The termination of the event was simply mortifying: it in no way affected the grand result of the Chattanooga campaign, which had been victorious in all its details. On the 10th of December, after the enemy had been driven from his strongholds, Grant issued his congratulatory order to the three armies under his command, which has such a ring of true steel in it, that I cannot help holding it up to the admiration of my sympathizing reader.
"Headquarters Military Division of the}
Mississippi, in the Field,}
Chattanooga, Tenn., Dec. 10, 1863.}
"The general commanding takes this opportunity of returning his sincere thanks and congratulations to the brave armies of the Cumberland, the Ohio, the Tennessee, and their comrades from the Potomac, for the recent splendid and decisive successes achieved over the enemy. In a short time you have recovered from him the control of the Tennessee River from Bridgeport to Knoxville. You dislodged him from his great stronghold upon Lookout Mountain, drove him from Chattanooga Valley, wrested from his determined grasp the possession of Missionary Ridge, repelled, with heavy loss to him, his repeated assaults upon Knoxville, forcing him to raise the siege there, driving him at all points, utterly routed and discomfited, beyond the limits of the state. By your noble heroism and determined courage you have most effectually defeated the plans of the enemy for regaining possession of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. You have secured positions from which no rebellious power can drive or dislodge you. For all this the general commanding thanks you collectively and individually. The loyal people of the United States thank and bless you. Their hopes and prayers for your success against this unholy Rebellion are with you daily. Their faith in you will not be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their prayers to Almighty God will be answered. You will yet go to other fields of strife; and, with the invincible bravery and unflinching loyalty to justice and right which have characterized you in the past, you will prove that no enemy can withstand you, and that no defences, however formidable, can check your onward march.
By order of Major General U.S. Grant."
This came from the "silent man," who simply never talks without having something to say; but his pen speaks and reveals the man in all the towering grandeur of his lofty patriotism and sublime devotion. In this paper he tells the soldiers what they have done, not what he has done himself. President Lincoln promptly congratulated the general, and all under his command, on the decisive victory, and expressed his profoundest gratitude for the skill, courage, and perseverance with which the work had been accomplished.
Soon after the assembling of Congress, while the brilliant events I have written down were still fresh in the minds of the people, both houses passed a resolution to this effect: "That the thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby, 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."
These victories were so important, and had such a decided influence upon the destinies of the nation, that the hearts of the people were filled with gratitude. The president appointed a day of thanksgiving, and Grant was renewedly hailed as the savior of the country.
He was not dazzled by the elevated position he had achieved. Not a vain-glorious remark escaped his lips; not a particle of vanity was apparent in his looks or his manner. Neither the victories he had won, nor the spontaneous homage of the people, turned his thought from the cause to himself. Early in December, as soon as the campaign was fairly closed, and in the very despatch in which he announced the final results, he renewed his proposition for an expedition against Mobile. He does not ask to go home and receive the plaudits of his fellow-citizens; he does not hint at a moment of respite to enjoy the laurels he had won; he does not even require time to rest his weary frame, and recover entirely from his injuries. He is ready to organize immediately an attack upon Mobile. He mentions his route, and proposes to take it or invest it before the end of the next month. He was still in earnest, but the government were not prepared to authorize the movement.
Burnside had been superseded at Knoxville by Foster, and Grant visited his headquarters to prepare for a movement against Longstreet as soon as the season would permit. Foster was soon relieved at his own request, on account of an old wound, and General Schofield, at Grant's request, was appointed in his place. Sherman was sent to Vicksburg, where he organized the celebrated Meridian expedition, and early in February it started. The rebels were driven out of Mississippi, and its whole railroad system was destroyed or deranged so that it was useless to the Confederacy. The army marched four hundred miles in less than a month, fed upon the country, and returned in better condition than when it started.
In January Grant obtained permission of the War Department to visit St. Louis, where his son was dangerously sick. He travelled without show or parade, and few, if any, found out who he was. At the hotel, on his arrival, he registered his name as "U.S. Grant, Chattanooga;" but the news of his coming soon spread, and he was tendered a public reception and dinner. His son being much better, he accepted the invitation. His speech at the dinner was a line and a half in length. In the evening he was serenaded, and his speech was two lines and a half in length. He had never made a speech, and never intended to do so. The multitude shouted for a speech. "Tell them you can fight for them, but cannot talk to them—do tell them this," pleaded an earnest friend at his side. "I must get some one else to say that for me," replied the general. Of Grant's "silence," I shall have the honor to speak in another place.
During the winter, Grant attended to all the vast details of his large department, and put everything in condition for an early renewal of the contest in the spring, and on the 3d of March he was ordered to Washington.