ROBERT E. LEE



manders were opposed by Lee and the Army of
Northern Virginia. Grant, Thomas, Sherman, and
McPherson had all shown military gifts of a high
order. Among these the first in order having
such gifts was, possibly, Grant, though it took a
long time for his government to recognize them,
and it required the close study of a special agent
in the person of the Assistant Secretary of War
before the lot fell upon him. Like Mr. Lincoln,
he was of Southern blood and affiliations by way
of Kentucky. He was, however, a native of
Ohio. He had graduated at West Point in 1843,
and had served with distinction in MNlexico, as
had most of the soldiers on both sides who at-
tained high rank during the Civil War. He
first attracted attention at Molino del Rey, where
he got a piece of artillery up in a church tower
and contributed to the success of the day. Hav-
ing fallen into habits of intemperance, he had
left the army and for eight years had lived in
poverty and obscurity, first on a farm in Mis-
souri and afterward as a clerk in his father's
store in Galena, Ill. On the outbreak of the
war he had written offering his services to the
government, but his letter appears to have been
ignored; and he had thereupon shown such zeal
and efficiency in the organization of the volun-
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