Could I? He realized he would have. This decision, at this moment, he realized, was as momentous as the decision to relieve Stanton. One had been fired; the other was to be kept.

It wasn't just the statement, "I can win this war," that had laid to rest any lingering doubts; it was the look in the man's eyes, something he had never seen in any general before. There was a determination, a confidence that settled the issue once and for all. He trusted now that the plan Grant had would be one he would endorse.

Grant was, indeed, his man.

Both seemed to sense that a moment had passed that neither need worry about again.

There was a dropping off of tension. Grant stood up, going over to refill his tin cup and then to light up a cigar, which he had refrained from doing since they first met.

Lincoln was silent as he waited for Grant to settle into his chair.

"A few more questions, General." "Anything, sir."

"Sickles, for starters. I know that derailed your plan. Why did you move so quickly after his defeat and why did you not inform me?"

"Sir, after such a blow I knew Lee would expect me to wait, to replenish our numbers. That would mean waiting well beyond September, more likely October. That would have risked winter weather stopping the campaign and forcing us into winter quarters with Lee still owning Maryland."

"We can't wait that long," Lincoln said forcefully.

"Sir, I know you cannot wait. The country cannot wait. We have to resolve this now and that is why I decided to make this move and do it with or without Sickles in support."

"Fair enough," Lincoln said.

"And besides, sir, though Sickles lost that battle, he bloodied Lee. I understand that Pickett's Division is a hollow wreck. To achieve his victory, Lee force-marched his army a hundred miles in killing heat and in the end was forty miles north of a line that he would choose to be on, right along the banks of the Susquehanna. With Washington as a barrier Lee is actually farther away from Virginia than we are, and we have better roads and railroads to support us. I knew that this first move had to be taken, and I took it, regardless of Sickles."

Lincoln nodded thoughtfully.

"Go on, sir," Lincoln said.

"By moving first I knew it would push Lee off balance. My reports are that he has force-marched once again, falling back into Baltimore. To march troops such distances, day after day, takes its toll. My men are moving fast, but doing so through friendly territory, and they are filled with confidence."

"Confidence in you?"

"Yes, sir. To be frank, yes," and he said so without any display of undue pride.

"Half this army marched with me across the Mississippi, abandoned our line of supplies, went to Jackson to block Joe Johnston and then doubled back on Vicksburg, bottling up Pemberton. They were there when Pemberton surrendered his garrison and reopened the Mississippi. They're good men. McPherson is superb, and Ord, though new to corps command, is a hard driver I trust My boys are confident; they feel they have something to prove here, to go up against Bobbie Lee and thrash him the way they thrashed Johnston, Pemberton, Beauregard, and Buckner. Upon that confidence and desire to prove something much can be built."

Again Lincoln liked what he heard. It was not confidence in him personally, it was confidence in his men, which Lincoln sensed was mutual from what he had observed while riding down here.

"Coordination, General. I've always felt we never truly coordinated all of our strength. Before coming here Elihu showed me a roster of total strength. Good heavens, General, we have nearly three quarters of a million men under arms. Can you bring additional strength to bear?"

"I agree, sir. But realize this. Half of those numbers are nonexistent. Take off ten percent or more just as deserters. Then add in governors holding back pet units filled with their political appointees. Many of those hundreds of thousands are ninety-day militia, of no value in a stand-up fight against Lee's veterans. There is an old saying I learned at West Point-it dates back to the Romans-'To send untrained men into battle is to send them to their deaths.'"

Lincoln nodded in agreement, remembering the tragedy of First Bull Run.

"I have nearly twenty thousand militia under Couch. To send them straight into a fight would be cruel and wasteful. If I had six months with those men, they'd prove to be as good as any, but we don't have that time, sir. But they are serving a valuable purpose right now, which I'll explain when we go over my plans in detail, but don't expect them to stand on the volley line at seventy-five yards and trade it out with an elite, well-trained unit like the Stonewall Brigade.

"Others are sitting out garrison duty as far north as Portland, Maine, and as far west as Council Bluffs, Iowa. Sir, what I am marching with is all that I will have for this campaign. But I should add, sir, that General Lee faces the same crisis. Governor Vance in North Carolina is notorious for keeping men back as home-guard units in the western mountains. Every other governor does the same down there. That is the paradox and the curse of their system even more than ours, states' rights. Each Southern state is doing right for its own purposes, but making it impossible for Davis and Lee to organize Southern resources for the common purpose. With your leadership and the strength of our Constitution we can do a far better job of mobilizing all our assets over time than they can."

He was warming to his subject, and Lincoln nodded for him to continue.

"For every man on the front line we need at least one more to guard our lines of supply, to shepherd along ammunition, food, fodder for horses, medical supplies. That eats up our numbers rather quickly. That's a second service Couch's men will give us once their first mission is completed. They'll provide security to our rear and the relaying of supplies. That means that every man that marches with me now will be in the fight."

"And your other fronts?"

"On other fronts I can tell you this, sir. Sherman has driven Bragg out of Chattanooga. That is a major victory for us. I have ordered him to not stop, to relentlessly press southward now and invest Atlanta before the end of autumn. I have confidence in Sherman. He's grown and is ready for independent command, and I think he'll make the most of it. He has seventy thousand men with him, I wish it was a hundred thousand. He'll need fifty thousand more just to secure his supply lines back to Memphis and Louisville.

"We've abandoned our operations before Charleston, as you know. The navy can handle that. Bottling it up is all we needed, nothing more, along with Wilmington. Additional troops still need to hold Vicksburg, Port Hudson, and New Orleans. When you get right down to it, sir, that comes to less than two hundred thousand on the front lines, though heaven knows I'd give my right arm for fifty thousand more right now."

"The colored troops?" Lincoln asked.

"Yet to be proven in battle, sir, but I think they'll fight. I understand their training has been intensive, unlike most white regiments, and all their officers are handpicked volunteers with extensive experience in the field prior to promotion to command those regiments.

"I just worry that their spirit will continue when they get hit by their first volley."

"They'll hold," Lincoln said forcefully. "I saw that when our line was broken at Fort Stevens and the colored men from Massachusetts charged forward. They'll do their duty when the time comes."

"And that regiment is still in Washington?"

"Yes, along with over forty thousand other men," Lincoln said. "Why do you ask?"

"Sir, I'd like to replace General Heintzelman as commander of the Washington garrison."

"Why?"

"Because that is part of my plan, sir." "This is something we did not discuss before, General Grant."