Lincoln and Grant--Their Personal Relations--Grant's Successes at
Chattanooga--Appointed Lieutenant-general--Grant's First Visit to
Washington--His Meeting with Lincoln--Lincoln's First Impressions
of Grant--The First "General" Lincoln Had Found--"That Presidential
Grub"--True Version of the Whiskey Anecdote--Lincoln Tells Grant
the Story of Sykes's Dog--"We'd Better Let Mr. Grant Have his Own
Way"--Grant's Estimate of Lincoln.
From the hour of Grant's triumph at Vicksburg to the close of the war,
Lincoln never withdrew his confidence from the quiet, persistent,
unpretending man who led our armies slowly but surely along the path of
victory. As soon as the campaign at Vicksburg was over, Grant's sphere
of operations was enlarged by his appointment to the command of the
military division of the Mississippi. In November following he fought
the famous battles of Chattanooga, including Lookout Mountain and
Missionary Ridge; and, aided by his efficient corps commanders, Sherman,
Thomas, and Hooker, gained a succession of brilliant victories for the
Union cause. The wisdom of Grant's policy of concentration and "fighting
it out" had now become apparent.
President Lincoln had watched closely the progress of these events, and
had come to recognize in Grant the master spirit of the war, on the
Northern side. Accordingly he determined to give him general command of
all the Union armies. In December, 1863, a bill was introduced in the
Senate by Hon. E.B. Washburne, of Illinois, and passed both houses of
Congress, creating the rank of Lieutenant-General in the army.
President Lincoln approved the act, and immediately nominated Grant for
the position. The nomination was confirmed; and on the 17th of March,
1864, Grant issued his first order as Lieutenant-General, assuming
command of the armies of the United States, and announcing that his
headquarters would be in the field and until further orders with the
Army of the Potomac. Of this army he shrewdly remarked that it seemed to
him it "had never fought its battles _through_." He proposed, first of
all, to teach that army "not to be afraid of Lee." "I had known him
personally," said Grant, "and _knew that he was mortal_." With
characteristic energy he formed a simple but comprehensive plan of
operations both East and West; sending Sherman on his great march to
Atlanta and the sea, while he, with the Army of the Potomac, pushed
straight for Richmond. These operations were vigorously urged, and when
they were ended the war was ended. It was but little more than a year
from the date of Grant's commission as Lieutenant-General till he
received Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
Immediately upon Grant's appointment as Lieutenant-General, he was
summoned to Washington. It was his first visit to the capital since the
war began, and he was a stranger to nearly everyone from the President
down. He arrived in the city on the 8th of March (1864), taking quarters
at Willard's Hotel, where, when he went in to dinner, none knew "the
quiet, rather stumpy-looking man, who came in leading a little boy--the
boy who had ridden by his father's side through all the campaign of
Vicksburg." But soon it was whispered about who was in the room, and
there was a loud call for three cheers for Ulysses S. Grant, which were
given with a will. In the evening General Grant attended a reception at
the White House, passing in with the throng alone and unannounced. The
quick eye of the President discovered the identity of the modest
soldier, and he was most heartily welcomed. "As soon as it was known
that he was present, the pressure of the crowd to see the hero of
Vicksburg was so great that he was forced to shelter himself behind a
sofa. So irrepressible was the desire to see him that Secretary Seward
finally induced him to mount a sofa, that this curiosity might be
gratified. When parting from the President, he said, 'This has been
rather the warmest campaign I have witnessed during the war.'" A graphic
account of this interesting event is given by Secretary Welles, who
records in his Diary (March 9, 1864): "Went last evening to the
Presidential reception. Quite a gathering; very many that are not
usually seen at receptions were attracted thither, I presume, from the
fact that General Grant was expected to be there. He came about
half-past nine. I was near the centre of the reception-room, when a stir
and buzz attracted attention, and it was whispered that General Grant
had arrived. The room was not full, the crowd having passed through to
the East Room. I saw some men in uniform standing at the entrance, and
one of them, a short, brown, dark-haired man, was talking with the
President. There was hesitation, a degree of awkwardness, in the
General. Soon word was passed around--'Mr. Seward, General Grant is
here,' and Seward, who was just behind me, hurried and took the General
by the hand and led him to Mrs. Lincoln, near whom I was standing. The
crowd gathered around the circle rapidly, and it being intimated that it
would be necessary the throng should pass on, Seward took the General's
arm and went with him to the East Room. There was clapping of hands in
the next room as he passed through, and all in the East Room joined in
it as he entered."
