“I sincerely hope so. Though of course the winter weather makes operations most difficult.”
“And gives Little Napoleon another excuse to vacillate.”
His voice was sour, his anger ill-concealed. Since McClellan had replaced him in command of the Army of the Potomac all forward movements had ceased, all attacks had crawled to a stop. Scott’s every word and gesture suggested that if the army were still under his command they would be in Richmond by now. Lincoln would not be drawn into speculation about this.
“Winter is a bad season for soldiering. Ahh, there is the hospital at last.”
“My aide will take you inside.”
Scott was so fat that it took three men to lift him into his carriage; he was certainly not capable of climbing the hospital steps.
“It has been good to see you again, Winfield.”
The general did not respond when the President climbed down and joined the others as they followed the waiting officer into the hospital. The surgeon was an elderly man with a great white beard, which he pulled at abstractedly as he spoke.
“A traumatic blow to the spine, here.” He reached over his shoulder and tapped between his shoulder blades. “The general appears to have landed on his back across the rail track. I estimate that that would be a very strong blow, somewhat like being struck in the spine with a sledgehammer. At least two of the vertebrae appear to be broken—but that is not the cause of the general’s condition. It is his spinal cord that has been crushed, the nerves severed. This causes a paralysis which we are well acquainted with.” He sighed.
“The body is paralyzed, the limbs will not move, and he breathes only with great difficulty. Though it is usually possible to feed patients in this condition, in most cases it is not enough to sustain life.
“Perhaps it is a blessing that patients with this type of injury inevitably die.”
The visit to West Point that had begun so well ended with deep unhappiness. They sat in silence as the train pulled out of the station. Cameron sat with his back to the engine, looking out at the snow-covered countryside streaming by. Lincoln sat opposite him, looking out as well but seeing only the endless problems of this war that assailed him at all times. His secretaries sat across the aisle going through a sheaf of records from the arms factory.
“General Ripley was not the easiest man to get along with,” Lincoln said, long minutes after their train had pulled out of the station. Stanton nodded silent agreement. “But he had an awesome responsibility which he labored at professionally. He told me that he had to supply cartridges and shells for over sixty different types of weapons. That we are fighting, and hopefully winning, this war is in many ways due to his labors. What will happen now?”
“General Ramsay has been his assistant for some time,” the Secretary of War said. Lincoln nodded.
“I met him once. A responsible officer. But is he qualified for this position?”
“More than qualified,” Cameron said. “In my contacts with him at the War Department I have seen all of his reports and have passed them on to you when they were relevant. Please don’t think me to be presumptuous—or to be speaking ill of the dead—but Ramsay is a modern soldier of the modern school.”
“While Ripley was most conservative, as we all know.”
“More than conservative. He looked with great suspicion at any new weapon or invention. He knew what guns were like and how they were used. Knew that wars have been fought and won with these weapons and he was satisfied by that. I don’t believe he liked change of any kind. But you must meet General Ramsay before you decide, Mr. Lincoln. Make your mind up then. I think you will be more than interested in his approach.”
“Talk to my secretary and arrange it then. For tomorrow. This important post shall not remain vacant for an instant longer than is necessary.”
AN ULTIMATUM FROM BRITAIN
“Mrs. Lincoln said you had no dinner to speak of last night—and that you were to come down to breakfast now.”
Keckley was more than a Negro servant these days; the President could hear a ready echo of his wife’s voice in her words. Mary had originally hired her as a seamstress but that relationship had shifted and changed to an ambiguous but important place in the family.
“I’ll be there in just a minute . . .”
“She said that you would say that too and I shouldn’t believe it.”
Keckley stood in the open doorway silent and unmoving. Lincoln sighed and stood. “Lead the way. I trust you will take the word of the President that I am right behind you.”
As always the hall was filled with petitioners seeking jobs in the government. Lincoln thrust his way through them, as though wading through an angry sea. If he addressed one he must address them all. Not for the first time he wondered at the long-established policy that allowed anyone—and his brother—easy access to the Presidential Mansion. Of course, America was an egalitarian society. But there were, he was beginning to think, certain demerits in complete openness. He sighed and opened the door to the dining room, closing it behind him with a satisfactory thud.
The table was already laid when he came in; buttermilk cakes with honey, always a family favorite.
“You start with that, Father,” Mary said. There was a thunder of feet as the boys rushed in.
“Paw, Paw!” Tad shouted as he rushed at his father and seized him around the leg. Willie, always more restrained, seated himself at the table.
“Tad—you stop that,” Mary ordered, but was completely ignored. The boy climbed his father as though he were a tree, wrinkling his already wrinkled trousers and jacket in the process. He did not stop until he was perched triumphantly on his father’s shoulder. Lincoln marched twice around the table while Tad screeched with pleasure, before he lowered the boy into his chair. Willie had already poured honey on his cakes and was chewing an immense mouthful.
