A WOUNDED VETERAN RETIRES FROM THE FIELD -- INTERVIEW WITH GRANT --
THE WOMEN OF AMERICA MAKE THE CAUSE THEIR OWN -- A NATIONAL LESSON.
Miss Carroll, urged on by the friends of justice and historical
verity, had made great efforts rightly to present her case and to get
together a wonderful mass of indubitable testimony.
She had been informed of the thorough endorsement of her claim made by
the Military Committee and reported by General Bragg, and of the noble
and fitting bill which he had prepared. Then came that pitiful little
bill and the adjournment of Congress without taking further action
upon the claim.
She perhaps did not realize, in the presence of what seemed immediate
defeat, that she had performed a great and lasting historical work in
putting the whole matter on immovable record; but she certainly
realized that, though an angel should come from heaven to testify, it
would be useless to expect national recognition. A reaction of
discouragement followed, and she was suddenly stricken down by
paralysis, which threatened at once to terminate her noble life. For
three years she hovered between life and death, no hope being
entertained of her recovery. Then the natural vigor of her
constitution reasserted itself, and she slowly regained a very
considerable portion of health; but any subsequent efforts with regard
to her claim, though receiving her assent, had to be made without her
personal co-operation, as mental fatigue was imperatively forbidden.
She had ceased to hope for any benefit to herself personally from the
prosecution of her claim; but, rejoicing in the sense of the great
work that she had been providentially called upon to accomplish, she
rested in the serene conviction that with the incontestable evidence
that had been presented the facts could not be forever buried out of
sight, and that ultimately the truths of history would be secure.
When Miss Carroll, who had hitherto been as a tower of strength to her
family, was suddenly stricken down, fortune seemed to be at its lowest
ebb; but again the Carroll energy and ability came to the rescue. An
unmarried sister, with noble devotion, sustained the nation's
benefactress. She obtained work in teaching in Baltimore and by hard
daily toil provided for her support. But those were very dark days
that followed. Then this same brave sister, through the influence of
an eminent lady at the White House, obtained a clerkship at the
Treasury, at Washington, brought her sister from Baltimore and
established her in a little unpretending family home, which she has
sustained to this day.
Note.--Owing to the confusion attendant upon Miss Carroll's
well-nigh fatal illness and her subsequent removal to Baltimore,
a trunk and box marked A. E. C. were left behind at the Tremont
House, in Washington.
After the severe three years' prostration ended, Miss Carroll
inquired for this trunk and box, and learned that the Tremont
House had gone into other hands after the death of Mr. Hill; that
all its contents had been sold off, and to this day she has
sought in vain to learn what has become of that box and trunk.
They contained a great number of letters, a completed history of
Maryland, and her materials for several projected works.
Thus, through the cruel neglect she had experienced, the world
has lost the benefit of works which, from her exceptional ability
and her exceptional opportunities, would have been of inestimable
value to our future literature.
If any one knows of the fate of that trunk and box they are
requested to send word to Miss Carroll or to the present writer,
and if ever that history of Maryland comes to light it will be
claimed for Miss Carroll, as there are internal evidences which
would establish its identity.
Governor Hicks a few days before his death committed to Miss
Carroll all his papers with a request that she would write the
history of Maryland in connection with the civil war, and the
part performed by him in the maintenance of the Union.
Cassius M. Clay also sent to her his letters and papers desiring
that she should write his biography.
During Miss Carroll's long and apparently hopeless illness Mr.
Clay's letters were sent for and returned to him.
Another ray of light, too, had come to cheer the invalid. A new power
was rising upon the horizon in the growing thoughtfulness and
development of women, now banding together in clubs, societies, and
confederations, with their own journals, newspapers, and publications,
and with the avowed determination of never resting until women, as an
integral half of the people, had obtained all the rights and
privileges proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, the granting
of which alone could make of our country a sound and true Republic and
secure the ultimate triumph of the moral and humane considerations and
measures upon which its welfare must depend.
Naturally, when this growing party came to know of Miss Carroll's
remarkable work they were not disposed to let it fall into oblivion.
