Glass. i__(£L-iX
Book
.UijiJ.
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT
Great Comman^cr6
EDITED BY JAMES GRANT WILSON
GENERAL GRANT
^be (Breat Commanbcrs Series.
Edited by General James Grant Wilson.
Admiral Farragut. By Captain A. T. Mahan, U. S. N.
General Taylor. By General O. O. Howard, U. S. A.
General Jackson. By James Parton.
General Greene.
By Captain Francis V. Greene, U. S. A.
General J. E. Johnston.
By Robert M. Hughes, of Virginia.
General Thomas. By Henry Coppee, LL. D.
General Scott. By General Marcus J. Wright.
General Washington.
By General Bradley T. Johnson.
General Lee. By General Fitzhugh Lee.
General Hancock. By General Francis J. Walker.
General Sheridan. By General Henry E. Davies.
General Grant. By General James Grant Wilson.
AV PREPARATIOV.
General Sherman. By General Manning F. Force.
Admiral Porter,
By James R. Soley, late Assist. Sec. of Navy.
General McClellan. By General Peter S. Michie.
Commodore Paul Jones.
By Admiral Richard W. Meade.
New York : D. Ai'Pleton & Co., 73 Fifth Avenue.
«r
GREAT COMMANDERS
• • • •
GENERAL GRANT
BY
JAMES GRANT WILSON
^]
5r ^
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1897
Copyright, 1897,
By D. APPLETON AND COAIPANY.
All riirhts reserzied.
PREFACE.
In preparing the twelfth volume of the Great
Commander Series the present writer has endeav-
ored to describe its subject with candor and fidelity,
stating facts only on what appeared to be good au-
thority, and avoiding all exaggeration. It was his
privilege to have made General Grant's acquaint-
ance at Cairo, 111., in the summer of 1861, to have
served under him at Vicksburg and elsewhere, and
to have continued the always pleasant intercourse
with him for a period of a quarter of a century,
lacking but a single year.
The series of letters sent during the war by
the great commander to his faithful friend, the Hon.
E. B. Washburne, of Illinois, included in this vol-
ume, are perhaps of greater historical value than
any others of that time of which the writer has
knowledge. They refer to such famous battlefields
as Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, luka, Vicksburg,
Chattanooga, and the Wilderness. To the courtesy
of Mr. Hempstead Washburne the author is in-
Vi GENERAL GRANT.
debted for these very interesting memorials of the
illustrious soldier, and the civil war episodes in
which he bore so prominent a part. In this volume
will also be found communications of great inter-
est from Grant's surviving classmates and several
comrades, of the United States Military Academy.
To his friend Colonel Frederick D. Grant the
present biographer is particularly indebted for in-
dorsing all the statements of facts contained in this
volume, but not, of course, the opinions expressed,
and for his courtesy in permitting the use of his
father's appointment as lieutenant general, signed
by President Lincoln, to appear in this work in fac-
simile for the first time. The author of the volume
also desires to acknowledge his obligations to Gen-
eral Augustus L. Chetlain, who commanded the
Galena company which Grant accompanied to
Springfield, the capital of Illinois, April 23, 1861.
New York, April 27, iSgy.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I. — Ancestry — Birth — Boyhood . . . .
II. — Career at the United States Military
Academy
III.— The campaign in Mexico .
IV. — The battle of Belmont
V. — Forts Henry and Donelson captured
VI. — The battle of Shiloh
VII. — Iuka, Corinth, and the Hatchie
VIII. — The Vicksburg campaign .
IX. — The Chattanooga campaign
X. — Commands all the armies .
XI. — The Wilderness campaign .
XII. — The sieges of Petersburg and Richmond
XIII. — Promotion and the presidency .
XIV. — Tour around the world .
XV. — Correspondence with a friend
XVI. — His last days and death .
XVII. — Character and personal traits
PAGE
I
20
46
74
100
120
144
160
183
214
228
250
290
310
330
350
369
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Ancient Grant Homestead, 1697-1897, East Windsor Hill,
Connecticut ......... 5
Facsimile of General Grant's " Unconditional surrender "
letter to General Buckner 114
Facsimile of a Vicksburg pass used by Charles Newcomb,
one of Grant's most expert spies . . . . -175
Facsimile of Gi'ant's appointment as Lieutenant-General . 213
Facsimile of cipher dispatch to General Halleck . . 266
Facsimile of cipher dispatch to General Sherman . . 273
Facsimile of Grant's terms to Lee and his army at Appo-
mattox .......... 284
Representation of Medal issued in commemoration of the
dedication of Grant's Tomb, April 27, 1897 . . 363
LIST OF MAPS.
Theater of War, 1861-1865.
Battle of Belmont, November 7, 1861.
Operations against Fort Donelson, February, 1862.
Operations against Corinth and luka, 1862.
Campaign against Vicksburg, April and May, 1863.
Siege of Vicksburg, 1863.
Battle of Chattanooga, November 23 to 25, 1863.
State of Virginia, i86r.
Operations around Richmond and Petersburg, i864-'65.
Campaign on the Appomattox, 1865.
GENERAL GRANT.
CHAPTER I.
ANCESTRY. — BIRTH. — BOYHOOD.
Matthew Grant, believed to have been a
Scotchman, is the earliest ancestor of the subject of
this biography of whom anything is known with cer-
tainty. Since the death of the great commander,
the discovery of the record of a marriage at St.
Mary-le-Strand, London, March 25, 1609, of Mat-
thew Grant and Susan Shewers, leads to the sup-
position that the emigrant might have been from
London; and that this marriage may have been the
second marriage of his father. When a friend asked
the general, a few months before his final departure
from his New York home concerning the seven-
teenth-century emigrant to the New World, he re-
plied: " I do not know to whom Matthew Grant was
related, or by whom begot. His nationality never
interested me, and I am uncertain whether he was a
native of England or Scotland. The name would in-
dicate that my grandfather, Captain Noah Grant, was
probably correct in stating that we were of Scottish
extraction. I am, however, perfectly satisfied with
being an American, through and through, with
2 GENERAL GRANT.
seven generations of honest American ancestors." *
The inquiry of Carlyle concerning the ancestry of
Cromwell may with equal accuracy be applied to
Grant: " Are many king's sons so well born? " and
have they, like the American commander, inherited
from many generations of strong. God-fearing men,
a sound body and good moral character?
Matthew Grant and his wife Priscilla, each aged
twenty-nine years, and an infant daughter, also
named Priscilla, embarked in the Mary and John,
from Plymouth, with a party of one hundred and
forty persons, including their pastors, Maverick and
Warham, who had been chiefly gathered from Dor-
setshire, Devonshire, and Somersetshire, in the
southwest of England. They had a prosperous
voyage of seventy days, landing at Nantasket, May
* In his Personal Memoirs the general remarks : " My family
is American, and has been for generations in all its branches di-
rect and collateral." The direct line of descent of General Grant
from Matthew Grant, of Windsor, Conn., is as follows :
1. Matthew and Priscilla ( ) Grant, m. 1625.
2. Samuel and Mary (Porter) Grant, m. 165S.
3. Samuel and Grace (Miner) Grant, m. 1688.
4. Noah and Martha (Huntington) Grant, m. 1717.
5. Noah and Susannah (Delano) Grant, m. 1746.
6. Noah and Rachel (Kelly) Grant, m. 1791.
7. Jesse Root and Hannah (Simpson) Grant, m. 1S21.
8. Ulysses Simpson Grant, born April 27, 1822.
It was perhaps owing to this uncertainty in regard to his re-
mote progenitors, combined with his feeling of pride in his long
line of American ancestors, that induced the general to decline
to add his name to the list of several thousand Grants who in
1872 signed an address of congratulation to the head of the clan,
although the request came from the late Field-Marshal Grant,
with whom the general became acquainted five years later.
ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. 3
30, 1630, the day after Charles II was born. " So
we came," wrote Roger Clapp, who was one of the
company, " by the hand of God through the deeps
comfortably, having preaching or expounding of
the Word of God every day for ten weeks together
by our ministers." Edward Everett, in an oration
delivered July 4, 1855, in his native town of Dor-
chester, said of these early emigrants : " There was
a large body of ' West Country ' or ' Dorchester
men ' in Governor Winthrop's expedition, who were
many of them of Mr. White's * church, and all were
enlisted, so to say, under his auspices and encour-
agement, and they were the first in the field. Early
in March, 1630, they were ready to depart, and a
large vessel was chartered at Plymouth for their
separate conveyance. The faithful pastor, guide at
once in things divine and human — which in that
age of trial ran strangely together, as in what age
do they not? — went with them to their port of em-
barkation, met with them in the new hospital of
Plymouth, where they gathered themselves into a
Church under the ministers of his selection, held
wkh them a solemn fast of preparation, and
preached to them the last sermon they were to hear
from his lips."
After a careful examination of the coast, the
newcomers established themselves on a neck of
land called by the Indians Mattapan, which they
named after the town that Matthew Grant and
many of his associates had left in England — Dor-
* Rev. John White, for two-.score years pastor in Dorchester, a
large town in the southwest of England.
4 GENERAL GRANT.
Chester, now South Boston. Roger Clapp writes:
" The place was a wilderness. Fish was a good help
to me and to others. Bread was so scarce that I
thought the very crusts from my father's table
would have been sweet; and when I could have
meat and salt and water boiled together, I asked,
'Who would ask for better?'" Again he says:
" In our beginnings, many were in great straits
for want of provisions for themselves and little ones.
Oh, the hunger that many suffered, and saw no hope
in an eye of reason to be supplied only by clams,
mussels, and fish!" Nevertheless the new settle-
ment prospered, and in three years it was styled
" the greatest town in New England." It set the
example in 1633 of that municipal organization
which has since prevailed there, and has proved
one of the chief sources of its progress. The Minot
House is still standing in Dorchester which was
built in that year, and is believed to be the oldest
wooden habitation in the United States, the frame
of which, after the custom of that day, Matthew
Grant doubtless assisted in raising.
In the autumn of 1635 a number of the inhab-
itants of Dorchester decided to remove with their
families to Connecticut. The new settlement was
also named Dorchester, but two years later was
changed to Windsor. Matthew Grant was of the
Connecticut party, and was immediately chosen
surveyor, being annually elected to that ofifice dur-
ing a quarter of a century. Mrs. Grant died in 1644,
and in the following year the widower married Su-
sannah Rockwell, who, with her husband William
Rockwell, had been fellow-passengers from Eng-
ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. 5
land with the Grants. In 1652 he became town
clerk. " Few men," says Stiles, " filled so large a
place in the early history of Windsor, or filled it
so well as honest Matthew Grant. His name figures
in almost every place of trust, and the early records
show that the duties were always conscientiously
performed." His second son, Samuel, was born in
Dorchester in 1631, and in 1658 he married Mary
Porter, afterward receiving from his father about
one hundred acres on the east side of the river, and
erecting their house on an eminence near the East
Windsor Theological Institute. The ancient church
record speaks of it, in 1675, as being the only place
in the meadow that was not covered with water in
the great floods of i638-'39. Samuel's grandson,
Captain Noah Grant, served in the French War,
and was killed in battle near Fort William Henry,
New York, September 30, 1756. The house at
East Windsor where his father of the same name
was born in 1693 is still standing, but has been
greatly enlarged by his descendants, in whose pos-
session about fifty acres of the property purchased
in 1674 still remains.* Another Noah Grant, sixth
in descent from Matthew, served through the Revo-
lutionary War. His wife having died. Captain
Grant, with many of his neighbors, removed after
* The Grant homestead, now owned and occupied by Roswell
Grant, was for two years during the Revolutionary War the place
of confinement of William Franklin, the Loyalist Governor of
New Jersey, also of General Richard Prescott and many other
British officers. The land was purchased by his ancestor, Mat-
thew, from the Connecticut Indians, and no white men but Grants
have ever possessed it.
6 GENERAL GRANT.
the war to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania,
where he soon after married again. The first fruit
of this marriage was Jesse Root Grant, born in the
year 1797. Two years later the Grants, following
the westward tide of emigration, removed to Ohio,
settling in what is known as the town of Deerfield.
Mrs. Grant died in 1805, and the family circle was
broken, the lad being received in the family of Judge
George Tod, father of the late Governor David Tod,
of Ohio. When old enough, he was apprenticed
to his brother Peter to learn the tanner's trade, and
soon after reaching his majority engaged in busi-
ness for himself, conducting a tannery first at Ra-
venna, Ohio, and later at Point Pleasant, Clermont
County, in the same State.
In Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, there
had dwelt for several generations a family named
Simpson, of Scottish descent. John Simpson, a
member of this family, removed in 1819 to Ohio,
settling with his son and three daughters in Cler-
mont County. When his third child, Hannah, and
Grant, the young tanner, met a mutual attachment
was formed, and their marriage soon followed in
June, 1 821. Their first child, born April 27, 1822,
is the subject of this biography.* The name by
which General Grant is known in history is not
* It has recently been stated that William Simpson, who came
to this conntry between 1748 and 1750, was also the ancestor of
Jefferson Davis, one of his granddaughters, called Ann, having
married the grandfather of the Southern President, and another
being the wife, as stated, of Jesse R. Grant, so that Davis and the
general were, if the statement is authentic, second cousins, their
grandmothers having been sisters.
ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. 7-
that given to him in baptism. Various names were
suggested, among others Hiram being proposed by
the child's grandfather and Ulysses by his grand-
mother, who entertained a great admiration for the
character of the warrior-traveler. At length a com-
promise was arranged, and the child was christened
Hiram Ulysses. Fate, however, decreed that he
should bear the initials of his country, U. S., for the
member of Congress who, seventeen years later, ap-
pointed him a cadet to the United States Military
Academy sent in his name as Ulysses S. Grant, and
the lad, after vainly endeavoring to have the error
corrected by the West Point authorities, submitted
to the inevitable, and ever after leaving the academy
always signed himself U. S. Grant.
The scene of his birth was one of those humble
pioneer dwellings still to be seen on the banks of
the Ohio, sheltered from the summer sun by pro-
tecting trees, this particular structure being a dou-
ble single-story cottage standing where the river
makes one of its magnificent sweeps around a pro-
jecting point, and then widens in its straight course
below until it appears almost like an inland lake.
This frame house in which General Grant was born
was erected by his father nearly fourscore years
ago, and in 1888 was removed from Clermont
County to the State Fair Grounds at Columbus.
A building to inclose and protect it was with the
relic dedicated on September 3, 1896, by the Gov-
ernor of Ohio, and Henry T. Chittenden, who pre-
sented it to the State, made an appropriate address
on the interesting occasion. The next year (1823)
the family removed to Georgetown, in an adjoin-
8 GENERAL GRANT.
ing county, where the childhood and youth of the
lad were spent. After he became famous as a great
commander many incidents of this early period were
recalled, illustrating his courage and tenacity of pur-
pose. He seems, like Admiral Nelson, never to
have known the quality of fear. When but three
year of age his father, walking with him through the
village on the Fourth of July, met a neighbor, who
proposed that the child should share in the celebra-
tion by pulling the trigger of a pistol which he placed
in his little hand. It exploded with a loud report, but
the boy, instead of being frightened, asked that the
weapon be reloaded that he might fire it again.
Ulysses, or Lys, as he was called in the house-
hold and among his comrades, loved horses, and
at the early age of eight was employed in drawing
firewood for the house and shop from a distant
part of the farm. When he was twelve years of age
his father was awarded the contract for building the
Brown County Jail, which, like most of the Western
jails and courthouses of that day, was to be built
of heavy logs about fourteen feet long. The youth
volunteered to drive the pair of horses until the
logs were all delivered at the appointed place. A
few days afterward Mr. Grant discovered that Ulys-
ses was loading them alone, and on inquiry learned
his ingenious method of procedure. A large tree
which had been cut down lay aslant, one end being
on the ground and the other elevated. I'p its trunk
the lad drew the logs until their ends projected far
enough over to allow of his backing the wagon
underneath them. When this was done, he attached
a long chain extending over the wagon box, and
ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. g
with his powerful pair of horses drew them one
after another into the wagon.
To about the same period belongs an incident
related by Lincoln to the author, who accompanied
the President to the theater a few weeks before he
met his end there./' A circus came to the town where
the Grants lived," said Lincoln, " one of the attrac-
tions of which was a mule that had been trained
to throw his rider. A silver dollar was offered by
the manager to any one who would ride the animal
once around the ring. Several applicants for the
dollar tried, but were all thrown. At length a sturdy
little fellow stepped into the ring and said that he
would like to try that mule. The boy held on
bravely until almost around the circle, when he was
thrown over the animal's head as the others had
been. Jumping to his feet and throwing off his
coat and hat, he exclaimed, ' I would like to try that
mule again ! ' This time he faced the crupper, coiled
his legs around the animal's body, and seized hold
of his tail. Amid the cheers of the audience the
mule exhausted all his efforts to unseat his rider,
but in vain, and the lad gained his dollar. That
boy was Ulysses S. Grant, and just so," added Lin-
coln, " he will hold on to General Lee." Six days
later came the surrender at Appomattox Court-
house of Lee and his army!
Among Grant's youthful companions was Dan-
iel Ammen, two years his senior, who also in later
life achieved distinction as one of the famous Far-
ragut's lieutenants. In a recent work * the admiral
* The Old Navy and the New, Philadelphia, 1891.
lO GENERAL GRANT.
gives an account of a fishing excursion, during
which he had the good fortune to save the future
commander's Hfe. The stream was much swollen
by heavy rains. A large poplar log that had
lodged on the bank and at an incline partly over the
bank appeared to afford Ulysses a favorable seat
from which to throw his line. Such of my readers
as have attempted to walk on a poplar log after a
rain have doubtless found a slippery footing, as was
the case with the young fisherman. In a moment
he had disappeared in the rapidly flowing stream.
Without a moment's hesitation Ammen ran down
the bank to a point where the stream narrowed and
several willows, undermined by the water, leaned out
barely above its surface. With the alacrity of an
active boy, the future admiral hastened out on one
of the trees, and, as his half-drowned companion
came within his reach, caught and drew him from
the rushing stream. " He was clothed at the time,"
writes Ammen, " in an upper garment buttoning on
to a nether one that was my admiration. It was of
Marseilles, with gorgeous red strips, and it seemed
to me that this dress must be irretrievably ruined
from its drenching in muddy water, and perhaps
this fact impressed the circumstance on my mind."
General Grant, writing to his playmate of forty-
seven years previous, makes humorous reference to
this important episode in his early life. He says
that he has been conversing with the officers of the
United States ship Vandalia (then at Nice in the
Mediterranean, where the general was sojourning
in 1877). and proceeds: " Of course. T told them
that I owed you an old grudge as being responsible
ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. n
for the many trials and difficulties I had passed
through in the last half century, for nearly that
length of time ago you rescued me from a watery
grave. I am of a forgiving nature, however, and
forgive you. But is the feeling universal? If the
Democrats come into full power, may they not hold
you responsible? But, as you are about retiring, I
hope no harm will happen to you from any act of
kindness done to me."
There was a farmer named Ralston living within
a few miles of Georgetown, who owned a fine colt
that Ulysses coveted. Mr. Grant had offered twen-
ty dollars for him, but the farmer asked twenty-five.
The lad was so eager to possess the colt that, after
the owner had departed, he begged to be allowed
to buy him at the price demanded. The rest of the
story can best be told in the general's own words:
" My father yielded, but said twenty dollars was all
the horse was worth, and told me to ofTer that price;
if it was not accepted, I was to ofifer twenty-two
and a half, and if that would not get him to give the
twenty-five. I at once mounted a horse and went for
the colt. When I got to Mr. Ralston's house, I said
to him, ' Papa says I may ofifer you twenty dollars
for the colt, but if you won't take that I am to ofifer
you twenty-two and a half, and if you won't take
that to give you twenty-five.' It would not require
a Connecticut man," concludes the soldier President,
" to guess the price finally agreed upon."
From the age when he was strong enough to
use the plow until he was seventeen young Grant
performed all the work in w-hich horses were used.
No better method could have been devised for de-
12 GENERAL GRANT.
veloping and hardening his nerves and muscles.
During the same six years he frequently drove to
Maysville, Cincinnati, Louisville, and other points
from sixty to seventy miles distant with or for pas-
sengers, also attending school. These were chiefly
the " subscription schools " of Georgetown, sup-
ported by a stipend from each pupil, and in which
only the rudimentary branches were taught. The
government was by the birch and rod. At home,
however, the course of instruction and form of gov-
ernment were different. Perhaps no better mold
for the casting of an heroic character could have
been found than the tanner's family in the wilder-
ness of Ohio. The father and mother, while not
highly cultivated, possessed a keen sense of the
value of education. They not only loved their chil-
dren, but were ambitious for their future, and
trained them with that end in view. Withal they
were soberly and religiously minded, and reared
their six children * according to the precepts of the
Bible. Their method of government was that of
reason and appeal. No lawful recreations or amuse-
ments were forbidden, and the future soldier, after
his tasks were performed, hunted in the forest,
fished or swam in the creek, or, taking the horses,
visited his friends far and near at his pleasure. His
youth, while it had its labors and privations, was
not, like that of many men of mark, made cold and
barren by lack of parental care and affection.
* Hiram Ulysse?;, 1822 ; Samuel Simpson, 1825 ; Cluny, 1828 ;
Virginia, 1832 ; Orvil Lynch, 1835 ; and ^fary Frances, 1S39. ^^
these lliere are now (1S97) but two survivors.
J
ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD.
13
" It is," says Michelet, " a universal rule that
great men resemble their mothers, who impress
their mental and physical marks upon their souls."
As in the case of so many other illustrious men, it
was from his mother that Grant inherited his best
traits of character. When he became President, she
said of him as ^lary Washington said of her son, " He
was always a good boy," and expressed no more
surprise at his elevation to the office than did Wash-
ington's mother when he became the chief ruler of the
young nation in 1789. Mrs. Grant was graceful in
person, gracious to her children, and kept them
well clothed, which was unusual in the rural regions
of Ohio at that time. As the author remembers her,
she was above medium height and neat in her per-
son. Her grandson Colonel Grant describes her
as " one of the most modest and unselfish of women.
Her intimate friends greatly appreciated her rare
W'Orth and excellent qualities, many of which the
general inherited. Devoted as she was to him, his
honors and success never betrayed her into an act
or remark which would indicate that her head was
turned by them. She was glad and thankful for his
good fortune, and, with the loving faithfulness of a
Christian mother, she had long made his welfare
the subject of earnest prayer. She had faith in his
future, though not great worldly expectations, and
during the last years of her life her interest in his
future had special reference to that part on which
they have both entered."
The characteristics of ancestry are said to com-
monly survive with more or less vigor through nine
and even ten generations, which lends force to
14
GENERAL GRANT.
Emerson's remark that " every man is a quotation
from his ancestors." The destiny due to inheritance
certainly holds many of us within its firm grasp.
Our forefathers are indeed
. . . Dead but scept'red sovereigns
Who still mle our spirits from their urns.
"My life in Georgetown," wrote Grant, "was un-
eventful. From the age of five or six until seven-
teen I attended the subscription schools of the vil-
lage, except during the winters of 1836-37 and
i838-'39. The former period was spent in Mays-
ville, Ky., attending the school of Richardson and
Rand; the latter in Ripley, Ohio, at a private school.
I was not studious in habit, and probably did not
make progress enough to compensate for board
and tuition. . . . My father was, from my earliest
recollection, in comfortable circumstances, consid-
ering the times, his place of residence, and the com-
munity in which he lived. Mindful of his own lack
of facilities for acquiring an education, his greatest
desire in maturer years was for the education of his
children. Consequently, as stated before, I never
missed a quarter from school from the time I was
old enough to attend until the time of leaving home.
This did not exempt me from labor. In my early
days every one labored more or less in the region
where my youth was spent, and more in proportion
to their private means. It was only the very poor
who were exempt. While my father carried on the
manufacture of leather and worked at the trade him-
self, he owned and tilled considerable land. I de-
tested the trade, preferring almost any other labor,
ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.- BOYHOOD. 15
but I was fond of agriculture and of all employment
in which horses were used. We had, among other
lands, fifteen acres of forest within a mile of the vil-
lage. In the fall of the year choppers were employed
to cut enough wood to last a twelvemonth. When
I was seven or eight years of age, I began hauling
all the wood used in the house and shops. I could
not load it on the wagons, of course, at that time,
but I could drive, and the choppers would load and
some one at the house unload. When about eleven
years old, I was strong enough to hold a plow.
From that age until seventeen I did all the work
done with horses, such as breaking up the land,
furrowing, plowing corn and potatoes, bringing in
the crops when harvested, hauhng all the wood,
besides tending two or three horses, a cow or two,
and sawing wood for stoves, etc., while still attend-
ing school. For this I was compensated by the fact
that there was never any scolding or punishing by
my parents, no objection to rational enjoyments,
such as fishing, going to the creek a mile away to
swim in summer, taking a horse and visiting my
grandparents in the adjoining county, skating on
the ice in winter, or taking a horse and sleigh when
there was snow on the ground. ... I have de-
scribed enough of my early life to give an impres-
sion of the whole. I did not like to work, but I
did as much of it while young as grown men can
be hired to do in these days, and attended school
at the same time. I had as many privileges as any
boy in the village, and probably more than most
of them. I have no recollection of ever having been
punished at home, either by scolding or by the rod.
l6 GENERAL GRANT.
But at school the case was dififerent — the rod was
freely used there, and I was not exempt from its in-
fluence." * Grant was, presumably, soundly birched
to the full extent of " the resources of civiUzation,"
like the other boys, and not in the manner of that
schoolmaster of antiquity of whom it was said
" he whipped his pupils gently." The general re-
marked to a friend that he had no recollection as
a lad of playing truant from school or of robbing
orchards.
In a letter written to Admiral Ammen from
Pau, France, in December, 1878, the general thus
alludes to his school-days : " The quarter of a cen-
tury does not seem half so long as the one that pre-
ceded it and passed since you and I first received
instructions, under John D. White, and a long beech
switch, cut generally by the boys for their own
chastisement." Mr. Grant stated that his son never
flinched from the punishment that was frequent
among the schools of the period in Ohio. " As
a boy," writes Ammen, " Grant was never aggres-
sive nor given to profanity, a vice that was not
unusual with his companions. If provoked or in-
sulted, he would fight it out manfully. He never
entered into a fight without it being clearly the
fault of the other boy. He was fond of horses; we
rode usually without a saddle, a blanket being
strapped on the back of the horse, and without
stirrups. Without being slothful or inert, he had
not that superabundant flow of animal spirits which
impels many boys to stand on their heads and do
* Personal Memoirs, vol. i, New York, 1895.
ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. 17
various disagreeable things from thoughtlessness,
apparently arising from great vitality."
Every member of the House of Representatives
has authority to appoint from among his constitu-
ents a cadet to the United States Military Academy
established at West Point, on the Hudson River, in
1802. Thomas L. Hamer,* the member of Con-
gress from the Georgetown district, had appointed
a son of Dr. Bailey, a neighbor of the Grants, but
the boy had failed to pass the necessary preliminary
examination. When, in 1834, Mr. Grant learned
that young Bailey had been unsuccessful, he at once
applied for the coveted position on behalf of his
eldest son, and received a favorable reply. Arriv-
ing at home for the Christmas holidays from Rip-
ley, where he was attending a winter school, his
father informed him that he would probably re-
ceive the appointment. " But I won't go," said the
boy. " I think you will," replied Mr. Grant, and,
added the general when relating the incident in
later life, " I thought so, too, if he did." At this
period he appears to have neither aversion or de-
sire for a miHtary career, his opposition to the ap-
pointment arising no doubt from his reluctance to
risk the examination, fearing that he might fail to
pass, and so perhaps bring disgrace upon himself
and his family as George Bartlett Bailey had done.
* Hamer commanded a regiment in the Mexican War, greatly
distinguishing himself in the battle of Monterey, and was highly
esteemed by General Taylor. Grant said he was a natural sol-
dier, and that had he not died prematurely in Mexico, he would
probably have held a high place in the history of his country,
possibly the very highest.
1 8 GENERAL GRANT.
Writing to a friend in 1865, Mr. Grant says, " When
Ulysses was a boy he desired an education, and, as
I did not feel able to stand the expense, I suggested
West Point, which met his views, without any
thought by him or me as to the military part of the
course there." In another letter the father writes:
" Early in the year 1839, when my eldest son was
nearly seventeen years of age, he told me he could
never follow the tanning business — that he did not
like it. I said that whatever he expected to follow
through life he should engage in now, and not waste
his early years in learning a calling which he did
not propose continuing. Among other prepara-
tions for his future career, he strongly desired an
education. Although my business had been good
and reasonably profitable, yet I did not feel able
to support him at college. So I suggested West
Point; that met his approbation, and I made appli-
cation, which was fortunately successful."
Without ambition or particular desire to do so,
young Grant made ready for his course at one of
the most exacting of American educational institu-
tions, where the number of failures are greater than
in any university or college in the country. His
unwillingness to enter upon the proposed course
was somewhat modified by the thought that on his
way to West Point he would pass through Phila-
delphia and New York, and be afiforded an oppor-
tunity of viewing the wonders of Eastern civilization,
for the backwoods boy was imbued with a passion
for travel. At that time he had never seen a moun-
tain of importance, the ocean, or even a large lake,
nor a city greater than Cincinnati, then containing
ANCESTRY.— BIRTH.— BOYHOOD.
19
less than forty thousand inhabitants. The appoint-
ment having been at length received, the Ohio
youth's happy home life was now to come to a close,
and a new and unknown field of action was to pre-
sent itself with great possibilities and more impor-
tant responsibilities.
If any critical reader is inclined to ask why de-
vote so much space to the early days of the great
commander in this and the succeeding chapter, the
answer may be found in his statement to the au-
thor, that when he read a biography he was gener-
ally more interested in what the man did as a boy
than in any other part of his career, also that the
youth of a hero, with the influences that surround
him, is perhaps the most important part of a biogra-
pher's subject. Grant w^as of John Milton's opinion
that
The childhood shows the man,
As morning shows the day.
CHAPTER II.
CAREER AT THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY.
The necessary preparations having" been com-
pleted, the young cadet of seventeen set out about
the middle of May, 1839, ^y steamboat up the Ohio
River to Pittsburg, a journey of three days, then
over the Alleghany Mountains to Harrisburg, and
from thence to Philadelphia by railroad, at the rate
of twelve miles an hour, which friends have heard
Grant say he then considered very rapid traveling.
The lad lingered with relatives five days in Phila-
delphia, visiting the principal places of interest, and
a shorter period in New York, also devoted to sight-
seeing", and then sailed up the Hudson River in the
day boat to West Point, where he presented him-
self to the military authorities on the third day of
June, provided with his provisional appointment
signed by Joel R. Poinsett, Secretary of War, and
armed with a pair of huge horse pistols received
by him from a Pennsylvania kinsman, ])resumably
as being necessary accessories for a military acad-
emy cadet! The academy had grown somewhat
from the " corps of cadets with two captains to
teach them mathematics of 1802," but was still in
20
i
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 2 1
embryo.* Major Richard Delafield, a strict dis-
ciplinarian and of good executive ability, had only
the year before succeeded Major Rene E. De
Russy, also of the Engineer Corps. The late aca-
demic building had but recently been erected. The
library and observatory were not built until two
years later. Three weeks before Grant's arrival
the Secretary of War had issued an order trans-
ferring a sergeant and five dragoons from Car-
lisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, to West Point to teach
the cadets riding, and during his first year the ser-
geant was oi^cially designated as the " riding mas-
ter." Authority was conferred on the superintend-
ent to organize the artillery and cavalry arms of
the service. The academy was still under con-
gressional criticism. The charges that it " was a
school of art," " had never produced a military
genius, and never would," had not then been dis-
proved by the war with Mexico and the more im-
portant civil war. During the same year a bill was
introduced in Congress to abolish the Military
Academy — a bill which Cadet Grant earnestly hoped
would pass, but which, most fortunately for the
country, failed to become a law.
On his arrival he signed the official record, as
seen in the facsimile on page 22, Ulysses Hiram
Grant, in accordance with the custom of all cadets
who enter the academy. The member of Congress
who conferred the appointment called him by mis-
* West Point was purchased by Alexander Hamilton soon
after his accession to the Cabinet of Washington, and the last let-
ters exchanged between these illustrious men related to the foun-
dation of the United States Military Academy.
22 GENERAL GRANT.
take Ulysses S. Grant,* and, as he failed to
obtain a correction of the error from the authori-
ties, the youth uncomplainingly accepted the new
designation. An abridged signature of Ulysses
H. Grant also appears on the same day in the
West Point Hotel register. By a curious co-
incidence Henry Wilson, of IMassachusetts, who
was Vice-President while Grant was our Chief
Magistrate, was until his twentieth year known
as Henry Colbath, when he assumed the name
by ■ which he was afterward so well and widely
known. J
* The second son was named Samuel Simpson (1825-1861).
The winter that the elder brother was at school at Ripley, Mr.
Hamer had sometimes visited the Grants and had heard the youth
called Simpson. Not aware that there was an older son, he sup-
posed he was quite correct in calling him Ulysses Simpson.
Grant, as has been stated in the previous chapter, was christened
Hiram Ulysses, but when about to start for West Point, he saw in
large letters the initials H. U. G., he said, " That won't do ; it spells
'hug,' and will make me an object of ridicule." So the name was
transposed and the trunk relettered U. H. G. When he left the
Military Academy four years later, the initials were again changed
on the trunk to U. S. G.
t From Memorial History City of New York. Vol. 3, 1893.
X Jules Grevy, a recent President of France, was neither Jules
nor Grevy, but Judith Fran9ois Paul Greviot ; Henry M. Stan-
ley, the African explorer, was originally plain John Rowland ;
and Field-Marshal Lord Clyde was another illustrious nine-
teenth-century commander who achieved fame under another
name than the one bestowed on him at baptism. Before he was
sixteen, Colin MacHver, the son of a Glasgow carpenter, who had
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY.
23
A few days after entering the Military Academy
the young cadet from Ohio wrote the following
letter to his revered mother, which alike truly
illustrates their characters: " I have occasionally
been called to be separated from you, but never did
I feel the full force and efifect of this separation as
I do now. I seem alone in the world without my
mother. There have been so many ways in which
you have advised me, when in the quiet of home I
have been pursuing my studies, that you can not
tell how much I miss you. I was so often alone
with you, and you so frequently spoke to me in pri-
vate, that the solitude of my situation here at the
academy among my silent books and in my lonely
room is all the more striking. It reminds me the
more forcibly of home, and most of all, dear mother,
of you. But, in the midst of all this, your kindly in-
structions and admonitions are ever present with
me. I trust they may never be absent from me as
long as I live. How often do I think of them, and
how well they strengthen me in every good word
and work! My dear mother, should I progress well
with my studies at West Point and become a soldier
married a Campbell, was presented by her brother, Colonel John
Campbell (who had placed his nephew in the Royal Militar}' and
Navy Academy at Gosport), to the Duke of York, then commander
in chief, who promised the lad a commission. Supposing him to
be, as he said, "another of the clan," he put down his name as
Colin Campbell, the name which he ever after bore. On leaving
the duke's presence with his uncle, the young cadet made some
comment on what he took to be a mistake on the duke's part in
regard to his surname, to which the shrewd colonel replied by
saying that " Campbell was a name which it would suit him very
well for professional reasons to adopt."
3
24
GENERAL GRANT.
of my country, I am looking forward with hope
to have you spared to share with me in any ad-
vancement I may make. I see now, in looking
over the records here, how much American soldiers
of the right stamp are indebted to good American
mothers. When they go to the field, what prayers
go with them! What tender testimonials of affec-
tion and counsel are in their knapsacks! I am
struck, in looking over the history of the noble
struggle of our fathers for national independence,
at the evidence of the good influence exerted upon
them by the women of the Revolution. Ah ! my be-
loved friend, how can the present generation ever
repay the debt it owes the patriots of the past for
the sacrifices they so freely made for us? We may
well ask, Would our country be what it is now if it
had not been for the greatness of our patriotic an-
cestors? "
His second letter, also written in June, 1839,
was addressed to his father. His words are so ad-
mirable and seemingly so prophetic that it is a
pleasure to present them on this page: " I am ren-
dered serious by the impressions which crowd upon
me here at West Point. My thoughts are frequently
occupied with the hatred I am made to feel toward
traitors to my country as I look around me on the
memorials that remain of the treason of Arnold.
I am full of a conviction of scorn and contempt,
which my young and inexperienced pen is unable
to express in this letter, toward the conduct of any
man who at any time could strike at the liberties
of such a nation as ours. If ever men should be
found in our Union base enough to make the at-
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 25
tempt to do this — if, like Arnold, they should se-
cretly seek to sell our national inheritance for the
mess of pottage of wealth, or power, or section —
West Point sternly reminds them of what you,
my father, would have your son do. As I stand
here in this national fort, a student of arms under
our country's flag, I know full well how you
would have me act in such an emergency. I trust
my future conduct in such an hour would
prove worthy the patriotic instructions you have
given."
General William B. Franklin, who graduated at
the head of the class of 1843, writes to the author:
" Grant arrived at West Point on June 3, 1839, and
I arrived there the day following. We were as-
signed to the same squad for drill, and to adjoining
rooms in barracks with four other new cadets. Our
experiences were the same as those of other new
cadets at that time, and the only strange thing was
that Grant and I used to be taken for each other
by an officer to whom I had a letter of introduction,
and I have heard from others that there was a
strong likeness between us at that time.* When
v/e began recitations we were in the same sections
in studies for a month or six weeks, and sat side
by side. He was an honest student, but did not
* This is a surprising circumstance when it is remembered
that Grant was but five feet eight inches in his mature years,
while Franklin was considerably over six feet, perhaps with the
most erect and soldierly figure of any officer in our army. This
distinction was a few years after the close of the civil war claimed
for General Hancock " the Superb " by some of his friends, which
led to a wager, the judges awarding the palm to Franklin.
26 GENERAL GRANT.
work for a high standing. He kept a place about
the middle of the class during the whole course.
He was much respected as a man of firmness, and
one who when he made up his mind could not be
swerved by any force from the course upon which
he had decided. There were thirty-nine in the class,
and upon one occasion — the election of managers
for the summer amusements — we stood nineteen to
nineteen, and the casting vote was in Grant's hands,
as, not caring for amusements, he took little inter-
est in the matter. I remember the conferences held
and the diplomacy used to induce Grant to vote, and
to vote right, and what rejoicing there was when
he decided to vote on our side. After his decision,
the arguments of the other side (with which he was
more closely allied than with us) were of no avail.
These incidents are all insignificant enough. But
fifty-six years have elapsed since they occurred, and
I am rather surprised that I remember anything
about them."
Dr. Henry Coppee (1821-95), who was at West
Point with Grant, described him as having been a
plain, common-sense, straightforward youth, quiet,
shunning notoriety, contented while others were
grumbling, performing his duties in a perfunctory
way, not prominent in the corps, but respected by
all and beloved by his few friends. At the academy
nearly every cadet has his nickname, which was
more generally used than that bestowed on him at
baptism. Grant was " Uncle Sam.'' in allusion to
the initials of his name. " He was then and always
an excellent horseman," continues Coppee. " His
picture rises up before mc as I write, in the old torn
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY
27
coat,* obsolescent leather gig-top loose riding
pantaloons, with spurs buckled over them, going
with his clanking saber to the drill hall. He ex-
hibited but little enthusiasm in anything. His best
standing was in mathematical branches, and their
application to mechanics and military engineering."
General James H. Stokes (1820-94), a class-
mate from Maryland, said a short time before his
death: " No one could possibly be more surprised
than myself at Grant's amazing success in the war.
We of the ' smart ' set thought the Western boy was
' countrified.' There was nothing bad about Grant,
and I had no dislike at all for him, but I did not
have much intercourse with him. He was not par-
ticularly tidy about his dress, and he even had a
certain slouchy air about him that many of the
class thought unsoldierly, but he never did anything
positively offensive, and, as he was always quiet
and attended to his own affairs, we liked him well
enough, but only in a negative way. As a rider, he
had no superior in the corps or out of it." Testi-
mony as to the truth of this statement may be found
in the following account of one of Grant's many
feats of horsemanship, related by General James B.
Fry (1827-94), who in June, 1843, arrived at West
Point as a candidate for admission to the academy.
Entering the riding hall, where the members of the
graduating class was being put through their final
mounted exercises, he saw Major Delafield, the
Board of Visitors, and a large number of ladies and
* Riding jackets had not at that time been introduced, and
the cadets generally donned their shabbiest clothes to wear in the
heat and dust of the riding hall.
28 GENERAL GRANT.
gentleman. The class, all mounted, were formed in
line through the center of the hall, and H. R. Hersh-
berger, the riding master, placing the leaping bar
at a height of six feet five inches, called out, " Cadet
Grant!" A clean-faced, slender, blue-eyed young
fellow, weighing about one hundred and twenty
pounds, dashed forward from the ranks on a power-
fully built chestnut-sorrel horse, and galloped down
the opposite side of the hall. As he turned at the far-
ther end and came down the straight stretch across
which the bar was placed, the horse increased his
pace, and, measuring his strides for the great leap
before him, bounded into the air and cleared the
bar, carrying his perfect rider as if man and beast
had been welded together. The spectators were
breathless. "Very well done, sir!" growled "old
Hershberger." The class was dismissed and dis-
persed, but, concluded the general, " Cadet Grant
remained a living image in my memory." It is the
highest jump recorded in military annals, but has
been frequently surpassed in civil life. A thorough-
bred recently cleared a bar seven feet high in the
Madison Square Garden of New York.
General Joseph J. Reynolds, of the class of 1843,
writes: "Grant as a cadet was not specially noted
in any respect. He was modest, unassuming, not
disposed to assert himself, was outspoken, straigb.t-
forward, candid, and self-reliant; was comi)anion-
able, given to no vices, and was not at all inclined to
be a leader among his classmates; while an all-
round good fellow, he was devoid of extremes in
any direction. He was not a hard student, though
he neglected nothing, always held a safe place about
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY.
29
the middle of the class, but was most proficient in
the more difficult and practical studies — mathe-
matics, mechanics, and engineering — showing
strong capacities under good control. He was an
expert horseman, and fond of exhibiting during
cavalry exercise, the remarkable ability as a leaper
of his favorite big sorrel horse York. He disliked
drill and parades, and did not hesitate to say so, car-
ing nothing for military show."
In a recent letter General James Longstreet
says: " I have tried to recall something of Grant
at West Point, but he was so diffident and retiring
that no one outside of his class could learn much
about him. We were at the academy three years
together, he being of the class next to my own, but
I never saw him away from his immediate associ-
ates, except occasionally when he would venture in
a game of football. As he was not strong enough
for a leading part, he made but little impression
upon the players. He was the most daring and
accomplished horseman at the academy. After
graduating, we served in the same regiment for two
years, but it was in monotonous camp life. We
sometimes arose much distressed at having lost
during the day seventy-five or eighty cents at five-
cent poker, or ' jack pot,' as it is now called. . . .
Grant and Lincoln were the only two men capable
of mastering the situation brought about by the
war of secession. Neither was appreciated during
life, and I may say that not even now can the peo-
ple entirely compass the extent of their grandeur."
Elsewhere the general writes: "But the class next
after us (1843) was destined to furnish the man who
30
GENERAL GRANT.
was to eclipse all — to rise to the rank of general,
an office made by Congress to honor his services;
who became President of the United States, and
for a second term; who received the salutations
of all the powers of the civilized world in his trav-
els as a private citizen around the earth; of noble,
generous heart, a lovable character, a valued friend
— Ulysses S. Grant." *
Father Deshon, of the Paulist Fathers' College
of New York, who shared a room with Grant for
a year in Camp Cockloft, North Barracks, when
they were second classmen, informs me that a
lower classman was taken in on trial, but soon dis-
missed for various reasons, among others owing to
his habit of making notes on his finger nails and
cufifs before attending his classes, which Grant
deemed dishonorable. Indeed, all that w^as mean or
envious the young Ohio cadet seemed to turn from
so completely that when in his company it appeared
almost as if such unfortunate characteristics did not
then exist among the cadets of the academy.
General William T. Sherman (i820-'9i) said:
" I remember as plain as if it was yesterday Grant's
first appearance among us. I was three years ahead
of him. I remember seeing his name on the paper
in the hall on the bulletin board where the names
of all the newcomers were posted. I ran my eye
down the columns, and there saw U. S. Grant. Some
of us began to make names to fit the initials. One
* From Manassas to Appomattox, Memoirs of the Civil War
in America, by James Longstreet, Lieutenant General Confeder-
ate Army. Philadelphia, 1896.
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 31
said ' United States Grant,' another ' Uncle Sam
Grant ' ; a third shouted ' Sam Grant.' That name
stuck to him."
General Alfred Pleasanton (1824-97), who grad-
uated a year later than Grant, remembered him as
a perfect horseman, remarking to a friend that
there was something almost mysterious in the power
he possessed as a cadet to communicate to a horse
his wishes. He also recalled the curious circum-
stance that " Sam Grant," like Napoleon and Well-
ington, had no ear for music, either during his
career at the academy or in later life, and that as a
cadet he never succeeded in learning the bugle calls
for classes and other duties.
In a letter dated February, 1897, General Sam-
uel G. French, the oldest member of the class of
1843, writes: " General Grant came to West Point
in June, 1839, a youth; in appearance a country
boy. His manners were easy, quiet, and unob-
trusive. In company he was reticent, but always
an attentive listener, and, if drawn into conversa-
tion, his remarks were brief and pertinent, and yet
there was a rich vein of humor in his intercourse
with his intimate friends. In forming the sections
of a new class for study, the cadets were arranged
alphabetically. In our case the first section em-
braced all names from A to E. The second section
commencing at F, threw Grant and myself into the
same section, and we remained together in nearly
every study during our cadetship. Consequently,
I heard nearly every demonstration he made. Like
many others, he was not a competitor for ' honors,'
but was content to be diligent enough to master
32
GENERAL GRANT.
the course without hard study and maintain a stand-
ing near the middle of the class.
" In a retrospection that runs back near sixty
years the lights of the past burn dimly, yet I will
relate a few of the incidents of his cadet life that
were manifestations of character that he main-
tained throughout his remarkable career in after
years. One day, in a recitation in astronomy, he
was asked to repeat the signs of the zodiac, and,
following the text-book, he commenced, ' Aries,
Taurus, Gemini,' and stopped and said, ' I don't re-
member them.' Then I was called on to repeat them,
and, to the astonishment of the professor, I began:
' The Ram, the Bull, the heavenly Twins, next the Crab the Lion
shines, the Virgin and the Scales,
The Scorpion, Archer, and the Goat, the Man who carries the
watering pot, and Fish with glittering tails.'
' Yes, yes, yes,' exclaimed the professor (Joseph
Roberts), ' that poetry is very nice, but, Mr. French,
you will please translate it into the language of the
text-book.' In returning to quarters, Grant asked
me to write it out for him, as it was the best and
most practical way to remember them. I mention
this to point out his practical mind.
" On another occasion Grant was sent to the
blackboard to demonstrate a complex problem, to
do which required a drawing of great nicety. He
covered the board with innumerable lines. If the
figure had been drawn plainly the demonstration
would have been plain. He connnenced by saying,
' Let these lines represent rays of light falling on
this plain, and let this plain intersect the plain C D
at this line,' etc., pointing them out by running his
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 33
fingers over the board. This was not satisfactory;
it was repeated over. Finally the professor said,
' Mr. Grant, please point out which line represents
the intersection of two certain plains.' Grant, still
facing him, turned his arm around, and, without
looking, spread the palm of his hand flat on the
board, fingers radiating, covering a dozen lines,
said, ' This is it.' The scene was too much for the
sobriety of any one, save Grant himself, who main-
tained his tranquil manner amid the laughter. He
always insisted that he did point ovit the line.
" The class was divided into two sections for
instruction in riding. Among the horses there was
one that possessed what is termed great ' gathering
power,' arising by extreme development of muscle
in the hind quarters. Grant rode this horse in the
first section and Cave J. Gouts in the second. The
horse could leap over a bar near seven feet high,
and the manner the animal did it made it difficult
for the rider to maintain his seat. The horse would
approach the pole at a slow canter, stop, and, rear-
ing up nearly perpendicular, then with the pro-
digious power of his hind quarters spring up and
alight on his fore feet close by the bar on the other
side, while his hind feet were barely over the bar.
It was a perilous feat, and none of us cared to try it.
Before General Winfield Scott and ^he Board of
Visitors Grant leaped the bar held high above the
head of the soldier who rested it against the wall.
This is undoubted evidence of his horsemanship.
" One morning, when our squad was marching
to the academic hall to recite, Frank Gardner pro-
duced an old silver watch that was apparently about
34
GENERAL GRANT.
four inches in diameter. It was passed along from
one cadet to another to look at, and when we ar-
rived at the section-room door it was in the hands
of Grant. He could hide or carry it only by putting
it in the breast of his coat. When the section was
seated, Zealous B. Tower (who that day heard the
recitation) sent Grant and three other cadets to the
blackboards. The weather was mild, and the room
door open. When Grant had turned from the board
and had commenced to demonstrate, suddenly a
sound resembling a buzz saw and a Chinese gong
burst forth and drowned all proceedings, and in the
uproar we laughed aloud with impunity. ' Shut
that door! ' cried Tower, and that only made mat-
ters worse. ' Fast and furious ' went the buzz saw,
and louder went the gong. Bang! went something.
The noise stopped. While all this rattling din was
going on Grant looked as innocent as a lamb, and
in the profound silence that followed he began,
' And, as I was going to remark, if we subtract
equation E from equation A, we have,' etc. I men-
tion this to show how he could conceal his emo-
tions, for it was that alarm watch in his bosom that
caused all this commotion. It had been set to go
off, and it did go off! From the bewilderment of
Tower to locate whence the noise proceeded, he may
yet be ignorant of the cause of it.
" Grant was not an artist or a good draughtsman,
and, when in the drawing academy, if there was an
animal in his picture,''' I would tell him to ' put a
* General Frcncli proli.ibly refers to Cirant's first attempts at
the academy, for some of liis pictures executed, in his thiid and
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 35
legend to it for explanation or write over it, " This
is a horse or cow," as the case might be, so that an
admirer would not be mislead.' He was well aware
of this, and when he was President I asked him to
give me an order through the War Department to
have a painting that I had made — which was kept
by the Academic Board, and which was then still
hanging on the walls of the picture gallery for ex-
hibition — be given me. His reply was humorous.
He said, ' Write me a note to remind me of it, and
you shall have your painting, and also any of mine
that you can find there.' "
General Zealous B. Tower, Grant's only surviv-
ing West Point instructor, writing in February,
1897, says: "Passing without difficulty the pre-
scribed examination for admission at the Military
Academy, Grant was fairly proficient in his studies
through his four years of cadet life. Yet, though
possessing undoubted capacity to excel, he did not
evince that strong desire to attain high class stand-
ing, which incites to severe and persistent applica-
tion. To the more solid and scientific branches of
study, as mathematics and physics, for which he
had a liking, he applied himself more diligently
than to the lighter studies of the academic course.
Grant's intimate associates at West Point were
aware that he was not putting forth his strength,
and he admits this frankly in his Memoirs. The
stimulus of ambition seems to have been lacking,
otherwise one so mentally strong would not have
fourth years, are still preserved and are exceedingly creditable to a
young cadet who could give but little time to the study of art.
36 GENERAL GRANT.
been content with medium success among his class-
mates. In his later years Grant told me that on
one occasion having neglected his lesson, he gave
a solution to the problem submitted to him by
Prof. Church different from the text, whereupon
the professor informed him that it was correct,
but if he had read his text-book he would have
found a shorter solution. Grant, however, received
a maximum for the recitation."
In 1865, Prof. Dennis H. Mahan wrote: " Grant
was what we termed a first section man in all his
scientific studies — that is, one who accomplishes
the full course. He always showed himself a clear
thinker and a steady worker, belonging to the class
of compactly strong men who w-ent at their task at
once and kept at it until finished. . . . That Sher-
man should accomplish something great, I was pre-
pared to learn. But not so in Grant, whose round,
cheery, boyish face, though marked with character
and quiet manner, gave none of that evidence of
what he has since shown he possesses."
Of his West Point career Grant himself said:
" A military life had no charms for me, and I had
not the faintest idea of staying in the army even if I
should be graduated, which I did not expect. Mathe-
matics was easy to me, so that when January came
I passed the examination, taking a good standing
in that branch. In French, the only other study
at that time in the first year's course, my standing
was very low. In fact, if the class had been turned
the other end foremost I should have been near
head. I never succeeded in getting squarely at
cither end of niy class in any one study during the
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY
37
four years. I came near it in French, infantry and
cavalry tactics, and conduct. I had not been ' called
out ' as a corporal, but when I returned from fur-
lough I found myself the last but one — about my
standing in all the tactics — of eighteen sergeants.
The promotion was too much for me. That year
my standing in the class, as shown by the number
of demerits of the year, was about the same as it
was among the sergeants, and I was dropped, and
served the fourth year as a private. During my
first year's encampment General Scott (1786-1866)
visited West Point and reviewed the cadets. With
his commanding figure, his quite colossal size, and
showy uniform, I thought him the finest specimen
of manhood my eyes had ever beheld, and the most
to be envied. I could never resemble him in appear-
ance, but I believe I did have a presentiment for a
moment that I should occupy his place on review,
although I had no intention then of remaining in
the army." *
On an earlier occasion Grant said : " I had no
very easy time of it at West Point. In a class of
more than one hundred I was behind them all in
almost everything. I never succeeded in getting
very near either the head or the foot of the class.
I was within three of the foot in the languages, I
believe, and within five of the head in mathematics.
I was at the head in horsemanship, but that did not
count. I graduated as number twenty-one, and was
exceedingly glad to get it."
Grant's official record as furnished to the au-
* Personal Memoirs, vol. i, p. 41.
38
GENERAL GRANT.
thor by Colonel Oswald H. Ernst, Corps of En-
gineers, commanding the Military Academy, to-
gether with his comments, will be read with inter-
est: "When the general reported here in June,
1839, for examination for admission he signed the
registry book as Ulysses Hiram Grant, but, with
this exception, he is born on all the other records
in this office as Ulysses Simpson Grant. The letter
from the War Department, dated May i, 1839, giv-
ing the names of the candidates appointed for that
year, records him as U. S. Grant, and his letter of
appointment bore the name of Ulysses Simpson
Grant. He held the rank of cadet sergeant from
July 2, 1 841, to June 17. 1842, and was a cadet pri-
vate during the remainder of his course at the
academy. It appears from the accompanying table
that in general he stood about the middle of his
class throughout the course, being above the aver-
age in mathematical studies and below it in lan-
guages and deportment."
ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT, OF OHIO.
Entered July /, iS^^g, aged seventeen years and two months ;
graduated June, iS^j.
Third Class, June, 1841.
(53 members.)
General standing 24
Fourth Class, June, 1840.
(60 members.)
General standing 27
Mathematics 16
French 49
Conduct 156
(Number graded .... 233.)
Number of demerits 59
Mathematics 10
French 44
Drawing 23
Ethics ; 46
Conduct 144
(Numlicr graded .... 219.)
Number of dements 67
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY
39
Second Class, June, 1842.
(41 members.)
General standing 20
Ph.losophy 15
Chemistry 22
Drawing 19
Conduct 157
(Number graded .... 217.)
Number of demerits q8
First Class, June, 1843.
(39 members.)
General standing 21
Engineering 16
Ethics 28
Infantry tactics 28
Artillery tactics 25
Mineralogy and geology.. . 17
Conduct 156
(Number graded. . . 223.)*
Number of demerits 66
A few months before graduation General Jaines
A. Hardie (1823-76), of Grant's class, said to one
of the instructors, " Well, sir, if a great emergency
arises in this country during our lifetime Sam Grant
will be the man to meet it," and another member of
the same class, who stood second at graduation,
the Rev. George Deshon, expressed the opinion in
1845 to Colonel Henry L. Kendrick (181 1-91), one
of their professors, that Grant would some day prove
to the Academic Board that he was the strongest
man in his class. A third prediction was made by
Benjamin Bevie, a bugler at the time Grant was a
cadet, and who was a member of the band. He was
married, and his wife attended to Cadet Grant's
washing. Referring to his initials of U. S., he sev-
eral times said, " Well, cadet, you will be President
of the United States." " When I am," answered
Grant, " you may remind me that I now promise to
* In determining standing in "conduct," the corps of cadets
was considered as a whole and each cadet was given his number
in order of merit irrespective of class. The expression used above,
" number graded," indicates the total strength of the corps at that
time.
4
40
GENERAL GRANT.
make you my secretan-." The modest musician
lived to see Grant our Chief ^Magistrate, but never
reminded the President of his promise.
So far as can be learned from Grant's surviv-
ing classmates,* numbering thirty-nine, who gradu-
ated, of the one hundred and more who had been
appointed in 1839, he made the usual unauthor-
ized expeditions to Benny Havens's saloon below
Highland Falls, but rarely indulged in liquor of
any kind, nor did he at that period smoke or use
tobacco in any other form. His frolics were all of
an innocent character. One of these the general
related the last time that he dined with the writer.
He said: " Late one evening Nat Lyon came to our
room and proposed if we would cook it that he
would go out and capture one of old Delafield's
turkeys. As Deshon and myself assented, he set
out, returning in less than half an hour with a fine
fat turkey, which was immediately hung over our
fire, for at that time they had open fireplaces, with
unlimited supplies of wood. While the turkey was
revolving over the brisk fire footsteps were heard
in the hall, and Lyon f ran out and regained his
room. Into our quarters presently entered Lieu-
tenant Grier.J Deshon and myself standing with our
backs to the fire to screen the turkey. The lieuten-
* Augur, Deshon, French, Franklin, and Reynolds.
t General Nathaniel Lyon of the class of 1841 was born in
Ashford, Conn., July 14, 1818, and was killed in battle near Wil-
son's Creek, Mo., August 10, 1S61.
t General William N. Grier of the class of 1835 was born in
Northumberland, Pa., July li, 1812, and died in California, July
8, 1885, but a fortnight before Grant.
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 41
ant looked around, saw nothing, although the room
was filled with the odor of roast turkey, said ' Good-
night," and passed out. I am inclined to believe that
this act of kindness on the part of Grier in not re-
porting us," added Grant, " may possibly have
helped to secure his promotion during the late war."
In the office of the Secretary of War at Wash-
ington may be seen a framed document entitled
" Declaration against purchasing, after certain date,
of John De Witt, post sutler," dated April 15, 1843.
It is signed by thirty-four members of the class of
that year, including William B. Franklin, Joseph
J. Reynolds, Frederick T. Dent, John J. Peck, Sam-
uel G. French, George Deshon, Rufus Ingalls, and
U. H. Grant, which would seem to indicate that the
name transposed by which he was baptized had not
been at that time entirely abandoned. Of this in-
teresting relic General Reynolds, one of the sur-
viving signers, sends the present biographer the
following account: "We were at the date of this
document within about sixty days of graduation,
and, of course, feeling happy. It was then custom-
ary for the superintendent to grant permission to
the storekeeper to open an account with the class
about to graduate. We had some misunderstand-
ing with the storekeeper, Mr. John De Witt, the
precise nature of which I do not now recall, but it
led to the declaration referred to. This matter was
suggested and managed by George Stevens, of Ver-
mont, who was drowned while crossing the Rio
Grande near Matamoras, May 18, 1846, as second
lieutenant of the Second Dragoons. It seems that
he preserved the original, and it was found among
42
GENERAL GRANT.
his effects that were forwarded to his family after
his decease. A few years since it was sent to the
War Department by a brother of our classmate.
