Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 3

[145] at the risk of his own fame; a carelessness of triumph, which led him to leave his conquests before he had contemplated them; a delicacy in conferring benefits, which heightened the obligation he sought to lessen; and finally a devotion to duty so pure that he was unconscious that it was remarkable. Some of these traits were revealed in the shock of battle, some on the tedious march, some in the general intercourse of the camp, but not a few became apparent—all unknown to him who displayed them—during the long night-watches of the siege of Petersburg.

Even when Grant had thrown himself on his bed, one of his staff remained on duty outside his tent, till morning. We had learned of plots to capture prominent officers;¹ on a dark night some tiny craft from Richmond might elude the vigilance of the fleet, and a spy or a traitor might be found willing to risk his own life for the chance of taking Grant's. A national ordnance boat had once been exploded beneath the bluff on which the Headquarters were established;² one man was killed and an officer wounded; so it was arranged that one of the personal staff in turn should watch till daybreak, while the chief was sleeping. His first knowledge of this was gained long after the war.

But at times the military family received an