Confederate portraits

Front matter

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Preface

What has impressed me most in revising these portraits is their lack of finaUty. Noics sotmiies des etres mobiles et nous jugeo7ts des etres mobiles. No two men will take the same view of another man. Traits which seem most significant to some, to others seem negligible. Some will overlook a little vice for a great virtue, while to others the little vice makes even the great virtue an object of suspicion.

Again, one may seize justly, yet be led away in the presentation. It is difficult to give various qualities their exact proportion and emphasis. One may stress a marked trait too strongly and so make it too marked and spoil that balance which is everywhere essential to the truth of nature. One may establish one's, portrait in a tone which is not perfectly suited to the temper of the subject. Thus, the portraits here given of Johnston and of Stuart are keyed quite differently. I cannot see the two men otherwise. But others may feel that I have struck a false note in one case, or in the other, or in both.

This difficulty, or impossibility, of attaining anything final may make psychography seem a useless and unprofitable art. Such it would be, if finality were its object. It is not. The psychographer does not attempt to say the complete and permanent word about any of his subjects. He knows that such an attempt would be in-

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deed futile. Instead, he aims simply to facilitate to others, even a little, what he has himself found to be the most fascinating and inexhaustible of pursuits, the study of the human soul. In this study, if there were complete finality, if you could exhaust the book, even any one particular book, even your own, and shut it with a snap, half the fascination would be gone. The wisest of us hardly dares say, with the soothsayer in Antojiy and Cleopatra, —

"In nature's infinite book of secrecy A little I can read."

In some of these Confederate portraits there may be thought to be a note of undue harshness. All I can say is that I have endeavored to display and to insist upon the high and fine qualities manifest in every case. To pass over or slight the shadows seemed to me neither just nor wise. As to any partiality in the matter, after careful self-examination, I can discover no motive which could lead me to anything of the sort, unless it were an undue desire to exalt Lee. Of this I am not conscious, and, if I have not been misled by some such influence, I feel that the net result of careful study of Lee's companions in arms is to bring out more than ever the serene elevation of his greatness. Some of them were, perhaps, more brilliant than he, some greater orators, some profounder thinkers, some even as capable soldiers. Not one approaches him in those moral qualities, which, as Mr. Adams has justly pointed out, place him, as they do Washington, far above those who aided him in his terrible struggle.

PREFACE xi

During my prolonged study of Lee's contemporaries, which compelled me to take note of their various faults and weaknesses, I have also continued my careful watch for similar weaknesses in Lee himself. The suggestion of anything of the kind has been rare enough ; but in justice to Johnston and Longstreet and Beauregard I think it right to print the following very curious passage from a letter of General G. W. Smith to Johnston himself, written in the summer of 1862, before Lee had thoroughly established his great reputation. Smith was sore, from neglect, deserved or undeserved, and wide search elsewhere reveals no suggestion of a state of mind like his in any one else. But it must be confessed that just the defects of manner indicated here are what one would look for in a temperament like Lee's, if defects were there at all.

" I came off on a three weeks' leave. Just before it expired I requested Beckham to write to Chilton, for Lee's information, saying that I would not return because not well enough, but was improving. I received yesterday a note from Lee, in answer to Beckham's note to Chilton, first a layer of sugar, three lines, then two lines telling me to forward a certificate, and three more lines of sugar. I shall keep him informed from time to time of the condition of my health. Gaillard is with me, so I feel quite assured of correct information and judgment in the case, and do not propose supplying General Lee with any more surgeon's certificates beyond that upon which the xii PREFACE

original leave was granted. He took special pains to tell me, when I called to find out about Jackson's movements, in order to judge whether I had better stay in Richmond any longer waiting for a battle, that he could not grant me leave except on surgeon's certificate ; that was ' his rule,' he said. I told him I did n't come to ask for leave, but to get information upon which to determine whether I would yield to the advice of the surgeons and leave the city, adding that I had already put it off for ten days or more in anticipation of active operations, and was getting worse, instead of better. In a semi-pious, semi-official, and altogether disagreeable manner, he commenced regretting that I had n't gone sooner ; considered that the army had lost my services for ten days unnecessarily — and other like stufiF. We 'will bide our time.' All I want is success to the cause ; but there is a limit beyond which forbearance ceases to be a virtue, and if provoked much further I will tear the mask off of some who think themselves wonderfully successful in covering up their tracks." (O. R., vol. io8, p. 593.)

