Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-10-29

1t is impossible to reach the full meas
ure of Grants military genius until we
survey the greatness of the most extra
ordinary war of modern days, or it may
be said of any age. into this sulphur
Gus storm of war Grant entered almost
unknown. 1t was with difficulty that he
could obtain a command. Once
burg, Chattanooga, The Wilderness,
Spottsylvania, Petersburg, Appomatox,
these were his footsteps. In four
years he had risen without political favor
fir om the bottom to the very highest com.
mand, not second to any living com.
mander in all the world. His plans were
large, his undiscouraged will was patient
to obduracy. He was not fighting fol
reputation, nor for the display of gen.
eralship, nor for future Presidency.
He had but one motive, intense as life
ftself-the subiugation of the rebellion
and the restoration of the broken Union.
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
dallled. He waded through blood to the
horses brides In oil 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
boasting, always modest. Grant came of
the old sef-contained stock of men, of a
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 i'm
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 a revengeful spirit
in the Executive Chair showed itself and
threatened the chief Southern General,
Grant, with a holy Indignation, inter-
posed himself and compelled his supe-
rior to relinquish his rash purpose.
There have been men-there are yet,
for stupidity is long-lived-who re-
garded Grant as only man OF
luck, and surely h.. was. 1t was not
luck though to have had conferred upon
him such an ancestry. Such body:
such disposition, such greatness oil
soul, such unalloyed patriotism, such
military genius, and such an indomitable
will For four years and more this man
performed every function of strategy
in grand war, which Jomini attributed
to Napoleon and Napoleon and Napier
to Wellington. Whether Grant could
have conducted a successful retreat will
never be known. He was never de-
featcd.
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 it's commits
sary train of it's guards to fill gap in
the line of battle. When expostulated
with for exposing his army to the loss OF
all its provisions, his reply was:
uanro- buy pIOs r,r~ss.;-- ---i;--- :, g.
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 but
not greatest Southern General went to
the ground. Grant was great fighter,
but not fighter only. His mind took in
the whole field of war-as wide and COM
pick as any that ever Napoleon knew.
He combined in his plans the operations
of three armiaS and for tho fi,,a ;,,
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, Vice-Presi-
dent johnson became President, a man
we'll fitted for carrying on a fight, but
not skilled inl peace. With morbid
sense OF justice he determined that the
leaders of the rebellion should be made
Of ali the iirst-oorn, the desolatiou OF
every Southern home, the impoverished |
condition and bankruptcy of every citi. |
zen were not example enough. He or |
iered Lee to be arrested. Grant refused |
When johnson would have employed |
The army to effect his purpose, Grant, |
with quick and noble rebellion, refused |
obedience to his superior, and, arranging
% take from his hands all military con- |
emper and savage purpose of dishonor.
ng Justice.
Having brought the long and dis
lstrous war to a close, in his own heart,
irant would have chosen to have rested |
lpon his laurels and lived a retired life.
t was not to be permitted. He was
allied to the Presidency by universal ac-
lain, and it fell to him to conduct a
of reconstruction, even more
'urdensome than the war. 1t would
eem impossible to combine in one emil
tent civil and military genius. To
ertain extent they have elements in
common, but the predominant element |
n war is organized force in civil govern
nent, influence. Craftsmanship is
ess brilliant than generalship, but
equires a different and higher moral
nd intellectual genius. God is frugal in
reating great men-men great enough
D hold in eminence the elements OF
reat General ami of a great rnler.
Washington was eminent in statesman
hip, but then he was not great Gener-
|; at any rate, he had no opportunity to
evelop the fact. In the readjustment
the political relations of the South,
rant was wise, generous and magnal-
lous in his career as a man; he was
'ithout vice, with an absolute hatred of
es and ineradicable love of truth;
perfect loyalty to friend
hip; neither envious of others,
Or selfish for himself. With zeal
n the public good unfeigned, he has
1t to memory only such weakness as &
'nnect MIN with humanity, and such 1
rtues as will rank him with heroes. :
Or the hour SymDathv rolled ~ q