HEROES HOME FROM THE WAR
WASHINGTON, January 23, 1848.
MY DEAREST MARGARET,--At the strong desire of the colonel, I must
remain here a few days longer. He wishes me to go with him over all
the reports in order to get at all the facts in relation to the
services of the engineer officers in the recent campaign of Mexico.
I am able to afford many explanations of the reports, presenting in
a stronger light the services of our officers, which will enable the
colonel to present a strong case to the Secretary in matters of
brevets.
The colonel and his family have been very cordial to me, and nothing
could be more grateful than the high appreciation they have for the
services of our officers. The colonel takes great pride in the
distinction which our corps has acquired. Indeed, the services of
the engineers have been so conspicuous that the corps has become
popular. Every one knows that the engineers have important functions
in the field.
I have paid my respects to the President and Secretary, and was
highly gratified with my interview. The Secretary had a half hour's
leisure, and I took the opportunity to express my sense of the great
ability, wisdom, and patriotism of General Scott. The Secretary has
the highest admiration for his military achievements, and is indeed
a just and judicious friend to the service.
I am boarding at Mrs. Janney's with my old friends, Gilmer and
Woodbury. Woodbury married Miss Childs, a very pleasant lady. Her
mother is also boarding at the same place, a highly intelligent
person, and the wife of Colonel Childs, distinguished for his
defense of Puebla.
You may be sure I am very impatient to see you and my little ones.
Nothing but a sense of duty to my brother officers, who are absent
in the field, could have induced me to remain. I hope to reach
Newport within the week, certainly by next Sunday morning.
Affectionate remembrances to friends, and love, much love, to my
Hazard and Susan.
Yours most affectionately,
ISAAC.
My health is splendid, my wound improving.
The enforced visit to Washington was not without pleasant features. He
was received with the gratifying attentions due an officer just from the
seat of war, who had distinguished himself for gallantry and conduct,
and enjoyed the congenial duty of explaining the military operations to
his chief, and aiding in securing for his absent comrades the honors and
rewards they had so well earned. A letter of February 6 from his friend,
Captain Foster, is of interest in this connection:--
"On arriving at Washington I went immediately to Mrs. Janney's.
There I heard of you. They all spoke very highly of you,
particularly Mr. Robbins, who was very much interested in you. I
dined at Colonel Totten's on Wednesday, and Mrs. T. told me all
about your being here. They all paid you some very fine compliments.
Mrs. T. said she gained more information from Mr. Stevens than from
_all_ the other officers who had come from Mexico, your manner of
speaking of men and things was so frank and just. Miss Kate said she
was _delighted_ with Mr. Stevens; he was correct and reliable in all
he said. The colonel seemed glad to see me, and proud of the
reputation of his corps. The result of all this, I hope, will be
that he will give us two brevets, make you a major in charge of a
work, and send me as your assistant.... It made me right jealous to
hear the flatteries that the ladies at Mrs. Burr's bestowed on the
'gallant Mr. Stevens.'"
It was a joyful reunion when he reached Newport, and enfolded his dearly
loved wife and little ones in his arms. A fortnight later he visited
Andover, and one may imagine how his father, brother Oliver, and cousins
and fellow townsmen received the soldier, returned on crutches, with
open arms, and lionized him to the full. The country had been at peace
for thirty years, and the returning soldiers from Mexico, especially the
wounded officers, were received with mingled feelings of awe and
admiration. Writes a brother officer, "The boys look at me around the
corner, remarking, 'I see him.' 'There he goes.' 'The man that's been to
Mexico.'"
NEWPORT, R.I., February 28, 1848.
MY DEAR FATHER,--We reached Newport about half past eight o'clock in
the evening the same day we left Andover. I am now in my office, and
am devoting some six hours each day to official matters. My wound is
improving; I go about the house with a cane simply, and through the
streets with one crutch and a cane. In one month, or at least in two
months, I hope to be able to dismiss my crutches entirely.
