The Georgia in the Civil War Message Board

Re: quote from General Lew Wallace

Lew Wallace died in 1905. New Mexico became a State in 1912. He was however the governor of the New Mexico Territory for awhile.

In my opinion in the category of Union political generals Lew Wallace was one of the better ones.

Although he had no military training he was in the Mexican War and while there had a deep hatred for Jefferson Davis. The 1st Mississippi Rifles commanded by Colonel Davis pointed out that the Indiana soldiers may have been responsible for a military blunder during one of the engagements and it ended up that a blemish followed the Indiana soldiers. Lew Wallace used this most effectively while giving speeches and recruiting Union soldiers from Indiana early in the War Between the States.

The people of Columbus, Ohio were frightened of the Union paroled prisoners at Camp Chase because they had threatened to burn down the city. Lew Wallace wanted to know after he arrived in Columbus why Union paroled troops at Camp Chase would want to burn down a Union city. He would find his answers. The citizens of Columbus wanted to know if Wallace had brought his army but the answer was no only his staff.

Many of the Union paroled POW at Camp Chase had came from the result of the Battle of Richmond, Kentucky on August 29 and 30, 1862. This battle was perhaps the most one sided perfect battles for the Confederacy.

Secretary of War Stanton blamed the Union soldiers for giving up; after all it could not be because of their generals. This Stanton mindset carried over to some people in the North.

Never having saw combat the 88th Ohio Infantry were the guards at Camp Chase. Many of the Union paroled POW's taken during the Battle of Richmond, Kentucky had been Union soldiers from Kentucky and Tennessee. Using Stanton's mindset this must be the reason why massive Union paroled POW's ended up at Camp Chase; they had just given up and besides they were from Kentucky and Tennessee not the most loyal of Union States.

Almost all Civil War paroled prisoners knew about the Dix-Hill Cartel and what they could and could not do.

More on following post.

Messages In This Thread

quote from General Lew Wallace
Re: quote from General Lew Wallace
Re: quote from General Lew Wallace
Re: quote from General Lew Wallace