rn
integrity, exalted patriotism, and enlightened statesmanship," Edward
Bates, born in Virginia, married into a South Carolina family, and long
resident in Missouri. A first draught of this letter is in Eads's
handwriting. When the new cabinet was formed, Bates, a personal friend
of Lincoln's as well as of Eads's, was given a position in it, that of
attorney-general. It was he who, three days after Sumter was fired on,
wrote the letter, already quoted, telling Eads to expect a telegram
calling him to Washington for consultation on the best method of
defending and occupying the Western rivers. Eads himself was by this
time no believer in a defensive policy for the government. After Sumter
he had already written to Bates advocating determined and vigorous
measures. So, when the telegram soon followed the letter, he was glad
to hasten to Washington in order to be of use. There he was introduced
to the Secretary and to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

The importance of controlling the Mississippi River was well seen by
the great strategist, Lincoln, who called it "the backbone of the
rebellion"--"the key to the whole situation." If it could be held by
the government, the Confederacy could neither move its troops up and
down it, nor--thus cut in half--could it bring over from Texas and
Arkansas the many men and the quantities of food greatly needed by its
armies east of the river. Realizing this, the Confederacy was already
beginning to fortify the Mississippi and the Ohio with its branches. To
dislodge the rebels Bates proposed a fleet of gunboats. The Secretary
of War, however, thinking this idea of gunboats either useless or
impracticable, showed at first no interest in the plan. But at the
request of the Secretary of the Navy, who realized the importance of
the subject, Eads prepared a statement of his views, embodying Bates's
project. In it he also suggested, besides the best kind of boats for
the service, batteries, to be erected at several points. Commodore
Paulding, on reading this statement, at once reported in favor of it.
Suddenly, the Secretary of War, when he saw that the scheme was coming
to something, claimed jurisdiction over the whole matter, but finally
he agreed to order the same officer already appointed for the purpose
by the Navy to go west with Eads and purchase vessels to be armed. All
necessary approvals having been made, the two went to Cairo, where they
examined the Benton, one of the former