Grant The Forgotten Hero

by Charles Henry Vessey

  Shortly after Grant returned from Knoxville, a new colonel reported to the Quartermaster General's staff in Nashville, a certain Colonel James F. Rusling. Rusling's first sight of Grant was one of utter disappointment. To say the least, Grant hardly looked the part of a commanding general, but as Rusling came to know him better he found how incredibly informed Grant was and what a decisive person he was. Years after the war, Rusling recalled one occasion which spoke volumes about Grant's military acumen. Apparently a quartermaster officer went to Grant during the winter of 1864 with a report involving huge expenditures for the upcoming spring campaign. Grant glanced at the report casually approved it and told the officer to proceed. Feeling Grant had made a snap judgment, he bluntly asked him if he was sure he had done the right thing. Grant's reply demonstrated his perfect grasp of priorities involved in military operations. "No, I am not," he said, "but in war anything is better than indecision. We must decide. If I am wrong we shall soon find it out and can do the other thing. But not to decide wastes both time and money and may ruin everything." 98

  Grant was not one to give lip service to wasting time and money he actually wanted to put his words into action. It has been demonstrated repeatedly how he used one victory after another as a stepping stone toward the next logical operation and Chattanooga was no exception. He had effectively been banned from making the Mobile operation as long as Longstreet remained in East Tennessee, but now he felt he could take advantage of his position. In other words, he found himself so far south that he should be able to make winter campaigns and keep the pressure on the enemy instead of going into winter quarters.

  He had this on his mind when he gave Sherman permission to conduct an operation against the Confederate supply depot at Meridian, Mississippi. With any luck, Sherman might be able to take Mobile with the limited force he had. Sherman faced little opposition and entered Meridian on February 14th, where he thoroughly destroyed rebel property in and about Meridian. Not hearing from General Sooy Smith, who was supposed to act in concert with him, he headed back to Vicksburg. Although a success, the mission proved less than what Grant had hoped.

  Congress passed the bill restoring the grade of Lieutenant-General and it became law on February 26, 1864. Grant's name was sent to the Senate on March 1st and the Senate confirmed the nomination on March 2nd.

  On March 3rd, Grant received a telegram from General Halleck. "The Secretary of War directs that you report in person to the War Department as early as practicable, considering the condition of your command. If necessary you will keep up telegraphic communication with your command while en route to Washington." This was quickly followed by an additional telegram from Halleck. "The Secretary of War directs me to say to you that your commission as lieutenant-general is signed and will be delivered to you on your arrival at the War Department. I sincerely congratulate you on this recognition of your distinguished and meritorious services." 99

  Prior to leaving for Washington, Grant received word of Sherman's successful mission and his safe return. In his truly selfless fashion, he penned a very personal, private letter from one friend to another thanking Sherman for all his faithful service.

  Nashville, Tennessee

  March 4th 1864.

  Dear Sherman,

  The bill reviving the grade of Lieut. Gen. in the Army has become a law and my name has been sent to the Senate for the place. I now receive orders to report to Washington, in person, immediately, which indicates either a confirmation or a likelyhood of confirmation. I start in the morning to comply with the order but I shall say very distinctly on my arrival there that I accept no appointment which will require me to make that city my Hd Qrs. This however is not what I started out to write about.

  Whilst I have been eminently successful in this War, in at least gaining the confidence of the public, no one feels more than me how much of this success is due to the energy, skill, and harmonious putting forth of that energy and skill, of those who it has been my good fortune to have occupying a subordinate position under me. There are many officers to whom these remarks are applicable to a greater or less degree, proportionate to their ability as soldiers, but what I want is to express my thanks to you and McPherson as the men to whom, above all others, I feel indebted for whatever I have had of success. How far your advice and suggestions have been of assistance you know. How far your execution of whatever has been given you to do entitles you to the reward I am receiving you cannot know as well as me. I feel all the gratitude this letter would express, giving it the most flattering construction.

  The word you I use in the plural intending it for Mc. also. I should write to him, and will some day, but starting in the morning I do not know that I will find time just now.

  Your friend

  U. S. GRANT

  Maj. Gen. 100

  From here on, the fate of the Union and the United States of America rested upon the shoulders of Ulysses S. Grant.

  CHAPTER NINE

  "Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also"

  March 8, 1864 - May 6, 1864

  Without concert like a balky team, no two ever pulling together

  Grant was never one to make much of a splash and his entry into Washington was no exception. He left Nashville on March 5th and arrived in the capital on March 8th. The arrangements made by the White House for someone to meet Grant at the railroad station were botched, so he made his way to Willard's Hotel. Accompanied by his son Fred, he arrived in late afternoon. The clerk on duty, noticing nothing particularly striking about Grant, told him he may have a room available on the top floor. Grant said that would do just fine and signed his name, "U. S. Grant and son, Galena, Ill." 1 Upon examining the registration book closer, the clerk snapped to attention. He immediately recalled a suite available on the second floor and hurried to carry the general's baggage to the room. The poor clerk had seen many Major-Generals during the war, but none as unassuming as this one.

