CHAPTER XII

HEROES HOME FROM THE WAR

WASHINGTON, January 23, 1848.

MY DEAREST MARGARET,--At the strong desire of the colonel, I must remain here a few days longer. He wishes me to go with him over all the reports in order to get at all the facts in relation to the services of the engineer officers in the recent campaign of Mexico. I am able to afford many explanations of the reports, presenting in a stronger light the services of our officers, which will enable the colonel to present a strong case to the Secretary in matters of brevets.

The colonel and his family have been very cordial to me, and nothing could be more grateful than the high appreciation they have for the services of our officers. The colonel takes great pride in the distinction which our corps has acquired. Indeed, the services of the engineers have been so conspicuous that the corps has become popular. Every one knows that the engineers have important functions in the field.

I have paid my respects to the President and Secretary, and was highly gratified with my interview. The Secretary had a half hour's leisure, and I took the opportunity to express my sense of the great ability, wisdom, and patriotism of General Scott. The Secretary has the highest admiration for his military achievements, and is indeed a just and judicious friend to the service.

I am boarding at Mrs. Janney's with my old friends, Gilmer and Woodbury. Woodbury married Miss Childs, a very pleasant lady. Her mother is also boarding at the same place, a highly intelligent person, and the wife of Colonel Childs, distinguished for his defense of Puebla.

You may be sure I am very impatient to see you and my little ones. Nothing but a sense of duty to my brother officers, who are absent in the field, could have induced me to remain. I hope to reach Newport within the week, certainly by next Sunday morning.

Affectionate remembrances to friends, and love, much love, to my Hazard and Susan.

Yours most affectionately, ISAAC.

My health is splendid, my wound improving.

The enforced visit to Washington was not without pleasant features. He was received with the gratifying attentions due an officer just from the seat of war, who had distinguished himself for gallantry and conduct, and enjoyed the congenial duty of explaining the military operations to his chief, and aiding in securing for his absent comrades the honors and rewards they had so well earned. A letter of February 6 from his friend, Captain Foster, is of interest in this connection:--

"On arriving at Washington I went immediately to Mrs. Janney's. There I heard of you. They all spoke very highly of you, particularly Mr. Robbins, who was very much interested in you. I dined at Colonel Totten's on Wednesday, and Mrs. T. told me all about your being here. They all paid you some very fine compliments. Mrs. T. said she gained more information from Mr. Stevens than from _all_ the other officers who had come from Mexico, your manner of speaking of men and things was so frank and just. Miss Kate said she was _delighted_ with Mr. Stevens; he was correct and reliable in all he said. The colonel seemed glad to see me, and proud of the reputation of his corps. The result of all this, I hope, will be that he will give us two brevets, make you a major in charge of a work, and send me as your assistant.... It made me right jealous to hear the flatteries that the ladies at Mrs. Burr's bestowed on the 'gallant Mr. Stevens.'"

It was a joyful reunion when he reached Newport, and enfolded his dearly loved wife and little ones in his arms. A fortnight later he visited Andover, and one may imagine how his father, brother Oliver, and cousins and fellow townsmen received the soldier, returned on crutches, with open arms, and lionized him to the full. The country had been at peace for thirty years, and the returning soldiers from Mexico, especially the wounded officers, were received with mingled feelings of awe and admiration. Writes a brother officer, "The boys look at me around the corner, remarking, 'I see him.' 'There he goes.' 'The man that's been to Mexico.'"

NEWPORT, R.I., February 28, 1848.

MY DEAR FATHER,--We reached Newport about half past eight o'clock in the evening the same day we left Andover. I am now in my office, and am devoting some six hours each day to official matters. My wound is improving; I go about the house with a cane simply, and through the streets with one crutch and a cane. In one month, or at least in two months, I hope to be able to dismiss my crutches entirely.

