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[103] to be followed. His headquarters were always distinguished by the quiet, business-like industry of his staff and clerks. And in the selection of his staff, he chose only men of capacity for their several duties, never simply for their good looks or social position, as some officers did, not for mere friendship. No intimation of his plans ever leaked out from his headquarters to reach alike the loyal press and the rebel commanders. The Lieutenant General kept his own counsel, except so far as it was necessary to intrust a knowledge of his purposes to his subordinates; and his staff learned reticence from his example, if not from his injunctions.

The government heartily supported the man to whom it had intrusted the whole military power. Supplies and munitions were furnished without stint, and all that Grant deemed necessary at any point was furnished as promptly as possible. The country, too, sent forward troops with unfailing zeal, and the armies were filled up to a strength they had never before reached. Two years before, after great preparation and long delay, after many grand reviews and much unpractical discipline, a commander, of whom the country unwisely expected as much as they did now of Grant, had begun the first campaign against Richmond. From the outset, he had asked for reenforcements, and the burden of all his despatches was “more troops,” “more troops,” or something more and different from what the government had provided or proposed, not because he had proved the strength of the enemy, but because he feared it, and was ready to magnify it. And so the very delays resulting from his dissatisfaction with what he had, and his distrust of his troops, if not of his own

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U. S. Grant (2)
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