Chapter II: Part 2

The result was unfortunate in the extreme. Two Grand Divisions succeeded in crossing the river without material opposition, but at once found themselves confronted by difficulties and forces they could not overcome. Franklin, in compliance with his instructions, took two days to get into position, but when his two corps had reached the place assigned them on the old Richmond Road, with the aid of Smith and Reynolds, he looked over the ground and made up his mind that the only chance of victory was offered by an assault upon the enemy's right center, with the full force of his two corps, amounting to 40,000 men. Burnside, at his invitation, came to that part of the field, and after listening to the views of the three generals, either of whom was vastly his superior as a soldier, approved the plan and promised to give a written order for its execution. Franklin waited all night for the order, telegraphed twice, and finally sent a staff officer for it, but it never came. Indeed it was never issued but a different order directing him to seize the heights at Hamilton's House, nearly three miles from his right division, and to keep the whole of his command in readiness to move at once, was sent instead. Sumner received an order equally inane, in reference to Marye's Heights. The resulting operations which should have been carefully co-ordinated and vigorously supported, were weak and indecisive. As the day wore away Lee took advantage of the delays and the opportunities which they offered him, and assumed the offensive. There was much severe but desultory and disconnected fighting. The Union generals with their officers and men did their best, but Burnside was on the opposite side of the river and could neither give intelligent orders nor act promptly upon the suggestions which were sent to him from the field. There was no chance for maneuvering. It was from the first head-on, face-to-face fighting with no hope of victory for the assailants. The Union losses were over 12,500 men killed, wounded and missing, of which 4,962 belonged to Franklin's Grand Division, while Jackson's corps which confronted him lost 5,364.

A full description of this mid-winter campaign would be out of place in this sketch, and the same may be said of the abortive Mud Campaign six weeks later, which had for its object the passage of the Rappahannock by a movement above Fredericksburg. Both Franklin and Smith took part in this ill planned and poorly executed undertaking. The weather and the roads were against it, and it soon came to an end quite as pitiful, though not so costly, as its predecessor.

Following these failures, Burnside, in futile desperation, prepared an order relieving Franklin, Smith and several other officers of inferior rank from duty, and dismissing Hooker, Brooks, Newton and Cochrane from the service. He made no further charge against these officers than that they had no confidence in himself, and this much was probably true, but it would have been equally as true of any other generals serving at that time in the Army of the Potomac. The President, instead of approving the order, it should he noted, at once relieved Burnside and assigned Hooker to the command. Sumner and Franklin both of whom outranked Hooker were relieved from further service with that army, while Smith was transferred to the command of the Ninth Corps, which he held but a short time, owing to the failure of the Senate to confirm him as a major general. This was doubtless brought about by misrepresentation, made to the Senate committee on the Conduct of the War, but as the action of the Senate and its committees in reference to confirmations were secret, no correct explanation can now he given of the allegations against Smith, though they were generally attributed at the time to Burnside and his friends, and while they were neither properly investigated nor supported, they resulted in reducing Smith to the rank of brigadier general and depriving him of the high command which he would have otherwise continued to hold.

It is worthy of note that before these changes were made, and while the Army of the Potomac was still floundering in the mud under the inefficient command of Burnside, Franklin and Smith joined in the letter previously referred to, advising the President to abandon the line on which the Army was then operating, with such ill success, and after reinforcing it to the fullest extent, to send it back again to the line of the James River. This letter was doubtless written in entire good faith, but at a time when it seemed to be impossible for the government, even if it had so desired, to carry out its recommendations. Its only immediate effect was to arouse the antagonism of Mr. Stanton against these two able officers, and to deprive the country for a while of their services. A wiser and more temperate Secretary of War would have filed and ignored it, or sent for the officers and explained why he deemed their advice to be impracticable at that time. That, however, was not Mr. Stanton's way. Although intensely patriotic and in earnest, he was imperious and overbearing both to high and low alike, and preferred to banish and offend rather than to listen and conciliate.

The winter of 1862-3 is now by common consent regarded as the darkest period of the war for the Union. The failure of Burnside's plans and the defeat of Hooker at Chancellorsville severely tried the discipline and organization of the Army of the Potomac, and filled the loyal North with alarm, while it correspondingly encouraged the Confederate government and raised the confidence of its army. As soon as the winter was over and the roads were settled Lee assumed the initiative, drove Hooker back from the Rappahannock, crossed the Potomac, advanced confidently to Chambersburg and pushed his cavalry as far north as Harrisburg and York.

