One cheer indeed rent the air, but it was given
for the glorious defenders of Vicksburg.
The whole North was now united in passionate admiration for Grant.
Cheering crowds followed him in the streets. Fools and wise men
alike were eager to know him, to boast that they had spoken to him
or touched his hand. Yet at first sight Grant seemed to have little
of the hero about him. He was an "ordinary, scrubby looking man,
with a slightly seedy look," said one who saw him in those days.
"He did not march nor quite walk, but pitched along as if the next
step would bring him to his nose." But his eye was clear and blue,
he had a determined look, and seemed like a man it would be bad to
trifle with.
This shambling, scrubby looking man, with the clear blue eyes, was
now the idol of the people. Lincoln too saw his genius as a leader,
and willingly yielding to the popular demand made him commander-in-chief
of all the United States armies.
Before long Grant had made his plans for the next campaign. It was
a twofold one. He himself with one army determined by blow after
blow to hammer Lee into submission while Sherman was to tackle the
other great Confederate army under Johnston.
In the beginning of May, Grant set out, and on the 5th and 6th the
battle of the Wilderness was fought not far from where the battle
of Chancellorsville had been fought the year before.
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