The paper was passed around for signatures when
we were finishing fortification drawings, which will
explain why many names are made in various colors
of paint, and with brush instead of pen ; others were
signed afterward wath pen or pencil. The transac-
tion was simply a freak of a set of youngsters who,
conscious of the near approach of release from aca-
demic restrictions, ' felt their oats.' There was noth-
ing serious in the misunderstanding that brought
about the ' Declaration,' and I am not by any means
sure that we stuck to it to the day of graduation.
On that point my memory is not distinct. The
document is brought into prominence merely be-
cause it bears the name of Grant, but his connec-
tion with it was simply the same as that of his
thirty odd classmates. You will observe that it is
signed U. H., not U. S., Grant. It is proper, I
should add, that John De Witt was held in high
esteem by us all, and that his family are most kindly
remembered by those who were then cadets for
many social courtesies. Two of his daughters mar-
ried army officers."
Among the important jniblic buildings of the
academy is a sul)stantial and massive one construct-
ed of granite, and known as Grant Hall. Its prin-
cipal apartment is used as a mess hall for the corps
of cadets, and its walls are hung with portraits of
many of its most distinguished graduates. In Octo-
ber, 1889, paintings of the three generals of the
armv whose names will remain indissolublv con-
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 43
nected with the war for the preservation of the
Union were presented by George W. Childs, of
Philadelphia, on which occasion General Sherman
said: "I think it will be admitted, and I can say
it without suspicion of egotism, that Grant, Sheri-
dan, and myself were the three central military fig-
ures of the war, and I am glad that we shall go
down to posterity together. ... I was older than
Grant or Sheridan. No three men ever lived on the
earth's surface so diverse in mental and physical
attributes as the three men whose portraits you now
look upon. Different in every respect save one —
we had a guiding star, we had an emblem of na-
tionality in our mind, implanted at West Point,
which made us come together for a common pur-
pose as the rays of the sun coming together make
them burn."
The most successful students at the Military
Academy are not infrequently outstripped in later
life by their slower and less showy comrades.
What was the West Point standing of many of our
most illustrious soldiers, several of whom may safe-
ly be included among the great commanders of our
nearly completed century? Grant was graduated,
as has been already stated, number twenty-one in
a class of thirty-nine; Sherman, number six among
forty-two graduates; Sheridan, number thirty-four
in a class of fifty- two; the noble Virginian Thomas,
number twelve among forty-two classmates ; Meade,
the hero of Gettysburg, that decisive battle of the
war, number nineteen in a class of fifty-six; heroic
Hooker, twenty-nine among fifty comrades; "Stone-
wall " Jackson, number seventeen ; Sedgwick, twen-
44
GENERAL GRANT.
ty-four in a company of fifty; Longstreet, of
Georgia, sixty in a class of sixty-two; Pickett, of
Virginia, at the foot of his class; and gallant Han-
cock, number eighteen among twenty-five gradu-
ates. From these examples, that might be indefi-
nitely extended among the thirty-six hundred and
ninety graduates of the United States Military
Academy, it will be seen that most of those men-
tioned who won renown on many a doubtful day
approximated more closely to the foot than to the
head of their classes. Of course, it has occasion-
ally happened that the honor men, like Halleck and
McClellan, of the armies of the North, and like
the Confederate leaders Joseph E. Johnston and
Robert E. Lee, attained to high rank and renown,
but more generally fortune has favored the less
brilliant cadets of the academy.*
Grant left West Point in June, 1843, ^s brevet
second lieutenant in the Fourth United States In-
fantry, then, as afterward to the close of his great
* In General Benjamin F. Butler's Memoirs (Boston, 1892) he
says : " Grant evidently did not get enough of West Point into
him to hurt him any ; he was less like a West Point man than
any officer I ever knew. The reader sees how much of a military
education I lost in not having gone to West Point to get a mili-
tary education like that of Grant. The less of West Point a man
has the more successful he will be. We see how little Grant had.
All of the very successful generals of our war stood near the lower
end of their classes at West Point. As examples take Grant,
Sherman, and Sheridan. All the graduates in the higher ranks in
their classes never came to anything as leaders of armies in the
war. The whole thing puts me in mind of an advertisement I
saw in a newspaper in my youth. It contained a recipe for mak-
ing graham bread out of unbolted flour mixed with sawdust. The
recipe ended as follows : ' N. B. — The less sawdust the better.' "
CAREER AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY. 45
career, a character which, in the words of a friend,
'■ betrayed no trust, falsified no word, violated no
rights, manifested no tyranny, sought no personal
aggrandizement, complained of no hardship, dis-
played no jealousy, opposed no subordinate, but in
whatever sphere protected every interest, upheld his
flag, and was ever known by his humanity, sagacity,
courage, and honor." What more could be claimed
for any young American? What for the greatest
of American commanders?
CHAPTER III.
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO.
Grant began his army service in July, 1843, ^^
brevet second lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry,
his commission being signed by John Tyler. This
regiment, commanded by Colonel Joseph H. Vose,
was then stationed at Jefiferson Barracks, St. Louis,
the chief military station of the West. In the sum-
mer of 1844 it was moved to Nachitoches, La., in
readiness to march on Mexico should the war at
that time threatening be declared. Texas was then
fighting for her independence. Her representatives
n^d been for some time in Washington see'ix'/Ag to
induce our Government to take her imder its pro-
tection. The bill for the annexation of Texas passed
Congress near the close of the session of 1844-45,
and was promptly signed by President Tyler, March
I, 1845. When the Fourth heard of this it expected
marching orders immediately, no one doubting that
war with Mexico would be the result. This did
not come, however, until July, and then carried the
regiment no nearer the seat of war than New Or-
leans, which, owing to the presence of yellow fever,
was more dangerous to life than the battlefield.
46
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO.
47
Early in September, however, the Fourth re-
ceived further orders which carried them to Corpus
Christi, Tex., then held by General Zachary Tay-
lor's army of occupation. This force comprised
five regiments of infantry — the Third, Fourth,
Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth — one regiment of artil-
lery acting as infantry, four companies of light
artillery, and seven companies of the Second Regi-
ment of Dragoons, the total force not exceeding
three thousand, but most of them regular troops,
and officered chiefly by graduates of the United
States Military Academy — a compact, brave, well-
drilled body of troops of excellent esprit, and, as
the sequel proved, most effective. It was charged
that the army had been ordered there with a view
to inviting attack; if so, the movement failed, for
the Mexicans showed no inclination to light. After
a few days the command was moved over to the
Rio Grande, opposite the fortified Mexican town
of Matamoras, and began throwing up intrench-
ments. The Mexicans soon took up the gage thus
boldly thrown down. As soon as the intrench-
ments were sufficiently strong. General Taylor
marched his command back to Point Isabel, on the
coast, some twenty-five miles distant, for supplies,
leaving the Second Infantry,- Major Jacob Brown
commanding, to garrison the post. Barely had he
reached Point Isabel when the muffled roar of guns
from above told him that Brown had been attacked
and the war begun.
No news of the result could be obtained, for
prowling bands of Mexicans cut oflf all communi-
cation. Hurriedly transferring his supplies to the
48 GENERAL GRANT.
wagons, Taylor, his army re-enforced at Point Isa-
bel, but still less than three thousand strong,
marched back to the relief of the Seventh. Of
this advance the enemy had early intelligence, and
were on the alert to intercept it.
The road from Point Isabel to Matamoras lay
over an open, rolling prairie, treeless until the tim-
ber that fringed the various channels of the Rio
Grande was reached, for the river, winding through
the alluvial bottoms, had cut and then relinquished
several channels, some of which were dry, others
showing small lakes or pools at intervals, but still
covered with groves of heavy timber, which in some
instances extended as far as three miles into the
prairie. Of these outlying channels, the one near-
est the advancing column was that at Resaca de la
Palma, some five miles east of the true bed of the
river, and which was filled with a succession of the
small lakes or pools before mentioned. Beneath
the forest were dense thickets of chaparral, almost
impassable, while the grass of the prairie on the
verge of the timber was nearly the height of a man,
stifY, and fitted with points nearly as sharp and hard
as those of a needle. The little army, toiling over
the prairie, reached this timber belt at a place called
Palo Alto — " tall trees " — and there found the Mexi-
can army drawn up in line of battle to receive them.
Taylor in this, his initial battle, displayed great
coolness and judgment. He halted the column and
formed line of battle, throwing a battalion to the
rear to act as a reserve, and coolly detailing a pla-
toon of each company to fill their own and their
comrades' canteens from a brook flowing near. This
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO.
49
done, he ordered an advance, and, coming within
artillery range, brought his guns — a battery of six-
pounders, one of twelve-pounder howitzers, and
two eighteen-pounders — to the front and opened
fire. The battle became now an artillery duel, in
which the invaders had the advantage, their guns,
though antiquated enough in modern eyes, being
superior to those of the Mexicans, which threw
only solid shot. The latter often struck the plain
in advance of the Americans and then riccochetted
through the tall grass so slowly that the ranks
would open and allow them to pass harmlessly
through. This artillery fire continued for some
hours, with loss to the enemy and little to the
Americans. Several advances were made during
the day, the result generally being favorable to the
attacking force, and at nightfall, by a rapid for-
ward movement, the latter took and held the posi-
tion occupied in the morning by the Mexicans,
the American loss being but nine killed and forty-
seven wounded.
This was Lieutenant Grant's first battle. He
seems to have borne the ordeal without flinching,
although once at least his nerves were put to the
test, for a cannon ball swept through the ranks near
him, killing an enlisted man and mortally wounding
Captain John Page of his company.
Grant played a more important part in the next
day's battle or skirmish — that of Resaca de la
Palma. The Mexicans withdrew during the night
and took post on the farther bank of the old chan-
nel at Resaca — a strong position, protected by the
lakes and by improvised intrenchments of dead trees
50
GENERAL GRANT.
and brush. Captain George A. McCall, of Grant's
regiment, with Captain Charles F. Smith, of the
artillery, were now ordered to make a reconnois-
sance, which left Lientenant Grant in command.
The reconnoitering force, threading the thickets as
best it could, foimd no enemy until it reached the
old channel at Resaca, where it discovered the in-
trenchments, and reported the fact to General Tay-
lor. The main body was promptly ordered up, and
when it struck the enemy the battle began. It was
a day of gallant charges and sturdy defense w-ith-
out repulse, but when it closed the Americans were
masters of the field.
Lieutenant Grant commanded his company
creditably during the engagement, at one time lead-
ing a charge which captured a Mexican colonel
and several privates. Slowly beating back the enemy,
at night the army occupied its old quarters opposite
Matamoras, and relieved Fort Brown, wdiich had
been hard pressed for several days. Major Harvey
Brown, the commanding ofBcer, having been killed
early in the seige.
When news of these two battles reached Wash-
inton, war was declared, and Taylor began prep-
arations for the invasion of Mexico. He crossed
the Rio Grande and occupied Matamoras. \'olun-
teers flocked to his standard, among them an Ohio
regiment, the major of which was Thomas L.
Hamer, the member of Congress who had appoint-
ed young Grant to West Point. In the army of
invasion at this time were also Albert Sidney John-
ston, of Kentucky, and Robert E. Lee, of Vir-
ginia, the Confederate generals whom our young
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 51
lieutenant subsequently confronted and defeated in
the civil war. Both were his superiors in years and
rank, Johnston having been born in 1803 and Lee
four years later.
Taylor's plan was to attack the Mexican capital
from the north by way of Alonterey, a city lying at
the entrance of a pass in the Sierra Madre Moun-
tains, through which ran the main road to the capi-
tal. He began his campaign on August 19, 1846,
the troops, except the cavalry, artillery, and Gar-
land's brigade, being moved up the Rio Grande by
steamers to Camargo, the head of navigation. The
marching column moved by the south bank, Lieu-
tent Grant being detailed to act as quartermaster
and commissary of his regiment.
From Camargo the army moved on Monterey
in four columns, each a day's march apart, until
Maria, twenty-four miles from Monterey, w^as
reached, when it was consolidated and moved en
masse. Before it towns, hamlets, and farms were
depopulated, the women and children often being
seen scampering over the hills to escape the dreaded
Los Gringos— the Yankees. By September 19th
Taylor had massed his army at Walnut Springs,
three miles from Monterey, and his engineer offi-
cers, under Major Jared Mansfield, were making
their reconnoissance. The town was found to be
situated on a small stream flowing out of the pass,
while close behind the city and protecting its rear
rose a range of hills. To the north, between the
town and the army, lay a wide plain, extending to
Walnut Springs. Where the last few straggling
houses of the suburbs encroached upon this plain
52
GENERAL GRANT.
stood its main defense, a strong fort walled on all
sides, which from its somber color the soldiers at
once named the " Black Fort." There were other
fortifications on two detached spurs of the moun-
tains to the north and northwest; on one of these
stood also the Bishop's Palace, a large stone struc-
ture, capable of being used for defense. The guns
from these heights also commanded the road to
Saltillo, which left the city on the west. On the
eastern side were two or three detached works; on
the south the mountain stream and range of hills
before mentioned. There were also interior de-
fenses worthy of mention, the plaza or square being
filled with hastily raised parapets, behind which
cannon sweeping all the principal streets were
mounted, while the housetops overlooking it had
been filled with ramparts of sand bags for the
protection of infantry.
These various works were held by ten thou-
sand men under General Pedro de Ampudia. Tay-
lor's army, numbering six thousand five hundred
men, was massed in three divisions, under Gen-
erals Butler, Twiggs, and Worth. The engineers
reported that troops could be marched around
to the northwest of the city, out of range of the
guns on the heights and of the Black Fort, and
seize the Saltillo road, which would cut ofT the
enemy from the interior and from his base of
supplies. Worth with his division was dispatched
to accomplish this coitp, while the other two di-
visions were drawn up to threaten the works
on the cast anfl north, and prevent their sending
re-enforcements to those on the west. The real in-
i
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 53
tent of Worth's movement, however, does not seem
to have been penetrated by the Mexicans. The
former bivouacked that night on the heights to the
northwest of the town, while his engineers — one of
whom was Lieutenant George G. Meade, later the
hero of Gettysburg — penetrated to the Saltillo road,
finding the route feasible. Next day Worth reached
this road, turned east, and captured the two heights
on which were the forts, and was in virtual posses-
sion of the western side of the city. The same night
General Taylor succeeded in raising an intrench-
ment and mounting it with two twenty-four-pound-
er howitzers and a ten-inch mortar within easy
range of the Black Fort, Grant's regiment sup-
porting the artillerists while on this duty. Grant
himself was not present, however, having been or-
dered as regimental quartermaster to remain in
charge of the public property at Walnut Springs.
At daylight the enemy discovered the battery, and
opened a brisk fire upon it, which was replied to
with equal spirit. The cannonading acted like new
wine on the blood of the young lieutenant in camp,
and at length, unable to remain inactive while his
comrades were fighting at fearful odds, he mounted
and rode to the battlefield. Scarcely had he reached
it when the command to charge was given, and he
rushed forward with his regiment, almost the only
man on horseback, and therefore a more conspicu-
ous target. Rising out of a depression in front of
the American batteries, the column met a decimat-
ing fire from the Black Fort, the redoubts at the
eastern end of the city, and of musketry from the
supports, which killed or disabled in a few mo-
54 GENERAL GRANT,
ments fully one third of the force. The latter to
escape it retreated not backward, but eastward to-
ward the road running from Walnut Springs to the
city, and when out of range halting. At this junc-
ture Grant gave up his horse to Adjutant Hoskins,
of his regiment, who, being in ill health, was un-
able to keep step with the ranks.
Soon shot began thinning the ranks again, the
Mexican gunners having found their range, and
the regiment once more fell back, this time to a
field of corn northeast of the lower batteries. Ad-
jutant Hoskins in this retreat was killed, and Lieu-
tenant Grant was designated to perform his duties.
This charge, it is true, was but a feint to divert
attention from Worth's division — which, as w^e have
seen, was engaged in the attack on the batteries of
the Saltillo road — but it was illy advised and exe-
cuted, since the Fourth, by making a detour, might
have reached and attacked the eastern batteries
without coming under the fire of the Black Fort.
A portion of Garland's brigade did succeed in ef-
fecting a lodgment in the eastern quarter, as did
Quitman's, and at about the same time that Worth
from the Saltillo road captured the w^estern de-
fenses, so that on the eve of the 20th the eastern
and western portions of the city were in the hands
of the Americans, while the center, or plaza, and the
Black Fort on the north were still held by the
Mexicans. The city, however, had been invested.
This state of affairs continued throughout the 22d,
a regiment of Kentucky volunteers supporting the
intreiichnicnts opposite the Black Fort, and a com-
]->any from each regiment guarding the camp at
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO.
55
Walnut Springs, to which it is to be presumed
Lieutenant Grant returned after the fighting was
over. On the night of the 23d the enemy evacu-
ated the batteries which he still held on the east,
concentrating his forces in the plaza and the Black
Fort. The former, it will be remembered, was de-
fended by its own intrenchments, and with the streets
leading to it was commanded by infantry posted
on the flat roofs of the houses. On the morning of
the 23d Twigg's and Butler's troops in the city
began advancing toward this plaza by streets run-
ning parallel with it and under cover of the houses,
but at the street crossings they were exposed to a
deadly fire of grapeshot and musketry from the
plaza. The Third and Fourth Regiments, Lieuten-
ant Grant marching with the latter, succeeded in
advancing within a square of the plaza, although
at a heavy loss, the Third especially losing five out
of twelve oflficers present. At this point they were
halted, and the men busied themselves with picking
ofT the enemy from the roofs of the houses when-
ever they showed themselves above the parapet
walls. While in this position Lieutenant Grant per-
formed an act which militates against the commonly
received opinion, fostered by his own modesty, that
there was little of the martial fire and gallantry of
the soldier in his composition.
The ammunition had given out, and Garland,
unwilling to command any one to perform such
perilous service, called for a volunteer to ride back
to General Twiggs for a fresh supply. Grant
promptly responded, and, bringing his skill in
horsemanship into play, spurred his steed to his
5
56 GENERAL GRANT.
utmost, and riding him, as the Comanches do, with
his body on the unexposed side, succeeded in run-
ning the gantlet safely. Before the ammunition
could be sent, however, the regiments were seen re-
turning as they had come, having been ordered to
retire from the position. In his headlong flight
out Grant came upon an American sentry pacing
before a house. "What are you doing here?" he
demanded, drawing rein. " Field hospital inside,"
replied the man, saluting, and on investigating the
young officer found it to be true. Within were Cap-
tain William S. Williams, of the Engineer Corps,
Lieutenant Territt, and a number of soldiers, all
badly wounded. He continued his flight, after
promising to report their condition, but the house
was taken by the enemy before aid could reach
them, and the wounded died from lack of care.
Meanwhile Worth's division had been advancing
toward the plaza from the western or opposite quar-
ter, and, by means of the ingenious expedient of
cutting a passage through the walls of the houses,
was able to approach so near the plaza by sunset that
General Ampudia during the night surrendered.
At this juncture Winfield Scott, the rank-
ing officer of the army, was sent to take command
in Mexico, and began organizing a campaign
after his original plan — viz., the capture of Vera
Cruz on the Gulf, the great seaport of Mexico, and
an approach from thence upon the capital. General
Taylor could not well be deposed, for all his battles
had been victories, but his regular troops were trans-
ferred to the new army of invasion, and he was left
with only enough volunteers to hold the line al-
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 57
ready gained, and, indeed, had orders to fall back
to the Rio Grande if hard pressed. The Fourth
Regiment was among those thus transferred, being
attached to the division of General Worth.
Scott had an army when fully mobilized of from
ten to twelve thousand men with which to achieve
the task of conquering a country of seven or eight
millions of inhabitants, a country with its capital
intrenched behind mountain walls and guarded by
defenses that had been hundreds of years in rear-
ing, and which was two hundred and sixty miles
inland from Vera Cruz, his base of operations and
of supplies. The latter, a walled city, was closely
invested by Scott early in March, 1847, ^md by the
27th so great a breach had been made in its walls
that General Morales, commanding the garrison,
made overtures for a surrender. On the 29th both
the city and the strong castle of San Juan de Ulloa
were occupied by the Americans. Five thousand
prisoners, four hundred pieces of artillery, and a
great amount of stores and ammunition were cap-
tured with the city.
Scott was now ready to begin his march on the
capital. There were but two roads thither — the
southerly route by Cordova and Orisaba and the
more northern road by Jalapa and Perote, both
leading through mountain passes easily defended,
and coming together on the great plain which in-
tervenes between the mountains of Mexico. That
via Jalapa was chosen.
On April 8th the column, some ten thousand
strong, moved, Twiggs's division having the ad-
vance, Patterson's immediately following, while
58 GENERAL GRANT.
Worth's was left behind with orders to march as
soon as transportation for six days' rations and
the necessary ammunition could be procured.
It was important to leave the coast as soon
as possible, for the dreaded vomito had already
appeared. Santa Anna, President of Mexico, was
commander in chief of her forces. Twiggs came
upon him intrenched at Cerro Gordo, a high spur
of the mountains some fifty miles west of Vera
Cruz, and about fifteen east of Jalapa. At this point
the road, said to have been the work of Cortes, as-
cends the mountain side by zigzags, with precipices
on one side and sheer mountain walls on the other.
Every angle in it was defended by artillery, sup-
ported by infantry. General Santa Anna deemed
the position impregnable to front or flank attack,
and so it seemed to the casual eye. Scott, however,
turned it by superior strategy and the skill of his
engineers. The latter, after a reconnoissance, re-
ported that it was feasible to build a road by which
the rear of the enemy's works could be gained, and
Scott ordered the plan carried out. On the right,
after nightfall, roads were constructed, now into
deep chasms and again up precipices so steep that
only men could scale them, and so silently as not to
attract the notice of the enemy. When finished,
cannon were let down on them into the chasms by
ropes held in the hands of platoons of men, and by
the same process pulled up the opposite slopes, and
in this way transported to heights in the rear of the
Mexican position and commanding it. The attack
was made from these heights on the i8th, and
proved a complete surprise, the Mexicans not hav-
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 59
ing dreamed of an enemy on the peaks above them.
Assailed in both front and rear, the reserves hastily
retreated, while those who had manned the intrench-
ments surrendered, some three thousand prisoners,
besides heavy ordnance and stores, falling into the
victors' hands. Cerro Gordo, as the place was
called, was one of the most brilliant small affairs
of this or of any war. No little of the credit attach-
ing to it is due the engineer officers who found
their way to the enemy's rear, Captain Robert E.
Lee, Lieutenants Beauregard, Foster, McClellan,
and Smith — names that became famous on later
and larger fields. It should be borne in mind, how-
ever, that the victories of Taylor — particularly that
of Buena Vista, gained after Grant left his com-
mand — by depleting and demoralizing the Mexi-
can army, also greatly aided Scott in this and other
battles before Mexico.
Immediately after Cerro Gordo the column
moved on Jalapa, which yielded without resistance.
Here the army found itself in a beautiful, salubri-
ous, productive country, capable of supporting it
without reference to any base of supplies. It was
important, however, that the mountain passes be-
yond should be seized and held before the Mexicans
could rally, and Worth's division was dispatched
on this duty. It marched through the passes with-
out opposition, and occupied the important town
and castle of Perote, at the point where the road
debouches from the mountains upon the great plain
of the city of Mexico.
Scott with the main body remained behind.
The term of enlistment of four thousand men was
6o GENERAL GRANT.
about to expire, and, as they refused to re-enlist,
it was necessary to await re-enforcements. It was
August before these came, but as soon as they ar-
rived the commander entered upon his final cam-
paign. In the interim Worth's division had been
pushed forward from Perote and had occupied Pu-
ebla, which now became Scott's base of operations
against the city of i^Iexico.
His force moved upon the capital — some four
days' march distant — in four divisions, commanded
by Generals Pillow, Quitman, Twiggs, and Worth,
and a cavalry corps under Colonel William S. Har-
ney, composed of detachments of the First, Second,
and Third Dragoons. The advance began on
August 7th. On the third day the column gained
the summit of the Rio Frio Mountain, eleven thou-
sand feet above tide water, and as it moved down
its western side caught glimpses of the great city
and of its frowning defenses a few miles beyond,
which they were to attack and carry.
Between it and them lay three lakes — Texcoco
on the right, Chalco and Xochimilco on the left —
stretching from the mountain's base to the eastern
side of the city. Behind the latter the plain extended
to the base of another mountain some six miles to
the westward. Through their glasses Scott's en-
gineers could discover some of the strong fortifica-
tions which rendered the city almost impregnable
to a direct attack. Between Lakes Chalco and
Texcoco ran a narrow thread of sand, which formed
the bed of the direct road to the capital. On the
right of this road rose a high and rocky mound,
called I'^.l Penon, which was stronqlv fortified bv re-
J
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 6l
doubts at both base and summit. The engineers,
after approaching to within gunshot, saw that El
Penon made a direct approach impracticable, and
directed their efforts to a flank movement, as at
Cerro Gordo. They decided on an attack from the
south and southwest by the south side of Lake Chal-
co. San Augustin Tlalpam,a small town eleven miles
due south from the plaza of Mexico, was occu-
pied on August 1 8th. Between it and the city
lay the hacienda of San Antonio and the village
of Churubusco, both strongly fortified, and south-
west of them the strong fortress of Contreras, set in
the midst of volcanic rocks near the base of a moun-
tain which, ragged and broken with lava fragments,
extended nearly to San Antonio. Garland's bri-
gade, to which Lieutenant Grant was still attached,
was advanced from San Augustin Tlalpam on the
road to Churubusco and Mexico with instructions
to menace San Antonio, but not to attack till further
orders. The latter lay deep in the valley, but little
above the level of the lakes, and wath such natural
barriers on either side that it could be attacked
only in front, and then only along a narrow cause-
way, every foot of which was swept by the enemy's
guns. In reconnoitering the position, Scott dis-
covered that if Contreras, some three miles to the
westward, were captured, the capital could be ap-
proached from that quarter and San Antonio turned.
He decided, therefore, to attack this latter posi-
tion first. Here again the skill of his engineers was
brought into requisition. They completed a road
during the day and night of the 19th, by which
troops were moved to the north and west of the
62 GENERAL GRANT.
Stronghold, and next morning Contreras was car-
ried by a sharp assault of half an hour, in which
the whole army — except Garland's brigade, posted
at San Antonio, and part of Quitman's division, sta-
tioned at San Augustin Tlalpam — were engaged or
under arms as reserves.
Upon observing their success, General Gar-
land's brigade moved forward, but found no ene-
my in its immediate front, and an hour later,
receiving orders to advance on San Antonio, it
found the village deserted. Meantime Clark's bri-
gade, also of Worth's division, had moved west and
north around San Antonio, and then turning east
had reached the causeway leading to Chururbusco
and the capital. Here its left struck a tefc-dc-pont,
and brought on an engagement which soon became
general, and which proved to be the severest conflict
fought in the valley of Mexico. Garland's brigade
soon came up from San Antonio and joined in the
contest. At about the same time Scott reached the
battlefield, and directed General James Shields to take
two brigades and turn the enemy's right, which the
latter succeeded in doing only after severe fighting.
Whereupon the enemy fled, leaving behind artillery,
prisoners, and small arms, and the victorious army
swept along the causeways to the gates of the capi-
tal. It might easily have entered, but Nicholas P.
Trist, a commissioner on the part of the United
States, was in camp, and it was thought that ne-
gotiations for peace could better be carried on while
the Mexican (Government was in possession of its
capital than if it were fugitive and scattered through-
out tlie country. An armistice was therefore agreed
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 63
upon, and Mr. Trist opened negotiations with the
Mexican commissioners. His ultimatum was the
yielding of Texas absolutely and the cession of
New ]\Iexico and California for a stipulated sum.
The Mexicans were so incensed at these terms that
they broke the truce without giving due notice, and
Scott in return declared the armistice at an end.
Both parties now prepared for the final struggle.
The American army after the battle of Churu-
busco had taken position on the mountain slopes
south of the city, its line extending west as far as
the village of Tacubaya, some four miles southwest
of the capital. Worth's division occupied that vil-
lage, which was also the headquarters of General
Scott. A little more than a mile west stood a long,
low stone mill, known as Molino del Rey, whose
flat roof parapeted with sand bags was defended
by infantry. Farther north, in a direct line between
Molino del Rey and the city, rose the stronghold
of Chapultepec, a hill some three hundred feet high
rising precipitously out of the plain, with its sum-
mit and rocky sides strongly fortified. The aque-
duct that supplied Mexico with water ran from
Molino del Rey past the western base of Chapulte-
pec to the city through the center of a broad, smooth
highway. There was another aqueduct leading from
the eastern base of Chapultepec by a similar road.
The arches of both aqueducts, it was seen, would
afford cover for the attacking as well as the defend-
ing force. Across the roads here and there were
thrown parapets, defended by a single gun with
infantr}^ supports for each. The roofs of some of
the houses along the roads were also occupied by
64
GENERAL GRANT.
armed men. Deep and wide ditches on both sides
of the streets filled with water completed the defenses
which Scott's army carried in the taking of Mexico.
In these final battles the young lieutenant of the
Fourth especially distinguished himself. He had
served as quartermaster during the march inland
with his accustomed energy and activity, on one
occasion leading a foraging party guarded by one
thousand men far into the enemy's country in quest
of supplies. At this early stage of his career he
gave proofs of that executive ability which later
distinguished him and was no inconsiderable ele-
ment of his success. As quartermaster he was ex-
empt from service in the field, but when his regi-
ment went into battle Grant divested himself of his
clerical office and marched and fought at the front.
Scott began his final attack on Mexico on the
morning of September 8th by ordering Worth to
attack Molino del Rey. He made a gallant charge,
the guns of Chapultepec playing upon his troops as
they advanced, but, unheeding the iron hail, they en-
tered the mill by every door, and either captured the
defenders or drove them in precipitate flight toward
Chapultepec. Among the first to enter the mill was
Lieutenant Grant. In passing through the door, he
noticed Mexicans still on the roof, and seeing no
stairways or other means of reaching the latter, he
took a file of men, and placing a cart with the shafts
uppermost against the walls, he and his force clam-
bered by means of it to the roof. There he found
a Mexican major and several other minor officers
and privates guarded by a single American soldier,
who had reached the spot in advance of his com-
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 65
mander and demanded and received their surren-
der. Batteries were now established, and on the
morning- of the 12th opened fire on Chapultepec.
The next morning this strong position was carried
by two columns of Pillow's brigade of two hundred
and fifty men each, headed by Captains Samuel
McKenzie and Silas Casey.
The advance on the city gates, Belen and San
Cosme, along the aqueduct roads, was now ordered.
Worth's division, with which marched the Fourth,
had the advance on the San Cosme or westernmost
road, while General Quitman commanded the col-
umn directed against Belen. Lieutenant Grant was
in the front rank of skirmishers on the San Cosme
road; besides himself, there were but three other
commissioned officers in command of the attack-
ing force. Sheltering themselves behind the arches
of the aqueduct and springing from arch to arch,
the troops met no serious resistance until they
reached the road running east into the city to the
San Cosme gate, which road the aqueduct fol-
lowed. Here they were halted for a time by a gun
planted in the angle of the road and supported by
troops on the housetops in the rear. Lieutenant
Grant, looking about for means to turn this posi-
tion, saw a house in the southwest angle of the east
and north roads, the yard of which was inclosed
by a heavy stone wall abutting on both roads and
also extending across from one to the other, in-
closing a kind of triangle. Making a private recon-
noissance, he saw that under cover of this wall his
troops might pass the gun in the angle and gain
the east road beyond it, thus turning the position.
66 GENERAL GRANT.
Hastening back, he called for volunteers, and, fol-
lowed by all within hearing, he pushed forward to-
ward the east road. About halfway across he came
upon a body of United States troops under Captain
Horace Brooks of the artillery, who had come up
since his reconnoissance under cover of a shallow
ditch near by. Briefly explaining to Brooks his
purpose, the latter told him to move on and he
would follow. He did so and gained the road, the
result being that the gunners in the angle and those
on the housetops beat a hasty retreat, the Ameri-
cans pursuing them with such vigor that another
parapet halfway to the gate was carried and held
for a time; but re-enforcements not coming up,
it was abandoned, to be retaken later with loss.
A second time during the day the young lieuten-
ant gave evidence of those powers which later were
exhibited on wider fields. In the afternoon, as the
army drew nearer the gates, he was again recon-
noitering, and discovered a church to the south-
ward of the road, the steeple of which he judged
would command the rear of the gate San Cosnie.
Securing an officer of roltignirs with a mountain
howitzer and a sufficient number of soldiers to man
it, he led them across the fields over ditches and
stiles to the church, and, forcing an entrace, suc-
ceeded in mounting the howitzer in the steeple,
whence it soon began to play upon the astounded
defenders of the San Cosme. The latter might have
sent a company and captured the gun, which was
entirely unsupported, but that would have been
sacrilege. Worth from his position saw the effect
l)ro(luccd by this coup, and was so pleased that
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. C,'^
he sent Pemberton — later in command of Vicks-
burg against General Grant — to bring the com-
mander of the gun to him, and on Grant's appear-
ance thanked him for the service performed, and
ordered another howitzer, with men to work it, sent
to the steeple, which, however. Lieutenant Grant
did not use, as there was not sufficient space in the
belfry for a second gun. For this exploit the young
lieutenant received special mention in the reports
of three officers— General Worth, Colonel Garland,
and Major Francis Lee, commanding the Fourth
Infantry, who said that Grant behaved with " dis-
tinguished gallantry," while Garland, who led the
brigade, commended the young soldier for " acquit-
ting himself most nobly on several occasions." For
this action Grant received the brevet of captain for
" gallant and meritorious conduct," awarded in
1849, but not confirmed until 1850. His first lieu-
tenantcy dated from September, 1847.
On the night of September 13th the American
line of battle confronted the Mexican from the
gate San Cosme to the Belen gate, and an assault
was imminent. That night, however, Santa Anna
evacuated the city, first turning loose the convicts
and other desperadoes to prey upon the invaders.
Next morning the victorious Americans entered
and took possession. Worth's command being quar-
tered in the Alameda, the beautiful park of the city,
and Quitman's taking possession of the plaza and
the Capitol, the latter a mass of buildings on the
east side, in which the Government departments
were situated, known locally as the Palace, and
sometimes called in literature the " Halls of the
68 GENERAL GRANT.
Montezumas." The convicts which had been re-
leased by Santa Anna fired upon the Americans as
they entered, kilhng, among" others, Lieutenant Sid-
ney Smith, of the Fourth Regiment, by whose death
our young soldier rose to the grade of first lieuten-
ant. A little later Scott rode into Mexico in state,
and 'from the Capitol issued such orders as restored
tranquillity to the city.
The campaign in Mexico was ended. Lieuten-
ant Grant passed through it with honor. As he
himself said, he was in every battle possible for one
man to be in. He received special mention in four
diflferent army reports, and he was one of that small
band of West Point graduates of whom General
Scott later said, before a congressional committee,
" I give it as my fixed opinion that but for our
graduated cadets the war between the United States
and Mexico would have lasted four or five years,
with, in its first half, more defeats than victories
fallen to our share. ... In less than two campaigns
we conquered a great country and a peace without
the loss of a single battle or a skirmish." This
record should be dwelt upon, because in much that
has been written of him too great stress has been
laid on the obscure period of his career from which
he emerged to become the cynosure of all eyes,
whereas this sixteen months' campaign rendered
him the tried soldier and discovered and trained
those great qualities which were later so signally
displayed for the salvation of his country. He be-
lieved the war an unholy one. urged by the pro-
slavery party to win territory for the creation of
new slave States, but entered upon it with the re-
4
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 69
solve to do his whole duty. Years after, Grant said :
" I do not think there ever was a more wicked war
waged than that by the United States on Mexico.
I thought so at the time, when I was a youngster,
only I had not moral courage enough to resign."
It was certainly a war of plunder and extreme in-
justice. This was the opinion of both Scott and
Taylor. The war was so essentially in the interest
of the slaveholding section of the country that it
was strongly opposed by the free States of the
North. When, in February, 1847, ^ member of the
Senate asserted that the Mexicans should welcome
our army, Thomas Corwin, of Ohio, eloquently re-
plied, " If I were a Mexican as I am an American,
I would welcome them with bloody hands to hos-
pitable graves ! "
From the field Grant wrote to his father at the
commencement of the war: " I do not mean you
shall ever hear of my shirking my duty in battle.
]\Iy new post of quartermaster is considered to
afford an ofificer an opportunity to be relieved from
fighting, but I do not and can not see it in that
light. You have always taught me that the post of
danger is the post of duty." After the war Grant
said to a friend: " It was a mere accident that put
me in the army. I had not much light in me, and
did not wish to go to the war. I thought of being
a teacher or a farmer, and I thought of going to
sea; but of all possible futures that I dreamed of
before going to West Point, being a soldier was not
one of them."
General Longstreet, in a letter to the author,
says: " When the army of occupation assembled at
^o
GENERAL GRANT.
Corpus Christi, Tex., in the autumn of 1845, that
country was wilder and more remote from the civ-
ilized parts of the globe than the wildest parts of
the Rocky Mountains of the present day. The
Government was so strict in the management of its
finances that it never provided transportation for
books, and mails were only allowed once or, by
chance, twice a week. The only change the young
officers had from the routine of drill and prepara-
tion for the war anticipated with Mexico was the
frequent visits at our camps of Indians with mus-
tang horses just captured from the wild herds of the
prairies. The price of the animals was from two
and a half to five dollars. They were ponies usually,
but occasionally a good-sized animal was brought in.
" On one occasion, when Grant happened at
my tent, a fine-sized animal, of rich yellow color,
w^as brought up. Grant fancied him., paid the high-
est price, had the blindfold put on, then the bridle
and saddle. These, with the spurs of the times, were
of the Mexican style, and when properly adjusted
nothing could move the saddle or turn it to either
side. The weight of the horse could be pulled by
a lariat tied to the saddle. When the horse was
ready. Grant put on the Mexican spurs, mounted,
and ordered the blindfold ofif. The frightened ani-
mal bounded like a bull, threw his head to the
ground, reared, and leaped. Grant drove in the
heavy spurs, and the horse ran for the chaparral.
A free rein was given him and more of the spur,
and horse and rider disappeared in the brush. No
anxiety was felt, for Grant was known as an accom-
plished horseman. In about an hour and a half the
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO.
71
horse and rider returned, both well tired; the horse,
in a foam, came up in a gentle walk."
Grant ridiculed the idea that he could be un-
horsed so long as the animal stood on his feet. He
asked but one thing of a steed, and that was that
he should go along. No Mexican vaqnero, Ameri-
can cowboy, or Bedouin sheik had a firmer seat or
more resembled a centaur. During the campaign
he mounted a wild stallion that was saddled for the
first time. Grant writes: " I had, however, but little
difficulty in breaking him, although for the first
day there were frequent disagreements between us
as to which way we should go, and sometimes as
to whether we should go at all. At no time during
the day could I choose exactly the part of the col-
umn I would march with, but after that I had as
tractable a horse as any with the army." During
the occupation of the capital a Mexican gentleman
with whom Grant was on terms of intimacy re-
quested the loan of the fiery and spirited stallion.
Grant said afterward, " I was afraid he could not
ride the horse, and yet I knew if I said a word to
that efTect the suspicious Spanish nature would
think I was unwilling to lend him." The result was
the unfortunate Mexican mounted the stallion, was
thrown before he had gone three blocks, and killed
on the spot.
Two incidents of Grant's association with the
Fourth Infantry, and also two of the general's anec-
dotes of officers connected with the regiment, may
appropriately conclude this chapter. While drilling
his company at Jeflferson Barracks, General Garland,
then in command, approached with some friends,
72
GENERAL GRANT.
and, halting, said, " Where are the rest of your men,
heutenant?" "Absent, by your leave, sir," answered
Grant. " That is not true," remarked the general.
Instantly the young officer ordered the first ser-
geant to take command of the company, and then,
placing the point of his sword at Garland's breast,
said, " Unless you apologize at once for this insult,
I will run you through." This sobered the general,
the apology was promptly made, and it is pleasant
to record that they were ever after friends.
At Camp Salubrity, where the Fourth was or-
dered when the yellow fever appeared in New Or-
leans in May, 1846, the summer was spent agree-
ably in visiting the planters on the Red River, the
families of Grand Ecore and Natchitoches, and in
occasional trips to Fort Jesup, a distance of about
twenty-five miles, which Grant rode in one instance
on a wager in less than two hours. Among the
amusements of the summer the officers of the
Fourth appeared in the play of Othello for the en-
tertainment of the many friends from whom hospi-
talities had been received. The part of the Moor
was taken by Lieutenant Haslett, while Grant ap-
peared as Desdemona. One of the few survivors of
the regiment who was present remembers that the
heroine's part was well represented, and that many
of the young Acadians, who had never before seen
a play, were enthusiastic over the performance.
When the Fourth was ordered to marcli from
Corpus Christi, stringent orders were issued by
General Taylor against overloading the wagons,
and officers were requested to reduce their baggage
to the lowest amount possible. The colonel, inspect-
THE CAMPAIGN IN MEXICO. 73
ing the wagons of his command before starting, dis-
covered a small bookcase containing a few favor-
ite volumes belonging to a young officer of literary
tastes. " That will never do, Mr. Graham. We can
not encumber our train with such rubbish as books,"
and so they were left behind. The colonel next met
Adjutant Hoskins, who had just seen the books
taken out, and who said, in a deprecatory manner,
that not being well, and requiring a stimulant, he
had taken the liberty of putting a small keg of
whisky in the wagon. " Oh, that is all right, Mr.
Hoskins, anything in reason, but Graham wanted
to carry books! "
Grant's other anecdote was of a good-natured,
careless brother officer, who possessed httle or noth-
ing of his own, taking, during Lieutenant Graham's
absence, his fine horse, dog, and gun, and going out
for a day's shooting. In the course of the day he
rode the horse down to a slough to drink, the bank
gave way, a hind leg was caught in the root of a
tree, and the horse was drowned. The lieutenant
lost the gun in removing the saddle and bridle,
which he carried back to camp after a long tramp,
in the course of which the dog was badly hurt by
some wild animal. When Graham expostulated
rather strongly on the loss of his property, which
had been taken without leave or license, the delin-
quent, with an aggrieved air, answered, " Well,
didn't I nearly kill myself carrying your saddle and
bridle back for six or seven miles?" The general
found the telling of this little story a somewhat dif-
ficult achievement, so comical did the circumstances
always appear to strike him.
CHAPTER IV.
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT.
After the signing- of the treaty of peace with
Mexico in April, 1848, the Fourth Infantry re-
turned to the United States, and in the following
August our hero was married to Miss Julia Dent,
of St. Louis, a sister of one of his West Point class-
mates. They became acquainted soon after Grant
was ordered to Jefferson Barracks, and when the
young lady of seventeen had just completed her
course at a fashionable school. The young officer,
about four years her senior, became a frequent guest
at her father's house, a few miles west of St. Louis.
He was then known among the young ladies as the
" pretty little lieutenant " and the " little blue-eyed
beauty," possessing, as he did at that time, a clear
white-and-pink complexion. Before Grant's de-
parture for Mexico the young soldier was accepted,
and their marriage occurred soon after the close of
the war. In September they went to Sackett's Har-
bor, N, Y., remaining there until the following
spring, when Grant was ordered to Detroit, Mich.,
where two uneventful years were passed in the mo-
notonous duties of garrison life in time of peace.
74
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 75
He was the quartermaster and commissary of the
regiment, which was stationed along the Canadian
frontiers with headquarters at Detroit. Subsequently
the Fourth was ordered to Sackett's Harbor, and a
year later to Governor's Island, N. Y., en route for
the Pacific coast, the discovery of gold in Cali-
fornia in 1849, s"cl consequent influx of emigrants,
rendering the presence of additional troops neces-
sary. In July, 1852, eight companies, under com-
mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Bonneville, embarked
on the steamer Ohio for Aspinwall, where the troops
crossed the Isthmus to Panama, and then proceeded
up the coast by another steamer to San Francisco.
The transit of the Isthmus entailed great labor
on Captain Grant, who was again acting as quarter-
master and commissary. The railroad was then
completed only to the crossing of the Chagres River.
From that point the route was by boats up the river
to Gorgona, and then twenty-five miles on mule-
back over the mountains to Panama. The regiment,
except one company, which was left to guard the
camp equipage, and the soldiers with families, went
forward by boats to Gorgona, and thence marched
to Panama. Quartermaster Grant, with the detailed
company, the women and children, tents, mess
chests, and camp kettles, was ordered to proceed to
Cruces, a town farther up the river than Gorgona,
where transportation in the form of pack mules
had been provided. On arriving at Cruces, how-
ever. Grant found that the contractor had not and
could not procure the necessary mules, the great
number of gold hunters and large amount of freight
then pouring across the Isthmus having created
76
GENERAL GRANT.
a great demand for all beasts of burden. To add
to his embarrassment, cholera appeared among his
command. To escape it, the detailed company was
sent on to Panama with the doctors, and Grant was
left alone with the married soldiers and women and
children. Meantime he had made a new contract
with a native at a greatly increased price, and, after
a week's delay, enough animals were secured to
transport all to Panama. At Cruces and on the way
to the coast nearly one third of his command died
with the cholera.
Arriving at Panama, they found that the steamer
would not sail until the pestilence had abated, lest
once at sea she should become a floating charnel
house. They were therefore forced to wait amid
tropical heat and rains several weeks longer. At
length, the pestilence having measurably abated, the
steamer proceeded on her way, and reached San
Francisco without incident early in September.
Mrs. Grant, having been left behind at her father's
house in St. Louis with her infant son Frederick,
escaped these privations. The Fourth found in San
Francisco a pasteboard city, which had sprung up
in a day, and was filled with eager adventurers of all
classes and nationalities. The regiment was quar-
tered for a time at Benicia Barracks, but was soon
ordered to Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River,
in what was then Oregon Territory, Washington
not having been organized. In these wastes Captain
Grant remained nearly a year, or until the death
of General Taylor's son-in-law. Colonel Bliss, of
the adjutant general's department, July 5, 1853,
promoted him to the captaincy of a company then
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 77
Stationed at Humboldt Bay, in California. Thither
in September of the same year he proceeded via
San Francisco, and entered upon the duties of his
new command.
By the spring of 1854 the enforced idleness and
isolation of his life at Humboldt had become almost
unendurable. His family— the latter increased by
the birth of a second son while he was on the Isth-
mus — were still at St. Louis, the husband and fa-
ther being- unable on his slender pay as an army
ofificer to support them on the Pacific coast, where
the cost of living at that time was so great that
his means would have been totally inadequate to
maintain a household.
With no war in prospect and little hope of pro-
motion, Grant determined to resign and return to
his family in St. Louis. Accordingly, in March,
1854, after an interview with Colonel Buchanan, he
sent to the proper authorities an application for
leave of absence until the July following, and in-
closed his resignation, to date from the end of that
month. To a member of the regiment he said
before his departure, " Whoever hears of me in ten
years will hear of a well-to-do Western farmer."
Arriving in San Francisco, Grant was grievously
disappointed in his expectation of receiving two
sums of money that were due him, amounting to
nearly three thousand dollars, which he never suc-
ceeded in collecting. One of his debtors was ab-
sent from the city; the other, who later became an
admiral of our navy, was unable to discharge the
indebtedness. To the kindness of Lieutenant Buck-
ner Grant was indebted for a loan of the necessary
78 GENERAL GRANT.
amount to enable him to reach his family. This
sum was promptly repaid with funds advanced by
a friend in the East. He sailed for New York, and
reached St. Louis late in August, 1854.
His career during the next six years proved how
difficult it was for one of military training to suc-
ceed in civil life. He began first as a tiller of the
soil, his wife having a small farm near the city,
which his father aided him to stock and on which,
largely with his own labor, he built a house. Be-
tween the intervals of farm work he carried wood
to the St. Louis market. He might have suc-
ceeded in time, but his old enemy, the fever and
ague, which had troubled him while a youth in
Ohio, seized him again, and in 1858 forced him
to remove from the farm. His next venture was
a partnership in the real-estate business in St. Louis
with a cousin of Mrs. Grant. At the same time he
became a candidate for the lucrative office of county
engineer, but failed to secure it, his rival being a
citizen of the county, while he was not. His real-
estate business did not prove immediately profitable,
and, as he must have present support for his fam-
ily, he soon relinquished it to his partner, and ac-
cepted a nominal clerkship in the leather house
which his father had established, and which his
two younger brothers were now conducting in Ga-
lena, 111. In a letter addressed to the author, dated
Covington, Ky., March 20, 1868, the elder Grant
writes: "After Ulysses's farming and real-estate
experiments failed to be self-supporting, he came
to me at this place for advice and assistance. I re-
ferred him to Simpson, my next oldest son, who
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT.
79
had charge of my Galena business, and who was
staying with me at that time on account of poor
heakh. Simpson sent him to the Galena store to
stay until something better should turn up in his
favor, and told him he would be allowed a salary of
eight hundred dollars per annum. . . . That amount
would have supported his family then, but he owed
debts at St. Louis, and did draw fifteen hundred dol-
lars in the year, but he soon paid back the balance
after he went into the army."
As an army officer he had never voted, and had
taken little interest in politics. His first vote for
President had been cast for James Buchanan in
1856, not so much because he admired the man
or favored the principles of his party, but because
he had no confidence in the capacity of Colonel
Fremont, and he saw clearly that the election of
the Republican candidate meant the secession of all
the slave States, v/hereas if a Democrat were elected
the South could have no pretext for seceding, and
four years more of peace would be assured, in which
time he hoped the passions of men would have
cooled and reason have resumed her sway. At the
presidential election of i860, he had not gained a
residence in Illinois, and could not vote, but his
sympathies were with the Republican party. He
took no part in the presidential campaign except
to teach the Republican organization — the Wide
Awakes — how to drill in their rooms. Abraham
Lincoln was elected in November, i860, and, with-
out further provocation, the Southern States, soon
after his inauguration, seized the national property,
fired upon the flag, and declared themselves out of
8o GENERAL GRANT.
the Union. It was evident that the time for patri-
ots to draw the sword had come. Grant's oppor-
tunity had at last arrived.
For some weeks, in the stir and bustle of war-
like preparations — " the mighty and puissant nation,
rousing itself like a strong man from sleep " — the un-
demonstrative clerk in the leather store at Galena
was overlooked. He was not in politics, and politics
had much to do with the organization of the army
in 1 86 1. He was not the man to obtrude his merits
or army record upon those in authority, and the
many who did were preferred to him. At the age
of thirty-nine Grant was, as has been seen, an ob-
scure man, whose career his best friend would have
been compelled to confess was a conspicuous fail-
ure. The man would himself have honestly in-
dorsed that opinion. He had tried many things
and succeeded in none. Few lives were more un-
eventful, secluded, and even obscure until he had
passed the period when Burns and Byron died, and
the age when Wolfe and McPherson fell gloriously
at Quebec and Atlanta. Like Moltke before Sadowa,
Grant was unknown to his contemporaries until
the world rang with his fame so fairly won at Fort
Donelson and on the heights of \'icksburg. Within
four years he emerged from the obscurity of a
Mississippi town to a proud position among the
most celebrated commanders of the century, cer-
tainly not surpassed by any living soldier, control-
ling larger armies than Xapoleon commanded in
the days of his greatest glory. Within another dec-
ade the man of whom we write was twice chosen
chief of our republic, and a few years later, in his
i
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 8 1
tour around the world, the welcome guest of the
greatest of the earth, receiving from them such
honors as were never before or since extended to
an American. Then came the sad end, and such a
public funeral in the nation's chief city as had never
been seen in the New World. Nearly twelve years
later, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of his birth, the
great commander's honored remains were removed
with imposing ceremonial, in the presence of the
President of the republic, and placed in a magnificent
tomb, unequaled by any ever erected for a soldier.
No novelist would dream of inventing such a marvel-
ous story. It would seem too improbable even for the
pages of fiction. History supplies few, if any, exam-
ples of equally sudden, brilliant, and enduring fame.
Grant saw clearly the great question at issue
between the North and the South, and his one idea,
like Lincoln's, was to save the Union. His stead-
fast soul clung to that thought with a grim tenacity
that could be expressed only in some such words
as St. Paul's when he said. " This one thing I do."
Within four years nearly half a million of men slept in
their graves that the Union might be preserved and
the nation freed from the curse of slavery. No man
contributed more to that mighty achievement than the
modest clerk of Galena, of whose existence even the
member of Congress from that district was entirely
ignorant the April day our flag fell at Fort Sumter.
Lincoln issued his call for seventy-five thousand
volunteers on April 15th, two days after the fall of
Fort Sumter-. " The proclamation," says Mr.Blaine,
" was responded to in the loyal States with an un-
paralleled burst of enthusiasm. On the day of its
82 GENERAL GRANT.
issue hundreds of public meetings were held from
the eastern border of Maine to the extreme Western
frontier. Work was suspended on farm and in fac-
tory, and the whole people were aroused to patriotic
ardor, and to a determination to subdue the re-
bellion and restore the Union whatever might be
the expenditure of treasure or the sacrifice of life."
When news of the President's call for troops reached
Galena, a public meeting was held, and a second im-
mediately followed, over which Captain Grant was
chosen to preside. He briefly and with some em-
barrassment stated the objects of their being assem-
bled together on that evening, and said, " I am in
for the war and shall stay until this wicked rebellion
is crushed at the cannon's mouth." Patriotic ad-
dresses followed by Elihu B. Washburne and John A.
Rawlins, a well-known Democratic lawyer of Galena.
A company was raised in part at this second
meeting, the command of which when completed
was tendered Grant, but he declined, with the hope
of receiving the colonelcy of an Illinois regiment,
or a similar position in the United States army,
which he greatly preferred. Grant, however, con-
sented to take charge of the company, called the
Jo Daviess Guards, and instruct it how to drill; he
even accompanied it in this capacity to Springfield,
the capital of the State. Richard Yates was then
Governor of Illinois, a man of sterling integrity,
a statesman and orator, who was a fit colleague for
Andrews, of Massachusetts, Buckingham, of Con-
necticut, Morgan, of New York, Curtin, of Penn-
sylvania, Morton, of Indiana, and other " war gov-
ernors " who might be named.
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 83
Yates's fiber was shown by his reply to a con-
stituent who had written to know what he should
do if his disloyal neighbor pulled down the Ameri-
can flag — " Shoot him as you would a dog, and I
will pardon you for the ofifense! " replied Yates.
Grant was introduced by letter to Governor Yates
by Elihu B. Washburne, representative from the Ga-
lena district, as a West Point graduate and a veteran
of the Mexican War. The Governor said, " Do you
know how many men it takes to make a company,
and how many to make a regiment, and what of-
ficers each must have? " *' Perfectly," replied Grant.
" Well." said the Governor, " I want you to take
a chair in my office and assist the adjutant general
of the State." Captain Grant remained in this
subordinate capacity several weeks, mustering in
most of the sixteen regiments which formed the
States's quota.
While thus engaged he visited his family at
Covington, Ky., for a few days. In the interim a
townsman of Grant's called upon the Governor, and
the latter in the course of the interview said:
" What kind of a man is this Grant? He has been
educated at West Point, and says he wants to go
into the army. Several regiments have offered to
elect him colonel, but he says ' No/ and declines to
be a candidate. What does he want?" "Grant
has only served in the regular army, where they
have no elections, officers being promoted accord-
ing to seniority," replied the friend. " Whatever
place you have for him, appoint the captain without
consulting him, and you will find he will accept
any position to which he is assigned."
84 GENERAL GRANT.
Acting- on this suggestion, the Governor com-
missioned him colonel of the Twenty-first IlHnois
Volunteers. Grant had desired a commission in the
regular army. Previous to this, while at home in
Galena for a short visit, he had written to Adjutant-
General Thomas at Washington, saying that, having
had fifteen years' service in the army, including four
years at the Military Academy, he felt competent, in
view of his present age and length of service, to com-
mand a regiment if the President in his judgment
should see fit to intrust one to him. He hesitated
to suggest rank as high as a colonelcy, he wrote
after the war, having some doubt as to whether
he was equal to the position, but, having seen most
of the colonels who had been mustered in from the
States of Illinois and Indiana, he thought that if
they could command a regiment properly he could,
and so made the application.* No reply was ever
* Galena, III., .Vay 24, 1861.
Sir : Having served for fifteen years in the regular army, in-
cluding four years at West Point, and feeling it the duty of every
one who has been educated at the Government expense to offer
their services for the support of that Government, I have the hon-
or very respectfully to tender my services until the close of the war
in such capacity as may be offered. I would say, in view of my
present age and length of service, I feel myself competent to com-
mand a regiment if the President in his judgment should see fit
to intrust one to me. Since the first call of the President I have
been serving on the staff of the Governor of this State, rendering
such aid as I could in the organization of our State militia, and
am still engaged in that capacity. A letter addressed to me at
Springfield, 111., will reach me. I am, very respectfully,
Your obedient ser\'ant,
U. S. Grant.
Colonel L. Thomas, Adjutant General U. S. A., Was/ihigton D. C.
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 85
received to it, and none was written. Long after
the war General E. D. Townsend, who had become
adjutant general, while packing papers preparatory
to a removal of his office in Washington, discovered
the letter in an out-of-the-way place. It had never
been seen by Lincoln or by the Secretary of War,
Simon Cameron, perhaps not even by General
Thomas. Grant now accepted the commission from
Governor Yates, and proceeded to ]\Iattoon, where
the Twenty-first had been mustered in, to take com-
mand. It was suggested that John A. Logan and
others should make speeches on the occasion of
Grant assuming the colonelcy. The programme
was carried out, w'hen there were loud calls for
Colonel Grant. He stepped forward and made an
effective speech of four words, " Go to your quar-
ters ! " Yates was subsequently very proud of this
act, and claimed to have been the first to " dis-
cover " General Grant. " God gave him to his coun-
try," said he on one occasion, " and I signed his
first commission." Then, lifting his right hand to
heaven, he exclaimed, " And it was the most glori-
ous day of my life wdien these fingers signed that
commission ! " Mr. Washburne, by whose influence
Grant was later commissioned brigadier general of
volunteers by President Lincoln, was a rival claim-
ant for the honor of discovering him.
