So I am plugging away little by little at "American Ulysses," and last night I read this on page 300 (the chapter on Chattanooga in Oct-Nov 1863):
"With reduced tension [from supply lines opening up, bringing in some food and improving morale], Grant's aide Wilson watched a scene 'very amusing to me' at Grant's headquarters, a two-story brick house. On a rainy afternoon, Wilson listened to Generals Grant, Thomas, Smith, John Reynolds, Gordon Granger, and Thomas Wood: 'While cracking jokes and telling stories of cadet and army life, it was pleasant to hear them calling each other by their nicknames.' Reynolds called Grant 'Sam'; Grant called him 'Jo'....."
Some perhaps dumb questions (again, I have just a superficial knowledge of the Civil War):
1. John Reynolds??? Wasn't he killed in a fairly dramatic, memorable way at Gettysburg? (Was there a second John Reynolds?) If this is the Gettysburg Reynolds, this seems an odd mistake for a biographer to make. Perhaps White has just misplaced the Wilson quote into the wrong battle.
and
2. How did they get the houses that served as their headquarters? It never seems to be spelled out in the books. Did they just commandeer the homes of people where they were fighting and order the owners to get out, at gunpoint presumably?
Thanks for any clarification and instruction that might be provided.