ON THIS DAY: Tuesday, Jan. 28, 1862

Reversal of Fortune

Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (right), commander of the District of Cairo, returns this morning to his southern Illinois headquarters from a fruitless audience in St. Louis with his immediate superior, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck. Determined to carry the fight to the enemy, Grant wants to lead an assault on Fort Henry, the Confederacy’s gatekeeper on the Tennessee River.

But Grant ran into a stone wall of obstinacy. Not only did Halleck display the extreme cautiousness that would become his hallmark, he met Grant with a lack of enthusiasm akin to McClellan's months earlier. In both cases, Grant’s unjustified reputation as a drunkard may have played a part.

In his Memoirs, Grant would recall of his meeting with Halleck, “I was received with so little cordiality that I perhaps stated the purpose of my visit with less clearness than I might have done, and I had not uttered many sentences before I was cut short as if my plan was preposterous. I returned to Cairo very much crestfallen.”

But in one of the sudden reversals of fortune that will dot the history of the Civil War, Grant gets encouraging news at Cairo: In Washington, President Abraham Lincoln has just issued General War Order No. 1 demanding—not suggesting, as hitherto—that his generals begin moving against the Confederacy. And the force at Cairo is mentioned by name as one of those he expects to get moving.

In the wink of an eye, everything has changed—and Grant knows it. By telegraph, he fires off a terse message to Halleck: “With permission I will take Fort McHenry [Henry] on the Tennessee & hold and establish a large camp there.” Obviously, Grant thinks the shoe is on the other foot now.

Almost simultaneously, Flag Officer Andrew H. Foot, a well-regarded Naval commander attached to Grant’s command, also telegraphs Halleck: “Grant and I are of the opinion that Fort Henry on the Tennessee can be carried with four iron-clad gun-boats and troops….”

Halleck is cornered: Grant is a man with a plan, the esteemed Foote will support it, and the President is demanding action. And so…it will not be long before Grant, until now an obscure Western officer, will suddenly take the spotlight in the Civil War. Stay tuned.

ELSEWHERE IN THE CIVIL WAR: Beginning today, for several days the 1^st Ohio Volunteer Cavalry has been engaged in skirmishing near Greensburg and Lebanon, Kentucky, as it clears the area of Confederate guerrillas. A select and highly trained regiment, the 1^st Ohio will develop an almost legendary reputation during the war. In western Virginia, Capt. Tom Taylor of the 47^th Ohio is so peeved at having received no letters from wife Netta in 20 days that he suggests he might find “nice rebel lasses” and will “need all your matronly care to keep me from temptation.” Netta—whose regular letters have been delayed in the wartime postal system—will be furious when she gets this snarky letter. And at Camp Jefferson in Kentucky, Cpl. Robert Caldwell of the 21^st Ohio sends his sister, Juliet, some samples of hardtack, which he calls “crackers,” to give her friends (“the girls”) at Oberlin, where Juliet is a student. On each of the crackers, Robert has considerately written the name of a girl. Army “crackers” are notoriously hard, but Robert tells Juliet not to worry, as “we are all getting fat on them….This evening, after supper, I intend to place myself outside about a dozen of them.”

IT’S COMING SOONER THAN YOU THINK: April 12, 2011—less than 3½ years from now!—will be the 150^th anniversary of the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1861, April 12 was the day Confederates opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.

Your suggestions, comments, and questions about this blog are always welcome. Address the author: Ohioan@bloodtearsandglory.com

For more information about the author and his newest book, please go to http://www.orangefrazer.com/btg

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 1, 1862

“I…so signally failed”

It is New Year’s Day. From western Virginia, Capt. Tom Taylor of the 47^th Ohio sends his wife, Netta, a picture of himself as a “New Year’s gift.” Also in western Virginia, Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes of the 23^rd Ohio is his usual cheery self, noting the weather was windy and threatening “as if a storm were brewing, but no rain or snow. I set it down as a pleasant day.” In Kentucky, Col. William B. Hazen prepares to take command of a brigade—6 regiments—as well as his own regiment, the 41^st Ohio. Elsewhere, it is business as usual for Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at his headquarters in Cairo, Illinois. He wrestles with problems with army bread, writes an order regarding transport of sick soldiers to and from a hospital, and wonders how to handle with “delicacy” a change of staff in his quartermaster’s department.

And at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Brig. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman is suffering the miseries of the damned as he thinks back to the emotional flame-out in Kentucky which caused him to relinquish command.

I am here in a subordinate place whilst others occupy posts I ought to. I cannot claim them for having so signally failed in Kentucky and here I could not demand a higher place….The idea of having brought disgrace on all associated with me is so horrible to contemplate that I cannot really endure it.

