Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-17
HIS CAMPAIGN PLAN
Colonel Grant Tells How His Father
Ended the War.
FROM WASHINGTON TO APPOMAHOI
All the Armies, Involved in One
Scheme
AN INTERESTING CHAPTER

A decidedly interesting contribution to
the literature of the civil war was added
| by Col. Fred. D. Grant at the reunion of
| the Army of the Tennessee at Cincinnati
| last evening In describing his fathers plan
| of campaign, whereby he ended the war.
| He described 1t as his father would have
| narrated the story in the second volume
| of his memoirs had he been able to use his
voice in debating during the last month Of
| his life. Being constantly with him dur
| ing his last illness. when he wrote the
| first volume, the colonel was in position
| to know well his Intentions. In thus con-
| tinuing the story of the years of 1S64-G5,
! Col. Grant exhibited the movements Of the
| armies as they appeared from the COM
| mapder's headquarters, whence orders were
issued that should move them all as parts
| of one grand military scheme.
The Lincoln Interview.
Speaking for his honored father on this
ever interesting subject, Col. Grant said:
Upon being appointed lieutenant gen.
| eral, and having assumed command of all
| the armies in the field, Gen. Grant had an
| interview with President Lincoln, during
which interview Mr. Lincoln stated that
| ers, and the pressure from the people Of
the north, and from Congress, had forced
him into issuing his series of military or
ders, some of which he knew We're wrong,
and all of which may have been wrong;
that all he, the President, wanted, or had
ever wanted, was some one who would take
the responsibility Of action, and would call
upon him, as the executive of the Gov
eminent, for such supplies as were needed:
the President pledging himself to use the
full powers of the government m rendering
all assistance possible.
Gen. Grant assured the President that he
would do the best he could with the means
at hand, and would, as far as possible,
avoid annoying the administration with
unnecessary demands.
Plan of Campaign.
His first work was to iDaugurate a plan
of campaign for all the armies. Upon ex-
animation of his writings during the war
it will be seen that at an early period he
had been impressed with the idea that ac-
| tive and continuous operation of all the
troops that could be brought into the field
regardless of season or weather, were nee
esSary for speedy termination of the war;
that the superior strength and resources of
the north were more than neutralfZed by
the great advantage the confederates ha /
in their interior lires through friendly
country, which required little or no force
to guard, while the Union troops were op-
Grating in hostile country, and their lines
of supplies had to be guarded by a force
larger than that operating in the field.
During the first three years of the war the
various armies had acted independently-a
condition which had enabled the enemy to
reinforce each point Of attack by drawing
troops from points of inactivity.
Having this in view. Gen. Grant planned
to move all the armies at once. He looked
upon the Army Of the James as the left
wing, the Army of the Potomac as the GEN.
ter, and the troops operating under Gen
Sherman, Of which the Army Of the Ten
nessee was most important part, as the
right wing, all other troops being consid-
cred as cooperative columns. He believed
that by moving the whole line at the same
time the gre attest number of troops practi-
cable would be brought against the armed
forces of the enemy, and would prevent
them from using the same force to resist
the efforts of the Union army first at one
point and then at another, and that by con-
he could dc stroy both of them and their
sources of supply.
ITO carry out this idea orders were given
to the various commanders-on the I'd of
April to Butler, on the 4th to Sherman and
en- the 9th to Meade. In all these orders
the same general ideas were expressed. To
Butler he wrote:
"'You will collect all the force from your
command that can be srared from garrison
duty to operate on the south side of the
James river Richmond being your objec-
tive point
ITO Sherman he wrote:
1T is my design, If the enemy keep quiet
and allow me to take the initiative in the
spring cam paign, to work all the parts Of
common Ger ter. You I propose to
move against Johnston's army, to break it
up. and to get into the interior of the oen-
emy's country as far as you can, infiicting
all the damage you can against their war
resources
ITO Meade he wrote:
LEES army will be your objective point
Wherever Lee goes, there you will go Also
ThIS will ho
plan with reference to the movements of
the Army of the Potomac was similar to
that of Napoleon In the Russian campaign,
while his plan in reference to the whole
army much resembles the plan adopted by
the allies in their campaign against France
in 1S13-14
The Situation.
when these movements began, the stu
alton was about as follows: In the pos
session of the Union was all the territory
north Of a line beginning at Fortress Mon
roe following the Chesapeake bay to the
Potomac river, up that river to near Wash
ington, the northern border of Virginia as
far as Harper's Ferry, covered by the
Army of the Potomac; across the noun
tains into West Virginia, to the headwaters
of the Holston river in Tennessee, down
that river and the Tennessee to Cbatta-
Tennessee railroad to the Mississippi, which
was also in Union hands. All south of that
line was in the hands of the enemy. ex-
cept a few stations along the seacoast
the possession of which assisted in the
blockade
1.-The enemy had concentrated most of
their troops. which were east Of the Mis-
sissippi into the armies commanded by
Lee and Johnston; that commanded fy Lee
facing the Army Of the Potomac and
guarding Richmond, while that of Johns
ton was at Dalton, in the northern part Of
Georgia, facing Sherman and defending At
Jar,t roilr int
of concentration of supplies for the con-
federate troops, wherever they were sta
toned, east Of the Mississippi river. Rich
moEd, and the armies under Lee and
Johnston, were the main detectives of the
campaign.
General Grant, as the commander of
the Union armies, placed himself with the
Army Of the Potomac, where the greatest
opposition was to be expected, and where
he considered his personal presence would
be of the greatest value, and whence he
exercised general supervision of the move
ments OF all sae armies.
1.-THE main ynOyementS heinp against Tot