Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-04-30

and fatigues almost unexampled, they
pushed on to intercept their ancient
adversary, while the remainder of the
Army of the Potomac was at his heels.
Finally Lee, still defiant and refusing
to treat with any view of surrender
came up to his goal, but found the
Union cavalry had reached the point
before him and the supplies were gone.
Still he determined to push his way
through, and with no suspicion that
men on foot could have marched from
Rice's Station in his front in thirty
hours, he made his last charge, and
discovered force of infantry greater
than his own before him, besides cav
airy, while two corps of the Army Of
the Potomac were close in his rear.
de had run straight into the Union
lines. he was inclosed-walled in.
He instantly offered to submit to
Grant, and in the agony of alarm lest
the blow should fall he applied to
Meade and Sheridan for a cessation of
hostilities Thus in three directions at
once he was appealing to be allowed to
yield. AT the same moment he had
messengers out to Sheridan, Meade
and Grant. The emergency, whose
existence he had denied, had arrived.
lie was outmarched, outfought, out
generated. He and his army-every
man-were fed by the conqueror.
1t has been held that Grants success
was due only to the ''attrition" of
armies was mere military arithmetic.
This does injustice to the great thought
on which he waged the war when he
had supreme control of all the armies
east and west. At an early period of
the rebellion Gen. Grant had OWNED
the secret of southern strength and
northern weakness. The federals were
three to one, at least, in numbers, and
UNNECESSARILY superior in material re-
sources, and yet the confederates main
tanned their ground and defended their
territories against all attacks. This,
held Grant. was because the strength
OF the north was never exerted ON
good system or with sufficient resolu-
ton. The southern generals held
position like the outline of fan, ex-
tending from east to west, and covering
the country behind them. By means
of the railroads intersecting the interior
they could bring up their forces to any
point OF the circumference, and so long
as it was necessary for them to be
strong at one point only they could al
ways contrive to be stronger at that
point than their adversaries. The first
and most indispensable step, therefore,
was to deprive them of this favorable
condition by attacking at variety of
q
southern army in its own position and
prevent it from reinforcing another.
Hitherto the two main armies of the
federals -one in Tennessee and the
other in Virginia-had been acting, as
the general expressed it like balky
team. When one was pulling the
other was backing, and so the able
generals of the confederacy could shift
or concentrate or relieve their forces in
such a way as either to economic
their strength or employ it to the
greatest advantage. If Lee was hard
/ pressed he could be reinforced by Beau
regard; if Johnston was in difficulty he
could be supported from Richmond or
Petersburg. Attack on both sides at
once and these tactics would be i'm
practicable.
THE WHITE HOUSE.
When the volunteer armies were dis
banded. Gen. Grant established his
headquarters at Washington, and on
July %, 1866, he was commissioned by
congress general of the United States
army, an exalted rank created especially
for him. When President johnson sus-
pended Stanton from the post of secre-
tary of war on the 18th of August, 1879,
he appointed Gen. Grant ad interim Sec
rotary of war, which place he filled I'M
til Jan. IA of the following year, when,
the senate having refused to sanction
the removal of Stanton, the office re-
verted to the latter. Grants reticence
on political matters was such that the
country was completely in the dark as
to his opinions, but it was well known
to some of his intimate friends that he
was republican in principle. He was
generally looked upon, however, as the
coming man, and on May 81, 1868, he
received the nomination for president
at the hands of the republican national
convention, in session at Chicago. He
defeated his democratic competitor, ex-
Gov. Seymour, of New York, by a de-
cided majority, and was inaugurated on
the 4th of March, 1869. His first term
was notable for his efforts to procure
the annexation of San Domingo in
1901, the Cuban and Fenian filGuster-
ing in 1870, the treaty of Washington in
1871, the Geneva arbitration in 1872,
and the progress of the work of recon-
struction, including the passage of the
so-called Kuklux law, followed by
presidential proclamation, and the sus-
pension of habeas corpus in the north
ern counties of South Carolina.
The republican national convention
in Philadelphia, in June, 1872, renomi-
mated Grant for the presidency. The
Cincinnati Convention of the same year,
at which the liberal republican elements
met, failed to nominate Charles Francis
Adams, who was supposed to represent
all the ideas of detection, but it did
nominate Horace Greeley. The oppo-
sition to Gen. Grant was not prepared
to accept Mr.. Greeley, nothwithstand-
ing the national democratic convention
nominated him also, and Grant was re-
elected by an overwhelming majority.
His second term was marked by the
passage of the supplementary civil
Shoo bllA. tuC NttO VI buc cuTTtucy H.
tlation bill, the passage of the bill for
the resumption of specie payments, /,
presidential interference in the local af-
fairs of many southern states. the ex-
posure of the whisky ring, the down
fall of Belknap, member of the cabi-
net, the attempt to inaugurate civil-ser-
vice reform, and the ever memorable
presidential campaign of 1867.
On retiring from the presidency,
March 4, 1877, Gen. Grant was for the
first time in sixteen years free from Off
cial responsibility. He had long con-
templated tour around the world, and
in May, 1877, he sailed from Philadel-
phia for Liverpool. In Great Britain
he was received with distinguished con-
sideration. From England he went to
France and Italy, and sailed for Egypt
from Nice on United States war YES
sci. He assembled the Nile, visited Jeru-
salem on his way north again, and was
at Constantinople when the Russian
army was at San Stefano He again
visited Paris, and then went to Berlin,
From Berlin he journeyed to Russia.
Sweden and Norway, and then to Spain
and Portugal, being received every
where with almost regal honors. Many
decorations would have been conferred
upon him had he been willing to receive