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

[385] his movements. Unless he is able and willing and ready to do all this, unless he does all this in spite of obstacles and opposition, he may be an engineer or a strategist, a tactician or a scientist-he is not a general. No man but a hero is fit to command armies.

Meanwhile Grant had got word, through the rebel newspapers, first of the fall of Branchville, then of Columbia, and then of Charleston, which the rebels could not hold after Sherman had passed. It fell like Jericho, without being attacked, and Gillmore was ordered to occupy it. This last news arrived on the 20th of February, and on the 21st, intelligence came that Fort Anderson was in Schofield's hands. On the 24th, Grant learned of the capture of Wilmington, and at once recommended Schofield for a brigadier-generalcy in the regular army. He made the reward an incentive, and, when he announced the promotion to Schofield, continued: ‘I hope and know you will push out and form a connection with Sherman at the earliest practicable moment. If you reach Goldsboro and have a fair prospect of getting your road finished soon, it may be unnecessary for Sherman to come down to the coast. Make every effort to communicate with Sherman at once. . . Every effort has been made to get you troops and all else called for through, but the ice has kept everything back very much. . . . If you and Sherman are united, you can keep as far in the interior of North Carolina as you may be able to supply yourselves. With the large force you will have united, Raleigh may not be found too far off.’

At this time Schofield was dissatisfied with one of his subordinates, and Grant wrote to him: ‘Do ’