USA > Massachusetts > History of Massachusetts in the Civil War > Part 26
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE REBELLION.
own opinion, however, he asks the General to forward a roster of company officers for the regiment he wishes to raise, and " he would authorize a new regiment to begin in a week from Monday next, under Captain Henry L. Abbott (of Massachu- setts), of the United States Topographical Engineers, for colo- nel ; and Charles Everett, late colonel of District of Colum- bia Volunteers, formerly serving in Mexico, or Major Francis Brinley, for lieutenant-colonel ; the major to be seasonably se- lected."
The Governor disclaims any knowledge of recruiting officers offering private bounties, and asks that the names of such per- sons may be sent to him, "that the more speedy and vigilant measures for suppression and rebuke may be instituted." In the matter of recruiting and organizing regiments, the Governor says, " We have pursued a system, carefully, watchfully, faith- fully, and zealously, in which, by the intelligent aid and loyal co-operation of all officers, of the State and of the Union, who have had any connection with such matters here, we have found reason to trust. In fact, almost any system is better than none." After stating that Massachusetts had already forwarded sixteen regiments of infantry, and other troops, to the front, he continues, -
" We are, at this very moment, doing half as much more, and doing it with the utmost of our ability ; and we have thus far escaped the confusion and uncertainty of movement which have embarrassed some other States, and from which, with much effort, their Governors have only just now escaped. Now, with the utmost respect for the Depart- ment of War, and for yourself personally, and with the most loyal sen- timents of obedience, I mean to continue to do just what I have, from the first, persistently done : and that is, to hold, with an iron hand and unswerving purpose, all the powers which, by the laws, pertain to me officially, in my own grasp, - yielding the most implicit obedience, in all things, to those having the right to direct me, but, at the same time, remembering that true subordination requires every officer to per- form his own duties and fulfil his own functions himself, as well as to submit himself loyally to his superiors."
He then refers to the laws of Congress and the orders of the department, which give to the Governors of States the exclu-
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CONTROVERSY WITH GENERAL BUTLER.
sive control of raising regiments in their own States : "Nor is it permitted by law, even to the President himself, even were he so disposed, to interfere in the premises." He also informns the General, that he has the assurance of the Secretary of War, " that he had issued no orders, and would issue none, tending to interfere with the State authorities."
He concludes this able letter by saying, -
" I shall do exactly by you as I have done by General Sherman and General Burnside, - that is to say, I shall use every exertion to furnish troops for the service you propose, in our full proportion ; but it must be done by pursuing such methods and plans as we have found neces- sary for the general advantage of the service. Nor can I permit, so far as it lies with me, to decide any officers of the United States to raise troops as Massachusetts volunteers within this Commonwealth, except for the recruitment of existing regiments, or subject to the conditions indicated ; while any advice or friendly assistance will be gratefully re- ceived from any quarter, much more from a gentleman of your capacity to advise, and your hearty zeal in the cause we are both anxious to serve."
The Governor had telegraphed, on the morning of the 5th, to the Secretary of War, to know if he "would pay our soldiers, as fast as mustered in, half a month's pay, detailing paymasters therefor. Do not authorize this for any, unless for all. What is General Butler's power and position here?" To which he received, as an answer, " We cannot pay in advance. General Butler has authority to concentrate a brigade for special service, all of which is to be organized under the several Governors of the Eastern States. We gave General Butler authority with re- gard to advance pay." The Governor also wrote a letter to Mr. Cameron in regard to matters. It would appear, that, some time on the seventh of the month, General Butler requested a personal interview with the Governor, and called at the State House ; but, the Governor being engaged in the Council Cham- ber, the interview did not take place.
It does not appear that the letter of the Governor of Oct. 5 changed in the least degree the determination of General But- ler to enlist men. He opened a camp in Pittsfield, and another in Lowell, and commenced recruiting two regiments of infantry,
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE REBELLION.
- one designated the Western Bay-State Regiment, the other the Eastern Bay-State Regiment ; also, a battery of light artil- lery, and three companies of cavalry.