I hope in all sincerity that our difficulties with Mexico are in the way of a permanent adjustment. The general opinion is that the Senate will ratify the treaty. The only difficulty (and one which in my opinion is much to be apprehended) is that Mexico, in consequence of a pronunciamiento, may disavow her own act. I trust, however, that such will not be the case, though I think it incumbent upon our government to continue to raise and push out troops till the thing is settled. Should there be want of faith on the part of the Mexicans, we should be in condition to punish it with most exemplary severity. Let our war measures be all pushed through without delay, and let there be the greatest activity in raising troops. This course of procedure, whilst ratifying the treaty, will make the treaty an effective thing.

Remember me to friends. Margaret wishes to be affectionately remembered to you. Hazard has not forgotten your stories of King George and the Redcoats.

At this time he was being considered for the colonelcy of one of the new regiments, which, if the war continued, would have to be raised. A prominent member of Congress from Maine, Hezekiah Williams, writes him, "I think our delegation would unite in recommending you. It certainly would give me pleasure to aid in obtaining your appointment." Mr. Stevens writes Oliver:--

"My policy is to get elected to the command of a volunteer regiment, and get a leave of absence, so as to hold on to my present commission. I should like to command a Massachusetts regiment and put it through some good service in Mexico, should we be obliged to resort to the alternative of renewing the contest."

An incident occurred one day, when a light rifle that Mr. Stevens had taken to Mexico, but had never used in action there, stood in good stead. A mad dog ran amuck down Broad Street, frothing at the mouth and snapping at all he met. The people on all sides rushed into the shops and houses for refuge, with loud outcries of alarm and warning. Mr. Stevens, apprised of the danger, seized the light rifle, hobbled out on his crutches to the sidewalk, followed up the maddened beast, which had now dashed into the hall of a neighboring house, and shot him through the head, killing him on the spot.

He might now reasonably expect a little rest until he could recover from his severe wound and injury. He writes Oliver, March 15:--

"I am taking things very quietly in this most quiet of all places. There is no danger from dissipation or over-excitement, and I need not, therefore, be apprehensive of anything like inflammation in my wounded part. My wound is doing exceedingly well. I can now move a little about the house with a cane."

That very day he received orders to proceed to Savannah, Ga., with the view of taking charge of the fortifications on the Savannah River. After his arrival there he writes Oliver, March 27:--

"I am here on temporary duty for a few days, and shall return home next week. This is to be my permanent station in the fall. The summer I shall spend in amusing myself. A portion of it will be passed in Andover.

"Savannah is an old-looking, handsomely laid out, and pretty well-built place, the most important town in the State, and the only one having much trade.

"Colonel Mansfield will relieve me in Bucksport during the latter part of April, at which time I shall bid adieu to my friends in Maine.

"I am tolerably well pleased with my new station. It is healthy throughout the year, and I have no doubt the change will prove highly advantageous so far as health is concerned.

"The duties are trifling. The large work, Fort Pulaski, is finished, and nothing remains to be done but to prepare a bridge-head of timber, and secure the island from overflow by the construction of dikes. The small work, Fort Jackson, will require an expenditure of something less than one hundred thousand dollars in the way of enlargement and repair.

"My duties will therefore be comparatively light. Nothing will be doing from June to October; so I shall be able to go North occasionally to pass the summer.

"The people are very hospitable, and I shall make many acquaintances before I leave. I have an old classmate just rising at the bar here, and many officers' families reside here."

His next letter to Oliver, from Newport, April 6, is interesting as presenting his view of Cromwell:--

"I am just back from Savannah after an absence of twenty days, and return thither to commence operations in November next. The intermediate time will enable me to get well of my game foot, and to pass some little time among my friends. I go down to Bucksport week after next to turn over the public property to Colonel Mansfield, and I shall probably be in Portland on Friday, April 21.

