Show GRANTS generalship the views of a Tetera officer as a soldier A special telegram from ington to the chicago inter ocean states that a veteran army officer who sewed with Grant in the field expressed himself as follows itis grant the soldier rather than grant the president that will have the place honor in history and be most tenderly cherished in the hearts of the people he afla president ati a time when party feeling was at its height and there will always ba differences of opinion as to his capacity for statesmanship but there arc few indeed north or south who question his eminent genius and his great success as a soldier it is not for us to say perhaps that we had no other man who with the almost unlimited re sources of the government at hia disposal would have led the union armies to victory it is true however that among all those who were tried none other was found who never failed to accomplish his purpose the world judges by actual results and cheerfully accords to general grant his unquestioned place as the greatest american soldier many have gone so far as to pronounce him the peer of the renowned rem owned military chieftains of the old world you remember when the cautious cauti oua buell met at shiloh at the close of that first disastrous day almost the first question he asked of grant was whether he had provided a means of retreat those who know gen buell can easily imagine his surprise when grant replied that he had not thought of that he had come to stay and the contingency of defeat had never for a moment entered into bis calculations it is related of buell that he told grant that he had not made provision for transporting over men over the river in case of defeat when grant replied when I 1 get through with hem there wont w any necessity for transportation for that number it was the same spirit that dictated the heroic words of donel eon 1 I propose to move immediately upon your works and again coin that so thrilled the heart of the nation 1 I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer grant never permitted a temporary reverse to become absolute defeat by withdrawing his army and abandoning the campaign though baffled for the time he never from ills purpose the ever changing uncertainties that attend all military operations against an able and powerful adversary sometimes compelled him to change the details of his plan but until the moment of success there was never a faltering or hesitation grant has been called a butcher it is probable eliat during the time he commanded the armies so vigorously as many men may have been killed and wounded in battle assuring the entire three years of ous hesitancy and procrastination jt is no doubt also that had grant conducted a cautious besl tating campaign resulting in a further prolongation of the war granting eventual success disease which kills twice as many men as bullets day by day and month by month would have filled more graves than were opened to receive the slain at the wilderness spott sylvania cold harbor and petersburg I 1 am one of those who believe that if more men had been killed earlier in the war it would not have lasted so long I 1 many thousands less would have joined the ghostly and endless pro cession that moved continuously from a hundred hospitals it is the best generalship that puts a speedy end to war however great may be the immediate coat the world is shocked by the nawa of a great battle with its thousands of killed and mangled victims and if after knowledge the results might have been gained with less sacrifice of liap there arc not wanting plenty of self constituted critics to denounce the slaughter no man who ever led armies possessed in a greater degree that confidence of hia soldiers which is so essential to success I 1 have aea the old man as the boys always called him riding among his troops greeted with the wildest cheers whenever and wherever shewell known face of grant was seen whether ip camp or on tho march in the hasty way aide bivouac or moving forward to battle hata were the air or raised upon bayoneta bayo nefa while thousands of voices mingled in a mighty shout of greeting although not demonstrative in his nature the general gave frequent recognition of the spontaneous tribu teby a quiet smile a nod or a lifting ot the hat to put it in homely phrase the soldiers always held that with grant to lead they would aurely get there during the progress of a battle he rode trova paint to point upon the field men desperately wounded forgetting their pain waved caps and cheered him as he passed often when circumstances would permit he would pause for a moment aud words i ment and sympathy to the sufferers none but those who have served under a loyed and fully trusted commander can understand or appreciate preci ate tho intensity of this feeling and the affectionate regard that continues through after life ever growing stronger with the passing years such is the love of tho old soldiers for grant |