The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-05-30
An Hour with Grant---His Views on
Various Matters.


Journal, now in Washington, recently
spent an hour in the studio of the
Maine artist, SIMMONS, in converse
ton with General GRANT, and gives an
interesting statement of the opinions
expressed by the leading man of the
country, upon men and measures. -
We makea few extracts: 49,
The General, who was dressed in
plain black civilian suit, had hardly
removed his hat from his head before
he took cigar from his pocket, lighted
it, and began to puff out wreaths of
smoke. II am breaking off from
smoking remarked Grant When
/ was in the field, / smoked eighteen
or twenty cigars day, but now [
smoke only nine or ten
The conversations turned to the Var
ginia campaigns of 1864 and 1865 II
notice, remarked Gen. Grant, that
Mr.. Swinton has published a history
of the campaigns in the Old Domin-
ion, in which he takes the ground that
I gained nothing, but, on the contrary,
lost many valuable lives uselessly by
moving my army from the Rapidan
direct towards Richmond, rather than
by taking it around by water as Nc
Clellan did. This" observed the
General, q is a revival of the exploded
theory (referred to in the Mcclellan
policy of subduing the rebellion by
peace measures A half million
troops might have been kept in sight
of Washington till doomsday, and the
rebellion would have fiourished more
and more vigorously day by day.
Fighting, hard knocks only, could
have accomplished the work. The
rebellion must be overcome, if over
come at all, by force; its resources
destroyed; its fighting material oblit-
Grated, before peace could be obtain
ed"
There were but two failures in the
Virginia campaign of 1864 which
ought to have been successes, said
Grant, "and those were the failure to
capture Petersburg when we crossed
the James, and afterward at the mine
explosion. But, added Grant, = it
was all for the best that we failed in
those instances, for had we succeeded
at either time Lee would at once have
been obliged to abandon Richmond,
and would have been able to secure a
safe retreat into the interior of the
South, where he would have prolonged
the contest for years. Our failures
then. and the determination of the
rebels to hold on to their capital, gave
us time to extend our left southwark,
to bring up Sherman from Georgia,
and thereby made it impossible for
Lee to escape.
In reply to question as towhether
he was not surprised as to the sudden
ness of the collapse of the rebellion,
Grant said that he was, although he
had always supposed that when It did
break down it would go all at once.
:" thought, however, he remarked,
that it would hold out another sea
son, and | am not sure, he added,
but that it would have been better
for the country if it had There were
some parts of the country where our
armies had never trod, particularly
Texas, which needed to feel the
| blighting effects of war TO bring their
people to realizing sense of the en-
ormity of their crime and the necessi-
| ty of thorough repentance. / find,
said he, " that those parts of the
South which have not felt the war,
and particularly those which have
been within our lines and have there
fore escaped the rebel CONSUMPTION
and taxes, are much less disposed to
accept the situation in good faith, than
those portions which have been liter
| ally overrun with fire and sword.
Referring to the temper of the
/ Southern people, he remarked that
| they are much less disposed now to
bring themselves to the proper frame
of mind than they were one year ago.
"A year ago, said he, they were
willing to do anything, now they re-
| gard themselves as masters of the sit
uation. Some of the rebel generals, =
| be added, are behaving nobly, and
doing all they can to induce the peo-
pie to throw aside their old prejudices
and to conform their course to the
changed condition of things. john
son and Dick Taylor, particularly, are
exercising a good influence; but" he
added, Lee is behaving badly. He
g is conducting himself very differently
from what I had reason, from what he
said at the time of the surrender, to
suppose he would. No man at the
t South is capable of exercising tenth
, part Of influence for good that he
!, is, but instead of using it he is setting
an example of forced acquiescence, So
: grudging and pernicious in its effects
e as to be hardly realized. ~
THE men who were in the rebel
armies. said Grant. g acquiesce in the
e result much better than those who
a stayed at home. The women are par
S ticularly bitter against the Union and