The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-01-13


ing in an instant the breadth and nature
Of the emergency, be acted Never was
there . moment when with greater pro
priety could be used the much hack
neyed sphorism applied to Caesar
"Ueni, vidi, wci." The peculiar genius
or intuition common TO great military
chieftains, shone out in this man. With
the quiet, indwelhDg conscious Of the
power 10 40, he went to that broken
Front. Here we saw him. lie was
no bronzed or SCARED warrior. lie
brought no scars or burrows from Vicks-
burg. He wore no Vickiug war-lock
over furrOWed broWs, Tor savage nous
taches, like the more terrible clivaI-
~. There was but little clatter Of steel
scsbbards and armed heels in his pres
ence; nor was there any of the dumb
show, painted glory and psrsphernalia of
war about his staff. Simply plain, quiet
man, surrounded by plain men, who, ig-
noring the tinsled imagery Of battle
fields, make actions build them mOnu-
ments in the hearts of the people, and
decorate their lives. The prestige of
physical exeellencies must vanish when
we speak Of Grant; We think of the little
Corporal of COrsica-the great man Of
Destiny. Grants medium hight, droop-
ing shoulders and retiring carriage
would pass him through 3 crowd unno-
ticed. The casual observer would see
nothing remarkable in his features; but
The physiognOmist would discover reti-
cent power in his clear, gray-eye, whence
an iredescent light, breaking occHsicn-
ally, (the only sign of passing emotion
ever visible in his countenance,) would
seem TO be the kindliDg threshold
-N..I fhsF hnilL ~ prF~rHrTnI
fabrics in unseen chambers. His mouth,
the sculptured decision and intellectual
force Of the Islf-relying man, is keeDly
cut and sharply curved, with depressed
corners, and rather thin lips set in I'M
linching and immobile lines, around
which q closely trimmed, tawny beard
deepsns to the firm chin, and square,
ample Jaws of those who in battle never
surrender His nose, land here our friends
the nasslogists must suffer disappoint-
ment,) is neither CesGresn nor Yelling
tonian the force of character which is
supposed to exist with powerfully bridg
ed proboscis, with its phlaDges Of flexible
nostril, must have sought elsewhere for q
representative he has but plain, me-
diminished, citizen nose, which cknnot
@snuff the battle afar off," neither can it
inhale the aroma of distant victories.
His forehead is eminently Saxon square,
compact, bold sustained and balanced
by corresponding strength In the posteri-
or region of the forehead. His tout en-
senl5ls is altogether slight and unimpress-
i've, while his gait being never the ma
iestic stride of tragic heroes, isthe quiet,
unpretendipg motion of thinking man,
which motion is rarely the expression of
his mind On horseback, perhaps, he ex-
pands; and the grace and action of the
centAur become his There be is en-
throned; consmmate in menage-the
physical man approaches and hon
ors the intellectual. His habis of
of life, like that of other men moves,
Independent of his mind, and in this
there is but little remarkable, saving
devotion to the fragrant weed, in which
incense Wresthing we find him contin-
ually engaged His conversation is ge-
NAL, prudent and modest-of few words,
but every word fitting the thought ut
tered. His manner is courteous, without
ceremony. Odtentation and displays are
strangers TO his nature; is appro2chable
by all; no array of Pretorian guards
with steel hAlberds admOnish timid Wis
itors, no triple circle of epauletted sub
ordinates dance attendance and weary
ones patience with their insane de-
sire of homage to their knots and shOul-
der-strsps-a popularity far from rare
about the threshold of some other mill
tary dignities.
a general welcOme-Sn open, undis p
guised Western welcome, meets you at
the headquarters of General Grant. II is
the welcome Of our representative man.
The absence of all the tinsel and garnish
Of imported ceremony, may leave him
too much the man and too little the cour-
tier, perhaps, for the dainty few whose
kids gloves and yellow gauntletts might
be sOiled by the hard hand of the humble
citizens; but while the cultivated shrug
in high places may eVince dissatisfaction
st the free manliness of their General,
the people whose fist is true as it is ex-
ternal, have already stretched out their
broad palm to the man who has won for
them more victories, captured more
prisoners and munitions of war, dealtt the
enemy more crippling blows, and made
greater pressge of \ speedy and success
full termination of the war, than any
other General ia Americs; the man who
has carried the prestige of victory in his
hand and "never surrender" in his heart.
His achievement at Chattanooga, which
eclipses all others, is period not only in
American history but in the worlds his.
tory of warfare. They who have been
familiar with the terrible circumstances
attendant upon that last battle; the vast
natural defenses of that region; the huge
battlements TO scale, the stern, bleak
walls of rock upon which our soldiers
forced a victory, will dwell in wonder
and establishment on the magnitude of
the undertaking and determine in the
fullness of their own hearts the measure
of gratitude due TO General Grant.