Hooker had also proven himself to be incompetent, and desperate as the measure was, the Washington government relieved him in the midst of an active campaign, and entrusted the army and its fortunes to the direction of Major General George G. Meade, a gallant and able soldier, who checked the high tide of rebellion at Gettysburg on the 2nd and 3rd of July, 1863. During this campaign Smith, who was on leave of absence when it began, made haste to offer his services, without conditions, and was at once sent to Harrisburg to assist Major General Couch, who had been assigned to the command of the Pennsylvania and New York militia. Taking command of an improvised division, he moved against the enemy, then threatening Carlisle, with all the assurance of a veteran, and while the prompt retreat of the enemy prevented any severe engagement, the movement was entirely efficacious. With the true instincts of a soldier he pressed on in the direction of the Confederate army, and took part in its pursuit from Gettysburg back to Virginia. Curiously enough, instead of commending and thanking him and his raw troops for their gallant services, the Secretary of War ordered his arrest for taking his command beyond the limits of Pennsylvania, for the special defence of which the militia had been called out, but fortunately the remonstrance of General Couch caused this order to be recalled, and the gallant but unappreciated general again withdrew from the field, as soon as the scare was over and his forces were permitted to return to their homes.

It will be remembered that the news of Lee's defeat and his retreat from Gettysburg reached the country on the 4th of July, and that the same day was made triply memorable by the capture of Vicksburg with Pemberton's entire army of 30,000 men with all their guns and ammunitions. These two striking events threw the country into the wildest enthusiasm. Even the most despondent now became confident that the Southern Confederacy would soon be destroyed, and that the triumphant Union would be finally re-established. But this confidence was destined to be rudely shaken.

Later in the summer, taking advantage of the lull in operations elsewhere, the Confederate leaders sent Longstreet's splendid corps of veterans from Virginia, and that part of Johnston's army which had been paroled, together with such detachments as could be got from Alabama, to reinforce Bragg, who had been driven by Rosecrans from Middle Tennessee to Northern Georgia. Turning fiercely upon his over-confident pursuer, as soon as his reinforcements were at hand, Bragg struck a staggering blow at Chickamauga, which not only came near giving Chattanooga back to him, but filled the northern states with consternation. The war was not only not ended, but had burst forth with renewed vigor. Reinforcements in large numbers were hurried forward from all parts of the country to Chattanooga. Hooker, with Howard's and Slocum's corps, was sent out by rail from Virginia, while the greater part of Grant's Army of the Tennessee was withdrawn from the lower Mississippi, where it was resting after the capture of Vicksburg, and marched over-land from Memphis to the same place. The separate departments in the Mississippi Valley were consolidated into a military grand division, under the supreme command of General Grant, and what turned out to be of almost equal importance was the fact that Brigadier General William F. Smith was relieved from service in West Virginia, where he had been recently assigned to duty, and sent to contribute his part towards strengthening the national grasp upon the vast region of which Chattanooga was justly considered the strategic center.

Whatever the government at that time may have thought of him as a commander of troops, it is certain that it was willing to recognize and use his experience and marked intellectual resources as an engineer officer to their fullest extent. As it turned out, it could not have paid him a greater compliment, nor given him a better opportunity for distinction. His fame had gone before him, and on his arrival at Chattanooga, although he preferred the command of troops, he was assigned at once to duty as Chief Engineer of the Department and Army of the Cumberland. Fortunately this gave him the control, not only of the engineer troops and materials, and the engineer operations of that army, but carried with it the right and duty of knowing the army's condition and requirements as well as all the plans which might be considered for extricating it from the extraordinary perils and difficulties which surrounded it.

Although efforts have been made at various times and by various writers, to minimize these perils and difficulties, it cannot be denied that the situation of that army was at that epoch an exceedingly grave one. It had been rudely checked, if not completely beaten, in one of the most desperate and bloody battles of the war, and shut up in Chattanooga by Bragg's army on the south, and by an almost impassable mountain region on the north and west. Its communication by rail with its secondary base at Bridgeport, and with its primary base at Nashville, had been broken by the Confederate cavalry and rendered most uncertain. Its supplies were scanty and growing daily less, while its artillery horses and draft mules were dying by hundreds, for lack of forage. The only safe wagon roads to the rear were by a long and circuitous route through the mountains north of the Tennessee River, which was besides so rough and muddy that the teams could haul hardly enough for their own subsistence, much less an adequate supply for the troops.

All the contemporary accounts go to show that Rosecrans, while personally brave enough, was himself more or less confused and excited by the great disaster which had overtaken his army at Chickamauga. He had been cut off and greatly shaken by the overthrow of his right wing, and consequently retired with it to Chattanooga. Notwithstanding this unfortunate withdrawal and his failure to rejoin the organized portion of his army, which under General George H. Thomas, held on firmly to its position against every attack, those who knew Rosecrans best still believed him to be a most loyal and gallant gentleman who was anxious and willing to do all that could be done to save his army and maintain its advanced position. But there is no satisfactory evidence that up to the time he turned over his command to his successor, he had formed any adequate or comprehensive plan for supplying it or getting it ready to resume the offensive. Every general in it knew that it needed and must have supplies, and that the only way to get them, without falling back, was to open and keep open the direct road or "cracker line" to Bridgeport. But how and when this was to be done was the great question.

