Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-08-07
DODGEVIILE WISCONSIN FRIDAY, AUGUST Z, 1868.

right place. This was due neither to
chance nor snap Judgment, but to his habit
of careful observation. He warns toward
a bold. outspoken, and loyal nature full
of ardor and zeal himself, he naturally adj
mires these qualities in others. He has no
patience with a weak, complaining, and
selfish disposition, and cannot endure
double dealing and indirectness Of any
sort. Straightforward and frank in all
things himself, he respects these qualities
wherever they are found. Indeed, the first
striking popularity of his nature, both as
a man and a General, is a profound and
undertaking truthfulness in all things.
Those who have known him best will
bear willing testimony to the statement
that he never told falsehood, or made
voluntary misrepresentation of fact; and
will believe us that it would be almost as
impossible for him to do so as for the nee
die to forget its fidelity to the pole.
MORAL QUALITIES.
He is true friend and magnanimous
enemy. His iberality is boundles, and
his charity as broad as humanity itself.
He has neither vanity nor selfish ambition !;
no promotion has ever been sought by
him, and none has ever turned his head or
changed his character in the slightest de-
gree. Naturally strong believer in the
goodness of Providence, as exerted in the
affairs of mankind, he yet possesses none
of that blind fatalism which has, at times,
characterized military chieftains. So con-
fdent was he in the moral strength ana
rectitude of our cause, and the superior
intelligence and endurance of the North
ern people, that he never, even in the
darkest hour, despaired of a united and
prosperous country. In this respect he is
perfect embodiment of the great Ameri-
can characteristic, faith in the manifest
destiny of the Republic.
GRANT NOT A MARTINEZ.
Grant having been educated as soldier
at West Point, the first military school of
America, if not of the world, and having
served under both Tay lor and Scott, had,
at the outbreak of the rebellion, received
all the training, both theoretical ard prac-
tical, that was requisite to thorough un-
derstanding of the military art as applica-
BILE to warfare in America. In the very
outset of his more recent career, he showed
plainly that he had not been an idle or
unobservant student Of his profession.
He was, from conviction, always opposed
to that spirit Of martinetism which Fred
erick the Great succeeded in making the
great basis of military discipline in nearly
all modern armies; and believed in devel-
oping the individuality of the soldier as
much as possible, trusting to his intelli-
gence and patriotism for a full perform
ance of duty, instead of relying exclusive
ly upon the capacity of officers to control
brute masses. He had the sagacity to per-
ceive that the system of Frederick, while
it might do well enough for feudal Europe,
before the days of the revolution, could
not be made to apply to citizen soldiery,
and he therefore wasted no time in trying
to enforce the strict rules of fixed military
establishments. He did not make the
usual mistake of supposing that the COM
mon soldier was ignorant and thoughtless,
and, therefore, to be considered as mere
machine to be provided with musket or
saber, and then to be harassed into re-
luctant performance of duty, but was pro-
foundly impressed with the idea that the
volunteers were intelligent citizens of the
republic, whose business had been to be-
come acquainted with public affairs
Withal he was not unmindful of the neces-
sity of drill and organization, for the pur-
pose of insuring conference and uniformity
of effort, though he acted upon the reason
able supposition that volunteers would
obtain more Of the practical knowledge of
warfare in a weeks campaigning than a
years drilling in camp of instruction
Hehas been often heard to say that the
officer who could not tell that his move
ments were in the way of successful execu-
ton by reading the faces of his men, was
already defeated; he believes that Ameri-
can soldiers care as smart as town folks" i"
and what they donot know, or cannot find
out, is scarcely worth the knowing Look
ing at the army in this light, he wisely de-
voted more time to the selection of good
officers, and the wedding out of bad ones,
than in working from the men upward.
THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.
Mcclellan has been much praised for
the organization of the army of the Poto-
mac and while it is not our intention to
detract from his deserts on that account, it
must not be forgotten that in his great
performance he was aided by those who
became his successors, or that he had
nine-tenths of the trained soldiers in the
regular army at the outbreak of the war.
He absorbed the best of verything-ofi-
GERS, troops, arms ammunition, and sup
plies of every sort. His infantry was
commanded by Sumner, Franklin, w. F.
Smith, Hooker, Kearney, Heintzleman,
Casey, Mccall, Stone, Meade, Humphreys,
Ord, Mcdowell, Keyes, Fitz John Porter,
French and Richardson; his cavalry by
Stoneman, Cook, Buford, Emory, Pleas
onton, Bayard and Averill; his artillery
by Barry, Hunt Ayres, Gibbon, Griffin
and galaxy of younger officers. The
various departments of the staff were pre-
sided over by regular officers, many of
whom were already distinguished for con-
spicuous services, including among their
number Barnard, Duane, Michler, Men
dali and McComb, of the Engineers !;
ingalls,, of the Quartermasters Depart
ment; Clarke, of the Substance Depart
ment; Letterman, in the Medical Depart
ment; and Seth Williams and Marcy, in
the Adjutant- Generals Department. In
fact, every corps, division and brigade, be-
sides many a regimental battery, was led
by an experienced commander. The re-
suit is well known; the Army of the
Potomac, that splendid army of citizen
soldiery," had it's origin in this organiza-
ton, and for four long years steadfastly
struggled under every sort OF commander
till it finally found its hero in the
Lieutenant General, and gained a signal
triumph.
ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND.
But fortunately for the cause of free
government, there were other armies in
the field whose history is not less glorious
than that of the Army of the Potomac.
Buell. organized the Army of the, Cum
berland, whose distinctive feature was
rigid discipline and methodical perform
ance of duty; and although its Command
er was military favorite and one of the
prodigies of the earlier days of the war,
he was permitted to have but limited