It seemed an impossible irony to all, and a great fear, that in the many battles between and around Richmond and Washington, the smaller forces of the South seemed more likely to take Washington than for the North to break through to Richmond. And so these horrible battles continued with up close carnage.
The gentlemen and ladies of Washington had long since learned to not go out in their carriage to a nearby hilltop for a view of the battle. Many never returned alive, as in the wildness of battles and cavalry attacks and cannon fire, all became part of the action.
Until Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln received news of the only successes in the War, and that was out in the west. Grant was punching his way down through Tennessee, and then went westward. They followed down the Mississippi but were stopped by the hilltop fortress of Vicksburg, which had cannons that could blast any ship out of the river. Vicksburg, heavily fortified, must be taken and the cannons put to better use.
The preparations took many months, as the Union soldiers probed and attempted to find any weak point in the well defended town. Grant finally came to his decision on which way to climb up through pounding gunfire coming down at them. His plans were sent to Washington, and this terrible battle continued months more: in the end, the brave, starving people of Vicksburg were starved out, not militarily defeated. if that was any consolation. Grant saw they were fed and cared for.
The greatness of Abraham Lincoln amazed me when at university I read the letter of congratulations that Lincoln sent to Grant. In short, this letter dated July 13, 1863 admitted to Grant that when Grant made his decision to take Vicksburg, Lincoln feared it was a mistake and that he instead should go around and link forces with General Banks. I shall quote his first and last sentence of his letter to Grant, which allows the sense of the times, and of the unnecessary admission that in his personal thoughts he was wrong. Most of us would clasp our hands in joy and treat it all as if Grant was his man, thinks like me. None of that ever from Abraham Lincoln. He opened his letter with:
"Major-General U.S. Grant. My Dear General: I do not remember that you and I have ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the most inestimable service you have done this country."
The remainder of the letter is a confession that he feared Grant was making the wrong decisions, which few leaders would weaken themselves so. He had the honesty of ancient Greece under Socrates, or Aristotle in the most noble sense of open truth to others and to be honest and know thyself.
He ends the short letter with "I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong. Yours, A Lincoln".
I read that forty years ago and since then, whenever I have had a chance with a co worker, or later employee, was to do that from time to time, during the busy day. I would point out how in my seaside hotel a new employee was folding napkins, or preparing the bed with more flair than had been our standard. I would call the others, and praise the new employee and tell her she was right, and we have just improved. Make sure you have already complimented each hearing this praise has already received it themselves, and will again. It does make a powerful team feeling.
I imagine that letter was in the favorite coat pocket of Ulysses S. Grant the rest of his life. It would have been in mine.
Abraham Lincoln was one of those rare human beings so pure of heart that he could so naturally dash off a quick letter that admitted he was wrong. And so doing, he created even more of a lion out of Ulysses S. Grant. We show examples of this at Rare American Books [http://www.antiqueamericanabooks.com] and talk about it at Healthy Lifestyles.
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