They had advanced in triumph almost to the Mississippi line, and they would soon be pursuing their disorganized foe into that Gulf State.
Several new generals came to serve under Grant.

Among them was one named Sherman, to whom Dick bore messages several times, and who impressed him with his dry manner and curt remarks which were yet so full of sense.
It was Sherman's division, in fact, that was encamped around the little church, and Dick soon learned his opinions.

He did not believe that they would so easily conquer the South.

He did not look for any triumphal parade to the Gulf.

In the beginning of the war he had brought great enmity and criticism upon himself by saying that 200,000 men at least would be needed at once to crush the Confederacy in the west alone.