Years OBSERWvrioN' I i ; 1 : 1 ft: i^ m-' Iff r ^1 ' ft. B| ^^;: \ ■GF--':MeN' AN,D'-€VENTS 56i. KEYES (E. D.). Fifty Years Observation of Men and Events, Civil and Military. i2mo, cloth. New York, 1884 -^■■^i ')W,-( 4.,.,,., .". Gen. E. D. Keyes, late U.S.A., in his "Fifty Years' Observation of Men and Events," tells how he won the favor of General Winfield Scott, to whose staff he was ordered shortly after his graduation. AVhen he reported Ke,yes was ftreetetl with the question, "How happened it that General Jones allowed this young officer to leave his regiment so soon?" But the General finally thawed out and invited Koyes to a dinner, of which he gives this account : "Lieut. William C. De Hart, who was first aide-de-camp and Assistant Adjutant General, and I were ihe only siu^sts, and the dinner, tliough simple, was good. .\llhough I took little part in the conversation at that dinner I gained without design a strong point with my host. Wishing for Ihe salt, ivhich stood nearer to De ITart than to uic, hut nearer to the General than to either of us. 1 said, 'Mr. De Hart, will you please pass me Ihe salt'.'' lie did so and I helped myself. Then the General turned and said: 'Young gentleman, you showed tact in asliiug' ]\Ir. De Hart for the salt instead of me, as lie is more nearly your own age,' and his eye rested upon nic with a bland expression that was cheering, and e\er atterward when I went to hira for orders he would look up at me." — ' . '-'^ (J[iinicU HniuEtstty IQibraty iftljata, JJeiu fork THE JAMES VERNER SCAIFE COLLECTION CIVIL WAR LITERATURE THE GIFT OF JAMES VERNER SCAIFE CLASS OF 1889 1919 game ofsTcST ^ B. C. Chetivood, War Veteran and Lawyer Bradbury C. Chetwood, lawyer, of No. ES Pine street, and Civil War veteran, is dead at his home. No 944 Park avenue. He had practiced iii the New Tork and New Jersey courts for half a centruy. In the Civil War he rose to be act- ing inspector general on the staff of General Keyes commanding- the Fourth Army Corps. He served in various commands from 18G1 to 1SC3. Mr. Chetwood is survived by his widowi a daughter of General Keyes, . and live children: G. J. Chetwood, of Philadelphia; Lawrence Chetwood, of Oakland, Cal. ; Winifred Chetwood, of Portland, Ore.; the Rev. T. c'' Chet- wood, S. J., and Dr. Charles H. Chet- wood, of New Tork. DUE ccy-~--&- -l^ ■lACF 3, kfr^ fj GAVLORD \TER XI. PAGE From my appointment to duty at West Point as Cliief of Department of Artillery and Cavalry.— The West Point board.— Nominations for the post.— My nomination by Lee.— The Military Academy and its merits.— Influence of Colonel Thayer.— His successors.— Dela- field, Cullum, and others.— The class of 1846.— McClellan, Foster, Reno, Couch, Sturgis, Stoneman, Palmer. — Thomas J. Jackson, Maxey, Pickett.— Derby ("John Phoenix ").— Classes of '47 and '48. —Miss Scott 18S CHAPTER XII. Generals Lee and Grant.— The military career of Lee.— His personal appearance.— My last sight of him.— Scott on Lee.— Foreign opinions of Lee.— Comparison of Lee and Grant.— First sight of Grant. — Grant in 1880. — His early career.— His civil life.— His re-entry into the army. — Actions at Forts Henry and Donaldson. — Trouble with Halleck. — The army in Tennessee under Grant.— Comparison with ancient and modern generals. — E. B. Washburne. — Sherman's recog- nition of Grant.— Grant in the Wilderness. —Grant the ablest Amer- ican General * 204 CHAPTER XIII. My journey to San Francisco. — Life in California. — The voyage via Cape Horn. — Delay at Panama. — Anecdotes of the journey. — San Francisco in 1849. — The discovery of gold. — San Francisco in early days.— Fellow officers. — Expedition to the San Joaquin Indians. — Treaty with them. — Great fire in San Francisco. — California admitted to the Union. — The Vigilance Committee 223 CHAPTER XIV. Indian campaigns on the Pacific Coast. — Expedition to Fort Vancouver. — Indian Fighting. — Return to San Francisco. — Steptoe's disaster in Washington Territory. — General Clark's move. — At the Dalles. — The march to Walla Walla. — Coeur d'AlJne. — More Indian Fight- ing. — Colonel Wright. — Harney 250 CHAPTER XV, Return to San Francisco from the Indian War. — Description of society and individuals. — Condition of California. — The Parrotts, McAllis- ters, Thorntons, Lakes, Donohues, McKinstrys, Gwins, Bowies, and others. — The Bar of San Francisco. — Leading lawyers 290 vi Contents. CHAPTER XVI. PAGE General Scott's visit to the Pacific Coast. — His conduct and ctiaracter in old age. — His appearance. — Judge Ogden Hoffman. — My appoint- ment as Military Secretary. — Scott's growing fondness for money. — His inactivity. — My own state upon resuming service witii him. — Some general opinions. — Scott's feeling as to sectional politics — Return to Washington. — ^Various social events. — Visit of the Prince of Wales. — Affairs in the beginning of i860 315 CHAPTER XVII. Events of i860 and '61. — State of the Union and of parties in the autumn of i860. — Buchanan's Cabinet. — Election of Lincoln. — Scott's suggestion of names for Lincoln's Cabinet. — ^Various social events in Washington. — General Cameron. — The first demands from the South. — Hayne's mission. — Petigrew. — Seward's speech. — Scott's views on the situation. — Stanton's appointment to office. — First troops ordered to Washington. — Reports from various parts of the country. — Threats against Lincoln. — Scott's depression 337 CHAPTER* XVIII. Major Anderson and Forts Moultrie and Sumter. — Description of Anderson. — ^Anecdotes. — Anderson ordered to relieve Gardner. — His vigilance. — His masterly movement from Moultrie to Sumter. — The question of reinforcement.— Expedition of the " Star of the West." — She is fired upon. — First shots from Sumter. — Beginning of civil war 367 CHAPTER XIX. Reinforcements of Fort Pickens. — Captain Vogdes. — Gen. Scott on the situation of Fort Pickens. — Interview between Lincoln and Scott. — My interview with the President and Mr. Seward. — The expedition ordered. —Lincoln's letter of authority. — Gen. Butler. — Close of my secretaQTship. — Service under Morgan of Nev/ York. 375 CHAPTER XX. Arrival of Lincoln at Washington. — Caricatures. — Threatening letters. — Dinner with Stanton. — The retiring President. — The inauguration of Lincoln. — Visit to New York. — Scott's letter to Texas.' — Anec- dotes of Lincoln. —Farewell speeches of Benjamin and Davis 410 Contents. vii CHAPTER XXI. PAGE The War of the Rebellion. — State of affairs at its outbreak. — Letter to the President. — Bull Run. — The Peninsula. — Letter to Senator Harris. — Fair Oaks. — Testimony concerning the battle. — The field revisited. — Conversation with President Lincoln. — Letter from Sec- retary Chase 4^9 APPENDIX I. A letter from Col. C. C. Suydam 49^ APPENDIX II Battle of Fair Oaks.— Report of Brig.-Gen. E. D. Keyes, 4th Corps . . 5CX) FIFTY YEARS' OBSERVATION MEN AND EVENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. Occasion for writing this book. — My first view of Scott. — Appointment to his staff.— Impressions on Scott during my first service. — My first dinner with him. — His advice. — Description of Scott. — Anecdotes. — His ruling passion ambition. — His opinions of various public men. — ^Washington City about 1840. — General condition of the country at that time. — Military science and its progress. IN the month of August, 1881, my attention was called to a controversy, then going on in the newspapers, the occasion for which was an article from the pen of the Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, who was Attorney-General during the administration of Mr. Buchanan. Mr. Black asserted that the failure to reinforce Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, was due to the delays and reluctance of Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, who was, at the time, the commanding general of the Army. The statement of Mr. Black was regarded by many as 2 Fifty Years' Observation an undeserved accusation, and without foundation in truth. My former intimate associations with the general, and my friendly feeling toward him and his alleged accuser, gave me an especial interest in the controversy, and I commenced a letter to Mr. Black, with a purpose to re- late such facts and circumstances as I remembered in re- gard to the question in dispute. The subject was so sug- gestive that I soon found my narrative would transcend the limits of an epistle, and I determined to write my reminiscences of General Scott, and of other distinguished persons and events with which I had been associated. The first time I ever saw General Scott was in the year 1 83 1, when he was the President of the Board of Visitors at the West Point Military Academy, and I was a cadet under examination. I was called to the blackboard and required to work out the barometric formula as in Fran- coeur's Mechanics. I remember the time with perfect distinctness, as there was in the course a problem relat- ing to the precession of the equinoxes, that I had not been able to review, and I feared it would be given to me and that I should fail, or " 'fess," as the cadets would say. The announcement of my task made me happy, and I had time to observe the general without pre-occu- pation. He was much taller than any other member of the Board, but not very stout. His complexion was light, his eyes large, clear, and blue, and it appeared to me that his face was marked with more lines than I observed at a later date. His whole appearance was that of a convalescent nearly restored to good health. As I proceeded with my demonstration, I noticed that he looked at me as though he was my teacher, and I ex- pected he would question me, but he did not, and as he gave the same attention to all the others in the class, I First Impressions of Scott, 3 could boast of no special distinction. I did not speak to the general during the three or four weeks he remained on the Point, and when I went to report to him as act- ing aide-de-camp, on the 29th day of October, 1833, he did not recognize me. I owed my selection for the Staff to the influence of my very dear friend, Lieutenant Hugh W. Mercer, who was the second aide. He was the son of General Mercer, of the Revolutionary Army, and a gentleman of the purest type. He was a model of elegance and grace, and his talents were of a superior order. General Scott esteemed Mercer so highly as to take me into his military family upon his sole recommendation. I arrived at the office in Lispenard Street, New York, at I I o'clock in the morning, and was then first introduced to my future chief. He received me with a coldness that chilled the marrow in my bones. Looking up from his writing, he asked me how long I had been out of the Military Academy ? I replied sixteen months. Then turning to Mercer he remarked : "How happened it that General Jones allowed this young officer to leave his regiment so soon ? " Nothing more was said. The general wafted his eye over me in a way that was not encouraging and resumed his writing, while I withdrew to a desk in the rear office, there to await the bidding of my superiors. From my seat I could always see and hear the old chief, and I was not slow to learn that his temperament was irritable, and that he was easily bored. I was told that the young officer who was ray predecessor brought himself into disfavor and lost his place because he would every morning question the general about his health, how he slept, how his family were, etc. I concluded, therefore, to ask no questions, and only to 4 Fifty Years' Observation. speak to. him when he addressed me, which was seldom, as I received my orders mostly through the Assistant Ad- jutant-General. I took good care to be punctual, and as the mail ar- rived at lo o'clock A.M., that was the hour I was expected to be at my post, and 1 made it a point invariably to be entering the door while the clock of Saint John's Church was striking ten. I finished everything I had to do neatly, and with despatch, and in that way I gained ap- proval and secured to myself the reward that follows un- ofificious usefulness. It was often required of me to go to the general for orders, and to show him papers, but he never said any- thing that denoted the slightest personal interest in me till I had been with him four months. One day at the end of that time, after finishing his writing, he turned in his chair and said, " Mr. Keyes, I wish you to come and dine with me at four o'clock this afternoon." I accepted his invitation, which I considered an order, and at the appointed hour found myself at his house, No. 5 Bond Street, which at that time was one of the most fashionable streets in the city. Lieutenant William C. De Hart, who was first aide-de- camp and assistant adjutant-general, and I were the only guests, and the dinner, though simple, was good. Al- though I took little part in the conversation at that dinner, I gained without design a strong point with my host. Wishing for the salt, which stood nearer to De Hart than to me, but nearer to the general than to either of us, I said, " Mr. De Hart, will you please pass me the salt?" He did so, and I helped myself. Then the general turned and said, "Young gentleman, you showed tact in asking Mr. De Hart for the salt instead of me, as he is more nearly your own age," and his eye rested upon Funeral of Lafayette. 5 me with a bland expression that was cheering, and ever afterwards when I went to him for orders he would look up at me. Nevertheless I was so much awed in the presence of my chief that I seldom said a word to him except in reply to his questions, until after the funeral ceremonies of La Fayette, which were celebrated in New York in the month of July, 1834. During the night preceding that solemn event it rained, and the cobble pavements were covered with mud and were very slippery. A dozen or more officers of the army, headed by Generals Scott and Brady, joined in the procession, and marched on foot six or seven miles in the blazing sun of one of the hottest days known. Near the end of the route, the column halted, and the officers closed around the two generals. Remarks were made about the heat, the mud, the length and slowness of the march, and several complained of exhaustion. Old General Brady said, " Mr. Keyes, you don't appear to be tired." " No," interrupted Dr. Mower, " the blood meanders calmly in the veins of this youth." Those simple remarks, and the friendly attention of those two venerable men — General Brady appeared very old, and was a captain in 1792 — won my heart, and to this day I feel an affection for their memory. It was nearly dark when the ceremony ended at the City Hall, and General Scott called a carriage, took me in with him, and drove slowly to Bond Street. During the whole passage he was giving me advice. " You are now," said he, " beginning life — you are green and ignorant of society and of yourself. You appear to be industrious and studious enough to fit yourself for high exploits in your profession, and your next object should be to make yourself a perfect man of the world. To do that, you must carefully observe well-bred men, like Mr. 6 Fifty Years' Observation. Charles King, Lieutenant Mercer and others. You must also learn to converse and to express your thoughts in proper language, like Mr. Ogden Hoffman and Dr. Havvkes. You must make acquaintances among the best people, and take care always to be respectful to old per- sons and to the ladies ! " No young man was ever more surprised and astonished than I was while I listened to the foregoing homily. It was a manifestation of interest in me that he had never shown before. The impression it made upon me can only be understood by knowing how I then felt, and how the speaker appeared to me. The value of my opinion of the hero of my work will be better estimated if I give my observations upon him when I was untutored as well as when experience and time had qualified my judgment. I must therefore de- scribe myself as I was, and him as he seemed at the time I first joined his staff. My mother was a puritan of the severest type, but my father was not a puritan ; consequently there was a possi- bility of my being something else. My father had a strong will and my mother was the climax of virtue, although her disposition was saddened by the views she entertained of religion and accountability. She read the works of Petrarch, Zimmerman's book on solitude, Young's Night Thoughts, and every species of dismal sentimental literature. During all my youth it appeared to me that my mother spent her evenings poring over the five folio volumes of Scott's Commen- taries on the Bible. She sought a reason for her faith, which was of the darkest, coldest shade of Presbyterian- ism. My grandmother, from whom my mother derived her peculiar cast of mind, was endowed with the most extraordinary memory I ever witnessed in a woman. It Description of Scott. 7 appears to me that she could recite all the poetry ever conceived by human brains to express every emotion of sorrow that can arise from discontent, life-long despond- ency, and despair. Even Madame de Stael, who surprised ■the world by the genius with which she depicted the various forms of anguish that oppress the human breast, could not drape this vale of tears in more sombre weeds than could my grandmother Corey. As I had a supreme affection and reverence for my mother and grandmother, I could not fail to participate in a large degree in the anxiety and doubts with which their lives were environed. I had scruples which not even the military training and new associations at West Point had removed, and the general's advice to me to be- come a perfect man of the world sounded like a lesson in deviltry. But for the darkness that concealed the ex- pression of my face, he would have seen that I did not fully accept his teachings ; nevertheless, they have been verified by time, and I have repeated them to my sons. At the period referred to General Scott was a little past the middle life, but still in the perfection of his bodily and mental powers. He was six feet four and a quarter inches tall, erect as an Indian chief, with an eye of won- derful force and expression. His features were regular, his nose nearly straight, although a slight curve added essentially to the air of command which is peculiar to the masters of slaves, whether they be white or black. His martial bearing was enhanced by the remembrance of past exploits, by constant adulation, by self-content, and many feasts. Instead of estimating his prominent traits at a less value because I saw him every day, I valued them more highly, so that I must have pleased him better by what I thought than what I did. I listened to his voice with attention, and accepted his counsels with the 8 Fifty Years' Observation. docility of Kaled when he stood in the presence of Omar the Prudent. As soon as I became planted in his favor, I took care that my growing should not be retarded by negligence. I set myself to study the expression of his face and his, habits, when influenced by various emotions, and I was not slow to learn that to know when to stop speaking was a capital point. Often would I break away in the middle of a sentence and be out of his sight in a second. When I went to his private office or his room, which it was my duty to do often, if I saw his face did not invite discourse or company, I would turn and be gone before he could open his mouth. Until I knew General Scott's true character, and when I pictured him from report, I concluded he was a great soldier and a very vain man. When I became better ac- quainted with him, I discovered new proofs of his excel- lent soldiership, and my opinion of his vanity was essen- tially modified. Old Captain Jock Munro of the artillery defined him truly when he said : " The jinral thinks well of himself and is fond of a compliment, but he is willing to give a compliment now and then in exchange. He is not like some men we know, who want all the compli- ments to themselves and never give any." He mentioned the names of two army officers, which I omit. The general was often extravagantly ironical and exag- gerated in his expressions on many subjects, vanity in- cluded. One evening when I returned from a dinner party, he asked me what I had to eat. Among other things I mentioned veal. " Veal !" said he ; " did you ever know a gentleman to eat veal ? " The next day I dined with him, and he gave me veal and no other meat. There can be no doubt that the general was vain of many things, and especially so of his person. For that Scott s Vanity. 9 there was good reason, since I was often sickened by hear- ing persons of all degrees remind him of his stature and symmetry, but he was never offended. He referred to it himself on all occasions, and sometimes under strange cir- cumstances, as in the following example which I heard him relate several times. It was, I think, in the year 1830 — the general was always minutely particular in naming the exact date of every event he described — when travel- ling in the northern part of Ohio, he stopped at a coun- try store where they sold liquor by the glass. He had on a common travelling cap and a plain overcoat that con- cealed his buttons. The landlord having stepped out, he went behind the counter upon v/hich the glasses stood, to a desk, and was busy writing a note, when a farmer came in and called out, " Give me a glass of rum toddy." The general straightened up, and turning full upon the man, he exclaimed : " Did you ever know a man six feet four and a quarter inches tall to sell rum toddy ? " He told me that when he received his first commission in the army, which was that of captain, he immediately ordered a new suit of uniform — sword, sash, cap — every- thing complete, and had it carried into the largest room in the house, in the diagonal corners of which he placed two looking-glasses. Then he cleared away all the furni- ture, let in as much light as possible, put on his new uni- form, and strutted back and forth between the mirrors for two hours. " But," said he, " if any man had seen me, I should have proceeded at once to put him to death." He never forgot any allusion or reference to any defi- ciency or fault in his person, dress, or carriage. Colonels Bankhead, Lindsay, and Eustis used to relate that, when Scott was a young man, he had a healthy, active appear, ance, but owing to his extraordinary height he looked thin, and that he only weighed 140 pounds. The general lo Fifty Years' Observation. himself more than once recalled to me the impression made upon others by his youthful figure. He told me that a man who envied him circulated a story, that before visiting his lady-love he would have his coat padded, and put on false calves ! Forty years had not subdued his wrath when he exclaimed, " The idea of me with false calves !" As my narrative proceeds, I shall have occasion to re- late other incidents to show the pride and satisfaction with which he regarded his own person. He was equally content with the excellence of his mental qualifications, as the following incident will prove: One day I was reading to him a newspaper article in praise of Henry Clay. The writer described the distin- guished Kentuckian as a man of commanding presence, with a lofty forehead and a large, loose mouth. He re- ferred also to several other renowned orators — Burke, Mirabeau, and Patrick Henry — whose mouths were of ex- traordinary size, and he concluded his article with the re- mark, " All great men have large mouths." "All great men have large mouths ! " exclaimed the general ; "why, my mouth is not above three-fourths the size it should be for my bulk ! " The foregoing citations clearly indicate that General Scott had a good opinion of himself, and it is certain that most people thought him excessively vain. Neverthe- less, after my long service and intimacy with him, he did not leave on my mind the impression of the mean, selfish vanity in all things which characterized two or three other men with whose domination I have been cursed. On the contrary, his vivid fancy and animated utterances in re- gard to himself seemed but responsive to the good quali- ties he had recognized in others. A vast number of men and women had secured his friendship by their respect Scott's Ambition. ii and kindness towards him, and he found great pleasure in describing their virtues to me. He would unfold tlie wisdom of the old, the valor of the young, the gentleness of matrons, the tenderness of maidens of various ages, the bounties of some and the prudence of others, with such a genial flow of words that I listened to him with delight. But I confess I often wondered why I had not met more characters like those he described to me ! The chief ruling passion of the general was ambition and its uniform attendant, jealousy. In matters of rivalry he was easily vexed, and when the thing pursued was of great distinction, he seemed to go out of his own skin into that of an angry porcupine with every quill standing fiercely on end. Wild Medea could not rage as he would against all men who obstructed the way to the prize he coveted. He would pour out his venom against his rivals in terms which showed him skilled in the jargon of ob- loquy; and after two or three years in his company, if I had credited his descriptions of the superior ofiScers of the Northern armies in the War of 1812, I must have concluded that not one of them was above mediocrity and that several were far below. He had also many things to say in disparagement of every aspirant to the Presidency who competed with him. He thought Harrison was equally insignificant, and weak in person and mind, and could never find fit words to de- scribe his loathing for Franklin Pierce, who he believed was the meanest creature that ever aspired to be Presi- dent ! One day when he, IVIr. Joseph Blunt and I were dining together at the Union Club, New York, the general swooped upon Daniel Webster. Blunt, amazed at his violence, dropped his knife and fork, looked up and sought to expostulate, but to no purpose. Scott kept on 12 Fifty Years Observation. till he had made the great expounder as bad as Belial and in the same line, and Belial, as Milton informs us, was " The dissolutest spirit that fell, The sensualest, and after Asmodai, The fleshliest incubus . . ," The antics of military and political jealousy, like the follies of love, are beyond the scope of prose, and if we could uncover the hearts of all rising generals and poli- ticians, we should find them about equally black, and quite as fully charged with hatred against their rivals as that of my angry, outspoken chief. On a former occasion, and before they came into direct competition for the Presidency, I often heard General Scott speak in terms of admiration of Mr. Webster's ex- traordinary abilities. I was with the two gentlemen on a journey from New York to Philadelphia shortly after Mr. Webster returned from England in the autumn of 1839. They were wedged together iri the same seat, and I sat in front of them. Both the great men were in a cheerful mood, and Mr. Webster did nearly all the talking, while the general listened attentively, thus paying to him an un- usual compliment. Mr. Webster's conversation was more interesting to me than one of his speeches in the Senate. He had much to say about the Duke of Wel- lington, Lords Brougham, Palmerston and other distin- guished Britons. I was astonished at what he said of the Duke of Wellington, whom he thought the ablest man he met in England. He spoke of Wellington's orders and despatches, many of which he had read, and he commented on their force and clearness. He also praised the elegance of the Iron Duke's manners and the graces of his conversation, and there can be little doubt that his judgment of Wellington was correct. No order Webster's Memories of England. 13 the Duke ever wrote contained a superfluous word, or could by possibility have been misunderstood. If he had framed laws, and he would never have framed one on a subject he did not fully understand, they would have been equally clear, and no lawyer, however astute, could have driven through them with his coach and four. A statute drawn by a legal gentleman to regulate business he does not comprehend is usually a nest of law-suits. Mr. Webster's remarks upon Lord Brougham's character, writings, and speeches were not so flattering — he found many flaws, and his general opinion of the Scotchman was disparaging, as compared with Wellington. He consid- dered Palmerston a very able statesman, and purely Eng- lish in character. Mr. Webster discoursed at length upon English agriculture, and described his visit to Mr. Cook's model farm, of which he gave many interesting particulars. He had much to say concerning English railroads and their management, which were at that time in all respects vastly superior to those in America. I remember he said that from London to Liverpool signal men with flags were placed in sight of one another throughout the entire line I I recollect the very words he used to describe our railroads in America. " They are made," said he, " of two stringers of scantling notched into ties that often get loose in the ground. Upon the stringers two straps of iron the width and thick- ness of wagon tires are nailed. These straps of iron fre- quently get detached at the ends, which turn up like snakes' heads and pierce the floors of the cars." (Such a thing actually occurred in a car in which General Scott was seated on his way from Elizabeth to New York.) " Then," said he, " the wheels slip on the iron straps, in winter especially, so much that no dependence can be placed upon the time of arrival, and many people think it is not certain that railroads will be a success." 14 Fifty Years' Observation. The above was literally true in the year 1 840. At that time the locomotive was a small, weak machine, that was employed to drag a few pinched, coach-like cars at a speed of about ten miles an hour. On slightly ascend- ing grades the wheels would often whirl and race while the train stood still. Now the locomotive is per- fected, and endowed with such power as to be able to carry along over the face of the earth and across conti- nents a train of palatial cars a quarter of a mile long at a speed of from forty to sixty miles an hour. Then the directors and stockholders of railroads constituted the meekest and most sorrowful class of our citizens. They were pallid, meagre, supplicating men ; but now they are a distinct class, to which all the world makes obeisance, and they have become ruddy, surfeit-swelled, and dicta- torial. The facilities of intercommunication introduced by steam, and the enormous developments of wealth result- ing from it, have produced an absolute revolution in the objects of respect and veneration of our people. Elo- quence and learning, duty, wit, birth, and manners are no longer regarded, and all who possess those graces are eager to pay court and servility to the biggest fortunes. Gold is the only god, and his prophet is the man who pos- sesses most of it. This state of things is verified by all who boast of an experience of thirty-five years. At the time I left the Military Academy, and long be- fore, and down to near 1850, there were living and in ac- tivity three illustrious statesmen, all Senators, whose names were heard every day all over the Union. The order in which they were mentioned was in accord with the estimation in which they were held in the different sections. In the East and North it was Webster, Clay, and Calhoun. In the West it was Clay, Calhoun, and The Country About 1840. 15 Webster ; and in the South it was Calhoun, Clay, and Webster. The consideration in which those men were held — and they were all poor — was not only an evidence of their genius, but it was a proof of the dignity of thought and an example of the prevailing public opinion. During the same period there lived two military men, Winfield Scott and Andrew Jackson, whose opinions were undisputed in all questions relating to war. There were also many authors and men of science who enjoyed re- spect, and only one who possessed a mystic and unap- proachable renown for being rich, and that was John Jacob Astor. Mr. Astor was not personally ostentatious, but towards the end of his life he entertained at his table many literary and scientific men. He was always enter- prising and industrious, and he built for use and not for show. I shall have more to say of Messrs. Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and Jackson in the succeeding chapters, this one being devoted to outlines and general characteristics which I will fill up and develop hereafter. To understand the character and extent of the revolu- tion effected by steam and electricity in the last forty- five years, we must consider the condition of society in America from the time the first railroad was in operation, in 1830, the first friction match was used, about 1837, and the first telegraphic message was sent, in 1844. ^"^ 1838 Samuel Swartwout, being Collector of Customs for the Port of New York, was found to be defaulter to the amount of $1,200,000. That discovery produced a shock in every corner of the United States greater than would be caused to-day if that city, with all its people and structures, were to be engulfed by an earthquake. The building of the Astor House shortly before that date was a greater surprise and more talked about than any other edifice that has been subsequently erected 1 6 Fifty Years' Observation. in America. In 1838 a man with a clear annual income of $6,000 or $8,000 was considered rich, and there were not then five private two-horse carriages in the city of New York the owner's names of which I did not know ; and I was personally acquainted with a majority of them. The city of Washington was a dirty, shabby village, and to go there from New York required two days. The arts of cooking and keeping a hotel were in their dawn, and the headings in the newspapers from time to time announced thirty days, and now and then sixty days, lat- er news from Europe. The country between Utica and Buffalo was mostly covered with forests, and in travelling through it in a stage-coach in the spring of 1838 I saw many deer. In the autumn I was ordered to St. Louis, and the journey from New York occupied twenty-eight days. The last 350 miles I was carried in an open farm wagon over a part of Indiana and the whole of Illinois. The boastful city of Chicago was scarcely known, and in that very year a letter was addressed as follows : " Mr. Seth Fisher, Chicago — near Alton — Illinois." Alton was a small settlement on the Mississippi, above its junction with the Missouri. The art of land and maritime warfare and the means of assault and defence had been at a standstill 200 years, and in many particulars, over 300 years. The model of the twelve bronze cannon, made during the reign of Charles V. of Spain, and called the Twelve Apostles, was considered good in 1840. Vauban's fortifi- cations, 200 years old, had scarcely been changed, and the flint lock was still employed. The use of gunpowder had increased the facilities of slaughter so suddenly as to produce a kind of lethargic contentment in the human mind, and the genius of inventions to kill remained in re- pose hundreds of years. It was finally awakened about Progress in the last Forty Years. I'j the year 1845 by Captain Minie of the French army, who invented the Mini6 ball and rifle in about the year 1846. His invention has been succeeded by that of many new and fearfully destructive explosives, and the com- plete change of model in artillery and small arms tending vastly to increase their range. The Parrott gun, which is made by swedging a jacket of wrought upon a tube of cast iron, is the invention of a West Pointer a few years later. That weapon played an important part in the Re- bellion, and it kills at an immense distance. In theology, law, surgery, therapeutics, chemistry, and engineering there has been wonderful activity. Christi- anity continues to rear her temples, and the conceited creatures who boast their skepticism and infidelity are not increasing in numbers, but it would seem that the in- tricacies and subterfuges of the law are multiplying. Surgery has advanced immensely and therapeutics show amelioration. On the whole, the present material con- dition of mankind may be considered satisfactory. Re- ligion, surgery, chemistry and engineering are prosperous, and if a man is now more to be pitied when he falls into the clutches of the law and his property is coveted by sharpers, he is safer when he trusts himself with a doctor. Artists have greatly increased in numbers, and in the opinion of some of them their works are approaching the excellence of the past. It is clear to me, nevertheless, that no man has lived within the last lOO years who has originated a form of beauty, whether linear, superficial or solid, that had not. already been equalled and often ex- celled. Eloquence and art have long been exhausted de- velopments, and of music I am not a judge. It is under- going change and it may be improving. My reminiscences have noted all the changes above de- scribed, but in the essential qualities of the human heart I 1 8 Fifty Years' Observation. have found no change. Everywhere the young man thinks his own love is the most beautiful being that lives. The ambitious man esteems himself as best fitted for the office to which he aspires, and hates his rivals, and if he fails he curses the world's ingratitude and lack of appreciation. Several men are at all times living who imagine the world cannot do without them, and no person thinks his service overpaid by the praise or money bestowed upon him. Finally, pride, conceit, or snobbery usually attend all sud- den exaltations to wealth or power, while envy, slander, and hypocrisy never sleep. If the record of my past obser- vations fails to make good all these assertions, it will be because I lack the capacity of an able chronicler. CHAPTER 11. Scott as a man of gallantry and the head of a family. — Scott in the society of ladies. — His general demeanor. — Fond of social visiting. — His conver- sation. — Anecdotes. — His love of attention. — Views of married life. — His own marriage. — Opinion of marriage in the army. IT would be impossible to convey a full knowledge of General Scott's character without describing his re- lations with the opposite sex. My observations of his conduct in the society of ladies are perhaps rendered more distinct by a certain marked contrariety in our natures. He always declared himself to be a gallant gentleman, and such, in a dubious sense, he was. It is true he never omitted to speak kindly to women, and when he was in their society he addressed them with a sort of tenderness which only appeared strange to me by its eternal sameness. From all I could learn from his conversation and conduct, he never had a desultory love affair in his whole life, and he never allowed himself to be swayed or diverted from his purpose by a woman, and no one ever gained the slightest hold upon him. These facts appear strange when we reflect that he possessed in an unusual degree the qualities which uni- versally attract them, such as courage, manly bearing, martial exploits, and contempt for money. His indiffer- ence enabled him to escape the evils which unprincipled females so often inflict upon our sex; at the same time he lost the benefits which attend the companionship and counsels of the better sort, for no man can be prosperous 20 Fifty Years Observation. and happy who is not governed by a good woman, nor fail to be wretched if led by a bad one. During the two-and-a-half years in which he was occu- pied with the troubles on the Canadian Frontier, the re- moval of the Cherokee Indians, and the settlement of the Northeastern Boundary, we were in continual move- ment. General Scott was then so popular that in all the cities and towns from Maine to Georgia, and from Boston to Detroit, his presence was greeted by immense crowds, and he was frequently beset by women, who clustered around him like summer flies. As I always kept near him, I was equally surprised and amused to notice the sameness of his salutations and responses to all who ad- dressed him. Among those who approached I saw every variety of female yet enumerated. Thin-lipped, sharp- nosed vixens, loud-talking viragos, stately matrons, senti- mental damsels, joyous maidens, faded and dejected spin- sters, prancing widows, fussy house-wives, willing dames and scandal-mongers would all leave his presence content with having been gently spoken to by the great general. General Scott was fond of social visiting and of sitting in conversation with small assemblies of his intimate friends. He would join in the discussion of all subjects of family and domestic interest with such feeling and can- dor as would gain the sympathy of his auditors. Some- times, however, he would indulge in a license with young ladies that would appall me. I have seen him, while yet in his prime, call to him the most debonaire maiden pres- ent, spread her palm upon his, examine her hand with leisure scrutiny, and then bestow a kiss upon her forehead ! He would do all this with such an innocent pudency, and such an air of patriarchal gravity, that there was no more suggestion of dalliance in his actions than in the benedic- tion of a saint. Scott's Behavior to Women. 21 In all societies of either sex, or mixed, General Scott's conversation was universally free from the slightest tinge of lasciviousness, and he would invariably rebuke all allu- sions to that subject. I never knew him to engross an opportunity to be alone with a woman, nor with one ex- ception, which I will give further on, did I hear him re- late an adventure with one, which might not have been described in the society of the most fastidious ladies. I never gave him cause to rebuke me for any grossness of conversation, although I sometimes caused him to look serious when I read to him, or made a quotation, from books or poems that were not of his liking. When, in so- ciety, he saw me too attentive to women whose allures did not please him, he would afterwards give me a lect- ure or an admonition, which I considered unmerited, since nearly all the ladies I consorted with were fit for vestals. Such was my reputation among mothers, that I was constantly trusted to travel and be alone with young ladies, and if all the dead could be restored to testify with the living to the truth I should stand acquitted of the slightest betrayal of my trust. Occasionally I was heedless in my conversations in gen- eral society, as the following example will show by the details of it, which I will faithfully recite. At one time when we arrived at a large Northern town, the inhabi- tants offered a ball to the general, which he accepted. He attended the ball and remained till its close, contrary to his usual habit. It happened that among the guests there was an intimate friend of mine, who was accompanied by his wife, to whom he had been married only a few months, and to whom he introduced me. The bride was radiant with health and beauty, and her countenance sparkled with intelligence and spirit. I confess to an instant ad- miration, which I proceeded to exemplify by a warmth of 22 Fifty Years' Observation. manner and a persistence of attentions that soon brought upon me the gaze of my chief, which I heeded not. I danced with her and I waltzed with her. Then we pro- menaded and danced together again. In one of our cir- cuits around the room our way was through a narrow pas- sage between two rows of chairs occupied by wall flowers, and we were obliged to press together in a way that shocked the general. When the ball was over I joined my superior and walked with him to his chamber. He was not in a good humor, said nothing, and all I said was, " I'm sorry the ball is breaking up so soon." The moment the door was closed, he exclaimed, " Who was that woman you were with all the evening .''" I told her name, and, after some remarks that were not flattering to her, he proceeded to lecture me. He had observed us walking arm in arm through the nafrow passage, and declared that my conduct was indecent. This last word agitated me, and in a hasty attempt to justify myself I committed a serious fault, I told him that as we approached the nar- row passage, I said to the lady, " We must pass this defile single, or pack close." " Will that annoy you? " said she. "What did you say to her? " interrupted the general sud- denly. " I said no ! with effusion." My reply was not relished by the old chief, although it was in keeping with the hilarity with which I was still surcharged. He was be- ginning to show anger, and having no other means of de- fence I resorted, as was my custom on frequent occasions, to a quotation. Looking up at him smiling, I said, " General ! '"Your own precedent passions will inform you What levity's in youth . . .'" Then his countenance relaxed, and he said : " Young gentleman, you'd better go to bed "^and to bed I went. History records that some of the most intrepid warriors Anecdotes of Scott. 