forces he could possibly 
 gather to stay the Confederate advance, within the 
 fortifications of Nashville. There has been much 
 writing on the subject of the comparative strength 
 of the armies that fought the battles in front of that 
 
2~0 Hen Who Saved the Union. 
 
 city. In this discussion the writers of memoirs and 
 alleged history, moved by petty jealousy, seem to 
 have joined hands with the Confederate general, 
 Hood, in endeavoring- to account for his overwhelm 
 ing defeat, by trying to augment the estimate of the 
 forces of General Thomas, while they make out the 
 Confederate Army as small as possible. 
 
 General Thomas estimated Hood s force at about 
 fifty thousand men, while he had, of all arms, includ 
 ing armed citizen employees, newly levied recruits 
 and untried colored troops, about that number at 
 Nashville, where it must be borne in mind he did not 
 fight the Confederate from behind intrenchments, 
 but marched out and drove him from his own in 
 utter rout. Certain it is that Hood marched into 
 Tennessee with the very army that had given Sher 
 man and his one hundred thousand veterans so much 
 trouble between Dalton and Atlanta, intact in its 
 organization, and slightly, if any, reduced in num 
 bers. 
 
 After Franklin Hood moved in pursuit of the re 
 treating Nationals, and taking up his position on the 
 hills in front of Nashville, with his flanks extended 
 toward the river on each side, threw up intrench 
 ments. Here, holding Thomas at bay, he proposed 
 to await his expected reinforcements from beyond 
 the Mississippi, and then, having crushed the Union 
 Army, move on in invasion of the North. 
 
 General Thomas addressed himself at once to the 
 task of drilling and consolidating the disconnected 
 
George H. Thomas. 271 
 
 detachments at his disposal, and forming- them into 
 an army. In this he succeeded as no other general 
 could have succeeded, and yet, at no time from first 
 to last, did he have what could be called an army in 
 the proper meaning- of that term. His command 
 consisted of detachments drawn from three armies, 
 some of which had been widely separated, and had 
 never campaigned or fought tog-ether. To these were 
 added new recruits, newly levied colored troops, and 
 undrilled armed citizens. The men of these different 
 commands had not been cemented together by the 
 trials and dangers of war, and had not that confi 
 dence in each other, that esprit de corps that makes 
 thousands as one, gives an army enthusiasm, and 
 renders it invincible. All this had to be supplied 
 and infused into the mass by the will-power, spirit, 
 and energy of the commanding- general. General 
 Thomas accomplished all this, and that in the face 
 of the greatest obstacles, quietly, with unbending 
 firmness, and unmoved by the almost insane efforts 
 of his superior officers to force him into action be 
 fore his army was prepared for the struggle. The 
 nation unquestionably owes more to the unselfish, 
 patriotic devotion and immovable firmness of George 
 H. Thomas at this critical moment than to the whole 
 war work of any other officer who wore her uniform 
 during the civil war. 
 
 Patting his army in the best condition possible in 
 the limited time allowed him, General Thomas de 
 clared his readiness to attack the enemy s works on 
 
2:2 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 the tenth clay of December, but to use his own words, 
 " a terrible storm of freezing" rain, covering the hills 
 and valleys with a sleet of ice," bound both Confed 
 erates and Nationals to their camps. It was impos 
 sible to move the troops. From Richmond s front 
 and from Washing-ton orders to attack poured in 
 upon him, but the calm, heroic man replied : 
 
 " I have troops ready to make the attack on the 
 enemy as soon as the sleet which covers the ground 
 has melted sufficiently to enable the men to march. 
 . . . It is utterly impossible for the troops to 
 ascend the slopes, or even move on level ground in 
 .anything 1 like order. ... I believe that an at 
 tack at this time would only result in a useless 
 sacrifice of life." 
 
 He was determined not to throw away the lives of 
 his men. The authorities seemed frantic. General 
 Logan was sent and reached Louisville on his way to 
 relieve Thomas, and Grant himself started for Nash 
 ville. But the Rock of Chickamauga stood firm. 
 Thanks to Divine Providence the friendly sunshine 
 arrived before the distinguished Logan, or his greatly 
 excited chief. The ice melted and General Thomas, 
 having called together his subordinates and explained 
 his plans, and having everything prepared whatever 
 might be the result, moved away from the fortifica 
 tions on the morning of Dec. 15th to a victory which, 
 in its completeness and results, was one of the most 
 important of the war, and, considering the vast inter 
 ests at stake, one of the most remarkable of all wars. 
 
George H. Thomas. 273 
 
 Delivering- a feint upon the enemy s rig-lit, General 
 Thomas moved a strong- column commanded by 
 General A. J. Smith, and supported by Wilson s 
 cavalry, upon his left. The cavalry, reaching- the 
 enemy s rear by a long circuit, dismounted and fell 
 upon him at the same instant the infantry assaulted 
 his front. The advance was made with great spirit 
 and vigor, and was successful at every point. 
 
 Night found the Confederates defeated in every 
 assault, driven from their lines, and forced to take 
 up and fortify a new position. 
 
 The 16th of December dawned on the National 
 Army confident of victory, and, as soon as the en 
 emy s new position could be developed, the columns 
 moved to the attack. The assault was successful 
 from right to left. The Confederates were driven, 
 routed and demoralized, from their intrenchments ; 
 thousands threw down their arms and surrendered, 
 while the remainder sought safety in a wild, disor 
 derly flight, abandoning- arms and material which 
 strewed the roads for miles. 
 
 General Hood himself, speaking of this rout, says : 
 
 " Our line, thus pierced, gave w r ay. Soon there 
 after it broke at all points, and I beheld for the first 
 and only time a Confederate army abandon the field 
 in confusion." 
 
 As for the cavalry, the delay caused by the re 
 mounting of which arm was so condemned by 
 General Grant, i-ts conduct was gallant beyond 
 precedent, and the value of its services cannot be 
 
274 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 overestimated. Indeed its action was brilliant in 
 the extreme and did great injury to the enemy. On 
 the 16th Hood despatched Chalmers : " For God s 
 sake drive the Yankee cavalry from our left or all is 
 lost." Thus was the wisdom of General Thomas 
 determined effort to put his cavalry in fighting trim 
 before battle made manifest and justified. 
 
 In fine, not to indulge in detail, the victory at Nash 
 ville was as complete over the envious doubters and 
 critics of Thomas as over Hood s shattered army. 
 
