Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1920-09-15

It Was the Death Struggle
,tWhen Grant Confronted Lee
On the Rapidan.
H 1t is not that I wish to worry the
lHoody theft, that I am writing this
Particle but simply to prove some his
Etory by facts and by experience.
t Grant was put in command of the
jarmy on the Potomac and crossed the
lRapidan May 4, 1864. While 1 was
Fat st. Petersburg 1 found that all the
EFederals lool upon Grant as the most
brilliant Ge' al of his day, and
tshall prove e was not. Yes, the
Inlost of thos ie-headed Yankees
ibelieve t. was one of the
most brill; .als, since Wash
Iington. Grant was not a great COM
znander, but'he was man of clear
brain. He saw that brute force alone
could shatter the Army Of Northern
Virginia, and had the courage to a
ldopt that plan. We will come back to
the events of the Rapidan; Grant
crossed the Rapidan on the4th of May
1854, with what resembled a count
fless host: heavy masses of blue infan-
try with glittering bayonetts; huge
ranks of rifled artillery with sur
rounding cannoneers, and long col
umns of horsemen armed with saber
and repeating carbines, that made the
very earth shake and woods echo with
their heavy tramp, mingled with the
rolls of wheels.
4.-In front of this countless host stood
a little army of gaunt and ragged men
looking on and waiting without re
senting their advance.
Did they intend to dispute the pas
sage of that great multitude toward
Richmond? That was exactly their in
tention. General Lee had $4,000 of as
good fighters as the world ever saw.
General Grant had 100000. General
Lee was ready for the great collision.
The sixty thousand were going to
order the two hundred thousand to
halt. As Grant began to move through
the wilderness, General Lee struck
at him. Grant had no thought of a
y sssks..sitiision in the wilderness, but Lees
great mind computed with the mat
ter. He knew that Grant could not use
his artillery and cavalry as he could
in the open. On the Morning of May
the 5th these two tigers were watch
ing each other in this tangle both
ready to spring. General Lee advan-
ced and delivered battle. 1t was his
aim to shut up Grant in the wilderness
and drive him back beyond the Rap
idan or destroy him. 1t was early in
the day when these two tigers grap-
pied with each, other and the
struggle was long and desperate.
We have General Lees testimony to
the fact that the Federal attempts to
drive back, General Hill were repeated
and desperate. All failed and Hill
stubbornly held the ground. At night
the enemy withdrew the fighting for
the day was over. The two tigers had
drawn back and crouched down,
bleeding and painting heavily, gather
ing new strength for the fiercer con-
flict the next day.
But the gray and blue forms that
Law in the bushes did not move.
This was Grants first strike at Lee.
1t was not until the Federal army was
at the very door of Richmond in 1862
when General Lee took command OF
the army of northern Virginia, when
he outwitted Mcclellan and whipped
two armies much larger than his own,
stopped their advance, drove back the
Federal armies, saved Richmond and
saw such generalship. Grant was the
was famous in a day. The world neer
seventh General that Washington fit
ted against Lee with the finest army
of veterans the world ever saw. Even
then Lee fought probably as no other
general ever fought, and against ODDS
that would have driven Napoleon to
weep. Therefore I say Grant was not
a great general. Had he been put IN
command of the Federal army at any
time from 1861 to 1868 he would have
been laid on the shelf with Scott, NC
Dowell, Mcclellan, Burnside, Hooker,
and Mead. But in this death struggle
General Lee kept together that thin
-. f r,rrad hungry men