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upon that day I should obtain better terms. Well aware of the vanity of our foes, I knew they would attach vast importance to the entrance, on the 4th of July, into the stronghold of the great river, and that, to gratify their national vanity, they would yield then what could not be extorted from them at any other time." We like that word vanity; it could not be improved, except, perhaps, by terms which can hardly be considered synonymous-loyalty, patriotism, and selfrespect.

As to the great importance of the reduction of Vicksburg, we may refer to Sherman's recent statement, that it made the destruction of the rebellion certain, and that the rebels would have abandoned at once a lost cause, had they not been blinded by passion, and lured by false syrens to a greater destruction. Carlyle tells a story of a fabulous Norse warrior who possessed an invisible sword of magic sharpness. clove his enemy in two, without his feeling the blow, and it was not until he shook himself that he fell apart. Thus Grant, with his magic sword, had cut the great rebellion in twain, but it needed the shaking of a few more campaigns to demonstrate to the rebels, and to the world, that the fatal blow had been given at Vicksburg.

It

Grant entered Vicksburg in triumph on the afternoon of the 4th, accompanied by Generals McPherson and Logan, and their staffs. He had defeated the enemy in five battles outside of the city, had taken the State capital, and by the capture of Vicksburg he had captured thirty-seven thousand prisoners, including nineteen general officers, and four thousand officers of lower grades. The rebels had lost in battle, from the beginning of the campaign, upwards of ten thousand men, three hundred and one pieces of artillery, and thirty-five thousand small-arms; they had also surrendered a large amount of public property, consisting of railroads, locomotives, cars, steamboats, cotton, and provisions.

But best of all, in the sententious language of Mr. Lincoln, the great river, which had been fretting and fuming under the iron chain of the rebels, now "went unvexed to the sea." On

the 16th of July, the steamboat Imperial arrived at New Orleans from St. Louis, the first boat which had gone over that route for more than two years.

On the 28th of the same month she returned to her wharf at St. Louis, amid the welcoming shouts of thousands. Every shout was a tribute to him who had opened the river, and sent its waters forever" unvexed to the sea.”

COMMENTS.

In a review of this great campaign, Grant's actions shine so pre-eminently, that an estimate of the biographer, in the way of a summary, is totally unnecessary. He was active, versatile, tenacious of purpose, Napoleonic in his judgment and use of men, with moral courage to assign or remove them according to their merits. And, combined with all these high qualities, he had exhibited remarkable skill in manœuvring large armies in the field; in learning instant lessons from repulses; in conducting an arduous siege; in brushing away a succoring army;-always preserving that equal mind which it is more difficult to keep in the extreme of prosperity than in that of adversity. Undisturbed by his great troubles, he was not puffed up by the great success, but was ready for new labors, and, if God should send them, final successes. It is no injustice to others to say that his chief supporters were Sherman, McPherson, and Logan. Sherman, like Grant, has achieved such universal reputation, that we need not pause to eulogize him. McPherson here exhibited to the public those qualities which Grant had long known him to possess, and which were to shine with increasing lustre until his lamentable fall in the Georgia campaign. Logan's dashing valor was eminently conspicuous. Having declared that the Western men would hew their way to the Gulf, he was a bright example of the truth of his prediction; ever at his post, and always distinguished for that fearless impetuosity which the world now considers his characteristic.

NOTE. The sketch of this great campaign would be incomplete without a brief reference to the unparalleled march of Colonel (afterwards General) B. H. Grierson, up to that time the most famous raid on record. Its object was, the destruction of public property and of the railroads, and to make a diversion in favor of the army moving upon Vicksburg. Grierson proposed it, and began his preparations on the 1st of April. His force consisted of the Sixth and Seventh Illinois Cavalry and the Second Iowa, commanded respectively by Colonels Loomis, Price, and Hatch.

