From Chattanooga to Petersburg under Generals Grant and Butler. A contribution to the history of the War, and a personal vindication ... With maps, etc

Front matter

FROM CHATTANOOGA TO PETERSBURG UNDER GENERALS GRANT AND BUTLER A CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF THE WAR, AND A PERSONAL VINDICA TION BY WILLIAM FARRAR SMITH BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL, U. S. ARMY, AND LATE MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS WITH MAPS AND PLANS BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 0Lbt tBroergitie press, Æambri&Be i893 Copyright, 1893, Br WILLIAM FARRAR SMITH. AU rights reserved. The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. Eleotrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. NOTE. Since the preface was written and the book put in type the death of General Butler has been announced. The compilation of the volume has progressed with diligence since it was begun, and its beginning was as early as the publication of the " Official Records," upon which it depended, would allow.

Preface

. Although the purpose of this volume is personal, it is hoped that it possesses sufficient historical interest to be on that account worthy of publication. For thirty years I have quietly lived under gross misrepresentation of my military record, with a feeling of confidence that some seeker after truth, for historical purposes, would even tually discover the facts and do me justice. A recent publication by General Butler, com ing out as it did only a short time before the volumes of the " Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies," which covered the events of the campaign in 1864, determined me to place before the public my military history in that campaign, drawn from the pages of the " Records." In the work of collecting material and placing the evidence in logical form, I have been greatly aided by Mr. George Otis Shattuck and Mr. vi

PREFACE.

. John Codman Ropes, of Boston, who in the midst of then busy lives have come voluntarily to my assistance. To them are due my grateful acknowledgments. WILLIAM FARRAR SMITH. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Generals Grant and Halleck on General Butler. — His REMOVAL FROM THE COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE JAMES, AND MY APPOINTMENT TO IT BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN. — My removal, and the restoration of general butler by General Grant 1

Chapter VIII

Proof from the " War Records " that General Butler's statements with reference to me in his book are false 140 Roster of the Army of the James 172 Appendix No. 1. General Smith to Senator Foote . .174 Appendix No. 2. General Rawlins to General Grant . 179 Appendix No. 3. Correspondence between General Butler and Generals Gillmore and Smith .... 181 Appendix No. 4. Assistant Secretary Dana to Secretary Stanton 184 Appendix No. 5. Correspondence between General Butler and General Smith 186 Appendix No. 6. Letter of Lieutenant-Colonel Mordecai 189 Appendix No. 7. Letter of General Hincks . . . 190 Appendix No. 8. Letter of General Wistar . . . 191 Index . 195 Note. — In the pocket at the end of this volume will he found four maps and plans, showing the country covered hy the Army of the James from May 5, 1864, to June 15, 1864, and the enemy's works in front of Petersburg. FROM CHATTANOOGA TO PETERSBURG.

Chapter I. Generals Grant And Halleck On General Butler

HIS REMOVAi FROM THE COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE JAMES, AND MY APPOINTMENT TO IT BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN. MY REMOVAL, AND THE RESTORATION OP GENERAL BUTLER BY GENERAL GRANT. On the 1st of July, 1864, the survivors of the splendid Army of the Potomac, which had crossed the Rapidan on the 4th of May, were in front of Petersburg. The army was anxiously waiting to be recruited for another effort, and it had appealed to the inexhaustible patriotism of the North for another half million of men. The Army of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, under Major-General Benjamin F. Butler, called the Army of the James, had ut terly failed in a campaign against Richmond, on the south side of the James River. This army, consisting of the 10th and 18th Corps, had, after a loss of several thousand men, been cooped up by a small force of the enemy, which had built a short line of breastworks between the James and Appomattox rivers.

