February 8, 1862 (Saturday): "Your Military Superiors Are Attacked"

Colonel James Allen Hardie

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
Washington, January 8, 1862.

Brigadier-General STONE,
Poolesville, Md.:
    I have taken time for reflection on your inquiry. I think you should not apply at this moment. Besides, your military superiors are attacked, and that consideration involves the propriety of abstaining just now.



JAS. A. HARDIE.

Under attack by the Committee on the Conduct of the War and some Northern newspapers, Stone desired a hearing on the Ball's Bluff affair to clear his name.  Hardie, an aide to McClellan, advises against the request on the ground his (Stone's) superiors were under political attack by Republicans and to some extent the Lincoln administration itself.   Stone would have been well advised to ignore Hardie's advice, the next day he would be arrested on McClellan's orders at the behest of the Committee.  Had he spoken on his own behalf it would have been difficult to make a credible case against him.  His silence, and the failure of McClellan to expend political capital coming to his aide made it possible to keep him imprisoned for months without formal charges.  President Lincoln was to deny knowledge of the reason for Stone's arrest.  However, records in the deliberations of the Committee state they visited Lincoln with the evidence they had against Stone just prior to his arrest being ordered.