| [205] | Born in Baden, 1824. General Sigel died in New York in 1902, and at the time of his death his services for the Union were highly eulogized. |
| [206] | Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. I., p. 306. |
CHAPTER XXVIII.
the campaigns of 1862.
THE WAR IN THE WEST.
Edwin M. Stanton.
475. Secretary Edwin M. Stanton.—The first very important event of the year 1862 was the substitution of Edwin M. Stanton[[207]] for Simon Cameron, as Secretary of War, January 13. Cameron, who had been a candidate for the Presidential nomination, had been taken into the Cabinet under the policy already referred to (§ [451]), but the duties soon proved too severe for his energy and his years. He was appointed Minister to Russia; and the vacant position was given to Stanton, who, as a War Democrat, had shown his ability and his spirit as Attorney-General in Buchanan’s reorganized Cabinet. Stanton at once put new life into the War Department. He was, at times, exceedingly disagreeable in his methods, but he was the terror of evil doers; and to the end of the war his marvelous energy and remarkable administrative ability made themselves felt in every branch of the service. It is doubtful if there has been any greater Minister of War in modern times.
476. Military Organization in the West.—Activities in the field began with very vigorous movements in the West. The Confederates, under General Albert Sidney Johnston (§ [478]), had established a strong line in southern Kentucky, extending from Columbus to Mill Spring. They had also constructed, as already described (§ [461]), two strong forts in Tennessee, just south of the Kentucky line,—Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland. The organization of the Northern army in the West introduced a change in the spring of 1862. The Department of the Mississippi, which included Missouri, Arkansas, and so much of Kentucky as was west of the Cumberland River, under Major General H. W. Halleck, and the Department of the Ohio, which included the eastern parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, under Major General Don Carlos Buell, were consolidated on the 11th of March, 1862, into one department, and placed under Halleck, who thus received command of all the forces throughout the West, consisting of somewhat more than one hundred thousand men. Ulysses S. Grant,[[208]] who began his distinguished career in this war as colonel, had been advanced to brigadier general in consequence of a prompt and successful seizure of Cairo, and was now, though under the direction of Halleck, in command of the middle branch of the army, while Buell commanded the eastern section.
