The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1906-02-08

Here was work of itself sufficient to
overwhelm, If not appall, most Briga-
d1ers; for 1T was computed that Sher-
mans total force for his great cam
paign, to wind up with his March
down to the Sea-" including those to be
ieft behind In Tennessee and Kentucky
to hold the country and guard his rail-
roads back to the Ohio, would seldom
fall much. if any. below 10000 men,
and, say, $4,000 animals And this was
found to be the case afterward. But,
In addition to this, as II to see how
much could be heaped upon one pair
OF shoulders, Gen. Allen was also
charged with the supply Of all our
troops up and down the Mississippi and
across the plains and through our Ter
ritories, the same as before; and his
reports and property returns
I864-65) show that in the aggregate
this Job" was not greatly inferior to
To meet the demands of his new po-
sition, he was now designated Chief
Quartermaster Of the Valley of the Mis-
sissippi" Che had already been promoted
to the rank of Brigadier-GeneraD. and
vested with the necessary authority, ac-
cordingly. This did not suit Gen. Sher-
man. however, who now insisted upon
Aliens joining him in the field, as Chief
Quartermaster OF his combined armies
and applied for him with that view,
proposing to confide to him a wide dis
erection. Allen, also, was now DESTROYS
or active field service, as he had been
tied down to depots in the rear for so
large a part of the war, and so he pro-
ceeded to join Gen. Sherman, then near
Kingston, Ga, supposing that Sher-
mans application would, Of course, be
granted. But 1t was refused by Secre-
tary Stanton. on the ground that Gen.
Aliens services were Of more value to
the Government at Louisville-in fact,
fndispensable-in the position he then
occupied, as Chief Quartermaster Of the
Valley Of the Mississippi, "in which sew
eral armies were operating" rather
than merely directing the transporta-
ton and supplies Of one army in the
field. already equipped and provided"
A Colossal Work.
The really colossal work Allen was
now called on to grapple with is thus
summed up, In part, in his Annual Re-
1T (Nashville) drew heavily upon
the. resources Of the country, already
partially exhausted by requisitiOn from
other quarters. The heaviest items were
purchased at remote points-remote, 1
mean, from the base Of operations
and their transportation mOnopOlized
and taxed to their utmost all the steam
boats on the Western waters, and all
the rolling stock on the Western and
Southwestern railroads. 1t was q her
culean task to collect, transfer and con-
centrate at one point horses and mules
by the hundreds of thousands, corn and
oats by the million of bushels, hay by
the tens Of thousands Of tons, wagons
and ambulances by the tens Of thou
sands-fitted out with harness, etc.
subsistence stores by the hundreds of
thousands of tons, and miscellaneous
articles In the aggregate proportionably
large. At the same time immense
trains Of railroad stock, engines, cars,
etc., were brought from the East, cross
ed over the Ohio River at Louisville.
and sent forward to transfer the stores
from Nashville to the front"
In this terse but graphic statement, 1t
will be observed, he says nothing about
clothing, camp and garrison equipage,
nor ordnance stores, nor medical sup
plies-an very large for such q cam
paign-nor about troops, well and dis
abled. whose transportation alone, to
and from the front. must have consti-
tuted huge item likewise.
In brief. to make up his supplies and
keep them up he had to lay the whole
North under contribution. He resolved
to sustain Sherman, ut all hazards and
at whatever cost, II there was power
and money enough In the Government
To do 1t; and right we'll did he keep his
resolution. He drew heavily on all the
chief depots East, - far. indeed. ~
Boston. for clothing. eQuipage, and gen