"I am rather late to answer the principal thing in your letter of the 25th ultimo. Both subjects are good. I should think that 'Individuality of Character' would be preferable, because its handling does not require so much reading as Cromwell. With ample leisure for investigation, I should prefer the latter. I do not know of a single unprejudiced authority. Foster's Statesmen of the Commonwealth and Clarendon's History are the best I have seen. Russell's Biography is poor and inaccurate. Hume is very superficial. Catherine Macaulay is a great bigot. Carlyle's Cromwell is good, because it consists principally of Cromwell's letters and speeches. Babington Macaulay's essays on the various statesmen of the rebellion are good.

"I like your idea of treating the subject of individuality. The greatest example of the influence of a strong, original character in moulding a great people in our own history is Franklin. It was the strong, original characters of our Revolution that achieved our independence. The many are always ruled by a few, frequently by one, the wise, the strong man, or men. I have found in this view many fine ideas in Carlyle's Heroes.

"As regards Cromwell: he and he alone achieved the overthrow of the Stuarts. Without him there would have been no glorious restoration, as Burke calls the expulsion of James. The French monarchy would have still been absolute, and the French people would have still been in chains. Cromwell was bold, direct, far-seeing, a great governor of men. Cromwell was vastly superior in the elements of a great man to Hampden, to Pym, to Strafford, to Vane. A bold sketch of Cromwell's actual part in the greatest drama of English history would be highly interesting. Dwell on his great foresight, grasp, directness, sincerity; his boisterous youth, his religious fervor in after years, his unswerving advocacy of the rights of his neighbors, which caused him to be called the Lord of the Fens; his unshrinking avowal of his opinions in his early parliamentary career; his extraordinary sagacity in organizing his Ironsides, the greatest soldiers of ancient or modern times; his self-denying ordinance, in which by a bold stroke he threw half-way, indecisive men from the army, and sent it forth to victory; his earnest efforts to settle matters with Charles after the forces of the latter were dispersed, and he a prisoner; his invincible opposition to all ecclesiastical tyranny, whether presbyterian or prelatical; his part in the execution of the king; his great Irish and Scotch campaigns, particularly the battle of Dunbar, where his famous rallying cry, as the sun shone through the morning clouds, 'Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered!' spread dismay through the ranks of his enemies, and brought a glorious victory to his arms."

Now he enjoyed a month of the rest he so much needed. With his wife and little ones he occupied rooms in the old family mansion, a welcome guest to Mrs. Benjamin Hazard and her daughters, who always regarded him with the greatest affection and admiration. As spring opened, he took great pleasure in making a famous garden in the spacious yard behind the mansion, having the ground manured and cultivated in the most thorough manner, and planting the greatest profusion of vegetables. His friend Mason was also in Newport, recovering from his wound, and many were the accounts and discussions had with him and Mr. Brooks and other congenial spirits of the stirring scenes of the war.

Major Stevens was fully convinced of the justice and necessity of the Mexican war. The repeated depredations by Mexico upon Americans, and her long-continued refusal or evasion of all redress; her publicly declared purpose of conquering the republic of Texas after its independence had been established and acknowledged for ten years; her arrogant demand that the United States should not admit Texas to the Union, and her still more arrogant threat that she would regard such admission as an act of war; the departure of her minister from Washington; and the breaking off of all friendly relations instantly upon the passage by Congress of the resolution admitting the Lone Star State,--left no alternative but to bring the inflated and treacherous pronunciamientos to terms by force of arms, since they were amenable neither to justice nor reason, and to "conquer a peace" which even they would have to respect. And, glorious as were her arms, not less creditable were the moderation and magnanimity of the Great Republic, when Mexico, her armies destroyed, her capital taken, lay prostrate, in paying a large indemnity for the far-distant and almost tenantless regions of New Mexico and California, which, while ready to fall from Mexico's feeble grasp, were essential to the expansion of the populous and fast-growing Republic of the North.

In the latter part of May he visited Boston and Andover with his little son.

