Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1872-08-31

ing the dead, directing the march,
securing the mules, and litters, and
wagons in default of swindling agents.
Arrived On the Pacific coast, he sees
from his posts of duty the tide OF
Anglo Saxon life surging over tho
rocky range into Oregon, Washington,
and California. Retiring now to civil
life, he returns to st. Louis, and in the
humble capacity of a woodman or
tanner at Galena, in the heart Of the
West, he watches the mighty growth
of industry aud power. He sees how
nature has prepared the theater by
rolling prairies, by secret mineral
deposits, by multiplied rivers holding
ever their slow and stately motions to
the open saa ; and how man instinc-
; lively grasps the key points on these
channels Of commerce, studying, per-
haps uncorsciously, the subtle rela-
: tions between position and empire
which fitted him after for tue sudden
sippi. The rebellion breaks out and
be begins that martial tour, 30 dazzling
!. in its rapid cOnquests that we over
look how emphatically it was also
, tour of observation. Let us examine
, the geographical facts of his cam
: paigns:
+ On the 23d of April 1861, he arrived
9 with drilled company at Springfield,
= ILL.,, aud il there engaged TILL June
:. mastering in troops from every part
Of the State; commissioned AS a
u colonel he is stationed in central Mis-
It souri, to watch guerrilla bands CON-
d missioned as brigadier general he
% takes up his headquarters at Cairo to
protect the country near the junction
Is of the Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee,
y aud Kentucky rivers. He secures Pa
atdncah the day before the order arrives
b from Fremont to take it if he s feels
!, strong enough = aud after eight weeks
;" spent in drilling and organizing his
forces he begins that series of sallies
er which touched almost every turn and
N. twist and strategic point of the
:, Mississippi, the western Ohio, aud it's
:. tributaries, Belmont, Fort Henry,
'ls Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, OK,
" ford, Memphis, and vicksburg.
en- Let any man follow upon the map
Il. this line of travel, accomplished not
:, Ivy a tourist, but by fighting general
- resu'ting in the opening Of the Missis
ny sippi. Tennessee, and Kentucky rivers
the salvation of Georgia, and thu
annihilatiOn of three separate rebe
nst armies, and consider if any question
can arise upon the physical features
re- or possibilities of that vast area which
We General Grant can not determine. o.
ro the 18th of March, 1864, Grant wa
y invested with the command Of tn
q! armies of the United States, and Will,
me conducting military operations extend
I'M, ing from Western Arkansas alon;
nm the entire line Of the Confederacy, an,
-, holding his own troops at lever heat
" he examined Virginia from the POtoma
to Petersburg with the minuteness q
an explorer. Truly may it be said tn
W geography of our country has bee
!. the practical study of his life-t tim,
He has studied it with reference (
resources, to transportation, to dt
:. fanses, to climatic influences, to pop,
~, lation, and to revenues. He H.
uN ',' studied it in it's vast entirety as q mas
-" W to be swept aud eOmpassed in sIngi
WI plan, and he has stndied il in its d,
'sr tails OF Pacific slope and Wester
no ~ table land, aud Central valley an
.ne Atlantic shore, lake coast and rive
"e, line and se;s-boarl, stream followin
VI stream, town, village, meadow, was,
p' and wood, valley, upland, highDan,
a. and peak, every road and avenue an
l"'i mountain that may he an aid /,
s'"' V': obstacle, natural or artificial, to mil
~" tary movements; in solitary .iourne
zen ings, in transit of troops, in defense
'se' in winter quarterings, in master
!. assaults, till he stands beinre IL
LIS tl-orizers Of the nation as the p
cage cific captain before the college
suS sayans, who debated whether or u
.'isI the Japan current swept throuJ
10 Behring's straits. "Sirx,r spoke
,Evt ~ the confident sailor, /" I can settle d
Inc point; have measured at once {
no' depth and width Of the stream and
'ons the channel What President ey
INC pqualled him in this kuowletigei
TUG what time ever more urgently demai
m I'd such knowledge when the debts
anu war and larger national life claim
,'On, resources, while the opening of Jap'
'lcus with the immense increase OF ,
""" Western commerce, makes tran
as across and through the country
u' most important consideration :
snow, Johnny said yenera
Al, lode IN bor siv- woo r-old uonbavr u