Glass V^(otr.' Book "''^^'^Bn>sfcr ,h^ -Life a^^ '"' ©ZW L.U. §. ^'^h'^1. HE APFEA?.}-.!' A?-;^;k ;h.-. w/v.^ AS A MAN, THE NOBLEST AND PUREST OF HIS TIMES. AS A SOLDIER, THE IDOL OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. AS A CITIZEN. THE GRANDEST OF THE NAnON, THE MOST COMPLETE AND AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF THE LIFE A.XD PUBLIC SERVICES U. S. GRANT, "THE NAPOLEON OF AMERICA.' C0>:T^1NG a FLXL account of his early life; HIS RECORD AS A gTODHn' AT IBE WEST POINT MILITARY ACADE^H' ; HIS GALLANTRY IN THE MeSc^ war; HIS HONORABLE CAREER AS A BUSINESS .AL^N IV ST LOVK 4XD galena: his eminent SERVICES TO HIS COUNTRY IN OTR GRE.1T CIVIL WAR ; HIS ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY : HLS \BLE AND PATRIOTIC ADMINISTP^mON: HIS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT HONORS SHOWN HBI BY THE EMPERORS, KINGS AND RULERS OF AIX NATir»N.S ; m.s HEROISM IN SL-FFERING, and PATHETIC DEATH. BY COLONEL HERMAN' DIECK, THE WELL-KNOWN AUTHOR. TBT. RECORD OF AS HONORABLE AND BRILLLA^NT CAREER : A .STRIKING ILLUS- IRATION of the TRIUMPH OF GENIUS UNDER FREE LNSTCTLTIONS. J^^MKbU witk Dearly 2C9 fm lilastraticns of Scries ia the life of the Greai M£ar, PUBLISHED BY THE HERO PUBLISHING COMPANY, 909 ARCH ST., PHILADELPHIA. PA. B. F. JONES & CO.. I M. S. BARNETT & CO.. Laxkside Buildihg, Chicago, III. j 420 Mawcet Str^t, St. LcxB, Ma .DS5 ;3;t»aS'- c; F-i^.-U^^^^y Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by WM. R. VANSANT, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. FROM AP.ECENT PHOTOGRAPH, '^^^S»r^ :--«r- r■^■* >T^'T" 4 INTRODUCTION. This account of the early life of General Grant is at once full and accurate, for it was obtained from original and authentic sources. The history of his military career is written with that skill and power which, long since, secured for our author the foremost position among American historical writers. The battles in which Gen- eral Grant was engaged, from that of Belmont to the final surrender of General Lee's army, are described in detail, and with that graphic power which presents the different scenes with all the brilliancy, vividness and dis- tinctness of a painting, and with the life-like accuracy of a photograph. His two administrations as President are described with a master's pen, and his travels round the world, with the receptions and honors conferred on him, exceeding in number and brilliancy those shown to any royal potentate, are set forth with the vivid powers of description for which the author is so distinguished. The trials of his private life, his sickness, wonderful patience in suffering, and his universally lamented death are all depicted with unrivalled pathos and power. It is the pride and boast of America that this is a country of self-made men. However humble may be the position of a man, it is within his power, in this land of equality and free institutions, to attain the highest honors within the gift of his fellows-citizens. Our history is full of the names of men who, without friends or fortune to aid them, have risen by the force of their own abilities 7 8 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. to the proudest position in the Republic. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Garfield, and their glorious compeers, were all self-made men, and carved out their great suc- cesses by their own unaided efforts. Their examples shine out brightly to encourage and cheer others who are struggling onward in the road by which they climbed to greatness. No career in all our history furnishes a more brilliant example of this than that of General Ulysses S. Grant. Starting as a poor boy, he raised himself to the highest pinnacle of fame. It is but natural that his countrymen should desire to know the means by which this great success was accomplished. To meet this demand the author has prepared this volume, which relates in the most fascinating manner the Hfe of this truly great man. The work is more interesting than a novel, for it is true. It is the story of unconquerable determination and sub- lime self-reliance, of lofty purpose and inflexible resolve, of incorruptible integrity and moral courage of the highest type, of noble effort and magnificent achievement, of a prolonged and determined struggle, crowned by the most brilliant triumphs. No more truly did the great Napoleon rise from obscurity to the pinnacle of fame by herculean energy and an indomitable will that carried him over the snow- capped mountains in the piercing cold of mid-winter, than did General Grant, by the same innate, progressive energy, rise from obscurity to the highest position attain- able in this the foremost nation of the world. His life, while wrapped in romance like a cloak, had its shadows, its sacrifices and its magnificent successes. It is an inspir- in!^^ captivating and thrilling story, and points such a moral as only great deeds can. The young men of the nation should read it, for it may be to them a source of INTRODUCTION. 9 inspiration. Old men should read it, for it will recall to them holy memories of the deeds of the great men of our past history. This book differs essentially from the many so-called Lives of Grant now being pubHshed, and should not be classed with them. While recording his, illustrious achievements in the field and his career as President of the United States, it is yet personal, rather than political, and free from partisan coloring, depicting not only the exploits of Grant the soldier, but the entire life of Grant the man, his daily habits and conversation, his thoughts and his motives, as evinced by his acts and words, under all the circumstances of his eventful life. His record is clearly presented, that all men may see his life has been free from stain, his services honorable and distinguished, and that his claims to the love and confidence of the American people rest upon a solid foundation of genuine merit and faithful service honor- ably performed. No soldier, since Napoleon I., has accomplished such great results. It is generally ad- mitted that the victories of General Grant saved the Union, and it is not, therefore, surprising that all the world should have done homage to the greatest military genius of the century. THE WORK SHOWS How a poor boy secured a good education and fitted himself for the struggle he meant to make in after-life. How, when the call of his country summoned him to arms, he became a great soldier; how he turned the tide of defeat, and began the series of Union victories that cheered the hearts of his countrymen and caused our brave soldiers to take fresh courage and resolve to conquer or die. 10 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. How he won a great and glorious name as a gen- eral in the service of his country ; how he mounted from rank to rank until he finally attained the prolid position of Commander-in-Chief of the National Armies. How he led our brave soldiers to victory on many hard-fought fields, and finally suppressed the Rebellion. How, without solicitation, or any effort on his part, he was nominated for the Presidency of the United States, and triumphandy elected. How he was inaugurated President amidst the rejoic- ings of the people, and with the most imposing cere- monies ever witnessed in the Capitol of the nation. How by his able and patriotic administration of the national orovernment he won the confidence and affection of the whole people. How a noble and well-spent life has brought honor and fame to a true and earnest man, thus holding out one of the most glorious examples ever offered to the young men of our country. The splendor of General Grant's reception in the many countries through which he traveled in his re- markable journey around the world was owing to his great fame as a soldier. Wherever he went he was re- ceived by people and sovereigns with royal honors, and was in all respects the most honored traveler that ever accomplished the journey around the world. The distinguished American ex-President, though traveling as a private citizen of the United States, made the most remarkable journey in history, seeing more, and being more honored and admitted to closer confidence by Emperors, Kings and Rulers, than any other person who has undertaken to seek instruction and recreation by extensive travels through foreign lands. The whole journey was like a INTRODUCTION. \l romance, and the countries through which General Grant traveled exerted themselves to show him all they have wordi seeing. Who of crowned monarchs could have made the circuit of civilizadon with so many disdnguished marks of honor? Who of contemporary military men would have excited so much interest in all quarters of the globe ? The work not only relates the travels and experiences of General Grant, but it is full of carefully prepared de- scripdons of the famous cides and sights of Europe, Asia and Africa, and abounds in informadon respecdng the people, manners and customs of the old world. It is, therefore, a work of great value, giving as it does a life- like picture of the places and people visited by the great commander in the course of his travels. The author's indmate knowledge of the man whose life he relates has rendered him peculiarly suited to the task he has undertaken. He has embraced every means of thoroughly acquaindng himself with his subject, and it is confidendy asserted that he has produced a work that will win 'ts way into every household. LAST HOURS OF GENERAL GRANT. BY HIS PASTOR, REV. J. P. NEWMAN, D.D. In writing of the last hours and religious faith of General Grant, Rev. Dr. Newman said : " I arrived at Mt. McGregor Tuesday afternoon, at 6 P. M. *• While with the family at dinner, in the hotel, General Grant was removed from his sick room, wherein he had spent so many weary and suffering days and nights, into the drawing-room, which afforded purer air and more agreeable surroundings. The change was necessary, both as a diversion to the illustrious sufferer and for the convenience of his faithful attendants. From seven till nine he sank rapidly, without any apparent signs of re- covery, but retained his consciousness and the clearness of his intellect. He was surrounded with his family and physicians, and, at Mrs. Grant's request, we all bowed around the General's chair, and offered our supplications for strength and comfort in that supreme moment. " The General indicated his appreciation of the sacredness of the ceremonies by clasping his hands as in reverential prayer. All were deeply moved, as all feared the end had come. But, to the surprise and delight of the physicians and the family, the General greatly revived by nine o'clock, and indicated his wish to write. As quickly as possible, in response to the wish, an elegant writing board, often used by the departed, was placed upon the arms of his chair. A solitary wax taper burned before him. He adjusted his glasses; and then, with a trembling hand, wrote with his pencil on the tablet before him. His face wore an expression of anguish, and his thin lips seemed to pronounce the words he wished to write. He hesitated for a moment ; but he gathered up 14 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. his soul in strength for the supreme effort. Having written down half the page, he traced each line with his pencil to see that each line expressed his thought, and then crossed the fs and punctuated the sentences. But he had not written all that he desired. Again he called upon himself for additional strength, and finished the communication. It was addressed to his noble son, the Colonel, and contained the wish that, wherever the General might be buried, Mrs. Grant should have a resting place by his side in death. " The writing-desk was removed ; but, in a few moments he recalled it, and he wrote a short communication to his son, giving some important direction, when the Colonel replied : ' Father, I have attended to that." Again the desk was removed, and again he called for it. The family sought to persuade him not to make another effort, but he was still General, and his wishes were granted, and he wrote another family message. "The members of the household retired to the verandah. The lights were turned down and all prayed that the Lord would give his beloved sleep. But at 1 1 o'clock, he sent word to us v/ho were sitting on the porch : ' There is no earthly reason why you should sit up. Go and take your rest.' This was uttered in a husky whisper. "All withdrew, but no one could sleep. The weary hours wore on. Wednesday came, with its fitful transitions. The illustrious sufferer was conscious and calm. As we sat around him, watching each respiration, he suddenly opened his eyes, and whispered : * I hope no one will feel distressed on my account' And thus he sought to direct attention away from himself in his solicitude for the comfort of those he loved. This was the grandeur of his soul. To save others was the mission of his life ; and this ruling passion was strong in death. "The day had passed, the family had gone to dinner, except the oldest son, who, noticing his father's restlessness in the chair, sug- gested that he might find more comfort lying upon the bed. It was evidently agreeable, and, forgetting his feebleness, true to his char- acter, he made the effort to rise. His attendants gently lifted him and placed him on the couch from which he was never to rise. He had not then reclined for more than eight months. He was in no danger now of strangulation from the accumulation of mucus, and LAST HOURS OF GENERAL GRANT. 1 5 he quietly rested ; but within an hour thereafter the end seemed imminent. "Again we gathered around the husband, father, and friend and, at Mrs. Grant's request, all bowed in prayer while I committed his departing soul to the sheltering-arms of that Divine Redeemer in whom he trusted with a simple and beautiful faith. '* Again death relaxed his grasp. The feet were cold, and also the hands, but the brow was warm and it was evident that the brain would be the last of him to die. " Still conscious, his intellect was unclouded. Mrs. Grant pressed his cold hand and said, ' Darling, do you know me?' and he opened his eyes and gave her the look of love. The respirations grew shorter, now forty-four. Within an hour thereafter fifty, then, as the nigh twore on, they increased to sixty-five. The pulse was too rapid to be counted. The mucus gathered in the throat, and there was neither ability to eject it or swallow it, and the respirations caused the death rattle, which was more distressing to those in at- tendance than to the sufferer. " His lips were constantly moistened with ice water, now by the wife, now by the daughter, or by the faithful nurse. None of the household slept. All were keeping holy vigils : for all felt sure that as the light of another morning came would also come upon his spirit the light of the morning of his immortality. "About four o'clock in the morning he opened his eyes in re- sponse to my question, ' General, do you know me? ' and, an hour before he expired, again he opened his eyes in response to a similar question by his precious daughter Nellie. This was his last look of earthly recognition. " At 8 o'clock on Thursday morning of July 23d, all were sum- moned for the final meeting. Death had conquered the noble brow, and the expressive features were calm. The breath grew shorter, and at 8.08 the dying hero opened his eyes upon the sorrowing group around him ; and then, with a gentle breath, he took his flight from the scenes of earth and time. " It was his last earthly look on those he loved, and with that farewell vision he ascended to his reward. All were deeply moved, yet all controlled their profound emotions. The beloved wife kissed the calm brow, and then I led hpr to the sofa, whispering a 1 6 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. word of hope and comfort, where she soon regained her accustomed composure. " The great warrior and statesman, patriot, and friend, died as the Christian dieth. He had said to me, * I believe in the Holy Scrip- tures, and whoever follows them, will be benefited thereby.' His faith in immortality was without a doubt, and he wrote on a tablet: * I pray that the prayers of the people, offered in my behalf, may be so far answered that we may all meet in a better world.' And when I suggested, in the month of April, that he might be restored, and accomplish much for his countrymen by his religious example, his response was, If I am spared, I shall throw all my influence in that direction. i TSIIEI LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF General Ulysses S. Grant. THE NAPOLEON OF AMERICA. CHAPTER I. ANCESTRY. The Ancestors of Ulysses S. Grant — Matthew Grant emigrates from Devon, England—. Samuel Grant — Samuel Grant 2d — Noah Grant — Noah Grant 2d — Noah Grant 3d — • Jesse R. Grant — Ulysses S. Grant — Boyhood of Ulysses — His admiration for George Washington — A leader among his companions — An excellent rider and industrious boy — Nominated for a cadetship — Changing his name. The biography of the great hero who saved our glori- ous Union will always be read with the deepest int'erest by his countrymen. No military man of modern times has accomplished so much as the subject of this narrative. From his boyhood his deeds and not his words have always spoken for him. Whenever he deemed it advisa- ble to make any Important military movement, he would consult his generals, and if he thought their plans good he would adopt them, and If successful give them the credit. If he failed he would take the blame upon himself. He never pushed himself Into notoriety, and yet no man on this continent ever enjoyed more celebrity. The name of Ulysses S. Grant will be remembered with veneration and grautude as long as the United States of America exist. Among the great generals of their times, he will always be spoken of as one of the foremost. His countrymen proved to him their gratitude by raising him to * (17) 1 8 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the highest military position obtainable, that of General of the United States Army, then by twice electing him Presi- dent of the United States by overwhelming majorities, and finally, by reinstating him to the office as full General and putting him on the retired list. The latter act of Congress was passed on the 4th day of March, 1885, the signing of which was the last official act of the then outgoing Presi- dent, Chester A. Arthur. During the latter part of the summer of 1630, or early in the fall, no less than seventeen vessels arrived in New England, bringing families, their cattle, house- hold goods, and other worldly possessions. The '' Mary and John," a ship of 400 tons, which sailed from Ply- mouth, England, on the 20th of March, brought 140 emi- grants from "the West-country," Dorsetshire, Devon and Somerset, among them Matthew Grant and Priscilla, his wife, the earliest known ancestors of General Grant. They were both twenty-nine years of age, and brought with them an infant daughter. The ship landed at Nantasket, about nine miles from the city of Boston. The Nantasket settlers hospitably received the newxomers until they could larid at Boston. Captain Squib, master of the " Mary and John," though a good sailor, was not willing to venture his ship Into the intricacies of a harbor of which he knew nothing. But he had agreed to take his immigrants to Boston ; and the colo- nial authorities held a prejudice, not yet altogether extinct in New England, in favor of having agreements lived up to. So Captain Squib's passengers brought suit against him, and recovered damages, for not being landed at their destined port. Some days elapsed after the immigrants reached Nan- tasket before Governor Winthrop arrived at Salem, then boasting but ten buildings, where he found a frame house aw^aiting him. In those days milk sold for one penny a quart; and colonists w^rote home glowing descriptions of the beauty and fertility of New England. The " West-country people " settled a few miles from Boston, at Matapan. This Indian appellation they changed ANCESTRY. 1 9 to Dorchester, In memory of the county town of their own EngHsh Dorsetshire, which, Hke most British names ending in "Chester" {casti^a, camp), is the site of an old Roman encampment. So the memory of Imperial Caesar, dead and turned to clay, invaded the domain of the Sachem of " Mos- chuset," and changed its nomenclature. Dorchester is now a pleasant Boston suburb of half a dozen villages and hundreds of generous residences with exquisite grounds. As Emerson says of England, it is fin- ished with the pencil instead of the plow. One house is still standing which was built in 1633, and at the "raising" of which, perhaps, Matthew Grant assisted. In his day, Dorchester Plantation was a rude settlement of a few log-cabins, straggling over most of the territory now embraced in Milton, Canton, Stoughton, Sharon, and South Boston. The salt marshes afforded excellent sub- sistence for the famishing catde of the immigrants, but they themselves suffered for want of food. Their first meal was of fish without any bread, and for months they endured many hardships. Says Roger Clap : " The place was a wil- derness. Fish was a good help to me and to others. Bread was so scarce that I thought the- very crusts from my father's table would have been sweet ; and when I could have meal and salt and water boiled together, I asked, ' Who would ask for better ? ' " Among the settlers of Dorchester were several elderly gentlemen of good estate in England, three men of military experience, and two stockholders of the London Company which held the Massachusetts Bay Charter. The charter had been drafted for a trading company rather than for a government, so the control of the settlement vested only in the stockholders. But the Puritans would not permit Dor- chester to be governed by two men, and the Court of Mas- sachusetts Bay bestowed freemanship upon twenty-four colonists within a month after the arrival of the " Mary and John." Freemanship was an important endowment, secur- ing to its recipients large tracts of land and making them members of the General Court. This unique tribunal was a sort of colonial town meeting for local government, as 20 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the representative system was not yet In vogue and the col- ony was almost a pure democracy. The principal qualifi- cation for freemanship seems to have been piety, or at least church membership ; and Matthew Grant received it, with many others, after he had lived in America for one year. When Matthew had been four years in America, Pris- cilla, his wife, died, and left four children, the youngest an infant. The next year, 1635, nearly half of the first Dor- chester setders went to establish new homes in the wilder- ness of the Connecdcut Valley, far beyond the confines of civlllzadon. Early historians give as reasons for this second migradon a "hankering after new lands," which were ferdle and grassy, while those of Dorchester were rocky and heavily wooded ; better opportunities for trading in furs with the Indians ; and fears lest Connecticut should fall into the hands of the Dutch, who were attempdng to settle it. Matthew Grant — now resdess and lonely — went with the rest. Reaching the present site of Windsor, half-way be- tween Springfield and Hartford, and already setded by an offshoot from the Plymouth Colony, they were entertained by the pioneers, and, after examining the country, deter- mined to stay. The setders from Plymouth resented this as ungenerous ; but the Dorchester people persisted, and even drove away another party of twenty from Massa- chusetts Bay, likewise desirous of remaining. Matthew Grant and his companions spent the summer in felling trees and building log-houses. Their families re- mained behind in Dorchester, and in October several of the men went back for them. Sending their household goods by ship arcund through Long Island Sound, to come up the Connecticut, diey started on their return to Windsor, by land, the babies and invalids on horseback, and men and women walking, and driving their catde through the Avilderness. Winter set in early. By the middle of November the river was fast frozen, and the snow deep. The overland emigrants suffered much, and were obliged to leave their cattle in the woods, where many died, while the rest lived ANCESTRY. 2 1 on acorns until spring. Reaching the Windsor settlement the travellers were appalled to learn that the ship, with their provisions, was imprisoned in the river below. Several of the party went back to Massachusetts Bay in despair, while those who remained subsisted chiefly on nuts and acorns. At length a party of seventy — men, women and children — started for the ship, which had frozen in twenty miles above the river's mouth, that they might live on her supplies. But before they reached her she was released by the spring thaw ; so they returned to their setdement, which at first they called New Dorchester, but finally changed it to Windsor. They carried their lives in their hands. Like all fronder- men they were reckless of their own safety, but prudent for their wives and children. As soon as their families arrived they built a palisade, a quadrangle three-quarters of a mile long, to protect them against Indians. Those who had houses or lots outside left them and moved in. Mat- thew Grant had cleared six acres, but abandoned it all ex- cept the litde piece on which his log-dwelling stood, within the palisade, and next to the old Windsor town-house. For ninety years the colonists suffered constandy from Indians. At home, in the field, in the meeting-house, nowhere were they secure. Matthew Grant filled quite a large place in the set- tlement. He was elected one of two surveyors, to overlook the construction and preservation of highways, and con- tinued in that office for the greater part of his life. The roads and farm boundaries were very crooked and Involved, and real estate plentiful and cheap. After working hard all day at surveying, Matthew used to say, '4 would not accept all the land I have bounded to-day as pay for my day's work." He served as town clerk for many years. His auto- graph constandy appears on the Windsor records, to au- thenticate public documents. In 1637 the driven-out Massachusetts people sold their tract to this colony. Ap- pended to the deed Is a long note describing the land, and signed ''Matthew Grant, Recorder." He seems to have 2 2 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. taken a just pride in his own integrity. In a land suit, in 1675, in a deposition still preserved in the State archives at Hartford, he testified in somewhat nebulous rhetoric : "If any question my uprightness and legal acting about our town affairs, that I have been employed in a measure of land and e^ttino- out of lots of men which has been done by me from our first beginning here come next September is forty yere. I never got out any land to any man until I knew he had a grant to it from the townsmen, and town's approbation, or to recording after the book was turned. I am chose near twenty-three years since. I can say with a cleare conscience I have been careful to do nothing upon one man's desire." A division arose in the church about the old minister, Wareham, who had come with the colonists from Dor- chester, and, in his old age, was thought a little rigid and narrow even for those days. So a party of townspeople established a parish under a younger and more liberal divine named Woodbridge. They desired to have this entered upon the town records ; but Matthew Grant, apparently alarmed at the degeneracy and growing impiety of the times, refused to write it. The new church people, however, seemed to have demanded the book to enter the fact themselves. At all events, the record stands in a strange handwriting, with a note appended in Matthew's well- known chirography explaining the affair, and indirectly protesting against it. The Windsor records, in the library of the Connecticut Historical Society, show that he was clerk of the church until his death. Among the passengers by the " Mary and John " was Wil- liam Rockwell, an elderly man of good estate, who brought Susannah, liis wife, and eight children. He also came to Windsor, where he was first deacon of the church. In 1640 he died. Five years later, and ten years after the loss of his first wife, Matthew Grant was married to Susannah Rockwell. He was forty-four years old, and she forty-three, and they began housekeeping with the fair start of twelve children. They lived together twenty-one years. She died November 14th, 1666, and he December i6th, T68i,atthe ANCESTRY. 23 age of eighty, outliving her fifteen years, and spending the close of his life with his youngest son, John. Samuel, Matthew's second son, was born In Dorchester, November 12th, 1631. When four years old he removed with his father to Windsor, where he lived and died. He left eight children, all bearing Biblical names. Samuel (second), first child of the above, was born in Windsor, April 20th, 1659. On coming to manhood he moved to East Windsor, just across the river. There he lived and died, leaving nine children, of whom seven bore Biblical names. Noah, first child of the above by a second marriage, was born in Windsor, December i6th, 1692. During his lifetime the portion of Windsor In which he resided was set off to Tolland. From his wife's family descended Samuel Hunt- ington, one of the first Supreme Judges and afterwards Governor of Ohio. Noah (second), eldest child of the above, was born in Tolland, July 12th, 1718. He married Susannah Delano, of the family from which Columbus Delano, late a Repre- sentadve In Congress from Ohio, is descended. About 1 750 Noah moved to the adjoining town of Coventry. Soon after began the final struggle between the French and English for supremacy on the American Condnent, in which he and his brother Solomon both served. Before entering the service, Solomon Grant, who was a bachelor, thirty years old, made his will, giving his real estate to Noah, or. In the event of Noah's death, to his eldest son, and so on In entail forever. ^ The inventory accompanying gave the property as about nine hundred pounds sterling. The brothers were both killed in an engagement near Oswego, New York, Septem- ber 20th, 1756. Noah and his brother were In different companies, Noah a captain, and Solomon a lieutenant. The original muster- roll of Noah's company is suU preserved in his own hand- writing, headed by his own name as captain, and dated March 26th, 1755. Noah (third), son of the above, was born in Coventry, 24 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Connecticut, on the 23d of June, 1748. The subsequent change in our calendar from Old Style to New brought his birthday on the 4th of July, to the keen satisfaction of Noah, who had inherited the patriotic and military tastes of his father. After marrying Anna Buell, of the family from which sprang General Don Carlos Buell, Noah went into the army at the first drum-beat of the con- flict for Independence. He was a lieutenant of militia at the battle of Lexington, and served through the entire Revolutionary War, coming out with the rank of captain. When he returned from the war, the Connecticut Valley, which, a hundred and fifty years earlier, his ancestor Mat- thew had found a howling v/ilderness, was dotted with towns, villages and farms, and filled with an industrious, thrifty people. Noah Grant returned to a desolate home. His wife had died, leaving him two sons, Solomon and Peter. Under this affliction, aggravated by the restlessness which army life leaves, in 1790 he succumbed to the prevailing emigra- tion fever, and removed to Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- vania, settlinor near Greensburo-, on the Mononcrahela river. The people of Westmoreland lived largely upon venison and potatoes, though catde were plentiful, and the new land produced corn abundantly. They shipped cider and beer down the river to Ohio and Kentucky, and made enormous quantities of whiskey, supplying much of the South and West. They raised flax from which the women wove clothing for their entire families. Iron mines in the vicinity of Pittsburgh were already attracting attention; glass and iron manufactories were springing up, and some oil wells had been discovered. They were not deemed valuable, however, but simply regarded as curiosities. The woods still abounded in whip-poor-wills, owls, bears and panthers, and often in hostile Indians. There was no money in the region, and its entire business was conducted throu^ih barter. Such was the country and society in which Noah Grant settled. On the 4th of March, 1792, he married a widow named Rachael Kelly, by whom he had seven children. HOUSE W1II.RE GRANT WAS MARRILD AN D n SlDl N^- VVHI N TIMLS WFRC HARD, ANCESTRY. 25 Jesse Root Grant, fourth child of the above, was born January 23d, 1794. He was named for Jesse Root, many years Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut. Noah Grant, still restless, lived only nine years in Penn- sylvania. In April, i 799, again he folded his tent like the Arab, and as silently stole away — into a new wilderness. Wagons were then litde used ; the river, alive with travel and commerce, was the great thoroughfare. At high water crafts went from Pittsburgh to the present site of Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio, in twenty days, but in summer the voyage sometimes consumed ten weeks. The river vessels floated with the current, were fiat-bot- tomed, and of two classes: trading boats, bound for Ken- tucky and New Orleans, and loaded with whiskey, flour, apples, cider, apple-brandy, earthenware, iron, and glass ; and family boats, of emigrants, carrying farming utensils, household goods, cattle, horses, men, women, and children. In a boat of the latter class Noah Grant and his wife embarked with their five young children, a horse, two cows, cooking utensils, and all the rest of their worldly goods. Their craft was snug, and a part of it was roofed. Bidding adieu to their old home, they floated down the Mononga- hela and then down the Ohio, whose banks were already dotted by a few farms. Forty-five miles below Pittsburgh and two below the Pennsylvania line, they landed at the litde setdement of Fawcettstown, now Liverpool, Columbiana county, Ohio. Noah Grant found it composed only of half a dozen log- cabins in the deep forest. Noah Grant raised his cabin on the bank of the Ohio. Just after his arrival, an Indian called White Eyes was shot by a settler's son, in a personal altercation. This caused a few skirmishes, until the citizens united and cleared the entire region of red men. December following, Washington died. One day Jesse, five years old, observed his mother weeping, and asked: "What is the matter?" " George Washington is dead," she replied, through her sobs. 26 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. The lad, upon whom a knowledge of the father of his country had never yet dawned, promptly inquired: " Was he any relation of yours ? " Noah Grant had only established himself temporarily. The Western Reserve was not yet surveyed or open to setdement; but he looked upon it with longing eyes, for it was an admirable body of land. Its three millions of acres embraced the present site of Cleveland, and the eight northeastern counties of Ohio. It was known as New Connecticut, for it belonged to the Nutmeg State. In 1800, however, she sold it to the General Government, and from the proceeds obtained her magnificent school fund. But she retained one county for the benefit of her own citizens, who had suff^.red from the burning of buildings by the British during the Revolution, and these tracts were long known as the " Connecticut Fire Lands." The whole region was settled chiefly from New England, and to this day, in pronunciations, in idioms, in social habits, and in political faith. It is like a portion of Massachusetts transplanted bodily to the West. When Jesse was ten years old the Reserve was thrown open, and his father established his new home upon it, in Portage county, forty miles from the old home, and near the present town of Deerfield. The next year Noah's wife died. It was a sore loss, for she was the chief dependence of the famih'. Noah Grant was well educated, clear-headed, a brilliant talker, and a vivid describer of battles. But he was never a provident man. On coming to his majority he inherited a life-interest In the Coventry property left by his uncle Solomon. But, litde by litde, he parted with it all before he was thirty years old. And in seven years of military life, a common misfortune befell liim — he lost something of his self-control, and acquired the fondness for stimulants often born of army excitements. So, since the close ot the war, his family had been poor, and now, the death of his wife broke It up. The younger children were adopted by neighbors, and Susan and Jesse, the two eldest, had to face life and provide for themselves. ANCESTRY. 2*J After Jesse's mother died, he worked at several places, earning plain food and scanty clothing; but in November, 1808, the lad, now fourteen years old, went twenty-five miles from Deerfield, to Youngstown, Trumbull count\\ to live with Judge George Tod of the State Supreme Court. Here Jesse found a home. He was sent to school three months of the first, and three months of the second year, but that was the whole of his school educadon. In arithmetic he arrived at a dim percepdon of the single rule of three. Later in lite he devoted himself to text-books, until suf- ficiendy accomplished for the transaction of ordinary busi- ness, and even studied grammar after he was a married man. He even composed verses. One specimen of his poetry is preserved. It explains itself and reads as fol- iow^s : In eighteen hundred and forty-one Our p;irtnershi|) was tirst begun — We two then became as one, To deal in leather. Some little business we have done While together. A dozen years we've toiled together In making and in vending leather Suited to every stage of weatlier, E'er dry or rain. The time has come for us to sever, And we are twain. E. A. Collins is still on hand, And occupies the former stand, Where he has always held command, To buy and sell. As matters now are being planned, May he do well. J. R. Grant, the old off-wheel, As quick and firm as smitten steel. Does yet a strong desire feel To do some more. Then expect within the field A brand new store. Our hearty thanks we humbly send To every customer and friend Who has stood by us to the end With free good-will ; And say in future we intend To serve you still. 28 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. There's one thing more we have to say; To those who owe us, we want our pay ; Then send it on without delay — The full amount, For still we have some debts to pay On firm account. The orphan lad was happy at his new home. Among his playmates was David Tod, who lived to be Governor of Ohio, while Jesse's son was leading great armies to victory. Mush and milk was the boys' luxury. Every night they were sent to eat it for supper before the roaring log-fire of the great kitchen. On the first evening the spoons and bowls excited Jesse's wonder. He thought them a miracle of elegance. At sixteen, Jesse left Judge Tod's, and returned to Deer- field, where he spent two years in learning the tanning business. But the yard was only large enough to employ one man ; so, at eighteen, he was apprenticed to his half- brother in Maysville, Kentucky. There he remained till he had become a first-class tanner. This was during the war of 1812. In 181 5, peace being declared, Jesse, now twenty-one, returned to Deerfield, took the litde tan-yard and went into business for himself. He began without capital, but being industrious and frugal, steadily accumulated property. This year he made his first trip to Cincinnati, a settlement of six thousand people. At the end of two years the young tanner removed fif- teen miles to Ravenna. In two years more he was the owner of fifteen hundred dollars, chiefly invested in his tan- yard and leather, w^hich made him the richest citizen of the little town. On the morning of his twenty-fifth birthday, Jesse awoke and said to a fellow-workman who slept with him : " I always promised myself a wife at twenty-five, if I should have the means to support her. Now I have the property, but I don't know where to look. However, before going to bed I will make a start in some direction toward t^ettinir married." ANCESTRY. 29 So the tall young man donned his Sunday suit, put thino-s to rights in the tan-yard, and then walked thought- fully about the little tavern where he boarded. Tanning and Sunday clothing do not assimilate; and the landlady's curiosity was excited by his unusual garb. She asked: "What are you thinking about so seriously?" "About looking for a wife." " Where are you going to look ? " "Well, I don't know — somewhere, where there are girls." Jesse remembered one Clara Hall, whom he had never seen but once, and that fifteen months before. After din- ner, he went to call on her. She received him cordially, and, true to her sex, proved an enthusiastic match-maker. He had given her no hint of his purpose, but the feminine instinct was stroncr within her. W^hen he asked who lived in a neighboring house, she replied: " My uncle Timoth}^ and he has a daughter who will make you a capital wife. Now I am going to send for her to come over to tea, and you must go home with her." This was a diversion. Clara, not her cousin, had been in Jesse's mind. But the cousin, Prudence by name, came duly, and he not only took her home, as he was bid, but on the way agreed upon a correspondence with her. After keeping this up for a few months, the young couple re- solved to face the perils of matrimony, and agreed that the knot should be tied immediately "after court." The Supreme Court sat in Deerfield every October, and the session brought much business to the town. But the course of this true love did not run smooth. In August Jesse was attacked by the fever and ague. In January, 1820, so far recovered that he could travel eight or ten miles a day, he spent a few weeks with rela- tives in Maysville. There his father had died a few months before. After losing his wife, Noah resided near his old Ohio home until 181 1, supporting himself and aiding his younger children by shoemaking. Then he removed to Maysville, and spent the rest of his life with his youngest son, who was a prominent and successful business man. Jesse's sickness lasted over a year. When he had so 30 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. far recovered as to go to work again, he settled In Cler- mont county, on the north bank of the Ohio river, twenty- five miles above Cincinnati. The little village, of fifteen or twenty families, was called Point Pleasant. A citizen had offered to furnish the money for setting up the tanning business, if Jesse would teach its art and mystery to his son. In Point Pleasant he m.arrled — but the bride was not Prudence Hall. The engagement had been given up, and she was now the wife of a well-to-do Ohio farmer and the mother of his two children. Ten miles from Point Pleasant lived another maiden, Hannah Simpson, sole daughter of the house and heart of a thrifty farmer who had moved to the West two years before. She was born and reared in Pennsylvania, tw^enty miles from Philadelphia. For several generations her an- cestors had been American, though a family tradition alleged that originally they were Irish. Jesse describes her at this time as "an unpretending country girl, hand- some but not vain." She was thoroughly accomplished in all the duties of housewifery, and to great womanly sweet- ness added prudence, clear judgment, piety, and a gravity and thoughtfulness beyond her years. Never was Jesse Grant's good fortune greater than when, on the 24th of June, 1821, he married Hannah Simp- son. The young couple began housekeeping in a little frame dw^elling, a hundred yards from the Ohio river. Behind the house and the hamlet rose a bold hill. In front ran a little creek. Here the Ex-President of the United States was born, on the 27th day of April, 1822. Point Pleasant is a post village of the county, and is situated on the Ohio river, about twenty-five miles above Cincinnati. Clermont county is in the southwestern part of the State of Ohio, and has an area of 462 square miles, or 295,680 acres. The Ohio river forms the county boundary on the south- west, and the Little Miami river runs along its western lines. The land of the county Is well drained by the east fork of the LItde Miami river, into which the creeks mostly "'£Ujf (3«) 32 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. run. The surface of the country Is of a rolling character, and Is quite hilly in the vicinity of the Ohio river. The soil generally Is of a rich nature, and the surface rock Is formed of the blue limestone. A railroad now passes along its northern border, some distance from Grant's birthplace ; but at the time when that general entered upon his career, the iron tramway was entirely unknown In that region of the country. Soon after the birth of his first son, a discussion occurred in the family In regard to the name which should be given him. His mother and one of his aunts proposed Albert, in honor of Albert Gallatin, at that time a prominent states- man. Some one else proposed Theodore, and his grand- father Simpson suggested Hiram. His step-grandmother, being a great student of history, and an ardent admirer of Ulysses,"proposed that name. After due deliberation he was christened Hiram Ulysses. The boyhood of Ulysses, as he was commonly called, passed in a comparatively new country, did not differ mate- rially from that of other boys surrounded by similar cir- cumstances. He began to manifest an independent, self- reliant and venturous disposldon at a very early age, and from the time he was first permitted to go out alone, he lost no opportunity of riding and breaking horses, driving teams, and helping his father In whatever work his strength and size would enable him to do. At the age of seven and a half years, during his father's absence, he harnessed a three-year-old colt to a sled, and hauled brush with him for an endre day. He became accustomed to harness horses when he was so small that he could not put the bridle or collar on without climbing into the manger, nor throw the harness over their backs without standing upon a half- bushel measure. Before he was ten years old he had got to be a skillful driver, and used to do full work in hauling wood, taking leather to Cincinnati and bringing passengers back to Georgetown, where the family then lived. He became a good rider at nine years of age, having begun, like most farmer boys, by riding the horses to water. Long before Ulysses had reached his twelfth year he could iiiiap"«'^»» 34 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ride any horse at full speed, standing upon his back and balancing himself by the bridle reins. His quiet and gen- tle disposition, together with a remarkable degree of firm- ness, rendered him particularly successful in controlling horses, and in breaking them to the saddle and harness. This he always did for his father, but his fame soon spread beyond the family circle and caused his talent to be called Into requisition by the neighbors who had troublesome hvirses to break. At that time pacing horses were in great demand for the saddle, and to teach a horse this gait required no slight skill and patience. Ulysses was quite an adept in this as in other things relating to horses, but from some idea of pride he would not exercise his skill for money, although not unwilling to do real work, or go on errands of business. One of his father's friends had a fine young horse which he wished to use as a riding horse, but he could not teach him to pace. Knowing Ulysses' un- willingness to set about such a task as this for hire, he engaged him to carry a letter to a neighboring town, and as the lad was riding away called out to him, "please teach that colt to pace." Ulysses returned the horse at night a perfect pacer, but having ascertained that the letter was simply sent to deceive him, he could never afterward be Induced to teach a horse to pace. It was an uneventful life in the little Ohio village. When Ulysses was three years old a second son was born to his parents, and named' Simpson. The two grew up together. Their school comrades often used, after the fashion of those days, to go home with the Grant boys in winter, and spend tlie evening before the great log-fire, which blazed on the kitchc-n hearth, playing '' iox and geese," "morris," and '• checkers," eating apples, cracking hickory-nuts, telling stories, propounding riddles, and ending the fun by sleep- ing together. Two brothers, who were their closest intimates, are still living in Georgetown. Both went through the Mexican War ; one has been a Democratic Representative in Con- gress, and the other, as a brigadier-general of volunteers, did gallant service during our great war. ANCESTRY. 55 Ulysses was a very quiet but by no means a diffident boy. His father, who was fond and vain of his children, was given to putting them forward ; and Ulysses was the favorite, because he would do, or at least attempt, what- ever he was told. Both father and mother were members of the Methodist church, and there was a little meeting- house across the street. Methodist ministers frequently spent the night at the house. A visitor remembers one evening when Ulysses, then only seven or eight years old, at the call of his father, stepped out briskly, stood up in a corner, and recited : ** You'd scarce expect one of my age To speak in public on the stage." He rattled it off hurriedly and mechanically, but still with great readiness. Daniel Webster, in boyhood, could not summon composure enough to "speak his piece," but Ulysses Grant could without the least diffidence. If any wiseacre had had opportunity to compare the two, his pro- phetic soul would undoubtedly have seen in the farmer's son a great orator in embryo, and, perchance, in the shy New Hampshire boy, the promise of a successful general. He accumulated a little money by carting wood, and driving passengers, who arrived in Georgetown by stage, to their homes in the adjacent country. So at nine, he boucrht a colt for seventeen dollars, and from that time was never without a horse of his own. He frequently traded, always had a little fund of money, and was thought to give indications of unusual business capacity, though he never manifested it in his personal affairs in after life. He was known far and near as the best horseman " in all the country round." When nine or ten years old, he had acquired such repute for fast riding, that horse-jockeys who had steeds suffering from a distemper, which was re- lieved by riding them so fast as to heat them, used to bring the animals to Georgetown, for the tanner's son to try them for a few miles at the break-neck gallop, in which his heart delighted. Neiehborinof farmers also brought refrac- tory horses for him to train and subdue. More than once 36 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRaini'. the little fellow was seen racing around the public square upon a kicking, rearing, pitching beast, to which, with arms clasped about its neck, and fat bare feet pressed against Its flanks, the lad was clinging with the same tenacity which he manifested later in lite. A favorite amusement was to stand barefoot upon a sheepskin strapped on his horse's back to keep the rider's feet from slipping, and then put the animal on a fast gallop down to the brook or up the main street. Before he was twelve he learned to ride thus, standing only upon one foot, and holding by the bridle rein. The widow of Dr. Bailey, nearest neighbor to the Grants, says : "In general, Ulysses was exceedingly kind and amiable. Our boys never had the least dispute with him about any- thing except horses; but sometimes, when they galloped together down to the 'run ' to water, Ulysses would laugh at our boys, and tell them our horses were getting poor. This used to trouble them, and they would ask me, widi great anxiety, if ours really were thin and slow." One of the sons of this lady met his death through his fondness for horses. He was riding a refractory one which became frightened, reared, rolled over, and killed the rider. In this connection an anecdote is dropped by the pater- nal gossip, which deserves to be preserved as a graphic description of a scene through which many smart lads have passed, and as indicating in this particular instance some of that pluck, and tenacity of will, which distinguished the Wilderness campaign. " Once, when he was a boy, a show came along, in which there was a mischievous pony, trained to go round the ring like lightning; and he was expected to throw any boy that attempted to ride him. "'Will any boy come forward and ride this pony?' shouted the ring-master. "Ulysses stepped forward, and mounted the pony. The performance began. Round and round and round the ring went the ])ony, iaster and faster, making the greatest effort to dismount the rider; but Ulysses sat as steady as if he had grown to the pony's back. Presently out came a large ANCESTRY. 37 monkey, and sprang up behind Ulysses. The people set up a great shout of laughter, and on the pony ran ; but it all produced no effect on the rider. Then the ring-master made the monkey jump up on to Ulysses' shoulders, stand- ing with his feet on his shoulders, and with his hands hold- ing on to his hair. At this there was another and a still louder shout; but not a muscle of Ulysses' face moved: there was not a tremor of his nerves. A {e.w more rounds, and the ring-master gave it up: he had come across a boy that the pony and the monkey both could not dismount." That quiet, fixed resolution, which was such a marked feature in his character, he possessed when a mere lad. His father possessed great confidence in his ability to take care of himself, and once sent him, when but twelve years of age, to Louisville, alone. We give the incident in Jesse Grant's language. He says: " It was necessary for me to have a deposition taken there, to be used in a law-suit in which I was engaged in the State of Connecticut. I had written more than once about it to my lawyers, but could not get the business done. • I can do it' said Ulysses. So I sent him on the errand alone. Before he started, I gave him an open letter that he might show the captain of the boat, or any one else, if he should have occasion, stating that he was my son, and was going to Louisville on my business. Going down, he happened to meet a neighbor with whom he was ac- quainted; so he had no occasion to use the letter. But when he came on board a boat, to return, the captain asked him who he was. He told him ; but the captain answered, *I cannot take you; you may be running away.' Ulysses then produced my letter, which put everything right ; and the captain not only treated him with great kindness, but took so much interest in him as to invite him to go as far as Maysville with him, where he had relatives living, free of expense. He brought back the deposition with him, and that enabled me to succeed in making a satisfactory adjust- mcmt of my suit." The father remembers also the following incident, of which doubtless similar may be related of hundreds of ^8 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Others who never reached any eminence, yet it has a pe- cuhar interest in the Hght of after events. He says, '' I will relate another circumstance which I have never men- tioned before, which you may use as you think proper. He was always regarded as extremely apt in figures. When he was ten years old a distinguished phrenologist came along and stayed several days in the place. He was frequently asked to examine heads blindfolded. Among others, Ulys- ses was placed in the chair. The phrenologist felt his head for several minutes without saying anything; at length, a noted doctor asked him if the boy had a capacity for mathe- matics. The phrenologist, after some further examination, said, * You need not be surprised if you see this boy fill the preside7itial chair some time.' " Now, whether the opinion of the phrenologist was worth anything or not, or whether it was a mere piece of flattery, or a scientific opinion, may not, perhaps, be of much con- sequence ; but one thing is certain, if he had not been dif- ferent from the ordinary class of boys of his age he never would have been selected as a subject for public examina- tion. This fact alone shows that he was a marked lad, possessing certain positive, distinct qualides which disdn- guished him from others. If it were not so, the examina- tion of his head would have been without significance. Many anecdotes are told of him when a litde older, showing that p-reat self-reliance which also formed so remarkable a trait of his manhood. The means for securing that mental discipline and cul- ture necessary to fit him for any position of eminence were wandng in the litde town where he resided. His moral training, however, was excellent. Though his parents were not the old rigid Scotch Covenanters, they had the Scotch probity and prudence, and inculcated right princi- ples into the boy, and it is said of him what can be said of few lads, that he was never known to tell a lie or use a profane word. He devoted himself to his father's business of tanning leather with reluctance, preferring to drive a team instead. But while he was thus growing a strong, broad-shoul- ANCESTRY. ^g dered young man in an obscure western village, he was not satisfied with his lot. Besides, his father felt that he ought to have the benefit of a better education than could be obtained at home. It was a subject of much anxious thought with him, for he believed that his son had capacity for a more important position than that which the trade of a tanner would give him. But his means were limited — the want of money, which chains so many gifted minds to the mere effort to obtain a livelihood in the dull routine in which they have been brought up, stood sadly in the way of young Grant being placed in the more enlarged sphere for which he seemed to be fitted. Young Grant had a very keen sense of justice. One day, playing with the Bailey boys, he knocked the ball through a window of their house. Rushing in, with his round face blushing scarlet, he said earnesdy to their mother: " Mrs. Bailey, I have broken your window, but I am going right up town to get another pane of glass for you, and have it put in at once." But he was too great a favorite with the lady, and, indeed, with all her family, for them to exact such a measure of justice from him. A litde brook ran beside the tan-yard. During a June freshet, when the lad was ten years old, it overflowed all the vats, and sent the leather and bark floating away. But the leather caught in thick willows, and the stream was soon full of men and delighted boys swimming in to bring it back. All was reclaimed, without serious injury, and Jesse's only loss was the valuable bark — that which was dry and unused floating off, but the old and water-soaked remaininof. He was extremely fond of skating, and learned it while very young. When nine or ten years old, he froze his feet from tight straps. Mrs. Grant, a physician on instinct, was on terms of intimacy with every conceivable malady that juvenile flesh is heir to, and had a remedy for it duly put away and labeled in some corner of her memory. Of course, such a mother is worth all the physicians in the 40 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. world for little invalids, despite her harmless idiosyncrasies, one of whicli in her case found vent in administering salts to the children regularly, sick or well, at certain seasons of the year. This time she smoked the frozen feet of the young sufferer with hay, and then bound on slices of bacon to take out the frost. Ulysses and his comrades, when very young, used to sit barefooted on the bank of the little brook beside the tan- yard, fishing for "chubs" and "shiners," with liooks of bent pins. As ^hey grew older they angled for larger members of the fmny tribe a mile west of the town, in a considerable stream, which was there called White Oak Creek, but in New England would be dignified into a river. Here, too, was excellent bathing-ground. Ulysses was a capital swimmer and an expert diver, with unusual endur- ance in remaining under water. Hunting was a common amusement among the boys of the neighborhood. By day they pursued rabbits, gray squirrels, and partridges in the woods ; at night they had the more exciting sport of treeing raccoons with dogs, and then ft^lling the trees. In these diversions Ulysses seldom joined. While his comrades were playing, he was hauling loads for neighbors, or drivinor stacje passencrers home. Thus he was enabled to be a profitable customer for the village confecUonery, whose treasures he lavished with a free hand upon his pla)-mates and young ragamuffins generally. A month before Ulysses was eleven, an uncle by mar- riage, who was named Marshall, died near Deerfield, Ohio, the old home of the Grant family. Jesse immediately went to settle the affairs of his bereaved sister, and bring her and her five orphan children to Georgetown. Ulysses accom- panied him, and it was his first considerable journey. Taking steamer from Ripley to Wellsville, and stage thence to New Lisbon thirty-five miles, father and son made the last fifteen miles on horseback. They spent two or three weeks with Mrs. Marshall, selling at public auction all the family effects, except bedding, crockery, and other articles easy of transportation. Then, with the widow and children, they turned their faces homeward. One of the cousins, GRANT'S HEAD-QUARTERS NEAR FORT DONELSON. GRANT'S HEAD-QUARTERS NEAR VICKSBURG. ANCESTRY. 