Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-06-06
orautasa General.

| A. sydney johnston ptotea'eu no "'S"''
while he submitted TO the necessity
success has been hitherto the received
measure Of great abilities, in war, we
should not be surprised II the examina-
ton into the particulars Of Grants ca
reer, with the facts likely to be devel'
oped during the Presidential canvass,
should result in rational correction oil
the public sentiment 10 regard to that
matter. 1t may be true that he who, IKE
Marlborough, was uniformly success
full with equal or inferior forces
and never lost battle, Is, IN
deed, a great general. In the absence
Of proof to the contrary, It is fair enough
| TO say so. But to affirm as certain and
an infiexible rule that he who succeeds
is the greatest military commander may
be far from the truth. It's true, never
theless, that the capacity for planning
great battles and campaigns which Napo'
leon possessed was higher proof OF
generalship than even the great sue
cesses which he achieved Good plans,
after all, are better proof than can be
furnished by their execution, because
upon the plan does the execution mainly
depend.
Had Grant only the relative numbers
against his antagonist which Napoleon
had against his, he would have been ut
terly overthrow and defeated. There is
no room for the adula,ions of victory
toward man who was victorious with
overwhelming numbers, but only for cen
sure for losing battles. As well might
YOU crown with laurels the sheriff OF a
county or the mayor Of a city, who, by
summoning the power of the county
against a sixth the number of rioters,
succeeded in putting down disturbance
and restoring public order. Failure
might be disgraceful, but success calls for
no great praise, wheE any man OF COM
mon capacity, with the same means,
would be equally certain Of success 10
treat as a great general man who with
hundred thousand troops succeeded IN
oyerthrowiug thirty thousand, while for
want of success with inferior numbers
and advantages, yca. set aside and igRore
others, amounts to no more than making
great men by giving Them great means,
and beliitliDg their superiors, from whom
the same means we're withheld. This is
to win battles by lavish supply OF men,
aud the glory belongs rather to the source
of supply than to the officer appointed
to employ i. on the field. Thus we're
Mcdowell, Burnside, Meade, Mcclellan
and others oversIaughed in the late con-
test, and reduced to nothing. while man
far their inferior was elevated to success
and undeserved public esteem. 1t is an
error and a great one, which the histo-
rian will duly correct, be the result now
what il may.
The truth is, General Grant, though
successful, had not a single element of
character requisite to great generalship,
as every skillful general Of the Union
army is fully aware. The only merit
quoted in his favor is that OF persistence,
and that was the result of his want Of
capacity. Napoleon or Lee with half
his force would have ended the war in
half the time, after he took command.
And yet, the principal ground alleged in
proof Of Grants capacity as a general is,
that be psrsisted-in other words, that
be was so long about it. The assign
ment of such a reason is sufficiently
ridiculous. And it is derogatory to the
country to suppose the reason can be
accepted by any, except for partisan
ends. There we're a dozen generals dis
placed to make room for Grant, who
would be pronounced ineomparably su-
perior to him by any jury of well in
formed military men.
What single thing did Grant ever do
that any Colonel in the Federal service
could not have done as we'll or better, or
even any uumilitary civilian of average
sense2 Did he ever, with equal advan-
tages, overcome force superior, or even
equal to his own Did he save a single
life BY an adroit conception Did he
succeed in any case with less loss
than would have been consequent if
his army had acted by a common
impulse without a head2 Were not
such plans as be conceived calculated
uniformly to accomplish victory at the
heaviest cost Of human life2 Jackson
at New Orleans, Taylor at Buena Vista,
and Scott ut Contreras, we're victorious
with small loss, and with one-third the
forces of the enemy. But Grant for
sooth is the greatest general Of America
What did be but blunder between Bel
mont and Shiloh, where be would have
been beaten and hidden from sight for
ever, but for Johnson's death and q
days delay caused by unfavorable
weather. He captured seventeen thou
sand me at Vieksburg at a cost Of forty
thousand lives, and with a four-fold
force. What Mcclellan did by water
transportation on the way to Richmond
without the loss Of man, Grant did on
his land line, on which he had the Vir-
tue of persistence to work "all sum-