  Grant and his son attempted to have a quiet dinner but were constantly interrupted by well-wishers. Before long, they retired to their room to get away from the crowd that developed. Shortly after their ordeal at the restaurant, someone arrived to escort the general to the White House for a reception. Grant brought two of his staff with him from Nashville, Rawlins and Lieutenant-Colonel Cyrus B. Comstock and both accompanied him to the White House.

  As he entered the White House, the crowd parted revealing Abraham Lincoln at the far end of the room. Few realized from this initial meeting that an enduring friendship had been formed based on mutual respect and reliance. Upon the shoulders of these two men rested the future course of the nation and they would sink or swim together.

  Following one hour of hand shaking, Secretary Seward pried Grant away from the crowd and took him to the Blue Room where President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton were waiting. The President informed Grant he would have to return the next day to formally receive his commission.

  At one o' clock on the afternoon of March 9th, Grant arrived at the White House and was formally introduced to the President's cabinet. Besides the President and his cabinet, General Halleck, Rawlins, Comstock, one member of Congress, the President's secretary and Grant's son Fred, were present. After the formal introductions were over, the President made a brief statement. "General Grant, the nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what remains to be done in the existing great struggle, are now presented, with this commission constituting you lieutenant-general in the Army of the United States. With this honor, devolves upon you, also, a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely, need to add, that, with what I speak for the nation, goes my own hearty personal concurrence." 2

  Being advised of Grant's extreme uneasiness about public speaking, the President had supplied him with a copy of the text of his remarks the night before, so he could prepare a response. Reading his response from a sheet of paper, Grant replied: "Mr. President, I accept the com
mission, with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought in so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me; and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men." 3

  The wording of the speech was vintage Grant, short, to the point and giving all the credit for any future victories directly to the common everyday soldier and God. With God by his side and American soldiers under him, how could he go wrong? He trusted both.

  Grant's stay in Washington did not last long. He vowed not to make Washington his headquarters and was determined to abide by that decision. He arrived in Washington on March 8th, received his commission on the 9th and was off to the front on the 10th to visit the Army of the Potomac. On the 10th, Grant went to Brandy Station, Virginia, to visit Major-General George Gordon Meade at his headquarters. Grant met Meade when they were lieutenants in the Mexican War, but had not seen him since.

  Prior to their meeting, he had read newspaper accounts indicating the intention of the Administration to remove Meade from his position, but when he arrived in Washington, he found those reports to be false. Meade had also heard those rumors and immediately mentioned them in their conversation, but instead of exhibiting resentment, Meade manifested great magnanimity offering to step aside if Grant wanted someone else for the job. Meade offered his own services wherever anyone thought he would be useful. Such selfless behavior always impressed Grant. He assured Meade he had no intention of replacing him with anyone. In his memoirs, Grant said: "This incident gave me a more favorable opinion of Meade than did his great victory at Gettysburg the July before." 4 Grant spent the night at Meade's headquarters and returned to Washington the next day.

  Upon his return he found an invitation from President Lincoln to dine that evening at the White House. To this invitation, Grant bluntly replied: "Really, Mr. President, I have had enough of this show business." 5 As usual, he was ready to get on with the war. There was not much time before the spring campaigns began and there were plenty of preparations to be made.

  On March 11th, he left Washington for Nashville to put his house in order. Before he left, he told the President he would return in nine days. On March 12th, the formal orders were issued by the War Department changing the command structure. General Grant was placed over all the armies; General Halleck would become chief of staff for the army; General Sherman would take Grant's spot as commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi; General McPherson would become commander of the Army of the Tennessee; and General Logan would become a corps commander in the Army of the Tennessee.

  Back in Memphis, Sherman had received Grant's gracious letter attributing much of his success to Sherman and McPherson, on March 10th. While Sherman was on his way to meet Grant at Nashville to discuss the new command structure and strategy for the spring campaigns, he penned a letter to Grant revealing the esteem and friendship these two men had for one another.

  [PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL]

  NEAR MEMPHIS, March 10, 1864.

  General GRANT.

  DEAR GENERAL: I have your more than kind and characteristic letter of the 4th, and will send a copy of it to General McPherson at once.

  You do yourself injustice and us too much honor in assigning to us so large a share of the merits which have led to your high advancement. I know you approve the friendship I have ever professed to you, and will permit me to continue as heretofore to manifest it on all proper occasions.

  You are now Washington's legitimate successor, and occupy a position of almost dangerous elevation; but if you can continue as heretofore to be yourself, simple, honest, and unpretending, you will enjoy through life the respect and love of friends, and the homage of millions of human beings who will award to you a large share for securing to them and their descendants a government of law and stability.

  I repeat, you do General McPherson and myself too much honor. At Belmont you manifested your traits, neither of us being near; at Donelson also you illustrated your whole character. I was not near, and General McPherson in too subordinate a capacity to influence you.

  Until you won at Donelson, I confess I was almost cowed by the terrible array of anarchical elements that presented themselves at every point; but that victory admitted the ray of light which I have followed ever since.