Keckley and Mary were bringing in more food, as well as hot freshly brewed coffee. Lincoln poured a cup and sipped it as the table slowly filled with more and more attractive dishes. Under Mary’s watchful eye he forked a spicy Virginia sausage onto his plate, took some hominy grits and poured some red-eye gravy over them. He ate slowly, his thoughts a hundred miles from this warm domestic scene. The war, the endless dreadful war. Mary saw this clearly, pressed her hand to his shoulder in silence, then joined them at the table. She ate well, too well if the tightness of her dress meant anything.
She went to fetch more milk for the boys and he was gone when she returned, his plate scarcely touched. He worked too hard and ate too little she thought. And he was losing weight steadily. The war was eating him up. He would be back in his office now and it might be another day before she saw him again.
“John,” Lincoln said, “I want you to write a letter for me.”
Hay used his own system of shorthand to record Lincoln’s dictation. Now it was yet another memorandum from the President to General McClellan asking some sharply pointed questions about a possible forward movement of the Army of the Potomac. There was exasperation in Lincoln’s voice as he concluded.
“ ‘And how long would it require to actually get into motion? You have the army and you have the recruits and all are well trained, if I can believe the reports. But to win this war this army must be used in battle and Richmond must be taken.’ End there and have that telegraphed to him at once. Now cheer me up, John. Tell me some good news from the morning reports.”
“Good news indeed, sir. We now occupy Ship Island and all resistance is ended. The mouth of the Mississippi is close to this island so that part of the blockading fleet will be well supported and supplied. More news at sea. The USS Santiago de Cuba has halted a British schooner, the Eugenia Smith, near the mouth of the Rio Grande River.”
“Are any reasons given why?”
“Indeed. Commander Daniel Ridgely has explained that the British vessel had called at a Texas port. His suspicions were confirmed when a well-known Confederate purchasing agent was found aboard. J. W. Za
charie, a merchant from New Orleans. He was removed from the schooner which was then allowed to proceed.”
Lincoln shook his head wearily. “This will only add fuel to the fire we are having over the Trent. Is that all?”
“No, sir. The Rebels are so sure that Savannah will shortly fall to our troops that they are burning all of the cotton on the docks and in the fields. At sea the gunboat Penguin has captured a blockade runner trying to get to Charleston. A rich cargo indeed. The manifest lists small arms, ammunition, salt, provisions of all kinds. Not only fancy fabrics from France but saddles, bridles and cavalry equipment which is valued at $100,000.”
“Capital. Their loss, our gain. Is the Attorney General here yet?”
“I’ll go and see.”
Lincoln looked up from the sprawled papers on his desk when Edward Bates came in.
“I would like a moment of your time,” Lincoln said. “I must give my State of the Union address to Congress tomorrow. That the State is perilous they must know, but I must extend some hope for the future. May I read you some of what I plan to say to them and seek your opinion?”
“A responsibility that I willingly accept.”
The President coughed lightly, then began.
“ ‘The Union must be preserved, and hence, all indispensable means must be employed. We should not be in haste to determine that radical and extreme measures, which may reach the loyal as well as the disloyal, are indispensable. To continue and to fight this war the raising of funds is as inevitable as it is necessary.” Lincoln looked up and Bates nodded.
“I agree. Taxes, I imagine. To fund this war they must be raised yet again. And more men must be raised for the army. Despite the draft rioting among the Irish immigrants in New York you must press on.”
“I appreciate your endorsement. I must also dwell some on popular institutions for we must be always aware of the reasons we are fighting this war.” The President turned to the next page. “ ‘Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of Labor, and would never have existed if Labor had not first existed. But Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights.’ ”
Bates, a shrewd politician himself, knew that all sides must be pacified. The workers, who gave their labor and their bodies to the war effort, certainly must have these efforts acknowledged. But, at the same time, businessmen must not feel that they were bearing the sole burden of taxes for the war effort. But when Lincoln read on about the Negro problem he shook his head in disagreement and interrupted.
“You know my feelings on this matter, Mr. President. I see the Colonization of free Negroes as a very remote possibility.”
“You shouldn’t. A location could be found, perhaps in the Americas to the south, where an independent colony could be founded. With the Negroes removed from the equation there would be no reason left to continue the war.”
“But I have talked to free Negroes here in the North and they think this ill-advised. They consider themselves as American as we do and feel no desire to depart to some distant shore. When you met the delegation of free Negroes it is my understanding that they told you the same thing.”
Before Lincoln could respond Nicolay knocked and entered.
“Sorry to interrupt, but General Ramsay has arrived. You asked to meet with him as soon as possible. He is waiting outside.”
“Fine. As soon as we are finished here have him sent in.” He turned to the Attorney General. “We must discuss this in greater detail later. I am firm in my resolve that this is a real solution to our problems.”