The following month the Savannah orders were countermanded, the Engineer Department deeming it best that he should continue in charge of Fort Knox, and the other works in Maine and New Hampshire.

After a preliminary visit, he moved his family again to Bucksport, in June, and occupied a cottage at the fort opposite the town.

He gathered about him his former assistants, A.W. Tinkham and John Lee, and continued in charge of the works for upwards of five years.

Having a strong desire to own a home of his own, he purchased a house, with a generous lot of half an acre, overlooking the river. The house was of two stories, seven rooms, with a barn in the rear connected by a woodshed. The principal wharf was at the foot of the street, and here Major Stevens kept his boat. The house had an ill repute as being unhealthy, some of the former inmates having died from consumption. When cautioned on this score, he replied: "It is high time some one took the house who can give it a good reputation." He had the cellar and grounds thoroughly drained, sunk a well, blasting through a ledge of rock, and put the grounds and garden in fine order. He took great pains with, and pleasure in, the garden, raising all kinds of vegetables. They kept poultry also, and among them was a flock of twelve ducklings that every day solemnly waddled down to the river in single file, and as solemnly waddled up the hill again after their daily bath and paddling in the river, an unceasing source of interest and pleasure to the children.

The government was contemplating the fortification of the more important points on the Pacific coast, and to an inquiry as to his willingness to be sent to that distant field, he writes the following characteristic reply:--

"As regards engineer duty on the Pacific coast for a year or two, I should be well pleased with it did I feel certain that I was physically in condition to undertake it. If the passage thither should be an easy one, as mostly by sea, I have little doubt that on my arrival at the scene of my duties my lameness would be essentially gone. If the journey should be overland, I should hardly be able to bear the fatigues of it in less than two or three months. If ordered, I should go _without hesitation_, and do the best I could. I must leave this matter entirely with you. No officer should feel at liberty to decline a distant duty of this kind, and in this case, as in all others, let the public interests alone have weight."

Ambitious he was, but with a lofty ambition, not to aggrandize himself, but to serve his country, ever ready to sacrifice personal interests and feelings to the public service. In this and other letters he displays a certain impatience that personal convenience or interests should be consulted at all in matters of public duty.

When the brevets were announced, Lieutenant Stevens was brevetted "Captain, August 20, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco," and "Major, September 13, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Chapultepec."

He took great pains to secure justice to all the engineer officers in the way of brevets, conceiving that he was in a measure responsible therefor because, as adjutant of the corps in Mexico, the engineer reports had been made through him; he had had charge of the records, and had been closely consulted by the chief, General Totten, and spent no little time and effort in behalf of those who had been overlooked.

The engineers felt themselves treated with injustice in the matter of brevet pay, for while the officers of artillery, cavalry, and infantry were allowed full pay when assigned to duty according to their brevet rank, the former were denied the same right, although frequently placed in charge of works and assigned to duties above their nominal rank. They had other grievances, too, in the allowances for rations, horses, etc. One so disinterested and indefatigable in behalf of his corps and brother officers as Major Stevens would be sure to be often called upon. He took great interest in these matters, and even more in the general reorganization of the army, upon which he corresponded and consulted largely with able and public-spirited young officers of other corps as well as his own.

It was not until November that his friend and classmate, Lieutenant J.F. Gilmer, relieved him of the vouchers and papers relating to Savannah forts. Writing from Washington, November 6, Gilmer says: "Captain Fred. A. Smith would like much to have you here this winter. It is possible you may do the corps a great service by being in Washington this winter."

