August 19, 2025 • 26 mins
Discover the remarkable life of Ulysses S. Grant, the celebrated Union hero of the Civil War and the 18th President of the United States. This engaging biography, presented in a concise 145-page pamphlet, offers a fascinating glimpse into the life of a man who shaped American history. Though the author is renowned for his captivating tales of the Old West, he also crafted a significant body of nonfiction that reveals much about Grants legacy. (Summary by David Wales)
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section four of Ulysses S. Grant by Owen Wister. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain, Chapter five, part one.
On Friday April twelfth, eighteen sixty one, news reached Galena
that South Carolina had fired upon Fort Sumter. On Monday
(00:22):
came tidings of its capture. On Tuesday, there was a
town meeting with a slippery mare. But two spirits of
a different quality spoke out. Washburn said, any man who
will try to stir party prejudices at such a time
as this is a traitor. Rawlins ended his fervent speech,
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we will stand by the flag of our country and
appeal to the God of battles. These two names must
always be joined with Grant's fortunes, and this was the
first night of their common cause. Washburn in Congress became
Grant's good angel against the public, and Rawlins in Grant's
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tent was his good angel against temptation. John A. Rawlins
farmer charcoal burner, self educated lawyer, Swarthy rough hewn passionate.
As mister Garland writes of him in later years, Grant said,
I always disliked to hear anybody swear, except Rawlin's it
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was over Grant's whisky that many of these oaths were raised.
And though we have heard much about the glasses which
he drank, we shall never know the tale of those
which he escaped drinking. Thanks to his friend, Grant kept
Rawlins close to him throughout the war and after it,
as long as he lived. His loss was sorrowful and irreparable.
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At the end of the town meeting, Grant told his
brother that he thought he ought to go in to
the service. On Thursday, he found himself chairman of a
meeting to raise volunteers. After his first few words of embarrassment,
he made himself plain enough, though an abolitionist by no means,
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he says in a letter to his father in law,
at this time in all this I can see but
the doom of slavery. Believing he could better serve his
state at Springfield, he declined the captaincy of a volunteer company,
but helped them form and drill, and went with them
to Springfield on the same train. But though Washburn's belief
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in him was already considerable, his influence for a while
wrought nothing in the chaos of intrigues and appointments. As
the French Colonel Zabed vividly describes this period in our country.
Never were commanders of such high rank created with more
rapidity and less discernment. Those who had some knowledge of
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the art of war as well as those who were
ignorant of its first principles. Well educated and intelligent men,
together with men totally illiterate and vulgar, all received their
stars with an equal facility, and all alike believed themselves
capable of leading to victory. Nor is this a supercilious
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European view. When the baggage animals were starving at Chattanooga,
Lincoln complained, I can make a brigadier general any day
I like. But these mules cost a hundred and fifty
dollars apiece. In the vast shuffle and ferment, then how
should poor silent, unshowy Grant not be lost? The marvel
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is that he was found so soon. It all seems
as casual as fate tired of waiting. Though Washburn counseled patients,
he was about to return to Gallena when he was
taken into the Adjunant General's office, and for a while
he sat in a corner filling blanks with such ease
and naturalness that nobody noticed. It was well done. Next
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he was sent for a few days to Camp Yates
while the commandant was absent. Force was felt in him here,
and he was one of the five officers appointed to
muster in ten regiments at Matoon. It was called Camp Grant.
But none of this led to anything. He wrote to
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his father, I might have got the colonelcy of a regiment, possibly,
but I was perfectly sick of the political wire pulling
for all these commissions and would not engage in it.
While mustering, he had a few idle days to wait, and,
finding himself near Saint Louis, waited there. The town was
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a pot of conspiracy. Clayborne Jackson, the governor, with a
Union mask gone, was stealing troops and arms for secession.
Francis Blair and Nathaniel Lyon, two most competent patriots, watched
him through his mask. At the right moment they captured
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his entire camp. A rebel flag which had been flying
in Saint Louis, then came down to stay down. Grant
looked on at this, and, presently entering a street car,
was addressed by a youth in words that may be
dwelt upon the mouth of Ireland, never uttered a bull
more perfect secession, never drew its own portrait with a
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straighter stroke. The profound self contradiction between the youth's two
sentences has placed him in history. Things have come to
a damned pretty pass, said he, when a free people
can't choose their own flag where I came from. If
a man dares to say a word in favor of
the Union, we hang him to a limb of the
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first tree we come to. In Grant's reply, the spirit
of the Union is likewise drawn. After all, we are
not so intolerant in Saint Louis as we might be.
