Free The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene Page B

worked out a strategy weeks earlier: he would attack from the south, the easier approach, while Parker and a reserve force would stay to the city's north. Nelson would use his mobility to take out the Danish guns. He had studied the maps: sandbars were no threat. As for the wind, aggressive action was more important than fretting over wind.
    Nelson's speech energized Parker's captains. He was by far their most successful leader, and his confidence was catching. Even Sir Hyde was impressed, and the plan was approved.
So Grant was alone; his most trusted subordinates besought him to change his plans, while his superiors were astounded at his temerity and strove to interfere. Soldiers of reputation and civilians in high places condemned, in advance, a campaign that seemed to them as hopeless as it was unprecedented. If he failed, the country would concur with the Government and the Generals. Grant knew all this, and appreciated his danger, but was as invulnerable to the apprehensions of ambition as to the entreaties of friendship, or the anxieties even of patriotism. That quiet confidence in himself which never forsook him, and which amounted indeed almost to a feeling of fate, was uninterrupted. Having once determined in a matter that required irreversible decision, he never reversed, nor even misgave, but was steadily loyal to himself and his plans. This absolute and implicit faith was, however, as far as possible from conceit or enthusiasm; it was simply a consciousness or conviction, rather, which brought the very strength it believed in; which was itself strength, and which inspired others with a trust in him, because he was able thus to trust himself.

    M ILITARY H ISTORY OF U LYSSES S. G RANT , A DAM B ADEAU , 1868
    The next morning Nelson's line of ships advanced on Copenhagen, and the battle began. The Danish guns, firing on the British at close range, took a fierce toll. Nelson paced the deck of his flagship, HMS Elephant , urging his men on. He was in an excited, almost ecstatic state. A shot through the mainmast nearly hit him: "It is warm work, and this day may be the last to any of us at any moment," he told a colonel, a little shaken up by the blast, "but mark you, I would not be elsewhere for thousands."
    Parker followed the battle from his position to the north. He now regretted agreeing to Nelson's plan; he was responsible for the campaign, and a defeat here could ruin his career. After four hours of back-and-forth bombardment, he had seen enough: the fleet had taken a beating and had gained no advantage. Nelson never knew when to quit. Parker decided it was time to hoist signal flag 39, the order to withdraw. The first ships to see it were to acknowledge it and pass the signal on down the line. Once acknowledged there was nothing else to do but retreat. The battle was over.
    On board the Elephant , a lieutenant told Nelson about the signal. The vice-admiral ignored it. Continuing to pound the Danish defenses, he eventually called to an officer, "Is number sixteen still hoisted?" Number 16 was his own flag; it meant "Engage the enemy more closely." The officer confirmed that the flag was still flying. "Mind you keep it so," Nelson told him. A few minutes later, Parker's signal still flapping in the breeze, Nelson turned to his flag captain: "You know, Foley, I have only one eye--I have a right to be blind sometimes." And raising his telescope to his blind eye, he calmly remarked, "I really do not see the signal."
    Torn between obeying Parker and obeying Nelson, the fleet captains chose Nelson. They would risk their careers along with his. But soon the Danish defenses started to crack; some of the ships anchored in the harbor surrendered, and the firing of the guns began to slow. Less than an hour after Parker's signal to stop the battle, the Danes surrendered.
    The next day Parker perfunctorily congratulated Nelson on the victory. He did not mention his subordinate's disobedience. He was hoping the whole affair,