A Private Lambasts Buell’s Campaign

    In the closing days of September 1862, the footsore soldiers of General Don Carlos Buell's Army of Ohio marched into the camps surrounding the city Louisville, Kentucky. After marching several hundred miles from the Tennessee/Alabama border in a sizzling dry late summer drought, the rugged veterans were relieved to have finally gotten ahead of Braxton Bragg and now, safe at their base of supplies, the work of re-equipping and reorganizing the army began. 

    Discontent with General Buell's leadership had been brewing since early summer, and only worsened as the men marched day after day without coming to grips with the Confederate army. Republican newspapers throughout the North frequently expressed their dissatisfaction with Buell's strict discipline in protecting the property of Southern secessionists by running letters from soldiers of Buell's army complaining about the ridiculous situations they found themselves in. Buell and his chief subordinates regarded any violations of Buell's anti-foraging orders as a serious breach of discipline, and acted accordingly. This was yet another illustration of Buell being out of step with his volunteer army; the men were willing to submit to discipline, but the incongruity of being tasked with guarding known secessionists' property while suffering on half rations or worse was too much for the men to accept. 

    Buell's soft war "rose-water policy" towards Southerners undercut the General's authority with his troops, and as the summer wore on and the supply situation at the front worsened due to Confederate cavalry raids on the primary railroads of Tennessee and Kentucky, the men started taking matters into their own hands. Buell clamped down on the breech of discipline like he would in the old pre-war army; court-martial and punishment became the order of the day. The men by and large cried foul, and soon letters filled the Northern newspapers charging Buell with caring more about Southerner's property than the health and well-being of his men.

    The following extraordinary letter is probably the most notable example of these anti-Buell missives. Published originally in the widely-read Cincinnati Commercial in early October 1862, the writer (an unknown soldier from the 17th Indiana which later fought in Wilder's Lightning Brigade) blasted Buell's conduct of the campaign through Tennessee and Kentucky and begged the government for relief. "Let the government give us clothing, camp equipage, and above all, a General, and we will return to the Gulf if necessary and put down this rebellion," he wrote. 

    The writer called for the appointment of General William Nelson to command the army in Buell's place; the morning following when this soldier wrote his letter, Bull Nelson met his speedy end when General Jefferson C. Davis gunned him down in his offices at the Galt House in downtown Louisville. General Buell would be retained for the time being, but by the end of October, Buell would be out of a job and the Rosecrans era would begin.

 

Major General Don Carlos Buell, commander of the Army of Ohio

Louisville, Kentucky

September 28, 1862

          We have made the grand rounds and are, after ten months of weary toil and privations which it would be futile to attempt to describe at present, once more encamped within sight of our old camp. It is heart-sickening in the extreme to even for one moment reflect upon the history of the noble army under Buell. When General Buell’s command left this city on the 10th day of last December, it was in as fine condition as any department in the Union. But what is it today? Instead of being well-equipped and the men in vigorous health, we are without tents, blankets, or camp equipage, and the haggard countenances tell how fearfully the physical condition of the soldiers has been impaired. Besides this, we left thousands of our brave comrades in their last resting places throughout the rebellious states. And I ask, what have we accomplished?

          Perhaps some might think that a private, a common soldier, has no right to say anything about these things, or to remonstrate in the least. But Mr. Editor, I claim that I have a right when I see one of the best and most powerful armies the world ever saw worse than sacrificed. I have followed General Buell in all his wanderings through Dixie for ten long months and have never, nor has our division, fired a musket at the foe.

          Ample time was taken to equip and discipline this army before it left Kentucky and the nation looked anxiously forward to a time not far distant when it would accomplish feats which would startle the world. But what are the facts? We lay in camp at Nashville after the fall of Fort Donelson nearly a month when one day more of delay would have been the ruin of our army at Shiloh. And what were we doing? We were drawing clothing to be thrown away by the orders of General Buell when we moved a little further South. Every soldier was compelled to start with two suits of clothing, then send it to Nashville and somewhere else in Alabama to be captured by the enemy. But where the difference? For General Buell and everybody else knows that all the privates in the army receive is $13 a month!

The long march from the doorstep of Chattanooga all the way back to the Ohio River proved to be a demoralizing experience for much of Buell's army. Desertions skyrocketed once the army reached Louisville and poor morale would plague the army for months, a problem that Buell's successor worked hard to alleviate during his tenure as army commander. 

          After the Corinth affair, Buell had command along the Memphis & Charleston Railroad from Corinth to Chattanooga, and if anything was accomplished beyond allowing thousands of our men to be overpowered and captured by the enemy at different points, it has yet to be made public. It was well known by the citizens and made public by the Southern journals that the Rebels were concentrating and organizing a large army but a few miles south of Chattanooga, and our lines extended at that time southward to Stevenson, Alabama. But were measures taken to break up that encampment? No. And a few weeks ago General Bragg left there with a mighty force, and notwithstanding our force being sufficient for any emergency, yet he is now within a few miles of the city.