The only reply made to the letter of the 5th is the following, which is given entire : -
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF NEW ENGLAND, BOSTON, Oct. 12, 1861.
Will " His Excellency Governor Andrew " assign to General But- ler the recruitment of a regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, and a squadron of mounted men, to be armed and equipped by him, under the authority of the President ; the officers to be selected by General Butler, but commissioned by " His Excellency," with, of course, a veto power upon what may be deemed an improper selection. As these officers are to go with General Butler upon duty, would " His Excel- lency " think it improper he should exercise the power of recommenda- tion ?
To the telegram of the President, asking consent that the authoriza- tion should be given to General Butler to raise troops, " His Excel- lency " telegraphed, in reply, that he would " aid " General Butler to the utmost.
General Butler knows no way in which " His Excellency " can aid him so effectually as in the manner proposed.
The selection by "His Excellency " in advance, without consulta- tion, of a colonel and lieutenant-colonel of an unformed regiment, not a soldier of which has been recruited by the State, and both these gen- tlemen, to whom the General, at present, knows no personal objection, being absent from the State on other duty, seems to him very objec- tionable.
It is not certain that Lieutenant Abbott, of the Topographical En- gineers, will be permitted to leave his corps. Colonel Everett has not lived in the State for many years, and has not such interest identified with the State, or the men of Massachusetts whom he would com- mand, as to render his appointment desirable.
General Butler has had and can have the aid of neither in his regi- ments ; and he believes that those who do the work, other things being equal, should have the offices General Butler would have been happy to have conferred with " His Excellency " upon these and other points ; but " His Excellency " did not seem to desire it.
General Butler has proceeded upon this thesis in his recruitment, to say to all patriotic young men who seemed proper persons, and who have desired to enter the service as officers, If you have the confidence
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CONTROVERSY WITH GENERAL BUTLER.
of your neighbors, so that you can recruit a given number of men, then by giving evidence of your energy and capacity thus far, if you are found fit in other respects, on examination, I will recommend you for a commission to command the number of men you shall raise.
This is believed to be a course much better calculated to find officers than to hunt for them by the uncertain light of petitions and recom- mendations.
General Butler desires to make good his word to these young gen- tlemen. " His Excellency" will perceive the impossibility of at once furnishing a roster under such circumstances, as requested, for " His Excellency's " perusal.
" His Excellency's" attention is called to the fact that no reply has been received to General Butler's request, as to a squadron of mounted men.
General Butler is informed, by the returns of those who have recruited for him, that he has already a number of men equal to two regiments in such progress that they can be organized, being the most prompt recruitment ever done in this State, - these besides the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-eighth Regiments, assigned to him by gen- eral order.
General Butler trusts that " His Excellency " will not, without the utmost necessity for it, throw any obstacles in the way of his recruit- ment, as General Butler is most anxious to get his division organized, so as to start upon an expedition already planned, in the service of his country.
General Butler hopes that these views will meet " His Excellen- cy's " concurrence and co-operation.
Most respectfully " His Excellency's " obedient servant,
BENJAMIN F. BUTLER.
The Governor being absent from Boston, the receipt of the letter was acknowledged by Colonel Browne on the 14th, and was by him forwarded to the Governor.
It does not appear that the Governor took any immediate official notice of this letter.
We pass over much that was written, but which were but eddies in the tide of this correspondence, to bring it to a fair and intelligent close. We will only state the fact, that, on the 11th of November, we received a letter from Colonel Ritchie, lirecting the Adjutant-General to issue Order No. 570, which was, in substance, that General Butler, having sent
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an order to Colonel Stevenson, Twenty-fourth Regiment Massa- chusetts Volunteers, to deliver up to him certain soldiers mus- tered into said regiment, who had deserted from one of General Butler's regiments, that Colonel Stevenson was not to obey the order, as General Butler had no authority to enlist volunteers in Massachusetts, except for the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-eighth Regiments. Colonel Stevenson, at that time, had a part of his command at Fort Warren, on duty, although his headquar- ters were at Readville ; and he was ordered, that, "if he cannot protect and hold his men at Fort Warren, he shall remove them immediately to 'Camp Massasoit,' at Readville, and hold them until otherwise ordered."