A part of the Army of the James, under my command, was with the Army of the Potomac in front of Petersburg, and a part in Bermuda Hundred was idly watching the intrenchments of the enemy in their front. On that day General Grant wrote a letter to General Halleck, chief of staff of President Lincoln, in which he described General Butler as a very able administrative offi cer, but unfit for command in the field, and sug gested that a new department should be formed in the West, " where there were no great battles to be fought, but a dissatisfied element to con trol," and that General Butler should be assigned to its command. In the same letter he described me as " really one of the most efficient officers in the service, readiest in expedients, and most skillful in the management of troops in action." ' On the 3d of July, General Halleck wrote to General Grant the following reply : — Headquarters of the Army, Washington, July 3, 1864.

Lieut.-Gen. U. S. Grant, City Point, Va. : General, — Your note of the 1st instant in relation to General Butler is just received. I will, as you propose, await further advices from you before I submit the matter officially to the Secretary of War and the President. It was 1 This letter is inserted in full on pp. 29, 30. foreseen from the first that you would eventually find it necessary to relieve General B. on account of his total unfitness to command in the field, and his generally quarrelsome character. What shall be done with him has, therefore, already been, as I am informed, a matter of consultation. To send him to Kentucky would probably cause an insurrection in that State and an im mediate call for large reinforcements. Moreover, he would probably greatly embarrass Sherman, if he did not attempt to supersede him, by using against him all his talent at political intrigue, and his facilities for newspaper abuse.

If you send him to Missouri, nearly the samething will occur there. Although it might not be objectionable to have a free fight between him and Rosecrans, the Government would be seriously embarrassed by the local difficulties and calls for reinforcements likely to follow. Inveterate as is Rosecrans' habit of continually calling for more troops, Butler differs only in demanding instead of calling. As things now stand in the West, I think we can keep the peace, but if Butler be thrown in as a disturbing element, I anticipate very serious results. Why not leave General Butler in the local command of his department, including North Carolina, Norfolk, Fort Monroe, Yorktown, &c, and make a new army corps of the part of the Eighteenth under Smith ? This would leave B. under your immediate control, and at the same time would relieve you of his presence in the field.

Moreover, it would save the necessity of organizing a new department. If he must be relieved entirely, I think it would be best to make a new department for him in New England. I make these remarks merely as suggestions. Whatever you may finally deter mine on I will try to have done. As General B. claims to rank me, I shall give him no orders wherever he may go, without the special direc tion of yourself or the Secretary of War. Yours truly, H. W. Halleck, Major-General.1 On the- 6th of July, in reply to this, General Grant sent to General Halleck the following : — Headquarters, City Point, July 6, 1864, 10 a. m. Major-General Halleck, Chief of Staff : Please obtain an order assigning the troops of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina serving in the field to the command of Maj.-Gen. W. F. Smith,2 and order Major-General Butler, commanding department, to his headquarters, Fortress Monroe. . . .

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General.3 On the 7th of July, with the approval of 1 War Records, vol. 81, p. 598. 2 This would have given me the command of the Army of the James. 8 War Records, vol. 82, p. 31. President Lincoln, General Order No. 225 was issued in the following; terms : — ' " The troops of the Department of North Car olina and Virginia serving with the Army of the Potomac in the field under Major-General Smith will constitute the Eighteenth Army Corps, and Maj.-Gen. William F. Smith is assigned to the command of the corps. Maj.-Gen. B. F. Butler will command the remainder of the troops in that department, having his headquarters at Fort Monroe." During the period covered by this correspon dence I was in the intrenchments at Petersburg. On the 10th of July, I left for New York on leave of absence, given by General Grant, for the benefit of my health.

On my return, on the 19th of July, I learned from him that Order No. 225 had been suspended by him, that General Butler had been restored to the full command of his department, which was enlarged by the ad dition of the 19th Corps, and that I was to be relieved and ordered to New York. For General Grant it is difficult to find any justification for thus keeping the lives of thou sands of men under an incompetent commander, and for the blunders which resulted. To me the effect of this change was of only personal consequence. To General Butler it was of doubtful advantage, as on the 4th of January following he was relieved from service and sent to Lowell 1 War Records, vol. 82, p. 69. for havino; concealed from General Weitzel in structions which General Grant had ordered him to transmit for the attack on Fort Fisher, for having taken personal command of the expedi tion which had been intended for General Weitzel, and finally for having disgracefully re tired from before Fort Fisher after the explosion of his powder boat.1 It seems also from the let ter which I insert, that he had lost the repu tation for executive ability which he had pos sessed in July.