I hope in all sincerity that our difficulties with Mexico are in the
way of a permanent adjustment. The general opinion is that the
Senate will ratify the treaty. The only difficulty (and one which in
my opinion is much to be apprehended) is that Mexico, in consequence
of a pronunciamiento, may disavow her own act. I trust, however,
that such will not be the case, though I think it incumbent upon our
government to continue to raise and push out troops till the thing
is settled. Should there be want of faith on the part of the
Mexicans, we should be in condition to punish it with most exemplary
severity. Let our war measures be all pushed through without delay,
and let there be the greatest activity in raising troops. This
course of procedure, whilst ratifying the treaty, will make the
treaty an effective thing.
Remember me to friends. Margaret wishes to be affectionately
remembered to you. Hazard has not forgotten your stories of King
George and the Redcoats.
At this time he was being considered for the colonelcy of one of the new
regiments, which, if the war continued, would have to be raised. A
prominent member of Congress from Maine, Hezekiah Williams, writes him,
"I think our delegation would unite in recommending you. It certainly
would give me pleasure to aid in obtaining your appointment." Mr.
Stevens writes Oliver:--
"My policy is to get elected to the command of a volunteer regiment,
and get a leave of absence, so as to hold on to my present
commission. I should like to command a Massachusetts regiment and
put it through some good service in Mexico, should we be obliged to
resort to the alternative of renewing the contest."
An incident occurred one day, when a light rifle that Mr. Stevens had
taken to Mexico, but had never used in action there, stood in good
stead. A mad dog ran amuck down Broad Street, frothing at the mouth and
snapping at all he met. The people on all sides rushed into the shops
and houses for refuge, with loud outcries of alarm and warning. Mr.
Stevens, apprised of the danger, seized the light rifle, hobbled out on
his crutches to the sidewalk, followed up the maddened beast, which had
now dashed into the hall of a neighboring house, and shot him through
the head, killing him on the spot.
He might now reasonably expect a little rest until he could recover from
his severe wound and injury. He writes Oliver, March 15:--
"I am taking things very quietly in this most quiet of all places.
There is no danger from dissipation or over-excitement, and I need
not, therefore, be apprehensive of anything like inflammation in my
wounded part. My wound is doing exceedingly well. I can now move a
little about the house with a cane."
That very day he received orders to proceed to Savannah, Ga., with the
view of taking charge of the fortifications on the Savannah River. After
his arrival there he writes Oliver, March 27:--
"I am here on temporary duty for a few days, and shall return home
next week. This is to be my permanent station in the fall. The
summer I shall spend in amusing myself. A portion of it will be
passed in Andover.
"Savannah is an old-looking, handsomely laid out, and pretty
well-built place, the most important town in the State, and the only
one having much trade.
"Colonel Mansfield will relieve me in Bucksport during the latter
part of April, at which time I shall bid adieu to my friends in
Maine.
"I am tolerably well pleased with my new station. It is healthy
throughout the year, and I have no doubt the change will prove
highly advantageous so far as health is concerned.
"The duties are trifling. The large work, Fort Pulaski, is finished,
and nothing remains to be done but to prepare a bridge-head of
timber, and secure the island from overflow by the construction of
dikes. The small work, Fort Jackson, will require an expenditure of
something less than one hundred thousand dollars in the way of
enlargement and repair.
"My duties will therefore be comparatively light. Nothing will be
doing from June to October; so I shall be able to go North
occasionally to pass the summer.
"The people are very hospitable, and I shall make many acquaintances
before I leave. I have an old classmate just rising at the bar here,
and many officers' families reside here."
His next letter to Oliver, from Newport, April 6, is interesting as
presenting his view of Cromwell:--
"I am just back from Savannah after an absence of twenty days, and
return thither to commence operations in November next. The
intermediate time will enable me to get well of my game foot, and to
pass some little time among my friends. I go down to Bucksport week
after next to turn over the public property to Colonel Mansfield,
and I shall probably be in Portland on Friday, April 21.
"I am rather late to answer the principal thing in your letter of
the 25th ultimo. Both subjects are good. I should think that
'Individuality of Character' would be preferable, because its
handling does not require so much reading as Cromwell. With ample
leisure for investigation, I should prefer the latter. I do not know
of a single unprejudiced authority. Foster's Statesmen of the
Commonwealth and Clarendon's History are the best I have seen.