It seemed as if the Lord himself had declared for their cause in
giving to a woman, at the crisis of the national peril, the remarkable
illumination that, so far as human knowledge can judge, had turned the
scale of war in favor of our National Union, and had thus pledged the
country for all future time to the just recognition of the equal
rights of women as an integral half of the people, and of equal
importance with their brethren to the welfare of the State. Every
effort may be made to ignore and hide the remarkable fact, but the
work of the Lord remains steadfast, immovable, and incapable of
lasting defeat.
"The moving finger writes,
And, having writ,
Moves on."
A notice of Miss Carroll and her brilliant achievements had been
written by Mrs. Matilda Joselyn Gage and incorporated in the history
of Woman Suffrage, a considerable work, giving a sketch of the career
of many eminent women. Mrs. Gage also wrote and circulated a pamphlet
calling attention to the case, and Miss Phoebe Couzzins made great
exertions in her behalf. One and another began to inquire what had
become of the woman who had done such wondrous work for the national
cause and had been treated with such deep ingratitude. Mrs. Cornelia
C. Hussey, daughter of a high-principled New York family of friends,
sought her out, visited her at Baltimore, cheered her with her
sympathy, and, interesting others in her behalf, she was enabled to
strengthen the hands of the devoted sister. She induced the _North
American Review_, of April, 1886, to publish an account furnished by
Miss Carroll, and she procured the publication of a series of letters
in the _Woman's Journal_, of Boston, that increased the knowledge and
interest beginning to be felt for Miss Carroll's work.
Petitions began to pour in asking Congress to take action in the case.
In 1885 it was taken up by the Court of Claims, and in case 93 may be
seen the result. The evidence presented, though remarkable, was by no
means as complete as it should have been, owing to Miss Carroll's
illness and to the difficulty of now procuring copies of her
pamphlets. Consequently, though the judgment rendered makes notable
admissions and the _moral assent_ runs all through, the court was
enabled, through some legal defects, to retransmit the case to
Congress for its consideration; and having once made its decision, the
case cannot again come before that court without a direct order from
Congress to take it up and try it again.
Looking over the brief at the Court of Claims, made by the late
Colonel Warden, I noted this significant passage:
[37]"It may not be amiss here to submit that the two and only
drawbacks or obstacles that we have met to the immediate, prompt, and
unanimous passage of an act of Congress in recognition of and adequate
compensation for the patriotic services and successful military
strategy of Miss Carroll in the late civil war are found first in an
obstruction which President Lincoln encountered and which he referred
to when he explained to Senator Wade that the Tennessee plan was
devised by Miss Carroll, and military men were exceedingly jealous of
all outside interference." (House Miss. Doc. 58). "The second obstacle
which has stayed us is founded in a (to some men) seemingly
insuperable objection, often demonstrated in words and acts by our
legislators--a misfortune or disability (if it be one) over which Miss
Carroll had no control whatever, namely, in the fact that she is a
woman."
[Footnote 37: Brief of claimant in Congressional
case 93.]
It would appear that the decision of the Court of Claims
retransmitting the claim to Congress was considered by Miss Carroll's
friends to be in her favor.
Erastus Brooks writes her at this time:
Dear Miss Carroll:
Your "Reminiscences of Lincoln" (a work suggested by Mrs. Hussey)
should, as far as possible, bring out the words and own thoughts
of the man. The subject, the man, and the occasion are the points
to be treated, and in this order, perhaps.
Again, my old and dear friend, I am very glad and hope the award
will meet all your expectations--mental, pecuniary, and of every
kind. The hope of the award to yourself and friends must be as
satisfactory as the judgment of the court.
Yours,
ERASTUS BROOKS.
Miss Carroll showed this letter to Mrs. Hussey, who copied and
immediately published it.
Miss Carroll, who had always been on friendly terms with General
Grant, spoke to him of her claim. They conversed together concerning
her work. He assured her that he had not been aware of its extent, and
advised her by all means to continue to push her claim. I have seen
the draft of a letter, written by Miss Carroll at this time, to
General Grant in which she alludes to the advice he had given her to
push her claim before Congress. The letter is written in the
friendliest spirit and in a tone of touching modesty. It should be
here noted that there never was any antagonism between these two who
had done such great work for the salvation of their country.
