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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1963)
16 A - MONDAY. FEBRUARY 4. 1963 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON Gen. Grant's Many Problems By MERTON T. AKERS UPI Corr.ipond.nt A stooped man with rusty whiskers stood on a point of land one day early in 1863 looking across the Mississippi River at the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Miss. If Ulysses S. Grant, Union major general of volunteers, sensed on this day that his destiny lay in that fortified city, he noted nothing of it at the time, or ever. To Grant, Vicksburg was a problem, something to be solved by trial and error, the way he always solved prob lems. This man was like that. You try one way to solve a problem. If that way fails, you try another, and so on, until one is successful. He had tried one way to Vicksburg, the overland way, the way the military books said. Establish a base, march on, guard your lines of com munication, out maneuver your enemy, then beat him in detail - military language for pouncing on detachments of the enemy and licking each part separately. All the great captains had clone it that way. But apparently the Confed erates had not read tho book for their cavalry fell on his base and destroyed it. That ended the classic overland ap proach. So Grant was mulling over another try at Vicksburg on this winter day as he ro-sur-vcyed his problem at close hand. Many Weary Miles As the crow flics the point where he stood was one and one-half miles away from his objective. But he knew as an army marched it was many weary miles and several thousand of battle dead away. How many miles, he could not know then, or how many cas ualties, but time would tell him that the figures were 180 miles, five battles and five months. This was a formidable forti fied city that stood between Grant and success. Jefferson Davis, who had lived nearby, called it the "Gibraltar of America," a city on 200-foot bluffs tiered with cannon and commanding the hairpin turn of the river at its feet. Until this winter day Grant's career in the Civil War had been up and down. Right now, as he looked over his problem perched on the bluffs, his career was down. The hero of Forts Henry and Donelson had become the goat of Shiloh on the wheel of fickle Northern public opinion. Many people were saying many things about Grant and most of it was bad. A Chicago Times war cor respondent, Sylvanus Cadwal ladcr, overheard a Union of ficer say on a train: "He (Grant) never d i d amount to anything, and never will. He has been kick ed out of the U.S. Army once, and will be again. He is noth ing but a drunken, wooden headed tanner that will not trouble the country very long." About the same lime, Sen. James W. Grimes, Iowa Re publican, demanded of Presi dent Lincoln that Grant be removed as incompetent and callous of human life. Much of this Grant knew REAL DREAM BOAT! ANOTHER REAL BUY 1958 Mercury Station Wagon, 4 Dr., VB, Automatic, Fully Equipped. siiQQnn LEA RAMBLER Fifth and Bartlett Phone 772-6185 but if he could figure out a way to capture Vicksburg, his future would be more secure. And security meant a great deal to Grant. He had never had much of it. No one quar relled seriously with success ful generals. Fall of the fortress would mean much to the Union, too. For one thing it would free the Mississippi River to com merce again. The goods of the Middle West could go to sea again via New Orleans, long since in Federal hands. For another thing it would cut the Confederacy in two north and south. No more grain and meat would cross the river from Arkansas and Texas. Nor would foreign mu nitions landed in Mexico go cast to the Rebel armies. Con federate troops could not be shuttled back and forth as be fore. All in all, Vicksburg was the key to many problems -the nation's and Grant's. But the Confederates had planned well at Vicksburg. It stood on almost the only high ground between Memphis, Tenn., the northern point of Federal invasion, and Baton Rouge, La., the southern point. North of it lay a maze of bayous and partly submerged land. West of it the river ran in an S-turn. South more low land. Only the eastern ap proach seemed vulnerable. But Grant's army was perched on levees north of Vicksburg and the river was on the rise. Somehow he must move his army south past Vicksburg, cross the broad Mississippi, strike cast and then curve back west to the backdoor of the fortress. It was the long way around but the footing was solid and his army could maneuver. No Air Transport All this appeared impos sible. Civil War armies moved on their feet. Their gear, am munition and