I have not seen a single rebel hung yet, nor
heard of one. There are plenty of them who ought
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to be. However, he next wrote from home to Washington,
offering his services, and with some hesitation, saying that he
felt himself competent to command a regiment. No answer came.
He went to Cincinnati to see General mc clellan, but
failing twice, gave this up too. Of his enforced idleness,
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he writes May thirty, during the six days I have
been at home, I have felt all the time as
if a duty was being neglected. That was paramount to
any other duty I ever owed. But now the troops
of the twenty first Illinois had become insubordinate. It was
a regiment which he had mustered at matoon, and it
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would appear that the officers, dissatisfied with their colonel, had
spoken to the governor of Grant. The governor seems to
have been puzzled. Meeting a book keeper from the Gallinas store,
he said, of what kind of a man is this,
Captain Grant. He declined my offer to recommend him to
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Washington for a brigadier generalship, saying it in want office
till he had earned it. And the bookkeeper replied, ask
him no questions, but simply order him to duty. On
the day when through a friend's offices, Grant had received
the commission of colonel of an Ohio regiment, Governor Yates
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telegraphed him his appointment as colonel of the twenty first Illinois,
and this he chose and went to Springfield. There is
a story that he was introduced to his command by
two orators, who both burst into eloquence and rhapsodized for
some time. His turn came, and much was expected from him.
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But his speech was this, men, go to your quarters.
They presently discovered that they had a colonel, although the
colonel had no uniform, being obliged to go home and
borrow three hundred dollars to buy him horse and equipments.
This regiment had volunteered for thirty days, but after listening
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to mclernand's and Logan's patriotic addresses, Grant relates that they
entered the United States service. Almost to a man, he
does not say that a month later in Missouri, when
these same men, whom he had severely disciplined, heard that
he was likely to be promoted, they requested to be
attached to his command. He wrote his father this, but
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he adds that he does not wish it read to
the others, for I very much dislike speaking of myself.
His men did not know his feelings. As he drew
near what he thought was to be his first engagement,
he writes, as we approached the brow of the hill,
from which it was expected we would see Harris's camp
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and possibly find his men ready to meet us, my
heart kept getting higher and higher, until it felt to
me as though it was in my throat. But the
troops were gone, my heart resumed its place. It occurred
to me that Harris had been as much afraid of
me as I had been of him. From that event
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to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation
upon confronting an enemy, though I always felt more or
less anxiety. The lesson was valuable. Not much happened to
Grant and Missouri, and he took occasion to rub up
his tactics. I do not believe he says that the
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officers of the regiment ever discovered that I had never
studied the tactics that I used. Very likely the officers
did not. But at Shiloh the enemy discovered that no
earthworks had been thrown up. Somewhat later than this, Missouri time,
a young associate of Grant's, who perhaps plumed himself a
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little upon his military reading, asked the general something about
Yeomeny's book. Grant replied, with a tinge of impatience, that
he had read Geomeny without much attention, and then he added,
the art of war is simple enough. Find out where
your enemy is, get at him as soon as you can,
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strike at him, as hard as you can and as
often as you can, and keep moving on. In this
compact summary speak the master mind. But the enemy got
at Grant at Shiloh, and a little Germany would have
helped there. Before the Battle of the Wilderness, he is
said to have exclaimed to me, Oh, I never maneuver,
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And it is said that his library contained not a
single military work. Grant's master mind undoubtedly did learn as
he went on. But if books had taught him more
of the experience of the world's generals, he would not
have had to acquire so much himself at the cost
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of thousands of lives. Sherman's own letter to Grant March tenth,
eighteen sixty four hints this, but with the indulgent voice
of friendship. My only points of doubt were as to
your knowledge of grand strategy and of books of science
and history. But I confess your common sense seems to
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have supplied all this. There seems no doubt that Grant
possessed grand strategy, and none that his tactics remained weak
to the end. Common sense, indeed, was his great weapon,
and with this finally came the power of grasping a
vast conflict of simultaneous facts and instantly forming the right
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judgment of what he must do. Those who saw him
for the first time must have been amazed to learn
the story of the thirteen Torpid years. He supervised, the rations,
the equipment, the transportation. There was not a material need
or detail that he did not thoroughly foresee and attend to.