Cassius M. Clay wrote to the editor of the New York _Sun_ the
following letter, as published in that journal:
WHITE HALL, KENTUCKY, _March 3, 1886_.
In 1861, as soon as I could get General Scott apart from his
staff of rebel sympathizers, I advised him to reach the Southern
forces by all the water-ways, as the shortest and most practical
lines of attack. This advice was hardly necessary as every tyro
in the Union Army would probably have done the same. But it
belonged to Miss Anna Ella Carroll to project and force upon the
bewildered army officers--Halleck, Grant, and others--the cutting
in two of the Confederacy by way of the Tennessee river by means
of the gunboats, and of our facilities of thus concentrating
troops and supplies. It was the great strategical coup of the
war.
I call the attention of the American nation to Miss Carroll's
article in the April number of the _North American Review_ of
1886. It appears that the splendid conception of this project
called for the immediate reward of a grateful Congress as the
representative of the whole people. But when it was found that it
was neither Grant, nor Halleck, nor Buell, but a woman, who
showed more genius and patriotism than all the army of military
men, the resolution was suppressed and the combined effort of
many of the ablest men of the Republican party could never
resurrect it. Miss Carroll merely states her case. There is no
event in history better backed up-with impregnable evidence.
CASSIUS M. CLAY.
Mr. Clay also wrote to Mrs. Hussey the following letter, which she
sends me for publication:
_April 12, 1886._
C. C. HUSSEY.
Dear Madame: Your letter and circular of the 8th inst. are
received. I was a long time a correspondent of Miss C., never
having seen her, but holding a letter of introduction from
Vice-President Henry Wilson. I have no standpoint in politics of
influence now. * * * Miss Carroll's case shows the infinite
baseness of human nature--how few worship truth and justice. I am
already assailed for speaking a word in her cause, and shall have
all the old feuds against me revived; but I am not dependent upon
the American people for subsistence and am not a petitioner for
money or office, so I speak my mind.
Very truly yours,
C. M. CLAY.
Miss Katharine Mason, Miss Anna C. Waite, Miss Phoebe Couzzins, Mrs.
H. J. Boutelle, Mrs. Louisa D. Southworth, Mrs. Esther Herrman, and a
host of other prominent ladies in succession took up the cause,
publishing articles east and west, and speaking upon the subject or
contributing in some way to the cause. Petitions to Congress continued
asking attention to Miss Carroll's case, and that due recognition and
award should be accorded to her. High-principled Senators and
Representatives would take up these petitions and present them with
their own endorsement of the case. But ten righteous men count for
little among a mass of Senators and Representatives wildly pushing
their own individual and party measures. Every human being with a
ballot might be worthy of their attention, but a disfranchised class
must go to the wall. With every extension of the ballot such a class
sinks deeper and deeper in the scale, and the disregard and contempt
for women and their claims becomes inborn--for law is an educator.
In the spring of 1890 Mr. and Mrs. Root spent weeks in Washington
verifying, step by step, the incontrovertible facts of Miss Carroll's
work. The _Woman's Tribune_, of Washington, generously published a
large edition of their report, enclosed advanced sheets, with a
personal letter, to every Senator and Representative, and laid them
upon their desks, with the invariable result of continued neglect.
Mrs. Abby Gannett Wells, of a highly cultivated Boston family, took up
the cause with enthusiasm, made a tour among the army relief posts,
and created among soldiers and soldiers' wives a lively interest in
the work of their great coadjutor. Tokens of recognition were sent to
Miss Carroll, and many a retired veteran, beside his evening fire, put
down his name to petitions for her just recognition. Then this brave
lady made another effort. She published in the Boston _Sunday Herald_,
of February, 1890, an account, from which we give the following
extract, having already given extracts from the earlier portion:
"In the last year so many women throughout the country had come
to take an interest in this case, petitions to Congress asking
for Miss Carroll's suitable recognition and remuneration were
sent in considerable numbers, some being presented in the Senate
by Mr. Hoar and some in the House by Mr. Lodge. In September
last, at an interview with these gentlemen in Boston, I learned
it to be their opinion that if I made a plea in Miss Carroll's
behalf before the two Congressional Committees on Military
Affairs an interest might be aroused to lead to successful
results. I therefore promised to visit Washington, and went to
the city in the second week in February of the present year.
