"MR. PRESIDENT, I accept this commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies who have fought on 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 responsibility now devolving on me. I know that if it is properly met it will be due to these armies; and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men."

Thus began and closed this remarkable scene. Every feature of it was a living embodiment of the genius of the Republic.

The most extraordinary military commander of modern times, the man who has done more in the field for our country than any other since the days of Washington, was thus quietly endowed with the supreme active command of all the army forces of a nation of thirty-four millions.

There was

There was nothing in the scene itself. and is nothing in the rank, separate from the man. Other men have been and are lieutenant-generals who have accomplished but little for the world or themselves. But for Ulysses the Tanner-Boy to fill such a distinguished post is the tribute of history to study, industry and perseverance, to true goodness and greatness, which an admiring world must ever

approve.

Youth of America! see to it that this instructive lesson is not lost upon you.

CHAPTER XXIX.

ST

ence.

NO REVELRY IN BATTLE TIME.

TILL greater achievements than any he had yet won were now before Lieutenant-General Grant. Declining, with respectful consideration, the public civilities tendered him on every hand, he addressed himself at once to the vast work he ever kept in view. Crowds of rich men and fair women sought his audience. Popular assemblies courted his presBut he met them all only to repeat his assurances of duty to his country. He recognized the confidence and applause of the people only that he might serve them the better in his high calling. He felt that he was raised up of Heaven to aid in putting down the wicked Rebellion against liberty and constitutional government; and every energy, therefore, was bent to the right discharge of the solemn responsibilities that had been placed upon him.

"O! Gen. Grant!" said a bevy of fair ladies who clustered around him at Washington, "we hear there is going to be a ball, in connection with the grand review of the Army of the Potomac !"

"Indeed?” he quietly replied; "I had not heard of it."

୧୯

Well, it is all fixed, General. We ladies always have the management of these things after reviews!" "Is it possible?"

"You don't know, General, what a delightful time we had at the last ball in the army."

"No, indeed I don't," added he, with a grim smile.

"Oh! such beautiful officers! - and such glorious dancing! and such delicious music! and such a luxurious supper! Do, General, let us have another ball, won't you?"

"Ladies!" said the General, pausing in his hurried walk, and looking at them with a grave and fixed attention. "This thing must be stopped. I am not a cynic, and enjoy rational pleasures as well as any one else. But I would ask you, in all candor and gentleness, if this is a time for music, and dancing, and feasting among officers in the army? Is our country in a condition to call for such things, at present? Do army balls inspire our troops with courage in the field? Do they soothe our sick and wounded in the hospitals?

"If another such ball is attempted in the Army of the Potomac, at such a time as this, I shall stop it by a special order!"

To the credit of these ladies it shall be recorded here that they instantly saw the propriety of the

COUNCIL OF WAR.

257

course of the General, and pressed such applications

no more.

He immediately proceeded to hold a council of war at the headquarters of the Government. The records of the proceedings of that council are officially sealed; but enough is known of them to warrant the assurance that the position taken by Grant was one of instant activity. He had now more power to put forth for his country than he ever had, and he was determined to exercise it all without the delay of All the military talent the Government could command was drawn together on this occasion.

a moment.

On the 22d of February, 1863, the President had issued an order calling for the immediate advance of all the combined forces of the country. But to all human appearances the hour had not then come. The call struck the ear of the nation like a trumpetnote, and clearly proved that the Chief Magistrate of the people was fully prepared for the great emergency. The people, however, were not generally awake. It remained now for Gen. Grant to waken them.

In the grand council of war to which reference has been made he was the first to make the bold announcement that Richmond, the nominal capital of the Rebellion, must and should be taken. It was his first step in his great spring campaign as LieutenantGeneral. The announcement took the nation by surprise. But they who knew Grant perfectly well

understood that it was a measure, however startling and stupendous, that he had meditated long and closely; and for the prompt, earnest, persevering accomplishment of which he was calmly prepared with his labors and his life.

The council over, his purpose stated, his plans matured, on the 10th of March, 1864, he issued his orders to bring forward at once the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps from Chattanooga, and the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps from the Mississippi River, to Virginia. His own headquarters were immediately established in the field. Working in perfect harmony with all the powerful influences he was now able to bring around him, inspiring all within his sphere with at least a measure of that confidence which rested on the firm foundations of duty in his own mind, having no jealousies, no discords, no rivalries, having never had a court martial in his command nor a deserter to shoot, his consolidation of force was like the origin and march of the Father of Waters. Winding it might be; now in one direction, now in another; now hidden by night, now in the mists of day; but onward, onward, onward ever!

His presence with the Army of the Potomac, between Washington and Richmond, furnished no criterion of his future plans. From his humble headquarters at Culpepper Court House in the Old Dominion he issued his orders with promptness and efficiency to every part of his wide field. His mind was at New