Butler was unchangeable. He got all his troops aboard, except Curtis's
brigade, and started back. In doing this, Butler made a fearful
mistake. My instructions to him, or to the officer who went in command
of the expedition, were explicit in the statement that to effect a
landing would be of itself a great victory, and if one should be
effected, the foothold must not be relinquished; on the contrary, a
regular siege of the fort must be commenced and, to guard against
interference by reason of storms, supplies of provisions must be laid in
as soon as they could be got on shore. But General Butler seems to have
lost sight of this part of his instructions, and was back at Fort Monroe
on the 28th.
I telegraphed to the President as follows:
CITY POINT, VA., Dec. 28, 1864.--8.30 P.M.
The Wilmington expedition has proven a gross and culpable failure. Many
of the troops are back here. Delays and free talk of the object of the
expedition enabled the enemy to move troops to Wilmington to defeat it.
After the expedition sailed from Fort Monroe, three days of fine weather
were squandered, during which the enemy was without a force to protect
himself. Who is to blame will, I hope, be known.
U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.
Porter sent dispatches to the Navy Department in which he complained
bitterly of having been abandoned by the army just when the fort was
nearly in our possession, and begged that our troops might be sent back
again to cooperate, but with a different commander.
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