Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 1

[153] even by authority of the government, would undoubtedly provoke feelings and conduct prejudicial to the public interest, especially in an officer of Mc-Clernand's peculiarities. Sherman, it is true, had submitted promptly to be relieved by McClernand, but he was a man with soldierly instincts, the first of which is subordination, and this was a trait that McClernand had seldom displayed, even towards Grant, his legitimate superior. Grant was, besides, the commander of the department, and entitled to direct the campaign in person; no one could complain of this, for he ranked everybody in the West, and his assumption of immediate command would, in fact, relieve the question of all difficulty.

This reasoning was unanswerable, and Grant allowed himself to be governed by it. He was loath, however, to deprive Sherman of the opportunity to throw off the odium caused by his unsuccessful assault; and, besides, disliked to use his own position as commander of the department, to claim the direction of a campaign originally intrusted to another. But, Sherman was informed of the reasons which led to the decision, and manifested a complete appreciation of Grant's motives. During the tedious and often discouraging campaign that ensued, he never failed to display a zeal and loyalty towards his commander equal to that commander's anxiety to support and bring forward his subordinate, even at the risk of his own chances for fame.

On the 17th, Grant paid his first visit to the transport fleet, then lying off Napoleon, at the mouth of the Arkansas, with all the troops on board; from there, he wrote to Halleck, what the experience of many months eventually confirmed: ‘Our troops ’