From the June 25, 1864 issue of Harper’s Weekly at Son of the South:
ABOUT THE SIZE OF IT.
GENERAL GRANT. ” Well, and what if it should come to a kilkenny fight ? I guess Our Cat has got the longest tail!”
It wasn’t just Grant that was determined. On June 24, 1864 General Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac, expressed a desire for peace but also an understanding that the war would have to be persevered in. From The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade … (page 207):
… In flags of truce, and on all occasions that we meet the rebel officers, they always begin conversations by asking when the war is going to be over, and expressing themselves as most heartily tired and anxious for peace. I believe these two armies would fraternize and make peace in an hour, if the matter rested with them; not on terms to suit politicians on either side, but such as the world at large would acknowledge as honorable, and which would be satisfactory to the mass of people on both sides. But while I ardently desire peace, and think a settlement not impracticable, I am opposed to any cessation of our efforts so long as the war has to be continued, and I regret to see symptoms of a discontent which, if persisted in, must paralyze our cause …
Left to his druthers, General Meade might not have opted for Grant’s relentless 1864 campaign.
