Meanwhile a new star had arisen in the West in the person of U.S.  Grant—­“Unconditional Surrender” Grant, as he was called, after his capture of Fort Donelson—­the event which riveted the eyes of the Nation upon him and which marked the beginning of his meteor-like advancement.  We have already spoken of Grant as President, and of his unfitness for that high office.  There are also many who dispute his ability as a commander, who point out that his army always outnumbered that opposed to him, and who claim that his victories were won by brute force and not by military skill.  That there is some truth in this nobody can deny, and yet his campaign against Vicksburg was one of the most brilliant in this or any other war.  It might be added, too, that it takes something more than preponderance of numbers to win a battle—­as Hooker showed at Chancellorsville—­and that Grant did win a great many.

[Illustration:  GRANT]

The truth about Grant is that he was utterly lacking in that personal magnetism which made McClellan, Sheridan and “Stonewall” Jackson idolized by their men, and which is essential to a great commander.  He was cold, reserved, and silent, repelled rather than attracted.  He succeeded mainly because he was determined to succeed, and hung on with bull-dog tenacity until he had worn his opponent out.  Not till then did he stop to take stock of his own injuries.  “I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer,” was a characteristic utterance.

The honors of Union victories were fairly divided with Grant by William Tecumseh Sherman, a man who, as a general, was greater in some respects than his chief.  Sherman was an Ohioan, and, after graduating from West Point and serving in California during the war with Mexico, resigned from the army to seek more lucrative employment.  He was given a regiment when the war opened, and his advance was rapid.  He first showed his real worth at the battle of Shiloh, where he commanded a division and by superb fighting, saved Grant’s reputation.

Grant had collected an army of forty thousand men at Pittsburg Landing, an obscure stopping-place in southern Tennessee for Mississippi boats, and though he knew that the Confederates were gathering at Corinth, twenty miles away, he left his army entirely exposed, throwing up not a single breastwork, never dreaming that the enemy would dare attack him.  Nevertheless, they did attack, while Grant himself was miles away from his army, and by the end of the first day’s fighting, had succeeded in pushing the Union forces back upon the river, in a cramped and dangerous position.  The action was resumed next day, and the Confederates forced to retire, which they did in good order.  That the Union army was not disastrously defeated was due largely to the superb leadership of Sherman, who had three horses shot under him and was twice wounded, but whose demeanor was so cool and inspiring that his raw troops, not realizing their peril, were filled with confidence and fought like veterans.