, 1885-02-10
GENERALSHIP.
MILITARY REPUTAnoNs SOMETIMES
DEPEND ON THE cHANcEsr
The leading Commanders of the Late
Civil war-whsn 1t Was safe to
Reckon on Errors and When
II Wa Not.


erals who made their reputation after they
wers 70. ono wns John Churchill, duke OF
Marlborough, who mada bis fame at Ramn.
lies when he was 50. and crowned It at
Bouchain when he was 81; the other Is Won
Moltks, who was &c at Sadowa and 10 at
Sedan k1 merit was 20 little suspected
that when he sought permission 10 leave the
Danish service 70 Join tho German army his
application was nrcnsficnIly Endorsed,
Capt Won Moltke viii not be much missed "
Bomewhere In his conversation Cen. Grant
gives Il A. his opinion that a general should
not be over 20 or A. He ought. in order 70
do his shity, to be able 70 sleep under a tree,
to dispense with moru than one meal q day,
70 do bis own roconnoituring, and for all this
a nan Of 90 Is unit Grant said that In the
campaign before vicksburR be slept
wherever he happened 70 be when he could
catch a spars hour, and he was satisfied with
ono meal n day. Sherman did tho same.
Neither Of them took of his boots for week..
Napoleon wrote 10 Joseph from Eyiau. HWo
have not had our clothes OF for two months,
and have been living In snow and mud,
without bread, wine, or brandy. subaisting
on potatoes and a little meat h em.
pcror always maintained hat the battle OF
busaco was lost because Mnssenn had neg
locted TO mako a personal -reconnoisance OF the
ground. Won Moltks made no personal 10
eonnoisancezs but he had 10 studied the
country IN which he had TO meet tho French
In 1870 that ho knew svery stream and hill
and road, and almost every treo.
Military regulations arc curious tdingk
Tf tuu ask any vol educated foreigner who
was the greatest general Of our war, ten to
one be Will answer Cen. Lee. Yet soldiers
know hat Lee was n msro desk general,
without plan or dash Before tho war old
Gen. Scott, who loved him, used to say that,
with tho exception Of himself, Bob Ice was
the only nan In this country who could
handle 10000 mem He took this reputation
into tho southern army, and he was idolized.
He was n courteous, ~dignided man, who
made himself up after Washington His
soldiers trusted him implicitly, and be had
the inner lines, 70 that It was reckoned he
had won a victory every time no escaped
humiliation.
President Davis was d~cferontini to him, and
the corps commanders regarded him as ON
niscient and invincibla But in point of
fact thora is not one OF his battles which
military students will hereafter b required
to study. So with StonewnIl jackson. He
wns known at West Point as a religious
fanatic. In the southern army he was enter
priaing. audacious, swift in action, but a
man might easily make a reputation whom
he has only commanders like Banks and
Fremont and Mcclellan to encounter. II
Stonewnfl jackson hid lived long enough to
meet such mon as Sherman and Sheridan
his fame might not have stood ns high as IL
does.
Whan our war broke out, tho eyes OF sol
disrs were fired upon Mcclellan, Rosscrans.
Stone, Mcdowell and Buell.. These we're TO
b tho coming mon. They all proved failures
Grant cut no figure in Mexico. Sherman
was said to DO n crank Sheridan was I'M
Known. Il required circumstances TO do
vclop them. Grant showed from the first
the intultivo capacity u the born soldier.
After tho fall OF Fort Donaldson, a brother.ln.
arms took tho liberty OF drawing his atten-
ton 10 the awful risk no had run by deviat-
ing from the rules OF war. The general re-
Piled ayes, I know all that, but / knew tho
men on the Other side and l took tho chances
You do not suppose i would have acted NO II
Lee had been In command OF tho fortFf So
when no resolved on his march round vlcks-
burg by way OF the river, ho knew that no
was acting contrary to tho rules OF war, but
be took tho risk. and for fear OF interference
from Washington, he would not let Cen.
Iiaileck know what he was doing tn no was
past recall. Sure enough, as soon rs tolo-
grams could reach him, Hnl1sck counter
mnndod tho movements but II was too iato.
and In due course Vicksburg fell.
Toward the clo-e Of the war the generals
on both sides began TO understand their
business, and II was not safo TO reckon on
errors escaping notice. The north, It must
b admitted, had a gooi deal Of good luck
II Lee bad had tho enterprise TO break
through Meade's line and join Johnston in
North Carolina after the surrender Of Rich
mond, The var might have been indefinitely
prolonged. II Hood had had common aonso
enough to give Nashville the go-by and
march through Kontucky into Ohio, there
Il no saying what tho results might not have
been. He could probably have cut the
north IN two, as Sherman cut tho south.
But be was not enough Of a general 70 500
the opportunity which Thomas inertia
oncrpd him.
A truly great general must know whom TO
oboy the laws OF war and when 10 violate
them This l. just what Grant and Sher-
man knew. Napoleon. In his compendium
81 military Instructions TO his brother
Joseph when be went To Spain, enjoIned
upon him. "Tho art Of war " an art which
Il founded on principles that must not DO
violated. To lose ones lin Of operation Is
n performance - dangerous that to be
guilty Of il IL a crima.s Yet this Is Just
what Sherman did In Georgia, with the
happiest resultA So with the French them
selves In Algeria The first rule Of war Is
that an army must consist Of due proper
tons Of cavalry. infantry, and artillery,
yet the first order OF the day issued by
nugeaud when he COX command Of the
French army directed uine-tenths Of tho
artillery 10 Be shipped back to France. He
wanted to train his troops 10 fighting nj
short range, and 10 lure the enemy into
Close quarter< The result was the battle Of
lly. When history comos 10 Be deliver
atsiy written and mon are measured not by
what people said Of them at the time, but
by what they actually did, the southern
generals who will stand highest in the ranks
OF fame-side by side with Grant and Nc
Phersou. and Sherman and shsridnn-wil
II Gent Joe Johnston and Albert Sidney
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