Some readers may, perhaps, be surprised, in a volume of Confederate portraits, to find no portrait of either of the two chief Confederates, next to Lee, Davis and Jackson. I have, however, already dealt with these distinguished figures in the chapters on " Lee and Davis " and " Lee and Jackson " in Lee the American^ and I felt that to introduce them here would simply mean a considerable repetition of the earlier studies.

PREFACE xiii

I wish I could thank in detail the very numerous correspondents who have furnished me with suggestions and corrections. I am especially indebted to Captain Frederick M. Colston, of Baltimore, for most valuable material and comment. Professor Ulrich B. Phillips, of the University of Michigan, has kindly supplied me with advance copies of his excellent Life of Toombs and of his forthcoming edition of the Toombs correspondence, which have induced me to modify and considerably enlarge my portrait of that fascinating personage. Honorable Robert M. Hughes, General Johnston's grand-nephew and conscientious biographer, has supplemented his courteous protest against my judgment of the general by the communication of extensive material, on the strength of which that judgment has been somewhat altered, though not, I fear, so much as Mr. Hughes would desire.

Seven of the portraits contained in this volume have been printed in the Atla7ttic Monthly, the portrait of General Beauregard in Neale's Mo7ttJily Magazine, and the sketch of the battle of Gettysburg in the Youth! s Companion.

Wellesley Hills, Mass., September 19, 1913.

Contents

I. Joseph E. Johnston i

Brief summary of Johnston's military career — judgments of his generalship — his ill-luck — in wounds — in being always too late — Davis a prominent element in Johnston's ill-luck

— Johnston's character a prominent element — rashness, producing wounds — the quarrel with Davis — Davis's faulty attitude — Johnston's — his free criticism — his animosity to Davis's favorites — to Davis himself — restraint on both sides during war — bitterness on both sides afterwards — Johnston's book condemns him — admirable and charming elements of his character — his courage — frankness — honesty — simplicity — freedom from ambition — affection for friends and family — devotion of his officers to him — of the country — of his soldiers — two quotations summing up Johnston's character.

II Born in Patrick County, Virginia, February 6, 1833

Graduated from West Point, 1854.

Second Lieutenant, October 31, 1854.

Married to Miss Flora Cooke, November 14, 1855.

First Lieutenant, December 20, 1855.

Served in Kansas in 1856.

Served against the Indians in 1857.

Served in the West till i860.

Volunteered under Lee in John Brown Raid, 1859.

Colonel in Confederate Army, July 16, 1861.

Brigadier-General, September 24, 1861.

Major-General, July 25, 1862.

Served with Army of Northern Virginia throughout the war.

Commanded Jackson's corps after Jackson's death at Chancellorsville.

But returned again to cavalry command. May, 1863.

Wounded at Yellow Tavern, May ii, 1864.

II

Stuart was a fighter by nature. When he was at West Point in the early fifties, his distinguishing characteristics, as chronicled by Fitzhugh Lee, were " a strict attendance to his military duties, an erect, soldierly bearing, an immediate and almost thankful acceptance of a challenge from any cadet to fight, who might in any way feel himself aggrieved." ^ The tendency, if not inherited, did not lack paternal encouragement; for the elder Stuart writes to his son, in regard to one of these combats : " I did not consider you so much to blame. An insult should be resented under all circumstances." 2 The young cadet also showed himself to be a fearless and an exceptionally skillful horseman.