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An officer serving under him, wrote back to Gallina, this
man is the pure gold. As the stress of experience
and responsibility roused him more and more, his brain took
in his command like a great multiplication table, from the
efficiency of the private as a unit, how much he
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must eat, how far he could march, what load he
could carry, He reckoned and combined, and so knew what
aggressive strength he had or should want at any given time,
expressed so to speak, in foot pounds of soldiers. Upon
this material side, the Mexican War was a great help
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to him. And upon quite another side, he has the
following to say, all the older officers who became conspicuous
in the rebellion I had also served with and known
in Mexico. The acquaintance thus formed was of immense service
to me in the war of the rebellion. I mean
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what I learned of the characters of those to whom
I was afterwards opposed. The natural disposition of most people
is to clothe the commander of a large army whom
they do not know, with almost suit super human abilities.
A large part of the National Army, for instance, and
most of the press of the country, clothed General Lee
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with just such qualities. But I had known him personally
and knew that he was mortal, and it was just
as well that I felt this at this early time. However,
Grant thought the war would be of short duration, and
Lee was a long way from his presentiments. On August seventh,
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eighteen sixty one, while still in southeastern Missouri, he was
made brigadier general, to his own great surprise of his
methods of discipline. Soon after this appointment, a singular story
is told. The command was marching and food was scarce.
A lieutenant with an advanced guard reached a farmhouse, and,
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upon informing its mistress that he was General Grant and
was hungry, received a precipitate and copious mess, and went
on much comforted. Presently, Grant himself rode to the same
door and asked for food. General Grant has just left here,
he was told, and has eaten everything. Um, said Grant,
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everything a pie did remain, and for this the General
gave the woman fifty cents, requesting her to keep it
until called for Riding on to camp, he ordered grand
parade at once, and to the astonished assembly, the acting
Assistant Adjutant General read the following order. Lieutenant W of
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the Indiana Cavalry, having on this day eaten everything in
Missus Salvage's house at the crossing of the Ironton and
Pocahontas and Black River and Cape Girardeau roads, except one
pumpkin pie. Lieutenant W is hereby ordered to return with
an s scort of one hundred cavalry and eat that pie. Also,
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whether authentic or not, the story is very like Grant
in several ways. The lieutenant could have been, with propriety
severely punished for personating his commander. This method, however, achieved
its purpose thoroughly. On the other hand, it may be
doubted if General Lee would have chosen it. There is
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great difference between native refinement, which Grant had and good taste,
which he had not. Insubordination, however, whether in men or officers,
was neither the only nor the chief trouble which met
the new brigadier general. It was something moreover with which
he could cope so well that he was steadily gaining
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not only the obedience but the regard of his command.
Another thing there was against which he was quite powerless.
His wherey quartermasterly eye watched a ring of contractors in
Saint Louis too closely for their convenience. They could do
what they liked with the feudal Fremont now in command
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of the department. But Grant spoiled their plans, and they
accordingly revived the story of his drinking by order of
his surgeon. He had taken some whisky, and that was
the whole of it. But it was enough. General Prentiss,
a little jealous about rank, departed from Grant's jurisdiction, saying
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I will not serve under a drunkard. The slander reached
Washburn through the newspapers, and he, his faith in Grant,
already great but not yet impregnable, as it soon became,
wrote to Rawlins. Rawlins answered, explaining that the surgeon had
prescribed whisky for an attack of agu and added that
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much as he loved Grant, he loved his country more,
and if at any time from any cause he should
see his chief unfit for the position he occupied, he
should deem it his duty to report the fact at
once before mailing the letter, continues Richardson. He handed it
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to Grant, the general, who had suffered keenly from these reports,
read it with such feeling, and said emphatically, yes, that's right,
exactly right. Send it by all means. It is a
creditable story to every one except Prentice and the contractors.
And it reveals rawlins in a bright light. No wonder
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Grant let him swear whenever he wanted. For a little
while Grant was ordered about hither and thither in Missouri.
But there is nothing decisive to record until soon after
being assigned the command of the District of Southeast Missouri,
he took up his headquarters at Caro on September four.
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Here he stands upon the threshold of his fame. So
unpretending a figure does he make that a first sight
of him perplexes and discourages each newcomer. Twelve weeks ago
he had been nothing. Then he was made a colonel.
