Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-02
ROSECRANS AND LINCOLN,
An Interesting Chapter in the History
of the War.


An Interesting Chapter In the History
of the War.
HOW THE GENERAL DECLINED TO ENTER THE
PRESIDENTIAL RACE AGAINST LIScoLy-rHE
INTERVIEW WHICH THE REPRESENTATIVE OF
GREELEY AND OTHERS HAD WITH HIM.
Edmund Kirke" in a letter to the New York
Sun Sunday told the story of his being sent by
Horace Greeley and other prominent northern
politicians in May, 1868. to get the consent of
of Gen. Rosecrans to the use of his name in the
nominating convention in antagonism to Lin
coin for President. He says that he went to
Gen. Rosecrans' headquarters in Tennessee at
the instance of Greeley and others. first to
find out if Rosecrans was a consistent aboli-
zionist and then, if he was satisfied on that
point, to get permission for the use of his
name to antagonize Lincoln in the convention.
At that time some of the leading republicans
were not satisfied with the way the war was
being prosecuted and they we're opposed to
Lincoln for a second term.
TALK WITH GEN. RosEcRASs.
A STAR reporter asked Gen. Rosecrans the
other evening what he recollected of the cpl
sode.
remarkable accuracy. am surprised at the
power OF his memory. Small details of CONVEX
satlon and matters of the arrangement of my
headquarters are described with wonderful ac-
curacy Mr.. 'kirke'-that is, Jas. II. Gilmore;
l called him Kirhe. for that was the only name
knew HIM by-came to my headquarters at
Murfreesboro' early in 1863 | did not know
MIN personally, but was familiar with his lit
erary name. Edmund kirke.' He had letters
as ne says, from Mr.. Greeley and a number of
men-recommendations enough to take
him through stone WALL | had no idea of
his mission. supposed he had come to look
after ms parliamentary, Capt. York, who had
been seriously wounded. Capt. York had al
ready been sent to Cincinnati, and Edmund
klrke remained at my headquarters for some
time a guest. He was welcome and was free to
be with me and my staff. Just as any member
OF my staff was. / assumed that. his brother
lh-iaw having been cared for. he remained to
Collect information as newspaper man.
PRIVATE INTERVIEW.
Il had no suspicion" said Gen. Rosecrans
that he was on any other mission. was con-
sequently surprised when asked for private
interview with me the day before he said he
must take his departure. He said to me when
we were alone together, that he had come on a
special mission; that he had been sent by the
gentlemen from whom he had presented letters
oil introduction to ascertain if was available
1or presidential timber; that he had satisfied
himself upon the only point in doubt as to nv
Delng the man they wanted and that he wanted
10 ask II would permit the Use of nv name
he told me of the feeling concerning Mr. Lin
coin, ana all about the plan as far as i know.
WHY HE DECLINED.
The thing was complete surprise to me-"
The general went on: Il was a soldier in the
neid. had had nothing to do with politics. l
abhorred slavery, but 1 regarded the agree
ment between the states as a solemn compact
that the slave-holding states should settle the
question OF slavery for themselves and that the
other states should not interfere. Therefore
regretted when the conflict bad to come: but
there was one thing to do to prosecute the war
TO complete victory. As L said before | was no
poHtclan; L was plain man with a military
education. 1t was clear to me that NV DUTY
was to remain in the field where could best
| serve my country. L told Mr.. .Kirke' all this
and said that could not accept the nomination.
| l SAID thought they would discover that Mr.
Lincoln was doing the right thing and that he
would end the war successfully. As for me,
| declined to leave my post of duty The matter
was begun and ended there far as was con-
| cerned. My action was not the result of a con-
ference with any one. told Mr.. Kirke that
would take no part in politics. certainly not
until the war was over, If ever"
A SOLDIER AND NOT POLITICIAN.
'To show you how little knew or thought
| OF politics. declare to you that never wrote
| letter to a Senator or Member of Congress
for anything until 1864, and then under pecu-
liar circumstances. When was relieved from
command Of the army of the Cumberland
made no complaint. l was ordered to Cincin-
natl on waiting orders and was deprived of
fuel and rations. False statements were sent
out through the press about me; but never
made complaint or asked redress from the
PRESIDENT or the department and never made
any sort of reply to the attacks made upon me-
simply obeyed orders and said nothing NV
| reason for following this course was that felt
that IN the situation the country was then
placed 1t was no time for personal disputes and
personal indications. When was ordered to
the command of the army of the Missouri it
was unexpected. | had made no effort in nv
behalf, and the efforts made by my friends was
without my knowledge. But what was get
ting at was how l came to write my first letter
to Congressman.
HIS FIRST LETTER TO A CONGRESSMAN
"As soon as got to the headquarters of the
Army of the Missouri made an important dis
covery. 1 discovered the organization of the
American knights sometimes spoken of as
| the Golden Circle The real title was the
Order of American Knights Before this /
had sent one of my staff to Washington with
important dispatches and Secretary Stanton
had had him arrested for coming to Washing
ton without permission. When made the dis
| covery OF the organization of the American
knights and got all the information that was
necessary wanted to send an officer with the
documents to Washington. To get permission
to do this wrote Gen. Garfield, then in Con-
gress, a letter asking him to see the President
| and get from him an order for me or one of my
officers to come to Washington to bring
documents of national importance. This was
the first letter l ever sent to Congressman to
| intercede for me in any way. Gen. Garfield
saw President Lincoln, then in Philadelphia
but for some reason the President did not see
the reason for prompt action, but telegraphed
me to know if the documents could not be
| mailed. l answered that they could not 1
then sent transcript of the documents to the
governor of Missouri, and he telegraphed the
President that the information was of great
national importance. You see it was but few
days before the order was to make some dem
onstration and there was no time to be lost
l sent a transcript to Gov. Curtin of Pennsyl-
vania and he and Gen. Garfield took it and
read it to the President. That was the only
time called on politicians for assistance"
Who Killed Cronin?
Peter McCahey of Philadelphia in letter to
the New York Sun says: Allow me to point out