A call for service in any direction always appealed strongly to him, and accordingly he determined to visit Washington, as he writes his brother Oliver, under date of Bucksport, December 8, 1848. This letter displays a humorous vein not usual with him, and gives his view of the character and public policy of General Taylor, then just elected President:--

MY DEAR BROTHER,--I rejoice to learn that you are still in the land of the living, and that that severe and noble pursuit, the law, does not prevent your seeing the lions of the town. But you are very cruel to triumph over us benighted creatures in this region of frosts and snows. In truth we lead a quiet, rational, country life, perhaps as much to be envied as the more attractive life of the great city. I wish you, however, distinctly to understand that we do not suck our paws during the winter, and I feel bound to disabuse you of this misapprehension. That is done still farther down East, I believe. We do not sleep more than twelve or at most fourteen hours a day. We manage to eat three meals per day. But it is hard work; they approximate rather too closely. We drink tea nights, and eat apples mornings. We get the newspapers generally every day, and expect to read the Message to-morrow. By way of diversion, we slide down hill on a moonlight evening. Then there are prayer and conference meetings _ad libitum_. What a consolation these latter privileges would be to one of your serious turn of mind! I can almost see your grave countenance lighted up with heavenly radiance on such an occasion.

By the bye, I hope to see you in about four weeks, as I pass on to Washington. There I shall probably remain till after the inauguration. I find in the election of General Taylor the great fact indicated that we poor devils in the army are citizens of the country, and eligible to civil offices of trust. I should have voted most cordially for General Cass, had I a vote to throw. His election I vastly preferred. But there has been in this canvass a vast deal of nonsense about the camp not being the place to find our Presidents, and I am much mistaken if General Taylor, in his own person, does not prove a happy instance of the mingling of military and administrative ability. And those miserable hacks of party, who have sought to depreciate his military services and talents, have now the consolation to reflect that their efforts at detraction served to promote his election, as it did that of General Harrison.

"I unhesitatingly believe that General Taylor will administer the government in an able, impartial, and patriotic manner, and if during his presidency an emergency arises, he will prove a hero-President as he has proved a hero-soldier. The Democratic party ought not to prejudge him. Let them maintain a firm attitude in Congress, and keep well organized everywhere. The Whigs cannot carry any of their favorite measures through Congress for two years at least. We may then have a Democratic Congress, and, my word for it, there will be no collision between such a Congress and General Taylor. On that great cluster of questions, the public lands, the encouragement and protection of distant settlements, the development of the great Pacific coast, the old man will be right. If the Democratic party will show candor and liberality towards General Taylor, he may be their nominee four years from this time."

As one result of his visit to Washington, Major Stevens took hold of the brevet pay question in his usual thoroughgoing and indefatigable manner. He first corresponded with every brevetted officer of the corps whom he had not already consulted personally. Having thus learned their views, he prepared a strong memorial on the subject, which, after being submitted to, and warmly approved by, Colonels Thayer and Mansfield and Major Tower, was sent to all the officers for their signatures. And in July he transmitted the memorial to General Totten, signed by every brevetted officer of the corps save one, with an urgent letter asking his interposition with the War Department in their behalf.

It was the intention, in case the department denied the application, to appeal to Congress, but the manifest justice of the cause as presented was unanswerable. The department, after some doubts, concluded that it had the necessary authority under the law regulating brevet pay, and at length the engineers were placed on an equality with the other arms in this respect. His brother officers conceded that the gratifying triumph was due to the well-directed and persistent efforts of Major Stevens, and showered upon him their warm thanks and applause. This success, however, was followed by more and more frequent applications from them and others for assistance and advice in their own personal matters. He never failed to expend his thought, energy, and time in every deserving case as promptly and freely as, ay, far more than, if he was working for himself, and he never shunned, nor complained of, these gratuitous tasks, which in the next few years became a great burden, but always seemed to take real pleasure and satisfaction in helping others, even many who had little or no claim upon him.

In April writes Captain George B. McClellan, who was stationed at West Point with the engineer company, an urgent appeal to Major Stevens to use his influence to have the company ordered away from the Point, and to Fort Schuyler:--

MY DEAR STEVENS,--The detachment of artillery (laborers) stationed here are to be transferred to the engineer company,--at least so many as may be necessary to fill up the company. On our company then will it devolve to do all the police of the Point, to make the roads, drive the carts, feed the oxen, work in the blacksmith and carpenter shops, etc., etc.,--in plain terms, the engineer company is destroyed; it has become a company of mud-diggers; it will no longer be an engineer company, for it will be impossible to do military duty, and no instruction in the duties of engineer troops can be given them. The object of the whole business is to get Shover's company of light artillery ordered on here, and we are sacrificed to attain that object.