City Point, Virginia, January 4, 1865. Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : I am constrained to request the removal of Maj.-Gen. B. F. Butler from the command of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. I do this with reluctance, but the good of the service requires it. In my absence General But ler necessarily commands, and there is a lack of confidence felt in his military ability, making him an unsafe commander for a large army. His administration of the affairs of his department is also objectionable. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General.2 Of the extraordinary conduct of General Grant in relieving me from a command for which he had just recommended me in the 1 War Records, vol. 67, p. 44. 2 Butler's Book, p. 829. strongest terms, with a full and intimate know ledge of my capacity and services, and in restor ing; General Butler to his command and enlarg-ino it, when he had j ust declared him incompetent, I could at the time get only a partial explanation.

But General Grant's subsequent action, his re port on the last year of the war made in July, 1865, his Memoirs published in 1883, the dis closures made by General Butler in his book, and, more than all, the recent publication of the " War Records " covering that period, which present a complete photograph of what occurred at that time, have revealed the influences and motives which led to that change. In order that they may be understood, it will be necessary to state briefly my relations to Gen eral Grant and to General Butler, and what I accomplished under them, and to show also what each of them had done and failed to do with ref erence to the attack upon Petersburg during the months of May and June, 1864.

Chapter II. Services Under General Grant At And Near Chat- Tanooga, And

THE ESTIMATES OF THEIR VALUE BY GENERALS GRANT, SHERMAN, AND THOMAS. I had been with General Grant two years at West Point, had known him there, though not intimately, and had not seen him from that time until the 23d of October, 1863. . His reputation, however, in the regular army and in civil life was well known to me, and I had followed his career during the Civil War with great curiosity. My intimate acquaintance with him began on the 23d of October, 1863, at Chattanooga, where I was then chief engineer of the Army of the Cumberland. He arrived at Chattanooga on that day. The communication of the army with its base of supplies at Bridgeport by the south side of the Tennessee River had been cut off by the enemy, who believed that they held the army at their mercy, and its destruction was only a question of time.1 The condition of the army is well described by General Grant in his Memoirs : — " This country afforded but little food for his 1 Report of General Braxton Bragg ; War Records, vol. 51, p. 37. [Rosecrans'] animals, nearly ten thousand of which had already starved, and not enough were left to draw a single piece of artillery, or even the ambulances to convey the sick.

The men had been on half rations of hard bread for a consid erable time, with but few other supplies except beef driven from Nashville across the country. The region along the road became so exhausted of food for the cattle, that by the time they reached Chattanooga they were much in the condition of the few animals left alive there, — ' on the lift.' Indeed, the beef was so poor that the soldiers were in the habit of saying, with a faint face tiousness, that they were living on ' half rations of hard bread and beef dried on the hoof? " 1 On the morning of the 24th, I went with General Grant to reconnoitre an important position which I had discovered at the mouth of Lookout Valley. My plan was to seize by sur prise the hills on the south side of the Tennessee River at Brown's Ferry, build a pontoon bridge, and thus obtain possession of Lookout Valley, and recover the old line of communication and the control of the river.

The arrangements had been partially completed before the arrival of General Grant, General Thomas having approved the plan shortly after he took command. Grant at once gave it his sanction, and although I was an officer of engineers, I was put by him in command of the forces to capture the heights 1 Personal Memoirs of General Grant, vol. ii. p. 24. and gap on the south side of the river and Lookout Valley. The entire movement was suc cessful, the army was relieved, it was made pos sible for General Sherman's force to reach Chat tanooga, which in its turn made possible the victory of Missionary Ridge. As regards the merit and importance of the achievement, I will only quote from others. General George H. Thomas was then in com mand of the Army of the Cumberland. Novem ber 1, 1863, he issued the following order : — Headquarters Department of the Cumberland, Chattanooga, November 1, 1863.

