Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1920-05-17

Grant got to Appomattox he kept
right on. Starting without a friend at
his back, and with only a long, I'M
broken trail of disappointments behind,
he never asked for promotion, an as
signment or a favor yet this unambi-
tious man rose to be Generai-in-Chief.
While some of our General, posing as
Napoleons, were parading reviewing,
polishing up brass buttons and patting
down intrenchments. Grant went at
once to taking towns and forts to the
dismay of his armchair superiors.
Halleck took away his command in the
midst of his victories. Mcclellan even
suggested his arrest. 1t was easy for
any envious desk soldier to cast suspi-
cion on the personal habits of an Of
fieer 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 his
I tory. He was soon reassuIed by the
| discovery that Grants common sense
supplied his lack of learning. Plenty of
= generals had books, but common sense
son because it was 90 uncommon in
| the Civil War.
Fighting is the simplest thing in the
| world, whether with fists or with ar
mics or with fleets. Instinct is the
true strategist. Grants are of war was
| simplicity itself. Find out where your
enemy is. Get at him as soon as you
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. Ev-
erywhere his watchwords were the
same: Il propose TO fight it out on
this line if it takes all summer" He
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 more boys than the
South, and he simply outbid the enemy
in the currency of blood.
A shudder of horror ran through tn,
Nation at the frightful bills he sen
back from Shiloh, Vicksburg and thu
Wilderness. He was called a butcher
His rusty private's blouse. his careless
SLOUGH and his sluggish carriage len
him an air Of roughness at first glance
And the grim, changeless expression o
his face. as cigar in mouth, he silent
ly looked on at slaughter, gave an i'm
shelter of his headquarters at Shilol
and slept in the mud and rain TO &c
out of the sight and sound Of the wound
ed and dying.
Il would scorn being my own de
r fender" Grant wrote TO a friend. whe
| the uproar was loudest in the pres
l and in congress. He scorned the rol
all the rest Of his life, never stoppin
10 excuse or explain or boast. Genera
Grant" said Lincoln. lis copiou
worker and fighter, but a very meage
! writer.
4 Those of his staff who once foun
/ him flung face downward on his cam
1 bed in speeches. agony knew that thi
4 man behind his front Of iron was nc
tough fiber after all. There was a fen
mime fineness in his relations with Shel
Z man and Sheridan, who formed wit
him the trinity OF success in the wa
Never a shadow Of jealousy or distrus
| fell between them.
Such greatness as Grant had lay nc
so much in his intellect as in his ma
ture. no so much in his thoughts as
his instincts. After sternly demandin
the unconditional surrender of Fol
| Donaldson, and after its 1900 troop
had laid down their arms at his fee
He left the officers of his own army.
that modest manner peculiar to hinsel
| into the shadow and there rendered N
his purse . He was afraid I'll
light would witness that act Of gene
rosity and sought to hide It from tn
world The two foemen had bee
classmates at West Point and only eigf
years had passed since the victor ha
been rescued from want in New Tor
by this vanquished General In gray. S
9 mon Bolivar Buckner.
: No conqueror ever was higher soule
e than Grant at Appomattox- Sad an
7, depressed, as he tells us, at the dowr
Y fall of valiant foe. he met Lee as
i that foeman in war were neighbc
d in trouble.
n There were az simple as they were N
II precedented. The soldiers Of the Soui
ID were hungry; they should be fed. The
e were going home and would need the
e horses for the spring blowing; the
d should take them. Lees hand NOV,
toward his sword for the purpose
VI surrendering it. Without a word Ora
Y stopped him by q silent wave OF Il
is hand. The guns outside began to TO;
j" over the victory. The victor silenc'
10 them, as he had hushed the cheers ov
the Confederates at vicksburg II
W great war was won. but the noble co.