CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE

GRANT SECRETARY OF WAR AD INTERIM -HIS PREVIOUS COURSE ON RECONSTRUCTION-THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT RECONSTRUCTION ACTS-SELECTION OF THE FIVE COMMANDERSHIS INSTRUCTIONS TO THEM-HIS RELUCTANCE TO TAKE THE WAR OFFICE HIS MOTIVES FOR ACCEPTING IT-JOHNSON'S DISSIMULATION-CONDITION OF THE SOUTH REMOVAL OF SHERIDANGRANT'S PROTEST-REMOVAL OF SICKLES AND POPE-DIFFICULTIES OF GRANT'S POSITION HIS GREAT LABORS AND CONCILIATORY SPIRIT-SUCCESS OF HIS ADMINISTRATION-RETRENCHMENT AND REFORM IN THE WAR DEPARTMENT-GREAT REDUCTION OF EXPENDITURES-COMMENDATION OF THE PRESIDENT-THE ANNUAL REPORT OF GRANT AS SECRETARY.

On the 12th of August, 1867, General Grant was appointed Secretary of War ad interim. This being the first civil office he ever held, it is interesting to inquire into the manner in which he discharged its duties.

Throughout the fifteen months that had intervened since the surrender of the Confederate forces, he had been desirous of seeing a reconstruction of the Union on a just, liberal and safe basis. He had not been required to devise or propose a plan of reconstruction, that task being confided to the Legislative and Executive Departments. As head of the army, he had stood ready to co-operate in carrying out any plan which they might agree upon.

When Congress presented to the States, for their ratification, the Constitutional Amendment, commonly known as Article XIV., he saw that it opened a way through which the South might, at an early day, emerge from its anomalous and irksome position, and resume the exclusive control of its

affairs. Acting upon the promptings of unwise counsels, the Southern States repudiated this magnanimous plan by rejectting the amendment; and thereupon, Congress, after mature consideration, passed the reconstruction acts of March, 1867.

These acts imposed upon Grant as Commander-in-Chief many weighty and delicate duties. The five military commanders of the several districts provided for by these acts, were selected by the joint advice of the President, the Secretary of War and the General-in-Chief. The selection was deemed eminently wise, and the assignment to the respective districts highly judicious. In his original instructions to the district commanders, and in his subsequent correspondence with them, Grant, while impressing them with the idea that the letter and spirit of the law were to be the guide of their conduct, counseled moderation and forbearance towards the people of the South. From the time of the surrender down through the entire period under consideration, his official intercourse with the Southern population of all classes was that of an urbane magistrate rather than a soldier clothed with supreme powers; and no man below the Potomac and the Ohio can justly say that he has ever felt the undue pressure of his mailed hand.

General Grant had not sought the office of Secretary of War ad interim, and he took the post with great reluctance. He did not recognize the necessity of a change in the Department at that juncture, having, to use his own language in his letter to Mr. Stanton, full confidence in "the zeal, patriotism, firmness and ability" wherewith that gentleman had discharged its duties. He had privately remonstrated with the President against the change, and he finally lodged with him an earnest written protest against it.

He feared that the suspension of Mr. Stanton, at that critical stage in the reconstruction measures, would operate injuriously in the South, encouraging opposition to a plan of restoration, which, in its essential features, he deemed inevitable, inspiring hopes that it could be broken down, inflaming the smouldering embers of rebellion, and disheartening those

Southern citizens who were laboring in good faith to carry it into effect. He regarded the suspension as inopportune so soon after the adjournment of the Senate, when no new reasons to justify it had since arisen. "It is," said Grant in his protest, "but a short time since the Senate was in session, and why not then have asked for his removal if it was desired?" He deprecated it because it would widen the existing breach between the President and Congress, at a period when it was especially important that all branches of the Government should harmoniously co-operate in the delicate work of restoring the Union.

