USA > New Mexico > Men of our day; or, biographical sketches of patriots, orators, statemen, generals, reformers, financiers and merchants, now on the stage of action > Part 6
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GENERAL ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT.
large reinforcements, he proved true to his name, and on the 21st of November, 1863, sent this arrogant message to General Grant by flag of truce :
" Humanity would dictate the removal of all non-combatants from Chattanooga, as I am about to shell the city."
General Grant made no reply to the threat at the moment, but his answer was speedily returned, and proved so effectual, that Bragg gave up all idea of "shelling the city" from that time forward.
Sherman's Army of the Tennessee had been coming into the city and its vicinity, since the 15th of November, by roads which led to the rear, and hence had not been observed by Bragg's lookout ; and on the evening of the 23d of November, lay concealed above Chattanooga, on the north bank, and ready for the crossing. Then followed that admirably planned combi- nation of movements which reflected so much skill on Grant's strategic ability. General Thomas, with the Army of the Cumberland, marched out with all the order and stateliness of a grand review, and while the enemy looked on and wondered, seized Orchard Knob, their most advanced position, held and fortified it. Hooker, with his eastern troops, marching along the western flank of Lookout Mountain, suddenly climbed its steep sides, and rising from one elevation to another, drove the enemy up and over the crest of the mountain-the batteries echoing and reverberating among the mountains till, with the valleys below obscured by clouds and smoke, which did not rise to his own lofty position, he fought that battle above the clouds which has been so greatly celebrated ; and Sherman advancing, destroyed the railway, and captured, with but slight effort, the most advanced post of the enemy at the northeast. Such was the work of November 24th; that of November 25th was more serious, but crowned with perfect success. Hooker, descending
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from the eastern and less precipitous slope of Lookout Moun- tain, some distance below Chattanooga, pursued the flying rebels up to the crest of Mission Ridge, and drove them from Fort Bragg, the southernmost of their forts crossing the Ridge. Sherman, by persistent pounding and repeated assaults upon Fort Buckner, the northernmost of their forts, had succeeded in drawing a considerable portion of the garrison of the central fort, Fort Breckinridge, to the support of the Fort Buckner garrison, and when, at a little past three o'clock P. M., the signal guns sounded from Fort Wood, on Orchard Knob, the picked men of the Army of the Cumberland sprang to arms, climbed the precipitous sides of Mission Ridge, under a most terrific fire, swept through Fort Breckinridge, and drove the foe, pell mell, down the farther slope of the Ridge, and Sherman's men pos- sessed themselves quietly of the fort, against which they had flung themselves so fiercely all day. No more brilliant action occurred during the war; and when it was followed by a prompt pursuit of the enemy, and by sending Sherman with his wearied, but always obedient and victorious troops, to Knoxville, to compel Longstreet to raise the siege of that town, and to drive him among the mountains of western Virginia in midwinter, the admiration of the nation for Grant knew no bounds. The President but expressed the popular feeling, when he sent to the successful general the following telegraphic dispatch :
" WASHINGTON, DEC. 8, 1863. "MAJOR-GENERAL GRANT:
" Understanding 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 grati- tude-for the skill, courage, and perseverance with which you and they, over so great difficulties, have effected that important object. God bless you all !"
" A. LINCOLN."
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On the 17th of December, 1863, Congress by joint resolution tendered him the national gratitude and provided for the preparation of a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be presented to him in token of the national sense of his services. The Legislatures of the loyal States vied with each other in their resolutions of thanks and in their grants of funds, etc., while many private individuals added their gifts. The Senate at the beginning of its session had confirmed, almost by acclamation, the rank of major-general in the regular army which had been bestowed upon him by the President in the summer, his commission dating from July 4, 1863.
The recipient of these numerous honors seemed in no wise elated by them ; he was as simple and unpretending in his man- ners, as reticent on all political topics, and as averse to any thing looking like display, as when he was a farmer at St. Louis, or a clerk at Galena.