"The bill calling for an appropriation from Congress for Miss
Carroll's services during the civil war, such services consisting
of the preparation of papers used as war measures and the
furnishing of the military plan for our western armies, known as
the plan of the Tennessee campaign, had already been presented in
the Senate by General Manderson, of Nebraska, and in the House by
Mr. Lodge, of Massachusetts. As Mr. Hoar was ill when I arrived
in Washington, he wrote a letter to Mr. Manderson, asking for an
early hearing for me, and then sent his private secretary to
conduct me to that gentleman in person. I write particulars of
the obtaining of these hearings simply to show that even a case
demanding urgent action like this finds unexpected obstacles that
threaten to retard it indefinitely.
"Mr. Manderson met me kindly, but stated that the committee had
such a pressure of business on hand it seemed impossible to take
time for Miss Carroll's case, greatly as some of the members had
it at heart. But on my replying that I represented the wishes of
many women, and we could appeal nowhere else in order for this
injustice to be righted, he said if I would come to the
committee-room on the morning of the 5th I should be given what
time was possible. On that morning General Hawley, the chairman,
received me pleasantly, but stated, as he introduced me to the
members, that it was unusual to give such a hearing, and he
trusted that I would occupy only a little time; but I am glad to
add that the committee's courtesy quite exceeded what might be
expected of these busy workers. I had over half an hour of their
most earnest attention, and if the expressions upon their faces
were a criterion to judge by, Miss Carroll's story was not
without its effect upon their sympathy and sense of right. I was
particularly glad to see such evidences, because among their
members were ex-Confederates, Gen. Wade Hampton being one.
"When Mr. Lodge presented me to General Cutcheon, chairman of the
House committee, I heard again the plea of overmuch business; yet
the concession was made--I might come on the morning of the 7th
and occupy a "few minutes." Promptly at the hour I was at the
committee-room, and since the time was to be so short I had put
aside my notes and was telling of Miss Carroll's work, and
growing sure of the interest of my listeners, when the chairman
interrupted, saying that it now occurred to him that a bill
asking for an appropriation belonged with the Committee on War
Claims. A book was consulted, and it became the opinion of the
committee that this bill did belong with the War Claims
Committee. As, in order for me to appear before that committee,
the bill would have to go back to the House and be remanded
there, and there might be some delay about it, the Military
Committee passed a unanimous vote asking the Committee on War
Claims to hear my plea at their next meeting, in view of the
bill not appearing until later.
"This was discouraging, and the matter grew more so when, on
meeting General Thomas, of the War Claims Committee, I was
assured that the bill could not possibly belong there. By good
fortune I met General Cutcheon at one of the doors of the ladies'
gallery of the House, and I told him the dilemma. He generously
went to the Speaker and got his decision, which was that either
committee could decide as to the merits of the bill. Being given
my choice, I decided to appear again before the Military
Committee.
"That brought the hearing round to the 11th, the limit of my
possible stay in the city. When a quorum had assembled General
Cutcheon stated the case, and I was about to begin, when a member
objected. He was sure that the bill belonged with the Committee
on War Claims. A second member expressed himself as decidedly. A
short discussion took place, the vote was put, it was against me
and I was dismissed.
"I turned away, having never had in my life a greater sense of
disappointment. Had I not known that the objection was so purely
technical I could have borne the situation better; but to lose
the opportunity for this, return home with my mission
unaccomplished, see Miss Carroll herself, and tell her that the
effort had been nipped in the bud, it seemed impossible to submit
to it.
"Mr. Wise of Virginia, the gentleman who had first objected, now
appeared to have a second thought.