 I have given the military career of our hero 
 briefly and clearly as I could without going into the 
 mazes of detail that make such reading, to the 
 average reader, a tedious study. 
 
 One looks back over that career with a feeling of 
 wonder and admiration mingled with no little indig 
 nation. It is passing strange to see, in that wild 
 chaos of blunders and defeats, the work of incompe 
 tent pretenders, one man winning 1 continued success 
 and achieving great results for his Government, and 
 that over the obstacles thrown in his way by those 
 who should have held up his arms, and rejoiced at 
 his success. 
 
 " The tools to those who can handle them," said a 
 great philosopher, but here was a great man who 
 made the tools he handled. An army or a navy is 
 the work of a race and the growth of generations. 
 
 The machinery for killing, the art of war, is not a 
 spontaneous growth, and the war powers that have 
 dominated the earth have come to be such through 
 
George, H. Thomas. 275 
 
 long training 1 . This is what the great Mirabeau said 
 to the French Assembly when it proposed to create a 
 navy equal to that of Great Britain by a single act 
 of legislation : 
 
 " The English war marine has grown to what it is, 
 like the English oak of which the ships are built, 
 through the slow process of a thousand years. You 
 cannot have a navy without sailors, and sailors are 
 made through the dangers of the deep, from father 
 to son, until their home is on the wave. This cannot 
 be done by an act of legislation." 
 
 We Americans had been, through three centuries, 
 engaged in conquering a continent from the wilds of 
 nature, and from that work we turned to the civil 
 pursuits of a heal thy peace, and a prosperity that was 
 not only foreign to war, but in direct antagonism to 
 its deadly qualities. When, therefore, our civil war 
 came so unexpectedly it found us not only of a turn 
 hostile to its prosecution, but ignorant of all its 
 necessary training and discipline. In our struggle 
 to win civilization from a wilderness we had, it is 
 true, developed a heroic manhood. W^e had, there 
 fore, as General Thomas said, the best material on 
 earth of which to make soldiers. He alone of all our 
 generals took in and appreciated the situation. De 
 voting his wonderful personal magnetism and great 
 force of character, to say nothing of his patient perse 
 verance, to the task, he built up about him an army 
 that was irresistible. 
 
 I know that it is wrong to mar the dignified 
 
276 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 march of human affairs by the intervention of hero- 
 worship for an individual who, after all, is the crea 
 tion and not the creator. The whitecaps that mark 
 the coming 1 storm are the result, and not the cause 
 of the commotion. And yet, if ever a man lived to 
 justify this hero-worship next to Abraham Lincoln, 
 George H. Thomas was that man. Most men are 
 great through their defects, as the pearl of the oys 
 ter is from a diseased secretion ; so great traits in 
 great men are mostly the evidence of an unbalanced 
 force, bad it in itself. None of this applies to General 
 Thomas. I say, without hesitation, that, studying 
 his entire life minutely, and his character with disin 
 terested calmness, one cannot find a single flaw, or 
 the suspicion of a taint. He suffers from this. We 
 are told that the real magnificence of St. Peter s at 
 Rome is lost to the eye through its perfect propor 
 tions. General Thomas character was so well bal 
 anced, all the parts so admirably harmonized, that 
 he failed to dazzle the crowd. The most striking 
 thing about him was his constant quietness and self- 
 composure. On the trembling crisis of the war, 
 amid the roar of battle, when every second, almost, 
 seemed fraught with disaster or success, he stood 
 unmoved, with all his faculties as much under con 
 trol as the army he had trained. The next trait 
 that strikes us was the man s reserve. He seemed 
 shy and solitary, and, perhaps, lived the most lonely 
 life ever awarded a human being* upon whom rest 
 ed such grave responsibilities. Any attempted en- 
 
George H. Thomas. 277 
 
 croacliment upon this by the crowd was met by a 
 kindly dignity, while the praise of friends so embar 
 rassed him that it became painful to both. 
 
 Looking- back over the events of those four years, 
 now that time has cleared away much of the preju 
 dice and passion that blinds the world to the true 
 meaning- of these events, we can readily see that had 
 the popular military heroes been put in the field 
 when the Confederacy was in its strength they would 
 not have lasted thirty days. But the Confederacy 
 came to its fall as rapidly as it had risen into pow 
 er. The ten millions battling 1 with twenty-five 
 millions, with the resources for material in still 
 greater disproportion, went down, after the battle 
 of Gettysburg-, from sheer exhaustion, victories for 
 the North became possible, and so common men 
 loomed into uncommon proportions. That is all 
 of the story, so far as these popular favorites 
 are concerned. But we know now that if General 
 Thomas had been put in command of our armies in 
 the beginning of the war, that war would have been 
 shortened by two years without, probably, the loss 
 of a man wantonly and uselessly slaughtered through 
 the imbecility of the officer at the head of the armies. 
 
 The Government that gave this great man cold 
 neglect while the war went on, continued its ingrat 
 itude after the war had ceased. He who towered 
 above them all, whose achievements will grow 
 brighter as time goes on, was relegated to a subor 
 dinate command on the Pacific coast. He accepted 
 
278 Men Who Saved the Union. 
 
 this treatment as he had accepted all former slights, 
 with a calm dignity that not only forbade com 
 plaint, but seemed, to wipe out the insult of neglect. 
 
 George H. Thomas was not a politician, and 
 could not be used by politicians. He could not, like 
 Grant, be the head of one part}-, nor like McClellan, 
 the idol of another. The war in which he had been 
 so conspicuous had ended, and unless he sold him 
 self to one or the other of the political organizations, 
 there was nothing left him but the quiet of an 
 uneventful life. Efforts were made by many of 
 his enthusiastic friends to make him gifts in evidence 
 of their admiration and gratitude. He said in refer 
 ence to their efforts in this direction : 
 
 "If you have anything to spare, give it to my 
 men, who really accomplished all for which you 
 give me credit, and they need your help." 
 
 He had finished his work, and he left the world to 
 make such record as the world saw fit. There was 
 only one moment when he swerved from this, and 
 that moment was his dying one. Stung to the quick 
 by the printed lies that aimed to elevate unworthy 
 inferiors at his expense, upon the strength of what he 
 had accomplished, he seized his pen to remonstrate. 
 Death put its kind hand upon his great heart, and 
 friends found him seated at his table, his head resting 
 upon his arm, all unconscious, and the remonstrance 
 unfinished. 
 
