JUST
BEFORE BECOMING COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF ALL UNION ARMIES,
GRANT COMMENTS ON OTHER ARMY OFFICERS:
“I BELIEVE COMPLAINTS ARE GENERALLY MADE TO SHIFT RESPONSIBILITY
OF INACTION
FROM COMMANDERS TO...WASHINGTON AUTHORITIES....
THIS WAR HAS DEVELOPED SOME OF OUR OLD ACQUAINTANCES
MUCH DIFFERENTLY FROM WHAT WE WOULD HAVE EXPECTED....
SOME WHO MUCH WOULD HAVE BEEN EXPECTED FROM HAVE PROVEN RATHER FAILURES”
U.
S. GRANT. Autograph
Letter Signed to Ruf[us Ingalls], Nashville, TN, 16 February 1864. 3½
pages, 9¾” x 7¾”.
A
fine Civil War-date letter from Ulysses S. Grant, written to an old
friend, containing both military news and some wonderful personal insights.
At this date, Grant’s victories in the West, especially at Vicksburg,
had made him the Union’s leading general; he had been promoted
to major general and given complete command in the Western theater.
Shortly after this, he would be advanced to lieutenant general and named
commander-in-chief of all Union armies.
Grant
writes here to Rufus Ingalls, a career Army officer who served with
distinction in the quartermaster’s department. The two men had
been classmates at West Point and had served together in the Mexican
War and at Fort Vancouver in the 1850's. Ingalls was at this date a
brigadier general and the chief quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac.
“Your
very welcome letter was received by due course of Mail and read with
great interest and full intention to answer it right off. But since
that time I have been moving about so much that I have neglected it.
I have often wished that I could have you here to run the machinery
of your department,” Grant observes. “This was
on account of old acquaintance however. The Quartermaster’s Dept.
here has been well and satisfactorily managed so far as the heads are
concerned. I did once apply to have you sent here as Chief but it was
thought you could not be spared from where you are. I have never had
any cause of complaint either on account of deficiency in the Staff
Deptmts or embarassments t[h]rown in the way by the Authorities at Washington.
The fact is I believe complaints are generally made to shift responsibility
of inaction from commanders to Staff Departments or Washington Authorities.
Of course I only speak for the West. I am thankful my lot has not been
cast where I could judge for any other section,” he adds,
a rather ironic statement given his appointment soon after this to be
head of all Union armies and his decision to shift his headquarters
to the Army of the Potomac in the East.
“I
am beginning now to make preparations for attack or defence when Spring
opens,” Grant advises. “Two important expeditions
are now out, one under Sherman and the other under Thomas, which, if
as successful as I expect them to be will have an important bearing
on the Spring Campaign.” The expedition led by General William
T. Sherman that Grant mentions here would prove especially important.
In his February 1864 drive across Mississippi to destroy Confederate
communications, Sherman “cut a swath of destruction from Jackson
to Meridian...utilizing property damage and warfare against the southern
psyche to achieve the victory he believed the mayhem of battle could
not accomplish as quickly or as effectively” (see American
National Biography Online). It was a concept of war that he would
utilize again in his famous March to the Sea through Georgia later in
the year. Meanwhile, General George Thomas’s forces were probing
Confederate positions in northern Georgia.
“This
war has developed some of our old acquaintances much differently from
what we would have expected,” Grant continues. “Fred.
Steele, a good fellow always but you would have supposed not much more,
is really a splendid officer and would be fully capable of the management
of the Army of the Potomac or any of the Departments. Some who much
would have been expected from have proven rather failures. This class
I do not like to mention by name.” Frederick Steele had graduated
from West Point in the same class as Grant. He served in the Western
theater, including the Vicksburg campaign, throughout the Civil War,
becoming a major general.
“I
believe Ruf. you are still leading a bachilor’s [sic] life! Dont
you regret it? Now I have four children, three boys and one girl, in
whos[e] society I feel more enjoyment than I possibly can with any other
company. They are a responsibility – giving much more pleasure
than anxiety. It may not be too late for you yet.
“My
respects to such old acquaintances as are with you.” He has
signed, “Yours truly / U. S. Grant.”
In April
1863, Grant had asked that Ingalls be considered for the post of chief
quartermaster in the Department of the Tennessee. Later this year, in
June, after Grant became head of all Union armies and shifted his headquarters
to the East, he would make Ingalls chief quartermaster of all the armies
operating against Richmond.
This
letter has been printed in Simon, ed., The Papers of Ulysses S.
Grant, volume 10, pages 131-32.
The letter
is in very good condition. It has some soiling to the last page, principally
in a blank area, a slight paper clip stain on the inner leaves, and
expert repairs to a few fold breaks. Overall, however, it is clean and
darkly-penned. $12,500.00
This
image shows only page 1 and part of page 4 of the letter.
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