hopelessness of defence, retired. General S. B. Buckner, on whom the command devolved, asked Grant what terms would be granted on their yielding the fort. Grant's laconic reply procured for him another sobriquet, "Unconditional Surrender." By the capture of these two forts 15,000 prisoners, 65 guns, and over 17,000 stands of small arms passed into possession of the Union forces. The Confederates were now compelled to evacuate Columbus on the Mississippi, and the way was opened for the Union forces to Nashville. Grant was rewarded with a commission as major-general of volunteers, yet he was still under Halleck's displeasure, and for some weeks was left without a command. When he was restored to his place, he prepared for an advance on Corinth, Mississippi, where the Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston had assembled a large army.

As General D. C. Buell was now marching to reinforce Grant, at Pittsburg Landing, Johnston wished to attack the latter before Buell's arrival and drive his forces into the river. Johnston's troops were moved forward quietly towards Grant's outposts, and early on Sunday, April 6th, they surprised and drove the vanguard from their camp near Shiloh Church. Grant was at Savannah, on the Tennessee, and was somewhat lame from an accidental injury received a few days before. Receiving reports of the Confederate attack, he hastened to Pittsburg Landing, reformed his lines and infused new vigor into his troops, who were arranged in a semicircle to which the river was a tangent. General W. H. L. Wallace had fallen in the fight and so had the Confederate leader, General Johnston, with many another brave officer on both sides. General Beauregard, who succeeded to the command of the Confederates, did not renew the assault. General Buell's troops were now arriving, and in the early morning the Union army advanced and compelled the Confederates to seek refuge in their intrenchments at Corinth. General Halleck left his headquarters at St. Louis to take charge of the siege of Corinth, and after seven weeks captured the deserted earthworks, from which the Confederates had escaped by railroad. The Union army, which might then have advanced upon Vicksburg, the Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi,

was scattered in various directions, and Grant, the fighting general, was left in command of West Tennessee, while Halleck, the office general, was called to Washington to take command of all the armies of the United States.

Grant had not sufficient troops to make an advance until September, when he set out from Corinth, and on the 19th defeated General Sterling Price at Iuka, and later repulsed Van Dorn's attack. In December General Sherman led an expedition against Vicksburg by way of the treacherous Yazoo River, but was defeated at Chickasaw Bluff. McClernand conducted operations in Arkansas, which were successful in the capture of minor posts, but left Vicksburg intact. The winter had passed in these and similar ineffectual attempts to reduce the Confederate stronghold; but in the spring of 1863 Grant passed on the west side of the Mississippi, below Vicksburg, then crossed to the east, capturing Port Gibson. He marched inland and captured Jackson, the capital of Mississippi. Returning, he met General John C. Pemberton, the Confederate commander of Vicksburg, and defeated him at Champion Hills on May 16th. Pemberton took refuge in Vicksburg three days later, and there remained until July 4th, when, finding his stores exhausted, he surrendered his force of 31,600 men. A few days later Port Hudson surrendered, and the navigation of the Mississippi was again unobstructed to the adherents of the Union. Grant had hoped to march thence to Mobile, but the authorities at Washington again thwarted his plans for prompt use of victory.

In September he was called to relieve General Rosecrans, who was besieged in Chattanooga, and General Burnside in Knoxville, and by his vigorous measures soon relieved East Tennessee of the enemy, and added to the victories of the year. During the winter the grade of lieutenant-general, previously held only by Washington, was revived by Congress and bestowed by the President on Grant as a public acknowledgment of the value of his services. In March, 1864, the successful general of the West and South was summoned to Washington and placed in command of all the armies of the United States. Orders were issued for their harmonious and simultaneous action in the ensuing campaign. Grant took

the field with the Army of the Potomac, though General Meade still retained its immediate command. After crossing the Rapidan on May 4th, it soon engaged in the bloody battle of the Wilderness and made repeated endeavors to outflank the right of General Lee's army. At the end of a week's severe fighting little progress had been made; but Grant wrote to Washington: "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." Gradually he forced his way down to the James River, and on June 3d he fought the battle of Cold Harbor, almost on the same field as McClellan's battle of Gaines's Mills, two years before. The earthwork defences of Richmond had been greatly strengthened since that time, and Grant being repulsed, decided to transfer his army to the south side of the James. Even in this movement he was disappointed, as General Lee promptly fortified Petersburg, which Grant expected to capture at once. The siege of this city occupied the rest of the year, though various movements to the advantage of the Union cause occurred elsewhere. Sherman, having captured Atlanta, was marching through Georgia; Thomas defeated Hood before Nashville; and Sheridan cleared the Shenandoah Valley, which had been the granary of Lee's army, and its high road for the invasion of the North or for attacks upon Washington. The last of these attempts had been made by General J. A. Early, in July, when he was only prevented from the capture of that city by the stubborn resistance of General Lewis Wallace at Monocacy Creek, which gave Grant time to forward troops for its defence from the James River.