23 have been not only bashful, but actually afraid in the presence of ladies. Charles the Xllth of Sweden was one example, and I think Marshal Ney was another. General Scott once told me a story of himself to show that he was more scared by a broomstick in the hands of a woman than he could have been by a sabre in the hands of a Turk! " It was during my college vacation," said he, " and I was at home near Petersburg. One day I started on a long walk through the country, and after a tramp of sev- eral miles I arrived at a farm-house, where I stopped to get a glass of milk. There was no one present but the farmer's wife, who was a stout, buxom woman, and I fell into conversation with her. In a short time the devil put it into my head to take manual liberties with her ; but at my first motion she sprang a^yay, seized a broom, and came at me with a fury such as only an earnest female can display. The door being open I shot through — she pursuing and abusing me — cleared a high fence, and ran with all speed across the fields till I got clear of the sound of her voice ; and that, sir," said he, " is the only advent- ure of the kind that I ever undertook." On another occasion he was horribly frightened by an actress. We were stopping at the Astor Flouse, on our return from the North. The general occupied a room on the second floor, and in the corresponding room of the third story there lodged a young tragedy queen whose name was Josephine , and who was more famous for her personal than for her histrionic accomplishments. She was six feet three inches tall, her complexion was a light clear brunette, and her eyes were large and lustrous. Her form was symmetrical, though a trifle full, and her womanly proportions were redundant. Altogether she was a wonderful girl to behold. Miss Josephine, who 24 Fifty Years Observation. was probably in a brown study or thinking of her rdle, mis- took her loft, and with her head down opened the door, and actually stood for a moment within the room, and in the presence of Major-General Winfield Scott! When she saw him sitting in his wrapper strapping his razor, she exclaimed " Oh ! " and left. I met her as she went away near the stairway, and noticed no signs of agitation in her, but when I entered the general's room his face was the picture of terror. " Did you see that woman? " "Yes," said I. " Well," said he, " she's been in my room ! " and he added harsh expressions which I omit. He seemed seriously alarmed lest his reputation should be compromised, and he was scarcely satisfied until he was assured that the actress opened his door thinking it was her own. In matters of the heart it was not easy for me to com- prehend my chief, whose conduct seldom conformed with its dictates as observed in others. It is usually recog- nized that young men derive more happiness from loving than in being loved. In advanced life when time has torpified the faculties, and when the dark shadow of old age has fallen upon him, the old man knows no happi- ness that is comparable with that of being loved by a woman. He will even part with his gold to gain affec- tion. Most men of sixty have passed through the change above described, but General Scott, so far as I could ob- serve, or had learned, remained always stationary, and he was equally ignorant of either extreme. What he desired was attention, and that he craved incessantly. .He was quite as fond of old as of young women, whether single or married. If he had a preference, it was for old maids, whose hair was well silvered, as the following incident will show : When he was over seventy, and we lived at Wormley's A Defence of Old Maids. 25 in Washington, we usually walked to the ojRSce at about ten o'clock in the morning. As we were moving along in silence through the square in front of the White House, we met Miss , to whom we bowed, and whom we both knew and esteemed as one of the ornaments of her sex. After passing her a few steps, I said in a soliloquizing tone, " I suppose the most calamitous condition of a woman is to be an old maid." We were then in the shade of a clump of bushes, and the general had my arm, which he pulled violently and stopped. " I am shocked," said he, " at your cruel, senseless speech. You never could make a more wanton assertion, or one that is less deserved. Instead of it being a calamity it is often a blessing, and those you call old maids are generally the best of their sex." He continued in that strain at least ten minutes, and gave me not a moment to defend my- self, and he did not wish to hear me. I must therefore defend myself now, for I can say with all sincerity that in the main I agree with him. My long experience has brought me to the conviction that, in the proportion of numbers, I have found more amiable, lovable, and de- serving women among old maids than among married women of equal ages. Many accomplished women re- main single by reason of self-sacrifice to family and friends. I could cite numerous anecdotes to prove that his re- gard for women was not dependent upon youth, beauty, or wit, but upon alacrity of attentions. This history of a visit, which I will relate as proof, will not only establish my position, but it will also show the wonderful influence of an energetic female, and prove a warning to mothers. While we were stopping a week on the northern fron- tier, many farmers of the neighborhood came with their wives and daughters to pay their respects and to see the general. Among them was a Mrs. B and her 2 26 Fifty Years' Observation. husband. I say Mrs. B , for it was she who did all the talking, and she invited the general and me to tea at her house on the evening of the following day. She said she would send John with the carriage to bring us out. The distance being five miles, it was getting dark when we arrived. It was easy to see, however, that we were visiting a well-to-do farmer, that the buildings were spa- cious and the grounds in beautiful order. Mrs. B was on the steps to receive us, and her husband was stand- ing within the door. She seized the general's hand and welcomed him with excessive gladness. The lady was of the sanguine bilious temperament, which denotes force — tall, rather spare in person, her face long, nose the same and high and thin with a slight cant to the left, eyes dark and firmly set, teeth good. She wore a white muslin cap ruffled all around and tied under the chin. She had on also a white apron, and her dress and all her surroundings denoted the extreme of neatness and order. In age she appeared about forty-five, and a stranger to every sort of malady. On entering the house we were conducted to a large parlor, which contained several pieces of furniture that ap- proached elegance, and in various places could be seen articles of ladies' handiwork. A row of high-backed chairs stood against the wall on three sides of the room, in one corner of which was a small round table. Several family pictures adorned the walls, and that of the man of the house reminded me of a portrait I had once seen of the late Job Caudle. At the end of a few minutes we were taken into the dining-room, where we found Mr. B and two full-grown girls. "These are my 'darters,'" said Mrs. B to the general, and then she asked him to take the seat on her right. The table was covered with a vast variety of good things — ^broiled chicken, oysters, beef- steaks, hot and cold bread, butter, cream, and many kinds Tlie Loquacious Mrs. B. 27 of cakes and preserves, besides tea and coffee. Mrs. B 's loquacity was astonishing, and the ingenuity with which she varied her compliments and her solicitations to the general to make him eat of everything on the table was wonderful. He did eat more cakes and preserves than I ever saw him eat before, and to satisfy his hostess he tasted all the sweets which the lady said she had " put up" with her own hands. Mr. B , the girls and I scarcely said a word, and for myself I was content to listen to the principal personages, who seemed mutually pleased with one another. At the end of an hour we returned to the parlor. Mrs. B stopped at the little round table and asked the ge- neral to sit near her. The girls passed across the room and placed themselves side by side in chairs against the wall. I had the courage to draw out another chair and wheel it into such a position that by turning my face to the right I could see Mrs. B and to the left the " darters." Mr. B took a seat by himself. The girls were so ruddy and healthful that, notwithstanding their silence at the tea-table, I supposed I should easily get them to talk ; but in this I was sadly mistaken. I began by asking them questions about themselves and their home, but they answered by monosyllables. Then I spoke of myself, my travels and adventures, which awakened no interest. Then I referred to churches, theatres, plays, and sports, and schools, but all in vain. Finally I discussed novels and quoted poetry, and of all I hit upon there was only one thing that either of them knew, and that was a stanza from one of Watts's hymns. Being absolutely discouraged, I sat musing in silence on the power of that woman who was entertaining my chief. The unceasing pressure of her will had arrested the men- tal developments of her offspring, and she had henpecked 28 Fifty Years Observation. her husband to a nonentity. Her children were probably not deficient in natural capacity, but their aspirations and individuality had been alike repressed and blasted. Fond, selfish mothers often overwhelm their daughters with such pernicious watchings, and instead of studying their bent by fostering the guardian virtues and allowing the swelling buds of youth to expand in beautiful flowers, they hedge them in with frigid cautions, which are as fatal to loveliness as the sting of the worm that kills the tender shrub " Ere it can spread its sweet leaves to the air," Or dedicate its beauty to the sun." At about 9 o'clock my uneasiness was relieved by the general, who rose to depart. Mrs. B followed him into the hall and continued her prattle. She threatened to inflict upon him a long front-door discussion, which is one of the greatest of all social pests, but he forced his way out. If my worst enemy could establish that I had ever in mixed company been found within a house at the end of one minute after I had signified that " I must go," my courage should fail and I would confront the social world no longer. Once in the carriage I found that the general, instead of being in a sulk, as I expected, was in a glee. He praised the tea-table and the house and its mistress, who he thought was a first-class manager, upon which I remarked : "And what haste she made to enter- tain you." At this the general laughed heartily and said : " But where was the good man of the house ? did you see him after tea? " " Yes," said I, " he came into the parlor and sat down." " I didn't observe him — when did he go out ? " " Ah, that is more than I can tell ; but I am equally sure that he came into the parlor, and that he was not there when we left." Scoifs Views of Marriage. 29 The foregoing account of our visit is strictly true as re- gards its essential- facts, but I have condensed the conver- sations, interwoven a few moral reflections, and added certain flourishes of my own with a view to give effect to the most striking example of high-principled petticoat government that I have known. General Scott's character as a man of gallantry could not be justly estimated without knowing his views of married life. At about the age of 30 he was wedded to a young Virginia lady, who was widely celebrated for her beauty and wit. When I came to know her and to enjoy the benefits of her society she was in the full maturity of her faculties, and although it has chanced to me to en- joy the acquaintance of many of the grandest and most gifted dames of all the Christian nations of the world, I remember none who, in breeding and accomplishments, were the superior of Mrs. Scott. Her husband always re- ferred to her with pride and affection, but as he and she were each the centre of attraction to great numbers of people, they were often separated. As old age approached, Mrs. Scott, although she was by nature strong and en- during, declined in health, and as she found herself better in Europe than in America, she passed the closing years of her life abroad, where she died. The animadversions upon their frequent separation were always much exag- gerated. I shall never forget Mrs. Scott's kindness to me, nor her numerous acts of social beneficence and charity, which I often witnessed. Many of General Scott's frequent references to matri- mony were doubtless sportive, but no one could be habitually near him and not conclude that in his opinion marriage is not promotive of human happiness. He often quoted Dr. Johnson's expression, " It cannot be denied that there is in the world much connubial infelicity." In 30 Fifty Years' Observation. Johnson's writings we find other sentences of the same import, but it is certain that he loved his own ugly wife, and that he is the author of the following maxim, which offsets his innumerable slurs upon the institution which he so strongly commends : " Marriage is the best state of man in general, and every man is a worse man in propor- tion as he is unfit for the married state." At one time we had before us an engraving to represent Dr. Johnson reading Goldsmith's manuscript of the Vicar of Wakefield. Johnson holds the writing close to his eyes ; Goldsmith sits near in his dressing gown and looks anxious, while his landlady stands in the doorway, which she fills full. I said to the general: " Goldy looks anxious, for he knows if the doctor don't approve his book, so that he can sell it and pay his board bill, that he will be turned out of doors." " No, sir," said the general, " his landlady has threatened that if he don't pay his board he must marry her. His anxiety i^s not to pay, but to escape the fangs of matrimony." He repeated: "Yes, sir, he must pay his board bill or be clutched in the fangs of matrimony." I could always amuse my chief by quotations to show the unhappiness and disappointments of matrimony. Shakespeare says : " War is no discord to the unquiet house. And tlie detested wife.'' But the great bard has reference to a bad wife, which is a fearful infliction. I once restored him to good humor by quoting from Burton's " Anatomy of Melancholy." It was at a time when he was aspiring to the Presidential nomination. One of his opposing candidates was rich, but his wife was old, peevish, and sickly. The general, after summing up Marriage in the Army. 31 his rival's qualifications in his usual style of depreciation in such cases, added : " And yet this man can get money and is very rich ; the public turn their eyes up at him." At this point I interjected my quotation. " General," said I, " if you would envy Euphorion his big fortune, you must be willing to take his old wife with it." The fitness of my allusion dispelled his irritation, and he laughed and changed the subject. The marriage of young officers of the army, which was probably more frequent than it is now, was the subject of his constant animadversion. He thought there should be a law to restrain and regulate the marriage of officers of the army and navy, as there is in France and some other countries. In France a dotation for the bride is pre- scribed and is held by the government, the interest only being paid to her during her life. The temerity of young graduates from the Military Academy was often a subject of amazement to old offi- cers. It was not unusual to see a second lieutenant, four months after graduating, start off for Council Bluffs, Laramie, or Fort Towson, or Fort Leavenworth, any one of which at that time was nearly as inaccessible as is the source of the Amazon, carrying with him two large brass- bound trunks, and a wife bigger and sometimes older than himself. As the whole income of the pair was only $62.50 per month, the bride in her far-away home was obliged to do her own housework. General Scott often told me that he had many times seen the wives of officers stationed at these remote posts at the washtub, with their sleeves rolled up. Some of these strange combinations produced large families of children, which fact convinces us that, if Heaven were not merciful, there would be more paupers than there arc in the world. 32 Fifty Years' Observation. Notwithstanding his flings at marriage, the general took a special interest in the engagements of his young friends. When I first proposed and was accepted, he was the first person to whom I disclosed that most fortu- nate event of my life. On the day following we were alone in the office, and I said : " General, I have some news to tell you." " What is it ? " said he. " I'm engaged to be married ! " " Engaged to be married," said he, holding up both his hands. " To whom ? " " To Miss Caroline M. Clarke." " Who is Miss Caroline M. Clarke, and where is she from?" " She is the youngest daughter of a retired lawyer of New York, and she lives in Brooklyn." Then I added a ■florid description of my intended, which caused my chief to smile. He wished to know how I became acquainted with Miss Clarke. I told him it was by accident, and as follows : I was living far up Broadway, and had a parlor and bedr room in the third story of a house which is still standing. In the same house resided with her mother a young, accom- plished girl,who was the cousin of an Episcopal clergyman's daughter of New York, who was also the cousin of Miss Clarke. The three young ladies found themselves to- gether in the parlor below mine, at 9 o'clock in the even- ing, dressed for a party, and accompanied by a single beau. The mother of the resident came up to my room, and requested me to come down " and see a beautiful sight." I descended in haste, was introduced to Miss Clarke, and was captivated on the instant. Her aunt suggested that I should join the company and go with them. I consented, dressed in a hurry, handed Miss Clarke Scott and the Phrenologist. 33 to her carriage, -and at the ball, which was full of beauty, I devoted my exclusive attentions to her. Those atten- tions led to my marriage with her. I begged the general not to speak of what I had told him, but instead of promising me not to do so, he con- tinued to talk with me in a jocular strain till I left. I went directly to my lodgings, remained there about ten minutes, and then I proceeded to make a call at the house of Mr. Charles King, in Bleecker Street. When I rang at the door it was not a minute over an hour since I had left my chief, and he was the only one in the city, as I sup- posed, who knew my secret. What was then my dismay on entering to be met with the noisy salutations of four or five ladies, who called out together : " So you are en- gaged to be married, Mr. Keyes ! When is the wedding to come off? Is she good-looking?" etc., etc. They refused to tell me how they knew I was engaged, and it was a considerable time before I learned. It turned out that the general left the office shortly after I did, and by chance he met Mrs. King, who was on her way home, told her I was engaged to be married, and she arrived only fifteen minutes in advance of me. Before summing up his claims as a man of gallantry, I will relate an incident which provoked in me an exclama- tory quotation that came near bringing upon me a rebuke for coarseness. I escaped the rebuke, but gave occasion for a remarkable declaration from the general. While the English Professor Coombe was in America, he en- joyed great repute as a craniologist. One day the gen- eral went without me, and had his head examined. On his return he gave me the card on which his bumps were classified. Nearly all the numbers were high, and when I saw the highest mark for the sexual instinct, I exclaimed, " Why, General, he has marked you maximum for amative- 34 Fifty Years' Observation. ness ! I suppose you never felt the stings^ and motions of the sense." Half of my exclamation was out before I looked up and saw a cloud on his brow. It did not break, however, and the general, who was standing, raised his hand, and with an air and attitude of profound solemnity said : "The professor did not mistake me, but I have al- ways curbed my mutinous appetites. Since my wedding day I never violated my marriage vow, nor did I ever give a human being cause to imagine that I desired to violate it. I pledge my soul, my honor and my life that all I now say is strictly true." Without his grand asseveration, I should have conceded to General Scott the entire credit of an absolute purity of life and conversation; and we may conclude with certainty that he never had an intrigue, and that against the dribbling darts of love he preserved a complete bosom. Before announcing my own judgment of the general's claims to gallantry, I submitted some of the proofs I have given above to one of my lady acquaintances. The per- son selected for reference is rich in the guarded treasures of womanhood, balanced in judgment, in form and man- ners most attractive, and deeply skilled in the alchemy of the heart. She delivered her opinion in such gracious language and lucid illustrations, as would have won me from a false conclusion, but which, as she coincided with mine, deserves to be accepted as conclusive. She declared that a gentleman of such a position and with the oppor- tunities for observation enjoyed by General Scott, and who had never acknowledged the empire of a single woman to usurp his will, to cheer his spirit and to rule his, conduct, could not be considered a man of gallantry; and such is my decision. The lack of those qualities which entitle a man to be called gallant caused General Scott to prefer the society Scott's Lack of Gallantry. 35 of his own to that of the opposite sex — consequently he missed the highest grade of social enjoyment, which can only be found in the company of enlightened, high-bred ladies. I doubt if he ever comprehended the meaning, or felt the ecstatic delight of those feminine euphonies which proclaim the touch of hearts, such as — " Did you miss me ? "— " Did you think of me ? "— " You don't mean it ! " and other similar pearls of speech, which to a man of true gallantry constitute the spice of life. CHAPTER III. Scott as a scholar, and a man of reading. — His education. — His studies of , law. — Public men of his time. — His fondness for philology. — Knowledge of French. — Criticisms upon various authors. — Mathematics. — Scott's favorite quotations. — His association with learned men. AS I intend to pass in view all the characteristics of General Scott's career, and to illustrate it by speeches and events anterior to his old age, and without a chronological order, I will now describe him as a scholar and man of reading. He was well educated, although he did not complete his college course, and he preserved throughout his life the habit of a constant and general reader. He studied common, civil, statute and military law, and gave great attention to international law, and was familiar with the works of all its standard writers. While he was engaged in pacifying the Canadian troubles, and settling the North- eastern and Northwestern boundaries, I enjoyed all the frequent discussions between him and many other eminent men, among the principal of whom were Presi- dent Van Buren, Mr. Webster, Mr. Poinsett, Mr. Preston, Governor Marcy, Mr. John C. Spencer, Mr. John J. Crit- tenden, Mr. John Van Buren, son of the President, Mr. Gouverneur Kemble, Governor Edward Everett, Mr. Harrison Gray Otis, Mr. Jeremiah Mason, Mr. Ogden Hoffman, Mr. Charles King, Governor Fairfield, Senator Evans, Sir John Caldwell, on the part of Sir John Harvey, and many others. Orators of the Time. 37 What floods of light those mighty minds poured upon their subject ! Webster, Otis, and Mason I only heard twice each. The first seemed like Juggernaut rolling on to crush everything. The last two were like giants in de- cline : the light they shed resembled the slant rays of the setting sun — warm, but void of scintillation. Spencer's ai'guments were forcible, at the same time subtle as com- ing from a nature that was essentially cold and as sombre as the caverns of the deep. Marcy was among the most powerful, but he was homely in speech, and, notwith- standing his ability and learning in law and statesman- ship, he was not genial to me, and there were certain traits of the politician in him that I did not like. Presi- dent Van Buren was both polished and able in an uncom- mon degree, and when he discussed our relations with the Indians, and with England, although he was the Chief Magistrate, he showed less dogmatism than many others who had no authority whatever. Preston, Hoffman, King and Everett dressed their redundant explanations in a flowery diction, and gained audience by their charms of voice and manner. In Mr. Preston I saw in perfection the slaveholder's grace of movement and frankness of in- tercourse. Hoffman was negligent in dress and careless in manners, but in the sonorous sweetness of his voice and the amplification of his arguments he stood un- rivalled. Everett and King were stately in appearance, and elegantly precise in manner. Everett's voice was good, and, notwithstanding his ready fluency of speech, I never heard him utter a sentence that needed correction for the press. Both these men were polished scholars. Crittenden, whose vocalization was superb, was remark- able for the skill with which he could marshal his illus- trations, a skill which gained him repute as the most able debater in Congress. He, too, was seldom neatly dressed. 38 Fifty Years' Observation. and he chewed tobacco and spat constantly. It would have been well for Mr. Crittenden if he had played the man of fashion a few years in his youth. It would cer- tainly have improved his personal appearance and habits of spitting, but it might have deprived him of his com- mon sense. The school of fashion is beneficial to an ora- tor who aspires also to be a gentleman, but if he re- mains in it too long, and is a slave to it he will waste him- self and die young, or live in discontent. Sir John Cald- well, who came to see General Scott as the representative of Sir John Harvey, who was the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, had much to say upon the subject of in- ternational law. He was clever enough, but stolid in manner and appearance. Generally non-concurrent, he displayed to perfection the traditional British oppug- nancy. Scott, although he was not habituated to public discussions, was the peer of the most able of them all in knowledge of his subject. The effect of all these learned disputes upon me was to excite admiration for the inge- nuity of the speakers. I was, however, convinced that in- ternational law, if it. is an admirable subject for debate among diplomatists, is but of small moment to the na- tion which has power to protect its own frontiers from in- vasion, and spirited enough to give an easy feeling to its merchants and to its own citizens abroad. The general had an excessive fondness for philology, and i't was his study to find the exact meaning of words and their correct pronunciation. Johnson and Walker Avere his standard authorities, and one day when he went to place his daughter at a boarding-school, seeing Webster's Dictionary lying on the table, he retired before the lady came in, and placed his daughter at another establish- ment. I was subject to his instruction fifteen years and more, and whenever he heard me mispronounce a word Scott on French Literature. 39 he would correct me wherever we might be. Many times did he call out and repeat the word, giving its correct pronunciation, although at a dinner party and ten files from me. While we were travelling at the North and so- journing at hotels with Governor M , he thought I was becoming negligent, and he corrected me with annoy- ing frequency. I took an opportunity when the governor was absent and said : " General, you can't teach me faster than I can learn ; suppose you give a few lessons to Governor M ■." "Ah ! " said he, "that's an unweeded garden ; life's too short to clear it." I agreed with my instructor in most cases, but in regard to a few words I was refractory. He insisted on cowcumber, and said it must be dark, or die ; but I continued to say cucumber and clerk. He undertook to weed out many of my peculiar forms of expression, and all the windy epithets of my colloquial discourses, but I resisted. If I had com- plied, I should have missed his peculiar attractions, and might have becom.e as didactic and uninteresting as a guide-board. The general was in France directly after the battle of Waterloo, and remained there nearly a year. He had not learned to speak the language of that country in his boy- hood, but he could read it fluently, and from books and observation he acquired an extended knowledge of France, its people, and their literature. He was familiar with many French works on military science, as well as memoirs, chronicles, histories, etc. He translated for our army the French system of Infantry Tactics, and was profoundly learned in the campaigns of Turenne, Cond6, Saxe, Frederick the Great, by Jomini, Napoleon, and others. I frequently heard him make general compari- sons between the English and French writers of the past centuries. He placed Addison and Johnson above all 40 Fifty Years Observation. Frenchmen as essayists, but he thought the letters of Geuz de Balzac and Blaize Pascal superior to any in the English language. The writers of French memoirs, for which he had a special fondness, he placed above all others. He admired some of the writings of Voltaire, especially his histories and romances. He seldom spoke of French theology or poetry, which he did not under- stand. It appears to me that no American or English- man can find pleasure in French poetry. I have never met one who confessed a fondness for more than a few lines of it. Voltaire thought that Racine's "Atkalie " was the greatest effort of the human mind. I have tried four times to read Athalie, but never succeeded in finishing it. During~the last ten years I have been intimately associ- ated with one of the most gifted and accomplished Frenchmen that lives. When we are together he sympa- thizes with me for not knowing Racine, and I regard him with sorrow because he cannot comprehend Shake- speare. Some of the sprightly and refined French novels attracted the general, as did Gil Bias in a moderate de- gree, but such stuff as is found in the " Chronique de I'oeil de boeuf," and in .the works of Paul de Kock and his successors, disgusted him, as they ought to disgust every healthy mind. Among English standard writers. General Scott was always at home. I held in equal esteem many of his favorite authors, especially Addison, Shakespeare, Milton, Johnson, and Goldsmith. Dryden, whom he so much admired, never strongly attracted me. His favorite Eng- lish historians were Hume and Gibbon. Of the writers of fiction and romance, he often referred to Fielding, Gold- smith, Walter Scott, Cooper, Irving, and occasionally to Bulwer. To the current fashionable novels and all the stories of love he paid no attention whatsoever. He es- The Newspapers. 41 teemed Adam Smith and Locke, and agreed with Hobbes that war is the natural state of man. He had no faith in peace societies and congresses, and spoke of them with contempt as composed of fanatics and visionaries. The works of infidel writers he disregarded. He read the English and American periodicals habitually, and studied the newspapers with the diligence of a politician. It astonished me to see him read through those long arti- cles in the old Richmond Whig and Richmond Enquirer, written by doctrinaires of the Southern school ; but he could not read theshorter articles of Northern )7l tug which conveyed them through the Narrows, trans- ferred them to the ' Star of the West,' and then put out to sea to be gone two or three days. The ' Star of the West ' got under headway Saturday, January 5, ostensibly for New Orleans, and it was not till yesterday that the matter appeared in the newspapers. The public mind is now, consequently, in a most feverish condition. If the seceders of South Carolina fire on the ' Star of the West,' either from Fort Moultrie or from Morris Island, I trust it may cause unity of sentiment at the North, and that the war may commence in earnest." "January 10. " Rumors reach Washington in the newspapers, and last night by wire, that the South Carolinians have been firing on the ' Star of the West.' It is reported that the ship did not get into the harbor to reinforce Major Anderson, and that several shots struck her from the batteries on Morris and Sullivan's Island. Thus the drama advances !" The above rumors proved true. Two shots struck the " Star o! the West," but no person on board was hit. "Washington, January 16, 1861. " To-day Mr. Gourdin from Charleston (a member of the South Carolina Convention), was in the office. He gave a list of the grievances of South Carolina, and he seemed convinced that the Charlestonians are right in the main, but, like other men under strong excitement, they sometimes would do foolish things and things to be regretted. I told him it would cause great and universal hostility at the North if they longer cut off the necessary comforts for Major Anderson and his garrison in Fort Sumter. " After the futile attempt of the ' Star of the West ' to 374 Fifty Years' Observation. land reinforcements and supplies, Anderson and his little band of heroes were left to encounter the hardships and discomforts of a siege. On the other hand, the vaunting seceders continued their destructive preparations with unmolested vigor. All things being ready, an aged Con- federate patriot named Rufifin, a native of Virginia, claimed the right of a debutant in the national tragedy, and it was he who, on April 12, 1861, discharged the first shot at Fort Sumter, which, being set on fire, forced the garrison shortly to surrender. The noise of the gun that Rufifin set off was soon known to the entire civilized world. The shock stimulated and united the hearts of Northern men, and was the practical beginning of the civil war in America." Among the apothegms of Holy Writ there are few which upon probation leave in the memory a more frigid impression than this: "Pride goeth before a fall." The South Carolinians learned in after-times the truth of this, since they were the proudest people I have known, and their fall has been the most signal. if ' ' How nations sink by darling schemes opprest, When vengeance listens to the fool's request." CHAPTER XIX. Reinforcement of Fort Pickens. — Captain Vogdes. — Gen. Scott on the situation of Fort Pickens. —Interview between Lincoln and Scott. — My interview with the President and Mr. Seward. — The expedition ordered. — Lincoln's letter of authority. — Gen. Butler. — Close of my secretary- ship, — Service under Morgan of New York. /^N the 25th of March, the subject of Fort Pickens ^-^ was brought into notice as follows : On that day a correspondence between Lieutenant A. J. Slemmer of the United States Arnny, commanding Fort Pickens, Pensacola Harbor, and Major-General Braxton Bragg, commanding the forces of the Confederate States at Pensacola, was read by the President and Cabinet. It appears by the correspondence that it was the impression of both Slemmer and Bragg, that the armistice previously agreed on in Washington required notice of its discon- tinuance, and that while it lasts the United States can- not, without a breach of faith, land Captain Vogdes' company from the ship-of-war " Brooklyn," nor do any other act to reinforce or strengthen Fort Pickens. It now appears that Bragg, under the real or feigned belief that Slemmer had, during the armistice, raised a battery across Santa Rosa Island, has been at work forti- fying the opposite shore of the channel. Slemmer denies that he has erected a battery on the island as accused. The history of the armistice above referred to strikingly illustrates the respect paid by the United States Gov- ernment to the men who were laboring openly to destroy it. It appears that about the 29th day of January, 1861, 37^ Fifty Years' Observation. a telegram from Mr. Mallory was received by Messrs. Slidell, Hunter, and Bigler, and laid before the President of the United States. The. purpose of that telegram was to avoid a hostile collision at Fort Pickens, and to give the assurance of Colonel Chase that no assault would be made by the Confederates. Thereupon the Secretaries, Holt and Toucey, of the War and Navy departments, did, on the 29th of January aforesaid, address a joint note to the naval commanders near Pensacola, and to Lieutenant Slemmer at Fort Pickens, forbidding Captain Vogdes to land his company unless the fort should be attacked. The right to land pro- visions and ammunition was reserved, and communication with the United States Government must be kept open and free. Mr. Holt asserted that the sole motive of the joint letter was to avoid '■'■irritation" during the Peace Con- vention, which commenced its session at Washington, February 4, 1861. General Scott remarked that he never saw the joint letter of the two secretaries until the 25th of March, though he was informed by Mr. Holt of its substance at about the time it was written. Mr. Holt declared that there was no obligation implied or expressed to prevent the landing of Vogdes and his company of artillery. On the contrary, he thought our Government was at full liberty to land the troops without giving any kind of notice to the Confederate forces. Notwithstanding the armistice. Captain Vogdes went on shore with his company, and assumed command of the fort. He was astonished at its meagre armament, and its poverty in everything requisite for a defence, and with- out loss of time he made requisitions to supply all de- ficiencies. General Vogdes. 377 As Captain, now General, Vogdes was often referred to in connection with the subject under consideration, it is proper that I should say a word of an old friend from whom the tide of life has long separated me. While I was his neighbor at West Point, Vogdes was assistant professor, and remarkable for three things. He was among the leading mathematicians, one of the most skil- ful chess players at the Point, and the best-read man in the military history and campaigns of the great Napoleon of the whole army. His disposition was amiable, albeit a trifle irritable, while certain oddities of voice and manner and other eccentricities tended to detract from his de- served reputation. While he commanded at Fort Pickens, a body of rebels stole across to the island in the night to alarm or capture the fort. Vogdes, at the head of a party of his troops, sallied out to repel the marauders, among whom was a West Point associate, who recog- nized his shrill voice. Guided by that, which continued to direct them, a few of the assailants found it not diffi- cult to gather around the captain, to seize his person, and carry him away into captivity. Even in the depth of his prison-house, Vogdes' strategical faculties remained bright, and he made some happy suggestions for the con- duct of the war on the Potomac. Subjects connected with Fort Pickens had been con- stantly discussed, and I find in my journal of March 29 the following entry : " Last night General Scott went to dine with the President. I came in at 5 P.M., and found him talking with Senator Sumner of Massachusetts. The subject under discussion was Fort Pickens. I had while in New York, some ten or fifteen days before, written to General Scott, to set forth the difficulty of landing ordnance stores on the beach for Fort Pickens. I also added, that 378 Fifty Years Observation. if the fort needed all that Captain Vogdes had made re- quisitions for, it must be in a bad way. I thought the matter serious, and that General Scott's attention should be called to it especially. On my return from New York, I suggested that, in consideration of the difficulty of re- inforcing Fort Pickens, it would be better to give it and Fort Sumter up together, as an act of grace. Those two forts may be considered as having been given up by Bu- chanan's administration. " Before dinner the General received from President Lincoln a note, asking him to come at once to the execu- tive mansion. On setting out, the General whispered to me, that Mr. Lamon had informed him (Mr. Lamon had been down to Charleston with a letter from General Scott, with the sanction of Mr. Lincoln) that Governor Pickens wished to come back into the Union. The General also remarked that he supposed Mr. Lincoln wished to converse with him about Forts Sumter and Pickens, and he seemed to expect the President would be willing to give up both. " This morning the General appeared to be troubled. He told me that the long conversation he had with Mr. Lamon about the forts, and which he supposed Lamon reported to the President, had apparently not been re- ported. The President 53.id Anderson had played us false, and he seemed to indicate a want of consistency in Gen- eral Scott's own views concerning Fort Pickens. The President went so far as to say that his administration would be broken up unless a more decided policy was adopted, and if General Scott could not carry out his views, some other person might. This last alternative was dimly shadowed forth in Mr. Lincoln's conver- sation, and it seems to have disturbed General Scott greatly." Fort Pickens. 379 "Washington, Easter-Day, March 31, 1861. "Last night and this morning General Scott was en- gaged in writing a short chronological history of Forts Sumter and Pickens. Doubtless he was inclined to do so by the President's conversation with him, and by the conviction that, knowing the progress the secessionists have made in closing in Fort Sumter, and in fortifying the whole western side of the Harbor of Pensacola with strong batteries, the two forts must soon be captured, or given up. Moreover the general feels nettled at the idea of having been considered tardy in making prepara- tions to reinforce Fort Pickens, which President Lincoln told me he had given orders on the ^th of March to be done. " In consequence of the above, the general conversed at length with me, and he appeared glad that I agreed with him as to the policy of surrendering the forts, or rather of withdrawing the garrisons from them. I sug- gested that it should be done, and that a paper should be drawn up by an able writer, that would give an air of grace to the concession." The foregoing proves the sad truth in regard to myself, that I had in despair surrendered my own opinions. I, however, retain the consolation that as I knew the abso- lute weakness of the forts and the strength of the rebels, the forts must soon be surrendered or capt- ured. I conscientiously refrained from all allusions to the Navy, because I could not arrive at any clear understanding of the designs of Secretary Welles in re- gard to his co-operation. That there was no energetic co-operation on his part, although the assistance of armed ships was absolutely required, is strikingly apparent. During the whole time which intervened from Ander- son's movement to Fort Sumter till his final evacuation, 380 Fifty Years Observation. I witnessed no disposition to employ force to protect the Southern forts in any of the directing agents of the Federal Government, except President Lincoln and Mr. Seward his Secretary of State. At breakfast on Easter morning, the General encour- aged me to talk. I spoke at length, and went into mi- nute details of the manner of landing heavy guns, gun- carriages and ammunition on the sand beach of Santa Rosa Island, and getting them into the fort. I told him it would be futile to attempt the reinforcement weak- handed. During my explanations I was astonished at the expression of the General's face. He did not once interrupt me, though I continued speaking not less than half an hour. A portion of the time, however, his thoughts appeared to wander from my discourse. As soon as I had finished speaking he wheeled in his chair, reached out his hand and took, from a pile of roUed-up maps and plans, a long roll, and handed it to me. It was a map of the Harbor of Pensacola and its surround- ings, which I did not know was in the room. " Take this map," said he, " to Mr. Seward, and repeat to him exactly what you have just said to me about the difficulty of reinforcing Fort Pickens." As I had entirely abandoned all hope and expectation that any serious effort was to be made to relieve the post, I regarded my errand as one of the merest form. So, placing the roll under my left arm, I passed down Sixth Street to the Avenue and strolled along towards the Treasury Building. My pace was slower than usual, as I anticipated I had time to talk ten minutes with Governor Seward, and then be early at St. Matthew's Church,, where I intended to go. I was stopped by an acquaintance, who enquired what that long roll contained. I told him it related to Plan to Reinforce Fort Pickens. 