August 19, 2025 • 24 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 seven of Ulysses s. Grant by Owen Wister. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter five, Part
four On the right, Hooker was unexpectedly strengthened by a
part of Sherman's force, which the breaking of a bridge
(00:21):
had prevented from following. Sherman. Therefore, Grant turned Lookout Mountain
into a more serious matter than he had planned. At
the mountain's front, Hooker displayed himself, and while he thus
occupied the enemy's attention on top, from behind them, a
part of his force came somewhat upon their rear through
(00:43):
the drifting fog. Their picket was taken. From his post
of observation on Orchard Knob, Grant saw the enemy coming
down the mountain to oppose the advance there, but further
round the other force that had taken the picket was
pressing on and up, and suddenly the Confederates saw this
(01:05):
meeting invasion. They fired down uselessly, though men fell in
this steep scramble. The force came on through stones and thickets, and,
joining with a force in front, ascended out of sight
into the mist, until Grant could often only hear the
noise of the invisible guns nearer and nearer the top
(01:27):
of the mountain. By night, Hooker was established there. The
Wednesday morning was cold and fine. The battle's change of
shape from its original design was clear to see. Over
on Sherman's side, many troops were now massed against him. Nor,
on account of that unexpected gap between the end of
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the bridge and its continuation, could he achieve his assault
with the necessary celerity. Bragg had taken his troops from
Lookout mount to oppose Sherman, and Bragg, should he see fit,
might really get away without further harm to himself. So
(02:10):
Hooker was ordered across from Lookout Mountain to interrupt his
possible retreat. As Sherman came fighting along Missionary Ridge from
the left, Bragg removed more and more troops from the
center of the balcony to oppose him, so that up
there the enemy's force was visibly growing thinner in the
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center as it grew thicker on the left. The shape
of the battle was steadily changing. Something must be done
to divert the enemy's increasing blows from Sherman. Hooker, coming
behind them from Lookout Mountain, could do it. But no
Hooker was to be seen his speed had been checked
(02:52):
by a destroyed bridge. He was on his way, but
not at hand for this urgent hour. As we easily
follow a boat race or a game on land from
our arranged benches. So Grant and his staff from Orchard
Knob saw, as it has only once or twice been
seen before, the whole thunderous pageant flashing upon the hills
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of Chattanooga, and up there, inaccessible to help, Sherman was
fighting the current of a gathering tide. Bragg's attention must
be distracted from him down here somehow, And so this
battle takes its final, unexpected, splendid shape, and passes like
(03:37):
a great song into our history. Four of our greatest,
Thomas Sherman, Sheridan Grant, stand together in it, the only
time they ever did so. A gathering of chiefs. Indeed,
and with them in their splendor, as is fit, inspired
by them to share their own renown, stands the ammer
(04:00):
a can volunteer, reckless at the right time, suddenly immortal
with wild, courageous wisdom. He is told by way of
experiment to advance to the base of the hill, that
center which Bragg had been thinning, and there take Bragg's
lowest line of works. Again, he goes steadily, as if
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on parade, with flags flying and music playing. Then he
swiftly charges, and next finds himself master of the rifle pits,
with prisoners captured. He has not time to know how
here he has been ordered to stop, but down on
his head from the top pours such a stream of
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fire that staying is death, while going back is failure.
Twenty thousand of him crouched there, twenty thousand bodies, but
one white hot spear, transfigured and resistless, without orders, he rises,
He climbs, He goes on his hands. He mounts the broken,
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steep slant of hill, leading his captains as much as
they lead him, and the astonished Grant from Orchard Knob
sees him storm the crest and turn the enemy's guns
upon themselves. It is done. Bragg is split in flying pieces.
The stars and stripes wave upon missionary ridge. When Grant
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rode up among this seething triumph, the men quickly found
him out and swarmed upon him by hundreds, embracing his
feet and calling his name, and among all the gifts
and tokens that presently showered upon him for this great
November twenty five. Even brighter than the gold medal voted
(05:56):
by Congress is the memory of that briarwood cigar given
him by a poor soldier who made it with his
pocket knife. Now he sat in the center of his
nation's bright day. Donaldson, Vicksburg, Chattanooga melted together in his fame.