 They who knew him best and loved him most, his 
 devoted soldiers, gathered the cannon they had cap- 
 
George H. Thomas. 279 
 
 tured, and, with the consent of the Government, 
 erected a bronze monument to his memory, at the 
 capital his genius did so much to save. 
 
 The work of genius commemorating- genius, it 
 stands among the works of art that adorn the 
 National Capital as he stood before the world more 
 perfect than all the rest. Sitting calm as was his 
 wont, upon a steed that seems trembling with power 
 under his control, he appears the genius of Victory 
 mastering the brute forces of War. 
 
 Thus ends the story, of a heroic life that closes like 
 the dying strains of a grand opera, through which 
 all the deepest, sweetest, and most lofty emotions of 
 the human heart have been thrilled into a new life, 
 and the dreary commonplaces of our ordinary being 
 lifted to the higher plane of a purer and more perfect 
 existence. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 McCLELLAN S OWN STOEY. 
 
 SINCE my article on Stanton went to print a book has 
 been published under the above title. It is made up of a 
 biographical sketch, written by W. C. Prime, and ex 
 tracts from General McClellan s letters to his wife. 
 
 Mr. Prime s notion of a life seems to have been taken 
 from Macbeth, where the royal assassin says : 
 
 " Life s but a walking shadow ; a poor player, 
 That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, 
 And then is heard no more ; it is a tale 
 Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 
 Signifying- nothing. " 
 
 One gathers from it that McClellan and McClellan s 
 hundred thousand men lived by the consent of Stanton, 
 and that Stanton was a weak, bad man. 
 
 A man s greatness can be measured by his enemy. "We 
 are all born to have a giant to kill, and as a man selects 
 his giant he instinctively takes one giving him some chance 
 of success. To benefit the memory of McClellan, Mr. Prime 
 should have augmented his giant, instead of seeking to be 
 little him, for the world knows that McClellan did not 
 destroy Stanton. But Stanton was not the young Napo 
 leon s giant ; a gentleman by the name of Lee held, for a 
 brief space, that position, and he made short work of our 
 great organizer. 
 
 One rises from a reading of "McClellan s Own Story" 
 with a feeling of depression. It is of sorrow for the author. 
 It were better for his memory had he left his story all un- 
 
Appendix. 281 
 
 told. As the matter stood in the popular mind, he appeared 
 a rather strong man, who went out with a huge army, 
 fought his way to within sight of the Confederate capital, 
 and, although defeated and driven back, yet towered up as 
 a military hero, who, after all these fearful disasters, was 
 solicited by the Government to again take command, and 
 closed his military career with the drawn battle of Antie- 
 tam. We all know what the Confederacy was when he 
 did this fighting. The belief is reasonable that had the 
 latter-day saints, Grant and Sherman, been in command 
 at that time, the result would have been more disastrous 
 than it was. 
 
 "McClellan s Own Story" destroys all these conclusions 
 in his favor. We are awakened to the fact that he was a 
 weak man, cautious almost to cowardice. I mean by this 
 that he lacked that high quality known as moral courage. 
 His one plea, put forward at the beginning, and dwelt upon 
 to the last, is based upon the monstrous assertion that Lin 
 coln was an imbecile, controlled by Stanton, Chase, and 
 Seward, and that these three, especially Stanton, hated him 
 so intensely that they were all the time interfering to de 
 feat his army, in order that they might destroy him. The 
 world is not prepared for this, and the world were a bed 
 lam could such assertion prevail ; and yet, eliminate this 
 from the book, and nothing remains. Of course, no one is 
 called on to combat such a wild assertion. We are saved 
 even a denial. Left standing, it tells the melancholy fact 
 that George B. McClellaii was a singularly weak man ; 
 one that nothing but West Point could have made possible 
 under the circumstances. These circumstances make one 
 shudder. Not only were a hundred thousand brave fel 
 lows subjected to peril at the hands of such a man, but the 
 Government itself was on the brink of destruction. 
 
 McClellan took command at Washington on the 27th 
 day of July, 1861, and never moved his army until March, 
 1862. 
 
282 Appendix. 
 
 During all this time he was said to be organizing, and it 
 is claimed for him that he was a great military organizer. 
 Let us see : The troops came to Washington in regiments. 
 These he assigned to brigades, and formed brigades into 
 divisions. This any man could have accomplished in a 
 month. To clothe, equip, and provide tents and transpor 
 tation for a hundred thousand men was the work of the 
 Quartermaster-General, and General Van Vleit did this 
 work, and did it admirably. What remained was merely 
 the drill, and this the troops never got. Yet it is hardly 
 fair to hold McClellan responsible for this. The armed 
 conflict came suddenly upon a people unused to war, and 
 all the business of preparing men for war was new and 
 strange to us. The volunteers elected their officers, and the 
 officers so elected were as ignorant of military tactics as 
 were their constituents. As I have said elsewhere, all that 
 is taught at West Point is the drill of the private. There 
 is nothing else of war to teach. The West Point drill-ser 
 geants were all made generals, and this left the army of 
 raw recruits without the most necessary part of its organi 
 zation. 
 
 One marvels at McClellaii s long delay. Had the forces 
 opposed to him been well-disciplined veterans, there would 
 have been some object in the weary preparations attempted. 
 But the Confederates were as raw as our own militia, al 
 though they were far more disposed to take the initiative 
 than we were. The* great evil wrought in this delay came 
 from McClellan s methods. These destroyed the little 
 morale our army possessed. Satisfied that he was not pre 
 pared for war, his main effort consisted in keeping the 
 peace. One order came to be familiar, and that was not to 
 bring on an engagement, while daily bulletins assured the 
 waiting world that all was quiet on the Potomac. Exag 
 gerating in his own cautious, if not timid, mind the strength 
 of the enemy, he infused among his hundred and fifty 
 thousand men the f ear of some awful danger that lay coiled 
 
Appendix. 283 
 
 and ready to strike immediately beyond Munson s Hill. 
 When that little affair at Ball s Bluff occurred, in which 
 the gallant Baker fell, and his command was cut to pieces, 
 although a huge force, that might have come to his relief, 
 was lying within striking distance, a feeling of alarm settled 
 upon army and Government ; and instead of a court of in 
 quiry, called to ascertain why these men were left to be 
 slaughtered, the young Napoleon was sympathized with, 
 because his general order not to bring on engagements had 
 been treated with such indifference. 
 
