Thomas W KNOX - Civil War SPY??
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Re: Thomas W KNOX - Civil War SPY??
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Dennis Segelquist
Civilian & Military Surname Searcher
http://www.civilwarthosesurnames.blogspot.com
GENERAL ORDERS.
HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE TENNESSEE, Numbers 13. Young's Point, La., February 19, 1863.
I. Before a general court-martial, which convened at Young's Point, La. February 5, 1863, pursuant to Special ORDERS, Numbers 34, dated Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, February 3, 1863, and of which Brigadier General J. M. Thayer, U. S. Volunteers, is president, was arraigned and tried Thomas W. Knox.
CHARGE 1ST.-Giving intelligence to the enemy, directly or indirectly.
Specification 1st.-In this, that Thomas W. Knox, citizen and camp follower, did, while following and attending the Army of the United States, on board a chartered transport in the service of the United States, write for publication, and cause to be published in the New York Herald, of date January 18, 1863, a certain article purporting to be a history of the operations of the army before Vicksburg, dated Steamer Continental, Right Wing, Thirteenth Army Corps, Milliken's Bend, January 3, 1863, in which he gives the names of commanders of corps, divisions, and brigades comprising said army, with the number and description of the regiments composing one of said divisions, thereby indirectly conveying to the enemy an approximate estimate of its strength, in direct violation of the Fifty-seventh Article of War.
Specification 2d.-In this, that the said Thomas W. Knox, citizen and camp-follower, did publish or cause to be published in the New York Herald, under date of January 18, 1863, a certain article purporting to be a history of the operations of the army before Vicksburg, dated Steamer Continental, Right Wing, Thirteenth Army Corps, Milliken's Bend, January 3, 1863, in direct violation of General ORDERS, Numbers 67, dated War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, August 26, 1861.
CHARGE 2.-Being a spy.
Specification 1st.-That said Thomas W. Knox, being a citizen and camp follower, and having no authority, leave, or consent to attend the army, did, at Helena, Ark., on or about the 21st day of December, 1862, get on board the transport Continental, and did remain on board said transport until about the 3rd day of January, 1863, acting as a spy, in direct violation of General ORDERS, Numbers 8, dated Headquarters Right Wing, Thirteenth Army Corps, Memphis, Tenn., December 18, 1862, Paragraph VI, as follows:
Any person whatever, whether in the service of the United States or transports, found making reports for publication which might reach the enemy giving them information and comfort, will be arrested and treated as spies.
Which orders were published in the public newspapers of Memphis, and their purport know to the said Knox, on or about the 3rd day of January, 1863, about which time he wrote for publication a letter of January 3, 1863, which was published in the New York Herald of January 18, 1863, containing all he pretended to know of the organization and strength of said army, and detracting from the merits of many officers high in command of said army, thereby giving information and comfort to the enemy.
Specification 2d.-That said Thomas W. Knox did, whilst so acting as a spy, publish or cause to be published in the New York Heral, under date of January 18, 1863, sundry and various false allegations and accusations against the officers of the Army of the United States, to be great detriment of the interest of the National Government and comfort of our enemies, to wit:
To his right was General Stuart, busy erecting a bridge over the bayou, and on the extreme right was General A. J. Smith, within 1 1\2 miles of Vicksburg, frittering away his time in preparing to throw a bridge across a place where his troops could readily march through. This was the situation up to the latter part of the forenoon of the 29th. With General Sherman's permission, rather than by his order, General Morgan made preparations for assaulting the hill. General Sherman has issued no order appointing a certain time for the assault upon the batteries, and there was no common understanding among the various generals of divisions and brigades. Colonel Williamson's regiment was fast falling before the concentrated fire of the rebels, and, with an anxiious heart, General Thayer looked around for aid. Down the hill, crouched in the line of rifle-pits near the base, lay the Twenty-second Kentucky and the Sixteenth Ohio, the only regiments of Morgan that had attempted to make the assault. General Thayer rushed down to where those tow regiments lay. In vain he implored, urged, ordered, and entreated them to go to his assistance. Move they would not, alleging as an excuse that the brigade commander (Colonel De Courcy) was not there to command. While General Thayer was begging them to go to his assistance, he was joined by General Blair on the same errand, the latter going to Colonel De Courcy in person. Their conjoined efforts were alike fruitless to move Colonel De Courcy or his men.
