The Training Ground
Page 35
Winfield S. Hancock, second lieutenant Sixth Regiment of Infantry, afterward commanded the center of the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Lafayette McLaws, first lieutenant Seventh Regiment of Infantry, afterward commanded a division in the Army of Northern Virginia at the Battle of Gettysburg.
James Longstreet, first lieutenant Eighth Regiment of Infantry, afterward commanded the First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia at the Battle of Gettysburg.
George E. Pickett, second lieutenant Eighth Regiment of Infantry, afterward commanded a division in the Army of Northern Virginia and led the assault known as “Pickett’s Charge” at the Battle of Gettysburg.
VOLUNTEERS
Jefferson Davis, colonel First Regiment Mississippi Rifles, afterward President of Confederacy.
John W. Geary, colonel Second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, afterward commanded a division of the Twelfth Corps, Army of the Potomac, at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Jubal Early, major Virginia Volunteers, afterward commanded a division in the Army of Northern Virginia at the Battle of Gettysburg.
APPENDIX B
THE SPOT RESOLUTIONS
Abraham Lincoln’s “Spot Resolutions,” Presented in Congress on December 22, 1847. In Which Lincoln Refuted Polk’s Waging of the War, and Challenged Him to Show the Specific “Spot” on U.S. Soil Where Blood Had Been Shed to Begin Hostilities
Whereas the President of the United States, in his message of May 11th, 1846, has declared that “The Mexican Government not only refused to receive him” (the envoy of the U.S.) “or listen to his propositions, but, after a long continued series of menaces, have at last invaded our teritory [sic], and shed the blood of our fellow citizens on our own soil”
And again, in his message of December 8, 1846, that “We had ample cause of war against Mexico, long before the breaking out of hostilities, but even then we forbore to take redress into our own hands, until Mexico herself became the aggressor by invading our soil in hostile array, and shedding the blood of our citizens
And yet again, in his message of December 7, 1847, that “The Mexican Government refused even to hear the terms of adjustment which he” (our minister of peace) “was authorized to propose; and finally, under wholly unjustifiable pretexts, involved the two countries in war, by invading the teritory of the State of Texas, striking the first blow, and shedding the blood of our citizens on our own soil”
And whereas this House desires to obtain a full knowledge of all the facts which go to establish whether the particular spot of soil on which the blood of our citizens was so shed, was, or was not our own soil, at that time; therefore
Resolved by the House of Representatives, that the President of the United States be respectfully requested to inform this House —
First: Whether the spot of soil on which the blood of our citizens was shed, as in his messages declared, was, or was not, within the teritories of Spain, at least from the treaty of 1819 until the Mexican revolution
Second: Whether that spot is, or is not, within the teritory which was wrested from Spain, by the Mexican revolution.
Third: Whether that spot is, or is not, within a settlement of people, which settlement had existed ever since long before the Texas revolution, until its inhabitants fled from the approach of the U. S. Army.
Fourth: Whether that settlement is, or is not, isolated from any and all other settlements, by the Gulf of Mexico, and the Rio Grande, on the South and West, and by wide uninhabited regions on the North and East.
Fifth: Whether the People of that settlement, or a majority of them, or any of them, had ever, previous to the bloodshed, mentioned in his messages, submitted themselves to the government or laws of Texas, or of the United States, by consent, or by compulsion, either by accepting office, or voting at elections, or paying taxes, or serving on juries, or having process served upon them, or in any other way.
Sixth: Whether the People of that settlement, did, or did not, flee from the approach of the United States Army, leaving unprotected their homes and their growing crops, before the blood was shed, as in his messages stated and whether the first blood so shed, was, or was not shed, within the inclosure of the People, or some of them, who had thus fled from it.
Seventh: Whether our citizens, whose blood was shed, as in his message declared, were, or were not, at that time armed officers, and soldiers, sent into that settlement, by the military order of the President through the Secretary of War — and
Eighth: Whether the military force of the United States, including those citizens, was, or was not, so sent into that settlement, after Genl. Taylor had, more than once, intimated to the War Department that, in his opinion, no such movement was necessary to the defence or protection of Texas.
