t testimony exists proving Miss Carroll's authorship of the
plan, in letters from Hon. B. F. Wade,[3] Chairman of the Committee on
the Conduct of the War; from Hon. Thos. A. Scott, Assistant Secretary
of War; from Hon. L. D. Evans, former Chief-Justice of the Supreme
Court of Texas (entrusted by the Government with an important secret
mission during the war); from Hon. Orestes A. Bronson, and many other
well-known public men; from conversations of President Lincoln and
Secretary Stanton; and from reports of the Military Committee of the
XLI., XLII., and XLVI. Congresses.[4] So anxious was the Government to
keep the origin of the Tennessee campaign a secret, that Col. Scott,
in conversation with Judge Evans, a personal friend of Miss Carroll,
pressed upon him the absolute necessity of Miss Carroll's making no
claim to the authorship while the struggle lasted. In the plenitude of
her self-sacrificing patriotism she remained silent, and saw the
honors rightfully belonging to her heaped upon others, although she
knew the country was indebted to her for its salvation.

Previous to 1862 historians reckoned but fifteen decisive battles[5]
in the world's history, battles in which, says Hallam, a contrary
result would have essentially varied the drama of the world in all its
subsequent scenes. Professor Cressy, of the chair of Ancient and
Modern History, University of London, has made these battles the
subject of two grand volumes. The battle of Fort Henry was the
sixteenth, and in its effects may well be deemed the most important of
all.[6] It opened the doors of liberty to the downtrodden and
oppressed among all nations, setting a seal of permanence on the
assertion that self-government is the natural right of every person.

But it was not alone through her plan of the Tennessee campaign that
Miss Carroll exhibited her military genius; throughout the conflict
she continued to send plans and suggestions to the War Department. The
events of history prove the wisdom of those plans, and that had they
been strictly followed, the war would have been brought to a speedy
close,[7] and millions of men and money saved to the country.

Upon the fall of Fort Henry, February, 1862, she again addressed the
War Department, advising an immediate advance upon Mobile or
Vicksburg. In March, 1862, she presented a memorial and maps to
Secretary Stanton in person, in regard to the reduction of Island 10,
which had long been a vain effort by the