Hon. E. B. Washburne says: “When Grant left his headquarters at
Smith’s plantation (a short distance above New Carthage, on the
Louisiana side) to enter on the greatest campaign in history,
he did not take with him the trappings and paraphernalia so
common among military men. All depended on the quickness of the
movement. It was important that he should be encumbered with
as little baggage as possible. He took with him no orderly, nor
horse, nor a servant, nor an overcoat, nor a camp-chest, nor
even a clean shirt. His entire baggage for the six days--I was
with him at that time--was a tooth-brush! He fared like the
commonest soldier in his command, partaking of his rations and
sleeping on the ground with no covering except the canopy of
heaven.”
(2948)
See LIFE, THE SIMPLE; TACT.