his neck," indicating that a defeat might have brought him a severe punishment. Victory has saved more than one general from the rope.

What we know is that the Union army lay in its camp on the Potomac for more than a month, then the river was crossed and an advance made on Warrenton, Virginia. Here came a further delay, McClellan apparently deliberately preparing for battle, while Stanton and Halleck, then commander-in-chief, fretted and fumed. President Lincoln also shared in their dissatisfaction, and on the 7th of November, when McClellan had about finished his preparations for a battle with Lee, a messenger from Washington reached his camp with orders relieving him from command. He was bidden to turn over the army to General Burnside, which he quietly did, and prepared to "repair to Trenton, New Jersey," as ordered.

The news of his dismissal aroused intense indignation in the army. We are told that the men were ripe for a revolt, and that some officers advised him to march upon Washington, turn out the Government, and make himself dictator. If any such foolish counsel was given it was not obeyed. McClellan went to Trenton, as ordered, and his military career came to an end, he taking no further part in the war.

He was severely criticised, though the temperate judgment of history has placed his conduct in a better light. If he had made many enemies, he had a host of friends, and when, in 1864, the time for the next Presidental election came round, he was placed in nomination against Lincoln, as the candidate of the War Democrats. Though his chance for an election was very small, he received a popular vote of 1,800,000 against 2,200,000 for Lincoln.

The war feeling has long since passed away and though McClellan is not classed among the world's great commanders, he has won a place among the leading generals of the war. He could fight well when he had to, but deliberation and over-caution seem to have been his bane. The Confederate commanders appreciated his abilities, and it is said that when Lee was crossing the Potomac into Maryland, one of his officers saw him, with knotted brow and serious look, reading a despatch.

"What is the news?" he ventured to inquire.

"The worst news possible," was the grave reply. "McClellan is in command again.'

McClellan resigned his commission as major-general November 8, 1864, and made a long visit to Europe, remaining there till 1868. After his return he was appointed superintendent of docks and piers in New York City, holding this position till 1872. He was elected governor of New Jersey in 1877, and in 1881 was appointed by Congress on the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers. Many tempting business offers and invitations to accept the presidency of colleges were made him, but he declined them all.

It is difficult to find a man in military history, beside the first Napoleon, who equalled him in personal magnetism over his men. They fairly made an idol of him, and would obey him when all other control failed. As a student of military history and tactics he had no superior, and as a man he was of irreproachable character. He died at his home in Orange, New Jersey, October 28, 1885.

ULYSSES S. GRANT, COMMANDER IN

CHIEF OF THE ARMIES OF

THE UNION

DURING the six years preceding 1861 a poor Illinois farmer, with a wife and two children and without trade or profession, was doing his best to make both ends meet and was succeeding very poorly. He worked hard. He raised wheat and potatoes, cut the trees on his farm into cordwood, and tried to sell this in St. Louis. Finding that this did not pay, he tried auctioneering, bill collecting, real estate dealing, but all to no purpose. Then, deeming himself a failure as a business man, he went to work in his father's leather and saddlery establishment, at Galena, Illinois.

He was not a failure. He was simply a good man out of place. In the next four years he made himself a phenomenal success, for this poor farmer and incapable business man was Ulysses Simpson Grant, the famous commander-in-chief of the Union armies in the Civil War, who is acknowledged as one of the greatest military men of modern times.

Soldiery was not a new business for Grant. He had been a soldier before he was a farmer, but had made no special mark. He was then only a minor officer and had no chance to show what was in him. He needed a broad field and a fair opportunity, and they came.

Grant was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822. His father obtained him admission to the West Point Military Academy, where he did not especially shine, though he got the credit of being a fine horse

man. Yet one, at least, of his teachers must have seen a good promise in the young man, for he said, If the country ever hears of any of these students, it will be of young Grant."

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He graduated at the age of twenty-one and was made brevet second lieutenant in a regiment stationed in Missouri. Two years later came the Mexican War and with it a chance for active service. This he gained in Texas under General Taylor, and later in Mexico under General Scott, distinguishing himself in several battles. At Chapultepec he was in the line of skirmishers that led the attack, and showed a courage and alertness that won him praise from Colonel Garland and promotion to the rank of first lieutenant. Discovering a church that commanded the rear of the gate to San Cosme, he broke into it with a few soldiers, carried a mountain howitzer into the steeple, and opened a disastrous fire on the defenders of the gate. This act was further rewarded in 1850 with the brevet rank of captain.

Four years later, after serving at several stations, Grant grew tired of the monotony of barrack life and resigned. He had married Miss Julia T. Dent in 1848, and now entered upon the difficult work of making a living above spoken of. He was clerking in the leather store when the tocsin of war again sounded and President Lincoln called for volunteers. Grant was among the first to offer his services, but by no means the first to be accepted. His modesty stood in the way and he held back while civilian generals, home-guard soldiers, were pressing to the front in the line of promotion.

A meeting was called at Galena on the night of the President's proclamation, April 15, 1861, and Grant, being known for a West Pointer, was called upon to

A

preside. This was a kind of work in which he had no experience. He was too modest to make a good talker and had some trouble to get through. company was raised on the spot. The members wished him for their captain, but he declined, though he promised to help them all he could.

Doubtless he felt, when colonels and generals were being made from raw material on all sides, that his experience fitted him for a higher position than that of captain of volunteers. But no notice was taken of the offer of his services to the Government; he went to Cincinnati and tried to get on the staff of General McClellan, but failed; for some time he was engaged in the machine work of mustering in the State's quota of volunteers; finally Governor Yates rewarded him for his efficiency in this by making him colonel of the Twenty-First Illinois Volunteers. Thus only with difficulty did the man who was to prove the ablest of all succeed in getting into the service at all.

On August 1, 1861, Grant was raised to the rank of brigadier-general and put in command of the district of Southeast Missouri. The Confederates were astir and in November he had a fight with them at Belmont, Missouri, which he captured after four hours' hard fighting. Soon afterwards the enemy received reinforcements and Grant's small force was in danger of being cut off.

"We are surrounded!" cried the men.

"Well," said Grant, with grim determination, "we must cut our way out then, as we cut our way in." They fought their way back to the boats, which Grant was the last to enter, and made their way out of the ugly situation.

Grant's district was soon after increased, so as to