_Wherein Captain Galligasken relates a pleasing Anecdote of the
illustrious Soldier, and shows how and why he captured Paducah._
Several regiments were engaged in Northern Missouri in guarding
railroads and repressing guerrillas, and it was necessary that they
should act in concert. Grant was the junior in rank of the other
colonels; but as they had a reasonable delicacy in issuing orders to
one who had been educated at West Point, and who had seen service on
the battle-field, the commander of the Twenty-first was appointed
acting brigadier.
In the latter part of July the chaplain of his regiment informed Grant
that he had been appointed a Brigadier General of Volunteers. He was
quite surprised at the intelligence, for he had made no application
for the promotion, either directly or through any of his friends. The
appointment was obtained by Mr. Washburn, who had introduced him to
Governor Yates. This gentleman exhibited a high appreciation of the
abilities of Grant, and it could not but be a happy thought to him,
in the light of subsequent events, that he had been instrumental in
bringing forward the illustrious soldier, though I doubt not that,
without the aid of any influence in his favor, he would in due time
have soared to his proper level.
As a regimental commander, Colonel Grant made his mark; for he always
did everything well. He was acting in this capacity in order to serve
his country, and not as a stepping-stone to future eminence. He
discharged his duties earnestly and faithfully in this comparatively
humble sphere, as though he had already reached the height of his
ambition. He gave his men an example of the most rigid simplicity of
manners. He rarely wore a uniform, except on parade, and was above
any vain show of "fuss and feathers." Nothing ever moved him so that
his emotion came to the surface, and when informed that he had been
appointed a brigadier, he was as undisturbed as though the matter did
not concern him.
In his regimental experience, where he was more directly and intimately
connected with the soldiers, he labored zealously to promote their
welfare, morally and spiritually, as well as in a military point
of view. He manifested a lively interest in the observance of the
ordinances of religion among the men. He encouraged the chaplain in
his efforts to keep the spirit of the gospel alive in the troops.
He insisted upon having divine services in his camp, and used his
influence to secure the attendance of all under his command. He
regularly attended worship himself, except when prevented by his duties
from being present.
One day, at the mess table of the regiment, when the officers were all
seated, Colonel Grant remarked that it was his custom, when at home, to
invite any clergyman, who was present in his house, to ask blessing at
the table, adding that a blessing was as much needed in the camp as at
home, and, if it was agreeable to the views of his officers, he would
like to have the chaplain ask a blessing every time they sat down to
eat.
The rebel General Jeff. Thompson, at the head of a horde of partisan
cutthroats, went through a portion of the State of Missouri where
Grant was located, committing petty outrages, and issuing absurd
proclamations, probably in imitation of Governor Gamble, who seemed
determined to fight out the battle with paper manifestoes. Grant, at
the head of a small force, marched in pursuit of the marauder.
It is said that Washington was utterly devoid of humor, and that he
was not known to have made more than one joke in his lifetime. When
Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, suggested that the standing army of
the United States should be limited to four thousand men, Washington
moved that no enemy should invade the country with a larger force than
four thousand. While it must be acknowledged that Grant is not a joker,
he is not without the element of humor in his composition. Some of his
punishments are ludicrous and amusing, though they are always judicious
and effective.
During the campaign in Missouri, while Grant was marching after
Jeff. Thompson, his advance consisted of a body of Indiana cavalry,
commanded by one Lieutenant Wickfield, a man of expedients, especially
when suggested by an empty stomach. At noon this force arrived at a
farm-house, which looked sufficiently thrifty to assure the campaigners
that its larder would supply wherewith to correct the vacuum which
prudent nature loathes. Wickfield, with two of his inferior officers,
dismounted and entered the dwelling.
Though the great country for which Grant was fighting had yet hardly
heard his name, he was sufficiently well known in this locality to
wield a powerful influence. Wickfield realized that the potent name of
the brigadier would be enough to induce the people to bring forward the
best the house afforded, and he had the impudence to declare that he
was Brigadier General Grant. The name was indeed a tower of strength,
and the best that the larder contained was set before the hungry
guests. They ate not merely all they wanted, but all they could, and
asked how much was to be paid for their entertainment. The farmer's
folks seemed to think it was a sufficient honor to have fed a live
brigadier, and they declined payment. The officers went on their way,
rejoicing in the plenty that filled their stomachs.