4 1 James Marshall, was near the age of Ulysses ; and the two boys, riding on the coupling-pole behind the wagon, were delighted witJi the trip. Starting on a Monday afternoon, the party reached Deer- field, six miles distant, that night, and on Tuesday night, New Lisbon, where they "put up" at the village tavern. On Wednesday, finding their team overloaded, they char- tered a two-horse wagon, and evening found them at Wells- viile. There they took the steamer " Lady Byron," taking their horses and wagon on board, and descending the river. A broken wheel compelled the boat to stop at Wheeling for several hours. Ulysses and James strolled up through the streets, less sleepy then than now. While they were loiter- ing about the City Hotel, a traveller asked young Grant: "What will you take this trunk down to the steamer for?" "A fi'-penny bit," replied the lad. The five-penny bit, usually contracted to"fip" in Western mouths, was worth six and a quarter cents, an outlay which the extravagant traveller fancied he could afford. So Ulysses at one end, and James at the other, bore the heavy trunk down to the boat half a mile away, and earned their reward. It is to be hoped that they never in after-life did so much hard work for so little money. There Vv^as no wharf at Wheeling. The water was nearly level with the top of the stone wall, from which a staging extended to the boat. The steamer had on board many German emio^rants, orolnof to Louisville and Cincinnati. With genuine boyish fondness for mischief, the two lads so arranged the planks that the first person venturing upon them would tumble In. The first happened to be a little German boy habited in a red flannel dress, and not more than three years old. As he stepped upon it the staging gave way, and ''chuck''' he fell Into the water. The alarm was shouted, and, as he came up to the surface for the second time, some of his people caught him by the hair and lifted him out. The thoughtless boys were sadly frightened, but cautious enough to hold their peace, and unspeakably relieved to see the streaming young Teuton saved from drowning. 42 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. The "Lady Byron" finally started again, and on Satur- day the travellers reached Maysville, where they remained several days with relatives, before riding to their home, twenty miles farther. Ulysses, on his return from this long journey, w^as looked up to by his playmates on account of the marvellous stories he had to tell of what he had seen. As Jesse Grant prospered, and his family increased in numbers, they required more room than the little family dwelling afforded, so after his return from Deerfield he added a spacious two-story house to the old one, which he left standing as an L. Ulysses drove the horses for haul- ing all the brick, stone, and sand. In a few^ months was completed the Grant homestead shown in our picture, and still unchanged. It stands on low ground, a hundred yards east of the Georgetown public square, a sober brick house, its front very near the street ; and one side shaded by tall locusts, and overlooking a smaller roadway which leads up past the old Methodist meeting-house and the Bailey resi- dence. In a hollow, on the opposite side of the main street, stood, and yet stands, the litde brick currier shop. Behind it was the tan-yard. Beside it, for a hundred feet, stretched a low shed — a mere roof supported by a skeleton of poles. Under this were piled many cords of oak bark, in the midst of which stood the bark-mill, with a hopper like an old- fashioned cider-mill. The bark, peeled from standing trees, is brought to the tan-yard in strips three feet long. In grinding, a boy stands holding one in his left hand, and, with a hammer in his right, breaks it into the hopper in pieces four or five inches long. Meanwhile, a horse trudging around a circle, and leading himself by means of a pole attached to the sweep which he draws, grinds the bark to powder. Not only is the work confining, but every time the beam comes around the boy must " duck," or it will strike his head. Ulysses heartily disliked all labor about the tan-yard, and had a tendency to make himself invisible whenever he suspected there was any to be done. But when his father left him to attend the bark mill, he would hire some other boy to take his place for twelve or fifteen cents a day, while GRANT'S BOYHOOD DAYS IN OHIO. (43) 44 I^IFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. he, by driving a stage passenger or hauling a load, earned a dollar or a dollar and a half. The young speculator ac- cumulated money easily, and in the use of it was free, though not wasteful. Just before the lad was twelve, his father contracted to build a county jail. The job would require much hauling of stone, of bricks, and particularly of logs. The tanner had one very large horse, and Ulysses said : *' Father, if you will buy Paul Devore's horse to work beside ours, I can haul these logs for you." So Jesse purchased the animal for fifty-five dollars. Ulysses was proud of his fine-looking black horses, and named the new one " Dave," in irreverent compliment to David Devore, a Georgetown attorney. With them the lad did all the hauling. It was two miles from the woods to the site of the jail. The logs were a foot square and fourteen feet long, and required a great deal of hewing, as all the "sap" had to be cut off. It took eleven men to do the hewing, but only one to " score." The hewers loaded the logs, while the lad simply drove the team. One cloudy April morning when rain was threatened, Ulysses went as usual for his load. After a long trip, he came back with his logs, and as Jesse and the hired man were unloading them at the jail, he remarked: " Father, I reckon It's hardly worth while for me to go again to-day; none of the hewers are In the woods. There is only one load left ; if I get that now, there will be none for me to haul to-morrow mornlnor." " Where are the hewers ? " "At home, I suppose. They haven't been in the woods this morning." " Who loaded these Ioqts ? " " Dave and me." " Wliat do you mean by telling me such a story?" asked the clear-headed, Indignant father. " It Is the truth ; I loaded the logs with no help but Dave's." It was the truth. For this hauling, the body of the wagon had been removed, and the logs were carried upon the axles. It was a hard job for several men to load. They ANCESTRY. 45 would take the wheels off on one side, let the axles down to the ground, lift on the squared logs with handspikes, then pry the axles up with levers, and put the wheels on again. That a boy could do this alone was incredible ; and Jesse inquired : " How in the world did you load the wagon ? " " Well, father, you know tliat sugar-tree we saw yesterday, W'hich is half fallen, and lies slanting, with the top caught in another tree. I hitched Dave to the logs and drew them up on that ; then I backed the wagon up to it, and hitched Dave to them again, and, one at a time, snaked them forward upon the axles." The ingenious lad had used the trunk of the fallen maple as an inclined plane, and alter hauling the logs upon it, so that they nearly balanced, had drawn them endwise upon his wagon underneath with litde difficulty. The feat made him quite famous in the neighborhood. Did it not involve as much inventiveness, patience, and fertility of resource as the wonderful campaign which ended in the capture of Vicksburg? The jail was finished by the ist of December, and then Jesse sold his wagon to a citizen of Aberdeen, twenty-one miles away. Ulysses was sent to take it there, with two horses, one which the purchaser had left, and a beautiful bright bay, not yet four years old, which he himself had owned only a few weeks, and had never tried in harness. For the first ten miles the team went well ; but then, near Ripley, passing a farmhouse where the butcliering of hogs was going on, the sight and smell of it made the colt quite frantic. In a twinkling- he kicked himself out of the harness, tearing it to shreds. Ulysses sprang from the wagon, and firmly held the frightened beast by the bit until he was quiet. Then, knowing- that he was, at least, an admirable riding-horse, Ulysses put on his saddle, brought for the return trip, and galloped into Ripley. There lie asked of the first acquaintance he m^et : "Are there any horse-buyers in town?" *' Yes, there is one collecting horses for New Orleans; he is to leave with them in a few days. I reckon he is over there at the stable." 46 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. To the stable Ulysses rode, and, finding his man, ac- costed him : " My horse Is for sale; are you buying? " *' Yes ; what do you ask for him ? " " Sixty-five dollars, and the use of him or some other horse to take my wagon to Aberdeen." The beauty of the little steed Interested the buyer, and he answered : **I will give you sixty dollars." " I can't take that ; he is worth more." " Well, I will split the difference with you, and give you sixty-two dollars and fifty cents." "All right." The bargain was closed, the horse delivered, and the money paid. But then the buyer, looking again at the chubby lad, whose gravity of demeanor had prevented his diminutiveness from being noticed, added : " You are a very small boy ; I am afraid it is hardly safe to buy of you." " Oh, if that Is all, I can satisfy you," replied Ulysses. And he went and brought Captain Knight, an old family friend, who testified : " It is all right : any trade you make with this boy Is just as sound as if you made it with his father." The buyer, determined not to lose sight of his new pony, furnished Ulysses with an old safe horse to Aberdeen, which the boy left in Ripley on his return, and thence went by stage. The next year, a roving New York journeyman, with a weakness for whiskey, worked In the tan-yard. Once, having exhausted all his money, he took six calfskins belonging to his employer. Not daring to offer them for sale, he consulted a little shoemaker, who betrayed him. Jesse found the hidden plunder, and soon after, meeting his speculating workman in the village tavern, ordered him to leave town. But the journeyman was obstinate, would not go, and even drew a knife upon Jesse. The broad- shouldered, powerful tanner took the weapon away from him, sent Ulysses for his cowhide, and laid it over the ANCESTRY. 47 culprit's back half a dozen times with all his power. But the victim, neither frightened nor hurt, stood his ground till some village "roughs" marched him out of town, with warning never to come back. He never did. While Grant was at school, his companions used to tell a story about a horse-trade that he was once engaged in. It appears that when he was about twelve years of age, his father sent him to purchase a horse of a farmer named Ralston, who resided some short distance in the country. The elder Grant wanted the horse, but still desired to get it as cheaply as possible. Before starting, the old gende- man impressed upon young Grant's mind that fact in these words : " Ulysses, when you see Mr. Ralston, tell him I have sent you to buy his horse, and offer him fifty dollars for it. If he will not take that, offer him fifty-five dollars, and rather than you should come away without the horse, you had better give him sixty dollars." Off started the boy, and in due course of time arrived at Ralston's farm-house. He had carefully studied over in his mind his father's instructions, and of course intended to do as his parent had told him. Mr. Ralston, however, threw him off his balance by putting the following direct but natural question to him: " How much did your father tell you to give for him ? " Young Ulysses had always had it impressed upon his mind by his mother that the truth must be spoken at all times, and therefore he replied : " Why, father told me to offer you fifty dollars at first ; and if that would not do, to give you fifty-five dollars ; and rather than come away without the horse I was to pay sixty dollars." Of course, Ralston could not sell the horse for less than sixty dollars. "I am sorry for that," returned Grant, ''for, on looking at the horse, I have determined not to give more than fifty dollars for it, although father said I might give sixty. You may take fifty if you like, or you may keep the horse." Ulysses rode the horse home. 48 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Young Grant had been brought up to revere and esteem the character of Washington as the redeemer oi his country, and so great an impression did the teachings of his friends have upon him, that, even as a boy, he would never allow that name or memory to be insulted in his presence. It so happened that the brother of General Grant's father had settled in Canada, and was impressed with a strong antipathy to the government of the United States. Not- withstanding this fact, the Canadian Grant did not object to send his son John to the same school where young Ulysses was studying, so that he might be able to gain a better education than he could at that time obtain in Canada. John had been brought up with the same feelings as his parents, and it was very natural for him occasionally to loosen his tongue in a disparaging manner upon American aftairs, to the praise and glory of the " old country." While it was confined to remarks about Great Britain, young Grant would listen, and argue all in good part ; but on one occasion the following conversation ensued, after one of their debates on the merits of the two styles of government, the love of country, and duty to rulers. "Ulysses," said John, "you talk a great deal about Washineton. He was nothinor better than a rebel. He fought against his king." "Now, look here, Jack," returned Grant quickly, "you must stop that, or I will give you a thrashing. iMother says I must not fight, but must forgive my enemies. You may abuse me as much as you please; but if you abuse Washington, I'll off coat and let into you, if you were ten times my cousin, and then mother may afterwards whip me as much as she likes." Jack was determined not to give way in his assertion, and Grant was as firm in his defence of his country's idol, until, at last, from words, they came to hard blows. During the contest Jack got the worst of it, but still Grant did not escape scot free — his face betra\i ng evidences of the struggle — and on reaching home his mother cried out: "So, young man, you have been fighting, notwithstanding all I have said to you about it! " ANCESTRY. 49 Ulysses explained the whole of the circumstances of the case in a straightforward manner, without either addition or detraction. The good and worthy matron, with the determination that her son should respect her admonitions, began making preparations to give young Ulysses the promised castigation, when her husband interfered to pre- vent the boy being flogged : "I tell thee what It is, wife," said the old gendeman, "the boy does not deserve to be punished. He has only stood up for his country, and he, that, as a boy, will stand up and fiorht in defence of the honor and integrity of the name of Washington, will rise, if God spares his life, to be a man and a Christian too." At about the age of twelve he displayed, In a remarkable manner, that calmness and presence of mind which has so eminently characterized his career as a soldier and general. Having been sent with a light wagon and pair of horses to the village of Augusta, in Kentucky, twelve miles from Georgetown, he permitted himself to be persuaded to re- main all night, in order to take back two young women who could not be ready to start before morning. The Ohio river had swollen rapidly in the meantime, "and the back-water in White Oak Creek, across which his route lay, had risen so much that when he reached it In returning he was surprised to find, after the first few steps, that his horses and wagon were swimming. The young women, finding themselves in water up to their waists, became badly frightened, and began at once to cry for help. In the midst of this exciting scene Ulysses, who was on the front seat, coolly guiding his horses towards the opposite bank, turned to the women, and with an air of perfect assurance, said: "Keep quiet; I'll take you through safe !" He was fond of all the games and sports of boyhood. His resolute spirit and cool temper made him a leader among his companions; but his disposition inclined him to seek the society of persons older than himself Those who have had the good fortune to know him in manhood, will readily perceive that he must have been an exceed- 50 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Ingly good-natured, amiable, patient, cheerful, modest, light-hearted boy ; full of courage, good sense, and self- reliance. He could read by the time he was seven years old, and was fond of going to school, learning easily and rapidly whatever was taught, but showing particular apti- tude in mathematics. He had always a peaceable and even disposition, without any inclination to quarrel, and yet he would never permit himself to be imposed upon, neither would he stand by and see a little boy abused by a larger one. His sense of jus- tice and fair play would always cause him to join the weaker side, and fight it through on that line at every hazard. He never used a profane or obscene word, no matter how great his anger or provocation. " Confound it " is the hardest phrase he ever gave utterance to. Ulysses inherited many of his best traits from his mother. The old residents of Georgetown speak ot her with ex- traordinary enthusiasm and affection. She was amiable, se- rene, even-tempered, thoroughly self- forgetful, kind and considerate to all, and speaking ill of none. Her children she governed with 'tender affection, and without the rod; and in return they were tractable and well behaved, never boisterous nor rude in the family circle. She was exceed- ingly reticent and exceedingly modest. Whatever she thought of her boys and girls in her mother-heart, she never praised them before others. Even now, though feel- ing high and just pride in her illustrious son, and tond of reading all that is said of him, she not only refrains from boasting of him, but sometimes blushes like a girl, and leaves tlie room when his praises are sounded in her ears ; for it seems akin to hearing self-praise, which she regards with unmitigated horror. In her old age she has calm, winning manners, and a facc^, still sweet and still young in the nicest sense of Holmes: " Fi r him in vain the envious sea-^ons roll, Who bears eternal summer in his soul.'' Ulysses was sent to school before he was four years old, but he began so young to drive a team and make himself ANCESTRY. 51 useful to his father, that his education was sadly neo-jected. After he was eleven he went only in the winter term, aver- aginor about three months. Even then his attendance was irregular whenever he could hnd passengers to drive home. or neighbors who wanted to visit Cincinnati. The plain^ one-story brick building, baldly fronting the street, without any pleasant surroundings, where the village youth first quaffed from the "Pierian Spring," is faithfully shown in our picture. Its exterior is still unchanged; but no more emerge "the playful children just let loose from school," for it is now occupied as a dwelling by a family of negroes. He was not deemed a brilliant scholar except In arithme- tic, in which he excelled his class. In other branches he was about the average. But no one in the school could draw^ such horses upon his slate as young Grant, and in this exercise he w^as exceedingly diligent. He would sit, too, and reflect for hours with his slate or book hugged up against his breast, and his head a little cast dowmt His ordinary nickname was " Ulyss," or simply "Lyss;" but some of his comrades called him "Texas," because his father had visited that province and published a long account of his trip. Others called him "Hug," from his initials, H. U. G., and others still travestied his name to "Useless." Notwithstanding his expertness at skating, swimming, and riding, he was awkward in other out-door sports. But he had unusual fortitude, and though at ball-playing he was a very poor dodger, no ball could hit him hard enough to make him cry, or even wince. He attended frequent evening spelling-schools, and also a juvenile debating club, at which, however, he never spoke. Though seeming to care litde for amusements, he went with the rest to the evening gatherings of boys and girls, play- ing his part creditably at riddles, puzzles, and other games, and not shrinking from the endless juvenile kissing involved in forfeits, though he had no special fondness for the society of the opposite sex. One litde girl only was a pardcular favorite, and she continued so until he grew to manhood. But she became a staid setded matron, and lived near Georgetown, Ohio. 52 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. In brief, Ulysses was a sober, thoughtful boy, who pre- ferred the society of men to that of younger companions, but always as a modest and quiet listener rather than a talker. He was temperate — much less inclined to whiskey than most young men in that convivial region, for whoever had o-rown virtuous, Brown county willed that there should be cakes and ale. Military traditions were among the familiar things of his childhood: stories of Samuel and Noah Grant in the old French war, and of his grandfather's exploits in the eight years of the Revoludon. The military spirit also was fer- vent in the vicinity ; he saw much of company drill, and never missed the general muster in August. On this grand occasion as many as three thousand citizen-soldiers were somedmes drilled by their officers through the long summer day, with more than ordinary zeal and diligence. Even the local names betokened an admiradon of military heroes. Ripley was so called in honor of General Ripley; Scott township, of Winfield Scott; and Brown county, of Ethan Allen Brown, all famous in the war of 1812. A Philadelphia journalist, who was a native of the same village — a litde boy, who, in his own phrase, " used to hang around the skirts of Grant's 'wamus,'" writes: "A brother of the General was a fellow-' devil' in the printing-office in which we were then the younger imp. And through him we became acquainted with Ulysses, or 'Lyss," as he was called by the boys. He was then a stumpy, freckle-faced, big-headed country lad of fifteen or thereabouts, working in his father's tan-yard; and we often stood by his side and exercised our amateur hand, under his direcdon, in breaking bark for the old bark-mill down in the hollow. Though sneered at for his awkwardness by the scions of noble Kentucky, who honored Georgetown with their presence, Ulysses was a favorite with the smaller boys of the village, who had learned to look up to him as a sort of a protector. "We well remember the stir created by the appointment of the tanner's son to a cadetship at West Point. The surprise among the sons of our doctors, lawyers, and store- ANCESTRY. 53 keepers was something wonderful. Indeed, none of us boys, high or low, rich or poor, could clearly imagine how Uncle Sam's schoolmasters were going to transform our somewhat 021 /re-look'mcr comrade into our dcau ideal of dandyism — a West Pointer. But the rude exterior of the bark-grinder covered a wealth of intellect, which, of course, we youngsters were not expected to be cognizant of. Modest and unassuming, though determined, self-reliant and decisive then, as he still seems to be, we mistook his shy, retiring disposition for slowness, and, looked up to as he was by us all, we must confess there was much joking at his expense as we gathered of evenings in the court-house square." Besides Ulysses there were in due season five other children — Simpson, Clara, Virginia, Orvil L., and Mary Frances. When Ulysses was nearly fourteen, his life was varied by a winter at Maysville, Kentucky. The schools there were better than in Georgetown, and to their advantages he was bid by the widow of his uncle, Peter Grant, who resided there. Two years later he was sent for a few months to the Presbyterian Academy at Ripley, where he boarded with Marion Johnson. He was a plant of slow growth; looking little like his father, but much like his aunt, Mrs. Rachael Tompkins, of Charlestown, West Virginia, and inheriting the "Grant face," with its Scotch look of strength, spirit, and deter- mination, and, when smiling, its peculiar twist of the under lip. Thus the boy grew up in a pleasant, well-ordered family, trained by a thoughtful father of great energy and integrity, and by a mother so tender, so faithful, so calm, so heavenly tempered, that former neighbors speak of her as men are wont to speak only of their own mothers. In this home he was surrounded by pure influences only — a religious house- hold, the frugality and simplicity of working people in humble life, the hospitality and open-handed kindness of a new country. On the other hand, schools were poor and infrequent, the standard of public morality none of the 54 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. highest, and the temptations to excess in drink many and powerful. With him the home influence proved the stronger, and at seventeen years of age he was noted as an honorable, trustworthy youth, above all meanness, incapable of any crooked ways. Fortunately for the country his father did not fancy the plan of allowing his son to be a farmer or trader, but sagaciously suggested the idea of sending him to West Point. Fortunately, too, no great difficulty was encoun- tered in securine a cadet's warrant, through the kind offices of Senator Morris, and the Hon. Thomas L. Hamar. The last official act of the latter as member of Congress was to make the nomination of Ulysses S. Grant to the Secretary of War as a suitable person to receive the appointment of cadet at the United States Military Academy. It seems that when his father solicited his appointment as cadet, he designated him as Ulysses, and that the member of Congress who made the nomination, knowing that his mother's maiden name was Simpson, and perhaps that she had a son also named Simpson, sent in the name as Ulysses S. Grant instead of Hiram Ulysses Grant. As a matter of course, the cadet warrant was made out in the exact name of the person nominated, and although the young candidate mifrht have written his true name on the re^rister when he . ... ^ presented himself for admission it would have probably re- sulted in his suspension till the warrant of appointment could be corrected. Foreseeing this trouble and wishing to avoid it he entered the academy as Ulysses S. Grant, and trusted to getting his name set right at some future day. This, however, he did not succeed in accomplishing, but in order that there should be nothing lost on that score, his classmates and comrades, looking about for a suitable nickname, gave him the familiar appellation of Sam, which was often expanded into Uncle Sam. Since arriving at the age of manhood, he has not regarded the S. in his name as having any signification whatever. CHAPTER 11. WEST POINT AND THE MEXICAN WAR. Ulysses S. Grant enters West Point — Submits readily to Discipline — His C'jiti?smat2s — Pie Graduates Twenty-first in his Class — Appointed Brevet Second-I-ieutenant — Reports for Duty — Jefferson Barracks — Second Lieutenant in Seventh Infantry — Mexico — The Siege of Vera Cruz — Cerro Gordo — His Bravery at El Molino del Rey — First Lieutenant — Capture of the City of Mexico — IJrevet Captain — Married at St. Louis — Accompanies his Regiment to California — Serves in Oregon — Pro- moted Captain — Resigns and Returns to St. Louis. On the first day of July, 1839, Ulysses S. Grant, then about seventeen years of age and slightly above five feet in height, was regularly enrolled amongst the cadets at the Military Academy. When the young cadet entered the West Point Institu- tion, he had to submit to a thorough physical and mental examination, to see whether he w^as fit to enter upon the life of a soldier, and was possessed of the proper mental talents, to make him competent to be trained as an officer. He passed the examination successfully and was admitted into the fourth class, where his studies consisted of mathe- matics, English grammar, including etymological and rhe- torical exercises, composition, declamation, geography of the United States, French, and the use of small arms. In the camp, for the cadets have to live part of the summer months in tents as if in the field, he ranked as a private of the battalion, and had to submit to all the inconveniences that privates in camp have to suffer. The battalion of cadets having removed from barracks to the usual summer encampment, young Grant soon found himself, in common with his class-mates, rapidly inducted into all the mysteries of cadet life. Under the skillful hand of a third classman, w^ho had already been thoroughly '* set up as a soldier," he was rapidly taught the military po- C55) 56 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. sition, squad drill, and manual of arms. Guard duty, field artillery, and academic exercises followed in their turn. Having satisfactorily passed the semi-annual January ex- amination, which is usually fatal to the hopes of dull and incorrioible candidates, he subscribed to the oath of alle- giance to the United States, and bound himself to serve the nation honestly and faithfully against all its enemies and opposers whatsoever. Grant did not take a high position in his class, except in mathematics and the kindred studies, — engineering and military science. He excelled in all military exercises, and as might have been supposed, sur- passed nearly all of his class-mates in horsemanship, and the cavalry drill. He had the good luck to escape much of the playful hazing usually inflicted upon the new cadets of that day, though he doubtless received enough of it to give him a relish when he got to be a third classman for running it judiciously upon those who came after him. During the year 1840 he was advanced into the third class of the West Point Academy. Here he ranked as corporal in the cadet battalion, and his studies consisted of higher mathematics, French, drawing, and the duties of a cavalry soldier. In this last study he received practical instruc- tions for sixteen weeks, so as to make him a good horse- man. He progressed steadily, but not rapidly. He how- ever did not fall back from any advance he had made, and if he only gained one seat at a time, he held on to that, with the intention of never ao^ain o^oino^ below the cadet sitting next lower in his class. At the end of his second year he was granted the usual furlough of two months, and, after a visit to his home, re- turned to his studies, with renewed vigor and determina- tion, heightened by the approaching prospect of honorable graduation, at the end of his term. The daily routine of cadet-life is somewhat monotonous. Drill and study are the accustomed order, relieved only by the evening dress-parade, the inviiing ramble through scenery charming alike by natural beauty and historic in- terest, the "Board of Visitors," annual encampments, grad- uations, and hops. Martial law governs this military post; BUILDINGS AND PARADE GROUND AT WEST POINT. (57) 58 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and it is an efficient curb upon habits of irregularity and dissipation. Temperance and continence, within its juris- diction, forfeit their place as virtues ; for they are enforced upon the young soldier by inexorable necessity. Even a stolen visit to Benny Havens, a rollicking song by steakh, the smuggling-in per steamer of contraband packages, under the pains and penalties of a court-martial, are too excruciating substitutes for genuine sport to be very se- ductive. Grant encountered the severe exactions of the West Point course with no preparatory education worthy of the name. *' Hasten slowly " was written on his forehead early in life ; and those who knew him best expected from him a persis- tent rather than a brilliant scholarship in the intellectual exercises of the institution, and decided superiority only in the practical departments of military instruction. Both ex- pectations were justified by his career as a cadet. Abstract mathematics, topographical engineering, and the science of Vv'ar, were conquered by his characteristic tenacity of will. Practical engineering succumbed with less difficulty ; while infantry, artillery, and cavalry tactics were easily mastered. He passed with honors the first examination, and all the subsequent ones with no dishonor; earning successively the rank of corporal, sergeant, and commissioned officer of cadets. Cadet Grant, during 1841, entered the second class of the United States Military School at West Point, obtaining with this chanee the rank of a sero;eant of cadets. His studies now were somewhat more laborious ; but still Grant persevered, and gradually mastered them. From Sep- tember, 1 841, to June, 1842, he was engaged in the study of natural and experimental philosophy, chemistry, and drawing, and in receiving practical instruction in horseman- ship. During the summer months he was again encamped, and was well drilled, in both infantry and artillery tactics. He passed out of this class with credit. During the year 1842 the young soldier passed into the first and concluding class of instruction of the academy ; ac- quired a practical knowledge of the use of the rifled mus- THE MEXICAN WAR. 59 [cet, the field-piece, mortar, siege, and seacoast guns, small sword and bayonet, as well as of the construction of field- works, and the fabrication of all munitions and material oi war. The cadet who graduated first in young Grant's class was William Benjamin Franklin, who entered the Topographi- cal Engineer Corps ; and having passed through a series of adventures under various commanders, was, in 1864, the general commanding the Nineteenth Army Corps, in the Department of the Gulf, under General Banks. The names of the next three graduates do not now ap- pear In the Army List of the United States. Wm. F. Reynolds graduated fifth in the class, entered the Infantry service, and was appointed an aid on the staff of General Fremont, commanding the Mountain Depart- ment, with the rank of colonel, from the 31st day of March, 1862. The next graduate was Isaac F. Oulmby. He had en- tered the artillery service, and had been professor at West Point, but had retired to civil life. The rebellion, hov/- ever, brought him from his retirement, and he went to the field at the head of a regiment of New York volunteers. He afterwards became a brigadier-general In the Army of the Potomac. Roswell S. Ripley, the author of " The War with Mex- ico," graduated seventh ; but his name does not now appear in the official Army Register of the United States, as he had attached himself to the Confederate cause. The next graduate was John James Peck, who entered the artillery service, and was, on January ist, 1864, the com- mander of the district of and army in North Carolina, which then formed a portion of General Buder's department. John P. Johnstone, the daring artillery lieutenant, who fell gallandy at Contreras, Mexico, was the next graduate. General Josepli Jones Reynolds was the next In grade. This officer had gained great credit while In the army, as a professor of sciences ; but had resigned some time, when the rebellion broke out. He was, however, in 1861, again brought forward as a general of three months' volunteers, 6o LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. under General McClellan, in Western Virginia; was after- wards commissioned by the President ; and latterly became attached to the Army of the Cumberland. He served on the staff of the general commanding that army, with the rank of major-general, until General Grant assumed com- mand of the military division embracing the Departments of Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland, wdien he was trans- ferred to New Orleans. The eleventh graduate was James Allen Hardle, who during the war of the rebellion became an assistant ad- jutant-general of the Army of the Potomac, with the rank of colonel. Henry F. Clarke graduated twelfth, entered the artillery service, gained brevets in Mexico, and became chief com- missary of the Army of the Potomac, during the war of the rebellion, with the rank of colonel. Lieutenant Booker, the next in grade, died w^hile in ser- vice at San Antonio, Texas, on June 26th, 1849. The fourteenth graduate might have been a prominent officer of the United States army, had he not deserted the cause of his country, and attached himself to the enemy. He had not even the excuse of "going with his State," for he w^as a native of New Jersey, and was appointed to the army from that State. His name is Samuel G. French, major-general of the Confederate army. The' next graduate was Lieutenant Theodore L. Chad- bourne, who was killed in the batde of Resaca de la Palma, on May 9th, 1846, after distinguishing himself for his bravery at the head of his command. Christopher Colon Augur, one of the commanders of the Department of Washington, and major-general of volun- teers, was the next in grade. Franklin Gardner, a native of 'New York, and an ap- pointee fron-i the State of Iowa, graduated seventeenth In General Grant's class. At the time of the rebellion he de- serted the cause of the United States and joined the enemy. He was disgracefully dropped from the rolls of the United States army, on May 7th, 1 861, became a major-general in the Confederate service and had to surrender his orarrison at Port THE MEXICAN WAR. 6 1 Hudson, July 9th, 1863, through the reduction of Vicksburg by his junior graduate, U. S. Grant. Lieutenant George Stevens, who was drowned In the passage of the Rio Grande, May i8th, 1846, was the next graduate. The nineteenth graduate was Edmund B. Hohoway, of Kentucky, who obtained a brevet at Contreras, and was a captain of infantry in the United States regular army at the commencement of the rebellion. Although his State re- mained in the Union, he threw up his commission on May 14th, 1861, and joined the Confederates. The graduate that immediately preceded General Grant was Lieutenant Lewis Neill, who died on January 13th, 1850, while in service at Fort Croghan, Texas. Joseph H. Potter, of New Hampshire, graduated next after the hero of Vicksburg. During the war of the re- bellion he became a colonel of volunteers, retaining his rank as captain in the regular army. Lieutenant Robert Hazlitt, who was killed in the storm- ing of Monterey, September 21st, 1846, and Lieutenant Edwin Howe, who died while in service at Eort Leaven- worth, March 31st, 1850, were the next two graduates. Lafayette Boyer Wood, of Virginia, was the twenty-fifth graduate. He Is no longer connected with the service, having resigned several years before the rebellion. The next graduate was Charles S. Hamilton, who for some time commanded, as major-general of volunteers, a district under General Grant, who at that time was chief of the Department of the Tennessee. Captain William K. Van Bokkelen, of New York, who was cashiered for Confederate proclivities, on May 8th, 1 861, was the next graduate, and was followed by Alfred St. Amand Crozet, of New York, who had resigned the service several years before the breaking out of the civil war, and Lieu- tenant Charles E. James, who died at Sonoma, CaL, on June 8th, 1849. The thirtieth graduate was the gallant General Frederick Steele, who participated In the Vicksburg and Mississippi campaigns, as division and corps commander under Gen* 62 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. eral Grant, and afterwards commanded die Army of Arkansas. The next graduate was Captain Henry R. Selden, of Ver- mont, and of the Fifth United States Infantry. General Rufus Ingalls, quartermaster-general of the Army of the Potomac, graduated No. 32, and entered the mounted rifle regiment, but was found more valuable in the Quartermaster's Department, in which he held the rank of m.ajor from January 12th, 1862, with a local rank of briga- dier-general of volunteers from May 23, 1863. Major Frederick T. Dent, of the Fourth United States Infantry, and Major J. C. McFerran, of the Quartermaster's Department, were the next two graduates. The thirty-fifth graduate was General Henry Moses Judah, who commanded a division of the Twenty-third Army Corps during its operadons after the Confederate cavalry general, John H. Morgan, and in East Tennessee, during the fall of 1863. The remaining four graduates were Norman Elting, who resigned the service on October 29th, 1846 ; Cave J. Couts, who was a member of the State Constitutional Convendon of California during the year 1849; Charles G. Merchant, of New York ; and George C. McClelland, of Pennsylva- nia, no one of whom is now connected with the United States service. It is very interesting to look over the above list to see how the twenty-first graduate has outstripped all his seniors in grade, showing plainly that true talent will ultimately make its way, no 'matter how modest the possessor may be, and notwithstanding all the opposition that may be placed in its w^ay by others. With a head stuffed with the learning of the school ; with ambition kindled, and patriotism exalted, by the genius of the place ; with a mind skilled to manoeuvre, attack, and defend ; a hand adroit in piling up redoubts and stockades, and in digging rifle-pits and intrenchments, and apt in con- structing fascines, hurdles, and sap-rollers ; wiih all his sen- sibilities vivid, all his senses keen, intent, animated, the model of physical power and acdvity, Cadet Grant is launched into the stormy ocean of life. LIEUT. GRANT AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-TWO. (63) 64 LII^'E OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Leaving the Academy, Grant went as far as Philadelphia with his classmate, Frederick T. Dent, of St. Louis, thence to Washington, and thence to his home in Ohio. At the final examination, his chief achievement was with his favor- ite horse, York. In presence of the board of visitors he made the famous leap of six feet and two or three inches. His career at West Point had been altogether unnotice- able. His scholastic standing was about the average. His reputation for integrity and fairness was high, and his observance of the truth so strict that he never indulged in the sliehtest exae^eratlon. But neither classmates nor professors fancied that he was born great, or going to achieve greatness, or likely to have greatness thrust upon him. In 1843 the army was only 7,500 men strong, and scat- tered in small squads over our immense area of territory. Garrison-life at this time was languid beyond all expression, and was chiefly occupied with expedients for killing time. To subject a man for four or five years to the incessant application required by the West Point curriculum, to sharpen up all the powers of his mind to their keentst edge, to prepare him by every mental and athletic drill for unflagging labor, and then forthwith send him to mildew and to rust at some desolate post garrisoned only by a ser- geant's command, is to condemn him at once to self-tor- ment. And yet this was the uniform habit of the Govern- ment some forty-five years ago: this was the process to which the brevetted second-lieutenants of 1843 were sub- jected. On the day subsequent to his graduating, the ist of July, 1843, he entered the United States army as a Brevet Second-Lieutenant of infantry, and his name was entered upon the roll of the Fourth regiment of regular infantry, then stationed in Missouri and Missouri Territory, with Its head-quarters partly at Camp Salubrity, La., and partly at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis. Early In November, after the three months' leave of ab- sence usually granted to the graduating class of cadets, which he spent among his friends and relatives in Ohio, he ^ i » I « 1 I '^ 1 ♦^ ^ ^ ^^ ^ ^ ^ 1 ^ J 1 JX r^ >! \^ ^1 ^ ^ 1 ^ UH ^^^w^ ^ il 1 1 1 4 q V i.i t ^i 1% ^ \ V ^ (■■') r ( A '^ S ^ ^ i*j I I >.t~ 1 ^ V 'S n J ^i ^ % ■« 4 \' .?< ^ (^ ^ I ^ 1^ 1 ^ ^ (-:■ i^ ^ K ■i t •iV^ ^ -?\ \ ^ X \ ^ ^ H 0^ i \ ^ \ i i i n ^ }{ K 1 *^ V 1^ '\: % v. V i 1 \ I V i ! \ 0^ .V ^ V ! . ^ I ^ i ^ ^ ^ V I V ^ ^ f^K ^ ^ ^ ^ J ^ ^ V ^ V i \^ I •v ^ I I r^ ^ J ■'^ N V 1 ? 1 s fo ^ 1 i K i h ■1 •^ ^ ^ 1 \' <^ t ^ A I i I ^ I ■c J "^ \ h y ^ % >re, IS n much w bachel( Ith any old acq '" -^ a) >. *-" li|lll§ni imi p ;_Your very mc I have been ment. This w; »ads are concer had any cause hington. The i authorities, inning now to i ,er under Thorn ■ has developed would have supposed of the Departments, believe, Ruf, you are re enjoyment than I p' ; for you yet. My res ^inm-riru lfab-%artes %xmm of t|e UnM States, '<^^^^-*^^^*-^ Q,ji^ l^^^^^.^ "^fr.^^ .f^C^^/- Head-Quarters Armies of the United States, Washington, D. C, ^ to die highest position In the land. In obedience to in- structions from General Fremont to make some co-opera- dve movements, Grant, who had already gready strength- ened Paducah by erecting fortifications, had thrown a pontoon-bridge across the Ohio, half a mile below^ the town, had seized and occupied Smith Bend, and had thus cut the Confederates off from two important sources of supply, resolved to threaten Columbus by attacking Bel- mont, a small village and landing-place on the Missouri side of the river and direcdy opposite Columbus. He had learned that the Confederate General Price was receiving reinforcements from Polk; and he hoped that, by making himself master of Belmont, he w^ould break up the connec- tion between them. Having arranged some side move- ments for the purpose of distracdng the attendon of Polk, Grant, with about three thousand troops, in four steam transports, and having for convoy the two wooden gun- boats Tyler and Eexington, sailed down the Mississippi from Cairo on tlie evening of November 6th. At Island No. I, eleven miles above Columbus, they halted for the night. There Grant learned that Polk was sendingr troops across to cut off Oglesby, w^hom, in compliance with Fre- mont's request, he had previously sent off to assist Carlin in driving Thompson into Arkansas. At an early hour on WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 39 the following morning he landed his forces at Hunter's Point, on the Missouri side of the river, and about three miles above Belmont. A battalion was left to guard the transports. The remainder advanced and formed in line about two miles above the village. The gunboats mean- while moved down and opened fire on the Confederate batteries on the Iron Banks. The centre of the attackinor column was under Colonel Fouke, the right under Colonel Buford, the left under Colonel Logan. It was evident that Polk had been taken by surprise. General Smith, whom Grant had sent ahead the day before, was threatening him at Mayfield, in his rear, and he had been making his preparations to resist an attack in that direction. Dollins and Delano's cavalry were ordered forward to scour the woods. It was not long before they encountered the enemy, in considerable force. About a mile and a half from the enemy's camp the line of battle was formed. Behind an abatis of felled trees which surrounded the camp lay the Thirteenth Arkansas and Ninth Tennessee. There was also opposite Grant's left a battery of seven guns, commanded by Colonel Beltzhoover. This battery was protected by Colonel Wright's Tennessee regiment. In the face of a destructive fire, on the national forces rushed. Meanwhile the batteries of Columbus had shifted the heavy fire from the gunboats to the advancing line. The guns, however, were not in range, and as yet they did no harm. Nothing daunted. Grant pressed forward his men. In spite of the galling fire, onward they moved, charging over the fallen timber, capturing the battery and driving the enemy back across the low ground towards the river, and compelling some of them to take to their boats. In a brief space of time the heavy guns at Columbus were got into range, and the deadly bullets crashed through the woods, over and among the advancing and triumphant Federals. A second and a third time was the retreating foe overtaken ; and although reinforced and disposed to resist to the last, they were ultimately routed, some of them seekine shelter behind buildings near the river, some m the woods above the camp, and others under cover of I40 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the batteries at Columbus. It was a complete victory. The national troops gave themselves up to the wildest excitement. As yet discipline in the army w^as loose. In the face of Polk's batteries, three cheers were given for the Union ; and while some of the soldiers were delivering stump speeches, others were rifling the baggage or supply- ino- themselves with the arms which the discomfited Con- federates had thrown down in their flight. Although the victory was complete, the place w-as un- tenable, commanded as it was by the heavy guns of Col- umbus. While these were brought to bear upon the national troops in the midst of their wild abandonment, Polk ordered General Cheatham to cross the river above with his regiments, for the purpose of cutting Grant off from his flodlla. At the same time he himself crossed with two regiments to take part in the pursuit. Five thousand fresh men were thus at hand to hinder or harass the retreat. Grant, however, was equal to the situation. Getting his men in order, he pressed forward to the land- ing-place. While compelled to cut his way through the ranks of the enemy, he was exposed to a raking fire from the Confederate batteries on the Iron Banks. The fight- ing was terrific. After severe suffering the landing-place was reached; and under cover of the gunboats, which had come up, and which kept the enemy at bay, the embarka- tion was completed. By five o'clock in tile afternoon, the flotilla, with the entire force on board, was on its way back to Cairo. Grant carried with him, in addition to all his own men, two of Beltzhoover's heavy guns. The esti- mated national loss was 480 men in killed, w^ounded and missing. That of the enemy was 642. This w^as the first batde of any magnitude in that theatre of operations, and is jusdy claimed by Grant as a substan- tial and important victory. Officers and men had behaved with great gallantry. Colonels Logan, Lauman, Dougherty, and Fouke, and General IMcClernand led their men \vith conspicuous bravery throughout the action, while Grant himself exhibited his usual coolness and determination. In the heat of the action his horse was killed under him. After WAR OF THE REBELLION. I4I the larger part of his command had reached the transports, he went out again, accompanied by an aid-de-camp, for the purpose of withdrawing the battahon that had been left to cover the landing, and such small parties as had not yet got in, but had gone only a few rods when he found himself in front of the entire Confederate line not sixty paces distant. Being dressed in a soldier's blouse, the Confederates took no particular notice of him. He saw that all his stragglers had been picked up or cut off, and therefore turned to ride towards the boat, but as the Confederates continued to ad- vance rapidly in the same direction, he was compelled to put his horse to his best speed, and succeeded in reaching the boat just as she was pushing off. The Confederates, now under Polk in person, reached the shore a few minutes afterwards, and opened a severe musketry fire on the trans- ports, but as they fired low, little or no damage was done. The gunboats replied with canister and grape and drove them back in confusion. The Confederates claimed this as a great victory, but noth- ing is more certain than that Grant accomplished his pur- pose, captured and burnt the Confederate camps, took their artillery and compelled Pillow's command of five regiments to seek safety under cover of the river bank. After the Confederate force had been doubled by two additional brig- ades, and had succeeded .in surrounding Grant, the latter again broke the Confederate lines and forced his way to the transports, inflicting almost twice as much loss upon the enemy as he had received. Oglesby's movement was en- tirely protected, and the Confederates in all that region were thrown upon the defensive, lest their strong places should be wrested from them. The national troops engaged in the batde of Belmont had no doubt whatever that they had gained a substantial victory, and the memory of their deeds eave them a confidence and steadiness in action which transformed them at once into veterans. The folio w^ing is from a private letter from General Grant to his father, written on the night of the 8th: " Day before yesterday I left Cairo with about three thousand men in five steamers, convoyed by two gunboats, •J 4 2 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and proceeded down the river to within about twelve miles of Columbus. The next morning the boats were dropped down just out of range of the enemy's batteries, and the troops debarked. During this operation our gunboats exercised the Confederates by throwing shells into tlieir camps and batteries. When all ready, we proceeded about one mile toward Belmont, opposite Columbus, when I formed the troops into line, and ordered two companies from each regiment to deploy as skirmishers, and push on through the woods and discover the position of the enemy. They had gone but a little way when they were fired upon, and die ball may be said to have fairly opened. '' The whole command, with the exception of a small reserve, w^as then deployed In like manner and ordered forward. The order was obeyed wath great alacrity, the men all showing great courage. I can say with great grat- ification that every colonel, w^Ithout a single excepdon, set an example to. their commands tha,t Inspired a confidence that wllh always Insure vict6ry^when''t?liere Is the sllgjitest possibility of gaining one. ^ " From here we fough^ ouflv^ay¥rQm tree t© tr€fe'll:h«^ugh the woods to Belmont, about two and a half miles, the enemy contesting every foot of ground. Here the enemy had strengthened their posiuon by felling the trees for two or three hundred yards and sharpening their limbs, making a sort of abatis. Our men charged through, making the victory complete, giving us possession of their camp and garrison equipage, artillery, and everything else. " We got a great many prisoners. The majority, how- ever, succeeded in getting aboard their steamers and push- ing across the river. We burned everything possible and started back, having accomplished all that we went for, and even more. Belmont Is entirely covered by the batteries from Columbus, and Is worth nothing as a military posidon — cannot be held without Columbus. " The object of the expedition was to prevent the enemy from sending a force Into Missouri to cut off troops I had sent there for a special purpose, and to prevent reinforc- ing Price. I WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 43 " Besides being well fortified at Columbus, their number far exceeded ours, and it would have been folly to have attacked them. We found the Confederates well armed and brave. On our return, stragglers, that had been left in our rear (now front), fired into us, and more recrossed the river and gave us battle for a full mile, and afterward at the boats when we were embarking. "There was no hasty retreating or running away. Tak- ing into account the object of the expedition, the victory was complete. It has given us confidence in the officers and men of this command, that will enable us to lead them in any future engagement without fear of the result. Gen- eral McClernand (who, by the way, acted with great cool- ness and courage throughout, and proved that he is a soldier as well as a statesman) and myself each had our horses shot under us. Most of the field-officers met with the same loss, beside nearly one-third of them being them- selves killed or wounded. As near as I can ascertain, our loss/was about two hundred and fifty killed and wounded." General McClernand, in his official report of this batde, after spea4^ing of the hotness of the engagement, and nar- / row escapes of some of his officers, makes use of the follow- ing words : " Here the projectiles from the enemy's heavy guns at Columbus, and their artillery at Belmont, crashed through the woods over and among us. . . .. And here, too, many of our officers were killed or wounded ; nor shall I omit to add, that this gallant conduct was stimulated by your (Grant's) presence, and Insf)ired by your example. Here your horse was killed under you." After the United States troops had returned to their base of operations at Cairo, General Grant Issued the following order: Head-quarters, District of Southeast Missouri, Cairo, November '^th, 1861. The general commanding this military district returns his thanks to the troops mider his command at the battle of Belmont on yesterday. It has been his fortune to have been in all the battles fought in Mexico by General Scott and Taylor, save Buena Vista, and he never saw one more hotly contested, or where troops behaved with more gallantry. 