Grant rode fast along the muddy, difficult roads
after that, but the nearer he drew to the scene of
the supposed ruin the less did the army look as if
it had been defeated. He rode past division after
division in excellent condition, on the left and in
the centre. When he came to McClernand's, on the
right, the facts of the matter came out quickly. An
abundance of ammunition had been provided, but
it had been defectively served out. The enemy had
made a rush in full force, and had been met unflinch-
ingly so long as the men could load and fire. When
their cartridges were exhausted, they had fallen back
out of range, and a part of them had broken ranks
in doing so. The disorder had not been general
and there had been no great disaster, for General
Wallace, commanding the centre, had thrown in
Thayer's brigade of the fresh troops from Kansas,
and had checked the further advance of the enemy.
The latter had fallen back behind their intrench-
ments. The national troops under McClernand and



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 137

afterward those under Wallace had given them so
stubborn a resistance that what General Pillow
claimed for them as " a victory,' and reported as
such, cost them nearly two thousand men, killed and
wounded.
The quick military intuition of General Grant gave
him at one glance a thorough mastery of the situa-
tion. He perfectly understood the state of mind of
the groups of angry volunteers who stood around
with empty muskets in their hands, boiling with
courage, but out of ammunition. They told him
that the knapsacks of the rebel soldiers were heavy
with rations, and they might as well have read to
him the plans of the rebel commander.
