- 04 Apr 2022 13:14
#15220915
April 4, Monday
General Grant has made remarkably few changes at the top of the Army of the Potomac’s command. but he does select a new leader for its Cavalry Corps, replacing D. McM. Gregg, who had temporarily supplanted Pleasonton: Philip H. Sheridan, a cocky and aggressive 33-year-old major general who distinguished himself out west at Stones River and in the storming of Missionary Ridge. Almost all of Sheridan’s experience has been with infantry, and he certainly doesn’t look the part of a cavalry commander. Bandy-legged and wiry, he stands but five feet six inches tall; hard months in the field have reduced him to a shadow at 115 pounds. When Sheridan arrives in Washington today, Halleck introduces him around at the War Department and a headquarters man later remarks snidely to Grant, “That officer you brought in from the West is rather a little fellow to handle your cavalry.” But Grant, who saw Sheridan in action at Chattanooga, replies, “You will find him big enough for the purpose before we get through with him.”
Grant is counting on using his Cavalry Corps as a concentrated striking force. Even more clearly, he sees that numbers can be the key to a Union victory. Through Halleck, Grant instructs the Union’s farflung departmental commanders to pare their garrisons and dispatch the extra men to Virginia. Closer to home, he evicts thousands of troops from their comfortable postings within the elaborate fortifications of Washington. Most of these so-called paper-collar soldiers are Heavy Artillerymen—drilled in the use of the big guns but also able to function as infantry. They have had an easy war so far, spending each night in a barracks bed with a full belly. Such assignments are coveted, and the duty roster of the Heavy Artillery regiments have become outlandishly swollen. Now many of these regiments are marched through the mud to the camp on the Rapidan, where the veterans greet the newcomers with derision. Grant also sets about converting Washington’s excess cavalrymen into infantry. Many of these troopers have been languishing in the capital, waiting for remounts—but not all. One colonel who rides into Washington this spring at the head of 1,200 handsomely mounted Pennsylvanians is abruptly relieaved of his horses. His men are furnished with muskets and are soon on their way to the Rapidan, on foot. Grant also reduces the number of headquarters wagons. From now on there will be only one per regiment, one per brigade, and perhaps two for a division headquarters. This move throws scores of teamsters and muleskinners into the ranks.
General Steele has wasted three days at Arkadelphia, Arkansas, waiting for Brigadier General John M. Thayer and his Army of the Frontier—5,000 men coming from their base at Fort Smith, Arkansas—who are supposed to join Steele for the next move to the Little Missouri River in their part of the Red River Campgain. Giving up on Thayer, Steele marches southwest towards the crossroads town of Washington.
The US House of Representatives passes a joint resolution saying that the nation will not permit the establishment of a monarchy in Mexico. This is intended to thwart the plans of Napoleon III of France to place Maximilian of Hapsburg on the throne of Mexico.
Several changes in Federal corps commanders helps set the stage for renewed operations.
Skirmishing occurs at Charlestown and Roseville, Arkansas, and at Campti, Louisiana, on the Red River.
The New York Sanitary Commission Fair opens with eventual receipts of $1,200,000 (current $20,411,771) used for the needs of the soldiers.
President Lincoln puts in writing some thoughts upon slavery that he framed orally only a few days ago: “I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.... And yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling.”
General Grant has made remarkably few changes at the top of the Army of the Potomac’s command. but he does select a new leader for its Cavalry Corps, replacing D. McM. Gregg, who had temporarily supplanted Pleasonton: Philip H. Sheridan, a cocky and aggressive 33-year-old major general who distinguished himself out west at Stones River and in the storming of Missionary Ridge. Almost all of Sheridan’s experience has been with infantry, and he certainly doesn’t look the part of a cavalry commander. Bandy-legged and wiry, he stands but five feet six inches tall; hard months in the field have reduced him to a shadow at 115 pounds. When Sheridan arrives in Washington today, Halleck introduces him around at the War Department and a headquarters man later remarks snidely to Grant, “That officer you brought in from the West is rather a little fellow to handle your cavalry.” But Grant, who saw Sheridan in action at Chattanooga, replies, “You will find him big enough for the purpose before we get through with him.”
Grant is counting on using his Cavalry Corps as a concentrated striking force. Even more clearly, he sees that numbers can be the key to a Union victory. Through Halleck, Grant instructs the Union’s farflung departmental commanders to pare their garrisons and dispatch the extra men to Virginia. Closer to home, he evicts thousands of troops from their comfortable postings within the elaborate fortifications of Washington. Most of these so-called paper-collar soldiers are Heavy Artillerymen—drilled in the use of the big guns but also able to function as infantry. They have had an easy war so far, spending each night in a barracks bed with a full belly. Such assignments are coveted, and the duty roster of the Heavy Artillery regiments have become outlandishly swollen. Now many of these regiments are marched through the mud to the camp on the Rapidan, where the veterans greet the newcomers with derision. Grant also sets about converting Washington’s excess cavalrymen into infantry. Many of these troopers have been languishing in the capital, waiting for remounts—but not all. One colonel who rides into Washington this spring at the head of 1,200 handsomely mounted Pennsylvanians is abruptly relieaved of his horses. His men are furnished with muskets and are soon on their way to the Rapidan, on foot. Grant also reduces the number of headquarters wagons. From now on there will be only one per regiment, one per brigade, and perhaps two for a division headquarters. This move throws scores of teamsters and muleskinners into the ranks.
General Steele has wasted three days at Arkadelphia, Arkansas, waiting for Brigadier General John M. Thayer and his Army of the Frontier—5,000 men coming from their base at Fort Smith, Arkansas—who are supposed to join Steele for the next move to the Little Missouri River in their part of the Red River Campgain. Giving up on Thayer, Steele marches southwest towards the crossroads town of Washington.
The US House of Representatives passes a joint resolution saying that the nation will not permit the establishment of a monarchy in Mexico. This is intended to thwart the plans of Napoleon III of France to place Maximilian of Hapsburg on the throne of Mexico.
Several changes in Federal corps commanders helps set the stage for renewed operations.
Skirmishing occurs at Charlestown and Roseville, Arkansas, and at Campti, Louisiana, on the Red River.
The New York Sanitary Commission Fair opens with eventual receipts of $1,200,000 (current $20,411,771) used for the needs of the soldiers.
President Lincoln puts in writing some thoughts upon slavery that he framed orally only a few days ago: “I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.... And yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling.”
Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without.
—Edmund Burke
—Edmund Burke