144 L^^^ ^^ ULYSSES S. GRANT. Such courage will insure victory wherever our flag may be borne and protected by such a class of men. To the brave men who fell, the sympathy of the country is due, and will be manifested in a manner unmistakable. U. S. Grant, B7'igadier-Ge7ieral cojiunanding. But, while General Grant was engaged In congratulating those who had returned safe, he was not unmindful of the sufferers who had fallen wounded Into the hands of the enemy. Knowing the Incomplete state of the medical and surgical departments of the Confederate army opposed to him, he addressed the following despatch to the Confeder ate Q-eneral under a flacr of truce : Head-quarters, District of Southeast Missouri, Cairo, November d>th, 1861. General commanding forces, Columbus, Ky. Sir : — In the skirmish of yesterday, in which both parties behaved with so much gallantry, many unfortunate men were left upon the field of battle, whom it was impossible to provide for. I now send, in the interest of humanity, to have these unfortunates collected and medical attendance secured them. Major Webster, Chief of Engineers, District Southeast Missouri, goes bearer of this, and will express to you my views upon the course that should be pursued under the circumstances, such as those of yesterday. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, U. S. Gi^ANT, Brigadier- General commanding. To this communication the commander of the Confederate post returned the following answer: Head-quarters, First Division, Western Department, Columbus, Ky., November %th, 1861. Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, U. S. A. I have received your note in regard to your wounded and killed on the battle-field, after yesterday's engagement. The lateness of the hour at which my troops returned to the principal scene of action prevented my bestowing the care upon the wounded which I desired. Such attentions as were practicable were shown them, and measures were taken at an early hour this morning to have them all brought into my hospitals. Provision was also made for taking care of your dead. The permission you desire under your flag of truce to aid in attention to your wounded is granted with i)leasure, under such restrictions as the exigencies of our service may require. In your note you say nothing of an exchange of prisoners, though you send me a private message as to your WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 45 willingness to release certain wounded men, and some invalids taken from our list of sick in camps, and expect, in return, a corresponding number of your wounded prisoners. My own feelings would prompt me to waive again the unimportant affectation of declining to recognize these States as belligerents, in the interests of humanity ; but my gov- ernment requires all prisoners to be placed at the disposal of the Secre- tary of War. I have despatched him to know if the case of the severely wounded held by me will form an exception. I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, L. Polk, Major- Genera/ C. S. A. After General Halleck had assumed the command of the Department of the Missouri, he began to organize the same into proper miHtary districts, so as to allow each district commander to have full control of the section of country embraced within his lines. On the 20th of December, 1861, General Halleck, appre- ciating the military ability of General Grant, issued an order defining what should constitute the District of Cairo, and extending the command until it became one of the largest divisions in the country. He then appointed General Grant to be chief commander of the same. In accordance with that appointment. General Grant assumed the com- mand of the new district on December 21st, 1S61, and an- nounced the same in the following order: Head-quarters, District of Cairo, Cairo, December 21st, 1S61. [General Order No. 22.] In pursuance of Special Order No. 78, from Head-quarters, Department of the Missouri, the name of this Military District will be known as the ''District of Cairo," and will include all the southern part of Illinois, that part of Kentucky west of the Cumberland river, and the southern counties of Missouri, south of Cape Girardeau. The force at Shawneetown will be under the immediate command of Colonel T. H. Cavanaugh, Sixth Illinois cavalry, who will consolidate the reports of his command weekly, and forward to these head- quarters. All troops that are, or may be, stationed along the banks of the Ohio, on both sides of the river, east of Caledonia, and to the mouth of the Cumberland, will be included in the command, having head-quarters at Paducah, Ky. Brigadier-General E. A. Paine is assigned to the command of the forces at Bird's Point, Missouri. All supplies of ordnance, quartermaster and commissary stores, will 10 146 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. be obtained through the chiefs of each of these departments, at district head-quarters, where not otherwise provided for. For the information of that portion of this command, newly attached, the following list of Staff Officers is published : Captain John A. Rawlins, Assistant Adjutant-General. Captain Clark B. Lagow, Aide-de-Camp. Captain William S. Hillyer, Aide-de-Camp. Major John Riggin, Jr., Volunteer Aide-de-Camp. Captain R. B. Hatch, Assistant Quartermaster U. S. Volunteers, Chief Quartermaster. Captain W. W. Leland, A. C. S. U. S. Volunteers, Chief Com- missary. Captain W. F. Brinck, Ordnance Officer. Surgeon James Simons, U. S. A., Medical Director. Assistant Surgeon J. P. Taggart, U. S. A., Medical Purveyor. Major L N. Cook, Pay-Master. Colonel J. D. Webster, Chief of Staff, and Chief of Engineers. By order, U. S. Grant, Brigadier- General commanding. General Grant at once began organizing, under his per- sonal supervision, the new troops added to his command, and as soon as deemed fit for such service, they were sent to the various posts belonging to the district, including Fort Jefferson and Paducah, In Kentucky. By this plan of operation General Grant had all his troops well In hand, and yet so distributed that It was a matter of great diffi- culty, If not an actual impossibility, for the enemy to learn his streno^th. On the loth of January, the forces under the Immediate command of General McClernand left Cairo In transports, and disembarked at Fort Jefierson. The transports were protected by two gunboats, which were next ordered to lie off the fort. The Confederates, with three armed vessels, attacked these gunboats the next morning; but, after a brisk engagement, had to beat a retreat — the Union vessels chasing them until they took refuge under the guns of Columbus. As picket-shooting had existed to a fearful extent In the vicinity of Cairo, General Grant, on the nth of January, issued an order, as follows : WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 47 Head-quarters, Ca\v.o y January nth, 1862. Brigadier-General Paine, Bird's Point. I understand that four of our pickets were shot this morning. If this is so, and appearances indicate that the assassins were citizens, not regularly organized in the rebel army, the whole country should be cleared out for six miles around, and word given that all citizens, mak- ing their appearance within those limits, are liable to be shot. To execute this, patrols should be sent out in all directions, and bring into camp, at Bird's Point, all citizens, together with their subsistence, and require them to remain, under penalty of death and destruction of their property, until properly relieved. Let no harm befall these people, if tliey quietly submit ; but bring them in and place them in camp below the breastwork, and have them properly guarded. The intention, is not to make political prisoners of these people, but to cut off a dangerous class of spies. This applies to all classes and conditions, age and sex! If, however, women and children prefer other protection than we can afford them, they may be allowed to retire beyond the limits indicated — not to return until authorized. By order of U. S. Grant, Brigadier- General coi?inianditig. As General Grant states in the above order, it was ne- cessary to keep spies away from his vicinity, as he was then about to start on a perilous expedition. He had already divided his forces into three columns — under Generals Paine, McClernand and C. F. Smith — General Grant com- manding the whole expedition in person. Before starting on this adventure General Grant issued the foilovling order to his troops : Head-quarters, District of Cairo, Cairo, January iT,th, 1862. [General Order No. 3.] During the absence of the expedition, now starting upon soil occupied almost solely by the rebel army, and when it is a fair inference that every stranger met is an enemy, the following orders will be observed : Troops, on marching, will be kept in the ranks ; company officers being held strictly accountable for all stragglers from their companies. No firing will be allowed in camp or on the march not strictly required in the performance of duty. While in camp no privilege will be granted to officers or soldiers to leave their regimental grounds, and all violations of this order must be promptly and summarily punished. Disgrace having been brought upon our brave fellows by the bad con- duct of some of their members, showing on all occasions, when marching through territory occupied by sympathizers of the enemy, a total disregard 148 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. of the rights of citizens, and being guilty of wanton destruction of pri- vate property, the general commanding desi?'es and intends to enfoi'ce a change in this respect. The interpreting of confiscation acts by troops themselves has a de- moralizing effect — weakens them in exact proportions to the demoraliza- tion, and makes open and armed enemies of many who, from opposite treatment, would become friends, or, at most, non-combatants. It is ordered, therefore, that the severest punishment be inflicted upon every soldier who is guilty of taking, or destroying, private property ; and any commissioned officer, guilty of like conduct, or of countenancing it, shall be deprived of his sword and expelled from the camp, not to be permitted to return. On the march cavalry advance guards will be thrown out, also flank guards of cavalry or infantry, when practicable. A rear-guard of infantry will be required to see that no teams, baggage, or disabled soldiers are left behind. It will be the duty of company commanders to see that rolls of their company are called immediately upon going into camp each day, and every member accounted for. By order, U. S. Grant, Brigadier- General co^nmanding. On the morning of Tuesday, January 14th, 1862, General McClernand's column moved forward from Fort Jefferson, and the columns under Generals Paine and Smith, at Padu- cah, commenced similar movements. The three columns combined made a force of nineteen regiments of infantry, four regiments of volunteer cavalry, two companies of reg- ular cavalry, and seven batteries of artillery.^ At the time this expedition commenced Its march the Mississippi river was nearly filled with floating •ice, thus making the transportation of troops a serious difficulty. Demonstrations were made by General McClernand's column, as If with the Intention of attacking Columbus in the rear, by way of Blandvllle, Kentucky, w^hlle the real object was to concentrate with the troops marching from Paducah, Kentucky. The feint proved successful, and a great alarm was manifested by the Confederate forces In Columbus. As General McClernand's column advanced, It w^as at intervals joined by a regiment from the other columns, and, on the night of January 15th, his force encamped in line of batde ten miles to the rear of Columbus, threatening that post by two roads. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 149 Here General Grant, who had been with the column from Paducah, came up with this part of the expedition, and personally superintended the disposition of the troops. The first division was next morning marched to Milburn, apparendy en route for Mayfield ; but instead of following that path, the troops, after passing through Milburn, turned northward, so as to communicate with the force from Paducah; and, on the i/di, were within eight miles of Lovelaceville. They then turned westward, and, on the nights of the i8di and 19th, encamped about a mile from Blandville. On January 20th the column returned to Fort Jefferson. During the interval between the 14th and 20th of January, the infantry of this column marched over seventy-five miles, and the cavalry about one hundred and forty miles, over icy and miry roads, and during a most inclement season. This march was a very heavy one for troops who had never before been in the field. The re- connoissance developed the fact that the Confederate army was not in large force west of the Paducah and Mayfield railroad, except, perhaps, in the Confederate works at Columbus, and led to the discovery of valuable side-roads, not laid down in any map of that dme. It also showed that Columbus was far from being as strong as was sup- posed, and that it could be attacked in the rear by several different roads, along which troops could be moved. As soon as General Grant had communicated with General McClernand, at his encampment, on the night of the 15th, and had received his report, he at once discovered the mere shell of Confederate defence which held that part of the State of Kentucky, and allowing General McCler- nand's column to keep up the appearance of an advance, he withdrew the other two columns to Cairo. He had, in fact, accomplished and ascertained all that he had desired when he first moved. During the fall and winter of 1861 several gunboats had been ordered to be constructed on the Mississippi river, above Cairo, and by this time the majority of them were completed. In order to obtain sailors to man these gun- boats, General Grant issued the following important order: J t-o LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Head -QUARTERS, Districi' of Cairo, Cairo, January 20th, 1862. Circular. Commanders ot regiments will report to these head-quarters, without delay, the number of river and seafaring men of their respective com- mands, who are willing to be transferred from tlie military to the gun- boat service. Seeing the importance of fitting out our gunboats as speedily as possible, it is hoped there will be no delay or objections raised by company or regimental commanders in responding to this call. Men thus volunteering will be discharged at the end of one year, or at the end of the war, should it terminate sooner. By order, U. S. Grant, Brigadier- Gene7-al coinina7iding. A few days afterwards, General McClernand's forces were withdrawn from Kentucky, and again rendezvoused at Cairo, the commander being placed in temporary charge of the district during the necessary absence of General Grant. A few days soon developed the whole object of the movement made by General Grant's forces in the western part of die State of Kentucky. It must also not be for^ gotten that his troops still held the posts at Paducah and Smithland, at the mouth of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. By keeping up a false show of an advance upon the rear of Columbust which had several times been attacked in the front by armed vessels, the Confederates were led to believe that post to be in actual danger, and consequently concen- trated all their available forces in that vicinity. Immediately on receiving permission from Halleck to proceed with his proposed plan, Grant made arrangements for the attack on Fort Henry. He had at his disposal some seventeen thousand men. It was arranged that Flag- officer Foote, with a flotilla of seven gunboats, should move along the Ohio, steer up the Tennessee, and open the attack,%vhile Grant, on the land side, should render what assistance was necessary and cut off all retreat.. On Monday, the 2d of February, Foote left Cairo, and on the morning of Tuesday was a few miles below Fort Henry. Grant, fn the meantime, with the divisions of McClernand and C. F. Smith, had embarked in transports which were ( WAR OF THE REBELLION. I5I convoyed by the flotilla. These landed a few miles below the fort; and Foote proceeded up the river, having orders from Grant to move slowly and shell the woods, In order to discover whether there were any concealed batteries. On the morning of the 6th it was understood that everything was In readiness for the attack, which was to be made si- multaneously on land and water. A heavy thunder-storm had raged the previous night ; and, as a consequence, the roads were heavy and the streams so swollen that bridges had to be built for the passage of the artillery. The land forces thus encountering unlooked-for obstacles, were con- siderably delayed. Shordy after twelve o'clock Foote opened fire upon the fort. Beginning at a thousand yards' distance, he gradually ran his vessels to within six hundred yards of the enemy. The firing for a time was vigorously returned; but Foote pressed on with Irresisdble bravery, and his men worked with a will and as if they meant to win. It was evident to Tilghman from the first that it was next to impossible for him to hold the foot. A series of accidents occurred Inside the fort. A rifled twenty-four- pounder burst, killing and wounding a number of the men. A forty-two pounder accidentally burst, and killed three of the gunners. In a short dme the well-directed fire from the gunboats had dismounted seven of the guns and made them useless ; the flag-staff also was shot away. The gar- rison became completely demoralized. It was in vain that Tilghman attempted to replace the exhausted gunners. The troops in the camp outside the fort made good their escape, some by the Dover road, leading to Fort^Donelson, others on board a steamer which was lying a litde above Fort Henry. Foote had promised to reduce the fort within an hour. When he made that promise he counted on as- sistance from the forces on the land side. Without any such aid — for the land forces had not yet arrived on the scene — he made good his word, for the hour had scarcely expired when the white flag was raised. The main body of his troops having made good their escape, Tilghman, with his staff and some sixty artillerists, surrendered to the victorious Foote. In killed and wounded the Confederate 1^2 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. loss was twenty-one men. The only serious damage sus- tained by the fleet in the river was on board the ironclad Essex. A shot from the enemy had penetrated her boiler, and some twenty-nine officers and men, including Com- mander Porter, were seriously scalded. The capture of Fort Henry was felt by the South to be a damaging blow, and it led to bitter murmuring and even loud complaints against the authorities at Richmond. It was jusdy regarded by the North as a victory of great importance. It was full of instruction, inasmuch as it proved the value of gunboats on the narrow rivers of the West, especially when acting in conjunction with land forces. "Fort Henry is ours !" said Halleck in his despatch to McClellan. " The flag of the Union is re-established on the soil of Tennessee. It will never be removed." Foote was formally thanked by the secretary of the navy. " The country," he was told, "appreciates your gallant deeds, and this department desires to convey to you and your brave associates its profound thanks for the service you have rendered." After the fall of Fort Henry, preparations were made for an attack on Fort Donelson with as little delay as pos- sible. General Halleck felt it to be his duty to do his ut- most to strengthen the army under Grant's command, and accordingly reinforcements were hurried forward from Buell's army, from St. Louis, Halleck's head-quarters, from Cincinnati, and from Kansas. Fort Donelson, as has already been stated, was distant from Fort Henry about twelve miles, and was situated near the town of Dover, on the west bank of the Cumberland, on a platform of elevated ground, which at its highest point rises from the river about one hundred feet. It was about forty miles above the point where the Cumberland, after draining the highlands of southeastern Kentucky and northeastern Tennessee, empties its waters into the Ohio. The entire work covered one hundred acres. The country around was rugged and heavily wooded. Naturally a strong position, everything had been done which art and science could accomplish to make it impregnable. On the WAR OF THE REBELLION. 153 water side It was especially strong, the batteries being ad- mirably planted and well mounted. Including the light artillery, there were in the fort at the moment of the attack not fewer than ninety-five pieces. With the men who had made good their escape thither from Fort Henry, the strength of the garrison amounted to twenty-one thousand men. All around the works on the land side, abatis had been formed by felling timber and half chopping off the smaller trees. As soon as It became evident that Fort Donelson was likely to be attacked, Johnston exerted himself to the utmost to make the position invulnerable. Reinforcements were hurried forward from Bowling Green ; the work was pushed day and night; and a fortified hne two and a half miles in length, enclosing the town of Dover, was drawn along the high ground, which commanded the avenues of approach. Gideon J. Pillow arrived with his command on the loth and took control. Simeon B. Buckner, at the head of the reinforcements from Bowling Green, arrived on the nth. On the 13th John B. Floyd, who had come from Vir- ginia with his followers. In obedience to orders received from Johnston, appeared upon the scene, and, outranking Pillow, took the chief command. On the evening of the day which witnessed the capture of Fort Henry, a flotilla under Lieutenant Phelps sailed up the Tennessee river, for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the banks in the upper waters. The recon- noissance was completely successful. It was found that there was no real hindrance to a southward movement. The country was comparatively unprotected ; and the people seemed Impatient to be delivered from the dreadful tyranny under which they were groaning. On the nth of February a council of war was held; and the question was put: "Shall we march on Donelson, or shall we wait for further reinforcements ? " The decision was In favor of Immediate action. Foote was busy getting ready with his gunboats ; and the delay hitherto was mainly on that account. It was all-important that the gunboats should participate In the attack, but It was felt that every hour was adding to the ^54 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. enemy's strength. At the head of 15,000 men, on Wed- nesday, the 1 2th, Grant moved from Fort Henry upon Donelson. The foremost brigade advanced by the tele- graph road, the others moved by the road which leads to Dover. For the month of February the day was beautiful. The atmosphere was warm and balmy, like a day in spring. In their march over the hilly country, the advancing troops experienced but little difficulty. Before sundown Grant was before the fort, and what remained of daylight he A VIEW OF THE COUXIRV, SHOWING FORT DONELSON IN THE DISTANCE. Spent in brini^inq- his troops Into position. During the night there was Httle idleness. Batteries were posted, and the line of battle was formed. Meanwhile Foote was mov- ing up the Cumberland with his gunboats, convoying trans- ports, which were to constitute Lewis Wallace's Third division. It was Grant's intention, should the gunboats arrive, to begin the attack In the morning. McClernand's division, consisting of the four brigades of Oglesby, Wal- lace, Mc Arthur, and Morrison, was posted on the right. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 155 C. F. Smith's division, composed of the brigades of Cook, Lanman, and M. L. Smidi, was posted on the left. Lewis Wallace's division, so soon as it arrived, was to take Its position in the centre. The line extended some four miles, the right sweeping round almost to Dover, the left resting on Htckman's creek, where, at the house of a Mrs. Crisp, Grant established his head-quarters. Morning dawned, but there was no sign of the gunboats. Grant was unwilling to hazard a general engagement until the expected forces arrived. Early in the forenoon, how- ever, a cannonade was opened, and some lively work was done by Berge's sharpshooters, who, concealed behind the trees, picked off not a few of the Confederate gunners. About noon an attempt was made to effect a lodgement upon the Confederate intrenchments. McClernand ordered Colonel Wallace to capture a formidable battery, known as the Middle Redoubt. The troops employed for this pur- pose were Illinois regiments — the Seventeenth, Major Smith; the Forty-eighth, Colonel Hayn ; and the Forty- ninth, Colonel Morrison, McAllister's battery covering them. Hayn, being the senior colonel, took command of the attacking party. The attack was made in the most spirited manner. But the enemy was strongly posted; and although the national troops behaved with the utmost gallantry in the presence of overwhelming numbers and under a most galling fire, they were uldmately repulsed. An equally unsuccessful effort was made on the left by a portion of Lanman's brigade. In both cases the national loss was heavy. When the darkness came on, the troops, not a litde dispirited, had fallen back to the ground occu- pied by them in the morning. The night of the 13th presented a striking contrast to the beaudful spring-like morning. The afternoon hadjDe- come chilly, and toward evening rain fell in torrents. ^ The rain was succeeded by sleet and snow, and at midnight a severe frost set in, the mercury falling to ten degrees below the freezing point. The men were without tents, and many of the soldiers were not eveii provided with blankets. Fires were not permitted, as they w^ould prove marks for the 156 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. enemy's guns. Scantily supplied with food, and with the pitiful cries of the wounded calling for water resounding in their ears, they were compelled to spend the weary hours resting on their arms. It was one of those sad nights often repeated before the war reached its close. The morning of the 14th dawned with apparently bright- ening prospects for the Federal arms. Fully realizing the peril of the situation, and the necessity of using every avail- able man, Grant had, at the close of the contest the night previous, sent a courier to General Lewis Wallace, who had been left behind with a small "garrison at Fort Henry, commanding him to hasten at once to the scene of action. Wallace, with his garrison, which consisted of the Eleventh Indiana, the Eighth Missouri, and Company A, Chicago artillery, in charge of a battery, was ready by the break of day. After such a night, the ground was not in the best condition for the movement of infantry and artillery, but the men were in excellent spirits, and in spite of the drift- ing snow which blew in their faces they made good time, Wallace being able to report at Grant's head-quarters before the hour of noon. On their arrival Lewis Wallace's little band found the Union soldiers in high hope and expecta- tion. During the course of the night Foote, with the gun- boats and transports, the latter bringing the Third or Wal- lace's division, about 10,000 strong, had arrived. Their landing had been safely effected ; they were already around Grant's head-quarters, and when Wallace appeared on the scene he was immediately placed in command and took his position in the centre, with Smith on the left and McCler- nand on the right. By this fresh accession of strength, Grant was enabled to complete the investment of the fort and its outworks ; and for the first time since he com- menced to grapple with the enemy he had the advantage of superior numbers. Supplies having arrived in abun- dance, rations were liberally supplied to the half-famished men, and preparations w^ere made for a general assault. The experience of the previous day had been such that even with largely increased forces, General Grant was unwilling to make any rash attack from the land side. The WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 57 fort was powerfully mounted, and without the aid of earth- works and trenches, an attack made from the land side, whether upon a particular point or on the entire enemy's works, however it might result finally, could not fail to be attended by an enormous sacrifice of life. Grant's instruc- tions to his generals were that they should preserve the line of investment intact, being ready to repel any attempt which the enemy might make, either in the way of assault or escape. The gunboats had done so well at Fort Henry that per- haps too much was expected of them at Fort Donelson. At all events, it was arranged that the gunboats should have the honor of opening the assault. At three o'clock in the afternoon Foote moved forward with four ironclads and two wooden boats. In addition to these there was the gunboat " Carondelet," Commander Walke, which had ar- rived two days before. The armored vessels moved in front. While yet a mile and a half distant the gunboats opened fire, the batteries on the fort remaining perfectly silent. Onward the little fleet moved, still belching forth destruction, but meeting with no response. Suddenly, however, when within 400 yards of the batteries, a plung- ing fire was opened upon It by twenty heavy guns, placed high on the hillside, the shot falling with dreadful precision and effect. In face of this terrible fire Foote pressed closer and closer. The well-directed fire of the gunboats had silenced the upper battery of four guns. The columbiad and thirty-two-pound rifle now told with fatal effect on the ironclads, while the shot and shell from the ships fell powerless on the heavy sand-banks which protected the enemy's guns. A heavy shot had cut away the rudder- chains of the '' Louisville," and she drifted helplessly down the current. The flagship "St. Louis" was soon in a similar plight, Commodore Foote himself being wounded. The other two armored vessels had suffered severely, a heavy rifled cannon having burst on board the " Caron- delet." The battle had lasted one hour and a half It was useless to prolong the struggle. Orders were given to withdraw ; and as the flotilla moved back down the river, 158 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. it received some severe parting blows from the shore bat- teries, some of the fu^ritives from which had returned and resumed their euns. It was another failure. The streneth of the place had not been properly gauged. What was practicable and easy at Fort Henry was impossible at Fort Donelson. In the attack the nationals lost fifty-four men in killed and wounded. The Confederates lost not a man, nor were their batteries in any way injured. Fifty-nine shots had struck the "St. Louis;" thirty-five the " Louis- ville;" thirty-five the '' Carondelet," and twenty-one the " Pittsburgh." Two days had now been wasted, and two experiments in the way of attack had been made, with signal want of suc- cess. All had been done on the river side which could be done with the means now at Grant's command. Any fresh attempt made on the land side was certainly as perilous as ever. A new plan had become necessary. It Vvas accord- ingly arranged in a conference between Grant and Foote, on the evening of Fridav, that the commodore should re- turn to Cairo, repair and augment his fleet, and return with a naval force adequate to the requirements of the situation. Grant resolved meanwhile to go on perfecting his line of investment, so strengthening his weak points as to shut the Confederates effectually within their intrenchments, and so cutting off their supplies as possibly to starve or frighten them into a surrender. From the position enclosed within the Confederate lines two roads led towards Nashville — the Wynn's Ferry road, running from Dover through Charlotte; and the other an obscure and at best an undesirable road, crossing the flats of the Cumberland. The latter road was submerged by the overflow of the river. There remained, therefore, but the one way of escape, if escape was to be attempted, and that was the Wynn's Ferry road. But this road was effec- tually covered by McClernand's division, the right wing of the Union army. Pillow's division, which formed the Con- federate left, was to make a vigorous attack upon the Union right flank; and Buckner's division, drawn from the right, a few men being left in the intrenchments to main- WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 59 tain an appearance, was to strike at the same time the right fiank of the Union centre, which rested upon the Wynn's Ferry road. It was hoped that if Pillow's attack should prove successful, McClernand's division, the Union right, would be forced back upon Wallace's division, the Union centre, and that Buckner, striking the divided masses in flank, would roll both divisions back in confu- sion on that of Smith, the Union left. In such a case, the Wynn's Ferry road would be effectually opened as a way of escape, and possibly Grant's forces might be routed and driven to their transports. It was a daring and well-con- ceived plan ; and, as we shall by-and-by see*, so far as it was faithfully executed, it was a complete success. On the morning of Saturday, the 15th of February, at the early hour of live o'clock, Pillow's column, eight thou- sand strong, accompanied by Forrest's cavalry, thirty heavy guns, and a full complement of artillery, was already in motion. Pillow was resolved, as he said in his high-sound- ing style, " to roll the enemy in full retreat over upon Gen- eral Buckner," and then, by an attack in flank and rear, to "cut up the enemy and put him completely to rout." He went to his work with a will, and as if he meant to make his purpose good. McClernand was well posted to resist the assailants ; but, although this point has been disputed, there can be no reasonable doubt that he was taken by surprise. His division was arranged in three brigades — McArthur's on the right, Oglesby's in the centre, W. H. L. Wallace's on the left. Pillow's onslaught was swift and furious. It fell mainly upon the two right brigades, Mc- Arthur's and Oglesby's. The Confederate line covered the front of these brigades, and extended some distance beyond the right flank. In the struggle which ensued, there was no lack of heroism on either side. At a critical moment, timely and effective assistance was rendered by the sister brigade of W. H. L. Wallace, Colonel John A. Logan, at the head of his brave regiment, the Thirty-first Illinois, exerting himself by word and deed to sustain and cheer the men. In such a struggle, however, enthusiasm is but a sorry compensation for lack of numbers. The sol- I60 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. dlers did dielr best. Inch by inch the ground was con- tested. Overpowered, however, and outflanked, the two brigades were turned and forced from their position. Meanwhile Buckner, who had moved his troops over from the extreme Confederate right, formed them in front of McClernand's left brigade, Colonel W. H. Wallace. It will thus be seen that the whole hostile mass — the entire concentrated strength of the Confederate army — was pressing upon McClernand's division, the right wing of the Union army. The left brigade soon followed the example of the other two — it fell back from its position ; and by nine o'clock the entire position occupied in the beginning of the contest by the right wing of the national army was in the possession of the Confederates. The Wynn's Ferry road was open. The tide was still in favor of the Confederates. So far they had boldly carried out their plan, and successfully ac- complished their purpose. The national army was. indeed, at this particular moment in a very critical condition. The situation was all the more alarming that Grant, who had not been present all the morning, was not yet on the field. At 2 A. M. he had o^one on board a e^mboat to hold a con- sultation with Commodore Foote, who, it will be remem- bered, was wounded in the struggle the day previous. It is more than possible that if Grant had been on the field from the commencement of the contest, McClernand would have been able to hold his crround. In the absence of the general-in-chief there was no officer, during all those preg- nant hours, who could assume the right to combine and direct the entire forces in tlie field. The division next to IMcClernand was that of Lewis Wallace. When W^allace first heard the firing, he concluded that McClernand had resumed the attack. At about 8 a. ^L he received a mes- sage from McClernand askinof assistance. Not knowincr o o o what to do, lie sent the message to head-quarters ; but General Grant was still absent. Later he received an- other message from McClernand, disclosing the fact that his men were being pressed back by overwhelming num- bers. Thereupon Wallace detached two brigades, and WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 6l sent them under Colonel Cruft. Cruft, however, was in some way misled too far to the right, and being forced to fight his way, he arrived only in time to share the fate of the whole rio-ht wino-. Seeinor flocks of fuo^itives crowding up in the rear of his own line, Wallace promptly put in motion his remaining brigade under Colonel Thayer. The column had marched but a short distance when McCler- nand's briorades were met, retirinof to the left — retirine in good order and slowly, complaining of many things, but complaining most of all that their ammunition was ex- hausted. The brave fellows seemed to feel as if they had no right to be in that position. The enemy was following but slowly. Wallace had time to deploy his brigade on the crest of a hill which crossed the line along which the enemy was moving towards the left. Here he presented a firm front at right angles to his former front, and behind him the defeated troops of the right wing rallied and re- formed. In this position they awaited the approach of Pillow and Buckner. Mortified with the defeat of the morning, the troops of the right wing had no sooner filled their cartridges than they took their places and were ready for action. When, therefore, the Confederates advanced and began to ascend the crest, so terrific was the fire that they reeled and staggered and broke, falling back in wild confusion. A second time they attempted to charge ; but the second repulse was more disastrous than the first. The men could not ao^ain be brouorht into line. Some of them fled precipitately to their works ; the remainder were brought to a stand on the ground occupied by the national right wing in the early morning. Grant had now appeared on the field. It was about noon when the Confederates were driven back to their trenches. The battle had lulled ; but everything was yet in confusion. The chief must have bitterly regretted the fact of his own absence from the scene of action in the early part of the day. But it was no time now for idle and worthless lamentation. It was action that was needed — prompt, decided, vigorous action. Grant was not slow to come to a conclusion, although it is simply absurd to say 1 62 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. that in this Instance he made up his mind at once. About three o'clock In the afternoon he called McClernand and Wallace aside for consultation. They were all on horse- back. Grant held In his hand some despatches, to which now and then he nervously turned his eyes. His face was flushed and revealed high excitement. He said somediing about the necessity of falling back and intrenching — about waiting for reinforcements and Foote's new flotilla. It was suggested by one of the other two that in consequence of McClernand's defeat the road to Clarksvllle was uncovered, and that the enemy might escape if he chose. All of a sudden Grant gave orders that the right wing should re- take the ground which it had lost In the morning, and that the left wing, under Smith, should make a simultaneous attack on the Confederate right. General Grant has since given us his own reason for the course which he resolved to pursue. "On riding upon the field," he says, 'T saw that either side was ready to give way If the other showed a bold front. I took the opportunity, and ordered an ad- vance of the whole line." The orders were promptly executed. Wallace took charge of the troops which had been engaged and which had suffered so much in the morning and early part of the day, and whose duty it was to resume lost ground. The ground was rough and badly blocked with wood. There were, besides, bloody memorials of the morning's struggle. The nationals, however, pressed on, the Confederates vig- orously resisting. For more than an hour the conflict raged fiercely, and the result seemed doubtful. Ultimately, however, the Confederates yielded to the fierce energy of their assailants, and were compelled to retire within their own intrenchments. In the hour of victory almost com- plete, when within one hundred and fifty yards of the enemy's works, Wallace was astonished by an order from the general-ln-chief, commanding him to halt and retire his troops, as a new plan of operations had been arranged for the morrow. He felt satisfied that Grant was Ignorant of the success which had attended his movement. Darkness, however, was at hand. He contented himself, therefore, WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 63 with holdliig the ground he had taken, and disobeyed orders only to the extent of bivouacking on the field of vic- tory. Smith was equally successful in his attack on the Confederate right. Buckner, who in abandoning the left made it the easy prey of Wallace, arrived too late at his old position on the right to save it from the dashing energy of Smith. In spite of all that he could do, the enemy was forced from his intrenchments and driven inside the work. All along the line, the ground lost in the morning had been reclaimed. Nay, more : on both the left and the right the enemy had found it necessary to abandon his own chosen ground and to retire more and more under the works of the fort. When darkness fell, Grant had reason to feel satisfied. He had by his single will converted a day of disaster into a day of triumph. The fruit of victory was not yet in his hands, but it was ripe and ready to fall. So ended the third day at Fort Donelson. The night which followed was one of the saddest yet ex- perienced in the history of the war. The cold was intense, the thermometer indicating more than twenty degrees below the freezing point. The ice-covered branches of the trees swayed and crackled In the night breeze. Camp-life had not yet become a luxury. There were no tents, and even the blanket had not become a necessary part of the soldier's equipage. General Grant found a sleeping-place- In a negro hut. General Smith lay down on the frozen ground. The soldier slept as he best might, leaning on his musket or resting on his knapsack. Four thousand brave Americans lay scattered over the battle-field, many of them dead, some of them freezing to death, the feeble but piteous cries of the latter filling the weary hours with woe. It is In scenes such as these that true humanity stands forth con- spicuous and commands universal admiration. With such a background, goodness, pure, true, and unselfish, shines as if with a heavenly light. General Lewis Wallace, to his honor be it said, with many of his men, filled with his spirit and fired by his example, worked far into the morning hours, ministering to the wounded on both sides,> and. with kindly hands burying the dead. 1 64 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Grant had made all necessary arrangements for resum- ing the attack along the whole line on the following (Sim- day) morning. Such attack, however, was not to be neces- sary. A council of war was held at Pillow's head-quarters, late on Saturday night. Floyd, Pillow, Buckner, and their staff officers were all present. Some bad temper was re- vealed ; and on many points there was difference of opin- ion. On one point they were agreed — that another sortie would be absolutely disastrous. Buckner did not believe that he could hold his position half an hour after daylight. In his judgment there was no escape from a surrender. Floyd and Pillow were equally of opinion that the situation was desperate, and that there ^A-as nothing for them but immediate capitulation. It was ultimately agreed that Buckner should assume the command, and that Floyd and Pillow should be allowed to make their escape, Flo\ d tak- ing with him his Virginia brigade. Floyd surrendered the command. Pillow, who w^as next in rank, said, "I pass it." .Buckner called for writing materials and a bugler ; and Floyd and Pillow^ hastened off to save their precious lives. Pillow crossed the river in a scow^ P^loyd and his men went on board a steamer at the wharf, and steered off amid the curses and hisses of their former companions in arms. It was a shameful transaction ; but Buckner's con- duct w^as honorable throughout. Floyd had now appeared in his true character. When on the morning of Sunday, the i6th of February, the lio^ht broke alono- the lines, there was no conviction more general among the national soldiers than that the stirring scenes of the previous day were about to be re- peated, and repeated, perhaps, in more aggravated and bloody form ; nor was there disposition anywhere to shirk the ordeal. Suddenly, however, the clear notes of the bugle were heard sounding a parley ; and as the gray dawn passed away before the brighter light of the opening day, a white flacr was seen waving over the fort. It was a token of a willingness to surrender. A letter was received by Grant from Buckner, asking for the appointment of com- missioners to settle upon terms of capitulation, and (i65) 1 66 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. suggest follows supf^estine an armistice till noon. The letter reads as Head-quarters, Fort Donelson, Februmy i6th, 1862. 5ir: — In consideration of all the circumstances governing the present situation of affairs at this station, I propose to the commanding officer of the Federal forces the appointment of commissioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces and post under my command; and, in that view, suggest an armistice until twelve o'clock to-day. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, S. B. BucKNER, Brig. -Gen. C. S. A. To Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, commanding United States forces near Fort Donelson. The General read this without a word. Then he handed it to Smith, who read it also. Grant. — " Well, what do you think ? " Smith. — "I think, no terms with traitors, by ! " The chief sat down, wrote this answer as fast as his pen could move, and passed it to Smith: Head-quarters Army in the Field, Camp near Donelson, February 16th, 1862. General S. B. Buckner, Confederate Army : Yours of this date proposing armistice, and appointment of commis- sioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. JVo ter??is except an unconditional and i?}iniediafe surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, U. S. Grant, Brigadier- General. The gray-haired veteran read it, and exclaimed : *• By , it couldn't be better ! " Then he went away with the despatch. Not another word passed between them, and Smidi did not remain in the cabin more than ten minutes. The phrase, afterward so famous, " I propose to move immediately upon your works," was not in the least *' buncombe," but literally ex- pressed Grant's intentions. The moment Smith lelt, he despatched Riggin to McClernand and Wallace, with in- structions to press forward right into the enemy's works as soon as the signal should be given. But Buckner made haste to reply : WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 67 Head-quarters, Dover, Tenn., February idih^ 1862. To Brig. -Gen. U. S. Grant, U. S. Army: Sir: — The distribution of the forces under my command, incident to an unexpected change of commanders, and the overwhelming force under your command, compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant success of the Confederate arms yesterday, to accept the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose. I am, sir, your very obedient servant, S. B. BucKNER, Brig.- Gen. C. S. A. Grant received this with his usual serenity, ordered his horse, and with his staff rode over to Buckner, whom he had known at the Mihtary Academy. Buckner invited his guests to breakfast, and gave them some vile Confederate coffee. Then the two enemies of an hour before, smoking pacifically, discussed the surrender. Buckner asked sub- sistence for his men, and kindnesses for some wounded officers. Grant acceded to these requests. He decided, also, that officers might retain their side-arms and personal baggage, but that horses and all public property must be given up. Buckner was annoyed that Grant had been able to invest Donelson with so small a force. "If I had been in command," said he, "you would not have reached the fort so easily. " If you had," replied Grant, " I should have waited for reinforcements. But I knew Pillow would never come out of his works to fight." Smith soon arrived. Buckner, being an old army officer, had known him well, and as they shook hands he said : "That charge of yours last night was a splendid affair." " Yes, yes," replied the veteran ; " the men did well — they did well ; but it was no affair of mine ; I simply obeyed General Grant's orders." Grant permitted the Second low^a, in recognition of its gallantry, to raise its flag over the captured fort. Before noon the Union troops, in bright blue, marched in from three points, with streaming banners, gleaming muskets, bands playing, men singing and cheering, and the gun- boats firing a salute. The Confederates, in faded gray, stood mournfully beside the great piles of muskets and shot-guns, wondering at the l68 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. "Northern horde." Many, from the mountains of Tennes- see and Kentucky, were Union men at heart. Their garb was motley. Some had blankets wrapped around them, others old pieces of carpet, quilts, and buffalo robes. Their arms consisted of sincrle and double barrelled shot- guns, old Kentucky rifles, and flint-lock muskets, with here and there a modern piece. All the fiorhtinor had been in the woods. There were some leaves still on the trees, and the Confederates in gray were so near the color of the landscape that it was difficult to detect them. The Union men came unsuspectingly right upon them, to meet deadly reception from their double-barrelled shot-guns, the most effective weapons in a close contest. The Confederate water-battery was very strong, but the fort itself was a wilderness of zigzags and abatis spreading over a large area, formidable to the eye but really weak, and not bearing any logical relation to each other. The hills and ravines, so lately torn and crimsoned by fierce fighting, are now smoothed by rains and overgrown with shrubs and vines. The tremendous fortifications can hardly be seen, and ere long it will be impossible to trace their outlines. The thick mounds, too, have almost disap- peared. Where they sleep who died for us, kindly Nature strews her waving grass and her springing flowers, just as she covers the scars and wounds in our hearts with her frao^rant lilies of resio^nation and her tender willows of memory. About 15,000 prisoners, 17,600 small arms, and 65 guns constituted the prize wliich fell into the hands of the national commander. His losses were 2,041, of whom 425 were killed. Grant paid a high compliment to his soldiers. The investment of Donelson had been followed by the evacuation of Bowling Green ; its fall was followed by the abandonment of Nashville. This, however, was not all. Polk found it necessary to evacuate Columbus and fall back on Island No. 10. The so-called Gibraltar of the West was forthwith occupied by national troops. The Southern line of defence was completely broken down. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 69 General Grant had nobly accomplished the task which he had undertaken. Henceforward he was regarded as one of the strongest pillars of the national cause. After the fall of Donelson, it was only natural that Gen- eral Grant should, for a time at least, become the popular favorite. All over the Union his praises were liberally sounded; and by not a few who had acquired an insight into his character he was hailed already as the coming man. His sphere of acUon had been gready enlarged. General Halleck, as if to mark his appreciation of Grant's noble services, had assigned him to the command of the new Dis- trict of West Tennessee, a command which extended from Cairo to the northern borders of Mississippi, and embraced the endre country between the Mississippi and Cumberland rivers. General Grant took immediate steps to turn to account the victories which he had won, and to press the enemy sdll farther to the south. He established his head- quarters at Fort Henry, where General Lewis Wallace was in command. We have seen already that Foote's flodlla was w^ithdrawn from the Cumberland, that part of it had gone up the Tennessee river, and that Foote himself, with a powerful naval armament, had gone down the Mississippi for the purpose of co-operating with the land troops against Columbus, Hickman, Island No. lo, and New Madrid. It seems to have been the conviction of all the Union commanders — of Halleck, of Buell, of Grant — that a lodge- ment should be made at or near Corinth in Northern Mis- sissippi. The possession of Corinth or Florence or Tus- cumbia, but pardcularly Corinth, would give the national forces control of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, the key to the great railway communications between the Mis- sissippi and the East, as well as the border slave States and the Gulf of Mexico. It would facilitate the capture of Mem- phis, because it would place it more completely at the mercy of the troops now moving down the Mississippi ; ^ and it would render effecdve assistance to General Curds, who, as we have seen, was at this moment carrying on important operadons in Arkansas. While adopting vigorous meas- ures for the purpose of giving effect to the general plan, 170 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Grant had the mortification to receive an order from Hal- leek, instructing him to turn over his command to General C. F. Smith, and to remain himself at Fort Henry. In such circumstances such an order must have been humiUating in the last degree to General Grant; and it is not surprising that, stung to the quick as he must have been, he should have asked to be relieved from duty. As a general rule, it is unwise to attach too much importance to individuals in a great national contest. No one man is absolutely indispensable. It is undeniable, however, that the retirement of General Grant at this particular juncture might have materially affected the future history of the great national struggle now fairly begun, and already bearing upon it somewhat of the impress of his character and genius. Complying with a request for an interview, Grant had, on the 27th of February, gone on a visit to Buell, up the Cumberland to Nashville. In the meantime Halleck had ordered him to ascend the Tennessee, then in full flood, and establish himself on the Memphis and Charleston rail- road at or near Corinth. On the ist of March, Halleck ordered him to fall back from the Cumberland to the Ten- nessee, with the view of carrying out the orders previously given. It was supposed at this moment that the Confeder- ates had retreated to Chattanooga. Sherman meanwhile received orders to seize all steamboats passing Paducah, and to send them up the Tennessee for the transportation of Grant's army. On hearing that Grant had gone up the Cumberland, Halleck telegraphed to him : " Why don't you obey my orders? Why don't you answer my letters ? Turn over the command of the Tennessee expedition to General C. F. Smith, and remain yourself at Fort Henry." At the same time Halleck wrote complainingly to McClellan at Washington, saying he could get no reports from Grant, whose troops were demoralized by their victory. To Grant himself Halleck wrote, stating that his repeated neglect of positive orders to report his strength had created great dissatisfaction, and seriously Interfered with the general military arrangements ; and that his going to Nashville when he ought to have been with his troops, had given WAR OF THE REBELLION. I7I such offence at Washington that it had been considered advisable to arrest him on his return. It is possible that, judged by the highest forms of military law, Grant, in some of the particulars charged, was to blame. It is possible, too, that Halleck, who was a man of the old school, and strict to the letter of the law, was officious overmuch. Grant, however, had his explanation ready. He had not received Halleck's order in time ; he had gone to Nashville for the good of the service, and not for personal pleasure or for any selfish motive ; he had reported every day, had written on an average more than once a day, and had done his best to obey orders from head-quarters ; he had not per- mitted his troops to maraud ; on the contrary, he had sent the marauders on to St. Louis. He submitted to instruc- tions by turning the army over to General Smith. He asked, however, that he might be relieved. The explana- tions so far satisfied Halleck that he requested the author- ities at Washington to allow the matter to drop. Smith, however, remained in command, bi;t, as the reader will soon discover, only for a brief period. The temporary change of commanders did not allow any intermission of the work. The expedition up the Ten- nessee was hurried forward. An acquisition was found in Sherman, who, in compliance with orders from Halleck, reported to Smith. CHAPTER IV. WAR OF THE REBELLION Co7ltmUed. Death of General Smith— General Grant again in charge — The plans of the Confed. erates — Buell ordered to join Grant — Johnston's proclamaiion — The battle of Shiloh The morning of the 6th of April— The nationals attacked— A tremendous on- slaught — Grant not on the field — His arrival — Sherman's bravery — Sherman and Prentiss driven from their ground — The Confederates gaining ground — Four divi- sion camps plundered — Three divisions routed — Wallace mortally wounded — The situation desperate — Driven to a corner of the field — Both armies exhausted— Johnston wounded and carried from the field — Beauregard in command — The batiery on the crest of the hill — A valley of death — The second day — The battle resumed— Lewis Wallace and Buell now on the field— Beauregard attempts to turn the national left— The Confederates pressed back— The nationals gaining ground all along the line— The battle ended— Unexampled bravery on both sides— Mag- nanimity of General Grant— Major-General Grant— Beauregard retreats to Corinth — He strengthens his position— Halleck at Corinth — Grant second in command— Halleck's complaint against Grant — Battle of luka — Battle of Corinth — Grant's order of congratulation — He assumes command of the Department of thelen- nessee — Important reconnoissances. The Illness of General Smith, which resulted In death on the 25th of April, brought Grant again to the front. On the 17th of March he arrived at Savannah, Tennessee, established his head-quarters, and took command. The entire force was about 33,000 men. General Buell, after repeated so- licitations that he might be permitted to abandon Nashville, cross Tennessee and join his forces to those of Grant, with a view to counteract the Confederate concentration at Co- rinth, had at last obtained Halleck's consent. The Army of the Ohio, which numbered some 40,000 men, was therefore already on Its march ; and by the 20th of March It had reached Columbia. The roads were bad and the weather stormy; but It was not unreasonable to conclude that Buell would be able to accomplish the distance In time. When Halleck heard that Johnston had disappeared from Murfreesboro', and that his object was to join Beau- (172) WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 73 regard at Corinth, he ordered Buell to hurry forward to the aid of Grant, and counteract as far as possible the Confederate concentration. There had been unnecessary delay, which permitted the Confederate generals to unite their strength ; and now the weather and the roads were such that, although Buell's army was at Columbia on the 20th, it took full seventeen days to reach Pittsburgh Land- ing, a distance of only ninety miles. At this time Breckenridcre, with the Confederate rieht, which consisted of eleven thousand men, was stationed at Burnsville ; Hardee and Bragg, with more than twenty thousand men, formed the centre at Corinth ; and Polk at Hindman, with ten thousand men, were on the left, to the north of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. On the 3d of April, their available strength being forty thousand men, the Confederates commenced their onward march. The roads were in a terrible condition, and in consequence die progress made was slow. It was intended to attack the national army on the 5th ; but the attack was delayed in consequence of a heavy rainstorm which fell in the afternoon. That night they were distant from the na- tional pickets only about three-quarters of a mile. The night of the 5th was wild and stormy. The next morning (Sunday) rose bright and clear. The recent rains, while they had filled the creeks and streams, had given an air of freshness to the surrounding country. In the Union camp it was still unknown towards what point the enemy might be moving ; but there was watchfulness everywhere. Prentiss' guards hg^ been doubled the night before ; and his pickets were out one mile and a half Sherman's troops had already breakfasted, and were formed into line. With the early dawn Hardee's corps, which formed the first Con* federate line, was in motion. Quickly but silently they passed across the ravine of Lick creek and the ground which separated it from the outlying divisions of the Union army. It was the more easy for them to move noiselessly that the fallen leaves, being soaked with rain, made no rustling sound under the footsteps of the men. The onslauorht was tremendous. 174 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. When the first shots were fired, Grant was not on the ground He had gone down the river to Savannah, some nine miles off, to have an iaterview with Buell. Soon as GENERAL SHERMAN. he heard the first guns, he hastened to the scene of action Leavincr a letter for Buell, and ordering Nelson, who had WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 75 arrived with a portion of Bu ell's forces, to hurry forward, he took a steamboat for Pittsburgh Landino-. Haltine at Crump's Landing-, he gave directions to Lewis Wallace to follow at once. It was eight o'clock before Grant reached the field of Shiloh. He saw that he had to fight the com- bined Confederate force, and without the aid of Buell. What the Confederate strength was Grant could only guess. The combined army was over forty thousand strong. Grant had an available force of thirty-three thousand men. He believed he could depend upon Lewis Wallace, who had five thousand more. Some severe work, however, had already been done. There was a considerable gap between Prentiss' right and Sherman's left. It w^as into this gap that Hardee tried to force himself, his object being to out- flank and turn both lines. In the beginning of the conflict Sherman's left was sorely pressed and suffered terribly. But that active and skilful general was present in the thickest of the fight. All, how^ever, was in vain. In poured the Confederates in ever-increasinor numbers. Bracro^ had come to the aid of Hardee ; and Polk, with the third Confederate line, was already moving toward Sherman's rear. By nine o'clock a very large portion of Sherman's division was virtually out of the fieht; and before ten Prentiss had been forced from his ground, his camp captured and plundered, his di- vision thrown into confusion, and he himself isolated from his men. But for the pluck and skill of Sherman, the battle at this stage might have been lost. Feeling the pressure of the enemy and in danger of being caught in the rear, he swung round upon his right as upon a pivot, coming out at a right angle and taking entirely new ground. The falling back of Sherman, while it enabled him to prolong the contest and successfully to prevent attack in the rear, left McClernand's division completely exposed. On this, therefore, the Confederate forces fell with tremen- dous energy. For a time McClernand boldly and even successfully resisted, most effective aid being rendered by Dresser's powerful rifled cannon. Regiment after regi- ment of the Confederates rushed through the abandoned 1^6 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. camps and pressed forward only to be cut to pieces by the deadly rifle shot. Ultimately, however, the force of over- whelming; numbers began to tell on McClernand's lines. He was forced to retire, not, however, except in the most perfect order, fighting as he went, and bravely contesting every inch of ground. By eleven o'clock this division was on a line with Hurlbut, close to W. H. L. Wallace, with Sherman to the right. Meanwhile Stewart's brigade, of Sherman's ^ division, which was posted on the extreme left of the national line, about two miles from Pittsburgh Landing, on the Hamburg road, near Lake Creek, where Buell was expected to land, was, in consequence of the falling back of the other divi- sions, in an extremely perilous position. The batde had raged since the early morning. About ten, Grant visited Sherman's camp, and finding that the supply of cartridges was short, he organized a train of am- munidon wagons to run between the camp and the Land- ing an arrangement beset with great difficulty, in conse- qtfence of the large number of fugidves who were forcing their way through the narrow road. By twelve o'clock noon, the Confederates had possession of the ground oc- cupied in the morning by the first line of the national army; and the camps of Sherman, McClernand, Prendss, and Stewart had been captured and plundered. Three of the five divisions of that army had been completely routed. The ground being entirely cleared before them — Prentiss' brigade, as we have seen, being demolished and Stewart having been compelled to retreat, McClernand, too, and Sherman having both yielded on the right — the Confeder- ates, apparendy resolved to push matters to a crisis, rushed with tremendous fury upon Hurlbut, who sdll maintained his original position, and who had been joined by Prentiss and some two thousand of his men. W. H. L. Wallace flew to the aid of Hurlbut, taking with him the Missouri batteries of Stone, Richardson, and Weber. Hurlbut, who had hitherto been in the open fields, now fell back into the woods which lay between his camp and the river, and there, nobly aided by Wallace, who fought like a hero of old, i^n) 1/8 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. gallantly resisted the foe for several weary hours. Upon this compact body of national troops three most desperate charges were made, as if upon a wall of iron. In one of these encounters General W. H. L. Wallace fell, mortally wounded. McArthur took the command ; but in spite of their best efforts, both he and Hurlbut were compelled to retire a little farther down and towards the river. In the confusion, Prentiss and his company getting isolated, were captured, sent to the Confederate rear, and finally marched to Corinth as prisoners of war. Grant had been pressed into a corner of the battle-field, his army at this time occupying a space of not more than four hundred acres on the very verge of the river. As yet there were no signs of General Lewis Wallace. Buell, too, had failed to come to time. Five of the Union camps had been captured ; and many guns and prisoners had fallen into the enemy's hands. The Confederates, however, were less strong than they seemed. Success had broken their ranks ; and the hard work of the day had produced its natural fruit. The men were completely worn out. Some of their best men had perished. Generals Gladdon and Hindman had been killed ; and about half-past two o'clock, when pressing his men towards the Landing, and almost recklessly exposing himself. Commander-in-chief Johnston received a rifle bullet in the leg, which proved fatal. There was a lull in the fight after Johnston fell ; but Beauregard assumed com- mand ; and the struggle for possession of Pittsburgh Landing was resumed with fresh energy. Beauregard felt that there was no time to lose ; for night and Buell were coming. The entire strength of the Confederate army was at this stage being pressed against the national left. It seemed to be the object of Beauregard to turn the na- tional line or force them into the river. In any case, he was determined to seize the Landing. Happily, as the re- sult proved, a deep ravine lay between the Confederates and the nationals, who, cooped up as they were, still covered the Landing. This ravine was impassable for WAR OF THE REBELLION. lyg artiller)^ and cavalry. In consequence of the heavy rains, the bottom was wet and the sides sHppery. The ravine led down to the river; and at its mouth the two gunboats Tyler and Lexington had taken position, their commanders having obtained permission from General Grant to exercise their discretion in shelling the woods and sweeping the ravine. On the brow of his side of the ravine General Grant had hastily flung up some earthworks in the form of a half-moon. To several siege guns which were parked there, Colonel Webster, Grant's chief of staff, added a number of guns which had belonged to light batteries, now broken up, and thus secured a semi-circular defence of about fifty cannon. This hurriedly improvised battery reached round nearly to the Corinth road. Volunteers were called for; and Dr. Cornyn, surgeon of the First Missouri artillery, having offered his services, his example was quickly followed. The Confederate assault was led by Chalmers, Withers, Cheatham, Ruggles, Anderson, Stuart, Pond, and Stevens. It was a perilous attempt, but it was bravely made. Down the steep sides of the ravine they rushed, uttering their favorite and familiar cry. For a mo- ment it seemed as if all was lost, and as if Beauregard was about to crown the day's work by a final crushing blow. The slippery sides of the ravine, and the slush aiid mud at the bottom, gready hindered the movements of the at- tacking party. At a signal given, Webster's cruns from their fifty mouths opened fire in front ; while the^Tyler and Lexington, striking the Confederates on the flank, swept the ravine with their eight-inch shells. The Confederates had fallen into a trap. Every onward movement was vio-- orously repulsed. Again and again and yet again did the Confederates face the terrible fire, rushing across the ravine as if they would storm the battery in front; but it was only to be mowed down like grass or driven back like sheep. The ravine was filled with the wounded and the dead. So dense was the smoke that the endre scene was wrapped in almost midnight darkness— a darkness relieved only by the swift-recurring rifle flash and the cannon's blaze. Beauregard, seeing that it was useless to prolong i8o LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the Struggle, withdrew his men. The firing now ceased, and Grant was left master of the ground. Before the close of the struggle, Nelson, with Buell's advance, had arrived on the field ; and Lewis Wallace, having at last found his way, was coming up with his five thousand men. The dreary hours of the night were sufficiently filled with horrors. The gunboats kept up an incessant cannon- ade, in some places setting the woods on fire. The wounded on both sides vainly sought to escape from the grasp of this new and terrible destroyer. Happily a heavy rain-storm fell upon the scene of agony, and the fire was extinguished. Shortly after the firing had ceased, Grant BURNING HORSES AT SHILOH. visited Sherman; and as it was the opinion of both that the Confederates were exhausted, it was agreed that the atlack should be resumed early in the morning. Subsequently Grant visited each of the division commanders, giving the necessary instructions, and then flung himself on the wet ground and snatched a few hours' rest, with his head rest- ing on the stump of a tree. During the night Lewis Wal- lace came up, and Buell arrived in person. All night through steamboats kept busily plying between Savannah and Pittsburgh Landing, bringing up the remaining divisions of Buell's army. Nelson's division was all on the field by WAR OF THE REBELLION. l8l nine o'clock p. m. Crittenden's arrived a little later; and by five in the morning McCook's division, which was the last to come up, having had to wait for boats, was all safely disembarked. Twenty-seven thousand men were thus added to the national army. With the early light of the morning of the 7th of April, which came in with a drizzling rain, the troops were in po- sition and ready to make the attack. The fresh troops were placed in line, as they came upon the field, considera- bly in advance, and upon the ground abandoned by Beau- regard after the failure of his last attack. Nelson was on the left; then in order Crittenden, McCook, Hurlbut, McClernand, Sherman, and Lewis Wallace. Thomson, of Wallace's division, with his field-guns, was the first to dis- turb the silence of the morning and to awaken the echoes of the forest. The response was vigorous; but the fresh troops of Wallace stood bravely to their work. At this moment Grant arrived, and ordered Wallace to press for- ward and attack the Confederate left under Bragg, who, since the death of Johnston, was second in command. This was gallandy done, the Confederates being compelled to abandon the high ground, which was soon occupied by Wallace's troops. Here a halt was made, Wallace expect- ing Sherman to come to his aid. Meanwhile the two armies had come into collision at the other extremities of their lines. Buell's force, which lay nearest to Pittsburgh Landing, composed the centre and left of Grant's new line of battle. The divisions of Nelson and Crittenden only were ready, when Wallace's guns were heard booming to the right. They moved forward at once, Nelson's division leading. Their artillery had not yet ar- rived ; but the batteries of Mendenhall and Terrill, of the regular service, were placed at their disposal. Nelson had moved half a mile, at least, before he felt the enemy. At the first touch he seemed to yield ; but it was only for a moment. At this point Beauregard had gathered up his strength and was resolved to strike a deadly blow. U he could turn the national left, he might still make himself master ot the Landing. His onslaught was tremendous. 1 82 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Mendenhall's battery was hurried Into action, and the ad- vancing Confederates were driven back In confusion by a tempest of grape and canister. Hazen's brigade charged, captured one of Beauregard's batteries, and turned it with deadly effect on the foe. Once more the Confederates came up, with redoubled strength, and Hazen fell back before the advancing tide. TerrlU's battery of McCook's division was now got into position. Pouring forth shell from his ten-pounders and grape and canister from his brass twelves, Terrill did splendid and effective work. For two hours the artillery conflict raged. Sherman's captured camp was still in the Confederate rear, and to this as an objective point the national line kept slowly but steadily advancing. Sherman and Wallace, car- rying out Grant's instructions to the letter, have advanced under a terrible fire and have reached the ridge occupied by the former on Sunday morning. The little log-church in Shiloh has again become a conspicuous object in the battle-field. Beauregard, despairing of success on the left, had, by countermarching his troops, greatly strengthened himself in front of the enemy's right. The struggle at this point was protracted and severe. Sherman and Wallace held their ground; and it soon became apparent that Beau- regard's strength was all but exhausted. At the same time that the Confederate general had con- centrated his troops against the national right, he did not neglect an opportunity which seemed to present itself more towards what might be called the national centre. Notic- ing a slight gap between Crittenden and McCook, he en- deavored to force a passage between them. Here he made his last effort — his last decided stand. It was all in vain. McCook's division stood like a wall of iron. The Confed- erate centre now began to yield. All along the line from Nelson on the left to Sherman and Wallace on the right, the nationals were pressing forward. Everywhere the enemy was seen retiring. It was now half-past five o'clock; and the wearied national troops being in no mood to pur- sue the foe, the retreat was the more easily conducted. The two days' fighting had resulted in the loss of over WAR OF THE REBELLION. 83 twenty thousand men — the Confederate killed and wounded amounting to more than ten thousand, the nationals to nearly twelve thousand. General Halleck only did what was right when he thanked Generals Grant and Buell, "and the officers and men of their respective commands, for the bravery and endurance with which they sustained the general attack of the enemy on the 6th, and the heroic manner in which on the 7th they defeated GENERAL GRANT AT PITTSBURGH LANDING— SCENE ON THE SECOND DAY'S FIGHTING. and routed the entire Confederate army." General Grant showed his magnanimity when, in writing to the War De- partment, he said : " Sherman held with raw troops the key- point of the Landing. It is no disparagement to any other officer to say that I do not believe there was another division commander on the field who had the skill and enterprise to have done it. To his individual efforts I am indebted for the success o( the battle." Towards the close of the triumphant day General Grant, 184 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. who seemed to be everywhere present, met the First Ohio regmient near a position occupied by the Confederates, which it was very important at that juncture to take. He halted the regiment, and placed himself at its head. The troops recognized him with an enthusiastic cheer. General Grant ordered them "to charge," and led them in person, as much exposed as any private to the fire of the foe. They would have followed him to the cannon's mouth. An exhausted and retreating regiment, animated by the sight, closed up their wavering ranks, and with cheers joined in the charge. The foe was swept pell-mell from the spot; and thus one of the most important points of the battle- field was gained. The news of this splendid victory spread like lightning. The name of Grant was hailed with joy, while the deeds of his gallant army were read with eager delight by every loyal citizen and true soldier throughout the land. The President hastened to express his gratitude to Grant by sending him the commission of Major-General. Everybody rejoiced at this act of justice except General Halleck, who did all in his power to give exclusive credit for the victory to C. F. Smith, and to secure for that officer the reward which Grant had so honestly won. On the other hand, Grant never for a moment withheld the praise which was due to his subordinates, but with the least possible delay recommended all who earned it for promotion, and yet there were some among them who did not scruple to charge him with incompetency, or to circulate calumnious reports against his private character. The victory at Shiloh broke down the second line of Con- federate defence, as the fall of Donelson had broken down the first. After his defeat on the 7th of April Beauregard retired. in good order to Corinth. The retreat was conducted in circumstances of great inconvenience and hardship, and the successful manner in which it was accomplished was a tri- umph of military genius on the part of the Coniederate commander. Arriving at Corinth, Beauregard made all needed preparations for whatever attack might be made. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 85 As a Strategic point, for the South at least, Corinth had already been shorn of much of its value. When Buell set out from Nashville to reinforce Grant at Shiloh, he sent General Mitchell southward, with instructions to destroy, as far as possible, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. On the 4th of April Mitchell was at Shelbyville, whence he hastened forward by forced marches to Huntsville, tak- ing the town by surprise at an early hour on the morning of the nth, and capturing seventeen locomotives, more than one hundred passenger cars, a large amount of sup- plies of every kind, with about one hundred and sixty prisoners. At Huntsville the railroad lines were torn up both to the east and west of the town. From Huntsville he sent one expedition eastward as far as Stevenson, and another expedition westward as far as Decatur and Tus- cumbia, the object of both expeditions being to capture what could be had and to destroy the railroads. On the 1 6th of April Mitchell could say to his soldiers : " You have struck blow after blow with a rapidity unparalleled. Steven- son fell, sixty miles to the east of Huntsville. Decatur and Tuscumbia have been in like manner seized and are now oc- cupied. In three days you have extended your front of opera- tions more than one hundred miles, and your morning guns at Tuscumbia may now be heard by your comrades on the battle-field made glorious by their victory before Corinth." Mitchell had placed his army midway betw^een Corinth and Nashville, and opened communication with Buell, and had added another hundred miles of the Tennessee to the free navigation of the North. Under date of May ist, wridng to the secretary of war, he could say : " The campaign is ended, and I now occupy Huntsville in perfect security; while all of Alabama north of the Tennessee river floats no flag but that of the Union." It was not without good rea- son that Mitchell was commissioned a major-general of volunteers. The importance of Corinth had been fully recognized by Halleck and Grant as well as by Buell and Mitchell. A few days after the batde of Shiloh, General Sherman, v/ith some fresh troops from Buell's army, moved up the Tennessee to the mouth of Bear Creek, and there 1 86 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. destroyed the railroad bridge which spans the river at that place. On the 1 2th Halleck arrived at Pittsburorh Landine and took command in person of the " Grand Army of the Ten- nessee;" for such now was its title. Grant was placed second in command, without any real duty. The manner in which he had fought the batde of Shiloh was not satis- factory to his chief; and he was compelled for a second time to submit to uncalled-for humiliation. Grant bore his punishment with the best grace possible. Halleck, as if on second thoughts, did what he could to reassure him, in- forming him that no censure was intended, and that his position was that which was due to his rank. Halleck's objection to Grant's conduct in the late contest was that he had not shown sufficient caution — that he had erred, in fact, in not throwing up whatever fortifications were pos- sible in the circumstances between himself and the enemy. As if to justify his complaint, and to show what should have been done at Shiloh, Halleck moved forward with a caution which became painful, intrenching himself at every step. Blame now fell upon him in turn. He was cautious overmuch. It was tauntingly said that it took him six weeks to march fifteen miles. Shortly afterwards, Halleck went to Washington, for the purpose of entering upon the duties of General-in-Chief, to which position he had been called by the President, but before starting, he offered the command of the army to Colonel Robert Allen, chief supervising quartermaster in the West, an educated soldier and an able man. It was only when Allen positively declined, that the command was restored to Grant, but with still restricted authority. He was ordered to garrison a large number of points and to send reinforcements to Buell, in doing which he was thrown upon the defensive. But while Halleck was thus scattering the national forces, the Confederates had been taught a lesson, which made them concentrate all their available means, east of the Mississippi. Corinth was iJie strategic point in Grant's department. The Tennessee river bein^^ too low for steamers in summer, WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 87 he drew his supplies from Columbus, Kentucky, which com- pelled him to keep open one hundred and fifty miles of railway through a guerrilla infested region. Garrisoning Corinth, Bolivar and Jackson, all important points his force was too small to defend easily his great department, much less to take the offensive. Bragg, with a laro-e army, was now moving toward Kentucky, so every man diat could be spared was taken from Grant, while Van Dorn and Price constandy threatened him. He was sadly hampered and harassed, but watched the enemy vigilandy, and remodelled and strengthened the Corinth fortihcations a fact soon to prove of vital importance. Slaves sdll flocked to the national camps. Congress had prohibited officers or soldiers from returning them to their masters, under pain of dismissal from the service. Per contra, Halleck's Order No. Three was still in force. Of course, it was impossible to harmonize instructions which conflicted so positively; but Grant on August nth with characteristic subordination, attempted it, and issued the following : Recent acts of Congress prohibit the army from returning fugitives from labor to their claimants, and authorize the employment of such persons in the service of the government. The following orders are therefore published for the guidance of the army in this military district in this matter : ^ c u I. All fugitives thus employed must be registered, the names ot the fugitive and claimants given, and must be borne upon the morning re- ports of the command in which they are kept, showing how they are em- ployed. , IL Fugitive slaves may be employed as laborers in the quartermaster s, subsistence, and engineer departments, and whenever by such employ- ment a soldier may be saved to the ranks. They may be employed as teamsters, as company cooks (not exceeding four to a company), or as hospital attendants and nurses. Officers may employ them as P"vate servants, in which latter case the fugitive will not be paid or rationed by the government. Negroes not thus employed will be deemed '' unauthor- ized persons," and must be excluded from the camps. III. Officers and soldiers are positively prohibited from enticing slaves to leave their masters. When it becomes necessary to employ this kind of labor, commanding officers of posts or troops must send details (always under the charge of a suitable commissioned officer), to press into service the slaves of disloyal persons to the number required.** 1 88 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. One day while Grant and his staff were riding down to take a drink from a sulphur spring a few miles south of his head-quarters, they heard a musket shot from a log-hut near by. A mother and daughter came running out, per- sued by a Union soldier, who had fired his gun to terrify them, and then attempted violence. Quick as thought the general sprang from .his horse, wrenched away the musket, and with the butt of it felled the brute to the earth, where he lay wdth no sign of life except a litde quivering of the foot. "I guess you have killed him, general," remarked one of his staff officers. " If I have, it only served him right," rejoined Grant. But the miscreant recovered, and was taken back to his quarters. On the loth of September, Price having reached North- ern Mississippi with his army of about twelve thousand men, started towards luka, where he arrived on the 19th, having driven in small detachments of the national troops from Jacinto and Chewalla. He made a feint of following Bragg in his northern march, in the hope that Grant would pursue him, and thus leave Corinth an easy prey to Van Dorn. But Grant, whose head-quarters were at Jackson, Tennessee, was too sagacious to fall into such a trap. Knowing from his scouts that Van Dorn could not reach Corinth for four or five days yet, he determined to crush Price by sending out a heavy force under Ord and Rosecrans, who had suc- ceeded Pope. He therefore threw Ord towards luka, on the north side of the railroad, reinforcing him by Ross* brigade from Bolivar, bringing his force up to about five thousand men, and directed Rosecrans, with about nine thousand men in all, to move towards luka by the way of Jacinto and Fulton — hoping thus to cut off the Confederate retreat and to concentrate a force sufficient to overwhehn Price. This combined movement commenced at an early hour on the i8th of September, and although the distances to be overcome did not exceed in either case thirty miles, the Confederates discovered it before it was fairly executed. For some reason not satisfactorily explained, Rosecrans (189) 190 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. failed to occupy the Fulton road. The junction of Ord and Rosecrans did not take place till after the latter had had a desperate and only partially successful engagement with Price on the 19th, in front of luka. Rosecrans' troops fought well, but owing to the exceedingly difficult nature of the ground, he was not able to bring his whole com- mand into action. The Confederates were defeated after a sanguinary battle, and under cover of night retreated south- ward by the Fulton road. Their loss is stated by Pollard the historian '* at about eight hundred killed and wounded,'* not counting over a thousand prisoners left in the hands of the victors. On the 2 2d Grant ordered the pursuit to be discontinued, and directed Rosecrans to return to Corinth, where he ar- rived on the 26th. Ord was sent to Bolivar, and Hurlbut in the direction of Pocahontas. Price, by a wide circuit, joined Van Dorn at Ripley. The united force then moved in the direction of Pocahontas. On the 2d of October, Van Dorn and Price, with three divisions, advanced thence towards Corinth by the way of Chewalla. Shortly after Halleck left for Washington, Grant, seeing that the old works were too extensive to be held by any rea- sonable force, directed the construction of an inner and much shorter line of Intrenchments at Corinth, and by the time the Confederates made their appearance in front of these works they were sufficiently near completion to be used for defensive purposes. Rosecrans had withdrawn his outposts upon the first appearance of the enemy and formed his line over a mile in front of the fortifications. The Confederates advancing on the Chewalla road, soon drove in Stanley's advanced brigade, which, being sup- ported by another, made head for a time. But the Con- federates, continually developing their front, soon hotly en- gaged Davies' division also, and finally the entire line. Pushing their attack with great vigor, they finally compelled Rosecrans to fall back with the loss of two euns, and to occupy the fortifications. At an early hour on the morning of the 4th, the action WAR OF THE REBELLION. I9I was renewed by the Confederates, who opened upon the Union lines with their batteries, and at half-past nine o'clock, Price assaulted the Union centre with desperate determina- tion. A storm of canister and grape was poured upon the Confederate columns, but with only partial effect. Cheered on by their officers, they renewed the attack, now become general, and soon succeeded in breaking Davies' division and in forcing the head of their column into the town. But Rosecrans concentrated a heavy fire of artillery upon them, and pushing forward the Tenth Ohio, and Fifth Minnesota regiments, followed closely by Sullivan's brigade, succeeded in driving the Confederates beyond the works and in re- establishing Davies' line. In the meanwhile Van Dorn had formed the right of his army into column of attack, and under cover of a heavy skirmish line, was leading it in person to the assault of the Union left. But Rosecrans was ready on that side also. Stanley's division and the heavy guns of Battery Robinet, manned by the veterans of the First Regular infantry, made answer to the Con- federate musketry, and with round shot, shelly grape and canister, played dire havoc among the advancing troops. But still they held their forward course till within fifty yards of our national works. Here they received a deadly rifle fire, and after struggling bravely for a minute to face it, they were compelled to fall back. Again the Confederate leaders led their men forward, to the very ditches and para- pets of the defenses, but again were they bloodily repulsed; this time, however, to be followed by the gallant soldiers of Ohio and Missouri, who, seeing the enemy falter, poured over the works and drove them, routed and broken, back to the woods from which they had advanced. The battle had spent its fury, the Confederates were no longer able to make head, and lost no time in withdrawing their disor- ganized battalions to a place of safety. They left dead, upon the field, 1,420 officers and men, and more than 5,000 wounded, besides losing 2,248 prisoners, 41 colors and 2 guns. The next day Rosecans, reinforced by Mc- pherson's brigade, began the pursuit, but he had lost eighteen hours arid could not regain the advantage which 192 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. had thus escaped. The following extract from Grant's order of congratulation tells the rest of the story : The enemy chose his own time and place of attack, and knowing the troops of the West as he does, and with great facilities of knowing their numbers, never would have made the attempt, except with a superior force numerically. But for the undaunted bravery of officers and sol- diers, who have yet to learn defeat, the efforts of the enemy must have proven successful. Whilst one division of the army, under Major-General Rosecrans, was resisting and repelling the onslaught of the Confederate hosts at Cor- inth, another from Bolivar, under Major-General Hurlbut, was marching upon the enemy's rear, driving in their pickets and cavalry, and attract- ing the attention of a large force of infantry and artillery. On the following day, under Major-General Ord, these forces advanced with unsurpassed gallantry, driving the enemy back across the Hatchie, over ground where it is almost incredible that a superior force should be driven by an inferior, capturing two of the batteries, (eight guns,) many hundred small arms, and several hundred prisoners. To these two divisions of the army all praise is due, and will be awarded by a grateful country. Between them there should be, and I trust are, the warmest bonds of brotherhood. Each was risking life in the same cause, and, on this oc- casion, risking it also to save and assist the other. No troops could do more than these separate armies. Each did all possible for it to do in the places assigned it. As in all great battles, so in this, it becomes our fate to mourn the loss of many brave and faithful officers and soldiers, who have given up their lives as a sacrifice for a great principle. The nation mourns for them. In this campaign of fifteen days, although weakened by detachments sent to Buell and hampered by Imperative in- structions from Halleck to hold the points which had been garrisoned under his orders, Grant had fought and won two battles, against superior forces of the enemy, and had shown his capacity, If permitted to concentrate his forces and leave conquered territory to take care of itself, to as- sume the offensive with ample force to sweep every vestige of Confederate power from Mississippi. This is the only period in his military career when he was compelled to re- ceive attack rather than give It, and nothing could have been more galling to his feelings. On the 1 6th of October, 1862, General Grant's depart- ment was extended so as to embrace the State of Mississippi r«« DIAGRAMW . e,N «osrcRAMss, iirPOSITIQN OF ARIVii!^S_DE? 31 ^^%%gM/fr€fis\ ^N D!AGRAM\ POSITION OF ARMIES ^U BIAGKAMS SHOWING THE POSITIONS OF THE ARMIES AT THE BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO' OR STONE RIVER. WAR OF THE REBELLION. T93 as far as Vicksburg, and on assuming command he issued the following orders : Head- QUARTERS, Department of the Tennessee, Jackson, Tenn., October 2^th, 1862. [General Orders No. i.] I. In compliance with General Orders, No. 159, A. G. O., War De- partment, of date October i6th, 1862, the undersigned hereby assumes command of the Department of the Tennessee, which includes Cairo, Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, Northern Mississippi, and the portions of Kentucky and Tennessee west of the Tennessee river. II. Head-quarters of the Department of the Tennessee will remain, until further orders, at Jackson, Tennessee. III. All orders of the District of West Tennessee will continue in force in the department. U. S. Grant, Major- General commanding. On the 1st of November he issued a lengthy order es- tablishing certain important regulations in regard to the movements of trains, limiting the allowance of baggage and camp equipage, and otherwise placing his army in such a condition that it could move in the enemy's country with the greatest activity, and not be encumbered with long lines of wagons, as has too frequently been the case during the progress of the rebellion. A day or two before this last order was issued, a large body of cavalry had made a successful reconnoissance below Ripley, and had occupied that place and Orizaba, and on the 4th of November, General Grant, with several divisions of the army, occupied La Grange, and established his head-quarters there. On the 8th of November, 1862, he ordered a force, con- sisting of about ten thousand Infantry under command of General McPherson, and about fifteen hundred cavalry under Colonel Lee, to make a reconnoissance for the purpose of ascertaining the exact position of the enemy. Near Lamar, a village about tw^elve miles south of La Grange, the cavalry encountered the enemy's pickets, and soon afterwards a force of cavalry, whom, after a short skirmish, they drove into the hills. One portion of Colonel Lee's force was subsequently sent down towards Hudsonville, wJiile he him- 13 194 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. self, with about seven hundred of his men, attacked the Confederates and compelled them to retreat, leaving their dead and wounded in the hands of the nationals. For his gallant conduct on this and several previous occasions, Colonel Lee was recommended by General Grant for pro- motion. On the 9th of November, stringent orders were issued, having for their object the prevention of depredations by the troops, and authorizing the stoppage of the pay of en- tire divisions for the full amount of damages committed by any soldier to whom the act could not be definitely traced. On the nth of the month the officers of General Grant's staff were officially announced; on the 14th, a camp for the reception of fugitive slaves was established at Grand Junction ; two days later, one of the provisions of the order of the 9th was enforced, by the levy of about twelve hundred dollars upon the Twentieth Illinois regiment, to reimburse certain store-keepers for property stolen and in- jured by a portion of the regiment, the identity of the actual criminals being undiscovered; and on the 19th, an order was promulgated, requiring persons, before purchas- ing cotton or other Southern products, to have a special permit from the local provost-marshal ; prohibiting pur- chasers from going beyond the lines to trade; and granting licenses to loyal persons within the department to keep for sale to residents who have taken the oath of allegiance, articles " of prime necessity for families." CHAPTER V. WAR OF THE REBELLION CouthlUed, After the battle of Corinth — Reasons for Grant's inaction — Reinforcements — The expe- dition to the Yazoo — Sherman and Porter — Grant to move against Pemberton — Holly Springs — Van Dorn's raid — Holly Springs captured — Murphy's cowardice — Forrest's raid — Grant's supplies cut off— Murphy di:>missed the army — Sherman and Porter on their way down the Mississippi — McClernand's appointment — Sherman and Porter at the mouth of the Yazoo — Vicksburg — Walnut Hills — Haines' Bluff — Chickasaw bayou — Dangerous battle-ground — The preparations of the Confederates — Barfield's plantation — General Frank P. Blair — The morning of the 29th of November — The attack — Blair and Thayer — Their bravery — Morgan's failure — Morgan L. Smith wounded — Blair, Thayer, and DeCourcy compelled to fall back — The Sixth Missouri — Sherman mortified — Another attack resolved upon — End of the second campaign against Vicksburg — Reflections — Sherman's mistake — Blair the hero of Chickasaw bayou — Back at the mouth of the Yazoo — Arrival of Mc- Clernand — Sherman superseded — McClernand's General Order No, I — Arkansas post — At the mouth of the White river — The Arkansas river — Fort Hindman — Strength of the fortress — Landing of the troops — Porter and his gunboats — The morning of the nth of December — The guns of the fort silenced — Steele's men performing prodigies of valor — Morgan's advance interrupted by the ravine- Bravery of Burbridge — The prize of victory — McClernand's report — Liitle Rock — Des Arc and Duval's Bluff captured — Fort Hindman dismantled and blown up — The army and the flotilla at Napoleon — Instructions from Grant — Back at Milliken's Bend. After the battle of Corinth, on the 4th of October, 1862, the army, under General Grant, fell back to the position which it formerly occupied, and remained in comparative inactivity until the beginninor of November. It was sta- tioned from Memphis to Bridgeport, Tennessee, along the Memphis and Charleston railroad. Its strong points were Memphis, Grand Juncdon, and Corinth. The army was arranged in four divisions. Grant's head-quarters were at Jackson, Tennessee, a point in the West where the Central Mississippi railroad unites with the Mobile and Ohio. General Grant had not abandoned the plan which was inaugurated at Henry and Donelson. His whole soul was (195) 196 'life of ULYSSES S. GRANT. bent on the capture of Vicksburg. The removal of Hal- leck to Washington had devolved upon him the entire care of the department of the Tennessee, which included, in addition to Cairo, Forts Henry and Donelson, the whole of Northern Mississippi, and those portions of Tennessee and Kentucky west of the Tennessee river. The army which had fought and won at Shiloh, at Corinth, and at luka, had been gready weakened, a large proportion of its strength havinof been sent to Kentuckv to resist the Invasion of Bragg. It was necessary, therefore, for Grant, while perfecting his plans and rearranging his troops, to wait for reinforcements. As soon as the reinforcements arrived, he was ready to move. The national gunboats had swept the Mississippi from Cairo to Memphis ; and, between those two points, every Confederate stronghold had been deserted or destroyed. Farragut, with a portion of his fleet, had pushed his way up to Vicksburg after the capture of New Orleans. He v/as accompanied by General F. Williams, widi an infantry force of four regiments. While Farragut bombarded the city, Williams was cuttinor a canal, with a view of divertino- the waters of the Mississippi from their proper channel, thus leaving Vicksburg high and dry on all sides. The siege lasted some seventy days. It was all to no purpose. Far- ragut, who failed to make any serious Impression on the Confederate works, began to fear for his own safety. The canal, also, proved a complete failure. The fleet and the land force both found it necessary to retire, and Vicksburg remained to obstruct the navigation of the great river. On the 4th of November Grant began to move. He transferred his head-quarters from Jackson to La Grange, some few miles to the west of Grand Junction. He soon discovered that the Confederates, under General John C. Pemberton, who had superseded Van Dorn, were in con- siderable strength immediately in his front. Pemberton, in fact, had taken a strong position behind two lines of de- fences, the outer belnor the Yallabuslia, and the inner being the Tallahatchie — two streams which, after their junction, form the Yazoo river. (^97) 198 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. On the 8th he sent out McPherson with 10,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalr3^ with instructions to drive from Lamar a body of Confederates who were holding the railroad. Mc- Pherson accomplished his task in the most effectual man- ner, the Confederates having been driven back as far as Holly Springs. About the 17th of November Grant summoned Sherman to meet him at Columbus, and at the interview which there took place the views of the two generals were freely ex- changed, Grant explaining to Sherman his plan and giving him his orders. It was at Sherman's suor^estion that a portion of Curtis' army, which, as we have seen in a pre- vious chapter, w^as stationed at Helena, should be brought over to Delta, with a view to co-operate with Grant in his general movement towards Vicksburg. They numbered some 7,000 men, and were under the joint command of Generals A. P. Hovey and C. C. VVashburne. Ordered to scour the country to the south and east, in the rear of the Confederate army, to destroy the railroads and bridges, so as to cut off supplies, and generally to prepare the way for Grant's advance, they accomplished their task in the most effectual manner, and then returned to the Mississippi. Pemberton, on discovering that the railroads were baclly damaged, and that the rolling stock was destroyed, Grant meanwhile pressing on his front, deemed it prudent to fall back on Grenada. On the I St of December Grant was at Holly Springs, On the 5th he was at Oxford, w^here he established his head-quarters. On the 5th of December, Sherman on his way to join Grant, and bringing with him from Memphis some 16,000 men, arrived at College Hill, about ten miles from Oxford, whence he reported to his chief On the 8th he received from Grant a letter, requesting his immediate presence at Oxford, and enclosing a message from Halleck to Grant, authorizing the latter to move his troops as he thought best, to retain till further orders all Curtis' troops now in his department, to telegraph to General Allen in St. Louis for all the steamboats he might need, and to ask Porter to WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1 99 co-operate with his gunboats. On his arrival at Oxford Sherman found Grant surrounded by his staff. The new plan was discussed and approved. It will be seen that Grant had made up his mind that, for the safety of his men as well as for the final success of the expedition, it was necessary to take full advantage of the river communication with Vicksburg. Grant had been left complete control of the move- ment, Halleck having offered no special advice and im- posed no conditions. Sherman, who commanded the right wing of Grant's army, was appointed to the command of the river expedition, and received his instructions. Grant de- sired Sherman appointed to this command in preference to McClernand, who had influence with the President, and was known to be intriguing for an independent command on the Mississippi. Sherman was ordered to take command of the forces at Memphis, and those also at Helena and Delta, under General Steele, to descend the river by trans- ports, with the gunboat fleet as a convoy, commanded by Admiral Porter, and to attack Vicksburg by the 29th of November. McClernand was to take the forces at Cairo, and to proceed to Vicksburg, so as to be in time to lend Sherman effective aid as soon as he made the attack. Grant himself was to move rapidly on the Confederates to the north and east of Vicksburg, to follow them if they should retreat towards the city, and to take part with Sherman, if necessary, in the reduction of the place. Grant knew that it was unsafe to trust for supplies solely to the enemy's country. He had, therefore, repaired the Central Mississippi railroad as far as Oxford, where, for the present, he had established his head-quarters ; and Holly Springs, which was entrusted to the care of Colonel R. C. Murphy, was retained as a grand depot and hospital. General Grant had taken great care that no misfortune should befall him in his rear. He had left small but ade- quate garrisons at Columbus, Humboldt, Trenton, Jackson, Bolivar, Corinth, Holly Springs, Coldwater, Davis' Mills and Middlebury. He had taken particular care of Holly Springs, for he knew that the treasures at that place pre- 2CO LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. sented a powerful temptation to Van Dorn. On the night of the 19th he warned Murphy of his danger, and informed him that he had sent 4,000 men to enable him to repel any attack which might be made upon him. Murphy, it would seem, paid litde heed to the instructions given him. He made no extra preparations to resist the enemy. On the morning of the 20th, at daybreak, Van Dorn, executing a brilliant cavalry operation, rushed upon the place with tremendous fury. Murphy offered no resistance. The Second Illinois, however, refused to surrender, and gallantly fought their way out with a loss of only seven men. Murphy, with the rest of his men, accepted a parole. Van Dorn seized all the property, valued at over ^1,500,- 000, taking with him what he could carry and destroying the remainder. He set fire to the buildings, not even sparing the hospital, which w^as filled with sick and wounded soldiers. This was the second time that Murphy had been guilty of such conduct. He did the same thing at luka. General Grant was wild with rage. It was his opinion that with "all the cotton, public stores, and substantial buildings about the depot," Murphy ought to have been able to keep the assailants at bay until relief arrived. It was only four hours after the catastrophe when the 4,000 men sent to his aid arrived on the spot. Grant was particularly incensed at Murphy for accepting a parole for himself and his men. A cartel had been agreed to by the rival commanders ; and it had been sdpulated that each party should take care of his own prisoners. If Murphy had refused parole for him- self and men. Van Dorn would have been *' compelled to release them uncondidonally, or to have abandoned all further aggressive movements for the time being." In a severe order, on the 9th of January, General Grant dis- missed Murphy from the army, the order to take effect '• from December 20th, the date of his cowardly and dis- graceful conduct." . On the same day that Van Dorn made his raid on Holly Springs, an attack was made by a Confederate force on Davis' Mills, a litde farther to the north. In the neighbor- hood of Jackson, Tennessee, a vital point '^ Grant's line WAR OF THE REBELLION. 