New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-06-07

ana Sheridan deserve al tuat nae
ever been said in their praise; but
there has never been time since
Grant was made lieutenant general
when anybody but Sherman on our
side could have been olassed with him.
Since Sherman's bold march through
Georgia, and his capture of Savannah
and Charleston, there have been many
who in their strong admiration of his
great achievements inclined to rank
him as the greater general Of the two.
That judgment, we take it, is now re-
versed by the court of final appeal;
not by dwar6ng the reputation of Sher-
man, which suffers no just abatement,
but by the expansion into grander
proportions Of that of Grant.
Grant stands pre-eminent among all
the generals who have led cur armies
in the late war, in that he has exhib-
tied the utmost strength of will of
which the highest type of manhood is
capable. The defenses of Vicksburg
| and the defenses Of Richmond we're
both deemed impregnable, and were
defended with proportionable conf"
dence and obstinaCy; but they both
| Welded at last to Grants matchless
persistence and unequaled strategy.
And in both cases he not only took the
long contested positions, but compelled
the surrender of the whole force de-
Tending them. Nothing could be more
clean and complete, even in magma
ton, than General Grants mastery
execution: He did not merely Il each
case acquire position which was the
key of wide theatre of operations; he
did not merely beat or disable the OPP
! posing force he left no fragment of it
in existence except as prisoners of
war subject to his disposal.
| If anybody is so obtuse or so wrong
headed as to see nothing great in Gen
eral Grant beyond his marvellous tena-
city of will, let that doubter explain, if
he can, how it has happened that, since
Grant rose to high command, this quail
ity has always been exerted in con-
spieuous energy precisely at the point
on which everything in his whole
sphere of operations hinged. There
has been no display of great qualities
on small occasions: no expenditure of
herculean efforts to accomplish the
objects not of the first magnitude. 1t
is only very clear sighted and very
comprehensive mind that could always
thus have laid the whole emphasis of an
indomitable soul so precisely on the
emphatic place. How, if he be not a
general of the first order of intellect,
as well as of the most heroic determin-
alton, does it happen that in assigning
great and brilliant parts to his subor-
dinate commanders he has never,
when the results of his STRAIT
egy were fully unfolded, APP
peared in the picture except as the
central figure? However it may seem
during the progress of one of his
great combined campaigns, it always
turns out at last, when ii reaches that
completeness and finish in which he
contrives to have his campaigns end
that we see him standing in the fore
ground, and that the grouping is al.
ways such that the glory of the Other
generals instead Of eclipsing his OWE
gives it additional luster. 1t is thi:
sureness of Judgment which sees pre-,
cisely where lies the turning
point, which sees precisely what
are the objects that justify the
utmost stretch of persistence; it i.
this ability to take in the whole fielt
of view in just perspective and due
subordination of parts that is the
mark of superior mind. Genera
Grant has taken out of the hands O.
all critics the question whether it be-
} longs to him. He has won his great
est triumph over the most skillfu
and accomplished general OF
the other side; over a genera
who foiled him long enough tt
prove his great mastery of the art o
war; and the completeness of whose
defeat is a testimony to Grant
genius such as victory over any
other general of the Confederacy, O
even an earlier victory over Lee him
self, could not have given. Apply t,
, General Grant what test you will
measure him by the magnitude of tn
obstacles he has surmounted, by til,
value Of the positions he has gained
by the fame Of the antagonist owe
whom he has triumphed, by tn
achievements of his most illustriou
coworkers, By the sureness wit
which he directs his indomitable ener
, gy to the vital point which is the Ike,
of vast field of operations, or b,
that supreme test Of consummate abili
ty, the absolute completeness of hi
/ results, and he vindicates his claim t
stand next after Napoleon and Wei
lington among the great soldiers q
this century, if not on a level wit
the latter.
"Negro Supremacy"