Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/511

Rh campaign, when he might have secured the same position, by moving by water, without the loss of a man. The only claim that he could make for recognition as a capable military leader, based on what he did in these campaigns, is that he had thinned Lee's ranks some 20,000 veterans, by his bulldog method of conducting war, which Lee could not replace, and to that extent had weakened the resisting power of the Confederacy.

The condition of Grant's entire army, after this remarkable campaign, may be inferred from what Gen. F. A. Walker, the historian of Hancock's corps, acknowledged to be the best in Grant's army, writes concerning that body of famous veterans:

General Grant, in his report, written July 22, 1865, thus summarizes this campaign: