The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-08-15
Grants Apology and Apologists.

TAe Yankee newspapers have been oisy apo'e-
,.,y.o, Cur Cf,a,'s enormous failure at Petersburg
-, she sath ever since it occurred. Probaby ,hey
49,, no. ,,an. The business as well il might be
.,nn, for the "sage Ulysses" has taken the Held
himself lie tells the admiring Yankees that
,there was no earthly reason why i" the spfingng
e III, miuel siaaud not have been entire aae-
.ss Il his orders had been ecsel. II vas he said
,on,,.e,e surprise OF the rel.cls and Il only neeiei
,.hc,iionce his orders TO have Souted the Sn'"e
r~hsl army" The rebels, II seems from th'S' VIZ
badly whipped; hat they are ineortls'ois S'ut4''
alsa a,i rot tnd cut that they ~"re wmpss''
eainci one OF the most triumphant 'ie'"' ~
whole war by stapidls hshtins on, long a'''f' -
shey.had had the sense they We're ""''' "''''' -"
should haze voted Themselves de'e@'ea '''''' "''"
surrendered themselves, their WORKS. 'he'f a'"a'
h; eolae~ the ritY 81 Petersburg. and the road !"
p.eba,ona 10 Grant and his white amt black ne
y,x,es Ii was very base IN General Lee 30 ehea'
,p, al his hardwon laurcls IN this unproiessionai
style
not Grant does not tell the true reason why Pc
,.rsa,rs was not taken should rather say tea-
sons fos there several. First The conception
oi blowing up earthwosks under an army III the
field and in line OF battle stupidity OF rst-rate
magnitude, which neither deserved nor could lead
10 snoeess There always positions in the rear
,ommaniins that. in front, and rendering At an
ienabie hy stofmiRs party. The case rs entirely
unlike thar OF walled town, in which, II breach
Ee made in the masonry, there Is nothing TO prevent
iss SEIZURE by rush. Second Grant had not the
sa.a "a hold position thus seized against such
tto-sps as those he had before hiultr0ops which
had beaten his own in every ENCOUNTER they had
sks,aa
10 that day lie put the negroes upon this service
because the white soldiers had been often beaten
and had become utterly demoralized, that they
could not be trusted The negroes were, 10 be sure
n very frai dependence; but the white troops were
Ii worse. 1t was no blunder, this use OF the negro
troops Grants apoogists, in their laudabie de-
sire 10 cheat the Yankee public, vociferously as
cert 1t was a matter Of necessity. 1t the
negro troops or nobody. The whites could not
be brought 10 toe the mark. The third and
last reason for the failure was, that General Lee
knew perfectly well what Grant was about, and was
perfectly prepared for what he expected TO happen
Ii was, indeed, secret. II was openly discussed
the streets and The newspapers, here and at Pc
tersburg, days before 1T happened When Grant
sent body of his troops across the river at Deep
Bottom, Lee knew that he designed some movement
on his left. He sent over enough to prevent this
body from stealing into Richmond, but lie ke pit more
than enough on the lines before Petersburg to repei
any attempt Grant might make upon his works, even
with his whole army. The Yankee papers console
themselves for the tremendous ehastisement inflicted
upon them on the 3oth by pointing TO this move
ment of Grant across the river, which they charac-
tsrize i masterpiece OF strategy. They are well
come TO whatever comfort they can derive from
knowledge OF the fact that no matter how splendid
Grants strategic movements may be, they always
result III disaster The credit has been claimed,
in succession, for every operation he has attempted
from the beginning Of the campaign, and the result
has in every instance, been the But the fact
is, as We have seen, there was no novelty ln-this
movement. lie bat repeated the strategy OF the
WILDERNESS, OF spotsylvania Courthouse ana OF
Cold Hareor, which consisted in making demon
STATION On his night while he preparing to at
tack with his LETT 1t is the only man1uvre be
seems to understand He always puts it in prae-
ticc, and Lee already has it By heart He know
Grant much better than Grant knows himself ana
always contriyes to make tim slaughter his own
men TO no purpose
defeated general, attempting to account foe his
disasters by laying the blame upon his subordnates'
Grant would be much more highly esteemed ii he
would initiate General Lee and say-+is doubt he
could say with great truth''it was all my fault
Apologies for failure form but very poor substitute
for success and Of all people in the world the YAM
KEGS the least willing accept such apologies
payment for services due Resolutions do ROT
build railroads" and do not take cities 1t
would be more honorable in Grant to release his
snbordinates and take the blame on himself. His
case is that of many much greater man than him
self He did no. take Petersburg for the very same
reason that Pompey did not beat Cesar. He did
not defeat Lee because Lee defeated him. Let him
initiate the magnanimity Of Beau Brummcli's valet,
who, far from claiming infallibility tor his master,
directed the attention OF Visitor bushel or two
vi rumpled cravats lying On the fioor and cxclaim-
ed with true grandeur OF soul .'these are our fail
urea" The Wilderness, Spotsylvans Courthouse
Tod Harbor, Sheridan's raid, Kartz's raid Hun
ter's campaign, are Grants failures, and let him