Much has been written upon this subject; a military commission has had it under consideration; the records have been consulted; a report has been made, and comments upon it have been issued by General Smith and his friends. Even the late Secretary of War, Elihu Root, has passed judgment upon it, and yet it can be safely said that nothing has been done to disturb the conclusion reached at the time, that General Smith in consultation with his superiors worked out the plan as to how, when and by what means the short supply line by the way of Brown's Ferry and the Lookout Valley should he opened and maintained. He certainly secured its adoption first by Thomas and afterwards by Grant, and finally when he had arranged all the details of the complicated and delicate operations, and had prepared all engineer's materials and pontoons which were required, he personally commanded the troops and carried that part of the plan which was based on Chattanooga, to a successful conclusion.

When it is remembered that Rosecrans had left Chattanooga, that he had been succeeded by Thomas, and that Grant himself had arrived on the ground and assumed supreme command, before the first practical step had been taken to carry the plan into effect, and that the plan itself involved a descent and passage of the Tennessee River by night, the defeat and capture of the enemy's outposts, the laying of a pontoon bridge across a broad and rapid river, the rebuilding of the railroad, and its maintenance within easy reach of the enemy's front for twenty-five miles, and that all of this was done without the slightest mishap and with but little loss, and that it resulted in relieving the army from want and in putting it in condition to resume the offensive as soon as its reinforcements had arrived, some fair idea may be had of the value of General Smith's services and the part he actually performed in all that took place. If General Rosecrans had actually conceived and worked out all the details of the plan, which cannot be successfully claimed, there would still be enough left to the credit of General Smith to immortalize him, but when Grant, Thomas and all the other officers who were present and in position to know what was actually done gave Smith the praise, not only for conceiving it, but carrying the plan into successful effect, there is but little room left for further controversy.

If any additional testimony is needed as to the masterful part played by Smith at Chattanooga, it is found in the fact that Grant made haste to attach him to his own staff and to recommend him for promotion to the grade of major-general to take rank from the date of his original appointment, declaring in support of his recommendation that he felt "under more than ordinary obligations for the masterly manner in which he discharged the duties of his position." Later he recommended that Smith be put first of all the army on the list for promotion, adding: "He is possessed of one of the clearest military heads in the army, is very practical and industrious," and emphasized it all with the highly eulogistic declaration that "no man in the army is better qualified than he for the largest military commands."

It is noteworthy that about the same time General Butler with whom he had served for a short season, made an application to have General Smith re-assigned to his command, but the Secretary of War, having evidently forgotten his order for Smith's arrest at the close of the Gettysburg campaign, wrote: "The services of William F. Smith, now Chief Engineer in the Army of the Cumberland, are indispensable in that command, and it will be impossible to assign him to your Department." But this was not all. General George H. Thomas, the soul of honor and fair dealing on the 20th of November, 1863, although General Smith had already been transferred from his own to the staff of General Grant, formally recommended him for promotion in the following striking and comprehensive words:

"For industry and energy displayed by him from the time of
his reporting for duty at these headquarters, in organizing
the Engineer Department, and for his skillful execution of
the movements at Brown's Ferry, Tennessee, on the night of
October 26th, 1863, in surprising the enemy and throwing a
pontoon bridge across the Tennessee River at that point, a
vitally important service necessary to the opening of
communications between Bridgeport and Chattanooga."

Certainly no language could be more clear and unequivocal than this, and yet, as though General Thomas wished to remove all chance of doubt as to whom the highest credit was due, he declared in a later and more formal official report:

"To Brigadier General William F. Smith, Chief Engineer,
should be accorded great praise for the ingenuity which
conceived and the ability which executed the movements at
Brown's Ferry."

While even the best memory so long after the event is but little to be depended upon for details, it may serve especially when supplementing the records, to strengthen the conclusions therefrom. In this instance it should be stated that it was perfectly well known to the late Charles A. Dana, then present at Chattanooga as Assistant Secretary of War, and also to myself, who was serving at the time on General Grant's staff as Inspector General, and was in daily contact with all the leading officers, that it was General Smith, and General Smith alone, who conceived and carried out the plan actually used for the capture of Brown's Ferry and the re-establishment of the direct line of communication between Chattanooga and Bridgeport. Indeed, there was no question in that army, or at that time, in regard to the matter. Rosecrans was never mentioned in connection with it, while Smith's praise was in everybody's mouth till the close of the campaign, not only for the Brown's Ferry movement, but, what was still more important, for the plan of operations against Bragg's position on Missionary Ridge. He it was who personally familiarized himself with the _terrain_ in the entire field of operations, which, with the mountains, valleys, rivers and creeks, that gave it its unique character, was the most complicated and difficult one of the entire war, if not the most complicated and difficult one upon which a great battle was ever fought. It was he alone who worked out every detail of the combinations and movements by which the great victory of Missionary Ridge was won. I state this upon my own knowledge and not upon hearsay.