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Thanksgiving spread from his deed in widening circles. His message
to the government the pith of modesty. I believe I
am not premature in announcing a complete victory over Bragg.
Is enough and better than if it had been more.
And Lincoln answered, God, bless you all. And what did
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sherman with his men do? Now? Having without a moment's rest,
after a march of over four hundred miles without sleep
for three successive nights, crossed the Tennessee and fought their
share of Chattanooga and pursued the enemy out of Tennessee.
They turned more than one hundred and twenty miles north
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and compelled Longstreet to raise the siege of Knoxville, where
Burnside was when in a few months Grant was appointed
full lieutenant general under special Act of Congress. He was
the first since Washington Winfield Scott, being only brevet. He
wrote to Sherman, what I want is to express my
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thanks to you and Macpherson, as the men to whom,
above all others, I feel indebted for whatever I have
had of success. How far your execution of whatever has
been given you to do entitles you to the reward
I am receiving. You cannot know as well as I do,
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And Sherman answered, in a spirit equally noble. You do
yourself in justice and us too much honor. In these
letters the two men lay bare their best sins and
how well Sherman knew his friend. Now as to the future,
he says, do not stay in Washington. Halleck is better
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qualified than you to stand the buffets of intrigue and policy.
For God's sake and your country's sake, come out of Washington.
That is why Grant did come out when he was
General in chief. Better, far better had he never gone
back as president. Assuredly Sherman knew him very well. Ceremonies
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and crowds attended him after his arrival in Washington to
receive his new rank. His actual arrival with his little
boy was, according to his own inveterate modesty, unheralded from
the train in the early morning. He waited his turn
behind the more pushing travelers and reached the hotel book.
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Last Chittenden had told us how the transfer fixed hotel
clerk changed his manner on reading U. S. Grant and
Son Galena, Illinois. Horace Porter records Lincoln's cry of welcome.
That evening. John Sherman writes to his brother of the
adulations in Washington and his fear that Grant will be spoiled,
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and Grant's remark to Lincoln, really, mister President, I have
had enough of the show business, completes the picture. No.
Not quite one week later, when he was in Nashville
arranging with Sherman, the vast concluding process of the rebellion,
the show business in the shape of the mayor with
(09:41):
a rosewood box and a sword, caught him again. Sherman's
incomparably brisk pin has drawn the scene. The Mayor rose
and in a most dignified way, read a finished speech
to General Grant, who stood, as usual very awkwardly. And
the mayor closed his speech by handing him the resolutions
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of the city Council, engrossed on parchment with a broad
ribbon and large seal attached. After the Mayor had fulfilled
his office so well, General Grant said, mister Mayor, as
I knew that this ceremony was to occur, and as
I am not used to speaking, I have written something
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in reply. He then began to fumble in his pockets,
first his breast coat pocket, then his pants vest, and
so on, And after a considerable delay, he pulled out
a crumpled piece of common yellow cartridge paper, which he
handed to the mayor. When read, his answer was most excellent, short, concise,
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and if delivered, would have been all that the occasion required.
I could not help laughing at a scene so characteristic
of the man to whom all had turned as the
only one to guide the nation in a war that
had become painfully critical. So now he faced the conclusion.
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From Cairo in eighteen sixty one to Chattanooga in eighteen
sixty three, he had marched forward, narrowing the Confederacy blow
after blow. Here between Washington and Richmond, only one hundred miles,
blow after blow had narrowed nothing. In April eighteen sixty four,
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they stood as they had started in April eighteen sixty one.
Richmond was still to be taken, Lee still to be crushed.
Three years, six generals and a loss of one hundred
and forty four thousand men had failed to do this.
From such failure, Grant received two great inheritances, and with
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them succeeded. His inheritances were to have his own way unhampered,
and the control of a perfect instrument, the Army of
the Potomac under General Mead. Grant's detractors lay too much
stress on the first inheritance. He had his own way,
not only because Lincoln had at length learned how disastrous
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meddling was, but also because Lincoln felt in his marrow
that here was a man who would go on and
do the thing. He had met no such man till now.