There was yet much to be done to bring his army at Chatta- nooga into good condition. His communications with his bases at Nashville and Louisville must be repaired and strengthened, his men better fed, supplies accumulated at Chattanooga and Nashville, for the campaigns in the not distant future in Georgia. In concert with his tried friend and trusty lieutenant, Sherman, he planned an expedition into the heart of the enemy's territory at Meridian, Mississippi, to be met by one from Memphis, down the Mobile and Ohio railroad, which, by thoroughly breaking their lines of communication, should cripple their movements in the future, and during the months of January, while General Sherman was completing the details of this enterprise, he visited and inspected in person all the posts and stations of his widely extended command. The Meridian expedition was but a partial success, owing to the failure of the cavalry portion of 4
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it to co-operate effectively ; but it seriously embarrassod the rebels in their subsequent operations.
While it was in progress, Major-General Grant was summoned to Washington, where he was called to assume new and still higher responsibilities. Congress had resolved to revive the grade of lieutenant-general, which had been borne as a full rank only by General Washington (General Scott's title being only by brevet); and a law to that effect having been passed, the President at once conferred the rank upon Major-General Grant and the Senate confirmed it. The commission bore the date of March 2d, 1864, and on the 9th of that month the President delivered it to him in person, accompanied by a brief address expressive of his own pleasure in doing him such an honor, and a word of monition as to the great responsibilities which it would devolve upon him. On the 12th of March, the President, by official order, invested the lieutenant-general with the com- mand of the armies of the United States; at the same time ap- pointing, at Lieutenant-General Grant's instance, Major-General W. T. Sherman, commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi ; General McPherson, commander of the Army of the Tennessee, and General Halleck, hitherto general in chief, chief of staff of the army, to reside in Washington.
The subsequent seven or eight weeks were busy ones for General Grant. The various commands of the army were to be visited, a simultaneous campaign for the two armies arranged with General Sherman, supplies collected and troops accumula- ted to a far greater extent than at any previous time; the army corps to be strengthened and some of them reorganized, and all preparations made for a campaign which should end only with the war. The armies of the eastern division, which were to operate against the rebel General Lee, he proposed to command in person; those of the west were to be directed by Major-
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General Sherman. His own especial command, as reorganized under his supervision. consisted of; first, the army of the Poto- mac, numbering in all 130,000 men, though at the commence- ment of the campaign, a part were not yet present; this was commanded by General George G. Meade, an able and experi- enced officer, and its corps commanders were Hancock, Warren, Sedgwick, and Burnside. It confronted Lee's army from the north side of the Rapidan. Second, the army of the James, consisting of about 30,000 troops, under the command of Major- General Butler, with General Gillmore as a subordinate; this was in a position to strike either at Richmond or Petersburg. Third, the army of the Shenandoah, under the command of Major-General Franz Sigel, then about 17,000 strong, but subse- quently increased by the addition of the nineteenth army corps, from the Department of the Gulf. Besides these there was a strong cavalry force, under the command of the young but efficient general, Philip H. Sheridan. The forward movement was made on the 4th of May, 1864, and resulted in the bloody but indecisive battles of the Wilderness, May 5 and 6, 1864, a for- ward movement by the left flank to Spottsylvania, and a series of battles there, May 8-21, hardly more decisive, and not less bloody than the preceding; another flank movement to and across the North Anna, and two days of hard fighting, May 21-25; a recrossing of the North Anna, a flanking of the enemy and crossing of the Pamunkey, and the battle of Tolopotomoy, May 28 and 29, and of Bethesda church, May 30. Another at- tempt to surprise the enemy by a flank movement, brought the two armies face to face at Cold Harbor, one of the battle grounds of 1862, but this time with the positions of the two armies re- versed.