Moreover, it was conceded by all in high command that Smith was easily the leading strategist in that entire host. He knew all the details of the ground and all the difficulties to be overcome, better than any other man. He studied them more closely, and with more intelligence than any other man, not only because it was his duty to do so, but because he was conscious of the portentous fact now so commonly lost sight of that the safety and success of the army depended upon the discovery and adoption of a feasible plan of action. Grant, the generalissimo, had neither the time nor opportunity to gather the facts. He was neither an engineer nor strange as it may seem, a close calculator of the chances.

He necessarily depended upon the Chief Engineer, and the criticism which was sure to come from others, to gather and sift the data upon which final action must be based. Thomas was there from the first, able, methodical and invincible, a great field tactician, but not specially distinguished for his knowledge of engineering, grand tactics or strategy. Sherman came afterwards. He was bold, active and energetic, and had a fine eye for topography. He knew as well as anyone what could be done and what could not be done by an army, but he came too late to take part in the original investigations, or to do anything more than to accept the part assigned to him, and from an examination of the ground say whether or not he could carry it out. The important fact is that Smith was, beyond any question, the first mind among them all for working out just such problems as confronted the leaders of the Union army at Chattanooga, and that task was by common consent assigned to him. The responsibility was Grant's. His judgment and resolution must necessarily decide and execute, but it was Smith's place to gather the facts and work out the details of one of the most complicated military problems that was ever presented for solution, and it can hardly be too much to say that he discharged his task with such patience, skill and success as to justly entitle himself to be known in history as the Strategist of Chattanooga. Were his distinguished associates living, it cannot be doubted they would willingly concede that honor to him. In their official reports and correspondence at the time they went far beyond the usual limit to give him praise, and although Grant finally withdrew his friendship from him, for reasons which will be given hereafter, he never in the slightest degree withdrew or modified the praise he had awarded him for his services in the Chattanooga campaign.

But to return to the details of the plan of operations. It was Smith who discovered the possibility of turning Bragg's position on Missionary Ridge, by the Army of the Tennessee. After personal examination of the lay of the ground he suggested that Sherman's army coming up from Bridgeport through Lookout Valley should cross to the north side of the Tennessee by the bridge at Brown's Ferry, and after passing to the east side of Moccasin Point, under cover of the woods, to a position opposite the mouth of Chickamauga Creek, should re-cross the Tennessee River, by a bridge to be thrown under cover of darkness, and land on the end of Missionary Ridge with the obvious purpose of marching along the Ridge and rolling up and destroying Bragg's army, or taking it in reverse and driving it from its line of supply and retreat. As early as the 8th of November, Mr. Dana, writing to the Secretary of War, speaks of a reconnaissance made by Thomas, Smith and Brannan on the north side of the river to a point opposite the mouth of Citico Creek, near the head of Missionary Ridge, which he thought at that time "proved Smith's plan of attack impractical." But further investigation proved that a passage could he made higher up the river, and when Sherman was taken to the place that had been selected, examining both the place for the bridge and its approaches, on both sides of the river, with his usual care, he closed his field glasses with a snap and turning to Smith said with emphasis: "Baldy, it can be done!"

And so much of it as referred to the passage of the river was done without halt or fault, just as it had been planned. Sherman's entire army, except his rear division that had been cut off by a break in the Brown's Ferry floating bridge, was brought upon the field just in the way suggested and by the means which had been provided by General Smith. I assisted in transferring the troops to the South bank of the river at the point of crossing, by the use of the river steamer "Dunbar," which had been put under my command so as to make certain that a sufficient force should be on the ground in time to cover the construction of the bridge. The bridge was laid successfully and the army was transferred without delay. Every stage of the movement pointed to an onward and victorious march against Bragg's commanding position, and a complete victory was finally achieved, but much to the surprise and disappointment of all, it was not attained at the time nor in the way that had been expected. The prearranged plan, so far as it concerns Sherman's army, had no other legitimate purpose than to land it on Bragg's exposed right flank and double him up or drive him from his regular line of supply and retreat. And there is nothing more certain than that there was no man in authority on either side who intended the battle to be fought as it was actually fought, nor who seriously expected the victory to be won in the way it finally was won by Thomas's army, and not by Sherman's.

It is here worthy of remark that for nearly a quarter of a century both Grant and Sherman believed and contended--in fact both died in the belief--that Sherman's lodgement on the foot-hills at the north end of Missionary Ridge, and his unsuccessful attack from that place, caused Bragg to so weaken his center by withdrawing troops from his center and left, to resist Sherman, that Thomas met with but little resistance when he advanced to the attack about ten hours later, in obedience to Grant's personal order. But it has been shown by irrefutable testimony, and is now conceded, that there is not a word of truth in this supposition--"that nothing of the kind occurred," and that in face of all statements and suppositions to the contrary, however natural they may have seemed at the time, "not a single regiment, nor a single piece of artillery," not even "a single Confederate soldier was withdrawn from Thomas's front to Sherman's on the final day of the battle. All the Confederate reports are clear and specific on that point."

