Part 11 (2/2)

[Footnote 202:--Ibid., 612]

[Footnote 203:--Ibid., 832.]

[Footnote 204: Those troops, about five thousand, were left under the command of George W. Deitzler, colonel of the First Kansas (Ibid., 614), a man who had become prominent before the war in connection with the Sharpe's rifles episode (Spring, _Kansas_, 60) and whose appointment as an Indian agent, early in 1861, had been successfully opposed by Lane (Robinson, _Kansas Conflict_, 458).

There will be other occasions to refer to him in this narrative. He is believed to have held the secret that induced Lane to commit suicide in 1866 [Ibid., 457-460].]

[Footnote 205: Stanton to Halleck, March 26, 1862 [_Official Records_, vol. liii, supplement, 516].]

the order for Denver's a.s.signment to duty until further notice.[206]

Stanton, to whom Halleck applied[207] for an explanation, deprecated[208] the political interference of the Kansas senators and the influence it had had with the chief executive, but he, too, had to give way. So effective was the Lane-Pomeroy objection to Denver that even a temporary[209] appointment of him, resorted[210] to by Halleck because of the urgent need of some sort of a commander in Kansas, was deplored by the president.[211] Denver was then sent to the place where his abilities and his experience would be better appreciated, to the southernmost part of the state, the hinterland of the whole Indian country.[212] Official indecision and personal envy pursued him even there, however, and it was not long before he was called eastward.[213] The man who succeeded him in command of the District of Kansas[214] was one who proved to be his ranking officer[215] and his rival, Brigadier-general S.D. Sturgis. Blunt succeeded him at Fort Scott.

[Footnote 206: Lincoln to Halleck, March 21, 1862, _Official Records_, vol. liii, supplement, 516.]

[Footnote 207: Halleck to Stanton, March 26, 1862, Ibid.]

[Footnote 208: ”Deprecated” is, perhaps, too mild a word to describe Stanton's feeling in the matter. Adjutant-general Hitchc.o.c.k is authority for the statement that Stanton threatened ”to leave the office” should the ”enforcement” of any such order, meaning the non-a.s.signment of Denver and the appointment of a man named Davis [Davies?], believed by Robinson to be a relative of Lane [_Kansas Conflict_, 446], be attempted [Hitchc.o.c.k to Halleck, March 22, 1862, _Official Records_, vol. viii, 832-833].]

[Footnote 209:--Ibid., vol. liii, supplement, 519.]

[Footnote 210:--Ibid., vol. viii, 647-648.]

[Footnote 211:--Ibid., vol. liii, supplement, 519.]

[Footnote 212: Concerning the work, mapped out for Denver, see Halleck to Sturgis, April 6, 1862 [_Official Records_, vol. viii, 668]

and Halleck to Stanton, April 7, 1862 [Ibid., 672].]

[Footnote 213: May 14, 1862 [Ibid., vol. iii, part i, supplement, 249].]

[Footnote 214:--Ibid., vol. liii, supplement, 520.]

[Footnote 215: ”It is stated that the commission of Gen. Sturgis is dated April 10 and that of Gen. Denver Aug. 14 and consequently Gen.

Sturgis is the ranking officer in this military District.”--_Daily Conservative_, April 10, 1862.]

The elimination of Kansas as a separate department marked the revival of interest in an Indian expedition. The cost of supporting so huge a body of refugees had really become a serious proposition and, as Colonel C. R. Jennison[216] had once remarked, it would be economy to enlist them.[217] Congress had provided that certain Indian annuity money might be diverted to their maintenance,[218] but that fund was practically exhausted before the middle of March.[219] As already observed, the refugees very much wished to a.s.sist in the recovery of Indian Territory.[220] In fact they were determined to go south if the army went and their disappointment was likely to be most keen in the event of its and their not going.[221] It was under circ.u.mstances such as these that Commissioner Dole recommended to Secretary Smith, March 13, 1862, that he

Procure an order from the War Department detailing two Regiment of Volunteers from Kansas to go with the Indians to their homes and to remain there for their protection as long (as) may be necessary, also to furnish two thousand stand of arms and ammunition to be placed in the hands of the loyal Indians.

Dole's unmistakable earnestness carried the day. Within less than a week there had been promised[222] him all that he had asked for and more, an

[Footnote 216: Jennison, so says the _Daily Conservative_, March 25, 1862, had been ordered with the First Cavalry to repair to Humboldt at the time the Indian Expedition was under consideration the first of the year and was brevetted acting brigadier for the purpose of furthering Dole's intentions.]

[Footnote 217: _Daily Conservative_, February 18, 1862.]

[Footnote 218: _Congressional Globe_, 37th congress, second session, part i, 835, 878.]

[Footnote 219: Dole to Smith, March 13, 1862 [Indian Office _Report Book_, no. 12, 331-332].]

[Footnote 220: Coffin to Dole, March 3, 1862 [Ibid., Consolidated Files, _Southern Superintendency_, C 1544 of 1862; _Letters Registered_, no. 58].]

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