A Military Genius Part 9

You may feel a.s.sured that I read with exceeding interest everything from your pen and every reference in the press to yourself and interests. I have no doubt your contribution to the history of Maryland at the eventful crisis referred to will be a most valuable and interesting one.

H. W. HOFFMAN.[20]

[Footnote 20: Hoffman was a Representative from Maryland, lawyer, and Member of the House of Representatives.]

LIMA, PERU, _September 12, 1874_.

My Dear Miss Carroll:

It affords me great pleasure to have an opportunity to testify to the valuable a.s.sistance rendered by yourself to the cause of the Union at the commencement and during the progress of the late war. Your private conversations and your publications in the newspapers and pamphlets all tended to inspire that ardent patriotism which a grave crisis in public affairs imperatively demanded. Every Marylander who felt called upon to support the endangered Government of the United States must have been encouraged and cheered in the discharge of a painful duty by that earnest enthusiasm which was at that time displayed by yourself in support of the measures forced upon the Government by the rebellion. I am gratified to hear that you propose to publish a book that will do justice to the memory of the late Governor Hicks; and offering my best wishes for the success of your undertaking and for your personal health and happiness,

I am sincerely your friend,

FRANCIS THOMAS.[21]

[Footnote 21: Francis Thomas was a Member of Congress from Maryland, Governor of Maryland, and Minister to Peru under Grant.]

NEWARK, _Sept. 28, 1874_.

Dear Miss Carroll:

I have carefully read your pamphlet, and I do not hesitate to say your claim is a strong one. You could not have a better witness than Colonel Scott, a man of the highest character. His testimony is clear and unequivocal, and if your claim is rejected I can attribute it to but one cause--you are a woman--a relic of barbarism against your s.e.x; but still I believe you will succeed.

I am satisfied that a large majority of the members of both Houses are fair-minded, honorable men, disposed to do what is right.

I should be glad to meet you and talk with you about your proposed life of Governor Hicks. There are several matters I should be pleased to discuss with you.

Very truly your friend,

WM. H. PARNELL, _President Delaware College_.

CHESTERTOWN, Md., _Oct. 9, 1874_.

My friend Miss Carroll has two claims against the Government growing out of services rendered to the country during the civil war--the one of a literary and the other of a military character.

Miss Carroll is a daughter of the late Hon. Thomas King Carroll, one of the best men Maryland has ever produced.

GEORGE VICKERS.

PRINCETON, _October 13, 1874_.

Miss Carroll:

I thank you for your letter of the 19th ultimo and for the two pamphlets that accompanied it, which I read with great interest.

I think they clearly establish your claim on the grat.i.tude of the country and on a suitable remuneration by Congress by proving that you rendered the Government very important service during the crisis of the late war. As that service involved great labor and sacrifice on your part and saved the country a great amount of useless expenditure in men and money, justice as well as grat.i.tude demands that it should be liberally rewarded.

Hoping that those in authority will recognize the debt which the country owes you,

I am very respectfully yours,

CHARLES HODGE, _President of Theological Seminary_.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, D. C., _December 16, 1874_.

Dear Miss Carroll:

I have not the vanity to suppose that my commendation can add to the high estimate placed by all upon your services to the Union in the late war; but as you have done me the honor to ask a candid expression of my opinion I venture to say that any statesman or author of America might be justly proud of having written such papers as the able pamphlets produced by you in support of the Government at that critical period.

As to your military services in planning the Tennessee campaign, you hold and have published too many proofs of the validity of your claim to require further confirmation.

I shall rejoice in your success in procuring a formal recognition of your labors if only it will aid in establis.h.i.+ng the just rule that equal services, whether performed by man or woman, must always command equal recognition and reward.

As a Marylander, I am proud that in the war of the rebellion "the Old Maryland line" was so worthily represented by you.

SAMUEL T. WILLIAMS.

The letters of eminent men in admiration of Miss Carroll's papers, published and unpublished, would fill a volume. These are only a portion of those published by order of Congress.

Senator Jacob Howard, of the Military Commission appointed to inquire into Miss Carroll's services, in his report of the 42d Congress, states--

"She did more for the country than all the military generals. She showed where to fight and how to strike the rebellion on the head, possessing withal judicial learning so comprehensive and concise in its style of argument that the Government gladly sat at her feet to learn the wisdom of its powers."

This allusion to military services leads us to a still more remarkable record of Miss Carroll's work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BENJAMIN F. WADE.]

CHAPTER IV.

THE MILITARY SITUATION -- GOES TO ST. LOUIS -- INCEPTION OF THE PLAN OF THE TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN -- GIVES IN THE PLAN AT THE WAR DEPARTMENT -- PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S DELIGHT AT THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM -- ACCOUNT WRITTEN IN 1889 -- JUDGE WADE AT BULL RUN -- FORMATION OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR.

Early in the fall of 1861 a gunboat fleet was under preparation to descend the Mississippi. It was a time of extreme peril, when the continuance of the Union depended on immediate military success. The Union armies had met with repeated reverses. The Confederates were exultant and the European nations were expectant of the approaching downfall of the United States Government. France had already put forth her hand to control Mexico, and although in England the Union had warm friends who still hoped for its success, the general impression was that its defeat might be considered a foregone conclusion. Financial ruin also seemed inevitable. The Northern army was costing the nation two million dollars a day. The Hon. Mr. Dawes, in a speech in Congress, had declared it "impossible for the United States to meet this state of things sixty days longer." "An ignominious peace," he predicted, "was upon the country and at its very doors."

At that time there was nothing in the att.i.tude of the Union cause very strongly to appeal to English sympathy. It was openly set forth that the war was not waged for the extermination of slavery. Devotion to the Union could not excite especial interest in any but an American.

On the contrary, the prevalent opinion in England was that the United States was a dangerous and rather unscrupulous power, and that it would be for the interests of humanity that it should be divided; consequently the general sympathy was largely with the Confederates and the desires of the governing cla.s.ses for their success openly avowed. After the emanc.i.p.ation proclamation it was different. The Union cause had thereafter the incalculable advantage of a well-defined moral position--a position always keenly felt by the English ma.s.ses. The desires of the governing cla.s.s at that period and the dangers of the position from a military point of view are well indicated in extracts given by Miss Carroll in her successive memorials from the English journals and from diplomatic correspondence.