The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1906-05-10


son, though often rough In command,
was always solicitous about the we'll
being OF his troops. and was held in
high esteem for his conspicuous SER
vices. gallantry in battle and great en-
ergy, and his death caused much indig-
nation among the trooSs that knew him
best. Davis, an Indianian, was unknown
in my army except Ia his own division,
which had just joined while he was alb
sent; but Morton's relation to the affair
! brought to bear in Davis's behalf a
state feeling inspired by Morton and
strengthened by his habitual interven-
J ton In favor Of Indiana troops against
the rigidity of my control. The restrain
, ing influence of discipline was all that
prevented an outbreak between the
I friends of Nelson and Davis, which
might have added the most serious con-
sequences to the criminal occurrence.
Nothing but the law of violence
could, under any circumstances, justify
, the manner of the killing for the al
legged provocation. and M mere merit
of ordinary soldiership could ever atone
FOR the sacrilege against discipline un-
der the circumstances which existed.
The dignity of State was abused by
the attitude of its Governor in the af-
fair, and the authority OF the General
Government was even more degraded
by its condOnement of the act-a con-
donement made virtually, il not actual
ly, at his dictation
Davis was Immediately placed i'm ar
rest, and the case reported to Gen. Hal
leck with the request that a court
might be ordered from Washington for
It's trial, as the operations then in prog
ress made 1T impracticable for me to
spare the officers for the purpose at
| the moment. Instead of that. Davis
| was released. ostensibly that the case
might be turned over to the civil au-
thority: and thus the military authority
L nI.Sc Il u,
grave of a high officer, whose slaughter
by another officer under such circum-
! stances. and as purely military Of
fense. it had not the character to bring
| to trial.
| Buell. mt L0uisville.
Gen. Buell. found at Louisville large
number of entirely green, raw troops
so recent in their enlistment that their
| uniforms still bore the box wrinkles
nois, Michigan and Wisconsin were
thrilled as they had not beeh since the
| firing upon Fort Sumter by the danger
to Cincinnati and Louisville and the
possible invasion Of the North. All the
results gained by the year OF warfare
seemed tottering. The second call for
three-years men brought out hundreds
Of thousands OF the best class. who had
| begun their lifework in promising re-
| spOnsibilitfes and vocations, and who
had. up to this time. hoped that the
| war could be ended without their going
to the front. The great emergency dis
PEELED this hope, and they promptly
enlisted AS fast as they could be mus
tered in and draw uniforms and arms
they were fastened to some part of the
| long battle line extending from the At
lantic to the Mississippi. which had 50
suddenly been flung back from the
James to the Potomac and from the
Tennessee to the Ohio. Gen. Buell. did
wisely in Incorporating these new regi-
ments with his old brigades where ffiey
could soonest learn the art of war by
daily and hourly association with the
men who had learned 1T themselves at
DOnelson and Shiloh.
1t was the fashion then to organize
each army into corps numbered in or
der for that particular army. Buell. di-
Vded his army into three corps, eachi
comprising three divisions, and desig-
mated them as the First" under the
command Of Maj.-Gen. A. Med. Me-
Cook; the Second under the COM
mand Of Maj T. L. Crittenden. and the
Third" under Brighten. c. G. Gilbert. |
This last appointment was an astonish-
ment, for Capt. Gilbert, Of the Regular /
gallant soldier at Shiloh and elsewhere,
but had shown no capacity for high |
command, neither had he experience in |!
1t. The reason was hard to find why
he should be made a corps commander |
before such men as Thomas, Wood and
Rousseau, who had commanded divi- |
sions very satisfactorily.
Gen. Thomas Refuses Command.
BY the time Gen. Buell. reached Lou
isvilIe he had scarcely friend in the |
army or outside Of 1T, except possibly |
among the Confederates, who still re-
gard him and Mcclellan as the greatest |
of the Union Generals The .Adminis-
tration at Washington was decidedly Of |
the belief that it was entirely unnec-
essary for him to allow himself to be
run clear back to the Ohio River, with
such narrow chance of saving
Louisville. He had the men to defeat
Bragg, and from the outset of the cam
paign there were many times during
the long race when he could have Civ
Ell battle under favorable circumstances
and arrested the invasion. The men
Of the Army Of the Ohio could not un-
derstand why they had marched those
long days, frequently in sight Of the
enemy, but without attacking him !,
They had come out to fight the rebels
they had marched clear down into Ala
bama for that purpose, and they could
not comprehend why they had not been
allowed to fight somewhere in Ken
tucky or Tennessee without racing clear
back to the Ohio River.
Sept. % Gen. Thomas received an Or
der from Halleck as Commander-in-
Chief, assigning him to the command
Of the Army of the Ohio to superscde
Buell. Thomas's magnanimity assert-
ed itself. and he Immediately replied
by telegram urging the continuance
of Gen Buell. in command since he had
made his preparations for sbattle, was
ready to move, and deserved the credit
for whatever results might be achieved.
Strangely enough, this generosity on
the part Of Gen. Thomas was made to
tell against him. There We're not 4 few
influential men in Washington who
were by no means friendly 40 Thomas.
Some Of these doubted his loyalty on
account of his Southern blood; some
connected him very unfayOrably with
Patterson's failure in the Shenandoah
Valley, and many now took his disin-
clination to succeed Buell. as an evil
dence that his heart was not in the
cause, and that he shrunk from the
responsibility of the command. The
dispatch had the effect Of retaining
Gen. Buell. in command. with Thomas
as second.
Bragg's Political Performance.
Up to the moment that Gen. Bragg
allowed himself to be detained at Mum