Editor’s Note: This article was transcribed by Jackie Martin.
THE MORALE OF GRANT’S ARMY.
From a gentleman who lives on the lower James, and who has been till within the last few days in Grant’s lines, we learn that the Yankee army of the Potomac is seriously demoralized. He says that the hundreds of veteran Yankee soldiers with whom he has conversed during the last month without exception testify to this, and declare that not one of the three years’ men whose terms of enlistment are about to expire will re-enlist.
We have heard similar statements before, and afterwards known the Yankees to fight with great spirit; but we are disposed to believe there is something in it now. No troops who ever took the field could preserve their spirit unimpaired under such a series of bloody reverses as this army of the Potomac has experienced. In three years of active hostilities they can claim not one victory and but two drawn battles—Antietam and Gettysburg.—Since Grant took them in hand certainly nothing has occurred to cheer them much. He has sidled from the Rapid Ann to the Appomattox, achieving no success and leaving thousands of his dead upon almost every mile of his route.1
Source:
- “The Morale of Grant’s Army.” Richmond Examiner. July 9, 1864, p. 1 col. 1-2 ↩