He had been looking for one, ceaselessly upon the Army
of the Potomac and General Mead. Too much stress cannot
be laid Without that engine and pilot. The captain would
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have wrecked his vessel several times during forty eight hours
around Spotsylvania. He essayed direction of the tactics himself, and
wrought such havoc that thereafter he allowed the pilot Mead
full charge of this, we may feel sure that Grant
underratedly at the beginning, he had encountered no such genius
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in the West. His remark that the army of the
Potomac had never been fought up its full capacity indicates
that he expected quicker results than he got. And the
famous sentence from his letter near Spotsylvania on May eleventh,
I propose to fight it out on this line, if
(13:28):
it takes all summer, plainly shows brief anticipations. It took
until the following April, and in his own report one
reads between the lines something like an apology for these
terrible battles. He says, whether they might have been better
in conception and execution is for the people who mourn
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the loss of friends fallen, and who have to pay
the pecuniary cost to say. All I can say is
that what I have done has been done conscientiously, to
the best of my ability, and in what I conceived
to be for the best interests of the whole country.
His conception was to hammer continuously until by mere attrition
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there should be nothing left of the enemy. He reduced
the problem not to who can win the greatest victories,
but to who can stand the heaviest losses. To state
it thus was to solve it. It was not military,
but it was deeply sagacious. It was like Columbus and
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the Egg. It was also a confession of Lee's superiority.
The fact that Lee had the interior lines is not
sufficient counterbalance. These awful battles add not to Grants but
to Lee's reputation. On his side. Lee evidently underrated Grant.
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He too had been used to other generals, generals who
struck a blow and then sat down. But it was
never to be like that anymore. There were two ways
for Grant to move from the Potomac on land to
Richmond by the right flank westward and inland, an easier
country to fight in a harder line of communications, to
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cover by the left flank southeastward, nearer the water, a
harder country, easier communication. To move immediately south of Richmond
by water and from there cut its supporting railroads. Was
well enough Providedly would keep himself inside Richmond's fortifications while
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this was going on, but it was unlikely he would
do now what he had never done before. On the contrary,
he could be expected so to enlarge his circumference of
protection that to envelop him would spread the army out
too thin and bear its extended flanks to disadvantageous attack
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while fighting for possession of the radiating railroads. Moreover, since
Lee had to be bitterly encountered somewhere, it was better
to meet him further from his home and nearer our
own supplies. This too, for a while screened Washington, Grant
moved by the left flank May third, choosing a midnight start,
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But Lee saw him before he could get beyond the
unpropitious country, and compelled to battle May five. On that
beginning day, the two crossed weapons, both of perfect steel.
Lee handled his like a great swordsman, Grant handled his
like a great blacksmith. Lee had some seventy thousand men,
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Grant some one hundred and twenty thousand. Day and often night.
The weapons struck fire at some point day and night,
during not weeks, but months. Some of these clashes have
names forever reddened with slaughter, the wilderness Spotsylvania, Northana, Cold Harbor.
(17:20):
But in between them flow nameless streams of blood. Continuously,
more sublimely shines the American volunteer at Cold Harbor than
at Chattanooga, more sublime in walking calmly to visible death
than in tumultuously rushing to victory. He stood in the center,
with the enemy in a great half wheel around him, and,
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knowing that some one had blundered, walked into this First
he wrote his name and home, and fastened the address
to his clothes, thus they would know whose body it was.
Then at the word he went. Six thousand and Union
soldiers were killed at Cold Harbor in one hour. In
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the Book of Noble Deeds from Thermopylae down, is there
a more heroic page than this. By November one, Grant
had lost eighty thousand men, more than Lee began with
the Army of the Potomac. The weapon of fine temper
was hacked into a saw by the usage it had received.