381 unfinished business, and I was going to leave it with Governor Seward. Arriving at Mr. Seward's house on F Street, I was a.tf- mitted, and found the astute Secretary standing in the middle of his parlor alone. After a respectful salutation, I said : " Mr. Seward, I am here by direction of General Scott, to explain to you the difficulties of reinforcing Fort Pickens." " I don't care about the difficulties," said he. "Where's Captain Meigs ? " " I suppose he's at his house, sir." "Please find him and bring him here." " I'll call and bring him on my return from church." " Never mind church to-day ; I wish to see him and you here together without delay." Notwithstanding I had been long subject to obey mili- tary commands implicitly, a rebellious thought arose in my mind, when I received from Secretary Seward such clean-cut orders. Nevertheless I reflected that he could speak from the ambush of original power, and concluded to obey him with alacrity, and within ten minutes Meigs and I stood together before him. Without preliminary remarks Mr. Seward said : " I wish you two gentlemen to make a plan to reinforce Fort Pickens, see General Scott, and bring your plan to the Executive Mansion at 3 o'clock this after- noon." Accordingly we hastened to the office of the Engineers, and the negro custodian allowed us to enter without obstruction. Meigs, being familiar with all the deposi- tories, went directly to that which contained the maps and plans of the Pensacola Harbor and the fort. Having spread them out upon the large tables, we commenced 382 Fifty Years' Observation. work, each in his own way, and continued our labors nearly four hours with scarcely a word from either one of us. We made out lists of everything a bare fort would require ; calculated the weight and bulk of the various pieces and packages, the tonnage needed, and the num- ber of troops of the different arms required to place the fort in a state of siege. Meigs made out sailing direc- tions partly, and a requisition for machines to sweeten sea water. We finished our plans almost simultaneously, and started at once for the White House. On arriving at the door, I found by my watch that it lacked only five minutes to 3 o'clock, and that it was impossible for me to go to Sixth Street, see General Scott, and report at the White House at the appointed hour. Neverthe- less I concluded to go in and lay the case before my superiors. We found the President and Secretary of State waiting to receive us in the Executive Mansion. Mr. Lincoln was sitting behind the table near the end ; his right leg, from the knee to foot, which was not small, rested on the table, his left leg on a chair, and his hands were clasped over his head. Those positions were changed frequently during the conference, and I never saw a man who could scatter his limbs more than he. We sat down, and the places occupied by the four persons were about the corners of a square of eight feet sides. "Gentlemen, are you ready to report?" said Mr. Seward. " I am ready," said I, " but I have not had time to see General Scott, who is entirely ignorant of what I have been doing. As I am his military secretary, he will be angry if I don't let him know." " I'm not General Scott's military secretary, and I am ready to report," was the remark of Meigs. The Plan. 383 Mr. Lincoln then said : " There's no time to lose. Let us hear your reports, gentlemen." Meigs read first, and his plan was as new to me as to the other auditors. Then I read mine, and there was nothing especially discordant in the two. Meigs went more into the details of engineering, and I into those of artillery, which was my specialty. When we spoke of scarps, counterscarps, terreplains, barbettes, trench cava- liers, etc., Mr. Seward interrupted, saying : " Your excellency and I don't understand all those technical military terms." " That's so," said Mr. Lincoln ; " but we understand that the rare rank goes right behind the front ! " and then he brought both feet to the floor and clasped his hands between his knees. As soon as the readings were at an end, not a sugges- tion of an amendment or addition having been made by either of the august personages to whom we had ad- dressed ourselves, the President said : " Gentlemen, see General Scott, and carry your plans into execution with- out delay." It was already close upon six o'clock, which was our dinner-hour, and I made haste to return home, I found General Scott seated alone at the table, and saw in his countenance such a mixture of anger and anxiety as I had never witnessed before. " Where have you been all day?" said he. Then I described to him in the fewest words possible how Mr. Seward had declined to listen to my explana- tions; how he had directed me and Captain Meigs to make a plan to reinforce Fort Pickens ; how he had told me to see General Scott and come to the Executive Mansion at 3 o'clock p.m. How I had been detained till it was too late to see him before that hour, and how 384 Fifty Years' Observation. Mr. Lincoln had told me " to read my plan without first seeing you !" " Did he tell you that?" said the general. "He did, sir!" said I, and then there was a pause of at least five minutes. It was easy for me to perceive that my chief was strug- gling to restrain a tremendous emotion. He no doubt felt, as he looked, like a haughty dictator who had been over-ruled. The majesty of his mien, which in times past was so threatening when thwarted in his preroga- tive, was not now apparent. In its stead I noted in his countenance that gloomy sadness, which antedates but little the culmination of honors and the lapse of power. The spectacle before me demanded a deferential silence on my part, which I neglected to guard. To the excitability of my temperament was due a gross breach of decorum, of which, at the time, I was unconscious. Gladness sparkled in my eyes, and the tones of my voice were joyous. The dogs of War were to be let slip, and I a factor ! Moreover all my faculties had been in vio- lent exercise during ten hours without refreshment of any kind. There was not a mouthful of victuals, nor a drop of drink in the War Office, nor in the executive mansion, for us. Consequently I brought to the table the appetite of a Siberian wolf in winter, and the thirst of a Bedouin returned from a foray in the scorched sand of Arabia. The dinner was good and the wines choice. I indulged my voracity, while the general sat musing, and between every three or four turns of my knife and fork I poured off a bumper, throwing my head back to imbibe the last drop. What happened after dinner I cannot re- member. It is certain that I was full of bread and well charged with distempering draughts, though I was not by any means drunk. I sought my bed early, and Despatch to Col. Brown. 385 after a long sleep I arose refreshed for the hard work of the following day. Early on the morning of April i, Meigs and I commenced our preparatory work in the various mili- tary bureaus at Washington. We needed time to select officers, troops and material required, and to ascertain where they were. Colonel Harvey Brown of the Artil- lery was selected to command the expedition, and we drew up the following letter of instructions to him, the authorship of the letter being about equally the work of Meigs and me ; except the words " if necessary for de- fence," which were inserted by Mr. Seward, to whom I submitted the letter. General Scott, before whom I afterwards laid it, attached his signature without remark or comment. Headquarters of the Army, Washington, April i, i86i Brevft Colonel Harvey Brown, United States Army, Washington, £>. C, Sir :.— You have been designated to take command of an expedition to reinforce and to hold Fort Pickens in the Harbor of Pensacola. You will proceed with the lea,st possible delay to that place, and you will assume command of all the land forces of the United States within the limits of the State of Florida. You will proceed to New York, where steam transportation for four com- panies will be engaged, and putting on board such supplies as you can ship without delay, proceed at once to your destination. The engineer company of sappers and miners, Brevet Major Hunt's Company M, 2d Artillery, Captain John's Company C, 3d Infantry, Captain Clitz's Company E, 3d Infantry, 'will embark with you in the first steamer. Other troops and full supplies will be sent after you, as soon as possible. Captain Meigs will accompany you as engineer, and will remain with you until you are established in Fort Pickens, when he will return to resume his duties in this city. The other members of your staff will be : Assistant Surgeon John Camp- bell, Med. Staff ; Captain Rufus Ingalls, Assistant Quartermaster ; Captain Henry F. Clark, Commissary of Subsistence, and 1st Lieutenant George F. Balch, Ordnance OfKcer. 17 .J 386 Fifty Years' Observation. The object and destination of this expedition will be communicated to no person to whom it is not already known. The naval officers in the Gulf will be instructed to co-operate with you, and to afford every facility in their power for the accomplishment of the object of the expedition, which is the security of Fort Pickens against all attacks, foreign and domestic. Should a shot be fired at you, you will defend yourself and your expe- dition at whatever hazard, and, if needful for defence, inflict upon the assailant all the damage in your power, within the range of your guns. Lieutenant-Colonel Keyes, Military Secretary, will be authorized to give all necessary orders and to call upon the staff departments for every requisite material and for transportation, and other steamers will fol- low that upon which you embark, to carry reinforcements, supplies and pro- visions for Fort Pickens for six months. Captain Barry's battery will follow as soon as a vessel can be fitted for its transportation. Two or three foot companies will embark the same time with the battery. All the companies will be filled up to the maximum standard. Those to embatk first from recruits in the harbor of New York. The other com- panies will be filled, if practicable, with instructed soldiers. You will make Fort Jefferson your main depot and base of operations. You will be careful not too much to reduce the means of the fortresses on the Florida Reef, as they are deemed of greater importance than even Fort Pickens. [We regarded them as constituting the key to the Gulf of Mexico.] The naval officers in the Gulf will be instructed to co-operate with you in every way in order to ensure the safety of Fort Pickens, Fort Jefferson, and Fort Taylor. You will freely communicate with them to this end, and will exhibit to them the authority of the President herewith. With great confidence in your judgment, zeal, and intelligence, etc. [Signed] Winfield Scott. The paragraph directing Colonel Brown to defend himself in case he should be fired upon was written by me, and when Mr. Seward insisted on the insertion of the words, " if needful for defence" I speculated on his motives and the character of his mind, which could suggest a benefit from such a diplomatic caution in my military composition. In writing the directions I antici- Ordered to New York. 387 pated the possibility that a rebel or piratical cruiser might cross his track, and in case a shot or shell should come hissing through the air from a craft bearing an un- recognized flag, he was instructed to return it, and to damage his assailant to the utmost of his strength. I have known officers who were so scrupulous about orders that, seeing such a phrase, they would, after the shot was fired, call a council of war to determine its meaning, and thus give time to the rover on the sea to cripple and capture the ship. As I desired before leaving Washington to have in my possession such a warrant of authority as would secure to me instantaneous obedience of all the staff and other officers in and about New York, I wrote the following order, and carried it to General Scott for his signature. He took the order and held it in his hand, looking at it two or three minutes. Then he returned it to me, saying, " You had better get the President to sign that order." I then changed the heading, carried it to the White House, and Mr. Lincoln signed it without a moment's hesitation. The order was as follows : Executive Mansion, Washington, 1 April % 1861. ) Lieulenant-Colonel E. D. Keyes, United States Army, Military Secretary : You will proceed forthwith to the city of New York to carry out the in- structions which you have received here. All requisitions made upon officers of the staff by your authority, and all orders given by you to any officer of the Army in my name, will be instantly obeyed. {Signed] Abraham Lincoln. Having ascertained the stations and depositions of all the troops and materials we should require, and armed with the President's mandate, which is few in words but spacious in effect. Captain Meigs, Lieutenant Porter (now 388 Fifty Years' Observation. admiral of the Navy), and I left Washington in the even- ing train of April 3, for New York. It was past midnight when we embarked in the ferry-boat at Philadelphia to cross the Delaware. As the boat was about to cast off, I heard a group of men talking about us. One of them said "There's General Scott's secretary; what's up?" Spies were so thick in those days that I assumed an air of indifference, and said, " Meigs, I'm not going to travel all night ; please lookout for my trunk, and I'll come on in the morning train, if I don't oversleep myself." The next morning I took the route via Amboy, and while going up to New York from that city I prepared orders for ordnance and recruiting officers, quartermaster and commissary, and Meigs being on hand at the quarter- master's office when I arrived, a buzz of activity was started immediately in the city. Having issued orders, some in the name of Lieutenant- Gen eral Scott and some in the name of the President of the United States, and made requisitions upon the quartermaster, commissary, ordnance, and recruiting officers, the medical purveyor, and certain engineer officers, I went out to inspect such ships and vessels as were required. I agreed at once to the charter of the steamers " Atlantic " and the " Illinois," and later I en- gaged the " Philadelphia," and others through Colonel D. D. Tompkins, assistant quartermaster-general in charge at New York. The amount of war material of every sort and subsis- tence of all kinds for, say, 750 meh for six months, with forage for horses, and the various medical and quarter- master's stores, including fuel, would require the storage of not less than 1 2,cx)0 tons. The stevedores were awk- ward in handling some of the heavy ordnance, the gun carriages and ammunition, and I was obliged to give fre- Loading the '' Atlantic" 389 quent personal attention to them. Fortunately, I knew, and had at my tongue's end, the dimensions and weight of every gun, howitzer, and mortar in the service, as well as their carriages, and the same of every weapon, shot, shell, and box of cartridges and fuses. Consequently I could aid in the proper placement of those things. The number of notes, letters, and orders to be written was surprising, and the men who came to offer ships and various kinds of service were a constant interruption to us. We were obliged to cut short every interview, and decline all idle talk, and by the incessant labor of Meigs and myself we had the large steamer, the " Atlantic," loaded and ready to sail at 12 o'clock M., on the 6th day of April. Thereupon Captain Meigs addressed the follow- ing letter to the Secretary of State, whom we both re- garded as the chief patron and originator of our enter- prise : United States Transport ) Steamer "Atlantic," \ ■2.)4, P.M., iith April, 1861. ) Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State . Dear Sir : — By great exertions within less than six days from the time the subject was broached in the office of the President, a war steamer sails from this port, and the " Atlantic," built under contract to be at the service of the United States in case of war, will follow this afternoon with five hundred troops, of which one company is sappers and miners, and a mounted battery. The " Illinois " will follow on Monday with the stores which the " Atlantic " could not hold. While the throwing a few men into Fort Pickens may seem a small mat- ter, the opening of a campaign is a great one. Unless this movement is supported by ample supplies and followed up by the navy, it will be a failure. This is the beginning of a war which every statesman and soldier has foreseen since the passage of the South Carolina ordinance of secession. You will find the army and navy clogged at the head with men, excellent men — patriots, who were soldiers and sailors forty years ago, but who now keep active men out of their places, in which they could serve the country. 39° Fifty Years Observation. If you call out volunteers you have no general to command. The genius, bom, not made, is yet to be found, vifho is to govern this great army which is to save the country, if saved it can be. Colonel Keyes has shovfn intelligence, zeal, activity, and I look for a high future for him. England took six months to get a soldier to the Crimea. We were from May to September in getting General Taylor to Monterey. Let us be sup- ported. We go to serve our country, and our country should not neglect us or leave us to be strangled in tape, however red. I remain, etc., [Signed] M. C. Meigs. The above letter was the frank expression of the thoughts of the writer at its date. Afterwards, and recently, when younger men, " excellent men, patriots," looked with longing eyes upon the office of Quarter- master-General of the Army, which he held, they served up the ingredients of that letter as their chief argument for his displacement, and they succeeded in putting him on the retired list, although his mind is still bright, and his capacity undiminished. At the time Captain Meigs wrote his letter to Secre- tary Seward he was young, vigorous, handsome, clever, laborious, and, when he chose to be, seductive. When I saw him last, which was a year before his retirement from active service, it appeared to me that time had tallied the years upon him lightly, and I noticed no signs of mental decay. But his place being wanted, he was ousted. The habit indulged in by young officers of the army of depreciating the capacity of their seniors, is not peculiar to any one in particular, but it is general. There is a certain age at which the majority of officers become unfit for duty in the field, but it is not universal, and in many cases it can only be determined individually. Dr. John- son said a man might hate his king and not love his country, and it is equally evident that a man may be Age of Military Leaders. 391 young and not a good commander. It is also certain that some old men are good generals. Caesar was past fifty when he crossed the Rubicon to display, at a later date, the most wonderful prodigies of his genius in the field against Pompey, Pharnaces, Mutius Scipio, and his old lieutenant, Labienus. Genseric shone in war when much older. In more modern times the Venetian Dan- dolo commanded with distinction the expedition against Constantinople when he was ninety-two years old. Turenne, who was the first general of his age, was killed in 1675, while in command of the French army, at the age of sixty-four years, and his opponent, Monti- culi, was still older. Wurmser, at eighty years, gained the respect of Napoleon for his defence of Mantua, and Radetski, another Austrian, gained the battle of Novara, at the age of eighty- two. Finally, the examples of King William and his lieutenant. Von Moltke, show that septuagenarians are sometimes fit for duty in the field. Fitness does not depend upon years, but upon genius and strength and preparation. The "Atlantic," with Colonel Brown and Captain Meigs on board, left New York for Pensacola on the 6th of April, P.M. Captain Grey was master of the ship, and I addressed to him the following laconic note : New York, April 6, 1861. Captain A. A. Grey, Steamship Atlantic: Sir. — The expedition, of which you are a part, is under the command of Colonel Harvey Brown. You will therefore implicitly obey his orders. I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, By authority [signed] E. D. Keyes, Lietitenant-Colonel United States Army. The absence of Captain Meigs was a serious loss to me, as only about one-fourth the amount of stores to be for- warded was on board the "Atlantic." Although the 392 Fifty Years' Observation. " Illinois " was nearly loaded, I had after the " Illinois" to load the " Philadelphia " and three sail-vessels, which were to be filled partly with the heaviest cannon and gun-carriages, which were so difficult to handle. I was obliged to examine numerous invoices and documents to ascertain what had been shipped and what more was needed, and to avoid mistakes. I was obliged to take measures to guard my secret, and I had for only clerk and amanuensis my young son, E. L. Keyes, to whom I took care not to mention the destination of the expedi- tion, and I was not sure whether he had discovered it or not. I am certain, however, that Colonel Brown and Captain Meigs arrived off Santa Rosa Island unex- pectedly to Bragg, and made success certain. During the few days I worked with Captain Meigs, preparing for a great advantage, which was the security of Pensacola and its surroundings, I was struck with the ease with which he grasped his subject and the facility of his execution, and I was willing to concede that, what- ever might be the merit of our joint labors, the measure of praise which was due to me should for him be filled to abundant overflowing. Now that I am no longer spurred by ambition, nor troubled with official intrigues and jealousies, it amuses me to contemplate the off-hand style of my letters, orders, and other communications, of which I proceed to give additional specimens. One of my reasons for ad- dressing Mr. Seward, instead of my chief, was, that I fancied a letter to him would be less liable to be tam- pered with. New York, April 7, 1861. //o?t. IV. H. Seward, Secretary of State. Dear Sir : — Captain Meigs received a telegram to stop a certain vessel. Fortunately it came too late, and its execution would have struck our enter- prise between the horns. Letter to Seward. 393 Coming on I told Porter, of the Navy, that the placing of one or two ves- sels in a certain place in time, would make the game certain — without, the loss will be certain. I found some difficulty in chartering the ships. Insurance companies wished to know where they were going. I wrote on a slip of paper — ' ' To go into any port between Passamaquoddy Bay and Brazos, or any port in the West Indies where a sloop of war could float." This, and the light battery put Wall Street in a mist. ****** Meigs has head and pluck, and Brown has zeal of the true stamp. When they begin to work look out for the capital, Forts McHenry and Monroe, the arsenals at Washington and St. Louis, navy yards, armory, &c. To know where troops are to be had at a moment's notice to defend them will be a sine qua non. The "Atlantic" is off with Meigs and Brown, well laden. All this Sunday and all night a large gang Of men will be loading the " Illinois," and she, I trust, will be on her way when the sun goes down. Then I must take a day to look through my and Meigs' memoranda to know what has been done, and what we expect to do. We could not employ clerks lest our puipose should get wind. I am not very expert with the pen, and Meigs writes so illegibly that what he commits to paper I call fixed facts. When every preparation for defence is made two bull-heads should be placed in command of Forts Taylor and Jefferson, and Meigs, who can grasp the whole subject, ought not to be far from the capital. I am sir, very respectfully. Your obedient servant, E. D. Keyes, Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. Army, Military Secretary. P. S. — I have not time to write to any one but you to-day. The vessel referred to in the first paragraph of the above letter was the sloop of war "Powhatan" which it appeared the Secretary of the Navy desired for another purpose than ours. At the moment the telegram was re- ceived to detain the ship, I knew she had not passed the Narrows, and might have been stopped. The dispatch was not to me, and as I thought it almost indispensable that the vessel should go to Pensacola I said nothing and did nothing in the matter. 17* 394 Fifty Years Observation. My second letter to the Secretary of State was the fol- lowing : New York, April lo, 1861. Hon. W, H. Seward, Secretary of State. Sir : — Lieutenant Rodgers of the Navy [afterward Admiral Rodgers] has reported. He has gathered some information at the navy yard for me. Notliing can be ready for sea soon except tlie "Perry" lo-gun brig. The formidable steam frigates, the "Wabash" and the " Roanoke," can be got ready in three and six weeks, so we must rest content with what we have in the Gulf and on the way there. I had the good luck to get on board the " Illinois " one battery (Hunt's) of Napoleon guns, with ammunition and implements complete, and another battery (I suppose of Dahlgreu guns) from the navy yard, with plenty of ammunition. In the "Atlantic" some shells were sent, with plenty of primers and fuses, cartridge bags, and such things as could be handled quickly. The two ships took better than six weeks' forage for the horses and four months' complete rations for, say 720 men ; about that number will be there, as I sent 75 recruits to fill up, etc. I am straining every nerve to get for- ward such ordnance and stores as I know will be needed. Enough have gone to strike the first blow and to hold for a while against all they (the secessionists) can do, provided the naval vessels can place themselves. I sKall charter another steamer to-morrow and secure the right to tow sail ves- sels which are now loading with such things as cannot be got on board the steamers. If large demonstrations are made there it will be necessary to in- crease our force to the war standard, which is 1,250 men. In view of the present complexion of affairs, a naval and military depot at Fort Jefferson, Tortugas, is a thing of immediate and absolute necessity. That depot should contain everything. I guard my secret against all. Our opposers lack means of transportation, mechanical skill and capital. To distract their attention and cloud it with mystery is the best course. The Union sentiment, or the conviction that the Government ought to be sustained, is growing among all parties. As soon as the first blow is struck the capital will be in real danger. Curiosity to know what I am about has increased so much that I address this letter to you instead of General Scott. I am kaown to be his secretary, and my letters might be tampered with. Please show this to the general if it is worth showing. I remain with high respect, etc. , [Signed] E. D. Keyes, Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. Army, Our Instructions. 395 The directions contained in the following letter were drawn up by Captain Meigs while we were engaged to- gether forming our plans : New York, April, 1861. Lieutenant-Colonel //. S. Brooks, Commanding on board Steamship " Illinois." Sir : — ^You, and the captain of the " Illinois " through you, will be gov- erned by the following orders, which are to be opened at sea below Cape Hatteras : { As before directed, you will have discharged your pilot Nos. I and 2. < in deep water and have passed Cape Hatteras twenty ' miles to the eastward. No. 3. Cross the Gulf at right angles ; steer then for Mata- milles Bank ; coast along the edge to lat. 25° 36'; thence make Carysf ord Light, and follow the usual course to Key West. No. 4. Land the District Attorney Boynton at Key West. Have no communication with the shore or boats except to ask for orders at the Fort, but proceed with all speed to sea. No. 5- i Report yourself for orders to Colonel Brown, off Fort Pickens, No. 6. Should anything prevent a literal compliance with the above directions, you will follow them as nearly as possi- ble, having in view their main purpose, which is, that you should report to Colonel Brown, off Fort Pickens, without ^ delay. No. 7. Communicate these orders to no person whatsoever, ex- cept to the captain of the steamer, and it is supposed it will not be necessai-y that he should know more than that he is to steer for Key West ; until after passing that point, com- municate no more than is actually required. By command of Lientenant-General Scott, [Signed] E. D. Keyes, Lieutenant-Colonel U, S. Army, Military Secretary, 39^ Fifty Years' Observation. Lieutenant-Commander Rodgers having procured much important information from me, our relations terminated with the following note : New York, April 13, i86t. Sir : — Having given me the assistance and information required, to my entire satisfaction, you are now at liberty to return to Washington, in con- formity with the instructions of the Secretary of War, which you received on the 8th instant. I have the honor to be, etc., [Signed] E. D. Keyes, Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. Army, Military Secretary, Commander John Rodgers, U. S. Navy, New York. Having received no instructions from my chief to write to him, I omitted to do so, for fear my letters would be tampered with. My first letter to him was the following: New York, April 13, 1861. Lieutenant-Ceneral W. Scott, Commander of U. S. Army, Washington, D. C. Sir: — The steamer "Philadelphia" has been chartered and is partly loaded. The work is suspended to-day by the rain, as most of the cargo would be ruined by wet storage. This steamer will carry a siege battery of ten pieces, with everything necessary to use it, also ammunition, imple- ments, and other necessaries for the fort. It will also take the balance of a six months' supply of provisions and a considerable amount of forage and lumber. If the first blow shall have been struck everybody will be safe and com- fortable until the heavy armament arrives, and then the place will be im- pregnable against the present means of the seceders. One schooner is loaded with the heavy pieces, and two others will be necessary. To place them on shore without the assistance of a wharf is the great puzzle . I will do what I can here to solve it. Commander Rodgers, sent here to co-operate with me, has given me all the information I desired of him. The day he reported he remarked that he was a border-State man. To-day his expressions are strongly in favor of the Government against all opposers. It may be the noise at Charleston has brought him, as it has brought many others, to a just conclusion. I trust it has, as he appears to be an officer of merit. The " Philadelphia " has accommodations for a company of men if it is Letters to Scott and Seward. 397 needful to send another company South. The vessel is old, however, and not so safe as I should have desired for troops. Commander Rodgers leaves for Washington this evening. By the middle of next week I shall have accomplished the business for which I came here, and then I shall leave unless otherwise directed. The vigorous measures of the Government are giving immense encour- agement, and the traitors at the North will soon be obliged to take cover. I wrote last to the Secretary of State the loth instant. I am, general, with perfect respect, Your most obedient servant, E. D. Keyes, Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. Army, Military Secretary. I have not the least doubt that the above letter pro- duced a very disagreeable effect upon General Scott, although not intended by me. I must have appeared too positive to him, and the word " traitor" in connection with the sectional turmoil which then existed, had an unmusical sound to all men of Southern birth. My next letter was to Mr. Seward. New York, April 14, 1861. Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of Slate. Sir : — The surrender of Fort Sumter, which is the conclusion of a series of bad things, leaves several ships at liberty, and I know not their destina- tion. My secret is not out. Some conjecture Saint Domingo, others Texas and Mexico. Fort Pickens and Fort Jefferson are also among the guesses. I had intended to leave for Washington next Thursday, but now the enterprise will take larger proportions. If it is intended to make all arrangements for a state of war I ought to remain longer. I know what is necessary, and yesterday I wrote to the general what I had done. Shall I wait here to get news of the first \Aovi from our own people ? I have suspended work to-day and spent the time bewailing the fall of Fort Sumter and the loss of much labor. Of course the storm has dis- persed the ships, and they cannot be heard from in less than a week, and I have the credit of having worked hard for defeat. I am, etc., E. D. Keyes, Lieutenant- Colonel U. S. Army, Military Secretary. P.S. — Since writing the above, I have seen Mr. Aspinwall, who says the 39^ Fifty Years Observation. " Baltic" will be here on Wednesday evening, and that she is chartered by the month. Shall I load her here for the South? May she not be in Nor- folk ? There is an agency here for the Armstrong guns, and in six weeks we could have some here. Captain Kingsbury, of the Ordnance Office, is a perfectly competent and reliable officer in his department. He is something of a genius. A Mr. J. Dow Williamson has just left me. Says he was in Pensacola on the 8th instant. Says also, the batteries to the right and left of Fort Burancas are mounted with wooden guns, and that Bragg is concentrating his forces in the live oak groves across the Bay, to the east of the town, and is building rafts upon which to cross to Santa Rosa Island. If Vogdes' company has landed, I think they may hold out, and X have shipped the exact battery for that point which defends the landing on the island. I have heard, but not trusted, this man. I should like to goon with the "Baltic," for if Brown, Meigs, and myself are Fort Sumterized, it ought to, and I trust will, kill us all. I hope to finish loading the " Philadelphia " to-morrow night. I could not store ordnance supplies and forage in the rain on Saturday, and I would not work on Sunday, as it would have betrayed my secret. The " Baltic " ought to take more troops. Respectfully, etc., E. D. Keyes, Lieutenant-Colonel U.S. Army, Military Secretary. The style and jumble of the foregoing letter perpetu- ates the feeling of rage and despair which possessed me when I heard that Fort Sumter had fallen. The fall it- self was less than the cowardice and imbecility at Wash- ington which preceded it, and was nothing compared with the suffering and blood which were subsequently re- quired to regain the fort and place. It cost the life of Chatfield, whose valor I witnessed at the first battle of Bull Run, when we charged up the hill side by side in the line of file-closers. His courage shone with equal brightness in the last fatal act of his life, when he was killed in an assault. He was one who fought calmly and with no succeding display of vanity. If he hoped for recognition, no one knew or knows it. Mr. Seward wrote me a note in reply to the above Letter to Col. Townsend. 399 letter, which I do not find among my papers. Mr. Cameron disliked his officiousness in this matter, and for that reason Mr. Seward requested me to address my future communications to the War Department. In my letter of instruction to Captain Kitteridge com- manding the " Philadelphia," I observed the following paragraph : Should you find yourself in danger of capture by the seceders, you will do all in your power to escape, and rather than allow your ship to fall into their hands, you will set fire to her, take to your boats, and report that she is loaded with gunpowder. My next letter was to Colonel Townsend, Adjutant- General : • New York, ^/n7 18, 1861. Colonel E. D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General, Washington, D.C. Colonel: — The "Philadelphia" is now about loaded. A httle more lumber, the mules, beef cattle, and 150 barrels of powder and some imple- ments are all that remain to go on board. We have had three rainy days, and it would not do to wet the forage. The handling of the siege train and the stowing were necessarily very slow. I have sent down launches from the Navy Yard. I examined there the means and appliances which our people will have at hand to land the heavy ordnance, and obtained from a naval officer written instructions and dia- grams to show the manner of using them. The three steam vessels carried twenty-four cannon with their carriages, with all necessary appliances, and upward of six months' 'provisions for the men, and about three months' forage, with an abundance of shelter and clothing. I must examine all in- voices to see what has gone. General Scott will understand the immense labor I have had to perform, and I trust you will let him know how uneasy I feel at being here, while he has such burdens on his shoulders. If you think the general would prefer I should join him before completing the business here, let me know by telegraph, and I will set out Saturday morning. If not, I shall start Monday morning. I am, sir, etc., E. D. Keyes, Lieutenant-Colonel U.S. Army, Military Secretary. I receive no answer to the above letter, and no letter from General Scott. The silence was ominous, and indi- 400 Fifty Years' Observation. cated that I was laying up in store some kind of disap- proval. On 'the 1 8th of April I wrote to Colonel Harvey- Brown, the commander of the expedition. The greater portion of the letter consists in statements already given, and which I omit. The conclusion of the letter was as follows : We worked so harmoniously together here that I will speak freely to you. The war has commenced in earnest. Fort Sumter, after being girt without opposition by batteries, and insulted during four months, has fallen of course. Fort Pickens has been long menaced and insulted under an armistice which has only bound our people, and perhaps will be in the hands of the enemy when you arrive. The time for moralizing it appears to me has passed, and I trust you will consider that to stick a spade in the sand is to begin the fight, and that you will rain a shower of iron upon the rebellious workers who menace you. I remain, etc., E. D. Keyes, Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. Army, Military Secretary. From my letter to Captain Meigs of April 19, 1861, I omit the details contained in the first portion. The other parts contained prophecies that were subse- quently verified to the letter. I wrote as follows : The war will soon commence in earnest. 75,000 troops have been called for by the President, and more will be needed. Virginia has seceded, and North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas will immediately follow. Maryland may remain, as the white laborers menace the lovers of slaves. Missouri is doubtful. Perhaps there will be a fight there, but all the other slave States will go as a unit, except that Western Virginia may hang back. In such a state of things it is all important that you should be here, and if you can make a little capital where you are, hasten on. I will enhance your exploits and capacity, and when you return, I trust we may work to- gether for the common cause and for one another. One thing I trust you and Colonel Brown will not lose sight of for a moment. That is, the necessity of having true men in charge of the Southern Return to Washington. 401 or Gulf forts. A heavy hand should fall at once upon all such as sympa- thize with the rebels. If we had had vigorous minds at the head of affairs six months ago the serpent might have been crushed in the shell. Even now I must venture on one sad prediction. It is this — at least one hundred tons of blood must be drawn from Northern veins, before Northern men will cease to heed the admonitions and to stand in awe of Southerners, and before they will cease to abide by the Constitution and laws which are not, and seldom have been, a bar to them. It would be as unwise for us to act as to forbear the act, upon the sup- position that the rebels have any feeling for us but scorn, as it would be to suppose the tiger in the jungle has pity. The seceders having stolen nearly all the best arms and learned the use of them, while we have been moralizing, I anticipate frightful havoc among our Northern levies. The North, however, is [nearly] a unit [?] and if necessary, 500,000 men will be forthcoming. Two Massachusetts regi- ments have passed on, and they are thirsting for vengeance. No horror will surprise me, though I will do nothing that is not warranted by civilized warfare. Many of our people, I know, would like to imitate in the South the con- duct of Hyder All in the Camatic. Galium has been appointed A. D. C. to General Scott, and for that reason I stay here to finish. In haste, your friend, E. D. Keyes, Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. Army. On receiving news of the arrival of Brown and Meigs at Fort Pickens in time to secure it, and to surprise Bragg, I prepared to return to Washington. Mean- time, that city being threatened by the rebels, I was invited by General Sanford, of the New York State Militia, to go with volunteers from that State, over whom he gave me authority, as did Governor Sprague of Rhode Island over a regiment from his State, The transports "Baltic," " R, R. Cuyler," "Coatza- coalcos," and " Columbia," having on board the 6th, I2th and 71st regiments of New York Volunteers, and the first Rhode Island Regiment under Colonel Burn- 402 Fifty Years Observation. side, convoyed by the " Harriet Lane," left New York April 21, 1 86 1, to rendezvous at Hampton Roads. I embarked in the "Baltic" with Colonel Daniel Butter- field's regiment. We arrived and anchored off Fort Monroe at 4 P.M., April 22. Colonel Dimmick, the com- mander, came on board and gave me a detailed list of the things needed to place the fort in a condition fit for defence. The present armament, as that brave and patriotic old soldier described it, was wretchedly dilapi- dated, and I lost not a moment in writing a full state- ment of the information derived from him to General Scott. It was desirable to proceed to Washington via the Potomac River, but the captains of the largest ships decided that stream was too shallow, and I ordered the convoy to proceed to Annapolis, where it arrived and anchored on the morning of the 23d. As soon as prepa- rations could be made for the march, I ordered the troops to advance for the capital, and renounced my authority over them. General Benjamin F. Butler was in command at An- napolis, and to him on landing I offered my services. I had never met that gentleman before, and although he was at the time a prominent politician, I had not felt interest enough in him to watch his proceedings. He invited me to his mess, and after being in constant com- munication with him six days I saw plainly that he pos- sessed phenomenal activity and persistence of brain- power, and that he considered himself fit to be the leader in all the pursuits, callings, professions and occupatioi.te of men whether he had studied them or not. At this time I am not inclined to work out and condense upon a single page a formula which would embrace all the traits of his character, all his labors, aspirations, schemes and achievements, but I will give an anecdote of another man General Butler. 403 which will set off in part the disposition of General But- ler. Several years before the war I met in the cars, going from New Yorkto Washington, a New Jersey man who had invented a salt-boiling apparatus which he thought would prove efficient and economical. The man told me he had applied for a patent, and that he was on his way to see Senator Benton, who at that time was making speeches upon the subject of salt, its domestic and in- dustrial uses, its value as a fertilizer, etc., etc. It may be remarked, in addition to what I have already said of him, that of all the men I ever saw sitting in the upper house of Congress not one so completely filled my idea of a Roman Senator as Thomas Hart Benton. I admired the ponderous majesty of his presence, and list- ened with admiration to his surcharged arguments, none of which were derived from Mrs. Grundy nor from Caleb Quotem. The inventor, who was a man of faint complexion and feeble tissues, armed with a proper introduction, found himself confronted with the august Missouri Senator. He was permitted simply to say he had invented a salt boiling apparatus, and then Mr. Benton commenced a dissertation upon salt, beginning with Lot's wife and coming down to the present time. He spoke nearly an hour, and concluded with a " Good-morning, sir ! " that frightened the Jerseyman, who left without a word about his invention. The above anecdote illustrates one phase of General Butler's character only. Unlike the senator, the general would have heard a description of the invention, pro- vided that neither his interest,^ his vanity, nor his am- bition was concerned in it. I must add a word more about General Butler, although 404 Fifty Years' Observation. I have greater reason to hate than to like him. At heart he would have fame, in default of which he is content with notoriety at the expense of abuse and slander. Weighed in the balance his virtues turn the scale against his faults, one of which his accusers call obstinacy. I think it should be called perverseness, which is locomotive obstinacy. He showed masterly vigor and judgment in anticipation of the capture of New Orleans, and his subsequent labors as governor of that city in its police and assaignissment, as well as in the proper treatment of the rebels, male and female, entitle him to be called a model city governor and to as much praise as any man occupying his position could have gained. General Scott had sent several messengers, some of whom were intercepted, but one who came through brought me a letter the contents of which I did not an- ticipate, and of which the following is a copy: Washington, April 19, 1861. Sir : — Considering that you recently left me on a mission without my suggestion or special consent, and considering that in our late official con- nection I several times found it necessary to suppress acts of rudeness on your part, and considering that, after the high functions you have recently executed, I should find it still more difficult to restrain your temper, I think it necessary to terminate our official connection virithout further corre- spondence or irritation. I enclose a letter this moment received from his excellency the Governor of New York, together with my reply, which you can either use or return to me as you may think proper. Wishing you and yours all happiness, I remain with much respect. Yours, [Signed] WiNFiELD Scott. Lieutenant-Colonel E. D. Keyes, U. S. Army. The duty I had recently performed in New York, where there was no commander present to supervise me, was so End of My Secretaryship. 