Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-07-24
THE HERO AT REST.
Continued from First Page. ]


junction of the Ohio and Mississippi. By impor-
tant maneuvres he soon had these rivers and
the Cumberland blockaded to ingress to Or
egress from the rebel States. As soon as he
could gain permission from Fremont he
destroyed, though only by a sharp conflict.
the rebel works at Columbus, Ohio,-a most
important act.
In February, 1864, Halleck superseded
Fremont. and Grant was put in command of
the so-called district Of Cairo" The mac
tiyity manifested by his superiors in command
was hard for him to bear, but he did every
thing he was allowed to do with signal sue
cess.
Forts Henry on the Tennessee and Donel-
son on the Cumberland, held by the rebels,
were most important points as commanding
the States Of Kentucky and Tennessee. Grant
and Commodore Foote, who was in command
of of the gun-boats at Cairo, fully realized
the necessity of securing these defenses to
the Union cause. Finally, after considerable
delay, Halleck gave the desired permission
Fort Henry was taken by a combined attack
Of the land and naval forces, and Grant
pushed on to FIT Donelson, although his in
slructions had only been to proceed against
Fl. Henry. Donelson fell after of the
seyerest battles of the war. Grant was
i'm ediately nominated for MsJor-Gen-
tra, the nomination was at once con-
frmed, and he was soon placed in command
OF the district of Tennessee. He speedily won
the battle Of Shiloh. a victory amounting to
much more IN its moral effect than in mill
tary point OF view, for it was not followed
up; while it firmly Impressed upon Gen.
Grants mind that the rebellion could only be
ended by the annihilation of the opposing
srmy. July 4th, 1868, was made memorable
by the execution of Vicksburg, and in Octo-
Der of that year he was invested with the
command of the military divisions of the
Mississippi. Then came Chickamauga and
the revivlng of the grade of Lieut.. General,
and the bestowing of the rank upon Grant.
We cannot follow him step by step, through
the Wilderness, before Petersburg, and ''on
to Richmond" with Lees reluctant acceptance
of unconditional surrender" and the suisse
uuent end of the war. General Grant was
emphatically man who fought his battles in
his head before he fought them on the field.
lie believed in rapid action, at more than one
point if possible, and in following up any ad
vantage gained. The irmness, tact and
courage he displayed made him emnentlv
worthy of the honorable title finally awarded
to him, of General of the Armies of the
United States.
But the mere cessation of hostilities did not
end his labors. An army of over million men
had to be dsbanded; the military forces
in different parts of the South 'to
secure the execution of law and to pro-
tcct life and property must be superin-
tended and this superintendence devolved
upon him; the discOrdant elements must be
pacIfied; the reconstruction acts of Congress
had to be carried out. To the extent OF his
power he carried them out with a Jealous en-
deavor that their object should be speedily
and successfully achieved.
As Washington, at the close of the Revolu-
ton, was summoned to preside over the new
republic he had been Instrumental in upbuid-
ing, so now. Grant was called to be chief
magistrate of the Union he had been instru-
mental in preserving 1t was no light task.
If it were one different from the management
of an army, still it was one requiring no
common amount Of foresight, tact, and exec
utive skill. Defamation, which no candidate
tor public honor has seemed able to escape,
was his lot as we'll. But he addressed him
self to the work before him-and he performed
it we'll. The enormous burden of debt has
been lifted as rapidly as has been adv sabe,
with rapidty unheard of by any other ma
ton, and the public credit was placed on a
solid basis. He was elected to second term
If office, and at the close of this period made
an extended trip to Europe. There he re-
ceived, as a great soldier and the first citizen
of the United States all the honors that rulers
and people could bestow. Amid it all his
bearing was well calculated to conciliate the
good will of foreign nations towards the
republic.
His later life has been embittered and sad
dened by the treatment received at the hands
of business associate, at the same time that
his days were being numbered by painful
disease.
To appreciate his character we must not
judge him. as we are apt to do in some cases,
by what he says. No public man has illus
trated himself less by language. Grant must
be estimated by his actions. His patriotism,
his courage, his affection for friends, his ad
ministrative power, all undoubted, are yet
unlimited at in any speech or writing. His
speeches made abroad were wonderful for
their brevitv. 1t needed just such man of
thought and man of action to clear the way in
the nations danger. Such characters cannot
die. Their example is just as beneficial to
posterity as to the past, if posterity is only