Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-01-05

4 RETRosPEGT.

a year-a little year-ago, part Of
the British public was invited by its
teachers to believe that the American
civil war was over. The two great armies
of the North were said to be ruined
General Grant, without plan, but with
demOrahzed mob Of armed men was
pictured as ti0undering IN the mud of the
James river, whence ne would find it hard
to escape Lee, even with the loss of his
stores and artillery. General Sherman
having been drawn away from his base by
johnson, and being unable to hold At
lanta in the face Of Hood, was described
as breaking up his camp and flying toward
the sea, in the hope, unlikely to be full
filled, of finding shelter from the enemy
in his ships.
Men who felt no objection to the rise of
a slave empire, and women who admired
the chivalry OF Preston Brooks, were in
cited by their leaders to kill the fatted
calf and subscribe to the confederate loan.
Some people did as they were told. Clubs
we're jOcOse, and Capel courts rejoiced.
Money poured in, and the products Of the
cotton loan improved. Yet to soldiers
who paid u fair attention to events, it was
already clear the South had broken, and
that It's submission was but a question of
detail and of days. Lee was locked fast
In Richmond, just Floyd had been
in Vicksburg, with no avenue of escape
left open to him, but such as led to cap
ture aud defeat. Sherman had split the
confederacy into two halves, separating
Lee from his supplies and paralyzing
Hood.
Of course the critics who prated about
Grant being without plan, and Of Sher-
man being drawn into a trap, knew little
of these great captains; not even the facts
of their campaigns during the current
war A soldier who had studied the
strategy which led to the capture of Don
elson and Vicksburg would have found
nothing to perplex him in Grants ap-
proaches to Richmond. Ulysses Grant is
d man of genius a soldier of new ideas !;
one who will be found to have contribu-
ted fresh material to the art of war.
With him a siege is a campaign. Instead
of driving off the covering army from
fort or city, as old rules insisted must be
done before commencing operations
against it, Grant maneUvers to keep the
covering army near him, to throw 1t with
in the lines, to compel It to take part IN
the defense, and to fall when the beieag
ured fortress falls This plan has the dis
advantage of making a siege appear long,
perplexing critics who can see that the
close of the siege Is to be under this new
system, the close of the campaign.
At Doaelson, at Vicksburg, Grants
plan was carried out IN each the cover
ing army fell with the fortress, and IN
each the blow was final The fall Of Fort
Donelson and its covering army put an
end to the war in Kentucky and western
Tennessee; the fall Of Vicksburgh and
its covering army opened the Mississippi
river never to be closed again by the
southern guns. Each campaign was final,
not only sweeping away the army IN the
field. together with the stores, guns, cloth
ing, ammunition, but crushing IN the ca
taStroDhe all sparks Of rebelliOus fire.
Where Grant had once been it was found
impossible to raise q second rebel corps:
The fighting spirit was subdued. And
that which had been done by Grant in the
states of Tennessee and Mississippi was
being done by him, on a larger scale and
with stronger enemy, in Virginia was
being done IN precisely the same manner
and with precisely the same object
Grant had to weaken the confederate
army. shut it up within the lines Of Rich
mond and Petersburgh and compel 1t to
/ surrender when the capital fell.
Hence the battles which he had fought
on his way to York River; hence his re-
| fusuI to assault the lines en- his first ap-
proach He was making campaign not
simply conquering a siege. Davis had
/ boasted that the war could be maintained
in Virginia alone for twenty years after
Richmond fell but like many other crit
les. he made the mistake of misunder-
standing Grant. This captain knew his
object and the means by which be could
| gain it. Richmond without Lee would
| have given him little BlchmOnd and Lee
! falling together would give him every
thing he wanted-victory, Union, peace.
In spite of military and civil critics his
plans were crowned with magnificent sue
cess. The war was finished at blow aud
the surrender of PembertOn was justified