Reveille in Washington, 1860 - 1865 by Margaret Leech

[David Lockmiller]

Margaret Kernochan Leech (November 7, 1893 – February 24, 1974), also known as Margaret Pulitzer (she married the son of Joseph Pulitzer), was an American historian and fiction writer. She won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1942 (Reveille in Washington, Harper) (first woman to win for history).

She was born in Newburgh, New York, obtained a B.A. from Vassar College in 1915, and worked for fund-raising organizations during World War I, including the American Committee for Devastated France. After the war, she became friendly with members of the Algonquin Round Table, including critic-raconteur Alexander Woollcott. She was an associate of some of the wittiest and most brilliant men and women of literature that spent time at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan.

As stated on a previous thread, I came across her book because of her support of the theory that President Lincoln did appear before the Committee on the Conduct of the War in defense of his wife, Mary Lincoln, on possible charges of treason.

I have added this thread because in reading the first few pages of her book, I came upon an observation of great historical importance in one paragraph of which I had not heretofore been acutely aware (I knew in general, but not in detail the basis for Southern officers dominance in the Army prior to the Civil War).

[I]n the twenty years of [Lieutenant General] Scott's command he had shown a marked partiality for advancing Southern officers. To favor gentlemen from the slave States, with their marital spirit and their "habit of command," had been as natural to the old Virginian as a daily perusal of the Richmond Enquirer. Of the six Army departments, only the Department of the East was commanded by a Northerner, General John E. Wool. The five Western departments, in which the mass of the Army was stationed, were all headed by officers of Southern birth. Scott found the "Southern rascals" not only meritorious, but congenial. The only Northern aide on his staff was his military secretary, Lieutenant-Colonel E. D. Keyes, and the appointment had been offered to a Virginian, Colonel Robert E. Lee. Since the nation's political destinies had long been controlled by the statesmen of the slave States, there had been no interference with the General's predilections. For twelve years, the War Department patronage had been in Southern hands. A Southern clique ruled the Army, and many ambitious Northerners who had shown promise at West Point -- Halleck, McClellan, Hooker, Burnside, Sherman, Rosecrans -- had felt sufficiently discouraged to resign their commissions and return to civil life.




I presume that the author Margaret Leech left out any reference to Grant because he was not a top student at the Academy and he had served as a quartermaster in the Mexican War and thus had no positive opportunity to demonstrate his skills as a military leader.

[Gene C]

I remember reading that and thought it was an interesting fact. Many of the northern military men had improved their financial situation by leaving the army.

There are other comments about the book on this thread
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...t=reveille

[David Lockmiller]

Emancipation Proclamation, according to “Reveille in Washington 1860-1865” pages 248-49.

The country, in the main, received the proclamation without enthusiasm. Democrats interpreted their gains in the State elections which soon followed as a protest against the President’s capitulation to the radicals. Abolitionists, on the other hand, were still dissatisfied with Mr. Lincoln’s moderation. His whole-hearted support came from the Negroes themselves. From the beginning, his name had been to the race the simple synonym of their deliverance. Colored folk, when crowds gathered at the White House, wildly demonstrated their love for the President, shouting and swinging their hats with abandon. In long columns, the contrabands came toiling over the dusty roads to the city he inhabited. Some were in rags, some wore the rough and sweat-stained garments of the field, and some were decked in the antique finery of their masters and mistresses.

For these were primitive and childlike people, adrift without a plan from the dependence of slavery. They understood nothing of the political complexities in which their destinies were involved. They took no account of the abolitionists who pressed the President to his reluctant decision. They knew only that Lincoln was a man raised up by God to work the miracle of their deliverance. Their simple imagination had its own power. They and other millions like them, flocking to the Union armies of the West and South, or waiting on the plantations of their masters, impressed their faith on a nation’s mind. The abolitionists of Congress – Wade, Stevens, Chandler, Wilson, Lovejoy, even the lofty Sumner – have been all but forgotten by their countrymen. The Lincoln who lives in the American legend was shaped in the slave’s long dream of a kindly master who should set his people free.

In their crowded and comfortless barracks, the contrabands patiently awaited the coming of the day of jubilee. On New Year’s Eve, they filled the chapel to overflowing. An old man named Thorton arose to testify. “I cried all night. What de matter, Thorton? Tomorrow my child is to be sold, never more see it till judgment – no more dat! No more dat! . . . Can’t sell your wife and children any more!”
Ecstasy mounted with the passing hours, and the silent prayer enjoined by the superintendent at midnight gave place to fervent invocations and hallelujah hymns. Young and old wrung one another’s hands, dancing and shouting in a frenzy of joy. Around the bleak, dark camp, they paraded, singing. Many marched until daybreak.

