Lincoln stretched out his legs as he leaned back and relaxed.
“Sherman, your brother was right. I sorely needed the advice of a military professional such as yourself — a man who can think through the strategic picture of how to win a war as well as a battle. Most of those men, like McClellan, Lee, and Winfield Scott, stayed loyal to the Confederate Union or have proclaimed their neutrality. You’re the only one who remains loyal to us that I’ve found who can competently advise me at the higher levels of strategy.”
“Thank you, Mr. President. I’m sorry it took me so long to declare my loyalty to the Free States. It required much persuasion from my brother — and several of your stirring speeches — to convince me of the rightness of the cause.”
Lincoln laughed. “Well I am glad to contribute my poor mite to the cause that others have so nobly advanced. You know, Sherman, you came to my attention at exactly the right time. If it had been any earlier we would have assigned you to command a division, because that’s what we needed at the beginning of the war. You might never have come to my attention as an advisor on the higher aspects of military strategy.”
Sherman nodded. Lincoln leaned forward and spoke earnestly.
“I’d like you to write the orders up just as you suggested. Promote Schofield to take McDowell’s place. Instruct Mitchel’s men on your plan to attack the enemy through Cincinnati. Divide the army at Chicago into two parts and send half to Grant and half to Schofield. Write the orders and bring them to me to sign. I’d like you to deliver these orders to our commanders in Indiana and Illinois and make sure they’re understood by all concerned. Then return here to meet with my War Cabinet and the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War. Now that we’ve settled our dispositions in the West, we’ve got to decide what to do about Fremont. He wants to take his army offensives into the Delmarva and the Shenandoah. He wants to liberate the slaves and induct them into our army. What do you think about his proposal?”
Sherman was careful not to express an opinion on liberating the slaves within any Confederate territory that passed under their control. Freeing slaves wasn’t an issue that he cared anything about. Nor did he wish to encourage the idea that Fremont was qualified to command an entire army on the offensive. Fremont had fought superbly with his thousand-man cavalry detachment at Gettysburg, but that had been against poorly trained Confederate militias thrown hastily forward on the opening day of hostilities. Taking the offensive against the kind of military machine that McClellan had organized during the last ninety days would be an entirely different matter.
“Fremont must defeat the Confederate offensive towards Philadelphia before he can even begin to think about taking the offensive,” Sherman replied carefully. “How many men does he have available to repel the Confederate offensive?”
“About two hundred thousand,” answered Lincoln. “Fifty thousand are containing the Confederates around New York City and its suburbs. Another fifty thousand are in the Delaware and Susquehanna valleys. And about one hundred thousand are in front of Philadelphia. Those numbers include some state militia regiments.”
“That’s barely enough to cover all the ground that has to be defended,” said Sherman. “The Confederates will have the initiative in choosing where to attack us. They can concentrate their men against any point they choose. And with McClellan in command they’ll have even more men and equipment to throw against Philly than they did against the Wabash. Fremont will have to be as agile as Grant in moving his men around to the precise points of enemy concentration.”
“He did accomplish that at Gettysburg.”
“Yes, he showed an instinct for anticipating where the Confederates would attack,” Sherman agreed. “Let’s hope that instinct proves true at Philadelphia. Do we have any definite news of any units from McClellan’s army arriving on the Philadelphia front?”
“We fought a naval battle with the Confederates in Delaware Bay yesterday,” replied Lincoln “I’m told it was inconclusive. We sank one of their ships. They damaged three of ours. They seem to be planning an amphibious landing at Philadelphia or maybe above the city to try to break our hold on its supply lines running through the Delaware Valley. They are active on the New York City front, testing our lines for weak points. Perhaps they are planning a breakout from New York to link up with an amphibious landing north of Philly We won’t know what they’re going to do until they do it.”
“Is Fremont aware of all that? Does he understand that he may be hit from several directions at once as we were in the Northwest? Does he know that some of those attacks may be feints designed to deceive him into concentrating his men at the wrong point?”
“He is telegraphing situation reports almost every day that cover all those fronts. I take that as a sign that he’s keen to know what the Confederates are up to. He’s commissioned cavalry units, like the one that fought so well for him at Gettysburg. And he’s got Meade, Reynolds, Hancock, and Warren with him. I’ve been told they’re some of the best division commanders in our army.”
“I know those officers and they are among the best we have,” confirmed Sherman. “They’ll have their chance to prove their mettle. The Confederates will go whole hog in attacking Philadelphia. They want to make up for what they failed to accomplish in the Northwest. I must confess that the fact that they are attacking Philadelphia worries me. They were unsuccessful when they had the element of surprise. They have no hope of surprising us this time and they know it. They must be bringing stupendous numbers of men and ships to bring to bear against us.”
Lincoln leaned forward and spoke in a quiet voice, as if conveying confidential information.
“That’s what worries me too, Sherman. Are we fully prepared for every contingency the Confederates might throw at us? We have that other reserve army of New York and New England men being trained at Albany. I’m thinking of giving you command of that army so that you can bring it into New York or Philadelphia if the Confederates throw more at Fremont than he is able to handle. The reserve army that you and Mitchel brought in from Ohio prevented a serious defeat in Indiana. It got there at exactly the right time to have the most effect.”
Sherman began to compose his reply that this would be a sound plan, so long as Lincoln made clear to Fremont that Sherman’s army was as independent of his command as Mitchel’s had been independent of McDowell’s. Before Cump could speak there came a knock on the closed pocket doors. Lincoln opened the doors to find John Hay and Secretary of War Simon Cameron.
“Excuse me, sir,” said Cameron in a state of visible excitement. “The evening telegrams from the East Coast have just come in. The enemy attack is reported to have commenced, but it is not at Philadelphia.”
Lincoln and Sherman looked at Cameron astonishment.
“It’s Boston,” said Cameron. “The Confederates are reported to have arrived outside the harbor with a fleet estimated to comprise over one hundred ships.”
24
Boston Harbor, October 16, 1861
From the bridge of the flagship Cumberland McClellan watched the sunrise illuminate the smoke rising over Boston Harbor. The smoke issued from the half-dozen forts on the islands in the harbor and from the return fire of the fast moving Confederate “decoy ships” orbiting the forts. The “decoy ships” were drawing the fire of the forts while doing their share to smoke up the harbor to mask the in-bound troop transports. The light and variable winds dispersed the smoke just enough to cover the harbor.