^^ ^ ^^^^^~~~




PEOPLE'S EDITION.
LIFE  AND  PUBLIC SERVICES
OF
ULYSSES S. GRANT,
FROM HIS BIRTH TO THE PRESENT TIME,
AND
A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
HON. HENRY WILSON.
BY
CHARLES A. PHELPS.
(mbhlltcTb t itf    a  ijteel  ortrait, a1mb  ounr llusfrations
FROM DESIGNS BY HAMMATT BILLINGS.
BOSTON:
LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.
TNE W  YORIK:
LEE, SHEPARD AND DILLINGHAM.
1872.




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872,
BY CHARLES A. PHELPS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington,




PREFACE
TO THE PRESENT EDITION.
A  COMPLETE history of President Grant's administration must be reserved until its close, and
for a larger volume. The present work contains
the War record of General Grant, and the leading events of his first Presidential term. The attempt has been made to portray the character of
the MAN'in each period of his career to the present time. To this has been appended a Biographical Sketch of Hon. Henry Wilson.
C. A. P.
AUGUST, 1872.




" I care nothing for promotion, so long as our arms are successful."
Grant to Sherman, Feb., 1862.
"If my course is not satisfactory, remove me at once. I do not wish
in any way to impede the success of our arms."
Grant to Hatleck, Feb. 6, 1862.
"No theory of my own will ever stand in the way of my executing in
good faith any order I may receive from those inr authority over me."
Grant to Secretary Chase, July, 1863.
" I shall have no policy of my own to enforce against the will of the
people."
Grant, May 29, 1868.
"Human liberty the only true foundation of human government."
Grant's Letter to Citizens of Memphis.
"LET US HAVE PEACEs."
Grant's Letter, May 29, 1868.




CONTENTS.
CHAPTER  I.
BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE.
PAGE.
Birth and Ancestors. - Family History. - Origin of his Name. -
Anecdotes of his Boyhood. - Desire for an Education. - Circumstances attending his Appointment as Cadet at West Point.
Peculiarities of his Education there. - Education not always
Wisdom. - Graduates. - Enters the Army. - Serves through
the Mexican War. - His Gratitude to a Benefactor..  
CHAPTER  II.
ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER.-BATTLE OF BELMONT.
Returns to the United States. - Stationed in California and Oregon. - Removal to St. Louis. - Marriage. - Farming.Removal to Galena, Ill. -Attack on Fort Sumter. - The
Flag. - Majestic Uprising of the People. - Relinquishes Business to commence recruiting. - Offers his Services to the
State. - Acts as Adjutant-General. - Gov. Yates's Description of Grant. -Appoints him Colonel.- Appointed Brigadier-General.- In Command at Cairo.- Takes Paducah.
Account of Grant's Life and Habits by the Chaplain of the
Regiment. -Battle of Belmont...         11
v




vi                         CONTENTS.
CHAPTER  III.
FORT HENRY.
Fremont's Order confiscating Slaves.- Revoked by President Lincoln. - Halleck supersedes Fremont. - Halleck's Order No. 3.
- Fort Henry described. - Asks Permission to attack the Fort.
- Is refused. - Aided by Commodore Foote. - Permission
given. - Grant's Energy. - Drawing the Fire of the Fort. -
Anecdote of Foote. - The Gunboats. - The Attack. - Reception of the old Flag in Tennessee.- Decides to attack Fort
Donelson without Orders....                           27
CHAPTER IV.
CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON.
Fort Donelson. - Its Strength. -" The March of the Army."
The Bivouac. - Attack of the Gunboats. - Interview between
Foote and Grant. - Battle nearly lost. - Anecdote of Dessaix.
- Smith ordered to charge. - The Enemy attempt to escape.
- Grant and Empty Haversacks. - Grant explains his Plans.
-Napoleon at Austerlitz. -Intelligence of American Soldiers. - Brilliant Charge of Smith. - His Appearance. - Nelson. -Floyd in Midnight Conclave. - Slave's Visit at Night to
Grant's Hut. - Cambrone. - Flight of Floyd and Pillow. -
Correspondence of Buckner and Grant. - Unconditional Surrender. - Stanton's Letter. - Scenes in the Army and in the
North contrasted....34
CHAPTER V.
BATTLE OF SHILOH.
Effects of Capture of Fort Donelson. -Beginning of Friendship
between Grant and Sherman. - Grant censured by Halleck. -
Grant presented with a Sword. - Description of the Field of
Shiloh. -Battle of Shiloh. -Advance of Buell. —Beauregard's Promise. - Sherman's Bravery. - Grant on the Field.
-Anecdote as to retreating. -Final Repulse of the Enemy.
- Grant's Poetry. - Grant's Theory about Battles. - Fearful
Carnage. - Sufferings of a Battle; by what produced.. 50




CONTENTS.                           vii
CHAPTER VI.
BATTLE AT PITTSBURG LANDING.
Night before the Battle. - Blessings of Sleep. - Opening of the
Battle.    Beauregard. - View  of the Rebel Army. - The
Enemy driven. - Grant leads the Final Charge. - The Enemy give Way. - Grant's Desire to pursue. - Condition of the
Soldiers. - Terrible Slaughter. - Sherman's Description. -
Grant's Order. - Request of Beauregard. - Reply of Grant.
- The Sanitary Commission. - Its great Work. - Description
of the Southern and Northern Soldier. - The Difercence. -
Napoleon and Marshal Soult. - Change in Grant's Views of
the Nature of the Rebellion.- Arrival of Gen. Halleck.-At
tacks on Grant. - His Defence by Sherman and Washburne. 64
CHAPTER VII.
SIEGE OF CORINTH.
The Siege of Corinth. - Grant favors an Immediate Attack. - His
Advice repulsed. - Halleck's Army. - Forty Miles of Breastworks.- Depressing Effect on our Victorious Army.- The
over-cautious Man. -Grant examines the Enemy's Works.Believes they can be carried by Assault. - Halleck deceived
by Beauregard. - Corinth evacuated.- The Escape of the
Enemy. - Slow Pursuit. - Grant's Predictions verified.. 76
CHAPTER  VIII.
BATTLE OF IUKA. -BATTLE OF CORINTH.
Re-organization of Military Departments. - Grant's Treatment of
Guerillas and Rebel Newspapers. - Camps for Fugitive Slaves.
- Bragg's Attempt to deceive Grant. - Failure. - Battle of
Iuka. - Battle of Corinth. - Reckless Courage of the Rebels.
- Grant's Foresight. - Sends Hurlbut and Ord to cut off the
Enemy.- Delay of Rosecrans - Grant's Displeasure. - Fowell Buxton. - The Victory. - President Lincoln's Despatch.Grant's Modesty.- Curious Letter of Abraham  Lincoln to
Andrew Johnson.  " Old Terms under the Constitution."Grant's Reception of the Emancipation Proclamation. -His
Policy concerning it..      81




viii                       CONTENTS.
CHAPTER  IX.
VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN.
Description of the Valley of the Mississippi. - Its Importance. -
Determination of the West. - Grant's Sympathy. - Anecdote
of Judge Douglas at St. Louis. - Rebel Works at Vicksburg.
-The Canal.  The Yazoo Pass.  Moon Lake. - Gen. Ross's
Expedition. - Advance of the Gunboats. - Attack on Fort
Pemberton. - Ross's Peril. - The Fleet in Danger. - Message
sent by a Slave. - Sherman's Night March. - A Torchlight
Procession.    " Marshal Forwards."    Failure of Different
Schemes. - Grant censured. - Vicksburg a Gibraltar. -President Lincoln's Confidence in Grant.                         92
CHAPTER X.
RUNNING THE BATTERIES.
Grant decides to move South of Vicksburg. - Is opposed by all his
Generals. - Earnest Remonstrances of Sherman. - Anecdote
of Nelson at Aboukir. - Attitude of Grant. - Moral Grandeur.
- Scott on Cavalry. - Grierson's Raid. - The Boats to run the
Batteries. - Anecdote of the Illinois Boy. - Varied Capacities
of the American Soldier.- Splendid Night-Scene on the River.
- The Boats pass the Batteries. - Princely Residence burned
by its Owner..........102
CHAPTER XI.
CROSSING THE MISSISSIPPI. -— BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON.
The Army crosses the Mississippi. - Gunboats attack Grand Gulf.
- The Repulse. - Feint at Haine's Bluff. - Grant's Untiring
Activity. - His Baggage a Tooth-Brush. - Marches on Port
Gibson. - Inspiring Scene. - The Battle. - Ion. Mr. Washburne. - Rapidity of Grant's Movements. - Gov. Yates's Despatch...                     112
CHAPTER  XII.
GRAND GULF CAPTURED.
Capture of Grand Gulf.- Marches on Jackson. - Abandons his
Base.- His Determination. - His Energy. - Feeds his Army
off the Country. - Anecdote of Frederick the Great. - Genius




CONTENTS.                          ix
makes its own Rules.- Apprehensions of Grant's Officers. -
His Policy toward Rebels in War. - Bombastic Proclamation
of Gov. Pettus. -Battle of Raymond.- Valor of Irish Soldiers. - Pemberton's Perplexities about Grant's Base..121
CHAPTER  XIII.
BATTLE  AT  JACKSON.
Pemberton puzzled by Grant's Strategy. - Battle at Jackson; - The
Victory. - The Army enter the City. - Burning of the Hotel
by the Soldiers. - Their Excuse. - Inhuman Conduct of its
Inmates.  Banquet of Rebel Officers in Anticipation of Victory. - Pemberton's Solicitude about Grant's Base. - Cannot
comprehend Grant's Strategy. -Battle at Champion's Hill.Anecdote of Davoust at Wagram. - Hill of Death. - Curious
Order received by Grant. - The Victory. - Soldiers sing
"Old Hundred." - Impressive Scene..132
CHAPTER XIV.
BATTLE AT BIG BLACK RIVER.
Battle at Big Black River. - Heroic Assault of Lawler's Brigade.
-The Victory. - The Enemy retreat to Vicksburg.- Pursuit by Sherman's Corps.   Results of the Campaign.   The
Campaign a Novelty in War. -Napoleon's forced Contributions. - Strange Scene between Sherman and Grant. - Their
Friendship. - Friendships of Great Men... 143
CHAPTER XV.
THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.
Vicksburg invested. - Grant's Position. - Determines to Assault.
-Preparations. - The Assault. - The Forlorn Hope. - The
Repulse. - The Siege. - Preparation to fight Johnston. —
Rebel attempts to build Boats with the Houses of Vicksburg.
- Explosion of the Mine.- Progress of the Siege. - Distress
of the Inhabitants. - Scarcity of Food. - Living in Caves.Pemberton writes to Grant. - Their Interview. - Pemberton's
Demand for Terms. - Unconditional Surrender. - Entrance
of the Union Army into Vicksburg. - Interesting Scenes. -
Immense Work done during the Siege. - The Largest Capture
ever made in War........ 148




X                          CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI.
PORT HUDSON TAKEN.
Grant recommends Sherman for Promotion. -President Lincoln's Letter to Grant. -Amusing Defence of Grant by President Lincoln -Port Hudson taken by Gen. Banks. - Sherman ordered to attack Johnston.  He moves on Jackson,
Miss. - Jackson evacuated by Johnston. - Protection given
to Colored Troops.    Grant's Views of Slavery. -No Peace
until this Question is settled. - Theories on Slave Property. -
Grant insists that Colored Troops shall have Equal Rights with
White Troops. - Gen. Banks testifies to Bravery of Colored
Troops......167
CHAPTER XVII.
THEORIES OF TRADE.  ENGLAND'S NEUTRALITY.
Grant satisfied the Rebellion cannot be coaxed out of Existence. -
Views of " Trade," " Jobs," and " Speculation." -Appointed
Major-General. - Intrigues of England in Mexico. - England's "Neutrality."-England's Consistency, Justice, Magnanimity, and Moderation, especially in India and Ireland. -
Opening of the Mississippi. - Extortion prevented.- Grant's
Care of his Soldiers. - Grant and the Steamboat Captain. —
Visit to Memphis. - Honors paid him. - Visits New Orleans.
- Appearance at the Review. - Horse-Flesh. - Accident. -
Ordered to Chattanooga. - "A small Chance of a Fighter.". 176
CHAPTER  XVIII.
BATTLE AT WAUHATCHIE.
Grant's New Department. - Its Vastness. - His Great Power. 
Ceaseless Activity of the New Commander. - His Arrival at
Night at Camp. - Anecdote of Marshal Ney. - Magnanimity
of Gen. Thomas. - Description of Chattanooga. - Descent of
the Tennessee at Night. - Singing of Rebel Pickets. - Wolfe's
Descent of the St. Lawrence. - Battle at Wauhatchie. - Great
Change in the Army effected by Grant. - Anecdote of President Lincoln. - His Comments on Grant. - Mountaineers;
their Love of Freedom. - Unparalleled Sufferilig of Union Men
in Tennessee. - Grant's Sympathy. - His Orders for their
Protection. - Burnside at Knoxville. - Grant's Impatience to
attack Bragg. - His Solicitude for and Care of Sherman. 187




CONTENTS.                           xi
CHAPTER XIX.
PREPARATIONS AT CHATTANOOGA.
Gigantic Preparations for the Campaign. - Grant at Chattanooga.
Sherman's Arrival.    Grant shows him  the Field  of the
Expected Battle. - Explains his Plans. - Sherman's Enthusiasm. - Rows himself down the Tennessee at Night. -
Bridges the Tennessee. - The Army cross. - Battle at Lookout Mountain.- Rebels retreat to Missionary Ridge.- President Lincoln's Message..               202
CHAPTER XX.
BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE.
Grant's Fertility of Resources.- Scene on the Morning of the
Battle. - Grant's Plan. - Appearance of the Soldiers. -
Heavy Fighting of Sherman's Division. -Charge of Sheridan.
- Sherman in Danger. - Grant sends Re-enforcements. -
The Grand Attack on the Centre. - The Victory. - Grant's
Welcome among the Troops. -The Largest Capture on any
Field of Battle. -Jefferson Davis's Visit to Missionary Ridge.
— "The Devil's Pulpit"....211
CHAPTER XXI.
THE BATTLE OF RINGGOLD.
Pursuit of the Enemy. - Scene at Chickamauga. - Battle of
Ringgold. - Great Slaughter. - Grant turns the Enemy's Position.- Miseries of War.    Grant desires to relieve Burnside. - He deceives the Enemy. - His Despatch to Burnside. 218
CHAPTER  XXII.
SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE.
Location of Knoxville.- Its Fortifications. -Longstreet determines to assault. — The Assault. - The Repulse, - Sufferings of the Rebel Wounded.- Burnside's Humanity. - Offers
a Truce to bury the Dead. - Longstreet deceived by Grant's
Despatch. -Raises the Siege. - Sherman arrives at Knoxville.
- Interview with Sherman. - Grant's Address to his Army. 223




xii                        CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXIII.
RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN.
Disastrous Effects of the Campaign on the Confederacy.  The
Rebellion dethroned in the West. - Honors to Grant.- Resolutions of Congress. - National Medal. - Methodist Conference. -Grant visits the Outposts of his Army. -Dangers and
Fatigues. - Visit to Lexington. - Proposes the Campaign
against Atlanta and Mobile. - Visit to St. Louis. - Honors
paid him. - Banquet. - Anecdote. - Speech-making. - Efforts to aid the Sanitary Commission..               229
CHAPTER XXIV.
APPOINTED LIEUTENANT-GENERAL.
Military Power united. - Congress revives the Grade of LieutenantGeneral.- Badeau's Testimony. -Interesting Correspondence
between Grant and Sherman. - Grant's Arrival at Washington. - Scene at the Hotel. - Ceremonies on receiving his Commission. - Speeches of President Lincoln and Gen. Grant. -
Levee at the White House. - " Warm Campaign." - Gratification of the People at the Appointment..              233
CHAPTER XXV.
RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY. -THE ADVANCE.
Gen. Grant re-organizes the Army. - Extended Theatre of the
War. - Grant's Varied Campaigns. - Operations of Sheridan, Banks, Sherman, Steele, and Butler. —Topography of
Virginia. - Its Facilities for offering Defensive War.- Richmond. - Preparations for an Advance. - Mutual Confidence
between President Lincoln and Grant. - Their Letters. 
Death-Warrant of the Rebellion... 239
CHAPTER XXVI.
CAMPAIGN IN THE WILDERNESS.
The Grand Advance. - Scene at the Crossing of the Rapidan. -
Description of the Wilderness. - Lee's Great Advantage. —
Breaking of the Rebel Line. - Lee rallies his Men.- Deter



CONTENTS.                          xiii
mines to lead a Charge. — Is compelled to retire by his Soldiers.- Anecdote of Lee and one of his Veterans. - Death of
Gen. Wadsworth.- Grant's Remarks on Northern and Southern Soldiers.- Honors due to the Private Soldiers. - Retreat
of Lee to Spottsylvania. - Death of Gen. Sedgwick. - " I shall
fight it out on this Line." - Prisoners captured. - Battle at
Spottsylvania. - Grant's Coolness. - Anecdote. - Death of
Gen. Rice. - Harvest of Death..                     241
CHAPTER XXVII.
BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR.
Sherman's March. - Its Announcement to the Army.- Sheridan's
Raid. -Battle at Beaver Dam. -Death of Gen. Stuart.
Grant's Flank-March. - Its Difficulties. -Movement to the
Pamunkey. - Old Battle-Fields. - McClellan. - Battle of
Cold Harbor.    The Assault of the Sixth Corps. — Burnside.   Death of Gen. Porter. - Wonderful Success..250
CHAPTER XXVIII.
SIEGE  OF  PETERSBURG.
The March to the James River.- Its Difficulties. - Its Success. -
Astonishment of Gen. Lee. -Petersburg assaulted. - Wilson's Raid. - Petersburg invested.- Thirty Miles of Works.
- Immense Labors of Gen. Grant.  Anecdote of Grant and
the Young Lieutenant.- Grant's Sympathy with his Men. -
Anecdote of Sir Ralph Abercromby. -Visit of President Lincoln to the Army. - The Mine.- Its Explosion. - Failure to
carry the Rebel Works. - Colored Troops. - Grant's Testimony. -Grant's Letter on the Rebels "robbing the Cradle
and the Grave."- Sends Sheridan to the Valley of the Shenandoah. —Oldered to "Go in."- Grant's Management of
the Campaign....... 250
CHAPTER XXIX.
SHERMAN'S  MARCH.
News of Hood's March into Tennessee.-Grant's Comment.
Anecdote.- Burning of Atlanta. — Remonstrance of the
Mayor. - Arguments of Sherman. - Appearance of Atlanta.




xiv                        CONTENTS.
-Its Desolation. -Last Hours of the Army in Atlanta."John Brown's Soul goes marching on."-The Advance to
the Sea. - The Campaign. - Charlestown evacuated. - Columbia  captured. - Consumed  by Fire. - Retribution. -
Union Soldiers starved in a Land of Plenty. - Co-operating
Expeditions sent out by Grant. - Effects of Slavery. - Anecdote. - Grant's Commendation of Sherman....266
CHAPTER XXX.
LEE'S RETREAT.
The End approaching. - Grierson's Raid. - Canby's Expedition
against Mobile. —Wilson's and Stoneman's Expeditions. —
Sheridan and Early.- Lee attacks Fort Steadman.- Is repulsed. - Lee's Desperation. - Battle at Five Forks. - Sheridan's Appearance on the Field. - The Victory. - Night Bombardment.-Grant's Reception among the Soldiers.-Last
Grand Attack of Lee's Army. - Hill's Division. - Anecdote
of Stonewall Jackson.- Petersburg evacuated by Lee.. 271
CHAPTER XXXI.
CAPTURE OF RICHMOND.
Rejoicings at City Point. - Lee telegraphs to Jefferson Davis that
Richmond must be evacuated. - Davis receives the Despatch
at Church. - Curiosity of the People.- Preparations to leave.
- Excitement throughout the City. - The Burning of Richmond. - Destruction of Property caused by the Rebel Army.
- Scenes during the Conflagration.- Entrance of the Union
Army. - Raising of the Flag on the Capitol. - Rejoicings at
the North.- Rebel Army evacuate Petersburg. -Lee confident of a Safe Retreat.  Grant's Pursuit. - Battle at Sailor's
Creek......280
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE SURRENDER OF GEN. LEE.
Crossing of the Appomattox. - Famished Condition of the Rebel
Army.- Consultation of Lee's Generals. - Correspondence
between Grant and Lee. - Sheridan near Appomattox. - Desperation of Lee's Army. - Custer. - His Appearance on the




CONTENTS.                           XV
Field. - The Flag of Truce. - Appomattox Court House. -
Its Appearance. - Arrival of Grant. - Meeting of Grant and
Sheridan. - Wellington and Blucher. - The Interview  of
Grant and Lee. - Terms of the Surrender. - Scene after the
Surrender. - Relic-Hunters. - Grant's Magnanimity. - Grant
leaves for Washington. - Stops the Draft. - Assassination of
President Lincoln. - Capture of Davis. - Sherman and Johnston. -Grant's Visit to Sherman. - Johnston's Final Surrender. -Numbers of both Armies. - Grant's Farewell to
the Army....... 287
CHAPTER  XXXIII.
GEN. GRANT SINCE THE WAR.
Character of the War. - Its Cost in Men and Money. - Grant
ordered to visit the South. - His Report. —The Grade of
"General" revived by Congress. - The Debate. - Commendation of Democrats.- Affairs in Rebel States. - Sheridan's
Report. -Johnson decides to remove Stanton and Sheridan.
Remonstrance of Grant. - Johnson's Orders. - Grant's
Letter to Stanton...... 298
CHAPTER XXXIV.
HIS FIRST PRESIDENTIAL TERM.
Elected President. - Electoral Vote. - Inaugural Address.Inauguration. - Cabinet. - Military Appointments. - Act
to strengthen Public Credit. - Fifteenth Amendment. -
Message to Congress. - Purity of Elections. - Eight Hour
Law. - Indian Policy. - Education. - Civil Service Reform. - Pensions. - Ocean Commerce. - Public Lands. -
Manufactures. - Debt. - Finances. - Alabama Claims. -
Arbitrators.-Ku-Klux Klan.-His Renomination for a
Second Term. -Republican Declaration of Principles. -
His Letter of Acceptance. - Summary..        313
CHAPTER XXXV.
CONCLUSION.
Outline of Grant's History. - His Honesty. - Judgment. - Independence. - Course since the War. - Oratory and Statesmanship. - IIis Reticence - The Reformer and the Magistrate. - His Magnanimity. - His Patriotism... 341




CONTENTS
TO
SKETCH OF WILSON.
Birth. - Boyhood. - Early Struggles. — Journey on Foot to
Natick. - Learns a Trade. - Love of Reading. - A Manufacturer. - Marriage. - Harrison Campaign. -- "Natick
Cobbler." -Elected Representative. -Annexation of Texas.
- Elected to State Senate. - Taylor Campaign. - Aids in
organizing Free Soil Party. - President of the Senate. -
Constitutional Convention, 1853. - Edward  Everett. -
Elected United  States  Senator.- American  Party. -
Kansas. - Sumner Assault. - Brooks's Challenge. - "Mudsills." - Election of Lincoln. - Attack on Sumter. - Advice to President. - General Scott's Compliment to Wilson.- Chairman  of Committee on  Military Affairs. -
Great Labors. - Bills introduced in Congress. - Reconstruction. - His Son. - Visits Europe. - Nomination as
Vice-President. - Summary..... 350








