s had been made and directions given for a general assault on
the works on the morning of July 5. But on the 3d General Pemberton sent
out a flag of truce asking, as Buckner did at Donelson, for the
appointment of commissioners to arrange terms of capitulation. Grant
declined to appoint commissioners or to accept any terms but
unconditional surrender, with humane treatment of all prisoners of war.
He, however, offered to meet Pemberton himself, who had been at West
Point and in Mexico with him, and confer regarding details. This meeting
was held, and on the 4th of July Grant took possession of the city. The
Confederates surrendered about 30,000 men, 172 cannon, and 50,000 small
arms, besides military stores; but there was little food left. Grant's
losses during the whole campaign were 1415 killed, 7395 wounded, 453
missing. When the paroled prisoners were ready to march out, Grant
ordered the Union soldiers "to be orderly and quiet as these prisoners
pass," and "to make no offensive remarks."

This great victory was coincident with the repulse of Lee at Gettysburg,
and the effect of the two events was a wonderfully inspiriting influence
upon the country. President Lincoln wrote to General Grant a
characteristic letter "as a grateful acknowledgment of the almost
inestimable service you have done the country." In it he said: "I never
had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that
the Yazoo Pass expedition and the like could succeed. When you got below
and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go
down the river and join General Banks [besieging Port Hudson]; and when
you turned northward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake.
I now wish to make a personal acknowledgment that you were right and I
was wrong."

Port Hudson surrendered to General Banks, to whom Grant sent
reinforcements as soon as Vicksburg fell, on the 8th of July, with
10,000 more prisoners and 50 guns. This put the Union forces in
possession of the Mississippi River all the way to the Gulf.

Grant now appeared to the nation as the foremost hero of the war. The
disparagements and personal scandals so rife a few months before were
silenced and forgotten. He was believed to be invincible. That he never
boasted, never publicly resented criticism, never courted applause,
never quarreled with his superiors, but endured, toiled, and fought in
calm fidelity, consulting chiefly with himself, never whol