The simple fact is that the plan of operations for Sherman were clear and perfect, and they were carried out in their initial stage without fault or accident, but their execution in the final and vital stage was marred by Sherman himself or by his subordinates, who never reached the point from which they could strike a fatal blow, or from which they could have taken possession of Bragg's communications with the rear.

That Sherman was entirely satisfied with Smith's part in carrying out the plan, is shown beyond dispute by his report, which bears

"willing testimony to the completeness of this whole
business. All the officers charged with the work were present
and manifested a skill which I cannot praise too highly. I
have never beheld any work done so quietly, so well, and I
doubt if the history of war can show a bridge of * * 1350
feet, laid down so noiselessly and well in so short a time. I
attribute it to the genius and intelligence of General
William F. Smith."

The genuineness of this praise is strikingly attested by General Grant, who almost immediately after the battle again urged the Secretary of War to give Smith the promotion which he had previously recommended. Unmistakably referring to the part taken by Smith in making and carrying out the plans which had yielded such notable results, he wrote, among other things: "Recent events have entirely satisfied me of his great capabilities and merits. I hasten to renew the recommendation and to urge it."

Shortly afterwards Grant followed this letter by another asking for Smith's assignment to the command of East Tennessee, to succeed the luckless Burnside, with whom he was dissatisfied, but in so doing he intimated that it would be agreeable to him if the government should, in pursuance of a personal suggestion sent to the War Department about the same time by Mr. Dana, give General Smith even a higher command. It is now well known that Grant had in mind the command of the Army of the Potomac, and not only then, but frequently afterwards, assured General Smith of his support for that great position.

The friendship of Grant, Sherman and Thomas, for Smith, was at that time genuine and unmistakable. Neither of these great generals had ever served with him before. He was a comparative stranger to them, and that he should have come amongst them from the East under a cloud as he did, and should in less than two months have won such unusual praise and recommendations is stronger testimony than their words themselves to the masterful part he had played at Chattanooga, and in recognition of which the President made haste to promote him again to the rank of Major General, at that time the highest grade in the service. It is to be regretted, however, that the vacancy made by his previous non-confirmation, having long since been filled, and opposition having arisen on the part of other generals already promoted and confirmed, the President did not feel justified in dating his new commission back to the date of his original appointment. The action of the President, the Secretary of War, who concurred in it, and the Senate which acted upon it, this time without reference to the military committee, set the seal of government approval in the most signal manner upon the services and abilities of General Smith. No subsequent action or criticism can deprive him of the great praise and unusual honors which were then bestowed upon him.

But a new and far less fortunate era was about to open upon General Smith's career. Grant's work in the west had reached its close, and his extraordinary success had secured for him the full rank of Lieutenant General, with the command of all the armies of the United States. It at once became known to me, and to others serving at that time on his staff; that it was from the first, and till he went east to take charge of his new duties, Grant's intention to assign Smith to the command of the Army of the Potomac. He had come to trust his intelligence,--his judgment and his extraordinary _coup d'oeil_ implicitly, and to regard him as a strategist of consummate ability. He made no concealment of his confidence in him, nor of his intentions in his behalf, and there can be but little doubt that he would have carried those intentions into effect could he have done so without injustice to others. But it is also true that after going to the eastern theatre of war and conferring with the President, Secretary Stanton, General Meade and General Butler, the Lieutenant General completely changed his mind, not only as to the proper plan of campaign for the army of the Potomac, which he had not previously visited or studied, but as to the disposition to be made of Smith and the other leading generals. In all this he had the sagacious advice and support of General Rawlins, his Chief of Staff and doubtless of other influential persons. Exactly why he did so, or what were the details of the argument which brought him to his final conclusions, is still one of the most interesting unsettled questions of the war. The general argument has already been indicated in the comprehensive language of Rawlins and that was doubtless strengthened by Mr. Lincoln, whose homely but astute reasoning convinced him that the better and safer line of operations was overland against Lee's army wherever it might be encountered, and not through a widely eccentric movement by water to a secondary base on the James River and thence against Richmond.

It is also doubtless true that finding Meade, who had shown himself to be a prudent and safe commander, if not a brilliant one, not only favorable to the overland route, but deservedly well thought of by the President, the cabinet and the army, while Smith, on the other hand, if not openly opposed to this plan of operations, was somewhat persistent as was his custom, in favoring a campaign from the lower James, or even from the sounds of North Carolina, Grant reached the conclusion that it would be better to retain Meade in immediate command of the principal army, and to place Smith over all the troops that could be mobilized from Fortress Monroe in Butler's department. Whatever may have been the open or secret influences at work, or the reasoning based upon the facts, this was Grant's first decision, but it is to be observed that the plan as adopted was afterwards fatally modified by permitting Butler, notwithstanding his partiality for Smith, as shown by his recent request for his re-assignment to his department, to take the field in person, with Smith commanding one of his army corps and Gillmore the other. In other words, Grant was not altogether a free agent, though the government had ostensibly given him a free hand. Of course, Smith knew that in any case he could not be permitted to make all the plans, even if he held the first subordinate command, and it is always possible that he had not specially endeared himself to the leading officers of the eastern armies, but there can hardly be a doubt that he would have given efficient and loyal support to Grant without reference to the plan of operations which it might be found necessary to adopt.

