Grant's Headquarters

Grant's headquarters at the Cherry Mansion in Savannah is actually a site I've been to quite a bit but its nice to see how the interpretation presented there has expanded over the years.  Its a private residence and I've never been there on the few occasions that its been opened for tours, maybe some day but not yet. 

There are quite a few signs there, ranging from the more recent Civil War Trails versions to the older NPS versions, and the even older Tennessee Historical Society signs.

Crump's Landing would be upriver (south) around that curve.  Today the town across the river from Savannah is called Crump's so those structures on the far bank are technically Crump's today but in 1862 Crump's Landing would be around that bend a bit.

The view from the Cherry Mansion into the town of Savannah.  It can't be made oout in the picture but near that gas station is a pair of cannons and cannon ball monument placed by the NPS to mark Grant's headquarters.  It would be placed there to be easily seen by tourists rather than route them through a neighborhood, especially since there wouldn't be a spot to place those cannons in the neighborhood.

Grant's Papers

The other day while doing research on John Marszalek for the upcoming Rocky Mountain Civil War Symposium I saw a link that the Papers of Ulysses S. Grant are now available online. Marszalek is the head of the Papers after the passing of John Simon a could years ago.

Having the papers online is a fantastic resource. It helped me solve two riddles almost immediately. One was that at Shiloh the first staff member to give Lew Wallace an order was A.S. Baxter. All sources only use his initials, its a small riddle but I wanted to use his full name in a project if possible, and I found it (Algernon). The second riddle was that I had a source that claimed Grant wrote a letter to Alfred Mathews, but I did not know when. The letter appeared in a footnote in the Papers which I would not have had the patience to search for manually but now that the Papers are digitized online it took only a few minutes to solve that riddle.

I'll use it a lot on future research projects. In the past the only copy I knew of locally was a half hour drive downtown. I hardly ever have the time anymore to get there so this is a really helpful resource for me.

To search the collection yourself click here

Principles of War: US Grant

Yesterday I covered Albert Sidney Johnston in the Shiloh campaign based on a modern list of principles of war. Today its Grant's turn.

Objective: Did he direct every military operation towards a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective? Yes. On the first day it was more about holding ground when possible so that other parts of the army were not opened up to attack. This worked well with the exception of the Hornets' Nest and there Prentiss had an earlier opportunity to leave, he just held on to late. On the second day the objective is clear, recapture what was lost, this was attainable and was decisive.

Offensive: Did he seize, retain, and exploit the initiative? His opportunity for this comes on the second day and he does a wonderful job of doing this. On the first day Sherman and McClernand lead a counter attack that seizes and exploits the initiative but they do not retain it. They also act on their own so we cannot credit Grant with this.

Mass: Did he concentrate combat power at the decisive place and time? This one is a little tough to answer. He does do a good job of parceling out his reserve units on the first day sending Hurlbut to the far left and WHL Wallace into the center. A few other regiments and brigades are separated from their parent unit and are sent out to other portions of the field. But what is the decisive point on the battlefield? Yesterday I said for the Confederates it was the Peach Orchard as that then led to the fall of the Hornets' Nest. But perhaps the decisive point on the battlefield is the final line at Pittsburg Landing. In that case Beauregard did a poor job (Johnston was dead by this time) in that he did not commit to the attack and canceled the attack that was naturally being made. And then Grant does a good job because the final line has all available men ready for the attack. On the second day Grant really doesn't concentrate his men for a decisive blow, he simply swamps the Confederates with too many men (many of them fresh from Lew Wallace and Don Carlos Buell) all along the line. Overall I guess I would say that Grant did a good job with this principle.

Economy of Force: Did he allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts? In a sense there was no secondary efforts. Grant faced Confederates everywhere on both days so he had his men spread out roughly evenly both days. Not sure what he could have done differently on this front.

Maneuver: Did he place the enemy in a position of disadvantage through the flexible application of combat power? Not sure what is meant by flexible application, Grant surely didn't shuffle men to overpower one particular point. On the first day he reinforced areas that needed it. On the second day his men were spread out everywhere, in about the same strength everywhere, there was just too many Union soldiers to be held back forever. I think I'll answer no for this one. After the battle he had an opportunity at Fallen Timbers to do more, especially if he had sent out more men than he did, so we should probably mark him down a bit for that as well.

Unity of Command: Did he ensure unity of effort under one responsible commander, for every objective? I think he did okay on this one and it was more by luck than be design. He did not assign a commander to an area he just ended up with relatively good commanders in each area. Sherman and McClernand did a good job on the right. WHL Wallace and Prentiss did not face as rough a task in the center as post battle writings would indicate but they did good with the task they faced. They stayed in the position longer than they needed to but they were following Grant's orders to the fullest ("hold at all hazards") I think Hurlbut did a good job on the left although he hardly seems to get any acclaim for it.

Security: Did he permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage? One of Grant's failings. The Confederates gained the unexpected advantage with the early morning attack. Grant and Sherman may later claim that they were prepared but the manner (slightly foreshadowing the next principle) definitely was a surprise.