The sun rose on the first day of January, 1863. The air was clear and brilliant. The President opened his tired eyes on a momentous day. Since he had issued his preliminary proclamation, the defeat of his party in the State elections had been followed by the military disaster of Fredericksburg. The radical senators, demanding the removal of the conservative Seward, had nearly wrecked his Cabinet. The thing that he was about to do had alienated some of his warmest adherents among moderate men. In Washington, that winter, he seemed to stand alone, almost without friends.

Threading his way through the mob of New Year’s callers about the White House came the slender, amiable man whom the radicals hated, with his slender, amiable son by his side. William and Frederick Seward climbed the stairs to the President’s office. There were less than a dozen persons in the room to witness the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Conscious of a moment of history, the President closed his aching fingers on a pen. His whole right arm was numb form the ordeal of the morning’s receptions. He feared his hand might tremble; but he signed his name firmly.

[David Lockmiller]

I think that Margaret Leech is an excellent writer with a rather unique ability to package important history in a small bundle. In jumping about in her book "Reveille in Washington, 1860 - 1865," I came across this concise history of Grant with an emphasis on his early years and the period at the beginning of the Civil War. He came very close to not being a factor at all in the American Civil War and was saved in this respect by an undisciplined regiment of Illinois volunteers.

The Union had had some queer heroes, but none as unlikely as the one on whom, after three years of war, its ardent hopes were fixed. Grant had been a taciturn boy, who liked farming, and went to West Point only because his domineering father got him an appointment. He had never enjoyed military life. In the Mexican campaign, he had served as a quartermaster, hating the war. It was in Mexico that he began to drink. He was not a boon companion, but took his whiskey in morose solitude. Later, in the desolate life of a western Army post, the habit had grown on him until it became subversive of discipline, and he was forced to resign. Grant found himself a penniless civilian. He made fumbling attempts at farming, and then at business in St. Louis. The disgraced ex-soldier was going downhill fast, when his father made a place for the family failure in the family leather store in Galena, Illinois. Grant did not like the work, but he had a wife and four children, and he was glad to get it. He was there, thirty-nine years old, when the fall of Sumter awoke the Union to civil war.

Captain Grant, as he was called, assisted in drilling the Galena volunteers, but was not elected an officer of the company. He followed the boys to Springfield in his civilian clothes, and got a clerkship at the State capital. Having received his education at the Government's expense, he felt it his duty to offer his services, but the letter he wrote to Washington, rather diffidently suggesting that he was fit to command a regiment, was never answered. At last, he was given a chance in Illinois. A regiment of mutinous volunteers behaved so badly that they drove their colonel to resign, and Grant was put in his place. He soon whipped the regiment into shape. His former neighbor, Congressman Washburne, got him a brigadier's commission. The "unconditional surrender" at Fort Donelson made him a national figure.

Accidentally, in middle age, Grant discovered his one great aptitude: for dogged and obstinate fighting. He had a superstitious aversion to retracing his steps. It was not always an advantage in his military campaigns, but it was a new fault in Federal generals. The sentence in his dispatch to the Confederate commander at Donelson, "I propose to move immediately upon your works," is one of those phrases which echo coldly down the aisles of history, without seeming to have earned the right to be remembered. It thrilled a nation in the spring of 1862.

The clamor for his removal after the slaughter at Shiloh was drowned in the cheers for Vicksburg, and Chattanooga made him the unrivaled military leader of the Union. Although, when he was nobody, Grant's character had not seemed in any way remarkable, it became invested with power as soon as he was famous. His very ordinariness appeared marvelously sound. He was the apotheosis of the plain man, and the plain man admired and trusted him. His uncouthness was no handicap. Grant was in the American tradition. He had pluck and persistence and common sense, qualities which a young country understood and respected. There was no nonsense about him. He had no airs or falderols or highfalutin talk. He had, in fact, very little to say, either in speech or on paper. The Union, surfeited with boastful promises, liked his reticence. During a serenade at Willard's in March of 1864, Congressman Washburne introduced Grant as a "man of deeds, and not of words." The crowd cheered the inarticulate soldier to the echo.

