The Lincoln Story Book Part 40

MR. LINCOLN'S OPINION OF GENERAL McCLELLAN.

In the first stage of the war, when the President was commander-in-chief of the forces by virtue of his office, he played the part of the elevated boy in "The King of the Castle." Every one of his colleagues, who ought to have been his loyal supporters, until some firm stand was attained under the batteries of Richmond, civil and military, warred against him, underhandedly and haply openly. All aimed, in Cabinet and on the staff, to be ruler. The understrappers of aged General Scott upheld all that concurred with warfare, set and obsolete, of the European strategists, overthrown by the great Napoleon. The princ.i.p.al practiser of these tactics, the _summum bonum_, or "good thing," of the "West Pointers" was General McClellan, "the Little Mac" of his wors.h.i.+pers and "the Little Napoleon" of the dazzled crowd. He was, like Ca.s.sio, "a great arithmetician, who had never set a squadron in the field or the division of a battle knew," etc. Seeming utterly to ignore that the enemy was composed of men trained by their life and "genteel"

occupations to shoot true, to ride like Comanches or Revolutionary Harry Lee's Light-horse, used to lying outdoors under skies genial to them, and subsisting on game and corn-cake as Marion on sweet potatoes, he expected to foil such guerrillas as "Jeb" Stuart, Mosby, and Quantrell by earthworks, which they probably would have leaped their horse over if they wanted to reach their spoil in that way. It was in allusion to this adherence to Vauban that the President, who eyed the aspiring Hotspur as Henry V. his heir, the sixth Henry, trying on his crown, observed shrewdly, when the general kept silence:

"He is entrenching."

A "STATIONARY" ENGINE.

Lincoln said of the much-promising General McClellan: "He is an admirable engineer, but he seems to have a special talent for a _stationary_ engine."

He also cited him as a scholar and a gentleman.

Nevertheless, as the education lavished on the Army of the Potomac to make it earn foreign military critics' praise at reviews, was not thrown away, but made sound soldiers which in time were invaluable to General Grant, Lincoln did him justice by quaintly, but earnestly, saying:

"I would like to borrow _his_ arm if he has no further use for it."

(General Franklin heard this.)

But "Little Mac" had no design on the dictators.h.i.+p, being surely a lover of the Union, too.

SHOVELING FLEAS.

On account of the looseness and corruption attending the raising of soldiers at the first, the President, noting the difference between the number of men forwarded to General McClellan for the Army of the Potomac, and the number reported arrived, said:

"Sending men to that army is like shoveling fleas across a barn-yard--half of them never get there."

THE GEORGIA COLONEL'S COSTUME.

"On account of this sectional warfare," Senator Mason, of Virginia, announced his resolve to wear homespun, and dispense with Yankee manufactures altogether. That made Lincoln laugh, and say: "To carry out his idea, he ought to go barefoot. If that's the plan, they should begin at the foundation, and adopt the well-known Georgian colonel's uniform--a s.h.i.+rt-collar and a pair of spurs!"--(In, speech, New England tour, 1860.)

COa.r.s.e FEED FIRST!

Secretary Whitney wrote: "In July, 1861, I was in Was.h.i.+ngton, where I merely said to President Lincoln: 'Everything is drifting into the war, and I guess you will have to put _me_ in the army.' (He was in the Indian service at the time.)

"The President looked up from his work, and said good-humoredly:

"'I'm making generals _now_! In a few days I will be making quartermasters, and then I'll fix you.'"

"AIN'T I GLAD TO GIT OUT O' DE WILDERNESS!"

In the summer of 1862, just when the North was lulled to repose by the note from General McClellan's newsmongers, that the people would have a great surprise on the Fourth of July, Colonel J. E. B. Stuart, Confederate cavalrist, took about two thousand picked riders and performed a dash within the hostile lines, which achieved a world-wide admiration. It is necessary to premise that the country was inimical to the defenders of Was.h.i.+ngton, and the farmers kept the secessionists clearly informed on the Federal movements. Besides, the first duty of keeping Was.h.i.+ngton engrossed all the Union commanders. If, by any unexpected movement, the rebels occupied the capital long enough to set up their government, Europe would have recognized the stars and bars, and raised the blockade on the cotton ports. Was.h.i.+ngton was stupefied and terror-stricken when the news came in from the _North_ that rebel cavalry were "cavortin" within McClellan's lines. Communication was cut off with him, and the President was heard to say in the general dumbness of consternation:

"There is no news from the Army of the Potomac. I do not even know that we have an army!"

He was himself filled with the universal alarm. His hope was that a bright morning would follow the dark hour, but his faith and belief that G.o.d would safely lead them "_out of the wilderness_" was not widely shared.

The allusion was to the popular army song, taken from the negro camp-meeting repertoire: "Ain't I glad to git out o' de Wilderness,"

which a clergyman had encouragingly chanted awhile before. This wilderness was metaphorically spiritual, but all applied the figure to the Wilderness of Virginia, where the battles were fought.

WITH TWO GUNS, HOLD OFF AN ARMY.

One Irish artilleryman was left behind, with one gun of his battery, on the wrong bank of the Potomac, when the Union Army retreated before Lee. This gunner actually telegraphed direct to the President as his commander-in-chief that:

"I have the whole rebel army in my front. Send me another gun, and I a.s.sure your honor that they shall not come over!"

This pleased the President greatly, who answered that the new Horatius was to take counsel with his officer--if he could find him!

BREAKING UP THE LITTLE GAME.

In 1862, Was.h.i.+ngton was full of talk "and no hard cider." There was the laugh talk of the gossips, who would chatter under fire, the chaff talk of the press men taking things farcically, and the staff talk of the officers envying one another and scheming for places. Too many were still "carrying water on both shoulders," and would have welcomed a speedy reconciliation. The President heard that some of the latter voiced the petulant complaint of those weary of the gainless military movements, that the intention was to s.h.i.+ft the two armies about till both were exhausted, and, like the peace-at-any-price men, and the still sympathizing pro-slavery "tail," a compromise could be effected and slavery saved. He summoned the parties in this public unbosoming before him. Major Turner said that Major John J. Key, staff-officer to General McClellan, was asked why the Unionists had not _bagged_ the rebel army soon after the battle of Sharpsburg, whereupon he replied:

"That was not the game! We should tire ourselves and the rebels out; that was the only way that the Union could be preserved; then we would come together fraternally, and slavery will be saved."

Major Key did not deny the words, but stoutly maintained his loyalty.

As McClellan's staff-officer, he must have known his leader's policy--no confiscation, and no Emanc.i.p.ation Act--for McClellan hoped, like thousands of conservatives, to bring about reaction in the South.

But the President sharply said with some of his sempiternal humor:

"Gentlemen, if there is a game even among Union men, to have our army not take any advantage of the enemy it can, it is my object to break up that game!"