Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Two
Civil Occupations - Kearny's Empire in the Southern States
From “Philip Kearny – The Myth and The Man” by Dr. P. Capaldi
University of Illinois Press 2003
“Unquestionably the greatest tarnish on the Kearny legacy is his active support for the Imperialist regime in Mexico. Given the subsequent history of the League of Emperors it is easy for modern Americans to criticize Philip Kearny’s abandonment of the Monroe Doctrine. However the situation in the mid-1860s was not a clear cut one. There were many voices raised in the United States against French interference in Mexico and the establishment of a European-style monarchy in the Americas. There were also many practical considerations that bore on the United States’ ability to affect change south of the Rio Grande…”
From “The Rivals – Lincoln and his Cabinet” by Amelia Doggett
Grosvenor 2008
“The death of Mrs. Lincoln had left the President with a great desire to send “
the boys home to their families”. However the demobilization of the volunteer army presented a real threat to the government’s ability to restore order in the southern states and would certainly inhibit the nation’s ability to extend its power into Mexico and upon the high seas to threaten France…
For every voice raised against France or Maximilian and for every voice raised in favor of republican government and the Monroe Doctrine there were a score raised against adventurism and in favor of the heavy garrisoning of the former rebel states…
It was the Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, who delivered the damning ultimatum to the President that “
We can either rebuild the nation or fight in Mexico. We cannot afford both. We can barely afford either”…”
From “An Uncivil War” by Dr Guy Burchett
LSU 1998
“At the time that people like Ben Butler were suggesting that external strife would quickly unite the nation (though the usual target of Butler’s invective was Britain in Canada not the French in Mexico), there was still civil violence in Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina and Texas…
Ben Butler was one of few who favored aggressive action in enforcing the Monroe Doctrine. "For this moment we are the greatest power on earth! Let us not shrink back to what we were!"
In Missouri, in central and eastern Tennessee and in West Texas the disturbances were between neighbors: Unionists and Rebels. The end of the rebellion was seen by many unionists as an opportunity for revenge for years of persecution under the Confederate yolk…
In South Carolina the violence was racial as both sides sought revenge for the outrages which followed the Charleston massacre which begat further outrages…
Mississippi was in the rather unusual position of suffering both forms of violence as the Unionists, predominately in the north, and the freedmen, particularly in the west of the state, turned on former rebels….
In many instances the violence would increase the grey tide of refugees flowing out of the country…”
From “The Rivals – Lincoln and his Cabinet” by Amelia Doggett
Grosvenor 2008
“Despite the accusations hurled at the United States government by the former rebels in Mexico and their descendants, it was the policy of Lincoln’s government to return the south to a state of normality as soon as possible. To end the violence and secure the south for Reconstruction, the government would need garrisons, and for garrisons they would need men…
With the volunteer armies looking to the surrender of Governor Stockdale as the sign that demobilization would follow the government might quickly face a manpower problem. In practical terms that meant Secretary Stanton supported Secretary Chase in declaring the government could not afford to rely “
on the willingness of the country to pore out its blood and treasure” for another four years in a war the public did not want…
It is clear that while individual congressmen and cabinet members were exercised about the French presence in Mexico, the public was not. Reconstruction and the fate of Confederate prisoners dominated the American press and public debate almost to the exclusion of all else…
The Mexican situation was a mire that Lincoln’s administration simply wanted no part of. “
The addition of the rebs to the Mexican problem adds complexity to confusion” was one comment of Secretary Seward to Thurlow Weed. One reporter tried to tease out the factions involved in Mexico. “
First there are the Juarista Republicans; then there are the non-Juarista Republicans; some of them supported Vidaurri but now he’s an imperialist; then there are the French themselves; then the Mexican afranciados; the Catholic conservatives; then the Mexican Constitutional Monarchists both conservative and liberal; then there are the Yucatan Natives who might be republicans; then of course there are the savage Indians; and now some savage rebels…and now I have forgotten who we are supposed to be in favor of?”. Seward for one certainly believed that France, the core problem for many concerned American politicians, could neither afford nor sustain a prolonged involvement in Mexico. “