These qualities served him well in the Indian warfare to which he was immediately transferred from West Point. His recklessness in taking chances was equaled only by his ingenuity in pulling through. One of his superiors writes : " Lieutenant Stuart was brave and gallant, always prompt in execution of orders and reckless of danger and exposure. I considered him at that time one of the most promising young officers in the United States Army." 3

Later Stuart took a prominent part in the capture of

John Brown. He himself wrote an account of the matter at the time for the newspapers, simply to explain and justify Lee's conduct. He also wrote a letter to his mother, with a characteristic description of his own doings : "I approached the door in the presence of perhaps two thousand spectators, and told Mr. Smith that I had a communication for him from Colonel Lee. He opened the door about four inches, and placed his body against the crack, with a cocked carbine in his hand ; hence his remark after his capture that he could have wiped me out like a mosquito. . . . When Smith first came to the door I recognized old Osawatomie Browriy who had given us so much trouble in Kansas. No one present but myself could have performed that service. I got his bowie-knife from his person, and have it yet." ^

From the very beginning of the war Stuart maintained this fighting reputation. He would attack any thing anywhere, and the men who served under him had to do the same ; what is more, and marks the born leader, he made them wish to do the same. " How can I eat, sleep, or rest in peace without you upon the outpost?"^ wrote Joseph Johnston ; and a noble enemy, who had been a friend, Sedgwick, is reported to have said that Stuart was "the greatest cavalry officer ever foaled in America."^

Danger he met with more than stolid indifference, a sort of furious bravado, thrusting himself into it with manifest pleasure, and holding back, when he did hold back, with a sigh. And some men's luck ! Johnston was wounded a dozen times, was always getting wounded. Yet Stuart, probably far more exposed, was wounded only once in his life, among the Indians ; in the war not at all. His clothes were pierced again and again. According to Von Borcke, the general had half of his moustache cut off by a bullet "as neatly as it could have been done by the hand of an experienced barber." ^ Yet nothing ever drew blood till the shot which was mortal. Such an immunity naturally encouraged the sort of fatalism not unusual with great soldiers, and Stuart once said of the proximity of his enemies, "You might have shot a marble at them — but I am not afraid of any ball aimed at me." ^

In this spirit he got into scores of difficult places — and got out again. Sometimes it was by quick action and a mad rush, as when he left his hat and a few officers behind him. Sometimes it was by stealth and secrecy, as when he hid his whole command all night within a few hundred yards of the marching enemy. " And nothing now remained but to watch and wait and keep quiet. Quiet? Yes, the men kept very quiet, for they realized that even Stuart never before had them in so tight a place. But many a time did we fear that we were betrayed by the weary, hungry, headstrong mules of the ordnance train. Men were stationed at the head of every team ; but in spite of all precautions, a discordant bray would every now and then fill the air. Never was the voice of a mule so harsh 1 " ^

The men who had watched and tried and tested him on such occasions as these knew what he was and gave him their trust. He asked nothing of them that he would not do himself. Therefore they did what he asked of them. Scheibert says that " he won their confidence and inspired them by his whole bearing and personality, by his kindling speech, his flashing eye, and his cheerfulness which no reverse could overcome." ^o Stuart himself describes his followers' enthusiastic loyalty with a naivete as winning as it is characteristic. " There was something of the sublime in the implicit confidence and unquestioning trust of the rank and file in a leader guiding them straight, apparently, into the very jaws of the enemy, every step appearing to them to diminish the very faintest hope of extrication." ^^ Yet he asked this trust and they gave it simply on the strength of his word. "You are about to engage in an enterprise which, to ensure success, imperatively demands at your hands coolness, decision, and the strictest order and sobriety on the march and in the bivouac. The destination and extent of this expedition had better be kept to myself than known to you." ^^

The men loved him also because, when the strain was removed, he put on no airs, pretense, or remoteness of superiority, but treated them as man to man. " He was the most approachable of major-generals, and jested with the private soldiers of his command as jovially as though he had been one of themselves. The men were perfectly unconstrained in his presence, and treated him more like the chief huntsman of a hunting party than as a major-general." ^^ fiis officers also loved him, and not onlytrusted him for war, but enjoyed his company in peace. He was constantly on the watch to do them kindnesses, and would frolic with them — marbles, snowballs, quoits, what not ? — like a boy with boys.

