The Washington herald., 1907-04-27

SURVIVORS or The great American army
which prevented the disruption of the
Union in the war Of the sixties win re-
member that to-day is the birthday of
Ulysses Simpson Grant their greatest
captain Survivors Of that other great
American army Of the sixties viii re-
member that to-day Is the birthday of
mighty foeman, who was as magnani-
nous in victory as he was brave in bat
tie. Had he lived he would have been
eighty-five years old to-day-a little
younger than Edward Everett Hale, still
the Junior Of Senator Pettus. Of Alabama.
and about the same age as Senator
Whyte of Maryland. Grant might have
been alive to-day If the dread cancer had
not cut him OF when he was sixty
three.
The fame Of Grant must be forever
coupled with the name Of Lee, whose
defeat he accomplished and who was his
greatest adversary. Indeed writer's of
as wide information as Theodore ROose-
welt have not hesitated 10 say that Lee
was the greater soldier Whatever may
be the judgment of history as to the
relative merits of the two great COM
manders, Grant was the victor in the
campaign of 1S54-lS65. and his victory end
ed civil war In the United States. While
the methods Of Grant and Lee were rad
ically different, each of them knew his
man." and was able often TO calculate
to a nieety what the other was about 70
do. To illustrate this quality as possess
ed by Grant, one turns 10 the story of
Cold HaTbOr. At Cold HarbOr Grant did
not know how strongly the Confederates
were entTenched or ne would never have
ordered the attack. But he did know
what 70 expect Of Lee if Lee had the men.
Dr. Lawson. a man too old to be in the
army, was Gen. Grants host. by force Of
circumstances. on the morning of the
battle. Gen. Grant recognized him as a
non-combatant, although knowing his
sympathies 10 be with the ConfeIeracy.
The battle of Cold Harbor. fought June
s. 1864, was an early morning affair, and
the bloodiest of the entire war for the two
or three hours it lasted. Richmond, the
objective point Of Grants army, and of
the hopes of the North, was only six
miles away Just as dawn was breaking
Gen. Grant was standing with a group of
officers with hts back against a tree. DR..
Lawson was standing near. Grant took
OUT his watch
IT I don't hear his guns in ten min
utes, Richmond is ours" he said. DIR.
Lawson took out his watch also. Grant
waited and watched the moving hands.
One minute-tw0 minutes-three-foU
fve-siX-and then the gates of he'll We're
opened as Lees artillery replied to the
silent challenge of the silent commander.
I'm checked again" said Grant. and
returned his watch 10 his pocket He
seemed 10 know in a minute that his plan
would not be successful. The battle was
stopped before the morning was half over,
but 10000 or l2.000 boys in blue were left
on the field. 1t meant that Grant would
have to wait almost a year for the evacu-
alton and fail Of the capital of the Con-
federacy. But TO let old Dir. Lawson
draw his conclusions: I knew that !
stood in the presence of "a great general
the equal of our own Lee When two
mon commanding great armies can so
play the game that a margin of ten min
utes time means victory OF defeat, il
proves that each army is captained by
a genius of war"
Gen Grant was a soldier through and
through although the army was not his
overpowering ambition from his boyhood,
for he protested against going 70 West
Point wnen his father told him he had
secured an appointment After his ser
vice in the Mexican war. and in the far
West, he resigned from the army because
his salary was not large enough to enable
him 10 support his wife and two children.
When the civil war came on, Grants
first application 10 Washington for
colonelcy was not considered important
enough 10 merit a reply. At that very
time NJ Il council of Southern military
leaders in Richmond Gen Beauregard
said: There Is one West Pointer whom
/ hope the Northern people viii not find
out; I mean sam Grant ] knew him
well at West Point and ia Mexico. He
is clear-headed, quick. and daring
Grant was given command of an uli-
nois regiment and his first campaign was
that against Col. Thomas Harris and
his Confederate regiment in Missouri in
the summer of ISL As Grant led his
men to the brow Of the hill behind
which Harris had been in camp. he said
mis- heart went higher and higher ia his
throat. and he would have given any
thing TO be back in Illinois He had seen
service in the field and would not have
cared had another officer been in COM
mand, but the responsibility of heading
the attack weighed on him. When the
hill was cleared and he found that Har-
lis had been even more frightened and
had hcd-then Grant found himself The
surrender Of Fort Donelson, the action
al Shiloh, the siege and capture of Vicks-
burg. following his first triumph of MILF
tary diplomacy over Gen. Leonidas Polk
in western Kentucky-these things
brought the eyes OF the world 10 center
on Grant. and Lincoln, and Congress
placed him in command as lieutenant
general.
After the terrific fighting in the Wild
erness, where Grant gained no signal adj
vantage. Lee and his generals were in
council They expected Grant to retreat
upon Washington. as the Federal gem
erals had done before under like cir
cumstances. An aide-de-camp came up
and reported; THE enemy is moving by
his left flank toward Richmond" Gen.
Lee exclaimed: To your posts The or
der is TO move by our right flank The
Union Army has at last found a gener-
al" Grant was then writing his famous
message 10 Washington, ending with: Il
propose to fight it out on this line If it
takes all summer"
When il had all come to an end and
Grant had brought Lee to a position
where he could do nothing but give up
the struggle, the Federal commander was
naturally exultant when he received
Lees letter asking Tor the conference.
But when he came to Appomattox and
the two men met and talked for long