Without pausing here to recapitulate the arguments for and against the line and general plan of operations actually selected by General Grant, or to consider further his choice of subordinate commanders, it may he well to call attention to the fact that the organization and arrangements made by him for the control and co-operation of the forces in Virginia, are now generally regarded by military critics as having been nearly as faulty as they could have been. It will he remembered that Meade, with a competent staff had immediate command of the Army of the Potomac, but was followed closely wherever he went by General Grant and his staff. At the same time Burnside, with the Ninth Corps, having an older commission than Meade, and having been once in command of the Army of the Potomac, was for reasons which must be regarded as largely sentimental, permitted to report directly to and receive his orders directly from Grant, while Butler with two army corps operating at first at a considerable distance and later in a semi-detached and less independent manner, made his reports to and received his instructions directly from Grant's headquarters.

This arrangement, as might have been foreseen, was fatal to coherent and prompt co-operative action, and the result was properly described by Grant himself as comparable only to the work of a "balky team." It was in the nature of things impossible to make either the armies or the separate army-corps work harmoniously and effectively together. The orders issued from the different headquarters were necessarily lacking in uniformity of style and expression, and failed to secure that prompt and unfailing obedience that in operations extending over so wide and difficult a field was absolutely essential, and this was entirely independent of the merits of the different generals or the peculiarities of their Chiefs of Staff and Adjutants General. The forces were too great; they were scattered too widely over the field of operations; the conditions of the roads, the width of the streams and the broken and wooded features of the battle fields were too various, and the means of transport and supply were too inadequate to permit of simultaneous and synchronous movements, even if they had been intelligently provided for, and the generals had uniformly done their best to carry them out.

But when it is considered that Grant's own staff, although presided over by a very able man from civil life, and containing a number of zealous and experienced officers from both the regular army and the volunteers, was not organized for the arrangement of the multifarious details and combinations of the marches and battles of a great campaign, and indeed under Grant's special instructions made no efforts to arrange them, it will be apparent that properly co-ordinated movements could not be counted upon. When it is further considered that Meade, Burnside, Butler, Hunter and afterwards Sheridan, as well as the corps commanders, were left almost invariably to work out the details for themselves, it will be seen that prompt, orderly, simultaneous and properly co-operating movements on an extended scale, from different parts of the same theatre of operations, and that properly combined marches and battle movements were almost impossible. As a fact they rarely ever took place, and it is not to be wondered at that the best officers of every grade in the armies operating in Virginia found much throughout the campaign, from beginning to end, to criticise and complain of. Nor is it to be thought strange that many of their best movements were successful rather because of good luck than of good management, or failed rather because of their defective execution, than by the enemy's better arrangements or superior generalship, though it is evident that the Confederates kept their forces better in hand and operated more in masses than did the Union generals. Their organizations were simpler and more compact, their generals were better chosen and better supported. Operating generally on the defensive and fighting behind breastworks whenever it was possible, it was all the more necessary to bring overwhelming forces to bear against them, in order to ensure their final overthrow. In addition to the defective organization and inefficient staff arrangements which have been mentioned, neither the Union government nor the Union generals ever made provisions, or seemed to understand the necessity, for a sufficient preponderance of force, to neutralize the advantages which the Confederate armies enjoyed, when fighting on the defensive, or to render victory over them reasonably certain.

Looking back over the long series of partial victories, vexatious delays and humiliating failures, and considering the inadequate organization and defective staff arrangements for which Grant was mainly responsible, it is evident that the terrible losses in the Union army in the overland campaign were due quite as frequently to the latter causes as to incompetency or lack of vigor on the part of the subordinate commanders. The blind grapplings in the forests of the Wilderness could not be helped, when both armies were marching through it, for they could not see each other through the tangled underbrush till they were almost face to face, but it is now certain that if the marches of the Union army corps had been properly timed and properly conducted, they could have reached the open country before the Confederate corps could have engaged them. But when the senseless assaults of fortified positions, which occurred in endless succession, from Spottsylvania Court House to Petersburg are considered, it will be impossible to find sufficient excuse for them. They were in nearly every case the direct result of defective staff arrangements and the lack of proper prevision. In a few instances they were due to positive incompetency on the part of subordinate commanders, while on several notable occasions there was a woeful lack of responsible oversight and supervision on the part of those whose duty it should have been to exercise both. Before the campaign was half over it had come to be an axiom among both officers and men that a well-defended rifle trench could not be carried by a direct attack without the most careful preparation nor even then without fearful loss. Such undertakings were far too costly, and far too frequently ended in failure, to justify them when they could be avoided. But no experience, however frequent or bloody, no remonstrance however forcible, could eradicate the practice of resorting to them occasionally. Rawlins was utterly opposed to them and never failed to inveigh against them but the advice of more than one trusted and influential staff officer was uniformly in favor of assaulting fortified positions. The favorite refrain at general headquarters is said to have been "Smash `em up! Smash `em up!"

