His great plans, undisclosed to the public eye, often modified by events, require, that while the splendors of victorious battle, for a time dimming his own, shall shine around his skilful lieutenants at the South and West, he should remain in front of Petersburg, winning no laurels in fight, and playing to the world, at home and abroad, a secondary part. Not a few began to shake their heads and wonder if he was the man, after all. At length, as the confused plot of the drama progresses, light begins to shine upon him: his great argument is developed. Sherman, nobilis frater, moves northward, brushing away the slight spider-webs of Johnston, Bragg, and Hardee. Schofield, benemeritus for a score of battles, a tried and true soldier, comes up at the appointed time; other combinations are ripe; the hour approaches; and in the words, familiar but immortal, with which the great Captain_commanded the great assault" Up, Guards, and at them!" Grant pours his whole line upon the rebel works. Petersburg falls; Richmond, the great blazing centre, gives up; the humiliating retreat and unrelenting pursuit begin; Lee, the invincible, surrenders his army; and Grant stands forth, after a year of unrequited labors, to claim the issues of his secret plans, the reward of his toils, the greatest of all glories-the conquest of Richmond, and the capture of Lee's proud host. First in rank and station, he is first in fame, and History will seek in vain for his superior. We are no bestowers of indiscriminate praise; we give him only his just tribute; we acknowledge his surpassing merits. Sagacious in choosing men, without jealousy or comradeship, he has brought out our best talent, used it just where it was needed; no nepotism; no corps of flatterers; no henchmen surround his person; and yet he is a "good fellow," sensitive to all the just claims of friendship. Imperturbable in manner, and reticent by habit, he has been content to wait until time should vindicate his plans by according them success. Of wonderful endurance, mental and physical, his devotion to duty, even in its details, surpasses that of most generals who have been famous in this respect. Not puffed up by his honors; not "prurient of fame not earned," he has been modest and generous, and indulged in no vainglorious prophecies or oracular declarations. In a word, a patriot, a soldier, a leader, and a gentleman, he works and fights, placing his best and noblest energies at the disposal of his country, leaving all results to take care of themselves. There will be but one verdict in the high court of History. He will need no title to enduring fame but that name which his father gave him,-GRANT. RICHMOND AND THE END. BY THE EDITOR. "While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand: And when Rome falls, the world!" “On WITH similar boasting have the rebel leaders announced in time past to the world, that upon the impregnable defences of Richmond the fate of the Confederacy depended. With a similar belief, the loyal armies of the Republic, victorious on all other theatres, have been unsatisfied until that stronghold should fall. The first Bull Run was fought with the hope that we might follow the discomfited enemy into Richmond. to Richmond!" was the continued and often-derided cry. To guard it, Beauregard's outlying pickets directed their fieldglasses upon Washington from Munson's Hill. To conquer it, and annihilate the treason, the Peninsular Campaign "dragged its slow length along." Once more, the furious fight of Fredericksburg found, but could not remove, the lion in the path. Chancellorsville, had we been successful, would have been the usher to Richmond. The terrible battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, the North and South Anna, Cold Harbor, were all most determined efforts to take the rebel capital; and even when beleaguered and almost surrounded by our armies, it resisted all our efforts, and laughed derisively as it declared, "Richmond can never be taken!" So fully were the rebels convinced, by their four years of success, that the strength of the rebellion lay in Richmond, and that Richmond was unconquerable, that they have constantly given us our text, and we can only quote them when we say, that with the splendid campaign of Grant, and the occupation of Richmond, comes, at last, the beginning of the END. 1. It renders the people of the South hopeless: thousands of prisoners are taking the oath of allegiance, saying that as long as there was a cause to fight for, they would fight; but now, with the fall of Richmond, the cause is hopelessly lost. In every captured city, Richmond not excepted, shouts of joy arise as our liberating armies enter. The rebel soldiers in arms will throw down their muskets; will desert in crowds; will seek to be made prisoners: the danger of disintegration is imminent. The leaders will despair; the lesser fry will give themselves up in the hope of amnesty; the arch-traitors, Moloch, Belial, Beelzebub, Mammon, even Satan himself-now sadly out of repute in Pandemonium-will seek some more tropical clime, if they can escape. The great tide, now and for a long time checking its flow, will turn with a mighty ebb towards Union and peace, submerging and sweeping away the wrecks of the rebellion, and thus becoming the most formidable of our own allies. 2. The influence of the fall of Richmond upon the loyal people of the country cannot be estimated. Upon the announcement, the great cities were crazy with joy; the streets were thronged with eager and enthusiastic men, women, and children, ready to make new sacrifices for a holy cause now so demonstrating its triumphant success. Our soldiers cannot be restrained; the prestige of victories leads them to perform greater marvels; and, like the avalanche, of enormous proportions and ever-increasing velocity, our great army carries rapid ruin wherever it strikes. 