The National tribune., 1882-04-22

converse. v III Ire Oh Iilt Bllttt8 stliNs
fully recognized Miss Carrolis services 10
the Union IN the organization Of this cam
paicn Indeed. both Mr. Lincoln and br.
Stanton ltae latter only few weeks before
his death expressed To me thcir high APP
prcc.aJ:on of this service and all tho other
services she was enabled 10 render the
country by her influence and ability IS
writer. md thcv both expressed the wish
that tho Government would reward her
literally for the same, in wlgicb | most fully
concur. j. /. WADE.
To the CHAIRMAN Of the Military Com
mttcc OF the United States senate
WASHINGTON. April 81, 1872.
SIR: Having been requested to state my
knowledge Of the Tennessee plan of cam
paign, I respectfully submit that Miss Car
roll was the first 10 suggest TO The Govern
mcnt the practicajility and Importance of
moving the armies from Cairo UP the Ten
ncssce River into Northern Mississippi or
Alabama, on the Memphis and Charleston
Rairoad.
1t may he remembered that the rebel
power, very early in the contest, developed
a strength and proportion which the country
WAS not prepared to expect. This fact, to-
~cjhCr with our failure TO achieve any early
ililIllllN SutttSS, WIS IltiN liltSL
ing effect upon the spirit OF the country,
while the danger Of foreign intervention was
becoming more and more imminent. Indeed,
our Government was warned that, without
some decided military advantage before
spring, England and France would acl<nowl-
edge the independence Of the South, and
ra;sc the blockade fer supply Of cotton.
If, then, we would preserve the Union, we
must, in very short period, gain a strategic
position South that would .atiHJy the country
and convince European powers of the ability
of the Government to suppress the rebellion.
ITO find this decisive point, and the dlrec-
ton in which blow could be delivered that
would insure this result, became in the
autumn Of 1901 4 matter Of the most serious
military consideration 1t was in this eXi-
gcncy hat Miss Carroll visited the West III
quest OF information in aid OF the Union, as
she stated to me, and as fully believe.
From early in October 10 about the Doth
of November 1851, she was at the Everett
House. in St. Louis. ! was also in that city,
and conversod almost every day with her
upon the military and political situation in
that quarter, and especially in reference 10
the difficulties to be overcome by the cXpc-
dltion preparing to open the Mississippi. l
am, therefore, able from personal knowledge
to state the origin of the plan of the Ten
neSsee campaign from its inception to its
final draught and presentation to the War
Department The conception which Is en-
bodied ii this plan occurred to the mind OF
Miss Carroll about the middle of November,
1861, in conversation with Mr.. Charles NJ.
Scott, pilot on one Of the transports con-
nected with the expedition 10 descend the
Mississippi River. She learned some i'm
eI,
the hotel, concerning the naval preparations
for the expedition, and requested to see her
husband, that she might be informed as to the
special knowledge and opinions Of practical
stcamboatmcn, and on his arrival in St. Louis,
after the battle OF Belmont, she sent for him.
when he stated to her that it WAS his
opinion, and t1lat of the pilots generally
who were familiar with the western waters,
that the naval expedition could not open the
that the gunboats were not
fitted to fight down that river, and that it
was practical for them to go up the Ten
nessee, the thought occurred to her that the
should direct the Mississippi
expedition Wp the Tennessee River 10 some
roriat IN Northern Mississippi or Alabama,
50 as 70 command The Memphis and Charles
ton Railroad. In q very earnest and ami
mated manner she communicated this
thought 10 me. Being a native OF that see
ion. and intimately acquainted with its
and particularly with the Ten
nc7sce River, / was at once impressed with
the tremendous valua, OIL her esSatgsstions.
She Immediately introduced Captain Scott
to me with a request that would intcrrqgate
him on his special facts. He stated thenum-
Der and strength of the fortiiications on the
and the impossibility Of the gun
boats to reduce them, the width and depth
OF the Tennessee River, and the practical
bility Of ascending with the gunboats to the
foot Of the Muscle Shoals, but did not think
they could pass above.
with the view Of ascertaining the prac-
of naval expedition to reach
Mobile, and ascend the Alabama and Tom
bigbce Rivers, | questioned him as to the
depth Of these waters also. We were so i'm
pressed with the fullness and accuracy of his
that Miss Carroll asked him to
write it down for her, TO do which he de-
clined, as he said, from want OF education,
but finally consented. The same day she
wrote from st. Louis to Acknowledgement
Bates and Hon. Thomas A. Scott, Assistant
Secretary Of War, suggesting the change of
the expedition from the Mississippi to the
Tennessee River, and on her arrival in Wash
the plan of campaign appended to
her memorial, and submitted it to me for
my opinion, and, without signature, placed
the same in the hands of Thomas A. Scott
to be used by the Government without her
name being known in its connection.
"She communicated with the pilot. Can
tain Scott at Cairo, what she Ind done. and !
the probabilities that her suggestions would |
be adopted by the Government, and re-
luestcd him to send her from time to time |
ali the information he could gather. He |
complied with her request, and gave her |
further important information, from which |
she prepared a second paper on the Tennessee
Of January 5, 1862, an impcr- |
feet copy Of which appears in Mr. Howard's !
report. ! say imperfect, because ! have a |
very distinct recollection of aiding her in |
the preparation Of that paper, tracing with |
her, upon a map of the United States which !
hung in her parlor, the Memphis and Charles
ton Railroad and It's connections southwark. |
the course of the Tennessee. the Alabama. |
and Tombigbce Rivers, and the position Of |
Mobile Bay; and when Henry fell, she wrote |
the Department showing the feasibility of |
going either to Mobile or Vicksburc.
an conclusion, viii state that having
critically examined all the plans of our |
generals and everything official which has
Deen published by the War Department bear
ng on this point, and every history that has
Decn written upon the war, it is evident that.
Up to the time Miss Carroll submitted her
olan to the Government, it had not occurred
o any military mind that the true line of
L. =