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The following documents were submitted to them, from which they were to form their conclusions: First, the President's order of March 8, directing that no change of base should be made without leaving Washington "entirely secure;" second, the report of the council of corps commanders convened at Fairfax Court House on the 13th of March; third, General McClellan's letter of April 1, stating that independent of the garrison of Washington, he had left a covering force of 55,456 men; fourth, the letter of General Wadsworth of April 2, already referred to.

The very day that this question was referred to these officers, April 2, they reported as follows:

It is, we think, the judgment of officers that some 30,000 would be necessary thus to man these forts, which, with the number of the covering force, would make a total of 55,000.

In regard to occupying Manassas Junction, as the enemy have destroyed the railroads leading to it, it may be fair to assume that they have no intention of returning for the reoccupation of their late position, and therefore no very large force would be necessary to hold that position. @

Referring to the 55,456 men, exclusive of the 19,022 present for duty under General Wadsworth, they added:

In the above enumeration, General Banks's army corps is included, but whether this corps, operating in the Shenandoah Valley, should be regarded as part of the force available for the protection of the immediate front of Washington, the undersigned express no opinion.

After quoting from General Wadsworth's letter, showing the state and organization of his force, they concluded as follows:

If there was need of a military force for the safety of the city of Washington within its own limits, that referred to in the report of General Wadsworth would seem to be entirely inadequate.

In view of the opinion expressed by the council of commanders of army corps, of the force necessary for the defense of the capital, though not numerically stated, and of the force represented by General McClellan as left for that purpose, we are of opinion that the requirements of the President that the city shall be left "entirely secure", not only in the opinion of the General in Chief, but those of the "commanders of the army corps" also, has not been complied with.

The vital error in this report related to Banks's army.

Ignoring, or more probably overlooking, the fact that the destruction of the bridges over the Potomac would make the capital safe from attack in front, and that the only danger was from the rear, they evaded the question of Banks's 35,000 men, and then reported:

We are of the opinion that the requirements of the President-that the city shall be left entirely secure, not only in the opinion of the General in Chief, but those of the "commanders of the army corps" also-have not been complied with.

On the false assumption that a force originally designed for one purpose could be used for no other, General Hitchcock in 1863, in explanation of his action, testified:

I did not consider the force in the Shenandoah Valley as available for the immediate defense of the capital, being required for the defense of that valley.

The haste with which the two officers performed the duty assigned to them, precluded any personal investigation of the defenses of Washington, but the map could have shown them, that from the Potomac

a Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. 317. Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. 318. Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. 304.

above Georgetown, extending via Arlington, Fort Albany, Fort Richardson, and Fort Scott, to the Potomac 2 miles south of Long Bridge, there was a high defensible ridge about 4 miles long, and crowned by no less than 15 forts or regular earthworks. Even abandoning these, neither the Long Bridge, Aqueduct Bridge, nor Chain Bridge could have been captured without first assaulting Forts Runyon, Corcoran, and Ethan Allen, which were constructed at their respective debouches. These facts, as well as the official documents, should have been considered, before expressing an opinion which was destined to hopelessly unsettle the mind of the President." They should have known that as a civil officer he could not pretend to analyze their report. He did not presume to act on his own judgment or that of the Secretary of War, and probably had not time to consider General Wadsworth's significant statement, "I regard it very improbable that the enemy will assail us at this point."

If he read it or the more important admission of the two officers, that as the enemy had destroyed the railroads, it was "fair to assume that they have no intention of returning for the reoccupation of their late position," it is quite possible that neither statement made any impression on his mind.

There was but one part of the report that he could well comprehend, and that was the opinion unequivocally expressed, that his orders by the Secretary of War had not been complied with.

This bold statement, suddenly and unexpectedly presented, devolved upon the President new and grave responsibilities which, unaided, he was wholly at a loss to meet.

SECOND AULIC COUNCIL.

As one of the natural consequences of having no General in Chief, there sprang up about this time what has aptly been called the "Second Aulic Council." Its existence was soon recognized, for in the testimony given by General Meigs, before the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, on the 14th of July, 1862, occurs the question by Mr. Chandler: "You are a member of the military council of war?" General Meigs replied:

I am a member of the body to which you allude. It has no legal existence; but the Secretary of War has invited some of us to come there for that purpose.c

From the testimony given by General Hitchcock, January 21, 1863, the council appears more specifically to have been composed of "the chiefs of the various bureaus of the War Department." These chiefs

a To avoid the possibility of misjudging in this controversy, the reader should bear in mind that in order to make Washington secure, Generals Thomas and Hitchcock estimated the garrison and covering force at 55,000. Nearly a year later the commission appointed by the Secretary of War estimated it at 62,000. General McClellan fully appreciating the strategic importance of a strong force in the Shenandoah Valley, as a defense to the capital, actually left as a garrison and covering force 73,456. Another important fact must not be overlooked. The subordinates of the Secretary of War did not base their report on the number of men actually left behind, but on the figures contained in the four documents submitted.

