PRS CES ENR RS TTR RAY "RRS . SQ Sa soho ent WEN ee TRY . WANE a te ste ALS oe eee we. she oe ied new es Yang are Pe d LTE TE yee anes By £ Mites Mee ir ‘aber Pee RB ie. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN STACKS CENTRAL CIRCULATION BOOKSTACKS The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return to the library from which it was borrowed on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. TO RENEW CALL TELEPHONE CENTER, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN APR 10 1994 JUN 17 1994 When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. L162 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2021 with funding from University of Illinois Uroana-Champaign httos://archive.org/details/militarycivillifOOboyd_1 Miecint awe VIS CIR GEN. ULYSSES S. GRANT LEADING SCLDIER OF THE AGE}; PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ; LOVED AND HONORED AMERICAN CITIZEN , THE WORLD'S MOST DISTINGUISHED MAR, “Who never sold the truth to serve the hour, Nor paltered with eternal God for power; Who let the turbid streams of rumor flow Through either babbling world of high or low, Whose life was work, whose language rife With rugged maxims hewn from life; Who never spoke against a foe.’ --Tennyson, BY Tees ra beyy DAY M., Author of “ BuLLDING AND RULING THE RepusLic,"” &e. ILLUSTRATED. FAW ZkeGLER . CO; PHILADELPHIA, PA., AND CHICAGO, ILLS., 1885. ’ ae - ‘COPYRIGHT, 1885, By JAMES P. BOYD, A.M. Y f — ee 4 we & * A - ft - i od : Me, LJ > A] so - nue x 4 * 4A - , rae e - gaieaag * 4 7 ; "T= Pe a 1 . ~ - 2 * é af = rn ot f z i 2 > . - e _ Te . ak. ot 7 ots. oo a on ae a, o ae - —- 2 * aa — - A ” a , ‘j PREFACE. O one need explain why he writes about a person whom % I all admire and love. As to men, none occupy the place of General Grant in the affections of the people. His name is honorably connected with the highest office in the gift of the American voter. As President he was true to law and order, mindful of great and arduous duties, careful of the momentous trust reposed in him. To know of him as Chief Executive of the Nation will be esteemed a privilege and pleasure by the passing generations. But the real character, as well as glory, of this illustrious man was military. Had he overshadowed all other Presi- dents in profound statesmanship, wise diplomacy, and political acumen, the fame thus acquired would have been as Neptune to the Sun in comparison with that which sprang from his military career. Justly reckoned as the first soldier of the age, if not of the world, the nation is not more moved by admiration of his splendid military qualities than by gratitude for the timeli- a 7 ——~ «* ness Of his victories and their saving results. He was a man of God raised up for an emergency. His genius brought victory, and with victory, peace. The noblest tribute that can be paid mortal man is his by universal acclamation. “ He made his foes his friends.” 4 PREFACE. Greatness here grows into grandness. War loses much of its grim visage. Victory hath its charm and value. Appo- mattox was not a vindictive triumph. The armies, despite differences, were brothers. Grant knew what war meant. It was not child’s play, but earnest. He knew also what victory meant. If peace, reconciliation, mutual happiness and con- tentment, did not follow, victory was vain. Return to the flag, the common brotherhood, was the supreme object. This he achieved along with his grand victory. His conditions of surrender took the sting out of defeat and sent his foes away to their homes rejoicing in the magnanimity of their victor, and even surprised at their alienation from the “ Stars and Stripes” and the common Union of States. As no other General ever made victory so sure, so none ever made it so complete. Smaller men had lost over and over again in the game of battle. Smaller men, in the hour of triumph, would have narrowed conditions, and postponed reconciliation. He made war a terribly earnest thing, and victory as real and substantial. The terms of Alexander, Hannibal, Wallenstein, Napoleon and Von Moltke were never generous. They always involved the selfishness of superiority and conquest, never the humanitarian spirit of unity and brotherhood. Herein Grant was greater than any historic hero, brighter than any preceding military star. He handled cohorts that they might win, yet never won for the sake of glorying in victory but of confirming peace. Possibly no man ever ended a triumphant military career amid more universal admiration. He shared alike the respecc of friend and foe. A grateful nation showered on him its PREFACE. 5 highest political honors. He was not forgotten amid final retiracy, though too modest to be obtrusive. and too well satisfied to be ambitious. Admirers strove to place him beyond want. In grave political emergency his name spon- taneously came to the fore. Wherever he appeared, the public clamored to show their respect. Whatever he said— and it was all too littl—was weighed as the words of a seer. Amid financial wreck, through no fauit of his own, he had the most unbounded sympathy. In his last hours, when confronting the foe to whom all heroes must strike their colors, amid the pain of a horrible malady, the inner heart of the nation was instinctively drawn to him, and regrets over his suffering and prospective loss were general and profound. And now that he is dead there is universal mourning. Our greatest and noblest has been taken. Let us learn of him and teach our children. Another, others, might have done so, but he saved us as a people, a government, a solidi- fied nation. He gave us order and law, peace and happiness. Though a larger and more perilous work than that of Washington, it was not unlike his. And as of him, an admir- ing, loving and gratéful people will say: “ First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” My thanks are due to Badeau, Humphreys, Dana, Wil- son, Swinton, Young, and the various other army officers and civilians who are recognized as authorities upon the war and the times in which General Grant figured, and whose literary works I have consuited freely. PCO N RIN TS. Clink toe ks PARENTAGE—BIRTH—EDUCATION. The Grant name—Scottish clans—Crests and mottoes—Migration to America— The grandfather in the Revolution—The Father in the West—Birth of Hiram Ulysses Grant—Story of the christening—His boyhood days— Anecdotes showing his disposition and qualities—His skill with horses—His heroism in danger—His ingenuity—LBravery and self-reliancce—Did not like tanning—Off to West Point—His name. changed by inadvertence—His career as a cadet— Rank in his class—Sketch of his appearance and character by a schoolmate— Serre tt Pee Mie SIOERMOM. or se pcs kf n ps 8 ws ws) es ae 17 CoAr LER. Li. IN MEXICO AND ON THE FRONTIERS. With his regiment—At St. Louis and New Orleans—With Taylor in Texas—At Palo Alto and Resaca—The bloody fight of Monterey—The army sentiment— At Vera Cruz with Scott—Molino del Rey, and Chapultepec—Capture of Mexico —Peace, and back to New York—Marriage—On the Pacific Coast—From Lieu- tenant to Captain—Resigns from the army—A farmer—In real estate—A tanner at Galena—As business man and citizen—Traits and disposition— Analysis of character—The whole man at thirty-nine—Outline of the future Pee ERRE, MEXUMNIOIN TE Ste Geos a Nt en Se eto ee Ca a 6 eo 28 CHAPTER III. THE REBELLION—HIS FIRST BATTLES. The Federal soldier and French Emperor—Grants political views—Sumpter and the awakening—The call for volunteers—Grant and his company—Colonel of Illinois Twenty-first—Off to Missouri—From Colonel to Brigadier—At Cairo— Capture of Paducah—Battle of Pilot Knob—Toward Columbus—Belmont and victory—The retreat—Effect of the battle—The Confederate lines—Its wings and centre—What Grant saw—The situation before Donelson, . cat 45 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. FORT HENRY AND FORT DONELSON, The Departments—Grant at Cairo—The move on Fort Henry—Capture of the Fort—Looking to Donelson—Marching on the stronghold—Foote and the Gunl oats—Location and description of the Fort—Investment—Beginning the attack—Grant’s motive and orders—Battle with the boats—They are driven back—Hard battle of land forces—Repulse and confusion—Grant restores order—Orders another attack—Brilliant charge on the left—A foothold in the enemy’s lines—Heavy work along the whole line—The wonderful Council of War—Floyd’s and Pillow’s escape—Buckner proposes surrender—Grant’s “unconditional ”’? terms—Final surrender—The men and trophies—Grant’s magnanimity—Halleck’s treatment—Made Major General—Effect of the victory ——(;rant a Hero—A rejoicing country,.- <2 2 . 3) 21s) =) 9 eee 57 CHAPTER V. SHILOH AND AFTER. Donelson and the South—European sentiment—Grant’s guiding principles— Opinion of General Scott—The territorial loss—Grant and Sherman—Other victories for Union arms—National rejoicing—Grant’s forward movement—His visit to Nashville—Halleck’s enmity—The correspondence—Grant’s disgrace and vindication—Smith at Pittsburg Landing—The new Confederate line—lIts significance—Grant in command at Savannah—He consolidates the armies— Description of Pittsburg Landing and Shiloh—Buell’s slow march—The Con- federates at Corinth—They mass for attack—Disposition of Grant’s forces— The battle of Shiloh begins—The first day’s fighting—The Federals recede— Their new lines—Terrific fighting—Second day’s battl—The Confederates retire—Lost ground gained—Confederate retreat to Corinth—The victory com- plete—Effect of the victory—Change of sentiment,. ....... ‘ 79 CHAPTER VI. CORINTH AND IUKA. Halleck and Grant—Reorganization—The three army corps—Grant snubbed and humiliated—The abuse heaped on him—His reply to a correspondent—Halleck’s loss of time—A digging and shoveling campaign—Slow progress toward Corinth—Results of Shiloh lost—The Confederates strengthen Corinth—And play a trick on Halleck—Cornith an empty capture—Further waste of time— The army of 120,000 men divided up—Buell off to Chattanooga—Halleck to Washington—Grant’s army reduced—Forced to defend a wide section against CONTENTS. 9 odds—His plan of operations—Kept constantly on the alert by Van Dorn— Battle of Iuka—Getting ready at Corinth—Strategic disposition of his forces-— Wisdom of his work on the fortifications—Van Dorn’s attack on Corinth—The two days’ fight—Confederate defeat—The losses and pursuit—West Tennessce out of danger—Grant’s congratulatory order—His modesty and the misrepre- Senuntions—Character asan officer,, . . . . 2. ss we eh es IOI CHAPTER VII. PREPARING FOR VICKSBURG, Importance of the Mississippi Valley—Meaning of Grant’s victories—Object of the respective armies—Opening of the Mississippi—Farragut and his fleet— Defences of Vicksburg—Combined Federal fleets—The canals—Bombardment by mortar flotilla and gunboats—Running past the batteries—Failure of the seventy days’ siege—Grant’s new plan of attack—He moves from Grand Junc- tion toward Grenada—Sherman goes to mouth of Yazoo—Pemberton falls back to Grenada—New arrangement of forces—Grant’s communications cut at Holly Springs—Forced to retreat Northward—Sherman’s Yazoo enterprise—He fails to get a foothold—Grant’s determination—He organizes a third expedition against Vicksburg—Takes command in person—At Milliken’s Bend and Young’s Point—Trying expedients—Failure of the different plans—He sees what must be done—His persistency and originality, ........ III CHAPTER VIII. SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG, Vicksburg—Situation and fortifications—Department of Tennessee—The army at Young’s Point and Milliken’s Bend—Grant’s move to the south of Vicks- burg—Meets with disfavor among his officers—The movement begins—To New Carthage and Perkins—Grierson’s cavalry raid—Porter running the Vicksburg batteries—Naval attack on Grand Gulf—Its failure—Grant crosses the Missis- sippi with his army—Lands on East side at Bruinsburg—Gets a foothold on Mississippi soil—Sherman’s diversion at Hayne’s Bluff—Grant’s quick march inland—Battle of Port Gibson—Abandonment of Grand Gulf—Manceuvers to keep Pemberton and Johnston apart—Johnston driven from Jackson—Pember- ton beaten at Champion Hills—Battle of Black River Bridge—Pemberton’s retreat upon Vicksburg—Grant’s investment of the place—His danger from Johnston—Grant’s right reaches the Yazoo—Capture of Hayne’s Bluff—Com- munication opened with the upper Mississippi—Sherman’s opinion of the cam- paign—Grant assaults the enemy’s entrenchments—They prove too strong for capture—A second and more general assault—Porter co-operates with the fleet— The terrible fire—A second failure—Regular siege operations begun—The 1O CONTENTS. approaches—Closing and pushing the lines—Mining and countermining—John- ston in the rear—Pemberton offers terms—Grant sends his terms—Final agreement—Surrender—Prisoners and munitions—Grant takes possession—Sher- man drives Johnston— What Vicksburg meant—Grant’s honors—His vindication ——Characterand historic position, ©...) < -. $/% <:sy eles ee 128 CHAPTER IX. FROM VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. Thoughts of Mobile—At New Orleans—Armies of the Mississippi Valley—Aid for Rosecrans—Chickamauga—Grant at Louisville—What was wanted—A new department—Grant given charge—Fears for Rosecrans—Grant assumes command —Rosecrans displaced—Thomas takes his command—Off for Chattanooga-- Description of the place—The Federal situation—His move for supplies—Flank- ing the Confederates—The rear movement—A battle and its results—Opening communications—Effect on the army—Chagrin of the Confederates—Chatta- nooga saved—Concentrating his forces—Protecting Burnside—Sherman’s magna- nimity—He reports at Bridgeport—A union of veterans at Chattanooga, 163 CHAPTER X. BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. Burnside and Knoxville—Grant’s idea of his situation—Burnside’s danger— Halleck’s impressions—Grant’s plan of relief—Ord rs to attack—Movements of Howard’s corps—Thomas’ grand demonstratiou—Bragg not retreating— Hooker’s movement—He captures Lookout—Enemy’s retreat—Grant’s lines connected—Sherman crosses the Tennessee—Successes among the foot-hills— Ready for the grand battlhek—Sherman endangers the Confederate right—Bragg concentrates--Stubborn fighting— Hooker appears—Bragg further weakens his centre—Grant sees his chance—The splendid charge—Capture of the enemy’s rifle-pits—Scaling the heights—Reaching the summits—Capture of men and batteries—Bragg’s retreat—Grant’s ardor leads him into the fray—Sheridan’s pursuit—Night scenes—Trophies—A force sent to Burnside—Losses—Magni- tude of the victory—Effects on the country and armies—Grant’s wonderful generalship—United Departments—Destiny foreshadowed, .... . 176 CHAPTER XI. CHATTANOOGA TO WASHINGTON. Burnside and Longstreet—K noxville attacked—Effect of Chattanooga on Longstreet —His retreat—Congratulations for successes—A medal to Grant—Busy with other plans—Feeling Bragg’s position—Winter quarters—Perilous trip to Nashville— Sherman at Vicksburg—A winter expedition into Mississippi—Features of the Western campaigns of 1863—What they proved—A single leader demanded— The Confederate situation—The Federal situation—Bill to revive the grade of CONTENTS. I! Lieutenant-General—Grant’s indifference to the honor—Orders to report at Wash- ington—His Western plans—His characteristic letter to Sherman and McPherson —Sherman’s reply—A letter for history—Haileck’s congratulations—introduc tion to the Cabinet—Commission of Lieutenant-General—Lincoln’s speech and Grant’s reply—Commander of all the Armies—Headquarters in the field, 200 CHAPTER XII. PREPARING FOR THE WILDERNESS. War theatre in Virginia—Lee’s army the objective—Concentration and Co-opera- tion—Grant reaches the front—Consults with Meade—Westward to Nashville —Sherman’s plea—Reorganizes the Departments—Back to Washington— Headquarters at Culpeper—Reorganizes the Army of the Potomac—Retains his old staff—List of all the Departments—Number of troops in each—Their commanders—General plans—A central aim—Specific plans—Butler and the James—Movement of the Potomac army—Criticisms answered—Withdrawal of the Carolina garrisons-—Embarrassment on account of Banks—Massacre at Ft. Pillow—Perfection of Grant’s plans—The mighty machine ready—Orders to all the armies—Final consultation—Grand movement on May 4th—Notable letter from President Lincoln—Grant’s reply—The dawn of battle. . 222 CHAPTER XIII. THE WILDERNESS. Leé’s army—Its location and defences—The Federal army—Its strength, organiza- tion and location—Grant’s movement—Its object and dangers—Its order—How effected—Its discovery—Confederate designs—Crossing of the Rapidan—A plunge into the Wilderness—Movement of all the armies—Disposition of forces —tLee attacks in the Wilderness—A counter attack—Results of the first day’s fighting—What of the morrow ?—Preparations for an early blow—Confederates attack the right—Federals attack on the left—Determined all day fighting— Federal successes—Lee’s anxiety to turn the Federal left—Then the right— Forced to retire—Federals hold all their ground—Character of the ground— Cavalry fighting—End of second day’s fighting—Results thus far—Lee on the defensive—Losses of both armies—Grant’s new plans, sa a RA rarst 240 CHAPTER XIV. SPOTTSYLVANIA. Word from Butler—By the left for Spottsylvania—A brilliant manceuvre—Splendid marching—Lee gets position—Strongly fortifies—Grant in his front—Sedgwick killed—The battle of Spottsylvania—‘ We will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer’’—Terrific fighting—Heavy losses—Lee’s position impregnable— Sigel beaten in the Valley—Butler driven—Grant undismayed—Ready for MIIEIUCS gem kk te ee tee eee 259 {2 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XV. THE NORTH ANNA, By the left again—Lee’s policy—A race for the North Anna—Lee deceived— Grant crosses—Warren’s fight for position—Hancock over—Burnside cannot cross—Grant’s wings separated—Efforts to unite them—Fierce trial of strength— Lee’s position too strong—Perilous manceuvre—Grant recrosses—A rapid swing to the left—Makes for the Pamunkey—Crosses and throws Lee back—Twenty miles from Richmond—A new base of supplies—The situation now—Cavalry dashes——-The ‘Totopotomoy repion,... s,s se es ss ey 282 CHAPTER XV. COLD HARBOR. Grant’s cavalry arm—Battle for position—Lee’s strategy—Federal advance—Lines of both armies—Brisk skirmishing—lIssue joined—Fierce battle of Cold Harbor —Tactics of both generals—Attack on Sheridan—Cold Harbor held—Lee extends his right, Grant his left—Continuous fighting and manceuvreing—Delay of Smith—Grant’s disappointment—Attacks Lee’s left—Swings his own left— The Chickahominy reached—Wilson’s raid—Hunter in the Valley—Battle at the Chickahominy—Richmond’s last defences—Criticisms on the battle—Its resmliss..) 3s, Sk 5 SS WSS ox SS — SSS oe USNS . SS SSS NUISSSSN oS << Wei Ws S88 “ WSS RY nS: . SNS MAJOR ANDERSON. think he was neutral. When hope of compromise failed, his position was not doubtful. He had been educated at the THE REBELLION—HIS FIRST BATTLES. 47 public expense. He had sworn to defend the Constitution of the United States against its enemies. He was geographically of those whose instincts and judgments favored freedom. What could he be but a supporter of the national flag when it was attacked ? April 11th, 1861, Beauregard opened fire on Sumpter. On the 13th it fell, after a gallant defence by its garrison under command of Major Anderson. ‘This was the resurrection of a patriotism which had hitherto been indifferent and sluggish. It was the thunderbolt which was needed to startle the torpor of the nation. It banished questioning and compromise, and evoked a spirit of determination, whose existence was not suspected. It was noisy challenge, shotted defiance. Honor, safety, solidarity, required acceptarice, hostile meeting. On the 15th of April the President called for seventy-five thousand troops for three months. What a parody on the situation! The holiday parade of a squadron was to stop the fifty year impetus of a studied, armed and desperate cause. “On this same morning,” thus writes a friend in the family, “Grant laid down the paper containing an account of the bombardment, walked round the counter, and drew on his coat, saying, ‘I am for the war to put down this rebellion. The Government has educated me for the army. Though I have served through one war I feel I am still a little in the nation’s debt, and am ready to discharge the obligation.’ ” j} On April 1gth, four days later, Grant was drilling a company of volunteers in Galena. In another four days he was at Springfield, the capital of the State, with his company, and had offered his services to the adjutant-general of the army to serve in any capacity. This letter was not deemed of sufficient importance to pre- serve, but it stated that the writer had received a military education at the public expense, and now that the country was in danger, he thought it his duty to place at the disposal mm FD = MNT ie eN | = i 4 RESIDENCE IN 1860. 4 GRANT’S RESIDENCE, GALENA, ILLS. 49 FIRST BATTLES. THE REBELLION——HIS of the authorities whatever skill or experience he had acquired. Then ) 4 DY yen? (} G He visited his father at Covington. No reply came. | ie Ye Wii, iii GEN. McCLELLAN. he applied to General McClellan in command of the Ohio He went back Still no employment. militia at Cincinnati. 50 LIFE OF ULYSSES 5S. GRANT: to Springfield. He was useful there for five weeks, organizing the volunteers which were pouring into the city. His quiet assiduity and wonderful organizing force at length secured recognition. Governor Yates commissioned him colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois Infantry. He assumed command June 16th, 1861. Ordered to ren- dezvous at Quincy, he marched his regiment thither. Before he arrived, word was received to make Ironton, Mo., his des- tination. He made for the river to take a steamer. This was delayed. A portion of the Sixteenth Illinois Regiment was reported as surrounded by the enemy near Palmyra, and his regiment was sent to its relief. Before it arrived the difficulty was passed, and the Twenty-first fell into duty along the line of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, where it remained for two weeks. The only activity was avain search or two after Tom Harris, who headed a band of Confederate scouts. Thence'the regi- ment went to Mexico, Mo., where it remained another two weeks. Orders were received to march to Ironton, Mo. In passing thither through St. Louis the papers an- nounced his promotion to brigadier- general. It seems that Hon. Elihu B. Washburne, of Galena, had sug- gested the nomination, all unknown to the modest and unaspiring col- onel. It was seconded by all the , members of Congress from the State, none of whom knew him personally. The newspaper an- nouncement was the first intimation of the promotion he had received. He turned over his command to Col. Alexander, who afterward lost his life at Chickamauga. His commission as brigadier was dated August 7th, 1861, to GENERAL FREMONT. THE REBELLION—HIS FIRST BATTLES. 51 date from May 17th. The State of Illinois, and all between the Mississippi and Rocky Mountains, comprised the Western Military Department. Maj.-General Fremont was in command. He assigned Grant to duty at Ironton, as commander of the district of South Eastern Missouri. In two weeks, his head- quarters were at Jefferson City. On Sept. Ist he was called to Cairo, where he established more permanent headquarters. His district comprehended not only South Eastern Missouri, whence it took its name, but Southern Illinois, and Western Kentucky and Tennessee. The junction of four great rivers lay within it—Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee. The Confederate, Polk, held Columbus, twenty miles below Cairo. Bragg was at Bowling Green, coercing Kentucky to abandon her neutrality. Thompson was in Missouri, and held the Mississippi south of the Ohio. The lines of the Tennessee and Cumberland were in Confederate hands. Those of the Ohio soon would be if Paducah were seized, which seemed likely. Grant saw the situation at a glance. He would forestall Polk, already moving on Paducah at the junction of the Tennessee and Ohio. On September 5th, he notified Fre- mont and the Legislature of Kentucky of his intention. The first was neces- sary as_a matter of duty, the latter because the position of Kentucky was one of armed neutrality, so far as she = was concerned. “I am getting ready GENERAL BRAGG. to go to Paducah. Will start at six and a half o’clock,” was his dispatch to Fremont. There being no answer he sent again, “I am now nearly ready for Paducah, should not telegram arrive preventing the movement.” No reply. At ten and a half o’clock he started with two regiments and a battery, using two gun-boats as transports. 52 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Despite an accident and delay at Mound City he arrived at Paducah at half past eight on the morning of the sixth. The town was seized without firing a gun, the Confederate Brigadier Tilghman hurrying out with his forces while Grant was getting ashore. He left a garrison and returned to Cairo, where Fremont’s answer to his dispatch awaited him. It gave him permission to take Paducah, “if he felt strong enough.” Brigadier-General C. F. Smith was given command of the place, and Grant was rebuked for corresponding with a State Legislature. This seizure was much criticised at the time, but Kentucky speedily passed resolutions favoring the Union, and neutrality became a myth. The generalship of Grant was not bad statesmanship. Military circles were not happy circles then. They seldom are. The genius that could grasp so boldly, act so promptly as to save an important strategic point, and at the same time so encourage the Unionists in a State Legislature as to embolden them to wipe out a fiction called neutrality, which was hardly less demoralizing than secession, was a little too startling to be readily tolerated, especially since it was found in one almost unknown. Grant would remain at Cairo. This was also an important centre. It was a natural gather- ing point for operations on the lower Mississippi. Thither clustered the forces of the North in sublime confusion. Grant’s command amounted almost to personal superinten- dence. There was not an officer of the regular army or trained soldier there. He had to teach regimental and company officers their simplest duties. His staff was of entirely green timber. It too had to be taught. And thus as adjutant-general, quartermaster, commissary, ordnance officer, and aid-de-camp, ordering, drilling, teaching, he passed from morn till night and night till morn. The force under his command grew to 20,000 men, very like an army. Grant wanted to take Columbus on the Mississippi, twenty THE REBELLION-——-HIS FIRST BATTLES. 53 miles below him. Fremont could not hear. That meant the fall of Belmont right opposite on the west bank. Still Fre- mont was deaf. Perhaps he was proving himself too good a ‘drill master. His judgment of men brought around him an excellent staff. He was laying the foundations of an army whose force was to be felt in the West till the end of the war. After all the seeming discrimination against him had its com- pensation. He murmured not, but worked, and his work told, no matter into whose hands it afterwards fell. On October 2Ist, a detachment of his forces under Col. Plummer met Jeff Thompson near Pilot Knob. After a two hours’ fight the enemy retreated, leaving sixty killed on the field. ‘This was the beginning of what became a general and very pretty movement. Fremont had ordered a force from Ironton to attack a strong Confederate position on St. Francis River. He ordered Grant to assist. Col. Oglesby was sent with three thousand mixed troops. This was Nov. Ist. On the 5th Fremont sent word to Grant that Polk, at Columbus, was reinforcing Price, who was then confronting Fremont, and that he should begin at once his proposed demonstration on Columbus. This was agrand chance. Grant requested Smith to move directly from Paducah on to Columbus. He strengthened Oglesby with a regiment, and ordered him to swing to the south of Belmont. He at the same time started down the river with five regiments of infantry, one section of artillery, and two squadrons of cavalry, thirty-one hundred and fourteen men, in transports. Smaller detachments were also ordered from Bird’s Point and Fort Holt. On the evening of the 6th, hearing that Polk had been GENERAL PRICE. 54 LIFE OF: ULYSSES ‘Ss. GRANT, crossing forces to Belmont all day, and fearing for Oglesby’s safety, he decided to turn his attention to Belmont. So on the 7th he landed at Hunter’s Point, three miles above Bel- mont and out of the range of the guns at Columbus. A line of battle was formed. General Pillow hurriedly crossed four Confederate regiments from Columbus, reinforced Col. Tappan, and took command. By nine o’clock the engagement was on. After four hours’ fighting the Contederates were driven com- pletely back across the lagoon, losing their camp, artillery, equipage and many prisoners. Carried away by the first flush of victory, the Federals lost their heads. Pillow had reformed his lines at the river’s bank, and Polk, overlooking the scene from Columbus, had sent him reinforcements. Grant, who had had a horse shot under him, strove to reform his men. He strove in vain. To stop the tumult and plundering he ordered all the camps to be burned. The smoke proved a target for the Confederate guns at Columbus, which opened fire with demoralizing effect. The Confederate reinforcements (Southern History of the War, pp. 206-8) increased their force to twelve regiments, nearly double the Federal force. To remain was destruction. Pillow was making good use of his reinforcements and time. Anticipating Grant’s desire to get back to his boats at Hunt- er’s Point, he intercepted him. “ We are surrounded!” was the cry. In sucha case surrender seemed inevitable. “ We must cut our way out as we cut it in,’ was the reply of the imperturbable Grant. Hesitation ended. There was solemn work to do under a determined leader. The officers and troops fell to it earnestly. The enemy disappeared a second time over the banks. The transports were reached, and embarkation took place, under comparatively fair discipline. The Federal loss was killed, wounded and missing, 485. The Confederate loss was 632 according to their own history. The Federals carried off 175 THE REBELLION—HIS FIRST BATTLES, 55 Confederate prisoners and two guns, and spiked four others. General Grant’s superintendence of the embarcation left him entirely behind his army. Anxious to see that all were safely in he lingered on a knoll, till within musket-range of a freshly- formed Confederate detachment, which was ordered to fire on him. But the transports were then the centre of attention, and so the General escaped, riding swiftly down to the last boat and boarding it just as it pushed off shore. This first engagement of great magnitude in the Depart- ment was claimed as a substantial Federal victory. It is not always certain what makes a victory. The object was to pro- tect Oglesby. It is certain that Polk sent no more reinforce- ments to harass him. He remained at Columbus, lest some- thing worse than Belmont should happen. As to Grant, two things came about. He learned that nothing is to be gained by delay when two armies are fresh and undisciplined. His men learned that an expedition was not a holiday. The necessity for hard cohesion and stern discipline was so im- pressed on them that the soldiers of Belmont never failed to make their mark in subsequent struggles. Notwithstanding Kentucky neutrality, the Confederates had formed a line from Columbus on the left to Bowling Green on the right, the former on the Mississippi, the latter at the junction of the Louisville and Nashville and Memphis and Ohio railroads. Strong armies were on both wings. In the centre, where the natural passage was by the rivers, and where the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers were but twelve miles apart, were two strong forts, Fort Henry on the Tennessee, and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland. These were well selected, well fortified. They compacted a line whose preser- vation meant the salvation of Memphis, Nashville and the entire country for hundreds of miles southward. Should these forts fall, Bowling Green and Columbus, the two flanks and extremes would be turned. They would fall also, and with 56 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. them the scene of battle would be shifted to other lines far beyond. General Grant was looking upon this situation in early November, 1861, after the experience of Belmont. He saw these Confederate lines strengthen day by day. He knew the Confederacy was throwing into the forts, and the strong wings, its forces by the thousands, and was sending thither its best commanders. With a prescience which then seemed to be only his, he planned victory where it would tell with paralyz- ing effect on the enemy, and when it would electrify the country. For months there had been strain, exhaustion and gloom at home. What progress are we making? Where are our victories? When will it end? were the inquiries of the dissatisfied and despondent. Europe was nervous and peevish over the blockades. Loyalty was in the dumps. A cause seemed laggard or on the wane. ene GEN, LEONIDAS POLK. CHAPDER? TV. FORT HENRY AND FORT DONELSON. ENERAL FREMONT’S administration of affairs in Mis- souri having proved unsatisfactory he was relieved on Nov. oth, 1861. On the same day General Halleck suc- ceeded with both civil and military authority. The new com- mand included Missouri, Arkansas, Western -Kentucky, and all the territory over which Fremont had had civil control. At the same time that part of Ken- tucky and Tennessee lying east of the Cumberland river was erected into the department of the Ohio. Buell was given command of this. Halleck continued Grant, giving him the district of Cairo, which in- cluded Paducah. Here he held him for two months, organizing and disci- plining the incoming troops. Early in January, 1862, McClellan, then General-in-Chief, ordered Halleck to move a force toward Mayfield and Murray in Kentucky. This order was sent to Grant, who at once sent McClernand from Cairo and Bird’s Point with six thousand men, and C. F. Smith with two brigades from Paducah. The object was to threaten Colum- bus and the entire Confederate line, so as to prevent reinforce- ments being sent to Buckner at Bowling Green. This order was given on January 6th; on the roth it was countermanded,. but too late, for Grant was on his way. Though there was no 57 LZ © Zi GEN. HALLECK. 58 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. fighting, the Confederate reinforcements were detained at Col- umbus. Nashville was threatened, and Brig.-Genl. Geo. H. Thomas, one of Buell’s subordinates, fought and won the battle of Mill Spring, in Kentucky. Smith on his return pronounced the capture of Ft. Henry feasible. On January 22d Grant sent this report to Halleck, and asked permission to visit him at St. Louis to talk the matter over. On the 23d he started on the visit, but Haileck would not hear to his proposition to capture the fort. Neither McClellan nor Halleck were yet ready fora move up the Tennessee. Grant was too full of the idea to abandon it quietly. On Jan- uary 28th he telegraphed Halleck, “I will take and hold Ft. Henry, on the Tennessee, and establish and hold a large camp there?’ On the next day he wrote: “In view of the large force now concentrating in this district, and the present feasibility of the plan, I would respectfully suggest the propriety of subduing Ft. Henry, near the Kentucky and Tennessee line, and holding the position. If this is not done soon there is but little doubt that the defences on both the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers will be materially strengthened. From Ft. Henry it will be easy to operate either on the Cumberland (only twelve miles distant), Memphis or Columbus. It will beside have a moral effect on our troops to advance thence on the rebel States. The advantages of this move are as perceptible to the general commanding as to myself, therefore further statements are unnecessary.” On the 28th Commodore Foote, in charge of the naval force in this region, wrote to the same effect. At last Halleck yielded, and on the 30th sent detailed instructions to Cairo, which were received February Ist. On the 2d Grant started from Cairo with seventeen thousand men on transports, accompanied by seven ironclads under Foote. Two days FORT HENRY AND FORT DONELSON. 59 afterward the land force was disembarked three miles below Ft. Henry, with a view of attacking it in the rear, while the gunboats made an attack in front. DB WS SMA RAMA = eat SMA ~\\ SOIR Ey hh PONY TOW A ae ) \ MUI RN AY YY \ \ WW ANN MW Sons MAY Zee Qi WY . ‘\ Nx A NTN S YASS aN SN WSS LAW Ss SAE WSS SS —— COMMODORE FOOTE. Ft. Henry was on the east bank of the Tennessee, and at this time was surrounded by water, owing to a flood in the 60 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. river. On the opposite side was the unfinished Ft. Heiman. The Confederate force was under command of Brig.-Genl. Tilghman. It numbered twenty-eight hundred men. Though the heights on which Ft. Heiman were situated commanded the river and Ft. Henry, they were evacuated on the first approach of danger, owing to the unfinished condition of the fort. Ft. Henry was a strong field-work, with bastioned front, defended by seventeen heavy guns, twelve of which bore on the river. On the land side was an entrenched camp, outside of which were lines of rifle-pits. As soon as the intention of the Fed- erals became known Tilghman ordered reinforcements from the Sandy river and Ft. Donelson. j Grant desired to capture both forts with their garrisons. C. F. Smith was sent with two brigades to invest Ft. Heiman, the fact that it had been evacuated not then being known. McClernand was sent to the rear of Ft. Henry, with orders to take and hold the straight road to Ft. Donelson. This was February 6th. The Confederates were receiving rein- forcements rapidly. McClernand was admonished that success might depend on the celerity of his movements, and his troops were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to charge and take the fort by storm, promptly on receipt of orders. At II A.M. on the 6th the march began. The gun-boats moved at the same hour, and before noon attacked the water batteries at a distance of six hundred yards. In an hour and a half, after a severe fire, every Confederate gun was silenced, no vessel hav- ing received serious injury except the Essex. The Fort surrendered, and Genl. Tilghman and sixty men were captured. GEN. McCLERNAND. FORT HENRY AND FORT DONELSON. 61 The rest of the garrison were stationed in the out-works two miles off. Before surrender these had been ordered to retreat on Ft. Donelson, which order they promptly obeyed. The Fort had surrendered so quickly that Grant’s land force had not time to reach the Ft. Donelson road and intercept the retreating foe. Pursuit was ordered, but only with the effect of capturing a few prisoners and two abandoned guns. Even had the fort not fallen quicker than either Grant or Foote supposed, the march of McClernand could hardly have been made effective, for he had to construct roads through woods and waters at great loss of time. Nor would delay of another day for purposes of investment have insured a greater capture, for Tilghman had resolved to retire his men to Ft. Donelson as quickly and safely as possible, the fight at the fort being kept up solely for that purpose. The losses were few. Foote lost INTERIOR OF FT. HENRY. two men killed, thirty-seven wounded, beside the nineteen lost by a casualty on the Essex. Tilghman reported five killed and sixteen wounded. Several of the gunboats were struck and pierced. _ Grant at once telegraphed Halleck: “ Fort Henry is ours. 62 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. The gunboats silenced the batteries before the investment was completed. I shall take and destroy Ft. Donelson on the 8th and return to Ft. Henry.” Here was evidence of confidence and action which had greater significance than the simple movement and proposition involved. The war had thus far given no substantial victory. It had brought forth no orderly plan and no man of grasp and genius. The people were dissatisfied and despondent. They were praying for a way out of the wilderness and wondering whether such way would ever be found. Grant’s capture of Ft. Henry looked like business. His proposition to move on Donelson savored of the heroic. There would soon be applause, .or else a deeper midnight. In anticipation of a movement on Donelson, the Confeder- ate General Pillow assumed command on the gth, and began to make herculean effort for the coming struggle. Tilghman’s force had already arrived from Ft. Henry. Floyd was sent with his command from Russelville. General Johnston at Bowling Green decided to fight the battle for Nashville and Middle Tennessee at Donelson. He drew all the force he dared from in front of Buell and sent it to Donelson. Grant was equally active. He had not even been congratu- lated by Halleck for his work at Ft. Henry, though the design of the enterprise was undoubtedly his. He had been ordered to strengthen and hold Ft. Henry at all hazards, and if he moved at all to move cautiously. But disdaining slight and not being out on a pick and shovel campaign, he pushed his cavalry toward Donelson to feel the situation. It wasa strong place, “the strongest in that theatre of operation.” Everything that military skill and engineering could do for it had been done. To repel attack, the natural position was formidable, and all the appliances of the science of war had been added. On the 8th all the infantry and cavalry on the east bank of the Tennessee were notified to be prepared to move with two FORT HENRY AND FORT DONELSON. 63 days’ rations, and “ without incumbrance.” Baggage and artil- lery could not be moved owing to the condition of the roads. The water rose higher and locked his forces in. A delay of several days occurred. It was not lost time, for it gave rein- forcements opportunity to come up. They came from Buell, and from Hunter, in Kansas. Not a word from Halleck as yet in favor of the movement, but full instructions how to fortify and hold Ft. Henry, with promise of reinforcements. Grant saw that every day lost with shovel and pick at Ft. Henry was giving the Confederates an opportunity to strengthen Ft. Donelson. He urged Com. Foote to send a fleet of gunboats up the Cumberland river to co-operate with him in the attack. “Start as soon as you like,” was the reply; “I will be ready to co-operate at any moment.” On the 11th Foote started with his fleet from Cairo. Six regiments of troops were sent by the same route, which were to follow the gunboats, land below the fort and establish a base of supplies. On the same day (11th) McClernand moved out four miles on the two roads toward Donelson. On the 12th, fifteen thousand men left Ft. Henry and marched in the same direc- tion, leaving two thousand five hundred behind as a garrison. Only eight light batteries were taken along. Tents and bag- gage were left behind. There were few wagons and no rations . save only those in haversacks, all supplies having been ordered direct from Cairo to the Cumberland. The foremost brigade was ordered to move direct on Don- elson by the telegraph road, and to halt within two miles of the fort. The other brigades were to move by the Dover road, Dover being two miles south of the fort on the river. There was no obstacle to the march. The distance being only twelve miles, the troops were on the ground around the fort by noon, but without orders. “The necessary orders will be given on the field,” was Grant’s word as to details. 64 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Ft. Donelson was on the west bank of the Cumberland, on a rugged and timbered ridge overlooking the river. It com- manded both river and country. On the water front, in sunken batteries, were ten thirty-two pounders, one ten-inch Columbiad, and one heavy-rifled gun. On the land side were continuous main and inner lines of breastworks for over two miles, covered with abattis. Both flanks of these lines rested on creeks, the banks of which were overflowed by back-water from the Cumberland. Outside of all was a line of rifle- trenches, extending to the town of Dover. Inside the fort were twenty-six regiments of infanty, two independent bat- talions and Forest’s cavalry, numbering in all twenty-three thousand muskets and sixty-five guns, seventeen of which were heavy, the rest field-pieces. Pillow had succeeded Buckner on the 1oth. On the 13th Floyd succeeded Pillow, though all remained to prepare for the impending conflict. On the 12th Grant’s advance en- countered the Confederate pickets and drove them in. His first line was formed in open field opposite the enemy’s centre. He threw up noentrenchments. “I hope to avoid the neces- sity of doing so with the aid of the gunboats,” was his lan- guage. By night his lines ran from Hickman Creek to Dover, and the investment was complete. When the siege began General C. F. Smith held the left and McClernand the right. As yet there was no appearance of the gunboats. The 13th was spent in reconnoitering and securing better positions. There was skirmishing, but no attack by the Confederates, though many men fell, the Federal losses being estimated at three hundred killed and wounded the first two days. No gunboats yet. The night grew cold and the men suffered greatly. All were obliged to bivouac in line of battle with arms in hand. No fires could be built, on account of the number and closeness of the enemy’s pickets. Provisions were scarce. By morning a driving hail and snow storm had FORT HENRY AND FORT DONELSON. 65 set in. Many on both sides were frozen. Picket firing never ceased. The groans of the wounded between lines, freezing and athirst, filled the night with horror. Grant found his force weaker than the enemy’s, and those he had left at Ft. Henry were sent for. Where was Foote with the gunboats ? Through the gray mists of Friday morning, the 14th, Com- modore Foote appeared with his fleet of turtle backs, as the gunboats were called. The reinforcements from Ft. Henry were coming in. Those commanded by General Lew Wallace were at once put in line. McArthur’s brigade of Smith’s division was on the extreme right. Inthe centre were forced the reinforcements which had come up the river with the boats. These dispositions were effected by noon of the 14th. Grant, who had received no word from Halleck except to dig and shovel at Ft. Henry, sent a dispatch dated “In the Field near Ft. Donelson.” It read :-— “We will soon want ammunition for our ten and twenty- pound Parrott guns. Already require it for the twenty-four- pound howitzers. I have directed my ordnance officer to keep a constant watch upon the supply of ammunition, and to take steps in time to avoid a deficiency.” A reply came from General Cullum at Cairo: “ The ammu- nition you want is not here, and scarcely any ordnance ;” but he added, encouragingly, “ You are on the great strategic line.” This was the first favorable word Grant had received from headquarters or near it. It may be asked why therefore was Grant moving? Was he not assuming responsibilities in spite of the department commander? He was moving inspirationally, yet in obedi- ence to orders from a higher source. As early as January 27th, President Lincoln, through and at the instance of Secre- tary of War Stanton, had sent out word for “a general move- ment of the land and naval forces of the United States against the insurgent forces on the 22d of February,” Washington’s 5 66 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. birthday. This was to break the impending gloom and in- spirit the nation, which had become sick with waiting and dis- comfiture. Grant interpreted this order as meaning that he need not wait till the 22d. At 3 P.M. of the 14th, Foote steamed into position, and opened fire at close range on the Confederate works with six gunboats, four of which were ironclad. Their batteries re- plied with telling effect. Still the ironclads advanced. They came within four hundred yards, and the action was close and hot for an hour and a half. The enemy’s guns being elevated and having commanding sweep, they crippled the gunboats so that they had to haul off, with a loss of fifty-four men killed and wounded, among the latter being Commodore Foote and several officers. Where were the land forces? Skirmishing all day, except McClernand’s, which had gotten into a hard fight on the right, though without orders. Grant intended to make a general attack only in case the gunboats succeeded in silencing the Confederate batteries. As this failed he wrote : “Appearances now are that we shall have a protracted siege here. . . . I fear the result of attempting to carry the place by storm with new troops. I feel great confidence, however, of ultimately reducing the place.’ The losses up to this time had not ex- ceeded three hundred and fifty killed and wounded. There was another night of intense cold and _ suffering. The Confederates were in spirits because they had beaten off the gunboat attack. The Federal forces were depressed, but the idea had not entered General Grant’s mind that he had lost the day. In the words of Oglesby, “ he had gone there to take the fort and intended to stay till he did it.” At 2 a.m. of the 15th, Commodore Foote sent for Grant. He went aboard the flag-ship, and Foote told him he was com- pelled to put back to Cairo for repairs. He urged Grant to keep quiet till he could return. But reinforcements were IRON CLAD RIVER GUN BOAT. 67 68 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. coming in rapidly, and there were present twenty-two thou- sand Federals. The Confederates felt that the investment was vetting closer and stronger, and they determined to break it. Their generals in council had decided that “but one course remained by which a rational hope of saving the garrison could be entertained, and that was to drive back the molesting force on the Dover side, and pass their troops into the open country in the direction of Nashville.” Therefore, on the morning of the 15th, ere it was light, they massed heavily on their left and made a fierce attack on the Federal right line where it did not quite reach the river. McArthur’s brigade of Smith’s division received the first blow. The attack rapidly extended to Oglesby’s and W. H. L. Wal- lace’s brigades of McClernand’s . division and to Cruft’s brig- ade of Wallace’s division. The Federals held on tenaciously against the solid masses and great odds of the enemy, seldom leaving their ground till ammunition was exhausted. At length McArthur, after an unequal struggle of hours, gave way, and McClernand’s command showed signs of wavering. But it held till reinforced by General Lewis Wallace, when the Confederates were made to pay dearly for all they had gained. This fresh force checked the Confederate onslaught for a time, but it was soon renewed more fiercely than ever. For hours the conflict was hot and doubtful, and though the Federal right was kept intact it was pushed far back from its original position and nearly turned. General Pillow was elated, and sent the following to Johnston at Nashville: “On the honor of a soldier the day is ours.” By nine o’clock Grant came from his interview with Foote. He was met by an aid who told him of the Confederate sortie. Further on he met General C. F. Smith whom he ordered to prepare his left for an attack on the Confederate right. Then he came into contact with his broken and disordered troops. Many of his best officers, Logan, Lawler, Ransom and others FORT HENRY AND FORT DONELSON. 69 were wounded. Many others were killed, and some of his best regiments and brigades were torn to pieces. There was now a keen eye on the situation. It took in two things. The Confederates had not pushed their oppor- tunity, if one really existed. Again their knapsacks were loaded with provisions. ‘“ They mean to cut their way out: they have no idea of staying here to fight us,” was the con- clusion Grant quickly drew. Then he said to those near him, “Whichever party first attacks now will whip, and the rebels will have to be very quick if they beat me.” Galloping to where he had left Smith, he ordered him to assault at once. Assurance was passed to the broken troops that the enemy’s attack had been a desperate attempt to cut their way out‘and not an assault they could repeat. This was inspiring, and the men fell into place with wonderful alacrity. Word was sent to Foote to form his gunboats in line and make a feint on the water-front. “A terrible conflict,” he wrote, “ has ensued in my absence which has demoralized a portion of my command, and 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. I must order a charge to save appearance. I -do not expect the gunboats to go into action.” McClernand and Wallace were apprised of Smith’s orders to assault, and directed to renew the battle in their front as soon as Smith began. McClernand should push his column clear to the river if possible. Two of the fleet ran up the river and began firing at long range. By four o’clock in the afternoon all was ready. Smith’s active column was composed of Lauman’s brigade of five regiments, the Second Iowa Infantry having the lead. He told his men what had to be done. They were soon ad- monished by the mingled roar of artillery and musketry on the centre and right. Then the column moved, with diffi- 7O LIFE OF ULYSSES 5S. GRANT. culty on account of the underbrush, exposedly on account of the construction of the enemy’s works, but directly and vigorously. Onward they pushed in invincible charge through brush and over abattis till they burst over the heights, carried the Confederate lines at the point of the bayonet, and got a secure hold inside the entrenchments. This was the key to Ft. Donelson. All around those long lines it “vollied and thundered.” Smith’s splendid assault was ably seconded by the centre and right. Grant had, with wonderful foresight, arranged it so as to support all the points where progress appeared. Artillery and fresh troops were at the back of those who had won any decided ground. Thus every foot of advance was assured by nightfall, and the beaten and fatigued troops of the morning had recovered lost ground, lost guns, lost spirits. “Fighting only for nightfall” was Grant’s remark, as he saw that the enemy grew less desperate. One hour more of daylight would have won the great victory of the next day. The darkness found the Federal army full of hope, and de- termined to crown their efforts with still greater glory, when sunrise should permit. All lost ground had been regained, and every hold was firm. A day had been won after a day had been lost. Grant’s appearance on the field was the begin- ning of order and successful “ forward march.” That night he slept ina negro hut. Smith’s men lay on their arms. They must hold the frozen ground they had won at all hazards. Inside the fort, Floyd called a council of war. It was a remarkable scene. He broached the propriety of surrender. A majority sentiment favored the act. Buckner said he could not hold out half an hour against Smith. Then Floyd pro- posed to escape in person, fearing the consequences of becom- ing a prisoner on account of the prejudices which his previous political career might have engendered. So he turned the command over to Pillow. But Pillow was no better off in this *“NOSTANOG LYOd NO DONAL AO OVA 12 72 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. respect, he thought, than Floyd. “There are no two men,” he declared, “in the Confederacy the Yankees would rather capture than themselves.” He therefore hastily passed the command to Buckner. These two worthies then took posses- sion of two steamboats, and with a small brigade of troops stole away from their comrades. Col. Forest with a regiment of cavalry made his way out by the river road. Buckner, whose soldierly instincts did not permit him to avoid the fate reserved for his troops, called for a bugler, and wrote a note to Grant for an armistice and a commission to arrange terms of surrender. This was sent out under a flag of truce. Before retiring for the night, Grant’s orders had been passed out for an early attack. He therefore replied to him in the language which was soon to be on the lips of every friend of the Union cause, and which has ever been associated with his name. ‘No terms other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.” This bristling answer brought a hasty reply: “ The disposi- tion 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 sac the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose.” Grant rode directly to Buckner’s Hieeicgneetere where the terms of “ unconditional surrender’’ were construed so as to allow the officers to retain their side arms and the men their personal baggage. Alluding to Grant’s inferior force at the beginning of the attack Buckner said: “ Had I been in com- mand you would not have reached Ft. Donelson so easily.” Grant’s reply was: “If you had been in command I would have waited for reinforcements and marched from Ft. Henry in greater strength ; but I knew that Pillow would not come FORT HENRY AND FORT DONELSON. 73 out of his works to fight, though I thought he would fight behind them.” The fruits of this splendid strategy and incomparable per- sistency on the part of General Grant was 14,623 prisoners, 17 heavy guns, 48 field-pieces, 20,000 stand of small arms, 3000 horses and a large quantity of military stores. As an instance of the favorable impression Grant made on his foes, when a few days afterward Buckner, with his brigade, was on board of a steamer bound for the North, he asked Grant to come aboard and look at them. The prisoners crowded around their captor. Buckner addressed them to the effect that General Grant had behaved kindly toward his foes, and that if ever the fortune of war turned they should show him and his men equal magnanimity. On the last day of the fight Grant had twenty-seven thous- and men ready for battle. He had but eight batteries of light artillery, a less number than the guns he captured. His losses were two thousand and forty-one in killed, wounded and missing. The Confederate loss, other than prisoners, was estimated at two thousand five hundred killed and wounded. On this memorable 16th of February, 1862, the very con- servative Halleck telegraphed Grant “ not to be too rash,” and then followed other word about precautions as to gunboats, etc. He wrote no congratulations to the victor, but three days afterward (Feb. 19th) sent word to Washington, congratu- lating Smith for “his bravery, which turned the tide and carried the enemy’s outworks. Make him a major-general. You can’t get a better one. Honor him for this victory and the whole country will applaud.” In contrast with this let Smith himself speak. General Buckner congratulated him on the morning of the surrender for his gallant charge. The brave old officer said: “ Yes, it was well done considering the smallness of the force that did it. No congratulations are due me. I simply obeyed orders.” 74 LIFE OF ULYSSES S, GRANT. Halleck’s nomination of Smith was fatal to a deserving sol- dier. The Secretary of War had a better appreciation of the situation. Grant was recommended for a major-generalcy of volunteers, and Lincoln nominated him the same day. The Senate confirmed the nomination instantly, and a whole country did applaud. The next day, February 2oth, Secretary Stanton wrote to the country as follows: “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 won by any people or in any age since the days of Joshua—by boldly pursuing and striking the foe. What under the blessing of Providence I conceive to be the true organization of victory and military organization to end this war, was declared in a few words by General Grant’s message to General Buckner: ‘I propose to move immediately on your works.’ ”’ Says Badeau: “ The consequences of the capture of Donel- son were greatly superior to any good fortune which had at that time befallen the national arms, and were hardly sur- passed in a purely military point of view by the results of any operation of the war. The great Confederate line had been penetrated at the centre, its extremities were both turned, while the region behind was uncovered. The whole of Kentucky and Tennessee at once fell into the possession of the National forces: the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers were opened to national vessels for hundreds of miles ; Nash- ville, the capital of Tennessee, and a place of immense stra- tegic importance, fell; Bowling Green had become untenable as soon as Donelson was attacked, and was abandoned on Feb. 14th, while Columbus on the Mississippi was evacuated early in March, thus leaving that river free from the Confeder- ate flag from St. Louis to Arkansas. “The country was unacquainted with military science at this time; and as city after city fell, and stronghold after FORT HENRY AND FORT DONELSON. 75 stronghold was abandoned—all legitimate consequences of the fall of Donelson—the national amazement and gratifica- tion knew no bounds. The effect on the spirit of the people was indeed quite equal to the purely military results. This was the first success of any importance since the beginning of the war. An inferior force had marched boldly up to a strongly fortified post, and for three days besieged an army larger than itself; then after being reinforced it had not only defeated the enemy in the open field, converting what had been nearly a disaster into brilliant victory, but compelled the unconditional surrender of one of the largest garrisons ever captured in war. These were considerations which naturally enough elated and cheered the country, and absolutely in- spired the army, depressed before by long delays and defeats on many fields. The gratitude felt toward Grant was com- mensurate with the success. He stepped at once into a national fame.” The silent man’s fame was on every tongue. “U.S.” had far more significance than the “Uncle Sam” of the West Point class-room. It was woven into songs, into platform speeches, into street hurrahs and army cheers, as “ United States” and “ Unconditional Surrender.” Ina day Grant had become the hero of a war, and the occupant of a high and glorious place in the affections of his countrymen. People by the million hailed with joy the man and the movement which after so many weary months had given a victory so overwhelming and important that it became the harbinger of ultimate triumph for the republic. It was a victory of such dimensions as to attract world-wide consideration; and it settled in the American mind the fact that a new man was on the stage, and a new era had begun. Flags waved from every house; hymns were chanted in every church; guns boomed from decks and fortifications; press united with pulpit to swell the chorus. The furore of jubilation was never. equalled 76 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. in the memory of living men. Grant paid glowing tribute to all his officers and soldiers. His address contained the words: “The men who fought that battle will live in the memory of a grateful people.” FOOTE’S FLOTILLA. y ule ti y oy me : \ ; oe oe 78 BATTLE OF SHILOH. Og Wg gil i ON ll SHILOH—BEFORE AND AFTER. HE fall of Donelson told heavily on the fortunes of the Confederacy. Said Forrest, a Southern General: “ Grant landed with a petty force of fifteen thousand men in the very centre of a force of nearly forty-five thousand, having interior lines for concentration and command, by railway at that, and was able to take two heavy fortifications in detail, and place hors de combat nearly fifteen thousand of the enemy.” Donelson had an equal effect on foreign feeling and in shap- ing diplomacy abroad. Europe was compelled to forbear from wholesale depreciation of the Northern campaign, and to study the consequences of so significant a victory. Inspiring Union sentiment with unbounded cheer, staggering the enemy in council and camp, furnishing the speech of the common people with new terms that became vernacular and further earnests of victory, men began to ask, “ Has the appointed deliverer come?” ‘The reaction of public sentiment was nota- ble, and the emergency of long discouragement was met. At Ft. Henry and Ft. Donelson Grant’s guiding principle was: “ Having assumed the offensive, to maintain it at all hazards.” “To take every precaution possible for full support of all under command.” “ Begin the fighting,’ and “ Never to scare.” Donelson was full of risk. To boldly undertake an assault on a strong natural fortification that was*aided by great mili- tary preparation, with less troops than were inside for defence, was in violation of all example and advice in war. If a mis- 79 80 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. take, it was a glorious one. And again, if a mistake, then, as Turenne says, “when a man has committed no mistakes in war he could only have been engaged in ita short time.’ The more of such blunders the better. General Scott had said: “I don’t understand this war. I never knew a war of this magnitude that did not throw to the surface some great general. We have had splendid fighting, but no damage has been done. Both armies have drawn off in good order at the close of a conflict, ready to begin the next day. Such fighting must be interminable. Somebody must be destroyed. The enemy must be spoiled, his means of warfare taken from him. I must make an exception in favor of that young man out West, He seems to know the art of damaging the enemy and crippling him.” The confederate General Johnston, realizing when it was too late that the South had received a fatal blow through his policy of dispersion, set about to concentrate his broken and scattered forces. He collected at Murfreesboro an army of possibly twenty thousand men, his object being to co-operate with Beauregard in defending the Mississippi Valley and the railroad system of the Southwest. This required the estab- lishment and maintenance of a new defensive line, of which Island No. 10 and Murfreesboro at first, and Corinth and Chattanooga afterward, became the principal points. If the reader will now take a map and see how far this line was south of the splendid line stretching from Columbus, on the Mississippi, to Bowling Green, Ky., which the capture of | Ft. Donelson broke, he will get an idea of the wonderful extent of territory which that fort protected and which was lost by its fall. Before the fall of Donelson (Feb. 16th) Grant was assigned to the new military district of West Tennessee, and Brigadier- General William T. Sherman succeeded him in the command of the District of Cairo. Their first official intercourse oc- SHILOH——-BEFORE AND AFTER. SI curred during the siege of Donelson, when Sherman forwarded troops and supplies to Grant with extraordinary dispatch. Though Grant’s senior, he wrote: “I will do everything in my power to hurry forward your reinforcements and supplies. And if I could be of service myself, would gladly come, with- out making any question of rank with you or General Smith.” After the fall of Ft. Donelson, Sherman congratulated Grant on his success, and Grant replied: “I feel under many obli- gations to you for the kind terms of your letter, and hope that should an opportunity occur, you will earn for yourself that promotion which you are kind enough to say belongs to me. I care nothing for promotion so long as our arms are successful, and no political appointments are made.” Thus began a friendship between these two great men which ever after grew warmer and assured that co-operation in great mili- tary enterprises which eventuated in the most brilliant and pronounced successes of the war. Coincident with the fall of Donelson was that favorable movement in North Carolina by General Burnside, which resulted in the taking of Roa- noke Island and the permanent lodgment of the national forces in the soil of that State. And beyond the Mississippi the tide of military affairs took a decided turn. The Confederate General Price had virtually held Mis- souri. On February 18th, Gen- eral Curtis drove him into Ar- kansas. “ The army of the South- ; West is doing its duty nobly. GENERAL BURNSIDE. The flag of the Union is float- ing in Arkansas,” were Halleck’s words to the Secretary of War. 6 82 LIFE OF -ULYSSES |S. GRANT; On February 22d Congress ordered the illumination of the Capitol and public buildings “in honor of the recent victo- ries of the army and navy.” The Congress adjourned for the day. It was made a day of general con- gratulation in association with the memory of Washington and “ of the triumph of the Government which his valor and wisdom had done so much to establish.” And now, where was Grant? In spite of Halleck’s conservative dis- patches “to move only with the greatest caution,” and to do, or rather not to do, other foolish things, Grant, on February 2Ist, ordered Gen. C. F. Smith to take and hold Clarksville, fifty miles above Donelson. Cullum at Cairo was informed of this fact, and of his (Grant’s) proposition to capture Nashville. On the 24th Smith was reported in possession of Clarksville with four regiments, and General Halleck’s pleasure was asked. On the 25th Grant reported that Nelson’s division of Buell’s army had arrived at Nashville, and that the Confederates had fallen back to Chattanooga, instead of to Murfreesboro. “TI shall go to Nashville immediately, in person, unless orders come to prevent it. I am getting anxious to know what the next move is to be.’ Grant was bound to be master of the strategic situ- ation, and he knew the value of every moment of time. He made his visit to Nashville and returned on the 28th, reporting that the enemy had fallen back on Chattanooga or Decatur, and that Buell had called Smith from Clarksville to his assistance. On the same day came a dispatch from Halleck. It read: “It will be better to retreat than to risk a general battle. Avoid any general engagement with strong forces,” SSSs GENERAL CURTIS. SHILOH—BEFORE AND AFTER. 83 The whole command was, at Halleck’s request, moved from the Cumberland back to the Tennessee, with a view to an expedition up the latter river to Eastport and even to Corinth. Grant received this word on March 2d. On March 4th his army was in motion for the Tennessee, and he himself was back at Ft. Henry. Now comes an episode which shows what General Grant, an officer without political influence, and whose promotions and genius were eclipsing those older and politically stronger than himself, had to contend with. On March 3d, without previous explanation or intimation, Halleck sent this to Wash- ington: “I have had no communication with General Grant for more than a week. He left his command without my authority and went to Nashville. His army seems to be as much demoralized by the victory of Donelson as was that of the Potomac by the defeat of Bull Run. It is hard to censure a successful general immediately after a victory, but I think he richly deserves it. I can get no returns, no reports, no infor- mation from him. Satisfied with his victory he sits down and enjoys it, without any regard to the future. I am worn out and tired by this neglect and inefficiency. C. F. Smith is almost the only officer equal to the emergency.” On March 4th Grant received orders from Halleck to place Maj.-General Smith in command of the proposed expedition, and to remain himself at Ft. Henry. To this Grant replied: “Troops will be sent under Smith as directed. I had pre- pared a different plan, intending to send Smith to Paris and Humboldt, while I commanded the expedition against East- port, Corinth and Jackson. Iam not aware of ever having diso- beyed any order from your headquarters. Have reported almost daily the condition of my command and every position occupied. You may rely on my carrying out your instruc- tions in every particular to the best of my ability.” On the 6th of March Halleck dispatched: “ McClellan 84 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. directs you to report to me daily the number and position of your forces. Your neglect of repeated orders to report the strength of your command has created great dissatisfaction and seriously interfered with military plans. Your going to Nashville without authority, and when your presence with your troops was of the greatest importance, was matter of very serious complaint at Washington, so much so that I was advised to arrest you on your return.” To this Grant replied on the same date :—‘‘I did all I could to get you returns of my strength. Every move I reported daily to your chief of staff, who must have failed to keep you properly posted. I have done my best to obey orders and carry out the interests of the service. If my course is not sat- isfactory, remove me at once. I do not wish in any way to impede the success of our arms. I have averaged writing more than once a day since leaving Cairo to keep you informed, and it is no fault of mine if you have not received my letters. My going to Nashville was strictly intended for the good of the service and not to gratify any desire of my own. Believing sincerely that I must have enemies between . you and myself who are trying to impair my usefulness, I respectfully ask to be relieved from further duty in the depart- ment.” This was followed by another rebuke from Halleck, and another request from Grant (March oth) “to be relieved from duty.” On the rith Grant again wrote asking “to be relieved from further duty until I can be placed right in the estimation of those higher in authority.” On the 13th Halleck wrote: “You cannot be relieved from your command. There is no good reason for it. JI am certain that all the authorities at Washington ask, is that you enforce discipline and punish the disorderly. Instead of relieving you, I wish you as soon as your new army is in the field to assume command and lead it on to new victories.” SHILOH—BEFORE AND AFTER. 85 What brought about this change of tone? Halleck had been asked to substantiate charges at Washington. This forced him into an examination of Grant’s conduct. He found that his reports had been forwarded daily, and that his visit to Nashville was proper, since his district had no limits. He therefore wrote lengthily to Washington, stating his own change of mind toward Grant, and fully exonerating him. This was on March 15th. This timely vindication lifted the cloud which had shadowed General Grant for a fortnight, but which had not interfered with his co-operation with General Smith. On the oth Grant said to Smith, “ Anything you may require send back trans- ports for, and if within my power you shall have it.” With the reinforcements sent to Smith on the 11th Grant sent word, “Halleck telegraphs me that when these arrive I may take general direction. It is exceedingly doubtful whether I shall accept ; certainly not until the object of the expedition is ac- complished.” Smith replied, “I wrote you yesterday how glad I was to learn from your letter of the 11th that you were to resume your old command, from which you were so unceremoniously and, as I think, unjustly stricken down.” This cordiality was striking in view of the fact that Smith had been commandant at West Point when Grant was a cadet. On mention by Grant of the delicate relationship which now existed between the two by reason of recent promotions, the chivalric Smith replied, “I am now a subordinate and I know a soldier’s duty. I hope you will feel no awkwardness about our new relations.” Smith was sixty years old, and as faithful and gallant an officer as ever drew sabre. The exposure he underwent at Donelson brought on an illness which proved fatal the next summer. Halleck was extremely cautious about this expedition up the Tennessee. “ Don’t bring on a general engagement at Paris” he wrote to Grant. “ If the enemy prove strong, fall 86 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. back. These orders must be strictly obeyed.’ The opera- tions brought no vivid results. Smith returned to Pittsburg Landing, which place he selected to hold for the purpose of nee a et OP Wr vp Si he U Tk j Md, Ae ow] a PITTSBURG LANDING. awaiting the Confederate policy of concentration now rapidly unfolding. It is on the west side of the Tennessee river, just north of the southern boendary of the State. In itself it had no significance, and even the name has given place to Shiloh in war history, the latter spot being the scene and centre of the battle which had Pittsburg Landing for a base of opera- tions. Nine miles further down the river is Savannah, a small town SHILOH——BEFORE AND AFTER. 87 on the opposite, or eastern side. To this point General Grant moved his headquarters on assuming command of the new field and the new movement. It did not take long to discover the Confederate policy. It was to form another line across the country, with the left resting on Memphis and the right on Chattanooga. This line corresponded very nearly with the southern boundary of the State of Tennessee. It was not so long as the former line from Columbus to Bowling Green had been. A railroad ran east and west its whole length, and from Iuka to Chattanooga it followed the course of the Tennessee river. It was stronger in every respect than the former, commanded the southern termini of all the railroads running northward, and effectually prevented the invasion of Mississippi and Alabama. To establish and defend this line was now a supreme object with the Confederates. Grant assumed command of operations on March 17th, 1862, at Savannah. He chose the spot on the east side of the river in order the better to keep up communication with Buell in the direction of Nashville. He found Hurlbut and Sherman at Pittsburg Landing with the new regiments which had been sent up from Cairo. Lewis Wallace’s divi- sion was at Crump’s Landing, a short distance below. Smith’s and McClernand’s divisions, the oldest and best in the army, were at Sav- annah. Buell had been ordered from Nashville by way of Columbia. Grant quickly took in the situation. He saw that the very line which the Confederates sought to establish and hold was the best for Federal operations in Alabama and Mississippi. It virtually commanded the Ten- nessee river, and would eventually command the Mississippi GEN. BUELL. 88 LIFE OF ULYSSES §S. GRANT. river as far as Vicksburg perhaps. The railroads running from the north to Memphis, La Grange, Corinth, Eastport, Decatur, and Chattanooga, would facilitate operations if held by Federal troops. By means of them, reinforcements and sup- plies could be expeditiously sent. Corinth, the crossing-place of the two great railroads that traverse the South and connect the Gulf and the Mississippi with the easterly southern regions, was the grand strategic point on this line. It was the Con- federate base of operations. They would fight desperately to hold it. They could attack vigorously from it. They had resolved not to repeat the mistake they had made on their Northern line, to wit, not concentrating early and formidably at Donelson and Henry. ‘Therefore they were, and had been for some time, directing every energy to throwing a powerful army into Corinth, and were even now ready to assume the offensive. Grant saw that.his safety depended on rapid and close con- centration. It would not do for him to repeat the error of the Confederates at Donelson. Ratifying the selection of Pitts- burg Landing by Smith, he ordered Smith’s and McClernand’s divisions thither from Savannah. Lewis Wallace was consid- ered as within supporting distance at Crump’s Landing. Buell was coming, all too slowly to be sure, from Nashville with his much-needed command of forty thousand men. Pittsburg Landing was on the side of the river next the enemy. It was therefore a dangerous place to be. But, as against this, it afforded opportunity for moving out boldly to battle, and as a unit, should it be desirable to assume the offensive. On account of the contour of the country, Owl Creek in front, and Lick and Snake Creeks on the flanks, all of which were difficult to pass when the water was high in the Tennessee river, it was a place which could be easily defended. Buell was moving very slowly and Grant became anxious. Though his march from Nashville began on March 15th, he SHILOH—BEFORE AND AFTER. 89 was twenty-three days in reaching the Tennessee river, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles. Grant kept urging haste through Halleck at St. Louis, who held general com- mand, but labored under all the disadvantages of conducting active and critical field operations at a distance of five hundred miles from headquarters. Perhaps Buell did not know of Grant’s emergency, nor of the fact, then clear to the officers at Pittsburg Landing, that the Confederates, already in force at Corinth under Beauregard, had determined on an aggressive policy. Polk, at Island No. 10, had been ordered to send two of his strongest divisions down to Corinth; Bragg’s fine corps, said to be “the best troops in the Confederacy,” was brought up from Mobile and Pensacola, and Johnston's army, consisting of Hardee’s corps and Breckinridge’s division, was brought by rail from Murfreesboro and Chattanooga. In addition, the Governors of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and Tennessee had been called.upon for volunteers, and these were hastening to Corinth. Though Beauregard was the ruling spirit, Johnston was the senior officer in command. Buell’s delay became known to the Confederates through their scouts and spies. They resolved to take advantage of this, and to move on Grant at Pittsburg Landing ere he could be reinforced. Halleck’s instructions to Grant still continued positive not to risk a general engagement till Buell’s arrival. It is needless to say that the situation was growing more critical every day, and that the Federal army could not help risking an engage- ment very soon, all orders to the contrary notwithstanding. With Grant it was not a question of an engagement, but who should make the move first. In all his dispatches to Halleck, GEN. HARDEE. gO LIFE“ OF : ULYSSES *S.- GRANT; he urged prompt reinforcement “for,” said he, “the enemy are already from sixty thousand to eighty thousand strong, and are concentrating as rapidly as we are here.” On March 23d, he wrote to Smith, “ Carry out your idea of occupying, and particularly fortifying, Pea Ridge; I do not hear one word from St. Louis. Iam clearly of the opinion that the enemy are gathering strength as rapidly as we are, and the sooner we attack the easier will be the task of taking the place. If Rug- gles is in command it would assuredly be a good time to attack.” There was not much time to wait. Confederate skirmishers were in front of the Federal forces on April 2d, and in con- siderable force. On the 4th, the enemy felt Sherman’s front, : SeWter - a) = e rf ' iy . Sa ASAT INGE rs ' i KM Uy hy, 5\ So “Rove fs 2 Shah 1 8-% N65 5° ag 14d boy, Wie’ B i 4 4 eh ert is why W/ ye Le a s\ he 4 Wz PICKETS ON DUTY. but without effect. On the 5th, Grant rode out to Sherman’s lines to consult. They agreed that it was not the enemy’s design to attack immediately. But in this they were mistaken, The reconnoissance of the previous day was really the begin- SHILOH——-BEFORE AND AFTER. gO! ning of the celebrated battle of Shiloh. (Shiloh Church was just on the edge of the Federal lines, about two and one-half miles S. W. of Pittsburg Landing). As Grant was riding back from the front to Pittsburg Land- ing on the very rainy night of the 4th, his horse slipped and fell on him, severely contusing him. This lamed him and gave him great pain and inconvenience for several days. It is on this circumstance that sensational newspaper reporters doubtless based their heartless story that Grant was drunk and thrown from his horse at the battle of Shiloh. Once for all as to his habits in this respect, there never has been a story respecting his drinking, no matter how persistently or fiend- ishly circulated, that has not been entirely exploded, and the unqualified judgment of the purest and best to-day is that he was far more abstemious than army officers in general, and never addicted to injurious use of spirits. On the same day Lewis Wallace reported eight Confeder- ate regiments of infantry and twelve hundred cavalry at Purdy, a short distance away, and an equal, if not larger force at Bethel, four miles beyond. Gen. W. H. L. Wallace, in com- mand of Smith’s division, was ordered to hold himself in readi- ness to support Lewis Wallace. Sherman was similarly notified as well as General Hurlbut. On April 5th, Nelson arrived with his column, Buell’s advance, at Savannah and re- ported to Grant. He was ordered to a point four miles from Pittsburg Landing, on the east side of the river. The country between Snake and Lick Creeks, whose mouths are three miles apart, was thickly wooded, with here and there culti- vated patches. Next to the river it was bluffy. These creeks GEN. LEW WALLACE, Q2 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. were both full and completely protected the flanks. Owl Creek, covering part of the front, was also full. The Federal line faced mainly south and west. Any Confederate attack must be wholly in front. Sherman was on the right and near Shiloh meeting-house. His division reached from the Purdy to the Corinth road. On his left and rear was McClernand and further to the left was Prentiss. Back of them and on an inner line were Hurlbut and W. H. L. Wallace. The entire force on the field was thirty-eight thousand men. The attack was begun by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, at daybreak on the morning of April 6th, with a force of forty- three thousand men and fifty guns. Hardee’s corps led, fol- lowed by Bragg’s, and then by Polk’s and the reserves under Breckenridge. Sherman and Prentiss received the Confederate onset. As soon as Grant heard the heavy firing, he ordered Nel- son to move up to a point directly opposite Pittsburg Landing. He then took a boat and left Savannah for the Landing and scene of conflict. On the way up he stopped at Crump’s Landing to notify Lewis Wallace that the battle was on, and to hold himself in readi- ness for any orders. Arriving at Pittsburg Landing at eight o’clock, he rode at once to the front. Both Sherman and Prentiss had thrown out double pickets the night before, and were therefore well on their guard against surprise. But they had hardly calculated on so furious and persistent an onset of the main body. As soon as it was ascertained that the movement was in earnest, word was sent to Lewis Wallace and Nelson, to hurry their commands up and to the front as fast as possible. The engagement soon became general and the attack deter- GEN. A. S. JOHNSTON. SHILOH——-BEFORE AND AFTER. 93 mined. The Confederates threw their regiments in close order and quick succession against the Federal columns, and those of Prentiss showed signs of wavering. Those on Sher- man’s left, being mostly new troops, began to give ground, though the General held his right and centre, near Shiloh Church, with great tenacity. McClernand promptly came to the aid of Sherman’s left. Hurlbut shoved his forces up to Prentiss’ support. W. H. L. Wallace was moved over to the centre and left of the line. Lewis Wallace was directed to push up on Sherman’s right, but failed to come. The battle grew more furious. Grant’s whole force, actually in line, was engaged, and against heavy odds. It is doubtful if any closer, harder and more stubborn fighting was done during the war. Sherman’s left was turned, but he held his right to its place. Hurlbut’s ranks were repeatedly broken, yet he reformed them and yielded only when overpowered. Prentiss clung a little too long, and was captured with two thousand one hundred men. W. H. L. Wallace was killed, and his division was pressed back on McClernand’s left, throw- ing it into confusion. It was going sorely with the Federal forces. Many of them were too new for such a trial. Grant was everywhere on the field ordering up stragglers, reforming and sending into line the broken and detached bodies, seeing that supplies were sent where most needed. Riding out to where Sherman was resolutely holding his own, he complimented him for the stubborn opposition he was making, and it must be said that, though repeatedly wounded, the hero of the “ March to the Sea” never showed more conspicuously his qualities as a general than in this battle. Little by little the Federal lines fell back. They weve not pierced, but so turned and twisted as to present many faces to the foe. Still, if Wallace and Nelson would only come, there might be hope of retrieving the day. Messengers were again 94 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. sent. Nelson, who had received orders to move at 7 a.m. did not start till 1 p.m. Wallace had mistaken his way, had been set right by McPherson, yet still delayed for unaccountable reasons. In the middle of the afternoon Buell arrived on the field in person and in advance of his troops. Seeing no hope of victory, he asked Grant what preparations he had made for retreating. The reply came, “I have not despaired of whip- ping them yet.” Nelson arrived at 5 P.M. By 4 p.m. the Federal lines had been forced back two miles, into the angle between Lick Creek and the river, the left rest- ing on the ridge just below the Landing, the right on the creek a mile and a half away. Two gunboats had been brought to cover the left, and also a battery of volunteer artillery of forty guns, posted there by Col. Webster of Grant’s staff. General Johnston, of the Confederate forces, had been killed. Beauregard succeeded to the command and forced the fighting hard onthe receding Federal lines. But as they were last formed they resisted onset after onset. Before night closed the scene Beauregard began to see that further assault would only result in swelling the list of his killed and wounded. Grant rode to Sherman and told of Donelson,—how the armies had fought till exhausted and how the next blow would win. He ordered Sherman to attack at dawn in the morning. General Wood was reportéd at Savannah with another division of Buell’s army. Grant sent word: “Come up immediately. Transports will be ready to bring your troops. Leave all heavy baggage. The enemy has fought vigorously all day. They are estimated at one hundred thousand men. The appearance of fresh troops now will have a powerful effect by inspiring our men and disheartening the enemy.” Lewis Wallace made his appearance at nightfall, and was moved into es ES —_ »\ — “# SRANT AND SHERMAN. 95 96 LIFE OF ULYSSES S$. GRANT. line of battle on the extreme right where he should have been long before. All the divisions were rearranged and ordered to move at daylight. Both sides slept on their arms. Early on the morning of the 7th, the Federal troops began the battle afresh with renewed confidence and vigor. Nelson with his fresh troops first struck the enemy from Grant’s left centre. The Confederate army had lost heavily—‘ nearly half in killed and wounded and from straggling,” says Beaure- gard’s report. It was fatigued too with the tremendous exer- tions of the day before. Still it held on stubbornly, and especially as the character of the attack upon it must have assured it that the Federals had been reinforced. The tactics and scenes of the day before were reversed. The Confeder- ates were the receding foe. Ground was lost and won several times. Lines were turned and zigzagged. Federal and Con- federate lay wounded, dying and dead together. Backward and still backward the resolute lines were pushed over the field of yesterday, and until every inch of lost ground had been gained. Lew Wallace’s laggards fought on the right with a valor born of determination to redeem the reputation they had lost by delay. Sherman renewed the fight for Shiloh Church, and there reclaimed all the trophies won from the Federals. Buell, though at first cold toward Grant, entered fully into the spirit of the fight, and handled his forces with great ability. There was but little straggling. All were determined. As the day wore on, the national victory was more decisive. The repulse of the enemy became general by two o’clock, and by nightfall Beauregard was five miles beyond the front which General Grant had maintained previous to the battle of the first day, and in rapid retreat. Rain was falling. The ground was wet and slippery. The men were worn out with their two days of fighting. These facts saved the Confederate retreat from becoming a rout, for Grant consented with the SHILOH—-BEFORE AND AFTER. 97 greatest reluctance to a temporary stay of his advance. As it was, he urged forward two brigades of Wood's division and a part of Sherman’s to watch the enemy and press the retreat. The central thought of the Confederates was to destroy Grant’s army before Buell could reinforce it. This accounts for their terrific concentration and desperation. They based their hopes, not on grand tactics, but in superior weight of numbers and persistency of impulse. They did their best, and admit in their reports that their progress was only stayed by the determined resistance of Grant’s army, aided by the gunboats. | The Confederate retreat did not cease till the army reached Corinth. Their dead were left to be buried by the Federals. Grant’s entire loss was 1700 killed, 7495 wounded, 3022 missing. Beauregard reported a loss of 1728 killed, 8012 wounded, 957 missing. This battle justly ranks as one of the fiercest fights of the war in the West. Sherman said he did not see such fighting afterward, and Grant compared Shiloh with the intensity and stubbornness of the “ Wilderness.” The immediate results of the battle did not amount to much. Halleck arrived on the gth, and took sole command. He restrained any advance except behind breastworks, which at this juncture was to lose the moral effect of victory entirely and diminish its material effect. This battle of Shiloh convinced the Federal authorities, the Union people at home, and the armies and their officers, that the Confederates were in earnest in starting and carrying on the war. It was to be no sixty or ninety day tourney, but a contest prolonged and intense beyond everything yet seen, General Grant accepted this view of it, and was ever afterward actuated by the thought that to fight to hurt was the only way to end it. It became his policy to move directly and vigor- ously on opposing armies with the intention of defeating them, capturing them, or breaking them up. He would master great 7 98 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. strategic positions, but he preferred to make positions. The Confederates were unanimous and determined. They could not be met successfully with airy sentiments, over-nice man- ceuvres, highly refined deference, but only in the spirit and with the purpose they themselves made necessary. They meant war; war they should have. Donelson threw them back two hun- dred and fifty miles. Here they were at Shiloh stronger and more determined than ever. Their firmness and persistence must be excelled, if ever a victorious end were to come. . Deep anxiety had preceded this battle throughout the North, and the relief that followed was grateful. The President issued a proclamation to the people asking them to give thanks for the successes of the Union armies. Then the newspapers fell to wrangling about the merits of the victory. Grant was accused of having been surprised the first day. The subject got into Congress and was warmly debated. Here Hon. Elihu Washburne came to Grant’s defence, and his speech made a lasting impression on the country. It ended that political malignity which had hitherto pursued those officers whose preferment was the reward of merit and not the result of favoritism. , ——-_ \ FF : i CAVALRY BIVOUAC. CHAPTER > VI. CORINTH AND IUKA. HEN Halleck appeared on the field and assumed com- mand of the operations which were to succeed the battle of Shiloh, there was not good feeling among the army officers, and especially on his part toward General Grant. Generally the jealousies were bitter and rather of a political than military kind, but the feeling toward Grant seemed to be inexplicable except on the ground of sheer envy. In his work of reorganization Halleck divided the army, now to be called the Army of the Mississippi, into three corps, commanded by Pope, Thomas and Buell, with a reserve under McClernand, while Grant’s Army of the Tennessee was dis- tributed between the right wing and the reserve, thus actually placing him under Thomas and McClernand, an act which was regarded as a direct snub, and a place which, by all the division officers, was seen to be one of demotion if not of disgrace. He had therefore the humiliation of witnessing the passage of prominent orders through his subordinates, and even of hav- ing his troops moved without his orders. The camp was filled with unscrupulous newspaper corres- pondents, each with a favorite officer in his mind, whose deeds must be extolled, all in search of the sensational, and few not given to exaggeration and misrepresentation. These distorted true situations and contributed to the bickerings, heart-burn- ings and jealousies. Grant had to bear rounds of abuse, for 101 IO2 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the most part without complaint or defence. He could fight battles with sword against an open and fair foe, but could not waste precious time or afford to compromise his self-respect in idle battles of words with secret and unprincipled enemies. To one who had denounced him unsparingly he did venture to say: “ Your paper is very unjust to me, but time will make it all right. I want to be judged by my acts,” In noting his disposition and demeanor amid these rival- ries and daily attacks on character, another correspondent says: “ When the army began to creep forward I messed at Grant’s headquarters with his chief of staff, and around the evening camp-fires I saw much of the General. He rarely uttered a word on the political bearings of the war; indeed, he said little on any subject. With his eternal cigar and his head thrown to one side for hours, he would silently sit before the fire or walk back and forth with his eyes on the ground. At almost every general headquarters one heard denunciation of rival commanders. Grant was above this mischievous, foul sin of chiding. I never heard him speak unkindly of a brother officer.” Nor was Halleck’s method of handling the army calculated to give a peaceful turn to affairs. The sentiment was largely abroad among both officers and men, that the fruits of the victory of Shiloh were being lost by failure to make a bold push after the retreating Confederates. To lose time was to give them opportunity to strengthen Corinth and stand boldly again in the way of Federal advance. To move promptly was to make sure of this strategic point almost without serious engagement, considering the then shattered condition of the Confederate forces. But as open expression of this sentiment would have appeared like insubordination, there was surface acquiescence and as much rivalry in promptly executing Halleck’s orders as if all had been in accord with them at heart. There was to CORINTH AND IUKA. 103 be no vigorous pursuit, but an approach to Corinth only by slow steps and amid painful precautions. The ways were to be carefully chosen and fortified, the approaches fully mapped and studied. Everything was to be done on the basis of regu- lar siege operations and in accordance with approved engineer- ing formula. Reinforcements and materials of all kinds were hurried from the North; for, owing to misconception of the entire situation, Shiloh was for a long time regarded rather as a defeat than a splendid victory. Thus Halleck’s force was soon swelled to something like one hundred and twenty thou- sand men, and yet he ventured nothing against a broken foe, except under cover of entrenchments and slow siege approaches to Corinth. He consumed six weeks in digging and shoveling his way along over a space of fifteen miles, the enemy all the while failing to make a single offensive movement, but were, on the contrary, taking advantage of the time to construct defences far more elaborate and sturdy than those behind which Halleck was making his tardy advance. Beauregard was thought to have had from fifty thousand to seventy thousand men. The Federal officers were anxious to test the superiority of their numbers without so much provoking delay. Grant broached the opinion that Beau- regard was actually dividing his forces, with a view to marching the greater part away from Cornith, leaving only a remnant there to keep up appearances. All the shrewder officers coincided with this view. He ventured to sug- gest to Halleck that an attack on the Confederate left, where their defences GEN. BEAUREGARD. appeared weakest, would turn their line, and that then a movement stretching toward his own 104 LIFE OF ULYSSES 3. GRANT. left would enable him to sweep the field. Halleck scouted the idea, and intimated that Grant’s opinion need not be given till called for. Thenceforth his mouth was sealed in front of Corinth, and he was more than ever the subject of misrepre- sentation. Galled by a condition of affairs as aggravating as if he had been in actual disgrace, he thought of resigning, and did ask for leave of absence that he might escape the embarrassments of his luckless position. But Sherman and others counselled him to remain, and fortunately for the country he finally concluded to do so. On May 30th, Halleck announced that the enemy intended to attack his left that morning, and his great army was drawn up in defence. It was only a little feint, under cover of which the entire Confederate force evacuated Corinth, leaving their wooden guns and barren defences to impose as long as pos- sible on their enemy. ‘The trick was soon discovered, and the Federal forces marched over the harmless entrenchments into the deserted town. Beauregard had been striving to elude Halleck ever since May gth, and had given orders for the work of evacuation to begin on May 20th. Ten days left the town empty. Soon after entering the town Grant rode out to the Confederate left, and fully satisfied himself that it was by far the weakest part of Beauregard’s lines, and could have been easily broken by a determined assault, with the probable capture of a great part of the enemy’s forces. The evacuation of Corinth settled the certainty and magnitude of the victory at Shiloh, though its importance could have been greatly augmented by a brave, persistent push on the part of Halleck. The Confederates abandoned the object of their campaign—viz., holding Corinth, the central point of their new strategic line, without a fight. They had fought for and lost Corinth at Shiloh. And now came another period of inaction, or rather profit- less action. Beauregard had a fine start southward, it was CORINTH AND IUKA. 105 supposed, and along the line of a railroad. The roads were good and the country well watered. There was no spirited pursuit. Pope and Buell were sent as far as Booneville and Blackland, but with numbers quite too large for expedition. By June roth all hope of catching up with the enemy or forc- ing a battle was abandoned, and the splendid army at Corinth was about to be severed into parts for operation against other points which were rapidly springing into strategic importance. All this took place with Vicksburg lying within easy reach and practically defenceless, and with Chattanooga, at the other end of the strategic line, which could have been taken posses- sion of, fortified and held, thus saving to the country the expense and disaster of two campaigns for its capture. Buell’s army was sent from Corinth toward Chattanooga. Grant retained command of the district of West Tennessee, with headquarters at Memphis, which had surrendered to the Federal fleet on June 6th. The Confederate Bragg had suc- ceeded Beauregard, and was pushing his way to Chattanooga with a view of beating Buell in the race for this strong posi- tion. Early in July, General Pope was ordered to Virginia, and on the 17th-of the month Halleck was called to Wash- ington, as McClellan’s successor, and as commander of all the armies. Thus this magnificent force was dissipated in the face of grand possibilities, and the visions of coherent action and further victory which had inspired officers and men after Shiloh faded into nothing. Halleck’s first order touching Grant was a snub and insult. His headquarters were ordered back to Corinth, and his com- mand tendered to Colonel Robert Allen, who declined it, whereupon Grant was allowed to remain. Then came further stripping—a “ pepper-box ” policy as it was called at the time. Four divisions of Thomas’ command were ordered to Buell, who was slowly making his way toward Chattanooga through Eastport and Decatur. This subtraction of force threw Grant 106 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. entirely on the defensive, and made it exceedingly difficult for him to hold Corinth and the lines of railroad which centered there. He was in the face of an enemy whose force equalled his own, and who knew he could not assume the offensive. Further he was open to attack in any one of three or four directions, and regarded the cutting of the railroad north of him at Bolivar or Jackson as fatal. Memphis was safe enough with Sherman there, and the river at that point and above under control of the Federal gunboats. Grant very justly regarded the position he was in as one of the most unsatis- factory and trying of the whole war. Leaving sufficient force at Memphis, Grant concentrated all the troops he could spare from guard duty at Corinth, at Jackson on his north, and at Bolivar on his northwest, all important railroad places, and the first two, centres of railway systems. For eight weeks he addressed himself to newly for- tifying Corinth on a scale suited to his small force, and to gar- risoning Jackson and Bolivar, all the while confronted by the Confederates under Van Dorn and Price, who threatened him continually. Things were not going well with the Union armies. Inthe East, battles had been lost, and heart-burnings and bickerings existed among the generals, which led to frequent removals and disastrous successions. Bragg was fast proving that he was more than a match for Buell in quick marching, for he not only struck Chattanooga first, which threw Buell north to Murfreesboro, and even to Nashville, but had actually made arrangements for assuming the offensive with a view of regaining Eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, and thence threatening Ohio and the North. Van Dorn by this time, September roth, 1862, felt himself strong enough for a diversion. He sent Price with twelve thousand men toward Iuka, twenty-one miles east of Corinth, as if he were to reinforce Bragg, and with the hope that Grant CORINTH AND IUKA. 107 would follow, thus leaving Corinth an easy prey to his (Van Dorn’s) forces. Grant did not fall into the trap, but without leaving Corinth uncovered, proceeded to defeat Price before he could get back to Van Dorn or be reinforced by him. He sent Ord, with about five thousand men, toward Iuka from the North, and ordered Rosecrans, who had suc- ceeded Pope, with about nine thou- sand men, to attack the place from the direction of Jacinto. But Ord and Rosecrans failed to attack si- multaneously as Grant had ordered and expected, The brunt of the battle fell on Rosecrans’ troops, on the afternoon of September 19th, and they lost a battery, with seven hundred and thirty- six men killed and wounded. The engagement was a sharp one, and the loss to the Confederates greater than that to the Federals, being estimated by Rosecrans at fourteen hundred and thirty-eight killed and wounded, and by Pollard at eight hundred. Rosecrans sent word at nightfall that an early attack must be made in the morning. Ord was urged to push up his column and co-operate closely. Grant fully expected to capture all of Price’s force on the 20th. But the enemy slipped out of its predicament during the night, and by morning was in full retreat, except about one thousand, who became prisoners of war. Pursuit was ordered and kept up for some time, but was discontinued when it was found that Price was making his way in a circle to rejoin Van Dorn. Grant had to get his forces back toward Corinth, or within supporting distance, as quickly as possible. Rosecrans was back at Corinth by the 26th; Ord was at Bolivar ; Hurlbut was sent toward Pocahontas, midway between Corinth and Grand GEN. ORD. 108 LIFE. OF) ULYSSES S: GRANT, Junction, where Price had rejoined Van Dorn, after his cir- cuitous retreat, and from which point they were expected to move on Corinth. ‘‘My position is precarious, but I expect to get through all right”? was the word Grant sent to Washington on October Ist. The Confederates moved as if to strike Corinth on the north and thus cut off reinforcements from Bolivar. But Grant ordered Ord and Hurlbut to come from Bolivar to Pocahontas and thence to Corinth, so as to fall in on the Con- federate rear. Van Dorn pushed boldly on with a force of over thirty thousand men upon Rosecrans with about nineteen thousand. On October 2d skirmishing began. On the 3d battle became active, and Rosecrans was gradually forced back toward the fortifications of Corinth, which Grant had erected within the bounds of the old ones. It was now seen how wisely Grant had been working a month before. The enemy were flushed with seeming victory. They pressed hard on the Federals, and by nightfall had driven them within their fortifications. So confident were they of final victory that Van Dorn sent a hasty dispatch to Richmond announcing the capture of Corinth. They were ordered to renew the attack early in the morning. Fire was opened on the Federal lines early on the 4th. At half-past nine Price made a furious assault on the Federal centre, which was met with a storm of canister and grape, but not checked till it broke Davies’ division and forced it back on the town. Rosecrans concentrated his artillery, pushed up Sullivan’s brigade and the Tenth Ohio and Fifth Minnesota regiments, and finally drove the Confederates from their posi- tion within his lines. Meanwhile Van Dorn was leading his right in an assault on the Federal left. This was anticipated, and met with havoc to the enemy by Stanley’s division and the heavy guns of Battery Robinet. Still they held on till within fifty yards of the works where the rifle fire became too CORINTH AND IUKA., 109 deadly.’ They retreated, but were again led forward into the midst of that dreadful fire. On their second retreat, the soldiers within the works gave pursuit, and drove them, broken and routed, back to the woods. They were no longer able to make headway and lost no time in getting off the field, leaving their wounded and the artillery they had captured the day before. The Federal loss was 315 killed, 1812 wounded and 230 prisoners. Rosecrans reported the Confederate dead at 1423 with 2225 prisoners, representing sixty-nine regiments and light batteries. The coming of McPherson’s and Hurl- but’s columns in the rear and the splendid circle made by the former to get to Rosecrans’ right, served to help the demor- alization of the Confederates. Ord pushed after the enemy and intercepted the retreat at the Hatchie river, capturing a battery and several hundred men. Rosecrans had been ordered to pursue also and help Ord, but his army could not reach the scene in time, on account of fatigue and getting on the wrong road. ~A heavy rain set in, supplies were low, and the art of living off the enemy’s country had not yet been learned. So the pursuit was called off. Grant issued orders congratulating his officers and men for their faithfulness and undaunted bravery. Iuka and Corinth retrieved somewhat the disasters in the East and relieved West Tennessee from immediate danger. Rosecrans was made a major-general and ordered to the com- mand of the army of the Cumberland to relieve Buell. Grant did not receive the credit due him for conceiving and directing these important operations. He was modest, made no show of superiority, took no advantage of victory to further his per- sonal ends. He had few friends in Washington and was not a favorite with any correspondents. His genius was not yet fully understood, and his successes were yet counted as in the nature of accidents. He had been operating for weeks on the defensive, whereas he had before won his greatest victories on I1O LIFE OF ULYSSES 5. GRANT. the offensive. Yet he showed equal mastery of situations, the same wonderful attention to details, the clearest knowledge of topography and strategy, and a felicity in ordering and directing which was Napoleonic. BURYING A COMRADE AT NIGHT, a = — amd a rte Sete) VAL: PREPARING FOR VICKSBURG. O take and hold the Mississippi Valley was vital to the Confederacy, and equally vital to the Union. There lay an empire six times as large as France, through which ran the finest navigable water course on the globe, and over fifty navi- gable tributaries. Without it the Confederacy would be rent in twain; and so, without it the Northwest would be hemmed in and crippled to ruin. Accordingly the Confederates early seized and fortified im- portant positions on the line of the Mississippi river—Colum- bus, Fort Pillow, Island No. 10, Memphis, Vicksburg, Port Hudson. By means of the fortifications below New Orleans they controlled the mouth of the stream. By means of those at Columbus they shut off navigation from the north, up to within twenty miles of Cairo. And that long strategic line of theirs running from Columbus on the left, through Ft. Donelson and Ft. Henry, to its right at Bowling Green, Ky., gave them control of both the Tennessee and Cumberland. To break this, and all other strategic lines that the Confed- erates might form, to open, and keep open, the Mississippi, was the supreme object, on the part of the North, of all that concentration of troops, munitions and supplies at Cairo, all the operations conducted from that convenient base, and all the co-operative efforts of armies and navies below New Orleans. We have seen how the splendid victory of Grant at Donel- II I1I2 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. son, in the spring of 1862, pierced the centre of the first Con- federate line, how it opened the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers for over two hundred miles, how it rendered both Columbus and Bowling Green untenable, and how it redeemed, for the time being, the two States of Kentucky and Tennessee on the east, and Missouri on the west of the Mississippi. Columbus emptied itself upon Island No. 10, forty-five miles below Cairo. The army of Pope and the flotilla of Foote proceeded against the Island about the same time that Grant was gathering his forces at Pittsburg Landing, preparatory to Shiloh. For three weeks they battered at the stronghold without effect. The time was used by Beauregard in pre- paring Ft. Pillow, one hundred and thirty miles below Island No. 10, as a place of retreat. When this place was deemed impregnable, the Island was evacuated on April 7th, the day of the battle of Shiloh, and Ft. Pillow became the northern- most post held by the Confederates on the Mississippi. Ft. Pillow was covered by Beauregard’s army as long as it retained Corinth. The Fort was invincible by way of the river, for Foote had steamed down to it immediately after the evacuation of Island No. 10, and had been bombarding it without effect for some six or seven weeks. But when, at the end of May, Beauregard was compelled to retire from Corinth, Ft. Pillow had to be abandoned. This left the Mississippi open from Cairo to Memphis, a distance of two hundred and forty miles, all of which was acquired within four months after the beginning of those operations by General Grant, which resulted in the victories of Donelson and Shiloh, and was the direct results of those victories. While the river was being opened from above, Farragut was pushing his way from below. New Orleans had been captured April 28th, 1862, and shortly after, a combined fleet and army started up the Mississippi.on a grand reconnoissance. Baton Rouge and Natches were captured, the latter on May 12th, PREPARING FOR VICKSBURG. I13 just seventeen days before Halleck found out that Beauregard had left Corinth free for him to enter, and quite in time for his splendid army to have co-operated with the up-coming fleet against Vicksburg, as Grant had suggested it should, and as it would undoubtedly have done, had he been in command. At this time the defences of Vicksburg were slight. Only three Confederate batteries were in position on the bluffs ADMIRAL D. G. FARRAGUT. when Gen. M. L. Smith, under directions from Beauregard, took command of the place on May 12th, 1862. He worked rapidly, and when Farragut’s fleet, under commander Lee, appeared on May 18th, and demanded the surrender of the 8 Ii4 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, place, General Smith could well answer: “Having been ordered here to hold these defences, my intention is to do so as long as it is in my power.” Commander Lee, judging himself too weak to attack, awaited reinforcements. By May 28th, ten gunboats lay before Vicksburg and the bombardment began. Those ten days of waiting had been fatal to success. Six additional batteries had found conspicuous places on the bluffs, and more were under way. From May 28th till the middle of June the fleet fired at intervals on the town and fortifications. On June 6th, Memphis fell into Federal hands after a severe naval engagement, in which all but two vessels of the Confederate fleet were either captured or destroyed by the squadron under command of flag-officer Davis, Foote’s successor, and thus over two hundred miles of additional water-way were gained to the North. By the last of June, Farragut was present before Vicksburg with all his gunboats, and Porter with his mortar fleet. An infantry force of four regiments, landed from transports, under Gen. F. Williams, began to cut a navigable canal across the isthmus made by the great bend in the river at Vicksburg. Davis came down from Memphis with his victorious fleet. It was resolved to make a combined and determined effort to reduce the stronghold. A furious bombardment was begun on June 27th, and renewed on June 28th, when the lower fleet was put in motion. Steaming in front of the city the gun- boats delivered their broadsides at the batteries, while the mor- tar fleet filled the air with bursting bombs. For over two hours the gunboats raked the fortified bluffs, steaming past them all the while. Seven of these boats ran the gauntlet of Confederate fire and joined the upper fleet. The shore defences were not materially damaged. The line of vessels was reformed, and again they poured their terrible fire into the batteries. This was kept up, off and on, till July 15th, when PREPARING FOR VICKSBURG, _ 115 a powerful Confederate ram, called the Arkansas,—afterward, Aug. 6th, 1862 destroyed by Porter near Baton Rouge—ran out of the mouth of the Yazoo river, twelve miles above, speedily disabled two of the Federal gunboats, and then sought pro- tection under the guns of Vicksburg. Knowing that his mor- DESTRUCTION OF THE ARKANSAS BY THE ESSEX. tar fleet would be helpless in the presence of such a formid- able assailant, and feeling that the batteries, on account of their high location on the bluffs, could not be reduced by his fleet, Farragut resolved to descend the river. On the night of the 15th, the gunboats, which had ascended past Vicksburg, ran back again and rejoined the lower fleet. This changed 116 LIFE OF. ULYSSES: S. GRANT, matters somewhat, and the bombardment was continued till the 27th of July, when both fleets withdrew, leaving the Confeder- ates to enjoy the conviction that Vicksburg was impregnable. The canal proved a failure and General Williams withdrew to Baton Rouge. Thus ended the first attempt to take Vicks- burg. Its defences withstood a siege of seventy days—May 18th to July 27th—without serious impairment. Though twenty-five thousand shot and shell were thrown from the Federal fleet, not a Confederate gun was known to have been dismounted, and the casualties were only seven killed and fifteen wounded. It required nothing further to prove that these elevated shore defences were impervious to attack by water. Grant had seen this all along, and had always acted on the principle that in order to capture them there must be a combined land and naval attack, or, better still, such land operations as would render them practicably untenable and their abandonment sure. Beauregard saw it with equal clear- ness, and hence his constant effort to keep a land army within supporting distance of their rear. Thus Columbus fell of itself when Donelson was gained. Beauregard lost Shiloh and {sland No. 10 simultaneously. Memphis fell when the Confederates moved from their base at Corinth. And now Vicksburg, which had defied the efforts of two mighty fleets, and which was the only serious obstacle to an open Mississippi river, must fall, if at all, by means of land approaches. To this mighty task General Grant now set his wits and turned his energy and resources. We have seen how with an inferior force, he was kept on the defensive by Van Dorn and Price, during September and October, 1862, and how he had at last freed himself from immediate danger by the victories at Iluka and Corinth. On October 26th, he intimated to Halleck the possibility of his being able to so shape things as to protect his strong points and at the same time “move down the Mississippi Central Fy i alien eS BILLA LEN ST a il \ AZZ Z A MAM HN RO NAIA CAA aT wil i] Wurm nl y ~ - 7 ee ai i vu Muntian tt Silly pil HAL cero AL are — ah ne i} aut NAN it I 4 . oS a == haem i! t i! eh, aa Tea NA en AN Le a mini ee el) /\ Milk j stl MA abe a na itll i" a i i i a i Ve) G z z Z @Q ee. >) ea te > ae ae rs a 9 wn ‘« ae < ‘@ wr y a = x Q ae ML i | A em iit) a i DU ‘t a | : if min { | it MAL An vate A ba ie hat | ag 5 ’ tye i Hy EA : Weal ae tay Z HEA Mihi hse 118 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. road and cause the evacuation of Vicksburg.” On the previous day, October 25th, he had, in compliance with orders from Washington, assumed command of the Department of the Tennessee, which he immediately divided into four dis- tricts, allotting one division of troops to each. Sherman was assigned to the district of Memphis, with the first division ; Hurlbut to the district of Jackson, with the second division ; C. S. Hamilton to the district of Corinth, with the third division, and Davies to the district of Columbus, with the fourth division. The line held by Grant was that of the Memphis and Charleston railroad, between Memphis and Corinth, his right at Memphis, his left at Corinth. To the south and in front lay Van Dorn’s and Price’s forces, now (November, 1862) consoli- dated under General Pemberton. Pemberton’s line was that of the Tallahatchie river, two hundred miles north of Vicks- burg, the real barrier to Grant’s advance upon the place, and the real defence of the place by land. Till this force could be outmanceuvered or eliminated, the solution of the problem Grant had on hand could not even be begun. It is three hundred and ninety miles from Memphis to Vicksburg by way of the Mississippi. From Grand Junction, midway between Corinth and Memphis, on the railroad, it is not over two hundred miles in a straight line. By way of the Mississippi Central railroad it is two hundred and five miles from Grand Junction to Jackson, the capital of Mississippi. And from that point it is forty-five miles by rail, due west to Vicksburg. The Tallahatchie country and after it the Yazoo, is a watery country, abounding in intricate bayous and swamps, lined with timber and rank undergrowth. Pemberton’s northern outpost was at Holly Springs, twenty-five miles south of Grand Junc- tion. To throw him from the line of the Tallahatchie and back over the country between that and Vicksburg was Grant’s first object. PREPARING FOR VICKSBURG. I19Q On November 2d, he dispatched to Washington: “I have commenced a movement on Grand Junction with three divis- ions from Corinth and two from Bolivar. Will leave here (Corinth) to-morrow to take command in person. If found practicable, will go to Holly Springs and maybe Grenada, com- pleting railroad and telegraph as I go.” From Grand Junc- tion to Grenada is one hundred miles. Sherman was moved out from Memphis to attract the attention of the enemy’s left on the Tallahatchie. A cavalry force was to cross from the west side of the Mississippi to the rear of the enemy, to threaten their railway communications. On November 4th, Grant had seized Grand Junction and La Grange, and announced a “moving force of thirty thousand men.” McPherson commanded his right and C. S. Hamilton his left. On the 8th, he announced to Sherman that he estimated the Confederate strength at thirty thousand, and “felt strong enough to handle them without gloves ;” so the demonstration from Memphis was countermanded. The expected cavalry force from west of the Mississippi, some seven thousand in number, under Washburneand Hovey, cut the railroad in Pemberton’s rear and caused him to fall back to Grenada, one hundred miles south of Grand Junction. Grant pushed to Holly Springs, and by December 3d to Oxford, with his cavalry facing Pemberton at Grenada. This was a step of fifty miles toward Vicksburg without opposition. But the danger of depending on a long and single railway for supplies now began to loom up. To meet this, Sherman was sent from Memphis in command of a Mississippi expedi- tion, which was to land at the mouth of the Yazoo just above Vicksburg. After establishing a base of supplies there he was to work his way eastward till he met Grant at Jackson. Thus Vicksburg was to be invested in the rear. But by the time (December 26th) Sherman landed from the transports which had been conveyed by the gunboats under 120 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, Admiral D. D. Porter, at a point twelve miles up the Yazoo, Grant had felt the effects of just such a blow as he all along feared and strove with all his power to avert. The Confed- erate cavalry, by a wide detour, struck his line of communica- tions in the rear, and on December 20th captured the garrison of Holly Springs, some twelve hundred men, and destroyed an immense amount of military stores. _ His communications were also cut further up, between Jackson, Tenn., and Columbus on the Mississippi. This torced him to fall back from Grenada toward Holly Springs and La Grange, subsist- ing on the country as he went. It was a loss of valuable time and failure of the plan to co-operate with Sherman by way of the Yazoo and in the rear of Vicksburg. But Grant had faith in Sherman’s ability to get a foothold somewhere close to Vicksburg, and he lost no time in reorganizing for his support. On December 22d, 1862, he issued orders from his head- quarters at Holly Springs, dividing the troops of his depart- ment into four army corps as follows :—The Ninth Division, Brigadier-General, G. W. Morgan; the Tenth Division, Briga- dier-General, A. J. Smith; all other troops operating on the Mississippi below Memphis not in the Fifteenth Army Corps, to constitute the Thirteenth Army Corps, under Major-General John A. McClernand. The Fifth Division, Brigadier-General Morgan L. Smith; Brigadier-General Steele’s division from Helena, Ark., andthe force in “the district of Memphis,” to constitute the Fifteenth Army Corps under Major-General W. T. Sherman. The Sixth Division, Brigadier-General J. McArthur; the Seventh Division, Brigadier-General I. F. Quimby ; the Eighth Division, Brigadier-General L. F. Ross; the Second Brigade of Cavalry, Colonel A. L. Lee; Brigadier-General Davies’ troops at Columbus, and those of Brigadier-General Sullivan at Jackson, Tenn., to constitute the Sixteenth Army Corps under Major-General S. A. Hurlbut. ‘AWTIVAVO Ad AOVLLVY LHOIN V \ a) N | | | ! i ! i jin, ai Ds ) ASOT LC 122 LIFE “OP; ULYSS"s tosc Gna: The First Division, Brigadier-General J. W. Denver; the Third Division, Brigadier General John A. Logan; the Fourth Division, Brigadier-General J.G. Lauman; the First Brigade of Cavalry, Colonel B. H. Grierson, and Brigadier-General G. M. Dodge’s forces in district of Corinth, to constitute the Seventeenth Army Corps under Major-General J. B. Mc- Pherson. Having made this new arrangement of his forces, General Grant wentto Memphis to prepare for the work before him, and to communicate with Sherman, who, as we have seen, was down at the mouth of the Yazoo. Let us see how he was faring. The heights or bluffs of Vicksburg extend back from the city in all directions a considerable distance. These were gen- erally fortified for miles. At the Yazoo river the bluffs break off, and the valley of the river is flat, marshy and intersected by bayous. Landing from the river was difficult. The timber on the slopes had been felled into dense abattis. The fortifications on the summits were hard to reach and well nigh impregnable. Sherman disembarked his forces at Chickasaw Bayou, and began skirmishing on December 27th. On the 28th he selected a point of attack over difficult ground. Pemberton had reinforced the Vicksburg garrison with some six or eight brigades of his army, for he had not followed up Grant when he fell back from in front of Grenada. On the 29th, Morgan’s division of Sherman’s force, strengthened by the brigades of Blair and Thayer, moved, under cover ofa furious canonnade to within four hundred yards of the enemy’s strong entrench- ments, when they met a deadly infantry fire. Still they pushed on till within one hundred and fifty yards, when the fire became so terrible that they broke, but were quickly rallied only to be repulsed again and again, with heavy loss in killed, wounded and prisoners. The attack by the forces under Morgan Smith on the right was equally unsuccessful. Sherman saw that further attempt to force those strong lines by direct attack PREPARING FOR VICKSBURG. 123 would be suicidal. He had already lost two thousand men, while the Confederate losses did not exceed two hundred and ten. Hetherefore gave up the impossible task, but immediately prepared a movement by which ten thousand men were to go in transports further up the Yazoo, and under cover of the guns w: cath nn 7 a a 4“ a es nan, Fa as \\ g P| [o\ fA \ ’ } Hyd Fro Saw TN WL Fou “ ¥ ny / 7% WU, hon, — "RF MAP OF VICKSBURG. of the navy effect a landing further in the rear of the enemy’s fortifications. This move was set down for the night of December 31st, but a dense fog prevented it. He therefore dropped all his boats and forces down the Yazoo to the Miss- issippi, where he met McClernand who had in the meantime, and by virtue of his influence at Washington, gotten authority to command the expedition against Vicksburg by way of the 124 LIFE OF ULYSSES -S."GRANT, Mississippi river. McClernand ordered all the forces under his command to Milliken’s Bend, a great elbow in the Miss- issippi, twelve miles above Vicksburg, where Sherman took control of his own corps, the Fifteenth, and General Morgan of the Thirteenth. Not until Sherman reached the Mississippi after the failure of the attempt on Vicksburg by way of the Yazoo, did he learn of Grant’s compulsory retreat from in front of Grenada. And now Grant for the first time learned of the ill fortune that had overtaken Sherman. The whole scheme against Vicks- burg had failed, and the baffled commander must bring his genius to bear on some new device for its capture. The first move was to assume command of active operations in person. This became necessary for the reason that he mis- trusted McClernand’s ability, and preferred that Sherman, in whom he had great confidence, should have a chance to redeem the Yazoo failure. But he saw no way of obviating all difficulties and lessening all risks except by taking direct control himself. _ On January 17th, having visited the fleet lying off the mouth of the Arkansas river with a great number of troops on board, and in expectation of co-operation from General Banks, who was operating below against Port Hudson and the Red River country, he wrote to Halleck that “our troops must get below the city (Vicksburg) to be used effectually.” On January 20th, he returned to Memphis and gave it out that “the Mississippi River enterprise must take precedence of all others, and any side move must simply be to protect our flanks and rear.” On the 22d, he wrote to McClernand to reopen the canal across the isthmus in front of Vicksburg, in order to change the course of the Mississippi and make a straight, navigable channel out of reach of the enemy’s guns. He never lost sight of the uses that might be made of the Yazoo river and its passes in securing a foothold in the rear PREPARING FOR VICKSBURG. 125 of the city. Said he: “The work of reducing Vicksburg, will take time and men, but can be accomplished.” He had evi- dently been pondering the matter deeply, and the above was a conclusion as much as an expression of faith. And now came the work of putting his department in order. All unimportant points in Tennessee were abandoned. The heavy guns at Columbus, Memphis and Island No. 10 were removed so as to leave no inducement for attack by the enemy on the East side of the river. Young’s Point opposite the mouth of the Yazoo, and near to Milliken’s Bend, was to be the forming and operating point of the expedition. Halleck at Washington was urged to prepare all the support he could control. A part of the department of Arkansas was added to Grant’s command, so that he might control both sides of the Mississippi. Forts Henry and Donelson were transferred to the Cumberland Department. On January 29th, General Grant arrived in person at Young’s Point, and on the 30th assumed immediate command of the expedition against Vicksburg. During February and March, 1863, General Grant tested five different expeditions, three of which were designed to enable him to pass freely up and down the Mississippi past Vicksburg, and two to overcome the obstacles to the naviga- tion of the Yazoo presented by the batteries at Hayne’s Bluff. The first of these was the canal across the isthmus oppo- site Vicksburg. It looked as though this would be suc- cessful, but on March 8th, the high water in the Mississippi broke the dams at the head of the canal, and flooded the entire peninsula. The canal project was abandoned. The second expedient was to open the bayous from Milli- ken’s Bend through Tensas river and into the Mississippi near New Carthage below Vicksburg. But low water by April and impassable roads rendered continuation of this work unnecessary. The third expedient was a passage for boats by 126 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. way of Lake Providence on the Louisiana side. This never found real favor and was soon abandoned. ‘The fourth was to open a route to the rear of Haynes’ Bluff on the Yazoo. It was thought this could be done by threading some of the narrow, tortuous passes which run from the Mississippi into the Yazoo. Two of these were tried by resolute commands supported by Porter’s gunboats, but without avail. The enemy blockaded the passes by felling trees into them faster than they could be removed, and by erecting batteries at the REMOVING OBSTRUCTIONS. available bends in the sluggish streams. All these expedients were therefore failures in one sense. Yet by means of them the mind of Grant had become clear as to what would have to be done in order to insure success. At the very moment when one of less heroic mould or without his commanding genius would have been heart sick amid failures, he was PREPARING FOR VICKSBURG, 127 gradually rising to the height of that original and audacious conception which was to end in one of the grandest victories of the Civil War, and give him high and permanent rank among the great military commanders of the age and world. CONFEDERATE CAVALRY PICKETS. CEPA 1 Eek Ta SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. T Young’s Point opposite the mouth of the Yazoo the Mississippi turns to the northeast and flows four or five miles till it strikes the Vicksburg hills. These hills turn its flow back to the southwest, for a like distance. This sharp curve encloses the long narrow peninsula on the Louisiana side, across which two attempts to cut a canal had been made. Opposite the lower side of this peninsula, on the east shore of the river, stands the city of Vicksburg, on a rugged site where the cliffs rise abruptly from the water’s edge to a height of two hundred feet. These bluffs extend from Warrenton below, to Walnut Hills above Vicksburg. They then turn to the northeast and strike the Yazoo twenty miles from its mouth, at Hayne’s Bluff. From Hayne’s Bluff, twelve miles from Vicksburg, to the Mississippi, the highlands were thoroughly fortified, and thence down the river to Warrenton, a distance of seven miles. On the river front were twenty-eight heavy guns which gave a plunging fire. These effectually barred all approach by water, for no gun in the Federal fleets could be sufficiently elevated to reach the batteries on the heights. At the foot of the ridges and along the slopes rifle pits were dug and manned. The mouth of the Yazoo was obstructed by rafts and chains. The bayous leading to the north and rear of the city were filled with trees cut on their banks. The bluffy condition of the country extends back of the city for a considerable distance. The ravines, slopes, and ridges, wherever practical, were 128 a SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. 129 protected by batteries and entrenchments, so that approach by the land side was seemingly as impossible as that’ by water. This was the key to the navigation of the Mississippi and to the magnificent valley it drains. On January 29th, 1863, the army in the Department of the Tennessee numbered one hundred and twenty thousand men. Of this number fifty thousand were at Young’s Point and Milliken’s Bend, consisting of the Fifteenth Corps (Sherman’s), the Seventeenth (McPherson’s), and part of the Thirteenth, (McClernand’s). St. Louis and Memphis were the bases of supplies. Porter’s co-operating fleet numbered sixty vessels large and small, two hundred and eighty guns and eight hun- dred men. We have seen how General Grant manceuvred and experimented up till the middle of March, 1863, and how one after another of his projects failed. These failures made it apparent to him that the true line of operations against Vicksburg was from the South. But this presented difficulties which were appalling. It would necessitate the moving of his army some thirty or forty miles down the west bank of the Mississippi river and through almost impassible sections. The river would have to be crossed in the face of the enemy. He would be cut off from Porter’s gunboat support, unless the batteries of Vicksburg could again be successfully run. The fleet of Farragut and the army of Banks below were held in check by the strong Confederate fortifications at Port Hudson. Worst of all the movement would put the army out of com- munication with its bases of supplies, and with no hope ot reaching them again till the circuit of Vicksburg had been made and the Yazoo reached. The scheme was hazardous, but all others had failed. The country was clamorous for action on the part of its armies. Grant was not escaping censure for slowness of movement and even for incompetency. McClernand was unfriendly to him, and a request for his removal had reached the President. But 9 130 LIfe (OF (ULYSSES *5.) GRANT. Mr. Lincoln stood in the breach. “I rather like the man” (Grant), said he, “and I think we'll try him a little longer.” When General Grant had formulated his plan, he wrote to Halleck that it involved a move by way of the bayous and regular road from Milliken’s Bend to New Carthage twenty- three miles below, a possible running of the Vicksburg bat- teries by Porter’s fleet, a crossing of the Mississippi to War- renton or Grand Gulf, a move directly upon Jackson, with perhaps a battle for that point, and, if victorious, a firm foothold in the rear of Vicksburg. “I will,’ said he, “keep my army together and see to it that Iam not cut off from my sag ot or beat in any other way than a fair fight.” The plan did not find favor among the officers of his command. They almost to a man advised against it as im- practicable. It was not only full of the dangers of defeat, but, in that event, of annihilation of the entire army. Sherman, Grant’s most faithful and best trusted lieutenant, boldly announced his views, and urged on his chief the propriety of going back to Memphis and moving to the coveted rear of Vicksburg by way of Grand Junction and Grenada, as Grant had attempted to do before. But while all found the plan counter to their judgments, they acquiesced as became good soldiers,and did their best to vindicate the wisdom of Grant’s unalterable determination. The order to move hushed all dissatisfaction and criticism, and cemented opinion as firmly as if the pre-judgment had been unanimous. The perils of the undertaking conduced to harmony and generous rivalry. To stand together lest all should fall became a common resolve. And then if victory came it would be a most glorious one. Not to have aided in its purchase would beashame. To have contributed to it would be a lasting honor. On March 2oth, 1863, the movement began. The Thirteenth Corps started for New Carthage. After a terrible march it arrived only to find its destination almost submerged. It was SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG, 131 forced to go to Perkin’s, twelve miles below and fully thirty- five miles from its starting point at Milliken’s Bend. It was followed by the Seventeenth Corps, under McPherson. Simultaneously with this move Col. R. H. Grierson was sent ii 1", | =< 4 Ze WZ ore yy 2 GRIERSON’S CELEBRATED RAID. with a force of seventeen hundred cavalry from La Grange on his celebrated raid to test Grant’s theory that the Confederacy was “a hollow shell with all its substance drawn to the outside.” He traversed Mississippi without much opposition, destroying stores and bridges, and tearing up railroads. After traveling six hundred miles in sixteen days, capturing five hun- dred prisoners and three thousand stand of arms, killing and wounding over one hundred Confederates, destroying fifty miles 132 LIFE GF ULYSSES 3, .GRaANE: of railroad and telegraph, he arrived at Baton Rougeon May 2d, with a loss of three killed, seven wounded and nine missing. Grant now looked to Admiral Porter for promised co-opera- tion. He must have gunboats for protection, barges in which to ferry his troops to the east side of the Mississippi, and since it was nearly impossible to get supplies by land from Mil- liken’s Bend, transports laden with stores. But how were these helpless vessels to pass the Vicksburg batteries? The trans- ports were loaded, and then protected with hay and cotton bales. They were manned by volunteer crews, and on the night of April 16th, the steamers, each towing a fleet of barges, steamed down to the great bend, preceded by the iron clad boats. Grant remained on a transport at the Bend to watch the operations. The night was dark. Porter led the way on the Benton, and reached the first battery befor= he was dis- covered. Then the artillery opened from ine bluffs. The gunboats responded with a rapid fire. Houses in the city were set on fire to light up the river. This made every gun- boat, steamer, barge fleet, and transport a target. Shot and projectiles of every form were rained on them from the forts, and some were badly disabled. One transport was set on fire by a shell and burned. All in all, the attempt was successful, and on the night of April 22d, it was repeated with a larger number of vessels and tows, most of which got past the batteries with slight injury. These daring manceuvres secured to General Grant the supplies he needed and the co-operation of Porter’s naval force below Vicksburg. It remained for him to select a point of crossing to the east bank of the Mississippi and to throw his army over. Neither New Carthage nor Perkin’s, now held by his advance corps under McClernand, would make good starting points. They were really above the Confederate line of fortifications on the east side, which line may be said to have had its southernmost limit at Grand Gulf. Still they would do SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. 133 if Grand Gulf could be captured and the Confederate left turned there. Admiral Porter urged a combined attack on it at once. Grant ordered McClernand to co-operate with his corps in barges. But there was unaccountable delay in em- barking, much to Grant’s annoyance, for the Confederates were making use of every hour to strengthen Grand Gulf, a point fast becoming vital to them. The General, when apprised of the situation, resolved to push his headquarters from Milli- ken’s Bend to Perkin’s and assume direct control of the opera- tions. Though suffering with an outbreak of boils, he took to the saddle and rode forty miles to Perkin’s, to deliver his instructions in person to McClernand. But the golden opportunity had fled. Though Porter attacked the Grand Gulf batteries with vigor, April 29th, and was supported by an ample force ready to land and storm the place, they were perched too high for his guns. Like those of Vicksburg they were practically out of range and invincible. In order to have his army well in hand and all ready fora speedy crossing in case Grand Gulf should fall, General Grant had pushed it, over very bad roads, from Perkin’s to a place called Hard Times, twenty miles below, and opposite Grand Gulf. As soon as he saw the result of Por- ter’s attack, which he witnessed from a tug in the stream, he signalled to be taken aboard the flagship. Here, after a personal interview with Porter, he requested that brave and ever wil- ling officer to run the Grand Guif batteries that night, April 29th, while he pushed his land forces from Hard Times to De Shroon’s, three miles below. Porter ran his fleet past with- out much damage, and on the morning of the 30th, found the Thirteenth Army Corps at De Shroon’s. DAVID D. PORTER. 134 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Now for a good dry point on which to land on the east side of the river. Bruinsburg lay nearly opposite him and six miles below Grand Gulf. From this point a good road led inland to Port Gibson, twelve miles distant. This then would make a good landing place. A foothold once secured there, the enemy’s left would be completely turned and the problem of access to his rear would be solved, unless he were strong enough to yet defeat it by a pitched battle. Against this contingency Grant had provided in more ways than one. In order to provide a disguise for his entire movement from Milliken’s Bend to De Shroon’s, and for his proposed crossing of the river, and at the same time prevent the enemy from marching out of Vicksburg and concentrating on him after he had crossed to the east side of the Mississippi, he ordered Sherman to make abold and heavy demonstration, simultaneously with the attack on Grand Gulf, from Milliken’s Bend, against Hayne’s Bluff upon the Yazoo, which, we have seen, was the extreme right of the Vicksburg fortifications, and the point near which Sherman had failed to get a foothold on his former Yazoo Expedition. Sherman seeing its importance, undertook the expedition with ten regiments and the portion of Porter’s fleet still above Vicksburg. He moved so vigorously and made such a plausible disposition of his forces, that the enemy engaged him for two days, under the appre- hension that his attack was real. On May Ist, Grant sent him word that the object of the diversion had been achieved, and that he should desist and hasten to follow McPherson’s Corps to Perkin’s, and beyond, so as to be within reach of the head of the army and participate in the crossing if necessary. Meanwhile Grant’s advance was not losing a moment of time. He felt that amid all his obstacles, something substantial was being done. On April 29th, he wrote Halleck: “TI feel now that the battle is more than half over.” On the 30th he issued a batch of orders to all the corps’ commanders to be SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. 135 ready for prompt movement and co-operation, and for other tugs with barges loaded with supplies to run the blockade. On the same day the Thirteenth Corps, McClernand’s, and two divisions of the Seventeenth, were ferried across the river from De Shroon’s, and effected a landing at Bruinsburg. Grant and his staff crossed early in the morning. The distance from the starting to the landing point was six miles, although the river itself is but little over a mile wide. Every available boat was pressed into service, and in order to get the most men over in the shortest time, not a tent, wagon or horse was allowed on board. To effect a landing, gain the highlands back from the river front, control the road to Port Gibson, and establish a base of operations, all before the enemy could become aware of his movement, was a matter of the greatest moment with General Grant. Never were the energies of an entire army more keenly directed to a single point, and never in a similar move was there heartier co-operation between land and naval forces. Before sunset of April 30th, the highlands were reached by the landing forces, and a strong vanguard was pushed by forced marches out to within four miles of Port Gibson. Here it struck the enemy, five thousand strong, under Bowen who, having discovered the crossing and knowing that, if successful, it would turn his flank, had marched his forces out of Grand Gulf toward Port Gibson to protect his left and rear. This was to be the battle for position which Grant had anticipated and for which he was now ready. All four divisions of McClernand’s corps and Logan’s division of McPherson’s were pushed to the front. Bowen was rapidly receiving reinforcements from Vicksburg, so that by May Ist, he had eleven thousand men with him ina strong defensive position. The battle opened at 10 A.m. Assoonas Grant heard the firing he started on a borrowed horse for the scene and assumed direct command. McClernand was pressing the enemy on their 136 _ LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. left, but their right and centre were stubbornly resisting Osterhaus’ division. It was speedily reinforced by Logan with two brigades of McPherson’s Corps, and then began to gain ground. But the extreme right was the enemy’s strong point. It was admirably protected by a sunken road anda deep, difficult ravine. Smith’s brigade was ordered to Osterhaus’ support, and Grant and McPherson both ac- companied it. Osterhaus’ increased the fury of his attack and the fresh brigade of Smith charged across the ravine. This was successful. The strong right of the enemy was turned, and his entire line broken and swept away. Bowen fell back toward Port Gibson, leaving his dead and wounded on the field. He was closely pursued till within two miles of that place and nightfall called a halt. During the night he withdrew from Port Gibson, burnt the bridge over Bayou Pierre, and took position between that stream and Grand Gulf. Here he was joined on May 2d by Loring’s division from Jackson. But Grant crossed a new bridge hastily thrown over the Bayou, and was upon them before they could resist. They crossed the Big Black and were ordered by Pemberton to the vicinity of Vicksburg. The garrison at Grand Gulf, seeing their rear completely occupied and covered, beat a hasty retreat, leaving that stronghold to the Federals. It was quickly occupied, and Grant transferred his base thither from Bruinsburg. The importance of a victory at or near Port Gibson was appreciated by both armies. It was to settle the fate of Grand Gulf at once, and also the success of that bold and brilliant move which had landed a Federal army on the left and in the rear of the “ Gibraltar of America,” as President Jefferson Davis had styled Vicksburg. Both Bowen and Grant knew the value of time and energy. The former secured all the reinforcements he could in the hours allotted to him. Grant drove his forces forward with desperate energy. | TT Ee ee OR | I ae ie “ i\ is I ie \ 0 i ‘AULNNOO S.AWANA AHL diO ONIATT “er 138 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. His efforts were in the nature of a series of surprises. He never remitted pursuit, and made the object of the expedition speedily secure. The battle was a sharp contention, in which Grant had the advantage of numbers. His loss was one hundred and thirty killed and seven hundred and eighteen wounded. He estimated the enemy’s loss in killed and wounded as equal to his own, with the addition of six hundred and fifty prisoners, and the capture of six field pieces. In their hasty evacuation of Grand Gulf the Confederates left behind thirteen heavy guns. Now that the Federal foothold was firm, General Grant sent orders to Sherman to push his corps down and across the Mississippi to his aid. He immediately disposed of the forces then with him so as to cover the country in his rear and make active demonstration on the enemy at the Black. river crossings and at Jackson. The officers were now confident, the troops hardy and elated, so that there was no fear of lack of vigor. Word had been received below from Banks, that he could not be expected to reach the scene till after the fall of Port Hudson. This determined Grant to go on with the investment of Vicksburg alone. He had heard from Grierson’s Cavalry raid, and knew that it was possible to live, for a time at least, off the enemy’s country. He was therefore less anxious about supplies, although an ample store had been ordered to Grand Gulf. General Pemberton had command at Vicksburg, under General Joseph E. Johnston, who commanded the Department. Johnston was concentrating rapidly at Jackson, fifty miles to the rear of Vicksburg. Grant had pushed the bulk of his army up toward Raymond, in the direction of Jackson, and had possession of Clinton, on the railroad between Vicksburg and Jackson. His object was to keep himself as much as possible between Johnston’s and Pemberton’s forces, so as to prevent their union and if possible attack them separately, SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. 139 But he was thus exposing his communications with Grand Gulf. Johnston saw this, and ordered Pemberton to attack Grant’s rear at Clinton. But Pemberton swung toward Ray- mond, designing to make his blow more effective. His misfortune was that Grant had resolved as early as May 11th to cut loose from his base at Grand Gulf. He was now, May 14th, marching his men with only three days’ rations in their haversacks, and with orders to live as much as possible on the country. After a spirited fight at Raymond, Sherman was ordered to take the direct road to Jackson, and McPherson to take a northerly and parallel road. McClernand was to hold a point near Raymond, in supporting distance of both. On the morn- ing of the 14th Grant wrote Halleck: “TI will attack the State Capitol to-day.” It was the point toward which Johnston was rapidly hurrying his reinforcements from the south. If struck quickly it would prove a masterly blow. Sherman and McPherson moved so simultaneously that they reached the place at the same hour. The Confederate outposts were driven in, and guns were put in position to reply to the fire to which the Federals were now subjected. A rain set in which suspended the attack for two hours, but the time was well occupied in getting troops into position. Then McPherson ordered an advance, which soon became a gallant charge by Crocker’s division. It swept the Confeder- ates from their outer posts, and drove them behind their per- manent works. Both McPherson and Sherman now drew their lines closer, brought their artillery to bear, and began a resolute attack on the defensive works. Grant, who had all the while been with Sherman, ordered that officer to senda force to the extreme right, as far as Pearl river. It did not return, and Grant rode to the right himself, accompanied only by his staff. He found the road open clear to Jackson. The enemy had hastily evacuated before it received the force of 140 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the designed blow. Grant, in company with a dozen officers, rode forward and entered the works and the city.. His son, a lad of thirteen, who had accompanied his father throughout the campaign, spurred his horse ahead of the company and was really the first to enter the Capitol of Mississippi. By three o’clock in the afternoon both Sherman’s and McPherson’s corps were in the city and the possession was complete. The rapidity of Grant’s march from Raymond had discon- certed all of Johnston’s plans. He was unable to hold on till properly reinforced. The same rapidity carried the Federal army away from danger of a rear attack by Pemberton. The vigor of McPherson’s onset had been such that Johnston was unable to save his artillery, and he lost seventeen pieces with nearly a thousand men killed, wounded and prisoners. The Federal loss was thirty-seven killed and two hundred and twenty-eight wounded. Johnston fell back northward, thus making the gap between him and Pemberton wider. When Pemberton found that Grant was already beyond Clinton, and as far as Jackson, and further, on the line of direct road from Jackson to Vicksburg, he saw that his swing away from his base on that road at Edward’s Station was but to give Grant a fair chance to move directly on Vicksburg. So he made all haste to re-occupy the line of the road again, which he did, selecting a naturally strong position at Cham- pion Hills, nearly midway between Edward’s Station and Clin- ton. Grant knew that it was now possible for Johnston to re- inforce Pemberton. So he ordered all his forces to concen- trate at Bolton Station, immediately in front of Pemberton’s lines at Champion Hills. Battle must be given there and given quickly, before Johnston could recover from the effects of his retreat from Jackson and come to Pemberton’s support. On May 16th, the two armies met, and the battle became hot and stubborn all along the lines, but especially on the Federal left. On the right, Logan carried his division well hey A ° ay \ ty \ IN Ine y AW \ Q = 4 AN iy h a NEAR ae au i ; \ — IddISSISSIN JO IVLIdVO AHL ONIMALNA LNVYO \ iD “i ie i ‘i Dun iM sa \\ asia: MAMINAY ite uf \yayisess os Be i2 Yi | pla SS yy V, {i Iti 142 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. around the enemy’s flank and completely turned it. Orders were given to strengthen the Federal left and intensify the attack so as to give Logan time to force his advantage further. He did so, and the Confederates, doubled on themselves, broke in confusion. They retreated with the loss of over three thousand killed and wounded, nearly as many in pris- oners of war, and thirty field-pieces. The Federal losses were four hundred and twenty-six killed, one thousand eight hun- dred and fifty-four wounded and one hundred and eighty-nine missing. So rapidly was the pursuit pushed that the Confed- erate General Loring, finding himself. cut off from the com- mand, abandoned his artillery, and, wheeling eastward, made a wide detour by forced marches till he reached Johnston. But his division was much decimated before it found a desti- nation. This was one of the severest battles of this campaign of strategy and activity; and a most decisive one too. Only the celerity of Grant's movements and his wonderful ability to keep his corps in hand had rendered it possible. It was as much needed for the country as for the success of Grant’s audacious plans, for the President, General Halleck and army officers everywhere, were keenly criticising the entire move- ment and predicting disaster. Hooker had lost at Chancel- lorsville. The nation was despondent and looked for deeper gloom when Grant should be heard from. Moreover, the authorities at Washington had been all the while urging him to wait till Banks could come up to his assistance, or to drop his plans and go to Banks’ assistance at Port Hudson. Fortu- nately he was out of reach of dispatches, and away from criticism and clamor. He was even more guarded than usual in his camp counsels, never debating, seldom explaining, in advance. It was a time for only heroic action, and that in the line he had evidently studied well and from which he would not swerve, come what may. That it was the line of victory, every step of the way, thus far, had proved. SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG, 143 Grant’s army pursued Pemberton’s westward beyond Ed- ward’s Station, and thence to the Big Black crossing, six miles beyond. Here he received Halleck’s dispatch ordering him “to return and co-operate with Banks.” He was returning now, but with victorious banners. No danger now of further rebukes, further countermands, further recalls, once the real situation was known at Washington and to the country. Pemberton crossed the Big Black with most of his army, but left a force on the east side to dispute the passage of the Federals. It was strongly entrenched, with both flanks rest- ing on the river, and a slough in front. By hugging the river and making a gallant charge on the extreme left flank, Gen- eral Lawler carried the whole Confederate works, capturing eighteen guns,and over one thousand five hundred privates and officers. The balance of the force escaped, burning the bridge, which was rebuilt that night, May 17th, by the Fed- erals. The same night Sherman crossed his corps by a pon- toon bridge at Bridgeport, a mile or two above Edward’s Station. What now was the situation? On that night of May 17th the broken columns of Pemberton’s army were rushing in confusion back into Vicksburg. For two weeks it had been marched and countermarched over the country in the rear in aimless adventure, had been forced into disastrous actions in detached parts, had failed to achieve a single hope entertained by its commander or by General Johnston. Pemberton clung all along to the thought of retaining Vicksburg. Johnston saw the folly of this, and after the disaster at the Big Black ordered him to evacuate the place and march to the northeast. But it was now too late for this, even if the order had found favor, which it did not in a council of war called by Pem- berton. Eighteen days had elapsed since Grant crossed the Missis- sippi and got his hold at Bruinsburg. Such had been the 144 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. rapidity of his motions, the bravery and hardihood of his troops, and the originality of his schemes, that he had kept the Confederate armies divided, struck them both telling blows, and succeeded in shutting the main one up within the defences of Vicksburg, whence they were not to issue except as pris- oners of war. | By the morning of May 18th, the Thirteenth and Seventeenth Corps were across the Big Black at the scene of the battle, and Sherman was across at Bridgeport. All were moving directly on Vicksburg by three roads, and all within supporting distance. Johnston was lying at Vernon, twenty miles up the Big Black, waiting for Pemberton to make his escape and join him. He had not yet heard of the disastrous battle at the Big Black crossing, the tumul- tuous retreat into Vicksburg, and the closing in of Grant’s forces. Sherman’s corps was forced along on the right till it struck the Benton road and Walnut hills on high and dry ground, three and a half miles from Vicksburg. This position over- looked the Yazoo river where, a month before, Sherman had tried to effect a foothold. It also completely cut off the Con- federate right at Hayne’s Bluff from the strong fortifications of the centre. Grant was with Sherman when his corps struck this available position. Looking over the scene and recog- nizing fully the advantages secured in the short space of eighteen days, Sherman turned to Grant, and said: “ Until this moment I never thought your expedition a success. I never could see the end clearly until now. But this is a cam- paign; this a success, if we never take the town.” And by what was that success measured? By the rapid GEN. JOS. E. JOHNSTON. — SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. 145 marching of three full army corps a distance of over two hun- dred miles inside of twenty days. By the defeat of two opposing armies in five successive battles. By the capture of twenty- seven heavy guns, sixty-one field pieces, sixty-five hundred prisoners, and the killing and wounding of six thousand of the enemy. By forcing and keeping apart two armies in a hostile country, which, had they been able to combine, would have outnumbered his own, and perhaps overwhelmed it. By start- ing with limited rations and light equipment, and proving that an invading army could live on the country. Only five days’ rations had been issued since leaving Grand Gulf, yet the sol- diers had not complained of lack of subsistence. His aggregate losses were six hundred and ninety-eight killed, three thousand four hundred and seven wounded, and two hundred and thirty missing: a total of four thousand three hundred and thirty- five. All this leaves out of sight the splendid vantage ground gained on the Yazoo, the hopes of successful siege operations, the certainty of a splendid victory in the future, the moral effect of such victory on the armies in the East and the country in general. The army was thrown into position for prosecuting the siege. Sherman, on the right, had already rendered Hayne’s Bluff untenable, and this evacuated, the Federal army found a secure and long-coveted base of supplies on the navigable Yazoo, near to the boats above Vicksburg, and in easy communication with the northern Mississippi. McPherson’s corps occupied the central line of investment and McClernand’s the left. Could Grant afford to wait for that capitulation which was sure to come through slow approaches and a starving out process? His lines were long and at no point very strong. The enemy within were, he knew, in a demoralized condition. Johnston was behind, gathering forces as rapidly as he could, and there was no telling when he might make a diversion in the rear in order to save the beleaguered garrison. So Grant resolved oa 10 146 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. an early assault, if for no other purpose, to shorten his lines by pressing them closer up to and around the enemy. The assault was ordered on the afternoon of May toth. It was found impossible to force the entrenchments, but the Fed- eral lines were drawn closer on all sides. The Fifteenth Corps had mainly participated, and though its loss was severe, the result was not without profit, for it showed the nature of the defences, that the Confederates had recovered their spirits and were determined to hold out to the last, and, most of all, that they were far stronger numerically than Grant, who credited Pemberton with fifteen thousand effective men, had supposed. The 20th and 21st of May were devoted to the comfort of the army. The ground was cleared for more permanent encampments. Supplies were brought from Chickasaw bayou. McClernand was ordered to establish a base for stores at War- renton, on the extreme left. Porter made an attack, May 21st, with his fleet on the water batteries in front, and succeeded in dismounting several guns. Grant pushed his pickets and sharpshooters well up to the entrenchments, and gained several effective points for the use of field-pieces. By the 22d the Federals were in excellent condition for another offensive movement. An attack all along the lines was ordered for that day. Porter was asked to co-operate with his fleet. Early in the morning the cannonade began on the land side. Under cover of this, sharpshooters pushed their way forward into all the available spaces. The fleet opened with its tremendous volleys. Vicksburg was girdled by a sheet of flame from deep-throated cannon, lighter field-piece and Minnie rifle. The bombardment was the most concentrated, unremit- ting and terrible during the siege, and lasted till eleven o’clock. It was not responded to heartily. Even if Pemberton had not been forced to economize ammunition, it would have been im- possible for his gunners to stand by their instruments of death, amid that rain of lead and iron missiles SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. 147 At eleven the grand movement of the army corps began. Grant stood near McPherson’s front, where he could see the advancing columns of the Seventeenth and part of those of the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Corps. All moved in concert. The advance was most difficult, amid mazes of ravines and hills, abattised slopes and fortified summits. Yet the attack was determined. Sally after sally was made from the Federal lines upon supposed weak points, and charge after charge upon murderous positions. Never men exposed themselves more recklessly, or fought braver, in the midst of fires which seemed to come out of the very earth, and to enfilade and concentrate with merciless precision, such was the nature of the ground and the frequency and bearing of the rifle pits and entrench- ments. Though the enemy’s strong positions were forced in many places, they could not be held. The Federal losses in killed and wounded during the day were three thousand. They had thirty thousand engaged. Pemberton said he had eighteen thousand five hundred men in the trenches, and lost eight hundred. The Federal repulse occasioned no murmuring, no falling back, no symptoms of demoralization. Detachments remained till nightfall close up to the advanced positions reached during the day, and then dug their way back out of the ditches. Again the mettle of the army had been proven, and now it was patent to all that Vicks- burg could not be carried by storm. Grant at once set about preparations for regular siege, the three army corps retaining their old positions, but that of McClernand on the left being materially strengthened by reinforcements, which by this time were rapidly arriving by way of Warrenton and Grand Gulf. Prentiss and Hurlbut were ordered to send all the forces they could spare from Corinth, Memphis and further up the Mississippi. A large cavalry force was organized for watching the rear of his army and observing the movements of Johnston, who was collecting his forces at 148 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Canton with the determination of striking another blow for Pemberton’s rescue. Grant’s part was plain, but its perform- ance most difficult and hazardous. He must hold the line of the Big Black river as the natural defence of his rear. He must cover the line of the Yazoo toa point as high up as Hayne’s Bluff, for there lay his right, and that was his main source of supplies as well as communication with the Missis- sippi to the North. He must keep Johnston in check. He must push his siege operations with all the energy at his com- mand. On May 23d orders were given that the axe, pick and shovel should support the cartridge and bayonet. There were no siege trains or howitzers and few appliances for regular siege operations. But volunteer parties, with stout hearts and willing hands, made up for this inconvenience. Roads and covered ways were Opened from camp to camp. Timbers were felled. Bat- teries were posted wherever they were necessary to keep down the enemy’s fire or disarm his positions. Sharpshooters were kept active at every point. The hillside approaches were worked by degrees closer and closer to the enemy’s entrench- ments. Sappers and working parties almost undermined the Confederate parapets in places. In two weeks’ time the entire Confederate front had shifted, by a backward movement of its artillery, and abandonment of its outer lines. Early in June, Grant had eighty-nine batteries in position, numbering two hundred and twenty guns, mostly light field- pieces, and some of them within four hundred yards of the Confederate entrenchments. The enemy were always active, digging counter trenches and springing mines. They were least effective with their artillery owing to scarcity of ammunition. To tell how, by means of deep-covered trenches, Grant pushed his men under the very guns of the enemy, to mention the labor, the engineering feats, the surprises, to dwell on the incidents connected with digging a pathway for an SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG, 149 army into acity so strongly defended, would require a volume. It is enough to say that neither ingenuity, industry nor daring could have done more to tighten the lines about the fated city. Its time would come and soon, if nothing interfered. By night and by day it was to receive a baptism of fire, now from gun- boat, then artillery, and there was to be no rest till the end. The prices of food in the town had, by this time, risen enor- mously. There was scarcely a building in Vicksburg that had not been struck by shells, and many were entirely demolished. The women and children at night, and often in daytime when the firing was especially severe, were sheltered in caves that were grouped in every hillside. They were rather damp bedrooms, but answeredavery good purpose. But something CAVE LIFE IN VICKSBURG. was threatening inthe rear. Johnston had collected an army at Canton and was moving on Grant. His direction would in all probability be toward Hayne’s Bluff. Porter was ordered to guard the Yazoo well with his ‘gunboats, Sherman was strengthened with all the reinforcements arriving from the North. New lines of entrenchments were formed from Grant’s centre clear to the Bluff, so that he could fight either way. I50 LIFE) OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. But it was no part of his plan to let Johnston approach him. “We must whip him at least fifteen miles off’? was his order to General Parke. On June 2d, he heard that Johnston was crossing the Big Black. Immediately Sherman was ordered to assume com- mand of all the forces which were to face about and operate to the rearward. “Should Johnston come we want to whip him, if the siege has to be raised to do it,” was the sentiment which went with the orders to move, and the promise of all the support that might be asked for. On June 27th, Grant heard that Johnston, whose strength was estimated at twenty-four thousand men, expected a rein- forcement of ten thousand from Bragg in Tennessee. He still felt strong enough to contend against this increase, for his men were in excellent health and full of expectation. On July 1st, Johnston was reported between the Big Black and Brownsville. On the 3d, an intercepted dispatch from Johns- ton read that he would make an attack on Grant on the 7th, and that he (Pemberton) should attack from within. Dupli- cates of this dispatch did not reach Pemberton till the roth. As a counter to this, Grant, who had made every disposition to meet Johnston, determined to make another assault on Pem- berton’s works on the 6th of July, and if possible either capture the city or so demoralize the enemy that he could neither make an effective diversion in Johnston’s favor nora successful escape. An enemy’s movement always necessitates a counter movement, was a maxim Grant never forgot. But in the midst of all this planning, excitement and prepa- ration, there befell that which was to crown every Federal sac- rifice with victory and add new lustre to Grant’s fame. On the morning of July 3d, Pemberton sent a letter to Grant pro- posing an armistice, and a commission of three to arrange terms of surrender. To this Grant replied, declining to appoint a commission, for the reason that no terms of capitulation were SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. ISI possible except unconditional surrender of the city and garri- son; and added: “ Men who have shown so much courage and endurance as those now in Vicksburg will always challenge the respect of an adversary, and I can assure you will be treated with all the respect due to prisoners of war.” The reply also accorded Pemberton a personal interview if he desired one. At three o’clock in the afternoon Pemberton, accompanied by Bowen and Colonel Montgomery, proceeded to the front. General Grant met them under a tree on the hillside, within two hundred feet of the Confederate lines. He was accom- panied by several members of his staff and by A. J. Smith, McPherson, Logan and Ord, who had lately succeeded McClernand dismissed for haughty and irregular congratula- tions of his corps and for reflections on the other corps com- manders after the assault of May 22d. The works on both sides were crowded with unarmed men, and for once in six long weeks the mouths of muskets, artillery and great cannon were dumb. The two generals shook hands, and Pemberton asked what terms of capitulation would be allowed. Grant replied: “ Those expressed in the letter of this morning.” Said Pemberton, haughtily: “If that is all, the conference might as well ter- minate, and hostilities be resumed immediately.” ‘Very well,” said Grant, and turned away. Bowen then proposed that two of the subordinates then present should retire and propose such terms as they could agree upon to their chiefs. Grant had no objection to this, but refused to be bound by any agreement of his subordinates. Bowen and Smith withdrew, and in a short time returned with the suggestion that the Confederates should march out of Vicksburg with the honors of war, carrying their muskets and field guns with them, but leaving their heavy artillery. Grant smiled at this proposal and rejected it. It was then agreed I52 LIFE OF ULYSSES: S. GRANE. that he should send his final terms to Pemberton before ten . o'clock that night, hostilities not to be resumed till the cor- respondence terminated. The General sent for all his corps and division generals then on the city front, and for the first time in his life held what might be called a formal council of war. Their opinions, with the exception of Steele’s, did not meet his views, and he sent the following as his ultimatum: “T submit the following for the surrender of Vicksburg, public stores, etc. On your accepting, I will march in one division as a guard, and take possession at 8 A. M. to-morrow. As soon as the rolls can be made and paroles signed by officers and men, you will be allowed to march out of your lines, the officers bearing side arms and clothing, and the field, staff and cavalry officers taking one horse each. The rank and file will be allowed their clothing, but no other property. You may take along any amount of rations you deem necessary from your stores and sufficient cooking uten- sils. Thirty wagons will be allowed for the transport of such articles as cannot be carried. Same conditions to all sick and wounded as fast as they become able to travel, their paroles to be signed while the proper officers are present.” To this Pemberton replied at midnight, accepting it in the main, but proposing some amendments, which were not accepted, except that the men were permitted to march to the front of their respective lines, stack arms at 10 A. M. of the 4th of July, and then remain as prisoners till paroled. The following from Pemberton concluded the correspondence: “I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communi- cation of this day (now the 4th), and in reply to say that the terms proposed by you are accepted.” At ten o’clock on the morning of Saturday, July 4th, 1863, the anniversary of American Independence, the Confederate garrison of “The Gibraltar of America” marched out of the ) )\" Wh )) wees r yn in M39 ff \t Wn) \ eh iat t/) i SN Ra sf oll) FANN yh a Rak eA NE Rte 0 7//// DSN iS) ia) nel Wee inaecei AA, iW DSN a Wd P)))) ) y vi } NAY (el WP ) ) yi ilipith hy y A An a eA ang Si eer = => SS SSS = - >= —=—S— ~ SS ea mm }A~ as a> ‘NOLUAAWNAd HLIM MAIAMALNI S.LNVAD an “Ne 1 era eee ae ae Sy ~~ = a od ™-)> a-F_. —f [= bee i ——— ——— €Sr N Y \!/; HN Hit wt if iA e fini 154 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. lines it had defended so long and valiantly and stacked its arms in front of the victors. It then returned, empty handed and silent, within the works as prisoners of war. Thirty-one thousand six hundred men surrendered, two thousand one hundred and fifty-three of whom were officers, and fifteen of the rank of general. One hundred and seventy-two cannon also fell to the victors, which, with those previously taken at Grand Gulf and Hayne’s Bluff, made two hundred and forty- six in all. This ranks as the largest capture of men and material ever made in war, that of Ulm being next, where thirty thousand men, with sixty pieces of cannon, fell into the hands of the adversary by surrender. Logan’s division had the honor of first entering the city, at whose head Grant rode. A request by Pemberton for an issue of rations to his troops, which he said numbered thirty-two thousand men, was the first intimation that Grant had of the extent of his victory. He had never credited the Confederate general with a force of over twenty thousand. After riding to the river front and congratulating Admiral Porter, he dis- patched the glorious news of the surrender and the terms to Washington. Banks was notified of the success and was offered a corps of “as good troops as ever trod American soil; no better are found on any other.” Sherman and McPherson were ordered to close up in front of Johnston and “drive him from the line of the Mississippi Central Railroad, destroy the bridges as far north as Grenada, and do the enemy all the harm possible. I will support you to the last man that can be spared.” And he did. Sherman drove Johnston out of Clinton and into Jackson. ‘By July oth the place was invested, while the work of destroying railroads according to Grant's orders went on. On the 16th the investment was so close that Johnston, fearing assault, withdrew across the Pearl river, burning the bridges behind him. Pursuit was kept up for fifty miles, when it was withdrawn, and Sherman returned to Vicks- SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. 155 burg, having lost less then a thousand men. There was no longer an enemy in the rear. Herron’s division was sent immediately from Vicksburg to Banks at Port Hudson, which stronghold surrendered on July 8th, yielding ten thousand more prisoners and fifty guns, another fruit, indirectly at least, of the campaign which Grant — ~= i{ = ZE => \ KA TS y= WINS V/S - WS : Z 4 \ PAYOU SARA HOMPSDNSB E Als PS ANAAANAN AANAAA Te aha hy as AMAA — ‘PORT HUDS Ns LINTON PTYHUD SOM. LLeic BUFLE PLT. BATIIS (yey ¥ Y < fe if G | | \ | i fp | = (| \-"4 f E « VA i WZ : J J Gi) \: W rigonar i \ | \A - ? QSALE OF MILES PORT HUDSON. ' had conceived and pushed to such a triumphant conclusion. Victory had not made him unmindful of details. He swept the field everywhere with his wonderful vision, and delivered orders as promptly and calmly as if the responsibilities of an aggressive campaign were still upon him. What did Vicksburg mean? It meant the fulfilled dream, 156 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, the crowned central hope, the completed solemn resolution of the great Northwest. An unvexed Mississippi was not a ereater strategic than commercial necessity. It now ran free to the sea, an outlet for every form of produce, an artery for the flow of peaceful or armed craft, industrial bargemen or uniformed cohorts. “The possession of the Mississippi river is the possession of America, and I say that had the Confed- eracy held with a grip sufficiently strong the lower part of the Mississippi river we would have been a subjugated people; and they would have dictated to us had we given up the pos- session of the lower Mississippi. It was vital to us, and we fought for it and won it.” This is the language of Grant's warmest friend and most trusted lieutenant, Major-General W. T. Sherman. It is no more significant than that of President Jefferson Davis at Jackson when Grant’s purposes became known. He urged the citizens “to assist in preserving the Mississippi river, that great artery of the country, and thus conduce, more than in any other way, to the perpetuation of the Confederacy, and the success of the cause” The fall of Vicksburg meant the severance of the Confed- eracy, and the establishment of an armed line directly through its great Western Zone. Vicksburg and Port Hudson, two hundred miles apart, right and left wing of all that was left of a water front to the Confederacy, were sufficiently wide apart to serve as a means of communication between the East and Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana on the West. On this line the well-nigh exhausted East depended for its beef and other supplies from the less impoverished West. It was now cut off from herded plain and well-stored granary, and had therefore received a blow which was harder to bear than the loss of munitions and men. 3 Vicksburg meant the elimination of the entire army of the Confederacy on whose shoulders the defence of the Southwest depended. The major part of that army had surrendered, the SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. 157 rest had been driven clear off the scene of effective action. This was a source of humiliation, a blow at the spirit of the Confederacy, a cause of gloomy doubts, a rude awakening to the possibility of never realizing by force of arms the success Z EZ , 4 tea -< j y / 4 ft My I S SS \ OS AW JEFFERSON DAVIS. of secession and separate empire. Ina single campaign that army had suffered five defeats outside of Vicksburg, had been severed and its greater part captured within the defences, had been driven from Jackson, had lost forty thousand prisoners, twelve thousand killed and wounded, and thousands of strag- glers, in all fully sixty thousand men, with arms and munitions for one hundred thousand effectives. The result to the army of the West was as it a great load 158 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. had been lifted. It was exhilarated and nerved for new con- quests. Its trials had brought it unmatched discipline, its vic- tories rendered it invincible. Henceforth it would move in any direction with the willingness of a veteran band and the certainty of triumph. Its least excited, most unperturbed and modest spirit was its great leader, who asked nothing for him- self, claimed nothing except through the gallant officers and privates who had so cheerfully and obediently followed him through the valleys of trial and up to the summits of victory. He congratulated all on their devotion and bravery, and Sher- man, McPherson and all his faithful officers were remembered with hearty recommendations for honor and promotion. The effect of Vicksburg on the armies of the East was inspir- ing. They had for a long time been worried by changes of commanders, by General Lee’s tactical marches and sudden onsets, and had at last been forced to concentrate, not in time to prevent, but in order to meet, a bold and desperate attempt on the part of that renowned leader to march into the North and pierce its very vitals. While Grant was investing Vicks- burg, all the northeastern States were quaking and all the Federal armies therein were seemingly overmatched. It seemed to require such a move as that of General Lee, above the Potomac and into Pennsylvania, to establish unanimity, awaken co-operation, and force a clear perception of danger. Lee forced Gettysburg on the Federal armies of the East, just as Grant forced Vicksburg on the Confederate armies of the West; not, to be sure, with the same victorious preludes, but with the same originality of conception and tactical despera- tion. The results were wholly different. Grant kept Pem- berton and Johnston separated. It was genius against genius and physical force against physical force. Lee could not keep his opposition divided, for the division had been simply in its councils, a matter of feeling, moral, rather than physical division. A common danger, a patriotic awakening, a firm SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. 159 united resolve, a commander whose power to command was greater than his individual sentiments, his speculative fervor, his love or self, and there would come about a result which not even the energy and genius of a Lee could contravene. Gettysburg was this result. It was a clash of two great armies, equal in strength and on a fair field. It was atest of valor and resource for three whole days. Men stood firm in both ranks, and died or were wounded in nearly equal numbers. It was a brave fight in which Meade and Lee, and all the officers and men on both sides, as the reader may choose to view them, won glory. But even on the night of July 3d, 1863, it was nobody’s victory, nor yet on the morning of the 4th. Not until the confession made by Lee’s retreat was wafted back to the Federal front, and passed thence from corps to corps and camp to camp, did the Federal army realize that it was triumphant, and the nation that it had cause for congratulation more inspiring than its memories of a natal day. And even yet that tired and worn-out army, too stricken to give successful pur. suit, too sad to jubilate with its home friends, was not assured of the magnitude of its blow or the real wealth of its conquest, till its heart was electrified by the news that Vicksburg too had fallen and the stars and stripes were waving in triumph on its ramparts. The thrill of subdued delight then became one of unrestrained joy, and every Federal soldier felt that even if Lee had not been crushed, he must go back to a country bowed in despair, and henceforth support a cause whose life was rapidly oozing. GEN. MEADE. 160 LIFE. OF “ULYSSES 'S. GRANT, Who can imagine the effect of Vicksburg and Gettysburg combined on the country? It was as if a dumb mouth had suddenly opened and proclaimed its joy on the housetops. It was as if a deeply sunken heart had in a moment leaped into glowing action. It was as if a lowering cloud, impervious to all radiance, had been whisked away by glad breezes, and a full flow of hope’s brightest sunlight had come upon the people. A loud, prolonged, united, Amen! sealedthe country’s prayers for deliverance, its heartfelt words of approval, its speeches and songs and acts of jubilation. The drift of a cause was changed. Destiny took new shape. The United States were not to be divided States. Amid the unbounded joy of the people and the supreme satisfaction of the Government, General Grant became the recipient of unstinted praise and a central figure in our military history. He was hailed with unfeigned delight and sincerity as “the only general who was always successful.” President Lincoln wrote him on July 13th, after the full effects of his victory became known, “ I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable ser- vice you have done the country. . .. When you got below Vicksburg and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join General Banks; and when you turned northward east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make a per- sonal acknowledgement that you were right and I was wrong ;” and Halleck, who had all along disapproved of the campaign, wrote: “Your report dated July 6th, of your Mississippi campaign, ending in the capitulation of Vicksburg was received last even- ing. 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 at Ulm. You and your Vso ll « a Ii HUN) | Hiv ‘ae th <> =) WS: N Dy ys \ To SUNASALLASD AO ALLILVA Vi Sf) fh f, pps. & Remy t fp Y/ 4 \J ~ a]! os 162 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, 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 reopened the Mississippi river.” The grade of major general in the regular army was imme- diately conferred upon him. Called assemblies, patriotic clubs, and deliberative bodies sent him votes of thanks, costly gifts, and other honors. “Amid all he maintained a quiet, unostenta- tious dignity, declining ovations and refusing to rob his com- panions in arms of their share of the credit due for the late campaigns and victories. And yet, could one have seen beneath that calm exterior, there must have been witnessed a secret glow of satisfaction over vindication of his private char- acter from the aspersions of imaginative and malignant army correspondents, and of his military ability and genius from dis- paraging slur and jealous criticism indulged by those who looked solely to political influence for favor and promotion. Once he yielded to an invitation to attend an ovation designed to reflect the loyal sentiment of Memphis. It was in August after his army had enjoyed a rest and all the fruit of Vicksburg had been carefully gathered. His reply to the invitation shows his public spirit and clear perception of personal and political duty. It runs: “Tn accepting this testimonial, which I do at great sacrifice of 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 the Tennessee. I should dislike to refuse, for considerations of personal conve- nience, to acknowledge anywhere or in any form, the existence of sentiments which I have so long and’so ardently desired to see manifested in this department. The stability of this govern- ment, and the unity of this nation, depend solely on the cordial support and the earnest loyalty of the people.” O95 05 A A aad, & FROM VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. HOUGH Grant's forces had a much needed rest for some time after the fall of Vicksburg, his fertile mind was busy devising new schemes of conquest. As early as July 18th, he wrote to Halleck: “It seems to me now that Mobile should be captured, the expedition to start from Lake Pontchartrain.” But Halleck had other plans, and a grand op- portunity was lost. Still Grant continued to urge the im- portance of a move on this only remaining stronghold of the Confederates on the Gulf, and offered to assist with one of his army corps. It was vain. He was forced to see his army scattered, the Thirteenth Corps, Ord’s, to Banks, a division to Schofield, to operate against Price in Arkansas, a corps, the Ninth, to Burnside in East Kentucky, portions to garrison unimportant places on the Mississippi and other rivers. At length orders came that he should co-operate with Banks in securing a permanent foothold in Texas. On August 30th he started to New Orleans to see Banks. While there ke was thrown from his horse and disabled. This postponed his return to Vicksburg till September 16th, where he was compelled to keep his bed till the 25th. On the 13th Halleck telegraphed him that he should send all his available forces to Rosecrans, who was then 163 GEN. BANKS. 164. LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. operating with an army of sixty thousand men in Tennessee and northern Georgia, where he had just obtained possession of Chattanooga, one of the most important strategic positions between Richmond and the Mississippi. It may be well to know that at this juncture the military operations of the Mississippi Valley were conducted by three different armies, the army of the Tennessee, under Grant, the army of the Cumberland, under Rosecrans, the army of the Ohio, under Burnside. Halleck’s dispatch of the 13th not having been received, he again sent word on the 15th, to the effect that part of Lee’s army had been sent from Richmond to reinforce Bragg, who was rapidly concentrating for an attack on Rosecrans. This dispatch reached Grant on the 22d. Though in bed, he instantly ordered Sherman to send a division of his corps to Rosecrans, and a similar order was sent to McPherson. On the 27th, Sherman himself was sent to Rosecrans’ aid with two more divisions of his corps. The route was by boats to Memphis and thence overland by way of Corinth, Tuscambia and Decatur. That Sherman’s progress might be uninterrupted Grant ordered an expedition to Canton and Jackson to distract the enemy. But long before these reinforce- ments could reach their destina- tion, the blow which Rosecrans had foolishly invited and Halleck had foreseen fell on the Federal army at Chickamauga. Rose- crans suffered disastrous defeat on the 19th and 20th of September, Gein nepmnaie: and was driven back to Chatta- nooga with heavy loss of men and artillery and the sacrifice of immense strategic advantages, FROM VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. 165 On September 29th, Halleck wrote that the enemy was still concentrating on Rosecrans, that all the forces he (Grant) could spare should be sent under able generals, such as Sher- man or McPherson, and that as soon as his health permitted he should go to Nashville in person to take direction of the move- ment. Grant replied that he was again ready for duty, and had ordered everything to suit Halleck’s wishes. On October 3d the Secretary of War telegraphed him to come to Cairo and report. On October 16th he telegraphed his arrival at that point. To which Halleck replied requesting him to proceed to the Galt House, Louisville, Ky., to meet an officer of the War Department. At Indianapolis he met Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, who brought with him an order creating for Grant a new command—the Mailitary Division of the Mississippi, to include all the territory between the Alleghenies and Mississippi, except such as Banks held below Port Hudson. Thus the three Departments of the Tennessee, Cumberland and Ohio were consolidated under him. This was in aecordance with his advice to Halleck a year before, at which time he declined the command of such united department as he then proposed, in order to show that his personal ambitions had nothing to do with his convictions. The imperative necessity for co-operation between all the commands embraced in the new Department had become painfully manifest to the government. ‘The disaster to Rose- crans at Chickamauga had hastened its decision. It was a great responsibility for Grant to assume, but no other general had accomplished so much. Past successes gave a guarantee for future ones, the danger at Chattanooga was imminent, and increasing daily. It was necessary to act promptly, boldly, unitedly. At the same time General Grant was shown two other orders by Stanton, either of which he could accept. One left Rosecrans in command of the Army and Department of the FROM VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. 167 Cumberland, the other gave it to Major-General George H. Thomas. Thomas was chosen. Stanton and Grant arrived at Louisville together, where the former found a dispatch from Mr. C. A. Dana, afterward Assistant Secretary of War, to the effect that it was feared Rosecrans would evacuate Chatta- nooga. Grant was therefore advised to assume command at once, and relieve Rosecrans before the disaster could occur. He telegraphed his assumption of command immediately, assigned Thomas to the Department of the Cumberland, and on October roth started by rail for Chattanooga. Let us glance at the new destination. Three great States, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, approach each other at, or near, where several of the Cumberland Ranges of mountains cluster. Here the Tennessee river breaks through from the east, twisting and winding amid deep gorges, dashing vexa- tiously against perpendicular barriers till it finds egress west- ward into a more fertile and less picturesque region. Ata sharp bend of the river in the midst of the mountains lies a little bowl or valley of the area of five or six square miles. On the north is the river, on the southeast the now celebrated Missionary Ridge, on the southwest the Lookout ranges. To the south runs off a ravine or gap. The lofty crest overlooking all is Chattanooga, or the “ Eagle’s Nest.” The river gives access to this sequestered spot, eastward and westward; the natural gap gives access from the south. The through railroads from Richmond and Charleston to Memphis, Nashville and St. Louis, seek this river route. So do those from south to north, from Mobile, Atlanta, and on to Knox- ville, Richmond and Washington. They meet at the “ Eagle’s Nest,” and there the town of Chattanooga sprang up. The whole region is a mighty bulwark, and the town a gate- way between North and South. In war, its strategic import- ance could not be over-estimated, and especially to the Con- federacy, for here centered those long food and traop lines, 168 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. which enabled the States of the southwest to come up to the rescue of Virginia and the Confederate capital. In the hands of a Federal army it looked right into the cotton fields and gave access to the gulf. It was a coveted point from the first, and its possession had been dreamed of in the strategy of more than one department commander. In June, 1863, Rosecrans marched an army of sixty thou- sand men from Murfreesboro, Tenn., crossed the Tennessee river at Stevenson, threw part of his army south of Bragg’s forces at Chattanooga, and thus compelled him to evacuate the stronghold and retreat southward to Chickamauga. There Bragg was reinforced, and there he pounced on Rosecrans, beating him in a battle, September 19th and 2oth, in which the Federals lost thirty-six cannon and sixteen thousand men, and compelling his retreat back to Chattanooga, where he built stout fortifications. The Confederates followed. Bragg’s forces occupied Mission- ary Ridge, south and east of the town. Westward, overlook- ing the valley and river and controlling the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad by which supplies were brought to the Federal army, lay Lookout Mountain. This Rosecrans aban- doned to the enemy, and was from that moment besieged, except as communications could be kept up by wagons with Bridgeport beyond the mountains by an almost impassible wagon-road. The whole command was put on half rations, Three thousand wounded soldiers lay suffering in the camps. Forage for horses and mules could not be obtained, and ten thousand animals died. Retreat was impossible unless the artillery was abandoned. The enemy’s cavalry had found a way to intercept the provision wagons from Bridgeport. Ammunition was so low as scarcely to suffice for another battle—one-half a supply. Here the army of the Cumberland lay in the hot sun and chilly nights of September, 1863, without food, with few tents, with half a supply of ammunition, with few FROM VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA, 169 blankets and no extra clothing, suffering from all the dire effects of defeat and hasty retreat from Chickamauga. This was the situation when Grant took the command on October Igth, 1863. His first order to Thomas after giving him command of the army of the Cumberland was “ to hold Chattanooga at all haz- ards; I will be there as soon as possible.’ To which the reply came, “ We'll hold the town till we starve.” Grant reached Bridgeport by rail and was compelled to cross the mountains bya circuitous route, and after night, amid a drench- ing rain, which made the ground slippery. His horse fell and bruised him severely, which greatly intensified the pain he was already suffering from the fall in New Orleans. He arrived in Chattanooga on the night of October 23d, and immediately set about to rescue the army from its peril and — prepare it for final victory. Indeed this he had been doing all the way from Louisville, for on his arrival at Nashville on the 20th, he telegraphed to Burnside at Knoxville: “ Have you tools for fortifying ? Important points in east Tennessee should be put in condition to be held by the least number of men, as soon as possible.” And to Admiral Porter, at Cairo, he sent word: “ 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 to go up the Tennessee to Sherman.” And then to Thomas: “Should not large working parties be put upon the road between Bridgeport and Chatta- nooga at once?” Arriving at Bridgeport, he telegraphed the commissary at Nashville: “Send to the front, as speedily as possible, vegetables for the army. . Beans and hominy are especially required.” Thus before he got on the ground he was taking in the situation with the grasp of a great military genius and providing for an emergency which he knew could only be met by prompt and herculean effort. An army had to be saved from sucha dilemma as no other Federal army found itself in during the war, and if possible by winning a victory. 170 LIFE OF “ULYSSES 5S: GRANT: On his arrival in Chattanooga he went at once to Thomas’ headquarters, and learned the situation as that modest but most able general gave it. He found it truly deplorable. There had been no exaggeration of the plight of the THOMAS’ HEADQUARTERS. Federal forces, and as to the Confederates, there they were to speak for themselves on all the commanding ridges and in all the impregnable passes of the mountains. After approving of Thomas’ order to Hooker, who had been sent from the army of the Potomac with two corps, to concentrate at Bridgeport and hold the Tennessee as well as the main wagon road between that place and Chattanooga, he reported to Halleck at Washington, and asked him to confirm his order giving Sherman control of the army of the Tennessee, his own (Grant’s) old command. The next day he and Thomas made a reconnoissance of the place. To clear the river and wagon road from Chattanooga to Bridgeport, and to hold both, thus opening an avenue for supplies, was a matter of the first necessity. To effect this the ingenuity of both Grant and Thomas was taxed to the utter- FROM VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. 171 most, for at least seven miles of the river was under the fire of the Confederate pickets. But at a point nine miles below, and around the sharp bend in the river which makes the peninsula of Moccasin Point, was a place called Brown’s Ferry. The enemy’s lines did not extend that far. If that point could be occupied much else might be effected. What? The base of supplies would be brought within nine miles of Chattanooga, while now they were thirty-five miles away at Bridgeport. On the south side of the river at Brown’s Ferry was a valley which ran down between Raccoon Mountain on the west, and Lookout Mountain on the east. This valley could be occupied, and then the ranges of Lookout on that side could be scaled, for there was no enemy there, they being intent on watching the river front, overlooking Moccasin Point, and the projections overshadowing Chattanooga. This would have much of the effect of a flank movement, and once a foot- hold was gained on these westerly spurs of Lookout, the river could be controlled by artillery for several of the intervening seven miles, or indeed all the way, for the Federals were in possession of the Moccasin Point peninsula, though directly overlooked by the Confederates on the Lookout crags. Again, a force could be sent down this valley from Brown’s Ferry, or down the Raccoon Valley further west, and passing through gaps in the ranges, could debouch into Lookout Valley quite in the rear of the Confederates. A movement was projected and orders issued. Everything depended on celerity and secrecy. The movement consisted of three parts. It was necessary that all should fit. On the night of October 26th, two days after orders were issued, all was ready. General Smith had command of the river expedi- tion with four thousand picked men. Palmer marched over two thousand of these north of the river to Jasper, and crossed at Kelley’s Ferry to the south side. Hazen embarked eighteen hundred on sixty pontoon boats, and under cover of 172 LIFE OF ULYSSES S&S. GRANT, darkness dropped down to Brown’s Ferry. Both were on time. Palmer crossed and held the road to Kelley’s Ferry on the south. Hazen landed on the south side, pushed his forces to the almost inaccessible heights over the river, and soon had them in a position where they commanded the Ferry over which he was to lay his pontoon bridge, and the mouth of Lookout Valley also. . Meanwhile Hooker had orders to cross from Bridgeport. He did so with Howard's corps, and Geary’s division of Slocum’s corps, and on the morning of the 26th, marched down the west side of Raccoon Mountain, passed a gorge into Lookout Valley, and turned northward toward the Tennessee. He met with but slight resistance, for the whole movement was in the nature of a surprise and upon an unfortified flank of the enemy. On the 28th he was within a mile of Brown’s Ferry. That night Longstreet’s corps made a fierce assault on him, which was resisted amid confusion but with great determination. The battle raged for several hours with the utmost intensity. By repeated charges the Federals forced their way up the steep heights and gained a permanent foot- hold on the summits, which they were not slow to fortify and make secure against further assault. Hooker had nearly seven thousand men engaged, and_ his loss was four hundred and sixteen in killed and wounded. The Confederate loss was much heavier. This sealed the fate of Lookout Valley, and gave the Federals almost entire control of the two wagon roads from Chattanooga to Bridgeport. Thus in five days from Grant’s arrival at the point of danger the beleaguered FROM VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA, 173 army had found an outlet, and a bold and confident enemy had been put on the defensive. The Confederate authorities were terribly chagrined at the unexpected result. They saw their prize suddenly snatched from their grasp by one who had outwitted them in strategy and dazed them with his boldness and quickness. Looking down from their fortified peaks on a camp where misery reigned and starvation impended, they saw it, as if by magic, transformed into a busy, cheerful, formidable scene. Old steamboats were repaired and new ones built. Railroads were replaced. Pontoons were laid. Horses, mules and wagons came with ample supplies. Sherman was nearing the place with his western veterans. Other reinforcements were expected. The gloom of Chickamauga was fast giving way to a confident spirit of aggression. The soldiers felt they had acommander who could see and relieve their neces- sities. On October 28th, General Grant said: “If the Con- federates give us one week more time, I think all danger of losing territory now held by us will have passed away, and preparations may commence for active operations.” But though the pressing emergency at Chattanooga was met by Grant’s activity and admirable strategy, there were still other needs requiring instant attention, equal vigor and a wider range of generalship. His new military division extended from the Alleghenies to the Mississippi, and included two hundred thousand soldiers. Burnside, with twenty-five thousand men, was in the Valley of the Tennessee, at Knoxville, east of the Cumberland Mountains. He was away from a base of supplies. These had to be sent from St. Louis, by way of the Ohio and Cumberland rivers, and then overland by wagon from Big South Fork, a hundred miles. This varied and com- plicated business was superintended directly by Grant, for he had not only heard Burnside’s plaint for stores, but knew how important it was to hold the line of the upper Tennessee against any and every attack. 