Finding himself unable to gain the flank of Lee's army-that general moving on interior and shorter lines, and though with
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an inferior force, being fully his equal in military strategy -- Lieutenant-General Grant now took the resolution of throwing the Army of the Potomac south of the James, and assailing Petersburg and Richmond from that direction. His losses in this month of battles had been frightful, nearly 60,000 men being hors du combat, either among the slain, wounded, or pris- oners. He had inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, but they were not equal to his own, as their numbers were materially less; but, with that pertinacity and resolution which is so striking an element of his character, he would not relax his efforts in the least, and was determined to pound away upon his foes till he had ground them to powder. Crossing the James successfully, he commenced a series of assaults on Petersburg, but without any considerable success. The construction of siege lines around the city, to the east and south; the mining of one of its forts ; demonstrations alternately toward the Wel- don and the Southside railroads, followed; but with no con- siderable success. His cavalry, under Sheridan, Wilson, and Kautz, were kept actively employed in raids upon the enemy's lines of communication. The army of the Shenandoah had made lamentable failures under Sigel and Hunter, and their adversary, Early, had descended into Maryland, threatened Baltimore and Washington, and only been driven from the vicinity of the capital, by the hurried advance of troops from the Army of the Potomac and the Department of the Gulf. The Government, always in terror of attacks upon the capital, clamored loudly for protection ; but while General Grant would not farther weaken his force around Petersburg, he sent a man to command the Department of the Shenandoah, who was himself worth an army corps. General Sheridan, in a succession of well-planned and hard-fought battles, disposed of General Early, and subsequently raided through the whole Shenandoah and
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Luray valleys, laying them desolate, for the aid, shelter and support they had given to the bands of guerrillas. The autumn and early winter was consumed in attempts to cut the lines of communication from the west and southwest of Petersburg and Richmond, by which the rebel armies were supplied. The Virginia and Tennessee road was destroyed by Gillem and Stoneman; the Manassas and Lynchburg roads, the James River canal and the slackwater navigation broken up, and the sup- plies in the warehouses destroyed by Sheridan; and at each effort along Hatcher's Run some ground was gained, and a nearer approach made to the only artery of communication which remained, the Southside railroad. This was accom- plished at a heavy cost of life, but there was an advance which betokened the speedy coming of the end.
Meantime, Admiral Farragut had, in the grandest of naval battles, defeated the squadron and captured the forts which defended Mobile Bay; Sherman had, after a campaign of great se- verity, captured Atlanta, and partially destroyed it-had moved onward, with his vast columns, to the sea-had captured Savan- nah-and, turning northward, had swept, as with the besom of destruction, South Carolina, compelling the surrender of Charles- ton, and the other principal towns of South and North Caro- lina ; the forts which had protected the harbor of Wilmington, North Carolina, had succumbed, on a second attack, to the prowess of Admiral Porter and General Terry-and Wilming- ton itself had fallen before Terry and Schofield; General Thomas had driven Hood out of Tennessee, with such terrible slaughter that he could not assemble another army.
All things portended the speedy collapse of this formidable rebellion. Grant now moved forward; and after some hard fighting, Sheridan, under his direction, carried the strong po- sition of Five Forks, and drove those of the enemy who were
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not slain or captured, westward, where they could not aid in continuing the defence of Lee's already weakened lines. April 2d, 1865, the line of the Southside railroad was thoroughly broken ; April 3d, the cities of Petersburg and Richmond were evacuated and surrendered. The flying rebel army, bereft of supplies, hungry and despairing, were pursued unremittingly ; and on the 9th of April, General Lee surrendered to General Grant the remnant of the Army of Virginia. Then came the entrance into Richmond ; the President's visit there ; and the sad scene of the assassination of the President, whose fate General Grant only escaped by the providence of God, which called him suddenly to Philadelphia that night. The news of the proposed terms of capitulation offered to Johnston by General Sherman, coming just at this juncture, roused, on the part of the Government, such strong disapproval, that General Grant immediately went to Raleigh, and by wise and adroit management saved his friend from disgrace, and the country from any evils which might have resulted from Sherman's terms.
