Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-03-28
A HISTORIC DOCUMENT.
Grants Order Removing General
Thomas
Comes to Light at Last.
snesial % cOmmerclal CaIette.


denied for over thirteen years, has
Just been found. 1t is the officially
a.tested copy OF the order directing
the removal of General Thomas on
the eve of the battle of Nashville,
and assigning General Scho6eld to
the command. Ii was found among
the military papers of General Hal,
leck in the progress of work connected
with the publication OF the war
records. 1t is the identical paper
prepared in the War Department un>
der telegrsphic instructions from
Lieutenant General Grant to General
HaTleck, and which the latter pOcketed
after its completion. and before it
could be telegraphed to Nashville. 1t
is throughout 10 the handwriting Of
Colonel j. c. Kelton, then Adjntant
General to Halleek. on paper with
the army headquarters letter head, and
is attested as official by Col. Kelton. 1t
was then ready TO receive its number
from clerk and be entered in the
official records. Halleck, however,
not only did not telegraph it to Nash
vile, but put the paper in his pocket.
and did not allow it to go into the
records. A few hours later Grant de-
cided to suspend his order, and teleN
graphed General Halleck to that
effect. The latter, however, had al
ready suspended it in the very practi.
cal manner stated.
Had General Halleck been in sym
patty with the order when 1t was
received from City Point, it would
haze been telegraphed to Nashville
hours before General Grant concluded
to suspend it, and the change it di
rected would have been accomplished.
In this case, as is readily seen, no
order of suspension would have re-
stored the situation. The statement
that such an order had been given by
General Grant, and been withheld by
General halleck, was first made public
in the correspondence of the Cincin-
natl Gazette in 1869. 1t was
made upon the authority Of a
version of the matter which
General Halleck himself gave to
General Thomas in San Francisco,
when the latter relieved the former
in that city. Soon after General
Badeau, the now noted writer Of mill
tary fiction, denied General Halleek' s
statement and furnished partial ex.
tracts from the records, which seemed
to prove that General Halleck could
not have pocketed the order which he
described.
To the confusion of General Badeau
and q few military novelists of less
note, who have helped him repeat his
denials, the original Of the order now
turns up among the papers Of General
Halleek, which have been furnished
by his family for use in the publica-
tion Of the war records. This inter
esting and historical paper is as fol
lows:
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ,
WAR DEPARTMENT,
ADJUTAET GESERAL's OFFICE. J
WASHINGTON. December 9, 1864.
General Orders No. =
10 accordance with the following
dispatch from Lieutenant General
Grant, viz:
please telegraph orders relieving
min General Thomas) at once, and
placing Schofeld in command
Thomas should be directed to turn
over all dispatches received since the
battle of franklin to Schofeld.
~. s.. GRANT,
Lieutenant General"
The President orders First-That
Major General j NJ. Schofeld assume
command of all troops in the depart
ments OF the Cumberland, the Ohio
and the Tennessee.
Secend-That Major General Georgt
II. Thomas report TO General Soho
field for duty, and turn over to hin
all orders and dispatches received b,
him as specified above.
Signed BY order Of the Secretar!
Of the War.
lOHicial) ]. G. KELToE, A.A.G.
There a;e two very marked point
Of difference between this paper an,
the one which has been generally &C
eepted for some years past as a copy 0
this original order. The frs
paragraph, as will be seen
placed General Schofeld il
command Of all troops in ill.,
three departments Of the Cumberland
the Ohio and the Tennessee, instead
as has been supposed. Of those in tn
Cumberland alone. The second para
graph, in addition TO relieving Genera
Thomas from all command, put OF
him the additional humiliation Of re
, porting to his former subordinate 70
assignmentOf duty. The terms Of tbi
second paragraph of the President
instruction we're at the request o
=, General Grant, who had telegraphe
, Secretary Stanton two days before a
t follows.
YOU probably saw my order b
! Thomas TO attack. II he does NOT d
SO promptly, would recommend 81
4 perseding him by schoGeld, leayip
t Thomas subordinate"
s And as showing the parpose q
q Grant 10 force the removal Of Thoma,
n it is pertinent TO add that the aboy
a telegram TO Stanton was sent ia,
I hours after one had been received /
v Grant from Thomas, In which III
e latter said.
C u will make the necessary dispositio
and attack Hood at once, agreeably /
d your orders though believe Il wi
n be hazardous with the small force q
Q cavalry now az my service"
d AS every one now knows. Tia
d attack was prevented by sleet storm
d which made it impossible for men q
. horses 10 move. The draft OF m
l above paper, which has heretofo,
3 been accepted as correct, was IN,
d DiRhed ffom notao Ia Oo,...lII a Y