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Nor was Lee crushed yet, nor Richmond yet taken. In
Grant's pictures, the story is plain, the saddened eyes, the
worn face, the mouth shut down tight or around the
heavy strain. Heavier these months than Lincoln's, with distant campaigns
to plan near battles to fight, disloyal politics in the North,
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and the usual popular imbecile clamor for a change or
a cessation bore Grant down inwardly, he carried the Union
on his back, and other generals had failed him, and
he had been a disappointment to himself. He gave in
to drink. It seems, at times discovering this, Ben Butler
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appears to have blackmailed him. He had requested Butler's removal
for bad conduct at Petersburg, Butler visited him. He backed down,
not from personal fear. The Union cause was trembling. In politics,
a public tale of drink might remove the general and
split the Union forever. Presently, Sherman's and Sheridan's successes clinched
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Lincoln's election. Next Butler showed incompetence again. Then Grant dismissed him.
Butler could have published as much about drink as he pleased.
The Union was safe. Wound up in this contemporaneously, rather
than logically, is General W. F. Smith's severe fate. Under
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first impressions of him received at Chattanooga, Grant had thought
him worthy a high command, and at this time designed
him for Butler's successor. But in the same twenty four hours,
with Butler's blackmail, General Smith criticized to Grant's face the
Battle of Cold Harbor. Thinking this over, it struck Grant
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that General Smith had meant to whip him over Mead's shoulder,
as he phrased it. He relieved his campaign of so
captious a subordinate. It was perhaps advisable, but seems harsh.
Yet if the North was dismayed by Grant's destructive battles,
still more so was the South. They felt the end coming.
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Each bloody crisis saw Grant move on. Such a thing
had not been seen before. Early's almost successful attempt to
take Washington did not frighten Grant from his siege of Petersburg.
He merely let sheretan loose upon Early and broke him.
That also settled the Shenandoah Valley Secessions fertile, incubator and
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truck garden sent there during three years to handle it
with gloves. Our soldiers had seen it so periodically that
they called it Harper's Weekly at length. Sheridan, though inexcusably
brutal in his barn burning yet in destroying crops and forage,
merely treated the valley as it should have been treated
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at first. But secession considered that Union should fight with gloves.
When Union began to fight to a finish secession cried
out Sheridan is still denounced, but secessions massacre of Fort
Pillow and burning of Chambersburg are not mentioned. So the
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South knew that in Grant's deadly grip and will was
something fateful never met till now, and that grip was
seizing it elsewhere. Besides Sheridan, Sherman was closing in upon
it in Georgia, and Thomas soon struck it heavily at Nashville.
These simultaneous strides of disaster had all been set and
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kept in motion by the single central will. And no
matter what the impatient country said, the President stood Grant's friend.
Through thick and thin. The Secretary of War had made
one supreme effort to maintain his dictatorship over the movements
of the army. The report of his fall is thus,
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hearing from Grant that certain troops were to be disposed
in a certain way, he objected that he had other
plans and could not allow it. Grant said, but the
order has been given. The domineering Stanton then objected much more,
and always when he paused, Grant imperturbably replied, but the
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order has been given. The Secretary rushed to Lincoln. Lincoln said,
but Congress has made him general of all the armies.