174 LIFE OF -ULYSSES S. GRANT. Sherman was nearing Chattanooga, and every preparation had to be made for expediting his march. The gunboat ordered to meet him at Eastport was promptly there, also barges for ferry purposes. In a day or two the fleet of steamers ordered up with provisions arrived. Thus all Grant’s advance plans to help him culminated as he intended. Sherman’s march from Memphis had been toilsome, and not without opposition, though no great battle had been fought. He was most anxious to reach Grant, whom he, with true soldierly spirit, had urged to “Accept the command of the great army of the centre; don’t hesitate. By your presence at Nashville you will unite all discordant elements, and impress the enemy in proportion. All success and honor to you!”” And again, with equal mag- nanimity, he wrote Grant: “Iam very anxious you shall go to Nashville, as foreshadowed by Halleck, and chiefly as you can harmonize all conflicts of feeling that may exist in that vast crowd. Rosecrans, and Burnside, and Sherman, with their subordinates, would be ashamed of petty quarrels, if you were behind and near them—between them and Washington. Next, the union of such armies, and the direction of it, is worthy your ambition. I shall wait news from you with great anxiety.” From the date of Grant’s assumption of command, October 19th, 1863, he sent orders to Sherman, regulating his marches and the in-gathering and disposition of his forces, all of which were obeyed with a promptitude which showed that the older general’s heart was in his words. On November 7th, Grant sent him word of Bragg’s prospective move on Burnside at Knoxville, and that he expected to make a countermove directly on the enemy in his front. Haste was urged, and Sherman responded with forced. marches. On November 13th he reported his arrival at Bridgeport, and was summoned in _ per- son to Chattanooga. And now Grant had with him all his trustiest lieutenants. They were a united band of officers in spirit, determined in valor, able in council. He could look FROM VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. 175 with some serenity on the situation, and devise and order with the certainty of co-operation and the assurance of loyal exe- cution. Extricated from the entanglements of the preceding weeks, every subordinate, clear down to the lines, felt a freedom and confidence which was unwonted, and burned with a desire to show by brave acts his love for one who had brought them through midnight to morning, and gave them promise of a glorious day of victory. CORA iets Roos BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. TRANGE as it may appear, Burnside’s position at Knoxville, a hundred miles away from Chattanooga, and amid the mountains of East Tennessee, was now one of greater anxiety than that at Chattanooga. That General had, before Grant as- sumed direction of affairs, pushed his way from Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap and upon Knoxville, which he regarded as a key to the upper Tennessee. It was so in some respects, but not in all. It would have been entirely so for the Confederates, who held the railroad from East Tennessee into Virginia, and who, by virtue of their position at Chattanooga, controlled it from that point almost to Knoxville. Yet it was one worthy of maintainance, and Grant felt that Burnside must be supported at all hazards. He did not contemplate doing it directly, but by means of one of those masterly counter movements which he had so often employed success- fully and which formed such a conspicuous feature of his military operations. At Knoxville, Burnside’s rear was open to a sudden move- ment of the enemy trom the east. He could be attacked in front with equal facility by any portion of the army detached from Chattanooga. Halleck was most anxious for his safety, and repeatedly urged Grant to reinforce and protect him, all of which was done, but in Grant’s own way. He did it by open- ing his supply lines for him, by ordering him to entrench him- 176 BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. 177 self strongly, and to live as much as possible off the country, by concentrating his own forces more strongly at Chattanooga, by getting ready for an offensive blow which, if successful, must speedily recall any forces sent northward from his imme- diate front. The Confederate movement against Burnside took shape. It consisted of a diversion from Abingdon in his rear. Atthe same time Bragg, commander of the Confederate army besieg- ing Chattanooga, detached Longstreet’s corps, and sent it by way of Cleveland, Sweetwater, and Loudon to Burnside’s front. Halleck grew almost frantic for his safety, and his dispatches to Grant took the shape of appeals. On November 14th, he sent word, “advices from East Tennessee indicate that Burn- side intends to abandon the defence of Little Tennessee river and fall back before Longstreet to Cumberland Gap and the Upper Valley. Longstreet is said to be near the Little Tennessee with twenty to forty thousand men. Burnside has about thirty thousand in all, and can hold his position; he ought not to retreat. I fear further delay may result in Burnside’s abandon- ment of East Tennessee. This would be a terrible misfortune, and must be averted if possible.” To this Grant replied developing his whole scheme, for he had for days been advised of Bragg’s daring movement, and saw in it all the elements of a stupendous military blunder, if only Sherman were within supporting distance, and he could concentrate his forces to take advantage of it. His dispatch ran: “ Burnside can certainly detain Longstreet in the Ten- nessee Valley until we can make such moves here as will entirely free him from present danger. I have asked him if he can hold the Knoxville and Clinton line for one week; if so, we can make moves here that will save all danger in East Tennessee. Sherman is now at Bridgeport. He will commence moving to-morrow or next day, throwing one brigade from Whiteside into Trenton, thus threatening the 12 178 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. enemy’s left flank. The remainder of his force will pass over Kelley’s Ferry, evading view of Lookout, and march up to the mouth of Chickamauga creek. Pontoons are made and making to throw across at that point, over which it is intended that Sherman’s force and one division of Thomas’ shall pass. This force will attack Missionary Ridge with the left flank of Thomas supporting from here. In the meantime Hooker will attack Lookout and carry it if possible. If Burnside can hold the line from Knoxville to Clinton, as I have asked him, for six days, I believe Bragg will be started back for south side of Oostanawla, and Longstreet cut off.” Here then was Grant’s great double thought—to fight the battle for one of his armies threatened at Knoxville a hundred miles distant, at Chattanooga; to concentrate the other two there, and so make all co-operate in a grand movement which should eventuate in securing the advantages which the natural stronghold had so long promised to the Federal forces. Hal- leck grew more distrustful of Burnside’s ability or willingness to hold on. But Grant had assurances of both, and worked away with characteristic industry and patience to complete his plans of action. Burnside had really never expressed a desire to retreat except to help Grant. On November 14th he reported to Grant that Longstreet was on the Holston river at Loudon, and intending to cross. He gave as his plan, to concen- trate in his front but not to fight him there. He would make a show of fight, and then retreat to Nashville so as to entice him so far away from Bragg that he could not have time to reinforce him should Grant’s move at Chattanooga be suc- cessful. This looked like a full understanding of Grant’s tac- tics and a wish to aid them. And onthe 14th of November Grant sent him word to the effect that if he could hold Long- street in check, or by skirmishing and falling back avoid serious loss and gain time, “I will be able to force the enemy ne BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. 179 back from here and place a force between Longstreet and Bragg that must inevitably make the former take to the moun- tain passes by every available road, to get his supplies.” As has been seen in the previous chapter, Sherman arrived at Bridgeport on November 13th and 14th. On November 15th he was in Chattanooga. On the 16th he rode out with Grant and Thomas to the hills on the north bank of the Ten- nessee, from which could be seen the line of Missionary Ridge - with its northeastern terminus on Chickamauga creek, the point where he was expected to make the crossing of the river and begin his attack. All in Chattanooga were impatient for action. Sherman’s men had made a long and toilsome march of nearly four hun- dred miles, and they were tired, shoeless and almost clotheless, but he saw enough of the condition of men and animals in the mountain- and enemy-begirt town to inspire him with renewed energy. He returned at once to Bridgeport, to bring up his army and dispose it for action. On November 18th Grant telegraphed Halleck: “ Burnside’s troops back to Knoxville. Sherman’s advance reached Look- out Mountain to-day. Movements will progress threatening enemy’s left flank until forces can be got up and thrown across the river to attack their right flank and Missionary Ridge. A battle or a falling back of the enemy is inevitable by Saturday at the furthest. Burnside speaks hopefully.” The same day written orders were issued to Sherman and Thomas for the battle of Chattanooga, in all respects a unique contest, and one which was not only to relieve Burnside’s army and the valley of the upper Tennessee, but all of Grant’s armies, and further to open the way for active and offensive operations in the interior of Georgia and the heart of the Con- federacy. The aggressive spirit that now chafed for release from a pen-like area amid hostile mountains and impassable rivers was all unused to hampered situations and defensive lines, 180 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. By means of repeated reconnoissances Grant had discovered that it was perfectly feasible to move any number of troops from points below Chattanooga, on the river, to points above, by keeping them well to the north of the stream, and back among the hills, out of sight of the enemy on the pinnacles of Lookout. He had fur- ther discovered that the north end of Missionary Ridge, near the mouth of Chickamauga creek, and really overlooking Chicka- mauga Station, Bragg’s perfectly guarded. These discoveries were taken ad- vantage of to throw Sher- man’s forces around north of Chattanooga and across the Tennessee to the south, near Chickamauga creek. They also determined Grant not to make too much of his contemplated movement on the Confederate left by way of the Lookout valley and ranges. He therefore detached Howard’s corps from Hooker and ordered it to follow Sher- man, and reinforce Thomas in the centre, if necessary. The orders of Grant, issued on November 18th, contemplated the completion of all these movements by the 2oth, and an attack on the morning of the 21st. Nothing that officers and men could do was left undone to bring the troops into the positions designated in time. Thomas strove with the energy of desperation to extend his centre out to the edges of Missionary Ridge, so as to co-operate with Sherman after the passage of the river. He strove equally to plant batteries so as to protect Sherman’s crossing. But the horses were yet too GENERAL THOMAS, depot of supplies, was im-_ 4 we BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. 181: few in number, and too weak, to meet the strain upon them. Sherman meanwhile was forcing his men over the hilly roads back of the river toward their destination. But the routes became fearfully cut up. The river rose and interfered with the pontoon bridges, both below at Brown’s Ferry and above near the mouth of Chickamauga creek. He was obliged to inform Grant of the impossibility of performing his herculean task in the required time. So the proposed attack of the 21st was compulsorily postponed. This filled Grant with alarm for Burnside’s safety. He was not succeeding as he had expected in his promised diversion. Halleck was more than ever anxious about the fate of Knox- ville and East Tennessee. Grant’s communications with Burnside had been cut off, and he had heard nothing from him in two days. The last word was that he had been fighting Longstreet and had been driven into Knoxville. “I have never,’ wrote Grant to Halleck, “felt such restlessness before, as I have at the fixed and immovable con- dition of the Army of the Cumber- land.” Seeing that attack on the morning of the 2Ist was impossible, Grant, rising with the emergency, made his orders more peremptory for a hard combination of effort, so as to attack on the 22d. In this he was again disappointed, for the increasing rise in the river swept away the pontoons at Brown’s Ferry and endangered all others on the river. Sherman could not get his forces up. Howard’s corps, however, was more fortunate. It managed to get into Chattanooga, on the 22d, and was sent at once toa commanding position well out on Missionary Ridge. This was done that the Confederates might suppose the troops at GENERAL LONGSTREET, 182 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Brown’s Ferry were reinforcing Chattanooga directly, and as a cover for both Sherman’s movement and any movement of Hooker on their left at Lookout. Amid these disappointments, word came through a deserter, on the night of the 22d, that Bragg was preparing to fall back. Grant was unwilling to allow him to do this in good order. On the morning of the 23d he instructed Thomas to make a demonstration to ascertain the truth of the report, saying, ‘that if Bragg is really falling back, Sherman can commence at once to lay his pontoons at the mouth of South Chickamauga, and we can save a day.” Thomas’ demonstration was ready by 2 p.m. of the 23d, and it was prepared on an elaborate scale. Granger’s Fourth Corps was pushed towards the enemy’s posi- tion a mile beyond Fort Wood. His right was supported by Palmer’s Fourteenth, and his centre and left by Howard’s corps. The heavy guns from Fort Wood, and the artillery from smaller works, opened fire on the Confederates entrenched on the steep faces of Missionary Ridge. The cannon at Moccasin Point, below, opened on the enemy in their strong positions on Lookout, and the response was vigorous from these embattled heights. Under cover of this intense fire the deployment and advance of the Federals went on so regularly and deliberately as to give to the enemy the impression that a grand review was in progress. At last the skirmishers came in contact with the Confederate pickets along the.foot-hills of Missionary Ridge, and drove them back up the eminences into their first line of rifle pits. Wood’s division of Granger’s command followed rapidly in the face of a severe GENERAL GRANGER. Ca ee & ha. BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. 183 musketry fire and, capturing some two hundred prisoners, were in possession of the enemy’s first lines before they could recover from their surprise or be reinforced from the main works on the ridge. In fifteen minutes, Sheridan, with another of Granger’s divisions, fell in on Wood's right, and completed the capture of the entire advance lines of the Confederates. This left the enemy nothing west of the ridge and below its summits but a line of rifle pits at its base. It gave to Grant a strong point, called Orchard Knoll, and the low range of hills running south, about half way between Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge proper. These were fully occupied by Granger’s corps during the night, and also by Howard’s. Breastworks were thrown up, artillery was placed, and the whole front was strongly picketed. Thus two strong army corps lay entrenched a full mile in advance of the Federal position of the day before, and on ground occupied by the enemy. The casualties were small, not exceeding one hundred in killed and wounded. Had Bragg intended to retreat? This demonstration said, no. But he had started Buckner’s division to help Longstreet, on the 22d, and another also, which were speedily recalled. Grant was at last relieving Burnside. He was doing vastly more. Perhaps no similar move ever had such a moral effect on contending armies. The Confederates felt secure in their apparently impregnable positions till this moment. The advance was a surprise. Its success was in the nature of a stunning blow. It shook their prestige, introduced the thought of danger, and began the work of demoralization. On the other hand, it diffused an assurance of victory through the Federal forces, gave them that action for which they had pined, and that opportunity for wiping out the stain of Chick- amauga for which they had longed. They were as if under an inspiration of faith in their commander, their officers, and themselves, while their cause needed just such a triumph as they felt the near future must yield. 184 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. The destruction of the pontoon bridge at Brown’s Ferry below, and the failure of Sherman to promptly get his army to the north side of the Tennessee, revived in Grant’s mind the original intent to make his move on the enemy’s left at Lookout a bold and decisive one. Therefore all the forces in Lookout Valley, and south of the river at that point, were brought into requisition for a movement in conjunction with his own at Chattanooga. Hooker had there about ten thou- sand men, embracing Osterhaus’ division of the Fourteenth Corps, Cruft’s of the Fourth, and Geary’s of the Twelfth. None of these divisions had ever been associated in battle. Geary’s represented the Army of the Potomac; Cruft’s, the Army of the Cumberland; Osterhaus’, the Army of the Ten- nessee. They would vie with each other in the perilous task now before them. It will be recollected that a Federal force under Stevenson had already gotten a foothold on the west side of Lookout close to the Tennessee, and where Brown’s Ferry could be protected. All the rest of the western slope, overlooking Lookout Valley and the Raccoon ranges further west, as well as the summits, were in the hands of the Confederates, and all strongly fortified with redoubts, redans, rifle-pits, abattis and stone walls. Behind these were seven thousand men. At the base of the mountains runs Lookout creek, which formed the western edge of the Confederate lines. Beyond the narrow valley at the foot of Raccoon Mountain was Hooker’s encampment. . Simultaneously with Grant’s splendid move at Chattanooga, Hooker swept from his camps upon the enemy along Look- out creek and drove him from his first lines. Then Geary’s division began to ascend the steep mountain sides, the men pulling themselves up by vines and branches, propping them- selves with their guns, scrambling and climbing amid obstruc- ting rocks and stones, dislodging the enemy wherever found, BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA, 185 for his artillery was of no account, and even the men in the rifle-pits could not use their weapons effectively in so close an attack on those steep hillsides. Geary was soon joined by other forces, and the victorious columns pressed on amid obstacles of a most extraordinary character. As ‘the summits were neared the enemy’s resistance became more stubborn and his fire more deadly. Still the Fed- erals pressed on, gaining point after point, fighting for the peaks and for the little plateau facing the Tennessee, which was really the Confederate centre on Lookout, as its army faced at first. After two or three sharp conflicts this plateau was cleared and Hooker had a front on the bluffs overlooking the Tennessee, where had frowned for weeks the Con- federate batteries. But now, 2 p.M., the battle had to cease. The clouds settled heavily down and enveloped these summits so as to give the appearance of darkness. But if Hooker could no longer fight he could hold what he had. He therefore made himself strong against attack, and workedehis lines eastward toward Chatta- nooga. At five they reached the eastern edge of the moun- tain, overlooking the town, and found a brigade fighting its way upward to meet them. This was Carlin’s brigade, sent out by Grant to open communications with Hooker as soon as he should round the peaks of Lookout, and begin to force his way east- ward. The lines met. Lookout was won. Hooker sent Grant word that “ His lines were impregnable and commanded the enemy’s defences with an enfilading fire.” Thus by the night of the 24th of November the Federal army had an unbroken line of communication from Lookout Mountain through Chat- tanooga and to the north end of Missionary Ridge. GEN. HOOKER. 186 Wi y DN ‘A " S| A) | Wil! EM TE os pel: i Ba Wh \6, Y/ UF | f l, ie \y YW {7 1 SS Hi Z U fh i} / Wy a WD Up ae Cl 1B Mi BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. | Mh i a i 4; fi aie xi ean Cy ff ane | | lH i Sa? Hl é | i | i Nie in a BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. 187 But what of Sherman and the left? He was struggling heroically against floods and difficult roads in order to get up to the South Chickamauga and make the pontoon crossing to the ends of Missionary Ridge. Would he be ready? Not in time for Grant’s demonstration of the 23d, yet in time for the morrow. One division was on the north side of the Tennessee ready to cross, Others were coming. Where were the pon- toons? Five miles up hidden in the mouth of North Chicka- mauga creek, whither Smith’s brigade was sent to man them. At midnight of the 23d each pontoon was boarded by thirty men, and seven hundred and fifty oarsmen piloted them down the river to the mouth of the South Chickamauga. So quietly did they move that neither Federal picket on the north side of the Tennessee nor Confederate on the south side knew of their passage. They stopped just above the mouth of the South Chickamauga, for it was designed to pontoon both that stream and the Tennessee. There a small band jumped ashore and rapidly captured the enemy’s outposts before he was aware. Then the boats dropped below the creek, disembarked their men and lumber and were sent back for other material. Smith’s men immediately began to entrench themselves. The balance of his division was hastily ferried over from the north side of the Tennessee to his support. This was followed by John E. Smith’s division. By daylight eight thousand men were on the south side of the river and quite well protected. Though Grant had taken the precaution to have all the hills on the north studded with cannon to protect Sherman’s cross- ing, he had thus far managed so secretly and dexterously as not to draw the attention of the enemy to his main object. But now daylight was coming, and the work of laying the pon- toon bridge was about to begin. The wisdom of having those forty pieces of cannon ranged so as to cover the operations was apparent. They gave the protection required. By noon ot the 24th the bridge was complete, and Howard and Sherman . 188 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. shook hands upon its centre. The junction of the armies of the Tennessee and Cumberland was formed. Sherman sped the remainder of his forces across, and fast formed them for attack on the northern spurs of Missionary Ridge. The bridge across the South Chickamauga was already laid, and Long’s cavalry had crossed both bridges on its way to cut the Con- federate communications with their depot of supplies at Chickamauga Station. As Sherman moved, his left, under Morgan L. Smith, fol- lowed South Chickamauga creek, his centre, under John E. Smith, moved squarely on toward the spurs, his right, under Ewing, moved in columns, prepared to deploy in any direction. The sky was heavily clouded, so that the view of the enemy from their heights was obscured. From the valley of Lookout to the North Chickamauga, a distance of thirteen miles, was now a continuous line of battle, all animated and expectant, all subject to a single will, faith in which was unbounded, whose directory vigor was felt in every single organization and move- ment like a strong pulse in a human body. At half-past three on the 24th, Sherman secured a desirable position on the elevated foot-hills of Missionary Ridge, and the enemy, for the first time, became aware of his movement. He instantly opened with artillery, but too late, for Sherman had dragged several guns up the steep slopes, which were opened in response. At four o’clock a violent charge was made on his lines which was repulsed. He was then left alone to fortify what he had gained. Howard’s corps was then pushed in on his right, so as to make a close connection with Thomas. That night, the night of the 24th, the skies cleared and the camp-fires revealed to the enemy the fact that Sherman was in position. Grant’s dispatch of that date to Washington isa graphic sketch of the scene: “The fight to-day progressed favorably. Sherman carried the end of Missionary Ridge, and his right is now at the railroad tunnel and his left at Chicka- BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. 189 mauga creek. Troops from Lookout Valley carried the point of the mountain and now hold the eastern slope and point high up. Hooker reports two thousand prisoners taken, besides which a small number have fallen into our hands from Mis- sionary Ridge.” To this the President replied in person on the 25th: “Well done. Many thanks to all. Remember Burnside.” And Halleck thus: “I congratulate you on the success thus far of | your plans. I fear that Burnside is hard pushed and that any delay may prove fatal. I know that you will do all in your power to relieve him.” During the night the Confederates evacuated Lookout and retreated by way of Rossville to Missionary Ridge. At sun- rise the national flag floated on the Lookout crests. Hooker pushed after the retreating enemy, but was detained at Chatta- nooga creek, the bridge having been burned. He was to take position so as to guard and hold Rossville gap, and operate on the enemy’s left on Missionary Ridge. The morning sun of the 25th shone brightly on one of the most momentous battle-fields of the war. Bragg’s headquar- ters were visible on the ridge. Grant and Thomas had theirs on Orchard Knoll. Sherman was in the saddle early, pros- pecting his left on Chickamauga creek. Orders had been issued the night before fora grand attack in the morning. Sherman’s was the post of danger, and the point of main onset and resistance. Before him was a depression, heavily wooded. It was the approach to the fortified heights on the enemy’s right, and would be defended with all the strength he could wield. A little after sunrise the bugle sounded for an advance. Case’s brigade of Ewing’s division pressed valorously forward, and its general fell. Loomis’, Raum’s, Mathias’, and indeed, Sherman’s whole force, were quickly in action, gaining ground here, losing there, everywhere meeting with stubborn resist- IgO LIFE OF ULYSSES: S. GRANT, ance. The Federal objective point was the first foot-hill beyond the depression in their front. It was within eighty yards of the enemy’s regular entrenchments, and its posses- sion would give control of the railroad bridge over the Chickamauga. The contest for this grew close and desperate, GEN, SHERMAN. and the Federals only secured it after four hours of persistent and bloody fighting. Bragg now saw the danger that threat- ened him. He weakened his centre and massed his forces on his right, but notwithstanding a determined assault, he could not dislodge the Federals. They held what they had so hardly earned, and Bragg saw a foe firmly fixed on his BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. IgI flank and threatening his rear where his supplies lay. He looked down into the valley, and saw supporting columns hur- rying to Sherman. This impressed him with the fact that Grant’s intention was to scale the ridge at the northern end. He therefore threw other reinforcements in that direction, and in the afternoon succeeded in staying Sherman’s progress and in driving back his right under John E. Smith. Grant was watching the operations with anxious eyes. He offered to help Sherman, but the old hero sent word back that he had all the force he wanted. He knew his hour of relief would come as soon as Grant moved his centre. All day Grant and Thomas had witnessed Bragg’s fatal movement of troops from his centre toward his right, and while they feared for Sherman they were delighted with the advantage it opened tothem. But where was Hooker? He was to appear on the Confederate left from the direction of Rossville gap, and was to sweep up the narrow Chattanooga Valley and along the edges of Missionary Ridge. As has been seen, the burning of the bridge over Chattanooga creek detained him, but he had sent word he was in the gap and would be up in a few hours, Trusting that he would appear in time, Grant determined to assault with his centre. Turning to Thomas, he ordered the attack. Six guns were fired from Orchard Knoll as a signal, and the eager troops sprang forward in splendid order, their front covered by acloud of daring skirmishers. Johnston’s, Sheridan’s, Wood’s and Baird’s divisions all moved simulta- neously, with orders to capture the rifle-pits at the foot of the ridge and then, reforming there, to scale the heights. The immediate front of the Federals was an open wood. Then came a clear, smooth plain some four to nine hundred yards wide. Next was the enemy’s line of rifle-pits. Back of them was the steep slope of the ridge, timbered, pitted, rugged, rising five hundred yards to the summit. As soon as the Federals began to move they were met by a tremendous 192 LIFE: OF *ULYSSES'S; GRANT. artillery fire from the ridge, but they marched steadily throvgh the wood. At the edge of the plain they closed their columns, charged on the double-quick, and carried an irre- sistible line of gleaming bayonets across the open space in the face of the enemy’s musketry and a plunging fire from the heights. Nota shot was fired in turn, but as the glistening lines of steel approached the Confederate works the effect was to carry dismay to those who thought themselves safely pro- tected. They threw themselves prostrate in the trenches, and the Federal charge swept over them. A thousand prisoners were captured and sent to the rear. Others fled rapidly up the steep slopes. The charge was a magnificent one, and all the forces engaged reached the long lines of rifle-pits near together. The orders were to halt and reform for the ascent. But the impulse to follow this preliminary success was*too strong. The men took to the slopes in wild, ungovernable desire to scale them and complete their victory at the top. They were met by a raking fire from the second line of works about half way up, and by enfilading fires of canister from the summits. Many color-bearers fell, and the havoc was general. But neither thinned ranks nor toilsome climbing broke the ascend- ing lines. Up, up, they pushed, steadily here, rapidly there, close after the retiring foe. The crests were reached simulta- neously at six different points, and the victorious streams began to pour into the upper trenches and to swarm around the batteries. Whole regiments surrendered. Artillerists were bayoneted and their guns captured. Panic seized the remain- der, who began a hasty retreat down the eastern slopes of the ridge. The route of the centre was general and complete. Bragg could not believe it, so confident was he of the strength of his position, even against a greatly superior force. He therefore made strenuous exertions to reform his lines again, but was dismayed to find that the Federals had also crowned BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA, 193 the ridge on his right. A few moments afterward the divi- sions from his left began to crowd in upon his broken centre in confusion, and then he learned that his left, too, had been turned. There was nothing to do but to organize retreat and save what was possible from the wreck. Brecken- ridge and Hardee gathered up the broken detachments, as . best they could, and fell back toward the depot at Chicka- mauga creek. Fortunately it was near night, and the retreat would be along familiar roads. When Grant saw his forces climbing the ridge after their success at the first line of rifle pits, he could not remain longer at his point of observation on Orchard Knoll, but galloped to the front, with his staff,and began to mount the ridge also, The wounded forgot their pain as he passed, and cried out, “We've gained the day, general!” “We're even with them now for Chickamauga!” “All we wanted was a leader!” He worked his way up the steeps and into the midst of the fray at the top, where he was exposed to the enemy’s heaviest fire. His desire to see the victory made complete, overcame for the time his discretion. Here he took in the whole situation. It was apparent that the enemy’s centre was hopelessly broken. The cannonading to the south and the confused surging of Confederate divisions northward told him that Hooker had rebuilt the burned bridge across the Chattanooga, had gained the crests on the enemy’s left, and was sweeping all before him. And as to Sherman, he knew that he would not only hold on, but would take advan- tage of the turn in the tide to force in the enemy’s right. Therefore he organized as speedily as circumstances would permit for effective pursuit. But night intervened ere the ridge was cleared. From the eastern verges Bragg, who had barely escaped capture, was seen in the valley below with his disorganized troops anda large wagon train, together with artillery, seeking the protection of a high ridge still further 13 194 LIFE OF ULYSSES 5.) GRANT, east, on which was posted several batteries and an infantry reserve. Sheridan, who was at the head of the pursuing SS S SS LSS QQ SSS SSNS War SSE AGS SS RN SSS SS SG FQVWK SS] Aa 0n S SS Qa Qa“ S VSS Qa NN VERRAN ES WY WA RQ NS SS WS NSS RAS SANS NRRSASSSAAnuw RMGWQAAY Y\\ AAS QAR AAQMO SSSR OWA Ra \\ r An AYY\ = \ A NN \ SS . WS WY MAA ISN NY \ : IISRSSRAMM ARAB g.g WANS ‘ SI IVVA Ayan OQ SS . 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Then the tired victors went into bivouac, passing their cheers back from ridge to ridge, and regiment to regiment, till all the hills and val- leys rang with their glad good-night salvos. Chickamauga was avenged. Grant ere he slept sent the following to Hal- leck: “ Although the battle has lasted from early dawn till dark this evening, I believe I am not premature in announcing a complete victory over Bragg.” To which Halleck responded on the 26th: “I congratulate you and your army on the vic- tories of Chattanooga. ‘This is truly a day of thanksgiving.” But though victory was complete and all the mountain ranges encircling Chattanooga were rid of the enemy, though the troops were exhausted by their three days of active manoeuvring and hard fighting, there must be no remission of effort. Bragg must not be allowed to retreat toward Burn- side. Sherman had already been warned, and had pushed his left well toward Cleveland on the railroad running to Knox- ville. Bragg therefore turned south, and Hooker was ordered to pursue rapidly the next morning with the hope of cutting off his new troops and trains. Granger was ordered to march up the south side of the Tennessee with a force of twenty thousand men to strike Longstreet in the rear and relieve Burnside at Knoxville. Thomas was to supervise the direct pursuit of Bragg, and to contribute all the strength he could spare to it. The next day Bragg was closely followed. He burned his supply depot at Chickamauga creek, and hurriedly pushed toward Dalton, leaving evidences everywhere in his trail of 196 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. his haste and demoralization. Just before reaching Dalton, at a gap twenty-two miles south of Chattanooga, the pursuit was checked for a time by the rear guard of the enemy who occu- pied a strong position, and offered battle. ‘They were not dis- lodged till after a sharp fight in which some two hundred were killed and wounded on both sides. Hooker was then ordered to discontinue the pursuit and hold the gap. ‘The railroad was destroyed from Dalton almost to Cleveland, and all direct communication cut off between Bragg and Longstreet. The battle of Chattanooga was the grandest fought west of the Alleghenies during the Civil War, and was in many respects the most remarkable in history. It covered an extent of thir- teen miles, and Grant had sixty thousand men engaged, while Bragg, in his report of December toth, reported fifty-eight thousand seven hundred and fifty-five men present, of whom forty three thousand and ninety-four were effective. The Federal losses were 757 killed, 4529 wounded and 330 missing; total 5616. The enemy’s losses in killed and wounded were less, owing to the nature of the ground and their entrenched posi- tions, but their total losses must have approximated 10,000, as they left 6140 prisoners behind, 69 pieces of artillery and 7000 small arms. No battle, ancient or modern, ever reflected greater credit for generalship on acommander. ‘The situation was wholly desperate till Grant’s arrival. He found an army hemmed in, demoralized, without clothing, starving, immovable as to guns, wagons, animals and paraphernalia. He was a new officer, in a new field, and in command of three armies that had not hitherto fought together or even actively co-operated. His lieutenants were fortunately without jealousy, were able and loyal, and men who would disappoint no confidence, but they were occupying wide areas, and had to be hurriedly brought together with their forces, or strongly supported where they were. In fact the army of Chattanooga had to be BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. 197 first rescued and reorganized and reinforced before it could rescue itself, and above all, effect the rescue of Burnside at Knoxville. We have seen how General Grant went about his work of rescue; how he opened the Tennessee below and estab- lished communications with Nashville; how he urged and helped Sherman in his long weary march; how he looked up every strategic point in and about Chattanooga; how he con- centrated and manceuvred for positions ; how he ordered and fought, first with Hooker for the enemy’s left on the heights of Lookout, then with Sherman for the enemy’s right on Mis- sionary Ridge, and again at an opportune moment, and when the menace was complete on both wings, how he let loose his invincible centre under Thomas, scaled the entrenched heights, and broke the enemy in twain. Notwithstanding obstacles of march, river crossing, abrupt mountain side, heavy and fre- quent entrenchment, uncertainty of skirmish and charge, every movement was ordered with intelligence and made with promptitude and precision. No corps, division nor brigade was outof time. No vital object failed. Every subordinate excelled in rare good management of his men; and the courage, en- durance and enthusiasm of the men were without parallel. It was a battle of monumental plans and grand executions. Vicksburg had been all preliminary strategy and then pertina- cious stick. Shiloh had been stubborn, close fighting. Chat- tanooga was giant manceuvre in sight of a fortified enemy, a complete outwitting of his keenest suspicions, a herculean move, involving the finest co-operations on the part of lieu- tenants and bravest efforts of a gallant soldiery. It was two grand battles in one, for it meant not only the defeat of Bragg on the hill tops.around Chattanooga and the driving of him back to where the waters run toward the gulf, but the relief of Burnside, at Knoxville, and the Federal control of East Tennessee. 198 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. And it was equally extraordinary in other respects. The results were of great permanent value. This wasacharacter- istic of all Grant’s battles. He made his victories tell. He organized and fought for results. The results of Chattanooga were acquisition of vast territory,a way to Atlanta and the heart of the Confederacy, and finally through that heart to the sea, the erection of a fortified menace on the very spot which had for years been a threat tothe North. ‘The result to the country was the lifting of the terrible Chickamauga cloud and a bursting in of sunlight upon a situation which had been dark and a source of the gloomiest foreboding. Its effects on the armies were remarkable. Three separate hosts had for the first time fought together under a single and trusted com- mander. The Potomac, the Cumberland, the Mississippi, had blended their chivalry to win combined honors. The Potomac, under Hooker, had fought the enemy’s left off Lookout and Missionary Ridge. The Mississippi, under Sherman, had fought the enemy’s right up the Missionary foothills. The Cumberland, under Thomas, had scaled the heights of the centre and broken the enemy into fragments. United they were invincible, but the union must be just such as Chatta- nooga showed to be possible, a union of force, discipline, heart, under a genius in whom confidence was boundless, and a spirit that was all presiding. The experiment of uniting departments and armies under one master mind had met with the endorsement of a magnificent, timely and most fruitful victory, and the destiny of the calm, determined, yet anxious and brilliant, leader was further foreshadowed. It remained for the authorities to act upon the proofs which Chattanooga sup- plied, both as to the wisdom of and necessity for a central and supreme commandership. Happily circumstances were rapidly shaping to that end, and none more powerfully than the exist- ence of one whose deeds declared him worthy the high distine- tion and equal to the great responsibility. BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. 199 The following shows the organization of the contending armies at Chattanooga: Commanding United States Forces—MAJOR GENERAL ULYssES S, GRANT. Army of the Cumberland.—Commander, MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS, ; Ist. Div.—Maj. Gen. D, S. Stanley, tay east ES 12 Div.—Maj. Gen. P. H. Sheridan, aaa Set. ( 3d Div.—Brig. Gen. T. J. Wood. _ Eleventh Corps, 2d Diy.—Brig. Gen. A. Von Steinwher, Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard. 3d Div.—Maj. Gen. C. Schurz. _ Twelfth Corps, Ist Div.—Brig. Gen. A. S. Williams, Maj. Gen. H. W. Slocum. {2d Div.—Brig. Gen. J. W. Geary. [ Commanding the two corps—MAJ. GEN. J. HOoKER.] cn : 2d Div.—Brig. Gen. J. C. Davis Bis Gen JM Yalier: 3d Div.—Brig. Gen. A. Baird. [Part of this corps reported to Sherman. ] Fourteenth Corps {2 Div.—-Brig. Gen, R. W. Johnston, Cavalry Corps, Ist Div.—Col. E. M. McCook, Brig. Gen. W. L. Elliot. {2d Div.—Brig. Gen. George Crook. Part of Army of the Tennessee-—Commander, MAJOR GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN. ( 1st Div.—Brig. Gen. P. J. Osterhaus, . [reported to General Hooker]. ee 2d Div.—Brig. Gen. M, L. Smith, J- Seka 7 3d Div.—Brig. Gen. J. E. Smith, 4th Div.—Brig. Gen. Hugh Ewing. Confederate Army.— Commander, GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. [ Commanders. ] Maj. Gen. P. R. Cleburne, Right Wing, Brig. Gen. S. R. List, Lieut. Gen. W. J. Hardee. Maj. Gen. B. F. Cheatham, Maj. Gen. C. L. Stevenson. [ Commanders. | Maj. Gen. A. P. Stewart, Left Wing, Brig. Gen. P. Anderson, Maj. Gen. J. C. Breckinridge. Maj. Gen. S, B. Buckner, Brig. Gen. Lewis. Cavalry, ist Div.—Brig. Gen. J. A. Wharton, Maj. Gen. J. Wheeler. ae Div.—Brig. Gen. W. Martin. CHAPTER GAL CHATTANOOGA TO WASHINGTON. \ E have had a glimpse of the bearing of the battle of Chattanooga on the fortunes of Burnside’s army in East Tennessee. Let us take a hasty view of the situation there. Early in November, 1863, Bragg, feeling all too sure of his positions around Chattanooga, and that time only was required to force the Federals into retreat or capitulation, dispatched Longstreet with a large and excellent corps to operate against Burnside, who was at Knoxville, and had pushed a strong advance of twelve thousand men down along the railroad to the Holsten river, across which a pontoon bridge had been built. It was here that Longstreet first met him. Burnside’s policy, as has been seen in the previous chapter, was not to fight, but to keep up shows of battle, in order to risk nothing on his part, and at the same time draw Longstreet so far away from Bragg, at Chattanooga, as to put mutual reinforcement out of the question, should the fate of Chattanooga require it. And then, if Grant should be successful there, and should drive Bragg southward, Longstreet could be marched upon from the rear and forced into the devious by-ways of the mountains, perhaps captured. This was Grant’s plan, and Burnside was to second it by his shows of battle and retreats. He therefore burned his bridge across the Holsten, on the approach of Longstreet, prepared for battle on the north side of the river, and after administering a severe check, fell back to Campbell’s Station, where he again made a stubborn stand. His next retreat was to Knoxville, which was well fortified, 200 CHATTANOOGA TO WASHINGTON, 201 though but poorly provisioned. This he intended to hold as long as possible, in expectation of hearing from Grant and find- ing succor through and by means of a decisive turn of affairs at Chattanooga. Longstreet tried the defences of Knoxville, on November 18th, but finding them too strong for direct capture, he invested the place, determined to starve Burnside out. He was reinforced by several small commands from Virginia, and began to manceuvre so as to cut off all sources of Federal supply. In this he was confidently engaged when he was startled by the defeat of Bragg, at Chattanooga. He knew what this meant. It made every moment precious to him. He determined on an assault before Grant could send relief. On November 2oth, he threw three brigades of McLaw’s division, with murderous energy, on Fort Sanders, near the northwest angle of Burnside’s works, supporting them with the rest of his force. The ditches were reached and rapidly filled by the assaulting forces. But a merciless fire of canister was opened on them from the salients, and they were mowed down ere they could scale the parapet. Again and again they were repulsed, and finally broke in confusion, some preferring surrender to retreat back over ground subjected to so hot a fire. This rash experiment ' cost Longstreet a thousand men in killed, wounded and pris- oners. The Federal loss was only thirteen. Just then Longstreet received word from President Davis that Bragg had been defeated by Grant at Chattanooga, and that he should hasten to his succor. He started, but hearing that the Federal troops were already at Cleveland, on the line of the railroad, and knowing that he could not hope to reach Bragg, he wisely returned to the siege of Knoxville, trusting thus to divert Grant from pursuit of Bragg. Immediately after the victory at Chattanooga, Grant ordered Granger’s Fourth Corps to march rapidly to the relief of Knox- ville. But that general delayed, and Sherman, who had been 202 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ordered to Hiawasse, was directed to assume command of the relief movement, and push it with all his energy. The situation at Knoxville was getting desperate, on account of the scarcity of provisions. Grant was fully advised of this,and sent Burn- side the following dispatch, written in duplicate, with the intent that one copy should be let fall into the hands of the enemy: “T congratulate you on the tenacity with which you have thus far held out against superior forces. Do not be forced into surrender by short rations. ‘Take all that the citizens have, to enable you to hold out a few days longer. As soon as you are relieved from the presence of the enemy, you can replace everything taken from them. Within a few days you will be relieved. There are now three columns in motion for your relief. One from here, moving up the south bank of the river, under Sherman; one from Decherd, under Elliott (this move- ment suffered delay); one from Cumberland Gap, under Foster. These three columns will be able to crush Longstreet’s forces, or drive them from the valley, and must all of them be within twenty-four hours’ march of you, by the time this reaches you, supposing you to get it on Tuesday, the 1st.” (Dec.) Sherman infused al! his energy into his tired forces, and soon had the Eleventh and Fifteenth Corps hastening toward Knox- ville, building bridges, making forced marches, driving off an intercepting enemy at crossings and from available points. Elliott was sent ahead with a large cavalry force, and orders to reach Knoxville at all hazards. Grant’s dispatch fell into the hands of Longstreet, as designed. It had the effect anticipated. That officer immediately raised the siege of Knoxville, and made hasty preparations to escape the ingatheting of the Federal forces. By December 4th, his lines of investment were entirely broken up and his troops in retreat. On the same date Sherman reached Knoxville, so that Longstreet got away none too soon. Grant’s express orders were to pursue the enemy, capture, if possible, at least drive him entirely from the CHATTANOOGA TO WASHINGTON. 203 valley. Sherman deferred to Burnside in command of the Department, and that officer feeling strong enough for future operations with Granger’s Fourth Corps, sent Sherman with the Fifteenth Corps back toward Chattanooga, so as to be within striking distance of Thomas, in case Bragg should again assume the offensive. But Burnside miscalculated. He lost valuable time which should have been occupied in active pur- suit of the enemy, as Grant had designed and ordered. True, he sent Major-General Parke, with Manson’s and Potter’s commands, after Longstreet’s fleeing forces, but only to find out what every army and naval officer should know, that “a stern chase is necessarily a long one.” Longstreet escaped to the south of the Holsten river, where he was protected from pursuit by the approach of-winter. In the spring, % he joined his army to that under Lee, in Virginia. On November rith, Burnside was removed by Halleck, General-in-Chief at Washington, and General J. G. Foster, who had pushed his relief columns through the Cumberland Gap, and arrived in Knoxville on the 1oth, was given command of the Department of the Ohio. Although Grant's intention to “crush Longstreet” had been frustrated, his other thought to “drive him out of East Ten- nessee,’ was more nearly carried out, rather by virtue of the masterly concentration of troops for the purpose than by the uses which Burnside made of them after they came under his control. And when it became apparent that East and Southern Tennessee were safe and that military operations must cease for the winter, and further, when the full effects of Grant’s Chattanooga campaigns began to be realized, there came a response from the Government and country such as yy, my tttti - —- - PER C.HH Sie ove \ CULPEPER CIO... ifs BRANDIA MN: PAPAHANNOCK STEVENSBURG f * x DA aera rt tacks 7 VERDIERVILLE ¢ AOBERTSONS TA vw =e PRICHARDS Fr 7 WILDERNESS TAV2# => Fj a i N gare DOD Cit WiLDEAWESe~ Lend oe \ DOWDALLS zai Nu. Sn r"\ ts et eee A \ f LIE ‘ \ a ‘~ e/a \ VA Ls \ BS \ |'/ FREDERICKSBURG I ee ga % ch i : 8 hy ww. | MEWARK O Me | STANMAT os Mi! (hb fe [Sw if 2G MUD rw, THORNBURG O et Le > = VA CHILD SIBURG B 4, 7 é Il, BOWLING GREEN oof GATLEYS STA o FNS Y PO CHESTERF Fup C.H if. ¢ FORT onan. tp RICESS = \ WATERS SON SC MAP OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, 223 224 LIFE OF ULYSSES’S. GRANT, force victory and bring peace. No opportunity should be given the Confederates to profit by their interior lines, to send reinforcements hither and thither at will, to hold strong defen- sive positions with inferior numbers. In deciding upon this he was only applying his Western strategy to an Eastern situ- ation. But he was in a great measure reversing the tactics of his predecessors—the brilliant manceuvres for place, the nm 7, Nise av: \ AS i N h A : K Y ‘\ GENERAL ROBERT E,. LEE, splendid games of battle at which Lee had played so success- fully with McClellan and Hooker and Burnside. There was also a moral argument which must have weighed powerfully with him, since it helped to change all his previous plans and forced him to ignore the solemn advice of Sherman, PREPARING FOR THE WILDERNESS. 225 Thomas, and indeed all his Western generals. His assump- tion of command had a chivalric significance. Lee stood head and shoulders above the Confederate generals. He had proved more than a match for the best Federal leadership. Therefore acceptance of the high rank of lieutenant-general was in the nature of a gauge of battle. He could no more decline a trial with the Confederate chieftain, without injuring his fame and weakening his power to command, than the country could afford to further waste its resources and its blood by continuing the policy of former officers of the Poto- mac armies. The intuitions of a heroic nature pointed un- erringly to a duty inherent in his high office, that of crushing the foremost army of the Confederacy under its foremost leader. He was encouraged in these convictions by the willingness of the authorities at Washington to stand by him, to load him with their confidence, to permit him to mature his plans and carry them out without interference. Ofthis he had the vol- untary and kind assurance of both President and Secretary of War. On the tenth of March he started to the front. Meade had command of the Army of the Potomac. His headquarters were at Brandy Station, fifty miles from the capital and ten miles north of the Rapidan. The two generals had not met since the Mexican War, but Grant was received with most re- spectful consideration and conducted to headquarters. Meade’s position was one of great delicacy. He had been successful at Gettysburg, had handled his army on Virginia soil with rare tact,and had met with no severe reverses. Under the cir- cumstances, removal, rumor of which had reached his ears, or even the raising of one to a rank above him, was a matter about which he had a right to be sensitive. But on their first interview he relieved Grant of all embarrassment by asking to be removed if it suited his plans best. Grant not only did not 15 226 LIFE OF ULYSSES: S. “GRANT, request his removal, but assured him of his desire not to inter- fere with his position as general of the Army of the Potomac. All night they discussed the military situation and plans for the future. On the 11th of March he returned to Wash- ington, declined the honors of a public dinner given by the President, and started the same night for Nashville to perfect his Western campaigns and install the generals who were to carry them out. He arrived in Nashville on the 14th. On the 17th Sherman met him there, pursuant to orders. His first words to Grant were, “I cannot congratulate you on your promotion; the re- sponsibility is too great.” To this the quiet man responded with—silence. Yet he felt the fullforce of Sherman’s utter- ance. Too many of his predecessors had failed in what he must now attempt for him to feel exultation over honors and rewards, however freely bestowed by a grateful country. Sherman again laid before Grant, in glowing colors and with all his natural (persuasiveness, the propriety and duty of re- maining in the West. “ Here,” said he, “you are at home; you are acquainted with your ground; you have tested your subordinates ; you know us, and we know you. Here you are sure of success; here, too, you will be untrammeled. At the East you must begin new campaigns on an unfamiliar field, with troops and officers whom you have not tried, whom you have never led to victory. They cannot feel toward you as we do. Near Washington, besides, you will be beset, and it may be fettered, by scheming politicians. Stay here, where you have made your fame, and use the same means to consol- idate it.” But Grant had already been moved by higher convictions of duty. That very mutual faith which Sherman spoke of would make his command of Western operations easy, while nothing but personal observation and superintendence would insure the success he desired in Virginia, on a strange field, PREPARING FOR THE WILDERNESS 227 and among officers and men unused to his guidance. So he proceeded to parcel the Western domain and place his lieu- tenants. Sherman was given command of the Military division of the Mississippi, the high post which Grant had just vacated. This would give him an opportunity to achieve a separate renown, which Grant felt was his due. Of his ability to do so he had not the least doubt. The two travelled together as far as Cin- cinnati. The plans for a spring movement on Johnston and into the heart of Georgia, thence on toward the sea, were all talked over and understood, but Sherman was left without de- tailed instructions. McPherson was assigned to the command of the Department of the Tennessee. Although this disposition placed Sherman over Thomas, and McPherson over Hurlbut, both these seniors acquiesced, and gave as heartily of skill and bravery as if they too had been honored with distinguished preference. This disposition of commands being made in the West, and the particular work of each assigned, although, as has been stated, Sherman was left with large discretionary power, General Grant hurried eastward to assume the burdens of active lead- ership in the field ; just “ like yourself,” as Sherman said, “you take the biggest load.” On March 23d he was back again in Washington, and face to face with the responsibilities and difficulties of his high office. There was no shrinking from them, no questioning of plans, no thought of expedients. He was firm in the faith that gave him Donelson, Vicksburg and Chattanooga. No shadow of doubt about eventual success crossed his mind. The true heroism of the man, never ostentatious, never even visible except in his deeds, was now sustaining him for the fires of conflict, even as the heroic faith of the old Christians upheld them in the presence of the stake. And now came his work of reorganization and readjustment 2238 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. on the Atlantic seaboard. Halleck was made Grant’s chief-of- staff in Washington. The Army of the Potomac was divided into three corps, to be known as the Second, under Major- General Hancock ; the Fifth, under Warren ; the Sixth, under Sedgwick. The Ninth Corps, brought from East Tennessee, was reorganized at Annapolis, and acted with the Army of the Potomac, but for a time independent of Meade, on account of Burnside’s older commission. Among the division command- ers were such distinguished names as Barlow, Gibbon, Birney, Carr, Wadsworth, Crawford, Robinson, Griffin, Wright and Prince. The cavalry of the army was consolidated under Gen- eral Sheridan, with Gregg, Torbert, and Wilson as division commanders. | The staff organization of the Potomac army remained unchanged, with Brigadier-General H. J. Hunt as Chief of Artillery; Major J. C. Duane, Chief of Engineers; Brigadier- General Rufus Ingalls, Chief Quartermaster; Major-General A. A. Humphreys was Chief of Staff, and also a division com- mander; Brigadier-General Seth Williams was Adjutant- General. Grant’s personal staff consisted of General Rawlins, as Chief of Staff; Colonel T. S. Bowers, Adjutant-General; Colonel Comstock, Inspector-General; Colonel Horace Porter and Colonel O. E. Babcock, Aids-de-Camp; Colonel Adam Badeau and Colonel Ely Parker, Military Secretaries. This personal staff was made up of young officers, yet men full of experience, and in whom Grant had the utmost faith. In three days after his return from the West, General Grant was at the front looking closer into his preparations, and at the same time busy in remodeling all the military departments so as to turn their forces to the best account. Very many of these departments were outside the actual theatre of war, and con- tained idle armies, or forces, of no mean proportions. Some of them had been made the scene of useless operations, in no- GRANT AT THE FRONT. GEN 230 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. wise in keeping with his plans of concentration and his future methods of attack. All these he reorganized and, wherever practicable, turned their forces to the account of the central armies. After all his plans of reorganization, mobilization and concentration were complete, he had in hand an aggregate of forces unequaled in modern warfare, and as to extent of country in which they were to be operated unparalleled in military history. They stood thus: Commander, Men. 1, Department of New England, Maj. Gen, 1388 E the East. New York. Dix. : Department of : Maj. Gen. 2+ the San ee Pepi yivania. Couch, oa Maryland, part, Middle Delaware, Maj. Gen, 108 3: Department. Virginia, East of { Lewis Wallace. 4s the Chesapeake. | Ohio, Northern Indiana, Maj. Gen. SP Department. Illinois, Heintzelman, 6,500 [ Michigan. Wisconsin, Department of Iowa, Maj. Gen. is. 5° the North West. Minnesota, Pope. : Indian Territory. - Department of Maj. Gen. “e Kansas. { Oe a Pe \ Curtis. rae Department of Maj. Gen. 7: Missouri. { Oe Ge Pe gone \ Rosecrans. eh Department of Brig. Gen. 8. New Mexico. { net ae \ Carleton. 3,700 Department of California Brig. Gen. 9 Pacific. Oregon. \ Wright. $:600 All these were outside the theatre of actual war, Department of \ Gen, ne Arkansas. Steele. 18,000 PREPARING FOR THE WILDERNESS. 231 Department of Louisiana, Maj. Gen. = Gulf. Texas. \ Banks. 56,000 Department of { Tennessee, part, Maj. Gen. ni Tennessee. Kentucky, part. \ McPherson, Sa Department of f Tennessee, part, Maj. Gen. T3. Cumberland. Kentucky, part. \ Thomas. a Department of Maj. Gen. 14. Ohio. { East Tennessee. \ Schofield, 26,500 Department of /{ Maj. Gen. et A Virvinias Ye ‘ Sigel. 20,000 " Department of ¢ The Capital and im- Maj. Gen. Be don : Washington. mediate defences. Auger. : Department of - 17. Virginia and ig ee pe el ay Pee 47,000 North Carolina. se 1g, Department of Sea Coast South \ Maj. Gen. ae ; the South. of N. Carolina, Gillmore. 997 These were all within the theatre of actual war. Besides the forces thus shown, the Army of the Potomac had. . . . 97,000 OO COREE Eg NE ike Ae, Oe ee ee 22,000 Aeron totaly .8 sif2) eG. pores cP. sg 20 O00 These were actives, and they represented an army, on paper, exceeding six hundred thousand men. General Grant’s strategy consisted in merging all his avail- able armies into two, or at most three, powerfully co-operating bodies. These were to be brought into direct contact with the foe wherever he was found strongest, and to be used incessantly till he was beaten or exhausted. There was to be but one common centre and aim—Lzee’s army in the East, Johnston’s army in the West. In the East two necessities existed. Wash- ington must be guarded. Butler’s command must be protected, for it held the outlets tothe sea. Therefore, in moving on Lee, Washington must never be uncovered, and yet the campaign must move so that the Army of the Potomac and the Army 232 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. of the James should be as one, either in their co-operation, or by actual junction—which last afterward came about. Sherman was to mass his three armies upon Johnston, at Dalton; Meade was to move from his base north of the Rapidan upon Lee; Butler, reinforced by the Tenth Corps, under Gill- more, was to operate against Richmond from the south side of the James river. But, while Richmond was a point toward which all effort centred, Lee’s army was the always conspicuous objective. Hence, Meade was informed that when fighting begun it was to be carried on wherever Lee should go with his army. Sherman was similarly informed, that Atlanta was to be his point of convergence and conquest, but that Johnston must be followed wherever he went, and fought wherever he stood. The thing of primary moment was the breaking up and destruction of the organized and armed forces of the Con- federacy. The time for it had arrived, the men were in the field for it, Grant’s high commission endowed him with power to turn every energy to this account, all the conditions existed for carrying to success the comprehensive plans of a gigantic and final campaign. Sherman, Meade and Butler were to move on the same day. Neither army was to draw reinforcements rom the other, but Sherman was to keep Johnston always engaged, so as to prevent him from swinging to Lee, and Meade was to do similarly with Lee’s army. Banks was to release as many men as possible from his command to co- operate with Farragut in an attack on Mobile. Sigel was directed to move a part of his force eastward into the valley of Virginia, and to push the rest down so as to cut the East Tennessee railroad. Thus all the troops in the theatre of actual war, not required for guard and garrison duty, were to be turned to account, and the general direction of all was to be toward a common centre of operations. That there might be no diversion from the essential issue, there was a general suspen- sion of outside enterprises. Every army not within the areas PREPARING FOR THE WILDERNESS. 233 of activity was to rest and hold on. The situation became highly dramatic. The face of the soldiery, the authorities, the country, the world, was turned toward Virginia and Georgia, Richmond and Atlanta. These were the general plans. The specific movements must now be determined. Sherman was left to determine his own. On April Ist Grant visited Butler at Fortress Monroe. He had previously determined that he should move along the south side of the James and upon Petersburg. The threat on Richmond would be as direct as if a move were made on the north side of the river, and it would eventuate in cutting the railroads running into the Confederate capital from the south. Butler preferred this route also. Therefore Petersburg and the railways became his objective, for ‘“ with them in our pos- session,” said Grant, “ Richmond must fall.” Then as to the movement of the Army of the Potomac. Should it move by way of the enemy’s left or right? By crossing the Rapidan above the enemy—that is, by a movement on his left—Lee would be cut off from all chance of ignoring Richmond and making a diversion to the North. But then there would be no base of supplies, and no possibility of co- operating with Butler onthe James. To move by the enemy's right—that is, to cross the Rapidan below him—would secure a base of supplies at Brandy Station, as well as on the Rappa- hannock, York, and James rivers, should the army fight its way thus far. By April 29th his mind was fully made up to move by his own left and on to the enemy’s right, to start with fifteen days’ rations, to bring Meade’s and Butler’s forces together on the James. This determination he at the proper time communi- cated to his subordinates and to the authorities at Washing- ton. It has been much commented on by military martinets, as has his entire “ on to Richmond” move. The best answer to all comments is that it succeeded, while every previous plan 234 LIFE OF ULYSSES::S. GRANT. failed. That it was full of natural and artificial difficulties from the start, many of which might have been avoided by taking a water route as in the Peninsular Campaign of McClel- lan, none doubts. But the fate of McClellan, Pope, Hooker, Burnside, and in part that of Meade, ought to enter into every consideration of a choice of ways and employment of means. The fact was that the Wilderness proved the only real obsta- cle. The deep, marsh-bordered rivers, which were regarded as so capable of defence, which eve defences in themselves, turned out to be the least formidable things in the way. The Rapidan, North Anna, Panumky, Chickahominy, and even the James, were crossed by the Federal armies without loss. Lee made no defence of them. And, really, Grant anticipated this, for he saw that in order to defend them Lee would have to so scatter his forces as to place himself at the mercy of the grand central column which Grant had determined to keep ever active and aggressive. Besides, every other route uncovered Washington, and no other was free from objections which grew more formidable the longer they were considered. Grant’s route gave him freedom to manceuvre and fight, test his strategy and exhaust his enemy. If victory came it would mean something ; if defeat, he would still have weakened his foe, and any line of retreat would necessarily be a short one. To be always in sight of Lee on that dangerous ground, and in that delicate situation, so near the national capital, within such easy striking distance of the North, was a determination full of military wisdom. And then to engage him often, to fence with him, to demoralize by bold strategy, to keep him on the alert and on the defensive, to take and hold fresh bases, to drive ever toward his capital and centre—these were far more effective in the end than any indirect and inconsequen- tial schemes of invasion, however brilliant they might have been in conception, or however they may have subscribed to the book-theories of learned professors. PREPARING FOR THE WILDERNESS. 235 Grant’s preparations during April were somewhat interfered with by a small faction, in and out of the army, that regarded him as inferior in ability to some of his predecessors in com- mand of the Eastern departments. He was looked upon by such as more fortunate than able, and as victorious only be- cause he had not yet contended with the best generals on the Confederate side. There must be no combat with this senti- ment, however much it happened to be in a minority. But to work around it, to get it pacified and where it could do no harm, was difficult. He exercised his power of supreme com- mand so as to keep clear of bitter complications on this ac- count, and insure as united and hearty a support as possible. And then it was not all plain sailing in the field. The Con- federates, taking advantage of the climate, were on the move earlier than his own forces. Forrest, with a large cavalry force, had penetrated West Tennessee and Kentucky and cap- tured Union City, and the town but not the fortifications of Paducah. He then threw himself on Fort Pillow and massa- cred its garrison of seven hundred men, mostly colored troops. Sherman sent a force against him and drove him south of Tennessee. Grant had decided on the evacuation of Plymouth and Wash- ington in North Carolina, as places of no military importance. They were given up on the 22d of April, or rather their garrisons had been so reduced as to make them an easy prey to Con- federate attack. This encouraged the Confederates greatly ; besides, their loss looked like disaster to those ignorant of Grant’s plans, or who were anxious for something on which to rest criticism and censure. But by far the most embarrassing situation arose in Louis- jana. Halleck had, even a year before, fully committed Banks GENERAL FORREST. 236 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. to the remote Red River Expedition. In Grant’s mind it was only scattering troops and indulging acraze. He had felt this particularly when called upon at a critical moment to send a corps to Banks’ relief, and afterward when the remoteness of these troops beyond the Mississippi, and the greater import- ance attached by Halleck to the Red River scheme, frustrated his proposed movement on Mobile. By the time Grant assumed command of all the armies, March, 1864, Banks was so far on with his movement on Shreveport that a recall would have been foolish or fatal. Therefore Steele was ordered to help him with his Arkansas forces, and A. J. Smith, who had been detached from Sherman, was ordered to stay till the fate of Banks’ expedition was known. At the same time Banks was ordered to push his en- terprise with all his might, so as to send Smith back to Sher- man as soon as possible, and free his own forces; for, said Grant, “I look upon the conquering of the organized armies of the enemy as being of vastly more importance than the mere acquisition of territory. It maybe a part of the spring campaign to move against Mobile. It certainly will be if troops enough can be obtained without embarrassing other movements.” On March 28th Grant learned that Banks, who was to meet Sherman’s force at Alexandria on the 17th, had not left New Orleans on the 19th. He immediately proposed a new de- partment, so as to secure a general who would obey his orders better. His proposition did not meet with favor at Washington. Then on the 31st of March Grant’s orders to Banks were to push with all energy, so that a force of twenty-five thousand men at least could be thrown against Mobile by the st of May. Word came back which filled Grant with apprehension. It was. to the effect that after the capture of Shreveport he (Banks) in- tended to turn his attention to Texas. Not trusting further to hazardous messengers, Grant sent to Washington for General ~ PREPARING FOR THE WILDERNESS. 237 Hunter, and dispatched him to Banks with full and peremp- tory instructions. ‘They were to the effect that if after the cap- ture of Shreveport he had turned toward Texas, he should retrace his steps at once and concentrate for the proposed move on Mobile. Hunter was to stay to see that the Mobile expedition was put under way. Three days after Hunter started, word came that Banks had been defeated near Pleasant Hill, and forced to retreat to Grand Ecore with the loss of his supplies. Thus the Red River ex- pedition terminated in disaster. Grant felt greatly chagrined, for now Sherman could hope for no help from Banks. The large force of the latter, thirty thousand strong, would be neutralized for the balance of the season. All Grant’s suggestions as to a change of officers west of the Mississippi were ignored, and he was forced to leave the situation there wrapped in cloud, in order to hasten final preparations for his immediate spring campaigns. Word was coming in that his plans were being met with great promptitude. Gillmore reported that his troops had been withdrawn from the Carolinas. Butler was massed at Gloucester Point, on the York river, as ifa movement on Richmond, north of the James, were intended. On May tst, Sigel reported the occupation of Winchester. Crook and Averill were well on toward the Kanawha. Sherman reported his army as ready to move from Chattanooga. Burnside was ordered into position between Bull Run and the Rappahannock, close to Meade’s rear. A fleet of iron clads was sent to the James to co-operate with Butler. A little flurry occurred when Sigel reported that Lee was moving into the Shenandoah Valley, evidently bent on another invasion of the North. ‘Let him go,” said Grant; “I will follow with force enough to prevent his return South.” It turned out that the forces Sigel had seen were those of Long- street, on their way from East Tennessee to join Lee. 238 LIFE OF ULYSSES 5. GRANT. At last the mighty machine was ready in all parts to move, Rain, and a backward, cold spring had postponed the final order for some days, but at length there went forth from the silent man at Culpeper word which was to put to final test the armies and causes of the respective governments. Never such a big fate hung on one man’s word. To Butler, “Start your forces on the night of the 4th, so as to be as far up the James as you can on the morning of the 5th of May.” ‘To Halleck, ““When we move from here cannot the bridges between Bull Run and the Rappahannock be held by troops from Washington?” To Halleck, again, “Say to Burnside not to leave his position between Bull Run and the Rappahannock before May 5th.” To Sherman, “Get your forces up, so as to move by May 5th. All will strike together.” To Meade, “ You will move according to the orders issued.” To Burnside, on the 3d of May, “ All General Meade’s troops will be away from Brandy Station to-morrow morning.” Finally to Halleck, at 12.30 p.m. of May 3d, “ This army moves to- morrow morning.” That night, at Culpeper, Grant detailed all his plans to his staff. It was a lengthy, earnest, momentous consultation. The plans were so comprehensive, the results which hung on them so stupendous, the chances so various, the obstacles so formidable, that no one man was buoyant, though all were trustful and determined. Grant’s spirit was the least moved among them, and his vision was the clearest. Two days before, he had received the following from the President : “EXECUTIVE MANSION, “ Washington, April 30th, 1864. LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT: Not expecting to see you again before the spring campaign opens, I wish to express in this way, my entire satisfaction with what you have done up to this time, so far as I understand it. The particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek to know. You are vigilant and self-reliant; and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any constraints or restraints upon PREPARING FOR THE WILDERNESS. 239 you. While I am very anxious that any great disaster or the capture of our men in great numbers shall be avoided, I know these points are less likely to escape your attention than they would be mine. If there is anything wanting, which is within my power to give, do not fail to let me know. * And now, with a brave army and just cause, may God sustain you. “ Yours very truly, “A. LINCOLN.” Grant’s reply was: “ FLEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, “ Culpeper Court House, Va., May Ist, 1864. “THE PRESIDENT: Your very kind letter of yesterday is just received. The confidence you express for the future, and satisfaction for the past, in my military administration, is acknowledged with pride. It shall be my earnest endeavor that you and the country shall not be disappointed. From my entrance into the volun- teer sérvice of the country to the present day, I have never had cause of complaint —have never expressed nor implied a complaint against the administration or the Secretary of War, for throwing any embarrassment in the way of my vigorously prosecuting what appeared to be my duty. And since the promotion which placed me in command of all the armies, and in view of the great responsibility, and the importance of success, I have been astonished at the readiness with which every- thing asked for has been yielded, without even an explanation being asked. Should my success be less than I desire and expect, the least I can say is, the fault is not with you. “Very truly, your obedient servant, “U.S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.”’ Thus the political and military chieftains of the nation entered harmoniously and supportingly upon this momentous campaign, each conscious of their desire to do right, whatever might be- tide; each relying on the bravery and discipline of their soldiers ; each trusting in that overruling Providence which establishes the just cause even at the expense of anxious delay and much sacrifice. lA OG eos Lie THE WILDERNESS. N the previous chapter we saw why Grant determined to cross the Rapidan below Lee’s army, and move by his right flank. Bearing this in mind, let us see how, with what force, and against what opposition he did it. In counting men and comparing forces, the reader must re- member that Confederate official figures show only the men of a command present and fit for duty on any given date. The Federal official figures show all the men enrolled on any given date. ‘The latter figures are therefore always in excess of the men actually present and fit for duty. The per cent. of this excess can be safely set down at about eighteen. Thus Grant found an enrolled army of 662,345 men on May Ist, 1864, but an equipped and dutiable army of 533,447, a difference of over eighteen per cent. This was the entire Federal forces in all the Departments. Lee’s army, called the Army of Northern Virginia, occupied during the winter and spring of 1864 a fine defensive position on the south bank of the Rapidan. Its right rested on Mine Run, its left on the foothills of the Blue Ridge. Ewell, with one of the three corps into which the army.was divided, held the right, protected by Mine Run and by an almost impenetrable tangle of pine woods, called the “ Wilderness,” which extended for many miles south. Hill held the left with another corps, well protected by the Blue Ridge and the Rapidan. J. E. B. Stuart had command of the Confederate cavalry. The third infantry corps, commanded by Longstreet, lay in the rear, 240 THE WILDERNESS. 241 among the hills at Gordonsville. Besides the Rapidan, with difficult fords and steep banks, the entire front of this army was artificially well protected by lines of breastworks, which made a successful front attack impossible. Its strength was 75,391 men, as nearly as may be, with probably 224 field pieces. The strength of the Federal army, including the Army of the Potomac, 97,273, and the Ninth Corps, 19,613, was, on the morning of May 4th, 1864, 116,886 men, with 322 field pieces. ORGANIZATION OF ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. Commander, Maj. Gen. GEorGE G. MEADE, 1st Brigade, Col. J. Howard Kitching. d Maj. John A. Tompkins. Artillery 2 J. ’ 1st us Horse Art., Capt. John M. Robertson. Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt. wd a ue Capt. Dunbar R. Ransom. 3d ee Light, Maj. Robert H. Fitzhugh. SECOND ARMY CORPS. May. Gen. W.S. Hancock. Ist Brigade, = 5 Reg’ ts, Col. ote A. Miles. First Division, 2d 5 Col. A. Smyth. Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow. 3d $3 (mere col, Paul Frank. ate « 6 ‘* Col. John R. Brooke. Spe rst Brigade, 8 Reg’ts, Brig. Gen. Alex. S. Webb. Brie Gen. Joka Gitbon {24 a Se us Brig. Gen. Joshua T. Owen. : : : 3d sS cn te Col. Samuel S. Carroll. Third Division, 1st Brigade, 9 Reg’ts, Brig. Gen. J. H. H. Ward. Maj. Gen. David B. Birney. 2d we 9 “ Brig. Gen. Alex. Hays. Fourth Division, 1st Brigade, 9 Reg’ts, Col. Robert McAllister. Brig. Gen. Gershom Mott 2d OM os Col Wm. R. Brewster. Corps Artillery Brigade, 11 Batteries, Col. John C. Tidball. FIFTH ARMY CORPS. May. Gen. G. K. WARREN. First Division 1st Brigade, 9 Reg’ ts, Boe: TB ay B. Ayres. . ae e Col B. Sweitzer. Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin. re ; a Brig: Gen. Jos. J. Bartlett. < e Brigade, 4 Reg’ ts, Col. Samuel H. Leonard. Second Division a g: B . . ie oe rig. Gen. Henry Baxter. Brig. Gen. John C. Robinson. {34 a ie ae NS W. Ticautese: Third Division, eg Brigade, : Reg’ ts, Col. Wm. McCandless. Brig. Gen. Samuel W. Crawford. is . Col. Jos. W. Fisher. Bourth (are a Brigade, z Reg’ ts, Brig. Gen. agg Cutler. Brig. Gen. Jas. S. Wadsworth. oe ss he Rag stone, C. Rice. Corps Artillery Brigade, 11 ane Col. Chas. S. Wainwright. 26 242 LIFE..OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. SIXTH ARMY CORPS. Maj. GEN. JOHN SEDGWICK. ( 1st Brigade, ees ts, Col. H. W. Brown. First Division, 2d Col. Emory Upton. Brig. Gen. Horatio G. Wright. }3 3d ; J Brig. Gen. David A. Russell, 4th cS ig eae Brig. Gen. Alex. Shaler. 1st Brigade, 5 Reg’ts, Brig. Gen. Frank Wheaton. Second Division, 2d Fee Col. Lewis A. Grant. Brig. Gen. Geo. W. Getty. 3d xp cm wae Brig. Gen. Th. H. Neill. sao 7 ea Brig. Gen. Henry L. Eustis. Third Division 1st Brigade, 5 Reg’ts, Brig. Gen. Wm. H. Morris. ’ sé - Brig. Gen. Jas. B. Ricketts. hes Vol, Bey ieee Relieved, May 5th, by Brig. Gen. Truman Seymour. Corps Artillery Brigade, 9 Batteries, Col. Charles H. Tompkins. CAVALRY CORPS. May. Gen. Puitip H. SHERIDAN. Pies? Dion 1st Brigade, 4 Reg’ ts, Brig. Gen. Geo. A. Custer. Brig. Gen. A. T, A. Torbert. 2d ‘ iets Col. Thos. C. Devin. 3d 5 Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt. Second Division, Ist Brigade, 4 Reg’ts, Brig. Gen. Hen. E. Davies, Jr Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg. 2d se 7 “ Col. J. Irwin Gregg. Third Division, 1st Brigade, 4 Reg’ fs, Col, (lina Ni Bryan, Jr. Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson. 2d Ae Col. Geo. H. Chapman. NINTH ARMY CORPS. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. BurnsIDE. (Not under Meade, but operating with Army of the Potomac.) First Diviston, 1st Brigade, 6 Reg’ts, Col. Sumner Carruth. Brig. Gen. Thos. G. Stevenson. 2d Re SS Col. Daniel Leasure. Two Batteries of Artillery. Second Division, 1st Br igade, 6 Reg’ts, Col. Zenas R. Bliss Brig. Gen. Robert B. Potter. 2d 6st Col. Simon G. Griffin Two Batteries of Artillery. Third Division, tst Bri zade, Reg’ts, Col. John F. Hartrantt. Brig. Gen. Orlando B. Wilcox. 2d "Col. Benj. C. Christ. Two Batteries of Paine Fourth Division, { 1st Brigade, : Reg’ ts, Col. Joshua K. Sicfried, Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero. 2d Col. Hen. G. Thomas, Two Batteries of pe Corps Artillery (Reserve), 6 Batteries. Cavalry, 3 Regiments Previsional Brigade, 3 Regiments, Col. Elisha G. Marshall. a THE WILDERNESS. 243 The preponderance of men and artillery was, therefore, on the Federal side. The advantage of defensive lines, made almost impervious by art and nature; of short inner movements nearer the centre of a military circle: of familiarity with topography and strategical positions, was with the Confederates; quite enough so, be it supposed, to equalize the numerical strength of the two armies. Grant’s decision to move by Lee’s right plunged him directly into the “ Wilderness.” It was not an attempt to pass the enemy’s right flank and to avoid it It was a threat upon it with the intention of forcing Lee to change his front, and of engaging him in battle away from the fortifications on the immediate south side of the Rapidan. Grant knew that Lee could not possibly remain within his works when the Federals were marching by his right, without abandoning his lines of communications and supplies. Either battle would become compulsory, or Lee’s retreat inevitable. For the former, Grant was fully prepared, and that he invited, even amid the obstacles of the Wilderness. | It should be understood that Grant’s superintendence of operations was general. All orders for the Army of the Potomac were passed to and through Meade, and he was left as free as possible to provide for details. Thus the precise order in which the army should cross the Rapidan was arranged by Meade. The points selected were Germanna and Ely Fords, and the march was to be into the Wilderness by the roads nearest to the Confederate lines. The troops were to carry fifty rounds of ammunition each, three days’ rations, and to take along three days’ beef on the hoof. The supply trains were loaded with ten days’ forage and subsistence. About one o’clock on the morning of May 4th, Wilson’s cavalry Division (3d) was ordered to move from Stevensburg, cross the Rapidan at Germanna Ford, cover the construction of pontoons at that point, and clear the way for Warren’s coming. 244 LIFE OF ULYSSES. S.“GRANT, As soonas Warren’s corps (5th) was across, Wilson was to push to the old Wilderness Tavern and thence to Parker’s Store, scouting the country in all directions, and gathering all the information possible of the enemy’s movements. Warren followed closely with his corp, and by noon his advance had reached Wilderness Tavern at the crossing of the Orange Turnpike and Germanna Ford roads, where he bivouacked for the night. Warren’s corps was followed closely by Sedgwick’s (6th), which crossed the pontoons during the afternoon of the 4th, and encamped before dark a mile beyond the river. Gregg’s division of cavalry (2d) was ordered to move to Ely’s Ford, further down, cross, and do the same for Hancock’s corps that Wilson had done for Warren and Sedgwick. Han- cock followed him closely, found the pontoons laid, and crossed without opposition, encamping on Hooker’s old battle ground, near Chancellorsville. Torbert’s division of cavalry (1st) was to cover the trains in the rear of the army, which were all well across by nightfall. Then he was to report to Sheridan at Chancellorsville. At 8 a.m. of the 4th, Grant left his head-quarters at Cul- peper, and rode toward Germanna Ford, which he crossed after the Fifth Corps had passed. His appearance in the midst of his moving troops was the signal for almost continuous cheer- ing. The day was fine, the marching smooth and the men in excellent spirits. They would fight under their new com- mander, or else all signs go for naught. The movement was evidently a surprise to the Confederates. But it did not take so able a general as Lee, long to understand the situation. By mid-day his signals from an elevated station were read by the Federals. They ran to the effect that Mine Run must become their line of operations. This would make the Confederate army face east instead of north, and while it rendered the Rapidan defences useless, would give then a Spay -—~ THE WILDERNESS. 245 strong front on Mine Run and the Wilderness. Grant’s whole move along the Germanna Ford road had taken place about ten miles distant from, and quite parallel with, Mine Run. As soon as Grant discovered Lee’s design, he knew it meant fight. But that was what he was there for. He dispatched to Burnside at 1.15 p. M. to start from Warrenton with his corps (9th) immediately and “make forced march until you reach this place. Start your troops now, the rear as soon as they can be got off, and require them to make a night march.” And at the same time one to Halleck, “Crossing the Rapidan effected. Forty-eight hours will demonstrate whether the enemy intends giving us battle this side of Richmond. Telegraph Butler that we have crossed the Rapidan.” Grant considered this successful crossing as of great import- ance. He had not expected to cross without stout opposition, which the Confederates were in every way situated to make. Three times before, the Federal armies had been on the south side of that stream, each time to meet disaster. What would the fourth time bring? ‘The first great obstacle had been sur- mounted. The morning of the 5th of May awoke on ninety thousand to one hundred thousand men in a Wilderness, to be sure, and not in order of battle, yet so disposed that to prepare would be easy and to support each other a matter of certainty. There were no dangerous gaps in the:columns, no treacherous loop-holes for an enemy to crawl through, no fag ends to be picked up in an unguarded moment. Even the heavy trains and weightier artillery had not been allowed to cut up the roads and clog the marching by crossing at the two fords, but had crossed, and were still crossing, on a heavier bridge at Culpeper Mine Ford, so that the army should be well between them and the enemy. | On the night of the 4th, Grant and Meade, whose _head- quarters were contiguous, discussed the plans of the morrow. What a thrill must have passed through the severely knit 246 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. frame of the General-in-chief as despatches arrived from Sher- man, Butler and Crook, announcing that they too were on the move! The silent, directory spirit of four armies, separated by thousands of miles, each with a momentous duty to per- form, and all aggregating hundreds of thousands of men, must have received a new inspiration amid the lonesome shadows of the Virginia pines, as it realized that at last the powers of the country were grandly co-operating for its preser- vation. Grant’s position was doubly dangerous. The natural obsta- cles were formidable. If Lee should suddenly face eastward and attack, he would strike the Federals on their flank, and sever their corps and divisions. It was therefore very neces- sary to observe Lee closely. It was ascertained that on the afternoon of the 4th his army was well in motion, Ewell marching eastward on the Orange Turnpike, and Hill on the plank road, while Longstreet was coming from his camp near Gordonville. By nightfall Ewell had crossed Mine Run and bivouacked four miles beyond and within five miles of Warren’s corps. . Grant’s orders for the 5th did not contemplate a battle on that day, but they changed the original line of march, and amounted to a disposition of forces for a fight. ‘The whole army was faced westward to resist attack should it come. Wilson, with his cavalry, moved at 5 A. M. to Craig’s Meeting House on the Catharpen road. Warren moved his corps at the same hour toward Parker’s Store, with orders to connect his right with Sedgwick, who was to march up to the old Wilderness Tavern. Hancock was ordered to move from Chancellorsville to Shady Grove Church, at the junction of the Catharpen and Pamunkey roads. Burnside, when he arrived, was to occupy the space between Sedgwick’s right and the Rapidan. Sheridan was to throw the main body of his cavalry well to the left and rear of Hancock. The army MEADE AT THE WILDERNESS. GRANT AND 248 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. would then be in a position to receive an attack, make one, or resume its southerly march. Even before this disposition of forces could be completed, it was discovered that Lee had bent every energy to strike Grant’s flank ere he could dispose himself for battle. The roads run- ning eastward from Orange Court House, and crossing Grant’s line of march at right angles, favored his design. Warren’s forward movement had scarcely begun before the enemy were uncovered in force. One regiment of Wilson’s cavalry had been swept away. Warren’s covering division, Crawford’s, was quickly deployed for action. Information of the situation was sent to the rear. Orders came from Meade to Warren to force the fighting and develop Lee’s strength and intention. Word was sent to Hancock to halt at Todd’s Tavern and await developments. Sedgwick was ordered to push westward from the Germanna road and connect with the Fifth Corps, on the Orange pike. Grant came to the front with Meade, and the two took position on a knoll in an open space near Wilderness Tavern. By noon the position of the enemy was sufficiently made out to warrant attack. Warren ordered Griffin’s and Wadsworth’s divisions into action. The enemy’s force in front was Ewell’s. The Federal assault was determined and successful, though made through thickets that prevented any kind of order. The Confederates were driven back nearly a mile, pursued by Griffin’s division. But Sedgwick’s corps, owing to the density of the woods, had not yet pushed forward sufficiently to con- nect with Warren’s right, occupied by Griffin. This officer, therefore, found his flank exposed, especially, since he had gone on in advance of the lines. The Confederates seized this opportunity to rally and attack. They made a merciless onslaught on Griffin’s exposed right, forced him back rapidly, and captured two guns anda number of prisoners. Wadsworth was also driven back, and Crawford was thus left in a nearly THE WILDERNESS. 249 isolated position, and suffered a severe loss of men, mostly as prisoners. There was a decidedly panicky condition through- out the divisions of Warren’s corps at this juncture. Every- thing was rendered very uncertain by the peculiarity of the ground, and the impossibility of alignment and concert, owing to the thick dwarf pines and absence of roads. But, fortunately, the Confederates were in no condition to follow their advan- tage. They had evidently been surprised at finding a battle forced on them, while, as yet, unprepared for it. They stopped pursuit and began to entrench for the purpose of holding what they had recovered. As it turned out they were in really a desperate strait, for Ewell was on the Confederate left, and had it been turned as the Federal assault presaged, Lee’s whole army would have been in danger. When Grant was informed of the Federal repulse, he rode immediately to Warren’s position. Such a glance as could be had through thicket and overhanging smoke told the necessity of holding it at all hazards. The lines must close promptly there. It would be a centre commanding the Orange turn- pike. Sedgwick could make it strong on the right. Hancock, who was already past Todd’s Tavern on his way to Shady Grove Church, could be whirled in on the left by way of the Brock road, and thus the lines would stretch across the Orange plank road. Burnside would make a strong reserve as soon as he was entirely across the Rapidan. Therefore, Grant issued urgent orders through Meade to all these corps commanders— to Warren to hold his central position, to Sedgwick to make strong and prompt connection on Warren’s right, to Burnside to make all haste with his reserve corps, but especially to Han- cock to push with all energy back and westward, so as to close the ugly gap which existed between Warren’s left and _ his right. The Orange plank road ran directly through this gap, and along it the Confederate Hill was driving his corps with great rapidity. The only obstacle to him was Getty’s division 250 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. of the Sixth Corps, which had been thrown out along the Orange plank road, to its junction with the Brock road, with orders to resist the Confederate advance as stoutly as possible, and until Hancock should have time to come up to his support. Hill dashed ahead, expecting to completely turn the Federal left at this point, but he encountered Getty, who stood obstinately in his way,and fought him with such desperation as to prevent him reaching the Brock cross road and marching north against Warren’s left as he had designed. This gave Hancock time to get up. He fortified and held the line of the GEN. AP. HILL. Brock roadand made close connection with Warren, thus becoming the left of the Federalarmy,and presenting a firm obstacle to Hill’s further advance along the Orange plank. It wasnow 4.15 intheafternoon. Word came to Getty to attack Hill, and to Hancock to support him with his entire corps. Then began a determined advance through thicket and over brush. ‘The lines of battle were close, and friend and foe were often mixed in the dense forest mazes. Birney’s and Mott’s divisions were ordered in by Hancock at once, and soon his entire corps was in the midst of the fray, and entirely outside of its line of works on the Brock road. Hays was killed and Getty was wounded, but refused to leave the field. For hours the infantry firing was incessant, and the issue doubtful. It was apparently a life and death struggle with muskets and rifles in that lonely forest, for neither cavalry nor artillery could be brought into effective service. And it was not only on Grant’s left and with Hill that the battle raged. Warren’s corps breasted a fresh storm from Ewell, and Sedgwick’s on the right had been ordered in to turn the Confederate left, just as Hill was attempting to turn THE WILDERNESS. 251 the Federal left. Night was coming and neither force was making headway. Grant ordered Wadsworth’s division, and Baxter’s brigade of Robinson’s division, toward Parker’s Store to relieve the pressure on Hancock. Guided only by the com- pass or the sound of battle where apparently hottest, they made tedious and imperilled headway, as a band of skirmishers rather than a formidable force. It was night when they arrived in front of Hill, and the sounds of battle had ceased. Wilson, with his cavalry, had been isolated by Hiuill’s march along the Orange plank. Sheridan expected he would return by a detour to Todd’s Tavern. He sent Gregg there to meet him. It was a fortunate move. The Confeder- ate cavalry, moving from Hamil- ton crossing on the railroad run- ning south from Fredericksburg, had struck Wilson on his detour, and a hot fight had taken place. 3 Wilson had cut his way through, GEN. icone: and was pushing for the tavern, followed by the enemy. On Gregg’s arrival, they turned on the pursuers, and after a severe action drove them entirely off. Sheridan now concentrated so as to hold the country from Shady Grove Church to Todd’s Tavern, proceeded to cover the roads running to Spottsylvania Court House, protect the Fed- eral left, and guard the supply trains in the rear. Thus this day of hard conflict and great uncertainty ended. Night gave time for reflection, consultation and much needed rest. It was evident that two stubborn armies were firmly set face to face, and that hours of hard fighting had yielded nothing that looked like decided advantage to either. Yet there were results of mighty moment to Grant and his army, 252 , LIFE OF “ULYSSES S,. GRANT. as well as to the country. The Lieutenant-General had been in contact with the ablest Confederate leader, and had not been sent back across the Rapidan, but was yet squarely before him, a match for him in daring and speed of execution, a foil upon his wisest strategy, an equally daring, speedy and original propounder of counter tactics. The movement across the Rapidan had brought Lee out of his works with his entire strength and rendered them useless, had forced him into new positions, had reduced his advantages to a minimum. And then when he attempted to strike Grant’s flank by rushing Ewell along the Orange pike, he was anticipated and checked. He was equally foiled when he attempted to push Hill by way of the Orange plank road on to what was supposed to be an undefended and open Federal left. Every gap had been filled in time, and every flank had been converted into a serried front. But there was one advantage yet with the Confederates; they knew this terrible fighting ground. What of the morrow—the 6th? Grant and Meade came together after nightfall. Both were well aware that the battle had only begun. Word came in that Longstreet was making forced marches along the Orange plank road to support Hill. It was therefore Lee’s intention to overwhelm the Federal left and turn the army in a disorganized mass back upon the Rap- idan. But Burnside too was coming up to the Federal support with the fresh Ninth Corps. It was even now coming. By morning it would be nearly all there, or ought to be. As fast as it came it was thrown into position between Warren’s left and Wadsworth’s right, so as to pierce the Confederate centre at a time when it was thought it would be weakened to support Hill, or perhaps to prevent his being reinforced. Getty was to remain with the Second Corps while Hancock attacked with his entire line, Wadsworth was to attack Hill’s left, Warren and Sedgwick were to engage along their entire front, to prevent reinforcements being sent to Hill. It made all the SF THE WILDERNESS. 253 difference in the world who attacked first. At least this was Grant’s theory. His tactics had ever been to make his moves a counter to the enemy’s designs. Persuaded beyond all per- adventure of Lee’s intent to make a morning onset upon Han- cock and the left, he would anticipate it by an onset upon Hill and the Confederate right. He would make it early, first. The order therefore was to attack at half past four. It began at five. But Longstreet was not yet quite in position. In order to disguise this fact Lee ordered Ewell to attack the Federal right at an hour quite as early. Wright’s division of the Sixth Corps withstood him, The battle swept rapidly along Sedg- wick’s lines to Warren’s. The Federals gained ground, and Sedgwick’s whole corps advanced some two hundred yards where it encountered the enemy behind a line of temporary breastworks thrown up the night before. This checked further advance, but the battle was kept up throughout the day on this part of the lines, amid all the uncertainties of a veiled situation. Off to the left things were more desperate. Hancock had moved with precision along both sides of the Orange plank road. He was not in such force as he expected to be, for it had been found that Longstreet had turned off the Orange plank road and was coming on the Catharpen road, further south, andalmost directly on his flank. Barlow’s division and all the artillery were detached to stop this and protect the defences on the Brock road. Still Hancock moved promptly with his remaining force, and Getty’s division first struck Hill’s columns directly. After a fierce and general encounter the Confederates were driven back toward Parker’s Store, in great confusion. Many prisoners and flags were captured, and the enemy’s dead strewed the ground. Hancock halted to reform his troops, disordered by the pursuit through the pines and scrub-oaks. This halt unfortunately gave Longstreet time to swing back to Hill’s aid. The most anxious moments of the day were now on. Sedgwick 254 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. on the right was holding tenaciously. Warren in the centre had been involved and one of his brigades had given way, but the disaster had been quickly repaired. Burnside was coming tardily up with his corps, so that the gap between the Second and Fifth, Hancock’s and Warren’s, was not, as yet, strongly bridged. Stuart’s cavalry was in hot action with Sheridan, off to the extreme left at Todd’s Tavern, which fact served to keep up the impression in Hancock’s mind that a part of Long- street’s force was still bent on attacking his flank from the Catharpen road. Grant and Meade were intent on studying the situation, the former unmoved, but supreme in intuitional perception and decisive action. If only Burnside would crowd that centre and make it strong for aggressive purposes the day might end gloriously, for Lee’s centre must now be weak, since everything was turned to Hill’s account. It was not to be so. Longstreet was now up and on Hill’s right. He moved directly on Hancock’s left front. When that officer perceived this he ordered Gibbon to bring in his left, which extended back to the Brock road, and come to his support. But too much time had been lost by the halt. Longstreet’s attack was furious and persistent, or rather the attack of Hill reinforced by Longstreet. Mott’s division to the left caught its full force and fury, then Getty’s, and so the entire line of the Second Corps, including Wadsworth’s division of Warren’s Sixth Corps. For hours it was a determined and bloody struggle, the Federals slowly and stubbornly receding, Little by little, step by step, they lost the ground gained in the morning, and found themselves back on the line of the Brock road, which, as has been seen, Hancock had happily fortified with temporary breastworks. During this contest Wadsworth was killed and Longstreet badly wounded. Lee took Longstreet’s place in person and, consolidating his forces, again hurled them with reckless impetuosity against Hancock. The woods in front were on fire, through which, and the dense THE WILDERNESS. 