by Alan Sewell
“Bring one regiment into town. Send half of them out to stop the Confederates from getting across the railroad bridge over the Sangamon. Station the other half here in town to defend it in case the Confederates try to break through from either direction.
“Send the rest of your men --- that’ll be six regiments if I’ve counted right --- to fill the positions that Curtis is evacuating to your left.
“That will spread your men out thin, but they will be in strong fortifications. You’ll be facing Floyd, Pillow, and Polk --- the Confederates’ weakest generals with understrength divisions. I don’t expect them to attack unless and until the enemy arrives in our rear in force, but make sure men are prepared to repel an assault just in case.
“I want you to choose your best officers to fill the gap in Curtis’ position. Select officers who won’t be panicked by any marauding Confederates who may have slipped past our lines. Cool heads are necessary. If we let the Confederates panic us into making unauthorized movements, this entire army will be torn up piecemeal the way Pope’s division was. Repeat your orders back to me.”
Barrie did so to Grant’s satisfaction.
“Good. Now, if the Confederates do break our lines and you see them approaching from any direction in strength, then I want you to pull your men back into this town and fight house to house like Lyon did in St. Louis. Don’t surrender as long as you have ammunition. This town is to be held at costs. Do you know what that means?”
“Yes, sir,” said Barrie. It means we fight here until every man is killed or wounded.”
Grant nodded, then spoke to the governor and mayor. “You might as well go back to your offices. Let the people see that you’re working calmly and they will remain calm too.”
Grant looked at all of them. “Let me say it again: the most important thing is not to panic. If we stay calm and fight coolly we’ll defeat the Confederates, like Fremont did at Gettysburg.”
Barrie saluted “Yes, Sir!” He observed how Governor Yates and the mayor walked out of the stationmaster’s office with their heads held high and with confidence manifest in their brisk pace.
Grant is a born commander. Could I have inspired confidence as he did? Could I have restored confidence to a demoralized governor and mayor? I will have to learn how to inspire confidence as he did if I am to succeed in leading men into battle.
Barrie watched Grant board the one-car train and chug off to the east towards Urbana. His mind turned toward deciding which of his regiments to pull out of the line in front of Springfield and send to the east as Grant had instructed.
An idea popped into his head. Grant is striving to win this war through mobility. He is using the railroads to move our men into position before the Confederates, marching overland, can get there. If he can do it, so can I.
Barry noticed several well-worn passenger cars sitting idle in the work yard waiting to be repaired.
What if I took one of those cars and used it move men rapidly up and down the line. I could bring a concentration of fire to any point the Confederates tried to attack. I don’t have a locomotive, but I could move the cars up and down the railroad with a mule team. With a little work I could convert a car into a firing platform. That would allow my men to take the Confederates under fire from cover.
Barry called a couple of his corporals over and told them to go round up the carpenters in town and get them over here immediately. He was shaken by a rumble. For a moment he felt a surge of anxiety in thinking that it was the cannon fire of the Confederates breaking through his lines. Then he noticed a flash out of the corner of his eye. He looked skyward to see another flash of lighting coming from roiling clouds in the distance. It started to rain.
Battle of the Wabash, October 3. Pope’s Division encircled and captured. Stoneballs Jackson’s reconnaissance battalion advances through the gap and reaches the Sangamon near Springfield. Confederate enveloping divisions unable to follow due to resistance by W.H.L. Wallace’s division followed by the onset of heavy rains.
15
Cleveland, Ohio, October 3, 1861
President Lincoln began his meeting with the Cabinet and Congressional Executive Committee in the parlor of the Hargreaves Mansion. He opened it by introducing Cump Sherman. He asked Cump to describe his military experience and explain his reasons for leaving the Confederate Union and siding with the Free States.
“If anyone objects to Mr. Sherman’s presence please say so,” Mr. Lincoln said after Sherman’s introduction. “Otherwise, I have asked him to give us his opinion on the military situations we will be discussing. The advice I have heard from him so far I have found helpful. Are there any objections to his presence here?”