-~_,-:
__- __'~ 
~~~ —  ~            RA~T'   IRHLAE




LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE.
TLYSSES SIMPSON GRANT was born,April
27, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Clermont County,
Ohio, a small town on the Ohio River, twenty-five
miles above Cincinnati. The Grants are of Scotch
descent; and the motto of their clan in Aberdeenshire
was, " Stand fast, stand firm, stand sure." Grant inherits from many of his ancestors a love for freedom,
and a determination to fight for its cause. In 1799, his
grandfather, a Pennsylvania farmer, joined the great
tide of emigration moving to the North-west Territory.
This fertile and attractive region had recently been
consecrated to freedom forever by the great Ordinance
of 1787.  There, there would be neither slaves nor
slavery; there, labor would be honorable in all.
His great-grandfather, Capt. Noah Grant of Windsor,
Conn., and his brother, Lieut. Solomon Grant, were
soldiers in the old French War, and were both killed
in battle in 1756; and it is not to be forgotten that
1                      1




2            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
the old muster-rolls of the company bear the names of
several negro soldiers who fought and died by their side.
His grandfather, also Noah Grant of Windsor, hurried
from his fields at the first conflict of the Revolution,
and appeared as a lieutenant on Lexington Common
on the morning of the memorable 19th of April, when
the embattled farmers " fired the shot heard round the
world."
Jesse R. Grant, the father of Ulysses, was born in
Pennsylvania in 1794.  He married Hannah Simpson,
the daughter of a friend and neighbor. They had six
children.  Mr. Grant learned his business as a tanner
in Maysville, Ky., but left for Ohio because he would
not own a slave, nor live where slaves were owned.
He is a man of great force of character, of marked individuality, of industry, integrity, and thrift; and still
lives to enjoy the respect of his fellow-citizens and the
world-wide fame of his son.
Like other great men, Grant has an excellent mother,
-a pious woman, cheerful, unambitious of worldly display, watchful of her children, and " looking well to the
ways of her household."   Her husband pays her the
highest tribute which can be paid to any wife and
mother in saying, " Hersteadiness, firmness, and strength
of character, have been the stay of the family through
life."
The strength of a mother's love has been famed from
earliest time. " Floods cannot quench it, nor the seas
drown."  While Grant was in the Mexican War, his
mother's hair turned white from  anxiety.  He was
young; had just entered the army; he was far away, surrounded by so many temptations, he might "fall from




BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE.                3
life, or, sadder yet, from virtue." But the mother's love
and prayers, which carried him daily in her heart to
God, were his shield from his cradle; and the man does
not live who ever heard him  utter a profane word.
Throughout all the harassing and perplexing cares of
his army-life, no negligence, carelessness, misbehavior,
ill-temper in others, tempted him to irreverence. Always,
at all times, he was self-controlled; and " self-control is
self-completion."   During the Rebellion, she still followed him with the eyes of her heart on the road to
fame, but with more faith and trust.  She believed
God had raised him up to deliver and bless his native
land, and would guide and protect him.  How much
the world owes to pious mothers!
Love of their children was a strongly-marked trait
in the family.  Mr. Grant, senior, when in the full enjoyment of his powers of mind and body, took a competence from his own property, and divided the remainder
among his children, except Ulysses, who declined to
receive it.  Gen. Grant wanted the companionship of
his young son in his absence from  his family in camp;
and, wishing also to bring him in contact with actual
life under his own eye, he took him with him to Champion Hill, and through the campaign at Vicksburg. And
on the morning at the White House when he received
his commission from President Lincoln as LieutenantGeneral of the Union armies, there were assembled,
besides the cabinet, only one or two officials; but, when
Gen. Grant entered, his little son was by his side. So
sweet is it to the human heart to have our success
witnessed by those we love!
He was originally christened Hiram  Ulysses; his




4           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
grandfather giving the name of Hiram; his grandmother,
who was a great student of history, giving the name of
Ulysses, whose character had strongly attracted her
admiration.  The member of Congress who appointed
Grant to his cadetship at West Point when a boy of
seventeen, by accident changed his name, in filling his
appointment, to U. S. Grant.  Grant repeatedly endeavored to have the mistake corrected at West Point,
and at the War Department at Washington; but this
was one of the few things in which he failed: his applications were never complied with. As if fate foresaw
the patriotic duty, the filial love, the transcendent services, he was one day to render his country, the government seemed to insist, when adopting him among her
military children, on renaming him, and giving to him
her own initials,  " U. S.," which he has ever since
borne.
It has been thought remarkable that the mother of
Napoleon should have happened to give birth to her
warrior-son beneath tapestried hangings on which were
wrought battle-pictures from the Iliad.  Is it not a little
singular that the maternal relative of Grant should
have chosen for her admiration, from all history, the
character of the hero of the siege of Troy; have given
his name to the infant Grant; and that forty years after,
when leading the Union armies of the Republic, he
should have exhibited the same invincible fortitudes
untiring patience, and unconquerable perseverance, so
celebrated in the immortal song of Homer? Ulysses of
old was himself the very man who "fought it out on
the line he had chosen, if it took all summer."
Grant was neither a precocious nor a stupid child:




BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE.              5
he was a well-behaved, dutiful boy. He attended the
public school in the village; he learned well, but was no
prodigy. The first book he read was " The Life of Washington," which made on his mind and imagination a
profound and lasting impression. A Canadian relative
of about his own age visiting him soon after, Washington was very naturally spoken of by the two boys.
His Canadian  cousin said "he was nothing but a
rebel, after all." Both boys were excited; and Grant
said, " If you say that again, I'll thrash you." It was
repeated with defiance. Off went their jackets, and the
Canadian soon had the worst of it. Years after, Grant
was reminded of the incident by his cousin; and he
assured him pleasantly that he should do the same thing
again with like provocation.
His special fondness was for a horse, and he attended
the circus whenever it passed through the village. One
came along in which there was an innocent-looking
pony, which was brought out during the performances;
and then the question would be mildly asked with a
smile, " Is there any little boy here who would like
a ride?"
The pony was trained to go furiously round, and, at
a given signal from his master, throw the boy head first
on to the tan in the ring; when the surprised and mortified boy would pick himself up, and retreat amid the
laughter of the crowd. When the question was asked,
Ulysses stepped into the ring, mounted; and the pony
started.  On he went; crack, crack, went the whip;
faster and faster went the pony. At the signal, he kicked
up his heels, reared, plunged, shook his back. The people shouted; but the boy sat still. Out came a large
pie                                        b~~~




6           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
monkey, and jumped up'behind him, tore off his cap,
and clutched his hair.  Ulysses looked neither to the
right nor the left; he spoke not a word, but clung like
grim death to the saddle, until the ring-master gave it
up, and stopped the pony.
This anecdote is of no consequence, except as exhibiting a native and early-developed trait in Grant's
character, -of always doing what he attempted to do.
He had undertaken to ride the pony, crowd or no
crowd, monkey or no monkey; and he rode him. " The
difference in boys," said Dr. Arnold, "is not so much
in talent as in energy."
Another anecdote illustrates the same trait, but
exhibits more strategy and ingenuity.  When twelve
years old, Mr. Grant's men were hauling heavy logs
from the woods. Ulysses drove the horse.  One day,
when he reached the woods, he found the logs, but not
the men. He waited; but the men did not come.  He
determined not to go home without the logs. So, after
contriving some time, he hitched the chain to one end
of a log, and drew it up on to a tree which had fallen,
so that one end was higher than the other.  When he
had three logs in position, he backed the hind end of
the wagon under them, and then, with the chain, hauled
the logs on to the wagon, and drove home in triumph.
Quite a little feat for a boy of twelve years of age.
He never liked his father's business of tanning.  It
was disagreeable; and he early determined not to follow
it. He wanted an education. He said he would be a
farmer, or trade down the river; but a tanner he would
not be.
His father, with limited means, did not feel, that, in




BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE.              7
justice to himself and his other children, he could
afford the money to send him to college.
He applied, with the boy's assent, for a vacant cadetship at West Point. The appointment was to be made
by Hon. T. L. Hamer, the member of Congress from
the district. His term of office expired at noon, March
4, 1839. Mr. Grant's letter, asking for the appointment of his son, reached him on the night of the 3d.
On the morning of the 4th, the appointment was made.
It is remarkable, that, without any special preparatory
study, he passed the rigid examination which all cadets
are obliged to undergo, and was at once admitted to
the academy.
The story which has been told, that Grant was
"hazed" at West Point, and had a fight with some of
the cadets, is an error. Grant had no difficulty, either
with the officers or his fellow-cadets. He never struck
nor was struck while there by any person whatever.
It was in the years passed at the academy that Grant
laid the foundation of his greatness. Wellington, once
looking at the playground at Eton with a friend, said,
"'Twas there Waterloo was won."  It was at West
Point that Donelson and Vicksburg and Chattanooga were made possible to Grant.  Gibbon says every
man has two educations, - one acquired from others;
one more important, which he gives to himself. Grinding gerunds may be study, but is not necessarily education.  Education and wisdom are different things.
A man may be very learned, and very unwise; he may
know a great deal, and be very ignorant; be highly educated, and be very foolish. A mall, like a gun, may
be overloaded to his own injury and that of others; may




8            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
possess every sense but common sense; understand
words, and be ignorant of affairs. Such men are " wells
that hold no water;" or rather they hold it so closely, no
one's thirst is quenched. Like Shakspeare's purblind
Argus, they are " all eyes, and no sight." Such are the
medical scholars who lose all their patients; legal
scholars who lose all their clients; and, last of all, military scholars who lose all their battles. They are educated, but to the death of all usefulness.
But Grant received at West Point the best education
a man can receive; namely, that which fits him for his
work in life. He was not compelled, as most men are
under our college systems, to waste years in studying
the rules of Greek accents and scanning Latin verse;
making them, often, alive to the " dead languages,"
while dead to most living things. He was subjected
to a course of physical training which invigorated his
body. lie was taught fencing, drawing, riding, dancing;
he was taught science, mathematics, the modern languages, constitutional and international law, and engineering.
Men are not educated by books alone.  "The gods
forbid," said Plato, "that to philosophize should be only
to read a great many books."  "I know neither art nor
science," said Pythagoras; " but I am a philosopher."
Young Grant appreciated and improved all the opportunities which were offered to him.  He gave those
years diligently to self-improvement in the widest sense.
He graduated with a good rank in his class; and, what
was better, without vices which enfeebled his body, or
mental habits which depraved his mind.
On leaving the academy, he could recall his life there




BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE.               9
with a satisfaction similar to that with which Curran
so touchingly recalled to Lord Avonmore their early
days and nights of study together:
" We spent them not in toys or lust or wine,
But search of deep philosophy."
In July, 1843, he entered the United-States army
as a brevet second lieutenant in the fourth regiment of
infantry. He was ordered to the frontiers of Missouri,
among the Indians, then on the outer borders of civilization. Here Lieut. Grant remained nearly two years;
when, in 1845, he was ordered to Corpus Christi, Tex.,
where United-States troops were gathering under command of Gen. Zachary Taylor.  War ensued, not long
after, between the United States and Mexico, on the
question of boundary-lines. From the first attack on
Fort Brown, opposite Matamoras, Lieut. Grant was in
every battle in the Mexican War except Buena Vista,
- fourteen in all. At Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma,
Monterey, Chapultepec, in every engagement, he conducted himself with distinguished bravery, which elicited
special mention from  his superiors in command.  In
1847, he was appointed brevet captain; his commission
dating from the day on which the battle of Chapultepec
was fought. In 1853, he was promoted to a full captaincy.
In 1864, Gen. Scott said to Col. Badeau of Gen.
Grant's staff, the accomplished historian of his military
life, that he remembered a young officer named Grant,
who distinguished himself in the Mexican War; and at
Appomattox Court House, at the surrender of Gen. Lee,
the latter remarked to Grant, that he remembered having seen him in Mexico during the war.




10          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
But Grant's service in Mexico gave him an opportunity of showing that he had a warm and grateful heart,
and could do something manly beside fighting. Hon.
Mr. Hamer, who, as member of Congress, had appointed
Grant to his cadetship, and to whom he felt greatly indebted for his education at West Point, went out to
Mexico as a general of volunteers, and, while there in
camp, was taken sick. Lieut. Grant nursed him with
the love of a son and the tenderness of a woman, performed for him the last offices of affection, and closed
his eyes in death.




CHAPTER  II.
ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER. - BATTLE OF BELMONT.
A   T the close of the Mexican War, Capt. Grant returned to the United States, and was subsequently
stationed on the Canadian frontier, in California, and in
Oregon.  But garrison life in that lonely region offered
no opportunities of usefulness to himself or others.
His years were wasting away in the small duties of an
outpost; and as the country was at peace, and had no
special need of military service from him, he determined to resign his commission, which he did in July,
1854.
He moved to St. Louis, and there married Miss
Julia Dent, a sister of his classmate, Major Frederic
T. Dent, of the United-States army, and a daughter of
Frederic Dent, Esq., a merchant of that city.  He
soon took a farm  in the suburbs of St. Louis, and
labored in the life of a farmer. He would cut wood,
and haul it to Carondelet: and citizens there tell of
buying wood of Capt. Grant; adding, that he dressed
according to his work, wearing a slouched hat, a blouse,
and his pantaloons tucked in at the top of his boots.
But the wood-lot and the small farm did not yield
an adequate income for the support and education of
his family; and in 1859 he moved to Galena, Ill.,
1i




12          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
entered into business, and was residing there on the
morning of the memorable 12th of April, 1861, when
the telegraph flashed the news over the country that
the rebels had fired on the old flag at Fort Sumter.
"The obligations of the intellect," it has been said,
"are among the most sacred of the claims of gratitude."
Macaulay, in his history of the attack of James the II.
on the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, has
given us a beautiful picture of the attachment which
all men feel for the place of their education, and the
gratitude which accompanies it. There are exceptions;
but Grant was not one of these. The country had
adopted him and educated him. It had a claim of
honor on his services in the day of peril; and he joyously recognized the bond, — all the more cheerfully,
because it could not be enforced. There are some
things which it is impossible for a noble, manly nature
to do.
It would have been impossible for Grant to do as
did Robert E. Lee,    be educated, supported, and honored through life by the munificence of the government;
to remain in personal and official intimacy with Gen.
Scott, studying his plans, and the numbers of the
Union army, until the last day or two before the first
battle at Bull Run; then steal into Virginia under
pretence of visiting his family, join the rebels, and
fight against the government which had made him all
he was. For the honor of human nature, such instances are few. Grant could not have done this, any
more than he could have struck the mother who bore
him.
None of this generation who witnessed it will ever




ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER.              13
forget the majestic uprising of the people at the attack
on Fort Sumter.  The old flag, which had been regarded chiefly as an ornament for festal occasions,
became at once the dear symbol of our undying love
for our native land.
The human soul is so organized that it always requires
a visible sign of its emotions: such was the eagle to
the Roman, the cross to the Christian, the crescent to
the Mahometan.  The same sentiment in the heart of
man was recognized and invoked in that most heartbreaking and mournful scene in human history, - the
institution of the Last Supper, and the visible emblems
of the body broken and the blood shed. The national
ensign, representing all that was precious in national
life or sacred in patriotic duty, was at once flung out
from  spire and balcony and mast-head, on land and
sea. The occasion moved Grant to the utmost depths
of his being. He said to a friend, " The government
has educated me for the army.  What I am, I owe to
my country. I have served her through one war, and,
live or die, will serve her through this." Noble words,
and nobly have they been redeemed.
Immediately he began recruiting and drilling a company in the streets of Galena; and, four days after, he
went with it to Springfield, the capital of the State of
Illinois, the home of Abraham  Lincoln, and offered it
to Gov. Yates. So modest was he, that he only applied
to be their captain, thinking his military education
w'uDIIMe i  tuse'to rem:'mut anotiler member. hesireh
the place, and informed Grant of his wish; and the future
lieutenant-general gave way. So little was the North
prepared for war, that many of the States had no war




14             LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
department or  adjutant-general's  office.   In  many
instances, the office of adjutant-general was not filled
by officers experienced in the routine of military organization. After a few days, Gov. Yates said to Grant
one morning, " Do  you  know  about these military
details? - how many men it takes to make a company,
and how many to make a regiment, and what officers
each must have? "
Grant replied, "Oh, yes, sir!  I was educated at
West Point, and served eleven years in the regular
army."
" Then," said the governor, " sit right down in this
arm-chair, and act as Adjutant-General of the State."
He did so, and was of special service at Springfield in
organizing and forwarding regiments. Gov. Yates has
since spoken of his first impressions of Gen. Grant in
the following terms: —
"In presenting himself to me, he made no reference to any
merits, but simply said he had been the recipient of a military
education at West Point; and, now that the country was assailed,
he thought it his duty to offer his services, and that he would
esteem it a privilege to be assigned to any position where he could
be useful. I cannot now claim to myself the credit of having
discerned in him the promise of great achievements, or the qualities' which minister to the making of great names,' more than in
many others who proposed to enter the military service. His
appearance, at first sight, is not striking. He had no grand airs,
no imposing appearance; and I confess it could not be said he
was a form' Where every god did seem to set his seal
To give the world assurance of a man.'
He was plain, very plain; but still, sir, something - perhaps his
plain, straightforward modesty and earnestness -induced me to




ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER.               15
assign him a desk in the executive office. In a short time, I found
him to be an invaluable assistant in my office and in that of the
adjutant-general. He was soon after assigned to the command of
the six camps of organization and instruction which I had
established in the State."
He had previously written to the Adjutant-General of
the United States, at Washington, offering his services,
during the war, in any capacity in which he might
be wanted; but it was merely from  some unknown
officer out West, by tho name of Grant; and this letter,
which would have been read with interest by thousands
for years to come, was not even preserved.
He remained five weeks at Springfield, with the exception of a flying visit to Cincinnati, which he made
to see Gen. McClellan, whom he had known in the army,
and with the secret thought that possibly McClellan
would offer him a place on his staff; but McClellan was
absent, and he returned.
On the 15th of June, 1861, Gov. Yates gave him his
commission as colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of
Illinois Volunteers. The regiment at once felt the hand
of a master. Its reduced numbers were raised to a thousand men: order, discipline, exactness, were everywhere
seen. He reported to Brig.-Gen. John Pope, by whom
he was stationed at Mexico, in the State of Missouri.
He at once showed such skill and efficiency as a trained
military man, that in August following, unknown to
himself, upon the nomination of Hon. E. B. Washburne,
member of Congress from Illinois, who early discerned
his abilities, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, his rank dating from the 17th of May.
Gen. Pope  had been succeeded in the Western




16           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT
Department by Gen. Fremont; and, on the 1st of September, Grant was ordered by the latter to Cairo.
Cairo is situated at the southern extremity of Illinois,
on a tongue of land which thrusts itself out exactly
where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet, a hundred
and seventy-five miles below St. Louis. It is within
striking distance of the five States of Illinois, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. It is said, that,
in the first consultation that Gen. Scott had with the
cabinet at the opening of the war, he placed his finger
on the map at Cairo, and spoke of it as in every way
one of the most important places in the country to the
military power of the United States.
Paducah was on the Kentucky side of the Ohio, at
the mouth of the Tennessee River. Kentucky at this
time had a rebel for governor, by the name of Beriah
Magoffin. It was evident from the first that the border
States, Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee, would be
the first battle-ground for the Union. The rebels in the
two latter did not dare attempt to carry them at once
over to secession; but their policy was to talk "armed
neutrality." The " sacred soil of old Kentucky must not
be invaded by the troops of either party."  These fine
words were to be used until they could be carried boldly
into the Rebellion. But, in the war for the Union, there
could be no " neutrality" for any State, least of all for
States which held the ashes of Andrew  Jackson and
Henry Clay. Every State and every man was either
for the Union or against it.
The Legislature of Kentucky was for the Union by a
large majority. On his arrival at Cairo, Grant had telegraphed to them that a rebel force had entered Ken



ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER.                    17
tucky. Gov. Harris of Tennessee telegraphed, " it had
been  done without his consent;" "President Davis
would order their withdrawal;" " Gen. Polk would withdraw them."  But Grant preferred to trust his soldiers
rather than Jeff. Davis, Beriah Magoffin, or Gen. Bishop
Leonidas Polk; and accordingly took possession of Paducah the next morning with two regiments and a battery.
He found the rebel flag flying in all directions, rations
and army supplies in great quantities (among the latter
a large amount of leather, of which Grant considered
himself an excellent judge); and he appropriated all for
the use of the United-States troops. He issued the following proclamation to the inhabitants:PADUCAH, KY., Sept. 6, 1861.
TO THE CITIZENS OF PADUCAH,I have come among you, not as an enemy, but as your fellow-citizen;  not to maltreat or annoy you, but to respect and enforce the
rights of all loyal citizens.  An enemy in rebellion against our
common government has taken possession of, and planted its guns
on, the soil of Kentucky, and fired upon you. Columbus and Hickman are in his hands. He is moving upon your city. I am here
to defend you against this enemy, to assist the authority and sovereignty of your government. I have nothing to do with opinions. I
shall deal only with armed rebellion and its aiders and abetters. You
can pursue your usual avocations without fear. The strong arm
of the government is here to protect its friends, and punish its
enemies. Whenever it is manifest that you are able to defend
yourselves, and maintain the authority of the government, and protect the rights of loyal citizens, I shall withdraw the forces under
my command.
U. S. GRANT, Brig.-Gen. commanding.
The tone of this proclamation was admirable, and
represented  the spirit of the Union people: " I have
come among you, not as an enemy;" "I am  here to
2




18             LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
assist the authority and sovereignty of your governInent."
In the camp at Cairo, it was noticed that Grant made
no display of bright buttons and shoulder-straps, plumes
and gold-lace.  Instead of the regulation-hat with the
gold cord and acorns, he generally wore a citizen's common felt hat and a blue blouse.  He put on none of the
airs, and made none of the pretensions, of little greatness.
A few of the soldiers, who had been in Mexico, were reminded of Gen. Taylor, "Old Rough and Ready," who,
when a Mexican officer of high rank was suddenly announced at his headquarters, found himself in an old
brown linen coat and straw hat, and had to dive down to
the bottom  of his trunk, and search some time, before lie
could find the elegant coat, sash, and chapeau of a
major-general, which the army regulations required him
to wear.
Rev. J. L. Crane, the chaplain of the regiment of
which Grant was colonel, thus writes of camp-life at
this time:
"Grant is about five feet ten inches in height, and will weigh
a hundred and forty or forty-five pounds. IIe has a countenance
indicative of reserve, and an indomitable will and persistent purpose.
"In dress he is indifferent and careless, making no pretensions
to style or fashionable military display. Iad he continued colonel
till now, I think his uniform would have lasted till this day; fbr
he never used it except on dress-parade, and then seemed to regard
it a good deal as David did Saul's armor.
"'His body is a vial of intense existence;' and yet, when a
stranger would see him in a crowd,'he would never think of asking
his name. He is no dissembler. He is a sincere, thinking, real
man. He is always cheerful. No toil, cold, heat, hunger, fatigue,




ATTACK ON  FORT SUITER.                    19
or want of money, depresses him. He does his work at the time,
and he requires all under his command to be equally prompt.
Tllis promptness is one of Grant's charateristics, and it is one of
the secrets of his success.
" On one of our marches, when passing through one of those
small towns where the grocery is the principal establishment, some
of the lovers of intoxication had broken away from our lines, and
filled their canteens with whiskey, and were soon reeling and ungovernable under its influence. While apparently stopping the
regiment for rest, Grant passed quietly along, and took each canteen,
and, wherever he detected the fatal odor, emptied the liquor on the
ground with as much nonchalance as he would empty his pipe.
On this point, his orders were imperative: no whiskey nor intoxicating beverages were allowed in his camp.
"Grant belongs to no church; yet he entertains and expresses
the highest esteem for all the enterprises that tend to promote
religion. When at home, he generally attended the MethodistEpiscopal Church. While he was colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment, he gave every encouragement and facility for securing a
prompt and uniform  observance of religious services; and was
generally found in the audience listening to the preaching.
" Shortly after I came into the regiment, our mess were one
day taking their usual seats around the dinner-table, when he
remarked,' Chaplain, when I was at home, and ministers were stopping
at my house, I always invited them to ask a blessing at the table.
I suppose a blessing is as much needed here as at home; and, if
it is agreeable with your views, I should be glad to have you ask
a blessing every time we sit down to eat.' "
Reconnoissances and skirmishes took place occasionally; and prisoners were taken, concerning the exchange
of whom  the following correspondence took place with
Miajor-Gen. Polk: -
To THE COMMANDING OFFICER AT CAIRO AND BIRD'S POINT, —
I have in my camp a number of prisoners of the Federal army,
and am informed there are prisoners belonging to the Missouri




20             LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
State troops in yours. I propose an exchange of these prisoners,
and for that purpose send Capt. Polk of the artillery, and Lieut.
Smith of the infantry, both of the Confederate-States army, with
a flag of truce, to deliver to you this communication, and to know
your pleasure in regard to my proposition. The principles recognized in the exchange of prisoners effected on the 3d of September, between Brig.-Gen. Pillow of the Confederate army, and Col.
Wallace of the United-States army, are those I propose as the basis
of that now contemplated.
Respectfully your obedient servant,
L. POLK, Mlajor-Gen. commanding.
This is an innocent-sounding letter: but Gen. Grant
was not to be entrapped into recognizing any Southern
Confederacy,.or conceding the rights of belligerents, by
an exchange of prisoners; and returned the following
answer, showing himself thoroughly acquainted with
the legal bearings of the points in discussion:GENERAL, - Yours of this date is just received. In regard to
an exchange of prisoners, as proposed, I can, of my own accordance,
make none, I recognize no Southern Confederacy myself, but will
communicate with higher authorities for their views. Should I
not be sustained, I will find means of communicating with you.
Respectfully your obedient servant,
U. S. GRANT, Brig.-Gen. commanding.
To Major-Gen. POLK, Columbus, Ky.
The rebels were gathering  troops and supplies in
great force at Columbus, on the Kentucky shore of the
Mississippi, below Cairo, and sending them across the
river, through Belmont, to the rebel Gen. Price in
Missouri.
Grant had  several times suggested  an  attack  on
Columbus.   Finally, on  the  evening  of the 6th of




BATTLE OF BELMONT.               21
November, Grant embarked for a reconnoissance with
2,850 men upon four transports, convoyed by the gunboats " Tyler " and " Lexington," and dropped down to
Island No. 1, eleven miles above Columbus. Early the
next morning, the troops were landed at Hunter's Point,
on the Missouri shore, and marched about three miles
to Belmont.  Grant had no purpose to hold Belmont,
which is on low ground, and every inch of it commanded
by the rebel guns on the right bluff at Columbus opposite. His design was to stir up the rebels, scatter their
camp, and capture the munitions. The rebel camp was
in an open space, protected by fallen trees.
The line of battle was formed with Col. Fouke in the
centre, Col. Buford on the right, and Col. Logan on
the left. These divisions advanced together, each contending for the honor of first planting the stars and
stripes in the rebel camp. The fight was very severe
for about four hours. Grant was in advance with the
skirmish-line, and had his horse shot under him. But
the Union troops drove the enemy foot by foot, and from
tree to tree, back to their encampment.
There were about 6,000 rebels. At last, Grant ordered a charge; and his whole force, now less than half
the number of rebels, with loud cheers, drove the enemy, at the point of the bayonet, through their camps; and
thousands took refuge on their transports on the river's
edge.  The troops, some of whom  had never been
armed as soldiers until three days before, flushed with
victory, gave themselves up to rejoicing. Officers began
making stump-speeches for the Union. There were no
wagons to move the captured property; and the rebel
tents were fired, consuming their blankets and all their
camp-equipage.




22            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Major-Gen. Polk, who commanded  at Columbus,
opposite, lad now decided that something must be
done.  The heavy fire from  the guns which he had
brought to bear had not stopped the victorious advance
of Grant.  He accordingly sent over three regiments
under Gen. Pillow, and three more under Gen. Cheatham.  The latter were landed between our troops and
their boats to cut off their retreat. Grant had observed
these movements, and had commenced his return-march
to re-embark with his men disorganized by their victory.
When the troops met in the woods the soldiers of Cheatham, they shouted, " We are surrounded!" and were
thrown into confusion. A raw officer, in much excitement, made the announcement to Grant:" General, we are surrounded.  What can we do? 
" Cut our way out, sir, as we cut our way in," said
Grant.
To some of the soldiers, who seemed to think themselves captured, Grant said, " We whipped them once,
and we can whip them again."
Grant, here and always, acted on the principle so well
expressed by an Irish soldier in the Ninth Massachusetts,
who on one occasion, after being informed several times,
by a comrade at his side, that they were defeated, at
last shouted impatiently, " Niver b'leive y're whipped,
man, till y're whipped yourself! "
Logan, who afterwards became so  distinguished,
placed the colors in front, and moved at once upon
the enemy.*
* Hon. John A. Logan was a Douglas Democrat, a member of Congress
from Illinois, at the opening of the war. On the day of the first battle at
Bull Run, he rode down from Washington as a visitor, but, on reaching the




BATTLE OF BEI.MONT.                 23
The fight was furious; but the old flag steadily advanced, and by five o'clock in the afternoon, our troops,
having driven the enemy before them, reached their
boats.
While the troops were embarking, Grant sent out a
detachment to bring in the wounded.  He had posted
a battalion in the morning as a reserve, who, when
they saw the main body returning, thought it proper
for them to return also without special order. They
had done so, and without reporting to any one, -  so little
were our citizen-soldiers then accustomed to military
forms.  They could fight and die for the good cause;
but military experience they did not possess. Grant,
supposing them still in position, rode back, with only a
single member of his staff, to order their return. Suddenly he came upon the whole rebel line, now re-formed
to advance, and not fifty yards distant. IHe was an
excellent mark for the rebel sharpshooters; but he
stopped, looked at the situation, then turned his horse,
and rode slowly back to avoid an appearance of haste.
Gen. Polk, who had seen him, called to his men,
" There is a Yankee, if you want to try your aim! "
But the bullet destined to kill Grant was not there;
and he rode slowly back until nearing the boats, when
the leaden rain hurried his horse into a gallop; the
animal fairly sliding  down the river's bank on his
haunches.
A  plank was quickly thrown out from  one of the
boats, over which he trotted his horse; the balls now
field, borrowed a rifle, asked permission to join a Michigan regiment, and
fought in its ranks throughout the day. He is now Grand Commander of
the Army of the Republic.




24            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
flying around him  in all directions.  The transports
moved off towards Cairo; and the gunboats, by way
of farewell, opened on the rebel force, now thronging
the shore, with grape, canister, and five-second shells,
which scattered them  with terrible slaughter.   The
Federal loss was- about four hundred men. The Rebel
force was about seven thousand: their loss, as admitted
by Pollard, was about seven hundred killed, and one
hundred and seventy-five more taken prisoners.
The battle was of much importance: it gave our
fresh recruits confidence in themselves and in their
leader.   One incident in connection with this battle
shows the nature of civil wars, which place friend
against friend.  Col. Wright of Tennessee, and Col.
Fouke, had been friends in Congress. When they separated at Washington the preceding  spring, Wright
said, " Fouke, I expect our next meeting will be on the
battle-field." They parted: one followed the flag of
treason; the other, the flag of his country. Their next
meeting was on the field of Belmont, where Wright
was killed, and sixty of his men taken prisoners by
Col. Fouke's regiment.
The next day, the following order was read to the
troops: 
The general commanding this military district returns his
thanks to the troops under his command at the battle of Belmont
on yesterday.
It has been his fortune to have been in all the battles fought in
Mexico by Generals Scott and Taylor, save Buena Vista; and he
never saw one more hotly contested, or where troops behaved with
more gallantry.
Such courage will insure victory wherever our flag may be
borne and protected by such a class of men.




BATTLE OF BELMONT.                      25
To the brave who fell the sympathy of the country is due, and will
be manifested in a manner unmistakable.
U. S. GRANT, Brig.-Gen. commanding.
The same day, Grant wrote a private letter to his
father, giving an account of the battle, from which the
following extracts are taken:" The whole command, with the exception of a small reserve,
was then deployed in like manner, and ordered forward.  The
order was obeyed with great alacrity; the men all showing great
courage. I can say with great gratification, that every colonel,
without a single exception, set an example to their commands,
that inspired a confidence that will always insure victory when
there is the slightest possibility of gaining one.  I feel truly
proud to command such men.
" The object of the expedition was to prevent the enemy from
sending a force into Missouri to cut off troops I had sent there
for a special purpose, and to prevent re-enforcing Price.
"Besides being well fortified at Columbus, their numbers far
exceeded ours; and it would have been folly to have attacked
them. We found the Confederates well armed and brave.  On
our return, stragglers that had been left in our rear (now front)
fired into us, and more recrossed the river, and gave us battle for
a full mile, and afterwards at the boats when we were embarking.
"There was no hasty retreating or running away. Taking
into account the object of the expedition, the victory was complete.
It has given us confidence in the officers and men of this command, that will enable us to lead them  in any future engagement, without fear of the result."
Much  importance  had  been attached at the War
Department to  retaining the recruits in  camps, and
making no movements until they had been thoroughly




26           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
drilled  and  manceuvred: but, after the battle of
Belmont, Grant always entertained and acted on the
opinion that such delay was useless; that, where both
parties are inexperienced, nothing is gained by delay.




CHAPTER III.
FORT HENRY.
O    N  the 31st of August, Fremont issued his celebrated order, declaring the slaves of rebels free
men, as follows: —
"The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State
of Missouri who shall take up arms against the United States, or
shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use;
and their slaves, if any they have, are declared to be free men."
This was a blow aimed directly at the very heart of
the Rebellion.  Fremont was born in South Carolina,
and knew  slavery thoroughly.  But the country was
not ready for this.  The Union must be preserved; but
slavery must not be harmed.  President Lincoln directed the withdrawal of the order.  Fremont requested that this should be done by the commander-in-chief;
and Mr. Lincoln accordingly  overruled  it.   Three
years more of war and suffering were required before
it was seen that God had his purposes in this civil
conflict; and one of these was to " let the oppressed go
free."
Two days after the battle of Belmont, Nov. 9, Gen.
Fremont was superseded by  Gen. H. W. Halleck,
27




28             LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
who  soon  after issued his equally  celebrated Order
No. 3, excluding " unauthorized persons " from entering the army-lines.  It was as follows  -
"It has been represented that important information respecting the number of our forces is conveyed to the enemy by means
of fugitive slaves who are admitted within our lines. In order to
remedy this evil, it is directed that no such persons be hereafter
permitted to enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the
march; that any now withif such lines be immediately excluded
therefrom. No fugitive slaves will therefore be admitted within
our lines or camps, except when especially ordered by the general
commanding."
The Mississippi, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland,
are  the only rivers which were navigable from  the
southern lines of the free States into the States in
rebellion.
The rebels had, with  great foresight, stretched a
strategic line east from  Columbus, on the Mississippi,
which had been strongly fortified, two hundred miles to
Bowling Green, in the centre of Kentucky; crossing
both the two last-named rivers at a right angle.  Bowling Green was at the junction  of the Memphis and
Ohio and Louisville and Nashville Railroads.
About the centre of this line, near the boundary of
Kentucky and Tennessee, the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers approach within twelve miles of each
other.  Here the rebels had erected two strong forts
with  great skill and  labor, -Fort Donelson  on the
Cumberland, Fort Henry on the Tennessee.  But the
forts were south of Columbus and Bowling Green; so
that these strongholds must both be evacuated when
the forts were taken.




FORT HENRY.                     29
Grant perceived all this, of course, but had been
required for two months to drill and organize his men.
Late in January, 1862, he visited St. Louis in person
to obtain permission to take these forts; but the plan
was not entertained.  After his return, Grant telegraphed to St. Louis, Jan. 28, " With permission, I
will take and hold Fort Henry on the Tennessee, and
establish and hold a large camp there."  On the same
day, Com. Foote, commanding the gunboats in that
region, by a happy coincidence telegraphed as follows:
CAIRO, Jan. 28,1862.
Major-Gen H. W.  HALLECK, St. Louis, Mo., commanding, -
Gen. Grant and myself are of opinion that Fort Ienry, on the
Tennessee River, can be carried with four iron-clad gunboats, and
troops to permanently occupy. Have we your authority to move
for that purpose when ready?
A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer.
The reader can judge whether Gen. Grant requested
Foote to send this despatch in aid of his request.
Permission to move arrived on the 1st of February.
The next day, Grant had left Cairo with seventeen
thousand men on transports, accompanied by Foote
with several gunboats.  They sailed up the Ohio to
the mouth  of the Tennessee, then up the latter to
within about eight miles  of the fort where Gen.
McClernand had selected a landing; but Grant himself pushed up the river on one of the gunboats to
draw the fire from the fort and ascertain the range of
their guns, which he satisfactorily learned by a thirtytwo-pound shot passing through the boat.
He now determined to move his troops four miles up




30             LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
the river, to Bailey's Ferry; and there they debarked.
Both  sides of the river were found to be fortified.
The principal works were on the east side.  A  bastioned* front, with seventeen heavy gun embrasures,
had been formed with sand-bags on the parapets between the guns.  On the land-front, there was a camp
protected by a commanding line of rifle-pits, filled by
Western sharpshooters. The fort enclosed about three
acres. There were about three thousand rebel troops,
under Brig-Gen. Tilghman.
McClernand was ordered to move at eleven o'clock
on the 6th to the rear of Fort Henry, on the road to
Fort Donelson, to cut off retreat and re-enforcements.
Gen. Smith was to seize Fort Heiman on the west
bank of the river; and the gunboats were to advance in
two lines, and attack from the river.
Corn. Foote well knew that thousands of troops could
not march as rapidly as his boats could steam up the
river, and was by no means unwilling to do the principal part of the bloody work before the land-force could
arrive.  Unlike Atlantis, who lingered in the race that
she might be overtaken by her lover, Foote, emulous
of glory, secretly rejoiced that lie could not be overtaken or passed by the army; and at the last moment,
unable to conceal his anticipated  success, lie said to
Grant, with a smile and bright twinkle in his eye, " I
shall take Fort Henry before the troops arrive."
The little fleet was composed of " The Cincinnati,"
* BASTION, a projecting part of the main fort. EMBRASURE, an opening
in a parapet for cannon. PARAPET, a breastwork for covering soldiers.
MINE, a cavity under a fort, filled with powder. TRENCH, a11 excavation
made to cover troops advancing in a siege. PARALLEL, a wide trench for
communication between batteries. MOAT, a canal around a fbrt.




FORT HENRY.                    31
" Essex," " Carondelet"  " St. Louis," "Conestoga,"
"Tyler," and " Lexington,"  the first three iron-clads,
the last wooden vessels. They engaged the forts at six
hundred yards, opening a terrific cannonade, which was
continledl for nearly an hour with unabated fury.  But
the gallant commodore had ordered the men to "aim
carefully," "fire steadily," and to "make every shot
tell;" and they did.   At last, a twenty-eight-pound
shot struck " The Essex " in a weak spot, and pierced
her boiler. In an instant, the vessel was filled with
scalding steam, killing and wounding nearly forty men;
among them Capt. W. D. Porter and both pilots. For
a moment, the scene on board was appalling.  The
little vessel trembled in every timber, and now, struck
in a vital part, like a strong man pierced in the heart,
drifted slowly out of the fight.  The rebels, thinking
the attack repulsed, now made the welkin ring with
their shouts.  But the  remaining vessels continued
their fire, as if determined to lift the fort, and ground
which held it, bodily from the. earth.  In an hour and
fifteen minutes the white flag was seen, upon which a
boat was lowered; and soon the national ensign was
raised over this stronghold of treason amid long-continued cheers. The short time within which the fort
had been captured was a surprise to both Foote and
Grant.  The troops had been compelled to march eight
miles around, through muddy roads, cutting their way
through the woods, building bridges across several
streams; and were unable to arrive until nearly an hour
after Tilghman's surrender.  This delay had permitted
most of the garrison to escape. Gen. Tilghman, eleven
on his staff, seventy men, sixteen invalids, barracks and




32           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
tents for fifteen thousand soldiers, were captured. Grant
instantly sent forward his cavalry on the road to Fort
Donelson; but they took only twenty or thirty men
and a few guns.
That Foote should at once have all the honor he de'
served, Grant immediately telegraphed to Halleck, " Fort
Henry is ours! The gunboats silenced the batteries before
the investment was completed. I shall take and destroy
Fort Donelson on the 8th, and return to Fort Henry."
The reader will remember that he had only asked permission to attack Fort Henry; no allusion being made
to Fort Donelson.  And Foote, with the same spirit,
reported as follows: "The plan of the attack, so far
as the army reaching the rear of the fort to make a
demonstration simultaneously with the navy, was frustrated by the excessively muddy roads and the high stage
of the water preventing the arrival of our troops until
some time after I had taken possession of the fort." *
Grant, although he had received no orders to that
effect, determined to move at once upon Fort Donelson,
and ordered his entire force to be " ready to march by
daylight " the next day.  But the windows of heaven
opened, and the floods came; the streams were rivers,
tile roads mires; the ground seemed turned into swamps.
The gunboats had steamed up into the interior as far
as Florence, Ala., some two hundred miles, and within
two hundred and fifty miles of Montgomery, the capital
of the so-called Confederacy. The novel sight drew the
inhabitants to the river by thousands. Men, women,
and children lined the shores; and the old flag was
often saluted with loud huzzas, and tears of joy.
* Foote's Report.




FORT HENRY.                       33
Some of the scenes among the people were referred
to in the following lines published at the time:" Massa! Massa I Hallelujah I
The flag's come back to Tennessee I "
" Pompey, hold me on your shoulder,
Help me stand on foot once more,
That I may salute the colors
As they pass my cabin-door.
Here's the paper signed that frees you;
Give a freeman's shout with me:
God and Union' be our watchword
Evermore in Tennessee I "




CHAPTER IV.
CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON.
O N the 10th of February, Grant wrote to Foote, " I
have been waiting very patiently for the return of
the gunboats under Cor. Phelps, to go around on the
Cumberland, whilst I march my land-forces across to
make a simultaneous attack upon Fort Donelson."
It was six days before the army could be moved.
Fort Donelson was a far more formidable place than
Fort Henry. It enclosed nearly a hundred acres, on a
bluff a hundred feet high. It was defended by sixty-five
guns, among them a ten-inch Columbiad, sixty-four and
thirty-two pounders, water-batteries on the river, and
on land felled timbers breast-high, -the whole garrisoned by about twenty-one thousand men. It was one
of the strongest works in the South or North.
Generals Buckner, Pillow, and Floyd were in command.
After the fall of Fort Henry, the men had worked
day and night to enlarge and render the works impregnable.  Its importance to the Confederacy was well
understood by the rebel government. It was the key to
Nashville, the capital of Tennessee. It had been made
a large dep~t of supplies; and its fall would compel the
evacuation of Bowling Green, which had even then
34




CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON.             35
been parlially weakened to re-enforce Donelson, so important was it deemed to hold the latter at all hazards.
On the morning of the 12th, the army began its
march: the bands played patriotic airs, the flags danced
in the sunlight, and the men were determined to conquer or die. Grant carried no tents or baggage; he took
only bullets, guns, and rations; he threw up no intrenchments; his picks were pickets; his spades were those
described as having been used in the burial of Sir John
Moore on the Heights of Corufia,
"We buried him darkly at dead of night,
The sods with our bayonets turning."
The exact number of the rebels was then unknown;
and, after giving directions as fully as possible, Grant
added in his field-order, in regard to the details of the
attack, "The necessary orders will be given on the field."
Gen. C. F. Smith had the left, and Gen J. A. McClernand had the right, of the national line, which was
gradually extended to nearly three miles in length, in
the form of a crescent.
The men bivouacked in line of battle with their
arms in their hands, and were constantly under fire
from  the rebel breastworks.  Many of the men had
thoughtlessly thrown away their blankets.  No fires
could be lighted; and near daylight there was a severe
snow-storm.  Through the night, the rebels dropped
shells frequently over our lines; and the suffering of our
troops was very great.
Before daylight, on Friday the 14th, the welcome
sound of the gunboats was heard on the river, and
Com. Foote arrived with four ironclads and two wooden




36           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
gunboats.  At three o'clock in the afternoon, they
moved up to within four hundred yards of the heaviest
guns of the fort.  There, until half-past four, they maintained a most unequal fight. The elevation and number of the rebel guns, their great weight of metal, both
from the.ort and the water-batteries, placed the boats
at a great disadvantage. At last, the wheel of " The St.
Louis " and the tiller of" The Louisville " were shot away,
and they were rendered useless; a rifled gun exploded
upon another boat; " The Carondelet " received a 120pounder in one of her forward ports; Corn. Foote was
wounded; and the disabled fleet was compelled to fall
back out of the range of the guns.
Grant then wrote, "Appearances now are that we
shall have a protracted siege here.... I fear the result
of an attempt to carry the place by storm with new
troops. I feel great confidence, however, of ultimately
reducing the place."
Another night of piercing wind, snow, and sleet, came
down upon the devoted soldiers.
No regrets were heard, no impatience manifested.
They only seemed eager for the hour when they could
show traitors how brave men could fight and die for the
land they loved. Grant seemed omnipresent. Without
food or sleep he was everywhere, and yet appeared to be
exactly at the place where required at the proper moment.
At two o'clock at night, he received the following
note from the wounded commodore:FLAGSHIP " ST. Louis," Feb. 14, 1862.
Gen. GRANT, commanding United-States Forces.
DEAR GENERAL,- Will you do me the favor to come on board
at your earliest convenience? As I am disabled from walking,




CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON.           37
from a contusion, I cannot possibly get to see you about the disposition of these vessels, all of which are more or less disabled.
A. S. FOOTE, Flag-Officer.
The rebels, seeing the gunboats retire, were greatly
encouraged, and determined to move out early Saturday morning, drive back the Union line, overwhelm
Grant's army, and win one of the greatest victories of
the war.
At daylight, Floyd massed his troops heavily on the
left, who advancer -nlder Gen. Pillow against McArthur's brigade, on our extreme right, where our line
was thin and weakest. They came on with a daring
and bravery worthy of a better cause; and for two
hours the fighting was terrific. At this time, two or
three of our regiments were broken, and one or two
more were out of ammunition; and the Union line
wavered.  Gen. McClernand sent word back that Buckner had joined Pillow, and he should be destroyed
unless re-enforced.
Gen. W. H. L. Wallace, who commanded the centre,
now advanced to his support, accompanied by Logan.
Both were fearless, and both were magnetic men, who
inspired their soldiers with their own indomitable spirit.
They and their troops fought with a courage which
drew forth the admiration of their enemies. But one
regiment, misdirected by a guide, took the wrong road,
and was delayed; the ammunition was getting short;
and, after long and heavy fighting, the whole right wing
had been pushed back by the furious and long-continued
assaults of the rebel columns.
Until this time, Grant had been in'consultation with
Foote, on the gunboat, three or four miles distant.




38          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
He was now returning, and was met by an aide on full
gallop to inform him of the state of affairs. Soon after,
he met Gen. C. F. Smith, and decided that the rebels
had probably massed almost their whole force for the
attack against McClernand and Wallace.  The battle
was thought to be lost. So it was at Marengo. " I see
the battle is lost," said Dessaix to Napoleon as he arrived
on the field.  "I suppose I can do no more than secure
your retreat."-" By no means," replied Napoleon:
"the battle is gained.  Charge with your columns.
The disabled troops will rally in your rear."
Grant immediately ordered Gen. Smith on our left,
who had not been engaged, to hold himself ready to
advance with his whole force against the rebel right.
He also sent back the following note to Foote, who
had advised him  to fortify, and wait until the fleet
could be repaired and return: "A terrible conflict ensued in my absence, which has demoralized a portion
of my command. I think the enemy is much more so.
If the gunboats do not appear, it will re-assure the enemy, and still further demoralize our troops. Must
order a charge to save appearances. I do not expect
the gunboats to go into action."
The men were getting weary and exhausted with the
fatigue and prodigious efforts of the last few days and
nights. Grant always had a theory, that there comes a
time like this in every hard-fought battle, when tired
nature begins to yield, and that whichever party
rallies and attacks at this time wins. But for two or
three days to look over a field of a hundred thousand
men, and amid the din, roar, and confusion of a battle, to
weigh as in the hollow of the hand the rising and falling




CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON.            39
enthusiasm of the contending hosts, and then, with unerring judgment, to select the one auspicious moment
which leads to victory, - this is given only to the few
great soldiers in the world's history. And then the
fixed purpose, the unconquerable will to do or die, to
scorn the weakness of the flesh, must always be there;
and they were there.
It was noticed that the rebels had put on their knapsacks and haversacks, instead of leaving them in the
fort; and some of our troops near Grant spoke of
this, and said, "They have come out to stay for a battle
of several days."
" Are the haversacks filled, or empty? " said Grant.
No one could answer.
"Examine some of the prisoners," said he.
"They are filled; they have three days' rations,"
was the report.
" Nothing is little in the world," said Dr. Johnson,
" to him who properly understands it."
As soon as the report was made, Grant said, " Then
they are trying to cut their way out: they do not mean
to stay and fight. Whoever attacks now wins. They'll
be quick if they beat me."
And, dashing his spurs into his horse's flanks, he galloped off to Smith's division on the left, occasionally
explaining to the officers and men as he passed, " They
are whipped; they are fighting to be allowed to retreat."
He explained briefly, that he wished to attack them on
their weakened right. It was thus Napoleon on the
morning of Austerlitz, in almost the only instance in
his life, explained to the French soldiers his plan of
attacking the Russian centre on the Heights of Prutzen.




40          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Grant knew well that his bayonets reasoned; that
American soldiers could think as well as fight, and
would understand and appreciate this confidence. He
knew the war was a war of ideas, and that the serious, intelligent convictions of men would carry them
through a forlorn hope, or into a deadly breach spouting
with fire, where the mere martial ardor of a military
machine would quail to follow.  Hamlet said, "Conscience makes cowards of us all;" but " conscience also
makes heroes of us all." *
Grant now ordered Smith to advance, at the same
time sending word to McClernand and Wallace to close
up and be ready to attack. The men rallied; the weary
and the laggard in the rear came forward; wounds were
forgotten; all caught the spirit of their leader.
Gen. Smith was a veteran soldier: he had followed
the stars and stripes through the battles of Mexico to
" the halls of the Montezumas."  He was a man sixty
years old, his hair white as the snow on the ground. As
he rode down his line, forming his division for the attack,
he was a fine target for the rebel rifles; but the bullets
showered unnoticed about him. His column was formed
of Lauman's brigade; the Second Iowa infantry having
the front, followed by the Seventh, Fourteenth, and
Twenty-fifth Indiana. He also told the soldiers what
was to be done.  This reciprocal confidence between
the general and his soldiers was like that of a father
and his sons; and the enthusiasm of the soldiers was
unbounded. As he took his place to lead the advance,
his colors by his side, years seemed to drop from him
like a mantle.  Those near him  said his countenance
* Coleridge.




CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON.            41
blazed with the fire of youth: he was young again.
Putting his cap on the point of his sword, he flung it
toward the rebel intrenchments, and dashed forward
into the thickest of the fight.  So Conde, with a
soldier's ardor, flung his marshal's baton over the
enemy's lines, sure of recovering it again.
Nothing could withstand the onset. Without firing a
gun, they charged directly on the intrenchments, carried
them at the point of the bayonet, and forced their way
to the summit of a hill, where artillery could be planted,
and which was the key to the fort.*  Wallace, too, had
regained his lost ground, and driven Buckner back
to within a hundred and fifty yards of his intrenchments.
Night now settled down on the field, with a battle
undecided. Smith, maintaining his commanding position, in vain protested that one half-hour more of daylight would give us the victory.
How many men, on how many battle-fields, have
coveted the power of Joshua of old, - to stay the sun
in the heavens!
Both parties had now been nearly four days and
nights under arms, and with almost continuous fighting.
Some even had slept as they stood in line of battle, as
McDowell, completely overcome, had dropped to sleep
while writing in the telegraph-office his despatch to
Washington after the first battle of Bull Run.
And now the living lay down with the wounded, the
dying, and the dead.  Smith, wrapped in his cloak,
rested among his men on the frozen ground.
Grant found shelter in a negro hut. Here, during
* McPherson's Report.




42          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
the night, a fugitive slave who had escaped through
the rebel lines made his way to him to tell him that the
enemy were retreating across the river, and desired to
give him an account of their condition and the position of their forces. Grant was still under Halleck.
Orders No. 3 and No. 13 were his military law:
" Unauthorized persons must not be admitted within
our lines."  Should Grant admit the man, and talk
with him, or read Order No. 3, call the guard, and
have him arrested and sent back to his owner?  One
thing was not then, and is not now, generally known.
When the war opened, Mrs. Grant, through her father,
owned three slaves in Missouri. Grant privately, without talk, in his own right, issued three " emancipation
proclamations,"  one to each slave, telling them to go
free. This man was unauthorized by Order No. 3 to go
to headquarters; but he was authorized to go by a
" higher law," and that was his hatred of slavery and the
love of freedom which God has planted in the soul of
every human being. When Nelson, in the battle of Copenhagen, was told that his commander had signalled for
him to take his ship out of action, he put his spyglass
to his blind eye, and said, " I don't see it: fire
away!"  Then, turning to an officer, he said, "I have
a right to be blind sometimes."  So Grant did not read
or obey Order No. 3, but acted like a man of common
sense, and received the fugitive, listened to his story,
and questioned him carefully. One officer suggested
that perhaps the fellow was lying, and had been sent to
entrap Grant in some manner; but the man said, 
" You may whip me, shoot me, cut me to pieces, if it
ain't as I tells you."




CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON.            43
Within the fort a strange scene was enacting. Floyd
called a council of war.  The midnight conclave were
to decide whether they should surrender, or renew the
battle in the morning. Smith, at the south-west angle
of the fort, could take other intrenchments in reverse.
Buckner, opposite Smith's division, said he could not
withstand any attack half an hour. It was evident they
must surrender; but now Floyd declared that he would
not do this.
History delights to tell us of the wounded Cambrone
at Waterloo, who shouted, in defeat, " The Guard
dies, but never surrenders!   " I can desert, but not
surrender! " would have been the more appropriate
exclamation'of Floyd.  This was a becoming episode
in Floyd's history. He had been Secretary of War under James Buchanan, and had been guilty of a " financial irregularity," by which the government had lost
nearly nine hundred thousand dollars, - an operation
for which, in England, he would have been furnished
with a passage to Botany Bay at government expense; but, that Gov. Floyd might rival the citizens of that celebrated colony, he united treason to
theft, and now added to these desertion to the flag he
had chosen and the soldiers who had fought by his side.
Gen. Pillow followed his example; both declaring
that " personal reasons controlled them;" meaning,
probably, the fear that they would be hung if they fell
into the hands of the United States.  Floyd turned
his command over to Pillow, and Pillow to Gen. Buckner, who, like a soldier, had determined to share the
fate of his men. He immediately sent a note in diplomatic style to Grant, suggesting an armistice.  With



44              LIFE  OF GENER;L OC-. NT.
out waiting an answer, Floyd and Pillow stole out in
the dark, hoping to get on board a boat, unknown to
the soldiers;  but the men  had  rumors of what their
commanders were doing, and now crowded to the landing, where they  greeted  them  with  hisses and  curses
loud and deep.*
A while after, with the first streak of daylight, as
Grant was preparing to attack, a white flag was seen
flying from  the ramparts of Fort Donelson; and Grant
received the following letter under a flag of truce:HEADQUARTERS, FORT DONELSON, Feb. 18, 1862.
SIR,- In consideration of all the circumstances governing the
present situation of affairs at this station, I propose to the commanding officer of the Federal forces the appointment of commissioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces I hold
under my command; and, in that view, suggest an armistice until
twelve o'clock to-day.
tS. B. BUCKNER, Brig.-Gen. C. S. A.
To Brig.-Gen. GRANT, commanding U. S. Forces, Fort Donelson.
But Grant had learned  during  the night the true
state of affairs, and instantly replied as follows: —
HEADQUARTERS, ARMY IN THE FIELD,
CAMP NEAR DONELSON, Feb. 14, 1862.
To Gen. S. B. BUCKNER, Confederate Army, -
Yours of this date, proposing an armistice, and appointment of
commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No
* " Such was the want of all order and discipline by this time on shore,
that a wild rush was made at the boat, which the captain said would swamp
her unless he pushed off immediately. This was done; and about sunrise,
the boat on which I was -the other having gone -left the shore. By this
precise mode I effected my escape; and, after leaving the wharf, the department will be pleased to hear that I encountered no dangers whatever from the
enemy." - Floyd's Replort.




CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON.                45
terms other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be
accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.
I am, sir, very respectfully your obedient servant,
U. S. GRANT, Brig.-Gen. U. S. A. commanding.
Gen. Buckner accepted these terms in the following
reply  -
HEADQUARTERS, DOVER, TENN., Feb. 15, 1862.
To Brig.-Gen. U. S. GRANT, U. S. A.
SIR, - The distribution of forces under my command incident
to an unexpected change of commanders, and the overwhelming
force under your command, compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant success of the Confederate arms yesterday, to accept the
ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose.
I am, sir, your very obedient servant,
S. B. BUCKNER, Brig.-Gen. C. S. A.
The results of this victory  were sixty-five guns,
seventeen  thousand  six  hundred  small-arms, nearly
fifteen thousand soldiers, with horses, mules, and army
supplies. Our loss was about two thousand men.
After the surrender, up went the stars and stripes,
greeted by tumultuous cheers; and the sun  shone
bright and warm as if to illumine the victory.
As the different divisions marched into the works,
their regimental banners from different States, the music, the loud huzzas, the proud steps of the victorious
soldiers, made one of the grand historic pictures of the
war.
Gen. Grant made his headquarters upon  a  boat
which happened to have the significant name of " New
Uncle Sam;" and it was in the cabin of this steamer
that the formal surrender was made.




46            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
The interview  between  Grant and Buckner was
social.   They  had been  classmates at West Point.
Grant stated that he had no desire to humiliate the
prisoners; that the officers might retain  their sidearms, but horses and public property must be given up.
Gen. Buckner acknowledged that it had been the intention of those in command to cut their way out; but
they were defeated by Grant's movements.
When the transports were about to leave for the
North with the rebel prisoners, Gen. Buckner asked
Gen. Grant to visit his men, and, as they crowded
around, told them that their victor had treated them
with magnanimity and kindness.
After a while, at a signal from Com. Foote, the boat
with Gen. Grant and staff on board, followed by the
gunboat " Flotilla," steamed up past the fort to Dover,
all the guns firing the national salute.
Gen. Grant issued the following congratulatory order
to his troops:HEADQUARTERS, DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE,
FORT DONELSON, Feb. 14, 1862.
The general commanding takes great pleasure in congratulating the troops of this command for the triumph over rebellion,
gained by their valor, on the 13th, 14th, and 15th instant.
For four successive nights, without shelter, during the most
inclement weather known in this latitude, they faced an enemy in
large force, in a position chosen by himself. Though strongly
fortified by nature, all the additional safeguards suggested by
science were added. Without a murmur this was borne; prepared at all times to receive an attack, and with continuous skirmishing by day, resulting, ultimately, in forcing the enemy to
surrender without conditions.
The victory achieved is not only great in the effect it will have




CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON.               47
in breaking down rebellion, but has secured the greatest number
of prisoners of war ever taken in any battle on this continent.
Fort Donelson will hereafter be marked in capitals on the map
of our united country; and the men who bfught the battle will
live in the memory of a grateful people.
U. S. GRANT, Brig..Gen. commanding.
Many interesting and amusing scenes occurred.  It
was here, on one of the transports laden with prisoners, that probably the first slaveholders' objection to
reconstruction  was made.   A  tall, raw-boned, redhaired, blustering Mississippi captain had found that
the hands on board the boat would not take his secesh
paper for whiskey or food.  When he could not control
himself any longer, le rushed up to a Northern man, a
stranger, who was conversing near him, and  said,
"Look here: this is a d       d pretty business.  They
talk of reconstructing the Union, and begin by rejecting our money; and I can get nothing to eat." *  It
was evident to his mind that reconstruction must stop.
Buckner, on meeting Smith, congratulated him on his
splendid charge. " Yes," said the old soldier, "it was
well done, considering how small a force I had. But
no congratulations are due to me: I simply obeyed
orders."
On the arrival of the news at Washington, Grant
was immediately nominated as a major-general, and
confirmed by the Senate the same day; his commission
being dated on the 16th, the day of the surrender of
Fort Donelson.
Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, published a letter,
in which he spoke of the victory in the following
* C. C. Coffin.




48           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
terms: " We may well rejoice at the recent victories;
for they teach us that battles are to be won now, and by
us, in the same and only manner that they were ever
won by any people, or in any age, since the days of
Joshua, -by boldly pursuing and  striking the foe.
What, under the blessings of Providence, I conceive
to be the true organization of victory and military
combination to end this war, was declared in a few
words by Gen. Grant's message to Gen. Buckner, -'I
propose to move immediately upon your works.'"
Grant, who had spoken in the highest terms in his
special report of " the brilliant charge of Gen. Smith,"
recommended  him  also for promotion to a majorgeneralcy; and  he was accordingly appointed, and
confirmed by the Senate.
Gen. Smith died in about two months after the capture of Donelson, from disease contracted in the Mexican War and the exposures of this campaign.  It
illustrates the characters of both Gen. Grant and Gen.
Smith to mention that Gen. Smith was commandant
at West Point when Grant was a cadet. He was also
so much Grant's senior in years, that, when the latter
found Gen. Smith under his command, he felt a little
delicacy in issuing orders to his old instructor.  Smith
at once perceived this; and, with the instinct of the
gentleman and the soldier, said to Gen. Grant, " Let
nothing in our past relations embarrass you in issuing
to me any orders you think best: I am a soldier, and
know my duty."
"Thus," says Wordsworth, "these two things, contradictory as they seem, must go together, - manly
dependence and manly independence."




CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON.                49
While these events were transpiring in camp, how
different was the scene at the same hour in the peaceful cities and villages of the North!  It was a Sabbath
morning when Fort Donelson surrendered; the churclbells were ringing: and thousands of fathers, mothers,
sisters, and brothers, were remembering and praying
for their loved ones, far away on the tented field;
little thinking, that, in a few hours, their cheeks would
blanch and their hearts sicken at the tidings that the
dear ones would come home no more.  Already, on the
banks of the Cumberland, they were sleeping the sleep
of the brave.
"There are glad hearts and sad hearts
By millions to-,day,
As over the wires the magical fires
Are flashing the tidings of Donelson's fray,Hearts swelling with rapture
For Donelson's capture,
Hearts breaking with aching
For Donelson's slain."
4




CHAPTER V.
BATTLE OF SHILOH.
T HE capture of Fort Donelson and its troops produced a great effect throughout the whole country.
It was the largest number of soldiers ever captured in
any battle on the continent, and first drew the attention of the nation to Gen. Grant as the "coming
man."
The North welcomed the victory as establishing a
new era in the war,- the era of active, offensive, persistent attack. Grant's words, "I propose to move
immediately on your works," were everywhere quoted,
and became a watchword throughout the country.
The Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers were opened;
Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, fell; Columbus was
abandoned; Bowling Green evacuated; and the States
of Kentucky and Tennessee were rescued from  the
rebel armies.
While preparing for the attack on Fort Donelson,
Grant had asked Sherman, with whom he was not then
on any terms of special intimacy, for troops and supplies. Sherman forwarded them with great vigor, and,
although the senior officer, wrote to Grant as follows:
"I will do every thing in my power to hurry forward
your re-enforcements and supplies; and, if I could be of
60




BATTLE OF SHILOH.                    51
service myself, would gladly come without making any
question of rank with you or Gen. Smith."
These two distinguished men, thus brought together,
ever after acted in entire harmony; no envy, no jealousy, except for the honor of each other. Their natures
were different, but well formed to act together. Their
official relations ripened into a personal friendship, never
yet interrupted, and fortunate alike for their own fame
and their country's glory.
Gen. Grant was assigned to the district of West Tennessee, and on the 23d of February issued the following
order: 
The major-general commanding this department desires to
impress upon all officers the importance of preserving good order
and discipline among these troops and the armies of the West
during their advance into Tennessee and the Southern States.
Let us show to our fellow-citizens of these States that we come
merely to crush out this rebellion, and to restore to them peace
and the benefits of the Constitution and the Union, of which they
have been deprived by selfish and unprincipled leaders. They
have been told that we come to oppress and plunder. By our acts
we will undeceive them. We will prove to them that we come to
restore, not violate, the Constitution and the laws.  In restoring
to them the glorious flag of the Union, we will assure them that
they shall enjoy under its folds the same protection of life and
property as in former days.
Soldiers, let no excesses on your part tarnish the glory of our
arms. The orders heretofore issued from this department in regard
to pillaging, marauding, and the destruction of private property,
and the stealing and concealment of slaves, must be strictly enforced. It does not belong to the military to decide upon the relation of master and slave. Such questions must be settled by the
civil courts. No fugitive slave will, therefore, be admitted within
our lines or camps, except when especially ordered by the general
commanding. Women and children, merchants, farmers, and all




52             LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
persons not in arms, are to be regarded as non-combatants; and are
not to be molested, either in their persons or property If, however, they assist and aid the enemy, they become belligerents, and
will be treated as such. As they violate the laws of war, they will
be made to suffer the penalties of such violation.
Military stores and public property of the enemy must be surrendered; and any attempt to conceal such property, by fraudulent
transfer or otherwise, will be punished. But no private property
will be touched, unless by order of the general commanding.
Whenever it becomes necessary, forced contributions for supplies
and subsistence for our troops will be made. Such levies will be
made as light as possible, and be so distributed as to produce no
distress among the people. All property so taken must be receipted
fully, and accepted for as heretofore directed.
These orders will be read at the head of every regiment, and
all officers are commanded strictly to enforce them.
By command of Major-Gen. HALLECK.
W. H. McLEAN, Adjutant-General.
By order of Maj.-Gen. U. S. GRANT.
J. A. RAWLINS, A. A. G.
At this time, a coldness occurred between Gen. Halleck and Gen. Grant, which the former afterwards explained to have been caused partly by the failure of
colonels of regiments to report to him on their arrival,
and partly from an interruption of telegraphic communication.   During the few weeks in which it continued,
Gen. Grant submitted to the displeasure of his superior
in the best temper and spirit, and telegraphed from day
to day as follows: —
" I am not aware of ever having disobeyed any order from your
headquarters, - certainly never intended such a thing.... In
conclusion, I will say that you may rely on my carrying out your
instructions in every particular, to the best of my ability.... I
did all I could to get you returns of the strength of my command.
Every move I made was reported daily to your chief of staff, who
must have failed to keep you properly posted. I have done my very




BATTLE OF SHILOH.                 53
best to obey orders, and to carry out the interests of the service.
If my course is not satisfactory, remove me at once. I do not
wish in any way to impede the success of our arms.... I do not
feel that I have neglected a single duty."
The regimental officers at Fort Henry, on the ground,
and appreciating the true state of the case, on the 12th
of March presented Gen. Grant with a magnificent
sword, the blade of the finest steel, the handle of ivory
mounted with gold, with two scabbards, one of polished
steel for service, one of gilt for parade, all appropriately
inscribed.
On the 17th, Grant established his headquarters at
Savannah, on the Tennessee River, A hundred and seventy-five miles south of Nashville, and near the northern
corner of Alabama and Mississippi.  There were with
him  Generals McClernand, Wallace, Smith, Hurlbut,
and Sherman.  Eight miles down the river is Pittsburg
Landing; three miles south of it is Shiloh; sixteen miles
beyond is Corinth.
When the rebels were compelled to evacuate Columbus, they fortified Corinth, just over the line of the State
of Mississippi, east of Memphis, at the junction of the
Memphis and Charleston and Mobile and Ohio Railroads.
It was one of the most important points in the whole
South-west, from  Memphis to  the Gulf of Mexico.
From there a rebel force could advance into Kentucky,
cross the Ohio River, and move north.  It was the
centre of the vast network of railroads in the Southwestern States.
Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, one of the ablest, if
not the ablest, of the rebel generals, had been placed in
command; and rumor gave him from fifty to a hundred




54           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
thousand troops. With him were Beauregard, Polk,
Hardee, and Breckinridge.  He was near the cotton
States, the hot-bed of secession, in a region whose
resources were then untouched by the war.
Sherman and Hurlbut were at Shiloh; Wallace at
Crump's Landing, five miles below. This was their position when Grant arrived. Within an hour, he issued
orders for them to concentrate; and McClernand and
Smith were moving up to Pittsburg Landing.  Grant
remained for a few days to superintend the forwarding
of supplies and re-enforcements.  When his arrangements were made to move his headquarters to Pittsburg
Landing, Gen. Buell, who was advancing from Nashville,
telegraphed him to remain at Savannah, to meet him in
consultation April 5.
Grant had apprehended an early movement by Johnston, but was ordered not to bring on a general engagement until Buell should arrive.
On the 3d and 4th, there was skirmishing on Sherman's front; but he thought there would be no battle
immediately. Grant visited him on the 4th, and agreed
in his opinion. It was in returning at night from this
visit that Grant's horse slipped on a log, and fell on his
rider, injuring him so severely that he did not recover
for some time. This accident is said to have originated
the slanders in regard to Grant's habits. Both Grant
and Sherman were in error.  But the skirmishing
required  watchfulness.  Grant ordered W. H. L.
Wallace to hold himself ready to support Lewis Wallace, and said, -
" Should you find danger of this sort, re-enforce him at once
with your entire division."




BATTLE OF SHILOH.                   55
To Sherman he wrote, —
"Information just received would indicate that the enemy are
sending a force to Purdy.
"I should advise, therefore, that you advise your advance guards
to keep a sharp lookout for any movement in that direction; and,
should such a thing be attempted, give all the support of your division, and Gen. Hurlbut's, if necessary."
To Halleck, on the 5th, he wrote, —
" Our outposts had been attacked by the enemy, apparently in
considerable force. I immediately went up, but found all quiet.... I have scarcely the faintest idea of an attack (general one)
being made upon us, but will be prepared should such a thing take
place."
The field of Shiloh was bounded east by the Tennessee River, west by  Owl  Creek, north  by  Snake
Creek, and south by Lick Creek, and was about three
miles in area between the boundary-lines. The enemy
advanced from the south.
Johnston's force comprised about seventy thousand
men.  This was stated by all the prisoners, spies, and deserters.  Beauregard acknowledged to have had over
forty-three thousand after the defeat. The whole Union
army was about thirty thousand. Buell was ordered to
re-enforce Grant from Nashville with forty thousand men,
and was hourly expected.
Sherman was in front with Prentiss and Stuart; McClernand was partly behind Sherman, in a diagonal line,
the left of which extended between Sherman and Prentiss; Hurlbut was some distance in the rear of Prentiss, toward Pittsburg Landing. This was the position
of affairs, Sunday morning, April 6.




56           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Grant was at Savannah, waiting for Buell.  Buell
was a slow man, a good officer when he arrived, a good
tactician, handled his men in fine style on the field; but
he had not learned the value of time in war. He ordered the divisions of his army to move six miles apart.
There are men who are always late.  They were late
at school, late at their wedding, late in their business
appointments, late at the cars, late at their meals; in a
word, behind time on all occasions, private and public.
They can be honest in all things but the time and
patience of others; and these they constantly pilfer.
Buell was one of this class.
The rebels knew this; and they planned to advance
and crush Grant with his little army before Buell arrived, and then crush Buell. Sabbath morning, Grant's
horse stood saddled at the door of his tent; and he was
about starting to see if he could not find Buell, and
hurry him up, when he heard heavy firing in the direction of Shiloh.  The first few guns told him the story,
and he instantly started the following note to Buell:" Heavy firing is heard up the river, indicating plainly that an
attack has been made upon our most advanced positions. I have
been looking for this, but did not believe the attack could be made
before Monday or Tuesday. This necessitates my joining the forces
up the river, instead of meeting you to-day, as I had contemplated.
I have directed Gen. Wilson to move to the river with his division.
He can march to opposite Pittsburg."
He stopped on his way at Crump's Landing, and told
Lewis Wallace that a battle had begun. He then rode
to Sherman's headquarters, where he arrived about
eight o'clock.
The night previous, Johnston had moved up in front




BATTLE OF SHILOH.              57
of Sherman, with double guards in his own front, ordered to shoot any man who attempted to pass; and at
early day had precipitated his whole army upon the
two feeble divisions of Sherman and Prentiss. But
Sherman was there, and during the day showed that he
was an army in himself.
In the morning, Beaureguard promised his cavalry
that "they should water their horses in the Tennessee
before sunset."  The Cossacks, on leaving  Russia,
threatened that theirs should " drink of the Seine, beneath the windows of the Tuileries."  The Cossacks
kept their word.
Our troops were many of them raw, and had never
been under fire. Some even had gone out without
cartridges, and early fell back against the overwhelming
odds. This alarmed others: a panic ensued; and five
or six thousand men began falling back towards the
landing. Sherman and Prentiss did all that men could
do, but without avail. Sherman was shot in the hand;
but, winding a handkerchief about the wound, he rode
on. His horse was shot under him: he jumped on another, and continued his efforts to rally and re-form the
troops.
As Grant hurried to the front, he encountered the
fugitives, and was everywhere told, " We are beaten!
we are beaten! "  " Our regiment is cut to pieces!"
" The battle is lost! "  But he did not see it. No.
Fate seemed determined that Grant should be at a distance when his great battles began, - on duty, it is true,
but absent, as if to show what the addition of one man
to a hundred thousand amounts to. Wellington said,
"I consider the presence of Napoleon on any battle



58           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
field equal to a re-enforcement of forty thousand troops."
Often during the war there were calls for two and
three hundred thousand men.  After a while, it came
to be seen that there was only one man more wanted.
Grant made his way to the front, where he found
Sherman riding about among rifle-balls, cannon-shot,
and shells, as if he bore a charmed life. Wherever the
shot fell the fastest and the thickest, there was Sherman. He was untiring in his efforts; cool, daring, and
full of fight.
Grant congratulated him on the stand he had made:
things looked badly; but the army was not to be
whipped.  Grant, before starting, had thoughtfully
given orders to forward all day supplies of ammunition. Messengers were sent again and again to the
commanders in the rear to come up. He endeavored
during the forenoon to re-form the broken regiments, to
put the disorganized troops into position. Meanwhile
the rebels, greatly encouraged by their first success,
steadily advanced. The conflict was deadly, and raged
with increasing fury. It recalled Lannes' description of
the battle of Montebello: " I could hear the bones crash
in my division like glass in a hail-storm."
At half-past four, in the afternoon, our forces had
been driven to within half a mile of the landing.
Grant listened for Buell's guns.  About this time,
Gen. Buell, who had heard the firing at a great distance, had ridden on with his staff in advance of his
army, and reached the field.  Seeing the desperate
state of affairs, he asked Grant, -
" What preparations have you made to secure your
retreat, general?"




BATTLE OF SHILOH.                59
" We shall not retreat, sir."
" But it is possible," added Buell; "and a prudent
general always provides for contingencies."
"Well, there are the boats," said Grant.
"The boats! " said Buell. "But they will not hold
over ten thousand men, and we have thirty thousand."
" They will hold more than we shall retreat with.
We shall whip them  yet," was Grant's characteristic
reply.
Hurlbut's and W. H. L. Wallace's commands fought
with stubborn valor. They could be forced back slowly
by the rebel host; but they covered the ground with
their own and the enemy's dead as they receded; and
among them, at last, Wallace himself fell.
Late in the afternoon, when all seemed lost, on a
ravine not far from the landing, Col. Webster of Grant's
staff, a splendid artillery-officer, collected a battery of
twenty-two guns in a semicircle, which the rebels did
not silence. Gunners were called for; and a surgeon of
one of the Missouri regiments, Dr. Cornyn, thought his
professional experience in surgery was no disqualification, and insisted on taking a place at the guns.
Rebel batteries were moved up, and opened fire; but
now the gunboats " Tyler" and " Lexington "joined
in the fight with 7-inch  shell and  64-pound shot.
Buell arrived, but too late.
At this time, Beauregard telegraphed to Richmond
as follows:
We have this morning attacked the enemy in strong position in
front of Pittsburg; and after a severe battle of ten hours, thanks
to Almighty God! gained a complete victory, driving the enemy
from every position.




60           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
The loss on both sides is heavy, including our commander-inchief; Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, who fell, gallantly leading his
troops into the thickest of the fight.
G. T. BEAUREGARD, General commanding.
It was at this time that Grant made about the only
attempt at rhyme of which we have any record. The
excellent staff-surgeon, Dr. Hewitt, seeing the vast
numbers of the wounded, was disposed to take a desponding view, and expressed a belief that the enemy
would drive us.  Grant tried to rally those about him
into good spirits, and said, -
"Major Hewitt
Says they can do it:
General Grant
Says they can't I"
It was then, too, that Grant, as Sherman afterwards
related,* told him  the story of Donelson, of the disasters early in the day; and expounded to Sherman, no
doubt an easy convert, his ever-favorite theory of the
mutual exhaustion of both armies in every great battle,
when, by some vast power, you must rouse your own,
and go in to triumph. He thought the rebels were about
in the right condition then, and, if it were not night,
should attack; but gave orders that they " should be
attacked at daylight."
It must be owned, it is difficult to defeat such a man:
because he assumes that you will fight hard and fight
long; that both armies will do all that mortal men can be
expected to do; but that then he will select a moment
when his own shall do something more.  But that he,
t Shrman's Letter to the Army and Navy Gazette.




BATTLE QF SHILOH.               61
or those following him, shall be the party to fail, he
never believes. There are men in whom this would
seem to be conceit and over-weening self-confidence;
but there is a class of men in whom it is the natural
fruit of conscious power. Be careful how you encounter them.
"Who sails with me comes to shore," said Caesar.
"You never were on a boat with me before, I think,"
said Jackson to a nervous gentleman on a rickety
steamer in a dangerous storm.
It had been a terrible battle, one of the most bloody
that occurred in the war.  Gen. Johnston, the rebel
leader, had been killed, but, with the intrepidity of the
American soldier, sat motionless on his horse after he
was shot, not moving until he was lifted out of his saddle. Beauregard was in command. W. H. L. Wallace was mortally wounded  Prentiss was captured with
two thousand men.  Grant had been struck, but not
injured; and the wounded, the dying, and the dead, of
both armies, covered the field to the number of about
twenty thousand men. The Federal camp was in possession of the enemy.
The shells fiom the gunboats, dropping into the woods
during the night, set them on fire; and the sufferings of
the helpless wounded were terrible, and would have
been aggravated but for the copious rain, which partly
quenched the fire, and mitigated their anguish.
Few except eye-witnesses can form a conception of
the sufferings of a battle-field. "What a glorious sight
must be a great victory! " said a lady to Wellington.
"The saddest sight in the world, madam, except a
defeat," was the reply.




62                LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
It is not generally known, that, among the wounded,
the most acute anguish is from thirst. A man will live
longer without  food  than  without water.   Water is
essential to all vital existence, except that of mosses.
Indeed, the ancients believed that water was the parent
of all things.*The torture of thirst is always increased tenfold by
the  loss  of blood.   And  these  poor beings, unable  to
move, were  compelled  to  lie all night: sometimes the
flames  were  crackling  about  them;  sometimes  they
would  throw   their  heads  back, and  thrust  out their
tongues, hoping to catch a few drops of the falling rain.
Here was a headless body; there was a  disembowelled
corpse;  near  would  be  a  man  weakly  struggling  to
* This theory was partly drawn from the Mosaic account of the creation.
Tile same is taught in the Koran. And Milton, in " Paradise Lost," accepting this belief, writes, -
" On the watery calm
His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread,
And vital virtue infised, and vital warmth,
Throughout the fluid mass."
It was chosen in the parable to represent with most power to the minds
of men the unutterable torture of the lost: "Let him dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue." It was the only bodily suffering which
extorted utterance amid the agonies of the crucifixion,-" I thirst;" and
the cruel refusal to mitigate it was all that was needed to wring from the
convulsed lips of the dying, "It is finished." Children have remembered
through life a glass of water given them on some occasion when enduring
extreme thirst; and invalids nursed in homes of comfort and luxury have
described for years the sensation of cold water, given to them when burning
and parched with fever, rendering literally as well as poetically true tha
lines of Talfourd:" Its draught
Of cool refreshment, drained by fevered lips,
Will give a shock of pleasure to the frame
More exquisite than when nectarian juice
Renews the life of joy in happiest hours."




BATTLE OF SHILOH.               63
free himself from  a pile of corpses.  Men, horses,
mules, mingled in every form of mutilation; the shells
screeching and the cannon-balls flying above them, the
flames threatening to burn them alive. At times, the
field seeming to be a bed of fire, except where drowned
with pools of blood, — friends unable to reach them.
And so those who survived wore the long hours of the
night away. A  vast field of carnage and woe! If
angels weep, there were tears in heaven. And this
was war, but only one scene in a war made and continued for four years, that a few men might buy and
sell human beings.
But, when the morning dawned, these brave men
again welcomed the old flag with cheers as they saw
the advancing re-enforcements of Buell's divisions, and
regiment after regiment marched into position for the
final struggle.




CHAPTER VI.
BATTLE AT PITTSBURG LANDING.
T    OWARD  morning, Gen. Grant lay down on the
ground in the storm, with a log for his pillow, and
" slept soundly." Thus Alexander slept on the night
before the battle of Arbela; so Conde slept on the eye
of the battle  of Rocroi; so Napoleon  slept on the
field of Bautzen.
The talent for sleeping soundly when great events
are impending  is not one of the least elements of
success.   The power of going without sleep, or of
commanding it when needed, which some men possess,
is a great gift. That commander is more to be dreaded
who comes to the field with all the energies of his body
and  mind  restored  by  refreshing  sleep, than  the
nervous, excitable man who is jaded out with restlessness and anxiety. The affairs of life look very differently in the morning to the man who has slept soundly
than they do to the man who has tossed in feverish
worry.  Success in life is often as much an affair of
the body as the mind.*
" As a torch gives a better light, a sweeter smell, according to the
matter it is made of, so doth our soul perform all her actions, better or worse,
as her organs are disposed; or, as wine savors of the cask wherein it is
kept, the soul receives a tincture from the body through which it works." -
Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.
64




BATTLE AT PITTSBURG LANDING.         65
During the night, some of Buell's men had crossed
over the river in the rain: and the line now had Lewis
Wallace on the right; then Sherman, McClernand,
Hurlbut, with the heroes of Fort Donelson; and
McCook, Crittenden, and Nelson, on the left. Grant
ordered an attack at daylight, on Monday the 7th,
along his whole line, as if there had been no fighting
for three months.  The ball was opened by Nelson's
division, which soon drew upon itself the fire of almost
the whole rebel force. His artillery not having come
up, his men suffered severely from the rebel batteries,
until silenced by those of Capts. Mendenhall and
Terrill, whom Grant sent to Nelson's support.  Opposite Wallace was the famous Crescent Regiment from
New Orleans, and the Washington Artillery of Manassas renown.
Beauregard could be seen riding in front, and exciting them to the utmost.
Sherman now steadily pressed forward to a point
about fifteen hundred feet east of Shiloh Church, from
which he had been driven on Sunday morning, and
where Beauregard slept on Sunday night.  Here the
rebel army was plainly seen re-forming, regimental
colors flying, and bands playing. A rebel battery was
pounding grape and canister into our forces with terrible effect. Two brigades, under T. Kirby Smith and
Rousseau, charged, and carried it at the point of the
bayonet.
By two o'clock, Grant had driven the enemy, all the
while fighting stubbornly, nearly five miles beyond his
own line of battle on Sunday. An "impressed NewYorker," who was with the Confederate army, wrote,



66           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
" No heroism of officers or men could avail to stay
the advance of the Federal troops."
Late in the afternoon, Grant, standing on a little
knoll, saw the First Ohio marching to another portion
of the field. One of our regiments, in line of battle,
llad been so thinned and weakened, that it was evident
that it must give way soon, although fighting to drive
the enemy from  one of the last important positions
which they held.  Grant saw the time for the final
blow had come: he instantly halted the regiment, and
showed himself to the men, who received him with
ringing cheers. He, drawing his sword, placed himself
at their head, and shouting, " Now's the time to drive
them!" led them across the field, while the cannonballs were falling like hail-stones around him.  The
enfeebled regiment, seeing the determined gallantry of
their leader, closed up, joined in the charge as if just
arrived on the field, and swept the enemy from their
last stronghold.
The rebels.were now evidently retreating.  Grant,
like Blucher, was anxious to send "the last man and
the last gun after them." But it was represented to
him that the roads were almost impassable, and that the
condition of the men was such that some rest was
absolutely indispensable. After twenty hours' fighting,
he reluctantly yielded to these representations for a
few hours of repose.  They encamped on the field
from which they had first been driven. Early the next
morning, however, cavalry were sent out on the road
to Corinth to follow the retreating army. They found
the route strewn with haversacks, muskets, blankets,
and all the evidences of a flying foe.




BATTLE AT PITTSBURG LANDING.            67
Grant's loss had been about twelve thousand. Beauregard admitted his to be about eleven thousand; but
those who buried the rebel dead estimated his loss far
larger, - some even as high as twenty thousand.
The battle was mainly decided at night, on Sunday,
when our forces repulsed the last rebel assault at the
ravine.
Beauregard, in his report of Sunday's battle, says,
"Our troops fought bravely, but with the want of
that animation and spirit which characterized them the
preceding day."
The slaughter on both sides was terrific. Sherman
described it as the most dreadful which he saw in the
war.  Grant says he only saw its equal in the Wilderness. In some divisions, the killed and wounded were
thirty per cent of the numbers who went into the
action.  Regiments, in  some  instances, were commanded by lieutenants, and brigades by majors.
Yet the determination and endurance were truly wonderful.  A  ball was extracted from the brain of one
soldier, who, three days after, was on duty with the
bullet in his pocket. A rifle-ball passed through the
head of a member of the First Missouri Artillery without killing him.*
The battle-field and the dead were in the possession
of the victors.
Gen  Grant issued  the  following  congratulatory
order:
HEADQUARTERS, DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE,
GENERAL OR, N. 3.  PITTSBURG, April 8, 1862.
GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 34.
The general commanding congratulates the troops who so gallantly maintained their position, repulsed and routed a numerically
* Surgical Reports.




68             LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
superior force of the enemy, composed of the flower of the Southern army, commanded by their ablest generals, and fought by
them with all the desperation of despair.
In numbers engaged, no such contest ever took place on this
continent; in importance of result, but few such have taken place
in the history of the world.
Whilst congratulating the brave and gallant soldiers, it becomes the duty of the general commanding to make special notice
of the brave wounded and those killed on the field. Whilst they
leave friends and relations to mourn their loss, they have won a
nation to gratitude, and undying laurels not to be forgotten by
future generations, who will enjoy the blessings of the best government the sun ever shone upon, preserved by their valor.
By command of Major-Gen. GRANT.
JOHN A. RAWLINS, A. A. G.
Of Gen. Sherman he said in his official report, " I
was greatly indebted for his promptness in forwarding
to me, during the siege of Fort Donelson, re-enforcements and supplies from  Paducah.  At the battle of
Shiloh, on the first day, he held with raw troops the
key-point to the landing. To his individual efforts I
am indebted for the success of that battle. Twice hit,
and several (I think three) horses shot under him, on
that day, he maintained his position with raw troops.
It is no disparagement to any other officer to say that
I do not believe that there was another division commander in the field who had the skill and experience
to have done it."
Tuesday morning, Beauregard asked permission to
bury his dead, as follows: —
HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF MISSISSIPPI,
MONTEREY, April 8, 1862.
SIR, - At the close of the conflict yesterday, my forces being
exhausted by the extraordinary length of the time during which




BATTLE AT PlTTSBURG LANDING.                   69
they were engaged with yours on that and the preceding day, and
it being apparent that you had received re-enforcements, I felt it
to be my duty to withdraw my troops from the immediate scene
of the conflict. Under these circumstances, in accordance with
the usages of war, I shall transmit this, under a flag of truce, to
ask permission to send a mounted party to the battle-field of
Shiloh for the purpose of giving decent interment to my dead.
Certain gentlemen wishing to avail themselves of this opportunity
to remove the remains of their sons and friends, I must request
for them the privilege of accompanying the burial-party; and in
this connection I deem it proper to say, I am asking what I have
extended to your own countrymen under similar circumstances.
Respectfully, general, your obedient servant,
P. G. T. BEAUREGARD, General commanding.
To Major-Gen. U. S. GRANT, commanding U. S. Forces, Pittsburg.
Grant, in reply, sent the following: -
HEADQUARTERS, ARMY IN THE FIELD,
PITTSBURG, April 9, 1862.
To Gen. P. G. T. BEAUREGARD, Commanding Confederate Army on Mississippi, Monterey, Tenn.,Your despatch of yesterday is just received.  Owing to the
warmth of the weather, I deemed it advisable to have the dead of
both parties buried immediately. Heavy details were made for this
purpose, and it is now accomplished. There cannot, therefore, be
any necessity of admitting within our lines the parties you desired
to send, on the grounds asked. I shall always be glad to extend
any courtesy consistent with duty, and especially so when dictated by humanity.
I am, general, respectfully your obedient servant,
U. S. GRANT, Major-General commanding.
The immense  numbers wounded  and slain  during
these two days called forth the beneficent operations of
the Sanitary Commission, which were continued throughout the war on a gigantic scale. Steamers crowded
with physicians and nurses, and loaded with all neces



70           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
saries and delicacies for the sick, were immediately despatched to the scene of battle, and every effort made to
mitigate the sufferings of the wounded.
This commission was one of the wonderful demonstrations of the war, and received Gen. Grant's earnest
support and co-operation. The civilization and Christianity of Europe had for centuries beheld contending
hosts march out and deluge the earth with their blood;
but the care of the wounded was restricted to. the army
officials, and such limited aid as they could render. It
was reserved for the people of America to exhibit to
the world the most majestic proof of love and devotion
to their country; giving a million and a half of men
to its service; then following in the wake of its armies
with thousands of volunteer surgeons, physicians, and
nurses, -women and men bountifully supplied with
every comfort and luxury of the sick-chamber, eager
to dress the wounded, care for the sick, write messages
of love for the helpless, pray with the dying, - shrinking
from no office that poor humanity could need; and,
when all was over, tenderly embalming and forwarding
their lifeless remains to the homes they had left. Such
a people could not be conquered.
Sherman said, " It was necessary that a combat
fierce and bitter, to test the manhood of the two armies,
should come off; and that was as good a.place as any."
The battle made the North and South better acquainted
with the character of the Northern and Southern soldiers. It showed the North that the Southern soldier
who could brag could also fight; it showed the South
that the Northern soldier could " stand, and, having
done all, stand." There was less talk after that of " one




BATTLE AT PITTSBURG LANDING.          71
Southerner whipping five Yankees,"- the bluster with
which the rebels opened the war. They found that the
" mudsills " of the North, as Senator Hammond of South
Carolina called the men who held the plough and handled
the trowel, shoved the jackplane and swung the sledge,
did not fear in battle the face of animated dust. The
Southern soldier had the ardor, the vehemence, the enthusiasm, the self-assertion, of the French,-the same
which carried the French cavalry up to the enemy's
ranks until they rattled their sabres upon their muskets.
They came on with terrific "yells," which seemed to
demand a victory as a thing of course; but they had not
the "hold-on,"  the grip which yields only to death
itself. They wanted to carry every thing with a dash,
and, if resisted firmly, after a while gave way.
The Northern  soldiers did  not " yell,"-  they
"cheered," and oftener after victory than before. Like
the Spartans of old, who did not need martial strains to
excite them, but could march into battle " to the Dorian
mood of flutes and soft recorders," the Northern men
in making a charge would grit their teeth, compress
their lips, slope their bayonets, then silently rush on
with a power that swept every thing before it. It was
like the Norman and Saxon blood on the battle-fields
of Europe.  "These English," said Napoleon to Soult
on the morning at Waterloo, as he first swept the field
with his glass,- " these English: at last we have them! "
— " I know them, sire," said Soult, who had been in
Spain,  " I know them; and they will die where they
stand! "  The news of the victory was telegraphed over
the country. It was read to both houses of Congress,
then in session. Salutes were fired; and everywhere
the news was received with great rejoicing.




72          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
This battle, or rather the two battles of Shiloh and Pittsburg Landing, were fought April 6 and 7, 1862. They
were important in many ways, but not the least in the
entire change which they made in the views of the man
who was finally to wield the whole force of all the Union
armies against the Rebellion. He had believed that the
South, after a few defeats, would relinquish the purpose
of actually destroying the government, and fastening
anarchy upon the whole nation; but that they would
use their position to negotiate upon the questions in dispute, and ultimately return to the Union. IHe was now
convinced that he had not fathomed their purpose, and
that the words of the secession leader at Washington, as
reported by Judge Douglas, were true: "If you give
us a sheet of white paper to write our own terms, we
will not remain in the Union."   He became convinced
that the leaders of the Rebellion had "resolved, in the
gloomy recesses of minds capacious of such things," to
overthrow the liberties of their country, and erect on
its ruins a vast empire to extend and perpetuate human
slavery. He saw that it was a life-and-death struggle;
that the government must exterminate the Rebellion, or
be exterminated by it; that, with the capture of forts
and the surrender of armies, the slaveholders were not
willing to yield the accustomed fruits of victory. Men
often mark the progress of our race by battles, sieges,
the dismemberment of old and the creation of new empires; but the silent,still birth of a thought, an opinion,
in the mind of a single man, has often shaken the earth
with the force of an earthquake.
Grant now formed a belief that it was not by marching and countermarching of armies, by taking Fort




BATTLE AT PITTSBURG LANDING.           73
Sumter or Montgomery, by holding this city or blockading that harbor, by " crushing, anaconda strategy,"
such as Scott first recommended, that the Rebellion was
to be put down; but that the Rebellion was in the hearts
and minds of the slaveholders; that its power was with
Lee and the unnumbered bayonets that followed him:
and thereafter his policy was to pursue the rebel armies,
and constantly strike, strike. This opinion he ever after
acted upon, as far as his power went, until the final surrender at Appomattox Court House. He acted on the
doctrine that political metaphysics, armies, slavery, every
thing, should be destroyed which resisted the triumph
of the right. And here was one great secret of his
success where others had failed.
Gen. Halleck, who was at St. Louis, now came down
and took command.
The North claimed a great victory at first; but, very
soon, dissatisfaction was expressed. Gen. Grant, it was
said, "had not properly chosen his battle-field; he should
have had Buell's army on the ground on the first day of
the fighting; his habits were bad, or the army would not
have been driven back to the Landing on Sunday; it
was a defeat which Buell only prevented from becoming
a rout." Such were some of the wise criticisms made.
Gen. Halleck, after investigating the facts, issued an
order, thanking Gen. Grant and Gen. Buell, their officers
and men, "for the bravery and endurance with which
they sustained the general attacks of the enemy on the
5th, and for the heroic manner in which, on the 7th,
they defeated and routed the entire rebel army."
In regard to the selection of the field, Gen. Sherman
wrote as follows: -




74             LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
" I will avail myself of this occasion to correct another very common mistake in attributing to Gen. Grant the selection of that
battle-field. It was chosen by that veteran soldier, Major-Gen.
Charles F. Smith, who ordered my division to disembark there,
and strike for the Charleston Railroad. It was Gen. Smith who
selected that field of battle; and it was well chosen. On any other
we surely should have been overwhelmed, as both Lick and Snake
Creeks forced the enemy to confine his movements to a direct front
attack, which raw troops are better qualified to resist than where
the flanks are exposed to a real or chimerical danger. Even the
divisions of the army were arranged in that camp by Gen. Smith's
order, before Gen. Grant succeeded him to the command of all the
forces up the Tennessee. If there were any error in putting that
army on the west side of the Tennessee, exposed to the superior
force of the enemy, also assembling at Corinth, the mistake was
not Gen. Grant's; but there was no mistake."
Hon. E. B. Washburne, member of Congress from
Illinois, thus noticed the attacks on Gen. Grant in an
able speech in the House of Representatives, May 2,
1862:" But there is a more grievous suggestion touching the general's
habits. It is a suggestion that has infused itself into the public mind
everywhere. There never was a more cruel and atrocious slander
upon a brave and a noble-minded man. There is no more temperate man in the army than Gen. Grant. He never indulges in the use
of intoxicating liquors at all. He is an example of courage, honor,
fortitude, activity, temperance, and modesty; for he is as modest
as he is brave and incorruptible. It is almost vain to hope that
full justice will ever be done to men who have been thus attacked.
Truth is slow upon the heels of falsehood. It has been well said
that'falsehood will travel from Maine to Georgia while truth is
putting on its boots.'
" Though living in the same town with myself, Gen. Grant has
no political claims on me; for, so far as he is a politician, he
belongs to a different party."




BATTLE AT PITTSBURG LANDING.           75
It has long been thought very difficult to describe a
battle: the man who is with the right wing describes
what happened there; the man who is with the left,
what happened there; and the man with the centre describes something different from either.
In reading what was said of the battles of April 6
and 7, Gen. Grant might adopt as his own the remark
which Gen. Taylor, in the latter part of his life, was accustomed to make when the battle of Buena Vista was
spoken of: "I used to think I was at Buena Vista.  I
certainly did the day of the battle; but I have heard so
much about it since, that I often doubt if I ever was
there at all."
A member of Gen. Grant's staff, an eye-witness to
the cruel injustice which was done in these criticisms,
wrote some letters in his defence, and sent them to Gen.
Grant's father for publication. One only was published.
As soon as the general learned of this, he wrote, asking
that no defence should be made. Conscious of having
done his duty, and his whole duty, he preferred to bide
his time for a just judgment upon his conduct.




CHAPTER VII.
SIEGE OF CORINTH.
&  RANT was for an immediate attack: but Halleck decided otherwise; and he determined to
advance toward Corinth, where the rebels had concentratea, and lay siege to the place.  Gen. Halleck
ordered up an immense army to his camp, until a
hundred and twenty thousand bayonets could be put
in line. It was called the " Grand Army of the Tennessee." Shovels and spades appeared by thousands.
He threw up forty miles of intrenchments. Wells were
sunk, as if the army itself was besieged. He dragged
heavy siege-guns through the mud; he threw up sodded
earthworks, all constructed upon the highest principles
of military art.
Bomb-proof magazines were carefully built; roads
were cut in every direction. He advanced cautiously
about two and a half miles a week for six weeks; the
enemy, meanwhile, making no attack.  They were
satisfied as long as they were "let alone."
Gen. Halleck carried out faithfully his Order No. 3.
No " unauthorized persons" were allowed within his
lines: the stories of fugitive slaves about the movements of Beauregard's army were disbelieved.  Corinth was to be approached, besieged, and taken with
76




SIEGE OF CORINTH.              77
dignity; and week after week he advanced, moving
forward his own camp, now  a perfect Sevastopol.
Grant was of opinion, meanwhile, that the enemy
were dividing their forces, and evacuating Corinth.
He examined their works, and became satisfied, that
on their extreme left, opposite to or a little west of
Sherman's line, was their weakest spot; and that
there they could be carried at once by assault. The
digging and intrenching, as if besieged, had a depressing effect on the national troops.  They had driven
the enemy, flushed with victory, from  the ravine at
Pittsburg Landing, with deadly slaughter, five miles
back to Shiloh Church. The enemy were retreating,
with every sign of disorder, to Corinth; and the Union
army stopped six weeks to intrench, and protect itself
from an attack.  Grant ventured modestly to express
some of these views in the briefest manner to Gen.
Halleck, and suggested an attack, which he had urged
the morning after the victory at Pittsburg Landing;
but Gen. Halleck did not agree in these opinions, and
intimated to Gen. Grant that he need not offer his
advice unless solicited.
Gen. Grant never intruded his opinions again.
On the last of May, Gen. Halleck was confident
that he should be attacked. On the 3d he announced,
" There is every indication that the enemy will attack
our left this morning;" and his magnificent army, one
of the finest seen during the war, was put in line
of battle, and waited an attack: but the enemy never
came. Halleck had sent Col. Elliott to cut the Mobile
and Ohio Railroad on the 27th, in Beauregard's rear.
The whole country had watched daily, for weeks, the




78          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
siege of Corinth, and looked for the capture  of
Beauregard and his grand army.  On the night of the
3d of May, the sentinels heard a great rumbling and
rolling of cars in Corinth, and reported it. It continued all night long. Toward morning, loud explosions
were heard. What could it all mean?  Perhaps re-enforcements were pouring in to the enemy. Halleck
said to Sherman, "I cannot explain it;" and ordered
him to "advance and feel the enemy, if still in his
front."  Sherman advanced and advanced; but there
was no enemy to " feel."  He entered Corinth: it was a
deserted town. There were a few worthless tents, some
wooden guns, and a few stragglers firing the public
buildings; but the enemy had left. It now appeared,
that, for nearly a month, the enemy had been planning
to leave the place.  Orders were issued to move
in the direction of Danville and Booneville.  The
works were formidable in appearance only, and could
easily have been carried. Grant at once rode to the
rebel left, the point at which he had advised an attack,
to ascertain if he had been correct in his judgment;
and found that this was the weak point in Beauregard's
line, and, if attacked, could have been carried, and the
whole army probably captured.
For two or three days, Beauregard had been sending
his sick and his most valuable stores toward Mobile, with
the greatest part of his ordnance: the troops had gone
to the south and west. The magazines and storehouses
had been blown up, and were a mass of ruins.
It is not necessary now to censure any one for this
result. Gen. Halleck was a military scholar: he was
an over-cautious man. He would have all, but ven



SIEGE OF CORINTH.              79
ture nothing.  The general who will never move an
army of a hundred thousand men until every linch-pin
of every wagon has been examined and reported to
him will never move. Such a body of men will never
all be ready.  The campaign was ended as far as
results were concerned. It had been a campaign of
laborious idleness.
Halleck was doubtless acting under the impulse
of opinions formed at St. Louis when he first heard of
the attack at Shiloh, —that Grant should have been
intrenched; and he came down at once, and began
intrenching.
On the contrary, Grant had been on the ground all
the time: he considered the battle of Shiloh and of
Pittsburg Landing as substantially one battle, in which
the victory was with him and his troops; that with
Buell's army of fresh troops, the rebel army weakened
by two days of fighting, our troops should have followed
them at once, and destroyed them; tlat, if this had been
done, the whole campaign in the Valley of the Mississippi could have been terminated in thirty days. Grant's
plan was not engineering and mining and countermining, but an advance, a battle, and a victory. Subsequent events showed the correctness of this judgment.
Beauregard had expected a vigorous pursuit, and had
sent to Breckinridge, in command of the rear-guard,
" This retreat must not be a rout."  As soon as he
arrived at Corinth, he telegraphed in cipher to Richmond for re-enforcements, and said, "If defeated here,
we lose the Mississippi Valley, and probably our cause."
And so it was: in a few days, New Orleans was captured, and Memphis fell.  Grant's war policy, in a




80           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
word, was expressed in his letter to Buckner, "I propose to move immediately on your works: " and it is
evident there was one man who agreed with him that
this policy would be the most disastrous to the rebel
forces; and that was Beauregard. The rebel army was
now to be pursued.  Grant was there, and Sherman
was there; but Buell was sent.
On the 10th of June, he took seventy thousand men,
and moved south, toward Booneville. It was a cautious
mal sendingr a slow man in pursuit.  Buell had doubtless, too, become inspired with the importance of caution
as well as deliberation. He went thirty miles, to Booneville, with his splendid army; and, finding no enemy,
threw  up lines of defence, and waited for them  to
attack. It was evident to the soldiers the enemy had
fled; but Buell, on whom rested the responsibility, did
not perceive this.
After a few days, however, he was compelled to
march back to Corinth.  The rebels were fifty miles
distant by the nearest railroad, and seventy miles by
wagon-road; and  the campaign was ended.  The
opinion was freely expressed by military men, that, if
Gen. Halleck had remained in St. Louis, Grant would
have captured Beauregard and his whole army.
On the 17th of July, Halleck was called to Washington as commander-in-chief, and Grant was left in command.  Soon after, four divisions of his army were
ordered to join Buell, towards Chattanooga.
Grant at once strengthened and improved the works
which Beauregard had left.




CHAPTER  VIII.
BATTLE OF IUKA.- BATTLE OF CORINTH.
A    RE-ORGANIZATION   of  military  departments now gave to Gen. Grant the Department of West Tennessee, stretching from  the west
bank of the Mississippi to the west shores of the
Tennessee.  This included Memphis, which was now
occupied by the Union forces. Gen. Grant now visited
that city, and took measures to prevent the sending of
letters, fire-arms, goods, and ammunition out of the
city.  He rented  unoccupied buildings owned  by
traitors, and directed the rent paid to the United States.
He notified the families of rebels that they would be
required to move from the city unless they signed a
parole that they had, in no form whatever, aided the
rebel government, and would not do so; that captured
guerillas would not be treated as prisoners of war; and
that the property of traitors would be sold to indemnify
the government for all losses caused by the depredations of outlaws.
Notwithstanding the surrender of the city, and its
occupation by the Union army, the rebel press was
constantly endeavoring to stir up and keep alive the
most bitter hatred toward the Union citizens and soldiers. Gen. Grant found it necessary to stop this; and
6                      81




82             LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
one of the most rancorous of the rebel sheets received
the following very explicit order:HEADQUARTERS, DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE,
OFFICE PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL,
MEMPHIS, TENN., July 1, 1862.
Messrs. WILLS, BINGHAM, & Co., Proprietors of the Memphis Avalanche, -
You will suspend the further publication of your paper. The
spirit with which it is conducted is regarded as both incendiary
and treasonable, and its issue cannot longer be tolerated.
This order will be strictly observed from the time of its reception.
By command of Major.-Gen. U. S. GRANT.WM. S. HILLYER, Provost-Marshal-General.
MEMPHIS, July 1, 1862.
"The Avalanche" can continue by the withdrawal of the
author of the obnoxious article, under the caption of " Mischiefmakers," and the editorial allusion to the same.
U. S. GRANT, MIajor-General.
The  guerilla warfare was continued by the rebels
with fierceness and cruelty; and Gen. Grant found it
necessary to issue still more severe orders, to one of
which the following is a reply:TRENTON, TENN., July 29, 1862.
GENERAL, — The man who guided the rebels to the bridge
that was burned was hung to-day. He had taken the oath. The
houses of four others who aided have been burned to the ground.
(Signed)          G. M. DODGE, Brigadier-General.
Slaves in large  numbers had  early sought refuge
within the Union lines; but the government was not
yet prepared to enlist them as soldiers. In one instance
in Missouri, slaves having given valuable information to
the Union forces had been seized by their rebel owner,




BATTLE OF IUKA.                 83
to be sent within the rebel lines; upon which they were
taken by an Iowa officer, and the circumstance reported to headcuarters.  The slaves soon after, understanding the full import of Gen. Halleck's Order No. 3;
attempted to escape: they were pursued by a detachment of Missouri militia in the pay of the United
States; and one was actually shot by the pursuing
party.
Senator Wilson of Massachusetts had introduced a bill
in Congress forbidding all officers from returning fugitive
slaves; and this was followed by legislation of a similar
character.
Gen. Grant forthwith gladly issued orders that fugitive
slaves should be enrolled, and regulated the relation of
these refugees to the army within his department.
During the summer, Gen. Grant, by active ant constant cavalry reconnoissances, kept himself thoroughly
posted as to the position and movements of the rebel
forces; and had for some time been secretly forwarding
troops north in aid of movements for the protection of
Cincinnati and Kentucky before it was known to the
enemy.  Early in September, the rebel commanders in
the South-west determined to unite in an attack on
Grant's position. Gen. Braxton Bragg, as a piece of
consummate strategy, while really at Chattanooga in
Tennessee preparing to move towards the Ohio River,
issued an order dated at Sparta, a small town in the
south of Alabama.  The warlike associations with the
name of Sparta perhaps secured for it the honor of
being used by Gen. Bragg for the purpose of deceiving
the Union commander.
But Gen. Grant, though not a resident of the ancient




84           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
city or the modern village, was too much of a Spartan
by nature to be in the least deceived by the order or its
author.  He immediately telegraphed to Rosecrans at
Tuscumbia, putting him on his guard.
Van Dorn and Price, early in September, began
moving toward the Tennessee; Price striking east of
Grant, as if for Kentucky; while Van Dorn threatened
Corinth.
On the 18th of September, Gen. Grant ordered Generals Rosecrans and Ord to advance upon Iuka, where
a severe engagement took place on the afternoon of the
19th.  Gen. Grant had intended that Ord and Rosecrans should unite early in the morning of that day:
but Rosecrans had been deceived and misled by a rebel
spy who had secured his confidence, and remained with
him until an hour or two before the fight; and he was
also detained by the terrible condition of the roads and
the thickly-wooded country.  The troops fought well;
held their ground: and in the night the enemy fled
with a loss of 1,438, our army entering Iuka the next
morning.  But Grant, owing to the fact that Rosecrans
and Ord did not unite as expected, failed to destroy
Price's whole force as he had intended.  Price was
prevented from advancing into Kentucky, or holding
his force in full strength until Van Dorn could join
him in a united attack on Corinth.
The North at this time was threateefed with invasions
in Maryland and Ohio.  Pope and McClellan were
superseding each other on the Potomac; and Grant's
troops were constantly being ordered east to their support.  This weakened and embarrassed him; and to
bold his own with diminished forces caused him the




BATTLE OF CORINTH.               85
greatest anxiety and perplexity, as his despatches at this
time abundantly testify.
Price retreated to Ripley, Miss., united with Van
Dorn, and, on the 2d of October, appeared before
Corinth with thirty-eight thousand men, where Rosecrans was now stationed with nineteen thousand men.
Grant was at his headquarters at Jackson.  On the 3d
of October, they attacked  Corinth with  full force.
Grant had ordered Rosecrans to attack; but the enemy
were so confident of victory, they did not wait for this,
but attacked, and drove Rosecrans back to the defences,
of which Grant's quick eye had seen the need on first
examining the position of Corinth, and which he had
constructed as soon as Halleck left for Washington.
The rebel attack was renewed on the 4th with great
confidence and valor; but it was everywhere repulsed.
Rosecrans had skilfully placed his guns, and induced the
enemy to attack, where, when they opened, their men
would go down in swaths.  On they came; then the
guns with their grape and canister, a flash, a loud
report, and the rebels went down in hundreds. It was
hard iron shells and balls ploughing through soft, warm
flesh and blood.  But on they came.  "The rebel soldiers," said an eye-witness, " marched steadily to death,
with their faces averted like men striving to protect
themselves against a driving storm of hail."
The Confederate Congress had recently substituted
the new rebel flag, - the stars on a cross, instead of the
" stars and bars " first used. The new flags were borne
that day. The Parrott guns make terrible slaughter. A
Texan, Col. Rogers, is about to charge at the head of
his regiment. He seizes the new flag in one hand, and,




86           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
with a revolver in the other, rushes forward at the head
of his men. He has not been hit: he mounts the parapet, waves the new flag, and falls headlong a corpse into
the Union intrenchment, with five men by his side,
riddled with bullets.
Grant, though " absent in body, was present in mind."
He had ordered McPherson to march from  Jackson
with re-enforcements for Rosecrans: he arrived during
the fight, in the rear of Price and Van Dorn; and, by
eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the defeat of the enemy
was complete.
Grant had anticipated this, even, and had sent Hurlbut and Ord, four thousand strong, to the Hatchie River,
forty miles away, to strike them  in flank as they retreated; which was done on the 5th with fine effect,
capturing a battery of artillery and several hundred
men.  Grant had determined to capture Van Dorn and
his whole army, and would be satisfied with nothing
less. He had informed Rosecrans of the march of Ord
and Hurlbut to Hatchie River, and directed him to
pursue immediately, even as far as Bolivar.  The character of commanders is often seen in the energy with
which the fruits of a well-earned victory are seized and
followed up. The army that is allowed to " fight and
run away can fight another day," but, if mercilessly
pursued, is often demoralized, scattered, and broken up.
Rosecrans' men had fought two days (though mostly
behind their intrenchments), and were fatigued, hungry, and weary; but Grant had ordered them to pursue.
One day of pursuit would give them peace and rest for
a long time.  Rosecrans reported, " I rode all over our
lines, announcing the result of the fight in person;" or



BATTLE OF CORINTH.              87
dered the troops " to rest, and start the next morning in
pursuit." This was eleven o'clock on the 4th. " The
next morning"! But will Price and Van Dorn wait at
Hatchie's Run to be captured? will they not escape from
Ord and Hurlbut during all the afternoon and night?
It was even so. The next morning, Rosecrans started
out, but, being misinformed, took a road which led him
eight miles away from Hatchie's Run before the mistake
was discovered.  Meanwhile, Ord and Hurlbut had
had their fight, at a disadvantage, with Price and Van
Dorn, who had made a wide circuit round, crossed the
Hatchie several miles south at Crown's Bridge, burning
the bridge after them.
Grant was displeased and chagrined at the failure to
obey his orders implicitly. It did not quite suit his taste
either for a commander to ride about his army, announcing his victory in person, at any time, and especially
when under orders to advance and follow up the retreating enemy. He did not wish any one to eat or
sleep, or glorify a victory, until all had been wrung
from it that it could possibly be made to yield. Pursue,
disperse the enemy, take the last prisoner, the last musket, before you rest or sleep.  This spirit animated
Grant in all his battles on the Tennessee, the Cumberland, the Potomac. It made him Lieutenant-General,
and carried him in triumph to the final scene on the
Appomattox. " The longer I live," said Fowell Buxton, " the more I am certain that the great difference
between men, between the feeble and the powerful, the
great and the insignificant, is energy, invincible determination, a purpose once fixed, and then death or
victory! That quality will do any thing that can be




88           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
done in this world; and no talents, no circumstances,
no opportunities, will make a two-legged creature a man
without it."
But Rosecrans and his men had fought nobly, and
received the gratitude of the country. The Union loss
was about 2,359; of whom 315 were killed, the remainder wounded and missing. " Our loss," says Pollard,
" was probably double that of the Federal forces."
President Lincoln telegraphed as follows:WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 8, 1862.
MAJOR-GEN. GRANT, - I congratulate you, and all concerned,
in your recent battles and victories. How does it all sum up? I
especially regret the death of Gen. Hackelman; and am anxious to
know the condition of Gen. Oglesby, who is an intimate personal
friend.                                 A. LINCOLN.
Gen. Rosecrans was made a major-general of volunteers, and ordered to Cincinnati to supersede Gen. Buell
as commander of the Army of the Cumberland.  The
battles of Iuka and Corinth had both been planned and
fought by Grant, in his brain, before the armies met:
the victories were the result of his orders. If they had
been more strictly obeyed, the results would have been
far larger. But he was quiet, and put forth no claims: he
did not stand tiptoe, and shout, "I did it!"  He did not
receive the credit he deserved. The victory was ours:
who had won it was of less consequence to Grant. He
was not a demonstrative man.  He had about him no
"fuss and feathers," -not enough to attract early notice.  His words were few, his manners simple: he
assumed nothing. As soon as he had won a great victory, he set to work planning how to win another, and




BATTLE OF CORINTH.               89
did not get leave of absence to run up to show himself in
the hotels at Cincinnati and Washington. Such a man
was so great a novelty, that he had to be observed and
studied to be appreciated. But his time was coming: not
even his own modesty, great as it is, could conceal his
merits. " The truth is, that Grant's extreme simplicity of
behavior, and directness of expression, imposed on various
officers both above and below him. They thought him
a good, plain man, who had blundered into one or two
successes, and who, therefore, could not be immediately
removed; but they deemed it unnecessary to regard his
judgment, or to count upon his ability. His superiors
made their plans invariably without consulting him; and
his subordinates sometimes sought to carry out their own
campaigns in opposition or indifference to his orders,
not doubting, that, with their superior intelligence, they
could conceive and execute triumphs which would excuse or even vindicate their course."*
On the 16th of October, Gen. Grant's department
was designated as the " Department of the Tennessee,"
and was extended to include the State of Mississippi, in
which was Vicksburg.
It was divided by Gen. Grant into four districts, under
Generals Sherman, Hurlbut, Hamilton, and Davies.
The Administration was desirous that the State of
Tennessee should resume her loyal position. It was
thought that Gen. Grant's victories rendered it an auspicious time to address the people. The following document, written by Abraham Lincoln, united, perhaps for
the first time, the names of Gen. Grant and Andrew
Johnson; and, in view of recent events and the discus* Badeau.




90              LIFE  OF GENERAL GRANT.
sions on reconstruction, will be read with interest. The
remarks about "peace again upon the old terms of the
Constitution " sound strangely now after the great and
irrevocable events we have witnessed.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASItINGTON, Oct. 21, 1862.
Major-Gen. GRANT, Gov. JOHNSON, and all having military, naval, and civil
authority under the United States within the State of Tennessee, -
The bearer of this, Thomas R. Smith, a citizen of Tennessee,
goes to that State, seeking to have such of the people thereof as
desire to avoid the unsatisfactory prospect before them, and to have
peace again upon the old terms under the Constitution of the United
States, to manifest such desire by elections of members to the
Congress of the United States, particularly; and perhaps a legislature, State officers, and a United-States senator, friendly to their
object.  I shall be glad for you, and each of you, to aid him and
all others acting for this object as much as possible. In all available ways, give the people a chance to express their wishes at these
elections.  Follow law, and forms of law, as far as convenient; but, at
all events, get the expression of the largest number of the people possible.  All see how  much such  action will connect with  and
effect the proclamation of Sept. 22.  Of course, the men elected
should be gentlemen of character, willing to swear support to the
Constitution as of old, and known to be above reasonable suspicion
of duplicity.
Yours very respectfully,
A. LINCOLN.
The Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln
was issued in January, 1863; and was thus cordially
welcomed by Gen. Grant: —
GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 25.                  MILLIKEN'S BEND, LA.
Corps, division, and post commanders will afford all facilities
for the completion of the negro regiments now organizing in this
department.  Commissaries will issue supplies, and quartermasters will furnish stores, on the same requisitions and returns as are
required from other troops.




BATTLE OF CORTNTH.                      91
It is expected that all commanders will especially exert themselves
in carrying out the policy o' the Administration, not only in organizing colored regiments and rendering them efficient, but also in remiov-.
ing prejudice against them.
By order of Major-Gen. U. S. GRANT.
JOHN A. RAWLINS, A. A. G.




CHAPTER IX.
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN.
IT had long been predicted that the Valley of the
Mississippi would be the seat of future empire in
America.  When Napoleon was negotiating the cession
of Louisiana, he said, " The nation which controls
the Valley of the Mississippi will eventually rule
the world."  Its importance in a civil war was early
seen.  " The Valley of the Mississippi," says De
Tocqueville, "is the most magnificent dwelling-place
prepared by God for man's abode."  The river enriches
an area of nearly one million and a half of square
miles, -six times the size of the empire of France.
Fifty-seven rivers, some of them a thousand miles in
length, contribute to swell its waters. It is the monarch of rivers. The Indians called it " the Father of
Waters."  "The possession of the Mississippi River is
the possession of America," said Gen. Sherman.  "Assist in preserving the Mississippi River," said Jefferson
Davis to the citizens of Mississippi, at Jackson, " that
great artery of the Confederacy, and thus conduce,
more than in any other way, to the perpetuation of the
Confederacy and the success of the cause."  " There
is not one drop of rain that falls over the whole vast
expanse of the North-west that does not find its home
92




VICKSBURG  CAMPAIGN.                     93
in the bosom  of the Gulf," said Vallandigham, in his
speech declaring the inability of the government to
conquer the Rebellion, and  the determination of the
North-west to go with the South  if a separation took
place. But other men of the North-west saw different
means of preserving their right of way on the great
river besides receiving it as a gift from a few slaveholding rebels.  Among them  was Logan, who could talk
eloquently as well as fight bravely. He said, " If the rebels undertake to control the Mississippi, the men of the
North-west will hew their way to the Gulf, and make
New  Orleans a fishpond."   Aside from  Grant's appreciation, as a military commander, of the importance of
the river, he was a Western man, born on the banks of
the Ohio; and  he sympathized  thoroughly  with the
invincible determination which burned and glowed in
the hearts of the people of the North-west to hold their
way unchallenged to the sea.*
The rebels, very early in the Rebellion, seized and
fortified the most important points, - Columbus, Fort
Pillow, Island No. 10, Vicksburg, and Port Hudson.
The first three had fallen before Vicksburg was included in Gen. Grant's department. All that the Confederacy  had  of  engineering  skill and  experience  was
* In the summer of 1857, the writer, visiting St. Louis for the first time,
happened to cross the river on the ferry-boat in the same carriage with
Judge Douglas. The public mind was then full of the discussions in regard
to Kansas. Judge Douglas turned to a Boston gentleman, and, pointing out
of the window to the river, said, " As you are a stranger here, sir, I will show
you a natural curiosity. The waters of the Missouri and Mississippi flow
side by side here without intermingling, and with different colors, - one clear,
one dark and muddy." — " Perhaps," was the reply, " it is to represent the
free soil and slave soil through which they flow." - " Perhaps so," said the
judge with a smile. " I didn't think of that."




94          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
exhausted in rendering Vicksburg the Gibraltar of
America.  Nature and Art combined made it almost
impregnable. It is four hundred miles above New
Orleans, is situated on high ground, and lad a population of four or five thousand.
The military results of the victories of Donelson and
Shiloh had been to open the Mississippi from  Cairo
to Memphis, —a distance of two hundred and forty
miles.
Early in June, 1862, Farragut, after his brilliant
victory at the mouth of the river, sent a part of his
squadron up the river under Cor. Lee, who found the
city too strong to be taken with gunboats or mortarboats.
An attempt was made to move Vicksburg six miles
from the river by cutting a canal in a bend in the
Mississippi opposite. In former years, the course of
this fickle and meandering stream had been changed in
a single night by running a furrow with a plough
across a neck of land. The canal was three miles and
a half long, six feet deep, ten feet wide. The project
deeply interested Mr. Lincoln, and attracted great
attention throughout Europe. Several thousand men
were engaged in this work for a number of weeks. It
was nearly completed, when the river rose suddenly,
burst the dam at the head of the canal, and, instead of
confining itself to the prepared channel, overflowed in
all directions. Camps were submerged, horses drowned:
the canal was a failure.  Vicksburg was not to be
displaced from the river-bank in that manner. For
seventy days, from about the middle of May till the
last of July, 1862, Vicksburg had been besieged; and




VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN.              95
twenty-five thousand shot and shell were thrown into
the city by the fleet, without impairing its defences.
It was attempted to cut a way from the river to Lake
Providence, seventy miles north of Vicksburg, and
formerly a part of the old channel; thence into the
Tensas, Washita, and Red Rivers, into the Mississippi,
above Port Hudson. It was a long and winding way;
could only be used by steamers of light draught; had
no depth of water when the river was low; and was
finally abandoned.
Twelve miles north of Vicksburg, on the east side,
is the mouth of the Yazoo River.  Up this river the
rebels had extemporized a navy-yard, and built there
gunboats, and a powerful steam-ram and a water-battery.
The mouth of the river was strongly fortified, especially
at Haine's Bluff. One hundred and fifty miles north
of Vicksburg, on the east side, is Moon Lake: from
this lake the Yazoo Pass extends to the Coldwater
River, thence to the Tallahatchie River, thence to the
Yazoo River, - all parallel to the Mississippi. The Yazoo Pass was a tortuous bayou, thirty feet deep, six
miles long. In former years, this route had been used
by small trading-vessels; but, as the whole country
between the two rivers was often overflowed, the
State of Mississippi had constructed a dam  at the
entrance to the pass. A mine was exploded; the dam
was thrown open; and, in two days, a river a mile in
length was pouring into Moon Lake, allowing the
largest steamers to pass. But the rebels were not idle
below.  The banks of the rivers were lined with
gigantic trees, - sycamores, cottonwood, oak, elm, and
pecan-wood.  These trees were felled in large num



96           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
bers across the  stream, mainly by enforced slavelabor.  One barricade was a mile and  a quarter
in length.  Some of these primeval giants, which
were old when  the  Mississippi was first seen by
white men, weighed twenty tons.  These had to be
hauled out by cables; men working in parties of five
hundred  in the water.  After an almost incredible
amount of labor, the pass was opened from Moon Lake
to the Coldwater River.  But, while the Union army
had been opening the northern end of the new route,
the rebels had been as diligently closing the lower end.
Gen. Ross with forty-five hundred men, on twentytwo transports, preceded  by  two iron-clads under
Lieut.-Commander Watson, entered the Coldwater,
twenty-five miles from the Mississippi, on the 2d of
March.  The river is about forty miles long, one hundred feet wide, and runs through a wilderness till it
enters the Tallahatchie, a river of similar character,
and both too deep to be easily obstructed. This long
passage of two hundred and forty miles was made
cautiously; the boats moving slowly by daylight, and
being tied to the shore at night.  It was an exploring
expedition through  an unknown region, filled with
active and unrelenting enemies; but it was safely completed on the 10th of March.
Its success inspired the hope that the whole army
might be transported through this circuitous route, nine
hundred miles in length, and landed near Haine's
Bluff, a few miles above Vicksburg. But the difficulty
was to obtain at once, in sufficient numbers, steamers of
light draught only. At first, only one division, under
Gen. Quimby, could be sent; then the corps of Mc



VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN.               97
Pherson, and a division of Hurlbut, were ordered to
follow as fast as transportation could be obtained.
Near where the Tallahatchie flows into the Yazoo,
a third river, the Yallabusha, enters it at the town of
Greenwood.  Opposite  Greenwood, the rebels had
erected Fort Pemberton.  The land was so low as to
be almost surrounded by water, too deep for a landattack by infantry, and not deep enough for boats to
get within short range.   The expedition  depended
wholly upon the insufficient naval force for success.
The boats could not get within less than twenty-seven
hundred feet of the battery.  The attack was made,
but was unsuccessful. One boat was disabled, six men
killed, and twenty-five wounded. The rebel loss was
one man killed.
It was now attempted to drown out the garrison, only
twenty-four inches above the water, by cutting a levee
three hundred miles distant, at Austin, near Helena,
and turning the floods of the Mississippi in that direction; but the lordly and capricious Father of Waters,
as if determined that the dwellers on its banks should
themselves settle forever their right of way to the sea,
could neither be coaxed nor forced from its usual channel, and left Fort Pemberton unharmed.  The course
of the river was one of " non-intervention."
But Ross was in peril, and must be relieved. The
Union gunboats held the mouth of the Yazoo.  On
this river, before reaching Haine's Bluff, Steele's Bayou
opens, runs north, circles around Fort Pemberton, and
re-enters the Yazoo sixty miles above a trackless and
labyrinthine maze; adopting on its devious course of one
hundred and fifty miles, as if to elude detection, the
7




98         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
aliases of Black Bayou, Deer Creek, Rolling Fork,
and  Big  Sunflower.  Grant accompanied Admiral
Porter on a reconnoissance on the 15th of March.
On the 16th, he sent forward Sherman and a division
of troops.  He ardently hoped, not only to relieve
Ross, but to find some base from which to prosecute his
campaign on dry land.
Sherman's troops were sent up the Mississippi, on
transports, to Eagle Bend; marched about a mile over
to the transports in the bayou, building bridges across
the swamp.  The gunboats became entangled in the
drift-timber, and could with difficulty force their way
along, sometimes moving only four miles in twenty-four
hours.  Trees had to be pulled up by the roots, stumps
sawed off under water.  The bayous were crooked, covered with a thicket of trees overhead, and filled with
saplings in the channels. With incredible difficulty,
they advanced slowly; but it was found, at last, that the
troops must be disembarked from the transports, and
put on coal-barges and tugs, the way for steamers becoming impassable.  The progress of the infantry was
now much slower than that of the naval vessels; and
Admiral Porter arrived at Rolling Fork, March 30,
much in advance of the troops. The rebels here were
felling trees across the stream in great numbers, and
compelling slaves to aid them at the point of the bayonet: they were doing the same farther down in the
rear of the boats. The labor of removing these obstructions was pursued day and night, under fire of a cloud
of sharpshooters, and was toilsome beyond description.
The heavy guns of the little fleet were not available in
such a warfare to any great extent. It became appar



VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN.              99
ent that the fleet was in danger; and Admiral Porter
sent word by a slave, who succeeded in making his
way thirty miles back to Sherman, to come to his support. The promptitude of Blucher's movements gave
him among the Prussian soldiers the name of " Marshal Forwards."  A like spirit was in Sherman. It
was night when this message came; but at once the
army was started, and moved up along the narrow,
slimy, treacherous path, on the river's bank, through
almost impenetrable canebrakes, guided by lighted
torches; the indomitable general leading the way.
It was the first " torchlight procession" ever seen in
that desolate region. He found Porter's boats about
three feet below the river bank, unable to reach the
rebel force, and their sharpshooters, of whom there were
about four thousand, and a battery of artillery, in the
swamps. But Sherman's men soon changed the appearance of all this, drove off the enemy, and saved the
fleet.
But it was found necessary to abandon the route.
The character of the country, the blockading of the
creek by the rebels, now thoroughly aroused to the
importance of the movement, compelled a return of
the expedition. The gunboats unshipped their rudders,
and backed down the narrow streams, where there was
not room to swing around; and, thumping over the trees,
finally returned in safety to their starting-point. Grant
had ordered a concentration of forces at Milliken's
Bend; and by the last of March the army were back
there, baffled in their main object, it is true, but hardened by exposure, better acquainted with the difficulties to be encountered, and commander and men inflexible in their determination to take Vicksburg.




100         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
All the elaborate and laborious schemes to take the
city, some five in number, had failed; the rebels were
jubilant, but still continued to strengthen the place by
every means known and unknown to military science;
the administration was discouraged; the Western State
authorities were impatient.  Grant had been compelled
at times to stop all letters between the army and friends
at home, lest the mails should be captured, and reveal
to the enemy the location and movements of his forces.
At these times, the anxiety of friends at home colored
their fears. It was said the soldiers were dying by thousands in those pestilential swamps: fevers, dysenteries,
and exposure were destroying what rebel rifles left in
those impenetrable morasses, fit only for snakes and reptiles, and inaccessible to any ministrations to the sick and
wounded. Grant was, after all, a failure. He had been
" lucky," it was said, at Donelson and Corinth; but he
had " taken to drinking," and should be removed. He
still said quietly, " I shall take Vicksburg;" but this was
regarded as mulish and unreasoning obstinacy, and only
showed more clearly the necessity for removing him.
The newspapers were filled with the spirit of these criticisms; and they produced, of course, a powerful influence at Washington; and various officers were urged for
appointment as his successor.
And now was seen the sense of justice, and the marvellous power to judge of men, surpassing intuition,
possessed by Abraham  Lincoln. A strong friend of
Gen. Grant, a member of Congress, who had been
moved by these representations, but who now despaired
of his success, called on the President to acknowledge,
from  a sense of duty, that the condition of affairs




VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN.              101
required another commander at Vicksburg.  He received this answer: " I rather like the man.  I think
we will try him  a little longer."  This was not the
least of the services which the beloved President rendered to the  country.  Meanwhile, Grant, though
appreciating all the circumstances, preserved his usual
silence: he transmitted regularly his official reports to
the War Department; but he did not write, nor cause to
be written, long arguments to show that Vicksburg ought
to have fallen, and would have fallen, "if". the government had sustained him, had sent him more re-enforcements, or "if" this or that had been otherwise.  He
accepted the facts without any " ifs." In his own mind,
he had never had great confidence in the success of
any of these plans, though they might succeed. But
the army could not remain idle; and the summer
droughts were needed to carry out the other plans
he had long contemplated.
The natural situation of Vicksburg, and the topography of the country around it, were its defences, as
well as the skill, science, and courage of its defenders.
It seemed to be, as Davis had pronounced it, " the Gibraltar of America." The European press re-echoed the
censures of American journals.  The administration
telegraphed that "the President was getting impatient."
But, April 4, Grant telegraphed to Halleck, "The
discipline and health of this army is now good, and I
am satisfied the greatest confidence of success prevails."
And success came.




CHAPTER X.
RUNNING THE BATTERIES.
T HE failure of the many attempts on Vicksburg had
one good effect: it showed to the mind of the
commander how it could not be taken, and so reduced
the remaining alternatives from which a selection could
be made.
Grant's army was at Milliken's Bend, on the west side
of the Mississippi, above Vicksburg. His plan was to
march the army down to New Carthage, cut a canal
through the bayous, put the troops on barges and empty
coal-boats, which should be drawn by tugs to some point
south of the citadel. But this would leave the army on
the west bank of the river, with no means of crossing.
But this was to be remedied by the boats above running
past the batteries in the night, and then ferrying the
army over. Good roads would give him control of the
country in the rear; and he would besiege Vicksburg by
land, while the gunboats should prevent relief by the
river.
It is undoubtedly an immense satisfaction to a commanding officer to know that his plans will be carried
out, not merely according to the letter of the law, but
without a constant looking for predicted failure; that
they commend themselves to the judgment, if not to the
102




RUNNING THE BATTERIES.             103
admiration, of his subordinates.  Before the battle of
Aboukir, Nelson called his captains into his cabin, and
explained to them his plan of battle by doubling on a
portion of the enemy's fleet; and, as his officers began
to understand it, Capt. Barry, in his enthusiasm, jumped
to his feet, and exclaimed, " If we succeed, what will the
world say of us?"  Nelson, with equal enthusiasm,
sprang up, and exclaimed, " But there is no if in the
case: we shall succeed."   No one there uttered the
opinion afterwards expressed by Cooper, - that with
American vessels it would fail; and the ardor and confidence of the officers was felt the next day by every man
and powder-boy throughout the English fleet.
When Gen. Grant made known his plan to a council
of his corps commanders, not one approved it.  The
plan was opposed to military rule. It severed his army
from the North and its supplies.  If not an immediate
success, it must end in overwhelming disaster. All his
officers-Sherman, McPherson, Logan, Wilson, all able
men, all attached to their commander, and anxious he
should not fail — argued the points against the project.
Sherman, after reflecting, could not restrain himself from
renewing the debate.  Grant knew his friendship, his
sincerity, and his ability.  Sherman even rode up to
Grant's headquarters the next day, and presented his
views, respectfully of course, but earnestly, as an earnest
man does every thing.
He assured Grant that the only way to take Vicksburg was to move on it from  some high ground as a
base, on the north.  " This," said Grant, " will require
us to go back to Memphis."
"Exactly so," said Sherman, and set forth his reasons




104          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
with the intensity of conviction and the ingenuity and
ability of an able soldier.
Grant replied, "I shall take no step backward: it
would seem to the country, now discouraged, like a retreat. I have considered the plan, and have determined
to carry it out."
Sherman left; but the strength of his convictions, the
vast importance of the movement to the nation and the
army, would not allow him to leave the subject thus;
and he carefully committed his views to paper, and on
the 8th of April forwarded them to headquarters, concluding with these noble words, so honorable to him as
a patriot and a soldier: "I make these suggestions with
the request that Gen. Grant simply read them, and give
them, as I know he will, a share of his thoughts. I would
prefer he should not answer them, but merely give them
as much or as little weight as they deserve. Whatever
plan of action he may adopt will receive from me the
same zealous co-operation and energetic  support as
though conceived by myself."
And here is one of the points of moral grandeur in
the career of Grant. Those who would understand his
character should observe him at this juncture.  This
single man - newspapers, politicians, army officials at
Washington, clamoring for his removal, he acknowledging his failure thus far, his present plan opposed earnestly by all his officers-sees the path of duty before him
gleaming with light in the surrounding darkness, and
walks in it with unfaltering step.  How many men
were there in the country who would have gone on?
It had been said early in the war that the North had
no cavalry, and nothing to make cavalry out of; that




RUNNING THE BATTERIES.                 105
the Southern men were born riders; and in this arm of
the service, which Napoleon pronounced the most important in war,* the South would always be infinitely superior to their opponents.
Gen. Scott, whose opinions at the opening of the
war, whether with or without reason, were supreme,
declared we needed no cavalry; and, in consequence,
thousands of cavalry were  refused when  offering to
enlist. The few regiments accepted were attached to
different corps, and, when used, were generally sent out
in small numbers.
It was the fashion to ridicule the efficiency of the
cavalry. The sarcasm of a distinguished major-general
in asking, after a battle, " if any one ever saw a dead
cavalry-man," was often repeated.  Under Grant, the
cavalry became a power, as it deserved  to be; and
expeditions, ten and fifteen thousand strong, were sent
out, and used effectively until the close of the war.
While studying his campaign, Grant wrote to Hurlbut, "It seems to me that Grierson, with about five
hundred picked men, might succeed in cutting his way
south, and cut the railroad east of Jackson, Miss. The
undertaking would be a hazardous one; but it would
pay well if carried out."
This railroad was the principal artery for supplies to
Vicksburg.  Col. B. H. Grierson of the Sixth Illinois
was at La Grange, Tenn., with  seventeen  hundred
* " M  decided opinion," said Napoleon, " is that cavalry, if led by equally
brave and resolute men, must always break infantry." -Las Casas, vii. 184.
"It was by cavalry that Hannibal conquered at Ticino; a charge of
French horsemen at Marengo placed Napoleon on the consular throne; another of the English light dragoons on the flank of the Old Guard hurled
him to the rock of St. Helena." - Alison.




106         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
men, including the Sixth and Seventh Illinois and
Second Iowa, with Col. Prince and Col. Hatch. Grierson started April 17; passed through Ripley, behind
all the Confederate forces, through Pontatoc, Clear
Spring, Louisville, Newton, burning bridges, cutting
telegraph-wires, tearing up railroads, destroying property of the rebel government wherever found, passing
through forests and swamps, and swimming rivers. At
Newton, they turned south - west, towards Raleigh;
thence to Gallatin, where they captured, a 32-pound
rifled Parrott and fourteen hundred pounds of powder;
then to Union Church behind Natchez, where they had
a skirmish; then to Brookhaven, where they burned
the station-house, cars, and bridges of the New-Orleans
and Jackson Railroad; thence to Greenburg, La., having a fight at Amite River.
May 2, the people of Baton Rouge were astounded
at the arrival of a courier, who announced that a
brigade of cavalry from Gen. Grant's army had cut
their way through the whole of the State of Mississippi,
and would arrive in an hour. They were met at the
picket-line, and escorted into Gen. Banks's camp amid
the vociferous cheers of their astonished friends.
In sixteen days they had ridden six hundred miles
through the heart of one of the richest regions of the
Confederacy, traversing the whole length of Mississippi; killed and wounded one hundred of the enemy;
captured and paroled five hundred prisoners; destroyed
three thousand stand of arms, and six million dollars'
worth of Confederate supplies, and property of various
kinds, with a loss of three men killed and twenty-five
horses. Thousands of rebel cavalry were sent out from




RUNNING THE BATTERIES.            107
Jackson and from Vicksburg; but the chivalry never
could find them.
Grierson's expedition was one of the most brilliant
cavalry exploits of the war, and will be long remembered.
The raid withdrew attention somewhat from Grant,
and was of essential service to his army in its new
movement.
On the 29th of March, Gen. McClernand, with the
Thirteenth Army Corps, was ordered to move down to
New Carthage.  The winter overflow had hardly subsided, and the roads were wet and spongy.
On arrival, it was found that the levee of the Bayou
Vidal, which here empties into the Mississippi, had
broken, leaving New Carthage an island. It was found
necessary, therefore, to march the army to Perkins's
Plantation, twelve miles below, and thirty-five miles
from Milliken's Bend. Four bridges, two of them six
hundred feet long, were required during this march.
Ammunition and provisions were carted along this route
with incredible labor.
It was now determined to send three steamers and
ten barges, loaded with rations and forage, past the batteries. Grant applied to Admiral Porter, who entered
cordially into the undertaking.  Grant wrote, "I am
happy to say the admiral and myself have never yet
disagreed upon any policy."
The passage would be a, terrible one, -to many it
might be like embarking on the river of death. Some
of the captains and crews of the river-steamboats were
unwilling to make the attempt; and the trip was so
hazardous, that the officers preferred to call for volun



108            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
teers rather than order men to the duty. But volunteers
enough pressed forward to man twenty fleets.  None
would give way; and the places were at last assigned
by lot. One boy, residing near Grant's home in Illinois,
who had drawn a chance to go, was offered a hundred
dollars for his place; but the post of danger was the
post of honor.  The boy indignantly refused the money;
took his position, like young Casabianca at the battle of
the Nile, and passed bravely through.
As soon as the wants of the service were known, the
army seemed to swarm with boatmen, pilots, and engineers, as the Massachusetts regiments under Butler,
in their first march to Washington, furnished at a
moment's call men who could make steam-engines and
build railroads.*
One officer wrote, that if orders were given, " Painters, present arms!"  or "Poets, to the front!"  or
" Sculptors, charge bayonets!" dozens in every company would respond.  Hundreds of young men in our
colleges, nurtured in wealth and luxury, flung aside
their books, cheerfully endured the privations and hardships of camp-life, and in battle bore themselves with
inspiring gallantry, like young Lowell, who was shot on
his fourteenth charger.t
It was the rare accomplishment in a private soldier,
* " Does any one here know any thing about this machine?" said Gen.
Butler at Annapolis, when surveying a rusty and dilapidated locomotive.
A soldier of the Massachusetts Eighth answered, " Our shop made that
engine, general. I guess I can put her in order and run her;" and it was
done.
t " As to the way in which some of our ensigns and lieutenants braved
danger, - the boys just come from school, - it exceeds all belief. They
ran as at cricket." - Wellington on Waterloo.




RUNNING THEE BATTERIES.          109
of being able to write, which first made Marshal Junot
known to Napoleon. But the Union army was composed of men who could fight when fighting was to be
done; and it furnished sailors, scholars, engineers, mechanics, for every exigency which war could require.
It was ten o'clock at night, on the 16th, when the
fleet started down the river.  There was no moon.
The intrepid Porter led the way in " The Benton,"
followed by "The Lafayette," "Carondelet," "Pittsburg," "Tuscumbia,"  "Price,"  "Louisville,"  and
" Mound City."
Between eleven and twelve, there was a flash on the
high bluff above them; and in an instant the batteries
along the whole water-front were thundering at the
fleet, and kept up a terrific cannonade. The boats immediately replied with grape and shrapnel, which took
effect on the city rather than on the batteries. Houses
were soon blazing. The shells from the batteries lighted
the hay on one or two of the large transports, the flames
mounting up the sky. The transports were cut loose
from the gunboats, and, floating down the river like great
palaces of fire, were reflected on the dark waters beneath
them. The flames, tossing and swaying in the midnight
wind, looked like meteor-flags streaming out from battlement and tower. The whole heavens were lighted up
so clearly, that the men at the guns and in the streets of
Vicksburg were seen as plainly as at noonday. The
population were out, watching a display of fireworks
grand beyond description.  For about three hours,
nearly two hundred heavy guns were hurling their
deadly missiles at the brave fleet, which passed triumphantly on.




110          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Grant watched the operations with intense interest
from a transport moored in the middle of the river,
where the shot and shell fell thick about him.
Within two hours after the batteries had been passed,
the whole scene was changed: the guns were silent; the
dark river was flowing as peacefully, the stars were shining as brightly, as when the Indian first paddled his
canoe along its waters.
As may be imagined, the fate of the expedition had
been anxiously watched by McPherson's men below.
The first herald was a transport burning to the water's
edge, followed by the wreck of one of the barges.  An
old man, a wealthy rebel, on whose plantation McPherson had established his headquarters, could not conceal
his delight from the Union officers, and confidently predicted the destruction of the whole Union fleet. The
officers watched anxiously; and, soon after daybreak, one
gunboat after another came steaming around a bend in
the river, the old flag dancing in the early sunlight; and
the cheers went up loud and long. It was in a double
sense the dawning of a new day for that brave army.
But it was too much for the old rebel; and that day, in
his impotent wrath, he set fire to his splendid residence.
He had enriched himself on the unrequited toil of his
slaves. The estate was one of the most princely in
Louisiana. It seemed to realize Wirt's description of
Blannerhassett's home: " He had reared upon it a
palace, and decorated it with every embellishment of
fancy.  Shrubbery that Shenstone might have envied
bloomed around him. Music that might have charmed
Calypso and her nymphs was his."  The elegant mansion, embowered in overarching trees, was situated on




RUNNING THE BATTERIES.             11
an eminence, and commanded a view of varied and surpassing loveliness.  The majestic river in its windings
seemed lingering to reflect and beautify the scene.
Though spring, all around bespoke the luxury of early
summer.  The warm, genial air, vocal with song of
birds, was laden with perfumes of the oleander and
the blossoms of the magnolia.  The broad savannas
were waving with corn and cotton. Figs grew in the
open air. Nature seemed here to have spread a banquet
of festal glory. But, in a few hours, all was changed.
The house was a mass of blackened ruins. The grounds,
which had smiled with a beauty which would " re-create
the lost Eden anew," were transformed into a crowded
and noisy camp.
Foolish old man! and yet in this act, which would
have been denounced as vandalism in the Union army,
he but imitated the leaders of the Rebellion, who sought
to make themselves the architects of a far grander ruin,
the ruins of the temple of American liberty.




CHAPTER XI.
CROSSING THE MISSISSIPPI. - BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON.
HE troops were now to be crossed over the river.
It was decided to land them at the most southern
point of the rebel batteries, - at Grand Gulf, seventyfive miles below Milliken's Bend. Reconnoissances had
shown this to be the only practicable spot for landing.
Transportation-boats were insufficient; and the army
marched through mud and mire to a place appropriately
called "Hard Times," opposite Grand Gulf.
The gunboats were to silence the batteries; and then
the troops, ten thousand in number, were to be crossed
in such boats as there were, and carry the works at the
point of the bayonet.
At eight o'clock on the morning of the 29th, the ironclads, seven in number, opened fire, and continued the
bombardment for nearly six hours. The intrenchments
were high up on the bluffs above them: the stream was
too deep to anchor, and too rapid to lie still; thus compelling the boats to sail about as they fired.
The fleet did every thing that a fleet could do; but
all in vain. The batteries were too high up to be damaged. Grant said, " Many times, it seemed to me the
gunboats were within pistol-shot of the enemy's bat112




CROSSING THE MISSISSIPPI.          113
teries." But, at half-past one, not a single gun had been
silenced. It was a most unfortunate repulse.
Grant knew it would be simply a massacre of his men
to lead them against such works; but he knew, also, no
such word as "fail."  His definition of the word "difficulty" was a thing to be overcome.  He signalled to
the admiral, and was immediately put on board the flagship, where he requested that the fleet would run the
batteries the same night as a cover to the transports,
while the troops marched farther down the river.
It was expected they would be obliged to march south
as far as Rodney before they could effect a crossing; but
a "contraband," during the night, told them  of an excellent road at Bruinsburg, only half-way to Rodney,
which led directly to Port Gibson, in the interior.
At this time, Grant desired an attack to be made on
Haine's Bluff, above, to divert the attention of the enemy from his real movement, to the rear of Vicksburg;
but it was only to be a feigned attack, and then the
army were to withdraw.  He hesitated to order Sherman to make an attack and fall back at this time. It
would be misunderstood at the North.  It would be
published as another defeat, and stimulate still more the
efforts for his removal.  Sherman, as well as Grant, had
been subjected to the harshest censures for the failures
to take Vicksburg.  But Grant wrote to him, still'remaining at Milliken's Bend, "The effect of a heavy
demonstration in that direction would be good so far as
the enemy are concerned; but I am loath to order it,
because it would be so hard to make our own troops understand that only a demonstration was intended, and
our people at home would characterize it as a repulse."
8




114         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
But Sherman replied, " I believe a diversion  at
Haine's Bluff is proper and right, and will make it,
let whatever reports of repulses be made."
This incident brings out in admirable light the rare
friendship of these remarkable men.
Sherman at once moved ten regiments up the Yazoo,
who were landed and disposed as if to make a formidable attack.  The gunboats, which had been left at
the bend, commenced a furious bombardment.  These
movements created great excitement in Vicksburg.
" There was mounting in hot haste; " troops were hurried from  one point to another.  For two days and
nights, Sherman kept up active preparations for an attack
of the most threatening character, when he received the
following from  Grant: " Move up to Perkins's Plantation with two divisions of your corps as rapidly as
possible."
He at once retired, and hurried down the river, not
having lost a single man.  The news went over the
country of " another repulse at Haine's Bluff;" the
rebels shouted over another victory won. Vicksburg is
impregnable!
Grant had only passed Grand Gulf; had not begun
his march to Jackson; and, while all seemed dark to
others, he was full of confidence, and wrote to Halleck,
"I feel now that the battle is half over."  Four days
after, he wrote, "'n two weeks, I expect to be able to
collect all my forces, and turn the enemy's left."
As the gunboats were now all at Grand Gulf, Gen.
Grant was apprehensive that the rebels might send an
armed steamer down the Big Black River, turn north,
and attack him at Perkins's, where he had accumulated




CtOSSING THE MISSISSIPPI.           115
stores and ammunition. To meet any such emergency,
he constructed a gunboat by placing some pieces of
light artillery on board one of the transports, and had
four 30-pound Parrott guns dragged by oxen to a commanding position on the river, ready for immediate
service.
Port Gibson is in the rear of the works at Grand
Gulf, about twelve miles from Bruinsburg, on the route
to Jackson and also to Vicksburg.  The capture of
Port Gibson would carry also the fall of Grand Gulf.
Grant hurried his army across the river with the
atmost speed, that he might advance before the enemy
should be aware of his plans. To the quartermaster
he wrote in regard to loading rations, " Do this with
all expedition, in forty-eight hours: time is of immense
importance."
He thus cuts away the "red tape" of the chief
commissary's  department: "You will issue to the
troops of this command, without provision-returns,* for
their subsistence the next five days, three rations."
Every  tug, boat, and barge was crowded  to its
utmost in taking the men over the river, which is here
a mile in width. And Admiral Porter, who also knew
the value of time, offered the naval vessels for the unusual work of ferry-boats, and loaded them with men
and guns, in cordial sympathy with Gen. Grant's energetic movements.  The navy could not follow the army
on dry land; but it could go with them to the water's
edge, and bid them " God speed."
Not a single tent, nor any personal baggage, was
* "Provision-returns" are technical vouchers required of each officer
drawing rations, involving formality and delay.




116           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
allowed to go over, not even the horses of the general
and staff, until the troops were landed.  Hon. Mr.
Washburne, the early and  eloquent friend of Gen.
Grant, who was with  the army  at this time, thus
writes  -
"In starting on the movement, the general disencumbered himself of every thing, setting an example to his officers and men.
He took neither a horse nor a servant, overcoat nor blanket, nor
tent nor camp-chest, nor even a clean shirt. His only baggage
consisted of a tooth-brush. He always showed his teeth to the
rebels. He shared all the hardships of the private soldier; sleeping in the front and in the open air, and eating hard-tack and
salt pork. He wore no sword, had on a low-crowned citizen's hat;
and the only thing about him to mark him as a military man was
his two stars on his undress military coat."
It was about an hour before sunset that the Thirteenth Corps led the way from the bluffs in this the
last and successful expedition for the capture of Vicksburg.  The scene was inspiring.  Behind  them  was
the broad river; around and before them was the verdure of midsummer.  The air was loaded with perfumes, the corn was waving, the magnolia was in full
blossom. The peaceful beauty of the landscape was in
strange contrast with the glittering bayonets, the rolling
drums, and the warlike appearance of the military
array.  The army advanced quietly until about two
o'clock, when they encountered a rebel force of about
eleven thousand men, in a strong position, under Gen.
Bowen.  After a light fire from  the infantry, both
armies waited the coming of daylight before opening
battle.  The nature of the ground was peculiar: the
roads were on ridges, with ravines on each side choked




BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON.           117
up with magnolia trees and vines, and gave the rebels
opportunity to contest with great advantage  the
advance of the Union army. On the right, McClernand advanced with Generals Carr, Hovey, and A. J.
Smith; and the left was under the command of Osterhaus.
The right advanced steadily, pressing back the
enemy; but an almost impassable ravine resisted the
left wing. About noon, Grant ordered two brigades of
Logan's division, and Smith's brigade, to attack and
outflank the enemy on the left. Grant and McPherson
both accompanied the advance. Soon after, a general
charge was ordered; and the enemy gave way in all
directions. Before sunset, the enemy were retreating
toward Port Gibson, leaving their dead and wounded on
the field.
They were pursued to within two miles of Port
Gibson, when darkness and the danger of ambuscades
rendered it necessary to rest till daylight. But, lest
the enemy should attempt a retreat, Grant's orders to
McClernand were, " Push the enemy, with skirmishers
well thrown out, until it gets too dark to see him.
Park your artillery so as to command the surrounding
country, and renew the attack at early dawn.... No
camp-fires should be allowed, unless in deep ravines
and in rear of the troops."
Grant took six hundred and fifty prisoners, four flags,
six field-guns; and nearly eight hundred of the enemy
were killed or wounded. Among the former was Gen.
Tracy. Our loss was one hundred and thirty killed,
and about seven hundred wounded. The landing
at Bruinsburg, and the rapid advance of the Fed



118          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
eral troops, had surprised and disconcerted the enemyi
and Gen. Pemberton, in command of the department.
telegraphed at once to Gen. J. E. Johnston, " A furious battle has been going on since daylight, just below
Port Gibson.  Enemy can cross all his army from
Hard Times to Bruinsburg.  I should have large reenforcements.  Enemy's movements threaten Jackson,
and, if successful, cut off Vicksburg and Port Hudson."
To this, Johnston gave the best possible advice (no
one could have given better): " Unite your troops, and
beat Grant:" its only infirmity was the difficulty of
carrying it out.
In the morning, it was found that the enemy had
evacuated Port Gibson, and burned the bridge, one
hundred and twenty feet long, across Bayou Pierre, to
prevent pursuit. It was rebuilt with great energy.
Houses were torn down to furnish timber, and the men
worked up to their waists in water. Meanwhile, a part
of Logan's command succeeded in fording the stream,
and pushed on with impatience after the retreating foe.
Crocker's division of McPherson's corps had been
ferried over the river, had filled their haversacks with
three days' rations, which were to last five days, and
also hurried forward. Three miles beyond Port Gibson, the troops came upon some fifty thousand weight
of hams in fine order, which the rebels had left by the
road in their flight. The pursuit was kept up, with
occasional skirmishing, to the Big Black River, fifteen
miles beyond Port Gibson, and within eighteen miles of
the city of Vicksburg. Pemberton might well ask for
" large re-enforcements."




BATTLE OF PORT  GIBSON.                 119
As Grant had foreseen, the capture of Port Gibson
carried with it the fall of Grand Gulf; and the next
morning  he rode  over to  this place with  a small
cavalry escort to learn that the enemy had abandoned
the whole country, from the Bayou Pierre to the Big
Black River north. HIe at once took possession, and
gave orders to make Grand Gulf his base of supplies,
instead of Bruinsburg.
The magazines had been blown up, and the guns
buried or spiked. They had not been removed by the
enemy, for the following excellent reason, given in
Gen. Pemberton's  report:  "So  rapid  were  his"
[Grant's] " movements, that it was impracticable to
withdraw  the heavy guns."
Grant had not had his clothes off for three days and
nights: his only baggage was a tooth-brush, his only
indulgence a cigar. He now went on board one of the
gunboats, borrowed a change of linen, and wrote until
near morning.
To Gen. Halleck he announced the victory in the
following modest terms: —
GRAND GULF, MISS., May 3, 1863.
Major-Gen. HALLECK, General-in-Chief,We landed at Bruinsburg, April 30; moved immediately on
Port Gibson; met the enemy, eleven thousand strong, four miles
south of Port Gibson, at two o'clock, A.M., on the 1st instant,
and engaged him all day, entirely routing him, with the loss of
many killed, and about five hundred prisoners, besides the
wounded. Our loss is about one hundred killed, and five hundred
wounded.
The enemy retreated towards Vicksburg, destroying the
bridges over the two forks of the Bayou Pierre.  These were
rebuilt; and the pursuit has continued until the present time.
Besides the heavy artillery at the place, four field-pieces were




120            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
captured, and some stores; and the enemy were driven to destroy
many more.  The country is the most broken and difficult to
operate in I ever saw. Our victory has been most complete, and
the enemy is thoroughly demoralized.
But Gov. Yates of Illinois, who was with the army,
had no disposition for such moderation; and he telegraphed as follows:GRAND GULF, MISS., May 4, 1863.
Our arms are gloriously triumphant.  We have succeeded in
winning a victory, which, in its results, must be the most important of
the war. The battle of May 1 lasted from eight o'clock in the
morning until night, during all which time the enemy was driven
back on the right, left, and centre. All day yesterday, our army
was in pursuit of the rebels; they giving us battle at almost every
defensible point, and fighting with desperate valor. Last night,
a large force of the enemy was driven across Black River; and
Gen. McClernand was driving another large force in the direction
of Willow  Springs. About two o'clock yesterday, I left Gen.
Logan with his division, in pursuit of the enemy, to join Gen.
Grant at Grand Gulf, which the enemy had evacuated in the
morning; first blowing up their magazines, spiking their cannon,
destroying tents, &c.  On my way to Grand Gulf, I saw guns
scattered all along the road, which the enemy had left in their retreat.
The rebels were scattered through the woods in every direction.
This army of the rebels was considered, as I now learn, invincible;
but it quailed before the irresistible assaults of North-western valor.
I consider Vicksburg as ours in a short time, and the Mississippi River is destined to be open from its source to its mouth.
I have been side by side with our boys in battle, and can bear
witness to the unfaltering courage and prowess of our brave
Illinoisians.




CHAPTER XII.
GRAND GULF CAPTURED.
G RANT had now obtained a foothold on the high
ground he had been fighting for during five
months. He had captured Grand Gulf, one of the strong
outworks of Vicksburg. He had won a splendid victory.
It was the beginning of the end.  The foregoing despatches show the style in which the achievements were
narrated by Grant and by an impartial observer.
Grant had now to decide on his plan of operations.
He had thirty-five thousand men in his command, of
whom he wrote, " My army is composed of hardy and
disciplined men, who know no defeat, and are not willing
to learn what it is."
He was in the State of Mississippi, the home of Jefferson Davis, in a region wholly given over to secession.
Shall he advance at once on Vicksburg, and begin the
siege where Pemberton, by his report, has 59,411 men?
or shall he go north and east, and meet the force gathering
under Gen. Gregg with numbers unknown? If he sits
down to besiege Vicksburg, Gregg will be upon his rear;
if he attacks Gregg, Pemberton will be upon his rear.
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who had entire command of
the rebel armies in that region, was moving toward
Jackson, the capital of the State, and only fifty miles
121




122          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
distant, with railroad communication in various direc.
tions. The question must be decided at once.
Grant determined to move east, to Jackson; attack
and beat Gregg and the army there, before Pemberton
should know of his plan, or could march to interfere
with him; then return, and beat Pemberton; or, if he
retired into Vicksburg, besiege and capture it. But to
do this before the rebel armies can unite and overwhelm
him requires energy and speed not often exhibited. The
army must be hurled with its whole force, first in one
direction, then in another, as with the will of a single
man.
He cannot leave part of his force to watch and fight
Pemberton while he goes east to fight Gregg.  This
would require two armies, and he has but one.
But, if he strikes out with thirty-five thousand men
into the heart of the Confederacy, how is he to feed
them? His supplies, brought from Milliken's Bend, are..    to be sent from Grand Gulf. But Pemberton can
easily send a force to intervene between his army and
its base.
Grant determined to take what supplies he could,
leave his base to care for itself, feed his army from the
country through which he moved, fight his battles as
fast as possible, then turn west, and return to Vicksburg. But he knew well that the cautious mind of Gen.
Halleck, sitting in his office at Washington, would never
sympathize with his views; and he thought his only
method was to do it, and ask permission afterward. So
he proclaimed no plans in advance, but reported regularly results as they occurred. We shall see that he
judged correctly. They were studying the maps in




GRAND GULF CAPTURED.                   123
Washington at this time, and  telling  him  where  he
ought to go. But there was no telegraph beyond Cairo,
and it was a long way for letters to be sent from Cairo
to the interior of Mississippi; and he would act so
rapidly, that, when they arrived, they would be found
to relate to past events. It is well to contemplate him
here.  Gen. Badeau says, 
"So Grant was alone.  His most trusted associates besought
him to change his plans; while his superiors were astounded by his
temerity, and strove to interfere. Soldiers of reputation, and civilians
in high place, condemned in advance a campaign that seemed
to them as hopeless as it was unprecedented.  If he failed, the
country would concur with the government and the generals. Grant
knew all this, and appreciated his danger, but was as invulnerable
to the apprehensions of ambition as to the entreaties of friendship,
or the anxieties even of patriotism. That quiet confidence which
never forsook him, and which amounted, indeed, almost to a feeling
of fate, was uninterrupted. Having once determined in a matter
that required irreversible decision, he never reversed, nor even
misgave, but was steadily loyal to himself and his plans.  This
absolute and implicit faith was, however, as far as possible from
conceit or enthusiasm.  It was simply a consciousness, or conviction rather, which brought the very strength it believed in; which
was itself strength; and which inspired others with a trust in him,
because he was able thus to trust himself."
At midnight of the 3d he had taken farewell of Grand
Gulf in his own mind, and was on his way to Hankinson's Ferry, on the Big Black River.  But his orders
show his state of mind. Sherman's corps was hurried
across the river. Supplies were wagoned sixty miles
from Milliken's Bend, ferried over the river, and carted
eighteen miles farther.
To Sherman he wrote, " Order forward immediately




124          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
your remaining division, leaving only two regiments (to
guard Richmond), as required in previous orders. Have
all the men leave the west bank of the river with three
days' rations in haversacks, and make all possible
despatch to Grand Gulf."
To Hurlbut he orders, " Four regiments to Milliken's
Bend with the utmost despatch."  " Take them from
the troops most convenient to transportation."
To the commissary at Grand Gulf, "You will load
all teams presenting themselves for rations with promptness and despatch, regardless of requisitions or provisionreturns. There must be no delay on account of either
lack of energy or formality."
To one of his staff superintending affairs at Grand
Gulf he says, " See that the commissary at Grand Gulf
loads all the wagons presenting themselves for stores
with great promptness. Issue any order in my name
that may be necessary to secure the greatest promptness
in this respect..    Every day's delay is worth two
thousand men to the enemy."
To the same officer, two or three days after, "Send
me a report of about the number of rations on hand,
and send forward  to Grand  Gulf.  Send  also  to
McFeely and Bingham, and remind them of the importance of rushing forward rations with all despatch.... How many teams have been loaded with rations
and sent forward? I want to know, as near as possible,
how we stand, in every particular, for supplies.  How
many wagons have you ferried over the river?  How
many are still to bring over?  What teams have gone
back for rations? "
To- Hurlbut, who was to remain at Memphis, he




GRAND GULF CAPTURED.              125
wrote, " You will have a large force of cavalry: use it
as much as possible in attracting attention from this
direction. Impress upon the cavalry the necessity of
keeping out of people's houses, or of taking what is of no
use to them in a military point of view.... They must
live as far as possible off the country through which they
pass, and destroy corn, wheat-crops, and every thing
that can be made use of by the enemy in prolonging
the war.  Mules and horses are to be taken to supply
all our own wants; and, when it does not cause too
much delay, agricultural implements may be destroyed 
in other words, cripple in every way, without insulting
women and children, or taking their clothes, jewelry,
&c."
These, and many other despatches that could be
quoted, show, better than could any comments, the
varied and multitudinous cares which pressed upon the
miind of Gen. Grant at this time. They show, that, while
major-general, he could be quartermaster, commissary,
ordnance-officer, and even ferryman.  Nothing essential to the one grand object, success, was too great or
too small for him to grasp with all his energy. He
pressed his orders with all the more force and exactness because he knew that the campaign was in defiance
of rules: it was his own.
Near the battle-field of Leuthen, the traveller is still
shown the tree under which Frederick the. Great assemnbled his generals, and said, " The moment for courage
has come.  I am resolved, against all rules of the art
of war, to attack the army of Charles of Lorraine
wherever I may find it. There is no question of the
number of the enemy or the strength of his position.




126          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
We must beat them, or find our graves before their batteries."
It was not until his arrival at Hankinson's Ferry
that the personal baggage and horses of Gen. Grant
and staff arrived. Previous to this he had slept in the
porch of the nearest house, and eaten at the table of
the officer near whom he happened to be. He ordered
reconnoissances to be made by the cavalry on the roads
leading up to Vicksburg, to keep alive in the enemy the
belief that he intended to march in that direction.
On the 8th, Grant had his headquarters at Rocky
Springs.  Sherman, who was still solicitous about the
result of the campaign, did not see the possibility of the
army abandoning its base; and wrote from Hankinson's
in regard to the crowd of men, wagons, and trains, urging him to " stop all troops till your army is partially
supplied with wagons, and then act as quick as possible;
for this road will be jammed, as sure as life, if you
attempt to supply fifty thousand men by one single
road."
To this Grant replied, " I do not calculate upon the
possibility of supplying the army with full rations from
Grand Gulf.  I know it will be impossible without constructing additional roads. What I do expect, however,
is to get up what rations of hard-bread, coffee, and salt,
we can, and make the country furnish the balance....
You are in a country where the troops have already
lived off the people for some days, and may find provisions more scarce; but, as we get upon new soil,
they are more abundant, particularly in  corn  and
cattle."
Grant was here acting on the policy which he deter



GRAND GULF CAPTURED.              127
mined to be the only one practicable to end the Rebellion; and that was, to make the Rebellion furnish the
supplies for the Union army. He had never, in the
earliest days of the war, sent back a trembling fugitive
with his compliments to his master.  He had never
detailed soldiers along the line of his march to guard
the flowers and fruit of rebel officers. The rebels themselves had taught him that the Government must bring
the war home to the slaveholders of the South, and
compel them to feel the consequences of their acts in
consuming power.  It was his belief, that, the quicker
this was done, the quicker the war would end.
On the 11th of May, Grant sent word to Halleck,
" My forces will be this evening as far advanced towards Jackson as Fourteen-mile Creek.  As I shall
communicate with Grand Gulf no more, except it becomes necessary to send a train with heavy escort, you
may not hear from me again for several days."
Tha same day, and almost the same hour, Halleck,
from his desk at Washington, was ordering Grant on a
far different expedition, as follows.  He said, "If possible, the forces of yourself and Banks should be united
between Vicksburg and Port Hudson, so as to attack
these places separately with the combined forces." Singular position in which a commanding general finds it
necessary to use strategy both with the enemy and his
superior at Washington!
At this time, the Hon. J. J. Pettus, Governor of
Mississippi, determined to test the effects of a proclamation addressed to the whole State, in retarding the
advance of the Union armies.  The principal portions
are as follow:



128            LIFE  OF GENERAL GRANT.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, JACKSON, MISS., May 5, 1863.
To THE PEOPLE OF MISSISSIPPI,Recent events, familiar to you all, impel me, as your chief magistrate, to appeal to your patriotism Jbr united effort in expelling our
enemies from the soil of Mlississippi. It can and must be done. Let
no man capable of bearing arms withhold from his State his services in repelling the invasion.  Duty, interest, our common safety,
demand every sacrifice necessary for the protection of our homes,
our honor, liberty itself... Awake, then, arouse, Mississippians,
young and old, from your fertile plains, your beautiful towns and
cities, your once quiet and happy, but now desecrated, homes!
Coime and join your brothers in arms, your sons and neighbors, who
are now baring their bosoms to the storm of battle at your very
doors, and in defence of all you hold dear....
Fathers, brothers, Mississippians, while your sons and kindred
are bravely fighting your battles on other fields, and shedding new lustre on your name, the burning disgrace of successful invasion of their
homes, of insult and injury to their wives, mothers, and sisters, of rapine and ruin, with God's help, and by your assistance, shall never
be written while a Mississippian lives to feel in his proud heart the
scorching degradation!... Let no man forego the proud distinction
of being one of his country's defenders, or hereafter wear the disgraceful badge of the dastardly traitor who refused to defend his
home and his country!
JOHN J. PETTUS, Governor of Misisisippi.
Notwithstanding the proclamation of Gov. Pettus,
the army advanced toward Jackson.  It moved in two
columns; Generals Sherman and McClernand on the
right, and Gen. McPherson on the left.
About half-past three o'clock on the morning of the
12th, Gen. Logan's division encountered  the rebel vedettes near Raymond, under Gen. Gregg.  Regiments
were deployed, the cavalry called in, and preparations
made for battle. A few hours later, the enemy were
encountered, about six thousand strong, within two miles




GRAND GULF CAPTURED.             129
of Raymond, strongly posted. Their artillery swept a
bridge which it was necessary McPherson should cross:
the infantry were posted on a range of hills to the
right and left, and among ravines in front.
The battle was to be fought here. Orders were sent
back to clear the road of all trains, and move up the
troops to the front.  Before they could arrive, the
enemy were beaten.
As usual, they came on with a "yell," and with
great firy rushed at De Golyer's (Eighth Michigan)
battery, but were driven back with grape and canister.
The Twentieth, Sixty-eighth, and Seventy-eighth Ohio,
and Thirteenth Illinois, were closely engaged with the
enemy.  Later, the rebels still holding their position,
a charge was ordered by Gen. McPherson; and the
Eighth Illinois, led by Col. Sturgis, went in with fixed
bayonets in fine style, broke their line, and drove them
in disorder.  During the battle, the Eighth Illinois
and Seventh Texas Regiments, which had opposed each
other at Fort Donelson, met again, and fought with
unflinching ardor.  The Eighth Missouri, an Irish
regiment, fought with determined bravery. At Winchester, two Irish regiments which had been pressed
into the rebel service, refused, when brought on to the
field, to fire on the American flag; and at Fredericksburg the Irish troops piled up their. dead within
forty feet of the muzzles of the rebel cannon. For
centuries, at Fontenoy, at Albuera, at Waterloo, the
valor of Irishmen has shed lustre on the flag of England in war, which has returned them only persecution
in peace.
Logan, with the advance, pressed the retiring enemy,
9




130         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
and at five o'clock entered Raymond in triumph.
Generals McPherson and Logan were constantly under
fire, animating the troops; the latter having his horse
shot under him.
The enemy retreated toward Jackson. The rebel
loss was one hundred and three killed, and seven hundred and twenty wounded and taken prisoners. Our
loss was sixty-nine killed, and about three hundred and
sixty wounded and missing.
At Raymond, the Union officers found newspapers
published in Jackson the day previous, from which they
learned, to their surprise, that the "Yankees had been
whipped at Grand Gulf and Port Gibson, and were
falling back to seek the protection of their gunboats."
It was by such falsehoods that the rebel press sought to
deceive the people of the South.
Pemberton had been entirely deceived by Grant and
by himself.
He had an invincible reluctance to change his
base, and could not imagine that Grant had launched
his columns into the country, to find their base in
their haversacks and in the supplies around them. By
advancing to Raymond, Grant exposed, of course, his
line of communication with Grand Gulf; and Pemberton thought it the highest generalship to move south
to Raymond, and seize this line, which he believed
indispensable to Grant's army. Pemberton said, "My
own views were expressed as unfavorable to any movement which would remove me from my base, which
was and is Vicksburg."
But Pemberton, it is seen, was about to assail a line
of communication which did not exist.  Grant had




GRAND GULF CAPTURED.            131
said, " I shall communicate with Grand Gulf no more."
He would open a line of communication again with the
North; but it would not be until he had placed the old
flag on the capitol of Mississippi, and driven Pemberton
and his army fifty miles back, within the intrenchments
at Vicksburg.




CHAPTER XIII.
BATTLE AT JACKSON.
P EMBERTON now advanced his army to Edward's
Station.  On the 12th, he had telegraphed to
Johnston, " The enemy is apparently moving his heavy
force towards Edward's DepSt.  That will be the battleplace."
Without knowledge of this telegram, of course, Grant,
the same day (the 12th), wrote to McClernand, " Edward's Station is evidently the point on the railroad the
enemy have most prepared for receiving us. I therefore want to keep up appearances of moving upon that
place."  The day Pemberton was thus theorizing, Grant
fought and won the battle of Raymond against Gregg,
far on the road to Jackson; and that night he ordered
McPherson to " march at daylight for Clinton and Jackson."  And to Sherman he wrote, " You will march at
four, A.M., in the morning, and follow McPherson."
At the same hour, he sent to McClernand, " Start with
your three divisions as soon as possible, and on to Raymond."
McPherson, as ordered, had advanced on Clinton,
where he arrived about two o'clock, and immediately
burned the bridges, tore up the railroad-track, and
destroyed the telegraph.
182




BATTLE AT JACKSON.             133
Sherman and his column arrived about the same
time. That night, the 13th, Gen. Johnston, a soldier
of genius and vigor, had arrived at Jackson to command
the forces which were constantly forwarded there with
all the energy of the leaders of the Rebellion. Before
he slept, he sent orders to Pemberton to attack the
Federal troops at Clinton, saying, " To beat such a
detachment would be of immense value. Time is all:
important."  Even Johnston did not understand that it
was no "detachment " they would meet.
The same night, Grant ordered the army to move at
early dawn upon Jackson.  On the morning of the
14th, he sent word to Gen. Halleck of the battle at
Raymond, and said, in closing his despatch, " I will
attack the State capital to-day." Pemberton and his
troops were busily strengthening Edward's Station,
deceived by McClernand's pickets, and expecting an
attack there; but Grant and Pemberton were planning
campaigns for different armies.
It had rained hard during the night, increasing all
the difficulties of the movement; but the soldiers felt
that they were marching from one victory at Raymond
to another at Jackson, and pushed on in fine spirits. It
was nine o'clock on the morning of the 14th when the
rebel pickets were met and driven in about five miles
out from Jackson.  The army advanced, and found the
enemy in force nearly two miles and a half beyond.
Johnston was in command, with the flower of the
Southern soldiery. Regiments were there from South
Carolina and Georgia. Their batteries were posted on
a semicircular ridge in the rear, and the infantry in
front, in ravines traversed by a fence.




134          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
While the regiments were moving into position, the
rain was so violent, that every cartridge-box opened was
filled with water. It was eleven o'clock before the
artillery commenced the battle. Our skirmishers were
met by so heavy a fire, that they were called in; and
Gen. Crocker was ordered to charge. At once, the
whole line swept forward with muskets loaded, bayonets
fixed. The loud cheers ring out.  On they go, through
the ravine, and up the hill, to the muzzles of the rebel
guns.  The enemy broke, and fled back to their defences, a mile and a half in the rear. Here an effective
fire of artillery was opened; and officers were sent out
to reconnoitre the works.
Sherman, who had advanced in another direction
from McPherson, also found intrenchments to the left
as far as could be seen, from which a sharp artillery-fire
was maintained.  Grant ordered an examination to the
extreme right, the flanks of these intrenchments. Those
sent not returning as soon as he desired, he started
himself, followed only by his staff, and rode until he
found that the enemy had evacuated the town.  The
route was open, and he rode on. His son, a boy of
thirteen, who was with him as they neared the town,
started his horse on a gallop, and was the first to enter
the streets.
But McPherson also learned that the rebels had
evacuated the works, and marched inside of them on
one flank, while Sherman marched in on the other,
meeting midway amid prolonged shouts of victory.
By three o'clock, the national ensign, raised by the
Fifty-ninth Indiana, was waving from the dome of the
capitol.








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BATTLE AT JACKSON.               135
The leading secessionists of the place had left with
the rebel army, including the State Treasurer with the
funds, and Gov. Pettus with all the most valuable State
papers except the copies of his proclamation. But history will preserve this.
Before four o'clock, Grant was issuing orders to his
corps commanders in the governor's room at the capitol.
Sherman was ordered to occupy the rifle-pits, and
destroy the railroads, bridges, and telegraphs in all
directions, except towards Vicksburg. Factories and
arsenals were  burned.  A  public house called the
" Confederate Hotel " was fired by some of the soldiers before the guard could take possession of the city.
On investigation, it appeared that some of the Union
troops had been transported through Jackson, some
months before, as prisoners on cattle-cars, which were
stopped in front of this hotel. The captives, who had
suffered long from thirst, asked for a little water, but
were refused with brutal and insulting taunts by those
in the hotel. They had been exchanged, and returned
to the army in time to assist in the capture of Jackson,
and exhibited in the first moments of victory a vivid
recollection of the inhumanity of their former treatment.  The officers regretted the unauthorized destruction of private property; but the soldiers probably
thought that one burning wrong was in this case not
unfitly avenged by another.
That night, Grant occupied the elegant mansion of a
wealthy rebel, which had been Johnston's headquarters.
The indications were, that the rebel generals the night
before had celebrated with a banquet the victory they
expected to achieve over Grant; but their victory was
in anticipation only.




136          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
It was
"A banquet-hall deserted:
Its lights were fled,
Its garlands dead,
And all but (Grant) departed."
Johnston retreated several miles, and at once wrote
to Pemberton, asking, " Can Grant supply himself from
the Mississippi?  Can you not cut him  off from  it?
And above all, should he be compelled to fall back for
want of supplies, beat him."  The idea that Grant had
left his base still distressed both these distinguished
generals, and gave them unnecessary solicitude.
Grant at once issued orders for McPherson to start
at daylight, and return; marching to Bolton, twenty
miles on the road to Vicksburg.  Orders were also
despatched to McClernand and Gen. Frank Blair to
concentrate at the same point.  The object now was
to return and defeat Pemberton before Johnston and his
army could join him.  A  courier was sent back to
Grand Gulf with despatches for Gen. Halleck, announcing the victory at Jackson.
By half-past nine o'clock, the advance of Osterhaus's
Federal cavalry was driving in the rebel pickets, and
picking up prisoners in the town of Bolton. The troops
were pressing on as fast as possible over the muddy
roads, now badly cut up by the artillery and baggagewagons.  But the soldiers saw that quick movements
and rapid marches enabled them to outnumber the enemy at the point of attack; and they hurried forward
with increased confidence in the genius of their leader.
" I am happy to see you," said the Emperor Alexander to Gen. Savary the night after the battle of




BATTLE AT JACKSON.               137
Austerlitz.  "This day has been one of glory to the
Emperor Napoleon.  I confess, the rapidity of his manoeuvres never gave me time to succor the menaced points.
Everywhere you were double the number of our forces."
" Sire," said Savary, " our force was twenty-five thousand less than yours, and the whole of that was not engaged; but the same division combated at different
points.  Therein lies the art of war.  The emperor has
seen forty pitched battles, and is never wanting in that
particular."
The rank and file thoroughly understood Gen. Grant's
desire to spare human life, and enable them to fight
their battles with their legs rather than with the deadly
missiles of war.
While Grant was attacking Jackson, Pemberton was
in council with his generals, deciding whether he should
adopt Gen. Johnston's suggestion to move east, and attack the Federal troops at Clinton. He decided that it
was not so important as to "' cut Grant's line of communication with Grand Gulf," a desire which never forsook
him; and he accordingly moved south towards Dillon
to sever Grant from  his base.  At forty minutes
past five, P.M., May 14, he wrote to Johnston, " I shall
move, as early to-morrow as practicable, a column of
seventeen thousand on Dillon's. The object is to cutthe enemy's communication."  Such had been the masterly strategy of Gen. Grant in this campaign, that the
extraordinary sight was now witnessed of three rebel
armies marching south, north, and east away from him,
while he was converging between them, from three different quarters, his united army, flushed with victory.
This is the art of war.




138          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
But Pemberton now learned more of Grant's movements, and perceived, that in moving from Edward's
Station, on the direct road from Vicksburg to Jackson,
he had simply moved out of Grant's path, and left the
way open to Vicksburg. His object now was to return
as soon as possible; but this must be done with
care, or he would find himself passing in front of Grant's
columns.  Grant was marching from east to west for
Edward's Station; and Pemberton was returning from
the south to the north, toward the same line.
About five o'clock on the morning of the 15th, Grant
learned from a couple of men employed on the Jackson
and Vicksburg Railroad, who had passed through Pemnberton's army, that the enemy were near Edward's
Station with about twenty-five thousand men.
In thirty minutes, a courier was on the road to Jackson with the following order to Sherman: " Start one of
your divisions on the road at once with their ammunition-wagons.
" I have evidence that the entire force of the enemy
was at Edward's DepSt at seven, P.M., last night, and
was still advancing.  The fight may therefore be
brought on at any moment."
In one hour after this order was received, Sherman's
troops were in motion.
Pemberton, who had been educated at West Point,
had selected his battle-field with the eye of a trained
soldier. Champion's Hill, half-way between Vicksburg
and Jackson, rises sixty or seventy feet above the surrounding country: its summit, free from woods, afforded
an admirable position for artillery; but the sides over




BATTLE AT JACKSON.             139
which our troops must move were covered with thick
underbrush, and seamed with ravines. Here Pemberton
had placed his army of twenty-five thousand men.
Loring had the right, Bowen the centre, and Stevens
the left, of the rebel line. Pemberton was ignorant that
Grant's entire army was in the vicinity around him.
Hovey's troops were nearest to Pemberton; but Grant
preferred that the action should not be opened until the
divisions in the rear could be moved up. By eleven
o'clock, the battle had commenced. McClernand, with
four divisions, was advancing from Raymond, and had
been ordered to hurry forward, but had not arrived.
Hovey's division moved against the hill toward the
west, supported by two brigades of Logan, which were
within four hundred yards of the enemy.
The fire raged along the whole line of battle. Cannon, shot, shell, and rifle-balls swept the field in every
direction. But Hovey's division pressed through the
storm of death, and slowly mounted the hill; the living
closing their ranks as the dead dropped beside them.
They drove the enemy back six hundred yards, and captured eleven guns and three hundred prisoners. The
stars and stripes, and the State flags of Ohio, Indiana,
Iowa, and Wisconsin, were flying on the crest of the
hill. But here it was found that the road over the hill
was so cut as to afford a natural breastwork, which the
rebels at once used to their great advantage. Pemberton re-enforced the position; and Hovey's men, in spite
of all their heroic efforts, were pressed slowly back,
fighting every inch  of the ground, but losing the
captured guns.  Where is McClernand with his four
divisions of fifteen thousand men?




140         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Officer after officer had been despatched to hurry
him up. Grant, who had watched the battle with his
son by his side, repeatedly looked toward Raymond,
and listened for McClernand's guns as Napoleon listened for the cannon of Davoust beyond the Tower of
Neuisedel at Wagram.  But Hovey was giving way
against overwhelming odds; and Grant ordered a brigade of Crocker's division to his support, and they held
their ground.
Meanwhile, Logan had pressed the left of the rebel
line with such terrible effect, that lhe was working into
their rear; which they soon discovered. At this time,
a battery on the Union right opened upon them with
fearful slaughter; McPherson moved on the rebel right
front; Hovey and Crocker's divisions once more advanced with Logan's men; the enemy gave way; five
of the guns were recaptured; the battle was won.
The enemy retreated over the Big Black River, and
were followed till night. This was the severest battle
of the campaign.  Our loss, in killed, wounded, and
missing, was 2,457. The rebel loss was between three
and four thousand in killed and wounded, and nearly
three thousand taken prisoners; fifteen or twenty guns,
eleven of them captured by Logan's command. Among
the rebel dead was Gen. Tighlman, who was captured
the year previous at Fort Henry.  The pursuit by
Grant after the battle was so quick, that Gen. Loring's
division was separated from Pemberton's main army:
and was never able to join the garrison of Vicksburg.
The nature of the ground had required the Union
troops to ascend the hill in column, and offer their
solid masses to be ploughed by the enemy's artillery,




BATTLE AT JACKSON.               141
which was worked with deadly skill.  The soldiers
called it the " Hill of Death: " but it was also the hill
of victory; for, in reality, it decided the fate of Vicksburg.
"They never fail who die
In a great cause: the block may soak their gore;
Their heads may sodden in the sun; their limbs
Be strung to city gates and castle walls:
But still their spirits walk abroad."
That no incident might be wanting to render the day
remarkable, Grant now received orders from Gen. Halleck, dated the 11th, to move down the river instead
of marching into the interior. " If possible," he said,
"the forces of yourself and Banks should be united
between Vicksburg and Port Hudson.   The  same
thing has been urged on Banks."  It was well that
Grant had broken up his line of communication with
his superior, as well as with Grand Gulf, before these
orders arrived.  He was now marching back  to the
Mississippi; but it was to enter Vicksburg as a conqueror.
Grant and his staff rode on with the pursuing column,
until, late in the night, he found himself too far in advance, and rode back to bivouac with his soldiers. He
slept on the piazza of a house which was used as a
hospital for the rebel wounded.  The battle was fought
on Saturday: the evening brought the close of the
week and the approach of the sabbath.  It was a
beautiful night.   Though yet spring, the air in that
Southern clime was touched by the fervors of midsummer; and, not unnaturally, the hearts of all were softened by thoughts of home and loved ones far away.




142         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
The Twenty-fourth Iowa was called the " Methodist
Regiment," as a large portion of its officers and men
were of that denomination; and all at once, as if by
common impulse, the men began singing " Old Hundred: " others joined; and, as the strains of the grand
old hymn went up on the voices of thousands, it seemed
both a requiem  for comrades slain, and a song of
thanksgiving for the victory won.




CHAPTER XIV.
BATTLE AT BIG BLACK RIVER.
O N the morning of the 17th, McClernand's forces
found the enemy strongly posted on both sides of
the Big Black River, at the railroad-bridge. In front
of the eastern bank was a wide bayou, nearly twenty
feet across: this was a natural wet ditch, behind which
were rifle-pits. The west bank was a high bluff, with
twenty pieces of artillery in position to command the
east bank and the approaching Federal forces.  Trees
had been felled to form an abatis. Engineering science
could have hardly constructed a more'formidable position than Nature here offered for defence.  Here Pemberton took his stand with four thousand men. He said,
" So strong was the position, that my greatest, almost
my only, apprehension was a flank movement by Bridgeport or Baldwin's Ferry, which would have endangered
my communications with Vicksburg."  But he had
against him the men who  had been at Donelson, at
Corinth, and at Champion's Hill.
The artillery-firing and skirmishing continued for
two or three hours; when Gen. Lawler - who was
rushing around in his shirt-sleeves, determined to cross
somewhere - discovered a spot on the left of the
rebel defences, where, by moving a portion of his
143




144         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
brigade through a piece of woods, he thought an assault
might be made.  The supporting troops, seeing a part
of Lawler's men start, animated by their repeated
victories, dashed after them without waiting for orders,
and rushed over the bayou in the midst of a murderous fire, which swept down a hundred and fifty of
their number.  On reaching the end of the rebel parapet, a place was seen wide enough for four men to walk
abreast: through this the assaulting party rushed with
fixed bayonets and loud cheers. The astonished rebels,
accustomed to defeat, as Pemberton said, " did not wait to
receive them, but broke, and fled precipitately." A panic
ensued. The rebels fired the western end of the bridge,
regardless of their troops on the other side.  Many
jumped into the river to escape; some attempted to
cross amid the flames; some ran wildly up and down the
banks of the river; others surrendered.  An entire
brigade was taken prisoners.  The rebel army, now
little better than a mob, began its hurried flight to Vicksburg, where their unexpected arrival and utterly demoralized condition filled the city with terror and dismay.
Our loss was twenty-nine killed and two hundred and
forty-two wounded.  Seventeen hundred and fifty-one
prisoners were captured, eighteen cannon, five stand of
colors, and large quantities of commissary-stores.  All
the roads to Vicksburg were opened.
Grant immediately ordered bridges to be built; and
cotton-gins, boards, timbers from the farm-houses, and
cotton-bales, were brought into requisition for this purpose. At one point, an ingenious bridge was thrown
over by simply felling large trees on both sides so as to
unite their tops in the middle of the stream.




BATTLE AT BIG BLACK RIVER.            145
That night, Sherman, who had the pontoon-train, was
ordered to cross the river at Bridgeport, north of the
railroad; Grant adding, " We will move in three columns, if roads can be found to move on; and either have
Vicksburg or Haine's Binff to-morrow night."
Early the next morning, McPherson and McClernand,
with their columns, were moving on Vicksburg, now
fifteen miles distant. At daylight, Sllerman's division
also crossed the river higher up, and struck for Walnut
Hills, north of Vicksburg, between it and Haine's Bluff,
and commanding the entrance to the Yazoo River.
By half-past nine o'clock, the head of Gen. Sherman's
columns halted within three miles and a half of Vicksburg for the remainder of the force to come up.
During this campaign, for thirteen days the men had
only six days' rations and such supplies as the country
afforded; grinding their own corn, and marching without tents or cooking-utensils: yet all were prompt and
cheerful in the discharge of their duty.*
In eighteen days, Grant had marched two hundred
miles, fought five battles, taken six thousand and five
hundred prisoners, killed and wounded six thousand
more, taken twenty-seven cannon and sixty-one pieces
of field-artillery. He had compelled the evacuation of
Grand Gulf, captured the capital of the State of Mississippi, and destroyed its network of railroads for more
than thirty miles in all directions.
His losses were six hundred and ninety-eight killed,
three thousand four hundred and seven wounded, and
two hundred and thirty missing.
He had subsisted his army on the enemy's territory.
10
* McClernand's Report.




146         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
The whole campaign was a new  thing  in war,
and was the model of "the great march to the sea."
This was the first instance in history of an army marching into an enemy's country, and depending on their
haversacks for daily supplies.  Napoleon had levied
contributions on cities and countries; but they were
often in money, always ordered in advance, and, in
many instances, months before his army left Paris.
And here a strange scene took place. The friendship
of Grant and Sherman will live in history as one of
the many remarkable incidents of the war. It has for
centuries been observed that great men seldom choose
friends so much for mental as for social qualities. Heroes
rarely seek companions in their equals. Eagles fly
alone. Achilles does not seek friendship with Ajax,
but the gentle Patroclus; and 2Eneas soothes himself
with the affection of Achates, and not the companionship of Diomed. It was not Ney, " the bravest of the
brave," but the unknown Col. Muiron, whom Napoleon
loved, and whose name he wished to wear in his exile
at St. Helena.  Grant and Sherman rode out alone on
the summit of one of the highest of the Walnut Hills,
and gazed in silence on the panorama at their feet,- the
river; the city; the great prizes of the campaign; the
Yazoo, along whose banks Sherman had led his column
by torchlight; Haine's Bluff, which had tossed back the
Federal troops as the rocky shore flings back the ocean
spray; and the long line of batteries unassailable by the
navy. Neither spoke. The letter of Sherman to Grant,
remonstrating against the campaign so earnestly, had
never been mentioned.  Sherman now turned suddenly
to Grant, and said, "Until this moment, I never thought




BATTLE AT BIG BLACK RIVER.         147
your expeditidn a success.  I never could see the end
clearly until now. But this is a campaign. This is a
success if we never take the town."
Haine's Bluff was abandoned by the enemy, and its
garrison joined that of Vicksburg. Communication was
opened with the river at the foot of Walnut Hills, and
supplies of all kinds were forwarded to the troops.




CHAPTER XV.
THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.
B Y the 19th of May, Vicksburg, "the city of a
hundred hills," was closely invested; and its fall
was only a question of time. The city was about four
or five miles long, and nearly two miles wide. The
defences consisted of detached redoubts connected by
rifle-pits. The works on the land-side were eight miles
long, with about four miles of heavy batteries on
the water-front.  It was intersected by ravines and
ridges covered by an impenetrable growth of cane and
vines; and, in front, heavy trees had been felled. It
was a vast intrenched camp, with two hundred cannon
mounted in commanding positions, and bristling with
forty thousand bayonets in the hands of brave and
determined men.
Johnston had sent word to Pemberton, " If Haine's
Bluff is untenable, Vicksburg is of no value," and urging
him to save his army. Pemberton was holding a council
of war to determine what he should do, when the guns
of the Union army announced that Grant had already
decided this question, and that escape was impossible.
His expectation now was, that the Confederate Government would relieve him before the place could be
taken.
148




THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.            149
Johnston was gathering an army to attack Grant in
the rear.  Grant had no force equal to besieging
Pemberton, preventing a sortie of his army, and at the
same time fighting a battle with thirty thousand under
Johnston.  The army was impatient for an assault
before settling down to the dull, tedious labor of engineering; and at this time it was not supposed that
Pemberton had over twelve or fifteen thousand men.
His full force was not known until their surrender.
It was determined to make an assault at two o'clock
on the 19th; which was done with great bravery. The
Thirteenth United-States Infantry planted their colors
on the outer works.  The Eighty-third Indiana and
the Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois reached a
similar position at the same time. Gen. Blair secured
and held an advanced position until ordered to fall back.
But the strength of the works was too great to be
carried in that manner before night settled down over
the scene; and the troops fell back.
The bombardment, especially from the mortar-boats,
was so severe, that the people began digging caves in
the sides of the hills; and Pemberton, unable to feed
his horses and mules, drove them outside his lines.
On the 22d, it was determined to make one more
attempt to carry Vicksburg by storm.  Gen. Grant
knew that Johnston was concentrating a large army at
Canton; and he was desirous of capturing Vicksburg, so
that he could attack this army, and drive the rebels out
of the State, giving to the government the railroads and
military highways west of the Tombigbee, before the heat
of summer came on.  He was anxious also to save the
necessity of sending to him any re-enforcements which




150          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
were needed so much elsewhere. The troops also were
fully persuaded that the works, which were only four
hundred yards distant, could be carried by storm, and
would have been disheartened to enter the trenches for
a prolonged siege until this was settled.
A  commander is unwise who wholly disregards the
convictions of an army of thirty thousand intelligent
men in such a case, even if they do not wholly agree
with his mature judgment.
Orders were given for a general assault at ten o'clock
on the 22d. "Promptly at the hour designated, all
will start at quick time, with bayonet fixed, and march
immediately upon the enemy, without firing a gull until
the outer works are carried."
Watches of the corps commanders were compared,
and set by that of the general commanding.  At five
minutes before ten, the bugles sounded to prepare for a
charge; and at ten precisely the three army corps of
McClernand, McPherson, and Sherman, moved on the
works.  Gen. Grant was in a commanding position
near Sherman's corps, which gave him the best view
of the advancing columns.
A forlorn hope of a hundred and fifty men, with
poles and boards, was to bridge the ditch in the face
of the concentrated fire of five batteries.  Not a man
or rifle of the rebels was seen until the storming-parties began to ascend the ridge, when along the whole
line they opened a most murderous fire, against which
it was simply self-murder to persist.
Regiment after regiment pushed on, and at different
points placed their colors on the outer slopes of the enemy's works. At one point, a handful of men led by Ser



THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.             151
geant Griffith, a lad not twenty years old, of the Twentysecond Iowa, entered one bastion; but all were captured
except the brave Griffith, who secured thirteen rebels
as prisoners. While this was going on, the fleet and
mortar-boats, with 100-pound Parrotts mounted on
rafts, were filling the air with their deadly missiles,
and raining shot, shell, fire, and. death upon the city
from the river. The sight was awful and sublime. The
constant booming of so many hundred heavy cannon,
the shells screeching and exploding, and the tens of
thousands of Minie-balls whizzing through the air in
every direction, drove to desperation the enraged combatants.
There were deeds of unsurpassed bravery throughout
the day.  White's Chicago Mercantile Battery actually
put their ammunition in their haversacks, and dragged
their heavy guns by hand, while under constant fire,
down one slope and up another, and fired into one of
the embrasures.
But all in vain.  The inner works commanded the
outer.  The natural and artificial strength of the place
was too great, and the army defending it too large, for
an army of only equal numbers to carry it by assault.
The long wars of Napoleon showed no such daring
assault.  It was fifty-one thousand Englishmen under
Wellington at Badajos that assaulted five thousand
French, and it was thirty-five thousand English at
Ciudad  Rodrigo  that assaulted  seventeen  hundred
French.
It was now evident that Vicksburg could only be
taken by regular siege; and this was commenced without a day's delay. Hurlbut and Prentiss were ordered




152          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
to send forward " every available man that could possibly be spared."  "The siege of Vicksburg is going to
occupy time, contrary to my expectations when I arrived
near it.... Contract every thing on the line of the
route from Memphis to Corinth, and keep your cavalry
well out south of there: by this means, you ought to be
able to send here quite a large force."
And now earthlworks and covered ways were erected; and the soldiers took practical lessons in engineering, and  became  learned  in  the  technicalities
of the science.  Trenches, revets, salients, gabions,
banquettes, boyau, mining, and  counter-mining were
the order of the day.  " Vicksburg must be taken."
The labor in the trenches was greatly aided by large
numbers of negroes.  The length of all the trenches
was twelve miles.  Eighty-nine batteries were constructed; and by the 8d of June two hundred and
twenty guns were in position. The very small number
of professional engineers with the army required Gen.
Grant to give personal supervision to the details of the
siege in different sections of the work almost from hour
to hour. Occasionally the rebels would open mines, and
sometimes make a sortie, but with little effect.  Their
desire seemed to be to save their men, and wait for relief from Johnston.  At one point, the pickets of the
besieged and besiegers agreed not to fire on each other
at night, when the principal labor was done, and allotted
the ground between them  so that workling-parties were
not ten yards apart.  Tihe amount of labor performed
night and day  was  prodigious.  Those not in the
trenches were picking off the rebels by sharpshooting
whenever a head was seen; or working the artillery,




THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.            153
which never seemed to be silent.  On the 4th of June,
Johnston had collected, by his own report, an army of
about twenty-seven thousand men, which he was endeavoring to increase to forty thousand. Grant really
had two armies on his hands. Expeditions were sent
east to the Big Black River to destroy bridges and
forage, and to bring in cattle and every thing which
could be of use to Johnston's army.
Gen. Blair was sent with twelve thousand men to
drive off the enemy between the Yazoo and the Big
Black River, where Johnston was gathering large supplies. Grant was attacking Pemberton on the west, and
at the same time carefully preparing to defend himself
from Johnston on the east.  While besieging, he was
threatened with a siege.  Pemberton now  conceived
the idea of tearing down the houses of Vicksburg to
build two thousand boats with which his army might
escape over the river; and Vicksburg was turned into a
sort of navy-yard " ad interim."  But the boats, if boats
they could be called, never touched the river.  After
the capture of the city, many of them were examined
by our soldiers as curious specimens of marine architecture.
On the 22d, it was expected that Johnston would
advance.  Sherman was ordered to look after him: and
Grant said, " They seem to put a great deal of faith in
the Lord and Joe Johnston; but you must whip Johnston at least fifteen miles from here."  To Herron and
A. J. Smith he wrote, "Should Johnston come, we
want to whip him, if the siege has to be raised to do it."
To Parke he wrote, " We want to whip Johnston at least
fifteen miles off. if possible."  To McClernand, "Hold




154          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
and fight the enemy wherever he presents himself,
from  the extreme right to the extreme left.  The
movements of an enemy necessarily determine counter-movements."   To  another, " Certainly, use the
negroes, and every thing within your command, to the
best advantage. Travel with as little baggage as possible, and use your teams as an ordnance and supply
train."   To Ord, " Keep Smith's division sleeping
under arms to-night.  Notify Lauman to be in readiness all night."  To Washburne, " Make the detail
with reference to the competency of the colonel who
will command the expedition.  He must be a live and
active man."
To maintain himself thus between two armies, required, as may well be imagined, the most constant and
untiring vigilance; and Johnston, after a full study of
the situation, wrote to the Secretary of War at Richmond, "Grant's position, naturally very strong, is intrenched, and protected by powerful artillery, and the
roads obstructed.... The Big Black covers him from
attack, and would cut off our retreat if defeated."
Pemberton was writing, " Enemy bombards day and
night from seven mortars. He also keeps up constant
fire on our line with artillery and musketry."  Again
he says, " On the Graveyard Road [significant name to
the rebel army], the enemy's works are within twentyfive feet of our redan.   ly men have been thirty-four
days and nights in the trenches without relief, and the
enemy within conversation-distance."
On the 25th, a mine which had been prepared was
exploded.  The mine contained two thousand two hundred pounds of powder.  At three o'clock, word was




THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.              155
brought that all was ready.  Two hundred men from
the Forty-fifth Illinois and the Twenty-third Indiana
were to lead the forlorn hope.  Many were in their
shirt-sleeves, and carrying nothing but their guns and
cartridge-boxes, prepared for close and hard fighting.
These men were in view of thousands whom the thrillin g excitement of the moment hushed into silence. A
few moments, and the fuses exploded, and the earth
was lifted to the skies as with the power of an earthquake. The vast mass of powder blazed up; the chasm
yawned, and showed a sea of surging flame, as if the
globe itself had opened to spout out its great central
fires.  Sods, earth, rocks, cannon, broken gun-carriages,
mangled remains of men, all mingled in confusion, were
hurled a hundred feet into the air.  Strange to say,
some of the rebels were carried over and landed alive
within the Union lines.  Simultaneously, twelve miles
of artillery and rifles opened with their dread roar. The
cavity made in the earth was large enough to hold two
thousand men, into which the combatants rushed with
maddened fury. The soldiers called it "the deathhole."  There, with rifles, bayonets, clubbed muskets,
hand-grenades, revolvers, the struggling mass fought
until after nightfall.  The Union soldiers were unable
to enter the inner lines, but held their ground; and the
next day extended rifle-pits across the opening.
Thus the siege progressed.  Pemberton especially,
after Grant's successes in the opening of the campaign,
was accused of "selling Vicksburg," and made the
most determined efforts to hold the city. He had early
made a speech to the citizens and soldiers, in which he
said, " You have heard that I am incompetent, and a




156          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
traitor; and that it was my intention to sell Vicksburg.
Follow me, and you will see the cost at which I will
sell Vicksburg.  When the last pound of beef, bacon,
and flour, the last grain of corn, the last cow and hog,
and horse and dog, shall have been consumed, and the
last man shall have perished in the trenches, - then,
and only then, will I sell Vicksburg,"
Forty-seven days and nights the work went on.
Seven thousand mortar-shells, and four thousand five
hundred shells from the gunboats, had been thrown into
the devoted city.  The houses burned, and torn to
pieces, the citizens had been obliged to find shelter in
holes dug in the earth in the sides of the hills; and here
parents died, and children were born.  Flour was a
thousand dollars a barrel (rebel money); meal, a hundred and forty dollars a bushel; mule-meat, one dollar a
pound.  Mule-soup was a luxury.  The rich had eaten
their last crust; and now rich and poor were meeting
starvation together.  The soldiers were living on branbread, and half-rations at that.  The heats of summer
were now filling the exhausted and worn-out frames of
the soldiers with the pestilence of the swamps. Nature
was undermining the rebel camp more surely than the
art of manl
A  rebel woman living in the outskirts, who had
remained in her battered tenement, asked Gen. Grant
one day, when he stopped for some water, if he ever
expected to take Vicksbulcr. He said, 6' Yes."
But when? " said the woman.
" I don't know when; but I shall take it if I stay
here thirty years."  His determination had greater
longevity than she had imagined,




THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.             157
To illustrate the character of this civil war: The pickets of the two armies at one point were accustomed at
last to meet at niglt at a well between the lines, where
they would discuss the cause of the war, the rights of
the South and slavery; and, when debate grew excited,
they would part, as they said, " to avoid getting into a
fight on the subject." It was, in truth, a war of ideas,
— an "irrepressible  conflict"  between  liberty and
slavery.
Meanwhile, parlor-soldiers, solemn croakers, who
opened their papers at quiet firesides, and read daily,
Siege of Vicksburg, progressing," shook their wise
heads, and said, " They'll never take that place: it's a
perfect Gibraltar."
At this time, Grant was not only confident of success,
but mentally reaching forward to other operations. To
Gen. Banks he writes, "Should it be my fortune,
general, to get into Vicksburg while you are still investing Port Hudson, I will commence immediately
shipping troops to you, and will send such number as
you may indicate as being necessary."  To Halleck,
who had aided him with energy as far as possible since
his campaign became pronounced, he wrote, " There is
no doubt of the fall of this place ultimately." Later
he says, " The enemy are now undoubtedly in our
grasp.  The fall of Vicksburg, and the capture of most
of the garrison, can only be a question of time."
On the 30th of June he writes, " The troops of this
command are in excellent health and spirits.  There is
not the  slightest indication  of despondency  either
among officers or men."
The walls of fire were steadily closing around Vicks



158            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
burg, day by day, hour by hour.  On the 1st of July,
Grant was preparing  another assault; when, on the
morning of the 3d, a white flag was seen flying from
the rebel lines; and Gen. Bowen, and Col. Montgomerv
of Gen. Pemberton's staff, left for the Union camp.
The rebel soldiers imagined a surrender was to be made,
and were much excited.  Gen. Bowen was the bearer
of a letter to Gen. Grant.  After being blindfolded,
these officers were conducted to Gen. Smith's quarters,
where the following  letter from  Gen. Pemberton was
delivered  -
" I have the honor to propose to you an armistice of —  hours,
with a view to arranging terms for the capitulation of Vicksburg.
To this end, if' agreeable to you, I will appoint three conmissioners to meet a like number to be named by yourself at such
place and hour as you may find convenient. I make this proposition to save the further effusion of blood, which must otherwise be
shed to a frightful extent; feeling myself fully able to maintain my
position for a yet indefinite period. This communication will be
handed you, under a flag of truce, by Major-Gen. J. S. Bowen.
To which Gen. Grant returned the following reply:"Your note of this date is just received, proposing an armistice for several hours for the purpose of arranging terms of capitulation through commissioners to be appointed, &c. The effusion
of blood you propose stopping by this course can be ended at
any time you may choose by an unconditional surrender of the
city and garrison. Men who have shown so much endurance and
courage as those now in Vicksburg will always challenge the
respect due them' as prisoners of war. I do not favor the proposition of appointing commissioners to arrange terms of capitulation,
because I have no other terms than those indicated above."
Gen. Bowen desired a personal interview with Gen.




THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.           159
Grant; which the latter declined. Upon the suggestion
of the former, an interview between the two commanders was arranged for three o'clock that day.
At three o'clock, a signal-gun was fired; and Gen.
Pemberton, with Gen. Bowen and Col. Montgomery,
left the rebel works.  Gen. Grant rode through the
Union trenches to an outlet leading to a spot of green
earth which had not been trod by either army, about
two hundred feet from the rebel lines.  With him were
Generals McPherson, Logan, Ord, and Smith, and one
or two of Grant's staff.  The two commanders, having
never met, were introduced, and exchanged the salutation of gentlemen.
The interview was witnessed by thousands of both
armies, who crowded the parapets unarmed, and gazed
with deep and silent interest on the scene. The day
was sultry, and the summer air as still as if it had
never for centuries resounded to the voice of war.
After a moment's silence, Gen. Pemberton said," Gen. Grant, I meet you in order to arrange terms
for the capitulation of the city of Vicksburg and its
garrison.  What terms do you demand? "
" Unconditional surrender," said Grant.
" If this is all," said Pemberton with assumed impatience and hauteur, " the conference may terminate,
and hostilities be resumed immediately."
" Very well," said Gen. Grant, and turned to walk
away.
The acquaintance of the men had not been long
enough to show to Pemberton that Grant was a man
who wasted no words, but who said what he meant,
and meant what he said.




160            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Gen. Bowen now  ventured to suggest that two of
the subordinates should confer, and present some basis
of negotiation for their chiefs.  Grant said he had no
objections, but should be bound by no such action, and
should be governed by his own sense of duty.
Bowen and Smith conversed a few moments; while
Grant and Pemberton stepped aside, and engaged in
conversation under a large oak-tree.  Very soon, Gen.
Bowen proposed that the rebels should march out from
Vicksburg with honors of war; taking their muskets
and field-guns, but leaving their heavy artillery. Grant
smiled at this proposal, and  said it was inadmissible.
It was finally agreed that he should send his terms in
writing  before ten  o'clock  that night.   Meanwhile
hostilities were not to be resumed until negotiations
were at an end.
He returned to his tent, and for the first time summoned his corps commanders and generals to a council
of war as to the terms which should be offered; but
none of them, with a single exception, proposed terms
which he was willing to accept.
He finally sent the following letter to Gen. Pemberton:
" In conformity with agreement of this afternoon, I will submit
the following proposition for the surrender of the city of Vicksburg, public stores, &c. On your accepting the terms proposed, I
will march in one division as a guard, to take possession at eight
o'clock, A.M., to-morrow. As soon as rolls can be made out, and
paroles signed by officers and men, you will be allowed to march
out of our lines, - the officers with their side-arms and clothing;
and the field, staff, and cavalry officers, one horse each. The
rank and file will be allowed all their clothing, but no other property. If these conditions are accepted, any amount of rations you




THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.                   161
may deem necessary can be taken from the stores you now have,
and also all the necessary cooking utensils for preparing them.
Thirty wagons also, counting two-horse or mule teams as one, will
be allowed to transport such articles as cannot be carried along.
The same conditions will be allowed to all sick and wounded officers and soldiers, as fast as they become able to travel.  The paroles for these latter must be signed, however, while officers are
present authorized to sign the roll of prisoners."
Pemberton submitted these terms to a council of his
officers, all of whom, with one exception, advised their
acceptance; and late at night he sent the following to
Gen Grant: 
" I have the honor of acknowledging the receipt of your communication of this (late, proposing terms of capitulation for this garrison and post. In the main, your terms are accepted; but, in
justice both to the honor and spirit of my troops manifested in
the defence of Vicksburg, I have to submit the following amendments, which, if acceded to by you, will perfect the agreement
between us.
"At ten o'clock, A.M., to-morrow, I propose to evacuate the
works in and around Vicksburg, and to surrender the city and
garrison under my command, by marching out with my colors and
arms, stacking them in front of my present lines; after which you
will take possession.  Oificers to retain their side-arms and personal property, and the rights and property of citizens to be
respected."
This was not received until midnight; but Grant
replied immediately as follows:"I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 3d of July. The amendment proposed by you
cannot be acceded to in full. It will be necessary to furnish every
officer and man with a parole signed by himself, which, with the
11




162            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
completion of the roll of prisoners, will necessarily take some
time.
"Again: I can make no stipulations with regard to the treatment of citizens and their private property. While I do not
propose to cause them any undue annoyance or loss, I cannot consent to leave myself under any restraint by stipulations. The
property which officers will be allowed to take with them will be
as stated in my proposition of last evening; that is, officers will
be allowed their private baggage and side-arms, and mounted
officers one horse each.
" If you mean, by your proposition, for each brigade to march
to the front of the lines now occupied by it, and stack arms at ten
o'clock, A.M., and then return to the inside, and there remain as
prisoners until properly paroled, I will make no objection to it.
Should no notification be received of your acceptance of my terms
by nine o'clock, A.M., I shall regard them as having been rejected,
and shall act accordingly.  Should these terms be accepted, white
flags should be displayed along your lines to prevent such of my
troops as may not have been notified from  firing upon your
men."
Gen. Pemberton returned an immediate answer as
follows:
" I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of this day, and in reply to say that the terms proposed
by you are accepted."
On  receipt of Pemberton's first letter, while the
correspondence was still progressing, Gen. Grant sent
the following  orders  to  Sherman:  "There is little
doubt but that the enemy will surrender to-night or in
the morning.  Make your calculations to attack Johnston, and destroy the road north of Jackson."
To Generals Steele and Ord, similar orders were issued.  "I want," says Grant, "Johnston broken up as




THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.            163
effectually as possible.  You can  make your own
arrangements, and have all the troops of my command
except one corps."
Nothing can show  more clearly the  unremitting
energy of Gen. Grant's character than the issuing of
these orders that night.
At ten o'clock on the morning of the 4th of July,
regiment after regiment of the rebel army marched out
in front of their breastworks, and, in view of the Union
soldiers, laid down their arms and colors. It was not
until afternoon that - the army, preceded by Logan's
division, marched into the city. The Forty-fifth Illinois
raised the national ensign on the court-house; and, as it
spread itself to the breeze, thousands of the troops greeted it with the well-known song, beginning, 
"Yes, we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle-cry of freedom! "
Gen. Grant rode to Gen. Pemberton's headquarters,
where it might be supposed he was entitled, under the
circumstances, to the ordinary civilities of private life.
He alighted at the porch; but there was no one to receive him.  He made his way into the house, where he
found Pemberton and his staff: no one gave him a seat.
The day was exceedingly hot and dusty, and Gen. Grant
asked for a glass of water. He was curtly told he could
find it inside. He wandered about the premises, until
the negro, ever present where a service could be done to
a Union soldier, furnished the needed refreshment. Pemberton asked Gen. Grant to supply his famished soldiers
with rations; which Grant at once did. Gen. Pemberton
could be indebted to Gen. Grant's grace and favor for the




164          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
sword he wore, could ask from his captor the honors of
war for himself and his army, receive from his hands
the bread they were to eat; but he could not return to
him the ordinary civilities of society. By such means
do little men show their littleness.
Admiral Porter with his glass had seen the national
flag raised; and before night seventy steamers were
lying at the levees, and more were coming.  All was
activity: the long embargo was removed.  From a besieged garrison, Vicksburg had in appearance changed,
in a few hours, to a thriving inland city.
The surrender of the city was a surprise to many,
especially to the talking rebels. Some Union soldiers
strolled into the office of " The Citizen," the valiant
rebel newspaper. It had been printed on house-paper.
The forms of the paper for the second day of July were
still standing; and these words appeared: " The great
Ulysses- the Yankee generalissimo, surnamed Grant
- has expressed his intention of dining in Vicksburg on
Saturday next, and celebrating the 4th of July by a
grand dinner. Ulysses must get into the city before he
dines in it.  The way to cook a rabbit is' first to catch
the rabbit,'" &c.  This inflated bluster was quite in
keeping with the management of the Rebellion.  The
people of Vicksburg were starving, living in caves, exalting mule-soup and fricasseed kittens into luxuries;
yet their resources for boasting were inexhaustible, and
they printed their silly defiance on house-paper until the
hour of surrender.
Some of our soldiers, whose fingers were as skilful
with types as with rifles, added these words: " Two
days bring about great changes.  The banner of the




THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.                165
Union floats over Vicksburg. Gen. Grant has caught
the rabbit: he has dined in Vicksburg." *
Gen. Grant saw  Gen. McPherson in possession of
elegant headquarters in the city, but at night went back
to his tent in the canebrakes.
The tidings of the surrender were telegraphed to the
principal towns and cities of the North in the afternoon,
and, with the news of the battle at Gettysburg, illumined the closing hours of the great national holiday.
The results of the whole campaign were the defeat
of the enemy in five battles; the occupation of Jackson,
the capital of the State; a loss to the enemy of fifty-six
thousand prisoners, and at least ten thousand killed and
wounded. Arms and munitions of war for sixty thousand men, railroad-cars, locomotives, steamboats, were
destroyed in large numbers. Thirty-one thousand and
six hundred of the above prisoners were surrendered
with Vicksburg, a hundred and seventy-two cannon,
and thirty-five thousand rifles and muskets.
Grant had lost 943 killed, 7,095 wounded, 537 missing. Half the wounded in a few weeks recovered, and
were on duty.  He announced this great victory to the
government in the following  terms:  "The enemy
surrendered this morning. The only terms allowed is
their parole as prisoners of war. This I regard as a
great advantage to us at this moment. It saves, probably, several days in the capture, and leaves troops and
* When Moscow was occupied by the French, a monument was erected
in Coblentz with this inscription: "In honor of the memorable campaign
against the Russians in 1812." Two years after, Col. Mardeuke, the Russian commander at Coblentz, left the monument untouched, but caused the
following words to be cut under the inscription: " Seen and approved by
the Russian commander of Coblentz, 1814."




166          LIFE Or GENERAL GRANT.
transports ready for immediate service. Sherman, with
a large force, mgves immediately upon Johnston to
drive him from the State."
Gen. Grant had made the largest capture ever made
in war. The nearest approach to it was by Napoleon
at Ulm; but there only thirty thousand prisoners and
sixty guns were taken, and by a much larger army than
Grant's.
This was the heaviest blow the Rebellion had ever
received, and was one from which it never recovered.
The thirty-two thousand prisoners, who had been well
treated by Gen. Grant after taking possession of Vicksburg, and had mingled freely with our soldiers, scattered
through the South to spread the news of the great disaster and predict the future of the "lost cause."  An
entire army had been taken out of the Rebellion. The
great river was opened: the Confederacy was rent in
twain.




CHAPTER XVI.
PORT  HUDSON  TAKEN.
ENERALS  Sherman and McPherson were recominended for appointment as brigadier-generals
in the regular army in these noble words:" The first reason for this is their great fitness for any command
that it may ever become necessary to intrust to them. Second,
their great purity of character, and disinterestedness in every thing
except the faithful performance of their duty, and the success of
every one engaged in the great battle for the preservation of the
Union. Third, they have honorably won this distinction upon
many well-fought battle-fields. The promotion of such men as
Sherman and McPherson always adds strength to our army."
President Lincoln addressed the following letter to
Gen. Grant, so characteristic for its candor and honesty.  It was dated July 13, 1863, at the Executive
Mansion.
DEAR GENERAL, - I do not remember that you and I ever met
personally. I write now as a grateful acknowledgment for the
almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to
say further, when you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I
thought you should do what you finally did, -march the troops
across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go
below; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that
you knew better than I, that the Yazoo-pass expedition and the
167




168           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
like could succeed. When you got better, and took Port Gibson,
Great Gulf, and the vicinity, I thought you should go down the
river, and join Gen? Banks; and when you turned northward, east
of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make
a personal acknowledgment that you was right, and I was wrong.
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
It was about this time that an ardent temperance
man, in speaking of Gen. Grant's successes to President Lincoln, repeated some of the stories in regard to
Gen. Grant's habits; adding, -
" It's a pity he is such a drunkard."
Mr. Lincoln, who  had never countenanced  these
attacks, asked, 
" Do you know what kind of liquor he drinks?"
" No, sir," was the answer; "and I don't know that
that is essential."
" The  reason  I asked," said  Mr. Lincoln with a
twinkle in his eye, but without moving a muscle of his
face, "was, that, if I knew, I should like to send some
of the same liquor to some of our other generals." *
President Lincoln was a rigid temperance man himself.  He refused to furnish or allow others to offer wine
at his house to the committee who went to Springfield
to inform him of his nomination for President. His
visitor saw  that  Mr. Lincoln  wished  to  show  the
absurdity of thinking  that a man  could  possibly do
what Grant had accomplished in that campaign while
debauched and enfeebled by intemperance.
* Some one was lamenting to old George II. that the war-office had
placed confidence in such a red-haired, daring, hot-brained young officer as
Gen. Wolfe, and sent him to Quebec; adding, " Wolfe is mad, your Majesty." -" Is he?" said the king. "I wish he would bite some of my other
generals."




PORT HUDSON TAKEN.                 169
Port Hudson, which had been invested for some
weeks by Gen. Banks and his army,' surrendered on
the 9th of July; and the Mississippi, as Mr. Lincoln
expressed it, " rolled unvexed to the sea."
On the evening of the 4th, Ord and Steele had
moved out of camp; and on the 6th Sherman was able
to cross the Big Black River with not less than fifty
thousand men.  "I want you," said Grant, " to drive
Johnston from the Mississippi Central Railroad, destroy
the bridges as far north as Grenada with your cavalry,
and do the enemy all the harm possible."
They were to march through places not easily forgotten.  "They came," said Grant, "by Black-river
Bridge, Edward's Station, and Champion's Hill.  That
is the route they now go."  To Sherman he says again,
" I have no suggestion or orders to give. I want you
to drive Johnston out in your own way, and inflict on
the enemy all the punishment you can.  I will support
you to the last man that can be spared."
Johnston fell back toward Jackson, where, on the
9th, Sherman found him.  The works here had been
strengthened, and extended toward Pearl River, both
above and below the city.  Johnston was anxious that
Sherman should attack him, and telegraphed to Jefferson Davis, "If the enemy will not attack, we must, or
at the last moment withdraw."  For similar reasons,
Sherman would not attack.  He sent out cavalry for
sixty or seventy miles in every direction, destroying
every thing that could aid the rebel army, and bringing
the war home to the people who were sustaining it.*
* It was during one of these raids that our cavalry overhauled the
library and correspondence of Jefferson Davis, finding a gold-headed cane




170            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
On the 12th, Sherman's heavy guns commanded every
part of the city, and more were being placed in position.
Johnston saw the inevitable result; and on the night of
the 5th he quietly moved his army out across Pearl
River, and Jackson was once more in the hands of our
forces.
Sherman decided that enough would not be gained
by  pursuit to  warrant him  in  following Johnston a
hundred miles across the country at that season of the
year, in that climate; and he completed the work of
destruction around Jackson. He rendered it impracticable for Johnston to return and annoy Grant; issued
flour and pork to the starving families at Jackson and
Clinton, who had been stripped by the demands of two
armies; and returned to Vicksburg.
On the 11th of July, Gen. Grant wrote to the War
Department, in regard to colored troops, as follows: " I
am anxious to get as many of these negro regiments
as possible, and to  have  them  full, and  completely
equipped.... I am  particularly desirous of organizing a regiment of heavy artillerists from the negroes
to garrison this place, and shall do so as soon as possible."
On the 24th of July, " The negro troops are easier
to preserve discipline among than our white troops,
sent to him by Ex-President Franklin Pierce, and various letters from
Northern men, encouraging the Rebellion; among them the letter of Pierce
in which he says, " And if, through the madness of Northern abolitionists,
that dire calamity must come, the fighting will not be along Mason and
Dixon's line merely. It will be within our own borders, in our own streets,
between the two classes of citizens to whom I have referred. Those who
defy law, and scout constitutional obligations, will, if we ever reach the
arbitrament of arms, find occupation enough at home."




PORT HUDSON TAKEN.                171
and I doubt not will prove equally good for garrisonduty.  All that hlave been tried have fought bravely."
After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued,
orders were sent fiom  Richmond to the rebel armies
to "give no quarter " to black troops and their officers.
It was held by the South that the black soldiers were
runaway slaves, and the officers found with them were
thieves; and neither were entitled to the treatment of
prisoners of war.  In  Grant's  department and at
Milliken's Bend occurred one of the first instances in
which the  rebels sought to carry out this theory.
Grant, as we have seen, had never been technically
an "abolitionist;" but he recognized the events which
the war revealed.  He had long determined that war
should support war.  He had  organized camps for
fugitives, protected them from abuse, received and
acted on the information which they often brought him,
and supported the policy of Mr. Lincoln on the question of "contrabands" as fast as it was pronounced.
He did not anticipate the President and Congress in
making a policy for them, but obeyed orders from time
to time as they were issued.
But his private opinions were none the less clear,
statesman-like, and decided.  As early as Aug. 30,
1862, and before the Emancipation Proclamation was
issued, he wrote to the Hon. E. B. Washburne of
Illinois as follows:
" Tbh people of ze N2<rth need not quarrel over the institution
of slavery.  What Vice-President Stevens acknowledges the
corner-stone of the Confederacy is already knocked out. Slavery
is already dead, and cannot be resurrected. It would take a
standing army to maintain slavery in the South, if we were to




172           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
make peace to-day, guaranteeing to the South all their former
constitutional privileges.  I never was an abolitionist, not even
what could be called antislavery; but I try to judge fairly and
honestly; and it became patent to my mind, early in the Rebellion,
that the North and South could never live at peace with each
other except as one nation, and that without slavery. As anxious
as I am to see peace established, I would not, therefore, be willing to see any settlement until this question is forever settled."
In nothing was the arrogance of the slave-power
more clearly seen than in their reasoning  upon the
relations of slaves to the war. They said, " Slaves are
property: black soldiers shall be treated as fugitives,
and their officers as having stolen them." But it is a
universally acknowledged law of war, that the property
of the enemy can be used or destroyed.  Horses, mules,
cotton, hay, grain, cattle, could be seized, because they
are " property."  But slaves are property,   a species
of property vital to the support of the Rebellion, - and
should therefore be used by the government.  But
here the slaveholders instantly pleaded their rights under
the Constitution which they were seeking to destroy.
When the Union was assailed, the Constitution, in the
eyes of slaveholders, was only a " compact," a piece of
paper of no binding effect; but, when slavery was
assailed, the Constitution loomed up at once as " the
great charter of our liberties," "a sacred bond," "a
solemn covenant," to be obeyed though the heavens
fell.
Slaves could be made to work at the point of the
bayonet, by thousands, on rebel fortifications; and this
was " constitutional;" but for the government to allow
slaves in the armies of the Union was "unconstitutional," said rebels and their Northern apologists.




PORT HUDSON TAKEN.                     173
In an attack on Milliken's Bend  during the Vicksburg  campaign, it was rumored  that several negro
soldiers who had  been  captured  were  hung  by the
rebels.  Gen. Grant addressed Gen. Richard Taylor
on the subject in the following style: "I feel no inclination to retaliate for offences of irresponsible persons;
but if it is the policy  of any general intrusted with
the command of troops to show no quarter, or to punish
with death prisoners taken in battle, I will accept the
issue.  It may be that you propose a different line of
policy towards black troops, and officers commanding
them, to that practised towards white troops: if so, I
can assure you that these colored troops are regularly
mustered  into the service of the United States.  The
government, and all officers under the government, are
bound to give the same protection to these troops that
they do to any other troops."
Gen. Grant also issued the following orders for the
care  and  protection  of the freedmen  in his department: -
" At all military posts in States within this department where
slavery has been abolished by the proclamation of the President
of the United States, camps will be established for such freed
people of color as are out of employment.
" Commanders of posts or districts will detail suitable officers
from the army as superintendents of such camps.
" It will be the duty of such superintendents to see that suitable rations are drawn from  the subsistence department for such
people as are confided to their care.
"All such persons supported by the government will be employed in every practicable way, so as to avoid as far as possible
their becoming a burden upon the government. They may be
hired to planters or other citizens, on proper assurance that negroes so hired will not be run off beyond the military jurisdiction




174            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
of the United States. They may be employed upon any public
works, in gathering crops from abandoned plantations, and generally in any manner local commanders may deem for the best interests of the government, in compliance with the law and the policy
of the Administration.
" It will be the duty of the provost-marshal at every military
post to see that every negro within the jurisdiction of the military authority is employed by some white person, or is sent to the
camps provided for freed people.
" Citizens may make contracts with freed persons of color for
their labor, giving wages per month in money; or employ families
of them  by the year on plantations, &c., feeding, clothing, and
supporting the infirm  as well as the able-bodied, and giving a
portion, not less than one-twentieth, of the commercial part of
their crops in payment for such service.
" Where negroes are employed under this authority, the parties
employing will register with the provost-marshal their names,
occupation, and  residence, and the number of negroes so
employed; they will enter into such bonds as the provost-marshal, with the approval of the local commander, may require for
the kind treatment and proper care of those employed, and as
security against their being carried beyond the employ6's jurisdiction. Nothing of this order is to be construed to embarrass the
employment of such colored persons as may be required by the
government."
" By order of Major-Gen. U. S. GRANT."
It was at Milliken's Bend and Port Hudson that the
bravery of the black soldiers first answered the question, "Will the negroes fight? "   Gen. Banks, in his
report, said, " The position occupied by these troops
was one of importance, and called for the utmost steadiness and bravery in those to whom it was confided. It
gives me pleasure to report that they answered every
expectation:  in  many  respects, their conduct was
heroic. No troops could be more determined or more




PORT HUDSON TAKEN.                  17 
daring.   They  made during the day three charges
upon the batteries of the enemy, suffering very heavy
losses, and holding their position at nightfall with the
other troops on the right of our line."
The following lines by Mr. Boker were published
about this time: 
"Hundreds on hundreds fell:
But they are resting well;
Scourges and shackles strong
Never shall do them wrong.
Oh  to the living few,
Soldiers, be just and true;
Hail them as comrades tried;
Fight with them side by side:
Never, in field or tent,
Scorn the black regiment."




CHAPTER XVII.
THEORIES OF TRADE.  ENGLAND'S NEUTRALITY.
G     RANT now understood perfectly the character of
the war, and urged a vigorous use of all the recognized means of weakening tlie enemy.  Until the
battle at Pittsburg Landing, he believed the difficulties
could be settled by negotiations between the sections;
but, after he became satisfied of his mistake, he went
for war with all its terrible realities.
"Feed your armies on the country which makes the
war;" "Destroy every thing useful to the enemy;"
"Seize every thing useful to your own forces."  Have
no measures of half war and half peace.  If you blockade the rebel ports, and shut the South out from trade,
shut them  out wholly.  Draw the cord so tight, that
all commerce with them shall be strangled.  Let there
be no half trade and half non-intercourse.  It was in
this spirit that Gen. Grant thus wrote to Washington
in answer to suggestions for partial trading: " No matter
what the restrictions thrown around trade, if any whatever is allowed, it will be made the means of supplying
the enemy with all they want.  Revstrictions, if lived
up to, make trade unprofitable; and hence none but
dishonest men go into it.  I will venture that no honest
man has made money in West Tennessee in the last
176




THEORIES OF TRADE.                  177
year; whilst many  fortunes have been  made there
during that time.  The people in the Mississippi Valley
are now nearly subjugated.  Keep trade out but a few
months, and I doubt not but that the work of subjugation will be so complete, that trade can be opened fieely
with the States of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi."
He concluded, "No theory of my own will ever stand
in the way of my executing in good faith any order I
may receive from  those in authority over me: but my
position has given me an opportunity of seeing what
could not be known by persons away from tle scene of
war; and I venture, therefore, great caution in opening
trade with rebels."
Gen. Halleck perceived fully the vast importance of
the results achieved, and generously wrote to Grant, 
"Your narration of the campaign, like the operations themselves, is brief, soldierly, and in every respect creditable and satisfactory. In boldness of plan, rapidity of execution, and brilliancy
of routes, these operations will compare most favorably with those
of Napoleon about Ulm. You and your army have well deserved
the gratitude of your country; and it will be the boast of your
children that their fathers were of the heroic army which re-opened
the Mississippi River."
The rank of major-general in the regular army was
conferred upon Gen. Grant; and the country everywhere rejoiced in the success of his armies.
On the 26th of July he writes, "I am  very much
opposed to any trade whatever until the Rebellion in
this part of the country is entirely crushed out."
On the 13th of August, "My opinion is, that all
trade with any enemy with whom we are at war is calculated to weaken us indirectly. I am opposed to sell12




178          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
ing or buying from them whilst war exists, except those
within our lines."
Still later he says, "If trade is opened under any
general rule, all sorts of dishonest men will engage in
it; taking any oath or obligation necessary to secure the
privilege. Smuggling will at once commence, as it did
at Memphis, Helena, and every other place where trade
has been allowed within the disloyal States; and the
armed enemy will be enabled to procure from Northern
markets every article they require."
Yet, at the same time, application was made to Gen.
Grant for medicines by the rebel sick at Raymond, and
subsistence for some families who were in extreme suffering; and he ordered supplies forwarded at once.
He acted in the spirit of a father, and wrote, "It
should be our policy now to make as favorable an impression upon the people of this State as possible.
Impress upon the men the importance of going through
the State in an orderly manner, refraining from taking
any thing not absolutely necessary for their subsistence
while travelling.  They should try to create as favorable
an impression as possible upon the people; and advise
them, if it will do any good, to make efforts to have law
and order established within the Union."
There could be no wiser policy than this. A movement was soon after made by citizens near Pearl River
to bring Mississippi back into the Union; but it was
premature.
Grant now advised that Mobile should be taken, the
expedition starting from Lake Pontchartrain. If this
advice had been followed, and an attack been made at
once, there is little doubt that Mobile would have fallen,




ENGLAND'S NEUTRALITY.             179
and the war have been shortened by a year.  But this
was not done.  The President himself wrote to Grant,
"I see by a despatch of yours that you incline strongly
towards an expedition against Mobile.  This would
appear tempting to me also, were it not, that, in view
of recent events in Mexico, I am  greatly impressed
with the importance of re-establishing the national authority in Western Texas.
The truth was, that the government at this time was
greatly embarrassed by the movements of England and
France in Mexico, and desired to strengthen itself on
the border-line between Mexico and Texas.  It was
impossible to foretell what the hostility of the English
Government might prompt them to do.
The policy of England had fastened slavery upon us
as colonies, and her people had waxed rich upon the
profits of the slave-trade.  Within fifty years, a million
and a half of its inhabitants were stolen from the coast of
Africa by English ships, a quarter of a million of whom
died from the horrors of the voyage; and their floating
corpses showed the track of the vessels.
Their orators and writers never failed to denounce
the crime of American slavery; yet, when slavery made
war upon the Republic, they hastened to bestow belligerent rights upon the slaveholders before the American
minister could present himself at her court.
In all the varieties of argument, ridicule, and persuasion, the war for the Union was denounced in its causes,
its objects, and the methods of its pursuit, by the statesmen, the press, and the writers of England.
Her people carried on a civil war for nearly a hundred years, until massacre and devastation had well



180          L]Fn OF GENERAL GRANT.
nigh destroyed the land, on the question, whether, if the
king died without a child, he should be followed by his
brother, or the son of his brother.
Yet a nation three tlousand miles distant from their
shores, carrying on a war for four years to maintain its
national life, and uplhold human liberty, was execrated
as exhibiting'the " bloodiest picture in the book of time."
Englishmen dethroned seven of their kings, and beheaded another; drove into exile the house of Stuart;
and imported aliens from  Germany, ignorant of their
language andl their laws, to play for them  the part of
royalty; and sneered at Americans because they had
" no personal representative of loyalty."
For years, the scaffolds of England were red with the
blood of the noblest martyrs to liberty in Church and
State; and yet they sermonized to Americans on " toleration in political differences."
England built ships for the rebel navy, forged their
guns, crowded their decks with sailors, furnished them
with supplies, welcomed and protected them  in their
ports, rejoiced in the destruction of our unarmed merchantmen, sorrowed at rebel defeats, mourned over the
sinking of " The Alabama " as if it were a national
disaster, and boasted to us of their " strict neutrality."
In India, England seized upon that vast country and
its wealth; and, when its rapacity and oppression for
long years had goaded its people to resistance, they blew
the rebel Sepoys in pieces from the mouths of their cannon, and preached to Americans of " magnanimity to
rebels."
In Ireland, England has robbed and plundered the
inhabitants for five hundred years, and driven them like




ENGLAND'S NEUTRALITY.                181
exiles beyond the seas, and discourses to Americans of
" moderation in politics." *
During the campaign, furloughs had been granted
only in  extreme cases and for short periods.  Now
Grant ordered furloughs to be issued for thirty days to
five per cent of the non-commissioned officers and privates, except those who had shirked duty, or straggled
on the march or fiom  camps.  All sick soldiers were
also sent home.  Gen. Grant had a special hatred of
jobbing, speculating, or making money out of the
war, but particularly out of the necessities of the soldiers.  As a practical illustration of the effect of " trade
following the flag," and his care of the soldiers, the following fact may be mentioned: As soon as the river
was opened, steamers came to Vicksburg to convey furloughed troops up the river at extortionate charges,
domanclls  t^_et -y-~   ai14 t lirity dollars fPr a paaaago
from Vicksburg to Cairo.
One steamer had its decks crowded with soldiers.
Grant asked a man standing on the wheel-house, and
giving orders loudly, " Are you the captain of this
boat? "
"Yes, general."
"How many soldiers have you on board?"
"About twelve hundred and fifty."
"What have you charged for fare to Cairo?"
"From ten to twenty-five dollars each, general."
"Ten to twenty-five dollars each! Is that all? Why,
* No State paper issued during the war presented the conduct of the English Government toward America with more clearness, force, and eloquence,
than the eulogy on President Lincoln by Hon. Charles Sumner, whose pen,
as Johnson said of Goldsmith's, touches nothing it does not adorn.




182          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
that is too moderate! It is a pity you should have to
take the boys for so small a sum. You had better wait
a while." Speaking to the officer on guard, he walked
away.  The steam whistled, the bell rung, the wheels
began to move slowly; but, for some reason, she was
not cast off.  The men could not understand it, until, in
a few moments, an order came for the guard to keep the
steamer until the captain paid back all over seven dollars taken for fare from each officer, and all over five
dollars from each soldier; and the order was obeyed.
The men knew they had been victimized, but felt
helpless.  When they learned what the general had
done, they gave " three cheers for Grant " with a will.
Grant said to one of his staff, " I'll teach these steamboat-men that the boys who have opened the river for
them are not to be plundered of their hard earnings on
their first trip home.  If' trade is to follow the flag' so
soon, it shall be honest trade, so far as I can control it."
It was necessary for Grant soon after to visit Memphis. Before leaving, the officers who had been witnesses of the incessant care and anxiety which Grant
had given to the campaign desired to offer some testimonial of their personal appreciation of his services to
the country and to the army.  They presented him with
a splendid sword; the handle representing a young
giant crushing the Rebellion, elaborately designed; the
scabbard of solid silver; the whole appropriately inscribed, and enclosed in an elegant rosewood box bound
with ivory and lined with satin.
Gen. Grant arrived at Memphis on the 25th of August, and was at once waited on by a committee of the
citizens, and invited to a public reception and dinner.




ENGLAND'S NEUTRALITY.                  183
Though disliking all display, Grant did not feel at liberty to decline such a manifestation of loyalty on the part
of the citizens, and accepted.  He addressed  to the
committee the following admirable letter: —
I received a copy of the resolutions passed by the loyal citizens
of Memphis at the meeting held at the rooms of the Chamber of
Commerce, Aug. 25, 1863, tendering me a public reception. In
accepting this proposal, which I do at a great sacrifice of my personal feelings, I simply desire to pay a tribute to the first public
exhibition in Memphis of loyalty to the government, which I represent in the Department of Tennessee. I should dislike to refuse,
for considerations of personal convenience, to acknowledge everywhere, or in any form, the existence of sentiments which I have so
long and ardently desired to see manifested in this department.
The stability of this government and the unity of this nation depend
solely on the cordial support and the earnest loyalty of the people.
While, therefore, I thank you sincerely for the kind expressions
you have used towards myself, I am profoundly gratified at this
public recognition, in the city of Memphis, of the power and authority of the government of the United States. I thank you, too,
in the name of the noble army which I have the honor to command.
It is composed of men whose loyalty is proved by their deeds of
heroism and their willing sacrifices of life and health. They will
rejoice with me that the miserable adherents of the Rebellion,
whom their bayonets have driven from this fair field, are being
replaced by men who acknowledge human liberty as the only true
foundation of human government.
May your efforts to restore your city to the cause of the Union
be as successful as have been theirs to reclaim it from the despotic
rule of the leaders of the Rebellion!
I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your very obedient servant,
U. S. GRANT, lMajor-General.
At the  dinner, when the toast in  honor of Gen.
Grant was given, he declined to make a speech; and
Surgeon Hewitt of his staff said, "I am instructed by




184          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Gen. Grant to say, that, as he has never been given to
public speaking, you will have to excuse him on this
occasion; and, as I am  the only member of his staff
present, I therefore feel it to be my duty to thank you
for this manifestation of your good will, as also for th11
numerous other kindnesses of which he has been the
recipient ever since his arrival among you.  Gen.
Grant believes, that, in all he has done, he has no more
than accomplished a duty, and one, too, for which no
particular honor is due.  But the world, as you do, will
accord otherwise."
Gen. Grant could fight; he could write: but he could
not make a speech.  " If you want a man to talk," said
the Greeks, " get an Athenian; if you want a man to
act, get a Spartan."
Gen. Grant went down to New Orleans to confer
with Gen. Banks in regard to affairs in Texas, stopping at Natchez, and inspecting this and other posts in
his department.
The following day, it was officially announced that
trade on the river, throughout its length, was free from
all restrictions.
A day or two after, Sept. 4, there was a grand review  of the troops.  An eye-witness thus describes
the departure of Gen. Grant from his hotel: " Gen.
Banks, accompanied by a numerous staff, was at the
St. Charles Hotel as early as eight o'clock; and at
nine o'clock both generals left for Carrollton, where the
review took place. The street was crowded to witness
the departure of these officers; all present being desirous of seeing Gen. Grant.  He was in undress uniform,
without sword, sash, or belt; coat unbuttoned; a low



ENGLAND'S NEUTRALITY.             1 5S
crowned black felt hat, without any mark upon it of
military rank; a pair of kid gloves; and a cigar in
his mouth.'"
It seems often to be an indispensable part of the honor done to a public man in giving him a reception to
provide him with an elegant horse which will do his best
to break his neck.  Washington, Lafayette, Jackson,
Kossuth, had narrow escapes in this way.  Virginians
said that Washington had such power of muscle, that,
with a good bit, he could jerk a horse back on his
haunches.  Kossuth had been so much annoyed by
vicious but good-looking horses, that he once ventured,
in arranging for a review, to ask of the committee " a
quiet horse."  This was instantly telegraphed over the
country by the papers opposed to him as proof that he
was a coward.
Gen. Grant's horse became excited on his return
from the review; ran against a car, and injured him so
much, that hl  had to be placed on a litter.  His breastbone was said to have been crushed, three ribs broken,
and he was confined to his bed for three weeks.  He
did not walk without crutches for two months. It was
feared at one time that he would never be able to take
the field again.
As soon as he was partially recovered, he moved up
the Mississippi on a steamer, stopping at different places
as the public service required. On the 16th of October,
he received at Cairo the following telegraphic despatch
from  Gen. Halleck: "You will immediately proceed
to the Gait House, Louisville, Ky., where you will
meet an officer of the War Department with your
orders and instructions. You will take with you your
staff, &c., for imnlldiate operations in the field."




186         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Grant immediately started for Louisville, but was
met at Indianapolis by Hon. Mr. Stanton, Secretary of
War, who accompanied him on his journey.
At the Gait House, the distinguished general attracted much notice. Among the stalwart Kentuckians was
one from  the "rural districts," who seemed to be disappointed that he was not a giant in size.
" Is that the great Gen. Grant?" said he to a
gentleman.' Yes, sir: that is Gen. Grant."
" Well! I thought he was a large man. He would
be considered a small chance of a fighter if he lived in
Kentucky."  The Kentuckian had not learned that
generals fight battles with their brains.




CHAPTER  XVIII.
BATTLE AT WAUHATCHIE.
G    EN. GRANT now found himself appointed to a
department newly created, reaching from  the
Alleghanies to the Mississippi, and called the "Department of the Mississippi."  It embraced the departments
before known as the Cumberland, the Ohio, and the
Tennessee.  It included  the States of Michican,
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Northern Alabama, and North-western Georgia.
It contained  two  hundred  thousand soldiers, and
stretched a thousand miles fiom  east to west.  In
uniting these departments under one commander, the
government was adopting the policy which Grant had
always recommended, of placing the military power of
the nation under one head, and not subdivided into
half a dozen armies, marching and fighting each on its
own plan. If half a dozen divisions, under half a dozen
different generals, were to meet on any one battle-field,
and all were to attack the enemy here and there, without plan, as the judgment of each prompted, it would
be thought absurd, and sure to end in disaster. But
the whole country was one battle-field: its armies were
only divisions of one grand army, and should be subjected to one brain, and wielded by one will.
187




188         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
The  command now  tendered  to Grant was the
largest ever given to any officer. It was worthy of
any man's ambition: it was equal to any man's abilities.
The national forces had met with a severe repulse at
Chickamauga, Sept. 23, and had fallen back to Chattanooga under circumstances which caused great depression.  Grant had  thought it not improbable that
Sherman might be called to  the command  of the
Army of the Cumberland; and he had written to
Sherman, "I have constantly had. the feeling that
I shall lose you from  this command entirely.  Of
course, I do not object to seeing your sphere of usefulness enlarged, and think it should have been enlarged
long ago, having an eye to the public good alone; but
it needs no assurance from  me, general, that taking a
more selfish view, while I would heartily approve such
a change, I would  deeply regTet it on  my own
account."
Sherman was at Memphis when he heard that Grant
had been ordered North; and at once wrote him,
" Accept the command of the great army of the
centre: don't hesitate. By your presence at Nashville,
youwill unite all discordant elements, and impress the
enemy in proportion.  All success and honor to you! "
There are noble things in human nature with all its
frailties.
The government feared that Chattanooga, which was
short of provisions, would be abandoned before Gen.
Grant could arrive there: and he was directed to
assume command at once by telegraphing to Rosecrans,
Thomas, and Burnside, which he did; the former
being in command at Chattanooga.  The country had




BATTLE AT WAUHATCHIE.             189
yet to be studied by him, the condition of the army to
be learned in detail. He gathered what he could from
maps and the full statements of Mr. Stanton.  But,
the moment his mind began to grasp the great facts,
it is curious to see how it leaped into the work; how
impatient he grew to stay results until he could arrive
in the midst of them. He was in the hotel at Louisville, Ky.  At half-past eleven o'clock at night, he
telegraphed eagerly to Gen. Thomas, " Hold Chattanooga at all hazards. I will be there as soon as possible."  how noble and how gratifying the reply which
was immediately flashed over the wires by Thomas, " I
will hold the town till we starve "!
Early the next morning, Oct. 20, Grant started by
steam, and reached Nashville at night.  But, during
the day, his mind had been incessantly revolving the
affairs of his unseen command; and he at once telegraphed to Burnside, who was at Knoxville, Tenn., in
command  of the Department of the Ohio, but in
circumstances creating great anxiety at Washington,
"Have you tools for fortifying?  Important points in
East Tennessee should be put in condition to be held by
the smallest number of men as soon as possible....
I will be in Stevenson to-morrow night, and Chattanooga the next night."
To Admiral Porter at Cairo he telegraphed, " Gen.
Sherman's advance was at Eastport on the 15th. The
sooner a gunboat can be got to him, the better. Boats
must now be on the way from  St. Louis with supplies
to go up the Tennessee for Shermnan."
To Thomas, whose great difficulty of obtaining supplies he fully appreciates, he telegraphs, " Should not




190         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
large working-parties be put upon the road between
Bridgeport and Chattanooga at once?"  Farther on
the road, at Bridgeport, he telegraphs to Nashville,
"Send to the front, as speedily as possible, vegetables
for the army.  Beans and hominy are especially required."
His restless energy was overflowing wherever on the
route he could find lightning to carry his commands.
Every hour, every moment, was precious. It was evidently the same man at work at the telegraph-wires,
who could not find time for three days and nights to
take off his clothes when starting from Bruinsburg on
his Vicksburg campaign; whose orders were everywhere, —in the hands of his staff, the ordnance-officers, commissaries, corps commanders, -and were everywhere obeyed. During the evening, both here and at
Louisville, a large crowd gathered at the hotel, and
called for a speech; but he declined.  He was making more effective speeches over the wires to his generals.  On his journey, he met for a few moments
Gen. Rosecrans, whom he had superseded. Rosecrans
was polite, and gave such information as the interview
permitted of the condition of the army. At Bridgeport, Grant and his staff mounted horses. The rain
poured in floods. They made their way as best they
could over roads torn up by the mountain-torrents, and
strewed with fragments of army-wagons, dead mules
and horses. Parts of the road were so bad, that Grant,
who was still lame and suffering from his injuries at
New Orleans, had to be carried by some of the soldiers
in their arms. But by steam-power, horse-power, and
man-power, he was constantly moving, without a mo



BATTLE AT WAUHATCHIE.             191
ment's rest, to the post of duty. Of such stuff, heroes
are made.
It was night when Gen. Grant, cold, weary, and
hungry, reached Chattanooga, and proceeded to Gen.
Thomas's tent.  He was at first scarcely recognized.
It reminds us of a scene on the retreat of the French
fi-om Russia.  " Who are you?" said Gen. Dumas to
an officer who suddenly entered his quarters, his beard
unshaved, his face black with gunpowder.
"Do you not know me?" was the answer. " I am
the rear-guard of the Grand Army, the last man to
leave Russia,- Marshal Ney."
Grant came at night, without the thunders of artillery,
and with only the members of his staff; but the army
was re-enforced that hour with a power that was soon
to overwhelm the enemy with irretrievable disaster.
Gen. Thomas, whose valor well-nigh saved the day
at Chickamauga, received his commander with the
courtesy of the gentleman and the nobleness of the
soldier. There had been rumors that Thomas himself would be appointed to the command. He assured
Grant he was glad the post had been given to "a successful man;" and he promised him at once the most
cordial support.
The next morning, Grant and Thomas rode out
together.
Chattanooga, the Indian name for " eagle's nest," is
situated at a bend of the Tennessee River, two hundred
and fifty miles by water below Knoxville, near the
corners of the States of Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. It is the junction of the Memphis and Charleston,
and Richmond and Nashville Railroads, connecting with




192          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
the chief towns of Georgia.  Three miles west of the
town is Lookout Mountain, twenty-two hundred feet
high, about a mile and a half across.  West of this is
Raccoon Mountain.  Lookout River flows in the valley
between them.  South and west of Chattanooga is
Missionary Ridge, about three miles distant, and four
hundred feet high.  It was so named because it was
the boundary beyond which the missionaries were not
allowed to pass by the Indians. The rebels, with their
batteries, held all of these heights, completely commanding the town and plain below.  It commanded the
passage south into the cotton States.
The Indians had determined that this valley and these
mountains should be the outposts beyond which the
white man should not carry the blessings of civilization
and Christianity. In a similar spirit, slavery now sougllt
at the same barriers to stay the great tide of freedom
and free labor which was sweeping on to the shores of
the Pacific. It was a position of vast natural strength
and of untold importance to the Southern Confederacy.
The national army, by the defeat at Chickamauga,
had been entirely shut in, with no means of feeding
itself except by carting supplies sixty miles over the
mountains from Nashville.
The whole army was on half-rations; three thousand
were in the hospitals; ten thousand horses and mules
had died around the town; there was only ammunition
for one battle.  The men were cheerless, feeble from
lack of food, and disheartened by recent defeat.
Gen. Bragg, holding the route by which re-enforcements must come, felt that famine and despair were
conquering the national army faster than he could by




BATTLE AT WAUHATCHIE.               193
pitched battles.  It was late in October.  The nights
were cold; and the soldiers were, many of them, without overcoats and blankets.
It was conceded  that affairs could continue thus but a
few days longer witlout the ruin of the army.  Grant
determined to open the valley route to Bridgeport. lie
ordered Gen. Hooker, whlo had been sent to the aid of
Rosecrans with the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps from
the Army of the Potomac, to cross the river at Bridgeport, and advance up Lookout Valley to lWa1ulatclle,
threatening an attack on Bragg's flank.  A force under
Gen. Palmer was also to cross the river opposite Chattanooga, and march down the north side of the river to
a point opposite Whitesides, to Hooker's support. Meantime, a force under Gen. W. F. Smith, of four thousand
men, was to seize by surprise the range of hills at the
north of Lookout Valley, which commanded a road
fiom  Kelley's Ferry to Bridgeport.  Thus supplies
could be received by steamers or by ordinary teams.
The vast importance of obtaining control of the road
from  this ferry to Bridgeport had been proposed, admitted, discussed, and contemplated: but it remained
for Grant to issue orders that the work be done; and
this he did on the first day he arrived, after examining
the ground.  At three o'clock in the morning, on the
27th, sixty pontoon-boats, each containing thirty men,
floated quietly out from  Chattanooga.   They were
under command of Brig.-Gen. Hazen.
They had nine miles to pass, in seven of which they
would be exposed to the fire of the rebel pickets. But
the night was very dark, the current swift, rendering
oars less necessary; and, by bugging the northern shore
13




194         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
of the river, they hoped to pass without discovery.
Secrecy and surprise were important to the success of
the undertaking; because, if the enemy had time to
concentrate, it would be almost impossible, from the
nature of the ground, for our men to attack successfully. The boats floated as silently down the river as
the boats of Wolfe glided down the St. Lawrence to the
Heights of Abraham. Not a man spoke, not a gunlock
clicked, not an oar was stirred; but every eye was
strained to the mountain-side in the distance. As the
men came nearer, the rebel camp-fires could be seen
blazing far up in the darkness; and now and then the
rebel pickets were heard singing, "Way down in
Dixie! "  They rounded the foot of the mountain,
touched the south side of the river at Brown's Ferry,
leaped ashore, surprised a rebel picket, rushed up the
steep, slippery ridge, three hundred feet high; and the
first point was gained.
Another portion of Smith's force had crossed at
Brown's Ferry, moved down the north bank of the
river; and by five o'clock the whole command were so
securely placed, that only a very large force could
drive them out.  The men who had crossed at Brown's
Ferry began constructing a bridge; and by ten o'clock
an excellent pontoon-bridge was in working-order, and
artillery were placed to command the roads around the
base of the mountain to the enemy's camps on the
other side.  Supplies could now be brought from
Bridgeport to Kelley's Ferry without trouble.
Hooker had crossed the Tennessee at Bridgeport,
accompanied by Gen. Howard and Brig.-Gen. Geary,
and marched along the line of the Nashville and Chat



BATTLE AT WAUHATCHIE.              195
tanooga Railroad to Wauhatchie,-a small station on
this road in Lookout Valley, about twelve miles from
Chattanooga. He drove the rebel pickets in, meeting
no serious opposition. He had with him  about seven
thousand men. At night, the advance with Howard
halted near Brown's Ferry.  Geary's smaller portion
of the force was at  Wauhatchie, some three miles
distant, to hold the road up the valley from  Kelley's
Ferry.  The rebels had seen the day's proceedings
from the heights, and under:stood their import, but were
not strong enough there to descend, and encounter the
whole force.  A  division of Longstreet's celebrated
corps was there; and it was determined that they
should attack Geary at one o'clock at night with superior numbers, trusting to the terrors of a night-assault,
in an unknown region, to destroy him.
But they were bravely met.  Howard hurried down
his nearest division to Geary's support; and the enemy
found, after a desperate fight of two or three hours,
that the Union troops had come to stay. In the darkness and confusion, some of the mules from the armywagons broke loose, and ran pell-mell toward  the
enemy, who at first thought it a charge of cavalry;
creating a panic, and increasing the confusion inseparable, to some extent, fiom a night-assault.
By four o'clock the enemy withdrew, leaving one
hundred and fifty-three dead.
The sun did not more surely lift the fogs from the
valleys around Chattanooga than did Grant's genius
lift the clouds of gloom from the national army. In
five days after his arrival, steamers, loaded with food,
clothing, blankets, shoes, were plying on the Tennessee




196         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
from  Bridgeport to Kelley's Ferry.  Horses, forage,
and ammunition were forwarded to Chlattanooga, full
rations were issued to tie half-starved troops, all was
changed; in a word, it was hope, courage, and wellfed soldiers, in place of starvation and despair. From
being, as Bragg expressed it, "at the mercy of the
rebel force," this despondent army were now becoming
the assailants.
When Rosecrans was removed, the rebels sneered at
the appointment of Grant to the command at Chattanooga, and said, " The Federals have taken away one
general" [Rosecrans], "and put two fools" [Grant
and Thomas] " in his place."  Some one at this time
showed the rebel paper containing this attempt at wit to
Mr. Lincoln. He was " reminded of the story " of the
Irishman, who, when buying a cooking-stove, being told,
" This one stove will save half your fuel," answered,
" Faith, then I'll take two stoves, and save the whole!
He said, " If one fool like Grant can win such victories, and accomplish what he has, I don't object to two;
for they will certainly wipe out the rest of this Rebellion."
At this time, "The Richmond Enquirer" thought
the movements at Chattanooga were not such as they
should be on the part of Gen. Bragg. It said, "' The
enemy were out-fought at Chickamauga; (thanks to
the army!) but the present position of affairs looks
as though we had been out-generaled at Chattanooga."
By no means an unwise conclusion. The people in the
mountains of East Tennessee, of Northern Georgia
and North  Carolina, with Northern Alabama, had
never imbibed the poison of treason. Like mountain



BATTLE AT WAUHATCHIE.                    197
eers the world  over, they loved freedom, and were
inured to hardy toil.  Their mountain-fastnesses were
not fit homes for slaves.  It has not been the sterile
mountain-passes clad with snow and ice, but the warm
and fertile plains covered with waving and golden harvests, and flowing with oil and wine, which in all ages
have invited and yielded to the arms of invasion.
The  sufferings of the  noble  Union  men in these
regions, especially in Tennessee, had deeply moved the
hearts of the  North.  They  had  been  thrown  into
filthy prisons; they had been hung and shot; tied to
logs, and whipped to death; their houses plundered,
and  burned  over their heads;  husbands murdered
before their wives and children; or, escaping this, they
had fled to caves to die by starvation, or be fed by the
hand  of charity.  These persecutions were continued
in every form  that the "barbarism  of slavery" could
devise to drive the people into support of the Rebellion,
and fill the rebel armies; but all without avail.
Gen. Grant determined that this style of warfare
should cease; and he issued orders, that, 
"For every act of violence to the person of an unarmed Union
citizen, a secessionist will be arrested, and held as hostage for the
delivery of the offender. For every dollar's worth of property
taken from such citizens, or destroyed by raiders, an assessment
will be made upon secessionists of the neighborhood, and collected
by the nearest military forces, under the supervision of the conmander thereof; and the amount thus collected paid over to the
sufferers. When such assessments cannot be collected in money,
property useful to the government may be taken at a fair valuation, and the amount paid in money by a disbursing officer of the
government, who will take  such property upon his returns.
Wealthy secession citizens will be assessed in money and pro



198           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
visions for the support of Union refugees who have been or may be
driven from their homes and into our lines by the acts of those
with whom secession citizens are in sympathy. All collections
and payments under this order will be made through the disbursing officers of the government, whose accounts must show all
money and property received under it, and how disposed of.
"By order of Major-Gen. U. S. GRANT."
Gen. Grant's orders were not mere paper-orders to
be read and forgotten, but were rigidly and strictly
enforced.
Gen. Burnside, with twenty-five thousand men, was
at Knoxville, short of rations and ammunition, and with
no means of obtaining any without great delays and
through long and circuitous routes.
His situation excited great anxiety at Washington,
and the authorities were constantly urging Grant to
" relieve Burnside;" but how to do so was the problem. Burnside himself was least concerned of all about
his safety.
On the 3d of November, Bragg determined to send
twenty thousand men under Longstreet to " drive Burnside out of East Tennessee, or, better, to capture or
destroy him."  He took with him  eighty guns.  They
did not start till the 13th.
Grant had foreseen a movement of this nature, and
had telegraphed his apprehensions to Burnside some
time before.
Grant ordered an attack to be made on Bragg's
positions at Missionary Ridge, as a diversion in favor of
Burnside, and to bring Longstreet back: but it was
ascertained by Gen. Thomas that he had no horses to
move his artillery; and the condition of his army was




BATTLE AT WAUHATCOIE.            199
not equal to so hazardous a movement; and he so
reported.
Burnside was so isolated, and the means of communication so slow, that many evils were dreaded in his
behalf, which a more rapid communication would have
shown to be groundless.
Sherman was on his way from  Memphis with the
Fifteenth Army Corps; but he was to march four hundred miles across the country. It is a long journey
from the Mississippi River to Chattanooga, when you
make the distance on foot, step by step. There is
nothing to be done, therefore, but for Burnside to hold
on and hold out till Sherman's force can re-enforce
Grant. But how hard for Grant to wait! Every day
seems a week.
Bragg has reduced his strength to attack Burnside.
If Grant could only now attack Bragg, he could defeat
him, and then follow and defeat Longstreet. The contemplation of all these facts and possibilities stirs him to
even unwonted activity in all directions. To Sherman
he telegraphed as early as Oct. 24, the day after he
arrived at Chattanooga, "Drop every thing east of
Bear Creek, and remove with your entire force towards
Stevenson  until you  receive further orders.  The
enemy are evidently moving a large force towards
Cleveland, and may break through our lines, and move
on Nashville; in which event, your troops are the only
forces at command that could beat them there.'
This was sent by a courier, who floated down the
river, to Tuscumbia; and from there was sent to Sherman at Iuka.
Gen. Grant watched his march almost every hour




200          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
after this until his arrival; studying his route, anticipating and providing for the wants of his men, step by
step.  On the 7th he telegraphs, " Gen. Sherman will
reach Fayetteville to-morrow without any thing to eat.
See the shipping commissary, and direct him to secure
transportation, and send one hundred thousand rations
to-morrow morning."
Sherman was marching, fighting, and toiling on
through the soft, glutinous roads, his teams often slumping in to their hubs; climbing mountains; fording
streams; straining every nerve to reach his chief.
Meantime Grant is building bridges, repairing railroads, refitting steamboats, and watching over four
armies, -three of his own, and one of the enemy. To
Thomas he sent word, " The steamer' Point of Rocks'
should by all means be got down to Brown's Ferry
before morning, even if a house has to be torn down to
get the necessary fuel."
To his adjutant-general at Nashville, in regard to
the forwarding of supplies, he telegraphs, " Make any
order necessary to secure the result in the promptest
manner."  To another he says, " Make contracts with
different bridge-builders, so as to get this work done in
the shortest possible time.  Extra bridges should also
be in readiness at all times to replace any that may be
destroyed.  Keep me advised of what you do in this
matter."
But day after day passes, and Grant suffers the most
intense anxiety to attack Bracgg before Longstreet returns.  Every hour, lie can see the lofty summit of Missionary Ridge, and his eagerness to advance is consuming in its fervor; every hour, Longstreet may return;




BATTLE AT WAUHATCHIE.             201
every hour he hopes for Sherman's corps. But four
hundred miles are just as long when in our impatience
we would annihilate distance as when we move reluctantly to some undesired goal.
But such desire leaves its mark.  "If I should die
to-day," wrote Nelson to the admiralty, "' Want of
fi'igates' would be found engraven on my heart."
As Sherman  approaches nearer to  Chattanooga,
Grant's solicitude increases. He is picking out tile
best roads, and would doubtless level all the hills and
fill up the valleys to make smooth travelling, and bring
in his army in fine condition.  On the 10th he writes,
" I learn that by the way of New Market and Maysville you will avoid the heavy mountains, and find
abundance of forage. If a part of your command is
now at Winchester, and a part back, that portion behind
had better be turned on the New-market route."
Tlhe preparations, which had been made on a gigantic
scale, were about completed, and the drama was soon to
open. The numbers to be engaged in the coming
battle, the transcendent interests involved, the natural
grandeur of the scene of the great contest, would forever render it one of the most memorable battles in the
annals of our country.




CHAPTER XIX.
PREPARATIONS AT CHATTANOOGA.
EN. GRANT'S department was truly an imperial domain. As we have seen, it included
ten States, covering nearly half a million square miles,
and comprised more than eleven millions of people. It
stretched from Lake Superior to Louisiana. and from
Pennsylvania to the Valley of the Mississippi. It is not
an exaggeration to say, that, during this time, there was
scarcely a corner of this vast region, which, directly or
indirectly, was not stirred by the preparations of the
campaign. The cattle on a thousand hills were moving
to feed the army; a million hands were at work to
clothe it, furnaces glowed by night and day.  The
railroads from Lake Erie to Natchez toiled hourly with
their enormous labor. The Mississippi, the Ohio, the
Tennessee, the Cumberland Rivers, were crowded with
fleets of steamers loaded with all the munitions of war;
and tens of thousands of soldiers, who were to decide
the contest, were winding in long lines over mountain
and plain, but all marching to thie field of glory or the
grave of honor.
And the man whose active brain and indomitable will
are organizing and directing this vast and complicated
202








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~~~~~~~F:~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~-~~c
~~~~~~Rf   N   un.sA    xSOAYRrO. —                              Pg 23




