The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-10-30

egg. The brooding Of war Matched the
egg and an eagle came forth.
It II Impossible b reach the full meas.
ure Of Grants military genius until W
survey the greatness Of the most extra.
ordinary war of modern days, or IL may
be said of any age. Into this sulphur.
Gus storm of war Grant entered almost
unknown. It WAS with difficulty that he
could obtain command. Once
set forward, Donelson, Shiloh, Vicks-
burg, Chattanooga, The Wilderness,
Spottsylvania, Petersburg, Appomatox,
these were his footsteps. In four
years he had risen without political favor
from the bottom to the very highest com.
mand, not second to any living com.
mander In all the world. His plans were
large, his uujiscouraged will was patient
to obluracy. He was not fighting for
reputation, nor for the display Of gen.
erslship, nor iOr future Presidency.
He had but one motive, intense as life
itself-the subjugation OF the rebellion
and the restoration Of the broken UaiOu.
He embodied the feelings of the common
people. He was their perfect rep
resentative. The war WAS waged for
the maintenance of the Union, the sup.
preston of armed resistance and at
length for the eradication OF slavery.
He never wavered, turned aside or
dallied. He waded through hood to the
horses brides In all this career he
never lost courage or equanimity. With .
million men for whose movements he
was responsible, he yet carried =
tranquil mind, neither depressed by
disasters nor elated BY success;
gentle of heart, familiar with all, never
Boosting, always modest. Grant cam. OF
the old self-coutained stock OF men, o:
simple force of being, which allied his
genius to the great elemental forces OF
nature. Silent, invincible, irresistible,
when his work was done, and the
defeat of the Confederate armies was
final, this dreadful man Of blood,
was tender toward his late adversaries
as woman toward her son. He inn
posed no humiliating conditions; he
spared the feelings OF his antagonists;
sent home the disbanded Southern men
with food and with horses for working
their crops, and when . revengeful spirit
in the Executive Chair showed itself and
threatened the chief Southern General,
Grant, with q holy indignation, inter-
posed himself and compelled his supe-
rior to relingush his rash purpose.
There have been men-there are yet,
for stupidity il long-lived-who re-
garded Grant as only man OF
luck, and surely h. was. It was not
luck though to have had conferred upon
him such an ancestry. Such body,
such q disposition, such greatness of
soul, such unalloyed patriotism, such
military genius, and such an indomitabe
will For four years and more this man
performed every function OF strategy
in grand war, which Jominl attributed
to Napoleon and Napoleon and Napier
to Wellington. Whether Grant could
have conducted q successful retreat will
never be known. He was never de-
feated.
Grant has been severely criticised for
the waste of life. War Is not created
for the purpose Of life, but by noble
spending of blood to save the common
wealth. The great end which he
achieved would have been cheaply
gained at double the expense.
When Grant came to the Army of the
Potomac he reversed the methods of all
who had preceded him Drawer soldiers
never were, and valiant commanders;
but other Generals had not learned the
art of fighting with deadly intent. Peace
is very good for peace, but war is organ
lied rage. 1t means destruction, or It
means nothing. At the battle of the
Wilderness Grant stripped its com mis-
sary train OF its guards to ill a gap in
the liue of battle. When expostulated
with for exposing his army to the loss Of
all its prov sions. his reply was:
"Whcn this army is whipped it will not
want any provisions"
All summer, all the autumn, all the
winter. all the spring and early summer
again he hammered Lee with blow on
blow, until at Appomattox the great hut
not greatest Southern General went to
the ground. Grant was q great fighter,
but not fighter only. His mind took in
the whole field of wa--as wide and com
pick as any that ever Napoleon knew.
He combined in his plans the operations
of three armies, aud for the first time in
the war the whole of the Union forces
were acting in concert. The fame of his
Generals was as dear to him as was his
own.
When Lincoln was dead, Vicc-Prcsi.
dent johnson bccam, President. q man
we'll fitted for carrying on a fight, but
not skilled inc peace. With morbid
| sense Of JUSTICE he determined that the
leaders of the rebellion should be made
to suffer as examples: as il the dcats
OF ali The lirSt-Doru. The ucSO,atiuu Oi
every Southern homo. the impovcrishcd
condition and bankruptcy of every CHI.
zen were not example enough. lie or
,lcred Lee to be arrested. Grant refused
When johnson would have employed
the army to effect his purpose, Grant.
with Quici aud nobc rebellion, refused
n: &, I'D nyir
to take from his hands all military con
troll, repressed the Presidents wild
temper and savage purpose Of dislohOr.
Ing justice.
Having brought the long and dis
astrous war 10 q close, In his own heart
Grant would have chosen 10 have rested
upon his laurcls and lived retired life.
1t was not to be permitted. He was
called to the Presidency by universal &C
claim, and it fell TO him to conduct 6
campaign of reconstruction, even more
burdensome than the war. 1t would
seem impossible TO combine In one emf
nent civil aud military genius. To 6
certain extent they have clements IL
common, but the predominant element
in war is orgaui1ed force; in civil govern
nenS influence. Craftsmanship il
less brilliant than generalship, bu
requires q din rent and higher moral
and Intellectual eeaius God is frugal in
creating great men-men great enough
to hold in emiuence the elements OF
great General AMI of 3 great ruler.
Washington was eminent in statesmir
ship, but then he was not a great Gener.
al; at any rate, he had no opportunity 10
develop the fact In the readiustmens
nj fhn 0f
Grant was wise, generous and magnaI-
nous in his career - man; he vas
without wee, with an absolute hatred Of
lies and ineradicable love of truth;
OF perfect. loyalty to friend.
amin. nathan oariona nf nfhAra