APPENDIX C
AMERICAN ARMY ORDER OF BATTLE
Palo Alto/Resaca de la Palma
BrigadeCommanderComposition
1st Brigade (Left Wing) Lt. Col. William G. Belknap 8th Infantry: Capt. Montgomerya1
Light Artillery: Capt. James Duncan
Childs’s Artillery: Lt. Col. Thomas Childs
2nd Brigade (Right Wing) Col. David E. Twiggs 5th Infantry: Lt. Col. James S. McIntosh
3rd Infantry: Maj. L. M. Morris
Ringgold’s Artillery: Maj. Samuel Ringgold
Garland’s Artillery: Lt. Col. John Garlandb
2nd Dragoons: Capt. Charles May
2nd Dragoons: Capt. Kerr
aLongstreet
bGrant
1st Division of Regulars Brig. Gen. David E. Twiggs 3rd Brigade: Lt. Col. John Garland 3rd Infantry: Maj. W. W. Lear 4th Infantry: Maj. George W. Allen
Mississippi & Texas Volunteers: Capt. Shivor Company E, 3rd Artillery: Capt. Braxton Bragg
4th Brigade:a Lt. Col. Henry Wilson 1st Infantry: Maj. John J. Abercrombie
Baltimore & District of Columbia Battalion: Col. William H. Watson Company C, 3rd Horse Artillery: Capt. Ridgely
2nd Division of Regulars Brig. Gen. William J. Worth 1st Brigade: Lt. Col. Thomas Staniford 8th Infantry: Capt. George Wright
Childs’s Artillery Battalion: Lt. Col. Thomas Childs
Company A, 2nd Artillery: Capt. James Duncan
2nd Brigade:a Col. Persifor F. Smith 5th Infantry: Lt. Col. James S. McIntosh
7th Infantry: Maj. Dixon S. Miles “Phoenix Company”: Capt. Albert C. Blanchard
Company K, 1st Artillery: Capt. William W. Mackall
1st Division of Volunteers Maj. Gen. William O. Butler 1st Brigade: Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Hamer
1st Ohio: Col. Alexander Mitchell
1st Kentucky: Lt. Col. Stephen Ormsby
aForces stationed at Camargo
2nd Brigade:a Brig. Gen. John A. Quitman
1st Tennessee: Col. William B. Campbell
Mississippi Rifl es: Col. Jefferson Davis
Texas Division Maj. Gen. J. Pinckney Henderson 1st Texas Mounted Rifl es (Texas Rangers): Col. John C. Hays
2nd Texas Mounted Rifl es: Col. George T. Wood
Unattached 2nd Dragoons: Lt. Col. Charles May
Company C, 1st U.S. Heavy Artillery: Capt. Webster
2nd Division of Volunteers Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson 1st Brigade: Brig. Gen. Thomas Marshall
2nd Brigade: Brig. Gen. Gideon Pillow
aForces stationed at Camargo
Buena Vista
CommanderComposition
Brig. Gen. Zachary Taylor
Second-in-Command:Brig. Gen. John E. Wool Indiana Brigade
Brig. Gen. Joseph Lane
2nd Indiana: Col. William A. Bowles
3rd Indiana: Col. James H. Lane
InfantryMississippi Rifl es: Col. Jefferson Davis
1st Illinois: Col. John J. Hardin
2nd Illinois: Col. William H. Bissell
2nd Kentucky: Col. William R. McKee
Cavalry
Arkansas Mounted Regiment: Col. Archibald Yell
Kentucky Mounted Regiment: Col.
Humphrey
Marshall
1st Dragoons: Capt. Enoch Steene
2nd Dragoons: Lt. Col. Charles May
Artillery
1st Artillery: Capt. Thomas W. Sherman
2nd Artillery: Capt. Braxton Bragg
4th Artillery: Capt. John M. Washington
SELECTED NOTES AND BIOGRAPHIES
The bulk of this text came from the personal journals, letters, and memoirs of the officers who fought in the Mexican War and from various biographies about these men. Of that second category, I leaned most heavily on Jean Edward Smith’s Grant, Douglas Southall Freeman’s Lee, and William J. Cooper Jr.’s Jefferson Davis, Amer-ican. Grant’s Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, in addition to being extremely well-written (it helped to have Twain as his editor), is a detailed and analytical look back at his life. Grant’s personal papers, particularly his correspondence with Julia (and her correspondence, too), gave me an even more intimate look at the budding soldier. All quotes by Grant in this volume were taken either from the Memoirs or from The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. Julia’s comments are all taken from The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant.