20I of communications, an attack was made by a body of cav- alry, under Forrest, on the 19th. General Grant's plan of the campaign had failed. On the 20th, the very day on which Van Dorn and Forrest struck the blow which compelled Grant to fall back and abandon his part of the joint undertaking, Sherman took his departure from Memphis. Taking with him over 20,000 troops in transports, he left, as a guard to the city, a strong force of infantry and cavalry, and the siege guns in position, with a complement of gunners. On the following day, at Friar's Point, he was joined by Admiral Porter, in his flag-ship, " Black Hawk," with the " Marmora," Captain Getty, and the " Conestoga," Captain Selfridge, which were to act as a convoy. The remainder of Porter's fleet was at the mouth of the Yazoo. On the same evening, the 2 1 St, the troops at Helena embarked in transports and came to Friar's Point. Sherman's force was now at least 30,000 strong. All the arrangements werq. completed, and the joint expedition was moving down the river the fol- lowing morning. On the 18th of December an order from the President reached Grant, directing him to divide all his forces into four army corps, to assign one corps to McClernand, and to place him at the head of the troops destined for the at- tack upon VIcksburg. Grant could hardly fail to see in this order a blow aimed at himself. It is not much to be wondered at if Grant was staggered by this order, and if he was slow to put it in execution. He was in the midst of his preparations for an onward march. The reconstruc- tion of his army, according to the instructions received, oc- cupied him the whole of the 19th. The disaster at Holly Springs, compelling a backward movement, occurred on the 20th, and the raids of Forrest on the same day de- prived him of the use of the telegraph. As it was, Sher- man had proceeded down the river before any counter-in- strucdons reached Memphis. If Sherman had any reason to fear a counter-order, his haste to get ready and his prompt departure but revealed the soldierly spirit and true character of the man. As the result proved, it was well 202 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. lor Sherman, well for General Grant, and well for the na- tion at laree that Lincoln's order did not take effect before the 20th of December. On Christmas day the expedition under Sherman and Porter had reached Milliken's Bend, when Sherman de- tached Burbridge's brigade, of A. J. Smith's division, to break up the railroad leading from Vicksburg to Shreve- port, Louisiana. Leaving A. J. Smith's division to await the arrival, the remaining divisions proceeded, on the 26th, io the mouth of the Yazoo, and up that river to Johnson's plantation, some thirteen miles, and there disembarked. The disembarkation was conducted without any opposition. Steele's division landed farthest up the river, above what is called Chickasaw Bayou ; Morgan's division a litde lower down, at the house of Johnson, which had been burned by the gunboats on a former occasion ; Morgan L. Smith's di- vision below that of Morgan ; and A. J. Smith's, which ar- rived next night, below that of M. L. Smith. The ground on which Sherman now found himself presented obstacles of which formerly he had but a very imperfect conception. Vicksburg is built on a range of bluffs known as the Walnut Hills. These hills, which take their rise a little be- low the city, extend for the most part in a northeasterly direcdon, terminadng in Haines' Bluff, a distance of some thirteen or fourteen miles. The configuradon of these hills has been compared to the ridge at Inkerman, to which, it is said, they bear, in some pardculars, a striking resem- blance. Their average height is about two hundred feet. Where the Mississippi touches their base at Vicksburg, and for some miles both above and below, they are precipitous. Along their entire length, indeed, from Vicksburg to Haines' Bluff, their face is very abrupt, and cut up by nu- merous valleys and ravines. The only approach to the city by land from up the river is by climbing their almost perpendicular front. The ground beyond is high, broken, and somewhat rolling, gradually descending to the Big Black river. The Yazoo, which skirts the ridge at Haines' Bluff, al)out nine miles above Vicksburg by the road, along the foot of the bluffs, flows in a southwestern direction, and '^ \sCA/.r ff'^M/LCS iCKSBURG AND PORT HUDSON-SCENE OF GRANT'S GREAT VICTORY. 204 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. before discharging its waters into the Mississippi crosses an old arm of the river, which now forms a semicircular lake. The Yazoo evidently, in times gone by, clung to the foot of the hills, and traces of its former whereabouts are to be seen in the numerous bayous and channels by which the intervening ground is cut up. One of these bayous puts off from the Yazoo about one-third of the distance below Haines' Bluff, running at right angles with the river until it approaches the bluffs, when it turns and follows their base until it empties itself into the Mississippi. It is called Chickasaw Bayou. Between the bayou and the hills there was an irregular strip of land, on which the trees had been felled to form an abatis. It was dotted also with rifle-pits. Rifle-trenches abounded, too, along the front of the bluffs, and the heights above were crowned with batteries. About a mile to the northeast of the bayou, and parallel with it, there is a deep slough, which makes a sharp turn as it ap- proaches the bluffs, and enters Chickasaw Bayou at the point where the latter is checked in its course, and turns to flow along the base of the hills. There was thus a fortihed line some twelve or thirteen miles in lenor-di formed of abatis and rifle-pits, with an impassable ditch in front, and terminating in the powerful fixed batteries at Haines' Blufl' on the one hand, and in the heavy batteries and field-works above Vicksburg on the other. The land lying between the Yazoo and the Chickasaw was not only low and swampy, it was, except in one or two places where there were plantations, densely wooded. The distance from Johnson's Landing to the Chickasaw was about six miles. General Sherman's army was organized in four divisions. The first division, comprising three brigades, was under Brigadier-General George W. Morgan ; second division, three brigades, under Brigadier-General Morgan L. Smith; third division, three briorades, under Brioradier-General A. J. Smith; fourth division, four brigades, under Brigadier- General Frederick Steele. The brigade commanders oi the fourth division were Generals Frank P. Blair, John M. Thayer, C. E. Hovey, and Colonel Hassendeubel. Ac- (205) 2o6 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. cording to Sherman's plan of attack General Steele was to hold the extreme left, General Morgan the left centre, Gen- eral M. L. Smith the right centre, and General A. J. Smith the extreme right. As the latter general had not yet ar- rived from Milliken's Bend, where we left him waiting for Burbridge, General Frank P. Blair, with his brigade, was detached from Steele's division and placed on Morgan's right. On the 27th the army began to move. General Steele, who had been ordered to take position on the farther side of the slough above this bayou, experienced great difficulty in landing his troops. On the 27th Blair moved slowly to- wards the bluffs, his desire being to give Steele time^ to come into position on the left. He succeeded in silencing one of the enemy's batteries at the point where he expected Steele would be able to join him, and held his ground. On the 28th the various divisions pressed forward, and the national troops were in full possession on the Yazoo side of the bayou, with one bridge thrown across and with two bridges partially constructed. During the course of the day, while reconnoitering. General M. L. Smith was se- verely wounded in the hip and compelled to retire to his steamboat. On the morning of the 29th all things were in readiness for the attack. It was Sherman's object to make a lodge- ment on the foot-hills and bluffs abreast of his position, while diversions were being made by the navy at Haines' Bluff, and by the first division direcdy towards Vicksburg. An attempt was made by A. J. Smith to throw a light-flying bridge over the bayou more to the right. Sherman ex- pected great things from General Morgan, who, as we have seen, commanded the first division, and was to lead the at- tack in person. Sherman pointed out to him the place where he could pass the bayou, and received for answer: "General, in ten minutes after you give the signal, I'll be on those hills." His position was one of considerable diffi- culty. The crossing was narrow, and immediately opposite, at the base of the hills, there was a Confederate battery, supported by infantry, posted on the spurs of the hills in WAR OF THE REBELLION. 207 the rear. This was the real point of attack, but to distract the attention of the enemy, Sherman's Instructions were that the Initial movements should be made at the flanks. It was about noon before the signal was given for a gen- eral forward movement across the bayou and towards the enemy's position. A heavy artillery fire was opened all along the national line. It recalled the memory of luka and Corinth. The Confederate batteries made a prompt reply, and were soon followed by the Infantry, which opened a perfect tempest of lead on the advance ranks of Morgan and A. J. Smith. In the midst of this fierce storm of can- non-shot and musketry De Courcy's brigade, of Morgan's division, succeeded In crossing the bayou ; but so terrific was the fire that they took to cover behind the bank, and could not be moved forward. General Blair, meanwhile, had crossed the bayou by the bridge above the angle, and had reached the slough, the bottom of which was quicksand, and the banks of wdilch were covered with felled trees. With great difficulty, and not undl his ranks w^ere thrown into some disorder, was the crossing of the slough accom- plished. This done, it was necessary before reaching the enemy's w^orks to traverse a sloping plateau, raked by a direct and enfilading fire from heavy artillery, and swept by a storm of bullets from the rifle-pits. Nothing daunted, Blair and his brave brigade went bounding across the plateau. Rushing upon the rifle-pits, they captured the first line and then the second, and made a desperate effort to ealn the crest of the hill on which the batteries were planted. Colonel Thayer, of Steele's division, had followed Blair with his brigade over the same bridge. Entering the abatis at the same point, he turned somewhat to the right, and emerged upon the plateau almost simultaneously with Blair, and about two hundred yards to his right. Unfortu- nately, however, Thayer found that he was followed by only one regiment: his second regiment, after his move- ment had commenced, having been ordered to the support of Morgan, and the other two regiments having followed this one by mistake. Thayer discovered the mistake before 208 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. he had fairly brought his troops Into action, but he was too brave a man to halt or hesitate In the circumstances. On he pushed to the right of Blair, and rendered effective aid in the capture of the second line of rifle-pits. Leaving his regiment to hold the position it had won, he hurried back, with Blair's consent, to obtain reinforcements. The mo- ments seemed hours. " It was a struggle," as has been well said, "between three thousand In the open ground below and ten thousand behind intrenchments above." The hillsides bristled with bayonets and blazed with the fire of musketry, while from the angry mouths of huge cannon destruction was poured forth upon the shattered and rapidly thinning ranks of the assailants. Blair, impa- tient for the return of Thayer, rushed back himself to per- suade the advance of more troops. It was all In vain. Both Thayer and himself failed in obtaining reinforcements. No help reached them. ; no diversion was made In their favor. They had no choice but to order a retreat. Blair and Thayer fell back with a loss of at least one-third of their men ; and De Courcy, who had been attacked on the flank by the Seventeenth and Twenty-Sixth Louisiana, lost four flags, three hundred and thirty-two men made pris- oners, and about five hundred small arms. The attack was a complete failure. Somehow the signal for attack was imperfectly understood. Stuart had managed to push across one regiment, the Sixth Missouri, which had orders to undermine the bluff The position of those men was one which severely tried their faith and patience. They were exposed to the vertical fire of the Confederate sharpshooters who occupied the ridge, and a batallion of the Thirteenth regulars, who were stationed opposite, and who attempted to protect them from the Confederate fire, proved equally dangerous with the enemy above. "Shoot higher!" shouted the nationals below the bluff "Shoot lower! " cried the Confederates. After dark this regiment was brought back over the bayou. The remainder of Steele's division did not get up in time to be of any assist- ance to Blair. Morgan failed to make good his promise, He did not even obey his orders. General Sherman was WAR OF THE REBELLION. 209 particularly severe on Morgan. To him and to his conduct he attributed the failure of the attack. Sherman resolved to make another attack, and arrange- ments were made to push forward General Hovey to the position from which Blair had been driven ; Morgan's di- vision, with the brigades of Blair and Thayer, to follow and support. For some reason it was not done, and next morning it was found to be impossible, because of the in- creased strength of the Confederates at the menaced point. Firing was continued on both sides during Tuesday ; and on Wednesday, the 31st, a flag of truce was sent in, and the dead were buried and the wounded cared for. Sherman was still dissatisfied, and resolved to make another attack. After consulting with Admiral Porter it was agreed that a combined naval and land assault should be made on Haines' Bluff, the key of the Confederate po- sition. Porter was to proceed up the Yazoo with his gun- boats and open fire on the bluffs, while General Steele was to land his division out of range of the enemy's guns, then to push forward and take the posidon by storm. The at- tack was to be made during the dark hours. By two o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the ist of January, 1863, the necessary arrangements were completed. A heavy fog, however, had enveloped the entire district, and so dense was it that Porter found it impossible to steer the boats. It was utterly out of the question to make any fur- ther efforts. On the night of the 29th of December there^ had been a tremendous rain-storm ; all the low ground was. flooded, and the men, who had been bivouacking for five successive days in those wretched swamps without fire, were suffering cruelly from damp and cold. On the 2d of January Sherman placed his troops on board the transports, and the fleet sailed down to the mouth of the Yazoo. Thus ended somewhat ingloriously the second campaign against Vicksburg. Sherman had accomplished nothing. He had, however, made great sacrifices ; his loss in killed and wounded and prisoners amounting to nearly 2,000 men. Such was the batde of Chickasaw Bayou, or,, as it is some- times named, the battle of Haines* Bluff. 14 2IO LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. The Confederates were jubilant after this first victory. It was undoubtedly a great triumph. General Peniberton, not without reason, felt proud that he had baffled Grant In person, compelling him to retreat, and that he had tem- porarily, at least, saved VIcksburg by the defeat of the greatest of Grant's lieutenants. These rejoicings in the South were not unmixed with sorrow. The more thought- ful of the Confederates knew that defeat only intensified the purpose of the North. VIcksburg had not yet fallen ; but VIcksburg, they felt, was doomed. At the mouth of the Yazoo General McClernand was waiting with orders from the War Department to take command of the entire expedition. That general, it will be remembered, was appointed to this command by the direct Influence of President Lincoln. With a modesty which became a man of his high spirit, Sherman accepted the situation, and explained to McClernand what had been done, accepting the entire responsibility of the failure. Referring to the trains of cars which could be heard com- ing into VIcksburg almost every hour, and the fresh troops seen on the bluffs, he gave It as his opinion that Pember- ton's army must have been pressed back, and that Grant must be at hand. He then learned, for the first time, what had befallen Grant ; McClernand stating that Grant was not coming at all, that the depot at Holly Springs had been captured by Van Dorn, that Grant had fallen back from Coffeeville and Oxford to Holly Springs and La Grange, and that when he passed down, Ouimby's division, of Grant's army, was actually at Memphis for stores. By common consent, all further attempts against VIcksburg for the present were abandoned ; and the entire force left the Yazoo and retired to Milllken's Bend on the Mis- sissippi. On the 4th of January McClernand issued his General Order No. i, assuming command of what was to be called the Army of the Mississippi, and, following the plan which had been agreed upon at Washington, and which had been adopted in the armies of the East, divided his forces into two corps. The first was to be commanded by General WAR OF THE REBELLION. 2 1 I Morgan, and was to be composed of his own and A. J. Smith's divisions ; and the second, to consist of Steele's and Stuart's divisions, was to be commanded by Sherman. The rest of the Army of the Tennessee was similarly di- vided, Hurlbut being placed in command of one corps, and McPherson in command of the other. The supreme command of these four corps was retained by Grant. Before the arrival of McClernand, Sherman and Porter had agreed upon a plan for the reduction of Fort Hind- man, or, as it was called, Arkansas Post. About forty or forty-five miles from the mouth of the Arkansas there is a piece of elevated ground, the first high land on the banks of the river after leaving the Mississippi. At this point the river makes a sharp bend. Here the French had a trading-post and a setdement as far back as 1685. The Confederates had taken advantage of the place to erect some fortificadons, the principal work being named Fort Hindman, after the famous guerrilla chief. Behind these works, they kept several steamboats, which were wont to sweep down the river and intercept supplies. Sherman had experienced some inconvenience from the existence of this stronghold. He had left Memphis in such haste that he had not been able to take with him a sufficient supply of ammunition for his guns. The " Blue Wing," a small steamer carrying a mail, towing some coal barges, and having with her the necessary supplies, had been sent after him. This boat had been pounced upon at the mouth of the Arkansas, captured and, with all her supplies, taken up to Fort Hindman. It was Sherman's convicdon, from the moment he learned of the fate of the *' Blue Wing," that before any operation could be successfully conducted against Vicksburg by way of the Mississippi, it would be necessary to reduce Fort Hindman, and make an end of the Arkansas pirates. Sherman communicated his pur- pose to McClernand, and asked permission to go up the Arkansas and clear out the post. It w^as Sherman's ex- pectation that he would be sent, with his own corps, alone on this business ; but McClernand concluded to go himself, and to take with him his whole force. 212 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. The troops, which had not yet disembarked from the transports, were ordered to remain on board. Sherman's corps was In two divisions. The first, which consisted of three brigades, commanded respectively by Blair, Hovey and Thayer, was under Brigadier-General Frederick Steele. The second, which consisted of two brigades, commanded by Colonels G. A. Smith and T. Kirby Smith, was under Brigadier-General Stuart. The transports with the troops on board, convoyed by the gunboats, of which three were iron-clads, proceeded up the Mississippi. The force under McClernand amounted to some 26,000 or 27,000 men, comprising forty regiments of infantry, ten batteries with several guns of heavy calibre, and about 1,500 horse. On the 8th of January the expedition was at the mouth of the White river. On the morning of the 9th of January the expedition, having ascended the White river, had reached the mouth of the *' cut-off." There was no delay in making the passage through to the Arkansas, a distance of about eight miles. Steaming up the Arkansas, the boats reached Notrib's Farm, about four miles below Fort Hindman, shortly after four o'clock In the afternoon. Here they halted ; and during the night the artillery and wagons were got on shore, the troops disembarking in the morning. Arkansas Post is on the north side or left bank of the Ar- kansas, at a point where the river makes a sharp elbow by flowing north, then east, then again abrupdy to the south. The principal work, as we have said, was Fort Hindman. Its orinis commanded the river as It stretched to the east and after It bent toward the south. This fort was a regu- lar square-bastloned work, one hundred yards each exte- rior side, with a deep ditch about fifteen feet wide, and a parapet eighteen feet high. It was armed with twelve guns, two of which were eight-Inch and one nine-inch. The garrison, which numbered only 5,000 men, was under the command of General T. J. Churchill, who was under the direction of General T. H. Holmes, then commanding at Litde Rock. Churchill had received Instructions to "hold on until help should arrive or all were dead." The disparity of forces was great. It was 26,000 or WAR OF THE REBELLION. 21 3 27,000 against 5,000. The strong position held by the Confederates, however, did much to compensate for infe- riority of numbers. The fort itself was strong; and its ap- proaches were of the most difficult description. Fronting on the river, it was protected on the west by a bayou, on the east by a swamp which did not quite reach the edge of the water. Between the fort and the swamp there was a ravine which stretched down to the river ; and the front of this ravine was well fortified. The position had thus to be approached through the elevated ground which lay between the bayou and the swamp. The encampments of the Confederates were established in front of the fort, in the centre of the plateau dotted with clumps of trees. There was an outer line of intrenchments which stretched across the entire ground. On the loth of January, the army was kept busy en- deavoring to get a position in rear of the fort, Sherman on the right and Morgan on the left. Some mistakes were made, in consequence of a want of knowledge of the ground. In the afternoon, and while the land forces were still seeking position, Porter was making good use of his flotilla. As he moved up the river, he shelled the rifle-pits along the levee, and drove the Confederates inside the fort. When about four hundred yards from Fort Hindman, he brought into action his three iron-clads — the Baron de Kalb, the Louisville and the Cincinnati ; and for half an hour the firing was kept up, the guns of the fort replying vigorously. On the morning of the nth McClernand, who had his quarters still on board the Tigress, had come up and taken a position in the woods to the rear. Early in the forenoon, he sent a message to Sherman, asking him why the attack was not begun. It had been understood beforehand that the opening of fire by the gunboats on the fort should be the signal tor a general attack. Sherman replied that all was ready; that he was within five or six hundred yards of the enemy's works ; that the next movement must be a direct assault along the whole line; and that he was wait- ino- to hear from the orunboats. Half an hour or thereabout 214 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. afterwards was heard the clear, ringing sound of the navy guns, the firing becoming louder and more rapid as they neared the fort. The national field-pieces opened fire along the whole line. The thunder was terrific. The Confeder- ates, most of whom were Texan volunteers, made a gallant resistance. A regiment of cavalry, abandoning their horses, fought on foot, and rendered, for a time, effective service in resisting the advance of the nationals. It was impossible for them to resist the fierce onset made by overwhelming numbers. Sherman pressed forward on the right, Morgan on the left, each driving the Confederates back, and gradu- ally obtaining possession of the vi^ooded ground in front of the newly-erected parapet, but not without considerable loss. The Confederate firing was heavy ; but the national soldiers took advantage of the clumps of trees, and felled logs to shield themselves from the storm of bullets. Gradu- ally the edge of the woods was reached ; the ground was clear ; and there was nothing to protect them from the decimating fire of the enemy. Meanwhile, the gunboats were pouring a murderous fire upon the fort, and sweeping the adjoining ground above and below with grape and shrapnell. Porter had brought Into action not only the ironclads, but the ram Monarch, Commander Ellet, and even the frailer vessels, as he tells us, that amid the clouds of smoke they might "do the best they could." It was not long until the effects of this terri- fic firing began to be visible. All the adjoining ground was cleared of the foe; nearly all the ardllery horses in the fort were killed; and one by one the guns were being silenced. Shordy after three o'clock the firing from the fort altogether ceased. The cannonading, however, was kept up by the gunboats. Porter, who had taken a regi- ment on board, was proceeding with the Black Hawk to attempt a landing, and to take possession, when a white flag was raised In token of surrender. He Immediately ordered the firing to cease. He left the troops In the clearing at the edge of the woods, fully exposed to the enemy's fire from the parapet outside the fort. This line had three sections of field- WAR OF THE REBELLION. 21 5 guns ; and they were handled, according to the testimony of Sherman hunself, with great skill and energy. Hovey was wounded ; Thayer had his horse shot under him ; and so thick and fast was the round-shot falling about Sherman and his staff, that they felt it necessary to scatter, Sherman himself dismounting. Morgan, at this crisis, unfortunately found himself in front of the ravine, beyond which it was impossible to pass. Sherman was now well engaged on the right ; and Morgan, finding himself thus hindered, sent a few regiments to his aid. The burden of the fight, as at Chickasaw, had fallen on the brigades which now composed the division of General Steele. Blair and Thayer and Hovey performed prodigies of valor. On the right, the Confederate batteries had been all but silenced. Morgan's men, on the left, had done splendid work before they were brought to a standstill at the ravine. A. J. Smith's brigades had pressed the Confederates back, step by step, until they were within two hundred yards of the fort. Burbridge expressly distinguished himself. But for the ravine, an attempt would have been made by the One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio to scale, and carry by assault, the eastern side of the fort. Almost at this moment, however, Slierman, as his attention was arrested by the flags of the gunboats visible above the parapet of Fort Hindman, saw a man jump on the nearer parapet at the point where entered the road which divided the penin- sula. " Cease firing ! " he ordered ; and the words were passed along the line with amazing rapidity. The firing soon ceased. In a few seconds the fort was invaded on every side by the national troops. Colonel Dayton was ordered forward to the place where was hung out the large white flag ; and as soon as his horse was seen on the para- pet, Sherman advanced with his staff It appeared after- wards that the white flag was hung out without even the knowledge of Churchill. It made litde difference. The battle had really been won on the land as well as on the river side of the fort. The surrender was subsequently made in due form — Colonel Dunnington, the commander of the fort, surrendering to Admiral Porter, and Colonel 21 6 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Churchill surrendering to the military authorities. The national loss in killed, wounded and missing amounted to 977 men. On the Confederate side there were only sixty killed and eighty wounded. Five thousand soldiers, with their officers, made prisoners, and all the property of the place, including some seventeen guns, constituted the prize of victory. General Burbridge was singled out for the honor of planting the national standard on Fort Hindman. Such was the battle of Arkansas Post. CHAPTER VI. WAR OF THE REBELLION — Continued, The Proclamation of Emancipation — A turning-point in history — " Vicksburg must be taken"— Grant at Young's Point— The Wahiut Hills— The Yazoo— Haines' Bluff — Lake Providence — Grant disappointed, but not discouraged — Sherman's opinion — Grant's resolve — The new movement commenced — New Carthage — A tedious and difficult march — Grierson's raid — Grand Gulf— The gunboats open fire — The place too strong — Rodney — Bruinsburg — A landing effected — A useful diversion — Sherman at Haines' Bluff— Safe on the east side — Grant's self-reliance— Port Gib- son — The battle — The Confederates fall back — Hankinson's Ferry — " The City of an Hundred Hills" — Jackson evacuated — Grant marches against Pemberlon — Pemberton prepares for battle — Arrival of the National advance — The battle of Champion Hills begun — Logan's success — The battle won after a terrible struggle — McClernand too late — McClernand and Osterhaus ordered in pursuit— The Big Black river — The burning of the bridges — The bridges reconstructed— On to Vicksburg — Porter on the Yazoo— Sherman at Haines' Bluff— The fall of Vicks- burg secured — Pemberton's situation — The assault of the 19th of May — A failure — The assault of the*22d — Grant's reasons for avoiding further delay — Terrible fighting — The bravery of the defenders — Grant resolves to take the place by a regu- lar siege — Reinforcements — The investment completed — Siege operations com- menced — Pemberton's situation becoming desperate — Pemberton's vacillation — Distress of the garrison — The mining operations well advanced — The 25111 of June — The first mine fired — The storming columns — The assault on Fort Hill — A terrific cannonade — A repulse — The 1st of July — The destruction of the Redan — An intercepted letter — Promised aid to Pemberton — Grant's instructions to Sher- man—The 3d of July— The white flag— General Bowen and Colonel Montgomery — A letter from Pemberton — He asks for an armistice and the appointment of com- missioners — Grant refuses — "Unconditional surrender" — The interview between Grant and Pemberton— Under the old oak, in view of both armies — The surrender — The Fourth of July— A great triumph for Grant — The first soldier of the Repub- lic — The results of the campaign. The openlnor of the year 1863 was made memorable by the Proclamation of Emancipation. One of the immediate results of this proclamation of emancipation was the orcrani- zation of colored troops. Towards the close of 1863 there were some fifty thousand colored men in actual service ; (217) 2l8 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and this number was tripled before the close of 1864. It was not, however, for some time to come that their Influ- ence on the field began to be felt. During the year 1863, although colored troops, as we shall see, took part at the siege of Port Hudson, and in other engagements, their effect was comparatively unimportant. The Introduction of colored men into the army was regarded by many In the liorht of a fresh revolution. PRESIDENT LINCOLN. The situation was now ripe for the vigorous prosecu- tion of the siege of VIcksburg. The popular cry was '' On to VIcksburg!" and Grant's emphatic dictum was "VIcks- burg must be taken." The army under General Grant had been greatly reinforced ; and the general feeling was that if the "Queen City of the Bluff" was to be reduced, It was to be done by the hero of Donelson and Shiloh, of luka and Corinth. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 2I9 Grant was to meet McClernand and Porter, with the fleet and transports, at MilHken's Bend. On the i8th of January, that meeting took place. McClernand and Sher- man made immediate p)reparations to go down the Missis- sippi to Young's Point; and Grant, without delay, returned to Memphis, in order to hasten the transportation of his troops to the neighborhood of Vicksburg. McClernand assumed command of what was named the Army of the Mississippi, after the battle of the Chickasaw, by virtue of a confidential order from the War Department. In this capacity, however, he was subject to orders from General Grant, who was at the head of the Department of the Ten- nessee. By an order of December i8th, 1862, from the War Department, the Western armies had been grouped into five corps, viz. : the Thirteenth, Major-General Mc- Clernand ; the Fourteenth, Major-General George H. Thomas, in Middle Tennessee ; the Fifteenth, Major-Gen- eral W. T. Sherman; the Sixteenth, Major-General Hurl- but, at Memphis; and the Seventeenth, Major General McPherson, back of Memphis. This entire force was placed under the control of General Grant. On the 2d of February, 1863, the greater number of the troops intended to be used in the operations against Vicksburg having already reached their destination. Grant arrived at Young's Point, and took command. The failure of one plan never discouraged Grant. He had not been successful In the first movements against Vicksburg, but that was simply an incentive to make an- other effort. The same spirit which he had manifested at Belmont when he was surrounded, at Donelson when his right was repulsed, at Shiloh when his whole army was driven back two miles, animated him still. The very day that his communications were cut at Holly Springs, he be- gan his preparations for* the campaign on the Mississippi. Vicksburg was the great stronghold of rebellion at the West. It barred and commanded the great river; when It fell, the Mississippi would be opened. As long as it stood, the strenorth of the insurofents was defiant; the Northwest was cut off from the sea. The Confederates threw im- 2 20 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. mense bodies of troops Into the State of Mississippi', to defend and to cover the town ; they sent their best gener- als to command these troops ; they boldly proclaimed Vicksburg to be impregnable. The town stands on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, about nine miles south of the mouth of the Yazoo. Both rivers are circuitous in a remarkable degree. The Missis- sippi turns and winds so that It runs toward every point of the compass within a distance of twenty miles. Just below the mouth of the Yazoo one of the most extraordi- nary of these bends occurs, the river running first south- east, then northeast, and then with a sudden curve turning to the southwest. Vicksburg is situated just south of this last bend, on a long line of bluffs that stretches from the Yazoo southwest for fifty miles. These hills rise several hundred feet above the level of the stream, and reach two or three miles Into the Interior. They are extremely rugged and precipitous, particularly towards the river, so that the streets in Vicksburg are built in terraces one above the other, to the summit of the ridge. The entire country on both banks of the Mississippi, outside of this narrow line of hills. Is one great marsh, thickly overgrown with un- derbrush and forest trees, and Intersected with innumerable shallow streams, a region about as unfit for offensive military operations as it Is possible to conceive. This country was now completely fiooded by the great rise in the Mississippi, and the water stood to the depth of several feet, everywhere except on the bluffs, and along the narrow artificial banks called levees, erected by the inhabitants to protect their lands from the annual Inundation. This year the deluore was irreater than had been known for many seasons. The works reached south from the Yazoo to a point on the Mississippi called Warrenton, a distance of twenty miles. They were defended on the water side by twenty- eight guns, which commanded all approach by the river. Every effort had been made to strengthen the fortifications. Nature herself had done her best to render Vicksburg im- pregnable ; these abrupt hills overlooking a flat country for WAR OF THE REBELLION. 221 miles, the country submerged In water, a great river Imme- dlatelv in front of the ridore, were In themselves extraordi- nary obstacles; but when to these were added an army of sixty tliousand men, either in the town or in the region covering it, and all available for its defence ; rifle-pits, for- midable forts, obstructions in the river, and an armament of over two hundred cannon, the difficulties In the way of Grant seemed almost Insurmountable. To oppose them he had a force at this time of about fifty thousand troops. Admiral Porter's co-operating fleet of gunboats numbered sixty vessels of all classes, carrying two hundred and eighty guns. Not half of these, however, were retained near Vicksburg; the others were occupied In patrolling the river to Cairo, a distance of over six hundred miles. Grant's first business was to get a footing on the eastern bank of the river, where his troops could be established on dry land ; but the Confederates held every foot of tenable ground, and It was Impossible to attack them in front with any chance of success. The gunboats could be of no as- sistance, for the enemy had a plunging fire, and could rake the river In every direction, and transports could not ap- proach close enough to land troops, as a single shot might sink a steamer with her whole freight of soldiers. A land- ing had already been tried by Sherman on the Yazoo, twelve miles above the town, where the line of bluffs strikes that river at Haines' Bluff; but though conducted with skill and gallantry, It had signally failed In January, so that it seemed as If Grant's ordinary strategy of direct and bold attack must now be abandoned. First of all it was determined to diof a canal across the peninsula formed by the bend In the river In front of Vicks- burg. The land on the opposite side runs out In the shape of a tongue not more than a mile or two across ; the plan was to cut throucrh this, and let the waters of the Missis- sippi In, so far from the town that transports could pass through this artificial channel Into the river below Vicks- burg, and land troops on the south side of the city. The engineers hoped that the whole course of the river might be diverted from its usual direction by this canal, or at 2 22 LIFE OF ULVSSES S. GRANT. least that sufficient water could be induced to run through to float vessels of draught sufficient for Grant's purposes. Accordingly, for two months thousands of soldiers and neo'roes were at work digging, in full sight of the besieged city. The troops were encamped all along the west bank of the river immediately behind the levees. Their tents were frequently submerged by the water, which yet showed no appearance or promise of subsidence, and disease made sad havoc among the soldiers. The tedious work, how- ever, was prosecuted till the 8th of March, the canal was al- most complete, when an additional and rapid rise in the river broke the dam near the upper end of the canal, and an irresistible torrent poured over the whole peninsula, broke the levee, submerged all the camps, and spread for miles into the interior. The troops had to flee for their lives. Futile attempts were immediately made to repair the damage, but on the 27th of March the plan was finally abandoned, it being ascertained that the Confederates had erected new batteries, which would completely command the southern exit from the canal, and had even already driven out the dredo^e-boats working there. While this stupendous endeavor to convert one of the natural features of the continent into an engine of war was being prosecuted. Grant was directing still another attempt, if possible more Titanic than the other. Seventy miles above Vicksburg, on the west side of the Mississippi, is an inland lake, formed by the old bed of the river, and a mile distant from the present channel. This is named Lake Providence, and is connected with various streams, or bayous as they are called in that region, which in their turn interlace and intersect, forming an uninterrupted communi- cation at last with the Tensas, and from the Tensas with the Washita, and finally the Red river, which itself empties into the Mississippi four hundred miles below Vicksburg. The plan was to cut a canal a mile long, from the Mississippi into Lake Providence, so as to let in the waters of the great river; then to improve the navigation of these vari- ous shallow creeks in the interior of Louisiana, to clear away trees, dig out swamps, deepen channels, until an abso- WAR OF THE REBELLION. 223 lute water-course should be opened into the -Red river, so that the army might be moved on transports through these bayous into the Mississippi below, and then be able to march up and reach Vicksburg on the southern side. It was, however, found impossible to secure a sufficient num- ber of light-draught steamers to carry an army through these shallow streams. It was the impossibility of marching troops over the sub- merged swamps that made Grant's principal difficulty. If it had not been for this, he could at once have moved along the western bank ; but neither men nor artillery nor stores could be got through the inundated region ; so that still another undertaking was begun ; this one on the eastern side. The Yazoo pass is a narrow creek, three hundred miles above Vicksburg, which formerly connected Moon lake with the Mississippi river. The lake is similar to Lake Providence, having been formed by the windings of the Mississippi, which every now and then deviates from its ancient course, and leaves a bed of standing water, miles away from its more recent channel. Moon lake is connected with two or three large and navigable streams ; the Cold Water, the Tallahatchie, and the Yallabusha, which finally unite and form the Yazoo. The plan was to cut the levee which interrupted the flow of the Mississippi into Yazoo pass, and then, to carry troops into the Yazoo, to the hills above Vicksburg, and so get the army on dry land. The scheme was prosecuted with great vigor ; the streams were deeper and wider than on the western side, and the plan promised more success. But the Confederates soon discovered the attempt, and hewed large trees into the rivers to obstruct the advance. Troops on transports, under cover of gunboats, were sent into the pass, and, after infinite trouble and delay, succeeded in removing these obstructions. But while this was going on, the enemy set to work fortifying, and at the junction of the two rivers which form the Yazoo, hundreds of miles from the Missis- sippi, they erected a formidable work called Fort Pember- ton. The gunboats made three attempts to silence its guns, but the character of the stream was such that they could 2 24 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. not approach it properly for their purposes, and this attempt also failed. Nothing was able to pass Fort Pemberton. Grant had by this time sent several thousand men into the pass, and was making preparations to move an entire corps In the same direction, when the utter impracticability of this route was demonstrated. Nearer to VIcksburg than the Yazoo pass, and on the same side of the river, Is another network of bayous, con- necting the Mississippi with the Yazoo. These creeks are more tortuous and difficult, by far, than those which consti- tute the pass ; they are choked up with trees ; so narrow that the branches from each side are interlaced, and so crooked that it seemed impossible to navigate them. But Grant conferred with Admiral Porter, and, after making a reconnoissance himself, determined to send Sherman up this route, so as, If possible, to strike the Yazoo river below the point where the Confederate fort had been built, and thus not only extricate the Union troops who had gone in from above, but threaten the Confederate forces in the in- terior, who would thus be placed between two national de- tachments. The difficulties encountered on this route, which was called the Steele's bayou route, from one of the creeks on the way, far transcended any of those which obstructed the other expeditions. But Sherman and Porter pushed on; the gunboats went in advance, to force, by their heavier weight, a passage through the trees, so that the steamers carrying troops might follow. For miles there was no hard land where soldiers could march ; and the creeks were so narrow, crooked, obstructed, and shallow, that only the very smallest steamers, coal barees and tues could make their way. The gunboats thus got far ahead, and the Confeder- ates, discovering this, placed obstructions not only in front of the gunboats, but In their rear, so as to cut them off from the troops. The sharpshooters of the enemy also annoyed Porter from the banks, and Confederate artillery was placed at Intervals. This threatened the absolute loss of the gunboat fleet, and Porter sent back for Sherman to hurry to his rescue. Sherman got the news at night, but WAR OF THE REBELLION. 225 Started at once along a narrow strip of dry land which fortunately existed here, led his troops by lighted candles through the canebrake, and drove away the Confederate assailants. Then, though with infinite difficulty, the obstruc- tions in the rear were removed, and the gunboats set about returning ; there was not room to turn, and they had to back out for miles ; but on the 27th of March the unsuc- cessful expedition was back in front of Vicksburg. Meanwhile, Grant had other enemies to contend with be- sides the Confederates and the elements. There were con- stant efforts being made to supersede him. McClernand was still manoeuvring to obtain command of the expedition, and was constantly annoying Grant by his insubordination and inefficiency, yet Grant was not allowed to remove him. The country was dissatisfied with the lack of success, and the government was impatient. But although of course all these things were harassing in the extreme, Grant did not allow them to interfere with his determination or his energy. So lone as he was continued in command, he would inter- mit no exertion ; but it was painful indeed to feel that he was losing the confidence of the country and the govern- ment, through the machinations of inefficient rivals and political subordinates, at a time when he needed all the moral support that could be bestowed. Every plan to reach Vicksburg by water having failed. Grant finally devised another, which depended upon the subsidence of the floods. It was now March, and before long the overflow must begin to abate in some degree. He proposed to make use of a system of bayous starting from near the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Yazoo, and running to a point below Vicksburg, on the western shore. By this route the supplies and artillery were to be trans- ported on steamers, while the troops could march by land. When they should arrive below. Grant was ordered to send a corps to Banks, who was now in New Orleans with a large army, about to attack Port Hudson, the only other fort yet held by the enemy on the Mississippi. After Port Hudson should be taken, the plan was for Banks to come up and co-operate with Grant in the attack on Vicksburg. 15 226 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. But Grant's best officers opposed this plan. Those in whose judgment and fideHty he had most confidence im- plored him not to risk the inevitable dangers of such a campaign. Sherman especially urged him, in conversation and in writing, not to undertake it. This scheme would separate the army entirely from its base. Grant heard all the arguments with patience and consideration, but they did not move him a particle. He felt that the temper of the country was despondent; no success had occurred for many weary months; it was necessary to revive its spirit. To make a retrograde movement, as Sherman proposed, would elate the Confederates and depress his own troops, while it would have a disastrous effect upon the courage of the North. Besides which, Grant felt ^certain that he should be victorious in this new campaign ; and though he noted all the dangers, he calmly determined to incur them. The orders for the movement were issued, and from that moment Sherman's opposition ceased. He worked as hard hereafter to insure success as he had striven before to pre- vent the campaign. The movement was begun on the 2d of March. The roads were intolerably bad ; bridges were broken, streams overflowed, the results of the long inunda- tion made the mud deep, and the troops plodded and plunged along. When they reached the point where they were to strike the Mississippi, below Vicksburg, the levee was found to be broken, and they had to be ferried for two miles ; but the labor and time consumed in moving an entire army with all its stores in small boats were so great, that a detour was made instead to a point lower down the river, making the entire distance to march, from the point of starting, seventy miles. Just at this juncture the river fell, and the streams by which Grant expected to move his artillery and supplies became unnavigable, so that all the heavy ordnance and commissary stores had to be hauled along the miserable muddy roads. This could not possibly be accomplished in months ; and to obviate the new difficulty. Grant now proposed a daring scheme to the naval commander, who had been his able and faithful coadjutor in all these efforts. Grant was to (227) 228 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. run three steamers and ten barges by the Vicksburg bat- teries, while seven of Porter's iron-dads should eneao^e the Confederates, covering the passage of the unarmed vessels. Porter agreed, and on the i6th of April the attempt was made. It was a dark night, and the gunboats led the way. Soon, however, the Confederates set lire to houses on the shore, and thus got light to direct their guns on the pass- ing fleet. The storm of missiles was terrific; every vessel was struck, several were disabled, and one took fire, burn- inof to the water's edee. The orunboats fougrht the batteries manfully, and for two hours and forty minutes this wonder- ful midnight battle raged. All the population of Vicksburg came out to witness it, and the Union troops, in their dis- tant camps, were also spectators of the scene. But, with a single exception, every transport and gunboat passed the ordeal; only eight men were wounded, and the "Henry Clay " was the only vessel destroyed. This part of the enterprise was so successful, that ten days afterwards, six other transports and twelve barges made a similar attempt; one transport was sunk, but half of the barges got safely by, so that Grant now had a good supply of provisions below Vicksburg, and Porter's seven gunboats were also there for use in any further movements. Two corps of troops had meanwhile arrived by land, and on the 29th of April a gunboat-attack was made, at Grant's request, on a formidable work on the eastern shore, called Grand Gulf This place was in reality an outwork of Vicksburg; although fifty miles below the town, it was at the first point where there was any hard land on which troops could be landed. The hills here are as precipitous as at Vicksburg, and thirteen heavy guns were mounted. A gallant attempt by Porter to silence these guns was made, but failed. Grant had his troops on transports ready to land them, the moment the batteries were silenced ; and when the impossibility of this was discovered, he imme- diately went aboard Porter's flag-ship and asked him once more to run his iron-clads by the batteries. The nicrht after the defeat before Grand Gulf he landed his troops again on the western shore, and marched them WAR OF THE REBELLION. 2 29 to a point below that work, and out of the reach of its guns. Meanwhile the transports ran by the batteries, while Porter again engaged the enemy, and then himself passed below with his gunboats. During the morning, the Thirteenth corps was once more embarked on the steamers. Reconnoissances of the eastern shore had developed the fact that there was little hard land even yet on that bank ; but in the night, a negro brought information of a good road leading from a place called Bruinsburg, six miles below Grand Gulf, up to high ground in the interior. To Bruins- burg, therefore, Grant moved with his advance. Meanwhile, Sherman had been ordered to remain above, and make an attack on the north of Vicksburg, merely to distract the attention of the enemy from the important movements on the southern side. In this he was assisted by the gunboat force left there by Porter, and on the 29th and 30th, a formidable demonstration succeeded in alarm- ing and occupying the garrison at Vicksburg. Grant had been very unwilling to order this demonstration, because Sherman had already suffered unjustly in the estimation of the country from his former failure in front of Vicksburg. He told Sherman of this unwillingness, and the latter re- plied : " 1 believe a diversion at Maine's Bluff is proper and right, and will make it, let whatever reports of repulses be made." Before beginning his march on the western bank. Grant had given orders for a cavalry movement into the interior of Mississippi, under Colonel Grierson. This was to start from the northern boundary of the State, to destroy bridges, cut railroads, and, avoiding large forces of the enemy, to do all the damage possible to the Confederate communications, isolating the garrison of Vicksburg, and alarming the in- habitants of the entire State ; for the whole population of the South was now at war. There were no able-bodied men out of the Confederate service; those who were not in the regular army were spies and partisans, and Grant in his turn determined to make war upon the people as well as upon the armies of the South. His orders were constant not to molest or mjure women or children ; fiot to do damage 230 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. to property zuithout some military object; but he deliberately sought to destroy ah the military resources of the rebelHon. Among these, none were more important than suppHes of food. The Confederate armies were kept up by means of the subsistence stores forwarded to them from the interior, and Grant began now the plan of destroying those stores, just as he would arms or ammunition. This raid of Grierson's was eminently successful. It was the first of those great expeditions which, penetrating into distant regions that fancied themselves secure, brouo-ht home the punishment of rebellion to the quietest hamlets ; which carried destruction to the very source and root of Confederate strength. The Thirteenth corps, under McClernand, had the ad- vance in crossing the Mississippi ; after them came two divisions of the Seventeenth, under McPherson. These were all landed at Bruinsburg, on the eastern shore, during the 30th of April. They .were supplied with three days' rations, which they were ordered to make last five. Neither tents nor baggage was taken ; no personal effects, even lor officers, were ferried across until all the troops were over. Grant took not even his own horse, but borrowed one on the road from a soldier. Everything now depended on rapidity of motion, and Admiral Porter loaned his gunboats to ferry artillery and troops. It was important to seize Port Gibson at once, so as to hold these various roads. The possession of this place secured Grand Gulf, which would be cut off entirely when- ever Port Gibson fell. Durine the nieht McClernand's advance came in contact with the Confederates a few miles from the town, the garrison of Grand Gulf havlni^ marched promptly out to oppose the movement of Grant. At day- light the battle began. The Confederates were about eleven thousand strong ; Grant heard the firing at the Landing, and started at once for the front, arriving at ten o'clock. The battle was even for several hours, the Confederates having great advantages of position, but about noon McPherson's corps arrived, giving Grant the superiority in numbers ; he at once threw fresh troops both to the right WAR OF THE REBELLION. 