New-York tribune., 1898-12-03
THE AMERICAN EPIC.
GRANT. AND MEADE. vICKsBURG AND
GETTYSBURG.

ULYSSES S. GRANT. His Life and cnsraG@tsr; n, @ BY
Hamlin Garland. Octave. PIP. xiN IA Douo''-
day & Mcclure Company.
GENERAL GRANT. BY James Grant Wilson
Octave. PIP Vi. 80. Appleton 20 ''eN'
ULYSSES s. GRANT. And the Period OF Tamonn ,m,,nn.
Preservation and Recohstructon. BY Wii5am pa,
c,nsn' sCh chnc1 .9o.. 0s,.T% % Ss Rp Nations Il S j.
GENERAL GRANTS LETTERS TO .,A. a FRIEND; FE 1sme:
issl-lSN With Introduction and Notes py Isnvs
Grant Wilson. Octave rp. x lSz' l. l.
Crowell Co
Octave PIP. eo7. Eaton Mains
LIFE GENERA =, GEORGE +. aTmy Of 3as PS
;omac BY Richard Meade Bache Iilns,rassn ysi ss.
with Portraits and Maps Octayo pp NNn' "S'
Philadelphia: Henry r Coates co.
r,s names g, Grant and Meade are linked to-
gether irrevocably in the history OF the war TOT
tho Union. bu, in a very peculiar way They
were. without meaning TO he So the real nvaiS
Gov t,s military leadership Of the Nation in
arms. other men more or less competent hao
hean nreferred before them-McClean, Pope
burnside Hooker. as against Meade; Fremont
I1al,eck Rosecrans as against Grant. But tnese
r,vajries were man-rnade and futile. The rival
w of Grant and Meade was the work OF destinF'
7, ou,,e consistently permitted them 10 worK
together IN the end since II had in 1t no element
an .,,her side OF that morbid self-esteem which
wakes so many men absurd in the cold ight OF
history. Looked at In a large way. without az
tention to details. II comes nearest 70 epic per-
fection OF all episodes in American history II
is finer in every way. too as motive for 'he
imagination. than the potent though childish
wrath Of the Greek hero and his rivalry with MS
Kinr. This American epos is not without >'s
Hector so much like that unfortunate prince
among men that he absorbs an undue snare OF
the personal sympathy which the story evoKes'
II begins. too. like its antique prototype ions
after the outbreak Of the war 10 Whlch IL DC
longs The severe criticism OF Moltke upon the
American war. that it consisted merely OF pat
ties between armed mobs. was certainly true vi
,h. nertoa I'D 10 and including the battle Of
Shiloh BY that time. while most OF the gen
.ra,s we,e far from their true bearings the men
IN the ranks had oriented themselves thorough
w. and II there had been rational system OF
recruiting by which the veteran regiments couio
have been kept full without constant ado'
ton OF masses wholly unframed. under oncers
whose military learning was drawn almost ex-
elusively from some biography OF Napoleon the
American armies in the closing years OF the war
might have stood the inspection OF the most
skilful Of European commanders. AS II was
the Napoleonic colonel and brigadier all rhetoric
and reverberation. kept their numbers up 70
q good figure long after everybody had pene
trated their disguise.
Destiny rarely gives good generals 10 MODS
It's highest favor usually is TO put them under a
good drill master. This happened to the East
arm arm. where the very heart Of the Republic
was in peril But in the West. the army ana ns
generals. having less TO guard, got their drill as
they went along that whole regiments at
Shiloh and Perryvile and other battles OF 'ne
early kind went into line without the shaoo"
10 . cartridge among a thousand men. The sur
v,vors Of such an. ordeal were never afterWard
confused by the sound OF firearms, but they
hegan TO see the difference between an of1cer
who knew how TO take care Of fighting men and
one who did not. Laying aside all the carry
battles Of the war. even Grants successes IN
Kentucky and Northern Tennessee. as sporadlc
CLEANS Of order in a general chaos the business
like history of the begins upon the Depart
IRE Of Halleck from the West. Things were
mot at all clear as yet on the Union side NO
hodv had a perception Of the problem which the
connic, offered as whole. In fact. the only
general who imagined what the Union forces
nv land and sea combined should resemble In
nanoramic view was Scott, and his famous ana
conda simile had not seemed rational TO people
who could only see that here and there hghting
occurred with no signs OF concerted or united
action The disconnection and unreason up 10
that time had been about the same on the Con-
fAderate side But it appears that the South
erners came 10 their senses first In the matter
OF grand strategy. They knew that the ana
conda was practically ready for use on the coast
all the way from Norfolk 10 New Orleans. They
had been squeezed out Of Kentucky and Ten
nessee and they foresaw that II they dld not
break the armed Gordon which was forming
along their land frontier their fate was sealed
They were strong enough in the East not mere
ly 10 hold their own. but TO threaten the North
with invasion. They We're powerful enough AT
the centre-that is. in front Of Chattanooga-to
withstand for the time being the whole strength
OF the West. They knew that the district over
which Grant had command was stripped OF its
troops 70 strengthen the Union advance against
Chattanooga This advance failed Lee had
beaten Pope and invaded Maryland Bragg was
following Buell. into Kentucky, and in Septem-
ber Grant on the far western flank Of the
Union line learned. as General Wilson remarks
that Generals Van Dorm and Price were NOV
ing north evidently upon Corinth. In pursuance
Of a concerted plan for an advance all along the
Confederate line from the Mississippi to the At
lanttc seaboard." From the moment this at
tack was threatened the military problem which
was solved on the same day AT Vicksburg and
Gettysburg began 10 disentangle Itself in ra-
tional and logical way. The sporadic warfare
continued at the centre until it eliminated in
Chickamauga and in the East down 10 the
disaster OF Charlottesville. Yet the stubborn
Rock Of Chickamauga" showed that the chaos
had been mastered. while the preliminares Of
Charlottesville gave even so keen soldier as
Meade the hope that at last the Army Of the
Potomac was In hands that could WELD II.
The epic really begins. rather tentatively and
halt,ngly at Iuka- II gathers force at Corinth.
u falls TO very plain prose in the loss Of Holly
Springs with the destruction Of all the supplies