Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-05-17
Fiue Minutes A Day
With Our Presidents
nv IaNfrS MORGAN.
a Noble Conqucror
BY JAMES MORGAN.

the most successful soldier of his gen.
Grafton. War was his element, but
he had not suspected it. On the
contrary, he hated warfare. was bored
by army life and read books
on the military art. In the Mexican
War he had been contented to be side
tracked from the fighting line in the
Quartermaster Department. That ex-
p~erience inclined him to be q con-
tractor for supplying bread to the
army at the outset of the Civil War
when the politicians refused to make
him an officer.
The first time Grant came in sight
of the enemy in the Civil War he
frankly tells us hat his heart jump
ed into his throat. II had not the
moral courage" he said. ito halt and
consider what to do; / kept right on"
That is the whole story of how
Grant got to Appomattox; he kept
right on. Starting without q friend
at his back, and with only a long,
unbroken rail of disappointrnents be
hind him, he never asked for promo
ton, an assignment or a favor. yet
this unambitious man rose to be Gen.
eral-in-Chief.
While some of our General. posing
as Napoleons, were parading. review
ing, polishing up brass buttons and
patting down intrenchments, Grant
went at once to taking towns and
forts, to the dismay of arm chair
command in the midst of his VIC
tories. Mcclellan even suggested his
arrest. 1t was easy for any envious
deck soldier to cast suspicion on the
personal habits of IN officer who had
once been forced out of the army for
drunkenness.
BY his own admission, Sherman
doubted at first a commander who
was ignorant of books of strategy and
history. He was soon treasured by
the discovery of Grants common
sense supplied his lack of learning.
Plenty of Generals had books. but
sense won because 1t was so
uncommon in the Civil War.
Fighting is the simplest thing in
the world, whether with fists or with
armies or with fleets. Instinct Is the
true s~trategist. Grants art OF war
was simplicity itself: Find out where
enemy is. Get at him as soon
as yon can. Strike at him as hard
as you can, and keep moving on"
That is IT., Grant kept moving on,
sometimes, alas. through slaughter,
costly blunders, bloody mistakes.
Everywhere his watchwords were the
same: II propose to fight 1t out on
this line if 1t takes all summer" He
kept going ahead on the principle
that the sooner the terrible business
was finished the less bloodshed there
would be.
The price of victory In war always
is paid in the blood of boys. Grant
knew that the North had boys
than the South. and he simply outbid
the enemy In the currency of blood.
A shudder of borrow ran through
the Nation at the frightful bills he
sent back from Shiloh, sVicksburg and
the Wilderness. He tNas called a
butcher. His rusty p~rivate's blouse,
his careless SLOUGH and his sluggish
carriage lent him an air of roughness
at first glance. And the grim, change
less expression of his face. as cigar
in mouth, he silently looked on at
slaughter. gave an impression Of in
difference. Yet he quit the shelter of
his headquarters at Shiloh and slept
in the mud and rain to get out Of
the sight and sound of the wounded
and dying.
II would scorn being my own de-
fender" Grant wrote to a friend,
when the uproar was loudest In the
press and in Congress. He scorned
the role all the rest of his life, never
stopping to xcu or explain Or boast.
General Grant" said Lincoln, sis a
copious worker and fighter, but a
very meager writer,
Those of his staff who once found
him flung face downward ON his camp
bed in speechless agony knew that
this man behind his front of iron was
not tough fibred after all.~There was
a feminine fineness in his relations
with Sherman and Sheridan, who
formed with him the trinity of sue
cess in the war. Never a shadow of
jealousy or distrust fell between them.
Such greatness as Grant had lay
mot so much in his intellect as in his
nature. not so much in his thoughts
as in his instincts. After sternly de-
handing the unconditional surrender
of Fort Donaldson, and after it's $4,000
troops had laid down their arms at
his feet. HE left the officers of his
own army" the Confederate com
mander of the fort tells us. and fol-
lowed me. with that modest manner
peculiar to himself, intos the shadow,
and there rendered me his purse.
He was afraid the light would wit
mess that act of generosity and sought
ITO hide it from the world The two
foemen had beer classmates at West
Point, and only eight years had passed
since the victor had been rescued
from want in New York by this van
quished General in gray, Simon Boil
var Buckner.
No conqueror ever was higher soul
ed than Grant at Appomattox. Sad
and depressed. as he tells us, at the
downfall of a valient foe, he me-
Lee as II thai foeman On war were
a neighbor in trouble.
These were as simple as they were
unprecedented. The soldiers of the
South were hungry; they should be
fled They Xyara pOinu hnnoa q nd uvar.1S
need their horses for the Spring pillow,
ing; they should take them. Lee
hand moved toward his sword 70
the purpose of surrendering it. With
out a word Grant stopped him by {
silent wave of the hand. The gum
outside began to o a over the victory
1.-THE victor silenced them, as he hat
hushed the cheers over the Confeder
ates at Vicksburg. The great wa
was won. but the noble conquero
turned away from Richmond withou
entering the fallen capital.