further, burnside outranked meade in seniority. grant stood between them as an intermediary in a cumbersome situation. and that would change after the wilderness campaign when grant would assume control of all tactical decisions and relegate both burnside and meade to secondary roles. the new commander worked tirelessly throughout the month of april, although he gave few obvious signs of strong activity. his 42nd birthday passed without fanfare. he customarily was seen whittling on a stick while puffing on one of the two dozen cigars he smoked daily. a new england officer watched grant closely for a time and declared he had a low, gentle, vibrant voice, not a hint of self-consciousness, impatience, or restlessness. either of mind or body. on the contrary, he was the center of a pervasive quiet which seemed to be conveyed to everyone around him. no parades or grand reviews occurred during the army build-up. grant preferred to ride casually down the lines, looking intently into the faces of the soldiers who were going to be fighting

further, burnside outranked meade in seniority. grant stood between them in a cumbersome situation and that would change after the wilderness campaign when grant would assume control of all tactical decisions and relegate burnside and meade to secondary roles. the new commander worked tirelessly throughout the month of april although he gave few obvious signs of working. he was seen whittling on a stick while puffing on one of the two dozen cigars he smoked daily. a new england officer watched grant closely for a time and declared he had a, low gentle, vibrant voirks not a hint of self-consciousness, impatience or restlessness either of mine or body. on the contrary he was the center of pervasive quiet which was conveyed to everyone around him. no parades or grand to dose occurred during the army build up. grant preferred to lie casually down the lines looking intently into the faces of the soldiers who were going to be fight and dying for him and giving the impression to all that it was more important for him to see them than it w

as commander of the army of the potomac and then his general in chief, at the time when he chose burnside to succeed mcclellan and chose john pope in the summer of 1862 to command another army in virginia, which was supposed to cooperate with mcclellan's army of the potomac, and then when he chose joe hooker to replace burnside, and then george g. meade to replace hooker, when he made these choices, every one of them seemed to be of the best possible man based on their record, at the time to that stage in the war, and on their promise and their potential as commanders, but each one of them obviously turns out to be a great disappointment to lincoln. i have always thought that that was not so much because of lincoln's poor choice, but because these men turned out not to have the character, the abilities, the capacity for decision, the right kinds of decision that all of the previous, of their previous records would have suggested they had, but that's something that could continue to be debated. the one key thing about lincoln and his choice of commanders is that he early on recognized gran

federals ensconced in fort sanders, delivered him a terrific beating under the direction of the burnside of all people. and the chafing that had, annoyed, longstreet when he was under lee's command, disappeared with his new perspective. he was happy enough to get back to virginia, after lee died six years later, longstreet spent three decades, casting aspersions. in the spring of 1864, late april, the men in longstreet's first core had no doubt where they stood on the lead question. one of the most dramatic displays of affection for their commander, for any commander any time anywhere took place on the 29th at a review that reunited the man and the general. first core gathered in a bug field near mechanicsville, virginia, the little hamlet west of boswe'll tavern. dozens of accounts tell of the emotional moment, the 3rd south carolina, wrote home the next day, more fervently with good spelling. we had a grand review yesterday by the greatest of men, general r.e. lee. some said they had shook hand with the greatest man in the world. he was in fact a flinty-eyed narrator and he was hotly a

it is inconceivable that irvin mcdowell, george mcclellan, ambrose burnside, or joseph hooker would have willingly given the cooperation that meade tendered for the rest of the war. from their first meeting grant and meade sensed that they could work well together. mutual warmth and respect between the two officers was a major factor behind union successes in virginia in the last year of the war. in mid march grant returned briefly to the west. he had by then made a number of principled decisions. one, it was impossible to command all of the northern military forces from west of the mountains. nor was the capital an alternative. grant had been shocked when he first arrived in washington to find a congressional investigating committee still conducting sessions on why lee eight months earlier was not pursued with more vigor after gettysburg. grant's friend general sherman told him for god's sake and for your country's sake come out of washington. as for members of congress, sherman later wrote his brother, "i hope grant will make it a death penalty for one of those guys to go south of the

a man is now charged with murdering his mother in chicago's burnside neighborhood. 34 year-old earnest l. mcgee is accused of shooting to death aletha mcgee at her home at 90th and dobson. police found her body after relatives reported they hadn't heard from her in a while. they said a key was found broken off in a door lock outside the house. earnest mcgee is expected to face a judge today. fire department divers are back at a lake in the far north suburbs today ... searching for the body of a man who may have drowned. police say the 62 year-old man jumped into west loon lake yesterday afternoon and couldn't get back into his pontoon boat. his 69 year-old passenger jumped in to help and had to be rescued by a boater nearby. more than 40 divers from several fire departments in lake county have helped in the search. authorities say they don't believe alcohol is involved. a group of church leaders is offering a $3,000. reward for information that helps chicago police catch the person who shot and killed a girl in the austin neighborhood. 7 year-old heaven sutton was killed... when gang g

mcgee made the confession to investigators videotaped statement earnest l mcgee got into argument burnside neighborhood this week shot her six times with a revolver as she sat in a reclining chair could not get in touch with their charged with first-degree murder held in jail without bail. presidents a reminder to collect czech rain check from gonna buy back last week turned and program collected 5500 guns hundred 23rd period response to recent shootings collection was so successful some locations ran out of the but hundred dollar gift card had been out and returned first deputy alfonza wysinger says they encourage anyone who received a range check for turning in their gone to come back to the same location and get to $100 gift card tomorrow. chicago tax pairs on the hook for nearly $15 million in overtime pay for chicago cops working last month's nato summit. mayor rahm emmanuel looking to get the money from defense. lease'sthe fed. national security special event status. cook county criminal court building in named renamed retire judge with a unique story judge george leighton served in