The Vicksburg Problem 207

That ambitious general sullenly obeyed, but tookthe occasion to empty the vials of his wrath in aconfidential letter to Mr. Lincoln. “ My successhere,” said he, “ is gall and wormwood to theclique of West Pointers who have been persecut-ing me for months.”

It was fortunate for the country that the “ cliqueof West Pointers ” were allowed to have their way.McClernand ’s case was only one among manywhich in the course of our Civil War illustratedthe evils of amateur generalship. The Amateurold-fashioned American notion that a s enerals -man who succeeds in one kind of work can succeedin any other by dint of native ability and withoutspecial training is not so commonly entertainednow as it once was. It was a notion which, on thewhole, did us credit; for it bore unconscious testi-mony to the quick wit and rare versatility of theAmerican people. But the complicated conditionsof modern life are beginning to show its fallacious-ness, and the Civil War taught us some lessonsin this regard. Of all the occupations of life,there is none in which the imperative need of pro-fessional training is so forcibly demonstrated asin warfare, where errors of judgment are visitedwith such prompt and terrible penalties. Amongthe commanders in our Civil War on either side,nearly all who achieved success on a large scale