The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1882-12-03

ter We had captured Vicksburg and rort Hudson tho
river became source of supply to the COnfederacv,
equal In effect 10 tho addition Of an army when
New orleans was taken the river ceased TO be OF great
value 20 the C0uiCdcracy, The occupation OF Jack.
would have been greatly more yaua bic to o arms
than NickSburg. u would have made Vicksbnrg
untcnahlc, and have been base Tor operations into
thc hcart Of the tonfederacy. Furthermore Grant
ana sherman, tn aftcrthoughts agreed that tho way
20 take Nicksburg was by an Interior operation down
the Mississippi Central Railroad, aud that tho river
expedition was o mistake. Thls conceded II very
costly mistake. Vet the Lieutenant has to make IL
brilliant operation.
The foreign observing Lieutenant secs nothing I'm
that wonderful disoiuting of military operations In
the West by which one department gave no moro
support 10 parallel department than IL u had brcn
ioreigu. That Grant, with an army of 60, 600 was
department seems sufficiently explained to tho Lien
tenant 10y the theory that he was acting on tho defen
sye policy as u the defensive were the samo as the
Inactive and neutral.
lie makes gen. lnlleck serve to stop all cops and
bo responsible for all defaults aud Mistakes lie wells
Grant's remarkable default In the combined opera.
ton with Rosecfaus On Hrce at luka. This Ia not 80
bad as sherman In his memoirs who assumes that tc
default was because the troops were not good enough
Tor such an operation, But there no lack In the
soldiers; there was lack In o commanding general
The Lieutenant makes llalleck responsible FOR
Grant. s itrsonle shilyshally movement from Holly
Springs to Oxtord aud his marching and counter.
marching ot sherman from aud to Memphis, and tho
inactivity whereby he lost hlsstorcs at Holly Springs
Yet he had lialeck' 8 permission to go.
lie even tries to drag In IIacck rs responsible for
Grants retreat from the Interior line to head
OF McCernand from command OF the river
20 and slaughter his men In the tran at
Chickasaw bluffs, Ignorant that Grant had re.
treated from his promised concert Of action lie also
l0iows Badeau IN trying TO give rational plans to
GRANTS wonderful bayou aud canal attempts, whose
failures were happy escapes Of his army from the
traps which their practlcablllty would have made
lie sutpasses Bndeau 10y asserting that the Lake ProvI
deucO scheme TO get out Of the scrapo by way of the
Iensas aud WaShita Rivers to Rel River, to make a
wa IN MIA t,,f f.t..
by the rear
Grants dispatches and Badcau's narrative make
plain that this Dnckpori Canal Walnut Rayou, and
BaNon Nidal scheme was TO got away TO Banks aud
abandon Nicksbug to the by and by vel so ns moi To-
seem to retreat aud that ha driven to this by A
popular clamor Tor his removal and that Lincoln
aud HNleck were consening to 1t from the same mo-.
ccssiry. Also that the canal had dropped ont when
Grant was reporting It practicable and thereby he
was dtlNen To the desperate resort Of running trans
ports hy the Ncksburg guns at the loss OF half to
carry supplies TO the troops who had marched epend-
Ing Tor food on the canal route.
1t was against this flight that sherman protes,ed
urging Instead the withdrawal to Memphis and the
resumption OF the Interior line. The same evidence
makes perfectly clear that the landing ut Brunsbure
and the turning OF Grand Gulf from there ly way oi
fort Gibson was un oteseen, and that this accident
turned Grant from Port Hudson and thu .bnndnns
ment of Ncksburg. Yet Lieut.. Grecne nakcs ali
this the working Of plan which foresav IL ALI
More than this, he turns upon Haeck and Lincoln
ana makes ont that their concession to GRANTS rse
tn pretend TO 20 forward by getting away was an or
der for him to go away, which Grant Cisobeye1 by
SiE,e SInde ior Sne rear OF Nlcksbnrg. Lincoln and
Lieut. Greene make their silence in death a con-
venienCe.