("Reveille in Washington, 1860 - 1865," pages 311-12.)

[RJNorton]

(11-22-2017 10:52 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Captain Grant, as he was called, assisted in drilling the Galena volunteers, but was not elected an officer of the company. He followed the boys to Springfield in his civilian clothes, and got a clerkship at the State capital. Having received his education at the Government's expense, he felt it his duty to offer his services, but the letter he wrote to Washington, rather diffidently suggesting that he was fit to command a regiment, was never answered. At last, he was given a chance in Illinois. A regiment of mutinous volunteers behaved so badly that they drove their colonel to resign, and Grant was put in his place. He soon whipped the regiment into shape. His former neighbor, Congressman Washburne, got him a brigadier's commission. The "unconditional surrender" at Fort Donelson made him a national figure.

There is a marker which commemorates Grant's time in Springfield. It is now located on private property. Over the years the marker has degraded and the inscription is no longer readable. Originally the inscription on the monument read, "Camp Yates, 1861. Here General Ulysses S. Grant Began His Civil War Career."

[David Lockmiller]

(11-23-2017 05:27 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(11-22-2017 10:52 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Captain Grant, as he was called, assisted in drilling the Galena volunteers, but was not elected an officer of the company. He followed the boys to Springfield in his civilian clothes, and got a clerkship at the State capital. Having received his education at the Government's expense, he felt it his duty to offer his services, but the letter he wrote to Washington, rather diffidently suggesting that he was fit to command a regiment, was never answered. At last, he was given a chance in Illinois. A regiment of mutinous volunteers behaved so badly that they drove their colonel to resign, and Grant was put in his place. He soon whipped the regiment into shape. His former neighbor, Congressman Washburne, got him a brigadier's commission. The "unconditional surrender" at Fort Donelson made him a national figure.

There is a marker which commemorates Grant's time in Springfield. It is now located on private property. Over the years the marker has degraded and the inscription is no longer readable. Originally the inscription on the monument read, "Camp Yates, 1861. Here General Ulysses S. Grant Began His Civil War Career."

Roger, you find the most obscure facts about Lincoln history (even it is about only Grant). It's truly wonderful.

I am rather surprised that nobody made a comment on the observation that I made at the beginning of my post: "He [Grant] came very close to not being a factor at all in the American Civil War and was saved in this respect by an undisciplined regiment of Illinois volunteers."

"For Want of a Nail" is a proverb, having numerous variations over several centuries, reminding that seemingly unimportant acts or omissions can have grave and unforeseen consequences, . . . or just the opposite in terms of beneficial outcome.

[Gene C]

(11-23-2017 11:03 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  "For Want of a Nail" is a proverb, having numerous variations over several centuries, reminding that seemingly unimportant acts or omissions can have grave and unforeseen consequences, . . . or just the opposite in terms of beneficial outcome.

I am glad you mentioned that.
There is also a personal application to that.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(11-23-2017 11:03 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  

(11-23-2017 05:27 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(11-22-2017 10:52 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Captain Grant, as he was called, assisted in drilling the Galena volunteers, but was not elected an officer of the company. He followed the boys to Springfield in his civilian clothes, and got a clerkship at the State capital. Having received his education at the Government's expense, he felt it his duty to offer his services, but the letter he wrote to Washington, rather diffidently suggesting that he was fit to command a regiment, was never answered. At last, he was given a chance in Illinois. A regiment of mutinous volunteers behaved so badly that they drove their colonel to resign, and Grant was put in his place. He soon whipped the regiment into shape. His former neighbor, Congressman Washburne, got him a brigadier's commission. The "unconditional surrender" at Fort Donelson made him a national figure.

There is a marker which commemorates Grant's time in Springfield. It is now located on private property. Over the years the marker has degraded and the inscription is no longer readable. Originally the inscription on the monument read, "Camp Yates, 1861. Here General Ulysses S. Grant Began His Civil War Career."

Roger, you find the most obscure facts about Lincoln history (even it is about only Grant). It's truly wonderful.

I am rather surprised that nobody made a comment on the observation that I made at the beginning of my post: "He [Grant] came very close to not being a factor at all in the American Civil War and was saved in this respect by an undisciplined regiment of Illinois volunteers."

"For Want of a Nail" is a proverb, having numerous variations over several centuries, reminding that seemingly unimportant acts or omissions can have grave and unforeseen consequences, . . . or just the opposite in terms of beneficial outcome.