Before receiving his commission as colonel, bear-
ing date Jnne 15, 1861, Grant went to Cincinnati
to visit Major-General McClellan, then in command
of Ohio troops, who had shared his quarters for
three months at Fort Vancouver. The two had
served together in Mexico, and, although Grant
86 GENERAL GRANT.
had no intention of making an application for a
position on his staff, he still hoped that McClellan
might offer him one. He went twice to headquar-
ters, but did not see the general, who was absent in
Washington, and returned to Illinois without men-
tioning his aspirations to any one. Grant had also
applied unsuccessfully to Captain Lyon and Colonel
Blair in St. Louis, and to Governor Morton, of In-
diana, who told him that the State's quota of six
regiments were all officered. When his commission
was handed to him by Governor Yates, he immedi-
ately accepted it and at once entered upon the dis-
charge of his duties. Removing the regiment from
their place of organization, Mattoon, to Caseyville,
he superintended their drill, improved their disci-
pline, and not long after he marched his men, in de-
fault of railroad transportation, one hundred and
twenty miles to Quincy, on the Mississippi, which
was supposed to be in danger. Thence he moved
under orders to defend the line of the Hannibal and
St. Joseph's Railroad in Missouri, and here, coming
into contact with other regiments commanded by
volunteer officers, his military education and experi-
ence pointed to him, although the youngest colonel
of the combined forces, as acting brigadier general
of this force; his headquarters on July 31st were at
Mexico, about fifty miles north of the Missouri
River. On August 7th he was commissioned by the
President brigadier general of volunteers, to date
from May 17th, his first knowledge of his promo-
tion coming to him from the newspapers of the
day. As one of the few regular officers among
the Illinois troo]js, his name had been suggested to
THE BATTLE OF BEI.MONT.
87
Mr. Lincoln by Washburne for a brigadier general-
ship, and the recommendation was unanimously
concurred in by all the other members of Congress
from Illinois. He was seventeenth in a list of thirty-
four original appointments of that date.
Grant at this time was thirty-nine years of age,
below the medium height, with a countenance in-
dicative of reserve and indomitable will. He was
careless in dress, but a strict disciplinarian, as illus-
trated by the following incident narrated by Chap-
lain Crane of his regiment. " I was walking," he
says, " over the camp with him one morning after
breakfast; it was usual for each company to call
the roll at a given hour; it was now probably a half
hour after the time for that duty. The colonel was
quietly smoking his old meerschaum and talking
and walking along when he noticed a company
drawn up in line and the roll being called. He in-
stantly drew his pipe from his mouth and exclaimed,
* Captain, this is no time for calling the roll ; order
your men to their quarters immediately.' The com-
mand was instantly obeyed, and the colonel re-
sumed his smoking, and walked on, conversing as
quietly as if nothing had happened. For this vio-
lation of discipline those men went without rations
that day, except what they gathered up privately
from among their friends of other companies. Such
a breach of order was never witnessed in the regi-
ment afterward while he was its colonel. This
promptness is one of Grant's characteristics, and it
is one of the secrets of his success."
Some of his punishments were pecul'ar but effec-
tive. The chaplain continues: "On one of our
7
88 GENERAL GRANT.
marches, when passing through one of those small
towns where the grocery is the principal establish-
ment, some of the lovers of intoxication had broken
away from our lines and filled their canteens with
whisky, and were soon reeling and ungovernable
under its influence. While apparently stopping the
regiment for rest, Grant passed quietly along and
took each canteen, and wherever he detected the
fatal odor emptied the liquor on the ground with as
much nonchalance as he would empty his pipe, and
had the offenders tied behind the baggage w^agons
until they had sobered into soldierly propriety. On
this point his orders were imperative; no whisky
or intoxicating beverages were allowed in his camp."
Having been promoted, as we have seen. Grant's
connection with the Twenty-first Regiment ceased
after he had held command for about two months.
The colonel's account of his service with it con-
cludes as follows: " We did make one march, how-
ever, from Salt River, Mo., to Florida, Mo., in
search of Tom Harris, who was reported to be in
that neighborhood with a handful of rebels. From
Salt River the regiment went to Mexico, Mo., where
it remained for two weeks, thence to Ironton, pass-
ing through St. Louis on the 7th of August, where
I \yas assigned to duty as a brigadier general, and
turned over the command of the regiment to that
gallant Christian officer, Colonel Alexander, who
yielded up his life while nobly leading it in the battle
of Cliickamauga."
After serving under Pope in what was known
as the " District of Northern Missouri," and being
stationed at Ironton and Jefferson City, occupied
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THE BATTLE OF BELMONT.
89
in watching the movements of partisan forces of
Confederates under General JefT. Thompson, Grant
was on September ist assigned by General Fre-
mont, commanding the Western Department, to the
command of the District of Southeast Missouri, and
on the 4th made his headquarters at Cairo, situated
at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
The district included not only the region from which
it takes its name, but the southern part of Illinois,
and so much of Kentucky and Tennessee as might
fall into the possession of national forces, and com-
prised the junction of Cumberland, Tennessee, Ohio,
and Mississippi Rivers. A glance at the map dis-
closes the strategetic importance of Cairo, as a base
of operations for a Southern advance, and of vital
importance in the line of defense for the rich and
extensive area of country lying between the Ohio
and Mississippi. It was also of great value as an
inland naval depot, as a point for fitting out river
expeditions, and for the transportation of supplies.
In connection with his new assignment, Mont-
gomery Blair, Postmaster General under Lincoln,
made a statement after the war, bringing together
for the first time the names of the war President
and General Grant. Said Mr. Blair: '' One day, in
Cabinet meeting, Lincoln turned to the Secretary
of War and asked, ' Did we not receive a communi-
cation some time last spring from a man named
Grant, out at Springfield, forwarded by Governor
Yates, laying out a plan of campaign down the
Mississippi?' The Secretary replied that he be-
lieved such a paper had been received. The Presi-
dent requested him to have it looked up, which was
90
GENERAL GRANT.
done, and it was read in Cabinet meeting. It made
a strong impression on all its members, Lincoln re-
marking that at the time it was received it had im-
pressed him favorably, but in the multiplicity of
cares it had been forgotten till now, when he had
received a communication from Representative
Washburne calling attention to General Grant, and
suggesting that he be sent to Cairo. Lincoln then
said, ' Mr. Secretary, send an order to General Fre-
mont to put Grant in command of the District of
Southeast Missouri.' "
At the time that General Grant was transferred
from Missouri to the post of Cairo the State of
Kentucky was endeavoring to maintain a neutral
position — a neutrality never recognized by the
United States authority. The Confederates under
General Polk were the first to cross the Kentucky
line, taking possession of Columbus and Hickman
on the Mississippi, and Bowling Green on the Green
River, all of which places they fortified, also forti-
fying the Tennessee at Fort Henry and the Cum-
berland at Fort Donelson. Grant w^as not slow to
follow their example. Fremont had ordered a move-
ment in Missouri, which he was to superintend, and
had directed the construction of Fort Holt, when
Grant, learning of the advance of Polk, at once
notified his commanding officer, and later in the
day, having received additional information, he tele-
graphed to Fremont, at St. Louis, " I am getting
ready to go to Paducah ; will start at six and a half
o'clock." Still later on September 5th, he wrote,
" I am now nearly ready for Paducah, should not
telegram arrive preventing the movement." Re-
J
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT.
91
ceiving no reply, Grant started at half-past ten that
night, with two regiments and a light battery, to-
gether with two gunboats — the naval force at Cairo
being under his control — arriving there early the
following morning, and taking possession of the
town without firing a gun, the Confederates under
General Tilghman hurrying out of town by rail-
road while the Union forces w^ere landing. Grant
w-as just in time to obtain possession of this valuable
position, a large force of several thousand of the
enemy being within a few hours' march of Padu-
cah. After issuing a proclamation to the inhab-
itants, informing them of his reasons for taking pos-
session of the town, and that he was prepared to
defend the citizens against the enemy, adding sig-
nificantly that he had nothing to do with opinions,
but should deal only with armed rebellion, its aiders
and abettors, he returned to Cairo. On his arrival
at his headquarters. Grant found a dispatch from
Fremont, giving his permission that the movement
against Paducah should be made " if he felt strong
enough." Soon after the capture of Paducah, Smith-
land, near the mouth of the Cumberland, was occu-
pied by Grant's forces, two points of vital impor-
tance to the enemy as a gateway of supplies and as
controlling the mouths of the Tennessee and Cum-
berland Rivers.
When Grant was assigned to the command of
the District of Southeast Missouri, General McClcr-
nand's brigade with other troops were added to his
force, until by the end of October his command
amounted to nearly twenty thousand men. As early
as September loth he suggested the feasibility of
92
GENERAL GRANT.
capturing Columbus, an important position on the
Mississippi, about twenty miles below Cairo, stat-
ing to General Fremont that, " if it was discretion-
ary with me, with a little addition to my present
force, I would take Columbus." No notice was
taken of this application, and, being kept strictly
subordinate to the commander of the Western De-
partment, he was compelled to confine himself to
drilling and disciplining his troops and making
reconnoissances. Belmont, on the west side of the
Mississippi, a small post, fortified only by a rude
sort of abatis, and lying directly under the guns of
Columbus, was destined to be the scene of the first
conflict of importance in the West. The Confeder-
ates were constantly sending supplies and men from
Belmont to Columbus, until at length it became one
of the strongest works on the river, completely bar-
ring the navigation of the Mississippi, and a con-
stant menace to every point of Grant's command.
Fremont, under date November ist, directed
Grant to make demonstrations on both sides of the
river toward Charleston, Norfolk, and Blandville,
points a few miles north of Columbus. He was not,
however, to make any attack on the enemy. On
the 2d the commanding general telegraphed him
that three thousand rebels were in Missouri, about
fifty miles southeast of Cairo, and ordered him to
send a force to assist in turning them into Arkan-
sas. In accordance with these instructions, Grant
sent Colonel Richard Oglesby. on the night of the
3d, with the Eighth, Eleventh, Eighteenth, Twenty-
ninth Illinois, and three squadrons of cavalry from
Commerce, Mo., toward Indian Ford, on the St,
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT.
93
Francis River. On the 5th, Grant received a dis-
patcii from Fremont that Polk, who was in com-
mand at Columbus, was re-enforcing General Price
in southwestern Missouri, and, as he (Fremont)
was at the time confronting the Confederate gen-
eral, it was of vital importance that these re-enforce-
ments should cease by a demonstration being made
against Columbus and Belmont. Oglesby was at
once ordered to deflect to New Madrid, below
Columbus, and Colonel Wallace sent to re-enforce
him. General Charles F. Smith was also instructed
to move out from Paducah toward the rear of Co-
lumbus, and " to keep the enemy from throwing
over the river much more force than they now have
there " — Grant informing him that " the principal
point to gain is to prevent the enemy from sending
a force to fall in the rear of those now sent out from
their command." Two other smaller demonstra-
tions were made from Bird's Point and Fort Holt
for the purpose of deceiving the enemy.
On the evening of November 6th General
Grant embarked his expeditionary force, consist-
ing of thirty-one hundred and fourteen men, chiefly
Illinoisians, on transports at Cairo, and, accom-
panied by two gunboats, dropped down the river
about ten miles, and made a feint of landing on
the Kentucky shore. The Union force consisted
of five regiments of infantry, two squadrons of cav-
alry, and a section of artillery, the men composing
the command, with the exception of a few veterans
of the Mexican War, never having been under fire,
and to some portion of the infantry arms had only
been distributed two davs before. McClernand was
94
GENERAL GRANT.
the only general officer who accompanied the expe-
dition, and he had had no positive experience in
battle. Grant learned during the night of the 6th
that General Polk was crossing large bodies of
troops from Columbus to Belmont, with a view to
cutting off Oglesby, and at once determined to con-
vert the demonstration into an attack, as it was
necessary to prevent a movement against the troops
under Oglesby, as well as preventing re-enforce-
ments being sent to Price's army. Grant had no
intention of remaining at Belmont, which is on low
ground, and could not have been held under the
guns of Columbus, his object being simply to de-
stroy the camp, capture or disperse the enemy, and
return to Cairo before Polk could intercept him.
At six o'clock the expedition crossed the river
and debarked at Hunter's Point, three miles above
Belmont, and just out of range of the enemy's bat-
teries at Columbus. Leaving a battalion as a re-
serve near the transports, the troops marched by
flank toward Belmont, where the Confederates had
pitched their camp, in an open field, protected by
fallen timber, and halted when two miles distant.
Deploying his whole force as skirmishers, the at-
tack began, and by nine o'clock our troops were
hotly engaged driving the enemy back from field
to field, and from tree to tree — a battle of the Wil-
derness on a small scale — until he reached his camp,
protected by slashed timber as an abatis. Even this
could not arrest the progress of our victorious
troops, who had been fighting for four hours, and,
with a wild hurrah, they charged over and through
the fallen tim1:)cr, capturing the camp, several hun-
J
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT.
95
dred prisoners and all the artillery, and driving the
enemy to the river bank and to their transports.
Grant, who was constantly in the front, now ordered
the destruction of the encampment, burning tents,
blankets, and stores; after which the troops with the
prisoners and captured guns, were ordered back to
the transports, the object of the expedition having
been accomplished. In the meantime re-enforcements
had been sent over from Columbus, and, landing
above Belmont, now confronted our troops on their
march to Hunter's Point. A cry was now raised,
" We are surrounded," accompanied by some con-
fusion, and a young staff officer in an excited man-
ner imparted the information to his chief. " Well,"
said he, " if that is so, we must fight our way out as
we cut our way in," and it was gallantly done, the
enemy disappearing a second time over the banks.
As, however, re-enforcements were constantly cross-
ing from Columbus, Grant could not halt to en-
gage the enemy, but was compelled to hasten for-
ward to his transports.
At five in the afternoon our forces had re-em-
barked, and, protected by the gunboats, which
poured in grape and canister on the pursuing Con-
federates, returned to Cairo. We had eighty-five
killed, three hundred wounded, and about one hun-
dred missing, while their loss was much greater,
numbering in all six hundred and forty-two. Both
parties claimed a victory at Belmont, a battle in-
significant compared with the later engagements of
the war, but possessing, says Dr. Coppee, an im-
portance peculiarly its own.
I. It was a coup d'essai of our new general. While
96
GENERAL GRANT.
Others of his rank were playing quite subordinate
parts in large armies, Grant was making an inde-
pendent expedition in command, outwitting the
enemy, burning his camp, retreating successfully
when overpowered, and effecting his purpose in a
most soldierly manner. II. Again, it was a trial of
our new troops in the West, and they acquitted
themselves so as to elicit the hearty praise of their
commander and the country. They fought well in
the attack, from colonels to privates, in the retreat,
and in cutting their way through Cheatham's force,
and were never for a moment discouraged. III.
The object of the expedition — to prevent the enemy
from sending a force to Missouri, to cut off our de-
tachments which were pressing Thompson, and
prevent his re-enforcing Price — w'ere fully accom-
plished. Grant had given him a blow which kept
him concentrated, lest another might soon follow.
IV. It demonstrated the weakness of the enemy.
It led to the victories of Forts Henry and Donelson,
and the piercing of the Confederates' line, which
threw it back almost to the Gulf.
The general, on the return of the expedition to
Cairo, issued an address containing the following
allusion to the part he took in the Mexican cam-
paign, the only reference that we recall ever made
by' Grant in any of his many official papers,
with the single exception of his letter to General
Thomas, which appears on a previous page: "The
general commanding this military district re-
turns his thanks to the troops under his command
at the liattle of Delmont yesterday. It lias been his
fortune to have been in all the battles fought in
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT.
97
Mexico by Generals Scott and Taylor, save Buena
Vista, and he never saw one more hotly contested
or where troops behaved with more gallantry." But,
in conversation with intimate friends, Grant not in-
frequently alluded to the advantage his Mexican
experiences had proved to him during the civil war.
In his Personal Memoirs he refers to the great value
to him of Taylor's and Scott's campaigns in Mexico,
and particularly to the knowledge gained of the
character of the men with and against whom he
contended for four years.
It is but simple justice to Grant to add that the
admirable conduct of the little army was stimulated
by his presence and inspired by his example. When
he arrived at the landing at the close of the battle,
he was the only man of our army between the Con-
federate forces and the Union transports and gun-
boats. It was a high bank, but his intelligent horse
Jack took in the situation, slid down the difficult
descent on his haunches, trotted single over the
gangplank, and both man and beast reached the
steamer in safety. The general had a horse killed
under him in the engagement, and his groom was
captured. An exchange was proposed by General
Polk of Grant's servant for a colored cook belong-
ing to a Confederate colonel, but the Union com-
mander replied that he had no authority to exchange
a black man, who, however, could return if he so
desired. He did not, but Grant's groom was never-
theless courteously sent back by the ex-bishop. To
the circumstance that the general that day wore the
ordinary blue army overcoat used by our privates
he owed his life. A Confederate officer said to his
gS GENERAL GRANT.
sharpshooters, " There's a Yankee, if you want to
try your aim." But his men were all busy firing at
the crowded transports, and deemed the solitary
soldier unworthy of notice. The general immedi-
ately entered the captain's room and lay down on a
sofa, but did not keep the position a moment, going
out on deck to observe what was going on. He had
scarcely left when a musket ball struck the head
of the sofa, passing through it and lodging in the
foot, so that Grant had a second narrow escape that
day.
Soon after the close of the war, in a conversation
with the present biographer, General Grant said:
" I was certainly alarmed at Belmont when I learned
that our forces were in danger of being cut ofif from
the transports, but when a little later I heard that
the enemy were equally frightened, I made up my
mind that it should never happen again, and it never
did. I then and there decided that the best way to
beat the enemy was not to be afraid of him. Nei-
ther at Shiloh, at \'icksburg, at Chattanooga, nor
in the Wilderness did the enemy succeed in fright-
ening me a second time." Writing nearly nineteen
years after the above conversation, our hero stated,
in his Personal Memoirs, that the circumstance oc-
curred several months before the battle of Belmont,
on the occasion of his being ordered to move against
Colonel Thomas Harris near the little town of Flor-
ida, in Missouri. He felt much alarmed on ap-
proaching the locality where he expected to meet
the enemy, and was greatly relieved to find the
troops gone. The general says: " It occurred to
me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of
THE BATTLE AT BELMONT.
99
me as I had been of him. This was a view of the
question I had never taken before, but it was one
that I never forgot afterward. From that event
to the close of the war I never experienced trepida-
tion upon confronting an enemy, though I ahvays
felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he
had as much reason to fear my forces as I had his.''
It is immaterial whether the Union commander
learned the valuable lesson in July or, four months
later, in his first battle of the civil war at Belmont,
for the fact that it was acquired early in the war is
well illustrated by General Sherman's characteristic
statement, " I was afraid as death of what was be-
hind the hill, while Grant did not care a damn ! "
CHAPTER V.
FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED.
On November 9, 1861, Fremont was removed
and Henry W. Halleck (181 5-72), second on the list
of major generals of the regular army, was appointed
his successor in the command of the Department of
Missouri. He had been an oflficer of engineers, a dili-
gent military student, and a writer on military sub-
jects, but had resigned and entered upon the prac-
tice of law in California. Immediately upon assum-
ing command, he divided the department into dis-
tricts, of which Cairo was the most important. It
was enlarged, so as to include all the southern part
of Illinois, all of Kentucky west of the Cumberland
River, and the southern counties of Missouri. Gen-
eral Grant was made commander of the new district.
Large numbers of newly mustered troops from
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Michigan
poured into this district, some for service within
its limits, others intended to re-enforce the Union
armies in other localities. Grant maintained a vig-
ilant supervision over them, and whenever it was
possible inproved their discipline, organization, and
training before sending them to the various points
where their services were required.
i
FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED, iqi
Before describing the campaign against Forts
Henry and Donelson it may be well to glance for
a moment at the position of the enemy against
whom Grant was to act. Columbus, the left of the
well-selected Confederate line, extending from the
Mississippi to the Big Barren River in middle Ken-
tucky, was called the Gibraltar of America, and its
heavy batteries of one hundred and forty guns
swept the great river above and below; on the
right was Bowling Green, naturally well adapted
to defense, and of strategic importance as being the
junction of the Louisville and Nashville and the
Memphis and Ohio Railroads, and the northernmost
point then held by them west of the Alleghanies.
Here the enemy had concentrated one of their best
appointed armies, protecting Nashville and threat-
ening northern Kentucky. Midway between Bowl-
ing Green and Columbus, and forming important
lines in the strategic problem, flowed the Cumber-
land and Tennessee Rivers. About fifty miles south
of the Ohio these two streams, running nearly paral-
lel, approach within eleven miles of each other, and
here, at a bend in each river, the Confederates had
erected strong works to bar the passage of Union
troops into the very heart of the Confederacy. Fort
Henry, on the eastern bank of the Tennessee, and
Fort Donelson, on the western bank of the Cumber-
land, were connected by a good road and telegraph
line. The former mounted seventeen guns and had
barracks and quarters for fifteen thousand men; the
latter mounted about forty guns, and contained,
when the battle occurred, twenty thousand troops.
As the naval forces bore an important part in
I02 GENERAL GRANT.
the military operations at the West, we must briefly
describe the novel gunboats, known as " turtles,"
introduced on the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cum-
berland Rivers at this early period of the war, and
which, for a time, created consternation in the ranks
of the enemy. They were improvised out of the
river steamers, and, being sheathed with iron, were
rendered almost impervious to the heaviest artil-
lery. Armed as completely as Cceur de Lion's cav-
aliers, these dark monsters penetrated the rivers, in-
spiring terror everywhere, and were of the greatest
service in co-operating with the army. They were
navigated by experienced pilots, and commanded
by ofificers of the regular navy. Sharing in direct
assaults, driving guerrillas back from the river
banks, convoying transports, carrying troops and
stores, and covering the movements of troops —
these strange ironclad monsters, with the later in-
vented monitors, all under the control of General
Halleck, contributed greatly to the successes gained
on many battlefields in the Mississippi \'alley.
Early in January, 1862, in accordance with or-
ders received. Grant moved a force of six thousand
men from Cairo and Bird's Point toward Mayfield
and Murray, in West Kentucky; he also sent out
two brigades from Paducah, threatening Colum-
bus, and the line between the " Western Gibraltar "
and P>owling Green. The troops were out for more
than a week, and suffered greatly from cold. There
was no fighting done, but the objects of the demon-
stration were fully accomplished, for during its con-
tinuance Confederate troops were prevented from
re-enforcing the army which General Thomas de-
J
FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED, 103
feated, at Mill Springs, Ky. On the return of the
Paducah expedition, its commander, General Smith,
reported that Fort Henry could easily be captured
if attacked by three or four of the turtle ironclads
and a strong co-operating land force. Having been
granted permission to visit department headquar-
ters at St. Louis, Grant proceeded there with the ob-
ject of obtaining Halleck's consent to attack Forts
Henry and Donelson, but returned without having
obtained the desired permission. Badeau says,
" Halleck silenced him so quickly that Grant said
no more on the subject, and went back to Cairo
with the idea that his commander thought him guilty
of a great military blunder."
On the 28th of the same month, Grant's mind
still being intent upon the capture of the forts on
the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, telegraphed
to Halleck at St. Louis, " With permission I will
take and hold Fort Henry, on the Tennessee, and
establish and hold a large camp there," and on the
day following 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 Fort Henry, near the
Kentucky and Tennessee line, and holding the posi-
tion. If this is not done soon, there is but little
doubt that the defenses on both the Tennessee and
Cumberland Rivers will be materially strengthened.
From Fort Henry it will be easy to operate, either
on the Cumberland (only twelve miles distant),
Memphis, or Columbus. It will, besides, have a
moral effect upon our troops to advance thence to-
ward the rebel States. The advantages of this move
104
GENERAL GRANT.
are as perceptible to the general commanding as to
myself, therefore further statements are unneces-
sary." Commodore Foote, commanding the naval
forces on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, also
wrote to Halleck, recommending the movement;
and at length, on the 30th inst., that officer gave
the desired permission, accompanied by instruc-
tions. On the morning of Monday, February 2d,
a force of seventeen thousand men on transports,
convoyed by the gunboat fleet of seven vessels,
moved up the Ohio to Paducah, and thence to
Bailey's Ferry, on the east bank, three miles above
Fort Henry, where the troops were landed on the
4th. On the 6th the troops advanced toward the
enemy's works, but were so much delayed by the
condition of the roads, the whole country being in-
undated, that the fort succumbed to the attack of
the fleet after a severe bombardment of one hour
and a half, and before the army could get up to par-
ticipate in the attack. " The plan of the attack,"
says Foote, " so far as the army reaching the rear
of the fort to make a demonstration, was frustrated
by the excessively muddy roads and the high stage
of water, preventing the arrival of our troops until
some time after I had taken possession of the fort."
The main force of the enemy — stationed about two
miles from the fort, to be out of reach of the gun-
boats — ingloriously retreated on Fort Donelson be-
fore the result of the action was known, and without
striking a single blow.
The Union general at once telegraphed to the
department commander: " Fort Henry is ours. The
gunboats silenced the batteries before the invest-
FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 105
ment was completed. ... I shall take and destroy
Fort Donelson the 8th, and return to Fort Henry."
On the 7th Grant's cavalry penetrated to within
a mile of Fort Donelson, driving in the Confederate
pickets, and the army was ordered to march on the
day following-, but, owing to the impassable state
of the roads, it was found impracticable to move the
baggage or artillery, and owing to the high state of
water in the Tennessee, flooding the whole country,
it was found impossible to proceed for several days
until portions of the ground could be bridged over.
Ordering up re-enforcements from various quarters,
Grant moved the advance of his army, under Mc-
Clernand, toward Fort Donelson on the nth, and
the day following the main body, commanded by
C. F. Smith, and numbering fifteen thousand men,
marched from Fort Henry, leaving a force of twenty-
five hundred, under General Wallace, to garrison
and hold that post and Fort Heiman. Our troops
halted in front of the Confederate lines the same
day, no obstacles having been opposed to their
march by the enemy. The gunboat fleet had already
proceeded down the Tennessee, in order to co-oper-
ate with the army in the attack upon Donelson, and
with them had gone transports, having on board
six regiments to be disposed of as circumstances
should render expedient.
The Confederate stronghold against which the
combined forces of the army and navy were now
directed was situated on the west bank of the Cum-
berland River, inclosing about one hundred acres,
and garrisoned by twenty-one thousand men under
Generals Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner. The coun-
Io6 GENERAL GRANT.
try was hilly and densely wooded in the vicinity
of the main fort, but the timber had been cut down
far out in advance of the breastworks, the smaller
trees chopped till they stood breast high, and the
limbs left attached to the trunks, forming- an abatis.
Two streams, at this time not fordable, set back
from the Cumberland and formed the right and left
of the rebel position, which extended nearly three
miles, and was strongly intrenched, every advantage
having been taken of the defensible character of the
country. At inside intervals were secondary lines
and detached works, commanding the outer in-
trenchments. The fort, standing upon a high hill
on the river bank, where it makes an abrupt turn
from north to west, flowing in the latter direction
for about a quarter of a mile and then turning
northward again, could pour a murderous fire from
its upper and water batteries upon the attacking
Union gunboats.
Thursday, the 13th, was occupied in getting the
troops in position. General C. F. Smith having the
left, and General McClcrnand the right of the na-
tional line. No assault was made, owing to the non-
arrival of the gunboats with the re-enforcements
sent by water, and the novel sight was exhibited of
an army of fifteen thousand men besieging a strong-
hold garrisoned by twenty-one thousand troops.
During the day there was considerable cannonad-
ing by both parties, and some picket firing. An
assault was made by three regiments of JNIcClcr-
nand's division during the afternoon for the pur-
pose of making a lodgment upon the enemy's in-
trenchments, and particularly upon an apartment
I
FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 107
covering a strong battery in the front. The storm-
ing party formed at the foot of the hill, where they
were in a measure protected from a direct fire. The
troops moved up the hill in a gallant manner, but
the enemy's fire was so withering, and the obsta-
cles presented by the abatis and pallisading so great,
that they were compelled to fall back without ac-
complishing the object.
At sunset no re-enforcements of importance had
arrived, nor had Flag-Officer Foote and the iron-
clads yet appeared on the scene. That night the
weather became intensely cold, and before morning
a driving storm of snow and hail set in, causing the
troops, who were bivouacking in line of battle with-
out tents, many without blankets, and with insuf-
ficient food, to undergo fearful sufifering. Many
of the soldiers of both armies were found frozen
to death after day dawned on Friday the 14th.
With the morning light came the long-looked-for
fleet and transports bearing Thayer's brigade. Gen-
eral Wallace also arrived, having been ordered over
from Fort Henry. His command was placed in the
center line, with the exception of one brigade al-
lotted to the extreme right. During the whole day
a heavy artillery fire was kept up by the contending
forces, and constant firing by the sharpshooters,
and at three o'clock the naval attack was opened
by the ironclads. After a severe engagement of
nearly ten hours, during which time the naval ves-
sels were all so much injured as to have but twelve
guns that could be brought to bear on the Confed-
erate works, the commodore wounded, and fifty-
four men killed and disabled, Foote ordered his
I08 GENERAL GRANT.
squadron to withdraw. Had the attack been a suc-
cess, it was the intention of General Grant to have
carried the enemy's intrenchments by an assault of
the whole line. That day he wrote: " Appearances
now are that we shall have a protracted siege here.
I fear the result of an attempt to carry the place by
storm with new troops. I feel great confidence,
however, of ultimately reducing the place."
Before daylight on Saturday, the 15th, General
Grant went on board the flagship St. Louis to con-
sult with the wounded commodore, by whom he
was informed that the disabled condition of his
squadron compelled him to return to Cairo for re-
pairs. The gallant Foote suggested that the army
should remain in statu quo until the fleet could re-
turn and take part either in a bombardment or in
a protracted siege, and it is very possible that the
advice would have been followed had it not been
prevented by the enemy taking the initiative and
hastening their own destruction. The Southern
leaders, observing the constant arrival of re-en-
forcements — the Union army now numbered twen-
ty-two thousand men — feeling that the lines were
closing around them, and aware that the investment
of the place would soon be complete, decided upon
assuming the aggressive and cutting their way out,
if indeed they did not succeed in totally destroying
Grant's army. Ten thousand men, including For-
rest's cavalry, were to be thrown upon AlcClernand,
and an equal number against the center under Wal-
lace; these attacks being successful, would force
back the right flank and center around General
Smith, commanding the left, as a pivot, and then
FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 109
the whole army might be easily routed or destroyed.
Accordingly, at five o'clock, before our half-frozen
troops were astir, the Confederate column, led by
Pillow, moved out with thirty guns to crush Mc-
Clernand's division.
The morning reveille had just sounded in our
camp, and the troops were not under arms when
the sound of musketry approaching nearer and
nearer made it evident even to the inexperienced
that a serious attack had begun against our right.
McArthur's brigade was the first to feel the Con-
federate fire, and soon the attack extended along
the whole of McClernand's front, the overwhelm-
ing number of the enemy gradually pushing back
the Union forces, and frightening the faint-hearted
by their fiendlike yells. Some guns were lost; the
line was forced back; many regiments were waver-
ing, their ammunition being entirely expended,
when Wallace came up with timely re-enforcements
from the center, giving courage to the hard-pressed
troops, and holding for a time the enemy in check.
Gradually, however, the Union line was forced back,
amid some disorder and panic. It was at this junc-
ture that Grant, returning from the flagship at about
nine o'clock, met an aid galloping up to inform him
of the assault. He immediately directed General
Smith, who had not yet been engaged, to hold him-
self in readiness to assault the Confederate right
with his whole command. " Riding on," says Ba-
deau, " he soon reached the point where the hardest
fighting had occurred. The rebels had failed to
make their way through the national lines, and were
doggedly retiring. Still, the troops were very much
no GENERAL GRANT.
disordered; most of them had never been in battle.
Some, and not a few, were yet unfamihar with the
use of their muskets. The giving out of the am-
munition in the cartridge boxes, and the heavy loss
in field officers, had created great confusion in the
ranks. There was no pursuit, and the battle was
merely lulled, not ended. The men, like all raw
troops, imagined the enemy to be in overwhelming
force, and reported that the rebels had come out
with knapsacks and haversacks, as if they meant to
stay out and fight for several days. Grant at once
inquired, 'Are the haversacks filled?' Some pris-
oners were examined, and the haversacks proved to
contain three days' rations. ' Then they mean to
cut their way out; they have no idea of staying
here to fight us; ' and, looking at his own disordered
men not yet recovered from the shock of battle,
Grant exclaimed, ' Whichever party attacks now
will win, and the rebels will have to be very quick
if they beat me.' "
Putting spurs to his horse, he rode at once to
the left, where the troops, not having been engaged,
were fresh, and ordered an immediate assault. As
tliey rode along the general and his stalT reassured
the men with tlie news that the enemy were getting
desperate, and that the attack of the morning was
an' attempt to cut their way out, not an ordinary
and confident assault. As soon as the troops caught
this idea, they took new courage; scattered until
now in knots all over the field, they at once re-
formed, and moved toward the front. At this time
Grant sent a re(|ucst to h'oote to haw tlie gunl)oats
show themselves to the eneniv. " A terrible con-
FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED, m
flict," he said, " ensued in my absence, which has
demorahzed a portion of my command, and I think
the enemy is much more so. If the gunboats do
not appear, it will reassure the enemy and still fur-
ther demoralize our troops. I must order a charge
to save appearances. I do not expect the gunboats
to go into action." Two of the fleet accordingly
ran up the river, and threw a few shells at long
range. McClernand and Wallace were informed of
Smith's order to assault, and directed to hold them-
selves in readiness to renew the battle in their front
the moment Smith began his attack. To McCler-
nand the order was " to push his column to the river
if possible, otherwise to remain, statu quo, maintain-
ing his present position."
General Smith's assaulting column was formed
of Lauman's brigade, the Second Iowa Infantry hav-
ing the lead. Smith formed the regiment in two
lines, with a front of five companies each, thirty
paces apart. He told the men what they had to do,
and took his position between these two lines with
the color bearer by his side. It was nearly sunset
when the brigade dashed up the steep hillside to-
ward the ridge where the Confederates had con-
structed their outer works. They were met by a
murderous fire, thinning the ranks and causing the
men to waver for a moment, but the stirring cry of
the stout-hearted general, " Forward, steady, men,
steady! " encouraged the faltering column, and, with
a cheer, it rushed up the hill, gained and passed the
abatis, then the ridge, the redoubts, and with a bayo-
net charge drove the enemy before them. Another
hour of daylight would have sufiticed to carry the
112 GENERAL GRANT.
fort. As it was, Smith camped for the night within
the Hne of intrenchments. Wallace and McCler-
nand on the center and right had regained the
ground lost in the morning, and as night fell held
an advanced positon near the enemy's works. The
commander's lodging that night was a negro hut,
and the troops slept on the frozen ground, many
of them without food, blankets, or fire, looking with
enthusiasm to the coming day, when their toils and
hardships would be crowned with victory.
That evening a council of war was held within
Fort Donelson, General Floyd, the commanding
ofificer. General Pillow, the second in command, and
General Buckner, the three chief officers. Floyd
was a civilian, who had been Secretary of War under
Buchanan, and in that position, while a sworn officer
of Government, had removed arms and munitions
of war to Southern arsenals, and had distributed
the regular army among Southern posts, where both
could readily be captured by the Confederacy as
soon as organized. Neither by talent nor training
was he qualified for his position. Pillow and Buck-
ner, however, were officers whom Grant had known
in Mexico, the latter much the abler and more hon-
orable of the two. The discussion was long and
acrimonious in character. Floyd thought only of
escape, and declared he should turn the command
over to Pillow and retreat up the river with his Vir-
ginia brigade. Pillow, too, was disposed to desert
the brave men whom he had led into the trap, and
to avoid responsibility by assigning the command
to General Buckner. " If the command comes into
mv hands, I shall deem it my duty to surrender it,"
FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 113
Buckner is reported to have said. " I shall not ask
my troops to make a useless sacrifice of life, nor
will I desert the men who have fought so nobly."
Shortly after midnight the council broke up.
Next morning, before daylight, a white flag waved
over the fort, and General Buckner sent a flag of
truce, asking what terms of surrender would be
given. During the night Generals Floyd and Pil-
low, embarking a portion of the Virginia brigade
on two or three small steamers lying at the river
bank, had secretly gone on board and fled up the
river. Colonel Forrest and his cavalry had also
escaped by fording the creek between the Union
right and the river. The remainder of the garrison
with the fort Buckner now wished to surrender, and
proposed to General Grant an armistice and the
appointment of commissioners to agree upon terms;
but the latter replied at once, " No terms other than
unconditional and immediate surrender can be ac-
cepted. I propose to move immediately upon your
works." * Buckner hastened to reply that the dis-
tribution of the forces under his command, inci-
dent to a change of commanders, and theoverwhelm-
* The following communications relating to the surrender of
Fort Donelson are copied from the originals in the possession of
Ferdinand J. Dreer, Esq., of Philadelphia, who received them
from General Rawlins, to whom they were given by Grant.
Since the destruction, by fire, of Lincoln's original emancipation
proclamation they are perhaps the most interesting existing docu-
ments connected with the civil war, with the single exception of
Grant's terms of surrender to Lee's army at Appomattox.
Hdqrs., Fort Donelson, Feby. 16, 1862.
Major Cosby will take or send by an officer to the nearest
picket of the enemy the accompanying communication to Gen-
114
GENERAL GRANT.
ing force opposed to him, compelled him to accept
the " ungenerous and unchivalrous " terms pro-
eral Grant, and request information of the point where future
communications will reach him. Also inform him that my hdqrs.
will be for the present Dover.
S. B. BucKNER, Bng. Gen.
Have the white flag hoisted on Fort Donelson, not on the
batteries.
S. B. BuCKNER, Brig. Gen.
Headquarters, Fort Donelson, February i6, 1862.
Sir : In consideration of all the circumstances governing the
present condition of affairs at this station, I propose to the com-
manding officer of the Federal forces the appointment of commis-
sioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces and fort
under my command, and in that view suggest an armistice until
12 o'clock to-day. I am, sir, very respectfully,
Your obt. sc'v't,
S. B. BucKNER, Brig. Gen. C. S. A.
To Brigadier-General U. S. Grant,
Com' ding U. S. forces, near Fort Donelson.
Headquarthrs, Army iv the Field,
Camp near Donelson, February 16, 1862.
General '&. B. BucKNER, Confederate Army.
Sir : Yours of this date, proposing armistice and appointment
of commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received.
No terms except an unconditional surrender can be accepted. I
propose to move immediately upon your works. I am, sir, very
respectfully, Your ob't se'v't,
U. S. Grant, Brig. dn.
Heahquarters, Dover, Tennessee, February 16, 1862.
To Brig.-Gen. U. S. GRANT, U. S. Army.
Sir : The distribution of forces under my command, incident
to an unexpected change of commanders, and the overwhelming
force under your command, compel me, notwithstanding the
brilliant success of the Confederate arms yesterday, to accept the
uugcneruus and unchivalric terms which you propose.
I am, sir, your very obt. sc'v't,
S. B. BUCK.NER, Brig. Gen. C. S. A.
-^ i^ i^ "^
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FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED. 115
posed. As soon as General Grant received this
communication from his Military Academy com-
rade, he mounted his horse and proceeded with his
staff to Buckner's headquarters, where he disclaimed
any desire to unnecessarily humiliate his prisoners,
but would allow the officers to retain their side-arms
and personal baggage. All the public property,
including horses, were to be given up, the privates
being permitted, as in the case of the officers, to
retain their personal effects. In the course of a
conversation which took place between the com-
manders, Buckner acknowledged that they had been
foiled in their attempt to cut their way out the day
previous, and, alluding to Grant's inferior force at
the commencement of the siege, remarked, " If I
had been in command, you would not have reached
Fort Donelson so easily.'' " If you had been in
command," replied Grant, " I should have waited
for re-enforcements, and marched from Fort Henry
in greater strength; but I knew that Pillow would
not come out of his works to fight, and told my staff
so, though I believed he would fight behind his
works." The result of this magnificent victory,
which electrified the loyal North, was sixty-five
guns, seventeen thousand small arms, three thou-
sand horses, and nearly fifteen thousand prisoners.
It was the first important victory achieved by the
Union arms, and it at once gave Grant a national
reputation. The day after the surrender the vic-
torious general issued a general order, in which
he gave the most generous and deserved praise to
the men by whose prowess and fortitude he had
won the victory. For four successive nights, he
Il6 GENERAL GRANT.
wrote, " without shelter during the most inclement
weather, they faced an enemy in large force, in a
position chosen by himself. The victory was not
only great in its moral effect, but had secured the
greatest number of prisoners of war ever taken on
this continent. Fort Donelson will hereafter be
marked in capitals on the map of our united coun-
try, and the men who fought the battle will live in
the memory of a grateful people."
As a reward for this achievement. Grant was
made a major general. He was recommended by
the Secretary of War, nominated at once by the
President, and immediately confirmed by the Sen-
ate, his commission dating from the day of the sur-
render. Mr. Stanton, the new War Secretary,
wrote: "We may well rejoice at the recent vic-
tories, for they teach us that battles are to be won
now, and by us, in the same and only manner that
they were ever won by any people or in any age
since the days of Joshua — by boldly pursuing and
striking the foe. What under the blessing of Provi-
dence I conceive to be the true organization of vic-
tory and military combination to end this war was
declared in a few words by General (irant's message
to General P>uckner, ' I propose to move immedi-
ately on your works.' "
The capture of Fort Donelson penetrated the
Confederate line of defense west of the Alleghany
Mountains, turning both its extremities and un-
covering the region behind. The importance of
the achievement was exhil)itcd by the evacuation
of Clarkcsville, on the east bank of the Cumberland
River, where large quantities of military stores
FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED.
117
were found by our troops, who entered February
20th. Three days later the Union flag was seen in
the streets of Nashville, that city being also hastily
evacuated by General A. S. Johnston and his forces.
Bowling Green, rendered untenable by the fall of
Fort Donelson, was abandoned, and early in March
the prelate Polk evacuated Columbus and took up
a new position at Island No. 10, on the Mississippi.
As these important places and strongholds fell one
after another in rapid succession, the amazement
and gratification of the loyal people of the North
was unbounded.
" My opinion was, and still is," wrote Grant a
score of years later, " that immediately after the fall
of Fort Donelson the way was opened to the na-
tional forces all over the Southwest without much
resistance. If one general who would have taken
the responsibility had been in command of all the
troops west of the Alleghanies, he could have
marched to Chattanooga, Corinth, Memphis, and
Vicksburg with the troops we then had, and, as
volunteering was then going on rapidly over the
North, there would soon have been force enough
at all those centers to operate offensively against
any body of the enemy that might be found near
them. Rapid movements and the acquisition of re-
bellious territory would have promoted volunteer-
ing, so that re-enforcements could have been had
as fast as transportation could have been obtained
to carry them to their destination. On the other
hand, there were tens of thousands of strong, able-
bodied young men still at their homes in the South-
western States who had not gone into the Confeder-
Il8 GENERAL GRANT.
ate army in February, 1862, and who had no par-
ticular desire to go. If our Hnes had been extended
to protect their homes, many of them would never
have gone. Providence ruled differently. Time was
given the enemy to collect armies and fortify his
new positions, and twice afterward he came very
near forcing his northwestern front up to the
Ohio River."
When Grant visited the naval commander on
board the St. Louis the day before the fall of Fort
Donelson, he received from the commodore on his
departure a few fine cigars, one of which he placed
in his mouth, expecting to light it as soon as he
reached land. The alarming news of the enemy's
fierce assault on our line which met him on return-
ing from the flagship allowed no time for lighting
cigars, and so the general, mounted on his favorite
charger Jack, or, as known among the soldiers, Old
Clayback, rode for several hours on the battlefield
with Commodore Foote's fragrant but unlit Ha-
vana between his teeth. When the particulars of
the capture of the fort was flashed over the loyal
North, Knox, Richardson, and the other army cor-
respondents in their dispatches all referred to the
incident of Grant's cigar. The result was that with-
in a week cigars came pouring in from the hero's
admirers in Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, New
York, Philadelphia, and other patriotic cities. As
they were generally of the best brands, the victori-
ous soldier, hitherto among the most moderate of
men in the use of tobacco, set resolutely to work
to smoke as many cigars as possible, and soon suc-
ceeded in fairly winning and faithfully maintaining
d
FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON CAPTURED.
119
for twenty years the reputation of being among the
greatest smokers in or out of the army. A bunch
of twenty-five was not an unusual allowance for
him to dispose of in a day during the w^ar. Of
course, he could not consume that number in so
short a space of time, but would present some to
friends and visitors at headquarters. When, in
1884, Grant, by the advice of his physician, aban-
doned the habit, he said to the writer of these lines,
" I was never aware of any injurious effects from
my habit of smoking, but, having been recommend-
ed to stop, I have done so."
CHAPTER VI.
THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.
When Grant was given an increased command
by being advanced to the District of West Tennes-
see, General William T. Sherman was assigned to
his former position, the District of Cairo. They
first met at the Military Academy, Grant graduat-
ing three years later than Sherman. There is noth-
ing finer in military biography than the story of
the unbroken friendship of these two illustrious
soldiers, so unlike in character, and yet so faithful
to each other under all circumstances. After the
fall of Fort Donelson, Sherman wrote congratulat-
ing the successful soldier on his splendid victory,
to which Grant replied: " I feel under obligations to
you for the kind terms of your letter, and hope,
should an opportunity occur, you will earn for your-
self 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 arc made." " This was," says Ba-
deau, " the beginning of a friendship destined there-
after never to flag, to stand the test of apparent
rivalry and public censure, to remain firm under
trials such as few friendships were ever subjected
THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 121
to; to become warmer as often as it was sought
to be interrupted, and in hours of extraordinary
anxiety and responsibiUty and care to afford a solace
and a support that were never lacking- when the
need arose."
On February 27th Grant went to Nashville to
consult with General Buell about the disposition of
their troops, the jurisdiction of the two commanders
having become confused during the recent move-
ments, and the former having ordered a portion of
Grafit's army to join him at Nashville. March ist
came orders from General Halleck to move his
whole force back from the Cumberland to the Ten-
nessee, with a view to an expedition up the latter
river to Eastport and Corinth, Miss. On the 4th,
he being at Fort Henry, and his troops moving
forward. Grant received orders from Halleck to
place General Smith in command of the ex-
pedition, and to remain himself at Fort Henrv.
To this he replied the day following that the troops
would be sent forward as directed. Smith, there-
fore, assumed command of the troops in the field,
and selected Pittsburg Landing as a base of opera-
tions against Corinth, a position of great importance
and the key to the whole railway system of com-
munication between the States of Tennessee and
Mississippi; it was twenty miles distant from the
Confederate position, on the west side of the Ten-
nessee, and was flanked on the left by a deep ravine,
and on both flanks by the Snake and Lick Creeks,
which would compel the enemy to attack in front,
the distance between the creeks being less than two
miles. The Landing was protected by the gunboats
122 GENERAL GRANT.
Lexington and Tyler, and Buell's Army of the Ohio,
moving forward, was to re-enforce the Army of the
Tennessee.
Grant's success provoked that jealousy which
was the bane of the service in the early period of
the war, and charges were preferred against him
at Washington of having absented himself from his
command w-ithout leave, of not maintaining proper
order in camp, and of failing to report the number
of men under his command. About ]\Iarch 14th
General Halleck received orders from Washington
to investigate these charges and report. He did so,
replying that Grant did proceed to Nashville im-
mediately after the capture of Fort Donelson with-
out orders from him, but, he was satisfied, with
good intentions, and from a desire to subserve the
public interests; also that during his absence cer-
tain irregularities had occurred at Fort Donelson
which were a direct violation of his (Grant's) or-
ders; that General Grant had made the proper ex-
planations, and had been directed to resume his
command in the field. Halleck recommended that
no further notice be taken of the affair. Grant's
failure to make returns of his forces was due partly
to the interruption of telegraphic and mail com-
munication, also to the failure of several of his sub-
ordinates to report to him. Copies of both the or-
der and report Halleck now sent to Grant. It was
not until after the close of the war, however, that
the latter learned from the researches of his biogra-
pher Badeau, among the records of the War De-
partment, that Halleck himself had preferred the
original charges.
4
THE BATTLE OF SHILOII.
123
^\'hen first made aware of their existence, Grant
had asked to be reheved from further service under
General Halleck, but that officer had refused his
request. " I have averaged writing- " (was Grant's
reply on j\Iarch 6th) *' more than once a day to
keep you informed of my position, 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 this department."
Halleck soon reinstated Grant to full command of
the army in the field, and ordered him to lead it to
new achievements.* Grant complied, and on March
17th relieved General Smith and resumed com-
mand, establishing his headquarters at Savannah.
General Charles F. Smith, who commanded the vic-
torious army during the interim, was perhaps the
equal of any soldier then in the service. He it was
who pushed up the Tennessee River and, making
his headquarters at Savannah, immediately began
operations with a view to the capture of Corinth,
a county town of great strategic importance. He
sent Sherman's division up the river to Hamburg
to cut the railroad, but the condition of the river
* Halleck wrote : " You can not be relieved from your com-
mand. There is no good reason for it. I 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 the immediate
command and lead it on to new victories."
124
GENERAL GRANT.
compelled its return and landing at Pittsburg.
There Smith concentrated other divisions with one
at Crump's Landing, four miles above Savannah.
From there Grant wrote to General Sherman, " I
have just arrived, and, although sick for the last
two weeks, begin to feel better at the thought of
being again w'ith the troops."
The army then consisted of five divisions under
Major-Generals Smith and McClernand, and Briga-
dier-Generals Sherman, Hurlbut, and Lewis Wal-
lace, the latter stationed at Crump's Landing, on
the left bank of the river, about five miles below,
and, being considered within supporting distance,
were left to guard the Purdy road. Smith's and Mc-
Clernand's divisions were pushed forward from
Savannah, so that all our forces were soon collected
together at Pittsburg Landing. Grant remained at
Savannah to superintend the organization of the
troops constantly arriving, which were formed into
another division — the sixth — and Brigadier-General
Prentiss assigned to its command, which was at
once sent to join the army at Pittsburg. Another
motive for his remaining at Savannah was that he
could communicate more readily with General Buell,
who was moving forward from Nashville with forty
thousand veterans to join Grant, the Army of the
Ohio having been transferred to Halleck's depart-
ment, to enable the Northern troops to meet on
e(|ual terms the large force that was assembling
for the defense of Corinth, estimated as high as one
hundred thousand men. Bragg's corjis had been
brought from Mobile and Pensacola; General Polk
had come from Island No. lo witli a portion of
THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 125
his troops ; Johnston had marched there after evacu-
ating Nashville ; and other troops had rendezvoused
from various quarters, including Hardee's corps and
Breckinridge's command. It was also confidently
expected that they would be re-enforced by the
trans-Mississippi armies of Price and Van Dorn.
The object of this vast assemblage was not only to
protect Corinth, but to crush Grant's army before
it should be re-enforced by Buell. General Albert
Sidney Johnston and Beauregard were the ranking
officers, and as to which was in supreme command
before Johnston's death has been the subject of
much controversy.
The battlefield of Shiloh, or Pittsburg, for by
both names it appears to be equally known, extends
back three miles from the Landing. It is a thickly
wooded and broken country, interspersed with
patches of cultivation and a few rude buildings,
among which stood near the junction of the Corinth
and Purdy roads the Shiloh Church, a primitive
fane, constructed of logs, from which the sanguinary
field was named by our Southern foes. The Union
army faced mainly to the south and west, the line
extending from Lick Creek, on the south, to Snake
Creek, on the north; Sherman on the right, some-
what in advance, and across the main Corinth road ;
on his left, but somewhat retired, IMcClernand's
command was posted; next, Prentiss was advanced,
and on his left, commanding a detached brigade of
Sherman's division, and covering the crossing of
Lick Creek, was Stuart. General Smith's division,
commanded by W. H. L. Wallace, the gallant old
soldier being on a sick bed at Savannah, was with
126 GENERAL GRANT.
Hurlbut's command to the rear, and near the Land-
ing, acting as reserves, and respectively support-
ing the right and left wings of the army. The sixth
division, under Lewis Wallace, was at Crump's
Landing, his troops being stretched out on the
Purdy road, so as to be in readiness for a movement
to Pittsburg or Purdy, as circumstances might re-
quire. Buell was " hastening slowly," his advance
under Nelson having reached Savannah, and been
ordered by General Grant to move to the river bank,
opposite Pittsburg, on the morning of the 6th, and
it was confidently expected that Buell's entire com-
mand would arrive during the day.
On Sunday morning, April 6th, while General
Grant and his staff were breakfasting, at an unusu-
ally early hour, and their horses were saddled pre-
paratory to riding out from Savannah in search of
Buell, firing was heard from the direction of Pitts-
burg, only six miles distant in a direct line. There
had been considerable skirmishing with desultory
firing for several days, but the practiced ear of Grant
at once detected in the sounds that reached him
unmistakable evidences of a battle, and he immedi-
ately went on board his flagship, as he called his
special boat, and started for Pittsburg, after sending
a note in these words to Buell: "Heavy firing is
heard up the river, indicating plainly that an attack
has been made upon our most advanced positions.
I have been looking for this, but did not believe the
attack could be made before IMonday or Tuesday.
This necessitates my joining the forces up the river,
instead of meeting you to-day as I had contem-
plated. I have directed General Nelson to move
THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 127
up the river with his division. He can march to
opposite Pittsburg."
On his way up the river Grant stopped at
Crump's Landing and notified General Wallace in
person to be ready to move at a moment's warn-
ing to support the main army, or, if the attack there
should be but a feint, to defend himself until re-
enforcements should arrive, in the event of the ene-
my moving against him, on the Purdy road. Grant
then proceeded to Pittsburg, arriving there between
eight and nine o'clock, and at once rode to the front.
It was in good time that he arrived, for a fierce and
bloody battle was being fought, which was putting
to the test the manhood of the men of the North,
partially surprised, and outnumbered, as they were,
forty thousand against thirty-three thousand, many
of whom were raw troops. Grant, as soon as he saw
the state of affairs, sent imperative orders to Nelson
and Wallace to advance with all possible speed, a
staff ofificer being sent to Wallace, directing him to
march immediately to join the army at Pittsburg
Landing, while to Nelson he wTOte : " You will
hurry up your command as fast as possible. The
boats will be in readiness to transport all troops
of your command across the river. All looks well,
but it is necessary for you to push forward as fast
as possible."
The battle of Shiloh, among the severest strug-
gles of the war, was fought on a clear, sunny, spring
day. The onset was made not on a sleeping army, as
has been too often represented, but upon troops
who were in a measure prepared. " It w^as well
known," wrote McPherson, " that the enemy were
128 GENERAL GRANT.
approaching our lines, and tliere had been more
or less skirmishing for three days preceding the
battle. The consequence was our breakfasts were
ordered at an early hour, and our horses saddled, to
be ready in case of attack." The storm first burst
upon Prentiss, who, having doubled his guards the
night before and that morning sent out Colonel
Moore with a detachment of five companies to
reconnoiter, had timely notice of the enemy's ap-
proach, and drew up his division in advance of its
camps, and then received the first impetuous attack
of the enemy. Sherman next felt the shock, and
the tide of battle soon swept along the whole Union
line. The raw troops of Prentiss were forced back
with the loss of some guns, but took up a new posi-
tion inside their camps, and were re-enforced by
Hurlbut. Sherman was also compelled to fall back
until supported by McClernand, while our left and
center, where the assault was fiercest, w^as strength-
ened by the troops of W. H. L. Wallace. Before
lo A. M., when our men were stubbornly contesting
their ground, and the battle was raging fiercest,
Grant appeared at the front, and by his presence
and personal valor did much to restore the courage
of the army. Sherman says in a letter that Grant
was early on the field; that he visited his division
in person, about lo a. m., when the battle raged
fiercest, approved of his stubborn resistance to the
enemy, and, in answer to his inquiry concerning
cartridges, told him he had anticipated their want,
and given orders accordingly, and remarking that
his presence was more needed over at the left, rode
off to encourage tlie hardly pressed ranks of Mc-
THE BATTLE OF SHILOII.
1-9
Clernand's and Hurlbut's divisions. General Grant
next appeared near the center, and thence passed
along to the left, encouraging by his words and ex-
ample, and giving orders to the division command-
ers. He was also engaged in sending deserters back
to their commands, and in organizing new lines
with those who had straggled too far to regain their
own commands. Even when on that hotly con-
tested field, and constantly under fire. Grant was
to be seen making unwearied exertions to maintain
his position until Wallace and Nelson should arrive
with the long-looked-for re-enforcements of ten
thousand veterans. As Wellington longed for night
or Field-Marshal Bliicher, so did Grant anxiously
await the arrival of night or the two delayed di-
visions of Nelson and Wallace.
During the morning Grant sent an order to an-
other of Buell's division commanders, who he
learned had arrived at Savannah, " You will move
your command with the utmost dispatch to the
river at this point, where steamboats will be in readi-
ness to transport you to Pittsburg." And, still later,
another dispatch was sent to the commanding officer
of the advanced forces from Buell's army near Pitts-
burg: " Tj^e attack on my forces has been very
spirited from early this morning. The appearance
of fresh troops in the field now would have a pow-
erful effect, both by inspiring our men and dis-
heartening the enemy. If you will get upon the
field, leaving all your baggage on the east bank of
the river, it will be more to our advantage, and
probably save the day to us. The rebel forces are
estimated at over one hundred thousand men. Mv
I20 GENERAL GRANT.
headquarters will be in the log building on the top
of the hill, where you wall be furnished a staff officer
to guide you to your place on the field." About
three o'clock Buell arrived in advance of his troops,
having hurried forward with his staff on hearing,
at Savannah, of the terrible battle that was being
fought. As the two generals were consulting to-
gether at the Landing, Buell inquired, " What prep-
arations have you made for retreating? " when Grant
promptly replied, " I have not despaired of whip-
ping them yet ! "
At last the Union line was reduced to a mile in
length, in a curve at the Landing; it was a forced
concentration, but it really consolidated what was
left of the exhausted army. At this time the enemy
equally worn out with ten hours' continuous march-
ing and fighting — were brought to a stand by the
reserve artillery and the heavy fire of the gunboats
Tyler and Lexington, which shelled the woods and
swept the ravine, enfilading the Confederate lines
and batteries. " About 5 p. m.," wrote Sherman,
" before the sun set. General Grant came again to
me, and, after hearing my report of matters, ex-
plained to me the situation of affairs on the left,
which was not as favorable; still, the enemy had
failed to reach the landing of the boats. We
agreed that the enemy had expended the furore of
his attack, and we estimated our loss and approxi-
mated our then strength, including Lewis Wallace's
fresh division, expected every minute. He then or-
dered me to get all things ready, and at daybreak
the next day to assume the offensive. That was
before General r.ncll had arrived, l)ut he was known
THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 131
to be near at hand. General Buell's troops took
no essential part in the first day's fight, and Grant's
army, though collected hastily together, green as
militia, some regiments arriving without cartridges
even, and nearly all hearing the dread sound of
battle for the first time, had successfully withstood
and repelled the first day's terrific onset of a supe-
rior armv, well commanded and well handled. I
knew I had orders from General Grant to assume
the offensive before I knew General Buell was on
the west side of the Tennessee. ... I understood
Grant's forces were to advance on the west side of
the Corinth road, and Buell on the left (this was
on Monday), and accordingly at daylight I ad-
vanced my division by the flank, the resistance being
trivial, up to the very spot where the day before
the battle had been most severe, and there waited
until near noon for Buell's troops to get up abreast,
when the entire line advanced and recovered all the
ground we had ever held. I knew that, with the
exception of one or two severe struggles, the fight-
ing of April 7th was easy as compared with that
of April 6th. I never was disposed, nor am I now,
to question anything done by General Buell and
his army, and know that, approaching our field of
battle from the rear, he encountered that sickening
crowd of stragglers and fugitives that excited his
contempt and that of his army, who never gave full
credit to those in the front line who did fight hard,
and who had, at 4 p. m., checked the enemy and
were preparing the next day to assume the offen-
sive."