Cump writes this to wife, Ellen (pictured above), in Lancaster, Ohio, to whom he now clings desperately as his emotional anchor…but he does not mention exactly what he means that he “cannot really endure it.” Three days later he tells his brother:

I am so sensible now of my disgrace from having exaggerated the force of our enemy in Kentucky that I do think I should have committed suicide were it not for my children.

How can Cump and his military career be saved?

IT’S COMING SOONER THAN YOU THINK: April 12, 2011—less than 3½ years from now!—will be the 150^th anniversary of the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1861, April 12 was the day Confederates opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.

Your suggestions, comments, and questions about this blog are always welcome. Address the author: Ohioan@bloodtearsandglory.com

For more information about the author and his newest book, please go to http://www.orangefrazer.com/btg

ON THIS DAY: Thursday, Dec. 26, 1861

Too Many Cooks

From Gallipolis, Ohio, where he has paused while traveling with the army paymaster for western Virginia, Capt. Tom Taylor of the 47^th Ohio writes his wife, “Netta,” in Georgetown, Ohio. Yesterday, he tells her, he enjoyed “roast possum and turkey” for Christmas supper. Not so pleasant was the report he passes on to Netta of how bushwhackers in western Virginia murdered two Union couriers. He tells his wife—who had dreaded his going to war—how the bushwhackers had been urged to kill the Union men by a woman who wanted to “dance in their blood.” Why Taylor thought his wife would find this interesting instead of frightening is not known. (Pictured: a bushwhacker or guerrilla fighter drawn by Thomas Nast.)

At Camp Union in Fayetteville, western Virginia, Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes writes in his diary about Colonel Scammon’s plans. Scammon, commander of the 23^rd Ohio, has come up with the idea of sending an expedition nearly 70 miles over muddy roads to surprise and capture an enemy camp of 600 sick men guarded by about a hundred Confederate soldiers. Already thinking like a tactician, the unblooded Hayes has his doubts about Scammon: “He does not seem willing to look the difficulties in the face, and to prepare to meet them.” Another problem: despite the prevailing Unionist sentiment in western Virginia, there are still plenty of Confederate sympathizers lurking in the hills and valleys, so n“surprising” the enemy will be quite a trick indeed.

From Cairo, Illinois, Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, (commander of the District of Southeast Missouri, now called the Department of Cairo) writes Brig. Gen. Don Carlos Buell in Louisville, Kentucky (commander of the Department of the Ohio), describing the boundaries of his own command and asking for a clarification of Buell’s.

Grant commands the military in southern Illinois, southeastern Missouri, and Kentucky west of the Cumberland River, while Buell is responsible for the territory east of the Cumberland. The division of the Western Theater into multiple commands will cause problems until a single commander is put in charge of it all--a clear case of "too many cooks spoiling the broth." Remedying this will not happen any time soon.

Your suggestions, comments, and questions about this blog are always welcome. Address the author: Ohioan@bloodtearsandglory.com

For more information about the author’s book, go to http://www.orangefrazer.com/btg

ON THIS DAY: Thursday, Dec. 12, 1861

“Who’s Insane?”

Fuming over a Cincinnati newspaper story headlined “General William T. Sherman Insane,” Cump spends the day writing two letters. One is addressed to his influential father-in-law, Sen. Thomas Ewing in Washington, and is a detailed defense of his behavior.

“In these times tis hard to say who are sane and who insane,” Cump admits, but goes on to explain why he raised alarms in Kentucky and Missouri. In Kentucky, Sherman tells Ewing, “I knew of the impatience of the country for results, but to expect us…with troops many which were unarmed to assume the offensive whilst a well organized army lay at Washington was unfair,” he writes, referring to Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s mostly inert Army of the Potomac. In Missouri, Cump says, he became alarmed when he found Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck’s troops poorly positioned, and so he re-positioned them.

Sherman also writes General Halleck in St. Louis to ask if the actions the Ohioan had taken in Missouri strike Halleck as “evidence of a want of mind.”

Although Sherman’s apprehensions about Kentucky will not be fulfilled, his reasoning about the state’s exposure to attack and its defensive needs seem persuasive. (And he certainly is right that McClellan’s army “lay at Washington” unused.) In a few days, Halleck--an old friend of Sherman--will reply favorably. And Cump’s wife, Ellen, and other members of his family will rally to his defense in the days to come.

>>> If Sherman’s problem is too much press attention, another Ohioan is complaining of just the opposite. Stuck in winter quarters in western Virginia and seeing no action worthy of press attention, a frustrated Capt. Tom Taylor of the 47^th Ohio writes wife Netta a letter filled with sarcasm:

We have an accomplished German artist in our regiment whom we have excused from all duty in order to embalm our…march through this state in picture. Other regiments are extolled by reporters. Our artist and his pictures will extol us in the future…when the poor newspaper is passed away…. Won’t it be glorious?