The main body of the army halted a few miles from this house, to rest
for a time; Grant rode forward, and came to the house in which the
officers of his advance had been so sumptuously regaled. He was not
so ethereal as to be above the necessity of eating; and, indulging in
a course of reasoning similar to that of Wickfield, he rode up to the
front gate of the house, and asked the occupants if they could prepare
him a dinner.
"No," responded the mistress of the house, in tones gruff and
unamiable; "General Grant and his staff have just been here and eaten
up everything in the house, except one pumpkin pie."
"Humph," said Grant, in his stoical manner, without exhibiting any
surprise at the singular intelligence. "What is your name?"
"Selvidge," answered the woman.
"Will you keep that pie till I send an officer for it?" added Grant,
throwing a half dollar to her.
"Yes, I will," she replied, picking up the money; and Grant rode off,
doubtless thinking that he did not realize any benefit from the dinner
which the brigadier and his staff had eaten, for he was probably
willing to believe that the impostor had not taken his name in vain.
That evening, when the force had gone into camp for the night, the
several regiments were ordered to appear on parade at half past six
o'clock, with particular instructions that every man should be present.
The order was a very unusual one, for dress parades on the march were
not required, and a decided sensation was created in the army. Some
thought the enemy were upon them, and various explanations of the
strange order were suggested, though none of them were correct. At the
appointed time the parade was formed, ten columns deep, and nearly
a quarter of a mile in length. The ordinary ceremonial of the dress
parade was punctiliously performed, and then the assistant adjutant
general read the following luminous order:--
"HEADQUARTERS, ARMY IN THE FIELD.
"_Special Order, No_. 112.
"Lieutenant Wickfield, of the ---- Indiana Cavalry, having on this
day eaten everything in Mrs. Selvidge's house, except one pumpkin
pie, Lieutenant Wickfield is hereby ordered to return with an
escort of one hundred cavalry, and eat that pie also.
U.S. GRANT,
_Brigadier General Commanding_."
As no one, or any body of men, ever presumed to disobey an order of
General Grant, at seven o'clock Lieutenant Wickfield, with his escort
of one hundred men, filed out of the camp, amid the derisive cheers of
the entire army. The escort unite in their testimony that he consumed
the whole of the pie, and, so far as they were able to judge, are
willing to affirm that he enjoyed the treat, especially as sufficient
time had elapsed since his dinner to enable him to do so with impunity.
Grant's commission as a brigadier general reached him August 7, though
it was antedated May 17. In harmony with his antecedents thus far,
which placed him neither first nor last, he was the seventeenth on
a list of thirty-four original appointments in the grade to which
he was assigned. Though Mr. Washburn had been forward in procuring
his appointment, Grant was unanimously recommended by the Illinois
delegation in Congress--not one of whom he knew personally before the
commencement of the outbreak, and not one of whom had the slightest
idea of the magnificent grant they were making for the nation.
At the time of General Grant's appointment, the Western Department,
which included all the region between the Mississippi and the Rocky
Mountains, with the State of Illinois and such parts of Western
Kentucky and Tennessee as might be in possession of the national arms,
was under command of General Fremont. For his own convenience, the
chief of this department divided his territory into sub-districts;
and on the 1st of September Grant was ordered to the command of the
South-east Missouri District, including Western Kentucky and Tennessee.
On the 4th of the month he established his headquarters at Cairo.
General Grant was now in a position to make himself felt, and he began
to gaze out upon the broad field of Southern aggression before him. He
was on the actual dividing line between loyalty and rebellion, prepared
to defend the one and invade the other. Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky,
had made his sensational reply to the call for troops, that his state
would furnish none for the "wicked" purpose of subduing her sister
Southern States, and had issued his proclamation of neutrality, which
meant nothing but rebellion, as proved by the subsequent conduct of the
man. There could be no neutral state between the fiery South and the
indignant North.
Cairo was a point of the utmost importance to the loyal cause, as
a depot of supplies, as a gunboat rendezvous, and as a strategetic
position. The Mobile and Ohio Railroad extended through the western
part of Tennessee to the northern line of that state, where it diverged
into three branches, terminating respectively at Hickman, Columbus,
and Paducah, connecting these places with all the principal cities of
the South, each of which might form a base of operation for offensive
movements on the part of the rebels.