405 agreeable that I did not much regret the loss of my sec- retaryship, which had during the past winter not only re- quired from me a perpetual attention and unremitted labor, but it also subjected me sometimes to the whims and caprices of a superior. Moreover in the sectional strife which then raged with such savage bitterness, my Northern sentiments, which I did not think it right to conceal, could not fail on frequent occasions to wound the susceptibilities of my chief. And although he had treated me with uniform kindness, and only one alterca- tion had marred the harmony of our association, it was evident to me that its warmth was subsiding. Neverthe- less, the duty I had so successfully performed, and which resulted in depriving the rebels of a port and navy yard of vast importance to them, I imagined entitled me to a respectful recognition from my superiors. Although I intended to accept service with Governor Morgan, I thought it my duty to report in person to the President and Mr. Seward, from whom I had received my instructions. They were in earnest and thanked me warmly for what I had done. I was also cordially received by Mr. Cameron, Secretary of War, and Mr. Chase, Sec- retary of the Treasury, who invited me to breakfast, and by Professor Bache and many others. When I called on General Scott he declined to receive me, and I left his antechamber without showing anger to Colonel Town- send, who brought me the repellant message. I was ignorant at the time of the opinion entertained by Townsend of the cause of General Scott's refusal to see me, and only learned it about three years ago from Townsend's own lips. He had for twenty years cherished the idea that I had gone away without notice from General Scott to place myself in correspondence with the President and Mr. Seward to reinforce Fort Pickens. I 4o6 Fifty Years Observation. have already related how I told the President that I was General Scott's secretary, and that he would be offended if I did not first notify him of what I was doing. Where- upon Mr. Lincoln ordered me to read my propositions, which I did, and then without a moment's delay I re- ported fully to my chief all that had happened. The President had a perfect right to give me the order, which was in no way improper ; I was absolutely bound to obey the President, and if I had refused his dignity would have enforced him to dismiss me from the army on the spot. General Scott denied himself to Meigs also on his return. General CuUum, who succeeded to my place on the staff, entertained a similar opinion, and was equally mis- taken with Colonel Townsend. It was General Scott's wounded vanity which swayed his feelings towards Meigs and me, and colored the impressions he communicated to his attendants. If I had been guilty of the slightest treach- ery or disrespect to my chief, they would have been justi- fied in condemning me, and the mistake they both made has caused in me no feeling of resentment for either one of them ; on the contrary^ my strong friendship for both remains unchanged. Townsend, during the whole war of the rebellion, and for fifteen years after its close, held the important ofHce of Adjutant of the Army. He performed his vast labors with ability, without spite or prejudice, and is one of the most conscientious and amiable of men. My irritation against my former chief continued several years, but it gradually subsided, and was finally ex- tinguished by an incident which I will relate in its proper place. I often spoke of his tyrannical conduct towards Northern officers, and referred to his having quarrelled with Worth and Temple, who had formerly served on his staff. They were both Northern men, and had no superi- Governor Morgan. A'^7 ors in the army for gallantry and accomplishments. I was unable to discover a more tenable reason for his quarrel with either of those meritorious officers than with me. In a conversation with Assistant Adjutant- General Baird, shortly after my discharge, he one day said to me, " All General Scott's sentiments are Southern, and towards Northern officers he has always been a most oppressive tyrant." It is true the general's birth and breeding made him necessarily partial to officers of Southern birth, and he was wholly unconscious of his frequent harsh de- meanor towards those from the North. He would have considered it a gross insult to have accused him of official tyranny of any kind. I always felt far less hurt by his partiality for his own section than by the uniform indiffer- ence and neglect of Northern functionaries in regard to all natives of the North who were in the army and navy. Nearly every benefit I ever enjoyed in the service I owed to a Southern man. The application from Governor Morgan of New York was for an officer to assist him in organizing the \olun- teers of his State for the approaching civil war. I was glad to find myself selected for a task of such distinction, and on the 2d day of May, 1861, I reported for duty to the governor at Albany. After twenty days I left him with the satisfaction that I had gained the approval of a most worthy and patriotic gentleman. At the close of our relations, Governor Morgan addressed to me the fol- lowing note. I had notified the governor that I had finished the business for which I joined. State of New York, Executive Department, ) Albany, May 22, i86i. ) Colonel: — While heartily regretting, for reasons personal to myself, the necessity which severs our official relations, I cannot but congratulate the military authorities in securing the talent and experience possessed by yourself to the public service. In terminating formally, as it becomes my duty under the circumstances. 40S Fifty Years' Observation. and as I hereby do, the connection established by General Scott's orders on the igth April, allow me to express my thanks for the invaluable sei-vices you have rendered me and the State in the organization and despatch of the quotas of troops forwarded by this State on the requisition of the General Government. I am very respectfully yours, [Signed] E. D. Morgan. Colonel E. D. Keyes, U. S. Army The luxury of serving under a commander who did not feel himself degraded when I told him what I had learned in the army was so exquisite that I craved no additional reward for what I had done for Governor Morgan. I thought my services over-estimated, as they consisted chiefly in giving him the details of the organization of companies and regiments, the care of arms, ammunition and accoutrements, the selection and police of camps, the necessity of vigilance and impartiality on the part of officers, and of prompt obedience to orders by every one, etc., etc. I took special pains to show the necessity of guarding against the tricks of contractors and their in- numerable devices to cheat the Government and wrong the soldier. On a certain day I was called to inspect a lot of specimen shoes. I think there were five. One of the shoes presented such a nice substantial appearance that it secured favor from the other inspectors, and my opinion was asked. Before deciding I had the shoe cut entirely open longitudinally. The sole was found to be welted all around, and a slip of wood beneath a shaving of leather gave it solidity. Such a shoe at the end of one day's march over the muddy roads of Virginia would have gone to pieces, and the patriotic foot of a volunteer would have touched mother earth. The sordid contractor who presented that shoe deserved to be shut up in prison and kept there until the end of the war. It is not im- probable, however, that he is nov/ playing the snob in a palace. His audacious attempt at robbery, as the times go, promised success and a gross fortune. Chester A. Arthur.— J. Meredith Read. 409 It was never my good luck to labor with a more agree- able company than when I was in the staff of Governor Morgan, of New York. He was a genuine patriot and a man of the kind that constitutes the true riches of a State. It was composed of Mr. Chester A. Arthur, who is now President, Mr. J. Meredith Read, since succes- sively Consul-General in France and United States Min- ister to Greece, and Massena R. Patrick, a graduate of the Military Academy, and at present Superintendent of the Soldiers' Home in Ohio. Mr. Arthur was remarkable for method and neatness. Like his chief, he showed no signs of egotism, and seemed intent only to execute bis tasks promptly and well. Mr. Read, with whom in Europe I have since maintained correspondence and social intimacy, was also a diligent worker, but in his demeanor worldly ambition was ap- parent. He is of high birth, and his coat of arms is seen upon his note-paper. I heard an Englishman ask the question : " What does the Prince of Wales find in that American, to be always with him or writing to him ? " Read remained in Paris throughout the siege of 1871 and collected an immense mass of details concerning it. He also recorded his observations upon Greece, which are highly interesting. On several occasions I heard learned Frenchmen speak admiringly of Read's ability and industry as well as in praise of his social qualities. Notwithstanding Read is aristocratic and fanciful, he is not snobbish, and among my most cherished friends I regard him as one of the most amiable and the least selfish. When I was last in Paris Read arrived there as I was on the point of leaving. I asked him if he was alone. " No," said he, " I came with the King of Greece." Patrick was a most worthy man, and the genius of utility. 18 CHAPTER XX. Arrival of Lincoln at Washington. — Caricatures. — Threatening letters. — Dinner with Stanton. — The retiring President. — The inauguration of Lincoln. — Visit to New York. — Scott's letter to Texas. — Anecdotes of Lincoln. — Farewell speeches of Benjamin and Davis. "Washington, February 22, 1861. MR. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the President-elect of the United States, arrived in Washington this morning before daybreak. He disguised himself and stole a march on those who anticipated his coming in the afternoon." The second day after his arrival a caricature appeared representing " Old Abe," crouched in a large safe, of which the door was open. At his feet lay a maul, and an axe stood by his side. His meagreness and length of limb were exaggerated, but the likeness of his face and person was unmistakable. Such was the manner of his ingress to the capital, and the symbolized appearance of one of the mightiest figures of modern history. " Washington, February 25. " Numerous letters arriving in the daily mails contain threats to assassinate General Scott. He assumes an in- difference to the threats, but he shows the letters to great numbers of people, and wonders at their calmness. Last night he exhibited some of the letters at Mr. Crittenden's rooms in the National Hotel, and this morning when alone with me he commented on the imperturbability of Secretary Stanton. 411 his auditors. He ended by saying he could see the sel- fishness of mankind in everything. I told him I thought mankind sympathized as much with him as with any man of my acquaintance. The general sent word for me last night and a week ago to come down to Mr. Crittenden's quarters and walk home with him. I trust the assassins will not pass their rapiers through me." " February 26. " Last night Mr. Stanton, the Attorney-General, dined with me. He is a man of vast attainments as a lawyer, with an extraordinary capacity for labor. " He is a Union man, though he is one of President Buchanan's Cabinet." Upon a more matured and intimate acquaintance with Mr. Stanton, after he became Secretary of War, under Mr. Lincoln, I found no cause to change my first impres- sions of his talents and industry. I discovered, also, that he was subject to violent impulses, and that occasionally he would decide upon insufficient evidence and some- times with gross injustice. One trifling incident will show my meaning: While I was in command of an extensive section of the defences of Washington city, I gave orders to Colonel Birney, of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, to proceed with his regi- ment and occupy a redoubt which had recently been erected. Three hours later, a messenger from Mr. Stan- ton arrived at my headquarters with a note, ordering me in precise terms to remove the soldiers instantly from the house and grounds of Mr. , who, I was informed, was a violent Secessionist. My horse being at the door, I lost not a moment, and on my arrival at the house indi- cated I found it and its inclosure vacant. I kept on, and upon consultation with Colonel Birney, he informed me that while on the march a soldier fainted in the ranks, and as 4^2 Fifty Years' Observation. it was raining hard he was carried in and laid on the porch of a vacant house that stood near, and left witli a couple of soldiers till an ambulance could be sent for to take him to the hospital. The fainting man was not upon the premises above half an hour, but he was seen by the rebel, who considered his house defiled by the touch of a defender of the Union, and he represented the intru- sion to Mr. Stanton as a violent trespass and outrage. Mr. Stanton was accused of many hasty decisions, one of which resulted, in my case, in a monstrous injustice. He punished me ruinously, upon a report, without inves- tigation, and to this day I am ignorant of the fault he imputed to me. I have always considered that I was a scapegoat. The blows he let fall on me set loose a hideous brood of misfortunes, which would have killed me if they had not stunned me and benumbed my faculties. " To-day, Mr. Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President elect, came with a number of other gentlemen, mostly from the State of Maine, to pay their respects to General Scott. Frequently during the winter the general was the recipient of similar marks of respect and confidence. On one oc- casion an incident occurred which was attended with a curious excitement. Mr. Weir, the professor of drawing at the Military Academy, being on a visit to Washington, I invited him to dine with us. I told Cruchett in the morning that General Scott and I loved Mr. Weir, and desired to give him a good dinner, and he promised to do his best. As it happened, both the general and my- self had recently laid in a stock of v/ines of various brands, and we had out specimens of every kind. Cruchett had also clustered upon a vacant corner of the table numerous jugs, flasks, decanters and black bottles con- taining Eait, de vie, Kirchwasser, Curagoa, Maraschino, Scott and His Visitors. 413 Chartreuse, old Bourbon and other like tokenr. of depraved taste and lax morality. All these indicated that we were the slaves of drink and devotees to gluttonous delights. When our feast was well advanced, and while we sat tasting and comparing the wines from our numerous glasses, a thundering knock at the door and a loud ring- ing at the bell announced the arrival of an important company, and the clatter of many feet was heard. ' My God ! ' exclaimed the general, ' these bottles ! , I am a disgraced man ! bring me a pistol and let me blow my brains out ! Keep them back, David ! ' It was a desperate emergency. I said to our guest, ' Let us clear the table ! ' So, gathering up as many bottles and glasses as I could hold, I rushed into the general's bedroom, which adjoined, hid them behind the bed, and returned for more again and again. Weir helped with all his might, while David delayed entrance by clanking the chain at- tached to the door and shoving the bolts, as if he were opening a cage of wild beasts. In this way we had time to clear the table of everything excepting one pint claret bottle that was half full, a few plates, crusts of bread and ribs of lamb cleanly picked, and when the first man of the nu- merous delegation from one of the western States entered the room, he saw nothing that he might not expect to see in a city during the last days of a siege. While this preparation was being made by Mr. Weir and me, the general quickly subsided from clamor to silence, from agitation to quiet, his face cleared up, and he posed for audience. I verily believe that old Father Abraham when he fetched the centenarian worshipper of the sun into his tent to give him wise instruction and hospitable entertainment, could not have presented a more majestic picture of calmness and dignity than did my venerable chief on this occasion. 414 Fifty Years Observation. " The delegates came in and arranged themselves com- pactly around him, like penitents who gather near a holy shrine. The foreman, in a few broken sentences, pro- claimed his admiration for the aged hero, and begged his counsel for guidance through the perils that harassed the country. In reply the general acknowledged the honor done him, and then he proceeded in that low, soft voice which characterized his conversations on important sub- jects, to describe the national troubles and their causes. He inculcated good temper, caution and firmness, and gave hopes that the agitations might cease without blood- shed, which he greatly deprecated. He found fault with no one, and all he said encouraged good feeling and har- mony. The impression made upon his hearers was pro- found, and I saw tears running down the cheeks of sev- eral sturdy men. Some of them were manifestly aston- ished to hear a voice so soft and gentle issuing from such a giant of war and renown. They all shook hands with him as he sat in his large arm-chair, from which he had not risen, and they left apparently fully satisfied with their visit." " Washington, March 2. " To-day the officers of the Army, or a majority of them, in a body, paid their respects to Mr. James Buchanan, the retiring President of the United States. Mr. Buchanan made a short complimentary address and took an affectionate leave. Not a word of compliment or consolation was said to him. Like all his predecessors in office from the North, he retires covered with obloquy, without honor, and without praise. He conceded to the South far more than he ought, but he failed in the last days of his administration to concede everything, and hence the neglect with which he is treated by all par- ties. The Inauguration. 415 " From the executive mansion the body of officers pro- ceeded to visit Mr. Holt, the Secretary of War. Gen- eral Scott made a complimentary address to him, to which he returned a graceful response. I did not dis- agree particularly with anything that was said, but I felt melancholy to be obliged to hear all the compli- ments paid and received by Southern men. I had been so drugged with that custom that I could no longer toler- ate it." " Washington, March 6. " The inauguration of Mr. Lincoln passed quietly. The military forces and police had been judiciously posted, and I noticed no signs of disturbance. General Scott drove in his coup6 to the side of the hill on the north of the capital, and remained in it during the ceremony. I was on horseback in plain clothes, and from time to time rode out to make observations and return to report to my chief, who escaped observation. There was an immense assemblage, and Mr. Lincoln's deportment was admirable. " The inaugural ball was a decided success. It was the first assemblage of the kind I had ever attended in which the great majority of leading personages of both sexes were not Southerners. The coup d'ceil was en- couraging. " While I was standing at a distance looking at the Presi- dent and his party, I observed Mr. Lincoln talking. He made a remark that must have amused himself, for he laughed loudly, and at the same time he joined his hands on Lord Lyons' shoulder and bore down heavily. Mr. Lincoln's acquaintance with the British Minister was of a week's date, and had ripened quickly to intimacy. I trust' the reader vv'ill not infer from the above remarks that I thought lightly of the President. On the contrary 4i6 Fifty Years' Observation. I felt respect for him the first time I heard his voice, and every successive interview increased it. Among the numerous delegations that called about this time to pay their respects to General Scott there was a rough-looking farmer from Illinois who said he was the man who, in former years, hired Mr. Lincoln to maul rails. I entertain no doubt that Abraham Lincoln would have been a great man even if he had never split rails, although many men called him " the rail splitter." " Washington, March 8. " This day, after a long discussion between General Scott, Professor Bache, the head of the Coast Survey, General Totten, chief engineer of the Army, Captain Ward and myself, it was determined not to be expedient nor justifiable to attempt the relief or reinforcement of Fort Sumter with any means at hand and within the time req- uisite to save the garrison from starvation." The above conclusion was rendered inevitable by the scattering of the forces of the Army and Navy under Buchanan's administration. " Washington, March 9. " General Scott instructs me to proceed to New York city and despatch steamers to Texas to bring away the Federal troops." " New York, March ro. " Dined with my charming friends Dr. and Mrs. Van Buren. The feeling of home which I experience on my return to this city fills me with delight. My New York friends I am certain are the best people in the world." " New York, March 12. " Dined at Mr. Delano's. Had the seat of honor. Mrs. Delano is the daughter of Mr. Wm. B. Astor. The Dinners in Neiv York. 417 hospitality of this dinner was elegant without the least sign of affectation." "March 13. " Dined at Mr. John Jacob Astor's, Jr. His father was present and evinced much interest to know my opin- ion about the prospect of war. Mrs. Astor's goodness of heart would have made her conspicuous in poverty, but in her affluence it tells with prodigious effect." "March 14. " Dined at William H. Aspinwall's and had the seat of honor. Messrs. Renwick, John Aspinwall, Gouver- neur Kemble and five ladies were guests. At that time Mr. W. H. Aspinwall was a model in appearance of manly beauty and vigor. He was an active supporter of the Northern cause, and a merchant of great enterprise. It was he who projected the first line of steamers from Panama to San Francisco before the discovery of gold." " New York, March 15. " Dined at the Union Club. Conversed with Dr. William Gwin, ex-Senator from California. He remarked that Gen- eral Scott had written a paper in reference to coercing the seceded States, and that Mr. Seward read that paper to Mr. Lincoln on the day of the inauguration. The paper, accord- ing to Dr. Gwin, stated how many men it would cost, and that a good young general could accomplish it. Dr. Gwin further added that in his paper General Scott regretted that he was not forty years younger, that he might do it." The above paragraph is all I find in my journarin refer- ence to the paper referred to by Dr. Gwin. General Scott I know wrote a paper on the subject of preserving the Union, but if it contained a proposition on his part to fight the South I have forgotten it. On numerous occa- sions he expressed to me his regret that he was not younger, say of the age of Hoche or Marceau, and at the 18* 41 8 Fifty Years Observation. head of a well-disciplined army of 40,000 or 50,000 men, with which he could keep the peace. General Scott was fond of referring to Hoche and Marceau, and it was apparent to me that he imagined a strong likeness of himself in those two gallant young Frenchmen. Hoche was so full of daring that the great Napoleon confessed that he would have feared him as a rival but for the fact that Hoche was too fond of money and pleasure. Marceau had an unusual ability to reform his broken battalions under fire, and to restore the bat- tle when it swayed against him. Death cut off both those heroes before the age of 30 years. The present government of France is taking measures to perpetuate their renown, by placing their equestrian statues with those of Kleber and Desaix at the four entrances of one of the gre^t public buildings in Paris. I saw the models at my last visit to France, and was struck with the resem- blance of Marceau's figure to that of the late General Custer of our army. " New York, March 16. " Dined at Doctor Mott's. He is the most distinguished American surgeon living. The party was thirty in num- ber, and agreeable. The venerable doctor explored his cellars, and brought forth five bottles of Madeira wine, the least ancient of which had been thirty-five years in his bins. Messrs. Gerard and Libbey, both intimate friends of Dr. Mott, General Scott and I were present. Mr. Gerard was a celebrated lawyer and a conservative Democrat in politics. He was an orator, and on one oc- casion, in the spring of 1861, he addressed a vast assem- blage in the Cooper Institute Hall to prove that there would be no civil war. At the table he repeated some of his arguments ; then turning, he called to me — I was far from him : ' Colonel, what is your opinion — will there be Scott's Letter upon Texas. 419 war or will there be peace?' ' There will be war ! ' said I. About a year afterwards as I was coming down the stairs of the Academy of Music, he left his ladies, and approached me, saying, ' General, you were right; there is war.' I noticed that many clever men declared there would be no war, and for the simple reason that they had never been called on to feel the cause of the war." " Washington, March 20. "Last night the grand letter from General Scott to the commanding officer in Texas, looking to the retention of that State in the Union, which had been the subject of numerous discussions, was despatched to its destination by Lieutenant Collins of the army. Prior to the despatch I carried the letter to Mr. Seward, and went with him to visit Mr. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War. In a con- versation with me in the morning, and again at the meet- ing with Mr. Seward, General Cameron told me he would not agree to the plan without the previous approval of Mr. Lincoln in writing. Mr. Seward said to me, while we were alone together, that he did not wish the President's name signed to any paper in the matter. When I sug- gested that some words should be inserted in the paper to show that it was in co-operation with Governor Houston, he (Mr. Seward) exclaimed : ' It may as well begin here as anywhere ! ' " "Washington, March 22. "Yesterday General Scott wrote a postscript to the above-named letter to the commanding officer in Texas, and submitted it to a discussion with General Cameron, Secretary of War, and Mr. Seward, Secretary of State. The postscriptum, which was approved by those gentle- men, contained in substance a direction to the command- ing officer there to co-operate with Governor Houston, or 420 Fifty Years' Observation. other executive head of affairs in Texas, acting in de- fence of the Federal Government, provided such head was in command of a respectable force up in arms to maintain that government. " After finishing with Texas, Mr. Cameron having left, and only General Scott, Mr. Seward, and I being present, Mr. Seward remarked in strict confidence that he had re- ceived information from a high source, that General Albert Sidney Johnson, commanding the Department of the Pacific, was unfaithful to the Union. Senator Nesmith of Oregon was Mr. Seward's informant. My opinion of Mr. Johnson was asked. I had known and respected him as an honorable gentleman, believed him to be a Demo- crat, but could not say whether he was a Secessionist or not. " After a long discussion it was determined to send me to the Pacific coast to investigate matters there. It was decided that I should carry orders in my pocket, to be used at my own discretion, to send General Johnson to Washington, and to devolve his command on Colonel George Wright. The suggestion to send me to San Francisco came from Mr. Seward, and was acceded to by my chief with a reluctance that was quite apparent. At the conclusion, General Scott exclaimed, 'What shall I do ? I can work, I suppose ! ' As I was anxious to go out and have an opportunity to look after my interests, the unsatisfactory tone of his remark made me apprehen- sive that I should not be gratified. I was not in the least surprised, therefore, when on the following morning the general wrote an order for Colonel E. V. Sumner to pro- ceed without delay to San Francisco, and assume com- mand of the Department of the Pacific. The order was approved by the Cabinet in secret session — Colonel Sumner embarked by stealth, and on his arrival in San President Lincoln. 421 Francisco he went direct from the boat to General John- son's headquarters, exhibited his orders, assumed com- mand, and directed his predecessor to repair without delay- to Washington." It is possible that General Scott may have had more reasons than one for his reluctance to have me leave him on the mission proposed by the Secretary of State. I had studied to lighten his labors as much as I could, and to Jceep him informed of the current topics of the day. He might have detailed one, or if necessary two, officers to assist him in his office, but in regard to companionship I had one advantage over all others. I had studied his humors for fifteen years, and knew how to avoid giving him offence in everything except sectional disputes and matters tending to civil war. In reference to them I was heedless, and on many occasions I must have irritated him like a blister. When my gaze annoyed him I looked at some- thing else, and never asked him to repeat a verbal order or word upon any subject whatsoever. He knew my par- tiality for that noble old soldier. Colonel George Wright, and would have been dull indeed if he had not foreseen that for me the noise of my heels on the stones would be all the proof I should need to justify the removal of General Johnson, and advance Wright to the command of the Department of the Pacific, and this was probably his main reason for detaining me in Washington. In the line of my duty as military secretary to Gen- eral Scott I had frequent interviews with the President, the Secretary of State Seward, and with Cameron and Stanton, secretaries of war. If ever there was a diamond in the rough, or good fruit enclosed in shabby husk, it was Abraham Lincoln. A correspondent of the New York Herald, after his nomination for President, described the nominee as " tall, gaunt, and as ugly, awkward and 422 Fifty Years' Observation. shuffling in .his gait as Horace Greeley." A stranger on seeing Mr. Lincoln would have concurred in that de- scription, and would have found in his unreserved con- versations with all approachers a strain of indescrib- able jocular freedom. I doubt if any man or woman could have had an interview of five minutes' duration with " Old Abe," as he was called, upon any subject without hearing him relate an anecdote to illustrate it, and many of his anecdotes were as broad and smutty as language can convey. Religion itself was in the category of his illustrations, as the following story told by him will prove. A certain Judge Campbell of Illinois had in his cir- cuit the town of Springfield, for which he entertained a profound dislike. One day when he adjourned his court, a demure individual approached and asked of the judge the favor of holding divine service in his court room on the ensuing Sabbath morning. The re- quest being granted, a conversation followed, in which Mr. Campbell begged to know the denomination of Christians to which the applicant belonged. " I am an Adventist," said he, " and my discourse on the approach- ing Lord's day will be the second coming of Christ." " I beg pardon," said the judge, " your labor would be thrown away in this town. In the first place I don't think Christ was ever in Springfield, but if he was you may be sure he'll never come there again." I do not intend, by the above allusions to Mr. Lincoln's peculiarities, to forestall my opinion of his merits. My first impression of his character was erroneous, and it re- quired much observation and close study to enable me to penetrate the homely environments of his nature, and disclose the lustre of his genius, his candor, integritj' and boundless benevolence. His story-telling enabled President Lincoln. 423 him to discharge the fulness of his mind and sometimes to hint at his conclusions without giving offence. As he understood human nature in all its variety of exhi- bitions he acquired an unlimited scope of illustrations. His goodness of heart and freedom from suspicion sometimes made it difficult to detect treachery, self- interest, envy, rivalry, and malice, and consequently, during the first years of his administration, he gave a too ready ear to the advice of unscrupulous men and allowed unworthy and incompetent officers to be ad- vanced, while their betters were disregarded. Poltroon- ery, covetousness, dishonesty and obscenity he discovered quickly, and his frankness naturally led him to expose them in the fittest words and similes. It would be as unreasonable and unjust to infer vulgarity and obscenity in the character of Mr. Lincoln, from the freedom of his speech, as it would be to question the genius and deli- cacy of Shakespeare because he has introduced in the same play, " Measure for Measure," two such characters as the incomparable Isabella and the disgusting Mistress Overdone, — the one possessing all the loveliness and virtue that man imagines in a woman — the other one of the same sex who condenses in two lines all the vilest depravities of human nature. Judging the entire character of President Lincoln's mind and heart, and viewing the conduct of his whole private and public life, I am convinced that in genius he was the equal, and in unselfish benevolence he was the superior, of all the men who have hitherto occupied the chair of Chief Magistrate of the United States. That a man so great and good should have been wantonly slain by an actor whose declamation on the stage he had come to witness, would be incredible if history had not taught that the wisest and most humane rulers of ancient and 424 Fifty Years' Observation. modern times were the most exposed to the assaults of murderers. Csesar, William of Orange, and Henry IV. of France were assassinated, but Nero, Ivan the Terrible of Russia, and Henry VIII. of England, were permitted to die in their beds. In regard to Mr. William H. Seward, Secretary of State under Lincoln, although he was my professed friend, I find greater difficulty in defining his character satisfactorily to myself. It is certain that he was a man of more than ordinary talents, laborious and full of ambition in civil life, but not inclined to martial exploits. He abounded in words, both spoken and written, but his reasoning was not conclusive because his judgment was not positive. He was convinced that there was an irrepressible conflict between freedom and slavery, but he failed to foresee clearly the necessary termination of that conflict in civil war. He made a speech in Wall Street, in the autumn of i860, to prove that all the disputes between the North and the South would be amicably settled in sixty days, and recom- mended the merchants to continue their commerce. After the civil war commenced he said it could have been avoided if his advice had been followed. He filled many offices, the most important of which were those of Gov- ernor of New York, United States Senator and Secretary of State. He was faithful in all his trusts, but he did not equal in genius the greatest men of his time. After my return from New York on the i8th of March, I observed that he had lost all hope of a national-reconciliation, and he originated the idea of reinforcing Fort Pickens and pursued it with an unqualified zeal. His disposition had become entirely belligerent, and his conduct thereafter in his office of Secretary of State was such as entitled him to rank with the noblest patriots. Debates in the Senate. 425 As to General Scott, it appeared to me, and many en- tries in my journal testify to the fact, that he had become much less anxious to strengthen the Southern forts than formerly. He was oppressed with maladies of age, and his debility had increased. It being Lent we often dined alone. The general ate and drank with a tolerable appe- tite, but the moment the repast was finished he would call David (I gave the name David to all his body ser- vants after the great sable David of the Canadian fron- tier), to wheel his spacious arm-chair around, and put his feet up ; then he would say, " A dull man would be the death of me now," and I would survey his countenance and determine whether to leave or to talk upon some subject that would not annoy him. Occasionally, during the winter, the general requested me to go to the Senate Chamber and listen to the debates. On my return I would relate to him what I had heard and seen. My memory being good, I was able to repeat the swelling periods of the Senatorial magnates and save him the trouble of reading. As I was almost equally vexed with both factions, I slashed them both in my criti- cisms, and in that way I made myself more interesting to my chief. When I heard Mr. Sumner and others pro- claim the superiority of the North in jurists, men of science, historians, orators, merchants, mechanics, philan- thropists, schools and general intelligence, I felt disposed to stone them. Every speech of the Northern Senators had something deprecatory in it, and that at a time when all the powers of the Government were in the hands of Southern men. If I had been a member of that august body of law-makers, my only speech would have been : "The North demands its equal proportionate share of authority, offices and honors of the Government, or war! " Notwithstanding my hostility of sentiment, I admired 426 Fifty Years' Observation. the graceful dignity and splendid elocution of the South- ern Senators, as well as the candid selfishness with which they told how long and grievously they had groaned under the oppressive exactions of the North. I was present and heard the farewell speeches of Sena- tors Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and Benjamin of Louis- iana. Of the former it is unnecessary for me to say much. As a rule there was a mannerism in all his public dis- courses by which he endeavored to appear in loving har- mony with his audience, although he was obstinate and selfish by nature, and his heart was as cold as a stone. While he was Secretary of War he was partial and capricious in the exercise of his authority, and showed hostility to Generals Scott and Wool. He would seldom comply with a suggestion made to him by another, but would say, " Quite the contrary, sir! " I don't know how I can better exemplify Mr. Davis's disposition, than by repeating a story which General Scott often told, late in life, to illustrate the word contrary. Down in North Carolina there once lived an old Scotch farmer whose son was named Jock. One day an obtru- sive old sow, whose time had come, was missing. The farmer and his son went up the stream to hunt for her. Far up they found her in the bushes with many little grunters near. Having started them homeward, the old man said, " Jock, you cross over and look along down, for she's a contrary old bitch, and I wouldn't wonder if she pigged a little on both sides the creek! " It is understood that Mr. Davis wrangled more or less with his own people during the war. He is determined to have his way of thinking till he dies. In regard to Mr. Benjamin, he appeared to me to be essentially different from Mr. Davis. Notwithstanding his incomparable abilities, and that he with great reluctance Debates in the Senate. 427 becam-e a Secessionist, he never excited animosity in me or any other Northern man so far as I am aware. When I hstened to his last speech in the Senate, I was trans- ported out of myself. Such verbal harmony I had never heard before. There was neither violence in his action nor anger in his tones, but a pathos that lulled my senses like an opiate that disturbs the domain of reason and fills the mind with delightful illusions. I was conscious that it was Senator Benjamin who spoke, and that his themes were mighty wrongs and desperate remedies, but his words I could not recite, nor can I yet recall them; but memory restores the illusive pleasure they left, which is not unlike the impression I retain of my youthful days, when the voices of my loves — since mute — enchanted me in bowers and shady walks. One day I was in the Senate Chamber, when the chair- men of an unusual number of committees reported. The heads of the committees on Foreign Affairs, Finance, Ways and Means, Commerce, Judiciary, Military and Naval Affairs, Post-Offices and Post-Roads, were all Southern-born men, and they also had places on other committees. As the speakers rose in succession to report, my strength seemed to be giving way, and when I re- turned home, shortly before dinner, I feigned more de- bility than I felt. Going into the dining-room where the general was sitting alone, I dropped upon the sofa as though I was exhausted. The general exclaimed, "What's the matter? Are you ill!" " Not ill of any distemper, but of debasement, and a sense of inferiority," said I. "What's happened? I don't understand you." " I have been to the Senate, and have heard the chair- men of the great committees report, and all of them were Southerners. Only one Northern man spoke, and he 428 Fifty Years' Observation. was chairman of the Committee on PubHc Grounds and Buildings. It is his duty, 1 suppose, to stand at the gate uncovered and make obeisance when his masters pass on their way to the Capitol." General Scott said nothing in reply, but he reached out and handed me the small pamphlet containing the names of all the members of both houses of Congress. "Young gentleman," said he, "look at that list and tell me if you find better names for chairmen than those that distress you so much ? " He said more, but I have for- gotten his exact words. They gave me the impression, however, that none of the Northern senators were fit to be the heads of the principal committees. Thereupon I discharged all signs of life from eye, lip and limb, slunk into a corner of the sofa, and in a mournful voice ejacu- lated : " Now I'm dying, and I wish to die, for my race is degraded ; none of my breed is fit to be the head of a committee of Congress." The General made light of my sadness, and I, having been long accustomed to similar debasing spectacles, soon turned my thoughts upon more agreeable subjects. CHAPTER XXI. The War of the Rebellion.— State of Affairs at its Outbreak.— Letter to the President.— Bull Run.— The Peninsula.— Letter to Senator Harris.— Fair Oaks.— Testimony concerning the Battle.— The Field Revisited. — Conversation with President Lincoln — Letter from Secretary Chase. IN this concluding chapter of my book there will not be found a consecutive history of any part of the War of the Rebellion, but it will contain facts and document- ary evidence in relation to the service of troops I com- manded which have not been heretofore reported. It will also embrace references to my own conduct and to other officers, and to histories of the conflicts in which I was engaged. At the outbreak of the Rebellion Northern officers en- joyed about the same standing in the Federal Army as the Sepoys enjoy in the English East Indian military service. In civil life " Northern men with Southern principles" had the best opportunities for advancement, and among all the governing classes a man suspected of being an abolitionist was deemed unworthy to walk in any of the paths of honor. The state of things then existing in the army is set forth in the following letter which I addressed to Mr. Lincoln, the President-elect : New York, November 26, i860. Hon. Abraham Lincoln, President-elect. Dear Sir : — I am an officer of the army of more than twenty-five years' standing, and I am going to present certain facts in relation to the service which you may deem worthy of being considered in the selection of your Secretary of War. 430 Fifty Years' Observation. At this time all the departments into which the United States and Terri- tories are divided are commanded by officers of Southern birth, saving only the Department of the East, which embraces the country east of the Mississippi River, where but a small number of troops are stationed. The great bulk of the army is in the Departments of the Pacific, Utah, the West, New Mexico and Texas, and the applications, conduct and prospects of all Northern offi- cers Biust pass under the revision of Southern men before they reach the commanding general or the Secretary of War, who are both Southern men. The Surgeon-General and Quartermaster-General, the chief of the Topographical Bureau, the Chiefs of Commissary and Ordnance Bureaux, are all Southerners. During the past twelve years Messrs. Conrad, Davis and Floyd, all Southern men, and of extreme Southern views, have been charged with the patronage of the War Department, and they have taxed that patronage to the utmost to build up and fit for command the young officers of Southern birth, while those from the North have been treated with neglect and contempt. In 1855 four new regiments were added to the army, and of the sixteen field officers then appointed from the officers already in commission, eleven were of Southern and five of Northern birth. The selections made for pro- motion were made ostensibly on the ground of merit, but the judges them- selves were from the South, and when Southern men shall admit Northern men as equal to themselves in any respect, the Millennium will have arrived, and war will have ceased. As I have no personal interests to serve, and no grudge against any Southern individual, and as I acknowledge that nearly all the favors I have received since I entered the service I owe to the kindness of Southern offi- cers, it may be asked why I write this letter. I write to ask that you will appoint a Secretary of War, a Northern man, who, like Wade or Sherman, or one who understands the principles of dominations, will proceed to build up Northern officers and place them in commands proportionate with the population of the North, or, if the present policy of giving all authority, command, grace and dignity to the Southern officers is to be continued, the young men from the North ought to be notified in advance, so that when they enter the army they must never aspire to any but subordinate positions. How is this apparent superiority, as exemplified in the army, brought about ? If we examine the Cadets' Registers it will be seen that Northern talent predominates at the military academies. There the standing in the classes is determined by daily examinations, and the knowledge of facts is demonstrated in the presence of all, so that partiality and favoritism have no room to operate. But as soon as the cadets are put in commission it is found that all the Southern officers coalesce to assist one another, and that Beginning of the War. 431 all their civil functionaries are on the watch to advance their friends. On the other hand, Northern oificers being wholly overlooked by Northern functionaries, are divided among themselves, and of those who have spirit and capacity some turn doughfaces, and others, the victims of disgust and blasted hopes, die early, or fall into premature decay of body and mind. In the city of Washington no one can fail to see with what an arrogant assumption of superiority Southern men demean themselves. In the army Southern domination is more apparent and pernicious than elsewhere. One of the chief benefits of a military peace establishment being to ascer- tain who is fit to command, nearly the whole fruit of the twenty and odd millions spent yearly on the army goes to foster the martial capabilities of the South. That fact, but more still the insolent superiority and propensity to domination inherent in Southerners, have at last waked in the North a spirit of vengeance, a spirit which will never subside until the patronage, commands and honors of the Government are justly and fairly distributed. I am. Sir, with perfect respect, Your obedient servant, E. D. Keyes. The election of Mr. Lincoln made civil war inevitable, but its magnitude was not foreseen by many. The vet- eran General John E. Wool estimated the situation properly when he declared that an army of 200,000 men should be placed at once in the field to take Richmond and hold it. Wool's opinions were ridiculed as the mut- terings of a dotard, and General W. T. Sherman, who called for an equal force in Kentucky, was pronounced crazy. The advocates of half measures prevailed, and a call was made for 75,000 volunteers. Congress voted an increase of the regular army, and of the new regiments of infantry to be added I was appointed colonel of the nth and despatched to Boston to recruit it. My recruiting was scarcely begun when I was ordered, upon the requisi- tion of General Irvin McDowell, to return to the capital and take command of a brigade in his army, at Ar- lington. My brigade was composed of four regiments of volun- teers, the 2d Maine, the ist, 2d, and 3d Connecticut. 