“Let’s give him a fair hearing,” said Thad Stevens. “If we decide we don’t want to hear anymore then we can ask him to leave.”
The Cabinet and Congressmen nodded their approval.
Lincoln held up the sheaf of telegrams that Secretary of War Cameron had brought.
“There’s a dustup going in Illinois. A ruckus in Indiana too, from the looks of it.” He read a summary of the reports. “The Confederates have moved thousands of their men across the Wabash. They’re maneuvering some of them to try to get behind Grant’s army. Grant reports that they caught John Pope’s division advancing without orders outside of Danville yesterday and captured it. The loss of Pope’s division tore a gap in his line but he thinks he’ll be able to hold the rest of the line from Urbana westward with the men he has left.”
Lincoln put down the sheaf of telegrams from Grant and picked up the ones from McDowell.
“In Indiana McDowell reports that Jacob Loomis’ Ohio Division is surrounded at Terre Haute. He says he’s pulling back the rest of his divisions, except for Sheridan’s, to defend Indianapolis. He thinks Sheridan has enough men to contain the Confederates on the leftmost part of his line running down to Madison, Indiana on the Ohio River. His main concern is holding Indianapolis.”
“I don’t like the sound of any of that,” said Thad Stevens. “What was Pope’s division doing ‘marching without orders?’ And why is McDowell retreating into Indianapolis instead of fighting the Confederates where they attacked him?”
“What I want to know is how the Confederates got their men across the Wabash,” said Senator Ben Wade. “Whose responsibility was it to guard the river?”
“It’s McDowell’s front,” answered Secretary of War Simon Cameron.
“McDowell is asking for the release of the partially trained reserve army we have at Camp Dennison,” said Lincoln. “He wants us to send the men to Indianapolis without delay.”
“I don’t know about that,” objected Senator Ben Wade. “If McDowell can’t fight with the men he already has, I don’t see the sense in sending him any more. If he is defeated I’d rather have a new army intact at Columbus.”
“Has Grant asked for the release of our reserve army at Chicago?” asked Congressman William Vandever of Iowa.
“No,” answered Lincoln.
“Then I place more confidence in Grant than I do in McDowell,” said Thad Stevens. “Maybe we should relieve McDowell and promote somebody into command of his army who knows how to fight the way Grant does.”
“What do you think, Cump?” John asked his brother who had been studying the wall map.
Cump, recognizing that most of those present had not yet become acquainted with him, chose his words carefully.
“At this time we don’t have enough information to make any very definite decisions. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take precautions. No harm will be done in getting the reserve armies at Chicago and Columbus ready to move if we should decide to deploy them. I’d suggest placing a couple of trains on standby. Issue ammunition and five days’ cooked rations. If we decide to release the men to McDowell or Grant we want them ready to go into go into action as soon as they arrive.”
“Any objections to Sherman’s idea?” asked Lincoln.
“I have none,” said Stevens. “But you
will please consult with us before making a decision on whether to release the men at Chicago and Columbus. We should only send them to reinforce a successful battle, not a losing one.”
“I take it that we’ve decided not to send McDowell reinforcements until we get more clarity on his situation,” said Ohio Senator Ben Wade. “That worries me. It sounds from his telegrams that he has more trouble than he can handle. Why don’t we send him the reinforcements now when he needs them rather than wait to send them after he is defeated when it will be too late.”
“It was his negligence in failing to guard the Wabash that made all this trouble,” insisted Thad Stevens. “I say that if we need to send reinforcements to the scene then we must first relieve the general whose mistakes made those reinforcements necessary.”
“Relieving an army general in the heat of battle is difficult,” advised Cump Sherman. “Let McDowell finish the battle first. Then we can decide whether to relieve him after the results are known.”
John Sherman had been pacing restlessly. “Here’s my suggestion: Let’s send Cump to Columbus to get the reserve army is ready to move. Let’s give Sherman the order to move that army into Indianapolis, but to maintain it as a separate command independent of McDowell. Who is in command of that army now?”