By some criminal oversight, there had been little preparation for battle on the part of Sherman's medical director, and the hospitals were but poorly supplied with many needed stores. Since the battle, General Sherman has persistently refused to allow a hospital boat to go above, though their detention in this region is daily fatal to many lives. The only know reason for his refusal is his fear that a knowledge of his mismanagement will reach the papers of the North.
As soon as the assault of the 29th had been concluded, General Sherman decided to make another attack on the same day. General Blar's brigade was moved from the north side of the bayou, and its place taken by the brigade of General Hovey. The latter officer was to attack the hill in his front, and was to be supported by General Thayer, General Blair, and General Morgan. Twice the order was given to advance up the hill, when it was countermanded by General Sherman. Once General Hovey had given the command "Forward!" but before he uttered the word "march!" a messenger came from General Sherman, ordering him to postpone his advance.
Finding that his on plan of attack had proved a failure, General Sherman now gave attention to the suggestions of his subordinates. General Steele had from the first advocated the ascent of the Yazoo as near as possible to Haines' Bluff. The troops were to be landed just out of the range of the guns of the forts, and as soon as they could be thrown on shore they were to storm and carry the position, said to be defended by but a few hundred men. The plan was approved by all the other officers of the army, and finally obtained the sanction of the commander-in-chief. For some blow or bell rung on any of the boats for twenty-four hours under pain of death. General Sherman issued orders for the erection of batteries along the bayou in front of the enemy's works, and from the moment of the repulse, he appeared anxious to change his tactics, and act on the defensive.
At the time we entered the Yazoo, it is certain that there were not more than 10,000 men in and around Vicksburg. Had we struck promptly at the batteries, it is probable that we could have taken possession of the high ground, and had an open road into Vicksburg. One of the commissaries had recently taken 50,000 rations to a depot in rear of the battle-field, only 1 1\2 miles from the landing. General Sherman ordered these destroyed, by rolling them into the bayou, as thee was no time for their removal. A part of the supplies was tumbled into the bayou in obedience to instructions. Captain Smith, brigade commissary to General Blair, went out with a wagon train as the troops were being withdrawn, and brought in what had not already been destroyed. General Sherman also ordered commissary stores destroyed by General A. J. Smith's division, and there was much waste in consequence. All these stores might have been saved, and would have been, had General Sherman's orders been less peremptory. The embarkation was covered by the gunboats, so that the enemy would not be able to get to the bank before we could get away. Everything was hurry.
And many and other similar false, malicious imputations and charges against officers in the service of the United States, calculated to weaken their authority and to give aid and comfort to the enemy.
CHARGE 3D.-Disobedience of orders.
Specification 1st.-In this, that Thomas W. Knox did, knowingly and wifflully, disobey the lawful command of the proper authority, as contained in General ORDERS, Numbers 8, dated Headquarters Right Wing, Thirteenth Army Corps, Memphis, Tenn., December 18, 1862, by accompanying the expedition down the Mississippi from Helena, Ark., about December 21, 1862.
Specification 2d.-In this, that said Thomas W. Knox did, knowingly and willfully, disobey and directly violate General ORDERS, Numbers 67, dated War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, August 26, 1861, by writing, printing, or causing to be printed in the New York Herald, under date of January 18, 1863, correspondence and communication respecting operations of the army or military movements of the army near Vicksburg, Miss., without the authority and sanction of the general in command.
To 1dt specification of 1ST CHARGE, "Not guilty."
To 2nd specification of 1ST CHARGE, "Not guilty."
To 1ST CHARGE, "Not guilty."
To 1st specification of 2nd CHARGE, "No guilty."
To 2nd CHARGE, "Not guilty."
To 1st specification of 3rd CHARGE, "Not guilty."
To 2nd specification of 3rd CHARGE, "Not guilty."
To 3rd CHARGE, "Not guilty."
The court, after mature deliberation upon the testimony adduced, finds the accused as follows:
Of 1st specification of 1ST CHARGE, "Guilty, except the words, 'thereby conveying to the enemy an approximate estimate of its strength, in direct violation of the Fifty-seventh Article of War."