PREPARATIONS AT CHATTANOOGA.        203
machinery is apparently all unconscious of his power.
He looks sober; talks but little to any one. Not yet
recovered from his recent accident, he limps around
Chattanooga, smoking a brier-wood pipe, wearing a
blouse and slouched hat. He often rides off to study
the country, taking one or two of his staff with him;
but with no plumed troops, and flying pennons, and
gorgeous pageantry of war. But the inexorable will,
the fixed purpose to do or die, are all there.
Sherman arrived at Chattanooga on the morning of
the 15th in advance of his column, having reached
Bridgeport the night previous. Grant, Sherman, and
Thomas rode out on the high ground on the north
of the Tennessee, whence the tents of the enemy and
the whole theatre of operations were in full view,  " a
mighty amphitheatre, where the actors were nearly
ready to assume their parts, with distant mountains for
spectators; while  cloud-capped  hills, and  valleys
shrouded in mist that was lifted to display the movements of armies, formed the stage." *
It was indeed a vast natural colosseum.  Europe
does not offer so grand a battle-field from Gibraltar to
Moscow.  It resembled more those granite gates of
Greece of which fame has told us for two thousand
years, where Leonidas and the three hundred sons
of Sparta waited all night to offer up their lives with
the morning's sun.
Here Sherman was shown the eastern extremity of
Missionary Ridge, which he was to attack. He entered
at once with enthusiasm into all Grant's plans, and, the
* Badeau.




