By this time, General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant, the overall Federal commander, was becoming dissatisfied with the performance of Major-General Benjamin F. Butler, commanding the Army of the James. Butler had allowed his Federals to be bottled up on the Bermuda Hundred peninsula, and when he finally broke out, he had failed to be aggressive enough to break through the weak defenses outside Petersburg.
Butler also feuded with his subordinates. He had driven Major-General Quincy A. Gillmore out of the army, and now he was being sharply criticized by Major-General William F. “Baldy” Smith, commanding the Eighteenth Corps in Butler’s army. Lieutenant-Colonel Cyrus B. Comstock of Grant’s staff wrote that neither Butler nor Smith “could get on well with anyone, much less with each other.” Moreover, Grant felt obligated to stay headquartered near Petersburg because Butler was the ranking commander in the sector, and would command both his own and the Army of the Potomac in Grant’s absence.
On July 1, Grant wrote to Chief of Staff Henry W. Halleck about “the necessity of sending General Butler to another field of duty.” Grant carefully noted that Butler “has always been prompt in his obedience to orders from me and clear in his understanding of them,” and he “would not be willing to recommend his retirement.” However, Grant had no faith in Butler’s ability to command in the field, and he proposed sending him to either Kentucky or Missouri.
Halleck wrote that he fully understood why Grant wanted to transfer Butler, “on account of his total unfitness to command in the field and his generally quarrelsome character,” but sending Butler to Kentucky “would probably cause an insurrection in that state,” and sending him to Missouri would cause even more problems. Since moving Butler to any other command would need higher approval due to Butler’s immense political influence, Halleck suggested that Grant possibly give Butler administrative command of the James army while giving someone like Baldy Smith command of the army in the field.
Smith did not help matters any when he added a bitter criticism of Butler when requesting a leave of absence on the 2nd. Smith wrote that he could not understand how Grant “can place a man in command of two army corps who is as helpless as a child on the field of battle and as visionary as an opium eater in council.”
During this time, Smith was also feuding with Major-General George G. Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac. Meade wrote his wife, “I have had a row with Mr. Baldy Smith. We are now avowed antagonists, a much more comfortable position for me than an attempt at friendly relations.” Grant had been impressed with Smith’s work on the “cracker line” at Chattanooga last year, but he was now starting to wonder whether Smith was doing more harm than good in the army.
Nevertheless, Grant thought the matter over and decided to act upon Halleck’s suggestion to kick Butler upstairs. He wired Halleck on the 6th: “Please obtain an order assigning the troops of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina serving in the field to the command of Maj. Gen. W.F. Smith and order Major-General Butler, commanding department, to his headquarters, Fortress Monroe.” This was approved by President Abraham Lincoln and published by the adjutant general’s office as General Order Number 225.
But it was soon evident that this was a mistake because it effectively created a third army in Virginia with no clear boundaries or chain of command. Grant suspended the order three days later, writing to Halleck, “I… simply want General Smith assigned to the command of the Eighteenth Corps, and if there is no objection to a brigadier general holding such a position, General W.T.H. Brooks to the command of the Tenth Corps, leaving both of these corps in the Department as before, the headquarters of which is at Fortress Monroe. When the Nineteenth Corps arrives I will add it to the same Department.”
Grant then suggested that instead of putting Baldy Smith in field command of the Army of the James, he wanted Major-General William B. Franklin, currently in the Department of the Gulf but formerly a corps commander in the Potomac army, to command in the field. Grant shared this idea with Butler, but Butler insisted that “Department” and “forces in the field” were inseparable, and he would not be relegated to an administrative post. Ultimately Butler would retain his command. He triumphantly wrote his wife, “From Grant’s suspension of the order, and saying that he proposed to have the 19th corps added to my command, he has vindicated me and my military operations.”
Grant next brought in Baldy Smith, who fumed to Grant about his disgust with both Butler and Meade. Smith later claimed that he tried to show Grant “the blunders of the late campaign with the Army of the Potomac,” and told him the terrible number of casualties was due to “a want of generalship in its present commander.” Regarding Grant’s plan to reorganize the department, Smith refused to serve under Butler any longer.
According to Colonel Comstock, “Smith has constantly been talking against Meade, wishes Franklin to take his place–and a few nights ago… insisted on the general’s making the change he wished & finally asked the general in the most offensive way, if he expected he was ever going to do any thing with that man (Meade) in command.” Comstock guessed that “as Butler is to stay for the present Smith will probably be shelved.”
Comstock was right. Grant approved Smith’s request for a leave and then decided while he was gone that it would be best if he did not come back. Smith’s blunder at Petersburg on June 15 would have been enough cause for removal, but Smith’s feuds with his superiors reflected on Grant. His friendship with General Franklin did not help matters any considering that he and Franklin had conspired against Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside following the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Smith was directed to go to New York and await further orders. Smith furiously alleged that Butler had gotten Grant drunk; this created a false rumor that President Lincoln had removed Butler, and Grant had reinstated him because Butler got Grant drunk and threatened to blackmail him about it. Nobody took this seriously, and most agreed with the assessment of Grant’s chief of staff John A. Rawlins:
“General Grant today relieved Major General William F. Smith from command and duty in this army, because of his spirit of criticism of all military movements and men, and his failure to get along with anyone he is placed under, and his disposition to scatter the seeds of discontent throughout the army. I have never been deceived in the man since his promotion, but because of acknowledged ability have done all I could to sustain him. The action of the General is justifiable.”
Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman of Meade’s staff wrote, “Thus did Smith the Bald try the Macchiavelli against Butler the cross-eyed, and got floored at the first round!” Smith was replaced by Major-General Edward O.C. Ord, a competent soldier with no tendency to question his superiors.
Bibliography
- Catton, Bruce, Grant Takes Command. Open Road Media, Kindle Edition, 2015.
- Foote, Shelby, The Civil War, A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage Civil War Library, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Kindle Edition), 2011.
- Sears, Stephen W., Lincoln’s Lieutenants: The High Command of the Army of the Potomac. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books, (Kindle Edition), 2017.
- Simon, John Y. (Patricia L. Faust ed.), Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.