The speedy end of the war ensued, and General Grant's duties thenceforward were rather administrative than military. He made a tour through the Southern States in 1865, and sub- seqently flying visits to the northern cities. The gratitude of the people for his eminent services followed him. A residence was presented to him at Galena, another in Philadelphia, and another still in Washington. The merchants of New York raised a hundred thousand dollars as an indication of their sense of his great services to the country. On the 25th of July, 1866, Congress created the grade of full general, hitherto unknown to our country, and stipulating that it should lapse after his death or resignation of it, conferred it upon him. In the summer of 1866, by express command of the President, General Grant ac-
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companied him in his western tour; but he sought in vain to commit him to any approval of his cause and policy. Subse- quently, in August, 1867, when Mr. Johnson's long and ill-dis- guised hatred of the Secretary of War broke out into hostility, and he demanded Mr. Stanton's resignation, on the refusal of that officer to resign, Mr. Johnson suspended him from office and appointed General Grant Secretary ad interim. The general accepted the position, managed the office wisely and well, and when the Senate decided that Mr. Stanton's removal was un- justifiable, surrendered it at once to the Secretary. This act excited Mr. Johnson's anger, and he sought, in a series of letters, but with his usual ill-success, to fasten upon the general charges of insincerity, inveracity, and treachery.
General Grant is not and has never professed to be a politi- cian. He is not an ambitious man, and in one whom the politi- cians find it very hard to use; for, though he has very clear and well defined opinions on the political questions of the day, he is extremely reticent and has a way of baffling all attempts to maintain a political conversation with him, which almost drives the newspaper correspondents mad. That he favors the reconstruction policy of Congress, thinks the colored population of the reconstructed States should enjoy the privilege of suffrage, and all other political rights to which the whites are entitled, is we suppose, no secret.
He is the favorite candidate of the Republican party for the Presidency, and yet though in thorough sympathy with that party, he has never sought the nomination for that great office, or in any way manifested the slightest pleasure at the idea of receiving it. His sound judgment of character, his remarkable skill in always putting "the right man in the right place," his superior administrative talents, and his calm and cool tempera-
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ment eminently fit him for a station of such responsibility and trial.
In person, General Grant is somewhat below the common height, neither spare nor stout; of great powers of endurance, and of uniformly good health. He is a great smoker, likes a game of billiards, and now as in boyhood, delights in a good horse. He is strictly temperate,* quiet, sedate, and reticent ;
* Great efforts have been made to fasten upon the general, the charge of frequent or habitual drunkenness ; and the President is said to have charged that he was intoxicated most of the time during their journey to Chicago, commonly known as Mr. Johnson's " swinging round the circle." We have the strongest evidence that these reports are false, and in some instances they were undoubtedly prompted by malice. We have alluded to the fact that, while in the army in California and Oregon, he did drink freely. But on his return to the States, he abandoned this habit, and the testimony of his classmates and friends, Coppée, Buell, Reynolds, of his venerable father, of Hon. E. B. Washburne, and Hon. Henry Wilson, is perfectly conclusive as to the fact that he has never resumed the practice of indulging in intoxicating drinks.
The following incidents, which appeared in the "The Nation," may serve to show on what insufficient and erroneous grounds these reports are often based. Mr. Olmstead and Rev. Mr. Knapp were, at the time referred, to Sec- retary and Assistant-Secretary of the United States Sanitary Commission :
"To the Editor of the Nation :-
"One day, in the spring of 1863, Mr. Frederick Knapp and myself were the guests of General Grant, at his headquarters, on a steamboat lying at Milliken's Bend, a few miles above Vicksburg. A curtain had been hung in such a way as to give a certain degree of seclusion to the after-part of the main cabin, and when we rose from dinner we were asked to sit with the general behind the screen, where there was a writing table with pitcher and glasses. The general then told us that he had a few hours before received unfavorable intelligence from General Sherman's expedition up the Sunflower. Inviting our inquiries, and replying to all we thought it proper to make, with an unexpectedly generous freedom and painstaking
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likes simple ways, and simple food; abhors ostentation; can converse well and clearly, but prefers to listen rather than to
thoroughiness of explanation, he was gradually led into a comprehensive review of the existing conditions of his campaign, which it was easy to see were of the very gravest character. We were impressed as much by the remarkably methodical clearness of the narration as by the simple candor and ingenuousness with which it was given to us who, the day before, had been strangers to him. He took up several hypotheses and suggestions, and analyzed them in such a way as to make prominent the uncertainties and uncontrollable elements which were involved in them, and I could not bnt think, so musing and quietly reflective was his mannner, and yet so exact and well arranged his expressions, that he was simply repeating a process of " thinking it out," in order to assure himself that he fully comprehended and gave just weight to all the important elements of some grand military problem, the solution of which he was about to undertake.