204          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
same night, returned to Bridgeport to hurry up his
troops; himself rowing a boat, in his impatience, down
from Kelley's Ferry.
It was thought that Sherman's force could be brought
up and put in position for battle by the 20th, and Grant
gave orders to attack on the 21st; but the condition of
the army after such a march, heavy rains, and the
terrible state of the roads, rendered it impossible to be
prepared before the 23d.
On the 20th, Gen. Bragg treated himself to the
following sublimely impudent epistle to Gen. Grant:
" General, as there may still be some non-combatants
in Chattanooga, I deem  it proper to notify you that
prudence would dictate their early withdrawal."  When
Grant read this, he was convinced that Bragg felt that
"prudence dictated his own early withdrawal."  His
suspicions were soon after confirmed by the statements
of a deserter.
It was Grant's purpose to give Bragg the impression
that Sherman's force was to be massed on his left; but
in reality they were to attack on his right.  As fast as
they arrived, therefore, they were advanced to Whitesides, where they were pushed behind the hills, out of
the enemy's sight, to our left; but the camp-fires were
kept burning, and every art used to induce the belief
that they were gathered where they first rested. They
were constantly marching from  Brown's Ferry, where
they were seen by the enemy, up the river back of the
hills, to a concealed camp. Once behind the hills, it
was impossible for the enemy to know whether they
had marched to Knoxville to relieve Burnside, or were
still held on the north of the river. From this place