Now he was a brigadier general of volunteers. One summer
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had done this, but it had done as much for
half a hundred others. So here was quite a large
company with even chances. But chance and the man are
rare comrades. Like many, he had expected this war to
be a smaller thing than our campaign in Mexico. That
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was twenty six months, its losses about a thousand lives
a month, Its cost one hundred and sixty million. The
rebellion lasted forty eight months. It was a battle ground
somewhat larger than England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain and
Portugal put together. There were eighteen hundred and eighty two
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fights where at least one regiment was engaged, and certain
battles where some hundred and fifty thousand men were engaged.
The losses in its four years came to seven hundred
lives a day. The cost of it was three billion,
four hundred million, or about two and a half million
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dollars a day. Mister Saintsbury, the eminent English critic, has
called this a parochial disturbance. Wolsey, the conspicuous English general,
has said that an army of fifty thousand trained soldiers
could have ended the matter in six months. But this
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military man at that time had not suppressed the Boers.
Such utterances are, of course merely the voice of English petulance.
That our house, when divided against itself, did not fall united.
We were a disagreeable competitor for England. Moreover, the Union's
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triumph might affect England's getting southern cotton. It was feared,
And in Lord Russell's evasions over the Declaration of Paris,
and in the sailing of the Alabama, and in the
welcome which London gave Benjamin of Davis's cabinet when he
came there to live after the war, England's hostile undertone
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to the Union speaks out plainly. We had friends there,
the Prince Consort and through him the Queen John Bright
and the Manchester Men. But the rank and file of
the aristocracy were full of virtuous rage at our presuming
to be a great nation. No more than grant does
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Jefferson Davis seem to have looked for a grave struggle.
He and the few leaders who took the South into
secession managed to make it believe that one Southerner was
equal to five Yankees. And Davis made a speech in
which he announced that he was ready to drink every
drop of blood shed south of Mason and Dixon's line.
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This line across our country was quite seriously thought by
secessionists to divide all Americans geographically into heroes and cowards.
This tribomania was very naturally heightened by the performances of
Generals Butler and Shank, and the rout of bull Run.
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In the east. The Union cause looked dark enough when
light unexpectedly came from the west. General Grant stands the
central figure in that light. To follow him, a survey
of the country must be taken through the gallant Lion
and Blair and Curtis and Pope. Secession presently lost Missouri.
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This may safe Illinois across the river for all east
from there was Union to the Atlantic, but just south
came doubtful Kentucky, and south of that was Confederate Tennessee,
and from there to the Gulf and east and west
was all secession. Kentucky then was the first point after
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that the Great River, the Highway, whose gates were closed,
and which ran between the banks of Secession all the
way to New Orleans and the Gulf. Now Kentucky, like Missouri,
had loyal citizens, but a secession governor, and it was
the part of the South to secure this state if possible.
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But no sooner did General Polk, with that aim move
upon Columbus on the river, thus threatening Caro, than Grant
secured Caro himself. The Mississippi was closed from Columbus down.
If Polk should get Paducah, the Ohio would be locked
up too. Grant saw this and telegraphing the futile Fremont.
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I am nearly ready to go to Paducah, and shall start,
should not a telegram arrive preventing the movement, waited until
night and went. He took Paducah without firing a gun.
Through his prompt sagacity, the Ohio was locked against Polk.
He now wanted to keep moving according to his view
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of war, but Fremont could not see that Columbus should
be taken, and Polk was allowed to fortify there and
to send some forces against a Union command in Missouri.
On November five, Grant wrote to C. S. Smith, who
was holding the mouth of the Cumberland, the principal point
to gain is to prevent the enemy from sending a
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force in the rear of those now out of his command. Accordingly,
two days after Grant steamed down the river in the morning,
upon on Belmont on the west bank, and retreated up
the river again. In the evening. He had surprised and
destroyed the enemy's camp, but Polk crossed with reinforcements from Columbus, and,
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regaining the field, drove him from it with a loss
of five hundred men. Grant was the last on the transport,
riding his horse aboard on a plank pushed out for him.
In his plain dress, he looked like a private. There's
a Yankee if he'll want a shot, said Polk to
his men, But they busy firing at the crowded boats.
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Thought one shabby soldier, too poor a mark. Belmont was
a defeat, but one of those which are successes, just
as there are victories which are failures. It accomplished its object.
Polk did not send the troops into Missouri as he intended.
He kept them at hand against further surprises. End of
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Chapter five, Part one,
Section four of Ulysses S. Grant by Owen Wister. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain, Chapter five, part one.