Of the 2nd specification of 1ST CHARGE, "Guilty."
Of the 1ST CHARGE, "Not guilty."
Of 1st specification of 2nd CHARGE, "Not guilty."
Of 2nd CHARGE, "Not guilty."
Of 1st specification of 3rd CHARGE, the court finds the facts proven, but attached no criminality thereto.
Of the 2nd specification of 3rd CHARGE, "Guilty."
Of 3rd CHARGE, "Guilty."
And the court does therefore sentence him, Thomas W. Knox, to be sent without the line of the army, and not to return under penalty of imprisonment.
Findings and sentence approved, and will be carried into effect.
The general court-martial, of which Brigadier General J. M. Thayer is president, is hereby dissolved.
By order off Major General U. S. Grant:
[JNO. A. RAWLINS,]
Assistant Adjutant-General.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
Washington, March 20, 1863.
Whom it may concern:
Whereas it appears to my satisfaction that Thomas W. Knox, a correspondent of the New York Herald, has been, by the sentence o a court-martial, excluded from the military department under command of Major-General Grant, and also that General Thayer, president of the court-martial which rendered the sentence, and Major-General McClernand, in command of a corps of that department, and many other respectable persons, are of opinion that Mr. Knox's offense was technical rather than willfully wrong, and that the sentence should be revoked; now, therefore, said sentence is hereby so far revoked as to allow Mr. Knox to return to General Grant's headquarters, and to remain if General Grant shall give his express asset, and to again leave the department if General Grant shall refuse such assent.
A. LINCOLN.
BEFORE VICKSBURG, April 6, 1863.
THOMAS W. KNOX,
Correspondent New York Herald:
The letter of the President of the United States authorizing to return to these headquarters, and to remain with my consent, or leave if such consent is withheld, has been shown me.
You came here first in position violation of an order from General Sherman. Because you were not pleased with his treatment of army followers, who had violated his order, you attempted to break down his influence with his command, and to blast his reputation with the public. You made insinuations against his sanity, and said many things which were untrue, and, so far as your letter had influence, calculated to affect the public service unfavorably.
General Sherman is one of the ablest soldier and purest men in the country. You have attacked him and been sentenced to expulsion from this department for the offense. Whilst I would conform to the slightest wish of the President, where it is formed upon a fair representation of both sides of any question, my respect for General Sherman is such that in this case I must decline, unless General Sherman first gives his consent to your remaining.
U. S. GRANT,
Major-General.
HEADQUARTERS FIFTEENTH Army Corps,
Camp before Vicksburg, April 7, 1863.
THOMAS W. KNOX, Esq.,
Correspondence New York Herald, Steamer Continental:
SIR: Yours of April 6, inclosing a copy of President Lincoln's informal decision in your case, is received.
I certainly do regret that Generals McClernand and Thayer regard the disobedience of orders emanating from the highest military source and the publication of willful and malicious slanders against their brother officers as mere technical offenses, and notwithstanding the President's indorsement of that conclusion, I cannot so regard it. After having enunciated to me that fact that newspaper correspondents were a fraternity bound together by a common interest that must write down all who stood in their way, and that you had to supply the public demand for news, true if possible, but false if your interest demanded it, I cannot be privy to a tacit acknowledgment of the principle.
Come with a sword or musket in your hand, prepared to share with us our fate in sunshine and storm, in prosperity and adversity, in plenty and scarcity, and I will welcome you as a brother and associate; but come as you now do, expecting me to ally the reputation and honor of my country and my fellow-soldiers with you, as the representative of the press, which you yourself say makes so slight a difference between truth and falsehood, and my answer is, Never.
W. T. SHERMAN,
HEADQUARTERS FIFTEENTH Army Corps,
Camp near Vicksburg, April 8, 1863.
Major-General GRANT:
DEAR SIR: I received last night the copy of your answer to Mr. Knox's application to return and reside near your headquarters. I thank you for the manner and substance of that reply. Many regard Knox as unworthy the notice he has received. This is true; but I send you his letter to me and my answer. Observe is his letter to me, sent long before I could have heard the result of his application to you, he makes the assertion that you had no objection, but rather wanted him back, and only as a matter of from required my assent. He regretted a difference between a "portion of the army and the press." The insolence of these fellows is insupportable. I know they are encouraged, but I know human nature well enough, and that they will be the first to turn against their patrons. Mr. Lincoln, of course, fears to incur the enmity of the Herald, but he must rule the Herald or the Herald will rule him; he can take his choice.
