Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1883-03-07
For the Herald.

Mr.. EDITOR:
81 want hero; an uncommon want,
When every year and month rends forth
new one,
Till after cloying the gazettes with cant
Thee discovers he is NOT the true one
OF such az these / should not care to rant
I'll therefore take one ancient friend Don
"CRANT."
The oppGrsat hero Of the ECLECTIC
History" is GRANT. 1t apologies
for Ills loss Of the battle Of Shiloh. By
saving many of HE men had never been
in battle before; It must needs defend
his reckless disregard Of the lives OF
his men before Richmond; thoash it
processes "a constant Effort not to co
cun5sr he, students minds a0Ha
mass of details. tat to stetch erents
eHk q fsr strokes easily remcm6er<d'"
vet it reiaxea its rule when Grant ap'
pears upon lie arena, tnteriug then
into a series Of details found nowhere
else. Tbus, It deve'es more lines TO-
the siaye aud capture ortwo varihwOrss.
-Forts Donelson and VicSsourg
than 10 The bat,les OF Fair Oaks, hleh-
mopd. Cedar Mountain, 2nd Manassas
Chantilly. Anuelam, Fredericksburg
and Chancellorsvii!e, combined. Il
reciles Grants naughty demand OF 'un'
conditional surrsnder' sDd his threat oi
au immediate advance, ou Fort Done
lson If the demaud is not coupled
with; but il does NOT state That Grants
force consisted oil 80 regiments, agere-
gariug 60 900 men, an naval force
greater than that Of the whole Con-
federacy combined, agsinst The
Ii Tie garrison Of Fort DOTelsoH Ihat
did not reach IS 600 men. A great Gesi
depends upon ko~ Thing IS to ID
Again, concerning the urreHoer OF
Vick-burg, 1t Gays! 1t took pl"Se Oh
tie 4th.-l5 generals, 900 men,
and l72 cannon, the greatest sur
render OF meu and material that hsd
then ever been made in war, and OILY
surpassed d since in the capture OF Melz
an d Paris by the Germans
First, as to the number Of uen, this
estimate Of the garrison is on The AasIS
ofthe amount Of ratons furnished to
the bespiged, % 900 men and t'
prisoners" (Holmes) This book
counts 10" not only Elk thousand SICK
and wounded 10 the hospitals, but also
The prisoners retaken,-- most sx'ra-
ordinary computation. 1t does not
state the terms of surrender, the men
parol,d, and the officers moreover re-
taiuing their sidearms aud personal
baggage. l. does not hint once that
Grau, had a, his disposal for the seize
of 10000, as Badean says IN lis
Life ofGranl."
Aud though 1t could go into detail
here. It was unessentiaE TO state. either
particularly or generally, that the
Army Of Northern Virginia." up 10
the date Of the surrender of Vicksbufg,
had taken iu battle over 230 cannons,
Il5,OOO small arms, $4,000 prisoners
and stores incalcuable 10 amosnt snd
value. 1t WAS on the battle Held thai
the South obtained her ri6ed cannon.
her improved email nrms and vast
amount OF army supplies OF every dee
cripiion. It was not unessen,ial to
Lees raggamufins, who, though some
what better of Than Faltaf's famous
company which bad only shirt and q
half between them. yet were clothed
and ted, at times, aud frequently
equipped from the spolls Of the battle.
Tie captures 10 Virginia were oi more
value TO the South than those q! Vlcks'
burg TO the North. For the South
captured that which was better than
what she had or that which she bad not
at all: while the North obtained al
Vicksburg that which che possessed %
abundance, and of a superior quality
The author OF the ECLECTIC MS
rokY' has written q seres OF hlstorles'
-ancient. medieval, and modern,
and " hen he states that tue men ard
material surrendered at Vicksburg was
the greatest that had Ihen ever been
taken in war, We feel cautious about
dispu ing It. Especially as the author
NJ. +. Thalheimer, thanks Mr.. j. J..
S,ewsrd.--in the preface--for bis
'inteHigeut upe,rision of detail which
ha, secured so remarkable degree Of dc-
curaey.' But We once read. as did some
of our readers, iu tie Commentaries
of Cat rar, later IN Plutarch, and sui'
later in Leighton. how a Gallo army q
$4,000 men, in iortres thought IN
pregnable, e,-Aler1- vas beseiged oS
I Julius Caesar; how an army OF 2oV,oV
came up and besieged Caesar in turn
how Caesar beat the latter host aud
captured the former. What comparison
can there be, in any particular, between
the seige OF an 'inIrenched camp
Vicksburg and that of seemingly I'M
preanable fortress. AlesiO ? A trescher-
Gus memory will not furnish the details
oil the sieges Of Rochelle and Granada
&C.. but we are Of opinion that there
are other instances besides AIesia ID
which there has been q greater sur
render of men or material.
In its account of the battle of Shiloh,
ibls book excuses Grants defeat IN the
nlea that he was attacked by a fine
Confederate army OF 10000 men ard
that many oil Grants me" had never
been in battle before The Siosrapher