The Cecil Whig., 1878-07-27
GENERAL GRANTS TABLE-TALk.
HIS OPINION OF LEE, JOHNSTON, SHERMAN
AND oTERS.


AND oTERs.
\ correspondent of the New York Her.
atd furnishes some table talk with General
Grant from Hamburg. In this talk Gen
Grant is reported as saying that if he had
known the soldiers and generals of the
Potomac army better he would have pre-
ferred to invest Lee in Richmond from the
Lynchburg or land side, as he invested
Pemberton in Nicksburg. He seems not
to have attached SO much Importance to the
capture of the Richmond, Gen. Lee being
his objective point. He says his loss in the
Wilderness campaign, all told, instead of
being 100, 600 men, as generally believed was
only SO, 600, and that campaign was neces-
sary to destroy the Southern Confederacy.
| He described the circumstances attending
the surrender of Gen. Lee, and passed his
Judgment in a kindly manner on the gen
erals and public men on both sides. He
praised Gen. Butler, wished he had had
abler subordiDates, and expresses regret
that an unlucky phrase in his official report,
IN which the latter was represented as
being bottled up should have annoyed
Butler. He thinks Jefferson Davis did all
he could for the Confedercy, and did not
deserve the harsh criticism he got. He
thinks Stenewall Jackson might not have
proved SO effective a general later on in the
war if opposed to men like Sherman and
Sheridan, when his peculiar tactics would
have failed Gen. Grant seems to think Lee
not so great as his Notwithstanding of
him of course as a soldier and not as a man.
tie was never so uneasy when in front of
Lee as some of the other Confederate COM
manders, and he describes him as man Of
slow mind, without imagination, and of
nf
johnson, in his opinion, was the ajlest
commander on the Southern side. OF
Bragg he appears to have but a poor opiu-
ion. He tells singular story of President
Johnston's desire at one time to arrest Gen.
Lee and other Southern commanders for
treason, by way Of making rebellion odious.
Grant and Seward had, it seems the man
llness and good sense to oppose and defeat
this folly; and General Grant says he
would have resigned his commission rather
than consent to the arrest. the Southern
men being sacred under their parole 10
him.
Rosecrans, Buckner, Mcclellan, Buell.,
Stone and Mcdowell were, he saws, in the
opinion of old army, the most promising off
GERS in 1861. He still thinks that Buell.
had genius for the highest commands, and
that Mcdowell was a man of great ability.
Sherman and Sheridan he praises without
stint.
Gen. Grant says be did not want to 90 to
West Point, never liked command, and
demonstrated against the creation of the
grade of Lieutenant general made for him,
though he saw the necessity of it later.
He says there was no battle of Lookout
Mountain-''no action worthy to be called a
battle.''
He says neither he, Sherman nor Sheridan
ever held a council of war; he determined
on his course in private, and no one knew
what he was about to do until the orders
were written out. Finally he speaks about
his presidential career; thinks the second
term was almost his due" because he
had been bitterly opposed; but relates that
he refused peremptoriIy third nomination
which was urged upon him, aud on the
ground that the contest would belittle him;
that if reelected it would have been only
against strong opposition, and his admins
tration of third tenn would have been
unsatisfactory.