At lIanklnsons Ferry, on the Big Blaak Rivsr
Grant by march OF ten miles, could unlte with his
supplies Ivy way Of Watrentnn and In n march IN ali
OF sixteen miles could place his army ON the ctn-
huhicatlons OF Nlcksbutg and Join Issue with Penn
berton. But he avoided this, and marched away bfty
miles ON mere raid, not knowing where he wCnld
come out ana not Intending anything more than
burg. w '''>'-
Greene follows Badeau in the arterthought that this
was to scatter any forces In the East SO as to he nm
Interrupted while tacklng Vlcksburg But he shnws
the iutiiity OF even this childish arterthought lv
pleading, In excuse for Grants two slaugh,erous as
saults on Nicksburg-the second Ouly two dave nftr
his reaching the placcthat hc feared Johnston 1,
his rear. He covers up the fact that Grant at Clm
ton, with sherman at Jackson, had ordered his armr
on Wild goose chase in another direction in fancie
race with Johnston, when two tramps surprised MIN
ny the Information that Pemberton had crossed IN,
Hig Black and was moving southeast to attack hi,
rear. "
He covers the fact that although Grants army wo,
accidentally IN the best form to meet Pemberton AMI
although Pemberton was In fact falling back AMI
trying to move to the north to Join Johnston CRAM
was controlled In all the ordering OF the battle o.
Champions I'm hy the fear that pemberton wa,
1ahking him ON the south that in this fear for his
left he slaughtered his right by assaulting Champlon
Hin on the most inaccessible side when there was
clear way round IL 10 tile enemy's road of retreat
The Leutenant's account snppresses All tho truth Of
this battle, and ntters and suggests much OF thst
which Is the reverse.
He assumes that the battle at Rio RInrr hri1oo
where strong position was taken by "A sp.nIii
charge. was thing OF fighting. This Is becane
McClernand's corps did It, His account of the siaoe
and of the two assaults Is thin and uninterestInr
His narrative In this, as in the rest gives no atenuae
Idea of the operations. Generalization which COZ
denses Is full OF matter, but the Lleutenant's ron,
ralizing Is Skimmng and meagre, and does no stite
tothe heroic WORK oi nrder very queer gene
ralshp. Badeau's narrative is much more intcTea
Ing, and is more approCiativo Of tho soldiers
II is not easy to why this book should be written
after baueau, itaVelihg over tile same ground IL
poorer way, using the same facts and fanccs and
repeating the same lies, and all In dull and humdrnn,
manner. OF course the Lieutenant has no concepIon
of such military idea rs that Grants river departure
took his army away from all cooperation with Rose.
Grams army In the parallel interior department and
left that to be anke by way Of Grants deserted de-
partment; nor that Rusecrans' army was strInnnd
again on It's left by withdrawing a division from
Burnside's army as he was about move to East Ten
nesscc, in concert with ROsccrans.
Lieut. Greene may he powerful TO observe roreIgn
operations but he cannot perceive that Grant, sryer
departure left all the territory of his department IN
supply tue Confederate army and crippled all opera
tons In the interior. and that ut last when II had
achieved success II had no military consequences and
made no base for any further operations but simply
neutrallzed part of the army while the rest had 10
part of the Confederacy.
Lieut.. Greene has made bad start in an army and
literary career though he thinks 1t rapid The send
ing Of him abroad to observe for the instruction
veteran officers was an Indgnity 10 the army. Ills
assuming 10 report for their instruction was ridiculous
presumption. He lacked the literary faculty to give
this any gloss. In accepting the work OF writing
history OF operations In the Mississippi he accertlit
under necessity to make 1t work Of unscrInuous
panegyrc of the generalshp. IIeaccepted function
which made true history impracticable 10 him Ho
mas serVely done this service. And his book is 80
entirely working of adeau that IL ia not easy
to see how he can reconcile 1t with fair dealing toward
that author.
The Mississippi q" by Francis vinton Greene
Lieutenant Of Engineers, United States Army; late
Military Attach6 to the United States Legation at ST.
PETERSBURG, author OF 1.-The Russian Army and Its
campaigns In Turkey I'm lS7T-Ts nh nf Arm,
Life in Russia New YORK: Charles scrlbner's
Sons.