PREPARATIONS AT CHATTANOOGA.          205
~ erman's force was to emerge, lay a pontoon-bridge
across the Tennessee, and attack Bragg's right.
At noon on the 23d, Gen. Granger with the Fourth
Corps advanced from our centre, held by Gen. Tlhomas,
to ascertain the enemy's strength at this point. Howard's corps was formed  in mass behind Granger,
Sheridan's division on the right, and Woods's on the
left.
It was a splendid day; and the different divisions
marched into position with the steadiness and precision
of a grand review, which the rebels at first supposed it
to be.  They looked at the evolutions from  the lofty
heights of Missionary Ridge, and said, in sneering allusion to Hooker's men who had come from the Potomac,
"Now we shall have a Potomac parade."  They considered the Army of the Potomac excellent at drilling,
but poor at fighting.
From  the national line to the rebel rifle-pits was
about a mile.  The highest point for observation was
Fort Wood, near our centre; and here Grant took his
position with Gen. Thomas.  The troops moved over
the ground in grand style, drove in the enemy's pickets, and captured the first line of rifle-pits and two hundred prisoners.  Our line now included a mound named' Orchard Knoll," which had been a redoubt of the
rebel outer line.  The troops began intrenching at
once. About five o'clock, the enemy opened a furious
discharge of shells, which was continued for some time
without producing great effect.  During the  night,
cannon were put in position, and our line greatly
strengthened.  The effect on the troops, of the afternoon's work, was inspiring.  They had fought under




206          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
the eye of the hero of Donelson and Champion's Hill
and Vicksburg for the first time; and here they were,
their flags a mile in advance of the old line.
They felt confident they should carry the summit
whenever the order came to advance.  The old
Army of the Cumberland was itself again.
They were no longer starving, defeated men, but
victorious soldiers. Grant had trusted them, took his
stand with them; and they were proud to show him
they were worthy of their leader. They no longer
thought of Chickamauga, except to avenge it.
North Chickamauga Creek enters the Tennessee
about five miles above the point on the river opposite,
and in front of the hills behind which Sherman lay
concealed. Here a hundred and sixteen pontoons were
hidden with which to float down a portion of Sherman's
men to land on the south side of the river, and commence the bridge on which Sherman's army was to
* cross. Seven hundred and fifty picked oarsmen were
marched around behind the curtain of hills with
Smith's brigade during the night of the 23d.  By
twelve o'clock at night, nearly three thousand five
hundred soldiers were passing  down the river so
silently, that even our own pickets on the north bank
of the river did not discover them.
Before daylight, they jumped ashore where Sherman's
bridge was to be thrown across, and captured the enemy's
astonished pickets before they fairly understood what had
happened. The pontoons were sent back to be filled again,
and returned. By daylight, Gen. Bragg found eight
thousand men, well protected, putting a bridge over the
river in front of his right, the northern end of Mission



PREPARATIONS AT CHATTANOOGA.         207
ary Ridge.  Opposite, another large force were at work
in a similar manner. Cannon on both sides opened
their fire; but the men worked as if nothing could stop
them. At the same time, boats were crossing the river,
which is here about fourteen hundred feet wide, each
carrying about forty soldiers, and landing them  on the
southern side of the Tennessee. It is evident to Bragg
that Sherman is to attack here. This was not expected;
but it is too late now to prevent it.
Howard with three regiments had marched up the
south bank of the river from Chattanooga; and now
both ends of the bridge are rapidly building, and the
intervening space is growing smaller and smaller. By
twelve o'clock, the bridge is nearly completed. Sherman is impatient, and advances on the northern side,
almost plank by plank, animating and directing the
men, who work incessantly: he wears a long Indiaiubber over-coat, and is talking and gesturing. The
space is narrowing. Howard has advanced from  the
other side, and introduced himself to Sherman across
the little gulf. The gap is filled; and Sherman jumps
across, and seizes Howard by the hand.
By one o'clock, men, horses, artillery, and cavalry
in large numbers, were over, and were formed in
three columns in echelon; the left under M. L. Smith,
the centre under J. E. Smith, and the right under
Ewing.
Sherman stands on a little mound, with his generals
around, trying to light a cigar in the rain, when he
quietly gives the order to advance.  Grant is with
Thomas in the centre, where the principal attack is to
be made; and Hooker is at Lookout Mountain, thirteen




208          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
miles fiom Sherman: but all are on the same battlefield, carrying out one plan.
Sherman fought his way steadily up; and by half-past
three he had secured the heights at the north end of
Missionary Ridge, called "Tunnel Hill."  The enemy
tried to drive him out with artillery; but he threw up
breastworks, dragged guns up the heights, and threw up
intrenchments.  Heavy mists from the river concealed
him from view, until during the night it grew cold, the
air cleared, and his camp-fires were seen stretching
around toward Thomas, and holding the coveted position.
Meanwhile, Hooker with fiery valor had assaulted
Lookout Mountain.  The mountain did not slope gradually from base to summit; but the first twenty-five or
thirty feet were abrupt palisades. There were but two
routes, - one a trail or footpath, the other a crooked
road on the east side of the mountain.  Iooker chose
the road. Half-way up, the rebels had a line of earthworks, and rifle-pits in front of these.
A portion of his force, under Geary, advanced up the
Valley of the Lookout, threw a bridge over Lookout
Creek, and swept around the north side of the mountain; while another column attacked from the south and
west side, pressing their way through the forests, and
climbing cliffs, as best they could.
The enemy had been so attentively studying bridgebuilding as practised by Gen. Geary, that the advance
of the column on the south-west was a surprise.
Our batteries and those of the rebels kept up a terrific
cannonade, and shrouded the whole hill in clouds of
smoke.  The enemy, taken in flank and rear, driven




PREPARATIONS AT CHATTANOOGA.          209
from their earthworks, kept up their fire from behind
rocks and trees, but everywhere gave way.  Prisoners
were taken in large squads, who were found to be men
who were paroled at Vicksburg, and had not been
exchanged, though they had been so told by their
officers.
By two o'clock, the clouds and darkness on the mountain caused a cessation of the battle to some extent.
To those below, the flashes of fire, the thunder of the
artillery, the rolling clouds of smoke, recalled the descriptions given of Mount Sinai of old, when "tlhe
smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace,
and the whole mount quaked greatly."   The loud
cheers of our troops, sounding to their comrades in
the valley to come from the skies, told that the height
was won.  By four o'clock, Hooker reported to Grant
his success.  At half-past five, Grant ordered Brig.Gen. Carlin of the Fourteenth Corps to cross Chattanooga Creek, and join Hooker on the left.
The rebels gradually withdrew  to concentrate on
Missionary Ridge; leaving twenty thousand rations, and
camp-equipages for three brigades.
At six o'clock, Grant telegraphed in modest terms to
Washington, "The figlt to-day progressed favorably.
Sherman carried the end of Missionary Ridgle; and his
riglht is now at the tunnel, and left at Chickamauga
Creek.  Troops from Lookout Valley carried the point
of the mountain, and now hold the eastern point and
slope high up. Hooker reports two thousand prisoners
taken, besides which a small number have fallen into
our hands from MIissionary Ridge."
Tile President replied, " Your despatches as to fight14




210          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
ing on Monday and Tuesday are here.  Well done!
Thanks to all.  Remember Burnside."
By midnight the bugles were mute, the soldiers were
sleeping, and the sentinels paced their weary round; but
there was no rest for their commander, who was busy
despatching his orders for the next day's battle.




CHAPTER XX.
BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE.
RANT was not a general who issued orders for a
battle of two or three days' continuance, and
then looked on to see it carried out, and was disconcerted and defeated if the programme was interfered
with. He fought the battle, and issued orders as the
battle developed.  He fought his battles by military
rules; but he applied the rules as the exigencies
changed on the field. No two battles are alike; and
his staff said it was not his habit to discuss the details
and muse over the evolutions of celebrated battles, and
speculate on what might have been if this had been so,
and that had been otherwise.
When the board was ready and the pieces placed, he
played to win, as his own position and that of the enemy
appeared to require. When the sun rose on the morning of the 25th, the whole scene was spread out like a
map. At the extreme right, on the lofty summit of
Lookout Mountain, the national flag was seen flying,
having been raised by the Eighth Kentucky Volunteers.
In front was Missionary Ridge, four hundred feet high,
seven miles long, where the rebel hosts, numbering
forty-five thousand men, were now united.  In the
centre, Bragg's headquarters were plainly seen; far off
211




212         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
on the left, Sherman's drums were heard on the crests
he had won the afternoon before.   Trees, houses,
fences, had all been removed; and the field was clear
for the day's great work.
Grant, with Thomas and some of his division generals, was on Orchard Knoll, the highest point of observation along the Union lines. Hooker had descended from
Lookout Mountain, crossed the valley, and was at the
south end of Missionary Ridge.
Grant's plan was to attack the enemy on both flanks
until he was compelled to weaken his centre to support
them; when the centre was to be broken, and the ridge
carried.
The eminence which Sherman had carried was not
continuous with the whole ridge; but ravines and
gorges intervened, and each was strongly fortified
and defended, — those behind rising above those in
front, and affording a chance for the rebel artillery to
play upon our advancing columns with great effect.
Sherman had been in his saddle since daylight. It was
now sunrise. The men were quiet: some of them were
writing little notes in their diaries, and replacing them
in their pockets, thinking, perhaps, they would, before
night, be read by other eyes than theirs.  The bugles
sound the advance; and Gen. Corse, Gen. Morgan L.
Smith, and Col. Smith, with their brigades, move on.
The Fortieth Illinois, and the Twentieth and Forty-sixth
Ohio, march down the slope, and up to within eilghty
yards of the rebel intrenchments.  The fighting is very
severe; hand to hand it is maintained, now advancing,
and now receding a little. The fire of the rebel artillery is murderous with grape and canister; the blood




BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE.           213
flows in torrents: our soldiers charged up to within
pistol-shot of the rebel works; but, in the main, each
party held its position.  But Sherman's attack threatens Bragg's rear, and must be repulsed, or all is lost.
He orders first one column and then another from his
centre to repel Sherman; but Sherman is not to be
driven off, if he cannot advance against great odds.
Still more troops move off to the left of Bragg.
Grant saw all this with eagle eye as he watched the
movements of the enemy.  Thomas's four divisions,
who were with him in the centre, had been impatiently
waiting all day for orders to "go in;" and now the
moment had come.
Sheridan (then fighting for the first time under
Grant's eye), Johnson, Baird, and Wood were ordered
to advance to the enemy's rifle-pits, clear them, then
re-form, and ascend the ridge.  It was about nine hundred yards to the rebel rifle-pits; and there was not
an inch of the ground that was not swept by the artillery from the ridge.
But the men moved steadily without firing a gun,
then dashed on at the double-quick; and the rifle-pits
were carried.  Some of the rebels threw  themselves
down and surrendered as the line approached; others
fled up the hill.  Sheridan said he " happened to be in
advance;" and, as he looked back at the twenty thousand gleaming bayonets, he was impressed by the sight
of their terrible power. The rebels could not resist
the effect on their imagination; and many surrendered
at once. A  thousand prisoners were captured, and
hurried to the rear.  Tile men could not now  be
halted to re-form  as had been agreed; but along the




214          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
whole line the loud shouts of triumph rang out, and
on they pressed up the hill crowned with cannon and
crowded with rifles.  The rebels loaded their guns with
canister and grape.  But our troops clung to the hill,
sometimes lying on their faces to let the storm drive
over them, and swarmed up the hill.  The flags constantly advancing, first one and then another, up they
went through that storm of death.
The whole ridge seems heaving with volcanic fires.
"From peak to peak, the rattling crags among,
Leaps the live thunder."
Baird, Wood, Granger, Johnson, are everywhere
active and cool. Color-bearers fall; but on go the flags.
The men press steadily tilougrh the sheet of flame.
Bullets are as thick as snow-flakes in a winter storm.
The rebels light fuses, and roll shells down the hill:
they hurl rocks even, and load their guns with handfuls
of cartridges in their hurry.  But nothing breaks the
line of blue-coats: they swarm up; the flags still ascend.
There is a long, loud cheer from thousands of victorious
men: the ridge is won.
For a few minutes, the bloody struggle continues
between the masses of infuriated troops.  Artillerists
are bayoneted at their guns, and the guns turned on the
retreating foe.  Whole regiments surrender: others
fling themselves down the mountain-side, followed by
clouds of rifle-bullets. The rebel centre is broken;
the wings are doubling up in confusion; the victory is
complete.  It had only been a march of fifty-five minutes; but in those minutes thousands of heroic men had
taken their last, long march to the realms of death.




BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE.             215
"On Fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread;
And Glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead."
Gen. Grant, who had been under fire all day, was
now recognized on the hill; and the men greeted-him
with loud cheers wherever he moved.
Bragg, powerless to resist, was retiring, probably in
the spirit of his note to Grant,-that " prudence required
non-combatants to leave."  He was astonished.  "It
was a position," he said, " which a line of skirmishers
ought to have maintained against any assault."
The German soldiers engaged fought with the steadiness and courage with which their race, battling for
fatherland, conquered Napoleon at Leipsic, and drove
his victorious legions beyond the banks of the Rhine.
Grant captured over six thousand prisoners, forty
pieces of artillery, and seven thousand stand of arms, -
the largest capture which had been made on any open
field during the war. Our loss in killed and wounded
was five thousand.
At seven o'clock in the evening, Gen. Grant sent the
following modest despatch to Washington, making no
mention of himself in any manner:Although the battle lasted from early dawn till dark this
evening, I believe I am not premature in announcing a complete
victory over Bragg. Lookout-mountain top, all the rifle-pits in
Chattanooga Valley, and Missionary Ridge entire, have been
carried, and are now held by us.
U. S. GRANT, Major-General.
Gen. Meigs, the  Quarter-Master-General of the
United-States army, who was at Chattanooga at this




216          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
time, and an eye-witness of the battle, wrote a full
account of these military operations to Gen. Halleck,
in which lie said, "Probably not so well-directed, so
well-ordered a battle has taken place during the war.
Kentucky and Tennessee are rescued; Georgia and
the South-east are threatened in the rear; and another
victory is added to the chapter of' unconditional-surrender Grant."'   The  victory was worthy of such
announcement.  Jefferson Davis was a very vain man;
and, when a great battle was about to be fought, he
would hurry to the scene of the contest, and interfere
with the plans of his generals. If a victory ensued, he
claimed it as the result of his advice; if a defeat, he
alleged it was because he could not remain and personally direct the carrying-out of his plans.
Only a few weeks before the great battle at Chattanooga, he stood on the lofty summit of Missionary
Ridge, and surveyed the field of the impending contest,
with Generals Bragg and Pemberton.
As he looked down on the Union camps in the
valley, he said exultingly, "The Federals are in just
the trap I set for them. The green fields of Tennessee
will soon be ours."
Gen. Pemberton, whose remembrance of Vicksburg
was still fresh, replied, " Mr. Davis, you are commander-in-chief, and, of course, will direct as you judge best.
I have been blamed for not attacking the enemy when
they were drawing around me at Vicksburg; but do
you order an attack on these troops now, and, my life
on it, not a single man will ever come back over
the valley, except as a prisoner."  But Davis predicted
only conquest.  The reader of sacred history will be




BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE.        217
reminded of another arch-rebel, who once ascended
" an exceeding high mountain," and promised dominion and power over broad regions he did not possess,
and never conquered. A high rock from which the
Confederate President addressed the troops has since
been called " The Devil's Pulpit."




CHAPTER XXI.
THE BATTLE OF RINGGOLD.
IT was not Gen. Grant's disposition to rest satisfied
with the first-fruits of victory; and Sheridan was
ordered to pursue the retreating enemy, which he did
with such vigor, that Bragg barely escaped capture
with his whole staff.
About a mile in the rear of the battle-field was a hill,
on which the rebels planted a formidable battery, and
endeavored to rally their broken columns; but Sheridan
and his men charged with the same bayonets and the
same impetuosity which had  carried  them  up the
heights of Missionary Ridge.
"It was now dark; and, just as the head of one of
these columns reached the summit of the hill, the moon
rose from behind, and a medallion view of the column
was disclosed as it crossed the disk of the moon and
attacked the enemy.  Outflanked on right and left,
the rebels fled, leaving the coveted artillery and trains.
Those who escaped capture were driven across Chickamauga Creek, where they burned the bridges almost
while they passed." *
Early the next morning, the army pushed on to
destroy the enemy, and to relieve Burnside at Knox* Badeau.
218




BATTLE OF RINGGOLD.              219
ville, - an object now of the first importance.  Sherman's force advanced toward Chickamauga, and Hooker
and Palmer moved toward Ringgold.  Gen. Grant was
at the front, directing the pursuing columns. At eleven
o'clock, our advance was at Chickamauga Depot. Here
was witnessed a scene such as is only found in war.
The station was in flames, and the vast stores of the
enemy had been fired.  Corn, bacon, gun-carriages,
cheeses, pork, flour, molasses, powder, sugar, broken
muskets, and pontoon-trains, - every thing used in an
army,    had been given up by the enemy, who had not
time to complete their destruction. Large and valuable
captures of stores were made by our forces. Among
them, one pontoon-train of fifteen boats, twenty armywagons, sixty thousand rations of corn, fifty thousand
of corn-meal, two sixty-four-pounder rifled siege-guns,
one thousand pounds of bacon, six forges, some ordnance-stores, artillery and small-arm ammunition. The
rebel loss by fire alone amounted to fifty thousand dollars' worth of property.
All day long, the pursuit was continued. " Tramp,
tramp, tramp, the boys were marching;" and everywhere were the evidences of a defeated and routed
army. Guns and ammunition thrown away, abandoned
ambulances, tents, wagons, caissons, strewed along the
road, told of the hurried flight. The rebel camps of the
previous night were passed, the bivouac-fires still blazing.
Just at night, a sharp engagement took place between
the rear-guard of the enemy and the advanced guard
of our forces, in which the enemy gave way, and our
army bivouacked for the night.
Ringgold, a small place of twenty-five  hundred




220         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
inhabitants,- the county-seat of Catoosa  County,
Ga., —was five miles distant.  It is situated at the
base of the White-oak-mountain ridge.  In the rear
of the town is a gap, or gorge, about a hundred yards
wide, with abrupt ridges on  both  sides rising five
hundred feet high, and half a mile or more in length.
Artillery planted on these ridges completely commanded
the pass, and, manned by even a few hundred men,
could hold an army of thousands.
The enemy seized upon the natural advantages of
this place, and determined to make here a desperate
stand. The forests which fringed the ridges were filled
with sharpshooters and four thousand of the enemy,
disposed in a manner to offer a most effective resistance.
Our guns were not yet up; but our men were flushed
with victory, and impatient of delay: and, soon after
eight o'clock, Gen. Hooker ordered an attack by Osterhaus, who led the advance, followed by Geary and
Craft.
The troops advanced with determined bravery; but
the enemy opened with musketry, and poured shot and
shell from  the ridges above them.  After a time, our
men were compelled to fall back. The enemy, surprised
and delighted with their success, followed with great
ardor. Several attempts were made to carry the position, but in vain. It was too strong to be carried without artillery; but the men were unwilling to be delayed
even for a few hours by an enemy so recently beaten,
and fought with reckless gallantry.  The Thirteenth
Illinois was specially distinguished for its bravery; and
the Seventh Ohio lost all its officers, coming out of
action under command of a lieutenant.




BATTLE OF RINGGOLD.               221
But our men were being slaughtered without gaining
adequate advantage; and it was decided to wait the
arrival of the artillery, which had not been able to cross
the west fork of the Chickamauga.
About twelve o'clock, a section of howitzers was
brought to bear on the enemy in the gap; artillery
were sent to the southern side of the river; and Grant
sent orders to Sherman to place a force on the east side
of the ridge, and turn his position.  But the artillery
had done the work.  The guns told with terrible effect.
Osterhaus and Geary again advanced; and, before one
o'clock, the rebels had taken up the line of retreat.
They were quickly followed, and three pieces of
artillery, and two  lundred and thirty prisoners, captured.  One hundred and thirty rebels were found
dead on the field. Our loss was sixty-five killed, and
three hundred and seventy-seven wounded.
The railroad at Ringgold was destroyed; mills and
military materials of various kinds; also a large tannery, which was not likely to escape Grant's eye.
Hooker followed the enemy toward Dalton, Ga., for
several miles, but only to find pictures of the unwritten
miseries of war, -  wounded and dying men, broken
wagons, caissons, and corpses, lining the roads where
the enemy marched.
The pursuit would have been continued, but for
Grant's solicitude, which never ceased, to relieve Burnside at Knoxville.
To Thomas he wrote, " Direct Granger to start at
once; marching as rapidly as possible, to the relief of
Burnside."
A despatch to Burnside was sent in duplicate; one




222          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
copy to be delivered to Gen. Burnside, the other to be
allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy.
Gen. Grant became impatient with all delays; and on
the 29th he placed the whole force moving on Knoxville, under command of the most energetic of his generals, Sherman.  He wrote to him, "Push as rapidly
as you can to the Hiswassee, and determine for yourself
what force to take with you from that point.  Granger
has his corps with him, from which you will select, in
conjunction with the forces now with you.  In plain
words, you will assume command of all the forces now
moving up the Tennessee."
In our next chapter, we shall see the results of this
march.




CHAPTER XXII.
THE SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE.
_K       NOXVILLE, formerly the capital of Tennessee,
is beautifully situated on the IIolston River, a
hundred and eighty-five miles east of Nashville.  It is
located on high ground, commanding a fine view of the
river and the blue mountains of Chilhowee, thirty miles
distant.
Gen. Burnside had thrown up a line of works around
the city, from the river on the left to the river on the
right.  He had about twelve thousand six hundred
men, and three or four thousand more loyal Tennesseeans.  Longstreet had with him about twenty-two thousand men of all arms. Beef, cattle, and hogs had been
driven into the city, and slaughtered and salted.  Useless animals were killed, rations were reduced; and the
works were put in the best possible condition.  Farmers,
and Union citizens from the country, volunteered to work
in the trenches, and did so bravely.  Negroes cheerfully
worked early and late, and many disloyal men were
compelled to aid in protecting the city from assault.
The farmers loaded flat-boats with grain and provisions
of all kinds, and sent them down the river, under cover
of the autumn fogs, at night.  Formidable ditches were
223




224          LTFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
made; abatis, and all the usual devices for withstanding
a siege, were constructed.
At the north-east corner of the works, on high ground
west of Knoxville, was an eminence named " Fort
Saunders."  A battery crowned the summit.  It was
protected by traverses; and every effort had been made
to render it impregnable to assault.  If carried, it permitted the destruction or capture of Knoxville.
Both Burnside and Longstreet, who was a very able
military man, knew that really the siege of Knoxville
was to be decided on the heights of Missionary Ridge.
If Knoxville could not be carried at once, he would find
himself between Burnside's intrenchments in front, and
Grant's victorious legions in his rear.
IIe determined to make one more fight for rebel
dominion in Tennessee, and ordered an assault on the
morning of the 29th of November.  Late in the night
of the 26th, the rebels advanced, and sunk rifle-pits
along the whole line to aid the assaulting columns. Four
brigades of picked regiments were chosen to make the
assault: they were compelled to advance over a piece
of ground two or three hundred yards wide.
Sunday morning the 29th, the artillery of the enemy
opened with a terrible cannonade upon the fort, which
our guns received in ominous silence. It was continued for half an hour.  Every gun on the fort was
loaded, every man at his post; but not a gun was fired.
At last, a solid column of rebels moved out on the open
space, and advanced to the assault at a double-quick.
Numbers fell over the wires which had been stretched
across the grouid. but tlie column pressed forward; and,
when near the ditch, the guns from the fort all opened,




SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE.               225
loaded with triple rounds of canister. The slaughter
was fearful beyond description. Forces were stationed
also on the flanks of the fort, which gave them a crossfire over the same masses.
The front ranks fell like grass before the scythe; but
the column pressed up, trampling over the bodies of
their dead and dying comrades.  Those who succeeded
in crossing the ditch found themselves at the foot of the
parapet, where hand-grenades were thrown over among
them.  Every head that appeared was instantly pierced
by a rifle-bullet, or beaten to pieces with the butts of
infantry muskets. It was a scene of carnage and blood
beyond the power of words to describe. Five hundred
were captured; and a thousand rebels lay dead in front
of the fort, who, an hour before, were glowing with
manly life,    each one of them  an American; each
one with some heart to love him, and sorrow for his loss;
but each one fighting in a war for slavery, and meeting at last a traitor's death.
The moans of the dying, the piteous cries of the
wounded, rose up to heaven on the still sabbath air.
As soon as it was evident that the foe had retired from
the assault, Gen. Burnside himself, with becoming humanity, offered a flag of truce, under which they could
bury their dead and care for the sufferings of the
wounded.
"Not wholly lost, O Father! is this evil world of ours:
Upward through its blood and ashes spring afresh the Eden
flowers:
From its smoking hell of battle, Love and Pity send their
prayer;
And still thy white-winged angels hover dimly in our air."
15




226          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Gen. Burnside had lost only thirteen men.  The
works were admirably constructed by the engineering
skill of Generals 0. E. Babcock and 0. M. Poe; and
the whole defence inspired by the spirit and valor of
Lieut. Samuel Benjamin, commander of the fort, who
was supported by the utmost coolness on the part of
detachments of three hundred men from the Seventyninth New-York and Second  Michigan Volunteers.
These men reserved their terrible fire until the enemy
were actually at the ditch, and then made every shot
a messenger of death.
Half an hour after Burnside tendered to Longstreet
the flag of truce, the latter received a message from
Jefferson Davis, announcing Bragg's defeat at Missionary Ridge, and ordering him to unite with the latter.
But Longstreet had more military skill than Davis, and
decided to aid Bragg by continuing the siege.  He
would thus call off Grant from the pursuit of Bragg;
or, if Grant followed Bragg without relieving Burnside,
he would, after a few days more, have starvation as his
powerful ally in the siege of Knoxville.
Longstreet now received the despatch from Grant to
Burnside written for his perusal, and put in the way of
the rebel scouts.  From  this, Longstreet learned of
Sherman's advance; that he was cut off from his supplies; and, if he would escape capture, he must hurry
toward Virginia.  He accordingly raised the siege, and,
on'the night of the 4th of December, began his
retreat.
The next morning, Sherman sent to Burnside as
follows: "I am here, and can bring twenty-five thousand men into Knoxville to-morrow: but, Longstreet




SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE.                   227
having retreated, I feel disposed to stop; for a stern
chase is a long one. But I will do all that is possible.
Without you specify that you want troops, I will let
mine rest to-morrow, and ride to see you."
The next morning, Sherman rode over to Knoxville,
and  held  an  interview  with  Gen. Burnside.  They
arranged for the pursuit of Longstreet, and that Sherman should return to Grant's support, lest Bragg should
venture to attack Grant with his now-reduced force.
On the 6th, Gen. Halleck, in a report to the Secretary of War, said, " Consideringo the strength of the
rebel position, and  the difficulty of storming his intrenchments, the battle of Chattanooga must be considered the most remarkable in history."
On the 10th of December, Gen. Grant issued the
following eloquent order to his victorious soldiers: —
" The general commanding takes the opportunity of returning
his sincere thanks and congratulations to the brave armies of the
Cumberland, the Ohio, and the Tennessee, and their comrades
from the Potomac, for the recent splendid and decisive successes
achieved over the enemy. In a short time, you have recovered
from him the control of the Tennessee River from Bridgeport to
Knoxville. You dislodged him from his great stronghold upon
Lookout Mountain; drove him from Chattanooga Valley; wrested
from his determined grasp the possession of Missionary Ridge;
repelled, with heavy loss to him, his repeated assaults upon
Knoxville; forced him to raise the siege there; driving him at all
points, utterly routed and discomfited, beyond the limits of the
State.
"By your noble heroism  and determined courage, you have
most effectually defeated the plans of the enemy for regaining
possession of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. You have
secured positions from which no rebellious power can drive or
dislodge you. For all this, the general commanding thanks you




228            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
collectively and individually. The loyal people of the United
States thank and bless you. Their hopes and prayers against this
unholy Rebellion are with you daily. Their faith in you will not
be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their prayers to
Almighty God will be answered. You will yet go to other fields
of strife; and, with the invincible bravery and unflinching loyalty
to justice and right which have characterized you in the past, you
will prove that no enemy can withstand you, and that no defences,
however formidable, can check your onward march."
The battle of Chattanooga will ever be regarded as
one of the most romantic and interesting in the annals
of war.




