The Newtown bee., 1901-06-07

oooli, "uoIc lc uIOFc UdCk the COn- federate lines in hard four hours fight. Then they were reinforced and advanced in such strength that Grant and his men were in danger of being surrounded and cut off from the, boats in which they had come. "We are surrounded, cried his men in some alarm. "Well, then," coolly replied Grant, i've must cut our way out as we cut our way in,' and they did. This was the only retreat in Grants entire career. When, after one of the days of stubborn fighting in the ter rife battle of the Wilderness, one of Lees officers said, "I am confident that Grant is retreating," Lee replied, "YOu are mistaken, quite mistaken. Grant is not retreating; he is not retreating man." He was not made that way. Alta critical hour during the battle of Sedan, when the German emperor and Bismark were anxiously waiting the result and watching their silent general, an off, cer rode up and announced that two corps of the German army marching from opposite directions had met at a certain hour. The movement closed in the French and ended the war. Von Moltke simply said, "The calcula- tion was correct" Grant, too, had the same clear vision and reasoning. His calculations were always correct and victory sure. His plans did not take defeat into account. The movement he always made was "advance." The order he always gave was "forward."
 In the East the
 BATTLE OF BULL RUN HAD BEEN
 FOUGHT,
 which was rather setback to those who had boasted they would go down into Dixie and whip the Rebels clean out some morning before breakfast. The North was beginning to see that what they thought would be the pastime of play day was to be terrible struggle of years. An autumn and winter of weary waiting followed, weary alike for the South and the North, who wanted something to be done. Mcclellan was organizing and drilling that splendid Army of the Potomac which was to be led by stronger general on to triumph. In response to the demand from the North, ''On to Richmondv' came back the mOnOtonous word, "All quiet on the Potomac Never did better or braver men march or fight than those who filled the ranks of this magnifi- cent Army of the Potomac, but through bad generalship it lost many battles and lost generals through in- trigues at Washington. Still in it's superb confidence and courage it never wavered until it had reached the glor- iOuS end. The demand was to do something; Grant, the inconspicuous and unknown general, did something where it was not looked for He ob- tained reluctant permission from his commander, Halleck, to move against Forts Henry and DonelsOn, about II miles apart on the Tennessee and Cumberland where these rivers cross the line that divides Kentucky and Tennessee. Hurrying along the roads covered with sleet and snow, Grant reached Fort Henry just after it had been captured in a severe lombard ment by the gunboats under Commo- dore Foote. Immediately the troops pressed on to Fort Donelson which had been strongly reinforced by a large number of men who had escaped from Fort Henry. A fierce attack was kept up for three days, and on the morning of the fourth day General Buckner, who commanded the fort, sent, under a flag of truce, to ask for terms of surrender. Grant sent back that brief, stern message which thrill ed the North: "No terms but uncondi- tional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move inn upon your works' Buck ner demurred. They were hard terms; but he had been with Grant at West Point and probably knew, as his wife designated him, that he was "a very obstinate man." How that victory thrilled the North. How it made the