Starting from La Grange, he moved upon Ripley. Thence he crossed the Tallahatchie. Detachments to deceive the enemy and destroy the railroads, were sent to the east, north, and even the northwest. From Pontotoc he sent back one hundred and seventy-five men, the least valuable, and one gun, to La Grange. A small detachment was sent to Columbus to destroy the track; and at Starksville he captured a rebel mail of great value. On the 22d he was at Louisville, and he crossed the Memphis Railroad at Newton. His route then lay through Raleigh, where he cut the telegraph wires; across the Leaf River, destroying the bridge across the Pearl; through Gallatin and to Union Courthouse. Thence southward, destroying as he went bridges and track. The rebels were now gathering on his track, to stop his return. But he had no idea of returning. At Oskya, where they tried to stop him, he broke them. Then, by Greensburg and Clinton, he rode into Baton Rouge on the 1st of May! A notable ride; in seventeen days he had travelled eight hundred miles through the heart of the State; given the people a great fright; entirely deceived and eluded the armed enemy; destroyed four millions of property; and so injured the railroads, as to make them incapable for some time of being used to our detriment.

13

CHAPTER XVII.

FINISHING TOUCHES: CLEARING THE WRECK.

EFFECT OF
THE NEWS.-PRESIDENT'S LETTER TO GRANT.-PORT HUDSON WAITS THE
FALL OF VICKSBURG-SURRENDERS.-CORRESPONDENCE AND CONDITIONS.- -SHER-
MAN MOVES AGAINST JOHNSTON.-JOHNSTON HOLDS JACKSON.-HIS ORDER.-H

DECAMPS.

EFFECT OF THE NEWS.

WHEN Some great fabric, long tottering to its foundations, and upon which the eyes of all men have been fixed, at length surges and falls with a mighty crash, crowds of workmen fly to remove the fragments, to clear the wreck, and prepare for rebuilding. So the fall of Vicksburg, resounding through the country, was the signal for new labors to the heroic Grant and his gallant army. The news, long awaited by the nation, gave rise to scenes of the wildest enthusiasm. The roar of artillery and the ringing of bells, swelled by the chorus of human voices, were heard from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The cry, "Vicksburg has fallen!" carried joy to Washington, and consternation to Richmond. The name of Grant was on every lip, and assurance was made doubly sure that, under God, we now had a commander upon whom the people could rely to lead us to final victory, and a thoroughly successful, honorable, and uncompromising peace.

He was at once appointed to the vacant májor-generalship in the regular army, to date from that day, now doubly dear to every true American heart-the Fourth of July, 1863; the day when he entered Vicksburg, the chief of American conquerors. While straining every nerve in the campaign, he had been

greatly misrepresented at Washington. Partisan politics and private malignity had arrayed themselves against him: to a charge of imbecility had been added that of drunkenness; and it was even said that Adjutant-General Thomas, who had started for the Mississippi in April, had carried with him an order relieving Grant from the command. But now his vindication was complete: it was VICKSBURG! We cannot pause to enumerate his honors. Mr. Lincoln, in the most magnanimous spirit, addressed him the following letter, as honorable to Lincoln as it was just and generous to Grant:

TO MAJOR-GENERAL GRANT:

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, July 13, 1863.

MY DEAR GENERAL-I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you finally did-march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition and the like could succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join General Banks; and when you turned northward east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make a personal acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong. Yours, very truly,

A. LINCOLN.

Congratulations and thanks poured upon him from States, cities, and institutions throughout the country; and even rebel journals for once dropped the Billingsgate with which it was their custom to describe the actions of our "Yankee" commanders, to declare that he had been skilful in his work, and magnanimous in his dealings with the garrison. He was pointed to as the only man to conduct the new and colossal campaigns now opening, of which Chattanooga was to be the base, and from which, in logical sequence, were to follow Sherman's grand gallop through Georgia, his flanking movement in South and North Carolina, and our final successes at and beyond Petersburg. We repeat it, Vicksburg was the key of the war.

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