An hour later Logan ordered the driver to stop. The men walked to the top of the nearest bluff and peered out across the Wabash. Lee studied the river with his spyglass while slapping at swarms of mosquitoes buzzing around in the late afternoon dampness. “I don’t see any activity on their side of the river.”
“They patrol it with cavalry, but not too often,” answered Logan. “As far as we know, there aren’t any infantry permanently stationed on the river between Terre Haute and Williamsport.”
“It’s an inter-army boundary,” said Stoneballs. “Grant’s line runs from Williamsport west. McDowell’s line runs from Terre Haute east. Neither one of them is concerned with this stretch of the Wabash.” Stoneballs turned to Logan. “I presume the river is fordable here?”
“Oh, yes,” answered Logan. “Look at the cow paths down there.” Sure enough, a couple of cow paths stopped at the river’s near edge and emerged on the far side as if the river wasn’t there. “The only time the river is difficult is during the spring floods. There are also summer cloudbursts, but those usually don’t keep the river high for more than a day.”
Lee put down his spyglass and looked at Logan. “You might as well know our plan of attack. I will pin Grant’s front across Illinois with demonstrations. Harney will pin McDowell’s line across Indiana. The rest of you will break through here. We’ll divide our forces into three wings. The south wing will be commanded by John Pemberton. It will encircle and cut off the Rebel garrison at Terre Haute. Kirby Smith’s division will attack west toward Indianapolis, taking McDowell’s line from the rear.
“Stoneballs’ wing will move north and re-cross the Wabash at Williamsport, Indiana, then circle back behind Grant’s lines. Your division will be the vanguard of the advance. They’re Illinois men who know the territory. Stoneballs will scout ahead of you with cavalry. Lend him a few of your men to show him the best routes to advance. The divisions of Hardee, Cleburne, McCulloch, and Van Dorn will follow you.
“Keep your division moving westward non-stop until they have effected a close envelopment of Grant’s line all the way to the Illinois River,” continued Lee to Logan. “It’s a very long frontage for five divisions to cover, but Grant must cover the same frontage with his five divisions. He has stationed them in front of the railroad towns of Jacksonville, Springfield, Decatur, Urbana, and Danville. That will allow us to concentrate each one of our five divisions behind one of his. The attack from the rear will disrupt and confuse his divisions. When it does our divisions pinning him in front will make their attacks.”
Lee’s face became stern. “We must destroy this army of Grant’s before it becomes a battle-hardened army of veterans. If we give them time to organize their armies and gain confidence in combat, then we will not be able to advance beyond our current lines. If we are not able to reclaim the principle population and production centers of the Insurgent States, then they will have time to mobilize their people and their resources against us. If they have time to mobilize fully against us we will be lucky to hold the line of the Ohio. And if we can’t hold the Ohio, how can we hold any point southward to the Gulf of Mexico?”
Lee picked up his spyglass again and looked again to the ridgeline on the other bank.
Yes, we must destroy Grant’s army. We cannot merely defeat it and allow him the opportunity to retreat to Chicago where he will be reinforced to fight us again. We must wipe his army off the face of the earth! Only then will we have peace on this continent unto the last generation.
6
Cleveland Ohio, August 21, 1861
President Lincoln relaxed in the parlor of the Hargreaves Mansion, enjoying the comfort of “home.” The new national Free State government had not yet allocated funds for furnishing the President a proper executive office, but he didn’t mind that at all. The parlor sufficed for working the way that he liked, which was to meet with his Cabinet in a comfortable informal setting.
The smells of Mrs. Lincoln cooking dinner enhanced his sense of being at home. The government had not provided funds to hire a cook and wait staff, but that did not upset the Lincolns either. Although Mrs. Lincoln often made her husband miserable by her foul-tempered barbs, she insisted that only she knew how to cook his meals the way he liked. Mr. Lincoln smiled.
Am I a lucky man for having a wife so fully devoted to me, but who also annoys me to the limits of my self control?
Mr. Lincoln laughed again, this time out loud, as he thought about the stories he had heard about how Mr. and Mrs. Fremont had fared in this house before him. He could imagine Mrs. Jesse Benton Fremont fainting at being asked to cook and wash dishes. So Mr. Fremont had brought in his own chefs and wait staff as part of his entourage of dozens, including European nobility. He had heard that Fremont had presented Congress with an invoice seeking reimbursement of fifty thousand dollars for the funds he had promised to pay those people. The cash-strapped Congress had cashiered him the very next day.
Fremont had taken his dismissal with admirable grace. Instead of cursing the Free State government and storming off to his California ranch, he had taken his men to Pennsylvania and led the reconnaissance into Confederate-held territory that resulted in the great victory at Gettysburg.
Lincoln shook his head. How complicated are men! Some of the most bothersome are also the most heroic. As President I must use people to the best of their ability in advancing the cause of our Independence. I must learn to look past their defects if their virtues will help us.
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. The pleasant breeze blowing in off Lake Erie through the open windows refreshed him. The soft sounds of late summer lulled him into contented rest. He was pleased that Cleveland was far removed from Washington City. He remembered its mix of grandeur and squalidness when he had been a Congressman back in ’46.
Douglas never took care of his health, but even so, the typhus epidemic in Washington City finished him before his time.
He had a premonition that perhaps his family’s lives might have ended there too if he been elected President of the old United States.
What if I had been elected President instead of Douglas? Then I would have gone to Washington City. Would typhus have killed me, Mary, or the children? And what if the Slave States had gone out of the Union instead of us? Washington City is a slave jurisdiction. Would Southern extremists have murdered me? Losing to Douglas was surely a blessing, though it did not seem so at the time.
Mr. Lincoln fell asleep musing on these thoughts until Mrs. Lincoln awakened him for dinner. The Lincolns were joined by their young sons Willie and Tad. Mr. Lincoln could thank the Free State Congress that Robert was not here. Congress had advanced him enough of his salary to restore his personal finances sufficiently to enroll Robert at Harvard. The new government’s finances were thin but so far no bank had refused to cash its checks.
After dinner he sat back down in the parlor and waited for the arrival of his Cabinet and members of the Congressional Executive Committee. Unlike Davis in the Confederate Union, Lincoln had not chosen to invite representatives into his War Cabinet. The Congressional Executive Committee, who had decided to boot Fremont and select Lincoln in his place, had invited itself to Lincoln’s cabinet meetings.
Their unhappy experience with Fremont has made them keen to keep a careful eye on me. That is only right since they are the body that selected me as President. I have not been elected by the people. The law of the United States of Free America is not even clear on how the next President will be selected. Will it be by popular vote, by the electoral votes of the Free States, or by the Parliamentary System whereby the Congress shall decide the executive? We are too busy now with war to have time to decide these matters.