United States Congress Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War was a investigating committee created to handle issues surrounding the American Civil War . It was established on December 9 , 1861 , following the embarrassing Union defeat at the Battle of Ball ' s Bluff , at the instigation of Senator Zachariah T . Chandler of Michigan , and continued until May 1865 . Its purpose was to investigate such matters as illicit trade with the Confederate states , medical treatment of wounded soldiers , military contracts , and the causes of Union battle losses . The Committee was also involved in supporting the war effort through various means , including endorsing emancipation , the use of black soldiers , and the appointment of general s who were known to be aggressive fighters . It was chaired throughout by Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio , and became identified with the Radical Republicans who wanted more aggressive war policies than those of Abraham Lincoln . History . Union officers often found themselves in an uncomfortable position before the Committee . Since this was a civil war , pitting neighbor against neighbor ( and sometimes brother against brother ) , the loyalty of a soldier to the Union was simple to question . And since Union forces had very poor luck against their Confederate counterparts early in the war , particularly in the Eastern Theater battles that held the attention of the newspapers and Washington politicians , it was easy to accuse an officer of being a traitor after he lost a battle or was slow to engage or pursue the enemy . This politically charged atmosphere was very difficult and distracting for career military officers . Officers who were not known Republicans felt the most pressure before the Committee . During the committee ' s existence , it held 272 meetings and received testimony in Washington and at other locations , often from military officer s . Though the committee met and held hearings in secrecy , the testimony and related exhibits were published at irregular intervals in the numerous committee reports of its investigations . The records include the original manuscripts of certain postwar reports that the committee received from general officer s . There are also transcripts of testimony and accounting records regarding the military administration of Alexandria , Virginia . One of the most colorful series of committee hearings followed the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 , where Union Maj . Gen . Daniel Sickles , a former congressman , accused Maj . Gen . George G . Meade of mismanaging the battle , planning to retreat from Gettysburg prior to his victory there , and failing to pursue and defeat Robert E . Lee ' s army as it retreated . This was mostly a self - serving effort on Sickles ' s part because he was trying to deflect criticism from his own disastrous role in the battle . Bill Hyde notes that the committee ' s report on Gettysburg was edited by Wade in ways that were unfavorable to Meade , even when that required distorting the evidence . The report was " a powerful propaganda weapon " ( p . 381 ) , but the committee ' s power had waned by the time the final testimony was taken of William T . Sherman on May 22 , 1865 . The war it was investigating completed , the committee ceased to exist after this last testimony , and the final reports were published shortly thereafter . The later Joint Committee on Reconstruction represented a similar attempt to check executive power by the Radical Republicans . Members . 37th Congress . The committee ' s original Senate members were selected by the Vice - President Hannibal Hamlin ; House members were selected by Speaker of the House Galusha Grow . 38th Congress . In January 1864 , committee chairman Wade introduced a resolution broadening the committee ' s powers to include the oversight of military contracts . Both the House and Senate passed like resolutions by mid - January . Reports . The committee took testimony from witnesses , mostly Union Army officers , in private session , often when a quorum of members weren ' t present . The committee had been active for over a year before its first report was published in 1863 . 1863 . The committee ' s first report was issued in three parts . Part 1 covered the Army of the Potomac . Part 2 covered the Union ' s 1861 Eastern Theater losses at First Bull Run and at Ball ' s Bluff . Part 3 covered the war ' s Western Theater . 1864 . The 1864 report was given in two parts . The first presented reports and testimony taken involving the alleged Confederate mistreatment of USCT soldiers following their surrender at Fort Pillow . The second part related to the condition of returned Union soldiers after their imprisonment in Confederate POW camps . 1865 . The 1865 report was more comprehensive than the first two years ' works . the report covered a wide variety of issues : The Mine Crater incident during the Siege of Petersburg , the Fort Pillow episode , the military expeditions at Fort Fisher and up the Red River . Extensive testimony was taken on the subject of ordnance , contracts to supply ice for the war effort , turreted Monitor - class warships , and the massacre of friendly Cheyenne Indians at Sand Creek , Colorado . 1866 . A two - volume supplement was published in 1866 in order to present reports of several witnesses : major generals Sherman , Thomas , Pope , Foster , Pleasanton , Hitchcock , Sheridan , and brigadier general Ricketts . Legacy . Tap shows that Radical republicans challenged Lincoln ' s role as commander - in - chief through the Joint Committee . During the 37th and 38th Congresses , it investigated every aspect of Union military operations , with special attention to finding the men guilty of military defeats . They assumed an inevitable Union victory , and failure seemed to them to indicate evil motivations or personal failures . They were skeptical of military science and especially the graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point , many of alumni of which were leaders of the enemy army . They much preferred political generals with a known political record . Some committee suggested that West Pointers who engaged in strategic maneuver were cowardly or even disloyal . It ended up endorsing incompetent but politically correct generals . Tap finds , " the committee ' s investigations , its leaks to the press , and its use of secret testimony to discredit generals such as McClellan certainly were instrumental in creating hostility between the army ' s West Point officers and the nation ' s civilian leaders . " Finally , because of its collective ignorance of military science and preference for the heroic saber charge , " the committee tended to reinforce the unrealistic and simplistic notions of warfare that prevailed in the popular mind , " writes Tap . The Committee on the Conduct of the War is considered to be among the harshest congressional investigating committees in history ; Gershman says it conducted witch hunts rather than fair inquiries . Senator Harry S . Truman cited this committee ' s style as an example he did not want to follow in leading the " Truman Committee " , which investigated military appropriations during World War II . Truman stated that he did not want to second guess war strategy . His committee succeeded in demonstrating government waste and inefficiency in order to assist the war effort .