 The best, indeed the only discipline to give raw recruits 
 was to be found in daily skirmishing with the enemy. Had 
 we been given a dozen, or, if possible, a hundred Ball s 
 Bluffs, our volunteers would have learned the one impor 
 tant lesson that comes of experience under fire ; so that, 
 when the time came to move the army, it would have been 
 an army of veterans. McClellaii succeeded only in keeping 
 it a militia, and cultivated the dread of an unknown foe, 
 until to a lack of drill was added a woful lack of morale. 
 
 And now we learn from " McClellan s Own Story," 
 honestly told, that all this time, during all this weary wait 
 ing, he was solving a grand scheme for a campaign, so 
 subtle, original, and bold that he dared not submit it to his 
 Government. There existed an ignorance on the part of 
 the Administration that almost justifies the contempt shown 
 on the part of McClellaii. Upon the common fact, so gen 
 erally recognized, of exaggerating the unknown, the civil 
 ians called to power jumped to the conclusion that war is a 
 science that, like law or medicine, has to be taught, and 
 that the choicest intellect would be at a loss in applying its 
 rules, unless first carefully trained and instructed. We 
 have not yet learned that beyond the mere school of the 
 soldier there is nothing to learn, and the ablest graduate of 
 West Point has been taught nothing, useful in battle, that 
 the private, if well drilled, does not possess. 
 
 That ignorance of the situation existed in Washington 
 
Ub4 Appendix. 
 
 accounts for President Lincoln and his Secretary of War 
 dancing attendance on a full-breasted, epauletted specimen 
 of the weakest commonplace accident ever called to power. 
 The President very respectfully asked the confidence of his 
 general, and got, in return, a solemn shake of the head. 
 The President could not be trusted, and yet all that the sol 
 emn shake of the head carried was a campaign that had 
 Richmond for its objective point. Now, Richmond was a 
 place of no strategic or political importance. It could have 
 been occupied by our Government without fetching us any 
 nearer to a solution of the questions involved in the war. 
 It was different with our capital, the loss of which to us 
 meant foreign intervention. It would have been a fact, 
 conclusive in the eyes of foreign governments, that we had 
 failed in our attempt to subjugate the South. As for Rich 
 mond, as Wendell Phillips said so tersely, "Lee carried 
 Richmond at his saddle-bow." To defeat Lee was not only 
 to capture Richmond, but to end the war. 
 
 The young Napoleon of the Grand Duchess of Gherol- 
 stein summed up the art of war when he said that his plan of 
 campaign was "to find the enemy and whip him." The 
 enemy was McClellan s true objective point, and one mar 
 vels why he should have moved his vast army over a detour 
 of three hundred miles, by land and water, at an enormous 
 expense, to find his enemy, when that enemy was at his 
 front, on the Potomac. If he were defeated there, such de 
 feat would throw him back 011 his line of supplies ; and if 
 victorious, he would cut the enemy s source of supply and 
 drive him to the sea. 
 
 Long after this the Government awakened to the neces 
 sity of this sort of campaign, and Grant, with a hundred 
 and forty thousand veterans, was put upon a line on which 
 he said he would fight it out if it took all summer. The 
 summer came to a sudden end in the Wilderness, into which 
 our general tumbled an army he had not the ability to han 
 dle. With a hundred and forty thousand men our greatest 
 
Appendix. 285 
 
 general of the nineteenth ceiitur}^" could have put in sixty 
 thousand to be slaughtered by Lee, who only had that num 
 ber, while with the remaining eighty thousand he flanked 
 the Confederates. But the general, who scorned strategy, 
 and believed in continual "hammering," suddenly aban 
 doned the "hammering" on the summer line, and swung 
 over to that made memorable by McClellan. 
 
 The water-line was more available to Grant than it had 
 been for the young Napoleon, for the ironclads invented by 
 Fremont made the water-courses admirable highways for 
 our armies. A few such off Yorktown would have enabled 
 McClellan to move on toward Richmond without the delay 
 that came of earthworks and siege-guns to reduce the 
 enemy s fortifications. 
 
 The sudden and rapid transit of a hundred and ten thou 
 sand troops, due to the energy and intelligence of General 
 Van Vleit, evidently surprised the Confederates, and made 
 the stand at Yorktown a necessity, to enable them to con 
 centrate their available forces before Richmond. This being 
 accomplished, they fell back in good order, easily defeating 
 McClellan s pursuing forces at Williamsburgh. 
 
 Why this movement should have been made was as much 
 a mystery to the Confederate Government as the ease and 
 rapidity of its accomplishment were a surprise. The stand 
 at Yorktown had, therefore, to be made. Had McClellan 
 known how thin was the line opposed to him, he would 
 have tumbled his troops over the hastily-constructed works 
 before the heavy rains that, following heavy cannonading, 
 had swelled that sluggish stream, the Chickahomiiiy, to the 
 size of a formidable river. But the trouble with McClellan 
 was a regular, habitual exaggeration of the strength of the 
 forces opposed to him. There has appeared, at the same 
 time with " McClellan s Own Story," " Long s Life of Lee," 
 and, reading the two books together, we have light from 
 both sides thrown upon the situation, and learn that the 
 Confederate general had eighty thousand men to oppose 
 the one hundred and ten thousand under McClellan. 
 
286 Appendix. 
 
 Dragging- his heavy guns over roads rendered almost im 
 passable by rains, marching his troops ankle-deep in mud, 
 McClellan reached the Chickahominy, and on that insignifi 
 cant stream broke the back of his army, by getting one-half 
 over just as the sudden rain swept away the rude bridges, 
 leaving the other half as harmless to the enemy as though 
 it had been within the fortifications at Washington. The 
 Confederates were not slow to avail themselves of this op 
 portunity, and, concentrating their entire army, fell upon 
 the half within reach and brought the advance on Rich 
 mond to a disastrous close. 
 
 McClellan claims that this came of McDowell and his 
 forty thousand men being withdrawn from his command. 
 Looking calmly over the ground, one cannot see that Mc 
 Dowell could have prevented this catastrophe had he been 
 subject to McClellan s orders. It is more than doubtful 
 whether a junction of the two commands could have been 
 effected in time to save the helpless forces on the Chicka 
 hominy. Taking our armies in detail, the active, enterpris 
 ing enemy could have ended the war by the capture of our 
 capital. General McClellan should not have complained 
 of the Government for exercising the same caution for 
 which he was himself distinguished. 
 