“General Ormsby Mitchel,” answered Secretary of War Cameron.
“I know him well,” said Sherman. “He’s a most competent military professional.”
“I second that,” said Ben Wade. “I can’t vouch for his military acumen, but he is well known and well respected in Ohio for his leadership in expanding scientific research. I’m assuming a man of his intelligence, who is also a West Point graduate, will fight his men well.”
“Then let’s send Sherman to Columbus with an order for the Ohio army to march to Indianapolis as an independent command,” said Thad Stevens. “Sherman and Mitchel can consult with McDowell and decide afterward how to fight the army. But it must be made clear that the reserve army is an independent command not subject to McDowell’s orders. Let’s use that army to help McDowell fight the Confederates and drive them back. After we fight the battle we can decide what to do about McDowell.”
“Does that sound like a reasoned plan?” Lincoln asked Cump.
“It does.”
“Then let us write the orders as Senators Sherman and Congressman Stevens advise: Cump Sherman will go to Columbus and help Ormsby Mitchel prepare his army for movement to Indianapolis. The army is to move as soon as possible. It will remain under Mitchel’s command. Mitchel will fight the army in coordination with McDowell but independently of his command.”
“One other thing,” suggested Stevens. “Have Sherman leave with a contingency order in hand for the relief of McDowell if he judges the situation to be irretrievably lost. Let Mitchel assume command of the entire Indiana force if nothing can be salvaged there.”
“Are there any objections to this plan?” asked Lincoln.
The Cabinet members, Senators, and Congressmen murmured what Lincoln took to be their assent.
“Mr. Hay, please write the orders as we have discussed them.” Lincoln repeated the orders while Hay jotted them down. When Hay finished Lincoln passed the written copy of the orders around to Secretary of War Cameron, Senators Sherman and Wade, Congressman Stevens, and Cump. After securing their approval he and Secretary of War Cameron signed the orders.
The President turned to Cump. “The Secretary of War will write you a pass on the next train to Columbus. I’d like you to leave right away. If no train is scheduled to leave tonight then the Secretary of War will charter one for you.”
16
Mattoon, Illinois, October 4, 1861
“Sorry, sir, we can’t go any further,” shouted the stationmaster above the roar of the rain pounding on the station roof. “We’ve got trains backed up all the way from the Wabash to the Mississippi. Can’t clear ‘em south until Terre Haute falls. Can’t move ‘em North until Urbana folds.”
If we don’t get those trains moving this will become another ‘Gettysburg,’ Lee thought, with uncharacteristic pessimism. He looked outside the station window at the howling gale and pouring rain. The wagon road running beside the railroad had been churned into sucking mud by the passing of his Confederate armies since the deluge had begun yesterday afternoon. Nobody would be going anywhere by road until the rain stopped and the sun came out to dry the earth.
I command the most powerful military force ever assembled on this continent. I achieved complete surprise with it by attacking the enemy where he did not expect. But all of that effort is made impotent by our failure to seize the railroad junctions necessary for its forward movement and resupply in inclement weather. My men are hungry and wet. They will take sick if they don’t receive shelter and victuals. So much can go wrong in war!
“Have any messages arrived from the front?” Lee asked the stationmaster.
“Not yet, sir” answered the stationmaster, for the third time that day. “Until the weather clears, messengers can’t return from the front any easier than they can go forward.”
Lee nodded. “Yes, I should have learned that by now.”
The stationmaster walked Lee to the door and saluted. He was a sergeant, one of the men that Braxton Bragg had appointed to expedite the movement of men and supplies to the front.
“How long have you been in the army?” Lee asked.
“Two months,” replied the stationmaster. “I managed the passenger loadings for the railroad in New Orleans. General Bragg thought I could be of use in the war up here and brought me along with him. I wish I could be of some use now, but I don’t know what else I can do until we get into Terre Haute and open the return loop into Vincennes, or until we can push some trains north past Urbana.”
