The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-10-13
SOLDIERS BUDGET.
A New Life OF Grant.

CO.. William G. Church has contributed
to the Heroes of the Nation" series
compact, discriminating, and emf
nently readable biography of Ulysses s.
Grant (Putnams). The capital merit
of this book is the tlearness with which
the author depicts Grants personal
character and brings out the causes of
his military success, a success the more
remarkable because it was attained in
the teeth not only of opposition in the
Held, but also of interference and OBJ
struction on the part of his superior Of
ficers, who continued to override and
trammel him until his promotion to the
post of COMMUNICATIVE chief gave him
an almost abst lutte control of opera
lions. Colonel Church shows that the
accomplishment of Grants plans was,
in no instance, due to luck, but that, on
the contrary, as far as accident played
any part in his campaigns, it told
against him; that he had his share of
reverses to encounter, as in the first
days battle at Pittsburg Landing, in
the earlier movements against Vicks-
burg and in his furiously resisted march
through the Wilderness; but that he
differed from other contemporary gen.
erals in this particular, that reverses
and delays, instead of warping him
from his purpose, served rather TO in.
tensify it, the result being that, while
he might be temporarily foiled, be was
never subjected to definite defeat. In
this respect he can be compared with
Marlborough alone among the great
captains of modern times, and 1t is as
true of the one as of the other that
their victories were often won in de-
fiance of the current rules of war, and
are, consequently, exasperating rather
than instructive subjects of study to
those who would learn the art of war
from books. The common sense Of
mankind, however, in gauging the
competence of commanders, will always
be governed by results rather than by
methods, and will deem it proof of
superlative ability that, in the record of
Marlborough or Grant there is no re-
treat from Russia, no Leipsic, and no
Waterloo. We should add that Colonel
Church is not only just 10 the General,
but sympathetic toward the man, and
that he succeeds in communicating to
the reader his own feeling of cordial
regard for the subject of the biography.
The significance of the campaign
which ended at Appomattox is summed
up by the biographer in a chapter on
the collapse of the Confederacy. We
are invited to consider the magnitude
of the forces engaged, the skill with
which they were handled for offence
and defence, and the typographical diff
icuties to be overcome. 1t is sub
mitted that "to move $50, 900 men in
such a country, in constant contact
with an enemy, was in itself no small
feat of arms. Advancing from base to
base, with TANKS exposed, and extend
ing his line of communication with
each advance, Grant had kept his enc
NY on the move from one strongly in
him in place until he was himself ready
to attack, and never giving him the ad'
vantage of the initiative. He had de-
Tended Washington and succored Sher-
man and Sheridan, not by weakening
his own army, but by keeping that of
Lee 80 constantly occupied that, in
spite of its interior lines and intrenched
positions, it finally fell exhausted"
Might not, however, more scientific
methods have accomplished the same
result with less loss of life? Colonel
Church replies that every method, sci
entific or other, had been tried in the
same field without any result, except to
temporarily change the relative posi-
tions of the two armies. The biograph-
er enters upon comparison of figures,
the outcome whereof is striking. He
shows that from the time the Rapidan
was crossed, May 4, 1854, to the sur
render at Appomattox, April 8, 1865,
Grant lost 124, 800 men in killed,
wounded and missing. Those losses,
with the exception of about l 900 men,
were incurred in eight months of ac-
tive campaigning, nothing being at
tempted during the three winter months
of 1S64-65. Now from the time Nc
Clellan opened the siege at Yorktown,
command in Virginia two years later,
precisely the same period of time,
eight months, had been devoted to &C
tive field work, long intervals of mac
ton having occurred between the sew
eral campaigns. Mcclellan, Pope,
Burnside, Hooker and Meade had each
essayed, in the same field the work
Grant carried to triumphant conclu-
sion, and, together, they had lost $780,
751 men without accomplishing it.
When the losses from disease are
, taken into account, the contrast be-
tween Grants campaign in Virginia,
and the campaign preceding it there,
becomes still more impressive. The
statistics of the war demonstrate that
for every man killed by the missile OF
the enemy two died of disease; and the
discharges from various causes, the
designations and assertions, taken to-
gether, exceeded by onc-half the total
of wounded and missing. Grant recog-
nized the bearing of these facts on the
necessity of prompt and continuous
movements. He knew that while, in
given time he might lose two me n
in action, he would lose three from
other casualties, and that campaign
of rapidly succeeding engagements,
which fastened the end, was really
economical in men, as we'll as in treas
ure. In view of these considerations,
the present biographer contends that
| tnO criticism unOn Ganpral Grant ia