Grant Moves South (82 page)

1
.

For the early exchange of messages between Pemberton and Major Gen. C. L. Stevenson, see O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, p. 800.

2
.

Grant to Halleck, O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part One, pp. 32–33; Greene, pp. 125–133; interview with S. H. M. Byers in the
Washington Post
, July 26, 1885; Jenkin Lloyd Jones,
An Artilleryman's Diary
, entry for May 2, 1863; Grant's Memoirs, Vol. I, pp. 482–484; Grant to McClernand, O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, p. 260.

3
.

Grant to Halleck, as cited in the preceding footnote. See also Grant to Sherman, O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, pp. 268–269.

4
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, Pemberton to Davis, pp. 807, 821. Pemberton's wire to Governor Pettus is on p. 821.

5
.

Same, pp. 248, 268–269.

6
.

Dana to Stanton, May 4, O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part One, p. 84.

7
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, pp. 275, 278, 288, 827; Badeau, Vol. I, pp. 224–226.

8
.

New York Times
for May 23, 1863, carrying a dispatch dated Bruinsburg, May 1;
Memoir of George Boardman Boomer
, by Amelia M. Stone, letter dated May 6; “Army Life in an Illinois Regiment,” pp. 197–199; Brevet Major Henry G. Hicks, “The Campaign and Capture of Vicksburg,” in Vol. VI,
Glimpses of the Nation's Struggle
, p. 96; Brevet Major General M. F. Force, “Personal Recollections of the Vicksburg Campaign,” in Vol. I
Sketches of War History
, p. 298.

9
.

It is interesting to note how precisely the same compulsion rested on the Army of Northern Virginia when Lee took it into Pennsylvania in the campaign which culminated at Gettysburg.

10
.

O. R., Vol. XV: Gardner to Pemberton, April 29, p. 1059; Pemberton to Gardner, May 4, p. 1071.

11
.

On May 23 Halleck wrote Banks that the administration had planned to get united action “by authorizing you to assume the entire command as soon as you and General Grant could unite.” Opening the river, said Halleck, was the biggest end in view; “I have continually urged these views upon General Grant, and I hope there will be no further delay in adopting them.” (O. R., Vol. XXVI, Part One, p. 500.) Grant's commission as major general dated from February 16, 1862; Banks's, from May 16, 1861.

12
.

Greene, pp. 219–222; 259; Badeau, Vol. I, p. 218; Grant's Memoirs, Vol. I, pp. 491–492; O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, p. 192.

13
.

Halleck to Banks, April 9 and April 18, O. R., Vol. XV, pp. 700, 702.

14
.

T. S. Bowers to Maj. Gen. Stephen Hurlbut, May 5, O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, p. 275; Grant, in
B. & L.
, Vol. III, p. 499.

15
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, pp. 284–285. The estimate of Grant's numbers comes from Badeau, Vol. I, p. 232.

16
.

Pemberton's state of mind is clear from his dispatches; see O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, pp. 834, 843, 846, 854, 856. His dispatch to Davis is p. 859.

17
.

Dana, p. 45; Grant's Memoirs, Vol. I, pp. 486–487.

18
.

Speech of General Frederick Dent Grant, in the printed Proceedings of the Reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, 1905.

19
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, pp. 288–289, 297; Grant to McPherson, May 11: original autograph letter in the Rutgers University Library.

20
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part One, p. 36;
B. & L.
, Vol. III, pp. 503–504.

21
.

Brevet Major General M. F. Force, p. 300; O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, pp. 873, 876;
B. & L.
, Vol. III, pp. 478–479, 505–506; Gilbert Govan and James W. Livingood, “A Different Valor,” pp. 198–201.

22
.

General Fred Grant, as Note 18. In
Three Years with Grant
, pp. 73–74, the newspaperman Sylvanus Cadwallader gives a slightly different version of this incident.

23
.

An Artilleryman's Diary
, entry for May 14; Marshall,
Army Life
, pp. 208–209.

24
.

Badeau, Vol. I, pp. 252, 654.

25
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part One, pp. 84, 87.

26
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Two, pp. 125–126;
A Different Valor
, pp. 201–202.

27
.

Dana, p. 64; Force, p. 302; O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Two, pp. 41–42, 49, 55–56.

28
.

B. & L.
, Vol. III, pp. 503, 510–511; O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Two, pp. 55, 73, 78, 80, 85.

29
.

B. & L.
, Vol. III, p. 513.

30
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, p. 888.

31
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Two, p. 44.

32
.

Wilson,
Under the Old Flag
, Vol. I, pp. 177–178; Sylvanus Cadwallader,
Three Years with Grant
, p. 83; Badeau, Vol. I, pp. 277–278; O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Two, p. 138; Marshall,
Army Life
, p. 220 ff.