“It’s my job to capture those Rebel garrisons at Terre Haute and Urbana,” said Lee. “So this time you’ll have to wait on me. I know I’ll be able to count on you to keep the men and supplies moving forward once we have Terre Haute and Urbana in our possession.”
Lee opened the door and put out his arm, feeling the warm rain falling through the cool air. That meant that a tropical storm coming up from the Gulf of Mexico had wrapped itself around the season’s first gale coming down from the north. The rain was likely to continue for days. Lee walked briskly out of the station and through the open door of his railroad car, dashing through the few feet of open air that seemed to contain a waterfall. As he entered the passenger car he shook the water off his hat and closed the door. The rain pounding on the roof of the car was louder than the roar of the rain falling outside.
Lee turned to his entourage of Braxton Bragg and Richard Taylor.
“From the looks of the storm, your people in Louisiana must have caught a hurricane.” Lee said it loudly, making himself heard over the deluge outside.
“It could have been Louisiana, or maybe Mississippi or Texas that caught the worst of it,” replied Taylor. “Whatever it was, it carried a strong punch, since it knocked down the telegraph lines clear down to the Gulf.”
“I need your Louisiana Tigers to unleash a storm of their own against the Rebels as soon as the weather clears and we can get them up here,” said Lee.
Dour old Bragg chuckled. “Let’s hope they do to the Rebels half of what they’re doing to Memphis.”
“I understand that most of their officers are in jail,” added Lee with just a hint of a smile. “You fellows are supposed to be our chief disciplinarians. Lord knows how that outfit would have turned out if it had been trained by slackers!”
Dick Taylor guffawed loud enough to drown out the pounding rain. Even sourpuss Bragg laughed. He and Bragg were close friends who had trained the Louisiana regiments together. Stoneballs had thrown them against Fremont’s enveloping line at Gettysburg and they had busted it wide open. Lee had hoped to place the Tigers in the line between the weak divisions of Floyd and Pillow, using them as the cudgel to break Grant’s line from the south if the rearward envelopment stall
ed.
Delays in moving the Louisiana regiments on the overloaded railroads from the Pennsylvania Front to Illinois had stranded them in several towns in the Carolinas and Tennessee, which they had had promptly trashed and looted. They were last reported running amok in Memphis just before the storm took down the telegraph lines. Lee wanted to get them up here before the Governor of Tennessee called out the State Militia to suppress them. That would like as not trigger a small war within a war.
Lee’s thoughts returned to the serious business at hand. This situation is becoming worrisome. I’ve got two hundred thousand men stuck up here on trains that can’t move forward or backward. If Grant were to realize our predicament he could surge forward and capture half the rolling stock in the Confederate Union, and very probably he would capture the men before they were able to detrain and defend themselves. I must resolve this situation before the weather clears enough for Grant to think about taking the offensive against me.
Lee directed Bragg’s and Taylor’s attention to the map spread out over the impromptu desk that had been knocked together over the tops of a couple of passenger seats.
“We have no information on what’s happening at the front. We’ll have to trust to the judgment of Jackson and Kirby Smith and their division commanders to sort things out. In the meantime we can start thinking through the contingencies we’ll be facing when the weather clears. Perhaps we should start by figuring out how to unsnarl the railroads if the Rebels continue to hold out at Urbana and Terre Haute.”
Lee pointed to the section of the map showing the railroads feeding into Terre Haute, including the Terre Haute & Alton that he was stuck on now, about seventy miles west of the town.
“Let’s find out if we can forage up enough spare rails and ties for our engineers to lay a bypass route around the west side of Terre Haute on ‘our’ side of the river. We’ll tie it in with the Terre Haute and Vincennes Railroad ten or twelve miles south of town. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just sturdy enough to pass locomotives travelling at a slow speed. If we can do that, we can at least get the trains moving again on a south-bound loop. We’ll be able to resupply and re-victual our men at the fronts. Then we can get the follow-on units like the Louisiana men on up here to reinforce them.”
