Armed Forces

Today, when books are written and movies or mini series are made, the most likely hero of the Civil War is Robert E. Lee.Lincoln often comes in for praise too, and the romantic figures of Jeb Stewart and Stonewall Jackson are much in evidence.Everyone knows that Ulysses S. Grant treed Lee and defeated him.Yet Grant is almost never praised, never has movies or T.V. series made about him, and is seldom talked about in glowing terms.In fact, most northerners know Robert E. Lee pretty well but do not know Grant at all.The reasons why this is true would fill a book and take careful and complex research.I am not going there now.I want to tell you, though, that it was not always this way.After the Civil War, General Grant's fame captivated the world.The crowds that flocked to cheer and to honor him in Europe have probably never been exceeded, certainly by any military man, and he was the unquestioned hero of our country.So popular was Grant that he easily won the presidency twice, though utterly unqualified, unsuited, and unenthusiastic about it.His book, which he finished with great difficulty just before dying of throat cancer from his chain smoking of cigars, became an instant best seller.For the modern American who has heard little of Grant this may seem surprising, but it would not if the facts were known.I want to spend a little time on those facts by contrasting the careers and achievements of the two great Generals

Grant and Lee

Both Lee and Grant attended the United States Military Academy at West Point on the Hudson.Lee graduated with high honors in 1829 and went on to the Engineering Corps.Grant graduated fourteen years later and was assigned to the infantry.Grant's West Point career was ordinary at best in contrast to Lee's high standard.He stood out in horsemanship but nothing else.His talent for mathematics made the curriculum easy for him but in his leisure time he did not employ himself to interaction, choosing rather to go to the library and read.Early on, Grant was a quiet thinker but his mentors missed this very important point almost altogether.Lee took to military life like a duck to water, but his experience at the Academy left Grant largely unchanged.

The Gathering Storm

Even as the storm clouds gathered, Lincoln promoted Lee to the grade of colonel in the regular army, and Lee, at that late date, took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.At the instigation of General Scott, Lincoln seemed poised to appoint Lee as commanding general of the National forces.Lee knew about this move and he coveted very much that high honor and position.But he knew that soon it would mean a breach between himself and his mother and father.Lee considered secession an illegal, unjustifiable, unbiblical, and deplorable act of revolution.In his teachings at West Point and his discussions with other officers, he openly and often condemned slavery as morally wrong and economically unsound in the long term.Even so, he chose not to regard his oath of allegiance to the Union as an obligation to participate in the military crushing of the secessionist states.This, to some extent, made him a Southern Sympathizer even while holding office in the Union.Still, Lee agonized over the controversy raging within him.Lee paced the floor of his office at Arlington and pondered his future.The dilemma was solved for him when his home state of Virginia seceded.Lee resigned his commission with the utmost of regret personally and patriotically, and went to Virginia to join the rebel cause.His initial duty assignment called for recruiting, organizing, and training militia forces.

A Born Warrior

Grant held a commission as commander of the 21st Illinois Voluntary Infantry at the rank of Colonel.Before long, he received, at the request of his Governor, the rank of brigadier general.Grant had advanced and because of far reaching insights into the war that resulted in his success early on.He saw the military potential of water transportation and importance of large ship-mounted guns, not manageable in the field, as the means of breaking the blockade of the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Mississippi rivers.

These rivers offered easy access for an invasion of the South.He proved his theory by the reduction of Fort Henry and Fort Donnellson, in February of 1862.Confederate concern about the Union now being able to strike with heavy, ship-mounted batteries caused the evacuation of Nashville-the rail center of Tennessee and the bastion of their defense.Federal advancements up the Tennessee toward Pittsburgh Landing pushed the Confederates out of Columbus, the main line of defense on the Mississippi.

Grant's Abilities Recognized by Lincoln

These achievements resulted in Grant's promotion to major general by the appreciative President Lincoln.When General Buckner asked what Grant's terms were at Donnellson, Grant replied, "My terms are immediate and unconditional surrender."That led to the name "Unconditional Surrender Grant" which later became U. S. Grant and Sam Grant.Thus, the bad boy of West Point achieved the status of field commander three months before the celebrated Robert E. Lee who graduated form West Point many years earlier.

Professional Envy Almost Loses the War

At this point in Grant's career, and after U.S. Grant became a household word, Halleck, Grant's superior decided that events in the field required his close supervision.Out of envy, he put Grant in meaningless assignments away from public view and even tried to have him court-martialed for insubordination because Grant did not get specific approval from Halleck before taking Fort Henry.McClellan, who also hated Grant, supported the effort and it seemed destined for success.Grant had few friends in the professional military.He was an affront to all of them because of his success outside official channels.But Lincoln discovered their game and put and end to it.

