Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/70

the opening of the Mississippi river. Gen. Scott had intended unbarring it by a flotilla and an army descending it in force ; but Halleck was satisfied that this plan would only scotch the serpent of secession. He held that the Confederacy must be rent in twain by an armed wedge driven in be- tween this great stream and the mountains on the east. On 27 Jan., 1862, the president had ordered a general advance of all the land and naval forces of the United States to be made simultaneously against the insurgents on the 22d of the coming onth. In anticipation of his part of the grand vement, early in February Halleck sent his chief taflt to Cairo to direct in his name, when neces- a Eftpp erations auxiliary to the armies about ke<Mkfield on the Mississippi, Tennessee, and befraiaji rivers,- which their respective com- fhders doon set in motion. The Confederate first e of defence was screened behind Kentucky's ^quasi neutrality, with its flanks strongly protected by the fortifications of Columbus and Bowling Green ; but its centre was only feebly secured by Forts Henry and Donelson. The second line of de- fence followed the railroad from Memphis on the Mississippi to Chattanooga — a most important posi- tion in the mountains, threatening both South Carolina and Virginia by its railroad connections with Charleston and Richmond. Still a third line, with almost continuous communication by rail, extended from Vicksburg through Meridian, Selma, and Montgomery to Atlanta, with railroad branches reaching to the principal ports on the Gulf and the South Atlantic. In a little more than three months of Halleck's sway in the west, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, aided by Com. Andrew H. Foote's gun- boats, captured Forts Henry and Donelson ; the strategically turned flanks of the enemy's line, protected by the powerful works of Bowling Green and Columbus, were deserted ; and Nashville, the objective of the campaign, was in the possession of the National forces. In the mean time Gen. Samuel R. Curtis had been sent to drive the Confederates out of Missouri, and early in March gained the decisive battle of Pea Ridge, in Arkansas, the ene- my flying before him to the protection of White river ; and Gen. John Pope, despatched to New Madrid, after taking that place, confronted the fugitives from Columbus at Island No. 10, which, by the happy device of Hamilton's cut-off canal, was taken in reverse, and this strong barrier of the Mississippi removed by the joint action of the army and navy. By these operations the Confed- erate first line, from Kansas to the Alleghany mountains, being swept away, and the strongholds captured or evacuated, the National forces moved triumphantly southward, pressing back the insur- gents to their second line of defence, which ex- tended from Memphis to Chattanooga. On 11 March, 1862, to give greater unity to military operations in the west, the departments of Kansas and Ohio were merged into Halleck's command, the whole constituting the Department of the Mis- sissippi, which included the vast territory between the Alleghany and Rocky mountains. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, marching from Nashville, was direct- ed, on the withdrawal of the enemy from Murf rees- boro, to unite with Gen. Grant, proceeding to Pitts- burg Landing by the Tennessee, and their union secured the great victory of Shiloh. Then Halleck took the field, and, after reorganizing and recruit- ing his forces, moved on Corinth, where the enemy was strongly intrenched on the important strategic position at the junction of the railroads connecting the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi river with the Atlantic ocean. By striking a vigorous blow here on the enemy's left centre, Halleck proposed to repeat the strategy that had so admirably accom- plished its purpose against the Confederate first line ; but success was indispensable, and hence he made every step of his progress so secure that no disaster should entail the loss of what he had al- ready gained. With the National army much shat- tered by the rude shock of Shiloh, he cautiously advanced upon his objective point through a hos- tile, rough, marshy, and densely wooded region, where all the roads and bridges were destroyed, and rain fell in torrents. On 30 May he was in possession of Corinth's fifteen miles of heavy in- trenchments, strengthened by powerful batteries or redoubts at every assailable point, the whole being covered to the boggy stream in front by a dense abatis, through which no artillery or cavalry, nor even infantry skirmishers, could have passed under fire. When Halleck communicated this success to the war department, the secretary replied : " Your "glorious despatch has just been received, and I have sent it into every state. The whole land will soon ring with applause at the achievement of your gal- lant army and its able and victorious commander." Immediately Gen. Pope was sent in hot pursuit of the retreating enemy ; soon afterward Gen. Buell was despatched toward Chattanooga to restore the railroad connections ; Gen. Sherman was put in march for Memphis, but the navy had captured the place when he reached Grand Junction ; with- out delay, batteries were constructed on the south- ern approaches of the place to guard against a sudden return of the enemy ; and, with prodigious energy, the destroyed railroad to Columbus was re- built to maintain communications with the Missis- sippi and Ohio, in jeopardy by the sudden fall of the Tennessee, by which supplies had been received. It was now more than six months since Halleck assumed command at St. Louis, and from within the limits of his department the enemy had been driven from Missouri, the northern half of Arkan- sas, Kentucky, and most of Tennessee, while strong lodgments were made in Mississippi and Alabama. Sec. Stanton, always chary of praise, had said that Halleck's " energy and ability received the strongest commendations of the war department," and added, "You have my perfect confidence, and you may rely upon my utmost support in your undertakings." Such, in fact, was the very high appreciation of Halleck's merits by both the president and the secretary of war that during the general's occupation of Corinth, while he was organizing for new movements against the enemy's third line of defence, two assistant secretaries of war and a senator were sent there to urge upon Halleck the acceptance of the post of general-in-chief; but he declined the honor, and did not go to Washington till positive orders compelled him to do so. Reluctantly leaving Corinth, to which he hoped to return and enter upon the great work of opening the Mississippi and crushing the Confederacy in the southwest, Halleck reached Washington, 23 July, 1862, and at once assumed command as general-in-chief of all the armies of the United States. The first problem presented was, how safely to unite the two eastern armies in the field so as to cover the capital and make common head against the enemy, then interposed between them and ready to be thrown at will on either, and able generals held different opinions as to the best measures to be adopted to accomplish the desired end. The general-in-chief entered upon the duties of his high office with heart and soul devoted to the preservation of the Union. Often compelled to assume responsibilities that belonged to others,