HOW TO GET STRONG
made Captain; farmed near St. Louis without success; in 1860 a tanner with his father at Galena; thirty-nine and unknown when the Civil War broke out; four days after Lincoln's first call was drilling a company of volunteers at Galena; offered his services to the Adjutant-General of the Army; got no reply, but the Governor of Illinois employed him in organizing volunteers; was soon Colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois Infantry; in three months a Brigadier-General; without orders seized Paducah, commanding the navigation of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers; won at Belmont against fearful odds; without orders attacked and took Fort Donelson by assault, and a great number of prisoners and cannon; the first great success of the war, and of tremendous importance; made Major-General of Volunteers; July 4, 1863, took Vicksburg; was made Major-General in the regular army; won at Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain; Congress gave him a gold medal and the thanks of the nation; March 12, 1864, he was made Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States; with nearly seven hundred thousand men, planned a campaign against Lee at Richmond; and another under Sherman against Atlanta; after varying fortune, Richmond was evacuated and Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House; July 25, 1866, was commissioned General of the United States Army—a rank created for him. Was twice elected President of the United States; afterwards made a tour of nearly all civilized nations, receiving greater attentions and honors than had ever been accorded to any man; after great suffering, which he bore with rare fortitude, he died at Mount McGregor, near Saratoga, New York, July 23, 1885, of cancer.
Adam Badeau, his private secretary, who knew him intimately, said of him: "Not a particle of subtleness or suppleness in his nature; and quite as little power or orderly effort in detail. This limitation of his ability extended to his knowledge of character. He selected generals with an acumen and accuracy never surpassed, but in his appreciation of men outside of war he was often at fault. He knew a Sherman or a Sheridan by instinct; but he was at the mercy of Ferdinand Ward; and seemed to lose almost his common-sense when pitted against schemers in any sphere. It was when overwhelming effort became indispensable, instant decision, firmness, and breadth of judgment, whether in government or war, that he rose to pre-eminence. He needed, however, to be supreme. All his successes in the field were without the supervision of a superior; he must have384
