A Military Genius Part 12

Miss Carroll's first paper, addressed to the War Department, for a campaign on the Tennessee river and thence south, placed in the hands of Hon. Thomas A. Scott, a.s.sistant Secretary of War, the 30th of November, 1861, with accompanying map, is as follows:

"The civil and military authorities seem to be laboring under a great mistake in regard to the true key to the war in the southwest. _It is not the Mississippi, but the Tennessee river._ All the military preparations made in the West indicate that the Mississippi river is the point to which the authorities are directing their attention. On that river many battles must be fought and heavy risks incurred before any impression can be made on the enemy, all of which could be avoided by using the Tennessee river. This river is navigable for middle-cla.s.s boats to the foot of the Muscle Shoals, in Alabama, and is open to navigation all the year, while the distance is but two hundred and fifty miles, by the river, from Paducah, on the Ohio. The Tennessee offers many advantages over the Mississippi. We should avoid the almost impregnable batteries of the enemy, which cannot be taken without great danger and great risk of life to our forces, from the fact that our boats, if crippled, would fall a prey to the enemy by being swept by the current to him and away from the relief of our friends; but even should we succeed, still we will only have begun the war, for we shall then fight for the country from whence the enemy derives his supplies.

"Now an advance up the Tennessee river would avoid this danger, for _if our boats were crippled, they would drop back with the current and escape capture_; but a still greater advantage would be its tendency _to cut the enemy's lines in two by reaching the Memphis and Charleston railroad_, threatening Memphis, which lies one hundred miles due west, and no defensible point between; also Nashville, only ninety miles northeast, and Florence and Tusc.u.mbia, in North Alabama, forty miles east.

"A movement in this direction would do more to relieve our friends in Kentucky and inspire the loyal hearts in East Tennessee than the possession of the whole of the Mississippi river. If well executed _it would cause the evacuation of all these formidable fortifications_ upon which the rebels ground their hopes for success; and in the event of our fleet attacking Mobile, the presence of our troops in the northern part of Alabama _would be material aid to the fleet_.

"Again, the aid our forces would receive from the loyal men in Tennessee would enable them soon to crush the last traitor in that region, and the separation of the two extremes would do more than one hundred battles for the Union cause.

"The Tennessee river is crossed by the Memphis and Louisville railroad and the Memphis and Nashville railroad. At Hamburg the river makes the big bend on the east, touching the northeast corner of Mississippi, entering the northwest corner of Alabama, forming an arc to the South, entering the State of Tennessee at the northeast corner of Alabama, and if it does not touch the northwest corner of Georgia comes very near it.

"It is but eight miles from Hamburg to the Memphis and Charleston railroad, which goes through Tusc.u.mbia, only two miles from the river, which it crosses at Decatur, thirty miles above, intersecting with the Nashville and Chattanooga road at Stevenson. The Tennessee river has never less than three feet to Hamburg on the shoalest bar, and during the fall, winter, and spring months there is always water for the largest boats that are used on the Mississippi river.

"It follows, from the above facts, that in making the Mississippi the key to the war in the West, or rather in overlooking the Tennessee river, the subject is not understood by the superiors in command."

Extracts from a second paper, January 5, 1862, giving additional particulars for the advance up the Tennessee:

"Having given you my views of the Tennessee river on my return from the West, showing that this river is the true strategical key to overcome the rebels in the southwest, I beg again to recur to the importance of its adoption. This river is never impeded by ice in the coldest winter, as the Mississippi and the c.u.mberland sometimes are. I ascertained, when in St. Louis, that the gunboats then fitting out could not retreat against the current of the western rivers, and so stated to you; besides, their princ.i.p.al guns are placed forward and will not be very efficient against an enemy below them. The fighting would have to be done by their stern guns--only two; or if they anch.o.r.ed by the stern they would lose the advantage of motion, which would prevent the enemy from getting their range. Our gunboats at anchor would be a target which the enemy will not be slow to improve and benefit thereby.

