Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-05-22
RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS.
From Charles L. Webster & Co., New
York, we have the second volume of the
Personal Memoirs of u S. Grant" Con-
corning the method of General Grant in
treating of the civil war, we INDUCED in
some extended remarks on the appearance
of the first volume. There is. therefore, no
need at this time to remark upon the sim
phcity, earnestness and straightforward
ness OF his style, nor of the natural grace
and eloquence that distinguishes all simply
told tales by men of great executive ability
and the modesty of noble natures. The
present volume contains 645 pages, includ-
ing comprehensive index of both vol
umes. There are several appropriate and
well-engrayed maps, and fine steel por-
trait of Grant as Lieutenant General Of the
Armies of the United States. This por-
trait, from photograph furnished by his
family is one of the best we have ever
seen of the great General. 1t has never be-
fore been made public property. This vol
ume contains a fine etching of McLeans
house at Appomattox, in the parlor of
which General Grant wrote the terms fol-
the surrender of the Army of Northern
Virginia, and in which General Lee signed
their acceptance. There appears also fac
smile OF the document from the original
terms OF surrender, IS written by General
Grant. The volume treats of the battle of
Chattanooga, Hookers fight above the
clou s on Lookout mountain. all the sub
sequent operations up to the bloody battle
of the Wilderness. The capture of At
lanta, Sherman's march to the sea, and his
operations in Georgia, North and South
Carolina, are considered. Sheridan's raid
down the Shenandoah Valley and his vic
tory at Five Forks are described. The APP
pomattox campaign, eliminating with the
final scene OF Lees surrender at McLeans
house, is graphically told The apple-tree
legend, and the story of Lees sword, are
automatically settled. Anecdotes of Presi-
dent Lincoln are related. Army stories are
told. The inside history of important op-
erations, undivided at the time, and here
tofore misunderstood, is explained in this
volume. The surrender of Johnston's
army to Sherman and the fall of Mobile,
are touched upon. The movements of
General Grant at the time of President Lin
coins assassination are described, and the
book closes with the end of the war and
the grand review of the victorious armies
in Washington. One of the particularly
striking passages in the volume is that
in which Grant speaks of the military
character and ability of that idol of the
army. General Thomas. General Grant,
however, has not measured Thomas by the
popular standard. He says: His dispo-
Sitiens were deliberately made, and always
good He could not be driven from a point
tee was given to hold. lie was not as good,
however, in pursuit as he was in action.
| do not believe he could ever have con-
Quoted Sherman's army from Chattanooga
to Atlanta against the defenses and the
commander guarding that line in 1864.
On the other hand, if it had been given
him TO bold the line which Johnston tried
to hold, neither that General Gor Sherman.
nor any other officer could have done bet
ter" We may expect this estimate to be
aSsaied by the men who were so devoted
to the gallant Thomas, but as to what he
might have accomplished is all in the field
of speculation, and no good can result
from contesting the opinion of General
Grant which he had the courage to express.
Grant believes that Lincoln desired JEFF.
Davis to escape, as he did not wish to deal
with the matter of his punishment, blood
enough having been spilled /" to atone for
our wickedness as a nation. AT all events,
he did not wish to be the judge to decide
whether more should be shed or not" As
to the garb in which Davis was captured,
the belief of General Grant was that Davis
was in mans dressing-gown. He adds:
Had he succeeded in making his escape
in any disguise, it would have been ad-
judged a good thing afterwards by his ad-
mirers' OF the capture of General Stone
man NOW Governor of California; Grant
SAYS that General Stoneman was sent TO de-
stroy railroads by General Sherman, from
near Atlanta, to the south about Macon,
and then go east, and, if possible, release
the prisoners at Andersonvile. But the
attempt proved a failure. McCook got back
after inflicting good deal of damage upon
II A L
and reported Stoneman and all but himself
lost, and shortly after, Colonel Capron got
in and confirmed the report. General
Stoneman finding escape for all his force
impossible, made arrangements for the
escape of two divisions, and covered their
movements to the rear with a force of
about seven hundred men, and at length
surrendered himself and detachments In
this raid, however much damage was in
flicted upon the enemy. There is no word
of adverse criticism by Grant upon this
action by Stoneman. For Stoneman S nom
presence in East Tennessee and on the
road to support Sherman, he blames Gen.
eral Thomas, to whom he attributes tardi-
ness more than once, but as we have quoted,
subsequently pays his soldierly qualities
merited compliment. When Stoneman
was sent, however, Grant says he pushed
ahead, creating some CONSERVATION with
his cavalry and later ON he speaks of Stone
mans expedition from East Tennessee as
eminently successful, but without good re-
suit, because the war was practically over
before the victories were won, because
of the difficulty Grant experienced in get
ting Thomas to send Stoneman forward.
He credits General Stoneman's raid, how
ever with good work in getting near to
Lynchburg, when the armies of the
James and the Potomac were clos
ing in on Lee at Appomattox. So, too,
he says that Stoneman's approach caused
the evacuation of Lynchburg, and was the
cause of the commotion Grants command
heard there when at Appomattox. He
speaks also of the success of General
Stoneman in thereafter pushing South, and
operating in the rear of Johnson's army
abcut the time negotiations were going on
between Sherman and Johnston for the lat
ters surrender, and refers finally TO the
great damage Stoneman's cavalry inflicted
upon the enemy's stores and the important
captures of guns and prisoners made by
! him. Speaking of the armies of Europe,
| General Grant estimates the men as brave
and the officers capable. But most of the
soldiers are taken from class not very in
telligent, and have little interest in the con-
| tests in which they engage. But in the
! United States our soldiers in the civil war
were dDiG " ISdii, hllSN hIAdl tiitN WNiC
| fighting for, and could not be induced to
serve as soldiers except in an emergency
when the safety of the nation was involved,
and so necessarily must have been more
than equal to men who fought merely be-
cause they were brave, and because they
were thoroughly drilled and Injured to
! hardships General Grant warmly defends
! Sherman as against Halleck, and speaks of
| the acts of the latter toward the former as
outrages."
"a Tale of Lonely Parish" (press of
Macmillan IL Co., London and New York ;
C. s. Houghton & Co., Sacramento; 81 so
is F. Marion Crawford's latest romance.
| The scene of the tale is retired English
village in which are less than a half dozen
people of much social prominence These
are the personages of the novelist's drama.
There is the conventional churchman of
| the robes and his wife, in this novel, as in
all that locate their activities in England's
rural sections. The other characters are
those OF student, book loving squire; a
cultured and refined English lady with a
mysterious husband-a convict, and their
beautiful little daughter Nellie. The earlier
| portions of the book introduce us to the
thoughts and life purposes of these people
| excepting the convict, and it must be con-
| fessed they are rather inconsequential. But