432 Fifty Years' Observation. When I assumed command early in July, 1861, there was not a man under my orders whom I had ever seen be- fore. The intelligence of officers and men enabled them to learn their duties quickly, and at the end of two weeks, when we took up the line of march for Manassas, I could manoeuvre my brigade without difficulty. On the evening of July 21, I was encamped on the slope of the hill at Centreville. General McDowell called a council of war, and the movements for the next day were discussed. The plan of the intended battle, from all I could learn of the field and the position of the en- emy, was a good one. I noticed no want of confidence in our commander, and but for the rawness of a large ma- jority of the volunteers a victory might have been antici- pated. The division of Brigadier-General Daniel Tyler was composed of the brigades of Schenck, Wm. T. Sherman and my own. General Tyler was a graduate of the Military Acad- emy, and, though' past sixty years of age, his activity and fitness for command were not impaired, while in the army he had been distinguished for his knowledge of his pro- fession and employed on various important duties. He was a man of high character. My orders required me to march at 2 o'clock in the morning of July 21, and precisely at that hour I moved out of the field where we had bivouacked into the road. As General Hunter's column was passing I found mine obstructed by his men, and after thirty minutes I re- ceived orders from General Tyler to place my brigade on the side of the road and allow Hunter's and Heintzel- man's divisions to pass. The road was so narrow that, being anxious about the long delay, I sent a staff officer to ask permission to get forward as best I could. The Bull Run. 433 aide returned with orders from General McDowell to re- main where I was. When the road was clear I pressed forward and overtook Sherman's brigade at the crossing of Bull Run above the bridge. Some of his compa- nies were doubled up at the ford, and I was obliged to halt my column not less than five minutes to allow them to straighten out before my leading files entered the stream. After crossing I kept my men well closed, and on reaching the top of the hill I formed line, facing the enemy, and proceeded to the attack simultaneously with General Sherman. The above specific description of my movements I think excusable, for the reason that I have frequently seen it stated that the loss of the Battle of Bull Run was due to the delay of Keyes' brigade ! Senator Chandler, in one of his speeches, cited my delay as one of the probable causes of defeat, and when I wrote to ask his authority for such an assertion, he replied : " They said so ! " As neither General McDowell, nor his able and observant chief of staff, General Jas. B. Fry, General Tyler, nor any officer or man of my brigade, ever hinted that I was tardy in getting into the fight, I took no further notice of the groundless slander. The service of my brigade in the battle of Bull Run is described in my report of it, which is found in the 2d vol- ume, page 15, Rebellion Record. I had the enemy con- stantly in front of me, and renewed my assaults several times. I was on the extreme left, and about twenty minutes before the panic on the right commenced I found myself in a critical situation. A strong body of Rebel infantry was in front of me, and on the left was a batteryof artillerythat opened fire and sent its shots rico- chetting along parallel to my line, and about two hun- 19 434 Pifty Years' Observation. dred yards in rear. To get away from that exposure I faced my line to the right and moved rapidly around the base of a hill, a distance of about 300 yards. That move- ment was scarcely accomplished when Lieutenant Em- ory Upton (afterwards General) came to me with orders from General McDowell to retire, as the right wing had been routed. The beginning of the rout, or panic, was indicated by a sudden lull in the firing, which produced an ominous effect in my mind. As I retired, with ranks closed, towards the point where I was to descend to the crossing of Bull Run, I saw on the heights to the left a long line of Rebel infan- try looking down upon us in what appeared to be a state of uncertainty. They did not fire upon us, although we were within range; and I joined the retreating mass a short distance in rear of General McDowell and his staff. I allowed all my brigade, which was in perfect order, to file past me into the road, and then I followed to the ford without any molestation from the enemy. After crossing the stream there was not a sign of military organization to be seen, but there was very little noise. The retreating current tended towards the main road, which I joined at a point about half a mile from the bridge. The road, and both sides of it, were crowded with men, horses, cannon, baggage-wagons, and ambulances. My aide. Lieutenant Gordon, was riding by my side, and shortly after we got into the main road the Rebel cavalry came thundering upon the retreating mass from the opposite side. Then a scene of confusion ensued which beggars description. Cavalry horses without rid- ers, artillery horses disengaged from the guns with traces flying, wrecked baggage-wagons, and pieces of ar- tillery drawn by six horses without drivers, flying at their After Bull Run. 435 utmost speed and whacking against other vehicles, sol- diers scattered everywhere, running, some without arms or caps. I saw men throw down their muskets with a gesture as violent as they would throw off a venomous reptile. The rush produced a noise like a hurricane at sea. After crossing Cub Run the hurly-burly subsided in a great degree. I kept on at a moderate pace, met Captain Meigs and exchanged a few words with him, and a little further along I was addressed by Donn Piatt, who was try- ing to collect men to stay the retreat. I tarried not with him, but pursued my way to my bivouac of the preceding night, where I found all the survivors of my three Con- necticut regiments collected together. Col. Jameson, 2d Maine, on his arrival at Centreville, in advance of me, had been directed by General Tyler, or General McDowell, to proceed to Alexandria. In a little while orders came to me from General Tyler to return to our former camp near Falls Church. The ranks were formed, and after a tedious night's march we reached our destination after daylight the 22d July, and found all our tents standing. Having been 27 continuous hours in the saddle, with occasional short intervals in which I kept the reins in my hand, I felt weary. After giving orders that no man should leave camp, I lay down for an hour's rest, which restored me to freshness. While I was lying down Col- onel (afterwards General) W. T. Sherman came alone into my tent. His countenance was that of a disappointed man. After resting in silence twenty minutes, he arose and departed. I am not certain whether Sherman had troops or company with him or not. Captain Hodge, the Brigade Quartermaster, was a man of extraordinary energy. I dispatched him to Washing- ton to bring out teams to carry in the tents and other 43^ Fifty Years' Observation. public property. He had great difficulty to prevail on the drivers to venture out, but finally succeeded in bring- ing over a small number, which was gradually increased to about forty wagons, and he procured twelve long plat- form cars from Alexandria. We sent in and saved from the enemy not less than 175 six-mule wagon loads of tents and camp equipage belonging to my brigade, the Ohio brigade, and others (comprising about 9,000 men), which but for us the rebels would have captured. We left nothing, and in the afternoon of Tuesday, at the head of my three Connecticut regiments of volunteers, every man with his musket, I marched from the railroad to Fort Corcoran on the Potomac, where we arrived at 5 o'clock P.M., or about fifty hours after crossing Bull Run in re- treat. The last three miles of our march from the rail- road was over ground as desolate in appearance as the land of Idumea. The energy displayed by Col. Terry — since, and now, a major-general in the regular army — Colonels Chatfield and Burnham, their officers and men, and Captain Hodge, Brigade Quartermaster, deserves to be recorded. Very little notice has ever, to my knowledge, been taken of our delay in the retreat, but it was reported to me that " they said " I had deserted to the rebels ! Major-General Terry being alive, and in high standing in and out of the army, and others of my brigade can testify to the truth, or falsehood, of the foregoing narra- tive, and if any portion of it is exaggerated they will not fail, I trust, to correct it. General Tyler was active throughout the day riding from one of his brigades to the other, and he was long enough with me to know all my doings. The following extract from his report expresses his opinion of my brigade of soldiers : General Wadsworth. 437 On closing this report it gives me great pleasure to express my admira- tion of the manner in which Colonel Keyes handled his brigade ; completely covering it by every possible accident of the ground while changing his posi- tion, and leading it bravely and skilfully to the attack at the right moment, to which the brigade responded in every instance in a manner highly credit- able to itself and satisfactory to its commanding officers. At no time during the conflict was this brigade disorganized, and it was the last off the field in good order. Gen. Beauregard in his book states that the small loss in Keyes' brigade (10 per cent.) was due to the skill with which it was handled by its commander. Shortly after the battle of Bull Run, I was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and took command of another brigade at Arlington, under General McDowell. There I was associated on duty with Brigadier-General James Wadsworth of New York, a man of great worth and exalted patriotism. One day he said to me : " If my father was alive now, and would not devote his mind, body, and estate to this cause, I could not respect him." He told me he was an abolitio^nist. The first time I relieved Wadsworth as general officer of the day, he was going to lead me directly across a large open field at one side of which was a thick wood in pos- session of the enemy, to one of our posts. I represented to him the folly of exposing ourselves at short range to the rebel sharpshooters, as we were in full uniform, and there was no necessity for doing so. Accordingly we made a detour. General Wadsworth was subsequently killed in battle. No better patriot fell in the war. After General McClellan took command of the Army of the Potomac, I was advanced to the head of the divi- sion which Don Carlos Buell had left to go West, and had charge of a section of the defences of Washington city. The subject of army corps was discussed, and I gave my opinion in favor of such an organization, which was 438 Fifty Years Observation. announced by General McClellan in orders, and I was assigned to the command of the 4th corps, Army of the Potomac, Generals McDowell, Sumner, and Heintzelmart" being respectively assigned to the 1st, 2d, and 3d corps. I understand that General McClellan was- not in favor of the appointment of any one of the four above named. It may have been rumor in regard to others, but I am certain he was opposed to me. I was, therefore, conscious that, in addition to the responsibilities of ah important command, I was about to enter upon a campaign laden with disfavor at headquarters. For that reason I was the more cautious to avoid all acts and words of insubordi- nation, and determined to obey the orders of General McClellan with the same zeal that I obeyed the glorious Colonel George Wright in his Indian campaign of 1858. The discussions concerning the line of operations against the rebels were protracted and warm. President Lincoln took part, and the clearness of his perception on this subject, as on most others, was apparent. The ele- ments of ferocity and selfishness, which are not unusual with first-class military chiefs, were wholly foreign to Mr. Lincoln's nature. Nevertheless, there was not one of his most trusted warlike counsellors in the beginning of the war that equalled him in military sagacity. His supreme benevolence caused him many times to surrender good positions for bad ones. The line by Fort Monroe and the Isthmus was my first choice, and for that I voted after I had sent and gone to the Navy Department, and received assurance upon two points — 1st, that the rebel ironclad Merrimac had been neutralized by the illustrious hero, John L. Worden, and 2d, that the navy would be able to co-operate effectively to secure to us the free passage of the James and York rivers, and especially the latter. The New Army. 439 General McClellan was at first in favor of the line by Urbana, but he was not strongly opposed to the line by Fort Monroe, which was his alternate choice, and to that point his army was transported. That body of about 120,000 men, which landed at Fort Monroe in March, 1862, lacked some of the qualifications of an army. The material was good enough to form a Spartan Phalanx, or Caesar's favorite legion, and Gen- eral McClellan had shown superior ability in organi- zation ; but there were many new levies with little or no instruction, and the majority, from want of experience, were deficient in esprit de corps and the necessity of passive obedience. The want of training of the volun- teers, however, was not greater than the incongruity of the officers of the regular army who held the superior com- mands. That incongruity is easily explained. During forty years before the rebellion it was an axiom with the War Department that no officer was fit to command an army who was not of Southern birth. My loud dissent from that assumed axiom was considered a sure indication of folly and incompetency. I refer to myself simply as an exponent of a state of things that naturally grew out of the institution of slavery. When the Southerners retired from the army the Northern functionaries, in their discordancy and dejec- tion, cast about for another class of men fit for com- mands. As the military sentiment was not in repute at the North, the public mind turned upon men of science and politicians. The Engineer Corps was the principal depot of science in the army, and the politicians were obtrusively near. The Engineer Corps is recruited from the heads and upper files of classes at the Military Academy, and the 44° Fifty Years' Observation. exaltation of superiority in scholarship while a cadet is not modified or lessened after graduating, but is increased by exclusive employment and association as officers. The engineers are worthy of all respect for their talents, in- tegrity, and devotion to duty ; but they appear always to overlook and disregard the necessity of service with troops of the line as a preparation for command in the field. The grumbling old line officer goes to duty and observes precedence often against the bias of his judg- ment. Not so the engineer officer, who has acquired the habit of independent action and placed science above a knowledge of human nature in the management of soldiers. In the beginning of the war the engineers were nearly everywhere in the direction. Those first in command offered a strange variety of administration due to their native dispositions. They were able and active, but those who disapproved them voiced their criticisms in strains like the following : Halleck was stub and twist ; Fremont was vanity incarnate; Rosecrans was polemi- cal—but it is not possible to encase McClellan in a single phrase that will show him fully. I must therefore drift a little into his character, and sink a winze here and there to find the value of his metal. At West Point I had McClellan under instruction in artillery and cavalry, and was struck with the facility with which he learned his lessons and his strong attach- ments to friends — qualities for which he has always been remarkable. I knew how proud he was of being in the Engineer Corps, but I did not forecast his love of popular applause, which, though apparent, was occasionally over- stated, as it was one day by old Count Gurowski, the snarling ex-Polish nobleman and translator in the De- partment of State. General McClellan. 441 It was after a review in the outskirts of Washington, when McClellan returned late in the afternoon followed by a train of generals, adjutants, aides, orderlies, senators and other civil functionaries, and a rabble of idlers that would have been crowded on ten acres of ground. Noth- ing was lacking that denotes " Supremacy and all the large effects That troop Vfith power. ^^ Among them was old Gurowski, who wore a wide- brimmed hat and a gray overcoat. I was quite intimate with the count, who had taught me several new epithets of censure and terms of dissent. After a while the old Pole came sidling up to me. His lowering countenance showed that the glittering pomp of war had no power to cheer him. He found fault with everything ; said he had lived many years in Washington and had noticed how quickly the heads of popular favorites were turned, but no head was ever turned so quickly as that one yonder — • pointing to McClellan. Such denunciations as the above, which were frequent, ought not to weigh in our estimate of the character under discussion, since if there has been, or is now on earth, a man whose head could not be turned by the show and adulation of which General McClellan was then the sub- ject, I have not known him. Unfortunately for him, how- ever, the host of his admirers embraced all the " Northern men with Southern principles," and nearly all the " cop- per-heads," to wit : all those who thought the war un- justifiable, like Vallandigham, S. L. M. Barlow and August Belmont, and many other prominent Northern men. The disembarkation on the Isthmus was not complete when General McClellan issued his orders for the three 19* 442 Fifty Years' Observation. corps, mine being on the James River side, to move on the first day to points indicated. Before' reaching these points the whole army was brought to a halt by a rebel line of defensive works stretching across from Yorktown to the James River near Warwick Court House. The head of my column arrived at that point in a drenching rain ; all the streams and low places were full of water which the enemy had used to the best advantage to obstruct us. I visited the same place in May, 1884, and I was unable to imagine how human ingenuity could have collected so much water as I saw there in 1862. During ten days, after reaching Warwick Court House, the ground was so soft and miry in places that the rations for the soldiers at many points of the line had to be car- ried on the backs of men. The following is the letter which I wrote to my friend. Senator Ira Harris. As General McClellan embodied the entire letter in his report I make no excuse for inserting it here. Headquarters, 4th Corps, ^ Warwick Court House, >- Virginia, April 7, 1862. ) My dear Senator : — The plan of campaign on this line was made with the distinct understanding that four army corps should be employed, and that the navy should cooperate in the taking of Yorktown ; and also (as I understood it) support us on our left by moving gunboats up James River. To-day I have learned that the first corps, which by the President's order was to embrace four divisions, and one division (Blenker's) of the second corps, have been withdrawn altogether from this line of operations and from the Army of the Potomac. At the same time, as I am informed, the navy has not the means to attack Yorktown, and is afraid to send gun- boats up James River for fear of the Merrimac. The above plan of campaign was adopted unanimously by Major-General McDowell and Brigadier-Generals Sumner, Heintzelman and Keyes, and was concurred in by Major-General McClellan, who first proposed Urbana as our base. Letter to Senator Harris. 443 This army being reduced by 45,000 troops, some of them among the best in the service, and without the support of the navy, the plan to vifhich we are reduced bears scarce any resemblance to the one I voted for. I command the James River column, and I left my camp near Newport News the morning of the 4th inst I only succeeded in getting my artillery ashore the afternoon of the day before, and one of my divisions had not all arrived in camp the day I left, and for the want of transportation has not yet joined me- So you will observe that not a day was lost in the advance, and in fact we marched so quickly and so rapidly that many of our animals were twenty-four and forty-eight hours without a ration of forage. But notwith- standing the rapidity of our advance, we were stopped by a line of defence nine or ten miles long, strongly fortified by breastworks erected nearly the whole distance behind a stream or succession of ponds, nowhere fordable, one terminus being Yorktown and the other ending in the James River, which is commanded by the enemy's gunboats. Yorktown is fortified all around with bastioned works, and on the water side it and Gloucester are so strong that the navy is afraid to attack them. The approaches on one side are generally through low, swampy and thickly wooded ground, over roads which we are obliged to repair or to make before we can get forward our carriages. The enemy is in great force, and is constantly receiving reinforcements from the two rivers. The line in front of us is, therefore, one of the strongest ever opposed to an invading force in any country. You will then ask why I advocated such a line for our operations ? My reasons are few, but I think good. With proper assistance from the navy we could take Yorktown, and then, with gunboats on both rivers, we could beat any force opposed to us on Warwick River, because the shot and shell from the gunboats would nearly overlap across the Peninsula, so that if the enemy should retreat — and retreat he must — he would have a long way to go without rail or steam transportation, and every soul of his army must fall into our hands, or be destroyed. Another reason for my supporting the new base and plan was that this line, it was expected, would furnish water transportation nearly to Rich- mond. Now, supposing we succeed in breaking through the line in front of us, what can we do next ? The roads are very bad, and, if the enemy retains command of James River, and we do not first reduce Yorktown, it would be impossible for us to subsist this army three marches beyond where it is now. As the roads are at present, it is with the utmost difficulty that we can sub- sist it in the position it now occupies. You will see, therefore, that the force originally intended for the capture 444 Fifty Years' Observation. of Richmond should be all sent forward. If I thought the four army corps necessary, when I supposed the navy would co-operate, and when I judged of the obstacles to be encountered by what I learned from maps and the opinions of officers stationed at Fort Monroe, and from all other sources, how much more should I think the full complement of troops requisite, now that the navy cannot co-operate, and now that the strength of the enemy's lines and the number of his guns and men prove to be almost immeasurably greater than I had been led to expect ! The line in front of us, in the opinion of all military men here who are at all competent to judge, is one of the strongest in the world, and the force of the enemy capable of being increased beyond the numbers we now have to oppose to him. Inde- pendently of the strength of the lines in front of us, and of the force of the enemy behind them, we cannot advance until we get command of either York River or James River. The efficient co-operation of the navy is, therefore, absolutely essential, and so I considered it when I voted to change our base from the Potomac to Fort Monroe. An iron-clad boat must attack Yorklown, and if several strong gunboats could be sent up James River also, our success will be certain and complete, and the rebellion will soon be put down. On the other hand, we must butt against the enemy's works with artillery, and a great waste of time, life, and material. If we break through and advance, both our flanks will be assailed from two great watercourses in the hands of the enemy ; our supplies would give out, and the enemy, equal if not superior in numbers, would, with the other advantages, beat and destroy this army. The greatest master of the art of war has said " that if you would invade a country successfully you must have one line of operation, and one army, under i3«f general." But what is our condition ? The State of Virginia is made to constitute the command, in part or wholly, of some six generals, viz : Fremont, Banks, McDowell, Wool, Burnside, and McClellan, besides the scrap over the Chesapeake in the care of Dix. The great battle of the war is to come off here. If we win it, the rebel- lion will be crushed — if we lose it, the consequences will be more horrible than I care to tell. The plan of campaign I voted for, if carried out with the means proposed, will certainly succeed. If any part of the means pro- posed are withheld or diverted, I deem it due to myself to say that our suc- cess will be uncertain. It is no doubt agreeable to the commander of the first corps to have a separate department, and as this letter advocates his return to General Mc- Clellan 's command, it is proper to state that I am not at all influenced by personal regard, or dislike, to any of my seniors in rank. If I were to credit all the opinions which have been poured into my ears, I must believe McClellan-s Report. 44S that, in regard to my present fine command, I owe much to General Mc- Dowell and nothing to General McClellan. But I have disregarded all such officiousness, and I have since last July to the present day supported General McClellan, and obeyed all his orders with as hearty a good-will as though he had been my brother or the friend to vi'hom I owe most. I shall continue to do so until the last, and so long as he is my commander. He left Wash- ington with the understanding that he was to execute a definite plan of cam- paign with certain prescribed means. The plan was good and the means sufficient, and without modification the enterprise was certain of success. But with the reduction of force and means the plan is entirely changed, and is now a bad plan, with means insufficient for certain success. Please show this letter to the President, and I should like also that Mr. Stanton should see its contents. Do me the honor to write to me as soon as you can, and believe me, with perfect respect. Your most obedient servant, E. D. Keyes, Brigadier-General commanding i^h Army Corps. Senator Harris wrote me some time afterwards that he had given one of my letters to President Lincoln, and this was the one. It finally came into the hands of Gen- eral McClellan, who embodied the whole letter in his re- port—page sss. General McClellan also quoted in his report a long paragraph from my testimony before the Congressional Committee on the conduct of the war, and he associates my opinions with those of my friend and correspondent, Major-General J. G. Barnard, his chief engineer, who, it should be known, was entitled to be called illustrious for his genius in science and his virtues as a man. When, after the campaign was ended, I had read Gen- eral McClellan's report and saw myself quoted in a man- ner so flattering my astonishment was inexpressible. I was in New York, where I met Col. Key, A. D. C. and judge-advocate with the Army of the Potomac. I asked him how it happened that his chief had so copiously em- ployed my opinions to strengthen his decisions. " Be- 44^ Fifty Years Observation. cause," said he, " your opinions were so correct and so well expressed that he could not avoid it ! " The reason for my astonishment was that from the time I landed at Fort Monroe till after I crossed White Oak swamp on the 29th of June, leading the way in the change of base to the James River, General McClellan never once asked my advice or opinion in regard to any battle or movement, nor did he once call me into council with the other corps commanders. I was several times told that they were called into council and I was left out. While the army was detained before Yorktown, an un- fortunate attack was made on Lee's Mill from a point with- in my line which was guarded by General W. F. Smith, one of my division commanders. On the i6th April, the day of the attack, I visited Smith's headquarters and found him and General McClellan alone together in consultation. I remained in their presence about five minutes, and, my opinion not being asked, I withdrew from the position. Shortly afterward the assault was made, which caused a heavy loss on our side in killed and wounded, and no benefit whatsoever. If my opinion had been asked by the General-in-Chief it would have been given decidedly in opposition. My opinion was fixed that the proper method to break through that line with our large force was by a simul- taneous pressure and menace along the whole line, and serious assaults upon points previously indicated. That was the proper way, but my judgment was not sought ; and I absolutely deny all responsibility for the attack of April i6th, 1862. It would appear, however, that my name was associated in the affair. General Webb, when writing his book on the war in the summer of 1881, questions me in a note about the attack on Lee's Mill. He also indicated a Lee's Mill. 447 supposition that I had been ordered by General McClellan to attack it and had disobeyed the order. I was dis- mayed, for I did not retain in memory the slightest inci- dent that could suggest such a supposition. The subject perplexed me often, and it was only made clear in July, 1884, when, in turning the leaves of McClellan's Report in the Astor Library, I discovered the following (p. 553) : The nature of that position (Lee's Mill) in relation to the Warwick not being at that time understood, I instructed General Keyes to attack and carry this position upon coming in front of it When General Keyes approached Lee's Mill, his left flank was exposed to a sharp artillery fire from the further bank of the Warwick, and upon reaching the vicinity of the mill he found it altogether stronger than was expected, unapproach- able by reason of the Warwick River, and incapable of being carried by assault. The above reference to Lee's Mill had no connection with the attack of April i6th, but it was ample ground for a slanderous charge of disobedience of orders and in- competency against me. The slander had reached a friend of mine to whom I wrote a letter from Yorktown, concerning a young volun- teer. My letter also referred to my being left on the Isthmus, and to certain experiences in the recent cam- paign. The ofificer to whom I wrote was a man of talents, in full sympathy with me regarding the war, and he afterward commanded a corps. I give here the closing paragraph of his letter, which is sombre in tone and full of heat. The letter from which I quote is dated October 23, 1862 : I have had command of a division at and since the battle of South Mountain, but it devolved on me from 's sickness and 's wound. I do not expect to retain it, for it is well known I dislike the stand-still policy of and . As soon as they find a decent pretext I suppose they will throw me overboard. It did not need yoi.r letter to convince me that 448 Fifty Years' Observation. you would receive nothing but injustice from those men. They attempted to throw the catastrophe of Lee's Mill upon your shoulders. Perhaps they think it is useful to retain a few of us in the army as scapegoats for their own blundering and incapacity." I am entirely ignorant of the names of the persons who " attempted to throw the catastrophe of Lee's Mill upon your (my) shoulders," but I here solemnly assert that whosoever did say I had anything to do with that attack made a specific and unqualified mistake. The rebels having retired from Yorktown our army pursued, and on the 4th day of May fought the battle of Williamsburg, which it is not my purpose to describe minutely. When the head of my column arrived near the field of battle after sunset on the evening of the 3d, it was stopped by other troops and their carriages that blocked the road completely. I got forward with one staff officer, and found General Sumner in a house, where I slept on the floor of a small room, in which was the Prince of Joinville with six or seven other persons. Early the next morning General Sumner, who had the chief command, said he should intrust me with the attack on the right. There was a, considerable delay in giving the order, due, prob- ably, to ignorance of the topography of the country and the position of the enemy. The moment he gave me the order I proceeded to select Hancock's brigade, and went with it a considerable distance to the right and ordered him to attack, which he did in gallant style. As soon as I saw Hancock well at work, I returned to get forward and send into action other portions of my corps. That was a task of difficult performance, owing to the woods and the narrowness of the communications in which the different columns were mingled. There was some hard fighting below Williamsburg, General Hancock. 449 but not much beauty in the battle. General McClellan in a despatch to Mrs. McClellan announces his admiration for the conduct of Hancock, who was one of his favorites. Couch, Peck and others of my corps did excellent ser- vice. While he was in my corps, Hancock's activity, gal- lantry, cheerfulness and freedom from spite and insub- ordination attracted me strongly. After he was trans- ferred I was not near enough to him to note how great success and adulation in and after the war had affected his nature, and I know not his humor now that he has been jolted on the rough ways of politics, and warped and stretched upon a Democratic platform, but it would be impossible to corrupt Hancock. The army halted several days at Williamsburg, and I was quartered in the house of a prominent rebel who had abandoned it to fight against the Union. General Mc- Clellan had issued an order against marauding, and under cover of that order the Provost-Marshal General of the army found occasion to administer to me a most humili- ating experience. The rebel owner of the house had left behind several bottles of wine and brandy. I took for myself one bot- tle of wine and drank it with my friends, and I gave a bottle of the brandy to Colonel John J. Astor, A.D.C. to General McClellan. At the suggestion of my chief Sur- geon Brown and Colonel Suydam, I took several bottles and carried them along for the use of the sick. The liquor was safe with me, for I did not drink brandy, and not one drop of the brandy seized ever touched my lips. On arriving at Roper's Church, two marches from Wil- liamsburg, I received peremptory orders to report in person to the Provost-Marshal General of the army. By him I was questioned concerning the liquor and directed 450 Fifty Years' Observation. to return it in charge of a staff ofHcer to the place from which it was taken. I suppressed all signs of anger, and directed Lieutenant Chetwood, A.D.C., to execute the order without delay. The Provost-Marshal General to whom I, a corps com- mander, was ordered to report in person, was my junior in rank, and the opinions he entertained in regard to the war and its causes were doubtless as little in sympathy with my own as those of any man in either army. I am greatly mistaken if he did not feel happy in the oppor- tunity to insult me grossly in the line of duty. As I have before remarked, it is not my purpose to write a complete history of any part of the war of the rebellion, but to draw attention to actions in which I took part. The battle of Fair Oaks was one of the most san- guinary of the war, and considering the isolation of the combatants due to an unexpected rise of the Chicka- hominy, the Union cause was- in greater danger on the 31st of May, 1862, than at the date of any other battle except Gettysburg. It was called by the Confederates the battle of Seven Pines, and that is its proper designation, because there the principal fighting was done and the greatest losses on both sides sustained. In all the numerous histories that I have seen not one contains a tolerably fair account of the battle of Fair Oaks. In none of the reports of the chiefs engaged on our side except mine are the positions of the brigades of my corps at the beginning of the action stated. Without a clear knowledge of those positions, a hundred persons might read all the reports and all arrive at wrong and dif- ferent conclusions. My corps was on the right bank of the Chickahominy, and considerably in advance on the 31st of May, 1862, Fair Oaks. 451 which was the first day of what is called the battle of Fair Oaks. To that first day alone this description ap- plies. To comprehend the battle let it be understood that the place called Seven Pines is at the junction of the Wil- liamsburg and Nine Mile roads. At that point the reader must fancy himself placed. Looking thence up the Wil- liamsburg road towards Richmond, he will have Casey's redout half a mile from him, on the left of that road and near to it. Casey's division of three brigades of infantry, and certain artillery under Colonel Bailey, forms the first line which extends to the right across to the railroad, which is about a mile off, and to the left to the White Oak swamp, which was, owing to heavy rains, less than a mile distant. Most of Bailey's artillery was in and near the redout, the horses outside. Palmer's brigade is on the left, Wessel's brigade in the centre, and Naglee's brigade on the right of Casey's line, with two regiments across the railroad. In fftnt of Casey's line, at an aver- age distance of a long musket range, were woods and thickets that concealed the enemy, whose approach was down the Williamsburg road and through other openings in the woods. The Nine Mile road starting from Seven Pines to the right slants a little forward to Fair Oaks station, which is one mile distant. To the rear of that road on the right and left of the Williamsburg road Couch's division of three brigades of infantry and West's artillery forms the second line, which was somewhat nearer to Casey's line on the right than on the left where the distance apart was over half a mile. Peck's brigade forms the left of Couch's line, and is all on the left of the Williamsburg road. Devens's brigade is in the centre of Abercrombie's brigade, is on the right of Couch's line, and has two 452 Fifty Years' Observation. regiments across the railroad, where Brady's battery is also stationed. The White Oak swamps, the Williams- burg road and railroad are nearly parallel. When Heint- zelman came up at about 4 P. M. with two brigades of his corps, they went in under General Kearny on the left of the Williamsburg road ; and when Sumner got into action at about 5 P. M., he was on the right of the railroad, and did not, I think, cross it on the 31st. Below Seven Pines I held a reserve of several regiments of Couch's division, which I dispatched successively to strengthen Casey's line at points where I saw they were most needed. I stated in my report that the country was mostly wooded and greatly intersected with marshes, and such was the truth on the day of the battle, and the deep mud is mentioned in some of the reports. It was otherwise in May, 1884, when I found all the ground dry and hard. The position my corps occupied was not of my selection, but was chosen b^ the engineers and ap- proved by General McClellan, who had not visited it in person to my knowledge. The left of my lines was well protected by the White Oak swamps, but the right was on ground so favorable to the approach of the enemy, and so far from the Chickahominy, that, if Johnston had attacked there an hour or two earlier than he did, I could have made but a feeble defence comparatively, and every man of us would have been killed, captured, or driven into the swamps or river before assistance could have reached us. I supposed the attack would come from the right even before the sudden overflow of the Chickahominy. I made many reports to head- quarters of my situation during the thirty-six hours immediately preceding the battle, and was constantly expecting an attack. Fair Oaks. 453 My report is a far better history of the conflict than I could write now, and to its truth in every essential particular I can take oath. I was not positive in stating the exact time at which General Heintzelman arrived on the field with reinforcements, nor that at which the last line of battle was formed by General Heintzelman and me. General McClellan's report states that it was near 5 o'clock P. M. when Heintzelman arrived, but I am convinced that he came up the Williamsburg road, and that when I rode over and spoke with him it was not five minutes before or after 4 o'clock. Jameson's brigade was approaching, and Heintzelman asked me where they were most needed, and I pointed up and to the left of the road, and in that direction Jameson's column passed, while we stood together and got into action fifteen or twenty minutes past 4. The last line was formed after sunset, that is, after 7 o'clock P. M., and it was as late as 7.30 when the battle ended. General Heintzelman ranked me and had been placed in the general command of all the forces on the right bank of the Chickahominy. During the three last hours of the battle, from his arrival on the field, when Casey and his whole line had been overwhelmed with superior numbers and hurled to the rear, we often met and consulted together. He gave me no order, nor did he in the least interfere with my command of my own people, though in the confusion the men of his corps got mixed with mine, and we both gave directions wherever^ we happened to be. We both had all we could do, because all the enemy's forces had got into action, while a very great number of our men had deserted the ranks and left us with a fearful minority against the enemy. The bravery and activity of General Heintzelman were conspicuous throughout, and when a clerk carried my 454 Fifty Years Observation. report to him without my signature, it was sent back with the following note : Brig-Gen' I E. D. Keyes, Commanding /^th Corps. Dear General : — You have omitted to sign your report. Will you please sign and return it by the orderly ? General Heintzelman has ex- pressed himself as much pleased with your report, and is astonished at the accuracy with which you have detailed the events of the day. Yours respectfully, [Signed] C. McKeever, Chief of Staff. The general's own report of the battle repeats his compliments to mine, to the correctness of which there cannot possibly be adduced more direct and positive proof. Many other officers assured me of its truth and fairness, and no man has ever to my knowledge accused me of error or unfairness. General Devens, afterwards Attorney-General of the United States, whose bravery and good conduct in the battle were conspicuous, wrote me that instead of retiring from the field on being wounded near me, he only withdrew a short distance to have his wound bandaged, and then he went into action again. I stated what I saw, and I did not happen to observe him when returned into action. Directly after the battle, instead of an inconsiderable number of enemies who sought to damage me for my strong Northern Republican sentiments, and gather my reputation from slanderous tongues, I found that many persons who had no special reason to dislike me sought to m.isrepresent my conduct or ignore me. Slanders were widely circulated and credited ; one was that I had been superseded in the command of the 4th Corps by General Heintzelman. Under the sting of that and other foul slanders and insinuations, I addressed a note to headquarters, but did not retain a copy. It brought the following response : General Marcy's Letter. 