We will be leaving the fair and traveling to South Bend to collect our children from school. From there we will travel to Lancaster. I plan to headquarter my new command at St Louis, Missouri and unite my family there.
While my journey is not finished, there will only be light posting in the future.
Chicago, Illinois
The One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois Regiment marched into the Chicago from Camp Douglas. They were greeted by members of the Eighty-sixth Illinois Regiment lining the streets to cheer them home. The soldiers, friends and families filled the hall as I spoke to them:
FELLOW-SOLDIERS: I regret that it has fallen to my task to speak to you, because I would rather that others should do what is more common to them and less so to me. But, my fellow-soldiers, it gives me pleasure to assure you that what the what the President of this Fair has told you just now is true: that a hearty welcome awaits you wherever you go, not only in Chicago, but wherever you go. They are men who think you want bread and meat. Your faces and my knowledge tells me that you would prefer, by far, to see the waving handkerchiefs and the manifestation of a kindly spirit, than all the bread and meat that fill the storehouses of Chicago. These soldiers who are now before me know where bread and meat grows, and can help themselves. All we ask, and all we have ever asked, is a silent, generous acknowledgment of our services when rendered in the cause, of our country.
My fellow soldiers you who now are before me, can “a tale unfold,” when you get home, that will interest the people far more than anything I could say were I to talk all day. Just recall back where you were last year, ye who are now within the bearing of my voice. You remember Kenesaw Mountain and Little Kenesaw! It is not a year since you stormed it yourselves. You, the very men who are now before me where I lost my old partner and my old friend Dan McCook. That was on the 27th of June, 1864, and here in June, 1865, you stand in a hall of Chicago, surrounded by the bright colors, by the ladies and children of your homes. Then you were lying in the mud and on the rock and dirt, and you saw before you an enemy that we know we had to whip. We didn’t exactly know how to do it. Then we were patient; we reconnoitered; we watched their flanks; we studied their ground; and we finally assaulted and failed, But we did not wait even then, for in three days more we had Johnston and his army running, and we did not give him a chance to stop until he had put the Chattahoochee River between him and us. That is the lesson which all must study. Temporary defeat is nothing when the mind is not affected. If you are not conquered, you never can be conquered, for when the mind is clear in purpose and determined to succeed, no temporary check will cause a failure. In fact, it but stimulates to further exertion. You will remember well, that although checked on the 27th of June, by the Fourth of July we stood on the banks of the Chattahoochee and shouted our defiance to Johnston across that river, and told him and his men that they would have to go further than Atlanta, for we meant to go on. You remember how the pickets across the river told us they had had reinforcements! Yes they had had reinforcements! What reinforcements had they? Do you remember? They had one “of our corps: SCHOFIELD’s, corps. Before Johnston knew or dreamed of it, I had reinforced his side of the Chattahoochee by Schofield’s Twenty-second corps.
Then, my fellow-soldiers, I want you to learn the lesson that no matter how we are today or tomorrow, that thus keeping the purpose clear in the mind, in the end we will succeed, whether in the military life, the private career or the family circle. Let no temporary disaster appal you; let no temporary defeat alarm you. But, let your purpose in his be clear and steadfast, keeping in view the object you desire in life; and, just as surely as you are standing before me in health and strength, so surely you will succeed.
The past is now gone. You have returned to your homes or to the State of your homes, in health. Looking at your forms with your tawny faces and broad shoulders, I ask, What fear you? Nothing! Your home is near, but there comes a task to you. It is the task of the future. The past is gone and it may soon be forgotten: but the future is before you, and that is more glorious than the past. Look at your own State of Illinois. Look at this city, hardly as old as any of you; twenty-five years ago a little military garrison was here, a two company post, and now it is a city with its palaces, its railroads, its carriages, its wealth, and all the luxuries of life. Those few years ago a little military post of two companies was all that the government had here to vindicate her authority; and now here is a State with two millions of people, and a city almost second in the United States of America stands on the level shores of Lake Michigan. What is here today is but an exemplar of what may occur in your whole state by patience and industry. You are the men to direct that patience and industry. You are able to do it. You have system, discipline and organization drilled in the mind, which is far more, my boys, than battalion drills, with which you have been badgered so much. You have that discipline which is mere important in life than your double column formations.
If I have been instrumental in teaching you this,in maintaining discipline, order and good government in the army which I had the honor to command, I will feel more honored in future than in gaining battles and winning cities; for in discipline and system, in the high tone of honor which pervades your mind, must be built up the empire of America. Well, boys, you are now all back home. I do not wish to speak to you, but I know there are others here to speak to you; but I believe there are none here that desire to speak. They desire that you should walk about and see whatever can be seen, and accept what is given in heartiness and in the full belief that your welcome home is sincere and heartfelt. I know it is genuine, for I myself have experienced it. I know all desire you to feel that you are back in your homes, with none to make you afraid: no more rebels, no more picket-firing, no more shooting! That, you have disposed of forever.
