Once, in reply to a delegation, which visited the White House, the
members of which were unusually vociferous in their demands that the
Silent Man (as General Grant was called) should be relieved from duty,
the President remarked:
“What I want and what the people want is generals who will fight battles
and win victories.
“Grant has done this, and I propose to stand by him.”
This declaration found its way into the newspapers, and Lincoln was
upheld by the people of the North, who, also, wanted “generals who will
fight battles and win victories.”