255 smoke, the Confederates pushed, resolved to capture the Brock road defences. They broke them in one or two places held KM} 4, Af Uy Y DLs Vi a er: ¢ ? A YH). ULL Uy Ys L7Z; hhh LITT / “a Z py GENERAL LONGSTREET. by parts of Mott’s and Birney’s divisions, but not suffi- ciently to prevent Hancock reforming his tired and _shat- 256 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. tered forces and checking further Confederate advance. Car- roll’s brigade dashed in from a reserve position, swept the enemy from the breastworks, and inspired fresh confidence in the Federals. Still the front was uncertain by reason of under- erowth and smoke, to which approaching darkness added gloom. Hancock therefore ordered Leasure’s brigade of the Ninth Corps, then temporarily under him, to sweep the entire front. This he did with great spirit and success, marching along the entire front, at a distance of one hundred paces from the Federal breastworks, till he crossed the Orange plank road. Hancock’s front was now clear. Yet the long, anxious day’s work was not done. It will be remembered that as Burn- side crossed the Rapidan he would naturally fill the space between Sedgwick’s right and the river. But the order for him to march up and take position in the centre, between Warren and Hancock, left Sedgwick’s right in the air. To be sure Grant had ordered him to fortify it so as to make it strong. But just before sunset Ewell centered upon its extremity and made a bold push to turn it. The fighting was desperate for nearly an hour. Seymour’s and Shaler’s brigades were thrown into confusion and both generals captured with a large number of prisoners. For a few moments it looked as if Sedgwick could not save his corps. But he lost no time in throwing his imperilled right back and re-establishing his line so that it stopped the fury of the onset. This ends the events of the 6th in the deep mazes of the Wilderness, if we except the fact that Sheridan, after a sharp engagement with Stuart, off in the direction of Todd’s Store, had been ordered not to risk too much, but rather to hold well to Chancellorsville in order to keep the trains and supplies in the rear well cov- ered; and the further fact that during the day Grant had ordered the destruction of all the bridges across the Rapidan except that at Germanna ford. The army had come south of the river to stay. Knowledge ofa safe bridge in the rear is an THE WILDERNESS. 257 awful inducement to panicky retreat in case of defeat, and a terrible invitation to a scouting enemy. Now darkness settled down and puta stop to the carnage. It had been a day of heavy losses to both armies. The hosts lay confronting each other on nearly the same ground they had occupied for twenty-four hours. Grant was not through the Wilderness, but neither was he back over the Rapidan. Lee had not pierced his flanks nor turned his wings, but was compelled, himself, to draw away from the front and back behind his breastworks. His brilliant designs of the morning had come to naught by night. The fighting had been the fiercest of the war. Grant admitted that he had seen nothing like it, not even at Shiloh. While there was not that about the day which could be called a victory by either combatant, Grant was satisfied. After ordering support to Sedgwick, he went to sleep as con- tentedly as if all his cohorts had been victorious. He had defeated all the cherished plans of the able Confederate leader. He did not expect to annihilate his army on its own ground, but he knew that he had inflicted losses on it equal to his own. It was no place for either rapid or brilliant results, no place for manceuvres and tactical experiments. The thing was to anticipate an offensive enemy, and if possible run counter to it, which Grant had done on both the 5th and 6th ; and after that to hold every force well in hand and keep it in solid mass so that to beat against it would be like charging unto death. In hauling off his forces along his entire line and placing them well away from the Federal front and behind their defences, Lee confessed that his plans had been thwarted, that he had found his superior in pluck and generalship, and that offensive operations must be turned into something more wary and conservative. The 6th of May may be said to have disillu- sioned him as to Grant’s genius and power, and he never after- ward undertook a movement on so rash and bold a scale as 17 258 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. that designed to crush Grant in the Wilderness and to make an end of his army and campaign at a single blow. On the morning of the 7th, at an early hour, Grant threw out skirmishers a distance of a mile and a half to feel for the enemy, but they discovered no aggressive movement from Sedg- wick’s right to Hancock’s left. The entire Confederate army had withdrawn behind its works and showed no disposition to renew the contest. Sheridan sent Wilson from Chancellors- ville toward Germanna Ford to see if the enemy were interject- ing himself between Sedgwick and the river. This space was clear. By noon Warren pushed his corps forward to recon- noitre in force. There was some sharp firing, but no firm opposition. Lee had definitely abandoned his offensive move- ments. He, of course, could not be attacked in his invisible entrenchments. The battle of the Wilderness was over. The losses on the Federal side in this three days’ fight made up from regimental returns, as stated by both General Badeau and Humphreys, were 2,265 killed, 10,220 wounded, 2,902 missing, most of the latter being prisoners. The Confederate losses are not definitely known, but there is no reason to sup- pose they were less than those of the Federal force. CHAPTER XIV. SPOTTSYLVANIA. FTER feeling the Confederate lines on the 7th of May, 1864, and finding that Lee did not accept the offer of battle, Grant was at liberty to think that his front was free from further danger. He could not hope to assume a success- ful offensive with those interminable fastnesses of pines and scrub oaks before him, in the midst of which, and beyond, the Confederates were safely ensconced behind breastworks. What should be done now? To retain that position was useless. It was no part of Grant’s plans to remain idle. He had set his head toward Richmond. He must not give Lee a chance to escape him, nor to out-manceuvre him. He must not be thrown on the defensive. Confident of his strength, he must have opportunity to wield it on an open and more favor- able field. He had drawn Lee from his stronghold south of the Rapidan, and neutralized his fortifications. He would again draw him from his stronghold in the ‘“ Wilderness,” and along Mine Run, and thus neutralize his natural advantages of position. It was a bold scheme and full of danger. Was anything transpiring to help his determination? Yes. Word came that Butler had landed his whole force at City Point, completely surprising the enemy; also that Sherman was advancing on Johnston and expected to give battle on the 7th. Knowing that Lee would not remain long inactive, think- ing it possible that he might be inclined to hasten to Richmond on account of the threatening aspect of affairs on the south of the James and determined to not let him escape with his army, 259 260 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Grant resolved to swing his whole army to the left and south, one step nearer the James, intoa more opencountry, and past the enemy’s extreme right. He could thus insert himself be- tween the Confederates and their capital, a thing they could not afford to permit. He could, further, hasten his proposed co-operation with Butler. | On May 8th he wrote: “My effort will be to form a junc- tion with Butler as early as possible, and be prepared to meet any enemy interposing. My exact route to the James, I have not yet distinctly marked out.” It should be always in mind that Grant was constantly receiving word of the movements of Sherman, Butler, Sigel and his other generals at remote points, and that the movements of the army, under his own eye, were as co-operative with those of his other armies as their's were expected to be with his. The orders for this gigantic and perilous movement went forth at 3 p.m., of May 7th. Success depended on secrecy and dispatch. Warren’s Fifth Corps was again to take the lead. He was to withdraw from his central position and move by the Brock road, in the rear of Hancock, who was to hold his place till the corps was entirely past. Then Hancock was to follow, while Sedgwick and Burnside were to move by way of Chan- cellorsville and Piney Branch Church. The trains, which were centred at Chancellorsville, were to move to the left of all. Sheridan had been sent during the afternoon toward Todd's Tavern to clear the way for Warren, and had hada severe and successful engagement with Stuart’s cavalry. In the evening, Grant and Meade made their way along the Brock road, where Hancock’s corps lay. Their presence was the signal for cheering by the tired and wounded veterans, who now realized that they were not to retreat, but that the movement was to be in the direction of Richmond. All were now ready. Spottsylvania Court House was the destination, fifteen miles south. All night the troops and SPOTTSYLVANIA., 201 trains engaged in tedious, slow march, for the ways were few and crowded, and Sheridan, owing to the length and sharpness of the cavalry contest with Stuart, had not succeeded in getting possession of the salient points along either the Catharpen road, or that running from Shady Grove to Spottsylvania. What was worse, the movement of the trains in the afternoon, which had been reported to Lee, gave him the impression that Grant was about to retreat to Fredericksburg. In anticipation of this, he hurried Anderson, now commanding Longstreet’s corps, toward Spottsylvania from Shady Grove Church, and even ordered Ewell to Todd’s Tavern by way of the Catharpen road. Thus he had ordered his corps to the very destinations and partly over the same roads that Grant had his. This, Sheridan, partly through opposition from Stuart, and partly through change of orders from Meade, did not discover in time to prevent Merritt, who covered Warren’s advance, from coming in contact with Stuart’s cavalry in such force as to stop all pro- gress until relief came through Warren’s head division under Robinson. By this time Anderson had reached a point just north of Spottsylvania, where the Brock road and that from Shady Grove meet. This obliged Wilson’s cavalry to evacuate Spottsylvania. Anderson fortified his point, and lay in wait for the Federal approach. Soon Robinson appeared, and was met with a murderous fire, which drove him back in confusion. Warren came upon the scene to find the enemy in force and strongly posted right across his path to Spottsylvania. Jaded as his troops were with their all night march, and almost con- tinuous fighting since daybreak, he threw Griffin’s division forward on Robinson’s right. ‘This division met with the same hot reception. Crawford's division and Cutler’s (formerly Wads- worth’s) were now brought into line, the gallant Warren head- ing a brigade in person, and after a severe fight the Confeder- ates were repulsed on both their wings. Warren then straight: 262 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ened his lines and made them firm, preferring not to risk another assault till he should be reinforced. Hancock had been halted at Todd’s Tavern to guard it against Hill’s approach up the Catharpen road. Sedgwick had arrived at Piney Branch Church. Burnside was at Aldrich’s on the left. When it became known that Warren was con- fronted, Sedgwick was sent to his support with all haste, and with the hope that he and Warren would be able to crush Anderson before the rest of Lee’s army could get to him. Burnside and Hancock were also notified to be ready to move. Early’s division of Ewell’s corps was reported as close to Todd’s Tavern on the Catharpen road. Hancock at once sent out a force to meet him and protect his flank. He succeeded in checking his progress, and Early, finding his point of destin- ation occupied, withdrew. When Sedgwick reached Warren, an attack on Anderson was ordered. But it was late and the attack feeble, so nothing was gained by it. By this time Lee had become aware of the intent and magnitude of Grant’s move- ment. He knew that Spottsylvania and not Fredericksburg was his objective, and that a daring flank movement and not a retreat was in progress. As Anderson was, by sheer accident, directly across Grant’s line of march to Spottsylvania, that was the point for concentration, that the line to sustain. It was a good one for defence, and would force the Federals to assume a most difficult offensive, if they ever got through it at all. Meade was very apprehensive of his flank at Todd’s Store. He kept Hancock there so long that Lee’s work of concentra- tion went on rapidly and without further molestation, faster even than that of the Federals after it once began in earnest. The evening of the gth of May, 1864, closed with Lee making all haste to occupy the position so happily secured by Ander- son, and Grant using every endeavor to bring his army into a solid confronting line. The scene was some two miles north of Spottsylvania. / SPOTTSYLVANIA. 263 A ridge stretched from the Ny to the Po, which are here about four miles apart. It was not a rugged ridge, but rolling and heavily timbered, affording excellent opportunity for purely defensive operations. The two rivers formed safe barriers for the flanks. The morning of the 9th would find the enemy in possession of this formidable barrier to further southern progress. It was not as Grant nor any of his men would have had it. That all felt a sense of disappointment over the prospect was nothing more than natural. But it could not be helped now. Grant was not discouraged. He was not even put out with the delays and errors of the previous day nor with the greater blunders of the enemy which fate had turned to their profit. He faced the situation with a full sense of its gravity and with that same command of selfand all the forces and energies of the hour which had ever characterized him amid emergency. As occasions rose, no matter how desperate, he always rose with them. In all his military history he was never out- generaled by adversity. When the morning of the oth came Lee lay stretched from the Ny to the Po, in a semi-circle about Spott- sylvania, commanding every northern road to the town. Anderson held his left extending to the Po with Long- street’s old corps. Ewell held the centre, facing north and east. Hill came in on the right so as to guard the Fredericks- burg road and the Ny crossings. Warren remained in his position of the day before, opposite Anderson. Sedgwick lay to his left, and Hancock occupied the Federal right, though holding rearward along the Brock road as far as Todd’s Tavern. Burnside left one division at Piney Branch Church to guard the trains. The rest of his corps was moved toward Gate’s so as to cover the extreme Federal left. This disposition brought the two armies into close fighting proximity. Lee was busy fortifying, Grant 264 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. looking out for a weak spot to strike. The former was clearly on the defensive, the latter actively offensive, or soon to be. Where now was Sheridan? At noon on the 8th he had been placed under orders to strike Lee’s rear, cut communica- tions, and when out of forage, to make for the James, replenish out of Butler’s stores, and return to the Army of the Potomac. 'There was to.be neither peace nor safety for Richmond and the enemy’s rear so long as Grant was in command. Grant’s headquarters were immediately in Warren’s rear. During the afternoon of the gth, while engaged in examining the Confederate lines, General Sedg- wick of the Sixth Corps was killed by being struck full in the face with a bullet. The grief throughout the entire army occasioned by this loss was profound, for he was a steady, brave and able soldier and one much beloved. Grant regarded his death as a greater disaster than if he had Zi lost an integral part of his army. ain ea ere He was succeeded by General H. G. Wright of the First Division. Early’s disappearance from the Catharpen road and Han- cock’s flank or right, enabled that officer to extend and strengthen his position. He swung his right wing around till it struck the Po. Burnside pushed Wilcox’s division down to the Fredericksburg crossing of the Ny, on the extreme left. It succeeded in getting south of the stream,and soon had a good position there. The wings of the enemy were thus well enveloped and for a very wise purpose. Grant had perceived all day that Lee was gradually pushing troops toward his right on the Ny and in the direction of Fredericksburg. He interpreted this to mean that Lee was anxious to turn his left and throw himself between Grant and SPOTTSYLVANIA. 265 Fredericksburg. This would have been disastrous to the Federal trains and supplies. With equal skill, and as a per- fect counter, Grant, over and above the precaution of prevent- ing this disaster by pushing Burnside well to the left, resolved on the demonstration on his right, which Hancock so vigor- ously executed. It had the desired effect, for it brought Early from Lee’s right to his left. Lee saw quite too plainly that any advantage to him by being between Grant and Fredericks- burg would be far more than counterbalanced by permitting the Federal army to whirl by his left and on to Richmond. On the morning of the roth, Hancock forced his demon- stration on the right by crossing the Po with Brook’s brigade of Barlow’s division and parts of Birney’s and Gib- bons’ divisions. They found the enemy strongly posted on the rising ground beyond the river and did not attack. Mean- while it had been decided to attack from the centre. There- fore Hancock called in his forces beyond the Po. This was the signal for a furious charge upon them by the Confed- erates.. But the charge was resisted, and the difficult task of crossing a deep stream ona retreat and under fire was suc- cessfully achieved, though not without heavy losses on both sides. In order to relieve the struggling forces of Hancock, Warren made an assault on the Confederate centre, aided by Wright, which was unsuccessful except for the information gained of the ground. He tried another diversion intended to clear the eround in his front of the almost impenetrable underbrush. But this too failed. Yet his voice favored the third and grand assault for which all were ready by 4 P. M. The brunt of this was to be borne by Wright’s and Warren’s corps and Gibbon’s and Mott’s divisions of Hancock’s corps. The point of attack was a densely wooded hill in front of War- ren, crowned with earthworks and subject to cross and enfil- ading fires of both musketry and artillery. The approach was 266 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. through a dense growth of dead cedars whose sharp, interlacing branches made progress almost impossible. Grant and Meade stood on an elevation to watch the charge, but, as in the Wil, derness, the thicket and smoke obscured everything. Warren’s men struggled manfully through the forest depths amid a fearful fire. At one or two points they scaled the heights and entered the enemy’s breastworks. But the fire was too terrific to be withstood. They wavered, fell back through enfilading volleys, and were lost in retreat through the thick woods which, to add to the horror of the situation, suddenly took fire, smothering the wounded in smoke or burning them to death. Fortunately the enemy showed no disposition to pursue, but hugged their works closely. Further to the left and in front of Wright’s corps was an impenetrable morass. 4 az es = C = ”n Fg ks 2) _ = fh ae bE | < > a, > QR © Cc x ae a0 ‘eo cs yn ea a mt | eae a il Ned] Hi HN Hii NARRATE | MI} | a MK 7 Yl , og Ax. LY 270 LIFE OF ULYSSES S: GRANT, Wright were to keep their corps as close to the enemy as possible, so as to take advantage of any weakening of his lines in their front. Hancock formed with Barlow’s and Birney’s divisions in front, the latter supported by Mott’s, with Gibbon’s in reserve. The front was a steep and thickly wooded slope, with a clear- ing about the angle in Lee’s line. The direction had to be taken by the compass. At 4.35 on the morning of the 12th the order to advance was given. Barlow’s columns marched solidly over the enemy’s pickets without firing a shot. Bir- ney’s made way with more difficulty through marsh and wood, but kept well up. Once through these difficult approaches, the two columns pushed at quick time up the slope, and when half way up, burst into tremendous cheers. Then taking the double quick without orders, they rolled like an avalanche over the breastworks, tearing away the abattis, engaging in fierce combat with bayonet and clubbed musket, and finally establishing themselves within the fortified lines. Barlow and Birney entered simultaneously. They captured thirty field guns, four thousand prisoners, including two generals, Johnson and Stewart, several thousand stand of arms, and upwards of thirty colors. The Confederate surprise was complete. Their broken columns fled, pursued by the Federals toward Spott- sylvania, till checked by an inner line of entrenchments, Han- cock quickly apprised Grant of his success. This was at 5.45 A. M. Grant immediately sent the news to Burnside and urged haste. That officer was on the move as early as Hancock, with Potter’s division in front, supported by Crittenden, and with Wilcox in reserve. Potter had forced the fighting up to the Confederate lines, beyond the angle, and had carried a portion, but could not hold them. By 6.15 Burnside reported that he had made a connection with the Second Corps on the left face of the angle. Hancock, from the other face, sent for SPOTTSYLVANIA. 271 reinforcements. But Grant had anticipated him by ordering the Sixth to his support. Now Johnson was brought a pris- oner to Grant. While talking with him, word came from Hancock, “ I have finished up Johnson and am now going for Early.’’ Soon another came, “ Have taken three thousand prisoneis and turned the enemy’s guns on themselves.” An ‘entire division had been captured, including the famous “ Stonewall” brigade. SS fy G ; Y) “Y AV/ YW Again Grant urged Burnside to push so as to keep up con- nection with Hancock. And when informed that he (Burn- side) had lost connection with Hancock, Grant hastily pencilled the reply : “ Push the enemy ; that’s the best way to 272 LIFE OF ULYSSES Sv GRANT; connect.” | Hancock’s corps needed repairing for further action. Perhaps the Sixth should have been up by this time, or near enough to have made its presence felt. This would have simplified Hancock’s task of reforming; at least, it would have prevented Lee from doing the same. Lee got his men in line again, heavily reinforced, and knowing the critical nature of the situation hurled them mercilessly on Hancock. ‘The Federals fell back to the breastworks they had captured in the morning, and lined either side of the salient or triangle, where they turned the works the enemy had constructed against the builders. Here they held defiantly against repeated assaults. Wright came upon the scene with his corps. He at once occupied the captured works on the right of the salient, and his men were hardly in position when they too became the object of a furious assault. Mott’s division, which formed Hancock’s right, joined the Sixth at the salient, Birney hold- ing the captured entrenchments on Mott’s left, with Gibbon next and Barlow on the extreme left. Hancock brought his artillery up and, posting it on a high spot behind, played it over the heads of his own men into the enemy’s ranks. Still the Confederates assaulted again and again, and the Federal troops at length ran out of ammunition. They were relieved by fresh ones, and held on to the breastworks in spite of the fierce and reckless charges of their foes. When Grant dispatched Wright directly to Hancock’s aid, he at the same time, as has been seen, urged Burnside to co-operate with all his might. Warren too had been ordered to attack along his front as a means of relief to Hancock. Though this order was issued soon after Hancock had notified Grant and Meade of his success of the morning, Warren seemed to drag in his preparations and onset. Both these gen- erals were greatly chagrined at this delay, and at 10.40 A. M. Grant directed Meade in writing: “If Warren fails to attack SPOTTSYLVANIA. 273 promptly, send Humpreys to command his corps, and relieve him.” This unusual manifestation of anxiety on the part of Grant showed how keenly alive he was to the situation and how much he appreciated the importance of Hancock’s foothold within the enemy’s lines. As Sherman said at Chattanooga: “ The secret of the confidence your officers repose in you (Grant) is that they know you are thinking of them wherever they may be.” A dispatch of a very peremptory kind was also sent to Burnside, to the effect that he should advance at once or send his troops directly to Hancock. But Burnside was really doing better than any one knew. He had found his ground difficult, and a strong and well-protected enemy in his front, whom he resolutely engaged and against whom he had made headway notwithstanding one or two repulses. He held the foe to their front all the morning and afternoon, and thus kept them from concentrating against the Federal centre. Warren was at last ready and made, at first, a formidable demonstration on the enemy’s left, but without success. This was followed by three other less spirited charges, none of which made an impression on the enemy’s strong lines. Grant now broke up the Fifth Corps for the day, sending Cutler’s division directly to Wright and Griffin’s to Hancock, leaving Warren with the rest to hold what was now the right of the Federal army. Strange to say the enemy took no advantage of this new disposition of forces, which confirmed Grant in the impression that their left had been really weakened for the purpose of concentrating against Hancock and Wright. Lee made five distinct assaults on Hancock’s and Wright’s positions during the day. Fighting was never closer nor harder. Flags were often borne to within a few paces of each other, and the fire was so sharp and concentrated as to riddle the trunks of large trees till they fell. The whole forest was blighted, and the dead were piled up three and four deep 18 274. LIFE OF ULYSSES S.7GRAN; where the lines came in close contact. Night did not bring cessation. The assaults weakened, but a murderous fire was kept up till near midnight, when the Confederates sullenly retired to their inner lines, leaving the Federals to hold the positions they had gained in the morning. It was raining now, and both armies sought such rest as they could find, after an incessant musketry fire of nearly twenty-four hours. The losses of the 12th were heavy on both sides, and prob- ably equal. Lee lost four thousand prisoners and thirty cannon. He made his inner line strong, so that the Federal successes were moral rather than tactical. Yet the day had given strong proof to Grant of the quality of his men and especially of his officers. His dispatch to Washington ran: “ The eighth day of the battle closes, leaving between three and four thousand prisoners in our hands for the day’s (12th of May) work, in- © cluding two general officers and over thirty pieces of artillery. The enemy are obstinate, and seem to have found their last ditch. We have lost no organization, not even that of a com- pany, whilst we have destroyed and captured one division (Johnson’s), one brigade (Dole’s), and one regiment entire of the enemy.” The next day Grant nominated Wright, Gibbon and Hum- phreys major-generals of volunteers, and Caroll and Upton as brigadiers; while Hancock was named for the grade of brig- adier-general in the regular army. The same letter said: “General Meade has more than met my most sanguine expectations. He and Sherman are the fittest officers for large commands I have come in contact with.” He then advised their promotion to major-generals in the regular army. General Grant did not rest on that night of May 12th, nor any of his staff, till orders for the 13th were issued. His mind was quickly made up what to do. If Lee was about to slip away, he would know it. If not, he must fight on a new line. His partly turned right must be wholly turned. The main time. ‘dNOWHOIA OL NO \ oo hi i \ Hise ae f K| le an tilt { | il \ is i | i it es \ Hy NA U ma a ean ag ee ate Tg & * : ‘a 4 3 a i N | i Mm eo ye RRS i Mi i \ lv ‘ rT 276 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. roads from Spottsylvania to Richmond must be threatened— captured if possible. ‘The fact is, Grant was going to Richmond. Lee was in the way. He could not march over him. There- fore he would fight him and march or manceuvre round him. Headway must be made somehow, for were not all Grant’s armies moving to one point—the Confederate capital ? Burnside was ordered to try the enemy’s right at half-past three in the morning. Meade was instructed to “ push to see what they were doing.” Therefore, the whole Federal front made as lively and early a move as was possible under the cir- cumstances. It was found that the Confederates were busy strengthening their inner lines. The remainder of the 13th was dedicated to burying the dead and caring for the wounded. Mott’s division was consolidated with Birney’s. Meade was ordered to withdraw Wright and Warren, after dark, from their positions on Hancock’s right, and send them to the left of Burnside, the two corps to attack as soon as they were in line. Now, Burnside had crossed the Ny, and was really facing westward. To throw two corps on his left would change the whole Federal line to a north and south one, ex- tending from the salient held by Hancock to, possibly, the river Po, with Spottsylvania westward from its centre. The two corps moved amida terrific rain storm, which swelled the Ny, filled the marshes, and made the roads almost impas- sable. The Ny had to be forded in its swollen condition, for there were no bridges. It was daylight before these commands reached their destination, and by this time the ground was so sodden, and the rain was beating so mercilessly, that an assault was out of the question. Warren took position on Burnside’s left, and the Sixth Corps held the extreme left of the army. Wright had some fighting to get his lines established, but succeeded without much loss. Here, then, was an entirely new position for the day (May 14th). The movement forced Lee to shift his strength toward Sein trie SPOTTSYLVANIA. 277 his right to meet the threat. This left the lines in front of Hancock comparatively deserted. Taking advantage of this, Grant threw Hancock to the rear of his centre, as a reserve, and with orders to move either to the right or left, as emer- gency might require. Birney’s division, however, still remained on Burnside’s right. On the 15th and 16th, all army operations were suspended, on account of the rains and terrible condition of the ground. But good word was coming in to Grant from other fields. On May 15th, word came from Averill that he had cut the East Tennessee railroad at New river, and destroyed a depot of supplies at Dublin, West Virginia. Also, from Butler, that he had carried the works at Drury’s Bluff, an important outpost of Richmond. On the 16th, Sherman reported the evacuation of Dalton by Johnston, and that he was in pursuit. Sheridan reported that he had destroyed both the Virginia Central and Fredericksburg railroads for miles in the rear of Lee; had fought, routed and killed Stuart, the best cavalry leader of the Confederacy, and had carried the outer lines of Richmond. There was consternation in Confederate circles. The author- ities were not only frightened, but fell to accusing one another of incompetency and treachery. The President prepared for flight. On May 17th, Wright was ordered to demonstrate on the left, and if ground were gained Hancock was to swing to his support, or, if possible, further around on Lee’s right. But the country in front was found too difficult, on account of dense undergrowth. So both the Second and Sixth were ordered to make an all-night march to the right again, and an early attack, on the 18th, from the position captured on the 12th. Burnside was to support and Warren to enfilade with his artillery. The enemy had made his inner line of defences un- expectedly strong. The assaulting corps made a gallant charge, but could not break the slashings, or penetrate the abattis, OF ‘ULYSSES: 'S.) GRANT. LIFE 278 They made several gallant attempts to break the obstructions, By 10 A.M. but were forced to give up the impossible task. Ss \N 1 A PAB :C MUG SL tip / NY AA A AASV MN \Y Minna nny ~ ESAs SRA RRA XK SSS \N WN Qs a gar SMAI WO SRA IAss TRARY ARAMA MAAN SS SAw~q ESAS WN SAS Ww SS RAW SON Sx YEARNS RRAAS AGRA WAG SS & NOAA SESSA AS SSS SIAR ASA AQ WY WA SRA MAAR SE SARA RESSEES ame = Al ei fe) + fv \) RY P \ Boyds V Greén Sprurgs_ 7 ef an. Garden erry oS gr? ff fn: > G98 fe SN é a Taverne Ben has. TEENS z oO uor Mitts M . \, i CShetreIiglt. Brivesytav. ™ NGL. mia 25 \ a Q2- Zé WY 3 Py (/f ThreeSqugser. AN iN \ SS 1 SJ bier ewMariied SS Nf _ Smithfield SAS a) ata /: BX —s pe ) ; Pe oe / ¥ ay Ss 00F0 = rf lees <> \ S48} £ F \\ y, 5 , . FY \ a we / \ \ \\ SINS } \ Wik Nh \ Wh) \ NN BAAN N\A ¥ NMUSSS ANS alte ! \ up AS} \\)))} SS ' Sh SSS x GEN. McPHERSON. forward with irresistible vigor on the enemy. Sherman watched the movement with extreme anxiety, for his whole army was in peril. But its success soon gratified him. Logan NASHVILLE AND THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 409 handled his men so quickly and well, and fought with such desperation, that the enemy began to give ground, and finally broke into retreat. Sherman’s losses were thirty-seven hun- dred and twenty-two in killed, wounded, and prisoners, among which was the gallant McPherson, whom both he and Grant greatly loved. When Grant heard of the death of this brave, gifted, and trusted officer, he could not restrain his tears, but wept as one who had lost the best friend on earth,and even found time in the midst of his great weight of care to send a letter of tender condolence to the mother of the dead officer, whose reply was touchingly thankful for cherished words from such an honored source in her hour of supreme anguish, The Confederate losses were nearly double the above. Hood was areckless fighter, and in his two daring battles thus far had sacrificed fully twenty per cent. of his army. On the 23d Garrard’s division destroyed all the railroads, except the Macon, in Hood’s rear. Stoneman’s and Gar- rard’s cavalry, five thousand strong, were sent to cut this, with orders to fight their way to the junction of the roads at Eastpoint, south of Atlanta, where they might expect to meet the Army of the Tennessee, now commanded by Howard. (Logan had yielded to Howard, his senior.) But while How- ard was executing this movement to the rear, he was fallen upon by Hardee and Lee, who attacked Logan’s corps with great fury. But for the coolness and fortitude of that officer the Army of the Tennessee must have suffered signal defeat. Logan covered his front with temporary breastworks, and re- pelled six different assaults, with a loss to the enemy which he estimated at five thousand, and to his own corps of six hundred. By August Ist, Sherman’s army was not a happy one. Hooker felt aggrieved at Howard’s promotion to the com- mand of the Army of the Tennessee, and was, at his own re- 410 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. quest, relieved. Slocum took his corps. Palmer was simi- larly relieved, and succeeded by General Jefferson C. Davis. Stanley took Howard’s corps. Logan, who was really the aggrieved party, fought on at the head of his corps without a murmur. The cavalry expedition had proven a failure, and Stoneman surrendered part of his command to a body of intercepting militiamen. The time till August 15th was spent by Sherman in slowly working his lines around Atlanta toward the right. Finding this process tardy, and being too impatient to engage in regular siege operations, he sud- denly swung his army south of the place and across the enemy’s communications, which he de- stroyed. On August 31st, How- ard was attacked and, after two hours’ fighting, the Confederates hastily retreated, leaving two thou- sand and five hundred killed and wounded on the field. On the next day Davis assaulted the Confederate lines, captured eight guns and Govan’s bri- gade, but could not press his advantage further owing to lack of support. That night the Confederates evacuated both Atlanta and Jonesboro and fell back to Lovejoy’s Station, the cavalry going toward McDonough and the militia toward Covington. Sherman had now reached his objective point, Atlanta. He concentrated there for rest and reorganization. He had been active for four months, was now in the heart of the Confed- eracy, had kept the Confederate army busy, now saw it broken and going off by different roads, was where he could swing toward Virginia and Grant, and had the entire railroad system NASHVILLE AND THE MARCH TO THE SEA. All of the south at his mercy. Grant could look out from his Petersburg entrenchments on the happy fulfillment of all his plans thus far, and safely calculate that the forces he had set in motion in the spring would further co-operate and converge till the end could no longer be postponed. Hood concentrated at Palmetto Station twenty-five miles from Atlanta, and reorganized. For two months Forrest kept up a series of disastrous raids, which greatly annoyed Sher-- man and gave Grant much uneasiness. But they were checked in October by a Tennessee force. Sherman’s cavalry was very inefficient all this time. It was widely scattered, and of limited numbers. Grant perceived this, and ordered Wilson from Virginia to act as Sherman’s Chief of Cavalry, with full power to organize and command all the force he could gather; another striking instance of the Lieutenant General’s careful supervision of his commands and wonderful knowledge of their most pressing wants. For this Sherman was very grateful, and might well have said as at Chatta- nooga, “I knew that wherever I was you were thinking of me, and if in difficulty would come to my rescue, if alive.” Wilson soon brought order out of confusion, and in a short time had seventy-two regiments of cavalry organized into fifteen brigades and seven divisions, all under approved leaders. Sherman’s cavalry branch was now stronger than the enemy’s. In September, Price invaded Missouri with ten thousand men, where he roamed around with impunity and made many valuable captures, in the presence of Rosecrans, who for a long time failed to concentrate against him. At length he made a stand at Big Blue river, and was routed with the loss of artillery, trains and many prisoners. He then beat a retreat to Arkansas. After the failure of Banks’ Red River Expedition, General Canby, then in command of the West Mississippi Military Division, was directed to send the ~ 412 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Nineteenth Corps to Washington, where it arrived in time, as already seen, to assist Sheridan in his Valley operations. Thus Grant utilized all his idle forces, and in such a way as to have them come in at the very nick of time. He worked his problems out far in advance, and seemed to anticipate junc- tures and prepare for them with the accuracy of a profound mathematician. On September t1oth, 1864, Grant, in pursuance of his original design, as communicated to Sherman at Nashville, in January, 1864, asked the latter if it would not now be best for him to move on Augusta, while Canby’s troops acted upon Savannah. Sherman replied that he could go to Milledgeville and compel Hood to give up Augusta and Macon, and thus sweep the whole State of Georgia, provided he (Grant) could manage to take the Savannah river up to Augusta, or the Chattahoochee up to Columbus, but that otherwise the question of provisions would not let him move too far from Atlanta. Grant then wrote of his proposed capture of Wilmington, N.C., and a movement from there. Sherman then saw his way through, by keeping Hood employed while he marched to Augusta, Columbia and Charleston, Grant in the meantime to take both Wilmington and Savannah. But Hood, Forrest and Wheeler were now (October, 1864) all loose, “without home or habitation.’ They were yet sufficiently strong to make the situation interesting for Sher- man, especially since Hood had thoroughly reorganized his broken forces at Palmetto Station, and had marched northward with evident designs on the Federal communications, and per- haps on the State of Tennessee. Sherman thought the move- ment a ruse to draw him away from Atlanta, but Grant detected in ita serious attempt to recapture Tennessee. He therefore did not issue the necessary authority for Sherman to begin his historic march to the Atlantic till midnight of October 11th, and only after the assurance that Sherman had made such dis- NASHVILLE AND THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 413 position of his forces under Thomas and others, as would amply protect Nashville and the entire State of Tennessee. Hood was now fully forth, and rapidly destroying the railroad north of Sherman. Leaving Slocum’s Twentieth at Atlanta, Sherman pushed rapidly after him with the Fourth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth and Twenty-third Corps, and two divi- sions of cavalry. General Corse’s brigade was ordered from Rome to Allatoona just in time to save the place from capture by a detachment from Hood under General French. The bat- tle was a bloody one, in which Corse was badly wounded and lost heavily in killed and wounded. Though Sherman followed Hood rapidly, that doughty officer kept on northward, destroying the railroad and even capturing the garrison at Dalton. Here he deflected, and was pursued to Gadsden, on the Coosa, avoiding battle as much as possible. Thence, passing the Lookout ranges, he marched toward De- catur, on the Tennessee, where he joined with Taylor’s army from Central Mississippi. Sherman became aware of this on October 25th, and had, in anticipation of it, sent Thomas to Nashville to take command of his old department. Stanley’s Fourth was ordered to Chattanooga to report to Thomas. Schofield’s Twenty-third was placed under similar orders. Wilson, who had organized Kilpatrick’s division of cavalry, five thousand strong, to attend Sherman on his march to the sea, was also sent to Nashville to reorganize a still larger cav- alry force, assist Thomas in repelling the enemy, and then start after Sherman, joining him wherever he might be found. Sherman now completed his own arrangements for the cam- paign eastward to the Atlantic. All his corps, designed to protect Tennessee and co-operate with Thomas, were sent northward to Chattanooga and Kingston. All the railroads running into Atlanta were destroyed. Communication with the North was entirely cut off. On November 14th, Sherman concentrated his remaining force at Atlanta, and burned the A414 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. public buildings, depots and machine shops. The fires got too much headway, and nearly the whole town was burned. Rome suffered nearly a like fate. On November 16th, Sherman started eastward from Atlanta with the Fourteenth Corps, and marched directly for Milledge- ville. He had previously sent his right wing, with Kilpatrick’s cavalry, to Macon and Gordon. On the same day, Slocum moved along the Augusta railroad for Madison, with orders to meet the centre at Milledgeville. The different columns were under orders to form a junction at the end of seven days, and in the mean- time railroads,bridges, public stores, and all property contributing to warlike supplies of the enemy were to be destroyed. The army’s right was composed of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, under Howard, and the left of the Fourteenth and Twentieth, under Slocum. Kilpat- rick had about fifty-five hundred cavalry. Sixty pieces of artillery were taken along. Each soldier carried forty rounds of ammunition, and the wagons one hundred and sixty rounds per man. The total infantry strength was sixty thousand men. The trains carried twenty days’ ra- tions and five days’ forage. A supply of beef was driven along on foot. The trains consisted of twenty-five hundred wagons and six hundred ambulances. The destination depended on the character of the opposition met with. Hood was off to the northwest and could not give serious trouble for a time. The-Georgia towns were defended by militia whose opposition was not feared, unless they could concentrate. The greatest danger was from Lee, who might lend a strong force from Petersburg. But Grant would watch GEN. KILPATRICK. NASHVILLE AND THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 415 this, and he gave orders to follow any troops Lee might de- tach. If Sherman could get through he would go to Charles- ton or Savannah. If he could not, he would strike the Gulf coast. He would go as far as he could, and do all the injury to railroads and public property in his power. And now he was off, moving as nearly as may be by four roads, bivouacking without tents, marching on an average fifteen miles a day, converging at stated intervals and at designated places, the troops to live as much as possible off the country, so as to save rations. The day Sherman began to move, the alarm and confusion of the enemy and of the entire Confed- eracy began. Cobb appealed for aid to save Georgia. Beaure- gard would rob the Carolinas of troops to protect —Tuscambia. Taylor was ordered to pursue with all the Alabama and Mis- sissippi troops he could gather. Wheeler was instructed to follow closely with his cavalry and attack at all favorable points. But we must now go back to Tennessee. Sherman had somewhat miscalculated Hood’s designs and the magnitude of his movement. Still he had left what he thought an ample force behind for the defence of Tennessee, and under the re- liable Thomas, to whom his last words were to give up all minor points, if Hood persisted in forcing his way north, and concentrate so as to protect Nashville and hold the road to Murfreesboro and Stevenson. Grant, who had interpreted the situation more accurately, sent this identical word to Thomas two weeks before. Thomas, however, held all he could. He centred his cavalry at Florence to prevent Hood’s crossing of the Tennessee till Stanley’s Fourth could arrive from Georgia. On October 30th, Schofield’s Twenty-Third corps reached him. On the 31st, Hood crossed to the north of the Tennessee and his intentions became fully known. Mean- while Forrest was making a disastrous raid along the Tennes- see nearly to the Ohio river, which kept Thomas’ forces divided. Hood, however, did not take advantage of this state of affairs, 416 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Thomas’ force was now 24,264 in the Fourth and Twenty- Third Corps, and 5543 cavalry under Wilson. He had in addition strong infantry and cavalry garrisons at Murfreesboro, Bridgeport, Huntsville, Decatur and Chattanooga, which he had thus far declined to call in, as instructed by both Grant and Sher- man, and whose united strength was over 20,000 men. Hood’s strength consisted of 30,600 infantry, and Forrest’s cavalry esti- mated at 5000 to 10,000. Thomas’ actual strength was there- fore less than Hood's, at the time the latter crossed the Tennessee, but troops were sent to him from various points in the North, and Smith was hastening to him with a force from Missouri. Grant was very apprehensive and did all he could to aid Thomas, but the latter seemed confident, though slow. As late as November Ioth he spoke of taking the offensive as soon as he could concentrate his forces. ‘This seemed to Grant like provoking tardiness, especially since the Confederates had not only had abundance of time to concentrate, but Breckinridge had marched all the way from Virginia into East Tennessee, and driven Gillem’s Federal force of fifteen hundred men from Morristown into Knoxville with considerable loss. This forced - Thomas to reinforce Knoxville from Louisville and Chatta- nooga, and in addition he sent Stoneman with a large cavalry force to punish and pursue Breckinridge. After November 12th, Sherman severed connection with Thomas, and from this time he received his orders directly from Grant. Thus the eye of the Lieutenant General had to be turned to the maintenance of what Sherman had secured, and the command of the armies he had left behind, which were confronted by Hood’s reorganized forces. Fortunately, Hood lingered around Florence as if appalled by the boldness of his own movement across a hostile river: Grant ordered Thomas to concentrate harder than ever, but also to follow Hood closely if he retreated so as to prevent him from reach- ing Sherman’s rear. NASHVILLE AND THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 417 On November 21st, Hood marched by Pulaski, where Scho- field’s corps was, and attempted to get between him and Nash- ville. Thomas out-witted him by ordering Schofield back to Columbia. On the 27th the enemy felt Schofield’s lines and manifested a desire to cross Duck river. That night Schofield evacuted Columbia and withdrew to the north bank. Hood crossed five miles above, on the 29th, and made for Spring Hill to turn Schofield’s flank and rear. Fortunately, Stanley’s Fourth reached there first and held the place against an attack which lasted until dark, and in which the enemy was repulsed with heavy loss. Schofield now came up, and pushed on in the night to Franklin, where he took position and fortified. Here he was attacked by Hood’s entire army, with great spirit and determination, but with the usual recklessness of that officer. The Confederate defeat was signal and their losses were 1750 killed, 3800 wounded and 702 prisoners. Six general officers were wounded, five killed and one cap- tured. Schofield’s losses were 189 killed, 1033 wounded and 1104 missing. Schofield had 24,000 men engaged and Hood 37,000. The victory was of immense moment to Schofield. It caused Hood to halt for a time, and enabled an inferior army to make its retreat good to Nashville, which it did by December Ist. Thomas sent word of the victory to Grant, and also that he was waiting till Smith should reach him and Wilson should get his cavalry equipped, when he would assume the offensive, with a force equal to Hood’s. Grant did not understand why so signal a victory should not be followed up, nor why Hood should be allowed to have time to dispose of his forces as he saw fit. The government was very solicitous. Grant urged an attack before Hood could fortify, or begin raids upon the railroads. Thomas plead weakness, especially in cavalry. The great question was, why hadn’t he concentrated his forces? But he now rose to the emergency and called Steedman from 27 418 LIFE OF ULYSSES S, GRANT. Chattanooga, with five thousand. Smith arrived with ten thousand from Missouri. By November 2d, he was stronger than Hood in infantry, though much weaker in cavalry. Yet he was virtually penned up in Nashville, had even lost direct communication with Chattanooga: On the 5th, Grant again advised an attack. He deferred greatly to Thomas’ judgment and had implicit faith in his soldiership, so did not order per- emptorily. Yet the situation was growing more and more painful to him, for many of his other plans hung on a prompt movement on the part of Thomas. He sent Grant word he would attack on the 7th. But this was suspended. He sent word again he would attack as soon as Wilson could get at least six thousand cavalry equipped, for that Forrest had at least twelve thousand. Grant finally, on the 6th, gave a per- emptory order: “ Attack Hood at once, and wait no longer for a remount of cavalry. There is great danger of delay resulting in a campaign back to the Ohio.” Thomas replied that he would attack at once, though he believed it would be hazardous, with his small cavalry force. He did not attack, Hood had full possession south of Nashville and was run- ning cars from Pulaski to Decatur. His cavalry were demon- strating on all the surrounding towns, and even looking out for a crossing of the Cumberland so as to cut Nashville off from the north. As an index to the strain on Grant’s mind, and his wonderful command of situations, on the very day, December 6th, he telegraphed to Thomas to attack, he sent word through secret channels to Sherman telling him of out- side affairs, where he could strike the coast and what he should do; he also issued orders to Butler, with detailed instructions for Weitzel’s Fort Fisher expedition; and minute orders to Meade for a westward movement across the Weldon railroad. He kept almost individual oversight of the great and complicated mechanism in his control, and touched the NASHVILLE AND THE MARCH TO THE SEA, 419 varied springs, levers, pulleys and wheels with the dexterity of a master, that all might work harmoniously and deal simul- taneous and incessant blows. On December 7th, Stanton notified Grant that the authori- ties and the country were in a state of anxious suspense over Thomas’ delay. Grant called attention to his dispatch ordering an attack, and suggested Thomas’ suspension if his order was not soon obeyed. Yet Grant had infinite faith in Thomas’ ability to repel attack, and he loved him as a man as well as an officer. It was only his seeming slowness to take a bold initiative which was now perplexing the Lieutenant General, and the impossibility of carrying out other plans which de- pended ona clearing up of this desperate Tennessee situa- tion. On this date, December 7th, Thomas announced that the Confederates had closed the Cumberland river to him at Clarkesville. On the 8th, Grant requested that Dodge suc- ceed Rosecrans in Missouri, with orders to send all avail- able reinforcements to Thomas. He also sent full word to Thomas, stimulating him to action, reviewing the situation, and defining what depended on his action, how the country was aggrieved at his delay, and what relief a glorious victory would give. Thomas replied, sketching the situation, re- counting his difficulties, and ending with a request for removal if that be thought best by Grant or the authorities. Two days passed, and Thomas reported that the Confederates had crossed the Cumberland, also that an unsuccessful attack had been made on Chattanooga. He gave as a reason for postponing attack that a severe rain and hailstorm had been raging for two days. On the same day Grant sent him another long dispatch urging him not to wait to fill his cavalry columns nor for favorable weather, and reminding him that if Hood got past Nashville he could beat him (Thomas) in a race for the Ohio river. He ordered him to delay no longer. On this date Grant received word through the Richmond 420 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. papers that Sherman was within seventy-five miles of Savan- nah. And here was where Thomas’ delay was cramping the Lieutenant General’s plans. Canby had been ordered to send a large force from the Mississippi to co-operate with Sherman, either on the Gulf coast, should he strike it, or on the Atlantic coast. But so long as Hood remained in Ten- nessee, Canby did not dare deplete his strength at Memphis, Vicksburg, or anywhere along the line of the Mississippi river. Thomas was fully apprised of this by Stanton. At length Grant’s patience was exhausted. Not wishing to injure the fame of Thomas by summary dismissal, without knowing of the situation personally, he resolved to go to the scene at Nashville and, in case he found removal necessary, he left an order with General Logan to take command in Ten- nessee. He started for Nashville on December 14th, but when he got to Washington (December 15th), news awaited him that Thomas had moved on that day and had attacked and beaten Hood. While Thomas had permitted Nashville to be invested and the surrounding country to be overrun, he had planned a mag- nificent battle according to the careful and conservative theories of his school. Hood lay before him, his lines stretching from the Cumberland above the city to the river below. Cheatham held the right, Stewart the left, S. D. Lee the centre. Hood's position was admirable. It was upon slopes backed by hills, and commanded by fortified prominences, some of which were within six hundred yards of the Federal works. He had rail- road communication to his rear, and a moving force of two brigades of infantry and two of cavalry under Forrest, which had been doing irreparable injury to the country and Thomas’ communications. Thomas’ left was held by Steedman, his centre by Wood's Fourth, (Stanley had been wounded at Harpeth) his right by A. J. Smith. Schofield was in reserve ready to support NASHVILLE AND THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 421 Wood. The cavalry was massed on Smith’s right. Steedman had 5000 men, Wood 13,526, Smith gggo, Schofield 97109, Wilson from 4000 to 5000 cavalry. Hood’s entire force was not much in excess of twenty thousand men, but he was strongly fortified, and felt able to repel any attack. On December 15th, at an early hour and amid a dense fog, Steedman moved his left upon the enemy’s right. At the same hour Wilson’s cavalry moved on the enemy’s left. Both these movements were feints. As soon as Steedman was well out of his works, the artillery began to play, and the gunboats joined their volleys. Covered by their fire, he deployed on the Mur- freesboro pike and hurled his columns on the Confederate right flank. Meanwhile, Smith and Wood were massing for an attack on the enemy’s left, with Schofield in their rear. Steed- man is ordered to attack stronger. He is already in the midst of a terrific assault and the battle is on in earnest. Hood is surprised at the impetuosity and success of the Federals. He sends whole brigades to strengthen his imperilled left. Bat- teries are run up to sweep the attacking lines. The battle waxes hot and deadly. All Hood's energies are directed to Steedman and his overmatched ranks. The order is given to fall back, and the Federals retire, still keeping up a threatening front. The Confederates congratulate themselves on victory. But their ears catch the sound of thunder on their left. Thomas has started his columns and sent them crashing through Hood’s extreme left entrenchments. They are even now pressing toward his centre. It is nearing noon, and the dense fog has lifted. Hood sees the dismounted cavalrymen sweeping in on his extreme left, and the infantry of Wood and Smith vying with each other in the capture of his outer forts on the Knobs. He opens with all his artillery, and every entrenchment sends forth a storm of smaller missiles. Wood’s Fourth charges in heavy column on Montgomery Hiil, the strongest Confederate salient, and captures it. Hood had fatally weakened his left. Thomas 422 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. was taking every advantage of his early morning tactics. Hood makes haste to recall his brigades from his right. But too late; his left is turned; his advanced lines there are no longer tenable. Schofield now pushed his reserve corps well around Hood’s left and toward his rear. Again the Federals advance, and while Hood is forced to shift his lines to meet Schofield, the Fourth Corps dashes over his second line of works in front. Baffled, bewildered, beaten, but still fighting obstinately, Hood yields his entire line of works and is crowded back toward the Overton Hills. He loses battery after battery and flag after flag. Will his columns break before the resistless Federal onsets, before gradually concentrating ranks filled with the en- thusiasm of victory? Wood is already beyond the Granny White road and has half the Confederate lines in his posses- sion. Schofield has scaled the heights two miles beyond Wood, and is battling with Lee’s and Cheatham’s men for a point in the Granny White road. Smith’s men have captured ridge after ridge, hurling conquered division back upon division. Wilson is well to the south with his cavalry, feeling for the Franklin pike and Hood’s rear. Sunset and darkness come to Hood’s rescue. He is saved until to-morrow, but he has lost seventeen guns, twelve hundred prisoners, his entire line of works, avast number of men killed and wounded and, worst of all, a battle which he courted and for which he waited till waiting must have become irksome. Thomas’ plans of battle had all been carried out successfully, and his losses had not been great. His slowness had come to his rescue and he had redeemed provoking tardiness with sweep- ing victory. He had been true to his resources and methods, had operated cautiously, acted conscientiously, and there was something substantial to speak for it. It was of this victory that Grant learned on the morning of December 15th at Wash- ington, and over it he joined his congratulations with those of NASHVILLE AND THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 423 the President and authorities. None were warmer than he in their tributes to Thomas’ strategy and perseverance, and none felt relief from such a load as the old veteran’s dispatch gave: “Attacked enemy’s left this morning; drove it from the river, below city, very nearly to Franklin pike, distance about eight miles.” Grant need not now go West, nor further entertain the, to him, disagreeable thought of disturbing one whose ability he admired, whose character he loved, whose methods only had become the subject of question. All the night Hood was busy forming his lines and fortify- ing his position on the Overton Heights, five miles south of Nashville. Here he would be more concentratedand stronger than before. He was brave, seemingly not discouraged, eager for another fray, which he expected on the morrow of Decem- ber 16th. Thomas too was eager. Cavalry fighting began at dawn. Again Thomas pushed Steedman forward on his left. The Fourth moved southward along the Franklin pike, feeling forthe enemy. By noon the Federal columns were in front of the Confederate position, and it was apparent that even a harder battle than that of the day before must be fought. Wood was on Steedman’s right, and Schofield and Smith further to the right. Thomas reconnoitered the enemy’s position for a long time. It was not until 3 p.m. that he ordered an attack. Again Steedman and Wood were to bear the brunt of it. The artillery opened, and they marched up the rugged slopes to the assault on the enemy’s right. The Federal ranks suffered fearfully, but despite the wide gaps hewn through them, they clambered up the steep fronts and broke over the parapets. Colored troops vied with white in this bloody onset. Ere they could plant their flags, the Con- federate reserves rose up and poured volleys of musketry into the ranks of the exulting Federals. They melted away before this merciless close range fire, and at last broke in retreat, leaving the ground strewed with dead and wounded. They 424 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. were rallied at the foot of the hill and stood ready for another charge. Thomas was off to the right, where McArthur was pushing a gallant charge. The Sixteenth had impetuously rushed up the slopes amid a raking artillery and musketry fire and, com- ing in by the flank, had actually captured the entrench- ments against which the Twenty-third Corps was charging. The result was most demoralizing to the enemy. McArthur’s trophies were three Confederate generals, a whole division of infantry, a dozen flags and twenty-seven cannon. Federal cheers were the signal for an assault all along the lines. And now it was more daring and persistent than ever. It was carried up and over the entrenchments everywhere. The foe went down before it, or broke into ruinous retreat. Guns, munitions, flags, prisoners, fell rapidly into the hands of the victors. It was nearing nightfall, and Hood was frantically engaged in saving what he could from the wreck. But it was despairing work, for the Fourth was in pursuit, and did not desist till deep darkness fell upon the scene. Dawn of the 17th revealed the utter demoralization of Hood’s retreat. The roads were strewed with arms, accoutre- ments and articles of war. The defeat had been crushing and the army never rallied. Pursuit brought prisoners continuously. Hood was ruined beyond possibility of recovery. On December 29th, General Thomas, in addressing his army, said: “ You have diminished the forces of the enemy since it crossed the Tennessee river to invade the State, at the least estimate, fifteen thousand men, among whom were killed, wounded or captured eighteen general officers. Your captures from the enemy, as far as reported, amount to sixty-eight pieces of artillery, ten thousand prisoners, as many stand of small arms, and thirty to forty battle flags.” Hood called Forrest to his aid and beat a hasty retreat, pursued by Wilson, through Columbia and Pulaski to Bain- NASHVILLE AND THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 425 bridge on the Tennessee, where he crossed, on the 27th of December, and where Thomas ordered pursuit to cease. December 17th was a glorious day for Grant and the country. Word came from Thomas of the certainty and magnitude of his victory, and at the same time from Sherman that he had struck the sea and invested Savannah. The news filled the whole North with joy. Grant sent congratulations to both his generals and urged Thomas to pursue Hood till he broke him entirely up. He was already broken completely up, for his retreat beyond the Tennessee was followed by his removal and the succession of General Richard Taylor, by the furloughing of a great part of his troops, and the transfer of the rest east- ward to augment the army now forming to operate against Sher- man. Thus the boast of Jefferson Davis that Hood would carry the war into the North and redeem Tennessee came to nought in a single campaign lasting from November 21st to December 17th. It had cost a fine army, while Thomas’ entire less did not exceed ten thousand men, nearly half of which returned to the ranks, after recovering from their wounds. Grant ordered two hundred shotted guns to be fired into Petersburg on December 18th, in honor of Thomas and his splendid victories of Nashville, which had clarified the entire Western situation, left it without a formidable enemy, and vindicated the wisdom of all his grand strategic plans. All this time Sherman was pushing his four columns by parallel routes through Georgia. He was meeting with little opposition, except here and there from State militia and Wheeler’s cavalry, and was cutting railroads, destroying supplies, and carrying consternation to the Confederacy. He passed through, or near to, the principal railroad centres, and covered a front varying from ten to forty miles in width. The wonderful march through an enemy’s country and away from any base of supplies was full of thrilling incidents, but without an action that could be reckoned as a battle. There was no 426 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. need for serious deflection, and in a few weeks from the start it became apparent that he could make any coast destination he might select. By December 1oth, he reached the vicinity of Savannah, driving the armed enemy into the fortifications about that place. The city was at once invested. General Hazen, of the Four- teenth, crossed the Ogeechee and, on December 13th, captured Fort McAllister, after a brief but sanguinary struggle, with one hundred and fifty prisoners and twenty-two guns. This fort commanded the entrance to Ossabaw Sound. Its capture enabled Sherman to open communications with Rear-Admiral Dahlgreen, in command of the blockading squadron off Savan- nah. Sherman met him and arranged for a combined attack on the place. But on the night of the 21st, Hardee evacuated the city, crossing to the north side of the Savannah river. Sherman entered at once, and found one hundred and sixty- seven pieces of artillery and much valuable property. The country was electrified with his telegram to the President: “I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammu- nition, and also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton.” Sherman had at last reached the sea, adding lustre to his name, and furnishing for military history one of its most startling and intense chapters. Sixty-five thousand men and thirty-five thousand animals had obtained abundant food for forty days, and had been short in nothing but bread. Their herd of five thousand cattle had grown to one of ten thousand. The teams were fresh, and not a wagon had been lost. Sherman had never been called upon to use more than a skirmish line for protection, and his total casualties were 103 killed, 428 wounded, and 78 missing. ‘The spirit of his men was superb throughout. Starting from his Atlanta base, on November 12th, he had, in pursuance of plans largely within his own discretion, but wholly in the line of Grant’s original scheme of co-operation NASHVILLE AND THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 427 and concentration, reached a new and more substantial base of future operations, and a safe resting place as well. As bear- ing on the fortunes of Grant’s army, and upon the final result, he had interposed a compact army of over sixty thousand men between Lee and the Confederacy of the South-west, and given to Grant all the advantages of those inner lines of movement which the Confederate armies had hitherto enjoyed. The moral effect of the march through the heart of the Confederacy, with- out serious opposition, was incalculable. It carried panic and stimulated clamor everywhere. The Confederate Cabinet con- fessed the folly of having urged Hood to disaster in Tennessee, by reinstating Johnston in command of all the forces he could gather to operate against Sherman and keep him from march- ing to Grant’s aid at Petersburg. And right nobly did John- ston struggle. Uniting everything he could find in the shape of armed man and military utensil, he formed a junction with Hardee after his escape from Savannah, and the two were there- after to retard Sherman's northern movement all they could. Grant had wisely prepared for just such an emergency, by ordering the capture of Fort Fisher and Wilmington, and the use of the latter as a base from which Schofield (called east- ward from Nashville) was to push an army of twenty thousand men to Goldsboro, to meet Sherman, should he decide to come north by land. And now the great problem was uppermost as to how Sherman should move; whether by land or water. Grant’s first impressions were, that he should speedily and di- rectly proceed to his aid by water. But speed was found to be out of the question, owing to scarcity of transports. To come tardily would be to give Lee time to escape from Petersburg, for he certainly would not remain, knowing that Grant was in receipt of such a large reinforcement. Besides, Johnston had now gotten together an army of fifty thousand men in the Carolinas. He was therefore a formidable menace on Grant. in his Petersburg entrenchments, and at the same time a stand- 428 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ing invitation to Lee to abandon Petersburg and Richmond and join him. ‘To destroy Lee’s army, and not to dislodge it, was, more than ever, Grant’s aim. All things considered, it was determined that Sherman should move northward by land, and ho!d Johnston to an object, at the same time doing all the damage possible to railroads and supplies. He was to start on January 15th, 1865, moving his cavalry and Slocum’s corps toward Augusta. Biair’s Seven- teenth was sent by water to demonstrate on Charleston. Rains prevented the land movement till February Ist. Grover’s division of the Nineteenth came, in the meantime, to Savannah to relieve all of Sherman’s forces there. All the Confederate militia, from sixteen to sixty, were called out, and the negroes were ordered to fell trees and interpose every obstacle possible to the Federal march. The deep, sullen rivers, the wide, im- penetrable swamps, the thickly timbered spaces, near the sea coast, threw the line of march far inland, and made it neces- sarily circuitous, slow and dangerous. Wheeler’s cavalry was vigilant, and turned up at every river crossing, backed by infantry detachments. Their efforts were, however, of no avail against the confident battalions from the fields of At!anta and Chattanooga. The Edisto and Congaree were crossed, Orangeburg was reached, and Columbia seized by a brilliant manceuvre. This sealed the fate of Charleston and Fort Sumpter. The retreat- ing Confederates fired the cotton bales and public stores in Columbia and Charleston, and these cities were well nigh con- sumed. Between the injury they themselves inflicted in their wild haste and that brought about to bridges, railroads, manu- factories of warlike supplies, public stores, etc., by the victorious Federals, the whole country was a waste from Savannah to the Roanoke, and from the Alleghenies to the sea. With a wide sweep to the west the Yadkin was crossed. Then, bya hurried march, Fayetteville, on the Cape Fear, was reached by March NASHVILLE AND THE MARCH TO THE SEA, 429 11th. Here he concentrated, and rested for three days. He had all the while been marching in the face of considerable opposition. It was a campaign now, and not a peaceful march, as that through Georgia had been. Each step forced back the detached battalions of Johnston, and helped him to concentrate. And again, the whole spirit of motion had changed. He was now actively co-operating with Grant. Each must consider the fortune of the other in every step now taken. They must keep Johnston and Lee apart. They must be ready to spring to each other’s aid if occasion*demanded. Johnston’s army was a conglomerate of many commands, and not less than fifty thousand men. Hardee was in it from Savannah, Beauregard from Columbia, Cheatham from Tennessee, Bragg and Hoke from Wilmington, Hampton from Richmond, Wheeler from Atlanta. It was now prepared to throw itself across Sherman’s track. When Sherman started from Fayetteville for Goldsboro, Johnston was at Smithfield. Sherman demonstrated with Slo- cum’s corps toward Averysborough, while he marched Howard direct toward Goldsboro. Johnston fell on to Slocum at Ben- tonsville, who resisted the attack till reinforced. Johnston then dropped back to Smithfield, leaving his killed and wounded behind. He had made desperate battle with Slocum’s com- mand, and occasioned a Federal loss of sixteen hundred and forty-three killed, wounded and missing, while his own was two thousand, sixteen hundred of whom became prisoners. Sherman now pushed rapidly to Goldsboro, reaching it on March 23d, forming a junction there with Schofield and Terry, and finding much needed food and rest. On March 27th he started for City Point, whither he had been called to a con- ference with Grant and the President. After this the co-opera- tion of the two armies was close. The grand circle had been made, and nearly all the vitality of the Confederacy was within reach of the Federal armies. v : 430 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Stoneman was coming in from the west upon Lynchburg, Thomas was co-operating with Canby in his attack upon Mobile, which fell on April gth, with a loss of two hundred guns and four thousand prisoners. Wilson, with his cavalry corps, was raiding Alabama and working untold injury to railroads and public stores. Every army was now in the position designated by the Lieutenant General, and on March 24th he issued to Meade the order which was to swing the Army of the Potomac west of Petersburg and compel its evacuation as well as that of Richmond. The duty of Sherman was now to watch Johnston closely. He was lying at Smithfield not far from Goldsboro. It was equally Johnston’s duty to watch Sher- man, and keep himself where Lee could reach him. There the two armies rested till the result of Grant’s movement became ea Pat tata! Stats * known. We have already learned what that result was. Too much praise cannot be given Sherman for his spendid northern march of four hundred miles, his crossing of seven deep difficult rivers, his arrival at the place, and almost at the time designated, and his holding of Johnston, with fifty thousand men at Smithfield while Grant was giving the finishing blows to Lee’s army of Northern Virginia. The Lieutenant-General’s knowledge of men was equal to the grandeur of his plans and the irresistible vigor of his combi- nations and movements. | Wii, ZA 7 = = => : SS SSK WM CHAPTER XXI. PEACE. HE surrender of Lee’s army at Appomattox, April oth, 1865, was the signal for the surrender of all the other armed forces of the great rebellion. It would take a little time for the news to reach all the Confederate commands, and there would yet be some hesitation, some movements in a spirit of sheer desperation, some chaffering about terms, but the war ended there, and peace was assured. Grant reached Washing- ton on April 13th, and at once set about reducing the military expenses of the government. His grand work, his victory, was for the good of the nation, and now he would prove that “Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war.” On consultation with the President and Secretary of War, an announcement was made to the country April 13th, to stop all drafting and recruiting in the loyal states; to curtail all purchases of muniments and supplies and reduce the military establishment; to reduce the number of officers to the actual needs of the service ; to remove all military restrictions on trade and commerce, so far as may be consistent with public safety. This was the country’s written guarantee that peace was sure, the official proclamation which fixed and crowned the grand results of four years of sacrifice. A yearning nation now broke out into rejoicing. From sea to sea there went up one voice of jubilation and thanksgiving, and all the land burst into glorious illumination. Ecstacy never reached sublimer heights nor assumed more impressive forms. The next day, April 14th, itwas announced that Grant would be present at 431 432 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, the theatre, in the evening, with President Lincoln; but he had not seen his family for a long time and started for Burlington, N. J., where his children were at school. That night the nation was plunged into gloom by the assassination of its loved President, in the theatre, by an actor named John Wilkes Booth, and by the attempted assassination of Sec. PRESIDENT LINCOLN. of State, Wm. H. Seward, by an associate conspirator named Payne. Grant was at once telegraphed for by the Secre- tary of War, and he returned to Washington that night. The next day, April 15th, Lincoln expired and Vice-President Johnson was inaugurated. The time was portentous, the whirl of events rapid and demoralizing. No: one knew the breadth of that foul conspiracy. The shock of murder in high PEACE. 433 place, “the deep damnation of that taking off,’ the sudden transition from triumphal cheer to funereal tear, the mistrust of a new administration, the pour of unforeseen, responsible and delicate duties, rendered the presence of the Lieutenant-General in Washington a comfort and necessity. On April 1oth,the day after Lee’s surrender, Grant sent word WILLIAM H. SEWARD to Sherman at Goldsboro to “push on and finish the job with Lee and Johnston’s armies.” Sherman immediately moved upon Johnston at Smithfield. But Johnston was now in no mood fora fight. He beat a hasty retreat through Raleigh, which place Sherman occupied on the 13th. On the 14th,a message, dictated by Jefferson Davis, came through Johnston to 28 434 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Sherman, asking that the civil authorities be permitted to make arrangements to end the war. Sherman replied that he had full power to conduct and accept a surrender. On the 16th, Johnston agreed to meet Sherman between the two -armies. The interview became a long talk about terms, to which neither party agreed. Another meeting was had on the 18th, at which terms were agreed upon. They were lengthy and unfortunate, for while they embraced the surrender of all the Confederate armies, they committed the government to a course in the future, which would have amounted toa dangerous concession of its prerogatives. Both Sherman and Johnston felt that the terms were too far beyond their authority as army officers, too legislative and political in their scope, to be final without the sanction of the civil authorities. So Sherman sent a copy to Washington for such sanction: Grant received them on the night of April 21st, and immediately sent them to the Secre- tary of War, with a note suggesting that they be acted upon in cabinet without delay. He saw their importance, as well as the danger of approving them. That same night a cabinet meeting was called and Sherman’s terms were repudiated unanimously. The President and Secretary of War were bitterly outspoken in their dissent. They regarded his conces- sions as highly dangerous, and hisassumption of authority as unprecedented. Grant generously came to Sherman’s defence, and while he did not sanction the terms, he defended his lieu- tenant against all imputations, and declared that whatever his errors of judgment, his motives were beyond question. Grant was instructed by the President to give notice to Sherman of the official repudiation of his terms of surrender, and to command him to resume hostilities at the earliest possible moment. To make all sure, he was ordered forthwith to the scene to take control of operations in person. Instructions were also sent in various directions to Sherman’s subordinates to disregard his orders. Starting on the 22d, Grant made all PEACE. 435. haste toward Raleigh, anxious to save the reputation of his trusted lieutenant, and still more anxious to bring the military status to where Lee’s surrender left it. It was a moment of supreme danger. One false step now, one hour of unnecessary delay, might undo all that Appomattox had done and reopen the smouldering fires of war. As Grant hurried toward Sher- man, he ordered Sheridan to push to Greensboro, North Caro- lina, with all his cavalry and a corps of infantry. There was to be no escape for Johnston and no terms but those which were unconditional. He reached Raleigh on April 24th, and in a delicate manner informed Sherman of the disapproval of his terms. Sherman at once accepted the situation and noti- fied Johnston that their agreement had not been sanctioned by the authorities, and that the only terms of surrender which could be accepted would be those which Lee had signed at Appomattox. At the same time he sent word that the armis- tice would end in forty-eight hours. Johnston referred these dispatches to Jefferson Davis, who ordered that officer to dis- band the Confederate infantry, and beat a retreat with all his mounted force and such artillery as could be taken along. Johnston ignored this last and unworthy order from the Con- federate President. He could not conscientiously sacrifice his sturdy footmen to the privileged riders, the veteran soldiery to the civic officials. He would make no mounted body guard for the fugitive President and cabinet, to be pursued remorse- lessly through the south leaving another trail of blood and, destruction. So he wrote another set of terms in consonance with those presented by Grant to Lee, and asked for another conference on the 26th. These were signed on that day, and he surrendered thirty-one thousand two hundred and forty-three men, who were paroled, together with cannon, small arms and munitions. General Grant acted with great kindness and delicacy toward Sherman during these transactions. He did not appear in the 436 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. final interview with Johnston. While he supervised all of Sherman’s acts and permitted nothing to be done without his approval, he signed no papers except the last on which he wrote “approved” over his own signature. It is said that John- ston did not even know of his presence in Raleigh. Grant then returned to Washington to find the sentiment in a flame over Sherman’s blunder, and his reputation under a cloud of doubt and aspersion. Again he threw himself into the breach, and this time was forced to stay the storm of excitement and in- dignation by using for his friend the shield of his own reputa- tion, declaring that Sherman’s loyalty was as undoubted as his own. The fact undoubtedly was that Sherman’s mistake in undertaking to legislate for the government in these terms of surrender was due to a pardonable feeling of leniency in the moment of victory, which the diplomacy of Johnston and Breckinridge, shrewder and less conscionable than his own, took greedy advantage of. As we have seen, Mobile fell into Canby’s hands on April oth. After Lee’s surrender, Stoneman swung his cavalry column from Lynchburg to Johnston’s rear, where he was doing an immense amount of damage when notified of the sur- render. Wilson, with acommand of twelve thousand and five hundred cavalry, had swept Alabama and Georgia, capturing all the towns in his course, and engaging in a severe night battle, April 16th, which gave him Augusta. This was the last battle of the war. On the 21st, Macon surrendered, with sixty field guns and twelve thousand militia, including Howell Cobb and four other generals. Here Wilson’s cavalry campaign was ended by news of the armistice between Johnston and Sherman. Dick Taylor surrendered to Canby, on May 4th. On May 11th, Jefferson Davis was captured, in female disguise, at Irwins- ville, Ga. Kirby Smith, beyond the Mississippi, remained defiant till he heard of Davis’ capture, and the movement of a heavy force to his department, under Sheridan, when he left B— SSSA = e CAVALRY COLUMN ON THE MARCH. 437 438 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. his army to disband of its own volition. Buckner surrendered the Confederate remnant on May 26th. Thus disappeared the last organized Confederate force from the territory of the United States. Every man who had borne arms against the govern- ment was a prisoner of war. The number paroled, between April oth and May 26th, was 174,223 men. History does not record so speedy and complete a collapse of such a gigantic rebellion. It was due, more than anything, to the culmination of Grant’s plans as he had shaped them from the start, which brought all his forces to bear upon vital situations, and to gradually close like a vice, literally forcing surrender or annihilation, as well as to the chivalric terms em- braced in his articles of capitulation and surrender. The break at Appomattox was conclusive and final. All else of the Con- federacy stood aghast and paralyzed, confronted and over- shadowed, unable to turn or to defy. And yet those terms— of which Pollard, the Confederate historian, says: ‘“ He (Grant) conducted the surrender with as much simplicity as possible, avoided sensation, and spared everything that might wound the feelings or imply the humiliation of a vanquished foe. Such conduct was noble. Before the surrender General Grant had expressed to his own officers his intention not to require the same formalities as are required in a surrender between the forces of two foreign nations or belligerent powers, and to exact no conditions for the mere purpose of humiliation” — those terms, forbearing and generous in all their provisions, covered all the causes of war. Arms were laid down. Seces- sion was abandoned. The old sovereignty and flag were acknowledged. The new Confederate sovereignty was repu- diated. Abolition of slavery was acquiesced in. Political reinstatement was sought. Amnesty asked. There was acknowledgment everywhere, North and South, at home and abroad, of the unexampled skill and puissance of Grant’s leadership, and of the wisdom and chivalry of his PEACE. 439 final dealings with the vanquished foe. He had made war earnest and severe. He had fought and beaten every leading Confederate general. He had conquered, captured and anni- hilated armies. He had never been driven from the field, and had never taken a backward step in a campaign, except when he withdrew from Holly Springs to find another way to Vicks- burg. He had ever been daring in his strategy, quick in his actions, terrible in his energy, and crushing in his blows. Yet he was never exultant, never ungenerous. And for this his foes now admired him. This helped them to bear the humiliation of defeat; this reconciled them to a new destiny; this taught them that in their conqueror they might find their most un- swerving and safest friend. So they joined their voices of praise with that of the North and the world, and helped to magnify that character which was the modest, placid centre of a wider admiration, deeper respect, and more unbounded con- fidence, than any other in military history. All that had been in Grant’s career, up to and including Chattanooga, was an earnest of what came about when the country resolved to place its fortune in the hands of a Lieu- tenant-General. So all that made up the career of that high and potential official was a prelude to a destiny which, if not so marked and exciting, was even wider, more intricate, and fraught with deeper care. He had commanded millions of armed men, had invented policies, had foreseen and foréed results, had made his cause triumphant, had dismissed his foes without anger, had conquered and appeased, won and not estranged. All the while he had grown in the confidence of those who trusted him, and in the respect of the open foe. No man had ever graduated in a more thoroughly practical school with higher honors. It would seem as if Providence had been raising up one for the great emergency of peace which, now that it was on, was to be made enduring only by the exercise of many of the qualities which gave brilliancy and decisiveness 440 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. to field campaigns, and drowned rebellion in the floods or final victory. Two years of halting, distrustful, unsatisfactory, almost discordant peace, made the country long again for a leader of catholic spirit, generous impulse, original force, firm purpose, consistent conviction, knowledge of situations, dignity of character, freedom from faction, and supreme trustworthiness. And such an one was already in the foreground. The period immediately after the suppression of the rebellion, which should have been one of rest for General Grant, was really one of labor and anxiety. The gathering of a strong force under Sheridan to bring the Confederates west of the Mississippi to terms, involved far more. The attempt to establish a foreign Empire in Mexico, under Maximilian, at a time when the back of the United States was turned, and its hands bound, was regarded as an act of open hostility. Grant took high ground in this matter, and the prompt avowal of his sentiments, together with the threat involved in Sheridan’s movement, did more to bring about a peaceful solution of the Mexican question than any diplomacy between the two countries. He may justly be regarded as the savior of our neighboring Republic from monarchical dynasty at a time when it was helpless in itself. Then came the gathering of the Federal armies at convenient places and their disbanding. This was important work. It must be done with judgment and despatch, for every day of unnecessary service meant a great loss to the government. The Army of the Potomac marched to Washington and, joined with most of the Atlantic forces, submitted to a final parade and review, It was probably the most imposing scene ever witnessed in the Capital. On June 30th, 1865, it was disbanded. The mighty hosts of citizen soldiery, which had learned and practiced the arts of war, again merged with their fellow beings in the happier pursuits of beaming peace. | Among the first questions of peace was the penalty to be PEACE. 441 paid by those who had engaged in armed rebellion against the government. Trials for treason were instituted against con- spicuous leaders, civil and military, Lee being among the latter. Grant considered that army officers who had surrendered, and privates as well, were protected by their paroles. On Lee’s appeal to him, he went to the President and not being able to reach him by argument or protest, threatened to resign his commission in the army if the paroles he had solemnly granted in accordance with the powers vested in him as commander were violated by the civil authorities. The proceedings against Lee were abandoned. To the very last Grant upheld the generous and humanitarian terms he had proposed to his con- quered foemen, and upon whose acceptance they had laid down their arms. On the 25th of July, 1866, Grant was promoted to the full grade of General in the army, a recognition of his ability and services, and a mark of honor, more substantial and better suited to his quiet tastes, than princely gift, college degree, or popular ovation. Perhaps there had not been in all the country a closer student of the work of reconstruction, now going on in a very unsatisfactory way, owing to the growing discord between the executive and legislative branches of the govern- ment. As the head of the army he stood ready to co-operate with any plan that could be agreed upon. When the recon- struction Act of March, 1867, was passed, he reorganized the military districts, chose commanders suited to each, and drafted full instructions, in which he counseled adherence to law blended with moderation and forbearance toward the Southern people. Now that the sword was no longer in his hand he would not deal blows, not even inflict pressure, but would administer law in the spirit of a thoughtful, kindly disposed magistrate. On August 12th, 1867, President Johnson made General Grant his Secretary of War ad interim. He accepted with re- 442 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. luctance, for he saw no need of removing one of “the real patriotism, firmness and ability,’ of Stanton, and even lodged with the President a written protest against it. Had he fully seen, or even suspected, that President Johnson was about to use him, the better to maintain his hostile attitude toward the Senate as a part of the appointing power, he would never have accepted. Not seeing nor suspecting this, but fearful that the place, which was at that time all important, might fall into the hands of some unpatriotic and dangerous manipulator, and further fearful that every plan of reconstruction and restoration would be broken off to the great injury of the South, he took the position, though it intensified the burdens already on his shoulders. Of the difficulties that beset his administration of the office, which he held for five months, of the embarrassments of the political situation, of the increased hostility between the President and Congress, of the development on the part of the President of a policy of reconstruction so selfish and narrow as to greatly discourage the work in hand—of these, as bearing on the political situation, we speak more appropriately in the next chapter. But as to the strict duties of his office, or rather offices, for he was both Secretary of War and General-in-Chief, he was scarcely seated till the President brought on a clash by removy- ing Sheridan from one of the five military districts into which the South had been divided. This district had New Orleans for its centre. It had grown dissatisfied and turbulent in pro- portion to the growth of the President’s hostility to Congress. Its condition made severe administration necessary, and Sheri- dan was meeting the emergency with spirit and fairness, as the laws stood. But he was dismissed by Johnson, on August 17th. Onthat day Grant put on file an eloquent protest, in which he insisted that all military, political, pecuniary and patriotic reasons were against the President’s action; that it would be a cruel blow at one who was doing his civil duties PEACE. 443 faithfully and intelligently ; that the removal would be inter- preted by factional Southern elements as an effort to defeat the laws of Congress and would embolden them to renewed oppo- sition to the government. It was all in vain. Sheridan was sacrificed, and ten days after, General Sickles, who was con- ducting affairs in the Second Military District, composed of the Carolinas, in a way to secure the confidence of all, was similarly slaughtered, in the face of an equally forcible protest by Grant. Then followed the removal of Pope, whose district embraced Georgia and Alabama _ The President gave no sat- isfactory reasons for these removals. He seemed to be dealing blind, promiscuous blows, in a spirit of spite, at the Congress and its principle and plan of reconstruction. In that they fell upon Grant’s trusted subordinates, interfered with his admin- istration of affairs, tended to anarchy, and worked only injury to those they were designed to please, it can well be seen how trying the situation became to one so anxious to preserve peace as he, and so earnestly desirous of securing to the Southern people every right accorded to them by the laws of the coun- try. Still he bore these unreasonable interferences, these ap- proaches to insult, with his characteristic equanimity, and kept steadily on instructing the new incumbents and co-operating with them in the work of restoration. Great as was the debt of gratitude which the loyal States owed to General Grant for crushing armed rebellion, all the States, North and South, were now under one equally great for his pre-eminent ability in piloting them through a chaos as dangerous to unity and happiness as war itself. When he entered the war office in August, 1867, the reconstruction acts of the previous July were just going into operation. State conventions were called to frame constitutions, voters were being registered, all the requisite steps for future membership in the Union were being taken. Whether as Secretary of War or General-in-Chief, the demands on him were momentary and 444 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. unprecedented, to apply new statutes, solve complicated prob- lems, reconcile disputed jurisdictions, settle conflicts between rival classes and opposite colors, appease bitter factions, insure order, and evoke definite policies. It was a task of wonderful delicacy and to which no man was equal, unless he had the confidence of all, a strictly judicial mind, and was the pos- sessor of powers almost imperia’ in their proportions. He must be without fear, firm and kind, broad and patriotic, and must never for a moment lose sight of the end, which was to con- struct again a solid political edifice out of the ruins of the Confederacy and fasten it to its old moorings under the national flag, where peace, contentment and prosperity should be com- mon to every citizen. He was tried not even so much by these outward difficulties as by those nearer and within. Day by day the breach grew wider between the President and Congress. He was the sub- ject of severe criticism by the Republican press for holding office under the circumstances. The President was striving to entangle him with his policy and was hampering him at every turn; indeed, was using his great name and influence as a thong with which to beat back the Congress and force submis- sion or cowardly compromise. Under all these embarrass- ments and provocations, he performed his duties with singular ability, vigor and success, made few blunders, maintained the dignity and esprit of his office, and pre- served, in the midst of intense partisan heat, a caution, patience and urbanity, which were the admiration of friend and foe alike, and without which no end but that of anarchy were possible. No period of his eventful and hard-worked life was busier. On the battle-field he had been known to write and dictate forty dispatches and orders ina day. Here the correspondence and documents which emanated from his pen were far greater in volume, and of equal importance. They all show the same PEACE. 445 keen appreciation of situations, clearness of judgment, and felicity of style. He mastered details, strove for reforms, and administered so earnestly and happily in the midst of chaotic surroundings that even President Johnson was forced to say in a message to the Senate giving reasons for the suspension of Stanton, that “Salutary reforms have been introduced by the Secretary ad interim (Grant) and great reductions of expenses have been affected under his administration of the war depart- ment, to the saving of millions to the Treasury.” His annual report to Congress was an admirable summary of what he had done in the way of placing the department on a peace footing, and init he does not fail to credit the zeal and worth of his sub- ordinates, just as when they had led their men gallantly in battle. Of the district commanders he says: “I am pleased to say, that the commanders of the five military districts have executed their difficult trusts faithfully, and without bias from any judgment of their own as to the merit or demerit of the law they are executing.” This report fully proved that he could be as exact, concise, clear and forcible in a state paper as in a field order or battle summary. Grant’s appointment as Secretary of War was only ad interim ; that is, temporarily, and until a successor could be agreed upon. On December 12th, 1867, Johnson sent a message to the Senate giving his reasons for the removal of Stanton. On January 14th, 1868, the Senate refused to sanction the removal of Stanton, and so notified the President and General Grant. Grant construed this to mean that his mission was at an end, He therefore gave the place up to Stanton. This brought him into controversy with the President, whose purposes in appoint- ing him now became plain. The controversy grew pointed and bitter, and had direct bearing on the political situation, as we shall hereafter see, as well as on the reputations of the two disputants. So fixed had the President become in his deter- mination to control the military function of the goverament, 446 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. that he could not brook Stanton’s return under the construction placed upon the tenure of office Act by Grant. He charged Grant with having promised to hold on, in spite of the verdict of the Senate, until the matter could be settled in the courts. Grant repudiated any such agreement, and told the President in cabinet meeting—here we use the language of Mr. Brown- ing a meinber of the cabinet—“that on examining the tenure of office Act, he had come tothe conclusion that if the Senate should refuse to concur inthe suspension, Mr. Stanton would thereby be reinstated, and that he, Grant, could not continue thereafter to act as Secretary of War ad interim without sub- jecting himself to fine and imprisonment and that he came over on Saturday to inform the President of this change in his mind and did so inform jum.’ Thus the question of veracity between the President and Grant may be said to be settled out of the mouth of a third party,and that of one of the Presi- dent’s friends. The President emerged from the controversy convicted of ambitions which he endeavored to support by in- ventions or perversions. He had found Grant too firm to yield to his brutal methods, too astute to be deceived further as to his aims, and altogether an overmatch for him in interpreting tive «Lentire 2Xct. One might suppose that the ungenerous and unfair treat- ment received by Grant from the President would awaken a desire for revenge should opportunity offer. But when that opportunity came, as it did soon after by the impeachment of the President, Grant proceeded quietly with the administration of his trusts as general-in-chief, and never turned aside to encourage or complicate the proceedings. He interested him- self more warmly than ever in advancing reconstruction, kept the peace as unbroken as possible, and soon saw State consti- tutions rising out of tumult, and State organizations pre- senting themselves for readmission. But for his steadiness of purpose in the midst of confusion, and the calmness of PEACE. 447 his determination to re-habilitate and restore, the country would not have witnessed the spectacle of a fully re-United States ready and willing to participate in the next election for President. CHAPTER XXII. GRANT AS PRESIDENT—FIRST ADMINISTRATION. March 4th, 1869—March 3d, 1873. ULYSSES S. GRANT, IIl., President. CONGRESSES. I 2. 3 5 2 3 Forty-first Congress; . 5 5 ss 0 < 6 4 Forty-second Congress,. ...... 4 SCHUYLER COLFAX, Ind., Vice-President. SESSIONS. f March 4th, 1869-April roth, 1869 (Extra Session) December 6th, 1869-July isth, 1870. December sth, 1870—-March 3d, 1871. March 4th, 1871-April 2oth, 1871 (Extra Session), December ‘4th, 1871-June roth, 1872. December 2d, 1872—March 3d, 1873. ELECTORAL VOTE.* REPUBLICAN DEMOCRAT. Basis of Ulysses S. Schuyler Floratio Francis P States. 127,381. Vote. Gast ltt. Colfax,Ind. Seymour,N.Y Blair, Mo. Alabama, ous. . 6 8 8 8 ati wate Arkansas, 3 5 5 5 we ret California, . 2B 5 5 5 ‘ =e Connecticut, 4 6 6 6 ws . Delaware, I 3 : < 3 3 Florida, I 2 2 = om aE Georgia, . 7 9 un ae 9 9 Mite) Ce re AoE 14 16 16 16 hae : Indiana, se. a.ns ae II 13 13 13 ashe . bg ayaAns 6 8 8 Ht} Bie +e ansas, Poe I 3 an wae Kentucky... ec (sts 9 II = ed II II Eouisianay . 3. 5 7 oe A 7 7 WMainease ac ens 5 7 7 7 Ae at, Maxvlancsseersnirs 5 7 ree cae 7 Massachusetts, . Io 12 12 12 ie ue Michigan, 6 8 8 8 me ae Minnesota, e 2 4 4 4 ore a) Mississippi, = 5 7 a ae Ae: ele Missouri, 9 II II 11 ols e- Nebraska, . I 3 2] 3 ee o Nevada, ‘ I 3 3 3 ate New Hampshire, 3 5 5 5 SF es New Jersey, .. 5 7 he “$5 7, 7 New York, : 31 33 De avie 33 33 North Carolina, . 7 9 9 9 ‘at ary Ohio, = win ae?) 21 21 21 = A: Oregon, : I 3 c : 3 3 Pennsylvania, 24 26 26 26 ose aus Rhode Island, . 2 4 4 4 Sar = os South Carolina, . 4 6 6 6 oes ore Tennessee, 8 10 10 10 oie — Texas, a hee ae SS 4 6 ee ee Vermont, 3 5 5 5 Sor - Virginia, 8 10 nus . es West Virginia, 3 5 5 5 : ee, Wisconsin, ... 6 8 8 8 Sg Totals, . 243 317 214 214 8d 80 Mba Vote.—Grant ; 3,015,071, 26 States. Seymour: 2,709,613; 8 States. Not voting, 3 States, THE CABINET. Secretary of State, . _E B. Washburne, Ill.—~ Secretary of Treasury, . : Pee Th sets Se . « Geo. S. Boutwell, Mass — Secretary:of W.atee seme wes ee eee. = ra aT eds John A. Rawlins, Ill.— Secretary of Navy, Oe 66 eh oe ede eae es +. «. « . . Adolph. EY Borie eae Secretary Ol Lnterior-momonee sn saenee i a ; Jacob DrCox; Ohio ~ Attorney-General, Ss Se ii, than ae A eae E.R Hoar, Mass — Postmaster-General, ,. 4.000. -e000+ 6 Oe ane eee J. A Creswell, Md. —= 448 GRANT AS PRESIDENT—-FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 449 The administration of President Andrew Johnson, successor to the lamented Lincoln, had not been pleasing to the Repub- lican party, whose majority was large in both Houses of Con- gress. The most important measures before the country were those looking to reconstruction and admission of the States which had seceded from the Union. The Congress claimed the right to legislate for their admission, and passed reconstruc- tion laws designed to assure to the chaotic States the protec- tion of the national government, and prescribing the terms on which they should renew their allegiance. President Johnson took issue with this method of carrying on reconstruction, and broke with his party, his claim being that there was enough power in the President to grant amnesty and insure peace, and that the seceded States ought to be left to the management of their own affairs, even though they had not as yet returned to the Union. The breach between the President and Congress widened, till the attitude of the former became one of almost open defiance, and he narrowly escaped a verdict of guilty in a high court of impeachment which sat from May 5th, to 26th, 1868. General Grant was a participant in the early part of the events which led to impeachment of the President, though not of his own volition. In nothing did the President and Senate differ so much as in the power of appointing officials to and remov- ing them from office. This led to the Tenure of Office Act, which limited the President’s power over removals from office. In the face of this act he removed Stanton from his position as Secretary of War (Aug. 12th, 1867), and, in order to disarm criticism as much as possible, appointed Grant as his succes- sor ad interim. ‘That the appointment was an excellent one all parties agreed. But it was soon seen that it was not made with the best of motives, and instead of allaying it only increased the agitation. The real point at issue was the Presi- dent’s power to remove Stanton, and this point could not be 29 450 LIFE OF “ULYSSES *S. GRANT, covered up by the appointment of a successor, no matter how acceptable he might be to all parties. Grant’s position became a very delicate one. He was thrown open to hostile criticism by friends of the President and the Senate. With no leaning toward any faction, he was receiving the cross-fire of all factions. This caused him to look closely into the provisions of the Tenure of Office Act, and he was not long in making up his mind what to do in case the Senate should refuse to concur in the President’s removal of Stanton The President hoped that Grant would hold on, notwithstand- ing any action the Senate might take, till the controversy could be settled by the courts. But Grant’s interpre- tation of the Act was that if the Senate re- fused to sanction Stanton’s removal, he (Stanton) was re-in- stated in office,and he (Grant) was out of office, and could not be made to serve. The Senate did refuse to sanction the Presi- dent’s removal of Stanton, and he as- A sumed the duties of NTON. his office again, whereupon Grant sent in his resignation. This action, in keeping with the strict letter of the law, incensed the President, who charged Grant with failing to live up to an understanding that he was to hold on to the position till the courts decided the question, or resign before the Senate could take action on Stanton’s removal, so as to place the vacant office back under the disposal of the President. SECRETARY STA GRANT AS PRESIDENT—FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 451 Grant’s reply to this charge of the President showed more feeling than any paper he had ever issued. He denied the President’s statements 727 ¢ofo, and expressed astonishment at the boldness of his charges, and then he adds: “ You know we parted on Saturday, the 11th ult., without any promise on my part, either express or implied, that I would hold on to the office of Secretary of War ad interim, against the action of the Senate; or, declining to do so myself, would surrender it to you before such action was had; or, that I would see you at any fixed time on the subject.” After going on to say that for him to have pursued any other course than the one he did would have been in violation of law, and would have subjected him to fine and perhaps imprisonment, he concludes: “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, and thus to destroy my character before the country. I am, in a measure, confirmed in this con- clusion by your recent orders directing me to disobey orders from the Secretary of War, my superior and your subordinate.” This explicit denial and spirited vindication, only incensed the President further, and added bitterness to the controversy. But, in the end, there were few unwilling to admit that Grant did right in resigning, and thus escaping lawsuit and perhaps imprisonment or, at least, a series of entanglements, which seemed inevitable had he proved as contumacious as the President wished him to. In accepting the position of Secretary of War ad interim, Grant stepped into the breach between the Senate and President, actuated solely by the thought that there was great need of its management in strict accordance with his army departments, pending a struggle which bade fair to be hot and protracted. Had he been over sensitive, or afraid of responsi- 452 LIFE’ OF (ULYSSES 5/7 GRAN. bility and personal detraction, he would have declined his doubtful ad znxterim honors, and left public affairs to drift toward confusion. But he was a patriot, and forgot his private annoyances for the public good. He took the position, and held it for five months. He resisted, with proper and decided efforts, the executive action which was daily widening the newly opened breach between the contesting sections of the country. He remonstrated against the removal of Sheridan, at New Orleans, and wrote to the President, “Allow me to say, as a friend desiring peace and quiet—the welfare of the whole country, North and South—that it is, in my opinion, more than the loyal people (I mean those who supported the Government during the great rebellion), will quietly submit to, to see the very man of all others whom they have expressed confidence in, removed.” But Sheridan “had to go.” Still Grant held on, for he saw that work had to be done. His industry while ad interim Secretary was untiring. The department needed overhauling. Retrenchment, the principa’ business of the nation for years following, was begun by Grant in a manner so judicious and thorough that it served as a model for all subsequent economists. He says, in his report, “ Retrenchment was the first subject to attract my attention.” So vigorously was the reform broom applied, that in five months of official life he worked a saving to the Government of over $6,000,000. Thus he stood, firm as a rock, amid fierce political storm and during an emergency fraught with the most alarming symptoms. The body politic was in an excited and inflamma- ble state. The least mistake would lead to deplorable results. To yield supinely to the President would have been a dan- gerous precedent in the direction of executive innovation. The hatred of the contending powers was as relentless as the hos- tility of Rome for Carthage in the olden time. It was fortu- nate, looking back to the situation from a standpoint twenty ae a a a ee a GRANT AS PRESIDENT-——-FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 453 years away, for both the liberty and integrity of the republic, that the Secretary ad interim was the real power in the land. Holding with firm grasp the army, having the profoundest respect for law, keeping step to the loyal needs of the hour, he declined to second the President in his open disregard of valid statutes, and thus by his patriotic conduct held the nation to its constitutional restraints. The subsequent per- sistency of the President led to his impeachment. All this time Republican sentiment had been shaping for the convention which was to nominate a candidate for President, and it was growing clear that though Grant had been esteemed by his grateful countrymen the only soldier worthy to bear for the second time the honors of Lieutenant-General of the Armies of the United States, occasion demanded that he receive the highest honors of State. Though not a Republican in any partisan sense, he was in accord with the spirit of that party. He was level-headed, true, and idolized by the soldier element of the community. Moreover, his knowledge of Southern character and affairs would make him an invaluable adjunct to the Congress in carrying on its delicate and difficult work of reconstruction. There was no more available man for President. The country would only be helping to pay its debt of gratitude by making him its chief executive. So strongly had the tide run in his favor, that a National Convention of Soldiers and Sailors met at Chicago, on May 19th, 1868, and nominated General Grant for the Presidency. It was composed of officers and men who had borne an active part in the great contest for the preservation of the Republic. The next day, the Republican National Convention, sitting also in Chicago, ratified the former nomination, and made him the nominee of the party.with entire unanimity and amid un- bounded enthusiasm. At the same time Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, was nominated for the Vice-Presidency. The presen- tation of Grant’s name by his companions in arms was natural 454 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and appropriate. It was but the appreciation and renewal of a leadership they had followed through the fires of war, and which had led them, amid peril, to victory and peace. His nomination by a regular convention of the party was but the recognition and ratification of a fact. Many organizations in all sections of the Union, and without reference to party, had signified their desire for his candidacy. The platform he was asked to stand upon congratulated the country on the success of the reconstruction measures of Con- gress; approved of equal suffrage to all loyal men in the South, and of the doctrine that it was a question properly belonging to the loyal States; pledged the country to redeem its promises to pay; urged equalization and reduction of taxation; favored the reduction of interest on the national debt, and gradual payment of the same; asked for economy and improvement of credit; pledged the protection of naturalized citizens, honor to soldiers, sympathy for oppressed peoples, and commended those of the Southern soldiers who had turned in to assist the cause of good government. This brief of a very important platform shows the magnitude of the questions then pending. ‘Those relating to reconstruc- tion were soon to be settled, not satisfactorily to all parties perhaps, yet so as to bring all the States back under the flag, and make them one again, as they had been before. Those relating to finance, to credit, to interest, to debt, were to be the gravest in the near future, and to exercise the skill of our best statesmen for several administrations. Thus Grant was about to strike, in affairs of state,an exigency very like that he struck when he entered the Federal army. Order was to be brought out of confusion. Policies were chaotic, and new shapes were to be given them. The extrav- agance incident to war was to be further checked by economic rules. Most of all, some principle of reconstruction was to be adhered to with strong purpose, in order to keep the GRANT AS PRESIDENT-——FIRST ADMINISTRATION, 455 gradually closing sections of the Union from drifting apart again. , — Some of his most intimate friends urged him not to accept the nomination so complimentarily tendered. They gave as reasons his inexperience in civil affairs and the probability of embroilments that might tarnish his unsullied military fame and permanently affect his historical reputation. To these he said: “All you say is plain to me. I am aware of the diffi- culties awaiting any man who takes that position with its present complications. I have no ambition for the place. My profes- sion is suited to my tastes and habits. I have arrived at its height, and been honored with a position to continue for life, with a generous compensation, and satisfactory to the highest aspirations of a soldier. It will be the greatest sacrifice I ever made to give this up for the turmoil of the’ presidential office. But if the people ask it, I must yield. For somé years the people of America have trusted their sons and brothers and fathers to me; and every step taken with them, in the period from Belmont to Appomattox, has been tracked in the best blood of this country. If now they need me to finish the work, I must accept the duty, if in so doing I lay down the realiza- tion of my most ambitious hopes.” That he had little knowledge of details in civil affairs was plain, but what a grasp of our institutions and the objects of legislation and statesmanship is evinced ina little speech de- livered at Des Moines, during a trip to the Northwest! “Let us labor for security of free thought, free speech, free press, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and equal rights and privileges for -all men, irrespective of nationality, color or religion. Encourage free schools. Resolve that not a dollar appropriated to them shall go for sectarian purposes. Resolve that neither State nor Nation shall support any insti- tution save those where every child may get common school education unmixed with any atheistic, pagan or sectarian teach- 456 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ing. Leave the matter of religion to the family altar. Keep Church and State forever separate.” This was the civilization he believed in; the civilization of learning, labor, equality of rights, and equal opportunity. The desire was uppermost to help speed 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.” While such a man was spared to America, it would not be without a defender of that dignity, equality and liberty of man whose fundamental guaranty is the constitution and its amendments. The Democratic party, in its convention, in New York City, on July 4th, 1868, nominated as its candidates Horatio Sey- mour, of New York, for President, and Francis P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri, for Vice-President. Party feeling was warm, and party ranks were solidified. There were no side issues and no third candidates. The campaign was particularly active. The points most debated were the reconstruction measures of the Republican party, and equal suffrage in connection with general amnesty to those who had seceded and engaged in rebellion. The suffrage question was a comparatively new one, projected into prominence by the helpless condition of the freedmen, and the growing probability that they would not be able to main- tain their rights as citizens without the protection of the ballot. President Johnson had forced the amnesty question on the country by assuming to pardon all applicants, and remove all political disabilities, claiming the right to do so as an executive privilege. Grant’s apothegm “ Let us have peace” did much to tone the severities of a campaign which else would have been very bitter owing to the hostility of the Republicans toward Johnson, and the warm espousal of his cause by the Democrats. “Let us have peace” rang out everywhere, in hall, on the stump, in processions, and served to exalt a sentiment into a policy. From a transparency sign it became a tribute to the sagacity GRANT AS PRESIDENT—FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 457 of its inventor; from a rallying cry it became a party tenet anda national wish. “ Let us have peace” was like balm to hearts torn by bloody strife and tired of the existing political commotion. Grant was overwhelmingly elected, and his election brought about the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Con- stitution, which was passed February 25th, 1869, and by March 30th, 1870, was ratified by three-fourths of the States. It con- ferred the right of suffrage on all citizens, without distinction of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,’ and thus settled one of the questions that had been most earnestly dis- cussed during the previous campaign. When the electoral count was had, it showed two hundred and fourteen votes for Grant and Colfax, and eighty votes for Seymour and Blair. The table at the head of this chapter shows how the States voted, and how many votes they cast. The popular vote stood: Grant, 3,015,071; Seymour, 2,700,613. President Grant took the oath of office, March 4th, 1860, and was duly inaugurated amid one of the largest assemblages of citizens seen in Washington since the Grand Army review of 1865. In it were many of his old soldiers, who lustily cheered their victorious commander, and contributed to the enthusiasm of the occasion. His inaugural was a brief but able State paper. It was tersely written and abounded in wholesome suggestions for peace and sound advice to the Con- gress and country. He had nothing but kind words for those who, in the South, were resisting reconstruction, and urged on them the necessity of speedily and freely casting their fortunes in with those of the cemented States. He took high ground in favor of economy, public credit, anda course of public affairs calculated to repair the damages of war and start the country on a new career of peace, confidence and prosperity. Laws he could never choose to defy or regard as dead letters, but would regard them as things to be enforced, holding that the rigid enforce- ment of even a bad law was the surest way to work its repeal. 458 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. The spirit of the message comported with the views of those who had elected him. Its grasp of subjects, vigor of thought, display of sterling good sense, and aptness of expression, GRANT ARRIVING AT THE peek ALLS OF THE CAPITOL. 4 showed that he had been a good student of our institutions, and a wonderful observer of passing political events. He GRANT AS PRESIDENT——FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 459 announced profound respect for the will of the people, and promised to shape his conduct and policies so as to meet their views, supply their wants, and protecttheir dearest interests. There was nothing disappointing about this first official paper of the soldier President, but everything to inspire confidence in his ability to rule as ably and wisely as he had commanded. NS mritidl n rl Mh ir SZ je” IG ttt: CE PRESIDENT GRANT. He chose his cabinet as it stands at the head of this chapter, except, that it contained the name of A. T. Stewart, of New York, as Secretary of the Treasury. The Senate promptly confirmed his nominations, all but Stewart’s. He was found to be an importer of foreign goods, and therefore ineligible. The name of George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, was 460 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. substituted. The Cabinet was regarded as conservative, which did not suit those who were yet full of the spirit of opposition to Johnson, and who feared the failure of a vigorous policy of reconstruction. Butin this they were agreeably disappointed, for the President had no intention of defeating the popular will, and soon showed that he not only understood it, but intended to keep his promise to respect it. The situation was such as to require an extra session of the Forty-first Congress. This met on March 4th, 1869, the day of his inauguration, and remained in session till April roth. It contained a large Republican majority in both branches. The great question before it was the admission of Texas, Virginia and Mississippi, which States had not yet ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, nor otherwise complied with the measures of reconstruction thus far laid down. The extra session adjourned after strengthening the hands of the Presi- dent, and making his way clear by enacting that these States should be readmitted after they had submitted their constitu- tions as they then stood to a vote of the people, and had through their legislatures ratified the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the Federal Constitution. The troubles of the new President were now to begin. Un- like his predecessor, he had no policy of reconstruction outside of the laws of Congress, and these he would enforce, however obnoxious, till they were repealed. But in this wise determina- tion he was largely headed off by the condition of affairs which Johnson’s policy had fostered, and for which it was responsible, in the Southern States. The opponents of reconstruction had there become coherent, had formed into parties, and had even got to rejoicing in the name of “Unreconstructed”” and “ Irre- concilables.” The existing State governments were denounced as “ Carpet Bag Governments,” and their upholders as “ Carpet- baggers.” To oust these became an object. As this could not be done readily by legal means, a sentiment must be “tihng ater Ce a ee * te ES ‘O ‘d ‘NOLONIHSVM LV TOLIdVO i ———— ee Ean | = ii Ze, — ——_ 462 LIFE OF ULYSSES 5S. GRANT. worked up against them, and resort was had to disorderly and terrorizing processes. Local peace did not exist. Appeals were constant for Federal interference and aid. The Presi- dent’s lot became a most unhappy one. He found his efforts to keep the peace by means of such powers as he was endowed with an exceedingly difficult work. His authority was prac- tically ignored by secret concert among those who did not dare to openly defy it. His intervention was checked by suits and appeals to test his right to execute the laws of Congress, and finally, the constitutionality of the whole series of Recon- struction acts was questioned in the highest court in the land. To act with spirit and promptitude, and without mistake, ‘amid this conflict of authority, and in the face of a defiance which was all the more vexatious because it was secret, was well nigh impossible. Yet he made few gross blunders. What he did make, he was quick to repair. He clung tenaciously to the great central idea that ““a government that cannot give pro- tection to the life, property, and all guaranteed civil rights—in this country the greatest is an untrammeled ballot—to the citizen, is so far a failure, and every energy of the oppressed should be exerted, always within the law and by constitu- tional means, to regain lost privileges and protection.” In the latter part of 1869, the Supreme Court came to his assistance with a decision to the effect that “Congress had the power to establish the relations of any rebellious State to the Union.” This decision clarified the political atmosphere greatly. It sustained the policy of Congress and the Republican ma- jority, modified the tone of the Democratic minority, changed the avowed purpose to make reconstruction a further party feature, and simplified the duties of the President. In May, 1870, Congress passed the Enforcement Act, designed to give the President fuller power to protect the freedmen in their newly acquired rights, and to punish the perpetrators of those outrages which were usually committed GRANT AS PRESIDENT—FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 463 in the night by masked bands, calling themselves Ku-Klux- Klan. This was followed by the Ku-Klux Act, in April, 1871, and by several amendatory enforcement acts, all designed to strengthen executive powers and meet new emergencies, but really tending to embarrassment. The judgment must have been superhuman that could prove unerring amid this confusion of powers, and variety of calls for their exercise. It stands to President Grant’s credit, that his administration of these numerous, confused, and often conflicting laws was, in general, moderate and wise. During 1870, all the halting Southern States renewed their allegiance, having complied with the conditions of re-admis- sion. The last one, Georgia, after hanging back for a long time with her ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, made July 15th, 1870, memorable by presenting the happy spectacle of a restored Union. Thus the general who received the surrender of the Confederate army and witnessed the downfall of the Confederacy, stood sponsor, as President, at the baptism of the new Union of States. This was the glorious consummation of his wishes, hopes, efforts, throughout a protracted struggle, in which hundreds of thou- sands of lives had been sacrificed and billions of dollars had been spent. To be presiding officer at such a moment was a matter of the greatest pride and satisfaction. He who had helped to sow stood by to gather the harvest. In his first inaugural, President Grant struck the keynote of that financial policy which was to run for several years and end in resumption of specie payments. The paragraph we quote led to the passage of the Public Credit Act, which was a com- mitment of the Government to measures of financial reform and redemption of all its promises to pay. He was elected on the basis of honest payment of the public debt, and faithful maintenance of the public credit. Thus the people had declared. 464 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Said he: “A great debt has been contracted in securing to us and our posterity the Union. The payment of this, prin- cipal and interest, as well as the return to specie basis as soon as it can be accomplished without material detriment to the debtor class, or 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 expressly stipulated in the contract. Let it be understood that no repu- diator of one farthing of our public debt will be trusted in public place, and it will go far toward 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 we now pay.” These brave and honest sentiments were echoed by the Congress in that “ Public Credit Act,’ which was at once a declaration of financial principles on the part of the Govern- ment and a beginning of that splendid financial engineering which resulted in resumption of specie payments in 1879, and in the funding and refunding of our national debt till almost the entire unpaid balance was, by 1884, carried at a rate of interest running from three to four per cent. The act read, “ That in order to remove any doubt as to the purpose of the government to discharge all its just obligations to the public creditors, and to settle conflicting questions of law by which such obligations have been contracted, it is hereby provided and declared that the faith of the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment in coin, or its equivalent, of all obligations of the United States not bearing interest, known as United States notes, and of all the interest-bearing obliga- tions of the United States, except in cases where the law has expressly provided that they shall be paid in lawful money, or in other currency than gold and silver; but none of said inter- est bearing obligations not already due shall be redeemed or paid before maturity, unless at such time United States notes GRANT AS PRESIDENT—FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 465 shall be convertible into coin at the option of the holder, or unless at such time bonds of the United States bearing a lower rate of interest than the bonds to be redeemed can be sold at par in coin. Andthe United States also solemnly pledges its faith to make provision at a practicable period for the redemp- tion of the United States notes in coin.” This may be termed the loyal creed of honesty. Grant’s serious advice and his great personal popularity, made it a chart for future guidance. And to fully understand its import- ance at the time, it must be said that there was grave doubt of the constitutionality of the legal tender acts and great fear that the national credit would receive a damaging blow. The voice of repudiation was abroad. Opponents of the national cur- rency were closely and severely construing the power which the government assumed in time of war to raise money by issuing paper promises to pay. Should the sentiment against honest payment of the national pledges assume a drift and become a party shibboleth, as was then apparent, there was no telling the depth of disaster and disgrace into which the nation would be plunged. War would have been in vain and victory robbed of its dearest results. The triumph of the Confederate cause would have been as nothing compared with the national humiliation, should financial discredit now come upon it. How faithfully Grant’s position reflected the law as well as public sentiment, appears from the fact that in March, 1870, the Supreme Court rendered its memorable decision affirming the constitutionality of the legal tender acts. This decision was generally pleasing to the Republicans, and to the credit classes. It was received, at first, very coldly by the Demo- cratic party. Notwithstanding opposition, it soon became popular, and in a little while furnished the stock in trade of that new party which sprung up called “The Greenback Party,” and which, strange to say, was largely recruited from the Democratic ranks. | 39 466 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. At the opening of the second session of the Forty-First Congress, December 5th, 1870, President Grant occupied in his message the same high ground as before on all questions of national moment. Reconstruction was then happily out of the way. The message introduced one new measure, that was the annexation of the island of St. Domingo to the United States. CHARLES SUMNER. A treaty of annexation had been negotiated between Presi- dent Grant andthe President of the Republic of St. Domingo as early as September 4th, 1869. Senator Sumner opposed this treaty and the entire policy of annexation, more through pique at not having been consulted in its preparation, as chair- man of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, than on any broad GRANT AS PRESIDENT—FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 467 grounds of statesmanship. His speech against it was a Phil- lipic against Grant. The President’s reasons for acquisition were chiefly military ones. He suggested that a naval station in the Carribean Sea would facilitate home operations in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the event of war would prove a source of protection to our entire Southern borders. Though a special commission sent to San Domingo for the purpose reported that the people were in favor of annexation, the Sen- ate could not be brought to confirm the treaty and the whole matter was dropped there; but discussion over it was carried on for a long time afterwards in the newspapers, much to the injury of President Grant, whose innocent and excellent reasons for acquisition were distorted into forgetfulness of our tradi- tions and personal desire to make foreign conquests. A matter of international moment and one in which Presi- dent Grant took great pride, was settlement of the Alabama claims controversy. These were claims made by the United States against Great Britain for damage done to American ves- sels and commerce during the Rebellion by the Alabama and other cruisers fitted out in English ports. The amount involved was large. Both nations were firm in their positions respecting them. Only the wisest counsels could prevent serious complications and perhaps war. ‘The President’s diplo- macy was happily shaped in the interest of peace. A treaty was formed and ratified at Washington, May 8th, 1871, by which both nations agreed to submit the dispute to a board of arbitrators chosen from among the leading nations of the world. Charles Francis Adams was selected from the United States; Sir Alexander Cockburn from England; Senator Count Sclopis, from Italy; Jacob Stampfli, from Switzerland; and Baron D’Itajuba, from Brazil. This board represented a new departure in international affairs. Hitherto war had been the only means of settling disputes of this nature and claims of this magnitude. Upon the success of this experiment 468 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. depended a great question in the future—the possibility of averting wars between nations by previous arbitration of their difficulties. The result was a signal triumph of the plan. The arbitration proceeded harmoniously. The Board brought in a verdict of $15,500,000, called the “Geneva award,” in favor of the United States, to which verdict England did not demur. What was known as the “ Force Bill” of Feb. 28th, 1871, reopened some of the party animosities which reconstruction had allayed. It gave to those in the Southern States the right of suit in the federal courts where they were deprived of the privileges conferred by national statutes, and aimed a blow at unlawful combinations of men, by adjudging such combina- tions conspiracies to be put down by the national army or navy. It was a delicate law to administer. A captious, arbitrary or unjust President might have found in it a terrific weapon. But President Grant handled it, as he had done all the reconstruc- tion powers, in a way to avoid oppression and so as to insure justice without violence. On May 22d, 1872, President Grant had the pleasure of seeing the spirit of the terms on which he accepted the sur- render of the Confederates at Appomattox incorporated into a National Amnesty law, by whose provisions all political dis- abilities were removed from those who had participated in the Rebellion, except officers of the army and navy, and officials of the Confederate government. This was the beginning of that series of amnesty laws, which finally lifted disability from the shoulders of all Confederate officers and officials ex- cept President Jefferson Davis. In view of the importance which the matter has since assumed, and of the fact that it bids fair to be a momentous question among parties for some time, as well as in its direct bearings on government welfare, it must be mentioned that the reform spirit which sought a change in the tenure of public GRANT AS PRESIDENT-——FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 469 office and in the manner of making federal appointments found its first executive advocate in President Grant. On March 3d, 1871, the first civil service act in the history of the country was passed, under which a commission was promptly appointed to recommend a plan of procedure. It is unnecessary to say that it was in advance of public sentiment. Let the President’s own words gathered from his messages, state his position on this new, but growthy question. “An earnest desire has been felt to correct abuses which have grown up in the civil service of the country through the defect- ive method of making appointments to office. Heretofore federal offices have been regarded too much as the reward of political services. Under authority of Congress, rules have been established to regulate the tenure of office and the mode of appointments. It cannot be expected that any system of rules can be entirely effective, and prove a perfect remedy for the existing evils, until they have been thoroughly tested by actual practice, and amended according to the requirements of the service. During my term of office it shall be my greatest endeavor to so apply the rules as to secure the greatest possible reform.” And again, when touching on the question of “Official Honesty :” “Tt has been the aim of the administration to enforce honesty and efficiency in all public offices. Every public servant who has violated the trust placed in him has been proceeded against with all the rigor of the law. If bad men have secured places, it has been the fault of the system established by law and custom for making appointments, or the fault of those who recommend for government positions persons not sufficiently well known to them personally, or who gave letters indorsing the characters of office-seekers without a proper sense of the grave responsibility which such a course devolves upon them. 470 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, A civil service reform which can correct this abuse is much de- sired. In mercantile pursuits,the business man who gives a letter of recommendation to a friend, to enable him to obtain credit from a stranger, is regarded as morally responsible for the integrity of his friend and his ability to meet his obliga- tions. A reformatory law which would enforce this principle against all indorsers of persons for public place would insure great caution in making recommendations. A salutary lesson has been taught the careless and the dishonest public servant in the great number of prosecutions and convictions of the last two years.” And then, growing more positive as his own convictions ripened, and more urgent as public sentiment became stronger, he maps very nearly the legislation of the future, thus: “Tn three successive messages to Congress, I have called attention to the subject of ‘civil service reform.’ Action has been taken so far as to authorize the appointment of a board to devise rules governing methods of making appointments and promotions; but there never has been any action making these rules binding, or even entitled to observance where per- sons desire the appointment of a friend, or the removal of an official who may be disagreeable to them. To have any rules effective, they must have the acquiescence of Congress as well as of the executive. I commend, therefore, the subject to your attention, and suggest that a special committee of Congress might confer with the Civil Service Board during the present session for the purpose of devising such rules as can be main- tained, and which will secure the services of honest and capable officials, and which will also protect them in a degree of inde- pendence while in office. Proper rules will protect Congress, as well as the executive, from much needless persecution, and will prove of great value to the public at large in the civil ser- vice of the government but it will require the direct action of ee ee ee GRANT AS PRESIDENT-—-FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 471 Congress to render the enforcement of the system binding upon my successors, and I hope that the experience of the past year, together with appropriate legislation by Congress, may reach a satisfactory solution of this question, and secure to the public service, for all time, a practical method of obtaining faithful and efficient officers and employes.” Says Commissioner Eaton, of the Civil Service Board, in his able work on “Civil Service Reform in England”: “Tt is a matter of general information, that under President Grant, a trial, beginning January Ist, 1872, was made of the merit or Civil Service system in a limited way ; the regulations, competitions and examinations being closely analogous to those so long in practice in Great Britain. One hardly need recall the well-known facts that, by reason of the imperfect support given the reform, of open hostility in various official quarters, and of the damaging examples of official infidelity on the part of some of those connected with the Administration, the new system was placed at a great disadvantage; but it is important not to forget that, despite all these drawbacks, its good effects clearly appeared, and that they are established by authority so high and direct as not to be open to question. From the report of the Civil Service Commission, submitted to President Grant in April, 1874, it appears that, upon the basis of their own experience, and of the reports of their sub- ordinates, the heads of departments, the members of the Cabinet, approved the language of the report, which stated the following as the results of the trial of the new system—that is, of the rules then in force: 7 “(1) They have given persons of superior character and capacity to the Government, and have tended to exclude un- worthy characters. “(2) They have developed more energy in the discharge of duty, and more ambition to acquire information, 472 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. “(3) They have diminished unreasonable solicitation for office. “(4) They have relieved the heads of bureaus of the neces- sity of devoting valuable time to hearing applicants for office. “(5) They have made it easier to dismiss those found un- worthy. “(6) They have diminished intrigue for removal for the pur- pose of bringing inferior persons into place. “There is no need, nor can the space be spared, to present here even an outline of the decisive evidence by which the utility of the new system was demonstrated in that report. It is enough to say that on the 18th of April, 1874, President Grant sent the report to Congress, with a special message in which he says: “* Herewith I transmit the report of the Civil Service Com- mission. If sustained by Congress, I have no doubt the rules can, after experience gained, be so improved and enforced as to still more materially benefit the public service, and relieve the Executive, members of Congress, and the heads of depart- ments from influences prejudicial to good administration. The rules, as they have hitherto been enforced, have resulted bene- ficially, as is shown by the opinions of the members of the Cabinet and their subordinates in the Departments, and in that opinion I concur.’ “The message concluded by asking for the same appropria tion for the next year that had been made for the previous year. President Grant repeated these views in his annual mes- sage of December 7th, 1874, in which he again appealed to Congress for an appropriation. But not even such unques- tioned evidence, reinforced by the request of the President, could avail in that Congress. Its members lacked faith in the higher sentiments of the people as much as they desired patronage in their own hands. Party managers clamored for GRANT AS PRESIDENT—FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 473 spoils. There was a lamentable absence of foresight and states- manship. The pledges of the past and the promise of the future were sacrificed by a refusal to make the least appropria- tion, and by treating with contempt an experiment for which the party and administrative power were responsible.” His position on the other leading questions of the time, as well as that policy which, in general, characterized his admin- istration, can best be gathered from his own lips. The extracts from his messages and speeches are necessarily brief, but they serve to show sentiment pretty fully, for he was a sententious and vigorous writer,and made himself understood by few and apt words. GRANT ON PUBLIC POLICY. If elected, “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.” His principle of action is embodied in the statement: “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.’—Leéter accepting nomination. GRANT ON EXECUTIVE DUTY. “On leading questions agitating the public mind, I will always express my views to Congress, and urge them accord- ing to my judgment; and when I think it advisable, will exer- cise the constitutional privilege of interposing a veto to defeat measures which I oppose. But all laws will be faithfully exe- cuted, whether they meet my approval or not. “T shall on all subjects have a policy to recommend, but none to enforce against the will of the people. Laws are to 474 LIFE OF ULYSSES 5S. GRANT, govern all alike—those opposed 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.” ON. PUBLIC CONTROVERSIES. “In meeting these, it is desirable 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 obtained. “This requires security of person, property, and free 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.” HIS FQREIGN POLICY. “T would deal with nations as equitable law requires indi- viduals to deal with each other.” GRANT ON CITIZENSHIP. “T would protect the law-abiding citizen, whether of native or foreign birth, wherever his rights are jeopardized, or the flag of our country floats.” HIS INDIAN POLICY. “T will favor any course toward them which tends to their civilization and ultimate citizenship.” ON INDIVIDUAL DUTY. “Task patient forbearance, one toward another, throughout the land, and a determined effort on the part of every citizen to do his share toward cementing a happy union; and I ask the prayers of the nation to Almighty God in behalf of this consummation,” & GRANT AS PRESIDENT——FIRST ADMINISTRATION. A475 ON PUBLIC EDUCATION. “The ‘ Father of his Country,’ in his farewell address, uses the language, ‘ Promote, then, as a matter of primary import- ance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge!’ The adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution com- pletes the greatest civil change, and constitutes the most im- portant event, that has ever occurred since the nation came into life. ‘The change will be beneficial in proportion to the heed that is given to the urgent recommendation of Washington. If these recommendations were important then, with a popula- tion of but a few millions, how much more important now! “T therefore call upon Congress to take all the means within their constitutional powers to promote and encourage popular education throughout the country ; and upon the people every- where 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 government a blessing, and not a danger. By such means only can the benefits contemplated by this amendment to the Constitution be secured.” ON THE TEST- OATH: “T believe that it is not wise policy to keep from office by an oath those who are not disqualified by the Constitution, and who are the choice of the legal voters; but, while relieving them from an oath which they cannot take, I recommend the release also of those to whom the oath has no application.” ON POLITICAL ASSESSMENTS. “The utmost fidelity and diligence will be expected of all officers in every branch of the public service. Political assess- ments, as they are called, have been forbidden within the vari- ous departments ; and, while the right of all persons in official positions to take part in politics is acknowledged, and the 476 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. elective franchise is recognized as a high trust to be discharged by all entitled to its exercise, whether in the employment of the government or in private life, honesty and efficiency, not political activity, will determine the tenure of office.” VIEWS ON CIVIL RIGHTS. “JT sympathize most cordially in any effort to secure for all our people, of whatever race, nativity or color, the exercise of those rights to which every citizen should be entitled.” ON THE SUCCESSION. “Past experience may guide me in avoiding mistakes, in- evitable with novices in all professions and in 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 him as executive a country at peace within its own borders, at peace with outside nations, with a credit at home and abroad, and without embarrassing questions to threaten its future prosperity.” GRANT ON MOIETIES AND FLUCTUATION. “The present laws for collecting revenue pay collectors of customs small salaries, but provide for moieties (shares in all seizures), Which, at principal ports of entry particularly, raise the compensation of those officials to a large sum. It has always seemed to me as if this system must, at times, work perniciously. It holds out an inducement to dishonest men, should such get possession of those offices, to be lax in their scrutiny of goods entered to enable them finally to make large seizures. Your attention is respectfully invited to this subject. Continued fluctuations in the value of gold, as compared with the national currency, has a most damaging effect upon the increase and development of the country in keeping up prices GRANT AS PRESIDENT-——FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 477 of all articles necessary in every-day life. It fosters a spirit of gambling, prejudicial alike to national morals and the national finances.” While the country felt it had a prudent, safe and far-sighted President in Grant, and while he was trusted by all parties and sections, as few executives ever were, some of his near advisers, and even cabinet officers, became the subject of serious, if not bitter criticism, amid which he was, for the most part, an uncomplaining and unjust sufferer. The spendthrift and speculative period of war was not yet over. While he introduced many needed economic reforms into his immediate administration, he could not influence or check that wild spirit of venture which existed in the outside business world, though he always recognized its danger as his state papers show. To keep all his official surroundings free from this reckless spirit was impossible. It would in spite of him occasionally break over the barriers and invade his admin- istration. It touched some of his most trusted officers. This he could not believe, so he clung to them, shutting his ears against charges and detractions. This was a mistake, as the sequel proved,—the mistake of trusting not wisely, but too well. But the motive was always good. Coming into civil life unprepared, save by natural extraordi- nary judgment, purity of intention and firmness of resolve, his administration brought the country each year nearer to that consummation of reduced expenses, lessened public debt, unquestioned public credit, and peace at home and abroad, to which he stood pledged in assuming executive responsibilities. If those in whom he placed confidence were unfaithful, no one of his bitterest maligners has ever yet dared to impugn his in- dividual integrity or refuse to him the qualification Aristides said, “became an official” ; and that is, “to have clean hands.” The Credit Mobilier affair, though unconnected with his GRANT AS PRESIDENT—-FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 479 administration, yet occurring near its close, served to embitter criticism of Washington methods and raise a new cloud of sensational morsels and vague suspicions. The Act of the last session of Forty-second Congress raising the President’s salary to $50,000, and the salary of Congressmen to $7500, was re- ceived by the country with such a storm of opposition that it was speedily repealed, except as to the President’s salary. The family, or White House, management of the administra- tion was always plainand popular. President Grant himself had pleasing administrative ways. He was accessible, heard patiently and well, never made promises he did not intend to keep. His home was not at first a society centre, but grew to be a desirable place to visit. It was presided over with dignity by his excellent wife, who was of plain substantial tastes and endowed with rare good sense. His family consisted of four children, three boys and a girl, all passing through a happy and healthful childhood. And thus ended the first adminis- tration of the soldier President. All in all, it had been one of purity, progress and reform, yet not one without opposition, much of which had been given a personal turn and was not free from a narrow spirit of vindictiveness. lh Md 5 oF A i C. ES , KS at ss ee se i | Bal ty ty AS Mh YI ay te) f | id Ks MI Lu iy i 2 a0 i , yeuians 4 6 poh (Not counted.) Californiave. isaet 4 6 6 6 “9 ee Connecticut, ... 4 6 6 6 “8% Delaware, cus. « « I 3 3 3 sie Rlondass =. ees 2 4 4 4 te A ee 6 for Brown. segriias gs see 8 9 II : ie 2 for Perkins, Dem., Ga. 3 for Greeley (not counted), Tin ois ets estes ee 19 2I 21 21 co: ne Indianaseccsisl «© 13 15 15 15 Ae oc a5 UGWia, seams is ee 9 II II II _* : Kansas ac alee. = 3 5 5 5 3 , Pie Kentuck = <8 8 for Hendricks, D., Ind. entucky. «sere is soe 4 for Browns Bho Louisiana, 6 8 (Not counted.) Mainergees) «ae ne 5 7 7 Fi 4,78 Marylandj.2. 0.11. 6 8 ser a 8 for Hendricks. Massachusetts, . . II 13 13 13 ee a te Michigan, 48 9 II II II at Minnesota,... 3 5 5 ee Mississippi, ... .- 6 8 8 8 ae ts 8 for Brown. Missouri;ce. 6s. 13 15 6 for Hendricks. 1 for Davis. Nebraska,.... I 3 3 3 ous aie Nevada, . aes I 3 3 3 : ae New Hampshire, . 3 5 5 5 outs ae New Jersey, .. . 7 9 9 9 Bae ys New York, Gee ¢ 33 35 35 35 “ exe North Carolina, . . 8 Io 10 10 pa ome ODIO Ate isms fo meeeO 22 22 22 eae oe Oregonyecme ars, I 3 3 B} ie one Pennsylvania,.. . 27 29 29 29 wae ane Rhode Island,.. . 2 4 4 4 = South Carolina,. . 5 7 7 7 Sits ane Tennessee, . . 10 12 Ae 35 12 for Hendricks. tLEXaS, sees fers wie 6 8 ee As 8 for Hendricks. Vermont; eur soe 3 5 5 5 ‘ ae oie Virdinias a.me ie ee 9 II 1 II bait ie West Virginia, .. 3 5 5 5 Aa er Wisconsin, .... 8 10 10 Io ae a ‘Totals. «c+ « sao? 366 286 286 * The death of Mr. Greeley before the electoral count caused the casting of h's 66 votes as scattering. The above table indicates the way they went for President. For Vice-President 482 ae ee en GRANT'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 483 THE CABINET. OR TUERE MY AMER SSP Er we Son ote shete Wiis We'd oe Hamilton Fish, N. Y. (continued). PeUPEEE ORL TOREMEVS Se. cee la Stale 6 Vela rd ee Hee bile. William A. Richardson, Mass. SMUG: SURES eke ek oom Ake joven’ 4: dp 'ePS- bs William W. Belknap, Iowa (continued). MING OMLUNDA WS cictee C tate! Al 9) tae 0.10.6, eye © us % George M. Robeson, N. J. - PREP RRE VIE SITIIPTION Sido) daw dé: bined «cake 8hee uh olte toe 22 Columbus Delano, Ohio ag PERRIER etRORCED bee fora Pte te ne ew es co ke eles Geo. H. Williams, Oregon s SI ERIE lg fei. ka oe 4.ce o chele etn 's J. A. J. Creswell, Md. ~ The Republican party and the country were so well satisfied with President Grant's first administration, that they stood ready to honor him asecond time. This was grateful to him, for he had been the mark of such bitter opposition by his political enemies as to make him feel that he needed vindication at the hands of his friends. If he were nominated and elected a second time, the fact would assure him that defamation had done him no injury, and he could always point to such a triumph as a sufficient answer to every invention of malice. Political sentiment was somewhat mixed in 1872. There had risen inside the Republican party a strong faction which cared nothing for practical politics, and which was swayed by the thought that universal amnesty ought to be proclaimed in exchange for universal suffrage. An equally large faction swung off,as early as 1870, on the idea that the Reconstruction measures were harsh, unconstitutional, and failures in their application. This occurred in Missouri. B. Gratz Brown and Carl Schurz led the faction in a legislative fight and triumphed. They calledthemselves Liberal Republicans, and their opponents Radicals. This was to be the nucleus of a new party. All the dissatisfied Republican elements came to it under the lead of Greeley and Fenton in New York, Curtin in Pennsylvania, - Trumbull in Illinois, and Charles Francis Adams in Massa- chusetts. The Democrats favored it, thinking it would disrupt the vote was still more scattered. Brown, Libera. Republican, Mo., received 47; Julian, Dem- ocrat, Ind., 5; Colquitt, Democrat, Ga.,5; Palmer, Democrat, Ill., 3; Bramlette, Democrat, Ky., 3; Groesbeck, Democrat, O.,1; Macken, Democrat, Ky., 1; Banks, Liberal Republican, Mass., 1. The 14 votes of Arkansas and Louisiana were not counted, on account of frauds in the elections and duplicate counts by two opposing Returning Boards. The popular vote was; Grant, 3,597,070; 31 States, Greeley, 2,834,079; 6 States. O’Conor, 29,408; Black, 5,608, 484 LIFE OF ULYSSES:S: GRANT, the Republicans, and many of their leaders actually joined it. It issued a call for a National Convention at Cincinnati, on May Ist, 1872, where Mr. Greeley was nominated for President, and B. Gratz Brown for Vice-President. Its platform accepted i NV Ki y\ aN) i) if AY () Mh) y Hy WO | Wy} WKAR “ YAK} i) Vid) NY AKY MiKh Wy") D\\\ Ai nn \ YANN Bat Md, eel 44044 9.4 eA fone. ED ry Z ep Zhy tL. eee Cr ef HORACE GREELEY, all troubles growing out of the war as settled, and favored reforms of various kinds and in general. The regular Republican Convention met in Philadelphia, on June 5th, 1872. There was practically no opposition to the naming of President Grant for a second term, and his choice GRANT’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 485 was a unanimous one. Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, was nominated for the Vice-Presidency. The platform vindicated the Republican policy of reconstruction, emancipation, suffrage, equal rights; asked for a humane Indian policy; a Pacific rail- road; public lands for actual settlers; protection toimmigration; sound and uniform national currency; economy; enforcement of the’ new amendments to the constitution; gradual reduction of public debt; and wound up with hearty approval of Grant’s first administration, The Democrats met in National Convention, in Baltimore, July 9th, 1872, and, by prearrangement, accepted the candidates and platform of the Liberal Republicans. A straight out Democratic Convention met at Louisville, and nominated Charles O’Conor, of New York, for President, and John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President, on an old-fashioned platform. The Temperance party was also in the field with regular candidates and a platform. The campaign was peculiar in every respect. The Repub- licans were sanguine from the start. They felt that they had an invincible nominee, and that the country would approve their platform of sentiments. The Democrats were cold toward Mr. Greeley, who had been a life-long Republican, and who, in his alienation, was pursuing a chimera. The Liberal Re- publicans bore the “heat and burden” of the campaign, their money, eloquence and effort almost alone contributing to its life and energy. The November result was a bitter disappointment to the Liberal Republicans. They had neither won themselves, nor captured their Democratic allies. “Fusion had resulted in confusion” for them, was a witty after-election saying. The electoral count showed two hundred and eighty-six votes for Grant and Wilson. Mr. Greeley died in Novem- ber, and the sixty-six Democratic electors voted for other persons. 486 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. In answer to the ungenerous charges that he had been am- bitious to succeed himself, President Grant said: “T never sought the office for a second, nor even for a first, nomination. . To the first I was called from a life position—one created by Congress expressly for me for supposed services rendered to the Republic. The position vacated, I liked. It would have been most agreeable to me to have retained it until such time as Congress might have consented to my retirement, with the rank and a portion of the emoluments which I so much needed, to a home where the balance of my days might be spent in peace, and in the enjoyment of domestic quiet, relieved from the cares which have oppressed me so constantly now for fourteen years. But I was made to believe that the public good called me to make the sacrifice. “Without seeking the office for the second term, the nomi- nation was tendered to me by a unanimous vote of the delegates of all the States and Territories, selected by the Republicans of each to represent their whole number for the purpose of making their nomination. I cannot say that I was not pleased at this, and at the overwhelming endorsement which their action received at the election following. But it must be remembered that all the sacrifices, except that of comfort, had been made in accepting the first term. Then, too, such a fire of personal abuse and slander had been kept up for four years—notwith- standing the conscientious performance of my duties to the best of my understanding, though I admit, in the light of sub- sequent events, many times subject to fair criticism—that an indorsement from the people, who alone govern republics, was a gratification that it is only human to have appreciated and enjoyed.” He took the oath of office and was inaugurated on March 4th, 1873, amid a civic display and enthusiasm which equalled in brilliancy and intensity that of his first entry to office. His GRANT'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 487 inaugural was cautious and able. Like all his state papers it discovered a clear understanding of political situations and was 4 we Sess Tek ae 32 3 20g LEAVING THE WHITE HOUSE FOR THE SECOND INAUGURATION. particularly firm respecting those measures of finance which were then engaging the statesmen of all parties. As we have 488 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. shownin the chapter on his first administration, by quoting from this inaugural, he occupied even higher ground than before on the question of civil service reform. The insane cry of “Grantism,” during the campaign, and the blind but malignant fury of those who had failed to trace a single partisan charge, or even ungracious suspicion, to his personal or official door, led him to allude feelingly to himself: ) “T acknowledge before this assembly, representing as it does every section of our country, the obligation I am under to my countrymen for the great honor they have conferred on me by returning me to the highest office within their gift, and the further obligation resting on me to render to them the best services within my power. “This I promise, looking forward with the greatest anxiety to the day when I shall be released from responsibilities that at times are almost overwhelming, and from which I have scarcely had a respite since the eventful fring on Fort Sumpter, in April 1861, to the present day. My services were then tendered and accepted under the first call for troops growing out of that event. I did not ask for place or position, and was entirely without influence or the acquaintance of persons of influence, but was resolved to perform my part in a struggle threatening the very existence of the nation—a conscientious duty—with- out asking promotion or command, and without a revengeful feeling toward any section or individual. “Notwithstanding this, throughout the war, and from my candidacy for my present office in 1868, to the close of the last presidential campaign, I have been the subject of abuse and slander scarcely ever equalled in political history, which to-day I feel that I can afford to disregard in view of your verdict, which I gratefully accept as my vindication.” And this verdict had been a most emphatic one. Those who had contributed, directly and indirectly, to it were Democrats as well as Republicans, political enemies as well as friends. GRANT’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 489 The election taught the moral that malice reacts on itself, and vituperation is not valid argument. Prone as the American people are to suspect and criticise, they yet love fair play. Washington was not blackened by false charge or slanderous epithet. Jefferson lived down all the malicious falsehoods re- specting ambition and intrigue. Jackson defied his detractors and increased his popularity amid the cruel fires of misrepre- sentation and malediction. Lincoln passed the ordeal of per- sistent misconstruction and defamation and came out pure, respected and loved. Grant, who had never had a dishonest intent, who had never failed to acknowledge and correcta mistake, had already received such vindication as the people could give at a presidential election, and such as was most gratifying to him. Further vindication he could afford to postpone, till time had softened asperities and mellowed hostile memories, and charitable, fair and exact history came along to make its record of only sterling facts. The President’s second cabinet was duly confirmed by the Senate. A comparison of it with the first cabinet will show almost an entire change, though it was nearly the same as that of the last part of his first administration. This is not to be wondered at, for in the chaos of after war times few leaders were agreed on definite and abiding policies, and it was difficult to keep about the executive centre an harmonious band of politi- cal advisers. This very fact was turned to Grant’s discredit. It of course narrowed his choice of men, and gave a show of honoring personal favorites. The unity and harmony he sought among his near advisers—cabinet officials—and without which no President can expect to succeed, were gained at the expense of broad party interests and perhaps of broader civic interests. Not that his men were not able; this no one doubted. But that they were too much of one cast of mind, too much favor- ites, too much pledged to single lines of thought and pro- cedure, In any crisis this would have been right and necessary. 490 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT; But, as has been said, sentiment was chaotic, loose. It could not bear the thought of grooves and limitations, was struggling against walled up policies. Grant's ways were those of a soldier. His advisers were lieutenants. His methods were disciplinary. Hence, without thought of his integrity or consideration of his purity of intention, that rapid and foolish cry of “ Grantism,” “Ceesarism,’ and that equally foolish fear that he would do something to make his term of office perpetual. We laugh at these things now, and wonder, in the light of the present, how there could be such a misunderstanding of clear situations and such a distortion of lucid facts. Grant’s second administration opened amid financial disaster. The speculative period after the war culminated in 1873, and there came a panic which wrecked business credit and shook faith in that of the government. It disordered public policies, disorganized parties, bred discontents, and carried along with them a flood of confusions. It made the legislation of the Congress which met December Ist, 1873, difficult. The popular idea ran in favor of inflation. It was thought that by increasing the national currency to the extent of $400,000,000, the country would be relieved of pressure and further disaster avoided. An act was passed authorizing an increase of the above amount, in the face of the fact that too much redundancy had already contributed to the speculative spirit which brought on the panic, and of the further fact that the dominant party had resolutely set its head in the direction of specie payments and a higher public credit. The Republican majority was still large in both branches— thirty-six in the Senate, and one hundred in the House. This majority was therefore largely responsible for the inflation act. Notwithstanding this fact, President Grant vetoed the bill, giving as a reason that it ran counter to the sounder sentiment which already tended toward resumption, that it was inflation without an exigency to warrant it, and that it would impair the GRANT'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 49! public credit by increasing its promises to pay. The bill could not be passed over the President’s veto for want of the neces- sary two-thirds, though a powerful minority in both parties favored it. This idea of inflation, coupled with the decision of the Supreme Court that the legal tender acts of the government were valid, became the basis of that “ Greenback” movement which soon assumed party proportions and figured so exten- sively in the State elections of 1874, and for some years after. In this veto Grant stood fast by the principle enunciated in his first inaugural. “ Fluctuation in the paper value of the measure of all values (gold) is detrimental to the interests of trade. It makes the man of business an involuntary gambler ; for in all sales where future payment is to be made both parties speculate as to what will be the value of the currency to be paid and received. J earnestly recommend to you then such legislation as will insure a gradual return to specie pay- ments and put animmediate stop to fluctuations in the value of currency.” This firmness was unpopular in the midst of depression and panic, but it was wise, as all now agree. It helped to stay the inflation furore and advance the safe, conservative business thought that the way to recover was not by plunging the coun- try deeper into debt, but by retrenchment on the part of individ- uals and the exercise of a more cautious energy. It hastened the “age of gold,’ which was then not far in the future. The President had the pleasure of signing during this term of office several tariff measures, notably that of 1874, which had been passed to remedy the too rapid reduction of duties on imports, begun in 1871-72. He was always in harmony with the protective idea, and believed that the building up of our industries and thus creating a home market for our sur- plus cereals was a wise policy as well as solemn duty. The administration found itself cramped in its Southern policy. It had for a long time been clear that the “ Home 492 LIFE -OF ULYSSES ‘S. (GRANT, Rule” sentiment in the Southern States was, in the end, bound to extinguish the local governments which existed on the strength of support given by all the people without regard to nationality, color or previous condition. Organizations called the “White League” ramified the States, and “ The White Man’s Party” had become a rallying cry. So long as this fer- ment involved only State issues and did injustice to no one, interference would have been improper. But, unfortunately, it ended in a riotous and bloody controversy in Louisiana, where two State governments, one under Kellogg, the other under McEnery, rival governors, were contending for supremacy. Several of the Republican governments, as in Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texashad called upon the Presi- dent for military aid in maintaining their positions, but this was declined except in the presence of such outbreak as the proper State authorities could not suppress. The condition of all was turbulent, demanding constant attention from the President, and presenting him a task most difficult and danger- ous. There came up to the Executive the most conflicting stories from “ Home Rulers ” and freedmen, “ White Leaguers ” and “ Carpet-baggers.” It was impossible to form an accurate judgment of the situation, and grave fears arose of a war of races. Political sentiment in the North was greatly affected by the situation, and showed itself adverse to the Republicans in 1874, when a Democratic majority was returned to the Forty-Fourth Congress. Sheridan’s report, January 10th, 1875, of the situation in Louisiana showed that a condition of war existed between the rival factions, which was beyond control of the State author- ities and called for federal intervention. On January 13th, President Grant sent a special message to Congress reviewing the contention between Kellogg and McEnery, the rival gov- ernors, who both claimed to be elected, and asking that some steps be taken to ascertain the merits of their respective claims GRANT'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 493 in the interest of peace. In the meantime the federal troops, under Sheridan, had been drawn into several ugly complica- tions with the soldiery, or rather mobs, of the factions, and had been forced to suppress riotous demonstrations, if not actual warfare. The Congress referred the whole controversy to a select committee, after deciding that the Kellogg govern- ment was the legal one. This committee investigated affairs fully and drew up the celebrated “ Wheeler compromise,” which became the basis of settlement among all the claimants for peace in the State. Thus, further bloodshed was averted, and the Executive relieved, for the time being, of the delicate task of interfering in the affairs of an inflammatory state and section. He was hardly relieved of this difficult and dangerous respon- sibility when administration circles were plunged into confusion by the trial of his Private Secretary, O. E. Babcock, for com- plicity with the “ Whisky Ring,” then undergoing investigation for corrupt and notorious practices in securing legislation favorable to its interests. He was acquitted, and resigned his position. This ring was formed in the Westin 1875, or earlier. It had not only succeeded in influencing legislation relating to the internal revenue tax, but in cheating the government out of such tax. This form of corruption, after President Grant’s order “ Let no guilty man escape,” was traced by the govern- ment detectives through all its ramifications, and resulted in some notable trials. It was tracked, as we have just seen, up to so close a friend as his Private Secretary, and the enemies of the administration sought, by all means in their power, to con- nect it directly with the frauds. But even partisan rancor failed, in the end, to smutch the President’s character and good name. This trouble had hardly passed till his Secretary of War, William W. Belknap, was charged with selling an Indian trad- ing establishment, which resulted in his impeachment. But he 494 LIFE OF ULYSSES-5.- GRANT, resigned before the time of trial, and the vote in the Senate was one of not guilty, more on the ground of a want of jurisdic- tion of his case than as a declaration on its merits. These events were very embarrassing to President Grant personally and officially. While they did not detract from the prevailing sentiment respecting his integrity, they showed that his confidence in men, and his faithfulness to trusted friends could be taken advantage of, to his detriment. He had been forewarned of the possibility that these two officials were im- plicated by rumors and hints of suspicion, but he could not strike them a blow in the face of detractive fires. He would rather tolerate them, and divide the consequences of their fall, when conviction came. than help to ruin them in advance by removing them, or asking for their resignations. This was the President’s spirit in military and civil affairs. It was right in principle, but often made him the victim of unmerited abuse. On January 14th, 1875, the President witnessed, in the pas- sage of the Resumption Act, the planting of a corner stone for that financial temple, whose erection he had advocated from the day of his first inauguration. Owing to the panic, the Greenback theorists, the unsettled state of public sentiment, immediate resumption was deemed impolitic. But to provide for it, in order to occasion a drift towards it at some future day, was the object of the act. It fixed a period four years afterwards (1879) as the time when all might hope to look on a paper promise to pay as equivalent to gold. Most extraordinary pressure was brought to bear on the President to induce him to withhold his signature from the bill. Many of his warmest personal friends were ardent infla- tionists. Eminent bankers, merchants, men with the care of great railroad enterprises, by petition, by personal appeal, by letter, by telegraph, warned him of ruin to the country by forcing resumption. GRANT'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION, 495 Prominent Republicans doubted the policy of naming a day when we should redeem. It was derided as a party dodge and visionary scheme. Not one moment did Grant waver. He felt that if the occasion slipped by, it might not come again. The bill was right. The vital interests of the country demanded that we should come back to financial sanity. The honor of the people could only be maintained by redeeming their out- standing pledges. By his act the bill became law, and because of that resumption is now an accomplished fact. It was among the last acts of special importance in his administration, and was the consummation of a recommendation made by him in his first state paper. It was the finality of the war currency ; and by this act the American people once more had a circula- tion convertible into specie, the honest, constitutional money of their fathers. We are to-day—because we had Grant for President—regarded by the world as an honest, promise-keep- ing nation. Our credit is second to that of no other power. In December, 1875, the administration was face to face with a Democratic House. The elections of 1874 had gone against it, owing to the combination of circumstances already pointed out. It is especially hard for a dominant party to stand up in the midst of financial depression. So it’ is impossible for an administration to go unscathed through panic. Both will be held responsible, however imaginarily and unfairly, for public ills. This is one of the penalties of supremacy in a Republic. In paying this penalty, supremacy learns its best lessons of wisdom, and much about the value and beauty of resignation. In inflicting the penalty, the party flushed with new triumph is in no teachable mood, and never learns its lessons till plunged into the fiery school of defeat. But this state of affairs was rest for the administration. It could advise action, shape policies. Both would be unheeded in a Democratic House. And then that House was on trial. It would precipitate nothing, do nothing. A Presidential 496 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. campaign was coming on. There should be no commitments to anything rash. Quiescence was better than agitation. There could be no mistakes, if all sat still. Thus things drifted to- ward the doubtful contest of November, 1876, and the disputed result between Hayes and Tilden. With the merits of this dispute we have nothing to do. It formed no part of Grant’s administration, except in so far as it may have been fortunate for the country that an old soldier, who had the confidence of the whole army, was in the Presidential chair at the time, and one who would have known how to act promptly, in case the warlike demonstrations threatened by some of the crack- brained partisans of the time had not turned out to be the veriest bluster. The succession of President Hayes, March 4th, 1877, relieved President Grant of Executive responsibility. It was a welcome relief, the end of a highly honorable and useful service, which had known no break since April, 1861, sixteen years before. And what a mark he had made in the nation and the world in that time. In war,and that without influence or solicitation, he arose from captain of a company to the honorary position of Lieu- tenant-General, which none had occupied, except Washington; in peace, from Secretary of War, ad interim, to President for two terms. And all the while firm in duty, trusted beyond ordinary men, abused but without taint, witnessing the objects achieved for which armies and parties strove; great in all trying places, never letting a cause go, accomplishing where others failed; witnessing the surrender of armed rebellion, starting the country on a career of prosperous peace, present at the opening of its Centennial anniversary at Philadelphia, as chief representative of a nation preserved intact by his valor, unified by his wisdom, presided over by his firm, conciliatory and enlightened sway. His was the disposition and character necessary to moor the country safely, at a distance of twelve years, from the civil GRANT’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 497 war. Atall times a man of destiny, none other, let him be what he might, could have held in such firm subjection the disturbing forces of the times, worked into such consummate order the mixed views and practices of the hour, created a larger degree of comfidence in the government, realized so much out of the sacrifices of war. Our public debt steadily decreased during his eight years of service. Engagements with the public creditors at home and abroad were solemnly kept. The public burdens were lessened in every department. Economy became a rule and extravagance an exception. Not since the beginning had the national credit been so high. Should the question be put to the American people to-day, what one of their number had been most instrumental in up- holding the supremacy of the flag on which Emancipation was written, and which was more than ever the symbol of freedom, or who in the calm of peace had done most to write on that flag the word Honor after Liberty and Loyalty, the unanimous answer would be that the great dignity belonged to Grant. 32 CHAPTER AAI. TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. ROM April, 1861, to March 4th, 1877, General Grant had been at the disposal of his country. Four of these years had been spent in active war, eight in the service of the State. He now needed rest, but to retire was not rest. He would seek rest in recreation, turn cosmopolitan, go to the ends of the earth. Fame was his sesame to the nations, his badge of favor in countries, courts and cities. No living person could feel a keener pleasure in travel, few could observe so fully and accurately. He would not make a holiday run across the waters, but a world’s journey, taking in principalities and powers under all suns, among all peoples. He went without thought of ovation or triumph, yet with the consciousness that a distinguished American citizen would be well received. He would type home character and institutions, and be a part of what they were. He would not represent his country officially, but show in the flesh what manner of man it had chosen to honor. Grant had often longed to go abroad to see, to hear, to learn, to judge. He was the greatest student of men, manners and institutions. This was his opportunity. He could gratify his tastes to the full. Never man traveled under such favorable auspices. He sailed, with his wife and son Jesse, from Philadelphia, on the steamship Indiana, of the American line, from the port of Philadelphia, on May 17th, 1877. That he carried the best wishes of the American people with him was clear from the 498 TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 499 character of the parting demonstrations. They were frequent, long and hearty. Those on the part of Philadelphians were particularly flattering. Five hundred persons on a special steamer saw him to the ocean vessel. A smaller steamer car- ried his wife and her special escort to the same destination. While sailing down the bay, as far as New Castle, the Grant guests partook of lunch. They embraced the most distin- guished citizens, representatives of the army, navy, national, state, and municipal administration, the industries, sciences and professions. The toast, “The honored guest of the day,” was proposed by the Mayor of Philadelphia, and Grant was called on to respond. He said: “I had not expected to make a speech to- day, and therefore can do nothing more than thank you, as I have had occasion to do so often within the past week. I have been only eight days in Philadelphia, and have been received with such unexpected kindness that it finds me with no words to thank you. What with driving in the park, and dinners afterward, and keeping it up until after midnight, and now to find myself still receiving your kind hospitality, I am afraid you have not left me stomach enough to cross the Atlantic.” Among those who responded to toasts and contributed to the eclat of the occasion were General Sherman, Hamilton Fish, Zach. Chandler, Geo. M. Robeson, Simon Cameron, Gen- eral Bailey, Governor Hartranft, the Mayor of Philadelphia, etc. When the ex-President’s steamer approached New Castle, the point where the Indiana was waiting to take the ocean voyagers aboard, General Grant was called upon for a parting sentiment. He spoke solemnly, and as if much moved by the homage he had received: “ My dear friends, I was not aware that we would have so much speech-making here, or that it would be necessary for me to say anything more to you; but I feel that the compliments you have showered on me were not 500 LIFE: OF- ULYSSES S. GRANT. altogether deserved. They should not be paid to me, either as a soldier or civil officer. As a general, your praises do not all belong to me; as the executive of the nation, they are not due tome. There is no man who can fill both or either of these places without the help of good men. I selected my lieuten- ants when in both of these positions, and they were men who I believe could have filled my place often better than I did. I never flattered myself that I was entitled to the places you gave me. My lieutenants could have acted perhaps better than I, had the opportunity presented itself. Sherman could have taken my place as a soldier, or in civil office; and so could Sheridan and others that I could name. Iam sure that if the country ever comes to this need again, there will be men for the work; there will be men born for every emer- gency. Again I thank you, and again I bid you good-bye ; and once again | say that if I had fallen, Sherman and Sheridan, or some of my other lieutenants, would have succeeded.” This speech is noteworthy as a key to the inner heart of Grant. He seldom chose his lieutenants wrongly, he never deserted them after choice. He was not greater in his own estimation than any subordinate. All might have been his equal or superior had fortune favored. There was no jealousy, no acrimony, in his army or civic associations. He was plain, ingenuous and true. He did not assume honors, but divided them with all beneath him. Burdens he frequently assumed which he might often in justice to himself have similarly divided. It is the key furthermore to all the sentiments he expressed abroad amid dignitaries, in courts, before crowned heads and purpled shoulders. If he was honored, it was not he, but his country. If called a hero, it was not he, but his lieutenants, his men. If favored, however much or often, it was not he, but the institutions he saved from wreck. He ever lost sight of Grant amid fete and honor and homage. Heever made his TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 501 country the subject of honor and mention. Privilege was not his but his nation’s, There was no ego, no narrowness, no selfishness in word or act while he circled the globe and saw the splendors and powers of organized humanity. In the midst of these hearty congratulations, and with the best wishes of a peaceful, united and happy people, he em- barked on his ocean vessel and sailed for foreign lands. The incidents of the voyage were those of an ordinary passenger who has dared the deep for the first time. A little more respect, a fuller mention of habit and conversation, a deference due to greatness, these mark the trip of ten days as ocean voyager. When Queenstown was reached a storm was raging. This did not prevent a deputation sailing out to meet him whose cheers and words of welcome were heard above the roar of billows. The General expressed regrets at his inability to land and receive the hospitalities of the city which were ten- dered him with true Irish heartiness, but promised to return to the green isle in a short time. The vessel ran on to Liverpool, and on May 28th the Gen- eral was received by the entire people with cheers and every demonstration of delight. The authorities of the city, aug- mented by deputations of officials from London and other interior places, received him in a tug and escorted him to the landing. The farewell cheers from the passengers on the Indiana were mingled with those on shore, and altogether the scene, under an unusually bright sunlight, and on waters that seemed calm for the purpose, was one calculated to inspire every participant. The Mayor of Liverpool received him in stately style and with a formal address, The hospitalities of the city were extended in honor to a great statesman and soldier. Grant’s reply was characteristic. It was not he that was receiving honor, but the warm expression of feeling attested England’s 502 LIFE OF ULYSSES 5. GRANT, regard for the United States and for that citizenship of which he was an humble exponent. The Mayor was visited by the traveling party. The docks were viewed by steamer. They were formally received in the town hall. Fetes were held, with their concomitants of dress, equipage, toasts and speeches. Everything was done to make his visit pleasant and to show how sincerely the British people welcomed their illustrious guest. Meanwhile, England herself was responding. Cities were making ready for prospective visits. The press, with one accord, favorably reviewed his military and civic record and acknowledged that the most distinguished citizen of the age, and the world was in their midst. Respect was unstinted. One journal declared that he was “worthy of every possible attention. His name is so closely interwoven with recent events in the United States, that not only in America but throughout Europe, he is entitled to respectful treatment in a degree which it is the lot of but few to command.” On May 30th, General Grant with a distinguished party of guests left Liverpool for Manchester, where they were received by the Mayor, Aldermen and citizens with the warmest ex- pressions of kindness. After visiting the factories of this busy place, and all the points of interest, a formal reception was extended in the town hall, at which the Mayor and other dig- nitaries made congratulatory addresses. General Grant ten- dered his acknowledgments thus: “It is scarcely possible for me to give utterance to feelings evoked by my reception from the moment of my arrival in Liverpool, where I have passeda couple of days, until the present. After the scenes I have witnessed in your streets, and the elements of greatness as manifested in your public and industrial buildings, I may say no person could be the recipient of the honors you have bestowed on me without the profoundest feeling. Such have been incited in me, and I find myself inadequate to their TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 503 proper expression. It was my original purpose to hasten from Liverpool to London, and thence to visit various points of interest in this country. Among these I have regarded Man- chester as most important, on account of its manufactures, many of which find ultimate market in my own country. And I am aware that the sentiment of the great mass of the people of Manchester went out in sympathy to that country during the mighty struggle in which it fell to my lot to take an hum- ble part. The expressions of your people during that great trial incited in the breasts of my countrymen a feeling of friendship toward them distinct from that felt toward all Eng- land, and in that spirit I accept on the part of my country the compliments paid me as its representative, and thank you.” A banquet was then spread and the reception was completed amid toasts and speeches, and the greatest cordiality and good cheer, after which the General was introduced to the assemblage and a scene of handshaking and personal welcome followed. The next day was spent in visiting the various manufacturing and industrial centres under the auspices of business committees, and then came formal leave-taking at London Road Station, amid a mass of humanity and deafen- ing cheers. Along the line of road the stations were deco- rated, and the towns turned out ez masse to catch a view of the General, if possible, if not, of the train which bore him. Dinner was taken at Leicester, under the auspices of the Mayor. At Bedford the Mayor welcomed him, terming him the Hannibal of the American armies and praying that he might be spared to enjoy the honors and rewards which might be heaped on him. The response of Grant was brief but apt. Flowers were tendered Mrs. Grant. At the terminus of the Midland Railway another enthusiastic welcome was in store for him and his party. Minister Pierrepont and Lord Vernon met them, and they were driven in carriages to Mr. Pierre- pont’s residence. 504 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, After a day of rest, General Grant (June 2d,) visited the Prince of Wales and was invited to go to Epsom. The trip was taken with the Prince and a large party of notables, and he was greeted with a series of ovations. In the evening he was entertained at a grand banquet given by the Duke of Wel- lington at Apsley House. The banquet was served in the famous Waterloo Chamber, where the old Iron Duke loved to meet his war generals annually. It was a splendid and hearty reception attended by lords and ladies of highest rank. The General was asked his opinion of the races at Epsom. He replied: “ There is an impression abroad that Iam a great horse racer and fond of horses. I really know nothing of races, having 'seen only two—one at Cincinnati, in 1865, another at Jerome Park in 1867. I am not therefore qualified to judge.” On the next day, Sunday, the General attended services at Westminster Abbey to hear Dean Stanley preach. In the midst of his sermon he alluded to the distinguished visitor present thus: “In the midst of our congregation is one of the chiefest citizens of the United States, who has just laid down the sceptre of the American Commonwealth, and who by his mili- tary power and generous treatment of his adversaries has restored unity to the country. We welcome him as a sign and pledge that the two great kindred nations are one in heart and are equally at home under the paternal roof. Both regard with reverential affection this ancient cradle of their common life.” On the evening of June 5th,a grand reception was tendered by the American Minister, Edward Pierrepont, at his mansion. At least a thousand persons were present, representatives of the best English and American society in London. Among the former were Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, John Bright, Lord Houghton, Marquis of Lorne, the Lord Mayors, representa- tives of law, medicine, church, literature, the press and foreign nations. “ Everybody was there,” says a vivacious writer, “and _— =—=S= SS BL qf. WY My iit HIT aay, We Le yift J Ss “SSS jet Uy My Wad Mie) f i if 595 PRINCE OF WALES 506 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. saw in General Grant a first-class lion of the evening. He is attired in plain evening dress, conspicuous for its plainness among the stars, garters, and ribbons worn for the occasion. Every one remarks ‘How well he looks!’ ‘ He looks like a soldier, said a viscountess at my side. So flowed the stream of conversation, while he who was the subject of it all stood with a bearing as composed as when in ‘Old Virginny’ the drums beat to action and the boys went marching along.” In speaking of this reception the General afterward said: “ T am deeply indebted to the American Minister for this recep- tion, and the pains he has taken to make my stay pleasant, and the attention extended to our country. I appreciate the fact, and am proud of it, that the attentions I am receiving are more for our country than for me personally. I love to see our country honored and respected abroad, and am proud to believe that it is by most all nations, and by some even loved. It has always been my desire to see all jealousy between England and the United States abated and every sore healed. Together they are more powerful for the spread of commerce and civil- ization than all others combined, and can do more to remove causes of war by creating moral interests that would be so much endangered by war.” On June 8th, General Grant was received by the Mayor and citizens of Bath. He dined with the Duke of Devonshire, where he met over fifty members of the House of Lords and Commons. He then went to a reception at the house of General Badeau, where he again met Gladstone and other dignitaries. The next day he lunched with Lord Granville and dined with the Marquis of Hertford. The freedom of the City of London was bestowed on him June 15th. This was no common honor, having been con- ferred on few before. This was followed by a reception given by the corporation of London. This had all the formalities of a Lord Mayor’s day. Spectators were gathered by the tens of fe sc Pe 5°07 GLADSTONE. WAY SAR A\ AN \ AN SS SN \ | \ ' | \K\\ | | | HY ") A S | \ \ " \\\ W\ ANNA \ KY} 508 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, % thousands. General Grant, in company with the American Minister and several friends, proceeded in a carriage to the Mayor’s Hall, where he was received by aldermen, council- men and ladies, the band playing “ Hail Columbia.” The Mayor’s speech of welcome was cordial and eloquent. It was responded to with feeling by the General, for the honors were unique, and extended with a heartiness, and amid a gorgeous- ness which greatly impressed him and his companions. A banquet was given at which one thousand guests sat.down, composed of the best representatives of English official life. After a toast to “The Queen” came one “To General Grant,” proposed by the Lord Mayor, whose speech was felicitous. He said: “ As Chief Magistrate of the City of London, I offer you as hearty a welcome as the sincerity of language can convey. Your presence here as the late President of the United States is specially pleasing to all classes of the community, and we feel that although this is your first visit to England, it is nota stranger we greet, but a tried and honored friend. Twice oc- cupying the exalted position of President of the United States, and therefore one of the foremost representatives of that country, we confer honor upon ourselves by honoring you.” Here a gold casket containing the parchment conferring the freedom of the city was formally presented. The General’s reply was emotional and brief. His thanks were profound for unexpected and unusual honors, and his words inadequate to express his feelings. After other toasts, speeches and formalities, the large, brilliant and enthusiastic assemblage, broke up with three rousing cheers for “ General Grant and the United States.” A visit was then paid to the Crystal Palace where thirty thousand people received the “American General” with cheer after cheer. Inthe evening he visited the Queen’s corridor of the Palace to witness the display of fire works in his honor. In this brilliant display he witnessed his own portrait anda picture of the Capitol at Washington. On the following day he TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 509 dined with the Princess Louise. On June 18th, he had his first breakfast entertainment in England, given by Geo. M. Smalley, correspondent of the N. Y. Tribune. This was a spicy and homelike occasion, made brilliant by such a galaxy of poets, authors and correspondents as had never before been gathered in “ Merry England.” The Reform Club received him in the evening. This was a very select affair, attended only by notables with liberal ideas, scholarly, titled gentlemen, who represented the advance guard of British thought. Earl Granville proposed the health of the Queen, and Right Hon. Wm. E. Foster responded. He pro- posed, in order, the health of “the illustrious statesman and warrior, General Ulysses S. Grant,” in a pithy speech, in which he said: “ England and America, nay, civilization throughout the universe, recognize in General Grant one of those extra- ordinary instruments of Divine Providence bestowed in its beneficence to the human race.” : The General rose to reply, amid a storm of applause, and said: “Iam overwhelmed with the kindness shown by Eng- lishmen to me and expressed to America. I regret that Iam unable to express my thanks for the manifold fraternal courte- sies I have received. Words would fail, especially within the limitations of a public speech, to express my feelings in this regard. I hope when an opportunity is offered me of calmer and more deliberate moments to put on record my grateful recognition of the fraternal sentiments of the English people, and the desire of America to render an adequate response. Never have I lamented as now my poverty in phrases to give due expression to my affection for my mother country.” The cheering was almost continuous during the delivery of the speech, and at its conclusion the speaker’s health was drunk amid deafening applause. On the evening of the 1oth, the General, Mrs. Grant and a number of other guests dined at Marlborough House with the 510 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Prince of Wales, where he met the Emperor of Brazil. Forty sat down to table, and the Ex-President occupied the post of honor. At midnight the General visited and inspected the office of the London 7Zzmes, and was wonderfully interested in the machinery of that extensive establishment. On the 20th, he dined with Lord Ripon, and on the 21st with Minister Pierrepont, where he again met the Prince of Wales. On the 22d, he was received by Mrs. Hicks, an American lady, and in the evening witnessed the opera of “ Martha,” at Covent Garden. As a compliment to the General and his wife, Mlle. Albani sang “The Star Spangled Banner,” the entire audience standing. On June 23d, The Trinity Corporation tendered him a ban- quet at Tower Hall, presided over by the Prince of Wales, and attended by Prince Leopold, Prince Christian of Schleswig- Holstein, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimer, Duke of Wellington, Earl Derby, and others. The Prince assured the General, in the name of all loyal subjects of the Queen, of his welcome to the country. The General thanked the distinguished hosts for their compliments. Other days were spent in visiting and re- ceiving honors, till the occasion of the Queen’s reception. The invitation ran as follows: “The Lord Steward of her Majesty’s household is com- manded by the Queen to invite Mr. and Mrs. Grant to dinner at Windsor Castle, on Wednesday, 27th inst., and to remain until the following day, the 28th of June, 1877.” The invitation was accepted. The Queen, surrounded by her Court, received the General in the grand corridor leading to her apartments in the Quadrangle. Dinner was served in the Oak Room. The guests represented every branch of royalty and the highest places of power. It was the most notable and formal of the receptions tendered their distinguished guest by the English people, yet it lacked nothing of genuine heartiness, ie ! SII QUEEN VICTORIA. 