Lee Promoted by Default

In June of 1862, McClellan had put his massive army on Virginia soil at Fort Monroe and advanced up the Peninsula, deploying before the gates of Richmond.On the first day of June McClellan's forces sat in holding and listened to the chimes of Richmond's spires.At this critical hour, Davis grew weary of Johnston and Beauregard and did not consider Prince John Magruder adequate to the task of defending Richmond, so Lee was appointed as Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia.It resulted, whatever the reason and there were many curious ones, in the smashing of McClellan's right and the pushing of his monstrous army back against the waters of the James Estuary.

The Ineptitude of Halleck and McClellan

Even though Halleck had taken up the cause that Grant started and had succeeded at Corinth, he was not up to the task of field commander in the West and faltered badly.He deliberately dissipated his strong position at Corinth trying to duplicate Grant's daring successes.This jeopardized his position and his forces.At the same time, Lee had completely neutralized the timid McClellan in the North.

At Corinth, Braxton Bragg succeeded Beauregard as commander of the Confederate Army in the West.Not pressured by the incompetent Halleck, Bragg reinforced and outfitted the depleted units that Grant had all but destroyed at Shiloh, and sent them to Chattanooga.His plan essentially removed the force from central Tennessee in favor of Nashville and central Kentucky.It was an odd arrangement, but superior to what he inherited.As they moved from Central Mississippi to Eastern Tennessee, General Kirby Smith assembled an army in the upper Tennessee Valley bent on pushing through the Cumberland Gap and occupying the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky.At the same time, Generals Sterling Price and Earl Van Dorn collected troops from both sides of the lower Mississippi for an assault on Corinth to dislodge Halleck.But it was not Halleck they would be opposing.Halleck, sensing the deterioration and seeing no more glory in it for himself, had gone and left Grant to occupy with a relatively small contingent of troops.

Halleck continued to display ignorance of the war from the field of battle.Good administrator though he was, he did not belong in the field.He failed repeatedly to correctly interpret the intelligence delivered to him about enemy troop movement.Halleck was afforded modest praise for the behavior of the West, but in reality, it was for the success that Grant was able to achieve in spite of Halleck.Lincoln saw two things.Halleck was important to the war effort as a theoretician and administrator, but useless as a field general.He called Halleck to Washington and appointed him General in Chief of the Army to fulfill the post vacated by the retired Winfield Scott.

Pope and Burnside, Two More of Lincoln's Dismal Appointments

Halleck, under the President's direction, ordered McClellan to withdraw from the James and return to native soil.At that point, McClellan's army was divided and a new command, under the title of the Army of Virginia was formed and given to General John Pope.Pope was to advance on Gordonville with Richmond the hoped-for end objective.Pope's failure, along with damaging information about McClellan from Colonel Sharp, brought on Burnside, who proved no better.

Lee, the Triumph of Great Victory and the Humility of Devastating Defeat

With the advent of Hooker, things were looking up until Chancellorsville.Lee seized the initiative at the phenomenon of Hooker's withdrawal and invaded Maryland.His hopes of success were denied and this failure spelled the beginning of the destruction of the Army of Northern Virginia, through no fault of the Union but through Lee's own miscalculations.The confederates were defeated at Gettysburg and fell Vicksburg the following day.

Grant, Vicksburg, and a Winning Strategy

With fall of Vicksburg, a grand strategy for the defeat of the entire military force in the South took place in Grant's mind.The control of the Mississippi river from Cairo to the Gulf of Mexico was the first step.That was now essentially accomplished.The second and most important part of Grant's theory was that no preference should be given to territory.The importance must be determined in light of the significance of the campaign involved.That in turn was to be directly related to strategic places and features.He felt that, following the opening of the Mississippi, the order of importance was to isolate all areas east of a theoretical line through Chattanooga, Atlanta, Montgomery and Mobile.This could be done by a massive push up through the soft underbelly of the South from the Gulf.Once this was done, Grant-supported by water transportation that Forrest could not cut off, and with the protection and re-supply that would be available from New Orleans and protected by the U. S. Navy-would take his veterans of the Army of Tennessee and lead them up the Alabama river to Montgomery.Rosecrans would proceed overland into Northern Georgia and then to Atlanta.

