As with other issues and questions of the war, Grant agreed with Lincoln about emancipation, although he evaluated it with a decidedly military slant. In August 1863 he wrote Lincoln:

"I have given the subject of arming the negro my hearty support. This with the emancipation of the negro, is the heaviest blow yet to the Confederacy. The South rave a great deal about it and profess to be very angry. But they were united in their action before and with the negro under subjection could spare their entire white population for the field. Now they complain that nothing can be got out of their negroes."

______________________________