Your suggestions, comments, and questions are always welcome. Address the author: Ohioan@bloodtearsandglory.com

For more information about the author’s book, go to http://www.orangefrazer.com/btg

ON THIS DAY: Thursday, Dec. 5, 1861

“This Infernal Region”

Capt. Tom Taylor of the 47^th Ohio, an ambitious young lawyer and sometime newspaper editor, is returning from leave at home in Georgetown, Ohio. Like many other Ohioans, Taylor dislikes western Virginia. He grumbles about “this infernal region” as he reluctantly sets out on foot for his regiment's winter quarters at Cross Lanes and Gauley Bridge.

Today, however, he is blocked because the “road is almost impassable for foot travelers being 18 inches to one foot in depth in mud.” For the night, he is forced to take shelter at the home of a man he knows and doesn’t like, his camp’s sutler. The countryside is ugly as well, with “great destruction and loss…apparent on every side.” Taylor is carrying a revolver he purchased for protection against Confederate guerillas.

It is a dangerous and difficult journey, but Taylor will reach his regiment, which is manning an outpost 2 ½ miles from Gauley Bridge. By letter, he assures wife Netta that “we…are well provided with defenses,” including ten field pieces. The men also “have Sibley tents and good stoves.”

But it will be a long, hard winter.

>>> The secretaries of war and the navy report nearly 683,000 men are enrolled in the Federal military forces…most of them volunteer “citizen-soldiers.” This is an astonishing increase in armed strength from the eve of war less than eight months ago, when the regular army, the nation's only effective military force, enrolled scarcely 16,000 men—not all of them on active duty.

Your suggestions, comments, and questions are always welcome. Address the author: Ohioan@bloodtearsandglory.com

For more information about the author’s book, go to http://www.orangefrazer.com/btg

ON THIS DAY: Monday, Oct. 14, 1861

After his men from the 47th Ohio, based in western Virginia, surround the house of a Confederate ally named Nutter, Capt. Tom Taylor enters Nutter’s home in the early morning hours and finds him hiding under a bed. Taylor orders him out—“the wildest looking man I ever saw and all from fright”—and turns him over to the soldiers, who bind his hands. The Ohioans move on, arriving outside the home of the reputed chief of the rebel scouts, Capt. John T. Amick, a man notorious for his depradations aginst Union forces. When Amick attempts to flee, Taylor fires and seriously wounds the Confederate in the back. Taylor has Amick returned to his home, bandaged, and left there, probably to die from his wounds. Still behind enemy lines, Taylor’s men push on, search a number of houses and capture one “secesh.” Tomorrow, Captain Taylor and his men will return to the 47th Ohio’s camp, where they will receive the congratulations of their fellows.

ON THIS DAY: Sunday, Oct. 13, 1861

In western Virginia, the adventure-hungry Capt. Tom Taylor of the 47th Ohio sets out to strike back at bushwhackers plaguing Union forces while Confederate regulars lie low. Armed with rifle, revolver, and bowie knife, Taylor leads a force of 15 soldiers, plus a lieutenant and two local guides. Taylor’s expedition leaves in the morning and by midnight is approaching the house of a notorious Confederate civilian guide named Nutter. Beginning with Nutter, Taylor will lead his little force on two days of marauding behind enemy lines. By the 16th he can sit down in camp and write wife Netta about what happened.

ON THIS DAY: Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2007

Anxious to see some action, Capt. Tom Taylor of the 47th Ohio has gratefully taken up leadership of “nocturnal scouts” in the wild countryside of the Kanawha region of western Virginia. These dangerous missions are aimed at discouraging Rebel guerillas, known as “bushwhackers.” Taylor’s men take prisoners and confiscate horses and livestock. A proud Taylor writes wife “Netta” in Ohio that, “I am quite famous on the scout with this portion of the regiment.” A worried Netta is, no doubt, less than pleased.

ON THIS DAY: Thursday, Sept. 26, 1861

Capt. Tom Taylor and four companies of the 47th Ohio finally reach Cross Lanes, in western Virginia, where they rejoin six other companies of the regiment. Taylor and the four companies have endured a march of nearly a hundred miles on a hilly, muddy trail that barely qualifies as a road. A month ago, Taylor had been wearing a fine dress uniform with a plumed hat. The elegance is gone. Now he wears “a blue blouse, two grey flannel shirts, coarse heavy blue pants,” and is barefoot, the better to deal with rain and mud.

ON THIS DAY: Monday, Sept. 23, 1861

Four companies of the 47^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, a regiment formed in southern Ohio, are moving southwesterly through western Virginia [later to become West Virginia]. They are marching from Weston to Cross Lanes, where they will join the other six companies of their regiment. The men must endure a hard march of nearly a hundred miles in mountainous terrain, slogging along a primitive, muddy road, up hill and down. The marchers include an ambitious young captain named Tom Taylor. Prosecuting attorney for Brown County, Ohio, Taylor (like many other new soldiers) hankers for a battle—but for the moment, can do no more than trudge through the mud.