GRANT, Ulysses S. Letter signed ("U. S. Grant"), as Major General, to Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, Fort Henry (on the Tennessee River), 7 March 1862. 1 page, 4to . In pencil. "IF MY COURSE IS NOT SATISFACTORY REMOVE ME AT ONCE." GRANT LASHES BACK AT HALLECK'S CRITICISMS A remarkable, blistering letter sent in response to two chastising communications from Halleck. On 4 March, Halleck rebuked Grant for refusing to "obey my orders to report strength and positions in your command," and he ordered Grant to place Gen. C. F. Smith in command. On 6 March Halleck told Grant that his unauthorized trip to Nashville had excited so much serious complaint at Washington that "I was advised to arrest you on your return." Here Grant answers both these communications, at first with restraint, but then with mounting fury: "I did all I could to get you returns of the strength of my command. Every move I made was reported daily to your chief of staff who must have failed to keep you posted. I have done my very best to obey orders and to carry out the interests of service. If my course is not satisfactory remove me at once. I do not wish to impede in any way the success of our arms. I have averaged writing more than once a day since leaving Cairo to keep you informed of my position & it is no fault of mine if you have not received my letters." Not content with merely refuting Halleck's charges, he makes his own not so subtly veiled charge of disloyalty among Halleck's staff and demands to be transferred. "My going to Nashville was strictly intended for the good of the service and not to gratify any desire of my own. Believing sincerely that I must have enemies between you and myself who are trying to impair my usefulness I respectfully ask to be relieved from further duty in this department." Grant later learned that it was none other than George McClellan who had recommended his arrest. "Thus in less than two weeks after the victory at Donelson, the two leading generals in the army were in correspondence as to what disposition should be made of me, and in less than three weeks I was virtually in arrest and without a command" ( Memoirs , 220-221). But on 13 March Grant was restored to command. Halleck wrote him to report that "accounts of my misbehavior had reached Washington" but that Halleck had valiantly stood by Grant. He even sent along a copy of the report he had sent to the War Department "entirely exonerating me; but he did not inform me that it was his own reports that had created all the trouble" ( Memoirs , 221). Halleck jealously resented Grant's battlefield success, but the conqueror of Forts Henry and Donelson had a much more important and reliable champion in Halleck's boss, President Lincoln.
GRANT, Ulysses S. Letter signed ("U. S. Grant"), as Major General, to Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, Fort Henry (on the Tennessee River), 7 March 1862. 1 page, 4to . In pencil. "IF MY COURSE IS NOT SATISFACTORY REMOVE ME AT ONCE." GRANT LASHES BACK AT HALLECK'S CRITICISMS A remarkable, blistering letter sent in response to two chastising communications from Halleck. On 4 March, Halleck rebuked Grant for refusing to "obey my orders to report strength and positions in your command," and he ordered Grant to place Gen. C. F. Smith in command. On 6 March Halleck told Grant that his unauthorized trip to Nashville had excited so much serious complaint at Washington that "I was advised to arrest you on your return." Here Grant answers both these communications, at first with restraint, but then with mounting fury: "I did all I could to get you returns of the strength of my command. Every move I made was reported daily to your chief of staff who must have failed to keep you posted. I have done my very best to obey orders and to carry out the interests of service. If my course is not satisfactory remove me at once. I do not wish to impede in any way the success of our arms. I have averaged writing more than once a day since leaving Cairo to keep you informed of my position & it is no fault of mine if you have not received my letters." Not content with merely refuting Halleck's charges, he makes his own not so subtly veiled charge of disloyalty among Halleck's staff and demands to be transferred. "My going to Nashville was strictly intended for the good of the service and not to gratify any desire of my own. Believing sincerely that I must have enemies between you and myself who are trying to impair my usefulness I respectfully ask to be relieved from further duty in this department." Grant later learned that it was none other than George McClellan who had recommended his arrest. "Thus in less than two weeks after the victory at Donelson, the two leading generals in the army were in correspondence as to what disposition should be made of me, and in less than three weeks I was virtually in arrest and without a command" ( Memoirs , 220-221). But on 13 March Grant was restored to command. Halleck wrote him to report that "accounts of my misbehavior had reached Washington" but that Halleck had valiantly stood by Grant. He even sent along a copy of the report he had sent to the War Department "entirely exonerating me; but he did not inform me that it was his own reports that had created all the trouble" ( Memoirs , 221). Halleck jealously resented Grant's battlefield success, but the conqueror of Forts Henry and Donelson had a much more important and reliable champion in Halleck's boss, President Lincoln.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