General Grant was averse to taking the position himself because it would throw upon him the burdens of two important offices, when he was already heavily laden with the cares of one of them; and he felt that every thing he could do in aid of the work of reconstruction, he could as well perform in his sole capacity of General-in-Chief. But the President thrust the office upon him, and Grant has since avowed, that inasmuch as the suspension of Stanton was a foregone conclusion, he took the place rather than that it should fall into the hands of some supple or unpatriotic person. If Grant's motives in accepting it did not comport with the President's intentions in conferring it, this is not discreditable to Grant, however it may affect the President. If, as the sequel proves, Mr. Johnson had sinister ends in view in these proceedings, and hoped ultimately to mould Grant to his purposes, or in some way use him in attaining those ends, his failure only reflects the more honor upon Grant, while it leaves Johnson in the unenviable predicament of a baffled seducer, who had the will but lacked the honor to accomplish his evil designs.

Grant held the post of War Secretary five months, performing at the same time the duties of General-in-Chief. He took the office at a period of great embarrassment. The difficulties that beset his administration from the opening to the close, were constant and harassing. Sharp collisions between the President and Congress, which had been increasing

in asperity for more than a twelve-month, had kindled a spirit of inflamed hostility to the Federal Government in the five military districts, which, in many localities, had risen almost to the height of insurrection, in some had broken out in actual violence, while in New Orleans there had been a profuse shedding of blood. Hostility on the part of the President towards three of the district commanders, serious when Grant took the office, increased in intensity till Johnson finally dismissed them from their posts.

Five days after Grant entered the Department, General Sheridan, who had managed his turbulent district with marvelous skill, was, against Grant's protest, removed from command, throwing the district into confusion, and heaping unexpected troubles upon the shoulders of the General-inChief. As this protest exhibits a warmth of sentiment not usually attributable to its author, we for that reason, as well as because of the important character of the document, copy its main paragraphs. It is addressed to the President, and bears date August 1, 1867. After objecting to the suspension of Mr. Stanton, General Grant goes on to say:

"On the subject of the removal of the very able commander of the fifth military district, let me ask you to consider the effect it would have upon the public. He is universally and deservedly beloved by the people who sustained this Government through its trials, and feared by those who would still be enemies of the Government. It fell to the lot of but few men to do as much against an armed enemy as General Sheridan did during the rebellion, and it is within the scope of the ability of but few in this or other country to do what he has. His civil administration has given equal satisfaction. He has had difficulties to contend with which no other district commander has encountered. Almost if not quite from the day he was appointed district commander to the present time, the press has given out that he was to be removed; that the administration was dissatisfied with him, etc. This has emboldened the opponents to the laws of Congress within his command to oppose him in every way in their power, and has rendered necessary measures which otherwise might never have been necessary. In conclusion, allow me to say, as a friend desiring peace and quiet, the welfare of the whole country, North and South, that it is in my opinion more than the loyal people of this country (I mean those who supported

the Government during the great rebellion) will quietly sumbit to, to see the very man of all others whom they have expressed confidence in removed."

Regardless of these protestations, Johnson issued the order for the removal of Sheridan on the 17th of August. On the same day, before the order was past recall, Grant, in his double capacity of General and Secretary, addressed an eloquent letter to the President, hoping to stay his hand, assuring him that there were "military reasons, pecuniary reasons, and above all, patriotic reasons, why this should not be insisted upon;" and reminding him, that "General Sheridan had performed his civil duties faithfully and intelligently;" and warning him that "his removal will only be regarded as an effort to defeat the laws of Congress. It will be interpreted by the unreconstructed element in the South, those who did all they could to break up this Government by arms, and now wish to be the only element consulted as to the method of restoring order, as a triumph. It will embolden them to renewed opposition to the will of the loyal masses, believing that they have the Executive with them." But all was in vain. The hero of Winchester was sacrificed. Ten days afterwards, General Sickles, who had so wisely conducted affairs in the Second District, composed of the Carolinas, as to win the confidence of the great majority of all classes of their population, was also removed against the earnest wishes of Grant, thus increasing his anxieties and cares, and causing unusual disquietude in that important district. Ultimately General Pope, who had shown rare judgment in managing the great department of which Georgia was a leading member, was removed, disarranging his well matured plans for hastening forward reconstruction in that State and in Alabama.

For the removal of these three distinguished commanders, scarcely a specious pretext was offered by the President. Certainly no solid reason was ever given for dealing such wanton blows over the head of Grant at his trustworthy subordinates. Under the circumstances in which he was