Opis: General Grant - Chicago St. Paul

Excerpt from General Grant: The Nation's Hero; Sketches of His Life From West Point to Mt; McGregor

Tilghman and his staff, of the Confederate army, hurried out of town toward the south by the railroad while Grant was getting ashore. Sixteen miles away a force of 3,800 Confederates were stationed, and Confederate flags and stores were numerous in the town. Grants promptitude saved Paducah and the control of the Ohio river. It also straightened the backbone of neutral Kentucky, whose legislature at once passed resolutions favorable to the Union and spoke of neutrality no more.,

In this movement Grant defined the determination which afterwards was so marked and commented upon in his generalship. He left Paducah in charge of a garrison at noon the same day and returned to Cairo, where he received Fremont's permission to take Paducah "if he felt strong enough."

For two months afterwards he held the country at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi and disciplined bis forces, which by November numbered nearly 20, 000 men. Being subordinate to Fremont ho was allowed to make no movement of importance.

He wanted to take Columbus, an important point on the river twenty miles below Cairo, but not until the 6th of November was he ordered to move down the river. He had 3,100 men on transports, conveyed by two gunboats. A section of artillery, two squadrons of cavalry and five regiments constituted his force. Some of his men had only been in possession of their arms a few days, and were as raw as children and as undisciplined as cowboys. McClernand was the only general officer in his command, and had never heard the ping of an unfriendly bullet. Logan, now so well known, was with him as colonel. On the 7th he landed at Hunter's Point, on the Missouri side, and marched on Belmont, near which the Confederates had pitched their camp. By 9 o'clock his entire command, except one battalion guarding the transports, was in a warm engagement, the gunboats being engaged with the batteries at Columbus. The fight lasted four hours, Grant with the skirmish line. His horse was shot under him. McClernand lost three horses, and every colonel, as well as the raw recruits, fought furiously without flinching. They drove the Confederates to the river bank, took several hundred prisoners, captured all the artillery and broke up the camp. Victory, however, was too much for the Federal troops. They became disorganized, and instead of following up the enemy as he cowered on the river bank, the soldiers set about plundering, while their officers, untaught in the proprieties of military life, made patriotic stump speeches. To stop the plundering Grant ordered his staff officers to set the camp on fire. The men returned to the ranks and the march to the transports began. Meanwhile Confederate re-enforcements arrived, and, combining with the defeated, cut Grant off from his transports. "We are surrounded," said an officer of his staff, riding up, somewhat agitated. "Well," said Grant, "if that is so, we must cut our way out as we cut our way in" - one of the condensed speeches of wisdom and determination for which he afterward grew famous. He charged and dispersed the enemy, meeting with but slight resistance.

The danger of this, his first fight, was not yet over, however. He pushed on to the landing, got most of his force aboard, seeing to everything in person, his officers being too inexperienced to execute his orders without special directions. A force of men had been sent to gather up the wounded, and when the main body was nearly embarked he rode back to withdraw the rear guards, which were to have covered the men bringing in the wounded. They, being unsophisticated in military observances, had thought fit to retire, and had returned to the transports. Grant found himself outside of his own troops with the enemy advancing upon him and firing on his transports. He saw that the men in search of the wounded could not be save

Szczegóły: General Grant - Chicago St. Paul

Nazwa: General Grant The Nation's Hero; Sketches of His Life From West Point to Mt; McGregor (Classic Reprint)
Autor: Chicago St. Paul
Wydawnictwo: FB &c Ltd
Kod paskowy: 9781331237600
Języki: angielski
Ilość stron: 28
Format: 15.2x22.9cm
Oprawa: Miękka

Recenzje: General Grant - Chicago St. Paul