food moved by wagon or by steamer. No air transport in those days to shrink distance and leap ob stacles. So Grant smoked cigars, prowled the levees and pon dered. To keep his men busy he tried digging canals to short-cut the distances or by- DESTINY IN VICKSBURG - Early in 1863 Gen. U. S. Grant stood on a point of land looking across the Mississippi river at Vicks burg, Miss., a Confederate stronghold. Per haps he sensed, as he looked at the "Gibral tcr of America," that his success and destiny lay in this fortified city. As the crow flies, it was but a mile and a half from the point where he stood to the heart of the city, yet time and events would show the distance he would travel to be nearly 180 miles. As he viewed the city and the 200 foot bluffs on which it rested, Grant realized that be fore Union troops could parade down its main street, many men would die. In this montage, Grant is superimposed over a drawing of one of the battles that was fought during his campaign to take the city. (UPI) pass the city but no plan seemed to work. Malaria was widespread. Army morale dipped. Visitors, who saw a little and imagined more, car ried stories back home which depressed public morale even more. 1 But a departmental com mander, such as Grant, had to be more than a strategist and tactician. He was an adminis trator and quartermaster as well as a fighter. In addition to planning a campaign Grant was beset by a variety of problems which had little to do with getting on with the war. He had to administer the occupied territory of western Tennessee and northern Mis sissippi. That meant he had to supervise and try to curb the horde of cotton speculators who swarmed into the occu pied territory behind the army. They carried bags of gold to exchange for the cot ton New England mill owners were clamoring to buy at al most any price. Fortunes could be and were made on one shipment. Likely as not the gold paid for the cotton eventually found its way into the hands of the Confederates to be spent for bullets and shells that would be used to kill Union soldiers. Buying cotton was legal with Treasury certificates and almost any politician could get them for friends. Specula tors were supposed to buy cotton only from planters loyal to the Union. But who was to say whether a planter who signed a loyalty oath was a patriot or a perjurer? Slave Problem Pressing Just as pressing as the cot ton problem was the slave problem. As the Union army advanced, slaves poured into camps in swarms. Without the direction of their masters they were disorganized, hungry, sick and ill-clothed. They pre sented a health menace to themselves and to the army. Grant summoned Chaplain John Eaton of the 27th Ohio Infantry to his headquarters one day and turned over the refugee slave problem to him. The dismayed chaplain tried to talk his way out of the job but Grant convinced him that the task was as important as fighting and Eaton reluctant ly undertook it. An able organizer, Eaton overcame a thousand handi caps and soon had the refu gees in camps and working. For planning the Vicksburg campaign, for administering his territory, for curbing cot ton speculators and for handling the refugee slave question, Grant as a two-star general received $457 a month. Astronomers Look Back Info Time Pasadena, Calif. - (UPI -Astronomers have turned back the calendar nearly 10 billion years for fresh evi dence to corroborate the cur rently accepted theory of the evolution of matter. Chemical analyses of three red giant stars the oldest ever studied revealed that they are nearly twice the age of the Sun, which is above five billion years old. The vehicles used for trip back in time were the 200 inch Hale reflector and the 100-inch Hooker reflector of the Mt. Wilson and Polomar observatories, both in Cali fornia. The reflectors operated by the California Institute of Technology and the Carnegie Institution of Washington enabled scientists to photo graph the spectra of the three stars. Such spectra separate the light from a star into the characteristic wave length patterns radiated by its atoms. This separation discloses the chemical composition. I HAMMING IT UP New Britain, conn. - uru Luther Willis Sr. told police that someone stole two hams from a freshly butchered hog in his garage along with his butcher knife. TOO MUCH LOOT Los Angeles-iUPH-A hijacker who stole a truck and trailer abandoned it in nearby Nor walk with its load intact, "io cargo was 45,000 pound ot ceramic tile. FIRST LADY VISITS New York-WPl) - Mrs. Jac queline Kennedy is in Man hattan for a visit with her sister, Princess Lee Radziwill. 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