CHAPTER  XXIII.
RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN.
T HE campaign was indeed extraordinary. The war
in the South-west was substantially closed. The
opening of the Mississippi had severed the Confederacy,
and separated its armies from their great supplies of cattle in Texas; and they were now shut out from the rich
granaries of Tennessee and Kentucky. With the exception of Virginia, the Rebellion was dethroned when its
proud army was hurled from the summit of Missionary
Ridge. There was historic grace and fitness, therefore,
that, in the closing drama, the men of the Valley of the
Mississippi, of the North-west, and the descendants of
those who conquered at Bunker Hill and Saratoga,
should unite in achieving this transcendent victory.
Their blood, mingling there in a common libation, gave
hope that the Union would be immortal.
The national standard flying from the peak on Lookout
Mountain signalled Sherman's great march to the sea.
Upon the assembling of Congress on the 8th of December, on motion of Hon. Mr. Washburne, the thanks
of Congress, and a gold medal, were voted to Gen.
Grant. The medal was ordered to be "presented to
him in the name of the people of the United States of
America."
229




230          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
The Legislatures of Ohio, New York, and other States,
passed votes of thanks for his public services. Various
religious bodies of high character, among them the
Methodist Missionary Society of the Cincinnati Conference, elected him to honorary membership.
While these honors were being showered by his
grateful countrymen on Gen. Grant, he was busily
occupied in visiting the outposts of his army, preparing reports, and submitting plans to the government for
future operations.  He visited Nashville and Knoxville,
crossing the country by the Cumberland Gap on horseback, that he might see the country for himself, and
examine the routes for supplying his army. The snow
was deeper than had been known for thirty years; and
the party often waded through deep drifts, driving their
hal-frozen horses before them. He could have gone by a
shorter and easier route; but such was the temperament
of the man, that no route seemed to him long or difficult
which gave him the most valuable information in regard
to his army and his duties.
Wherever lie went, crowds thronged to greet him;
but everywhere he seemed unconscious of his great
achievements.  His manners were simple and natural.
Various efforts were made to induce him to make
speeches, but never with success.  At Lexington,
Gen. Leslie Coombs said to the crowd, " Gen. Grant
has told me in confidence that he never made a speech,
knows nothing about speech-making, and has no disposition to learn."
It was on his return from this tour, that Gen. Grant,
in one of his communications to the War Department,
foreshadowed the march of Sherman through the South.
He said, -




RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN.                 231
"I look upon the next line for me to secure to be that from
Chattanooga to AIobile; Montgomery and Atlanta being the im-.
pdrtant intermediate points. To do this, large supplies must be
secured on the Tennessee River, so as to be independent of the
railroad from here (Nashville) to the Tennessee for a considerable
length of time. Mobile would be a second base. The destruction
which Sherman will do to the roads around Meridian will be of
material importance to us in preventing the enemy from drawing
supplies from Mississippi, and in clearing that section of all large
bodies of rebel troops.... I do not look upon any points, except
Mobile in the south, and the Tennessee River in the north, as
presenting practicable  starting-points from  which to operate
against Atlanta and Montgomery."
On the 24th of January, Gen. Grant was informed
by telegraph that his oldest son, who had accompanied
him through his Vicksburg campaign, was lying dangerously sick at St. Louis; and he obtained leave to visit
him for a few days.
He arrived unheralded, unannounced; and the first
intimation the citizens of St. Louis had that the hero
of Vicksburg and Chattanooga was among them was
on  seeing  on  the hotel-register the name of "U. S.
Grant, Chattanooga."
Men show  their characters in small matters.  The
citizens would have been glad to escort him into the city
with a cavalcade, under waving flags, beneath smiling
balconies, and tlirough applauding thousands; but he
had given no opportunity for display.
He was at once invited to a public dinner.
The banquet was sumptuous and elegant in all respects. At the toast, " Our disinterested guest, Major~Gen. Grant," the band struck up, " Hail to the Chief."
Gen. Grant rose, and said, " Gentlemen, in response,
it will be impossible to do more than thank you."




232         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
During the evening, he was serenaded; and the
hotel was surrounded  by thousands anxious to see
him, and shouting, " Speech, speech! "  Gen. Grant
stepped out upon the balcony, and was welcomed by
the most flattering cheers.  He  instantly removed
his hat, bowed, and, amid  profound  silence, said,
" Gentlemen, I thank you for this honor. I cannot
make a speech; it is something I have never done,
and never intend to do: and I beg you will excuse me."
But the crowd were not so easily satisfied, and continued shouting loudly, " Speech, speech!'
Several gentlemen urged him to address the people;
but he declined. At last, one said, " General, tell them
you can fight for them, but cannot talk to them: do
tell them that."
But Grant could not glorify himself; and he immediately answered, "' Some one else must say that if it is
to be said."
But the multitude thinking he only needed urging,
and continuing their shouts, he leaned over the balcony,
and said deliberately, " Gentlemen, making speeches is
not my business. I never did it in my life, and never
will.  I thank you, however, for your attendance
here."
He then bowed and retired.
While in the city, he visited the university, and was
also invited to attend a meeting in aid of the Sanitary
Commission.  He took the occasion to express his
grateful appreciation of the great and beneficent work
done by the commission for the soldiers in an eloquent,
letter.




CHAPTER XXIV.
APPOINTED LIEUTENANT-GENERAL.
EN. GRANT had rendered a great service to the
country in the victories he had achieved. He had
captured ninety thousand prisoners, four hundred and
seventy-two cannon, and small-arms unnumbered. But
he had also done a great service in demonstrating what
could be done in a department embracing ten States,
by uniting its military power under one head. What the
will of one man had accomplished west of the Alleghanies, showed what unity of plan, and concentration of
action, could accomplish throughout the country. The
war was taxing the resources and patience of the people
as it continued year after year. A victory in one section was offset by a defeat in another.
While these views were generally entertained, Hon.
Mr. Washburne of Illinois introduced into Congress a
bill to revive the grade of Lieutenant-General. But two
men had ever held this position. In 1798, the country
was apprehensive of a war with France, then passing
through its great revolution; and President John Adams
appointed George Washington " Lieutenant-General of
the armies of the United States." In 1855, the office
was conferred by brevet upon Major-Gen. Winfield
Scott.
233




234            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
The bill was passed on the 26th of February, 1864.
On the 2d of March, President Lincoln nominated Gen.
Grant as Lieutenant-General, and he was confirmed the
following day by the Senate.  By the bill, he was " authorized, under the direction of the President, to command the armies of the United States."
Tlhe same day, he was ordered to Washington, and
started the next morning, March 4.
At this  time, Gen.  Sherman  was at  Memphis.
Grant's intention was to return, and accompany the
army through the heart of the rebel States on its march
to the sea.  Before leaving, Gen. Grant wrote the following  letter to  Gen. Sherman, honorable  alike to
the writer and to the friend to whom  it was addressed.
No biography of these distinguished men, and no history of our war, is complete without them.
DEAR SHERMAN, - The bill reviving the grade of LieutenantGeneral has become a law; and my name has been sent to the Senate
for the place. I now receive orders to report to Washington immediately in person; which indicates a confirmation, or a likelihood of
confirmation. I start in the morning to comply with the order:
Whilst I have been eminently successful in this war, in at least
gaining the confidence of the public, no one feels more than I how
much of this success is due to the energy, skill, and the harmonious
putting-forth of that energy and skill, of those whom it has been
my good fortune to have occupying subordinate positions under me.
There are many officers to whom these remarks are applicable
to a greater or less degree, proportionate to their ability as soldiers;
but what I want is to express my thanks to you and McPherson,
as the men to whom, above all others, I feel indebted for whatever
I have had of success.
How far your advice and assistance have been of help to me,
you know. How far your execution of whatever has been given
you to do entitles you to the reward I am receiving, you cannot
know as well as I.




APPOINTED LIEUTENANT-GENERAL.                235
I feel all the gratitude this letter would express, giving it the
most flattering construction.  The word you I use in the plural,
intending it for MIcPherson also. I would write to him, and will
some day; but, starting in the morning, I do not know that I shall
find time just now.             Your friend,
U. S. GRANT.
The following is Gen. Sherman's reply:DEAR GENERAL,  I have your more than kind and characteristic letter of the 4th instant. I will send a copy to Gen.
McPherson at once.
You do yourself injustice, and us too much honor, in assigning to us too large a share of the merits which have led to your
high advancement. I know you approve the friendship I have
fore, to manitest it on all proper occasions.
You are now Washington's legitimate successor, and occupy a
position of almost dangerous elevation; but if you can continue,
as heretofore, to be yourself, —simple, honest, and unpretending, - you will enjoy through life the respect and love of friends,
and the homage of millions of human beings, who will award you
a large share in securing to them and their descendants a government of law and stability.
I repeat, you do Gen. McPherson and myself too much honor.
At Belmont, you manifested your traits; neither of us being near.
At Donelson, also, you illustrated your whole character. I was
not near, and Gen. McPherson was in too subordinate a capacity
to influence you.
Until you had won Donelson, I confess I was almost cowed by
the terrible array of anarchical elements that presented themselves at every point; but that admitted a ray of light I have
followed since. I believe you are as brave, patriotic, and just as
the great prototype, Washington; as unselfish, kind-hearted, and
honest as a man should be: but the chief characteristic is the
simple faith in success you have always manifested, which I can
liken to nothing else than the faith a Christian has in the Saviour.
This faith gave you the victory at Shiloh and at Vicksburg.
Also, when you have completed your best preparations, you g6




236            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
into battle without hesitation, as at Chattanooga, - no doubts,
no reserves; and I tell you it was this which made us act with
confidence.
My only point of doubt was in your knowledge of grand strategy,
and of books of science and of history; but I confess, your common sense seems to have supplied all these.
Now, as to the future.  Don't stay in Washington. Come
West. Take to yourself the whole Mississippi Valley. Let us
make It dead sure; and I tell you the Atlantic slopes and Pacific
shores will follow its destiny as surety as the limbs of a tree live
or die with the main trunk. WVe have done much; but still much
remains.  Time and time's influence are with us. We could
almost afford to sit still, and let these influences work.
Here lies the seat of the coming empire; and from the West,
when our task is done, we will make short work of Charleston and
Richmond and the impoverished coast of the Atlantic.
Your sincere friend,
W. T. SHERMAN.
The appointment of Gen. Grant touched the heart
of the whole nation; and, although he travelled rapidly,
wherever the people heard of his coming they thronged
to the railway stations, and ratified and indorsed the action of the government by cordial greetings and tumultuous cheers.
On arriving at Washington, he went to Willard's Hotel, and soon after walked quietly into the dining-room
with his son, without escort or staff, wearing a blue coat
which had evidently seen service. He had been there
some time unnoticed, when he was recognized by a gentlemen who had seen him in New  Orleans.  He announced  that Lieut.-Gen. Grant was present; and the
whole company, ladies and gentlemen, at once rose to
their feet, and greeted him with welcoming applause.
The homage was spontaneous and hearty.




APPOINTED LIEUTENANT-GENERAI             237
In the evening, he attended the usual levee of the
President.  He walked into the reception-room  unannounced, but was immediately recognized and cordially
received by Mr. Lincoln.  The east' room  adjoining
was, as usual on such occasions, crowded with members
of Congress and their families, officers of the army and
navy, and distinguished strangers in Washington.
As soon as Gen. Grant entered, and his presence
became known, the enthusiasm was very great. The
company crowded around him; and he was finally compelled to mount a sofa, where he was saluted with
cheer upon cheer. But it was apparent that it was not
wholly pleasant to the general to be the object of such
marked attention.  He afterwards escorted Mrs. Lincoln through the rooms, and retired.  He remarked to
a friend before leaving, "This is the warmest campaign
I have had during the war.  I must get away from
Washington soon. I do not fancy this show-business."
At one o'clock the next day, Gen. Grant was formally received by the President in the  Executive
Chamber, and presented with his commission as Lieutenant-General. There were present all the members
of the cabinet, Gen. Halleck, one or two other gentlemen, and Gen. Grant's son.
President Lincoln rose from his chair, and said, 
" GENERAL GRANT, - The nation's approbation of what you
have already done, and its reliance on you for what remains to do,
in the existing great struggle, is now presented, with this commission constituting you Lieutenant-General of the Army of the United
States. With this high honor devolves on you a corresponding
responsibility. As the country here intrusts you, so, under God,
it will sustain you. I scarcely need add, that with what I here
speak for the nation goes my own hearty personal concurrence."




238            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Gen. Grant, receiving the commission, replied,"MR. PRESIDENT, - I accept this commission with gratitude
for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies
who have iought on so many fields for our common country, it
will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations.
I feel the full weight of the responsibility now devolving upon me.
I know, that, if it is properly met, it will be due to these armies,
and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both
nations and men."
Gen. Grant was then presented to the members of
the cabinet.  That evening he had a long consultation
with Gen. Halleck on  military affairs, and  the next
morning, in  company with  Gen. Meade, visited  the
Army of the Potomac.  It was evident to all, that the
new Lieutenant-General was not disposed to spend much
time over ceremonials at Washington.




CHAPTER XXV.
RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY. — THE ADVANOE.
T HE weeks of March and April were passed in reorganizing the army and preparing for the spring
campaign.  Gen. Halleck was made chief of staff, and
stationed at Washington. Gen. Sherman was put in
command of the West.  Gen. Meade remained in
immediate command of the Army of the Potomac,
with whom Gen. Grant established his headquarters in
the field.
The number of the army corps was reduced to three;
and Major-Generals Hancock, Warren, and Sedgwick
were in command.  The cavalry, with ten thousand
sabres, was under the command of Gen. Sheridan.
Gen. Banks was to open a campaign in Louisiana;
Gen. Sherman was to commence operations in Northern
Georgia; while Gen. Steele was to move against Sterling  Price  in Arkansas, and  Gen. Butler was to
threaten Richmond from Bermuda Hundred.  Thus
it will be perceived that Gen. Grant's combinations
covered a theatre of war whose magnitude has been
seldom  equalled.  But he addressed himself to the
vast undertaking with his wonted energy, calmness,
and perseverance.  "Success was a duty."
The topography of Virginia was remarkable.  The
239




240          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
whole State was little less than a vast fortress for the
rebels, manned by the most splendid of the Southern
armies, and commanded by the ablest of the rebel
generals.
Its bastions were mountains, its trenches were
valleys, its moats were rivers, its embrasures were
mountain-gorges. Its natural features offered in every
direction the most formidable obstacles to our advance,
and, at the same time, were easily defended.
Richmond was one hundred and seventeen miles
from Washington on the James River, and ordinarily
contained a population of sixty thousand. Beauregard
and the engineers of the rebel army had exhausted their
skill and resources upon its fortifications, until it had
become one of the strongest citadels in the world.
Culpeper Court House, ten miles north of the Rapidan
and seventy-five miles south of Washington, was the
headquarters of Gen. Grant.  Lee with his veterans
was at Orange Court House, ten miles south of the
Rapidan.  The two armies were twenty miles distant
from each other.
Grant now issued the death-warrant of the Rebellion
in giving orders for a general advance of the army.








---    t~~~~ —— iCROSSIG TII RAPIDN.-Pae 241




CHAPTER XXVI.
CAMPAIGN IN THE WILDERNESS.
O N the afternoon of the 3d of May, 1864, the tents
of the Union army were struck; and that night,
beneath the starlight, troops began crossing the Rapidan
at Germania and Ely's Fords.  The crossing was continued during the next day.  The force numbered a
hundred thousand men. The day was warm, the sun
was bright; and as column after column wound its way
down the river's bank, over the bridges, and spread out
in marching order on the opposite side, banners and
bayonets disappearing in the distance, the scene, both
as a picture and for its moral associations, was deeply
impressive.  Grant said, "This is a wonderfully-fine
appearing army; but it has seemed to me it never
fought its battles through."
They marched toward the Wilderness.  This is a
wild, desolate tract of country in Spottsylvania County,
about five miles wide, and twelve miles long. It is an
immense jungle.  The wood has been burned off for
miners: its surface is uneven, and covered with stumps,
bushes, and an undergrowth of pines and scrub-oaks.
Artillery and cavalry are at a great disadvantage in
such a labyrinth. Fires were seen blazing on the hilltops to signal our advance to Gen. Lee.
16                    241




242          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Unlike most generals in both armies, Lee did not
generally approve of fighting an army at a river's bank
to prevent its crossing, but preferred to allow it to cross
in almost all cases. Lee determined to attack Grant in
the Wilderness, where he and his men were perfectly
familiar, and, if possible, destroy his army in the opening
of the campaign.  He had seen six generals start for
Richmond; but he was now to meet the man who was
to go there.
Gen. Warren was with the advance, and had his
headquarters at the house of a Major Lacy, where
Stonewall Jackson lay after being shot at Chancellorsville.  It was on a little eminence west of the old Wilderness Tavern, on the Orange Turnpike; and here
Grant took his station.  Warren's corps was attacked
about noon on Thursday, May 5.  Beginning with
picket-firing and skirmishing, by twelve o'clock the
battle was fully opened.
Lee, with his hosts concealed in the forests, could
mass his troops, and hurl them  on any point of the
Union line which he chose to attack.  The enemy came
on, confident of victory, and fought with the most determined bravery.  Our men, largely outnumbered at
this point, slowly fell back, until early in the afternoon they were re-enforced, rallied, and drove the
enemy with terrible slaughter.  Hour after hour, the
bloody conflict raged.  The bodies of thousands were
borne to the rear in every form of mutilation.  Bright
eyes that welcomed the morning's sun with hope and
gladness were  closed forever.  Toward night, the
rebels had been repulsed so generally, that Grant ordered an advance along our whole line; but darkness




CAMPAIGN IN THE WILDERNESS.           243
settled down over the scene before the final arrangements were completed.  The hospitals were crowded,
and surgeons and attendants were at work all night.
Parties were engaged burying the dead; while, at headquarters, Grant and his generals were occupied in preparing for a renewal of the battle at daylight. "Attack
along the whole line at five in the morning ". was
Grant's order.
The enemy were also making similar preparations;
and, at a quarter before five o'clock in the morning of
Friday, a furious onset was made upon Gen. Sedgwick's
corps.
But Gen. Lee was now dealing with a man who was
not to be " bluffed " or disconcerted. Grant's preparations were neither hurried, delayed, nor changed by
Gen. Lee.  He began his movements at five o'clock
precisely as he had ordered.  The line of battle was
now some five miles in length, running north and south.
The attack on Sedgwick was a feint.  The real attack
was to be made on Hancock's corps, on our left, by
Longstreet and his veterans.  Hancock advanced on
both sides of the Orange Plank-road, the troops fighting with unsurpassed bravery.  The contest was desperate; for the rebels fought with reckless heroism: but
nothing could resist the valor of our soldiers; and they
steadily drove the enemy in confusion nearly two miles,
killing, wounding, and taking prisoners.  Some of the
terrified enemy fled even to the headquarters of Gen.
Lee.
But the victorious advance disordered our men; and
the movement through the woods had disarranged their
formation.




244          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
WThsn once the line is badly broken, soldiers begin
to feel as if each man is fighting by himself, or in a
crowd or mob: the sensation of being part of an army,
and that fifty thousand men are striking with him, is
lost.  Tie line was re-formed, and again advanced; but
the enemy were now greatly strengthened.  Gen. Lee,
to re-assure his soldiers and excite them to the utmost,
rode to the fiont of a brigade of Texans, where he was
instantly recognized, and, seizing a flag, ordered them to
follow him in a charge.  But the men, like the rank
and file of every army who have a brave commander,
loved their clief, and did not move. A bronzed veteran
in the ranks, with a clarion voice, shouted that they
would not stir till he had gone to his place in the rear:
the shout was re-echoed by the whole brigade, until he
was forced to retire.
But the rebel line was now so strong, that it was
impossible to break it.  A few hours after, the enemy
themselves attacked, and flung their columns upon our
lines with such terrific power, now here and now there,
that our line was pressed back some distance. Gen.
Wadsworth of New  York, seeking to stem  the tide,
was shot through the head.
Again our troops rallied, and amid fearful carnage
forced the enemy back with heavy loss, and took up
their former position.
Night again closed over the bloody field.  Neither
party had won a decided triumph. Some of the soldiers
thought the army would retreat the next day across
the Rapidan, and call for re-enforcements; but Grant
had come out to fight, and took no step backward.
He was at headquarters, quiet and determined, issuing




CAMPAIGN IN THE WILDERNESS.          245
his orders. Ile claimed no victory, smoked constantly,
and remarked, "I have noticed that these Southerners
fight desperately at first; yet, when we hang on for a
day or two, we whip them aufully."
Thousands more had been wounded, and thousands
slain.  The dead were to be buried.
In narrating the history of battles, it is impossible not
to mention prominently the names of leading generals;
but it can never be done without deep emotion at
thought of the private soldiers, the unnamed heroes,
who went down unheralded to death, each of them
with a life precious to him and to those who loved him.
Sorrow was flying that night to thousands of afflicted
homes, which its shadow would darken for years; and
these brave men were to find their graves, not beneath
sculptured marble, not among kindred where flowers
would bloom over their dust, but in this dreary region
of darkness and gloom.
But the spirit of the private soldiers of the Union
armies inspired the war, and achieved its victories.  A
regenerated nation is their mausoleum.  Wherever
they lie, whether in the solitude of the wilderness, in
the lonely mountain-pass, or beneath  the beautiful
magnolia's blossoms, the place of their last repose will
be hallowed till the end of time.
Saturday morning came; but it was apparent that
the unparalleled exertions of the previous days had told
upon the powers of the men in both armies.  There
was skirmishing: some guns on our right opened; but
there was no reply.  Each was willing to be attacked,
but disinclined to attack.  Gen. Grant did not assault,
because he had not intended to fight in the Wilderness:




246          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
he was merely passing through it. It was Gen. Lee
who had required that it should be made a battle-field;
and it was Gen. Lee who was now leaving it.  At
noon, it was found he was in full retreat to Spottsylvania Court House.  Pursuit was immediately begun,
which soon changed into a race, as both parties desired
to secure the high ground around Spottsylvania Court
House, fifteen miles distant. Gen. Grant rode forward
to the advance; and, as he passed with his staff by the
side of the troops, he was greeted by the soldiers with
the wildest enthusiasm.
But the enemy had the start, and were in position
when our forces arrived on Sunday morning.
Part of the day was occupied in examining the
position which the enemy held, putting the divisions
of the army in proper place as they arrived, and
locating batteries.  On Monday, while directing some
of his artillery-men, Gen. Sedgwick  noticed  them
watching with a little uneasiness the bullets of the
sharpshooters, and said in a joking way, " Oh! they
couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."  He had
hardly uttered  the words, when a Minie-ball tore
through his brain, and he fell dead into the arms of
one of his aides, - another costly sacrifice in the cause
of the Union.  A brave man, and a splendid officer, he
gave his life freely to his country in the day of its
peril.
During Monday and Tuesday, the tide of battle
surged like the ocean,- now advancing, now receding.
Tlhe scenes were similar to those frequently described
in preceding pages. Assaults on the enemy's intrenchments were made with unsurpassed heroism, and met




CAMPAIGN IN THE WILDERNESS.             247
by the most stubborn courage.  The battle raged with
unabated firy.  Tile roar of artillery, the sharp rattle of musketry, the shrieking of bursting shells, were
mingled with the groans of the wounded. The dying and
dead covered the field by thousands. During the afternoon of Tuesday, a dash was made from  our left by
Gen. Wright's division, capturing nine hundred prisoners and several guns.
Later in the afternoon, Gen. Lee massed his troops
in front of our centre, with the intention of hurling
them with overwhelming strength upon that part of our
line. To disguise his purpose, he sent two brigades to
attack our right: but Grant had too recently employed
the same tactics against Bragg at Chattanooga to be
deceived by Lee; and, by a singular coincidence, he was
at the same time strengthening his own centre, preparatory to attacking Lee. Both generals had determined
to assault each other on the same plan at the same time.
The result was a desperate attempt on either side to
break the line of the other.
On Wednesday, the battle was renewed; and Gen.
Grant sent to Washington his well-known despatch:"We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting.
The result to this time is much in our favor. Our losses have
been heavy as well as those of the enemy. I think the loss of the
enemy must be greater. We have taken over five thousand prisoners by battle, whilst he has taken from us but few except stragglers. I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer."
Grant determined to attack the enemy's right centre;
and during the night, under cover of a fog, a portion of
the troops under Hancock, Barlow, and Gibbon, were
advanced to within twelve hundred yards of the position
they were to storm.




248           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
At half-past four o'clock, Thursday morning, they advanced at the double-quick, and, with cheers which
echoed to the skies, rushed over the enemy's works, and
engaged in  a hand-to-hand  fight with bayonets and
clubbed muskets with the astonished foe.  The fight
was short, but sharp, and ended in the capture of thirty
guns, twenty colors, and over three thousand prisoners,
among them Generals Johnson and Stewart.  Lee himself also narrowly escaped capture, although this was not
known at the time.
The position won by our men was hotly contested
throughout the day. Lee seemed determined to retake it
at any sacrifice of the life of his men. Five times the most
savage assaults were made by the rebels, and five times
they were repulsed with fearful slaughter. At times, the
rival flags would be seen for a few moments on opposite
sides of the same breastworks.  The fighting was as
fierce and  deadly  as any  that occurred  during  the
whole war.  The carnage on both sides was frightful.*
During the day, an incident occurred showing Gen.
Grant's coolness, and readiness to apply the results of
his military training.  A  shell fell near where Gen.
Grant and some of his officers were standing; and, while
the latter were stepping out of the way, Grant drew a
small compass from his pocket, examined the course of
the shell" ascertained the Iea.tiw  tof thef  h.tteri,&d 
at once gave orders for a few of our guns to reply in a
* "In the vicious phraseology commonly employed by those who undertake to describe military operations, and especially by those who never witnessed a battle-field,' piles of dead' figure much more frequently than they
exist in reality. The phrase is here no figure of speech, as can be attested
by thousands who witnessed the ghastly scene." — Campaigns of the Army
of the Potomac.




CAMPAIGN IN THE WILDERNESS.           249
direction which soon rained a shower of shells upon the
annoying rebel battery.
Brig.-Gen. Rice  of Michigan was among  those
mortally  wounded.   "Turn  me,"  said he  a few
moments before he expired, -" turn me, that I may die
with my face to the enemy!"  After his wish had been
complied with, he said, "Tell my wife and children I
died for my country."-" How does the great Captain
of salvation appear to you now?" said the chaplain.
" Oh! Jesus is near and very dear," said the dying
man, and soon after ceased to breathe.  And thus
another of the army of Christian heroes went up from
the ensanguined fields of our war for freedom.
Hour after hour, the bloody havoc went on, until
twenty thousand more precious lives were added to the
costly sacrifice which slavery demanded with insatiable
cruelty and voracity.
The army surgeons, the chaplains, the agents and
nurses of the Sanitary and  Christian Commissions,
followed the reaper Death as he gathered his harvests
of woe, binding up the wounds of the suffering, and
ministering consolation to the dying.
"In dust the vanquished and the victor lie:
With copious slaughter all the fields are red,
And heaped with growing mountains of the dead.
So fought each host, with thirst of glory fired;
And crowds on crowds triumphantly expired."*
* Pope's Homer,




CHAPTER XXVII.
BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR.
A    N order was read to the army, announcing the
victorious march of Sherman, through Georgia,
to the sea. The cheers with which it was received
rang out above the din of battle, and were heard all
along the rebel lines.
May 9. Sheridan had been sent, with Merritt, Custer,
and a force of cavalry, on a raid to Richmond. At
Beaver Dam, on the Virginia Central Railroad, they
destroyed the station, ten miles of track, three trains
of cars, a million and a half of rations, and liberated
four hundred Union soldiers taken in the Wilderness,
and then on the way to Libby Prison. At Yellow
Tavern, a few miles north of Richmond, they had a
battle with the rebel cavalry under Gen. Stuart, who
was mortally wounded.  Sheridan now dashed down
the road to Richmond; and Custer carried the outer
defences, capturing one hundred prisoners. But Rich^AQ1 eo   AQtate    tk p b^  Ie <iz., e l jei, eda the
army on the 25th of Mav.
The army manoeuvred for several days with a view
to find a vulnerable point of attack in Lee's intrenchments, and finally, on the 20th, began a flank-march
to turn the enemy's position, and compel him to leave
250




BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR.             251
his intrenchments.  It is one of the most difficult
operations in war, and especially so in the presence of
an able tactician like Gen. Lee; yet it was executed
with complete success.  But at midnight the rebels,
under Longstreet, started south in the hope of interposing again between Gen. Grant and Richmond.
The two armies were again on a race, this time for
the banks of the North Anna River; but, as Lee
already held the shortest road, there was every chance
that he would make the quickest journey.
The march was through a portion of the State which
showed the great fertility of soil and the immense
natural resources of Virginia. The weather was perfect, and scattered along the route were the stately
mansions and broad acres of the Virginia gentlemen
of the olden time. The region had not been swept by
the tornado of war, and offered a beautiful picture of
the Old Dominion in the days when McDowell, and
T Pw22 3kzie'2222, eCd T. J. Ra:ridupfl, fAad denounced
slavery as " a curse," "a cancer," and predicted ruin
and desolation for their native State unless she entered
on a policy of emancipation.  Their prediction was
fulfilled.
On Monday, the 23d of May, the army had reached
the north bank of the North Anna; but the columns of the enemy were already on the opposite
side. On the 24th, our army crossed in full force;
but, after carefully examining the rebel intrenchments,
Gen. Grant became satisfied that they could not be
carried by storm without a loss of life which he would
not incur.
On the night of the 26th, with great skill, and un



252         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
known to the enemy, Gen. Grant again crossed the
river, and marched south toward the Pamunkey River
and the city of Richmond. Not a shot had been fired,
nor any sound made to disturb  the rebel pickets.
When daylight came, Gen. Lee discovered that the
Union army was already on its way to Richmond.
On the 27th, our army reached the Pamunkey at Hanovertown. Thus, with masterly ability, Grant had compelled Lee to leave his intrenchments.  He had placed
himself within fifteen miles of Richmond, and established a new and convenient base for supplies for his
army by the York River and Chesapeake Bay, and
opened communication with the columns of Gen. Butler on the James River.
He held command of the peninsula without having
exposed Washington, or allowing Lee to keep a quarter of
our army marching back and forth to protect that city.
The places in the vicinity were familiar to the old
Army of the Potomac who had served under Gen.
McClellan. The slimy swamps of the Chickahominy,
where so many thousands had been sacrificed; Fair
Oaks, from which Gen. Hooker had trotted down to
within four miles of Richmond unopposed, until ordered
back; Mechanicsville, which, after a victorious and
bloody repulse of Lee's army, had been suddenly evacuated by our perplexed and doubting commander;
Gaines's Mill, where one wing of the army had driven
back the rebel hosts, while sixty thousand Union soldiers stood idle near at hand because their general
could not decide whether to unite or divide his forces, -
these spots were all within a short distance, and the
thunder of our cannon could  be distinctly heard at
Richmond.




BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR.                        253
Gen. Grant had not yet taken Richmond; but he was
fighting the rebel army. He was appalled by no visions
of a rebel force two hundred thousand strong, which
demanded  daily  re-enforcements from  Washington  at
every halt; and he never, in a single instance, telegraphed  to   President Lincoln  as another had  done,
"If I save this army  now, I tell you  plainly  that I
owe no thanks to you or to any persons in Washington:
you have done your best to sacrifice this armny." 
Gen. Grant determined  to force a passage across the
Chickahominy.   But a direct assault on  the  enemy's
formidable works would lead to fearful loss of life; and
he therefore determined to extend  toward the left, and
cross the river below  at Cold  Harbor.   The place had
no harbor, but was a small inland town at the junction  of several roads, and of great importance  to the
enemy.  Lee had  been  re-enforced by the garrison at
Richmond, and was prepared to offer the most desperate
* A governor of one of the New-England States stated in the hearing of
the writer, that, soon after Pope's defeat at Bull Run, he, with a few others,
was conversing with President Lincoln concerning the prospects of the war,
and remarked that " the people of his State were willing to do every thing
possible to benefit the government: but they were not willing to bury their
sons and brothers in the swamps of the Chickahominy to no purpose."
One gentleman present intimated that Gen. McClellan could not be sincere
in his determination to conquer, and must be disloyal. Mr. Lincoln said,
"No: I have watched McClellan very carefully. I do not think he is disloyal; but he is constitutionally an over-cautious man. This and his indecision prevent all permanent success. For instance, the rebels lately, in
moving into Maryland, advanced rapidly. Gen. McClellan was urged to do
the same: but no; he insisted upon moving his whole army, day by day, in
complete battle-array, ready to resist attack at any moment. Nothing we
could say would induce him to value time and move with speed. He was
a week or more in going the distance the rebels travelled in two days.
Now, the result shows, if he had only saved half his time, he would have
destroyed Lee's army, and ended the war."




254          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
resistance to Gen. Grant's advance.  The rebel line
was about six miles in length; and orders were given
to attack the whole front at daylight on the morning of
June 1.  The assault was made by the Sixth Corps
and Gen. Smith's command, which had just arrived
from  Butler's army.   Gen. Burnside  attacked the
enemy's left. The first line of works was carried and
held.  The record of the day's fighting was like that
often given.  Our soldiers advanced to the muzzles of
the enemy's guns with a bravery and patriotism that
smiled at death in defence of their country; and they
were met by a courage as fearless as it was misplaced.
Fierce assaults were made upon each of our corps not
engaged in the principal attack; but, in every instance,
were repulsed.
Our loss in the battles at and around Cold Harbor
was numbered by thousands.
Among the killed was Brig.-Gen. Peter A. Porter
of New York.  His patriotism  had descended to him
from a distinguished father,- Gen. Porter of Niagara
Falls, who served with honor in the war of 1812.
When  the Rebellion  broke out, Gen. Porter left a
home of wealth afid taste, embellished with every
attraction which could be desired, and gave a noble
life to the cause of his country.  He was struck in
the neck, and fell, but rose to his knees, when he was
pierced by six bullets. His last words were, " Dress
up to your colors! "
" If there be, on this earthly sphere,
A boon, an offering, Heaven holds dear,'Tis the last libation Liberty draws
From the heart that bleeds and breaks in her cause."




BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR.            255
The whole. series of brilliant military operations by
which Gen. Grant had carried an army of a hundred
thousand men in forty-three days from the Rapidan to
the James, without the loss of a wagon, compelling
his able antagonist to race at his side for the safety of
the rebel capital, will never cease to be the study and
admiration of the military student.




CHAPTER XXVIII.
SIEGE OF PETERSBURG.
&  EN. GRANT now determined to adopt the other
alternative, which had from the first been in his
mind, and transfer his army by flank-marches to the
south side of the James River. This operation, in the
face of an enemy always alert and energetic, Napoleon
pronounced " the ablest manceuvre taught by military
art."  To conceal his purpose, strong demonstrations
were made at Meadow Bridge and two or three other
points, as if with a view of crossing the Chickahominy;
and Gen. Lee commenced strengthening these points by
defensive works. But on Sunday, the 12th of June,
the army of more than a hundred thousand men,
including cavalry, artillery, and infantry, began their
march; and so skilful had been the arrangements, that,
though within a short distance of an enemy in nearly
equal numbers and a vigilant commander, Gen. Lee
knew nothing of the movement, until, on the morning of
the 13th, he found that his adroit and active enemy was
far on the way to his rear.
The host pressed on night and day with untiring
energy.  Across rivers and mountains, through valleys and plains, the army moved, until, almost without halting, they were, in thirty-six hours, on the
256




SIEGE OF PETERSBURG.             257
south bank of the James, fifty-five miles from  Cold
Harbor.
This extraordinary movement, in the secrecy, quickness, and perfect success with which it was executed,
has excited the unqualified admiration of every historian
of the war, North and South.
Petersburg is twenty-two miles south of Richmond,
on the Appomattox; and is the centre of all the railroads connecting Richmond and the Southern States.
Gen. Butler had, on the 10th, sent a force of infantry
and cavalry to capture the place if possible, and to
destroy the railroads and bridges over the Appomattox.
The work was gallantly done, but with partial success.  The defences on the south side were carried,
and our men penetrated some distance into the town:
but the works were too strong to be carried by assault;
and Gen. Gilmore, in command of the expedition, retired.
Gen. Lee, astonished to find Gen. Grant fifty miles
south of him, had hurried his army with all haste to
the defence of Petersburg, rushing through Richmond
to the amazement of its citizens. They succeeded in
arriving a few hours before the assault on the 15th.
In this whole movement of Gen. Grant to the south
of Richmond, he evinced a moral courage and selfreliance scarcely surpassed by his determination to
move south of Vicksburg against the advice of all his
generals.  The Administration had no desire to interfere
witll his plans; but it was well known it was exceedingly anxious that the army should be kept between
Washington and Lee's army, and not beyond and south
of it.  The government was well aware of the supreme
importance which in Europe is attached to the cap17




258          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
ture of a nation's capital.  Vienna in possession of the
French army was Austria conquered.  Paris in the
hands of the allied sovereigns was France'subjugated.
The capture of Washington would lead to immediate
and most embarrassing complications in our foreign
relations.
But, confident in the right; Gen. Grant "took the
responsibility."  He had intended to take Petersburg
before Lee could arrive; and had ordered Gen. Butler
to send forward Gen. Smith's corps for this purpose as
soon as it arrived from the Chickahominy, which was
promptly done: but Smith, moving in the deliberate
style of the former campaigns of the Potomac Army,
lost several hours of time, which never returned; and,
when the advance was made, Lee and his veterans had
arrived in force.
During the week following, several assaults were
made with unparalleled heroism  by the troops under
Generals Meade, Burnside, Butler, Warren, Hancock,
and other commanders; but it was demonstrated that
the hosts of Lee, securely intrenched behind their formidable works, could resist fivefold  their numbers.
Petersburg was only to be taken by siege.
June 22, Gen. Wilson, with six thousand cavalry,
was sent to destroy the railroad communications south
of Petersburg.  He struck the Weldon Railroad at
Ream's Station, and destroyed sixty miles of track, with
depots, bridges, cars, locomotives, blacksmith-shops, and
mills. He brought in four hundred negroes, and large
numbers of horses and mules.
Tlhe army, which had now been fighting and marching, almost without intermission, for two months of




SIEGE OF PETERSBURG.             259
extreme heat, enjoyed some days of comparative rest:
still the Union lines were steadily closing around Petersburg, which was practically an outwork of Richmond.
Our lines now embraced a circuit of thirty miles.
The main body of our army was south of and in front
of Petersburg; while Gen. Foster was at Deep Bottom,
and Gen. Butler was at Bermuda Hundred.
The labors of Gen. Grant were  multiform  and
unceasing, - studying his plans, conferring with his
engineers, receiving reports, and issuing orders at headquarters, riding to the outposts, superintending the
works, speaking a cheering word to the pickets. Night
and day, he was unwearied and unwearying in his care
for his army and his watchfulness of the enemy;
always plainly dressed, often attended only by a single
orderly. The soldiers observed all these things, appreciated their general, and gave him their entire confidence.
Officers and men said, "Gen. Grant is so easy to approach! "  He always endeavored to set an example of
earnest work, of avoiding show, and laying aside all
official airs.
Sometimes the lessons which he gave in a quiet way
to pompous subordinates were very effective.   He
happened to be one day on the wharf at City Point,
plainly dressed, as usual, where a young second lieutenant, with very bright buttons and a very faultless blue
coat, was directing some colored men in rolling a
hogshead on board of a boat. It was so heavy, the men
could not move it at first; when the young officer
shouted gruffly, " Come, niggers, hurry up your work,
or get another man to help you! "
A man who stood near, with a faded blue coat on,




260         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
turned up his sleeves, joined the negroes in pushing the
hogshead on to the boat, then, without speaking a word
to any one, walked away. It was the Lieutenant-General of the United States, as the young officer soon
learned to his amazement.
It was probably of no consequence whether the boat
was loaded five minutes sooner or later; but it was of
great consequence to show sympathy with the humble
labor of the humblest man in carrying forward the
great campaign, and to rebuke snobbery and laziness
in high and low.
The soldiers saw, that with all his attention to the
great plans, the mighty machinery of the campaign, he
provided thoughtfully and with energy for the small comforts of his soldiers. The men expressed a determination
to work and fight, because " it is Grant's job, and we
are going to put it through for him."  Such conduct in
all armies always endears a commander to his soldiers.
" What is under my head?" said Sir Ralph Abercromby, when dying at the siege of Alexandria, in
Egypt.
" A blanket."   " Whose blanket? " -" It is only
one of the men's," was the answer.
" I want to know whose blanket it is." -" Duncan
Roy's of the Forty-second, Sir Ralph."
"Then see that Duncan Roy has his blanket tonight."  The next day an army wept, and a nation
mourned.
Gen. Grant inspired his soldiers by his bravery, won
their confidence by his skill, and their love by his
kindness.
On the 21st of June, President Lincoln visited Gen.
Grant.




SIEGE OF PETERSBURG.             261
For several weeks, the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania had
been at work on a mine opposite the corps of Gen.
Burnside, who had originally suggested the undertaking.
A gallery was dug out five hundred feet in length: at
its end were two side-galleries, each forty feet long,
directly under one of the rebel forts. In these sidegalleries, four tons of powder were placed. The whole
work was done with such entire secrecy, that no suspicion of its existence was created.
Some deserter or prisoner had published the fact in
a Richmond paper; but, after examination, it was disbelieved in the rebel army.
The morning of July 30 was fixed upon as the time
for the explosion.  The rebels were strolling about,
laughing, talking; some of them singing, "Maryland,
my Maryland! "-little thinking that they would soon
be numbered with the dead.
The mine was ready; the match was lighted; the
siege-guns were loaded, ready to open their heavy fire
to protect the storming column: but the mine did not
explode.  Lieut. J. Douty and Sergeant Reese of the
Forty-eighth Pennsylvania volunteered to enter the
gallery, and ascertain the cause of the delay. The fuse
was found to be damp. Another was lighted; and, a few
moments after, there was a low rumbling of the earth:
then came the terrible explosion.  The fort was lifted
two hundred feet into the air, and with it the torn
and mangled bodies of three hundred men of SouthCarolina regiments, cannon, rocks, camp-equipages,
broken gun-carriages, mingled in the clouds of smoke,
and sheets of fire, which soared up to the skies. At




262          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
the same instant, the guns of all our batteries opened
with a tlunder which was heard at a distance of several
miles.  The explosion showed a chasm  one hundred
and fifty feet long, sixty feet wide, and thirty feet deep.
It was one of the many instances in war where. time
is every tiling; where five minutes' delay will make all
the difference between an exultant victory which cheers,
or a mortifying defeat which saddens, a nation's heart.
The storming-party were in the middle of the chasm.
The enemy were paralyzed with terror and confusion:
another mine might explode in an instant under their
feet. Invisible danger is always the most appalling.
The very uncertainty magnified their fears.  It was
the moment to rush forward, while unopposed, to the
crest of Cemetery Hill, only four hundred yards distant, which commanded the whole rebel works.
" Seize, seize the hour
Ere it slips from you. Seldom comes the moment
In life which is sublime and weighty." *
But the advancing column halted, the divisions which
followed halted, for a few moments only; but it was too
late.  Confusion ensued; the rebels, recovered fiom
their fright, opened fire from their guns with terrible
effect.  They threw  up intrenchments, planted new
batteries.  Gen. Potter suceeeded in chargino toward
the crest; but the enemy now met him with a furious
storm of grape and canister, and he was compelled to
fall back.
Our loss in killed and captured was four thousand
men, that of the enemy one thousand.
There were military courts of inquiry, and long
* Schiller's Wallenstein.




SIEGE OF PETERSBURG.             263
investigations by Congressional committees, as to the
causes of the failure.  There were long and elaborate
reports to prove that the assault ought to have been a
success; but none of them  succeeded in recalling the
few moments lost in the outset, or altering the fact of
failure.  Men who are to make such an assault should
be the picked men of an army.
On the 4th of July, Gcn. Grant united in the honors
paid at Gettysburg to the fallen heroes who there died
that their country might live.
Gen. Lee, wishing to relax the iron grip with which
Grant was contracting his lines around Petersburg, sent
Gen. Early with a strong force up the Valley of the
Slenandoah to take Washington, invade Pennsylvania,
capture Plhiladelphia, and do other fearful things.  But
Gen. Grant was not the man with whom such strategy
could succeed.  The day and the man for that had
passed away.
Aug. 7, Gen. Grant did with the Departments of
Washington, the Susquehanna, and West Virginia,
what the  government had  done with  the larger
departments.  He united them  into the Middle Department, under one commander, - Gen. Philip H.
Sheridan. He sent him two divisions of cavalry; raising Sheridan's force to more than twenty thousand
men.
As to instructions, Gen. Grant says, "I left City
Point on the 15th of September to visit him  at his
headquarters, to decide, after conference with him, what
should be done.  I saw there were but two words of
instruction necessary, -' Go in!'"  He went in, and
came out with the victories of Opequan, Fisher's Hill,




264          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Cedar Creek, and Waynesborough, on his banners. His
memorable ride from Winchester to Cedar Creek, and
his unmatched prowess, which there, as in the twinkling
of an eye, changed defeat and disaster into victory and
renown, is not exceeded in splendor in all the brilliant
annals of war.  The rebels had made the rich Valley
of the Shenandoah their stamping-ground, and from its
inexhaustible fields had drawn immense supplies for
their armies.  They had rendered it absolutely necessary that it should be devastated in such a manner, that,
as Grant expressed it, nothing should invite their return.
Sheridan performed this painful duty in a way which
left this beautiful region until the close of the war a
monument of desolation, which realized Burke's picture
of the tempest of destruction and woe with which Hyder
Ali blasted the Plains of the Carnatic.
During the siege, there were operations north and
west of Petersburg, attended with various degrees of
success.  Gen. Butler crossed the James, and, with the
Tenth and Eighteenth Corps, attacked Fort Harrison,
below Chapin's Farm, capturing fifteen guns and a large
portion of the enemy's intrenchments.
A gallant attack was also made on Fort Gillmore.
Fort Harrison was of such importance to Richmond,
that several desperate assaults were made to recover it;
but they were repulsed with great loss of life to the
enemy.
Gen. Warren took possession of and held the Weldon
Railroad.  Gen. Lee attacked repeatedly with great
force, but without success; and he was at last compelled
to surrender this important line of communication. The
soldiers built a branch railroad from the City Point and




SIEGE OF PETERSBURG.               265
Petersburg Railroad to the Weldon Road, which greatly
aided in supplying the army.
In all the operations around Petersburg, the colored
troops bore themselves in a manner which elicited universal commendation.  They were patient in toil, cheerful under privations, and brave in the hour of danger.
The capture of Atlanta was announced to the army
on the 4th of September, and was greeted in all the
camps by long-continued and  enthusiastic  cheering.
Afterwards, by way of saluting the victory, all the guns
opened fire on the rebel works.  The rebel guns replied;
and, while the cannonade continued, earth and sky
seemed to tremble with the deafening roar.
During the remainder of the time, until the opening
of the spring campaign, operations were mainly confined to defending and extending our lines, and to crippling the enemy's lines of communication, as well as
preventing him from  sending any force south.  Gen.
Grant said to a friend at this time, when croakers were
predicting failure, "I shall take Richmond, and Gen.
Lee knows it."  He exhibited the same faith when he
drew his lines around Vicksburg.
Mr. Greeley, in his able history of " The American
Conflict," says,"Grant's conduct of this campaign was not satisfactory to the
Confederate critics, who gave a decided preference to the strategy
of McClellan. The merit which may be fairly claimed for Grant
is that of resolutely undertaking a very difficult and formidable
task, and executing it to the best of his ability; at all events, doing
it."
But we must now turn to the movements of Sherman
and his army.




CHAPTER XXIX.
SHERMAN S MARCH.
T must be remembered that the siege of Petersburg,
and the care of the vast army which encircled it,
was but one item in the multitudinous occupations of
Gen. Grant.  The military operations of all the Union
armies were conducted by him.  In Missouri, in Louisiana, in Tennessee, in  Georgia, large armies were
marching, halting, fighting, as he gave orders.  The
oversight of either one was enough to tax the mind and
energy of any one man.
When the despatches were read by  Gen. Grant
which announced that Hood, leaving  Georgia, had
crossed the Tennessee, and was marching on Nashville,
he said, " If I commanded both armies, I should not
alter the route which Hood is pursuing." *
Gen. Hood was an impulsive man; and the object of
his movements was not clear to either Generals Grant
or Sherman,-  perhaps not clear to his own mind.  He
doubtless thought he should find much more comfortable
quarters in the hotels at Nashville than in his camp.
* "I was with Napoleon at Boulogne," said Talleyrand, "when he
learned that Gei. Mack was at Ulm.'If it were mine to place him,' said he,
putting his finger on the map at Ulm,'I would place him there.' In a
few hours, the camp was broken up, and the whole army was on the route
to Ulm."
2fi6.




SHERMAN'S MARCH.                267
Grant could now bring Sherman's army to Petersburg
by the ordinary routes, or by a long sweep to the sea,
and then up the Atlantic coast to some point south of
Richmond.  A march to the sea was determined on,
resembling, on a gigantic scale, the march of Sheridan
throughl the Valley of the Shenandoah.
Atlanta had been captured; and Gen. Sherman ordered its complete evacuation as a military post.
The mayor and city  council remonstrated vehemently.  Gen. Sherman's reply enters admirably and
with no waste of words into the philosophy of the Rebellion. It was a wholesome preaching they were not
accustomed to hear.  In the course of his letter, he
said, " The only way the people of Atlanta can hope once
more to live in peace and quiet at home is to stop this war;
which can alone be done by admitting that it began in
error, and is perpetuated in pride.  We do not want
your negroes, or your horses, or your houses, or your land,
or any thing you have; but we do want and will have
a just obedience to the laws of the United States. That
we will have; and, if it involve the destruction of your
improvements, we cannot help it."
Atlanta on the 15th of November was a city without
inhabitants. Its houses were empty, its population had
gone.  Flowers were blooming in the gardens; but
solitude reigned over the doomed city.  That night the
heavens reflected a sea of fire, the sky was one broad
sheet of lurid flames. Buildings covering an area of
two hundred acres were burning.  The immense warehouses where the munitions of war for the destruction
of Union men had been stored were destroyed. The
founderies where rebel cannon and shot and shell had




268         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
been forged and cast were in ruins. Terrible retribution had come to this city, which had sent forth the
instruments of death to so many thousands of loyal
lien.
Most of Sherman's army had started on its great
march.  A  Massachusetts regiment was the last to
leave; and, fitly enough, its band was playing, by tlhe
light of the burning city, "John Brown's soul goes
marching on."
For twenty-four days, the army disappeared from
Northern view into the very heart of the Rebellion.
About sixty-five thousand men swept over the country
in a track fifty miles wide, and advanced from ten to
twenty miles a day.  Of these about five thousand
were cavalry, under Gen. Kilpatrick, who moved in
front and on each flank.  The army was organized in
two grand divisions; one under Gen. Howard, the
other under Gen. Slocum.  Each of these had two
corps  under  Generals  Logan, Blair, Davis, and
Williams.  Accompanying the train were 3,500 wagons
and 35,000 horses.  1,328 prisoners and 167 guns were
taken.  Our whole loss in killed was 63 men, and 245
wounded.  5,000 horses and 4,000 mules were appropriated for army service.  20,000 bales of cotton were
burned, and 25,000 captured at Savannah.  13,000
head of cattle, 10,000,000 pounds of corn, 1,217,527
rations of meat, 919,000 of bread, 483,000 of coffee,,581,534 of sugar, 1,146,500 of soap, 137,000 of salt,
and 10,000,000 of fodder, were taken.  This was in
addition to the rice and sweet-potatoes, with which the
army supplied itself bountifully every day.  Fourteen
thousand negroes resigned their connection with " the




SHERMAN'S MARCH.                269
peculiar institution," and followed the army in its
march.
All railroads, depots, mills, founderies, factories,
arsenals, machine-shops, were  destroyed, and every
thing laid in ruins which could aid the  Rebellion.
The damage in the State of Georgia alone was estimated at a hundred million dollars.
This teeming abundance was found in a country
where thousands of Northern soldiers had been deliberately put to death by the lingering tortures of starvation; rebel officers, in some instances, looking at the
poor beings as they actually gnawed the flesh from
their arms in their dying agonies.
Charleston was evacuated; Columbia, the capital of
South Carolina, captured; and, April 13, the army had
moved north, and occupied  Raleigh, the capital of
North Carolina.
It was a just judgment which led the armed hosts of
the Union, bearing the national ensign, through South
Carolina, which had commenced the war, and brought
this avenging punishment upon herself.  "Woe unto
the world because of offences! For it must needs be
that offences come; but woe to that man by whom
the offence cometh!"
Soon after Gen. Sherman began his march, Gen.
Grant sent out two expeditions to prevent a concentration of troops against him, -- one from Vicksburg to
the  Big Black  River, which  destroyed  railroads,
bridges, and  military stores; and the  other from
Baton Rouge, tlreatening the safety of Mobile.
The march of Sherman was a means of education
to the South much needed.  It brought the war to the




270         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
homes of the authors of secession; it showed the
people, that, notwithstanding all their leaders had told
them to the contrary, there was a North, there was a
United-States Government, with the will and power to
make itself obeyed.
It also afforded valuable instruction to the men of
the Northern army: it showed to them with terrible
plainness the poverty, the ignorance, and the arrogance created by slavery.
A member of Gen. Sherman's staff met with an
original character in Georgia, a shrewd old fellow, who
expressed his views on reconstruction in the following
pithy and forcible manner: "It'll take the help of
Divine Providence, a heap of rain, and a deal of elbowgrease, to fix things up again."
Gen. Grant was among the first to commend Gen.
Sherman's services, and give to them the most generous
appreciation.  He forwarded a subscription of five
hundred dollars to some friends of Gen. Sherman in
Columbus, O., who were intending to present him with
a testimonial of gratitude and regard; commending the
general in highest terms as " a good and great man."
In his official report, he says, "Gen. Sherman's
movement fiom  Chattanooga to Atlanta was prompt,
skilful, and brilliant. The history of his flank movements and battles during that memorable campaign
will ever be read with an interest unsurpassed by any
thing in history."  Gen. Grant never evinced toward
any one who co-operated with him the spirit of envy or
disparagement, which belongs to a little nature.
Atlanta, the heart of the Rebellion, had fallen: it
now remained for Grant to take Richmond, its head.




CHAPTER XXX.
LEE'S RETREAT.
T HE final overthrow of the Rebellion was near at
hand. During the winter of 1864-5, Fort Fisher
was taken, which closed the port of Wilmington, N.C.,
-about the only place open to the Confederacy for
sending out cotton, and importing ordnance, and munitions of war, from abroad.
Major-Gen. Grierson, starting from Memphis, captured the rebel camp under Forest at Verona, Miss.
He destroyed the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, thirtytwo cars loaded with wagons and pontoons for Hood's
army, a large amount of stores, and four thousand
English carabines intended for the invasion of Ohio
and Indiana. He also struck the Mississippi Central
Railroad, destroying machine-shops, factories, stores,
and thirty warehouses, filled with public property of
various kinds and of great military value.
It would require another volume to narrate in detail
all the particulars of each of the movements throughout
the country by which Gen. Grant prepared for the
final campaign.
Suffice it to say, that in March, 1865, Gen. Canby
was advancing from New Orleans against Mobile. A
cavalry expedition of fifteen thousand men was sent
271




272         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
out from Middle Tennessee under Gen. J. H. Wilson,
which entered Alabama, and, sweeping over the region
watered by the Tombigbee and the Black Warrior
Rivers, captured Selma, and Montgomery, Ala., the
capital of the rebel Confederacy. An immense amount
of property was destroyed by the expedition, and by
the rebels to prevent it from seizure. At Montgomery
alone, a hundred and twenty-five thousand bales of
cotton were destroyed, and twenty-five thousand at
Selma.
Gen. Grant was apprehensive that Gen. Lee might
evacuate Richmond and unite with Johnston, or retire
to Lynchburg, and thence move into Tennessee. Grant
was anxious to decide the fate of the Rebellion at Richmond, -not because of any excessive importance attached to that city; but he felt that the power of the
Confederacy was in Lee's camp; that his army must be
annihilated; and he had no desire to follow him on a
chase through the South to Texas.  His purpose was
to break the military power of the Rebellion.
Gen. Stoneman was sent from East Tennessee with
a cavalry expedition toward South Carolina, to destroy
railroads and military resources, and release our starving
soldiers at the prison at Salisbury, N.C. He was ordered also to destroy the Tennessee Railroad as near to
Lynchburg as possible.   Thence he entered North
Carolina, capturing the rebel prison-camp at Salisbury
with 1,364 prisoners. Ten thousand small-arms, seven
thousand bales of cotton, and large magazines of ammunition, and stores of provisions and clothing, were
destroyed.
West of the Mississippi, Gen. Pope was opening a




LEE'S RETREAT.               273
spring campaign against the rebels Price and Kirby
Smith.  Gen. Hancock was at Winchester to guard
against a raid north, or to advance south, as might be
necessary.
Generals Sherman and Schofield were at Goldsborough, N. C.,-near the rebel army under Gen.
Johnston.  Gen. Sheridan  had  attacked  Early at
Waynesborough, capturing sixteen hundred prisoners,
eleven guns, seventeen flags, and two hundred loaded
wagons. Early's force was completely used up; and
Sheridan advanced to Whitehouse, where Gen. Grant
had sent an infantry force and supplies to meet him.
He soon after joined the army before Petersburg.
The Armies of the Potomac and the James were
before the defences of Petersburg  and  Richmond.
Gen. Grant was evidently crushing out the life of the
Rebellion.
To appreciate the cares and responsibilities of Gen.
Grant at this time, it must be remembered that his
supervision of military movements extended from the
Atlantic to the Indians on the Western wilds, and from
the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.
On the 24th of March, Gen. Grant issued orders for
a general advance, on the 29th, of all the armies operating against Richmond.
But, on the 25th, Gen. Lee resolved to make a desperate struggle to free himself from the inexorable
power which was steadily closing around him. At
daylight, two divisions attacked Fort Steadman, which
was within one hundred and fifty yards of the rebel
works. It was a square redoubt covering about one
acre, and mounted nine guns. Twenty thousand troops
18




274          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
stood ready to support the attack.  The rush was
sudden, the surprise complete; and, in a few moments,
the guns of the fort were turned upon its defenders.
The supporting force did not advance immediately. Our
men soon rallied; and, as the fort was commanded by
those on its flanks, the artillery opened, and the result
was the capture of twenty-seven hundred prisoners.
The guns trained on the ground over which the
rebels retreated sent forth such a tempest of grape,
canister, and round-shot, that nearly as many more fell,
wounded or killed.
To make this assault, troops had been brought from
the left of the rebel line; and an attack was ordered
along the front of the Second and Sixth Corps on this
weakened point.  The attack was made with great
spirit: the strongly-intrenched picket-line was carried
and permanently held by our men.  The positions
gained were of much importance; and desperate efforts
were made to retake them, but without success.  It
was an offset for our failure at the explosion of the
mine.
President Lincoln had arrived at Gen. Grant's headquarters the day previous, and witnessed this battle. It
had been intended by Gen. Grant to give the President
a grand review; but, on account of the bloody contest
in the morning, it was postponed. President Lincoln,
speaking of the victory gained, said, "This is better
than a review."
A council of war was held here, at which President
Lincoln, Gen. Grant, Major-Generals Sherman, Meade,
Sheridan, and Ord, were present.  Soon after, Gen.
Sherman left to rejoin his army.