The general commanding tenders his thanks to Brig.-Gen. W. F. Smith and the officers and men of the expedition under his command, con sisting of the brigades of Brigadier-Generals Turchin and Hazen, the boat parties under Col. T. R. Stanley, Eighteenth Ohio Volunteers, and the pioneer bridge party, Captain Fox, Michigan Engineers, for the skill and cool gallantry displayed in securing a permanent lodgment on the south side of the river at Brown's Ferry, and in putting in position the pontoon bridge, on the night of the 26th instant. The successful exe cution of this duty was attended with the most important results in obtaining a safe and easy communication with Bridgeport and shortening our line of supplies. By command of Major-General Thomas.1 1 War Records, vol. 54, p. 68. In General Order No. 265, issued November 7, 1863, General Thomas said : — " The recent movements resulting in the es tablishment of a new and short line of com munication with Bridgeport and the possession of the Tennessee River were of so brilliant a character as to deserve special notice.

The skill and cool gallantry of the officers and men com posing the expedition under Brig.-Gen. William F. Smith . . . deserve the highest praise." 1 In a later report General Thomas says : — " The seizure of Brown's Ferry and the splen did defense of Lookout Valley by General Hooker's command decided the question of our ability to hold Chattanooga, for steamers began immediately to carry rations from Bridgeport to Kelley's Ferry, leaving but about eight miles of wagon transportation from that point to Chatta nooga. . . . " The enemy made no further attempt to re gain Lookout Valley after it had slipped from his grasp, and confined himself to an occasional cannon shot from the top of Lookout as he watched our trains undisturbedly moving from Kelley's Ferry across the valley bearing rations to a grateful army. . . .

" To Brigadier-General W. F. Smith, chief engineer, should be accorded great praise for the ingenuity which conceived, and the ability which executed, the movement at Brown's Ferry. . . . 1 War Records, vol. 54, p. 68. When the bridge was thrown at Brown's Ferry on the morning of the 27th the surprise was as great to the army within Chattanooga as it was to the army besieging it from without." x The report of C. A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, to the Secretary, made October 28, was as follows : — Chattanooga, October 28, 1863, 5 p. m. Everything perfectly successful. The river is now open, and a short and good road in our possession along the south shore. We had an insig nificant skirmish near Wauhatchie. The great success, however, is General Smith's operation at the mouth of Lookout Valley.

Its brilliancy cannot be exaggerated. C. A. Dana.2 Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War. After the capture of Brown's Ferry and Look out Valley and the reopening of the short fine of communications to Bridgeport, I was diligently employed in reconnoitring the country about Chattanooga for the purpose of devising a plan for an advance against Bragg's army, as soon as Sherman should arrive with the Army of the Tennessee. This plan was submitted to General 1 Army of the Cumberland, by Van Home, vol. i. p. 398, taken from Report on Conduct of the War, supplement ; part i. Report of General Thomas, pp. 119, 120. 2 War Records, vol. 54, p. 72. Grant and approved by him, and is given in his letters to General Burnside of November 14 or 15, and in his instructions to Thomas of No vember 18.1 The preliminary movements of Sherman, in cluding his crossing of the Tennessee and march against Missionary Ridge, and the movement of the cavalry brigade towards the Holston River, were all in accordance with the original plan, but a report from a deserter, November 22, that Bragg was preparing to fall back, induced Gen eral Grant to order General Thomas to move to his front on a reconnoissance in force, and that made the further carrying out of the original plan impossible.