I have been foolish ad unskillful in drawing on me the shafts of the press. By opposing mob law in California, I once before drew down the press but after the smoke cleared off, and the people saw where they were drifting to, they admitted I was right. If the press be allowed to run riot, and write up and wire down at their pleasure, there is an end to a constitutional government in America, and anarchy must result. Even now the real people of our country begin to fear and tremble at it, and took to our armies as the anchor of safety, of order, submission to authority, bound together by a real Government, and not by the clamor of a demoralized press and crowd of demagogues.
As ever, your friend,
W. T. SHERMAN.
CAMP NEAR VICKSBURG, April 8, 1863.
Mr. HALSTED, Cincinnati:
SIR: As, unhappily, I am singled out of a great mass of men who think as I do, but who have either bowed to the storm or been more lucky in steering their barks clear of the rock of danger, I take the liberty of sending, through Mrs. Sherman, copies of a short correspondence which involves a high moral and political principle. The whole will be plain to you at a glance, and I now propose to call your attention to one phase of it, and trace the logical sequence.
Knox, a citizen, entitled to all the rights of a citizen of any and every kind, a strong, stalwart man, capable of handling a musket, comes into the camp of a major-general who he never saw in person, conversed with, or knew anything about, in open and known violation of his orders, and, dating his matter from the headquarters of a part of this very command, published a string of falsehood, abusive of every servant of the Government, except a small knot of "cunning and knowing ones bred in the same litter." These were heroes; all else were knaves, fools, cowards, everything, and the major-general in command, with commissions from a cadet all the way up the major-general, test by twenty yards' service in every part of this continent, who has managed all manner of business without a stain heretofore, is declared by this youngster and stranger as a mere ass, yea, insane. When called on in person to explain his motive-"Of course, General Sherman, I had not feeling against you personally, but you are regarded the enemy of our set, and we must in self-defense write you down."
When a court-martial banishes him, the President of the United States, upon the personal application of this man, fortified by "respectable persons," sends him back, subject to a condition not dependent on me. Does Knox exhibit any sign of appreciating the real issue? He "regrets" the unhappy difference between a portion of the army and himself. The whole "press" and the sheet, the New York Herald, which he represents will appreciate the fact of my humbling myself to its agent, to my tamely submitting to its insults.
When Mr. Colhoun announced to General Jackson the doctrine of secession, did he bow to the opinion of that respectable source and the vast array of people whom he represented? Numbers He answered, X is treason, death. Had he yielded an inch, the storm would then have swept over this country.
Had Mr. Buchanan met the seizure of our mints and arsenals in the same spirit, he would have kept this war within the limits of actual traitors; but, by temporizing, he gave the time and opportunity or the organization of a rebellion of half the nation. So in this case. The assertion of the principle that the "press" has a right to keep paid agents in our camps, independent of the properly accredited commanders appointed by law, would, if successful, destroy any army, and the certain result would be not only an open, bold, and determined rebellion, but dissension, discord, and mutiny throughout the land and in our very camps. In this point I may be in error, but, for the time being, I am the best judge. I am no enemy to freedom of through, freedom of the "press" and speech, but in all controversies there is a time when discussion must cease and action begin. That time has not only come, but has been in plain, palpable existence for two years. No amount of argument will move the rebellious. They have thrown aide the pen and taken and sword. Though slow to realize this facts, though vacillating in preparation and act, the North must do the same or perish and become the contempt of all mankind. Persons at a distance, who can look back upon the North, see, with pain and sorrow, the dissensions and vain discussions which are kept alive by a free press. In it they see the exercise of an undoubted right-the same that a man has in his own household to burn his books, destroy his furniture, abuse his family,
offend his neighbor-and fear lest the continue in the exercise of the same glorious privilege to maintain his right to personal freedom by burning his house with all its contents.
All I propose to say is that Mr. Lincoln and the press may, in the exercise of their glorious prerogative, tear our country and armies to tatters; but they shall not insult me with impunity in my own camp.
