Grant vs Sherman
The Secret Meeting of Wednesday 3 November 1875 initially comprised Generals Phil Sheridan and George Crook, summoned to Washington to meet with Grant and Secretary Belknap. Grant had called Sheridan back from his honeymoon and he had stopped off in Omaha on the way to pick up Crook. But there was no Sherman present for this meeting, the General of the Army was absent. Why was this? Grant and Sherman had been the two pillars of the Union victory in the recent unpleasantness between the States. Sherman, in Savannah at the tail end of 1864, is reported to have said of Grant, “General Grant is a great general. I know him well. He stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk; and now, sir, we stand by each other always.“ (1)
The American Civil War brought Grant close to many soldiers, I imagine you learn who you can rely on. As President he found himself in a different type of game where he was not familiar with the rules. Grant mostly appointed people he knew into key positions. Ely Parker became his Commissioner of Indian Affairs, ready to implement their shared vision of a Peace Policy. John Rawlins became his Secretary of War, and Sherman his General of the Army. The two roles were going to clash.
Back in January 1866 Grant had written to the then Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton saying, “the entire adjutant-general’s office should be under the entire control of the general-in-chief of the army. No orders should go to the army, or the adjutant-general, except through the general-in-chief.” (2) He did not receive a response but his intentions were clear; the Secretary of War and that department should not be commanding the Army.
In December 1868, after Grant’s election but before his inauguration, there was a large Union reunion in Chicago and Grant and Sherman had a conversation about the shape of the future. In Sherman’s memoir, “it was generally understood that I was to succeed General Grant as general-in-chief … he wanted me to effect a change as to the general staff, which he had long contemplated … and was well known to the military world … that the modern custom of the Secretary of War giving military orders to the adjutant-general and other staff officers was positively wrong and should be stopped.” (3)
Grant’s first inauguration was on Thursday 4 March 1869. The very next day he issued General Orders No. 11 directing General Sherman to assume command of the US Army and additional bureaucrats previously in the purview of the War Department. “The chiefs of staff corps, departments, and bureaus will report to and act under the immediate orders of the general commanding the army. Any official business which by law or regulation requires the action of the President or Secretary of War will be submitted by the General of the Army to the Secretary of War, and in general all orders from the President or Secretary of War to any portion of the army, line or staff, will be transmitted through the General of the Army.” (4)
Sherman was in charge of the Army with the administrative parts of the War Department now under the control of the Army and without the dual reporting line which both he and Grant believed caused confusion - such as officers first reading about orders or military events in the newspapers. The Secretary of War would become a conduit for the orders of the President. Colonels Comstock, Horace Porter and Dent would join Sherman and his existing aides. The change was not welcome everywhere as Sherman noted, “I was soon made aware the the heads of several of the staff corps were restive under this new order of things, for by long usage they had grown to believe themselves not officers of the army in a technical sense but a part of the War Department, the civil branch of the Government which connects the army with the President and Congress.” (4)
President Grant appointed officers and colleagues from the Union Army to important positions in his administration. Just over a week later on Saturday 13 March 1869 Grant appointed Major General John Aaron Rawlins to the post of Secretary of War. Rawlins had been by Grant’s side through most of the war, often literally, and was one of Grant’s closest friends and allies. At the time Rawlins was ill with tuberculosis and had declined to take a military command perhaps thinking that a job in Grant’s administration would be physically easier. As Secretary he asked Grant for the return of the authority over the bureau chiefs, only recently moved to the purview of the General of the US Army, Sherman.
This is where the division between Grant and Sherman began. Grant agreed to Rawlins’ request and on Friday 26 March 1869 General orders No 28 rescinded the 3-week old order that had put Sherman in charge of everything. So Sherman goes to find out what has happened. Grant says he was told that it was “regarded as a violation of laws” to change the reporting lines of a Government Department but that he expected Sherman and Rawlins “to draw the line of separation satisfactorily” to them both. According to Charles Flood in “Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the Civil War” (pg 394), Sherman stood up and walked out of the meeting saying "Yes Mister President, you have the power to revoke your own order; you shall be obeyed. Good morning Sir!” and their relationship became more formal; maybe not an angry falling out but a definite change in their relationship.
Sherman’s relationship with Rawlins did not have much time to mature. They tried but Sherman found several examples where Rawlins failed to co-ordinate with him; “but always when his attention was called to it he apologized, and repeatedly said to me that he understood from his experience on General Grant's staff how almost insulting it was for orders to go to individuals of a regiment, brigade, division, or an army of any kind without the commanding officer being consulted or even advised.” However Rawlins’ illness trumped all earthly concerns, and he was dead within 6 months of taking office.
There may have been a chance for Grant and Sherman to repair their communication lines as Grant put Sherman in temporary charge of the War Department. That confirmed to Sherman that the General-in-Chief and the Secretary of War should really be one job.
Grant asked Sherman for some names for who should be the replacement Secretary of War, and Sherman dutifully responded to his friend to help divide the roles again. One of his suggestions is General William Belknap. Sherman seems to have been quite active in sealing the deal for Belknap and Grant, and on Monday 25 October 1869 General Belknap became Secretary of War, and he fell into the de facto way of running the department, eg swapping appointments for favours (aka corruption). Sherman tried to bring this to Grant’s attention. “I spoke frequently to President Grant of the growing tendency of his Secretary of War to usurp all the powers of the commanding general, which would surely result in driving me away. He as frequently promised to bring us together to agree upon a just line of separation of our respective offices, but never did.”
