A Military Genius Part 21

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 ma.s.s of indubitable testimony.

She had been informed of the thorough endors.e.m.e.nt of her claim made by the Military Committee and reported by General Bragg, and of the n.o.ble 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 n.o.ble life. For three years she hovered between life and death, no hope being entertained of her recovery. Then the natural vigor of her const.i.tution rea.s.serted itself, and she slowly regained a very considerable portion of health; but any subsequent efforts with regard to her claim, though receiving her a.s.sent, 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 n.o.ble 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 ident.i.ty.

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.

Ca.s.sius 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 ingrat.i.tude. 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.

Pet.i.tions 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 a.s.sent_ 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 pa.s.sage:

[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 pa.s.sage 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 a.s.sured 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.

Ca.s.sius 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.

Ca.s.sIUS 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 a.s.sailed 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 pet.i.tioner 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. Pet.i.tions 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 pet.i.tions and present them with their own endors.e.m.e.nt of the case. But ten righteous men count for little among a ma.s.s 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 cla.s.s must go to the wall. With every extension of the ballot such a cla.s.s 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 pet.i.tions 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, pet.i.tions to Congress asking for Miss Carroll's suitable recognition and remuneration were sent in considerable numbers, some being presented in the Senate by Mr. h.o.a.r 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 Ma.s.sachusetts. As Mr. h.o.a.r 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 r.e.t.a.r.d 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 pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sured 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.