Our Standard-Bearer; Or, The Life of General Uysses S. Grant

by Oliver Optic

As no one, or any body of men, ever presumed to disobey an order of General Grant, at seven o'clock Lieutenant Wickfield, with his escort of one hundred men, filed out of the camp, amid the derisive cheers of the entire army. The escort unite in their testimony that he consumed the whole of the pie, and, so far as they were able to judge, are willing to affirm that he enjoyed the treat, especially as sufficient time had elapsed since his dinner to enable him to do so with impunity.

Grant's commission as a brigadier general reached him August 7, though it was antedated May 17. In harmony with his antecedents thus far, which placed him neither first nor last, he was the seventeenth on a list of thirty-four original appointments in the grade to which he was assigned. Though Mr. Washburn had been forward in procuring his appointment, Grant was unanimously recommended by the Illinois delegation in Congress—not one of whom he knew personally before the commencement of the outbreak, and not one of whom had the slightest idea of the magnificent grant they were making for the nation.

At the time of General Grant's appointment, the Western Department, which included all the region between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, with the State of Illinois and such parts of Western Kentucky and Tennessee as might be in possession of the national arms, was under command of General Fremont. For his own convenience, the chief of this department divided his territory into sub-districts; and on the 1st of September Grant was ordered to the command of the South-east Missouri District, including Western Kentucky and Tennessee. On the 4th of the month he established his headquarters at Cairo.

General Grant was now in a position to make himself felt, and he began to gaze out upon the broad field of Southern aggression before him. He was on the actual dividing line between loyalty and rebellion, prepared to defend the one and invade the other. Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, had made his sensational reply to the call for troops, that his state would furnish none for the "wicked" purpose of subduing her sister Southern States, and had issued his proclamation of neutrality, which meant nothing but rebellion, as proved by the subsequent conduct of the man. There could be no neutral state between the fiery South and the indignant North.

Cairo was a point of the utmost importance to the loyal cause, as a depot of supplies, as a gunboat rendezvous, and as a strategetic position. The Mobile and Ohio Railroad extended through the western part of Tennessee to the northern line of that state, where it diverged into three branches, terminating respectively at Hickman, Columbus, and Paducah, connecting these places with all the principal cities of the South, each of which might form a base of operation for offensive movements on the part of the rebels.

Neutrality in Kentucky meant rebellion. It was proclaimed in the interests of the South, but it was not, and could not be, respected by either party. It was first violated by the rebels, who failed to sound the notes of indignation when Bishop General Polk marched his army into the state and seized upon Hickman and Columbus. General Grant had studied his maps faithfully, and fully comprehended the situation, not only in its present but in its future significance. Polk was in full march upon Paducah, the possession of which would give the rebels the control of the navigation of the Ohio and the entrance of the Tennessee, at the mouth of which the town is located.

Grant was wide awake, and a few days after he had established his headquarters at Cairo he completed his hasty preparations for the capture of Paducah, and started late in the evening with two regiments and a light battery, with two gunboats—the naval force of his district having also been placed under his direction. Arriving at his objective point the next morning, he landed his force, and took possession of the town, the rebels under Tilghman hastily evacuating the place while the national troops were landing.

Paducah was a strong secession town. Recruiting officers from the rebel army were enlisting its citizens to fight against the Union even when Grant landed. The prompt movement was a necessity, and Grant made it without the order of his superior officer, though he notified Fremont of the purposes of the enemy, and asked his permission to check them; but he started before this permission reached him. He also announced his purpose to the legislature of Kentucky, then in session at Frankfort, but neither did he wait for their permission. A few hours of delay would have defeated the objects of the expedition. He was prompt, and thus saved the West from the mortification and disaster of having the Ohio closed.

The inhabitants of Paducah were in full sympathy with the Rebellion. They believed in the neutrality of Kentucky, even while they harbored and assisted in recruiting a rebel force in their midst. Grant issued a proclamation, in which he informed them that he came not as an enemy, but as their fellow-citizen, to respect and enforce the rights of all loyal citizens. He declared that he had nothing to do with opinions, and should deal only with armed rebellion, its aiders and abettors. He could not help mingling a little of his quaint humor with the solid declarations of the document; adding, that whenever it was manifest the people of Paducah were able to defend themselves, maintain the authority of the government, and protect the rights of loyal citizens, he should withdraw the forces under his command. It was not their style to defend themselves from rebels, or to maintain the authority of the government, so that the necessity of withdrawing the force was not realized.

Grant remained in the town only till noon. Having garrisoned the position, he returned to Cairo, where Fremont's permission to capture Paducah, if he felt strong enough, awaited him. He had already felt his strength, however, and Bishop Polk had been effectually checkmated. Grant immediately took possession of Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland River; and though he was not in position to order a forward movement himself, he seems to have been preparing the way for the triumphal march of the Union armies, which ended only when the hordes of treason laid down their arms at the feet of him who now opened the gates of their wide domain.