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ABOUT GRANT.

CHAPTER I.

FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.

"THE fall of Sumter was the resurrection of patriotism." The news came as "if a mighty thunderbolt had been launched from the hand of the Omnipotent" to startle the torpor of the republic. It banished the compromising tone which had prevailed, and evoked a sense of responsibility and manhood beyond the calculations of the most sanguine patriot. Yet, from the hour that an alien flag "flaunted" over this conquered fortress, steadily, with a uniformity that tested the endurance of the American people to the utmost, defeat by superior strategy, and constant mishap, had attended every loyal military effort. The seventy-five thousand men who with alacrity responded to the call of Abraham Lincoln to "repossess the forts, places, and property taken from the Union by the rebels," like snow under a tropi

cal sun had melted away in the hot blaze of civil struggle, without a sign of final success.

The hasty and unjustifiable proclamation in which France had joined with England in bestowing recognition to armed bands of slave-owners seeking to destroy a friendly government had made again apparent the fact that the shopkeeping instincts of Great Britain shaped her foreign policy. To see a country that had boasted over the liberation of its own slaves indirectly though deliberately throw its moral weight on the side of an attempt to found a nation on the right of one race to own and enslave another, had, in the language of Minister Adams, "made a most unfavorable impression upon right-minded statesmen and philanthropic Christians everywhere." While this abandonment of the principles of religion for the precepts of commerce had shocked those who looked to England for a higher example of justice and duty, it also augmented the severe burdens of the republic, and in some aspects was a more difficult question to adjust than to repair or overcome the damage to our cause in the field.

In July, 1861, occurred the battle of Bull Run, with a result so lamentable to the national side, that no American can turn back without pain to the remembrance of that scene of holiday folly which marked the morning of the fatal day, or recall without a blush that sad sunset which saw the mad, impetuous flight of the lately proud American army.

The bitterest moment, however, that Northern hearts ever knew was not when they heard of prisoners taken at Bull Run by the thousands, and of the reprehensible conduct of incompetent officers, or of the promiscuous race for the rear between civilians who left their hampers behind them and the soldiers who threw away their knapsacks, or in the destruction of the first real army that had been sent out with great hope; but when the chief traitor patronizingly implored the rebel' masses to pity the North, and "never be haughty to the humble," then the iron entered deep into the loyal soul. Though the army retreated at Bull Run, patriotism did not. Before the end of July, in sight of our beaten army at full run, it was voted through the national representatives to fight on for the cause with more men by hundreds of thousands, and more money by hundreds of millions.

The death of Lyon and the prevalence of disaster in Missouri; dangerous complications in Kentucky; a most disheartening repulse at Ball's Bluff, inflicting a national calamity in the loss of Baker, an eminent statesman and brave soldier; "The Trent" affair, almost provoking foreign interference; repeated ill success at the front; political divisions at the North, beginning a baleful career of disorder; chaos in values; the rise of the speculative spirit; the separation of the people into two parties, one trusting government with money, the other denying the capacity of the government

to fulfil its obligations; credit trembling in the balance; heavy loans put on the market; gold disappearing; the public pride smarting under the domineering tone of the English Government in its mercenary diplomacy; vacant chairs around loyal hearthstones and firesides; insignia of mourning everywhere in sight;-all this, without an instance of successful leadership or any victory to cheer the tried energy and resolution of the Union element, or to compensate severe loss of life and treasure, was the dismal record of the first nine months of the Rebellion.

The beginning of the year 1862 saw treason elated with its conquests, the South full of hope, and animated with military renown; while loyalty, with no inspiration of military success, struggled against a ceaseless flood-tide of misfortune.

The battle of Belmont was fought by Grant as brigadier-general of volunteers in November, 1861. At the time the country thought the affair a failure, and Grant was regarded with distrust, although the success of the movement was complete and in accordance with his plan. It protected an operation of our army that the enemy designed to check, and changed the latter's campaign in Missouri from aggressive to defensive; but the main value of this movement was in its development of the character and qualities of the coming chief of our armies. The perfect management of his command, the individual coolness and observance of the situation which make retreat equal to vic

tory, the gift of laconic expression, a rare characteristic of the rarest soldiers, the display of an inflexible will united with a discreet judgment, were the revelations of the contest at Belmont.

A striking feature of the character of Gen. Grant is reserved power. Where circumstances are the least favorable and the most involved, he is then the clearest in purpose and the strongest in resolve. This contingent of internal strength in the midst of external difficulty never has deserted him. At Belmont he was in an exceedingly precarious position. He had fought skilfully, and had forced in the rebels and broken up their camp, but was in no condition for, and had no intention of, holding the ground. The re-enforced enemy massed upon him. "We are surrounded and lost," said one of his alarmed staff. "No," said Grant, we have whipped them once: we can whip them again. We cut in: we must cut out." At Pittsburg Landing, as his lines were slowly but surely being driven back, every step made scarlet with heroic blood, Grant was asked what arrangements had been made for retreat. "I have not given up the idea yet of whipping them," was the answer. He held on, and whipped them; and these pithy sayings passed into the language of the camp. With regularity that seems at times the consequence of special design, the grave military and civil responsibilities devolved upon him have presented at their commencement the unfailing emergency of disadvantage and uncertainty,

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