I counter with a German saying - "es hat so sollen sein" (~"it was to be").

[Gene C]

David asked if I could be more specific in my previous comment.

There is a concept called The Butterfly Effect
the video below explains it better than I can,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V8owSSFGZs

[David Lockmiller]

(11-24-2017 11:45 PM)Gene C Wrote:  David asked if I could be more specific in my previous comment.

There is a concept called The Butterfly Effect
the video below explains it better than I can,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V8owSSFGZs

I understand your video about The Butterfly Effect, Gene.

Now, I have a nice little story to tell from "Reveille in Washington" at pages 201-202.

The fine autumn days [of 1862] went past. The capital grew restless, waiting for Lee's army to be driven from the Valley. Little was said in the Cabinet meetings, clouded by discouragement. Now and then, Stanton's voice uttered a musical sneer; but for the most part he brooded in silence. With McClellan in power, he felt that his importance and influence were gone, and he threatened to resign.

For six weeks, the Army of the Potomac lay in Maryland. The country groaned with impatience and dissatisfaction. Stocks declined. Volunteering lagged. The State ballot boxes gave a verdict adverse to the administration. The President repeatedly begged, persuaded and ordered McClellan to advance. McClellan said that the army was not ready. It was true that his soldiers were in need--like those of General Lee, though not so sorely--of shoes, blankets,clothing, horses and camp equipment. McClellan's mood was one of proud, dark, brooding resentment. His communications with Stanton and Halleck were few and rigidly formal. He regarded himself as the savior of his country, who should be spared interference. Much of his time was spent in controversies with the Quartermaster's Department over his supplies--those supplies that he had been able to forget in his great phase of resolution in September. [End of "Reveille in Washington" quotation.]

Now, suppose that "a regiment of mutinous volunteers [did not] behave so badly that they drove their colonel to resign, and Grant was [not] put in his place." And, suppose Grant, still wanting to make a significant contribution to the Union cause in the American Civil War, took it upon himself to travel to McClellan's camp at this particular time to offer his services based on his West Point education and military experience in the Mexican war. Suppose McClellan then offered to Grant a position as a Quartermaster officer. Grant would have accepted and remained forever a "caterpillar." And, it is highly unlikely that his appointment as a Quartermaster officer would have made one iota of difference in terms of a favorable outcome of the Civil War.

What did happen because "a regiment of mutinous [Illinois] volunteers behaved so badly that they drove their colonel to resign, and Grant was put in his place" is that Grant transformed himself into being the "Butterfly" who helped President Abraham Lincoln to save the Union for posterity. So, according to the "Butterfly Effect" video, you might say that it was the regiment of mutinous Illinois volunteers who are responsible for Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox. No, I don't think so. It can only be said: But for that particular circumstance, the outcome of the American Civil War might have been entirely different. "For Want of a Nail" named Grant, the American Civil War might have been lost.

[David Lockmiller]

(11-24-2017 09:34 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(11-23-2017 11:03 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  

(11-23-2017 05:27 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(11-22-2017 10:52 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Captain Grant, as he was called, assisted in drilling the Galena volunteers, but was not elected an officer of the company. He followed the boys to Springfield in his civilian clothes, and got a clerkship at the State capital. Having received his education at the Government's expense, he felt it his duty to offer his services, but the letter he wrote to Washington, rather diffidently suggesting that he was fit to command a regiment, was never answered. At last, he was given a chance in Illinois. A regiment of mutinous volunteers behaved so badly that they drove their colonel to resign, and Grant was put in his place. He soon whipped the regiment into shape. His former neighbor, Congressman Washburne, got him a brigadier's commission. The "unconditional surrender" at Fort Donelson made him a national figure.

There is a marker which commemorates Grant's time in Springfield. It is now located on private property. Over the years the marker has degraded and the inscription is no longer readable. Originally the inscription on the monument read, "Camp Yates, 1861. Here General Ulysses S. Grant Began His Civil War Career."

Roger, you find the most obscure facts about Lincoln history (even it is about only Grant). It's truly wonderful.

I am rather surprised that nobody made a comment on the observation that I made at the beginning of my post: "He [Grant] came very close to not being a factor at all in the American Civil War and was saved in this respect by an undisciplined regiment of Illinois volunteers."

"For Want of a Nail" is a proverb, having numerous variations over several centuries, reminding that seemingly unimportant acts or omissions can have grave and unforeseen consequences, . . . or just the opposite in terms of beneficial outcome.

