U.S. Grant: Lincoln's Warhorse

While it is true that my birth is of Southern geographical realms, I must now state my respect for a man whose might, main and military genius command it. General U. S. Grant is the one man who saved his nation as no other man did in his time.

Commissioned as a general for the first time in August of 1861, General Grant was able to deliver his now famous ultimatum after only his second battle in the Civil War- complete and unconditional surrender.

President Lincoln was beset with a show horse commander named Mc Clellan who was a political favorite, and liked to show off his soldiers, but never liked to send them into battle. I know of at least one former US President who would've been proud of such pacifism. But the rebellion Lincoln faced from the south, and the amazing success of its military leader, General Lee, gave Lincoln no room to show patience with a show horse who would not go to war and fight. General Grant did not seek out fights, but he made sure to win them when faced with them.

While Fort Donelson was his first military victory, the battle that made people stand up and take notice of him was at Shiloh. A Confederate general named A. S. Johnston had led a large, noisy band of soldiers north out of Corinth MS to see what lay north of there. Corinth was a major railroad junction, and Johnston wanted to see if he could strengthen the confederate realm by going north and east to the Tennessee River at an important landing called Pittsburgh Landing. Yankee Generals Grant and Sherman were never willing to admit surprise at such an attack, but they were, by all accounts other than their own.

A Confederate army of considerable strength pushed the Yankee line back deep to a small area, the Hornet's Nest, costing the North valuable soldiers. The confederates, as successful as they had been, nonetheless put down their rifles in the late afternoon, and rested for the night. Grant had other ideas about that. Throwing cannonballs at the Confederate positions all through the night, Grant didn't give them rest. Now as to soldiers, Grant also brought in fresh reinforcements overnight on boats across the Tennesee River at Pittsburg Landing. The next morning came bright and early, but the confederates were not battle ready. Their general, A.S. Johnston, had taken a mini-ball in his right leg, and died of blood loss the day before. His second in command, Beauregard, had to fight a reinforced, equally as passionate Yankee army with a tired army of his own. The Confederate Army was driven out slowly, steadily and eventually retreated back to Corinth. Grant later called Shiloh, "the hardest fought battle on this continent". But Grant had stood, fought, and waited it out to win at Shiloh. He later went westward, taking positions with fierce battles at La Grange, Collierville and later Memphis, although Memphis was a naval battle.

While occupying Memphis, in its now famous Hunt Phelan Home, Grant planned the siege at Vicksburg Mississippi. Shiloh had taken some time, but only hours in a day. Vicksburg was a different matter. Grant had taken positions closer and closer, but it took from February to July of 1863 to gain the victory at Vicksburg. Persistent, steady application of strategy and force had won out.

Lincoln had had his eye on Grant, as the general he had long waited for. He got him his general rank in August of 1861 as a Brigadier General. This gave Grant the authority to command troops into battle, something he never shied from. It was somewhere around this time that Lincoln had finally relieved Gen. McClellan from active duty. Later on, after Vicksburg, Grant fought and won at Chattanooga, and Lincoln made his warhorse "general and chief of all US Armies". He later went on to become the nation's first four-star general, although designated by Congress, as Lincoln was dead by this time.

It was sometime not long after being thus conferred that Grant met the Confederate commanding officer Robert E. Lee in three separate battles. Lee and Grant fought to draws in two, and in the last, Grant won, although losing 7,000 men in one hour. He lost 50,000 men in that battle, but he could and did reinforce, while Lee could not.

It was his equal classiness in victory that earned him equal honor as soldier and victor. At Appomatox Courthouse, after the surrender of the Confederate Army to the Union, he instructed his soldiers "the war is over. The rebels are now our fellow countrymen, and the best sign of rejoicing is to abstain from all demonstrations in the field".

Being a warhorse made itself a winning reputation politically as well. Grant was able to win his party's nomination and eminent election as President of the United States, with literally no campaigning on his part. He served as President for two terms.