45 5 New Bridge, June 4, 1862. Dear Keyes : — In reply to your letter received this morning, I can say to you that instead of there being any unfavorable impression on the mind of General McClellan, regarding your action on the field of battle of the 31st ultimo, he has informed me that from what he has learned you conducted yourself with great gallantry. He has spoken in terms of censure of the general conduct of the division commanded by General Casey, which has been wanting in that excellent discipline that has characterized the other divisions of the army, but he does not by any means hold you responsible for this. This division was for the most part composed of new regiments, and of course so much could not be expected as from others, yet he has not a doubt but parts of this division may have behaved well. The general has no other desire but to do justice to all, and you may rely upon it that he will not do you the least injustice. His health has not been good, and he is overwhelmed with important business, but he will take the first opportunity to make a report of the 31st and 1st, which will, I think, be perfectly satisfactory to you. Very sincerely your friend, [Signed] R. B. Marcy. p. s. — General Heintzelman was placed in command of your corps in order to have one general command the entire line. In the same way Sumner was placed in command of the whole. This was done without intent to cast any reflection on you, and I am surprised that you should have so regarded it. [Signed] R. B. M. The postscript to General Marcy's letter is very impor- tant. The Chickahominy ran between the two wings of the army, and it was in a military point of view quite proper to designate in orders the ranking officer on the right bank as the commanding general of the whole. In the same way my orders to command the Fourth Corps made me the commander of its divisions and brigades. But the order given to General Heintzelman in this in- stance has been generally employed with apparent malig- nity to my prejudice. It is certain, however, that I com- manded the Fourth Army Corps on the 31st May, and no 45^ Fifty Years' Observation. officer in the battle of Fair Oaks was less interfered with in the exercise of his proper functions than I was. Another false impression has gained a footing. Many persons have been made to believe that there were two fights on the 3 1st May — one fought by Casey's line and one by that of Couch. An officer of rank stated to me that such an inference might originate in my own report, which stated that " after I had sent reinforcements to sustain Casey's line until the numbers were so much re- duced in the second line that no more could be spared," I then proceeded to describe " the operations of the sec- ond line, which received my uninterrupted supervision." It would be as incorrect to say there were two battles on the 31st as to say that every division and brigade had a fight of its own. The veteran Casey in his report makes a statement which favored the mistake. He says he received no re- inforcements in his first line. Now it is probable that none of the regiments I sent to support Casey's line act- ually got quite up to his redoubt, but the 55th New York, the 23d and 6ist Pennsylvania, the 7th Massachusetts, and others under Couch and Abercrombie supported him valiantly. This is shown by my report and the reports of Couch, Peck, Abercrombie, and several colonels. Until Casey's line was broken, and I confess he held it with masterly conduct and bravery, I acted the part of a corps commander by watching operations at a certain distance, though I was not a minute out of the range of the enemy's shot and shells. As soon as Casey's men were obliged to give ground^ to vastly superior numbers, and the contest looked desperate, I drew nigh the com- batants. I was often in the line of file closers, and some- times at the head of columns and batteries, leading them Fair Oaks. 457 to new positions. I conducted the loth Massachusetts seven or eight hundred yards to a new position at the moment when I thought a rout was most imminent. See Byron Porter's report — see also reports of Colonel Adams and of West, Chief of Artillery, and Miller and Peck. West and Miller state in their reports that I placed the artillery in position and continued to direct the firings throughout the action. Owing to mud, water, and thickets, the advance of the enemy was in places obstructed. The passages through which they could approach I took care to guard, and the supports I had sent to Casey were able to make resistance continuous. The enemy had no spaces without defenders to trot over and gain confidence. Perhaps the most fortunate order I gave during the day was to General Couch early in the action to go with two regiments to support the right. He thought he should have had more than two regiments, and I agreed with him, but if I had sent another regiment, I should have been certainly crushed at Seven Pines before dark. In my despatch to General Heintzelman in the beginning of the battle I requested him to send a brigade up the railroad. He ordered Burney's brigade up that way, but General Kearny stopped him, and only a small part of Burney's command got into action late in the day. Couch therefore found himself in a desperate strait ; he was thrust across the railroad, and the enemy cut off his con- nection, and but for the opportune arrival at 5 P.M. of General. E. V. Sumner, who came from the opposite bank of the Chickahominy over an unfinished bridge, the loose planks of which were beginning to float, Couch must have been destroyed, and the rebels would have rolled up the right of our line. Couch's conduct was admirable, and when Sumner joined him the str&ngth of our side in that 45 8 Fifty Years' Observation. quarter was sufficient and proportionately much greater than at Seven Pines. The difficulties of our task on that bloody day may be more easily understood by what General Joseph E. John- ston, the Confederate chief, says in his report of the battle — See Vol. 5, p. 96, Rebellion Record. After describing the rush by which Casey's line was carried, he continues as follows : The operation was repeated with the same gallantry and success, as our troops pursued their victorious career through the enemy's successive camps and entrenchments. At each new position they encountered fresh troops belonging to it, and reinforcements brought up from the rear. Thus they had to repel repeated efforts to retake works which they had carried. It is true we met the enemy and assailed him wherever he showed himself, and General Johnston supposed the various new lines of battle formed under fire were with fresh troops. In that he was mistaken, as all my remain- ing force as well as that brought up by Heintzelman were actually engaged soon after Casey's line gave way. Those movements and the terrible fighting from half-past four till half-past seven o'clock have scarcely been noticed by former historians. They have skipped over them like hares, and omitted all mention of the chiefs of corps in command who directed them. The formation by me of successive lines of battle under fire, as described in my report, though no one has denied the fact, has not, to my knowledge, been recorded in any history. The Count de Villarceau, the one of my aides who (his English being imperfect) was near me longest, wrote and sent off without my dictation or knowledge an article which was published in the Courrier des Etats-Unis of June 21, 1862. The Count describes the dispositions made by me to prevent surprise, and says I mounted my horse soon after Fair Oaks. 45g the first report of the enemy's cannon, referring to the signal guns fired a little before eleven o'clock, while I was speaking to the captured aide-de-camp of General John- ston. He then refers to the charge of the 55th Regiment, New York Volunteers, composed wholly of Frenchmen, and describes fully in his own way what I did to resist the advance of the enemy, and concluded as follows : It is thus that he (Keyes) established in the open fields, which offered no natural defence, four consecutive lines of battle. In the fourth line he dis- mounted and mixed with the soldiers, etc. My report describes the ending of the battle minutely and refers in no flattering terms to the officers and men who left the ranks and field without orders. It cannot be denied that there were recreants from all the regi- ments. General I. N. Palmer, whose brigade was as much exposed as any, after stating that he lost about one-third of his men, accounts for his casualties of all kinds in the following swelling sentences : This is sufficient to induce me to think that while the men did not, per- haps, act like veteran troops, they did as well as could be expected. For the disasters of the day those who placed a small force of the rawest troops in the army in a position where they would of necessity bear the brunt of any attack on the left must bear the blame. I take none to myself. General Casey speaks highly of the conduct of his brigadiers, Naglee, Wessels and Palmer. In connection with my report of the battle of Fair Oaks, I have stated that no man had accused me of un- fairness. For a convincing reason I was made to believe that a son of General Casey thought I had been unjust to his father. To dispose of such a supposition, by whomsoever it may be entertained, I here produce the copy of a letter, the original of which is in my pos- session : 4^0 Fifty Years Observation. Washington, August 25, 1862. Dear General: — You will probably remember that while I was at Poplar Ridge you informed me that you had recommended me for a brevet. Inas- much as it has not come to the knowledge of the President, you would con- fer a great favor by informing me what disposition you made of the recom- mendation, and by enclosing me a copy. It is a sad thought to me. General, that my brothers in arms are unwilling to do me that justice which the enemy are constantly making known. I have felt gratified that you have been dis- posed to do justice in your report. Of all the generals that have commanded divisions in the Army of the Potomac, I have been made an exception. I am resting under severe injustice. If you can say anything to the President in my favor respecting this mat- ter, and will enclose it to me, it shall be remembered. They may have killed me, but I am not buried y^K.. I find that I have friends left. I have been placed on the duty of receiving and reorganizing new troops, and am busily employed. Believe me, truly yours, [Signed] Silas Casey, Brig. Gen. Bt. Maj-Gen. E. D. Keyes, Commanding ^th Corps, Yorktown, or Ft. Monroe, Va. Having failed to discover in any of the printed histories of the Peninsular campaign an account of the services of the 4th corps that was not imperfect, garbled, unfair, or shockingly prejudiced, I addressed a letter to my former chief of staff. Colonel C. C. Suydam, dated December 24, 1877, from which I extract the following: We owe it to the brave men with whom we fought in the Army of the Potomac to establish the truth in regard to their service. To that end let us appeal to the testimony of actual participants, and reject all imaginative speculations. How often does the zeal of partisans, the fashion of a name or the blindness of sectional prejudice determine the deserts of a whole army of men ! Too much of this may be seen in the books already published, whereon many worthy names have been ignored, and others blazoned beyond their merits. From you I expect a transcript of many transcripts from your field books, and an account of things known to you, as the chief of my staff, and of which the public are now ignorant. My letter having been circulated brought many replies, Surgeon Hamilton's Testimony. 461 some of which were of considerable length. I regarded those of Surgeon Hamilton and Colonel Suydam as the most valuable, for the reason that they had the best op- portunities for observation. Colonel Suydam, though not an educated military man, had a special aptness for his duties as a staff officer, and he was vigilant and hardy. I received him as a stranger upon the sole recommendation of Mr. Charles King, late of New York, a noble gentleman, long my friend, whose heart was dedicated to the cause. Surgeon Frank Hamilton, whose works on military surgery are standard, came a stranger to me from General Franklin's division. He was with me four months, and messed with me. Dr. Hamilton acted a while as Medical Inspector of the Army of the Potomac, and enjoyed ample opportunities for observation and comparison. Since be left the army he has written extensively, and one of his works he dedicated to me. He was a consult- ing surgeon with those who attended President Garfield after he was shot by the assassin Guiteau. His probity of character is as remarkable as his skill in his profession, and as his ambition did not clash with mine, I cite his testimony with perfect confidence. Surgeon Hamilton drew a plan in his note-book of the field and stations of the troops, and the defences that had been hastily constructed before the battle, and from entries made at the time he sent me copious extracts, which I will draw upon to illustrate my narrative as required. After referring to my vigilance and endurance, etc., he continues : On the 29th of May General Keyes said before myself and his aides, when we were lying at Seven Pines in a position of great exposure: "Our position is certain to tempt the enemy to attack us, and they will do so as soon as it is fairly understood, and I have so represented it to the com- 462 Fifty Years Observation. manding general repeatedly." He was all that day busy looking after the position of his troops. On the 30th General Keyes repeated a similar remark. On the morning of the 31st young Washington, the aide of General Johnston, was brought to our headquarters as a prisoner. General Keyes, having sent him to the commanding general, immediately ordered his horse, saying, "I'm going to the front. " Captain Oswald Jackson, one of my aides, went with us and has testified in writing to the same fact and time. Hamilton continues : I said to General Keyes, " If you anticipate a battle I had better go to the front with you." We rode to the Nine-Mile road, and turning to the right soon passed General Abercrombie's headquarters. General Abercrombie was in front of his tent when General Keyes said to him, " You had better get your men in position, for I think we are going to be attacked." General Abercrombie replied: " Can I have time to get something to eat?" " No, you had better do it at once." When v/e reached Fair Oaks station. General Keyes called for the colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment and told him to put his men in position and prepare for an attack. I then left him and rode further to the right to look after a building for a temporary hospital. Dr. Hamilton states further that after about one hour and a half he " heard heavy firing of small arms, indicat- ing the commencement of the engagement." He states also that " he attended General Abercrombie professionally previous to his death, and they compared notes and agreed that what I [Hamilton] stated about the General [Keyes] was substantially correct." The foregoing direct evidence of Hamilton, Abercrom- bie, Jackson and Villarceau, with the corroborating testi- mony of Generals Couch, Peck, and others in support of my own assertion of the same facts, I trust will satisfy those who may hereafter write of the battle of Fair Oaks, that I was not surprised, nor tardy in the fight. I shall have occasion to make further references to Surgeon Hamilton's notes. Army Jealousies. 463 The fact is well established that on the 31st of May, 1862, my corps was attacked by, and obliged to contend alone three hours and more, and till the end with only two of Heintzelman's brigades at Seven Pines, against the grand divisions of A. P. Hill, Longstreet, G. W. Smith, and Huger. There I witnessed the heaviest responsibility and hardest task of my life. I executed it better than I hoped, and was satisfied. Furthermore I gained con- firmation to my belief that no man can know who his meanest enemies are until he finds an opportunity to do his best. In attestation of this position I give the follow- ing letter unabridged : [Private. ] Cincinnati, Ohio, July 10, 1862. Major-Ceiieral Keyes. Sir : — Allow me to congratulate you on having partial justice done you and your heroic valor and skill in battle recognized and rewarded by the Administration. I told you all would yet be right. I knew that Secretary Chase virould stand by you, when he once understood thoroughly your merits. To make him fully acquainted with them I did all and more than I promised you I would do. The letter I wrote from your headquarters was copied by Chase's secretary (he informs me), and taken before the Cabinet. T met and refuted charges of incompetency contained in a letter from a person on the staff of one of your brother corps commanders, made against you and sent to Secretary Chase ; but of this fact say nothing until I see you, and I will tell you what a jealous set of men you have in the "Army of the Potomac." Count Villarceau's account of the " Battle of Seven Pines " I had trans- lated by a translator in the Interior Department and made good use of it. I am here with Miss Chase (who was very grateful for your compliments) and am engaged in fixing up some of the Governor's [Chase's] private busi- ness ; shall not return to Washington for two weeks yet. If you have time amid your labors will you please send me some of your autographs on the inclosed cards to Columbus, Ohio; there are several of the leading citizens' families there who would like greatly to have one to put with your cartes de visite in their photographic albums. With great respect, Your friend and obedient servant, [Signed] " Dwight Bannister, /".j^n, i/.^'...^. 4^4 Fifty Years Observation. On the 1st of August, Secretary of the Treasury- Chase wrote me a long letter, in which he referred to various interesting subjects relating to the President, the war, and himself, in such a confidential strain that the en- tire contents of the letter would, I fear, excite controversy. I therefore reproduce but one of its paragraphs, which refers directly to my enemies and me. The letter was written after I had been breveted a Brigadier-General in the regular army. At length your merits have been properiy recognized by the President and the Senate ; though you are doubtless aware that there have not been ■wanting those who would have deprived you of this recognition had it been in their power. 'Besides the letters of the Paymaster, Governor Chase and Senator Harris, I received many others from approv- ing friends, among which were several from ladies — Mrs. Carson, daughter of Mr. Pettigrew, of Charleston, S. C, the great Union patriot, wrote me one which I prized greatly. Nearly all the communications, written and verbal, that reached me disclosed the activity of my enemies of the baser sort. Their confusion could only be imagined by letting a full beam of light into a dungeon filled with bats, owls, toads, snakes, roaches and other reptiles. I took no pains to learn their names. My notice of the battle of Fair Oaks would not be complete without a detail of some of the apparent causes for the numerous incomplete, erroneous and prejudiced histories of it. The reports of the chiefs engaged in it were published in 1875, in Volume V., " Military Reports of the Rebellion." Before 1875 access to all the best sources of information was not easy, and writers generally gave credit to false or prejudiced reports, and to slan- derers who never lag. After several unsuccessful attempts to cull from an The Count de Paris' History. 465 immense mass and arrange documents with intelligent coherence, the task was assigned to Col. Thomas Scott. He is the genius of classiiication, and if I blunder in my citations he will be best able to detect me. He knows more of what was done in the war than the actors them- selves. It has often happened that an officer who was clogged in his own conceits, and strayed from his record, has come to Scott's office to demand correction of what he declares is a gross slander, but to find it a true extract from his own report. To show how an honest author may be deceived, I will invite attention to the errors in the description of the bat- tle of Fair Oaks in the Count of Paris' history of the Civil War in America — see Volume H. I select this example for two reasons — first, because I have a profound respect for the Count, to whom I am indebted for various civilities in France, and second, because I have heard his history referred to as the best that has been written of our Civil War. The excellent qualities of the Count of Paris would entitle him to great distinction if he were of an humble instead of a royal, lineage. He is strikingly correct in his descriptions of other events with which I was familiar ; but his mistakes in regard to the battle of Fair Oaks are so numerous and essential, that they could only have arisen from his reliance upon incompetent authority. The integrity and fairness of his intentions towards me I never thought of questioning. It was remarked in the army that the Orleans Princes, J. J. Astor, Wright, Cutting, Haven, Wadsworth and other sons of affluence were distinguished for subordina- tion to military rank, and for the cheerfulness with which they sustained the hardships of war. The following extracts are from the Count's history : The first works of the Federals, yet unfinished, simple abatis or epaule- 20* 466 Fifty Years' Observation. ments, the profile of which could not protect the men, were occupied by Naglee's brigade. This resisted energetically, and the division artillery di- rected by an old officer of Regulars, Colonel Bailey, made great ravages in the ranks of the assailants. . . . The other two brigades of Casey hastened to the support of Naglee, and in spite of great losses they held good against the Confederates, whose numbers increased unceasingly. The above extract conveys an impression absolutely foreign from the truth, in the most essential particulars. Those first unfinished works of ours (that, is, the chief and the greatest number of artificial defences), where Bailey was killed, were on the right and left of the Wil- liamsburg road, the redoubt being on the left of that road, and fully a mile from the railroad, astride which, on Casey's extreme right, Naglee's brigade was posted at the beginning of the action. The supports of the redoubt were Wessel's and Palmer's brigades, and those brigades, being hotly engaged almost from the beginning of the action, could not and did not go to the assistance of that of Naglee. Washington, D. C, August ^, 1884. Dear General Keyes : — I am in receipt of your letter of the 29th ult. In regard to the statement made by the Count of Paris, in his history of the battle of Fair Oaks, that " the first works of the Federals were occupied by Naglee's brigade," I can only state that Naglee's brigade was one of those comprising Casey's division. When in position at Seven Pines, and when the engagement commenced, I had the left with the 3d Brigade, Wessels the centre with the 2d, and Naglee the right with the 1st. I have never heard before of either of these brigades as occupying the " first works '' on the day of the battles of Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. In reply to your interrogatory, ' ' Did you or any portion of your brigade go to the support of Naglee's brigade ? " I will state T do not recollect of ever receiving any order on that day to go to the support of Naglee or of sending any portion of ray brigade to his support. In reply to your question, " Did any movement made by you in the bat- tle of Fair Oaks have any reference to Naglee's brigade ? " I will state I made on that occasion no movement having any reference to his brigade. In reply to your question, " Did you have anything to do with General Naglee or his orders or his brigade in the battle of Fair Oaks of May 31, The Count de Paris' History, 467 18&2 ? " I reply that I was the senior brigade commander in Casey's division on that day, and as General Casey was present I had nothing to do with General Naglee or his orders. I think, General, that the Count gets things a little mixed in some parts of his history of this battle, and that the information on which some of his statements are based was not always reliable. I remain, General, very truly yours, [Signed] I. N. Palmer. General E. D. Keyes. From the letter of August 8, 1884, written to me by- Brig. H. W. Wessels, commanding Casey's centre brigade, I extract the following — he repeats my question : Question. — Did you have anything to do with General Naglee, or his orders or his brigade in the battle of Fair Oaks ? Answer. — No. Question. — Did any movement made by you in the battle of Fair Oaks have any reference to Naglee's brigade ? Answer. — No. The following is another extract from the Count of Paris' history: Bailey is killed upon the cannon which he has just spiked, and seven pieces remain in the hands of the assailants. It is just 3 o'clock, precisely. At this moment Peck's brigade of Couch's division arrived from Seven Pines led by Keyes, who had been notified a little late of the gravity of the com- bat. It often occurs that the most envenomed slanders are mingled with beneficent truths, and the above extract is an apt example. It is true the gallant Bailey was killed, and the guns in the little fort fell into the hands of the enemy because all the horses had been killed on the out- side of it. But the charge that it was 3 o'clock P.M., at which precise moment I appeared on the field with Peck's brigade, in obedience to a tardy notiiication that a great battle was raging, is an unqualified falsehood. I never suspected the existence of this foul charge till the month 4^8 Fifty Years' Observation. of September, 1880. Eighteen years and upwards had passed, and I had never known, or suspected, that I had been accused of being late at the battle of Fair Oaks. The simple facts of the case are as follows : I had not been off the field where the battle was fought for thirty- six hours, as my tent was close up with Couch's line and within full view and hearing of Casey's redoubt and the centre of his line. On the morning of the battle, that is, of the 31st of May, 1862, in anticipation of an attack, I gave orders to General Couch to advance Peck's brigade, (that is. Peck received the order at 11 o'clock A.M !) and then directly afterwards I mounted my horse at pre- cisely II o'clock A.M., and proceeded to examine my lines from the Williamsburg road to Fair Oaks station, Surgeon Frank Hamilton, chief of my medical staff, and Captain Oswald Jackson, aide de camp, accompanying me, I went as far as the railroad. On my way over / met Colonel Bailey at a considerable distance from his guns, stopped him, told him that there was going to be a fight, and ordered him to proceed quickly and prepare his batteries. I also stopped to converse with, and give orders to, General Abercrombie to prepare for an immediate attack. I gave other orders, but made no changes of position, because none appeared necessary. Neither during the battle, nor since, have I had reason to regret or find fault with the orders I gave or the movements made by the troops of my corps. It appears strange that none of those who sought to destroy me have ever resorted to direct charges of misconduct, but they have been content to misrepre- sent or ignore me and allow my name to fade in silence. My examinations continued about an hour, and I had some time to spare after I had taken up a most favor- able position to observe the whole field, which was about midway between Casey's and Couch's lines, from whence The Count de Paris' History. 469 I saw the columns of the enemy issuing from the woods at about 12:30 M. Surgeon Hamilton, as I before remarked, took notes of the above-described reconnoissance at the time it was made, and to his testimony I refer in support of my present statements, and those contained in my report of the battle. Referring to alleged delays on our side as well as on the side of the enemy, the Prince says : " Notwithstanding their surprise, the Federals had lost a little less time." In regard to the- above charge, I assert that if I had known with certainty that the attack would be made at the moment it was made, I could not have been better prepared than I was, and General Casey emphatically denied that he was surprised. I am constrained to transcribe another passage from the history of the royal Prince which refers to the con- duct of brave men, yet its conclusions, being founded upon wrong premises and gross errors, are monstrously unjust : The Government, always animated by a secret jealousy against General McClellan, seldom communicated to the public the news it received from him ; but after a battle like this silence was impossible, and it caused the first dispatch from the commander-in-chief (McClellan) to be printed. Un- foitunately the latter, deceived by the report of Heintzelman, cast unjust blame upon Casey's division. This dispatch was corrected in Washington, but in a manner to aggravate the pernicious effect of the error it contained. The unmerited^ censure was allowed to remain, while the praise which McClellan awarded to Sumner was suppressed. The general-in-chief soon re-established the truth, and it was known that the army had been saved by the tenacity of Naglee and Bailey, by the order that Kearny had communi- cated to the brigades of Jameson and Berry, and finally by the indomitable energy of the aged Sumner. It must be borne in mind that General McClellan was ill in bed on the opposite side of the Chickahominy on the 31st of May, and he was therefore obliged to judge 47° " Fifty Years' Observation. by reports of the conduct of ofificers engaged. He never consulted me, and I was told that he was much confused by the various statements made to him by individuals. I am ignorant of the circumstances which led to the conclusion that the army was saved in the way and by the officers above referred to, but the justice of that conclu- sion I deny emphatically. Leaving myself apart and my name to be placed where, after a careful examination of all reports in which my name occurs, it properly belongs, I can with confidence assert that it would have been more in accordance with equity and truth to say the army was saved by Casey, Couch and Heintzelman, instead of Naglee, Kearny and Sumner, My personal predilections have nothing to do with this decision. General E. V. Sumner was one of the best instructed line officers in the army. His bravery was beyond dis- pute, and his untiring energy was never more remarkable than when he crossed the Chickahominy and came into action to assist Couch, who was across the railroad, and Abercrombie at 5 P. M. on the 31st. After the junction of those officers they were comparatively stronger to cope with the enemy in front of them than Heintzelman and I were at Seven Pines, where, as the Count of Paris cor- rectly says, the most of the fighting was done on that day. In regard to Philip Kearny, I had been his intimate associate and correspondent for more than twenty years before the war. His bravery and dash were proverbial, and never questioned by any one. He was rich by in- heritance, profuse in his generosity, and polite in society. His occasional rashness in the pursuit of fame, and his lack of reserve when opposed or thwarted in his ambi- tion, were also well understood. He lost an arm in the Mexican War, and was killed in the War of the Rebellion. General Kearny. 471 It seems superfluous, therefore, to impute to General Kearny an exploit which the truth could in any manner qualify. The Count refers to his entry into the battle as follows : At half-past 3 o'clock Kearny, who knew no obstacles, as soon as he heard the sounds of cannon arrived from Seven Pines vifith two brigades (Berry's and Jameson's), and his opportune presence re-established for a moment the combat, i It is true that Kearny came up and got into action fifteen or twenty minutes after 4 o'clock P.M., but he came in obedience to the orders of his corps commander. He was opposed by greatly superior numbers, and in a short time his force and all around him were repulsed and scattered. He remained longer on the field, but he did not at any time cross the Williamsburg road, where so much heavy fighting was done during the last two hours of the battle, nor was he near that road when Heintzelman and I formed the last line of battle across it and repulsed the enemy. The credit given to Kearny by the Count for " know- ing no obstacles as soon as he heard the sounds of can- non," is essentially qualified in this instance by what Surgeon Hamilton wrote in his note-book at the time, and there was not a man in the army more truthful than he. The doctor says that while he was on his way to Sav- age's Station to establish a general field hospital, he " met General Kearny, who was standing, unmounted, not far from his headquarters, and who inquired : ' Doc- tor, have you just come from the front ? ' ' Yes, sir,' I replied. ' How is it going ? ' said the general. ' We are pressed very hard,' I replied, ' but I think we are holding our own.' To which the general answered quickly : ' Why 472 Fifty Years' Observation. don't General Keyes send for me ? I have been waiting an hour.' " In the report of General Birney, to which I invite especial attention, he speaks at length of orders given him by General Kearny, who was his division commander, Kearny appeared to think from the number of runaways that a rout in front was imminent, and he stopped Bir- ney's advance up the railroad. I confess the sight of such a crowd of recreants was alarming, and enough to prevent the knightly Kearny from obeying " the first sounds of cannon." If the truth could be told I have no doubt that among the dastards who deserted their fellows in the fight there are many who are now living who are the most ex- pensive pensioners and greatest boasters living. When Colonel Suydam, my chief of staff, left me and Heintzel- man to carry orders to Birney, we were still in the fight and over a mile away. The words " to the rear," used by Birney, might be understood to mean that we were in a place of personal safety. I now proceed to give my attention to Brigadier Gen- eral Henry M. Naglee, upon whom the Count of Paris has bestowed extraordinary praise, and upon whom he seems to rely extensively. In justice to my own corps, and in my own self-defence, I must pour upon that gen- tleman, his works and disposition, sufficient light to enable the reader to understand him fully. In addition to what I have already quoted from the Count's books, that author in a note at the end of his second or third volume cites Naglee's report to establish the positions of Peck's and Deven's brigades, although they belonged to Couch's division ! Also, upon the same authority of Naglee's report, the author states that the rest of Keyes' corps lost possession of Seven Pines. These facts and references should be kept in mind while reading what General Naglee's Report. 473 follows. It must also be remembered that General Casey and I both made honorable mention of Naglee, and it was more than once hinted to me that he received his full meed of praise, and even more, in proportion, than was given to other officers. I forwarded my report of the battle before I received that of Naglee. He only remained a short time with his brigade, and I did not require a report from him of the operations of the other brigades, the divisions or the corps, nor of his own conduct while in my sight. In reading his report, one might suppose that Naglee, not Casey, commanded the divisions. It might even be inferred that he was the chief of the 4th Corps, although I fail to discover in his florid composition any designation of such an organization, or any mention of my name, although I gave him many verbal orders on the field while I employed him as a staff-officer. The following commentary was enclosed and forwarded to Headquarters with Naglee's report — See No. 98, Mili- tary Reports of the Rebellion, page 294: Headquarters, 4th Corps, 1 Near Seven Pines, y«»^ 20, 1862. ) Sir : — I have the honor to enclose the report of Brigadier General H. M. Naglee, who commanded the First Brigade of Casey's Division in the battle of May 31. His brigade was composed of the 52d and 104th Pennsyl- vania, the nth Maine, and the 56th and looth New York Volunteers. General Naglee's report did not arrive in time to be forwarded with my report of the battle. The paper he has now furnished contains matter which will lead to angry controversies, and ought not, in my opinion, to ap- pear in its present form among the reports of the battle. The objections to General Naglee's report are the following : 1st. It refers to the movements of the 4th Corps, or part of it, for several days prior to and in the battle, and it is not his province to refer to them in his report of the battle further than to give the position of the troops of his own brigade. 2d. General Naglee states that he gave orders to other troops beside his 474 Fifty Years' Observation. own brigade without giving the authority for so doing. To allow such a practice to subordinate commanders without stating reasons to justify it would have a most disorganizing tendency. 3d. General Naglee has referred to a line of battle formed in rear of, and near to, the Nine-Mile road in a manner which seems to convey the impres- sion that the line there formed was about the termination of the battle. It is certain, however, that two other distinct lines of battle stoutly resisted the enemy after the one above referred to. As General Naglee does not refer to his being near the first of ' the last two lines, and as I did not see him there, I infer he was not present. In the last line of battle formed dur- ing the day, and which line stayed the advance of the enemy, I know Gen- eral Naglee was not present. 4th. General Naglee's report conveys the idea, I think, that one division, or one brigade, of the 4th corps did nearly all the fighting on the 31st, and that the other divisions did very little fighting. 5th. Having mentioned General Naglee favorably in my report of the batlle, I respectfully request that the paper now forwarded from him as his report may be returned to me as objectionable for the reasons above stated. I will then require Brigadier General Naglee to report the operations of his own brigade during the battle of May 31. At the same time I would intimate to him that if he desires to describe the operations of the 4th corps, or of General Casey's division, or the conduct of individuals not under his command, or his own conduct generally, there will be no ob- jection to his doing so in a separate paper. I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant, E. D. Keyes, Brig. Gen. Comd'g, dfh Corps. To Brigadier General S. Williams, Adjt. Gen., Army of the Potomac. True copy from original iu the official reports of the Peninsular Campaign. [Signed] Scott, U. S. A. February 14, 1881. In the above commentary I express a doubt of the presence of General Naglee in the line of battle which was next the last that was formed. That doubt was in- creased to a conviction by what he told me afterwards. He said he was over at a Anderson's saw-mill, where he saw General Kearny and another general ofiScer. That saw-mill is the one referred to by General Jameson of Kearny's division. The mill is one mile to the left and General Naglee. 475 rear of Seven Pines towards White Oak swamp, and two miles from Naglee's first position in the battle. At that time the road to it was crooked, muddy and difficult, and probably not another man but General Naglee of Casey's first brigade was within a mile and a half of that mill during the day. After being at the mill Naglee certainly returned to the Williamsburg road, where I saw him under the following well-remembered circumstances. After I had placed the loth Massachusetts in the gap of the last line of battle but one, as mentioned in my re- port, I remained near it enveloped in smoke. The rebels pressed and enfiladed the left of that line so hard, 150 yards from me, that it gave way — the infantry ran, and the artillery limbered up and drove furiously away. See- ing the last piece where the Williamsburg road entered the woods, rode with all speed to rally the fugitives. At least a half-mile from the line I had left, I saw General Naglee in the road walking his horse towards Bottom's bridge. He told me he was entirely exhausted, and I allowed him to continue. He crossed the Chickahominy and passed the night on the opposite side of that stream. I succeeded, with the assistance of my staff, in turning back a large number, with whom and others who had stood fast I formed another, and the last, line of battle on the left in the twilight, while General Heintzelman formed it on the right, and that line repulsed the enemy and ended the fight of the 31st, at Seven Pines. General Naglee was certainly not near that line, and I estimate that he quit the field one hour before I left it. I need say no more concerning Naglee's remarks upon the posi- tions of Peck, Couch and Devens, nor of that stupendous phrase which terminates one of the paragraphs of his report in the following words : "and when at dark the 47^ Fifty Years' Observation, enemy swept all before him, we were the last to leave the field ! " In regard to the movement of the 55th New York, General Peck, to whose brigade that regiment of gallant Frenchmen belonged, has the following: "At I o'clock P.M. (it should have been 2 o'clock) General Keyes, commanding 4th corps, detached the 55th N. Y. Volun- teers under Lieut.-Col. Thourot from my command, and led it into position himself." I did detach that regiment because I saw it was needed by General Casey, not at Naglee's suggestion, and rode at its head three or four hundred yards, and while it filed to the left into the Wil- liamsburg road I ordered Naglee to go on with it to save the guns, etc. See Lieut.-Col. Thourot's report. Naglee refers, in his report, to the 55th as follows : "At half-past 3 P.M. I rode to the rear and I led up the 55th N. Y., Lieutenant-Colonel Thourot." Peck says the time was i, Thourot says 1:30, Naglee 3:30. It was, in fact, about 2 o'clock P.M., certainly not later than 2. The gallant Bailey is unfortunately not alive to thank General Naglee for his congratulations and directions on the field. Bailey was a noble soldier. The last time I saw him was one hour before the battle commenced, when he was on his way to Fair Oaks station. I told him to I'eturn and prepare his batteries for action. For my part I am unable to consider General Naglee's report of the battle of Fair Oaks as a reliable document for its history. General D. N. Couch's report is essentially important. The credit given to Naglee's report, and to its author, by the Count of Paris, if by chance they met, justifies me in speaking further of Naglee and of his pecu- liar traits as an ofificer, his bravery and energy being con- sidered by me unquestionable. In all armies there is a class of men who are at variance The Field Revisited. 477 with their commanding officer. Of that class, so far as my reading and military experience extends, Henry M. Naglee is entitled to stand head. He came to my corps from General Hooker's division, and at his first interview with me he discharged a tirade of maledictions against that officer, which made so slight an impression that, if Hooker had rifled me of my fondest hopes, it would not have occurred to me to allege a word that Naglee had said against him by way of revenge or justification. I am not certain that Naglee was ever under the com- mand of General Sumner, but the following circumstance induces me to suppose he had been subject to that old hero's orders. Not long after the battle of Fair Oaks, several members of Congress came down to the camps. Naglee, being informed of their approach, went down the road and intercepted them. He told me afterwards that he found an opportunity to tell them what had been done, and he trusted he had told them enough to prevent old Sumner from getting a brevet ! Such is the epic poetry of war. Wonder what he said about a brevet for me ? In the month of May, 1884, I was invited by the sur- vivors of the 6ist Pennsylvania Volunteers to accompany them and visit the field of Fair Oaks on its twenty- second anniversary. That brave regiment lost one-third of its number, including its colonel, Rippey, and all its other field and staff officers, and all the captains were killed or disabled down to the 8th captain, O-rr, who assumed command on the field. It was full of heroes, and I gladly accepted the cordial invitation of its survivors, which contained in its reference to me the following words : " Our Corps Commander, to whom is due all the honor of the victory, orders and so-called history notwithstand- ing." On the field I found some difficulty in recognizing its 478 Fifty Years Observation. features. The trees had been cut down in some places, and had grown up in others, and all the mud and stand- ing water had given place to dry, hard ground. An old settler, who was one of General Johnston's guides before and in the battle, assisted me in finding where the rifle pits, abatis and epaulements had been, and after I had pointed out the position of the last lines of battle I called on him and he showed the same positions that I had given. Going over to our right beyond the railroad, I had the help of a man who was in the fight there to study Couch's position when he was cut off, and where Sumner came to extricate him. Looking around upon the favorable approaches there I felt terrified to think of the danger my troops were in twenty-two years ago, and I was ready to exclaim. Why did not Johnston attack us there ? As it was, if I had known then all I know now, I would have said and done exactly the same, in the posi- tion to which my corps was assigned. Subsequent to the termination of the Peninsular cam- paign General Naglee was under my command at York- town, from whence he was detached and placed on duty at Newbern, N. C. Our separation gave rise to the following correspond- ence, in which the writers, in terms succinct, record their mutual military repugnance : Headquarters Naglf.e's Division, i Newbern, June 12, 1863. J General : — I am most happy to advise you that I have been transferred with my brigade into the Department of North Carolina. It may be equally agreeable and satisfactory to you, as it certainly is to myself, to be assured that the separation will be a permanent one. H. M. Naglee. To Maj.