“I find this difficult to say, Mr. President. But in this matter I think that you are alone. Perhaps it would be a good idea to found these colonies—but who would go there? The Negroes will not volunteer, there seems to be complete agreement upon that. But can we ship them there in shackles? That would be equal, or worse, than the slave trade that brought them to this country in the first place. I ask you to reconsider this matter, with deepest respect, consider it in all its aspects.”
When Bates had gone out Ramsay was ushered in. The general was an impressive man, tall and erect. However he wore a simple blue uniform with none of the braid and decorations that the other staff officers seemed to prefer. He was an engineer and technician and it was obvious that he thought more of that, and the war, than he did of a glittering uniform. He stood at attention and only sat down when Lincoln waved him to a chair.
“This accident of Ripley’s is a tragic thing, General, most tragic.”
Ramsay nodded and thought a moment before he spoke. He was a man of firm decisions but never of hasty ones. “He was a good officer, Mr. President, and a brave fighting soldier as well. This is not the way he would have chosen to go.”
“I am sure not. Is there any more news of his condition?”
“Only that he is weakening and cannot breathe well. The doctors do not give him too much time.”
“I am most sorry to hear that. Yet despite our casualties the war must go on. And General Ripley’s most vital work must continue to be done. You have been aide to the general for some time?”
“I have.”
“Then there is nothing I can tell you about the importance of the Bureau of Ordnance, nor how vital to our country it is?”
“Nothing, Mr. President. We both know that the war could not be fought without a constant flow of weaponry and ammunition. We are better supplied than the enemy at all times and that must never change if we are to have victory.”
Lincoln nodded solemnly. “May it always be thus. Now I have been consulting with my Cabinet about this matter. Secretary of War Cameron speaks very highly of you. He feels you are ideally suited to head the Bureau of Ordnance. What do you think?”
“I know that I can do the work, sir. But before any appointment is approved I think you must know that General Ripley and I did not see eye-to-eye on a number of things. Most importantly we differed completely on at least one matter of some gravity. When I was his subordinate I was honor bound not to mention this. But I feel I must do so now. I do not speak in anger or envy. I feel that I was a good and loyal lieutenant to the general. While he was alive I never considered speaking aloud of our differences. But everything is changed now. If I am to occupy this position I must make the changes that I believe in.”
“I admire your honesty in coming forward with this. What was this major bone of contention?”
For long seconds the officer looked discomfited. Looking first at the floor, then out of the window. Then he sat even more erect and sterned himself to speak.
“The general was a firm believer in the virtues of standard muzzle-loading rifles. They are proven and reliable and with proper training can deliver a good rate of fire.”
“And you don’t agree with this?”
“Of course I agree, Mr. President. But we live in an age of progress. I see new inventions almost every day. I believe in examining all these inventions—but more strongly I also believe in the virtues of breech-loading rifles. We have put numberless samples to the test and frankly most of them were useless. They jam and explode, break down very often and are difficult to maintain. But there are two breech-loaders that we have examined and fired at length, two remarkable weapons that stand out from all the others. The Spencer rifle and the Sharps. I wished to order a good quantity of them, but General Ripley disagreed strongly. Therefore nothing was done.”
SHARP’S RIFLE
“Did he say why he disagreed?”
Ramsay hesitated to answer. When he did not speak Lincoln broke the silence. “I appreciate your loyalty to your superior officer. But by speaking honestly and frankly now you do him no harm—and you will be aiding the great effort that we are all so deeply involved in. If it helps I, as your Commander-in-Chief, can order you to tell me what you know.”
Ramsay responded with great difficulty. “That will not be needed, sir. It was a matter of, well, opinion. The general felt that using breech-loaders would encourage th
e soldiers to waste ammunition. I do not think it a waste because the role of a soldier is to fire at the enemy.”
“I agree, Ramsey, I do agree. You must arrange a demonstration of your wonderful rifles at the earliest opportunity. That will be your first order of business as our new Chief of Ordnance. Is there anything else that I should know about?”
“Well—it’s Colonel Berdan and his regiment of sharpshooters. You have heard of him?”
“A memorandum in my desk somewhere. Didn’t he use his own money to organize the regiment? With every man an expert shot.”
“He did indeed. But here, again, and I do not blame General Ripley for having firmly held values. But Berdan’s men have been lumbered with the Colt revolving rifle. The thing is like a revolver pistol with a long barrel. They misfire and, well, there is nothing really good that can be said about them. It was a bad second choice. What they want, what they need, is the Sharps breech-loading rifle. A precision instrument in a marksman’s hands.”
“See that it is done.”
The general saluted and left. Ramsay was a good man and would do an excellent job. Lincoln brushed away the unkind thought that General Ripley’s tragic accident might have been a work of God. An intervention by Him who ruled all, an intercession in this war. One man’s death to save countless others. But if the Supreme Being really were on his side he, for one, surely would not mind. Being President of the United States had endless burdens, not the least of which was this great war that had started as soon as he had been elected. Fighting and winning the war was the first priority and any aid—particularly that of the Almighty—would be greatly appreciated.
Stars & Stripes Forever Page 5