About four o'clock, on Sunday afternoon, the
132
GENERAL GRANT.
time when the sanguinary contest may be said to
have ceased, the head of Nelson's division of Buell's
army arrived on the field, and took up a position
on the left, while Wallace's division, from Crump's
Landing, came on the ground after dark, and oc-
cupied a position on Sherman's right. Although
the fighting was substantially over for the day, their
arrival on the field had a noticeably good effect upon
the worn-out and somewhat dispirited troops. Be-
fore midnight tw^enty-five thousand fresh troops
had crossed the river and taken position on the
left of Grant's army, being placed there by Buell.
Having made all his dispositions for the second
day's battle, and said to his stafif, " It was tough
work to-day, but we'll beat them to-morrow," the
weary soldier sat down in the rain at the foot of a
tree, after twelve o'clock, to get a few hours' sleep
before the dawn of the coming day.
When the battle began at early daylight on
Monday the Union line was formed as follows:
Nelson on the extreme left, then in order Critten-
den, McCook, Hurlbut, McClernand, Sherman, and
Lewis Wallace, what was left of Prentiss's and W.
H. L. Wallace's divisions being divided among the
other commanders of the Army of the Tennessee.
Nelson was first attacked as he was himself advan-
cing to attack; next the center came into action,
and soon the whole Union line was engaged. The
accession of Buell's army, nearly doubling our ef-
fective force, told at once, and the Confederates
were forced to give ground. Tlie enemy made
fierce attacks upon our left, with the vain hope of
gaining the Landing, tlie prize almost within their
THE BATTLE OF SIIILOH.
133
grasp at the close of Sunday's action, but were gal-
lantly repulsed, their whole line being gradually
forced back till all the lost ground was regained.
By four o'clock Beauregard saw the uselessness of
any further efforts, and reluctantly gave orders for
the army to retreat. Our troops, worn out with two
days' continuous fighting, and Buell's command
also much exhausted by Sunday's marching and
Monday's conflict, were in no condition to make a
vigorous pursuit, and the Union army encamped
that night on substantially the same ground it had
occupied before the battle. Beauregard fell back
with his discomfited army to Corinth, without hav-
ing crushed Grant, as he vaingloriously threatened.
On the 8th he applied to the Union commander,
under a flag of truce, for permission to bury his
dead, but that duty had been already performed for
friend and foe alike.
Grant's loss, including that of Buell's army, was
twelve thousand two hundred and seventeen, while
the enemy's loss was unquestionably much greater,
notwithstanding Beauregard's report, in which it is
officially stated as being but ten thousand six hun-
dred and twenty-eight. The Confederates lost their
leader, Albert Sidney Johnston, killed in the first
day's fight, while we had to mourn the loss of W. H.
L. Wallace and the capture of Prentiss, who, un-
willing to fall back, although the line had retreated
on each side of him, leaving his flanks exposed and
in the air, was surrounded, and with four regiments
of his command, taken prisoners.
We could fill many pages with the relation of
heroic deeds and interesting incidents of the battle
134
GENERAL GRANT.
of Shiloh, with descriptions of the sufiferings of
the sick and wounded, and with accounts of the
shocking scenes and sights of that Golgotha, did
the scope of this biography permit. Strange to say,
that Grant, who constantly exposed himself both
in the Mexican and civil wars, and who in the latter
frequently rendered his staff of^cers exceedingly
uncomfortable by what they deemed unnecessary
exposure, was never wounded. At Shiloh, on the
second day, he was saved by a bullet striking his
scabbard and breaking it near the sword hilt, which
otherwise would probably have inflicted a mortal
wound, thus presenting the remarkable circum-
stance of the commanders of both armies being
fatally wounded at almost the identical hour of
each day's severe struggle.
During Sunday's sanguinary fighting a middle-
aged man, without coat or hat, was observed by a
general officer standing behind the shelter of a tree,
loading and firing with as much coolness as if he
were shooting squirrels in lieu of " secesh." He
had evidently seceded from his company and regi-
ment, if he ever belonged to one, or was a Union
man of the Tennessee, fighting on his own ac-
count, like the later John Burns of Gettysburg. He
would raise his gun, take deliberate aim, and fire,
eagerly watching the result. If successful in bring-
ing down one of the enemy, he made a chalk mark
on his cartridge box. Three times he was seen to
discharge his unerring rifle with the same result,
and each time the modern Leatherstocking indorsed
one on his account. A moment after a shell struck
the tree, crashing through the trunk, instantly kill-
THE BATTLE OF SHII.OH.
135
ing the rifieman. The following Tuesday, when the
dead were buried, his body was found, with one
hand still grasping the fatal rifle, while by his side
was his cartridge box, on which his chalk marks
were still visible. He lies interred at the foot of
the tree, in a nameless grave, and his gun, which
was the messenger of death to his enemies on that
memorable Sunday, now hangs in a Northern libra-
ry, with other war trophies, as a memento of the
battlefield of Shiloh.
In the country around Pittsburg Landing the
inclosures are all the old Virginia snake fence, in
the angle of which a person may sit and be sup-
ported on both sides. In such an angle, and with
his feet braced against a small tree, sat a man ap-
parently thirty or thirty-five years of age, bolt up-
right, and gazing at a locket in his hand. Approach-
ing nearer, it was discovered that he was dead and
rigid, his stiffened feet so braced against the tree
that he could not fall forward, and the fence sup-
porting him behind on each side. His eyes were
open and fixed with a horrible stony stare on the
daguerreotype, which was held in both hands. In
a hasty glance over his shoulder, it was seen that
the picture was that of a woman and child, the wife
and daughter, doubtless, of the dead man, upon
whom the eyes of the husband and father had not,
even in death, ceased to gaze. In vain would that
wife and child watch and wait, in their distant Ala-
bama home, for the soldier's return. Like the rifle-
man, he now sleeps in a nameless grave, and his
hands still grasp the counterfeit presentment of the
widow and orphaned child.
136 GENERAL GRANT.
A week after the battle, while out with a recon-
noitering party on the Corinth road, we came sud-
denly upon one of the most shocking sights ever
beheld. Just over the crest of a hill, on the sloping
bank of a small stream, some thirty yards distant
from the highway, we saw about twenty Confederate
soldiers lying dead on the ground, several so black
in the face that we mistook them for negroes until,
upon closer examination, we were undeceived by
the color of their hair and hands. They were in such
a frightful condition that it was impossible to ap-
proach them closely, or we should have thrown
some of the numerous articles of clothing lying
around over their faces. Orders had been issued by
General Grant for the burial of all the dead of both
armies, but these poor fellows, probably killed in
the pursuit of Monday, had escaped the notice of
the burial parties. They were inmiediately interred
when the facts were made known on our return.
A few days after the battle the author heard our
hero make a clever reply to a civilian visitor from
the North, who said, " General Grant, were you not
surprised by the Confederates?" To which calmly
and deliberately came the crushing reply, " No, but
I am now." With what a neat and easy turn of
the wrist the commander ran the unhappy victim
through! Years after I recalled the circumstance to
Grant, and asked if he was aware that he had made
the identical answer which a stupid guest, dining
at Apsley House, London, had received from Well-
ington when he blurted out the question, '' Pray,
duke, were you surprised at Waterloo?" The gen-
eral rcmcml)crcd having somewhere heard or read
THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 137
the story, but had no recollection of his own reply,
with which and the coincidence he appeared not a
little amused.
Grant enjoyed telling a little story of the first
day's battle of Shiloh, when Sherman saw a soldier
making a rapid movement to the rear, and de-
manded in a stern voice, " What are you running
for?" to which the frightened man shouted as he
dashed past, " Because I can't fly! " The ball from
the general's pistol missed him, and he soon joined
the panic-stricken crowd of raw troops who sought
safety from the Confederate fire under the blufT
near Pittsburg Landing.
General Grant began his dispatches giving an
account of the conflict of Shiloh in these words:
" It becomes my duty again to report another bat-
tle, fought by two great armies, one contending for
the best government ever desired, and the other for
its destruction. It is pleasant to record the success
of the army contending for the former principle."
The news of this great contest spread like wildfire
through the North. When the telegram reached
Washington a member of the House of Representa-
tives rose in his place and asked leave to read it;
amid cheers on every side rose the cry, " To the
clerk's desk! " When Mr. Colfax had read the glad
tidings, the breathless silence was suddenly broken
by the most enthusiastic expressions of delight. A
salute of one hundred guns was fired, and the hero
was thanked by the War Department.
During the afternoon of the first day, when
General Buell arrived on the field and found the
Union army had been driven back, he said to Grant,
138
GENERAL GRANT.
" If you are beaten, how will you get your troops
across the river? Those transports will not take ten
thousand men." " If I am compelled to cross the
Tennessee," said Grant, " ten thousand will be all
that I shall need transports for." Two hours later
he said to Sherman: *' Reform your ranks and at-
tack the enemy in your front at break of day. It
is always an advantage to be the attacking party,
and we must fire the first gun to-morrow morning."
The general said of the battle of Shiloh: " No such
contest ever took place on this continent. In its
results it was one of our greatest victories." On an-
other occasion he remarked, " It was a case of
Southern dash against Northern endurance," which
very correctly describes the two days' struggle. The
battle of Shiloh was unquestionably a victory for
the North, in this that the efifort to crush Grant
before Buell joined him signally failed. Johnston
did not make good his boast that " To-night we
will water our horses in the Tennessee River."
Again after this victory Grant was assailed with
charges afifecting his honor as a man and ability as
a soldier. It was said that he was surprised in his
camp ; that he had made a fatal mistake in not throw-
ing up intrenchments to secure his position ; that
he was a butcher — referring to the loss of life in-
curred by fighting his men in the open; that he was
intoxicated while the battle was raging. Grant
himself maintained a dignified silence in the face of
this storm of detraction. lie did not rush into print
with unseemly haste in his own defense. But in his
reports, and later in his Memoirs, he effectually
disposed of the charges that he was surprised and
THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 139
that he committed a fatal error in not intrenching.
As to the first, he showed that the Union forces
began the attack, and, as to the second, that most
of his troops had come to him scarcely knowing
how to load and fire a musket, and that he thought
it more important, as the position of his army was
a strong one, to teach them the use of other arms
than picks and shovels.
General Grant's friends, however, w^ere not silent
in his behalf. Perhaps no man was ever more ably
defended. On the floor of the House of Representa-
tives, Mr. Washburne protested strongly, in an elo-
quent speech, against the outrageous abuse to which
the victorious general was subjected. Another of
Grant's defenders was General Sherman, who sent
several vigorous and characteristic letters in answer
to a lieutenant governor of Ohio, who had written
abusive and untruthful statements about Grant. He
was never again elected to any public ofBce, and
was commonly spoken of as " the late Mr. Stanton."
It must be remembered that even Washington did
not escape detraction during the war of the Revolu-
tion, and that efforts were made to supersede him
in the command of the American army; that the
deposition of Wellington was demanded and his hu-
miliation in the eyes of Europe, at the very moment
that he was successfully defending Spain against
the conqueror of the Old World, who a few years
later was defeated by the English soldier at Water-
loo, as Lee was at Appomattox, by the commander
whose career we are recording.
Antietam, Chickamauga, Gettysburg, and Shi-
loh have within a few years been acquired and desig-
I40
GENERAL GRANT.
nated by the Government as national military parks
and reservations. On the thirty-third anniversary of
the two days' fierce struggle of April, 1862, the
Shiloh Battlefield Association held a reunion on the
spot where eighty thousand fighting men fought for
the mastery and four thousand laid down their lives.
Appropriate exercises were conducted in a memo-
rial church near the little log church, around which
the men of the North and the South met in deadly
conflict. A grand stand was erected close by for
the occasion, and canopied with the national flag.
" Welcome to the Blue and Gray," was the legend
on the outside, while within were Grant's memor-
able words, " Let us have peace." Among the seven
thousand veterans present were Generals Buell and
Prentiss of the North, and Generals A. P. Stewart
and Joseph Wheeler of the South. The best of
good feeling prevailed, and, as was said by Buell in
an eloquent address, " All past differences were
buried, and only brotherly love remained." * A
statement was received and read from ("icneral Lewis
Wallace, of Indiana, setting forth the reasons why
his division did not arrive on the battlefield earlier
on April 6th. It was in part as follows:
It is known to many, if not all, of you that for
years I was held responsible for the disasters which
overtook the Federal army the first day of the strug-
* At the third annual reunion of the Shiloh Battlefield Asso-
ciation on Memorial Day, 1896, the first monument erected there
in honor of fallen comrades was unveiled by an Illinois regiment,
and ten thousand white cape jessamine fiowcrs were sent by
Texan comrades to place on the graves of the Blue and Gray
who died on thai famous field.
THE BATTLE OF SHILOII. 141
gle, disasters all of which occurred before I received
an order to march to the field. There were men in
high position who charged that I was laggard in
going to the fight, that it took me the whole day to
make six miles, that I lost my way, and that when
found I was moving from the battle, not toward it.
It is true General Grant, when dying, exonerated
me from these terrible accusations, but as the years
go, whitening my head, I grow more and more
anxious to support General Grant's exoneration with
facts and leave it above all impeachment, and this
not less for the honor of the brave men who were
my comrades in that trial than my own. Accord-
ingly, I have been spending both these anniversary
days reviewing my march from Crump's Landing
to Pittsburg Landing, and making out distinctly
the two miles and more over which my division
fought, never once yielding an inch of ground,
through the second day. We did not merely step the
route. I employed the surveyor of Hardin County
and paid his chain and consulted his compass as
he followed us. Instead of six miles, by actual chain
measurement my division moved full seventeen
miles from half-past eleven in the forenoon till dusk
in the evening. Instead of going from the fight,
every step was toward it. Ask any soldier of either
side if fourteen miles are not the average day's
march for a division of infantry under the most
favorable circumstances. Yet that day we moved
over eighteen miles, under disadvantages seldom en-
countered. My first objective point in the move-
ment was the right of the army. As it was in the
morning of Sunday, my cavalry held the bridge over
Owl Creek, within half a mile of Sherman's camp,
which was the extreme right. Then, in the face of
defeat. General Grant sent me orders to come to
Pittsburg Landing by the lower road, and our des-
perate efforts to reach him in good time drove us a
long circuit entirely around the left of the rebel
1^2 GENERAL GRANT.
army. At dusk we were in position. Next morn-
ing, in the gray of the dawn, we opened the battle
and fought it through to the end.
It is an admitted fact that ahiiost the same con-
dition of things existed in the rear of the Confeder-
ate army as was seen by General Buell when he ar-
rived at Pittsburg Landing, with the addition of
many others who had deserted their colors to plun-
der the captured national camps. Had General Wal-
lace continued on as he seriously contemplated
doing, crossed Owd Creek, and made a vigorous
assault with his five thousand veteran troops on the
Confederate rear, while General Nelson wnth his
fresh division pressed them in front, it is exceed-
ingly doubtful if there would have been any fighting
to be done on the following day. Two years later,
at City Point, Grant told General Wallace that if
he had known at Shiloh what he then knew, he
(Grant) would have ordered Wallace to cross the
Owl Creek bridge and attack the rear of the enemy.
In a recent communication to the author. General
Wallace writes: "Who shall tell the result had I
been permitted to go on in my march? Many a
time in my dreams I have beheld Thayer's deployed
regiments moving through those tented streets, a
wave crested with bayonets, and heard the demor-
alized hordes rushing panic-struck upon their en-
gaged lines. And still, in moments when personal
ambition gets the better of me, I hold Rowley's
coming my greatest quarrel with Fortune. Oh, if
he had remained lost in the woods an hour longer! "
When asked many months after the battle of
Shiloh what event could have happened to have
THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 143
changed the result, General Grant answered that
had either himself or General Sherman been seri-
ously wounded before the formation of the last line
near the river was completed, between four and five
o'clock, the field would probably have been lost;
but that had the veteran division of Wallace, with
their five thousand muskets, reached the scene of
the struggle at the time above mentioned, the Con-
federates would have been defeated and driven back
so far before nightfall that there would have been
no battle on the following day. Grant was deeply
disappointed in not being permitted to pursue the
enemy vigorously. After Shiloh he became con-
vinced that the war would never cease until the
armies of the South were destroyed, and that they,
rather than cities and territories, should be the chief
objects of the strategy which controlled the more
numerous forces and greatly superior resources of
the Government.
CHAPTER VII.
lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE.
On the nth of April General Halleck arrived
at Pittsburg Landing and assumed command of the
united Armies of the Tennessee and Ohio. The
forces were reorganized and called the Army of the
Mississippi. General Thomas commanded the
right, composed mostly of Grant's troops, Buell
the left, and General Pope commanded the center,
consisting chiefly of troops which accompanied
him from Island No. lo, while McClernand was as-
signed to the command of the reserve, composed
of his and Wallace's divisions. Grant was named
second in conmiand of the whole, and was also
supposed to be in command of the right wing and
reserve, but was really in disgrace after the arrival
of Halleck, who was known in the large army of
about one hundred and twenty thousand men as ■
" Old Brains." Although Thomas, commanding ^
the right wing, and General McClernand, the re-
serves, were Grant's subordinates, orders were, con-
trary to military usages, sent directly to them with-
out his being made aware of their contents, and
movements were executed by his own troops with-
144
lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 145
out his knowledge. Grant writes: "Orders were
given to all commanders engaged at Shiloh to send
in their reports to department headquarters. Those
from the Army of the Tennessee were sent through
me, but from the Army of the Ohio they were sent
by General Buell. without passing through my
hands. General Halleck ordered me verbally to
send in my report, but I positively declined, on the
ground that he had received the reports of a part
of the army engaged at Shiloh without their com-
ing through me. He admitted that my refusal was
justifiable under the circumstances, but explained
that he wanted to get the reports ofT before moving
the command, and as fast as a report had come
to him he had forwarded it to Washington."
Everything being in readiness, Halleck's Army
of the Mississippi, reorganized in sixteen divisions,
moved forward, on April 30th, to drive Beauregard
and the Confederate forces from their strongly forti-
fied position at Corinth. The exterior line of the
national army was fifteen miles long, and at every
road crossing there were either strong redoubts or
batteries with massive epaulements, while the troops
under the Confederate general's command num-
bered at least forty thousand less than the army led
by General Halleck. On the 3d of May our ad-
vance reached a point eight miles from Corinth,
and the same day a portion of Pope's command cap-
tured Farmington, abandoned after slight resist-
ance on the part of the enemy, nearly five thousand
strong. The Union army moved forward slowly
under Halleck's Fabian policy, using the spade for
the first time in Western campaigning, no advance
146 GENERAL GRANT.
being made without intrenchments, as the cautious
commander did not propose that the Confederates
should steal upon him unawares. Our army was
anxious to push forward and attack Beauregard,
whom we so largely outnumbered, but when Grant
ventured while at headquarters, and the subject of
the evacuation of Corinth was being discussed, to
recommend an immediate attack on the extreme
right of the Union line, where the enemy's ranks
were weakened, to be followed by an assault along
the whole line, his advice was scouted by Halleck,
who suggested that General Grant's opinions need
not be offered until asked for, and, in accordance
with this intimation, he did not again during the
siege obtrude them. It may be here remarked that
after Corinth fell, and Grant had entered the Con-
federate works, he satisfied himself beyond all doubt
that, had the attack been made as he suggested,
the place might have been taken and its army de-
stroyed or captured.
On May 30th the Army of the Mississippi was
drawn up in line of battle awaiting the Confederate
onset, the commanding general having announced
on the morning of May 30th to his command, that
" there is every indication that the enemy will attack
our left this morning," it was suddenly discovered
that the birds were flown, leaving quaker guns and
barren defenses to impose upon us as long as pos-
sible. The evacuation had been going on for two
days, but it was not discovered until clouds of smoke
and sheets of flame announced that Beauregard, be-
fore retreating, had fired the town. As his rear
guard moved out on the southern road, our advance
lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 147
moved in. Buell and Pope were sent in pursuit,
but accomplished little, and, after a fruitless chase
of ten days, were recalled to Corinth. The former
was soon after detached and sent to Chattanooga,
Pope was ordered to Virginia, and General Grant
established his headquarters at Memphis, captured,
June 6th, after a brilliant naval combat on the
Mississippi.
Before his departure for Memphis General
Grant's humiliating position in Halleck's army be-
came intolerable, and he applied for leave to visit
St. Louis, which was granted. Sherman, before
leaving Corinth on a short expedition, called to take
leave of General Halleck, who casually mentioned
that Grant was going away the next morning. Gen-
eral Sherman inquired the cause, and was told that
he did not know, but that Grant had asked for and
received leave of absence for thirty days. " Of
course we all knew," writes Sherman, " that he was
chafing under the slights of his anomalous position,
and I determined to see him on my way back. His
camp was a short distance ofif the Monterey road,
in the woods, and consisted of four or five tents,
with a sapling railing around the front. As I rode
up. Majors Rawlins, Lagow, and Hillyer were in
front of the camp, and piled up near them was the
usual office and camp chests all ready for a start
in the morning. I inquired for the general, and was
shown to his tent, where I found him seated on a
camp stool with papers on a rude camp table " (it
consisted of a board resting on two empty barrels —
Author), " and tying them up with red tape in con-
venient bundles. After passing the usual compli-
148 GENERAL GRANT.
ments, I inquired if it was true that he was going
away. He said ' Yes.' I then inquired the reason,
and he said, ' Sherman, you know. You know that
I am in the way here. 1 have stood it as long as 1
can, and can endure it no longer.' I inquired where
he was going, and he answered, ' St. Louis." I then
asked if he had any business there, and he said, ' Not
a bit.' I then begged him to stay, ilhistrating his
case by my own. Before the battle of Shiloh I had
been cast down by a mere newspaper assertion of
' crazy,' but that single battle had given me new life,
and I was now in high feather; and I argued with
him that, if he went away, events would go right
along, and he would be left out, whereas, if he re-
mained, some happy accident might restore him
to favor and to his true place. He certainly appre-
ciated my friendly advice, and promised to wait
awhile; at all events, not to go without seeing me
again or communicating with me. Very soon after
this I was ordered to Chewalla, where, on the 6th
of June, I received a note from him saying that he
had reconsidered his intention, and would remain." *
On July nth General Halleck was assigned to
the command of " the whole land forces of the
United States as general in chief," and immediately
repaired to Washington, at the same time directing
Grant to leave Alemphis and establish his head-
quarters at Corinth. His jurisdiction was not, how-
ever, enlarged by Hallcck's promotion; on the con-
trary, as we learn from the following letter, the new
general in chief first offered the command of tJic
* Memoirs of General Sherman, vol. i, p. 2S3.
^
lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 149
Army of the Tennessee not to Buell, or Thomas,
or Sherman, or Nelson, or McClernand, but to
Colonel Robert Allen, a quartermaster, who de-
clined it, whereupon Grant was permitted to retain
the command. Allen's letter, dated July 9, 1866,
giving an account of the manner in which the posi-
tion was offered to him, is as follows: " I had joined
General Halleck a short time subsequent to the fall
of Corinth, and was attached to his immediate com-
mand, when he received the appointment of gen-
eral in chief, with orders to repair at once to Wash-
ington. Shortly after, he came to my tent. . . .
After a somewhat protracted conversation, he
turned to me and said, ' Now what can I do for
yotif I replied that I did not know that he could
do anything. * Yes/ he rejoined, ' I can give you
command of this army.' I replied, ' I have not
rank.' ' That,' said he, ' can easily be obtained.' I
do not remember exactly what my reply was to this,
but it was to the effect that I doubted the expedi-
ency of such a measure, identified as I was with
the enormous business and expenditures of the
quartermaster's department, from which it was al-
most impracticable to relieve me at that time. Other
reasons were mentioned, and he did not press the
subject. It is true that I was congratulated on the
prospect of succeeding to the command before I
had mentioned the subject of this interview."
While General Grant's headquarters were at
Memphis it bid fair, with its swarms of crafty seces-
sionists, speculators, gamblers, and unprincipled
Jewish traders, to be of more value to the rebels
than when held bv the insurgents themselves, in-
150 GENERAL GRANT.
asmuch as everything in the way of supplies which
the enemy needed was smuggled through the lines
to them. This business was carried on in good part
by Jews, desperate for gain, who often succeeded
in passing our pickets under cover of night. ]\Iany
a midnight chase the writer and the cavalry regi-
ment he had the honor to command has had after
the Memphis smugglers, and many an ambulance,
drawn by a pair of horses or mules, and loaded down
with well-filled trunks, containing medicine and
other contraband articles, did the troopers of the
Fifteenth Illinois capture, which were endeavoring
to escape to the Confederates, after evading the
cavalry and infantry pickets posted around Mem-
phis. General Grant issued various stringent or-
ders regarding slaves, treasonable traders, and guer-
rillas — all clear and statesmanlike.
The disposition made of fugitive negroes was
practical — they were put to useful employment and
kindly treated while awaiting the further action of
the Government concerning them. This was be-
fore the country had been educated to the propriety
of putting guns in their hands. The illicit traffic
was gradually broken up, and Memphis ceased to
be a base of supplies for the enemy; disloyal utter-
ances by the press were discontinued, and quiet and
order reigned in the city.
A few miles out of Memphis was the beautiful
residence of a wealthy lawyer named L . On
his plantation was encamped a brigade of our
troops, and it was deemed a military necessity that
the grand old elms and oaks should be cut down.
As the Southern owner, notwitlistanding his ap-
lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 151
peals that his trees might be spared, saw them
falling around him until not a single one was
left, his mind was so afifected that his reason grad-
ually gave way, and he became a hopeless idiot.
When the brigade commander was asked by the
writer why he could not have spared the trees, his
answer was brief — but four words — " 'Twas a mili-
tary necessity."
The period from July 17th, when General Hal-
leck departed for Washington, to the battle of Cor-
inth on October 3d, was one of great care and
anxiety to Grant — the most anxious and harassing
period of the war to him, he remarks in his Me-
moirs. His forces had been taken from him to re-
enforce Buell, then beginning his advance on Chat-
tanooga, and he was left to defend a large area of
country exposed at various points to incursions
from the enemy, and inhabited by a population un-
friendly to the Union, who might be trusted to con-
vey to his opponents immediate and minute intel-
ligence of his every movement. Until September
he was occupied with what might be termed the
civil affairs of his district, but early in the latter
month he learned that Generals Van Dorn and
Price were moving north, evidently upon Corinth,
in pursuance of a concerted plan for an advance all
along the Confederate line from the Mississippi to
the Atlantic seaboard.
It was a dark hour for the Union cause. On
the left, Pope had been defeated in Virginia, and
Lee was invading Maryland. In the center, Buell
was falling back on Louisville, with Bragg, in com-
mand of a large force, advancing by parallel roads
152
GENERAL GRANT.
and aiming for the Ohio River. If Grant conld be
driven back, the Union Hne would stand precisely
where it was when the conflict began two years be-
fore. General Grant was aware of this, and it in-
creased vastly his sense of responsibility. He had
sent so many men to Bnell that he had but fifty
thousand in his command. Of tbese two divisions
were at Corinth and supporting points. There were
also at Corinth Davies's division, two brigades of
Mcx^rthur's division, with cavalry and artillery, the
whole commanded by Rosecrans, and forming
Grant's left wing. His center, extending from
Bethel to Humboldt on the ^Mobile and Alabama
Railroad, and from Jackson to Bolivar, where the
Mississippi Central crosses the Hatchie River, was
commanded by General Ord. Sherman held the
right at Memphis, having two of his brigades at
Brownsville, where the Hatchie is crossed by the
Memphis and Ohio Railroad. These places were
held not so much from their strategic importance,
but because the troops could be easily concentrated
from them at any threatened point.
By the 12th all of Rosecrans's force had been
combined at Corinth, except a small detachment
under Colonel R. C. Murphy, of the Eighth Wis-
consin, which had been detailed to guard the stores
at luka, on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad,
twenty miles from Corinth. Affairs were in this
posture when, on the 13th, Price's forces occupied
Tuka, driving out Colonel ]\lurphy and his handful
of men. Grant rightly divined that Price's object
was to re-enforce Bragg in Tennessee. Van Dorn
was but a few davs' march behind with a large force,
lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 153
evidently aiming to join Price at Corinth, where
their two routes would converge.
Grant resolved to attack Price before Van Dorn
could reach him. The forces at Bolivar and the
supporting points were concentrated at Corinth.
Then Ord was sent by rail to Burnsville, about
seven miles west of luka, with orders to attack
Price from the northwest, while Rosecrans was
to move from his position south of Corinth by the
Fulton road, which enters luka from the east, and
attack from that cjuarter. A smaller column was
to move from Rosecrans's position by the Jacinto
road and attack from the northeast.
Ord arrived at his position on the i8th, and
there intrenched, as ordered, waiting until Rosen-
crans should come up on the morning of the 19th,
when a simultaneous attack was to be made. Grant
remained at Burnsville with nine hundred men in
easy communication by courier with his wings, fol-
lowing the movements of Van Dorn, and prepared
to checkmate a possible movement of the latter
against Corinth should he attempt it. Ord met the
enemy in his advance from Burnsville, but drove
them back, and, as before remarked, was ready to
attack at the appointed hour. Rosecrans, how-
ever, failed to come up in time. About midnight
Grant received a dispatch from him, saying that he
was at Jacinto, twenty-two miles from luka, that his
command had been delayed, but that he would
reach luka by two o'clock next day. Grant doubted
this, but sent the dispatch to Ord, with orders to
attack the moment he heard guns to the south or
southeast. He waited all day of the 19th, with no
154
GENERAL GRANT.
news of Rosecrans; the latter, on reaching' Bar-
nets, where the Jacinto road to luka left the road
running east, moved his whole column by that road,
not sending any troops by the Fulton road, reason-
ing, perhaps, that it was a roundabout course, and
would consume too much time.
While moving up the Jacinto road General
Rosecrans met a force of the enemy, and was
beaten back, losing many men and a battery. The
wind was blowing hard from the north, so that
neither Grant nor Ord heard the guns of this action,
and the former was only apprised of it by the arrival
of a courier late at night. He at once directed Ord
to attack in the morning. But Rosecrans's failure
to throw troops into the Fulton road had left that
way of escape open, and during the night Price re-
treated by it and joined \^an Dorn and Lovell in
Tippah County, Mississippi, whence the united
force moved on Corinth. After the engagement
Grant issued an address to the army, concluding-
with these words, " While congratulating the noble
living, it is meet to offer our condolences to the
friends of the heroic dead, who offered their lives
a sacrifice in defense of constitutional liberty, and in
their fall rendered memorable the field of luka."
Grant was for some time uncertain where the
blow would fall, but, when it became evident that
Corinth would be attacked, he ordered General
McPherson, who was at Jackson, to collect his
scattered detachments along the railroad and join
Rosecrans at Corinth, while Ord and Hurlbut
were directed to advance from r>olivar by way of
Pocahontas, and be prepared to attack General Van
i
lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 155
Dorn in flank or rear should they not be in time
to enter the town.
The battle of Corinth was begun by the Con-
federates on October 2d, but was confined on that
day to the preliminary skirmishing which is usu-
ally the avant courricr of a conflict. The next day
the battle was begun in earnest, and our troops
who had occupied advanced positions were driven
back, with considerable confusion and loss, to the
works around Corinth, which the forethought of
Grant had ordered to be constructed when he as-
sumed command in July. These fortifications un-
doubtedly saved the army on the evening of the 3d.
On the following morning the enemy, in high spirits
from the successes of the previous day, renewed
the battle with great fierceness. This column
charged again and again, only to be driven back,
shattered and bleeding. Still again, they are urged
forward by their leaders, and the men come up with
their faces averted as if striving to protect them-
selves against a driving storm of hail, and finally
" the ragged head of the column " penetrate our
ranks, but are quickly driven back and over the
broad glacis with severe loss. Our regiments,
swarming over their works, chase the broken frag-
ments of the Confederate column back to the works ;
many crouching in the abatis surrender at discre-
tion. Thus ended, about noon, the fiercely con-
tested battle of Corinth.
The general, in his address to his army, said:
" The enemy chose his own time and place of at-
tack, and knowing the troops of the West as he
docs, and with great facilities for knowing their
156 GENERAL GRANT.
numbers, never would have made the attempt ex-
cept with a superior force numerically. But for the
undaunted bravery of officers and soldiers, who
have yet to learn defeat, the efforts of the enemy
must have proven successful."
The enemy retreated to the Hatchie, about ten
miles distant, and w^ere there struck by Hurlbut
and Ord, as (jrant had planned, and lost numerous
men and guns, and had Rosecrans pursued as in-
structed, the whole Confederate army would have
been destroyed or captured. As it was, by the delay
of Rosecrans to pursue. Van Dorn and Price suc-
ceeded in getting away with such of their forces as
had escaped death and capture. General Grant
closed his dispatch to Washington communicating
his success with these words, " I have strained
everything to take into the fight an adequate force,
and to get them in the right place." No sooner
had the good news been received at the capital than
the President sent over the wires to General Grant
the following message: " I congratulate you and
all concerned in your recent battles and victories.
How does it all sum up? I especially regret the
death of General Hackleman, and am very anxious
to know the condition of General Oglesby, who is
an intimate personal friend." The significant in-
quiry, " How does it all sum up?" may be briefly
answered. The enemy's loss was upward of eight
thousand in killed, wounded, and prisoners, to-
gether with numerous guns and standards, while
those who escaped were very greatly demoralized
by their repeated defeats and by the pursuit which
was continued by the entire army for forty miles.
lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 157
and by the cavalry for sixty. luka, Corinth, and
the Hatchie reheved Grant's inadequate forces,
which he handled with such consummate skill, from
all immediate danger, and relieved for a time west-
ern Tennessee from the tread of hostile forces.
Among the heroic regiments that served at Cor-
inth was the Eighth Iowa, whose stalwart standard
bearer carried a living and noble specimen of an
American eagle in the place of a flag. The latter
would fly off over the battlefield during the san-
guinary struggle, and then return and perch upon
the small platform at the end of his pole, clap his
pinions, and then sail grandly -aloft, accompanied
by the cheers of the regiment, always returning to
his post, seemingly regardless of the screaming shot
and shell or the ping of the hailstorm of bullets.
In October Rosecrans was assigned to the com-
mand of the Department of the Ohio, superseding
Buell, and Grant's command, the Department of
the Tennessee, was considerably enlarged. It in-
cluded Cairo, Forts Henry and Donelson, northern
Mississippi, and those portions of Kentucky and
Tennessee west of the river of that name. His
headquarters were continued at Jackson, from
which point he could best direct, organize, and
overlook his colossal command. Re-enforcements
and supplies were now forwarded to him with a
view to making a march into the interior of Missis-
sippi and capturing the Western Gibraltar, as
the Confederates vaingloriously called Vicksburg.
Grant now divided his department into four dis-
tricts, and assigned the four divisions of his army
as follows: Sherman, with the first division, com-
158 GENERAL GRANT.
manded the district of ^lemphis; Hurlbut, with
the second, that of Jackson ; the district of Corinth,
by Hamilton, with the third division; and that of
Cohnnbus was in command of Davis, with the
fourth. Grant's great administrative abihties were
now displayed in preparations for the new cam-
paign, and perhaps the most brilhant in the annals
of the civil war of 1861-65.
Before entering upon another chapter, in which
will be told the story of this famous siege, we must
again recur to the groundless stories, which con-
tinued to obtain circulation, concerning General
Grant's habits of self-indulgence. It is difficult to
ascertain the precise truth with regard to the private
personal habits of men who have become distin-
guished in public affairs. The tongue of slander
is busy against them, and, on the other hand, a
zealous partisanship is always ready to magnify
their virtues and to cover or deny their faults. No
charge is more common against eminent Americans
than that of intemperance; and it is far easier to
make such an accusation, and to gain credence for
it in the public mind, than to disprove it by com-
petent and available testimony. In the early stages
of the war, the ready solution of a defeat to the
Union arms was the inebriety of the command-
ing general. Banks was intoxicated at the Sabine
Cross Roads; Hooker was under the influence of
stimulants at Chancellorsville; Grant was drunk at
Shiloh, at least during the disaster of the first day;
and now rumours were again current about the gen-
eral's free indulgence in whisky. Like Banquo's
ghost, tiicy would not down. Tnnuenccs were again
lUKA, CORINTH, AND THE HATCHIE. 159
at work at Washington to have Grant removed
from his command, but the witty reply of the Presi-
dent after the victory at Corinth, " I wish that all
the generals would drink Grant's whisky," showed
how little credit he gave to the slanders. Some one
was disparaging Grant in Sherman's presence, when
the latter broke out with, " It won't do, sir, it won't
do; Grant is a great general. He stood by me when
I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk,
and now, sir, we stand by each other," by which
he, of course, intended to convey the impression
that he no more believed his commander to be a
drunkard than he believed himself to be insane.
This hue and cry against Grant was chiefly the work
of newspaper correspondents and the adherents of
less successful soldiers or political leaders, who
wished to aid their friends by defaming Grant, and
it appeared to trouble him less than it did his ad-
mirers and troops of friends in the Western armies.
If any one repeated what was said by such a paper
or person, he only — smoked.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN.
On November 2d, having completed all his
preparations, Grant began his movement against
Vicksburg by an advance into Mississippi with a
force of thirty thousand men. All his energies were
now concentrated on the capture of the Confederate
stronghold, the key to the navigation of the Father
of Waters. To epitomize its great value, we may
quote General Sherman's words, " The possession
of the Mississippi is the possession of America."
While General Grant steadily pushed the enemy
south, other co-operating movements were being
made against Vicksburg by his lieutenants. In
Sherman's sententious words, " Grant moved di-
rect on Pemberton, while I moved from Memphis,
and a smaller force, under Washburne, struck di-
rectly for Grenada; and the first thing Pem1)erton
knew the depot of his supplies was almost in the
grasp of a small cavalry force, and he fell back in
confusion, and gave us the Tallahatchie without a
liattlc." ( )n the 29th Grain's headcjuarters were at
Holly Springs, and six days later he entered
Oxford, with his cavalry at Coffeevillc, only cight-
160
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THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. i6l
een miles from Grenada, the whole movement
into Mississippi having been made without any
serious fighting, and giving promise of the most
complete success, when the cowardice and incapac-
ity of Colonel Murphy, of the Eighth Wisconsin,
who had been placed in command of Holly Springs,
and who allowed this vast depot of supplies to be
captured by the Confederates under Van Dorn
without striking a blow in its defense, although
previously warned that an attack was probable, de-
ranged all Grant's admirably conceived plans for
carrying Vicksburg, and rendered necessary a retro-
grade movement.
The enemy destroyed all the ordnance, subsist-
ence, and quartermaster's stores accumulated there,
valued at more than a million of dollars, and hastily
evacuated the place before our troops fell back, as
they were compelled to do. Murphy, the same
ofificer who gave up luka to Price, was dismissed
from the service. Had General Grant then known
what he soon afterward learned, that an army could
be subsisted without supplies other than those
drawn from an enemy's country, he could have
pushed on to the rear of Vicksburg, and probably
have succeeded in capturing the place. Not know-
ing this fact, he fell back to Holly Springs, and or-
dered forward other supplies. Sherman, in the
meantime, had moved down to Milliken's Bend,
and not hearing from Grant, who was unable to
communicate with him, made his unsuccessful as-
sault at Chickasaw Bayou, but, after a three days'
struggle, abandoned his attack against Vicksburg.
The time for success in a movement southward
1 62 GENERAL GRANT.
by way of the Mississippi Central Railroad having
passed, Grant gradually fell back with his army,
and soon after removed his headquarters to Young's
Point, a few miles above the city of Vicksburg, on
the west bank of the Mississippi, and assumed per-
sonal control of operations. At this moment, Janu-
ary 30, 1863, the actual siege of Vicksburg began.
The city was deemed by its defenders impregnable.
It occupied the first high land or bluffs commanding
the river below Memphis, and, in addition, was sur-
rounded by such a network of rivers, bayous, and
impassable swamps as to be unapproachable by
land. The Yazoo, a large but sluggish river, flow-
ing from the east, enters the ^Mississippi nine miles
above A'icksburg. A series of blufifs on the east
bank of the Yazoo left the latter river at Haines's
Bluff, eleven miles above Mcksburg, and stretched
across the neck of the peninsula formed by the junc-
tion of the Yazoo and Mississippi, striking the
latter river at Vicksburg, and continuing down its
left bank to Warrenton, six miles below.
There were heavy batteries at Haines's Blufif,
and the high land from there to \'icksburg and
thence to Warrenton was covered with batteries and
rille pits at suitable distances. The only approach
to these batteries was through the swamps and
marshes before described, and was rendered still
more difficult at this time l)y the unpreccdentedly
high stage of water in the ^Mississippi, and which
continued until the middle of April. The course
of the Mississippi below \'icksburg is one of zig-
zags, the river flowing now east, now west through
alluvial l)()ttoms, often at riglit angles with its gen-
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 163
eral course. One of these bends began at Young's
Point, where Grant had estabhshed his headquar-
ters, the river at that point flowing due east until
it struck the bluff on which \^icksburg stands, when
it turned and flowed west by south, forming an
acute angle, with the apex at Vicksburg and the
base at Young's Point. This angle was scarcely a
mile in width, and naval vessels attempting to run
the batteries could be fired upon by guns at War-
renton across it miles before they came in range
of the forts at Vicksburg.
The great problem that confronted Grant and
his generals was the gaining a foothold on this high
land east of the Mississippi. Several plans were
considered. One was to return to Memphis, fortify
it as a base of supplies, thence move south along
the railroad to Jackson, Miss., and march upon
Vicksburg from the rear or east. But this would
involve a retrograde movement, and Grant dreaded
its effect upon the loyal North. The nation almost
despaired at this time, so great had been the re-
verses of the year, of ultimate success in the war
that kept the Union whole. Enlistments had almost
wholly ceased. The elections of 1862 had gone
against the Union party, and a retreat at this junc-
ture, he reasoned, would be contributing aid and
comfort to the enemy.
The second plan was to cut a canal across the
bend at Young's Point to the river below, pass his
army through it on transports, and then effect a
lodgment below. A canal had been cut across the
neck the year before by General Williams, with the
expectation that, in the annual rise of the Missis-
164 GENERAL GRANT.
sippi, the current would form a new channel; but
the canal had been begun at a point of the stream
where there was an eddy, and this result had not
followed. A force of four thousand men was now
set to enlarging the canal, and continued until
March 8th, when a flood in the river swept away a
dam which had been built at the entrance to keep
back the water, and work was suspended. Had
it been completed, it is doubtful if it would have
proved effective, as nearly its whole course was
within range of the lower batteries at Warrenton.
The third plan was to march his army across
the base of the peninsula on the west bank to a
point below the fortifications, and then transport
them by steamers to the eastern bank. For the
success of the latter plan two things were essential —
a lower stage of water and the presence of gun-
boats and steamers below Vicksburg for support
and ferriage purposes. These Admiral David D.
Porter (1813-91) undertook to supply by running
the gantlet of the batteries with his ironclad gun-
boats and transports. The last-named plan was
eventually adopted.
By the 1st of April the water had so far fallen
that the roads across the peninsula behind the levees
of the bayous began to emerge, and preparations
for the final movement were made. Porter himself
undertook to prepare his steamers for the perilous
enterprise. Their boilers and engines were the
chief points to be protected, and this he elTected
by raising along the boiler deck a rani])art of bales
of hay and cotton and bags of grain. \\y April i6th
the fleet was ready for the attempt. It consisted
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 165
of the flagship Benton, commanded by Porter in
person, the Lafayette, with the steamer Price
lashed to her side, the Louisville, ]\Iound City, Pitts-
burg, and Carondelet gunboats. Following these
came the transports Forest Queen, Silver Wave,
and Henry Clay, each towing barges laden with
coal for the use of the steamers when they should
arrive below. Behind the barges was the gunboat
Tuscumbia, bringing up the rear.
It was ten o'clock on a moonlight night when
the fleet left Milliken's Bend, a few miles above
Young's Point, and proceeded down the river.
General Grant witnessed the result from the deck
of a transport pushed out into the stream as near
the batteries as prudence dictated. The dark hulls
of the boats were plainly discernible in the moon-
light, and the puffs of their exhaust pipes could be
heard three miles away. Soon came a flash from
a battery near Warrenton, and a solid shot whistled
across the peninsula. Then followed a rocket from
the upper batteries, and soon their guns joined in
the grand chorus. The gunboats replied, seeming
to vomit fire from sulphurous stomachs of smoke.
The blufifs and the city behind were revealed by
murky flashes, and a rain of fire poured upon the
devoted fleet, while mimic waterspouts sprang
from the bosom of the river at the bursting of the
shells. Soon a ten-inch shell pierced the boiler of
the Henry Clay, and she blew up with a tremendous
explosion, communicating fire not only to herself,
but to the barges in tow, thus adding the terrors of
conflagration to the scene. The enemy, too, lighted
bonfires on the east bank, and set fire to houses on
l66 GENERAL GRANT.
the west shore to reveal the forms of the vessels.
The critical moment came when the boats turned
the point of the angle at Vicksburg, for there they
met the concentrated fire of nearly all the batteries.
Their hulls were pierced and torn until in places
they resembled sieves, but only the Henry Clay
was disabled, and, after bearing the hurricane of
fire for more than two hours, the steamers came
safely to anchor below the city.
Before this, on March 29th, McClernand, with
his corps of four divisions, had been sent to seize
New Carthage, on the west bank, some twenty-
seven miles below Milliken's Bend in a straight
line, though the troops were forced to march fully
forty. He found the roads along the levee very bad.
At Bayou Vidal, several miles above New Carthage,
the levee had been cut, overflowing the roads for
two miles. Troops and artillery were ferried across
the crevasse, and on April 6th McClernand seized
and held New Carthage with one division and its
artillery. Here Grant visited him on the 17th, after
Admiral Porter's success had made his plans feasi-
ble, and saw that some more expeditious method
must be devised for transferring his army. Mc-
Clernand's engineers, under Lieutenant Hains, had
already surveyed a new route from above the cre-
vasse to a point on the Mississippi some ten miles
below New Carthage. To open this route four
bridges across bayous — two of them six hundred
feet long — must be built out of such crude mate-
rial as was at hand, l)ut the resources of the North-
ern soldier were ecjual to the task, the bridges were
built, and the whole army, with cavalry, artillery,
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 167
and wag-on trains, crossed them without mishap
save the loss of a heavy thirty-two-pounder, which
broke through the only pontoon bridge on the
difficult route.
On April 20th Grant issued his order for the
change of base to the east side of the river, and the
final investment of Mcksburg began. McClernand's
Thirteenth Army Corps was to constitute the right
wing- in these operations, the Fifteenth Corps, under
Sherman, the left wing, and the Seventeenth, Mc-
Pherson's, the center. Reserves w^ere to be formed
by divisions from each army corps. The soldiers
marched light. One tent only was allowed each
company for protection of rations against rain, one
w^all tent for each regimental, brigade, and division
headquarters. As fast as the Thirteenth Corps ad-
vanced, its place was to be taken by the Seven-
teenth, and that was to be followed closely by the
Fifteenth. Two regiments were to be detailed to
guard the lines from Richmond to New Carthage,
and general hospitals were established between
Duckport and Milliken's Bend.
McClernand's corps, as we have seen, was al-
ready below the city. Two of McPherson's di-
visions marched immediately. The third was on its
way from Lake Providence, where it had been sent
to guard stores, and orders were left for it to join
the main body on its arrival. Sherman's divisions,
one each at Duckport and Young's Point, and one
recalled from an expedition to Greenville, Miss., to
silence a Confederate battery there, were ordered
to follow McPherson. Six more steamers, bear-
ing supplies and having twelve barges in tow laden
l68 GENERAL GRANT.
with rations, attempted to run the batteries on the
night of April 22d. One steamer was sunk and
about half the barges, but the others proved a wel-
come re-enforcement.
Reconnoissances showed no practicable land-
ing place on the east bank above Grand Gulf, some
twenty-two miles below New Carthage. The army
accordingly rendezvoused at a little hamlet called
Hard Times, on the west bank, nearly opposite
Grand Gulf, ten thousand of the men being sent
down on the boats, the rest marching by land
through swamps and over bayous, which had been
bridged by the engineer corps.
By April 27th, Grant's birthday, General Mc-
Clernand's corps was at Hard Times, with ]Mc-
Pherson's in supporting distance. Grand Gulf was
on a high bluiT, and so fortified as to be almost im-
pregnable to a front attack. The place for its cap-
ture, as arranged by General Grant and Admiral
Porter in unison, was for the latter to attack with
his entire strength of eight gunboats, and silence
the river batteries if possible, whereupon McCler-
nand's corps, which was to be embarked on trans-
ports for the purpose, was to effect a landing and
storm the defenses. At 8 a. m. on the 29th Porter
attacked, but, after a furious bombardment of five
and a half hours, withdrew, not having silenced a
single gun. It was evident that the works were too
strong to be carried by a direct attack.
That night Porter ran the batteries with his gun-
boats and transports. Grant, under cover of the
darkness, marched his troops across the neck of
land oj^positc Grand Gulf, and embarked them on
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 169
the transports, barges, and gunboats, which then
moved down the river to effect a landing wherever
a feasible one presented itself. A negro had told
them of a safe landing place at Bruinsburg, some
three miles below, whence a good road led to Port
Gibson, twelve miles in the interior over the bluffs
before described, which were here about two miles
back from the river. The army landed there with-
out opposition on the morning of April 30th.
It was one of the boldest strategic movements
in the history of modern warfare. Grant had with
him twenty thousand men. \'icksburg lay between
him and his base of supplies. In his rear rolled the
wide river. At Grand Gulf, Haines's Bluff, and
Jackson, fifty miles east of Mcksburg, and con-
nected with it by rail, the enemy had nearly sixty
thousand men, all of whom could be massed against
him by lines much shorter than his own. But his
armv was on the east bank of the river. The initial
point in his grand scheme of conquest had been
gained. For the rest he trusted to his own genius
and the gallantry of his troops.
To keep the enemy's garrison at Haines's Bluff
employed, General Sherman, who was still at Milli-
ken's Bend, was directed to ascend the Yazoo to
the bluff and attack it, which he did with excellent
results, the enemy being su confused by the feint
as to hold their forces in the earthworks instead of
dispatching them against Grant below. The first
move of the latter was to reduce Grand Gulf for use
as a base of operations. The high land two miles
to the eastward before mentioned was the first point
to be gained in this movement. It had not yet
170
GENERAL GRANT.
been occupied by the enemy from Grand Gulf, be-
cause the Bayou Pierre, a navigable stream, en-
tered the Mississippi between them and Bruinsburg,
and there was no bridge nearer than Port Gibson
by which they could cross.
As soon as ammunition and two days' rations
could be issued to ^IcClernand's command, he ad-
vanced, seized the heights, and pushed on, hoping
to reach Port Gibson and hold the bridge there over
the Bayou Pierre before the enemy could come up.
The latter met him, however, at Thompson's planta-
tion, five miles west of Port Gibson. Had the place
been laid out by an engineer corps, it could not
have been more favorable for defense. It com-
prised a succession of wooded ridges parallel to
each other, with deep ravines between the latter
so choked with thickets of vines and canebrakes
as to be almost impenetrable. Xear Thompson's
the road to Port Gibson forked, the two branches
running parallel about a mile apart and uniting as
they reached the town. Here the Confederate Gen-
eral Bowen, with his Grand Gulf garrison of some
eight thousand men, had made a stand. The two
roads rendered it necessary for McClernand to di-
vide his force, Hovey's, Carr's, and A. J. Smith's
divisions being sent by the right-hand road, and
Osterhaus's by the left. The first-named divisions
succeeded in holding their own under Bowen's at-
tack, but Osterhaus was repulsed.
At about 10 A. M. General Grant himself came
up and assumed command. He ordered McPher-
son, who was close in the rear with two brigades of
Logan's division, to send one brigade to support
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 171
Osterhaus, and with the others to move to the left
and flank the enemy's position. As soon as the sup-
porting brigade arrived Osterhaus made a front at-
tack, the enemy's right broke, followed soon by his
left, and before sunset his whole army was in full
retreat toward his fortifications at Grand Gulf. He
did not even stop to contest the bridge crossing
at Port Gibson — a fine strategic point — although
he burned the bridge behind him, and next morn-
ing General Grant occupied Port Gibson without
resistance.
Here the bold commander learned from South-
ern papers of the complete success of Colonel Grier-
son, who, with some seventeen hundred cavalry,
had been sent to make a raid through central Mis-
sissippi with the double design of distracting the
enemy's attention from Grant and of destroying his
railroads. From Port Gibson the army moved
northward and eastward with a view to capturing
Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, and thence by
the Jackson and Vicksburg Railroad invest the
latter city from the east. Finding a hostile army in
his rear and the gunboat fleet in his front, General
Bowen now evacuated Grand Gulf, and retreated
to effect a junction with Pemberton at Vicksburg.
Grant entered the place May 3d, and from its walls
communicated with Sherman and other subordi-
nate commanders who were still above on the west
bank, ordering every man that could be spared to
join him at Grand Gulf. Here also he received a
dispatch from General Banks, who was on the Red
River marching north to invest Port Hudson, and
which stated that he could not possibly reach the
1/2
GENERAL GRANT.
latter place before May loth, and then with but fif-
teen thousand men.
Until receipt of this letter Grant had intended to
detach McClernand's corps and send it to co-operate
with Banks for the reduction of Port Hudson. But
the latter's delay and the smallness of his own force
rendered this plan impracticable, and he relin-
quished it for the bolder and more masterly one,
heretofore unknown in the art of war, of cutting
loose from his base, moving into the enemy's coun-
try without supplies except those gathered by his
foragers, and capturing Mcksburg by an attack
from the rear. On the 7th Sherman arrived at
Grand Gulf with his command, and the combined
army moved upon the doomed city, skirmishing
and fighting at many points, but never repulsed,
and drawing ample and excellent supplies from
the region traversed.
The wagon train carrying ammunition only, and
impressed from the neighboring plantations, would
have moved motley himself to laughter. In its
ranks might have been seen an elegant carriage,
drawn by mules in plow harness, with rope lines
and straw collars, and packed to the top with boxes
of cartridges thrown in promiscuously in the hurry
of the advance; creaking carts, drawn by patient
oxen, and long wagons fitted with racks for trans-
porting cotton bales, now loaded to their utmost
capacity with munitions of war. No camp equipage
or personal baggage was carried in the first days of
this memorable march. Even the commander in
chief was for a week without a change of linen.
Many of the general officers marched on foot. The
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 173
scenes along the way illustrated forcibly and sadly
the horrors of war.
The opposing forces outnumbered the invading
column nearly two to one, and to the cautious Hal-
leck and even the impetuous Sherman the move-
ment seemed a foolhardy one. But Grant had care-
fully estimated the risks, and beUeved he could
conquer. General Pemberton's command was so
scattered, he reasoned, that he could not attack with
his whole array at any one time or place, and he
(Grant) had so interposed his column between the
former and the command of General Joseph E.
Johnston (1809-91), then concentrating at Jackson,
that concerted action between the two was impossi-
ble. It was also a great advantage to Grant that,
while he knew perfectly well where he. was going,
the Confederate generals lacked this knowledge,
and must be on the alert to defend many threatened
points over a wide extent of territory. Adopting
the same tactics, and by making use of the same
uncertainty of his foes as to his objective point,
Sherman later made his famous march to the sea.
On May 14th, after a sharp action, Jackson was
captured with seventeen guns and a number of
prisoners, although Johnston succeeded in escap-
ing with the main body of his army. By an inter-
cepted dispatch Grant now learned that Johnston's
design was to eiTect a junction with Pemberton,
and so disposed his forces by a serious of ingenious
manoeuvres that this plan was prevented. Pember-
ton, marching east to effect this junction, was met
at Champion Hill by the invading force, and a
fiercely contested battle was fought, ending, how-
174
GENERAL GRANT.
ever, in the utter rout of the Confederates, who lost
three thousand men in killed and wounded, and
the same number taken prisoners. Pemberton made
another stand at the crossing of the Big- Black
River — a position strong in natural defenses — but
which was quickly carried by Lawlor's brigade of
Carr's division. Had not the bridges over the Big
Black been destroyed, it is probable the Union
forces would have outmarched Pemberton's and
gained the intrenchments at Mcksburg before
them. Certain it is that there was no more fight-
ing of moment until the Union forces had com-
pletely invested the city, a corps on each of the three
roads approaching the place from the north, east,
and southeast.
This occurred on Alay 19th, twenty days after
the first crossing at Bruinsburg. As the two gen-
erals. Grant and Sherman, from the line of circum-
vallation looked down on Walnut Hills, where the
latter had been repulsed the December previous,
Sherman remarked that this was the greatest cam-
paign in history, and that his superior ought to
make a report of it at once. In twenty days Grant
had marched two hundred miles through an ene-
my's country, had beaten two armies in five battles,
captured nearly one hundred cannon, and killed
or made prisoners nearly twelve thousand of John-
ston's and Pemberton's troops. An assault was or-
dered this same day, with the hope of carrying the
works before the enemy could recover from the
demoralization of Champion Hill and the Big Black,
but it resulted only in securing better positions for
the operations of the army. On the night of the
o
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 175
2 1 St, for the first time in three weeks, the troops
had full rations served to them.
On May 22d General Grant decided to order a
second assault all along the line, influenced by three
reasons: First, the army believed it could carry the
works, and, if not allowed to try, would not have
endured so patiently the severe toil of the trenches;
second, Johnston was in his rear, less than fifty
miles distant, with a force constantly being added
to by accessions, and there was danger of his com-
ing to the garrison's relief; third, the capture of
the stronghold would permit the re-enforcements
destined for his army to be sent elsewhere, where
they were urgently needed. The assault was or-
dered for 10 A. M., and began with a furious can-
nonade from every gun in position. Under cover
of this artillery fire each corps assaulted simul-
taneously, but, although the men behaved wnth the
greatest gallantry, it was beyond human power to
carry intrenchments so well planned and so ably
defended, and after two trials the unsuccessful at-
tempt was abandoned.
Forty-six days of siege followed, of weary wait-
ing on the part of the besieged for the aid that never
came, of rearing earthworks and intrenchments,
mounting cannon, building roads, sapping and min-
ing, watching a powerful enemy in both front and
rear along a line fifteen miles in length on the part
of the besiegers. On the 3d of July, when the ap-
proaches of the latter had reached to wuthin from
five to one hundred yards of the enemy's works in
a dozen different places, when his men were on the
point of revolt from starvation, and when all hope
I^g GENERAL GRANT.
of aid from Johnston had fled, General Pemberton
sent a flag of truce, asking for an armistice to ar-
range terms of capitulation.