23I and left of McClernand, and before night the position was completely turned, and the enemy driven in confusion to Port Gibson. The ground was very rugged, and com- pletely unknown to the Union army, so that Grant was obliged to delay the pursuit until daylight, when, on push- ing into the town, it was found to be evacuated. In this battle Grant had about nineteen thousand men engaged; he lost over eight hundred men killed and wounded, and took six hundred and fifty prisoners, besides killincr and wounding mgre than as many of the enemy. His success was due entirely to the celerity and unexpected character of his movements. The enemy was admirably posted on a steep ridge, protected by a broken country covered with tangled vine and underbrush, and the Confederates fought well. Reinforcements of five thousand men had been or- dered from Vicksburg and others from Jackson, but they only arrived in time to share the flight. In their retreat, they burnt the bridges over several streams, and Grant next day was obliged to rebuild these, before he could make any progress. But extraordinary efforts were made, the houses in the neighborhood were torn down for timber, and officers and men worked up to their waists in the water. The two corps were pushed on, that day and the next, about fifteen miles, to the Big Black river, skirmishing with the enemy all the way. But Grand Gulf was now uncovered, and Grant himself rode oft in that direction with a small escort. He found the town already in possession of the naval forces, which had landed early in the day. Grant had not been undressed since crossing the river, three days -before, and now- went aboard the gunboats, where he borrowed a shirt, and wrote despatches nearly all night. He ordered Sherman to move dow^n on the opposite side of the river and join the main army ; he informed the government of his own movements, and gave orders to his subordinates to forward supplies as rapidly as possible. All his supplies, oi^ every description, had to come seventy miles by land on the western bank, then to be ferried across to Bruinsburg, and so moved up to the army. Upon every- 2^2 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. body he urged the overwhelming importance of celerity; for as soon as the enemy should become aware that the whole Union army was on the eastern bank, of course every possible effort would be made to destroy it. At Grand Gulf, Grant got word from Banks that changed the whole character of his campaign. Heretofore he had intended to march to Port Hudson, several hundred miles, and to join Banks in the attack on that place ; and when this was over, both armies were to move up against Vicks- burg. But Banks now sent him word that he could not be at Port Hudson before the loth of May, and even after Port Hudson had fallen, he could not march to Vicksburg with more than 12,000 men. This information decided Grant not to go to Banks at all. He would lose more than 1 2,000 men on the march to Port Hudson, and in the siege and probable batdes there ; so that he would be no stronger on his return than now. Besides this, he had already won a victory ; he had got his army on dry ground, where he had been striving all winter to place it ; he had captured Grand Gulf, and was on the high road to Vicksburg or Jackson. He made up his mind that night to commence the Vicks- buro- campaign. It was fortunate indeed for the country that'^Banks sent him the message of delay. Vicksburg now was only twenty miles off, with one large river, the Big Black, in the way. It was defended by 52,000 men, either in the garrison or in the interior of the State ; this force was under Pemberton. Another but smaller Confederate army at Jackson, fifty miles directly west from Vicksburg, was eventually commanded by Jo Johnston ; at this time it amounted to 10,000 or 12,000 men, though before the campaign terminated it was quadrupled. To oppose these two formidable bodies of troops, Grant would have, when Sherman should arrive, not more than 35,000 men in column, and twenty light batteries. The Confed- erates had at least 300 guns. They were also on the de- fensive, and in a country with every inch of which they were familiar, and where every inhabitant was their friend, their pardsan, their spy. The two Confederate forces, if combined, would certainly largely outnumber, and perhaps WAR OF THE REBELLION. 233 crush the Union army. Instead, therefore, of moving at once against Vicksburg, Grant determined to push directly between the two hostile forces, separate them completely, and attack the smaller one before the other could come to the rescue ; to drive it east as far as Jackson, where all the railroads centre by which Vicksburg was supplied ; and after destroying Johnston, and the Confederate stores and communications at- Jackson, to return and capture Vicks- burg at his leisure. To perform it, he must abandon his base of supplies en- tirely ; for, if he moved east after Johnston, Pemberton would be sure to fall upon his line of communications in rear; and to euard this line would weaken Grant, so that ]ie could not be strong enough for the operations he con- templated. He therefore sent word to have the greatest possible amount of supplies forwarded him before starting, and determined to cut loose entirely from his base, de- pending on the country for all further rations and forage. He gave no notice of his intention to the government in advance, and it was lucky that he did not, for as soon as Halleck discovered the plan, he sent word to Grant to re- turn; but it was too late ; the order did not reach Grant till the campaign was decided. Sherman was hurried up, the greatest possible energy inculcated upon everybody, dispositions made of the troops which were to remain on the west side of the Mississippi and at Grand Gulf, and, on the 7th of May, the venturous column started for Jackson. Meanwhile, Grant's horses had arrived and his mess furniture. Hitherto he had de- pended on the hospitality of his subordinates, not only for a horse, but for every meal of the campaign. Sherman's corps arrived just as the advance of the army was starting ; and he was directed by Grant to take three days' rations for men, and make them last seven. On the nth, Grant informed Halleck, "As I shall communicate with Grand Gulf no more, you may not hear from me again for several days." This was the very day on which Halleck sent word to Grant to return and co-operate with Banks. The two despatches crossed each other on the way ; but there was 234 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. no telegraph communication, and each was a week in reaching^ its destination. On this Sunday night, two friends and myself, anxious to get to the front, left Young's Point upon a tug towing two barges of forage and provisions, which Grant had ordered to run the batteries. After we had been under fire from the Vicksburg guns for three-quarters of an hour, and were almost out of range, a shot exploded and sunk our tug and fired our barges. Sixteen of us — out of the thirty-five on board — had the good fortune to be picked up in the river by the enemy, and one comrade and myself had the ill for- tune, for nearly two years thereafter, to study the war and rejoice in Grant's victories from successive southern prisons. After the prisons reached the magic number of seven, we luckily escaped. On our abrupt advent into Vicksburg, the Confederate officers cheerfully assured us that they expected to see Grant a prisoner there within a few days. We replied that they would undoubtedly see him, but not exacdy in the capacity of a captive. Colonel Grierson, who had left La Grange, Tennessee, with 1,700 cavalry, after traversing Mississippi lengthwise, destroying stores and arms, tearing up raihvays, burning bridges, capturing militia, and carrying consternation through the entire State, reached our lines at Baton Rouge, having travelled 600 miles in fifteen days, and lost less than thirty men in sick, wounded and missing. Nowhere did he meet with any serious resistance, and his daring raid convinced Grant that die Confederacy had become " a mere shell with all its resisting power on the outer edge." The general, now'at the Big Black, and facing northw^^rd, was between two wings of the enemy. On his left, Pem- berton held Vicksburg and vicinity with 50,000 men. On the right, the enemies' reinforcements were approaching in unknown numbers. To annihilate this force before it could join Pemberton, and still be able to cope with the latter, would require rapid marching and more men than he had, if he should attempt to keep open communication with Grand Gulf, his present depot of supplies. O O w H w (23s) 236 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Early in the morning of the 12th of May, McPherson, who held the extreme right, approaching the little town of Ra3^mond, encountered 5,000 Confederates under Gregg, very strongly posted. The Union force was much the larger, but not until after three hours of stubborn fighting was the enemy driven back with a loss of 300 killed and wounded, and many prisoners. Grant, concentrating his main force to meet Pemberton's army at Edwards' Depot, and Bolton north of him, had de- signed sending only a little expedition eastward into Jackson to destroy Confederate stores. But now Rawlins and Wilson rode back to inform him that the enemy on McPherson's front had retreated, not upon Vicksburg, but toward Jackson. He instantly surmised that reinforcements enough to swell Gregg's command to twelve or fourteen thousand must be concentrating in that direction. Even if he should whip Pemberton it would never do to turn toward Vicksburg, leaving this enemy in the rear. Simply asking one or two questions, and without rising from his chair, he wrote orders to turn the entire army to- ward Jackson. This readiness to modify an old plan, or substitute a new one on the instant when emergencies required it, was one of his strongest and most characteristic points. On cutting loose from Grand Gulf, he said : " I think we can reduce Jackson, and reopen communica- tions with the fleet above Vicksburg in about Jive days!' It was like Cortez burning his ships. Grant sent out expeditions on every side for food and forage, and order- ing no more supplies brought to his rear, turned back his extra wagons, and left his field hospitals at Port Gibson and Raymond in charge of Federal surgeons with flags of truce. He found in the country enough of provisions and forage, abundance of horse and mule teams, and no end of negroes delighted to drive them ; and thenceforth multitudes of catde, sheep, turkeys, chickens, and pigs, indiscriminately mingled, followed in the wake of his army. McPherson struck the railroad at Clinton, tore up the track, burned bridges, and captured despatches showing WAR OF THE REBELLION. 237 that Pemberton was still at Edwards Station, eighteen miles east of Vicksburg, expecting an attack. Sherman, after makinor a feint at Maine's Bluff to deceive Pemberton, and then moving rapidly along the circuitous land and river route upon which the rest of the army preceded him, had now arrived with his fine corps eager for work. He and McPherson were ordered to reduce Jackson. On the morning of May 14th both were marching upon the town, McPherson along the railway from Clinton, ten miles west, and Sherman across the country from a point fourteen miles southwest. They expected to arrive at the same moment, but Sherman's roads were so muddy that it was almost impossible to move artillery. His men, how- ever, throwing away their boots and shoes, and floundering through the mud up to their knees, shouted, laughed, and sang, in the most exuberant spirits. An hour before noon, in the midst of a driving rain, they approached the city from the south, and were stopped by a battery of six-pounders in a strip of woods, two miles out. Ar- tillery skirmishing followed. Among the troops lying in a field a shell exploded now and then, and with natural scruples about keeping quiet to be murdered many jumped up and ran to the rear. Grant and staff, sitting twenty paces be- hind them, under some spreading trees for protection from the rain, persuaded them to return, until the storm of water grew so much more uncomfortable than the storm of shot that they sought shelter in some old shanties a hundred yards away. What virtue in a general is equal to promptness ? What general ever had it in a higher degree than Grant? Only the night before, Joseph E. Johnston, a most able Confed- erate commander, had arrived on his front. Very soon Johnston would have concentrated the scattered Confeder- ates, and struck Grant on the flank before uniting with Pemberton, for whom he was amply competent to furnish brains. But our general falling upon him so unexpectedly quite spoiled his game. McPherson, after three hours' fighting on the west side, had already driven in the enemy, 238 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and Sherman soon swept forward. The Confederate can- noneers stood their ground until his infantry were within six feet of them. Then they flung down their rammers and surrendered, both they and their captors, including Grant, laughing heartily at their dare-devil tenacity. Soldiers soon get on familiar terms with death, and the tragedy of war has frequent interludes of comedy. Though squads of Confederate cavalry were still in sight, and though the staff expostulated, the chief, remarking that he guessed there was no danger, galloped forward into the city. Fred rode with the party, and entered Jackson at the head of it. The streets were full of gleeful negroes, while from windows and half-open doors peered some anxious, pallid faces. But snowy flags flew from the houses, and many white families seemed overjoyed, for there was a good deal of Union sentiment. Grant and staff rode to the leading hotel — a large build- ing near the capital, where Johnston had slept the night before. They fancied themselves the first Yankees in Jackson, but private enterprise had outrun official routine, and the muskets were ahead of the shoulder-straps. Three of McPherson's cavalrymen were already raising the Stars and Stripes upon the State-house. The people flocked about the light-bearded, mud-stained general — who bore no mark of his rank — with all sorts of petitions, in response to one of which he instandy stationed guards to protect the inmates of the large Catholic convent. The public stores had been left open, and the ransomed black sinners, confident that their year of jubilee had come, were making a haul of clothing and provisions. One, stag- gering under an enormous burden of garments, was ac- costed by a staff officer: *' Hallo, uncle ; haven't you got more than your share of coats ? " " Dunno, mass'r ; if you likes one, take it." The next morning details were sent out to destroy all railways, machine shops, manufactories, and public stores. A large cotton factory was reported filled with duck. The owner piteously begged the general to spare it. (239) 240 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Grant — " Whom are you making duck for ? " The proprietor answered, in evident embarrassment, that his customers were many. Grant — "Wilson, did you see any mark on that duck?** Wilson — " Yes ; it bears the stamp ' C. S. A.' " Grant — "Then, sir, I guess your factory must be burned with the rest." Many alarmed citizens begged the general not to destroy the town. He replied, that while everything belonging to the Confederacy and all stores which could help it must be burned, he would do all in his power to protect private property. But he could not save it altogether. Our troops, for once, deserved the favorite epithet of the enemy, " Northern vandals," for they pillaged houses and fired a hotel and a church. It has been urged in extenuation, that several had previously suffered gross indignities while pris- oners in Jackson. The reinforcements that were coming up to the enemy were obliged to make wide and long detours to join their commander. But, although success had been so marked, it was still not complete. There was yet imminent danger of a concentration of the two Confederate armies ; and be- fore night Grant got possession of a despatch from John- ston to Pemberton, directing the concentration so much to be feared, He determined to prevent this, and accordingly that afternoon ordered McPherson to retrace his steps, march- ing in the morninr/ in the direction of Edwards' Station. McClernand was also informed of the defeat of Johnston, and of the danger of Confederate concentration. His troops were at once faced about in the same direction as McPherson's. The various corps were admirably located, so as to converge on the same point, which was Bolton, a station a fev/ miles east of Edwards', where Pemberton was known to be. The men were fatio^ued, havino^been march- ing or fighting incessantly since the 7th, but there was no time now for rest. Accordingly, early on the morning of the 15th, the two corps had turned their faces towards Vicksburg, and were in motion for the enemy. Sherman (241) 242 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. was to spend that clay destroying the munitions and mili- tary resources in and around Jackson. Before night, Mc- pherson and McClernand were within supporting distance of each other at Bolton, and ordered to march in the morn- ing for Edwards' Station, while Pemberton still delayed, in disobedience of Johnston's orders. He did not dream that Grant had no communications with the Mississippi, and his idea was to march south and cut those communications. On the morning of the 15th he moved for this purpose southeast of Edwards' Station, away from Johnston, who had by this time been driven north from Jackson, so that the enemy was actually moving in an opposite direction, while Grant was converging between them ; Pemberton striving to cut Grant's communications with the Mississippi, while Grant, who had cut them himself nine days before, was returning to Vicksburg, and seeking Pemberton to de- stroy him. Pemberton moved slowly, and again received positive orders from Johnston to join him. On the i6th he finally concluded to obey, and reversed his column. But in the night Grant had got word of Pemberton's exact force and position, and of the design to attack the national rear. He instantly despatched to Sherman to start at once from Jackson to the support of the main army. "The fight may be brought on at any moment ; we should have every inaji on the field!' A national division was now coming up alone from Grand Gulf, and this was also ordered to join the main army. "Pass your troops to the front of )our trains, and heep tJie ammjmition in front of all others T Three roads lead to Edwards' Station from the east, and on the northern one Grant had four divisions, under Mc- Pherson, while on each of the others were two divisions, all these last under McClernand. Sherman had not got up. The advance of McClernand encountered Pemberton's skirmishers just as the reverse movement of the Confeder- ate column began, and the enemy at once fell into an admirable position, covering all three roads. The enemy's left was on a hill called Champion's Hill, and by eleven o'clock the force under McPherson assaulted here. Grant WAR OF THE REBELLION. 243 was with this portion of his command in person. The enemy had 25,000 men, a defensive position, and, as usual, complete knowledge of the country, of which, of course, the national troops were entirely ignorant. The batde raged with various fortune for several hours; the Union soldiers gained a point on the hill several times, but were driven back as often, and Grant sent repeated orders to Mc- Clernand to come up to the support; but that commander allowed an inferior force to delay him, and, in spite of Grant's positive direcdons to attack, he did not obey. Finally, Grant sent troops to the extreme Confederate left and rear, and these produced such an effect that, combined with another direct attack in front the enemy gave way, and the hill was carried, McClernand not having been en- gaged at all. One of his divisions had been on the right widi Grant all day, and in the thickest of the fight, but those under McClernand's direct command were not in the batde. The rout of the enemy was complete, and as McCler- nand now came up in force. Grant sent these fresh troops in pursuit. Grant had not had more than fifteen thousand men engaged. He lost about two thousand four hundred men in the batde of Champion's Hill, which was by far the hardest fought in the whole campaign. The enemy's loss was between three thousand and four thousand killed and wounded, and as many more prisoners, besides thirty can- non. In addidon to this, one whole division was cut off from the bulk of the Confederate army in the precipitous flight. It struggled along, making a wide detour, and re- ported to Johnston several days afterwards, but Pemberton never commanded it again. The moral effects of this vic- tory were prodigious. The Confederate troops broke and fled in every direcdon ; ardllerymen deserted their guns in the retreat, and many of the soldiers threw away their small arms, and gave themselves up prisoners before they were asked. The pursuit was condnued till after dark, reaching fifteen miles. Grant himself was with the ad- vance, and his party got so far ahead of the main column, that they were obliged to return to a more secure position 244 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. for the night. That night Grant received Halleck's orders to return to the Mississippi and co-operate with Banks; but the best way to return now was to proceed In his career of victory. It was nothing but the marvellous energy and prompt- ness of Grant that won this battle. Pemberton was actually moving to join Johnston when he was struck by Grant; had the national commander delayed a day, the concentration would have been effected ; but It was now forever Impossible. The next day the pursuit was pushed on ; Sherman hav- ing arrived at Bolton by the close of the 15th, he was or- dered to move at once to the rioht of the rest of the command. Grant reached the Big Black river, the only one now between his army and VIcksburg, early In the morning of the 17th, his advance having started before daylight. At the crossing of the railroad over this river, the enemy had established a formidable w^ork ; here the river makes a bend like a horse-shoe, open towards the east, and the line of fortifications was across this opening, reaching from the river above to the river again below. The ground in front was swampy and exposed to the enemy's fire, while still beyond, on the western bank of the river, rose steep bluffs, commanding the country for miles. This point was defended by twenty cannon and four thousand troops, who ought to have held It against direct assault forever. But the Union troops were Inspired by the long series of successes, while the enemy was exhausted with disaster and retreat. At the first attack, by only about eleven hundred men, the enemy fled In dismay, abandoning all their guns, and only seeking to reach the river. The panic spread to the troops on the opposite shore, who set fire to the bridge, and nearly eighteen hun- dred prisoners, with eighteen pieces of artillery, were cap- tured. Grant lost only two hundred and fifty men. But their depression now was terrible. Many left their ranks, and vowed they would surrender rather than fight again under Pemberton. The people of the country joined them, and all fled Into VIcksburg, from the conqueror who WAR OF THE REBELLION. 245 had won five battles In less than twenty days, captured six thousand five hundred of the enemy, and killed and wounded six thousand more. He had done this, after starting with an average of two days' rations, and he had subsisted his own army, besides beating two of the enemy's, and lost only seven hundred killed and three thousand four hundred wounded. After rebuilding the bridges out of the wood of houses torn down for the purpose, he pressed rapidly on, and on the 1 8th of May Vicksburg was besieged. The country around Vicksburg is broken and difficult In an extraordinary degree ; full of rough hills and rougher ravines, with numerous creeks running between the various heights, and a thick growth of underbrush or forest cover- ing the sides of the cliffs and chasms ; a region expressly adapted for defence. These natural advantages had been developed to their utmost by the enemy, whose line of works, located on the most salient ridges, reached entirely around the city. Numerous detached forts were built at intervals, and between these stretched an uninterrupted line of rifle-pits, not less than eight miles long. Outside of the parapet, the enemy had formed an unusually diffi- cult abads of fallen trees. Within these lines, Pemberton had now nearly thirty-five thousand men, for he was of course reinforced by the garrison proper, of the town. A hundred guns at least were also ready to repel assault. Johnston, however, feared that even with all these defences, natural and artificial, Pemberton would finally be compelled to surrender ; he therefore ordered his subordinate to evacuate the place. But again Grant's promptness inter- vened to frustrate the plans of his antagonist. Pemberton held a council of war on the i8th of May, and while it was still deliberating, Grant took his position on the outside and invested Vicksburg. The Union line at first was in- complete. Sherman had the right, McPherson the centre, and McClernand at this time the extreme left ; but the troops of the last-named officer did not extend to the Mis- sissippi ; while Sherman's right rested on the very hills from which he had been repelled in January before. 246 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Grant did not delay operations, but the day after arriving before the town, he ordered an assault. With his usual tactics, he wished to take advantage of the demoralization of the enemy, before they had time to recover. Accord- ingly, on the 19th of May, all three of his corps com- manders were instructed to charge against the enemy's line ; but the sight of the lofty hills shutting in Vicksburg on every hand, these hundred cannon directed against the assailants, the reinforcement of elorht thousand men In ear- rison, and the knowledge of the extraordinary difficulties Grant must overcome before he could carry the works, so strong by nature and by art, reanimated the defenders. The corps of Sherman and of McPherson pushed up close to the enemy's works, but neither was able to make an im- pression ; and McClernand, whose troops w^ere farther from the city than either of the others, did not get up in time to really participate in the assault. The effort was therefore unsuccessful ; no entrance was gained ; but posi- tions close to the enemy w^ere obtained and held, which proved of vast importance during the siege. Grant now spent two days in resting his troops after the wonderful campaign through which they had passed ; In bringing up supplies, from the new base which was estab- lished on the Yazoo ; and In preparing for a second and more determined assault ; for he was loath to begin the tedious processes of a siege. His n>en, exhilarated by the success of the brilliant campaign, were also unlikely to set to work In the trenches with zeal until they knew that no other means would even yet suffice to conquer Vicksburg. After their successes at Champion's Hill and the Big Black, they thought themselves irresistible. Besides this, Johnston's army, still near Jackson, was daily receiving re- inforcements, and would soon, perhaps, equal Grant's in numbers, and be able to raise the siege. On the 2 2d of May a second assault w^as ordered. It was preceded by a vigorous bombardment both from the fleet and from a line of a hundred cannon mounted along the hills in the interior. At ten, the various columns moved against the enemy's works. The attack was made WAR OF THE REBELLION. 24? with great vigor all along the line ; the men moved by the roads when this was practicable, and elsewhere down into the ravines and up the precipitous sides, on which the hos- tile fortifications awaited them. But the difficulties were insurmountable ; the assailants were exposed for a distance of several hundred yards to the artillery and musketry fire of the besieged ; they got entangled in the brushwood ; they were shot down before they could scale the hills. Everywhere they were repelled ; and although prodigies of valor had been performed, it was all in vain. The national flag in front of each had been planted on the enemy's works, and still ^mained there, but the troops were unable to penetrate farther, while the enemy dared not take the flags away. The battle was over, and no result was gained. At this moment McClernand sent a despatch to Grant, announcing the capture of two forts. This message was three times repeated, and Grant was urged to order an- other assault, to support the advantage said to have been gained by McClernand. Supposing that McClernand must know when a fort was gained. Grant complied with the request, and a second assault was ordered by Sher- man's and McPherson's worn-out men. This met with a similar result with the former one ; the loss of life was nearly doubled, and no more success was attained ; while it proved that McClernand had originally secured no advan- tage like that which he had proclaimed. He had carried no fort, and when the assault he requested was renewed solely to support him, he did not himself attain any advantage beyond what the others had already procured. At night three thousand national soldiers had been killed or wounded ; about thirty thousand had been enofaeed. Pemberton declared that he had eicrhteen thousand five hundred men in the trenches; he lost about one thousand soldiers in this fight. The disparity of course was occasioned by the enemy being under cover. Shortly after this assault, McClernand was relieved by General Ord, at the command of Grant. Johnston now was reinforced, till his army amounted to 248 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. forty thousand men, and moved up on Grant's rear to re. lieve the city. But Grant now commanded seventy thou- sand soldiers, half of whom he kept in the trenches, and the other half he formed into a corps of observation against Johnston. These built a line of works facing east, protect- ing- the besiegers, who were thus enclosed between two lines — one in front and one in rear. Towards the last of June the sufferings of the besieged became very great. They were forced to put the men on quarter rations, and finally, after it became apparent to Pemberton that all hope of rescue had disappeared ; when it was certain that Johnston, with his forty thousand men, would not dare attack Grant in rear, although he would be supported by the entire garrison in front ; when neither the siege could be raised nor the garrison escape ; when the blockade by land and river was so effectual, that attempts to build boats and cross the Mississippi were detected ; when scouts were intercepted, bringing word to Pemberton that Johnston could do no more for him, and from Pember- ton, that his supplies of food and ammunition were both exhausted ; when for forty-seven days the besiegers and besieged had lain in the hot trenches, working, digging, mining, countermining, assaulting, repelling, advancing, retreating, sickening, dying; those inside almost starving, those outside often suffering from lack of water; both sides exposed to miasma and heat, and rain, and fatigue, and in- cessant danger from bursting shells and sharpshooters' rifles, and sudden attacks by night and day — finally, the mighty siege was about to terminate. On the '3d of July, Pemberton made overtures to Grant, and the same day a meeting of the two generals was held between their lines, and in sight of both armies. It took place under an oak tree, which has since been cut down to furnish mementos of the occasion. The troops for miles around hung over their parapets on either side, watching the interview on which the destinies of the two armies de- pended. But Pemberton was haughty, and refused the simple surrender which Grant demanded. In the night, however, he consulted with his subordinates, and came to a ;,';:l|/7vr, 9 . (249) 250 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. better mind. By morning, he had agreed to deliver up the garrison, with all its munitions, as prisoners of war. Grant did not wish the trouble of feeding another army, and could not, in many weeks, procure transports sufficient to send his prisoners North ; he therefore stipulated that they should be paroled and sent into the interior, not to fight again until exchanged. Nearly the same terms which Napoleon granted to the Austrians at the famous sur- render of Ulm. On the 4th of July, therefore, the capture was consum- mated. Grant generously allowed the officers to retain their swords, and both officers and men their private property ; but the muskets were all stacked by the enemy themselves outside their works, between the lines. It took them nearly all day to march out of their defences, and lay down their colors and their arms, the national army lookine on. The value of the reduction of Vicksburg was not only great in a moral, political and strategical point of view ; but it possessed still further importance by inflicting a severe loss upon the enemy, in both men and material. The following is a rough estimate of the number of officers, soldiers and ordnance, which fell into the hands of the United States authorities with the city of Vicksburg: One Lieutenant-General, John C. Pemberton, late com- mandant of the army for the defence of Vicksburg. Nineteen major and brigadier-generals, as follows ; Major-General Bowen, Major-General Martin L. Smith and Major-General Forney ; Brigadier-Generals Barton, Coch- ran, Lee, Vaughn, Reynolds, Baldwin, Harris, Taylor, Cummings, Stevenson of Georgia, Hebart, Wall of Texas, commanding Texan Legion ; Moore, Schoep, Buford and Cockerell. Over four thousand field, line and staff officers. About twenty-three thousand effective men, non-com- missioned officers and privates, and over six thousand men in hospital. Ninety siege-guns. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 25 1 One hundred and twenty-eight field-pieces. Thirty-five thousand (approximately) muskets and rifles, principally Enfield, and in excellent order. Powder and shell for ordnance of different calibre In abundance. A large quantity of miscellaneous matter, such as wag- ons, a few animals, armorers' tools, machinery, etc. Among the military establishments taken possession of were the arsenal, well supplied with unused rifles, and the foundry, with all conveniences for casting shot, shell and cannon, and capable of doing a great deal of other work of a similar character, such as casting. The troops taken prisoners were mainly composed of Mississlpplans, called " The State troops," Georgians, Ala- bamlans, Louisianians, Missourians and regulars. The following is a table compiled from various sources, and showing, at a glance, the estimated losses of the enemy, in men, from the commencement of the campaign, on April 30th, to the final surrender of the city: Prisoners. Lieutenant-General i Major and brigadier-generals 19 Field, staff and line officers 4,600 Non-commissioned officers and privates 30,000 Total, without regard to rank 34>62o Killed, Wounded and Stragglers. Killed in battles and skirmishes 1,000 Wounded in battles and skirmishes 4,000 Captured in hospitals in Vicksburg and elsewhere 6,000 Stragglers, including men cut off and unable to rejoin their commands 800 Total 11,800 Recapitulation. Total prisoners 34,620 Killed, wounded and in hospital 11,000 Stragglers, etc Soo Making a loss to the enemy, in sixty-five days, of. 46,420 252 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. The following table also shows the losses of material sustained by the enemy during the same length of time: Field Artillery. Pieces. Captured in battle 83 At Vicksburg 128 Total 211 Siege Ai'tillery. At Vicksburg 90 Captured Small-Arms. In battle 10,000 At Vicksburg 35'Ooo Total - 45^000 Recapitulation. Artillery captured 301 Muskets and rifles 45j00o Besides this, a number of field-pieces and siege-guns were destroyed at Jackson, Maine's and Snyder's Bluffs, which are not included in the above estimate. General Grant, in his official report, sums up the Union losses, during the series of battles of the Vicksburg cam- paign, as follows : Killed. Wounded. Missing. Total. Port Gibson 130 718 5 853 Fourteen-Mile Creek (skirmish)... 4 24 — 28 Raymond 69 341 32 442 Jackson.'. 40 240 6 286 Champion's Hill 426 1,842 189 2,457 Big Black Railroad Bridge 29 242 2 273 Vicksburg 245 3,688 303 4,236 Grand Total 943 7,o95 537 8,575 General Recapitulation. Confederate losses in killed, wounded, stragglers and prisoners 46,420 Union losses in killed, wounded, stragglers and i)ris- oners 8,575 Balance in favor of Grant 37>845 WAR OF THE REBELLION. 253 In addition, therefore, to the immense quantity of stores secured with the reduction of Vicksburg, a balance of nearly thirty-eight thousand men had to be placed to the credit of Grant's services during this campaign. The following extract, from General Grant's report, will show how the army subsisted during the first twenty days of the Vicksburg campaign: " In the march from Bruinsbure to Vicksburo- coverinor a period of twenty days, before supplies could be obtained from the government stores, only five days' rations were issued, and three days of those were taken in haversacks at the start, and were soon exhausted. All other subsist- ence was obtained from the country through which we passed. The march was commenced without wagons, ex- cept such as could be picked up through the country. The country was abundantly supplied with corn, bacon, beef and mutton. The troops enjoyed excellent health, and no army ever appeared in better spirits, or felt more confident of success." General Halleck, in his Annual Report of the War, thus speaks of the administration and success of the Depart- ment of the Tennessee: *' At the date of my last Annual Report, Major-Generai Grant occupied West Tennessee and the northern boundary of Mississippi. The object of the campaign of this army was the opening of the Mississippi river, in conjunction with the army of General Banks. " General Grant was instructed to drive the enemy in the interior as far south as possible, and destroy their railroad communications; then to fall back to Memphis and embark his available forces on transports, and with the assistance of the fleet of Admiral Porter, reduce Vicksburg. The first part of this plan was most successfully executed, but the right w^ng of the army sent against Vicksburg, under Major-General Sherman, found that place much stronger than was expected. " Tw^o attacks were made on the 28th and 29th of Decem- ber; but failing in their object, our troops were withdrawn, and while waiting for reinforcements from General Grant, 254 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. moved up the Arkansas river to Arkansas Post, which place was, with the assistance of the gunboats, captured on the nth of January. " General Grant now assumed the immediate command of the army on the Mississippi, which was largely reinforced. Being satisfied by the result of General Sherman's opera- tions that the north line of the enemy's works was too strong to be carried without a very heavy loss, he directed his attention to opening the canal, which had been com- menced the year before by General Williams, across the peninsula on the west bank of the river. " This canal had been improperly located — its upper terminus being in an eddy, and the lower terminus being exposed to the enemy's guns ; nevertheless, it was thought that it could be completed sooner than a new one could be constructed. While working parties under Captain Prince, chief-engineer of that army, were diligently employed upon this canal, General Grant directed his attention to several other projects for turning the enemy's position. These are fully described in his official report. The canal proving impracticable, and his other plans being unsuccessful, he determined to move his army by land down the west bank of the river, some seventy miles, while transports for cross- ing should run past the enemy's batteries at Vicksburg. •'The danger of running the batteries being very great, and the roads on the west side in horrible condition, this was a difficult and hazardous expedient; but it seemed to be the only possible solution of the. problem. The execu- tion of the plan, however, was greatly facilitated by Admiral Farragut, who had run two of his vessels past the enemy's batteries at Port Hudson and Grand Gulf, and cleared the river of the enemy's boats below Vicksburg ; and finally, through the indomitable energy of the commanding general and the admirable dispositions of Admiral Porter for run- ning the enemy's batteries, the operation was completely successful. "The army crossed the river at Bruinsburg, April 30th, turned Grand Gulf, and engaged the enemy near Port Gib- son on the 1st, and at Fourteen-Mile Creek on the 3d of WAR OF THE REBELLION. 255 May. The enemy was defeated in both engagements, with heavy loss. General Grant now moved his forces by rapid marches to the north, in order to separate the garrison of Vicksburg from the covering army of Jolinston. This movement was followed by the battles of ' Raymond,' May 1 2th; of 'Jackson,' May 14th; of 'Champion's Hill,' May 1 6th, and of 'Big Black River Bridge,' May i7th-^ in all of which our troops were victorious. General Grant now proceeded to invest Vicksburg. "In order to facilitate General Grant's operations by de- stroying the enemy's lines of communication, and prevent the early concentration of any reinforcements, Colonel (now Brigadier-General) Grierson was sent with a cavalry force from La Grange on the 1 7th of April to traverse the interior of the State of Mississippi. This expedition was most successfully conducted. It destroyed many of the enemy's railroad bridges, depots and much rolling stock, and reached Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in safety on the 2d of May. On returning to Vicksburg, General Grant found his forces insufficient to entirely invest the enemy's works. There was, therefore, danger that the two bodies of the enemy under Pemberton and Johnston might yet effect a junction, as it was known that the latter was being largely reinforced from Bragg's army in Middle and East Tennes- see. Under these circumstances General Grant determined to attempt to carry the place by assault. "Two unsuccessful attacks were made May 19th and 22d ; but as reinforcements reached him in a few days after, sufficiently large to enable him to completely Invest the Confederate defences, he resorted to the slow^er but more certain operations of a regular siege. By the 3d of July his saps were so far advanced as to render his success certain, and on that day General Pemberton proposed an armistice and capitulation, which were finally accepted, and Vicksburg surrendered on the 4th of July. " When we consider the character of the country in which this army operated, the formidable obstacles to be over- come, the number of forces and the strength of the enemy's works, we cannot fail to admire the courage and endurance 256 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. of the troops, and the skill and daring of their commander. No more brilliant exploit can be found in military history. It has been alleged, and the allegation has been widely cir- culated by the press, that General Grant, In the conduct of his campaign, positively disobeyed the instructions of his superiors. It is hardly necessary to remark that Gen- eral Grant never disobeyed an order or instruction, but always carried out to the best of his ability every wish or sueeestion made to him by the orovernment. JNIoreover he has never complained that the government did not furnish him all the means and assistance in its power, to facilitate the execution of any plan he saw fit to adopt." When the news of this glorious victory officially reached the President, he wrote an autograph letter to General Grant, of which document the following is a copy: Executive Mansion, Washington, y«/y 13//^, 1863. To Major-General Grant : My Dear General: I do not remember that you and lever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a word fur- ther. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you finally did — march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below ; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition and the like could succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, an(i vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join General Banks; and when you turned northward east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make a personal acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong. Yours, very truly, A. Lincoln. A newspaper of strong Southern proclivities, after the surrender of Vicksburg, wrote the following: "We pardon General Grant's smoking a cigar as he entered the smouldering ruins of the town of Vicksburg. A little stage effect is admissible in great captains, consid- ering that Napoleon at Milan wore the little cocked hat and sword of Marengo, and that snuft"" was the inevitable concomitant of victory in the great Frederick. General Grant is a noble fellow, and by the terms of capitulation he accorded to the heroic garrison showed himself as gen- '^^ ^^/i^^-t^^ ^ ^^^^^-Ca^, ViCKSBURG, Miss., 6"^//. 29M, 1863. Col. Markland— Z>^^r ^/>.— Having exhausted every other re- source for procuring a cow, I now send to you to get one of those at the Quartermaster's and Commissary's quarters. Yours truly, U. S. Grant, Maj.-Gen, WAR OF THE REBELLION. 257 erous as Napoleon was to Wurmser at the surrender of Mantua. His deed will read well in history, and he has secured to himself a name which posterity will pronounce with veneration and gratitude. There is no general in this country or in Europe that has done harder work than Gen- eral Grant, and none that has better graced his victories by the exercise of humanity and virtue. What we learn of the terms of capitulation is sufficient to prove General Grant to be a generous soldier and a man. A truly brave man respects bravery in others, and when the sword is sheathed considers himself free to follow the dictates of humanity. General Grant is not a general that marks his progress by proclamations to frighten unarmed men, women, and chil- dren ; he fulminates no arbitrary edicts against the press ; he does not make war on newspapers and their corre- spondents ; he flatters no one to get himself puffed ; but he is terrible in arms and magnanimous after the battle. Go on, brave General Grant; pursue the course you have marked out for }'Ourself, and Clio, the pensive muse, as she records your deeds, will rejoice at her manly theme." Among the results of the fall of Vicksburg is one that must not be overlooked — Port Hudson. As soon as the garrison had surrendered General Grant notified General Banks of the fact, and that officer at once imparted the glorious intelligence to his command. Like lightning the welcome news flew along the line, and the Union pickets joyously informed the Confederate sentinels that their boasted stronghold had fallen. It did not take long for the tidings to reach the enemy's head-quarters, and the same day the commandant at Port Hudson sent the following despatch to General Banks : Head-quarters, Port Hudson, \.k.,Jiily 'jth, 186 v General: Having received information from your troops that Vicks- btirg has been surrendei'ed, I make this communication to ask you to give me the official assurance whether this is true or not, aiid if true, I ask for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to the consideration of terms for sur- rendering this position. I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Frank Gardner, Major- General commanding Confederate States forces, 17 258 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. General Banks, early the next morning, replied In the affirmative, and the following announces the result of the surrender: Head-quarters, Department of the Gulf, Nineteenth Army Corps, Port Hudson, ////)/ lo//^, 1863. To General H. W. Halleck : Sir : I have the honor to inform you that, with this post, there fell into our hands over five thousand five hundred prisoners, including one major-general and one brigadier-general ; twenty pieces of heavy artil- lery, five complete batteries, numbering thirty-one pieces of field artil- lery ; a good supply of projectiles for light and heavy guns, 44,800 pounds of cannon-powder, five thousand stand of arms, and one hundred and fifty thousand rounds of small-arm ammunition, besides a small amount of stores of various kinds. We captured also two steamers, one of which is very valuable. They will be of great service at this time. I am. General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, N. P. Banks, Major- General Commanding, On the day that Grant received propositions for Pember- ton's surrender, he sent orders to Sherman to get his com- mand in readiness to march against Johnston's army; and on the 4th, as soon as the capture of the town was consummated, he sent Sherman in pursuit of the enemy outside. Johnston, however, fell back in haste when he heard of the fall of Vicksburg, and a hot chase was made, Sherman following as far as Jackson ; but thence Johnston escaped into the inte- rior, Sherman not pursuing farther. Great destruction was again made of railroads and resources, at and around Jack- son, and the undisturbed possession of the State of Missis- sippi was thus secured; Sherman then returned to Vicks- burg, and the troops were allowed a month or two of rest after their long labors in the trenches and the field. Honors, of course, were heaped upon Grant after this unprecedented triumph. He was made a major-general in the regular army; the President and the general-In-chief each wrote him letters of congratulation; the legislatures of various States passed resolutions of thanks ; swords were presented to him ; and his name passed to the head of all the defenders of the Union. CHAPTER VII. WAR OF THE REBELLION — Continued, Grant goes to New Orleans — Consults with Banks— Thrown from his horse — Rosecrans at Chattanooga — Grant assigned to the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi — Rosecrans relieved by Thomas — Army of the Cumberland besieged in Chattanooga — Grant telegraphs to Chattanooga— Bragg on Lookout Mountain Precarious situation of the Army of the Cumberland — Grant equal to the emergency — Re-possession of Lookout valley — Sherman approaching from Memphis — Prepa- rations for battle— Battle of Lookout Mountain — Battle of Chattanooga — Grant's generalship — Votes of thanks and a gold medal for General Grant — The grade of lieutenant-general revived — Grant ordered to Washington — Receives his commis- sion — Visits the Army of the Potomac — Assumes command of the armies of the United States — Joins the Army of the Potomac. In August General Grant went to New Orleans to con- sult with Banks about a combined movement against Mo- bile, which he still hoped he could persuade the govern- ment to allow ; and while there, he was thrown from his horse at a review, and received a hurt that lamed him for months. For twenty days he was confined to one position,, and while thus suffering, word came to him of great appre- hensions felt by the government for the safety of the Union, army at Chattanooga. This place, on the confines of Tennessee and Northern Georgia, and shut in by the Cumberland mountains and the Tennessee river, is at the junction of two great rail- roads, one passing north and south, the other east and west. It was parallel in military importance to Corinth farther west ; and, since the beginning of the war, the efforts of national commanders had been directed to secure its possession. If this were obtained, Richmond, the Con- federate capital, was cut off from all direct communication with the centre and west of the rebellious region. In September, by a series of masterly movements, Rosecrans succeeded in driving the enemy's army that defended Chat (259) 260 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. tanooi^a a few miles south of it, and himself stepped in to occupy the town. But it was certain that the enemy would make an effort to regain the prize, and Grant was directed to send all his available force to the support of Rosecrans. Grant did not get these orders until his return from New Orleans, and, though still confined to his bed, at once despatched a whole corps under Sherman towards Chat- tanooga. All expedition was made for the movement, but the distance was nearly a thousand miles by the shortest route ; half of this was by the river, and transports had to be procured; then there were 400 miles to be marched through a hostile country. Long before Sherman could reach Rosecrans, the latter had been attacked by a superior force and driven into Chattanooga. The government be- came gready alarmed, and at once sent for Grant to take command of Rosecrans' army. He started, still a cripple, sailed up the Mississippi to Cairo, and then went by rail to Louisville ; on the way he met the secretary of war, and received from him an order placing him in command of all the armies west of the Alleghenies, except those of Banks in Louisiana and Texas. His immediate task was to secure Chattanooga and the army there, which was now besieged, and to relieve East Tennessee, where Burnside also was in great straits, in command of another and smaller army. He had now absolute command of 200,000 men ; but these were widely separated. He had a territory reaching from the Alleghenies to the Mississippi to hold and to guard, and large hostile armies to intercept and overthrow. At Chattanooga the army which Rosecrans had commanded was crowded into a small area south of the Tennessee, and encircled by mountains, on which the enemy, so lately vic- torious, were encamped ; there was but one railroad line of communication with this town, and that the enemy had just cut off; so that the solitary route by which all supplies could reach Chattanooija was a ruo^iSMt5^p>' 1 i«fc ^li' •„:((■ "!»;; ill I ■'""■ iriflli ; #'lli 4^ ■'4 ttiiiisii^diil I (265) 266 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. At this crisis, Grant got word that Burnside and Long- street had really begun the battle for the possession of East Tennessee, and still Sherman was delayed by more rains, and freshets, and broken bridges. In consequence of these obstacles, Sherman did not arrive at his post on the north side of the Tennessee until the 23d of November. During the night of the 2 2d, however, a deserter from Brao-o's army brought news that a division of the enemy was being sent to Longstreet ; and Grant had other rea- sons for supposing that Bragg might be intending to fall back from Missionary Ridge. He accordingly ordered an advance by Thomas to ascertain the truth of this report. It would not do to let Bragg escape, without the batde for which the national commander had been waiting and pre- paring so long. Thomas accordingly moved a whole corps forward to develop the strength of the enemy. The move- ment was measured, and the enemy so little anticipated it, that even after the troops were in line, the enemy leaned lazily on their muskets, mistaking the advance for a parade. They were soon undeceived by a heavy fire of musketry, and in fifteen minutes their whole advanced line of rifle-pits was carried, and nothing remained in the possession of the enemy west of the rifle-pits but the line at the foot of the ridge. Intrenchments were at once thrown up by Grant, protecting the ground thus gained, and Thomas' whole army was moved forward about a mile. Only one hundred men had been killed or wounded, but over two hundred of the enemy were captured. This success infused great animation into the Army of the Cumberland. Meanwhile Sherman was laboring up on the north bank of the Tennessee, where pontoon boats were hidden in the creeks that empty from that side of the river; and during the night of the 23d these were floated to the enemy's picket-station, at the mouth of the Chickamauga. Troops were landed, the enemy's pickets seized, intrenchments thrown up, and by daylight eight thousand Union soldiers were ashore. Immediately the building of the bridge began. At twenty minutes past twelve o'clock it was com- plete, and at one o'clock Sherman began his march at the WAR OF THE REBELLION. 267 head of twenty thousand men for the northern end of Missionary Ridge. He began the fight by three and a half, pushed his troops up the hill, and before night had gained possession of an important hill which he had sup- posed was the extremity of Missionary Ridge ; this, how- ever, he discovered to be separated from the ridge by a deep ravine, which would cost him dear to cross. He in- trenched, however, during the night, preparing for his grand attack on the morrow. Thom.as' command this day remained in the position that had been gained the day before, waiting for the two wings of the grand army to get into position for the combined effort which Grant intended to make. Hooker, meanwhile, had moved his troops against Lookout Mountain with energy and skill ; and Bragg, who had become alarmed at Thomas' dispositions the day before, withdrew a portion of his force on the mountain to reinforce his centre and right. This rendered Hooker's task easier, and by four o'clock he had climbed the mountain, in spite of prodigious natural difficulties, carried important works at its base and on the sides, and established important connection with the right of Thomas' command. Thomas also connected on his left with Sherman, so that, on the night of the 24th, Grant's line was all advanced and in direct communication. Battles had been fought by the centre and each wing, and each had been successful. Hooker's fi^ht had thus far been the hardest, and late in the afternoon his progress was ob- scured from those in the valley by heavy clouds that set- tled on the mountain side, so that his troops seemed fight- ing in mid-air. That night the enemy evacuated the crest of the mountain, falling back on Bragg, and early in the morning the stars and stripes waved on the summit of Lookout. Grant was busy all nio-ht sending- directions to his three armies. He directed Sherman and Hooker to advance at dawn, each attracting as much force of the enemy as pos- sible to one extremity, and when this was accomplished Thomas was to attack the weakened centre. Grant him- self remained on a mound near Thomas' command, from 268 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. which he could watch all the evolutions in the field. He was so near to Missionary Ridge, that when day dawned Bragg's head-quarters could be plainly seen. Sherman began his attack shortly after daylight. The ground in his front was extremely difficult, and had been strongly fortified. It was held in great force, for it was the key-point of the field. If this height was carried the Con- federate army was cut off from its base, and from all com- munication with other portions of the Confederacy. Sher- man assaulted with great vigor and gained some ground; after this he repeatedly advanced, and was more than once repelled, losing, however, none of the ground originally seized. The fight here was fierce and stubborn, and Bragg repeatedly sent large reinforcements to maintain the posi- tion. Hooker, too, descended from Lookout Mountain to move against Bragg's new left. The enemy, retreating from the mountain in the night, however, had destroyed all the bridges, so that Hooker was delayed undl nearly two o'clock before he reached the ridge. Sherman, meanwhile, was bearing the brunt of the batde, and Grant finally per- ceiving the enemy in a large column moving towards Sherman, he determined that the hour had come for Thomas to advance. Accordingly he himself gave the order, and two whole corps moved forward in one grand line against Missionary Ridge. Sherman fighting on the north end, not five miles away, Hooker in the plain to the south, and here, at Grant's feet, four divisions of men on the run, their bayo- nets glancing in the afternoon sun. The enemy at the foot of the hill were unable to resist the effect of this waving, glittering mass of steel ; they flung themselves in the trenches, and the national troops passed over, sending their prisoners hurriedly to the rear across the open plain. The order had been for the men to halt when the first line of pits was carried, and to reform before they attempted to mount the hill ; but now their blood was up, and it was im possible to restrain them. A tremendous fire of artillery poured down upon theni from the ridge, nearly five hundred feet high, and half way up was another line of trenches, DIAGRAM I. WAT^PS-SOV.yy. DIAGRAMS SHOWING THE POSITIONS OF THE ARMIES AT THE BATTLES OF CHICKAMAUGA AND MISSIONARY RIDGE. 