On Friday April twelfth, eighteen sixty one, news reached Galena
that South Carolina had fired upon Fort Sumter. On Monday
(00:22):
came tidings of its capture. On Tuesday, there was a
town meeting with a slippery mare. But two spirits of
a different quality spoke out. Washburn said, any man who
will try to stir party prejudices at such a time
as this is a traitor. Rawlins ended his fervent speech,
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we will stand by the flag of our country and
appeal to the God of battles. These two names must
always be joined with Grant's fortunes, and this was the
first night of their common cause. Washburn in Congress became
Grant's good angel against the public, and Rawlins in Grant's
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tent was his good angel against temptation. John A. Rawlins
farmer charcoal burner, self educated lawyer, Swarthy rough hewn passionate.
As mister Garland writes of him in later years, Grant said,
I always disliked to hear anybody swear, except Rawlin's it
(01:29):
was over Grant's whisky that many of these oaths were raised.
And though we have heard much about the glasses which
he drank, we shall never know the tale of those
which he escaped drinking. Thanks to his friend, Grant kept
Rawlins close to him throughout the war and after it,
as long as he lived. His loss was sorrowful and irreparable.
(01:54):
At the end of the town meeting, Grant told his
brother that he thought he ought to go in to
the service. On Thursday, he found himself chairman of a
meeting to raise volunteers. After his first few words of embarrassment,
he made himself plain enough, though an abolitionist by no means,
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he says in a letter to his father in law,
at this time in all this I can see but
the doom of slavery. Believing he could better serve his
state at Springfield, he declined the captaincy of a volunteer company,
but helped them form and drill, and went with them
to Springfield on the same train. But though Washburn's belief
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in him was already considerable, his influence for a while
wrought nothing in the chaos of intrigues and appointments. As
the French Colonel Zabed vividly describes this period in our country.
Never were commanders of such high rank created with more
rapidity and less discernment. Those who had some knowledge of
(03:02):
the art of war as well as those who were
ignorant of its first principles. Well educated and intelligent men,
together with men totally illiterate and vulgar, all received their
stars with an equal facility, and all alike believed themselves
capable of leading to victory. Nor is this a supercilious
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European view. When the baggage animals were starving at Chattanooga,
Lincoln complained, I can make a brigadier general any day
I like. But these mules cost a hundred and fifty
dollars apiece. In the vast shuffle and ferment, then how
should poor silent, unshowy Grant not be lost? The marvel
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is that he was found so soon. It all seems
as casual as fate tired of waiting. Though Washburn counseled patients,
he was about to return to Gallena when he was
taken into the Adjunant General's office, and for a while
he sat in a corner filling blanks with such ease
and naturalness that nobody noticed. It was well done. Next
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he was sent for a few days to Camp Yates
while the commandant was absent. Force was felt in him here,
and he was one of the five officers appointed to
muster in ten regiments at Matoon. It was called Camp Grant.
But none of this led to anything. He wrote to
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his father, I might have got the colonelcy of a regiment, possibly,
but I was perfectly sick of the political wire pulling
for all these commissions and would not engage in it.
While mustering, he had a few idle days to wait, and,
finding himself near Saint Louis, waited there. The town was
(04:54):
a pot of conspiracy. Clayborne Jackson, the governor, with a
Union mask gone, was stealing troops and arms for secession.
Francis Blair and Nathaniel Lyon, two most competent patriots, watched
him through his mask. At the right moment they captured
(05:14):
his entire camp. A rebel flag which had been flying
in Saint Louis, then came down to stay down. Grant
looked on at this, and, presently entering a street car,
was addressed by a youth in words that may be
dwelt upon the mouth of Ireland, never uttered a bull
more perfect secession, never drew its own portrait with a
(05:38):
straighter stroke. The profound self contradiction between the youth's two
sentences has placed him in history. Things have come to
a damned pretty pass, said he, when a free people
can't choose their own flag where I came from. If
a man dares to say a word in favor of
the Union, we hang him to a limb of the
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first tree we come to. In Grant's reply, the spirit
of the Union is likewise drawn. After all, we are
not so intolerant in Saint Louis as we might be.
I have not seen a single rebel hung yet, nor
heard of one. There are plenty of them who ought
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to be. However, he next wrote from home to Washington,
offering his services, and with some hesitation, saying that he
felt himself competent to command a regiment. No answer came.