And Stuart loved his men as they loved him, did not regard them as mere food for cannon, to be used, and abused, and forgotten. There is something almost pathetic in his neglect of self in praising them. " The horseman who, at his officer's bidding, without question, leaps into unexplored darkness, knowing nothing except that there is danger ahead, possesses the highest attribute of the patriot soldier. It is a great source of pride to me to command a division of such men." ^^ Careless of his own danger always, he was far more thoughtful of those about him. In the last battle he was peculiarly reckless, and Major McClellan noticed that the general kept sending him with messages to General Anderson. "At last the thought occurred to me that he was endeav oring to shield me from danger. I said to him : * General, my horse is weary. You are exposing yourself, and you are alone. Please let me remain with you.' He smiled at me kindly, but bade me go to General Anderson with another message." ^^

Any reflection on his command arouses him at once to its defense. " There seems to be a growing tendency to abuse and underrate the services of that arm of the service [cavalry] by a few officers of infantry, among whom I regret to find General Trimble. Troops should be taught to take pride in other branches of the service than their own." ^^

It is very rare that Stuart has any occasion to address himself directly to the authorities at Richmond. Fighting, not writing, was his business. But when he feels that his men and horses are being starved unnecessarily, he bestirs himself, and sends Seddon a letter which is as .interesting for nervous and vigorous expression as for .the character of the writer. " I beg to urge that in no case should persons not connected with the army, and who are amply compensated for all that is taken, be allowed more subsistence per day than the noble veterans who are periling their lives in the cause and at every sacrifice are enduring hardship and exposure in the .ranks.""

And the general's care and enthusiasm for his officers was as great as for the privates. It is charming to see how earnestly and how specifically he commends them in every report. Particularly, he is anxious to impress upon Lee that no family considerations should prevent the merited advancement of Lee's own son and nephew. Even on his deathbed one of his last wishes was that his faithful followers should have his horses, and he allotted ■them thoughtfully according to each officer's needs.

The general did not allow his feelings to interfere with subordination, however. His discipHne " was as firm as could be with such men as composed the cavalry of General Lee's army," writes Judge Garnett. " He never tolerated nor overlooked disobedience of orders."^^ Even his favorites, Mosby and Fitz Lee, come in for reproof when needed. Of the latter's failure to arrive at Raccoon Ford when expected he writes : " By this failure to comply with instructions not only the movement of the cavalry across the Rapidan was postponed a day, but a fine opportunity was lost to overhaul a body of the enemy's cavalry on a predatory excursion far beyond their lines."i9 His tendency to severity in regard to a certain subordinate calls forth one of Lee's gently tactful cautions: "I am perfectly willing to transfer him to Paxton's brigade, if he desires it ; but if he does not, I know of no act of his to justify my doing so. Do not let your judgment be warped." 20 There were officers with whom Stuart could not get along ; for instance, ** Grumble Jones," who perhaps could get along with no one. Yet, after Stuart's

death, Jones said of him : " By G , Martin ! You

know I had little love for Stuart, and he had just as Httle for me ; but that is the greatest loss that army has ever sustained except the death of Jackson." 21

From these various considerations it will be surmised that Stuart was no mere reckless sworder, no Rupert, good with sabre, furious in onset, beyond that signifying nothing. He knew the spirit of the antique maxim, " Be bold, and evermore be bold ; be not too bold." He had learned the hardest lesson and the essential corrective for such a temperament, self-control. To me there is an immense pathos in his quiet, almost plaintive explanation to Lee, on one occasion: "The commanding general will, I am sure, appreciate how hard it was to desist from the undertaking, but to any one on the spot there could be but one opinion — its impossibility. I gave it up." 22 On the other hand, no one knew better that in some cases perfect prudence and splendid boldness are one and the same thing. To use again his own language : " Although the expedition was prosecuted further than was contemplated in your instructions, I feel assured that the considerations which actuated me will convince you that I did not depart from their spirit and that the bold development in the subsequent direction of the march was the quintessence of prudence." 23 Lee always found the right words. In one of his reports he says of Stuart [italics mine] : "I take occasion to express to the Department my sense of the boldness, jndg7nent, and prudence he displayed in its execution." 24