LEE'S RETREAT.                   275
Gen. Lee's dash at Fort Steadman did not change
Gen. Grant's  orders  for an  advance  on  the 29th.
Troops were concentrated, and dispositions made for
the grand advance on that day.
Grant's line now extended from the north side of the
James to Hatcher's Run, forty miles in length.
At three o'clock in the morning, the Fifth Army
Corps, under Warren, crossed Rowanay Creek: a few
hours later, the Second Army Corps, under Humphrey,
crossed Hatcher's Run, four miles above. Both faced
north, and advanced toward the enemy's right.
When within about two miles of the  Confederate
lines, Warren was sharply assailed, and a battle ensued;
the rebels leaving their killed and wounded on the field,
and losing about a hundred prisoners.
Humphrey  advanced  unopposed.   Sheridan  had
pushed  round  to  Dinwiddie  Court House, several
miles to the left of the infantry; where he bivouacked
on the night of the 29th. Grant sent him the following
despatch: -
I now feel like ending the matter, if it is possible to do so,
before going back. I do not want you, therefore, to cut loose, and
go after the enemy's roads at present. In the morning push around
the enemy, if you can, and get on to his right rear. The movements of the enemy's cavalry may, of course, modify your action.
We will act all together as one army here until it is seen what can
be done with the enemy. The signal-officer at Cobb's Hill reported, at half-past eleven, A.M., that a cavalry column had passed
that point from Richmond towards Petersburg, taking forty minutes to pass.            U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.
Major-Gen. P. H. SHERIDAN.
On Thursday, the 30th, the rain fell in such torrents
as to render the roads impassable.  Friday the 31st,




276         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Saturday and Sunday, April 1 and 2, the whole line
was engaged in fierce and bloody contest.
On the afternoon of the 31st, Sheridan advanced to
Five Forks, the key to the whole rebel line, and about
eight miles from Dinwiddie Court House. The position
was altogether too strong to be ridden over, and Sheridan was forced back: but he dismounted the troopers,
placed them behind some slight breastworks, left his
horses to the care of a few mounted men, and received
the enemy with such a deadly fire from his carabines,
that they gave way; and night soon after compelled a
cessation of the fight.
Grant, learning of Sheridan's situation, sent down a
division of the Second Corps (Warren's) to his support;
and at daylight the battle was renewed.
Sheridan, mounted on his splendid black horse,
Rienzi, so famed in the poem  entitled " Sheridan's
Ride," accompanied by his staff, with his beautiful headquarter-flag, rode up and down the lines, directing the
formation of his troops. He seemed the incarnation of
enthusiasm, yet entirely self-possessed.
When giving an important order to an officer on the
field, he had a way of leaning over the neck of his
horse, and, as though there were plenty of time, repeating his directions slowly, as if hammering every word
into his memory in a particular place.
The troops moved into battle magnificently, but with
the air and tread of men conscious of coming victory.
The enemy were steadily pressed back to their works.
Here the cavalry held the front; while the infantry,
charging in flank and rear, rushed over the intrenchments with irresistible power; Ayres's division taking




LEE'S RETREAT.                277
in a few moments a thousand prisoners, and Griffin's
fifteen hundred more.  The enemy fled toward the
west, but were charged and pursued with relentless
vigor until long after dark.  The battle of Five Forks
was won, the victory was complete.  Between five and
six thousand prisoners were taken, and all their artillery.
The action was in every respect one of the most brilliant, as it was one of the most important, in the war.
Sheridan masked the movements of his infantry behind
his lines of cavalry.  His bugles sounded as if for a
charge on the right; while his real blow was delivered
with invincible impetuosity on the enemy's left.  The
infantry were moved as if to attack the front; when suddenly they were wheeled, and hurled with the force of
an avalanche upon the astounded enemy in their rear.
Large bodies of infantry and cavalry were handled on
the field with the skill of a master, and as easily as the
pawns on a chess-board.
Gen. Grant thought it possible the enemy might
leave their lines in the darkness of the night, concentrate
against Sheridan, and force him out of his position.
He therefore at once ordered the batteries to open fire
along the whole line; and a terrific bombardment
ensued, which was continued until four o'clock in the
morning.  All night long, the darkness blazed with the
bursting of thousands of shells, and the heavens resounded with the thunders of the heavy guns.  It was
the majestic prelude to the last great battle of the
Rebellion. It was a swelling anthem which celebrated
the approaching death of the gigantic conspiracy.
Gen. Grant's plans were made known only as he




278          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
issued his orders.  His reserve as to his intended
movements was the same to those around his headquarters as to the enemy.  That night it was telegraphed north that Sheridan was to make a raid to
Burkesville; that the army were to move toward the
South-side Railroad: but such plans never existed in
the mind of the commander of our armies.
At daylight, Sunday morning, April 2, Gen. Grant
ordered an assault by Parke, Wright, and Ord, who
held our intrenchments from the Appomattox to Hatcher's Run.
Parke, with the old Ninth Corps, was opposite the
strongest portion of the rebel works; but in a few
moments they had with a shout carried the outer
line of defences, and taken twenty-seven guns and several hundred prisoners.
Wright, with the Sixth Corps, advanced at the signal
in gallant style, sweeping every thing before them to
the Boydton Plank-road, capturing guns, flags, and several thousand prisoners.
Ord, with the Second Corps, had overcome every
difficulty, and carried the lines near Hatcher's Run, and
was marching to unite with Wright, and move towards
Petersburg.
At this time, Gen. Grant, who had left his headquarters at Dabney's Mills to overlook the movements
at another point, rode hurriedly along  the  lines.
Tile old Army of the Potomac had welcomed many
commanders with loud cheers and bright hopes who
were to lead them  to Richmond; but their hopes had
died in their hearts, and their cheers on their lips.
Their days of cheering and sanguine confidence were




LEE'S RETREAT.               279
gone.  But now they saw that the old cry, "On to
Richmond!" was to be realized in the fulness and
splendor of long-sought victory. The man and the
hour at last had come.
As Gen. Grant passed, they now greeted him with
exultant and grateful shouts.  Wild huzzas rang out
from all sides. He lifted his hat, acknowledging the
salute, but trotted rapidly on. The soldiers were evidently in magnificent spirits.
Lee was now being pressed back into the inner works
immediately around Petersburg.  The murderous fire
of the Union cannon, and the line of glittering bayonets,
were encircling the rebel army, from the Appomattox
on the right to the Appomattox on the left.
Gen. A. P. Hill now led a desperate charge, to save,
if possible, the waning fortunes of the enemy. The
attack was made with the reckless and impetuous valor
of the Southern soldiers. It was the last grand attack
of Lee's army, and was inspired by such determined
bravery, that our men were re-enforced at the point of
attack; but they were met by indomitable heroism,
and repulsed with terrible slaughter. Gen. Hill was
killed. He was among the ablest and most daring of
the rebel generals, and his division one of the most
renowned in the Southern armies.  The words, "Hill's
division," were the last sounds murmured by Stonewall Jackson as his wandering mind seemed watching
the tide of battle on some hard-fought field.
Large fires were now seen to be burning in Petersburg; and the signal-officers on the towers soon reported that Gen. Lee was in full retreat, in three columns,
across the Appomattox River.




CHAPTER XXXI.
CAPTURE OF RICHMOND.
URING  the day, President Lincoln was at City
Point, at Gen. Grant's headquarters, and from
time to time sent despatches of the advancing tide of
victories to the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, by
whlom they were telegraphed to the Northern and Western cities, everywhere rejoicing the hearts of loyal men.
At the same time, Jefferson Davis was attending morning service at St. Paul's Church in Richmond. At
eleven o'clock, an orderly entered, walked up the aisle,
and handed Mr. Davis a despatch, which read as follows:
" My lines are broken in three places. Richmond must be
evacuated this evening.                " R. E. LEE."
The intense anxiety prevailing among the people of
Richmond was depicted in the countenances of the audience.  He read it in silence, and went immediately
out. The Confederate president was deposed.
It was a still Sabbath day in spring.  The city was
held by the rebel forces. No proclamation was made;
no Union flags were in sight; no Federal guns were
heard: but the news, in some way, unaccountably flew
through the air, as news of great events sometimes will.
280




CAPTURE OF RICHMOND.              281
People rushed out of church, and whispered to each
other that Richmond had fallen. Carts were driven to the
offices of the departments, and loaded with papers: the'banks opened, and began paying out money to depositors.
Wagons, carriages, vehicles of every description, were
soon in demand at enormous rates, and were driven to
private houses and stores, and loaded with trunks and
goods, and hurried to the railroad station.
Late at night, Gen. Ewell ordered the burning of
four large warehouses filled with tobacco, which threatened the whole city with conflagration.  The citizens
remonstrated with the military authorities; but no notice
was taken of them: and the people of Richmond were
doomed to see their property destroyed, and their city
laid in ashes, by the leaders whom they had trusted, and
followed in the war upon the government.  The conflagration spread until the banks, churches, stores, mills,
all the business part of the city, were in flames. All the
roads out of the city were crowded with fugitives on
foot and in every kind of vehicle.  Jefferson Davis
hurried off on a special train in the afternoon.  The
city authorities had ordered all the liquor in the city
destroyed, and it poured through the gutters in torrents.
Enough, however, was secured to infuriate large numnbers of lawless and reckless soldiers, who filled the city
with terror and alarm.  Stores were plundered, and
families buried their silver-plate and jewelry.
These events were all unknown to Gen. Weitzel and
our army near Richmond.  Gen. Weitzel's force had
been reduced about one-half by the departure of Gen.
Ord for Petersburg; but he was ordered to " keep up
appearances," and give every indication possible of the




282         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
presence of a l  age army. In consequence, on Sunday
evening, lie ordered all the regimental bands to play;
and " Yankee Doodle " and " Hail Columbia " sounded
forth with and without variations.  What soldiers were
left cheered, shouted, and made all the commotion
possible. But Gen. Ewell at Richmond, ignorant of
all this, and wishing to conceal from Gen. Weitzel as
long as possible that his army was evacuating Richmond, also ordered his bands to play; and the remnants
of the two armies treated each other to music all night,
until the musicians fell asleep exhausted.
Before daylight, loud explosions were heard in Richmond, as if the enemy were destroying ammunition.
Tile fire.was seen reflected on the sky. The rebel rams
were blown up.  Orders were given to capture a
rebel picket.  One was soon brought in who told what
regiment he belonged to, but could not tell where his
regiment or its commander was that night. Soon after, a deserter came in, who said he was on guard, but
had not been relieved at the usual time, and lie had concluded to leave the rebel service. These things confirmed the suspicions that Richmond was being evacuated. At four, A.M., the inevitable negro drove into
our lines in a buggy, and stated the fact. At daylight,
Weitzel sent out forty troopers of the Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, under Major A. H. Stevens, to reconnoitre.  They rode on and on, unmolested by any one,
until they found themselves in the streets of Richmond.
They trotted through the city, and, just as the sun was
rising, planted their guidons on the capitol. It was a
new day for Richmond, and a newly-risen morn to the
nation.




CAPTURE OF RICHMOND.             283
At six o'clock, Gen. Weitzel with his army marched
into Richmond, the colored regiments singing,"John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave."
A national flag, formerly carried by the Twelfth Maine
Regiment, which had floated over the St. Charles at
New Orleans, was raised on the capitol of Virginia.
Gen. Shepley was appointed  military governor.
The flames were still burning; and efforts were at once
made to extinguish the fire. It had already consumed
a third of the city, covering thirty squares.  The
losses to private property could only be counted by
millions.  A  thousand  prisoners were  taken: five
thousand were found in the hospitals. Five hundred
guns, five thousand small-arms, thirty locomotives, and
three hundred cars, were left by the retreating army.
That forenoon, the telegraph carried the joyful tidings
all over the North. Business by general consent was
suspended, flags were raised, salutes fired, church-bells
were rung, prayers of thanksgiving were offered, public meetings were held, and the people gave themselves
up to gratitude and rejoicing.
Gen. Grant was a man who never omitted to wring
from the enemy all the fruits of victory.  When he
once gained the advantage, he pressed the foe to the
utmost.  When Gen. Grant attacked Lee from  the
south, military critics said it was wrong: he should
have attacked from  the north.  But, now that Lee
was retreating, Grant's wisdom was shown; for he was
directly in Lee's road to the south.
Monday morning, April 3, it was found that the enemy had evacuated Petersburg; and, while the right of




284         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
our army was entering the city, the cavalry on the left,
under Custer, were already on tlhe track of the retreating enemy.  Lee was moving up the north bank of the
Appomattox, and Grant the south side.  Lee's object
was to reach Burkesville, fifty-two miles from Petersburg, at the junction of the Danville and South-side
Railroads.
Lee was confident of making a successful retreat and
a prolonged campaign.
Gen. Ord, with the troops of the Army of the James,
was marching for Burkesville down the line of the
South-side Railroad: Sheridan, on a parallel line north,
was marching to strike the road north of Burkesville.
Lee crossed the Appomattox, and reached Amelia Court
House on the same railroad, where he had ordered supplies for his army to meet him. But the train which
carried them had been ordered to Richmond to take
away Davis and his friends, and went on without unloading the supplies, which were there burned by order
of the rebel authorities. Lee was compelled to halt his
famished men here during the 4th and 5th, to gather
up food and forage. Meanwhile Sheridan had struck
the railroad at Jettersville half-way between Amelia
Court House and Burkesville, and was in position to
dispute Lee's advance.  Grant and Meade, with the
Second and Sixth Corps, arrived at Jettersville on the
5th. That night, Lee left Amelia Court House for
Farmville, thirty-five miles west, where he hoped to
again cross the Appomattox, and reach the mountains
beyond Lynchburg. But Gen. Davies had, with a
mounted force, reached Paine's Cross-Roads, where he
captured a hundred and eighty wagons, five guns, and
several hundred prisoners.




CAPTURE OF RICHMOND.              285
Lee was now retreating toward Deatonsville, with
one corps of our army in his rear, one north, and one
south, of his army, moving on parallel routes.
Sheridan ordered his division commanders to attack
Lee's army-trains when feasible, and, if the escort was
too strong to be captured, to fight on until the division
behind them  could pass them, and attack the enemy
farther on; and this division was to fight until it was
passed by those in its rear; hoping in this manner to
find the weak spot in the enemy's line where a grand
result could be achieved.
At Sailor's Creek, a small tributary of the Appomattox, Lee made a stand to save his trains; but his line
was pierced by Gen. Custer's division, supported by
Crook and Devin.  Four hundred wagons were destroyed; and sixteen pieces of artillery, and many prisoners, were captured. The attack had separated Ewell's
corps from the main body of Lee's army, who could
see the smoke of their burning train in the distance.
They were charged by a brigade of the cavalry under
Gen. Stagg, until the Sixth Corps could come up; when
the enemy fell slowly back, but fighting so stubbornly,
that, for a few moments, a part of our line recoiled from
their deadly fire. But, soon after, an assault was made
by the infantry in front; and the cavalry under Custer,
who drew their sabres, spurred their horses into a full
run, and, with bugles sounding, charged with enthusiastic
shouts and cheers upon the enemy.  The rebel artillery
poured in shells and grape and canister; but the horses,
sharing the excitement of their riders, rushed madly
on.  Sabres were dripping with blood; wagons, ambulances, forges, were taken; whole regiments surren



286          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
dered.  Between six and seven  thousand prisoners
were taken, including Lieut.-Gen. Ewell and several
other general officers: among them were Kershaw,
Custis, and Lee.
It was the destruction of the rear-guard of Lee's
army. The pursuit was becoming a hunt.




CHAPTER. XXXII.
THE SURRENDER OF GEN. LEE.
A   T Farmville, the head of Lee's army attempted to
cross the Appomattox; but here he was attacked
by Brig.-Gen. Read, with only two regiments of
infantry and a squadron of cavalry, regardless of the
superior numbers of the enemy. But Lee's veteran
soldiers were not even then to be turned aside by a
handful of our men, however heroic. They pressed
on in overwhelming force, and crossed the river. Our
loss was comparatively heavy; the gallant Read being
among the killed.  The advance of Lee's army
passed on; but, before the rear could cross, the van of
our Second Corps was upon them, and saved one of
the bridges from being burned.
Gen. Grant was with the Second and Sixth Corps,
and crossed the Appomattox at Farmville.
But an enemy more dreadful even than Sheridan's
cavalry, more appalling than the Union bayonets, was
now uniting to destroy the army of Gen. Lee. The
men were starving: they could not search for food or
forage in the neighboring country while the Federal
horse hung upon their flanks. It was the ghastly skeleton of a proud army which had sought their country's
ruin. The sunken countenances of the men showed
287




288           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
they were famishing.  Men and horses gladly fed on
the buds of the trees, or a few kernels of parched corn.
They dropped by hundreds from exhaustion: thousands
were too weak to carry their muskets. For four days,
they had been marching and fighting without rations.
On the night of Thursday the 6th, the rebel generals
held a council of war, and decided that surrender was
inevitable. They deputed Gen. Pendleton to announce
this judgment to their chief.  Lee still hoped to cut
his way through our cavalry.
Gen. Lee was now  retreating toward Appomattox
Court House, about fifty miles distant, at the head of
the Appomattox River.
On Friday the 7th, Gen. Grant addressed to Gen.
Lee the following letter, written at Farmville. It was
delivered that night.
APRIL 7, 1865.
GENERAL, - The result of the last week must convince you
of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army
of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and
regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of
any further effusion of blood by asking of you the surrender of
that portion of the Confederate-States army known as the " Army
of Northern Virginia."
U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.
Gen. R. E. LEE.
Early the next morning, before leaving his headquarters, he received the following vague and diplomatic
reply: -
APmIL 7, 1865.
GENERAL, - I have received your note of this date. Though
not entertaining the opinion you express on the hopelessness of
further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia,




SURRENDER OF GEN. LEE.                  289
I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and
therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms you
will offer on condition of its surrender.
R. E. LEE, General.
Lieut.-Gen. U. S. GRANT.
Gen. Grant at once forwarded the following reply:APRIL 8, 1865.
GENERAL, - Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of
same date, asking the condition on which I will accept the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, is just received. In reply,
I would say, that, peace being my great desire, there is but one
condition I would insist upon; namely, that the men and officers
surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms again against
the Government of the United States until properly exchanged.
I will meet you, or will designate officers to meet any officers you
may name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to you,
for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the
surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia will be received.
U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.
Gen. R. E. LEE.
Sheridan had started for Appomattox Station, five
miles south of Appomattox Court House, where Gen.
Custer, who was in the advance, captured four trains
laden  with supplies for Lee's starving soldiers.  He
pushed on toward Appomattox Court House, fighting
with  Lee's advance, capturing  twenty-five  guns, a
hospital-train, wagons, and many prisoners. Sheridan
had hurried up his cavalry; and Grant had sent forward
by a forced march the Fifth, the Twenty-fourth, and
a part of the Twenty-fifth Corps, where they arrived
at daylight, Sunday morning, April 9.
Gen. Lee supposed that he confronted only cavalry,
and had given orders to Gen. Gordon, " Cut your way
through at all hazards."
i9




290          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Sunday morning, the rebel army attacked our cavalry
with great vigor.  Sheridan dismounted his men, and
ordered them  to fall back slowly, until the. infantry
could form behind them; when, at the right moment,
the bugles sounded to mount: the cavalry rode to the
right, and disclosed the large masses of infantry and
the thousands of gleaming bayonets.  The impetuous
Custer was with the advance, dressed somewhat in the
gay taste of Murat; his jacket shining with gold lace,
a crimson silk scarf streaming from his neck, a revolver
in the top of his cavalry boots, which he used for
holsters, and an immensely heavy claymore hanging at
his side.*
At the moment the order "Charge!" was to be
given, a horseman was seen bounding out from the
rebel lines with a white flag, to ask for a truce till a
surrender could be completed.  He rode upon a full
run, and was greeted by the wild cheers of the soldiers.
Gen. Sheridan agreed to a suspension of hostilities
for half an hour, promising to meet Generals Gordon
and Wilcox at Appomattox Court House when Gen.
Grant arrived. The officers rode about, and exchanged
congratulations.  The men began making coffee, and
rejoicing  that those sabbath  hours would  probably
witness the end of the Rebellion.
At the appointed hour, Gen. Sheridan and several
of his principal officers rode over to Appomattox.
Appomattox Court House, where the surrender of
Gen. Lee was made, is a small old town in Virginia,
containing a court house, a tavern, and four or five
houses; the principal one being occupied by a Mr.
* Col. Newhall.




SURRENDER OF GEN. LEE.            291
Wilmer McLean. There was one street in the town,
and one end of that was boarded up to. keep out the
cows.
While waiting for the arrival of Gen. Grant, our
officers and some of the Southern generals strolled
about, and talked over the war and the approaching
peace. Gen. Longstreet was there, his arm  still in a
sling from the wound accidentally given in the Wilderness by his own men.  Gen. Rickett was there, who
had received the heaviest of our attack at Five Forks.
IIe related the audacity of a Yankee cavalry-man,
mounted on a mule, who leaped over the breastworks
near him, and ordered him to surrender.
About two o'clock, when Gen. Grant rode into the
town, he saw Generals Sheridan and Ord at the end of
the street.  Addressing Gen. Sheridan in his usual
quiet and undemonstrative manner, he said, "How are
you, Sheridan? "  " First-rate, thank you.  How are
you?" -"Is Gen. Lee up  there?" said  Grant.
" Yes." -" Well, then, we'll go up."
Some men would have entered upon a little glorification; but this was not Gen. Grant's style.
" When all was over at Waterloo," said Wellington,
"Blucher and I met at La Maison Rouge. It was
midnight when he came; and, riding up, he threw his
arms round me, and kissed me on both cheeks as I sat
in the saddle."
On reaching Mr. McLean's house, where the interview was to take place, Gen. Lee was already waiting:
his fine gray charger, in the care of an orderly, was
nibbling the grass on the lawn. Gen. Grant, with one
or two of his staff, passed into a large front room,




292            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
where he found Gen. Lee, a tall, soldierly-looking man,
about sixty, with gray hair and beard, and bright eyes.
He was dressed in a new uniform of Confederate gray,
and wore an elegant dress-sword presented to him  by
the State of Virginia.
Grant had ridden over thirty miles; wore his usual
campaign suit, not free from dust, and splashes of mud;
had no sword or sash, and no insignia of rank.
The two officers shook hands courteously, and commenced conversation.  The first topic related to the
ceremonies to be observed at the  surrender.   The
pride of the chivalry was sensitive on this point.  Gen.
Grant, as he could afford to do, waived all ceremony,
and agreed that the arms should be received by his
officers, and that Lee's officers should retain their sidearms and private baggage.
Gen. Lee then said that many of his men owned
their horses. Gen. Grant consented that they should
retain these also; adding, "Some will need them  at
home in their spring-work."  Gen. Lee expressed great
gratification at the generous terms conceded; and they
were embodied in the two following letters, written at a
small pine-table in tile room: 
APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE, VA., April 9, 1865.
GENERAL, - In accordance with the substance of my letter to
you of the 8th instant, 1 propose to receive the surrender of the
Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms: to wit, rolls
of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate; one copy to be
given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate.  The
officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against
the Government of the United States until properly exchanged,
and each company or regimental commander to sign a like parole




SURRENDER OF GEN. LEE.                  293
for the men of their commands.  The arms, artillery, and public
property, to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officers
appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the sidearms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This
done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home,
not to be disturbed by United-States authority so long as they
observe their paroles, and the laws in force where they may reside.
U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.
Gen. R. E. LEE.
HEADQUARTERS ARiY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
April 9, 1865.
GENERAL,- I received your letter of this date, containing the
terms of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as proposed by you. As they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the 8th instant, they are accepted. I will
proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations
into effect.                          R. E. LEE, General.
Lieut.-Gen. U. S. GRANT.
When Gen. Lee  came out, as he stood for a few
moments on the steps waiting for his horse, he looked
over toward the valley where his army lay, and smote
his hands together, apparently not noticing any thing
until his horse was brought, when  he mounted and
rode off.
When Gen. Grant appeared, his countenance  told
nothing.  His manner was quiet and unexcited as ever
as he rode away to  telegraph  the joyful tidings to
Washington.
Mr. McLean  soon  sold  out his furniture at high
prices to officers who wished to preserve relics of the
memorable occasion.  Sheridan gave him twenty dollars
in gold for the little pine-table, and sent it to the wife of
his friend Custer.  Others plucked the flowers in the
door-yard, and sent them  that night, odorous of peace,
to distant homes.




294          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
The news of the surrender was received by both
armies with acclamations.  That evening, Gen. Grant
sent rations for twenty thousand men to the starving
enemy; and, as fast as paroled, Gen. Lee's soldiers
were furnished with food and transportation home by
the government they had fought to destroy.
Gen. Grant proceeded direct to Washington without
entering Richmond, or accepting ovations on the route.
He arrived on the 13th of April, and at once advised
that the draft be stopped, and expressed the opinion that
the Rebellion was virtually ended. That day, orders
were issued, in accordance with these views, to stop all
recruiting, curtail the purchases of arms, ammunition,
and supplies, and to reduce immediately all the expenses
of the army.
It was announced in the Washington papers of April
14 that Gen. Grant would attend Ford's Theatre that
evening, in company with President Lincoln; but he had
made arrangements to visit his family that day, and was
absent. President Lincoln was assassinated that evening; and the evidence at the trial of Payne showed that
it was the intention of the conspirators to have murdered
Gen. Grant at the same time and place.
But Providence had ordered it otherwise.  Gen.
Grant at once returned to Washington, and was one
of the most sincere mourners at the funeral of lis
tried friend, the beloved and martyred Lincoln, which
took place on the 19th of April, 1865, the anniversary
of the sledding of the first blood in the war in the
streets of Baltimore.
Soon after, Andrew Johnson, who had succeeded to
the presidency on the death of Mr. Lincoln, issued a




SURRENDER OF GEN. LEE.             295
proclamation that the assassination of the President had
been " incited, concerted, and procured by and between
Jefferson Davis, late of Richmond," and other persons
named; and offering a reward for his arrest.  On leaving Richmond, Davis proceeded to Danville, where he
issued a proclamation to the rebel Confederacy.  Referring to the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, he
said, with far more truth and point than he was aware
of, " We have now entered upon a new phase of the
struggle."  In a few days after, he was amazed and
bewildered to hear of still another " phase in the struggle," in the surrender of Lee and his whole army.
He now fled south as best he could; hoping to reach the
seacoast, and escape out of the country. He was taken,
on the 11th of May, in a small rebel camp at Irwinsville, Ga.  When captured, " the president" of the
Confederacy was dressed in woman's clothes, endeavoring to make his way to a small spring, and elude the
Federal cavalry which surrounded his tent.
On the 5th of April, Gen. Grant had written to
Sherman that Lee must soon surrender, and directing
him to advance, and " see if we cannot finish the job
with Lee's and Johnston's armies."
On the 16th, Johnston requested an interview with
Gen. Sherman, in which he offered terms of surrender,
which Sherman positively refused.  The next day,
however, they were reluctantly accepted in a modified
form.
When transmitted to the Government, they were
at once rejected, and Gen. Grant ordered to proceed to
Raleigh, with full powers to act in the premises.  He
did so, but with entire delicacy toward Sherman and




296          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed.
IHe arrived on the 24th, and acquainted Sherman with
the views of the President and cabinet. He refused to
suspend Sherman as he was authorized to do, or to
displace him in the negotiations; and they were renewed
between Johnston and Sherman: and, the second day
after his arrival at Raleigh, Grant telegraphed to
Washington that Johnston had surrendered to Sherman on the same terms which were accorded to Lee
and the army of Northern Virginia.  On the 2Sth,
Gen. Grant was again at his headquarters at Washington, engrossed in the duties of his office.
On the 4th of May, Gen. Taylor surrendered to
Gen. Canby all the remaining rebel forces east of the
Mississippi.  On the 22d and 23d, the Union armies
were reviewed at Washington by the President of the
United States, the Secretary of War, and the Lieutenant-General. The splendid pageant was witnessed by
all the members of the diplomatic corps, and by vast
numbers of citizens from all parts of the Union, who
united in this ovation to the patriot soldiers.
Gen. Sherman was directed to proceed to Texas, and
take immediate command of our forces there; but, on
the 26th of May, Gen. Kirby Smith surrendered his
entire command west of the Mississippi to Major-Gen.
Canby.
The war was thus terminated with the surrender of
all the armies of the rebel government.- The number
of rebel soldiers who surrendered was 174,223: the
number of prisoners was 98,802. The Union armies
under the command of Gen. Grant numbered 1,000,516
soldiers.  Their commander might well be proud of




SURRENDER OF GEN. LEE.                  297
the great services, which, with him, they had performed
for the  country.   He issued  the following  farewell
address: 
"SOLDIERS OF THE ARMIES OF TIIE UNITED STATES, —
By your patriotic devotion to your country in the hour of danger
and alarm, your magnificent fighting, bravery, and endurance, you
have maintained the supremacy of the Union and the Constitution,
overthrown all armed opposition to the enforcement of the laws
and the proclamations forever abolishing slavery, - the cause and
pretext of the Rebellion, - and opened the way to the rightful
authorities to restore order, and inaugurate peace on a permanent
and enduring basis on every foot of American soil. Your marches,
sieges, and battles, in distance, duration, resolution, and brilliancy
of results, dim the lustre of the world's past military achievements, and will be the patriot's precedent in defence of liberty
and right in all time to come. In obedience to your Country's
call, you left your homes and families, and volunteered in her
defence. Victory has crowned your valor, and secured the purpose of your patriotic hearts; and with the gratitude of your
countrymen, and the highest honors a great and free nation can
accord, you will soon be permitted to return to your homes and
families, conscious of having discharged the highest duty of
American citizens.  To achieve these glorious triumphs, and
secure to yourselves, fellow-countrymen, and posterity, the blessings of free institutions, tens of thousands of your gallant comrades have fallen, and sealed the priceless legacy with their blood.
The graves of these a grateful nation bedews with tears, honors
their memories, and will ever cherish and support their stricken
families."




CHAPTER  XXXIII.
GEN. GRANT SINCE THE WAR.
HE following figures, taken from various public
documents, will probably give a better idea of the
gigantic nature of the war, and the costly sacrifices
demanded by slavery, than any description in words.
The simple facts are a tribute to the patriotism, the
courage, the enduring faith, of the nation, more eloquent than any language of eulogium.
The war had closed, and Gen. Grant now addressed
himself with great energy to the works of peace.
By the 22d of August, he had succeeded in mustering out of the army 719,338; by Sept. 14, 741,107;
and by Nov. 15, 1865, there had been returned to
their homes 800,963 men. The work was rapidly followed every month, until, Nov. 1, 1,023,021 had been
discharged, and the army reduced to 11,000 men.
Horses and mules had been sold to the value of $15,289,000; barracks and hospitals sold to the amount
of $447,873.  The sale of damaged clothing yielded
$902,770.  The military railroads, covering 2,630 miles,
with 6,605 cars and 433 locomotives, were relinquished,
and transferred to proper authorities. Railroad equipments were sold, amounting to $10,910,812. The military telegraph, which extended 15,389 miles, at a cost of
298




GEN. GRANT SINCE THE WAR.            299
$3,219,400, was discontinued, the materials sold, and its
employes discharged.
The whole number of men enlisted at different times
during the war was 2,688,522.  Of these, 56,000 were
killed in battle; 219,000 died of wounds and disease in
the military hospitals; and 80,000 died after discharge,
from  disease contracted  during  service: making a
total loss of about 300,000 men.  About 200,000 were
crippled or permanently disabled.  Of colored troops,
180,000 enlisted, and 30,000 died.  More than $300,000,000 was paid in bounties, and by states, towns,
and cities for the support of the families of soldiers.
The Sanitary Commission disbursed, in money and supplies, $14,000,000.  The Christian  Commission disbursed $4,500,000.
During the summer of 1865, Gen. Grant accepted
invitations from various cities to visit New England.
He returned through the Canadas; and subsequently
went to Illinois, visiting the tomb of Lincoln and his
old home at Galena.  Wherever he went, the people
showed him  every demonstration of respect and affection.
In December, he made a rapid tour of inspection
through several of the Southern States.  He passed
one day each in Raleigh, Savannah, and Augusta, and
two days in Charleston.
On his return, President Johnson requested Gen.
Grant to report the result of his observations during
this flying political reconnoissance. In the course of his
report, Gen. Grant says," I did not meet any one, either those holding places under the
government, or citizens of the Southern States, who thinks it prac



300           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
ticable to withdraw the military from the South at present. The
white and the black mutually require the protection of the General
Government.
"It is to be regretted that there cannot be a greater commingling at this time between the citizens of the two sections, and particularly of those intrusted with the law-making power."
Congress  passed a. bill to  revive  the  grade  of
" General of the Army of the United States;" and
Gen. Grant was appointed to the position. The bill
was passed in the House of Representatives with only
eleven dissenting votes. It was advocated by leading
Democrats, among whom  was Hon. Mr. Rogers of
New Jersey.  He said, -
" I believe that the mantle of the illustrious Washington may
well fall upon the shoulders of Gen. Grant. I believe that he
has walked in the footsteps of the Father of his Country."
Hon. Mr. Fink of Ohio, also a prominent Democrat,
said, -
" I honor him, sir, not olily for his brilliant services in the field,
but because of his magnanimity in the hour of triumph, and his
genuine modesty. He has conducted himself throughout this war
independent of party considerations or party intrigues, devoting
himself to the vindication of the true honor of the country in
maintaining the Constitution and preserving the Union."
The South was undergoing the convulsions incident
to the close of a great civil war, an entire re-organization of society, and a change in the relations of master
and slave. The disbanded officers and soldiers of the
rebel armies had returned to the South, and sought to
resume their former influence on political questions.
Gen. Sheridan reported the condition of affairs in




GEN. GRANT SINCE THE WAR.                 301
Texas to be "anomalous, singular, and unsatisfactory."
He added," My own opinion is, that the trial of a white manfor the murder
of a freedman, in Texas, would be a farce; and, in making this
statement, I make it because truth compels me, and for no other
reason."
Gen. Grant made the following indorsement on this
communication: 
"Respectfully forwarded to the Secretary of War. - Attention
is invited to that portion of the within communication which
refers to the condition of the Union men and freedmen in Texas,
and to the powerlessness of the military, in the present state of
affairs, to afford them protection.  Even the moral effect of the
presence of troops is passing away; and, a few days ago, a squad
of soldiers on duty was fired on by citizens of Brownsville. In
my opinion, the great number of murders of Union men and freedmen in Texas, which not only as a rule are unpunished, but uninvestigated, constitute practically a state of insurrection; and
believing it to be the province and duty of every good government to afford protection to the lives, liberty, and property of its
citizens, I would recommend the declaration of martial law in
Texas to secure these. The necessity for governing any portion
of our territory by martial law is to be deplored. If resorted to,
it should be limited in its authority, and should leave all local
authorities and civil tribunals free and unobstructed until they
prove their inefficiency or unwillingness to perform  their duties.
Martial law would give security, or comparatively so, to all classes
of citizens, without regard to race, color, or political opinions;
and could be continued until society was capable of protecting
itself, or until the State is returned to its full relation with the
Union. The application of martial law to one of these States
would be a warning to all, and, if necessary, can be extended to
others.                           " U. S. GRANT, General."
Gen. Grant, it is to be remembered, is not a politician.
When the war broke out, he had never acted with the




302         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Republican party, but with the Democrats. But in
nothing has his honesty and independence been shown
more clearly than in his judgments of events growing
out of the war.  Prejudice, preconceived opinions,
have given way to actual facts as they have arisen.
" A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
"Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks."
On the 11th of August, 1867, President Johnson
determined to remove Mr. Stanton from the office of
Secretary of War, whose views upon the question of
reconstruction in the Southern  States had become
obnoxious to the President.
He conversed with Gen. Grant upon the subject, who
earnestly remonstrated against the proceeding, and in
the course of the day addressed to him a private letter
to the same effect. He foresaw that the action contemplated by the President would lead to evil results.
This advice was wise, straightforward, and statesmanlike. It would have been well if it had been followed;
but the President was not to be influenced, and the next
day sent to Gen. Grant a letter directing him to act as
Secretary of War ad interim.
In taking the post assigned to him by the President
as commander-in-chief, he well knew the misconstruction which would be put upon his action by thousands:
but, conscious that he was only doing what duty required, he made no explanations; sought no newspaper
defence; made no mention to any one of the private letter addressed to the President on the 12th; and the
letter was not made public until Congress assembled
the ensuing winter.




GEN. GRANT SINCE THE WAR.            303
He addressed to Mr. Stanton a letter, written when
notified that he was to supersede that gentleman, which
expressed his high sense of the valuable services rendered by him to the country and to the army.
It is not within the scope of this work to write a history of the differences between President Johnson and
Congress on the question of reconstruction in the rebel
States, except so far as the action of Gen. Grant is concerned.  Suffice it to say, that Mr. Johnson had been
a life-long Democrat and slaveholder until the opening
of the war.  He then denounced secession, and supported the Union party in Tennessee.  The Republicans nominated him for Vice-President, not mainly because of his superior fitness for the position, but from a
desire to recognize liberally all men, of every shade of
opinion, who sought to preserve the Union.  He accepted the nomination, and indorsed the principles upon
which it was made.  When, by Mr. Lincoln's death,
he entered on the duties of President, he said, " Treason
should be made odious; " that, in the work of reconstruction, " traitors should take back seats."
The rebel States had overthrown their State governments, and now desired, after the war, to return to the
Union, and be again represented in the National Legislature. Congress said, in substance, return, but provide first that you shall not deprive any citizen of equal
rights before the law.
When the number of representatives in Congress
from the Southern States was to be determined, the
slaves were. counted as part of the population, but,
when the voting was to be done, the white men alone
had the power.  Congress said, Slavery is abolished.




304          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
The vote of the rebel soldier at the South must not be
allowed to count as equal to the votes of two men in the
free States. Shall the one vote of Jefferson Davis count
as much as the votes of both Gen. Grant and Gen.
Sherman?  If the negroes are not fit to vote in the
rebel States, they are not fit to give power to those
States in Congress.
Slavery being abolished, justice requires that the four
or five millions of freedmen shall be counted as citizens,
as voters, or not counted at all. If this population is to
be represented in Congress, it is to be represented like any
other portion of the people, and not exclusively by their
former owners, who have attempted to overthrow the
government and bring anarchy upon the whole country.
But the President differed from Congress. He was
Commander-in-chief; he was "President."  It was for
him, and not the representatives of the people, to decide the terms of reconstruction. The President had
" a policy" of his own, and used his influence to prevent the acceptance of these terms. The slave States
were to come back from  their lost battle-fields, from
Andersonville and Salisbury, with all the excess of
political power over the free States which they once
held under the Constitution which they had defied and
rejected.  Here issue was joined.  Congress passed
bills, and the President vetoed them: they passed them
over the veto; and the President sought to nullify their
effect, though sworn to " execute " the laws.
The President went personally to the people, from the
Hudson to the Mississippi, and denounced Congress as
" a body hanging on the outskirts of the Government;"
and the people decided against him by majorities vary



GEN. GRANT SINCE THE WAR.                305
ing in different States from five thousand to forty thousand votes.  Now, if we concede entire sincerity and
honesty  to the  President at this time, it must be
admitted that some men would have hesitated, and said,
" Possibly the loyal millions of the people who have
sacrificed every thing to save the nation are right, and
I am  wrong.  My sworn duty is to'execute,' not to
make the laws."  But the President did far otherwise.
He removed Mr. Stanton, who sustained the acts of
Congress.
On the 17th of August, he ordered Gen. Grant to
remove from command at New Orleans Gen. Sheridan,
who had faithfully carried out the laws in Louisiana and
Texas.  In doing this, he asked Gen. Grant to make
any suggestions in regard to the order. Gen. Grant
replied in patriotic terms far above all partisan spirit.
He said, -
" I am pleased to avail myself of this invitation to urge, earnestly urge, urge in the name of a patriotic people who have sacrificed hundreds of thousands of loyal lives and thousands of millions
of treasure to preserve the integrity and union of this country, that
this order be not insisted on. It is unmistakably the expressed
wish of the country that Gen. Sheridan should not be removed
from his present command.
" This is a republic, where the will of the people is the law of the
land. I beg that their voice may be heard.
"Gen. Sheridan has performed his civil duties faithfully and intelligently. His removal will only be regarded as an effort to
defeat the laws of Congress."
The order was for a time suspended; but Gen. Sheridan was afterwards removed.
Jan. 13, 1868, the Senate passed the following resolution:20




306           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
"Resolved, That having considered the evidence and reasons
given by the President in his report of the 12th of December,
1867, for the suspension, from the office of Secretary of War, of
Edwin M. Stanton, the Senate do not concur in such suspension."
As soon as Gen. Grant was informed of this action
of the Senate, he notified  the  President that his
duties -as Secretary of War ad interim were ended.
He surrendered the keys of the office to the Adjutant-General, the custodian of the building, and returned to his office at the headquarters of the army.
This gentleman afterwards surrendered them  to the
demand of Mr. Stanton in person, who took possession
of the office.
A long correspondence ensued, in which it was evident that the President desired to avail himself of Gen.
Grant's popularity in carrying on his war with Congress, - to put Gen. Grant in the front of the battle,
and use him for his own purposes. But Grant was not
to be used in any such manner.  He had obeyed the
President's orders during the recess of Congress to act
as Secretary of War ad interim, when Mr. Stanton
retired under protest. He discharged the duties of the
office with unsurpassed honesty, wisdom, and fidelity.
In no position in which Gen. Grant has ever been
placed has he shown more real ability than in his
administration of the War Department.   How  he
acquitted himself, let President Johnson himself bear
witness. In his message to the Senate, Dec. 12, 1867,
giving his reasons for suspending Mr. Stanton, he concludes with these words, -
"Salutary reforms have been introduced by the Secretary ad
interim (Gen. Grant), and great reductions of expenses have been




GEN. GRANT SINCE THE WAR.                 307
effected under his administration of the War Department, to the
saving of millions to the treasury.  "ANDREW JOHNSON."
While the friends of Gen. Grant may differ as to the
value of such a certificate of character, it is certainly
not for his political opponents to deny its truth, or
depreciate its worth.
When notified of the vote of the Senate, that, under
the law, he could not legally continue to act, he refused
to serve any longer.
In a closing letter to the President, defending his
conduct, he uses the following plain language:" The course you have understood I agreed to pursue was in violation of law, and that without orders from you; while the course
I did pursue, and which I never doubted you fully understood, was
in accordance with law, and not in disobedience of any orders of
my superior. And now, Mr. President, when my honor as a soldier, and integrity as a man, have been so violently assailed, pardon
me for saying that I can but regard this whole matter, from beginning to end, as an attempt to involve me in the resistance of law for
which you hesitated to assume the responsibility, in order thus to
destroy my character before the country. I am in a measure confirmed in this conclusion by your recent orders directing me to
disobey orders from the Secretary of War, my superior, and your
subordinate, without having countermanded his authority. I conclude with the assurance, Mr. President, that nothing less than
a vindication of my personal honor and character could have induced this correspondence on my part.
"I have the honor to be, very respectfully,
" Your obedient servant,
"U. S. GRANT, General."
Gen. Grant confined himself exclusively to his military duties as head of the armies of the United States.
On the 21st of May, 1868, the National Republican
Convention'assembled at Chicago.  Every State  anj




308          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Territory was represented.  The delegates were men
distinguished for their worth in almost all the walks of
life. The opera-house where the convention assembled
was crowded from floor to ceiling.
The chairman of the National Committee, Gov.
Ward of New Jersey, opened the proceedings with a
brief address of welcome. Fervent prayer was offered
by Bishop Simpson, invoking the divine blessing on the
deliberations of the assembly, and praying that its action might result in bringing peace and harmony to the
people of all sections, and increase the prosperity and
glory of our beloved country.
Gov. Hawley of Connecticut was elected president.
The enthusiasm for Gen. Grant was unbounded, and
several premature attempts were made to nominate
him by acclamation; but the convention decided to proceed with its business in regular order.  The resolutions were reported and adopted unanimously; each resolution, as it was read, being greeted with applause.
The nomination of candidates for president being
then in order, Gen. Logan, chairman of the delegation
from  Illinois, rose, and said, " In the name of the loyal
citizens and soldiers and sailors of this great Republic
of the United States of America; in the name of loyalty, liberty, humanity, and justice; in the name of
the National Union Republican party, - I nominate as
candidate for the Chief Magistracy of this nation
ULYSSES S. GRANT."
The nomination was received with enthusiastic cheering. When quiet was restored, the vote of each State
was called alphabetically, beginning with Alabama.
The chairman of each delegation announced the num



GEN. GRANT SINCE THE WAR.          309
ber of its votes, and for whom given. California said
she came ten thousand miles to give Grant ten votes.
Connecticut " unconditionally surrendered " her vote to
U. S. Grant. " Maryland, my Maryland," gave fourteen votes for Grant.  The vote of Georgia was
announced by Gov. Brown, who said that the Republicans of Georgia had many of them been secessionists,
but acted on the maxim, "Enemies in war; in peace,
friends." As the call of States proceeded, and the vote
of each was announced with a few patriotic words, the
applause of the convention was renewed, until, at the
close, the president made the formal announcement, that
"4six hundred and fifty votes have been cast, all of
which are for ULYSSES S. GRANT."
The convention and the vast audience, numbering
some three thousand persons, now rose to their feet, and
greeted the result with tumultuous cheering and every
demonstration of applause, which continued, without
interruption, for some minutes.  The band played
" Yankee Doodle;" the convention again cheered; the
ladies waved their handkerchiefs, when the band struck
up, "Rally round the Flag," which the whole audience
joined in singing. The scene was one of the most
impressive and heart-stirring which can be imagined.
But it was not a mere noisy demonstration of an excited
crowd. Amid the wild enthusiasm, it was evident that
hearts were moved by the deep significance, the moral
grandeur and importance, of the action of the convention, and the earnest hope and determination to give
peace and harmony to a long-distracted nation.
The father of Gen. Grant, who was visiting relatives
in Chicago, was present, seated on the platform, — a




310           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
silent, but not an unmoved, spectator of the honors thus
gratefully bestowed upon his distinguished son.
The day these events were transpiring in Chicago,
Gen. Grant was at his office in Washington, occupied
with his official duties.
When  some friends brought him  the telegraphic
despatch announcing the action of the convention, he
evinced but little curiosity about the vote for president,
but asked with much interest for the resolutions, and
read them with attentive and thoughtful care.
The same evening, a large concourse of the citizens
of Washington serenaded Gen. Grant at his house.
He was introduced to the people in a few brief and
eloquent remarks by Hon. George S. Boutwell, and
made the following apt response:-,
" GENTLEMEN, -Being entirely unaccustomed to public speaking, and without the desire to cultivate that power [laughter], it
is impossible for me to find appropriate language to thank you
for this demonstration. All that I can say is, that, to whatever
position I may be called by your will, I shall endeavor to discharge its duties with fidelity and honesty of purpose.  Of my
rectitude in the performance of public duties, you will have to
judge for yourselves by my record before you."
On the 29th of May, the officers of the convention
visited Washington, and formally made known to Gen.
Grant his nomination as President. These proceedings
took place at his residence, in the presence of a large
assemblage of visitors.
The general was attired in citizen's dress, wearing
a blue military vest; and his manner was calm  and
thoughtful.
It was observed, that, when Gov. Hawley began




GEN. GRANT SINCE THE WAR.                  311
reading his address, Gen. Grant chanced to be standing
near a marlle bust of President Lincoln, and leaning
upon' the pedestal on which it stood.  It was thought a
fortunate companionship.  Gen. Grant replied briefly,
but with evident emotion; and closed by saying, " If
elected President, I shall have no policy of my own to
enforce against the will of the people."
He  subsequently  accepted  the  nomination  in  the
following letter: -
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 29, 1868.
To G6n. JOSEPH R. HAWLEY, President of the National Union Republican
Convention, -
In formally receiving the nomination of the National Union
Republican Convention of the 21st of May instant, it seems
proper that some statement of my views, beyond the mere acceptance of the nomination, should be expressed. The proceedings
of the convention were marked with wisdom, moderation, and
patriotism, and, I believe, express the feelings of the great mass
of those who sustained the country through its recent trials. I
indorse their resolutions. If elected to the office of President of
the United States, it will be my endeavor to administer all the
laws in good faith, with economy, and with the view of giving
peace, quiet, and protection everywhere.  In  times like the
present, it is impossible, or at least eminently improper, to lay
down a policy to be adhered to, right or wrong, through an administration of four years. New political issues, not foreseen, are
constantly arising; the views of the public on old ones are constantly changing; and a purely administrative officer should always
be left free to execute the will of the people. I always have
respected that will, and  always shall.  Peace, and universal
prosperity, its sequence, with economy of administration, will
lighten the burden of taxation, while it constantly reduces the
national debt. Let us have peace.
With great respect,
Your obedient servant,
U. S. GRANT.




312           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
On the same day, a committee of the Soldiers' and
Sailors' Convention waited upon Gen. Grant, and presented a complimentary address, and a copy of'the
resolutions passed by the convention.  In his reply
he said, " While it was never a desire of mine to be a
candidate for political office, it affords me great gratification to feel that I have the support of those who were
with me in the war. If I did not feel that I had the
confidence of those, I should feel less desirous of accepting the position. Acceptance is not a matter of choice,
but of duty."
This spirit is in keeping with the character of the
man and the high destiny to which he has been called.




CHAPTER XXXIV.
HIS ADMINISTRATION.
G ENERAL GRANT was elected President on the
3d day of November, 1868.  The states that
voted for him were Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas,
Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, California, Minnesota, Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, and Nebraska,
giving two hundred and fourteen electoral votes.
The remainder, eighty votes, were given for Horatio
Seymour. After the canvass of the votes by Congress, Senator Morton and Representatives Pruyn and
Wilson were appointed a committee to inform him of
his election. The Inauguration took place on the
4th of March. Early in the riorning General Grant
arrived at his office as General of the Army. The
last papers signed by him were two warrants for hospital stewards, and some papers to be referred to the
Secretary of War.  The business was done in his
usual quiet way, so that no one present would have
suspected that any unusual event was to take place
during the day. About ten o'clock the procession
took up its line of march for the Capitol. General
313




314        LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Grant was accompanied, in an open carriage, by General John A. Rawlins, his Chief of Staff, who had
started with him from Illinois, attended him through
all his campaigns, and been his most trusted friend
and counsellor. When the head of the procession
reached the White House, a messenger was sent to
inform President Johnson, and request him to join it;
but he declined. The Senate Chamber, where VicePresident Colfax took the oath of office, was crowded
with a brilliant array of distinguished visitors. In
the reporters' gallery, among the  correspondents
watching the scene, was Horace Greeley. At noon
the heavy bronze doors of the Capitol swung slowly
open, and there appeared Chief Justice Chase, followed by General Grant, President elect, the diplomatic corps in full costume, and all the chief officials
of the government, Generals Sherman, Thomas, Hancock, Meigs, and Terry, with Admirals Farragut, Porter, Dahlgren, Goldsborough, and other officers of
the army and navy. When General Grant was seen,
the immense multitude broke into loud and long-continued cheers. The procession advanced to the platform where the oath of office was to be administered,
between the colossal statues on either side of Peace
and War. Other presidents had done the same, but
never did the presence of the marble figures seem so
suggestive as at the close of a great civil war. The
President then delivered the following
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES: Your suffrage having elevated
me to the office of President of the United States, I have, in con



His ADMINISTRATION.                        315
formity with the Constitution of our country, taken the oath of
office prescribed therein. I have taken this oath without mental
reservation, with the determination to do, to the best of my ability,
all that it requires of me. The responsibilities of the position I
feel, but accept them without fear. The office has come to me unsought.  I commence its duties untrammelled.  I bring to it a
conscientious desire and determination to fill it, to the best of my
ability, to the satisfaction of the people.
On all leading questions agitating the public mind I will always
express my views to Congress, and urge them  according to my
judgment, and when I think it advisable, will exercise the constitutional privilege of interposing a veto to defeat measures which
I oppose. But all laws will be faithfully executed, whether they
meet my approval or not.  I shall on all subjects have a policy to
recommend, but none to enforce against the will of the people.
Laws are to govern all alike - those opposed to as well as those
who favor them. I know no method to secure the repeal of bad
or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.
The country having just emerged from a great rebellion, many
questions will come before it for settlement in the next four years
which preceding administrations have never had to deal with. In
meeting these it is desirable that they should be approached calmly,
without prejudice, hate, or sectional pride, remembering that the
greatest good to the greatest number is the object to be attained.
This requires security of person, property, and for religious and
political opinion in every part of our common country, without
regard to local prejudice. All laws to secure these ends will receive
my best efforts for their enforcement.
A great debt has been contracted in securing to us and our
posterity the Union.  The payment of this, principal and interest,
as well as the return to a specie basis as soon as it can be accomplished without material detriment to the debtor class or to the
country at large, must be provided for. To protect the national
honor, every dollar of government indebtedness should be paid in
gold, unless otherwise stipulated in the contract. Let it be understood that no repudiator of one farthing of our public debt will be
trusted in public place, and it will go far towards strengthening a
credit which ought to be the best in the world, and will ultimately
enable us to replace the debt with bonds bearing less interest than




316            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
we now pay. To this should be added a faithful collection of the
revenue, a strict accountability to the treasury for every dollar collected, and the greatest practicable retrenchment in expenditure in
every department of government.
When we compare the paying capacity of the country now, with
ten states still in poverty from the effects of the war, but soon to
emerge, I trust, into greater prosperity than ever before, with its
paying capacity twenty-five years ago, and calculate what it probably will be twenty-five years hence, who can doubt the feasibility of
paying every dollar then with more ease than we now pay for useless luxuries.  Why, it looks as though Providence had bestowed
upon us a strong box - the precious metals locked up in the sterile
mountains of the far west - which we are now forging the key to
unlock, to meet the very contingency that is upon us.
Ultimately it may be necessary to increase the facilities to reach
these riches, and it may be necessary also that the general government should give its aid to secure this access; but that should only
be when a dollar of obligation to pay secures precisely the same
sort of dollar to use now, and not before.
Whilst the question of specie payments is in abeyance, the
prudent business man is careful about contracting debts payable in
the distant future. The nation should follow the same rule. A
prostrate commerce is to be rebuilt and all industries encouraged.
The young men of the country, those who from their age must
be its rulers twenty-five years hence, have a peculiar interest in
maintaining the national honor. A moment's reflection as to what
will be our commanding influence among the nations of the earth
in their day, if they are only true to themselves, should inspire
them with national pride. All divisions, geographical, political, and
religious, can join in this common sentiment.
How the public debt is to be paid, or specie payments resumed,
is not so important as that a plan should be adopted and acquiesced
in. A  united determination to do is worth more than divided
councils upon the method of doing. Legislation on this subject may
not be necessary now, nor even advisable; but it will be when the
civil law is more fully restored in all parts of the country, and trade
resumes its wonted channel.
It will be my endeavor to execute all laws in good faith, to collect all revenues assessed, and to have them properly accounted for




His ADMINISTRATION.                       317
and economically disbursed. I will, to the best of my ability, appoint to office those only who will carry out this design.
In regard to foreign  policy, I would  deal with nations as
equitable law requires individuals to deal with each other; and I
would protect the law-abiding citizen, whether native or of foreign
birth, wherever his rights are jeopardized, or the flag of our country
floats. I would respect the rights of all nations, demanding equal
respect for our own. If others depart from this rule in their dealings with us, we may be compelled to follow their precedent.
The proper treatment of the original occupants of this land, the
Indian, is one deserving of careful study. I will favor any course
towards them which tends to their civilization, Christianization, and
ultimate citizenship.
The question of suffrage is one which is likely to agitate the
public so long as a portion of the citizens of the nation are excluded
from its privileges in any state. It seems to me very desirable that
this question should be settled now, and I entertain the hope, and
express the desire, that it may be, by the ratification of the fifteenth
article of amendment to the Constitution.
In conclusion, I would ask patient forbearance one towards
another throughout the land, and a determined effort on the part
of every citizen to do his share towards cementing a happy Union,
and I ask the prayers of the nation to Almighty God in behalf of
this consummation.*
Chief Justice Chase then stepped forward and presented to  the president a Bible, on which  the latter
reverently laid his hand.  The chief justice  administered to him  the following oath:" I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
* A little incident at the inauguration attracted notice at the time. Mrs.
Grant and the ladies of her family were unable, from the crowd, to reach the
seats reserved for them; but the president's little daughter made her way at
last down to the desk, and stood by her father, gazing with child-like wonder at
the strange scene. The contrast, on such an occasion, between the artless innocence of childhood and the warrior of a hundred battles was remarked
by many.




318         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
The president bent his head, and kissed the sacred
volume, - Ulysses S. Grant was president.  The acclamations of the vast multitude, the booming of the
cannon, announced that the man who had saved the
Union in war had sworn to preserve it in peace. Inaugural addresses had almost invariably been confined
to the declaration of principles and sentiments. President Grant surprised every one by avoiding " glittering generalities," and dealing with measures.  He
urged the payment of the national debt in gold, except
where it was otherwise'expressly stipulated in the
contract; he declared his determination to meet all
questions arising out of the rebellion without prejudice, hate, or sectional pride, and in his desire that
the freedmen may be empowered to protect themselves by the ballot, he recommended the ratification
of the fifteenth article of amendment to the Constitution.
He organized his cabinet by appointing Elihu B.
Washburne, Secretary of State; Alexander T. Stewart,
Secretary of the Treasury; A. E. Borie, Secretary of
the Navy; E. R. Hoar, Attorney General; J. D. Cox,
Secretary of the Interior; and J. A. J. Creswell, Postmaster General. Mr. Washburne and Mr. Stewart
soon after resigned; their places were filled respectively by Hamilton Fish and Gebrge S. Boutwell.
General J. A. Rawlins was made Secretary of War.
He nominated William T. Sherman, Lieutenant General, to the post of General of the Armies, vacated
by himself, and Major General P. H. Sheridan to be
Lieutenant General, in place of General Sherman.
The second day after his inauguration he restored




His ADMINISTRATION.            319
General Sheridan to the military command at New
Orleans, from which he had been displaced by Mr.
Johuson, appointed General Terry to Georgia, and
General Reynolds to Texas.
The mere announcement of these appointments
gave the country generally, and especially loyal men
at the North, confidence that tumult and violence in
the rebel states would be no longer tolerated. At the
same time the nomination of General Longstreet, who
had been one of the most distinguished of the rebel
generals, to be Surveyor of the Port of New Orleans,
gave assurance that the president desired to inaugurate an era of good feeling, and as far as was in his
power to "clasp hands across the bloody chasm"
with former enemies.  This nomination was at first
criticised by some; but it was ascertained that General Longstreet, immediately after Lee's surrender, accepted the results of the war, and gave his influence
steadily and cordially in favor of the policy of reconstruction.
An act was at once passed to strengthen the public
credit, declaring that the faith of the United States is
solemnly pledged to the payment in coin, or its equivalent, of the national debt. This law, following the
Inaugural Address, assured the world that the United
States were able and determined to pay its debts honestly, and to the uttermost farthing. The effect was
seen at once in the appreciation of the government
bonds throughout the world. On the 27th of February, 1869, the fifteenth amendment was passed by
Congress, as follows: —
" The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not




320          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation."
This amendment was ratified by twenty-nine states,
being the requisite three fourths. President Grant set
forth the nature and great importance of the event in
a special message to Congress, in which he said, that
a measure which makes at once four million people
voters who were heretofore declared by the highest
tribunal in the land not citizens of the United States,
nor eligible to become so (with the assertion that "at
the time of the Declaration of Independence the opinion was fixed and universal in the civilized portion of
the white race, regarded as an axiom in morals as well
as in politics, that black men had no rights which the
white man was bound to respect "), is indeed a measure
of grander importance than any other one act of the
kind from the foundation of our free government to
the present day.
Institutions like ours, in which all power is derived
directly from the people, must depend mainly upon
their intelligence, patriotism, and industry. He called
the attention, therefore, of the newly enfranchised
race to the importance of their striving in every honorable manner to make themselves worthy of their new
privilege. To the race more favored heretofore by
our laws he would say, Withhold no legal privilege of
advancement to the new citizen.  The framers of our
Constitution firmly believed that our republican government could not endure without intelligence and
education generally diffused among the people. The




His ADMINISTRATION.                321
" Father of his Country," in his Farewell Address, uses
this language: —
"Promote, then, as a matter of primary importance, institutions
for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of the government gives force to public opinion, it is essential
that public opinion should be enlightened."
In his first Annual Message to Congress the same
views are forcibly presented, and are again urged in
his eighth message.
President Grant repeated that the adoption of the
fifteenth amendment to the Constitution completes the
greatest civil change, and constitutes the most important event that has occurred since the nation came into
life.  The change will be beneficial in proportion to
the heed that is given to the urgent recommendations
of Washington. If these recommendations were important then, with a population of but a few millions,
how much more important now, with a population of
forty millions, and increasing in a rapid ratio!  He
therefore called upon Congress to take all the means
within their constitutional powers to promote and
encourage popular education throughout the country, and upon the people everywhere to see to it that
all who possess and exercise political rights shall have
the opportunity to acquire the knowledge which will
make their share in the government a blessing, and
not a danger. By such means only can the benefits
contemplated by this amendment to the Constitution
be secured.
Thus, in the fullness of time, justice had come to the
long-suffering bondmen.  The race which Abraham
21




322        LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
Lincoln emancipated General Grant defended, and
he now, as president, proclaimed invested with the
solemn rights of citizenship. In one decade, a race
emancipated, and a race enfranchised! When has the
world beheld such an event?  A great chapter in
human history more pathetic than any epic, how happily concluded!
The result of the presidental election in New York
city, in 1868, convinced the country generally that
additional means were required to secure the purity
of elections. It was felt that if a faction in any city
could, by fraudulent returns, give the electoral vote
of a state to one candidate or another, such action, in
a closely-contested election, might eventually cause a
revolution. The nation would never consent to receive a president at the dictation of "a ring."  Such
fraud strikes at the very life of the republic. Accordingly, May 31, 1870, an act was passed to enforce
the right of the citizens of the United States to vote,
and providing penalties for bribing, threats, interference with. or intimidation of voters. This act was
amended in February, 1871, by imposing penalties for
illegal registration of votes, for false swearing, and
providing that all votes for representatives to Congress shall be by written or printed ballot only.
Congress having passed a law declaring eight hours
a day's work for all laborers, mechanics, and workmen
in the employ of the government, the president, to
prevent all dispute concerning its construction, issued
a proclamation on the 19th of May, 1869, directing
that no reduction shall be made in the wages paid
by the government by the day to the laboring men in




HIS ADMINISTRATION.                    323
its employ on account of such reduction of the hours
of labor.
General Grant's experience on the frontier, as an
army officer, had afforded him peculiar opportunities
for observing Indian life and character. He earnestly desired  to  inaugurate  a new  and more humane
policy. From the foundation of the government to the
present time the management of the original inhabitants of this continent, the Indians, has been a subject
of embarrassment and expense, and has been attended
with continuous robberies, murders, and wars. From
his own experience upon the frontiers, he declared he
could not hold either legislation or the conduct of the
whites who come most in  contact with the Indian,
blameless for these hostilities.  He said, 
"I have attempted a new policy towards these wards of the
nation (they cannot be regarded in any other light than wards)
with fair results, so far as tried, and which, I hope, will be attended
ultimately with great success. The Society of Friends is well known
as having succeeded in living in peace with the Indians in the early
settlement of Pennsylvania, while their white neighbors, of other
sects, in other sections were constantly embroiled. They were also
known for their opposition to all strife, violence, and war, and are
generally noted for their strict integrity and fair dealings. These
considerations induced me to give the management of a few reservations of Indians to them, and to throw the burden of the selection
of agents upon the Society itself. The result has proved most
satisfactory."
The policy of the administration has aimed to accomplish  two  objects —to locate  the Indians upon
fixed reservations, so that the western settlers may
be freed from the terrors of wandering hostile tribes,
and an earnest effort for their education and civiliza



324         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
tion. The president accordingly appointed a commission of philanthropic citizens, who have a supervisory
and visitatorial duty in regard to Indian affairs. They
are directed by the president to examine all accounts
of the Indian Bureau, to scrutinize the purchase of
goods, inspect the tribes on their reservations, and
examine all Indian agencies. The number of Indians
within the jurisdiction of the United States is three
hundred and twenty-one thousand.
The president has repeatedly commended to Congress the subject of education as of great interest to
the success of our republican institutions, happiness,
and grandeur as a nation, expressing the hope that the.time-honored and beneficial policy of setting aside
certain sections of public land for educational purposes in the new  states should be continued, that
educational interests may well be served by the grant
of the proceeds of the public lands.
These suggestions regarding the educational interests were admirably embodied in a bill introduced by
Hon. G. F. Hoar, of Massachusetts. Under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau nearly five millions
and a half of dollars have been expended for the
maintenance of schools and the purchase and erection
of school-houses. Under the policy of reconstruction
a free school system  has been engrafted upon the
polity of the Southern States, and hundreds of thousands of children are now receiving the blessings of
education, without which no republic can live.
The president has repeatedly urged upon Congress
the importance of a reform in the civil service of the
country. He said, -




His ADMINISTRATION.                    325
"Always favoring practical reforms, I respectfully call your attention to one abuse of long standing, which I would like to see
remedied by this Congress. It is a reform in the civil service of the
country. I would have it go beyond the mere fixing of the tenure
of office of clerks and employes who do not require' the advice and
consent of the Senate' to make their appointments complete. I
would have it govern, not the tenure, but the manner of making all
appointments. There is no duty which so much embarrasses the
executive and heads of departments as that of appointments; nor
is there any such arduous and thankless labor imposed on senators
and representatives as that of finding places for constituents. The
present system does not secure the best men, and often not even fit
men, for public place. The elevation and purification of the civil
service of the government will be hailed with approval by the whole
people of the United States."
As might be expected, the president has taken special interest in all matters relating to the payment of
pensions to the soldiers of the Union armies. The sum
of thirty-six millions of dollars annually is paid in pensions; the payments are now made quarterly instead of
semiannually, and twenty per cent. has been added
to the pensions of those who have lost a limb or have
received an equivalent disability.
The destruction of our ships by rebel cruisers, and
the substitution generally of iron ships propelled by
steam, in place of wooden ships propelled by sails,
have  nearly  destroyed  American  ocean  commerce.
Our foreign commerce in American ships has diminished from seventy-one per cent., in 1860, to less than
thirty-eight per cent. in 1871.
In his message to Congress the president has repeat.
edly called attention to the loss of our commerce and
the best means for its revival, among which are the
development of the trade with China and Japan. He
says, 




326            LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
"It is a national humiliation that we are now compelled to pay
from twenty to thirty million dollars annually (exclusive of passage money, which we should share with vessels of other nations)
to foreigners for doing the work which should be done by American
vessels - American built, American owned, and American manned.
This is a direct drain upon the resources of the country of just so
much money; equal to casting it into the sea, so far as this nation
is concerned.
" A nation of the vast and ever-increasing interior resources of
the United States, extending, as it does, from one to the other of the
great oceans of the world, with an industrious, intelligent, energetic
population, must one day possess its full share of the commerce of
these oceans, no matter what the cost. Delay will only increase
this cost, and enhance the difficulty of attaining the result.
" I therefore put in an earnest plea for early action on this matter, in a way to secure the desired increase of American commerce.
I regard it of such grave importance, affecting every interest of the
country to so great an extent, that any method which will gain the
end will secure a rich national blessing. Building ships and navigating them utilize vast capital at home; it employs thousands of
workmen in their construction and manning; it creates a home
market for the products of the farm and the shop; it diminishes the
balance of trade against us precisely to the extent of freights and
passage-money paid to American vessels, and gives us a supremacy
upon the seas of inestimable value in case of foreign war."
At the same time he urges the increase of cheap
transportation between the agricultural states of the
west and the Atlantic seaboard as a subject of national importance.
The manufacturing interests of the country, which
formerly, from causes connected with the slave labor,
were the objects of sectional jealousy and ever-changing legislation, have been treated in a comprehensive
spirit, dictated by the sincerest friendship for the
working men of America.  He says, -




His ADMINISTRATION.                       327
"Our manufactures are increasing with wonderful rapidity under
the encouragement which they now receive.  With the improvements in machinery already effected, and still increasing, causing
machinery to take the place of skilled labor to a large extent, our
imports of many articles must fall off largely within a few years.
Fortunately, too, manufactures are not confined to a few localities,
as formerly, and it is to be hoped will become more and more diffused, making the interest in them equal in all sections. They
give employment and support to hundreds of thousands of people
at home, and retain with us the means which otherwise would
be shipped abroad. The extension of railroads in Europe and the
East is bringing into competition with our agricultural products like
products of other countries. Self-interest, if not self-preservation,
therefore, dictates caution against disturbing any industrial interest
of the country."
The same friendliness to the sons of toil is evinced
in  recommendations  concerning  the  public  lands.
President Grant says, -
" The opinion that the public lands should be regarded chiefly as
a source of revenue is no longer maintained.  The rapid settlement
and successful cultivation of them are now justly considered of
more importance to our well-being than is the fund which the sale
of them w6uld produce. The remarkable growth and prosperity of
our new states and territories attest the wisdom of the legislation
which invites the tiller of the soil to secure a permanent home on
terms within the reach of all. The pioneer who incurs the dangers
and privations of a frontier life, and thus aids in laying the foundation of new commonwealths, renders a signal service to his country,
and is entitled to its special favor and protection. These laws
secure that object and largely promote the general welfare.  They
should, therefore, be cherished as a permanent feature of our
land system.
" I renew my recommendation that the public lands be regard d
as a heritage to our children, to be disposed of only as required for
occupation and to actual settlers.
" The true prosperity and greatness of a nation is to be found in
the elevation and education of its laborers."




