New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-28
AMMO DOMINI qOO0-WHAT OF GRANT THEN?

our own record Of a great public celebration.
AMMO DOMINI 2OO0-WHAT OF GRANT THEN?
When another century has been added to the
Book of Time what will posterity say of Grant?
How will his fame endure the searchght of that
historical Judgment which grows colder and
clearer as the generations pass!
1t would be presumptuous thing TO forecast
the changes that will have come over the face
of our globe when A. d. 1000 arrives. No one
can forcsce the material and moral progress by
which the standards of human judgment will
have been raised by that time. Nevertheless,
there are certain fixed facts concerning the ca
recr Of Ulysses S. Grant which make it possible
TO anticipate to some extent the place which Will
be assigned to him by our descendants at the
beginning Of the twenty-iirst century. They
will surely rank him with the greatest mill
tary leaders of all times. Whether as a plannef
of campaigns, mapping out complicated scheme
Of operations for several armies, moving over
different sections of the country AT long DIS
tances from each other. yet all tending to
victorious elimination clearly foreseen from the
beginning; or as commander in the field. di-
rectng In person the carrying ont of the great
plans he had conceived, it seems settled already
that he VIII DOi1 IN equal pace WIFI tIc HioSt
eminent masters of the art of war.
We cannot safely surmise what new develop
ments the coming century will bring in military
science Since Grants victories were won there
have been already several revolutions effected
IN the conditions Of war. by the discovery OF
new explosives the invention Of new and more
destructive ordnance the Improvement Of small
arms and by the immense increase Of facilities
for rapid transportation. The next great war
in Europe IL not unlikely to engage larger mum
bers Of men than served in the armies OF Grant,
to involve larger sacrifices Of human life, to be
fought with greater rapidity and with such novel
weapons, machinery and appliances rs prac-
tically to create a new school or war The Eu-
ropean battle that will stand to the next century
as Waterloo stands TO the present one may be
fought within the next ten years and be decided
by fleets Of alr-ships manned by dynamiteurs.
When A. u. 2OOO arrives, therefore, all the stand
ards of strategy and leadership by which we
Judge Grant to-day may have become obsolete.
Yet Grants fame is secure. for the record will
declare him to have been the Incompatible com
mander Of his age the sum total Of whose actual
achievements was individually greater than that
of any predecessor.
IL the field of strategy nothing more mastery
has ever been conceived and successfully car
ried out than the plan by which Grant captured
Vicksburg and opened the Mississippi River
The passage of the batteries at Vicksburg by
the Federal gunboats and transports. supported
BY the progress of the Union Army on the west
bank OF the river. the bridging Of bayOus, the
landing upon the river bottom between Bruins
burg and Grand Gulf the battle and capture of
the Highlands of Port Gibson, and the quick
succession Of battles which resulted in the COM
plcte investment of Vicksburg and its final sur
rcnder-all crowded between April 16 and July
4. 1S63-is chapter of military achievements
without any parallel in the annals Of warfare up
to this time. The fall Of Vicksburg was, indeed.
the fall Of the COnfederacy; ii never again had
a probable chance of success. This was fol
lowed by Grants marvellous performance at
Chattanooga where the Confederate command
ers until he arrived on the scene. on October %.
regarded the surrender Of the Union troops rs a
question Of days only. Grants tactics speedily
changed re situation, the siege of Chattanooga
was raEd the Union forces became the ae-
gressors and the vctors, at Missionary Ridge.
Thcrcupon Grant came to the supreme command
OF all the Union armies numbering over a mill
ion men. That was a greater force than had
ever before obcyed the command OF one man.
The area Of Grants operations for the following
fifteen months was as large as the combined
area Of all Of Napoleons campaigns from Egypt
10 Russia, inclusive. During those fifteen months
he never received an order or n request from a
superior in office In all thar time he never held
a council Of war Never once in the field, where
he was personally In command, were his armies
routed or defeated; though sometimes they were
held at bay as the result Of one days fighting
which the next day decided in their favor.
In the end Grant accomplished everything for
which he fought. More than that cannot be said
of any of the great generals Of the past As
much cannot be said Of some OF them-Napo-
leon, for example, who lived to see the empire
he had created crumble and fall. 1t Is certain.
then, that our p0sterity Of the year 1000 will
place Grant in the first line of the military peer
age-with Alexander and with Caesar in classic
times; with Charlcmagne in the Middle Ages:
with Cromwell. Frederick the Great, Napoleon
and Wellington in modern times. Perhaps Grant
was in one respect more fortunate than any OF !
these for he not only did all that he attempted,
won all his battles, conquered all his opponents
and established peace upon his own terms, but
he established II so drrably that its results re-
malned secure and irrevers,bc. SO far we
can judge. those results will endure permanently
The war unified the American Nation. cutting |