Russell's Biography is poor and inaccurate. Hume is very
superficial. Catherine Macaulay is a great bigot. Carlyle's Cromwell
is good, because it consists principally of Cromwell's letters and
speeches. Babington Macaulay's essays on the various statesmen of
the rebellion are good.
"I like your idea of treating the subject of individuality. The
greatest example of the influence of a strong, original character in
moulding a great people in our own history is Franklin. It was the
strong, original characters of our Revolution that achieved our
independence. The many are always ruled by a few, frequently by one,
the wise, the strong man, or men. I have found in this view many
fine ideas in Carlyle's Heroes.
"As regards Cromwell: he and he alone achieved the overthrow of the
Stuarts. Without him there would have been no glorious restoration,
as Burke calls the expulsion of James. The French monarchy would
have still been absolute, and the French people would have still
been in chains. Cromwell was bold, direct, far-seeing, a great
governor of men. Cromwell was vastly superior in the elements of a
great man to Hampden, to Pym, to Strafford, to Vane. A bold sketch
of Cromwell's actual part in the greatest drama of English history
would be highly interesting. Dwell on his great foresight, grasp,
directness, sincerity; his boisterous youth, his religious fervor in
after years, his unswerving advocacy of the rights of his neighbors,
which caused him to be called the Lord of the Fens; his unshrinking
avowal of his opinions in his early parliamentary career; his
extraordinary sagacity in organizing his Ironsides, the greatest
soldiers of ancient or modern times; his self-denying ordinance, in
which by a bold stroke he threw half-way, indecisive men from the
army, and sent it forth to victory; his earnest efforts to settle
matters with Charles after the forces of the latter were dispersed,
and he a prisoner; his invincible opposition to all ecclesiastical
tyranny, whether presbyterian or prelatical; his part in the
execution of the king; his great Irish and Scotch campaigns,
particularly the battle of Dunbar, where his famous rallying cry,
as the sun shone through the morning clouds, 'Let God arise, and
let his enemies be scattered!' spread dismay through the ranks of
his enemies, and brought a glorious victory to his arms."
Now he enjoyed a month of the rest he so much needed. With his wife and
little ones he occupied rooms in the old family mansion, a welcome guest
to Mrs. Benjamin Hazard and her daughters, who always regarded him with
the greatest affection and admiration. As spring opened, he took great
pleasure in making a famous garden in the spacious yard behind the
mansion, having the ground manured and cultivated in the most thorough
manner, and planting the greatest profusion of vegetables. His friend
Mason was also in Newport, recovering from his wound, and many were the
accounts and discussions had with him and Mr. Brooks and other congenial
spirits of the stirring scenes of the war.
Major Stevens was fully convinced of the justice and necessity of the
Mexican war. The repeated depredations by Mexico upon Americans, and her
long-continued refusal or evasion of all redress; her publicly declared
purpose of conquering the republic of Texas after its independence had
been established and acknowledged for ten years; her arrogant demand
that the United States should not admit Texas to the Union, and her
still more arrogant threat that she would regard such admission as an
act of war; the departure of her minister from Washington; and the
breaking off of all friendly relations instantly upon the passage by
Congress of the resolution admitting the Lone Star State,--left no
alternative but to bring the inflated and treacherous pronunciamientos
to terms by force of arms, since they were amenable neither to justice
nor reason, and to "conquer a peace" which even they would have to
respect. And, glorious as were her arms, not less creditable were the
moderation and magnanimity of the Great Republic, when Mexico, her
armies destroyed, her capital taken, lay prostrate, in paying a large
indemnity for the far-distant and almost tenantless regions of New
Mexico and California, which, while ready to fall from Mexico's feeble
grasp, were essential to the expansion of the populous and fast-growing
Republic of the North.
In the latter part of May he visited Boston and Andover with his little
son.
The following month the Savannah orders were countermanded, the Engineer
Department deeming it best that he should continue in charge of Fort
Knox, and the other works in Maine and New Hampshire.
