CHAPTER XX.
Wherein Captain Galligasken illustrates the Temperance Principles of the illustrious Soldier, and proceeds with him on his conquering Path to the Capital of Mississippi.
I do not account it a great misfortune to the country, certainly not to Grant himself, that canal and side routes had failed; for success by any of them could hardly have been achieved any sooner than by the brilliant scheme finally adopted. But the people complained, the great generals complained, the president complained. There was a general murmur against Grant, and influence enough was brought to bear against him to have overwhelmed any common man. I pause in astonishment and wonder when I think that he did not turn in disgust from the grand enterprise. The people, the generals, the politicians were maligning him; even the good and patient president was dissatisfied, and put him on probation, rather than strengthened public confidence in him. Halleck, as generous now as he had been cynical before, mildly expressed his confidence that Grant would do all that was possible to open the Mississippi. Even the rebels, satisfied with the strength of their Gibraltar, contemptuously dared their persistent foe, and derided him for his failures. They jeeringly hoped he would not attempt to disturb the natural features of the globe.
But Grant said never a word in his own defence; he only kept his eye on the prize, and declared that he would yet take Vicksburg. He smoked his cigar, studied his maps, listened to the reports of spies and others who brought him information; but he deigned not a word of reply to the slanders in the newspaper, or to those which were carried to the ears of men in power. He neither authorized nor permitted any of his friends to speak for him. He knew that truth was mighty, and must prevail; and confident of the rectitude of his own motives, of the purity of his own life, he could afford to let results, rather than windy harangues, approve him and his conduct before the country. I marvel that he was not overwhelmed, when I consider the weight of influence brought to bear against him; that he had the moral courage to stand up before that storm of obloquy and complaint. I cannot help adducing a few of the evil traditions of the day, to show how cruelly he was abused.
A lady in Memphis lamented the drunken habits of General Grant, declaring that she had seen him carousing with two boon companions, so tipsy that he was obliged to steady himself by holding on to a chair; that when he spoke to her, in answer to her petition, his speech was thick and incoherent! She added that the general was ashamed to see her the next day, and sent his surgeon to attend to her business. A gentleman who listened to her statements immediately informed her that, as one of the "boon companions" to whom she alluded, he had dined with the general that day, had spent three hours in his presence, and was with him when she entered. He was confident that Grant had drank nothing stronger than Mississippi water, and that he was perfectly sober and clear-headed during the interview.
A letter from a respectable and reliable Union man in the West was sent to a newspaper office for publication, alleging that, on a certain occasion, General Grant and his staff went from Cairo to Springfield in the special car of the president of the Illinois Central Railroad, that on the way all the party got drunk, and Grant was the drunkest of all. It so happened that the president alluded to was present in the office when the letter was received. He promptly pronounced it a malignant falsehood. He had taken charge of the party himself, and provided the special car, because it contained conveniences for eating, sleeping, and working. Dinner was provided, and wine was served for such as used it, but Grant drank tea only; to his certain knowledge, he tasted no wine or liquor, and nobody was drunk on the car.
Grant, in the winter following the Corinth campaign, worn out with watching, anxiety, and continued activity, lay sick at a hotel in Memphis. His wife was with him, and was much concerned about the state of his health. One morning she joined the ladies in the parlor, seeming very much depressed. She said the surgeon had just been to see Mr. Grant, as she called him, and declared that he would not be able to go much farther if the patient did not stimulate. "And I cannot persuade him to do so," she added. "He says he shall not die, and will not taste a drop of liquor on any consideration." In less than a week he was on his way to Vicksburg.
On board of the headquarters boat at Milliken's Bend, Grant was studying his maps and plans in the ladies' cabin, wholly absorbed in the mighty thought of planning a campaign. He heeded nothing that transpired around him, and no one ventured to interrupt him. For hours he sat in this thoughtful mood, and his friends feared that his mental labors would overwhelm his physical frame. McPherson at last had the temerity to speak to him, and presenting a glass of whiskey, invited him to join the party in a few toasts, to shake off the burden upon his mind.
"Mac, you know that your whiskey will not help me to think," he replied, looking up with a smile. "Give me half a dozen of the best cigars you can find, and if the ladies will excuse me for smoking, I think by the time I have finished them, I shall have this job pretty nearly planned."
He continued his labor; the lines on his face deepened again; the company left him smoking and brooding over his maps and plans; but not a drop of liquor passed his lips.
"I have some fine brandy on the boat," said a gentleman to him during the operations at Vicksburg, when Grant seemed to be exhausted by his cares and his labors; "I will send you a case or two of it."
