From such a fate I honestly, candidly, and conscientiously believe Grant saved his country. There was no other man in all the land to accomplish the work which he performed. There was not another general who had the genius, the moral and mental attributes, for the stupendous task. I earnestly and gratefully recognize the inestimable value of the services even of those who failed to achieve what was expected and required of them. Those gallant men who successively commanded the army of the Potomac lacked some essential requisite in the sum total of character which the emergency demanded. Grant possessed them all, in such singular harmony that he alone could direct the army in the path to victory. All others failed; he alone succeeded. It is hardly necessary to analyze the means by which he succeeded in his gigantic enterprise. Others turned back from the goal when their strategy failed, when the rules of warfare failed in their application. Grant used his strategy and his tactics to the utmost, and passed them for all they were worth. When they were no longer available, he "hammered" the enemy. When the old rules failed, he made new ones. He was an art and a science unto himself. I say Grant was the only man who could conquer the Rebellion; the only one who had the elements of success in him. I, Bernard Galligasken, say this, and I speak advisedly, knowing what I say. During the war, men went from the ranks up to generals of division in a couple of years. If any one had any military talent, he went up like a rocket, and, alas! he often went down like one, when he had soared to the ethereal regions whose air he could not breathe and live. Almost all who were heroes in the first year of the war were laid on the shelf before it was half finished. Corporals became colonels, and major generals disappeared from the scene of strife. If there was a skilful and patriotic man in the army, he was raised up; if there was an unskilful one, he was pulled down, whatever height he had attained. The need of the nation was desperate, and it could court or flatter no man who was not successful. For three long years the army was hungry for a competent leader, but found him not. The government longed for a mighty man, and was always ready to give him all the honors and all the power it had, without asking his politics, his religion, his antecedents, or even his nationality. There was a chance for any man who had the needed ability; the army, the people, the government, were ready to take him, when he won his laurel, elevate him to the highest position, go down on their knees before him, obey him, trust him, follow him. The path that Grant trod was open to every soldier, and, indeed, to every civilian.