After a preliminary visit, he moved his family again to Bucksport, in
June, and occupied a cottage at the fort opposite the town.
He gathered about him his former assistants, A.W. Tinkham and John Lee,
and continued in charge of the works for upwards of five years.
Having a strong desire to own a home of his own, he purchased a house,
with a generous lot of half an acre, overlooking the river. The house
was of two stories, seven rooms, with a barn in the rear connected by a
woodshed. The principal wharf was at the foot of the street, and here
Major Stevens kept his boat. The house had an ill repute as being
unhealthy, some of the former inmates having died from consumption. When
cautioned on this score, he replied: "It is high time some one took the
house who can give it a good reputation." He had the cellar and grounds
thoroughly drained, sunk a well, blasting through a ledge of rock, and
put the grounds and garden in fine order. He took great pains with, and
pleasure in, the garden, raising all kinds of vegetables. They kept
poultry also, and among them was a flock of twelve ducklings that every
day solemnly waddled down to the river in single file, and as solemnly
waddled up the hill again after their daily bath and paddling in the
river, an unceasing source of interest and pleasure to the children.
The government was contemplating the fortification of the more important
points on the Pacific coast, and to an inquiry as to his willingness to
be sent to that distant field, he writes the following characteristic
reply:--
"As regards engineer duty on the Pacific coast for a year or two, I
should be well pleased with it did I feel certain that I was
physically in condition to undertake it. If the passage thither
should be an easy one, as mostly by sea, I have little doubt that on
my arrival at the scene of my duties my lameness would be
essentially gone. If the journey should be overland, I should hardly
be able to bear the fatigues of it in less than two or three months.
If ordered, I should go _without hesitation_, and do the best I
could. I must leave this matter entirely with you. No officer should
feel at liberty to decline a distant duty of this kind, and in this
case, as in all others, let the public interests alone have weight."
Ambitious he was, but with a lofty ambition, not to aggrandize himself,
but to serve his country, ever ready to sacrifice personal interests and
feelings to the public service. In this and other letters he displays a
certain impatience that personal convenience or interests should be
consulted at all in matters of public duty.
When the brevets were announced, Lieutenant Stevens was brevetted
"Captain, August 20, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the
battles of Contreras and Churubusco," and "Major, September 13, 1847,
for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Chapultepec."
He took great pains to secure justice to all the engineer officers in
the way of brevets, conceiving that he was in a measure responsible
therefor because, as adjutant of the corps in Mexico, the engineer
reports had been made through him; he had had charge of the records, and
had been closely consulted by the chief, General Totten, and spent no
little time and effort in behalf of those who had been overlooked.
The engineers felt themselves treated with injustice in the matter of
brevet pay, for while the officers of artillery, cavalry, and infantry
were allowed full pay when assigned to duty according to their brevet
rank, the former were denied the same right, although frequently placed
in charge of works and assigned to duties above their nominal rank. They
had other grievances, too, in the allowances for rations, horses, etc.
One so disinterested and indefatigable in behalf of his corps and
brother officers as Major Stevens would be sure to be often called upon.
He took great interest in these matters, and even more in the general
reorganization of the army, upon which he corresponded and consulted
largely with able and public-spirited young officers of other corps as
well as his own.
It was not until November that his friend and classmate, Lieutenant J.F.
Gilmer, relieved him of the vouchers and papers relating to Savannah
forts. Writing from Washington, November 6, Gilmer says: "Captain Fred.
A. Smith would like much to have you here this winter. It is possible
you may do the corps a great service by being in Washington this
winter."