It was with special reference to the application of this method of procedure at Cold Harbor, that General Smith afterwards gave vent to his indignation in words of the bitterest criticism. It will be remembered that the entire army confronting the enemy had advanced on that fatal day in compliance with a general order to attack "all along the line," which was done in a half-hearted, desultory manner, foreboding failure and defeat. Not a soul among the generals or in the fighting line dreamed of success and not a commander from highest to lowest except Smith and Upton, made any adequate preparation to achieve it. Officers and men alike felt that they had been ordered to a sure defeat. Knowing intuitively what awaited them, they wrote their names on scraps of paper and pinned them to their coats in order that their bodies might be identified after the slaughter was over. This done they advanced in long and wavering lines of blue against the enemy's bristling breastworks and rifle pits, and were mowed down like ripe grain before the scythe. In almost as short a time as it takes to recount the useless sacrifice, over twelve thousand Union soldiers were killed and wounded, without shaking the enemy's position or inflicting serious injury upon him.

Smith and his gallant corps, did their part bravely in the futile attack. They were just back from Butler's abortive movement to Bermuda Hundred, in which by good management on the part of the General, and by steadiness on the part of the men, they had saved the expedition from a disgraceful defeat. They were not only hungry and tired, but disgusted with the incompetency of Butler and his abortive plans. The situation which confronted them was most discouraging. They were on new and unknown ground, but they had not yet worn themselves out against Lee's veterans and therefore they cheerfully took the position assigned them. Smith with his usual foresight and deliberation made haste to examine the ground in his front, and by availing himself of the advantages which his trained eye soon detected he was enabled to direct his main attack along a sheltering depression against a weak point, where he reached and broke through the enemy's line. He needed only the prompt and vigorous support that intelligent prevision and co-operation would have given, to make his lodgement safe and his victory certain. But as no one above him seems to have expected victory, no proper provision was made to ensure it. No supports were at hand. Each corps commander was looking out for his own front only, and not for his neighbor's. The Confederates were more wise and more alert, and seeing the danger which threatened the continuity of their line, made haste to concentrate their forces against Smith and of course hurled him back with terrible loss.

Smarting under this unnecessary disaster, and grieving over the useless loss and suffering of his gallant men, it was but natural that he should vent his feelings in sharp and caustic denunciation of all who were in any degree responsible for the blunder. He was especially outspoken with Grant and Rawlins, whose confidence he had won in the Chattanooga campaign, and with whom he had since been on terms of the closest intimacy and friendship. It is but just to note that they did not at that time appear to consider his criticism as in any sense directed against them nor did they rebuke or condemn it, but to the contrary they gave him every assurance of sympathy and approval.

But Smith although one of the heaviest sufferers, was not the only or even the severest critic, of the mismanagement or lack of management which characterized that disastrous day. The result was most demoralizing to the army. Officers of every grade were unreserved in their condemnation. The newspaper criticism was wide-spread and continuous.

It was with special reference to the useless slaughter at Cold Harbor that the gallant and invincible Upton, then coming to be widely recognized as the best practical soldier of his day, immediately wrote in confidence to his sister.

"I am disgusted with the generalship displayed. Our men have
in many instances been foolishly and wantonly sacrificed.
Thousands of lives might have been spared by the exercise of
a little skill; but as it is, the courage of the men is
expected to obviate all difficulties. I must confess that so
long as I see such incompetency, there is no grade in the
army to which I do not aspire."

Later referring to the same battle, he adds:

"On that day [at Cold Harbor] we had a murderous engagement.
I say murderous, because we were recklessly ordered to
assault the enemy's entrenchments knowing neither their
strength nor position. * * * I am very sorry to add that I
have seen but little generalship during the campaign. Some of
our corps commanders are not fit to be corporals. Lazy and
indifferent they will not even ride along their lines, yet
without hesitancy they will order us to attack the enemy, no
matter what their position or numbers."

As the assault on Cold Harbor was a general one, it follows of course that it must have been ordered by someone higher in authority than either Smith of the Eighteenth or Upton of the Sixth Corps.

It was doubtless in allusion to this and to similar instances that the veracious and outspoken Humphreys, at that time Meade's Chief of Staff, and afterwards the peerless commander of the Second Army Corps, wrote:

"The incessant movements day and night for so long a period,
the constant close contact with the enemy during all that
time, the almost daily assaults upon intrenchments having
entanglements in front and defended by artillery and musketry
in front and flank, exhausted both officers and men."

