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Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Xli. (search)
made him go!” Now, said Mr. Lincoln, if Mr.--has a presidential chin fly biting him, I'm not going to knock him off, if it will only make his department go. On another occasion the President said he was in great distress; he had been to General McClellan's house, and the General did not ask to see him; and as he must talk to somebody, he had sent for General Franklin and myself, to obtain our opinion as to the possibility of soon commencing active operations with the Army of the Potomac. Tneral did not ask to see him; and as he must talk to somebody, he had sent for General Franklin and myself, to obtain our opinion as to the possibility of soon commencing active operations with the Army of the Potomac. To use his own expression, if something was not soon done, the bottom would fall out of the whole affair; and if General McClellan did not want to use the army, he would like to borrow it, provided he could see how it could be made to do something. Raymond's Life of Lincoln
Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Xlxv. (search)
is now abundantly established, even by Rebel testimony, it would have been an easy matter for McClellan to have captured what proved to be the Sebastopol of the Rebellion. During this week of battaker concluded, with an expression of countenance very like a sneer, This is another raid upon McClellan, I take it! Mr. President, was the reply, we came here to lay these facts before you solely frganization which opposed your election to the Presidency — the same organization to which General McClellan is presumed to belong. This is no raid upon him or upon you. It is simple justice to the ere is scarcely a parallel in history to the forbearance exhibited by the President toward General McClellan. The incident given above is but one illustration of his impatience with those who prefern the course of conversation, Dr. T. said: What do you think, Mr. President, is the reason General McClellan does not reply to the letter from the Chicago Convention? Oh! replied Mr. Lincoln, with
Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Lxii. (search)
g of Connecticut, once ventured to ask him if he had ever despaired of the country? When the Peninsula campaign terminated suddenly at Harrison's Landing, rejoined Mr. Lincoln, I was as nearly inconsolable as I could be and live. In the same connection Colonel Deming inquired if there had ever been a period in which he thought that better management upon the part of the commanding general might have terminated the war? Yes, answered the President, there were three: at Malvern Hill, when McClellan failed to command an immediate advance upon Richmond; at Chancellorville, when Hooker failed to reenforce Sedgwick, after hearing his cannon upon the extreme right; and at Gettysburg, when Meade failed to attack Lee in his retreat at the bend of the Potomac. After this commentary, the Congressman waited for an outburst of denunciation — for a criticism, at least — upon the delinquent officers; but he waited in vain. So far from a word of censure escaping Mr. Lincoln's lips, he soon adde
Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Lxiv. (search)
n the District of Columbia. Wondering at this visible boundary that made certain laws and regulations apply to one side of a street that did not reach the other, I lost the conversation, till I found it consisted of a discursive review of General McClellan's character, in which I was directly appealed to know if we had not at one time considered him the second Napoleon in California. I hastened to say that I had found, in travelling in the New England States, more fervent admirers of the cracked jokes while Rome was burning, and the hundred and one wicked things the McClellanites said of Mr. Lincoln, I recalled the gentle verdict I had heard, and acknowledged how bitterly a noble Christian gentleman may be belied. It was after McClellan's speech at West Point, and his admirers were wild with enthusiasm over the learning and classic taste it displayed. The word scholarly rang from mouth to mouth in characterizing it,--the very word Mr. Lincoln had used months before in findin
Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Lxviii. (search)
hundred thousand, according to the best authority. The interrogator blanched in the face, and ejaculated, Good Heavens! Yes sir, twelve hundred thousand--no doubt of it. You see, all of our generals, when they get whipped, say the enemy outnumbers them from three or five to one, and I must believe them. We have four hundred thousand men in the field, and three times four make twelve. Don't you see it? Some gentlemen were discussing in Mr. Lincoln's presence on a certain occasion General McClellan's military capacity. It is doubtless true that he is a good engineer, said the President; but he seems to have a special talent for developing a stationary engine. When Mr. Lincoln handed to his friend Gilbert his appointment as assessor in the Wall Street district, New York, he said: Gilbert, from what I can learn, I judge that you are going upon good missionary ground. Preach God and Liberty to the bulls and bears, and get all the money you can for the government! A gentlem
Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Lxxvi. (search)
he President, two or three weeks would do me good, but I cannot fly from my thoughts; my solicitude for this great country follows me wherever I go. I don't think it is personal vanity or ambition, though I am not free from these infirmities, but I cannot but feel that the weal or woe of this great nation will be decided in November. There is no programme offered by any wing of the Democratic party but that must result in the permanent destruction of the Union. But Mr. President, General McClellan is in favor of crushing out the rebellion by force. He will be the Chicago candidate. Sir, said the President, the slightest knowledge of arithmetic will prove to any man that the rebel armies cannot be destroyed by democratic strategy. It would sacrifice all the white men of the North to do it. There are now in the service of the United States near two hundred thousand able-bodied colored men, most of them under arms, defending. and acquiring Union territory. The democra
Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Lxxvii. (search)
he varied interior. I felt at that moment that a ray had darted down to the bottom of Abraham Lincoln's heart, and that I could see the whole. It seemed to me as beautiful as that emerald pool, and as pure. I have never forgotten that glimpse. When the strange revocation came of the most rational and reasonable proclamation of Fremont,-- The slaves of Rebels shall be set free, --I remembered that hearty Amen, and stifled my rising apprehensions. I remembered it in those dark days when McClellan, Nero-like, was fiddling on James River, and Pope was being routed before Washington, and the report came that a prominent Cabinet Minister had boasted that he had succeeded in preventing the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation; I said: Abraham Lincoln will prove true yet. And he has! God bless him! he has. Slow, if you please, but true. Unimpassioned, if you please, but true. Jocose, trifling, if you please, but true. Reluctant to part with unworthy official advisers, but true himse
Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Index. (search)
er children, 247; a Western judge, 250; lost my apple overboard, 252; rigid government and close construction, 254; breakers ahead, 256; counterfeit bill, 262; blasting rocks, 262; General Phelps's emancipation proclamation, 273; making ministers, 277; John Tyler 278; the Irish soldier and Jacob Thompson, 283; Jeff. Davis and the coon, 284; last story,--how Patagonians eat oysters, told to Marshal Lamon on evening of assassination, 285. M. Marine Band, 168. Massa Sam's dead, 207. McClellan, 130, 113, 227, 255. McCulloch, Hon., Hugh, 179, 185. McKaye, Colonel, 208. McVeagh, 242. Memory, 52. Miller, Hon. S. F., 174. Mills, Judge J. T., ( Wis.,) 305. Mix, Captain, 261. Moody, Colonel, 102. Morgan, John, 259. Morgan, Senator, 74. Murtagh, Mr., (Washington,) 321. N. Nasby papers, 151. Newspapers, 154. Nicolay, 149. Norfolk, (capture,) 104, 240. Novels, 115. O. Odell, Hon. M. F., 170, 178. Oh why should the spirit of mortal be proud? (Po