"The Tennessee river, beginning at Paducah fifty miles above Cairo, after leaving the Ohio, runs across south-southeast, rather than through Kentucky and Tennessee, until it reaches the Mississippi line directly west of Florence and Tusc.u.mbia, which lie fifty miles east, and Memphis, one hundred and twenty-five miles west, with the Charleston and Memphis railroad eight miles from the river. There is no difficulty in reaching this point at any time of the year, and the water is known to be deeper than on the Ohio.

"If you will look on the map of the Western States you will see in what a position Buckner would be placed by a strong advance up the Tennessee river. He would be obliged to back out of Kentucky, or, if he did not, our forces could take Nashville in his rear and compel him to lay down his arms."

Testimony of Thomas A. Scott, a.s.sistant Secretary of War, to Hon.

Jacob M. Howard, chairman of the Military Committee, to consider the claim presented by Miss Carroll in 1870:

PHILADELPHIA, _June 24, 1870_.

On or about the 30th of November, 1861, Miss Carroll, as stated in her memorial, called on me, as the a.s.sistant Secretary of War, and suggested the propriety of abandoning the expedition which was then preparing to descend the Mississippi, and to adopt instead the Tennessee river, and handed to me the plan of campaign, as appended to her memorial; which plan I submitted to the Secretary of War, and its general ideas were adopted. On my return from the southwest in 1862 I informed Miss Carroll, as she states in her memorial, that through the adoption of this plan the county had been saved millions, and that it ent.i.tled her to the kind consideration of Congress.

THOMAS A. SCOTT.

To the Military Committee, appointed for that purpose in 1872:

Hon. JACOB M. HOWARD, of the Military Committee of the United States Senate.

Again:

PHILADELPHIA, _May 1, 1872_.

My Dear Sir:

I take pleasure in stating that the plan presented by Miss Carroll in November, 1861, for a campaign upon the Tennessee river and thence south, was submitted to the Secretary of War and President Lincoln, and after Secretary Stanton's appointment I was directed to go to the Western armies and arrange to increase their effective force as rapidly as possible. A part of the duty a.s.signed me was the organization and consolidation into regiments of all the troops then being recruited in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, for the purpose of carrying through this campaign, then inaugurated. This work was vigorously prosecuted by the army, and as the valuable suggestions of Miss Carroll, made to the Department some months before, were substantially carried out through the campaigns in that section, great success followed, and the country was largely benefited in the saving of time and expenditure.

I hope Congress will reward Miss Carroll liberally for her patriotic efforts and services.

Very truly yours,

THOMAS A. SCOTT.

Letter from the Hon. Benjamin F. Wade, appended to the report of General Bragg, of the Military Committee, of March 3, 1881:

Dear Miss Carroll:

I had no part in getting up the Committee [on the Conduct of the War]. The first intimation to me was that I had been made the head of it; but I never shirked a public duty, and at once went to work to do all that was possible to save the country. We went fully into the examination of the several plans for military operations then known to the Government, and we saw plainly enough that the time it must take to execute any of them would make it fatal to the Union.

We were in the deepest despair, until just at this time Colonel Scott informed me that there was a plan already devised which, if executed with secrecy, would open the Tennessee and save the national cause. I went immediately to Mr. Lincoln and talked the whole matter over. He said he did not himself doubt that the plan was feasible, but said there was one difficulty in the way; that no military or naval man had any idea of such a movement, it being the work of a civilian, and none of them would believe it safe to make such an advance upon only a navigable river, with no protection but a gunboat fleet, and they would not want to take the risk. He said it was devised by Miss Carroll, and military men were extremely jealous of all outside interference. I pleaded earnestly with him, for I found there were influences in his Cabinet then averse to his taking the responsibility, and wanting everything done in deference to the views of McClellan and Halleck. I said to Mr. Lincoln: "You know we are now in the last extremity, and you have to choose between adopting and at once executing a plan which you believe to be the right one and save the country, or defer to the opinions of military men in command and lose the country." He finally decided he would take the initiative; but there was Mr. Bates, who had suggested the gunboat fleet, and wanted to advance down the Mississippi, as originally designed; but after a little he came to see that no result could be achieved on that mode of attack, and he united with us in favor of the change of expedition as you recommended.