512 LIFE OF: ULYSSES S. GRANT. By the evening of the 28th, General Grant was back in Liverpool to attend, according to previous promise, a dinner from the Mayor and Corporation. This was a happy affair, in which toasts were frequent and speeches eloquent. On the 29th, the General met the journalists of London at the Gros- venor Hotel, and partook of an enjoyable dinner, amid toasts and hearty words of welcome. On July 3d, he received a deputation of the representative workingmen of London, who presented their address handsomely engrossed on vellum. His reply was earnest and eloquent, and to the effect that no recep- tion had given him more pleasure. On the same evening, the officers of the English Army and Navy received him at the United Service Club. The dinner was presided over by the Duke of Cambridge. On July 4th, our national birthday, observances of a purely American type were held at the American Embassy, in which General Grant and a large number of his countrymen participated. It was a brilliant and almost strictly American affair, and the last of the agreeable and highly flattering receptions which had served to show the warmth of the English welcome, and had con- tributed so much to the pleasure of the General’s visit. On July 5th, General Grant and party left London for Ostend. Arriving there, they were tendered the use of the royal car to Brussels. Stopping, on the way, at Ghent, they took a brief run through the venerable city, and arrived in Brussels on the evening of the 6th of July, where his name was recorded in the Livre d’ Or of the Hotel de Ville. On the 7th, King Leo- pold, of Belgium, called on the General, at his hotel, and had a long talk. This visit was returned, on the 8th, at the King’s © palace, where a rich banquet was given to a number of select guests. On July oth, the General and party left Brussels for Cologne, carrying pleasing impressions of their Belgian visit. This journey was performed in the King’s railway carriage. Here TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 513 they were formally received by the civil and military authori- ties, and visited the wonderful Cathedral, the artistic bridges, and the many points of historic interest, even making the famous tour of the Rhine as far as Coblentz. On July 11th, Wiesbaden was visited; and on the 12th, Frankfort, money centre of the continent, where a fete was held in his honor in the Palmer Garten. On the 13th, he went to Homburg, and drove thence to Salburg to view the old Roman camp there. In the evening there was a dinner at Homburg, followed by a grand illumination of the beautiful gardens of the Kursaal. That night he returned to Frankfort, and on July 15th, left for Heidelberg, whence the usual tour was made to Baden and the Black Forest. Then the party proceeded to Lucerne, Interlaken, Berne, and thence to Geneva, where it arrived on July 26th. At all points the people received the General with enthusiastic demonstrations. At Geneva he had the pleasure of laying the corner stone of the new American Episcopal Church, on July 27th. Ata public dinner the same evening, the General, in reply to the speech of welcome, said: “I have never felt myself more happy than among this assembly of fellow republicans of America and Switzerland. I have long: had a desire to visit the city where the Alabama Claims were settled by arbitration without the effusion of blood, and where the principle of inter- national arbitration was established,which I hope will be resorted to by other nations, and be the means of continuing peace to all mankind.” i Mt. Blanc, which was illuminated in his honor, was visited. The Simplon Pass was crossed and a tour made into north- ern Italy. By August 14th, the distinguished party were back to Ragatz and enjoying the baths there. Then a tour was made through Alsace-Lorraine, doubly interesting to Ameri- cans by what befell them as French Provinces during the Franco-German war. Here, Metz, Strasburg, Gravelotte, 2 514 LIFE*OF ULYSSES S.\ GRANT. Sedan, and all the points of beauty and historic interest were visited, and a study made of that wonderful German invasion, in 1872, which robbed Napoleon III. of a throne and cost France her two prettiest provinces and billions of money. Returning from the continent Grant and his party made their promised visit to Scotland, arriving in Edinburgh August 31st. He became the guest of the Lord Provost, and was presented with the freedom of the city. At the banquet in his honor he replied to the Lord Provost’s speech as follows : “T am so filled with emotion that I hardly know how to thank you for the honor conferred on me, by making me a burgess of this ancient city of Edinburgh. I feel that it isa great compli- ment to me and my country. Had I eloquence, I might dwell somewhat on the history of the great men you have produced, or the numerous citizens of this great city and Scotland that have gone to America, and the record they have made. We are proud of Scotchmen as citizens of America. They make good citizens of our country, and they find it profitable to themselves. I again thank you for the honor you have con- ferred on me.” The General visited all the places of interest in Edinburgh, including Walter Scott’s birthplace, Holyrood Palace, house of John Knox, Arthur’s Seat and the castle, where he was received by Col. MacKenzie, of the Ninety-eighth Highlanders. In the evening the General dined with the Lord Provost, where he met Major-General Stewart and other high officers in the British army. On Saturday, September Ist, he visited the Tay bridge, and the training ship Mars, where he was received with flying flags, music and cheers. Hethen steamed to Dun- dee and Tayport, and returned to Edinburgh on Monday, when he visited the famous Abbottsford and Melrose Abbeys. On Tuesday, Sept. 4th, he visited the Duke of Sunderland, at Dun- robin. On the 6th he attended the agricultural fair at Dornock, and on the 7th visited Thurso Castle, and Inverness, where’ TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 515 the Provost received him with an address in which he stated that the Highlands had strong claims on the General who bore the name of a well-known and highly respected clan. At Granttown he was welcomed to the “home of the Grants.” On September 11th he visited Elgin and Wick, and was form- ally received by the authorities. On September 13th, Glasgow was visited, and the freedom of the city was presented in the Town Hall before an immense audience. Thespeeches on this occasion were full of allusions to America and Grant’s great part in establishing universal freedom. His reply was among the best he delivered while abroad. On the 14th he visited Ayr, the home of Burns, and afterward Inverary, where he was the guest of the Duke of Argyle, for whom he had a great respect, and with whom he contracted a warm friendship. Returning to England, he visited the manufacturing districts of Newcastle, Sheffield, Sunderland, and Birmingham, with diversions to Leamington, Stratford on Avon and Warwick. Everywhere through these busy centres he was received with hearty welcome, and every- where he responded to the assembled multitudes in brief, apt and forcible speeches. He remembered this part of his jour- ney abroad with the greatest interest. It was striking evi- dence of the warmheartedness of the working classes, and . showed that his name and fame rested on an admiration far more substantial than that of flitting court or hollow official life. Everywhere the towns were decorated in his honor and the citizens were out e7 masse and in holiday attire. From Leamington he ran to Southampton to visit his daughter, Mrs. Sartoris. Here he rested till October 1oth, ’ when he went to Birmingham, where he was received with the greatest warmth and happiest allusions to his American policy and efforts at international arbitration. On the 22d he visited Brighton, and on the 23d of October, returned to London. 516 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. On October 27th, 1877, the General, wife and son left Char- ing Cross Station for Paris. A great crowd was gathered to see the illustrious visitors off. At Folkstone where the steamer was taken to cross the channel, an official reception awaited them. Then they bade good-bye to “ Merrie Eng- land” and landed at Boulogne, where they were welcomed in the name of ‘““The Marshal of France.” Cars were taken for Paris, where the General was welcomed by the American Minister, Consul General, and an Aide-de-Camp of Marshal McMahon. Here he stopped at the Hotel Bristol. It would be impossible to give a detailed account of the many honorary receptions tendered to General Grant while in Paris. His stay throughout was a pleasant and profitable one. But while he visited every place of historic and political inter- est—the Quartier Latin, the heights of Montmartre, the Champs Elysées, L’Arc de I’Etoile, the obelisk of Luxor, the Tuilleries, the Place de la Concorde, the Louvre, the Notre Dame de Paris, the Bastile, the Palais Royal, the Galleries, the Column Vendome—the streets themselves were his main attractions, as being full of freedom and life. He was regally entertained by the American Minister, General Noyes; by Healey, the artist, and other functionaries and civilians. The American colony in Paris made him their guest, and added much to his comfort, by introducing him to French ways under the familiar garb of American speech. In the midst of this colony he lived a month, and early in December departed for the south of France, to Villafranche, where the American government had placed at his disposal the man-of-war Van- dalia. On December 13th, the General, his wife, his son Jesse R., and a party of friendly tourists, embarked on the Vandalia and steamed toward Italy. On December 17th, the Vandalia anchored in the beautiful Ray of Naples. The General and his wife landed and made a tour of the city of Naples! On Tuesday the 18th, Vesuvius YI ENG) Ul Wy y <4 ELM YA Nh, Vy LY, YT, Whiff i) Yi YY fo “Vii v 7 SONS V4 Ks y Upp YE: Sp a LIS: GS BPA MARSHAL McMAHON, 517 518 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. was visited. There was first a long drive amid beggary and importunacy. Then came the gibbering guides, each intent on a bargain, then the long ascent. To look into the crater was the ambition of the entire party, and to stand where Pliny had lost his life, where Decius had fought and Spartacus had encamped, The laborious ascent is slowly made, up, up, amid fantastic lava streams and horrid shapes, but all the time gain- ing a more glorious view of the city, the bay, the sea. Sight of the seething crater repaid the journey a thousand fold. There was chaos, wild, unformed and active as before the fiat went forth, “ Let there be light.” The descent was scarcely accomplished before nightfall. Naples, Capri, Ischia, Mise- num, Sorrento, the magnificent expanses of bay and sea, were as indelible memories, genuine coins of venture. Pompeii was visited on the roth. There the excavations were going on, and the city which had lain buried since A. D. 79, Was giving up its secrets—its secrets of riches, fashion and death. Of these the General was a curious observer and in- terested student. He visited all the excavated parts—the am- . phitheatre, the forum, the temples of Jupiter and Venus, the Exchange, the tombs, the modern museum which holds all the curiosities that are not spirited away to other countries. The Italian authorities directed that a house should be excavated in honor of the General’s visit, and in his presence. Chairs were brought and a group was formed to witness the unearth- ing of grain, bread, cloth, paper, and various household uten- sils that had been in use seventeen centuries ago. The find was not large, but the operation was sufficient to show what treasures of history and art lay beneath the Vesuvian ashes. On December 23d, the General and his party arrived in Palermo. The officials of the Vandalia dedicated their Christ- mas festival to Mrs. Grant, and a royal time was had, with the sood lady as queen of the feast, and proposer of the toast ‘ Loved ones at home,” which was drunk with a silent prayer TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 519 and devout amen. Inthe evening the ships in the harbor blazed with fireworks and cheers went up in honor of Grant, the illustrious American visitor. The next day was given to official visits, to recognition of a few of the many invitations received the day before, and to sight seeing. The Chateau La Favorita was visited, the Madonna, and all the sad beauties of a decadence which is eloquent of a glorious past. Sail was set for Messina, which was passed, and then Reggio, the Rhegium of the New Testament. Then Etna, wrapped in snow, remained in sight for a whole day. On the 28th, Malta was reached, amid such a gale as must have welcomed Paul. Here the Duke of Edinburgh came from the “Sultan,” an Eng- lish iron clad, to pay his respects to the General. He was afterward received by the Duke at the palace of San Antonio, and by the Governor-General of Malta at a state dinner. In the evening the opera was visited, where ‘The Star Spangled Banner,” was sung in honor of the illustrious visitors. Though the hospitalities were lavish, the stay of the party was necessarily brief. They sailed away, listening to “Auld Lang Syne” played by the band on board the “ Sultan.”” Alexandria is their destination. Egypt welcomes the party with the American national airs and the thunder of cannon. It is January 5th, 1878, when the vessel casts anchor off the fortresses which, in 1883, were so quickly silenced by British ironclads. There wasa right royal reception on board, given by visiting admirals, generals, pachas, beys, missionaries, etc. The General was welcomed to Egypt in the name of the Khedive, and a special steamer up the Nile was placed at his disposal, with the privileges of the palace at Cairo. The reception cere- monies at Alexandria were formal and elaborate, and thoroughly enjoyed by the respective participants. ‘The General did the bewildering town on foot and quite lost himself amid its mazes. On the 8th, they bade good-bye to the “ Vandalia ” for a time, and took a train for Cairo, where they arrived after a ride of 520 LIFE. OF ULYSSES: S...GRANT; four hours. The Khedive extended a welcome through Gene- ral Stone, an old graduate of West Point, and a former friend and academy mate. The hospitalities of the place were again extended and accepted. The next day the visitors made a formal call on the Khedive, and were received in state. The call was then extended to the Khedive’s two sons. These for- malities over, the welcome was made perfect by various recep- tions and public dinners, till the time for making further tour of the Nile by boat came. A steam vessel is at hand, placed there by the Khedive’s orders. The party embark and proceed to indulge their visions of the old, the scriptural, the oriental civilization. The boat is called “ The Light of Two Rivers.” It is long, narrow and rickety. One would think a stauncher boat better fitted for that difficult navigation. At night it is run ashore and tied to a stake driven in the bank. At every stopping place, Bedouins cluster, seemingly coming out of the ground to form a fireside group. Progress is slow. Scenery monoto- nous. It would be dull, but for the pleasantries aboard and the glorious sunrises and sunsets. On January 19th, Siout, or Assiout, is reached, and visited. All the town seems to know of the coming of the Americans, for it is alive to such an extent that transit is difficult. Only by dint of extreme persistency could the visiting party, mounted on donkeys, make headway through the throng of fakirs, beggars and sightseers. Leaving this town of adobe, or mud, hovels, the tombs beyond were visited, and a first glimpse was had of the sepulture of the olden times, where the mummied dead rest in their rock enclosures, and where the vandalism of modern times has erased sacred mottoes and torn sepulchral enclosures. In the evening an entertainment was given by the Consul, and General Grant was welcomed by the simple- minded Moslem as “ The King of America.” This did not matter, however, as the official placards corrected the error by TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 521 announcing a “Welcome to General Grant.” The entertain- ment was orientally novel, but sumptuous and sincere. All were surprised when the son of the host addressed the guests in fair English, concluding thus: “The only two great wars upon which she (America) has engaged were entered upon for pure and just purposes—the first for releasing herself from the English yoke and erecting her independence, the other for stopping slavery and strength- ening the union of States. And well we know that it was mainly, under God, due to the talent, courage and wisdom of his excellency General Grant that the latter of the two enter- prises was brought to a successful issue.” In response the General thanked all for their kindness, and the young orator especially for his speech. Nothing in all their travels had so much impressed the party as the heartiness of their reception in the heart of Egypt. By January 21st, Girgel was reached, where donkeys were taken for Abydos, whose splendid ruins are regarded as the cradle of the civilization of the world. They date back to Menes, the first of the Egyptian kings, who reigned B.c. 4500, and the record of the inscriptions is complete from Menes to Sethi I, B.c. 1400. It was a dead city before the star of Thebes arose. Here was buried the god Osiris. All had to be put under guard while visiting these ruins, for the work of exca- vation is going on under the strictest surveillance. Luncheon was had in the temple sacred to Osiris, amid toasts and great good cheer, yet amid tombs, sacred inscriptions, ancient monu- ments and a dead world. Next Keneh was visited, with its curious bazaars and won- derful potteries, where all else is as primitive as in Bible times, and where men and women are of perfect type and apparently as cheerful as under the best institutions. Then to Thebes, “ City of the Hundred Gates,’ whose greatest temple was Memnon, whose greatest ruler Rameses, 522 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. now only fields and sand hills and hovels. Near it is Luxor, inhabited, alive. Here the party is received. They view the ruins with curious eye and and many thoughts of a past full of wealth, enterprise and art. Forty minutes from Luxor is Karnak, another wonder of the world, whose temple was built B.C. 3000. It isa part of Thebes, and the most magnificent of Egyptian ruined temples, whose inscriptions read like en- chantment, whose proportions suggest the work of gods. Thence to Assouan, the frontier station of old Egypt and the turning pointof the Nile journey. It is the great Egyptian quarry whence the mighty stones for obelisk and temple and tomb came, and the point where all the trade between lower Egpytand Ethiopia changed hands in the olden time. Thena jaunt is taken to Philze, renowned for temple ruins and beautiful amid trees, also a source of the great monumental stones which Egyptian kings erected to commemorate their wealth, power, wisdom and folly. On February 3d, Memphis was reached, in sight of Cairo. Its serapeum, tombs, and other ruins were visited with feelings of awe and wonder. Now the journey of a thousand miles on the Nile, in the land of the sun, amid desert waste and historic ruin, among a people as quaint as those of Pharaoh’s time, was done. A few days are spent in Cairo for rest. By February oth, the party is at Port Said where the good ship “Vandalia” meets them. They embark, and are once more under the American flag, though far from home. The ship sailed to Jaffa, where Solomon gathered his cedars from Lebanon and Simon Peter took ship to carry the gospel to foreign lands, now a town of no commercial importance and filled with greasy howling Arabs. They were on the sacred shores of Palestine, and amid scenes endeared to every Chris- tian heart. Dirty and spiritless as the town was, there was a show of welcome to the illustrious American. It is forty miles to Jerusalem, and thither the party proceeded by wagon, mule TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 523 back, and other clumsy conveyance, and under the escort of the conventional eastern dragomen. A stop is made at Ramleh, home of Joseph of Arimathea. The plains of Sharon give way to the rougher country of Joshua and Sampson. Gezer is passed, and Kirjath Jearim, where the ark rested for twenty years, and Joshua’s Valley of Ajalon, and then the last ravine this side of Jerusalem where David and Goliath engaged in deadly duel. = I 3 ay Sey eS Cy am 2a eee 12 aie o ae AG ye be Pek: 12 bie oe MOMNROO MES cc Ae 6 . ai Connecticut... ... ne & ei ete 3 ; 2 7 LBS Ce = cr ee 6 : hei ENG ee Ss a 7. 8 oe RSCG Weer ee ce Se 6 8 8 WL Se ee re! 24 10 usa. sore Sear Le a 2 aaa ee iad I 26 2 Re x reat I MW RN etal see, et > eS 22 evs Pre as) el 6 A A ae 20 I 3 ~ anetgaae A eee eee 8 2 6 Maine, . Ag 14 eel Maryland, | ae vs 7 2 -¥y Ae ne Massachusetts, a cee Ae @ slice ge 2 20 are I Piichipany sto sos. pad I 21 Saree’ ce Pid aide PEeatita, het) es es seas Ao es kp PR 10 : Mississippi, .)¢.7s° 4. < 6 4 6 Pride DMISSOUS TR ee) cera es Oe 29 ie I INebrashkasee 12. ns) o's. ia? aa 6 : Nevada,. ... ere ar ems 6 New Hampshire, . 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On the thirty-fifth there came a 506 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. break in the Blaine columns occasioned by the introduction of Garfield’s name which secured from the field 50 votes, leaving 257 for Blaine. Grant’s vote rose to 313. On the thirty-sixth and final ballot the vote stood Garfield, 399; Grant, 306; Blaine, JAMES A. GARFIELD. 42; Sherman, 3; Washburne, 5. The bitter struggle of 1880 ended by a compromise of all the opposition to Grant’s candi- dacy on Garfield. The compromise proved acceptable to the country. By the nomination of Arthur for Vice-President the doubtful State of New York was secured to the Republicans and Garfield’s election assured. Many of the disappointed 1880, | 567 leaders and papers continued to depreciate Grant, and his column of “306,” supporters was placarded with ridicule. He did not condescend to meet these flings, but at an important and critical hour in the campaign went into it with spirit, and by his presence at political meetings in New York State especially, which always served to attract great crowds and beget intense enthusiasm, he lifted the cloud of doubt from victory and at the same time placed his party and the country under a new bur- den of obligation for his quiet forbearance amid misrepresen- tation, his fresh and timely evidence of unselfishness, and firm adhesion to principles which were broader than mere men or written platforms. From the beginning to the end General Grant comported himself with that becoming spirit which had always charac- terized his conduct, whether in military or civic station, or in the shades of private life. He scorned to misrepresent, and to answer detraction. He had no contention himself, was not identified personally with the move which bore his name, was actuated by no ambition, had no feelings nor resentments, entertained no anxiety about results in the convention, was willing to lend his presence and the prestige of his name to help ratify at the polls the choice of his party. We fail to see how he could better have observed all the proprieties of a deli- cate situation, how better have conserved the great interests at stake, or how added more to a respect already unbounded. Looked at as an episode or ordeal which fate had in store for him, and judged in the light of a moment long after feelings have had time to cool, one cannot propound a line of conduct fuller of cautious wisdom, more entirely consistent with his whole life, nor more honorable to his memory. CHAP IIS 2oX Vil: PERSONAL HISTORY—-HOME LIFE—MEMOIRS——REMINISCENCES—— ANECDOTES. N following General Grant's history we have endeavored to illustrate the man. But there are touches that can be added which will serve to bring the picture into stronger relief, and which were impossible amid the recital of events which crowded his active military and political life. The magnitude and importance of his deeds united with his characteristics, have given him a peculiar fame. Some even hesitate to call it fame, so destitute is it of the arts which lend brilliancy and win applause. However admirable his per- formances, he could never dazzle because of his remarkable reticence and utter abhorrence of the tricks of the demagogue. He was never his own herald, either on the field, in state or in private life. Furthermore, he was ever so generous in crediting others with praise, that in many instances the world has heard more of his subordinates than of himself. The growth of his name was not meteoric. It was slow and clouded. It had no career, no friends, to start or back it. It had no one, not even himself, to defend or advance it. The ambition of others could take advantage of it with impunity. Misrepresentation and detraction could deal with it without fear of retaliation. He was early the victim of ruthless stories about his intemperance. Time alone vindicated him. His first military essay at Belmont was persistently reported as a failure. He remained silent. As a blow at armed rebellion, Donelson was so audacious and staggering, and as a victory it 568 PERSONAL HISTORY. 569 was so marvellous and incomprehensible, that people were not willing to attribute it to his genius and daring, but rather to fate, to accident, to anything that justified their ignorance of military situations and gratified their credulity. He modestly handed over as a trophy an entire Confederate army, and went on silently as before. Newspapers turned his victory of Shiloh into a defeat. He said: ‘‘ Wait, time will vindicate me.” When suspended at Fort Henry, and disgraced by Halleck before Corinth, he said: “My conscience approves my acts; remove me if you think I am wrong.” When silenced for daring to suggest that Corinth could be captured, and that if a prompt move were not made the enemy would escape, he quietly rode over the ground after the evacuation, and proved by actual observation the correct- ness of his theory. All this time there were doubts and dis- cussions of his genius and ability. Even when Vicksburg electrified the nation, it was others who had furnished the brains, others who had led his forces, others who had organized and achieved the victory. He claimed nothing for himself, but gave all the honor and the glory to his subordinate officers and his brave men. He answered no detractions, spoke no word of defence, solicited no promotion, sought no praise. Such indifference was unnatural, said the world. It was stolidity. A man without ambitions could not be a genius, Such modesty must be a species of stupidity. Plainness amid the panoply of war, silence amid the huzzas of victory, mute- ness in the face of personal attack, refusal to reach out and pluck the honors that hung ripened for his hand, these were so contrary to the popular notion of an epauletted genius and born strategist, to titled organizer and high-sounding commander of victorious armies, that he who possessed them as characteristics must lack all native originality and power, must be unfit for responsibility of any kind. Vicksburg began to turn the popular scale. It threw light 570 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. on the mystic problem Grant, by which the people might begin their solution. The hush of detraction was sudden. Chattanooga followed. Grant at last had merit of his own, genius of the highest order, strategic vigor undreamed of, action beyond compare. That the most thoughtless could see now, and that all were far more ready to confirm than formerly to deny. They could read whole chapters of a record now in the plain light of events, that had before been enigmas. They could understand what they read, see that to which they had been blind. Grant had been slowly carving fame without any favoring circumstances, had been building greatness in spite of enemies, had been proving genius without any friend to appreciate. Chance had, after all, nothing to do with the sub- lime character that needed but an unveiling to bring it into bold and happy relief. It was not accidental, but sterling; not a roughly thrown together pile, like the result of some upheaval, but a symmetrical monument, the result of close study and persistent effort. Often trial, sore emergency, had been proving to the country the need of aman of certain quality and character. It had failed in its generals. Why? it is not for us to say; but it had failed. After Chattanooga, the judgment of the nation lifted Grant out of all obscurity and doubt, confirmed him in uni- versal confidence, loaded him with its gravest responsibilities, added the honors which were commensurate with lofty trust. None other had ever so fully met the country’s ideal. Would he maintain the trust, vindicate the judgment, meet the respon- sibility, add a personal lustre to the paper honors? Let Appo- mattox be the reply; or, now that he is dead, let the answer be a nation’s lament over his departure, and a world’s respect for his memory. In personal appearance General Grant was somewhat under medium height, with square shoulders, and a compact, well- rounded and powerfully built form. His feet and hands were PERSONAL HISTORY. 571 small and well shaped. He dressed with severe plainness, and sometimes even carelessly. When in military service his clothes were often those of the private soldier, with the addi- tion of the stars to designate his rank. His features were regular, his forehead broad and square, his head large and well-set on a strong muscular neck. His eyes were large, light blue, deep set, and of benevolent expression when in repose, but blazing with leonine resolution when in action. His fibre was hard, elastic and enduring. In temperament, he was a compound, always sanguine, at times nervous, yet both so toned and balanced by the lymphatic, as to make his mental and physical composure simply wonderful. His resistive forces were enormous. Neither physical nor mental labor, no matter how protracted or taxing, seemed to worry, wear or weaken him, when in his prime. He could ride hour after hour, and day after day, at a dashing speed, over all kinds of surfaces and in all kinds of weather, without succumbing to fatigue. Loss of sleep, irregularity of meals, the excitement of great occasions, did not disturb him. He could plan a battle, issue a dozen important orders, partake of a biscuit, and snatch an hour’s rest, with the serenity of a man who had made philosophy a life study. No occasion ever made him noisy or fussy. His voice was as gentle as a woman’s. His words were always brief and fitting. Inthe midst of deep provoca:- tion he preferred absolute silence to angry retort. In counsel, he was a listener. In plan, he was deep, earnest, reticent; in execution, unwavering, persistent. There was no rudeness in either his word or manner. No oath nor fiery imprecation ever escaped his lips. He never thundered an order down the lines, never hurt feelings by indignant retort or command, and, however much he disapproved of an act, never engaged in ill- natured criticism of it. He seldom showed anger, except by compressed lips and fiery flashes of the eyes. No amount of passion ever changed the measure or tone of his speech, except 572 LIFE“ OP ULYSSES*5,) GRANT, to make it more guarded. But he never angered suddenly. He has been heard to say, that even under the severest insult, he never became indignant till a week afterward, and then only at himself for not having sooner discovered that he had been misused. Great capacity for a slow but vehement anger was almost entirely subordinate to unconscious self-abnegation and entire absence of suspicion. In want of suspicion he was like a child. Having no harmful intentions himself, no jealousies, he thought everybody like him, till the contrary was proved. In this respect, many of the army officers and not a few of the leading civilians, mistook him entirely during the earlier periods of his career, both military and political. They thought him dull, lacking spirit, indecisive, till after they had committed the fatal blunder of presuming on those qualities, when they were suddenly disillusioned by the discovery that there was an un- suspected stonewall of character behind them all. He had no charity for insubordination, no patience with inhumanity or brutality. Nothing stirred his indignation so deeply and per- manently as ingratitude, nor excited a more profound contempt and disgust than an unmanly and unbecoming act. No man could ever have been more considerate of those about him. He passed his orders to his staff officers and his subordinates, rather in the manner of a respectful friend than with the stern air of acommander. On the night after Mission Ridge, he anxiously inquired about Sheridan, who had pushed impetuously after the retreating Bragg. No definite word could be gotten. With that wonderful care always evinced for his subordinates, he sent an officer, under orders to be sure to find him and report. The officer did not return till daylight, when he found Grant still up and nervously tramping about his headquarters. When the General had returned to head- quarters from the field, he found there precisely the information he wanted from Sheridan, and he could not sleep or rest for thinking of the long, exposed and unnecessary ride he had PERSONAL HISTORY. 573 imposed on his willing officer, at midnight. Such solicitude was rare among other generals. In his personal habits and tastes Grant was the quintescence of simplicity. He despised pomp, and the mockery of parade, when it became personal. He endured it only when it typed something outside of himself—a cause, an occasion, born of 4 as at (alll a : F 1 jee | ——————> — seit ‘Sime gee 5 So Gee ee As di GRANT’S NEW YORK RESIDENCE. the people, but of which circumstances made him an humble part or exemplar. His army mess was the plain, but bountiful, rations which could be transported readily. In his private life, there was no ostentation nor extravagance. This was so in the White House and in his Sixty-sixth street home in New York. 574 LIFE OF ULYSSES *S. GRANT. There were substantial decorations and a generous supply of useful articles, but nothing beyond the requirements of a plain, practical taste. He never had dainty or costly appetites to appease, kept no wine cellar, and during his campaigns the use of liquors was interdicted to his staff officers in camp life. He smoked excessively, till his disease forbade, and this was his most expensive and habitual luxury. Grant’s modesty has always been proverbial. But even this has been misunderstood. It was not the modesty of shrinking and cowardice—not that which springs from lack of firmness and destroys all individuality. It may have cut him off from many an opportunity for display; may have prevented manya speech which would have been apt and happy; but it never destroyed the solidity of the man when the moment of action was on and, as to speech, it forced a maturity of thoughts before they were divulged, which gave his sentences the beauty of brevity, the elegance of strength, and the felicity of striking aptitude. His taciturnity readily vanished where all was con- genial and no care weighed upon him. Amid companionable people, around the camp fire, in the home circle, he talked readily on all subjects; talked easily, fluently, pleasingly, in- telligently. His memory was very tenacious, and his mind well stored with the facts of wide observation. He was not stuffed with bookish lore, but he knew things and men for what they were worth. He read newspapers closely, was in- terested in all questions of humanity, and knew thoroughly the nature of our institutions and the characters of leading men at home and abroad. Both in war and in peace he shaped some of our broadest, wisest and most enduring policies, and his state papers, his recommendations, were clear, concise and convincing. He got at bottom facts in politics and in public measures, and his judgments were always honest, even if they were not always popular. The spirit of bias and unfairness was not in him; and this, as to public measures, unfitted him PERSONAL HISTORY, 575 somewhat for that shrewder statesmanship which we are pleased to call diplomacy, while as to public men it left him too un- suspecting. His confidence was simple and strong—too simple and too strong for him always to escape entanglement at the hands of the designing, or undeserved and unanswered censure at the hands of the vicious. Yet with all this, his appreciation of men, especially of military lieutenants, has never been sur- passed. In that field he made no mistakes. His Shermans, Sheridans, Thomases, Hancocks, Wrights, McPhersons, and others of equal bravery and fidelity, were men after his own heart in action, and never failed him, as he never failed them. Without fulsomeness, with a horror of loudness and Hec- toring, he yet warmed toward a bold, outspoken and loyal nature. He was full of unostentatious ardor and zeal, and he naturally admired those qualities in others. He loved heroic frankness, but despised a weak, complaining, narrow and selfish disposition and could not endure indirectness and double-deal- ing. Indeed, no peculiarity of his nature, whether as a soldier, a statesman or man, was so striking as his undeviating truth- fulness in all things. Falsehood was not in him, nor even misrepresentation of fact for any purpose. His sole idea of expediency was truth and justice, these at whatever cost. To his wonderful fidelity in friendships he united a marvel- ous magnanimity toward enemies. His liberality and charity were as broad as humanity. Without vanities or ambitions to gratify, promotion never turned his head or colored his char- acter. A thorough believer in the necessity for timely and laborious action, in the doctrine that effect can only be com- mensurate with cause, he was nevertheless inspired with a beautiful and touching faith in an overruling Providence, and the concrete thought never failed him that the higher sentiment, the reserve force, the final intelligence and resource, the supreme righteousness, of the Union cause must in the end prevail. The manifest destiny of the Republic was a creed for him. 576 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. His religious sentiments and emotions were respectful and fer- vent, and his inclinations toward the Methodist Episcopal faith and practice. - He worshiped with that persuasion, for the most part, in Washington and New York. There wasa simple grandeur in the completeness of his faith in God, and of his hope for the future, which remained the same at all hours, whether battle threatened sudden death, or disease made its slow and painful approaches. His fortitude in every conflict, and especially in that last which compelled physical surrender, was as unshaken as a martyr’s, and his resignation made his passing away a euthanasia. Perhaps no man of public station and active, long-continued prominence, ever lived a happier and purer home life. He was a faithful, devoted, exemplary husband and father. When his child was sick at St. Louis, he laid aside the cares of Chatta- nooga for a few days to visit it. Amid all the anxieties and excitements that followed the surrender of Lee, he did not forget his wife and children, but hastened to see them at Bur- lington, though only for an hour, being recalled by the assassina- tion of Lincoln. His home, his family, were always his first consideration. He was blessed with a wife who was loving, kind and ever faithful in her ministrations. That she possessed the high sense of honor, and not a little of the heroism, of her husband is evinced by her refusal to accept of Mr. Vanderbilt the proffer of all the claims he held against the general. Even at an hour when financial ruin stared them in the face she would not change the result by an attempt to save a remnant, though made attractive and excusable in the sweet name of charity. Her tastes suited his. She was a strong, cheerful, sustaining companion, who understood him, and who showed her womanly qualities throughout his entire career by frequent visits to him on the battle-field, by presiding dignifiedly in the White House, by honoring his tour with her presence, but never more affectionately, tenderly and constantly than during those long months of disease and wasting which preceded PERSONAL HISTORY. 577 his death. Her hand was then that of an administering angel and her presence a perpetual solace. Two such com- panionable, perfectly matched, home-loving, and mutually loving people, could not help honoring the marital estate COL. FREDERICK D. GRANT. and presenting a worthy picture of social and domestic life. And General Grant was as happy in his paternal relations. He was an excellent father, and reared a family of four children, all of whom were passionately attached to him. They were 37 578 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. all liberally educated. His eldest son, Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick D. Grant, born in St. Louis in 1849, graduated at West Point in 1871. He served as Second Lieutenant in the Fourth Cavalry, at Fort Griffin, Texas, from December, 1872, ULYSSES S. GRANT, JR. to February, 1873. In March, 1873, he was made Aid-de-Camp to General Sheridan, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He served in the Yellowstone expedition, in 1873, and in the Black PERSONAL HISTORY. 579 Hill’s expedition, in 1874, and subsequently went into the banking business in Washington, where he married Miss Honore, October 20th, 1874. The second son, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., was born at Bethel, MRS. NELLIE SARTORIS. Ohio, in 1850. He studied law at Columbia College Law School, and began practice in New York, but soon abandoned it for commercial pursuits. He married a daughter of ex- Senator Chaffee, of Colorado, in October, 1881. 580 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. His only daughter, Nellie, was born in August 1855, near St. Louis. She was married in the east room of the White House, May 2ist, 1874, to Algernon Sartoris, of England, She has resided abroad since, but came at an JESSE R. GRANT. early day to her sick father’s side, and remained with him till the end. The youngest of the family is Jesse R. Grant, born on Judge Dent’s farm near St. Louis,in 1858. Hestudied in the Colum- CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 581 bia School of Mines, and accompanied his father on his tour around the world. He married Miss Chapman of San Fran: cisco, September 2Ist, 1881. No man of this country or this age will be so studied as General Grant. Every analysis of the man will be heightened and impressed by the imposing results which are yet to follow his achievements. In making himself, in performing his many and brilliant deeds, he not only wrote history for the time being, but set going fresh historic facts and forces whose gathering, as the ages progress, will bring him into prouder relief. The drama of his time cannot be perfectly written till an unimpas- sioned master arise. Then Grant will find his place as its central figure and true hero, and if we mistake not the lustre of his martial wreathe will blend harmoniously with that of his civic purple. CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. When circumstances favored, General Grant could not only throw off all reticence, but become a really brilliant and original conversationalist. The charm of his talk was that it was never about anything he did not know; and what he did know, he knew well. Even in matters which are familiar and well fixed, he would sometimes startle one by new information or a train of opinions quite striking in their originality and vigor. His tour around the world gave frequent opportunity for discourse with his companions, all of whom were agreeable and some- what in the nature of confidants. It was his wont to relieve the monotony of long trips, especially ocean voyages, by touching on men and events at home and in various parts of the world. These conversations show that he must have been a delightful traveling companion. They serve, also, to illus- trate his style of speech and his habits of close thought. It may be they are not unworthy of record as historic memoranda, 582 LIFE OF ULYSSES S, GRANT. though not at all studied, and some of them subject to the modifications which he would naturally have made if called upon to write them down and father them with his signature. We give a few of these conversations, or rather speeches, as found in Mr. Young’s account of the trip around the world. EXPEDIENCY IN POLITICS —‘T hear,” said the Gen- eral, “a good deal about expediency in politics. The only time I ever deliberately resolved to do an expedient thing for party reasons, against my own judgment, was on the occasion of the passage of the expansion or inflation bill. It would destroy the Republican party in the West, I was told. And then the West and the South would combine and agree upon some worse plan of finance; some plan that would mean re- pudiation. I thought, at last, I would try and save the party, and at the same time the credit of the nation, from the evils of the bill. I resolved to write a message, embodying my ow.; reasoning and all the arguments that had been given me, to show that the bill, as passed, did not mean expansion or infla- tion, and that it need not affect the country’s credit. The message was intended to soothe the East and satisfy the foreign holders of our bonds. I wrote the message with great care, and put in every argument I could to show that the bill was harmless and would not accomplish what its friends expected from it. When I finished my wonderful message that was to do the party and country so much good, I said to myself, ‘what is the good of all this? You do not believe it. You know it is not true. Throwing it aside I resolved to do what I believed to be right—veto the bill. I could not stand my own argu- ments. It was an anxious time with me. On the ninth day I was immovable, and gave orders that I would see no one till I had my veto message prepared. When Cabinet met, my mes- sage was ready. I did not intend asking its advice, as I knew a majority would oppose it. I never allowed my Cabinet to CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 583 interfere when my mind was made up, and on this question it was inflexibly made up. I read my first message, the one in which I had tried to make myself and everybody else believe what I knew was not true. Then I read my veto message, saying I had made up my mind to sign it. This prevented debate. So I signed it. To my surprise I received no warmer commendations than from the West. All the results of that veto, which I awaited with apprehension, were of the most salutary character. It was the encouragement which it gave to the friends of honest money in the West, that revived and strengthened them there.” SHILOH—‘T have every reason to be satisfied with the battle of Shiloh. In its results it was one of our greatest victories. To it we owe the spirit of confidence that pervaded the Western army. So far were we from being surprised, that one night—certainly two nights before the battle—firing was heard in front, and it was reported that my army was making a night attack. I rode out, and found all quiet. Sherman was thoroughly ready to receive attack when it came, and nothing could be finer than his conduct.” THE SILVER BILL—‘When the silver bill passed, I suggested to General Sherman that he write to his brother, the Secretary of the Treasury, the plan of paying Congressmen in silver. They could not have carried their pay away except in wheelbarrows. As they passed the bill, it was proper that they should enjoy its fruits. It would have made the whole thing ridiculous. The men who voted for the silver bill, like the old Know Nothing leaders, will spend the remainder of their lives in explaining their course.” PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.—‘ The question of public improvements is one that must attract the attention of our statesmen. I have been very much impressed with what France is doing now. You see the republic has voted one thousand millions of dollars, as much as the German indemnity, to build 584 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. railroads, improve harbors, and so on. In America the mistakes we made in the building of the Pacific railway has deterred our people from going any further. If that road had been built by our own engineers, with the system of accountability that exists in the army, millions would have been saved. But because we made a mistake then, we should not oppose all plans for developing the country. I gave much thought, when I was President, to the subject of a canal across Central America— a ship canal connecting the two oceans. But, somehow, I had not influence enough with the administration to make it an administration measure. I did all I could to pave the way for it. Asa young officer I crossed the continent on the Nicara- gua route, and I have no doubt that it is the true one. The route through Columbia is expensive and difficult on account of the rocks and streams. The Panama route would be diffi- cult and expensive. On the Tehuantepec route the water would have to be raised so high by a system of locks, that it could not pay. Nature seems to have made the route through Nica- ragua. After Mr. Hayes came in, I called on Mr. Evarts and spent an hour with him in going over the whole subject. J] urged on him the value of the work. I suppose, however, Mr. Hayes finds the same difficulty in interesting the people that I encountered. But it will come; it must. If we do not do it, our children will. The governments of Costa Rica and Nicaragua are favorable. They would be the gainers. Our capital, enterprise and industry would go in and make a garden on the banks of the canal from sea to sea. It would divert the tea trade from China. Inthe carrying of wheat alone enough would be saved to pay the interest on the $80,000,000 necessary to build the canal. It would aid in solving the Chinese pro- blem. California would find a place for the Chinese laborers who are now worrying her. My opinion is it would add largely to the wealth of the Pacific coast, and perhaps change the current of the whole trade of the world.” CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 585 THE EASTERN QUESTION — The more I have looked into the Eastern question since abroad, the more I believe the Russian side is the true one. I wanted to be in accord with men who had shown me as much kindness as Lord Beacons- field and his colleagues; but it was impossible. England’s policy in the East is hard, reactionary and selfish. No man can visit those wonderful lands on the Mediterranean without seeing what they might be under a good government. I do not care under which flag the government flourished—English, French, Italian or Russian—its influence would be felt at once in the increased happiness of the people, toleration of all reli- gions, and great prosperity. Take the country, for instance, from Joppa to Jerusalem—the plain of Sharon and the hills and valleys beyond. What a garden the French would make of that! Think what a wheat crop could be raised there within easy sail of the best markets! As I understand the Eastern Question, the great obstacle to the good government of these countries is England. Unless she can control them herself she will allow no one else. That I call a selfish policy. I cannot see the humanity of keeping those countries under a barbarous rule, merely because there are apprehensions about the road to India. If England went in and took them her- self I should be satisfied; but, if she will not, why keep other nations out? It seems to me that the Eastern question could be settled easily enough if the civilizing powers of Europe were to sink their differences and take hold. Russia seems to be the only power that means to settle it, and it is a mistake of England that she has not been allowed to do so with the general sympathy of the world.” NOTABLE MEN—< Of the notable men I have met in Europe, I regard Bismarck and Gambetta as the greatest. Bismarck impresses you as a great man. Gambetta also impressed me greatly. I was not surprised, when I met him, to see the immense power he wields in France. I was very 586 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. much pleased with the Republican leaders in France. They seemed a superior body of men. My relations with them gave me great hope of the future of the republic. They are men, apparently, of sense, wisdom, and moderation.” THE MEXICAN QUESTION.—‘ When our war ended, I urged on Johnson an immediate invasion of Mexico. You see, Napoleon, in Mexico, was really a part, and an active part, of the rebellion. His army was as much opposed to us as that of Kirby Smith. Even apart from his desire to estab- lish a monarchy, and overthrow a friendly republic, against which every loyal American revolted, there was the active co-operation between the French and the Confederates on the Rio Grande, which made it an act of war. I believed then, as I do now, that we had just cause of war with Maximilian, and with Napoleon, if he supported him,—with Napoleon, espe- cially, as he was the head of the whole business. We were so placed that we were bound to fight him. I sent Sheridan off to the Rio Grande. I sent him post haste, not giving him time to participate in the grand review. My plan was to give him a corps, have him cross the Rio Grande, join Juarez, and attack Maximilian. With his corps he could have walked over Mexico. Johnson favored, but Seward opposed, and his opposition was decisive. Suppose it did mean war with France? With the army we had on both sides at the close of the war, what did we care for Napoleon? Unless Napoleon surrendered his Mexican provinces, I was fighting for Napo- leon. There never was a more just cause for war than what Napoleon gave us. With our army, we could do as we pleased. We had a victorious army and the whole South to recruit from. I had that in my mind when I proposed the advance on Mexico. I wanted to employ and occupy the Southern army. I am not sure I was right, but I believe it would have been safe. It would have been an outlet for the disappointed and dangerous elements in the South—elements CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 587 brave and warlike, and energetic enough with their qualities - of the Anglo-Saxon character, but irreconcilable in their hos- tility to the Union. I tried to make Lee think so when he surrendered. They would have become settlers in Mexico, and, perhaps, done as great a work as had been done in Cali- fornia. No one dreaded war more than I did. I had had more than I wanted. But the war would have been national, and we could have united both sections under one flag. The results must have more than compensated for another war, and even if it had come, it must have been, under Sheridan and his army, short, quick, decisive, and assuredly triumph- ant. We could have marched from the Rio Grande to Mexico without a serious battle. Then, if we had gone into Mexico, we could have saved Maximilian’s life. We should never have consented to that unfortunate and unnecessary execution. I don’t think France could have rallied for a war against us and in defence of slavery. She could not rally against Prussia. Napoleon’s empire, never strong, would have had such a shock that it would, in all probability, have fallen, as it fell five years later, and France would now be a republic— minus Sedan. Mr. Seward’s objections to my plan cost Maxi- milian his life and gave Napoleon five years more of power. Still, Mr. Seward may have been right. War is such a terrible thing that I can think of nothing short of national honor that can justify it.” NAPOLEONISM—‘T have always had an aversion to Napoleon and the whole family. When I was in Denmark the Prince Imperial was there, and some one thought it might be pleasant for me to see him. I declined, saying I did not want to see him nor any of his family. Of course the first emperor was a great genius and one of the most selfish and cruel men in history. Outside of his military skill I do not see a redeeming trait in his character. He abused France for his own ends and brought incredible disaster on his country 588 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. to gratify his own ambitions. I do not think that any genius can excuse a crime like that. The third Napoleon was worse than the first, the special enemy of American liberty. Think of the misery he brought on France by a war no one but a madman would have declared. I never doubted how the war would end and my sympathies from the outset were with Ger- many. I had no ill-will to the French people but to Napoleon. Had peace come after Sedan it would have appeared that the war was not against the French people but against the tyrant and his dynasty. The condition of Europe would now be different.” ENGLISH INTERVENTION.— “I never shared the ap- prehension felt about the recognition of the Southern Confed- eracy by England. Suppose it had been recognized? It would not have interfered with Canby, or Meade, or Sherman, who would have kept on marching. I am sure I would not have drawn away from Richmond. It would not have inter- fered with our money supplies, as we were buying our own loans. It would not have interfered with our supplies of men as not more than three per cent. of our army was, in the be- ginning, composed of unnaturalized citizens. The difference would have been with England. We could have resisted a war with England. She would have had to withdraw from the American Continent. Canada would have become ours. If Sheridan, for instance, with our resources could not have taken Canada in thirty days, he should have been cashiered. I don’t .mean this as a reflection. The Canadians are as good a people as ever lived, but the facts would have been against them. We could have thrown half a million of men inured to war into their country and covered it like a wave. The strategic and defensive points of Canada are all within our lines. There is no English soldier who would risk his reputation by at- tempting to defend such lines against the United States. England might have bombarded the Atlantic cities. It does CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 58q not do a town much harm to bombard it, as I found out at Vicksburg. Even if she had occupied the cities she would have had to feed the people, which would have been very expensive. If she had laid them under contribution the nation would have had to pay the bill and she would have lost ten dollars for every one she exacted. She might have block- aded our coasts. I can think of nothing that would do America more good than a year or two of effective blockade. It would create new industries, throw us back upon ourselves, develop our own resources. It would keep our people at home. Hundreds, if not thousands, of privateers would have preyed on English commerce, as English-built ships preyed on ours. The war would have left her carrying trade where ours was left. English blockade of our ports would only cut off her own supply of food. America really depends on the world for nothing. England might have sent troops to help the South, but she would have had to send more than she sent to the Crimea to make herself felt. Her soldiers would not have been as good as Lee’s, because they would have lacked training. Then the moment England would have struck us other nations would have struck her. I am especially glad, for England’s sake, that she did not intervene. War with England is not desirable. Her American possessions, which she would surely lose, are not worth a regiment of men. I mean they are as much ours now as if we had conquered them. They are carrying out American ideas in religion, education and civilization, just as we are. The men who governed England were wise in not taking part in our war. It would have been more trouble to us but destruction to them. We could not have avoided war, and our war would have begun with more than half a million soldiers in the field, and that would have been a match for anv opposing army that could have been assembled on the American Continent.” STONEWALL JACKSON.— ‘1 knew Stonewall Jackson 590 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. at West Point and in Mexico. He came into the school at an older age than the average, and began with a low grade. But he had so much courage and energy, worked so hard, and governed his life by a discipline so stern that he steadily worked his way along and rose far above others who had more advantages. He was a religious man then, and some of us regarded him as a fanatic. Sometimes his religion took strange forms—hypochondria—fancy that an evil spirit had taken possession of him. But he never knew a relapse in his studies or his Christian duties. I knew him in Mexico. He was always a brave and trustworthy officer, none more so in the army. J never knew him or encountered him in the rebel- lion. I question whether his campaigns in Virginia justify his reputation as a great commander. He was killed too soon, and before his rank allowed him a great command. It would have been a test of generalship if Jackson had met Sheridan in the valley, instead of some of the men he did meet. If Jackson had attempted on Sheridan the tactics he attempted so suc- cessfully upon others he would not only have been beaten but destroyed. Sudden daring raids, under a fine general like Jackson, might do against raw troops and inexperienced com- manders, such as we had in the beginning of the war, but not against drilled troops and a commander like Sheridan. The tactics for which Jackson is famous, and which achieved such remarkable results, belonged entirely to the beginning of the war and to the peculiar conditions under which the earlier battles were fought. They would have insured destruction to any commander who tried them upon Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan, Meade, or, in fact, any of our great generals. Con- sequently Jackson’s fame as a general depends upon achieve- ments gained before his generalship was tested, before he had a chance of matching himself with a really great commander. No doubt so able and patient a man as Jackson, who worked so hard at anything he attempted would have adapted himself CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 591 to new conditions and risen with them. He died before his opportunity. I always respected Jackson personally, and es- teemed his sincere and manly character. He impressed me always as a man of the Cromwell stamp, a Puritan—much more of the New Englander than the Virginian. If any man believed in the rebellion he did. And his nature was such that whatever he believed in became a religious duty, a duty he would discharge at any cost. It is a mistake to suppose that I ever had any feeling for Stonewall Jackson but respect. Personally we were always good friends; his character had rare points of merit, and although he made the mistake of fighting against his country, if ever a man did so conscien- tiously he was the man.” ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSON—‘I knew Albert Sidney Johnson before the war. When he was sent to Utah I had a high opinion of his talents. When the war broke out he was regarded as the coming man of the Confederacy. I shared that opinion, because I knew and esteemed him, and because I felt, as we all did, in the old army, where there was a public opinion among the officers as to who would come out ahead. In many cases, in most cases, our public opinion was in error. Bragg had a great reputation in the South. Bragg was the most contentious of men, and there was a story in Mexico that he put every one in arrest under him, and then put him- self in arrest. Albert Sidney Johnson might have risen in fame, and we all had confidence in his doing so; but he died too soon—as Stonewall Jackson died too soon—for us to say what he would have done under the later and altered con- ditions of the war.” JOE JOHNSTON.— The southern army had many good generals. Lee, of course, was a good soldier, and so was Longstreet. I knew Longstreet in Mexico. He was a fine fellow, and one of the best of the young officers. I do not know that there was any better than Joe Johnston, I have 592 LIFE OF ULYSSES 5. GRANT. had nearly all of the Southern generals in high command in front of me, and Joe Johnston gave me more anxiety than any of the others. I was never half so anxious about Lee. By the way, I saw in Joe Johnston’s book that when I was asking Pemberton to surrender Vicksburg, he was on his way to raise the siege. I was very sorry. If I had known Johnston was coming, I would have told Pemberton to wait in Vicksburg until I wanted him, awaited Johnston’s advance, and given him battle. He could never have beaten that Vicksburg army, and thus I would have destroyed two armies perhaps. Pem- berton’s was already gone, and I was quite sure of Johnston’s. I was sorry I did not know Johnston was coming until too late. Take it all in all the South, in my opinion, had no better soldier than Joe Johnston—none at least that gave me more trouble.” ILRYING TO MEET McCLELLAN— McClellan had been appointed major-general in the regular army and was in command in Cincinnati. I was delighted with the appoint- ment. I knew him and had great confidence in him. I have never lost my respect for his character nor my confidence in his loyalty and ability. I saw in him the man who was to pilot us through, and I wanted to be on his staff. So I went to Cincinnati and to his headquarters. I knew several of his staff and asked if he was in. He was notin. I waited fora couple of hours. I never saw so many men at army head- quarters with quills behind their ears. After a long wait I told an officer I would come again next day. Next day it was the same story. The general had just gone out—might be in at any moment. I waited again for two hours. He never acknowledged my call, though notified of it. This is the whole story. I went over to see an old army friend and was notified that Gov. Yates had made me a colonel of volunteers. Still I should like to have joined McClellan. This pomp and ceremony was common at the beginning of the war. McClel- CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 593 lan had three times as many men with quills behind their ears as I ever found necessary at the headquarters of a much larger command. [Fremont was as imposing in his way of doing business. Halleck had the same fondness for mystery, but was in addition a very able man.” HALLECK.—* Halleck had intellect and great acquirement outside of his military education. His appointment to the major-generalcy was a great gratification to all who knew him in the old army. When I was made _lieutenant-general Halleck became chief-of-staff of the army. He was very useful, loyal, and industrious, and sincerely anxious for the success of the country, without any feeling of soreness at being superseded. His immense knowledge of military science was of great use in the War Office to those of us who were in the field. His fault—and this prevented his being a great field commander—was timidity in taking responsibilities. I do not mean personal timidity, because no one ever doubted his courage, but timidity in reaching conclusions. He would never take a chance in battle. A general who will never take a chance in battle will never fight one. When in the field, I had to come to Washington two or three times to see that he carried out my orders. There was some panic about the rebels coming between our army and Washington, and he had changed my orders. I had to say, ‘I don’t care anything about that. I don’t care if they do get between my troops and the Capital, so that they get into a place where I can find them.’ ” McCLELLAN— McClellan is to me one of the mysteries of the war. He had a way of inspiring you with an idea of immense capacity, if he only got a chance. Then, he is a man of unusual accomplishments, a student, and a well-read man. I have never studied his campaigns enough to make up my mind as to his military skill, but all my impressions are in his favor. I have entire confidence in his loyalty and patriot: 38 594 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ism. But the test which was applied to him would be terrible to any man, being made a major-general at the beginning of the war. He was young, and the conditions of success were trying. If he had gone into the war as Sherman, Thomas, or Meade, had fought his way along up, I have no reason to suppose he would not have won as high a distinction as any of us. His main blunder was in allowing himself political sympathies, and in permitting himself to become the critic of the President, and, in time, his rival. This is shown in his letter to Mr. Lincoln on his return to Harrison’s Land- ing, when he sat down and wrote out a policy for the Govern- ment. He was forced into this by his associations, and that led to his nomination for the Presidency. I remember how disappointed I was about this letter, and also his failure to destroy Lee at Antietam. His friends say that he failed because of the interference from Washington. Iam afraid the interference was not from Mr. Lincoln so much as from the enemies of the Administration, who believed they could carry their point through the Army of the Potomac. My own experience with Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton, both in the Western and Eastern armies, was the reverse. I was never interfered with, I had the fullest support of the President and Secretary of War. No general could want better backing, for the President was a man of great wisdom and moderation, his secretary a man of enormous character and will. Very often when Lincoln would want to say yes his secretary would make him say no; and, more frequently, when the secretary was driving on in a violent course, the President would check him. United, Lincoln and Stanton made about as perfect a combination as I believe could by any possibility govern a great nation in time of war.” E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War—“The first time I saw Mr. Stanton was in the West. He met me at Indian- apolis, and we rode to Louisville together. He gave me my CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 595 new command, to take the army and relieve Rosecrans. Being fatigued, he went to bed, and I went to the theatre. On my way back I was hailed and told that something terrible had happened. I hastened to Stanton’s room, and found him in his night garments, in great distress. He had received dispatches from the Assistant Secretary of War to the effect that Rosecrans had ordered his army to retreat from Chatta- nooga, and that such retreat would be disastrous not only to the army, but to the Union. I saw the situation at once, and wrote several dispatches. My first was to Rosecrans, reliev- ing him of his command. My second was to Thomas, direct- ing him to take command of the army until I reached head- quarters, and to hold his position at all hazards. His reply came that he would hold his position until his whole army starved.. I hurried down to the front, and, on my way, at one of the stations, met Rosecrans. He was cheerful, and showed no feeling. He was fluent in telling me what I should do. I found the army in a sad condition. The men were badly fed and clothed, and had no communication for supplies. Cattle had to be driven a long way over the mountain, and were so thin when they arrived that the men called them ‘beef dried on the hoof.” I opened communications with our supplies, or, as the men called it, ‘the cracker lines.’ Rosecrans’ plan, which was checked before put in execution, by my order, would have been most disastrous. Nothing could have been more fatal. He would have lost his guns and his trains, and Bragg would have taken Nashville. By opening our lines, feeding our men, and giving them good clothing, our army was put in good condition. Then, when Sherman reached me, I attacked Bragg, and out of that came Missionary Ridge. “Stanton was a man whose temper had been tried by severe labor and his love for the Union was volcanic in its fierce- ness. It tried his patience beyond that of any other man to see all the results of the war deliberately laid at the 590 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. feet of the South by Johnson. If people would only remem- ber the privations under which Stanton acted they would do him more justice. I confess I would not like to have been in Johnson’s place. Stanton required a man like Lincoln to manage him. I should not like to have had that responsibility. At the same time he was one of the great men of the Republic. He was as much a martyr to the Union as Sedgwick or McPherson. I held him in great personal esteem and his character in high honor.” MEN IN PUBLIC LIFE—“It would be very hard for me to say that I knew six men in public life who were dishonest. Men who are senators and members will do things that re- formers call corrupt. They will ask for patronage and govern themselves in their dealings with the administration by their success in the matter of patronage. ‘This is custom, and if the theory of the reformers is right, it is corruption. And yet the men who are reformers, I generally found as anxious for patronage as others. Mr.Sumner, who is the idol of reformers, was among the first senators to ask offices for his friends. He expected offices as a right; of course he spoke as a senator; of course, Mr. Sumner was perfectly honest, and so were other senators. They regarded executive appointments for friends as the rewards of public life. This you cannotcall corruption, so much as acondition of our representative form of government. My experience of men, makes me very charitable in my criti- cism of public officers. As arule, our government is honestly and economically managed. Our civil service is as good as any I have seen, and the men in office, as a rule, do the best for the country and the government.” CIVIL SERVICE REFORM—‘ A President is, for the time being, naturally in favor of civil service reform. Patronage is the bane of the Presidential office. A largeshare of the vexations and cares of the Executive come from patronage. He is necessarily a civil service reformer, because he wants peace of CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS, 597 mind. Apart from this, I was anxious to have civil service’reform broad enough to include all its most earnest friends desired. I gave it an honest and fair trial, though Geo. W. Curtis thinks I did not. One reason for his opinion may be that he does not know as much about the facts as I do. There isa good deal of cant about civil service reform, which throws doubt on the ‘sincerity of the government. Its advocates give the impres- sion that most executive appointments are made out of the penitentiary ; of course no reform can be sound that is sustained only by wild declarations. Then many of those who talk civil service reform in public, are the most persistent seekers after offices for their friends. Civil service reform rests entirely with Congress. If members and senators will give up claiming pa- tronage, a step will be gained. But there is an immense amount of human nature in members of Congress, and it is in human nature to seek power and use it to help friends. The Execu- tive must consider Congress. A government machine must run, and an Executive depends on Congress, whose members have rights as well as himself. The advice of congressmen as . to persons to be appointed is useful and generally is for the best.” GOVERNING —« Twenty years of republican rule assures a civil service reform. They have built up a body of experi- enced servants in all departments. The only break was when Mr. Johnson was at enmity with his party, and filled many offices with incompetent men. I suffered from that. Most of my early appointments, were to weed out bad appoint- ments by Johnson. Mr. Hayes has had no such trouble. I made some removals in the beginning that I should not have done. But asI came to know the politicians, this ceased. I was always resisting this pressure from Congress, and in many cases, nothing but my determined resistance saved good men. Mr. Lincoln was always glad to recognize loyal democrats, and in allthe departments, such were sure to remain. I never re- 598 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. moved men because they were democrats, if they were otherwise fit. This shows that civil service is growing in America, in the only way it can grow naturally, through the long continuance of one party in power and the consequent education of an expe- rienced class of public servants.” THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION.— Nothing could have been wiser than the Electoral Commission, and nothing more unpatriotic than attempts to impair Mr. Hayes’ title. He is just as much President as any of his predecessors. The country cannot too highly honor the men who devised and carried that Commission through. The crisis was a serious one, and for me, one of peculiar annoyance. History will jus- tify the Electoral Commission as a fine bit of self-government on the part of the people, and those brave enough to rise above party. Isay this without regard to its decision. I would have thought the same if Tilden had been elected. I had no fears of an outbreak, but received so many warnings, that I made all preparations. I knew all about the rifle clubs, and was prepared for any contingency. Any outbreak would have been suddenly and summarily stopped. I did not intend to have two govern- ments, nor any South American pronunciamentos. If Tilden was declared elected, I intended to hand him over the reins and see him peacefully installed. I should have treated him as cordially as I did Hayes, for the question of the Presidency was neither personal nor political, but national. I tried to act with the utmost impartiality between the two, and would not have raised my finger to put Hayes in, if in doing so I did Mr. Tilden the slightest injustice. All I wanted was for the legal powers to declare a President, to keep the machine running, to allay the passions of the canvass, and allow the country peace. I am profoundly grateful that the matter ended as it did, with- out devolving on me any new responsibilities. The day that brought the result, and enabled me to leave the White House as I did, I regard as the happiest of my life. I felt asif I had CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 599 been vouchsafed a personal deliverance. At the same time we should amend our electoral laws and prevent the renewal of such a crisis. What is to be avoided, is not so much re-elec- tions as frequent elections. But the plan that would go fur- thest to satisfy all opinions, would be one term for six or seven years, and ineligibility to re-election.” HORACE GREELEY—“I never knew Greeley well, but had great respect for his character. I was raised in an old line Whig family, andall my earliest predilections were for Greeley and his principles. I tried very hard to be friendly with him, but somehow we never became cordial. He had strange notions about the kind of men who should take office. He believed that when a man was a helpless creature, a burden to his friends, and drifting between the poorhouseand jail, he should have office. He was a man of influence and capacity, but made many suggestions to me and recommendations for office, of the most extraordinary character. I should like to have known him earlier, when he was himself.” EARLY GENERALS. — There were a few officers, when the war broke out, to whom we who had been in the army looked for success and high rank. I felt sure that each of them would gain the highest commands. Rosecrans was a great disappointment to us all—to me especially. General Stone’s case was a mystery, and I think a great wrong was committed. I knew him at school. He was a good, able, loyal man. I believe if he had had a chance he would have made his mark. McDowell was the victim of ill luck. Peo- ple called him a drunkard and traitor.. He never drank a drop of liquor in his life, and a more loyal man never lived. I have the greatest respect for his accomplishments and character, and was glad to make him a Major-General. Buell does not like me, Iam afraid, but I have always borne testimony to his perfect loyalty and ability. He had genius for the highest commands, but somehow he fell under a cloud. The trouble 600 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. with many of the generals in the beginning was that they did not believe in the war—I mean they did not have that complete assurance in success which belongs to good generalship. They had views about slavery, protecting rebel property, State rights—political views that interfered with their judgments. Ido not mean that they were disloyal. A soldier has as good a right to his opinions as a citizen, and these men were as loyal as any men in the Union—would have died for the Union—but their opinions made them lukewarm, and many failures came of that. In some cases it was temperament. There was Warren, a good soldier and a good man, trained to war, who had risen to one of the highest commands. But as a general, if you gave him an order, he would hesitate until he knew what the other corps would do. Instead of obeying—and knowing that the power which was guiding the others would guide him—he would inquire and debate. It was this quality which led to the disaster at the mine explosion before Petersburg. Had he obeyed orders promptly we would have broken Lee’s army in two. I should have relieved him then but did not like to injure an officer of so high rank for what was an error of judgment. But at Five Forks it was different. There was no time to think of rank or a per- son’s feelings, and I told Sheridan to relieve him if he failed him. He did so, and no one regretted the necessity more than | did.” SHERMAN.—‘1 think history will approve the place given, in the war, to Sherman and Sheridan. I have known Sherman for thirty-five years. There never was but one cloud over our friendship and that only lasted three weeks. It was when Sherman’s book came out. A correspondent printed some letters about it, which made it appear as disparaging some army officers, especially myself. I bought a book, in- tending to correct it as to myself and send it to Sherman, who I could not believe would disparage a comrade, for I CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 601 had always found him true and knightly, and more anxious to honor others than to win honors himself. Well, I was moving to Long Branch, and could not look into the book for three weeks, during which time I am glad I did not see Sherman. Then when I got down to the book and finished it, I found that I approved every word of it; that apart from a few mistakes which any writer would make, it was a true book, an honorable book, creditable to Sherman, just to his companions—to myself particularly so—just such a book:as I expected Sherman would write. You cannot imagine how pleased I was, for my respect for Sherman was so great that I look on those three weeks as among the most painful in my remembrance. I wrote him, telling him my only objec- tion was to his criticism of our civil soldiers, like Logan and Blair. Logan did a great work fof the Union in bringing Egypt out of the Confederacy. He was an admirable soldier, an honorable, true man, whose record in the army was bril- liant. Blair also did a work in the war entitling him to the gratitude of every Northern man, and the respect of every soldier. Sherman is not only a great soldier but a great man—one of the very greatest in our country’s history. He is a many-sided man—a writer and orator. As a general, I know of no man I would put above him. Then his character is fine—so frank, sincere, outspoken, genuine. I know what he was before Vicksburg. I set him to watching Johnston in my rear, and never had a moment’s anxiety while Sher- man was there. I don’t think he ever went to bed with his clothes off, or without visiting his pickets nightly during that campaign. His industry was prodigious. There is no man living for whose character I have a higher respect.” THOMAS.—“I1 yield to no one in my admiration for Thomas. He was a fine character—one of the finest in the war. I was fond of him, and it was a severe trial to even think of removing him, But he was an inert man. He was 602 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. slow to make up his mind, as a Virginian, which side to espouse. But when he thought it all out he was passionate in his love for the Union. As a commander he was slow. We used to say, ‘Thomas is too slow to move and too brave to run away.’ The success of his campaign will be its vindica- tion even against my criticisms. That success and all the fame that came with it belong to Thomas. We differed about the campaign but there could be no difference as to the effects of the battle. I have no doubt the disease of which he died— fatty degeneration of the heart—demanded of him constant forti- tude, and affected his actions onthe field. His is one of the great names of history. He was one of the greatest heroes of the war, a rare and noble character, every way worthy of his fame.” SHERIDAN.— As a soldier, as a commander of troops, as a man capable of doing all that is possible with any number of men, there is no man living greater than Sheridan. He belongs to the very first rank of soldiers, not only of our country but the world. I rank him with Napoleon and Frederick and the great commanders in history. No man ever had such a faculty of finding out things as Sheridan, of knowing all about the enemy. He was always the best informed man in his com- mand as to the enemy. Then he had that magnetic quality of swaying men which I wish I had—a rare quality in a general.” MEADE—* Meade was certainly among the heroes of the war, and his name deserves all honor. I had great fondness for him. No general ever was more earnest. He had only one fault—his temper. A battle always put him ina fury. He raged from beginning to end. His own staff would dread to report to him if anything were wrong. Under this harsh exterior, he had a gentle chivalrous heart, and was an accom- plished soldier and gentleman. He served with me to the end of the war and to my entire satisfaction.” SEDGWICK.—* Sedgwick was a soldier of the highest ability, and though not in sympathy with the politics of the 603 SS MAJ. GEN. GEO. G. MEADE, 604 LIFE OF ULYSSES S, GRANT. government, he was loyal and devoted to the cause of the Union. Both he and Meade were men so finely formed that | if ordered to resign their commissions and take service as cor- porals they would have fallen into the ranks without a mur- mur. Sedgwick’s death was a great loss to the army.” McPHERSON—*“I was very fond of McPherson, and his death was a great affliction. He was on my staff and there I learned his merit. Had he lived he would have come out of the war with a higher rank.” HANCOCK.—* Hancockis a fine soldier. When he was made major-general my personal preferences were for Schofield, but I felt Hancock had earned the promotion, and I handed his name to Stanton. I have great respect for him as a man and soldier.” WAR—‘1 am always indulgent in my opinions of generals who did not succeed. There can be no greater mistake than to say that because generals failed in the field they lacked high qualities. Some of the men who were most unfortunate in our war were men in whom I had perfect confidence. Some failed because they lost the confidence of the country in trying to gain that of politicians. Some failed because when they had won a victory they did not know what to do with it. Some were never started right. Some failed because they worked everything by rule. They were always think- ing about what Napoleon would do. Unfortunately for them the rebels would be thinking about something else. Military knowledge is all right, but slavish observance of rules will often bring failure. The conditions of war in Europe and America were wholly different. War is progressive, because all its instruments and elements are progressive. I do not believe in luck in war any more than in business. Luck may effect a single movement, but not a campaign or career. A successful general needs health, youth and energy. I should not like to put a general in the field over fifty. When I was in the army I had a physique that could stand anything. CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 605 Whether I slept on the ground or in a tent, whether I slept one hour or ten in the twenty-four, whether I had one meal or three, or none, made no difference. I could lie down and sleep in the rain without caring. But I am many years older, and could not hope to do that now. The power to endure is an immense power, and naturally belongs to youth. The only eyes a general can trust are his own. There is nothing ideal in war.” LINCOLN .—‘I never saw him till he gave me my commis- sionas Lieutenant-General. Afterwards I saw him often either in Washington or at head-quarters. I may almost say he spent the last days of his life with me. I often recall those days. He came down to City Point during the last month of the war, and was with meall the time. He wasa fine horse- man, and rode my horse Cincinnati. He was anxious about the closing of the war, was afraid we could not stand another cam- paign, and wanted to be around when the crash came. I have no doubt that Lincoln will be the conspicuous figure of the war; one of the great figures of history. He was a great man, avery great man. The more I saw of him, the more this im- pressed me. He was incontestably the greatest man I ever knew. What marked him especially, was his sincerity, his kindness, his clear insight into affairs. Under all,he had a firm will and a clear policy. People used to say that Seward swayed him, or Chase, or Stanton. This was a mistake. He might appear to go to them, but all the while they were going with him. And it was that gentle firmness in carrying out his own will without apparent force or friction, that formed the basis of his character. The darkest day of my life was when I heard of his assassination. I did not know what it meant. Here was the rebellion put down in the field and starting up in the gutters; we had fought it as war and now we had to fight it as assassi- nation. On that night of April 14th, Lincoln had promised to go to the theatre, and wanted me to go with him. I received - 606 . .LIT FE OR DLYSSES -S.9GRANT, a note from Mrs. Grant, saying, she had resolved to go to Bur- lington on that evening to see the children. I made my excuse to Mr. Lincoln, and went with Mrs. Grant. In driving along Pennsylvania Avenue to the train, a horseman rode past us on a gallop, and back again, making the circuit of our carriage and looking into it. Mrs. Grant said, “There is the man who satnear usat lunch to-day and tried to overhear our conversation. He was so rude that we left the dining room. He is now riding after us.’ J thought it was only curiosity, but learned after- wards that it was Booth. It seems J was to have been attacked, and that Mrs. Grant’s sudden resolve to leave, had deranged the plan. A few days afterwards I received an anonymous note from a man who said he had been detailed to kill me, had rid- den on my train as far as Havre de Grace, but had failed to get into my car because it was locked. He thanked God he had failed. I remember that the conductor locked our car, but how true the letter was, I cannot say.” VALUE OF SERVICE.—*“ Personally I find no dissatisfac- tion with the estimate the Americans have placed on my ser- vices. I see no reason for dissatisfaction on the part of any of the chiefs of the army. But the South has been kinder to her soldiers than the North to those who composed her armies. In the South there is no surer way to public esteem than to have served in the army. In the North it is different. Ifyou look at the roll of congress you will find that the list of Con- federate officers has been steadily increasing, while the list of Federal officers has decreased. The only senators of high army rank I recall, are Burnside and Logan, and those in the House, are Banks, Butler and Garfield. It makes me melan- choly to see this diminishing roll. While I would do nothing to revive unhappy memories in the South, I do not like to see our soldiers apologize for the war. Apart from emancipation and the triumph of the Union, it gave us a position as a nation among the nations of the world. That I have seen every day . CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 607 since I have been abroad, and to me it is one of the most grati- fying results of the war. That alone was worth making a great sacrifice for.” PROMOTION.—‘When the rebellion came I returned to the service because it was aduty. I had no thought of rank. All I did was to try to make myself useful. My first com- mission as brigadier came in the unanimous endorsement of the Illinois delegation. I did not know one of them except Washburne,and him not very well. It was only after Donelson that I began to see how important was the work that Provi- dence devolved upon me. Yet after Donelson I was in disgrace and under arrest, because of some misunderstanding on the part of Halleck. It all came rightin time. I never bore him ill will, and we remained friendly. He was in command and it was his duty to commandas he pleased. But I do not know what would have become of it, so far as I was concerned, had not the country interfered. You see Donelson was our first clear victory and great enthusiasm came with it. The country saved me from Halleck’s displeasure. When other commands came I always regretted them. I wrote Mr. Washburne op- posing the bill to create the grade of Lieutenant-General with my name in connection withit. I didnotwant it. I found that the bill was right and I was wrong, when I came to command the Army of the Potomac—that a head was needed to the army. I did not want the Presidency and have never quite forgiven myself for resigning the command of the army to accept it; but it could not be helped. I owed my honors and opportu- nities to the Republican party and if my name could aid it I was bound to accept. The second nomination was almost due to me—if I may be pardoned the phrase—because of the bit- terness of political and personal opponents. My re-election was a great gratification because it showed how the country felt Then came all the discussions about a third term. Iwas pressed to enter the canvass, and the pressure came from all 608 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. sections. I said that under no circumstances would I be a candidate. Even if a nomination and election were assured | would not run. Both the nomination and election would have involved a struggle and my administration would have been crippled. This was the public view. I never wanted to get out of a place as much as I did to get out of the Presidency. Personally I was weary of office. For sixteen years, from the opening of the war, it had been a constant strain upon me. So when the third term was seriously presented to me I peremp- torily declined it.” LEE—‘TI never ranked Lee as high as some others in the army. I never had as much anxiety when he was in my front as when Joe Johnston was in front. Lee was a good man, a fair commander, who had everything in his favor. He wasa man who needed sunshine. He was supported by the unani- mous voice of the South. He was supported by a large party in the North. He had the sympathy of the outside world. All this is of immense advantage to a general. Lee had this in a remarkable degree. Everything he did was right. He was treated like a demi-god. Our generals had a hostile press, lukewarm friends, and a public opinion outside. The cry was in the air that. the North only won by brute force ; that the generalship and valor were with the South. This has gone > into history with so many other illusions. Lee was of a slow, conservative, cautious nature, without imagination or humor ; always the same, with grave dignity. I never could see in his achievements what justifies his reputation. The illusion that nothing but heavy odds beat him will not stand the ulti- mate light of history. I know it is not true. Lee was a good deal of a headquarters’ general; a desk-general, from what I can hear, and from what his officers say. He was almost too old for active service—the best field service At the time of the surrender he was fifty-eight or nine His officers used to say that he posed himself, was retiring and exclusive, and that CONVERSATIONS AND OPINIONS. 609 his headquarters were difficult of access. When Mr. Johnson, in the beginning of his administration, was making speeches, saying he had resolved to make all treason odious, and had made up his mind to arrest Lee and the leading Southern officers, I protested again and again. On one occasion Mr. Johnson asked why any military commander had a right to protect an arch-traitor from the laws? I was angry at this, and said that as General it was none of my business what he or Congress did with General Lee and his other commanders. He might do as he pleased about civil rights, confiscation and soon. That did not come within my province. Buta general commanding troops had certain responsibilities and duties and powers, which are supreme. He must deal with the enemy in front of him so as to destroy him. He must either kill him, capture him, or parole him. His engagements are sacred so far as they lead to the destruction of the foe. I had made certain terms with Lee—the best and only terms. If I had told him and his army that their liberty would have been in- vaded, that they would be open to arrest, trial, and execution for treason, he would never have surrendered, and we would have lost many lives in destroying him. Now my terms of surrender were according to military law, and so long as Lee was observing his parole, I would never consent to his arrest. Mr. Seward nodded approval. I should have resigned my command of the army rather than have carried out any order directing me to arrest Lee or any of his commanders who were obeying the laws.” JEFFERSON DAVIS —* Jefferson Davis did his best, did all that a man could do to save the Confederacy. The South was beaten from the beginning. There was no possible vic- tory for any government resting on the platform of the South- ern Confederacy. Just as soon as the war united and aroused the young men of the North, and called out the national feel- ing, there was no end but the end that came. Davis did all 39 610 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. he could for his side, and how much he did no one knows better than those in the field. I am told he directed Hood’s movement in the West. If so, he could not have done us a greater service. But that was an error of judgment. He is entitled to every honor bestowed on the South for gallantry and persistence. The attacks on him by his old followers are ignoble. The South fell because it was defeated. Lincoln destroyed it, not Davis.” REMINISCENCES. OPENING THE CENTENN/AL—President Grant opened the American Centennial of May 1oth, 1876, at Phila- delphia, by delivering the following oration, the original manuscript of which, in his own handwriting, is now in the possession of George W. Childs, of the Ledger - “My FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN: It has been thought appropriate upon this Centennial occasion to bring together in Philadelphia for popular inspection speci- mens of our attainments in industrial and fine arts, and in literature, science and philosophy, as well as in the great business of agriculture and of commerce. That we may the more thoroughly appreciate the excellencies and deficiencies of our achievements, and also give emphatic expression to our earnest desire to cultivate the friendship of our fellow-members of this great family of nations, the enlightened agricultural, commercial and manufacturing people of the world have been invited to send hither corresponding specimens of their skill to exhibit on equal terms in friendly competition with our own. To this invitation they have generously responded; for so doing we render them our hearty thanks. “The beauty and utility of the contributions will this day be submitted to your inspection by the managers of this Exhibition. We are glad to know that a view of specimens of the skill of all nations will afford to you unalloyed pleasure, as well as yield to you a valuable practical knowledge of so many of the remarkable results of the wonderful skill existing in enlightened commun ties. “One hundred years ago our country was new and but partially settled. Our necessities have compelled us to chiefly expend our means and time in felling forests, subduing prairies, building dwellings, factories, ships, docks, warehouses, roads, canals, machinery, etc., etc. Most of our schools, churches, libraries and asylums, have been established within a hundred years. Burthened by these great REMINISCENCES, 611 primal works of necessity, which could not be pretermitted, we yet have done what this exhibition will show in the direction of rivaling older and more advanced nations in law, medicine and theology ; in science, literature, philosophy and the fine arts. Whilst proud of what we have done, we regret that we have not done more. Our achievements have been great enough, however, to make it easy for our people to acknowledge superior merit wherever found. “ And now, fellow-citizens, I hope a careful examination of what is about to be exhibited to you will not only inspire you with a profound respect for the skill and taste of our friends from other nations, but also satisfy you with the attain- ments made by our own people during the past one hundred years. I invoke your generous co-operation with the worthy commissioners to secure a brilliant success to this International Exhibition, and to make the stay of our foreign visitors—to whom we extend a hearty welcome—both profitable and pleasant to them. I declare the International Exhibition now open.” THE GRANT PRESENTS.—The souvenirs and tokens of honor received by General Grant, at home and abroad, and which he designed to present to the Government at his death, were taken in execution by Mr. Vanderbilt and transferred in trust to Mrs. Grant. She immediately gave them to the Government. They passed into the hands of the Government on June 11th, 1885. They were valued at $100,000. ‘The list is as follows: Mexican onyx cabinet, presented to General Grant by the people of Pueblo, Mex.; aerolite, part of which passed over Mexico in 1871; Bronze vases, presented to General Grant by the people of Yokohama, Japan; marble bust and pedestal, presented by the working-men of Philadelphia; Jarge elephant tusks, presented by the King of Siam; small elephant tusks, presented by the Maharajah of Johore; picture of General Scott, by Page, presented by gentlemen of New York; crackle-ware bowls (very old), presented by prince Koon, of China; cloi- sonne (old), presented by Li Hung Chang; Chinese porcelain jars (old), presented by Prince Koon, of China; Aroleian Bible; Coptic Bible, presented by Lord Napier, who captured it with King Theodore, of Abyssinia; sporting rifle; sword of Donei- son, presented to General Grant after the fall of Fort Donelson, by officers of the army, and used by him to the end of the 612 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. war; New York sword, voted to General Grant ata New York fair; sword of Chattanooga, presented by citizens of Jo-Daviess County Ill. (Galena), after the battle of Chattanooga; Roman mug and pitcher; silver menu and card, farewell dinner of San Francisco, Cal.; Silver menu of Paris dinner; horn and silver snuff box; Silver match box, used by General Grant; gold table, model after the table in Mr. McLean’s house, on which General R. E. Lee signed the articles of surrender, and pre- sented to General Grant by ex-Cenfederate soldiers: gold cigar cases, from the Celestial and second Kings of Siam; gold-handled knife, presented by miners of Idaho Territory ; silver trowel, used by General Grant in laying the corner-stone of the Museum of Natural History, New York; knife made at Sheffield for General Grant; General Grant’s gold pen; em- broidered picture (cock and hen), presented by citizens of Ja- pan; field-glasses, used by General Grant during the war ; iron- headed cane, made from the rebel ram Merrimac; silver-headed cane, from wood used in defense of Fort Sumpter; gold-headed cane, made out of wood from old Fort Duquesne, Pa.; gold- headed cane, presented in token of General Grant’s humanity during the war; gold-headed cane, used by Lafayette, and presented by the ladies of Baltimore; carved wood cane, from estate of Sir Walter Scott; uniform as general of the United States army ; fifteen buttons, cut from his coats during the war by Mrs. Grant, after various battles; shoulder-straps (brigadier general), worn by General Grant at Belmont, Fort Donelson and Shiloh, and straps of lieutenant general, cut from the coat used by General Grant in the campaigns against Richmond, Petersburg and Lee’s army; medal (gold), from the American Congress for opening the Mississippi; gold medal from Phila- delphia; forty-five medals in gold, silver and bronze; collec- tion of Japanese coin, the only complete set except one in the Japanese Treasury. Seven of these pieces cost $5,000. Pre- sented by the government of Japan; warrant as cadet at West REMINISCENCES, 613 Pont, and army commissions from brevet second lieutenant to that of General of the United States Army. The list concludes with sixty-seven papers and mementoes, comprising addresses, honorary society commissions and reso- lutions of respect, as well as the freedom of cities- presented abroad. GEORGE W. CHILDS REMINISCENCES.