The Hickman courier., 1878-08-09
GRANT ON MILITARY MEN.
His Opinion Of Mcpherson. Meade, Buell., Logan
and Other Generals.
From the N. Y. Herald's Hamburg Letter.l

lFrpm the N. Y Herald's Hamburg Letter.l
MCPHERSON, MEADE, HANCOCK AND IN
CALLS.
was very fond of Mcpherson; if he
had lived he would have come out of the
war with the highest rank. His was a
noble character; all the chivalry was
not or the southern side. Meade was a
goodssoldier and loyal, good man. He
has been criticised for not having de-
stroysd Lee after Gettysburg, and the
courisEg seemed to share that disappoint-
ment alter the battle. l have never
thonght it fair criticism. Meade was
new 70 his army and did not feel it in his
hand. If he could have fought Lee six
months later, when he had the army in
his hSad, or if Sherman or Sheridan had
commanded at Gettysburg, think Lee
wouldhave been destroyed. His mems
ory daerves to be honored among the
her0a of the war. Hancock is a fine
soldie At the time he was named
nsia general, we were not very good
and : had personal prefer
encss hr schofeld, but J felt
Hancock hid earned the promotion
and gave his name to Stanton. He
wrote me beautiful letter on the subject,
and our relations hye always remained
Oh the most cordial footing. ] have
great respect for Hancock as a man and
a soldier. We had good many men in
the war who were buried in the staff and
did not rise. There is Ingalls,, for in
stance. Ingalls, remained quartermas-
ter of the army of the Potomac during
all commands, and did great work.
Yet YOU never heard his name mentioned
as a general. And yet ingalls,, in COM
mand of troops, would, in my opinion,
have become q great and famous general.
If the command of the army Of the
Potomac had ever become vacant
would have given it to ingalls,. Horace
Porter was lost in the staff. Like In
gals. he was too useful to be spared.
But as a commander of troops Porter
would have risen, in my opinion, to q
very high command. Young Mackenzie
at the close of the war was q most prom.
ising soldier. He is an officer, think
fitted for the highest commands.
RosECRANs, MCDOWELL, STONE AMI
BUELL..
"There were a few men," said the
general "when the war broke ,out, tC
whom we, who had been in the AMY
looked for success and high rank-among
them Rosecrans, Buckner, Mcclellan
Stone, Mcdowell, Buell.. Ifelt sure thai
each of these men would gain the high
est command. Rosecrans was greaf
disappointment to us all, to me especially
Stones case was always mystery, and
think great wrong was committed.
have always regarded him as very good
a very able and perfectly loyal man
but a man who has had three or foul
severe and surprising reverses of fortune
After the arrest of Stone and his treat
ment, his military career in our war wa
destroyed. I believe if Stone had had s
7 s.l.anoe he would have made his mark il
our war. Mcdowell was also the victim
of what l suppose we should call Ill>luck
You viii remember people called him
a drunkard and traitor Well
he never drank a drop of liquor
in his life, and a more loyal man never
lived. / have the greatest respect fol
McDowell's accomplishments and charac
ter. and was glad to make him major
general. The country owed him that,
if only as an atonement for its injustice
towards him. But Mcdowell never was
what YOU would call popular man. lie
was never 80 in the army nor at West
Point. Yet I could never understand 1t
tor no one could know Mcdowell without
liking him. His career is one Of the sur
prisine things in the war. So is BuelPs
Buell. does not like me, am afraid, but
7 have always borne my testimony tohii
perfect loyalty and his ability, Buell. il
q man who would have carried out 10y
allv every order he received, and l thinh
he had genius enough for the highest
commands; but, somehow, he fell undel
cloud"
LOGAN, WARREN AND BUTLER
There were in the army no two men
more loyal than John A. Logan an'
Frank Blair. knew that Sherman di'
not mean to disparage either of them
and that he wrote hastily. Logan did
Great work for the union in bringing
Egvpt out of the confederacy, which b
AID and he was an admirable soldier
and is. as he always has been, an honor
ebIe true mana perfectly just and fai
man whose record in the army was bril-
liant. Blair also did work in the arm
emitting him to the gratitude OF ever
northern man and to the respect OF ever
colder. Warren is a good soldier and
GOOD man, trained in the art of wa
But. as a general, if you give him
order he would not act until he kne
what the other corps would do. lnstes
: If obeying-and knowing that the pow
which was guiding him would guide II
otbers--he would hesitate and inquil
: and want to debate. It was this quaint
, which led to our disaster at the mil
explosion before Petersburg. If Ware
. had obeyed orders we would have broke
Lees army in two and taken Petersbur
have always regretted the censu
. that unwittingly came upon Butler
the James river campaign, and my ]
mort was the cause. / said that t
general was bottled up, and used t
phrase without meaning TO annoy t
general or give his enemies weapC
I like Butler, and have always fou
. him not only, as all the world knows
man of great ability but patriotic m
and man of courage, honor and zinc
convictions. Butler lacked the techni
! experience of military education, q
it is very possible to be man of hi
parts and not be a great general. But
. as a general was full of enterprise 8
resources, and a brave man. If l
), given him two corps commanders
\ AdeIbert Ames or Schofield, or Mack
n zie, or dozen l could mention, he wo
n have made fine campaign on the Jan
v and helped materially in my plans.
lo-.o ol.v,o.-. 1,aav, aorrxy I did NOT do