"I am greatly obliged to you," replied the general; "but I do not use the article. I have a big job on hand, and though I know I shall win, I know I must do it with a cool head. Send the liquor you intend for me to my hospital in the rear. I don't think a little will hurt the poor fellows down there."
None for himself, strained in mind and muscle by cares and toils that would have overcome any other man; but a blessed thought for the poor wounded ones whom he had led to victory over the couch of pain and death!
At a celebration of Washington's birthday before Vicksburg, the company, of whom Grant was one, indulged freely in champagne, drinking patriotic toasts, suggested by the day. The general pushed aside a glass of the sparkling beverage intended for his use, and took up a glass of Mississippi water.
"This suits the matter in hand," said he, glancing at the opaque fluid in the glass. "Drink this toast: God gave us Lincoln and Liberty: let us fight for both."
President Lincoln quaintly hinted his disbelief in the popular rumors of Grant's intemperance, when, after the battle of Shiloh, he said, "I wish all our generals would drink Grant's whiskey."
Before Vicksburg Grant stood alone. The government and the people were more than doubtful of the result. McClernand, Hunter, Fremont, and McClellan were mentioned as his successors. Senators and representatives urged Grant's removal, and one of his corps commanders was plotting for his place. Still he was struggling for success, while friends wavered, and enemies cried out against him. To his heavy load of cares and trials was added this heaviest burden of all—the dread of being removed before he could carry out the great design which had been born in his busy brain.
This great design set at nought all the formulæ of the military schools, and was in violation of all the known laws of strategy; but it was not a new idea. Long before canals and operations, in accordance with the recognized rules of warfare, had been discarded as impracticable, he had cherished it as a last resort. The military engineers of the Confederacy were at least the equals, as scientific men, of those of the Union. With every means and material in abundance, they had fortified Vicksburg on the most approved plans, and, aided by the immense natural advantages of the position, had succeeded in building up a "Gibraltar" which could not be captured. To them the issue was no less than the very existence of the Confederacy; for, cut off from its supplies in Texas, its conquest was only a question of time. These engineers made sure that they had not deceived themselves. They piled up defences, and extended their batteries, until Gibraltar and Sevastopol were beggared in their strength in comparison with Vicksburg.
Doubtless, measured by the ordinary rules of military security, and by the ability of any force governed by the recognized canons of warfare, the Confederate engineers were fully justified in their perfect confidence. All the communications behind Vicksburg were in their hands. No base of supplies could be established below or in the rear of the stronghold. Impenetrable swamps and morasses defended it above, for they afforded no resting place whereon an army could stand. The fortified heights of Walnut Hills frowned for miles above the submerged lands on the Yazoo. The whole strength of the Rebellion was in the rear of the city, and armies could be rushed in upon a hostile force gathered there, by the railroads. To any other man than Grant it would have been a hopeless task; but he set at nought the rules of war under which Vicksburg was safe.
He announced his plan to his generals. They were startled. All opposed it. He intended to march through a portion of Louisiana to a point on the Mississippi, below Vicksburg, cross the river, and strike the Gibraltar in the rear. The gunboats were to run by the batteries, and assist in the operations below. The scheme was full of peril. To transport the army below Vicksburg was to separate it from any base of supplies; in short, to cut his own communications, to place himself in just the situation which the rebels would have selected for him. He did not call a council of war, and argue the question with his generals; he simply made up his mind to do it. Sherman, Logan, McPherson, Wilson, all opposed the plan when it came to their knowledge.
Sherman, his cherished friend, his indomitable supporter in whatever he did, whether he agreed or not with his chief, declared that the only way to take Vicksburg was by going back to Memphis, and following up the movement which they had attempted the preceding autumn. But Grant was confident that a backward movement would be fatal to himself, that the country would not endure anything that looked like another reverse, and he adhered to his own plan.
Sherman then wrote out a formal paper, setting forth the advantages of his own plan very ably, and in close accord with all military rules, and sent it to Grant's chief of staff. It was given to the general, and he read it carefully, and then put it in his trousers pocket. As Sherman had requested in the paper, he made no reply to the argument; in fact, never mentioned it. Weeks after, when prominent men in the army gave Sherman the credit of the plan, he stated these facts.
