"Rottenness in Every Direction": The Stokes Investigation in Civil War New Orleans

"ROTTENNESS IN EVERY DIRECTION": The Stokes Investigation in Civil War New Orleans Elisabeth Joan Doyle Recent news stories relating instances of dishonesty among high officers of the United States Army reminds us once more that not all those charged with leading the defenders of freedom are simon pure. Certainly this was the case during the Civil War when corruption among Federal officers not only threatened to scandalize the nation (and delight the enemy), but, in the view of some commanders, seriously to impede the war effort. Efforts to root out these instances of corruption were made throughout the war—usually on a local level by area commanders; but some were conducted on a wider scale, with the investigators reporting directly to Headquarters of the Army in Washington. One of this type was the investigation of the Quarter Master Department carried on in the Department of the Gulf in 1864 at the instigation of General Grant himself. Late in 1863, convinced that Major General William H. Rosecrans was not going to be able to drive the Confederates out of East Tennessee , President Lincoln made sweeping changes in the command structure in the West. He placed all the military departments and armies in that region under the command of the victor of Vicksburg, Ulysses S. Grant. As commander of the new Department of the West, with authority to make any changes in command that he felt necessary, Grant almost at once relieved the indecisive Rosecrans.1 The changes gave Grant a good deal to think about. Concerned as he now was with the entire war effort, however Grant did not forget a western problem that had been nagging him for some time—the disquieting rumors about widespread peculation among quarter masters in his new Division, especially in the Department of the Gulf. Grant had visited New Orleans after the fall of Port Hudson in the spring of 1863 and may have been struck, as later visitors were, by the luxurious lifestyle of many of the Federal officers here. Or he may have been alerted by the comments of such subordinates as General C. C. Washburn, who later remarked that he had "personally reported the biggest thief on this continent, who is a Quarter Master in the Dept. of the Gulf."2 1 T. Harry Williams, Lincoln and His Generals (New York, 1952), pp. 284-85. 2 Ibid., p. 285; Washburn to C. A. Dana, Memphis, Dec. 4, 1864, in Letters Re24 STOKES investigation25 In any case, it was not a new problem for Grant, who had had disillusioning experiences with quarter masters as early as 1861. In February , 1864, he wrote Major General Henry Halleck that he had become convinced that "there was much useless extravagance in the quartermaster 's department . . . and probable peculation. . . ." He had consequently applied to the Quarter Master General, Montgomery Meigs, he said "to detail an honest and experienced officer of the Department to inspect." Meigs must have confirmed Grant's worst suspicions when he replied he had no such officer available but that Grant should appoint one of his own choice.3 Grant consequently chose Captain James H. Stokes, an artillery officer and commander of the Chicago Board of Trade Battery, for the post. He described Stokes as "an old officer of the regular army and also of the Quartermaster's Department," whom General George H. Thomas regarded as "one of his most efficient officers." Grant felt Stokes was "eminently fitted" for the duty, though it would be "a disagreeable one for him." Thomas had recommend Stokes' promotion to the rank of brigadier general, and Grant concurred in this; but if a promotion of that nature was not possible, he thought Stokes should at least be made a quarter master and a lieutenant colonel of volunteers.4 James Hughes Stokes, who drew the unpleasant assignment of reporting on his brother officers, was a native of Maryland. He graduated in the middle of his West Point class in 1835 and for eight years served as a second and first lieutenant of artillery in Florida and New York. In 1838 he also was assigned to quarter master duty and continued in this service untilhis resignation in 1843. After leaving...