Official documents do not show whether the report of General Wadsworth was volunteered by him or called for by the Secretary of War. The latter is to be presumed from the date, as also from the fact that the information was conveyed by letter, instead of in the form of a monthly return.

C c Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. 296.

were the Adjutant-General, Quartermaster-General, Commissary-General, Paymaster-General, Surgeon-General, Chief of Engineers, and Chief of Ordnance. Whether General Meigs's expression, "some of us," included all of the above officers cannot be stated, but as to their qualifications it may be said of them, that for years they had ceased to perform the practical duties of a soldier, and had given their exclusive attention to the administration of their departments. It was this council that the President was forced to consult, when he was informed that his order for the security of the capital had not been complied with. General Hitchcock, the associate of General Thomas, in his testimony already referred to, states:

This report of course went to the President, and on the next day-if I mistake not, the 3d of April-the President came to the War Office, and held quite a long consultation with the chiefs of the various bureaus of the War Department, the Secretary of War being present. At the conclusion of that consultation, the President himself ordered that one of the corps of the Army of the Potomac, which were then in front of Washington, should be detained for the defense of the capital. @

It would further appear from the testimony of General Hitchcock, that the President's fears as to the safety of the capital were not excited, till Wadsworth's report and the opinions of Generals Thomas and Hitchcock were both laid before him. He stated:

The report made by General Wadsworth to the Secretary of War on the 2d of April, which I understand is in possession of the committee, will show the condition and character of the troops under his command. When this state of things became known to the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, he required General Thomas and myself to make a report upon the execution of the President's order, the letter of General McClellan of the 1st of April, the report of General Wadsworth on the 2d of April, and one or two other papers connected with them, requiring us to give a distinct opinion whether General McClellan had complied or not, with the requirements of the order of the President.

Whatever explanation may be attempted as to the action of the Secretary of War and his two military advisers, the results of their error were unhappily destined to be felt. Two months later, as well as two years later, the Confederates demonstrated that the Shenandoah Valley, in which Banks's 35,000 men were posted, was the only route by which the national capital could be safely approached.

Up to the date of the Thomas-Hitchcock report, the only force detached from the Army of the Potomac was Blenker's division, but now, under the baneful influence of its opinion, the work of disintegration began in earnest.

April 3, the President directed:

The Secretary of War will order that one or the other of the corps of General McDowell and General Sumner, remain in front of Washington until further orders from the Department, to operate, at or in the direction of Manassas Junction, or elsewhere, as occasion may require; that the other corps, not so ordered to remain, go forward to General McClellan as speedily as possible; that General McClellan commence his forward movements from his new base at once; and that such incidental modifications as the foregoing may render proper be also made. c

The same day, by telegram from the Adjutant-General, the President deprived McClellan of all control over General Wool's 10,000 men at Fort Monroe, and forbade any of his troops to be detached, without the Executive sanction.d

a Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. 305. Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. 304.

c Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. 319.

d General McClellan states: "This order left me without any base of operations under my own control, and to this day I am ignorant of the causes which led to it."McClellan's Report, p. 75.

April 4, the Secretary of War, without quoting the authority of the President, issued General Orders, No. 34, directing that the por tions of Virginia and Maryland lying between the Mountain Department and the Blue Ridge, should constitute the Department of the Shenandoah, commanded by Major-General Banks.

It is

The second paragraph of the order directed that the portion of Virginia east, of the Blue Ridge, and west of the Potomac and the Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad, including the District of Columbia, should constitute the Department of the Rappahannock, commanded by Major-General McDowell." It is needless to speculate how far personal and political considerations dictated the above orders. enough to know that within four weeks from the time the President assumed control of military operations, the States of Virginia and Maryland were divided up into five separate departments, under five independent commanders, while, as a wheel within a wheel, General Wadsworth was independent at Washington, and General Wool at Fort Monroe.

This condition of affairs, with the admission of the President, that in ordering Blenker's division to the Mountain Department, he had yielded to a "pressure" which he could no longer resist, was calculated to demoralize military commanders. With no recognized military chief, they were directed by the order of March 11, to report "directly to the Secretary of War," who could give any orders he chose, without consulting the President.

PLAN OF CAMPAIGN AGAINST YORKTOWN.