Surprise: Did he strike the enemy at a time or place, or in a manner, for which he is unprepared? As I just mentioned Grant was on the receiving end on this one. The manner definitely surprised him and caught him unprepared. One could argue that the place was not so much a surprise as there was only a limited front the Confederates could attack, unless they went for Lew Wallace well north of the main camp. The place was unprepared as there were no entrenchments made prior to April 6th, some will be made that night. And the timing was a bit of a surprise. The evidence had been mounting that the Confederates were more active near the camps, so I think realistically Grant figured there would be some sort of fight in the coming week. But I think he imagined it as a fight between a few companies or regiments, not 100,000 men engaged for two full days. Grant's attack on the second day doe snot catch the Confederates unprepared, the only way he could have accomplished this is if he had made a flank attack, that would have meet the manner portion of the principle. But a flank attack would have been nearly impossible to make due to the creeks and swamps that defined the edges of the battlefield.

Simplicity: Did he prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear, concise orders to ensure thorough understanding? A bit of both. Certainly Lew Wallace did not receive clear orders or there would not have been any controversy over his march. Most everyone else did get clear orders but those orders were rather simple, hold on as best you can and retreat slowly. Prentiss was told to hold to the last when Grant might have meant hold until it really didn't need to be held any more, but Grant probably hoped his final line might not be right at the Landing. If Hurlbut, Sherman and McClernand had been able to create a final line that connected to the Hornets' Nest position than those earlier orders were perfect. But once everyone else had retreated Prentiss should have joined them, he waited too long and it cost the army about 2000 men captured. As army commander Grant deserves some blame for Prentiss staying too long; once it was clear Prentiss was alone Grant probably should have sent orders to join everyone at the Landing.

In all I think Grant did a good job on four of the principles with one that was a bit of both. Yesterday I rated Johnston as good on three with two mixed. I'm not sure any commander fought a battle and met all nine principles. It'll be fun to tackle some other battles in the future, I hope to make a series of this, maybe doing a battle every other week, or as the mood strikes.

Galena

In Galena, Illinois, is a house that Grant hardly ever lived in. But the town gave it to him as a gift at the end of the Civil War. He was there briefly before becoming President and would occasionally return. The house is now open to the public and is decorated as if Grant lived there which is kinda funny because he was hardly ever there. In any respect its a neat house to tour and the town of Galena is also quite a nice place to visit. I'd gladly return.

Here is the house. Unfortunately my pictures from inside didn't turn out well so I have none to share.

Out front is a monument to Grant's wife, Julia Dent Grant.

Nearby is a park, Grant Park, with a statue of Grant.


The park also has the Jo Davies County Civil War monument.

The photo is a little dark but you can see an indentation on the breech where an enemy artillery round struck the cannon.
The names of all Jo Davies County's soldiers is inscribed on the monument.

There are also other cannons around the park. Having Grant as a citizen of your town insured you'd get the best souvenirs. This cannon fired the first rifled cannon fired in combat on the American continent. It was among the guns that fired on Fort Sumter to start the war.

I included the picture of the plaque so you could read for yourself this astonishing fact.

This cannon was on the Spanish steamer Vizcaya during the Battle of Santiago Bay, 3 July 1898. The Spanish fleet was destroyed at the battle, the Vizcaya was blown up and this cannon was later sent to Galena as its prize.

For its World War 1 prize the citizens of Galena asked for an airship or submarine. Apparently being Grant's old town had lost some pull as they received this 1913 Krupp Howitzer. Still a fine piece but not quite the same as a submarine.

This is the main street of Galena. Now its mostly a shopping area. There was a pretty neat old book store but the prices were out of my range.

The teddy bear shop behind the red van was the location of the leather goods store that Grant worked in on the eve of the Civil War. He had failed at everything else he had tried and had come home to work in the family tannery, a job he hated. You can see the plaque for this historic spot on the wall just to the left of the street lamp.

There are many such plaques along this main street. Quite a few have to do with Grant or other Civil War era personalities.

I also went through the county museum which sits on the steep hill above the main street. It was neat, but once again no pictures turned out well enough to share here. The Civil War section is pretty extensive due to the Grant connection.

Grant's political sponsor, Elihu B. Washburne's house is also preserved. I believe the brochure said there were only tours during the summer months.

Cairo, Illinois

Cairo is an interesting place. It is pretty small but its role in the Civil War was quite large as it served as a staging area for riverine operations in the West. Early in the war it served as Grant's headquarters and his desk is still there. Even Grant's desk shows that he was always ready for movement as there are little plastic wheels on the bottom (yes I know those are modern additions but its a tiny joke).

I went to Cairo though on a Shiloh hunt. I had read in a book that the Tigress's flagpole was in Cairo. This was the ship that Grant used to get from his headquarters at the Cherry Mansion to Pittsburg Landing for the big battle on April 6th. My book said it was downtown somewhere, I think near city hall. So I went there but instead found this cannon.



I was discouraged but kept driving around. After no luck I finally stopped in at the Chamber of Commerce. Where I learned that the locals do not pronounce the C in Cairo. I knew it wasn't pronounced like the city in Egypt but I was surprised that it sounds more like a-row. In any respect the lady there called the librarian to ask, which led them to a museum and that's where they suggested I go. Which brings up a wonderful tip. You can buy all the guidebooks in the world, do tons of preliminary research but if you ignore talking to the locals you can miss some gems. I went back to the museum and there I found the flagpole, which to me was a true gem. The flag is obviously a modern made version but the flagpole, and original wooden historical marker, are fantastic. I had the museum to myself that day and wonder how many people have ever seen this treasure. I'd wager that more people will see it here today than will see it in person today.

The desk and the flagpole are in the Cairo Custom House Museum.