National Republican., 1878-07-15
GENERAL GRANT As A BUTCHER
AGAIN.

Our military contemporary, the sunday
Herald, dlsregariing the heat Of the weather,
returns to its charge, that "GRANT was a
butcher" with spirited warmth. To prove
this assertion Captain BURRIrT declares
that General GRANT once declared II never
"maneuvrc Perhaps he did make
declaration of the kind but, if so, its mean
ing should have been construed by attend
ant circumstances. That he did manGuvre,
and with effect, is fact plainly illustrated
by his vicksburg campaign, and more espe-
cially in his continuous campaign from the
Rappahannock across the James to Apo
mattox. This latter campaign proved to be,
to the enemy, q bewildcring series of STRAIT
egic movements and persistent attempts to
outfiank his right, until, step by step, Gem
eral LEE was driven back into the fortfica-
tions at Petersburg and Richmond, from
which he only escaped TO fall into the trap
set for him at Appomattox.
But the most remarkable statement in
the Hcraids editorial is that General GRANT
permitted every fair opportunity Of victory,
like the springing OF the mine at Peters
burg" to pass by unimproved. We afraid
our contemporary was guilty, in pcnning
those lines, of n slight Observation-Disclosures,
so to speak, regarding military history and
the experience of the armies of the world in
such matters. That history or experience
fails to disclose single instance Of success
following from an attempt to mine the
enemy's position. The springing of mine,
rs it is called, has always been followed by
an assault whenever il has been attempted,
and the assailing column, generally con-
fused, as It was at Petersburg, by the results
of the explosion, has invariably been re-
pulsed. In fact, the strategy of mining is
severely condemned by many military au-
th0rities, and is only sustained, rs 1t was in
this instance, as an effective agency in de-
mOralizing the enemy. The repulse of the
assailng column after the explosion of the
Petersburg mine had very little effect upon
the Union forces. II was an incident Of the
campaign, and disastrous one as regards
the loss Of life, and that was all. But the
disaster was more than compensated for by
the feeling of disIuiet and unsafety the ex-
plosion left behind in the rebel redoubts. II
was the beginning of the end, and the de-
moralization 1t caused was effective in Its
influence upon the morale Of LEES army
until that end was practically reached.
As regards the butchery of troops thu
Herald speaks of in the numerous other as
, saults. made by General GRANT in that ia
/ nous campaign, they were incident ant
naturally consequent to those assaults. Tn
Herald says:
His Wilderness campaign was an exhibition
, of awful butchery beside which tho horrors O
the fruitless assaults on Plevna pale into In
significance. During that summer LEE ha
; perhaps 10000 or 10000 men from first :
. last. Yet GRANT brutaly sacrificed full
100000 without gaining single military ad
vantage.
This is a very broad assertion, and on
that will not stand before truthful invest
I CATION. Beginning at the Wilderness, aite
I other commanders had failed to gain /"
"single military advantage" General GRAN;
as we have said, manouvrcd by successiv
4 flank movements until LEE fell back TO til
/ south bank of the James, which of itse
# was a priceless military advantage. Bu
t during these movements he captured eigf
G or ten thousand prisoners-we do not reca
o the exact number-of JOHSsON's diyisio
y ut Spottsylvania. Not only this, he estal
: lished his army on the banks of rive
n afforded means of cheap safe, and rapi
" transportation of supplies, instead Of a sil
IL gle of railroad, always open to guerilla il
II cursions, and at the best aflording meag
O facilities for the object required. 1t WI
l. these military advantages that enable
.e GRANT finally to conquer LEE. They we
n worth all the lives he lost in attainil
s. them; but it is notorious fact tn
II his losses were not 80 great as Il
T. Herald seems to think. 1t
1t true that the list of casualties footed ,
IA something like one hundred thousand. d
t, the number of minor wounds received
y, the troops was remarkable. This uotal
le fact is explained by the circumstance tn
A. much Of the lighting was done under su
ct roundngs which FITz-JoHN PORTER nc
er offers as his eXcuso for not having attack
of LoNGsTREET at second Bull Run. II W
III done in the woods and the number Of fle
20 wounds oCcasioncd by glancing balls, ia
III ing limbs, &c, served to swell the casual
of lists, This was especially the case at Nor
70 Anna, where the battle began in the woo
At and ended, after our forces had fallen ba