SECTION B MEDFORD. OREGON. MONDAY. OCTOBER 29. 1962 PAGES 1 to 8
Civil War
McClernand's Recruiting Drive
By MERTON T. AKERS
UPI Correspondent
Three lawyers President
Lincoln. Secretary of War Ed
win M. Stanton and Maj. Gen.
John Alexander McClernand
stirred up a strangs cock
tail of military plans in the
fajl of 1862.
McClernand was the chief
mixer but he had willing
helpers in Lincoln and Stan
ton. He was a political general
with a fair combat record at
Forts Henry and Donelson and
at Shiloh but he was dead set
against West Pointers,
He was 50 years old in 1862.
His career before he became a
general had been in politics.
He was a member of the Illi
nois legislature and later a
congressman. He was a dedi
cated War Democrat and it
was largely on that score that
Lincoln made him a general
early in the war.
He and Lincoln were politi
cal friends despite the differ
ence in parties so it was easy
enough for McClernand to get
the President's ear in late Sep
tember 1862.
McClernand had a plan. He
would return to the Middle
West and begin recruiting an
army to clear the Mississippi
River of Confederates.
Able Recruiter
McClernand was an able re
cruiter and had proved it.
His chief objective was to be
Vicksburg, Miss., a Rebel
stronghold lightly defended at
the time. First he asked for
20,000 troops and later jump
ed the figure of 60,000.
Implicit in his plan was
that the commander of this
expedition would be General
McClernand, operating inde
pendently and reporting only
to Washington.
Vicksburg was in the terri
tory of Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant
at least Grant considered
it so. He was the only officer
in the vicinity who was senior
to McClernand. Grant had his
eyes on Vicksburg, too. As
early as July 1862 he had
started laying plans for its
capture but by fall he had not
been able to accomplish even
a start.
McClernand had two mo
tives in mind.
One was a desire to show
the country that a citizen-general
could get on with the war
in the West where a West
Pointer could not. West Point
ers were trying to win the
war by strategy rather than
by fighting, he believed. An
other consideration which un
doubtedly ran through his
mind was that the captor of
Vicksburg likely would be a
hero and that meant votes.
Based on Soundings
McClernand's second mo
tive was based on soundings
taken at Middle Western
grassroots.
Before the Civil War. the
surplus grain and meat of the
Middle West went down the
Mississippi for sale a cheap J
method of transportation that i
made a profit for the pro- I
ducers. I
Now that the Confederates
had closed off the river, the
Middle West's grain and meat
must go cast to market by
railroad and to some extent
by the Great Lakes. Rail bar
ons seized the opportunity to
raise freight rates. Westerners
resented it, considered them
selves as being strangled and
reacted by sending more anti
war men to Congress. This
could lead to a new political
party, willing perhaps to
grant Southern independence
In order to reopen the Missis
sippi, even to secession of the
region, the reasoning went.
Whatever the merits of this
reasoning, it bulked large at
the moment to Indianans. Mi
noisans, Ohioans and Iowans.
Other besides McClernand
were thinking along these
lines also, so McClernand's
plan against Vicksbudg, which
promised direct action and
more troops for the western
armies both valuable con
siderations fell on fertile
ground in Washington and
sprouted.
On Oct, 20. Stanton gave
McClernand an order marked
"confidential." Nowadays it
would be stamped "to secret."
To Organize Troops
The order specified that Mc
Clernand was to go to Illinois,
Indiana and Iowa "to organ
ize the troops remaining in
those states and to be raised
by volunteering and draft, and
forward them with all dis
patch to Memphis. Cairo or
such points as may be here
after designated by the grn-rral-in-chief.
to the end that,
when a sufficient force not re
quired by the operations of
General Grant's command
shall be raised, an expedition
may be organized under Gen
eral McClernand's command
against Vicksburg. and to
clear the Mississippi River
snd open navigation to New
Oleans . . .
' The force so organized will
rt'nain subject to the desig
nation of the general-in-chief
and such exigencies as the
service in his judgment may
require."
Although Lincoln and Stan
ton were topflight lawyers
and undoubtedly could have
drawn an airtight order if
they had wished, the docu
ment contained a loophole
big enough to drive an army
wagon through.
Free To Move
IF Grant did not need Mc
Clernand's men and IF Maj.
Gen, Henry W. Halleck, gen-
met I ii.Wiii-.Ui u
RECRUITING PLAN In 1862, Maj. Gen. John Alexander
McClernand was 50 years old, was a political general with a
fair combat record, and had a plan. He would return to his
native Middle West, and recruit an army to clear Mississippi
of Confederates. He had two motives in mind: First was a de
sire to show the country that a citizen-general could get on
with the war where a West Pointer could not. Second, he
felt that the captor of Vicksburg likely would be a hero,
and that meant votes. But Maj. Gen. U. S. Grant, senior offi
cer in the area, also had his eye on Vicksburg. He questioned
McClernand's actions, and somewhat encouraged by his reply
from Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck, prepared to move south.
Here, from the Library of Congress collection, is a drawing
of McClernand. - (UPI)
eral-in-chief approved then
McClernand was free to movt
on Vicksburg with whatever
troops remained.
Officially Halleck knew
nothing of the order. Actual
ly he knew all about it as his
later actions would prove.
Grant knew nothing of it,
officially or unofficially, ex
cept for rumors.
The upshot of this strange
concoction, in which the left
hand of the government did
not know what the right hand
was doing, resulted in West
Pointers Giant and Halleck
heretofore something less
than friendly moving clos
er together in the face of at
tack. McClernand, his order in
hand, was back in Springfield,
111., by the end of October en
listing the aid of Gov. Rich
ard Yates. He also saw Gov.
Oliver P. Morton of Indiana
and Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood
of Iowa.
By Nov. 10 he had sent 20
regiments of infantry and two
batteries from these three
states. Halleck saw to it that
the troops went to Columbus,
Ky., Grant's territory.
Grant, reading newspaper
reports of McClernand's re
cruiting activities, was grow
ing restless. He knew some
thing was going on behind his
back but had no way to find
out what and Halleck could
not tell him.
On Nov. 10, Grant, appar
ently trying to smoke out
some firm information, mes
saged Halleck:
"Am I to understand that I
lie still here while an expedi
tion is fitted out from Mem
phis, or do you want me to
push as far south as possi
ble? . . ."
"You have command of all
troops sent to your depart
ment and have permission to
fight the enemy where you
please." Halleck replied, an
swering only by implication.
Somewhat encouraged,
Grant began preparations to
move south against Vicksburg.
But much water would flow
past Vicksburg before it was
captured by Grant, not
McClernand.
33
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