new york colonel charles wainwright thought grant stumpy, unmilitary, slouchy, western-looking, very ordinary, in fact. grant mead's chief of staff considered grant possessed 6 a great deal of rough dignity. and he added, "he wears an expression as if he it determined to drive his head through a brick wall and was about to do it." one of the grant's first uncertainties on that initial visit to the army was whether or not to keep george meade at the head of it. the pennsylvanian surprised grant. he immediately volunteered to relinquish command without a murmur if grant wished to put sherman or another westerner in charge of the army. meade added that he would gladly serve to the best of his ability in any position that the general in chief might desire. that humbling offer "grant wrote, "gave me a more favorable opinion of meade than his great victory at gettysburg." meade would remain in charge of the army. beside sherman could not be spared from the west. meade would be treated, as grant continued, as he treated all commanders. he, grant, would set the broad objectives of a campaign