A call for service in any direction always appealed strongly to him, and
accordingly he determined to visit Washington, as he writes his brother
Oliver, under date of Bucksport, December 8, 1848. This letter displays
a humorous vein not usual with him, and gives his view of the character
and public policy of General Taylor, then just elected President:--
MY DEAR BROTHER,--I rejoice to learn that you are still in the land
of the living, and that that severe and noble pursuit, the law, does
not prevent your seeing the lions of the town. But you are very
cruel to triumph over us benighted creatures in this region of
frosts and snows. In truth we lead a quiet, rational, country life,
perhaps as much to be envied as the more attractive life of the
great city. I wish you, however, distinctly to understand that we do
not suck our paws during the winter, and I feel bound to disabuse
you of this misapprehension. That is done still farther down East, I
believe. We do not sleep more than twelve or at most fourteen hours
a day. We manage to eat three meals per day. But it is hard work;
they approximate rather too closely. We drink tea nights, and eat
apples mornings. We get the newspapers generally every day, and
expect to read the Message to-morrow. By way of diversion, we slide
down hill on a moonlight evening. Then there are prayer and
conference meetings _ad libitum_. What a consolation these latter
privileges would be to one of your serious turn of mind! I can
almost see your grave countenance lighted up with heavenly radiance
on such an occasion.
By the bye, I hope to see you in about four weeks, as I pass on to
Washington. There I shall probably remain till after the
inauguration. I find in the election of General Taylor the great
fact indicated that we poor devils in the army are citizens of the
country, and eligible to civil offices of trust. I should have voted
most cordially for General Cass, had I a vote to throw. His election
I vastly preferred. But there has been in this canvass a vast deal
of nonsense about the camp not being the place to find our
Presidents, and I am much mistaken if General Taylor, in his own
person, does not prove a happy instance of the mingling of military
and administrative ability. And those miserable hacks of party, who
have sought to depreciate his military services and talents, have
now the consolation to reflect that their efforts at detraction
served to promote his election, as it did that of General Harrison.
"I unhesitatingly believe that General Taylor will administer the
government in an able, impartial, and patriotic manner, and if
during his presidency an emergency arises, he will prove a
hero-President as he has proved a hero-soldier. The Democratic party
ought not to prejudge him. Let them maintain a firm attitude in
Congress, and keep well organized everywhere. The Whigs cannot carry
any of their favorite measures through Congress for two years at
least. We may then have a Democratic Congress, and, my word for it,
there will be no collision between such a Congress and General
Taylor. On that great cluster of questions, the public lands, the
encouragement and protection of distant settlements, the development
of the great Pacific coast, the old man will be right. If the
Democratic party will show candor and liberality towards General
Taylor, he may be their nominee four years from this time."
As one result of his visit to Washington, Major Stevens took hold of the
brevet pay question in his usual thoroughgoing and indefatigable manner.
He first corresponded with every brevetted officer of the corps whom he
had not already consulted personally. Having thus learned their views,
he prepared a strong memorial on the subject, which, after being
submitted to, and warmly approved by, Colonels Thayer and Mansfield and
Major Tower, was sent to all the officers for their signatures. And in
July he transmitted the memorial to General Totten, signed by every
brevetted officer of the corps save one, with an urgent letter asking
his interposition with the War Department in their behalf.
It was the intention, in case the department denied the application, to
appeal to Congress, but the manifest justice of the cause as presented
was unanswerable. The department, after some doubts, concluded that it
had the necessary authority under the law regulating brevet pay, and at
length the engineers were placed on an equality with the other arms in
this respect. His brother officers conceded that the gratifying triumph
was due to the well-directed and persistent efforts of Major Stevens,
and showered upon him their warm thanks and applause. This success,
however, was followed by more and more frequent applications from them
and others for assistance and advice in their own personal matters. He
never failed to expend his thought, energy, and time in every deserving
case as promptly and freely as, ay, far more than, if he was working for
himself, and he never shunned, nor complained of, these gratuitous
tasks, which in the next few years became a great burden, but always
seemed to take real pleasure and satisfaction in helping others, even
many who had little or no claim upon him.
In April writes Captain George B. McClellan, who was stationed at West
Point with the engineer company, an urgent appeal to Major Stevens to
use his influence to have the company ordered away from the Point, and
to Fort Schuyler:--
MY DEAR STEVENS,--The detachment of artillery (laborers) stationed
here are to be transferred to the engineer company,--at least so
many as may be necessary to fill up the company. On our company then
will it devolve to do all the police of the Point, to make the
roads, drive the carts, feed the oxen, work in the blacksmith and
carpenter shops, etc., etc.,--in plain terms, the engineer company
is destroyed; it has become a company of mud-diggers; it will no
longer be an engineer company, for it will be impossible to do
military duty, and no instruction in the duties of engineer troops
can be given them. The object of the whole business is to get
Shover's company of light artillery ordered on here, and we are
sacrificed to attain that object.