With respect, &c.,
W. T. SHERMAN.
Dennis Segelquist
Civilian & Military Surname Searcher
http://www.civilwarthosesurnames.blogspot.com
GENERAL ORDERS.
HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE TENNESSEE, Numbers 13. Young's Point, La., February 19, 1863.
I. Before a general court-martial, which convened at Young's Point, La. February 5, 1863, pursuant to Special ORDERS, Numbers 34, dated Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, February 3, 1863, and of which Brigadier General J. M. Thayer, U. S. Volunteers, is president, was arraigned and tried Thomas W. Knox.
CHARGE 1ST.-Giving intelligence to the enemy, directly or indirectly.
Specification 1st.-In this, that Thomas W. Knox, citizen and camp follower, did, while following and attending the Army of the United States, on board a chartered transport in the service of the United States, write for publication, and cause to be published in the New York Herald, of date January 18, 1863, a certain article purporting to be a history of the operations of the army before Vicksburg, dated Steamer Continental, Right Wing, Thirteenth Army Corps, Milliken's Bend, January 3, 1863, in which he gives the names of commanders of corps, divisions, and brigades comprising said army, with the number and description of the regiments composing one of said divisions, thereby indirectly conveying to the enemy an approximate estimate of its strength, in direct violation of the Fifty-seventh Article of War.
Specification 2d.-In this, that the said Thomas W. Knox, citizen and camp-follower, did publish or cause to be published in the New York Herald, under date of January 18, 1863, a certain article purporting to be a history of the operations of the army before Vicksburg, dated Steamer Continental, Right Wing, Thirteenth Army Corps, Milliken's Bend, January 3, 1863, in direct violation of General ORDERS, Numbers 67, dated War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, August 26, 1861.
CHARGE 2.-Being a spy.
Specification 1st.-That said Thomas W. Knox, being a citizen and camp follower, and having no authority, leave, or consent to attend the army, did, at Helena, Ark., on or about the 21st day of December, 1862, get on board the transport Continental, and did remain on board said transport until about the 3rd day of January, 1863, acting as a spy, in direct violation of General ORDERS, Numbers 8, dated Headquarters Right Wing, Thirteenth Army Corps, Memphis, Tenn., December 18, 1862, Paragraph VI, as follows:
Any person whatever, whether in the service of the United States or transports, found making reports for publication which might reach the enemy giving them information and comfort, will be arrested and treated as spies.
Which orders were published in the public newspapers of Memphis, and their purport know to the said Knox, on or about the 3rd day of January, 1863, about which time he wrote for publication a letter of January 3, 1863, which was published in the New York Herald of January 18, 1863, containing all he pretended to know of the organization and strength of said army, and detracting from the merits of many officers high in command of said army, thereby giving information and comfort to the enemy.
Specification 2d.-That said Thomas W. Knox did, whilst so acting as a spy, publish or cause to be published in the New York Heral, under date of January 18, 1863, sundry and various false allegations and accusations against the officers of the Army of the United States, to be great detriment of the interest of the National Government and comfort of our enemies, to wit:
To his right was General Stuart, busy erecting a bridge over the bayou, and on the extreme right was General A. J. Smith, within 1 1\2 miles of Vicksburg, frittering away his time in preparing to throw a bridge across a place where his troops could readily march through. This was the situation up to the latter part of the forenoon of the 29th. With General Sherman's permission, rather than by his order, General Morgan made preparations for assaulting the hill. General Sherman has issued no order appointing a certain time for the assault upon the batteries, and there was no common understanding among the various generals of divisions and brigades. Colonel Williamson's regiment was fast falling before the concentrated fire of the rebels, and, with an anxiious heart, General Thayer looked around for aid. Down the hill, crouched in the line of rifle-pits near the base, lay the Twenty-second Kentucky and the Sixteenth Ohio, the only regiments of Morgan that had attempted to make the assault. General Thayer rushed down to where those tow regiments lay. In vain he implored, urged, ordered, and entreated them to go to his assistance. Move they would not, alleging as an excuse that the brigade commander (Colonel De Courcy) was not there to command. While General Thayer was begging them to go to his assistance, he was joined by General Blair on the same errand, the latter going to Colonel De Courcy in person. Their conjoined efforts were alike fruitless to move Colonel De Courcy or his men.
