EARLY BATTLES OF THE WAR.
The foe moved their cap-i-tal from Mont-gom-er-y, Ala. to Rich-mond,
Va. and the first bat-tle of weight was to lie be-tween the two
cap-i-tals. The folks at the North thought the war would be a short
one. Most of the North-ern vol-un-teers had been called out for but
three months, so it was thought by some that a bat-tle must be fought
ere that time came to an end. The press at the North made a loud call
for a “for-ward move-ment.” From day to day there was the cry of “On to
Rich-mond!”
This hot speed was not the wish of Gen. Scott, then Com-man-der-in-chief
of all the U. S. troops. He said it would be “death to our cause.” It
has since been thought that if the men in the North had been more slow
to move, the first great loss would not have been theirs.
It was on the 21st, of Ju-ly, 1861, that the bat-tle of Bull Run was
fought. Gen-er-al Mc-Do-well moved to-wards Rich-mond. The foe was
led by Gens. Jo-seph E. John-ston and Beau-re-gard. The bat-tle was a
sharp one and the loss large. At just the right mo-ment the foe had
fresh troops sent to help them and thus gained the day. Af-ter a hard
fight, the Un-ion for-ces had to give up. They fled back in haste to
Wash-ing-ton.
[Illustration: MARCHING TO BULL RUN.]
Sher-man was Colo-nel of a reg-i-ment at Bull Run. Though he did his
part well, he had a fear that the Pres-i-dent would find fault with
him for the great loss at that bat-tle. He felt that he had done all
he could with men who had been rushed in-to a fight ere they had had
time to learn the art of war. Lin-coln knew that Sher-man had done his
best with what he had. He knew that Sher-man was “val-u-a-ble man,” so
he at once made him a Brig-a-dier Gen-er-al, sent him to Lou-is-ville,
Ken-tuc-ky, and put him in charge of a large force of troops.
The bat-tle of Bull Run, it has been said, was fought to please “the
pol-i-ti-cians.” It was the on-ly time the Pres-i-dent yield-ed to the
pub-lic clam-or, and he was al-ways sor-ry that he then did so.
In a few days af-ter the bat-tle of Bull Run the Pres-i-dent went out
to see the sol-diers. He made a kind speech, and told them to “cheer
up,” for he “knew that bet-ter days were com-ing.”
Pres-i-dent Lin-coln felt that while Gen. Scott had a ver-y sound head
and had done great good in his long years of work in the ar-my, he had
come to the time when age had be-gun to “tell” up-on him. But what
man could he put in his place? Gen. Mc-Do-well had met with de-feat.
Gen. Pat-ter-son, too, had failed. Up to that date the on-ly off-i-cer
who had won was Gen. Mc-Clel-lan, in charge of O-hi-o troops in West
Vir-gin-ia. Gen. Scott spoke to Pres-i-dent Lin-coln in fa-vor of
this young man, Mc-Clel-lan, and, as it was not ea-sy to find just
the one need-ed at that hour, Mc-Clel-lan was kept at Wash-ing-ton to
or-gan-ize the troops com-ing in to that cit-y and make all read-y for
a strong cam-paign.
[Illustration: GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT]
The fine fall days were go-ing by and Mc-Clel-lan, though he seemed to
be get-ting read-y for work, did not bring a-bout what folks thought
he would. They be-gan to ask why the ar-my did not move. Word was sent
North each night that it was “All qui-et a-long the Po-to-mac!”
Ere the end of Sep-tem-ber came it was clear-ly made known to the
Pres-i-dent that the friends of the Un-ion cause felt that some of the
lead-ers were at fault. The Pres-i-dent, as a boy, had made him-self
mas-ter of gram-mar, law, sur-vey-ing, and oth-er things, and now he
made a close stud-y of war and how to fight great bat-tles. While he
was a help to Mc-Clel-lan, yet he saw, at last, that his own plans were
best, and so, in time, it was proved to all that Mc-Clel-lan was wrong
and Lin-coln was right.
Not a-lone in war schemes but in oth-ers the hand and head of Lin-coln
oft-en proved bet-ter than those of men who had been brought up to such
work. Lin-coln’s way with for-eign lands, some of whose ru-lers were
friend-ly to the South and want-ed it to win, was thought to be just
right. Then the way Lin-coln got vast sums to car-ry on the war, and
the part he thought it wise for the na-vy to take in the great strife,
won praise for him. These things were all un-der Lin-coln’s eye and had
his close care.
As time went on the whole North learned to look to Lin-coln, and
de-pend up-on him for help in dark days and wise work in bright times.