The Governor had been written to by Mr. Sargent, the Mayor of Lowell, and many other city and town authorities, asking him whether the families of the men who had enlisted under General Butler were entitled to the "State aid," which com- munications were referred to the Attorney-General, Hon. Dwight Foster, who returned, as an opinion, that all volunteers who are inhabitants of this State, and enlist here under the authority of the Governor, and the officers of the regiments are commissioned by him, their families are entitled to the aid ; and, if General Butler's brigade is to be so raised and commissioned, then the families of the men enlisted should receive it. He con- cludes by saying, -
" I suppose this will be the case, and the men enlisted by him will be entitled to the usual aid ; and I only state my opinion in this guarded form, because of the possible and highly improbable contingency of vol- unteers being enlisted in full regiments in Massachusetts, without the sanction of its Executive, the officers of which he might decline to com- mission or recognize."
This opinion was, in effect, against allowing the State aid to the families of the men who had been enlisted by General But- ler. The " highly improbable contingency " already existed. State aid was not paid by the cities and towns to the families of enlisted men, until the authorities of the places to which the men belonged had received a certificate, signed by the Adjutant-General of the State, that the men were mustered in, and the muster-rolls had been deposited in his office. No
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CONTROVERSY WITH GENERAL BUTLER.
muster-rolls had been received by the Adjutant-General from the corps said to have been recruited by General Butler. No assurance had been received from Washington, that the men had been mustered in, and credited to the contingent of the State.
On the 27th of November, Major Strong, chief of staff to General Butler, forwarded to the Adjutant-General of the State a list of officers which had been adopted by General Butler for " a company known as the Salem Light Artillery," with a request that they be commissioned by the Governor.
On the 17th of December, General Butler wrote to the Governor, calling his attention to the letter of Major Strong, with a request that he might be favored " with a reply whether he will or will not commission the officers therein named." General Butler also claimed, that the company "was raised under the authority of the State, and with His Excellency's approval."
By direction of the Governor, Colonel Browne replied on the same day to this communication, that it was the intention of the Governor " at a proper time to appoint and commission suit- able officers for the battery ; but that he was not advised of their intended removal from the Commonwealth, nor was any request made for such appointments, either from the company or from the acting officers, or from any source, until eight days after the whole company had been removed from Massachusetts, when the Governor was requested by Major Strong to com- mission certain persons, on the ground that they had been elected by the company, as it was said. But the company was gone. None of its rolls having been deposited in the office of the Adjutant-General, there was no means of identifying its men."
The letter further states, that the responsibility of appointing suitable officers rests with the Governor, and that, as regards one of the persons recommended, "the information received by the Governor is, that his character is such as to render him unfit for appointment."
The Governor further stated, that he was desirous of com- missioning officers for the battery, "and would be glad to
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE REBELLION.
receive the testimonials of any on which their claims are founded."
On the 18th (next day), this letter was returned to Colonel Browne by Major Strong, with the following note : -
" SIR, - Major-General Butler, commanding the Department of New England, directs that the enclosed communication be respectfully returned to His Excellency Governor Andrew, as being of improper address and signature."
The same day, the Governor wrote to Major Strong, express- ing his surprise, and that, knowing the contents of the letter which is returned, he found himself unable to instruct Colonel Browne how to amend it, " since the particulars of the offence were not stated, and were not discernible to me, nor, as I am assured, by him." He therefore asks " the favor of a precise statement of the offence committed." To which Major Strong replied on the 19th. After referring to army regulations, para- graph 449, he said, -
"The letter to which that was a reply was addressed to your Excellency, and therefore signed by General Butler himself, as claim- ing to be your Excellency's co-ordinate. Lieutenant-Colonel Browne's letter was addressed, not to the chief of staff at these headquarters, but directly to the Major-General commanding the department, and even then not in his official capacity."
