Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 2

[641] Amid them all he preserved the same quiet demeanor, the same simplicity of speech, the same unobtrusive modesty for which he had hitherto been known; and, while he accepted and appreciated the plaudits of the nation, he made haste to escape from the parade and the celebration to the society of his intimates or the retirement of his home. When the war was over, Grant had fought and beaten every important rebel soldier in turn: Buckner at Donelson, Beauregard at Shiloh, Pemberton and Johnston at Vicksburg, Bragg at Chattanooga, Lee in Virginia, and all of them altogether in the last year of the rebellion. From Belmont, the initial battle of his career, he had never been driven from the field, and had never receded a step in any of his campaigns, except at Holly Springs, and then the rebels were in retreat before him, and Grant, unable to follow fast enough to overtake them, withdrew, only to advance on another line. He went on steadily from the start, gaining in reputation and skill, acquiring experience, developing his powers, but manifesting at the beginning many of the traits which were always conspicuous in his generalship. At Belmont, there was the same steadfastness under difficulties, the same sufficiency of resource, the same invention in unexpected emergencies which were afterwards so often displayed; at Donelson, the same daring which attacked superior numbers, and the fortitude undismayed at temporary reverse, as well as the quick intuition which detected the intention of the enemy from apparently insignificant circumstances, like the three days rations in the haversacks; and, above all, the perception that the crisis had come when both armies were