1863.] MAJOR-GENERAL IN THE REGULAR ARMY. 341

CHAPTER XXVIII.

PROMOTED.

WEEKS earlier the general-in-chief had advised Grant of the President's determination to confer the vacant majorgeneralship in the regular army upon the first commander who should win a great success. The General was just in time; a few days later Meade would have gained it, for only one day after the surrender of Vicksburg, news of the victory of Gettysburg fanned Northern exultation into a continental bonfire from Maine to California.

After each of Grant's previous successes, the air had been filled with clamorous slanders; but this crowning triumph silenced them forever. Nobody could make “plain people" believe that the captor of Vicksburg was either a drunken or an incapable soldier, and East vied with West in lauding the man whose name, inseparably coupled with victory, had become a household word. Sunday-school medals, swords, horses, degrees from universities, and honorary memberships in all sorts of societies, were showered upon him. His wife, in St. Louis, was serenaded by an immense throng, and when she appeared on the hotel balcony, leaning upon the arm of General Strong, was greeted with rousing cheers.

As he had borne injustice and misrepresentation without a murmur, he bore this success, which would have turned most heads, with serene and unaffected modesty. He did not chime in with those writers and talkers who— crammed with a little military learning-can not describe two soldiers crossing a street or going around a corner except as "moving by the flank" or "turning the enemy's line." To a visitor who spoke pretentiously of "grand logistics" and his "brilliant strategy," he replied :

342

A LESSON FOR STEAMBOAT MEN.

[1863.

"Oh, I don't know much about that. I had as many men as I wanted, and simply pounded away till I pounded the place down!"

In less than a year a President was to be nominated, and newspapers suggested his name. Politicians, too, began to tender their "influence." But the General, refusing to talk at all on the subject, continued quietly doing his duty.

He was ever mindful of the welfare of his men. Rawlins, on his way to Washington with the official report of the capture of Vicksburg, found that Mississippi River steamers were exacting enormous prices for the transportation of soldiers going home on furlough. He reported the facts to his chief, who thereupon issued an order, restricting charges to the rate per mile which the Government paid for transporting troops. This cut them down more than two-thirds.

Shortly afterward, the Hope, about leaving Vicksburg for Cairo, took on board twelve hundred officers and men, charging them each from ten to twenty-five dollars passage money. Down came an order, enforced by a file of soldiers, requiring her captain to refund to every enlisted man the excess he had paid above five dollars, and to each officer the excess above seven dollars. The passengers cheered until they were hoarse, and Grant did not permit the boat to leave until the last dollar was paid back.

"I will teach these steamboat men," he said, "that soldiers who have periled their lives to open the Mississippi for their benefit must not be imposed upon."

Charges by the mile proved a little confusing, so he subsequently established the rates:-From St. Louis to Cairo, four dollars; to Memphis, ten dollars; to Vicksburg, sixteen dollars; to Port Hudson, twenty dollars.

Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, favored the immediate resumption of trade with the conquered regions. Grant opposed it, in a letter to the Government, on the ground that it was premature, and would demoralize our army, and help the rebels. He added:

"But no theory of my own will ever stand in the way of my executing in good faith any order I may receive from those in authority over me."

1863.] GRANT DEALS WITH A COTTON-BUYER.

343

One day a stranger presented himself with a recommendation, signed by several members of Congress, and other Northern politicians. Glancing at it, the General-who was wont to declare that he had not yet found one honest man following the army as a trader--asked impatiently

"This is for a permit to buy cotton, is it not?"

"Yes."

at once.

"Well, you can take it, and leave these head-quarters If I find you here again, I'll have you arrested. Men of your class are doing more to corrupt this army than all other kinds of rascality put together."

The speculator ingloriously decamped. The enormous fortunes made by this dubious traffic naturally excited the bitterness of conscientious officers working hard for slender remuneration and the privilege of being shot at. One evening, the staff sat idly in front of head-quarters. BOWERS (vehemently).-"I'm a fool. I have mistaken my vocation. I think I'll go into cotton-stealing, as the only only way to prosper."

GRANT (laughing).-"I don't know about that. I don't believe it does prosper generally, though there are streaks of success in roguery, as in every thing else."

BOWERS.-"Well, I think I'll resign and go into cotton. At least I would if I had the money. You know when I drew my pay last; here is all I have left."

And from the depths of his pocket the aide produced a solitary penny. The General, fumbling in his own pocket, seemed, likewise, unable to find any memento of pay-day; but at last he brought to the surface a silver half-dollar, and tossing it to his young friend, said :

"Here, Joe, take this for a 'stake.""

