The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-18

there AS Lincoln said later, Grant was
'copious worker and fighter. but he was
very meager writer or telegrapher ano
from him only the rarest details Went
to Washington. In March the president
was in such despair over his inability TO
md out what the great army on the MIS-
sissippi was doing that he was driven 10
telegraph himself to the officer at Mem
phis: What news have you? What from
VickSburg? What from YazOo passg what
from Lake Providence? What generality
Finally 1t occurred to the tormented gov
eminent that it might be possible to send
some one down there simply TO look on
and write daily letters. Mr.. Dana was
sent Tor. We want some one, MT.
Stanton told him, who will see every
dice. Your value to us will depend on
your energy in getting about, your Keen
ness in observing and your clearness anu
impartiality in reporting. We Will give
you q commission which will admit you
everywhere and will endow you with the
authority of the War Department. We
will relieve you of all responsibility OF
decision or advice Will you go?" OF
course he went Ostensibly he was to IN
vestigate the condition of the paymaster.s
department; really he was to be, as Lin
coin said, the eyes of the government at
- AT GRANTS SIDE.
Arriving at Mlliken's Bend just as
Grant was announcing the plan of cam
paign by which Vicksburg was finally cap
tured, Mr. Dana saw from that time on
every detail of the operations. Most of
them he saw at Grants side, sharing ev-
cry danger and hardship of that general.
He watched each officers way of doing
things; studied him in camp, on the
march, on the battlefield in the siege;
studied his relations to other men, and lis
tened to criticism of him by his fellows.
Almost every day he sent kilograms to
Washington telling just what he had seen
-NI
errors stinted enthusiasm. but wrote
frankly as he would have talked his dls-
patches told exactly the things Mr..
Lincoln and Mr. Stanton wanted TO know
the kind of things that they themselves
would have noted had they been on the
field. The President and the secretary
communication with the army. The opera
tons seemed to pass under their eyes.
When Vicksburg finally capitulated tney
knew what each officer had been doing
almost daily for three and a half months.
They were no longer uncertain about nm
He had demonstrated his value. At last
they had found a way of learning what
Stanton was not slow to show his apprecla-
ton. Your kilograms are great opll-
CATION he wrote, land are looked for
with deep interest / cannot thank you as
much as ! feel for the service you are now
rendering.
From Vicksburg to the end of the war
Mr.. Dana remained the confidential re-
porter of the government. Whenever mat
ters at the front became complicated
and obscure, whenever general was Delng
tested, whenever there was sudden
change in the situation involving new
problems, Mr. Lincoln's and Mr.; stan
toms first thought was, send Dana. W ften
the enemy Dana went along. When Burn
side was shue up in Knoxville in the ran Oh
1863 and Grant could not decide from Burn
sides complaints just how critical mis- STU
alton was it was Dana who, at two differ
ent times, crossed East Tennessee 10 see just
what was going on at knoxville. Wne zen
Grant began his Peninsular campaign ana
Mr. Lincoln and Mr.. Stanton got no tulNand
satisfactory reports of what. he was DONG
Dana joined the army and from opotlsyl-
vania to Petersburg he rode at Grant size,
reporting daily to the waiting government
what he saw. When Early made MS ralu
on Washington 1t was Dana whom Grant anu
sent from the Army of the Potomac to the
capital to inspect the defenses. When
Richmond fell 1t was Dana who Kept MI
Stanton informed of all the inside transac-
tons When jefferson Davis was trans
ferred to Fortress Monroe it was Dana
again whose eyes were on prisoners anu
officers and who informed the war depart
ment of all the details of that dramatic
incident.
EFFECT OF DANA'S REPORT.
The influence Of the descriptions and
characterizations which Mr.. Dana sent to
Mr. Stanton from the front is apparent
now that the records of the war are open
It is clear that in many cases the policy or
the government toward men was decided
by these communications. They We're so
clear, full and unbiased that the conclu-
sions from the facts they gave were IRE
sistble The few suggestions Mr.. Dana
made were weighty because he had led up to
them naturally by his day-to-day reports
The necessity of a certain policy was appar-
ent before the suggestion OF 1t came IL IS
not too much to say that 1t was Mr.. Dana S
reports which first convinced the govern
ment that two of its greatest generals We're
Sherman and Grant, which proved that
McClernand should be dropped, and which
showed that Grant and Thomas should take
hold of the army which RosecranS had de-
moralzed.
To know men, to see everything that
went on and to describe all fully was then,
Mr.. Dana's chief business. In the course
Of it he was an observer OF several or the
great spectacular episodes of the war.
He watched the -gunboats running the pat
teries of Yicksburg; saw Pemperton
city while his army stacked their arms in
sign of surrender; was driven from the
field Of Chickamauga in the terrible panic
watched the battle of Missionary Ridge;
was at Cold Harbor and petersburg. Inc
descriptions of these events, written at the
time are surpa ssingly brilliant, and they
are perfectly clear. One feels the roar and
clash of the battle in them, and one under
stands what 1t Is all about.
An intimate acquaintance with a great
number of officers was naturally forced on
Mr.. Dana by his position. Probably no
man in the War Department at that time
studied SO many different generals face to
face as he did and certainly nobody else
wrote so fully and frankly his opinions of
the men he studied. Not only did Mr.. Dana
know the officers of the army; in the dull
times between campaigns he remained in
Washington as an assistant 10 secretary
stanton There he saw much of Mr.. Lin
coin and his Cabinet and of the members
of Congress. His work there was scarcely
less in interest than that at the front, ana
much of 1t was as truly warfare though
of a bloodless kind. 1t was incessant skir-
mishing with contractors who were watch
ing for opportunities to cheat the govern
ment, with deserters and blockade runners,
with Confederate agents in Canada and spies
from within the enemy's lines. OFTEN the
skrmishing developed into pitched battles.
-A--
GEN. KNEFLER'S RUBBER COAT
A War Incident in Which Mr.. Dana
Was n. Figure.
The death of Charles A. Dana recalls an
incident of the war in which an indianapolis
soldier, Gen. Fred Knefer, played part.
11,a ooc,rregoce was one during the assault