[Footnote 26: Stanton had been the bitterest of Democrats. The Republicans then knew nothing certainly of his course in Buchanan's Cabinet. His appointment surprised the Senate. Wade knew and endorsed him there. That was sufficient.--_Riddle's Life of Wade._]
Yours of the 22nd is at hand and its contents noticed, but I cannot perceive, myself, that it is necessary for you to procure any further testimony to prove to all unprejudiced minds that you were the first to discover the importance of the Tennessee river in a military point of view, and was the first to discover that said river was navigable for heavy gunboats; and to ascertain these important facts you made a journey to that region, and with great labor and expense, by examination of pilots and others, and that with these facts you drew up a plan of campaign which you, I think, first exhibited to Colonel Scott, who was then Assistant Secretary of War, which was shown to the President and Mr. Stanton, which information and plan caused the immediate change of the campaign from the Mississippi to the Tennessee river, and this change, with all the immense advantages to the national cause, was solely due to your labor and sagacity. I do not regard it as an impeachment of the military sagacity of the officers on either side that they had not seen all this before, but I suppose none of them knew or believed the Tennessee river to be navigable for such craft, for had the Confederate officers known all this it would have been easy for them to have so fortified its banks as to have made such an expedition impossible.
Now all the above facts are proved beyond doubt, unless the witnesses are impeached; but all should bear in mind that when the Government had concluded to make this important change from the Mississippi to the Tennessee the utmost secrecy was absolutely necessary or the whole plan might have been frustrated by the enemy, and it was so kept that even members of Congress and Senators never could ascertain who was entitled to the honor of the plan, as can be seen by their endeavors to find out by consulting the Congressional Globe, etc. * * * Where is Judge Evans and how is his health? I am anxious to hear from him, whom I regard as one of the best of men. Give him my best respects.