-Gen, Erasmus D. Keycs, Commanding, &'c., &'c. General Naglee's Vineyard. 479 Headquarters, 4th Corps, 1 YORKTOWN, June 25, 1863. ) General :— Your letter of the 15th instant has been received. ^ The happiness you express in your announcement of a permanent separa- tion from me is, I assure you, most cordially reciprocated. I will add, with the risk of being thought to exaggerate, that I do not believe anyone of your previous commanding officers was made more happy at parting with you than I was. Very respectfully, etc. , [Signed] E. D. Keyes. BHg. H. M. Naglee, U. S. Volunteers. The scope of this work allows, and my own feelings suggest, an allusion to General Naglee after we had both withdrawn from the strife of war and put off our armor to don the habiliments of peace and utility. Naglee dwells in San Jose, California, where he owns a vineyard and a vast establishment. When he comes to San Francisco we meet and talk in a friendly vein of our affairs, which can in no way ever clash. He, or one of his agents, put into my hand a small pamphlet which de- scribes the virtues of his vinicultural products. It is ac- knowledged that the brandy he distils is the best that is made, and it has been adopted for the use of our army hospitals. While I read Naglee's description of his prod- ucts, I was enlivened by the lucid clearness and beauty of his style, and I arose from its perusal persuaded that all who desire long life and exemption from every known malady will be gratified if they drink freely of Naglee's Brandy. But he will have his own way. He owned a large ranche as tenant in common with my friend McDermott, who is a man of positive convictions. Mac often amused me relating his disputes with Naglee, till one day he told him they had divided their interest. Then I said to him : " In all the business you have had for so many years with 480 Fifty Years' Observation. Naglee about that ranche, did he ever agree with a sug- gestion you made to him ? " " Never." " Thus he spake, and speaking sighed." The part taken by my corps and me in the change of base to the James River, and my service as commander of the rear guard after the battle of Malvern Hill, are de- scribed in my report ; see page 560, Military Reports of the Rebellion. I received my orders from General McCIellan at i o'clock A. M., June 28, to place the great bulk of my corps across White Oak Swamp before daylight of that morning. When I arrived at the swamp at the head of my column the new bridge was not sufifiicently complete to allow the passage of a wheel vehicle. I passed over soon after sunrise and called up a farmer who was a resi- dent of the place, and required him to describe to me, under fine of death, all the roads and paths leading to the James River, as well as those leading to and from Rich- mond. He was intelligent, and gave so clear a descrip- tion that I ordered the first brigades of infantry and the artillery that came over the bridge to advance about four miles to a point near the junction of the Quaker road to the James, and the road to Richmond. Peck and Couch, division commanders, and Palmer's and Wessel's brigades were the first to arrive, and I refer to my report for fur- ther particulars and the names of officers and companies who distinguished themselves in repelling a spirited as- sault of rebel cavalry on the morning of the 29th, which resulted in a loss to the enemy of about eighty and no damage to us. I was close at hand when the assault was made, and while the dismounted prisoners were passing within our The. Change of Base. 481 line General McClellan came up accompanied by the Prince of Joinville. The general seemed pleased with everything he saw, and the tone of confidence and ap- proval In which he addressed me was in absolute contrast with his previous salutations to me during the cam- paign. My corps being in the advance I received orders on the afternoon of the same day to move my whole force to the James River by the line of my own choice, to secure Tur- key bridge, etc. The Quaker road was the one in use, and there was another old abandoned road below it, running nearly parallel and distant from one to two miles. No wheel vehicle had passed over the old road in the last five years, and it was in many places concealed by vines and bushes and much encumbered with fallen trees. Before I had any reason to suppose I should be called on to use that road it had been brought to my attention by Captain Keenan, of Colonel D. McGregg's 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry, but the particular knowledge which decided me to pass over it I derived from the. farmer above re- ferred to. The Count of Paris correctly describes the uncertainty at headquarters until it was learned, as he remarks, that " Keyes had, by chance, discovered" the old road in ques- tion. The discovery was almost of inestimable advan- tage, and over it I made my labored way by the light of lanterns for the choppers and workers, and at sunrise on the 30th I posted a strong force to hold Turkey bridge. The Count says there passed in safety over that old road 400 carriages, 500 ambulances, 350 field-pieces, 50 siege guns, and 2,500 head of beeves. If they had all been crowded upon the Quaker road the embarrassment to the army might have been fatal. 4^2 Fifty Years' Observation. The following is from the notes kept by Dr. Hamilton : He [Keyes] kept his scouts always on the alert, and soon made himself acquainted with all the roads to the James River. This knowledge possessed probably by no other officer of his rank to the same exteft, proved of inestimable value to us on our retreat, which was led by General Keyes's column. All the way across the same untiring vigilance was noticeable, and I was unable to discover when the General ate or slept. The doctor has more to say in regard to my endurance when he fell asleep from weariness, while I went two miles further to post the guard at Turkey bridge. After posting the guard at Turkey bridge, I went on board the war steamer lying off the landing, and break- fasted with Captain John Rodgers. At his table I met, for the first time, the accomplished Lieutenant Samuel R. Franklin, now commodore in charge of the observatory in Washington. From that time till now, Franklin has ranked high among my most esteemed friends. I ate and slept as much as was necessary to keep me fresh, and no march, battle, task, or vigil of the campaign produced on me a feeling of exhaustion. At the end of the seven days' fights I was less fatigued than I felt on arriving at the unfinished bridge over the swamp. At that moment my nervous depression was great, lest the enemy should appear on the opposite bank. At the battle of Malvern Hill I detached Couch's division, and sent it above Turkey bridge, and had directly under my own eye Peck's brigade of infantry, two regiments of cavalry, and thirty-five pieces of artillery. Here my observation enables me to correct the erroneous impressions entertained subsequently by some persons concerning General McClellan's going on a gunboat. Twice during the day General McClellan came to me to direct a change in my line. His second visit was late in the afternoon, and he came to me from the direction The Retreat. 483 of Turkey bridge. He described minutely how the action was progressing, and apprehended that the enemy would probably get around and attack me through the road I had come in upon. I hastened to make the changes required, and the general left me, saying he was going on board the gunboat to instruct navy officers where to direct their shots. After the battle of Malvern Hill, which was fought July I, the army retreated to Harrison's Landing. On the evening of the first I received my orders to command the rear guard. I spent nearly the whole night in making arrangements to destroy Turkey bridge, send- ing two of my aides, Jackson and Gibson, to attend to it. Ordered Captain Clark, 8th Illinois Cavalry, with twenty- five expert axe-men, to chop the largest trees along the road below nearly through, so that within fifteen minutes after the tail of the column passed the bridge was destroyed without blowing up, and the road through the jungle blocked beyond the possible passage of wheels or cavalry, for twenty-four hours, and made difficult for infantry. A strong line of battle facing to the rear, composed of Wessel's brigade of infantry. Miller's and McCarthy's battery, was formed on the hill overlooking Haxall'svast farm. I placed it under the immediate charge of General Peck, — Naglee, with his brigade, and more of West's artillery were further on. Farneworth, 8th Illinois Cavalry, was drawn up in line, and as much of all the force as possible was concealed from the view of the enemy. Cavalry scouts were kept out in all directions, and the greatest possible assistance was rendered me during the day by Gregg's 8th Pennsylvania and Farneworth's 8th Illinois Cavalry. Gregg was a splendid cavalry leader of the Regular Army, whose daring and good service I had 484 Fifty Years' Observation, often witnessed, and Farneworth was a natural born hussar. No man at the head of a regiment of horse could have done more effective duty than he. Naglee had, at his own request, and with my consent, felled numerous trees across a road passing between the river and the main highway, and that I was obliged to reopen, and an immense number of carriages passed over it that could not have escaped otherwise, as, with all our exertions to double and treble the line of vehicles, we had not quite five minutes to spare before the enemy came upon us from the woods at the edge of the large wheat field near our intended camp. During the day I received the following letter from General McClellan's chief of staff : General : I have ordered back all the cavalry that can be raised here (Hamson's Landing). It is of the utmost importance that we should save all our artillery, and as many of our wagons as possible ; and the com- manding general feels the utmost confidence that you will do all that can be done to accomplish this. Permit me to say that if you bring in everything you will accomplish a most signal and meritorious exploit, which the com- manding general will not fail to represent in its proper light to the Depart- ment. Very respectfully, [Signed] R. T. Marcy, Chief of Staff. The despatch from Headquarters sending AveriU's and Farneworth's cavalry to my assistance authorized us, in case of the impossibility of getting up all the wagons, to destroy them, and drive the horses forward. General McClellan came out half a mile to meet me, and was greatly pleased with the entire success of the operations of the rear guard. The following day, not being satisfied with the position of the line established by the engineers for me to guard. The Retreat. 485 I requested the general to inspect it with me. He did so, and approved another line further out of my selection. His agreement with me, and his manner on this occa- sion, caused me to think I had at last v/on his confi- dence. In some of the accounts that I have seen of the retreat to Harrison's Landing my name is not mentioned. In some the command of the rear guard is assigned to, or assumed by, other officers. To establish the truth I have cited reliable documents, the most conclusive of which is the following from General McClellan's report : The greater portion of the transportation of the army having been start- ed for Harrison's Landing during the night of the 30th of June and the 1st of July, the order for the movement of the troops was at once issued upon the final repulse of the enemy at Malvern Hill. The orders prescribed a movement by the left and rear, General Keyes' corps to cover the manoeuvre. It was not carried out in detail as regards the divisions on the left, the roads being somewhat blocked by the rear of our trains. Porter and Couch v/ere not able to move out as early as had been anticipated, and Porter found it necessary to place a rear guard between his command and the enemy. Colonel Averell, of the 3d Pennsylvania Cav- alry, was entrusted with the delicate duty. He had under his command his own regiment and Lieutenant-Colonel Buchanan's brigade of regular infantry and one battery. By a judicious use of the materials at his com- mand, he deceived the enemy so as to cover the withdrawal of the left wing without being attacked, remaining himself on the previous day's battle-field until about seven o'clock of the 2d .of July. Meantime General Keyes, having received his orders, commenced vigorous preparations for covering the movements of the entire army, and protecting the trains. It being evident that the immense number of wagons and artillery pertaining to the army could not move with celerity along a single road. General Keyes took advantage of every accident of the ground to open new avenues, and to facilitate the movement. He made preparations for obstructing the roads after the army had passed so as to prevent any rapid pursuit, destroying effectually Turkey bridge, on the main road, and rendering other roads and approaches temporarily impassable by felling trees across them. He kept the trains well closed up, and directed the march so that the troops could move on each side of the road, not obstructing the passage, but being in good position to repel an attack from any quarter. His dispositions were so 486 Fifty Years Observation. so successful that, to use his own words : " I do not think that more vehicles or more public property were abandoned on the march from Turkey bridge than would have been left, in the same state of the roads, if the army had been moving toward the enemy, instead of away from him," and when it is understood that the carriages and teams of the army, stretched out in one line, would extend not far from forty miles, the energy and caution neces- sarj' for their safe withdrawal from the presence of an enemy vastly superior in numbers will be appreciated. Great credit must be awarded to General Keyes for the skill and energy which characterized his performance of the important and delicate duties entrusted to his charge. Shortly after the army reached Harrison's Landing President Lincoln and certain members of his Cabinet came down to visit us. I went to pay my respects, and before leaving the vicinity of his lodging, he came out and asked me to walk with him. As we were starting an officer of the Quartermaster's Department approached and reported to me that one of the wagons for which he iVas accountable broke down on the retreat and the rebels had captured it. " Did you get a receipt for the wagon ?" said the President. The officer replied in the negative and left. Mr. Lincoln then related a story concerning two ruffians who lived in Sangamon County, Illinois. The story described a receipt and the strange manner of getting it by one of the ruffians. I had never heard from the President a more astounding illustration, nor one that was more laughable. Instantly after telling it he said: "What's to be done with this army?" His ques- tion was so abrupt that I replied : " Take it back to Washington." " What are your reasons ? " In answer to that serious interrogatory, I spoke at length. I said : " Mr. President, this army is in retreat, and it is reasonable to suppose its spirit is not improved, but it is A Talk With the President. 487 certain the rebels feel great exultation at having chased us into these limits. If we could not take Richmond be- fore coming here, what hope is there of taking it with this same army after such an acknowledgment of defeat as you see before you ? It would be folly, in my opinion, to advance again without strong reinforcements, and be- fore such reinforcements could reach us the malaria of the James would damage this army twenty per cent." I then referred to the largeness of the sick list, and the ef- fects I had noticed of the malaria of the swamps of the Chickahominy, etc. I told him, also, that on account of the sickliness of the season and place it would be better to transport the army to Washington for a while, and then bring it back again if this line should be approved. If we remain here much longer, I added, " the rebels may strengthen the defences of Richmond, and despatch an army to occupy Washington before us." I do not know to what extent my statements influenced the President, and at the time of making them I was ig- norant of the plans and intentions of General McClellan. I afterward learned that his opinions were in direct op- position to mine, and as he was overruled, and the army ordered North, it is reasonable to suppose the general was irritated against me. I committed no offence by giving my opinions to our common superior who required them, but I was left behind at Yorktown with a broken portion of my corps, to my inexpressible disappointment and disgust. I remained there a year guarding an exten- sive line on both sides of York River ; sent out frequent expeditions to harass the enemy, one under Kilpatrick, and one to destroy a foundry near Catlet's Station, under Major Carroll Tevis, who on that occasion distinguished himself in a brilliant manner ; was in temporary com- mand of the department when the rebels came down to 488 Fifty Years' Observation. attack Suffolk and Williamsburg simultaneously; visited and consulted with General Peck, who bravely defended Suffolk. Took a subordinate part in another expedition which failed. The want of time and space is my excuse for not entering into particulars concerning my last year's service on the Peninsula. At its beginning my constitution was so perfect that I had no suspicion of any physical dis- ease or weakness, but before many months the emanations from the swamps about Yorktown began to report them- selves in my liver, which was then so much disordered that it has troubled me ever since. Whether it was the free expression of my opinion to the President, at which General McClellan had no right to be offended, or his dislike, or the dislike and slanders of other men, I know not, but there must have been some cause for my aban- donment, which was as fatal to my aspirations and useful- ness in the army as a dismissal would have been. I have not given my impressions at length in this book of General McClellan's capacity to command armies, for the reason that he held me at times in what I considered unmerited disfavor, the remembrance of which might sway my judgment. If I were to estimate his qualifica- tions only from his conduct during the change of base to the James River, I should assign to him a distinguished rank among military leaders. Strong efforts were made by many of my friends to have the balance of my corps and me brought up from Yorktown. Among them were Mr. Secretary Chase and General James Wadsworth, with the latter of whom I had served several months. My enemies pleaded against me in my absence, and would have done so if I had the genius of Napoleon, for I was considered no better than an abolitionist. Mr. Chase wrote me the following note: Secretary Chase's Letter. 489 September i, 1862. My Dear Gen'l : — I lost no time, after becoming infonned of your views, in urging an order to bring up the balance of your corps, and I under- stood yesterday that such an order was issued. The clique is not so strong as formerly. The eyes of the whole coun- try are upon the conduct of its chief. Yours truly, [Signed] S. P. Chase. Maj.-Gen. Keyes. 21* APPENDIX I. The following is from Colonel C. C. Suydam, who was my Chief of Staff : Having had the pleasure and honor of serving on the staff of General Keyes during a portion of the time he commanded the division which covered the rear of Washington from the autumn of i85l to the spring of 1862, and during the whole sixteen months he was in command of the Fourth Corps of the Army of the Potomac, it has seemed to me it might be of interest to the future historian of the war of the Rebellion to indulge in a few reflections and reminiscences of some of the events in the careers of my former compan- ions in arms. As indicated in General Keyes' letter to me of December 24, 1877, I am in possession of many memoranda of events, and my recollection of others, not noted at the time, is still very fresh. Certainly such personal reminiscences, coupled with the official reports of operations, cannot but aid the future writer in compiling a true record. I cannot but feel that in the writing of the day justice has not been done to the services rendered to the cause of the Union by General Keyes and the troops who were so fortunate as to have him for their commander. It was inNovember l86l,thatl reported to General Keyes for duty as aide- de-camp ; and very early in my career on his staff I learned to appreciate his worth as a man and soldier. To a constitution of iron, and an untiring in- dustry, a thorough acquaintance — gained through long training — with all the duties appertaining to his profession, and a finished ability in the perform- ance of those duties, he added, in a marked degree, an intense earnestness and honesty of purpose. To him the war meant something more than the mere gaining of battles, something far higher and nobler than the personal rewards of success. His whole heart was in the cause of suppressing the Rebellion and maintaining the dignity of the Government, and he was cut- spoken in expressing his convictions. These traits of character, and this strong Northern feeling — as it was then called — were so well known that, while in the Executive Mansion he was esteemed and trusted and honored, the controlling authorities of the army during the first two and a half years 492 Appendix I. of the war never gave him the credit to which his services entitled him. Trusted by Mr. Lincoln though he was, many of the President's military ad- visers at the time, who did not yet — and some of whom never did — wage the war with the earnestness which subsequent events showed to be absolutely neces- sary to save the Ufe of the nation, failed to appreciate the whole-souled de- termination which General Keyes threw into all his efforts. They had not yet learned that a Rebel to the constituted authorities meant an open enemy, to be treated as such as though attacking beneath the protection of a foreign flag. Those were the times when the war was conducted, on the part of the so-called Federal leaders — so to speak — with gloves ; when the people of the country passed through were not to be despoiled of their possessions, when their lands were not to be devastated, when their growing crops were not to be molested, but were to be protected and permitted to come to full fruition that they might be garnered and preserved to fill the commissariat of the Southern armies ; when favoritism and adulation of favorites readily took the place of earnest zeal for the common cause, regardless of individual choice ; when the fate of the nation was willingly left hanging undecided in the balance rather than an unpopular commander should gain a victory. And it needed the bitter experience of many a defeat to teach our leaders that peace could be conquered and the nation saved only by applying the most destructive rules of war, and the sharp admonition of a court martial to re- mind the officers of the army of the Potomac that it was their first duty to obey orders, and to render a whole-hearted support to superior authority, whether they admired that authority or did not. In organizing and drilling the untrained troops that came to Washington to do service for the country I believe General Keyes did not have a superior. He felt the necessity of thorough preparation in all the departments to meet the life and death struggle which he knew was certain to come ; he did not believe in any 30 or 60 days' campaign as sufficient to crush the life out of the Rebellion ; fully aware of the fighting qualities of the men of the South, and appreciating their fierce and earnest — if mistaken — determination to seize the reins of government and administer it to their own liking, he knew that only the utmost completeness in all details would enable us to wage an equal fight. And so, while the army lay about Washington, he suffered no moment to pass without improving the condition of his division, and causing both officers and men to be well instructed in the duties which they would be called upon to perform after taking the field. Drills and inspections were frequent, and all the minutiae of camp, and march, and bat- tle-life were so constantly repeated, that when in the spring of 1862 the division took the field under General Couch — who succeeded General Keyes on his promotion to the command of the Fourth Corps — it gave so good an account of itself that it speedily took rank as one of the most reliable divi- Appendix I, 493 sions of the army, a proud eminence which it retained to the end of the war. With his staff the General was equally exacting ; with two exceptions we were all from civil life, with little or no knowledge of military matters, and to the instruction and advice we received from our chief those of us who were without previous experience owe whatever success we achieved. I had entered the army from my lawyer's desk, utterly ignorant of anything apper- taining to the service, and after three months' diligent application had tolerably well familiarized myself with the duties of a first lieutenant of cavalry ; the afternoon of the day after I reported for duty the General remarked to his three aides-de-camp, "Young gentlemen, to-morrow morning I drill the division. Mr. , you will accompany General Couch; Mr. , you will accompany General Peck; Mr. , you will accompany General Graham, and you will all see that my orders are properly executed," We did not pass the evening together, and a subsequent comparison of notes showed that each of us had betaken himself to the privacy of his own quarters and consumed much midnight oil in mastering the intricacies of " grand tactics " as setforth in the last volume of Hardee. Owing to the clearness of the General's voice, the alrea:dy rapid progress of the troops, and the superior qualities of the brig- ade commanders named, we aides had really very little to do, but we were enlightened as to what was to be expected of us, and it was not very long be- fore we were pretty well versed in the requirements of " taclics" and "army regulations.' It is a well-known fact that President Lincoln's designation of officers to command the four corps, into which the Army of the Potomac was divided in the spring of 1862, did not meet with the entire approval of the general commanding, and that efforts were made to change some of those designa- tions after they were made ; those efforts, however, were not successful, and General Keyes assumed command of the Fourth Corps, composed of his own division — in fine condition, and then commanded by General Couch. " Baldy " Smith's division, a splendid body of men, who in the subsequent events of the war made a record second to none ; and Casey's division, this latter composed of the regiments most recently arrived at the capital, but who gave an account of themselves which was recognized by the Southern generals, if not by some of our own. There was no time to consolidate the command and to harmonize its component parts ; the officers and men of the regiments of the different divisions had no opportunity to meet and be- come acquainted with each other, and, although the corps existed as a desig- nated body of men, no time was given to make of it a compact whole before taking the field ; with the rest of the army the troops were hurried to the Peninsula as rapidly as transportation could be furnished, and they first as- sembled as a corps in camp at Newport News. Soon after that active campaigning began, the field life of the soldier set in, the time for organiz- 494 Appendix I. ing and drilling had passed, but the General set to work with his inborn zeal and earnestness to do full service in the position to which he had been appointed by the President. And he was ably assisted by his subordinate officers and the privates of the command. Example, whether for good or evil, is infectious, and in this instance the whole corps willingly followed the lead of their chief in doing their utmost in the service to which they had voluntarily devoted their lives and their honors. In the operations opposite the enemy's strong works on the left of the Yorktown line, the General was ever vigilant and thorough. No great amount of fighting was done ; but so close a hold upon the enemy's lines was established, and so incessant a watchfulness of his movements was had, that when, on that warm Sunday in May, 1862, the evacuation of Yorktown by Magruder was reported, the corps, ever ready for such, or any, emergency, were speedily set in motion in pursuit with their commander at their head. Coming up to their rear guard at 'Williamsburg, the willing troops did noble service, and the Gen- eral gave marked evidence of his decision and activity ; intuitively he seemed to take in the requirements of the occasion, and the quickness with which he executed a movement when its necessity became apparent was something remarkable ; to that rapid perception and speedy execution was in large measure due the solid support given by Peck's brigade of Couch's division to the roughly handled troops of Hooker, and the brilliant success achieved by Hancock's brigade which he led and placed in position, after which he brought up the remainder of the corps and placed them in the fight. After the battle of 'Williamsburg the army proceeded up the Peninsula in as rapid pursuit of the retreating enemy as was permitted by the wretched condition of the roads, and by the necessity of establishing a firm base of supplies for future movements. 'While en route above Williamsburg, Smith's division was detached from the corps and reported to General Franklin, forming with his division and under his command the Provisional Army Corps. 'We regretted losing Smith. He and his men could and did always give good account of themselves ; but I think no one questioned the good judgment of General McClellan in reducing the component parts of the Infantry Army Corps to two divisions, the organization which I believe was retained to the close of the war in the Army of the Potomac. Franklin was an able officer. One incident that occurred in this march up the Peninsula filled with in- dignation the hearts of General Keyes and his staff. 'While resting in the city of Williamsburg for a few days succeeding the battle, we selected for our headquarters the house of a prominent citizen who had fled on the ap- proach of our troops, leaving a negro man-servant in charge. I think it was I, in person, who informed the General that I had learned from the negro servant that there vrere some bottles of brandy in the house we occupied, Appendix I. 495 and suggested to him that, in this emergency, there would be no impropriety in appropriating some of the brandy to be used in case of need. Surgeon Brown, the medical director, recommended it strongly. And so, with the General's permission, I ordered a few bottles of brandy to be taken from the cellar and put in the General's wagon, where it was to remain under Surgeon Brown's orders. At the end of the second day's march from Williamsburg the General was summoned to report in person to the Provost Marshal, An- drew Porter, charged with having violated orders in having despoiled the citizen of Williamsburg, taking away his brandy and appropriating it to his use. Notwithstanding the facts were explained as I have given them, notwithstanding the further fact that Dr. Brown represented in writing that the brandy was required in the unhealthy region through which we were then marching, General Keyes was ordered to send back the brandy under the escort of an aide-de-camp and to restore it to the place whence it had been taken. This order was obeyed, and those bottles, together with all others containing liquor, or wine, or their contents, soon thereafter found their way into the canteens or haversacks of the troops which occupied the city after the main army had gone forward. I do not know whether the movements of all the corps commanders were so closely watched, but I felt at the time, a feeling which is in no sense diminished by the lapse of years, that it was a studied indignity put upon General Keyes by the half-loyal clique who formed a considerable part of General McClellan's staff, and a signal instance of the careful guard kept over the property of the common enemy even to the possible detriment of our own ofBcers and men. At New Kent Court-house, while the bulk of the army kept on up to White House and thence outward towards Richmond on the east, to General Keyes, with his corps, now composed of the divisions of Couch and Casey, 'and accompanied by Gregg's Eighth Pennsylvania cavalry, was assigned the advance by the left towards where the main road and the railroad cross the Chickahominy at and near Bottom's Bridge. This advance was most admi- rably conducted ; the enemy were driven back steadily, and on May 23 the Chickahominy was crossed and positions taken up on its right bank. The Chickahominy is not navigable above Bottom's Bridge, where in the dry season it is an insigni6cant, sluggish stream. In times of freshets and heavy rains it suddenly overflows its banks to the width of half a mile and is not fordable. Meanwhile the base of supplies had been established at White House. The railroad thence to the front was strongly covered and guarded by the infantry and by Stoneman with the cavalry and the corps of Sumner. Franklin and Porter were taking up positions to the right along the left bank of the Chickahominy, with Heintzelman in reserve. And thus it was that this treacherous stream — with the spring freshets then due — was straddled by the army. The 4th Corps continued its advance towards Rich- 49^ Appendix I. mond, and on the 25th day of May Heintzelman's corps also crossed at Bottom's Bridge, and took up positions on the extreme left and rear at White Oak swamp with Hooker's division, while Kearny's division was advanced to supporting distance of Keyes. These two corps were the only troops on the right bank of the stream when the battle of Fair Oaks began on the 31st of May, and at that time the only means of communicating «ith the troops on the left bank was by way of Bottom's Bridge, a distance of ten or twelve miles. There were no practicable fords, and although considerable work had been done in constructing bridges none had been completed during the eight days between the crossing of the corps on the 23d and the engage- ment of the 31st. Meanwhile General Keyes, thoroughly aware of the ex- posed position of his troops, failed not to adopt every means in his power to prepare for the attack which to him seemed imminent. The position he selected for his corps was not the one where the battle of the 31st was fought ; that position he felt to be too far advanced under the conditions of his great separation from the main body of the army, and he so represented to the general of the army ; but his advice was not considered, and, under the immediate directions of, the engineer department the corps was placed in position on the 2gth of May with its left resting on the White Oak swamp, which formed a fair cover to that flank, and its right covering Fair Oak station ; this flank was in air, the country between it and the Chick- ahominy being covered merely by a picket line ; the centre on the Williams- burg road was close to the enemy's lines. Yet, notwithstanding this un- favorable condition of affairs, the general bent his best energies as a true soldier to prepare for the storm which he felt positive was before long to break upon him. Constantly vigilant, he discovered in his direct front the presence of the enemy in great force, and his constantly reiterated reports to army headquarters should have given ample warning of the attack which he knew to be imminent. How anxious were the night watches and the daily expectations in those corps headquarters at " Seven Pines" ! But his advice was all unheeded and disregarded ; as one of McClellan's staff officers said to me, " Keyes thinks the enemy are in his front ; but they are not— they are off to the right up at Meadow Bridge." Certainly it seems a just criticism that General McClellan never expected a serious attack upon his left wing ; else why should he have pushed it so far in advance, and so far removed from the support of the main army ? The official reports on both sides are so full of the preparations for the battle of Fair Oaks and of the events of the battle itself, that I shall not attempt to improve upon them. So far as the Fourth Corps is concerned no one could write so full and clear an account as General Keyes himself has done ; his record is a manual of completeness of detail, and is a monument to his fair treatment of all concerned. Many of the officers engaged remarked its Appendix I. 497 accuracy to me. When the first sounds of battle came from the enemy's hnes General Keyes was thoroughly prepared for the attack and gave all necessary orders to meet it. He anticipated the first onslaught on the right at Fair Oaks Station, the quarter where his experience taught him it would naturally be made ; and, appreciating the vast importance of retaining his hold at this point so long as possible, if help from across the stream should be needed, he strengthened that position by sending there General Couch with a portion of his proved troops to support the first line. He had already sent to request reinforcements there, and subsequently got General Heintzelman to advance Birney's brigade towards the same point by the railroad. And though, from the fact that General Johnston did not strike the right heavily until late in the day, but concentrated his attack upon the left and centre and drove the lines past Couch's left, that officer with the troops immediately under his com- mand was cut off from the remainder of the corps and was unable to render assistance to it when so hard pressed, yet his being where he was enabled him to render immeasurable service when Sedgwick's division came up in the afternoon. His presence checked the advance of Smith's rebel division, and, strengthened by his six regiments, Sumner was enabled to retain firm hold upon Fair Oaks and thus to turn defeat into victory. Who can tell what would have been the result if Couch had not been where he was, but had taken part in the earlier work of the day ? In this, as in every other dis- position of his forces on that eventful day. General Keyes showed the results of a complete and ready judgment ; his efforts to stay the enemy's onward approach were well-nigh superhuman ; he handled his troops with perfect coolness and clear-headedness under the most trying circumstances ; he seemed to be ubiquitous, perceiving with unerring judgment the point of each fresh attack and placing troops in position to meet each, so that the capacity of his comparatively small force to contest the field inch by inch was vastly increased ; and when at the closing hours of that hard day's work the last unbroken line was formed to stop the further advance of the baffled foe, he was on foot among his brave men to cheer and sustain them in that their final and successful effort. Truly the battle was well fought against desperate odds, both of position and numbers — and, notwithstanding the slanders given to the world at the time, the men of the Fourth Corps acquitted themselves as heroes. Their general gave them all credit for their noble efforts ; and they appreciated that for their success they were in large measure indebted to his foresight, judgment, and activity. After Fair Oaks the duties of the corps were comparatively light; it needed recuperation after the terrible exhaustion it had experienced. But on the early morning of June 28 it took the advance of the army in the change of base to the James River. In this movement despatch and secrecy were of the utmost moment, for after his victory of Gaines' Mill Jackson would 49^ Appendix I, come thundering on our rear, and Lee would crowd down on us from the direction of Richmond. With admirable judgment the general, after cross- ing White Oak swamp, advanced the corps to a position which opened the way to a successful completion of the movement of the army contemplated by General McClellan. And here occurred an incident which is so thoroughly illustrative of the intense earnestness of the Southern character during the war that I think it worth recording. The official reports state how Rebel cavalry regiment, commanded by a major, made an unexpected and a. futile attack upon our lines, and how in the attack the major received his death- wound. The whole affair occurred within a very short distance of the general and his staff ; and when we advanced over the road down which the regiment had charged I saw the major lying by the roadside, desperately wounded, and with the pallor of approaching death upon his brow. I rode to him, dismounted, and proffered him aid, but he rejected my offers with maledictions. He wore near his heart, suspended by blue ribbon, a portrait of a lady, which he had managed to Jiave in his hand, and on which he was gazing with fond looks. This seemed to him to be his only desire in the few moments he had to live, and I presume my intended kindly interference was an obtrusion. So I could do nothing but sadly re- mount my horse and ride away, reflecting upon the horrors of war which made such things possible Here, too, the general gave signal evidence of the worth of his services. In moving so vast a body of men, with all their impedimenta, it was of the utmost consequence to discover the roads lead- ing to the James River. One main road down towards Turkey Bridge was known, but it was left to General Keyes to discover another road over which troops could march. By questioning a farmer who had long resided in the country, and threatening him with instant death if he failed to tell the truth, he learned that there was an old abandoned road through the woods in al- most a straight line to the James ; this road, through long disuse, had be- come much choked with fallen trees, but the axes of the pioneers removed these obstructions ; the road was made practicable by the light of lanterns ; and thus the whole corps was enabled to pass over it and hasten to the James River and seize the positions which made possible the success of Malvern Hill. It is certain that no map, nor any other indication of this old road, was received by General Keyes from any of the engineers, report to the contrary notwithstanding. After Malvern it is well known that the army fell back to Harri- son's Landing to recuperate. In that movement, to General Keyes, with Peck's division of his corps and a mixed command of cavalry and ar- tillery, was committed the duty of covering the rear and of saving if possible the immense transportation of the army. How well he performed that duty General McClellan has expressed in his reports, but there are many details Appendix I. 499 of the service which have not been made public. Suffice it to say that never was more zeal or earnestness shown by any one ; advantage was taken of everything that would in* the least degree contribute to a successful carry- ing out of his orders ; no effort that thought could suggest was neglected, and he had the proud satisfaction of receiving from his army commander a full recognition of the services of himself and the troops under his com- mand. It became my duty on the 2d day of July to ride within the entrench- ments at Harrison's Landing and to report to General McClellan from General Keyes that the whole of the transportation of the army was saved, and to receive from him for my chief a message thanking hira for the ser- vice he had rendered. And yet in the subsequent movements of the Army of the Potomac General Keyes' claims were ignored, his corps was disinte- grated ; Couch's division was taken north to participate in the grand con- flicts that" ensued ; Casey's division — now Peck's — was sent to Suffolk. The general was left at Yorktown with a mixed command for a time ; aud in the summer of 1863 the old Fourth Corps was abolished, and the general deprived of a command in the field, which was never afterwards accorded to him. And yet, among the many general olficers who had commands during the war, I know of no one who was more fit to command troops ; no one who so whole-heartedly threw himself into the cause which all pretended to be serving ; no one who could