Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1885-07-24
GEN. GRANTS CAREER.
Biographical sketch of the Dead Com
msnder-The Story of II Life Crowded
with HOnOrs.

Biographical Sketch of the Bead COM |
with HOnOrs.
By birth Gen. Grant was al Ohioian, his
descent being Scotch. In 1858, being then
just turned twenty-one, he emerged from
the military school at West Point.
Three years later he won his spurs at
Pslo Alto, in Mexico, and Rssaca de la
Palma, Monterey and Vera Cruz, but
added to his laurels at Chepultepec, where
bravery and GOODNESS that ELECTED high
encomiums. In 1854, after eleven
years service ss . military man,
Capt. Grant retired from the army
and sunk into obscurity. Five years
later he enszged with his father in
the leather business at Galena, Ill. He
was at work tanning hides when the civil
war broke cut. About this time
Mr.. E. B. Washburn, member of
accidentally met Capt. Grant, at an
inn. perhaps, and thus had a slight &C.
caaintsnee With hin. washburn being at
Springfield, Gov Yates said to hia; ''We
have got men enough anu Money enough,
but we have no one here to organize; We
need a military man here" Washburn
said: "We have got just the very man up
at Galena that you WANT "Who is he?"
Capt. Grant" "Who is Capt. Grant 2"
Mr.. Washburn explained that he was a
graduate of West Point and had seen SER
vice in the Mexican war. "Send Capt Grant
down here" was the reply. While Grant
was at work at the duty assigned him the
colonel of the regiment came in one cay
and said he could do nothing with his
men and offered to resign in Grants
favor il he would take charge
of the regiment. Grant went out
to see the regiment, and, being salts
fed that the men were full of fight and
would make good soldiers, accepted the
command. Instead of taking his soldiers
from Springfield to Quincy by rail, he
marched them on foot, end by the Tins
they reached their destination they knew
they had no militia colonel to deal with.
In August, 1861, he was promoted to brig
adler general, and by chance he was in
command Of the forces that concentrating
around Fort Donelson hedgei in there
the main part of the Confederate troops
in that part OF Tennessee. No adverse
criticism is to be made OF Grants disposi-
tions at that battle-but the Confederate
forces once hurled back the serried lines
of the enemy, cut their way out and burst
through to the open country. At that mo-
meDt Grants movement waa failure.
But a tt-sial najsm0ve on the part OF the
Confederate generals lost them all that
they had gained, and the next DAY they
surrendered. 1t WAS Grants luc'. His
star was in the ascendsncy. He there
won promotion TO msjor-generalcy.
Pushing hotly on with the understanding
that another such blow would destroy the
Confederacy, he took position near Shiloh,
where Sidney Johnston proposed to strike
him before Buell's forces would swell his
army. Again was Grants lucky star in the
ascendant. His army, after q stubborn
| contest, was driven back upon the bend of
| the river and was virtually routed when,
| Johnston being killed, Beauregard arrested
| the movement, and the next day himself
was driven from the field, Buell. having
| arrived. A year later Gen. Grant cele-
brated the 4th of July by the capture OF
| Vict sburg, after one OF the most memoir
| able sieges OF the war. By that time his
| fame had overshadowed that of all other
| Federal commanders, and on the opening
| of the following March Congress revived
| the grade of lieutenant general, which had
been conferred on Washington alone and
bestowed it upon Gen. Grant. He
next took command of the army,
moo and vicinity, and defeated
Bragg at Missionary Ridge On March
II, 1864, he issued his first order as
commander-in-c chief of the armies of
| the United States, and took immediate
| command of the army OF the Potomac,
| whose generals had one by one fallen
| before the sickle of the Lincoln ad-
| minstration, some of them, like Pope, in
disgrace under the disasters wrought by
Lee with the Army OF Northern Virginia.
| Space does not permit detailed account
| of his Eastern operations They are open
| to criticism. Considering the series of en-
counters from the Wilderness to Cold Har-
Dor, running from May 9th to June 10th,
as single engagement, we find Lees army
at the end with more elan, with a finer
morale, than at the beginning; while at
Cold Harbor, the last of the series, the
spirit of Grants troops was utterly broken.
We quote from the best history of the war
we have ever read-Swinton's: "The
troops went forward as far as the example
of the Off 'ers would carry them, nor was
it possible to urge them beyond.
Some hours after the failure of the first
assault, Gen. Meade sent instructions to
each corps commander to renew the at
tack. The order was issued through these
| officers to their subordinate commanders,
and from them descended through the
wonted channels, but no man stirred and
the immobile lines pronounced ver-
slaughter" Quoting again from the same
Northern authority; "Grant's losses in the
series of actions from the Wilderness to
the Chickahominy reached the enormous
aggregate of 10000 men put to hors
du combat, a number greater than the en-
tire strength of Lees army at the opening
, of the campaign" If Grants object was
] to destroy Lees army in that campaign,
he did not do it. If his object was to at
, tain more ia, orable position with regard
, to Richmond and with reierepce to Lees
] army, he did not do 1t. He could have
} reached the position at the end attained
} on the CLickshominy, without the loss oi
! | a dozen lives, and yet he sacrificed bis
men by ten thousands. Eventually he
! proceeded toward Richmond by way Of
3 Petersburg. from the south side, which
3 was McGlellan's purpose when Lincoln
4 called that general to the North IN tbs
: sp,, ~, or of 1880 fUo vaarr haffsra WhQt