On Dec. 20, a reply was made in a letter signed by Colonel Browne, from which we make the following extracts : -
" With the single exception of the President of the United States, no officer or person, whether State or national, civil or military, whether temporarily sojourning or permanently residing within the limits of Massachusetts, can be recognized within such limits as the 'co-ordinate' of the Governor of the Commonwealth in official dignity or rank."
He then expresses surprise that a gentleman of General Butler's acumen and professional training "should quote the regulations of the army of the United States, as dictating cere- monies of official intercourse to a magistrate who is no part of that army, and not subject to its regulations." His attention is also called to the order of the War Department of Sept. 16, by
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CONTROVERSY WITHI GENERAL BUTLER.
which Major-General Butler is placed under the orders of the Governor of Massachusetts, in respect to raising and organizing volunteers.
" In the present condition of national affairs, the Governor considers it impolitic and unpatriotic to embarrass the public service by undue nicety of etiquette; and he regrets that Major-General Butler's views of duty in this particular should not have corresponded with his own, so as to render the present correspondence unnecessary."
After disclaiming all intentional discourtesy, the letter thus refers to the letter quoted entire on a preceding page : -
" General Butler's letter of Oct. 12, written to Governor Andrew, but not addressed to him, except in so far as he is mentioned in the third person, after the fashion of dinner invitations, and the like, on private and social occasions, and not signed by the Major-General with any addition of rank or command, and frequently re-iterating the Governor's constitutional title and name, with significant and con- spicuous marks of quotation surrounding them whenever repeated.
" It is customary to affix marks of quotation in manuscript to indi- cate passages or expressions borrowed from some other to whom they ought to be credited. But I am not aware, that a name given in baptism, or inherited from a parent, or a title conferred by the Constitu- tion on a magistrate as his official description, are in any sense original ideas, or expressions which it is usual to designate by marks of quota- tion. Nor is this a matter in which a gentleman of Major-General Butler's learning and urbanity could have erred by mistake. .. . When a gentleman has violated the substance of courtesy, as did General Butler in that letter of Oct. 12, by a studious, indirect, insinuating, but not less significant, intentional act of impoliteness towards a magistrate whose only offence was fidelity to his duty, to the laws, and to the rights of his official position, he cannot be permitted, without comment, to arraign another for a supposed breach of military inter- course, simply formal, technical, and arbitrary, as he has assumed to arraign me in this matter through yourself."
This letter would have been addressed directly to General Butler, had the Governor not been advised that he was at Washington. He soon after returned, and, on the 28th of December, wrote to the Governor a letter in which he says, -
"I disclaim most emphatically any intentional or even accidental discourtesy to the Governor of Massachusetts.
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE REBELLION.
" In the matter of the address in quotation, I but copied the address assumed by one of the numerous military secretaries who write me on behalf of the Governor, and it was because of the formality of that address. 'His Excellency Governor Andrew' is neither a baptismal, inherited, or constitutional title; and, after using it once in the letter alluded to, I carefully used the title of the Constitution, and marked it in quotation to call attention to the difference."
It appears by this, that General Butler " carefully used the title of the Constitution, and marked it in quotation to call attention to the difference."
Mr. Parton, in his " Life of General Butler," says, -
"The person who made the copy sent to the Governor, with per- verse uniformity, placed inverted commas before and after those words (His Excellency), as if to intimate that the author of the letter used them reluctantly, and only in obedience to a custom. It looked like an intentional and elaborate affront, and served to embitter the contro- versy. When, at length, the General was made acquainted with the insertion, he was not in a humor to give a complete explanation ; nor, indeed, is it a custom with him to get out of a scrape by casting blame upon a subordinate."
This information, Mr. Parton says, he received "from a con- fidential member of General Butler's staff, the late General Strong," who was killed at Fort Wagner.