Chicago, Illinois
The One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois Regiment arrived on Thursday morning, and went directly to Camp Douglas without coming into the city. They have been invited by the Executive Committee to visit the different departments of the fair. The Eightysixth Illinois Regiment, which arrived in Chicago last Sunday went into barracks at Camp Fry. These two regiments are old friends, having been in the same brigade through most of my campaigns. I have been invited to address these soldiers tomorrow as they muster out to return to civilian life.
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago is a rapidly growing city. The railroads go west from Chicago. The transcontinental route through Nebraska is to meet the track being laid from California to the east. This magnificent achievement will truly unite California with the rest of the country. Well I remember my first voyage to California that took me around South America to San Francisco. The boat sank close to my destination and I had to swim ashore.
My command will be west of the Mississippi and a major goal will be to facilitate the progress of the railroad by protecting it from the Indians.
Chicago, Illinois
The last Sanitary Fair in Chicago raised $100,000 for the Sanitary Commission and this fair is expected to raise twice as much. I am told it is many times larger. Each state in the Northwest has its own booth and they are in friendly competition with each other. They states have friendly competitions among counties and districts to encourage contributions. For example, Minnesota asked each farmer to provide a bushel of wheat. They also collected Indian artifacts for sale to curious easterners. There are all manner of arrowheads and stone tools, jewelry, headbands and such as is common in Minnesota but rare in the east. All the items are being sold for benefit of the troops.
Chicago, Illinois
President Lincoln had committed to giving the opening address at the NorthWest Sanitary Fair but the most unfortunate tragedy has intervened. In his place the address was given by Governor Oglesby of Illinois. The Governor called for the punishment of Jeff Davis, Lee and other leaders. He believes the of the southerners, “Their morality has been so improved by the terrible thrashing they have received, I do not know but what we may be safe in venturing to believe, on this subject, what most of them say.”
Chicago, Illinois
The Sanitary Commission is holding a fair to support the return of the troops from the war and I have come with my family to support the cause. Local communities participate in fund raising and other activities in support of the soldiers. The first Sanitary Fair in the US, the Northwestern Soldiers’ Fair, was held here in Chicago in 1863. They have raised over $100,000. There are parades with bands, political leaders, delegations from various local organizations, and food proivded by local farmers. We will attend exhibitions, displays of art, mechanical technology and other entertainment.
On leave with my family.
My thoughts on the war:
Mail facilities should be kept up with an army if possible, that officers and men may receive and send letters to their friends, thus maintaining the home influence of infinite assistance to discipline. Newspaper correspondents with an army, as a rule, are mischievous. They are the world’s gossips, pick up and retail the camp scandal, and gradually drift to the headquarters of some general, who finds it easier to make reputation at home than with his own corps or division. They are also tempted to prophesy events and state facts which, to an enemy, reveal a purpose in time to guard against it. Moreover, they are always bound to see facts colored by the partisan or political character of their own patrons, and thus bring army officers into the political controversies of the day, which are always mischievous and wrong. Yet, so greedy are the people at large for war news, that it is doubtful whether any army commander can exclude all reporters, without bringing down on himself a clamor that may imperil his own safety. Time and moderation must bring a just solution to this modern difficulty.
On leave with my family.
My thoughts on the war:
I believe that every general who has handled armies in battle most recall from his own experience the intensity of thought on some similar occasion, when by a single command he had given the finishing stroke to some complicated action; but to me recurs another thought that is worthy of record, and may encourage others who are to follow us in our profession. I never saw the rear of an army engaged in battle but I feared that some calamity had happened at the front the apparent confusion, broken wagons, crippled horses, men lying about dead and maimed, parties hastening to and fro in seeming disorder, and a general apprehension of something dreadful about to ensue; all these signs, however, lessened as I neared the front, and there the contrast was complete–perfect order, men and horses– full of confidence, and it was not unusual for general hilarity, laughing, and cheering. Although cannon might be firing, the musketry clattering, and the enemy’s shot hitting close, there reigned a general feeling of strength and security that bore a marked contrast to the bloody signs that had drifted rapidly to the rear; therefore, for comfort and safety, I surely would rather be at the front than the rear line of battle. So also on the march, the head of a column moves on steadily, while the rear is alternately halting and then rushing forward to close up the gap; and all sorts of rumors, especially the worst, float back to the rear. Old troops invariably deem it a special privilege to be in the front –to be at the “head of column”–because experience has taught them that it is the easiest and most comfortable place, and danger only adds zest and stimulus to this fact.