The next day at noon the General waited on the President to receive his
commission. The interview took place in the Cabinet room. There were
present, besides the members of the Cabinet, General Halleck, a member
of Congress, two of General Grant's staff-officers, his eldest son,
Frederick D. Grant, and the President's private secretary. The ceremony
was simple, the President saying, as he proffered the papers: "The
nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you
for what remains to be done in the existing great struggle, are now
presented with this commission, constituting you Lieutenant-General in
the Army of the United States. With this high honor devolves upon you
also a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you,
so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add that with
what I here speak for the nation goes my own hearty personal
concurrence." The General responded briefly, promising to "accept the
commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of
the noble armies that 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 responsibilities now
devolving on me, and I know that if they are met it will be due to those
armies, and above all to the favor of that Providence which leads both
nations and men."
Before assuming personal command of the Army of the Potomac, as he had
determined to do, General Grant found it necessary to return once more
to the West. In his parting interview with Lincoln, he was urged to
remain to dinner the next day and meet a brilliant party whom the lady
of the White House had invited to do him special honor. The General
answered, apologetically: "Mrs. Lincoln must excuse me. I must be in
Tennessee at a given time." "But we can't excuse you," said the
President. "Mrs. Lincoln's dinner without you would be Hamlet with
Hamlet left out." "I appreciate the honor Mrs. Lincoln would do me,"
said the General, "but time is very important now. I ought to be at the
front, and a dinner to me means a million dollars a day lost to the
country." Lincoln was pleased with this answer, and said cheerfully,
"Well, we'll have the dinner without you."
After Lincoln's first meeting with General Grant he was asked regarding
his personal impressions of the new commander. He replied, "Well, I
hardly know what to think of him. He's the quietest little fellow you
ever saw. He makes the least fuss of any man I ever knew. I believe on
several occasions he has been in this room a minute or so before I knew
he was here. It's about so all around. The only evidence you have that
he's in any particular place is that he makes things move." To a
subsequent inquiry as to his estimate of Grant's military capacities,
Lincoln responded, with emphasis: "Grant is the first General I've had.
_He's a General_." "How do you mean, Mr. Lincoln?" his visitor asked.
"Well, I'll tell you what I mean," replied Lincoln. "You know how it's
been with all the rest. As soon as I put a man in command of the army,
he'd come to me with the plan of a campaign, and about as much as to
say: 'Now I don't believe I can do it, but if you say so I'll try it
on,' and so put the responsibility of success or failure on me. They all
wanted _me_ to be the General. Now, it isn't so with Grant. He hasn't
told me what his plans are. I don't know and I don't want to know. I am
glad to find a man who can go ahead without me. When any of the rest set
out on a campaign they'd look over matters and pick out some one thing
they were short of and they knew I couldn't give them, and tell me they
couldn't hope to win unless they had it--and it was most generally
cavalry. Now when Grant took hold I was waiting to see what his pet
impossibility would be, and I reckoned it would be cavalry, of course,
for we hadn't horses enough to mount what men we had. There were fifteen
thousand men, or thereabouts, up near Harper's Ferry, and no horses to
put them on. Well, the other day Grant sent to me about these very men,
just as I expected; but what he wanted to know was whether he could make
infantry of 'em or disband 'em. He doesn't ask impossibilities of me,
and he's the first General I've had that didn't." On another occasion
Lincoln said of Grant: "The great thing about him is his cool
persistency of purpose. He is not easily excited, and he has the grip of
a bulldog. _When he once gets his teeth in, nothing can shake him off_."
The President's satisfaction with the new commander was speedily
communicated to him in a characteristically frank manner, in a letter
dated April 30, 1864.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT:--
Not expecting to see you before the Spring campaign opens, I wish
to express in this way my entire satisfaction with what you have
done up to this time, so far as I understand it. The particulars of
your plan I neither know nor seek to know. You are vigilant and
self-reliant; and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any
restraints or constraints upon you. While I am very anxious that
any great disaster or capture of our men in great numbers shall be
avoided, I know that these points are less likely to escape your
attention than they would be mine. If there be anything wanting
which is in my power to give, do not fail to let me know it. And
now, with a brave army and a just cause, may God sustain you.
Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
General Grant himself wrote, on this point: "In my first interview with
Mr. Lincoln alone, he stated to me that he had never professed to be a
military man, or to know how campaigns should be conducted, and never
wanted to interfere in them; but that procrastination on the part of
commanders, and the pressure of the people at the North and Congress,
_which was always with him_, forced him into issuing his series of
'Military Orders'--one, two, three, etc. He did not know but they were
all wrong, and did know that some of them were. All he wanted or had
ever wanted was someone who would take the responsibility and act, and
call on him for all the assistance needed, pledging himself to use all
the power of the government in rendering such assistance.... The
President told me he did not want to know what I proposed to do. But he
submitted a plan of campaign of his own which he wanted me to hear and
then do as I pleased about. He brought out a map of Virginia on which he
had evidently marked every position occupied by the Federal and
Confederate armies up to that time. He pointed out on the map two
streams which empty into the Potomac, and suggested that the army might
be moved on boats and landed between the mouths of these streams. We
would then have the Potomac to bring our supplies, and the tributaries
would protect our flanks while we moved out. I listened respectfully,
but did not suggest that the same streams would protect Lee's flanks
while he was shutting us up."
General Horace Porter, for some time Grant's chief of staff, says: "The
nearest Mr. Lincoln ever came to giving General Grant an order for the
movement of troops was during Early's raid upon Washington. On July 10,
1864, he telegraphed a long despatch from Washington, which contained
the following language: 'What I think is that you should provide to
retain your hold where you are, certainly, and bring the rest with you
personally, and make a vigorous effort to defeat the enemy's force in
this vicinity. I think there is really a fair chance to do this, if the
movement is prompt. This is what I think--given upon your
suggestion,--and is not an order.' Grant replied that on reflection he
thought it would have a bad effect for him to leave City Point, then his
headquarters, in front of Richmond and Petersburg; and the President was
satisfied with the dispositions which Grant made for the repulse of
Early without taking command against him in person."
A curious incident revealing the intense interest with which Lincoln
watched the career of Grant is related by Mr. J. Russell Jones, an old
and trusted friend of the President, who joined the army at Vicksburg in
time to witness its final triumph. Soon after Mr. Jones's return to
Chicago, the President summoned him to Washington. With eager haste,
after the first salutations were over, Lincoln declared the object for
which he had secured the interview: "'I have sent for you, Mr. Jones, to
know if that man Grant wants to be President.' Mr. Jones, although
somewhat astonished at the question and the circumstances under which it
was asked, replied at once, 'No, Mr. President.' 'Are you sure?' queried
the latter. 'Yes,' said Mr. Jones, 'perfectly sure. I have just come
from Vicksburg. I have seen General Grant frequently, and talked fully
and freely with him about that and every other question; and I know he
has no political aspirations whatever, and certainly none for the
Presidency. His only desire is to see you re-elected and to do what he
can under your orders to put down the rebellion and restore peace to the
country.' 'Ah, Mr. Jones,' said Lincoln, 'you have lifted a great weight
off my mind, and done me an immense amount of good; for I tell you, my
friend, no man knows how deeply that Presidential grub gnaws till he has
had it himself.'" We cannot believe that Lincoln cherished any feeling
of jealousy of the rising commander, or desired to interfere with
whatever political ambition he might nourish. It was rather his desire
to be assured of the single-hearted purpose of a military leader whom he
had trusted and to whom he wished to confide still more important
services in the conduct of the war.
It may be remembered that early in the war an anecdote went the rounds
of the press to the effect that, in reply to a complaint that Grant had
been guilty of drunkenness in the campaigns in the West, Lincoln
remarked that he would "like to find out what kind of liquor Grant
drank," so that he might "send some of it to the other Generals." The
true version of that characteristic anecdote is this, as given by the
late Judge T. Lyle Dickey, who was a Judge of the Illinois Supreme Court
at the time of his death, and at the time of Grant's famous Vicksburg
campaign was on the General's staff as chief of cavalry. Judge (then
Colonel) Dickey had been sent to Washington with private despatches for
the President and the Secretary of War. Lincoln and Dickey had been
intimate friends for years, and during the latter's visit to the former
on that occasion, Dickey remarked, "I hear that some one has been trying
to poison you against Grant by reporting that he gets drunk. I wish to
assure you, Mr. President, that there is not a scintilla of truth in the
report." "Oh, Colonel," replied the President, "we get all sorts of
reports here, but I'll say this to you: that if those accusing General
Grant of getting drunk will tell me _where he gets his whiskey_, I will
get a lot of it and send it around to some of the other Generals, who
are badly in need of something of the kind."
