John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

The Official Records show that Grant requested Halleck to obtain an order assigning Smith to the command of the Eighteenth army corps and sending Butler back to Fort Monroe, on July 6th, at 10 A. M., and that the order was issued by the War Department on July 7th. They also show that two days thereafter Smith took advantage of ten days leave of absence, which had been granted to him the day before on account of his head, and that before leaving he turned over the command of his corps to the next in rank, and notified Butler accordingly. He appears to have started that afternoon, and to have spent the night at Fort Monroe. The next day Butler is said to have called upon Grant with a request for Smith's removal. Exactly what he based this upon, or what took place in the interview which followed, has never been fully stated. From the Official Records it is certain, however, that an order was issued from Grant's headquarters on July 19, 1864, relieving Smith, while still absent, from the command of the Eighteenth army corps, and that this order was followed by Smith's farewell address, dated July 20th.

As the circumstances related above led to one of the most persistent and acrimonious controversies connected with the Civil War, every detail throwing light upon it has been looked upon as important.

Grant ignores the subject in his Memoirs, but Dana, who was sitting with Grant when Butler called, described the meeting to me many times afterwards as an embarrassing one, in which Butler, clad in full uniform, with a haughty air and flushed face, held out a copy of the order directing him to re-establish his headquarters at Fort Monroe, and asked, “General Grant, did you issue this order?” To this Grant replied, in a hesitating manner, “No, not in that form.” Whereupon, perceiving that the interview was likely to be an unpleasant one, Dana took his leave