270 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. from which more deadly musketry now struck down many a gallant soldier. But the line stopped not for this ; the flags went on in advance, first one ahead and then another, and at last all along the ridge Grant's colors were planted on the enemy's line. Still there was another line of works on the crest, and now the ascent became almost perpen- dicular. The storm of musketry and artillery became miore furious, but the men lay on their faces to avoid it, working their way thus up the front of the mountain. The enemy was seized at once with a panic which all the exertions of Bragg and his officers could not restrain ; here and there a slight resistance was offered, but the great mass of the enemy's army went tumbling in confusion down the eastern side of the ridge, the national soldiers not even stopping to reload their pieces, but driving the enemy with stones. At this moment Hooker appeared on the enemy's left and completed the rout ; Bragg was obliged not only to give up the ground in front of Thomas and Hooker, but to withdraw his right, which still offered resistance to Sherman. Grant had ridden up at once on the ridge fo direct the pursuit, and forty pieces of artillery were captured in the open field. Sheridan, then a division commander in Thomas' army, pursued for seven miles. Six thousand prisoners were taken before morning. Look- out Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and all the rifle-pits in Chattanooga valley were Grant's. The great Confederate army that had threatened him so long was routed and in disgraceful flight, and early on the 26th Sherman took possession of Chickamauga Station. That day and the next the pursuit was continued, Hooker in the advance. Everywhere the road was strewn with the wrecks of the dissolving army. On the 27th Hooker came up with Bragg's rear-guard at a gap in the mountains, and here the enemy made his last stand. A fight of several hours occurred, but the enemy finally withdrew, leaving the place in the hands of Grant, who now directed the pursuit to be discontinued. It was necessary to send reinforce- ments at once to Burnside. Grant lost in this series of battles seven hundred and WAR OF THE REBELLION. 2*Jl fifty-seven killed, four thousand five hundred and twenty- nine wounded, and three hundred and thirty missing; the enemy, three hundred and sixty-one killed, two thousand one hundred and eighty wounded, and over six thousand prisoners, besides forty cannon. Their loss in killed and wounded was smaller, because they fought with every im- aginable advantage of cover and position. They had forty- five thousand men engaged, and Grant had about sixty thousand ; but the extraordinary position they occupied was worth to them, according to all the rules of the military art, five times an equal number of assailants. Bragg said, in his official report of the fight, that the strength of the position was such that a line of skirmishers ought to have maintained it against any assaulting column. The news of the splendid victories in Tennessee filled the loyal States with rejoicing. Mr. Lincoln appointed a day of thanksgiving *'for this great advancement of the national cause ; " while Congress, in grateful appreciation of the glorious victories he had gained, passed a joint reso- lution of thanks to General Grant and the troops which had fought under him. They also ordered a gold medal, with suitable emblems and devices, to be struck and pre- sented to him, and Legislatures of various States presented him with a vote of thanks. But, better than all this, a movement was at once set on foot by the Hon. E. B. Washburne, member of Congress from Illinois, to revive the grade of lieutenant-general, and to call General Grant to the chief command of all the armies of the United States. On the 1st of March, 1864, this bill became a law by the approval of President Lincoln. A resolution requesting Mr. Lincoln to appoint General Grant was also passed by Congress. On the next day Mr. Lincoln sent to the Senate the nomination of Ulysses S. Grant, to be lieutenant-gen- eral. The nomination was confirmed at once, and an order was sent directing Grant to repair to Washington for the purpose of receiving his commission. Before leaving Nash- ville he wrote to Sherman, his faithful lieutenant: " Whilst I have been eminently successful in this war, in at least gaining the confidence of the public, no one feels 272 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. more than I do how much of this success is due to the energy, skill, and the harmonious putting forth of that energy and skill, of those whom it has been my good for- tune to have occupying subordinate positions under me. There are many officers to whom these remarks are appli- cable to a greater or less degree, proportionate to their ability as soldiers ; but what 1 want, is to express my thanks to you and McPherson as the men to whom, above all others, I feel indebted for whatever 1 have had of success. How far your advice and assistance have been of help to me, you know ; how far your execution of whatever has been given you to do entides you to the reward I am re- ceiving, you cannot know as well as I. I feel all the grati- tude this letter would express, giving it the most flattering construction." This letter was intended as much for McPherson as for Sherman, and while it reflects the highest credit upon the magnanimous heart of the writer, it does those able and gallant generals no more than simple justice. Grant had that about him which drew true men irresistibly towards him, causing them to cheerfully exert their entire strength in the performance of the duties assigned them. No man was ever more devotedly or worthily served by those who came within his immediate influence, and no man ever re- warded merit more unselfishly or prompdy. Sherman, in replying to Grant's letter, says : "You do yourself injusdce, and us too much honor, in assigning to us too large a share of the merits which have led to your high advancement. I know you approve the friendship I have ever professed to you, and will permit me to continue to manifest it on all proper occasions. " You are now Washinorton's lecritimate successor, and occupy a position of almost dangerous elevation ; but 11 you can continue as heretofore, to be yourself, simple, hon- est and unpretending, you will enjoy through life the re- spect and love of friends and the homage of millions of human beings, that will award you a large share in securing to them and their descendants a government of law and stability. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 273 "I repeat, you do McPherson and myself too much honor. At Belmont you manifested your traits — neither of us being near. At Donelson, also, you illustrated your whole character. I was not near, and McPherson in too subordinate a capacity to influence you. "Until you had won Donelson, I confess I was almost cowed by the terrible array of anarchical elements that pre- sented themselves at every point; but that admitted a ray of light, which I have followed since. " 1 believe you are as brave, patriotic and just as the great prototype, Washington ; as unselfish, kind-hearted and honest as a man should be; but the chief characteristic is the simple faith in success you have always manifested, which I can liken to nothing else than the faith the Chris- tian has in the Saviour. "This faith gave you victory at Shiloh and Vicksburg. Also, when you have completed your best preparations, you go into batde without hesitation, as at Chattanooga — no doubts, no answers — and I tell you, it was this that made us act with confidence. I knew wherever I was, that you thought of me ; and if I got in a tight place you would help me out if alive. " My only point of doubt was in your knowledge of grand strategy, and of books of science and history ; but I confess your common sense seems to have supplied all these. " Now as to the future. Don't stay in Washington. Come West; take to yourself the whole Mississippi Valley. Let us make it dead sure ; and I tell you the Adantic slopes and Pacific shores will follow its destiny as sure as the limbs of a tree live or die with the main trunk. We have done much, but still much remains. Time and dme's influences are with us. We could almost afford to sit sdll and let these influences work. Here lies the seat of coming em- pire ; and from the West, where our task is done, we will make short work of Charleston and Richmond, and the im- poverished coast of the Atlantic." is CHAPTER VIII. WAR OF THE REBELLION CoutimCed. Grant with the Army of the Potomac — The situation of military affairs — General Grant's plan of operaiions — Builer's and Sigel's positions — Lee at Orange Court-House — Grant's instructions to General Meade — The engagement at Parker's Store — Wilson encounters Stuart's cavalry — The battle of the Wilderness — Sheridan's operations — Alsop's Farm — Spottsylvania Court-House — Death of General Sedgwick — Han- cock's success — Cold Harbor — Sheridan's raid — Burnside's and Sigel's co-operative movements — Hunter's and Sheridan's operations in the Shenandoah Valley. On the Sth of March Grant arrived at the capital, and the next day, at one o'clock, he was received by the Presi- dent in the Cabinet Chamber. The different Cabinet offi- cers, General Halleck, and a few other persons were there by the President's invitation. General Grant was accom- panied by an aid-de-camp, Colonel Comstock, and General Rawlins, his chief-of-staff, and after being introduced to the Cabinet was addressed as follows, by the President : " Gp:neral Grant: — The expression of the nation's ap- probation of wdiat you have already done, and its reliance on you for what remains to be cione in the existing great struggle, are now presented with this commission, consti- tuting you Lieutenant-General in the Army of the United States. With this high honor devolves on you an addi- tional responsibihty. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add, that with what I here speak for the nation, goes my own hearty personal concurrence." General Grant replied with feeling: " Mr. President: — I accept the commission with grati- tude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fougln on so many battle-fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the (274) 276 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. responsibilities now devolving on me ; and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men." The next day the President assigned the new lieutenant- general to the command of all the armies, with his head- quarters in the field. Grant made a hurried trip to the Army of the Potomac at Culpeper Court-House, to confer with General Meade, and then returned to Nashville for the purpose of making arrangements to enter upon the performance of the duties of his new position. Here, on the 17th day of March, he issued his order assuming com- mand of the armies of the United States, and announced that till further notice his head-quarters would be with the Army of the Potomac. At his request the Secretary of War had already assigned Sherman to the Military Divi- sion of the Mississippi, including the Department of Ar- kansas in addition to those departments already within it; McPherson succeeded Sherman in the command of the Department of the Tennessee ; and, as a matter of course, Halleck, who had so long filled the place of general-in- chief, was relieved from that position. He was, however, soon afterwards assigned to duty in Washington by Gen- eral Grant as chief-oi-staff of the army, for which position, charged with the details of military administration, it was thou^^ht, his capacities peculiarly fitted him. On the 23d of March, Grant arrived at Washington, and on the next day he took actual command — his first act being to reorganize the Army of the Potomac by consoli- dating it into three corps — to be known thereafter as the Second, I^fth, and Sixth, to be commanded respectively by Major-Generals Hancock, Warren, and Sedgwick. The Ninth corps, under Burnside, lately from East Tennessee, had been reorganized at Annapolis, and was added to the Army of the Potomac, but acted for a time independendy , of Meade, on account of Burnside's older commission. Generals Barlow, Gibbon, Birney, J. B. Carr, Wadsworth, Crawford, Robinson, Griffin, Wright, and Prince, com- manded divisions. The cavalry of the army was consoli- WAR OF THE REBELLION. 277 dated Into a corps under General Sheridan, with Generals Gregg, Torbert, and Wilson commanding divisions. These officers had all distinguished themselves In the war, and were selected for their services and their zeal in the national cause. The staff organization of the Army of the Potomac re- mained unchanged, with Brigadier-General H. J. Hunt as Chief of Artillery; Major J. C. Duane, Chief of Engineers ; Brigadier-General Rufus Ingalls, Chief Quartermaster. Major-General A. A. Humphreys, an able officer of engi- neers, distinguished also as a division commander, was Chlef-of-Staff; while Brigadier-General Seth Williams was Adjutant- General. The law creating the grade of lieutenant-general enabled Grant to reorganize his own staff also. General Rawlins, his constant companion from the beginning of the war, was retained as Chlef-of-Staff, and Colonel T. S. Bowers as Adjutant-General ; Colonel Wilson, his Inspector-General, who had been promoted to be brigadier-general after Chattanooga, and had been ordered to Washington for the purpose of reorganizing the Cavalry Bureau, was assigned to the command of a division under Sheridan. His place on the staff was filled by Colonel Comstock of the Engi- neer corps; Colonel Horace Porter and Colonel O. E. Babcock, two young officers of the regular army, who had already given great promise of usefulness and ability, were designated as Alds-de-Camp ; while Colonels Adam Badeau and Ely S. Parker (a hereditary chief of the Six Nations) were assigned as Military Secretaries. No clearer statement of the situation of military affairs, or of the plan of operations adopted for the future conduct of the war can be made, than that given in General Grant's own words : " From an early period In the rebellion," he says, in his comprehensive and admirable report, 'T had been impressed with the idea that active and continuous operations of all the troops that could be brought into the field, regardless' of season and weather, were necessary to a speedy termin- ation of the war. The resources of die enemy and his 278 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. numerical strength were far inferior to ours ; but, as an off- set to this, we had a vast territory, with a population hostile to the government, to garrison, and long lines of river and railroad communications to protect, to enable us to supply the operating armies. "The arniies in the East and West acted independently, and without concert, like a balky team — no two ever pulling together — enabling the enemy to use to great advantage his interior lines of communicadon for transporting troops from East to West, reinforcing the army most vigorously pressed, and to furlough large numbers during seasons of inactivity on our part, to go to their homes and do the work of providing for the support of their armies. It was a question whether our numerical strength and resources were not more than balanced by these disadvantages and the enemy's superior posidon. " From the first I was firm in the convicdon that no peace could be had that would be stable and conducive to the happiness of the people, both North and South, until the military power of the rebellion was entirely broken. '' 1 therefore determined, first, to use the greatest number of troops pracdcable against the armed force of the enemy, prevennng him from using the same force at different seasons against first one and then another of our armies, and the possibility of repose for refitting and producing necessary supplies for carrying on resistance ; second, to hammer continuously against the armed force of the enemy and his resources, until, by mere attridon, if in no other way, there should be nothing left to him but an equal sub- mission with the loyal secdons of our common country to the constitution and laws of the land. "These views have been kept constandy in mind, and orders given and campaigns made to carry them out. Whether they might have been better in concepdon and execudon is for the people, who mourn the loss of friends fallen, and who have to pay the pecuniary cost, to say. All I can say is, that what I have done has been done con- scientiously, to the best of my ability, and in what I con- ceived to be for the best interests of the whole country. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 2/9 "At the date when this report begins, the situation of the contending forces was about as follows: The Mississippi river was strongly garrisoned by Federal troops from St. Louis, Missouri, to its mouth. The line of the Arkansas was also held, thus giving us armed possession of all west of the Mississippi north of that stream. A few points in Southern Louisiana, not remote from the river, were held by us, together with a small garrison at and near the mouth of the Rio Grande. All the balance of the vast territory of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, was in the almost un- disputed possession of the enemy, with an army of probably not less than 80,000 effective men that could have been brought into the field, had there been sufficient opposition to have brought them out. The let-alone-policy had de- moralized this force so that probably but little more than one-half of it was ever present in garrison at any one time. But the one-half, or 40,000 men, with the bands of guerrillas scattered through Missouri, Arkansas, and alono- the Mis- sissippi river, and the disloyal character of much of the population, compelled the use of a large number of troops to keep navigation open on the river, and to protect the loyal people to the west of it. To the east of the Missis- sippi we held substantially with the line of the Tennessee and Holston rivers, running eastward to include nearly all of the State of Tennessee. South of Chattanooga a small foothold had been obtained in Georgia, sufficient to protect East Tennessee from incursions from the enemy's force at Dalton, Georgia. West Virginia was substantially within our lines. Virginia, with the exception of the northern border, the Potomac river, a small area about the mouth of James river covered by the troops at Norfolk and Fort Monroe, and the territory covered by the Army of the Potomac lying along the Rapidan, was in the possession of the enemy. Along the sea-coast, footholds had been obtained at Plymouth, Washington, and Newbern, in North Carolina; Beaufort, Foll3^ and Morris islands, Hilton Head, Fort Pulaski, and Port Royal, in South Carolina; P>r- nandina and St. Augustine, in Florida. Key West and Pensacola were also in our possession, while all the im- portant ports were blockaded by the navy. ZSO. LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. " Behind the Union hnes there were many bands of guerillas, and a large population disloyal to the govern- ment, making it necessary to guard every foot of road or river used in supplying our armies. In the South a reign of military despotism prevailed, which made every man and boy capable of bearing arms a soldier, and those who could not bear arms in the field acted as provosts for collecting deserters and returning them. This enabled the enemy to bring almost his entire strength into the field. " The enemy had concentrated the bulk of his forces east of the Mississippi Into two armies, commanded by Generals R. E. Lee and J. E. Johnston, his ablest and best generals. The army commanded by Lee occupied the south bank of the Rapidan, extending from Mine Run westward, strongly Intrenched in position at Dalton, Georgia, covering and de- fending Adanta, Georgia, a place of great importance as a railroad centre, against the armies under Major-General W. T. Sherman. In addition to these armies, he had a large cavalry force under Forrest in Northeast Mississippi ; a considerable force, of all arms, in the Shenandoah valley, and In the western part of Virginia and extreme eastern part of Tennessee; and also confronting our sea-coast gar- risons, and holding blockaded ports where we had no foot- hold upon land. "These two armies, and the cities covered and de- fended by them, were the main objective points of the campaign. " Major-General W. T. Sherman, who was appointed to the command of the military division of the Mississippi, embracing all the armies and territory east of the Missis- sippi river to the Alleghenles, and the department of Arkansas, west of the Mississippi, had the Immediate com- mand of the armies operating against Johnston. " Major-General George G. Meade had the Immediate command of the Army of the Potomac, from where I exer- cised general supervision of the movements of all our armies "General Sherman was instructed to move against John- ston's army, to break It up, and to go into the Interior of GRANT WRITING DESPATCH WHILE ARMY WAS CROSSING THE RAPIDAN. THE LAST CAVALRY CHARGE OF THE WAR. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 251 the enemy's country as far as he could, Inflicting all the damage he could upon their war resources. If the enemy in his front showed signs of joining Lee, to follow him up to the full extent of his ability, while I would prevent the concentration of Lee upon him if it was in the power of the Army of the Potomac to do so. More specific written instructions were not given, for the reason that I had talked over with him the plans of the campaign, and was satisfied that he understood them and would execute them to the fullest extent possible. " Major- General N. P. Banks, then on an expedition up Red river against Shreveport, Louisiana (which had been organized previous to my appointment to command), was notified by me, on the 15th of March, of the importance it was that Shreveport should be taken at the earliest pos- sible day, and that if he found that the taking of it would occupy from ten to fifteen days' more time than General Sherman had given his troops to be absent from their command, he would send them back at the time specified by General Sherman, even if it led to the abandonment of the main object of the Red river expedition, for this force was necessary to movements east of the Mississippi ; that should his expedition prove successful, he would hold Shreveport and the Red river with such force as he might deem necessary, and return the balance of his troops to the nelorhborhood of New Orleans, commencinof no move for the further acquisition of territory unless it was to make that then held by him more easily held ; that it might be a part of the spring campaign to move against Mobile ; that It certainly would be if troops enough could be obtained to make it without embarrassing other movements ; that New Orleans would be the point of departure for such an ex- pedition ; also, that I had directed General Steele to make a real move from Arkansas, as suggested by him (General Banks), Instead of a demonstration, as Steele thought advisable. " On the 2 1 St of March, in addition to the foregoing noti- fication and directions, he was instructed as follows : I. If successful in your expedition against Shreveport, « ( 252 LIFE. OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. that you turn over the defence of the Red river to General Steele and the navy. " * 2. That you abandon Texas entirely, with the exception of your hold upon the Rio Grande. This can be held with 4,000 men, If they will turn their attention Immediately to fortifying their poslticns. At least one-half of the force required for this service might be taken from the colored troops. "'3. By properly fortifying on the Mississippi river, the force to guard It from Port Hudson to New Orleans can be reduced to 10,000 men, If not to a less number; 6,000 more would then hold all the rest of the territory necessary to hold until active operations can be resumed west of the river. According to your last return, this would give you a force of over 30,000 effective men with which to move against Mobile. To this I expect to add 5,000 men from Missouri. If, however, you think the force here stated too small to hold the territory regarded as necessary to hold possession of, I would say, concentrate at least 25,000 men of your present command for operations against Mobile. With these, and such additions as I can eive you from else- where, lose no time In making a demonstration, to be fol- lowed by an attack upon Mobile. Two or more ironclads will be ordered to report to Admiral Farragut. This gives him a strong naval fleet with which to co-operate. You can make your own arrangements with the Admiral for his co- operation, and select your own line of approach. My own Idea of the matter Is, that Pascagoula should be your base; but, from your long service In the Gulf department, you will know best about the matter. It is intended that your movements shall be co-operative with movements elsewhere, and you cannot now start too soon. All I would now add Is, that you commence the concentration of your forces at once. Preserve a profound secrecy of what you intend doing, and start at the earliest possible moment.' " Major-General Meade was Instructed that Lee's army would be his objective point; that wherever Lee went he would go also. For his movement two plans presented themselves : — one to cross the Rapldan below Lee, moving WAR OF THE REBELLION. 283 by his right flank ; the other above, moving by his left. Each presented advantages over the other, with corre- sponding objections. By crossing above, Lee would be cut off from all chance of ignoring Richmond or going North on a raid. But if w^e took this route, all we did would have to be done whilst the rations we started with held out; be- sides it separated us from Butler, so that he could not be directed how to co-operate. If w^e took the other route, Brandy Station could be used as a base of supplies until another was secured on the York or James rivers. Of these, however, it was decided to take the lower route. *' The following letter of instructions w^as addressed to Major-General B. F. Butler: ''Fort Monroe, Va., Apr-il 2, 1864. " ' General : In the spring campaign, which it is desirable shall com- mence at as early a day as practicable, it is proposed to have co-operative action of all the armies in the field, as far as this object can be accom- plished. '* ' It will not be possible to unite onr armies into two or three large ones, to act as so many units, owing to the absolute necessity of holding on to the territory already taken from the enemy. But, generally speaking, concentration can be practically effected by armies moving to the interior of the enemy's country from the territory they have to guard. By such movement they interpose themselves between the enemy and the country to be guarded, thereby reducing the number necessary to guard important points, or at least occupy the attention of a part of the enemy's force, if no greater object is gained. Lee's army and Richmond being the greater objects towards which our attention must be directed in the next campaign, it is desirable to unite all the force we can against them. The necessity of covering Washington with the Army of the Potomac, and of covering your department with your army, makes it impossible to unite these forces at the beginning of any move. I propose, therefore, what comes nearest this of anything that seems practicable : The Army of the Potomac will act from its present base, Lee's army being the objective point. You will collect all the forces from your command that can be spared from garrison duty — I should say not less than 20,000 effective men — to operate on the south side of James river, Richmond being your objective point. To the force you already have will be added about 10,000 men from South Caro- lina, under Mnjor-General Gilmore, who will command them in person. Major-General'W. F. Smith is ordered to report to you, to command the troops sent into the field from your own department. *' ' General Gilmore will be ordered to report to you at Fortress Monroe, with all the troops on transports, by the i8th instant, or as soon thereafter as practicable. Should you not receive notice by that time to move, you 284 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. will make such disposition of them and your other forces as you may deem best calculated to deceive the enemy as to the real move to be made. '' ' When you are notified to move, take City Point with as much force as possible. Fortify, or rather intrench at once, and concentrate all your troops for the field there as rapidly as you can. From City Point, direc- tions cannot be given at this time for your further movements. *' 'The fact that has already been stated — that is, that Richmond is to be your objective point, and that there is to be co-operation between your force and the Army of the Potomac — must be your guide. This indicates the necessity of your holding close to the south bank of the James river as you advance. Then, should the enemy be forced into his intrench- ments in Richmond, the Army of the Potomac would follow, and by means of transports the two armies would be a unit. " *All the minor details of your advance are left entirely to your direc- tion. If, however, you think it practicable to use your cavalry south of you, so as to cut the railroad about Hick's Ford about the time of the general advance, it would be of immense advantage. '< 'You will please forward, for my information, at the earliest practi- cable day, all orders, details, and instructions you may give for the exe- cution of this order.' "On the 1 6th these Instructions were substantially re- iterated. On the 19th, in order to secure full co-operation between his army and that of General Meade, he was in- formed that I expected him to move from Fort Monroe the same day that General Meade moved from Culpeper. The exact time I was to telegraph him as soon as it was fixed, and that it would not be earlier than the 27th of April ; that it was my intention to fight Lee between Culpeper and Richmond if he would stand. Should he, however, fall back into Richmond, I would follow up, and make a junction with his (General Butlers) army on the James river; that, could I be certain he would be able to invest Richmond on the south side so as to have his left resting on the James, above the city, I would form a junction there ; that circum- stances might make this course advisable anyhow; that he should use every exertion to secure footing as far up the south side of the river as he could, and as soon as possible, after the receipt of orders to move ; that if he could not carry the city, he should at least detain as large a force as possible. " In co-operation with the main movements against Lee WAR OF THE REBELLION. 285 and Johnston, I was desirous of using all other troops nec- essarily kept in departments remote from the fields of im- mediate operations, and also those kept in the background for the protection of our extended lines between the loyal States and the armies operating against them. " A very considerable force, under command of Major- General Sigel, was so held for the protection of West Vir- ginia, and the frontiers of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Whilst these troops could not be withdrawn to distant fields without exposing the North to invasion by compara- tively small bodies of the enemy, they could act direcdy to their front and give better protection than if lying idle in garrison. By such movement they would either compel the enemy to detach largely for the protection of his sup- plies and lines of communication, or he would lose them. " General Sigel was therefore directed to organize all his available force into two expedidons, to move from Beverly and Charleston, under command of Generals Ord and Crook, against the East Tennessee and Virginia railroad. Subsequently, General Ord having been relieved at his own request. General Sigel was instructed, at his own suggestior, to give up the expedition by Beverly, and to form two col- umns, one under General Crook, on the Kanawha, num- bering about 10,000 men, and one on the Shenandoah, numbering about 7,000 men, the one on the Shenandoah to assemble between Cumberland and the Shenandoah, and the infantry and artillery advanced to Cedar Creek, with such cavalry as could be made available at the moment, to threaten the enemy in the Shenandoah Valley, and advance as far as possible ; while General Crook would take pos- session of Lewisburg with part of his force and move down the Tennessee railroad, doine as much damage as he could, destroymg the New River bridge and the salt-works at Saltville, Virginia. " Owing to the weather and bad condition o( the roads, operadons were delayed until the ist of May, when, every- thing being in readiness and the roads favorable, orders were given for a general movement of all the armies not later than the 4th of May. 286 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. " My first object being to break the military power of the rebelHon, and capture the enemy's important strongholds, made me desirous that General Butler should succeed in his movement against Richmond, as that would tend more than anything else, unless it were the capture of Lee's army, to accomplish this desired result in the East. If he failed, it was my determination, by hard fighting, either to compel Lee to retreat, or to so cripple him that he could not detach a large force to go North, and still retain enough for the defence of Richmond. It was well understood, by both Generals Butler and Meade, before starting on the campaign, that it w^as my intention to put both their armies south of the James river, in case of failure to destroy Lee without it. " Before Qrivinor General Butler his instructions, I visited him at Fort Monroe, and, in conversation, pointed out the apparent importance of getting possession of Petersburg, and destroying railroad communication as far south as possible. Believing, however, in the practicability of cap- turing Richmond, unless it was reinforced, I made that the objective point of his operations. As the Army of the Potomac was to move simultaneously with him, Lee could not detach from his army with safety, and the enemy did not have troops elsewhere to bring to tiie defence of the city in time to meet a rapid movement from the north of James river. " I may here state that, commanding all the armies as I did, I tried, as far as possible, to leave General Meade in independent command of the Army of the Potomac. My instructions for that army were all through him, and were general in their nature, leaving all the details and the exe- cution to him." The particular plan of operations for the Army of the Potomac has been severely criticised by various writers upon the war. From the first Grant w^as "firm in the con- viction that no peace could be had that would be stable and conducive to the happiness of the people, both North and South, until the military power of the rebellion was entirely broken." How he expected to break this military power is WAR OF THE REBELLION. 287 Stated with clearness, and is based upon the soundest mili- tary principles : " 1 therefore determined, first to use the greatest number of troops practicable against the armed force of the enemy, preventing him from using the same force at different sea- FORTIFICATIONS IN AND AROUND WASHINGTON CITY. sons against first one and then another of our armies;" and, *' second, to hammer continuously against the armed force of the enemy and his resources, until by mere attri- tion, if in no other way, there should be nothing left to Inm but an equal submission with the loyal section of our 2SS LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. common country, to the Constitution and the laws of the land." It will be observed that he says nothing here in reference to strategic points, converging or diverging lines of opera- tions, but has steadily kept in view only the armed forces of the enemy. But as if to leave no room for doubt on this point, he instructed Meade that Lee's army, the very head and front of the Confederate cause, " would be his objective point ; that wherever Lee went, he would go also." In the entire range of all that has ever been said, either by the writers or the fighters, there cannot be found a more comprehensive plan of a great war, nor a more judicious statement of the principles upon which it should be con- ducted. If it be true, as has been stated, that the General who conceived and carried this plan into execution, although educated as a soldier, never read a treatise on grand tactics or strategy, and, like Bagration, knew nothing of those sciences, except what he learned from his own experience and reflection, his countrymen may justly ascribe to him the possession of military genius of the highest order. The position of Lee's army was as well known as that of the Army of the Potomac, when Grant moved his head- quarters to Culpeper Court-House; but even if there had been a reasonable doubt on this point, past experience had shown that the national forces would not be permitted to get far in the right direction without obtaining the desired information. This fact alone ought to have settled, as it did, all questions in reference to the line of operations to be pursued In the coming campaign ; and yet It Is claimed that Grant should have withdrawn from Lee's front, marched to Washington or Acqula creek, transported his army to the James, and there begun his campaign, by moving directly upon Richmond or its communications. It is asserted, In support of this plan, that Grant himself, before being called to the command of all the armies, wrote a letter to Halleck recommending a plan similar to that devised by Generals Franklin and Smith. The country has good reason to be thankful that Grant, when he became charged with the actual responsibility of making and executing a plan for the WAR OF THE REBELLION. 289 Army of the Potomac, saw sufficient reason, after careful investigation and study, to change his views, and adopt a plan more strictly in accordance with the principles of war. The Army of the Potomac had already tried the Peninsula route to its sore cost. The long array of unfortunate events, beginning with the seven days' battle, including the closing events of Pope's disastrous campaign ; the indeci- sive battle of Antietam ; the bloody disaster of Fredericks- burg; the inglorious failure of Chancellorsvllle, scarcely counterbalanced by the expulsion of Lee from Pennsylvania by the uncompleted victory of Gettysburg, the Mine Run campaign, followed by the rapid retreat on Washington, had their beginning in the attempt to take Richmond by advancing upon it by the way of the Peninsula. It was by holding his army well in hand that Lee was enabled to plant himself with such address across Grant's line of march, in time to prepare those, intrenched posi- tions which covered him almost as effectively as the regular intrenchments of Richmond could have done. It was this and not the physical features of the theatre of operations which gave the overland campaign its destructive pecu- liarldes, — makinor it "a kind of runnlno- sle^e " instead of a campaign subject to the ordinary rules of warfare. Grant has been also severely criticised for permitting Butler to advance from Fortress Monroe, and SIgel from West Virginia, instead of uniting them with Meade before- the campaign began ; but it must not be forgotten that Butler was united with Meade before the army reached Richmond, and that Slo^el's advance from West Virelnia was made with troops *• which, under no circumstances, could be withdrawn to distant fields, without exposing the North to invasion." It was hoped, too, that the latter command, if it did not succeed in breaking up important railroad communications, would at least neutralize the large force which must necessarily be detached by Lee for their protection. Its success in the latter respect was suf- ficiently realized in the earlier stages of the campaign, as well as subsequently when, under Crook, it formed a part of Sheridan's army in the Shenandoah Valley. 19 290 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. The defensive line occupied by Lee at Orange Court- House was well selected and thoroughly strengdiened. Covered by the Rapidan, a stream of considerable size with steep banks and difficult fords, flanked on the east by the Wilderness, and on the west by the foot-hills of the Blue Rido-e, a direct attack was entirely out of the question, and to turn it was exceedingly difficult. But Grant was not the man to remain long in doubt as to what policy to pur- sue. A turning movement towards his right, avoiding the Wilderness, throwing him into the open country, and more direcdy upon the Confederate lines of communicadon, seemed to promise better results in case of immediate suc- cess ; but on the other hand it would carry him away from his own communicadons and leave him in greater danger in case of a drawn batde, or a counter attack from the enemy. He hoped to be able to crush Lee at a single blow or at most in a few days, but he was too sagacious to count certainly upon this. He therefore determined to move by the left flank, crossing the Rapidan by the lower fords and pushing through the Wilderness towards the open country in the direcdon of Spottsylvania. Accordingly on the 3d of May all arrangements having been perfected, the troops fully equipped, armed, and supplied with three days' cooked rations, the cavalry and artillery horses newly shod and the army concentrated in the neighborhood of Culpeper and Brandy Station, he issued his instructions to Meade fof the movement to begin. That officer arranged the details as follows : Wilson with the Third cavalry division, about 3,000 strong, was ordered to move from his camp near Stevensburg at one o'clock, on the morning of Thursday, May 4th, and to cross the Rapidan at Germania Ford, cov- ering the construction of a pontoon bridge at that place and clearing the way for the infantry of Warren's corps, which was directed to follow close upon him. As soon as Warren's advanced division had crossed the river, Wilson was to move out by the old Wilderness Tavern and take the road to Parker's store, scouting the country in all di- recdons and keeping the infantry informed of the enemy's movements. Sedgwick was directed to follow Warren, ^ FfAPAHANNOCK I / ^~'' MAP OF THE COUNTRY FROM CULPEPER COURT-HOUSE TO RICHMOND, VA. (291) 292 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. keeping close up. Gregg, with the Second cavalry division, about 3,500 strong, was ordered to move at the same time to Ely's Ford, still lower down the river, covering the march and clearing the way for Hancock's corps towards Chancellorsville. Torbert with the First cavalry division, about 3,500 strong, w^as to cover the trains and the rear of the army; strongly pickedng the river from Rapidan Sta- tion to Germania Ford, and holding the line from Mitchell's Stadon to Culpeper; as soon as the crossing should be secured he was to rejoin Sheridan at Chancellorsville. Precisely at midnight the movement began. Wilson's advance guard crossed the river at 3.50 A. M., driving back the Confederate pickets, and by six o'clock the bridge was laid and his division formed in line a mile in advance of the ford. Warren began crossing soon afterwards, and by noon his advanced division, covered by the cavalry, had reached Wilderness Tavern, at the crossing of the Orange Turnpike and the Germania Ford roads, where he biv- ouacked for the night. Sedgwick kept well closed up, crossed the bridge during the afternoon, and encamped be- fore dark about a mile beyond the ford. Hancock's corps reached the river also at an early hour in the morning, found the cavalry across and the bridge ready, and there- fore lost but litde time in following, camping for the night on Hooker's old batde-ground. Neither column had en- countered the enemy, except the small force of pickets which had been watching the river. These were rapidly driven back by Wilson's advance, and were pursued by a small force as far as Mine Run. The country w^as thor- oughly scouted along all the roads leading towards the stream without encountering Lee's forces in any strength. The crossing was evidently a surprise, but the Confederate general was in no manner cast down by it. He knew that he could not hold the line of the Rapidan, a fordable river, so strongly as to keep it intact, and therefore wisely held his army concentrated in an advantageous posidon, ready to strike in whatever direcdon circumstances might require. His pickets gave him dmely nodce, and with ready deter- mination he moved to the attack. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 293 On the morning of the 5th of May Grant's army, between 90,000 and 100,000 strong, lay in the Wilderness in the fol- lowing order : Wilson at Parker's store, Warren and Sedg- wick on the road from Germania Ford to Wilderness Tavern, Hancock at Chancellorsville, Sheridan with Greee and Tor- bert near by. The orders of the day did not contemplate a battle, although the troops were disposed in such a man- ner as to be prepared for attack. Wilson was directed to move at five o'clock a. m. to Craior's meetine-house on the Catharpen road, keeping out parties on the Orange Court- House pike and plank-road, and sending scouts well out on all the roads to the south and west. Warren was directed to move at the same hour to Parker's store, extending his rieht towards Sedewick, who was to move to old Wilderness Tavern as soon as the roads were clear. Hancock was to march towards Shady Grove Church, extending his right towards Warren's left at Parker's store. Sheridan, with Gregg and Torbert, was directed against the enemy's cavalry at Hamilton Crossing. Wilson moved promptly at the hour designated, leaving the Fifth New York cavalry. Col- onel John Hammond commanding, to hold Parker's store till relieved by Warren's advance ; but by dawn this gallant regiment was hotly attacked, of which due notice was given to the troops in the rear. Lee had taken his determination to fall upon Grant while still entangled in the Wilderness, and during the night put his entire army in motion by the two roads leading from his position to Fredericksburg, intersecting the roads from the Rapidan to Richmond at right angles. Ewell's corps was thrown forward on the old turnpike, and Hill's on the plank- road, while Longstreet's corps, which had occupied the ex- treme left of Lee's line, was rapidly withdrawn from Gor- donsville, and ordered to the front. The two armies had bivouacked within five or six miles of each other, and both were on the alert at an early hour. Griffin's division of Warren's corps had been thrown to the right of old Wilderness Tavern on the turnpike the evening before, relieving the cavalry and posting its own pickets well out. 294 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Warren had hardly got his column In motion when his covering division was attacked with ereat vehemence, his pickets falling back rapidly. His orders to Crawford, com- manding his advance division, were to push forward to Parker's as rapidly as possible, but that officer, although informed by Colonel Mcintosh, who commanded a brigade of Wilson's division, and had just joined Hammond's hard- pressed regiment, that the enemy was advancing in force, moved with great deliberation, and did not reach Parker's at all. The intensity of the enemy's attack in the mean- time had increased to such a pitch that a general batde was now certain. Warren lost no time in deploying Wads- worth's division abreast of and to the left of Griffin's on the plank-road. Robinson's division was held in reserve, with one brigade in line on Wadsworth's left. Wright's di- vision of the Sixth corps was also ordered into position on the ricrht of this line. With this force a vigorous attack was made upon the advancing enemy, driving them back rapidly and in confusion : the heaviest of the fighting being done by Ayres' and Bartlett's brigades. But Ewell's lead- ing division was soon supported by the rest of his corps, and in turn drove back Warren's entire line. The woods were so tanorled and thick that the alio^nment could not be kept ; Crawford's division was separated from Wadsworth, and the latter from the main force formed on the turnpike; while Wright, for a similar reason, found it impossible to bring his division properly to Warren's support. Under such circumstances these sub-divisions of his command were unable to make head acrainst the force bearinor down upon them, akhough they struggled gallantly. Warren had, therefore, nothing to do but to withdraw his troops to a new line somewhat to the rear but still in front of Wilderness Run. Grant directed Meade to recall Hancock's column, which had moved at the appointed time southward by the way of Todd's Tavern. It was ordered to countermarch by the Brock road, and take position on Warren's left. In the meantime Hill's corps moving on the Orange plank-road had encountered Hammond's regiment, and, after a severe WAR OF THE REBELLION. 295 engagement, in which Colonels Hammond and Mcintosh behaved with great gallantry, had driven it from Parker's, but not till Getty's division of the Sixth corps had reached the cross-roads four miles to the eastward, and put itself in position to check Hill's advance. The intention of the latter was evidently to march down the Orange plank-road till he reached the Brock road, and then turning to the northward to throw himself upon what he supposed to be the flank of Grant's army. Fortunately his purpose was counteracted by the immovable stand made by Getty at the intersection of the roads. Hancock reached this position at three o'clock, and after beginning the construction of a line of breastworks along the Brock road, he was ordered to advance against Hill, and if possible drive him beyond the position at Parker's store. A few minutes past four o'clock the attack was made in fine style by Getty's division, which encountered the enemy in great strength only a few hundred yards to the front. Hancock went to his support with Birney's and Mott's divisions, and soon afterwards the greater part of Gibbon's and Barlow's divisions, with all the artillery, became engaged, pressing forward with great ardor; but our troops could not carry the enemy's position or break their lines, although they did not relin- quish the effort until after nightfall. In order to relieve the pressure on Hancock's front, and to strike Hill on the flank, Warren was directed to send a force from his left towards Parker's store. Wadsworth's division and Baxter's brigade were selected, and began the movement at about four o'clock, but they experienced such difficulty in penetrating the tangled forest that it was dark before Wadsworth could make himself felt by the enemy. Wilson's division, in the meantime, reached Craig's meet- ing-house at an early hour in the morning, and just beyond there encountered the Confederate cavalry under Stuart, driving it rapidly back more than a mile. His ammunition becoming exhausted, he was in turn repulsed, and shordy afterwards ascertained that the Confederate infantry had dislodged his regiment from Parker's store, and interposed between him the main army. Uniting his division as 296 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. rapidly as possible, he struck across the country, and, after severe fighting, succeeded in forming a junction with Greek's division at Todd's Tavern. Sheridan, having learned early in the day that the enemy's cavalry at Hamil- ton Crossing had rejoined Lee, concentrated his corps on the left of the army, confronting the Confederate cavalry under Stuart, defeating all his attempts to reach our trains, and holding all the country from Hancock's left, by the way of Todd's Tavern, to PIney Branch Church. The Ninth corps, under Burnside. had been instructed to hold a position on the north side of the Rapldan for twenty-four hours after the army had crossed. It was now ordered to the front, and, after a long and fatiguing march, reached the field on the morning of the 6th, where it was assigned a position between Warren and Hancock. Longstreet was also hastening to reinforce Lee. The operations of the 5th, as has been seen, were of somewhat desultory character, the principal efforts of both armies being to secure a position for delivering battle fa- vorably. It has been said that Grant's moving columns were surprised and caught in flank, but this is not so ; for al- though he had hoped to get through the Wilderness before encountering Lee, he had disposed of his forces to the best possible advantage. In anticipation of a battle. The field upon w^hich the contending armies were con- centrated is one of the most remarkable ever known. It is a w^ild and desolate reelon of worn-out tobacco-fields, covered with scraggy oaks and pines, sassafras and hazel, and Intersected with narrow roads and deep ravines. It is a strange battle-ground; yet it is here, amid these jungles, on these narrow wood roads, and in these deep ravines, that is about to be fought one of the mightiest and most bloody, if not most decisive, battles of the war. Manifestly, Grant had not intended that the battle should take place in the forest. He felt proud because of the success which had attended the crossing of the Rapldan. It was confessedly a perilous operation ; and the fact that it had been accom- plished " in the face of an active, large, well-appointed, and ably-commanded army," was well fitted to relieve his mind k WAR OF THE REBELLION. 