 The seven days 1 fighting, or rather retreating toward the 
 James, with enough loss of material to arm and equip Lee s 
 army, ended with the battle of Malvern Hill, where a few 
 subordinate officers and one-third of our army almost anni 
 hilated the enemy. Had McClellan followed up this ad 
 vantage, he could have reorganized his army within the 
 corporate limits of Richmond. We have it from "Long s 
 Life of Lee " that the Confederate general, being a pious 
 man, thanked God for every day given him to fortify and 
 place his shattered forces in a position for defence. 
 
 Another grave charge made in this story of the imitation 
 Napoleon is that the Government put a stop to recruiting 
 at a time when, in desperation, he was calling for rein- 
 
Appendix. 287 
 
 forcements. Secretary Stanton learned from Secretary 
 Chase that the Government was straining its credit to the 
 breaking point, and this weakening of our credit by defeat 
 brought our resources dangerously near the end. Capital, 
 ever cautious, had no touch of patriotism, and all the Gov 
 ernment was capable of doing began and ended in an ap 
 peal to the laborers who gave their toil and bodies to the 
 service. Again, what a general who required eight months 
 to organize an army could expect to do with raw recruits 
 the author of his "Own Story " fails to tell. 
 
 McClellan made a continuation of his operations on the 
 James dependent on a fresh supply of troops. He wanted 
 McDowell s command, and the Government, that had seen 
 his huge army driven back, lacked the confidence neces 
 sary to uncovering Washington, in order to trust all in his 
 incompetent hands. General Grant, in his "Memoirs," ex 
 presses his opinion, by implication, that McClellan should 
 have been trusted, and pronounces Stanton a poor, timid 
 creature for hesitating to comply. We can only say that if 
 Grant had been in command at the time no such emergency 
 could have arisen. The campaign that left a highway of 
 human bones, furnished by our brave men, between the 
 Rapidaii and Richmond, where the thinned ranks and ex 
 hausted resources of the Confederacy presented only the 
 skeleton of an army, tells a story that destroys General 
 Grant s power as a military critic. 
 
 The Government could furnish no more food for powder 
 to the impatient general, and both he and his army were 
 withdrawn from the James at a ruinous sacrifice, and all 
 returned again to the fortifications at Washington ; and 
 there occurred an event which " McClellan s Own Story" 
 fails to justify, or even explain. Upon the withdrawal of 
 our army from the James, Lee hurried his entire force 
 of eighty thousand men to the Rapidaii, for the purpose of 
 overwhelming the troops under Pope before McClellan 
 could come to the rescue. When the great Confederate 
 
283 Appendix. 
 
 chief found himself face to face with Pope s army, to ac 
 complish which he had marched rapidly, he was guilty of 
 the strangest false manoeuvre ever put to military record. 
 He divided his army in two, and sent one-half through 
 Thoroughfare Gap, to the rear of Pope. He lost three days 
 at a time when every hour held the fate of the Confeder 
 acy, and at the end of that time awakened to the fact that, 
 instead of overwhelming Pope, he had completely reversed 
 conditions, and put half of his army in between Pope and 
 McClellan. The half he held on Pope s front was not 
 within supporting distance of the apparently doomed men 
 so strangely thrown into the trap, and had McClellan co 
 operated with Pope and closed in on the Confederates, they 
 would have been doomed, and the war ended on the same 
 battlefield where it began. 
 
 McClellan was at Alexandria, and the larger part of his 
 army was in position to move. One reads the telegrams 
 and orders between the Government and the general with 
 amazement and indignation. To the almost frantic appeals 
 of the Government to hurry forward his forces there came 
 responses so insolent that they are hard to believe. When 
 he coolly advised the Government to let Pope get out of 
 his scrape as best he could, the young Napoleon should 
 have been shot by a drum-head court-martial. The roar 
 of the terrible conflict was in his ears, and it was not Pope, 
 but the thousands of brave fellows under him, who were 
 being killed or mangled in a vain struggle that might have 
 been made a startling victory. 
 
 As it was, Longstreet, by forced marches, arrived in time 
 to succor Jackson and turn a disastrous affair, on the part 
 of Lee, into a victory. The only part of McClellan s army 
 that reached the field in time to be of service was the corps 
 under Fitz-John Porter, and he refused co-operation at a 
 time when it was of vital importance. Had he made a 
 demonstration, instead of lying idle all of the 29th, he would 
 have defeated Stonewall Jackson, for he was on the flank 
 
Appendix. 289 
 
 of the rebel forces. Or if, as he claims, Long-street had 
 arrived, and was at his front, he would have made that fact 
 clear, and have given Pope the light he needed to cause 
 him to fall back behind Centreville. Fitz-Jolm Porter was 
 tried by the court that condemned, and the court that ac 
 quitted, on certain orders Pope had sent him. These or 
 ders had nothing whatever to do with the issue. His duty 
 as a soldier was in the unwritten laws of war To under 
 stand this, let the reader suppose for a moment that Mc- 
 Clellan had held the place filled by Pope, would this man 
 Porter have waited for orders ? He was brave and capable, 
 but the same disloyal spirit his chief showed in the tele 
 grams from Alexandria held his subordinate to a sneering 
 indifference and inaction, while his comrades were being 
 slaughtered to no purpose. 
 
 That, after all this, McClellan should have been rein 
 stated in his command, only goes to show the state of dis 
 tress to which the Government was reduced. McClellan 
 was fairly worshipped by his troops, but this popularity he 
 had gained at the expense of the Government. The man 
 who, through all his story, speaks contemptuously of the 
 poor creatures," Lincoln, Stanton, and Chase, and laments 
 the unhappy condition of his country as subject to such 
 malignant imbeciles, had taught his soldiers this ; and, in 
 addition, that this Abolition Administration at Washington 
 had abandoned them to their fate. This feeling was so rife 
 among the rank and file that when President Lincoln vis 
 ited the army on the James, it was feared that he would be 
 insulted, and orders were issued for the troops to cheer on 
 his appearance. It was necessary to fetch the army back 
 to the fortifications of Washington before venturing to 
 change commanders, and when the army was before Wash 
 ington the President feared a mutiny, should he remove 
 McClellan, and it certainly would have occurred had an 
 attempt been made to supersede him with Pope, a man 
 whose military capability and patriotism put him head and 
 
290 Appendix. 
 
 shoulders above McClellan and his group of West Point 
 ers. 
 
