Grant's drinking in focus after Federal failures

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By the autumn of 1862, the "On to Richmond" euphoria with which the North had greeted the Civil War was gone.

Although Gen. Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North had been repulsed at Antietam, there was a growing suspicion in the North that Federal generals compared unfavorably with those of the Confederacy.

Because the bravery of Union soldiery was not in question, the explanation for Federal setbacks was perceived as being with its leadership.

It was during this period of questioning that, in Mississippi, two Union forces let an opportunity slip through their fingers. The Confederate high command was eager that no portion of Ulysses S. Grant's army, camped along the Mississippi-Tennessee border, be allowed to reinforce Gen. Don Carlos Buell, who was confronting a Confederate army in Kentucky.

To achieve this objective, Gen. Braxton Bragg, the senior Confederate commander, ordered Gen. Sterling Price to occupy the town of Luka, Miss., which he did on Sept. 14. Learning of Price's move, Grant ordered Gen. William S. Rosecrans to recapture the town, which he did on Sept. 19. In a small but sharp clash, the Federals inflicted double their own casualties, but the outnumbered Confederates were able to slip away to the south.

While the battle raged, a Federal force commanded by Gen. E.O.C. Ord stood nearby, but an acoustic shadow -- one of several during the war -- prevented him from hearing the noise of battle.

Price's escape raised new questions about the North's military leaders, and Grant was one target. On Sept. 28, a St. Louis lawyer named Franklin A. Dick wrote to a fellow Missourian, Attorney General Edward Bates, about Grant's supposed drinking:

"Seeing it stated that the late attack by Rosecrans upon Price at Luka failed for want of cooperation by Genl Grant, I consider it my duty to state that General Grant was drunk in St. Louis on Friday the 26th. I did not see him myself, but Henry T. Blow met & talked with him, and stated to me that the Genl was 'as tight as a tick.'

"Believing, as I do, that much of our ill success results from drunken officers, I intend to do my duty in reporting such crime upon their part, so that the facts may reach those who have power to apply the remedy."

The charge against Grant was hardly a new one. His reputation as a hard drinker in the Old Army had pursued him as a wartime commander, his splendid victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson notwithstanding. After the battle at Luka, the correspondent for the Cincinnati Commercial wrote, "When we contemplated that 'drunkenness in high places' prevented us from capturing Price ... the enthusiasm of victory was cooled very much indeed."