The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-08-08

planted themselves at JcterSvllle, on his
desired road to Danville. Lee turned
westward again toward Lynchburg, but
his relentless pursuers fell upon his rear
guard, and at Sailors Creek captured
nearly the whole of Ewell's corps. Worn
out and wrecked, Lees army, on the 9th
day of April, surrendered to Grant at
Appomattox Court House.
The terms granted by the conqueror
were magnanimous and generous, guar
anteeing protection while under parole.
Johnston's surrender to Sherman TO-
lowed as a matter of course; Taylor and
the other Confederate leaders duly capt.
ulated. The war was over, not so much
as a guerrilla shot surviving it; and it
had been ended solely by the overthrow
of the Confederate military forces on the
field of battle.
In reviewing the military career of
General Grant it becomes evident that
his successes, so far as they were due to
personal causes, are in large measure
traceable to certain traits of character,
exhibited alike in prosperous and adverse
fortune, from the beginning to the end of
the war. The restless activity and en-
terprise which caused him, on taking
command at Cairo, to seize Paducah the
very next day. without waiting for
formal instructions, was the same quality
that afterward, on the larger field of the
Virginia operations, prompted him 20
''hammer continuously" at Lees army
until he broke it, and Herewith the Con-
federacy, into fragments. This ceaseless
activity in military operations was not,
however, the result of an excitable tenn
permanent or merely fitful in develop
ment. On the contrary, it was Joined to
extraordinary perseverance, infexibility
Of will and tenacity of purpose. Yet
enterprise and persistency did not make
up the full sum of Grants gifts as SOL
der, since to these he added as large
measure of audacity as BELTS comman-
der-n-chief. One can no more question
the boldness of his demonstration at
Balmont, under the 40 guns of Column
bus, than the imperturbability with
which, when, on the same field, an agi-
tated officer told him they "were sur
rounded" he quietly replied, "Then we
will cut our way out" The daring with
which at Vicksburg he cut loose from
his base, and risked procuring supplies
from the country until another base
could be established, was not less fruit
full in results than the logged determ.
nation to stay before the city until he
had forced it to surrender. In his final
campaign as Lieutenant General he de-
veloped much mprehensiveness of
view, and in the midst of trying cam
paign under his own eyes never lost sight
of movements in such distant fields as
| Georgia and Tennessee, CO operating
with them by his own. But the secret
of his success would still escape us
| should we fail to note the modesty and
patriotism which led him always to con-
slider first how best to overcome the en-
| envy rather than how to secure for him
| self the greatest personal fame. Allied
| with these traits were generous recog-
milton of the services of his subordinates
and memorable grace to conquered
| foes. Military literature contains few
parallels to the letter which Grant, on
his nomination to be Lieutenant Genera,
wrote to Sherman, attributing to him
and to Mcpherson much of his success,
and saying, "How far your execution of
entities you to the reward am rcceiv-
ing, you cannot know as well as l." AS
| to the liberal terms accorded to Lee at
Appomattox, accompanied by the SIM
plicity of department on Grants part, it
is hardly too much to say that they made
any further military struggle Oh the part
of the Confede:acy moral impossible
ity. He must have disarmed it by his
magnanimity, had he not already con-
quered it by the sword.
| General Grant will not go into history
among the soldiers classed as ''brilliant,
while his lack of that personal magnet
ism which belongs to some heroes of the
battle field has become almost proven
bal. But he possessed in superlative
degree those sterling traits which accom-
plish results of transcendent Importance,
and in the end extort admiration even
| from enemies.
| III. AFTER THE WAR.
At the close of the war General Grant
was hailed throughout the North with
admiration and gratitude as the greatest
hero OF the conflict, and the chief instru-
mirers in Philadelphia presented him
with handsome residence, his old
| friends at Galena provided him a home
there, and he was the recipient of many
tokens of admiration, and greeted with
enthusiasm wherever he could be in
duced to visit his fellow. citizens. In
| 1866 the grade of General of the Army
was created in order that it's distinction
might be conferred upon him, and when
the contest between Congress and Presi-
dent johnson over the question of recon-
struction was impending provision in
the Army Appropriation bill required
| that all orders and instructions relating
| to military operations should be issued
through him, and that he should not be
removed, suspended, relieved from COM
mand, or assigned to duty elsewhere
than at Washington, except upon his
own request, without the approval of the
Senate. At the same time the Tenure
of Office act was intended to prevent the
removal of Secretary Stanton, who was
an ardent supporter of the Congressional
| policy of reconstruction. Congress in
tended to secure the services of the Gen.
eral of the Army in behalf of this policy,
and the President made an effort to en-.
list him on his side BY the Supple
mental Reconstruction act of 1867 the
acts of the military commanders of the
districts were made subject to the d,sap-
prevail of the General of the Army only,
instead of the President, but the latter
used his prerogative as Communicating.
Chief to change the district commanders
against General Grants protest. When
the President suspended Secretary Stan.
ton and appointed Grant Secretary of