and foes) he left the army, not to return till he and Sherman had
seen Blair and Lyon take Camp Jackson. After wisely declining to
reenter the service under the patronage of General John Pope, who
was full of self-importance about his acquaintance with the Union
leaders of Illinois, Grant wrote to the Adjutant-General at
Washington offering to command a regiment. Like Sherman, he felt
much more diffident about the rise from ex-captain of regulars to
colonel commanding a battalion than some mere civilians felt
about commanding brigades or directing the strategy of armies. He
has himself recorded his horror of sole responsibility as he
approached what might have been a little battlefield on which his
own battalion would have been pitted against a Southern one
commanded by a Colonel Harris. "My heart kept getting higher and
higher until it felt as though it was in my throat. I would have
given anything then to have been back in Illinois; but I had not
the moral courage to halt and consider what to do. When we
reached a point from which the valley below was in full view . .
. the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred
to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had
been of him: This was a view of the question I never forgot."

Grant's latent powers developed rapidly. Starting with a good
stock of military knowledge he soon added to it in every way he
could. He had the insight of genius. Above all, he had an
indomitable will both in carrying out practicable plans in spite
of every obstacle and in ruthlessly dismissing every one who
failed. Not tall, not handsome, in no way striking at first
sight, he looked the leader born only by reason of his square
jaw, keen eye, and determined expression. Lincoln's conclusive
answer to a deputation asking for Grant's removal simply was, "he