Author: Joseph Greusel

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-10

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 9781331072485

Excerpt from General Alpheus S. Williams This article sketches the public life of a soldier. This soldier rose to high command during the war of 1861-65, the highest attained by any of the 90,119 courageous, patriotic and capable men who went from Michigan to serve in the armies of the republic. This soldier had under his direction a larger force than the army George Washington was able to muster and command in the several campaigns of our great struggle for independence. None of our generals in the war of 1812, among whom may be named Macomb at Plattsburg and Jackson at New Orleans - directed in battle so large a number of men as did our Michigan soldier. Scott and Taylor won their victories in Mexico with armies less numerous. These references to American history are intended to make plainer the fact that the ability to command great armies requires genius of a high degree. In any nation during the stress of war few commanders prove by their success the possession of superior qualities. The long roll of history names many warriors, but the list of generals really great is sufficiently meager. A Notable Soldier. The great captains, the conquerors of the world, may be listed in a few lines. It would be inconsistent to include our soldier among them. He is, however, entitled to appear among that meritorious class of officers whom the great captains relied on to carry out intelligently and valorously a part of the work. The result of campaigns and the safety of armies largely rests on men of high capacity. Sifted down by trial in war not many soldiers possessing this quality - an insufficient number, at least - has been forthcoming. It is no little glory to the State that Michigan produced one soldier who fulfilled the higher conditions of generalship; and demonstrated his worth on many fields throughout a war whose magnitude is one of the most stupendous in the annals of internecine strife. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.