Lincoln was no Military Visionary

But Lincoln vetoed the plan.He had problems to think about in Mexico from Napoleon III and he was worried about over-extension of forces-in-reserve for critical flare-ups.He insisted on a demonstration in Texas to deter the obvious ambitions of Napoleon III in that direction.He did acknowledge to Grant, in a personal note, that the Mobile plan looked very tempting.

Grant to the Rescue Again

However, he did allow for Rosecrans to continue overland through Tennessee and into Northern Georgia if possible.Rosecrans fell on his military fanny in Chattanooga and was replaced by General George H. Thomas, a resolute man who had saved the army, not only from embarrassment but also from outright destruction in the first battle of Chickamauga.But Thomas, once in commanded, suffered the Union disease of tentativeness and hesitation and was starving to death, along with his men and horses, in Chattanooga.Grant had to go in, with Sherman coming from the Vicksburg area to the West, to save the army and push Bragg out in a great and unlikely defeat.Bragg was firmly entrenched on top of the hill and Grant fought uphill and in the open.It was so impossible that Joe Johnston was called into replace Bragg by an angry, frustrated, and disappointed Davis.It also added another feather to Grant's now-crowded hat.

Grant, the thinker and the man with the vision, could not let pass without comment on the opportunities (that Lincoln and Halleck were ignoring) presented by the control of the Mississippi and the open gateway through Chattanooga.He suggested a halting of the Mobile campaign until the rainy season was over and the long, dirt roads had a chance to dry.Grant knew how many battles the Union had lost to roads upon which men could not march and wagons and guns could only be moved inch at a time.He suggested that supplies only get moved by rail, that they be concentrated at Chattanooga and that a major campaign be thoroughly planned for the fall.

Lincoln Finally Makes the move that Wins the Civil War

Unbeknownst to Grant, Lincoln had been fighting Halleck for the bringing of Grant to Washington for some time.The defeat of Bragg and Chickamauga and the soundness of his suggested plan was the trigger.Lincoln could wait no longer.Grant was brought to Washington to an enormous hero's welcome that neither he nor Lincoln could possibly have envisioned.Halleck and the old boy network in the military may have succeeded in denying Grant his due, but nothing could keep him out of the hearts of the people of the North.It was a populace that had seen one dismal failure after another in the Army of the Potomac, while Grant had won seventeen campaigns without a loss.As he emerged from his banishment by Halleck to the swamps of Mississippi and Tennessee, the people thronged him as a conquering hero.

Whether it was trial and error with the odds in Lincoln's favor to make a right decision or if it was a case of the President having finally learned, it was a genius stroke.When Grant took over on March 14, of 1864, he had won 17 campaigns, taken 100,000 prisoners and captured over 500 pieces of heavy artillery.By comparison to his successes, the Union did not have another general.

You cannot Fool the Troops in the Field

"Grant is the only man that can whip the rebs every time, and he can do it any time that he tries it," wrote Private John Brobst of the 25th Wisconsin to the girl he was to marry."We would not give our General Grant for all the generals that are in the northern army."If history is to be taken for anything, Brobst was right on.All though turned back numerous times before success came at Vicksburg and a less than sparkling performance at Shiloh, Grant had never lost a battle.

Lincoln Fears Grant's Popularity

Lincoln, who had pushed hard for Grant all along, was having second thoughts when he saw the hero worship in the people and in congress.It had never occurred to him before, but now it did.Grant's popularity was startling and although Grant was easily embarrassed and never sought adulation, it was clear to Lincoln that Grant liked the praise and the glory.Was he another McClellan?Grant was not, and signed a paper that he would not contest Lincoln for the presidency.Lincoln was satisfied and brought Grant on.Lincoln had his much-sought-for general.From that day, the war changed dramatically for the Army of the Potomac and for the whole Union war effort.

An Imperfect but Steady Path to Victory

There were stalemates in the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania.And, because of his one and only breakdown in judgment, there was a gruesome defeat at Cold Harbor.Even so, Grant was gradually subduing the great confederate general and the people knew it.At War's end, they knew to whom the credit for victory belonged.So did everyone in England, France, Germany, Russia, and the rest of the world.That is the reason why Grant knew popularity and praise greater than McArthur, Eisenhower, or Napoleon.It is unfortunate that the great effort to be conciliatory to the South and the colorlessness of the little man Grant (5'6'', 110 lbs, limp, silky brown hair, an uninspiring beard, and very private) has dimmed the once-brilliant glow from one of the greatest generals in the history of wars.

Earl Cripe, Phd