PRESENTED WITH HIS COMMISSION. 269

defense, east of the Alleghanies, remained intact. Lee was encamped on the Rapidan, as calm and audacious as ever. The Shenandoah Valley remained in possession of the rebels. The South-Western Valley, down nearly to Knoxville, was theirs also. Their great defenses at Mobile, Charleston, and Wilmington were still theirs. In fine, notwithstanding the rebels had lost the Mississippi and Chattanooga, the Government at Washington, looking over its fruitless and yet destructive campaigns on the Potomac, felt a sort of mournful joy instead of a hopeful confidence. Hence there was no ecstasy on the appearance of Grant. The Americans are neither Romans nor Frenchmen; so, when Lee looked at them from the Rapidan, with a bold and taunting defiance, and had looked at them so for three long years, they got up no triumphal procession, as Romans or Frenchmen. might have done, even for the victories of Grant. But Lincoln quietly presented him with his commission:

"General Grant,-The nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what remains to be done in the existing great struggle, are such that you are now presented with this commission, constituting you Lieutenant-General in the army of the United States. With this high honor devolves upon you, also, a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add that, with what I here speak for the nation, goes my own hearty personal concurrence."

The words of General Grant are few and far between; but now he did reply briefly:

"Mr. President,-I accept the commission, with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me, and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men.”

On the 10th of March, an order assigned the new Lieutenant-General to the command of all the armies of the United States. To understand the prompt manner in which things were done, and the readiness with which Grant put himself to the work, I transcribe his first order:

"HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE ARMIES OF THE United States,
"Nashville, Tenn., March 17, 1864.

"In pursuance of the following order of the President:

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, March 10, 1864. "Under the authority of the act of Congress to appoint to the grade of Lieutenant-General in the army, of March 1, 1864, Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, United States Army, is appointed to the command of the armies of the United States. ""ABRAHAM LINCOLN.'

I assume command of the armies of the United States. Head-quarters will be in the field, and, till further orders, will be with the Army of the Potomac. There will be an office head-quarters in Washington, to which all official communications will be sent, except those from the army where the head-quarters are at the date of their address. "U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General."

"Head-quarters will be in the field." That is the first announcement, and it was a joy to hear it; for certain it was that the atmosphere of Washington was exceedingly uncongenial to genius in war.

Stan

HEAD-QUARTERS IN THE field.

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ton was energetic; Lincoln had the fervor of warlike patriotism; but there was one dark phantom rose to their minds, and was drawn like a pall over the faces of the generals-fear for Washington! In a moral and political sense, this was just. For a long period of the war we had a difficult task to prevent the interference of England and France; and, undoubtedly, if Washington was taken by the rebels, (although of little importance in a military point of view,) it would have a disastrous moral and political effect. But now Grant has a new scheme of tactics. He will defend Washington in the field. Head-quarters in the fieldthat means hard fighting; it means continuous and fearful blows; and if the enemy can not meet them, they will be smashed; that is all of it, and there is no more to be thought of. But these blows are not to fall only on Lee's Virginia Army; they are to fall at all points where there is an enemy's army, or fortification. We had come to the time when we really had greatly superior forces, and the great point of generalship was to make superior forces available. Grant set about it in the true way. First, we must oppose superior armies to the enemy's armies; and, secondly, we must organize coöperative armies against their fortresses and commercial points; so that while our armies were breaking up their armies, our coöperative forces should cut off or destroy all the resources by which new armies might be formed. While we had strong enough armies in the field, we should also attack other important points; so that when the final blow was struck, every thing would be ended. This is the task Grant now set himself to

perform; and as we trace his career on the broad theater of events, we must recollect that he is now to be responsible for the whole conduct of the war, and not for single armies or departments. It had become obvious to all minds that we must have some general and unitized plan; and this could only be done with one commander. I have already said there is no evidence that, up to this time, the Government had any general plan of the war. No general in one department could form one, and there is no evidence that any was ever formed at Washington. This is a remarkable feature of the war, and one which military critics should hereafter carefully consider. It was certainly by no means creditable to the statesmanship of the country.

ARMY OF THE RAPPAHANNOCK.

273

CHAPTER XII.

THE WILDERNESS.

THE GENERAL PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN-ORGANIZATION OF THE GRAND ARMY-LEE'S POSITION-HUNDRED DAYS' MEN— OFFER OF THE GOVERNORS-MEADE'S ADDRESS-GRAND ARMY CROSSES THE RAPIDAN—THE WILDERNESS-LINE OF BATTLE-TWO DAYS' FIGHT IN THE WILDERNESS-LEE'S DISPATCHES-CAN NOT SUCCEED, AND MARCHES BY THE RIGHT FLANK—GRANT'S GENERALSHIP-HIS POSITION IN THE BATTLE.

"Down by the rushing Rapidan, hark! how the muskets crack!
The battle-smoke rolls up so thick, the very heavens are black!
No blossom-scented winds are there, no drops of silver rain;
The air is thick with sulphurous heat, and filled with moans of pain.

O! let us not forget them—our brave, unselfish boys-
Who have given up their loved ones, their happy household joys,
And stand to-night in rank and file, determined to a man,
To triumph over treason, down by the Rapidan !

And let our hearts be hopeful; our faith, unwavering, strong;
Right must be all victorious when battling with the Wrong.
Let us bear up our heroes' hands! Pray, every soul that can,
'God bless our boys who fight to-night, down by the Rapidan !"I

THE

HE war clouds were now gathering from every point of the horizon; but most they gathered round the army on the Rappahannock. This army lay, during the winter, near the Rapidan, and was commanded by General George Gordon Meade—an

"Rebellion Record," Vol. VIII-last page.