378 II ALLEGE, HENRY W. 



HASTINGS, THOMAS. 



feat which his forces had encountered at Shi- 

 loh, are taken into account, a caution, which 

 might seem slow, was not the worst of faults ; 

 and though this caution may have been exces- 

 sive, as it was apt to be in generals who had 

 been trained in the Engineer Corps, yet it was 

 certainly preferable to that headlong haste 

 which, too often, during the war, led to the 

 ruin of some of the choicest troops. The -au- 

 thorities at Washington seem to have enter- 

 tained this view of his action ; for they were 

 so thoroughiy satisfied with his course, that 

 they called him to the capital to take the re- 

 sponsible position of General-in-Chief of the 

 Armies of the United States. He was re- 

 luctant to assume this office, and it was only 

 when peremptory orders were issued that he 

 consented to relinquish his Western command. 

 Reluctantly leaving Corinth, to which he 

 hoped to return again to enter upon the great 

 work of opening the Mississippi and crushing 

 the Confederacy in the Southwest, Halleck 

 reached Washington July 23, 1862, and at once 

 assumed command as General-in-Chief of all 

 the Armies of the United States. The first 

 problem presented was, how safely to unite 

 the two Eastern armies in the field, so as to 

 cover the capital, and make common head 

 against the enemy then interposed between 

 them, and ready to be thrown at will on either. 

 Honest differences of opinions of able generals 

 existed as to the best measures to be adopted 

 to accomplish the desired end, which it is un- 

 necessary here to rediscuss ; and the brief lim- 

 its of this sketch will not permit following in 

 detail the after-reverses and glories of the 

 magnificent Army of the Potomac, nor the 

 brilliant triumphs of the leaders whom Gen- 

 eral Halleck had left in the West. Suffice it to 

 say that the General-in-Chief entered upon 

 the duties of his high office with heart and 

 soul devoted to the preservation of the Union, 

 and gave the utmost of his eminent abilities, 

 energy, and unremitting industry, to his coun- 

 try's cause. Often compelled to assume re- 

 sponsibilities which belonged to others, con- 

 stantly having to tlnvart the purposes of self- 

 ish schemers, and always constrained to be ret- 

 icent upon public affairs, which many desired 

 to have divulged, Halleck, like all men in high 

 stations in time of trial, soon became a target 

 for the shafts of the envious, the disloyal ; and 

 the disappointed Congress, in recognition of 

 General Grant's campaigns of Vicksburg and 

 Chattanooga, revived the grade of lieutenant- 

 general. Though a desire was manifested in 

 high places, in some way, to retain General Hal- 

 leck in the performance of his high functions, 

 he at once insisted that compliance should be 

 made with the obvious intentions of the law, 

 and that, being senior in rank, Grant must 

 necessarily be General-in-Chief. However, 

 Halleck remained at Washington from March 

 12, 1864, to April 19, 1865, as Chief -of- 

 Staff of the Army, under the orders of the 

 Secretary of War and the General-in-Chief, 



performing much of the same duties as before 

 had devolved upon him at headquarters. 

 From April 22 to July 1, 1865, he was in com- 

 mand of the Military Division of the James, 

 with headquarters at Richmond. Upon the 

 termination of hostilities, and the disband- 

 ment of the volunteer forces, Halleck was or- 

 dered to the Military Division of the Pacific, 

 of which he took command August 30, 1865, 

 and March 16, 1869, was transferred to that of 

 the South, which he retained till his death. 

 It is unnecessary to say that, both at San Fran- 

 cisco and Louisville, he ably, energetically, and 

 economically, carried out the requirements of 

 the Government. The satisfaction he gave in 

 his late command cannot be better expressed 

 than in the words of an intelligent observer, 

 residing at Louisville, who says in a private 

 note : " Of all men who have been in command 

 here, General Halleck was the best liked. He 

 was not only a good soldier, but a statesman 

 and a gentleman, and I am thoroughly con- 

 vinced that, if there had been a, Halleck in 

 command of every department in the South 

 and Southwest, we would long since have 

 ceased to hear of outrages consequent upon 

 the 'late unpleasantness.' " 



General Halleck had a strong, clear intellect, 

 which enabled him to take a comprehensive 

 grasp of the various important matters pre- 

 sented to his consideration, and was sustained 

 in his conclusions by a most assiduous indus- 

 try and self-reliant perseverance. Indeed, de- 

 termination was his most marked character- 

 istic, evinced in a calm firmness, which neither 

 entreaty or persuasion could move from its 

 fixed purpose. With these was united a mod- 

 esty, almost shyness, and thus, perhaps, he 

 did himself injustice, as his sensitiveness to the 

 value of sincerity caused him often to repel rath- 

 er than be deemed insincere. This known tem- 

 perament secured him the most valuable esti- 

 mation of his instructed and ablest fellow-offi- 

 cers. His dryness of manner was no argu- 

 ment of want of heart, for, indeed, he was a 

 warm, true, loyal friend, and, in the inner cir- 

 cle of his life, was tender and playful, showing 

 a keen sense of humor. His home was a scene 

 of perfect happiness and kind hospitality. Of 

 children he was fond ; iiad an ardent love of 

 Nature, and indulged the expectation of clos- 

 ing his latter hours in a retreat in the beauti- 

 ful region south of San Francisco, looking on 

 the Pacific Ocean. 



HASTINGS, THOMAS, an eminent musical 

 composer and author, music-teacher and hymn- 

 writer, born in Washington, Litchfield County. 

 Conn., October 15, 1784; died in New York 

 City, May 15, 1872. When he was twelve 

 years old, his parents removed to Clinton, 

 Oneida County, N. Y., then an almost un- 

 broken wilderness. His father was a physi- 

 cian, and of his ten children, four, of whom 

 the subject of this sketch was one, were al- 

 binos. The hard work of the farm in a new 

 and sparsely-settled town was very trying to 



