CHAPTER XXXVII.

A THRILLING RESCUE-ROSECRANS SAVED.

On the night of September 22, 1863, Stanton received a confidential telegram from Assistant-Secretary C. A. Dana, at the front, giving an accurate account of the Army of the Cumberland, under General W. S. Rosecrans, just defeated at Chickamauga. Horses were without forage and dying by the thousand, and soldiers were on half-rations and without fuel. A few (General Garfield said ten) days would starve out the army and give the Confederates control of the western gateway between the North and South-an immeasurable disaster.

Stanton knew that reinforcements could not come from General Sherman, and that General Banks had all he could do to save his own army. The Army of the Cumberland could be saved, if at all, only by forces from the Potomac. He came to a decision at once and sent orderlies scurrying through the District to summon Lincoln (from the Soldiers' Home), General-in-Chief Halleck, and the cabinet officers to a conference in the War Department. Nearly all were in bed, but they arose hurriedly in response to Stanton's imperative and unceremonious summons: "The Secretary of War wants to see you at once at the Department."

Stanton read the telegrams from Dana disclosing that without heroic measures fearful disasters were in store, but no one suggested a remedy. He then said he proposed to send twenty thousand veteran troops from the Army of the Potomac over the mountains to Chattanooga, and thought it could be accomplished in five days. Lincoln exclaimed: "I'll bet you can't even get them to Washington in five days," and General Halleck declared that the proposed transfer "could not be made in less than forty days."

The entire cabinet* sided with Lincoln and Halleck, but after reading Garfield's telegram saying the army would be starved in *Chase, in his diary, says that finally himself and Seward joined Stan

ton.

ten days, Stanton insisted that the rescue was imperative, that the movement could be made, and, furthermore, that he intended to make it.

General D. C. McCallum, but lately appointed director of Military Railroads, who had been sent for during the discussion, now arrived. He had been "posted" by General T. T. Eckert as to what was going on, says W. H. Whiton, his chief clerk, and was ready with a reply. The proposition was stated by Lincoln, and then Stanton inquired:

"If you have supreme authority and abundant transportation, how quickly can you make the transfer?"

"I can complete it in seven days," answered McCallum.

"Good! I told you so! I knew it could be done. Forty days! Forty days indeed, when the life of the nation is at stake!" exclaimed Stanton, turning scornfully toward Halleck, and added to McCallum: "Go ahead; begin now."

Major A. E. H. Johnson, in charge of the telegraph records, was present, and describes what followed:

"Mr. Secretary," said Lincoln, "I have not yet given my consent." With a quick burst of impassioned eloquence so natural to him, Mr. Stanton declared that the Army of the Cumberland would be destroyed, never to be replaced; that Chattanooga would be lost, and that probably Burnside's whole army would be lost. Then, referring to Washington, he declared that it would be safe. On that night, as on many an occasion before, his great powers as war minister were exercised in a spirit that overruled the President, for in matters of determination and will he was aggressively superior to all the cabinet, including the President.

Having thus conquered opposition and sent an orderly with Lincoln back to the Soldiers' Home, he did not retire, but began setting the machinery of his thrilling plan of rescue in motion. While waiting for the messengers to bring Lincoln and the cabinet members, he had telegraphed to John W. Garrett, Thomas A. Scott, and S. M. Felton, the railway managers, to come to Washington as soon as possible, and asked for essential information from the several railway superintendents south of the Ohio River, this being a sample:

Brigadier-General Boyle, Louisville;

September 23, 1863, 11:20 P. M.

Please ascertain and report to me immediately:

1. How many men can be transported by employing the entire rolling

stock of the road from Louisville to Nashville, enumerating the cars of every description that could be employed?

2. How many hours are usually required to make the trip from Louisville to Nashville, and at what rate of speed?

3. Is the road from Nashville to Chattanooga the same gauge as the road from Louisville to Nashville, so that cars can go directly from Louisville to Chattanooga, and what time is required from Nashville to Chattanooga?

