The Life and Campaigns of General U. S. Grant

INTRODUCTORY.

Two diverse, though not incompatible, aspirationsDuty and Glory-Patriotism and Ambition-the love of country and the love of fame-produce and supply respectively the impulse to every lofty and brilliant career. Washington, the father of his country, the founder of this Republic-Napoleon, the destroyer of French liberty, the founder of his family and dynasty— are their best modern exemplars.

The hero whose guiding-star is Duty, is not apt to dazzle the vision of the unreflecting masses. Washington was never the idol of the mob-even his military capacity was derided by clever soldiers like Lee and Aaron Burr; and Wellington was rather trusted than loved by the legions he led from victory to victory-from the lines of Torres Vedras to Waterloo and Paris. "England expects every man to do his duty," was an electric message to the soul of the humblest seaman trained in the school of Nelson; “From the summits of yonder pyramids, forty generations look down upon you," seemed better fitted to fill with

ardor the breasts of the legions who trusted in the rising star of Napoleon.

ULYSSES S. GRANT entered our late struggle with no shadow of prospect or probability of obtaining eminence therein. He had been educated at West Point, and, entering the army as a Lieutenant, had seen service in the war with Mexico; but he had resigned his commission soon after the return of peace, and betaken himself to the quiet pursuits of private life. He had tried several vocations with moderate success, and was selling leather in Galena, when the breaking out of the War of Secession summoned him afresh to the service of his country. The morning after receiving the news of Fort Sumter's surrender to the rebels, with the consequent call of President Lincoln for seventyfive thousand volunteers to defend Washington, he began to raise the company of his neighbors which he led to Springfield and tendered to the Governor. Being required to serve temporarily in the Executive and Adjutant-General's offices, his capacity as an organizer became at once so apparent that he was assigned to the command of three several camps of organization, and was soon required to take the command of a regiment much in need of an efficient colonel. A little experience, and the urgency of the public need, soon dictated his promotion to a brigadiership; and thus, before he had been in action, and while engaged in guarding the North Missouri railroad against rebel incendiaries, the modest and reticent Galena captain had become a general-probably as much to his own surprise as to any one's. Thenceforth, his biography is

an important and powerful portion of his country's. history.

But is Grant a great general?

The answer must depend on our ideal of generalship. Certainly, he did not, by the audacity of his movements, the transcendent force of his genius, achieve great results with utterly inadequate means, as a very few great generals have done. Beside his brief yet admirable campaign which terminated in the surrender of Vicksburg-which has seldom been excelled in the felicity of its plan or the vigor of its execution-his career seems rather that of a faithful, tireless, dauntless soldier than that of a masterly strategist. The triumph achieved under his guidance was that of a great people, lavish of its blood and treasure so that its National existence and rightful authority be preserved, rather than that of any leader, military or civil. It was not the triumph of a man, but of Humanity. The chief obstacle to be surmounted was the popular consciousness that others, whose initial prospect was brighter, had miserably failed where he was required to succeed, though the hopes inspired by their early promise, their apparent chances of success, were immeasurably higher than in his case.

Of Gen. Grant's career as a commander, so much at least is beyond dispute: he did his best, and that proved sufficient. Repeatedly called from one high trust to another still higher, he proved equal to each and all of them, even the highest; and the steadfast, admiring, invincible faith and trust of President Lincoln were nobly justified by the grand result. Believing that the

Rebellion ought to be put square down, he did not par. ley nor trifle with it, nor seek to placate its envenomed spirit, but fought it resolutely, manfully, steadily, till its armies surrendered; when he showed himself as generous to the prostrate as he had been relentless to the defiant enemies of his and their country. Others have made more parade of magnanimity, but none have shown themselves more thoroughly pervaded by its spirit, than the conqueror of Appomattox.

It must ever be borne in mind that, up to the outbreak of the Rebellion, the life of Ulysses S. Grant had been mainly that of a civilian-that the terms of capitulation by him proposed and accorded to Lee evince not less statesmanship than generalship-and that his testimony regarding Reconstruction, &c., before a Committee of Congress, evinced a clearness and breadth of view touching the entire situation which at once surprised and delighted millions of his countrymen. The arduous military achievement which others vainly essayed he fully accomplished. The civil portion of the great work still remains incomplete. That a good Providence has assigned him a leading part in this also, and that he will nobly, beneficently perform it, is to-day the faith and trust of a large majority of the American People. That he will not disappoint their expectations nor blast their sanguine hopes, the following pages will abundantly indicate. H. G.

NEW YORK, April 10, 1868.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE FAMILY AND BOYHOOD OF GENERAL GRANT.

The Grants Emigrate from Scotland.-Their Home in America.-The Removal to

the Far West.-Residence in Ohio. The Orphan Boy.-The Widow takes her

Family to Maysville, Kentucky.-Jesse Marries.-The New Home.-Birth of

Ulysses.-The Origin of his Name.-Anecdotes of the Boy.-Struggles to Se-

cure an Education.-The Appointment to a Cadetship in the United States

Military Academy at West Point.....

CHAPTER II.

YOUNG GRANT'S LIFE AND EXPERIENCE AT WEST POINT