January 12, 1863
“I intended proposing to you this morning, and forgot it, that Schurz and Stahl should both be Maj. Genls. Schurz to take Sigel’s old corps, and Stahl to command Cavalry,” wrote President Lincoln to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. “They, together with Sigel, are our sincere friends; and while so much may seem rather large, any thing less is too small. I think it better be done.”
President Lincoln wrote Judge-Advocate General Joseph Holt: “The Judge-Advocate-General is instructed to revise the proceedings of the court-martial in the case of Maj.-Gen. Fitz John Porter, and to report fully upon any legal questions that may have arisen in them, and upon the bearing of the testimony in reference to the charges and specifications exhibited against the accused and upon which he was tried.”
The failure of General John McClernand’s military operation around Vicksburg disturbs the Lincoln Administration. Historian Kenneth P. Williams wrote: ““Because of a shortage of boats the dispatch to McClernand was not sent until the 13th,, but at 3:30 P.M. of the 11th this telegram went to [General Henry W.] Halleck: ‘General McClernand has fallen back to White River, and gone on a wild-goose chase to the Post of Arkansas. I am ready to re-enforce, but must await further information before knowing what to do.” Williams added: ““Swift indeed was the reaction in Washington, and the next day Halleck telegraphed to Grant: ‘You are hereby authorized to relieve General McClernand from command of the expedition against Vicksburg, giving it to the next in rank or taking it yourself.’” McClernand had never been liked by West Pointers like Halleck, Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman so his replacement would not be lamented.
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War 
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