Also, George Gordon Meade’s letters and memoirs were exceptionally detailed, as befits a topographical engineer. Meade’s direct quotes and comments are all from that work. Another standout memoir was that of William Tecumseh Sherman, who is candid and almost poetic in his descriptions of the natural beauty he encountered during the Mexican War. Again, I relied on this volume for all of Sherman’s quotes and descriptions.
A third category of memoir that proved especially helpful was memoirs written by less famous men. The letters of Napoleon Dana, William French, and other officers from West Point and the volunteer corps are remarkable in their descriptiveness and honesty. Enlisted soldiers such as Joshua Chamberlain, George Ballentine, and Samuel Chester Reid were, if anything, even more forthright. In describing battle scenes, I found that the best accounts came from these men, who, lacking the burden of celebrity and the incumbent need for diplomacy, often wrote about warfare with vividness, passion, and a blunt sort of honesty that detailed their fear and horror without diminishing their own heroism or that of their fellow soldiers. I interjected their descriptions wherever possible, and it is with some sadness that I couldn’t use even more. Thanks to the current phenomenon of digitizing books, many of these works (some written within months of returning from Mexico), which were long forgotten and unavailable owing to their age and lack of circulation, are now easily obtained through online download. I would encourage the inquisitive reader to take advantage of this opportunity.
Finally, officials at West Point have been very helpful in my research, in particular Major Michael Bonura. The U.S. Army’s Center of Military History’s publications on the Mexican War, the actual after-action reports filed by Taylor and Scott, newspaper reports from battlefield correspondents, Robert W. Johannsen’s To the Halls of Montezumas, and K. Jack Bauer’s The Mexican War all proved to be indispensable road maps, providing me with detailed overviews of the war and specific statistics on troop size, regimental position, and casualties, the international reaction, and the mood of the American public.
APPOMATTOX
Many histories have been written about the Confederate surrender, but the best descriptions come from those who were in the room. Colonel Charles Marshall observed the proceedings as one of the few officers of Lee’s who were present, and three decades later he published the most elaborate and thoughtful narrative of the goings-on at McLean’s home. Grant’s own memoirs tell the story with grace and dignity, not seeking to offend or grandstand in any way. In fact, Grant insisted that his memoirs be entirely accurate when he wrote, uncluttered by historical bias. Twain, as his editor, marveled that Grant painstakingly researched each point in that book, checking his version of events against the historical record.
PROLOGUE
Lee: On September 22, 1779, Congress voted to award Light-Horse Harry Lee a medal for his gallant bravery at the Battle of Paulus Hook. The medal would be struck in Paris and was to be made of gold. However, through an oversight, Lee’s medal was never ordered. Ten years later, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson attempted to correct that error by having the Philadelphia Mint strike a replacement, but the die broke before the medal was cast. Lee eventually received a silver medal with the words to henry lee for valour and patriotism on the front and washington and independence 1775–1783 on the back. It was confiscated to meet his debts in 1810 and disappeared until 1935, when it was sold at auction for one hundred dollars. Today it is housed in the library at Princeton University, Lee’s alma mater.
Charles Mason, who bested Lee as the top graduate in the class of 1829, served just two years in the army. Both those years were spent teaching engineering at West Point. He left to study law, later served as the editor of the Saturday Evening Post, and eventually moved to Iowa. Whatever potential he might have had as a soldier was never fulfilled.
Grant: Sherman’s comments about Grant were from an interview in the New York Herald that ran on July 24, 1885, the day after his old friend died. Grant’s comments about his early antipathy toward West Point were taken from his Memoirs. Dabney Herndon Maury’s memoirs tell of Grant’s prowess on horseback, and D. M. Frost’s quote about Grant’s discomfort with the fair sex is taken from Jean Edward Smith’s Grant. Longstreet’s warm words about their friendship comes from his own memoir. Julia Dent’s personal letters recount her version of the courtship with Grant, while Grant’s Memoirs tell his.