The President thinks they may go away on their own and I am starting to think he may be right” Seward reported to his son in Spring 1865. “
They cannot prop up Max alone and if he can stand then I suspect he will prefer to stand without them. Mexico can’t have two Emperors.” (Seward’s reference to Napoleon III and Maximilian)…”
From “Kearny the Magnificent” by Roger Galton
NorthWestern
“Within days of receiving word of the surrender in Texas General Kearny’s health collapsed. It was the recurrence of the old illness that had nearly killed him in North Africa and which had always followed intense periods of activity…
From his sickbed Kearny would dictate the plan by which the conquered south would be governed, and the manner in which the army would be reorganized…
Kearny would plead that as many volunteer regiments be held on active service as possible pending the return to session of Congress when he expected the Government to push for an expansion of the regular army which he believed essential to the internal and external security of the nation. “
We must maintain a force sufficient to bring the southern states into a state of peace and order, sufficient to deal with the tribes in the West, and sufficient to protect our borders, north and south”. In the immediate aftermath of the war Kearny believed he would need at least 50 regiments of infantry and 25 of cavalry. He also sought an expansion of the regular army’s artillery units…
Kearny broke the country into seven military departments and would assign his most trusted subordinates to those regional commands:
The Atlantic Department
New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. John Fulton Reynolds, considered to be Kearny’s number 2, was assigned to run the department from New York. He would successfully balance the “political” command with the “occupational” forces in Virginia…
The department was split into four sub-departments, each with its own commanding general. William F. Smith landed the plum of the Eastern Sub-Department: New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. From Boston, initially, Smith would oversee the security of the industrial heart of the nation. His primary concerns were the fortification of the east coast and the security of the department’s border with Canada. Smith’s inclination towards pride and ill-temper did not make him the best choice for what was partially a political role until John Reynolds merged their offices. Having Smith in New York alongside, allowed the gentlemanly Reynolds to smooth ruffled feathers and pour water on some of Smith’s more fiery tempers…
Samuel Heintzelman would remain in command in Baltimore of the Middle Sub-Department of Maryland, Delaware and the Capitol. Officers under Heintzelman had “broken” the Baltimore Spy Ring and, as Kearny’s first superior officer in the Army of the Potomac, Kearny felt and abiding sense of loyalty and friendship to this old soldier…
As the most universally respected governor Virginia had had in a generation, John Sedgwick was left in place in the Virginia command. The success of Sedgwick, aided formerly by James Wadsworth, in restoring order, keeping the peace, and promoting Union sentiment had impressed the President, General Kearny and earned him the respect of all but Virginia’s most ardent secessionists of whom few now remained within its borders…
The Department of the Cumberland
As “First General in the West” (Chicago Tribune) Ulysses Grant was placed at the head of the department in the heart of the country. The Sub-department of the Ohio (Ohio, Indiana and Michigan) under Horatio Wright, would present few problems. Wright had held that command earlier in the war and knew the ropes. The other two departments would present some problems. In Kentucky William Nelson was mustering out of the army and thus from his role as military commander in Kentucky. His plan was to run for office in Kentucky at the next opportunity to try to offset the rising tide of “democracy” in the state. In his place Kearny assigned General von Steinwehr. Von Steinwehr was one of several volunteer generals Kearny would coax into staying in the regular service. A strict disciplinarian but scrupulously fair, Steinwehr would only be marginally less heavy handed than Bull Nelson had been. Nelson had arrested many of Kentucky’s hotheads during the war and had driven many more out of the state. Steinwehr would also react swiftly to counter any “disloyal” behavior though within the strict boundaries of military and state law (which Nelson had viewed more as a set of non-binding guidelines)…