This is a matter that concerns equally all the officers of our corps. We are disgraced if this order is allowed to remain in force, and I beg of you to use whatever influence you may possess in Washington to have the order rescinded, and the company ordered away from here. I am in haste,

Truly your friend, GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN.

Partly in response to this letter, but more to express his own views as to the true policy in regard to engineer troops, Major Stevens writes at length to General Totten. It is characteristic that he does not treat the matter from McClellan's narrow, personal standpoint, but at once elevates the whole subject to a discussion of the requirements of the service. After referring to his intimate association with the engineer company in its organization and in Mexico, he continues:--

"I think every one owes something to his profession. Something is due to my profession, not inferior certainly in dignity to any other. I would endeavor to discharge it according to my ability. It will be in this spirit that I shall submit the following observations. In this spirit will I from time to time communicate with the department on this and other topics appertaining to the noble profession of arms, not doubting that my suggestions will be kindly received.

"By law, the engineer company is restricted to one hundred men, a number entirely inadequate even to the duties of peace.... The remedy I would propose is this: Let the utmost care be exercised in enlisting men. Let no man be enlisted who cannot in due course of time be made a non-commissioned officer. Let there be in no case transfers from other branches of the service. Let the whole strength of the officers of the company be applied to discipline and instruct the men, so that in time of need we shall have a band of splendid non-commissioned officers, the peers of Everett and Hastings and Starr,--men who have received commissions for their gallant services in Mexico, and each of whom, had Smith and McClellan and Foster fallen, could have gloriously led on the company to its duty.

"I would propose a complete system of practical instruction six or seven months of the year, sapping, mining, and pontooneering, and the whole subject of field-works, at some suitable place, say Fort Schuyler, and a course of theoretical instruction the remaining five months, embracing an elementary course of mathematics (including drawing, surveying, and the use of instruments) and of engineering. There should also be a good general and military library. As regards the library, the corps could be applied to for aid, if necessary. I will for one, and I doubt not many officers would, liberally make donations.

"Even if the engineer arm were increased to four companies, which I trust will be done the next session of Congress, I would recommend this course. The fine practical education which would thus be secured would induce men to enlist. And we shall have the satisfaction that in the next war with England, and when the question is to besiege Montreal, Quebec, and Halifax, our four companies can be soon converted into twenty companies."

Ever since his return from Mexico, Major Stevens was deeply interested in the reorganization of the army. Even while so vigorously fighting for his corps in the matter of brevet pay, in discussions and correspondence with Mansfield, Mason, Tower, G.W. Smith, F.A. Smith, Beauregard, Hunt, and others, after disposing of this particular grievance he would enlarge upon the reorganization of the whole army, giving his own ideas, and urging them as a patriotic duty, not as members of any corps, but from the standpoint of the whole army, to prepare memoirs, or letters, giving their views.

He advocated an organization that would admit of fourfold extension in case of war; the keeping of at least one third of the troops in camps of drill and instruction in order to maintain the highest degree of military knowledge and discipline; and the raising of the standard of the rank and file, attracting thereby American-born young men as soldiers by increased pay, better instruction, and greater opportunities for advancement, even to conferring commissions in meritorious cases. These letters and replies, particularly a memoir by Hunt (afterwards the distinguished general, Henry J. Hunt, chief of artillery of the Army of the Potomac), are full of interest and instruction. The army, with all the improvements adopted in recent years, has not yet reached the standard set by these patriotic and able young officers fifty years ago. How Major Stevens followed up these preliminary efforts will appear hereafter.