When the North felt they could not win, Lin-coln said, “We shall win!”
While a large force of men was in arms not much had been done by
Un-ion Gen-er-als. Mc-Clel-lan’s great ar-my grew less and less. Hordes
of men were ill. Mc-Clel-lan had no plan for his troops to move.
Hal-leck was in charge in Mis-sou-ri and Gen. Bu-ell in Ken-tuc-ky.
Pres-i-dent Lin-coln saw that a un-ion must be brought a-bout be-tween
the moves of these three lead-ers. He wrote to them, but they did not
care to do what he thought best.
U-lys-ses S. Grant, though a West Point man who had fought in the war
with Mex-i-co in 1843, had left the ar-my and gone to a small farm near
St. Lou-is. He was poor, but he built a small house of hewn logs for
his fam-i-ly, did his own work on the land, and lived a life of peace.
A chance came to go to Ga-le-na, in the State of Il-li-nois. There
Grant was a clerk in a store where they sold hides. There he was when
the war broke out, and the South and the North, which had been as one,
were now two, and full of hate.
Four days af-ter Lin-coln’s call for troops went through the land, U.
S. Grant be-gan to drill some of the men in his place in the use of the
gun. In a few days he set off with them for Spring-field, Ill. From
there he wrote to a man who held a high post at Wash-ing-ton and told
him that he would like to be of use and help save the land from its foe.
No word came back. But Grant kept on, staid in the same cit-y, and gave
his time to the drill of all the troops he could find.
In five weeks’ time Cap-tain Grant was made Colo-nel and sent off to
the seat of war at the head of the 21st Il-li-nois. He went first to
Mis-sou-ri and then to Cai-ro. Soon, with-out ask-ing for the post, he
was made Brig-a-dier-Gen-er-al.
A force of the foe, led by Gen. Polk, went up the Mis-sis-sip-pi from
Mem-phis and took the high bluffs at Co-lum-bus, in Ken-tuc-ky.
A man from Co-lum-bus said, “The Con-fed-er-ates are get-ting read-y to
seize Pa-du-cah!” Pa-du-cah was a place which would be of great worth
to the side which first got hold of it. If the guns of the foe were put
there they would stop steam-boats from pass-ing that point.
Gen. Grant saw that he must act at once. There was no time in which to
wait for or-ders from the head of the troops in the West. The ver-y
next morn-ing the folks who lived in Pa-du-cah were great-ly sur-prised
to see a fleet of steam-boats full of Un-ion troops made fast at the
wharf. The na-tives had been told that the for-ces of the South were to
be there that day, and they had gone to the quay to greet Gen. Thom-as
who was to lead those troops.
Grant’s quick move gave Ken-tuc-ky to the Un-ion cause and much cheer
to Pres-i-dent Lin-coln.
The first fight of the war in which Grant took the lead was af-ter he
moved his troops from Pa-du-cah down to Hun-ter’s Point, near Bel-mont.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF BELMONT.]
Pres-i-dent Lin-coln strove to have a un-i-ty of ac-tion be-tween his
gen-er-als. Mc-Clel-lan had a great force at hand. He did naught with
it but drill and wait. Hal-leck had charge in Mis-sou-ri and Bu-ell in
Ken-tuc-ky. They had noth-ing to do with each oth-er.
Pres-i-dent Lin-coln told Hal-leck to men-ace Co-lum-bus on the
Mis-sis-sip-pi and Bu-ell at the same time to move up-on the force
un-der John-ston, at Bowl-ing Green in cen-tral Ken-tuc-ky. These men
did not do as the Pres-i-dent had told them to, and they did not e-ven
an-swer his let-ter or or-der. Then it was that the Pres-i-dent felt
that the three com-mand-ers were not do-ing what they ought to do, in
fact, that they were “three do-noth-ings.”
There were bad times in eas-tern Ten-nes-see, where the folks had
giv-en out that they were for the Un-ion. The foe in Geor-gi-a and
Tex-as took man-y of them and put them in jail for so do-ing. Those who
got off told tales of great dis-tress. Lin-coln want-ed Bu-ell to help
them but he would-n’t.
In the East there was much talk of Mc-Clel-lan’s long wait. The
Pres-i-dent was ver-y pa-tient, too pa-tient folks said. A-gain and
a-gain Lin-coln went to Mc-Clel-lan to get him to start work with his
large for-ces.
In the West there were two men who felt that they could do a good
stroke for the Un-ion if they had leave to do it. One of these men was
Com-mo-dore Foote. The oth-er was Gen-er-al Grant.