Neutrality in Kentucky meant rebellion. It was proclaimed in the
interests of the South, but it was not, and could not be, respected
by either party. It was first violated by the rebels, who failed to
sound the notes of indignation when Bishop General Polk marched his
army into the state and seized upon Hickman and Columbus. General Grant
had studied his maps faithfully, and fully comprehended the situation,
not only in its present but in its future significance. Polk was in
full march upon Paducah, the possession of which would give the rebels
the control of the navigation of the Ohio and the entrance of the
Tennessee, at the mouth of which the town is located.
Grant was wide awake, and a few days after he had established his
headquarters at Cairo he completed his hasty preparations for the
capture of Paducah, and started late in the evening with two regiments
and a light battery, with two gunboats--the naval force of his district
having also been placed under his direction. Arriving at his objective
point the next morning, he landed his force, and took possession of the
town, the rebels under Tilghman hastily evacuating the place while the
national troops were landing.
Paducah was a strong secession town. Recruiting officers from the rebel
army were enlisting its citizens to fight against the Union even when
Grant landed. The prompt movement was a necessity, and Grant made it
without the order of his superior officer, though he notified Fremont
of the purposes of the enemy, and asked his permission to check them;
but he started before this permission reached him. He also announced
his purpose to the legislature of Kentucky, then in session at
Frankfort, but neither did he wait for their permission. A few hours of
delay would have defeated the objects of the expedition. He was prompt,
and thus saved the West from the mortification and disaster of having
the Ohio closed.
The inhabitants of Paducah were in full sympathy with the Rebellion.
They believed in the neutrality of Kentucky, even while they harbored
and assisted in recruiting a rebel force in their midst. Grant issued a
proclamation, in which he informed them that he came not as an enemy,
but as their fellow-citizen, to respect and enforce the rights of all
loyal citizens. He declared that he had nothing to do with opinions,
and should deal only with armed rebellion, its aiders and abettors. He
could not help mingling a little of his quaint humor with the solid
declarations of the document; adding, that whenever it was manifest
the people of Paducah were able to defend themselves, maintain the
authority of the government, and protect the rights of loyal citizens,
he should withdraw the forces under his command. It was not their style
to defend themselves from rebels, or to maintain the authority of the
government, so that the necessity of withdrawing the force was not
realized.
Grant remained in the town only till noon. Having garrisoned the
position, he returned to Cairo, where Fremont's permission to capture
Paducah, if he felt strong enough, awaited him. He had already felt
his strength, however, and Bishop Polk had been effectually checkmated.
Grant immediately took possession of Smithland, at the mouth of the
Cumberland River; and though he was not in position to order a forward
movement himself, he seems to have been preparing the way for the
triumphal march of the Union armies, which ended only when the hordes
of treason laid down their arms at the feet of him who now opened the
gates of their wide domain.
It was of the highest importance that these places should be held,
and Grant placed General Charles F. Smith in command of the position,
with a brigade of the most reliable troops. This man was his _beau
idéal_ of a soldier, and the regular army officers regarded him as
one of its most able and accomplished veterans. It is said that he
had incurred the displeasure of General Scott, who neither forgave
nor forgot; otherwise he might have been assigned to the position
taken by McClellan. He was a stern and unyielding disciplinarian, with
little or none of the tact which had characterized Grant's treatment
of this difficult problem, and his severity soon embroiled him with
the volunteers. Politicians and newspapers cried him down, and his
sins were blazoned at the War Department. He was in imminent peril of
being sent in disgrace into the shade before he had fought a single
battle. But Grant understood him, and saved him; and "Paducah Smith" at
Fort Donelson, leading the fiercest charge, bareheaded and inspired,
justified himself and his steadfast friend. Grumblers and slanderers
were shamed and silenced.
Grant's wonderfully correct estimate of men has proved to be one of the
secrets of his success; and here, in the first year of the Rebellion,
and before he had been a week in command of this district, he began to
demonstrate in this direction not only his fidelity to a friend, but
his firmness in the good cause.