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Thomas C. DeLeon, Four years in Rebel capitals: an inside view of life in the southern confederacy, from birth to death., Chapter 3: Congress and Cabinet. (search)
t this letter from Mr. ---- , I think you can find something for me. Can you get in here, sir? roared the secretary fiercely, taking off his hat and pointing into it — with a volley of sonorous oaths-That's the Department of State, sir! The Post-Office and Department of Justice were, as yet, about as useful as the State Department; but to the War Office, every eye was turned, and the popular verdict seemed to be that the choice there was not the right man in the right place. Mr. Leroy Pope Walker, to whom its administration was intrusted, was scarcely known beyond the borders of his own state; but those who did know him prophesied that he would early stagger under the heavy responsibility that would necessarily fall upon him in event of war. Many averred that he was only a man of straw to whom Mr. Davis had offered the portfolio, simply that he might exercise his own wellknown love for military affairs and be himself the de facto Secretary of War. The selection of Mr. Ma
Thomas C. DeLeon, Four years in Rebel capitals: an inside view of life in the southern confederacy, from birth to death., Chapter 13: the leaders and the led. (search)
of the topographical features of the state, peculiarly fitted him for this work; but every step was taken subject to the decision of Mr. Davis himself. The appointments of officers, the distribution of troops — in fact, the minutiae of the War Department--were managed by him in person. He seemed fully alive to the vital importance of making the groundwork of the military system solid and smooth. Real preparations had begun so late that only the strong hand could now avail; and though Mr. Walker still held the empty portfolio of the secretaryship, he, and the army, and the country knew who, in fact, did the work. But to do Mr. Davis justice, he did not make his fantoccini suffer if he pulled the wires the wrong way. He was not only President and secretary of five departments — which naturally caused some errors; but that spice of the dictator in him made him quite willing to shoulder the responsibilities of all the positions. Now, as in Montgomery, I wondered that the frail b
Thomas C. DeLeon, Four years in Rebel capitals: an inside view of life in the southern confederacy, from birth to death., Chapter 19: days of depression. (search)
offercame with stunning effect; opening wide the eyes of the whole country to the condition in which apathy, or mismanagement, had left it. As usual, too, in the popular estimate of a success, or a reverse, the public laid much stress on the death of Zollicoffer, who was a favorite both with them and the army. He was declared uselessly sacrificed, and his commanding general and the Government came in for an equal share of popular condemnation. Mr. Davis soon afterward relieved Secretary Walker from the duties of the War Office; putting Mr. Benjamin in his seat as temporary incumbent. The latter, as before stated, was known as a shrewd lawyer, of great quickness of perception, high cultivation, and some grasp of mind; but there was little belief among the people that he was fit to control a department demanding decision and independence, combined with intimate knowledge of military matters. Besides Mr. Benjamin personally had become exceedingly unpopular with the masses. Wh
Thomas C. DeLeon, Four years in Rebel capitals: an inside view of life in the southern confederacy, from birth to death., Chapter 28: across the Potomac and back. (search)
urg — a village ten miles north-east of Harper's Ferry. McClellan, pressing him hard with an army four times his own numbers-composed in part of raw levies and hastily-massed militia, and in part of the veterans of the armies of the Potomacseemed determined on battle. Trusting in the valor and reliability of his troops, and feeling the weakness of being pressed by an enemy he might chastise, the southern chief calmly awaited the attacksend-ing couriers to hasten the advance of A. P. Hill, Walker and McLaws, whose divisions had not yet come up. Ushered in by a heavy attack the evening before — which was heavily repulsed-the morning of the 17th saw one of the bloodiest and most desperate fights in all the horrid records of that war. Hurling his immense masses against the rapidly dwindling Confederate line; only to see them reel back shattered and broken-McClellan strove to crush his adversary by sheer strength. No sooner would one attacking column waver, break, retreat-leaving a
Thomas C. DeLeon, Four years in Rebel capitals: an inside view of life in the southern confederacy, from birth to death., Chapter 34: the beginning of the end. (search)
first out-generaled him and then laid himself open to destruction, while Bragg took no advantage of the situation. However this may be, we know that on the morning of the 19th September, 1863, the battle of Chickamauga was commenced by the enemy in a series of obstinate division engagements, rather than in a general battle; Bragg's object being to gain the Chattanooga road in the enemy's rear, and his to prevent it. The fighting was heavy, stubborn and fierce, and its brunt was borne by Walker, Hood and Cleburne. Night fell on an undecided field, where neither had advantage; and the enemy perhaps had suffered more heavily than we. All that night he worked hard to strengthen his position; and our attack — which was to have commenced just at dawn — was delayed from some misapprehension of orders. At length Breckinridge and Cleburne opened the fight,, and then it raged with desperate, bloody obstinacy, until late afternoon. At that time the Confederate right had been repulsed