The disapproval of his ablest generals could not deter Grant from his purpose. Even Sherman, as careful of the reputation of his chief as of the glory of the cause he had espoused, failed to shake his inflexible will. The army was marched and ferried from Milliken's Bend to De Shroons' Landing, three or four miles below Grand Gulf. The gunboats, with a fleet of barges laden with provisions for the troops, ran the gantlet of the Vicksburg batteries with comparatively slight loss. Such a bold movement appalled the crews of the transports, and only a few of them were willing to undergo the exposure. But Grant appealed to the army, wherein were to be found the representatives of every trade and profession. And engineers, firemen, pilots, and deck hands were superabundantly supplied. Through the rain of shot and shell they passed, and the army and the navy were gathered together again in the enemy's country. A new era in the campaign had been inaugurated.
Porter bombarded Grand Gulf without success, but he ran by its batteries, and was in readiness to protect the transports, in which the army was to be conveyed across the river. The troops were embarked, and it was intended to proceed down the river until high ground should be found for the landing. A negro gave information that a good road led from Bruinsburg, ten miles below Grand Gulf, to the interior. At this point, therefore, the troops were landed April 30. The army was in the State of Mississippi, with only very scanty means of obtaining supplies from above Vicksburg. Three days' rations were served out to the men, upon which they were required to subsist for five days.
The movement was intended in the beginning as a surprise to the enemy, and was fully proved to be such. There were two rebel armies to be dealt with—that of Pemberton, in and around Vicksburg, and that of Joe Johnston, at Jackson, the capital of the state, fifty miles distant. The object was to get between these two forces, and prevent them from effecting a junction. The national army was in hot haste, and Grant's struggles to gain a moment of time are full of interest. Red tape was cut, forms were dispensed with, and the meagre supplies of the army were hurried forward with the utmost despatch.
On the 1st of May, Grant attacked and defeated the enemy at Port Gibson, the first point which disputed his passage to the interior, before reënforcements could be sent from Grand Gulf, capturing six guns and six hundred and fifty prisoners.
While these operations were in progress, General Grant had organized the celebrated raid of Grierson, which passed through the rebel country from La Grange to Baton Rouge, spreading consternation on every side. Sherman, who had not yet come down from Milliken's Bend, also made a demonstration in favor of the movement at Haines's Bluff, which prevented troops from being sent down to Grand Gulf.
In this desperate enterprise, hardly more than wagons enough to transport the ammunition could be allowed. No tents or baggage could be carried, but the men submitted without a murmur to the hardships and privations incident to a hurried march in an enemy's country. Grant stood on the same level in this respect as the humblest soldier. His entire baggage for six days was a tooth-brush! He had neither a clean shirt, an overcoat, nor a blanket; no horse, orderly, or camp chest. He slept upon the ground, with no covering but the sky and the stars, and lived on soldier's rations.
The battle for Grand Gulf and the base of supplies was fought at Port Gibson. The place was evacuated, and Porter took possession of it. The rebels were pursued to the Big Black River. The position was secure, and Grant had time to breathe for a moment. He visited Grand Gulf, went on board of a gunboat, borrowed a shirt, and sat up till midnight writing despatches. He attended personally to all the details of the campaign. He ordered Sherman to come forward, giving him the minutiæ of rations to be brought.
It had been his purpose, up to this time, as it had been the expectation of the government, that he would secure a position below Vicksburg, open the river to Port Hudson, and coöperate with General Banks in the reduction of that important point. After its capture, with the Mississippi open to supply the two armies, they were to unite and besiege Vicksburg. But he had made some progress, and was ready to fight the battle on which the safety of the stronghold would depend. He knew that Johnston was on his way to Jackson, and that reënforcements were pouring into that place from the south. But Banks could not reach Port Hudson till the 10th of May, and the delay would weaken the national force while it strengthened that of the rebels. He decided finally to pursue his own plan, and without any hesitation he pushed on towards Jackson.
Cutting loose from his base of supplies, he marched into the interior, subsisting his army on the country. Sherman, with his corps, had joined him, but this veteran was fearful of the result of the audacious movement. Grant did not inform the general-in-chief of his plan, and the government was appalled at his boldness. Grant was alone, but he was self-possessed and sanguine.
The governor of Mississippi was howling with rage, and begging the "glorious patriots" to hurry to the defence of the state. Steadily the grand army marched in two columns towards the capital. At Raymond a sharp battle was fought, but the enemy was routed, and the victorious column pursued them to Jackson, where the rebels were again defeated. The capital was captured, the railroad destroyed, bridges, factories, arsenals, everything which could be of service to the foe in the war was blown up or burned. Grant, with his staff, rode into the town; his son, then thirteen years old, galloped ahead of the column into the capital.