After repeated talks with Mr. Stanton I was entirely convinced that, if placed at the head of the War Department, he would have your plan executed vigorously, as he fully believed it was the only means of safety, as I did. Mr. Lincoln, on my suggesting Stanton, asked me how the leading Republicans would take it; that Stanton was fresh from the Buchanan Cabinet, and many things were said of him.[26] I insisted he was our man withal, and brought him and Lincoln into communication, and Lincoln was entirely satisfied. But so soon as it got out, the doubters came to the front. Senators and members called on me. I sent them to Stanton and told them to decide for themselves. The gunboats were then nearly ready for the Mississippi expedition, and Mr. Lincoln agreed, as soon as they were, to start the Tennessee movement. It was determined that as soon as Mr. Stanton came into the Department, then Colonel Scott should go out to the Western armies and make ready for the campaign in pursuance of your plan, as he has testified before committees. It was a great work to get the matter started; you have no idea of it. We almost fought for it. If ever there was a righteous claim on earth, you have one. I have often been sorry that, knowing all this as I did then, I had not publicly declared you as the author; but we were fully alive to the importance of absolute secrecy. I trusted but few of our people; but to pacify the country I announced from the Senate that the armies were about to move, and inaction was no longer to be tolerated. Mr. Fessenden, head of the Finance Committee, who had been told of the proposed advance, also stated in the Senate that what would be achieved in a few more days would satisfy the country and astound the world.

As the expedition advanced, Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Stanton, and myself frequently alluded to your extraordinary sagacity and unselfish patriotism, but all agreed that you should be recognized for your most n.o.ble service and properly rewarded for the same.

The last time I saw Mr. Stanton he was on his deathbed; he was then most earnest in his desire to have you come before Congress, as I told you soon after, and said that if he lived he would see that justice was awarded you. This I have told you often since, and I believe the truth in this matter will finally prevail.

B. F. WADE.

[Footnote 26: Stanton had been the bitterest of Democrats. The Republicans then knew nothing certainly of his course in Buchanan's Cabinet. His appointment surprised the Senate. Wade knew and endorsed him there. That was sufficient.--_Riddle's Life of Wade._]

JEFFERSON, OHIO, _July 27, 1876_.

My Dear Miss Carroll:

Yours of the 22nd is at hand and its contents noticed, but I cannot perceive, myself, that it is necessary for you to procure any further testimony to prove to all unprejudiced minds that you were the first to discover the importance of the Tennessee river in a military point of view, and was the first to discover that said river was navigable for heavy gunboats; and to ascertain these important facts you made a journey to that region, and with great labor and expense, by examination of pilots and others, and that with these facts you drew up a plan of campaign which you, I think, first exhibited to Colonel Scott, who was then a.s.sistant Secretary of War, which was shown to the President and Mr.

Stanton, which information and plan caused the immediate change of the campaign from the Mississippi to the Tennessee river, and this change, with all the immense advantages to the national cause, was solely due to your labor and sagacity. I do not regard it as an impeachment of the military sagacity of the officers on either side that they had not seen all this before, but I suppose none of them knew or believed the Tennessee river to be navigable for such craft, for had the Confederate officers known all this it would have been easy for them to have so fortified its banks as to have made such an expedition impossible.

Now all the above facts are proved beyond doubt, unless the witnesses are impeached; but all should bear in mind that when the Government had concluded to make this important change from the Mississippi to the Tennessee the utmost secrecy was absolutely necessary or the whole plan might have been frustrated by the enemy, and it was so kept that even members of Congress and Senators never could ascertain who was ent.i.tled to the honor of the plan, as can be seen by their endeavors to find out by consulting the Congressional Globe, etc. * * * Where is Judge Evans and how is his health? I am anxious to hear from him, whom I regard as one of the best of men. Give him my best respects.

Truly yours,

B. F. WADE.

WESTMINSTER PALACE HOTEL,

LONDON, _November 29, 1875_.

My Dear Miss Carroll:

I remember very well that you were the first to advise the campaign on the Tennessee river in November, 1861. This I have never heard doubted, and the great events which followed it demonstrated the value of your suggestions. This will be recognized by our Government, sooner or later, I cannot doubt. On reaching home I hope to shake you by the hand once more.

Sincerely your friend,