Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-08-07

made the campaign OF Fort DOnelSOn with
it; Rosecrans that of Corinth and Iuka !;
Sheridan commanded cavalry regiment
in it for while, and was then transferred
to the Army of the Cumberland. Wilson
belonged to the staff, and Ord, Sooy Smith,
and Comstock, and several inferior officers,
joined in during the siege of Vicksburg,
but with the exception of small battalion
of the Thirteenth (new) Infantry, and a
few hundred of the First Infantry, during
the Vicksburg campaign, not a regiment
of regular soldiers ever formed any part
of its columns. 1t was made up, Generals
and all, of raw Western volunteers, with
no knowledge of warfare, except that de-
rived from family tradition, or based upon
their mother wit, and no military training,
except in the use of the rifle. Having
served with all these armies and had am
pie opportunities of observing their
habitual department in camp, on the
march, and in battle at various epochs in
their career, we may be permitted to speak
unhesitatingly.
THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE.
In the routine and detail of duty, and
in the minor matters of discipline and or
ganization, the Army of the Potomac was
undoubtedly superior to either of the
others. But in the subordination of its
generals, in the promptitude, zeal and en-
ergy of its lower officers, in the selfreli-
ance, earnestness, and physical character
istics of its rank and file; in Short in
every moral military quality, the Army of
the Tennessee has never been excelled.
No general ever more successfully inn
pressed his own character upon an army
than Grant did his upon the one which
CT
army was ever more loyal to its chief or
people from which it sprung. It is a Gu
accounted for, that it is the only army or
ganized with the war, and continuing in
existence till the establishment of peace,
which, as a whole, never suffered defeat.
Its endurance and courage were uncon-
querable, so much so that before the war
had terminated, it came to be boast in its
ranks that it was sure to win any battle
that lasted more than one day, no matter
what the odds or what the enemy. Officers
and men seemed to be endowed with the
gift of persistency to a degree never sur
passed except by their commander. AS
an organizer Grants reputation must con-
tinue to increase the more his perform
ances in this direction become known.
GRANT A GREAT sTRATEGIsr.
The attention of the reader has already
| been called to his recommendation of a
united command in the Mississippi Valley,
and to the tardy action of the Government
| in carryin q INSTRUMENTATION into effect.
| 1t is hardly necessary now to say that this
combination was the foundation of all our
substantial victories, not only in the West,
but throughout the entire theater of the
war; Fort Donelson was won by celebrity,
audacity and heroic resolution. Shiloh
by stubborn fighting and unconquerable
heroism. Vicksburg by the most brilliant
and original strategy and rapid marching,
judicious combination and selfreliance,
which remind one of the invasion of Russia
by Charles XII. or of the vigor displayed
in Bonaparte's campaign of 1896; but it
must not be forgotten that Charles lost his
army at Pultowa, and that Bonaparte did
not cut loose from his base and plunge
headlong into the interior of the hostile
country, but by judicious and we'll
formed plan of operations he broke
through the enemy's lines at such point
as to retain his communications with
France constantly uninterrupted, while by
rapid combinations and severe battles he
drove these lines before him. But Grant,
in the Vicksburg campaign, boldly threw
himself into the midst of hostile forces,
leaving an army entirely behind him,
until he had seized the most i'm
portant point in the theater of
operations, and then turned upon and
defeated that army and drove it into the
Notifications from which it was destined
never to emerge except at the will of its
conqueror. The closing victories of the
war were won by rare combination of
military. agencies. The consolidation of
four vast territorial departments into one
grand military division, enabled Grant to
concentrate at Chattanooga a splendid
army, heavily outnumbering the enemy,
and it should be remembered that Provi-
dence favors strong battalions. By Sc
ries of strategic and strong tactical COM
binations, these superior numbers were so
directed upon the field of battle as to take
the enemy at disadvantage, striking him
in flank, and actually getting closer to his
base of supplies than his base was to his
own headquarters.
The Atlanta campaign and the march
| to the sea the selection of Sheridan, and
the formation of the Middle Military Di-
vision; the consolidation of the Western
cavalry; the establishment of the military
|
| Candy, followed by the campaign of Mo-
bile; Sherman's grand holiday excursion
and picnic party through the Carolinas,
again severing the Southern territory, iso-
lating and scattering its armies, breaking
its communications, and eating out the
vitals of the Confederaey; and lastly, but
not least, the magnificent campaign of the
Army of the Potomac, from the Rapidan
to the James, and from Petersburg to Ap-
| pomattax Courthouse, bear ample testi-
mony not only to the grandeur of Grants
conceptions, but to the heroic and un-
shakable resolution with which he carried
them into effect. There was no defeat in
all this, no hesitation, no doubling, but
the clearest comprehension of the ends to
be aimed at, the most careful preparation
of materials, and the most perfect conf
dence in the men and means b( which
they were to be obtained. NJ modern
general except Bonaparte ever welded
such vast and prolonged power, and not
even that great conqueror displayed such
remarkable sagacity in his organizations
and selections of subordinates. Massena
and Soult were driven from Spain; Mac
donald was overwhelmed at Katzbach
Marmont was defeated at Montmartre and
Napoleon himself was driven from Russia,
beaten at Leipzig, and finally, after Sc
ries of unaccountable blunders, was hur-
ried from his throne, recovering it again
only to repeat his blunders and meet an
| ignominious fate.
But Grant knew that no genius, how
ever remarkable, could sufficiently com
mand the national armies in war of such
magnitude without the assistance of lieu
! 1. o@,I -. L.