Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-09-18

day of July, 1863, Nicksburg surrendered
to him and the mighty Mississippi event
unveXed to the sea-" the whole country
arose and recognized in him the agent
who was destined to guide us all to vic
tory and triumph. These circumstances
were all known to you at the time, were
little appreciated, and were, in truth, the
fires designed by Providence to test the
ability, courage and endurance of him on
whom whole epoch of history was des-
tined to hinge.
His campaigns from Belmont to Vicks-
burg were the most valuable of his whole
life. In that brief period he discovered
the power that was in him; that he in
fact lmpersonHted the great mass of our
best people, who abhorred war and only
reSOrted to it when national honor and
safety demanded it. He knew little and
cared less about Strategy and doubt
II he ever read any books on the art and
laws of war, except the West Point text
books. So with tactics He never, so far
as can recall, expressed IL preference for
llardee over scott, Casey or Norris Still
he loved to see order and system, and
wanted his corps, divisions. brigades and
regiments handy and well-iuStructpd when
called tor. He aimed to achieve results,
caring little for the manner by which they
were accomplished. He possessed and
always asserted the most perfect faith in
the justice of our cause, and always
claimed that sooner or Later it must pre-
vail. because the interests of all mankind
demanded the existence of Just such a
republic rs we had inherited, and that, rs
10y the concurrence of political causes the
conflict had iaien on us, we had only To
work like brave men and conquer as Il
matter of course. He believed in deeds
not words, in II war of aggression not
manpuvre, and from Belmont to Apo
mattoN his strategy and tactics We're the
same, ever straight to the mark, till all
Il
submission to law and authority was
promised. In his own words as recently
recorded "Ihe campaign of NiCksburg
was suggested ana developed by circum-
stances, and it now looks as though Provi-
dence had directed its course, while the
army of the Tennessee executed the de
cree" Yes, my comrades. there's di-
vinity that shapes our ends, rOugh-hew
them how we may and fortunate was it
for us and for all mankind that two such
men as Lincoln and Grant were on duty
during the critical year 1863, each the full
complement to the other. the one to think
and the other to do, forming the solid
arch on which our glorious Union could
safely repOse in the earthquake Of passion
and folly.
Events carried him into a higher and
more enlarged sphere of action, where we
had to contemplate MIN, as it were, in
the distance; but when was summoned
To him at Chattanooga in the fall of lSj3
and told him that the fifteenth corps was
close behind, it would have done your
heart good to have seen the satisfaction
beam from his eyes, to have heard the
llatterng words which poured from his
lips He was only impatient for us to get
into position to attack Bragg on Mission
airy ridge before he could claim to have
Withdrawn without being forced So,
also, when events had carried us to Savan-
nah, he was anxious to nave his old
western armies come to HIM to Richmond
land wind up the job as he expressed
it. But he yielded gracefully to the in
eVitable when he came to count the ships
necessary to transport Us to the James
river.
| will not yield to the temptation to
trace the wonderful career of this, our
cOmradc, through his later life which in
its phases SURPRISES any which history
ancient or mOdern-recOrds. TO compare
Grant with Alexander Hannibal, Caesar,
Napoleon or Wellington seems to me
folly, for he was not similar to any one
of them any more than the period OF
time in which they existed resembles ours
| No, each epoch creates its own agents
and Gen. Grant more nearly impersOnated
the American character of lSGl-5 than any
other living man. Therefore, he viii
stand as the typical hero of the great
civil war in America of the nineteenth
century.