After Lincoln and General Grant had become personally intimate, they had
many enjoyable conversations and exchanges of anecdotes. Lincoln
especially enjoyed telling the General of the various persons who had
come to him with complaints and criticisms about the Vicksburg campaign.
"After the place had actually surrendered," said the President, "I
thought it was about time to shut down on this sort of thing. So one
day, when a delegation came to see me, and had spent half an hour trying
to show me the fatal mistake you had made in paroling Pemberton's army,
and insisting that the rebels would violate their paroles and in less
than a month confront you again in the ranks and have to be whipped all
over again, I thought I could get rid of them best by telling them a
story about Sykes's dog. 'Have you ever heard about Sykes's yellow dog?'
said I to the spokesman of the delegation. He said he hadn't. 'Well, I
must tell you about him,' said I. 'Sykes had a yellow dog he set great
store by, but there were a lot of small boys around the village, and
that's always a bad thing for dogs, you know. These boys didn't share
Sykes's views, and they were not disposed to let the dog have a fair
show. Even Sykes had to admit that the dog was getting unpopular; in
fact, it was soon seen that a prejudice was growing up against that dog
that threatened to wreck all his future prospects in life. The boys,
after meditating how they could get the best of him, finally fixed up a
cartridge with a long fuse, put the cartridge in a piece of meat,
dropped the meat in the road in front of Sykes's door, and then perched
themselves on a fence a good distance off with the end of the fuse in
their hands. Then they whistled for the dog. When he came out he scented
the bait, and bolted the meat, cartridge and all. The boys touched off
the fuse with a cigar, and in about a second a report came from that dog
that sounded like a small clap of thunder. Sykes came bouncing out of
the house, and yelled: "What's up! Anything busted?" There was no
reply, except a snicker from the small boys roosting on the fence; but
as Sykes looked up he saw the whole air filled with pieces of yellow
dog. He picked up the biggest piece he could find--a portion of the
back, with a part of the tail still hanging to it, and, after turning it
around and looking it all over, he said, "Well, I guess he'll never be
much account again--_as a dog_." And I guess Pemberton's forces will
never be much account again--_as an army._' The delegation began looking
around for their hats before I had quite got to the end of the story,
and I was never bothered any more about superseding the commander of the
Army of the Tennessee."
When General Grant was ready to begin active operations with the Army of
the Potomac, he sent forward all available men from Washington.
Secretary Stanton, anxious about the safety of the city, said to Grant
one day: "General, I suppose you have left us enough men to strongly
garrison the forts?" "No, I can't do that," was Grant's quiet answer.
"Why not? Why not?" repeated the Secretary nervously. "Because I have
already sent the men to the front." Said the Secretary, still more
nervously: "That won't do. It's contrary to my plans. I cannot allow it.
I will order the men back." To this Grant returned with quiet
determination: "I shall need the men there, and you cannot order them
back." "Why not? Why not?" cried the Secretary. "I believe that I rank
the Secretary in this matter," remarked Grant. "Very well, we will see
the President about that," responded the Secretary sharply. "I will have
to take you to the President." "That is right. The President ranks us
both." So they went to the President; and the Secretary, turning to
General Grant, said, "Now, General, state your case." But the General
calmly replied, "I have no case to state. I am satisfied as it is."
This threw the burden of statement on Secretary Stanton, and was
excellent strategy. Meanwhile, General Grant had the men. When the
Secretary had concluded, Lincoln crossed his legs, rested his elbow on
his knee, and said in his quaint way and with a twinkle in his eye:
"Now, Mr. Secretary, you know we have been trying to manage this army
for nearly three years, and you know we haven't done much with it. We
sent over the mountains and brought Mr. Grant, as Mrs. Grant calls him,
to manage it for us; and now I guess we'd better let Mr. Grant _have his
own way_." And Mr. Grant had it.
The favorable opinion which Lincoln held of Grant was strongly
reciprocated. A short time before the former's death, Grant said: "I
regard Lincoln as one of the greatest of men. He is unquestionably the
greatest man I have ever encountered. The more I see of him and exchange
views with him, the more he impresses me. I admire his courage, and
respect the firmness he always displays. Many think from the gentleness
of his character that he has a yielding nature; but while he has the
courage to change his mind when convinced that he is wrong, he has all
the tenacity of purpose which could be desired in a great statesman. His
quickness of perception often astonishes me. Long before the statement
of a complicated question is finished, his mind will grasp the main
points, and he will seem to comprehend the whole subject better than the
person who is stating it. He will take rank in history alongside of
Washington."