But one may have self-control without commanding intelligence. Fremantle's description of Stuart's movements does not suggest much of the latter quality. " He seems to roam over the country at his own discretion, and always gives a good account of himself, turning up at the right moment, and hitherto he has not got himself into any serious trouble." 25 Later, more studious observers do not take quite the same view. One should read the whole of the Prussian colonel Scheibert's account of Stuart's thorough planning, his careful calculation, his exact methods of procedure. " Before Stuart undertook any movement, he spared nothing in the way of preparation which might make it succeed. He informed himself as exactly as possible by scouts and spies, himself reconnoitred with his staff, often far beyond the outposts, had his engineer officers constantly fill out and improve the rather inadequate maps and ascertain the practicability of roads, fords, etc. In short, he omitted no precaution and spared no pains or effort to secure the best possible results for such undertakings as he planned ; therefore he was in the saddle almost as long again as his men." 26 Similar testimony can be gathered incidentally everywhere in Stuart's letters and reports, proving that he was no chance roamer, but went where he planned to go and came back when he intended. For instance, he writes of the Peninsular operations : "It is proper to remark here that the commanding general had, on the occasion of my late expedition to the Pamunkey, imparted to me his design of bringing Jackson down upon the enemy's right flank and rear, and directed that I should examine the country with reference to its practicability for such a movement. I therefore had studied the features of the country very thoroughly and knew exactly how to conform my movements to Jackson's route." ^^

On the strength of these larger military qualities it has sometimes been contended that Stuart should have had an even more responsible command than fell to him and that Lee should have retained him at the head of Jackson's corps after Jackson's death. Certainly Lee can have expressed no higher opinion of any one : " A more zealous, ardent, brave and devoted soldier than Stuart the Confederacy cannot have." ^s Johnston called him "calm, firm, acute, active, and enterprising, I know of no one more competent than he to estimate occurrences at their true value." 29 Longstreet, hitting Jackson as well as praising Stuart, said : " His death was possibly a greater loss to the Confederate army than that of the swift-moving General Stonewall Jackson." ^o Among foreign authorities Scheibert writes that " General von Schmidt, the regenerator of our [Prussian] cavalry tactics, has told me that Stuart was the model cavalry leader of this century and has questioned me very often about his mode of fighting." " And Captain Battine thinks that he should have had Jackson's place. 32 Finally, Alexander, sanest of Confederate writers, expresses the same view strongly and definitely: "I always thought it an injustice to Stuart and a loss to the army that he was not from that moment co7itinued in command of Jackson^ s corps. He had won the right to it. I believe he had all of Jackson's genius and dash and originality, without that eccentricity of character which sometimes led to disappointment. Jackson's spirit and inspiration were uneven. Stuart, however, possessed the rare quality of being always equal to himself at his very bestT ^3

This is magnificent praise, coming from such a source. Nevertheless, I find it hard to question Lee's judgment. There was nothing in the world to prevent his giving Stuart the position, if he thought him qualified. It is not absolutely certain how Stuart would have carried independent command. I can hardly imagine Davis, even early in the war, writing of Jackson as he did of Stuart : " The letter of General Hill painfully impresses me with that which has before been indicated — a want of vigilance and intelligent observation on the part of General Stuart." 34 Major Bigelow, who knows the battle of Chancellorsville as well as any one living, does not judge Stuart's action so favorably as Alexander. And Cooke, who adored Stuart and served constantly under him, says : "At Chancellorsville, when he succeeded Jackson, the troops, although quite enthusiastic about him, complained that he led them too recklessly against artillery ; and it is hard for those who knew the man to believe that, as an army commander, he would have consented to a strictly defensive campaign. Fighting was a necessity of his blood, and the slow movements of infantry did not suit his genius." ^^

