From early in the war i had been impressed with the

From early in the War I had been impressed with the idea that active, and
continuous operations of all the troops that could be brought into the field,
regardless of season and weather, were necessary to a speedy termination
of the gigantic rebellion raging in the land. The resources of the enemy, and
his numerical strength, was far inferior to ours. But as an ofset [sic] to this
we had a vast territory, with a population hostile to the government, to gar-
rison, and long lines of river and rail-road communication, trthrough terri-
tory equally hostile, to protect to secure in order that the more active Armies
might be supplied.— Whilst Eastern and Western Armies were fighting in-
dependent battles, working together like a balky team where no two ever
pulled together, giving Summers and Winters to almost entire inactivity, thus
enabling the enemy to use to great advantage his his- interior lines of com-
munication for transporting portion of his Armies from one theatre of War
to an other, and to furlough large numbers of the Armyies during these sea-
sons of inactivity to go to their home and do the work of producing for the
suport of these Armies, it was a question whether our numerical strength
was not more than balanced by these [dis]advantages.
My opinion was firmly fixed long before the honor of commanding all
our Armies had been confered on me that no peace could be had that would
be stable, or conducive to the happiness of North or South, until the Military
power of the rebellion was entirely broken. Believing us to be one people,
Source: John Y. Simon, ed., The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University
Press, 1 988), XV: pp. 164-1 66.

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w ill be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
304 Chapter 12 Grand Theory, Great Battles, and Historical Causes
one blood and with identical interests, I do and have felt the same interest in
the welfa ultimate welfare of the South as of the North. The guilty, no mat-
ter what their offence or to what section they belong, should be punished
according to their guilt. The leaders in this rebellion against the Government
have been guilty of the most heinous offence known to our laws. Let them,
reap the reward of their offence.
Here then is the basis of all plans formed at the onset. 1st First to use
the greatest number of troops practicable against the Armed force of the
enemy. To prevent that enemy from using the same force, at different sea-
sons, against first one Army and then another, and to prevent the possibil-
ity of repose for refitting and producing the necessary supplies for carrying
on resistance. Second; to hammer continuously at the Armed force of the
enemy, and his resources, until by mere attricion [sic], if in no other way,
there should be nothing left to him but an equal submission with the loyal
section of our common country to the universal law of the land. These views
have been kept constantly before me and orders given and campaigns made to
carry them out. How well it has been done it is for the public, who have to
mourn the loss of friends who have fallen in the execution, and to pay the
expense pecuniary cost of all this, to say.