The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-22
entire army The escost concurred in stating
that he devo-red the whole pie with apparent
Grant at yicksburg.


Admiral Porters necdotes Of the Civil War.
In the history of the worlds sieges nothing
will be found whore more patience was developed,
more endurance under privations, or more cour-
age shown than By the Union forces at the siege
of yicisburg; while OF the part OF the besieged
it was marked by their great fertility of re-
source in checking almost every movement of
ours and for the long months of suffering and
hardship they underwent. 1t belongs of right
to General Grant to tell the story Of that event,
for in case during the war did ne so clearly
show his title to be called great general, nor
did he elsewhere so fully exhibit ali the qualities
which proved him to be great soldier II Gen-
eral Grant had never performed any other mill
tary act during the war, the capture Of Vicks-
burg alone. with all the circumstances attending
the siege, would have entitled him to the highest
renown de had An enemy to deal with OF twice
his force, and protected by defenses never sur
passed In the art of war. / saw myself the great
strongholds at Sevastopol of the. Malakof
tower and the Redan, the day after they were
taken by combined army of 100, 900 men; and
these strongholds, which have become famous
IN ballad and story, never in any way compared
with the defenses of Vicksburg which looked as
if 200 Titans had been put to work to make
these heights unassailable. am told that there
were fifty six miles of entertainments thrown up,
one within the other. The hills above, with
their granite rocks standing in defiance, were
ments bristling with cannon and manned by the
hardest troops in the Confederacy. After it was
all over, and Gen. Grant could see the conquered
city lying at his feet he could well afford to
laugh at his vile traducers, who were doing all
they could to hamper him by sending kilograms
to the seat of government, questioning his fitness
for so important command.
That was happy Fourth of July when the
confederate flag came down at Vicksburg and
the stars and stripes went up in it's place, while
doc Il chr,rn Lee
army back to Richmond tattered and torn That
day glorious in the annals of our history, lost
nothing by the two brilliant events which were
added to our fame, and made it still more dear
to the heart of every true American. When the
Union flag was hoissed on the ramparts of Vicks
burg, my flagship and every vessel of the feet
steamed up or down to the levee before
the city. We discerned dust in the distance,
head of nearly all his generals. with
their stats, rode up to the gangway, and dis
mounting, came on board That was happy
meeting, great Misunderstanding and general con-
graduation opened all my wine lockers, which
contained only Catawba on this occasion. 1t
disappeared down the parched Threats which had
tasted nothing for some time but bad water Yet
1t exhilarated that crowd weak wine never did
before There was one man in the party who
preserved the same quiet demeanor that he al
ways bore, whether in adversely or in victory,
and that was General Grant No one, to see him
sitting there with that calm exterior amidst all
the jolity and without any staff, would
ever have taken him for the great Gen
eral who had accomplished one of the most stu
pendous military feats on record. There was a
quiet satisfaction his face that could not be
concealed, but he behaved on that occasion as #
nothing Of Importance had occurred. General
Grant was the only one in that assemblage who
did not touch the simple wine offered him; he
contented himself with cigar and let me say
here that this was his habit during all the time
he commanded before Vicksburg, and also while
he commanded before Richmond, though the
same detractors who made false representations
of him before Vicksburg, misrepresented him
also in the matter above alluded to.