328         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
"In war," said Wellington, " it is the last guinea
that wins."  One of the greatest problems during the
rebellion was to furnish the means to carry on the contest, and since its termination to provide for the
gradual discharge of the debt and the payment of the
interest.
The debt of the United States March 1, 1869, deducting cash in the treasury, was two thousand five
hundred and twenty-five millions four hundred and
sixty-three thousand two hundred and sixty dollars.
It had been decreased September 1, 1872, three hundred and forty-eight millions one hundred and fortyone thousand two hundred and thirty-nine dollars.
The decrease in annual interest to be paid has been
twenty-three millions one hundred and ninety-one
thousand three hundred and sixty-five dollars. Meanwhile, since the war, laws have been repealed which
called for the collection of three hundred millions of
taxes annually. Duties have been removed from tea
and coffee, articles of necessity, and articles which
enter into the manufactures of the country, and are
mainly confined to liquors, tobacco, banks, bankers,
and such sources of revenue as least affect the masses
of the country. As a result of this policy, the government has been enabled to redeem  two hundred millions of six per cent. bonds, and borrow in their stead,
in the money centres of the world, two hundred millions at five per cent. interest. This reduction of interest affects not only the interest account of the
government, but by fixing a standard of interest at a
low rate, enables every one to borrow money for business purposes at less cost. It is the declared purpose




His ADMINISTRATION.              329
of the Treasury Department still further to replace
the six per cent. bonds, by bonds at four and a half
and four per cent. Such a result in the management of the finances'nay well challenge admiration
and inspire confidence.
In May, 1870, the president transmitted a treaty to
the Senate for ratification looking to the acquisition of
the island of San Domingo, as desirable on account of
its geographical position. He said," It commands the entrance to the Caribbean Sea
and the isthmus transit of commerce. It possesses the
richest soil, best and most capacious harbors, most salubrious climate, and the most valuable products of the
forest, mine, and soil, of any of the West India
islands. Its possession by us will in a few years build
up a coastwise commerce of immense magnitude,
which will go far towards restoring to us our lost
merchant marine."
The proposal gave rise to an animated discussion
and much diversity of opinion. A  commission was
appointed to visit San Domingo, who reported in favor of the acquisition, but their arguments failed to
convince the Senate of the expediency of the measure
at that time. The revolution in Cuba created great
interest in the United States, and naturally aroused]
strong sympathy for the struggling Cubans. President
Grant, however, without regard to his private feelings,
adhered strictly, at the risk of censure, to the policy
of neutrality, and of abstaining from all entangling
alliances, which has descended from the administration of Washington.
In 1870, the Dominion authorities revoked  the




330        LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
system of fishing licenses, and prohibited United
States fishing vessels from entering any harbor in the
provinces to leave fish in bond, or even to procure
supplies. The president regarded this action as intended to compel the negotiation of a reciprocity
treaty. He said,"Anticipating that an attempt may possibly be
made by the Canadian authorities in the coming season to repeat their unneighborly acts towards our
fishermen, I recommend you to confer upon the executive the power to suspend, by proclamation, the
operation of the laws authorizing the transit of goods,
wares, and merchandise, in bond, across the territory
of the United States to Canada; and further, should
such an extreme measure become necessary, to suspend
the operation of any laws whereby the vessels of the
Dominion of Canada are permitted to enter the waters
of the United States.
"A like unfriendly disposition has been manifested
on the part of Canada, in the maintenance of a claim
of right to exclude the citizens of the United States
from the navigation of the St. Lawrence. This river
constitutes a natural outlet to the ocean for eight
states, with an aggregate population of about 17,600000 inhabitants, and with an aggregate tonnage of
661,367 tons, upon the waters which discharge into it.
The foreign commerce of our ports on these waters is
open to British competition, and the major part of it is
done on British bottoms. If the American seamen be
excluded from this natural avenue to the ocean, the
monopoly of the direct commerce of the lake ports
with the Atlantic would be in foreign hands, their




His ADMINISTRATION.             331
vessels on transatlantic voyages having an access to
our lake ports, which would be denied to American
vessels on similar voyages. To state such a proposition is to refute its justice."
President Grant's administration has the high honor
of settling by peaceful negotiation with Great Britain,
a dispute of long standing, caused by the Alabama
claims, and which has caused intense feeling on the
part of the American people. One treaty on the subject had been negotiated under Mr. Johnson's administration, which failed of ratification by the Senate.
The whole question was felt to be, from peculiar
causes, one of great importance, delicacy, and difficulty. In January, 1871, the British minister at Washington suggested a reference of the question regarding the fisheries to a joint commission. The president
responded with a suggestion that the Alabama' claims
be also referred; and that the removal of the differences which arose during the rebellion are essential to
the restoration of cordial and amicable relations between the two governments.  This proposition was
assented to, and the president nominated as commissioners, on the part of the United States, Hon. Hamilton Fish, Hon. Samuel Nelson, Hon. Robert C.
Schenck, Hon. E. R. Hoar, Hon. George H. Williams. The English government appointed as commissioners, Earl de Grey, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote,
Sir Edward Thornton, Sir John Alexander McDonald,
and Professor Montague Bernard. The commissioners first assembled in Washington, February 27, and
on the 8th of May signed a treaty, expressing the
regret of the British government at the escape and




832        LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
depredations of the rebel cruisers, and by which the
Alabama claims were referred to a tribunal of arbitration, to be composed of five arbitrators. One to be
appointed by the president, one by the queen of Great
Britain, one by the emperor of Brazil, one by the
king of Italy, one by the president of the Swiss Confederation. On the 22d of June, Mr. Schenck writes
from London to Secretary Fish, as follows:"I have the satisfaction to inform you that, having
produced and exchanged powers from our respective
governments, the formal exchange of ratifications
took place, as agreed between Lord Granville and
myself, on Saturday, the 17th, at a quarter past two
o'clock, P. M., at the Foreign Office. I note the
exact time and place, as marking an interesting and
momentous point in the history of the two countries
and their governments."
In August, Mr. Charles Francis Adams was appointed arbitrator on the part of the United States,
Sir Alexander Cockburn on the part of England, Count
Sclopis by Italy, D. Itajuba by Brazil, J. Staempfli by
Switzerland. The arbitrators assembled at Geneva
during the summer of 1872, and as the result of their
deliberations, awarded America damages to the amount
of nearly sixteen millions of dollars. The success of
this treaty is one of the highest triumphs of peace and
international law in the annals of modern civilization.
It is an example to all nations, and heralds the day
when national disputes shall be submitted to peaceful
arbitration, and wars shall be no more. In the distant future it may rival the splendors of military
glory. The Hon. Mr. Boutwell states that when the




His ADMINISTRATION.             333
unwritten history of the treaty is known, its success
will be seen to have been largely owing to the personal tact, and skill, and wisdom of President Grant.
In 1871 the extraordinary condition of the Southern
States attracted the special attention of Congress. It
appeared that organized bands of desperate and lawless men, mainly composed of soldiers of the late rebel
armies, armed, disciplined, and disguised, and bound
by oaths, had by violence subverted all civil authority in large portions of the states lately in insurrection. These bands, known as the Ku-Klux Klan, pretended at first to be the ghosts of the rebel dead, who
went forth at midnight to punish those who had been
disloyal to the "Lost Cause." They murdered, robbed,
plundered, whipped, and scourged the defenceless victims of their hate, and spread terror over vast regions
of country. If any attempt was made to punish these
crimes, witnesses, jurymen, counsel, and judges would
be visited at night, and vengeance dealt out according
to the decrees of the secret conclave. Senator Sherman said, "In all the record of human crime,- and
God knows it is full, - he knew not where there was
an organization against which humanity revolts more
than it does against this." In March, the president
sent a special message to Congress, asking for legislation to uphold the laws. The whole subject was investigated.  In North Carolina a large number of
persons were brought before the courts, tried, convicted, and punished. The energetic and determined
course of the government arrested a conspiracy which,
in some states, threatened at one time to reorganize
the rebellion.




334          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
On the 6th of June, 1872, at the National Republican Convention, held at Philadelphia, where all the
states and territories of the Union were fully represented, General Grant was unanimously renominated
for President, amid the greatest enthusiasm. The
Convention adopted the following
DECLARATION  OF PRINCIPLES.
"The National Republican Party of the United States, assembled in National Convention in the city of Philadelphia, on the 5th and 6th days of June, 1872, again
declares its history and announces its position upon the
questions before the country:"First. During eleven years of supremacy it has accepted with grand courage the solemn duties of the time.
It suppressed a gigantic rebellion, emancipated four millions of slaves, decreed the equal citizenship of all, and
established universal suffrage exhibiting unparalleled magnanimity. It criminally punished no  man for political
offences, and warmly welcomed all who proved their loyalty by obeying the laws and dealing justly with their
neighbors. It has steadily decreased with a firm hand the
resultant disorders of a great war, and initiated a wise and
humane policy towards the Indians.
The Pacific Railroad, and similar vast enterprises, have
been generally ended, and successfully conducted; the public lands freely given to actual settlers; immigration protected and encouraged, and a full acknowledgment of
naturalized citizens' rights secured from European powers;
a uniform national currency has been provided; repudiation frowned down; the national credit sustained, under




His ADMINISTRATION.                 335
the most extraordinary burdens, and new bonds negotiated
at lower rates; the revenues have been carefully'collected
and honestly applied; despite the annual large reduction
of the rates of taxation, the public debt has been reduced
during General Grant's presidency at the rate of a hundred millions a year.
Great financial crises have been avoided, and peace and
plenty prevail throughout the land; menacing foreign difficulties have been peacefully and honorably composed, and
the honor and power of the nation kept in high respect
throughout the world; the glorious record of the past is
the  party's best pledge for the future. We believe
the people will not intrust the government to any party
or combination of men composed chiefly of those who have
resisted every step of this beneficial progress.
Second. Complete liberty and exact equality in the enjoyment of all civil, political, and public rights should be
established and  effectually maintained throughout the
Union by efficient and appropriate State and Federal legislation. Neither the law  nor its administration should
admit of any discriminations in respect of citizens by reason of race, creed, or color, or previous condition of servitude.
Third. The recent amendments to the National Constitution should be cordially sustained because they are
right, not merely tolerated because they are law, and should
be carried out according to their spirit by appropriate
legislation, the enforcement of which can safely be intrusted only to the party that secured those amendments.
Fourth.  The National Government should seek to
maintain honorable peace with all nations, protecting its
citizens everywhere, and sympathizing with all people who
strive for greater liberty.
Fifth. Any system of the civil service under which the




386         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
subordinate positions of the government are considered
rewards for mere party zeal is fatally deteriorating, and we
therefore favor a reform of the system by laws which shall
abolish the evils of patronage, and make honesty, efficiency,
and fidelity the essential qualifications for public positions,
without practically creating a life tenure of office.
Sixth. We are opposed to further grants of the public
lands to corporations and monopolies, and demand that a
national domain be set apart for the people.
Seventh.''he annual revenue, after paying the current
debts, should furnish a moderate balance for the reduction
of the principal, and the revenue, except so much as may
be derived fiom a tax upon tobacco and liquors, be raised
by duties upon importations, the duties of which should be
so adjusted as to aid in securing remunerative wages to
labor, and promote the industry, prosperity, and growth of
the whole country.
Eighth.  We hold in undying honor the soldiers and
sailors whose valor saved the Union. Their pensions are
a sacred debt of the nation, and the widows and orphans
of those who died for their country are entitled to the
care of a generous and grateful people. We favor such
additional legislation as will extend the bounty of the
government to all our soldiers and sailors who were honorably discharged, and who in the line of duty became
disabled, without regard to length of service or the cause
of such discharge.
Ninth. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers concerning allegiance, " once a subject always
a subject," having at last, through the efforts of the Republican party, been abandoned, and the American idea of the
individual's right to transfer his allegiance having been
accepted by European nations, it is the duty of our government to guard with zealous care the rights of our




His ADMINISTRATION.                337
adopted citizens against the assumption of unauthorized
claims by their former governments; and we urge the continual careful encouragefment and protection of voluntary
immigration.
Tenth. The franking privilege ought to be abolished,
and the way prepared for a speedy reduction in the rate
of postage.
Eleventh. Among the questions which press for attention is that which concerns the relations of capital and
labor, and the Republican party recognize the duty of so
shaping legislation as to secure full protection and the
amplest field for capital, and for labor the creator of capital, the largest opportunities, and a just share of mutual
profits of these two great servants of civilization.
Twelfth. We hold that Congress and the President
have only fulfilled an imperative duty in their measures
for the suppression of violent and treasonable organizations
in certain lately rebellious regions, and for the protection
of the ballot box; and, therefore, they are entitled to the
thanks of the nation.
Thirteenth.  We denounce the repudiation of the public
debt in any form  or disguise, as a national crime. We
witness with pride the reduction of the principal of the
debt and of the rates of interest upon the balance, and confidently expect that our excellent national currency will
be perfected by a speedy resumption of specie payments.
Fourteenth. The Republican party is mindful of its
obligations to the loyal women of America for their noble
devotion to the cause of freedom. Their admission to
wider fields of usefulness is viewed with satisfaction, and
the honest demands of any class of citizens for additional
rights should be treated with respectful consideration.
Fifteenth. We heartily approve the action of Congress
in extending amnesty to those lately in rebellion, and re22




338         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
joice in the growth of peace and fraternal feeling throughout the land.
Sixteenth. The Republican party proposes to respect
the rights reserved by the people to themselves as carefully
as the powers delegated by them to the State and to the
Federal Government. It disapproves of the resort to unconstitutional laws for the purpose of removing evils by
interfering with rights not surrendered by the people to
either the State or National Government.
Seventeenth. We believe that the modest patriotism,
the earnest purpose, the sound judgment, the political wisdom, the incorruptible integrity, and the illustrious services
of Ulysses S. Grant have commended him to the hearts
of the American people, and with him at our head we
start to-day upon a new march to victory."
On the 10th of June, Hon. Thomas Settle, the
president, with the vice-presidents of the Convention,
informed him of his nomination. He replied in the
following frank and manly letter:EXECUTIVE-MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.,)
June 10, 1872.
" Hon. Thomas Settle, President of the National Republican Convention, Paul Strobach, Elisha Baxter, C.
A. Sargent, and other Vice-Presidents:
" GENTLEMEN, - Your letter of this date, advising
me of the action of the convention held in Philadelphia, Penn., on the 5th and 6th of this month, and of
my unanimous nomination for the Presidency by it, is
received.
"I accept the nomination, and through you return
my heartfelt thanks to your constituents, for this mark




His ADMINISTRATION.             839
of their confidence and support. If elected in November, and protected by a kind Providence in health and
strength to perform the high trust conferred, I promise the same zeal and devotion to the good of the
whole people for the future of my official life as shown
in the past. Past experience may guide me in avoiding mistakes inevitable with novices in all professions
and all occupations.
" When relieved from the responsibilities of my present trust by the election of a successor, whether it be
at the end of this term or the next, I hope to leave to
him as executive, a country at peace within its own
borders, at peace with outside nations, with an established credit at home and abroad, and without embarrassing questions to threaten its future prosperity.
" With the expression of a desire to see a speedy
healing of all the bitterness between sections, parties,
or races of citizens, and the time when the title of citizen carries with it all the protection and privileges to
the humblest that it does to the most exalted, I subscribe myself,
"Very respectfully,
"Your obedient servant,
"U. S. GRANT."
President Grant's administration has preserved order at home, and peace with foreign nations; it has
established equal rights for all throughout the land;
it has reduced the burdens of taxation three hundred millions a year; paid nearly three hundred and
forty-nine millions of the public debt; refunded two
hundred millions at a lower rate of interest; organ



340         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
ized schools for the freedmen, diffusing the blessings
of education to the ignorant and lowly; made voters
of liberated slaves; it has enacted laws to secure
the purity of the ballot, and enforce the right of the
citizen everywhere to vote; it has protected, with
friendly care, the rights of labor; it has dealt both
justice and mercy to the recently convicted men at
the South, who conspired against law and order; it
has treated the friendless Indians with honesty and
humanity; it has removed all cause of war with England for her hostile action during the rebellion; it has
obtained expressions of regret for her conduct from
the proudest nation on the globe, and the payment of
nearly sixteen millions of dollars for her depredations
on our commerce; it has illumined history by a successful effort to substitute Peace for War in the adjustment of national differences; it has gladly dispensed the nation's munificence to the soldiers and
sailors of the war for the Union, their widows and
orphans,- honoring both the living and the dead;
and in magnanimity it has granted amnesty to the
thousands of its late enemies in rebellion. An administration with such a record may safely trust itself to
the justice and wisdom of a sagacious and earnest people, and the calm verdict of history.




CHAPTER XXXV.
CONCLUSION.
TO  one who has read what Gen. Grant has done, little need be said as to what manner of man he
is. The outline of his life shows his ability. A Western boy, with only common advantages, he enters West
Point without preparatory study, attracts notice in the
Mexican War, and soon after retires from the service.
At the breaking-out of the Rebellion, he is an unknown
man, in the leather business, in Galena, Ill. He returns to the army as colonel of a regiment, and without
friends or influence, in spite of all opposition, advances
step by step on the path of victory, until the Government places in his hands the whole military power of
the Union. Millions of men march at his bidding:
hundreds of millions of treasure are expended by his
order. He captures more prisoners than all other generals, and ends a war of four years by the overthrow
of the Rebellion, amid the grateful acclamations of his
countrymen, and with a world-wide renown.  Such
achievements are not the result of luck or accident:
they are but seldom seen in history.
It is easy for military critics to say that this or that
campaign by rule ought to have resulted differently.
Some writers said that Badajos ought not to have been
841




342         LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
taken, and others that Missionary Ridge ought not
to have been carried.  But they were taken. Success
in war is the real test of merit. Gen. Grant did not
quote  military text-books as often as others; but
he did his work with a smaller staff, and secured larger
results.
Gen. Grant's honesty has never been questioned by
any one. He had only a small property when the war
began, and he had abundant opportunities of enriching
himself by what many would consider legitimate means;
but his bitterest opponent has never accused him of
any" financial irregularity."  Throughout the war, he
steadily opposed all schemes for jobbing and speculation.
He opposed the granting of permits to bring out cotton
in his department as aiding the Rebellion, and destructive of the public interests. When overruled, and asked
to name the parties to whom the privilege should be
granted, he answered immediately, "No; I will not do
it: for in a week it would be thought I was sharing the
profits."
His single purpose, pursued with a steadiness and
tenacity which never once relaxed its constancy and
power, was to defeat the rebel armies. To this he made
all things subordinate, and in this he triumphed.
Gen. Grant is not what is usually termed a " brilliant
genius;" but he has that which in a ruler is far
better, -a sound judgment. If he does not startle by
the coruscations, he does not disappoint by the eccentricities or infirmities of genius, so called. Almost all
qualities are found in men oftener than good judgment; because this requires the harmonious balance
and play of all the other powers. A man may be




CONCLUSION.                 343
learned, eloquent, an able general, a powerful writer,
have great attainments in some specialty, and yet his
usefulness be greatly impaired, if not destroyed, by an
unsound judgment.  One could apply to Grant the
words of Tennyson on the Duke of Wellington, whom
he in many respects resembles: —
"The statesman-warrior, moderate, resolute;
Whole in himself, a common good;
Our greatest, yet with least pretence;
Great in council, and great in war;
Foremost captain of his time;
Rich in saving common sense;
And, as the greatest only are,
In his simplicity sublime."
Gen. Grant showed great ability in the war; but he
has also shown wisdom, practical sagacity, and independence in the whirl of extraordinary, important, and
exciting events which have occurred at Washington
since the close of the war. Witness his insisting that
the Government should not violate the parole it had
accepted from Lee and his officers when this was suggested by President Johnson.  When, also, he entered
the War Department in August, 1867, on the withdrawal of Mr. Stanton, the act was misunderstood, and
denounced by many influential journals in the country;
but, conscious that he was doing his duty, nothing was
done, not a word was spoken or published by him,
to stay the tempest of censure.  When  Congress
assembled in the winter, the correspondence of Gen.
Grant with  the  President and with  Mr. Stanton
appeared at the call of Congress, and his true position
was made known.  Gen. Grant's independence of fac



344           LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
tion and party has given him praise and censure, during
the last two years, from leading journals in both political
parties.  No higher commendation will be given him
from  any source than has been accorded to him by the
ablest of his political opponents.*
Gen. Grant does not make speeches, and some consider oratory indispensable to statesmanship. But they
demand entirely different qualities. One requires the
power to persuade, the other the power to rule. The
builder of sentences is often far other than the builder
of States.  A  man may for years attack and defend
various public measures with vast learning and dexterity: he will overflow  with language in showing
" how not to do it;" but is dumb when compelled to
achieve an immediate, wise, and possible result.
Men of executive power, in all countries, have often
been preferred by the people to brilliant writers and
speakers.  Washington, Jackson, Taylor, and  Harrison were neither of them orators; but their contemporaries and rivals were among the most eloquent men
of whom  America can boast.  "It is the nature of
party in England," says Lord John Russell, "to ask
the assistance of men of genius, but to follow the guidance of men of character."  " Caress literary men and
philosophers," said Napoleon; "but do not take them
into your counsels."
* "Of the steadiness and stanchness of Gen. Grant's patriotism, or the
uprightness and solidity of his character, no man in the country doubts, or
affects to doubt.
"On the score of loyalty and solid public services, no man in the country
can come into competition with this illustrious soldier." - New- York World.




CONCLUSION.                  345
But Gen. Grant acts eloquence: the brave words of
other men he puts into deeds; what orators splendidly
say, he silently does. "Speech is silver," says the proverb; "but silence is golden."  More public men have
been injured by the fatal facility of fluency than by
voiceless action. The highway of political life is marked
by the graves of eminent men whose epitaph might be
written, " Died of a speech," or " Killed by writing a
letter."
But, when Gen. Grant has a meaning to express, he
has no difficulty in making himself understood.  In
war, in civil-convulsions, there is little place for bookish
pedantry or scholarly dandyism. State-papers are not
prisms in which to look for the colors of the rainbow;
they are not word-pictures or literary mosaics in which
each phrase is selected for its prettiness. The effect of a
cannon-ball is determined, not by its brightness or polish,
but by its weight of metal, by the power with which it
moves, and by its reaching the mark.  Gen. Grant's
words have always reached the mark.  " I recognize
no Southern Confederacy."  "I propose to move imnmediately on your works."  "No terms but unconditional surrender."  " I shall have no policy to enforce
against the will of the people."  "' Let us have peace."
These are eloquent words, and easily understood. It is
stated on the best authority,* that, throughout the war,
Gen. Grant's despatches, orders, and letters of any importance, were written by him; that his staff never
attempted to imitate or improve his style. And it is a
striking fact, that, among all the writings on the war, the
most concise and clearly written accounts of the cam* Badeau.




346          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
paigns are found  in Gen. Grant's official reports.
Where the narrative of other historians is obscure or
confused, the official report is plain and intelligible.
Gen. Grant's reticence has sometimes been imputed
to a desire to conceal his opinions; but silence is not
duplicity. He does not resort to mental legerdemain.
No man has been more frank in declaring his sentiments
at proper times. He has not chosen to keep his opinions "on draught" for political tipplers to imbibe, and
intoxicate themselves by quoting at pleasure; and in
this he has shown only prudence and sagacity. While
not a member of Congress, holding no civil office, but
at the head of the army, if he had entered the political
tournament, and every morning fulminated his sentiments on the agitating and exasperating questions of
the day, he would have been accused of impertinence
and presumption, or denounced as a " dictator." When
an officious editor from the South-west called on him,
and said," General, our people want to run you for
President," Grant changed the topic of.conversation.
But his visitor returned to the charge with the remark,
" General, our people want to run you for President.
What am I to say when I get home? "-" Say nothing,
sir.  I want nothing said."
When censured, Gen. Grant has at all times preferred to be judged by his record, by his acts, rather
than by any explanations or defence from his friends.
He has been ably supported, and has evinced great
discrimination and foresight in the selection of his generals. He has put " the right man in the right place,"
regardless of personal friendships, or powerful influence
in behalf of inferior men.




CONCLUSION.                 347
It is to be commended in  Gen. Grant that he
declares he shall have "no policy to enforce against
the will of the people."  Mr. Lincoln was reproached
that he had " no policy;" but it is one of his enduring
titles to our gratitude.
The mission of the reformer, and the duty of the
chief magistrate of a republic, are not the same. The
reformer, who goes far in advance of the people, may
shape the opinions of the generation which is to follow
him, not those of the generation in which he lives; but
this is not the work of the wise and successful magistrate, who must move with the people, or not move at
all. The office of President of the United States is
not a hobby-horse: it was not created to afford any
man an opportunity to experiment with his peculiar
crotchets in morals or politics. An enthusiast might
have issued the Emancipation Proclamation the morning after the attack on Sumter, and, by so doing,
destroyed all his influence for good during the first
year of the war, and secured a Congress eager to
oppose his wishes and defeat his plans.  Time is an
ally who will not be despised without taking fearful
revenge.  In  a free government, the statute-book
represents the will of the people; and the Executive is
under oath to " execute the laws," not nullify or evade
them.  What Sir Joshua Reynolds says of the domain
of art is in a measure true in affairs of State, —
" The present and future are rivals: he who solicits
the  one will be  discountenanced  by  the  other."
Bulwer, in one of his essays, happily says, " Statesmen
are valued while living, less according to the degree of
their intellect than to its felicitous application to the




348          LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.
public exigencies or the prevalent opinions.  Time,
like law, admits no excuse for the man who misunderstands it."  When a man has committed himself to
great principles, it is useless for him  to declare the
particular measures by which he will accomplish the
result. Mr. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation; but the convention which nominated  him
averred that the party would not interfere with slavery
in the States. A nation like ours cannot be adjusted
to a fabled bed  of Procrustes, and stretched  or
shortened against its will to fit any man's policy. The
true American doctrine was never better expressed
than by Gen. Grant when he said, "This is a republic,
where the will of the people is the law of the land."
While opposing the Rebellion with his utmost vigor,
Gen. Grant has exhibited towards its authors the greatest magnanimity in the hour of their defeat.  In no
single instance has he ever sought to humiliate or
degrade the men of the South.  His opposition to the
Rebellion has been touched with no trace of personal
malice, or revenge toward individuals. He has admitted, as did all the world, the marvellous devotion of the
South to the theories it had espoused. It is doubtful if
any nation in history has ever shown more enthusiasm, more heroism, more self-sacrifice, than the men,
women, and children of the South to the worst cause
for which a people ever fought and died. Without an
army or navy or treasury, they successfully  defied
and resisted the Government for years.  Gen, Grant
recognized the political heresies in which Southern men
had been educated; and, while defeating their insane
purpose to destroy the Union, looked forward to the




CONCLUSION.                 349
time, when, freed from the curse of slavery, and yielding obedience to the laws, they should share the duties
and partake the blessings of a regenerated republic.
These sentiments are admirably expressed by Gen.
Grant in the closing words of his report, in July, 1865.
Speaking  of the armies of the East and West, ha
says, "The splendid achievements of each have nationalized our victories, removed all sectional jealousies
(of which we have  unfortunately experienced  too
much), and the cause of crimination and recrimination
that might have followed had either section failed in
its duty. All have a proud record; and all sections can
well congratulate themselves and each other for having
done their full share in restoring the supremacy of law
over every foot of territory belonging to the United
States.  Let them hope for perpetual peace and harmony
with that enemy whose manhood; however mistaken the
cause, drew forth such herculean deeds of valor."  This
is the utterance of a patriotism broad and wide as the
nation itself. It will be fortunate for our country if it
shall be guided by its wisdom and animated by its spirit.




BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
HON. HENRY WILSON.
H ENRY  WILSON  was born in Farmington,
Strafford County, New Hampshire, February 16,
1812. It was one of those dreary, sterile regions
from  which New England has sent forth so many
poor boys to usefulness and bright renown. He was
of Scotch-Irish descent, and his parents were among
the  poorest of those, in what was comparatively
a wilderness, who struggled for a scanty subsistence
with a rigorous climate and a barren and thankless
soil. The family had contended with poverty for two
generations, when Henry, the oldest of eight boys,
went to serve an apprenticeship to a Mr. Knight, a
farmer in the neighborhood, and his lot was fixed until
he was twenty-one.
Schools were few and poor.  It was part of Mr.
Knight's hard, close bargain that Henry should go to
school one month out of twelve; but afterwards,
350




BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HENRY WILSON. 351
being "a strict constructionist," he decided to give
the boy his one month in odd days, weeks apart, when
there was no work to be done.  One day, when
going on an errand, a lady noticed him, inquired his
name, asked him if he could read, and struck by the
lad's intelligent face, promised to lend him a book if
he would come to her house to obtain it. He went;
she loaned him the New Testament, and offered him
the use of her husband's library. Her husband was a
lawyer in the vicinity, and the lady proved to be a
Mrs. Eastman, a sister of Levi Woodbury, the governor of New Hampshire. How little she dreamed of the
effects of her promise!  "Some seeds fell on good
ground, and brought forth fruit an hundred fold."
Lamps and candles were luxuries, but before the boy
was twenty-one he had read by moonlight, and the
light of the fire in long evenings, nearly a thousand
volumes, with numberless newspapers, and he read
with a memory that relinquished nothing. His kind
friends ministered to his hunger for reading, and
often predicted for him a brilliant future. It recalls
the beautiful story which Curran, in his later years,
used to relate to his guests at his table of his early
benefactor and friend. " When I was a poor boy,"
said he, " I was one day playing marbles in the village of Ballalley, when a stranger of remarkable a;pearance spoke to me, inquired my name, subsequently
taught me to read, sent me to school, sent me to the
university, gave me my education; then I lost sight
of him for thirty-five years. I had attained some
eminence at the bar, and had a seat in Parliament,
when one day, returning home, I found an old gentle



352        BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
man seated familiarly in my drawing-room, his feet on
the marble mantel, as if he was perfectly at home. He
turned around - it was my old friend of Ballalley! I
rushed instinctively into his arms and burst into tears,
and said,' You are right, sir! you are right! The paintings are yours, the library is yours, the house is yours;
you gave me all, my friend and benefactor.' And
that night I caught the tears glistening in his eye,
when he saw poor little Jack Curran, the creature of
his bounty, rise in the House of Commons to reply to
a right honorable member."  The friends of the
poor New Hampshire boy never saw him in the Senate of the United States, but Senator Wilson has
never ceased to remember their early kindness with
the tenderest emotions of gratitude. The Testament
given him he still preserves among the most valued
souvenirs of his life.
In 1833, when a little more than twenty-one years
of age, young Wilson started, with his pack on his
back, to walk from Farmington to Natick, Mass., in
search of work, passing a mile out of his way to stand
on Bunker Hill, and in Boston, searching out the
office of the North American Review, as the fountain
of learning in the "Hub" of that day. In a speech
at Great Falls, N. H., February 24, 1872, he thus
a1}Xuds ta thus& uirnumstaiacca.
"I see before me men whom I recognize as toiling
men; men who have to support the wives of their
bosoms and the children of their love by manual labor.
I call the earnest attention of these men to this terrible
struggle through which we have passed, and to what
has been achieved for the poor toiling men of this




HON. HENRY WILSON.              353
country during the last twelve years. I feel that I
have a right to speak for toiling men and to toiling
men. I was born here in your county of Strafford.
I was born in poverty: want sat by my cradle. I
know what it is to ask a mother for bread when she
has none to give. I left my home at ten years of age,
and served an apprenticeship of eleven years, receiving a month's schooling each year, and at the end of
eleven years of hard work, a yoke of oxen and six
sheep, which brought me eighty-four dollars. A dollar would cover every penny I spent from the time I
was born until I was twenty-one years of age."
In Natick he learned the trade of shoemaking, and
before long became a manufacturer. But self-culture
was with him of supreme importance. He managed
to secure board in a house where the town library
was kept, and made diligent use of its books; among
which were Robertson's Charles V., Rollin's Ancient
History, Life of Charles XII., and others of like
character.  He was active in forming a debating
society among the young men of the town, and here,
like many other self-made men, he found his college.
He acquired self-possession in speaking, readiness in
debate, and fluency. This year, 1835, was memorable
in Anti-slavery annals, for the visit to America of
George Thompson, of England, the Garrison mob in
Boston, and the attempt in many parts of the country
to put down the discussion of slavery by violence.
Young Wilson entered ardently into the contest as an
Abolitionist, and has continued in it ever since. Ini
18766 he made his first visit to Washington, where his
abhorrence of slavery was more than ever increased.
23




354         BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
He thus refers to the impressions then made upon his
mind, in a speech at Philadelphia, in 1863.
" I saw slavery beneath the shadow of the flag that
waves over the Capitol.  I saw the slave-pen, and
men, women, and children herded for the markets of
the far South; and at the table at which sat Senator
Morris, of Ohio, then the only avowed champion of
Freedom  in the Senate of the United States, I expressed my abhorrence of slavery and the slave-traffic
in the capital of this democratic and Christian republic. I was promptly told that' Senator Morris might
be protected in speaking against slavery in the Senate;
but that I would not be protected in uttering such
sentiments.' I left the capital of my country with
the unalterable resolution to give all that I had,
and all that I hoped to have, of power, to the cause
of emancipation in America; and I have tried to
make that resolution a living faith from  that day
to this."
In 1837 occurred a great financial panic, which
turned the attention of the people to questions of
banking, of currency, of tariffs, and these subjects
were still more widely discussed in the remarkable
presidential campaign of 1840.  Mr. Wilson had
diligently studied these topics, and took an active
part with the Whig party. It was at this time, in
sneering allusion to one of his speeches, that the Boston
Post spoke of him as "the Natick Cobbler," -a title
of which his friends were not ashamed, and have never
allowed to be forgotten. He made sixty speeches
during the campaign, and his fellow-townsmen elected
him as a representative from Natick to the Massachu



HON. HENRY WILSON.               355
setts legislature.  He was placed upon the committee on manufactures, and during the session made
an elaborate report upon the causes of the financial
distress of the country.  In this paper, which was
prepared with great ability, he combatted the free
trade theories of the Democratic party, and contended
for a tariff, with duties discriminating in favor of the
labor of the country.
In 1840 Mr. Wilson married Miss Harriet M. Howe,
of Natick, a lady of winning manners, of genial
temper, and rare beauty of character. She sympathized in her husband's pursuits, and aided  and
cheered him through his varied career. She was a
warm-hearted, noble, Christian woman.
In 1843 and 1844 he was elected to the State
Senate. In 1845 Mr. Wilson was among the most
earnest and active in opposition to the annexation of
Texas; in connection with Charles Sumner, Charles
F. Adams, Wendell Phillips, William  Lloyd Garrison, E. R. Hoar, and others. In 1846 he was again
elected to the House from  Natick.  In February
Governor Briggs laid before the legislature some resolutions passed by the legislature of Georgia, concerning the action of Massachusetts on the subject of
slavery. Mr. Wilson offered some resolutions, declaring "the unalterable hostility of Massachusetts to
the further extension of, and longer existence of,
slavery in America, and the fixed determination to
use all constitutional and legal means for its extinction."  In 1848 he was a delegate to the Whig
National Convention, which nominated General Taylor for president, but with Charles Allen, he repu



356         BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
diated the nomination of a slaveholder without any
declaration of principles, returned to Massachusetts,
and was one of the most prominent in organizing the
Free Soil party.
At this time he purchased, and for two years
edited the Boston Republican, the organ of the Free
Soil party. In 1849 he was elected Chairman of the
State Committee of the same party, in which position
he labored for four years, and was principally instrumental in organizing the famous coalition between the
Democrats and Free Soilers, which, after Mr. Webster's speech on the seventh of March, 1850, overthrew the Whig party, and elected Charles Sumner
to the United States Senate. In 1850 and 1851 Mr.
Wilson was President of the Senate, and at the close
of the session received a unanimous vote of thanks
for the dignity, impartiality, and courtesy which he
he had shown as a presiding officer.
In the autumn of 1850, Mr. Wilson visited Canada
for the first time, passing a day or two in Montreal,
and one day in Quebec. The writer, who was in
his company, well remembers the thrilling interest
with which he visited the Plains of Abraham, and
explored the scenes forever associated with Wolfe's
romantic descent of the St. Lawrence, and his memorable battle, and victory in the arms of death.
During the session of 1852 he was especially influential in procuring the passage of an Act calling
a Convention the following year to amend the Constitution of the state.
While President of the Senate, Mr. Wilson welcomed Kossuth to the State, in a speech which was




HON. HENRY'WILSON.             357
much admired. During the year 1852 he was made
President of the National Convention of the Free
Soil party, held at Pittsburg, and Chairman of the
National Committee. He was, the same year, the
Free Soil candidate for Congress in the 8th district,
in which the majority against that party was upwards
of 7500, but Mr. Wilson failed of an election by only
93 votes.
The Constitution of Massachusetts was adopted in
1780, and revised in 1820. The Convention of 1853,
like those which preceded it, was composed of the
most eminent men in the state, in all the walks of
life. Mr. Wilson was elected a member by both the
towns of Natick and of Berlin. He resigned the seat
for the latter, and appeared for Natick. The debates
of the Convention show that he was second to no man
in influence in that large and brilliant gathering of
able men. He was at once appointed chairman of a
large committee to report on the order of business,
and took an active part in its debates, on all the most
important topics which were presented. In a long
debate of three days, on the militia, Mr. Wilson offered a resolve, " That no distinction shall ever be
made, in the organization of the volunteer militia of
this commonwealth, on account of color or race."
The proposition  provoked a spirited debate, and
elicited a strong opposition from many of his political
friends.  No one foresaw that within less than ten
years colored soldiers would be armed and sent out by
thousands from the Capitol, in which the convention
assembled, to fight for liberty and the Union. Mr.
Wilson, as a boy, had read with deep interest the




858      BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
North American Review, and, on his first visit to
Boston, as has been stated, regarded its office even
as the headquarters of scholarship. The debate on
the organization of Harvard College showed that he
had lost none of his interest in the Review, nor his
friendship for Kossuth, since he administered to its
editor, Francis Bowen, a professor in the college, a
scathing and merciless rebuke.  Mr. Bowen had been
rejected as Professor of History, by the Board of
Overseers, but had still been continued in office.' Mr.
Wilson charged him  with "misquoting, mnisstating,
and garbling historical authorities."
In 1854, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, by
which slavery had been prohibited north of 36~ 30'
was the signal for the breaking up of both the great
political parties, — the Whig and Democratic. The
act outraged the moral sense of the North. Edward
Everett was at that time in the United States Senate
from Massachusetts. Mr. Everett was a man of extraordinary attainments; he was an eloquent writer, a
graceful speaker; a man of spotless reputation and of
refined and courtly manners. But he had no power
of reading the popular heart, and of catching inspiration from its sentiments. When in Congress, he said,
" Slavery, domestic slavery, say what men will, is a
condition in life, as well as any other, to be justified
by religion, morality, and international law." Indeed,
he went so far in subserviency to Southern sentiment,
that he brought on himself the withering sarcasm of
John Randolph. And Mr. Cambreling, a Democratic
member of Congress from New York, in a speech of
surpassing eloquence, said, in reply, that he listened




HoN. HENRY WILSON.              359
to such sentiments with amazement, and " lamented,
sincerely lamented,'That star-eyed Science had wandered there,
To bring us back the tidings of despair.'
"If," said he; "in the aulae of Gottingen I had
imbibed such opinions, I would have buried them
forever in the darkest recesses of my mind; or if my
zeal had been too ardent for my discretion, I would
have followed the course of the dark rolling Danube,
and crossing the Euxine, have laid my forehead upon
the footstool of the sultan, and besought him to place
his foot upon the neck of a recreant citizen of a recreant republic."  When governor of the state, in 1836,
Mr. Everett had intimated in his message to the legislature that anti-slavery discussion might be "prosecuted as a misdemeanor at common law." He was unfitted
by his sympathies, by taste, and by temperament for
the fierce conflicts of the Senate in the great struggle
of slavery for national power. The attempt to repeal
the Missouri Compromise roused the moral and religious sentiment of the North, as it had not been
moved for a generation. Three thousand clergymen
united in a solemn remonstrance against the wrong.
Mr. Everett had formerly been a clergyman, and the
petition, one of the most grave and significant ever
presented to Congress, was intrusted to him, feeling
that at his hands it would receive eager and brave
championship.  But it was felt that in the debate
which immediately ensued Mr. Everett was "browbeaten" by Mr. Douglas and other pro-slavery leaders.  When, in the opening of the French Revolu



360         BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
tion, Louis XVI. was awakened from his sleep by The
Duke de Liancourt, and told that Paris was in insurrection, and the Bastile taken, he murmured feebly,
"It is a riot."  "Sire," was the answer, "it is a
revolution! "   Mr. Everett, and other public men
of his class, totally failed, also, to comprehend the
situation at this time. The repeal of the Missouri
Compromise preceded by a few years the guns which
opzened on Fort Sumter, but it was also, for slavery,
the beginning of the end.  It was not until the
South had actually levied war upon the government,
that he appreciated the crisis, and learned, in the
words so.happily applied by Governor Banks to Mr.
Webster, that in the contests of men "concession
does not always secure peace," - and with devoted
patriotism, gave his pen, his voice, and his name to
the support of the Union.
In 1855 Henry Wilson was chosen to succeed Mr.
Everett as United States Senator. Soon after he
made a speech, urging the repeal of the Fugitive Slave
law, and the abolition of slavery in the District of
Columbia. In an address at Brattleboro', Vt., on the
position and duty of the American party, he said,
he had "no sympathy with that narrow, bigoted,
intolerant spirit that would make war upon a race of
men because they happened to be born in other lands,
- a dastardly spirit, that would repel from our shores
the men who sought homes here under our free institutions. Such a spirit was anti-American, devilish:
he loathed it from  the bottom  of his heart.' He
knew there were men who called themselves Americans, who would abolish the naturalization laws alto



HON. HENRY WILSON.              361
gether; who would forever deny the right of suffrage
to men for the fault of being born out of America.
He had no sympathy, and he hoped the men of Vermont had no sympathy, with that class of men whose
opinions were at war with the spirit of American institutions and the laws of humanity. Such anti-American sentiments had brought dishonor upon the American movement; and unless they received the rebuke
of the American party, they would defeat the real
reforms contemplated, and cover the movement with
dishonor."
In 1856 Mr. Wilson attended the American National Convention, at Philadelphia, where a platform was
adopted committing the party to the policy of slavery.
Mr. Wilson opposed it in the most earnest manner,
through a struggle of several days' continuance, and at
its close said, " The adoption of the platform commits
the American party unconditionally to the policy of
slavery, - to the iron dominion of the black power.
I tell you, sir, I tell this convention, that we cannot
stand upon this platform in a single free state of the
North. The people of the North will repudiate it,
spurn it, spit upon it. For myself, sir, I here and
now tell you to your faces that I will trample with
disdain on your platform. I will not support it: I
will support no man who stands upon it. Adopt that
platform, and you array against you everything that
is pure and holy, everything that has the elements of
permanency in it, the noblest pulsations of the human
heart, the holiest convictions of the human soul, the
profoundest ideas of the human intellect, and the attributes of Almighty God."




862        BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
In the contest for the adjnission of Kansas as a free
state, both in the Senate and out, and in the Fremont
campaign of 1856, Mr. Wilson worked with untiring
energy and great ability.
On the 22d of May, 1856, soon after his masterly
speech on the " Crime against Kansas," Charles Sumner was violently assaulted in the Senate Chamber,
while writing at his desk, after the adjournment of
the Senate, by P. S. Brooks, of South Carolina. He
was supposed by the bystanders, at the time, to be
dying, and was lifted out from his seat and placed on
the floor of the chamber, in front of the clerk's desk.
Mr. Wilson, who, at the time, was in the other wing
of the Capitol, in the room of Mr. Speaker Banks, as
soon as he learned of the assault,. hurried to Mr. Sumner, whom he found unconscious, and, with others,
assisted him, after a time, to a carriage, and conveyed
him home. On this ride, while supporting Mr. Sumner, the blood which had soaked his clothing still flowing from his. head, Wilson determined to denounce,
the next morning, in the Senate, the assault upon his
colleague, and the outrage upon his state, in the language it deserved, let the consequences to himself be
what they might. To refuse to fight a duel, if challenged, but to speak out and hold his person sacred
from all attacks, both in the Senate and elsewhere.
He knew the atmosphere of Washington to be full of
violence; that Senator Foote, of Mississippi, had once
drawn a revolver upon Mr. Benton in open session of
the Senate, and he might well expect a like demonstration against himself. A Massachusetts man informed the writer that he happened to be in Wash



HON. HENRY WILSON.              363
ington at the time, and expecting something to occur
in the Senate concerning the assault, went up to the
gallery of the Senate Chamber, early on the morning
of May 23, before any one was in attendance, and by
accident seated himself directly above the seat of Mr.
Wilson. Mr. Wilson soon after came in alone, seated
himself, took something from his breast, laid it in his
desk, and commenced reading and answering his
letters. It seemed as if the shoemaker had decided
that if northern men were to be beaten with bludgeons in the Senate for uttering their sentiments,
the hammering should not all be on one side.  At
the proper time lie arose, and in a calm and fearless
manner denounced the assault, as "brutal, murderous, and cowardly."  He was interrupted by cries of
"order!" "order!"  There was great excitement;
threats of violence were heard. It was said he would
" be challenged; " he " would be shot in the street."
Brooks sent him a challenge to fight. He at once despatched the following answer: —
" WASHINGTON, May 29, half past ten o'clock.
"HON. P. S. BROOKS.
" SIR: Your note of the 27th inst. was placed in
my hands by your friend General Lane at twenty
minutes past ten o'clock to-day.
"I characterized on the floor of the Senate the
assault upon my colleague as brutal, murderous, and
cowardly. I thought so then: I think so now. I
have no qualifications whatever to make in regard to
those words.
"I have never entertained or expressed, in the




364         BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
Senate or elsewhere, the idea of personal responsibility in the sense of the duellist.
"I have always regarded duelling as the lingering
relic of a barbarous civilization, which the law of the
country has branded as a crime. While, therefore, I
religiously believe in the right of self-defence in its
broadest sense, the law of my country and the mature
conviction of my whole life alike forbid me to meet
you for the purpose indicated in your letter.
"Your obedient servant,
" HENRY WILSON."
These manly words were universally indorsed at
the North by fair men of all parties. And southern
men believed that though not a duellist, he was not a
safe man to attack.
In 1858, Senator Hammond, of South Carolina,
made his famous attack upon the free labor system of
the North, declaring that "cotton was king," and
characterized the laboring men of the free states as
" mud-sills," and as " essentially slaves." It was for
Mr. Wilson to reply to a speech like this, and he did,
in one of the most effective addresses he ever made.
In the course of it he said, -
" The senator from South Carolina exclaims,' The
man who lives by daily labor, your whole class of
manual laborers, are essentially slaves: they feel
galled by their degradation.' What a sentiment is
this to hear uttered in the councils of this democratic
republic!  The senator's political associates, who
listen to these words which brand hundreds of thousands of the men they represent in the free states, and




Hoi. HENRY WISON.               365
hundreds of their neighbors and personal friends as'slaves,' have found no words to repel or rebuke this
language. This language of scorn and contempt is
addressed to senators who were not nursed by a slave;
whose lot it was to toil with their own hands; to eat
bread earned, not by the sweat of another's brow, but
by their own. Sir, I am the son of a' hireling manual
laborer,' who, with the frosts of seventy winters on his
brow,'lives by daily labor.' I, too, have lived by
daily labor; I, too, have been a'hireling manual
laborer.' Poverty cast its dark and chilling shadow
over the home of my childhood; and Want was there
sometimes, an unbidden guest. At the age of ten
years, to aid him who gave me being in keeping the
gaunt spectre from the hearth of the mother who bore
me, I left the home in my boyhood, and went to earn
my bread by' daily labor.' Many a weary mile have
I travelled'To beg a brother of the earth
To give me leave to toil.'
" Sir, I have toiled as'a hireling manual laborer' in
the field and in the workshop; and I tell the senator
from South Carolina that I never' felt galled by my
degradation.' No, sir; never!"
In a speech of much research, he urged the passage
of a bill to construct the Central Railroad to the
Pacific.
In 1860 he gave to the nomination of Mr. Lincoln a
vigorous support, speaking in different states to large
audiences, and always with marked effect. As soon as
the election of Mr. Lincoln was known threats were




366        BIOGRAPHIDAL SKETCH OF
openly made by the South to dissolve the Union, and
attempts were made to rob the country of the fruits of
the victory by securing a surrender to slavery in advance. Mr. Lincoln was beset to say that he would do
this, or would not do that; in a word, to commit himself; to say something, in some way, to propitiate the
slaveholders. But Mr. Lincoln maintained a dignified
silence until the delivery of his Inaugural Address.
An, effort in the interests of slavery was made by a
compromise, so called, offered by Mr. Crittenden of
Kentucky. But the arrogance and aggression of the
slave power was beyond compromise, and Mr. Wilson
opposed the measure with great earnestness. While
according to Mr. Crittenden pure motives and patriotic intentions, he said, " the Senator has stood forth,
day by day, not to sustain the Constitution, the Union,
and the enforcement of the laws, not to rebuke seditious words and treasonable acts, but to demand the
incorporation into the organic law of the nation unrepealable, degrading, and humiliating concessions to
the dark spirit of slavery." Alluding to the charge
that " Massachusetts hates the South," he said, "In
the halls of Congress, in the public journals, before
the people, everywhere, the Christian people of the
North are accused of hatred towards their countrymen of the South; and these oft-repeated accusations
have penetrated the ears and fired the hearts of the
men of the South to madness. The people of Massachusetts, of New England, of the North, hate not
their countrymen of the South. I know Massachusetts; I know something of the sentiments and feelings of her people. During the past fifteen years I




HON. HENRY WILSON.              367
have traversed every portion of the state, from the
sands of the capes to the hills of Berkshire; spoken
in nearly every town; sat at the tables and slept beneath the roofs of her people. Around those tables and
beneath those roofs I have heard prayers to Almighty
God for blessings on slave and on master. From
thousands of Christian homes in Massachusetts, New
England, the North, tens of thousands of men and
women daily implore God's blessing upon the whole
country, —upon the poor slave and his proud master. Around the firesides of the liberty-loving, Godfearing families of Massachusetts, I have often heard
the men, stigmatized as'malignant, unrelenting enemies of the people of the South,' on their bended
knees, with open Bible, implore the protection and
blessing of Almighty God upon both master and
slave, upon the people of the whole country."
When Fort Sumter was attacked, he advised the
president, as Chairman of the Committee on Military
Affairs, to call for three hundred thousand instead of
seventy-five thousand men, and to double the number
apportioned to Massachusetts. His position at the
head of this committee was one of the most important
under the government, and he toiled in it with unceasing diligence, great judgment and skill throughout
the war. Few  men in the country did more hard
work during the rebellion in raising, equipping, and
organizing the armies, in providing supplies, hospitals,
and all the munitions of a great war, than was done
by Henry Wilson. General Scott said, at the close of
the extra session of Congress in 1861, "Senator Vilson had done more work in that short session than all




368          BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
the chairmen of the military committees had done for
the last twenty years."
Among the measures subsequently urged by him
was a bill providing for the appointment of persons to
procure from volunteers their respective allotments of
pay for their families; a bill regulating courts martial
in the army; "a bill to provide for the better organization of the signal department of the army; " a bill
for the " appointment of sutlers in the volunteer service; " a bill " to increase the efficiency of the medical
department of the army; " a bill to facilitate the discharge of enlisted men for physical disability; a joint
resolution providing for " the presentation of medals of
honor to the cnlisted men of the army and volunteer
forces who may distinguish themselves in battle;" a
bill "to amend the act calling forth the militia to execute the laws, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions." This act authorized the drafting of negroes,
and their regular enlistment as soldiers into the service of the United States.
Mr. Wilson  also  introduced the bill into  the
Senate dismissing from the service officers guilty of
surrendering fugitive slaves to their masters. After
much discussion, it became a law, March 13, 1862. A
bill to abolish peonage in New Mexico, and a bill to
abolish the black code in the District of Columbia.
In December, 1861, he introduced a bill "for the
release of certain persons held to service or labor
[that is, for the abolition of slavery] in the District of
Columbia."  "If it shall become a law of the land,"
said Mr. Wilson, "it will blot out slavery forever
from the National Capital, and transform three thou



HON. HENRY WILSON.               369
sand personal chattels into freemen." This bill encountered fierce opposition, but was finally passed,
and signed by President Lincoln, the 16th of April,
1862. The freedmen commemorated the event by
meetings in their churches for prayer and thanksgiving
to God. No disasters depressed Mr. Wilson. After the
reverses in Tennessee, and before Richmond, in 1862,
he introduced a bill authorizing the president to call
forth the militia of the country; enrolling all ablebodied men between the ages of eighteen and fortyfive years; to accept a hundred thousand volunteers
as infantry for nine months, and volunteers for twelve
months; to fill up the old regiments; also to establish
army corps, and to receive into the army persons of
African descent, and providing that persons performing such service shall be forever free, and also the
mothers, wives, and children of all slaves of those who
were engaged in the rebellion. General Palmer, commanding the Union army in Kentucky, estimated
that seventy-five thousand women and children were
made free by this act.
On the 9th of February, 1863, he introduced a bill,
calling out the whole national forces. It provided
that "all able-bodied male citizens in the United
States (with certain exceptions) between the ages of
eighteen and forty-five shall constitute the national
forces, and be liable to military duty at the call of the
president."  In 1864 he secured an enactment that
every colored soldier, on being mustered into the
service, should, by the authority of the government,
be made forever free. This law emancipated more
24




370         BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
than twenty thousand slaves in the single state of
Kentucky, according to the reports of General Palmer.
Mr. Wilson gave to the service of the country an
only child,* a young man of much promise, who commanded as lieutenant-colonel in South Carolina and
in Texas. At eighteen years of age, during the
absence of the colonel, he had command of a thousand
men for five months. Mr. Wilson bore a conspicuous
part in all the legislation since the war for the pacification of the country. In 1871 Mr. Wilson visited
Europe, studying the institutions, and mingling with
the statesmen and scholars of the old world. In the
session of Congress of 1872 Mr. Wilson took an
active personal interest in the appointment of the
commission to examine and report upon the labor of
the country, and the relations of labor and capital.
In June, 1872, he was nominated for Vice-President
by the National Republican Convention.
The limits of this sketch permit only a narration of
the leading events of Mr. Wilson's life, with little or
no comment. Indeed they need none. He has been
active and zealous at all times in forwarding the
principles of anti-slavery. He has made nearly fourteen hundred public speeches. But he has also, like
Carnot, "organized victory."  He has been an indomitable worker. He has read the phases of public
sentiment by intuition, and has acted with energy and
advised with wisdom.  The circumstances of Mr.
Wilson's early life have given him always the deepest
sympathy with the laboring men of the country - the
sons of toil. His whole career, - his poverty in early
* Lieutenant-colonel Henry Hamilton Wilson.




HON. HENRY WILSON.              371
life, his struggles to educate himself, his triumph over
all obstacles, the place he has obtained and long held
among the public men of the country, his continuing
poor when he might have become rich, all afford one
of the most brilliant illustrations of the effects of free
institutions which American biography can present to
the world.








NOTICES.
THE following are a few of the notices of this work
which appeared when first published in 1868.
From the New York Times.
"It is written in a very interesting way; and, in fact, of all the many attempts to
write a personal and individual history of GRANT- GRANT as a man -this seems to
have succeeded best."
From the New York Tribune.
"A spirited sketch of General Grant's military career and his personal character,
and is admirably adapted for general circulation."
From the Hon. Charles Sumner.
"Not merely a Life of Grant, but an addition to literature."
From General Badeau, of General Grant's Staff  and author of Military History of
General Grant.
"Mr. Phelps seems to have appreciated the points in General Grant's career which
are most characteristic. I have seen no book of similar scope and aim which I like
better."
From General Burnside.
"It cannot fail to do great good during the campaign, and besides will be an excellent book for general reading for all time. For one, I thank you for this most important work."
From the Philadelihia Press.
"The best campaign life of Grant we have seen."
From the Hon. Wm. Claflin, Chairman of National Executive Committee.
"It is admirable in design and execution. The friends of General Grant can do no
better work than give the book the most extensive circulation."
From the Hon. E. D. Morgan, Chairman of Congressional Executive Committee.
" So handsome a work must do great good in the campaign."
From General J2ohn A. Logan, Commander of the Army of the Republic.
" Written with interest and care, and very justly called the'People's Edition.' It is
destined to become a popular work, and I wish it great success."




2                                NOTICES.
From Governor Boutwell.
"A graphic and truthful record of the great events of General Grant's career. I
hope it will be circulated throughout the country."
From the Hon. Ira Harrs.
" I am charmed with the book. It is destined to become a standard biography.'
From Governor Fenton.
" I do not see how the work could be better executed. I wish the book could find its
way to all our voters. "
From the Worcester Palladium.
"It is peculiarly a book for the people -the mass of men who have not time to
peruse more full and elaborate works."
From the Christian A dvocate, New York.
"The work is evidently designed for use as a'Campaign Document,' though one
would hardly suspect it from its contents or style."
From the New York Commercial A dvertiser.
"This work is exceedingly well done."
From the A mbassador.
"A history of the salient events of the war. A book of enduring literary merit, and
has evidently been prepared with a view to something more than ephemeral reading."
From Senator Sherman.
" Your narrative is the best argument for the election of Grant, and I hope it will be
read by thousands before the election."
From the Liberal Christian, New York.
" It gives all that most men care to know, and is a book that will retain its interest
long after the excitements of the political campaign are over."
From the Watchman and Reflector.
" Of the many lives of General Grant, the best adapted for popular use."
From the Boston Transcript.
"Deserves the largest possible circulation."
From the Boston Traveller.
"A more concise, straightforward, and comprehensive record of a man's story was
never published, at least, not in our day."
LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers,
I49 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON.