February 13, 1862 (Thursday): Lane's "Jayhawking Expedition"

General David Hunter

SAINT LOUIS, February 13, 1862.

Major Gen. D. HUNTER:

Commanding, Department of Kansas, Fort Leavenworth, Kans.:

   GENERAL:  Your very kind letter of the 8^th is this moment received.*  I must write you a very hasty letter to-day.  You are entirely mistaken about my having received any information, official or unofficial, from Washington about the great “jayhawking expedition.”  Not a word or hint has been communicated to me.  Orders were sent direct by General Thomas to various regiments in this department to repair immediately to Fort Leavenworth and report to General Hunter as a part of General Lane’s expedition.  No notice of such orders was given to me.  To put a stop to these irregularities I issued General Orders Numbers 8 and protested to General Thomas and General McClellan against such an irregular and unmilitary proceeding.  No reply.  I stopped some of the troops on their way, and reported that they could not move until some order was sent to me.  No reply.

   I am satisfied that there have been many such orders issued directly by the President and Secretary Cameron without consulting General McClellan, and for that reason no reply could be given without exposing the plans of the great jayhawker and the imposition of himself and Cameron on the President.  Perhaps that is the key to the silence of the authorities at Washington.  I know nothing on the subject except what I see in the newspapers.

   In regard to my own plans, they are very simple.  I have sent some 16,000 or 17,000 men under General Curtis, against Price at Springfield.  He has been re-enforced by McIntosh, and it is said that Van Dorn and Frost are also marching to his relief.  If it would be possible for you to move a cavalry force rapidly by Fort Scott to threaten Price’s right flank it would have a most excellent effect.  This possibly was the original intention of Lane’s expedition, but I protested to Washington against any of his jayhawkers coming into this department, and saying positively that I would arrest and disarm every one I could catch.

   The remainder of all my available force will be sent to the lines of the Cumberland and Tennessee.  Who will take command there is not yet determined.

   Yours in haste,

                                                                                    H. W. HALLECK

*Not Found
Official Records, Series. I, Vol. 8, Part 1, Page 555.

The Lane expedition was a source of controversy.  One newspaper referred to the expedition as existing only in Lane's imagination, but the New York Times would report Lane did have authority for an expedition moving through Kansas and then to the South.  The raid ignited debate between Republicans who wanted the war to directly address slavery and punish the South and Democrats who wanted to interfere as little as possible with slavery while reuniting the Union.  Republicans cried foul when the expedition did not materialize, blaming McClellan and Democratic politicians.  And, as seen in Halleck’s letter, the military establishment was not being kept informed of the administration’s plans, sometimes even when it affected their commands.  Beginning with McClellan’s bout of dysentery in January, Lincoln and the War Department had begun making moves and plans without McClellan’s approval or knowledge.  Lane had been sent west and made a general by Lincoln, and it would appear his orders were coming directly from him.  Within days of this memo, McClellan would put a stop to all troop movements to Lane’s expedition and the effort would grind to a halt.