Even if their reports reached the latter, they soon became painfully aware, that without political support, their recommendations might be wholly disregarded. In this way they were tempted to abandon the only legitimate channel of military communication, in the hope that by approaching the President through friends of the Administration, they might cause their views to prevail. As evidence of this fact, General Keyes, on the 7th of April, with the concurrence of General McClellan, addressed Senator Harris, of New York, from the headquarters of the Fourth Army Corps, Warwick Court-House, Va., as follows:

The plan of campaign on this line was made with the distinct understanding that four army corps should be employed, and that the Navy should cooperate in the taking of Yorktown and also, (as I understood it) support us on our left by moving gunboats up James River.

To-day I have learned that the First Corps, which by the President's order was to embrace four divisions, and one division (Blenker's) of the Second Corps, have been withdrawn altogether from this line of operations and from the Army of the Potomac. At the same time, as I am informed, the Navy has not the means to attack Yorktown, and is afraid to send gunboats up James River for fear of the Merrimac. The above plan of campaign was adopted unanimously by Major-General McDowell and Brigadier-Generals Sumner, Heintzelman, and Keyes, and was concurred in by MajorGeneral McClellan, who first proposed Urbana as our base.

This army being reduced to 45,000 troops, some of them among the best in the service, and without the support of the Navy, the plan to which we are reduced bears scarcely any resemblance to the one I voted for. * * *

By direction of the Secretary of War, no allusion being made to the President, a Middle Department, as early as the 22d of March, had already been carved out of the Department of the Potomac. It was commanded by General Dix, and embraced the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, the eastern shore of Maryland, and Virginia, as also three other counties in Maryland, east of the Blue Ridge.

Yorktown is fortified all around with bastioned works, and on the water side it and Gloucester are so strong, that the Navy are afraid to attack either.

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You will see, therefore, by what I have said, that the force originally intended for the capture of Richmond should be all sent forward. If I thought the four army corps necessary, when I supposed the Navy would cooperate, and when I judged of the obstacles to be encountered, by what I learned from maps and the opinions of officers long stationed at Fort Monroe, and from all other sources, how much more should I think the full complement of troops requisite, now that the Navy cannot cooperate.

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The line in front of us, in the opinion of all the military men here who are at all competent to judge, is one of the strongest in the world, and the force of the enemy capable of being increased, beyond the numbers we now have to oppose him. The greatest master of the art of war has said that, "If you would invade a country successfully, you must have one line of operations and one army, under one general." But what is our condition? The State of Virginia is made to constitute the command, in part or wholly, of some six generals, viz: Tremont, Banks, McDowell, Wool, Burnside, and McClellan, besides the scrap of the Chesapeake in the care of Dix. The greatest battle of the war is to come off here. If we win it, the Rebellion will be crushed, if we lose it, the consequences will be more horrible than I can tell. The plan of campaign I voted for, if carried out with the means proposed, will certainly succeed. If any part of the means proposed are withheld or diverted, I deem it due to myself to say, that our success will be uncertain. "

Besides the political aspect of this letter, which was designed to influence both the President and the Secretary of War, it should be observed that General Keyes, in addition to pointing out the danger from the division of our forces, distinctly affirmed that by withdrawing 45,000 men, or five of the thirteen divisions of which the army was composed, the plan of campaign which General McClellan was required to execute, was neither his own plan nor that unanimously recommended by the four corps commanders, to which the President gave his assent.

After the withdrawal of McDowell had been accomplished, there is evidence that the President would have been glad to repair his mistake; but the views of the Secretary of War, supported by his council, prevailed. General Hitchcock states:

As soon as General McClellan heard of this he complained of it. He wished the whole of McDowell's corps sent to him. If he could not get the whole of it, he wanted McCall's and Franklin's divisions, leaving one division only here; failing in that, he wished particularly to have Franklin's division ordered to join him. The President again came to the War Office, on the 11th of April, if I mistake not, and held another conference of considerable length with the same officers as before-the chiefs of bureaus and the Secretary of War. It was plain that the President was extremely anxious to gratify General McClellan and to give him every possible support in his power, not losing sight of his imperative duty to see that the capital was sufficiently guarded. The result of that conference was that he ordered Franklin's division to join McClellan, and it was accordingly sent down to him.

Following this withdrawal of more than 40,000 men, was the siege of Yorktown, from April 5 to May 4; the battles of Williamsburg, May 5, and of West Point, May 7; the occupation of Norfolk, and the destruction of the Merrimac, May 11. With this ironclad out of the way, another line of communication, via the James River, was opened almost

a McClellan's Report, pp. 80, 81, 82.

Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. 305. June 27, 1862, General McDowell testified before the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War:

"Question. Did you use any influence or seek in any way to have your corps detached from General McClellan command, to remain here?

"Answer. No, sir; none whatever.

"Question. Neither directly nor indirectly; neither by yourself nor through any other person?

"Answer. No, sir; I speak it without reservation." (Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. 262.)

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