Yes, my son, the people were excited to joy when the government
changed its military policy, and the great General Grant was brought
to Washington and placed in command of all our armies. The sun of
our hopes brightened then, for the people had confidence in that
general. He had whipped the rebels so well for us in the West, and
he had gained for us so many glorious victories.

And now, my son, we come to this remarkable siege of Washington. I
say remarkable, for it is destined to stand on the pages of military
history without anything to compare with it. Not that it was as
bloody, or that the city was as obstinately attacked and defended as
heroically, as some other cities that have been besieged, in ancient
as well as modern times. But you must know that sieges, like
battles, derive their great importance and all that makes them
remembered hereafter, not so much from the amount of blood that has
been shed during them, not so much from the impetuosity of the
attacks made or the heroic defences, as from the manner in which
they affect the fate of nations. Some sieges are remarkable for one
thing, some another. The siege of Washington was more remarkable for
the manner in which the city was defended than the manner in which
it was attacked. No fields were fertilized with carnage, nor banners
bathed in blood.

You, remember, my son, the tale of storied Troy, with all its "pomp
and circumstance of glorious war." But, my son, it has never seemed
to me more interesting than the passage of Thermopyl‘. Nor will
Agamemnon live in history after Leonidas is forgotten. And yet these
events in ancient war were small compared with the battles our Grant
fought. His deeds will brighten as you read of them in history, and