  I believe you are as brave, patriotic and just as the great prototype Washington; as unselfish, kind-hearted, and honest, as a man should be; but the chief characteristic in your nature is the simple faith in success you have always manifested, which I can liken to nothing else than the faith a Christian has in his Saviour.

  This faith gave you victory at Shiloh and Vicksburg. Also, when you completed your best preparations, you go into battle without hesitation, as at Chattanooga--no doubts, no reserve; and I tell you that it was this that made us act with confidence. I knew wherever I was that you thought of me, and if I got in a tight place you would come--if alive.

  My only points of doubt were as to your knowledge of grand strategy, and of books of science and history; but I confess your common-sense seems to have supplied all this.

  Now as to the future. Do not stay in Washington. Halleck is better qualified than you are to stand the buffets of intrigue and policy. Come out West; take to yourself the whole Mississippi Valley; let us make it dead-sure, and I tell you the Atlantic slope and Pacific shores will follow its destiny as sure as the limbs of a tree live or die with the main trunk! We have done much; still much remains to be done. Time and time's influences are all with us; we could almost afford to sit still and let these influences work. Even in the seceded States your word now would go further than a President's proclamation, or an act of Congress.

  For God's sake and for your country's sake, come out of Washington! I foretold to General Halleck, before he left Corinth, the inevitable result to him, and I now exhort you to come out West. Here lies the seat of the coming empire; and from the West, when our task is done, we will make short work of Charleston and Richmond, and the impoverished coast of the Atlantic.

  Your sincere friend,

  W. T. SHERMAN 6

  Grant arrived in Nashville on March 14th, for his conference with Sherman and to close out his headquarters. With the change in command, Nashville would become Sherman's headquarters. Sherman arrived in Nashville on the 17th and the first words out of Sherman's mouth when he met Grant were these: "I cannot congratulate you on your promotion; the responsibility is too great." 7

  During the conference, Sherman again exhorted Grant to make his headquarters in the West, but after visiting Washington, Grant became convinced he belonged back east, if for nothing more than a buffer against political intrigue that would be brought to bear on the Army of the Potomac.

  The plan which Grant laid out for Sherman was nothing more than what he had expressed to Halleck in January. Grant would basically hold tight to Lee and if possible destroy that army. Sherman was to move against Joe Johnston, making Johnston's army, his objective. His line of attack would take him toward Atlanta, while Banks would move against Mobile, taking that strategic point. From there, the two armies could form a junction cutting the Confederacy in two once again. This would sever the rebel's last east-west routes of transportation and communication.

  One of the key features of this plan was the combined movement of all the armies. This would exert the maximum amount of pressure on the Confederacy eliminating the rebels’ advantage of interior lines to reinforce their armies. Other than this general direction, the campaign would be Sherman's to conduct. To put these operations in Grant's words, up to now the various armies had been acting "without concert, like a balky team, no two ever pulling together." 8 From now on, all the armies would act in unison.

  With the conference at an end, Grant started for Washington on March 19th. Sherman accompanied Grant as far
as Cincinnati. Grant's intentions for Sherman are confirmed in a letter Grant sent Meade on April 9, 1864. "Sherman will move at the same time you do, or two or three days in advance, Joe Johnston's army being his objective point, and the heart of Georgia his ultimate aim. If successful, he will secure the line from Chattanooga to Mobile, with the help of Banks." 9 Not only does this note confirm Grant's intentions of cutting the Confederacy in two once again, it illustrates his foresight by suggesting what later became Sherman's March to the Sea. Because the port of Mobile was blockaded by Union ships, there was no need for Sherman to proceed there, so Savannah became the substitute destination and when Sherman arrived in Savannah, the Confederacy had been severed again. Although, the credit for the March to the Sea belongs to Sherman, Grant had proposed the seed for this campaign many months earlier.

  Move by the Left

  Grant arrived back in Washington on March 23rd and on the 26th, he moved his headquarters to Culpeper Court-House, Virginia, to be close to the Army of the Potomac. Accompanying him to Culpeper Court-House was his staff, which was noticeably smaller than most general's staffs, let alone, the General-in-Chief. His staff consisted of some fourteen officers led by chief of staff, Brigadier-General John Rawlins. There were four aide-de-camps, all West Point graduates. These were Lieutenant-Colonels C. B. Comstock, Horace Porter, O. E. Babcock and F. T. Dent. There were two military secretaries, Lieutenant-Colonels Adam Badeau and William Rowley. In addition, there was Lieutenant-Colonel T. S. Bowers, assistant adjutant-general; Lieutenant-Colonel W. F. Duff, assistant inspector-general; Captain Ely Parker, assistant adjutant-general; Captain George Leet, assistant adjutant-general; Captain H. W. Janes, assistant quartermaster; Captain Peter Hudson, aide-de-camp; and, finally Lieutenant William Dunn, acting aide-de-camp to General Rawlins. As previously stated, this staff was small, about the size of the staff of a division commander. Leave it to Grant to keep things simple.