Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-08-29

selves upon any pretenSe that the party
which has been always the relentless foe
of equal rights is now to be especially
trusted as their friend and champion p
Harper's Weekly.
"Why Don't the Army MOve?"
"WHY don't the army mover" Such
was the question. Hundreds of thousands
of troops had been raised. Millions of
money had been expended in the pur-
chase of arms. We had the finest train
of artillery ever provided for campaign.
Munitions of war had been accumulated
in immense quantities. Warehouses were
breaking down with commissary stores.
The rivers and bays were black with gun
boat fleets. The nation was impatient
for some sign of commencement of hos
tilities. And yet nothing was done. Gail
quiet on the Potomac" was the regular
refrain of the telegraph wires. All was
quiet on the Mississippi, on the Ohio,
along the coast-all was quiet every
people of the country.
England was daily expected to recog-
nize the "Confederacy." France was
ready to follow her example, and to help
break our Atlantic blockade, if necessary.
All Christendom regarded the rebel Gov
ernment and rebel independence as ac-
complished facts. Our diplomatic repre-
sentatives abroad were brow-beaten and
discouraged. Everything seemed "going
to the dogs" The rebel armies were
boastful and defiant They Haunted
their banners almost in sight of our ma
tional capital, and even menaced our
Congress, and our President and Cabinet.
We had the power to sweep them from
the face of the earth-to bury
them in the ruins of their stronghold
at Richmond. And yet nobody could be
found who could or would do anything
Month after month dragged wearily away.
Our armies gradually dwindled down
from the inroads of disease superinduced
by inactivity. Additional enlistments
were required to fill up the depleted
ranks, and were grudgingly furnished by
half-unwilling people. One military
popinjay after another was lionized into
momentary fame by his claqucrs and the
newspapers ; he issued his inevitable
proclamation, and then subsidized, to be
presently kicked from position. Now and
then some parlor General, like Little
Mac" the "Young Napoleon," held a
"grand review" at a safe distance from
the enemy, or scouting party accident
ally had skirmish it could not we'll avoid,
whereon universal lethargy reigned again,
and our whole civil and military fabric
bid fair to go to pieces for the very lack
of life enough to hold it together
Everywhere the Copperheads were
jubilant and insulting-the very men who
are now working SO hard to elect Gree
ley-and all the loyal men of the North
could do was to turn to President Lin
coin and ask: "Why don't the army
move ?" And our honest-hearted old
leader could only crack his dismal jests-
dismal under such discouraging circum-
stances-and beg for farther patience and
farther time.
When everything around us now
indicates the triumph of the Gov
ernment and the prosperity of the
nation, it is well to recall the past, and
not to forget to whom we are indebted
for the supremacy of our national arms
and the cause of justice and freedom.
By some unexpected and unexplaina-
BILE turn of Fortunes wheel, General
Grant, an unknown Illinois commander,
succeeded in getting alittle "elbow room, -
and he at once struck succession of en-
ergetic blows, the hereverberations of which
rang from one end of the continent to
the other. For once a commander was
found who "meant business" For once
it was proven that an army of the North
could move from an established camping
ground. For once it was proven that the
brag and bluster of the South, and the
desperadOes of slavery, were no match
for the cool manhood of the soldiers of
the Union. Something had been done at
last, and done so efectually that there was
| no such thing as veneering it over. The
rebels and copperheads were compelled
to admit that most signal victories had
been gained. We had forts, and guns,
and colors, and tens of thousands of
prisoners to show for it. There was no
getting around it." and the truth was
sullenly admitted. Popular enthusiasm
knew no bounds. Cities blazed with
illuminations and became gaudy with
| floating banners. An impetus was given
to enlistments that did not slacken for
two years. Patriotic men were reassured,
! and unfriendly nations hesitated before
| ignoring US. The army had moved at
| last.
But this was only General Grants COM
mencement. Wherever he went victory
was chained to his standard. His sagacity,
his courage. his patience, his sound judg-
ment, and his fortitude were immense.
He knew when to move with caution, and
when to strike with amazing rapidity.
The probabilities are that the present
generation will never fully realize the
true greatness of his character. AS a
military leader he is the most profound
and able of the age His ability to detect
the secret designs of his opponents was
most remarkable. After the drawn battle
with Price at Iuka, Miss, General Grant
returned to Corinth and ordered the
abandonment of a vast line of works
which Halleck had thrown up, and which
no army of the war was ever large enough
to have successfully held. He then ordered
the immediate construction of a circle OF
six forts almost within the limits of the
town. The troops murmured as they
threw up the earth beneath burning
September sun. They saw no sense in
their toll, and nobody else did. There
was no enemy within fifty miles of them
The pickets stood guard with unloade6
muskets. And yet, before the last gur
had been placed in position in those
works, Price and Van Dorm stormed dowr
upon Corinth at the head of 90, 900 men
Had it not been for General Grants saga
city, every man of our army there would
have been captured, and Missouri o.
Kentucky would have been ravaged
AS it was, the assailants met with
bloody repulse, and were chased fo
, forty-five miles by the enthusiastic vic
tors. When General Grant could SCI
, nothing to be gained by haste, he smoked
his cigar in stoical silence and waited. III
smoked his cigar and studied out tn
r problems that baffied noisier men. Whel
) he became satisfied that Vicksburg coul,
not be taken from the front, and coul
be flanked by way of Haines' Bluff, h
{ adopted plan that combined more of tn
) elements of originality, boldness, energ.
= aud rapidity, than had been developed il
? any four preceding campaigns of the strug