—« The last time I saw General Grant was in March, 1885, at his home in New York. While we were chatting I observed that it was half-past eleven o’clock, and the General said: ‘I suppose the Senate is adjourning now.’ Just then I received a telegram from Mr. Drexel, stating that General Grant had been placed on the retired list. ‘There, General, said I, ‘read that.’ A smile of pleasure illuminated his countenance, and for a moment he appeared unable to speak. Mrs. Grant entered the room, and I told her the news. With a beaming face she cried out: ‘They have brought us back our old com- mander. The scene was very affecting. The General could hardly express the delight he felt at the compliment which had been paid to him. He bore not the slightest ill-will toward those who had opposed the bill, for he is the most magnanimous man I ever knew. “The greatest soldier that ever lived, he is as kind and gentle as a woman. He frequently told me how much it pained him to be accused of butchery. He said he was always overcome by a feeling of sadness before a battle at the thought that many a poor fellow would never return from the field. He is generous to a fault, and has given away a fortune in charities. In this, like in everything else, he was modest. The same modesty that prevented him from asking for an appointment ora promotion caused him to maintain silence concerning his gifts to the needy. “JT remember that when he was on one of his visits to me during his Presidency a great many people called here to ask 614 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. favors of him. Not caring to have him worried, I refused admittance to all whom I suspected of being on an errand of that kind. One day alady who lived in the same block—in fact, only a few doors from my house—called and asked to see him. ‘You may see her, General,’ I said, laughing; ‘I guess she is not after an appointment.’ He came back in a little while and said,‘ You were wrong; she was after an appoint- ment.’ I looked at him in astonishment, and he explained that the lady wanted him to transfer the sister-in-law of Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln’s Secretary of War, from the Mint, where she was then employed, and where the work was too hard for her, to the Treasury Department. He requested me to see the Assistant United States Treasurer in this city and ask him to give her a position. I did so, and the Assistant Treasurer told me he had no vacancy. ‘General Grant’s request is law, how- ever, said he, ‘and I can make room for the lady by re- moving another who has no need fora position here.’ This was done, and some time afterward I meta son of Mrs. Stan- ton (the latter was dead at the time), who thanked me for get- ting his aunt the appointment. ‘General Grant appointed her,’ said I. ‘Oh, no,’ said he, ‘General Grant himself told me that you had gotten the appointment for her. This is charac- teristic of the General, who is continually doing good and giving others the credit. “He loves Philadelphia, and has a great many friends here. Asan example of his esteem for Philadelphians, I will tell you of something that is not known ts any one but the General, the interested parties, and myself. Mr. A. E. Borie was not the only Philadelphian who was offered a Cabinet position by General Grant. Four other gentlemen in this city were requested to become members of his Cabinet. They declined, and the matter was never made public. They are still living in this city, and one of them has held a very high position. REMINISCENCES. 615 “Tt was at my recommendation that General Grant took the cottage at Long Branch. It adjoins mine, and there is no fence between the two properties. There the General has spent some of the happiest days of his life. He usually got up about seven o'clock in the morning, ate his breakfast, and then took a drive of about twenty miles. He went alone in his buggy. On his return, he would look over his mail and read the newspapers. He dined at two o’clock generally, although for some years his dinner hour was seven, with a lunch at two. “ After the meal at two o’clock he took another drive, and in the evening he sat on the porch and chatted with friends, many of whom visited him. We called on. each other every day, and he sometimes strolled over to my cottage and talked with me while he enjoyed his cigar. “While the General is fond of a fast horse, he never visited the race course at Long Branch, and never entered a gambling house. He told of a laughable incident that occurred to him while taking one of his twenty-mile drives. On the road, a short distance ahead of him, he saw a countryman driving a mean-looking horse with a shabby buggy. Determined not to take the dust from such a sorry turnout, he gave his horse the head and tried to pass. But the countryman also loosed the lines and held his position. After quite an exciting race, the General saw he was beaten, and pulled up his horse. The countryman turned in his seat, and, waving his hand, said, with a laugh, ‘I made you take my dust, General,’ and drove off. The General enjoyed the joke on himself very much, and said he would like to meet that man again, but he never did. “The last time General Grant appeared in public was at Ocean Grove. Governor Oglesby, of Illinois, was with him, and the Governor told me that when the cheers of ten thousand people rang out at the sight of the old hero, he turned around and saw the tears coursing slowly down the General’s cheeks. 616 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. “JT thought it would be very hard for him to stop smoking when his physicians prohibited it. His indomitable will made the matter easy to him, however. ‘Did you find it difficult to give up the weed?’ I asked him. ‘It was hard during the first two days,’ he replied, ‘but after that I did not mind it. I have no desire to smoke again.’ “Tt has been said that Hamilton Fish wrote the speech the General made at the opening of the Centennial Exhibition. General Grant wrote that speech in this house, and I have the original manuscript.” BEECHER’ S PORTRAIT —This tribute was paid to Gen- eral Grant at prayer-meeting in Plymouth church, when his death was expected in April, 1885. “General Grant is at death’s door. It may be weeks, it may be months, it may be hours. I cannot help praying for him. I pray for him as I go along the street. I do not pray that he may be saved— that is as the Lord wills. Going or staying is the same for him or for me, except that the part for him will be glory, for I trust that General Grant in the essential elements of his char- acter is Christian. There are some remarkable things about him. No man ever heard Grant speak an irreverent word. No man ever heard General Grant, even in the narration of a story, use profane language. Never on the battle-field, never in those exigencies where men are provoked, did any man ever hear General Grant speak a word that was not in moder- ation and good faith. I believe that the essential elements of his character are based upon religion, and he is altogether a church-going man; he has always believed in it. See what a wonderful career he has had in the latter part of his life. His has been a hard life all the way through. His early life was not a pleasant one—I mean after he left West Point. I need not say anything about that great civil war, where he was the Atlas upon whose shoulders the nation rested. What toil! If he had not had an iron constitution it would have broken REMINISCENCES. 617 him down. When he came out of it and went to the Presi- dency, for which he had never had any training, and where his mistakes lay in fidelity to friends, he showed a great magnan- imity of character. He does not doubt friends easily. If he takes hold of one he sticks to him, and he is in that regard credulous. And so his credulity was abused. The mistakes ‘of his administration lay at the door of the good qualities of the man. I have been with him a good deal and I have never heard him say a bad word about any human being. I have never heard him utter a sentiment that might not become a judge sitting coolly and calmly on the bench. He came out from his public relations and entered into business, and then storm came upon him. It struck him just where it was hardest to bear. It made him, as it were, the derision of men for the time. And, as in the war and in the Presidential chair, he opened not his mouth in detraction, not even in answer, but stood and bore whatever was laid upon him. In all his finan- cial troubles, never a murmuring word! And then came dis- ease, fateful disease, slowly undermining—going steadily down, down, and nota murmur! Sublime instance of fortitude and patience! I cannot help praying for him in my thoughts. My thoughts rise up round about the throne in his behalf.” To this vivid portrait Mr. Beecher added the concluding touches, on the announcement of General Grant’s death, thus :—“ The judgment we pass upon the commandex should be based not alone on his success ; we should consider, in Gen- eral Grant’s case, what he had to manage and what he had to overcome, the nature of his conflict and its enormous scope, the wide stretching field of his operations, the volume and the vastness of his armies, and the potent factor shown in the fire and devotion and courage of the Southern men, and the relative apathy and slowness—not to say torpidity—of the North. The conditions I name have to be taken into account in trying to arrive at a fair estimate of Grant’s greatness and 618 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the grandeur of his military conceptions and combinations. He came to power through a series of wonderful successes at Donelson, at Vicksburg, at Missionary Ridge. But still, when called to the supreme generalship it was not to find a concen- trated, centralized military force at command. It was his work to carry into effect the grand policy of centralization, and under him all the operations in the West, in the Middle States, in the East, became parts of one great plan, powerful and har- monious. Grant’s was the genius, the very highest genius, of common sense developed in military affairs. With all due credit to his subordinate generals, and after all the detractions that mean and unjust criticisms have made or can make, still Grant must be regarded as the greatest general who has ap- peared on our shores or that in this age has appeared in any land. It is very difficult, I take it, to give now any detailed estimate of General Grant as a man separate from his profes- sion. He was an anomaly among American men, in that he had simplicity and modesty almost ununderstandable among the people and the age in which he lived. The char- acter of his mind was such as to leave his perceptions almost untouched by emotion, by imagination, by political feeling, or by any sensitiveness to praise or blame. He possessed the pure crystalline vision of a practical intellect. He saw things as they were in the world, unswerved by the mobile conceptions of the human soul. He was not daunted by fear ; he was not excited by hope. Imagination did not magnify his vision. He was cool, calm, clear-sighted, correct. Neither, I think, have we ever had in history a mind more generous, disinterested and magnanimous. Grant had the power of ‘hating bad men. But even that hatred he never exhibited in an offensive way. He had not the knack of petulance or anger. One cannot even perceive any undue impatience or anger when overruled by the jealousy of Halleck or in other trying times. The success of any subordinate pleased him ; REMINISCENCES. 619 the advancement of other men never provoked him to jealousy. When the names of Thomas, McPherson, Sherman, Sheridan and the rest of the list of his fellow-heroes were mentioned in his presence it always brought beams of pleasure to his eyes, and an unlimited number of instances might be recorded of his generous thoughts of all his compeers. And in this dis- position of their chief I think existed largely the influence which led to harmony among the leading Union generals, a harmony that led to results great and magnificent. If it had ever been possible for any man to have excited the jealousy of Grant it would most likely have been that brilliant soldier, Sherman. But two devoted brothers could not have got along together better or more harmoniously than did these great captains, bound by mutual love and confidence. In the soldier’s last sickness and death has been consummated, I be- lieve, what his sword made pathway for. North and South clasping hands above the bier of the hero—not the North’s but the Nation’s hero—testify that the end is come to strife of section, and that fraternity and union are here at last. Grant has not died in vain. The United States have just occasion for pride in his fame. In the midst of great successes and boundless praises, maintaining his modest demeanor and great simplicity and singular honesty and manliness, he was a man tobe loved by those who were near, and admired by those afar off—his a name to be celebrated as the greatest on the horizon of American history.” REMINISCENCES BY GENERAL BEALE— Yes, I have been a very intimate friend of General Grant for the past fifteen years. My first acquaintance with him was not a per- sonal one, however. It*> was through the news of his victories at Donelson. Wewere then in California, where everything was cast in gloom. We had no railroads, nor telegraph, and all the previous news we had was that everything was going against us. We felt as if we were sitting on a powder maga- 620 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. zine which was apt to explode at any moment. When we heard of Grant’s victories we felt that a man had arrived at last who could save his country. “Later, my acquaintance with General Grant ripened into the warmest friendship. To say that I considered him a great man does not express it. He was the greatest man I know of. He fought and won battles the like of which have never occurred in modern or ancient history. Everybody is fami- liar with his military and other public achievements; but in his private life, his personal characteristics shone with equal brilliancy. “ His three most prominent and admirable traits were guile- lessness of character, even temperament and great magnan- imity. As I said, and as you know, my friendship with Gen- eral Grant was of the most intimate nature. In all my daily companionship with him, at home or abroad, I never heard General Grant make a remark which could not be repeated with propriety before a room full of ladies. His character was wholly pure and free from guile. “T ought not to refer to the reports that he drank to excess, for they are too senseless and untrue, but I will say that during the whole period that I have known him, in riding to and from my farm near this city two or three times a week, in dining at the same table, in walking the streets of Paris until 2 o’clock in the morning for amusement, I have never seen him when he wasn’t as clear-headed as you and I are now. “His even disposition was something wonderful to me, and I have seen him tried almost beyond endurance. He never cursed and swore at people, and he never lost control of him- self. He was always able to do what he considered right. “T saw him once, while at a white heat of vexation in the library at the White House, put personal prejudices and wishes aside and do his duty without question. He had been REMINISCENCES. 621 abused and slandered by a certain person to such an extent that he could only recognize him as a personal and bitter enemy. The question arose whether that person should be nominated to the Senate or not for a position. I knew all the circumstances and said to General Grant: “« What are you going to do about it ?’ “«T)o about it?’ he repeated. ‘I will send his name to the Senate. He has deserved his appointment by his services to his country, and no personal ill feeling on my part shall pre- vent his obtaining what he deserves. “He sat down and signed the nomination and it was sent to the Senate at once. He was generous in the extreme. It was always difficult for him to refuse requests made of him. I could tell you instances of his great kindness of heart which you would scarcely believe, but little things will show this trait as well as great ones. “When General Grant has been a visitor at my house chil- dren would overwhelm him with requests for his autograph. Often when we would return home late at night from some reception, tired and sleepy, on his table would be a pile of autograph albums a foot or two high. Mrs. Beale would say: ‘Come, General, it is time to retire. You are tired and need rest. Don’t stop to write in those books to-night, but wait till morning. ‘No,’ General Grant would reply, ‘I'll do it to-night. These books belong to little children and they will stop for them on their way to school in the morning and I don’t want to disappoint them,’ and he would write in every one. “He had a wonderful facultyas a writer. His mind grasped the whole subject, and he wrote without hesitation. I have seen him write for hours without stopping for a word. He made fewer corrections in his writing than any one I ever knew. “During his military experiences he had learned that it was his duty to do the engineering and planning and to leave the 622 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. details to his lieutenants. In this way he became accustomed to placing the most implicit confidence in those near him, for he supposed they would do their duty as he would do his. So that to confidence in others alone can his terrible misfortunes in New York be attributed. I can understand why some peo- ple should criticize and disagree with General Grant, particu- larly military men, but I can’t understand how a man could deliberately plot to ruin him. “ General Grant was very fond of Washington, and always looked forward to returning here. Indeed, he was drawn to New York only that he might not be separated from his sons, who were in business there. That the people of Washington were fond of General Grant there is no doubt. A walk down the avenue any day showed that. Nothing but kindly greet- ings and friendly bows on every side. Washington City should claim his remains. His reputation is national. You and I have just as much individual ownership in it as we have in the public buildings. This is the national centre, and every- thing of national character belongs here. What more fitting resting place for his remains could be found than the centre of the large circle south of the White House, beneath the shadows of the Washington Monument ?” PORTER'S REMINISCENCES .—The following by General Horace Porter, who was on Grant’s staff during the war and his intimate friend ever after, is full of historic value: “He was cast in a different mould from any of the historical gene- rals. I think he was the most ready man I have ever known. Persons have come to him while busy and asked for letters upon some subject, and, instead of putting it off, General Grant would most always immediately write what was requested, and it would be as clear and compact as though done by some literary man who had studied it out and revised it twice. I recall an instance of General Grant’s readiness in emergency. On the night of the second day of the Wilderness fight, when REMINISCENCES. 623 Sedgwick’s corps had been broken and Shaler and Seymour captured, General Grant staid in his headquarters and listened to fast coming reports of perplexity and trouble, but he turned to one and another, and talked off his orders with as much precision and display of judgment as though he had been studying that unexpected situation for two months, and all who saw him watched and listened and wondered. “And again, General Grant was called upon to give a hearing unexpectedly in a case he had not before heard of. The case involved a quantity of cotton, and in its decision it also involved questions of international and maritime law, and also of contraband laws and cotton in foreign bottoms. Well, the lawyers came before the General and argued at length, and when they had done he turned and rendered a decision that left no room for further argument, so clear and cogent were its points. Afterward one of the lawyers came to me and asked me where that man, meaning the General, had studied law; but I told him General Grant had never studied law, and his comprehensive grasp and information were facts that I could tell nothing about. I never saw him angry but once, and that was when he saw a brutal fellow clubbing a horse over the head. The General seized the man, told him he was a brute and punished him for impudence, of which he was guilty to the General, but I never heard him utter an oath nor any approach to it, and I was with him nine years without ever being away from him more than two weeks. General Grant was a splendid rider, and a fine whip as weil. He could ride forty or fifty miles and come in perfectly fresh, and tire out younger men. He was much attached to a little horse that was called Jeff Davis, because he was secured on Jeff. Davis’ plantation. He was an easy animal to ride, and was easily guided through ins and outs, but when fording streams, ‘Jeff’ was at a disadvantage. There was besides a noble, big, bay-colored fellow named Cincinnati, which General 624 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Grant used to ride. That horse would ford a stream magnificently. “Tt was on little Jeff that General Grant, accompanied by myself and an orderly, rode out to the front on the morning when there was that hour of delay in the explosion of our mine at Petersburg. The General wore a little blue blouse that morning, and many of the men as we passed to the front did not know that its wearer was General Grant. The firing was getting very heavy, and I suggested that we dismount, because we could get about much easier. I did not say that the firing was terrific, for that would have been to him no argu- ment for dismounting. So we dismounted, the orderly holding little Jeff by the bridle, and then General Grant made his way through the lines and works clear out to the front, where the firing was heavy, indeed; but he was a manwho never winked in the face of missles, and the only one of two men I ever saw who would not involuntarily do so. The other was a bugler. General Grant was a free, easy-going, accessible sort of a man aman of the people. He enjoyed being among his men during the war, and in private life, when riding ina special car perhaps, he would go forward and take half a seat with some passenger in the front car when he wanted to smoke. It is sad, sad, that, with ten ripe years naturally before him, such a man should needs be taken, and I think Bis NES will be more appreciated by the people as time goes on.’ CRESWELL’S PORTRAIT.—Hon. J. A. J. Creswell, a member of Grant’s cabinet, thus pictures his old friend: “T had more admiration for General Grant than for any man I ever saw, and it grieves me to the soul that he should be ending his days in suffering. I knew Lincoln and I knew Stanton, and these two, with Grant, make the distinguished trio—Grant the great soldier, Stanton the executive officer and Lincoln the great arbiter. “Grant’s qualities of true manliness were more pronounced REMINISCENCES, 625 than those of any man I ever knew. In all my close relations with him while I was a member of his Cabinet, I never heard him say a harsh or petty thing, never heard him speak impul- sively or use a profane word. His relations with his family were most delightful and charming. There never was a kinder or more indulgent father, and I never saw a more devoted couple than General and Mrs. Grant. Of course, everybody knows how he loved his daughter. The meeting between them the other day was very touching, and the emotion shown by the old warrior exhibited the depth of his affection. “General Grant’s great characteristic, however, was his sub- lime and unflinching courage. It was of that kind that no im- pression could be made upon it by opposition. He discharged his duties always without selfishness, never stopping to con- sider how an action would affect him personally. All he wanted to know was,‘ What is just? What isright?’ I remem- ber an instance of this kind at the time we had a postal treaty with Japan, which gave us almost entire control of the Japanese postal service. When their relations grew more intimate with us and with other nations, they desired to have charge of their own service, and took steps in that direction. “ After the Japanese Minister had talked with me about a treaty to that effect, I went to Grant and la:d the matter before him. I found that he had but one idea, to do what was right and justtoward Japan. I pointed out to him that if he should sign such a treaty,we would be surrendering our control of the Japanese service, and would be subjected to severe criticism, especially on the Pacific coast. ‘ But isn’t it right?’ was his reply, ‘Can there be any doubt about it?’ I told him I only wanted to advise him of the consequences. He was satisfied that the treaty was just and he signed it. “ Grant never lost his head. When we came so near being engaged in a war with Spain on account of the Virginius affair, there was agood deal of excitement at the Cabinet meeting, | ai 626 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. -anda war with Spain was imminent. Grant knew what was meant, and by his coolness and sound judgment prevented it. He was assisted in this by the Spanish representative in this country, who was a naval officer. He, too, knew what fight- ing meant, and these two really prevented a war. “In circumstances when most men would be apt to lose their heads, on the field of battle, for instance, Grant’s mind seemed all the more stronger and clearer. Rawlins told me once that in the confusion of the battle-field, Grant’s orders were more explicit and clearer than when everything was quiet. He seemed never to get confused. I asked Grant once if, when giving orders for an engagement, he was not appalled by the great loss of life which would ensue. He replied, ‘ No, it was war, but I realized what it meant. I never gave an order until I was satished that it was the best course to pursue, and then I was willing to shoulder the responsibility.’ He added that many men failed as commanders simply because of an un- willingness to assume this responsibility. “He wrote with great facility. His style, like his character, was the embodiment of directness. He used few metaphors, and little ornamentation, and never two words where one would do, preferring Saxon words to Latin or French. He never hesitated for a word, and always went right to the point. He wrote all his own papers—notwithstanding the reports to the contrary—and all his messages were framed and written by him. “He hada very quick eye, and it was surprising to me how he could take in the whole topography at a glance. I remem- ber once when he was visiting me at my farm, I took him a long drive around the country. I took a by-road, intending to strike the main road, but missed my way. Finally I laughingly confessed it. ‘Where did you want to go?’ heasked. ‘I wanted to strike a road which would take me to the village which lies in that direction.’ e stood up in the buggy, and, looking REMINISCENCES. 627 over the surrounding country, said, ‘If you will let down the fence here, drive over this field and then through that gate up yonder, I think you'll strike the road you want on that ridge.’ ‘Why do youthink so?’ Iasked. ‘ Well, you say the village is in that direction’ (pointing); ‘Up there I see quite a settle- ment. The people who live there will have a way to reach the ‘village, and they couldn’t find a better way than along that ridge.’ “T did as he advised, and found the road just where he said I would. I expressed surprise at his accuracy, and he replied: ‘It is part of my business to find roads. A good soldier should be able, by seeing a portion of the country, to form a good judgment of what the rest is.’ “ Now, about Grant’s third term project, he didn’t desire to be President a third term for any glory or reputation, but his sole object was to reconcile the North and South, and I think he would have done it thoroughly. The solid South would have been a thing of the past. “T think his body should be buried at the Soldiers’ Home. Nothing could be more appropriate than that the grave of the greatest soldier of the age should be in the Soldiers’ Home. A SICK-ROOM SKETCH.—The following sketch of the sick-room situation was drawn by a particular friend just before the removal to Mt. McGregor: ‘“ His physical suffer- ings began with his fall a year ago last December. Since then he has suffered terribly—no one knows how much, for he never complains. After that fall, when he injured his hip, pleurisy set in. It was a severe attack. Then he began to suffer from neuralgia, with intense pains in the head. His system had been shocked by the fall. The neuralgia helped to reduce it. As a means of relieving the neuralgia, he had several teeth drawn. He refused to take an anesthetic, and had them drawn at one sitting. That exercise of his wonder- 628 LIFE OF ULYSSES §. GRANT. ful will, in his then debilitated condition, gave the system another shock, from which it could not rally. Then this terrible disease of the tongue appeared. It has been a steady drain upon him, reducing his flesh rapidly and weakening him beyond any former experience. But he has stood it all with- out a murmur, just as he has taken all the reverses and trials of his life. To see him wasting and sinking in this way is more touching, and excites deeper sympathy among his friends, than if he made some sign of his sufferings, as ordinary men do, by grumbling and complaint. “The thing from which he has suffered most of late is insomnia. I said it seemed strange that he should suffer from that, as he had always been a remarkably good sleeper. I reminded him that on the field, no matter what the weather or how heavily charged he might be with responsibilities, some- times with a battle on his hands for the next day, I had seen him drop down in the mud and rain and be sound asleep in two minutes. He meant always to get eight hours’ sleep. He said it was a strange thing to him that he could not sleep, and that he regretted nothing so much. During my calls I have seen him more often in his sleeping-room than elsewhere. He usually sits in an easy chair. Another is rolled up close to it, facing it. On the second chair he stretches his legs. As the neuralgic pains still trouble him, he wears a knit cap nearly all the time. When the pains are specially severe, very hot cloths are applied to the head. They bring relief quicker than anything else. In talking, he tries to speak without moving the tongue. This interferes with enunciation, but it saves him pain. He could enunciate well enough if it were not for this effort to keep the tongue motionless. Of course, talking is tiresome. He tries to doa good deal of it, but is discouraged by his family and the physicians.” WALT WHITMAN’S PICTURE— ‘I too, am willing and anxious to bear testimony to the departed General. Now REMINISCENCES. 629 that Grant is dead it seems to me that I may consider him as one of those examples or models for the people and character- formation of the future, age a‘ter age—always to me the most potent influence of a really distinguished character—greater than any personal deeds or life, however important they may have been. I think General Grant will stand the test perfectly through coming generations. True, he had no artistic or poetical element; but he furnished the concrete of those elements for imaginative use, perhaps beyond any man of the age. He was not the finely painted portrait itself, but the original of the portra:t. What we most need in America are grand individual types, consistent with our own genius. The West has supplied two superb native illustrations in Lincoln and Grant. Incalculable as their deeds were for the practical good of the nation for all time, I think their absorption into the future as elements and standards will be the best part of them. “Washington and all those noble early Virginians were, strictly speaking, English gentlemen of the royal era of Hampden, Pym and Milton, and such it was best that they were for their day and purposes. No breath of mine shall ever tarnish the bright, eternal gold of their fame.. But Grant and Lincoln are entirely native on our own model, current and Western. The best of both is their practical, irrefragable proof of radical Democratic institutions—that it is possible for any good average American farmer or mechanic to be— taken out of the ranks of the common millions and put in the position of severest military or civic responsibility and fully justify it all for years, through thick and thin. I think this the greatest lesson of our national existence so far. “ Then, the incredible romance of Grant’s actual career and life! In all Homer and Shakspeare there is no fortune or personality really more picturesque or rapidly changing, more full of heroism, pathos, contrast.” 630 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ANECDOTES. These are many, illustrating the different phases of his character. A few only can be given, as samples of the whole. “EBERY TING GOING RIGHT, SAH”.—On one of the hottest days in August, 1864, Lieutenant-General Gran 7G = us " = Z oa ——S— —< . \ fH ——= = a om, LL 7 -u QUESTIONING GENERAL GRANT. rode up to the City Point Hospital and asked fora drink of water. A cup of lemonade sweetened with brown sugar was handed him with the remark, “We have no water, General. ANECDOTES. 631 This is the lemonade we give the men in the hospitals.” The General drank it, declared it could not be better, and then shook hands with the delegates who crowded around him. Asking for his accustomed light and turning to mount, a negro employee pushed his way through the crowd, and extending his enormous hand, said: “ How dedo Gin-ral Grant?” The words were spoken with deference, and the man’s appearance showed he was not attracted by idle curiosity. The General shook the hand warmly. “How am tings going, Gin-ral ?” It was just after the fatal mine explosion at Petersburg, and there was great depression and anxiety among the colored people. The General quieted his fears by, “O, everything is going right, sir.” The negro bowed politely, his eyes beaming with gratitude. Backing out of the circle and returning cheerfully to work, he was asked where he had been. “ Been to see Gin-ral Grant, sah.” “ What did he have to say ?” “Said eberyting was going right, sah.” In a short time the General’s sentence was on the lips of the entire colored population of City Point, and it was astonishing how in a few hours it revived the spirits of the disheartened race. HIS CONSIDERATION.—The first time General Grant left Culpeper for Washington a special train was made up to accommodate the sick and those on leave of absence. One passenger car in the train was reserved for the General and the two or three officers with him. All the cars except this one were soon crowded, and many soldiers were standing on the platform. Grant and his officers, all plainly dressed, entered their car without attracting attention. The General was sitting alone on the side of the car next to the platform 632 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and near the door, when a soldier came to the door and was told by the guard that he could not come into that car. Gen- eral Grant asked the guard what the man wanted, and was told that he wanted to go to Washington. The General then asked why he was not permitted to come into the car, and was an- swered that “ This car is a special car for General Grant and his staff’ The General replied quickly, “ Let him come in. I only occupy one seat in this car.’ This was the first intima- tion the guard had that General Grant and his staff were in the car. The General then asked what the other men were doing who were standing out on the platform, and being told that they wanted to go to Washington, he said, “ Let all who can crowd in get in.” The car was soon filled, one private soldier taking a seat beside the General and engaging him in conver- sation nearly all the way to Alexandria, not knowing with whom he was talking. HIS GENEROS/TY—When General Grant was Presi- dent one of his nearest friends, who is now dead, went to ex- Congressman Paige to ask a loan of $3000. ‘This friend said he had an affair in the War Department that would net him $50,000, which would certainly go through if Grant would approve it. This gentleman counted upon Grant’s approval as absolute. Paige told him: “TI will let you have the money, but you may be sure that he will not approve it unless it is right.” Time passed on. The note given for the loan was promptly met. Paige, meeting the borrower upon the street soon after, said to him: “I see your War Department matter got through all right, as the note was very promptly met.” The debtor shook his head. “ How did you pay, then ?” was asked. “I will tell you in confidence,” was the reply. “After I obtained the money from you I went directly to the Presi- dent. I said to him: ‘You know Iam poor. With a stroke of your pen you can make me rich. I am related to you by the closest ties of blood and association. You cannot refuse ANECDOTES. 633 y me.’ I then explained the matter. Grant said he could not do it. It would not be right. Seeing me very much cast down, he asked me if I was in debt. I explained that I was in debt $3000—your note, and could not meet it. He at once wrote me his check for that amount without a word. It was that check which took up your note.’ Mr. Paige afterward ‘investigated his story carefully, and, having confidential relations with the cashier of the bank where the note was paid, was able to verify its truth. BEATING STANTON —Washington circles were very uneasy when Lee detached Early for the Valley campaign, - and Grant had great trouble with his telegraphic orders, which the Secretary of War took the liberty of modifying to suit the desperate situation. Grant came up to look into the mat- ter. Finding what the trouble was, and knowing that Stan- ton was a very determined man, he called on Mr. Lincoln and took him along to the War Department. Arriving there he made a plain statement of the case and asked the Secretary if he was correct. Stanton admitted that he was, but plead that he was doing what he thought was best for the safety of Washington. Grant turned to Mr. Lincoln and said, “Well, Mr. President, all I have to say is that there cannot be two commanders of the army. I guess I shall have to resign.” Mr. Lincoln sat for a moment nursing his knees, and then looking up, in a good-natured but firm voice, said, ‘“‘ Mr. Sec- retary, I guess we'd better let Grant run the machine.” The General had no complaint to make of Stanton from that hour. THE GENERAL SURRENDERS—It was early in the war, and in November, just after Grant had gotten his com- mission as brigadier. A young soldier was on guard at head- quarters. It was a cold, quiet duty, and the young guard, a mere boy of sixteen, fell asleep. The General came down the stairway, and, seeing the sleeping sentinel, asked, “ What are you doing there?” 634. LIFE OF ULYSSES. S. GRANT. “T’m the guard,” answered the frightened boy. “An excellent guard, indeed! Do you know where you aren: “ At General Grant’s headquarters, sir.” “Stand up, then! Stand up straight! Bring your gun toa shoulder!” The General staid with him for fully ten minutes, showing him how to perform. Then he asked how long he had been inthe army. The boy said only a few days. ‘ Well,” said the General, “you have been guilty of a very serious offence. I am General Grant, and I have power to punish you. I will let you off this time, but remember that all orders and al] discipline must be strictly obeyed here.” A few days after, the boy was put on guard on a steamboat loaded with provisions and ammunition, with orders to allow no one with lighted pipe or cigar to come near. Grant came rushing on to the gang-plank with his cigar in his mouth. “Halt!” cried the guard, bringing his gun to his shoulder. The General, not thinking of his cigar, was surprised, and, being in a hurry, was annoyed. But the boy remained firm. On being remonstrated with, he said, “I have had a lesson from General Grant himself, who says all orders must be obeyed to the letter. No one can approach this boat with a lighted cigar.” The General smiled, threw his cigar in the river, and crossed the gang-plank. CHAPTER SAV LL. THE DYING HERO, N the winter of 1883-84 General Grant had the misfortune to slip on an icy pavement near his home in New York and to badly sprain, if not dislocate, his hip joint. This was the beginning of a series of physical troubles. Up to that time he had been of robust constitution. This accident confined him to the house for a long time, and, as may well be supposed, with a man of his activity and energy, the confinement grew to be exceedingly irksome. The summer brought only partial relief. True, he could make out to get back and forth from the city to his cottage at Long Branch, but he was forced to use crutches all the time, and walked, even then, only with great difficulty and amid much pain. It was plain to those who knew him intimately that his system had received a shock from which recovery was exceedingly slow. He was past sixty years of age. The recuperative powers of youth were gone. The hardships and exposures of two wars, which a good constitution had hitherto withstood, were now coming in on the first moment of weakness, to tantalize him with their cruel remembrance of aches and pains. But he was fighting a plucky battle against his years and the results of his accident—fighting grimly, quietly, uncomplain- ingly, as he had been wont to do when the fate of armies was in his hands. That he would have come around all right in time none doubted. His will was unimpaired, and it was helping the 635 636 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. body at all its weak points. But now it was to receive a blow —a sudden, fearful, shattering blow. The year 1884 brought the Grant-Ward failure, with its train of blights and woes. To General Grant it was by far the hardest blow of his life. He had intended to settle down in Washington—which city he loved—after his return from his “Tour Around the World,” but he went to New York City, that he might be near his sons, who were in business there. The fatherly instinct weighed against all his previous plans for a quiet, retired life. He was a model family man in all his acts and prepossessions, Once in New York, and amid its business hurly burly, possessed of means supposed to be ample for every personal want, with something over for investment should opportunity offer, endowed with a name and credit which would prove a tower of strength to any legitimate enterprise, and which amid financial sharpers would naturally be sought to bolster up failing or doubtful enterprises, it would have been something wonderful if he had escaped fleecing and disaster. At an untoward and unsuspecting moment he loaned his name and credit to the banking-house which proved the mael- strom in which his fortune perished, and which literally drownéd his peace of mind, turned his hopes into despair, impaired _ his invincible will, threw him up on the hostile shore of years a princely man, but, as to property in his own name, a beg- gar. The world hath it that he was the victim of his own generosity, his unsuspecting nature, his wonderfully child-like faith in those to whom he was attached by blood, or was attracted toward by the relations of friendship, politics or busi- ness. Let the world’s verdict stand. It does him ample justice. Hard and cold are the laws and sentiments of trade. They may exclaim, “ Where was his tact, his shrewdness, his ability to turn a sharp corner, his power to squeeze himself out THE DYING HERO, 637 from among falling financial timbers, or that acumen which ought, in the first place, to have protected him from misuse of his name and credit?” But humanity is broader far than these narrow, hard and cold laws. And its judgment is higher and quite as unerring. It is nobler to have erred on the side of faith in one’s fellow-man, even at the cost of fortune, than to have succeeded at the sacrifice of every manly trait, every god- like gift of character. Grant’s business failure was not his own. It was arrant, inexcusable abuse of his confidence and credit by men who knew their value, and who were without a conscience to check their use of them. Yet the consequences were much the same to him—worse, if anything. He came in for his share of criti- cism and denunciation at a time when his true relationship to the exploded firm was not understood. This galled him beyond precedent. It was no time for him to speak—dquite too early for the vindication which time and a better understanding of the situation alone could bring. He was physically weak, almost a helpless cripple.. Despite his natural heroism, and consciousness of strict business rectitude on his part, the great fear seized him that a cloud was about to gather over his last days which would obscure the lustre of his setting sun. He was no longer the Grant of the olden time, but a quieter, more retired, more seriously thoughtful Grant—a Grant weighed down by a crushing inward thought which, however much it may have been temporarily lifted in public, pursued and ground him in private. ‘ Could that Herculean will which had for a long time been fighting against physical infirmity stand this new and unex- pected strain? Alas, no! Yet this flood was not all. Tu- multuous and dire came the announcement that he had been made personally liable for great amounts—as an active partner in a concern toward which he had all along supposed he only bore the relationship of special or silent partner. He 638 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. was in the direct line of wreck, and responsible for far more than he was worth, though supposably responsible for only the amount originally placed to the credit of the firm. Finan- cial destruction lay directly across his path unless forsooth at the expense of long legal proceedings and the assertion of technical law points. For these he had no mind. He would neither quibble nor question the fate that had overtaken him. He stood in the breach with his all, and all was swept away— houses, lands, personal investments of every kind. This crisis in General Grant’s life has been purposely dis- torted and very much misrepresented. It is a fatality due to ignorance and a keen love of the morbid that the great are made to suffer amid disaster out of all proportion to their greatness. Perhaps the exact relation of Grant to the firm of Grant & Ward will ever be misunderstood. There may ever be some who will refuse to hold him innocent for purely selfish or speculative reasons. It is a matter which history can do but little with, for history deals only with facts, not with opinions and prejudices. The best embodiment of facts connected with the affair is found in General Grant's own sworn testimony, taken in his sick room, in order that it might be used in the courts in case he should die. Its substance is as follows: “He supposed he was legally a member of the firm of Grant & Ward, though up to thetime of the failure he regarded himself as only a special partner. In May, 1884, he thought himself as worth well on to a million dollars, but his income from it was small. He went into the firm because he regarded his partners as reputable brokers, and with a view to increasing his income. He was seldom consulted about the management of affairs and trusted implicitly to his partners. Once when consulted about government contracts he opposed taking them, and they were never taken with his knowledge. The profits he had been led to expect from the firm were never THE DYING HERO, 639 realized and all was lost. Everything he had in the world’ went. He never knew of the firm’s great indebtedness and supposed it sound. Every representation made to him was in glowing colors, and he never suspected the business worth of Ferdinand Ward; on the contrary, he thought him a man of excellent qualities and one to be implicitly trusted. He was the victim of misplaced confidence, and in nothing so much as in finding himself fully involved with the general partners, when he supposed he was only a silent, or special, partner.” When the fury of this financial storm had spent itself, and it was seen how disastrous it had been to him, friendship and gratitude came to his rescue, and kindly offered to relieve him from present embarrassment. This generosity was respectfully declined. The law must have its way, the sacrifice must be made and borne. A leading creditor enforced his legal rights not, as it turned out, to harry and oppress, but to save, as best he could and what he could. This creditor was Mr. Vanderbilt who, to his honor be it said, pushed his execution in order to keep others out of the way. Heknew that General Grant owned many rare and costly things gathered in all parts of the world, given him by admir- ing citizens at home and by crowned heads abroad. The intrinsic value of these could have been computed, but they had an associative and historic value far beyond estimate. Why scatter them? Why sacrifice them ? It was known too that the General’s ultimate intention was to give them to the Government as a cabinet of trophies and mementoes. Why should this honorable intention be frus- trated by the intervention of merciless creditors ? So, while the Vanderbilt execution hung over all, they were rescued. They were granted in permissive trust to the Government, and so passed beyond danger and to their final destination. Then the execution went on obliterating the other accumulations of a lifetime, bringing its ruin, yet clari- 640 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. fying the situation. Friends were urgent with their aid, but the General, and in this he was seconded by his noble-hearted wife, would hear to nothing but an end reached without parley and further obligation. WM. H. VANDERBILT. When the end came, and the law had been satisfied so far as the General’s property was concerned, the bounty of his friends could assert itself. The amount of Mr. Vanderbilt’s claim, some $150,000, was turned back in trust to Mrs. Grant, or otherwise secured to the use of the family. Whether this was Mr. Vanderbilt’s personal gratuity, or the indirect way THE DYING HERO. 641 General Grant’s friends finally took to show their appreciation of his integrity and service, matters not. It is equally an evidence of the high place he occupied in the affections of those who commanded wealth and occupied high station, and who, of all others, were most indebted to him for the timely exercise of those powers which brought peace out of inter- necine war and perpetuated a glorious Union of States. Despite this generosity, notwithstanding these evidences of confidence and kindness and the general hush of adverse criticism, General Grant’s spirits did not return. Already there were signs of that malady which in the end was to prove fatal. It first appeared in the fall of 1884, but not so as to be fully understood till November, or even later. Per- haps physicians knew, but not till orders were issued in that month that he should stop smoking did the family and the people begin to take alarm. Then it began to be given out that the malady was cancer of the tongue, which is regarded as necessarily fatal in from three months to two years. It was now plain that the great chieftain had an enemy to deal with far more subtle and persevering than any he had ever met before. The progress of the disease was watched by skillful doctors, and the condi- tion of the distinguished patient became a source of daily anxiety and news among the people. Since cancer is a constitutional rather than a local disease, the doctors relied more on the system to support their treat- ment than on the local treatment itself. And since the system had long been harried, directly by the accident to his hip joint and indirectly by the terrible mental strain of the preceding months, it may well be understood how much the odds were against him. In order to relieve his mind of worry about means on which to live and at the same time attest afresh its appreciation of his military services, the Congress (March 3d, 1885) restored 41 642 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. _ him to the rank of General of the Army, and placed him on the retired list, at a salary of $13,500. But even this unusual mark of favor, though more to his liking than any civic demonstration however disinterested and kind, did not serve to make him stronger against the disease which had laid its deadly grip on his threat. Day by day he fought his losing battle with the dread monster, now better, then worse, now hopeful, then despond- ent. Day by day the ominous bulletins went out to the world telling of the gains of one hour which were to be more than lost the next. He was, and had been, at work on his reminiscences of the war, one volume of which was complete. He had the second volume well in hand, and was most anxious to complete it. Amid failing strength he wrote or dictated for this, his last work. The doctors forbade it not till compelled to, for it was, in a certain sense, relaxation. It drew him away from thoughts of self, and especially from that anxious, consuming thought that his financial misfortune would prove a blot on an hitherto unstained and brilliant career. Could he have seen the heart of the people and heard the warm expressions of sympathy which the daily announce- ments of his condition drew from the great masses, he would have had no occasion to fear the everlasting preservation of a fame as untarnished, a character as unsullied, a name as dear, as ever hero won, or patriot left to posterity. By April tst, 1885, a crisis in his malady was reached. A choking spell aroused his family. The doctors were sum- moned in haste. They gave temporary relief, but feared that the death agony was on. The minister came. Prayers were held. “ He fully realizes,” said the minister, Rev. Dr. Newman, “the fact that each hour is but a prolongation of his sufferings, but the strength of his intellect and the calmness and serenity of his mind are wonderful.” The inexorable enemy seemed to be knocking at his door. i ee ae - & & 2. & SICK IN HIS CHAIR. 643 644 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. April 2d, 1885, was a day of anxiety and gloom throughout the United States, and even the civilized world. The General’s death was fully expected. The paroxysms in the throat had followed one another so quickly that strength was gone and it was justly thought thatthe “ God bless you, wife and children!” which promptly followed the “Amen” of the prayer of the night before were his Jast words on earth. But during the day he rallied somewhat, and more assuring bulletins came toward evening. ‘The patient made an effort to rise from his chair and to walk. The physician remonstrated saying: “You must fight for us now, General, not against us.” “Well, I am doing the best I can,” replied the patient, feebly. “Yes, and you must do as well as you once did,” added the doctor. “What do you mean ?” asked the General. “When you had the army back of you,” was the reply. “ But I haven't the army back of me now,” came the meas- ured response, as he closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of his chair. All day long a dense crowd of people, numbering thousands of young and old, rich and poor, gathered about the residence to catch words of hope. Old friends, officers of Army and State, dignitaries of every nation, called to pay respect and tender sympathy, and learn joyfully of the favorable change in his condition which became more manifest as the evening approached. | | “The General is picking up wonderfully,” was the news given out at 5 P. M. by Ex-Senator Chaffee. “ He is a man of wonderful vitality. Despite his low condi- tion, he is now able to walk across the room,” was the glad announcement made by Mr. Field at 9.15 P.M., and the surging masses, breathing sighs of relief, melted away and dis- a ———— = | ‘ allay, if Halla, vane il init iii iNT ——— UT TTL Fe _ ulna NI | ei fe Thy i “ff alt i nt a wall i | " a Le LT it i Lie i LT AAMT = ce ay nae vil al hi a A ilk omy a : : : : : aig im vt i Cea ii ——— SS ee SS. er SS — =, =: = = Bre => / SSS: age um LF , == Pa Sa Zz = == : = 2 =) 646 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. appeared in the night. A day had been gained for the sufferer. The beloved and admired of the nation had not yet fallen. Meanwhile, the religious bodies throughout the land, wher- ever they were in convention, sent forth their resolutions of prayer for the great man’s recovery, of regret at his intense suffering, yet of resignation to the ordering of Him who doeth all things well. Leaders and members of every faith felt that this struggle was as much an exemplification of true Christian fortitude as of old Roman heroism. Legislatures, wherever in session, passed their resolutions of regret and respect and sent their prayers for recovery. North and South, East and West, without regard to politics or opinions, the expressions of sym- pathy and sorrow, and the petitions of hope, came sponta- neously up out of the hearts of those who hung in suspense over the eagerly sought and swiftly passing news. It was clear that Grant belonged to the nation, the people, as no other man ever did. On April 3d, Good Friday, he rallied sufficiently to answer a special request for his autograph, and when the doctor left him at IO P.M.,it was with the assurance that he would sur- vive until another day and the remark “ He is the most marvel- ous man I ever met.” The eve of Good Friday just twenty years before had brought deep sorrow to the nation in the assassination of President Lincoln. In this year of our Lord 1885, it was not a day of tears but, by providential decree, one of thanks for the temporary delivery of our greatest and best from the grasp of death. Yet what might the hours bring? Would the chimes of Faster Sunday peal gladfully or muffled? In telling of Him that had arisen, would they toll too a requiem for one just passed away? Happily, no. The silent, uncomplaining suf- ferer was still fighting his unequal battle—not for himself, but for his doctors, his family, all who loved him. The sun of Easter Sunday was bright. The family, the friends, tried to THE DYING HERO. 647 lift the old General up out of the shadows of the grave, tried to shake off, momentarily at least, the sad, settled conviction that further waiting by the roadside for the final summons was only a useless lengthening of pain. They recalled only pleasant themes, supported him in his strong moments to the window that he might feel the glow of the bright day, redoubled that deep solicitude which had all along sustained a sinking spirit and soothed a pain-stricken body. Theirs was no easy task. Said General Badeau, on leaving the house: “General Grant does not want to live, suffering as he now does and knowing that he cannot get better. The trouble is not so much with the cancer as with general debility. He is entirely broken down.” Said another equally as intimate, and amid despondency not unmixed with a tinge of resentment: “ The man who trapped General Grant into that ruinous financial affair is morally responsible for his condition to-day. But for the shock of failure at his time of life and the discovery when too late that his name and credit had been shamefully abused, he might have withstood the attack of disease for years. He is not demonstrative. Secret grief has broken him down. He told General Fry he had not slept for a month after the failure. I, myself, have seen him sitting in his parlor with his head sunk on his breast, a picture of despondency and despair.” By evening there was some little response to the wishes and efforts of those who had striven to throw around him the sunshine of the Easter Sabbath. “I wish,” said Dr. Shrady in his hearing, “he could be induced to say something for us to write which would show his mental condition; our bulletins are getting monotonous.” “Say” said the General, “that I am very comfortable, and that I am grateful for the sympathy that has been expressed for me.” “Well, now,” said the doctor, cheerfully, “we ought to have, General, something to wind up with.” —— — —— —— ZB ———< — ae ——————S4 —— 5 i. \\ v AN Ne UNSEEN NANA ANS ; Hite At H ital hk Wei NINN LIFG ZZ ZF ==: = se hy Wh , ah it Ny ‘ S |) WANS —— — Ag" ey SS=== Sa 1) SS : == z == ee —— c SS \\ ils eg | THE DYING HERO, 649 “ Say, then,” was the reply, “that I desire the good will of all, whether heretofore friends or not. It is enough.” “Yes,” said General Badeau, “it is a good Easter blessing for the people of this country.” There was respite for a few hours, perhaps days. Who could tell the depth and. tenacity of that will and the despera- ‘ion of the struggle? Monday came with the old General still fighting the grim, unyielding foe. Tuesday came and with it an alarming hem- orrhage in the throat. The disease had eaten through a small artery. It was a new but not unexpected complication. Life ebbed to the last under the loss of blood. “ All might be over in an hour” ran the bulletins. By midnight of Tues- day, April 7th, the traces of blood disappeared, and anxious hours were passed in coaxing and waiting for a rally from the extreme exhaustion. It came slowly; so slowly as to bring no hope with it. The time for rapid rallies had passed. During the early evening hours, as he lay in his chair near the window, Dr. Douglas and Rev. Dr. Newman being the only ones present, he turned toward Dr. Douglas and smiled. A cheerful word was ventured about his friends. “ All the people seem to be your friends at present,” said Dr. Newman. “Yes,” whispered the General, “and I have many friends on the other side.” “Yes,” repeated. Newman, “and they are waiting for you, General—they are waiting for you.” “So they are,” whispered the General ; “ I wish they would come.” Then there was a long silence, broken by another whisper, “T wish they may not have long to wait.” When Dr. Newman left the house he said to a friend, ‘‘ The General is hopeful of the future which to him seems full of 650 LIFE OF.ULYSSES "Si GRANT. light. There will be no death-bed scene when he dies, but a peaceful passing away.” Dr. Douglas said, when leaving, “ We cannot sustain him with stimulants longer. Beside, he wants to go. All his thoughts now are of the future.” It was well said by the poet— “ T think the April stars have never shot O’er the dumb city a light of such cold spell As now at midnight, when all is not well— When lingering pain is our loved hero’s lot! ‘ Let us have peace,’ he said, while hate was hot Still in the land where he stood sentinel And guardian of its peace, whate’er befell— He that now sighs for peace yet wins it not! “O thou in whom such calm and power agree, If immortality may ever dawn On mortals, of thyself it now were true That the great spirit of Lincoln looks for thee Where files of shadowy soldiery are drawn, Waiting their mighty Captain’s last review! ”” And again :— “Only waiting, with the shadows Settling round so dark and grim; For the utterance of the message That shall give release to him. All the anguish to be over— All the suffering to be past: After all these weeks of hoping Blessed rest and peace at last. “Only waiting, and the battle Will be over evermore ; Waiting, waiting, and the weary Days of watching will be o’er. Calm and bravely, as a soldier Should face death, so doth he stand— Soon to meet the great Commander Of the undiscovered land.” THE DYING HERO. 651 On Wednesday, the 8th of April, he was holding on to the feeble thread of life amid the quietude of weakness and exhaustion. There was alull in the violence of his symptoms, but no perceptible rally, no recovery of lost strength. A little more mental brightness, allusion to the battle of Shiloh whose anniversary had just passed (April 7th), and in which battle his physician, Dr. Douglas, had participated, a request at one time for nourishment, were the only things on which hope hung for a continuance of the struggle. After all, the very quietude enforced by sheer weakness and the restfulness of that suspension between life and death might postpone disso- lution for other anxious hours—for days, if a nation’s prayers could lengthen the time. The General’s home was more than ever the scene and cen- tre of many a touching incident. Sympathetic telegrams were coming from all parts of the country, letters and resolutions from political, religious and social bodies. These were from all classes and grades of men, and without distinction of party, sect, or past differences of opinion. Confederate joined his token with Federal soldier. “I lovethe old General,” said one who had rung the door bell to inquire about his condition, “though I fought against him and surrendered to him at Appomattox. May God spare his life for many days!” He departed with tears in his eyes. One of the richest floral tokens of respect was sent up to the General’s room by Gen- eral Rosser, of the Confederate army, who was wounded at Winchester. The Southern newspapers were profoundly moved by his suffering and expected death, and their sym- pathy was expressed in columns of tribute to the great and manly qualities of one whom they had learned to love as a friend. Even foreign majesty was touched with the situation, and Queen Victoria thus expressed the warmth of her interest and feeling : 652 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. “AIX LES BAINES, April 8th, 1885..-To Mrs. General Grant, New York :— The Queen, who feels deeply for you in your anxieties, commands me to inquire after General Grant. “ (Signed) DoWAGER MARCHIONESS OF ELy.” “ April oth, 1885.—To Marchioness of Ely, Aix les Baines:—Mrs. Grant thanks the Queen for her sympathy, and directs me to say General Grant is no better: ‘“¢ COLONEL GRANT.” The light of April oth, the anniversary of Appomattox, broke on a people prepared to solemnize with tears a day which twenty years before their chieftain had made joyful and glorious with final victory and surrender. Dying to-day, his death, his final victory and surrender, would hallow an event which had for twenty years stood out in martial and political history as the greatest of all in its results to mankind. Every memory of the old times of war and heroism would have become sweetly and solemnly impressive. The satisfaction of victory would have been mellowed by grief. The lessons of a glorious epoch would have been read o’er in the refined light of national bereavement, when the heart was without resentment and the factional tongue was dumb. But , «‘The Great Commander Of the undiscovered land,” did not demand the old hero’s sword. He had respite—unex- pected, surprising, thankful respite. Amid this quiet waiting, this constitutional suspense, this hovering between life and death, lasting for many weary, anxious days, there came a compulsory change in the treat- ment. Use of opiates was relaxed and, whenever possible, remitted. They had partially lost their power of soothing and sustaining, or in his reduced and diseased condition had become a source of aggravation. The rest of apathy and prostration must come to his rescue, or nothing. Gradually THE DYING HERO. 653 itcame. There was still physical power in reserve, whose presence had not been suspected, and back of it was that wonderful force of will, which in this desperate strait seemed almost super-human. As the days passed the General came back to us—to his family, friends, the nation. By April 15th, the bulletins told cheerful stories. “The General was better, was improving ;” “ Heis feeling better to-day than for weeks,” we [a> > \ x A \ oe _ <= i ~ y i IAN cS C/N } REPORTERS ON THE LOOKOUT. was the grateful announcement of his physician as he left the bedside. “ He does not require somuch morphia now. Only six grains were injected to-day instead of the customary ten. If he continues to improve I believe he will get out again,” was another welcome announcement. On the 16th, Dr. Newman gave it out that “his condition 654 LIFE OF ULYSSES: 5.” GRANT, had greatly changed for the better. Heis buoyed up by faith. The prayers of the people of the whole country, of Protest- ants, of Catholics, of Hebrews, have been offered up for him and they are being answered. He believes he will now get well. He feels, and I feel, that the supplications of so many people for such consummation will be answered. To-day as I parted ‘from him he pressed my hand and said: ‘ Thrice have I been in the valley of the shadow of death, and thrice have I come out again.’” The physicians took advantage of the improvement to make a critical examination of the disease in the tongue and throat, an opportunity which had been denied them for some time. They found it less irritated, the sup- puration easier and not so likely to choke the patient, the danger from further hemorrhage reduced. But the diminished intensity of the disease was occasioned by its general spread backward into the throat. This of itself might make it more treatable; at any rate, it would for a time generalize the pain and free the patient from those paroxysms of coughing and choking which had threatened death at any moment. Each day now added to his general strength and increased the hope of, at least, temporary recovery. By April 27th, his sixty-fourth birthday, he was well enough to take a carriage ride in the park, and to enter into the spirit which pervaded the day, for the country had largely agreed to celebrate his anniversary. Flags were hoisted on private and public build- ings in New York and other cities. Grand Army posts sent their resolutions of gratitude that the old hero’s life had been spared. Congratulatory telegrams and letters came from all sources. Floral tributes, without number, were sent by admiring friends. All day there was a surge of carriages around his house on Sixty-sixth street, and the glad visitors left their rich tokens of esteem and warm words of congratulation at the door, or delivered them in person in the reception-room. But it was ri ym mt if, THE AFTERNOON WALK. 055 656 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. not until the afternoon that the scene in the street took the shape of a popular demonstration. The hour in which he had been used to taking an afternoon walk was at hand. It was thought that he might appear. The crowd became dense, and anxious to assure themselves of the invalid’s convalescence, as well as to make known their thanks and give fresh evidence of their appreciation. They were not disappointed. The old General appeared, closely wrapped, and in the company of , several friends. The crowd broke out in lusty cheers and congratulatory acclaims, which the General, leaning heavily on his cane, returned with raised hat anda cheerful bow. He walked an entire block and returned. Returning life was establishing itself in his veins. That walk, without the hard- ship of extraordinary fatigue, was immunity from death for many days at least. In his own household the day was one of thankful rejoicing, and the General was bright and happy as any member. Said Rev. Louis C. Tiffany who called in the afternoon: “ General Grant came down to the reception- room to see me. Iam surprised at the improvement he has made since I saw him two weeks ago. He seems to be per- fectly satisfied with the prospect of clinging to life for months to come, though he has no hope of recovery.” In the evening the entire family ate the anniversary dinner, to which many of the General’s closest friends were invited. Sixty-three wax candles were placed around the table, and the party did their best to make the occasion agreeable to the sick man. After dinner, devotional exercises were held, and these closed the home celebration of a day, which for nearly a month no member of the family, nor any other person, had expected the General would live to see. As strength returned the General again found employment for his mind, and consequent forgetfulness of pain, by giving as much time as his strength permitted to the preparation of his memoirs, which he was anxious to complete. His mind THE DYING HERO. 657 was clear and memory unimpaired. He dictated with facility for sometimes two and three hours a day, and frequently gave an hour or two to the arrangement of his data. He kept up his terse, perspicuous and direct style, and seldom amended what had been committed to paper. But while this work was permitted by his physicians as a relaxation, disease was not relinquishing its hold, and it was only a question of time as to when it would reassert itself and again prostrate its victim. The time came with the approach of warm weather. The heat of early June conspired with the disease to undo all that had been gained. Literary work became irksome, fatiguing and dangerous. Appetite failed. Cheerfulness departed. Strength flagged. Weakness, profuse secretion, difficult ex- pectoration, gradually hardening nodules in the neck, almost a total loss of voice, increasing pain, prostration and rapid wast- ing—all these told a sad story, and admonished doctors and friends that if the patient were to survive the summer or even avoid speedy collapse there must be instant departure fora place where the temperature was lower and the air purer. Delay of even a week might make removal dangerous, if not impossible. Mr. Drexel’s cottage on Mt. McGregor, in the northern part of New York State, was selected, and hither the General was moved on June 16th, 1885. He stood the trip very well considering his weakness and the heat. The immediate effects of the change were not assur- ing. Dr. Douglas remained in charge. After a rest of a day or two the General tested his strength by a walk in company with his faithful servant Harrison up the steep road to the highest point of the mountain, some three hundred feet away. He reached his cottage thoroughly exhausted, and was for a time despondent over the result of the trip. His condition was his own measure of what he had lost in strength and vitality. He called for paper and wrote some family memo- randa, in which he confessed that he found himself losing 42 658 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. eround again. His voice seemed permanently gone. Yet, said the doctor, ‘‘ He is as well as any man can be who has such a deadly enemy grasping at his throat. He its steadily following the course marked out for the disease. It is constantly de- pressing and gradually wearing away the vital powers. His tendency is to grow weaker and weaker every day. “To-morrow he will not be as strong as he is to-day, for the disease will have progressed some. Our hope of benefit from this change is to prolong his life.” | By June 19th, he had begun to experience some benefit from the cooler, fresher air of the mountain. He got to sleeping, erew more cheerful, and suffered less pain. He found enjoy- ment with his family on the piazzas, and took great interest in the play of his grandchildren about the cottage. His fondness for children was always a marked characteristic. Hundreds of letters came to him from children from all over the land ex- pressing hope that he might recover, and the perusal of these was always a source of comfort. Though he could not converse except by making his thoughts and wishes known on paper, he began to turn his attention to his book again, and often devoted as much as an hour or two a day to its revision: On the 23d of June, he announced that he had about completed it, and should not have it on his mind any more. But even this light work had grown taxing, and was followed by painful reaction. His weight had been re- duced ten pounds in two weeks—from one hundred and forty to one hundred and thirty pounds. On June 24th, the doctors had a consultation, and announced that there had been no marked change in the disease, but that his system was in a better general condition than when he left New York. On the 29th, his quietude and disinclination to leave his room alarmed the doctor and the family. In answer to their fears he wrote, “Do as Ido; I take it quietly. I give myself not the least concern. If I knew that the end was to a ae (as CO oo ian Se bee | “9 , Be Z BA | | LEO Y g Z Yi “4 LAN WG V7 2A “ é | ] Yj | lea 4l| Wu YYW 0- ZA WITH HIS FAMILY ON THE PIAZZA. From a Photograph. 660 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. be to-morrow, I would try and get rest in the meantime. As long as there is no progress of the disease there’s hope.” On the 30th, Dr. Douglas said: - — DR. DOUGLAS. “His life has been prolonged by the invigorating air here instead of the great heat of New York. The disease has pro- THE DYING HERO. 661 eressed in the natural way. As I have said before, his condi- tion is one of increasing debility. The General was likely to die at any time in New York, and had he remained there in- stead of coming here he would in all human probability have expired before this. His present weakness is the natural result of the disease. He is each day less strong, and though the step from day to day is scarcely perceptible, the aggregate of four- teen days becomes noticeable. “Two weeks ago General Grant left the city, and if he was in New York to-day he could not be moved here. His strength to-day is not equal to such a journey. Now, if you ask me when the end will proably be, I cannot tell. No one can tell. He grows weaker and weaker, and at last the point of exhaustion will be reached. That is all, and nobody can _ say when that shall be.” The General had by this time thoroughly studied his own condition, and there was no longer any need for the doctors to conceal their opinions. So when the above results of a two weeks’ sojourn were made known to him, he replied by handing Dr. Douglas the following note: “The atmosphere here enables me to live in comparative comfort while I am being treated or while nature is taking its course with my disease. I have no idea that I should have been able to come here now if I remained in the city. It is doubtful, indeed, whether I would have been alive. Now I would be much better able to move back than to come at the time | did. | U. S. Grant, June 30th, 1885.” All the while his quiet mountain home was the centre of in- cidents calculated to cheer and inspire. Letters flowed in from all parts of the country containing sentiments of affection and prayers for his recovery. Some of them were very touching indeed, such, for instance, as this from Rockbridge Baths, Va. 662 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. “DEAR Sir: I hope you will allow one who, when a boy, laid down his arms at Appomattox and pledged allegiance to the Union, to express his warmest sympathy for you in your suffering. I have watched your movements from the hour you gave me my horse and sword, and told me to ‘go home and assist in making a crop.’ I have been proud to see the nation do you honor, and now, dear General, in the hour of your pain, I weep that so brave, so magnanimous a soul must suffer as you do. My prayer to God daily is that you may be restored to perfect health, and be assured that I am not the only ex- confederate who sends his prayers daily to the Throne of Grace for the restoration of the grandest, the noblest, the bravest sol- dier and the purest statesman who ever graced the annals of history. May the God who overlooked you in battle and who has brought you thus far give you grace to meet whatever He has in store for you, and may he restore you to health is the fervent prayer of one who, at fifteen years of age, entered the lists against you and accepted the magnanimous terms you accorded us at Appomattox.” And visitors came up the mountain side, as if on a pilgrim- age, to see the old hero, take him by the hand, and speak a cheering word. Among those of July 8th, was Rev. Father Didier, of St. Vincent’s, Baltimore. Mounting the steps of the veranda and passing his card he said, “I ama Catholic clergy- man, General Grant. We are all praying for you.” The General replied by writing on a pad: “Yes, I know, and I feel very grateful to the Christian people, of the land for their prayers in my behalf. There is no sect or religion, as shown in the Old or the New Testament, to which this does not apply—Catholics, Protestants and Jews; and all the good people of the nation, of all politics as well as religions, and all nationalities, seem to have united in wishing or THE DYING HERO. 663 praying for my improvement. I am a great sufferer all the time, but the facts I have related are compensation for much of it. All that I can do is to pray that the prayers of all those good people may be answered so far as to have us all meet in another and better world. I cannot speak even in a whisper. “U.S. Grant, July 8th, 1885.” And on the same day, when twenty editors of the Mexican Associated Press called to pay their respects, he wrote them the following response: “My great interest in Mexico dates back to the war between the United States and that country. My interest was increased when four European monarchies attempted to set up their institutions on this continent, selecting Mexico, a territory adjoining. It wasan outrage on human rights, for a foreign nation to attempt to transfer her institutions and her rulers to the territory of a civilized people without their consent. They were fearfully punished for their crime. I hope Mexico may soon begin an upward and prosperous departure. She has all the conditions; she has the people; she has the soil; she has the climate and she has the minerals. The conquest of Mex- ico will not be any easy task in the future.” On July 12th, Rev. Dr. Newman held services at the hotel, on the top of the mountain. He preached from Matthew v. 1-8, and in the course of his sermon said: “ Oh, illustrious sufferer in yonder cottage! What a lesson thou art teaching to the warriors and statesmen of the world and to the youth of that country thou hast saved, by finding within thyself at this supreme moment those elements of repose and happiness which to-day excite the admiration of mankind and fill the hearts of angels with delight.” That evening there was a partial return of the General’s voice, and he asked several questions audibly, to the great 664 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. surprise and delight of his family. The next day his voice was still clearer, his spirits brighter and his whole system stronger. A medical review of his month’s residence on the mountain was made public. It contained the following: “All accidental infiltration has subsided. The swelling on the neck has subsided. No new development of the cancer lumps. The affected parts inside look better. They are not healing, but give off no bloody sputa after treatment. Pain and the mucous secretions have abated. The only discomfort now is in the main sore at the base of the tongue. The patient can now close his lips and breathe through the nasal passages. The patient can now treat his throat himself with a gargle. A desire for food has set in. The voice is clearer and stronger. The patient rests better. The system assimilates food and derives more strength from it. The spirits of the patient assist the treatment more readily.” There were not wanting those who believed that the doctors had been all along mistaken in their diagnosis, or that cancer was a curable disease, after all. ‘Their wishes with respect to -General Grant were the parents of their thoughts. Dr. Douglas was not one of them. He regarded the condition as depicted in the above review as only one of those strange phases of temporary improvement that is characteristic of cancerous dis- eases, for whose continuance no one could vouch. It was now deemed advisable to secure for the General all the freedom from excitement and all the absolute rest possible, in order to continue the favorable symptoms. He was, as nearly as may be, denied access to the outside world. Reso- lutions of respect and sympathy passed by political associa- tions, grand army veterans, religious and civic bodies, and all communications calculated to excite or disturb, were withheld from his notice for the time being. And the precaution seemed wise. It gave the General mental rest. It secured him from intrusive visits by the simply curious, and limited interviews to THE DYING HERO. 665 those whose presence would prove a pleasure and profit. It would make interesting and valuable history, if it were possible to print the well-studied, clear-cut and ripe sentiments which the old General gave out on his written sheets while conversing with some of those who were favored with audiences during this period of seclusion. They all show the wonderful clear- ness of his mind, his remarkable memory of men and events and his profound interest in the country and its institutions. Weakened by disease, racked by pain, bowed by misfortune, facing inevitable death, he has forgotten nothing nor lost a particle of that command of situations which made him great in affairs of war and state. As an instance—General Buckner who surrendered Fort Donelson to him, called on him to renew their old acquaintance. He expressed himselfas deeply affected with General Grant’s warmth of friendship, breadth of views, and earnestness of convictions. The curtain of privacy was, of course, drawn over most of the interview, but one part re- ferring to the war he made public by exhibiting the slip of paper on which Grant had written the following: “JT have witnessed since my sickness just what I wished to see ever since the war—harmony and good feeling between the sections. I have always contended that if there had been nobody left but the soldiers we would have had peace ina year. and are the only two that I know who do not seem to be satisfied on the Southern side. We have some on ours who failed to accomplish as much as they wished, or who did not get warmed up to the fight until it was all over, who have not had quite full satisfaction. The great majority, too, of those who did not go into the war have long since grown tired of the long controversy. We may now well look forward to a perpetual peace at home, and a national strength that will screen us against any foreign complication. I believe, myself, that the war was worth all it cost us, fearful as that was. Since it was over I have visited every state in Europe, and a 666 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. number in the East. I know, as I did not before, the value of our inheritance.” “Thus,” said Buckner, “ General Grant’s noble sentiments show that he has the good of the country at heart in the last moments of his life.” The illustrious patient held his own amid this greater rest till July 20th. On the afternoon of that day, he took an airing in his bath chair, which was pushed about the mountain roads by a servant. The route was rough, and his strength was taxed more than he expected, or rather he had not suspected his real condition before starting, for notwithstanding all the apparently favorable symptoms of the preceding week there had been a gradual sapping of vitality and an undermining of the resistive and recuperative forces. He retired that night and rested seemingly well. But it turned out to be the rest of weak- ness, not of recuperation. On the 21st, he was still drowsy and restful. It was the quietude of enfeeblement. The pulse lost its volume, and then grew shaky and frequent, as in fever. Lethargy, under the circumstances, was by no means a safe symptom. It was rather a barometer which indicated the de- gree of prostration. Rallying remedies, as spirits or morphine, would prove of little avail, except momentarily. A spasm of hiccoughing set in, which harassed and weakened him. Then came artificial sleep and rest, but to be followed by a renewal of the spasm. At length the fitful, dreamy, nervous rest of sheer exhaustion set in, with its grave uncertainties, incoherent requests, mental wanderings, sudden starts, pitiable and plead- ing expression of the deeply rolling eyes. The day was breathless, even on that mountain height, and the thoroughly alarmed family contributed to the comfort of the sufferer by keeping fans in constant motion by his sick chair. Dr. Doug- las saw in the patient’s condition all the symptoms of a rapidly sinking and dying man. His son, U. S. Grant, Jr., was tele- graphed for. Dr. Newman arrived during the evening and, at ——————s a THE DYING HERO. 667 Mrs. Grant’s request, family prayers were held. At 10 P.M. the sufferer looked about him and, seeing his daughter Nellie, asked for paper. He wrote some brief instructions, addressing them to different members of the family. By eleven o’clock his pulse was steadier, and his mind clear. He requested Dr. Douglas to say to his family,that they should all retire now since there was no use of their sitting up longer. By midnight the cottage was quiet, and the dying man was left alone with his watchers. At 1 A.M. cf the 22d, the rally was maintained, and there was every indication that he would witness the sunrise of another day. And that 21st of July, 1885, had been a day of anxiety for the whole country, for word had been flashed throughout the land that “Grant was dying.” Again eager throngs crowded around the bulletin boards, and this time with sadder hearts than ever, for now the news were ominously impressive in form and utterly without the inspiration of a hope. What is that sad rumor flying ? Grant, the sturdy soldier, dying ? Grant, the grim, yet glorious Mars, Saviour of the Stripes and Stars— Grant, the warrior, dying ? Grant, whose cool, intrepid bearing Stimulated deeds of daring In the hottest of the field, And whose cry was “ Never yield!” Grant, unconquered, dying ? Grant, whose manly faults are hidden ’Neath the cloak that waves unbidden, Royal robe of purple dye— In the loom of memory— Grant, the hero, dying? Ah! ’tis worth a nation’s sighing! On Truth’s wings the rumors flying. Softly, friends! a hero falls When the unwelcome angel calls— Grant, at work, is dying. 668 LIFE OF ULYSSES 5S. GRANT. The gray tint of morning began to creep up the horizon shortly after three o’clock. The General had been resting for an hour, but now came a coughing spell, signal for every attend- ant to make vigilance closer. The doctor was awakened. He cleansed the patient’s throat, and checked the spasm. A little liquid food was taken, and at four o’clock the General requested a pad and pencil. He wrote with great difficulty a brief communication for his family, which was passed to his son Fred. He then composed himself, by placing his elbows on the arms of his chair, and supporting his chin on both his hands. The dawn broke into the splendors of a new day. Doctors Sands and Shrady were telegraphed for, not with a thought that aid could now be rendered, but that the respon- sibilities of the closing stages of the case might be shared by those who had participated in its beginnings. During all that night of suffering and extreme prostration the patient’s mind remained firm and unclouded. On inquiring the time, he was told it was one o’clock. Shortly afterward it struck twelve. He called attention to the fact that the clock was wrong an hour. Later on, observing the anxiety of those about him, he wrote, “I do not want anybody to be distressed on my account.” And now the bright sun of July 22d, was fully up. Its rays entered a home utterly devoid of cheer and hope. ‘The end which all had striven so heroically to postpone was evidently at hand, and its approach must now be counted by sad hours. The hypodermic injections have lost all their power. There is no rally, no reaction. Exhaustion is sheer. The pulse flickers and cannot be counted. Respiration is short and quick. Failure is steady and rapid. Recuperation is impossible, for nourishment can no longer be taken. The hours pass in waiting for the last, dread summons. He would speak, but cannot ; would write, but the pallid hands refuse to hold or guide the pencil. He has written his last word. THE DYING HERO. 669 The absent son, Jesse, arrives. The physicians come. There is a little rally, a last desperate attempt to beat back the grim: monster. And then the weakness of death settles upon him again. At 8 p.M., he is asked if he would not exchange his chair for the bed. He starts as if to comply, but volition is thwarted by refusal of the body to move. He is carried ten- derly to the bed, and laid therein. It is General Grant’s death bed. He is free from pain now. Disease has done its worst. He is resigned. Strength of will can do no more. And that resignation has about it the true composure of the Christian, the happy beam that lights the dark valley, the sweet peace that bridges the grave and opens in advance beatific visions of Paradise. The night wears away amid watching and the administra- tions that smooth the pathway to the grave. Once only there is answer to the anxious quests after his welfare. ‘“ What will you have, General? “Water,” is the feeble, almost inaudible reply. Itwas his last word. The breath shortens and thickens, and gurgles in his throat. The pulse beat is only a tremble. Morning dawns, and the physicians and family are called by the watchers. Sunrise in nature, sunset with amortal! The doctors come. The family move mournfully toward the death couch and gather in solemn tearful group about the expiring hero. Around the patient’s mouth gathers the purplish tinge, nature’s signal of dissolution. The doctor lifts a hand; it is cold. Respiration quickens still more, and becomes noiseless. Death is painless and serene—an ebbing away of life. Now the eyes close. A peaceful expression deepens in the strong lines of the face. There is a fuller, deeper breath, as if relief ~ had come to long and anxious tension. It is the exhalation of ahuman soul. The doctor steps a little nearer, stoops to listen, turns away with the announcement that “All is over.” Then the sad realization forces itself on the reluctant hearts of 670 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the assembled mourners that General Grant is dead. It was eight minutes past eight, on the morning of Thursday, July 23d, 1885, that a family stood bereft of its beloved head, and a nation was called upon to mourn the loss of its most illus- trious and endeared citizen. Heroic to the last, he fought his final battle with the same unquailing courage, the same calm, grim fortitude which shed their fadeless lustre on his whole extraordinary career. For months the nation had hung over his bedside and sadly watched his resolute, unmurmuring struggle, and the silent foot-fall of the unseen conqueror came as he and all would have had it, not with poignant shock as when a Lincoln or a Garfield fell, but as a messenger bearing a crown of full glory and beckoning ripened life to a land of light and fruition. As his achievements proved him to be a master of men, so his weary illness and heroic death proved that he was master of himself. The great captain, in all his career, dispatched but one flag of truce to the enemy and that was when he sent his great white soul from the mountain top to the angel of death. The sad news were flashed throughout the land, and by nine o'clock the bells were tolling everywhere. The one theme of a nation and the world was the passing away of him who had fought a good fight, had finished his course, had kept the faith. Humanity had but one heart for the occasion, and that was now bowed and broken in grief. Tongue and pen had but one word, and that was sympathy over the great loss, and praise of the virtues that had made his life noble and illustrious. For the afflicted family it was the beginning of condolence, un- limited by station, creed, color, nationality, or condition, and as warm as the utmost measure of affection and deepest sense of loss could make it. For the press, the pulpit, the forum, it was the occasion of eulogy, strong, full and beautiful, commen- surate with a great love, a towering, fame, and irreparable loss; “ANDOS GAd-HLVAG 149 672 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. fitting for one whose monument was a preserved Union; whose sepulchre, the hearts of his countrymen; whose epitaph, the gratitude of sixty millions of people. What Tennyson wrote of Wellington, America may read of Grant: ‘““Mourn, for to us he seems the last, Remembering all his greatness in the past. No more in soldier fashion will he greet With lifted hand the gazer in the street. O friends, our chief state-oracle is mute ; Mourn for the man of long-enduring blood, The statesman-warrior, moderate, resolute, Whole in himself, a common good. Mourn for the man of amplest influence, Yet clearest of ambitious crime, 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. * “ se * x * * On God and God-like men we build our trust. Hush, the Dead March wails in the people’s ears : The dark crowd moves, and there are sobs and tears: The black earth yawns: the mortal disappears ; Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; He is gone who seemed so great. Gone; but nothing can bereaye him Of the force he made his own Being here, and we believe him Something far advanced in State, And that he wears a truer crown Than any wreath that man can weave him. Speak no more of his renown, Lay your earthly fancies down, And in the vast cathedral leave him, God accept him, Christ receive him.” CHAPTER XXVIII. IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. FTER the death of General Grant a plaster cast of his face was taken, when the body was given into the hands of the undertaker, who embalmed it. It was then draped in the national flag and placed in repose in the parlor of the cottage in which he died, on Mt. McGregor, under a guard of comrades from one or more of the Posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, which was afterward increased by a regular army guard, who patrolled the grounds and protected the cottage till the day of the funeral. Meanwhile the cities of the country were draped in mourning, and all the flags on buildings and ships hung at half mast. The press, at home and abroad, teemed with expressions of sorrow, with sad obituary, and exalted eulogy. The character and career of the dead patriot was the theme of universal mention and analysis, of the most eloquent prose and touching poetry. Not in all history has fame been dealt with so kindly or memory so tenderly. It was worth death to find a senti- ment so unanimous, exuberant, and exquisite respecting the grandeur and solidity of a mortal character. Party, sect, section, country, levelled their lines and voiced the over- whelming regret and general praise. Let a few newspaper extracts answer as samples of all. “He took upon himself, at the solicitation of the people, the highest civil re- sponsibilities, and bore them with the same plain and unselfish fidelity which had distinguished him in the field.” —.S¢, Louzs Globe-Democrat. “ Let us speak of our great chieftain only as the soldier whose fame has not a spot to mar its brilliancy. If his civil career seems to invite criticism, let us bury 43 . 73 674 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. it out of sight and honor him as the great captain of the age; as the devoted leade1 who led the armies of the Union to triumph, striking the fetters from the slave, showing the magnanimity of the hero in the hour of victory as he showed the courage of the hero in the day of battle, and restoring to us.the American republic stronger, more honored, and more glorious than it was when handed down to us by our revolutionary sires.”—WVew York World. “No one man of our history so distinctively emphasized his individuality in war and in peace, in the field and in statesmanship, as did General Grant. He had none of the ornate characteristics of Clay; none of the ostentations of Scott; none of the impetuous qualities of Sherman. What he was, he was of himself and by himself; a self-creation whose history puzzles the reckoning of the world and makes romance pale before it. The thoughtless would scan the surface of his record, from the multiplied ill-fortune of early life to the highest stepping in the round of fame, and call it accident; but accidents build no such structures of im- perishable renown.” —PAiladelphia Times. “Thus another great and memorable figure in the later history of the republic— the most memorable, perhaps, excepting only Mr. Lincoln, among all those who performed their parts in the immortal contest for the preservation of the Union— passes away from living men and takes his place on the records of history. What encouragement for patriotism, for fidelity, for fearless defence of the great interests of mankind.”—WNew York Sun. “The name of General Grant will be remembered by Americans as that of the saviour of their country in a crisis more appalling than any it has passed through since the United States became a nation. His fame as a soldier will survive as long as the history of our nation is read. The last of the two greatest Americans of their generation is gone.’”—Vew York Times. “Great men, said Burke, are the guide-posts and landmarks of the state; and Grant was the guide-post of a victorious war and a landmark of a magnanimous peace. The American people themselves will judge him now, after the calm evening and the serene repose of retirement, more justly than in the stress and storm of struggle. The asperities of the angry contentions have passed; the flaws have faded and the blemishes are dimmed, while the splendor of his achievements and the simple grandeur of his character have gained a brighter halo as the years have rolled by. The clouds and the smoke of battle have long since lifted ; the fragments and the scenes are swallowed in the majestic drama ; and to-day we see Grant elevated on his true pedestal of fame through the just perspective of history.”—Phzladelphia Press. “A splendid sun has set; its light is out and its dark places have followed its bright ones below the trees and hills. It went down lingeringly, as if in pain with parting from the scenes it lighted with more of majesty in its gathering IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 675 gloom than its noon had ever known. Those on whose downfall the temple of his fame was builded will sow no thorns on his grave to prick the violets planted by his people there. Whatever were his faults, his errors and his failures, but yesterday he stood in the eyes of all the world the foremost figure of the Western Continent. * Looking at the life and character of General Grant from the broadest national standpoint, it is true to say that no man since Washington has better illustrated the genius of American institutions or the temper of Americans as a people.’’— Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser. “Our special despatches bring the not unexpected news of the death of the greatest and most illustrious man that lived in the world in the year 1885. Washington and Lincoln will divide with Grant the prominent place in the history of this country, but no man since the days of the great Napoleon has attracted so much attention throughout the world or made such a great military and civil reputation as Grant, and, when prejudices pass away and time brings calmness, justice and reason to pass upon General Grant’s life, character and achievements, he will hold a very high place in the esteem of the citizens of this country, the citizens of the North, South, East, and West, and all of them will have great admiration for his character, a just pride in his patriotic services, and a profound respect for his memory.’’— Vicksburg Post. “ The silent, modest man, who was unknown twenty-four years ago; who had had a real ‘ baptism of fire’ when, as a subaltern, he did a true soldier’s service in Mexico; who retired soon after that war to take part as a worker in civilian life; who gave his service to his country when the secession revolt began; who grew to be a great soldier and the only one, after many better known had failed, who could lead the Union hosts to final victory; who was magnanimous beyond all other victors in his treatment of the defeated armies; who received the highest military and civil rank that was possible in the United States; who won the grateful love of the people even in the section of the country where he was the leader of invading armies—such a man has a unique and distinct place among the great men of the world.’’