The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-01-13
General Grant
his WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENTS AND PR
snNAI. PEcuLIARTTIES.

A common error OF mankind IS TO de-
termine > mans greatness By his physic-
al aspect We are yet the veriest chill
dren in cur estimate Of unseen heroes.
Marvellous attributes Of physical ma
tura impress our minds 50 the necessary
belongings OF those who accomplish
great things. We are never entirely
freed from cur esrly-dsy stories Of ORA
gon-slayers, tWo-handed sword men,
and braBny warriors rough, with gilt
tering mail. Well authenticated por-
traits even Of bygOne heroes of mesgTe
vissge and ordinary stature, have dilatsd
into Gothic grandeur By the transmit
ing power of q willing imagination.
Nevertheless, for al the craving men
hsve for miraculous presentations, the
worlds great chiefs have made but sor-
~ figures physiologicsliy. LOftiness Of
stature and grandeur of percon serve ra-
Their TO belong to the class Of him who
went forth to ignOminious death in
Achilles srmor, than 10 legitimate great
ness. Napoleon, whose genius comes be-
fore US full orbed and glorious ike 3
star, was but > stout, little fat man, who
died of cancer in his stomach, IS any
other earthly humanity might do which
had never imprisoned 80 great q soul
And the majestic Caesar, whose nod "did
awe the world" was iniirIn and oppress-
ed If maladies 50 that
"He fell down IN the market place. ard
foamed al IN nth and was spe6chlsss."
and all this physical weakness 90 Tisi-
49, eas~S slaS Haf OaSSss5 szsvsss,ss -
humanity encompassiDg that mighty
spirit as the semblancs Of q sick girl
Cicero was lank and ferret-eyed, and
others uncOunied, about whose physical
inferioriiy genius has woven . veil Of
glory like that Of the Prophet of Kho-
rAssau. Greatness Of soul rarely assumes
corresponding humanity, and we are even
deceived in the men around as. Those
apparently familiar for years, are often
but little acquainted with each other;
hence upon the elimination of some IL
sing star in the person of an acquain-
lance, or neighbor, the frequent express
sions of surprise and incredulity, in such
phrases as why, meyer dreamed there
was such material in him"-ohe was but
= duh, Flooding man"-"only fourth
rate business capscity''-"this is pure
luck, accident-zny man might have
done the same. under similar circum-
stances" Herein lies our blindness.
Greatness, ike truth, often looks
in the byWsys. "a man is never
. hero to his VaIet de chana5re" Our
neighbor cannot imagine that genius
thrives at his next door, while he plods
uDnoticed in bis obscsrisy. His descrip-
ton of bis eminent friend misled you
for be saw him day by day for years,
walked with him, talked with him, yet
never knew him, simply by law Of ma
ture that resolved their souls in different
spheres. So, while the world is agape at
the rising man, and his own acquaint-
ances, equally astounded, utterly fail to
tell US how he looks, what are his poiRts
of character, and wherein bis genius ebbs
or flows. We seek him in person TO
learn for ourselves the individuality of
the man who has, by some wondrous
alchemy, thrown Cesariau and Napo-
leOnic achievements into the shade.
Fer the record of the CEsars we
would not go TO civic Rome, TO the seeth-
ing populace, TO the clsmOrous Senate, to
the corrupt parasitical court but with
brOnzed legiOns, down through Volacian
marshes, amid scorching Asiatie sands,
wadiDg wild rivers, piercing Danubian
forests in company with privation,
hunger and oftentimes pestilence. or 10
belesguered camps, and there learn from
the lips of veterans, and the stern, cine
tured yissage ofwsr why these men we're
called 'great." Thus, in the case of our
own Generals, We would not 20 10 Wash
iDgtOn, with its red-tspe and untGrnish-
ed shoulder-straps, 10 learn their merit.
nor 60 the unconscious localities whence
our heroes sprung; but to the battle
field, to Tihe-pits and bloody trenches
to The front" And in this instance
nevor did Roman legions nor French vet
Grams hold such front" in such a ter
rible and broken country as that al
Chattanooga, held by our brave
army under General Grant. We saw
him confronting the stern face of the en-.
envy 10 those fearful deliles. Here Ma
ture, ia moments Of violence, had torn the
buttreSses of earth from their founda-
lions, and flung them iutO serrated bat
Elements. The rifted crag and the vexed
mould had been tossed into barbados
aud Notifications, as if prOphetically for
the theatre of some terrible drama of
war. On savage spurs OF upland, thick
FORESTS jutted up hike q million barbed
spears, while sudden and broken dsfiles
sunk st their base in abnormal crypts fit |
ted for smbuscade and unwarne d slaugh- |
ter. Over grim lodges of bald rock,
through spur branching trees from has
tions sprung, as il were, Of the FORCES Of |
Etns, frowned the summit of Lookout" |
Yonder, 10 the left stretshing, in long, sin
uOus lines, scared with rocky passes,
bristling like gigantic breastworks,
lay Missionary Ridge; at its base
the Golgotha of the Chiekamauga,
where, In shallow pools and lurid |
ponds, our unburied dead yet reeked |
CHASTITY in the eye of offended day. A |
thick belt of timber, itself huge bayonet- |
bristliBg gabions, fronted the naked city. |
Here lay our army, far from its base Of |
supplies, weary from recent battle, dis
courAgsd from doubtful contest, saved only |
from utter rout by the determined brave |
~ Of General Thomas. The guns of the /
enemy guarded the river, which swung /
round the base of the huge mountain, /
and nature, distorted into her most rag |
ged forms, had piled up gigantic obsta-
Giles over the road on which the susie
nance Of that army depended. Its shelly
ing passes, on which loiled the worn |
soldier and fAmished horse, we're plague
spotted with the carcEsses of skeleton- /
teams, while the debris Of wagons and /
harness seemed rather the features Of /
ruin and retreat than victory and ad-
vince. Here, in the wesrisome, pro-
longed journey over the mountains. /
was necessarily consumed the small |
loads OF provisions intended for the SOL /
diers suffering in the trenches at Chatta-
nooga. Oar friends ~ home knew but /
little of the then real condition Of our
noble army; nor have they ever seen /
written, or heard spoken, the dark pie
lures, sprung of desperate circumstances.
which here painfully multiplied under
ones contemplation. Here was sixtv |
miles of road over which ouadruple
teams could scarcely drag light guns: and |
this, the only one, with ils almost i'm
passible dehles, lay in the ear of fam |
fishing army, whose fate for brief soace
seemed inevitable. These were the DAYS
of the last "cruse Of oIl"-davs Of less /
sk.r uu.-for rafsonc-fLn a..