Of General Sherman's movement, that officer, in his Memoirs,2 says: "I will here bear my willing testimony to the completeness of this whole business. All the officers charged with the work were present and manifested a skill which I cannot praise too highly. I have never beheld any work done so quietly, so well ; and I doubt if the history of war can show a bridge of that extent (viz. : thirteen hundred and fifty feet) laid so noiselessly and well, in so short a time. I attribute it to the genius and intelli gence of General William F. Smith." General John M. Corse, whose bravery in holdingthe fort at Allatoona at a critical mo- 1 War Records, vol. 55, pp. 30, 31. 2 Vol. i. p. 374. ment is known to all the world, writes under date of August 3, 1892, that " on the day pre ceding the assault on Missionary Ridge by Sher man's forces, I was selected by General Sherman to lead the assaulting column, and was taken by him to General Grant, when the general plan was shown and explained to me, and my position designated.

In the course of the conversation General Grant gave General W. F. Smith the credit of the plan and spoke of him in the strongest terms of confidence and respect. Gen eral Macfeely, the late Commissary General of the army, said that Grant told him that ' Baldy ' Smith was the ablest general in that army, and that the successful movement against Bragg was due to Smith." From the time of the seizure of Brown's Ferry, on October 27, I had constant intercourse with General Grant, and discussed all the military movements with him freely. On the 12th of November, without solicitation or suggestion on my part, he promoted me to the position of chief engineer of the military division of the Missis sippi, and on the same day he sent to the Secre tary of War the following recommendation : — Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : I would respectfully recommend that Brio-.- Gen. W. F. Smith be placed first on the list for promotion to the rank of major-general.

He is possessed of one of the clearest military heads in the army ; is very practical and industrious. No man in the service is better qualified than he for our largest commands.1 I have the honor, &c, U. S. Grant, Major-General As nothing had been done in Washington for my promotion, the reason being, as stated by Sec retary Stanton, that there were no vacancies, on the 30th of November, General Grant wrote the following letter to President Lincoln : — H'dq'rs Military Division of the Mississippi, Chattanooga, Tenn., November 30, 1863. His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States : In a previous letter addressed to the Secre tary of War, I recommended Brig.-Gen. Wm. F. Smith for promotion. Recent events have entirely satisfied me of his great capabilities and merits, and I hasten to renew the recommendation and to urge it.

The interests of the public service would be better subserved by this promo tion than the interest of General Smith himself. My reason for writing this letter now is to ask that W. F. Smith's name be placed first on the list for promotion of all those previously recom mended by me. I have the honor, etc. U. S. Grant, Major-General.2 1 War Records, vol. 56, p. 122. 2 Ibid. p. 277. No stronger tribute could have been paid to my services or capacities. I need not say that I felt grateful and became warmly attached to General Grant and his interests. My friendly feelings seemed to be reciprocated by him. I was on his staff constantly with him at Nashville and elsewhere in the West until the end of Feb ruary, 1864. By his invitation I came East with him in his private car when he came to Wash ington early in March, 1864, to accept the posi tion of Lieutenant-General.

Before he went into the field, I was absent on informal leave and in New York with my family. On the 31st of March he directed me to meet him in Wash ington. I went with him to Fortress Monroe and was assigned to the command of the 18th Army Corps in the field.

Chapter III. Services Near Bermuda Hundred, Cold Harbor, And Petersburg

THE ESTIMATES OF THEM BY GENERALS MEIGS, BARNARD, BUTLER, AND GRANT. The 18th Army Corps was in the Depart ment of Virginia and North Carolina, then under the command of General Benjamin F. Butler. It appears to have been General Grant's intention, as shown by his letter to General Meade, dated April 9, 1864, that I should command all the troops of that Department in the field.1 But his intention was never acted on. General Gill more commanded the 10th Army Corps in the same Department. From the early part of April I was engaged in organizing and drilling my troops. On the 5th of May we landed at Ber muda Hundred and opened a campaign against Richmond. Although the plan of General Butler's campaign was, as I shall presently show, in direct violation of the orders of General Grant, and against an earnest written remonstrance signed by General Gillmore and myself, I entered upon it with a determination to do my best.