By some criminal oversight, there had been little preparation for battle on the part of Sherman's medical director, and the hospitals were but poorly supplied with many needed stores. Since the battle, General Sherman has persistently refused to allow a hospital boat to go above, though their detention in this region is daily fatal to many lives. The only know reason for his refusal is his fear that a knowledge of his mismanagement will reach the papers of the North.
As soon as the assault of the 29th had been concluded, General Sherman decided to make another attack on the same day. General Blar's brigade was moved from the north side of the bayou, and its place taken by the brigade of General Hovey. The latter officer was to attack the hill in his front, and was to be supported by General Thayer, General Blair, and General Morgan. Twice the order was given to advance up the hill, when it was countermanded by General Sherman. Once General Hovey had given the command "Forward!" but before he uttered the word "march!" a messenger came from General Sherman, ordering him to postpone his advance.
Finding that his on plan of attack had proved a failure, General Sherman now gave attention to the suggestions of his subordinates. General Steele had from the first advocated the ascent of the Yazoo as near as possible to Haines' Bluff. The troops were to be landed just out of the range of the guns of the forts, and as soon as they could be thrown on shore they were to storm and carry the position, said to be defended by but a few hundred men. The plan was approved by all the other officers of the army, and finally obtained the sanction of the commander-in-chief. For some blow or bell rung on any of the boats for twenty-four hours under pain of death. General Sherman issued orders for the erection of batteries along the bayou in front of the enemy's works, and from the moment of the repulse, he appeared anxious to change his tactics, and act on the defensive.
At the time we entered the Yazoo, it is certain that there were not more than 10,000 men in and around Vicksburg. Had we struck promptly at the batteries, it is probable that we could have taken possession of the high ground, and had an open road into Vicksburg. One of the commissaries had recently taken 50,000 rations to a depot in rear of the battle-field, only 1 1\2 miles from the landing. General Sherman ordered these destroyed, by rolling them into the bayou, as thee was no time for their removal. A part of the supplies was tumbled into the bayou in obedience to instructions. Captain Smith, brigade commissary to General Blair, went out with a wagon train as the troops were being withdrawn, and brought in what had not already been destroyed. General Sherman also ordered commissary stores destroyed by General A. J. Smith's division, and there was much waste in consequence. All these stores might have been saved, and would have been, had General Sherman's orders been less peremptory. The embarkation was covered by the gunboats, so that the enemy would not be able to get to the bank before we could get away. Everything was hurry.
And many and other similar false, malicious imputations and charges against officers in the service of the United States, calculated to weaken their authority and to give aid and comfort to the enemy.
CHARGE 3D.-Disobedience of orders.
Specification 1st.-In this, that Thomas W. Knox did, knowingly and wifflully, disobey the lawful command of the proper authority, as contained in General ORDERS, Numbers 8, dated Headquarters Right Wing, Thirteenth Army Corps, Memphis, Tenn., December 18, 1862, by accompanying the expedition down the Mississippi from Helena, Ark., about December 21, 1862.
Specification 2d.-In this, that said Thomas W. Knox did, knowingly and willfully, disobey and directly violate General ORDERS, Numbers 67, dated War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, August 26, 1861, by writing, printing, or causing to be printed in the New York Herald, under date of January 18, 1863, correspondence and communication respecting operations of the army or military movements of the army near Vicksburg, Miss., without the authority and sanction of the general in command.
To 1dt specification of 1ST CHARGE, "Not guilty."
To 2nd specification of 1ST CHARGE, "Not guilty."
To 1ST CHARGE, "Not guilty."
To 1st specification of 2nd CHARGE, "No guilty."
To 2nd CHARGE, "Not guilty."
To 1st specification of 3rd CHARGE, "Not guilty."
To 2nd specification of 3rd CHARGE, "Not guilty."
To 3rd CHARGE, "Not guilty."
The court, after mature deliberation upon the testimony adduced, finds the accused as follows:
Of 1st specification of 1ST CHARGE, "Guilty, except the words, 'thereby conveying to the enemy an approximate estimate of its strength, in direct violation of the Fifty-seventh Article of War."
Of the 2nd specification of 1ST CHARGE, "Guilty."
