William A. Crafts, Life of Ulysses S. Grant: His Boyhood, Campaigns, and Services, Military and Civil.

[99] occasions, and to drive out a large number of sutlers and camp followers. These measures were, to the credit of officers and men, acquiesced in without much complaint, and the army was made more ready for the campaign which was to follow. They were carried out, too, by Grant, in his usual quiet way, with a tact and absence of all parade, or public condemnation, which avoided offence, and secured willing cooperation.

When Grant was summoned to Washington to be invested with the command of all the armies of the United States, he expected soon to return to the west, and resume command of the forces which had already achieved such victories under him. But after a council of war had been held at the capital, and Grant. had matured his general plans of the campaigns for all the armies, he determined to remain at the east. As commander-in-chief he might with propriety have established his headquarters at Washington, and directed the various operations from that place. But he felt out of his element in Washington, and preferred to be in the field, directing in person the active operations of one army, while he more indirectly ordered the movements of the others. The campaign in Virginia, where the opposing armies had been so long contending without decisive results, promised to be the most difficult and severe, and gave him the opportunity of rendering the greatest service to his country; and he therefore determined to take the field with the army of the Potomac, the immediate command of which was still held by General Meade. Going west for a short time, to consult with General Sherman, and give directions concerning