Four Generals, Four Counties

     Four counties in North Dakota - Ransom, Logan, Grant, and Sheridan - bear the names of Civil War generals, names that no one gives much thought to as they go about their daily lives.  Each one of these leaders led their men into the heat of battle where one of them, wounded in four battles, died from his wound in the fourth battle. The others survived to rise in political ranks or fight in the Indian wars.

     Logan County carries the name of John A. Logan, the man considered the best of the Union Army’s political generals since he rose from the volunteer ranks instead of coming through West Point. He led with distinction in different battles, especially so at the Battle of Vicksburg. Grant awarded Logan the honor of leading the first Union troops into the captured city on July 4 at the end of the campaign. General Sherman noticed how Logan was disappointed when he was passed over for promotion and made it up by giving him the honor of leading the Grand Review in Washington after the war ended.

     Logan might best be remembered as the first commander of the veterans group Grand 

Army of the Republic and issued his directive in 1868 to establish an annual Memorial Day on May 30 to honor those who have died in service. The date was chosen because flowers for decorations were in full bloom in the North.

     A reminder of the Civil War’s General Phillip H. Sheridan can be found in the central North Dakota county named for him, Sheridan County. The fact that Sheridan maintained a close relationship with General U. S. Grant certainly helped to prop up his battle accomplishments. Known as an aggressive leader, he became the Union’s cavalry commander after Grant was named overall commander.

     He willingly employed a so-called “Scorched Earth” policy and ordered the destruction of crops, railroads, farm buildings, towns, anything that might provide sustenance and protection  for residents of the South, including the women and children. One pundit remarked that Sheridan’s army left nothing but chimneys standing without houses, leaving the Shenandoah Valley a barren waste. At the conclusion of the Civil War he received orders to head west and participate in the Indian Wars where he led a successful yet brutal conquest of the Indians. 

    Ransom County, named for General T.E.G. Ransom who received four wounds in four different battles died after lingering awhile from the last one. And those four battles were not the only ones he fought in since there were several more. Fort Ransom in the same county rose in its humble structures in 1867 and remained in operation for five years.

     What was it about the memory of General Ransom that caused General Grant to weep upon hearing of Ransom’s death and General Sherman to keep a picture of Ransom hanging on his wall?  In Sherman’s eyes he said of Ransom, “Looking death in the face, far from home, he was content to die, because he had done a man’s full work on earth, and because every motive and instinct of his nature had impelled him to the duties of a soldier and patriot.” 

     The name of Ulysses S. Grant identifies Grant County which is located on the west side of the Missouri River. Much can be said about the man because of both his army career and his later life as a U. S. president, but it is his army career that receives the attention here. Not everyone liked his abilities as a military leader and here is the answer one man received from Lincoln after entreating the president to fire him: “I can’t spare this man; he fights.”Another time Lincoln said of Grant, “Where he is, things move.”

     One historian drew up a list of seven attributes that made Grant a good leader. Among them were his being fearless, ability to see the whole picture, and the fact that he didn’t let up.

A biographer, Jean Edward Smith, commented about the team of Lincoln and Grant by writing, “One could not have succeeded without the other. And while Lincoln set the course, it was Grant who sailed the ship.” While still wearing the uniform, he attained the distinction of being the first four-star general in the history of the United States.

     Skipping past other events, consider Grant at the end of his life. He smoked twenty cigars a day which led to throat cancer. He found himself broke at this time and fretted over the fact that he had no wealth to leave his wife and family after he died. The one thing he possessed of value was his life story, something for which he was offered money. Luckily, the writer Mark Twain had taken a liking to Grant and saw where the general had agreed to a poorly paying contract for writing his autobiography. 

     Twain negotiated a lucrative new contract for him and even while Grant was in constant pain, he hurried to finish his book. Today the book is considered by many critics as being the best of any presidential autobiographies. He died shortly after writing, “The End.”