The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-12-19
the Case Of Gen. Samuel A. Rice.

To THE EDITOR OF THE FAwK-EYE.-
Sir have noticed in some of the Iowa
papers whether in yours do not remem-
Ler) paragraph stating that Gen. Samuel
A. Rice, of our State, has resigned his
commission as Brigadier, upon learning
that the Hon. ]. 3. Grinnell NJ. C. for the
Fourth District has publicly stated that
Col. Elliott w. Rice, brother to Samuel,
was the person intended to be made the
Brigadier. Upon hearing this, Gen. Rice,
as sensitive gentleman and man OF hon.
or would, sent in his resignation. The facts
in the case are briefly these:
Some time last summer, Mr.. Grinneli
made a visit to this city, upon business OF
a public nature, and, among other good
things made a strong effort toward having
Col. Elliott w Rice, of the Iowa Seventh,
promoted to the rank Of Brigadier There
were obstacles in the way, not however,
owing to any fault of Col. L. W. Rice,
whom your intelligent readers all know to
be a gallant soldier, well worthy the rank
which was asked for him. The chief diff
Guilty, / may say, was in the fact that
Col. Rice had won his laurels IN the cam
paigns Of 1862, and Gen. Grant had about
as much as he could do in attending to pro-
motions earned during the more recent and
brilliant campaign of Vickshnrg. 1t is
within my knowledge that the War De-
partment determined, just before Mr..
Gen. Grants department, except where
the parties should be recommended by
Gen. Grant himself. Mr.. Grinnell then
fell back upon the President, and closely
besieging him one day, on the southern
balcony of the White House, he at length
got of him this order in pencil: LET Col.
Elliott w. Rice, of the It'll Iowa, be made
a Brigadier General. A. Lincoln Upon
this, Mr.. Grinnel thought he had sure
thing Of it-as he would not have thought,
had he been more experieucedin such mat
tiers. 1t was, perhaps, not unnatural for
him to suppose, upon learning not long
afterwards that Col. Samuel A. Rice, of the
33d Iowa, had been made a Brigadier, that
a mistake had been committed. He blum
dered, however, in giving expression TO
his superstition, without having first
inquired into the facts. The consequence
OF that blunder may be the loss of one OF
our best Iowa Generals, and the placing OF
Col. Z. w. Rice in an awkward and deli
cate position. / hold Mr.. Grinnell in very
high esteem, but l cannot bat deeply re-
greet the looseness Of his tongue in this
matter.
The promotion of Col. Sam. Rice was,
most emphatically, not a mistake, in any
sense whatever. He did not have par
ticle of political influence at work for him
here, because he did not desire it; but he
had that which was far more powerful with
the War Department-the earnest recon-
mendations of his superior officers, inclu-
ding Gen. Grant himself. He was regular
ly promoted for meritorious and gallant
conduct at Helena, where every regiment
in the Brigade of which he there had COM
mand, suffered more than any other single
brigade in the engagement. twas agreed,
in fact, by.all the officers, that his men did
pretty much all the fighting. He had per-
formed tirst-rate service before-he has
performed frst-rate service since. The
War Department declares most perempto-
rily that his promotion was well earned by
him and deliberately conferred by the pow
ers that be. The only mistake that has
been made about the matter at all, was
made through the haste Of the honorable
member from the Fourth District.
Your own correspondents give you the
gossip from here about general matters. I
will only add, that Senator Grimes and
others Of the Iowa delegation in Congress,
called upon Gen. Halleck yesterday, to
hurry up certain promotions of deserving
Iowa Colonies, and that the Senator made
good use Of 1.-The energetic idiom,' in re-
Spouse to the remark Of the General in
Chief that there were not places vacant
by the Eternal, we'll make places, then!'
That is the idea in the Jscksorian idiom,
AN IowAN.
WASHINGTON CITY, Dec. -, 1853.