take upon himself alone
the highest responsibility, and to demand full authority and freedom
to act according to his own judgment, without interference from
anybody, added to his accurate estimate of his own ability and his
clear perception of the necessity for undivided authority and
responsibility in the conduct of military operations, and in all
that concerns the efficiency of armies in time of war, constituted
the foundation of that very great character.

When summoned to Washington to take command of all the armies, with
the rank of lieutenant-general, he determined, before he reached
the capital, that he would not accept the command under any other
conditions than those above stated. His sense of honor and of
loyalty to the country would not permit him to consent to be placed
in a false position,--one in which he could not perform the service
which the country had been led to expect from him,--and he had the
courage to say so in unqualified terms.

These are the traits of character which made Grant a very great
man--the only man of our time, so far as can be known, who possessed
both the character and the military ability which were, under the
circumstances, indispensable in the commander of the armies which
were to suppress the great rebellion.

It has been said that Grant, like Lincoln, was a typical American,
and for that reason was most beloved and respected by the people.
That is true of the statesman and of the soldier, as well as of
the people, if it is meant that they were the highest type, that
ideal which commands the respect and admiration of the highest and
best in a man's nature, however far he may know it to be above
himself. The soldiers and the people saw in Grant or in Lincoln,
not one of themselves, not a plain man of the people, nor yet some
superior being whom they could not understand, but the personification
of their highest ideal of a citizen, soldier, or statesman, a man
whose greatness they could see and understand as plainly as anything
else under the sun. And there was no more mystery about it all in
fact than there was in the popular mind.

Matchless courage and composure in the midst of the most trying
events of battle, magnanimity in the hour of victory, and moral
courage to compel all others to respect his plighted faith toward
those who had surrendered to him, were the crowning glories of
Grant's great and noble character.