"'Since the lady has come so far, and in behalf of another
person, it seems to me we hardly ought to dismiss her so
summarily.'
"I hastened to say that the bill had had a similar fate before,
had passed and repassed from Military and War Claims Committees
until action was wholly prevented.
"Mr. Wise thereupon asked for a reconsideration of the motion.
The final result was that a unanimous vote allowed me to present
my appeal.
"After this generous action I found the presentation of the case
a pleasure rather than a duty. It was rather a conversation with
liberal-minded gentlemen. When they learned that President
Lincoln, his Secretaries, and Senators and Representatives whose
names are famous vouched for Miss Carroll's work, the integrity
of her claim more surely revealed itself to them.
"The case was ordered to Mr. Wise for special consideration,
which he cordially promised to give.
"As I left the committee-room I could not help congratulating
myself over the ill-omened beginning, since it had resulted
toward a relation of the work far more complete than had
otherwise been the case.
"That day I saw the aged invalid for the first time. She is a
most remarkable woman still. I heard from her own lips the story
I knew so well, but rendered more thrilling than ever as thus
repeated; and I had the happiness of telling her that I believed
her case was now in safe hands.
"Not long after, through the unseating of Mr. Wise, of Virginia,
Hon. Francis W. Rockwell, of this State, received the case as
sub-committee. In view of this we ought to be even more hopeful,
since his colleagues, Messrs. Hoar and Lodge, have put forth so
many efforts in its furtherance.--_Boston Sunday Herald,
February, 1890._
ABBY M. GANNETT.
The _Century_ magazine, which had been publishing an exhaustive
account of "the men who fought and planned our battles," was appealed
to in the name of historical verity to give an account of Miss
Carroll's work. Having had the matter under consideration for more
than a year and having convinced themselves of the truth of the claim,
they published, in August of 1890, an open letter bringing the case to
the attention of their readers. A public-spirited lady of Washington
purchased copies and laid the marked article on the desks of Senators
and Representatives, with the same invariable result. But though
Congress disregarded the matter, not so the reading public, and
inquiries began to be made for further information, which it was
difficult to furnish for want of an easily attainable printed account.
It was therefore determined to meet this demand, and the present
relation is the result.
In consequence of the petitions continually received, friendly
Senators and Representatives have again and again brought in bills
asking for $10,000, or even $5,000, for Miss Carroll's relief
(invariably neglected).
Such bills, though very kindly meant, seem to me a mistake. It is not
a question of $5,000 or $500,000. It is--it always has been--a
question of _recognition_.
Granted that this wonderful woman by the intense labor of heart and
brain, by her whole-souled devotion of life and fortune, has saved the
national cause--for the thousands upon thousands of precious lives
laid down would have been of no avail had the plan adopted at the
crisis of fate been an unwise one--this granted, a noble bill might be
acted upon by Congress, but an _ignoble_ one--never. Whatever may be
our faults, we are at heart a proud and self-respecting people, and no
paltry bill would be endured, and no bill which did not award military
honor for pre-eminent military services could meet the case with
justice and with dignity.
Although weighed down with an immense mass of obsolete law and custom,
shall we say that England leads the van in integrity of principle and
devotion to human rights? Although the doctrine of divine right was
exploded long ago, England loyally holds to her Queen.
As long as it pleases the English people to maintain a royal line, it
makes no difference to them whether its representative be a man or a
woman. England never had a salic law. But America--when a grand woman
comes to her for her deliverance at the crisis of her fate, crowned
with heaven's own prerogative of genius, what America does for her in
return for her accepted services is to stamp her under foot and bury
her out of sight, that her well-earned glory may fall by default upon
the ruling class.
Can America continue to be so unjust to women? Can it continue to hold
them down as a disfranchised class?
Owing to continued petitions, Military Committees were appointed
during this last Congress to investigate Miss Carroll's claim.
