The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-06-13
PERSONAL MAGNETISM.
Blaine's Memory and Manner-LOgan's En-
thusiasm and Personal Daring.

/ journalist who was reading some personal fecOl-
| lections of Republican nominees, about the
| personal magnetism of Blaine his captivating
manners, and his wonderful memory for names
and faces Logan possesses the first-named
! qualification in a marked degree, but while
| Blame attaches individuals to him as with hooks
| of steel, Logan enthuses masses of men. | have
! lately read a story illustrative of Blaines te-
nacious memory. in which he is reported
| calling by name an old farmer whom he had met
! only once before four years previously. and
whom he instantly captivated by recalling
| trivial incident of their first meeting and dis
| cussion of the merits Of young colt owned by
! the farmer | have such an illustration of the
man from my own experience. In 1863 | wrote
for the New York Herald an account. some
twelve columns long of the battle of Chicka-
manga. About twenty lines of the entire &C
count were devoted to the narration of tri1ing
incident. A white pigeon or dove, confused by
the smoke of the last desperate combat, at the
close of the battle in which George III. Thomas
repulsed Longstreets attack on his right.
t1uttered awhile over the heads of Thomas. Gar
field Wood, and Others grouped in a little hol
low in the field for protection from the rebel
sharpshooters, and then perched on the limb of
a dead tree just above them Here it sat until
the firing ceased, and then flew northward un
hurt 1t was a pretty incident and of course |
took all the license of writer and made it as
striking passage of the narrative | could
In 1874, eleven years later. l was witness be-
fore congressional committee, and while in the
Capitol one day was introduced by Zebulon i.
spondent, now editor of the Provi-
dence Press to Mr.. Blaine, who
was at the time Speaker of the House. If l re
member rightly had never before seen him,
and | supposed he had never heard of me
Imagine my establishment then when he said
abruptly, hearing my name called by Mr..
White You're the man I've been wanting to
see for ten years Of course was immensely
dattered by such notice
I've been wanting to know if you were
telling the truth or lying, Mr.. Blaine added,
almost without pause. This was as surprising
as it was blunt. He took my arm and drew me
halfway to one side of the corridor Did you
write for the Herald an account of Chickamal'ga
in which white dove figured rather poeticahyF
he asked, and then went on to recall what had
written. Now he continued, tell me, was
that true incident only done to make the
story readableF l assured him it was true, and
mentioned that General Garfield, who in
the House, would probably recall it, as he was
present Nothing more of interest passed be-
between u.s. but naturally, | have since sworn
by the man who could recall my unknown name
and what l had written about a mere incident
occurring ten years before He was so earnest
in his inquiry that l have never doubted that his
curiosity in the matter small the incident
was, was genuine.
Logan is going to give the ticket great
strength as the canvass advances, continued the
same speaker. "He will enthuse the soldier ell
ement better than either Gresham or Miller,
than any other soldier likely to have been named
would have done, and will create as much en-
thusiasm as either Lincoln's Harrisons name
would have won. Logan belonged TO the class
of popular volunteer generals, and in the West
was regarded somewhat as Phil Kearney was IN
the East. He had all the during, dash and Ping
nacity of Kearney and Hooker. l was with him
nearly all the day before the battle of Resaca,
Ca, May A. 1864 and slept i'll an ambulance
with him the same nlght-that is, slept part OF
the night in the ambulance, but he was so thun-
dering mad when awake and restless when
sleeping that for my own comfort got up and
lay down under the wagon on the ground.
never a madden man than Logan was
that day and night He had the advance of
McPhersons corps on a flank movement
around the left of the rebel army at Dalton, and
had planted his division square across their only
line OF retreat. just beyond small fOrdable
stream the rebels had built fort commanding
bridge of great Importance to the rebels and
Logan was preparing to assault it when Nc
Pherson, his corps commander came up and
stopped the movement, deemlng 1T hazardous.
Logan said he could carry the works with a
single brigade and destroy the bridge with his
two other brigades, thus cutting off the rebel re
treat and forcing him to battle with Shermans
1000 men-quite double that of the rebel
force. He pleaded with Mcpherson to let him
go ahead, proposing to Lead the assaultng col
umn in person From pleading he advanced to
protestation, and then to curses both loud and
deep and these became almost bitter personal
denunciations of Mcpherson when, deciding
against attack, he ordered Logan to march
back six miles to strong defensive position and
fortify it.
at happened that heard part of this rather
stormy interview, and the same evening General
Mcpherson took OCCASION to explain to me that
he had made this retrOgrade movement in ODE
dience toimperative orders 1t turned out to be
one of the grave mistakes of the way, and Sher-
man severely crl cised Mcpherson afterward
for not taking the risk suggested by Logan,
though he sustained him in command. Logan's
instinct for fighting proved correct on that oc
casion; it was subsequently discovered that the
rel he n ReSaca
mounted Georgia militia cavalIymen. Logan's
veterans could have run over them if McPher
son had let 'em loose with Black Jack at their
head.
''Why is he called Black Jack? 1t is simply
soldiers term of endearment. such as Fighting
Joe as applied to Hooker, and Old Pap Thomas
as General George Fl. Thomas called Gen
eral Nelson who was heartily hated by his men
previous to their first battle, called in
hatred Bull Nelson, but after they had once
fought under him and discovered how his hard
training and drilling had made veterans of them
before they had smelled burning powder, they
expressed their love for him by calling him
Bully Old Nelson Logan is very dark of com
plexion, and this fact of course, gives the color
to his nickname.
Zone of the finest illustrations of the mag
netic influence of single man in the crisis of
battle was furnished by Logan at Peach Tree
creek. a battle fought before Atlanta The reb
els had fanked Mcpherson completely as he
had turned their line at Resaca, and had at
tackled him vigorously. Mcpherson was killed
and the command of the whole corps unexpect
eddy devolved in moment on Logan and he had
not only his own but other divisions to look af
ter. He left his own immediate command and
in person rallied the first division. 1t done
by actual personal eXertion in the front of the
line at a great personal risk. The troops had
more confidence in Logan than in Mcpherson, for
the reason that Logan led whereas Mcpherson
directed his men; and when the retreating diyis-
ion saw Logan riding along their confused lines
they rallied and went vigorously into the fight
with counter-charge the rebel forces 1t
was a fair, square illustration of personal mag
natism of fearless leader over brave men, 1t
quality many of the generals who gained
greater military distinction than Logan did not
possess, and did not lay claim to. Hooker, and
Kearney, and Thomas had it; Grant, and Sher-
man, and Meade did not possess it, though to say
so must not be construed as rejecting on them
Lnoran natllrallN 1aadar of llnan in 1allcll