"When I looked upon the long lane filing in through roads along which our slaughtered brothers lie buried thicker than sheaves in a harvest field, and reflected on the horrors to which this race had been subjected, I felt faith in a God of Justice renewed in my heart, and hope in the success of our cause rekindle to a brighter flame."
From Vicksburg Sherman went to New Orleans to arrange with Banks and Porter the details of the Red River expedition. Banks wanted 10,000 of Sherman's men for thirty days, and Sherman promised that he should have them. So, returning to Vicksburg, Sherman directed A. J. Smith to take 7,500 men of Hurlbut's corps (Sixteenth), and 2,500 of McPherson's (Seventeenth), and report to Banks for thirty days and no more, at the end of which time he was to return to Vicksburg. The Red River expedition was not successful, and it was two and a-half months before A. J. Smith returned to Vicksburg, much of the delay being caused by low water in the rivers, and consequent difficulties of transportation.
[CHAPTER XXI.]
THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
Grant made Lieutenant-General—Correspondence with Sherman—Their Memorable Interview—Planning a Scientific Campaign—General Howard's Pen Picture of the Two Soldiers—Schofield, McPherson and Thomas—Grant's Final Orders—Sherman's Army in Line—Strength of Johnston's Army—General Howard's Account of the Advance.
March 4th, 1864, marked the beginning of the end of the great rebellion. A law had been made by Congress, authorizing the appointment of a Lieutenant-General, to command all the armies of the Nation. President Lincoln promptly selected Grant for the position, and on the date above named telegraphed to him at Nashville to come at once to Washington. Grant received this exalted honor with his characteristic modesty, and assumed the vast responsibility without hesitation. But in this "crowded hour of glorious life," which to him was surely "worth an age without a name," the great soldier instinctively turned his earliest thoughts toward his comrades in arms, and first and most toward Sherman. In the very hour in which he received the dispatch from Washington, he wrote to Sherman, telling him the news, and generously attributing a large share of his success to his faithful aids.
"Dear Sherman," he said. "... I want to express my thanks to you and McPherson, as the men to whom, above all others, I feel indebted for whatever I have had of success. How far your advice and assistance have been of help to me, you know. How far your execution of whatever has been given you to do entitles you to the reward I am receiving, you cannot know as well as I. I feel all the gratitude this letter would express, giving it the most flattering construction. The word you I use in the plural, intending it for McPherson also. I should write to him, and will some day, but starting in the morning, I do not know that I will find time just now."
Equally generous and noble was Sherman's reply. After referring to the transcendent importance of Grant's new rank, as "Washington's legitimate successor," he said: "You do McPherson and myself too much honor. At Belmont you manifested your traits—neither of us being near. At Donelson, also, you illustrated your whole character. I was not near, and General McPherson in too subordinate a capacity to influence you. Until you had won Donelson, I confess I was almost cowed by the terrible array of anarchical elements that presented themselves at every point; but that admitted a ray of light I have followed since.
"I believe you are as brave, patriotic, and just as the great prototype, Washington—as unselfish, kind-hearted, and honest as a man should be—but the chief characteristic is the simple faith in success you have always manifested, which I can liken to nothing else than the faith a Christian has in the Saviour.