The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-01-09
GRANT AND E
MILITARY characteristics OF the Great
Generals Compared.

tanned o pressure upon Lees detenses
which knew no intermission. AS O
rule. he would neutralize the force of
his enemy's strongly fortified points by
attacking those that were weaker; but
lest, his adversary should infer that he
was influenced by fear, he assailed the
almost i~mpregnable position at Cold
Harbor, at a cost to himself of 1000
men at least, while he inflicted but
ritiing loss upon the confederates.
Grant has been charged with an I'M
necessary sacrifice of life On that &C.
casion, but he must have considered mis-
situation such rs to Justify his conduct.
1t was a maxim with the great Napoleon
that such rashness is sometimes neces-
sary for the safety, as well Us the honor,
of an army. The sustained vigor and
timely boldness of Gen. Grant consti-
tute an important factor in the problem
[ am studying in regard to his suprem-
acy.
Gen. Les. from the nature of things,
vas constrained to initiate the example
Of the Roman Fa!nus agairat Hannibal,
and of Marshal Daun against Frederick
the Great. He was defending interior
lines against superior numbers, and be-
ing woefully deficient in transportation,
it would have been madness for him to
sally out beyond the support of lis
ramparts. Some of his critics, how
ever, have fancied that from over eau
ton, on two or three occasions, he
failed to see opportunities offered by
Grant to break through his lines and
harass the invader much more than he
lid. 1t is barely possible that such
cansure may have been deserved. Gen.
Lee was oyerworked, and so drcadfully
oppressed by his responsibilities. that
rom time t. time nature claimed its
,ight to repose, and occasionally he
nay have fallen into that state which I
all the syncope OF The mind: Il state in
which energy refuses to respond to
external impressions, however obvious
;hev may be. Where is the man of
action who has never experienced such
+, state, and seen passing by and be-
Iond recovery precious opportunities
md golden prizes, which in his ordi-
nary condition he would have easily
appropriated? But, whatever may have
been the faults of Gen. Lee, it is GER
tain that he increased the death rate in
the federal army to a degree that ought
TO satisfy the most ferocious lover of
slaughter.
The series of mannuvrcs, battles, &C.
tons and changes of position in the
Wilderness, and until Lee was driven
from behind the detenses of Richmond,
and afterward till the southern confed-
eracy heaved its last groan, have no
parallels Oh the continent of America.
They rank with those displays of mar
tial genius of ancient and modern times
which have been the study OF military
men in all ages, and the wonder of the
world. They remind us of the strug-
giles of Sylla when the Samnite Telles-
enes gave him the slip and placed the
eternal city in such jeopardy that Sylla
appealed to his gods to say him and
Rome, and the contests in Greece be-
tween Pompey and Caesar before the
battle of Pharsalia, when Pompey's syc-
ophants felt such confidence that they
%lampooned the mighty julius and called
him "a vendor of cities )" and more than
all, perhaps, they give an idea of the war
of the allies upon Napoleon in France
liter the campaign in Russia, when that
great commanders genius shone most
brightly, fighting against fearful odds
but to fail.
Ours was all intestine conflict, and the
glory of the actors loses II portion of it's
luster when we reflect that in the opin-
ion of some men, if good counsels had
prevailed, it might have been avoided,
and the thousands of brave men whose
fraternal blood scethed and impasted
the soil from Petersburg to Richmond
might have been spared.
In determining the relative merits of
Grant and Lee, l have been careful to
consider all the qualities and circum-
stances peculiar to each, and not only
the exploits of the two generals, but al
50 their dispositions and te~mperaments.
The fact that the former finally con
luered the latter is not by any means
conclusive. II I were to see a man take
up q gun weighing 1000 pounds, place
1t upon his shoulder and walk away
with it, I should know, without further
investigation, that he possessed ex-
traordinary physical strength; but the
gain or loss of a single battle would not
prove o man to be a good or O poor
general. Hannibal, Turenne, Frede-
rick and Napolean all lost battles, and
yet they are cited.
Wellington never quite lost q battle,
but he was seriously checked, and IN
this respect Grant resembles the Eng
llshman. At the approach of Lee
or Sherman, his army would shout
more enthusiastically than for Grant.
but when the latter came up during the
Eight the lines became more steady. and
the soldier would adjust his dim with
greater accuracy than before. Sher-
man showed wonderful vigor and sagac-
ity when he pushed johnson from Chat
tanooga to Atlanta, but Grant would
drive his chariot through passes that
Sherman would not venture to ap-
proach. There was IN abatement in
Lees audacity during the twenty-four
hours preceding the battle of Gettys-
burg, otherwise he would have won it
and gained the southern cause; but
nowhere can I discover debility in
Grants movements OF assaults.
Grant could hold his enemy as in a
vice, with a ruthlessness like that OF
Iamerlane or the Duke of Alva, and
when he had ACCOMPLISHED everything,
he left upon the mind of his observer
an impression that he possessed a re-
serve of force that had not been called
into play. am constrained tAarefore,
to assign to Ulysses S. Grant tMss high.
est rank as q military commander of all
That have been born on the continent
Of America.
Old Madeira WINE has always been
popular in Washington, especially on
The tables of the Justices of the Supreme