Owen Wister, Ulysses S. Grant

Let it be said that Grant's adversaries helped him greatly. In dividing his thirty thousand men and sending but sixteen thousand to Donelson, Sidney Johnston made a perilous error. In giving the command to Floyd and Pillow, he made the error worse. Grant knew them. He struck, and won. They deserted, leaving Buckner to conduct the surrender. The news to the Union was a breath of health after jaded months of sickness. Grant's words, “I propose to move immediately upon your works,” and “unconditional surrender,” were like a backbone appearing in something that had begun to look like a jelly-fish. He was now made major-general of volunteers.

This battle, like all his others, has been proved a mere bungle by hostile critics. The spirit of these gentlemen can be given to the reader in a word. One of them, after exposing Grant's tactics, exposes his English. “I propose ”