Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-12-02

1
tomac," or of the ssNinfh Army Corps, I"
was in either department.
In Gen. Grants report, dated the ed
of July, 1865 copy of which an
sorry / have not In folm to send you.
but which is to be found in the official
documents printed at large in book form
by the seth Congress-he gives a letter
from himself TO Maj. Gen. Butler. dated
the I'd of April, 1854, and containing in
structions for the approaching campaign,
in which he says:
''You viii collect all the forces from
your command that can be spared from
garrison duty should say not less than
twenty thousand effective men-to oper-
rate on the north side Of James River,
Richmond being your objective point.
To the force you already have will be
added about ten thousand men from South
Carolina, under Maj. Gen. Gilmore, who
will command them in person. Maj. Gen.
| w. F. Smith is ordered to report to you,
to command the troops sent into the field
| from your own department" These
troops, under Smith and Gilmore, after
wards constituted the stArmy of tn
4 OoAAOe, unuCA oubiCA. OAdue also says II
the same report:
ga very considerable force under COM
mand of Maj. Gen. Sigel was so held for
the protection of West Virginia and the
frontiers of Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Gen. Sigel was therefore
70 organize all his available force into
two expeditions, to move from
Beverly and Charleston, under COM
mand of Generals Ord and Crook, against
the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad.
Subsequently, Gen. Ord having been re-
lieved at his own request, Gen. Sigel was
instructed, at his own suggestion, to give
up the expedition by Beverly and form
two columns, one under Gen. Crook, on
the Kanawhs, numbering about ten
thousand men, and one on the Shenan-
doah, numbering about seven thousand
men,"
He further says:
"Owing to the weather and bad con-
dition of the roads, operations were de-
layed until the first of May, when every
thing being in readiness and the roads ia
vorable, orders were given for a general
movement of all the armies not later than
The AID OF May.
The movement under the immediate
superintendent of Grant, on the Rapi-
dan, begun in fact on the night of the Sd,
with the Army of the Potomac and the
Ninth Corps, and the foregoing extracts
from Grants report show that the armies
under Butler and Sigel constituted no part
of the force which Mr.. Stanton sets down
at al, 100, on the LIST of May, 1864.
The above statement from Stanton's re-
port shows that there was in the ode
partment of Washington" at the very
same time, an available force for duty of
40, 124, and in the 'Middle Department
lat Baltimore) a like force of 5, 1927, max
ing an aggregate force of 47,75l within
a few hours run of Grants army by rail
and steamboat. So that, with the force
of SO, 199 in the Department of Virginia
and North Carolina and of so, 1872 in
the Department of West Virginia, Grant
had, besides his army on the Rapidan, an
available force of 1877, 672 to draw upon
for his operations in Virginia, making in
fact in all force of 27S, 1872 Immediately
available for that purpose, besides what
could be drawn from other quarters where
there was no hostile force to confront.
That nearly the whole force of Washing
ton and Baltimore was added to his army
before it reached James river, is shown by
the following extract from Mr. Stanton's
report. On page he says:
Meanwhile, in order to repair the
losses of the Army of the Potomac, the
chief part of the force designed to guard
the middle department and the depart
ment of Washington was called forward
to the front. Taking advantage of this
state of affairs in the absence of Gen.
Hunters command the enemy made a
large detachment from their army at
Richmond, which, under Gen. Early,
moved down the Shenandoah Valley,
threatening Baltimore and Washing
tom
The reinforcements from Washington
and Baltimore actually reached Grant at
Spotsylvania c. H, where, he says: ''The
18th, 14th, 10Th, 10th, 18th, and 18th
(of May) were consumed in maneuvring
and awaiting the arrival of reinforce |
ments from Washington" and this was
before Gen. Lee had been reinforced by.a |
solitary man. In addition to these REIN |
forcements, Mr.. Stanton says, on page /
46, near the conclusion of bis report, that |
the Governors of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, |
Iowa and Wisconsin, rendered IS, 900 hun
bred days men on the 2lst of April 1854, |
10 be raised in twenty days, which were
accepted and the greater part of which |
were raised, and that they supplied gar
risons and relieved experienced troops |
which were sent to reinforce the armies |
in the field some of the hundred days |
men being sent to the front at their own
request. In order, then, TO substantiate |
his assertion, that Grants force for duty |
in the field at the Wilderness was only |
IS, 900 men, Gen. Bsdeau must show that |
Mr.. Stanton has lied in the most willful |
and stupid manner, and without the |
slightest Inducement to do so. His state |
ment not only has this effect, but it also |
convicts Gen. Grant himself of very gross |
laundering. The latter states in the out |
set of his report, which has already been |
quoted from, the strategic principles upon |
which he proposed to conduct the war
after the command of the United States !
armies had devolved upon him, and says: |
'From the first, was firm in the con-
viction that no peace could be had that
would be stable and conducive TO the hap
piness of the people, both North and
South, until the military power of the re-
bellion was broken. / therefore deter
mined, first, TO use the greatest number
of troops practicable against the armed
force of the enemy; preventing him from
using the same force at different seasons
against first one and then another of our
armies, and the possibility of repose for
reftting and producing necessary supplies
for carrying on resistance. Second, to
hammer continuously against the armed
force of the enemy and his resources, I'M
til by mere attrition, if in no other way,
there should be nothing left to him but an
equal submission with the loyal section of
our common country to the constitute on
and laws of the land"
''These views have been kept constantly
in mind, and orders given and campaigns
made to carry them out.
Yet Notwithstanding these views aud
purposes, and despite the preparations on
such a grand scale for the campaign of
1864, as described by Mr.. Stanton, with
evident feelings of pride, on page 8 of his
report, Gen. Grant, according to Gen. Ba-
deau's statement, out of an aggregate
force of 662, 345 available men for duty,
could only muster SO, 900 to confront the
most formidable army of his antagonists
that is, when the United States forces
were larger than they had ever been be-
fore, Grant opened the campaign in Vir-
gina with smaller army than any other
Federal commander in that State, since
the first battle of Manassas, had ever be,
fore entered the field with, and that, too,
according to Gen. Badesu's estimate,
against a larger army than Gen. Lee had
ever before commanded in an active cam
psign, except perhaps during the seven
days battles around Richmond. Gen.
Badeau's recollection of the Confidential
Gold rnt11rnsN r,nnnt:o-,nA L. L.. Z. -.