Stevens County tribune. (Morris, Minn.) 1877-1880, 1878-08-01
Grant ON HIS Generals.

the prominent men who took part in the war
and some of the more noted incidents of that
conflict, which he has compiled into connected
criticism of those persons and Incidents. His
views of Sherman, Sheridan, Meade, MePher-
son, Stonewall jackson and jeff. Davis have
been repeatedly given, and although told at
tractively they present nothing new, and are
therefore omitted. There are some points of
interest, however, that have never before been
published We append them as worthy of
perusal.
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN.
''By the way" said the general, "there is
one point about the campaign in the wilder
ness worth remembering My critics say that
] threw away 100000 men in that campaign.
This has been repeated SO often that it will
soon be history. Now my total loses were
about $4,000 all told. Badeau's book will
have the figures, but that is about the figure;
and those losses do not mean killed, but the
number of effective men taken from my army
by death, wounds capture and desertion. That
movement cost me $4,000 men, but do not for
get what it cost Lee. Remember that Lee had
to fight as much as / did. He had the advant-
age of being on the defensive, which is always
an advantages, and had to attack and attack
but every blow struck weakened him, and
when at last he was forced into Richmond it
was far different army from that which mem
aced Washington and invaded MARYLAND and
Pennsylvania. 1t was no longer invading
army. The wilderness campaign was necessary
to the destruction of the Southern Confed-
, eracy.
BUTLER AND HIS CAMPAIGN ON THE JAMES.
81 have always regretted the censure that
unwittingly came upon Butler in that cana
paign, and my report was the cause. I said
that the general was bottled up, and used the
phrase without intending to annoy the general
or give his enemies weapon. 1 like Butler,
and have always found him not only as all the
world knows a man of great ability, but pat
riotic man, and man of courage, honor and
sincere convictions. Butler lacked the techni-
| cal experience of a military education, and it
| is very possible to be man of high parts and
| not be great general. Butler as general was
| full of enterprise and resources and brave
man. If had given him two corps command
ers like Adelbert Ames, or Schoheld, or Mac
Kenzie, or dozen l could mention, he would
| have made fine campaign on the James and
he: ped materially in my plans. have always
| been sorry did not do so. Butler is man it
! is fashion to abuse, but he is who has
done the country great service and who Is
worthy of its gratitude"
LEE AS A COMMANDER.
Il never ranked Lee as high as some others
of the army said the General. shat is to say,
/ never had as much anxiety when he was in
| my front as when Joe Johnston was in front.
Lee was good man, a fair commander, who
| had everything in his favor. He was a man
who needed sunshine. He was supported by
| the unanimous voice of the South; he was sup
| ported by large party in the North; he had
| the support and sympathy of the outside
| world. ALI this is of an immense value to a
| general. Lee had this in remarkable degree.
/ Everything he did was right. He was treated
| like demi-god. Our generals had hostile
| press, lukewarm friends and public opinion
| outside. The cry was in the air that the North
only won by brute force; that the generalship
and valor were with the South. This has gone
into history, with so many other illusions that
are historical. Lee was OF a slow, conservative,
| cautious nature, without Imagination or hui
! NOR. always the same. with grave dignity.
never could see in his Achievements what justi-
| fes his reputation. The illusion that nothing
but heavy odds beat him will not stand the ul-
innate light of history. 1 know it is not true.
| The South and North were more nearly
matched than you suppose. The whole popu-
| lation were in the war. The 4,O00,O00 of ne
groes were the same as soldiers because they
| did the work in the fields which white men
would have to do. believe the South had as
many men under arms as the North. What de-
feated the Southern arms was Northern courage
and skill, and this, too, with detraction all
around. You cannot imagine how dishearten-
| ing it was at the time, not only to officers but
men.
| THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.
Take the battle of Shiloh, for instance, -
continued the General, &c the correspondents
and papers at the time all said that Shiloh was
a surpr1se-that our men were killed over their
coffee, and SO on. There was no surprise about
it, except" said the General, with smile,
perhaps to the newspaper correspondents.
We had been skirmishing for two days before
we were attacked. At night, before Buell. 8
army came up, was so well satisfied with the
result and so certain that would beat Beaure-
gard, even without Buell's aid, that 1 went in
i person to each division commander and order
ed an advance along the line at four in the
morning. Shiloh was one of the most 1mpor-
| tant battles in the war. 1t was here that
our Western soldiers met the enemy in pitch
ed battle. From that day they never feared to
fight the enemy and never went into action
j without feeling sure they would win. Shiloh
!, broke the prestige of the Southern Confederacy
SO far as our Western army was concerned.
Sherman was the hero of Shiloh. He really
commanded two divisions-his own and Nc
Clernand' sand proved himself to be a con.
summate soldier. Nothing could be finer thar
his work at Shiloh. and yet Shiloh was belittlec
by our Northern people so that many people
looked at it as a defeat. The same may b.
said of Fort Donelson. People think that Don
elson was captured by throwing men into it ter
| to one, or some such odds. The truth is OuI
| army, new ARMY, invested IOTUlu6u place dI(
compelled a surrender of force much large
than our own. A large number of the rebel
escaped under Floyd and Pillow, but as it wa
l took more prisoners than had men undel
my command for the first two days of my in
vestment. After the investment we were rein
forced so that at the surrender there were 26,
900 Union troops, about 200 of which wer
sent back to guard the road to where the steam
ers lay with our supplies. There were 22,00
, effective men in Donelson at the beginning o
the siege. Of course there was risk in attack
ing Donelson as / did, but" said the general
smiling, i knew the men who commanded it
/ knew some of them in Mexico. Knowledg
of that kind goes far toward determining
!, movement like this"
THE DIsAPPoINTMENTs' OF THE WAR.
''There were few men, said the General
, s. when the war broke out to whom we who ha.
been in the army looked for success and hig
, rank-among them Rosecrans, Buckner. Nc
Clellan. Stone, Mcdowell, Buell.. felt sur
that each of these men would gain the highes
commands. Rosecrans was great disappoint
ment to us ALTO me especially. Stones cas-
was always mystery, and think great wron
was committed.
+" knew Stone at school. / always regarded
! him as very good, very able and a perfectl,
I loyal man, but a man who has had three or fou
. severe and surprising reverses of fortune
After the arrest of Stone and his treatment, hi
military career in our war was destroyed.
believe if Stone had had chance b.
would have made his mark in the war
Mcdowell was also the victim of what
, suppose we should call i'll luck. You win re
member people called him drunkard and
traitor. Well, he never drank drop of liquo
in his life, and more loyal man never lived.
? have the greatest regard for McDowell's &C
) compliments and character, and / was glas
to make him major general. The country owe,
him that, if only as an attonement for it's in
! Justice towards him. But Mcdowell neve
xUaa what vou xvnul III call n .a,nular man II