Grant replied declining the armistice, but re-
minding Pemberton that he could stop the useless
effusion of blood, which in his letter he had ex-
pressed a desire to do, by an unconditional sur-
render of the city and garrison, adding that brave
men such as his had shown themselves to be would
be treated with all the respect due to prisoners of
war. A meeting was arranged for the two com-
manders on a hillside near the Confederate lines,
under an ancient oak (to which the historical event
proved fatal, since in a few days it was carried away
by piecemeal for souvenirs). The tw^o generals had
served together in the Mexican War, and their
greeting was that of old acquaintances rather than
of enemies. No agreement was reached at this
interview, but on parting the Union general prom-
ised to send his ultimatum that evening after a con-
sultation with his corps and division connnanders.
In this letter Grant, against the advice of his
lieutenants, agreed to parole the entire force, al-
lowing the officers to retain their side arms and
clothing, and the field, stafif, and cavalry officers one
horse each; the rank and file their clothing only,
with as many rations from the stores surrendered
as they needed for their journey to their homes.
Thirty wagons for transporting the latter were als(j
allowed. These terms were accepted, with the stipu-
lation that the captured troops sliould be allowed to
march out bv l)rigades with their colors and stack
arms in front of their lines. Grant was led to give
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177
these favorable terms by the behef tliat nine tenths
of the prisoners were weary of the war, and on
being paroled would return to their homes and re-
main there.
Vicksburg, which had been a handsome city,
with good public buildings and many fine resi-
dences, surrounded with well-kept and beautiful
gardens, had when the troops entered a neglected
and war-worn appearance. Some degree of devas-
tation marked almost every visible object, and in
the exceptional cases one met with dust, decay, and
neglect. Many houses were pierced by shot and shell.
The pillars of piazzas were knocked down, and
doors and windows smashed. The shops were all
closed, and presented a shabby and deserted appear-
ance, and in many of the streets one had to be on
the qui vive to avoid falling into holes made by
shells. The streets near to and running parallel
with the river were barricaded by breastworks and
rifle pits as a means of defense against attacks by
the Union gunboats.
At every available place caves were dug. In
these caves, which varied greatly in size, the women
and children sought shelter from shot and shell.
The largest one in the city was that of Mr. T.,
being cut through a hill about a hundred feet in
length. In this cave, through which a person
could walk erect, were four apartments, the largest
one being perhaps sixteen feet square, and furnished
with a carpet, table, chairs, etc. Here his family,
including several daughters, lived during the forty-
six days that the siege continued. In another small-
er room the servants were quartered. In the third
178
GENERAL GRANT.
was stored their food and forage for the cow and
hogs, quietly sojourning out of the way of all dan-
ger in the next apartment. During the day many
ladies issued from caves, taking their chances by
successful dodges. We met two Vicksburg sisters
who prided themselves upon their expertness in
getting out of the way of Yankee shells, as if it
were quite a ladylike accomplishment.
When the news of the surrender of Vicksburg,
with thirty thousand prisoners and nearly two hun-
dred guns, reached Washington, Grant was immedi-
ately made a major general in the regular army,
a position which in the second year of the war he
looked forward to as the height of earthly ambition.
The general in chief in his annual report, in allud-
ing to the campaign, thus speaks of Grant: " When
we consider the character of the country in which
the army operated, the formidable obstacles to be
overcome, the number of forces, and the strength
of the enemy's works, we can not fail to admire the
courage and endurance of the troops and the skill
and daring of their commander. No more brilliant
exploit can be found in military history." It was
this great victory that drew forth from the Presi-
dent that gem of a letter,* which deserves to be
* Executive Mansion, Washington, //^/y 13, 1863.
Major-General Grant :
My dear General — I do not remember that you and I ever
met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment
for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I
wish to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity
of Vicksburg I thought you should do what you finally did —
march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the
transports, ami thus go below — and I never liad any faith, except
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 179
printed in letters of gold, in which he makes the ac-
knowledgment to Grant, " You lucrc right and -I ivas
zvrong:' The national gain was the least of the
fruits of the success, for as the capture of Fort Don-
elson expelled the Confederate forces from Ken-
tucky and the greater part of Tennessee, so the cap-
ture of Vicksburg reopened the great Father of
Waters to trade and navigation, and drove the ene-
my from a good portion of the State of Mississippi.
The important results accomplished by the suc-
cessful campaign and siege are thus briefly stated
in Grant's official report:
The result of this campaign has been the defeat
of the enemy in five battles outside of Vicksburg,
the occupation of Jackson, the capital of Mississippi,
and the capture of Vicksburg and its garrison and
munitions of war; a loss to the enemy of thirty-
seven thousand prisoners, among whom were fifteen
general officers; at least ten thousand killed and
wounded, and among the killed Generals Tracy,
Tilghman, and Green; and hundreds, perhaps thou-
sands, of stragglers, who can never be collected and
reorganized; arms and munitions of war for an
army of sixty thousand men have fallen into our
hands, beside a large amount of other public prop-
erty, consisting of railroads, locomotives, cars,
steamboats, cotton, etc., and much was destroyed
to prevent our capturing it.
a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass
expedition and the like could succeed. When you got below 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 the personal acknowledgment that you were
right and I was wrong. A. Lincoln.
l8o GENERAL GRANT.
An officer of the army received a note from Gen-
eral Grant, written on the day he entered Vicks-
burg, stating that before the loth of that month
Port Hudson would surrender to the forces of Gen-
eral Banks. With what wonderful accuracy he cal-
culated results is shown by the fall of the other
stronghold within the time. The surrender of Port
Hudson was the natural sequence to the fall of
Vicksburg. Grant adroitly managed to have a dis-
patch, which he sent to Banks, saying that he would
join him on a certain day, intercepted, and this
reaching General Gardner, the commander at Port
Hudson, the place was immediately surrendered.
The mighty struggle for the control of the great
river of the West was finished, and the Mississippi
flowed unvexed to the sea.
Just before General Grant initiated his splendid
campaign against Vicksburg, and after all the prep-
arations had been made for sweeping loose from
the base of supplies on the Mississippi River to
make the circuitous inland march z'ia Jackson to
the rear of Vicksburg, he was called upon by Sher-
man, and addressed as follows: " General Grant, I
feel it to be my duty to say that, as a subordinate
officer, I am bound to give you my hearty co-opera-
tion in this movement, but, having no faith in it,
I feel it due to my military reputation to protest
against it in writing, and hope that my protest will
be forwarded by you to Washington." " Very well,
Sherman," quietly replied the commanding general,
" send along your protest; I'll take care of it."
The next day Grant received Sherman's docu-
ment, and the m(n-cnicnt \\as then initiated which
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. i8l
culminated in the surrender of Vicksburg and its
immense garrison — the largest capture of men and
materials ever made in war; at Ulni Napoleon re-
ceived thirty thousand men and sixty pieces of can-
non, a number, says Alison, " unparalleled in mod-
ern warfare." Prior, however, to Pemberton's
capitulation, but after it w^as morally certain that
the rebel stronghold must fall. General Sherman
rode up to Grant's headquarters one day, and found
his chief stretched on the ground beneath his " fly,"
endeavoring to keep as cool as possible in the sultry
midsummer weather. They were chatting pleas-
antly on the prospects of the quickly approaching
success when General Grant's adjutant general
came up and asked for a certain of^cial paper which
he had in his possession. Taking a handful of docu-
ments from his breast pocket, a receptacle which
was always plethoric with papers, he selected the
one that had been called for, and, before putting
the rest away, drew forth a second paper from the
pile. Then turning to Sherman with a smile and
a merry twinkle in his eye, he said, " By the by,
general, here is something that wnll interest you."
Sherman took it and saw the " protest " which two
months before he had handed to General Grant to
be forwarded to Washington through the proper
channel. An expression of astonishment and grati-
fication diffused itself over Sherman's bronzed fea-
tures, which quickly changed to one of supreme
satisfaction when Grant took the document from his
hand and, tearing it into small fragments, scattered
them to the winds. No further allusion to the sub-
ject was made by these illustrious soldiers.
1 82 GENERAL GRANT.
History has pronounced Napoleon's first cam-
paign in Italy as one of the few without a single
mistake or even an obvious piece of ill fortune.
May not the same statement be made in speaking of
Grant's masterpiece? The capture of Vicksburg,
combined with the glorious victory at Gettysburg,
which added new luster to the day of the nation's
birth, was a deathblow to all reasonable hope of a
Southern Confederacy. The glories of the simul-
taneous victories of Gettysburg and \*icksburg may
not exceed or even equal those of Marathon and
Thermopylae, but they will rival those proud vic-
tories of ancient days in the remembrance of the
American people of the North.
CHAPTER IX.
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN.
The hero of Vicksburg had at last found his
vocation. Other and larger fields for the display
of his marvelous military powers of combination
and execution were awaiting him. A doubtful and
disastrous battle was in a few months to call him
again to active service, and to a greatly enlarged
command. During the interval — in September —
he visited General Banks, commander of the De-
partment of the Gulf, at New Orleans to consult
with him as to their future plans. While there a
grand review was held at Carrollton, a few miles
above the city, of FrankHn's Nineteenth and Ord's
Thirteenth Army Corps, the latter having been
sent early in August from Vicksburg to New Or-
leans. " As good troops," wrote Grant to General
Banks, " as ever trod American soil, no better are
found on any other." The review took place Sep-
tember 4th, in the presence of Generals Grant,
Banks, Washburn, Herron, Stone, Thomas, and
other minor officers. It was a stirring yet pathetic
sight as Grant, accompanied by a brilliant retinue
of generals and staff officers, dashed along the lines
13 183
l84 GENERAL GRANT.
to his position under a massive live oak, while the
colors torn by the shot and shell of Belmont, Don-
elson, Shiloh, Port Gibson, Jackson, Champion
Hill, Big Black, and Vicksburg dipped to him, and
the vigorous cheers of the well-seasoned veterans
filled the plain with echoes.
Returning from the review, his spirited steed
took fright at an approaching train on the New
Orleans and Carrollton Railroad, suddenly swerved,
and threw Grant heavily to the ground.* With the
aid of some passers-by, we bore him into a road-
side inn, where he soon recovered consciousness,
but received injuries from which he was not wholly
cured for several months. Indeed, before he could
walk without the aid of crutches he was ordered
to proceed to Cairo and await instructions. Arriv-
ing there early in October, he was directed to pro-
ceed to the Gait House, at Louisville, Ky., where
he would meet an officer of the War Department
with instructions. The dispatch closed with the
significant order to go " prepared for immediate
operations in the field." This was on October 17th,
and Grant at once set out for Louisville by rail z'ia
Indianapolis. At the latter place he was joined by
the Secretary of War, who brought with him an
order investing him with the consolidated Depart-
ments of the Cumberland, Ohio, and Tennessee,
including all the territory between the Alleghanies
and the Mississippi River, excepting that portion
* This magnificent blood bay, nearly seventeen hands, was
loaned to Grant by General Banks, who bought him in Virginia.
Charlie, as he was called, enjoys the unique distinction of being
the only horse that ever unseated the illustrious soldier.
^ ^ 1^ "^
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THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 185
commanded by General Banks, to be known as the
Military Division of the Mississippi. Mr. Stanton
also brought two other orders, one retaining Rose-
crans in his previous command of the Army and
Department of the Cumberland, the other relieving
him and substituting General George H. Thomas.
Grant was offered his choice, and at once made it
in favor of a change, his previous experience with
General Rosecrans not being satisfactory. He was
immediately relieved, and Thomas assigned to the
vacant position.
The day following he left Louisville for Chatta-
nooga, after forwarding the following dispatch to
General Thomas: "Hold Chattanooga at all haz-
ards. I will be there as soon as possible." To
which the stout old soldier replied at once, " I will
hold the town till we starve ! " From Bridgeport
Grant proceeded on horseback over roads almost
impassable by reason of the rain, which rolled in
torrents down the mountain sides. Frequently the
whole party had to dismount and lead their horses
over unsafe places or spots where it was impossible
to cross on horseback. Grant, who was still suffer-
ing and lame, being carried in the arms of soldiers.
He found afifairs at the front in a serious condition.
Indeed, they could not have been worse, Rosecrans
having fought the battle of Chickamauga a month
before — September 19th and 20th.
The army was now in Chattanooga with Bragg
in command of a superior force occupying the
heights of Lookout Mountain and Missionary
Ridge above him, and threatening to shell the city.
He also by this position held the only gap leading
1 86 GENERAL GRANT.
south through the Alleghanies, Chattanooga being
at its northern entrance and Atlanta at its south-
ern. The national troops held Chattanooga, and
were strongly intrenched in the Tennessee Valley
on the foothills fronting Lookout Mountain and
Missionary Ridge, with the river protecting their
rear. The army was without proper food, clothes,
or equipment. Its base of supplies was at Nash-
ville, a hundred miles distant, and connected with
Chattanooga by a single line of rail, which was not
wholly in possession of the Union forces, that part
of it skirting the Tennessee River from Bridgeport
to Chattanooga, about twenty miles in extent, being
held by Bragg. This necessitated a circuitous trans-
portation of all supplies by wagons over the moun-
tains in the rear of the Union troops, a distance of
nearly sixty miles, and, as the surrounding country
had been swept of all food products, the army was
in an embarrassing position from lack of abso-
lutely necessary supplies.
A great general must possess executive ability,
as well as the power to conceive plans and combina-
tions. The furnishing of supplies to an army is
as essential in a campaign as the fighting of battles.
Grant's genius lay in the possession, to a marked
degree, of both qualities. Before ordering up re-
enforcements or projecting a plan of campaign, he
determined to regain possession of the river, the
railway, and the valley roads. The next day after
his arrival — October 24th — he issued orders for
opening the railroad and river to Bridgeport, then
held, as we have seen, by Bragg. Portions of the
Eleventh and Twelfth Corps of the Army of the
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 187
Potomac, under Generals Hooker and Slocum, with
Hooker in command, had some time before been
sent west to re-enforce General Rosecrans, and were
now at Bridgeport.
These troops were ordered to co-operate with
the Army of the Cumberland in the movement. To
intelligently describe it we must speak more in de-
tail of the position of the two armies. The Tennes-
see flowing from Chattanooga to Bridgeport makes
a deep bend to the north. The railroad from Bridge-
port to Chattanooga crosses the neck of this bend
several miles from the south bank of the Tennessee,
with the Raccoon Mountains interposed between
it and the river. Whitesides is a small station on
the railway about midway between the two points,
and Wauhatchie is another hamlet at the mouth of
Lookout Valley, about three miles below Chatta-
nooga. Next as the traveler approaches Chatta-
nooga is Lookout Mountain, dividing Lookout
Valley on the west from Chattanooga Valley on
the east, the later walled on the extreme east by the
rocky heights of Missionary Ridge.
Each valley is traversed by a creek of the same
name flowing north to the Tennessee. Lookout
Mountain on the north or Chattanooga side rises
boldly, almost precipitately, twenty-two hundred
feet above tide water, but has a more gentle slope
on the south. The Confederate line, beginning at
Missionary Ridge, Bragg's extreme right, stretched
across Chattanooga Valley over Lookout Moun-
tain,- across Lookout Valley, and over the Raccoon
Mountains to the Tennessee, a distance of about fif-
teen miles. In the rear of the Raccoon Mountains
1 88 GENERAL GRANT.
was a wagon road along each bank of the river as
far as Kelly's Ferry, where that on the northern
shore coming from Jasper crossed to the south side,
and both leaving the river passed through Cum-
ming's Gap in the Raccoon Mountains to the main
road leading north out of Lookout Valley, and
thence followed that road to Brown's Ferry, about
three miles below Chattanooga.
General Hooker, at Bridgeport, was now or-
dered to cross to the south side of the Tennessee
and march up the railroad by Whitesides to Brown's
Ferry, while General Palmer, with a division of the
Fourteenth Corps of the Army of the Cumberland,
was to move from Chattanooga dozen the river on
the north bank by an obscure road until opposite
Whitesides, when he was to cross and move on to
and hold the road in Hooker's rear. To General
W. F. Smith was given command of the troops de-
signed to secure the passage of the Tennessee at
Brown's Ferry. Smith, as chief engineer of the
Army of the Cumberland, had previously built two
steamboats and provided material for bridges. He
was now given four thousand men, eighteen hun-
dred of whom, under General Ilazen, were detailed
with sixty pontoon boats to float down the river
under cover of night to Brown's Ferry, there land
on the south bank, and cai:)ture or rout the enemy's
pickets stationed there. At an earlier hour Smith
himself was to march down the north bank with the
remainder of his force and the bridge materials and
be ready to throw a bridge across as soon as Hazen
should gain the south bank.
The plan worked admirably. At 3 .\. M. on the
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. ig^
morning of the 27th Hazen floated past the ene-
my's outpost at the north base of Lookout, and at
five o'clock surprised the picket guard at Brown's
Ferry, and captured all except a few who found
safety in flight. Promptly on the hour Smith ap-
peared, was ferried over, and by seven o'clock had
gained possession of a height on the south shore
commanding the ferry, which he quickly fortified.
By ten o'clock a pontoon bridge had been laid, and
the Union right was across the river and intrenched
in Lookout Valley. General Hooker, w^ho had
begun his march from Bridgeport on the 26th, met
with little opposition en route, and, entering Look-
out Valley at Wauhatchie, joined the forces already
in possession.
Dispositions were now made to hold the valley.
Howard, with the Eleventh Corps, took post at
Brown's Ferry to command the river. Geary, with
a division of the Twelfth, remained in Lookout Val-
ley, near Wauhatchie. The enemy's outposts on
the Raccoon Mountains being cut ofif, soon sur-
rendered, and the river was open from Brown's
Ferry to Bridgeport. Steamers, however, could
only come up to Kelly's Ferry, because of the swift
current in the narrows between that point and
Brown's Ferry, but from Kelly's a good and level
road led through the gap in the Raccoon Moun-
tains, before described, to Brown's Ferry, thence
across the river and up the north bank to a point
opposite Chattanooga, where a temporary bridge
gave access to the city. It was but eight miles from
Kelly's Ferry to Chattanooga by this route. Until
the railroad could be rebuilt Grant's supplies now
IQO GENERAL GRANT.
came by steamer from Bridgeport up the Tennes-
see to Kelly's Ferry, and thence by wagon to Chat-
tanooga, a route that proved capable of meeting
all the demands made upon it. The enemy made
one desperate effort to sever the line by an assault
on General Geary's force, but was beaten back with
heavy loss.
Being now able to supply his army, Grant began
concentrating his scattered command and making
dispositions for forcing Bragg from his position.
Surveying the field, he found that General Burn-
side with twenty-five thousand men was at Knox-
ville, in East Tennessee, in a desperate condition,
being one hundred miles from any base of supplies,
while the surrounding country had been ravaged
of everything that could support life. He was not
yet closely besieged, although in daily danger of it.
The only method of relieving him was to force
General Bragg from Lookout and Missionary Ridge
and regain control of the upper Tennessee. His
subsequent combinations were made with this
end in view.
Sherman, the commander on whom Grant al-
ways relied, had been ordered to march from Mem-
phis to the assistance of his chief, and with his army
was now, November ist, at Florence, Ala., about
a hundred miles down the Tennessee. Since we
left him at Vicksburg he had been promoted to be
commander of the Army of the Tennessee, with
headquarters in the field. When this force arrived
there would be an additional army to be provided
for. It was also expected that General Burnside
would yet have to be supplied from Chattanooga.
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 191
To do this there was only the single line of rail from
Nashville. The general decided to build another
railroad. Sherman had repaired the line from Mem-
phis to Eastport as he marched, and had brought
up his supplies upon it. It was constantly being
raided by the enemy, however, and the repairs re-
tarded his march. At Eastport he found an abun-
dance of supplies, which had been brought up the
IMississippi and Ohio Rivers on steamers from St.
Louis by Grant's forethought. With these in his
wagons. Grant now ordered Sherman to move on
to Stevenson, near Bridgeport, without maintain-
ing the communications in his rear.
At Stevenson the Memphis and Charleston
Road, which Sherman had followed, unites with
the Nashville and Chattanooga. From Decatur,
on the former road, a branch had formerly led up to
Nashville, but had been almost entirely destroyed
by the enemy. By rebuilding this line and the
Memphis and Charleston from Decatur to Steven-
son, Grant would have two lines of transportation
as far as the latter point. The distance to be cov-
ered was one hundred and two miles, and the coun-
try between w^as broken with deep ravines and wide
river valleys, necessitating one hundred and eighty-
two bridges. All these had been destroyed even to
the culverts. The rails had been heated and twisted,
every vestige of rolling stock destroyed or removed.
General Granville M. Dodge, of Sherman's
army, was skilled in bridge building as well as a
good soldier. He was now detailed by Grant's
order, with his command of eight thousand men,
to repair and hold the road from Decatur to Nash-
192
GENERAL GRANT.
ville. Dodge had no tools except the axes, picks,
and spades carried for intrenching. Often the tim-
ber for the work had to be felled and hewn in the
neighboring forests. Masters of all the trades
needed he found in his ranks, and in forty days the
road was completed. Locomotives and rolling
stock had been collected from Vicksburg and the
North, and the new line was immediately put into
active operation.
Meantime a second most important battle had
been fought and won. On the 4th of November,
before Sherman could come up. General Longstreet
with twenty thousand men was detached by Bragg
to attack Burnside at Knoxville. On the 7th Grant,
in obedience to earnest appeals from the President
" to do something for Burnside," ordered Thomas
peremptorily to attack Bragg; but the latter de-
clared it to be an impossibility — he had not horses
enough to move even a single piece of artillery.
At the same time Burnside was ordered to concen-
trate his forces and hold out to the last, as relief
was near at hand. On the 14th Grant telegraphed
him that Sherman's advance had reached Bridge-
port, that he would be able to move thence with
his whole force by the Tuesday following, and that
if he could hold Longstreet in check until that date,
or avoid loss by skirmishing and retreating, thus
gaining time, he would drive Bragg back and throw
an army between him and Longstreet that would
force the latter to retreat to the mountain passes.
Later in the day he sent Burnside his plan of
battle for carrying all the enemy's positions. Sher-
man's force as soon as it arrived was to be thrown
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 193
across the Tennessee at and below the mouth of
Chickamauga Creek and attack from that quarter.
Thomas, who held the Federal center, would at-
tack on Sherman's left at the same time, and to-
gether they expected to carry Missionary Ridge,
and then push out a force and capture the railroad
to Knoxville between Cleveland and Dalton. Hook-
er, at the same time, would march over the north-
ern plateau of Lookout Mountain and gain Bragg's
rear if possible. The 19th would be the earli-
est day that this combination could be effected,
and if Burnside could not sustain himself until
that time he was ordered to advise his supe-
rior officer at once. When later Burnside was
besieged by Longstreet, Grant sent him this char-
acteristic communication: "I can hardly conceive
the necessity for retreating. If I did so^ at all, it
would be after losing most of the army." But heavy
rains and floods during the 20th and 21st retarded
Sherman's march, and threatened to sweep away
the frail bridges on which so much depended. His
troops were not up by the evening of the 22d.
Meantime, on the 20th, news came that the attack
on Burnside had begun, and again the most earnest
messages were sent by Lincoln from Washington
to the commander at Chattanooga imploring him
to relieve Burnside at all hazards.
Grant's suspense was also great, but more en-
durable, because, as he remarks in his Memoirs,
" he was in a position where he could soon do some-
thing to relieve the situation." Burnside was least
anxious of all, being confident of his ability to main-
tain his position. On the 20th Grant received a
194
GENERAL GRANT.
message from Bragg stating that, as there might be
some noncombatants still in Chattanooga, he
thought it proper to notify him that prudence would
dictate their early removal. Grant at once divined
that this indicated some new movement on the part
of his adversary, but did not discover what it was
until the 22d, when a deserter came in and reported
that Buckner's division had been sent that day to
re-enforce Longstreet at Knoxville.
Hearing nothing from Burnside, Grant now de-
termined to attack next day, the 23d, with the Army
of the Cumberland alone, not waiting for Sherman.
In one respect the original plan of battle was modi-
fied. Hooker, it was feared, might not be able to
cross over Lookout Mountain in time to threaten
Bragg's rear. He was therefore ordered to move
at Brown's Ferry to the north bank, march up op-
posite Chattanooga, and then cross to the south
bank within the Union line of battle. This line had
been heavily fortified during the siege. On this
battle morning it was advanced a mile back from
the river, and stretched from Citico Creek, at the
base of Missionary Ridge on the left, to Chatta-
nooga Creek, near the base of Lookout on the right.
The many heights along the line were strongly in-
trenched and manned with guns of the heaviest
caliber. Fort Wood, to the east of Chattanooga,
mounting twenty-two guns, was nearest the Con-
federate position, and commanded its most ad-
vanced positions.
Under protection of its guns Thomas, com-
manding the center, now formed in line Gordon
Granger's corps of two divisions, commanded by
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 195
Philip H. Sheridan and Thomas J. Wood respective-
ly, the former on the right, the latter on the left, his
line reaching to Citico Creek. The Fourteenth
Corps, under Palmer, held that part of the line
facing south and southwest, with Baird's division
supporting Sheridan, while Johnson's was held in
the trenches under arms as a reserve. Howard's
corps was drawn up in the rear of the center. At
this point the opposing lines were but a few hun-
dred yards apart. By 2 p. m. all was ready. The
signal to advance — the booming of cannon along
the line — was given, and, after a short but sharp
conflict, the detached heights between Missionary
Ridge and the Union lines were carried, the lines
by this manoeuver being advanced fully a mile
nearer Bragg's main position.
These heights, already fortified, were greatly
strengthened during the following night, and played
an important part in the next day's battle. The
Union loss was eleven hundred killed and wounded,
and the Confederate about the same. Meantime
throughout the day of battle Sherman's Vicksburg
veterans had been quietly falling into position, and
by nightfall were ready to move, all except Oster-
haus's command, which had not been able to cross
at Brown's Ferry, the flood in the Tennessee hav-
ing swept away the bridge at that point. Oster-
haus's command was therefore joined to Hooker's,
which for the same reason had remained in Look-
out Valley, and the combined force under Hooker
was ordered to move to the attack next morning
over Lookout Mountain as originally planned.
Sherman's army had succeeded in reaching its
196
GENERAL GRANT.
camp on the north bank of the Tennessee, nearly
opposite the mouth of the Chickamauga, without
being perceived by the enemy, the troops having
marched by bhnd roads back of the mountains,
north of the river, with this end in view. It was on
the extreme Union left, nearly opposite Missionary
Ridge, the strongest position of the enemy. Be-
tween it and the latter, however, flowed the Ten-
nessee. To cross this one hundred and sixteen pon-
toon boats, each capable of carrying thirty men,
had been floated secretly down to the mouth of
the North Chickamauga, some distance above Sher-
man's position, while bridge materials had been con-
cealed near the point of his proposed crossing.
During the night Giles A. Smith's brigade, marched
to these boats, embarked and floated down the Ten-
nessee to the proposed point, landed on the south
bank, at the mouth of the South Chickamauga
River, and surprised and captured the Confederate
picket post there.
With the pontoons and the aid of a steamer sent
from Chattanooga, the task of ferrying over Sher-
man's command was begun, the men as soon as they
landed securing their position by throwing up in-
trenchments. Both divisions were over and in-
trenched by daylight. A bridge upon which the
cavalry and artillery could cross was then pushed
forward with such rapidity that it was finished
shortly after noon, as well as one over the South
Chickamauga, the enemy meantime looking on
amazed at this appearance of an army on his ex-
treme right— an army which he liad supposed to
be bivotiackcd bv the town on liis extreme left.
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. IQ7
The cavalry and artillery were soon massed on the
south shore, abundance of horses to move the latter
having been brought by the army from the West.
At I p. M. Sherman gave the order to advance
on Missionary Ridge. With a hundred guns play-
ing upon them, and with as many more answering
from the Federal heights, his command gained the
foot of the first advanced spur of Missionary Ridge,
climbed it through storms of shot and shell, beat
back the bayonets that wreathed its top, clambered
over the hot muzzles of the guns upon its summit,
and at half-past three planted their banners there,
a step nearer the superior heights frowning above.
Two brigades were at once ordered to this advanced
position to hold it, artillery was brought up and
mounted, and soon the captured height was made
impregnable to any Confederate force likely to be
thrown against it.
Clouds hung upon the summits of Lookout
and Missionary Ridge during this first day, and
Bragg probably did not discern this movement until
its object was attained. Then he made two deter-
mined attempts to recapture it, but failed, and as
night fell Sherman held the position gained with
one foot already in the enemy's camp. There was
little or no fighting in the center this first day, but
on the extreme Federal right Hooker had been en-
gaged from sunrise. He had been left, it will be
remembered, in Lookout Valley, with Lookout
Mountain between him and Chattanooga Valley,
where Sherman was fighting with three divisions,
all of different commands — Geary's, of the Twelfth
Corps, Army of the Potomac, Osterhaus's, of the
1 98 GENERAL GRANT.
I'lfteenth Corps, Army of the Tennessee, and Cruft's
Fourteenth Corps, Army of the Cumberland. The
face of Lookout Mountain confronting him was
rugged, precipitous, wooded, and full of chasms,
which the tourist of to-day finds it dilificult to climb,
and which would seem insurmountable to soldiers
encumbered with arms and in face of a foe.
The summit that day was held by three brigades
of Bragg's force under General Stevenson, who
had trained their guns and were looking for their
foe on the eastern slope, which is much more grad-
ual in ascent, and up which the road from Chatta-
nooga winds to the summit. They had not regarded
it as within the range of possibility that men would
attempt to climb the northern or western face.
Geary took the initiative by moving his division,
supported by a brigade of Cruft's, up Lookout Creek
to effect a crossing, Hooker's entire force having
been encamped on the western bank of that stream.
The rest of Cruft's division was ordered to cross by
a bridge over the creek near the former railroad
bridge. Osterhaus also was to cross by the same
means. This latter movement, shrouded in the heavy
morning mist, so engaged the enemy's attention
that Geary was able to cross farther up and begin
ascending the mountain before him without having
been perceived. Osterhaus and Cruft also forced
the bridge, scattering the guard placed there to
hold it, and began to ascend the mountain in their
innnediate front.
Soon the sound of Geary's nuiskcts above in the
mist gave notice that he had aroused the enemy.
Then the sides and summits blazed with musketry
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 199
and artillery, and grape, canister, and minie balls
tore through the ascending line or whistled harm-
lessly overhead. Taking cover behind trees, stumps,
and rocky walls, zigzagging, one man hoisting an-
other upon his shoulders to scale the precipices,
firing by the flash of the enemy's guns, Geary's men
fought their way up until the Confederates, seeing
their left menaced, gave way all along the line.
This brought Cruft and Osterhaus abreast of
Geary, and the whole line swept up the mountain,
driving the enemy before it, and gaining before
noon the open ground on the north face, with its
right at the base of the last precipice before reach-
ing the summit, the latter, however, being strongly
fortified.
The Union line of battle was now extended on
the right from the mouth of Chattanooga Creek
up Lookout jMountain, Geary's right, under the
precipice, becoming the extreme right, and the
army which had been before separated by Lookout
Llountain was united. Grant and Thomas stood
upon Orchard Knob in the center while these wide-
ly separated movements were being carried out,
unable to see anything of Hooker, who literally
fought above the clouds, but accurately gauging
his position from the sounds of battle. The latter
carried the breastworks on Lookout [Mountain be-
fore him, but was not able to move his lines down
into Chattanooga Valley before nightfall, and biv-
ouacked on the mountain.
At this time everything seemed favorable for a
Federal victory on the morrow. Sherman held his
advanced position on the extreme left, and had sent
14
200 GENERAL GRANT.
his cavalry to destroy the raih-oad to Knoxville, and
thus cut off Longstreet from his base. Thomas with
the center held the advanced line gained the day
before, and Hooker was in position to move down
next morning, cross Chattanooga Valley and Creek,
and strike the rear of the Confederate position on
Missionary Ridge as planned. Grant telegraphed
the result to President Lincoln that night, and next
day received the reply, "Well done; many thanks
to all. Remember Burnside." It was a busy night
for the commanding general. First, he sent a dis-
patch to General Wilcox, in Tennessee, bidding him
send a courier with the news to Burnside. To
Sherman he gave the order to attack with vigor at
daylight ; Hooker was directed to move at the same
hour, get on the line of the enemy's retreat if he
still held his position; if he had retired, then to
move to Rossville, on the old battlefield of Chicka-
mauga, and attack Bragg on Missionary Ridge
from the rear. The center was to remain quiet until
Hooker should attack at Rossville.
]\Iorning dawned fair and clear. The stern bat-
tlements above the valley stood out grim and terri-
ble, and the forts on Lookout, Bragg's headquarters
on Missionary Ridge, and Sherman's on the de-
tached si)ur confronting him were all visible from
Orchard Knob, where at an early hour Grant and
Thomas took their stations. The hill where Sher-
man lay ready to strike was the principal object
of interest. That general had before him a formi-
dable task. A deep depression occupied by a car-
riage road and a railway cut antl tunnel intervened
between him and the rockv heights to be carried.
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 20I
These latter were bristling with cannon and bayo-
nets, and were swept by guns from the earthworks
on higher ground still farther in the rear. As the
sun rose Grant saw that Sherman's command was
moving. Three brigades were left to guard the
hill. Morgan L. Smith advanced along the east-
ern base of Alissionary Ridge. Loomis, supported
bv two brigades of John E. Smith's division, took
the west base. Corse with his brigade charged in
the center. Morgan L. Smith seized and held the
railroad bridge, Bragg's only line of communication
with his supply depot at Chickamauga Station. The
latter, thus threatened, began rapidly to mass his
troops against Sherman.
From his position Grant saw column after col-
umn detached and moved against the latter. Every
Confederate gun that could obtain the range was
turned upon him, and then began that great artil-
lery duel which rendered the battle of Chattanooga
second only to Gettysburg in impressiveness, for
the Union batteries replied vmtil the valley and
mountains, shrouded in sulphurous smoke, lighted
by flashes, and smitten by thunder, shook as in the
throes of an earthquake. In the face of it John E.
Smith's two brigades dashed up the open western
slope to the support of Corse, succeeded in gain-
ing the opposing ramparts, and held them for a time
until the enemy charged with a superior force and
drove them back as far as a piece of wood. Taking
advantage of this, Smith halted, reformed, turned
upon the attacking troops, and swept them back to
their intrcnchments. Grant, seeing this gallant
action, ordered a division to Smith's support, and
202 GENERAL GRANT.
Baird's division of General Thomas's command
was detached from the center at Orchard Knob
and sent to his reHef.
This charge of Baird's was one of the incidents
of the battle. He had nearly two miles to march
to reach the hill, through the open plain under
Bragg's eye and that of the Confederate gunners,
and the former massed whole columns at the threat-
ened point to meet him. Meantime Sheridan's and
Wood's divisions of Granger's corps in the center
were impatiently waiting the order to assault the
ridge in their front, having been held in leash all
day waiting till Hooker, who had gained and left
Lookout ]\lountain that morning, should strike
Bragg's rear at Rossville. Loss of the bridge over
Chattanooga Creek detained Hooker four hours,
but now, seeing Sherman hard pressed. Grant
waited for Hooker no longer, but gave the order
for Wood and Sheridan to attack. There was some
delay owing to the nontransmission of the order,
but at last both divisions were off. Theirs with
Baird's were the culminating charges of the day.
On the ridge before them rose three lines of strong
works — one on the crest, one halfway down the
hill, and at its base a third.
. It was a gallant charge, the Confederate artillery
playing upon the advancing lines, opening great
gaps in them, the Federal guns filling the air above
their heads with shot and shell, and raining them on
every square yard of the oj^posing redoubts, riddling
Bragg's headquarters, killing the horses of a bat-
tery at his feet; under cover of it the column sweep-
ing steadily on over the rolling ground up to the
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 203
first line of rifle pits, driving the defenders out at
the point of the bayonet, and lying there panting
while it regained breath. And then Sheridan and
Wood and Turchin rallied their men for the charge,
and, following their colors into the face of thirteen
batteries of heavy guns and of eight thousand in-
fantry, the line swept up the craggy hillside and
carried the crowning redoubts at the summit.
This practically ended the battle, for the enemy
in front of Sherman, seeing their left carried and
themselves outflanked by Sheridan's impetuous
charge, soon gave way also. Sheridan pursued
with vigor until the Chickamauga was reached,
capturing in the pursuit a second position, with
many prisoners, guns, and artillery trains. Sher-
man, on hearing of the enemy's flight, detailed his
reserves — Davis's division — to cross the Chicka-
mauga by the pontoon bridge at its mouth and
march against Chickamauga Station. Hooker,
meanwhile, had come upon the flank of one of
Bragg's divisions at Rossville, and had put it to
flight, capturing prisoners and guns. Thus over
the whole extended line the enemy was in broken
and disorganized retreat. Grant at once telegraphed
the news to Burnside, and dispatched troops and
stores to his relief. The latter, however, had taken
good care of himself, having contrived by several
clever expedients not only to beat ofif the enemy,
but to supply his commissary wagons as well.
Grant had fairly won his fourth great victory
Colonel McKinstry, of General Bragg's staff,
said that he considered the Confederate posi-
tion perfectly impregnable, and that when he saw
204
GENERAL GRANT.
our troops, after capturing the rifle pits, coining
up the craggy mountain side, bristHng with bayo-
nets and hundreds of cannon, he could scarcely
credit his eyes, and thought every man of them
must be drunk. History has no parallel for sublimity
and picturesqueness of efifect, while the conse-
quences — the division of the Confederacy — were in-
estimable. Grant announced his success in the fol-
lowing short and modest dispatch to Halleck at
Washington: " Akhough the battle lasted from
early dawn until dark this evening, I believe I am
not premature in announcing a complete victory
over Bragg. Lookout ]\Iountain-top and all the
rifle pits in Chattanooga Valley and Missionary
Ridge entire have been carried, and are now held
by us." The quartermaster general of the United
States army, who was on the ground with Grant
during the brilliant campaign, wrote as follows to
the Secretary of War:
Bragg's remaining troops left early in the night,
and the battle of Chattanooga, after days of manoeu-
vering and fighting, was won. The strength of the
rebellion in the center is broken. Burnside is re-
lieved from danger in East Tennessee. Kentucky
and Tennessee are rescued. Georgia and the South-
cast are threatened in the rear, and another victory
is added to the chapter of " Unconditional Surren-
der Grant." To-night the estimate of captures is
several thousand prisoners and thirty pieces of artil-
lery. Our loss for so great a victory is not severe.
Bragg is firing the railroad as he retreats toward
] Walton. Sherman is in hot pursuit. To-day I
viewed the battlefield, which extends for six miles
along Missionary Ridge and for several miles on
Lookout Ah)untain. Probablv not so well-directed,
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 205
SO well-ordered a battle has taken place during the
war. But one assault was repulsed; but that as-
sault, by calling to that point the rebel reserves,
prevented them repulsing any of the others. A
few days since Bragg sent to General Grant a flag
of truce, advising him that it would be prudent to
remove any noncombatants who might be still in
Chattanooga. No reply has been returned; but the
combatants having removed from the vicinity, it is
probable that noncombatants can remain without
imprudence.
President Lincoln personally acknowledged
General Grant's irresistible determination and skill
by sending him the following telegram: "Under-
standing that your lodgment at Chattanooga and
Knoxville is now secure, I wish to tender you, and
all under your command, my more than thanks —
my profoundest gratitude — for the skill, courage,
and perseverance with which you and they, over so
great difftculties, have effected that important object.
God bless you all."
We must again refer to the report of the general
in chief, in which, alluding to the campaign in the
Chattanooga Mountains and Valley, he says: " Con-
sidering the strength of the rebel position, and the
diflBculty of storming his intrenchments, the battle
of Chattanooga uuist be considered the most remark-
able in history. Not only did the officers and men
exhibit great skill and daring in their operations on
the field, but the highest praise is due to the com-
manding general for his admirable dispositions for
dislodging the enemy from a position apparently
impregnable."
On December loth. General Grant issued the
2o6 GENERAL GRANT.
following congratulatory order to the armies under
his command — a self-possessed and noble tribute
from an unassuming, magnanimous heart, which
recalls some of the orders of the Duke of Welling-
ton, whom Grant in so many particulars strongly-
resembled:
The general commanding takes this opportunity
of returning his sincere thanks and congratulations
to the brave Armies of the Cumberland, the Ohio,
the Tennessee, and their comrades from the Poto-
mac for the recent splendid and decisive successes
achieved over the enemy. In a short time you have
recovered from him the control of the Tennessee
River from Bridgeport to Knoxville. You dis-
lodged him from his great stronghold upon Look-
out Mountain, drove him from Chattanooga Valley,
wrested from his determined grasp the possession
of Missionary Ridge, repelled with heavy loss to
him his repeated assaults upon Knoxville, forcing
him to raise the siege there, driving him at all
points, utterly routed and discomfited, beyond the
limits of the State. By your noble heroism and de-
termined courage you have most efifectually de-
feated the plans of the enemy for regaining posses-
sion of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee.
You have secured positions from which no rebel-
lious power can drive or dislodge you. For all this
the general conmianding thanks you collectively
and individually. The loyal people of the United
States thank and bless you. Their hopes and
prayers for your success against this unholy rebel-
lion are with you daily. Their faith in you will not
be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their
prayers to Almighty God will be answered. You
will yet go to other fields of strife, and, with the
invincible bravery and unflinching loyalty to jus-
tice and right which have characterized vou in the
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN, 207
past, you will prove that no enemy can withstand
you, and that no defenses, however formidable, can
check your onward march.
On the 17th of the same month Congress unani-
mously voted a resolution of thanks to Grant and
the officers and soldiers who had fought under his
command during the rebellion, and a gold medal
was struck, which it was provided the President
should present to General Grant " in the name of
the people of the United States of America." It
was designed by Leutze. On one face of the medal
is a profile likeness of the hero, surrounded by a
wreath of laurels, his name and the year of his vic-
tories inscribed upon it, the whole surrounded by a
galaxy of stars. On the obverse is a figure of Fame,
seated in a graceful attitude on the American eagle,
which, with wings outspread, seems about to take
flight. In her right hand she holds her trumpet,
and in her left a scroll, on which are inscribed Cor-
inth, \'icksburg, Mississippi River, and Chatta-
nooga. On her head is an Indian helmet with radi-
ating feathers. In front of the eagle is the emblem-
atical shield of the United States. Below the group
sprigs of the pine and palm, denoting the North
and South, cross each other. Above the figure of
Fame, in a curved line, is the motto, " Proclaim
Liberty throughout the land." The edge is sur-
rounded, like the obverse, by a circle of Byzantine
stars, more in number than the existing States,
thereby suggesting further additions in the future
to the Union.
The author had the honor of being at the White
House one evening in March, 1864, when Mr.
2o8 GENERAL GRANT.
Washburne called with the Secretary of State to
exhibit the medal to Mr. Lincoln before the first-
mentioned gentleman — Grant's steadfast friend —
proceeded to City Point to present it formally to
the lieutenant general. After the President had
looked for some time at the face the writer re-
marked, " Mr. President, what is on the obverse
of the medal? " to which, with a merry twinkle in
his eyes, he said, " Well, Seward, I suppose, by
the obverse, our young friend the colonel means
t'other side."
After nearly three years' continuous service, and
having gained nearly a score of victories, in which
he had captured nearly five hundred cannon and
ninety thousand prisoners, in January, 1864, Grant
asked for and obtained permission to visit St. Louis,
where his eldest son was lying dangerously ill. A
month later a debate arose in the House of Repre-
sentatives on the question of reviving the grade of
lieutenant general, with a view to conferring that
rank upon Grant, an office held only in our history
by Washington and Winfiekl Scott, the latter hav-
ing merely the brevet rank. Tlie bill was passed
with only nineteen dissenting votes, the President
at once conferred the position upon Grant, and the
Senate of the L^nited States confirmed the appoint-
ment. On March 3d Grant was called to Washing-
ton. " The Secretary of War," said tlie dispatch,
" directs that you will rc])ort in person to the War
Department as early as practicable, considering the
condition of your command. If necessary, you will
keep up telegra])hic comnuuiication witli your com-
mand while cii route to Washington." The next day
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 209
he started for the national capital, sending ofif, be-
fore entering upon his journey, the following letter
to General Sherman:
The bill reviving the grade of lieutenant general
in the army has become a law, and my name lias
been sent to the Senate for the place. I now receive
orders to report at Washington immediately in per-
son, which indicates confirmation, or a likelihool
of confirmation. I start in the morning to comply
with the order.
While I have been eminently successful in this
war — in at least gaining the confidence of the public
— no one feels more than I how much of this suc-
cess is due to the energy, skill, and the harmonious
putting forth of that energy and skill, of those whom
it has" been my good fortune to have occupying
subordinate positions under me.
There are many of^cers to whom these remarks
are applicable, to a greater or less degree, propor-
tionate to their ability as soldiers; but what I want
is to express my thanks to you and McPherson as
the men to whom, above all others, I feel indebted
for whatever I have had of success.
How far your advice and assistance have been
of help to me you know. How far your execution
of whatever has been given you to do entitles you
to the reward I am receiving, you can not know as
well as I. I feel all the gratitude this letter would
express, giving it the most fiattering construction.
The word " you " I use in the plural, intending it
for McPherson also. I should write to him, and
will some day, but, starting in the morning, I do
not know that I will find time just now.
General Sherman received this letter near ]\Iem-
phis, Tenn., on March loth, and immediately re-
plied :
2IO GENERAL GRANT.
I have your more than kind and characteristic
letter of the 4th instant. I will send a copy to Gen-
eral jMcPherson at once.
You do yourself injustice and us too much hon-
or in assigning to us too large a share of the merits
which have led to your high advancement. I know
you approve the friendship I have ever professed to
you, and will permit me to continue, as heretofore,
to manifest it on all proper occasions.
You are now Washington's legitimate successor,
and occupy a position of almost dangerous eleva-
tion; but if you can continue, as heretofore, to be
yourself, simple, honest, and unpretending, you will
enjoy through life the respect and love of friends,
and the homage of millions of human beings, that
will award you a large share in securing to them
and their descendants a government of law and
stability.
I repeat, you do General McPherson and myself
too much honor. At Belmont you manifested your
traits, neither of us being near. At Donelson, also,
you illustrated your whole character. I was not
near, and General McPherson in too subordinate a
capacity to influence you.
Until you had won Donelson, I confess I was
almost cowed by the terrible array of anarchical ele-
ments that presented themselves at every point ; but
that admitted a ray of light I have followed since.
I believe yovi are as brave, patriotic, and just as
the great prototype, Washington; as unselfish, kind-
hearted, and honest a man as should be. But the
chief characteristic is the simple faith in success you
have always manifested, which I can liken to noth-
ing else than the faith a Christian has in his Saviour.
This faith gave you victory at Shiloh and \ icks-
burg. Also, when you have completed your prep-
arations, you go into battle without hesitation, as at
Chattanooga — no doubts, no reserves; and I tell
you it was this that made us act with confidence. I
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 21 1
knew, wherever I was, that you thought of me, and
if I got in a tight place, you would help me if alive.
My only point of doubt was in your knowledge
of grand strategy, and of books of science and his-
tory; but I confess your common sense seems to
have supplied all these.
Now as to the future. Do not stay in Washing-
ton ; come West ; take to yourself the whole Missis-
sippi Valley. Let us make it dead sure, and I tell
you the Atlantic slopes and the Pacific shores will
follow its destiny, as sure as the limbs of a tree live
and die with the main trunk. We have done much,
but still much remains. Time and time's influence
are with us. We could almost afford to sit still and
let these influences work.
Here lies the seat of the coming empire; and
from the West, when our task is done, we will make
short work of Charleston and Richmond, and the
impoverished coast of the Atlantic.
These two charming letters, so characteristic of
the men. and so honorable to both, can not but be
read with the greatest pleasure. The successful
soldier, on his way to Washington to assume com-
mand of all the armies of the nation, issued no
windy proclamations or orders, he made no
speeches, but without any sound of trumpet or
drum to herald his approach, proceeded quietly and
rapidly to Washington in pursuance of orders.
When he was sometimes recognized at the railway
stations, the people thronged around him, cheering
lustily, and all striving to get a glimpse of the re-
nowned commander. Wliile en route he received
the following magnanimous dispatch from General
Halleck, whom h^ was about to supersede: "The
Secretary of War directs me to say that your com-
212 GENERAL GRANT.
mission as lieutenant general is signed, and will be
delivered to you on your arrival at the War Depart-
ment. I sincerely congratulate you on this recogni-
tion of your distinguished and meritorious services."
On March 8th Grant reached Washington, where
he had never before spent more than one day. Ar-
riving with many other passengers by the afternoon
train from the North, there was the usual rush on
reaching Willard's Hotel to register. The general,
carrying a portmanteau and accompanied by his
eldest son, a lad of fourteen, stepped forward when
all had registered and wrote on the open page,
"U. S. Grant and son, Galena, 111." The office clerk,
with that far-away look peculiar to the craft, and
without glancing at the book, assigned the modest
traveler and his youthful companion to the fifth
floor. As the attendant was moving ofif with Grant
and his son on the way to their lofty apartment,
he chanced to look at the register. Had he been
struck by a cyclone he could scarcely have experi-
enced a greater degree of astonishment. As soon
as he sufficiently recovered his wits, he ran after
the general, and, overtaking Inm, with profuse
apologies escorted the guests to the best rooms on
the second floor, which had been reserved for them.
As the clerk afterward said, "I expected General
Grant to appear with a retinue of staff officers and
servants, and could not suppose that the plainly
attired and unassuming officer, who looked as if he
might be a captain or major, was about to take
command of all the Union armies."
Mr. Lincoln had never seen him and Secretary
Stanton but once, in Louisville, during the previous
Facsimile of ('.rant's appointment as Lieutenant-General.
THE CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN. 213
October. At noon on the day following- the general
was formally received by the President in the Cabi-
net chamber at the White House, and, after being
presented to the members of his Cabinet, Mr. Lin-
coln said: "General Grant, the nation's apprecia-
tion of what you have done, and its reliance upon
you for what remains to be done in the existing
great struggle, are now presented with this commis-
sion constituting you lieutenant general in the army
of the United States. With this high honor de-
volves upon you also a corresponding responsibil-
ity. As the country herein trusts you, so under God
it will sustain you. I scarcely need add that with
what I here speak for the nation goes my own
hearty personal concurrence." To which Grant re-
plied: "Air. President, I accept the commission
with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With
the aid of the noble armies that have fought in so
many fields for our common country, it will be my
earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expecta-
tions. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities
now devolving upon me, and I know if they are
met it will be due to those armies, and, above all,
to the favor of that Providence w'hich leads both
nations and men."
CHAPTER X.
COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES.
Soon after receiving his commission General
Grant left Washington for Brandy Station, Va.,
to consult with General J\Ieade, then commanding
the Army of the Potomac. The hero of Gettys-
burg, with a self-abnegation worthy of all praise,
offered to resign in favor of Sherman or of any
other commander whom Grant preferred to ap-
point; but the latter had work for Sherman in the
West, and was glad to retain Meade in his responsi-
ble position, and one, we may remark en passant,
that he filled to the perfect satisfaction of his supe-
rior officer. After this conference Grant returned
to Washington, and then hurried West to consult
with Sherman about the spring campaign and to
surrender his former command.
On March i8tli Sherman assumed this com-
mand, which was styled the Military Division of the
Mississippi, and accompanied his cliief as far as
Cincinnati on the lattcr's return to Washington.
Much of moment to the nation and to humanity
at large was discussed on this journey. Sherman
was put in possession of the comprehensive plan
214
COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES.
215
of campaign conceived by Grant, and, we may be
sure, added valuable suggestions of his own. The
restoration to their commands of Generals McClel-
lan, Buell, Burnside, Fremont, and others, who
had been relieved of duty by Halleck, was also a
topic of discussion. Grant left Washington for the
West on March nth. The next day the order nam-
ing him general of all the armies was promulgated.
He received it while at Nashville, and on the 17th
assumed command in these words: " In pursuance
of the following order of the President, I assume
command of the armies of the United States. Head-
quarters will be in the field, and, until further or-
ders, will be with the Army of the Potomac. There
will be an ofBce headquarters in Washington, to
which all official communications will be sent, ex-
cept those from the army where the headquarters
are at their address."
Six days afterward he arrived in Washington,
and, to the inexpressible joy oi the nation, imme-
diately established his headquarters in the field.
From this time a change in the conducting of
campaigns was apparent. Hitherto the different
armies East, West, and South had moved and
struck independently of each other, and usu-
ally at different dates, so that the enemy, who
always moved in the arc of the circle, could con-
centrate his troops on any threatened point, taking
them for the purpose from that part of his line not
menaced. During seasons of inactivity he could
also furlough his men, and permit them to go to
their homes and sow or secure their crops, thus pro-
ducing supplies for their armies. Grant had long
15
2i6 GENERAL GRANT.
felt that concerted and continuous action on the
part of all the Northern armies was necessary to
success, and now, having the power, proceeded to
carry out his plans. To quote his own words: " I
determined, first, to use the greatest number of
troops practicable against the armed force of the
enemy, preventing him from using the same force
at different seasons against first one and then an-
other of our armies, and the possibility of repose
for refitting and producing necessary supplies for
carrying on resistance. Second, to hammer con-
tinuously against the armed force of the enemy and
his resources, until by mere attrition, if in no other
wav, there should be nothing left to him but an
equal submission with the loyal section of our com-
mon country to the Constitution and laws of the
land."
At the time of his taking command the opposing
forces were situated as follows: The line of the Mis-
sissippi and of the Arkansas was garrisoned by the
Union forces, thus giving them possession of the
territory west of the Mississippi and north of the
Arkansas. South of the latter the territory west
of the Mississippi was almost wholly in the grasp
of the enemy. There were a few unimportant points
in southern Louisiana held by the Northern forces,
and a garrison near the mouth of the Rio Grande.
To defend this vast territory the enemy could mus-
ter an army of eighty thousand effective men, al-
though probably not more than half that number
was under arms at any one time. These were di-
vided into guerrilla l^ands and small, swiftly mov-
ing columns difficult to discover and strike, but
COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES. 21/
necessitating the presence of large bodies of troops
to guard the Mississippi and protect the loyal peo-
ple of the territory. East of the Mississippi the
Union line followed the course of the Tennessee and
Holston Rivers, including nearly all the State of
Tennessee. West Mrginia was substantially within
the Northern line.
Virginia proper was held by the Confederates,
except that part covered by the Army of the Po-
tomac, then lying along the north bank of the
Rapidan, the Potomac River, a small area about
the mouth of the James, and the garrisons at Fort
Monroe and Norfolk. Along the Atlantic coast the
Northern army had effected lodgment at Plymouth,
Washington, and New Berne in North Carolina,
Beaufort, Folly and Morris Islands, Hilton Head,
and Port Royal in South Carolina, and Fernandina
and St. Augustine in Florida. Key West and Pensa-
cola, on the Gulf coast, were also held by the Fetl-
erals. But in the rear of the advanced Union lines
were active bands of guerrillas and an intensely dis-
loyal population, rendering protection of the North-
ern lines of communication necessary for long dis-
tances. Furthermore, a reign of despotism existed
in the South, which forced every man and boy
capable of bearing arms into the ranks, and turned
those w^ho could not into provosts for arresting de-
serters and returning them to the army.
Not only to defeat, but to capture and destroy
the armies confronting him, and tints break the
military power of the rebellion, was the gigantic task
laid upon the shoulders of the new commander in
chief. With comprehensive genius, untiring en-
2l8 GENERAL GRANT.
ergy and patience, and perfect faith in ultimate suc-
cess, he began his labors. To discover the right
man for the place and put him there is one of the
marks of greatness ; and Grant's choice of Sherman
and Thomas, Meade and Sheridan to be his prin-
cipal subordinate commanders was not the least
of the achievements that proved him to possess
military genius of a high order.
The Confederate forces east of the Mississippi
and west of the Alleghanies had been concentrated
into one great army, commanded by Joseph E.
Johnston, in Sherman's opinion the ablest general
of the Confederacy. .This army occupied a strong
natural position, and was intrenched at Dalton, Ga.,
holding the passes of the Alleghanies, and covering
Atlanta, an important railway center, and the gate-
way of Georgia to the North. He had also a large
cavalry force under General Forrest in northeast
Mississippi, and garrisons at the principal seaports
on which to draw in an extremity. Sherman was
now instructed to move against this army, to break
it to pieces, and then to penetrate the enemy's coun-
try as far as possible, destroying his supplies and
all warlike materials.
The Confederate forces east of the Alleghanies
had been massed in another great army, called the
Army of Northern Mrginia, which now lay on the
south bank of the Rapidan, extending from Mine
Run westward, confronting the Army of the Po-
tomac (which, as we have seen, occupied the north
bank), and guarding the approaches to Richmond.
It was commanded l)y Robert E. Lee, unquestion-
ably the ablest of the Confederate generals. In his
COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES.
219
power to make dispositions on the battlefield, to
divine and checkmate the movements of an ad-
versary, Lee was only surpassed by Grant, but the
Virginian lacked Grant's broad and comprehensive
genius, which enabled him to plan campaigns ex-
tending over the breadth of a continent, every move-
ment in which should be as completely under his
control as the pawns in the hand of an accomplished
chess player.
The nature of the ground in Lee's rear favored
him. No position could have been better adapted
for defense than this planned by Nature. It was
hilly and broken, a wilderness of forest and swamp
intercepted by swift streams, flowing east or south-
east, with the valley of each depressed below the
general level, and therefore affording excellent lines
of defense. Lee had intrenched himself on the
Rapidan, and at intervals all the way back to Rich-
mond, so that if dislodged from one position he
could retire to another. He had also another ad-
vantage in that he moved within the arc of the cir-
cle, while Grant had the periphery; so that in the
march for any superior objective point Lee could
reach and seize it first.
General George G. Meade (1815-72) was re-
tained in command of the Army of the Potomac,
sustaining the same relation toward Grant that
Sherman and, later, Thomas and Sheridan sus-
tained, although not so prominently in the public
eye as they, from the fact that the commander in
chief established his headquarters with him, and
personally directed the movements of his army.
But Grant's orders were in all cases given to
220 GENERAL GRANT.
General Aleade, who was charged with their exe-
cution in detail.
Before considering this final campaign from the
Rapidan to the James, and thence to the Appo-
mattox, let us notice in turn several subordinate
yet contributory movements, each designed to exert
its influence upon the general result. When Grant
assumed command General Banks was engaged in
an expedition up the Red River against Shreveport,
La. Grant advised him a few days after that if he
found it would take from ten to fifteen days longer
time to capture the city than General Sherman had
given his ten thousand troops to be absent from
their command, to return the latter to Sherman
even if it was necessary to abandon the expedition,
as this force was necessary for movements east of
the river; that if his expedition proved successful,
he should hold Shreveport and the Red River with
such force as he deemed necessary, and return with
the remainder to the vicinity of New Orleans, plan-
ning no more expeditions designed to acquire terri-
tory, as it would probably be a part of the spring
campaign to move against Mobile; that it certainly
w^ould be if troops enough could be collected to
undertake it without embarrassing other move-
ments; that New Orleans would be the point of de-
parture for such an expedition; lastly, that he had
directed General Steele to make a bona fide move-
ment and not a feint in Arkansas as suggested by
him. On March 22d Grant instructed him further:
If successful against Shreveport, to leave the de-
fense of the Red River to General Steele and the
navy, abandon Texas entirely, except his hold on
COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES. 221
the Rio Grande, and so fortify the hne of the Missis-
sippi that sixteen thousand men could guard it
from Cairo to its mouth until active operations
should be resumed west of that river. With the re-
mainder of his force — estimated at thirty thousand
men — he was to lose no time in making a demon-
stration on Mobile, to be followed by an attack in
force. As his movements were to be co-operative
with others elsewhere, it was impressed on him that
he could not move too quickly. Two or more
ironclads had been ordered to report to Admiral
Farragut (1801-70), which would give a strong
naval force to co-operate. He, after consultation
with Farragut, was to select his own line of ap-
proach, although Pascagoula, on the Gulf, was sug-
gested as his base. " Preserve a profound secrecy
of what you intend doing, and start at the earliest
possible moment," were the concluding words of
the order to General Banks.