In Tennessee Kearny would make a surprising but inspired choice to restore order: Lew Wallace, another volunteer general, who had sincerely considered mustering out of service and refused to accept a regular commission for the moment. The volunteer general would have the difficult task of restoring order in the midst of a mini civil war still raging in the middle and eastern parts of the state. In a controversial move, but one Wallace considered essential to establishing credibility in middle Tennessee he requested the transfer of all negro units out of his sub-department. He received several Indiana regiments who, though angry at not being mustered out for the moment, were happy to serve under a native son of their state…
The Department of the South
In what most considered to be the most difficult department Kearny made his most adroit appointment, Isaac Peace Rodman. The man, with peace as his middle name, would have to keep order in those most unhappy states: South Carolina and Georgia, with Florida and North Carolina tacked on for good measure. He would have four officers of very differing characters to assist him…
John J. Peck would command in Georgia. He would work close with the Republican faction in the state, made up of freedmen, spinners and genuine Unionists, in establishing order in Georgia. General Peck was happy to accept several of the negro regiments ordered out of Tennessee into his command. Peck’s administration was noted as fair. “
Despite the fact that almost all his mercenaries are of the black race, I must admit the man himself is color-blind” was the judgment of Dr. Richard Arnold, former Mayor of Savannah…
One man made the difference in keeping the peace in Georgia according to General Rodman and that man was John J. Peck
John M. Schofield would be shunted off to Florida. He considered it a punishment for being at odds with several of his former commanders and he was likely right. Florida presented few challenges and Schofield’s tenure in charge was relatively unremarkable…
South Carolina would come to know him as “The Hammer” and Israel Richardson deserved the title. He restored order to South Carolina with canister and the bayonet. Some called him impartial for he had rioters and looters shot regardless of race or allegiance. Others called him “indiscriminate”. He had little patience to court popularity with the freedmen, republicans, spinners or the old southern democrats for that matter. Richardson frequently expressed no interest in the government of the state. “
I have been sent here to restore and maintain the peace and nothing else. I have but one demand – We WILL have order here.” (Richardson’s own emphasis)…
North Carolina would bask under the sympathetic command of Winfield Scott Hancock. Hancock complied with government policy to the letter, but he was a democrat by instinct and a generous commander as a result. Under his command North Carolina experienced one of the lowest immigration rates among former Confederates of any state in the former Confederacy..."
The Department of the Gulf
“
Welcome to Hell” was Joe Hooker’s greeting to George Thomas when he arrived at New Orleans to take over this department. Mississippi was in the midst of a three way civil war all of its own. Alabama was not exactly quiet either. Only Louisiana seemed orderly and that order had existed since the multi-raced and indeed mixed race Louisiana Guard had been returned to police the state. Through hard work with his subordinates, Gouvenor K. Warren and Albion P. Howe, Thomas would slowly turn the situation around in Alabama and Mississippi. However the situation in Louisiana would be made more difficult under his third subordinate, another Kearny favorite, Daniel Sickles…
Sickles’ command in Louisiana would result in no less than 8 separate investigations of alleged corruption and theft. In one instance Sickles himself would employ Ben Butler to defend him. In the end the investigations resulted in the dismissal of a dozen officers, but Dan Sickles would be cleared of all charges…
Dan Sickles' life was a litany of controversy
The Department of the South West
“
I am exiled to the outer darkness” exclaimed Joseph Hooker on reading his orders to assume command of this department. In fact Hooker was effectively ordered to become the dictator of a huge portion of the country: Texas, Arkansas, Indian Territory and the territory of New Mexico. He was dictator in the sense that, because many rebels in the portion of the country had fled into Mexico, there was no effective civil government any level. Hooker would quickly come to appreciate the exercise of this level of power…
Of his commander in Texas itself Hooker would conclude “
he has won the respect of the Texans through his command of cussing and outright blasphemy alone”. A.A. Humphreys and Hooker got on well together. Humphreys was not much put out that Hooker often exercised direct authority in Texas, leaving the security of the border to Humphreys. Humphreys would embark on a program of fortifying key sites on the Rio Grande…
Eugene Carr’s reputation was already well known among the peoples of the Indian Territory. War Eagle respected the Indians and they him. It was during his tenure in command here, before his transfer to the Plains, that he conceived the idea for the 13th Cavalry. The idea resonated with General Kearny. A unit made up of the Native tribesmen of North America, commanded by white officers initially, the 13th’s history would be long, and as exotic as its troopers…
