The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1866-07-07
AN HOUR WITH GBNBRAR GRANT

I
We had the good fortuue to meet Gen
eral Grant at the studio of Mai1e's giftet
artist, Simmons, and spent an hour il
conversation with the Lieutenant Genera
while be was giving Mr.. Simmons the ben
/ eft of a sitting" As every thing com
ing from the General who led our armies
to victory over rebellion, is Of interes
to the public, and particularly so at thi
time when his name is mentioned in con
nection with the next Presidency, W.
propose to give our readers a brief reSuna
of Grants conversations:
The General, who was dressed in
plain black civilian suit, had hardly re.
moved his hat from his head beforc ht
took cigar from his pocket, lighted It
and began to puff out wreaths of smoke
81 am breaking off from smoking" re-
marked Grant. "When L was in the
held I smoked eighteen or twenty cigars
day, but now smoke only nine or ten.''
Seating himself, and turning towards the
clay model of himself, which the artist
was building up, Grant remarked. Ell
you had been at Vicksburg when we were
before that city, you would not have want
ed for mud" This naturally opened the
way to a conversation on the events of
the war, which we improved.
Referring to the long struggle for pos
session of Vicksburs, Grant SAID he felt
sure of that city the moment he had eff
fected a landing below. al then clearly
saw every step" lie remarked, 'tbut l
didn't think the rebels would be such
fools as to shut up thirty thousand troops
there for me 10 capture" Grant seemed
to regard the series of battles which re-
lieyed Chattanooga and put that impor-
tant stragetic point securely in our pos
session, as one of the most satisfactory OF
his achievements in a purely military
point of view. Pitlsburg Landing be re-
garded as an important victory, and al
though he blamed the officers command
ing our outposIs for their negligence in
allowing a surprise, yet he claimed that
the battle did very much to dampen the
ardor aud break down the arrogance of the
rebels.
The conversation turned to the Virgin
ia campaign of 1864 aud 1865. 81 no.
ticed,' remarked General Grant, ''that
Mr.. Swinton has published history OF
the campaign in the Old Dominion, in
which he takes the ground that l 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 to the Peninsula, as Mcclellan
did," "This," observed the General,
sis revival of the old theory referring
to the Mcclellan policy of subduing the
rebellion by peace measures. A half &
million troops might have bsen kept with.
in sight of Washington till doomsday,
and the rebellion would have fourished
more and more vigorously day by day
Fighting, hard knocks, only could &C.
complish the work. The rebellion must
Be overcome, if overcome at all, by force
its resources destroyed-its fgh.ng
material obliterated, before peace could be
obtained.
Now remarked the General, as he
took another puff at his cigar, will any
body tell me what could be gained by
moving my army by WAFER hundred
miles further away from my base than
was necessary to inset the foe against
which all my blows must be directed!
And then by marching overland could
keep my whole 0rce together and protect
Washington Il the same time, whereas,
had l moved by water to the Peninsula
before Lees army had been crippled,
should have been obliged to leave large
force behind to guard against raids on
Washington. 1t seem to me-" added the
General, ''to be the simplest military
truism to fight an enemy as near as posi-
bic TO our base.'
In response to an allusion 20 the charge
that little was accomplished by the tire.
mendous loss of life from the Wilderness
to the James. Grant remarked that b.
had little patience with those grumb lerE
who expected that the rebellion could b.
put down without the loss of life. Tht
problem given was to destroy the lighting
material of the Confederacy, and thai
could only be done by sacrifice of life
on our side. 1t was the constant pound.
ing which we gave Lees army from th,
Rapidau to the James that made possible
the victories of April, 1865. In all tht
battles of 1854, except Coal Harbor, oul
loss was inferior to that of the enemy
and great as were those losses, yet they
were not only necessary to secure tb'
final result, but even less than they woulG
have been By disease bad we resorted Il
the Chicahominy warfare and the conse
quent prolongation of the war.
''There were but two failures IN th,
Virginia campaign of '64 which ought t.
have been successes, said Grant, "anC
those were the failure to capture Peters
burg when we crossed the James, and af
forwards at the mine explosion ,
"Blunders, aud especially failure t
move with sufficient promptitude, lost u
these two opportunities, which now it i
clear might both have been successes
"But," added Grant, sit was all for th
best that we failed in those two instances
for had we succeeded at either time lie
would have at once been obliged to aban
don Richmond, and would have bee
able TO secure a safe retreat into the in
terror of the South, where he would hav
prolonged the contest for years. Gu
failure then, and the determination of tt
rebels to hold on to their capital gavs-u
time to extend our left southwark,
bring up Sherman from Georgia, an
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