give a better account of himself — no one who did give a better account of himself — in the performance of any duty to which he was called. APPENDIX II. THE BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS. Report of Brigadier-General E. D. Keyes, ^th Corps. Headquarters 4th Corps, June 13, 1862. Sir : The following is my report of the operations of the 4th Corps in the battle of the 31st of May and 1st of June : The 4th Corps being in the advance crossed the Chickahominy at Bot- tom's Bridge the 23d of May, and encamped two miles beyond. Two days later I received orders to advance on the Williamsburg road and take up and fortify the nearest strong position to a fork of roads called the " Seven Pines. " The camp I selected, and which was the next day approved by Major General McClellan, stretches across the Williamsburg road between Bottom's Bridge and the Seven Pines, and is distant about a mile from the latter. I caused that camp to be fortified with rifle-pits and breastworks extending to the left about one thousand yards, and terminating in a crotchet to the rear. Similar works about three hundred yards farther in advance were constructed on the right, extending toward the Richmond and West Point Railroad. Having been ordered by General McClellan to hold the Seven Pines strongly, I designed to throw forward to that neighborhood two brigades of Casey's division, and to establish my picket-line considerably in advance and far to the right. The lines described above are those where the main body of the troops engaged near the Seven Pines spent the night of the 31st after the battle. Examinations having been made by several engineers, I was ordered on the 28th of May to advance Casey's division to a point indi- cated by a large wood-pile and two houses, about three- fourths of a mile beyond the Seven Pines (but which in fact is only half a mile), and to estab- lish Couch's division at the Seven Pines. Accordingly Casey's division bivouacked on the right and left of Williamsburg road and wood-pile, and Couch established his division at the Seven Pines and along the Nine-mile road. Both divisions set to work with the few intrenching tools at hand to slash the forests and to dig a few rifle-pits. Casey erected a small pent- Appendix II. 501 angular redoubt, and placed within it six pieces of artillery. The country is mostly wooded and greatly intersected with marshes. The Nine-mile road branching to the right from the Seven Pines slants forward, and at a distance of a mile crosses the railroad at Fair Oaks. A mile beyond it reaches an open field, where the enemy was seen in line of battle on the 29th and 30th days of May. Casey's picTcets were only about one thousand yards in advance of his line of battle, and I decided, after a personal inspection with him, that they could go no farther, as they were stopped by the enemy in force on the opposite side of an opening at that point. I pushed forward the pickets on the railroad a trifle, and they had been extended by General Naglee to the open field, where the enemy was seen in line of battle, and from thence to the right bank of the Chickahominy. After a thorough examination of my whole position I discovered that on the 30th of May the enemy were, in greater or less force, closed upon the whole circumference of a semicircle described from my headquarters near Seven Pines, with a radius of two miles. A considerable space about the fork of the road at Seven Pines v^as open, cultivated ground, and there was a clear space a short distance in front of Casey's redoubt at the wood-pile. Between the two openings we found a curtain of trees, which were cut dov/n to form an abatis. That line of abatis was continued on a cui-ve to the right and rear and across the Nine- mile road. When the battle commenced Casey's division was in front of the abatis ; Naglee's brigade on the right, having two regiments beyond the railroad ; Palmer's brigade on the left, and Wessell's brigade in the centre. Couch's division was on the right and left of the Williamsburg road, near the forks, and along the Nine-mile road. Peck's brigade was on the left, Devens' brigade in the centre, and Abercrombie's on the right, having two regiments and Brady's battery across the railroad, near Fair Oaks, thus forming two lines of battle. Through all the night of the 30th of May there was raging a storm the like of which I cannot remember. Torrents of rain drenched the earth, the thunderbolts rolled and fell without intermission, and the heavens flashed with a perpetual blaze of lightning. From their beds of mud and the pelt- ings of this storm the 4th Corps rose to fight the battle of the 31st of May, 1862. At about 10 o'clock A.M. it was announced to me that an aide-de-camp of Major-General J. E. Johnston, Confederate States Army, had been capt- ured by our pickets on the edge of the field referred to above, beyond Fair Oaks Station. While speaking with the young gentleman, at the moment of sending him away, a couple of shots fired in front of Casey's headquarters 502 Appendix II. produced in him a very evident emotion. I was perplexed, because having seen the enemy in force on the right when the aide was captured I supposed his chief must be there. Furthermore the country was more open in that direction and the road in front of Casey's position was bad for artillery. I concluded, therefore, in spite of the shots, that if attacked that day the attack would come from the right. Having sent orders for the troops to be under arms precisely at II o'clock A.M. I mounted my horse and rode along the Nine-mile road to Fair Oaks Station. On my way I met Colonel Bailey, chief of artillery of Casey's division, and directed him to proceed and pre- pare his artillery for action. Finding nothing unusual at Fair Oaks, I gave some orders to the troops there, and returned quickly to Seven Pines. The firing was becoming brisk, but there was yet no certainty of a great attack. As a precaution to support Casey's left flank, I ordered General Couch to advance Peck's bri- gade in that direction. This was promptly done, and the 93 d Pennsylvania, Colonel McCarter, was advanced considerably beyond the balance of that brigade. About 12J P.M. it became suddenly apparent that the attack was real and in great force. All my corps was under arms and in position. I sent immediately to General Heintzelman for reinforcements, and requested him to order one brigade up the railroad. My messenger was unaccount- ably delayed, and my dispatch appears not to have reached its destina- tion till much later than it should have done. General Heintzelman arrived on the field at about 4 P.M., and the two brigades of his corps. Berry's and Jameson's, of Kearny's division, which took part in the battle of the 31st, arrived successively, but the exact times of their arrival in the pres- ence of the enemy I am unable to fix with certainty ; and in this report I am not always able to fix times with exactness, but they are nearly exact.' Casey's division, holding the front line, was first seriously attacked at about 12.30 P.M. The 103d Pennsylvania Volunteers, sent forward to sup- port the pickets, broke shortly and retreated, joined by a great many sick. The numbers as they passed down the road as stragglers conveyed an exaggerated idea of surprise and defeat. There was no surprise, how- ever. All the effective men of that division were under arms, and all the batteries were in position, with their horses harnessed (except some belong- ing to the guns in the redoubt) and ready to fight as soon as the enemy's forces came into view. Their numbers were vastly disproportionate to the mighty host which assailed them in front and on both flanks. As remarked above, the picket line being only about one thousand yards in advance of the line of battle, and the country covered with forests, the Confederates, arriving fresh and confident, formed their lines and masses under the shelter of the woods, and burst upon us with great suddenness, and Appendix II. 503 had not our regiments been under arms they would have swept through our lines and routed us completely. As it was, however, Casey's division held its line of battle for more than three hours, and the execution done upon the enemy was shown by the number of rebel dead left upon the field after the enemy had held possession of that part of it for upward of twenty-four hours. During that time it is understood all the means of transport available in Richmond were employed to carry away their dead and wounded. The enemy advancing, as they frequently did, in masses, received the shot and shell of our artillery like veterans, closing up the gaps and moving steadily on to the assault. From my position, in the front of the second line, I could see all the movements of the enemy, but was not always able to discover his numbers, which were more or less concealed by the trees, nor could I accurately define the movements of our regiments and batteries. For the details of the conflict with Casey's line I must refer to his report, and to the reports of Brigadier-Generals Naglee, Palmer, and Wessells, whose activity I had many opportunities to witness. When applied to for them, I sent reinforcements to sustain Casey's line until the numbers were so much reduced in the second line that no more could be spared. I then refused, though applied to for further aid. I shall now proceed to describe the operations of the second line, which received my uninterrupted supervision, composed principally of Couch's division, second line. As the pressure on Casey's division became greater, he applied to me for reinforcements. I continued to send them as long as I had troops to spare. Colonel McCarter, with the 93d Pennsylvania, Peck's brigade, engaged the enemy on the left, and maintained his ground above two hours, until overwhelming numbers forced him to retire, which he did in good order. At about 2 o'clock P.M. I ordered the 55th New York (Colonel De Tro- briand, absent, sick), now in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Thorout, to "save the guns," meaning some of Casey's. The regiment moved up the Williamsburg road at double-quick, conducted by General Naglee, where it beat off the enemy on the point of seizing some guns, and held its position more than an hour. At the end of that time, its ammunition being exhausted, it fell back through the abatis, and after receiving more cartridges the regi- ment again did good service. It lost in the battle nearly one-fourth of its numbers, killed and wounded. At a little past 2 o'clock I ordered Neill's 23d and Rippey's 6lst Pennsylvania regiments to move to the support of Casey's right. Neill attacked the enemy twice with great gallantry. In the first attack the enemy were driven back. In the second attack, and under the immediate command of General Couch, these two regiments assailed a vastly superior force of the enemy, and fought with extraordinary bravery. S04 Appendix II. though compelled at last to retire. They brought in thirty-five prisoners. Both regiments were badly cut up. Colonel Rippey, of the 6lst, and his adjutant were killed. The lieutenant-colonel and major were wounded and are missing. The casualties in the 6ist amount to two hundred and sixty-three, and are heavier than in any other regiment in Couch's division. After this attack the 23d took part in the hard fighting which closed the day near the Seven Pines. The 6ist withdrew in detachments, some of which came again into action near my headquarters. Almost immediately after ordering the 23d and 6lst to support the right, and as soon as they could be reached, I sent the 7th Massachusetts, Colonel Russell, and the 62d New York, Colonel Riker, to reinforce them. The overpowering advance of the enemy obliged those regiments to proceed to Fair Oaks, where they fought under the immediate orders of Generals Couch and Abercrombie. There they joined the 1st U. S. Chasseurs, Colonel Cochrane, previously ordered to that point, and the 31st Pennsylvania, Col Williams, on duty there when the action commenced. The losses in the 62d were not so great as in some of the other regiments ; its conduct was good, and its colonel, Lafayette Riker, whose signal bravery was remarked, met a glorious death while attacking the enemy at the head of his regiment. The 1st U. S. Chasseurs, Colonel Cochrane, fought bravely. By that regi- ment our enemy's standard-bearer was shot down and the battle-flags of the 22d North Carolina Regiment captured. For further particulars of the conduct of the 62d New York and the 1st U. S. Chasseurs, as well as for the account of those two excellent regiments, the 7th Massachusetts and 31st Pennsylvania, Colonels Russell and Wil- liams, I refer to the reports of Generals Couch and Abercrombie. Those regiments, as v/ell as Brady's battery, 1st Pennsylvania Artillery (which is highly praised), were hid from my personal observation during most of the action. They acted in concert with the 2d Corps, by the opportune arrival of which at Fair Oaks in the afternoon, under the brave General E. V. Sumner, the Confederates were brought to a sudden stand in that quarter. They were also present in the action of the following day near Fair Oaks, where, under the same commander, the victory, which had been hardly con- tested the day before, was fully completed by our troops. At the time when the enemy was concentrating troops from the right, left and front upon the redoubt and other works in the front of Casey's head- quarters and near the Williamsburg road, the danger became imminent that he would overcome the resistance there and advance down the road and through the abatis. In anticipation of such an attempt I called Flood's and McCarthy's batteries of Couch's division to form in and on the right and left of the junction of the Williamsburg and Nine-mile roads, placed infantry in all the rifle-pits on the right and left, pushing some up Appendix II. 505 also to the abatis, and collecting a large number of str^glers posted them in the woods on the left. Scarcely had these dispositions been completed when the enemy directly in front, driven by the attack of a portion of Kearny's division on their right, and by our fire upon their front, moved off to join the masses which were pressing upon my right. To make head against the enemy approaching in that direction it was found necessary to effect an almost perpendicular change of front of the troops on the right of the Williamsburg road. By the energetic assistance of Generals Devens and Neglee, Colonel Adams, 1st Long Island, and Captains Walsh and Quackeubush, of the 36th New York, whose efforts I particularly noticed, I was enabled to form a line along the edge of the woods, which stretched nearly down to the swamp, about eight hundred yards from the fork, and along and near to the Nine-mile road. I threw back the right crotchetwise, and on its left Captain Miller, 1st Pennsyl- vania Artillery, Couch's division, trained his guns so as to contest the ad- vance of the enemy. I directed General Naglee to ride along the line, to encourage the men and keep them at work. This line long resisted the progress of the enemy with the greatest firmness and gallantry, but by pressing it very closely with overwhelming numbers, probably ten to one, they were enabled finally to force it to fall back so far upon the left and centre as to form a new line in rear. Shortly after this attack I saw General Devens leave the field wounded. There was then no general officer left in sight belonging to Couch's division. Seeing the torrent of enemies continually advancing I hastened across to the left beyond the fork to bring forward reinforce- ments. Brigadier-General Peck, at the head of the I02d and g3d Penn- sylvania regiments, Colonels Rowley and McCarter, was ordered, with the concurrence of General Heintzelman, to advance across the open space and attack the enemy, now coming forward in great numbers. Those regiments passed through a shower of balls, and formed in a line having an obUque direction to the Nine-mile road. They held their ground for more than half an hour, doing great execution. Peck's and McCarter's horses were shot under them. After contending against enormous odds those two regi- ments were forced to give way, Peck and the I02d crossing the Williams- burg road to the wood, and McCarter and the bulk of the 93d passing to the right, where they took post in the last line of battle, formed mostly after 6 o'clock P. M. During the time last noticed Miller's battery, having taken up a new position, did first-rate service. As soon as Peck had moved forward I hastened to the loth Massachusetts, Colonel Briggs, which regiment I had myself once before moved, now in the rifle-pits on the left of the Williamsburg road, and ordered them to follow me across the field. Colonel Briggs led them on in gallant style. 5o6 Jippenaix ii. moving quickly over an open space of seven or eight hundred yards, under a scorching fire, and forming his men with perfect regularity towards the right of the line last above referred to. The position thus occupied was a most favorable one, being in a wood, without much undergrowth, where the ground sloped somewhat abruptly to the rear. This line was stronger on the right than on the left. Had the loth Massachusetts been two minutes later they would have been too late to occupy that fine position, and it would have been impossible to have formed the next and last line of the battle of the 31st, which stemmed the tide of defeat and turned it toward victory— a victory which was then begun by the 4th Corps and two brigades of Kearny's division of the 3d Corps, and consummated the next day by Sumner and others. And seeing the 10th Massachusetts and the adjoining line well at work under a murderous fire I observed that that portion of the line, one hundred and fifty yards to my left, was crumbling away, some falling and others retiring. I perceived also that the artillery had withdrawn, and that large bodies of broken troops were leaving the centre and moving down the "Wil- liamsburg road to the rear. Assisted by Captaiji Suydam, my assistant adjutant-general. Captain Villarceau, and Lieutenants Jackson and Smith, of my staff, I tried in vain to check the retreating current. Passing through to the opening of our intrenched camps of the 28th ultimo I found General Heintzelman and other officers engaged in rallying the men, and in a very short time a large number were induced to face about. These were pushed forward and joined to others better organized in the woods, and a line was formed stretching across the road in a perpendicular direction. General Heintzelman requested me to advance the line on the left of the road, which I did, until it came within some sixty or seventy yards of the opening in which the battle had been confined for more than two hours, against a vastly superior force. Some of the loth Massachusetts, now under the command of Captain Miller ; the 93d Pennsylvania, under Colonel McCarter, of Peck's brigade ; the 23d Pennsylvania, Colonel Neill, of Aber- crombie's brigade ; a portion of the 3&th New York, Colonel Innis ; a por- tion of the 55th New York, and the 1st Long Island, Colonel Adams ; together with fragments of other regiments of Couch's division, still con- tended on the right of this line, while a number of troops that I did not recognize occupied the space between me and them. As the ground was miry and encumbered with fallen trees I dismounted and mingled with the troops. The first I questioned belonged to Kearny's division. Berry's brigade, Heintzelman's corps ; the next to the 56th New York, now under command of its lieutenant-colonel, and the third be- longed to the 104th Pennsylvania, of Casey's division. I took out my glass to examine a steady, compact line of troops about sixty-five yards in Appendix II. 507 advance, the extent of which, towards our right, I could not discover. The line in front was so quiet that I thought they might possibly be our own troops. The vapors from the swamps, the leaves and the fading light (for it was then after 6 o'clock) rendered it uncertain who they were, so I directed the men to get their aim, but to reserve their fire until I could go up to the left and examine — at the same time saying that they must hold that line or the battle would be lost. They replied with a iirm determination to stand their ground. I had just time to put up my glass and move ten paces towards the left of the line where my horse stood, but while I was in the act of mounting as fierce a fire of musketry was opened as any I had heard during the day. The fire from our side was so deadly that the heavy masses of the enemy com- ing in on the right, which before had been held back for nearly two hours (that being about the time consumed in passing over less than a thousand yards) by about a third part of Couch's division, were now arrested. The last line, formed of portions of Couch's and Casey's divisions and a portion of Kearny's division, checked the advance of the enemy and finally re- pulsed him, and this was the beginning of the victory which on the follow- ing day was so gloriously completed. During the action, and particularly during the two hours immediately preceding the final successful stand made by the infantry, the three Penn- sylvania batteries, under Major Robert M. West (Flood's, McCarthjr's, and Miller's), in Couch's division, performed most efficient service. The conduct of Miller's battery was admirable. Having a central position in the forepart of the action it threw shells over the heads of our own troops, which fell and burst with unusual precision among the enemy's masses, as did also those of the other two batteries ; and later in the day, when the enemy was rushing in upon our right, Miller threw his case and canister among them, doing frightful execution. The death of several officers of high rank and the disability and wounds of others have delayed this report. It has been my design to state nothing as a fact which could not be sub- stantiated. Many things escaped notice by reason of the forests, which con- cealed our own movements as well as the movements of the enemy. From this cause some of the reports of subordinate commanders are not suffi- ciently full. In some cases it is apparent that these subordinate com- manders were not always in the best positions to observe, and this will account for the circumstance that I have mentioned some facts derived from per- sonal observation not found in the reports of my subordinates. The reports of division and brigade commanders I trust will be published with this im- mediately. I ask their publication as an act of simple justice to the 4th Corps, against which many groundless aspersions and incorrect statements have been circulated in the newspapers since the battle. These reports are 5o8 Appendix II. made by men who observed the conflict while under fire, and if they are not in the main true the truth will never be known. In the battle of the 31st of May the casualties on our side (a list of which is enclosed) were heavy, amounting to something like twenty-five per cent, in killed and wounded of the number actually engaged, which did not amount to more than 12,000, the 4th Corps at that date having been much weakened by detachments and other causes. Nearly all who were struck were hit while facing the enemy. The Confederates outnumbered us, during a great part of the conflict, at least four to one, and they were fresh drilled troops, led on and cheered by their best generals and the President of their Republic. They are right when they assert that the Yankees stubbornly contested every foot of ground. Of the nine generals of the 4th Corps who were present on the field, all, with one exception, were wounded or his horse was hit in the battle. A large proportion of all the field oflicers in the action were killed, wounded, or their horses were struck. These facts denote the fierce- ness of the contest and the gallantry of a large majority of the ofilcers. Many officers have been named and commended in this report and in reports of division, brigade, and other commanders, and I will not here recapitu- late further than that I received great assistance from the members of my staff, whose conduct was excellent, though they were necessarily often separated from me. To the energy and skill of Surgeon F. H. Hamilton, the chief of his depart- ment in the 4th Corps, and the assistance he received from his subordinate surgeons, the wounded and sick are indebted 'for all the relief and comfort which it was possible to afford them. I should be glad if the name of every individual who kept his place in the long struggle could be known.* All those deserve praise and reward. * There is no incident of the war which I keep in remembrance with so much de- light as the closing scene of the battle of the 31st of May, 1862. Id the advancing twilight of that long, bloody day, while I walked in the last line that had been so terribly thinned by deaths, disability, and desertions, I strode with the dlite of the brave. The mad surges and tempest of the battle had winnowed out the unworthy. The cowards had fled ; the recreants had slunk to the rear ; those feeble creatures who could be exhausted by an eight or ten hours' struggle, had limped to their repose. All the braggarts, and such as quit the fray early to proclaim their own exploits, and to smear with calumny their associates, had departed;- In their stead were gathered from all the brigades a band of heroes who coalesced by a natural at- traction to achieve a victory and save the Union. I know not how it is that clustered jewels enhance the lustre of one another, but so it was with the men around me. They were all begrimed with mud and sweat, and their visages were " As black as Vulcan's with the smoke of war," and still they were beautiful. Carnal fear had never debased them, and in their pres- ence I felt a charm which I shall remember till death. Appendix II. 509 On the other hand the men who left the ranks and the field, and especially the officers who went away without orders, should be known and held up to scorn. In all the retreating groups I discovered officers, and sometimes the officers were farthest in the rear. What hope can we have of the safety of the country when even a few military officers turn their backs upon the enemy without orders ? Such officers should be discharged and disgraced, and brave men advanced to their places. The task of reformation is not easy, because much true manliness has been suffocated in deluding theories, and the improvement will not be complete until valor is more esteemed, nor until we adopt as a maxim that to decorate a coward with shoulder-straps is to pave the road to a nation's ruin. Respectfully submitted. Brigadier-General S. Williams, Adjt.-Gen. Army of Potomac, E. D. Keyes, Brig.-Gen., Comdg. /\th Corps. INDEX. Abercrombie, General, 462, 468. Adams, Charles Francis, 344. Adams, John Quincy, 46, 115. Adams, Mrs. John Quincy, 115. Agassiz, Professor, 63. Alburtis, Captain William, 155. Alden, Bradford R., 136. Alexander, Lieut. B. L. , 22g. Allen, Col. Robert, 216. Anderson, Captain Robert, 1S8, 367, 373- Andrews, Gen. Geo. P., 116, 223. Andrews, Major, 228. Arrailini, Father, 88. Armistead, General W. IC, 176. Armstrong, Secretary, 105. Arthur, Chester A., 409. Aspinwall, W. H., 349, 350. Astor, John Jacob, 15. Atlsinson, General, 119. Austin, Lieut., 176. Ayers, Lieut., 176, 177, 181. Bailey, Prof., 63. Baker, Edward D., 302, 303. Bancroft, George, 69. Bankhead, Col., 9. Bannister, Dwight, 463. Barnard. Gen. J. G., 445. Barnes, Surgeon-General, 288. Barnes, William H. L., 309, 310. Bayard, Thomas F., 147. Benson, John, 229. Benton, Thomas H., ill, 117, 146- 151, 403- Biddle, Nicholas, III. Birney, General, 472. Black, Jeremiah S., i, 2, 338. Blair, Francis P., 119. Blunt, Joseph, 11. Bomford, Col., III. Boyd, James T., 313. Brady, General, 5, 119. Brady, James T., 301. Bragg, General Braxton, 176-181, 375- Breckinridge, John C, loi. Brooke, Maj. -General, 156. Brougham, Lord, 12, 13. Brown, General,. 106. Brown, Col. Harvey, 351, 385, 400. Brown, Jacob, 115. Bruce, General, 332. Buchanan, Jas., I, 329, 414. Buchanan, J. C, 147. Buckner, Simon, 214. Buell, Don Carlos, 215. Burke, Edmund, lo. Burke, Col. Martin, 176, 177, 182- 187. Burlingarae, Anson, 291. Burnside, A. E., 201. Burr, Aaron, 100, 102. Butler, Benjamin F., 328, 402, 403. Byers, Mr., 96. Caldwell, Sir John, 36, 38, 142. Calhoun, John C, 14, 15, loi, 130, 147. Cameron, Simon, 348, 349, 419. Carlyle, Thomas, 41. Carter, Cadet, 78. Casey, Col. Silas, 254, 260, 451, 456, , 460. Cass, Lewis, 116, 338. Chandler, Zach., 329, 344. Channing, Rev. VVm. Ellery, 46, 47, 138, 139- Charles v., of Spain, 16. Charles XIL of Sweden, 23, 134. Chase, Salmon P., 464, 488, 489. Chase, Col. William, 356. 512 Index. Childs, Thomas, 164. Church, Albert E., ig6. Churchill, Lieut., 176, 177, iSi. Clark, General N. S., 265. Clarke, Caroline M., 32. Clay, Henry, 10, 14, 15, 122, 138, 140, 147. Clinton, De Witt, 113. Cobb, Howell, 338. Coombe, Professor, 33. Cope, Judge, 313. Corey, Jlrs., 7. Corwin, Thomas, 362. Couch, General D. N., 457, 476. Courier, Paul Louis, 327. Cozzens, Mr., 60, 61. Crittenden, John J., 36-38, 341-346. Cullum, George W., 192-194, 202. Dade, Major, 170. Dandy, General, 284. David, 49-52, 125. Davis, Jefferson, 215, 260, 426. Davis, John, 147. Dearborn, Maj.-Gen,, 105. Delafield, Colonel, 121, i8g, 192, 193. Dent, Lieutenant, 266, 279. Derby, George, 198, 201. D'Espinasse, General, 67. Devens, General, 454. Dixon, Senator, 342. Dodge, Colonel, 202. Doubleday, General Abner, 371. Douglass, Stephen A., 329. Duane, Lieutenant, 356, 357. "Duck, Sydney," 292, 295. Duncan, James, 154, 155. Eaton, Mrs., III. Eustis, Colonel, g. Evans, Senator, 36. Everett, Edward, 36, 37. Fairfield, Governor, 36, 107. Felton, John B., 312. Fenwick, Lieut. -Col., 104. Field, Lieutenant, 176, 177, 181. Fish, Hamilton, 349. Floyd, John B., 135, 287, 338, 372. Folsom, Joseph L. , 225. Forsyth, Mr., I2g, 130. Franklin, Samuel R., 482. Fremont, John C, 244, 44° Fry, James B., 201. Gaines, General E. P., II5, "6, 135, 171, 173- Gait, Captain, 51, 52. Gardner, Col. John L., yio. Gates, Gen. William, 176. Gibbs, Alfred, 160. Gibbs, George, 262. Gibson, Lieut. H. G., 202, 228, 236. Gill, Lieut. W. G., 228. Goldsmith, Oliver, 30. Graham, Secretary, 112. Grant, General U. S., 207-222. Grant, Mrs. U. S., 212. Greeley, Horace, 103. Greenough, Mrs., 330. Gregg, Lieut., 269. Grier, William N., 266. Grundy, Felix, 147. Gurowski, Count, 440, 441. Gwin, Dr. William M., 244, 341, 417. Hager, John S., 313. " Haler, Captain," 234, 235. Halleck, General H. W., 80, 168, 214-217, 440. Hamilton, Dr. Frank, 461, 462, 471, 482. Hamlin, Hannibal, 412. Hammond, J. F., 267, 283. Hancock, Gen. W. S., 448, 449. Hardee, Col. W. J., 333, 334. Harney, Surgeon, 171. Harney, Maj.-Gen. W. S., 287-289. Harris, Senator Ira, 442, 445. Harrison, Lieut. James E., 252, 253. Harrison, Wm. Henry, 11, 137-139. Hart, Lieut. W. C. De, 4. Harvey, Sir John, 36, 38, 138, 142. Hawkes, Dr., 6, 44, 46, 77. Heintzelman, General, 453. Heiskell, Dr., no. Henderson, Surgeon, 120. Henry, Patrick. 10. Hewett, Captain, 252, 253. Hill, Jim, 177, 178. Hitchcock, Surgeon C. M., 132, 200, 232. Hodge, Captain, 435. Hodge, Joseph, 304, 305. Index. 513 Hoffman, Ogden, 6, 36, 37, 55, 313, 316, 317- Holt, Secretary, 376, 415. Hooker, Gen. Joseph, 477. Howard, W. D. M., 227. Irving, Washington, 69. Jackson Andrew, 15, 77, 102, 105, 108-122, 141, 146, 150, 191. Jackson, General Stonewall, 198, 20g, 215. Jefferson, Thomas, lOi, 102. Jessup, General, 118. Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 29, 30, 38, 89. Johnson, Albert Sidney, 215, 286, 355,420, 421. Johnston, Joseph E., 215, 216, 222, 458, 459- Jones, General, 3. Jones, George R., 199. Joset, Father, 273, 274. Judd, Col. Henry B., 176, 180. Kanaskat, 257-261. Kautz, Lieut. A. V., 258-261. Kearny, Philip, 470-472. Kemble, Gouvemeur, 36, 68-70, 104, 331, 349. Keyes, Dr. E, L., 297, 355. King, Charles, 6, 33, 36, 46, 125, 461. King, Charles, Mrs., 33. King, Horatio, 338. Kipp, Lieut. L., 267, 284. Kirkham, General R. W., 266, 283. Knowlton, Capt. Miner, 188. Lachaud, M., 299, 301. La Fayette, III. Lamon, Mr., 378. Lane, Harriet, 330. Lane, Joe, 341. Lee, Robert E., 69, 166, 188, 189, 192, 198, 204-221, 317, 318. Legree, Hugh, 5, 117. Lincoln, Abraham, 140, 141, 334- 341. 378-387. 410-438, 486. Lindsay, Col., 9. Longfellow, Henry W., 75. Lyon, Captain E., 359. Lyons, Lord, 332, 333. Macomb, General, 11 5-1 19, 129, 130. Magruder, Prince John, 128. Maloney, Capt. Maurice, 254. Manro, J. P., 291. Marcy, General R. B., 455. Marcy, William L., 36, 37, 147. Martineau, Harriet, 147. Mason, Colonel, 228. Mason, Jeremiah, 36, 37. Mason, Mrs., 115. Mather, General, 360. May, Lieutenant, 224. Mayo, 55. McAllister, Hall, 72, 148, 305-308. McAllister, Julian, 201. McCall, Captain, 171. McClellan, Gen. George B., 197-216, 438-453, 469. 480-488. McCook, General, 88. McDowell, General Irwin, 189, 431- 433- McKee, John, 233. McKibbin, Lieut. David B., 259. McKinstry, Judge, 313. Meigs, Capt. M. C, 389-392. Mendell, Col. Geo. H., 261. Mercer, Lieut. Hugh W. , 3, 6. Merchant, S. L., 245. Michler, Nathaniel, 202. Minie, Captain, 17. Mirabeau, 10. Monroe, James, 125. Morgan, E. D., 407, 408. Morgan, Lieut. M. R., 280, 281. Moses, Chief, 282. Mower, Dr., 5. MuUan, Lieut. John, 266, 283. Munro, Captain Jock, 8. Myers, Gen. A. C., 176, 180. Naglee, Gen. Henry M., 472-479. Napoleon, 65. Nev/castle, Duke of, 332. O'Conor, Charles, 301. Ord, Capt. E. O. C, 263, 268. Otis, Harrison Gray, 36, 37. Owen, Lieut. P. A., 267. Owhi, 280-283. Palmer, Gen. I. N., 459, 467. Palmerston, Lord, 12. 514 Index. Paris, Comte de, 465, 467, 481. Parrott, Mr., 6g, 296. Parsons, Levi, 291, 294. Patrick, M. R,, 409. Paulding, Mr., 69. Peck, General, 476. Peyton, Bailey, 109. Piatt, Don, 435. Pierce, Franklin, 11, 103, 145. Pillow, Gideon J., 153, 159, 214. Poinsett, Mr., 36, 6g, 122, 125-130. Polk, James K., 102, 145-153. Preston, William C, 36, 37, 69, 117, I2g. Priest, Albert, 243. Qualchein, 276-278. Randolph, Senator, 241. Read, J. Meredith, 409. Reynolds, Maj.-Gen. John F., 176- 179. Riall, General, 106. Riley, Colonel, 152. Riley, General, 292. Rosecrans, General W. S., 440. Ross, Edward C., 195. Rousseau, J. J., 71- Rush, Mrs., 115. Sackett, General, 211. Saint Germans, Lord, 332. Savage, Major, 233. Seward, William H., 352, 380-383, 419-424. Schover, Lieut., 169. Scott, Adelaide Camille, 202. Scott, Gen. Winfield, i, 2, 7, 8, 10, 13, 15. 19-24. 31, 34. 38, 46, 48, 59. 65, 77. 92. 98, loo, 107, 120, 129, 137, 139, 158, 162, 183, 188, 202, 206, 218, 318, 324, 327, 332, 334. 339. 341, 361, 378. 383. 3S4. 404-410, 419-425. Scott, Mrs. General, 2g, 51. Sherman, John, 343. Sherman, Maj.-Gen. Thos. W., 176- 180. Sherman, William T., 163, 176, 177, 216, 218, 225, 246, 431, 435. Shriver, Captain, 162. Slaughter, William A., 251-253. Slemmer, Lieut. A. J., 376- Slidell, Senator, 329. Slidell, Mrs., 329. Smith, General C. F., 214. Smith, General Persifer F., 228. Smith, General W. F., 446- Spencer, John C. , 36, 37. Stanton, Edwin M., 411, 412. Stewart, Col. Jasper, 176. Sukely, Surgeon George, 261. Sumner, General E. V., 448, 457, 470. Suydam, Col. C. C, 460, 491. Swartwout, Samuel, 15. Taylor, Dr., 252,253. Taylor, Col. Frank, 288. Taylor, Zachary, 145-157. Terry, General O. H., 436. Tevis, Major Carroll, 487. Thayer, Col. Sylvanus, 69, 190-192. Thomas, George li., i66-i6g, 176- 180, 193. Thompson, Jacob R., 338. Thorn, Col. Herman, 79. Thourot, Lieut.-Col., 476. Tidball, General, 202. Totten, General Joseph G., 6g, 155. Toucey, Isaac, 338. Trowbridge, William P., 202. Twiggs, General, 205. Tyler, General Daniel, 432-436. Upton, General Emory, 434. Van Buren, John, 36, 69, 116. Van Buren, Martin, 36, 37, 69, 105- 108, 121, 129, 137, 138, 145. Van Buren, Dr. W. H., 354. Van Buren, Willie, 355. Van Rensselaer, Lieut-Col., 104, 122. Van Vliet, Maj. -General S., 176, 179. Vinton, Captain John R., 155. Vogdes, General, 375, 377. Wadsworth, General James, 437. Wales, Prince of, 331-334. Ward, Samuel, 70-74. Warner, Rev. Thos., 77-84. Washburne, E. B., 217. Washington, George, 45. Index. 515 Webb, General, 446. Webster, Daniel, 11-15, 36. 37. 147" 149. 247- Wellington, Duke of, 12, 13, 128. Wessels, H. W., 467. White, Lieutenant, 266. Wilkinson, Commander, 102-105. Williams, Rev. Albert, 232. Williams, Roger, 179. Williamson, R. S., 202. Wilson, Samuel, 304, 305. Winder, Captain, 266. Wolseley, General Garnet, 207. Woodbury, Levi, log. Wool, General John E., 123, 184, 250, 251, 431. Worth, General, 123, 135, 153-159, 170, 188. Wright, Col. Geo. H., 266-287, 420, 421. Wright, Silas, 147. Wyse, Lieutenant, 168, 169. Messrs. CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS publish, under the general title of The campaigns of the CIVIL WAR, A Series of volumes, contributed by a number of leading actors in and students of the great conflict of i86i-'6s, with a view to bringing together, for the first time, a full and authoritative military history of the suppression of the Rebellion. The final and exhaustive form of this great narrative, in which every doubt shall be settled and every detail covered, may be a possibility only of the future. But it is a matter for surprise that twenty years after the beginning of the Rebellion, and when a whole generation has grown up needing such knowledge, there is no authority which is at the same time of the highest rank, intelligible and trustworthy, and to which a reader can turn for any general view of the field. The many reports, regimental histories, memoirs, and other materi- als of value for special passages, require, for their intelligent reading, an ability to combine and proportion them which the ordinary reader does not possess. There have been no attempts at general histories which have supplied this satisfactorily to any large part of the public. Undoubtedly there has been no such narrative as would be especially welcome to men of the new generation, and would be valued by a very great class of readers ; — and there has seemed to be great danger that the time would be allowed to pass when it would be possible to give to such a vrork the vividness and accuracy that come from personal recollection. These facts led to the conception of the present work. From every department of the Government, from the officers of the army, and from agreat number of custodians of records and special infor- mation everywhere, both authors and publishers have received every aid that could be asked in this undertaking ; and in announcing the issue of the work the publishers take this occasion to convey the thanks which the authors have had individual opportunities to express elsewhere. The volumes are duodecimos of about 250 pages each, illustrated by maps and plans prepared under the direction of the authors. The price of each volume is $1.00. The following volumes are now ready: I. — The Outbreak of MebelUon. By John G. Nicolay, Esq., Private Secretary to President Lincoln ; late Consul- General to France, etc. A preliminary volume, describing the opening of the war, and covering th» period from the election of Lincoln to the end of the first battle of Bull Run. II.— From Fort Henry to Corinth. By the Hon. M. F. Force, Justice of the Superior Court, Cincinnatti ; late Brigadier-General and Bvt. Maj. Gen'l, U.S.V., commanding First Division, 17th Corps: in 1862, Lieut. Colonel of the 20th Ohio, commanding the regiment at Shiloh ; Treasurer of the Society of the Army of tlie Tennessee. The narrative of events in the West from the Summer of 1861 to May, 1863; lovering the capture of fts. Henry and Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, etc., etc. Ill, — The Peninsula. By Alexander S. Webb, LL.D., President of the College of the City of New York : Assistant Chief of Artillery, Army of the Potomac, 1861-62; Inspector General Fifth Army Corps; General commanding 2d Div., 2d Corps ; Major General Assigned, and Chief of Staff, Array of the Potomac. The history of McClellan^s Peninsula Campaign, from his appointment to tho Mid of the Seven Days' Fight. i V. — The Army tmder Pope, By John C. Ropes, Esq., of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, the Massa- chusetts Historical Society, etc. From the appointment of Pope to command the Army of Virginia, to the appoint- tcent of McClellan to the general command in September, 1862 y,—The Antiefam and Fredericksburg. By Francis WiNTHROP Palfrey, Bvt. Brigadier Gen'l, U.S.V., and form- erly Colonel 20th Mass. Infantry ; Lieut. Col. of the 20th Massachusetts at the Battle of the Antietam; Member of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, of the Massa- chusetts Historical Society, etc. From the appointment of McClellan to the general command, September, 1862, to the end of the battle of Fredericksburg. Fl.—ChancellorsviUe and Gettysburg. By Abner Doubleday, Bvt. Maj. Gen'l, U. S. A., and Maj. Gen'l, U.S.V. ; commanding the First Corps at Gettysburg, etc. From the appointment of Hooker, through the campaigns of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, to the retreat of T.ee after the latter batde. VII. — The Army of tlie Cumberland. By Henry M. Cist, Brevet Brig. Gen'l U.S.V. ; A.A.G. on the staff of Major Gen'l Rosecrans, and aftervi'ards on that of Major Gen'l Thomas ; Corresponding Secretary of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland. From the formation of the Army of the Cumberland to the end of the batdes at Chattanooga, November, 1863. VIII.— The Mississippi. By Francis Vinton Greene, Lieut, of Engineers, U. S. Army ; lale Military Attache to the U. S. Legation in St. Petersburg ; Author of " The Russian Army and its Campaigns in Turkey in 1877-78," and of "Army Life in Russia." _ An account of the operations — especially at Vicksburg and Port Hudson— by which the Mississippi liiver and its shores were restored to the control of the Union. IX, — Atlanta, By the Hon. Jacob D. Cox, Ex-Governor of Ohio ; late Secretary of the Interior of the United States ; Major General U. S.V., commanding Twenty- third Corps durmg the campaigns of Atlanta and the Carolinas, etc., etc. From Sherman's first advance into Georgia in May, 1864, 10 the beginning of the March to the Sea. X.—The SlarcJi to the Sea— Franklin and Nashville. By the Hon. Jacob D. Co.x. From the beginning of the March to^ the Sea to the surrender of Johnston- Including also the operations of Thomas in Tennessee. XI,— The Shenandoah Valley in 1864. The Cam- paign of Sheridan. By George E. Pond, Esq., Asso- ciate Editor of the Army and Navy youinal. XII. — The Virginia Campaign of Hi and '65, Tlte Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James, By Andrew A. Humphreys, Brigadier General and Bvt. Major General, U. S. A. ; late Chief of Engineers; Chief of Stafi', Army of the Potomac, 1S63-64 ; commanding Second Corps, 1864-55, etc., etc. Statistical Record of the Armies of the United States. By Frederick Phisterer, late Captain U. S. A. This Record includes the figures of the quotas and men actually furnished by all States ; a list of all organizations mustered into the U. .S. service; the strength of the army at various periods ; its organization in armies, corps, etc.: the divisions of the country into departments, etc.; chronological list of all engagements, with the losses in each ; tabulated statements of all losses in the war, with the causes of death, etc.; full lists of all general officers, and an immense amount of other valuable statistical matter relating to the War. The complete Set, thirteen volumes, in a box. Price, $12.50 Single volumes, . . . . . . i.co *jt* The above hooks for sale by all booksellers^ or will be sent^ post-jtniil, vfoH receipt o/ J)rice, by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 743 and 745 Broadway, New York. NOW COMPLETE. In three volumes, 12mo, with Maps and Plans. THE Navy in the Clvil War •"pHE WORK OF THE NAVY in the suppression of the Rebellion was J- certainly not less remarkable than that of the Army. The same forces which developed from our volunteers some of the finest bodies of soldiers in military history, were shown quite as wonderfully in the creation of a Navy, which was to cope for the first time with the problems of modern warfare. The facts that the Civil War was the first great conflict in which steam was the motive power of ships ; that it was marked by the introduction of the ironclad ; and that it saw, for the first time, the attempt to blockade such a vast length of hostile coast — will make it an epoch for the techinal student everywhere. But while the Army has been fortunate in tlie number and character of those who have contributed to its written history, the Navy has been com- paratively without annalists. During a recent course of publications on the military operations of the war, the publishers were in constant receipt of letters pointing out this fact, and expressing the wish that a complete naval history of the four years might be written by competent hands. An effort made in this direction resulted in the cordial adoption and carrying out of plans by which Messrs. CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS are enabled to announce the completion of a work of the highest authority and interest, giving the whole narrative of Naval Operations from 1861 to 1865. I. THE BLOCKADE AND THE CRUISERS.— By Pro- fessor J. Russell Soley, U. S. Navy. II. THE ATLANTIC COAST.— By Rear-Admiral Daniel Ammen, U. S. Navy. III. THE GULF AND INLAND WATERS.— By Commander A. T. Mahan, U. S. Navy. Vnlfonn with ** The Campaigns of the Civil War,'^ with niapa and diagrams prejiared under the direction of the Authors. Price per Volume, SI.OO. CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 7d3 & 74:5 Broadway, New York. Cornell University Library E 181.K44 Fifty years' observations of men and eve 3 1924 028 726 176