Thursday, June 20, 2002

Diane E. from "Letter from Gotham" posted this on the 19th, the day of the bus suicide-terrorist-attack which killed 19 in Jerusalem. This was the first thing I read when I got up the next morning and it stayed with me all day and gave me strength.:

From Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph over Adversity:

Following the first day of the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862:


As night came, so did a steady rain. Grant and his staff huddled around a fire. McPherson offered his grim report of the day's events, then waited for Grant's response. When none was forthcoming, McPherson spoke up, asking whether he should make plans for a retreat. Grant stirred and looked up at his aide. "Retreat? No. I propose to attack them at daylight and whip them."


...


The night was an especially difficult one for Grant. At first he sought rest under an oak tree, but the rain and his pain drove him to seek shelter in a cabin on the bluff. Originally designated as army headquarters, it had been turned into a temporary field hospital, and long into the night surgeons performed amputations on wounded men with shattered limbs. Grant, his ankle throbbing, huddled there, slumped in a broken chair, resting his head on his arm. But what he saw and heard in the cabin sickened him, and so he hobbled back outside and made his way back to the tree, where he stood, a lantern in his hand, puffing away at a cigar as the rain came down. Sherman, still pondering the possibility of retreat, appeared. One look at Grant convinced Sherman that it was best to put aside his query; instead, he offered: "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?"


Grant looked up. Water dripped from his hat. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."