January 5, 1862 (Saturday): Buell Addresses His Excellency

General Don Carlos Buell

                                                             WASHINGTON, January 4, 1862.

General Buell:

    Have arms gone forward for East Tennessee?  Please tell me the progress and condition of the movement in that direction.  Answer.

A.   LINCOLN.

 LOUISVILLE, KY., January 5, 1862.

To the PRESIDENT:

    Arms can only go forward to East Tennessee under the protection of an army.  My organization of the troops had had in view two columns with reference to that movement:  a division to move from Lebanon and a brigade to operate offensively or defensively, according to circumstances, on the Cumberland Gap route; but it was necessary also to have regard to contingencies which, before the transportation, arms, &c., could be ready, might require a modification of the plan.  The time and manner of the movement must still be subject to such contingencies, though I hope to inaugurate it very soon.  Our transportation and other preparations have been delayed far beyond my expectations and are still incomplete.  The arms—foreign ones, requiring repairs—arrived a week or more ago, and are now being put in order by the ordnance officer.

    While my preparations have had this movement constantly in view I will confess to your excellency that I have been bound to it more by my sympathy for the people of East Tennessee and the anxiety with which you and the General-in Chief have desired it than by my opinion of the wisdom as an unconditional measure.  As earnestly as I wish to accomplish it, my judgment has from the first been decidedly against it, if it should render at all doubtful the success of a movement against the great power of the rebellion in the West, which is mainly arrayed on the line from Columbus to Bowling Green, and can speedily be concentrated at any point of that line which is attacked singly.

                                                                                                D. C. BUELL

Official Records, Series I., Vol. 7, Part 1, Page 530

McClellan was on the mend, but Lincoln was still directly communicating with Buell and Halleck on the east Tennessee question.  After putting Lincoln off initially, both began to feel compelled to explain the strategic and logistical problems which prevented an immediate move to the relief of Union sympathizers in Tennessee.  Buell’s reference to foreign ordnance is a reminder that early in the war both North and South were dependent on arms bought from Europe, arms which in many cases were not of good quality.  Buell was an able officer, but not one who inspired his troops.  In this case, he also was not inspiring the administration with any great confidence in his ability or desire to move forward.