The National tribune., 1885-06-25

| some kind was contemplated. On the I'd John
ston left Corinth in force to attack my army.
| In an article on the battle of Shiloh, which
l wrote for The Century magazine, stated that
Gen. A. Med. McCook, who commanded di-
vision of Buells army expressed some unwil-
| 1ingness to pursue the enemy on Monday, April
Z, because of the condition of his troops. Gen.
Badeau, in his history, also makes the same
statement on my authority. Out of justice to
| Gen. MeCook and his command, ] must say
| that they left point % miles east of Savannah
on the morning of the 9th. From the heavy
rains of few days previous and the passage of
| trains and artillery, the roads were necessarily
| deep in mud, which made marching slow. The
division had not only marched through this
mud the day before, but it had been in the rain
all hi ght without rest. 1t was engaged in the
| battle of the second day, and did as good serv-
ice as its position allowed. In fact, an oppor-
tunity occurred for it to perform a conspicuous
act of gallantry, which elected the highest
cOmmendation from division commanders in
the Army of the Tennessee. Gen. Sherman,
| in both his Memoirs and report, makes mention
| of this fact. Gen. McCook himself belonged to
| a family which furnished many volunteers to
! the army. ] refer to these circumstances with
| minuteness, because did Gen. McCook an in
| justice in my article in The Century, though not
| to the extent one would suppose from the pub
| lie press. l am not willing to do any one in
justice, and if convinced that have done one,
i
| sion,
| COMMISSIONED AS LIEUTENANT-GENE
Gen. Grant writes as follows in regard to his
| appointment as Lieutenant General:
| My commission as Lieutenant General was
| given to me on the 9th of March, 1864. On
the following day visited Gen. Meade, COM
manding the Army of the Potomac, at his
| headquarters at Brandy Station, near the Rapi-
| dan. had known Gen. Meade slightly in the
Mexican war. but had not met him since, until
| this visit i was a stranger to most of the
Army of the Potomac might say to all except
| the officers of the Regular Army who had
| served in the Mexican war. There had been
| some changes ordered in the organization of
that army before my promotion. One was the
consolidation of five corps into three, thus
| throwing some officers of rank out of impOr-
tant commands. Meade evidently thought that
| / might want to make still one more change
not yet ordered. He said to me that l might
| want an officer who had served with me at the
| West mentioning Sherman especially, to take
| his place. If so, he begged me not to hesitate
about making the change.
| Of his first meeting with President Lincoln
| Gen. Grant writes:
Although hailing from Illinois myself, the
State of the President, | had never met Mr..
Lincoln until called to the Capital to receive
| my commission as Lieutenant General. knew
him, however very well and favOrably, from
the accounts given by officers under me at the
West who had known him all their lives had
also read the remarkable course of debates be-
| tween Lincoln and Douglas a few years before,
when they were rival candidates for the United
States Senate / was then a resident of Mis-
souri,, and by no means Lincoln man" in
that contest. But recognized then his great
ability.
In my first interview with Mr. Lincoln alone,
hn tp1 tn moi hat ba hpI .ad tO
be military man. or to know how campaigns
should be conducted, and never wanted to in
terfere in them, but that prOcrastinatiOn on the
part of commanders and the pressure of the
people at the North and of Congress, which,
like the poor, he had always with him." had
forced him into issuing his we'll series
of " Executive Orders" He did not know Dut
they were all wrong, and did not know that
some of them were. All he wanted, or had
ever wanted, he said, was that some one would
take the responsibility and act, and call on him
for all the assistance needed.
AT CHATTANOOGA.
An incident of the struggle at Chattanooga
is thus told
On the receipt of Mr. Dana's dispatch, Mr.
Stanton sent for me. Finding that / was out
he became nervous and excited, inquiring of
every person he met, including guests Of the
house, whether they knew where l was, and
bidding them find me and send me to him at
once. About IL o'clock / returned to the hotel,
and on my way, when near the house, every
person met was q messenger from the Secretary,
apparently partaking of his impatience to see
me. / fastened to the room of the Secretary
and found him pacing the floor rapidly, in about
the garb Mr.. Jefferson Davis was wearing, SUBJ
sequently, when he was captured-a dressing
gown, but without the shawl and sun bonnet.
He showed me the dispatch, saying that the
retreat must be prevented. l Immediately
wrote an order assuming command of the Mill
tary Division of the Mississippi, and tele-
graphed it to Gen. Rosecrans. / then tele-
graphed him the order from Washington assign
ing to Thomas the command of the Army of
the Cumberland; and to Thomas that he must
hold Chattanooga at all hazards
1t had now got to be late in the afternoon,
and l had expected before this to see Hooker
crossing the ridge in the neighb0rhoOd of Ross
vile, and compelling Bragg to mass in that di-
rection also. The enemy had evacuated Look
out Mountain during the night, as l expected
he would In crossing the valley he burned
the bridge over Chattanooga Creek, and did all
he could to obstruct the roads behind him.
Hooker was off bright and early with no OBJ
structions in his front but distance and the de-
struction above described. He was detained
four hours crossing Chattanooga Greek, and
thus was lost the immediate advantage l ex-
pected from his forces. His reaching Bragg's
flank and extending across it was to be the sig
nal for Thomas's assault. But Sherman's con-
dition was getting critical that the assault
for his relief could not be delayed any longer
Sheridan's and Woods Divisions had been lying
under arms from early morning ready to move
the instant the signal was given. now di-
rected Thomas to order the charge at once.
watched eagerly to see the effect, and became
impatient at last that there was no indication OF
any being made.
Gen. Grant tells the following concerning
Gen. Bragg:
have heard q story in the old army very
characteristic of Bragg. On one occasion, when
stationed at post of several companies COM
manded by field officer, he was himself COM
manding one of the companies, and at the same
time acting POst-Quartermastcr and Commits
sary. He was a First Lieutenant at the time;
but his Captain was detached ON other duty.
As commander of the company he made re-
QUESTION upon the artermaster-himself-fo
something he wanted. As Quartermaster he
declined to fill the requistion, and indorsed Oh
the back Of it his reason for so doing AS CON-
pany commander he responded to this, urging
that his requisitiOn called for nothing but what
he was entitled to, and that it was the duty of
the Quartermaster to fill it. The Quartermas-
ter still persisted that he was right In this
condition of affairs Bragg referred the whole
matter to the commanding officer. The latter,
when he saw the nature of the matter referred,
exclaimed: MY God, Mr. Bragg you have
quarrelled with every officer in the army, and