]\Ieade was informed that Lee's army would be
his objective, and that wherever Lee went he must
be ready to follow. Indeed, the holding of Lee in
so viselike a grasp that he could not detach a regi-
ment to the aid of Johnston or to defend Mobile
was emphasized as one of the leading objects of the
campaign. General Benjamin T. Butler (1818-93),
with the Army of the James, comprising twenty-
three thousand men, held Fort Monroe and Nor-
folk, and was now re-enforced by Gilmore's com-
mand of ten thousand men from about Charleston.
Butler was ordered, April 2, 1864, to co-operate
with the Army of the F'otomac by moving on Rich-
mond along the south bank of the James — City
222 GENERAL GRANT.
Point, at the head of the lakelike expansion of
the James, being his first objective point. This he
was to fortify and use as a base. In the Shenandoah
Valley Sigel was placed in command, . and ordered
to send two columns south, one, under Ord and
Averill, to move from Beverly, the other, under
Crook, to march from Charleston, on the Kanawha
(now West Virginia), and operate against the Vir-
ginia and East Tennessee Railroad, by which
means Grant hoped to deprive Lee of his granary,
the Shenandoah Valley, and also to prevent his
using that valley, as he had done heretofore, as a
highway for the invasion of the North.
On March 26th Grant established his headquar-
ters at Culpeper Courthouse, near that of Gen-
eral Meade. On May ist, the roads having become
passable, an order was issued for a general move-
ment of all the armies not later than the 4th of
May. For the campaign of the Army of the Poto-
mac two plans had presented themselves. One was
to cross the Rapidan bdozc Lee's position and strike
him on his right flank; the other to cross above
him, and attack him on his left. If the latter plan
were followed, Lee would be prevented from invad-
ing the North, and Richmond would be immedi-
ately threatened. Its disadvantages were that all
supplies would have to be moved with the army,
while it would l)e cut off from all connnunication
with Butler on the James, Lee's army being inter-
posed between the two. On the other hand, by
taking the southerly route, the army could co-oper-
ate with lUitlcr and use Brandy Station and other
points on the tide-water rivers as a base of supplies
COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES. 223
until a new base could be established on the York
or Tames. These considerations led to the selection
of the lower route. The Army of the Potomac was
ordered to move on the morning of May 4th. So
was the Army of the James, and not to halt until
it had taken Richmond. So was Sigel's column in
northern and western Virginia. So was Sherman's
grand army at Chattanooga. There was to be a
general movement all along the line. Of all the co-
operating armies none failed to achieve the end de-
sired except the Army of the James. It should be
borne in mind that the campaign of the Wilderness
was planned by Grant, and executed by Meade with
the expectation that Butler's army would be under
the walls of Richmond, if not within them, while it
was being fought. Under the commander that Gen-
eral Grant wished to lead that army, the Confederate
capital would doubtless have been captured and the
Virginia campaign soon ended, but political consid-
erations prevailed with the President, and Butler, a
War Democrat, was retained.
At an early hour on May 4th General Meade
began moving his army across the Rapidan, the
cavalry, under General Sheridan, having the ad-
vance. This army was perhaps one of the best-
drilled, organized, and equipped bodies of men ever
brought into the field, and in material unsurpassed.
It comprised three corps of infantry — the Second,
Fifth, and Sixth, commanded by Generals Winfield
S. Hancock, Gouveneur K. Warren, and John Sedg-
wick respectively — and a cavalry corps under com-
mand of General Philip H. Sheridan. The artillery,
commanded by General Henry J. Hunt, was so
224
GENERAL GRANT.
largely in excess as to embarrass the movement of
the troops, and from the Wilderness Grant ordered
a number of batteries returned to Washington.
The Ninth Corps, commanded by General Burn-
side, at this time an independent organization, was
to act under the direct orders of Grant. The total
number in this great army was about one hundred
and sixteen thousand.
The army was so organized and drilled that
every brigade and regiment moved like parts of a
perfect machine. Its supply train of four thousand
wagons carried three days' forage and twelve days'
rations, besides a supply of ammunition, and each
wagon bore certain hieroglyphics, such as the corps'
badge, division color, and brigade number, together
with the nature of its contents, whether forage, ra-
tions, or ammunition, and the kind of each, so that
a quartermaster could tell at a glance the corps, di-
vision, and brigade to which it belonged, and, if
found astray, restore it to its proper position. The
methods by which the trains were guarded, empty
wagons returned, and loaded ones pushed forward
were admirable and effective.
A telegraph and signal corps accompanied the
army, and was another marvel of organization and
drill. A wagon carrying a battery, telegraph in-
struments, and operator was assigned to each army,
corps, division, and headquarters. Wagons loaded
with light poles followed these. In advance were
two men and a mule for each wagon, the mule car-
rying on a reel attached to its pack saddle two hun-
dred pounds of insulated wire. The moment the
army went into camp or haltetl for battle the men
COMMANDS ALL THE ARMI^ . 225
with the wire and poles at once proceeded to put
up their Hnes. The mule of each brigade would be
led to the nearest flank of that brigade, the operator
would seize the end of the wire, and the mule would
then be led along the rear of the brigade, the wire
uncoiling from the reel on his saddle as he advanced
and falling upon the ground. When the wire was
uncoiled the mule was led away, and, as the same
movement had been in progress behind all the bri-
gades, a line of wire would be lying on the ground
along the rear of the entire army. These different
wires were then united and elevated on the poles,
and as a wagon bearing a telegraph instrument and
operator was assigned each brigade headquarters
and the headquarters of the commander in chief, in
a few moments the commanding general would be
in instant communication with every brigade com-
mander in his army. The signal service, on the
other hand, was designed for the march. A certain
number of signal officers were assigned each corps,
and moved in advance, or on either flank when the
army marched, seized high points of ground, or, if
in thick forest, climbing the tallest trees, and by
means of their flags kept the commanders informed
of the movements of the different corps, and often
of those of the enemy.
The Confederate army was composed of the
First, Second, and Third Army Corps, commanded
by Generals James Longstreet, Jubal A. Early, and
Ambrose P. Hill respectively; there was also a
cavalry corps commanded by General J. E. B. Stu-
art. In material it was composed of men of the
same blood and training as the Northern army,
226 GENERAL GRANT.
equally well drilled, but not so well organized and
equipped. Grant's army was the greater in num-
bers, but this was in a measure compensated for by
Lee's superior advantages of position. Lee's " ef-
fective total " with which he could oppose Grant's
advance was about seventy-five thousand, mostly
well-seasoned veterans, while many new regiments
and raw recruits with inexperienced ofBcers were
included in the Army of the Potomac.
Many changes of command in both armies oc-
curred soon after Grant's advance into Mrginia, by
deaths and other casualties of war. The wounding
of Longstreet in the Wilderness advanced Robert
H. Anderson to the head of the First Corps, and
the death. of Stuart, mortally wounded in his first
encounter with Sheridan, made General Wade
Hampton his successor in command of the cavalry
of Lee's army. The death of General Sedgwick in
the Wilderness campaign advanced Horatio G.
Wright to the head of the Sixth Corps of the Army
of the Potomac.
Before the army began its advance into Virginia
Grant received from the President a Godspeed in
the following words: " Not expecting to see you
before the spring campaign opens, I wish to ex-
press in this way my entire satisfaction with what
you have done up to this time, so far as I under-
stand 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 you. While I
am very anxious any great disaster or the capture
of our men in great numbers should be avoided, I
COMMANDS ALL THE ARMIES. 227
know these points are less likely to escape your
attention than they would be mine. If there is any-
thing wanting which is within my power to give,
do not fail to let me know it. And now, with a
brave army and a just cause, may God sustain you."
CHAPTER XL
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN.
In the advance to open the Virginia campa'gn,
the Fifth Corps marched directly for Germania
Ford, some ten miles below Lee's extreme right,
a cavalry division preceding it to hold back skir-
mishers and to capture and hold the ford. Sedgwick
with the Sixth Corps followed them closely. Han-
cock with the Second Corps moved by a parallel
road six miles to the eastward, and crossed at Ely's
Ford, still farther down the river. No opposition
was made at either ford, and Grant's assertion that
the movement was a total surprise to Lee was no
doubt true. The crossings were seized by the cav-
alry before daylight, the enemy's pickets guarding
them being driven in, and the pontoon britlges laid
before suiirise. By nightfall the whole army had
crossed, with most of the four thousand wagons of
the sup])ly train. From Germania Ford the P)rock
Road lead directly through the Wilderness to Spott-
sylvania Courthouse, intersecting at Mine Run the
enemy's position, but well toward his right. Lee's
head(|uarters were at Orange Courthouse. From
there two roads ran east to Fredericksburg parallel
228
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THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN.
229
to the Wilderness, the most southerly known as the
Orange Courthouse Plank Road, the most northerly
as the Orange Turnpike, and both intersecting the
Brock Road north of the battleground. There were
also roads east of the battlefield leading from the
old ground of Chancellorsville to Spottsylvania.
As soon as the infantry had crossed, Wilson's
cavalry was pushed forward to Parker's store on the
Orange Plank Road, and Gregg to the left toward
Chancellorsville. They were promptly followed by
the Fifth Corps, with the Sixth in supporting dis-
tance. Warren with the Fifth Corps reached the
Wilderness Tavern by noon, and intrenched. Sedg-
wick was in camp on the right of Warren by sun-
down. Hancock with the Second Corps moved
from Ely's Ford parallel to Warren's advance, and
camped at night six miles east of him Grant, after
seeing his army in motion, had passed rapidly from
Culpeper Courthouse, crossed the Rapidan before
Sedgwick's corps reached it, and established his
headquarters for the night in a house near the river
which had been deserted by its tenants. Here, after
dark, he learned from dispatches that Butler and
Sherman had moved according to instructions.
Meantime Lee had not been idle. As soon as he
was advised that the Federal advance had crossed
the Rapidan, he moved east to intercept it, Hill's
and Longstreet's corps by the Orange Plank Road,
Ewell's by the Orange Turnpike. Longstreet was
then twenty miles away at Gordonsville, the others
nearer at hand — Ewell so near, indeed, that he en-
camped that night but four miles from Mine Run.
The Federal forces were ordered to move early on
230
GENERAL GRANT.
the morning of the 5th, Warren to Parker's store
on the Orange Plank Road, displacing Wilson's
cavalry who were then to advance farther on -to
Craig's meetinghouse. Sedgwick again supported
Warren, closing in on his right. Hancock was to
move southwest to connect with Warren's left, his
line of battle to reach Shady Grove Church.
General W^arren came upon the enemy at 6 a. m.,
before reaching Parker's, and, on reporting the
fact, was ordered to halt and prepare to attack,
Wright's division of Sedgwick's corps was at
once ordered to the support of Warren's right,
and Getty's division of the same corps to march
by his rear to the support of Warren's left, the
quickest way of re-enforcing the latter, whose line
of battle at this time faced the enemy on both
front and flank — one side on the Orange Plank
Road, the other on the Orange Turnpike. At
9 A. M. Hancock was ordered to the support of
Getty. He himself arrived about noon, but his
troops at that hour were far in the rear. Warren
at this time — noon — attacked and gained some
ground, but no decided advantage.
The heavy forests and thickets and the absence
of roads greatly retarded his operations. Getty did
not succeed in connecting with Warren for some
time, and during the interval was in a dangerous
situation. Wilson with his division of cavalry was
also cut ofif from the rest of the army, being far
away to the south, and later in the afternoon Sheri-
dan sent Gregg's division of cavalry in search of
him. The latter fotmd him at Todd's Tavern, con-
fronted by a superior force of both cavalry and in-
\
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 23 1
fantry, and retreating before it. The combined
forces were, however, able to drive the enemy back.
At 2 p. M. Hancock's troops began to arrive, and
he was ordered to connect with Getty and attack,
but the nature of the ground prevented his taking
position promptly. At four Getty was ordered to
advance whether Hancock was ready or not. The
latter, on moving out, found the enemy under Heth
in force near at hand, and engaged him. Hancock,
on hearing the roar of battle, promptly ordered up
Birney's and Alott's divisions, and later Carroll's
and Owen's brigades, to the support of Getty, and
thus saved him from being crushed. A fierce strug-
gle then ensued, and continued until nightfall, nei-
ther army gaining any decided advantage.
Immediately on the close of the battle the com-
mander in chief began making his combinations for
the next day's conflict. Longstreet he knew to be
marching with twelve thousand men to re-enforce
Hill's right, and might join the latter at any mo-
ment. Grant determined to attack before this junc-
tion was efifected, and ordered Hancock to assault
at half-past four o'clock in the morning; but, on
General Meade's requesting that it be deferred until
six to enable him to complete his dispositions, he
modified his order, placing the hour at five. At the
same time he planned various supporting move-
ments, designed to keep the enemy employed all
along his line. Wadsworth with his division lay in
a line perpendicular to Hill's, and was ordered to
attack the latter's left at the same hour. Simul-
taneous attacks were to be made by Sedgwick and
Warren on their fronts.
16
232
GENERAL GRANT.
Burnsicle, who was coming up with two divi-
sions, was ordered to enter between Wadsworth
and Warren, and assault the moment he got into
position, and, if he succeeded in breaking the ene-
my's center, to swing around to the left and double
up his entire army. Hancock was fully informed as
to these dispositions, and was given nearly one half
the Army of the Potomac to operate with. Lee,
however, was desirous of delaying the attack on
his right until Longstreet's arrival, and before five
ordered an assault by his left on the Federal right.
But the feint was detected by Grant, and availed
Lee nothing. The right held its ground, and at
the appointed hour Hancock with half the Army of
the Potomac attacked Hill, first sending a division
under General Barlow, with all his artillery, to the
Catharpin Road, along which he had learned part
of Longstreet's corps was advancing. A desperate
conflict of an hour followed; then the enemy broke
and fled in confusion.
Had the nature of the ground permitted Han-
cock to observe this disorganization, and take
proper advantage of it, it is probable that Lee would
not have made another stand outside of his intrench-
ments at Richmond. But it was not observed, and
Hancock, after pursuing the retreating force a mile
or more, contented himself with holding his ad-
vanced position. But in the afternoon Longstreet
efTected a junction with Hill, and the latter, encour-
aged by the addition of fresh troops, turned and
himself attacked. The brigade of Hancock's corps
in advance was borne back crushed upon the main
line. Then Mott's division was encountered, and
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 233
also fell back in confusion ; but the main body com-
ing up, the advanced position was maintained for
some hours. Toward night, however, Hancock
withdrew to the original position held in the morn-
ing, which had been strongly intrenched.
Wadsworth was mortally wounded in this bat-
tle, and was left in the hands of the enemy. On
the Confederate side General Jenkins was killed,
and General Longstreet so seriously wounded as
to be carried from the field. Learning of this, Lee
took command of his right in person, and at four in
the afternoon attacked the Federal left, his lines
moving up under cover of the timber to within a
hundred yards. An almost hand-to-hand conflict
ensued, lasting for half an hour, when Ward's bri-
gade of Birney's division and part of Mott's division
gave way and retreated in disorder. The enemy,
under R. H. Anderson, followed up his advantage,
and succeeded in planting his flags on a part of the
Federal intrenchments, but was quickly dislodged
by Carroll's brigade of Gibbon's division, which
charged at the double quick and drove back the
Confederates with heavy loss.
At this time a part of the intrenchments were
in flames. The bursting shells had set the forests
on fire, and the terrors of a conflagration were
added to the horrors of battle. The tide of combat
had flowed and ebbed over a tract of country aver-
aging three quarters of a mile in width, and over
this area the flames now swept, disfiguring the dead
and burning or suffocating the wounded, who were
unable to save themselves. The repulse of Ander-
son created a panic in the Confederate ranks. Had
234
GENERAL GRANT.
Hancock taken advantage of it by ordering a bayo-
net charge of his entire force, he would no doubt
have won the day. But the Union general knew
nothing of his enemy's condition, and, as his men
Avere short of ammunition, they did not follow. The
golden opportunity was lost.
During this time the battle had been raging
fiercely in front of Sedgwick's, Warren's, and Burn-
side's corps, with no signal advantage to either side,
except that Lee had been prevented from sending
re-enforcements to his right. As night fell Lee
withdrew his entire army into his intrenchments,
and skirmishers, sent out on the morning of the
7th to discover his position, found it withdrawn in
places a mile and a half from the Federal line, nor
could a reconnoissance in force during the day
tempt him to come out for a renewal of the combat.
" More desperate fighting," says Grant in his Me-
moirs, " has not been witnessed on this continent
than that of the 5th and 6th of Alay."
On the afternoon of the 7th Grant learned from
Washington that Sherman had probably attacked
Johnston that day, and that Butler had carried City
Point by surprise on the 5th. Well aware that Lee
had been for several hours in receipt of this news,
and fearing lest the latter should move rapidly to
Richmond and crush Butler before he could join
him, Grant determined on the bold and somewhat
hazardous movement of marching his army by Lee's
right flank and taking a new position at Spottsyl-
vania Courthouse, between the Confederate army
and Richmond. Spottsylvania was an admirable
defensive position, being situated on the ridge di-
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 235
viding the Ny and Po Rivers, a short distance above
where the Mat, Ta, Po, and Ny joined to form the
Mattapony River.
It was vitally necessary that the coup should be
kept secret from the enemy, and a night march was
therefore determined upon. The order for it was
given to Meade at half-past six on the morning of
the 7th, and directed him to make all his prepara-
tions that day, one army corps to take position at
Spottsylvania Courthouse, one at Todd's Tavern,
a third near the intersection of the Piney Branch
and Spottsylvania Road with the road leading from
Alsops to Old Courthouse. " If this is done," it
continued, " throw trains forward early in the morn-
ing to the Ny River. Let Hancock remain where
he is until Warren passes him, then let him follow
and become the right of the new line. Let Burn-
side march to Piney Branch Church, Sedgwick
along the pike to Chancellorsville, and on to his
destination; Burnside along the plank road to its
intersection with the Orange and Fredericksburg
Plank Road, and then follow Sedgwick to his des-
tination. Let all vehicles be got out of hearing of
the enemy before the troops move, and then let
them get off quietly." All hospitals were to be
moved that day to Chancellorsville. " It is more
than probable," the order continued, " that the ene-
my will concentrate for a heavy attack on Hancock
this afternoon; if they do, be prepared to resist
them, and follow up with your whole force any suc-
cess you may gain. Such a result would neces-
sarily modify these instructions."
The enemy did not attack, however, and soon
236 GENERAL GRANT.
after dark Warren withdrew quietly from his posi-
tion on the Confederate front and began his march,
Sedgwick quickly following. The movement was
a complete surprise to Lee; he did not for a mo-
ment divine its purpose, but thought it a retreat to
the Federal base of supplies at Fredericksburg, and
so informed his government. But the movement
failed as a surprise purely from one of those acci-
dents impossible to foresee, which so often deter-
mine the fate of battles. Lee, hearing of the Federal
wagon trains which were sent off on the 7th to the
eastward of the roads the troops were to use, con-
cluded, as before remarked, that his opponent was
retreating to Fredericksburg, and ordered Ander-
son, now commanding Longstreet's corps, to move
to Spottsylvania next morning, the 8th, and occupy
it. But the forests were so thick with fire and smoke
that Anderson could not bivouac within them, and
so marched on all night to Spottsylvania, occupy-
ing it before the Union advance came up. Thus
P'ate a second time in one short campaign robbed
Grant of a signal advantage, the first having been
when General Hancock failed to take advantage of
the confusion in the Confederate ranks on the morn-
ing of the 6th.
Sheridan Iiad on the 7th ordered Wilson to seize
Spottsylvania, and Alerritt with two brigades of
cavalry to guard the bridge over the Po — a narrow
but deep stream — which Anderson would have to
cross to reach the town ; but Meade countermanded
this order to Mcrritt, and Anderson therefore found
no opposition to his advance. Wilson, it is true,
had seized the town and held it with one division
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 237
of cavalry, but could not hold it against Anderson's
entire corps. When Warren's advance reached
Spottsylvania it found the enemy intrenched, and
Warren, supposing it to be a small body of cavalry,
ordered an assault at once. Quickly repulsed, he
reformed his line and threw his whole corps upon
the enemy, this time gaining a position in his front,
where he intrenched, while his right and left di-
visions drove the enemy back some distance.
As soon as Warren's movement had fairly
begun, Grant passed on in advance of him, ac-
companied by Meade and their stafif and a small
escort of cavalry, and established headquarters at
Piney Branch Church, where Sedgwick lay with
his corps. Here he could survey all parts of the
field. Being desirous of crushing Anderson before
Lee could re-enforce him, he ordered a general
attack — Sedgwick to support Warren and Hancock
at Todd's Tavern on the Brock Road, and Burn-
side, who was guarding the wagon trains on the
extreme left, to be ready to attack at a moment's
notice. But something detained Sedgwick — it was
nearly night before his junction with Warren was
efifected — and then Warren assaulted by piecemeal
instead of en masse, sending in one division at a
time, each being repulsed in succession.
Here Grant lost another golden opportunity,
first from Sedgwick's failure to arrive in time, and,
second, through the incapacity of his corps com-
mander, Warren. The latter was a brave and gal-
lant officer, who would have made an admirable
division commander, but was too much given to
forecasting possible events and anticipating details
238
GENERAL GRANT.
to become a good corps commander. Grant thus
aptly characterized hhn: "When he received an
order to do anything it would at once occur to his
mind how all the balance of the army should be en-
gaged so as properly to co-operate with him. His
ideas were generally good, but he would forget that
the person giving him orders had thought of others
at the same time he had of him. In like manner
when he did get ready to execute an order, after
giving most intelligent instructions to division com-
manders, he would go in with one division, holding
the others in reserve until he could superintend
their movements in person also, forgetting that di-
vision commanders could execute an order with-
out his presence." This disability General Grant
believed to be constitutional and beyoung his con-
trol. For a small command he declared him to
be of " superior ability, quick perception, and per-
sonal courage."
As late as the morning of the 8th Lee believed
that his opponent's objective was Fredericksburg,
and dispatched Early — now in command of Hill's
corps — to Spottsylvania by the Brock Road — the
same the Federal troops had advanced upon — and
the latter only discovered his commander's mistake
when he came squarely upon Hancock's force at
Todd's Tavern as it was marching toward the town.
Hancock turned to defend his rear, and was thus
l)rcventcd from joining in the first day's battle of
Si)ottsylvania. Early, however, suffered greater
detention, not only from battle, but by being forced
to make a detour in order to gain his position.
V>y the 9th the various corps had all been massed
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN
239
on the field, and the sanguinary battle of Spottsyl-
vania Courthouse began.
The Federal dispositions for the attack were as
follows: Warren had the right, covering the Brock
and other roads converging on Spottsylvania. Sedg-
wick was posted on his left; Burnside on the ex-
treme left. Hancock — who was ordered up from
Todd's Tavern as soon as it became apparent that
Early had left his front — took post on Warren's
right, thus holding the extreme Federal right. One
division — Mott's — was left at Todd's until after-
noon. With the other three Hancock formed line
of battle on a hill overlooking the Po, and early in
the afternoon was ordered to cross and, if possible,
gain the enemy's flank.
General Sedgwick had been killed in the morn-
ing by a sharpshooter as he stood reconnoitering
the enemy's position, and Wright had been assigned
to his command. Hancock, after crossing the Po,
found that he was upon the left flank of Lee's army,
as desired, but that he was separated from it and
from Meade's force also by the Po, here a very
winding stream, at the point where Hancock crossed
flowing nearly dvie east, but a little below turning
and running nearly due south, thus cutting him off
from both armies. The only advantage gained by
his crossing was that it compelled Lee to re-enforce
his left, thus weakening his right and center. On
the morning of the loth Hancock attempted to re-
cross the Po in his front and attack Lee's left, but
was met by a portion of Early's command, which
had been transferred from the right under cover of
the darkness, and, after throwing one brigade
240
GENERAL GRANT.
across — which found the enemy intrenched and in
a commanding position — he abandoned the attempt.
Grant took advantage of this weakening of Lee's
center to meet Hancock's movement by ordering
Warren and Wright to attack that portion of his
line. Hancock had recrossed the Po with two di-
visions — Gibbon's and Birney's — which were placed,
Gibbon's on the right of Warren and Birney's in
his rear as a reserve. The third division — Barlow's
— by this movement was left unsupported on the
south bank of the Po, and the enemy, seeing this,
attacked the latter in force, but was gallantly re-
pulsed with great loss. They renewed the assault,
and were again repulsed with even greater slaughter,
but General Barlow was shortly withdrawn with-
out being again molested.
Meanwhile before noon Warren had been re-
connoitering for his assault upon the center; he
found between him and the enemy a deep ravine so
overgrown with trees and bushes as to be almost
impenetrable, but no other great natural obstacles,
and recommended an attack. Wright also sent out
a rcconnoitering party on his front, which gained a
position in advance of his main line. He then
formed an assaulting column of twelve regiments,
and assigned Colonel Emory Upton, of the One
Hundred and Twenty-first New York Volunteers,
to command it. About four in the afternoon a
general assault was ordered, Warren's and Wright's
corps, with Mott's division of Hancock's corps,
being ordered to attack simultaneously. In a few
moments within the deep forests above the Con-
federate line a fierce conflict began. From the
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN.
241
station in the rear of Warren, where the two com-
manding generals stood, Httle could be seen, but
the explosions of musketry and artillery marked
pretty accurately the position of the combatants.
General Warren was repulsed with loss, but the
enemy did not pursue his advantage. Wright had
been more successful, Upton with his storming
party having carried the enemy's intrenchments,
and then, opening and turning to left and right,
captured several guns and hundreds of prisoners.
Mott was ordered to his assistance, but failed to
obey the order. Other troops were then ordered
to his support, but were so long in moving that
Grant reluctantly sent a message to Upton to with-
draw ; the latter, however, was so confident of being
able to hold the point of vantage gained that the
order was countermanded, and a renewal of the
general assault commanded. Hancock had now
returned from bringing ofif Barlow, and his corps,
together with Warren's and Wright's, was hurled
a second time upon the Confederate line; but the
enemy's works were too well constructed and
manned to be carried by any force that could be
concentrated upon any one point, and, although
the troops succeeded in getting up to and, in some
cases, over the defenses, they failed to carry them,
and as night fell were withdrawn. Upton secured
his prisoners, but not his captured guns. For his
gallant conduct Grant very properly conferred upon
him on the spot the rank of brigadier general.
In this battle also one of those annoying acci-
dents occurred by which a signal advantage was
lost to the Union forces. Burnside on the extreme
242
GENERAL GRANT.
left, meeting with little or no opposition, had ad-
vanced to within a few hundred yards of Spottsyl-
vania Courthouse, thus practically turning Lee's
right. He was ignorant of this, however, and
Grant, occupied with the assaults in the center, was
not apprised of it in time to improve the golden
opportunity. At night, finding that the movement
had separated him from Wright's command, his
supporting corps, he was ordered to fall back and
join the latter — a manoeuver which necessitated a
retreat of nearly a mile, and lost to the Union army
the advantage gained. Not once during the day
had the enemy shown a disposition to come out
of his intrenchments to give battle, except in the
case of the two attacks on Barlow's division, when
he had been repulsed with heavy loss.
On the nth there was almost no fighting. Dis-
patches from Butler through the War Department
reported that his cavalry under Kautz had destroyed
the railroad south of Petersburg, thus cutting ofT
Beauregard from Richmond, and had defeated Hill
with great loss to the latter; also that Sheridan,
Avho had been sent around the left of Lee's army
to attack his cavalry and communications, had de-
stroyed ten miles of railway between the latter and
Richmond, with one and one half million rations,
and most of the necessary medical stores for the
Confederate army.
On the 1 2th the battle of Spottsylvania was re-
sumed. A salient in the enemy's line had been dis-
covered by Mott during a reconnoissancc made on
the iith, and this it was decided to make the point
of attack. Hancock with three divisions was ordered
1
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 243
to join Burnside with the Ninth Corps at 4 a. m.
in an attack on the salient, Hancock attacking on
the rig-ht, Burnside on the left. Both movements
were to be kept secret from the enemy, and to be
performed by night. Grant sent two officers of his
stafif to Burnside to impress upon him the necessity
for vigorous and concerted action, and the same
charge was given to Hancock. It is barely day-
break at 4 A. M. in Virginia in May, but on this par-
ticular morning a thick fog intensified the gloom,
and delayed the attack for half an hour. At half-
past four, however, the assaulting column moved
slowly forward. Barlow on the left in double col-
umn, Birney on the right, Mott behind Birney, with
Gibbon in reserve, pressed up an ascending, heavily
wooded slope, struggled through a marsh, and then
within two hundred yards of the vague outlines of
the Confederate breastworks gave a loud cheer, and
with a rush charged up to and over the walls.
Ritrht and left entered almost at the same mo-
ment. The defenders, though taken by surprise,
rallied and fought desperately with pistols and
clubbed muskets, but were quickly overpowered,
and the Stars and Stripes were raised over the sali-
ent. Twenty or more guns with their equipment,
several thousand stand of small arms, and some four
thousand prisoners were among the fruits of this
brilliant coup. Hancock, never deficient in prompti-
tude, turned the captured guns on his enemy, and
advanced within his intrenchments. Lee resisted
with his utmost power, and, after a gallant struggle,
Hancock was forced to fall back as far as the cap-
tured salient, where he maintained his position.
244 GENERAL GRANT.
Meanwhile Burnside on the left had reached the
enemy's parapet, and one division — Potter's — had
scaled it, but was unable to hold the wall. When
Hancock was pressed back Wright was ordered to
his support, and arrived about six o'clock.
At eight General Warren was also ordered up,
but was so slow in obeying that his orders were
again and again repeated. At last, about eleven
o'clock. Grant gave Meade authority to remove him
from his command if he did not act promptly. The
battle continued all day and until three o'clock in
the morning. Five times Lee, ordering up re-en-
forcements from his extreme left, assaulted des-
perately, but without moving Hancock from his
position. The latter, massing his artillery on the
heights behind, and firing over the heads of his
troops, made deadly havoc in the enemy's ranks,
and aided his men in maintaining their position.
The forests between the foes were leveled by
shot and shell as if by an army of woodcutters.
Trees eighteen inches in diameter were shorn off
by minie balls. The losses of the enemy were enor-
mous. Grant reported that whole organizations
w^ere obliterated, naming a division, a brigade, and
a regiment. His army also suffered severely, but
not even a company lost its autonomy. After the
battle, it is true, Warren's corps was broken up
temporarily, one division being given to Wright,
one to Hancock, and the third left with Warren,
although Meade ordered his chief of staff. General
Humphreys, to remain with the division and give
it orders in his name.
There was little or no fighting on the 13th. the
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 245
troops being engaged in the burial of the dead. On
this day Grant wrote to Washington, recommend-
ing for promotion the brave men who had shown
themselves worthy of it during the past eight days
of battle. After naming Wright and Gibbon for
major generals, Colonels Carroll, Candless, and
Upton for brigadier generals, Hancock and Dodge
for brigadier generals in the regular army, and
Humphreys as major general, he added: " General
Meade has more than met my most sanguine ex-
pectations. He and Sherman are the fittest officers
for large commands I have come in contact with.
If their services can be rewarded by promotion to
the rank of major generals in the regular army, the
honor would be worthily bestowed, and I would
feel personally gratified. I would not like to see
one of these promotions at this time without the
other." Grant's wishes were complied with.
It rained almost continuously from the 12th to
the 17th, putting a stop to nearly all operations.
On the 15th Grant heard from Butler that he had
captured the outer works at Drury's Bluff, on the
James, and had cut the railroad and telegraph south
of Richmond on the Danville system; and the next
day from Sherman that he had driven Johnston out
of Dalton, Ga., and was following him south; also
from Sheridan that he had passed the outer defenses
of Richmond. That city was for the time being
isolated from the world, every railroad and telegraph
line leading out of it having been cut by the dar-
ing Union raiders.
On the night of the 17th hostilities were re-
sumed, Hancock and Wright marching back to
246
GENERAL GRANT.
their old positions, and at 4 a. m. making an unsuc-
cessful assault on the Confederate lines. The 17th
proved a day of evil tidings. News was received
that Sigel had been badly defeated at New Market,
in the valley of Virginia, and was retreating. He
was promptly relieved, and Hunter assigned to his
command. Banks had also been defeated in Louisi-
ana, and had been superseded by Canby. Butler
had been driven from Drury's Bluff, but still
held the Petersburg Road. These tidings caused
the commander some anxious moments, for these
disasters would inevitably lead to the re-enforce-
ment of General Lee both from the south and from
the valley.
Grant determined to effect another flank move-
ment before the new troops should arrive, the James
River this time being his objective. His prepara-
tions were made with his accustomed vigor. He
changed his base of supplies from Fredericksburg
to Port Royal, on the Rappahannock, and later to
White House, on the Pamunkey. One hundred
guns with their equipments were returned to Wash-
ington as being in excess of the artillery required.
The movement south began at twelve on the night
of the 19th, Hancock leading it by moving his force
along the line of the Richmond and Fredericksburg
Railroad, with orders to advance as far toward
Richmond as he could, fighting the enemy wherever
he might meet him.
If Lee pursued with his main body, the other
three corps, which had been massed as closely to
his front as possible, were to follow and attack be-
fore he could intrench. But Lee, although Grant
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 247
gave him abundant opportunity, could not be in-
duced to leave his intrenchments and fight in the
open. The challenge which Grant gave by detach-
ing one corps and sending it unsupported in ad-
vance, was not accepted, and the conclusion of the
Union commander was that Lee would act only
on the defensive, and that he might continue his
movement with little danger of interruption from
his adversary.
Before Grant entered upon the Virginia cam-
paign of May, 1864, he said to Sherman, " Rebel
armies are now the strategic points to strike." In
a communication to Meade he wrote: " Lee's army
will be your objective point. Wherever Lee's army
goes, you will go also; " and to an intimate military
friend Grant remarked, in one of those characteristic
phrases of simple directness peculiar to him, " I
feel as certain of crushing Lee and capturing Rich-
mond as I do of dying." At the close of the first
day's fierce fighting in the Wilderness, with its
heavy losses of thousands killed, wounded, or cap-
tured, a young officer from a distant part of the
battlefield presented himself, bringing bad news
and a gloomy countenance to the chief; but, noth'-
ing daunted or disheartened, the indomitable Grant
replied: "It is all right, Wilson. We move for-
ward at four o'clock in the morning. We are going
through; there is no doubt about it." The general
was almost the only man in our army that was not
dismayed. Those nearest to Grant deemed it mar-
velous that he could remain calm and unmoved
under such an unexpected meeting with Lee in the
Wilderness, and yet abate no jot of heart or hope,
17
248
GENERAL GRANT.
but with absolute confidence press right onward.
His was
" A buoyant heart, a never-quailing soul,
A purpose swerveless as the hests of fate."
When the order came from Grant to advance
at dayHght and to attack the enemy wherever he
could be found, both armies alike felt that the man
had at length appeared with but two words in his
military vocabulary, Victory or Annihilation, Lee
himself sharing in this feeling. Instead of falling
back, as the Army of the Potomac had always done
in similar circumstances, the battalions of the North
moved forward at break of day. An aid endeav-
ored to deter the general from taking up Burnside's
bridge over the Rapidan, and he answered, " One
bridge and the ford will be sufficient to cross all
the survivors of this army if we should have to fall
back." When Grant stripped his commissary trains
of their guards to fill a gap in his long line of battle,
thereby exposing his army to the loss of all its pro-
visions,' he grimly replied, " When this army is
whipped, it will not want any provisions." Later
on he wrote to Washington: "This army has now
won a most decisive victory and follozccd tJic oiciny.
This is all that it ever wanted to make it as good an
army as ever fought a battle."
Again Grant connnunicates to the War Depart-
ment a dispatch containing one of his most cele-
brated phrases: " We have now ended the eighth
day of very hard fighting. The result up to this
time is very nuich in our favor. Our losses have
been heavv, as well as those of the enemy. I think
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN.
249
I
the loss of the enemy must be greater. We have
taken more than five thousand prisoners in battle,
while he has taken from us but few, except stragglers,
/ propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all sum-
mer T Of Butler Grant wrote: "His army, there-
fore, though in a position of great security, was as
completely shut off from further operations against
Richmond as if he had been in a bottle strongly
corked. It required comparatively a small force of
the enemy to hold him there." Grant's orders to
Hancock were to " Fight the enemy wherever he
can be found"; and to Sherman he says: " Lee is
averse to going out of Virginia, and if the cause of
the South is lost, he wants Richmond to be the last
place evacuated. If he has such views, it may be
well to indulge him until we get everything else
in our hands." Grant writes to the War Depart-
ment that he wishes all the crops destroyed in the
Shenandoah Valley, " so that crows flying over it
for the balance of this season will have to carry
their provender with them"; and to Sheridan he
says, " If this war is to last another year, we want
the Shenandoah Valley to remain a barren waste."
CHAPTER XII.
THE SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND.
The country south of the Po differs from that
north of it, being open and cultivated, with broad
and good roads. The Northern generals, however,
had no reliable maps of the region, and were forced
to depend upon scouts and reconnoissances to lo-
cate the roads in advance of each corps. Through
this open country Hancock in advance marched
first easterly to Guiney's Station on the Fredericks-
burg Railroad, then southerly to Bowling Green
and Milford, reaching the latter place on the night
of the 21 st, and encountering there a part of Pick-
ett's division, which was hastening forward from
Richmond to re-enforce Lee, as Grant had expected.
A brief conflict served to scatter them, with a loss
of several hundred prisoners. This same day — the
21 st — Warren left his camps and marched to Gui-
ney's Station, reaching there at nightfall. This
manoeuver left two corps in Lee's front in isolated
positions, cither of which Lee might have attacked
with superior force. Yet he made no attempt upon
either, and the opportunity passed. It was perhaps
the most daring small movement every played on
the chess board of war, and shows Grant's perfect
250
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SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 25 1
confidence that his adversary had been so punished
that he would not under any circumstances give
battle in open field. Lee no doubt suspected a ruse
dc guerre. By the morning of the 22d Burnside's
and Wright's corps were at Guiney's Station, and
the whole army was in motion.
The first defensive position of importance south
of Spottsylvania is the North Anna, a deep but not
rapid stream flowing southeast into the Pamunkey.
To the south bank of this river Lee, always moving
by interior lines, transferred his army, and when
the invading force reached the north bank it found
him intrenched on the south side, with his center at
Ox Ford, his left wing reaching back to the Little
River, an affluent of the Anna, joining it a few miles
below, and his right extended eastward, both wings
forming an acute angle when regarded from the
center. Warren's and Wright's corps had marched
to cross the Anna at Jericho Ford, Hancock at the
Wooden Bridge, near the crossing of the Richmond
and Fredericksburg Railroad, a distance of six miles
intervening between the two points. Burnside's
corps moved by a middle road, which crossed the
Anna at Ox Ford, the point before described as
being the center of Lee's position, and which was
nearer the Wooden Bridge than Jericho Ford.
Burnside was confronted at this ford by the Con-
federate army, and could not cross. Hancock on
the left and the corps of Wright and Warren on
the right, on crossing the river, were separated by
General Lee's entire army, which, as we have
seen, extended from the North Anna at Ox Ford
south to the Little River.
252
GENERAL GRANT.
Hancock after crossing formed his line of battle
facing west; Warren -and Wright, on the other
hand, faced east. To re-enforce the right wing
from the left, and vice versa, the North Anna would
have to be crossed and recrossed, and a march of
over six miles made. Lee, however, could concen-
trate rapidly at any point nearly his whole force.
Here again a great opportunity w^as given him, but
he did not improve it by coming out of his works
and attacking, although he had been largely re-en-
forced. For several days the situation remained
unchanged, Hancock confronting Lee on the east,
Warren and Wright on the west, while Burnside,
with one division only on the north bank of the
Anna at Ox Ford — one division having been sent
to support Hancock and one to re-enforce Warren
and Wright — threatened his center.
Finding that Lee would not fight, Grant decided
to make another attempt to place his army between
the former and Richmond, and, if not successful,
at least plant it on the James nearer the Confederate
stronghold. Again he shifted his base of supplies,
this time from Port Royal to White House, on the
Pamunkey, w^hich place was connected by rail with
Richmond, the wagon trains crossing overland and
the supplies being sent around by water. Butler
was ordered to co-operate by sending Smith's corps
to the White House. From his present position to
turn Lee's left would necessitate the crossing of
three rivers — the Little, New Found, and South
Anna, all considerable streams flowing southeast-
erly to form the Pannmkey. To turn Lee's right
was impossible, since it rested on a large swamp.
SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 253
Grant again determined on a movement by his left
flank, and to cross the Pamunkey at Hanover Town
below the junction of the three rivers named. Again
his right was withdrawn secretly by night, recrossed
the North Anna, marched around the center, and
ofif southeasterly to strike Hanover Town and se-
cure the crossing at Littlepage's Bridge and Tay-
lor's Ford. Wright's " best division," with Sheri-
dan's cavalry — which had now rejoined the main
body — was detailed on this service, the movement
commencing on the night of the 25th. At the
same moment the other divisions began moving
for the same point. Burnside's corps was to fol-
low Wright's, Hancock's to bring up the rear.
The movement was completely successful, the
Pamunkey being crossed and Hanover Town
gained almost without striking a blow. Hanover
is but twenty miles from Richmond, but the country
between is a difficult one for an army to operate in,
being low, swampy, and intersected by sluggish
streams. Two roads led from Hanover to Rich-
mond, the most direct crossing the Chickahominy
River at Meadow Ridge, near the Central Railroad
Bridge, the other via New Cold Harbor and Old
Cold Harbor. A few miles out these roads inter-
sected a third, running by way of Mechanicsville
to Richmond. The Chickahominy is the only large
river between the Pamunkey and James, and, after
flowing southeast about midway between the two,
turns south and falls into the latter stream.
From Hanover Sheridan was sent toward Me-
chanicsville to discover Lee's position. He found
his cavalry a short distance out, dismounted and
254
GENERAL GRANT.
intrenched, and, after a sharp skirmish, dislodged
and scattered them. On the 29th the different corps
advanced some three miles — Wright's toward Han-
over Courthouse, Hancock's toward Totopotomoy
Creek, Warren's to the left on the Shady Grove
Church Road — without meeting the enemy in force ;
but Hancock the next day, on reaching the line of
the Totopotomoy, found him in a strong position
behind defenses. In making dispositions some
fighting occurred, but the Confederates were easily
driven back. W'ith the evening Grant received
news of the arrival of Smith's corps at White House,
and ordered Sheridan to send a cavalry force to
guide him to the main army and to caution him
to be on his guard against a sudden dash of the
enemy while on the march.
On the 31st Sheridan with his main force ad-
vanced on Old Cold Harbor, and after a sharp
action captured it; but the enemy, well aware of
its importance to Grant, soon returned with a larger
force, hoping to retake it. Sheridan was about re-
treating, being greatly outnumbered, but, receiving
orders at the critical moment to hold it at all haz-
ards, he turned the enemy's own guns upon him,
and gallantly held his ground. Night fell before the
en^my could make ready, and the assault was post-
poned until morning. Meantime Wright's corps,
which had had the Federal right, was ordered to
March direct to Cold Harbor, which was on the
left, and relieve Sheridan. The men toiled on all
night. It was expected that they would arrive by
daylight, but it was nine o'clock on the morning
of June 1st before they came up. Meantime Sheri-
SIEGES OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 255
dan's troopers had repulsed two fierce assaults with
heavy loss to the enemy, and the latter, seeing
Wright's corps advancing, sullenly retreated.
Smith had also been ordered forward from White
House to Cold Harbor, but by a subordinate's blun-
der his order read Newcastle instead of Cold Har-
bor, so that it was three in the afternoon ere he
arrived. He brought from Butler's army twelve
thousand five hundred men, but a division was left
at White House in reserve for the time being.
Lee's line now extended from Atlee's Station,
on the Virginia Central Railroad, southeast to the
vicinity of Cold Harbor. General Warren's corps
held the left, extending to the IMechanicsville Road,
being about three miles south of the Totopotomoy,
Wright and Smith held the extreme left at Cold
Harbor. Burnside was on the right of Warren.
Hancock held the extreme right after the with-
drawal of General Wright.
By six o'clock on the afternoon of June ist
Wright and Smith were ready to assault, and car-
ried the enemy's first line of rifle pits in their front,
capturing nearly eight hundred prisoners. Simul-
taneously the enemy directed three assaults, one
after the .other, against General Warren, but all
were handsomely repulsed with heavy loss. " There
was no officer more capable, nor one more prompt
in acting, than Warren when the enemy forced him
into it," was Grant's comment on this action. Han-
cock and Burnside were also attacked at the same
time, but only as a feint to relieve Anderson, who
was being hard pushed by Wright and Smith. The
enemy continued his attacks throughout the night,
256 GENERAL GRANT.
but failed utterly to regain his lost position. Grant
now used Old Cold Harbor as a pivot around which
to swing his right, and extend his line on the left
or south. Hancock during the night of the ist was
moved to the left of Wright, being directed to at-
tack on the morning of the 2d, but the heat and
dust were so great and the roads so obscure that
he did not gain his position as early as was ex-
pected, and the assault was postponed until the 3d.
Warren's corps had by that time moved south to
connect with Smith, Hancock was on the left of
Wright, and Burnside, at Bethesda Church, on
Lee's left, northwest of Cold Harbor, in reserve.
Lee readjusted his lines before the attack. They
then extended from the Totopotomoy to New Cold
Harbor. Grant's from Bethesda Church to the
Chickahominy, where Sheridan was reconnoitering
with a view to securing the crossings. At half-
past four on the morning of the 3d Hancock,
Wright, and Smith were to assault in their fronts,
and Warren and Burnside to supjwrt them by
threatening Lee's left. They were themselves to as-
sault, however, if it appeared that Lee was weaken-
ing his left to strengthen his right. Barlow's and
(iibbon's divisions were selected by Hancock for
the assault in his front; they rushed forward through
thickets and swamjis under a heavy fire of both
artillery and musketry, and carried the enemy's
advanced position — a deep cut in the roadway —
besides capturing three guns and several hundred
prisoners. Gibbon met with morasses and ravines
in his front, and was only able tril 9, 1865.
General : I received your note of this morning on the picket
line whither I had come to meet you and ascertain definitely
what terms were embraced in your proposition of yesterday with
reference to the surrender of this army. I now request an inter-
view in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of yes-
terday for that purpose. R. E. Lee, General.
Lieutenant General U. S. Grant, Commanding U. S. Armies.
Received on the road in a pine grove. The staff cheered
when the general told us the contents of the note. I should
judge we were seven or eight miles from Appomattox Courthouse.
April 9, 1865.
General R. E. Lee, Commanding Co7ifederate States Armies :
Your note of this date is but this moment (11.50 A. M.) re-
ceived — in consequence of my having passed from the Richmond
and Lynchburg road to the Farmville and Lynchburg road. I
am at this writing about four miles west of Walker's Church,
and will push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting
you. Notice, sent to me on this road where you wish the inter-
view to take place, will meet me.
U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General.
Sent to General Lee by Col. O. E. Babcock,who was instructed
to fine Lee and arrange for the interview. The general and
staff followed as expeditiously as possible, but unfortunately were
misled as to Sheridan's headquarters and narrowly escaped being
captured, striking about a mile east of the Courthouse. We pro-
ceeded across country and found Sheridan about half a mile west
of the Courthouse After several minutes spent in conversation.
Grant and Sheridan with their staffs proceeded to McLean's house,
where Lee was waiting.
Appomattox C. H., ViRcrNiA, April q, 1865.
General R. E. Lee, Commanding Confederate States Armies :
General — In accordance with the substance of my letter to
you of the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the
284 GENERAL GRANT.
termaster to Appomattox Station and take from
the captured trains there all the provisions needed.
Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms — to wit : Rolls
of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to
be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained
by such officer as you may designate. The officers to give their
individual parole not to take arms against the United States until
properly exchanged and each company or regimental commander
to sign a like parole for the men of their command. The arms,
artillery, and public property to be parked and stacked and turned
over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will
not embrace the side arms of the officers nor their private horses
or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to
return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States au-
thority so long as they observe their parole and the laws in force
where they may reside. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General.
Written by General Grant in the manifold order book and
copied by E. S. Parker.
Hdqrs. Army Northern Virginia, -J/rZ/g, 1865.
General : I have received your letter of this date containing
the terms of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as pro-
posed by you. As they are substantially the same as those ex-
pressed in your letter of the 8th inst., they are accepted. I will
proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations
into effect. R- E. Lee, General.
Lieutenant General U. S. Grant.
Lee had no paper on which to write his acceptance and Mar-
shall asked me for paper. I could only give him note paper, all
my other paper being officially headed, and on this Lee's .iccept-
ance was written. General Lee said that our soldiers had burned
his trains with his papers and baggage. When the generals met
it must have been between half past two and three o'clock. They
parted, I think, before three and met again about nine or ten the
next morning, just east of the Courthouse. E. A. Pollard says
about half past three Lee was seen riding back to his headquarters
from the inter\'icw and all knew that the surrender was completed.
The interview took place at tlie house of Wilmcr McLean. Lee
Facsimile of ('.rant's terms to I.ee
^/vx^ U/T^^^ ^J^T^^ ^^^-^^t-^^t^A^^^ -^^^ *2^-<0!^ Wil-
son as V^ice-President. In his second inaugural ad-
dress the President used these words: " It is my
firm conviction that the civilized world is tending
to a reform of government by the people through
their chosen representatives, and that our great re-
public is destined to be the guiding star to all
others." And again: "The States lately at war
with the General (Government are now happily re-
united, and no executive control is exercised in any
one of them that would not be exercised in any
other Slate luidcr like circumstances^ In the first
year of the past administration, the proposition came
up for the admission of San Domingo as a Terri-
tory of the Union. It was not of my seeking, but
emanated from the people of San Domingo. I be-
PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY.
305
lieved that it was best for the interests of all con-
cerned that the proposition should be received fa-
vorably. It was, however, regarded unfavorably,
and therefore the subject was never brought up by
me again. In the future, while I hold my present
offtce, the subject of the acquisition of territory must
have the support of the people before I will recom-
mend any proposition looking to such acquisition.
I say, however, that I do not share in the apprehen-
sion held by many as to the danger of the Govern-
ment becoming weakened and destroyed by reason
of its extension, but rather believe that our Great
Ruler is preparing the world in his own good time
to become one nation, speaking one language, and
when armies and navies will no longer be required."
During the last session of the Forty-second Con-
gress the salary of the President was increased from
twenty-five to fifty thousand per annum, and those
of the Vice-President, Speaker of the House, Jus-
tices of the Supreme Court and heads of depart-
ments twenty-five per cent. William M. Richard-
son, of Massachusetts, became Secretary of the
Treasury March 4, 1873, and was succeeded, June
2, 1874, by Benjamin H. Bristow, of Kentucky.
On the death of Chief- Justice Chase, in 1873, Presi-
dent Grant nominated successively Caleb Gushing,
George H. Williams, and Morrison R. Waite, of
Ohio, to be chief justices, the last named being
promptly confirmed by the Senate, the two first
having failed of confirmation.
No administration of later times has been more
severely and perhaps more unjustly criticised than
that of General Grant. Perhaps the worst which
3o6
GENERAL GRANT.
can be honestly said of it was that, while he gained
no unlawful profits himself, he did not restrain with
a sufficiently firm hand those who were plundering
the Government. His amiable weakness was a too
implicit faith in those who succeeded in gaining
his confidence, but to deny him ability as a states-
man, and that he was only a soldier, or to assert
that his administration was productive of little
or no good to his country, would be both dishon-
est and unjust. There were grave difficulties in
his way such as had assailed few, if any, of his
predecessors.
The country had not then recovered from the
demoralization caused by the civil war; the Fif-
teenth Amendment had not been ratified by the re-
quired number of States; then his accession to
the presidency brought down upon him a formida-
ble army of office seekers whom it was difficult to
placate. In the South, bands of armed men united
with lawless secret societies to defeat the ends of
justice. The powers conferred upon him for the
restoration of peace and order were, in the opinion
of many jurists, of doubtful constitutionality. Party
rancor was never more envenomed or excessive.
An oppressive public debt weighed down the ener-
gies of the people. The nation's credit was being
impaired by the wild schemes of repudiators and
inflationists; the war had nearly swept our mer-
chant marine from the seas, leaving still open dis-
putes whose settlement required great wisdom and
the astutcst diplomatic skill. The Indians were
threatening our frontiers, and their treatment was
as vexed a question as ever assailed statesman or
PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY.
307
philanthropist. Let us see how these grave prob-
lems were met and solved.
At the outset he declared that he would have no
policy to enforce against the will of the people.
His first inaugural address presented certain meas-
ures intended to strengthen the public credit, and
which when formulated into a statute gave the
world an official pledge of financial honesty. He
recommended and used his influence to secure the
ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Con-
stitution, providing for the readmission of all the
States to the Union, and in the second year of his
administration proclaimed its formal adoption. He
recommended the refunding of the national debt,
and signed an act authorizing the creation of bonds
at four-per-cent interest, which were successfully
negotiated. He urged measures for a restoration of
our merchant marine and for a reform in the civil
service, and, in the face of the opposition of some
of his nearest and best friends, organized the first
civil service board. By suspending the writ of
habeas corpus where needed, and boldly bringing the
leaders to justice, he suppressed lawlessness in the
South, and compelled obedience to Federal author-
ity. He inaugurated the principle of arbitration in
international disputes, and by its use settled the
Alabama Claims, the San Juan boundary question,
and gained from Spain ample apologies and sub-
stantial reparation long withheld.
In his first message the President urged the
Christianizing and civilizing of the Indians. His
policy placed them on reservations, educated them,
and sought to render them self-supporting and an
308
GENERAL GRANT.
integral part of the nation. In the Franco-German
War his proclamation so clearly defined American
rights and duties toward both parties that we were
able to escape all entanglements and complications
on account of it. During the siege of Paris the
protection of the American flag was extended by
his instructions to all people without the protection
of a flag of their own, thus preventing much suffer-
ing and loss. In the third year of his first term
amnesty was proclaimed to those who had borne
arms against the Government in the late war, and
almost all their civil rights were restored. He
vetoed the acts for the inflation of the currency, and
thus saved the credit and honor of the nation. He
urged the resumption of specie payments, and was
largely responsible for the Resumption Act of 1875.
He suppressed the formidable " Whisky Ring,"
pursuing and properly punishing the offenders.
While he was President the national debt was
reduced over $450,000,000, taxes over $300,000,000,
the balance of trade was changed from $130,000,000
against to $130,000,000 in our favor, the Atlantic
and Pacific were united by a transcontinental rail-
way, and reconstruction became an accomplished
fact. As he had promised in his second letter of
acceptance, he left a country at peace within its own
borders, as well as with other nations, with a credit
at home and abroad, and without embarrassing
questions to threaten its future prosperity.
The time came for him to lay down the burden
of his ofiice. Many of his countrymen were desir-
ous that he should accept a third term, but he pleas-
antly yet firmly refused, saying that it would prove
PROMOTION AND THE PRESIDENCY.
309
a bad precedent, and would be unwise both for him-
self and for the country.
In a private letter written three years later the
general says : " In regard to your suggestion that I
should authorize some one to say that in no event
would I consent to ever being a candidate after
1880, I think any statement from me would be mis-
construed. Such a statement might well be made
after the nomination, if I am nominated in such a
way as to accept. ... I &«5 so much to the Union <-•
men of the country that if they think my chances
are better for election than for other probable candi-
dates in case I should decline, that I can not de-
cline if the nomination is tendered without seeking
on my part. . . . All I desire is that the Govern-
ment rule should remain in the hands of those who •
saved the Union until all the questions growing
out of the war are forever settled."
His second term expired March 4, 1877. In
his farewell message he gave this admirable advice
to the nation : That the States should be obliged to
furnish a good common-school education to all, and
that the attendance of children therein should be
compulsory; that no sectarian creeds nor tenets
should be taught in any school; that after the year
1890 no person unable to read and write should be
allowed to vote; that Church and State should be
declared forever separate and distinct, while the ut-
most freedom of worship should be secured to all;
and that laws should be enacted to return to sound
currency.
CHAPTER XIV.
TOUR AROUND THE WORLD.
How to live with honor and dignity after leav-
ing their exalted ofifice is the problem with most
of our retiring Presidents. A further public career
is by custom denied to them. John Quincy Adams
is, we believe, the only ex-President who has vio-
lated this unwritten law. In Grant's case he had
resigned the position of general of the army to as-
sume the presidency, and was now simply a private
citizen. He decided to improve this opportunity
to carry out a long-cherished desire of visiting the
Old World, which he had not seen. His fame had
spread throughout the world, and a reception such
as would have been accorded to few, if any, reign-
ing monarchs awaited him even in the remotest
corners of the earth. The greatest of English jour-
nals, after announcing his proposed tour, gave a
long and critical sketch of his career, in which it
said: " On the whole, he will probably be one of
those characters to whom the generous saying will
be ap])lied, ' He was a great man, and I have for-
gotten all his faults.' Nothing, at all events, but
his virtues and his great achievements will be re-
310
-')' 6 , "^T- '■
^ /-•/. . •'
TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 311
membcrcd when he visits this country. He will be
welcomed as one of the most distinguished men
whom the United States have yet produced, and
he will attract to himself the hearty friendliness with
which Englishmen regard the great representatives
of their race in the New World."
The general sailed from Philadelphia May 17,
1877, accompanied by Mrs. Grant and his youngest
son. The first land made was at Queenstown, where
a deputation came to greet the distinguished visitor
with cheers, and offered him the hospitalities of
that town, declaring that the remotest hamlets in
Ireland were familiar with his name, and would
welcome him with the warmth and hospitality char-
acteristic of the Irish people. The ex-President
replied that he could not then accept their proffered
hospitality, but that he would return and visit Ire-
land within a short period. As the steamer pro-
ceeded up the Mersey, and came in view of Liver-
pool, the entire seven miles of water front was seen
to be gay with bunting and crowds of people in-
tent upon welcoming the illustrious American.
The United States consul general at London
with a deputation of merchants and others had
sailed down the river in three tenders to meet and
escort the Indiana to her dock. As she came near,
the people on the piers, catching sight of the gen-
eral as he stood upon the bridge with the captain,
cheered heartily. When the party landed they were
met by the mayor of Liverpool, members of the
Common Council, and a deputation of merchants.