The hardest task in war is to lie in support of some position or battery, under fire without the privilege of returning it; or to guard some train left in the rear, within hearing but out of danger; or to provide for the wounded and dead of some corps which is too busy ahead to care for its own.
To be at the head of a strong column of troops, in the execution of some task that requires brain, is the highest pleasure of war–a grim one and terrible, but which leaves on the mind and memory the strongest mark; to detect the weak point of an enemy’s line; to break through with vehemence and thus lead to victory; or to discover some key- point and hold it with tenacity; or to do some other distinct act which is afterward recognized as the real cause of success. These all become matters that are never forgotten. Other great difficulties, experienced by every general, are to measure truly the thousand-and-one reports that come to him in the midst of conflict; to preserve a clear and well-defined purpose at every instant of time, and to cause all efforts to converge to that end.
To do these things he must know perfectly the strength and quality of each part of his own army, as well as that of his opponent, and must be where he can personally see and observe with his own eyes, and judge with his own mind. No man can properly command an army from the rear, he must be “at its front;” and when a detachment is made, the commander thereof should be informed of the object to be accomplished, and left as free as possible to execute it in his own way; and when an army is divided up into several parts, the superior should always attend that one which he regards as most important. Some men think that modern armies may be so regulated that a general can sit in an office and play on his several columns as on the keys of a piano; this is a fearful mistake. The directing mind must be at the very head of the army–must be seen there, and the effect of his mind and personal energy must be felt by every officer and man present with it, to secure the best results. Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster.
On leave with my family.
My thoughts on the war:
With us, today, the law and regulations are that, no matter what may be the emergency, the commanding general in Texas, New Mexico, and the remote frontiers, cannot draw from the arsenals a pistol-cartridge, or any sort of ordnance-stores, without first procuring an order of the Secretary of War in Washington. The commanding general–though intrusted with the lives of his soldiers and with the safety of a frontier in a condition of chronic war–cannot touch or be trusted with ordnance-stores or property, and that is declared to be the law! Every officer of the old army remembers how, in 1861, we were hampered with the old blue army regulations, which tied our hands, and that to do any thing positive and necessary we had to tear it all to pieces–cut the red-tape, as it was called, a dangerous thing for an army to do, for it was calculated to bring the law and authority into contempt; but war was upon us, and overwhelming necessity overrides all law.
Congress controls the great questions of war and peace, makes all laws for the creation and government of armies, and votes the necessary supplies, leaving to the President to execute and apply these laws, especially the harder task of limiting the expenditure of public money to the amount of the annual appropriations. The executive power is further subdivided into the seven great departments, and to the Secretary of War is confided the general care of the military establishment, and his powers are further subdivided into ten distinct and separate bureaus.
The chiefs of these bureaus are under the immediate orders of the Secretary of War, who, through them, in fact commands the army from “his office,” but cannot do so “in the field”–an absurdity in military if not civil law.
The subordinates of these staff-corps and departments are selected and chosen from the army itself, or fresh from West Point, and too commonly construe themselves into the elite, as made of better clay than the common soldier. Thus they separate themselves more and more from their comrades of the line, and in process of time realize the condition of that old officer of artillery who thought the army would be a delightful place for a gentleman if it were not for the damned soldier; or, better still, the conclusion of the young lord in “Henry IV.,” who told Harry Percy (Hotspur) that “but for these vile guns he would himself have been a soldier.” This is all wrong; utterly at variance with our democratic form of government and of universal experience. Now that the French, from whom we had copied the system, have utterly “proscribed” it, I hope that our Congress will follow suit. I admit, in its fullest force, the strength of the maxim that the civil law should be superior to the military in time of peace; that the army should be at all times subject to the direct control of Congress; and I assert that, from the formation of our Government to the present day, the Regular Army has set the highest example of obedience to law and authority; but, for the very reason that our army is comparatively so very small, I hold that it should be the best possible, organized and governed on true military principles, and that in time of peace we should preserve the “habits and usages of war,” so that, when war does come, we may not again be compelled to suffer the disgrace, confusion, and disorder of 1861.
The commanding officers of divisions, departments, and posts, should have the amplest powers, not only to command their troops, but all the stores designed for their use, and the officers of the staff necessary to administer them, within the area of their command; and then with fairness they could be held to the most perfect responsibility. The President and Secretary of War can command the army quite as well through these generals as through the subordinate staff-officers. Of course, the Secretary would, as now, distribute the funds according to the appropriation bills, and reserve to himself the absolute control and supervision of the larger arsenals and depots of supply. The error lies in the law, or in the judicial interpretation thereof, and no code of army regulations can be made that meets the case, until Congress, like the French Corps Legislatif, utterly annihilates and “proscribes” the old law and the system which has grown up under it.
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