In August and September 1870 Sherman tried to resolve the Belknap jurisdiction matter with Grant who, as usual, promised to bring them together and who, as usual, failed to do so. In a letter to his brother dated Saturday 8 July 1871, Sherman said, “my office has been by law stript of all the influence and prestige it possessed under Grant, and even in matters of discipline and army control I am neglected, overlooked, or snubbed.” (5)
Sherman seems to have washed his hands of the whole problem and took advantage of an offer to travel to Europe - he was away for close on a year from 17 November 1871 to September 1872. The jurisdiction problem surely resulted in driving him away, first for this extended holiday, and then to move the Army Headquarters 800 miles west.
On Friday 8 May 1874 Sherman wrote to Belknap asking for the authority of the President and the War Department to move his headquarters to St Louis. In his memoirs Sherman attributes this to the fact that his Washington property was large and too expensive and he needed to sell his interests there and move to St Louis. (6) It is quite possible he was distancing himself from Belknap’s shenanigans and the fact that Grant was not supporting him. Three days later he got permission … though he requested a delay in publication of the news as he had decided to make the changes in October.
The announcement came on Tuesday 8 September 1874: General Orders No. 108 from War Department, Adjutant-General’s Office, Washington. “With the assent of the President, and at the request of the General, the headquarters of the armies of the United States will be established at St Louis, Missouri, in the month of October next. The regulations and orders now governing the functions of the General of the Army, and those in relation to transactions of business with the War Department and its bureaus, will continue in force.”
General Sherman had now distanced himself from Belknap and Washington, and his old friend the President. He was not available for the secret meeting at the beginning of November. According to the Army & Navy Journal of 6th November he was on a visit to Fort Sill. That does not necessarily mean that Sherman was not involved in the decision to go to war agains the Sioux. Just over a month before the secret meeting, Generals Grant, Sherman and Pope met up at the Reunion of the Army of Tennessee in Des Moines, Iowa. This was Belknap’s adopted State and he was playing host.
The Reunion was a success. The toast was “The march to the sea! Happy in its conception, fortunate in its leader, glorious in its results!” Grant spoke, looking to the future; it was called in the newspapers “Grant’s longest speech'“. (7) Perhaps it was at this meeting of the old war horses that the decision was made about the Sioux. Sherman, flushed with the recognition of his march to the sea, would have been ready with his opinion.
Sherman had written to his brother back in March 1875 saying “to-morrow Generals Sheridan and Pope will meet here to discuss the Indian troubles. We could settle them in an hour, but Congress wants the patronage of the Indian bureau, and the bureau wants the appropriations without any of the trouble of the Indians themselves.” (8)
In Des Moines, Grant would have heard Sherman, whom he trusts absolutely in matters of war, more likely in favour of military suppression of rebellious Sioux. He may have found support from Pope who would prefer to help Indians on to reservations and civilization. With Sitting Bull and the roaming Sioux getting in the way of the negotiations for the gold in the Black Hills, perhaps this was where they decided to use force. It was just after this that the message went to Sheridan on his honeymoon to come into Washington for discussions on the subject. Crook, the successful Indian fighter, was now available in the Department of the Platte. The ingredients were there for war.
Despite Grant and Sherman falling out so much that Sherman was stationed 800 miles away, they had a chance to talk and agree about the course to be taken with the Indians. Grant would be able to tell Belknap what to do. The secret meeting in November would be where the orders were given.
Sherman’s job as General of the Army, and the general himself, would not return to Washington until Belknap’s scandal and resignation. Belknap tearfully resigned on Tuesday 2 March 1876. The orders moving Sherman and the Army back to Washington were issued by Alphonso Taft, the new Secretary of War, on Monday 3 April 1876, very soon after he had been appointed. “This idea … will make General Sherman useful once more, as well as ornamental. The country will probably approve the change.” (9)
References:
(1) “Our Great Captains. Grant, Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan, and Farragut” by LP Brockett (1865) Pg 162
https://archive.org/details/ourgreatcaptains00brociala/page/162/mode/2up
(2) The Papers of Ulysses S Grant, Volume 16: 1866 edited by John Y Simon (1988) Pg 37
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/usg-volumes/4/
(3) Personal Memoirs of General William T Sherman, Volume 2 (1890) Pg 438
https://archive.org/details/personalmemoirso6948sher/page/438/mode/2up
(4) Personal Memoirs of General William T Sherman, Volume 2 (1890) Pg 441
https://archive.org/details/personalmemoirso6948sher/page/440/mode/2up
(5) The Sherman Letters - correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, edited by Rachel Sherman Thorndike (1894) Pg 331-2
https://archive.org/details/shermletterscorr00sheriala/page/330/mode/2up
(6) Personal Memoirs of General William T Sherman, Volume 2 (1890) Pg 453
https://archive.org/details/personalmemoirso6948sher/page/452/mode/2up
(7) The Stark County Democrat (Canton, Ohio), 21 October 1875
(8) The Sherman Letters - correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, edited by Rachel Sherman Thorndike (1894) Pg 344
https://archive.org/details/shermletterscorr00sheriala/page/344/mode/2up
(9) Northern Tribune, 1 April 1876