May it not be also that Lee thought Stuart indispensable where he was and believed it would be as difficult to replace him as Jackson ? Most of Stuart's correspondence has perished and we are obliged to gather its tenor from letters written to him, which is much like listening to a one-sided conversation over the telephone. From one of Lee's letters, however, it is fairly evident that neither he nor Stuart himself had seriously considered the latter's taking Jackson's place. Lee writes : " I am obliged to you for your views as to the successor of the great and good Jackson. Unless God in his mercy will raise us up one, I do not know what we shall do. I agree with you on the subject, and have so expressed myself." ^^

In any event, what his countrymen will always remember of Stuart is the fighting figure, the glory of battle, the sudden and tumultuous fury of charge and onset.

And what above all distinguishes him in this is his splendid joy in it. Others fought with clenched fist and set teeth, rejoicing, perhaps, but with deadly determination of lip and brow. He laughed and sang. His blue eye sparkled and his white teeth gleamed. To others it was the valley of the shadow of death. To him it was a picnic and a pleasure party.

He views everything by its picturesque side, catches the theatrical detail which turns terror and death into a scenic surprise. " My arrival could not have been more fortunately timed, for, arriving after dark, the ponderous march, with the rolling artillery, must have impressed the enemy's cavalry, watching their rear, with the idea of an immense army about to cut off their retreat." " He rushed gayly into battle, singing, " Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of the Wilderness?" or his favorite of favorites, " If you want to have a good time, jine the cavalry." When he is riding off, as it were into the mouth of hell, his adjutant asks, "How long? " and he answers, as Touchstone might, with a bit of old ballad, " It may be for years and it may be for ever." ^s m^ clear laughter, in the sternest crises, echoes through dusty war books, like a silver bell. As he sped back from his Peninsular raid, the Union troops were close upon him and the swollen Chickahominy in front, impassable, it seemed. Stuart thought a moment, pulling at his beard. Then he found the remains of an old bridge and set his men to rebuild it. " While the men were at work upon it, Stuart was lying down on the bank of the stream, in the gayest humor I ever saw, laughing at the prank he had played on McClellan."39

It is needless to enlarge on the effect of such a temper, such exuberant confidence and cheerfulness in danger, on subordinates. It lightened labor, banished fatigue, warmed chill limbs and fainting courage. " My men and horses are tired, hungry, jaded, but all right," ■^° was the last despatch he ever wrote. So long as he was with them, they were all right. His very voice was like music, says Fitz Lee, " like the silver trumpet of the Archangel." It sounded oblivion of everything but glory. His gayety, his laughter, were infectious and turned a raid into a revel. " That summer night," writes Mosby of the Mc- Clellan expedition, " was a carnival of fun I can never forget. Nobody thought of danger or sleep, when champagne bottles were bursting and wine was flowing in copious streams. All had perfect confidence in their leader. . . . The discipline of the soldiers for a while gave way to the wild revelry of Comus." ^^

And this spirit of adventure, of romance, of buoyant optimism and energy, was not merely reserved for occasions of excitement, was not the triumphant outcome of glory and success. It was constant and unfailing. To begin with, Stuart had a magnificent physique. " Nothing seemed strong enough to break down his powerful organization of mind and body," ^^ gays his biographer; and Mosby, " Although he had been in the saddle two days and nights without sleep, he was as gay as a lark." ^3 When exhaustion finally fell upon him, he would drop off his horse by the roadside, anywhere, sleep for an hour, and arise as active as ever. Universal testimony proves that he was overcome and disheartened by no disaster. He would be thoughtful for a moment, pulling at his beard, then seize upon the best decision that presented itself and push on. Dreariness sometimes crushes those who can well resist actual misfortune. Not Stuart. " In the midst of rainstorms, when everybody was riding along grum and cowering beneath the flood pouring down, he would trot on, head up, and singing gayly." ^^