3. Our recent victories forever shut the door upon foreign intervention. As much as the great nations of Western Europe may have desired our ruin, that no American rival might share their greatness or shock their historic dignities; as freely as they would have trampled upon us, had the barbarous treason accomplished its hellish purpose,-they will now conciliate the mighty nation, which has "purged off the baser fire" so gloriously; which has achieved a history in five years which rivals, in feats of arms, the Old World chronicles of five hundred; and which, if not treated with proper respect, will fulminate her eagle lightnings in the "four seas," the Channel, the Bay of Biscay, and the Mediterranean. The fall of Richmond, then, foreshadows the end; but when will the end be? Let us neither cherish fond fancies nor abate one jot of energy and action. It may yet take "ninety days," and more. Spring and summer are not the seasons when veteran armies are most willing to disband themselves, even when the cause seems hopeless. The bivouac does not pinch; the growing grain still furnishes food. And when they do break up, we shall not end the war as war is ended between two nations, by a treaty of peace, which at once puts an end to all acts of hostility and to all causes of war. Small armed bodies will yet hold out in mountains, in Texas, and elsewhere. There is amnesty to arrange, high justice to be executed; State governments to frame or readjust, financial questions to decide, discordant and belligerent factions to punish or pacify. And thus, even when the great rebellion has its principal collapse, peace will come gradually, prosperity rise sun-like from a new dawning, and America, "Time's noblest offspring," spring from the dust and battle-clouds of the deadly struggle, like a giant, to run her course in future history. Not long ago, such statements were considered as doubtful prophecies. No prophet is needed now to tell the glorious end. It shines in no dubious light, and the road to it is clearly dis cerned by him who stands upon the mount of vision, like a line of silver, unbroken and unobstructed. In one way we may anticipate it: by giving thanks to the God of hosts and the God of nations, and by a devout purpose so to use His great goodness, that no such war shall again be needed to punish our sins or purge our errors. Since the above was written, the country has been kept in a continual state of joyful agitation, by the famous advance of Grant, the interception of Lee, and the surrender of his whole army, fifty thousand strong. Surely the end is very near. MAJOR-GENERAL PHILIP HENRY SHERIDAN. PHILIP HENRY SHERIDAN was, we believe, born in Perry County, Ohio, in 1831, although the Army Registers have always given him the credit of being a native of Massachusetts. At the age of seventeen, through the influence of friends, young Sheridan obtained an appointment as Cadet at West Point, and, passing the preliminary examination with credit, he was enrolled in the fourth class, in 1848. He graduated with honor in 1853, being in the class with McPherson, Schofield, Terrill, Sill, Tyler, and the rebel Lieutenant-General Hood. There being no vacancy, he was appointed brevet second lieutenant in the 1st Regiment Infantry, and ordered to Texas, where his regiment was then serving. The Apaches and Comanches were at that time very troublesome and bold, often venturing into the immediate vicinity of Fort Duncan, where he was stationed, and picking off the men. On one occasion, Sheridan and two of the soldiers were a short distance from the fort, when a band of Apaches attacked them. Sheridan was without arms, but the soldiers had their guns. The Apache chief had just dismounted from his fiery Mustang, to creep up nearer the soldiers, when Sheridan sprang upon its back, galloped to the fort, gave the alarm, seized his own pistols without dismounting, and rode back at full speed to the point where the two soldiers were still fighting, shot the chief dead, and then the other soldiers, having come up, rode down and killed most of the other savages. In the spring of 1855 he was, at his own request, transferred, as full second lieutenant, to the 4th Infantry, then serving in Oregon. He returned to New York to sail for the Pacific, and, while waiting for the recruits who were to go out under his charge, was for two months in command of Fort Wood, in New York harbor. On his arrival at San Francisco, in August, 1855, he was at once selected to command the escort of the surveying party who were exploring the route of the branch of the Pacific Railroad, which was to connect San Francisco with the Columbia River. For the next six years he was constantly on duty among the Indian tribes of the Pacific coast, and succeeded in winning their confidence and esteem beyond any other officer who had been stationed among them. He built posts among the Yakimas, at Seletz Valley, on the Indian Reservation, and at Yamhill. For his skill and success in conciliating the Coquelle and Yakima Indians, he received high compliments from Lieutenant-General Scott. In the winter of 1861, in consequence of the resignation of several of the Southern officers on the Pacific coast, Sheridan was advanced to the rank of first lieutenant, and ordered to return to the East. The regular Army was increased at the opening of the war by the addition of several regiments, and Lieutenant Sheridan was promoted to a captaincy in the 13th, one of the new regiments, his commission bearing date May 14th, 1861. In September, 1861, he was ordered to join his regiment at Jefferson barracks, near St. Louis, and at the same time directed to audit the claims against the War Department, arising from the campaign in Missouri. When this was completed, he was appointed Chief Quartermaster and Commissary of the army then organizing for operations in Southwestern Missouri; and in March, 1862, General Halleck made him Chief Quartermaster of the Western Department, with the rank of major: but his known ability as a cavalry officer, and the absolute necessity for an efficient officer in that arm of the service, led General Halleck, much against his will, to release him, to take command of the 2d Regiment Michigan Volunteer Cavalry. He assumed command on the 27th of May, and immediately joined in the expedition to cut the railroads south of Corinth. Immediately on his return, his regiment was ordered to join in the pursuit of the rebel army which was, at this time, retreating from their stronghold at Corinth. In this pursuit, Colonel Sheridan's regiment encountered the rebel left wing, and repulsed their attack, capturing Powell's rebel battery. On the 11th of June he was put in command of a cavalry brigade, and on the 26th he was ordered to take an advanced position at Boonesville, twenty miles in front of the main army, whose front he was to cover, watching at the same time the movements of the rebels who were near him, and bent on mischief. On the 1st of July he was attacked by a rebel force of nine regiments (numbering about six thousand men), under the command of General Chalmers. After skirmishing for awhile, he fell back toward his camp, which was situated on the edge of a swamp, an advantageous position, where he could not readily be flanked, and could hold the enemy at bay for some time. Finding that the enemy, with their greatly superior numbers, were likely to surround him, he had recourse to strategy. Selecting ninety of his best men, armed with revolv |