The beginning of 1865 found General Sherman preparing to march north from Savannah to join Grant. Operations around Richmond and Petersburg were resumed in February; Sheridan swept around the north of Richmond as far as Lynchburg, and again around the south side. At the beginning of April Petersburg was abandoned and the retreat began from Richmond towards Lynchburg. Grant pressed on in vigorous pursuit and soon Lee's army was unable to preserve its ranks. On the 7th of April Grant, seeking to spare further sacrifice of life, asked Lee to surrender, and on the 9th the two commanders met at Appomattox to decide on the terms,

which were as liberal as could be made. On April 12th 26,000 Confederates surrendered their arms, colors and all warlike stores, and were paroled to go to their homes. The terms, being made known to other Confederate generals, were gladly accepted. The great Civil War which had cost 350,000 lives and $4,000,000,000 had ended in the triumph of Union and Liberty over sectionalism and slavery. Unfortunately this glorious end of open warfare was speedily marred by a foul conspiracy of non-combatants who sought by assassination to destroy the government at Washington; but in vain. The victorious Union army marched in review before President Johnson and General Grant in Washington on May 21st and 25th. In his final report General Grant summed up the achievements of the armies and their respective officers and declared, "All sections can well congratulate themselves and each other for having done their full share in restoring the supremacy of law over every foot of territory belonging to the United States."

When the volunteer forces were disbanded, Congress bestowed liberal rewards on officers of conspicuous merit. For Grant himself the rank of General of the United States Army was established, and his appointment bore date July 25, 1866. A new strife had already arisen between President Johnson and Congress about the reconstruction of the Southern States. Stanton, who still held the position of secretary of war, sided with Congress, and to prevent the President from removing him, Congress passed a law requiring removals by the President to have the sanction of the Senate. Johnson waited till Congress had adjourned and then suspended Stanton and appointed Grant in his place. Grant showed the utmost tact in this novel position, obeying both the orders of the President and the spirit of the acts of Congress. When Congress reassembled the Senate disapproved the removal of Stanton, and Grant immediately restored to him possession of the secretaryship and resumed his duties as general.

Grant's conduct in this crisis won for him the gratitude of the Republican party, which was shown when in May, 1868, its National Convention at Chicago unanimously nominated him for President. In the following November Grant received a

popular vote of 3,015,071, while his opponent, Governor Seymour, of New York, received 2,709,613. In the electoral college the disparity was still greater, Grant receiving 214 votes to Seymour's 80. Grant had never been a politician, and did not wish to become a party man. In forming his Cabinet he endeavored to bring able citizens into the service of the country. But his appointment of A. T. Stewart, of New York, as Secretary of the Treasury, was found to be obnoxious to a law enacted at the formation of the government, forbidding the appointment of an importer to that position. Finally, George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, was appointed. The efforts of his administration were strenuously directed to the reduction of the national debt and the resumption of specie payment. For this purpose

heavy taxes were imposed and cheerfully borne; a new system of internal revenue was devised and put in successful operation.

During Grant's administration the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, designed to confer on the newly enfranchised negroes the right of suffrage, was ratified by threefourths of the States. Grant faithfully endeavored to secure to these freedmen all the rights which had been obtained by the war and its consequences. But in many parts of the South a determined resistance was encountered, which was partly a result of President Johnson's easy-going policy. The Ku-Klux Klans, or local organizations for intimidation of the negroes, were repressed so far as Federal authority could be exerted. In regard to the Indians, President Grant began a new policy by inviting the prominent religious bodies of the country to take charge of separate tribes. He was also the first President to show official recognition to civil service reform, which had been agitated for some years.

In foreign affairs Grant's administration was distinguished by the Treaty of Washington, by which the claims of the United States against Great Britain for infractions of neutrality were referred to the Geneva tribunal, consisting of representatives from England, the United States, Italy, Switzerland and Brazil, which in September, 1872, awarded to the United States damages amounting to $15,500,000. On the other