The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1878-07-27
GRANT AND HIS MEN.

HIS OPINION OF LEADING GENERALS ON
BOTH SIDES.
New YORK, July PA Hamburg CORE
spondent, writing under date Of July O.
says that President Grant arrived there
July 2. Ina conversation the general gave
his views about the American war and its
generals. Among other things he said that
if he had known the soldiers and generals
Of the army better, he would have preferred
to have invested Lee in Richmond from
Lynchburg or Landslide, as he invested
Pemberton in Vicksburg. He says
his total losses in the wilderness
campaign amounted to nearly $4,000
men. lie says Gen. Butler wishes he had
had ADLER subordinates, and expresses regret
that an unlucky phrase in his official re-
ports should have annoyed Butler. He
thinks jefferson Davis did all he could for
the confederacy, and did not deserve the
harsh criticism he got. He thinks Stone
wall jackson might not have proved 50
effective general later in the war, and OPP
posed to men like Sherman and Sheridan,
when his peculiar tactics would have fai led.
He seems to think Lee not 50 great as his
reputation, speaking Of him Of course as a
soldier, and not as man. He was never
30 uneasy when in front of Lee as some
other commanders, and he describes him
as a man Of solemn, grave dignity Of de.
meanor. Gen. Joe Johnston, in his opinion
was the ablest commander on the Southern
side. Of Bragg he appears to have but a
poor opinion He tells a singular story OF
President ,Johnson's desire at one time to ar.
rest Gen. Lee and other southern command.
crs for treason, 10y way Of making the rebel.
lion odious. Grant and Seward had, it ap.
pears, the means and good sense to oppose
and defeat this folly, and Gen Grant says
he would have resigned his command rather
than consent to the arrest, the southern men
being sacred under their parol 10 him
Rosecrans, Buckner, Mcclellan, Buell., Stone
and Mcdowell. were, he says, in his opinion
the most promising officers in 1861.
He still thinks Buell. had genius for the
highest commands and Mcdowell was man
Of great ability and he cannot account for
the i'll luck for poor Stone which has pur.
sued many other men who knew him as one
OF the most highly cultivated officers in the
old army and one Of the best soldiers. Sher-
man and Sheridan he praised without stint.
He relates the old story of his first meeting
with the latter when Sheridan, then colonel
of a regiment, was rude to him. Sherman,
he says, is not one of the best men living
but one of the greatest we have in our his
tory, and he gives curious account Of how
Sherman's narrative of the war was misre.
presented 10 him, so that he determined to
read it pencil in hand and publish a reply
but found tia true book. an honorable book
just to all, md he approves every word oft.
Hancock, he thinks, was one of our ablest
generals. He did not want to
90 TO West Point; never liked com
mand, and demonstrated against
the creation OF the grade of lieutenant.
general made for him, though he saw the
necessity for it later. He dispcls some
romances of the war, as where he says
there was no battle of Lookout mountain,
no action worthy to be called battle. He
says neither he, Sherman or Sheridan ever
held council of war. He determined on
his course in private, and no one knew what
he was about to do until orders were writ
ten out, finally. He speaks about his pres
idential career, and thinks his second term
almost his due because he had been bit
terly opposed, but relates that he refused
a third nomination, which was urged upon
him, and on the ground that contest
would belitte him, that if reelected it
would have been only against strong
and his administration of a third
term would have been unsatisfactory.