The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1891-09-05
A Traitor to His Chief.

A Traitor to His Chief.
Don Piatt published a letter in
the Cleveland (Ohio) Plaindealer
on August 18th, in which serious
charges are preferred against the
late President Garfield. Col. Piatt
says:
II thought for many years that I
knew Garfield. We were, before
the war, in the war, and afterward
in the political arena, intimate as
brothers. / sympathized with and
sorrowed over his struggle for life
after being shot down by a maniac,
and cried like child when the news
reached me of his cruel death. But
a sorrow deeper than this was re-
served for me when, years after,
engaged upon the life of General
George H. Thomas, / came upon
Gar6eld's confidential letter to Sal
mon P. Chase, written from Rose
GRAMS headquarters at Murfrees-
boro. l was fairly stunned, for my
investigations of the event Of that
wonderful campaign gave me an
information that the public was de-
prived of. This letter was the cause
of the bloody battle of Chickamauga
and all the loss we suffered in the
terrible two days. fighting. Iwrite
this with reluctance now. But these
are facts that must sooner or later
pass to public record.
"Garfeld's g crime was this: j: When
Lieut. Col. Garusche, Gen. Rose
Grams chief of staff, was killed at
the battle of Stone River, Garfield,
through Salmon P. Chase, made
application for the position. Sec
retary Chase got Rosecrans to make
application for the assignment.
Now, when Gen. Rosecrans was as
signed to the command of the Ar
my of the Cumberland, after Gen.
Buell. had been relieved, it was done
by President Lincoln at the urgent
entreaty of Chase, backed by the
request of Seward. With Lincoln
and Seward the promotion was
made from political considerations,
Rosecrans being a Catholic, and
both at home and abroad that was a
powerful element to be, if possible,
conciliated. Chase believed in Rose
crans' military ability, while STAN
ton not only had no such confidence
bat believed "Oid Rosy" to be an
imbecile.
To understand further the condi-
ton, we have to know that the ad-
ministration at Washington was
strangely ignorant of the impor-
tance of the Army of the Cumber-
land. 1t was regarded by Lincoln
as police sent to Tennessee for the
relief of the loyal men, and the body
guard of Andrew Johnson, military
Governor. Gen. Garfield found this
the hard condition at Murfreesboro.
Gen. Rosecrans, like all great men,
is extremely frank and simple i'll
his way, and to the last extent con-
fding to his associates and friends.
He found Garfield positively lovable,
for Garfield labored to secure his
chiefs confidence.
"And yet Garfield in the midst of
these troubles sat down in the SOL
itude of his tent and wrote con-
fdential letter to Salmon P. Chase,
in which he denounced his General
as an imbecile, utterly incapable of
commanding such an army as that
of the Cumberland.
1.-THE letter in itself was treacher-
Gus, but in it's results it was fatal. 1t
hit Rosecrans' one available friend
in the Government. Chase was at
first stunned and then demoralized.
He admired Stanton, and anyway
felt reluctance to interfere in his
department, especially against its
head. He dropped the contest, leav-
ing Rosecrans to his fate and with
out the reinforcements necessary to
protect his fanks when he crossed
three ranges of almost impossible
mountains, deep, wide river, and
maneuvred Bragg out of the grand
gateway of the South, that, when
taken, brought the deadly conflict
to close. Had Rosecrans been
given what he had a reasonable
right to demand-the mounted in
fantry-he would have occupied
Chattanooga without the loss of
man.
"All the blood of these two awful
days came from the one treacherous
letter that demoralized one friend
and nearly destroyed the other"
Washington's Financial Troubles.
Even General Washington, though