240 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



Napoleon, instead of calling upon them to surrender, 

 caused his artillery to break the ice with round shot, and 

 the Russian forces were buried in the icy waves. Let us 

 turn from this scene of horror to the example of our own 

 Grant. 



On the day that the Confederates evacuated Peters- 

 burg, and as they were marching through the streets, 

 abandoning the works to join Lee at Five Forks and Ap- 

 pomattox, an officer hastened to Grant and told him that 

 the enemy were marching below in masses, where they 

 could readily be destroyed by artillery, and asked leave 

 to open on them. Grant went to a point where he could 

 look over the ground and saw an opportunity for terrific 

 slaughter of the fleeing army. He replied: "No, let 

 them go ; we will capture them all alive in a day or two ; 

 they cannot escape me." And in his Memoirs, he speaks 

 of the storming of the works at Mobile, which occurred 

 on the same day as the surrender of Lee, as being exceed- 

 ingly unfortunate, although resulting in victory to the 

 Union cause, because, as he said, every life lost in that 

 battle produced unnecessary suffering, for Lee's surren- 

 der ended the war in fact. 



When this old hero of the war was mustered out on the 

 top of Mt. McGregor, it brought no rejoicing to his 

 former foes. His magnanimity in victory won for him 

 that respect from those he conquered, that he enjoyed 

 from both victory and defeat in the hearts of his own 

 soldiers. Grant conquered twice, first in war and then 

 in peace. Buckner of Donelson helped to carry him to 

 the grave. 



In recalling again these scenes of the past, let us not 

 forget one of the saddest chapters of the war. The 

 mothers, wives, the sisters, and the daughters of that 

 period bore burdens and cares that the present genera- 

 tion can hardly comprehend. We must not forget them. 



