CH. V] LINCOLN AND CHASE 191 Seward shall be requested to withdraw his resignation." "Yes," from Lincoln. "I feel bound to say," then replied the Senator, "that as Mr. Seward has seen fit to resign, I should advise that his resignation be accepted." It was 1 A.M. when the senators left the White House.1 . On this Saturday morning, December 20, the President sent for Chase, telling him on his arrival, "This matter is giving me great trouble." Chase replied that "painfully affected by the meeting last evening. . . he had prepared his resignation of the office of Secretary of the Treasury. 'Where is it?' said the President quickly, his eye lighting up in a moment. 'I brought it with me,' said Chase, taking the paper from his pocket. 'I wrote it this morning.' 'Let me have it,' said the President, reaching his long arm and fingers toward Chase, who held on seemingly reluctant to part with the letter which was sealed and which he apparently hesitated to surrender. . . . The President was eager took and hastily opened the letter. This,' said he with a triumphal laugh, 'cuts the Gordian knot. . . I can dispose of the subject now without difficulty; I see my way clear."" 2 Then Stanton, who was in the President's office with Chase, offered his resignation. "You may go to your Department," Lincoln replied, "I don't want yours. This," holding out Chase's letter, "is all I want; this relieves me; my way is clear; the trouble is ended; I will detain neither of you longer. "3 Soon after Chase, Stanton and Welles (who was also present at the interview) had left, Lincoln, still holding Chase's letter in his hand said to Senator Harris who had called, "Now, I can ride; I have got a pumpkin in each end of my bag.' " 4 Lincoln's elation at having in his hands the resignation 1 Fessenden, I, 247. 2 Welles's Diary, I, 201. 3 Ibid., I, 202. 4 N. & H., VI, 271. 184 BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG [1862 into account the great ability of the commander whom they opposed. By the last week of November, Burnside, with his army 113,000 strong, was on the north bank of the Rappahannock river opposite Fredericksburg where Lee had 72,000. Burnside proposed to cross the river and strike at the enemy in his chosen, strong position. No movement could have given Lee greater satisfaction. The night before the battle, Burnside was bewildered as he found himself committed to a greater undertaking than he had the ability and the nerve to carry through. Contrary to his habit of mind, he became headstrong, irritable, and rash; in a muddled sort of way, he thought out the semblance of a plan and gave a confused order for an attack by his left which, in the manner of its execution was certain to fail. His right with even greater madness he sent forward to a useless butchery. These regiments retiring slowly and in good order, many of the soldiers "singing and hurrahing," ended the battle. The Confederate loss was 5309, the Union 12,653. Next day Burnside was wild with grief. "Oh, those men! those men over there!" he wailed, pointing across the river where lay the dead and wounded. "I am thinking of them all the time." In his frenzy he conceived a desperate plan. He thought of putting himself at the head of his old corps, the Ninth, and leading them in person in an assault on the Confederates behind the stone wall, from which they had done such deadly execution on the soldiers of his right. Generals Sumner, Franklin and a number of corps and division commanders dissuaded him from this undertaking, and, on the night of December 15, during a violent storm of rain and wind, he successfully withdrew his army to the north side of the river. Burnside's loss in killed, wounded and missing was CH. V] GLOOM AND DESPONDENCY 185 heavy but, with regard to the army's fighting power, this was a small matter in comparison with the loss in morale. Officers and soldiers, feeling that they had been put to a useless sacrifice, lost confidence in their commander. At a review of the Second Corps, Couch1 and the division commanders called upon the men to give a cheer for their general; they rode along the lines waving their caps or swords but failed to elicit a single encouraging response. Some soldiers even gave vent to derisive cries. Indeed the demoralization of the army was complete. Officers resigned and great numbers of men deserted.2 The President was exceedingly perturbed and depressed at the repulse before Fredericksburg, the responsibility for which he must share with his general since he had placed him in command. Nearly three months earlier, he had confessed to his Cabinet that he was losing his hold on the Northern people, which he knew, as we all now know, was the prime requisite of success. Since then he had suffered defeat at the ballot-box and in the field; and the defeat of his army was aggravated in the popular estimation by his mistaken change of generals. Had McClellan appeared to take command once more, those soldiers who had received Burnside so coldly would have rent the air with joyful shouts. When the full story of Fredericksburg became known, grief wrung the hearts of the Northern people at the useless sacrifice of so many noble lives. Gloom and despondency ensued, taking the religious tinge so common during our Civil War. An Ohio congressman spoke for many people in his diary, "It would almost seem that God works for the rebels and keeps alive their cause.' Some time earlier, 1 Now commander of the Second Corps. 2 Contrariwise. General Meade, I, 348. 3 Forbes, I, 343. |