I counter with a German saying - "es hat so sollen sein" (~"it was to be").

I counter-counter with President Lincoln's conversation that he had early in his presidency with the Chief of the Army, Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott.

To one of his queries as to the safety of Washington, General Scott had replied: "It has been ordained, Mr. President, that the city shall not be captured by the Confederates."

"But we ought to have more men and guns here," was the Chief Executive's answer. "The Confederates are not such fools as to let a good chance to capture Washington go by, and even if it has been ordained that the city is safe, I'd feel easier if it were better protected. All this reminds me of the old trapper out in the West who had been assured by some city folks who had hired him as a guide that all matters regarding life and death were prearranged."

"'It is ordained,' said one of the party to the old trapper, 'that you are to die at a certain time, and no one can kill you before that time. If you met a thousand Indians, and your death had not been ordained for that day, you would certainly escape.'

"'I don't exactly understand this ordained business,' was the trapper's reply. 'I don't care to run no risks. I always have my gun with me, so that if I come across some reds I can feel sure that I won't cross the Jordan, 'thought taking some of 'em with me. Now, for instance, if I met an Indian in the woods, he drew a bead on me--sayin', too, that he wasn't more'n ten feet away--an' I didn't have nothing to protect myself; say it was as bad as that, the redskin bein' dead ready to kill me; even if it had been ordained that the Indian (sayin' he was a good shot) was to die that very minute, an' I wasn't, what would I do 'thout my gun?'

"There you are," the President remarked ; "even if it has been ordained that the city of Washington will never be taken by the Southerners, what would we do, in case they made an attack upon the place, without men and heavy guns?

--A.K. McClure

---

There is a marker which commemorates Grant's time in Springfield. It is now located on private property. Over the years the marker has degraded and the inscription is no longer readable. Originally the inscription on the monument read, "Camp Yates, 1861. Here General Ulysses S. Grant Began His Civil War Career."

Roger, can you tell me exactly how it is that you came across this obscure fact? I may one day try to see this marker if I can locate it.

I grew up in Decatur, Illinois -- 39 miles east of Springfield. After I found Lincoln (metaphorically speaking) not so many years ago, I would make a pilgrimage to Springfield each year that I would go back to visit family. I would stop at the old Lincoln homestead along the Sangamon River outside Decatur first and then go on to Springfield to visit the various Lincoln sites (the Old Capitol, the Prairie (?) bookstore close by where I would usually purchase a used Lincoln book or two, the railroad station where he made his famous going away (never to return) speech to his neighbors, sometimes the Lincoln home, once the church pew where he worshiped, and always the Lincoln tomb. On the way out of town, I would pass by Butler Cemetery with its Civil War era tombstones (one winter day, I stopped to take photographs with snow covering the grounds). And, I always stopped on the way back to Decatur in the little town of Buffalo, Illinois on old Highway 36 to have a few beers with the local Buffaloes (the bar's owners were huge St. Louis Cardinals fans).

[RJNorton]

(11-25-2017 02:56 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Roger, can you tell me exactly how it is that you came across this obscure fact? I may one day try to see this marker if I can locate it.

David, I do not exactly recall how I originally found it, but you can read about it here:

http://illinoistimes.com/article-2217-hi...30-05.html

I first found it in 2014.

[David Lockmiller]

(11-25-2017 03:38 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(11-25-2017 02:56 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Roger, can you tell me exactly how it is that you came across this obscure fact? I may one day try to see this marker if I can locate it.

David, I do not exactly recall how I originally found it, but you can read about it here:

http://illinoistimes.com/article-2217-hi...30-05.html

I first found it in 2014.

On the morning of August 2, 1909, as Colonel Charles F. Mills (who was in charge of the day’s exercises) introduced Illinois Governor Charles Samuel Deneen, he spoke these words: “This historic ground has been made memorable as the starting point of General Ulysses S. Grant.”

[Eva Elisabeth]

@David - Nope, David, I'm afraid this counter-counter doesn't work.
"Was to be" is past tense, not predictable by humans, and the Bible itself states so:
"...also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." (Ecclesiastes 3)
Or, as Lincoln quoted to Herndon from Hamlet:
"There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will."

[David Lockmiller]

(11-25-2017 09:27 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Lincoln quoted to Herndon from Hamlet:

"There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will."

Perhaps you are right, Eva Elisabeth.

Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."


With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.