The Photographic History of The Civil War: in ten volumes, Thousands of Scenes Photographed 1861-65, with Text by many Special Authorities, Volume 10: The Armies and the Leaders.
Francis Trevelyan Miller, Ed.

Grant had learned that if he did not run away his antagonists were likely to do so, and he had ascertained the potency of the formulas with which his name was associated: ‘no terms except unconditional and immediate surrender,’ and ‘I propose to move immediately upon your works.’ this met the temper of the time, impatient of strategy and paper plans and demanding tangible results.

the circumstances which led to Grant's resignation from the army, July 31, 1854, however they might have been explained by those who knew him best, had created a distrust of him in the minds of his military superiors, Halleck and McClellan, so that he was left wholly dependent upon works accomplished for his recognition by the North and at Washington. He neither sought nor obtained favor from his superiors; he made no complaint of insufficient support, as so many did, but doggedly pursued a consistent course of doing the best he could with what the War Department placed at his disposal, learning from his successes and profiting by his mistakes as well as by those of the foe.

there was one who was superior to this professional distrust of Grant, and that was Abraham Lincoln. He had found a man who could accomplish, and the fortune of that man was thenceforth secure in the hands of the chief executive. After Shiloh, Grant fully realized that the country had entered upon a long and desperate struggle, and he shaped his course accordingly. He drew the line of distinction between friend and foe more sharply, and, where he found it necessary, directed his warfare against the property as well as the persons of those in arms against him, and their abettors. Thus he passed another landmark in his progress to final success.

another essential lesson was to be learned. That came when a colonel, December 20, 1862, surrendered his depot of