He went to Cincinnati to see General mc clellan, but
failing twice, gave this up too. Of his enforced idleness,
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he writes May thirty, during the six days I have
been at home, I have felt all the time as
if a duty was being neglected. That was paramount to
any other duty I ever owed. But now the troops
of the twenty first Illinois had become insubordinate. It was
a regiment which he had mustered at matoon, and it
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would appear that the officers, dissatisfied with their colonel, had
spoken to the governor of Grant. The governor seems to
have been puzzled. Meeting a book keeper from the Gallinas store,
he said, of what kind of a man is this,
Captain Grant. He declined my offer to recommend him to
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Washington for a brigadier generalship, saying it in want office
till he had earned it. And the bookkeeper replied, ask
him no questions, but simply order him to duty. On
the day when through a friend's offices, Grant had received
the commission of colonel of an Ohio regiment, Governor Yates
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telegraphed him his appointment as colonel of the twenty first Illinois,
and this he chose and went to Springfield. There is
a story that he was introduced to his command by
two orators, who both burst into eloquence and rhapsodized for
some time. His turn came, and much was expected from him.
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But his speech was this, men, go to your quarters.
They presently discovered that they had a colonel, although the
colonel had no uniform, being obliged to go home and
borrow three hundred dollars to buy him horse and equipments.
This regiment had volunteered for thirty days, but after listening
(08:38):
to mclernand's and Logan's patriotic addresses, Grant relates that they
entered the United States service. Almost to a man, he
does not say that a month later in Missouri, when
these same men, whom he had severely disciplined, heard that
he was likely to be promoted, they requested to be
attached to his command. He wrote his father this, but
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he adds that he does not wish it read to
the others, for I very much dislike speaking of myself.
His men did not know his feelings. As he drew
near what he thought was to be his first engagement,
he writes, as we approached the brow of the hill,
from which it was expected we would see Harris's camp
(09:23):
and possibly find his men ready to meet us, my
heart kept getting higher and higher, until it felt to
me as though it was in my throat. But the
troops were gone, my heart resumed its place. It occurred
to me that Harris had been as much afraid of
me as I had been of him. From that event
(09:46):
to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation
upon confronting an enemy, though I always felt more or
less anxiety. The lesson was valuable. Not much happened to
Grant and Missouri, and he took occasion to rub up
his tactics. I do not believe he says that the
(10:08):
officers of the regiment ever discovered that I had never
studied the tactics that I used. Very likely the officers
did not. But at Shiloh the enemy discovered that no
earthworks had been thrown up. Somewhat later than this, Missouri time,
a young associate of Grant's, who perhaps plumed himself a
(10:29):
little upon his military reading, asked the general something about
Yeomeny's book. Grant replied, with a tinge of impatience, that
he had read Geomeny without much attention, and then he added,
the art of war is simple enough. Find out where
your enemy is, get at him as soon as you can,
(10:50):
strike at him, as hard as you can and as
often as you can, and keep moving on. In this
compact summary speak the master mind. But the enemy got
at Grant at Shiloh, and a little Germany would have
helped there. Before the Battle of the Wilderness, he is
said to have exclaimed to me, Oh, I never maneuver,
(11:15):
And it is said that his library contained not a
single military work. Grant's master mind undoubtedly did learn as
he went on. But if books had taught him more
of the experience of the world's generals, he would not
have had to acquire so much himself at the cost
(11:35):
of thousands of lives. Sherman's own letter to Grant March tenth,
eighteen sixty four hints this, but with the indulgent voice
of friendship. My only points of doubt were as to
your knowledge of grand strategy and of books of science
and history. But I confess your common sense seems to
(11:56):
have supplied all this. There seems no doubt that Grant
possessed grand strategy, and none that his tactics remained weak
to the end. Common sense, indeed, was his great weapon,
and with this finally came the power of grasping a
vast conflict of simultaneous facts and instantly forming the right
(12:20):
judgment of what he must do. Those who saw him
for the first time must have been amazed to learn
the story of the thirteen Torpid years. He supervised, the rations,
the equipment, the transportation. There was not a material need
or detail that he did not thoroughly foresee and attend to.
(12:42):
An officer serving under him, wrote back to Gallina, this
man is the pure gold. As the stress of experience
and responsibility roused him more and more, his brain took
in his command like a great multiplication table, from the
efficiency of the private as a unit, how much he
(13:04):
must eat, how far he could march, what load he
could carry, He reckoned and combined, and so knew what
aggressive strength he had or should want at any given time,
expressed so to speak, in foot pounds of soldiers. Upon
this material side, the Mexican War was a great help
(13:25):
to him. And upon quite another side, he has the
following to say, all the older officers who became conspicuous
in the rebellion I had also served with and known
in Mexico. The acquaintance thus formed was of immense service
to me in the war of the rebellion. I mean
(13:46):
what I learned of the characters of those to whom
I was afterwards opposed. The natural disposition of most people
is to clothe the commander of a large army whom
they do not know, with almost suit super human abilities.
A large part of the National Army, for instance, and
most of the press of the country, clothed General Lee
(14:08):
with just such qualities. But I had known him personally
and knew that he was mortal, and it was just
as well that I felt this at this early time. However,
Grant thought the war would be of short duration, and
Lee was a long way from his presentiments. On August seventh,
(14:29):
eighteen sixty one, while still in southeastern Missouri, he was
made brigadier general, to his own great surprise of his
methods of discipline. Soon after this appointment, a singular story
is told. The command was marching and food was scarce.
A lieutenant with an advanced guard reached a farmhouse, and,
(14:52):
upon informing its mistress that he was General Grant and
was hungry, received a precipitate and copious mess, and went
on much comforted. Presently, Grant himself rode to the same
door and asked for food. General Grant has just left here,
he was told, and has eaten everything. Um, said Grant,
(15:16):
everything a pie did remain, and for this the General
gave the woman fifty cents, requesting her to keep it
until called for Riding on to camp, he ordered grand
parade at once, and to the astonished assembly, the acting
Assistant Adjutant General read the following order. Lieutenant W of
(15:40):
the Indiana Cavalry, having on this day eaten everything in
Missus Salvage's house at the crossing of the Ironton and
Pocahontas and Black River and Cape Girardeau roads, except one
pumpkin pie. Lieutenant W is hereby ordered to return with
an s scort of one hundred cavalry and eat that pie. Also,
(16:06):
whether authentic or not, the story is very like Grant
in several ways. The lieutenant could have been, with propriety
severely punished for personating his commander. This method, however, achieved
its purpose thoroughly. On the other hand, it may be
doubted if General Lee would have chosen it. There is
(16:27):
great difference between native refinement, which Grant had and good taste,
which he had not. Insubordination, however, whether in men or officers,
was neither the only nor the chief trouble which met
the new brigadier general. It was something moreover with which
he could cope so well that he was steadily gaining
(16:51):
not only the obedience but the regard of his command.
Another thing there was against which he was quite powerless.
His wherey quartermasterly eye watched a ring of contractors in
Saint Louis too closely for their convenience. They could do
what they liked with the feudal Fremont now in command
(17:11):
of the department. But Grant spoiled their plans, and they
accordingly revived the story of his drinking by order of
his surgeon. He had taken some whisky, and that was
the whole of it. But it was enough. General Prentiss,
a little jealous about rank, departed from Grant's jurisdiction, saying
(17:33):
I will not serve under a drunkard. The slander reached
Washburn through the newspapers, and he, his faith in Grant,
already great but not yet impregnable, as it soon became,
wrote to Rawlins. Rawlins answered, explaining that the surgeon had
prescribed whisky for an attack of agu and added that
(17:56):
much as he loved Grant, he loved his country more,
and if at any time from any cause he should
see his chief unfit for the position he occupied, he
should deem it his duty to report the fact at
once before mailing the letter, continues Richardson. He handed it
(18:16):
to Grant, the general, who had suffered keenly from these reports,
read it with such feeling, and said emphatically, yes, that's right,
exactly right. Send it by all means. It is a
creditable story to every one except Prentice and the contractors.
And it reveals rawlins in a bright light. No wonder
(18:40):
Grant let him swear whenever he wanted. For a little
while Grant was ordered about hither and thither in Missouri.
But there is nothing decisive to record until soon after
being assigned the command of the District of Southeast Missouri,
he took up his headquarters at Caro on September four.
(19:01):
Here he stands upon the threshold of his fame. So
unpretending a figure does he make that a first sight
of him perplexes and discourages each newcomer. Twelve weeks ago
he had been nothing. Then he was made a colonel.