The secretary still poured himself out, and still the deprecating
Lincoln murmured, only, but Congress has made him general of
all the armies. There it stopped permanently, and Lincoln's words
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to Grant through this time, though once he expresses a
hope that as few lives as possible may be sacrificed,
show his deep faith and his deep satisfaction in his aggressive,
indomitable general. In August, he writes, the particulars of your
campaign I neither know nor seek to know. I wish
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not to intrude any restraints or constraints upon you. Grant's
reply unites a modesty and a self reliance that Lincoln
had had not heard until this general came. Should my
success be less than I desire or expect, the least
I can say is the fault is not yours. No
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wonder Lincoln liked his new commander. He writes again, when
less firm spirits at Washington had been counseling a halt,
I have seen your despatch expressing your unwillingness to break
your hold where you are neither am I willing hold
on with a bull dog grip and chew and choke
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as much as possible. End of Chapter five, Part four,
Section seven of Ulysses s. Grant by Owen Wister. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter five, Part
four On the right, Hooker was unexpectedly strengthened by a
part of Sherman's force, which the breaking of a bridge
(00:21):
had prevented from following. Sherman. Therefore, Grant turned Lookout Mountain
into a more serious matter than he had planned. At
the mountain's front, Hooker displayed himself, and while he thus
occupied the enemy's attention on top, from behind them, a
part of his force came somewhat upon their rear through
(00:43):
the drifting fog. Their picket was taken. From his post
of observation on Orchard Knob, Grant saw the enemy coming
down the mountain to oppose the advance there, but further
round the other force that had taken the picket was
pressing on and up, and suddenly the Confederates saw this
(01:05):
meeting invasion. They fired down uselessly, though men fell in
this steep scramble. The force came on through stones and thickets, and,
joining with a force in front, ascended out of sight
into the mist, until Grant could often only hear the
noise of the invisible guns nearer and nearer the top
(01:27):
of the mountain. By night, Hooker was established there. The
Wednesday morning was cold and fine. The battle's change of
shape from its original design was clear to see. Over
on Sherman's side, many troops were now massed against him. Nor,
on account of that unexpected gap between the end of
(01:49):
the bridge and its continuation, could he achieve his assault
with the necessary celerity. Bragg had taken his troops from
Lookout mount to oppose Sherman, and Bragg, should he see fit,
might really get away without further harm to himself. So
(02:10):
Hooker was ordered across from Lookout Mountain to interrupt his
possible retreat. As Sherman came fighting along Missionary Ridge from
the left, Bragg removed more and more troops from the
center of the balcony to oppose him, so that up
there the enemy's force was visibly growing thinner in the
(02:30):
center as it grew thicker on the left. The shape
of the battle was steadily changing. Something must be done
to divert the enemy's increasing blows from Sherman. Hooker, coming
behind them from Lookout Mountain, could do it. But no
Hooker was to be seen his speed had been checked
(02:52):
by a destroyed bridge. He was on his way, but
not at hand for this urgent hour. As we easily
follow a boat race or a game on land from
our arranged benches. So Grant and his staff from Orchard
Knob saw, as it has only once or twice been
seen before, the whole thunderous pageant flashing upon the hills
(03:17):
of Chattanooga, and up there, inaccessible to help, Sherman was
fighting the current of a gathering tide. Bragg's attention must
be distracted from him down here somehow, And so this
battle takes its final, unexpected, splendid shape, and passes like
(03:37):
a great song into our history. Four of our greatest,
Thomas Sherman, Sheridan Grant, stand together in it, the only
time they ever did so. A gathering of chiefs. Indeed,
and with them in their splendor, as is fit, inspired
by them to share their own renown, stands the ammer
(04:00):
a can volunteer, reckless at the right time, suddenly immortal
with wild, courageous wisdom. He is told by way of
experiment to advance to the base of the hill, that
center which Bragg had been thinning, and there take Bragg's
lowest line of works. Again, he goes steadily, as if
(04:24):
on parade, with flags flying and music playing. Then he
swiftly charges, and next finds himself master of the rifle pits,
with prisoners captured. He has not time to know how
here he has been ordered to stop, but down on
his head from the top pours such a stream of
(04:47):
fire that staying is death, while going back is failure.
Twenty thousand of him crouched there, twenty thousand bodies, but
one white hot spear, transfigured and resistless, without orders, he rises,
He climbs, He goes on his hands. He mounts the broken,
(05:10):
steep slant of hill, leading his captains as much as
they lead him, and the astonished Grant from Orchard Knob
sees him storm the crest and turn the enemy's guns
upon themselves. It is done. Bragg is split in flying pieces.
The stars and stripes wave upon missionary ridge. When Grant
(05:34):
rode up among this seething triumph, the men quickly found
him out and swarmed upon him by hundreds, embracing his
feet and calling his name, and among all the gifts
and tokens that presently showered upon him for this great
November twenty five. Even brighter than the gold medal voted
(05:56):
by Congress is the memory of that briarwood cigar given
him by a poor soldier who made it with his
pocket knife. Now he sat in the center of his
nation's bright day. Donaldson, Vicksburg, Chattanooga melted together in his fame.
(06:16):
Thanksgiving spread from his deed in widening circles. His message
to the government the pith of modesty. I believe I
am not premature in announcing a complete victory over Bragg.