Although all the orders which brought about this unfortunate condition of affairs must have passed through Humphreys himself, it is obvious that they could not have originated with him, but must have come from higher authority.

If the imperturbable and painstaking Smith, fresh from the triumphs and confidences of Chattanooga, should have lost his patience under these distressing circumstances, and declared to General Grant, frankly and fearlessly as he did as was clearly his duty, that "there had been a fearful slaughter at Cold Harbor," surely it should not have been brought up against him later as one of the reasons for relieving him from the command of the troops of the Department of the James, to which he had been assigned after this criticism had been made. If in the same interview Grant acknowledged, as it is credibly stated he did, "that there had been a butchery at Cold Harbor, but that he had said nothing about it, because it could do no good," his remembrance of the circumstance to the prejudice of Smith, must be regarded as an afterthought which had its origin in some cause not yet fully explained.

It is altogether likely that Smith's criticism was repeated to others less entitled to speak than himself and that it was exaggerated into a direct attack upon both Meade and Grant, which could not be passed over lightly. Be this as it may, it must be apparent that it was fully justified as a mere matter of military criticism and quite independent of both Smith and Upton, it was generally approved both by the army and the country at large.

It was shortly after the assault in question, while I was commanding a division of cavalry, that I visited Grant's headquarters. During the conversation which followed the Lieutenant General asked me: "What is the matter with this army?" To which I replied:

"It will take too long to explain, but I can tell you how to
cure it. Give Parker [the Indian Chief] a tomahawk, a supply
of commissary whiskey and a scalping knife and send him out
with orders to bring in the scalps of general officers."

During this same visit and frequently afterwards Rawlins, in a white rage, inveighed against the desperate practice of blindly assaulting fortified lines, and denounced in unmeasured terms all who favored them or failed to make adequate preparation for success, where any just excuse could be found for resorting to them. It is worthy of remark, without reference to the origin of the practice, or to the persons who were responsible for it, that General Grant alone had the power to stop it, and that later there was a noticeable change in the Army of the Potomac in regard to that practice, although it should be noted that Sherman followed it as an example in his desperate, but unsuccessful assault of the enemy's impregnable fortifications on Kenesaw Mountain, for the purpose, as he frankly explained, of showing that his army could also assault strongly fortified lines.

That such a costly practice could spring up and obtain imitation in our army is a striking commentary upon the lack of intelligent supervision over the essential details of its daily operations. It affords ample justification for again calling attention to the fact that in this respect the Confederate Army was much better off and more fortunate than the Union Army. Its generals, although not without fault, were much more careful in the management of their military details than ours were. Jefferson Davis was himself an educated soldier of great capacity, and selected none but educated and experienced military men for high command. While Lee's staff was far from faultless in organization, he had supreme authority in the field, with no army or independent corps commanders between him and the troops. His army corps were led by generals of the first rank, who took their orders directly from him, and no unnecessary time was lost in their transmission or execution, nor was there any uncertainty as to whose duty it was to work out and superintend the details of attack and defence. But whatever may be said in further elucidation of this important subject, I cannot help expressing regret that General Smith, who had shown such rare talents in another field, for planning and executing the most complicated movements, should not have had in this an opportunity to add to his fame, instead of being sent out as a subordinate to a general who, however great his talents as a lawyer and a militiaman, had developed no special aptitude as an army commander. In this connection the important fact should he recalled that Generals Barnard and Meigs, officers of the highest training and distinction, at the request of General Grant, shortly after the fiasco of Bermuda Hundred, had been sent by the Washington authorities to make an investigation of General Butler's fitness for command in the field, and had with due deliberation reported that while "General Butler was a man of rare and great ability, he had not had either the training or experience to enable him to direct and control movements in battle." It was doubtless the verification of this report to Grant's satisfaction that caused him finally to relieve that General from duty in the field, and in doing so to incur both his active and his covert hostility.

Meanwhile however valid and important, in either a military or a political sense, the considerations may have been which sent Butler out in command of an army with such men as Smith and Gilmore, both professional soldiers of the highest standing, as his subordinates, the arrangement was unfortunate from beginning to end, and from its very nature it was foredoomed to failure. It is to be observed that while these admirable soldiers were constantly with their troops moving against or confronting the enemy, Butler was generally at Fortress Monroe, or at a more central point some distance in the rear, and when his orders were not ill-timed or inapplicable to the case in hand, they were not infrequently deemed impracticable, or at cross purposes with the convictions of the generals whose duty it was to carry them into effect. The simple and incontrovertible fact is that General Butler's presence with that army was from the start embarrassing if not absolutely unnecessary. It interposed an intermediate commander between the generalissimo and two entire army corps, and however good the intentions of that commander or great his abilities, his principal influence was necessarily to derange and delay the orderly conduct and development of the campaign. It was productive of no good whatever, and was besides in direct violation of the rule of experience which teaches that better results are to be expected with one poor commander in full authority than with two or more good ones liable to pull against each other.