Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans didn’t need another enemy. He already had two powerful ones in Gen. Ulysses Grant and U.S. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Even so, he got another in Charles A. Dana.
Sadly, Rosecrans saw Dana as a friend — until it was too late. In an early letter to his wife, Rosecrans expressed pleasure in Dana being assigned to his army. For insight, one needs to view Dana in light of (1) the five years he spent at Brook Farm, a socialistic, utopian, transcendentalist commune, and (2) later and more importantly, his relationship with Gen. Grant and Secretary Stanton.
Brook Farm’s transcendentalist ideals were those enunciated by Ralph Waldo Emerson. While there, he wrote for and managed the Harbinger, the Brook Farm publication devoted to social reform and general literature. When the farm went belly-up, Dana went to work for Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune. While at the paper, he wrote letters from Europe on the revolutionary movements of 1848 and returned to become the Tribune’s managing editor, promoting the anti-slavery cause at a time when Greeley was vacillating. Early in the war Greeley fired Dana over slavery and war issues.
Secretary of War Stanton liked Dana’s editorials and offered the journalist a job as a special investigating agent in the War Department. Dana’s first assignment was to observe Grant in the Vicksburg campaign. Dana liked and admired the general — and adopted his attitude toward other Union generals. Grant disliked Gen. John McClernand, Gen. Joe Hooker and Rosecrans. Dana would soon write disparagingly about all three.
After Vicksburg, Stanton promoted Dana to Assistant Secretary of War and sent him to join Rosecrans’ army in September 1863, just before the battle of Chickamauga. Rosecrans enjoyed talking, and Dana’s background made him just the sort of man with whom Rosecrans liked to talk. Dana was well versed in literature. He wrote poetry and spoke fluent German. Furthermore, Dana’s newspaper experience appealed to the general, and Dana enjoyed Rosecrans’ company.
Seeing Dana’s favorable dispatches on Grant, Rosecrans thought he might receive similar treatment and bolster his standing with Stanton, who took a dim view of Catholics and Democrats. Rosecrans was a member of both groups, and Stanton viewed Catholics and Democrats as potential “copperheads,” a faction of northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War.
Dana’s dispatches about Chickamauga and Chattanooga campaigns were largely positive and even-handed before Sept. 30, 1863.
On that date, about a week after the Union’s loss at the Battle of Chickamauga, Stanton’s dispatches to Dana made it clear that he wanted to oust Rosecrans from command of the Union’s Army of the Cumberland. Thereafter Dana’s dispatches to Stanton obligingly described disorganization, incompetence, starvation and deterioration of troop morale at Rosecrans’ army. He added that the general was thinking of abandoning Chattanooga. To Rosecrans’ face, however, Dana still acted the part of a friend.
Except for short rations, none of these charges proved to be true. Union Gen. Montgomery Meigs inspected Rosecrans’ army in Chattanooga and found his troops well organized, well fortified and prepared for better times. Whatever despondency Rosecrans felt immediately after Chickamauga had lifted. Unfortunately, he remained oblivious to Dana’s criticisms.
Dana’s later dispatches indicated that Rosecrans panicked during the Battle of Chickamauga. Detailed evidence does not support that view. There is, however, little doubt that Dana panicked. Col. John Wilder told of a heavy-breathing, red-faced Dana rushing to tell him that the Union Army had been routed and that Rosecrans was either killed or captured. Repeating his name and position of Assistant Secretary of War several times, Dana demanded that Wilder and his brigade escort him back to Chattanooga. Wilder provided a small detachment to take Dana to safety.
Dana later denied this precise exchange, but whom would you believe? Dana or Wilder? (Wilder was regarded as a competent, gifted commander at this stage of the Civil War. After the war, he returned to Chattanooga and became a successful industrialist, mayor, and commissioner of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.)
On Oct. 19, Stanton and Grant got their wish. Rosecrans was sacked as commander of the Army of the Cumberland. Dana’s dispatches played a big part. Could they have sacked Rosecrans without Dana’s help? Possibly. But not as easily.
Many years later, when it was of no help, Dana apologized to Rosecrans.
R. Smith Murray is a retired urologist. For more information, visit Chattahistoricalassoc.org or call LaVonne Jolley 423-886-2090.