This is a matter that concerns equally all the officers of our
corps. We are disgraced if this order is allowed to remain in force,
and I beg of you to use whatever influence you may possess in
Washington to have the order rescinded, and the company ordered away
from here. I am in haste,
Truly your friend,
GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN.
Partly in response to this letter, but more to express his own views as
to the true policy in regard to engineer troops, Major Stevens writes at
length to General Totten. It is characteristic that he does not treat
the matter from McClellan's narrow, personal standpoint, but at once
elevates the whole subject to a discussion of the requirements of the
service. After referring to his intimate association with the engineer
company in its organization and in Mexico, he continues:--
"I think every one owes something to his profession. Something is
due to my profession, not inferior certainly in dignity to any
other. I would endeavor to discharge it according to my ability. It
will be in this spirit that I shall submit the following
observations. In this spirit will I from time to time communicate
with the department on this and other topics appertaining to the
noble profession of arms, not doubting that my suggestions will be
kindly received.
"By law, the engineer company is restricted to one hundred men, a
number entirely inadequate even to the duties of peace.... The
remedy I would propose is this: Let the utmost care be exercised in
enlisting men. Let no man be enlisted who cannot in due course of
time be made a non-commissioned officer. Let there be in no case
transfers from other branches of the service. Let the whole strength
of the officers of the company be applied to discipline and instruct
the men, so that in time of need we shall have a band of splendid
non-commissioned officers, the peers of Everett and Hastings and
Starr,--men who have received commissions for their gallant services
in Mexico, and each of whom, had Smith and McClellan and Foster
fallen, could have gloriously led on the company to its duty.
"I would propose a complete system of practical instruction six or
seven months of the year, sapping, mining, and pontooneering, and
the whole subject of field-works, at some suitable place, say Fort
Schuyler, and a course of theoretical instruction the remaining five
months, embracing an elementary course of mathematics (including
drawing, surveying, and the use of instruments) and of engineering.
There should also be a good general and military library. As regards
the library, the corps could be applied to for aid, if necessary. I
will for one, and I doubt not many officers would, liberally make
donations.
"Even if the engineer arm were increased to four companies, which I
trust will be done the next session of Congress, I would recommend
this course. The fine practical education which would thus be
secured would induce men to enlist. And we shall have the
satisfaction that in the next war with England, and when the
question is to besiege Montreal, Quebec, and Halifax, our four
companies can be soon converted into twenty companies."
Ever since his return from Mexico, Major Stevens was deeply interested
in the reorganization of the army. Even while so vigorously fighting for
his corps in the matter of brevet pay, in discussions and correspondence
with Mansfield, Mason, Tower, G.W. Smith, F.A. Smith, Beauregard, Hunt,
and others, after disposing of this particular grievance he would
enlarge upon the reorganization of the whole army, giving his own ideas,
and urging them as a patriotic duty, not as members of any corps, but
from the standpoint of the whole army, to prepare memoirs, or letters,
giving their views.
He advocated an organization that would admit of fourfold extension in
case of war; the keeping of at least one third of the troops in camps of
drill and instruction in order to maintain the highest degree of
military knowledge and discipline; and the raising of the standard of
the rank and file, attracting thereby American-born young men as
soldiers by increased pay, better instruction, and greater opportunities
for advancement, even to conferring commissions in meritorious cases.
These letters and replies, particularly a memoir by Hunt (afterwards the
distinguished general, Henry J. Hunt, chief of artillery of the Army of
the Potomac), are full of interest and instruction. The army, with all
the improvements adopted in recent years, has not yet reached the
standard set by these patriotic and able young officers fifty years ago.
How Major Stevens followed up these preliminary efforts will appear
hereafter.