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Chapter 6: Mobile Bay and Reconstruction
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Chapter 6 Mobile Bay and Reconstruction So o n after the Federals marched into Savannah, Joseph Osterhaus learned of “Black Jack” Logan’s imminent return to the Fifteenth Corps and spoke with Army of the Tennessee commander Oliver O. Howard about his own next assignment. Osterhaus was an excellent division commander, but he was well aware that going back to his old First Division was problematic. At this point, Charles Woods had commanded the division for several months, both during the fiercest of the fighting around Atlanta and on the fall campaigns ending in Savannah. No one, including Osterhaus, wanted to return Woods to brigade command after such a fine performance. Assuming command of another corps was not an option, either. There were no corps commands available in Howard’s army, and, although Osterhaus outranked three of Sherman’s other corps commanders, he did not care for that level of command enough to pursue the issue. Osterhaus was somewhat philosophical about his unsettled situation: I had in the course of the war been promoted to the highest rank I could aspire to; being in the political as well as public life an utterly unknown person— homo novus—it was almost a necessity that my military career should come to its close soon. Considering the situation of my friends and comrades and being aware, that disputes about rank had been raised, I concluded it the best means to avoid all difficult personal questions, to apply for a change in my employment . In a discussion about the matter with General O. O. Howard, in whose sincerity and uprightness I always had the greatest confidence, I thought to understand him to be of my opinion, and I acted accordingly.1 Osterhaus’s comment about being “an utterly unknown person,” or outsider without connections, reflected the feelings of alienation he had experienced in Sherman’s high command. Clearly weary with army politics, he was reluctant to stir the resentment that had surrounded his promotion to major general the previous summer by asking to replace a division commander less senior. Instead, he asked for reassignment. Secretary of War Stanton was in Savannah at the time; 179 180 Yankee Warhorse no doubt, Howard took the opportunity to confer with him about Osterhaus. Perhaps to formalize these discussions, the same day that Logan returned to duty Howard wrote a most complimentary letter to Stanton on behalf of Osterhaus: “I wish to commend to you again Major-General Osterhaus for a brave, energetic , and faithful soldier. He has been of essential service to me during the last two campaigns, where he added new luster to a reputation already national. If you could assign him to a field of labor suited to his taste and talents, I feel sure that he would honor the Government and perform his trust with assiduity.”2 Logan relieved Osterhaus of command on January 8, 1865, and shortly afterward the general was on his way back home to St. Louis and his bride for a welcome month’s leave while his reassignment was being considered in Washington . His new orders, arriving on February 16, came as a pleasant surprise: Stanton had assigned him to be chief of staff to Maj. Gen. Edmund R. S. Canby, headquartered at New Orleans. For the first time Osterhaus would not be in field command, but this new role might be interesting. Taking leave of his family, the general passed through Washington, D.C., before he reported to Canby, chatting with both Grant and President Lincoln while he was there. Given the nature of the assignment, Grant may have had specific instructions for Osterhaus regarding his new posting.3 Once again Osterhaus was to serve a commander who was under a cloud, an assignment that in this case made a lot of sense for the War Department. Canby was an integral part of Grant’s grand plan for winning the war, but so far had not performed as Grant had expected. Perhaps Osterhaus could lend some practical expertise that would get him moving. Canby, a good friend of Sherman’s, had been a mediocre West Pointer (ranking dead last in his class in artillery). In 1862 his small command had managed to convince the Confederates to abandon their designs on New Mexico Territory, even though Canby did not win a battle. The next eighteen months he spent behind a desk in the Adjutant General ’s Office in Washington and in command of the City of New York during the...