I have not heard the result, but again Congress has adjourned without
taking action. About March 27 I had the opportunity of looking over
the file which had just come back from the Senate Committee. First of
all came a surprising number of petitions sent in during this past
year; then the documents in evidence of the claim. They were a meager
lot compared to what they should have been. In a case of this
importance one would suppose that a copy of every memorial and of
every report should have been on the file. Not at all. Quite early in
the history of the case "supply exhausted" was the answer given to
every request for these documents, and Miss Carroll herself was unable
to obtain them.
The reprint of a few of the earlier ones by no means represents them,
and owing to the universal exclusion from the Congressional indexes of
the later and more important ones, especially the memorial of 1878 and
Bragg's report thereon, much important evidence was wanting. Still
considering that all that has been printed by "order of Congress" is
guaranteed, I should have thought that the evidence given before the
Military Committee of 1871 would have been sufficient. Certain I am
that if a woman had been on that committee the matter would have
assumed more prominence, and there would have been a research for the
additional documents that have been omitted. It is the old, old story
that every intelligent woman is coming to understand, that you cannot
leave to others the interests of a disfranchised class.
In looking over the file at the War Department I noted that there had
been inquiries from committees asking if there was a letter of Miss
Carroll's there of November 30, 1861, and others mentioned, and the
answer returned was "_no_." It would be in place here to call
attention to the fact that they had once been on file there, and the
reason that they are there no longer is given in the memorial of 1878,
on the evidence of Wade, Hunt, and others.
On April 16, 1891, at the file-room of the House, I saw the file that
had come back from the House Committee of this past Congress, whose
attention also had been called to the subject in consequence of the
many petitions received by the House as well as by the Senate. I
counted twenty-five petitions with numerous signatures, as well as
some detached letters. An interesting petition was from one of the
Army Posts, signed by soldiers and by officers, asking for award to
their great coadjutor. I noted a statement in one of them that the
widow of one of the Generals employed in carrying out the Tennessee
campaign had been in receipt, ever since her husband's death, of a
pension of $5,000 a year, while the great projector of the campaign
had been left neglected. Asking if there was anything more, another
bundle of petitions was handed to me, each package containing a paper,
with extracts from the memorials and reports, neatly arranged, giving
some of the remarkable letters of Scott, Wade, and Evans, and the
decisions of the Military Committees fully endorsing the claim. It
would seem that the committees were appointed to receive the
petitions, not to consider evidence, as the documentary evidence was
not here on the file. And why should they consider it, when the case
had been at the first examined carefully, tried, and a unanimous vote
had endorsed the claim, and succeeding reports, including the one
mistakenly marked as "adverse," all bore witness to the incontestable
nature of the evidence. To go on trying a case so established over and
over for twenty years would be a manifest absurdity.
And thus the case stands.
In reading these records a sorrowful thought must come into every
woman's soul as she recognizes how deep must have been the feeling
against women to prevent Congress, in all these years, from coming to
a fair and square acknowledgment of the truth.
But a different spirit is coming over the world: A spirit of justice,
a spirit of brotherly kindness towards women, shown in innumerable
ways and recognized by them with gratitude and joy.
The active men of to-day were children when the Union was saved.
Helpless children, when Miss Carroll, in the prime of her life and
fullness of her powers, with clearness of perception, with firmness of
character, with the light of genius upon her brow, devoted her time,
her strength, her fortune, and her great social influence to the
national cause that the men of to-day might have a country, proud,
prosperous, and peaceful, to rejoice in themselves and to hand down in
unbroken unity to their children.
It should be not only a duty but a blessed privilege--still
possible--to see that all that earth can give to brighten the latter
days of our great benefactress shall be given her. That she shall be
crowned with the undying love and gratitude of a great and a united
nation.
And let us remember, too, what it would have been for our country if
the noble daughter of Governor Carroll had thought it her duty to keep
out of politics while her country was perishing, and to regard the
military movements, upon which its life depended, as something outside
of a woman's province.
The nation belongs to its women as surely as it belongs to its
men. All that concerns its welfare concerns them also, and nature has
gifted them with especial attributes of heart and intellect to aid in
its guidance and to aid in its salvation.
End of Project Gutenberg's A Military Genius, by Sarah Ellen Blackwell