of which Grant's regiment formed a part, was called the Army
of Observation, but it might better have been called the Army of
Provocation, for it was obviously intended to provoke an attack
on the part of Mexico and to give the United States an excuse for
declaring war and settling the boundary question to suit itself.

Probably, there were not many in the army who thought much about
the rights or the wrongs of the impending war. There had been no
fighting in the United States for more than thirty years, and most
of the officers were more interested in seeing real service in the
field than they were in discussing the justice or injustice of the
cause. Grant was as anxious for glory as any of his comrades, but
he cherished no illusions as to the merits of the dispute in which
his country was involved. With the clear vision of the silent
man who reads and thinks for himself, he saw through the thinly
disguised pretenses of the politicians and, recognizing that force
was being used against a weaker nation in order to add more slave
states to the Union, he formed a very positive opinion that the war
was unjustifiable. But though he was forced to this disagreeable
conclusion, the young Lieutenant was not the sort of man to
criticize his country once she was attacked, or to shirk his duty
as a soldier because he did not agree with his superiors on questions
of national policy. He thought and said what he liked in private,
but he kept his mouth closed in public, feeling that his duties as
an officer were quite sufficient without assuming responsibilities
which belonged to the authorities in Washington.

War was inevitable almost from the moment that Texas was annexed,
but with full knowledge of this fact neither the President nor
Congress made any effective preparations for meeting the impending