This letter appears to have closed the controversy regarding the letter of Oct. 12; but it introduced a new element of con- troversy. Respecting commissioning the officers of Battery No. 4, General Butler alludes to the objections which the Gov- ernor had interposed in regard to one of the persons recom- mended, and says, -
" If any base charge can be substantiated against either of them, I shall be happy to substitute others. I believe, however, that neither of them have ever done any thing worse than seducing a mother, and making a father wifeless, and children motherless ; and that, you know, is no objection to a high military commission in Massachu- setts."
On the 30th, the Governor addressed a note to General But- ler, in which he quotes the words in the above extract, and requests to know what officer it is to whom he refers : -
2
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CONTROVERSY WITH GENERAL BUTLER.
" Moreover, may I ask whose mother is alluded to, and whose wife ? and does the implied allegation mean that the crime of murder was added to that of seduction, although the words 'you know' assume the existence of greater knowledge than I possess ? And, indeed, since the day I had the honor to detail yourself as a brigadier-general of the militia, at the beginning of the present war, to this day, and both inclusive, I cannot accuse myself of such an appointment. If I have done so, I beg you to expose it."
On the 1st of January, 1862, General Butler answered, -
"I referred, in my communication of the 28th ult., to the case of Wyman, appointed by your Excellency colonel of the Sixteenth Mas- sachusetts Regiment. Unless the testimony of brother officers serving with Wyman is to be disbelieved, facts notorious are to be denied which have never been denied before.
" Colonel Wyman, while an officer of the United States army, held long adulterous intercourse with a Mrs. Brannan, the wife of a brother officer. This woman afterwards left her home under such circum- stances as to induce the belief that she was either murdered by herself or another.
" This Wyman obtained leave of absence from the army, and joined his paramour in Europe ; while there, he resigned his commission, because of a letter from the Adjutant-General of the army that he would be court-martialled if he did not, and remained abroad until after the breaking-out of the war, when he left her embraces, and re- turned to the army of the Commonwealth under your Excellency's appointment.
" This woman was the mother of children; and, if I should amend the language of my communication of the 28th ult., I should add, ' making a father worse than wifeless, and children worse than motherless.'
" I used the phrase 'you know,' because I have been informed, and I have reason to believe and do believe, that the substance of these facts was known to your Excellency at the time you made the appointment. Will your Excellency deny that you were then put upon inquiry as to them ?
" I cannot expose this matter, because it has long since been made a matter of exposition in the public prints. I have no farther knowledge of Colonel Wyman, save that which may be learned by inquiry of any officer of the army who served with him. I have no disposition to injure or interfere with him, and have made this communication only in reply to your Excellency's statement."
I
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As this was a grave, personal matter, touching the character of a brave and patriotic officer of Massachusetts, then at the front with his regiment, and who fell at the head of it, a few months afterwards, bravely fighting, we have thought it proper to copy this correspondence entire. The dead officer lies in Mount Auburn Cemetery. His services and his memory de- serve that the defence of Governor Andrew, like the charge of General Butler, should be given without abridgment. Under date of Jan. 6, 1862, Governor Andrew writes to General Butler, -
"SIR, - At the first hour at my disposal for the purpose, I ac- knowledge the receipt of your letter of Jan. 1, in which you state that Colonel Powell T. Wyman, commanding the Sixteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, now stationed at Fortress Monroe, is the person to whom you had reference, when, addressing me under date of Dec. 28, you asserted that I . know ' that ' seducing a mother, and making a father wifeless and children motherless,' 'is no objection to a high military commission in Massachusetts.'
" In answer to your somewhat peremptory interrogatories, ad- dressed to me in that letter of Jan. 1, I would state, for your informa- tion, that the first knowledge I ever had of Mr. Wyman was through a letter addressed by him to the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts, dated ' London, England, May 1, 1861,' stating that he was a citizen of Boston and a graduate of the West-Point Military Academy, and had served for ten years as an officer of artillery of the United States army, and tendering his services to the Executive of this Common- wealth in any military capacity. I am not aware that any acknowledg- ment was ever made of this communication.
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