General Edward Canby would command in Arkansas. There would be occasional outrages in the state, but as both the diehard rebels and the free negro population quickly abandoned the state, his tenure was quieter than most…
Troop B 13th Cavalry 1880s- mainly comprised of Oglala Sioux at that point
The Pacific Department
“
What to do with a very senior officer you detest? Why send him as far away as you can!”. Such was the verdict of one wag at New York Times on the news that Kearny had assigned Henry Halleck to run the Pacific Department. He would be joined by two officers that also did not figure in Kearny’s ‘Band of Brothers’. Ambrose Burnside would command in California. An inveterate tinkerer Burnside would use his time between policing the border with Mexico and chasing hostiles in the north to update his cavalry carbine and work on an idea for prefabricated bridges…
Fitz John Porter would command in “Columbia” – Oregon and the Washington Territory. Porter would suppress his disappointment at the remote command and commit himself to his primary task of suppressing hostiles who had been left to their own devices for much of the last 5 years…
The Department of the Plains
“General Grant recommended the diligent and dependable E.O.C. Ord to Kearny for senior command. Ord would receive the great northern command of the plains. Ben Butler had had enough of soldiering and the unenviable task of keeping the peace in Missouri. He wanted to go home and get back into Congress. Thus the sub-department of the Missouri (Missouri and Kansas) went to Isaac Stevens. It remained an awful posting even for a talented politician like Stevens. Missourians continued to take any opportunity to kill one another, and Jayhawkers from Kansas were only too happy to assist. The problems only began to subside completely when large portions of the pro-Confederate population immigrated south to join their exiled brethren…
Gordon Granger would obtain the quiet command of the sub-department of the North: Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, with a very nice office in Chicago. J.N.O. Buford would receive the far less comfortable role of commander of the Plains sub-department. Its scope was huge – Nebraska and the Dakota, Montana and Idaho territories. Kearny felt only a consummate cavalry commander could manage such a huge and under populated command. Indeed only a consummate cavalry commander could dealt with the Indian tribes of the plains over the next ten years. It was a huge task, and even with all his talents J.N.O. Buford was neither a young man nor a healthy one. “Ikíčhize” or Warhorse as he was known by the Lakota people would leave his bones of the plains before many more years would pass. He was honored by friend and foe alike…”
From “The King and his Heir – Lincoln and Kearny in the Civil War” by Robert Todd Lincoln II
Grafton Press 1939
“General Kearny would spend all of February 1865 ill in Charlotte, North Carolina. He would recover briefly and immediately committed himself to crisscrossing the country. He agreed to huge parades in Washington to celebrate the end of the war. Elements of the Armies of the Potomac, Mississippi, Tennessee, Stono, Alabama and the South West would parade before the President and General Kearny. On the last day, when the Army of the Potomac was due to march, it was at Kearny’s request that the President ride at the head of column. After all, argued Kearny, the President was the Commander in Chief. The President's son, my father, told me that, though he saw many tears from my grandfather during these parades, it was at the head of the Army of the Potomac that he saw, for the first time since the death of Mary Todd Lincoln, “
pure joy on my father’s face”…
The Army of the Potomac parades down Pennsylvania Avenue
Kearny committed to briefing each of his Department and Sub-Department Commanders in person. At the same time he sought to keep on top of the paperwork that the Commanding General of the Armies must, while also fighting a rearguard action against an immediate and general demobilization of the volunteer army. Unsurprisingly within days of his return to Washington in May 1865 he was again taken ill. This time his physicians believed his illness was life threatening. They had not counted on the will of Phil Kearny or the care of his beloved Agnes. By the end of June Kearny was back in his office in the War Department…
It was at this time that Agnes Kearny sought a meeting with the President alone in the White House. She believed that, if her husband went on as he had been for the last 5 years without a proper rest, he would not live to see another year. Agnes believed that the country owed her husband a great debt, a debt Phil Kearny himself would never call on, but one which Agnes Kearny intended to collect in full from President Lincoln…”