" (The last attempt to attack Vicksburg on the north ended that day, and a few days after our interview the first step was taken looking toward the approach from the south ; but of this no hint was given us, and we only heard of it the next morning.)
" All at once he stopped short, and, with an expression of surprise, if not of distress, put his cigar away, rose, and moved his chair aside. A moment before, we could not have imagined that there was a woman within many miles of us ; but, turning my eyes, I saw one who had just parted the screen, comely, well dressed, and with the air and manner of a gentlewoman. She had just arrived by a steamboat from Memphis, and came to present General Grant with a memorial or petition. In a few words she made known her purpose, and offered to give in detail certain facts, of which she stated she was cognizant, bearing upon her object. The general stood listening to her in an attitude of the most deferential attention, his hand still npon his chair, which was half in front of him as he turned to face her, and slightly nodding his head as an expression of assent to almost every sentence she uttered. When she had completed her statement, he said, speaking very low and with an appearance of reluctance : 'I shall be compelled to consult my medical director, and to obtain a report from him before I can meet your wishes. If agreeable to you, I will ask him to call upon you to-morrow ; shall I say at 11 o'clock?' The lady bowed and
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speak. He is a firm and enduring friend, and not a bitter or vindictive enemy. Few men are more free from envy or jeal-
withdrew; the general took a long breath, resumed his cigar and his seat, said that he was inclined to think her proposition a reasonable and humane one, and then went on with the interrupted review.
"A week or two after this, having gone up the river, Mr. Knapp met this lady at a hotel, when, in the course of a conversation, she referred with much sadness to the deplorable habits of General Grant, and the hopeless- ness of success while our army was commanded by a man so unfit to be charged with any grave responsibility. Mr. Knapp replied that he had the best reason for stating that the reports to which she referred were with- out foundation, and proceeded to give her certain exact information of which he happened to be possessed, which, as far as possible, refuted them. ' Unfortunately,' said the lady, ' I have certain knowledge that they are but too true.' She then described her recent interview with General Grant, and it appeared that, from her point of view, the general was en- gaged in a carouse with one or two boon companions when she came un- expectedly upon him; that he rose to his feet with difficulty, could not stand without staggering, and was obliged to support himself with a chair ; that he was evidently conscious that he was in an unfit condition to attend to business, and wanted to put her off till the next day ; that his voice was thick, he spoke incoherently, and she was so much shocked that she was obliged to withdraw almost immediately. The next day, being ashamed to see her himself, he sent his doctor to find out what she wanted.
"Mr. Knapp then told her that, having been one of the boon companions whom she had observed with the general on that occasion, and that having dined with him, and been face to face with him for fully three hours, he not only knew that he was under the influence of no drink stronger than the unqualified mud of the Mississippi, but he could assure her that he had never seen a man who appeared to him more thoroughly sober and clear-headed than General Grant at the moment of her entrance.
" Notwithstanding his assurances, the lady repeated that she could not doubt the evidence of her own senses, and I suppose that to this day, Mr. Knapp and myself rank equally with General Grant, in her mind, as con- firmed drunkards.
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ousy ; the promotion and advancement of others, even when it seemed an implied censure on himself, he has always most cor dially approved. He is not a man of genius, and in his military
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" This experience is by no means a unique one, and the zealous devotion with which I have often heard both men and women undermining the character of others for temperance, on equally slight grounds, has often led me to question if there are not vices in our society more destructive to sound judgment and honest courses than that of habitual overdrinking. "Yours, respectfully, FRED. LAW OLMSTED."
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