The mayor delivered an address of welcome, to
which the general briefly replied, and then the official
312
GENERAL GRANT.
programme was fully carried out. His arrival and
the ceremonies of welcome attending it were chroni-
cled at length in all the British newspapers. All
declared his visit to be one of international impor-
tance. " His name," said one, " is so closely inter-
woven with recent events in the history of the
United States that not only in America but through-
out Europe he is entitled to respectful treatment
in a degree which it is the lot of but very few to
command. It urges, therefore, free and generous
receptions everywhere."
On May 30th the general and his party set out
for London by the way of Manchester, passing the
night at the latter city. Crowds gathered at every
station and loudly cheered the party. At Man-
chester they were met by the mayor and aldermen,
escorted about the city, and then to the new Town-
hall, where the distinguished visitor was received
by the Dean of Alanchester and other dignitaries,
and an address of welcome from the mayor and
corporation was presented in the drawing-room.
At London the party was met by Edwards Pierre-
pont, the American Minister, on behalf of the L^nited
States and by Lord Vernon as the representative of
the United Kingdom, the usual crowd surrounding
the station and applauding. There was no time for
speechmaking, however, and the party entered car-
riages and were driven to the residence of the
American Minister, whose guests they were to be.
Two days later General Grant called on the
Prince of Wales, and was invited to see the Epsom
races in company with the Prince. On the even-
ing of June 5th a reception was given him by the
TOUR AROUND THE WORLD, 313
American Minister, and the next day the general
and Mrs. Grant dined in the Waterloo banqueting
hall of Apsley House with the Duke of Wellington,
eldest son of the illustrious " Iron Duke." On the
8th he paid a visit to the Agricultural Exhibition at
Bath, and met with a most cordial reception; later
he dined with the Duke of Devonshire, where he
met about fifty members of the House of Lords
and others. On the 15th one of the most highly
prized distinctions of his visit was conferred on him
— the freedom of the city of London. This was no
common distinction, having never been conferred
except on the most worthy and distinguished. The
presentation to General Grant was a more than
ordinarily interesting occasion.
At an early hour traffic was prohibited in the
streets in the vicinity of the Guildhall, in order not
to interfere with the free passage of carriages
through King Street and the Old Jewry. Traffic
was also suspended on the west as far as St. Mar-
tin's-le-Grand and St. Paul's, and on the east to the
Bank of England, the Stock Exchange, Lombard
Street, King William, and Moorgate Streets. As
Grant left his carriage at the Guildhall, he was re-
ceived by a deputation of officials in gorgeous crim-
son robes, their gold chains of station glittering in
the sun. Passing on through the corridor, where a
company of City Guards and Yeomen presented
arms, he was conducted into the library, and with
characteristic composure walked toward the Lord
Mayor's chair and took a seat on the left of the
dais. The chamberlain then arose and read the
formal address tendering the freedom of the city,
3H
GENERAL GRANT.
and which referred to the fact that he was the first
President of the American Republic on whom that
honor had been conferred.
At its close Grant arose and in a speech appro-
priate to the occasion returned thanks for the honor
conferred, and then signed his name to the roll,
with the clerk and chamberlain as compurgators.
The party then partook of refreshments in the great
banqueting hall, which was draped with English
and American flags for the occasion. Toasts fol-
lowed, the first being " The Queen," the second
" The health of General Grant," which was drunk
by the guests standing, amid hearty cheering.
Speaking to the toast, the Lord ]\Iayor said: " I,
as chief magistrate of the city of London, and on
the part of the corporation, 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 especially gratifying to all classes
of the community, and we feel that, although this
is your first visit to England, it is not a stranger
that we greet, but a tried and honored friend. Twice
occupying as you did the exalted position of Presi-
dent of the L^nited States, and therefore one of the
foremost representatives of that country, we con-
fer honor upon ourselves by honoring you. Let
me express both the hope and belief that when you
take your departure you will feci that many true
friends of yours, personally and also of your coun-
trymen, have been left behind. I have the distin-
guished honor to propose your health. May you
live long to enjoy the best of health and unqualified
happiness."
TOUR AROUND THE WORLD.
3'5
The golden casket containing the freedom is a
beautiful work of art, and was always highly prized
by the general. It is oblong, in the Cinquccento
style, the corners bearing American eagles, and
richly decorated. The reverse bears a view of the
entrance to the Guildhall and an appropriate in-
scription. At each end is a figure in gold, finely
modeled and chased, one representing the city of
London, the other the United States, and bearing
the respective shields of each — the latter in enamel.
The cover is surmounted by the arms of the city
of London, and bears a cornucopia, emblematic of
the fertility and resources of the United States. The
casket is supported by American eagles modeled in
gold, the whole standing on a velvet plinth deco-
rated with the Stars and Stripes. This beautiful box
is included among the many Grant memorials in
the National Museum.
On the 1 8th the general was a guest of the Re-
form Club, where he met a distinguished company.
On the 26th he was received by the Queen at Wind-
sor Castle, the party, including Mrs. Grant and the
American Minister, dining with the Queen and re-
turning to London the following morning. The
next evening a State concert was given at Bucking-
ham Park, at which General and Mrs. Grant, the
Prince and Princess of Wales, the Emperor and
Empress of Brazil, and almost all the members of
the royal family were present.
On July 5th he crossed over to the continent,
going first to Brussels, where he received the honor
of a visit from the King of Belgium, and later was
invited to dine at the palace. Next morning all the
3i6 GENERAL GRANT.
foreign ministers at the capital called to pay their
respects, and on the 14th a grand reception was
tendered him by the municipality in the Gesell-
schaftshaus of the Zoological Garden, the chief
burgomaster presenting the guests. From Belgium
General Grant passed through Switzerland, and
thence into Italy, everywhere received with the
•greatest honor and friendliness. From Italy he re-
turned to Edinburgh, where, among other marks of
esteem, the freedom of the city was conferred upon
him. Glasgow also bestowed upon him the same
honor. Late in October he left London for Paris,
at Folkstone taking the special yacht Victoria for
Boulogne. When the party reached the French
capital they were met at the station by the Marquis
d'Abzac, first aid-de-camp of the President, who
tendered General Grant a cordial welcome in the
name of the French Republic. INIany distinguished
Americans and Frenchmen were also in waiting,
and escorted the party to the Hotel Bristol, where
apartments had been engaged for them.
During his stay in Paris the most eminent men
of France were among his visitors. He was re-
ceived at the Elysee by the President, Marshal
McMahon, and later was invited to dine at the
Elysee. After more than a month of dinners, re-
ceptions, balls, and banquetings. General Grant con-
tinued his tour of the world, going first to Naples
in the United States steamer Vandalia, reaching that
place on December 17th. The chief officials of the
city paid their respects before the general left the
ship. Then the party visited the city, and some of
them, including the general, made the ascent of
TOUR AROUND THE WORLD.
317
Vesuvius. The next day they visited Pompeii and
Herculaneum, the buried cities of the plain. In a
few days the journey was continued to Egypt, the
steamer calhng at Malta on the way, where General
Grant received a visit from the Duke of Edinburgh,
and was the recipient of flattering hospitalities.
The party reached Alexandria on January 5,
1878. " Our reception was most enthusiastic,"
wrote one of the travelers. " The Vandalia had
hardly anchored when the governor of the district,
the admiral, and the generals, pashas, and beys, the
consul general, Mr. Farman, the vice-consul, Mr.
Salvage, Judges Barringer and Morgan, and the
missionaries all came on board. The reception
lasted an hour, and as each officer was saluted ac-
cording to his rank, and the salutes were returned,
there was smoke enough in the air for a naval en-
gagement." After this the governor, in the name
of the Khedive, welcomed the distinguished visitor
to Egypt, placing at his disposal a palace in Cairo
and a special steamer up the Nile. As it is Oriental
etiquette to return calls promptly, the general and
party paid their respects the same afternoon, land-
ing in the official barge of the Vand?lia, while the
latter fired a salute of twenty-one guns, to which
the Egyptian vessels responded.
At the palace a guard of honor received the
party, and escorted them to a spacious chamber,
where they were seated on a cushioned seat or
divan, according to rank. The pasha offered the
company cigarettes; an interchange of compliments
followed, the pasha saying that Egypt was proud to
welcome so illustrious a stranger, and the general
3l8 GENERAL GRANT.
answering that he anticipated great pleasure in visit-
ing Egypt. At a signal from the pasha slaves
entered, bearing small porcelain cups about the size
of an egg in filigree cases. They contained in this
case not cofifee, but a hot drink spiced with cinna-
mon. After drinking, the conversation continued
in slow and dignified measure for five minutes, the
pasha having the Oriental slowness of speech, and
the general's proverbial reticence not being im-
proved by the occasion. Then the party rose and
filed slowly downstairs, the attendants and guards
saluting, and the visit was over. At Cairo the gen-
eral resided during his stay in the palace Kassul
Doussa, placed at his disposal by the Khedive. Im-
mediately on arriving, he paid a call of ceremony to
the Khedive, who received him with every mark
of esteem. Scarcely had the party returned to the
palace when the carriage of the Khedive was an-
nounced, and the ruler of Egypt, accompanied by
his Secretary for Foreign Affairs, entered, and was
received in the grand saloon.
The general's journey up the Nile occupied one
month, and was performed in a steam vessel placed
at his disposal by the Khedive, under direction of
officers of the latter's household. One of these was
a German antiquary, Emile Brugsch, a director of
the Egyptian ]\Iuseum, whose learned and luminous
accounts of the ruins and places of interest visited
added greatly to the enjoyment of the party. Re-
turning to Cairo, the travelers proceeded to Port
Said, where the \"andalia was waiting for them. As
soon as they were eml)arkcd she put to sea and ran
over to JafTa, reaching it on Fcl)ruary loth, and
TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 319
introducing them to the Holy Land. At Jaffa, over
the public street through which they must pass, was
an archway of branches and flowers, bearing the
inscription, " Welcome to General Grant." The
party proceeded to Jerusalem, hoping to enter
it unobserved, like any group of travelers; but the
pasha had heard of their coming, and sent a small
army of his servants to welcome them without the
gates, and to present the pasha's pure white Arab
steed in housings of gold for the general to ride
when entering the Holy City.
Their entree was by the ancient and historic
gate that Tancred forced with his crusaders, under
the walls of the Tower of David. The official
ceremonies followed — the calling of the pasha in
state, of the foreign consuls, and of the bishops and
patriarchs, who blessed the general and his house.
The pasha offered his guard and band of fifty pieces
to accompany the visitors about the city, but the
prospect was so appalling that it was declined with
as much courtesy as possible to avoid giving of-
fense. He then invited them to a state dinner,
which all attended. After spending three days in
Jerusalem, the party returned to Rome, visiting on
the way Damascus, Beyroot, Smyrna, Constanti-
nople, Athens, Corinth, and Syracuse.
In the Eternal City the same spontaneous ova-
tions awaited him from all classes. King Humbert
gave him a grand dinner, which was attended by all
of his ministers, and at which toasts were drank to
his health and speeches made in his praise. At
Florence, Venice, Milan, and Genoa the customary
welcome was extended. Thence the party returned
320
GENERAL GRANT.
to Paris, where a month was spent, studying, among
other things, the Paris Exposition, recently opened.
From Paris the general went to Holland, where he
received a warm welcome from the Dutch Govern-
ment. Thence to the capital of Germany, the same
distinguished honors awaiting him there. Prince
Bismarck called twice in person, the general hav-
ing been out at his first call, and later entertained
him at dinner. The Crown Prince ordered a re-
view of the army and a sham battle in his honor.
The Emperor's health was in so precarious a state
that his physicians forbade him the pleasure of
receiving the visitor. Denmark, Norway, and
Sweden were next visited, the party proceeding by
way of Hamburg, and being everywhere royally
welcomed and entertained.
From Stockholm the route was by way of the
Baltic to St. Petersburg, where he arrived on the
morning of July 30th. Prince Gortschakofif with
other of^cials of the imperial court soon called, and
in the name of the Czar welcomed him to Russia.
On the following day the Emperor granted him an
audience at Pcterhof, the Versailles of Russia, fif-
teen miles from St. Petersburg, the imperial yacht
conveying him thither. At the close of the inter-
view the Emperor accompanied Geiieral Grant to
the door, and as he took leave said, " Since the
foundations of your Government the relations be-
tween Russia and America have been of the friend-
liest character, and as long as I live nothing shall
be spared to continue the friendship."
After enjoying manv oilier civilities from the
Russians, lie visited Austria, arriving at Vienna
TOUR AROUND THE WORLD.
321
on August 1 8th, the usual welcome and hospitality
being extended by both Government and people.
Thence he went to other Austrian towns and cities,
returning to Paris September 25th; but the party
soon left the French capital for a visit to the
Pyrenees. At Bordeaux a message was received
from the young King of Spain, inviting General
Grant to visit Vltoria, where he was reviewing his
troops. The general accepted, and journeyed on
toward that town. At San Sebastian he was received
with every mark of honor and esteem by Emilio
Castelar, ex-President of the Spanish Republic. At
Irun, on the frontier, he was met by one of Al-
fonso's generals, who welcomed him in the King's
name, and placed his Majesty's special car at his
disposal. Arriving at \'itoria, he was received by
the King in his palace, and had a long conversa-
tion with the amiable young monarch. Thence
proceeding to Madrid, Grant was welcomed by the
civil authorities on behalf of the King.
The general next went to Lisbon, and was ac-
corded an audience and a long conversation with
the King of Portugal. After Lisbon his tour led
through the Spanish cities and vales 'to Gibraltar,
where he greatly enjoyed his visit to Lord Napier,
of Magdala, thence to Dublin, to London, and to
Marseilles, embarking there for Bombay z'ia the
Suez Canal, stopping only at Aden for the mails.
No formal intelligence of their coming had been
sent, and the party expected and perhaps hoped to
disembark quietly and proceed to a hotel unrecog-
nized, but the newspapers had heraled their com-
ing, and as the Venetia entered the harbor they
322
GENERAL GRANT.
found the shipping decked with flags and on the
wharves a great company of natives, soldiers, and
Europeans. As they passed the British flagship
a boat pulled alongside, containing an officer, who
welcomed the general to India in the name of Ad-
miral Corbett, the commander of the fleet.
This visitor was quickly followed by an aid to
Sir Richard Temple, Governor of the Presidency of
Bombay, who bore a letter from the governor wel-
coming General Grant to Bombay, and tendering
him the use of the Government House at Malabar
Point during his stay — a courtesy which was ac-
cepted. The usual round of balls, receptions, and
state dinners followed. His presence awakened the
same enthusiasm in all the cities of India visited.
At Calcutta the viceroy, Lord Lytton, gave a recep-
tion in his honor, introducing him to the native
princes of rank. From India the party proceeded
to China through the Straits of Malacca, stopping
at Burmah and Siam.
It had not been the original intention to visit
Siam, which was not on the direct route to China,
but at Singapore the general was met by the Ameri-
can consul, Major Struder, with a letter from the
King of Siam — a letter in an envelope of blue satin,
and dated at the Grand Palace, Bangkok, February
4, 1879, in which his Majesty begged to express the
pleasure he would have in making his acquaintance.
" Possibly," it continued, " you may arrive at Bang-
kok during my absence at my country residence
Bang Pa, in which case a steamer will be placed
at your disposal to bring you to me. On arriving,
I beg you to communicate with his excellency !ny
I
TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 323
Tilinister for Foreign Affairs, who will arrange for
your reception and entertainment."
Arriving off the bar at Paknam, they waited
some time for the imperial yacht which w^as to
convey them to the city. Early on the morning of
the 15th of April she anchored near the steamer,
" a long, stately craft with the American colors at
the fore and the royal colors of Siam at the main."
In the afternoon the general was row-ed ashore in
" a royal gondola seven fathoms long," and was re-
ceived with kingly honors — a guard, a cavalry es-
cort, a band, a salute of twenty-one guns, and car-
riages that bore himself and suite to the palace of
Hwang Saranrom, which had been dedicated to
their use during their visit to Siam. On the 19th
the King gave a state dinner in honor of his guests.
His Majesty wore the family decoration — a star of
nine points, each point a rich jewel of different
character, and the center a diamond of great value.
All the Siamese guests w-ere clad in court costumes.
The banquet was served in the lower hall or dining
room; the table service was of silver, the prevailing
design being the three-headed elephant of the arms
of Siam. There were forty guests at the dinner, the
general occupying the seat of honor nearest the
King, and the Celestial Prince escorting Mrs. Grant
and seating her opposite his ^Majesty. The menu
was an elaborate one, and served in European style.
After the dinner the King welcomed the general
in an eulogistic address, to which the latter replied
by proposing the health of the King. The latter
then led the way to the upper audience chamber,
or salon of the statues, where a long conversation
3^4
GENERAL GRANT.
between the King and his guest ensued, while Mrs.
Grant in an inner room enjoyed a tcte-d-tete with
the Queen, who had not been present at the ban-
quet. In his conversation wath the general the
King became most cordial. He was proud to have
met so distinguished a soldier, and wished to know
more of the American people. He hoped they
would always consider him a friend to their coun-
try, and when the general returned to his own land
he desired him to write him a letter, to which he
w'ould reply, and so they would continue friends and
correspondents. General Grant in reply said he
should always remember his visit to Siam, that he
would be glad to write to the King and hear from
him in return, and if he could be of service to him
or to his country it would give him great pleasure.
From Siam the party proceeded in the United
States frigate Richmond to Canton, where the gen-
eral was received with royal honors by the vice-
roy, and later was entertained at dinner by him.
The party went in state, amid dense crowds and
the firing of salutes to the vice-regal mansion, where
the viceroy and his retinues were all in waiting, and
were shown into the great audience chamber and
ofifered tea. Then, after an interchange of compli-
ments, a ])roccssion was formed and marched to the
dining hall, which was a long distance from the
audience chamber, and open on three sides to the
gardens. " Around the open sides was a wall of
servants, attendants, soldiers, and madarins, and if
one looked beyond into the gardens, under the cor-
ruscating foliage burdened with variegated lan-
terns, he saw groups and lines all staring in upon
TOUR AROUND THE WORLD.
325
him." The incnu was entirely Chinese, and also the
table service, except the knives, forks, and glasses,
which were of European manufacture.
After Canton the party visited Hong-Kong,
Amoy, and Shanghai, at each place being received
with the usual ceremonies of welcome. From
Shanghai they proceeded to Tientsin and Peking,
where the highest dignitaries of government, in-
cluding the great statesman who last year visited
the general's tomb, received them with every mark
of honor and esteem. Grant did not ask nor expect
an audience with the Emperor, who was a child
seven years of age. From China the Richmond
bore them to Japan — a country possessing peculiar
interest for the general, since it had but recently
been opened to the Western world. His reception
was as gratifying as could have been desired. Soon
after entering the port of Nagasaki the royal barge
was seen approaching, bearing Prince Dati, one of
the highest noblemen of Japan, Mr. Yoshida. who
had been the Japanese IMinister to the United States
during General Grant's term, and the governor.
They were received with due honors and escorted
to the cabin, where Prince Dati said he had been
commanded by the Emperor to welcome the gen-
eral in the name of his Majesty, and to attend him
as the personal representative of the Emperor as
long as he should remain in the countrv.
This designation of a man so high in rank as
the Prince was the highest compliment the Emperor
could pay a guest. There were great crowds upon
the quay to meet him as he landed, and he held
an impromptu reception upon the platform, the
326 GENERAL GRANT.
principal citizens of Nagasaki coming forward and
being presented. As he went to the palace which
had been prepared for him in the Japanese quarter,
the road was arched with green boughs and flow-
ers, and decked with American and Japanese flags
intertwined. On each side it was lined with crowds
of people, who made low obeisance to the party as
they passed. The usual reception of officials, foreign
consuls, and delegations, with fetes and dinners,
followed. After Nagasaki they visited Yokohama,
where the same ovations were accorded the general.
One day they drove out to Tokio to pay the Em-
peror a visit. A lord in waiting came into the re-
ception room of the palace where all the cabinet
ministers and the party to be presented were in
waiting. The general and Mrs. Grant, escorted by
the American Minister, led, and the retinue fol-
lowed. They proceeded along a short passage and
entered another room, at the farther end of which
the Emperor and Empress were standing, with two
ladies in waiting near them in a sitting attitude.
Two princesses standing were the only other occu-
pants of the room. The party slowly advanced, the
Japanese with profound obeisances, until it formed
a group before the Emperor. The latter then ad-
vanced and shook hands with the general, a great
innovation of established Japanese etiquette, then
returned to his place and stood with his hand rest-
ing on his sword, looking upon the brilliant com-
pany as if unconscious of its presence. Mr. Bing-
ham, our Minister, advanced and bowed, receiving
but the slightest nod in recognition; the other mem-
bers of the party as they were presented were re-
TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 327
ceived in like manner. General and Mrs. Grant were
then presented to the princesses, each bowing to the
other in silence, after which the party withdrew.
On July 7th there was a grand review of the
army by both the Emperor and the general, an
event famous in Japanese annals. At an early hour
the Emperor's state carriage came for the general,
the review being appointed for nine o'clock. The
latter entered, accompanied by Prince Dati, and,
escorted by cavalry, proceeded to the parade ground
— a large, open plain densely packed with a vast
concourse of people, except a wide space reserved
for the evolutions. There was a large tent for in-
vited guests, and a smaller one reserved for the
Emperor. General Grant was conducted to the
smaller tent, where he was soon joined by his Maj-
esty, and the review proceeded. Afterward he was
invited to meet the Emperor at dinner in the Shila
Palace, and by his Majesty's desire had a private
and cordial conference with him.
Early in September Grant and his party bid their
kind entertainers adieu, and embarked on the
steamer City of Tokio for home. His fellow-coun-
trymen had watched for sixteen months the gen-
eral's tour around the world with the greatest inter-
est and satisfaction.' America was highly honored
in the attentions bestowed on her illustrious son,
and his visit to the nations of the East would aid
greatly to strengthen the newly formed bonds of
friendship between the Occident and the Orient.
They determined, therefore, to give him at least as
hearty a welcome on his return as he had received
from foreign governments and peoples. The most
328 GENERAL GRANT.
extensive preparations for his reception were made
at San Francisco. On September 20th, about mid-
day, the City of Tokio was sighted, and the fact was
at once telegraphed to the city. The peaUng of bells
and thunder of cannon soon announced the event
to the citizens, who for three days had been anxious-
ly awaiting the arrival of General Grant.
A small steamer went out to the Tokio with
the reception committee on board, meeting the ves-
sel several miles distant, when the committee, hur-
rying, on board, were conducted to the general. Al-
most at the same moment a Government steamer
with General McDowell and his stafif arrived, and
they were soon on the steamer's deck, both
parties welcoming the general home with cordial
greetings. Meanwhile the committee of arrange-
ments with several thousand invited guests had
embarked on the large Pacific mail steamer China,
and on a fleet of smaller steamers, and with the
graceful craft of the San Francisco and Pacific yacht
clubs in tow, steamed down the harbor.
At this time every building and eminence com-
manding a view of the harbor was black with people
assembled to witness the pageant. The sun was
low in the west as the welcoming fleet, gay with
bunting, moved up the harbor. Every eye of the
thousands on shore was strained to catch the first
glimpse of the Tokio. At last a single gun from the
earthworks above Fort Point announced that the
steamer was nearing her docks. Fort Point soon
joined in the welcoming salute, then Fime Point,
and the batteries at Angel Island, Black Point, and
Alcatras, until the whole channel was wreathed in
TOUR AROUND THE WORLD.
329
smoke from their guns. Out of this gloomy curtain
the Tokio soon emerged, Hghted by the red glow
of sunset and the flashes of the guns, and surround-
ed by her attendant fleet of gayly bedecked vessels.
Thus, amid the cheers of thousands, the great ship
slowly rounded to her moorings, and the distin-
guished party was rowed to the landing place.
There a triumphal procession was formed, which
conducted the honored guest to the Palace Hotel,
the streets being as light as noonday with fireworks
and illuminations. It was ten o'clock when the gen-
eral's barouche was driven into the court of the
hotel. As he alighted a way was opened for him
through the dense throng, while a chorus of live
hundred voices in one of the balconies sang an ode
of welcome. After dinner, in response to repeated
demands from the people, he appeared and made a
brief address, and the crowds were induced to dis-
perse. Receptions and banquets followed for many
days. In a short time the general proceeded east-
ward, at all the cities and towns eti route receiving
the same spontaneous ovations, which culminated
in that of December 15th, at Philadelphia, where
his tour of the world began and where it ended.
Later in the month General Grant continued his
travels, visiting the Southern States, Mexico, and
the West Indies, everywhere receiving the most
earnest expressions of good will and respect.
The world in the broad circuit of the sun along
which Grant traveled called him the first Captain
of the age.
CHAPTER XV.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND,
Perhaps no other person unconnected with the
army contributed in so great a degree to Grant's suc-
cess in the civil war as the Hon. E. B. Washburne
(i8i6-'87), to whom the interesting letters and
parts of letters were addressed that appear in this
chapter. The correspondence, beginning in the
summer of 1861, was continued uninterruptedly
during a period of nineteen years. It is, however,
from the earlier letters connected with the rebellion
to which our extracts chiefly relate. In the last letter
of the series, dated Galveston, Tex., March 25, 1880,
the general writes: " It is a matter of supreme in-
diflference to me whether I am nominated for the
presidency or not, but I can not decline if the nomi-
nation is tendered without seeking on my part.
There are many persons I would prefer should have
the office to myself." The following is the first of
the war epistles addressed to Mr. Washburne:
Cairo, III., Sept. j, iS6t.
Your very kind letter was received at Jefiferson
City, and would have been answered at once but for
330
CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND.
331
the remark that you were about to start for New
York cit}' and would not receive it for some days.
I should be most pleased to have you pay me the
visit here, or wherever I may be, that you spoke of
paying me there.
In regard to the appointment of Mr. Rawlins,*
I never had an idea of withdrawing it so long as he
felt disposed to accept, no matter how long his ab-
sence. Mr. Rawlins was the first one I decided
upon for a place with me, and I very much regret
that family affliction has kept him away so long.
The past would have been a good school of in-
struction for him in his new duties; the future bids
fair to try the backbone of our volunteers. I have
been kept actively moving from one command to
another, more so perhaps than any other officer.
So long as I am of service to the cause of our coun-
try I do not object, however.
General Fremont has seen fit to intrust me with
an important command here, my command em-
bracing all the troops in southeast Missouri and
at this place. A little difficulty of an unpleasant
nature has occurred between General P. and myself
relative to rank, he refusing to obey my orders;
but it is to be hoped that he will see his error, and
not sacrifice the interest of the cause to his am-
bition to be senior brigadier general of Illinois, as
he contends he is.
In conclusion, Mr. Washburne, allow me to
thank you for the part you have taken in giving
me my present position. I think I see your hand in
it, and admit that I had no personal claims for your
kind office in the matter. I can assure you, how-
ever, my whole heart is in the cause which we are
* John A. Rawlins (i83I-'6q) joined General Grant's staff in
August, 1861, and served with him to the close of the rebellion.
He became Secretary of War in March, 1869. Grant was greatly
attached to him, and highly estimated his ability.
332 GENERAL GRANT.
fighting for, and I pledge myself that, if equal to
the task before me, you shall never have cause to
regret the part you have taken.
Fort Donelson, Tenn., Feb. zi, 1862.
Since receiving your letter at Fort Henry events
have transpired so rapidly that I have scarcely had
time to write a private letter. That portion of your
letter which required immediate attention was re-
plied to as soon as your letter was read. I mean
that I telegraphed Colonel C. C. Washburn,* Mil-
waukee, Wis., asking him to accept a place on my
staff. As he has not yet arrived, I fear my dispatch
was not received. Will you be kind enough to say
to him that such a dispatch was sent, and that I
will be most happy to publish the order the moment
he arrives assigning him the position you ask.
On the 13th, 14th, and 15th our volunteers
fought a battle that would figure well with many
of those fought in Europe, where large stand-
ing armies are maintained. I feel very grateful to
you for having placed me in the position to have
had the honor of commanding such an army and
at such a time. I only trust that I have not nor
will not disappoint you. The effect upon the com-
munity here is very marked since the battle. De-
feat, disastrous defeat, is admitted. Yesterday I
went to Clarkesville with a small escort, two of our
gunboats having preceded me. Our forces now
occupy that place, and will take possession of a
large amount of commissary stores, ammunition,
and some artillery. The road to Nashville is now
clear, but whether my destination will be there or
farther west can't yet be told. I want to move early,
and no doubt will.
* Cadwallader Colden Washburn (i8i8-'82), colonel Second
Wisconsin Cavalry, October 10, 1861 ; brigadier general, July 16,
1862 ; and major general, November 2g, 1862.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND.
333
I wish to call your attention to General C. F.
Smith. It is a pity that our service should lose so
fine a soldier from a first command. If major gen-
erals are to be made, a better selection could not
be made than to appoint Charles F. Smith.
Savannah, Tenn., March 22, 1862.
I have received two or three letters from you
which I have not answered, because at the time
they were received I was unwell and busy, and either
your brother or Rowley were about writing. I am
now getting nearly well and ready for any emerg-
ency that may arise. A severe contest may be
looked for in this quarter before many weeks, but
of the result feel no alarm.
There are some things which T wish to say to
you in my own vindication, not that I care one
straw for what is said individually, but because you
have taken so much interest in my welfare that I
think you are fairly entitled to all facts connected
with my acts.
I see by the papers that I am charged with giv-
ing up a certain number of slaves captured at Fort
Donelson. My published order on the occasion
shows that citizens were not permitted to pass
through our camps to look for their slaves. There
were some six or seven negroes at Donelson, who
represented that they had been brought from Ken-
tucky to work for officers, and had been kept a
number of months without receiving pay. They
expressed great anxiety to get back to their fami-
lies, and protested that they were free men. These
I let go, and none others. I have studiously tried
to prevent the running ofY of negroes from all out-
side places, as I have tried to prevent all other
marauding and plundering.
So long as I hold a commission in the army I
have no views of my own to carry out. Whatever
may be the orders of my superiors and law I will
334
GENERAL GRANT.
execute. No man can be efficient as a commander
who sets his own notions above law and those whom
he is sworn to obey. When Congress enacts any-
thing too odious for me to execute, I wih resign.
I see the credit of attacking the enemy by the
way of the Tennessee and Cumberland is variously
attributed. It is little to talk about it being the
great wisdom of any general that first brought forth
this plan of attack. Our gunboats were running
up the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers all fall
and winter watching the progress of the rebels on
these works. General Halleck no doubt thought
of this route long ago, and I am sure I did. As to
how the battles should be fought, both ]\IcClellan
and Halleck are too much of soldiers to suppose
that they can plan how that should be done at a
distance. This would presuppose that the enemy
would make just the moves laid down for them.
It would be a game of chess, the right hand against
the left, determining beforehand that the right
should win. The job being an important one, nei-
ther of the above generals would have intrusted it
to an officer who they had not confidence in. So
far I was highly complimented by both.
After getting into Donelson General Halleck
did not hear from me for near two weeks. It was
about the same time before I heard from him. I
was writing every day, and sometimes as often as
three times a day. Reported every move and
change, the condition of my troops, etc. Not get-
ting these, General Halleck very justly became dis-
satisfied, and was, as I have since learned, sending
me daily reprimands. Not receiving them, they lost
their sting. When one did reach me, not seeing
the justice of it, I retorted, and asked to be relieved.
Tliree telegrams passed in this way, each time end-
ing by my recjucsting to be relieved. All is now
understood, however, and I feel assured tliat Gen-
eral Halleck is fully satisfied. In fact, he wrote me
CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND. 335
a letter saying that I could not be relieved, and
otherwise quite complimentary.
I will not tire you with a longer letter, but as-
sure you again that you shall not be disappoiiited in
me if it is in my power to prevent it.
Camp near Corinth, Miss., A/ay 14, 1S62.
The great number of attacks made upon me by
the press of the country is my apology for not writ-
ing to you oftener, not desiring to give any contra-
diction to them myself. You have interested your-
self so much as my friend that should I say any-
thing it would probably be made use of in my
behalf. I would scorn being my own defender against
such attacks except through the record which has
been kept of all my ofificial acts, and which can be
examined at Washington at any time. To say that
I have not been distressed at these attacks upon
me would be false, for I have a father, mother, wife,
and children who read them, and are distressed by
them, and I necessarily share with them in it. Then,
too. all subject to my orders read these charges, and
it is calculated to weaken their confidence in me
and weaken my ability to render efficient service
in our present cause. One thing I will assure you
of, however — I can not be driven from rendering
the best service within my ability to suppress the
present rebellion, and, when it is over, retiring to
the same quiet it, the rebellion, found me enjoying.
Notoriety has no charms for me, and could I ren-
der the same services that I hope it has been my
fortune to render our just cause without being
known in the matter, it would be infinitely prefer-
able to me.
Those people who expect a field of battle to be
maintained for a whole day with about thirty thou-
sand troops, most of them entirely raw, against fifty
thousand, as was the case at Pittsburg Landing
while waiting for re-enforcements to come up, with-
336
GENERAL GRANT.
out loss of life, know little of war. To have left the
field of Pittsburg for the enemy to occupy until
our force was sufficient to have gained a bloodless
victory would have been to leave the Tennessee
to become a second Potomac. There was nothing
left for me but to occupy the west bank of the Ten-
nessee and to hold it at all hazards. It would have
set this war back six months to have failed, and
would have caused the necessity of raising, as it
were, a new army.
Looking back at the past, I can not see for the
life of me any important point that could be cor-
rected. Many persons who have visited the diiifer-
ent fields of battle may have gone away displeased
because they were not permitted to carry ofi horses,
fine arms, or other valuables as trophies. But they
are no patriots who would base their enmity on
such grounds. Such, I assure you, are the grounds
of many bitter words that have been said against
me by persons who at this day would not know
me by sight, yet profess to speak from a personal
acquaintance.
I am sorry to write such a letter, infinitely sorry
that there should be grounds for it. My own justi-
fication does not demand it, but you are entitled
to know my feelings. As a friend I would be
pleased to give you a record weekly at furthest of
all that transpires in that portion of the army that
I am or may be connected with, but not to make
public use of. . . .
Camp near Corinth, Miss., June /, 1862.
Inclosed I send a letter addressed to the Hon.
E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, which I would be
pleased if you would cause to be delivered with any
recommendation that you may deem proper. Lieu-
tenant Dickey is the son of Colonel Dickey of the
Fourth Illinois Cavalry, and brother-in-law of the
late General W. H. L. Wallace, who fell at the battle
CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND. 337
of Shiloh. Although Lieutenant Dickey has served
under my command ahnost from his first entrance
into service, I can not answer from personal knowl-
edge as to his qualifications; but General Judah,
who recommends him, is an experienced officer,
and fully qualified to judge of his merits.
The siege of Corinth has at last terminated. On
Friday morning it was found that the last rebel had
left during the preceding night. On entering the
enemy's intrenchments, it was discovered that they
had succeeded in taking ofif or destroying nearly
everything of value. General Pope is now in full
pursuit of the retreating foe, and I think will suc-
ceed in capturing and dispersing many of them.
There will be much unjust criticism of this affair,
but future effects will prove it a great victory. Not
being in command, however, I will not give a his-
tory of the battle in advance of official reports.
I leave here in a day or two for Covington, Ky.,
on a short leave of absence. I may write you again
from there if I do not visit Washington in person.
Corinth, Miss., June ig, 1862.
Your letter of the 8th inst., addressed to me at
Covington, Ky., has just reached. At the time the
one was written to which it is an answer I had leave
to go home or to Covington, but General Halleck
requested me to remain for a few days. Afterward
when I spoke of going he asked that I should re-
main a little longer if my business was not of press-
ing importance. As I really had no business, and
had not asked leave on such grounds, I told him
so, and that if my services were required I would
not go at all. This settled my leave for the present,
and for the war, so long as my services are required
I do not wish to leave. I am exceedingly obliged
to you for the interest you have taken in the ap-
pointment recommended by me, and also for the
assurances that the Secretarv of War receives them
338 GENERAL GRANT.
with such favor. I will endeavor never to make
a recommendation unsafe to accede to.
I shall leave here on the 21st for Memphis,
where my headquarters will be located for the time
being. Fast western Tennessee is being reduced
to working order, and I think, with the introduction
of the mails, trade, and the assurance that we can
hold it, it will become loyal or, at least, law-abiding.
It will not do, however, for our arms to meet with
any great reverse and still expect this result. The
masses this day are more disloyal in the South from
fear of what might befall them in case of defeat to
the Union cause than from any dislike to the Gov-
ernment. One week to them (after giving in their
adhesion to our laws) would be worse under the so-
called Confederate Government than a year of mar-
tial law administered by this army. It is hard
to say what would be the most wise policy to pur-
sue toward these people, but for a soldier his duties
are plain. He is to obey the orders of all those
placed over him, and whip the enemy wherever he
meets him. " If he can " should only be thought of
after an unavoidable defeat. If you are acquainted
with Senator Collamore, of Vermont, I would be
pleased if you would say to him that there is a
young colonel in the Eleventh Illinois Regiment,
a native of his State, that I have taken a great in-
terest in for his gallantry and worth. I mean Colo-
nel Ransom.* He has now been wounded three
times in separate engagements, but never showed
a willingness to relinquish his command until the
day was decided, and always declines a leave to
recover from his wounds lest something should
transpire in his absence.
* Thomas E. G. Ransom (l834-'64), major Eleventh Illinois
Infantry, July 30, 1861 ; colonel, February 15, 1S62 ; and briga-
dier general, November 29, 1S62. He was among the most gal-
lant of our volunteer officers.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND.
339
La Grange, Tenn., N^ov. 7, 1S62.
.... You will see by the papers that I am on
the move. If troops are furnished me to keep open
my lines of conmiunication, there will be no delays
in this department. Once at Grenada I can draw
supplies from Memphis, and save our present very
long line.
I do not see my report of the battle of luka in
print. As the papers in General Rosecrans's inter-
est have so much misrepresented that affair, I would
like to see it in print. I have no objection to that
or any other general being made a hero of by the
press, but I do not want to see it at the expense of
a meritorious portion of the army. I endeavored
in that report to give a plain statement of facts,
some of which I would never have mentioned had
it not become necessary in defense of troops who
have been with me in all, or nearly all, the battles
where I have had the honor to command. I have
never had a single regiment disgrace itself in battle
yet. except some new ones at Shiloh that never
loaded a musket before that battle. . . .
Voting's Point, Miss , Mai-ch 10, i86j.
Now that Congress has adjourned, I have
thought possible you might want to make a visit to
this part of the country. I need not assure you
that I would be most glad to see you here and have
you stay during the contest, which will take place
in the next thirty days from this writing. You will
have time to join me if mails are prompt. The
canal through Avould have been a success by to-day
but for the great rise of water. The river is now
several feet above the whole country hereabout,
and our canal w^as dependent for its success upon
keeping the water out of it. The upper dam has
broken and submerged things generally. To stop
this ofY will take a number of days, but we will do
it. In the meantime, so far as I now know and
340
GENERAL GRANT.
have ofificial reports, the Yazoo Pass expedition
is going to prove a perfect success. This is highly
important if for no other purpose than to destroy
the transportation and embryo gunboats the enemy
had there. They have been working for one year on
one boat of gigantic proportions up that stream.
Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson, a young man of
great merit, who has been put on General Hunter's
staff, but who was on mine as a lieutenant, and I
objected to relieving until the present campaign
is over, writes to Rawlins in a private letter that
our success in getting into Yazoo Pass is due to
the energy of C. C. Washburn. He felt an interest
in the enterprise and took hold with a will, and with
men worthy of the object to be accomplished. I
have ordered the army corps of McPherson through
that way with additional forces, making him effect-
ive men to the number of about twenty-eight thou-
sand. McPherson is one of my best men, and is
fully to be trusted. Sherman stands in the same
category. In these two men I have a host. They
are worth more than a full brigade each. McPher-
son will effect a lodgment on the high lands on the
Yazoo River east bank, and will co-operate with the
troops from here. The class of transports adapted
to the pass being so limited, some delay will neces-
sarily take place in getting them to their destina-
tion. I have sent up the river for all the small class
of boats that can be got.
We are going through a campaign here such as
has not been heard of on this continent before. The
soldiers see the position of the enemy in front of
them, but I presume do not see how they are to
attack. Their camp ground is several feet below
water, held in its place by the levees. Constant
rains falling keep the roads almost impassable.
With all this the men are in good spirits, and feel
confident of ultimate success.
The health of this command is a subject that
CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND.
341
has been very much exaggerated by the press. I
will venture the assertion that there is no army
now in the field showing so large a proportion of
those present with their commands being for duty.
Really our troops are more healthy than could pos-
sibly have been expected with all their trials. Al-
though I have told you but little of plans here, it
is more than I am in the habit of writing on this
subject. You will excuse me, therefore, from say-
ing how I expect to co-operate with McPherson,
at least until you come down. General Washburn
will have command of a very important cavalry ex-
pedition from the Yazoo River if all other plans
succeed. . . .
ViCKSBURG, Miss., Aitg. jo, i86j.
Your letter of the 8th of August, inclosing one
from Senator Wilson to you, reached here during
my temporary absence to the northern part of my
command; hence my apparent delay in answering.
I fully appreciate all Senator Wilson says. Had
it not been for General Halleck and Dana, I think
it altogether likely I would have been ordered to
the Potomac. My going could do no possible good.
They have there able officers who have been
brought up with that army, and to import a com-
mander to place over them certainly could produce
no good. While I would not positively disobey an
order, I would have objected most vehemently to
taking that command or any other, except the one
I have. I can do more with this army than it would
be possible for me to do with any other without
time to make the same acquaintance with others
I have with this. I know that the soldiers of the
Army of the Tennessee can be relied on to the full-
est extent. I believe I know the exact capacity of
every general in my command to lead troops, and
just where to place them to get from them their
best services. This is a matter of no small impor-
tance. ...
342
GENERAL GRANT.
The people of the North need not quarrel over
the institution of slavery. What Vice-President
Stevens acknowledges the corner stone of the Con-
federacy is already knocked out. Slavery is already
dead, and can not be resurrected. It would take
a standing army to maintain slavery in the South
if we were to make peace to-day, guaranteeing to
the South all their former constitutional privileges.
I never was an abolitionist, not even what could
be called antislavery, but I try to judge fairly and
honestly, and it became patent to my mind early
in the rebellion that the North and South could
never live at peace with each other except as one
nation, and that without slavery. As anxious as I
am to see peace re-established, I would not, there-
fore, be willing to see any settlement until this ques-
tion is forever settled.*
Rawlins and Maltby have been appointed briga-
dier generals. These are richly deserved promo-
tions. Rawlins especially is no ordinary man. The
fact is, had he started in this war in the line instead
of in the stafif, there is every probability he would
be to-day one of our shining lights. As it is, he is
better and more favorably known than probably
any other officer in the army who has filled only
stafif appointments. Some men, too many of them,
are only made by their stafif appointments, while
others give respectability to the position. Rawlins
is of the latter class. . . .
Chattanooga, Tf.nn., Dec. 2, i86j.
.... For the last three weeks I have not only
been busy, but have had company occupying my
room, making it almost impossible for me to write
anything. Last week was a stirring time with us,
* Jasper A. Maltby (i826-'67), lieutenant colonel Forty-fifth
Illinois Infantry, August, i86l ; colonel, November 29, 1862 ;
and brigadier general, August 4, 1863.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH A P^RIEND. 343
and a magnificent victory was won. I am sorry you
could not be here. The spectacle was grand beyond
anything that has been or is hkely to be on this
continent. It is the first battlefield I have ever seen
where a plan could be followed and from one place
the whole field be within one view. At the com-
mencement the battle line was fifteen miles long.
Hooker on our right soon carried the point of
Lookout Mountain, and Sherman the north end of
Missionary Ridge, thus shortening the line by five
or six miles and bringing the whole within one
view. Our troops behaved most magnificently, and
have inflicted on the enemy the heaviest blow they
have received during the war. . . ,
Chattanooga, Tenn., Dec. 12, i86j.
All is well with me. Everything looks bright
and favorable in this command. I feel under many
obligations to you for the interest you have taken
in my welfare. But recollect that I have been high-
ly honored already by the Government, and do not
ask or feel that I deserve anything more in the shape
of honors or promotions. A success over the enemy
is what I crave above everything else, and desire to
hold such an influence over those under my com-
mand as to enable me to use them to the best ad-
vantage to secure this end.
Cold Harbor, Va., Jtme 9, 1864
Your two letters inclosing orders published by
Major-General Washburn have been received. I
highly approve the course he is taking, and am glad
to see that General Slocum is pursuing a similar
course about Vicksburg. I directed some days ago
that the Sixteenth Corps staflf should report to your
brother. I recommend, however, that no command-
er be named for the Sixteenth Corps until Sher-
man is heard from, to know whether he would not
prefer the consolidation of that portion of the Six-
23
344
GENERAL GRANT,
teenth and Seventeenth Corps in the field into one
corps, and that serving in garrison from these two
corps into another. It makes but little difference,
however, about this, for as soon as this campaign
is over it is probable there will be a reconstruction
of departments and commands.
.... Everything is progressing favorably but
slowly. All the fight, except defensive and behind
breastworks, is taken out of Lee's army. Unless
my next move brings on a battle, the balance of
the campaign will settle down to a siege. . . .
City Point, Va., July 2j, 1S64.
Your letter of the 17th, inclosing one from Gen-
eral Scott, is just received. I inclose to you my
answer to the general, which please forward to him.
All are well here and buoyant and full of hope. I
wish people North could be as hopeful as our troops
who have to do the fighting are. I can not write
you what I expect to do here. That Maryland raid
upset my plans, but I will make an attempt to do
something before many days. . . .
City Point, Va., Aug. 16, 1S64.
Your letter asking for autographs to send to
Mrs. Adams, the wife of our ^Minister to England,
was duly received. She had also sent to Air. Dana
for the same thing, and his requisition, he being
with me at the time, was at once filled. I have di-
rected Colonel Bowers to send with this a few of
the original dispatches telegraphed from here. They
have all been hastily written, and not with the ex-
pectation of ever being seen afterward, but will, I
suppose, answer as well as anything else, or as if
they had been written especially for the purpose of
sending. . . .
I state to all citizens who visit me that all
we want now to insure an early restoration of the
Union is a determined unitv of sentiment North.
f
CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND. 345
The rebels have now in their ranks their last men.
The little boys and old men are guarding prisoners,
railroad bridges, and forming a good part of their
garrisons for intrenched positions. A man lost by
them can not be replaced. They have robbed the
cradle and the grave equally to get their present
force. Besides what they lose in frequent skirmishes
and battles, they are now losing from desertions
and other causes at least one regiment per day.
With this drain upon them the end is visible if we
will but be true to ourselves. Their only hope now
is in a divided North. This might give them re-
enforcements from Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland,
and Missouri, while it would weaken us. With the
draft quietly enforced, the enemy would become
despondent, and would make but little resistance.
I have no doubt but the enemy are exceedingly
anxious to hold out until after the presidential elec-
tion. They have many hopes from its effects. They
hope for a counter-revolution. They hope for the
election of the peace candidate. In fact, like Micaw-
ber, they hope that something will turn up. Our
peacCj^iriends, if they expect peace from separation,
are much mistaken. It would be but the beginning
of war, with thousands of Northern men joining the
South because of our disgrace allowing separation.
To have peace " on any terms " the South would
demand the restoration of their slaves already freed.
They would demand indemnity for losses sustained,
and they would demand a treaty which would make
the North slave-hunters for the South. They would
demand pay or the restoration of every slave escap-
ing to the North.
City Point, Va., Dec. 3j, 1S64.
.... I see some objections are raised to
Meade's confirmation as major general in the regu-
lar army. What the objections are I do not know,
and can not therefore address myself to them. T
am verv sorrv this should be so. General Meade is
4
346 GENERAL GRANT.
one of our truest men and ablest officers. He has
been constantly with that army, confronting the
strongest, best-appointed, and most confident army
in the South. He therefore has not had the same
opportunity of winning laurels so distinctively
marked as have fallen to the lot of other generals.
But I defy any one to name a commander who
could do more than he has done with the same
chances. I am satisfied with a full knowledge of
the man, what he has done, and the circumstances
attending all his military acts, all objections would
be removed. I wrote a letter to Senator Wilson
to-day in his behalf which I hope will have some
weight. If you can put in a word with some of the
other Senators, particularly those who oppose his
confirmation, and are willing to do it, I will feel
much obliged.
City Point, \A.,Jan. 24, 186^.
Your letter announcing the completion of the
medal * was duly received, and not answered be-
cause I expected to be in Washington about as
early as a letter would get there. I did go, but not
as early by a day or two as I expected, and then
was in such haste that I saw no one out of the War
and my own of^ce. I can hardly say when I will
be up again. Not for a week or two probably. I
do not want the medal here, where there would be
such danger of losing it. You can therefore keep
it where you deem best until I am ready to take
charge of it. . . .
We have had quite an exciting time here since
3 A. yi. to-day. The heavy freshet we have been
having the last few days has washed away some
of our obstructions in the James. About that hour
four of the enemy's gunboats started down the
* Presented to General Grant by Conj^ress for the capture of
Vicksburg and opening the Mississippi River from Cairo to the
Gulf of Mexico.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH A FRIEND. 347
river, and one or two of them actually passed the
obstructions. Providence seemed to be on our
side. Our navy certainly was not. Notwithstand-
ing several days' notice had been given, not a single
preparation seemed to have been made to receive
such a visit. Fortunately, however, two of the ene-
my's boats grounded near the Howlett House, and
those that had passed dow-n turned back. Two of
the enemy's boats were sunk and one disabled. The
two aground were well pummeled for several hours,
and must both of them been injured, though the
report I get is: Two sunk, one disabled. This was
all done from land batteries. The naval force left
here is not adequate to the work with the obstruc-
tions removed. I hope, however, to have all right.
We have all been very busy since tlie 3d, and will
have all right before there is any let up.
Washington, May 21, iS6s.
I have just received your letter of the i8th. It
has never been my intention to give up Illinois as
my home. The house in Philadelphia was presented
to me, I believe, entirely by the Union League of
that city. I was not aware the project was on the
wav until the money for the purchase was mostly
subscribed, and then I did not know the parties
interesting themselves in the matter. I had selected
Philadelphia as a place for my family, where the
children could have good schools and be near, so
that I might see them whenever I had a leisure day.
It would look egotistical to make a parade in
the papers about where I intend to claim as my
home, but I will endeavor to be in Galena at the
next election and vote there, and declare my inten-
tion of claiming that as my home and intention of
never casting a vote elsewhere without first giving
notice.
I feel very grateful to the citizens of Illinois
generally, and to those of Jo Daviess County and
348
GENERAL GRANT.
yourself in particular, for the uniform support I
have received from that quarter. Without that sup-
port it would now matter but little where I might
claim a residence. I might write a letter to Mr.
Stuart,* chairman of the Christian Commission, and
the most active member of the Union League of
Philadelphia, in getting up the subscription for my
house, stating what I owe to the State of Illinois, and
that he and his friends must not think hard of me
for holding on to Galena as my home.
I will hear from you again before doing any-
thing in this matter. At present I am keeping
house in Georgetown, and have my family with me.
Neither they nor I will be in Philadelphia again,
unless it be for a few days before fall.
Galena, III., Sept. 2j, iS6S.
I am glad to see Congress found it expedient
to adjourn without further legislation. I feared the
effect of legislation at this time, and then, too, if
Congress had remained in session it would prevent
A. J. from taking his proposed trip to East Tennes-
see. I have as much affection for him as Frank
Blair had for the " Fennigans," and would go just
as far as Frank was willing to go to see him off,
and would hold out every inducement to have him
remain.
My time passes very pleasantly and cjuietly here,
and I have determined to remain until some time
after the October elections. I will aim to be in
Washington a few, but a few, days before the No-
vember election. There is nothing particularly stir-
ring going on here. A person would not know
there was a canvass going on if it were not for the
accounts we read in the papers of great gatherings
all over the country.
* George Hay Stuart (i8i6-'9o), an opulent merchant and
philanthropist, of Philadelphia, who was twice oflfcred a position
in General Grant's Cabinet.
CORRESPONDENXE WITH A FRIEND. 349
Please remember me to Mr. A. T. Stewart, Air.
Tyloses H. Grinnell, and Mr. William E. Dodge, who
all have taken great interest in my welfare, even
before they knew me personally. The same might
be said of hosts of other New Yorkers, but the
names of all can not be enmnerated in a single
letter.
Washington, D. C, March 11, iS6g.
Your resignation of the office of Secretary of
State, with reasons for the same, is received. In ac-
cepting it I do so with regret that your health will
not permit you to continue in the ofifice or in some
Cabmet position.* Our personal relations have
been, from the breaking out of the rebellion to the
present day, and your support of me individually
and of the army and its cause, such that no other
idea presented itself stronger to my mind, in the
first news of my election to the presidency, than
that I should continue to have your advice and
assistance. In parting with you, therefore, I do it
with assurances of continued confidence in your
ability, zeal, and friendship, and with the hope that
you may soon be relieved from the physical dis-
abilities under which you have labored for the last
few years.
* Mr. Washburne was soon after appointed by General Grant
American representative to France, and in 1887 he published a
valuable and interesting work in two volumes, entitled Recollec-
tions of a Minister to France, 1869-1877.
CHAPTER XVI.
HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH.
In choosing a home, General Grant, after due
deliberation, decided on the city of New York as
the most desirable. Many of his old friends were
residents of the metropolis, and two of his sons had
entered into business there. Moreover, New York
was the great center of events, and to one so widely
known and so broad of view as General Grant, of-
fered superior attractions, as it did to his friends
Admiral Farragut and General Sherman. His
home was a pleasant mansion — No. 3 Sixty-sixth
Street, just east of Fifth Avenue, and near the Cen-
tral Park. For his summer residence he selected a
handsome cottage on the New Jersey coast, between
Long Branch and Elberon, and within a convenient
distance of the city.
Scarcely had he made these arrangements when
the National Republican Convention of 1880 was
held at Chicago. For President there were several
candidates, the most prominent being General
Grant and Senators Blaine, Edmunds, and Sherman.
Grant was urged by Conkling and other friends to
consent to being a candidate for a third term, with the
350
HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 351
hope, if elected, of carrying' out certain reforms and
projects upon which he had set his heart. Greatest
among these was Grant's desire to reconcile the
North and South, which he believed he could soon
accomplish, and that the solid South would speed-
ily become a thing of the past. His decision many
of the general's admirers deemed unfortunate. Un-
wise the student of his career must admit, for there
is an unwritten law against any President filling a
third term. It has never occurred in the history
of the republic. It was said in the convention by
an eminent speaker: " Grant can afford to regard
the presidency as a broken toy. It would add noth-
ing to his fame if he were again elected, and would
add nothing to the debt of gratitude which the peo-
ple feel they owe him. He is regarded universally
as the hero of the war, and I think it was really his
genius that almost gave us the victory. I do not
think his reputation can ever be as great in any
direction as in the direction of war. He has made
his reputation, and has lived his great life." After
a bitter contest, James A. Garfield, of Ohio, an able
statesman and successful soldier, was nominated as
a compromise candidate, with Chester A. Arthur,
of New York, for Vice-President.
The closing years of General Grant's life were
embittered, and his reputation for a time clouded by
the failure of the firm of Grant and Ward, in which
he with one of his sons was a partner. By this en-
tirely unexpected event he was financially ruined.
According to the general's testimony in the Fish
trial, given in his sick room in March, 1885, it was
clearly shown that he was entirely ignorant of the
352
GENERAL GRANT.
peculiar transactions of Fish and Ward in the Ma-
rine Bank and in the firm of Grant and Ward.
It was owing to these financial difficulties that
the general's incomparable Memoirs were written.
He had, years before General Sherman's work ap-
peared, decided to prepare his Military Memoirs,
but his project was not executed, or even entered
upon, until after his financial difficulties occurred.
Then he began in earnest arranging the large
amount of material which he had collected, and in
preparing the four magazine articles, of which the
first appeared in February, 1885.
In Congress, in 1884, the proposition to bestow
a pension on General Grant was introduced, but
this he firmly refused. He did, however, desire
to be placed on the retired list, an honor befitting
a soldier, and this desire, in 1885, Congress granted,
the general even then being in the grasp of his
fatal illness. The bill was signed by President
Arthur a few minutes before his term of office ex-
pired, and the position accepted by General Grant
by telegraph the same day.
Early in the summer of 1884 the general began
to feel a slight pain in his mouth and throat,
which increased and developed into cancer of the
tongue — a painful and incurable disease. As he
gradually grew weaker, the whole nation watched
with solicitude the progress of his malady, and
prayers were offered in many pulpits in the land for
his recovery; day after day expressions of sympa-
thy came not only from all quarters of our own
country, but from distant lands. Old strifes and en-
mities were all forgotten in the presence of ap-
HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 353
proaching death, and the Bhie and the Gray ahke
uttered the warmest expressions of sympathy for
the dying soldier. Early in the month of April
there was a marked improvement in General Grant's
condition, and, among some of his more sanguine
friends, hopes were entertained and expressed of
his ultimate recovery. Through the length and
breadth of the land the morning and evening jour-
nals contained daily bulletins of one or more col-
umns concerning the condition of the illustrious pa-
tient, and many of the leading papers of Great Brit-
ain and other lands published daily telegrams.
The writer called with a little birthday gift on
Monday, April 27th, and spent half an hour or
more with General Grant, who met him at the door
of his library, and invited him to accompany him
into his chamber, where they sat down in front of
the fireplace, with Harrison, his faithful colored
servant, seated out of sight, behind them. The gen-
eral walked with the aid of a cane, and wore a small
cap. His looks conveyed but little idea of his sick-
ness and suffering, and he still weighed over one
hundred and forty pounds. "What was your weight
when in perfect health? " asked the writer, " Before
my fall, from one hundred and ninety to one hun-
dred and ninety-five pounds," the general replied;
" and so I have lost from forty to fifty pounds.
No," he continued, " I do not think I weighed more
than one hundred and fifty pounds during the war.
. . . Yes, I have met with several accidents," said
the ex-President. '' You remember I hurt my ankle
and foot at Shiloh; then I was thrown from my
horse near New Orleans in September, 1863, when
354
GENERAL GRANT.
you were with me, and finally met with the fall from
which I am still suffering; " adding, " Aly throat
hurts me if I speak too much, so you must do some
of the talking. . . . No, I have not worked on my
book for a long time. I doubt whether I shall be
able to go on with it again." And later he remarked:
" The first volume is complete and in the hands of
the printer, and I am at present receiving and read-
ing the proofs. The second volume is also sub-
stantially finished. Much of it was dictated to a
stenographer, as I found it fatigued me to write."
The writer was at General Grant's for an hour
Monday afternoon, June 8th. While conversing
with the family, his physician, Dr. Douglas, passed
out, and soon after, to our surprise, the general
came in, leaning heavily on his cane. He looked
thinner and more haggard than when last seen,
his voice being very husky and indistinct. He
remarked that he had not been out for nearly a
fortnight, and that he was afraid of taking cold.