—PAiladelphia Bulletin. “With the clearing of the early mists yesterday morning passed away the soul of General Grant, the most distinguished of living Americans, the general commanding the victorious armies of his country, and twice president of the republic. Washington alone of all men in our history has equalled him in honors. General Grant was a great commander. The operations of war, in which he was the leading figure of the Union armies, were colossal. The com- prehension that grasped this tremendous situation and the fortitude that endured its awful disasters was of itself greatness. The clear-sighted sense that moved straightforward amid these bewildering scenes, undeterred and undeviating, was military genius.”—Adanta Constitution. 676 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. “As the mortal remains of Ulysses S. Grant lie in their casket, and solemn guns are booming the last salute for the dead commander, we, of the South, forget the stern general who hurled his terrible masses upon the ranks of our fathers and brethren; whose storms of shot and shell mowed down our friends like wheat before the gleaner; remembering only the manly soldier who, in the hour of triumph, displayed the knightly chivalry that robs defeat of its bitterest pang. Vanquished by his arms, in his chivalric kindness we were doubly vanquished at Appomattox.” —Vew Orleans Times-Democrat. “‘The foremost man of the nation has closed a career second to no other in the history of the republic.”—Wew York Tribune. “He has passed from the home of endearment and sympathy into the pantheon of memory, and must be ranked with the illustrious great, whose genius is consecrated by noble services of patriotism.’’—Aoston Advertiser. “In our opinion not only is his one of the few immortal names that were not born to die, but his is one of the still fewer names that are entitled to immortality upon earth, He is not only one of the immortals but he is one of them by right. He was an Agamemnon, a king of men. He wasso pervaded by greatness that he seemed not to be conscious that he was great. He was magnanimous, modest, faithful to his friends, just to all men as far as his surroundings permitted, above simulation or dissimulation, self-poised and equal to every occasion. He was one of the greatest of generals; there was nothing small about General Grant, no punic faith, no perfidious element, no jealousies. His chivalrous spirit would not permit him to ask Lee or his officers for their swords, or Lee’s men for their horses. ‘Go in peace’ was the substance of his treatment of the heroes who surrendered at Appomattox Court House. His fidelity to his not assumed, but presumed or supposed obligations, his loyalty to truth and justice, caused him to forbid that General Lee should be arrested or annoyed by Federal authorities,””— Richmond Dispatch. “General Grant was a great soldier. In the opinion of many, he was the greatest soldier developed by the civil war. Reputations are made by success, and he was successful. He started at the bottom of the ladder and climbed to the top steadily, and he remained there. Even if history should not give him the first place among the soldiers of the civil war, it will rank him with the greatest soldiers of the world. No one will say, now that he is dead, that he ever turned away from those who had any claim upon him. ‘There are those who were against him in the war to whom he reached out a helping hand when the war was over, when they sadly needed help. He was popular with the soldiers because he knew how to appreciate soldierly qualities. His magnanimity at the Appomattox surrender showed that he was as generous as brave.’’—Savannah Vews. IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 677 “The death of General Grant will be honestly felt as a national affliction all over the wide Union, without reference to section or party.”—Col/uméia (S. C.) Register, « Although the death of General Grant was long expected, the event is not the less deplored. We can only share with his mourning countrymen in a sense of the loss of one whose career was so notable, so honorable to himself and so useful to his native land.”—ZLondon Standard. “Yesterday the greatest and most successful soldier that the United States has produced breathed his last. Inno portion of the United States have the financial disasters marking the close of General Grant’s career been regarded with more sympathy and regret than in England, Beyond all others he was best fitted to cope with the tremendous crisis which made him, and when the grave closes over all that is mortal of Ulysses Simpson Grant it will be felt that he leaves behind him no man cast in a simpler, sincerer or more heroic mold.”—London Daily News. “He has filled a large space in the history of his country, and as the dust of current controversy settles down and the mists of contemporary prejudices clear away, he will, we believe, be universally recognized as one of her chief worthies— one who had a great work to do, and who, upon the whole, did it in a manful, honest and honorable fashion.” — 7oronto Globe. The pulpit drew inspiration from the occasion and turned its texts and sermons into eulogistic lessons. Brighter exemplar of the virtues of modern militant life they had not had, nor character so crowded with the traits that distinguish the age’s manhood and assure its triumphs. Organized bodies everywhere were moved to resolutions of sympathy and solemn expressions of respect and admiration. The most marked and tender of these were framed and promulgated by the Grand Army Posts of the country, whose three hundred thou- sand veterans felt the old General’s loss almost as a personal affliction. One set of resolutions that have the significance of history was that of the United States Christian Commission, passed in Philadelphia, July 27th, 1885. “WHEREAS GOD in his wisdom has removed from this world by the hand of death the Great Commander of the Union Armies, General Ulysses S. Grant, we for ourselves, and representing the surviving Mem- 678 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. bers, Delegates and Helpers of the Commission, desiring to place on record our high appreciation of the character and services of the illus- trious General, and to express our sympathy with his family in their sad bereavement, do pass the following resolutions : “First. That in the death of General Grant, whose name and fame are imperishable, our nation has lost one who was divinely appointed to perpetuate its freedom and unity by the edge of the sword, but who, when the bloody work was done, returned it to its sheath, and strove to heal the wounds of war by the kind words and actions of peace. ‘Second. That, passing over his high renown as a military leader, as a statesman, and as a patriot, we desire to bear testimony to the great services which, as head of the army, he rendered the Commission, by helping its delegates in every possible way to reach the wounded on the field of battle, in the camp, and in the hospitals, often overstepping strict military rules in order that they might readily accomplish their benevolent work, proving that great kindness of heart could be associated with the stern demands of war. “Third. That it is a great gratification to us to remember that the last appearance of General Grant upon a public platform was at our 5th Re- Union held at Ocean Grove, N. J., on August 2d, of last year (1884). Those who were present can never forget the boundless enthusiasm of his reception and the tears which he shed as the vast audience cheered him to the echo showing that his great soul which often seemed so un- movable was melted down by the mighty power of love. “Fourth. That while life lasts we will cherish his memory—all the more sacred because of his long and very painful illness—and hold him up to our children and to the whole country as a bright example of manly courage, patient endurance, and marvelous magnanimity.”’ On the day of his death, July 23d, 1885, the President of the United States called his Cabinet together, and issued the following proclamation :— “The President of the United States has just received the sad tidings of the death of that illustrious citizen and ex-president of the United States, General Ulysses S. Grant, at Mount McGregor, in the State of New York, to which place he had lately been removed in the endeavor to prolong his life. ‘‘In making this announcement to the people of the United States, the President is impressed with the magnitude of the public loss of a great military leader, who was, in the hour of victory, magnanimous; amid IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 679 disaster, serene and self-sustained; who, in every station, whether as a soldier or as chief magistrate twice called to power by his fellow country- men, trod unswervingly the pathway of duty, undeterred by doubts, single-minded and straightforward. “The entire country has witnessed with deep emotion his prolonged and patient struggle with painful disease, and has watched by his couch of suffering with tearful sympathy. “The destined end has come at last, and his spirit has returned to the Creator who sent it forth. The great heart of the nation that followed him, when living, with love and pride, bows now in sorrow above him dead, tenderly mindful of his virtues, his great patriotic services, and of the loss occasioned by his death. “Tn testimony of respect to the memory of General Grant, it is ordered that the Executive Mansion and the several departments at Washington be decked in mourning for a period of thirty days, and that all public business shall, on the day of the funeral, be suspended, and the Secre- taries of War and of the Navy will cause orders to be issued for appro- priate military and naval honors to be rendered on that day. “In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. “Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-third day of July, A. p. one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five, and the independence of the United States the one hundred and tenth. ““GROVER CLEVELAND, President.” This first official paper was followed by similar ones issued by the Governors of the States, all expressing the same deep sense of loss, the same sentiments of praise and respect, and designed to give organized direction to the final honors to be paid him. As an historic sample, we give that from the Governor of New York :— “Ulysses S. Grant, twice President of the United States; the defender of the Union; the victorious leader of our soldiers and General on the retired list of the army, is dead. To the last he was a true soldier, strong in spirit, patient in suffering, brave in death. His warfare is ended. “ After the close of his official life and following that notable journey around the world, when tributes of esteem from nations were paid him, he chose his home among the citizens of our State. He died upon our soil, in the county of Saratoga, overlooking scenes made glorious by 680 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Revolutionary memories. It is fitting that the State which he chose as his home should especially honor his memory. “The words of grief and the tokens of sorrow by which we mark his death shall honor, too, the offices which he held and proclaim that praise which shall ever be accorded to those who serve the Republic. ‘Therefore it is hereby directed that the flags on the public buildings of the State be placed at half-mast until his burial, and on that day, yet to be appointed, all ordinary business in the Executive Chamber and the departments of the State Government will be suspended. ‘“The people of the State are called upon to display, until his funeral, emblems of mourning, and it is requested that at that hour they cease from their business and pay respect to the distinguished dead. ‘‘Given under my hand and the privy seal of the State of New York, at the Capitol, in the city of Albany, the twenty-third day of July, eighteen hundred and eighty-five.” It was deemed fitting to make the burial a national one, after the private, or home, funeral services were completed. Therefore the public arrangements for the obsequies were given into the hands of Major General Hancock by the Presi- dent. He supplemented the Grand Army Guards at the cottage by guards of regular troops, and from this moment the body of Grant was in the custody of his country. The duty of selecting a burial spot was a solemn and painful one for the family. Some considerations pointed to Galena, the General’s old home, some to New York, his adopted and last home, others to Washington, the capital of the country. Every national and patriotic consideration seemed to favor “The Soldier’s Cemetery ” at the capital, as the most suitable resting place for one who so clearly belonged to the entire country. But for reasons into which it would be indelicate to inquire, in so far as they were strictly private, Riverside Park, within the northern limits of New York city, and on the Hudson river, was selected by the family as the burial place. The park is not a park, but an unimproved, rocky, bluffy part of the island above the built up part of New York city. Art will have to join zealously with nature to make it attrac- Mr. McGREGOR COTTAGE UNDER GUARD. 681 682 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. tive and give it the beauty and appropriateness of a national shrine. On Wednesday, July 29th, the burial casket arrived at the cottage, and the remains were laid in it. They were dressed in a suit of plain black clothes. The embalming process had been successful, and the features were perfect. The glass top of the casket afforded a view of the body. For purposes of interment, an outer metallic case was provided. On Thursday, 30th, President Cleveland, at the request of Mrs. Grant, announced the pall bearers, as follows: General William T. Sherman, U.S. A.; Lieutenant-General Philip H. Sheridan, U. S. A.; Admiral David D. Porter, U.S. N.; Vicee Admiral Stephen C. Rowan, U. S. N.; General Joseph E. Johnston, of Virginia; General Simon B. Buckner, of Ken- tucky; Hamilton Fish (A. J. Drexel, of Philadelphia, was substituted on account of the illness of Mr. Fish), of New York; George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts; George W. Childs, of Pennsylvania; John A. Logan, of Illinois; George Jones, of New York; Oliver Hoyt, of New York. The selection of such prominent ex-officers of the Confederate army as Generals Johnston and Buckner, resulted from com- munications exchanged between President Cleveland and Mrs. Grant, he having telegraphed her to know if she had any pref- erence or suggestions to make in the matter. He received a reply, saying, that it was her wish that he should name the pall bearers, and that the only suggestion she would make was that in case any prominent Union officer like General Sherman or Lieutenant-General Sheridan be selected, a lead- ing Confederate officer, like General Johnston or General Buckner, be also included in the list. Tuesday, August 4th was fixed as the day on which to begin the obsequies. They were to consist, on that day, of a private, or family funeral at the cottage on the mountain top. The remains were then to be taken to Albany, where they “MOOAAOOW LV UOTAVd AHL NI i H | es SS TIT 684 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. would lie in state in the capitol one day. Then they were to be taken by train to New York, where they would lie in state in the City Hall till the hour of interment on Saturday, August 8th, when they would be deposited in Riverside park, in a temporary tomb, erected for their reception. And now, all the energies of those who had the matter in charge were directed to making the obsequies as solemnly imposing as possible, and every way worthy of the illustrious dead. There was to be no unnecessary display; that would not have been in keeping with the plain tastes and unassuming character of the deceased. But there was to be opportunity to pay last respects, to take a final view of the old hero, to drop a regretful tear and sigh a sad farewell, and this for the American million, the people, out of whose ranks he rose, in whose hearts he would find sepulture more royal than in gilded abbey or en- graven tomb. THE FAMILY FUNERAL. After a night of storm the morning of August 4th, 1885 dawned brightly upon Mount McGregor. Sunrise was an- nounced by the deep booming of cannon, whose sullen roar was heard at intervals of every half hour throughout the day. The little train that winds up the mountain side began to make early and frequent trips, bringing from below those who were to take charge of the remains and escort them to Albany, as well as many who came to participate in the private ceremonies. By ten o’clock the soldiers had struck their tents and broken camp and the cottage grounds were put in order for the simple services which were to compose the family funeral. Outside was an audience of one thousand people, fringed on the right by Company E of the 12th Infantry, and on the left by Com- pany A of the 5th Artillery, as a guard of honor. In the IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 685 entrance to the cottage stood a flag covered table, near which were seated the officiating clergy. Within the parlor were seated the family and a few intimate friends and chief mourners. In the centre of the parlor stood the casket, covered with purple plush and plainly mounted with silver. The unostentatious, yet impressive services were opened by the reading of the Psalm No. go, by Dr. Agnew, of Philadel- phia. This was followed by an earnest and eloquent prayer by Rev. Bishop W. Harris of the M. E. Church of New York. The hymn “ My Faith looks up to Thee,’ was then joined in by the assemblage. Next came the sermon by Rev. J. P. Newman D.D., General Grant’s spiritual adviser and life-long friend. He arose at ten o’clock and twenty-one minutes, and, for over an hour, delivered an eloquent tribute to the character of the deceased. The services concluded by singing the hymn, “ Nearer my God to Thee,” and pronouncing the bene- diction. The family had taken their last look at the departed before the services, and had done those many mournful and kindly things which emphasized so delicately yet firmly the tender relations existing between the great man and them. The grandchildren had laid their chaplet of oak leaves on the casket. Years ago the wife had placed a ring on his finger. It had been a talisman in danger, and in peace a token of undying affection. When long sickness emaciated the finger, the ring was removed. After death the son bent over the rigid body and replaced the mother’s gift on the cold finger, that the dead might wear it to the grave. And the dying man wrote a letter to his wife to be delivered when all was over. It was found on his person after death. Dr. Newman has given its contents in his sermon. The wife’s answer, ‘“ Fare- well till in the other world I meet thee,” with a lock of her hair, was placed in the pocket of the dead warrior to go with him to his last resting place. And now but a few moments remained for those present 686 LIFE OF ULYSSES S., GRANT. to view the remains, for the hour of departure for Albany had arrived. Then the assembly formed for its short pro- \ jet Weil Re oom cunanaaeecenenes Rev. J. P. NEWMAN, D. D. cession from the cottage to the heavily draped observation car of the mountain railroad. Company “A” led the way, to the music of the “Dead March.” The casket was borne IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 687 by twelve members of the U. S. Grant Grand Army Post, of Brooklyn. It was followed by the male members of the General’s family, and his most intimate friends. The throng stood with uncovered heads while the remains were placed in the car. The escort entered, and those who designed to go along to Albany took other cars. At one o’clock P.M., the train started, ending the private and beginning the national funeral of him who had come upon the mountain to die. THE FUNERAL ORATION. Matthew, chapter xxv., part of verse 21 :—‘‘ Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” WHAT A MAN IS—“Such, my brethren, is the eulogy that God shall pronounce upon human goodness and _ fidelity wherever found among the sons of men. The accidental distinctions between prince and peasant, millionaire and pauper, commanding general and private soldier, are but as the dust in the balance in His estimation of personal worth; He regards not the person of any man; _ He looks upon the heart. Ifa renowned philosopher searched an ancient city for a man, God is ever in search for a character, which in His sight outweighs the transitory distinctions of earth and time, and out of which are the issues of life. Tell me not what a man possesses—the beauty of Absalom, the glory of Solomon, the wealth of Dives, the eloquence of Apollos, the learning of Paul—but rather tell me what he is in his modes of thought, in his emotional being, in the trend of his passions, in the temper of his mind, in the tenor of his life, out of which come the totality of his existence and the finality of his destiny. This is the man as he is, and by it let him be judged. In the in- tensity of this divine light let us to-day recall the character of the illustrious man whose death a nation so tenderly mourns. 688 - LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT: HOW WE HAVE SEEN HIM:—“Some comrade in arms shall speak of the splendor of his martial genius; some statesman shall review the majesty of his civil administration ; some historian shall place him on the pedestal of his renown ; but let me, as the minister of religion, dwell upon that great character which will ever be his crown of glory and the im- perishable heritage of the country he loved so well. “You have seen him in the fury of battle, in the glory of victory, in the chair of state; you have seen him the guest of the world, honored by crowned heads and sceptred hands, by renowned warriors and eminent statesmen, by foremost scholars and adoring peoples; you have seen him in the quiet of private life, undistinguished from his fellow men other than by those virtues which made him conspicuous and by that fame which came from honorable deeds; you have seen him in the sorrow of misfortune, such as has often come to the best and wisest financiers in the world; you have seen him in the suffering of the sick room through nine weary months, endur- ing the indescribable tortures of a malignant disease, and that without a murmur; and to-day you see him in the repose of death, in the undisturbed sleep of the just. And could you rend the veil that obscures our mortal vision you would see him in his better form of immortality, with all his mighty faculties in full play, unchanged in his individuality, the same calm, earnest, sincere soul, purified and exalted and intent on the realities of his better life. WHO IS DEAD ?—‘ Shall we pause to inquire the mean- ing of these emblems of national sorrow and universal grief— the flag at half mast, the minute gun, the muffled drum, the tolling bell, the solemn march, the reign of silence in schools of learning, in courts of justice and in halls of legislation; the suspension of business, public and private buildings draped in black, streets thronged with mourners marching with measured step to strains of saddest music? Shall we inquire why sweet IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 689 childhood has forgotten its innocent joys, why womanhood is clad in sackcloth, why manhood is bowed with grief, and why all mourn as for a father, husband, brother, friend? “Shall we inquire why the land is filled with lamentation from the savannas of the South to the snow-capped hills of the North, and from where the Atlantic moans along its rugged coast to where the Pacific sobs on its golden shore; why poets lament, orators deplore, editors deprecate and ministers turn to the unseen for consolation; why kingdoms and empires and republics stand with our great nation as chief mourners around this bier ? “Who is dead? Oh! ye sobbing winds of Mount McGregor that fanned his brow, tell it not. Whisper it not ye mountain pines that shaded his form. And keep ye silent, Oh! ye sum- mer skies of love and beauty that smiled upon him. “Do you tell me, my friends, that a great man is dead— greatest among warriors, foremost among statesmen, noblest among patriots? Do you tell me that he led our armies to victory. That he administered our government in wisdom ? That he best illustrated the essential principles of our national life? Do you tell me that he was the truest of husbands, the kindest of fathers, the firmest of friends, the purest of philan- thropists, the humblest of Christians? True, thrice happily true! Are these the reasons why we will not be comforted; because those calm eyes cannot respond lovingly to our gaze, and those pure lips cannot greet us as of yore, and those ears cannot hear a nation’s cry, ‘To arms! to arms! for the foe is near’? LOFTINESS OF CHARACTER.—< But whence the segret of the power of this one life on the thought of the world and the love of mankind ? “Others have insured for themselves imperishable renown for their martial prowess, for their profound statesmanship, for the display of their marvelous intellects; but where in all the 44 690 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. annals of the earth and time shall we find another who more than he stamped all that he said and all that he did with such purity and loftiness of character? His individuality was most intense. This was the source of his strength, the power of his action, the glory of his achievements. He was never other than himself. He acted with a spontaneity all his own. “And what were the elements of that character, so unique, symmetrical and now immortal? God had endowed him with an extraordinary intellect. For forty years he was hidden in comparative obscurity, giving no indications of his wondrous capacity ; but in those four decades he was maturing, and at the appointed time God lifted the veil of obscurity, called upon him to save a nation and give a new direction to the civilization of the world. How calm his judgment, how clean and quick and accurate his imagination, how vast and tenacious his memory! Reason was his dominant faculty. He was a natural logician. He could descend to the smallest details and rise to the highest generalizations. His wonderful under- standing was like the tent in story—fold it, and it was a toy in the hand of a child; spread it, and the mighty armies of a republic could repose in its shade. He could comprehend a continent with greater ease than others could master an island. Under his vast and comprehensive plans a continent shook with the tramp of advancing armies. As out of some immense mental reservoir there came a fertility of resources displayed in a hundred battles, in the greatest emergencies and in a threefold campaign, carried forward at the same time without confusion, and each the part of one stupendous whole. GENIUS OF COMMON SENSE—“ His was the genius of common sense, enabling him to contemplate all things in their true relations, judging what is true, useful, proper, expe- dient, and to adopt the best means to accomplish the largest ends. From this came his seriousness, thoughtfulness, pene- tration, discernment, firmness, enthusiasm, triumph. Wherein IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 691 others dreamed of success, he saw defeat; when others expected despair, he discovered ground of hope. What were contrasts to others were comparisons to him. He often stood alone in his judgment and plans, and it is the enduring com- pliment to his practical sense that the blunders committed by others on military and political questions were the result of plans which never had his approval. In war and in peace he was the wisest and the safest guide this nation has had since the Father of His Country ascended to his reward. ACTION AND INTELLECT — For his clear and certain imagination the future loomed before him clothed with the actuality of the present. Read his military orders, and they prophesy the history of the battles he fought. He foresaw the enemy’s plans as though he had assisted at their councils of war. He was one of those extraordinary men who, by the supremacy of their wills, force all obstacles to do their bidding. By the promptitude of his action he left no time for its con- travention. Times, places and persons he comprehended with mathematical accuracy. Nothing escaped his penetration. Such was the perpetual calmness of his intellect that he could transact the most important affairs when the storm of battles was raging at its height. WHEN GREATEST—* His soul was the home of hope, sustained and cheered by the certainties of his mind and the power of his faith, His was the mathematical genius of a great general rather than of a great soldier. By this endow- ment he proved himself equal to the unexpected, and that with the precision of a seer. “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,” because the unexpected happens to every man. The grandest campaigns are often defeats, the most brilliant plans are unconsummated, the most wished for opportunities are unrealized, because baffled by the unexpected at the very moment of expected fulfillment. But he appeared greatest in the presence of the unforeseen. Then came an in- 692 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. spiration as resistless as the march of a whirlwind, as when, on the second night of the battle of the Wilderness, when he changed the entire front of the line of battle, and quietly said in response to a messenger. ‘If Lee is in my rear I am in his.’ “In the history of a great general there come supreme mo- ments, when long maturing plans are to be consummated and long deferred hopes are to be realized. Some men can work up to that point and excite the admiration of mankind by the care and push wherewith they move toward the objective, but fail in the crucial moment. The preparations of this wonderful man rarely excited the applause of the people, because the workings of his masterful mind were hidden be- neath the silence of his lips; but when the supreme moment came there came also an intellectual elevation, an uplifting of the whole being, a transformation of the silent, thoughtful general, which surprised his foes and astonished his friends. He culminated at the crisis. He was at his best when most needed. He responded in an emergency. LATENT RESOURCES — He is one of the few men in history who did more than was expected. Some men excite great expectation by the brilliancy of their preparations ; but this quiet, meditative, undemonstrative man exceeded all ex- pectations by doing more than he had promised, and by doing what all others had failed to do. Others had done their best with a conscientiousness worthy of all praise ; they had worked up totheir maximum strength and accomplished much; they had contributed largely to the final victory, and shall deserve well of their country. It was no fault of theirs if nature had not endowed them for the ultimate achievement. But this man, pre-eminent by the happy combination of both nature and Providence, rose superior in the supreme moment, forced all things to do his bidding, and, like another Joshua, could have commanded the sun and moon of surrounding circum- stances to stand still to illuminate his final path to victory. IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 693 His latent resources seemed inexhaustible. Was Fort Donel- son esteemed impregnable? It yielded to his command for an immediate and ‘unconditional surrender. Did Vicksburg defy his sixth plan of capture? His seventh plan was a success. Did Richmond hurl defiance at all previous attempts? His final effort was a triumph, and over the doomed capital of the Confederacy triumphantly floated the flag of the Union. “Such were his untold hidden resources of adaptation, ever unfolding to meet the demand of new situations, that he would have proved himself equal to any position of trust and to any emergency that might arise. THE NATIONS NEED—‘ When he rose to supreme command the nation demanded one dominant spirit, mighty to grasp, strong to execute, powerful to inspire. The country was one, the rebellion was one, and the armies of the Union should be one; and the general who could mould, control, inspire an army a million strong and make them think, feel and fight as one man was the desire of the Republic. Sucha one was he around whose bier a nation weeps to-day. To be everywhere present at once by his spirit and orders was in him a realized fact. His laconic order was, ‘All strike together.’ He imparted to all his own spirit and all things became pos- sible to his faith. The nation felt her mighty change, and the rebellion went down beneath the power of one master mind. He was the logician of war. He conquered by logic. He reasoned out his victories. In all the annals of war there is no such splendid reasoning on the certainty of results. Others have conquered by the superiority of material force, but he by the superiority of mind over mind. Alas! Alas! that he can no longer think for us! A BENIGN CONQUEROR.— To-day you are filled with the glory of his military triumphs. You are recalling Belmont and Henry and Donelson and Shiloh and Vicksburg and Chattanooga and Richmond. You are calling him the greatest 694 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. of soldiers, and you do well. But do not degrade him to the level of those famous heroes who fought for empire and for glory. Lift him up toa higher pedestal, around which shall forever stand Justice and Liberty and Peace and Lawand Order and Civilization and Religion, with chaplets in their hands wherewith to crown him. He fought for the right—to end the war ; he conquered a peace. He hated war. He looked upon it as a ghastly monster whose march is to the music of the widows’ sigh and the orphans’ cry. He loved peace and pur- sued it. ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God,’ was his beatitude. In his London speech, in 1877, he said: ‘Although a soldier by education and pro- fession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it except as a means of peace.’ This was the energy of his courage. “He would not waste life and treasure to gain advantages while the means were left to the enemy to regain them. He understood the necessity of sacrifice to achieve a greater advantage. He surrendered the lesser to obtain the greater. He was not indifferent to the preciousness of human life. Did he expose his troops? He protected them by shortening the time of the war and by the greater vigor of his attacks. His was the arithmetic of blood. Some Quintius Fabius Maximus would have sacrificed a hundred thousand more men and $350,000,000 more treasure by the slowness of his movements and the feebleness of his efforts. ‘HowcanI save my country and prevent the greater effusion of blood?’ was his supreme question; and his supreme answer was, ‘By an energy that knows no defeat. Thus he reasoned, and to-day the people bless him. “Such is the character of the true conqueror. Only such live in the grateful recollections of mankind. Away with heroes without humanity! They may force our respect and seduce our admiration, but they can never win our love, IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 695 God planted goodness in man as the image of Himself. Great- ness should spring from goodness. This is the price of hearts. Away with your Alexanders and Czsars and Tamerlanes! Let them be to our Christian civilization what the gigantic mon- sters of a departed period are in zoological history—types of an inferior age. In the oncoming centuries mankind will honor only those who drew the sword in defence of human rights and in support of the constitutional authority. Then, All hail, Mount Vernon! Then, All hail, Mount McGregor! GOODNESS OF HEART—< From this better nature and higher mission as a warrior sprang his conduct toward the vanquished. He hadno hatred in his heart. His heart was as tender as a woman’s. He was not vindictive. His holy evangel to the nation was, ‘Let us have peace.’ Hence toward the close of the war, those who had fought against him saw that there was no safety but in the arms of their conqueror. In his dying chamber he grasped the hand of him whose sword was the first he had won and said: ‘I have witnessed since my sickness just what I wished to see ever since the war— harmony and good feeling between the sections.’ On holy Easter he sent forth this tender message: ‘I desire the good- will of all, whether hitherto my friends or not.’ His was the song of the angels—‘On earth peace, good will toward men.’ “This has been the softening ministry of his sufferings to his countrymen. God permitted him to see this glorious consum- mation. Our sorrow is national in the broadest sense. And to-day, where the magnolia blooms and the palmetto grows, the ‘men in gray’ weep over the death of their best friend. And had he lived to see a foreign foe invade our shores, North and South would have chosen him to lead us to defend our liberty. ADMINISTRATIVE FORCE— Doubtless he will be best known in coming ages as the foremost soldier of the Republic. Unknown generations will read his battles with wonder and 696 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. admiration. In every hamlet, in every metropolis, his martial form will be cast in bronze and sculptured in marble. His- torians will vie with each other in paying homage to his genius; but the time will come when men everywhere will recognize the greatness and beneficence of his administration as Presi- dent of the United States. It were a crime against history and an injustice to his memory were we to lose sight of the statesman amid the glory of the warrior. Such was the mag- nitude of those great measures of state, of domestic and foreign policy; so far reaching their influence, so comprehensive their mission, that generations may pass from the vision of the world ere the true and full estimate of his political worth shall be determined. Then his administration of eight years will receive the calm consideration and just approval of his coun- trymen. When the memories of party strife shall have been forgotten, when the disappointed aspirations for office shall have ceased to fester, when the rivals for place and power are no more—then, as comes the sun from the mist of the morn- ing, so shall his administration appear in greatest splendor. Then the historian of that calmer age will wonder how a sol- dier by endowment and education, accustomed only to camp and field, unlearned in statecraft, unfamiliar with political science, unacquainted with the methods of civil administration, could have displayed such breadth of statesmanship in the measures which he originated and approved. UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD.—“ Great and beneficent as were his measures of reconstruction, amendments to the constitution, of finance, of the improvement of the laboring classes, of the just treatment of the Indians, of the elevation of the freedmen, of the promotion of education, and of the concessions he compelled foreign Powers to make, yet, in the interests of universal peace, in the ultimate recognition of the brotherhood of nations, in the advancement of Christian civili- zation in all the earth, the Treaty of Washington will be IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 697 esteemed of immeasurable grandeur and beneficence, not to be estimated by millions of dollars, but by the possibility and prophecy that all international disputes may be adjusted by peaceful arbitration, when ‘nations shall learn war no more.’ Such was his dream of the future, expressed to the Interna- tional Arbitration Union in Birmingham, England, when he said, ‘Nothing would afford me greater happiness than to know, as I believe will be the case, that at some future day the nations of the earth will agree upon some sort of congress which shall take cognizance of international questions of diffi- culty, and whose decisions will be as binding as the decision of our Supreme Court is binding upon us.’ PURE MORAL CHARACTER—< And whether in camp or Cabinet, in private or public, at home or abroad, how pure and commendable his moral character! Life in the camp has proved ruinous to the morals of the greatest of warriors. The excitement of a life devoted to arms, the scenes of excess and plunder to which a soldier is exposed, the absence of the restraints of home and church, tend to the worst of passions and to the corruption of the best morals. But here, in the presence of the dead, whose ears are forever deaf to our praise or censure, let it be our grateful duty to record that, after five years in camp and field, he returned to his home without a stain upon his character. Among ancient or modern warriors where shall we find his superior in moral elevation? Given to no excess himself, he sternly rebuked it in others. He could speak to every one according to his station—to generals of their battles, to statesmen of their measures, to travelers of their discoveries, to artisans of their inventions, to Christians of their hopes; and he could be the delightful companion of kings and queens, of courtiers and chosen friends. He never took the name of his Creator in vain, and an impure story never polluted his lips. He assured me, as his pastor that, were he disposed to swear, he would be compelled to pause to phrase 698 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the sentence. Such was the purity of his thought life that he has been seen to blush and withdraw from the companionship of those who had presumed to relate a salacious story in his presence. SENSE OF JUSTICE— His sense of justice was equalled only by his love of truth. He preferred honor to wealth and poverty to riches not his own. Oh, Americans, think of the pride of your nation, the glory of your age and the object of the world’s admiration having nothing to bequeath to those he loved save his good name, and that Heaven admitted to pro- bate without the whisper of contention! GRATITUDE—‘Gentle, true and kind gratitude was one of the noblest emotions of his:soul. His words were few, but pregnant with grateful recognition. To one who had been a friend in need he declared, ‘I am glad to say, that, while there is much unblushing wickedness in the world, yet there is a compensating grandeur of soul. In my case I have not found that republics are ungrateful, nor are the people.’ And so he had expressed himself in his speech in New York in 1880, ‘Iam not one of those who cry out against the Republic and charge it with being ungrateful. I am sure that, as regards the American people, as a nation and as individuals, I have every reason under the sun, if any person really has, to be satisfied with their treatment of me.’ When restored to the army as general and retired on full pay he was deeply touched, and, taking the wife of his youth by the hand, he read the tele- gram which announced the fact, while, more eloquent than words, tears of gratitude to the nation he loved moistened those cheeks which never blanched with fear. HUMILITY—‘He followed the divine maxim, ‘ Before honor is humility.’ It is difficult to be victorious and not be proud. Military success leaves in the mind an exquisite pleasure, which fills and absorbs the thoughts.. The conqueror ascribes to himself superiority of capacity and force. He IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 699 crowns himself with his own hands; he decrees to himself a secret triumph; he regards as his own the laurels others helped to gather; and when he renders to God public thanks he mingles his vanity with his devotions. But, read his orders; read the reports of his victories; read the memoirs of his life, and he praises his great subordinates and the army and navy that did the fighting. Behold the contrast in the general orders and reports of battles by the First Napoleon’ and those by this unpretentious conqueror! What pride and boldness in the one, what humility and modesty in the other! And who, in all these four /ustra since the strife was over, in the decade since he retired from. the chair of State with a name great in both hemispheres, has ever heard him speak of his deeds of valor or the success of his administration ? ‘Let another praise thee, and not thine own lips;’ and to-day the people crown him with their grateful benedictions. UNSELFISHNESS.—“‘In honor preferring one another’ was the inspired maxim of his life. How evident his delight in announcing the triumph of those great generals who fought under him. And herein the presence of the illustrious dead, let us recall the tender and constant friendship of Grant and Sher- man and Sheridan. They were as one man. They acted without anxiety. There was in them a concurrence of thought, motive and aim, born of mutual confidence. They were at once the supplement and converse of each other. He was profound in reflection ; they acted by sudden illumination. He was cool without languor; they ardent without precipitation. He was more ready to act than to speak, and most resolute and deter- mined when silent; they most eloquent in words and deeds when executing the plans of their chief. He created in them the expectation of something extraordinary; they sought to reach those distinctions which crowned his life as the most con- summate general. He, by his rapid and constant efforts, won the admiration of the world; they rejoiced to shine in the “700 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. association of his glory. He, by the depth of his genius and his incredible resources, rose superior to the greatest dangers; they, by an admirable instinct, seemed to learn to draw fortune into their plans and force destiny itself. What a privilege to study these men and learn from each the esteem the other merited. But, alas! the trinity is broken. Grant is dead! NOT STOICAL.— Yet he was not a stoic, insensible alike to pain and pleasure; indifferent to public opinion or careless about his honor or his rights. He loved the praise of men when the reward of honorable action. He was a sensitive, high spirited, manly man, who had the will and the courage to contend to the last for what was his due. If he reviled not when reviled, he accepted the divine philosophy that a ‘ soft answer turneth away wrath.’ If he was patient under misrep- resentation, he trusted Him who said: ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.’ Was he silent under reproach ? He preferred the greater satisfaction of the reversion of public opinion. Only those permitted to hear the whispers of his sensitive heart knew of the grief and anguish he experienced when maligned by ignorance, prejudice and disappointed aspi- rants. He had meekness, but it was not the base surrender of self-respect. His indignation could burn like a mountain on fire, but he never permitted himself to become consumed by its volcanic eruptions. He knew his enemies and treated them with a withering silence that has passed into a proverb. He knew his friends, and true to his knightly soul, supported them in ‘good report and evil.’ But he was never the companion of bad men; and when he discovered in a pre- tended friend deception, or dishonesty, or immorality, he shook him off as Christ rejected Judas. His was the language of the Psalmist, ‘In whose eyes a vile person is contemned.’ His private friendships were refined, and he found his chief delight in the society of the true, the pure and the elevated. He discerned character with the precision of a seer. His great IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 7O!I subordinates are in proof. His chief associates in the affairs of state are illustrations. And the marvel of the ages will be that through a long and responsible public career he was so seldom deceived, when on the highest authority it is said, ‘Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light’ to de- ceive the very elect. It has been the ill-fortune of the best and wisest of men from Moses to David, from David to Paul, from Paul to Luther, to be deceived by pretended friends. Cesar had his Brutus, Washington had his Arnold, Christ had his Judas. : SELF—APPRECTATIVE—“And the world mistakes the character of our illustrious countryman in supposing that he was without self-appreciation. He knew his power and realized his strength. His humility was not born of self- ignorance. His self-abnegation was not inspired by contempt for the reward of noble deeds. He was not indifferent to the approbation of his fellow-men, nor was his ear deaf to the voice of praise. He loved fame, but he did not seek it; he loved power, but he did not aspire to it; he loved wealth, but he did not covet it. He was aman with all the passions and appetites of human nature, and to make him other than a well- poised, self-mastered man, would be an injustice to his memory. But he was wiser than his celebrated contemporaries, in that he would not suffer himself to be unmanned by popular applause, or the exercise of power, or the possession of wealth, or crushed by misfortune, or disheartened by suffering. In this he was greater than the great of his own age. MENTAL TRAITS.—« He loved life and enjoyed it; he loved children and caressed them; he loved his family and found therein his chief delight. He had not taste for music, but he had melody in his heart. He despised pretence and show, but admired the real and beautiful. He was not fond of books, yet by carefulness of observation, by thoroughness of reflection, by attentiveness to the conversation of the well 702 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. informed, by extensive travels in many lands, by the daily study of current events, he was the most intelligent citizen in our Republic. He was the most diligent newspapers reader in the land. He was a living encyclopedia of facts, figures and men, and often astounded his hearers with his accurate esti- mate of persons, the keenness of his observations and the vastness of his information. PATIENCE UNDER ATTACK.—‘ Out of his great char- acter came the purest motives, as effect follows cause. He abandoned himself to his life mission with the hope of no other reward than the consciousness of duty done. Duty to his conscience, his country and his God was his standard of successful manhood. With him true greatness was that in great actions our only care should be to perform well our part and let glory follow virtue. He placed his fame in the service of the State. He was never tempted by false glory. He never acted for effect. He acted because he could not help it. His action was spontaneous. Ambition could not corrupt his patriotism ; calumnies could not lessen it; discouragements could not subdue it. It was not a sudden outburst of the imagination, but an intelligent conviction. He committed all to the great struggle to save his country. There was a time when he preferred that his military genius should suffer momentary depreciation rather than hazard the cause of the Union by revealing the vastness of his plans, which required time to unfold. Who does not recall the time when an ardent, patriotic people became impatient, exacting, clamorous for im- mediate results? But he had the energy of silence. His self- control was equal to the self-control of the nation. How calm and unruffled was he. He knew that time was an essential element in a war so vast and complicated. He could wait. He did wait. And a grateful people bless his memory. And here, to-day, in the presence of the dead, with a nation redeemed, peaceful and prosperous, who does not regret the IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 703 cloud cast over him at Pittsburg Landing, at Vicksburg and in the Wilderness? He made no reply. He spoke no word of complaint. He offered no self-vindication. He knew his plans and felt assured of success. Oh! great soul, forgive our impatience; forget our lack of confidence; blot from thy memory our cruel censures. Thou wert wiser and kindlier and better than we. We did it in the ardor of our patriotism and in our love of liberty. And from the serene heavens into which thou hast gone join our song as we praise that God who gave thee the victory and thus a redeemed nation. THE TYPICAL AMERICAN—*The martyrs of one age are the prophets of the next. Fame succeeds defamation. Time changes all things. Washington endured a like ordeal. His neutrality proclamation touching the war between France and England and his treaty with England gave mortal offence. His action was denounced in Philadelphia, New York and Boston. His mock funeral was enacted at Philadelphia. The treaty was burned in the public squares. His character was aspersed., He was declared destitute of merit as a statesman. He was charged with having violated the constitution, with having drawn from the public Treasury for his private use, and his impeachment was publicly suggested. Thus has changed the verdict of the people. He is now enthroned in the hearts of his countrymen, and so shall his illustrious successor forever dwell in the grateful affection of the American people. “Tf to-day we lay upon the altar of his memory, as our votive offering, our liberties, our wealth and our homes, let us learn to be cautious in our decisions on the acts of our public servants,and slow in our censures upon those whom time may prove our greatest benefactors. “And where, in all the annals of our national life, shall we find another, save the sage of Mount Vernon, who was so truly a typical American ? Is it true that his personal qualities were not brilliant; that his salient points were nct conspic- 704 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. © uous; that in running parallels between him and other men of fame a feeling of disappointment is experienced because there is not on the surface some prodigious element of power and greatness? Yet he had this double advantage over all this world’s heroes—he possessed the solid virtues of true greatness in a larger degree than other men of renown, and possessed them in greater harmony of proportions, Some heroes have been men of singular virtue in particular lines of conduct. Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, was distinguished for his moder- ation and courage. Aristides the Just scorned the bribes offered by Mardonius. The patriotism of Leonidas was proof against the temptation of uncounted gold. Regulus was the soul of Roman honor, and accepted exile and death to infamy. Marcus Aurelius Antonius gave his royal fortune to relieve the poor of his empire. Peter the Great was illustrious for his pride of country and laid the foundation of Russia’s present greatness. Frederick of Prussia was a soldier prince, the re- nown of whom, history has preserved as a memorial. But this foremost American possessed all these and other virtues in happy combination—not like single gems, brilliant by isola- tion, but like jewels in a crown of glory, united by the golden band of a completer character. What humility amid such admiration; what meekness amid such provocation; what fidelity amid such temptations; what contentment amid such adversity ; what sincerity amid such deception; what ‘ faith, hope and charity’ amid such suffering! Temperate without austerity ; cautious without fear; brave without rashness ; serious without melancholy; he was cheerful without frivolity. His constancy was not obstinacy ; his adaptation was not fickle- ness; his hopefulness was not Utopian. SOLID VIRTUES—* His love of justice was equalled only by his delight in compassion, and neither was _sacri- ficed to the other. His self-advancement was subordinated to the public good. His integrity was never questioned ; his IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 7O5 honesty was above suspicion; his private life and public career were at once reputable to himself and honorable to his country. | “Do you remind me that these are plain, homely, solid virtues? Yet they are the essential elements in public use- fulness and permanent renown. Is it true that mankind are attracted by shining qualities and are led captive by brilliancy rather than by solidity? Are the masses charmed by the tears of the Macedonian; by the Roman crossing the Rubicon; by the Frenchman dispersing the National Directory? But he was too great to be brilliant as men count brilliancy. The | sword of Orion, the clustered glories of the Pleiades, the up- lifted falchion of Perseus are more attractive than the polar star; but of all the stellar hosts, which is more important than that calm and steady planet to gladden the mariner on the track- less deep? Dew-drops sparkle in the morning sun, and the summer cloud emits its fructifying shower, and in turn is decked with the celestial bow; but what are these compared to the wealth and highway of the ocean? In sheets of light and in bars of fire the lightning dazzles the eye and terrifies the mind of the beholder, but what is the glow of the one or the sheen of the other to the daily sun spreading warmth and plenty and beauty over the habitations of man? He was the sun of our plenty, the ocean of our wealth, and the polar star shining calmly and steadily in the heavens of our Republic. “Such a solid, sturdy character becomes our geography and institutions, and our destiny. Self-government calls upon the judgment to control the imagination; to ambition to submit to queenly modesty; to adventure to bow to prudence; to justice to hold in subjection political wrong; to virtue to dominate every vice. It seems to be with us a national tradi- tion that only men of solid virtues shall be raised to supreme positions in our Republic. 45 706 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ‘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.’ HOME LIFE.— As he was the typical American, should we be surprised to find that his was the, typical American home? May we lift the curtain and look upon the holy privacy of that once unbroken household? O! the mutual and reciprocal love of wedded life within those sacred pre- cincts. Husband and wife the happy supplement of each other, their characters blending in sweetest harmony like the blended colors in the bow of promise. He strength, dignity and courage; she gentleness, grace and purity. Hethe Doric column to sustain; she the Corinthian column to beautify. He the oak to support; she ivy to entwine. In their life of deathless love their happiness lay like an ocean of pearls and diamonds in the embrace ofthe future. He unhappy without her presence; she desolate without his society. She pure, high minded, discriminating, ardent, loving, intelligent ; he confided to her his innermost soul and blessed her with his best and unfailing love. She shared his trials and his triumphs, his sorrows and his joys, his toils and his rewards. How tender was that scene, in the early dawn of that April day, when all thought the long expected end had come, he gave her his watch and tenderly caressed her hand. It was all the great soldier had to give to the wife of his youth. And the dying hero whispered: ‘I did not have you wait upon me, because I knew it would distress you; but now the end draws nigh. And out from the ‘swellings of Jordan’ he rushed back to the shore of life to write this tender message to his son: ‘Wherever I am buried, promise me that your mother shall be buried by my side.’ It is alla wife could ask; it 1s all a husband could wish. IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 707 “* Lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they shall not be divided.’ “Side by side they shall sleep in the same tomb, and she shall share with him whatever homage future ages shall pay at his national shrine. “It was his love for her that lifted his intellect above the ceaseless tortures of a malignant disease and threw oblivion over the sense of excruciating pain, that he might write his ‘Personal Memoirs, that she would not want when he was gone. “And how tender was hiscare. He thought not of himself, but of her. To his son he said, ‘I hope mother will bear up bravely.’ To quiet her anxiety he wrote: ‘Do as I do; take it quietly. I give myself not the least concern. If I knew the end was to be to-morrow I would try just as hard to get rest in the meantime.’ Would she keep holy vigils through the livelong night? Hewrote her: ‘Go to sleep and feel happy; that is what I want to do and am going to try for. I am happy when out of pain. Consider how happy you ought to be. Good night!’ “And such was the tenderness of his love and solicitude for her and hers he surprised her by a letter found after his death. It came asa message to her from him after he had gone. When his spirit had returned to the God who gave it there was found secreted in his robe his last letter to her, enveloped, sealed and addressed. He had written it betimes, written it secretly, and carried the sacred missive day after day during fourteen days, knowing that she would find it at last. In it he poured forth his soul in love for her and solicitude for their children: “ «Look after our dear children and direct them in the paths of rectitude. It would distress me far more to think that one of them could depart from an hon- orable, upright and virtuous life than it would to know that they were prostrated on a bed of sickness from which they were never to arise alive. They have 708 LIFE -OF_ULYSSES 5. GRANT. never given us any cause for alarm on their account, and I earnestly pray they never will. ««« With these few injunctions and the knowledge I have of your love and affec- tion, and of the dutiful affection of all our children, I bid you a final farewell, until we meet in another, and I trust a better world. You will find this on my per- son after my demise. | “« MounT McGREGOR, July 9, 1885.’ FILIAL AFFECTION—*< And who should marvel in a home of such parentage that parental love and filial affection should reign supreme ! “* Honor thy father and thy mother’ was in perpetual obedi- ence there. Oh, what reverence for that honored father shown by those devoted sons and that precious daughter! Oh, what blissful love they manifest for that dear mother, to-day a widow! What pure delight in each other’s company ; what mutual pride in each other’s future welfare! And while all honor is due to each child of the departed for love, devotion and anxiety, and now for grief, yet the American people will never forget the sleepless nights, the ceaseless vigils by day, the profound deference, the tender caresses, the deathless love of his first-born son, whose manly heart was crushed when his father died. Such a home is worthy to be called an American home. Give us such homes of purity, love and joy, and our Republic shall live forever. RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS — If such was his charac- ter, such his life, such his home, what were the consolations which sustained him in sickness and cheered him in death ? Was life to him a‘ walking shadow’ and death an endless dream? Was his calmness in suffering born of stoical philos- ophy or inspired by Christian fortitude ? Were his love and hope limited by earth and time or destined to live forever ? Reared in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and baptized in his last illness by one of her ministers, his religious nature was sincere, calm and steadfast. The principles of Christianity were deeply engrafted upon his spirit. Firm, but never de- IN SFATE AND AT THE TOMB. 709 monstrative, he was not a man of religious pretence. His life was his profession. He knew that Christianity had nothing to gain from him beyond the influence of a ‘ well ordered life and a godly conversation,’ but that he had everything to gain from the power and promises of our Lord. More than in all - things else he was taciturn touching his religious faith and experience; not, however, from doubt and fear, but from men- tal characteristics. The keenest, closest, broadest of all ob- servers, he was the most silent of men. He lived within himself. His thought life was most intense. His memory and imagination were picture galleries of the world and libra- ries of treasured thought. He wasa world to himself. His most intimate friends knew him only in part. He was fully and best known only to the wife of his bosom and the chil- dren of his loins. To them, the man of iron will and nerve of steel, was gentle, tender and confiding, and to them he un- folded his beautiful religious life. ° “On the 18th of April he said to me: ‘I believe in the Holy Scriptures, and whoso lives by them will be benefited thereby. Men may differ as to the interpretation, which is human, but the Scriptures are man’s best guide.’ He revered their source, recognized their influence, responded to their requisitions, trusted in their promises and found consolation in their hopes. His faith in God as the sovereign ruler and the Father Almighty was simple as a child’s and mighty as a prophet’s. There is an eloquence of pathos in the opening sentence of the preface to his Memoirs. He had proposed for himself other plans of usefulness to occupy his declining years. He would have mingled in the busy scenes of life in the places where men do “most congregate.” He would have been identified with the great enterprises of his day, to increase a nation’s wealth and power, and the glory of that city in whose enchanting park he shall repose beneath the noblest monument. He would have enjoyed domestic and 710 LIFE OF ULYSSES S.\GRANT. social wealth and well-earned renown. But heaven decreed otherwise. ‘Man proposes and God disposes.’ There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice. Such was his faith in Providence, which imparted to him absolute power in his great mission; and when burdened by the gravest responsibilities; when con- scious that a nation’s life had been confided to his care; when the darkness of adversity overshadowed him, he trusted in the Lord who is mightier than the mighty. “ Doing nothing for show, yet he made public recognition of God by his faithful and conscientious attendance upon divine worship. No public man heard more sermons than he, and he was the best of hearers. Whether in the obscurity of Galena, or in the conspicuousness of Washington, or in the private walks of life in New York, he was in his pew on the Lord’s Day. And his pastor was always sure of his presence on a stormy Sabbath. His faithful attendance at church was largely inspired by his respect for the Sabbath day. On Monday, April 2oth, he said to me: ‘I did not go riding yesterday, although invited and permitted by my phy- sicians, because it was the Lord’s Day, and because I felt that if a relapse should set in, the people who are praying for me, would feel that I was not helping their faith by riding out on Sunday.’ And on a Saturday night, to divert his attention from pain and uneasiness, his eldest son suggested some innocent diversion, but when informed that it was near midnight, the honored father replied: ‘It is too near the Sab- bath to begin any diversion.’ A MAN OF PRAYER— He was a man of prayer. It was on Sabbath evening, March 22d, when alone with Mrs. Grant, that his pastor entered, and the General, with tenderest appreciation and gratitude, referred to the many prayers offered for him and mentioned societies and little children who had promised to pray for him daily; and then, in answer to IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 7iII his minister’s suggestion that we should join that universal prayer, he replied with emphasis, ‘ Yes ;’ and at the conclusion of our supplication the illustrious invalid responded ‘Amen!’ That Amen by that silent man was more significant than volumes by others. But it was his custom and habit to call to prayers. On March 27th, late in the evening, he requested all to enter his room for devotions, and made a special request for the presence of his ‘beloved physician, and his friend Romero. And on this mount, to be hereafter hallowed ground, and where his monument shall rise in grandeur, he said to an honored priest of another church: ‘I know and feel very grateful to the Christian people of the land for their prayers on my behalf. There is no sect or religion, as shown in the Old or New Testament, to which this does not apply. Catholics, Protestants and Jews, and all the good people of all nations, of all politics as well as religions, and all nationalities seem to have united in wishing or praying for my improve- ment. I am a great sufferer all the time, but the facts you have related are compensation for much of it. All that I can do is to pray that the prayers of all these good people may be answered so far as to have us meet in another and a better world.’ “He was not a bigot. Bigotry was no part of his noble and generous nature. While he demanded religion as the safeguard of a free people, he accorded to all the largest freedom of faith and worship. He was without prejudice; he claimed that public education should be non-sectarian, but not non-religious. His Des Moines public speech on education was not against the Roman Catholic Church, but against ignorance and superstition. The order issued during the war excluding certain Jewish traders from a given military district, did not originate with him, but came from higher authority, and was not against the religion of the Jews. ‘His was the beatitude: ‘ Blessed is he that considereth the 712 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. /GRANT. poor. Strangers might regard him indifferent to the needy; yet the poor will rise up and call him blessed. Many were the pensioners on his kindly bounty. He gave ‘ his goods to feed the poor. While president he heard his pastor on ‘ Active Christianity, and in the discourse, mention was made of a soldier’s widow, sick and poor, and of a blind man in pressing want. He had just reached the White House, when he sent me back this card with the money: ‘Please give ten dollars to the blind man and ten dollars to the soldier’s widow.’ On a Christmas eve he wrote me thus: “¢ EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 24th, 1869. “DEAR Docror—Please find enclosed my check for one hundred dollars, for distribution among the poor, and don’t forget “The Ragged Schools” on the Island. Yours, truly, e°U,. o. CRAMES SPIRIT OF FORGIVENESS.—< In private, unseen life, he bore many of the fruits of the Spirit. He loved his enemies not as he loved his friends, but he loved them as enemies by doing them good as he had opportunity. Of all men known in a pastoral experience of thirty years, he displayed the spirit of forgiveness more than any other man. He caught the spirit of the Saviour’s prayer: ‘Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.’ There is one high in official position in our nation who had traduced him at the point of honor, whereat a great soldier is most sensitive, and the wrong done was made public to the mortification of all. Grieved at what he had done, and confined to his sick room, he who had offended was nigh unto death. But himself a man of proud and sensitive spirit, he sighed for reconciliation. ‘Would the President forgive the offense and call on the sick?’ anxiously asked interested friends. A suggestion from me that it would be a Christian act to call was sufficient. The call was made; the sick man revived, and old friendship was restored. And rising to a magnanimity worthy a saint, he would not with- IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 71 hold an honor due, even from those who had done him a wrong. Who does not regret the death of such a man? Heaven may be richer, but earth is poorer. On one of those delusive April days when hope revived in all our hearts, I said to him: ‘ You are a man of Providence; God made you the instrument to save our nation, and He may have a great spiritual mission to accomplish by you and may raise you up.’ In the most solemn and impressive manner, with a mind clear and a voice distinct, he replied: ‘I do not wish to proclaim it, but should He spare my life it is my intention and resolve to throw all my influence, by my example, in that direction.’ A POWER IN DEATH—*‘ He is gone, but shall death defeat a purpose so beneficent? Is he not mightier in his death than in his life? What home has not felt the sympa- thetic chord touched by the invisible hand of his terrible but patient suffering? How the embers of sectional strife have died out on the hearthstone of the nation! How political animosities have skulked away in shame from the peaceful spirit of his last moments! How sectarian prejudices shrank into oblivion when around his couch all bowed in prayer before a universal Saviour! How the young men of the Republic realized that life is worth living when they felt the touch of hts great soul. How the little children of the nation united his name with that of father and mother in their purer prayers, and opened the tablets of their young memories to receive the image of his life and character ! And wherever he had touched the circuit of the earth, there came from Japan, China and India, from the temples of Jerusalem and the Pyramids of Egypt, from Attic plains and ancient Troy, from the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, from the Danube and the Rhine, from the Seine and the Thames, the voice of love that made all men akin. Oh! who would not even dare to die to do so much for mankind ? And this was his consolation. When near his end he sought to cheer that precious woman who loved him as her 714 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, life: ‘You ought to feel happy under any circumstances. My expected death called forth expressions of sincere kindness from all the people, of all sections of the country. The Con- federate soldier vied with the Union soldier in sounding my praise The Protestant, the Catholic and the Jew appointed days for universal prayer in my behalf. All! societies passed resolutions of sympathy for me and petitions that I might recover. It looked as if my sickness had had something to do to bring about harmony between the sections. The attention of the public has been called to your children, and they have been found to pass muster. Apparently I have accomplished more while apparently dying than it falls to the lot of most men to be able to do.’ THE DEATH BED — “And where in all the annals of the Church shall we find a dying hour so full of divine repose? His calm faith in a future state was undisturbed by anxious doubt. His suffering and wasted body was but the casket for the resplendent jewel of his soul, and when death ruthlessly broke that precious casket an angel carried the jewel to the skies to lay it at the Saviour’s feet. In the early light of April 1st, when all thought the end was come, the sufferer said to me: ‘ Doctor, I am going.’ ““T hope the prospect of the future is clear and bright,’ was my response; and the answer came: ‘Yes; oh, yes!’ Then followed a scene of infinite tenderness. The honored wife, the precious daughter, the devoted sons and their wives, each in turn approached, and he tenderly kissed them. ‘Do you know me, darling?’ was the loving wife’s inquiry, and he whispered back: ‘Certainly I do and bless you all in my heart.’ Such love melted the marble heart of death and the ‘King of Terrors’ fled affrighted. The sufferer revived. Heaven added months to a life so dear to us all. When he had recovered sufficiently J asked him: ‘What was the supreme thought on your mind when eternity seemed so near?’ IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 715 “«The comfort of the consciousness that I had tried to live a good and honorable life,’ was the response, which revealed the hidden life of his soul. Again the angel of death cast his shadow over the one a nation loved. Amid the gathering gloom I said: ‘You have many awaiting you on the other side.’ ““T wish they would come and not linger long,’ was the answer of his Christian faith and hope. They came at last. They came to greet him with the kiss of immortality. They came to escort the conqueror over the ‘last enemy’ to a coro- nation never seen on thrones of earthly power and glory. Who came? His martyred friend, Lincoln. His companion in arms, McPherson. His faithful chief-of-staff, Rawlins. His great predecessor in camp and cabinet, Washington. And did not all who had died for liberty come? O, calm, brave, heroic soul, sing thou the song of Christian triumph: ‘O death, where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through Jesus Christ, our Lord,’ “ And that victory was at hand. From his view on Monday at the Eastern outlook he was to ascend to behold a grander vision. ‘Tuesday came and went. Night drew on apace, and death seemed imminent. Around his chair we knelt in prayer for some divine manifestation of comfort. Our prayer was heard. The sufferer revived. Again he wrote messages of love and wisdom. ‘The night wore away. Wednesday dawned on hill and dale. Hope revived. His intellect was clear and his consciousness was supreme. Again he wrote, and again he whispered the wishes of his heart. As came the eventide, so came his last night. From out of that chair, wherein he had sat and suffered, and wrote and prayed, tenderly he was carried to that couch from which he was never to rise. Around him we gathered and bowed in prayer to commend his departing spirit to the love and mercy of Him who gave it. He 716 LIFE OF ULYSSES 8. GRANT. answered in monosyllables to questions for his comfort. The brain was the last to die. All were watchers on that memor- able night. Recognitions were exchanged. A peaceful death and consciousness to the last breath were granted unto him. The last night had passed. DEAD.—“’Tis morning. The stars have melted into the coming light. The rosy-fingered morn lifts the drapery of the night. The distant mountains stand forth aglow. The soft, pure light of early dawn covers earth and sky. The dew drop sparkles on the grass and in the daisy’s cup. The birds, from their sylvan coverts, carol the melody of a thousand songs. The world rejoices, and its many minstrels challenge the harpers of the sky. In an humble cottage, prone upon his couch, lies ‘an old commander.’ He is dying! “°Tis morning; and in the light of that day thousands of earnest faces flash with renewed concern. From many a shaded lane and mountain slope; from many a farm house and splendid mansion; eager eyes look toward the mount of suffering, and breathe a prayer to God for the one we loved. Alas! he is dead! “Tis morning! It is the promise of a brighter day. The trumpeters of the skies are sounding the reveille. Their notes have reached the earth. Their notes have reached our general’s ears. He has gone to join the triumphant hosts. *Tis morning in heaven!” ENGLISH MEMORIAL SERVICE. Concurrently with the family funeral services on Mt. McGregor, the people of England showed their respect for the illustrious American by conducting memorial services in Westminster Abbey. That such services should have been held in an edifice sacred to the memory of English sovereigns IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. ie Fg and their most illustrious subjects, and that they should have been attended by representatives of royalty, the ministry, the bench, the church, the army, the navy and of every branch of the government, was striking proof of their regard for General Grant’s character, and of the closeness of English race ties. But very significant indeed was Canon Farrar’s memorial address. It was far more American than English. He was an earnest and fervent eulogist of General Grant as the pro- duct of political and social freedom. “ Such careers,” he said, “are the glory of the American Continent. They show that the people have a sovereign insight into intrinsic force.” He then referred to the American opportunity and held up the instances of the “ rail-splitter,’ the “tanner” and the “canal boy,” who had become Presidents as showing “a noble sense of the dignity of labor, a noble superiority to the vani- ties of feudalism, a strong conviction that men should be honored simply as men, not according to the accidents of birth.” Grouping Lincoln and Garfield and Grant, he avowed that “every true man derives a patent of nobleness direct from God. Was not the Lord for thirty years a carpenter of Nazareth? The conscientious attention to humble duties fitted these men to become kings of men.” Referring to the war for the Union, he said: “God’s light has shown for the future destinies of a mighty nation that the war of 1861 was necessary—a blessed work. The cause for which Grant fought —the unity of a great people, the freedom of a whole race— was as great and noble as when at Lexington— ‘The embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world.’ ”’ Considering the high station and representative character of the speaker, the place and occasion of the address, and the make up of the audience, his words contain a most generous 718 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and precious tribute to Grant and his country, and serve to show, better than any thing at home, the world-wide influence of his life and regard for his name and memory. IN SIATE Alea Loa The funeral train from Mt. McGregor, consisting of seven cars, arrived at Saratoga at 1.50 p.m. All along the route it had passed through groups of silent people gathered to pay their respects to the dead. Its arrival was heralded by deep-toned cannon. Strong guards of Grand Army comrades lined either side of the track, both to honor the coming and stay the throng. The mountain train ran alongside of the funeral train on the Hudson Road, which was even more heavily and far more artistically draped. Amid the firing of minute guns and a very large concourse of silent spectators, the remains were transferred from one train to the other, at the very spot where, seven weeks before, the enfeebled General had been transferred the other way, on his trip to the mountain. At 2.20 the Hudson River train, with its nine cars, moved through Saratoga on its way to Albany. Thousands of people, with bowed hearts, looked upon its passage. The houses of this usually gay place bore emblems befitting the occasion—festoons of crape, draped flags, or elaborate insignia of woe. And as here, so everywhere along the route the homes, the stations, the villages, the towns, testified their loss and witnessed their respect by emblems of mourning and solemn clusters at convenient view points. Balston was entered amid the tolling of bells and firing of minute guns. At Round Lake the school children were gathered on the platform, holding black-bordered flags while the train passed. From Cohoes to Albany the train moved through almost con- tinuous lines of people, and everywhere were manifested the IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 719 same signs of general sorrow and the same decorous regard for the solemnity of the occasion. Albany’s preparations for receiving and honoring the remains were complete. It was a forest of draped flags, the sombreness of whose effect was heightened by other evidences of mourning on public buildings, stores and private houses. All work had ceased.. The organizations were out in force, and the citizens thronged the streets in solemn masses, or in endless processions. Three grand processional divisions received the remains as they passed into the city at 3.45 P.M. A signal gun made public announcement of the coming. Instantly the bells of every description began tolling, and all the steam-whistles opened their throats. The remains were transferred from the train to a funeral car drawn by six black horses. This car was a wheeled platform, upon which was raised a central dais for the coffin. It was heavily and artisti- cally draped. By 4 p.m. the immense procession—popu- lation of an entire city, augmented by that of a wide surround- ing—filed slowly and solemnly toward the Capitol, where the remains were laid in state upon an imposing catafalque, erected in the corridor. It is now 6 o’clock. The great public begin to sweep through the building and past the coffin. All night the halls resound with the slow, measured tread of those who would look for the last time on the old hero. It is a solemn, inspiring processional, eloquent in its silence, pro- found in its respect, honorary beyond precedent in its grand proportions. And so the nation was mourning and burying its beloved. - IN STATE AT NEW YORK. At eleven o’clock on the morning of Wednesday, August 5th, Albany surrendered the remains in much the same way 720 LIFE OF ULYSSES: 5. GRANT. she had received them, by firing of minute guns, tolling of bells, and an immense procession to the cars. By 12.30 P.M. the casket was placed on the funeral car, and the long train of ten steam carriages, all covered with heavy drapery, moved, without clang of bell or sound of whistle, down the Hudson for New York City. At every town, station and rural road crossing were emblems of grief, and groups of sad-faced, un- covered people. At 5 p.m. the train came to a stand in the Grand Central Depot, which was elaborately draped. New York had prepared for an imposing reception of the remains. The casket was borne to a large catafalque, drawn by twelve black horses. The military were out in force, and quickly fell into line. Civilians found their places, and amid the tolling of bells, firing of minute guns, and solemn music of the bands, the remains were escorted to the City Hall, and laid in state upon a platform swathed in black, erected in the centre of the corridor. Though the building is tamer in its proportions than the State Capitol, the surroundings of the platform were richer and more artistic, and the effect more solemn and touching. By 9 p.M. the body was exposed to public view and from that time till long after midnight an unbroken stream of hu- manity poured through the corridor to pay their respects and look for the last time on the face of the honored dead. The body was still fairly well preserved. It lay with one hand across the breast, lips slightly separated, eyelids gently curved, and face a picture of peaceful composure and literal rest. On Thursday and Friday, August 6th and 7th, from six o’clock in the morning till midnight, the corridors reverberated the tread of the masses that flowed through in a stream which divided at the casket. The number that passed while the remains lay in state can only be approximated. At an easy pace, one hundred and twenty could pass in a minute. ‘There- fore, during the forty-two hours in which the public were per- mitted to file by, over three hundred thousand persons must have ae lI AG AI Sli hs ar -. — Au . AA oo! IN STATE AT CITY HALL. 722 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. passed the remains. And these were not alone of New York, nor yet of neighboring cities and states, but pilgrims from far off places of the Union, who had comeas if to a sacred shrine, and whose numbers, by Saturday, August 8th, had well nigh doubled the population of the great metropolis. TORT ri Eas Oats The national funeral of Gencral Grant took place in New York City, on Saturday, August 8th, 1885. This was its loca- tion and centre, but it took place everywhere in the land, and wherever in the world civilization wept an ornament, humanity an exemplar, and freedom a champion. A metropolis might extend special ceremony, might frame local pageantry, might claim shrunken ashes, but the country and the world were burying, with a regret as deep as their loss, and a reverence as wide as his name, the one they lovedand owned. ‘There could be no Jimitation to the desire to honor the dead chieftain, if not by outward manifestation, at least by inward ceremonial of the heart. And so with the actual cortege that moved in regular line and with step solemnly measured by muffled drum beat or symphonious dirge, through thronged streets and by the deep river to the tomb, there moved throughout the land a sympa- thetic cortege which kept even step with the more ostentatious processional, and laid away, with as deep a reverence, its imaginary purple casket, burdened with stark ideal remains, in the precious tomb of national affection. The business spirit of New York was entirely lost in the solemnity of an occasion which mingled so much of profound sadness with the high spirit of patriotism, so much of tender respect with the glow of ceremonial honors. The bier was hers, and the walled up tomb, but not the contents. The funeral was not hers, but the nation’s, the world’s. She was a ~ = IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 723 temporary agent, holding, for the time being, a sublime com- mission. Right worthily did she perform her trust, aided by every representative force that could magnify homage and sol- emnize pageantry. The Government lent its presence in the form of President, ex-Presidents, Cabinet, Senators, Congress- men, its Army and Navy. The National Guard was repre- sented by its finest regiments: the Grand Army by delegations of veterans from countless Posts; the Confederate army by numerous detachments of survivors. Civic organizations of all kinds found places in the cortege. Add to these the un- countable hosts that, as citizens, augmented the procession, or fringed the miles of route, on either side, and one can readily realize that popular demonstration of respect for the dead could not have taken more impressive form, nor been more universal. The day was practically a holiday everywhere. The business pulse was still in the North and South, the East and West, either by solemn official proclamation, or spontaneous consent. Muffled bells spoke in monotones from ambitious city spires and modest village belfries. Minute guns sent their sullen notes reverberatingly through the valleys and up the wooded steeps. In town, in hamlet, in family, the day was a memorial one, dedicated to service of tribute, sacred to the memory of the dead. It was a day, too, commemorative of manly vir- tues, consecration to duty, and patriotic achievements, with- out which in mourner, as in mourned, there could be no per- petuity for this “ government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” It was another day of cool summer splendor after a night of storm. It was a general remark that Providence seemed to be specially ordering the weather for the entire obsequies. At 1A.M. of August 8th the gateway to the City Hall had been closed to the public, and the casket left alone with the guard, its precious contents shut off forever from mortal 724 LIFE-QOF ULYSSES S.- GRANT, vision. But, though the silence of death reigned within the sombre corridors, the city’s hum did not cease outside, for all the subsequent hours were occupied by the arrival of delegations from other places, and, very soon, by the centreing of the throngs in search of available spots to witness the beginning of the ceremonies. By nine o’clock the route of the procession was a sea of humanity, eager yet decorous, curious yet regret- ful. The masses alone were making an occasion commen- surate with the fame of their dead. At a quarter of nine the Liederkranz singers massed them- selves in front of the coffin and rendered “The Pilgrim Chorus.” Even before this the regiments, bands and military detachments were taking their designated places in the street, under the direction of General Hancock, and now, at 9.30, they began to move in the direction of the tomb. ty ARMY AND NAVY. MAJOR-GENERAL HANCOCK AND STAFF. Light Battery F, U.S. A.; Band; Engineers U.S. A.; Band; Batteries I, L, M, H, of Fifth Artillery; Band; Battery A, Fifth Artillery ; Company E, Twelfth Infantry ; U.S. Marines; three battalions of U.S. Sailors. Estimated number of Federal troops and marines, 1438. Li: FIRST DIVISION OF NATIONAL GUARD. MAJOR-GENERAL ALEXANDER SHALER AND STAFF. first Brigade—F¥irst Battery; Twenty-second, Ninth, Eleventh and Twelfth Regiments, New York State. Second Brigade—Second Battery ; Seventh, Seventy-ninth, Eighth and Seventy-first Regiments. IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 725 Veteran Guards—Ol\d Guard; Governor’s Foot Guard, Connecticut; One-hundred-and-sixty-fifth New York Volun- teers; Zouave Association; Tenth Regiment, Volunteer Veterans, New York; Fifth Regiment Zouaves; Second Company Washington Continentals ; Columbo Guard ; Italian Rifles; Garibaldi Legion; three companies Veteran Colored Guards. Estimated number in First Division National Guards, 4850. III. SECOND DIVISION OF NATIONAL GUARD. MAJOR-GENERAL EDWARD L. MOLINEUX AND STAFF. First Brigade —Third Battery ; Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Seventeenth Regiments. Second Lrigade—Twenth-third, Thirty-second, and Forty- seventh Regiments. Visiting Organizations—First Regiment Pennsylvania Na- tional Guards; Gray Invincibles; Second Regiment Connec- ticut National Guards; First Regiment Massachusetts Infantry. Four Companies Virginia troops; Union Veteran Corps, District of Columbia; Capitol City Guards; Company D, First Minnesota; Veteran Zouaves. Estimated number in Second Division National Guards, 2605. IV. FIRST DIVISION NEW JERSEY NATIONAL GUARDS. MAJOR-GENERAL PLUME AND STAFF. First Brigade—First, Fourth, Fifth and Ninth Regiments ; First and Second Batteries ; Gatling Gun Company “ A.” 726 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Second Brigade —Third, Sixth and Seventh Regiments; Gatling Gun Company “ B.” Estimated number of outside military, 5027. PALL BEARERS. General William T. Sherman, Lieutenant-General Philip H. Sheridan, Admiral David D. Porter, Vice-Admiral Stephen C. Rowan, General Joseph E. Johnston, General Simon B. Buckner, A. J. Drexel, substituted for Harnilton Fish, George S. Boutwell, George W. Childs, Senator John A. Logan, George Jones and Oliver Hoyt. After the procession had moved thus far, and before the pall bearers took their places, the heavy funeral car was drawn upon the plaza in front of the City Hall by twenty-four black horses. It was an elevated frame work on wheels. Its width was nine feet and its length sixteen. It was heavily draped on all sides, and the folds fell nearly to the ground, covering the wheels. In the centre was erected a canopy, with heavy ostrich plumes at either corner, and in the centre. The central plume towered fully seventeen feet above the ground. Beneath the canopy was a dais on which the casket rested. The car was heavily ballasted to keep it steady. The festooning was of exquisite design, that on the rear of the car representing a sunset. It was unrelieved by any appearance of white or silver, the only break being the draped silk flags at each corner of the canopy. And now the draped car was to receive its honored burden and take its place in the solemn pageant. The way to the car was lined on either side by regulars, representing the infantry and artillery. Within the Hall was a strong guard of honor. Twelve of these reverently raised the casket and bore it to the car, on which it was placed and fastened. It was now a quar- ter of ten o’clock. The sombre car moved, preceded by a Grand Army escort and followed by the national pall bearers, Then came the next division of the pageant— WVO TVYANNA AHL 728 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Ne OFFICIAL AND OTHERSGUESTS IN’ CARRIAGES. The family (except Mrs. Grant, who remained at Mt. McGregor) and relatives; Grant’s old staff and cabinet; clergy and physi- cians; President and cabinet; judges, senators and congress- men; Governor of New York and staff; ex-presidents and their cabinets; foreign ministers; diplomatic and consular officers; governors of states; heads of war department bureaus; army officers; navy officers; minor United States officials; mayors of cities. VI. VETERAN DIVISION. MAJOR-GENERAL, DANIEL E, SICKLES AND STAFF. This division was made up of very many regiments, com- panies, and organizations of veterans from various States of the Union; but largely of representatives from the Grand Army Posts. It was numericaliy the strongest division in the pageant, and its numbers were estimated at 18,500. VII. CIVIC DIVISION. GENERAL MARTIN T. MCMAHON AND STAFF, Various societies, business associations, clubs and citizens. Number in Civic Division and in carriages estimated at 8000, Thus over 40,000 people were in line of march, making one of the most imposing demonstrations ever witnessed in the city or country. It passed unbroken up to Fifty-ninth street, about half the distance to the tomb. From this point on, it became more essentially military, more measured, but without the inspiration furnished by perhaps half a million of sympathetic lookers on, IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 729 THE PARK AND TOMB. Riverside Park is merely the bluffy, undeveloped stretch of land which skirts the Hudson above the built-up portion of the city. It is reached by the Riverside drive, which ends beyond the site selected for the tomb, distant fully ten miles from the City Hall. The bluffs are somewhat bold,and the spot picturesque. It overlooks the plains rendered historic by Washington and his army, and the ground where Hamilton and Burr met in deadly duel. The temporary tomb is at the foot of a brow, upon which it is intended to erect a mau- soleum. The vault is of brick, trimmed with blue-stone. Inside of it is a steel case, whose sides are half an inch thick, and whose weight is 3800 pounds. ‘This is the receptacle for the casket containing the remains, after it has been first placed in its lead-lined cedar covering. The vault is hung with heavy bronze doors, which, when opened, permit a view of the steel casing within. Around these doors are strong iron railings. The structure was hastily built, is of very modest appearance, and is designed to be only a temporary receptacle. Hither the procession was now coming. Several men-of- war had anchored in the river opposite. These dipped their colors and blended their salutes with the funereal-music of the bands, as the solemn cortege drew near the tomb. Then there was a closing up of the marching ranks, a filing in of mourners, friends and the great army of followers, a new arrangement of cohorts to insure order and solemnity amid the crush of the throng. The veterans of the Grand Army lifted the casket from the car and placed it in the area in front of the tomb. The family, pall bearers, dignitaries, veterans, people—mourn- ers all—gather around, while all the bands make sacred melody, “«, , . and ye grim throats That spoke his iron menace, wake again To chant a requiem to the answering hills; Our captain sleeps.” 730 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Then came silence more impressive than the dirge note and the cannon’s bass. The multitude uncovered. The delega- tion from the George G. Meade, Grand Army Post No. 1 of Philadelphia, of which General Grant was a member, to whom had been assigned the honor of conducting the burial services of the organization, took their places about their old comrade. Following the beautiful ritual, the Post Chaplain invoked the divine blessing: “God of battles! Father of all! amidst this mournful assem- blage, we seek Thee with whom there is no death. Open every eye to behold Him who changed the night of death into morning. In the depths of our hearts we would hear the celestial word, ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. As comrade after comrade departs, and we march on with ranks broken, help us to be faithful unto Thee, and to each other. We beseech Thee, look in mercy on the widows and children of deceased comrades, and with Thine own tenderness console and comfort those bereaved by this event, which calls us here. Give them ‘the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.’ “Heavenly Father! bless and save our country with the freedom and peace of righteousness, and through Thy great mercy, a Saviour’s grace, and Thy Holy Spirit’s favor, may we all meet at last in joy before Thy throne in heaven, and to Thy great name shall be praise for ever and ever!” The Post Commander : “One by one, as the years roll on, we are called together to fulfill the last sad rites of respect to our comrades of the war. The present, full of the cares and pleasures of civil life, fades away, and we look back to the time when shoulder to shoulder on many battle fields, or around the guns of our men-of war, we fought for our dear old flag. We may indulge the hope ‘AWOL AHL 1f% a | | H i \ — ANON © gee a ee ae eS 4 wih i; Wl iV i ih { 732 KIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. that the spirit with which on land and sea, hardship, privation and danger were encountered by our dead heroes, may never be blotted out from the history or. memories of the generations to come—a spirit uncomplaining, obedient to the behest of duty, whereby to-day our national honor is secure and our loved ones rest in peace under the protection of the dear old flag. May the illustrious life of him whom we lay in the tomb to-day prove a glorious incentive to the youth who, in ages to come, may be called upon to uphold the destinies of our country. As the years roll on, we too shall have fought our battles through and be laid to rest, our souls following the long column to the realms above, as grim death, hour by hour, shall mark its victims. Let us so live then that when that time shall come, those we leave behind may say above our graves, ‘Here lies the body of a true-hearted, brave, and earnest defender of the Republic.” A wreath of evergreen, symbol of love, a rose, symbol of purity, a laurel wreath, symbol of affection, were laid upon the casket. Then the chaplain : “The march of another comrade is over, and he lies down after it in the house appointed for all the living. Thus sum- moned, this open tomb reminds us of the frailty of human life and the tenure by which we hold our own. ‘In such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.’ “ Tt seems well we should leave our comrade to rest where over him will bend the arching sky, as it did in great love when he pitched his tent, or lay down weary by the way, or on the battle- field, for an hour’s sleep. As he was then, so he is still,—in the hands of the Heavenly Father. ‘God giveth His beloved sleep.’ “As we lay our comrade down here to rest, let us cherish his virtues and strive to emulate his example. Reminded forcibly by the vacant place so lately filled by our deceased brother that our ranks are thinning, let each one be so loyal to every virtue, so true to every friendship, so faithful in our remaining IN STATE AND AT THE TOMB. 733 march, that we shall be ready to fall out here and to take our places at the great review, not with doubt, but in faith that the merciful Captain of our salvation will call us to that fraternity which, on earth and in heaven, may remain unbroken. Jesus saith, ‘Thy brother shall rise again. Iam the Resurrection and the Life.’ Behold the silver cord having been loosed, the golden bowl broken, we commit the body to the grave, where dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, looking for the resur- rection and the life to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The ritual concluded with the “Bugle Call,” signifying “Rest.” In the hands of a skillful player the sweet, mellow tones of the instrument drifted away on the breeze until they were heard by the sailors on the decks of the war vessels. Beginning softly, the tone gradually increased until it rose clear as a bell on the high notes, and then gradually diminished, like the sound of an Alpine horn re-echoing among the moun- tains, until a few notes gently repeated at the finish seemed to come from the clouds. There was a long, silent pause, after the ritual was completed, when the Post withdrew and made way for the clergymen. It was now five o'clock p.m. Bishop Harris at once began the impressive ritual of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which was concluded by Rev. Dr. Newman. Again the bugler blew the call “ Lights out” or “ taps.’ Strong men came forward and lifted the casket. It was much heavier than before, now that it was in its cedar casing. They bore it within the tomb and placed it in its steel receptacle. There was a last longing look into the deep cold resting-place by the family, and then the immense masses began to break. The regiments facing the river fired their parting volleys of musketry, and the deeper-mouthed artillery followed with the presidential salute of twenty-one guns. Land and sea joined in their highest tribute and saddest farewell. The great man was at rest. 734 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. And so the curtain falls on an earthly career. The death, the funeral, of General Grant.is an epoch. It closes one chapter and begins another, not less eloquent and important in American history than memorable as a period in the develop- ment of mankind. 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