The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1885-06-11
THE CAMPAIGNS or GRANT,
-. -" =
EXCERPTS from the Generals Memoirs. Treat
Ing Of the Battle of Shiloh and Apollo
giving to Gen. McCQok,

Ing OF the Battle Of Shiloh and Apollo
giving to Gen. McCook.
- So.
Gen. Grants Relations with President Iincnlr
and Secretary Stanton Told, with Lees
Surrender
Gem GRANTS Autobioerapfy,
He begins by saying he is of American
stock on both sides for many generations:
Matthew Grant, from hom he. i descended
ia the eight generat;5h reached Dorchester,
Mass, i'll 1880 from Dorchester, Eng.
Ills great grandfather, Noah Grant.
held a commission in, the british
army and his good father, also named Noah,
served in tho. War of the Revolution. He
gives anecdotes Of his be- hood. and of his
appointment to West Point through Hon.
Morris, congressman. from Ohio; tells the
circumstances under which he first saw Gen.
Scott and President Van Buren,, contrasts
the personal characteristics ct Generals Scott,
and Taylor; gives q copy OF his letter to
Adtutant General Thomas, dated at Gabra,
{E, May %. 1861, Offering his services to
considered himself competent to take com
mand. This letter was never answered, and
was for long time lost among the papers of
the war Office. speaking OF his first battle id
the civil war, he says: :.
AS we approached tlle bro. 81 the hi, from
Snd 9 i Hs 1 n% nts I've could see Harris
heart espt getting higher and higher, until Il
fit to me as though 1t wets III INV
tn tnT 6axe nden you'd %oo 1 hnve v anything
moral couraEe to halt and consider what to Ie,
kept right On: When we reached . Doint from
watch the valley below wqa III }MIf view We
esmPea for ns eva N9s s{o x? 2bsie and
S she ,MarkS Il IL fssAt seanpment plainly
P 2sS Ihls vas d yiew of the qqss
event to the close of the war never experienced
trepidation upon confronting an enemy.
LHe speaks IF the battle of Fort Donelson
THE SHILOH FIGHT
Speaking of the battle OF Khil6E, lie saws
he considered, che situation as one in
which the federal forces were on the Of
fensive, but asserts that no caution for de-
Tense was neglected. On this subject he
continues:
Gen. Beauregard was next In rank to Johnston
and succeeded to the command, which he re-
tanned to the close of the battle and during the
subsequent retreat. At Corinth, as well as at the
siege of Cornth, his tactics have been severely
criticized by Confederate writer's, but I do not
believe his fallen chief could have done any bet
ter tso.e under the Some Of
When johpzse e ty a"' and snf that N"}| Il Won Se
bad, nbt fallen, the army under me
you'd have been annihilated or captured. There
Is little doubt that we should have been dis
fred by us had passed harmlessly over
t h. enemy sy and if all Of theirs had
e taken a efeet Commanding gen erals are liable
> n q on 1oo1
had Desn speaedy TO
Is evidence that there was neither the universal
decentralization on our side nor the unbounded
confidence on theirs which has been claimed.
There was, in fact no hour during the day when
! doubted the eventual defeat Of the enemy,
ments SO near at hand did not arrive at an earlier
hour
III this Connection he refers to his article
in the Century and his remarks in it in re-
gard to Gen. A. D. McCook which caused SO
much public comment He tells of the long
by Gen. McCook's division, and Of it's con-
spicuous acts of gallantry on the day of bat
tie, and concludes:
1 refer to the circumstance with minuteness
because did Gen. McCook an injustice In the
Century, though not TO the extent one would
suppose from the public press. am not willing
to do any one an injustice and If convinced that
have done one am always willing to make the
fullest admission.
Then follow accounts of siege and capture
OF Vicksburg;, OF his appointment of lieu"
tenant general.
He adds:
GRANT AND LINCOLN
In my first interview with Mr.. Lincoln alone
nc stated to me that he had never protested to be
a military man or tie know how campaigns
should be conducted and never wanted to inter
fere in them, but that Reconstruction on the
1V1r0n f fHn
people at the North and of congress-
ways with him" had forced him int
He did not know but they were all wrong. All
he wanted, or had ever wanted, was that some
one would take the responsibility and act and
call on him for all the assistance needed.
Describing his command of the division of
the Mississippi, he tells how he met Secretary
Stanton at Indianapolis, how they went to
Louisville, and adds:
Soon after we started the secretary handed
me two orders, SAYING that l would take my
choice Of them. The two were Identical but in
me the command composed Of the departments
of the Ohio. the Cumberland and the Tennessee,
the Mississippi river o north c l Of Banks
command in the Southwest. One order left the
department. commanders as they were while the
other relieved Rosencrans and assigned Thomas
He says Secretary Stanton caught cold on
that trip from which he never recovered He
gives graphic description of how Chat
tanooga was saved; and how he
was sent for in great haste at night
by Secretary Stanton, whom he found "pac-
ing the floor rapidly in about the gard Mr..
Jefferson Davis was wearing subsequently
but without the shawl and sunbonnet" Gen.
Grant adds:
He showed me the dispatch, saying that the
retreat must be prevented. Immediately wrote
an order assuming command OF the military
division of the Mississippi, and telgraphed it to
Gen. Rosecranz. I then telegrapned him the
order from Washington assigning to Thomas the
command of the army of the Cumberland, and
to Thomas that he must hold Chattanooga at all
hazards.
THE WILD ERNEss AND ApPoMATTox.
He describes the Wilderness campaign, es-
Inmates Lees strength at $4,000 men, and
says that he was operating In a coun-
try with which his army was thor
oughly familiar, while to the federal
forces it was entirely unknown. He tells Of
Gen. Lees surrender, and takes occasion to
explode; the famous story of the surrender
was an apple orchard across the little
valley from the courthouse, one tree of
which was close to the road; that Gen. Bah
cock reported to him (GranG that he had
found Gen. Lee sitting under this tree, and
had brought him within the federal lines to
the house of man named McLeon, where
the confederate general and one of his staff
was awaiting Gen. Grant OF their interview
he says:
When went into the house found Gen. Lee
We greeted each other, and after shaking hands,
took our Seats What his feelings were,
much DO aip 9of anG wt 6sn az Of
fall it was impossible to say whether he felt
inwardly glad, that, the end had finally
come or whether he felt sadly over the
result and was. too manly to show
entirely concealed from observations; but my
own feelings, which had been quite appar-
emit on the receipt of the letter were
sad and depressed. I felt like any,
thing rather than rejoicing at the down
fall of foe that had fought so
long and CALAMITY, and had suffered so much
for a cause which believed to be one of the
worst for which people ever fought, and
for, which there was, not the least pretext
do not question, however, the sincerity
Of the great mass of those who were opposed to
US. Gen. Lee was dressed in full uniform, en-
tirely new, and wearing sword of considerable
value. very likely she sword that had been pre-