304 



CONGRESS, U. S. 



movement of our troops at Ball's Bluff, and to trans- 

 mit to you a report of the Adjutant General of the 

 United States Army, from which you will perceive 

 that a compliance with the resolution, at this time, 

 would, in the opinion of the General-in-Chief, be in- 

 jurious to the public service. 



Very respectfully, SIMON CAMERON, 



Secretary of War. 

 Hon. G. A. GKOW, 



Speaker of the House of Representatives. 



HEADQUARTERS or THE ABMY, 



ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, 



WASHINGTON, December 11, 1861. 



SIR : In compliance with your instructions I have 

 the honor to report, in reference to the resolution of 

 the honorable the House of Eepreentatives, received the 

 3d instant, " that the Secretary of War be requested, 

 if not incompatible with the public interest, to report 

 to this House whether any, and if any what, measures 

 have been taken to ascertain who is responsible for the 

 disastrous movement of our troops at Ball's Bluff; " 

 that the General-in-Chief of the Army is of opinion 

 an inquiry on the subject of the resolution would, at 

 this time, be injurious to the public service. The 

 resolution is herewith respectfully returned. 



Respectfully submitted, L. THOMAS. 



Adjutant General. 



Hon. SECRETARY OF\VAK, Washington: 



Therefore, 



Resolved, That the said answer is not responsive, nor 

 satisfactory to the House, and that the Secretary be 

 directed to return a further answer. 



Mr. Conkling, on introducing the resolution, 

 entered into a description of the scenes at 

 Ball's Bluff, on the day of the battle, and a 

 statement of his conclusions relative to that 

 conflict, and concluded by saying, that his par- 

 ticular object was to learn whether the mili- 

 tary authorities had in any manner looked into 

 the proceedings on Oct. 21. 



Mr. Richardson, of Illinois, followed, saying: 

 "After the experiences of this House, it be- 

 comes its dignity to inquire whether we have 

 the right and power to apply correctives to 

 what we find wrong. On the first day of this 

 session gentlemen, without consideration, with- 

 out consultation, without the deliberation of 

 the House, pledged themselves to do certain 

 things in relation to the arrest of Mason and 

 Slidell. The authorities, who in this Govern- 

 ment had control of the matter, have not backed 

 you up in it. What position do you occupy? 

 Is your dignity vindicated ? Have we main- 

 tained our own self-respect? If not, why? 

 We have interfered with matters which did not 

 belong to us, and over which we have no con- 

 trol. 



" What does the gentleman from New York 

 propose to do now? He proposes to investi- 

 gate the disaster at Ball's Bluff. Suppose you 

 find that somebody now living is at fault : 

 what are you going to do next ? Discuss it 

 before a town meeting ? Is that the way you 

 conduct armies, fight battles, and carry on wars ? 

 It is unheard of in our legislation. We must 

 trust something to the other departments of 

 the Government. 



" This House may subject the matter to an 

 investigation of a committee ; it may determine 

 that certain persons are responsible, but the 



Commanding General, the War Department, the 

 ofiicers to whom we must trust the manage- 

 ment of our armies, may differ with the House 

 of Representatives." 



Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, opposed the 

 resolution and said : "The general question is 

 this : Will the House interfere in the conduct 

 of the war and the management of the army by 

 the investigation of transactions through its 

 committees, which transactions are in their 

 nature and character purely military? Have 

 you the power to do so ? Congress has power 

 to declare war, to raise armies. What further 

 power in the matter does the Constitution give 

 to it? What power over the command and 

 management of these armies has Congress? 

 The President is the Commander-in-Chief. 

 When you have declared war, announced its 

 object, and raised armies, those armies pass 

 under the command of the President of the 

 United States, for the execution of the purpose 

 of Congress." 



Mr. Crittenden then proceeded to speak of 

 the consequences of such interference upon the 

 army and its officers. 



Mr. Vallandigham, of Ohio, dissented from 

 the view of the previous speaker, and said : 

 " But I rose, sir, not merely to explain my vote, 

 but suggest a second time, as I did the other 

 day, that hereafter all resolutions of a similar 

 import should be made to conform to the rule 

 of this House, and that the responsibility which 

 these Executive Departments owe to this House 

 shall be rigidly enforced. Let us yield not an 

 inch, especially at a time when executive power 

 in its most dangerous form the military 

 threatens the civil authorities with utter subor- 

 dination, if not permanent overthrow. I dis- 

 sent, very respectfully but totally, from the un- 

 constitutional and dangerous doctrines of the 

 gentleman from Kentucky ; and I congratulate 

 the country also, that gentlemen of the majori- 

 ty are beginning already, no matter from what 

 motives, to fall back upon the very principles 

 for maintaining which I have for months past 

 been falsely and impudently denounced as an 

 enemy to my country." 



Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, protested also against 

 the doctrine of the member from Kentucky, on 

 the ground that there was a clause in the Con- 

 stitution, which provided that the military 

 should be subject to the civil authority, and then 

 proceeded to remark upon the conduct of the 

 war. He said : " I do not think that the want 

 of success in our military operations is owing 

 so much to this general or that general, to the 

 want of military skill in this officer or that 

 officer, as to other causes. Although, by the 

 way, the gentleman deprecates transforming 

 civilians into military men, and military men 

 into civilians, I will say that we have been 

 familiar with such transformations ever since 

 we have been a nation. The two leading gen- 

 erals in our army were civilians when this war 

 broke out one in California, arid one in Illinois ; 

 and a large proportion of the officers of the 