Is enough and better than if it had been more.
And Lincoln answered, God, bless you all. And what did
(06:41):
sherman with his men do? Now? Having without a moment's rest,
after a march of over four hundred miles without sleep
for three successive nights, crossed the Tennessee and fought their
share of Chattanooga and pursued the enemy out of Tennessee.
They turned more than one hundred and twenty miles north
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and compelled Longstreet to raise the siege of Knoxville, where
Burnside was when in a few months Grant was appointed
full lieutenant general under special Act of Congress. He was
the first since Washington Winfield Scott, being only brevet. He
wrote to Sherman, what I want is to express my
(07:27):
thanks to you and Macpherson, as the men to whom,
above all others, I feel indebted for whatever I have
had of success. How far your execution of whatever has
been given you to do entitles you to the reward
I am receiving. You cannot know as well as I do,
(07:47):
And Sherman answered, in a spirit equally noble. You do
yourself in justice and us too much honor. In these
letters the two men lay bare their best sins and
how well Sherman knew his friend. Now as to the future,
he says, do not stay in Washington. Halleck is better
(08:10):
qualified than you to stand the buffets of intrigue and policy.
For God's sake and your country's sake, come out of Washington.
That is why Grant did come out when he was
General in chief. Better, far better had he never gone
back as president. Assuredly Sherman knew him very well. Ceremonies
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and crowds attended him after his arrival in Washington to
receive his new rank. His actual arrival with his little
boy was, according to his own inveterate modesty, unheralded from
the train in the early morning. He waited his turn
behind the more pushing travelers and reached the hotel book.
(08:56):
Last Chittenden had told us how the transfer fixed hotel
clerk changed his manner on reading U. S. Grant and
Son Galena, Illinois. Horace Porter records Lincoln's cry of welcome.
That evening. John Sherman writes to his brother of the
adulations in Washington and his fear that Grant will be spoiled,
(09:20):
and Grant's remark to Lincoln, really, mister President, I have
had enough of the show business, completes the picture. No.
Not quite one week later, when he was in Nashville
arranging with Sherman, the vast concluding process of the rebellion,
the show business in the shape of the mayor with
(09:41):
a rosewood box and a sword, caught him again. Sherman's
incomparably brisk pin has drawn the scene. The Mayor rose
and in a most dignified way, read a finished speech
to General Grant, who stood, as usual very awkwardly. And
the mayor closed his speech by handing him the resolutions
(10:04):
of the city Council, engrossed on parchment with a broad
ribbon and large seal attached. After the Mayor had fulfilled
his office so well, General Grant said, mister Mayor, as
I knew that this ceremony was to occur, and as
I am not used to speaking, I have written something
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in reply. He then began to fumble in his pockets,
first his breast coat pocket, then his pants vest, and
so on, And after a considerable delay, he pulled out
a crumpled piece of common yellow cartridge paper, which he
handed to the mayor. When read, his answer was most excellent, short, concise,
(10:48):
and if delivered, would have been all that the occasion required.
I could not help laughing at a scene so characteristic
of the man to whom all had turned as the
only one to guide the nation in a war that
had become painfully critical. So now he faced the conclusion.
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From Cairo in eighteen sixty one to Chattanooga in eighteen
sixty three, he had marched forward, narrowing the Confederacy blow
after blow. Here between Washington and Richmond, only one hundred miles,
blow after blow had narrowed nothing. In April eighteen sixty four,
(11:32):
they stood as they had started in April eighteen sixty one.
Richmond was still to be taken, Lee still to be crushed.
Three years, six generals and a loss of one hundred
and forty four thousand men had failed to do this.
From such failure, Grant received two great inheritances, and with
(11:55):
them succeeded. His inheritances were to have his own way unhampered,
and the control of a perfect instrument, the Army of
the Potomac under General Mead. Grant's detractors lay too much
stress on the first inheritance. He had his own way,
not only because Lincoln had at length learned how disastrous
(12:18):
meddling was, but also because Lincoln felt in his marrow
that here was a man who would go on and
do the thing. He had met no such man till now.