 Looked at from a purely military point of view, there 
 was no necessity for superseding McClellan. He was cer 
 tainly superior to his immediate successors, Burnside, 
 Hooker, and Meade, and compared favorably with the ma 
 jority of commanders distinguished in the war. Except 
 Thomas and Rosecrans, all learned the art of war through 
 defeat. It was an awful school, built on bones and cemented 
 with the best blood of the country, but it was accepted. The 
 blood and bones are nearly forgotten. The vast cemeteries 
 of silent dead serve a purpose, when visited once a year to 
 strew flowers over the humble graves, but the nation thinks 
 only of the few leaders who won monuments through 
 incapacity. 
 
 However, the memory of McClellan survives the war 
 in glory because he was a Democrat, precisely as Grant has 
 his monument in the hearts of the Republicans for that he 
 loaned his name to secure a perpetuation of their power. 
 The greater man than either, the grandest soldier of all, 
 George Henry Thomas, has dust gathering on his humble 
 tomb, because he scorned the dirty arena where such repu 
 tations were made. 
 
 McClellan can be summed up in few words. 
 
 He had the egotism of a weak character, that he and his 
 friends mistook for the confidence of genius. This made 
 him arrogant on parade and timid in the presence of a grave 
 responsibility. He habitually magnified obstacles into im 
 possibilities, and deferred great deeds to a future that had no 
 possibility. A brave soldier, he made a timid general, and 
 thus when he broke the back of his huge army on the 
 Chickahominy, he stood resolutely by the half not engaged, 
 and while the battle of Malvern Hill was raging he consult 
 ed maps and planned campaigns in a gunboat on the James. 
 
 McClellan would have been continued in command had 
 he confined himself to his military duties. But he had an 
 
Appendix. 291 
 
 evil genius unknown to himself and unknown to both 
 friends and enemies. At Cincinnati, shortly after being 
 called from civil life to the camp, McClellan selected the 
 Hon. Stanley Mathews, then of the Superior Court of Cin 
 cinnati, now Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, to serve on his staff as Judge Advocate. When this 
 became known, and before Judge Mathews had accepted 
 the place, Judge Thomas M. Key approached the newly- 
 selected Judge Advocate, with a request that he would de 
 cline in his favor. Judge Mathews complied, and Key was 
 thus brought in personal contact with the man he was to 
 dominate. 
 
 How strangely human events seem to turn on trifles ! 
 Had Judge Mathews refused to give way, McClellan would 
 not have been saved the terrible defeats 011 the Chickahom- 
 iny, but, like all the others, save Thomas and Rosecrans, he 
 would have been permitted to learn the art of war through 
 defeat, instead of being summarily dismissed for having 
 tried the role of political oracle and dictator to the Adminis 
 tration. 
 
 A native of Kentucky, Thomas M. Key was imbued from 
 birth with the peculiar traits of the South ; but, while im 
 pulsive in his ways, differed from his associates in being a 
 student. To his naturally great ability he added wide and 
 varied stores of knowledge. Called to the Superior Court 
 of Cincinnati, at an early age for such a position, he won 
 the respect of the bar by the dignity of his bearing, his sin 
 gular legal acumen, and the courage of his decisions. He 
 procured position on McClelland staff, and not only Avon 
 the confidence of his general, but, from an eccentricity of 
 genius, sought to lose himself in the man. He seemed sat 
 isfied in this self-immolation through the sense of power it 
 gave, and the strong assertion of the peculiar views with 
 which the confidential aid was penetrated. 
 
 General McClellan was a Democrat because he was a 
 West Pointer. That little school on the Hudson was, as I 
 
292 Appendix. 
 
 have said elsewhere, more of a social than a military affair. 
 As we copied the organization of our army from the Eng 
 lish, whose born aristocracy furnished officers, we sought 
 to make an aristocracy through a school, where the cadet 
 should graduate into a command, with a great gulf fixed 
 between himself and the private soldier. As the South, be 
 fore the late war, furnished us with our social aristocracy, 
 and as the South was Democratic, the officer gravitated into 
 that political condition. Of the traditions, teachings, and 
 principles of the Democratic party McClellan knew as little 
 as any other West Point graduate. 
 
 A brilliant conversationalist, Key was, at the same time, 
 a charming companion, two qualities seldom found in the 
 same person. The suggestive mind given to expression in 
 talk is apt to bore the listener with a persistency of views 
 that either weary or offend. Key had the subtle flattery of 
 a listening face. He practised this on McClellan, not be 
 cause of McClellan s superior rank, for at the time he was 
 only a militia general, having been selected by the Gover 
 nor of Ohio to organize the State volunteers. It was the 
 practice of Key s life to listen much and talk little. He felt 
 the truth of the saying, attributed to Mirabeau, that to suc 
 ceed in life one must be content to learn from those who 
 know less on a given subject than the listener. Key soon 
 possessed and controlled McClellan without the soldier s 
 being aware of his lost identity. He died in this ignorance, 
 and the man speaking through him, and who proved his 
 ruin, was as unknown to his victim as he is to the world. 
 
 McClellan became a Key Democrat, and it was a strange 
 mixture of Abolitionism, States rights, patriotism, and a love 
 of the South. Key wanted the Southern armies defeated 
 and the States recognized as they were before the war. He 
 sought to free the slaves and compensate the masters. He 
 upheld the Government, but despised Lincoln, Stan ton, and 
 Seward ; in a word, he had a deep-seated contempt for the 
 Administration. 
 
Appendix. 293 
 
 I am giving from letters and memory the peculiar opin 
 ions of Key, and the reader can verify them by examining 
 " McClellan s Own Story." He can find them, more espe 
 cially, condensed in that extraordinary letter which the de 
 feated general gave with liis own hand to the President at 
 Harrison s Bar. One reads of that incident and studies that 
 letter with amazement, not unmingled with amusement. 
 That a man of McClellan s calibre should take upon himself 
 the task of teaching Abraham Lincoln his political duties 
 fills one with a sense of the ludicrous, and laughter is only 
 restrained by the gravity of the assumption. The general, 
 coming forth from fields of defeat, takes on himself all the 
 duties of the Government which he has so grievously em 
 barrassed. 
 
 This has but one parallel in the history of the war, and 
 that occurred when General Sherman, the hero of disaster, 
 undertook to settle all the complicated terms of reconstruc 
 tion, in accepting the surrender of Johnson s army. 
 
