Grant Moves South by Bruce Catton

at the Mexicans as poor fighters; he always had thought that they did pretty well, considering what they had to fight for, and with, and under; and fighting them had somehow made him feel closer to them. It was the same here at Vicksburg. He shared with the soldiers he commanded a deep, overriding respect, something finally resembling affection, for the men who had been enemies—the logical corollary to which was the ingrained belief that somethingworth winning, keeping and dying for lay behind the fearful tumult of battle. Victory was something to be won, but final fellowship between victors and vanquished was something that would come afterward, justifying victory. Grant could be very military, on occasion, but he could never be warlike—in which points he was the precise opposite of his great lieutenant, Sherman.
    Grant took up quarters in Vicksburg, in a comfortable house on the heights overlooking the river. He had his chief engineer lay out a new line of works which could be held by a garrison of five thousand men, he sent the Ninth Corps back to Burnside, and he shipped other troops up the river to help repel a Rebel thrust into Arkansas. Sending troops to Banks, he let his intense pride in his army find brief expression, telling Banks that the men going downstream were “as good troops as ever trod American soil: no better are found on any other.” He tried to get rest and a breathing spell for the rest of the army, and he warned Halleck that the men were too exhausted for much immediate duty that involved extensive marching. He took time, too, to return to the thorny old subject of cotton-trading. Secretary of the Treasury Chase wanted to see the trade expanded, and Grant warned him against being in a hurry about it:
    The people in the Mississippi valley are now nearly subjugated. Keep trade out but for a few months, and I doubt not but that the work of subjugation will be so complete that trade can be opened freely with the states of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.… My position has given me an opportunity of seeing what could not be known by persons away from the scene of the war, and I venture, therefore, a great caution in opening trade with Rebels. 15
    Grant wanted the corrupting influence of the cotton trade held away for a time; and it seemed to him equally important to hold the whole valley area free from the presence of Confederate armies, so that the people could adjust themselves to the developing fact of reunion. To Halleck he sent a statement of his views:
    This state and Louisiana would be more easily governed now than Kentucky or Missouri if armed Rebels from other statescould be kept out. In fact the people are ready to accept anything. The troops from these states too will desert and return as soon as they find that they cannot be hunted down. I am informed that movements are being made through many parts of Mississippi to unite the people in an effort to bring this state into the Union. I receive letters and delegations on this subject myself, and believe the people are sincere. 16
    Meanwhile, if it mattered to him—and beyond any question it did matter, in some area of the spirit buried far down inside—Grant had become famous. A Grant legend was developing, and the bits and pieces of it were no longer pinned to the ancient tale of too much whisky; men were telling, instead, little stories illustrating his capacity for handling men, his ability to remain relaxed and unperturbed under pressure, his general goodness and humanity—very different, all of this, from the network of tales that made the rounds after Shiloh. One officer recorded that Grant had a great knack for getting his subordinates to work harmoniously together; when rows and bitterness developed, Grant could somehow get things adjusted without fuss, so that there was never (now that McClernand was gone, at any rate) any backbiting or hard rivalry around the headquarters tents. “None of his