The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-12-12
Grants RepOrt-The Campaigns and
fha @. -


the Commanders.
! There is nothing in military literature o.
history comparable with lhe report Of Lieui
Gen. I. 5. Srant lt IS more c0ursct thar
Csesar, more lucid than T1miui. more pun
gent than Nspier. It covers the operation
Of mightier army, opersting over a waste
surface. than ever was marshaled hv AZ,
! Commander. Il viii command the stten
ton o. the soldiers Of the " orld. and Wi
be read BY the generations ss long as 10,
I great war Of secession b remem bere8 The
I report embraces but onesyear out Of the TOM
/ years oi wa-. But u was wear in which
such multiudinGus battles were fought snd
I won-in which such bew.liering mass o
I movements We're made from points iunu-
mersblc-In which such a number Of com
maudiug officers figured houorabIvor other
] wise-that it seems in perusing the report.
which embraces the whole iu its scope. as
% We were reading Of q century Of battles
covering the surface Of the world
Gen. Grants task as a military rernrter
was by no means easy. Not that u was So
difficult for HIM % make compact record
Of the greater and lesser campaigns which
be dirseted aud perntended-thourh
that was by no means a simple matter
Not that the mere extent Of territory cover
~ aANAAiAN NA MAllHU.H LMNNlhNIa
compleXity Of operation included. made
ciearness Of statement hafd-though thev
almost necessarily did So. But the most
difficult Of all matters Of treatment in such
report was that Of personal tg--that which
established the historical position, txed the
station Of honor or di,h0nor for al time %
come, oi each OF the promineut officers
holding cnmmand under the Lieutrua a.
General. What Gen. Grsut, m this report.
says about any OF Dis sUbouiIuaies- about
their campG gus or actious, is, a. uesr as
may be, the final verdict. The judgments
are hardly, IN any case, reveruble- PARTIES
who consider themselves aggrieVed NAV
make eXplauaiioos, put forth rebutung tes
hmouy, write elaborate pamphlets or books
in reply. But the latter viii be known 90
few and will quickly pass away and be ioT-
gotten, white the original verdict of the
Lieutenant General in each ease VIII and
permanently and uusiiec ed. This put a
great and peril0us responsibility upon the
eminent reporter, not merely from an indi-
vidual, but from public point Of view. Is
called for such g clear knowledge of al the
facts, such large sense of justice, such free
dom from sel6shness, favoritism and pas
sion, such perfect independence of cha ac-
ter and such courage Of statement, that we
could hardly expect TO tind any one gifted
with all these qualifications
In nearly all cases Grant gives conhrma-
ton to what was the popular Judgment of
the hour. sherman, sheridan. Schotield
and Thomas were the admired of the pe0-
pie, Bs thew are the praised Of Grant. WIh |
others, as Banks and Gillmore. he is siguid- |
rantly silent. RJsecraus he speaks of rath- I
er haIshly; Baidy smith he treats severely. l
aud with Butler he deals al once sc0rnfuIv. I
aud, in a Western sense, viciOus.y- To !
Hunter he gives credit for various merits. !
while numerous officers Of 0uly less emi- I
leuce than these are dismissed with siguih- I
rant or Insignificant praise or blame. In /
some Of these and other instances, it must !
be allowed, the Judgment Of the country I
less capable and less we'll informed of course, I
han THAI of General Grant-has heretofore I
Uttered from that officially put forth iu tins I
report. Gilmore was always "a renowned I
lame with the people Badly smith had
equation which was not diminished by hrs \
'rmoval from actIve service hlsecraus stood i
0r two years among the foremost names IN
he army OF the ulou; while, su lhe ether
Iaud, we think that so far as public op,u-
on was concerned, Gen Huu,er only gut |
redit for q minimum amount of s0ldlerly
apacity. Except with the olItical aud
PERSONAL parusaus Of Gen. Butler, we mag
ne that Hruuts Crli4cI5us upon MS iuiHtu-
" career will be considered severely just.
}utlrr is charged with diIrct violation o.
riders in one ease, with mpertueut a--
umption ia smother, and agaIu aod again
With the grysscst iucspacity Iu the manage
neut Of his army, followed by the most
results; aud he states that finally
his request for his removal was perempt0ry,
u all the Judgments and estimates of action
md character, however, Gen. Grant is thor
ughly unmpassioued and self-pOssessei;
nd if OCCASIONAL he uses vigorous lauguagr
ie generally leaves the impression that is
justified by fact.
Near the close Of his report, after recount
ng in compact detail al the events of the
-ear's history, Cen Grant sets tlrtu his r--
innate 0fthe relative warlIke capactieI %. the
oldiers from the Eastern and Western sec
ions Of the country. IL was has fortune, he
avs, 90 see both of them fighting battles,
nd he gives it a. the result oi an mis- obser-
alton that there is no difference 10 their
ghting qualities; while, elsewhere. iu the
me paragraph, no gives the enemy credit
Or the most herculeau deeds OF valor ON the
eld Of battle. So that, in This respect,
zen. Grant puts an Americans from all see
ions upon a level. We imagine that his
upon tins matter a.so wound now
- confirmed by the peor rle of al parts of
he Uaited ~tItcs.--N. ]. IHt,.