J. E. Johnston, "Narra

tive of Military Operations,"

p. 281.

taken for granted that Mobile was in danger. CH. XIII. Mr. Davis telegraphed to Johnston either to send Polk reënforcements or to join him in person with what force he could. General Johnston very sensibly replied that it would be impossible for troops from Dalton to meet the Federal army before it reached the Gulf; and, in answer to subsequent solicitations, he said that such an expedition would require two-thirds of his army and involve the abandonment of his present line; upon which Davis directed him peremptorily to send infantry enough to enable "Polk to beat the detachment which the enemy had thrown far into the interior of our country"; and when Johnston replied in his habitual tone that it was too late for such an object, Mr. Davis gave him at last a positive order to send Hardee with his corps to Polk without delay. Johnston obeyed this order with such deliberation that Hardee's advance, which did not start until Sherman was preparing to return, never got farther than the Tombigbee River, and his troops were recalled by Mr. Davis himself on the 23d, so that when General Thomas moved forward, under the impression entertained by Grant that Johnston's army had been withdrawn from Dalton he found the Confederates in full force in their intrenchments and on the ridge of Rocky Face.

After a thorough reconnaissance, finding that the supposed conditions under which the movement was made did not exist, Thomas withdrew his army to his former position. Schofield, who had relieved Foster in Tennessee, after a brief demonstration against Longstreet who was retiring from his front, also had to return for lack of supplies and of trans

Ibid.

CH. XIII. portation. It seems impossible to exaggerate the helpless condition of the armies on both sides in the matter of transportation. Thomas says scarcely any of his artillery could be moved for lack of horses; and Johnston reports that, for a long time after he arrived at Dalton, his artillery horses were so feeble from their hard service and scarcity of forage that it was not only impossible to manœuvre the batteries in action, but also to march with them at the ordinary rate of speed on ordinary roads; and even so late as February, when the supply of forage had become regular and the face of the country almost dry, the teams of the Napoleon guns were unable to draw them up a trifling hill, over which the roads to their stables passed.

1863.

Immediately after the victories at Chattanooga Mr. Washburne of Illinois, the devoted friend and firm supporter of General Grant through good and evil report, introduced a bill in Congress to revive the grade of lieutenant-general in the army. The measure occasioned a good deal of discussion. This high rank had never been conferred on any citizen of the republic except Washington, who held it for a short time before his death. It was discontinued for more than half a century and then conferred by brevet only upon General Scott. There were those who feared, or affected to fear, that so high military rank was threatening to the liberties of the republic. The great majority of Congress, however, considered the liberties of the republic more robust than this fear would indicate, and the bill was finally passed on the 26th of February, and received the approval of the President

1864.

on the 29th of February. It provided for the CH. XIII. revival of the grade of lieutenant-general, and authorized the President "to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a lieutenantgeneral, to be selected from among those officers in the military service of the United States not below the grade of major-general, most distinguished for courage, skill, and ability, who, being commissioned as lieutenant-general, may be authorized, under the direction and during the pleasure of the President, to command the armies of the United States." Immediately upon signing the bill the President nominated Grant to the Senate for the office created by it.

Although the bill, of course, mentioned the name of no general, there was no pretense from the beginning that any one else was thought of in connection with the place. The Administration exercised no influence in the matter, neither helping nor hindering the progress of the bill through the Houses of Congress. It had already become clearly manifest that General Halleck, although an officer of great learning and ability, was not fitted by character or temperament for the assumption of such weighty responsibilities as the military situation required. The President himself said about this time: "When it appeared that McClellan was incompetent to the work of handling the army and we sent for Halleck to take command, he stipulated that it should be with the full powers and responsibilities of general-in-chief. He kept that attitude until Pope's defeat, but ever since that event he has shrunk from responsibility whenever it was possible." So that in the mind of the President, as well as in the

Appendix,
Feb. 29,

Globe,"

1864, p. 142.

J. H.,

Diary.

CH. XIII. intention of Congress and the acquiescence of the public, there was no thought of nominating any one but Grant to the chief command of all the armies. Whether he was or was not the ablest of all our generals is a question which can never be decided; perhaps there were legionaries in the army of Gaul as able as Cæsar if occasion had been given them to show it. The success and fame of generals is the joint result of merit and of opportunity; and Grant was, beyond all comparison, the most fortunate of American soldiers. Whatever criticism might be made on his character, his learning, or his methods, the fact was not to be denied that he had reaped the most substantial successes of the war; he had captured two armies and utterly defeated a third; he was justly entitled, by virtue of the spolia opima with which he had presented the republic, to his triumph, to be celebrated with all the pomp and circumstance possible.

1864.

The Senate immediately confirmed his nomination, and on the 3d of March the Secretary of War directed him to report in person to the War Department as early as practicable, considering the condition of his command. He started for Washington the next day, but in the midst of his hurried preparations for departure he found time to write a letter of the most warm and generous friendship to Sherman. He had not even yet heard the news of his confirmation, but he took it for granted. He said: "I start in the morning to comply with the order, but I shall say very distinctly on my arrival there that I shall accept no appointment which will require me to make that city [Washington] my headquarters. . . While I have