The simplicity of character as well as manner which endeared him to a few close associates was probably a very poor equipment for the Presidency, which, from that very simplicity, he afterwards treated as his due; and Grant presented in some ways as great a contrast as can be imagined to the large and complex mind of Lincoln.  But he was the man that Lincoln had yearned for.  Whatever degree of military skill may be ascribed to him, he had in the fullest measure the moral attributes of a commander.  The sense that the war could be put through and must be put through possessed his soul.  He was insusceptible to personal danger—­at least, so observers said, though he himself told a different story—­and he taught himself to keep a quiet mind in the presence of losses, rout in battle, or failure in a campaign.  It was said that he never troubled himself with fancies as to what the enemy might be doing, and he confessed to having constantly told himself that the enemy was as much afraid of him as he of the enemy.  His military talent was doubled in efficacy by his indomitable constancy.  In one sense, moreover, and that a wholly good sense, he was a political general; for he had constantly before his mind the aims of the Government which employed him, perceiving early that there were only two possible ends to the war, the complete subjugation of the South or the complete failure of the Union; perceiving also that there was no danger of exhausting the resources of the North and great danger of discouraging its spirit, while the position of the South was in this respect the precise contrary.  He was therefore the better able to serve the State as a soldier, because throughout he measured by a just standard the ulterior good or harm of success or failure in his enterprises.

The affectionate confidence which existed between Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson till the latter was killed at Chancellorsville had a parallel in the endearing friendship which sprung up between Grant and his principal subordinate, William T. Sherman, who was to bear a hardly less momentous part than his own in the conclusion of the war.  Sherman was a man of quick wits and fancy, bright and mercurial disposition, capable of being a delightful companion to children, and capable of being sharp and inconsiderate to duller subordinates.  It is a high tribute both to this brilliant soldier and to Grant himself that he always regarded Grant as having made him, not only by his confidence but by his example.

As has been said, Grant was required to remain on the defensive between Memphis and Corinth, which mark the line of the Northern frontier at this period, while Buell was advancing on Chattanooga.  Later, while the Confederates were invading Kentucky further east, attacks were also directed against Grant to keep him quiet.  These were defeated, though Grant was unable to follow up his success at the time.  When the invasion of Kentucky had collapsed and the