4. If the gauge of the roads is different, what is the supply of rolling stock on the Nashville and Chattanooga road?

At 3:30 A. M., September 24, Stanton telegraphed to Charles A. Dana: "We have arranged to send fifteen thousand [twenty-three thousand] infantry under Hooker, and will have them in Nashville in five or six days, with orders to go immediately to wherever Rosecrans wants them." A few minutes later he ordered Hooker by wire to seize and use all the railways he might need and to command all the "officers thereof" to help and obey.

At breakfast time President Garrett arrived in the War Office, followed before noon by T. A. Scott and S. M. Felton, from whom the amount of rolling stock instantly available was learned. Stanton had not yet slept nor eaten, and Townsend, the adjutant-general, was trotting about with a half-eaten sandwich in one hand and a bundle of Stanton's orders to be sent "immediately" in the other. In the meantime McCallum, with supreme written authority over the entire enterprise, had set out for Virginia, leaving W. H. Whiton, his chief clerk and assistant, in charge. In the Whiton manuscript occurs this passage:

Oh, it was an eventful night! While in the quiet hours the nation slumbered, its great War Secretary inaugurated and put in motion a mighty movement to save its army and perchance its life. All night he toiled and planned and directed-no rest for his exhausted brain, no sleep for his weary eyes.

Morning came and we were electrified by a despatch saying the first train-load of troops had left Washington-troops that at midnight were asleep in their tents miles away!

Every half-hour a fresh train was started, and, once in motion, was not stopped or delayed except for wood and water. At all wood and water stations relays of men from the commissary department supplied coffee and cooked rations abundantly to the soldiers. No one was allowed to leave the cars. Food and drink were swallowed as the trains moved and the boys were satisfied.

Train despatchers and station agents along the lines were made captains by telegrams from Stanton, with orders to arrest any soldier leaving

the trains or any person interfering with their movements, and thus our military czar rushed his troops to the rescue.

Having learned, in response to his inquiries, where the gauges of the several roads changed, Stanton telegraphed to Amasa Stone of Cleveland, to "go at once and take possession of the roads south of the Ohio River and provide for more rolling stock. Call upon every railroad and manufacturing company for its instant aid for that purpose and I will also issue telegraphic reports to such as I can get knowledge of." Stone could not go instantly, so T. A. Scott was despatched in his place and performed the task with consummate ability.

At 9:10 P. M. of September 25, the eleventh army corps had fully embarked at Manassas, Virginia, and the next morning Hooker telegraphed to Rosecrans: "I leave with forty rounds for men; twenty rounds for artillery; sixteen thousand infantry and nine batteries. Be ready with supplies, orders, etc., for one thousand one hundred horses and twenty-three thousand men." A similar telegram came to Stanton, who then, for the first time in three days, sought rest. Tying a handkerchief wet with cologne about his head, he stretched out on the office couch to sleep. He had won by causing the military and railroad worlds to jump and spin as they never before spun and jumped, and was entitled to a moment of respite.

The great caravan six miles in length whirled over the Alleghanies without accident, save that a few soldiers riding on the outside of the cars were frozen to death by the swift motion of the trains through the cold atmosphere of the mountain summits; and there was a momentary delay to the first trains while T. A. Scott (who by Stanton's order impressed eight thousand negroes to change the gauge of the Louisville and Lexington Railroad) was throwing in a short connecting link to the Frankfort railroad.

Another interesting statement occurs in the Whiton manuscripts, as follows:

Mr. Stanton watched the progress of the troop trains with anxiety. Reports of each train as it passed given points were telegraphed, so that he was kept fully informed.

The first train arrived at Jeffersonville, on the Ohio River opposite Louisville, at about 1 o'clock at night. The soldiers marched at once aboard a steamer in waiting, where a hot, full meal was ready for them.

They ate as they crossed the stream and, on reaching shore, fell in at