Halleck, Grant, Hitchcock, and McClellan

A. This is Halleck's appointment to command of the Department of Missouri, offered mostly for the sake of completeness.

GENERAL: In assigning you to the command of the Department of the Missouri, it is probably unnecessary for me to state that I have intrusted to you a duty which requires the utmost tact and decision. You have not merely the ordinary duties of a military commander to perform, but the far more difficult task of reducing chaos to order, of changing probably the majority of the personnel of the staff of the department, and of reducing to a point of economy, consistent with the interests and necessities of the State, a system of reckless expenditure and fraud, perhaps unheard of before in the history of the world.

You will find in your department many general and staff officers holding illegal commissions and appointments not recognized or approved by the President or Secretary of War. You will please at once inform these gentlemen of the nullity of their appointment, and see that no pay or allowances are issued to them until such time as commissions may be authorized by the President or Secretary of War.

If any of them give the slightest trouble you will at once arrest them and send them, under guard, out of the limits of your department, informing them that if they return they will be placed in close confinement. You will please examine into the legality of the organization of the troops serving in the department. When you find any illegal, unusual, or improper organizations you will give to the officers and men an opportunity to enter the legal military establishment under general laws and orders from the War Department, reporting in full to these headquarters any officer or organization that may decline.

You will please cause competent and reliable staff officers to examine all existing contracts immediately, and suspend all payments upon them until you receive the report in each case. Where there is the slightest doubt as to the propriety of the contract, you will be good enough to refer the matter with full explanation to these headquarters, stating in each case what would be a fair compensation for the services or materials rendered under the contract. Discontinue at once the reception of material or services under any doubtful contract. Arrest and bring to prompt trial all officers who have in any way violated their duty to the Government. In regard to the political conduct of affairs, you will please labor to impress upon the inhabitants of Missouri and the adjacent States that we are fighting solely for the integrity of the Union, to uphold the power of our National Government, and to restore to the nation the blessings of peace and good order.

With respect to military operations, it is probable, from the best information in my possession, that the interests of the Government will be best served by fortifying and holding in considerable strength Rolla, Sedalia, and other interior points, keeping strong patrols constantly moving from the terminal stations, and concentrating the mass of the troops on or near the Mississippi, prepared for such ulterior operations as the public interests may demand.

I would be glad to have you make as soon as possible a personal inspection of all the important points in your department, and report the result to me. I cannot too strongly impress upon you the absolute necessity of keeping me constantly advised of the strength, condition, and location of your troops, together with all facts that will enable me to maintain that general direction of the armies of the United States which it is my purpose to exercise. I trust to you to maintain thorough organization, discipline, and economy throughout your department. Please inform me as soon as possible of everything relating to the gunboats now in process of construction, as well as those completed.

The militia force authorized to be raised by the State of Missouri for its defense will be under your orders.

B. This is the first mention of E.A. Hitchcock in the OR, yet the context clearly indicates previous communication between Halleck and McClellan on the subject of giving Hitchcock a major command. The Publisher has not been able to find that prior other message.

MY DEAR GENERAL: I have recommended A. J. Smith for brigadier-general, as you requested, and when his name is acted upon will assign him to duty with you. I have also recommended General Hitchcock, as you desire. Your welcome letter in regard to future operations is received. I will reply in full in a day or two. In the mean time get your force in hand and study the ground. I will try to-day to send you some more infantry arms. Cavalry arms are terribly scarce. I have had to take to lances here to supply deficiencies. I like your views as to the future. They fully agree with my own ideas from the beginning, which has ever been against a movement in force down the Mississippi itself. The news from the Burnside expedition is by no means so unfavorable as the telegram reports. He had terrible gales while crowded in a small harbor. The only real evil of consequence is the delay.

I will try to devote this afternoon to you and Buell, to give you my views and intentions in full.

Can you spare Stanley to Buell as chief of cavalry, or shall I look elsewhere to get him one? He (Buell) has not asked for him, but I know him to be a first-rate officer.

I am very sorry that you have been so ill, but sincerely hope that you are now quite well again.

While I think of it, do you not think that it would be well to try one of those mortar floats thoroughly with 50 or 100 discharges before arming them all? Je m'en doute un pen. It is very desirable to move all along the line by the 22d February, if possible.

C. This is where things begin to get strange, in the Publisher's opinion. Note the date (2/8/1862); Fort Henry was captured on Feb. 6, 1862, with Grant suggesting he would go and capture Fort Donelson on Feb. 8, 1862. That of course was premature by a week, but it seems to indicate a commander in good command of his troops, yet Halleck wants to supercede Grant (and several others, including three West Point graduates, with Hitchcock, who was advanced in years and has never commanded a large force in battle.

Brigadier-Generals Sherman, Pope, Grant, Curtis, Hurlbut, Sigel, Prentiss, and McClernand, all in this department, are of same date, and each unwilling to serve under the other. If Brig· Gen. E. A. Hitchcock could be made major-general of volunteers and assigned to this department it would satisfy all and reconcile all differences. If it can be done there should be no delay, as an experienced officer of high rank is wanted immediately on the Tennessee line.

