[March 15th] Colonel Zook returned from leave of absence on March 12th, and all were delighted to see him. He is confident of obtaining his promotion, he says, and intends to get transferred to the Western army, if possible, so that he may have an independent command. I am to go wherever he goes, which suits me exactly. The day following his return, brigade drills were resumed and some splendid field days followed. Hancock occasionally drills the division, and on such occasions usually does a lot of swearing. Zook is his particular bete noir and it is amusing to hear them go for each other. As swearing is contrary to the regulations, Zook, who cannot easily be beaten in that line, always gives as good as he gets without fear of consequences, and the officers think it great fun. Hancock is very hot headed; sometimes goes off at half cock, but is a magnificent soldier and a terror to adjutants, having a singular penchant for going over everything himself about two or three times a week. He usually goes into his adjutant’s office about 11 P. M. and asks for the books, papers and correspondence, when an immediate tempest invariably occurs, and the adjutant general is badgered in great style. From whatever brigade a paper may come from that is not to his mind, he immediately sends for its adjutant, who must get out of bed, order his horse, dress himself, and report without the least delay to the irate general. Although I pride myself on the methodical way we do things at our headquarters, I am frequently called out of a snug bed on some of these nocturnal office inspections. The general usually pitches into us right and left, utterly indifferent to choice of language, and will sometimes keep us an hour or more. Whenever he has been extremely brusque, he is sure to calm down in the end and become very gracious. He never forgets a face, and is always more than ready to give everybody credit for what they do, and has complimented me many times on my office, and more than once declared that it was unequaled. He was a quartermaster for many years, and can’t get over his taste for military papers.
Some of the documents passing through headquarters are very interesting, a large number being pathetic appeals made directly to the President for the pardon of some condemned soldier from a mother or sister living, perhaps, in the most remote corner of the country. Every direct appeal to the President is certain of consideration, no matter how obscure the writer, and the letter is at once referred, through the Secretary of War, to the immediate commanding officer for full particulars, with the written opinion of every general officer through whom it passes endorsed upon it, so that by the time it gets back into the President’s hands, he has a complete epitome of the case, and can act understandingly. Whenever there is the slightest excuse for exercising clemency, the culprit is sure to benefit by it, as the President dislikes martial law and is very tender hearted.
Papers of this sort coming down for information have to be registered, indexed, and promptly forwarded to their ultimate destination, and not only this, but kept in mind in case of delay at any headquarters. The regimental commanding officer having referred the paper to the company commander, he, who is the father of his men and knows the history of every one of them, endorses in concise form the particulars of the case with his opinion as to what ought to be done, and then returns it to the regimental commander, who in his turn sends it to brigade, and so through division, corps, and army headquarters to the Secretary of War, and thus back to the President, every headquarters in the meantime, making any remarks on the case they think proper. Sometimes these letters come along with more than a dozen endorsements. Some of them are unique and sometimes amusing.
We have a couple of capital clerks at our headquarters, who besides being beautiful writers, are methodical and very capable. Swartz, in particular, is a most faithful and valuable man. Since General Hooker assumed command, we have frequently seen him, and he appears to be looking after affairs. He is a fine appearing soldier, with smooth shaven face, and, as a division commander, has been very successful. He is a high liver, has a reputation for gallantry, and keeps a good many society people about his headquarters. Anything, of course, is an improvement on Burnside and we all hope Hooker may prove a success.
I saw it stated the other day that the newspapers had killed off McClellan. How curious it is, that people should be so obtuse! McClellan killed himself. The newspapers gave him a reputation gratuitously, before he had ever marched a man out of camp, and when the test came he was found wanting, and although favored beyond all other men, ultimately found his level and has dropped out of sight.