Indeed, he was then suffering much pain and dis-
comfort owing to a cold. During his closing days
his grandchildren gave him much pleasure, but his
mind was absorbed with the one subject of his mili-
tary autobiography and a desire to be accurate in
the most minute particulars, and, above all, to ren-
der strict and impartial justice to every man who
served under him. In all matters aside from his
book Grant took but a slight and passing interest.
Fortunately his prayer was answered that he
might be permitted to live to complete his Military
Memoirs, which were substantially finished. It may
be doubted if since the world began anv book has
HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 355
been written under similar conditions. It far sur-
passes Sir Walter Scott's gallant efforts to main-
tain the integrity of his character, that he might be-
ciueath an untarnished name and a fantastic man-
sion to a long line of Scotts of Abbotsford. Seeing
the last enemy approach, the dying but undaunted
soldier, suffering almost constant, and at times the
severest agony, determined to " fight it out " bravely
as he did when he faced General Lee in the Wilder-
ness struggle. This Grant did, to the general as-
tonishment of publishers, physicians, family, and
friends, the fruit of this great effort being a for-
tune for his family. It was probably the most suc-
cessful expensive book ever issued — more than a
quarter of million copies having been ordered in
advance of publication, and nearly half a million
of dollars having been received as copyright. In
clearness and accuracy of statement, in literary
style and finish, it compares favorably with the
models of English literature.
The general, contrary to the expectations of his
physicians and friends, survived to see the twenti-
eth anniversary of the surrender of Lee's army, and
to exchange greetings with his family on the re-
turn of the anniversary which may be said to have
substantially broken the Confederacy and closed
the four years' civil conflict. He survived to see
the sun rise on the twenty-fourth anniversary of the
surrender of Fort Sumter and the commencement of
the war, living also to see the anniversary of the
death of President Lincoln, which, as has been else-
where stated in this memoir. General Grant deemed
the darkest dav of his life. After more than a month's
-,-5 GENERAL GRANT.
confinement to his house, he recovered sufficiently
to drive out in the park again on INIonday, April
20th, and on the following day he was seen walking
in Sixty-sixth Street with one of his sons. About
this time he was able to resume his literary work
by dictating to a secretary. He survived, as we
have said, to celebrate his sixty-third birthday, and
to complete substantially his military autobiogra-
phy, by far the most valuable contribution yet made
to the literature of the war. Owing to his increas-
ing weakness and the warm weather, the date of his
departure was anticipated by a week, and on June
i6th, accompanied by his family, his physician, and
attendants, he proceeded in a private car to IMount
McGregor, near Saratoga, wdiere a comfortable cot-
tage was placed at the general's disposal for the
summer by his friend, Joseph W. Drexel, of New
York, by whom it was presented after Grant's death
to the Grand Army of the Republic of New York.
From his mountain home on a spur of the
Adirondacks General Grant could see at a glance
the great theater of the many brilliant movements
of Burgoyne's campaign — his marches, his defeats,
and his surrender — and the stately monument which
commemorates the historic field of the grounded
arms. — a spot consecrated by the genius of Fitz
Greene Halleck, the last stanza of which for some
unknown reason he suppressed. The omitted lines
are as follows:
Feelings as proud as were the Greek's of old,
When in his country's hour of fame he stood,
Happy and bold and free,
Gazing on Marathon.
I
HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH.
357
A few days before his departure from the city,
when in a cheerful mood, the general said to a
friend: " It is a great consolation to me in my sick-
ness to know that the people, both North and South,
are seemingly equally kind in their expressions of
sympathy. Scores of letters come to me daily,
without reference to politics or locality, containing
kind words. Many communications are also re-
ceived from public bodies. But nothing has touched
me more deeply than the daily spectacle of the
crowds of people gathering about my door for
months, and eagerly seeking information as to my
condition. Yes, I can certainly say that I tried to
do my duty to my country, and I hope I have al-
ways treated those who were not on the same side
with me, both in the field and in politics, with jus-
tice. The men of the South I always looked upon
as citizens of our common country, and when it
was in my power I always treated them as such.
I can say with truth that I never, even in the midst
of duty, had any other feeling than that which one
citizen should feel toward another." The general
also referred with much feeling to the many kind
schemes projected in his behalf by friends in Cali-
fornia and in other portions of the country.
The ex-President's prayer that the end would
come soon was granted, but not before the wish
nearest to his heart was gratified — that he should
live to finish his book. After many temporary rallies
and improvements and much physical suffering,
borne in the spirit of Paul's grand text — " Endure
hardness as a soldier " — surrounded by all those
who were near and dear to him, the illustrious com-
358
GENERAL GRANT.
mancler passed away peacefully at eight minutes
past eight on Thursday morning, July 23, 1885.
" Of course I am sorry to leave my family and
friends; but I shall be glad to go," said the general
some months before his death; and a few days later
he remarked : " Yes, I have many friends here, and
I have also many friends on the other side of the
river who have crossed before me," adding, after a
brief pause, " It is my wish that they may not have
long to wait for me, but that the end will come
soon." To another friend he said, when feeling
better on Wednesday, April 15th, " Thrice have I
been in the shadow of the valley of death, and
thrice have I come out again ; " and to a gentleman
who on his last birthday quoted a few lines from
Washington Irving, the sick soldier said, " How
beautiful and how true ! " The dying soldier's last
written words were:
" / hope no one zvill feci distressed on my ac-
count " —
penciled but a few hours before his heroic spirit,
" with touch as gentle as the morning light," was
called away.
More than royal honors may be said to have
been paid to his memory by the messages of con-
dolence which came to Mrs. Grant from crowned
heads and from distinguished personages of various
countries and climes. It was the absorbing topic
with the press and people of the United States dur-
ing the period that elapsed between the time of
the illustrious soldier's death and burial. Both at
home and abroad he was universally recognized as
the First Soldier and the First Citizen of the New
HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 359
World. Against this compact consensus of opin-
ion there was no discordant voice, even among
the people against whom he wielded his mighty-
sword. The men of the South had only words of
praise for their generous conqueror — praise as un-
stinted as that of Argyll, Bright, and Gladstone,
and of his political adversaries of our own land.
President Cleveland at once issued a proclamation
eulogizing the dead hero, and ordering the Execu-
tive Mansion and the departments at Washington
to be draped in black for thirty days as a mark of
respect, and that all public business should be sus-
pended on the day of the funeral. The army and
navy were also ordered to recognize the event by
displaying the national flag at half mast and by the
firing of cannon and wearing of crape. The Gov-
ernor of New York issued a proclamation directing
that the public buildings of the State be draped in
mourning, and that the flags be hung at half mast.
Six days later a second proclamation was issued,
setting apart Saturday, the day of the funeral, for
such religious observance as might be appropriate
for the burial of the distinguished dead.
Before his death General Grant expressed in
writing a wish that he should be buried in one of
three places — at West Point, where he received his
education, in Illinois, where he resided for several
years, or in New York, " because the people of that
city befriended me in my need." New York, through
its mayor, having proffered to Mrs. Grant a burial
place in any of the city parks, a spot was selected
and accepted in Riverside Park with the single con-
dition that, in accordance with the general's de-
24
36o
GENERAL GRANT.
sire, his wife should hereafter be laid by his side.
His preference would have been for West Point had
he not been under the mistaken impression that
Mrs. Grant could not be buried there.
A few days after the hero's death a large and
influential committee, with ex-President Arthur as
chairman, was appointed by the Mayor of New
York to receive and collect funds for the erection
of a national monument over General Grant's grave.
Within a week of the inauguration of the move-
ment, and before his burial, a sum of thirty thou-
sand dollars was received by voluntary contribu-
tions. It was afterward increased to six hundred
thousand dollars. Movements for other monuments
throughout the country have been inaugurated, and
several cities of the North already possess statues
of the great soldier.
On Tuesday, August 4, a memorial service was
held at Mount McGregor in the cottage where
Grant died, and a funeral address was delivered. On
the same day, and almost at the same hour, a similar
service was held in Westminster Abbey, London.
The exercises were very impressive, and the vast
audience which crowded the ancient abbey gave evi-
dence of sincere sorrow and reverence for the dead
soldier. The present Dean of Canterbury deliv-
ered an eloquent discourse, classing General Grant
with Lincoln as a statesman, and Avith Washington
and Wellington as a strategist. Among those pres-
ent were representatives of the Queen and the
Prince of Wales, the commander in chief of the
British Army, Mr. Gladstone, and hundreds of the
most eminent statesmen and soldiers of England.
HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 361
The remains of the ex-President arrived in Al-
bany in the afternoon of the same day, and were
received by the Governor. They were placed in
the. State Capitol, where they were seen by large
numbers of citizens and people who came from the
surrounding country to take their farewell view of
his well-known face. On Wednesday afternoon,
the 5th, the body of the great soldier arrived in New
York and was escorted by an imposing body of
troops to the City Hall. For three days it lay in
state, and was viewed by nearly a quarter of a mil-
lion of persons, including a large number of old
soldiers who had served under him.
Saturday, August 8th, was the day appointed
for his public funeral, the arrangements having been
made by General Winfield S. Hancock. A more
magnificent demonstration was never witnessed in
the New World, attesting the nation's admiration
and respect for the memory of the American sol-
dier. It is supposed that at least a million and a
half persons saw the procession. The streets of the
city echoed to the tramp of thirty thousand soldiers
and veterans who marched with measured tread
to the solemn music of a hundred military bands.
There were to be seen heroes of scores of battles,
and the torn and tattered flags that waved over
Shiloh, Mcksburg, the Wilderness, and other well-
contested fields. Never but once before and once
since in the history of New York have so large a
number of armed men marched through its streets.*
* November 15, 1814, when the Iron Grays led a cohimn of
28,000 troops from Fourteenth Street to the Battery. The vet-
erans of the G. A. R. who were in the procession were unarmed.
362
GENERAL GRANT.
It has been asserted with much plausibility that
no man in history has been looked upon by as many
eyes as General Grant — from the field, where he
commanded more than a million of men, to the
presidential chair for two terms, and then through
a " royal progress " around the world, during
which it has been estimated that he was seen by
between six and seven million of people. It may
be reasonably doubted if any illustrious man, and
certainly no American except Lincoln, has been
looked upon in death by so many sorrowing people
as gazed upon Grant. And it may with reasonable
certainty be believed that his tomb will for all time
be a place of pilgrimage for his countrymen, and
will be visited by larger numbers than the grave
of any other great man, not excepting those of
Napoleon and Nelson. Certainly, while his army
comrades live, the spot that holds his earthly re-
mains will be held sacred, and when they, with
their " locks of gray," follow the now silent leader,
their descendants will continue to cherish the hal-
lowed ground, and on each returning Decoration
The soldiers under arms numbered about 20,000. There were
nearly 50,000 men in the cohimn that marched to Grant's tomb
on April 27, 1S97, of whom about 30,000 were armed, and 10,000
were veterans who had followed his victorious banners. Among
the Grant Municipal Committee of Two Hundred, appointed by
the mayor to make arrangements for the ceremonial, were Gen-
erals Burnett, BulterHeld, Christenson, Day, Dodge, Greene,
Hcrron, Ilubbinl, McCook, McMahon, Molineux, Porter, .Sharpe,
Sickles, Sigel, Swayne, Webb, Wilson, and Wootlford. Of Grant's
Military Academy associates, who accepted the committee's in-
vitation to be i)rcsent, there were, among others, Gener.ils Buck-
ncr, Franklin, French, Longstreet, Reynolds, and Schofield.
I
HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 363
Day crown it with flowers, while they repeat the
story of his marvelous career — a career more won-
derful than that of almost any other heroic figure
recorded in modern history.
It was nearly six hours after the funeral cortege
left the City Hall that the catafalque, drawn by
twenty-four horses, reached the grave on the banks
of the historic Hudson, and was placed in the tem-
porary tomb with appropriate ceremonies, in the
presence of his family, the President of the United
States, his Cabinet, ex-Presidents Hayes and Ar-
thur, his pall-bearers. Generals Sherman and Sheri-
dan of the Union armies, and Generals Johnston
and Buckner of the Confederate service, with many
of the most eminent men of the country. So, on
that bright and sunny August afternoon, he was
laid to rest.* As Sir Walter Scott's Edinburgh
monument is the finest yet reared anywhere to the
memory of a man of letters, so it is believed that
the tomb formally dedicated with imposing cere-
monial on Tuesday, April 27, 1897, is the grandest
yet erected in the wide world to a soldier, surpass-
ing even that which stands on the banks of the
Seine, raised to the memory of the hero of Marengo.
The situation of the poet's or the Emperor's monu-
ment can not for a moment be compared to the mag-
nificent site of the American commander's tomb
on the east bank of the beautiful Hudson.
The cruel irony of fate was never perhaps dis-
played in a more striking manner than in the clos-
* General Grant's remains were privately removed from their
temporary resting place to the monument, under the supervision
of his two eldest sons, on Saturday afternoon, April 17th.
3^4
GENERAL GRANT.
ing years of General Grant's career. What a start-
ling revolution in the whirligig of time! Within
the brief space of nineteen months was witnessed,
as we have seen, the occurrence in front of his door
of an accident which lamed him for life. Five
months later, when he believed he was worth a mil-
lion of dollars, the ex-President was suddenly finan-
cially ruined. Eight months after this heavy stroke
the old soldier was assailed with a malady which
baffled all human skill, and within five months of
the period when it was announced that he had a
mortal disease, the end came, and
He gave his honors to the world again,
His blessed past to heaven, and slept in peace.
There is little further to add to what has been
already related in these pages. Not only did all
English-speaking people the world over lament the
untimely close of the illustrious soldier's career, and
share his glorious memory, but many persons of
other nationalities who knew him personally dur-
ing his foreign travels, or who were familiar Avith
his great deeds in behalf of human freedom and
established government.
From the many tributes to Grant's memory,
and views of his lofty character and public services,
we make room for several from contemporaries,
who were fully competent to render correct and
valuable judgments. When General Sherman was
asked by the writer if he deemed Grant entitled to
take rank next after Napoleon, Wellington, and
Moltke as one of the four great soldiers of the nine-
teenth century, he replied, under date of June 26,
HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 365
1885, " His rank will be very high in history, even
higher than you place him." Lieutenant-General
Sheridan, being requested to express his opinion of
his former commander, said: "My judgment is
that Grant was a far greater man than most people
thought him to be. He was always able, no matter
how situated, to do more than was expected of
him. That has always been my opinion of General
Grant, for whom I have the greatest admiration
both as a man and as a commander." After relating
the anecdote of Grant at the circus, given in the
first chapter of this volume, Mr. Lincoln was asked
who, in his opinion, was the greatest American
general. He answered, " U. S. Grant." *
* Early in April, 1864, Lincoln said to one of his secretaries,
who a score of years later wrote his biography (New York, 1884),
in answer to an inquiry as to his opinion of Grant : " ' I hardly
know what to think of him. He is the quietest fellow you ever
saw. Why, he makes the least fuss of any man I ever knew. I
believe two or three times he has been in this room a minute or
more before I knew that he was here. The only evidence that he
is in any place is that he makes things go. Wherever he is they
move.'
'" How about Grant's generalship? Is he going to be the
man?'
" 'Stoddard, Grant is the first one I've had. He is a general.'
" ' How is that ? ' inquired the somewhat puzzled secretary.
"'Well, I'll tell you what I mean,' the President replied.
" ' You know how it has been with all the rest. As soon as I put
a man in command of the Army of the Potomac he would come
to me with a plan of campaign, and about as much as say, " Now,
I don't believe I can do it, but if you say so I'll try it," and so he
would throw the responsibility of success or failure on me. They
all wanted me to be the general. Now, it is not so with Grant.
He has not told me what his plans are. I don't know, and I
don't want to know. I am glad to find a man that can go ahead
366 GENERAL GRANT.
Within a few weeks of Grant's death a member
of General Lee's staff said to a friend, who had
mentioned Hancock's high opinion of his old chief:
" That reminds me of Lee's opinion of your great
Union general, uttered in my presence in reply to
a disparaging remark on the part of a person who
referred to Grant as a ' military accident, who had
no distinguishing merit, but had achieved success
through a combination of fortunate circumstances.'
General Lee looked into the critic's eye steadily,
and said : ' Sir, your opinion is a very poor com-
pliment to me. We all thought Richmond, pro-
without me. . . . You see, whenever any of the others set out
on a campaign they would look over matters, and pick out
some one thing they were short of, and which they knew I could
not give them, and tell me they could not hope to win success un-
less they had that thing, and then when failure came they would
lay the blame on that, and say " I told you so," and it was most
generally cavalry' Here Mr. Lincoln paused for one of his long,
quiet, peculiar laughs, and went on with —
" ' Now, when Grant took hold I was waiting to see what his
pet impossibility would be ; and I reckoned it would be cavalry,
as a matter of course, for we hadn't horses enough to mount even
the men we had. There were fifteen thousand or thereabout
near Harper's Ferry and no horses to put them on. Well, the
other day Grant sent to me about those very men, just as I ex-
pected ; but what he wanted to know was whether he should
make infantry of them or disband them. He did not ask me
for what he knew I could not do. He does not ask imiiossibili-
ties of me, and he is the first general that I have had that did
not.' In our further conversation, I should add, the President
did full justice to General Grant's predecessors, for whom, as all
men know, he had the high regard and respect which were their
due, but dwelt with a very manifest feeling of relief upon the fact
that, for the first time since the outbreak of the war, he found the
load of military responsiMlity taken from his shoulders."
HIS LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 367
tected as it was by our splendid fortifications and
defended by our army of veterans, could not be
taken. Yet Grant turned his face to our capital,
and never turned it away until we had surrendered.
Now, I have carefully searched the military records
of both ancient and modern history, and have never
found Grant's superior as a general. I doubt if his
superior can be found in all history.' "
Grant's motto, like that of the hero of Waterloo,
w-as duty. Nowhere in their writings does the word
glory occur. " I will perform my duty to the best
of my ability," is the almost identical statement
made by the two great soldiers before the final suc-
cesses achieved by them which were to crown them
with everlasting renown. Unlike the great French
captain, who was eternally talking and writing of
la gloire, Wellington and Grant thought only of
duty, which Gladstone defines as the power that
rises with us in the morning, and goes to rest with
us at night. It is co-extensive with the action of
our intelligence. It is the shadow which cleaves
to us, go where we will, and which only leaves us
when we leave the light of life.
In the course of our narrative Grant has been
compared to Washington and Wellington as a mili-
tary commander. In his love of country, support of
its laws, above all corrupt or interested views, with
duty as the pole star by which he always steered
his course, Grant more closely resembles the " Iron
Duke " in personal and professional character than
any other illustrious soldier. As Washington and
Wellington won new laurels — the civic crown —
after their sw^ords were forever sheathed, by their
368 GENERAL GRANT.
firmness, justice, and good judgment, may we not
believe that history will hereafter record that Gen-
eral Grant achieved almost the same degree of
glory as a statesman which he had previously won
as a soldier — a soldier " Second to none," the motto
of the famous cavalry regiment known as the Scotch
Grays, in which several officers of Grant's name
have won renown.
The same persistency displayed by the boy in
riding the mule, and in loading, unaided, the wagon
with logs for the construction of the Brown County
Jail, were displayed at Fort Donelson, at Vicksburg,
at Chattanooga, and during his last campaign
against Lee's army, and at the Confederate capital.
On the evening of that awful battle of the Wilder-
ness, when the legions of the Union army had
fought all day, rather by faith than sight, in the
wild woods and tangled brush, an officer suggested
to Grant that the army should fall back, as it had
done under former leaders, and reorganize. " No,
sir," replied the dauntless and intrepid soldier, " we
have done very w^ell; at half -past four in the morn-
ing zi'e more forward." It is believed that he was
equally persistent as the President of the United
States in his successful efforts to restore peace and
prosperity to our long-sufifering land, in re-estab-
lishing our free institutions on the impregnable
foundations of liberty and justice, and in making
one common country, in reality as in a name, United
States of America.
CHAPTER XVII.
CHARACTER AND PERSONAL TRAITS.
Nature endowed General Grant with what
Guizot calls the genius of common sense. Perhaps
his most prominent traits were his persistence of
purpose and action, his magnanimity and kindness
of heart. As an American commander he has no
equal. His sledge-hammer blows were given with
all his strength, and he was always a fighter. He
had the gravity of all great fighters. He was like
the famous dog of which Dr. " Rab " Brown tells
us: A Highland gamekeeper named Grant, when
asked why a certain terrier of singular pluck was so
much graver than the other dogs, said, " Oh, sir,
life's full of sariousness to him — he just never can
get enough o' fechtin'." Grant's unflinching cour-
age was sublime, his stout heart never quailed under
the most alarming conditions. He excelled in
that coolness of judgment which Napoleon de-
scribed as " the foremost quality in a general."
He possessed a constantly increasing comprehen-
sion of grand strategy and the proper movements
and care of vast armies extending over a front of
369
370
GENERAL GRANT.
more than two thousand miles. He constantly
pressed forward with indomitable will. To quote
his own words, " I may say that I was a man of but
one purpose — to put down the rebellion." From
the time his services as colonel were accepted, soon
after the conflagration of patriotism began in April,
1861, he never sought promotion. It was always
fairly won by faithful service, and came to him un-
solicited. " It is men," he said, " who wait to be
selected, and not those who seek, from whom we
may always expect the most efBcient service." On
another occasion he remarked: " Perhaps one rea-
son why I received rapid promotion was that I
never allowed myself to deviate from the path of
duty — from doing the work that was assigned to
me. My sole desire was to end the war and re-
store the Union. At its close I never aspired to any
political office." Success in war, at least, is the
test that can not be denied. Tried by that test,
Grant is entitled to enduring renown. He suc-
ceeded where others failed. At Donelson he
struck the keynote of victory. He then and
there demonstrated the philosophy of the war
in demanding " unconditional surrender." As
the War Secretary said, these words moved the
nation as if they had fallen from the Hebrew
prophets.
In his Virginia campaign he achieved success
where his five predecessors met with disastrous fail-
ure. They had wasted more than two years and
one hundred and thirty-nine thousand men in futile
attempts to reach Richmond. Grant captured that
city and received the surrender of Lee's army in a
CHARACTER AND PERSONAL TRAITS.
371
single campaign of eleven months, and with a loss
of fifteen thousand less than had been wasted in
unavailing efforts by McClellan, Pope, Burnside,
Hooker, and Meade.* When his work was com-
pleted he hastened back to Washington without
visiting the Confederate capital in order to stop im-
mediately the enormous war expense, amounting
to nearly four millions of dollars per day. It is in-
conceivable that a time will ever come when Grant's
countrymen will not be profoundly interested in the
great struggle for the perpetuity of the Union, in
which he was the chief actor.
Like the illustrious Sully, who entertained senti-
ments in many respects far in advance of his age.
Grant detested war, and looked with contempt at
political systems which had not yet invented any-
thing better than gunpowder for the arbitrament
of international disputes. As Motley remarks of
Sully: " Instead of war being an occasional method
of obtaining peace, it pained him to think that peace
seemed only a process for arriving at war. Surely
it was no epigram in those days, but the simplest
statement of commonplace fact, that war was the
normal condition of Christians. Alas! will it be
maintained that in the two and a half centuries
which have elapsed the world has made much
progress in a higher direction? Is there yet any
Killed.
Wounded.
Captured
or missing.
Aggregate.
* McClellan and others. .
General Grant
15.172
15.139
74.635
77.748
49.944
31.503
139.751
124,390
Total
30,311
152,333
8 1,447
264,141
372
GENERAL GRANT.
appeal among the most civilized nations except to
the logic of the largest battalions and the eloquence
of the greatest guns? "
A common error of mankind is to determine a
man's greatness by his personal aspect. The pres-
tige of physical excellence must vanish when we
speak of Grant. He was the last man who would
have been selected from a group of general ofBcers
as the greatest commander that the New World
has produced. He was five feet eight inches in
height, being taller than Napoleon, Nelson, Well-
ington, and Farragut. He was slightly round-
shouldered, and never carried himself erect except
when on horseback. His walk and appearance were
unmilitary. He seldom buttoned his military coat,
and his outward appearance gave an impression of
carelessness; but it was a false impression, for Grant
was among the most fastidious of men in the matter
of cleanliness of person and of his underclothing.
Any one who was careless in these particulars was
likely to sufTer in his estimation. His movements
were usually deliberate, but if the occasion required
haste and rapidity of movement, they were forth-
coming. In the early period of the war his weight
was about one hundred and thirty-five pounds; at
its close he had gained fifteen pounds. He had a
well-formed head, wearing a hat of seven and a
half inches. His brow was high and broad, with a
firm mouth, indicating an iron will, or, as Mr. Lin-
coln called it, " bulldog grit." His hair and full
beard were a chestnut brown or tawny, and, after
the first year of the war, were almost always kept
neatly trimmed. On his risfht cheek he had a
I,
CHARACTER AND PERSONAL TRAITS. 373
small wart, just above the beard. His complexion
was florid.
Grant's expressive eyes were blue. His counte-
nance was rarely free from a certain anxious and
careworn expression, but his temperament was nat-
urally buoyant and cheerful. He enjoyed a hearty
laugh, and would be so deeply moved with the mirth
of an amusing anecdote that at times it was a matter
of great difficulty for him to complete his story.
He possessed a melodious voice, which he rarely
raised even in the excitement of battle. He was
lamentably deficient in a musical ear — in truth, he
was almost tone deaf, disliking military bands and
operatic music. Replying on one occasion to the
question whether he went often to the opera, he
said, " Never when I can help it." He did, how-
ever, enjoy in early life his wife's simple songs, and
during the Western campaigns frequently listened
with pleasure to the plantation melodies of " Old
Shady " and other contrabands. His statement that
he only knew two tunes — " One is ' Hail to the
Chief,' and the other isn't " — was, of course, a pleas-
antry, which he probably originated early in the
war, and carried through his campaigns as well as in
later life, adapting it to circumstances. Grant pos-
sessed a good eye and memory for the topographical
features of a country where he was campaigning.
Sherman also was remarkable in this respect, which
served him well in his Southern marches. He was
a perfect horseman. One of his favorite chargers —
called Cincinnati — was perhaps the most valuable
war horse ever used in battle, being a son of Lex-
ington and a half-brother of Kentucky, possess-
374
GENERAL GRANT.
ing a record for speed almost equal to those cele-
brated thoroughbreds.* He was extremely fond of
driving fast trotters, and greatly enjoyed an even-
ing game of cards, also reading aloud to members
of his family.
General Grant was most unwilling to speak
unkindly of any one, even of those who for years
pursued him with remorseless hatred. In regard
to the ceaseless insinuations against his character,
made by unscrupulous politicians and unsuccessful
soldiers, or which were uttered over their dinner
tables or in the streets, he spoke in a similar strain
to William of Orange, who philosophically observed
that " mankind were naturally inclined to calumny,
particularly against those who exercised govern-
ment over them." An eminent preacher, lately de-
parted, in allusion to Grant's patience under the dis-
tressing trials of his closing years, remarked: "To
dare is great. To bear is greater. Bravery we share
with the brutes; fortitude with saints." He was
fond of simple food, beef being almost the only meat
that he liked, and that must be well cooked. The
sight of blood in underdone meat would destroy his
appetite. In at least one instance within the writer's
knowledge it sent him from the mess table. The
man who during the war was called a butcher could
not bear to witness suffering, for at Shiloh the groans
of the wounded drove him out from his log cabin —
* His other war steeds were Jack, which he rode in most of
his battles, Fox, Kangaroo, Egypt, and Jeff Davis. The first
named was given after the war to the Northwestern Fair, hold in
Chicago for the benefit of sick and disabled soldiers, and brought
the sum of one thousand dollars.
CHARACTER AND PERSONAL TRAITS.
375
the only shelter obtainable — and seated at the foot
of a tree he secured a few hours' sleep in a heavy
rainstorm. " When I was in the army," he said,
" I had a physique that could stand anything.
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 dififer-
ence. I could lie down and sleep in the rain with-
out caring." " I shall take no step backward," he
said in the Wilderness when the Union army was
dismayed by its heavy losses; and, having given or-
ders to follow the enemy at daylight, he sought
needed rest, and slept soundly for several hours.
The age of chivalry is not gone when a victor could
accord such terms to the vanquished as Grant freely
gave to Lee and the remains of his gallant army at
Appomattox. The student of military history will
search in vain for anything comparable to it or to
the delicacy with which the victor treated his beaten
foes on that occasion. He was painfully modest and
retiring in his manner, avoiding pomp and display,
loving justice, eminently truthful, and never inten-
tionally wronging any man.
Grant was single-minded as well as single-
hearted, and possessed that rarest of intellectual
gifts — an honest mind, which accepted without hesi-
tation or personal treason the conclusions of its own
judgment. He was not a scholar, but was familiar
with good literature and with military history. His
hero among ancient captains was Hannibal; among
modern commanders, Cromwell. Concerning the
latter, his friend Milton wrote a few lines, some of
which appear peculiarly applicable to the subject of
25
376 GENERAL GRANT.
this biography. " Wherefore," says the great poet,
" you speak contemptibly of his great parts, I know
not, but I suspect you are not free from the error
common to studious and speculative men. Because
Oliver was an ungraceful orator, and never said
either in public or private anything memorable, you
will have it that he was of mean capacity. Sure, this
is unjust. Many men have been ignorant of letters,
without wit, without eloquence, who yet had the
wisdom to devise and the courage to perform that
which they lacked the language to explain. Such
men, often, in troubled times, have worked out the
deliverance of nations and their own greatness, not
by logic, but by wariness in success, by calmness
in danger, by firm and stubborn resolution in all
adversity. The hearts of men are their books, events
are their tutors, great actions are their eloquence,
and such an one, in my judgment, with his late high-
ness. His own deeds shall avouch him for a great
statesman, a great soldier, a true lover of his coun-
try, a merciful and generous conqueror."
Grant's writing, like his character, was the em-
bodiment of directness. He sometimes lacked a
word in conversation, but never when with pen in
hand. Many of his most important dispatches were
written hastily without premeditation, and sent off
without the change of a single word. Such was the
case with his terms granted to Lee, with his "uncon-
ditional surrender " letter to Buckner, and his cele-
brated dispatch, " I propose to fight it out on this
line if it takes all summer." These two last were
simply notes of information that he had certain im-
portant business in hand to which he designed giv-
CHARACTER AND PERSONAL TRAITS.
377
ing his whole attention. Equally memorable are
the words which followed in his acceptance, in 1868,
of the Republican nomination for the presidency,
" Let us have peace." On his deathbed, when no
longer able to speak. Grant wrote: " I feel that we
are on the eve of a new era, when there is to be
great harmony between the Federals and Confed-
erates. I can not stay to be a living witness to the
correctness of this prophecy, but I feel it within
me that it is to be so. The universally kind feeling
expressed for me at a time when it was supposed
that each day would prove my last, seems to me to
be the beginning of the answer, ' Let us have
peace.' " The magnificent tomb in the nation's me-
tropolis, to which the hero's remains were removed
a few days before the seventy-fifth anniversary of
his birth, bears on its granite front the appropriate
legend, " Let us have peace."
Grant's temper was not perhaps so strong as
Washington's, but, like him, he kept it well in
hand. He never spoke impulsively, and seldom, if
ever, was heard to utter a harsh word against any
one. He w'as a good, if not a brilliant conversation-
alist. Some of his rifle-shot utterances are historic,
and will not soon be forgotten. During the siege
of Vicksburg a planter's wife appeared on her porch
and tauntingly inquired of Grant when he expected
to capture Vicksburg. " I can not tell the exact
day," he replied, " but I shall stay until I do if it
takes thirty years." The surrender followed in pre-
cisely thirty days. This is quite as good as Marshal
McMahon's famous saying at the siege of Sebasto-
pol, " /'y suis et fy reste." In June, 1862, Grant
378 GENERAL GRANT.
said: "It is the business of a soldier to beat the
enemy wherever and whenever he meets him. ' If
he can,' should only be thought of after an unavoid-
able defeat." To Burnside, besieged in Knoxville
by Longstreet in the autumn of 1863, Grant sent a
communication, saying: " I can hardly conceive the
necessity for retreating. If I did so at all, it would
be after losing most of the army." When an officer
rode up in haste and in the greatest excitement ex-
claimed, " General Grant, Lee is turning our right,"
with voice and manner calm as a summer morn, the
dauntless soldier replied, " Very well, then I shall
turn Lee's left." If Grant was ever justly an-
gered, he was careful not to show it, and few dis-
covered the fact. In thought, word, and deed he
was perhaps the purest of our great men of this or
any previous age. Never in the whole course of his
life was he known to utter an unclean word, to relate
an objectionable story or to listen to one, nor to
use an oath or even a mild expletive. On the oc-
casion of a large dinner party a person of distinc-
tion prefaced a story that he was about to relate
by remarking, " I believe there are no ladies pres-
ent." " No," calmly responded the general, " but
there are gentlemen." The story remained untold.
In all his domestic relations Grant was as near per-
fection as could be desired.
A great historian of our day tells us that when
the hero of the battle of the Boyne died at Kens-
ington Palace, at about eight in the morning, nearly
two centuries ago, and his remains were laid out,
it was found that he wore next his skin a small piece
of black ribbon. The lords in waiting ordered it
CHARACTER AND PERSONAL TRAITS.
379
to be taken off. It contained a plain gold wedding
ring and a lock of the hair of his deceased wife,
Queen Mary. After Grant's spirit took its flight at
almost the same hour as the heroic English king's,
there was found suspended around his neck a long
braid of a woman's and child's hair intertwined. It
was sent across a continent to the army captain by
his young wife when he was serving on the far-
distant Pacific coast. The affectionate husband and
father had worn it for thirty-two years.
INDEX
Alabama claims, 300.
Alexander, Colonel, 88.
Alleghany Mountains, 20.
Allen, Colonel Robert, 149.
Amelia Courthouse, Va., 274.
276.
American commanders, 45, 72.
Ammen, Admiral, 9, 16, 271.
Ampudio, General Pedro de, 52,
56.
Anderson, General Robert H.,
226, 233, 236, 255.
Andrews, Governor, 81.
Antietam, 139.
Appomattox River, 273, 274,
278.
Appomattox Station, 27S, 284.
Army of the James, 221, 223,
270.
Army of the Mississippi, 145,
146.
Army of Northern Virginia, 218,
261, 278.
Army of the Ohio, 124-145.
Army of the Potomac, 215, 217,
222, 261, 263, 270.
Army of the Tennessee, 145, 149.
Arnold, Benedict, 25.
Arthur, ex-President, 363.
Averill, General, 261.
Bailey, George Bartlett, 17.
Baird, General A., 202.
Banks, General, 158, 172, 183,
184, 202, 220, 221, 246.
Barlow, General Francis, 240,
243-
Beauregard, General, 59, 125,
133, 145. 146, 242.
Bedouin sheik, 71.
Belmont, battle of, 5, 93.
Bethesda Church, Va., 256.
Bevie the bugler, 39.
Big Black River, 174.
Bimey's division, 233, 240.
Blair, Montgomery, 89.
Blair, General, 86.
Bliss, Colonel, 86.
Bliicher, Field-Marshal, I2g.
Blue and Gray, 140.
Bonneville, Colonel, 75.
Bovey, French artist, 292.
Bowling Green, Ky., 117.
Bragg, General, 124, 185, 186,
192, 194-200, 202, 203
Breckinridge, General, 125.
381
382
GENERAL GRANT.
Brooks, Horace, 66.
Brown, B. Gratz, 302.
Brown County Jail, 8.
Brown County, Ohio, 291.
Brown, Dr. John, 369.
Brown, Major Jacob, 47.
Buchanan, James, 79.
Buckner, General, 81, 105, 112,
113, 116, 194, 362, 363.
Buell, General, 121, 124, 126,
130, 131. 138, 142, 151.
Buena Vista, battle of, 59.
Burnside, General, 190, 192,193,
200, 203, 224, 232, 237, 241,
243, 244, 251, 255, 257.
Butler, General B. F., 22, 44,
52, 234, 25S.
Burns of Gettysburg, 134.
Byron, Lord, 80.
Cameron, Simon, 85.
Campbell, Colonel John, 23.
Camp Salubrity, La., 72.
Canby, General, 285.
Candless, Colonel, 245.
Carlyle, Thomas, 2.
Carroll's brigade, 233, 245.
Casey, Silas, 65.
Cerro Gordo, battle of, 59.
Chagres River, 75.
Chambersburg bui-ned, 265.
Champion Hill, 173, 174.
Chapultepec, capture of, 63, 64.
Charlie, horse that threw Grant,
184.
Chase, Chief-Justice, 305.
Chattanooga, 194, 199, 204.
Chicago Republican Conven-
tion, 296.
Cliickahominy River, 258, 260.
Chickamauga, 139 ; battle of, S3,
185.
Chickamauga Station, 201.
Chickasaw Bayou, 161.
Childs, George W., 43.
Chittenden, Henry T., 7.
Church, Prof., 36.
Churubusco, capture of, 61.
Cincinnati, Grant's horse, 275.
City Point, Va., 259, 262, 263.
Civil service reform, 301.
Clyde, Field-Marshal, 22.
CcEur-de-Lion, 102.
Cold Harbor, 263 ; battle of, 257.
Colfax, Schuyler, 299.
Columbus Fair Grounds, 7.
Combermore, Marshal, 292.
Connecticut Indians, 5.
Coppee, Dr. Henry, 26, 95.
Corinth, battle of, 155 ; cap-
tured, 146.
Corpus Christi, Texas, 70, 72.
Corse, General, 201.
Corwin, Thomas, 69.
Cosby, Major, 113.
Council of war, II2,
Court of inquiry, 273.
Couts, Cave J., 33
Crittenden, General, 132.
Cromwell, Oliver, 2.
Crook, General, 222, 261, 264,
276,
Cruft's brigade, 198, 199
Crump's Landing, 124, 126, 127.
Culpeper Courthouse, 229.
Curtin, Governor, 82.
Custer, General, 270, 301.
Davis, Jefferson, 6.
Decisive battles, 43.
I
INDEX.
383
Declaration against purchasing,
41,42.
Delafield, Richard, 21-27.
Delbit, John, 42.
Dent, Miss Julia, 74.
Department of the Cumberland,
185.
Department of Tennessee, 157.
Department of the Gulf, 183.
Deshon, Dr. George, 30. 39-41.
Devonshire, England, 3.
Disciplinarian, 87.
Dodge, General G. M., 191.
Dorchester, England, 3.
Dorchester, Mass., 3, 4.
Douglas, Stephen A., 290.
Draft in the North, 268.
Dreer, Ferdinand J., 113.
Drary's Bluff, 246.
Early, General Jubal A., 225,
238, 263. 264, 267, 268, 270.
East Tennessee, 273.
East Windsor Theological In-
stitute, 5.
Eighth Iowa eagle, 157.
Eighteenth Corps, 260, 262.
Ely's Ford, Va., 228.
Emancipation proclamation,
113-
Emperor of Germany, 301.
Ernst, Colonel Oswald H., 38.
Everett, Edward, 3.
Fabian policy, 145.
Farmville, Va., 277.
Farragut, Admiral, 221.
Fifteenth Army Corps, 167.
Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry, 150.
Fish, Hamilton, 299, 300.
Flag of truce, 257.
Floyd, General, 105, 112.
Foote, Commodore, 104, 107,
108, 118.
Fort Donaldson, 105, 164.
Fort Henr}' captured, 104.
Forts Henry and Donaldson, go,
95. lOI.
Fort Sumter falls, 81.
Fort Vancouver, 85.
Fort William Henry, 5.
Foster, General, 59.
Forrest, Samuel G., 31.
Forrest's cavalry, 108.
Forrest, General, 218.
Fourth U. S. Infantry, 44, 46,
55. S(>< t)8, 72, 74, 76.
Franklin, Governor William, 5.
Franklin, General William B.,
25. 362.
Frederick the Great, 292.
Fremont, General, 79, 90, 92.
French, General Samuel G., 31,
362.
Fry, General James B;% 27.
Gardner, Frank, 33.
Garland, General, 54, 55, 61, 62,
67, 72.
Geneva award, 300.
Georgetown, Ohio, 14.
Germania Ford, Va., 228.
Gerry, General, 198.
Getty, General, 231, 270.
Gettysburg battlefield, 43.
Gettysburg and Vicksburg, 182.
Gibbon's division, 233, 240.
Gibraltar of America, loi.
Gilmore, General Q. A., 221.
Governor's Island, N. Y., 75.
384
GENERAL GRANT.
Graham, Lieutenant, 73.
Grand Gulf, Miss., 168, 172.
Granger, General Gordon, 194.
Grant, Captain Noah, i, 5.
Grant, Field-Marshal, 2.
Grant, Frederick D., 13.
Grant, Grace Miner, 2.
Grant Hall, West Point, 42.
Grant, Hannah Simpson, 2, 13.
Grant homestead. Conn., 5.
Grant, Jesse R., 26, 78.
Grant, Julia Dent, 286.
Grant, Martha Huntington, 2.
Grant, Mary Francis, 12.
Grant, Mary Porter, 2, 5.
Grant, Matthew, i, 2, 3.
Grant, Orvil Lynch, 12.
Grant, Peter, 6.
Grant, Priscilla, 2.
Grant, Rachel Kelly, 2.
Grant, Samuel, 2, 5.
Grant, Samuel Simpson, 12.
Grant, Ulysses Simpson, ances-
tors, I ; birth, 6 ; name, 7 ;
birthplace removed, 7 ; cart-
ing logs, 8 ; at the circus, 8 ;
horse-trade, 11 ; at school, 14 ;
goes to Military Academy,
20 ; changes name, 26 ; Grant
and Lincoln, 29 ; called " Un.
cle Sam," 31 ; no ear for mu-
sic, '31 ; a famous leap, 33 ;
as an artist, 34 ; class recita-
tion, 34 ; no taste for military
life, 36 ; expected to leave
army, 37 ; portrait of Grant,
43 ; Grant at West Point, 44 ;
Grant's first battle, 49 ;
Grant's ride at Monterey, 56 ;
doing his duty, 69 ; quarter-
master and commissary, 75 ;
arrives in San Francisco, 76 ;
at Chapulepec, 64 ; gallant
achievement, 65 ; receives
thanks, 67 ; as a rider, 71 ;
daring act, 72 ; Grant as Des-
demona, 72 ; Grant's sto-
ries, 73 ; marriage, 74 ; Be-
nicia Barracks, 76 ; Humboldt
Bay, 77 ; at Fort Vancouver,
77 ; resigns from army, 77 ;
reaches St. Louis, 78 ; be-
comes a farmer, 78 ; goes to
Galena, 78 ; votes for Bu-
chanan, 79 : views of the
war, 81 ; goes to Springfield,
83 ; commissioned colonel,
86 ; marches to Quincy, 86 ;
ordered to Missouri, 86 ; as-
signed to Cairo, 89 ; plan of
campaign, 89 ; captures Pa-
ducah, 91 ; battle of Bel-
mont, 94, 95 ; narrow escape,
98 ; fearless in battle, 99 ;
promoted, 100 ; Fort Henry
captured, 106 ; at Fort Don-
elson, 108 ; returns from flag-
ship, 109 ; captures Fort Don-
elson, 113 ; correspondence,
114 ; issues order, 115 ; pro-
moted, 116 ; as a smoker, 118 ;
in disgrace, 121 ; charges
against, 121 ; jealousy of
Grant, 122 ; restored, 122 ;
asked to be relieved, 123 ; at
Savannah, 126 ; reaches Pitts-
burg, 127 ; orders Nelson
and Wallace to advance,
127 ; restores confidence, 128 ;
sleeps in rain, 132 ; surprised,
INDEX.
385
136 ; anecdote, 137 ; Shiloh
dispatch, 137 ; assailed, 138 ;
defended, 139 ; concerning
Shiloh, 142 ; under a cloud,
144 ; goes to Memphis, 146 ;
intolerable position, 147 ; re-
instatement, 143 ; his anxiety,
152 ; new command, 157 ;
slanderers, 158 ; movement
against Vicksburg, 160 ; at
Young's Point, 162 ; siege of
Vicksburg, 162 ; his birthday,
1 68 ; wins battles, 174 ; heavy
captures, 174 ; orders assault,
175 ; receives surrender, 177 ;
Lincoln's letter, 178 ; his re-
port, 179 ; returns Sherman's
protest, 180 ; his masterpiece,
182 ; at New Orleans, 183 ;
attends review, 183 ; thrown
from his horse, 1S4 ; ordered
to Louisville, 184 ; meets
Secretary of War, 184 ; larger
command, 185 ; proceeds to
Chattanooga, 185 ; his fore-
thought, 191 ; congratulated,
2CO ; telegraphs Burnside,
203 ; his great victory, 203 ;
sends dispatch to Halleck,
204 ; issues congratulatory
order, 206 ; thanked by Con-
gress, 207 ; voted a gold
medal, 207 ; called to Wash-
ton, 209 ; writes to Sherman,
2og ; arrives in Washington,
212 ; received by President,
213 ; promoted, 213 ; com-
mands all the armies, 214 ;
goes West, 214 ; returns to
the East, 215 ; establishes
headquarters, 215 ; chooses
subordinates, 218 ; Grant and
Lee compared, 219 ; advances
into Virginia, 223 ; bad luck,
236 ; makes promotions, 245 ;
receives ill news, 246 ; flank
movement, 246 ; famous say-
ings, 247 ; calmness, 248 ; his
advance, 248 ; visits com-
manders, 257 ; writes to Lee,
258 ; goes to Mar}'land, 265 ;
returns to City Point, 267 ;
in the valley, 268 ; at the
front, 269 ; writes to Ammen,
271 ; letter to Sherman, 276 ;
writes to Lee, 278 ; hears
from Lee, 278 ; with Meade,
278 ; his staff, 279 ; receives
Lee's surrender, 279 ; his ap-
pearance, 280 ; his generos-
ity, 280 ; correspondence with
Lee, 280-285 ; goes to Wash-
ington, 286 ; proceeds to New
Jersey, 286 ; returns to Wash-
ington, 286 ; reviews the two
armies, 287 ; address to ar-
mies, 288 ; makes tours, 290 ;
visits Chicago, 290 ; goes to
Galena, 291 ; visits West
Point, 292 ; receives degrees,
293 ; promoted, 293 ; as field
marshal, 293 ; relics in Wash-
ington, 293 ; as Secretary of
War, 294, 295 ; dispute with
President, 295 ; nominated
for President, 296 ; letter of
acceptance, 296 ; elected
President, 297 ; inaugurated,
298 ; appoints Cabinet, 299 ;
his administration, 302 ; re-
\S6
GENERAL GRANT,
nominated, 303 ; accepts nom-
ination, 303 : re-elected, 304 ;
second inauguration, 304 ; sec-
ond administration, 306 ; on
a third term, 309 ; tour around
the world, 310-329 ; letters to
Washburne, 330-349 ; selects
a home, 350 ; writes Memoirs,
352 ; sickness, 352 ; leaves
the city, 356 ; death at Mount
McGregor, 358 ; public fu-
neral, 359 ; Riverside Park
tomb, 359 ; burial there, 363 ;
grand tomb, 363 ; public ded-
ication, 363 ; tributes to his
memory, 364 ; Lincoln's opin-
ion, 365 ; Sherman's opinion,
365 ; Sheridan's opinion, 365 ;
Lee's opinion, 366 ; his motto
Duty, 367 ; compared to Wel-
lington, 367 ; winning the
civic crown, 367 ; character
and personal traits, 369-379 ;
his war horses, 375.
Greeley, Horace, 302.
Grier, General William N., 40.
Hackleman, General, 156.
Haines's Bhiff, 162.
Halleck, Fitz Greene, 356.
Halleck, General. 44, 100, 103,
121, 122, 144, 145, 147, 148,
204, 211.
Hamer, Thomas L., 17, 22,
50.
Hamilton, Alexander. 21, 158.
Hampton, General Wade, 226.
Hancock, General W. S., 223,
225, 230, 232, 234, 235, 238,
239, 242-244, 250, 263, 273.
Hardie, James A., 39, 125.
Hard Times Landing, 168.
Harney, General William S., 60.
Harper's Ferry, Va., 266. 267.
Haslett, Lieutenant, 72.
Hatchie, the battle of, 156.
Havens, Benny, 40.
Hayes, Ex-President, 293, 363.
Heiman, Fort, 105.
Herron, General, 183.
Hershberger, H. R., 28.
Hill, General A. P., 225, 231.
Hillyer, General, 147.
Hooker, General, 43, 158, 200,
2go.
Hoskins, Adjutant, 73.
Humphreys, General, 244, 245.
Hunt, General Henry L, 223.
Hunter, General David, 246,
259, 261, 263-266.
Hurlburt, General, 124, 126,
132, 146.
Island No. 10, 117, 124.
luka, battle of, 153.
Jack, Grant's war horse, 97.
Jackson captured, 173.
Jackson, "Stonewall," 43.
Jefferson Barracks, 74.
Jenkins, General, 233.
Jericho Ford, Va., 251.
Jetersville, Va., 277.
Jo Daviess County, 293.
Jo Daviess Guards, 81.
Johnson, Andrew, 287, 295.
Johnston, Albert Sidney, 50,
117, 125, 133, 138.
Johnston, General J. E., 44,
173, 218, 267.
INDEX.
387
Kautz, General, 242.
Kelley, General, 265.
Kelly's Ferry, 190.
Kendrick, Henry L., 39.
King Charles II, 3.
Lagow, Colonel, 147.
Lake Providence, 16S.
I^anman's brigade, III.
Lawlor's brigade, 174.
Ledlie's division, 270.
Lee, General Robert E., 9, 44,
50, 113, 151, 218, 234, 243,
244, 246, 251, 257, 258, 259,
268, 278.
Lee, Major Francis, 67.
Lee surrenders, 279.
Lee's last order, 285.
Leutze, artist, 207.
Lexington, gunboat, 130.
Lincoln, Abraham, 9, 79, Si, 8g,
•156, 159, 200, 205, 274, 275,
362.
Lincoln, Mrs. A., 286.
Lincoln's assassination, 286 ;
Godspeed letter, 226.
Logan, John A., 296.
Longstreet, General James, 29,
30, 44, 69, 192-194, 200, 225,
226, 229, 231, 233, 296, 362.
Lookout Mountain, 185, 186,
190, 199.
Loomis, John M., 201.
Losses in battle, 261.
Loveli, General, 154.
Lyon, General Nathaniel, 40,
86.
Mahan, Dennis, 36.
-Mansfield, General Tared, 50.
Marshall, Colonel Charles, 279,
285.
Mary and John, 2.
Matamoras, Mexico, 47, 48, 50.
Maverick and Warham, 2.
McArthur's brigade, 109.
McClellan, General G. B., 44,
59. 85, 86.
McClernand, General, 91, 93,
105. 106, 108, III, 124, 132,
144, 166.
McLean, Wilmer, 279, 284.
McMahon, Marshal, 277.
McPherson, General, 80, 127.
McKinley, President, 297.
McKinstry, Colonel, 203.
McKenzie, Samuel, 65.
Meade, General George G., 43,
53, 214, 222, 231, 236, 257,
262, 288.
Memphis smugglers, 150.
Memphis incident, 159.
Merritt, General, 236.
Memorial Day, 1896, 140.
Mexican vaquero, 71.
Mexico, city of, captured, 67.
Military Division, Mississippi,
214.
Military necessity, 151,
Milliken's Bend, 161, 166.
Mill Springs, battle of, 103.
Milton, John, 19.
Minot House, Dorchester, 4.
Missionary Ridge, 185, 186, 190,
200, 204.
Mississippi River, 160.
Mobile, attack on, 267.
Molino del Rey, 60, 64.
Moltke, Field- Marshal, 80. 364.
Monocacy, battle of, 264.
388
GENERAL GRANT.
Monterey, battle of, 51, 56.
Montezumas, Halls of, 68.
Montgomery County, Pa., 6.
Moore, Colonel, 128.
Morales, General, 57.
Morgan, Governor E. D., 83.
Morton, Governor, 83.
Mott's division, 239, 240, 243.
Murphy, Colonel R. C, 152, 161.
Napoleon, 80.
Napoleon and Nelson, 362.
Napoleon's first campaign, 182.
National Museum, Washington,
293-
Nelson, Admiral, 8, 126, 132,
142.
New Carthage, 166.
Newr Orleans, 267.
New York parades, 359.
Nineteenth Army Corps, 183.
"Old Brains," 144.
Old Cold Harbor, 256.
Oglesby, Richard, 92-94.
Opequan Creek, battle of, 267.
Orange Courthouse, 228.
Orchard Knob, 199, 200, 202.
Ord, General, 152, 154, 277, 279.
Osterhaus, General, 19S, 199.
Palo Alto, battle of, 48.
Parker, Colonel Ely S., 285.
Patterson, Robert, 57.
Pemberton, General, 67, 173,
174.
Pennsylvania Avenue, 287.
Petersburg, siege, 263, 273.
Petersburg, explosion, 272.
Pickett's division, 44, 250.
Pillow, General, 60, 65, 105,
109, 115.
Piney Branch Church, 236.
Pittsburg Landing, 124, 135.
Pleasanton, General Alfred, 31,
Plymouth, England, 2, 3.
Poinsett, Joel R., 20.
Point Isabel, Texas, 47, 48.
Point Pleasant, Ohio, 6.
Polk, General, 90, 97, 117, 124.
Pope, General, 88, 144, 151.
Quitman, General, 54, 67.
Rawlins, General John A., 81,
113, 147, 299.
Read, Colonel, 277.
Rebellion ended, 284.
Red River campaign, 220.
Resaca de la Palma, 48, 49.
Resumption Act, 1878, 308.
Reynolds, General Joseph J.,
28, 362.
Richmond, siege of, 263, 275.
Riflemen of Shiloh, 134.
Rockwell, Susannah, 4.
Rockwell, William, 4.
Rosecrans, General, 152, 154,
1S5.
Rowley, Colonel, 142.
Sackett's Harbor, 75.
San Cosmo Gate, 65.
San Domingo, 302, 304.
Santa Anna, General, 58.
Santo Domingo treaty, 300.
Savannah, Tenn., 123, 126, 130.
Schurz, General Carl, 302.
Scofield, General, 299.
Scott, General Winfield, 33, 37,
INDEX.
389
56, 57. 59. 62, 68, 208, 279,
2g2.
Scott, Sir Walter, 363.
Second Iowa Infantry, ill.
Second U. S. Dragoons, 47.
Second U. S. Infantry, 47.
Sedgwick, General John, 43,
223, 226, 236, 237.
Seventeenth Army Corps, 167.
Seward, Secretary, 286.
Shady Grove Church, 230.
Shenandoah Valley, 266.
Sheridan, General, 43, 45, 202,
203, 223, 236, 242, 253, 254,
261, 265, 266, 269, 276.
Sheridan's cavalry, 253-259.
Sherman, General W. T., 30, 43,
45, 99, 120, 124, 125, 128, 132,
139, 147, 159, 172, 190, 199,
203, 210, 214, 220, 245, 268,
273, 287, 288, 293.
Shewers, Susan, i.
Shiloh battlefield, 125.
Shiloh Battlefield Association,
140.
Shiloh, battle of, 128, 133, 142.
Shiloh cemetery, 139.
Shiloh Church, 125.
Shields, James, 62.
Sigel, General, 222, 246.
Simpson, Hannah, 6.
Simpson, John, 6.
Simpson, William, 6.
Sixth Corps, 264.
Smith, General Charles F., 59,
93, 103, 105, 106, 108, 109,
121, 123, 124.
Smith, General Kirby, 285.
Smith, Morgan L., 20I.
Smith, Sidney, 68.
Smith, General W. F., 254, 255,
257, 260, 263.
Spottsylvania, battle of, 243,
244.
Spottsylvania Courthouse, 235.
Southern Confederacy, 182.
Stanton, Edwin M., 85, 116,
184, 295, 296.
Stanton, victory at, 259,
Steele, General, 220, 267.
Stewart, Alexander T., 299.
Stiles, Dr. Henry R., 5.
Stokes, James H., 27.
Stone, General C. P., 183.
Stuart, General David, 125.
Stuart, General J. E. B., 225.
Subscription schools, 12.
Taylor, General Richard, 284.
Taylor, General Zachary, 17,
47. 48, 50, 51. 53. 56, 59. 72,
76.
Territt, Lieutenant, 56.
Texas comrades, 140.
Texas, surrender of, 63.
Thayer's brigade, 108.
Third United States Infantry,
55-
Thirteenth Army Corps, 167,
183.
Thomas, General George H.,
43, 102, 144, 185, 200.
Thompson, General Jeff., 89.
Tilghman, General, 91.
Tod, Governor David, 6.
Tod, Judge George, 6.
Todd's Tavern, 230, 235, 237-
239-
Tomb of Grant, 363.
Tomb of Napoleon, 363.
Hi
390
GENERAL GRANT.
Tomb of Scott, 363.
Tower, General Zealous B., 34,
35-
Townsend, Colonel E. D., 84.
Trevilian Station, Va., 263.
Trist, Nicholas B., 62, 63.
Turchin, General John B., 203.
Twenty-first Illinois Infantry,
85, 88.
Twiggs, General, 55, 57, 60.
Tyler, gunboat, 130.
Tyler, John, 46.
United States Military Acad-
emy, 21, 43, 44, 47. 84, 115.
120.
Upton, Colonel Emory, 240, 241.
Vancouver Island, 301.
Vandalia, U. S. steamer, 10.
Van Dorn, General, 125, 151,
153, T6r.
Vera Cruz captured, 57.
Vicksburg campaign, 160, 161.
Vicksburg, Miss., 157.
Vose, Colonel Joseph H., 46.
Wadsworth, General, 231, 232.
Waite, Chief-Justice, 305.
Wallace, General Lewis, 93,
105, 108, III, 124, 127, 132,
140, 264.
Wallace, (ieneral W. H. L.,
125, 128, 133.
Warren, General G. K., 223,
230, 232, 236, 237, 241, 244,
251, 252, 255, 257.
Washburn, General C. C, 160,
183.
Washburne, Elihu B., 82, 139.
299.
Washington, George, 21, 208.
Washington, Mary, 13.
Washington reviews, 287, 288.
Waterloo, battle of, 129, 139.
Weitzel, General Godfrey, 275.
Weldon Railroad captured, 268.
Wellington, Duke of, 129, 139.
Western Gibraltar, 102, 157.
Westmoreland County, Pa., 6.
Whisky Ring, 308.
White House, Va., 252, 254,
257-
White, John D., 16.
White, Rev. John, 3.
Wilcox, General, 200.
Wilderness, battle of, 229.
Williams, William S., 56.
Wilson, General, 236.
Wilson, Henry, 22, 304.
Wilson's cavalry, 229, 230.
Winchester, Va., 264, 270.
Windsor, Conn., 4.
Winthrop, Governor John, 3.
Wolfe, General James, 80.
Wood, General, 202, 203.
Worth, General, 52, 57, 59, 60,
67.
Wright, General H. G, 226,
240, 244, 251, 252, 254, 269.
Yates, Richard, 81, 82, 86, 290.
Yazoo River, 162.
York, Duke of, 23.
THE END.