D. We now begin to see some of Halleck's motives. He wants to create a unified command in the west (a very sound idea, actually) but he does not put himself forward as the commander of this new and enlarged Department. He suggests leaving Buell (Department of the Ohio) and Hunter (Department of Kansas) in essentially their current positions, but wants Hitchcock for what appears to be the present active theatre of operations, despite the fact that Grant is in the process of creating a huge hole in the Confederate position. (Note that Halleck thinks Sherman would be an adequate replacement for Hitchcock.) Why?

GENERAL: I have considered with due deliberation that part of your telegram of yesterday in relation to General Buell's coming to the Cumberland River and taking command of the expedition against Nashville. General Sherman ranks General Buell, and he is entitled to a command in that direction. I propose, with due deference to your better judgment, the following plan, as calculated to produce unity of action and to avoid any difficulties about rank and command: Create a geographical division, to be called Western Division, or any other suitable name, and to be composed of three departments, viz: Department of the Missouri, including the present Department of Kansas and the States of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas; Department of the Mississippi, including the remainder of the present Department of the Missouri and West Tennessee; Department of the Ohio, to be the same as at present, with the addition of East Tennessee. If we penetrate into Alabama or Mississippi, they can be assigned according to circumstances. General Buell would then retain his present command, with a small addition; General Hunter could take the new Department of the Missouri, which, I have no doubt, would be more agreeable to him than his present position; and General Hitchcock, if you can get him appointed, could take the new Department of the Mississippi. I have no desire for any larger command than I have now, but it seems to me that this would produce greater concert of action, give more satisfaction to General Hunter, and economize your labor, as all your orders for the West would then go through a single channel. Moreover, where troops of different departments act together, as they must on the Cumberland and Tennessee and on the frontiers of Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas, they would be under one general head. This would avoid any clashing of interests or difference of plans and policy.

If General Hitchcock cannot be appointed, General Sherman could take the Department of the Mississippi. His health is greatly improved.

E. (Cullum is Halleck's Chief of Staff, I believe.) Halleck appears to have assumed that Hitchcock would be appointed.

All additional stores should be sent to Paducah. The First Nebraska leave to-night: the Second Iowa will follow to-morrow night. General McClellan gives hopes of adopting my plan entire, by sending a part of Buell's army to the Cumberland. If so, look out for lively times. The gunboats should be prepared for the Cumberland with all possible dispatch. Hitchcock is appointed.

[Official Records, Vol. VII, pp. 597--98]

F. Halleck believes Hitchcock will be appointed "tomorrow morning," and Halleck obviously wants Sherman to take a command of the effort up the Tennessee.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI,

Saint Louis, February 9, 1862.

Brigadier-General SHERMAN,
Benton Barracks:

Hitchcock will be appointed to-morrow morning, and I am directed to assign officers accordingly. Make your preparations to take a column or division on the Tennessee or Cumberland.

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General.

[Official Records, Vol. LII, Part 1, p. 208]

G. Now McClellan wants to know how Halleck intends to use Hitchcock. Note that Mac seems to want Buell to take command of any effort up the Tennessee. But note the date: Feb. 14. This is the date of the failed gunboat attack on Fort Donelson (news of which has probably not reached either Halleck or McClellan). Grant, who has completely invested Fort Donelson, is not even mentioned here.

GENERAL: I have just received your gratifying dispatch that our forces occupy Springfield, and am in hourly expectation of having similar news in regard to Fort Donelson. Your proposition in regard to the formation of a Western Division has one fatal obstacle, viz, that the proposed commander of the new Department of Missouri ranks you. I would be glad to hear from you in detail as to the troops from your department now in the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. Do you learn anything as to Beauregard's whereabouts and what troops [if any] he took with him?

What disposition do you intend to make of Hitchcock? If you do not go in person to the Tennessee and Cumberland, I shall probably write Buell to take the line of the Tennessee, so far as Nashville is concerned. If his advance on Bowling Green must be done, it may well be necessary to throw a large portion of the troops up the Tennessee, in which case he is entitled to their command.

[Official Records, Vol. VII, p. 615]

H. This is after Fort Donelson has fallen, and the Confederate position in Tennessee is collapsing, as a result of Grant's work, and Halleck continues to want Hitchcock for this command.

FEBRUARY 17, 1862--10 a.m.

Major-General MCCLELLAN:

It is said that Beauregard is preparing to move from Columbus either on Paducah or Fort Henry. Do send me more troops. It is the crisis of the war in the West. Have you fully considered the advantage which the Cumberland affords to the enemy at Nashville? An immense number of boats have been collected, and the whole Bowling Green force can come down in a day, attack Grant in the rear, and return to Nashville before Buell can get half way there. The bridges are all destroyed and the roads' rendered impassable. If Buell must move by land, why not direct him on Clarksville? I can do no more for Grant at present. I must stop the transports at Cairo to observe Beauregard. We are certainly in peril. Telegraph to General Hitchcock officially, informing him of his appointment, and assign him to duty in this department.

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General.

[Official Records, Vol. VII, p. 627]

I. Three days after the biggest Federal victory of the war (so far), and Halleck still wants to supplant the author of that success. However, this appears to be the last mention of Hitchcock in this context.

Yours of the 14th just received. Hitchcock will take command here as soon as he gets his orders. I think Hunter will consent to go under me and command the central column. If not, leave him where he is. It was decided in the Mexican war that regulars ranked volunteers, without regard to dates. This decision, if sustained, makes everything right for the Western Division. Give it to me, and I will split secession in twain in one month.