 The press of the United States, always silly when excited, 
 made McClellan a great man in the eyes of his army. It was 
 Key, aided by McClellan s military household, that supple 
 mented this with a contempt and hatred for the Administra 
 tion. The soldiers were taught to regard the authorities at 
 Washington as nothing other than a nest of Abolitionists, 
 that had abandoned them to disease and death upon the 
 James ; willing to consign them to destruction, that their 
 beloved leader might be removed. Small wonder that these 
 poor fellows scowled at President Lincoln, and could scarcely 
 be restrained from open insult, while they cheered to the 
 echo their general, as he dashed along their ranks, physically 
 a superb specimen of epauletted greatness. 
 
 Matters grew serious in this direction. The reader who 
 doubts has only to turn to " McClellan s Own Story," and he 
 will find every page bristling with assertions and assump 
 tions in the way I indicate. Key himself grew alarmed. He 
 told me, long after those days, that, while on the James, he 
 
294 Appendix. 
 
 and McClellan were riding in from a visit to a distant camp, 
 where the soldiers, breaking- ranks, had crowded about him, 
 filling the air with cheers, when, after a long silence, Mc 
 Clellan said : 
 
 How these brave fellows love me, and what a power that 
 love places in my hands ! What is there to prevent my 
 taking the Government in my own hands ? " 
 
 Key was startled, and hastened to say: " General, don t 
 mistake those men. So long as you lead them against the 
 enemy, they will adore and die for you ; but attempt to turn 
 them against their Government, and you will be the first to 
 suffer." 
 
 The answer irritated McClellan. He replied with his 
 spurs, urging his horse into a gallop, and leaving Key, with 
 his inferior mount, to follow as he might. Both Key and the 
 Government were unnecessarily alarmed. Crimes classify 
 themselves, not only by the inclination, but the ability of the 
 criminals. A sneak-thief is not a burglar, nor is a burglar 
 intuitively a murderer. McClellan was not the sort of man 
 to endanger the Government by treason, for he came near 
 wrecking it through the very weakness that saved him from 
 being a Catiline. 
 
 Key was his evil genius. He shut him out from the school 
 of generalship based on defeat, that in the end would, prob 
 ably, have won him success. Looking back, it is astonishing 
 to note the amount of important work accomplished by the 
 man so unknown to history. All the time McClellan was 
 organizing about Washington, Key was busy bringing about 
 the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. It seems 
 strange now that there should have been any difficulty. 
 But the Republican party was new and exceedingly timid. 
 It could enact a prohibitory tariff, and so offend all Europe ; 
 but it dare not free one slave, for fear of angering the Demo 
 crats. The man who subsequently took to himself the credit 
 of accomplishing this measure, Senator Wilson, of Massa 
 chusetts, was its most bitter opponent. He gave way at the 
 
Appendix. 295 
 
 last moment, when the success of the move was assured, and 
 then, hurrying to the front, led the majority, and claimed 
 all the reward. 
 
 The work of making McClellan a political oracle was 
 overdone. The Government at Washington took the alarm. 
 As I have said, it was an unnecessary panic. The only offi 
 cials who remained calm were Lincoln and Seward. The 
 first did so because he had taken the measure of the young 
 Napoleon, and the other for that he understood the ele 
 ments at work, and knew that, as Key had said, the vol 
 unteers could not be used against the Government they 
 had enlisted to preserve. They represented the American 
 people, and while the American people may succumb, 
 helplessly, to an incorporated monopoly, or the continua 
 tion of such, they will never tolerate a military dictator. 
 McClellan was doomed. The great characters at the cap 
 ital, called by a wise Providence to the control of our 
 Government, when that GoA ernment trembled on the verge 
 of ruin, used McClellan so far as he could be made use 
 ful, and then quietly set him aside. The man who hon 
 estly sought to make him great made him a failure. 
 "McClellan s Own Story" should tell this, but the name 
 of his familiar seldom appears, and when it does, it is as 
 that of an orderly. This obscurity suited Key. Had his 
 chief been a great success, this shrinking from observation 
 would have been the same. This was not the result of a 
 morbid condition. It seemed to be the normal and healthy 
 nature of the man. When he returned to Cincinnati, to die 
 from disease contracted on the field of Antietam, he pur 
 chased a lot in Spring Grove Cemetery, and erected a mon 
 ument, upon which he would permit no inscription, not 
 even his name. Loving hands have since supplied the 
 necessary legend of birth and death, but in lieu thereof 
 there should be inscribed upon the obelisk : The Evil 
 Genius of George B. McClellan ! 
 
296 Appendix. 
 
 GRANT AND SHERMAN ON THOMAS. 
 
 THE student of history who confines himself to the Memoirs 
 of Grant and Sherman for the standing of Thomas will be 
 poorly informed, or rather deplorably misinformed. The 
 patronizing manner in which the hero of Nashville is 
 damned with faint praise would amuse were it not so exas 
 perating. Both these popular idols unite in commending 
 Thomas as an excellent officer, but too slow to be entrusted 
 with a separate command. 
 
 He was slow to cause useless slaughter of the brave 
 soldiers under his command, but he was swift to strike when 
 the stroke became urgent and promised success, and the 
 fact that he never suffered defeat proves the soundness of 
 his judgment. His loving heart made him shrink from 
 needless loss of the noble troops depending on his soldierly 
 ability, while his patriotic impulses made life as nothing 
 when his country demanded the sacrifice. 
 
 He was not the man to order a hopeless assault on an im 
 pregnable position that could have been turned without 
 loss, as it subsequently was, and send in a report of the loss 
 of fifteen hundred killed and wounded, with the excuse that 
 he had wasted these lives to teach his troops that the old man 
 would fight. 
 
 reneral Thomas was not the man to expose his camp, in 
 the presence of the enemy, to a shameful surprise and a hor 
 rible butchery while he remained drinking on a gunboat 
 ten miles from the scene of disaster. 
 
 Nor could George H. Thomas have remained in his tent 
 for three days while, under the scorching midsummer s sun 
 of a southern clime, hundreds of his dead lay rotting, and 
 his wounded writhing in agony on the awful slope he had 
 
Appendix. 297 
 
 wantonly assaulted, until the agonizing 1 cries of the one, and 
 the stench of the other, sweeping over Vicksburg, filled the 
 Confederates with horror, and brought, under a flag of truce, 
 a message which said: 
 
 "For God s sake remove your dead and care for your 
 wounded or I will." 
 
