CHAPTER XI. PUBLIC HONORS-GRADE OF LIEUTENANT-GENERAL REVIVED. General Grant's successful Vicksburg campaign opened the Mississippi, severing the Confederacy; thereby cutting off the great supplies of cattle from Texas for the support of their armies. The Chattanooga-Knoxville extraordinary campaign had virtually closed the war for the time in the Southwest, and shut the rebels out from the rich granaries of Tennessee and Kentucky. With the single exception of Virginia, their forces had been driven from their strongholds, and so scattered that they could present no effectual barrier to the onward movement of the victorious Union forces. The repeated LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U. S. GRANT. defeat of the Confederates operating against General Grant, had carried dismay to the people throughout the South, and they began to lose hope of the issue; the cause of the rebellion fell rapidly in the opinion of political speculators, both at home and abroad; while at the North the faith of the wavering was confirmed, and the patriots were reassured. General Grant was not quite forty-three years of age; his personal appearance at this time is thus described by a correspondent: "The appearance of General Grant is far from what an idealist would picture of a great hero. He is a man of medium height, and but little above the minimum standard of officers of the army. The appearance of his countenance during repose is far from commanding; but on the field there seems to be something in the determined glance of his eye, the contracted brow, and the firm-set teeth, that would imply that his wishes "must and shall be carried out." Otherwise there is but little in his countenance that could be called striking. "His brow is straight and square, but cannot be characterized as lofty, although it is far from ignoble. His head is covered by a fair quantity of light brownish hair. His eyes are blue, sharp, and expressive, yet at times, calm and mild. His nose is aquiline, its bold lines delicately chiseled. His mouth and chin are well formed, but are concealed under a heavy reddish beard and moustache, which is kept cut somewhat shorter than it deserves. "His manner is mild, even in times of the greatest excitement, and the humblest drummer boy can as easily reach the General with his complaints, as could his corps, or departmental commanders. "His style of dress has often been alluded to in the course of this narrative. He assumes no gaudy plumes nor trappings, and takes but little consideration as to his personal appearance. This apparent carelessness is a conclusive evidence that his mind is employed with more important matters." The first announcement of General Grant's victorious campaign in Georgia and Tennessee was made on the day of the first assembling of Congress for 1863-4. Mr. Washburne, Member of the House from Galena, Illinois, immediately gave notice of the introduction of two bills, one, "To revive the grade of Lieutenant-General of the Arm" and the other, "To provide that a medal be struck for General Grant and the officers of the army." When the latter resolution was brought up, it was passed by both Houses of Congress without opposition, receiving the signature of the President, and became the first law of the session of 1863-4. The following is a copy of the official document: GENERAL ORDERS No. 398. JOINT RESOLUTION of thanks to Major-General Ulysses S. Grant and the officers and soldiers who have fought under his command during this rebellion; and providing that the President of the United States shall cause a medul to be struck, to be presented to Major-General Grant in the name of the people of the United States of America. Be it resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the thanks of Congress be, and they hereby are, presented to Major-General Ulysses S. Grant, and through him to the officers and soldiers who have fought under his command during this rebellion, for their gallantry and good conduct in the battles in which they have been engaged; and that the President of the United States be requested to cause a gold medal to be struck, with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be presented to Major-General Grant. SEC. 2. And be it further resolved, That, when the said medal shall have been struck, the President shall cause a copy of this joint resolution to be engrossed on parchment, and shall transmit the same, together with the said medal, to Major-General Grant, to be presented to him in the name of the people of the United States of America. SEC. 3. And be it further resolved, That a sufficient sum of money to carry this resolution into effect is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. SCHUYLER Colfax, Vice-President of the United States, and President of the Senate. Approved, December 17, 1863: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. The medal, as selected by the committee having the matter in charge, was designed by Leutze, and is thus described by the N. Y Evening Post: "The obverse of the medal was to consist of a profile likeness of the hero, surrounded by a wreath of laurels; his name and the year of his victories inscribed upon it, and the whole surrounded by a galaxy of stars. The design for the reverse was original, appropriate, and beautiful. It was the figure of Fame seated in a graceful attitude on the American eagle, which, with outspread wings, seems preparing for flight. In her right hand she held the symbolical trump, and in her left, a scroll, on which were inscribed the names of the gallant chief's various battles, viz.: Corinth, Vicksburg, Mississippi River, and Chattanooga. On her head was a helmet, ornamented in Indian fashion, with feathers radiating from it. In front of the eagle, its breast resting against it, was the emblematical shield of the United States, Just underneath this group, their stems crossing each other, were single sprigs of the pine and the palm, typical of the North and South. Above the figure of Fame, in a curved line, the motto, 'Proclaim Liberty throughout the Land.' The edge was surrounded, like the obverse, with a circle of stars of a style peculiar to the Byzantine period, and rarely seen except in the illuminated MSS. of that age. These stars were more in number than the existing States-of course, including those of the South-thereby suggesting further additions in he future to the Union." The Legislatures of New York, Ohio and other States passed resolutions of thanks to General Grant and his army, while other honors were paid him by societies, electing him honorary life member, etc. While these honors were being showered on General Grant by his admiring countrymen, he was busily occupied in gathering up his strength to pursue the war with unabated vigor. About Christmas he visited Knoxville to inspect the condition of the troops there, and found the men in great need of clothing; many were without shoes, others had but a single blanket. The winter was the most inclement that had been known for thirty years. The roads encumbered with snow and ice, were almost impassable. The resources of the country had become exhausted, owing to the gathering of such large armies. To add to these innumerable cares, he found that the rebel cavalry were constantly attacking his outposts. The difficulties of the route to Knoxville rendered it almost impossible to remedy the sufferings of his men; but all that could be done was done. From Knoxville he visited Nashville, crossing the country by the Cumberland Gap on horseback, passing through Barbersville, London and Lexington. Wherever he went, crowds thronged to greet him. Various efforts were made to induce him to make speeches, but never with success. At Lexington, General Leslie Coombs, said to the crowd: "General Grant has told me in confidence that he never made a speech, knows nothing about speechmaking, and has no disposition to learn." Elaborate plans had been matured by Grant for the prosecution of the war and the crushing of the Rebellion in the Southwest, as soon as the weather would admit of active operations. A concerted movement of all our armies under one policy, and so far as possible, under one direction. The policy of General Grant, is shown in one of his communications to the War Department. He said: "I look upon the next line for me to secure to be that from Chattanooga to Mobile, Montgomery and Atlanta being the important intermediate points. To do this, large supplies must be secured on the Tennessee River, so as to be independent of the railroad from here (Nashville) to the Tennessee, for a considerable length of time. Mobile would be a second base. The destruction which Sherman will do to the roads around Meridian will be of material importance to us in preventing the enemy from drawing supplies from Mississippi, and in clearing that section of all large bodies of rebel troops. . . . I do not look upon any points, except Mobile in the South, and the Tennessee River in the North, as presenting practicable starting. points from which to operate against Atlanta and Montgomery." |