When the present month set in, we were in southern Tennessee. A portion of our division was at this time at Stevenson, and were hurried back over the mountains, compelled to burn all their tents, blankets, and camp equipage. But from this time forward up to the present hour, General Buell’s conduct has undoubtedly been strange. Who can explain why it was that he halted his army at Bowling Green and compelled us to sit almost within hearing of the cannon while the brave Colonel Wilder was surrounded and captured by Bragg’s whole command? But after remaining at Bowling Green several days, we were moved forward and came up with the enemy at Cave City, Kentucky and again halted and gave Bragg sufficient time to evacuate Munfordville. We were in full force in close proximity with the enemy, but when we advanced cautiously upon their line on Sunday September 21st, the enemy has been gone more than 24 hours. Everybody felt sure that an engagement would ensue. But after consuming half a day in creeping through the bushes, rag weeds, and tall grass, we found that they were not there.

The men of Buell's army were willing to suffer great hardships to put down the rebellion, but they didn't suffer fools lightly and Buell's rigid discipline marked him in many of his soldiers' minds as just that: a fussy, foolish, old West Point martinet. His perceived inability to bring on a fight with Bragg's army further dampened the army's ardor and gave rise to ugly (and completely unfounded) rumors that Buell sympathized with the Confederate cause. 


While we lay at Cave City, the Rebels passed up the Glasgow Turnpike four miles from us with a train of over 400 wagons and our cavalry only captured three wagons and about 30 prisoners. And it was asserted that this expedition was made without Buell’s knowledge. When we arrived at Munfordville, we found a strong rear guard of cavalry and light artillery upon this side of the river. But after skirmishing with their cavalry and shelling us for a short time with their cannon, they retreated towards this city.

"Stonewall Jackson was considered as performing a great military feat when he threw his army into Pope’s rear, but Buell, the mighty Buell, has put the total eclipse upon that move by throwing his army from Bragg’s rear to his front!" ~ unknown soldier, 17th Indiana Infantry

All this time General Wood had the advance and we rapidly gained upon their retreating columns and before we arrived at bacon Creek we were so close upon the heels of the enemy that we found the sides of the roads and houses almost full of sick and worn out soldiers from Bragg’s army. We were close upon them in their rear with a large force at Louisville in front of them, and again the spirits of Buell’s men arose at the prospect of defeating and capturing Bragg, Buckner, and Co. But what did Buell do? He allowed the enemy to file their forces to the right upon the Hodgenville and Bardstown roads, while he hurried on by way of West Point to save the city of Louisville, this exposing his rear and suffering Bragg to escape from between two fires where he had placed himself.

And the result of this affair is just what everyone who has “three sides above an oyster” expected. Yes, Bragg allowed quietly to halt in the vicinity of Bardstown, send forward his cavalry, and frighten Louisville out of her boots, compel our men to burn our train of 500 wagons at Bowling Green containing our tents, blankets, knapsacks, clothing, and cooking utensils, together with a large number of surplus muskets. And here we are without a change of clothing and all our company books, records, and muster rolls destroyed through the strategy of General Buell!

Great God, will this government permit this and not sink him as low in the eyes of his own men? Let Abraham Lincoln send secret angels into our ranks and ascertain in what light General Buell is held by the men who have marched through the dust and over the mountains upon half rations of hard bread, bacon, and coffee for two months at a time, and if he does not remove him, the American people will damn him as one recreant to the high trust reposed in him by a free and mighty nation.

I make the assertion that if General Buell commands this department two months longer, there will be more than 10,000 desertions. Let the government give us clothing, rations, camp equipage, and above all, a General, and we will return to the Gulf if necessary and put down this rebellion. But intelligent men are opposed to wearing away the prime of their lives in guarding the enemy’s property and involving our nation to the amounts of millions upon millions of dollars to accomplish nothing. We want a man to lead us who has or will provoke an engagement within ten months’ time!

The division commanders under Buell are able and willing, but what can they do with him in their way? Put Nelson at the head of this army and one general shout would arise along our lines and something would take place within ten months. These are facts and I would to God that our government was made acquainted with them before it is too late. But I hope and believe that Granny Buell, as he is called by many of his many, will be ousted. Stonewall Jackson was considered as performing a great military feat when he threw his army into Pope’s rear, but Buell, the mighty Buell, has put the total eclipse upon that move by throwing his army from Bragg’s rear to his front!

Source:

"A Private Soldier on Buell's Campaign," Burlington Hawk-Eye (Iowa), October 11, 1862, pg. 5

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