The Photographic History of The Civil War: in ten volumes, Thousands of Scenes Photographed 1861-65, with Text by many Special Authorities, Volume 10: The Armies and the Leaders.
Francis Trevelyan Miller, Ed.

[36] necessary to disregard personal considerations and to keep the mind open to the suggestions from within; who are not blinded by what has been well described as ‘the pride of self-derived intelligence.’ Grant succeeded because his specially trained faculties and especially adapted experiences were obedient to larger suggestions than those of personal ambition and self-glorification. This explains Grant, as it explains Lincoln and Washington.

‘Sam’ Grant, as his colleagues at the Military Academy were accustomed to call him, because of the ‘U. S.,’ Uncle Sam, in his name; ‘ “Sam” Grant,’ as one of those same colleagues once said, ‘was as honest a man as God ever made.’ Honest, not merely in a pecuniary sense but in all of his mental processes, and in this simple honesty of his nature we find the explanation not only of his greatness but of the errors into which he fell in the attempt to deal with the subtleties of human selfishness and intrigue.

It was characteristic of Grant's mental processes that he always thought on straight lines, and his action was equally direct and positive. He was not so much concerned with the subtleties of strategy as with a study of the most direct road to the opponent's center. One of the chief perplexities on the field of battle is ‘the fog of war,’ the difficulty of divining the movements of the foe, by which your own are to be determined. Grant was less confused by this than most commanders, keeping his adversary so occupied with his own aggressive movements that he had little opportunity to study combinations against him. He was fertile in expedients; his mind was always open to the suggestions of opportunity, and it was his habit to postpone decision until the necessity for decision arose.

Grant recognized earlier than others the fact that, if his own troops were lacking in the military knowledge and training required to make them a facile instrument in his hands, his antagonists were no better equipped in this respect. He saw that the best training for the high-spirited and independent