Stoneballs patted his swollen backside and winced. “Old Doc Sawbones kept wanting to keep cutting on me to get every piece of buckshot out. He was doing more damage than the buckshot.”
“Old Doc Sawbones wouldn’t have been able to find a cannonball inside you,” said Dick Taylor. “Good thing you left when you did or you could forget about sitting down for the rest of your days!”
Lee laughed even louder than he had over Taylor’s joke about Bragg court martialing himself. “What grand fortune I am having today! Even my ‘strong right arm’ has returned to me!”
Dick Taylor cupped his hand to his mouth so that only Lee could hear. “You have your ‘strong right arm’ back, General Lee, while Old Stone Balls has received a weak rear end.”
23
Cleveland, Ohio, October 15, 1861
President Lincoln was still reading the telegraphed reports of the Battle of the Wabash when John Hay ushered Cump Sherman into the parlor of the Hargreaves Mansion.
Lincoln stood up to greet Cump. “Welcome back, Sherman. I and the nation are grateful for your contributions to what is looking like a victory of sorts. Our papers have taken to calling it ‘The Battle of the Wabash.’ The Confederates are calling it ‘The Battle of the Salient.’ I think I like their name better.”
“Both names are descriptive,” replied Cump. “Counting the outlying skirmishes, the battle extended along a front of over five hundred miles — from Jacksonville, Illinois to Madison, Indiana. But most of the fighting, and certainly most of the casualties, occurred on the salient within sight of the Wabash.”
“What is your summary judgment of my field reports of the battle?” asked Cump asked after taking the seat the seat that Lincoln pointed to.
“That the battle went as we had estimated before you went there — that Grant fought superbly but that McDowell didn’t fight his men so well. I gathered that McDowell’s division commanders saved his army from a serious defeat and that General Mitchel’s intervention under your direction gave us what may fairly be called a victory. If I’m reading your reports correctly the two of you broke the back of the Confederate attack in Indiana when you captured the Confederate division that had crossed the Wabash north of Terre Haute.”
“Yes, Mr. President, that is a fair assessment of what I wanted to convey. Grant did fight his side of the battle brilliantly. Pope’s freelancing left a hole in his lines at the outset. Grant plugged it by moving Curtis’ division eighty miles by rail by way of Bloomington. He sent Prentiss’ Division one hundred twenty miles by rail through Peoria to hit the Confederates on the flank. William Wallace — may he rest in peace — halted the Confederates at Urbana long enough for Grant to get Curtis and Prentiss up there.”
Lincoln’s eyes moistened. “William Wallace….another old and dear friend lost to a war that is young. I am fearful to contemplate the losses that are still to be borne.”
Sherman bowed in respect to Wallace. “Wallace died nobly, as military men wish to die if death in the line of duty cannot be avoided. He was indispensable to our victory.”
Sherman raised his head. “Getting back to Grant, I must say that he also fought splendidly to hold off the Confederates at Jacksonville, Springfield, and Decatur. He divided his two divisions that he kept on that front into brigades and spread them out into the gaps that were left by the displacement of Curtis’ and Prentiss’ divisions. The Confederates never caught on that he had pulled half his men out of the line. He fought the classic defensive battle all the way around.”
Lincoln nodded. “Let us give thanks for General Grant, then. But what happened with McDowell?”
“He neglected to defend the Wabash,” said Sherman with disdain. “He left Jacob Loomis in charge of a seventy-mile river frontage from Terre Haute to Williamsport. Loomis isn’t a professional military man. He had no idea how to patrol a river. McDowell should have given him some help. I know he was short of men to cover such a long front, but he should at least have had observation points and cavalry patrols operating on both sides of the river. Patrols would have spotted the Confederate crossing at its earliest moment and alerted McDowell to send reinforcements to contest the crossing points.
“The crossing took him by surprise. If Schofield hadn’t taken charge of the battle locally the Confederates would have captured McDowell’s headquarters in Indianapolis before he even knew an attack was in progress.
“When he finally realized he was under attack he pulled McPherson and Rosecrans back into Indianapolis. Sheridan was left alone on the southern flank with a gap in the line between his division and the rest of McDowell’s army. The Confederates pushed him back across the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad from Shelbyville to Madison. Those were needless losses furthest from the center of the attack. We need to take these towns back, by the way. Their loss complicates our defense of Indianapolis and Cincinnati.”
“I suppose we first need to relieve McDowell of command of that army and designate his replacement,” replied Lincoln.
“I’d suggest promoting Schofield to command that army,” Sherman advised. “His improvised defense saved the army from a serious defeat. Move McDowell back to division command. He’s an effective division commander, but no more than that.”
“We will make that change, then,” said Lincoln. “Next question is what do we do with Ormsby Mitchel’s reserve army? Mitchel fought it well under your direction. Do we need to keep that army together as a separate command, or should we amalgamate it into Schofield’s command?”
“Ah!” said Sherman, raising his finger. “You’ve touched upon exactly the right point. Let’s use Mitchel’s army in the role to which it has become accustomed — as a reserve army poised to strike the Confederates when and where they least expect! Let’s bring Mitchel’s army back through Cincinnati. Use one of its divisions to fortify Cincinnati and the heights on the Kentucky side of the river. Then advance the rest of the army westward from Cincinnati across southern Indiana.”
Sherman got up and pointed the line of his proposed advance on the wall map.
“That will force the Confederates to give up the ground they gained between Madison and Shelbyville,” he exclaimed. “It might even force them all the way back to New Albany and allow us to bring Louisville under our guns.”
Lincoln perked up. “In other words, we should go full chisel in attacking the enemy before he has time to think about renewing his offensive against us.”
“That’s it!” said Sherman. “I wouldn’t call the Confederates ‘slackers,’ but it is natural that they’ll want to sit back and lick their wounds after a campaign that failed to accomplish much. They’ll want to rest and re-equip their fought-out divisions. They’ll be furloughing their wounded and training new men to replace them. Believe me, it will disconcert them in the extreme to have to deal with a strong attack from us.”
Sherman waved his hand over the bend in the front around Terre Haute held by Mitchel’s men.
“Now, to pull Mitchel’s men out of the line we’ll have to make use of the reserves we’ve been training near Chicago.” Sherman placed two fingers on Chicago and then spread them in a “V” towards the fronts in Illinois and Indiana.
“We have four divisions at Chicago. I’d recommend sending two of them to Grant to replace the losses in his line. Send the other two to Indiana to relieve the positions that Mitchel’s army is holding on the Wabash. As soon as they’re in line, pull Mitchel’s men out and use them for the attack into Southern Indiana! With luck we’ll push the Confederates clear back to Louisville.”