Now he was a brigadier general of volunteers. One summer
(19:22):
had done this, but it had done as much for
half a hundred others. So here was quite a large
company with even chances. But chance and the man are
rare comrades. Like many, he had expected this war to
be a smaller thing than our campaign in Mexico. That
(19:43):
was twenty six months, its losses about a thousand lives
a month, Its cost one hundred and sixty million. The
rebellion lasted forty eight months. It was a battle ground
somewhat larger than England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain and
Portugal put together. There were eighteen hundred and eighty two
(20:07):
fights where at least one regiment was engaged, and certain
battles where some hundred and fifty thousand men were engaged.
The losses in its four years came to seven hundred
lives a day. The cost of it was three billion,
four hundred million, or about two and a half million
(20:28):
dollars a day. Mister Saintsbury, the eminent English critic, has
called this a parochial disturbance. Wolsey, the conspicuous English general,
has said that an army of fifty thousand trained soldiers
could have ended the matter in six months. But this
(20:48):
military man at that time had not suppressed the Boers.
Such utterances are, of course merely the voice of English petulance.
That our house, when divided against itself, did not fall united.
We were a disagreeable competitor for England. Moreover, the Union's
(21:09):
triumph might affect England's getting southern cotton. It was feared,
And in Lord Russell's evasions over the Declaration of Paris,
and in the sailing of the Alabama, and in the
welcome which London gave Benjamin of Davis's cabinet when he
came there to live after the war, England's hostile undertone
(21:31):
to the Union speaks out plainly. We had friends there,
the Prince Consort and through him the Queen John Bright
and the Manchester Men. But the rank and file of
the aristocracy were full of virtuous rage at our presuming
to be a great nation. No more than grant does
(21:52):
Jefferson Davis seem to have looked for a grave struggle.
He and the few leaders who took the South into
secession managed to make it believe that one Southerner was
equal to five Yankees. And Davis made a speech in
which he announced that he was ready to drink every
drop of blood shed south of Mason and Dixon's line.
(22:15):
This line across our country was quite seriously thought by
secessionists to divide all Americans geographically into heroes and cowards.
This tribomania was very naturally heightened by the performances of
Generals Butler and Shank, and the rout of bull Run.
(22:36):
In the east. The Union cause looked dark enough when
light unexpectedly came from the west. General Grant stands the
central figure in that light. To follow him, a survey
of the country must be taken through the gallant Lion
and Blair and Curtis and Pope. Secession presently lost Missouri.
(22:59):
This may safe Illinois across the river for all east
from there was Union to the Atlantic, but just south
came doubtful Kentucky, and south of that was Confederate Tennessee,
and from there to the Gulf and east and west
was all secession. Kentucky then was the first point after
(23:22):
that the Great River, the Highway, whose gates were closed,
and which ran between the banks of Secession all the
way to New Orleans and the Gulf. Now Kentucky, like Missouri,
had loyal citizens, but a secession governor, and it was
the part of the South to secure this state if possible.
(23:43):
But no sooner did General Polk, with that aim move
upon Columbus on the river, thus threatening Caro, than Grant
secured Caro himself. The Mississippi was closed from Columbus down.
If Polk should get Paducah, the Ohio would be locked
up too. Grant saw this and telegraphing the futile Fremont.
(24:06):
I am nearly ready to go to Paducah, and shall start,
should not a telegram arrive preventing the movement, waited until
night and went. He took Paducah without firing a gun.
Through his prompt sagacity, the Ohio was locked against Polk.
He now wanted to keep moving according to his view
(24:28):
of war, but Fremont could not see that Columbus should
be taken, and Polk was allowed to fortify there and
to send some forces against a Union command in Missouri.
On November five, Grant wrote to C. S. Smith, who
was holding the mouth of the Cumberland, the principal point
to gain is to prevent the enemy from sending a
(24:50):
force in the rear of those now out of his command. Accordingly,
two days after Grant steamed down the river in the morning,
upon on Belmont on the west bank, and retreated up
the river again. In the evening. He had surprised and
destroyed the enemy's camp, but Polk crossed with reinforcements from Columbus, and,
(25:13):
regaining the field, drove him from it with a loss
of five hundred men. Grant was the last on the transport,
riding his horse aboard on a plank pushed out for him.
In his plain dress, he looked like a private. There's
a Yankee if he'll want a shot, said Polk to
his men, But they busy firing at the crowded boats.
(25:36):
Thought one shabby soldier, too poor a mark. Belmont was
a defeat, but one of those which are successes, just
as there are victories which are failures. It accomplished its object.
Polk did not send the troops into Missouri as he intended.
He kept them at hand against further surprises. End of
(26:01):
Chapter five, Part one,
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