Bowers had these words engraved upon the coin, and always carried it. After his tragic death it was found in his pocket.

Grant recommended several colonels and brigadiers for promotion, and the Government, now very gracious, acceded in every case. Among them was the zealous and able Rawlins. Never had commander a more loyal and efficient helper, or one more heartily appreciated and loved.

344

SOLDIERS TO VOTE AS THEY PLEASED.

[1863.

In no form was the General's genius more conspicuous than in his quick recognition of any special capacity, and his knowing exactly where to put it. E. S. Parker-another strong man, of unusual culture and accomplishments, though of unmixed Indian blood-soon afterward joined the staff, and has since continued a leading and valuable member.*

The President desired to organize one hundred thousand negro soldiers in the Mississippi Valley. Grant zealously co-operated, stating, as the result of his observation, that negroes were more easily disciplined than white troops, and asking that as many as possible might be placed under him. At every post he established a camp for contrabands out of employment, and allowed them to work for planters who could give satisfactory bonds for their pay and kind treat

ment.

Most Northern States passed laws allowing their soldiers in the field to vote. Grant responded† to an inquiry :—

"Your letter, asking if citizens of the State of Iowa will be allowed to visit this army and distribute tickets when the election is held for soldiers to vote, is just received. In reply I will state that loyal citizens of Northern States will be allowed to visit the troops from their States at any time. Electioneering, or any course calculated to arouse discordant feelings, will be prohibited. The volunteer soldiers of the army will be allowed to hold an election, if the law gives them the right to vote, and no power shall prevent them from voting the ticket of their choice."

* Brigadier-General Parker is descended from that portion of the Indian race known as the Iroquois, or Six Nations, originally the most powerful confederacy of Indian tribes on our continent. Indeed, speculative writers have claimed that the alliance under which the American colonies fought the war for Independence, and which afterward ripened into the United States, was based upon it. Since the Revolution, the Six Nations have declined in numbers and power, though they still maintain a quasi national existence.

General Parker spent his early days with them in their wild life, not beginning his English education until he had nearly reached manhood. After spending three years at school and two in studying law, he practiced civil engineering, first in the service of the State of New York, and afterward under the National Government. In the fall of 1863, he was ordered to duty on Grant's staff, with the rank of captain and assistant-adjutant-general. He was in the Chattanooga campaign, and the Virginia battles of 1864-5. He has had several honorable commissions to treat with refractory Indian tribes, and has performed other valuable public services. † August fourth.

1863.]

HIS VIEW ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION.

345

But while determined that troops should vote as they pleased, his own views were very emphatic. To Logan, at home-"stumping" for the Union candidates-he wrote:

"I send you ten days' extension of leave, and will give you as many more as you require. I have read your speeches in Illinois, and feel that you are really doing more good there than you could possibly here, while your command is lying idle."

Senator Henry Wilson, in a letter to Washburne, alluded to rumors that the General would be called East, and also expressed the hope that his large influence would be thrown against the prime cause and strength of the rebellion. The note was forwarded to him, and he replied:-*

"I fully appreciate all Senator Wilson says. Had it not been for General Halleck, and Dana, I think it altogether likely I would have been ordered to the Potomac. My going could do no possible good. They have there able officers who have been brought up with that army; and to import a commander to place over them, certainly could produce no good.

"Whilst I would not positively disobey an order, I would have objected most vehemently to taking that command, or any other, except the one I have. I can do more with this army than it would be possible for me to do with any other, without time to make the same acquaintance with others I have with this. I know that the soldiers of the Army of the Tennessee can be relied on to the fullest extent. I believe I know the exact capacity of every general in my command to command troops, and just where to place them, to get from them their best services. This is a matter of no small

consequence.

** * "The people of the North need not quarrel over the institution of slavery. What Vice-President Stephens acknowledges as the cornerstone of the confederacy is already knocked out. Slavery is already dead, and can not be resurrected. It would take a standing army to maintain slavery in the South if we were to make peace to-day guaranteeing to the South all their former constitutional privileges.

"I never was an abolitionist-not even what could be called anti-slavery -but I try to judge fairly and honestly; and it became patent to my mind early in the rebellion, that the North and South could never live in peace with each other except as one nation. As anxious as I am to see peace, and that without slavery, re-established, I would not therefore be willing to see any settlement until this question is forever settled.

* August thirtieth.