The 1 Personal Memoirs of General Grant, vol. ii. p. 134. officers and men fought as bravely as men ever fought. Thousands of fives were wasted and lit tle was accomplished. General Grant expected me to accomphsh something, and was bitterly disappointed, and on the 21st of May he wrote as follows to General Halleck, who was the Chief of Staff of President Lincoln : — H'dq'rs Armies of the United States. In the Field, May 21, 1864, 7 a. m. (Received 10.35 a. m.) Maj.-Gen. H. W. Halleck, Chief of Staff : I fear there is some difficulty with the forces at City Point 1 which prevents their effective use. The fault may be with the commander, and it may be with his subordinates. General Smith, whilst a very able officer, is obstinate, and is likely to condemn whatever is not suggested by himself.

Either those forces should be so occu pied as to detain a force nearly equal to their own, or the garrison in the intrenchments at City Point should be reduced to a minimum, and the remainder ordered here. I wish you would send a competent officer there to inspect, and re port by telegraph what is being done and what in his judgment it is advisable to do. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General.2 On the same day General Halleck issued to General M. C. Meigs and General J. G. Barnard 1 This reference to City Point seems important. 2 War Records, vol. 69, p. 43. an order directing that they should " immediately proceed to army on James River, examine the position which it occupies, and means of de fense. . . . General Grant wishes particularly to know what is being done there, and what, in your judgment, it is advisable to do." 1 General Meigs and General Barnard were among the ablest officers in the army, and they proceeded at once to Bermuda Hundred.

I did not see them or either of them, or communicate with them directly or indirectly. They must have obtained their information from headquarters. May 23, 1864, they reported : " We have not yet been able fully to post ourselves as to the relations of the corps commanders, but think the report of want of harmony may be exaggerated, at least so far as General Smith is concerned."' May 24, 1864, they reported, among other things, as follows : — " What in our opinion ought to be done is either, first, to place an officer of military experience and knowledge in command of these two corps, thus making them a unit for field opera tions, and then assume the offensive ; or, second, to withdraw twenty thousand men to be used elsewhere. General Butler is a man of rare and great ability, but he has not experience and trainings to enable him to direct and control movements in battle.

A corps gives its com- 1 War Records, vol. 69, p. 68. 2 Ib., p. 141. mander full occupation on the battlefield, and leaves him no time to make suggestions to the commander-in-chief as to the movements of two corps. General Butler is satisfied with the ability and aid of General William F. Smith. He does not appear to be satisfied with General Gill more. General Butler evidently desires to retain command in the field. If his desires must be gratified, withdraw Gillmore, place Smith in command of both corps under the supreme com mand of General Butler ; let Smith put Brooks in command of one corps, and Weitzel of the other, unless you can send here better officers. You will thus have a command which will be a unit, and General Butler will probably be guided by Smith, and leave to him the suggestions and practical execution of army movements ordered.

Success would be more certain were Smith in command untrammeled, and General Butler re manded to the administrative duties of the de partment in which he has shown such rare and great ability." 1 General Barnard also reported orally to Gen eral Grant 2 as follows : " General Barnard reported the position very strong for defensive purposes and that I could do the latter [i. e., withdraw troops] with great security; but that General Butler could not move from where he was, in cooperation, to produce any effect. He 1 War Records, vol. 69, p. 178. 2 Personal Memoirs of General Grant, vol. ii. pp. 151-153. said that the general occupied a place between the James and Appomattox rivers, which was of great strength, and where with an inferior force he could hold it for an indefinite length of time against a superior ; but that he could do nothing offensively.

I then asked him why Butler could not move out from his lines and push across the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad to the rear and on the south side of Richmond. He replied that it was impracticable, because the enemy had substantially the same line across the neck of land that General Butler had. He then took out his pencil and drew a sketch of the locality, re marking that the position was like a bottle and that Butler's line of intrenchments across the neck represented the cork ; that the enemy had built an equally strong line immediately in front of him across the neck, and it was, therefore, as if Butler was in a bottle." This shows clearly that it was not supposed to be my fault that nothing had been accomplished. Soon afterwards I received an order to con centrate my command, including with it the di vision of General Ames of the 10th Corps, and to join the Army of the Potomac.