The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-12-07

General Grants Report or tho Dsstruo-
tion of tho Military Power OF tho Com
fcdoracy.
General Grants report is tho description Of the
final gigantic effort by which the United States
crushed the greatest rebellion of which any
memory Is preserved in tho history of tho
human race. Distinctly and straightforwardly
it tells how tho nation, putting into one at
tempt a power equal to what it had before
wasted in twenty-a power greater than the
world believed II to possess-balanced thereby
the advantages Of position and interior lines
that The enemy had, and brought him to the
earth by the unrelenting repetition and weight
Of its blows.
In tho lavish use of our superior power
and in properly concerted action, East
and West lay, in General Grants view,
tho solution of the problem of the war.
II was common sense applied 10 ques-
tons of strategy that had been mystifed
by technical jargon. "The armies in the East
and West acted independently and without
concert, like balky team, no two ever pull
Ing together" Now the East struck-now the
West-and the enemy was able to use the same
force to meet both, The necessity was TO over
come that fact by s'the use of the greatest num-
Der of troops practicable" at the proper times,
and then "to hammer continuously against
the armed force Of the enemy and his
resources until. by mere attrition, If in
no other way, there should be nothing.
left to him but an equal submission
with the loyal section Of our common country
to the constitution and laws Of the land"
Such is the simple theory on which Grant
directed the last grand operations of the war;
His success the country knows. Even with
out his report, every step of the way is forever
famous. The ''let-alone policy" that democrat
lied tho enomy west of the Mississippi and
sent home force of forty thousand .rebels that
resistance would have kept out; the fearless
penetration of the Southwestern country by
Sherman, with it's bloody incidents all along
the way to Atlanta and thence to the sea, and
the other incident of Hoods army straying all
the way up TO Nashville to make Shermans
retreat "worse than Moscow" the terrible COM
bats, fought step by step, from the Rapidan to
Richmond, and the final triumph there-all
these are the household words of the country
the recognition Of the great events Of the
greatest period Of our national life. Grant
dates Sherman's march to tho sea from Davis
celebrated speech at Macon-a speech in which
he stated the weakness of the South, and dis
closed his plan for sending Hood into Ten
nessce. Davis there exhibited the weakness
of supposing that an army that had been beaten
and fearfully decimated in vain attempt at
the defensive could successfully undertake the
offensive against the army that had so often
beaten ii, and while he did so he showed Sher-
man where to strike.
Grants account Of the campaign against
Richmond is particularly full and clear, and
his tributes and references to all his great lieu
tenants-Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas and
Mesde--glve the country further illustrations
of The noble frankness Of his nature. e4His re-
port as the fecord of great events by the hero
Of all, is an invaluable contribution to the
national history.