Lincoln, the unknown

25I n May 1864, the triumphant Grant plunged across the RapidanRiver with 122,000 men. He was going to destroy's Lee'sarmy forthwith and end the war at once.Lee met him in the "wilderness" of North Virginia. The placewas well named. It was a jungle of rolling hills and swampyswales smothered with a dense second growth of pine and oaksand matted with underbrush so thick that a cottontail couldhardly crawl through it. And in those gloomy and tangledwoods, Grant fought a grim and bloody campaign. The slaughterwas appalling. The jungle itself caught on fire and hundredsof the wounded were consumed by the flames.At the end of the second day even the stolid Grant was soshaken that he retired to his tent and wept.But after every battle, no matter what the results, he gave thesame order: "Advance! Advance!"At the end of the sixth bloody day he sent the famous telegram:"I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer."Well, it did take all summer. Moreover, it took all autumn,and all winter, and a part of the next spring.Grant had twice as many men in the field now as the enemyhad, and back of him, in the North, lay a vast reservoir of manpowerupon which he could draw, while the South had almostexhausted its recruits and supplies."The rebels," said Grant, "have already robbed the cradleand the grave."185