He had been looking for one, ceaselessly upon the Army
of the Potomac and General Mead. Too much stress cannot
be laid Without that engine and pilot. The captain would
(12:43):
have wrecked his vessel several times during forty eight hours
around Spotsylvania. He essayed direction of the tactics himself, and
wrought such havoc that thereafter he allowed the pilot Mead
full charge of this, we may feel sure that Grant
underratedly at the beginning, he had encountered no such genius
(13:07):
in the West. His remark that the army of the
Potomac had never been fought up its full capacity indicates
that he expected quicker results than he got. And the
famous sentence from his letter near Spotsylvania on May eleventh,
I propose to fight it out on this line, if
(13:28):
it takes all summer, plainly shows brief anticipations. It took
until the following April, and in his own report one
reads between the lines something like an apology for these
terrible battles. He says, whether they might have been better
in conception and execution is for the people who mourn
(13:52):
the loss of friends fallen, and who have to pay
the pecuniary cost to say. All I can say is
that what I have done has been done conscientiously, to
the best of my ability, and in what I conceived
to be for the best interests of the whole country.
His conception was to hammer continuously until by mere attrition
(14:18):
there should be nothing left of the enemy. He reduced
the problem not to who can win the greatest victories,
but to who can stand the heaviest losses. To state
it thus was to solve it. It was not military,
but it was deeply sagacious. It was like Columbus and
(14:40):
the Egg. It was also a confession of Lee's superiority.
The fact that Lee had the interior lines is not
sufficient counterbalance. These awful battles add not to Grants but
to Lee's reputation. On his side. Lee evidently underrated Grant.
(15:02):
He too had been used to other generals, generals who
struck a blow and then sat down. But it was
never to be like that anymore. There were two ways
for Grant to move from the Potomac on land to
Richmond by the right flank westward and inland, an easier
country to fight in a harder line of communications, to
(15:24):
cover by the left flank southeastward, nearer the water, a
harder country, easier communication. To move immediately south of Richmond
by water and from there cut its supporting railroads. Was
well enough Providedly would keep himself inside Richmond's fortifications while
(15:47):
this was going on, but it was unlikely he would
do now what he had never done before. On the contrary,
he could be expected so to enlarge his circumference of
protection that to envelop him would spread the army out
too thin and bear its extended flanks to disadvantageous attack
(16:09):
while fighting for possession of the radiating railroads. Moreover, since
Lee had to be bitterly encountered somewhere, it was better
to meet him further from his home and nearer our
own supplies. This too, for a while screened Washington, Grant
moved by the left flank May third, choosing a midnight start,
(16:34):
But Lee saw him before he could get beyond the
unpropitious country, and compelled to battle May five. On that
beginning day, the two crossed weapons, both of perfect steel.
Lee handled his like a great swordsman, Grant handled his
like a great blacksmith. Lee had some seventy thousand men,
(16:58):
Grant some one hundred and twenty thousand. Day and often night.
The weapons struck fire at some point day and night,
during not weeks, but months. Some of these clashes have
names forever reddened with slaughter, the wilderness Spotsylvania, Northana, Cold Harbor.
(17:20):
But in between them flow nameless streams of blood. Continuously,
more sublimely shines the American volunteer at Cold Harbor than
at Chattanooga, more sublime in walking calmly to visible death
than in tumultuously rushing to victory. He stood in the center,
with the enemy in a great half wheel around him, and,
(17:43):
knowing that some one had blundered, walked into this First
he wrote his name and home, and fastened the address
to his clothes, thus they would know whose body it was.
Then at the word he went. Six thousand and Union
soldiers were killed at Cold Harbor in one hour. In
(18:04):
the Book of Noble Deeds from Thermopylae down, is there
a more heroic page than this. By November one, Grant
had lost eighty thousand men, more than Lee began with
the Army of the Potomac. The weapon of fine temper
was hacked into a saw by the usage it had received.
(18:26):
Nor was Lee crushed yet, nor Richmond yet taken. In
Grant's pictures, the story is plain, the saddened eyes, the
worn face, the mouth shut down tight or around the
heavy strain. Heavier these months than Lincoln's, with distant campaigns
to plan near battles to fight, disloyal politics in the North,
(18:51):
and the usual popular imbecile clamor for a change or
a cessation bore Grant down inwardly, he carried the Union
on his back, and other generals had failed him, and
he had been a disappointment to himself. He gave in
to drink. It seems, at times discovering this, Ben Butler
(19:13):
appears to have blackmailed him. He had requested Butler's removal
for bad conduct at Petersburg, Butler visited him. He backed down,
not from personal fear. The Union cause was trembling. In politics,
a public tale of drink might remove the general and
split the Union forever. Presently, Sherman's and Sheridan's successes clinched
(19:39):
Lincoln's election. Next Butler showed incompetence again. Then Grant dismissed him.
Butler could have published as much about drink as he pleased.
The Union was safe. Wound up in this contemporaneously, rather
than logically, is General W. F. Smith's severe fate. Under
(20:01):
first impressions of him received at Chattanooga, Grant had thought
him worthy a high command, and at this time designed
him for Butler's successor. But in the same twenty four hours,
with Butler's blackmail, General Smith criticized to Grant's face the
Battle of Cold Harbor. Thinking this over, it struck Grant
(20:23):
that General Smith had meant to whip him over Mead's shoulder,
as he phrased it. He relieved his campaign of so
captious a subordinate. It was perhaps advisable, but seems harsh.
Yet if the North was dismayed by Grant's destructive battles,
still more so was the South. They felt the end coming.
(20:45):
Each bloody crisis saw Grant move on. Such a thing
had not been seen before. Early's almost successful attempt to
take Washington did not frighten Grant from his siege of Petersburg.
He merely let sheretan loose upon Early and broke him.
That also settled the Shenandoah Valley Secessions fertile, incubator and
(21:10):
truck garden sent there during three years to handle it
with gloves. Our soldiers had seen it so periodically that
they called it Harper's Weekly at length. Sheridan, though inexcusably
brutal in his barn burning yet in destroying crops and forage,
merely treated the valley as it should have been treated
(21:32):
at first. But secession considered that Union should fight with gloves.
When Union began to fight to a finish secession cried
out Sheridan is still denounced, but secessions massacre of Fort
Pillow and burning of Chambersburg are not mentioned. So the
(21:52):
South knew that in Grant's deadly grip and will was
something fateful never met till now, and that grip was
seizing it elsewhere. Besides Sheridan, Sherman was closing in upon
it in Georgia, and Thomas soon struck it heavily at Nashville.
These simultaneous strides of disaster had all been set and
(22:16):
kept in motion by the single central will. And no
matter what the impatient country said, the President stood Grant's friend.
Through thick and thin. The Secretary of War had made
one supreme effort to maintain his dictatorship over the movements
of the army. The report of his fall is thus,
(22:39):
hearing from Grant that certain troops were to be disposed
in a certain way, he objected that he had other
plans and could not allow it. Grant said, but the
order has been given. The domineering Stanton then objected much more,
and always when he paused, Grant imperturbably replied, but the
(23:01):
order has been given. The Secretary rushed to Lincoln. Lincoln said,
but Congress has made him general of all the armies.
The secretary still poured himself out, and still the deprecating
Lincoln murmured, only, but Congress has made him general of
all the armies. There it stopped permanently, and Lincoln's words
(23:28):
to Grant through this time, though once he expresses a
hope that as few lives as possible may be sacrificed,
show his deep faith and his deep satisfaction in his aggressive,
indomitable general. In August, he writes, the particulars of your
campaign I neither know nor seek to know. I wish
(23:50):
not to intrude any restraints or constraints upon you. Grant's
reply unites a modesty and a self reliance that Lincoln
had had not heard until this general came. Should my
success be less than I desire or expect, the least
I can say is the fault is not yours. No
(24:11):
wonder Lincoln liked his new commander. He writes again, when
less firm spirits at Washington had been counseling a halt,
I have seen your despatch expressing your unwillingness to break
your hold where you are neither am I willing hold
on with a bull dog grip and chew and choke
(24:32):
as much as possible. End of Chapter five, Part four,
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