Of the 1ST CHARGE, "Not guilty."
Of 1st specification of 2nd CHARGE, "Not guilty."
Of 2nd CHARGE, "Not guilty."
Of 1st specification of 3rd CHARGE, the court finds the facts proven, but attached no criminality thereto.
Of the 2nd specification of 3rd CHARGE, "Guilty."
Of 3rd CHARGE, "Guilty."
And the court does therefore sentence him, Thomas W. Knox, to be sent without the line of the army, and not to return under penalty of imprisonment.
Findings and sentence approved, and will be carried into effect.
The general court-martial, of which Brigadier General J. M. Thayer is president, is hereby dissolved.
By order off Major General U. S. Grant:
[JNO. A. RAWLINS,]
Assistant Adjutant-General.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
Washington, March 20, 1863.
Whom it may concern:
Whereas it appears to my satisfaction that Thomas W. Knox, a correspondent of the New York Herald, has been, by the sentence o a court-martial, excluded from the military department under command of Major-General Grant, and also that General Thayer, president of the court-martial which rendered the sentence, and Major-General McClernand, in command of a corps of that department, and many other respectable persons, are of opinion that Mr. Knox's offense was technical rather than willfully wrong, and that the sentence should be revoked; now, therefore, said sentence is hereby so far revoked as to allow Mr. Knox to return to General Grant's headquarters, and to remain if General Grant shall give his express asset, and to again leave the department if General Grant shall refuse such assent.
A. LINCOLN.
BEFORE VICKSBURG, April 6, 1863.
THOMAS W. KNOX,
Correspondent New York Herald:
The letter of the President of the United States authorizing to return to these headquarters, and to remain with my consent, or leave if such consent is withheld, has been shown me.
You came here first in position violation of an order from General Sherman. Because you were not pleased with his treatment of army followers, who had violated his order, you attempted to break down his influence with his command, and to blast his reputation with the public. You made insinuations against his sanity, and said many things which were untrue, and, so far as your letter had influence, calculated to affect the public service unfavorably.
General Sherman is one of the ablest soldier and purest men in the country. You have attacked him and been sentenced to expulsion from this department for the offense. Whilst I would conform to the slightest wish of the President, where it is formed upon a fair representation of both sides of any question, my respect for General Sherman is such that in this case I must decline, unless General Sherman first gives his consent to your remaining.
U. S. GRANT,
Major-General.
HEADQUARTERS FIFTEENTH Army Corps,
Camp before Vicksburg, April 7, 1863.
THOMAS W. KNOX, Esq.,
Correspondence New York Herald, Steamer Continental:
SIR: Yours of April 6, inclosing a copy of President Lincoln's informal decision in your case, is received.
I certainly do regret that Generals McClernand and Thayer regard the disobedience of orders emanating from the highest military source and the publication of willful and malicious slanders against their brother officers as mere technical offenses, and notwithstanding the President's indorsement of that conclusion, I cannot so regard it. After having enunciated to me that fact that newspaper correspondents were a fraternity bound together by a common interest that must write down all who stood in their way, and that you had to supply the public demand for news, true if possible, but false if your interest demanded it, I cannot be privy to a tacit acknowledgment of the principle.
Come with a sword or musket in your hand, prepared to share with us our fate in sunshine and storm, in prosperity and adversity, in plenty and scarcity, and I will welcome you as a brother and associate; but come as you now do, expecting me to ally the reputation and honor of my country and my fellow-soldiers with you, as the representative of the press, which you yourself say makes so slight a difference between truth and falsehood, and my answer is, Never.
W. T. SHERMAN,
HEADQUARTERS FIFTEENTH Army Corps,
Camp near Vicksburg, April 8, 1863.
Major-General GRANT:
DEAR SIR: I received last night the copy of your answer to Mr. Knox's application to return and reside near your headquarters. I thank you for the manner and substance of that reply. Many regard Knox as unworthy the notice he has received. This is true; but I send you his letter to me and my answer. Observe is his letter to me, sent long before I could have heard the result of his application to you, he makes the assertion that you had no objection, but rather wanted him back, and only as a matter of from required my assent. He regretted a difference between a "portion of the army and the press." The insolence of these fellows is insupportable. I know they are encouraged, but I know human nature well enough, and that they will be the first to turn against their patrons. Mr. Lincoln, of course, fears to incur the enmity of the Herald, but he must rule the Herald or the Herald will rule him; he can take his choice.