An interesting footnote to West Point’s role in the use of class rings came in 1879, when that year’s class chose cuff links instead.
Richard “Dick” Ewell was promoted to captain for bravery at Contreras and Churubusco. He remained in the army after the war and saw duty in the West, where he was wounded during a battle with the Apache Indians in 1859. Though pro-Union, he opted to join the Confederate cause because of his allegiance to Virginia, his home state. Ewell was injured again, early in the war, at the Battle of Fairfax Court House, but quickly recovered. He went on to fight at Bull Run and served under Thomas Jackson during the lengthy Valley Campaign. Ewell fought at the Second Battle of Bull Run but was injured yet again at Groveton. This injury was quite severe and resulted in the amputation of his left leg, just below the knee. Ewell returned to service and, upon Jackson’s death, took over Jackson’s command. His stellar reputation took a beating, however, when he failed to attack the pivotal Cemetery Hill at the Battle of Gettysburg. Many later felt that this inability to capture the high ground early on cost the Confederates the battle. Lee later relieved him of command. Placed in charge of the garrison at Richmond, Ewell was captured by Union forces at Sayler’s Creek, just days before Lee’s surrender. However, Ewell would be held as a prisoner of war until July 1865, confined to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. He became a farmer after the war and died of pneumonia in 1872, at the age of fifty-four.
John L. O’Sullivan, who coined the term “Manifest Destiny,” unsuccessfully urged President Polk to include Cuba in that mandate. He later backed the Confederacy during the Civil War, exiled himself to Europe when the war ended, and became a great believer in spiritualism and contacting the dead through mediums upon his return. O’Sullivan died from the flu in a New York residential hotel at the age of eighty-one.
CHAPTER ONE
Captain George McCall was promoted to brevet major shortly after the Battle of Resaca de la Palma. He served throughout the war with Mexico and remained in the army until 1853, when he resigned his commission and became a farmer. McCall was named a brigadier general in the Pennsylvania Volunteers when the Civil War broke out, then promoted to major general soon after. He commanded forces at the battles of Dranesville, Mechanicsville, Gaines’s Mill, and New Market Cross Roads, where he was captured by the Confederate army. McCall was held as a prisoner of war at Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia, then released owing to illness. He died on February 25, 1868.
CHAPTER TWO
The des
criptive comment about wildflowers was that of Captain Kirby Smith, writing to his wife. He was a passionate man, with a strong chin and long muttonchop sideburns that stretched to the corners of his mouth, and had once been dismissed from the army for two years for “inflicting corporal punishment on mutinous soldiers.” Smith’s letters in To Mexico with Scott are notable for their emotion, their detail, and the disheartening fact that he died just days before the war ended.
During the long march from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande, all that soot coating soldiers’ uniforms led the mounted dragoons to refer to the men on foot as adobes, in reference to the dun-colored Mexican building material. Legend has it that adobes was later shortened to dobies and then to doughboys — the tag that would become synonymous with American troops during World War I.
CHAPTER THREE
The comments of Longstreet and Smith are from their memoirs. Ewell’s comment about Missouri women was taken from Sanger and Hay’s James Longstreet.
Captain Charles Ferguson Smith, commander of the red-legged infantry, served as judge advocate in the impromptu military court that heard the Whistler case. Though Colonel William Whistler was convicted of all charges of drunkenness and sentenced to be cashiered from the army, President Polk granted him a pardon. Thus protected, Whistler did not retire from military service until October 9, 1861. He died on December 4, 1863, at the age of eighty-three. Whistler’s nephew James McNeill Whistler would go on to become one of America’s best-known artists.
Smith served with distinction throughout the Mexican War and was promoted several times for bravery. By war’s end, he was a lieutenant colonel. Smith served in the American West during the 1850s and was on active duty when the Civil War began. He would go on to serve under Grant, who had once been his student at West Point. At Savannah, Tennessee, Smith inadvertently suffered a wound while leaping into a rowboat. He died of the subsequent infection and a bout of chronic dysentery on May 25, 1862.