Another cause of anxiety to General Stevens was the delay of the Senate in confirming his appointment as brigadier-general. The confirmation was held up by Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, chairman of the Military Committee, in consequence of numerous anonymous letters to him and other senators, written from the Department of the South, charging that General Stevens was unsound on the slavery question. But when General Sherman reached Washington and indignantly refuted these slanders, described the able handling of his troops at Port Royal Ferry, and the fine condition to which he had brought his brigade; and Messrs. Pierce, French, and Suydam, the treasury agents, abolitionists themselves, bore willing witness to his patriotic spirit and the ungrudging assistance he had given them,—Wilson assented to the confirmation. Senators Fessenden, John P. Hale, Rice, Nesmith, and others strongly stood up for him, and on April 12 it was made without further delay.
Note.—Admiral Dupont’s fleet-captain, Charles Henry Davis, in a letter written soon after the naval victory at Port Royal, declares that the true way of attacking Charleston is “by lines of water communication from St. Helena Sound; and, if you will observe, South Edisto, North Edisto, and Stono rivers and inlets afford the means of lateral support to an army moving towards Charleston by vessels of the navy,” etc. Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral, p. 174.
On the arrival of the new commanders, the admiral, waiving rank in order to expedite matters, consented to put himself in official communication with General Benham; but he soon had occasion to call General Hunter’s attention to the tone and character of one of Benham’s letters, and to withdraw the concession.
In a subsequent letter to Hunter the admiral remarks: “I have, however, to take exception to the attempt of General Benham to attribute his inability to meet his own arrangements to any shortcomings on my part.” Official Dispatches of Admiral Dupont, pp. 172–183.
Lieut. Wm. T. Lusk, Lieut. Abraham Cottrell, —-- —--, Major George S. Kemble, Capt. B.F. Porter, Capt. Hazard Stevens, General Stevens, Lieut. Benj. R. Lyons
GENERAL STEVENS AND STAFF
CHAPTER LII
JAMES ISLAND CAMPAIGN AGAINST CHARLESTON
General Hunter, busy in proclaiming martial law and freedom, and in raising a black army by conscription, with which he hoped to strike a blow into the vitals of the Confederacy in the future, decided for the present simply to maintain a defensive attitude.