and cavalry officers one horse each. The rank and file will be allowed all their clothing, but no other property." Perhaps Grant was moved to these generous terms by the recollection of Scott's treatment of Santa Anna's troops at Cerro Gordo. At any rate, they were criticised as being absurdly lenient.
At ten o'clock on the morning of the 4th of July, the ragged, emaciated soldiers who had defended Vicksburg so stanchly "marched out of their intrenchments. With sad faces the men of each regiment stacked their arms, threw down upon them knapsacks, belts, cartridges, and cap-pouches, and then tenderly crowned the piles with their faded and riddled colors." Their stained clothing contrasted mournfully with the blue of the Union troops. For forty days they had lain in the pits, eating the scantiest fare, and to many of them it was a welcome relief to throw down their muskets. For two hours this movement went on, with no derisive cry or gesture on the part of the victors. They knew the quality of these lean and tattered men, who were mistaken, but who were fighters.
The victor allowed himself no indulgences. He was sleeplessly active. He had no thought of resting or going into summer quarters. He put McPherson in command of Vicksburg. He sent Sherman after Johnston the moment Pemberton capitulated. He despatched a messenger to Banks asking his needs. He forwarded the ninth army corps to Bear Creek, to be ready to reinforce Sherman if it were necessary; and providing for their return and movement to Kentucky, he ordered the boats to be in readiness to transport the troops. He ordered Herron's division to be in readiness to reinforce Banks. He brought all the remaining troops within the rebel lines, and gave orders to obliterate the works which the Union army had toiled so long to fashion, and sent his engineers to determine upon a shorter line if possible, in order that the garrison should be small. He advised Logan that, as soon as the rebel prisoners were out of the way, he intended to send him to the Tensas to clear out the Confederate troops there; and in the midst of this multiplex activity he asked Dana to inquire of General Halleck whether he intended him to follow his own judgment in future movements or co-operate in some particular scheme of operations.
His army was now let loose for other campaigns, and this the Southern leaders thoroughly understood. The fall of Vicksburg was a disaster. The march of Grant's army foreboded the downfall of the Confederacy.
In all the correspondence of this strange conqueror there is scarcely a single word of exultation, not a single allusion to victory, even to his wife. He fought battles and won victories in the design of moving to other battles and other victories. His plan was to whip the enemy and win a lasting peace.
The Vicksburg campaign had the audacity of the common sense in opposition to the traditional. What the military authorities had settled he could not do, Grant did with astounding despatch, accuracy, and coherence of design. He kept his own counsel—a greater feat than the other—and it added to the mystery of his movements and the certainty of his results. It seemed as if all ill things stood aside to see him pass on to his larger life as a great commander. Belmont, Henry, Donelson, Shiloh, and Vicksburg—all these were behind him and he had no scar. He would not have been human had not some feeling of foreordination assumed possession of him. He was now forty-one years of age, and at his fullest powers of command and endurance. He had reached the place where he now stood in the light of national fame, holding the full confidence of the government, without money, without political influence, after years of hardship, disappointment, and privation. Now all opposition was silenced, and his detractors were overborne. He had placed himself among the great generals of the world, and the nation waited to see what the Conqueror of Vicksburg would do next. On the 12th of October he received an order making him the commander-in-chief of the entire Western army from the Cumberland Mountains to the Brazos. This placed him in command of two hundred thousand men.
Note.—The capture of Vicksburg brought to its full development and recognition Grant's genius as a military commander, and marks a clear division in his career. With the present paper, therefore, Mr. Garland concludes his series of interesting studies in Grant's life, his design having been only to exhibit, by. close personal presentations, the course and character of Grant's progress to his high destiny.—Editor.