 I know the accepted excuse for this is that our great gen 
 eral, when he ordered the assault and left his dead and 
 dying uncared for, was under the influence of that whis 
 key which President Lincoln wished distributed among our 
 other generals. - 
 
 General George Henry Thomas fought his way through 
 to renown under the disfavor of the Government he served, 
 and he survived the war to suffer keeiity the neglect and 
 cold commendation of his associates in arms, who were jeal 
 ous of his success and fearful of his fame. He was not the 
 man to complain, but that he felt deeply the following letter 
 tells. So silent was he that the few words he put to paper 
 speak volumes. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., March 8, 1869. 
 DR. J. S. HALE. 
 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 I could not possibly have any influence, because General 
 Grant is not a friend of mine, and would not be disposed to 
 accommodate me in any way, if public opinion did not com 
 pel him to do so. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 GEO. H. THOMAS. 
 
298 Appendix. 
 
 VON MOLTKE AS A CRITIC. 
 
 IT is the habit of the newspaper guild to scoff at criticisms 
 made by civilians on war matters, as something impudent 
 and absurd. Thus when Mr. Samuel R. Reid published his 
 masterly dissection of Grant s conduct at Vicksburg, the 
 only response was a sneer at a man who never set a squad 
 ron in the field presuming to criticise the war men and their 
 campaigns. 
 
 These gentlemen forget, if they ever knew, that all we 
 have of accepted war records comes from the pens of civil 
 ians. To enforce their rule would be to take from our libra 
 ries all the great histories of a troubled past. The men- 
 killers are not gifted as authors, and when they do indulge 
 their efforts are not reliable. To lie like a bulletin has come 
 to be a proverb, and a bulletin is a condensed report. From 
 the day of Julius Csesar to that of Napoleon we find a con 
 tinued line of fiction in this direction. That eminent divine 
 and teacher, Alexander Kinmont, once suggested to his class 
 to estimate, from Caesar s enumeration of the hosts of Gauls 
 he encountered and killed, the population of the country he 
 conquered, allowing five members of a family to each Gaul. 
 The result was ludicrous. 
 
 To satisfy the carping critics, however, I give here a crit 
 icism of Von Moltke on that summer excursion of Sherman s 
 to the sea, that is so idiotically eulogized and sung by our 
 simple folk. Here it is: 
 
 Said Von Moltke to an American officer: 
 
 "In that movement from the front to some point on the 
 coast where the fleet could relieve the army, there was a 
 successful march because no enemy was in the way to make 
 
Appendix. 299 
 
 it perilous. Having no objective point, in a military sense, 
 to make such a movement advisable the military man is at 
 a loss to know why the enemy so long combated, at a heavy 
 expense of lives and treasure, should be left to regain all that 
 had been lost. Accidents may be taken advantage of but 
 never calculated on, and it was by the merest accident that 
 the enemy did not regain through that movement of the 
 United States Army all that had been secured through years 
 of campaigning and hard fighting." 
 
300 Appendix. 
 
 DANGERS FROM FRANCE. TESTIMONY OF HON. 
 L. Q. C. LAMAR. 
 
 KNOWING that the Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar was possessed of 
 valuable information as to the designs of the French Gov 
 ernment looking to interference during our late civil war, I 
 sought that gentleman with the following results : 
 
 I asked him if Hood s proposed invasion from the Tennes 
 see was in furtherance of Louis Napoleon s design of inter 
 ference in behalf of the Confederate Government. He 
 replied that so far as the action of the authorities at Rich 
 mond was concerned he was uninformed and could not 
 answer. 
 
 "I know very well," said he, "that Louis Napoleon 
 was not only in favor of interfering in our behalf, but 
 warmly so. I was received kindly and spoken to with the 
 utmost frankness upon the subject by members of his Gov 
 ernment. There were two obstacles in his way. One was 
 the fact of our institution of slavery which would make 
 intervention in our behalf unpopular among the masses of 
 the French people. The other was his need of a naval power, 
 like England or Russia, as an ally in the movement of 
 intervention. The Count de Morney, the Emperor s confi 
 dential adviser, opened his mind to me very freely, and 
 gave assurances that made us hope, with reason, for the 
 intervention sooner or later of the Imperial Government of 
 France. On one occasion I was shown a private note from 
 the Emperor in which he intimated a purpose to give a posi 
 tive order which, had it not been revoked, would have 
 brought on the intervention so confident!}^ expected. 
 
 "As the struggle went on in its first stage, when the 
 Confederate cause had so many victories to its credit, the 
 Emperor was inclined to believe that we could win without 
 
Appendix. 301 
 
 outside intervention. When the tide began to turn, through 
 the exhaustion of our resources, the Emperor became 
 deeply interested, so there was at least as much danger to 
 the Federal Government when we were losing as there was 
 when we were successful. At any time before the cause 
 grew utterly desperate the way was open to an intervention 
 from France. Had Hood defeated Thomas and won his 
 way to the Ohio, it would most probably have had a potent 
 influence in bringing about that intervention. 
 
 "The motive for this cause on the part of the Emperor 
 was not altogether a sentiment. 
 
 44 In the blockade of the Southern ports France suffered as 
 England suffered, only in a less degree. Perhaps the 
 French Government felt it more deeply than the English, 
 because in France the laboring classes had been taught and 
 trained to look to the Government for subsistence. When 
 this failed the Government was held responsible. Now, Pres 
 ident Lincoln s navy had not only established a blockade, 
 but his friends in Congress had enacted a high protective 
 tariff which was irritating to Europe at the very time when 
 Mr. Seward was courting favors from the European Gov 
 ernments ; and when the news spread abroad that the Gov 
 ernment of the North, failing to perfect its blockade, was 
 sinking ships loaded with stone in the channels, so as to 
 destroy Southern harbors, the complaints in Europe were 
 very great. 
 
 "Again, it was a cherished policy of the Emperor to 
 make his regime distinguished for its friendship to peoples 
 struggling for independence and nationality. You remem 
 ber his intervention in the Italian struggle. He was also 
 suspected, arid I think with good reason, of fomenting the 
 Polish Rebellion against Russia, and at the time that I was 
 in Europe his, the Emperor s, influence in Russian councils, 
 which had been very great, had not only been destroyed, 
 but there was a general expectation of hostile relations 
 between the two Empires, France and Russia. 
 
302 Appendix. 
 
 4 From all that I can learn, his idea was to be the instru 
 ment of giving the South independence and nationality 
 upon the condition of abolishing slavery. He would thus 
 connect himself not only with his deliverance of the South 
 ern people from their subjection to the forces of the Union, 
 but also with the emancipation of four millions of slaves." 
 
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