I have been foolish ad unskillful in drawing on me the shafts of the press. By opposing mob law in California, I once before drew down the press but after the smoke cleared off, and the people saw where they were drifting to, they admitted I was right. If the press be allowed to run riot, and write up and wire down at their pleasure, there is an end to a constitutional government in America, and anarchy must result. Even now the real people of our country begin to fear and tremble at it, and took to our armies as the anchor of safety, of order, submission to authority, bound together by a real Government, and not by the clamor of a demoralized press and crowd of demagogues.
As ever, your friend,
W. T. SHERMAN.
CAMP NEAR VICKSBURG, April 8, 1863.
Mr. HALSTED, Cincinnati:
SIR: As, unhappily, I am singled out of a great mass of men who think as I do, but who have either bowed to the storm or been more lucky in steering their barks clear of the rock of danger, I take the liberty of sending, through Mrs. Sherman, copies of a short correspondence which involves a high moral and political principle. The whole will be plain to you at a glance, and I now propose to call your attention to one phase of it, and trace the logical sequence.
Knox, a citizen, entitled to all the rights of a citizen of any and every kind, a strong, stalwart man, capable of handling a musket, comes into the camp of a major-general who he never saw in person, conversed with, or knew anything about, in open and known violation of his orders, and, dating his matter from the headquarters of a part of this very command, published a string of falsehood, abusive of every servant of the Government, except a small knot of "cunning and knowing ones bred in the same litter." These were heroes; all else were knaves, fools, cowards, everything, and the major-general in command, with commissions from a cadet all the way up the major-general, test by twenty yards' service in every part of this continent, who has managed all manner of business without a stain heretofore, is declared by this youngster and stranger as a mere ass, yea, insane. When called on in person to explain his motive-"Of course, General Sherman, I had not feeling against you personally, but you are regarded the enemy of our set, and we must in self-defense write you down."
When a court-martial banishes him, the President of the United States, upon the personal application of this man, fortified by "respectable persons," sends him back, subject to a condition not dependent on me. Does Knox exhibit any sign of appreciating the real issue? He "regrets" the unhappy difference between a portion of the army and himself. The whole "press" and the sheet, the New York Herald, which he represents will appreciate the fact of my humbling myself to its agent, to my tamely submitting to its insults.
When Mr. Colhoun announced to General Jackson the doctrine of secession, did he bow to the opinion of that respectable source and the vast array of people whom he represented? Numbers He answered, X is treason, death. Had he yielded an inch, the storm would then have swept over this country.
Had Mr. Buchanan met the seizure of our mints and arsenals in the same spirit, he would have kept this war within the limits of actual traitors; but, by temporizing, he gave the time and opportunity or the organization of a rebellion of half the nation. So in this case. The assertion of the principle that the "press" has a right to keep paid agents in our camps, independent of the properly accredited commanders appointed by law, would, if successful, destroy any army, and the certain result would be not only an open, bold, and determined rebellion, but dissension, discord, and mutiny throughout the land and in our very camps. In this point I may be in error, but, for the time being, I am the best judge. I am no enemy to freedom of through, freedom of the "press" and speech, but in all controversies there is a time when discussion must cease and action begin. That time has not only come, but has been in plain, palpable existence for two years. No amount of argument will move the rebellious. They have thrown aide the pen and taken and sword. Though slow to realize this facts, though vacillating in preparation and act, the North must do the same or perish and become the contempt of all mankind. Persons at a distance, who can look back upon the North, see, with pain and sorrow, the dissensions and vain discussions which are kept alive by a free press. In it they see the exercise of an undoubted right-the same that a man has in his own household to burn his books, destroy his furniture, abuse his family,
offend his neighbor-and fear lest the continue in the exercise of the same glorious privilege to maintain his right to personal freedom by burning his house with all its contents.
All I propose to say is that Mr. Lincoln and the press may, in the exercise of their glorious prerogative, tear our country and armies to tatters; but they shall not insult me with impunity in my own camp.
With respect, &c.,
W. T. SHERMAN.