33
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, p. 322; Sherman's Memoirs, Vol. I, p. 324.

34
.

Grant's Memoirs, Vol. I, pp. 524–526. In the account which appears in
B. & L.
, Vol. III, p. 515, an editor's footnote identifies the officer as General Dwight.

35
.

The whole episode is hazy, and it is hard to feel that one knows precisely what happened. In his Memoirs, Grant was quite definite about it: the message came from Halleck, it was a flat order, and it reached Grant by way of New Orleans, to be forwarded by Banks. This version is given by Badeau, Vol. I, p. 228; Horace Porter got it from Rawlins at City Point in 1865 (
Campaigning with Grant
, p. 364) and Grant gave much the same story to John Russell Young during the world cruise he took after leaving the White House. (Young,
Around the World with General Grant
, Vol. II, pp. 622–623.)

But the sort of order Grant describes simply does not exist. The only thing in the Official Records that is anything like it is the dispatch quoted in the text, which appears in Vol. XXIV, Part One, p. 36; and it is not an order at all. Furthermore, it is marked “Via Memphis, Tenn.,” which as a matter of fact is the only route anyone at the War Department would have used at that time to get a message to Grant. A search of the material in the National Archives at Washington fails to bring up the message Grant describes. It is not to be found in the files of the Office of the Secretary of War, in the Halleck papers or in the Records of the Department of the Tennessee.

On top of all of this, Halleck in mid-May, 1863, appears to have blamed Banks rather than Grant for the fact that the two had not joined forces. On May 19, he wrote to Banks; “I learn from the newspapers that you are in possession of Alexandria, and General Grant of Jackson. This may be well enough, so far, but these operations are too eccentric to be pursued. I must again urge that you co-operate as soon as possible with General Grant east of the Mississippi river. Your forces must be united at the earliest possible moment. Otherwise the enemy will concentrate on Grant and crush him. Do all you can to prevent this.… I have urged him to keep his forces concentrated as much as possible and not to move east until he gets control of the Mississippi river.” (O. R., Vol. XXVI, Part One, pp. 494–495.)

Four days later, on May 23, Halleck wrote Banks that he was sorry Banks continued to pursue a divergent course instead of concentrating with Grant east of the Mississippi river. Halleck feared that the
result might be disastrous, and he concluded: “I have urged these views on General Grant and I hope there will be no further delay in adopting them.” (O. R., Vol. XXVI, Part One, p. 500.) Between “urging these views” on Grant and sending him an order to go back to the river and help take Port Hudson there is, of course, a world of difference. Banks, naturally, was indignant when he found out what Grant was doing. He forwarded Grant's May 10 dispatch to Halleck on May 12, complaining bitterly and saying that he could do nothing now but go back to Baton Rouge and move against Port Hudson unaided. (O. R., Vol XV, pp. 314–315.) Meanwhile, Banks sent General Dwight to Grand Gulf, and on May 16 Dwight wrote to Banks saying that Grant had taken Jackson and that he, Dwight, would do his best to get from Grant the desired co-operation. He did not, however, feel that Banks should count very heavily on it. (O. R., Vol. XXVI, Part One, p. 489.)

Finally, when Halleck wrote his report on the army's doings during the spring and summer, dated Nov. 15, 1863, he dealt specifically with the story: “It has been alleged, and the allegation has been widely circulated by the press, that General Grant, in the conduct of his campaign, positively disobeyed the instructions of his superiors. It is hardly necessary to remark that General Grant never disobeyed an order or instruction, but always carried out to the best of his ability every wish or suggestion made to him by the government.” (O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part One, p. 6.)

In the face of all of this, the biographer can do little more than speculate mildly. It occurs to this writer that General Dwight probably did ride inland from Grand Gulf, encountering Grant on May 17, and that—as one of Bank's loyal subordinates—he strongly urged Grant to return to the river and join Banks in the move against Port Hudson. It is possible that Halleck's May 13 message to Grant reached Grand Gulf while Dwight was there, and that Dwight took it with him and gave it to Grant when he saw him. Grant, in his turn, may have got Halleck's dispatch confused with the verbal protest which Dwight made. All of this, of course, is supposition, but it is the best guess this writer can make.

36
.

William E. Strong, “The Campaign Against Vicksburg,” in Vol. II,
Military Essays and Recollections
, p. 328; Badeau, Vol. I, p. 281; Grant's Memoirs, Vol. I, p. 530; O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Two, p. 252.

1
.

William E. Strong, “The Campaign Against Vicksburg,” p. 328.

2
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Two, pp. 160–165, 206–207, 244, 273, 298.

3
.

U. S. Grant, “The Vicksburg Campaign,” in
B. & L.
, Vol. III, p.
518; O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part One, p. 37; Vol. XXIV, Part Two, p. 170.

4
.

Report of Grant's engineer officers on the Vicksburg Campaign, O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Two, p. 177.

