If I had charge of the matter, I would want two large armies; one to move directly on Lee, and the other to land at City Point, and cut communications to the southward. Lee would be then compelled to fall back, and the army from the North could press, and, if possible, defeat him. If he would open up communications again with the Cotton States, he must fight the army south of the James; and to do this, he must cross his whole force, otherwise he could be defeated in detail. If he did so cross, the Northern army could take Richmond; if he did not, that from the South could move up the heights south of the James, and shell and destroy the city.I communicated this fact to two confidential friends the day Grant was first called to Washington, and now for the first time make it public. At the time the remarks were made, the General had no thought of to being called to the position he now occupies.
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General Grant--A “little” incident.--The Nashville correspondent of the Chicago Journal relates the following:
Speaking of Grant's campaign, I wish here to put on record a little incident, which I have never yet seen in print, and which was communicated to me by an officer some time since, and which might have been contraband once, but is not now, since the plans of the Eastern campaign have been developed.
While General Grant was in front of Vicksburgh, he was conversing with several officers on the subject of the capture of Richmond.
“Can it be taken, General?”
asked one of these.
“With ease,” was the response.
“By the Peninsula?”
continued the querist.
“No,” replied the General.
Van Nostrand. New York, New York. 1862.
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