5
.

Johnston to Seddon, O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part One, p. 222.

6
.

Grant to Banks, May 31, in O. R., Vol. XXVI, Part One, pp. 525–526.

7
.

New York Times
for June 2, 1863, printing a dispatch dated “In Rear of Vicksburg,” May 24;
New York World
of June 22, with a dispatch dated at Walnut Hills, June 14.

8
.

Wilson,
Under the Old Flag
, Vol. I, pp. 182–183.

9
.

Winchester Hall,
The Story of the 26th Louisiana Infantry
, citing a report by Brigadier General Francis L. Shoup. For Pemberton's numbers, see O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, pp. 929–930, 978, 1000.

10
.

Ord's corps:
Army Life
, June 22; O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Two, p. 175.

11
.

George Cooke,
The 21st Iowa Volunteer Infantry;
Isaac H. Elliott and Virgil G. Way,
History of the 33rd Regiment Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry
, p. 45;
Story of the Service of Company E. and of the 12th Wisconsin Regiment, written by One of the Boys
, p. 196; Ms. letters of Abram S. Funk, of the 35th Iowa; Ms. letter of Richard Puffer of the 8th Illinois, in the Chicago Historical Society; Newsome,
Experience in the War
, p. 63.

12
.

Alonzo L. Brown,
History of the 4th Regiment of Minnesota Infantry Volunteers
, p. 230; J. T. Woods,
Services of the 96th Ohio
, p. 30;
Anecdotes of General Grant
, quoting a writer for the
Indianapolis News
. Like the Army of Northern Virginia, which on occasion shouted “Lee to the rear!” the Army of the Tennessee had protective instincts concerning its commanding general; it just took a different way of showing them.

13
.

Grant's “The Vicksburg Campaign,” pp. 524–526; Captain Jacob S. Wilken, in
Military Essays and Recollections
, Vol. IV, p. 234; Ms. letter of Richard Puffer, as cited in Note 11.

14
.

Sherman to Grant, O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Two, p. 247; Grant to Sherman, Vol. XXIV, Part Three, p. 449.

15
.

The Cadwallader story, which is found in his
Three Years with Grant
, pp. 103–109, has stirred up much controversy. A vigorous discussion of the story's credibility, or lack of it, carried on by Ben jamin P. Thomas and Kenneth P. Williams, can be found in
American Heritage
, Vol. VII, No. 5, pp. 106–111. Dana, in his
Recollections
, refers to Grant's trip up the river, says that he himself went with him, and mentions that Grant was ill; the reference to the illness may or may not have been a polite euphemism, but Dana's account of other details of the trip is different from Cadwallader's. To this writer the decisive point is the Rawlins letter, and its endorsement; if Cadwallader is to be believed, Rawlins could not possibly have written that letter. This letter and its endorsement appear in an address given on December 8, 1891, before the Minnesota Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, by Captain John M. Shaw, printed in
Glimpses of the Nation's Struggle
, Vol. III, pp. 393–394.

16
.

The story is found in John B. McMaster's
The Life, Memoirs, Military Career and Death of General Grant
.

17
.

B. & L.
, Vol. III, p. 522, 524–545.

18
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Three, Pemberton to Johnston, June 23, p. 974; Johnston to Pemberton, June 27, p. 980.

19
.

Letter of U. S. Grant to George G. Pride, dated June 15, 1863, in the George G. Pride Collection at the Missouri Historical Society. In mid-June, Frank Blair noted that the lines were so close that “I pitched a clod of dirt into one of their bastions from a point which we can reach without exposure.” (Letter of June 16 to Montgomery Blair, in the Blair Papers, Library of Congress.)

20
.

Dana to Stanton, May 24, O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part One, p. 87.

21
.

Wilson,
Under the Old Flag
, Vol. I, pp. 184–186; Wilson's
Life of John A. Rawlins
, pp. 133–134. The order of dismissal appears in O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part One, pp. 164–165.

22
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part One, p. 169 ff.

23
.

Grant's Memoirs, Vol. I, p. 541.

24
.

Sherman, Fighting Prophet
, p. 288. For instances of fraternization, see
This Hallowed Ground
, pp. 262–263.

25
.

Greene, pp. 197–198; Grant's Memoirs, Vol. I, pp. 551–553.

26
.

O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Two, pp. 190–192.

27
.

A useful summary of Johnston's moves and plans at this time is to be found in
A Different Valor
, pp. 213–214. For graphic reports on the conditions of Pemberton's troops, see O. R., Vol. XXIV, Part Two, pp. 347–349, 368, 377–378, 382–383.

28
.

Grant's Memoirs, Vol. I, pp. 556–557. It might be remarked that General Bowen had done much of the fighting at Champion's Hill and had been very active in the defense of Vicksburg itself.