297 of the most " serious apprehensions." It was his hope, if not his conviction, that another day's march would enable him to push the army beyond the Wilderness, and, using it as a mask, to advance rapidly on Gordonsvllle, and take a position between Lee's army and the Confederate capital. It was Grant's expectation, in fact, that Lee, as soon as he was made aware of the movements of the national army, would fall back towards Richmond. With this end in view, Sheridan was instructed to move, with Greg^o^'s and Tor- bert's divisions, against the Confederate cavalry in the direction of Hamilton's Crossing ; W^Ilson, with the Third cavalry division, was to move to Craig's Meeting-House on the Catharpin Road, and thence to send out detach- ments along the different avenues by which the enemy might approach ; Hancock, with his Second corps, was to advance to Shady Grove Church, and thence to extend his right towards the Fifth corps, at Parker's Store ; Warren, with his Fifth corps, was to move to Parker's Store, and to extend his right towards the Old Wilderness Tavern, where Sedgwick was ordered to take position. On the morning of Thursday, the 5th of May, these orders were put in execution. As early as five o'clock the different columns were in motion, and pushing towards the positions respectively assigned them. The o-round on which the strueele was about to bes^in — a struggle greatly more severe than was anticipated by the national leaders — was a sort of clearance in the forest. As seen from Warren's head-quarters, near the Old Wilder- ness Tavern, there was a little brook flowing in a north- easterly direction. The brook is bridged at the turnpike, which soon afterwards rises to a ridge, on the southern slope of which is Major Lacy's house, in the midst of a lawn and green meadows. Beyond, the hills were covered with pines and cedars. On the right of the turnpike the thicket was very dense. A little more to the right was a ravine which divided the forces of Griffin and Ewell. At noon the preparations were completed ; and Warren, with the divisions of Griffin and Wadsworth, advanced to the attack. It was made with tremendous energy, and at first 298 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. with complete success. The Confederate advance, which consisted of Johnson's division alone, was easily driven back ; and if the brigades of Ayres and Bardett had been more vigorously supported, Ewell's corps might have been involved in hopeless disaster. As it was the nationals, in what seemed the moment of victory, were speedily brought to a standsdll. Johnson had been driven back to the main body of Ewell's command. Rodes, with his fresh division, rushed to the rescue, when the shattered column quickly reformed. At this moment the batde raged with tremendous fury. It had been intended that Warren's right should be sustained by Wright's division, of the Sixth corps ; but owing to the denseness of the woods, and the total absence of roads, Wright was unable to get up in time. On Warren's exposed flank, therefore, the Confed- erates fell with fearful energy. The tide of batde was now turned. Griffin's brigades, overwhelmed by the force of the enemy, were driven back with the loss of two guns and several prisoners. Wadsworth's division, on the left, had been equally unfortunate. In striving to form a connec- tion with that of Griffin, it had moved in a wrong direction, completely exposing its left flank. On this the Confeder- ates opened a murderous fire, compelling the endre divi- sion to fall back in disorder. McCandless' brigade, of Crawford's division, which was stationed to the left of Wadsworth, fared even worse. Occupying an isolated posidon, and exposed at all points, it offered peculiar temptation for attack. The Confederates rushed upon it with great fury and in overwhelming numbers. For a moment it seemed as if the entire brigade was doomed to capture or destrucdon. After severe fighdng, McCandless succeeded in cutdng his way through, but not without the loss of two whole regiments. Warren, having thus lost all he had gained by the first successful onset, and having sacrificed at least 3,000 men, fell back and formed a new line of batde more to the rear, but still in front of the Old Wilderness Tavern, and across the turnpike. While Warren was thus engaged in the centre, Sedgwick, with the Sixth corps, having come up, was ready to take WAR OF THE REBELLION. 299 position on his right. Hancock, however, had not had time to return, as ordered, and take position on his left. Some four miles east of Parker's Store, as has already been indicated, the plank-road is intersected by the Brock road. Hill, it will be remembered, was pressing along the plank-road. Hancock, by the Brock road, was pushing forward to the point of intersection. It was all-Important that this strategic point should not fall into the hands of the enemy. As there was danger that Hill might reach that point before the arrival of Hancock, Meade ordered General Getty, with his division of the Sixth corps, to ad- vance and hold the position. It was not, however, a moment too soon, for Hill's divisions were already well forward ; and Getty, long before the arrival of Hancock, felt the presence and pressure of the foe. In spite of the rapidly increasing weight of his antagonist, Getty stoutly held his position. It was now near three o'clock in the afternoon. There was a lull in the fight. Suddenly there was heard a loud resoundinor cheer. It came from Han- cock's men, who, with almost incredible rapidity, were pushing through the defiles of the forest. On his arrival, Hancock took position along the Brock road facing westward. He immediately commenced to throw up breastworks. These, however, were not yet completed, when he was ordered to attack with his whole corps, Getty supporting the advance. Birney, with his own command and that of Mott, was thrown forward on Getty's right and left, on both sides of the plank-road. A section of Ricketts' battery, and a company of the First Pennsyl- vania artillery, followed close in the rear of the infantry. It soon became manifest that the enemy was present in great force, although such was the density of the forest that neither army could see the other. Getty, strengthened as he was by Birney and Mott, was making no head- way. Hancock, now pushing forward the brigades of Car- roll and Owen, of Gibbon's division, and the Irish brigade, of the Second Delaware, under Colonel Smythe, made, to use the language of General Lee, '' repeated and desperate assaults ;" but it was all in vain. Hill's corps, which 300 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. consisted of the divisions of Anderson, Heth and Wilcox, all of them West Point men, not only successfully resisted but repelled every attack. The afternoon was wearing away. During the heat of the fight, and when the Confederates made one of their desperate and apparendy successful onslaughts, the section of Ricketts' battery, which was moved along the plank-road, w'as actually captured, the men and horses suffering terribly. It was soon, however, recaptured by Carroll's brigade, and after- wards withdrawn and replaced by a section of Dow's Sixth Maine battery. Hancock had done his best, but ap- parently in vain. Mott's command had already given way ; and Hays, while attempting to fill up the break in the line, was shot dead, at the head of his brigade. The heavy and long-continued firing towards the junc- tion of the plank and Brock roads had already attracted the attendon of Grant and Meade. It was evident that the battle was fierce — that the Confederates were present in great force, and that Getty and Hancock^ were being taxed to the very utmost. By way of furnishing relief to these two commanders, Wadsworth, with his own division and Baxter's brigade, of Robinson's division, was ordered to move southward through the forest, and strike Hill on the flank and rear. Such was the density of the forest, and so great were the obstacles encountered in the face of skirmishers who were evidently familiar with every inch of the ground, that darkness had set in before Wadsworth was in a position to strike as directed. His troops rested on their arms for the night, ready to take advantage of their favored posidon in the morning. Towards midnight, all was silent in the Wilderness. Hancock had failed to drive Hill back on the plank-road. Hill had been equally unsuccessful in his attempt to dislodge Hancock. All along the line the nationals and Confederates lay so close to each other that the soldiers of both armies drew water from the same brook. As in the earlier part of the day, a ravine divided both the opposing armies in two. Han^ cock was separated from Warren and Sedgwick. Ewell was unable to form a connection with Hill. The batde- WAR OF THE REBELLION. 3OI ground was thickly strewn with dead and dying men. Such was the end of the first day in the Wilderness. Night was spent by both commanders in preparing for the conflict of the coming day. Burnside, it will be re- membered, had been left at Culpeper Court-House with the Ninth corps, his instructions being to hold that place for at least twenty-four hours after the departure of the main body of the army. He had already been ordered forward ; and shortly after day-break, on the morning of the 6th, he was on the field, and taking position between the troops of Warren and Hancock. He had marched with great rapidity a distance of thirty miles, and crossed both the Rap- pahannock and the Rapidan. Grant's order was given as soon as he heard the reports of the different commanders. It was simple. " Attack along the whole line at five in the morning." Lee had decided to deliver an overwhelming blow on Grant's left ; but as It would be impossible to do so before the arrival of Longstreet, he resolved to distract attention, and so gain time by making a demonstration on the national right. Just fifteen minutes before the time ap- pointed by Grant for the general attack, a sudden discharge of musketry in the direction of Sedgwick announced the fact that Lee was as ready for batde as his antagonist. This attack, however, was not pushed with vigor. Sedg- wick was able to hold his own, and even to push his front forward a few hundred yards. The general plan of batde, as Grant had arranged it, was undisturbed. At ^VQ o'clock precisely, Warren and Hancock advanced to the attack. Hancock, however, was doomed to bear the principal burden of the fight. With him, therefore, we must remain and witness the tide of batde, as It ebbs and flows In his front. Dreading an attack In great force, he had taken the precaution to throw up earthworks on the Brock road. Holding these works with his left, he threw forward his right and centre, consisdng of two divisions, under BIrney, Getty's command, and the brigades of Owen and Carroll, of Gibbon's division. Half and half work formed no part of Hancock's calculations. He meant to strike a firm and decisive blow. While BIrney and Getty 302 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. made the direct attack along the plank-road and on both sides of the same, Wadsworth, having- worked his way across that part of the Second corps which was advancino^ along- the right of the plank-road, was ready to strike Hill clean on the left flank. The direct and flank movements were made almost simultaneously ; and so furious was the onset that, after an hour's severe fighting, the ground along Hill's entire front was carried, and some parts of the line driven back through the woods fully half a mile. Hill's troops, in fact, could not be halted until they had overrun the trains, artillery, and even the head-quarters of the Confederate commander. The rifle-pits had been captured, with many prisoners, and five stands of colors. It seemed as if the batde were already won. Another vigorous onset, and the presumpdon is that Lee's army will be cut in tw^o. The divisions of Heath and Wilcox, of Hill's corps, have been literally shattered to pieces. At this supreme moment the victors paused in their tri- umphant progress. The pause was fatal. It w^as now about seven o'clock. Hancock set about rearranging his troops and getting them into battle order. He had been reinforced by Stevenson's division of Burnside's corps, and Wadsworth's division was now brought into proper line of batde. Getty's division, now completely exhausted, was replaced by Webb's brigade from Gibbon's command on the left, and Frank's brigade, of Barlow's division, was pushed forward from the same flank. In making these ar- rangements, however, two precious hours w^ere wasted. These hours of inaction proved a great gain to the Con- federates. Hill's remaining divisions found time to come up. Longstreet, too, was already close at hand. Hancock was as yet ignorant of the near presence of Longstreet. He had looked for him in another direction. It was known the night previous that he was marching up from Orange Court-House, and the unavoidable conviction was that his object was to strike Hancock in the left flank and rear. It was because of this conviction that Hancock had only ad- vanced his right divisions, leaving his left, under Gibbon, in charo-e of the works on the Brock road. Hancock had WAR OF THE REBELLION. 303 correctly judged. Longstreet had really been making such a movement. So sudden, however, and so ove r whelm i no- had been the attack on his front that Lee, fearing for the safety of his whole army, ordered Longstreet to discontinue his flank movement and to come to the assistance of Hill. His arrangements completed, Hancock resumed the ad- vance with great energy. The line in his front no longer yielded to his touch. Again and again he attempted to press back the enemy, but it was all in vain. The battle now raged again with great fury, deeds of daring being performed on both sides. Lee had exhibited great per- sonal bravery. When Gregg's Texans came up he put himself at their head, and was with difficulty dissuaded from leadinof them to the attack. For two hours the tide of battle ebbed and flowed. It soon beo^an to be evident that Longstreet was present in force, and that he was di- recting the movements of the Confederates in Hancock's immediate front. Finding it impossible to make any head- way, nay, feeling more and more the irresistible pressure of the foe, Hancock ultimately falls back and reforms on the oricrinal line alone the Brock road. It is now about eleven o'clock. The situation is becomino- more critical every moment. Wadsworth, after exhibiting great gallan- try, has just fallen, pierced through the head with a bullet, and his command is in utter rout. At this supreme moment, when the Confederates seem about to reap the rewards of victory, there is a sudden pause in the battle. Why, no one could tell. It afterwards appeared that, when about to deal a decisive blow both on Hancock's front and left flank, Longstreet was shot, by mistake, by his own men. He had been riding with his staff at the head of his column, when the cavalcade suddenly confronted a portion of the flanking force, and was mistaken for a party of national horsemen. It was an unfortunate occurrence for Longstreet, and, in- deed, for the whole Confederate army ; but it was the sal- vation of Hancock, and, probably, of the entire Army of the Potomac. Although the fighting had, so far, been mostly done by the national left, the centre and right had not been idle. 304 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Sedgwick, who was attacked In the early morning, but who had^successfully maintained his position, had labored in vain to carry certain intrenchments, behind which Ewell had sheltered his men. His attempts had been frequently re- peated ; his losses in consequence were great. Two of Warren's divisions had been detached and sent to the as- sistance of Hancock. The other two divisions held a simply defensive atdtude. It was part of the plan of the day that Burnside, advancing through the opening between Warren and Hancock, should co-operate in the general ad- vance. It was not, how^ever, until the afternoon that he became engaged with the enemy, and the results were un- important. After the repulse of Hancock by Longstreet, there was an almost unbroken lull along the whole line of battle until about four o'clock. When Longstreet was wounded Lee took formal charge of that part of the field. Hancock had turned to good account the time which had been allowed him. Reinforcements had been sent him by Meade; his position had been gready strengthened ; and his front hav- ing been cleared by a well-executed movement made by Colonel Leasure, he was fully prepared to meet the enemy. He had already received orders from Grant to resume the attack at six o'clock. Shortly after four o'clock Lee, who by this time had got the troops of Longstreet and Hill well in hand, hurled them against Hancock's lines. The Con- federate columns, four'in number, came rolling forward. Without halting or firing a shot they approached the edge of the abatis, less than a hundred paces from Hancock's front. Here they paused and opened a furious fire of mus- ketry, which was kept up with great vigor. It had litde effect, however, on Hancock's men, who were safe behind their breastworks, and who replied with becoming energy to the Confederate musketeers. While this was going on a fire, which had broken out in the woods in the afternoon, com- municated with the log-breastworks, which soon became a mass of flame. The smoke and flame, which were driven by the wind in the faces of the nationals, thus prevendng them from firing from the parapet, gave an advantage to WAR OF THE REBELLION. 305 the Confederates. Not slow to seize the opportunity Lee's men rushed forward, broke through the first hne, pressed GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE. into the breastworks, and crowded them with their stand- ards. At this critical moment, when some of the nationals were already in full retreat towards Chancellorsville, Car- 20 306 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. roll, of Gibbon's division, In obedience to orders from Gen- eral Birney, rushed forward by the left flank, and, falling with tremendous fury on the Confederates, routed them with great slaughter, reclaimed the works, and saved the day. Later in the day, and just before dark, a vigorous attack was made by Ewell on the right and front of Sedgwick's corps, on the extreme national right. It was a complete surprise to the nationals ; and, although Sedgwick quickly got his corps Into order and repelled the attack, it was not until Generals Seymour and Shaler, of RIckett's division, had been captured, with about 4,000 of their officers and men. It was now dark. The sound of battle ceased. The wearied soldiers, lying In many cases besides dead or wounded comrades, fell asleep on their arms. The piteous moanings of the wounded alone disturbed the surrounding solitude. The battle of the Wilderness, properly so-called, was ended. The two days' fighting had resulted In serious loss to both armies. The loss on the national side reached the high figure of 20,000 men, of whom probably 5,000 were made prisoners. On the part of the Confederates the loss was proportionately great, the lowest estimate being 10,000, of whom but few were captured. Among the killed on the national side were Generals Wadsworth, Hays, and Webb, and Hancock, Getty, Gregg, Owen, Bartlett, and Carroll were wounded, some of them severely. Of the Confed- erate officers, Generals Jones, Jenkins, and Stafford were killed, and Generals Longstreet, Pegram, Pickett, and Hunter were wounded. Such a bush-fight had never been fought before. On the morning of the 7th of May the rival armies still confronted each other in 'the Wilderness. Both were ex- hausted, and on neither the one side nor the other was there any disposition to renew the contest. In the national ranks there were not a few who were of the opinion that a backward march across the Rapidan would soon be ordered. Such thoughts, however, found no place in the mind of General Grant. His eye was fixed on Richmond. During WAR OF THE REBELLION. 307 the course of the day it became more and more apparent that Lee was falHno- back in the direction of Richmond. It was Grant's behef that Lee, convinced of his inabiHty to maintain the contest in the open field, had decided to retire and await an attack behind his own works. His own mind was quickly made up, and he resolved, by a flank move- ment on the Confederate right, to interpose his whole force between Lee and Richmond. Orders were given accord- ingly, and shortly after nightfall the entire national army was on its way to Spottsylvania Court-House, some thirteen miles farther to the southeast. Warren led the way, fol- lowed by Hancock, both on the Brock road. Sedgwick and Burnside moved on an exterior route, by way of Chancellorsville, where, during the course of the afternoon, the army trains had been parked. By this movement Grant abandoned the Germania Ford, and gave Lee an opportunity to cut off his communications. This, however, was of the less consequence, that the latter general was now under the necessity of taking care of his own com- munications, his right flank being already seriously threat- ened. Germania Ford, in fact, was now of litde use to Grant, and Lee might take possession or not as he thought fit. Lee was not slow to discover the real object of his an- tagonist, and to take measures accordingly. Anderson, who now commanded Longstreet's corps, received orders to move from the breastworks and take a position from which he would be able to advance on Spottsylvania Court- House in the early morning. Not finding a suitable place for bivouacking, in consequence of the fire in the woods, Anderson kept moving all night in the direction of the Court-House. It thus happened that Warren and Ander- son, the former by the Brock road, the latter by a parallel road a litde farther to the west, were simultaneously march- ing to the same point. It was about nine o'clock In the morning when Warren began to move his column. His desire was to reach Spottsylvania Court-House before the enemy could have time to be there in anything like force. Unfortunately, however, his course was greatly obstructed, and his pro- 308 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. gress hindered. At Todd's Tavern he was delayed for two hours, the road being blocked by Meade's cavalry escort. About two miles farther on, and near one of the tributaries of the Po, he was again brought to a standstill by the cavalry division of General Merritt, who, the day before, and up to a late hour of the night, had been engaged fighting Stuart. At this point he lost three hours. It was already daylight ; and when he resumed the ad- vance, the road was obstructed with barricades of heavy trees. Considerable time was consumed in removing these ; and it was not until eight o'clock on Sunday morn- ing that the head of Warren's column, composed of two brigades, under Robinson, emerged from the woods, and took position on the open ground at what was called Alsop's Farm. This open ground or clearing covered a space of about 150 acres, and was distant from Spottsylva- nia Court-House some two miles. At this point the road from Todd's Tavern forks — one branch leading to the Court-House, and the other to Laurel Hill. The open space was traversed by an inconsiderable stream called the Ny ; and the ground beyond, which ascended towards Spottsylvania, was again covered with woods. Warren's advance was half way across the clearing, and on the point of commencing the ascent of the crest, when, all of a sud- den, the ridee blazed with cannon, and a murderous mus- ketry fire burst forth from the woods. The national line staggered and fell back. A stampede seemed to be immi- nent. Robinson exerted himself to the utmost to hold his men to their work. Getting his batteries into position on the right, he returned the enemy's fire promptly and with vigor. He was soon severely wounded in the knee; his men, thus left without their leader, and retaining a recol- lection of their bitter experience in the Wilderness, fell back to the woods, where, through the personal exertions of General Warren himself, they were rallied and reformed. Soon afterwards came up Griffin's division, which met with a similar reception, with a like result. Meanwhile, Craw- ford's division and that of Wadsworth, now commanded by Cuder, had reached the batde-ground. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 3O9 Crawford advanced on Griffin's left; Cutler advanced on his right ; and, in a brief space, the woods on both Hanks were cleared of the enemy. Warren's entire corps was now drawn up in batde-line ; and the troops, as if con- vinced that another fierce and bloody batde was about to be fought, proceeded of their own accord to throw up in- trenchments. Such was the commencement of the great struggle at Spottsylvania Court-House. The fighting had been severe. The losses were heavy. On the national side about 1,300 men were put hors du combat. Some of the regiments were almost cut to pieces. The First Michi- gan, which went into the fight 200 strong, came out with only 23 men uninjured. The heat was most intense ; and large numbers of the men suffered from sunstroke. The engagement of Sunday morning, the 8th of May, is known as the battle of Alsop's Farm. It was the head of Longstreet's corps, commanded, as we have already seen, by Anderson, with which Warren had come in collision. If Anderson had not been at Spottsyl- vania Court-House ahead of Warren, there can be no doubt but that the story of that morning's fight would have been altogether different. Every obstruction put in War- ren's way was a benefit to Lee. Every moment XVarren was delayed was a double gain to the Confederates. But for the fire in the woods, which hastened Anderson's on- ward march, and but for the unfortunate obstructions which hindered Warren's progress, the national advance, it is rea- sonable to presume, would first have reached the clearing at Alsop's Farm. In such a case, the first great purpose of General Grant would have been accomplished — General Lee's right would have been turned. As it was, Lee had succeeded In planting his army right across Grant's line of march, and in establishing a powerful bulwark of defence on the Spottsylvania Ridge. This movement upon Spott- sylvania brought prominently into view, and shed fresh lus- tre on, the great abilities of the two rival commanders. The hand of Lee and the hand of Grant were distinctly visible. Skill in combination, promptitude of action and rapidity of movement entided the one to the victory ; and .■^ 312 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. to the north of the Court-House. His left rested on Glady Run, bending to the north, and was shekered by strong works; his right, curving also to the north, rested on the Ny ; his centre, slightly thrown forward, was posted on commanding ground. The entire position was well sup- ported by breastworks. Not much fighting had been done on the Monday. Towards the evening, Hancock made a movement across the Po, his object being to capture a wao-on train which was seen movin*^ alonor the road leadinof to Spottsylvania. The river was crossed without difficulty ; but night came on before the operation could be completed. When morning dawned, the original object of the move- ment no longer existed ; for the Confederate train was al- ready safe behind the lines at the Court-House. Hancock, however, was bent on giving effect to his purpose, to the extent, at least, of securing a lodgement nearer the enemy's position. In developing his movement, he found it neces- sary again to cross the Po, which runs first almost due east, and then, as it nears the Court-House, makes a sharp bend to the south. Tw^o miles west of the Court-House, it is spanned by a wooden bridge. The approaches to the bridge, however, w^ere all so completely commanded by the enemy, that a passage at that point was deemed impractica- ble. Not to be hindered in his purpose, Hancock had just succeeded in throwing across the brigade of Brooke, a short distance above, when, by order of General Meade, the whole movement was suspended. It had been decided at head-quarters to make an attack on Laurel Hill, a strong position in front of Warren and Weight ; and Hancock was ordered to send two divisions to assist in the proposed assault. The divisions of Gibbon and Birney were at once retired, the enemy taking advantage of the backward move- ment, and falling heavily on Birney's rear. Barlow's di- vision, of Hancock's corps, was left alone on the south side of the Po. It was already almost too late; for Barlow's skirmishers were already yielding to the vigorous pressure of the enemy. Two brigades of the division were got off without serious difficulty; but the brigades of Brooke and Brow^n were fiercely attacked, and compelled to hold off the GRA^fS HE^DQlARIKkh NEAR LriAilA^OOGA. GRANT'S HEAD-QUARTERS IN THE WILDERNESS. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 313 foe at every step of their backward progress. The diffi- culties of their position were aggravated by a fire, which broke out in the woods between them and the river. Those five brigades, however, were not to be dismayed. They succeeded at once in repelhng the assailants and in recrossing the stream. The remarkable coolness and self- possession of the men alone saved them from great disas- ter. As it was, they sustained the loss of many men in killed and wounded, and one gun — the first gun ever lost by the Second corps. Not a few of the wounded were left to perish in the flames. Meanwhile, the nationals had made two unsuccessful at- tempts on Laurel Hill. It had been attacked in the fore- noon by the brigades of Webb and Carroll. It was attacked more fiercely in the afternoon by the divisions of Crawford and Cutler. These attempts but revealed the enormous strength of the position. When Hancock arrived and joined Warren, arrangements were made for a united assault by the entire strength of the Fifth and Sixth corps. It was now^ five o'clock in the afternoon. In the face of a most withering fire, the nationals in thousands — now in steady line, now as if in broken groups, their standard-bearers always conspicuous — were seen struggling up the slopes, and, at one or two points, even penetrating the breastworks. It was found impossible, however, to effect a lodgement or to press on against the decimating fire. The nationals were compelled to fall back, and not without dreadful loss. An hour later, notwithstanding the fearful loss of life in the pre- vious encounter, the assault was repeated. It was made, if possible, with even greater bravery : it was repulsed with a still more dreadful slaughter. The Army of the Potomac had already witnessed much dreadful work. It had never before witnessed such work as this. Not once, since the commencement of the war, had such masses of men, in obedience to orders, marched to destruction. In these two assaults alone, the nationals lost nearly 6,000 men. Among the killed were Generals J. C. Rice and T. G. Stevenson. It was not, however, a day of disaster along the whole line. To the left of Warren, a vigorous assault was made 314 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. on what seemed a weak point In the Confederate Hne by two brigades of the Sixth corps — twelve picked regiments, under Colonel Upton. The attack was a complete success. The first line of inj|:renchments was carried ; and several guns, with over 900 prisoners, were captured. Upton ex- pected assistance from Mott ; but the latter failed to come to the rescue. Unable, without support, to maintain the advantage he had won, Upton fell back to the national lines, carrying w^ith him his prisoners, but leaving the captured guns behind. Such was the terrible loth of May at Spottsylvania Court- House. The losses on both sides, for the whole day, were heavy. The national loss was estimated at 10,000. The Confederate loss. Including killed, wounded and missing, was probably not under 9,000. On neither side, however, was there any disposition to yield. On the contrary, both commanders were resolved to renew the conflict on the morrow ; and preparations were made accordingly. On the morning of the nth day of May, General Grant sent a characteristic despatch to the secretary of war. ** We have now," he wrote, " ended the sixth day of very hard fighting. The result to this time Is much in our favor. Our losses have been heavy, as well as those of the enemy. I think the loss of the enemy must be greater. We have taken over 5,000 prisoners In batde, while he has taken from us but few, except stragglers. I propose to fight it oict 071 this line, if it takes all summer^ As to the wisdom of the determination expressed in this final sentence, different opinions have been entertained and expressed. The I I th was Wednesday. The morning rose bright and clear. The two opposing armies lay In close proximity to each other. As the day advanced there was some skirmish- ing ; but on neither side was any attempt made to provoke a general engagement. Both commanders, It was evident, were preparing for battle; nor could doubt remain in any mind that, whatever might be the result, another and even more fearful encounter at Spottsylvania was imminent. Grant was still bent on carrying out his policy of continuous hammering. It was resolved, therefore, to strike a bold and (315) 31 6 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. effective blow on the enemy's right centre. At that point, and near the Landrum House, Lee's Hnes formed a saUent. It was Grant's conviction that the point was vuhierable. Hancock, who was chosen to strike the blow, was ordered to leave his intrenchments in front of A. P. Hill, and, by moving to the left, to take position between the Sixth and Ninth corps. Wright was to extend his left, and to con- centrate on that wing. Warren was to make a diversionary movement on the Confederate left, in his own front, the object being to give the enemy sufficient employment in that direction, and so prevent the withdrawal of his troops for the relief of the menaced point. Burnside, for a similar reason, was to make a vigorous assault on the extreme left. Rain fell heavily in the afternoon. When night came the rain-storm had not abated ; and, as the moon was in its first quarter, the night was dark and dismal. Soon after mid- night, under cover of the darkness and the storm, Hancock moved out from his intrenchments, and, guided by the com- pass, passed in rear of Warren and VWight, and took posi- tion within 1,200 yards of the enemy's front, at the point to be attacked. Barlow's division, in two lines of masses, was placed on the left ; Birney's division, in two deployed lines, was placed on the right ; Mott's division, Hancock's Fourth, supported Birney ; and Gibbon's division was held in re- serve. Of the actual strength of the position about to be attacked, the nationals knew nothing. Hancock was ready, waiting for the first streak of early dawn, to launch forth his brave battalions to victory or to death. It is now half-past four o'clock on the morning of Thurs- day, May the 12th. A heavy fog is resting on the entire surrounding country; and the feeble light of the rising sun struggles hard to penetrate the gloom. Hancock's divi- sions are already in motion. Steadily and silently they move towards the salient — Barlow over open ground, which extends up to the Confederate lines, Birney through the thickly wooded ground more to the right. Not a shot has yet been fired — not a word uttered. More^than half of the intervening distance has already been crossed. Suddenly, there is a loud-resounding ch^er, which rings along the WAR OF THE REBELLION. 317 whole line. Spontaneously, the men take the double-quick. They have reached the abatis, torn it up, and tossed it aside. With wild cries, they rush bounding over the intrenchments, Barlow and Birney's men entering almost simultaneously. Inside the intrenchments there is a terrible hand-to-hand struggle, the bayonet and the clubbed musket being freely used. Some 4,000 men, including General Johnson, of Ewell's corps, and General George H. Stewart, are sur- rounded and captured ; and with them thirty pieces of ar- tillery and as many colors. Meanwhile, the remainder of the Confederate force, stricken with terror and thrown into the wildest confusion, have fallen back, seeking safety in the rear. This attack of Hancock's was justly regarded as the most brilliant feat of arms yet accomplished in the cam- paign. The officers were taken at their breakfast. The captured generals were greatly mortified. When brought into his presence, Hancock received them courteously, ex- tending his hand. Johnson took it, but, with tears in his eyes, declared that he would rather have died than been made a prisoner. Stewart behaved with less gallantry. Hancojck had known him before. " How are you, Stew- art ? " said Hancock, as he offered him his hand. The reply was haughty and indignant. " I am General Stewart, of the Confederate army ; and, under present circumstances, I de- cline to take your hand." "And under any other circum- stance, general," said Hancock, with great coolness, "I should not have offered it." An hour only had elapsed since the column of attack was formed. Along with the prisoners which he sent to Grant, Hancock sent a note hastily written in pencil, say- ing : " I have finished up Johnson, and am now going into Early." This second task, as we shall soon see, he found to be less easy of accomplishment than the former. Early, like Johnson, commanded a division of Ewell's corps. At the point penetrated, Lee's army, as we have seen, formed a salient. Hanicock had, therefore, by his first success, thrust a wedee between the Confederate rioht and centre. It was his hope that he would be able to cut Lee's army in 3l8 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. two ; and there can be no doubt that If sufficient provision had been made promptly and In force, to follow up the ad- vantage Hancock had won by his first brilliant assault, the desired end would have been accomplished. As It was, Hancock's troops, flushed with success, and Incapable of being restrained after the capture of the intrenchments, pressed on through the forest In the direction of Spottsyl- vanla, driving the flying enemy before them. At the dis- tance of half a mile they were suddenly brought to a halt In their triumphant career. They had reached a fresh line of breastworks. Behind these works Evvell had taken shelter, and reinforcements had reached him from the corps of Anderson and Hill. Gathering themselves up for a supreme effort, the Confederates, in overwhelmlhg numbers and in magnificent array, rushed from the breastworks, and, falling with crushing weight on Hancock's men, now slightly disordered by their fearless rush through the woods, drove them back to the line which they had captured in the early morning. Here, however, Hancock managed to rally his troops ; and, getting them Into line on the right and left of the angle of the works, he stoutly resisted the fierce and repeated onsets of the enemy, and firmly held his position. His situation, however, was becoming every moment more critical. Lee was resolved. If possible, to recover the lost line of works ; and, with this end In view, he was putting forth the most herculean efforts, and bringing his entire strength to bear on the one point. It was now six o'clock — one hour and a half since the first onset. Hancock was still holding his position ; but relief was sorely needed. At this opportune moment, when most needed, relief came. Wright, who had been hurried forward with his Sixth corps, arrived on the ground, and took position on the right of the salient. Hancock, thus relieved, concentrated his troops on the left of the angle. A little later, about eight o'clock, and with a view to relieve the pressure on Han- cock and Wright, Burnslde and Warren were ordered to attack along their whole fronts. The battle now raged furiously at every point. No evidence was given that Lee had changed his purpose. The last line at the salient was WAR OF THE REBELLION. 31 9 Still the object of his ambition. On Hancock and Wright he dealt his heaviest and most terrific blows.. Again and again, and in rapid succession, he rolled against them his heavy masses. He seemed resolved to dislodge them. Seeing this, and becoming convinced that Burnside and Warren were producing no impression on their respective fronts, Grant detached two divisions from the Fifth corps diose of Cuder and Griffin — and sent them to the aid of the Second and Sixth corps at the angle wliich was still regarded as the prize of battle, and where was the focus of'\he fight. Five times did Lee hurl his heavy columns ao-ainst the nadonal lines entrusted with the defence of this position. Five times, after severe hand-to-hand fight- incr, in which the slaughter on both sides was dreadful, were the attacking columns repulsed. It was not until after midnight that Lee withdrew his shattered and bleeding lines and reformed them in his interior position. Hancock held the works he had captured in the morning. The batde had lasted twenty hours. The losses on either side were about 10,000 men. Such was the great batde of Spottsylvania Court-House. Although not a decisive victory, it was a posidve gain to the national cause. Its moral effect was great. It was one of the bloodiest batdes of the war. On the morning of the 13th of May the two armies con- fronted each other, Hancock holding his advanced posidon and the Confederates firmly intrenched behind an inner and shorter line. Lee's posidon, in truth, was as invulnerable as ever. The troops on both sides, as well they might be, were sorely exhausted. The rain which set in on the nth condnued to fall. The ground in consequence was soaked, and the roads were heavy. On this day there was some manceuvring, and a severe engagement, which lasted sev- eral hours, took place between the forces of Burnside and those of A. P. Hill. Nothing was gained on either side. It was now the ninth day since the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan. In that brief space of time it had lost nearly 30,000 men, including a large number of officers. It was a fearful sacrifice of human life, sufficient to appall 320 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the Stoutest heart. There were, indeed, throughout the land not a few, who, looking only at the sacrifice, and heed- less of the results, pronounced the battles in the Wilder- ness and at Spottsylvania useless butcheries. Such was not the opinion of the generals in the field. It was not the opinion of Secretary of War Stanton, who nobly sustained Grant, and who, by his daily bulletins, cheered and buoyed up the hopes of the people. There were outside movements which were being carried on simultaneously with those events connected with the main army in the Wilderness and at Spottsylvania. These were Sheridan's raid and the co-operative movements of Burnside and Sigel. Sheridan, it will be remembered, in obedience to orders, set out on the morning of the 9th of May with portions of the three divisions of his corps, commanded respectively by Merrit, Wilson, and Gregg. His instructions were to en- gage the enemy's cavalry, to destroy the Fredericksburg and Virginia Central railroads, to threaten Richmond, and finally to communicate with and draw supplies from Butler's force on the James river. Cutting loose from tlie main army, he swept over the Po and the Ta, and crossing the North Anna he struck the Virginia Central and captured Beaver Dam Station. Sending out his men, he destroyed about ten miles of the track, also two locomotives, three trains of cars, and 1,500,000 rations. There, too, he recap- tured 400 nationals who had been made prisoners in the Wilderness, and who were on their way to Richmond. At Beaver Dam Station he was overtaken by a body of Con- federate cavalry under General J. E. B. Stuart, who had followed him from the Rapidan. Stuart fell upon him heavily, both on Hank and rear, but Sheridan, although he sustained some losses, was not hindered in his onward progress. He crossed the South Anna at Ground-squirrel bridge, and by daylight on the morning of the 1 1 th he had captured Ashland Station on the Fredericksburg road. After destroying six miles of the road, a train, and a large quantity of stores, he proceeded tov/ards Richmond. On the same day, at Yellowstone Tavern, a few miles north of WAR OF THE REBELLION. 321 Richmond, he again came Into collision with Stuart. A severe contest ensued, Sheridan finally obtaining possession GENERAL SHERIDAN. of the turnpike, and driving the Confederate cavalry back towards Ashland and across the north fork of the Chicka- hominy. In this encounter General Stuart was mortally 32 2 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. wounded ; and thus passed out of sight one of the most conspicuous figures of the war. Sheridan pushed on, his men oreatly emboldened by their success at Yellowstone Tavern ; and approaching Richmond, he made a bold dash on the outer line of works. This he easily carried — Custer's brio-ade capturing a section of artillery and lOO men. Findino- die second line too strong to be assailed with any prospect of success, Sheridan retraced his steps, and retired rapidly to the crossing of the Chickahominy at Meadow Bridge. There he found the bridge partially destroyed, widi the enemy in some force in his front and pressing also on his rear. Repulsing the enemy in his rear, he rebuilt the bridge under a most galling fire, and crossed a portion of his troops. The remainder made a detour by way of Cold Harbor, and crossed the Chickahominy at Bottom Bridge — ground rendered forever memorable by the Penin- sular campaign. Haxall's Landing was reached on the 14th. Communication from that point was opened with General Buder, supplies were received, and the wearied troops were allowed three days to rest and refit. Sheridan then returned leisurely by way of Baltimore Store, White House and Hanover Court-House, and on the 25th of May he rejoined the Army of the Potomac. On the 19th of May. however, a Confederate corps came out of its works on the extreme right of Grant, and at- tacked him with great fury, but was repulsed with immense loss. This was the last attack in force ever made by Lee on Grant, though the war lasted ten months longer. The batdes of the Wilderness and of Spottsylvania so crippled the enemy's strength and affected the Confederate spirits, that their commander never again dared trust his troops outside of their works in any great assault. On tlie night of the 21st Grant began another move ment by the left flank, towards the North Anna river, with a view again of placing himself between Lee and Richmond. Of course, he exposed himself to the same risk of Lee getting between him and Washington, but he always took risks ; and Lee never ventured to avail himself of the chance. As fast as Grant threatened to cut off the Con- WAR OF THE REBELLION. 323 federate communications, the enemy fell back to protect them, and thus, when Grant reached the North Anna, Lee was there before him, having necessarily, from his position in all these movements, the shorter line. The North Anna, however, was crossed by a portion of Grant's army, despite severe opposition. Meanwhile, Buder had moved promptly, on the 4th of May, seized City Point, at the mouth of the Appomattox river, as well as Bermuda Hundred, on the opposite bank of that stream. His movements for some days afterwards, however, were not productive of any result of importance. On the 13th and 14th he moved up to the rear of Drury's Bluff, a fort on the south side of the James, and about seven miles below Richmond. But the enemy had mean- time collected all their scattered forces in North and South Carolina; and, on the i6th, they attacked Butler, and forced him back to his intrenchments between the forks of the James and Appomattox, where he was completely safe indeed, but entirely useless for offensive operations. Lee, in consequence, was able to reinforce his army in front of Grant with at least a division brought from before Rich- mond. Sigel's operations had also been unfortunate; he had advanced up the Valley of Virginia, as far as New Market, where he suffered a severe defeat, and retreated behind Cedar creek. In consequence of this result, Lee was able to bring several thousand reinforcements from the Valley of Virginia to oppose the Army of the Potomac. Grant, however, learning that Confederate troops had been moved from Buder's front to reinforce Lee, im- mediately ordered Buder to send all his available force to the Army of the Potomac, retaining only enough on the south side of the James to secure what had already been gained. Before these reinforcements reached Grant, he had made a third movement to the left, finding that the position of the enemy on the North Anna was stronger than either of those they had previously held. On the night of the 26th the Union forces withdrew to the north bank of the 324 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. North Anna, then marched south and east, and crossed the Pamunkey river at Hanovertown. The enemy, however, made a corresponding movement, and, when Grant arrived at Cold Harbor, and the Chickahominy, Lee was again in his front. The additions to the forces on each side had brought the armies of both Lee and Grant up to nearly the numbers with which they started from the Rapidan, when both ap- proached Cold Harbor, about ten miles from Richmond. Several indecisive conflicts occurred here, and, on die 3d of June, Grant ordered a general assault upon the enemy's w^orks, but met with the same result as at Spottsylvania ; the enemy, behind his bulwarks, was doubled in strength, according to all the estimates of the military art, and the national troops were unsuccessful in the attempt to pene- trate the works. This was the only encounter of the campaign in which Grant did not inflict upon the enemy a damage which compensated for his own. When he started from the Rapidan, Grant made up his mind that only the annihilation of Lee's army, and the exhaustion of all his forces, would allow the suppression of the rebellion. All these battles — of the Wilderness, of Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor — were fought and persisted in with the in- tention of gradually weakening and finally destroying Lee. They effected their purpose, at the price of precious lives, it is true, but at that price the Union was saved, and could alone be saved ; all other means had failed ; no skill had proved sufflcient, no courage had availed, until Grant came, and dealt those tremendous blows, which were the real death-blows from which the rebellion never recovered. They did what he set out to do. They not only depleted Lee so terribly that he never again assaulted Grant, but they drove the Confederate commander step by step from the Rapidan to the James, from which he never afterwards advanced except in the direction of Appomattox Court-House. Grant at Cold Harbor was master of the region between Richmond and Washington ; his communication with the latter city was open, while the enemy were shut up within the doomed (325) 3 26 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. town, which so many of our leaders had striven to reach in vain. When Grant started from the Rapidan, it had been his in- tention to cross the James and attack Richmond on the south side, unless he should sooner overthrow Lee on the way. Richmond was supplied from the south by three railroads, that run, one, the Weldon road, direcdy into North Caro- lina, and so on through the Adandc States ; another, reach- ing west to Chattanooga, and connecdng with the endre southwestern region of the attempted Confederacy; the third, running southwest into the interior, as far as Danville. Grant saw, by a glance at the map, that when these rail- roads were in his power, Richmond must fall. Before the campaign began, he declared to those in his confidence, his intendon to seize these roads, as soon as Lee should be driven into Richmond. This was now accomplished. Lee was within ten miles of the city which he defended and Grant besieged. Lee's army and Richmond were now be- come one objective point, and Grant at once set about carrying out the secondary plan he had formed six weeks before. He marched his army across the James, making a fourth movement to the left, in the very sight of the enemy, who was too weak and had suffered too gready to come out and obstruct the operation. Grant's pickets were within hailing distance of Lee's ; his army front was not five hundred yards from the Confederate works at Cold Harbor ; but he withdrew his forces from this close propinquity, made a fourth flank movement in the very presence of his enemy, built bridges across the James two thousand two hundred feet in length, and crossed his whole army, with an immense wagon train, without the loss of a man, Lee not daring to come out of his works once, not offering the slightest opposition to an operation of such combined delicacy and magnitude. During this campaign Grant had fought the batdes of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna and Cold Har- bor, besides a dozen smaller skirmishes, some of which ros(^ to the proportions of an ordinary battle ; and after WAR OF THE REBELLION. 327 each fight he had advanced and Lee had withdrawn. While covering and protecting Washington, the Union commander had steadily proceeded from the Rapidan to the James. He had lost, from the 5th of May to the 12th of June, six thousand killed, twenty-six thousand wounded, and nearly seven thousand missing; total, less than forty thousand men, of whom half eventually returned to duty. The losses of the enemy can never be definitely known, as so many of their records have been destroyed ; but Grant captured in this period over ten thousand of the enemy, while his own loss in missing, as has already been stated, was less than seven thousand; so that Grant took about four thousand more prisoners than Lee. Grant was still following Lee and aiming at Richmond. The James river was crossed on the 13th of June, 1864. Meanwhile, Hunter, who had superseded Sigel, was sent into the region to the northwest of Richmond, with the idea of living off the country there, so as to destroy its supplies, and, if possible, cut the enemy's communication with the west. By this expedition, and another simultaneously de- spatched under Sheridan towards Staunton, Virginia, Grant meant to act upon the principle with which he set out, of weakening the enemy in every quarter at once. While he himself should be making the main attack at the heart of the rebellion, his subordinates, in every part of the theatre of war, were to exhaust, and annoy, and tire out the enemy. The movements in Virginia were stricdy co-operative. They, too, were only a part; their aim and object are ob- scured, their greatness is not sufficiendy apparent, if it is forgotten that Grant was at the same time directing opera- tions all over the condnent; that he thought it worth while to incur great risk here, because he thus withheld the enemy from reinforcing their armies a thousand miles away. For Sherman was by this means able to slowly penetrate into Georgia. By the dme Grant had crossed the James, Sher- man had driven Johnston back in battle and on the march as far as Kenesaw mountain, a distance of fifty miles, and Hunter had reached and invested Lynchburg. At the en^d of what is called the Wilderness campaign, Grant, load 328 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. reached the James river ; the other great armies of the Republic were also penetrating to the very Interior of the enemy's region ; the practical concentration that had been aimed' at was being effected ; the enemy were losing heart and men and resources, as well as ground, all ot which could never be regained ; and though the price that had been paid was great, not otherwise or cheaper could the result have been obtained. Through fire and blood and suffering only are nations saved. Grant had every reason to be sadsfied that his plans had proceeded thus far to their consummadon. The enemy felt certainly that the tolls were being drawn closer on every side ; that their new antagonist was a master ; that unity of action and clearness of design and energy of effort had succeeded to distraction, and Indecision and spasmodic struggles on the part of the Union. So far, the nation had great cause for gratitude to God and its armies, and to him who, under God, was the leader of those armies. Before Grant began to remove the Army of the Potomac to the southern side of the James, he despatched Sheridan, as has been seen, upon another of those raiding expedi- tions which form^ so Important a part of his plan. Sheri- dan, therefore, had been sent to destroy the Virginia Cen- tral railroad, at the same time that Hunter had been moved south from Winchester, on the route that SIgel had at- tempted at the outset of the campaign. The region where Hunter was to operate is known as the Valley of Virginia, and Is one of the most fertile spots in the Union. It had furnished supplies of vast Importance to the Confederates all through the war, and was the only really important source yet left open to Lee on the north side of Richmond. Grant planned for Sheridan and Hunter to advance towards each other, from opposite directions, doing all the destruc- tion possible to railroads, canals, and crops, and forming a junction In the heart of the fruitful region. After the work laid out for them was thoroughly done, they were to join the Army of the Potomac ; either making a circuit in the rear of Lee, or returning by Sheridan's route, as should seem most advisable at the time. THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY, THE SCENE OF SHERIDAN'S GREAT RAID. (329) 330 L^FE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Hunter drove the enemy in his front, occupied tempo- rarily nearly all the Valley of Virginia, fought a battle in which he carried everything before him, while Sheridan moved up in the same direction, though from a different starting-point, doing great damage to railroads and crops. But Hunter thought it advisable to move westward instead of towards Sheridan, as had been planned and ordered ; so the junction was not formed, and Sheridan, meeting with greater opposition than his force alone was able to overcome, returned to Grant, while Hunter marched direct on Lynchburg, a place of the greatest importance in the rear of Richmond. Lee at once perceived the necessity of retaining Lynchburg, and despatched a large force, under Early, to oppose Hunter. Grant had not hoped that Hun- ter, without Sheridan, would be able to capture Lynchburg, which, being on the Chattanooga railroad, must of necessity be vigorously defended by Lee ; but Hunter had been so successful thus far, that he made the attempt. Lee, how- ever, having, as usual, a greatly shorter line, threw a force into Lynchburg before Hunter reached it; and Hunter, getting short of ammunition, was obliged to retire. He had now no choice of routes, but was obliged to return north by way of the Kanawha valley ; and this occupied him several weeks, durinor which the recrion that it was in- tended he should cover was necessarily left exposed. Unfortunately, all this happened at the very moment when Grant was making his movement across the James. Grant, not knowing of Hunter's change of plan, supposed of course that the latter was protecting the Shenandoah valley; and proceeded with his movement to the south side. W. F. Smith, who was in command of the troops from Butler's army, was moved out in the night to White House, on the York river, where he took transports, which conveyed him by the Chesapeake bay and James river, to City Point and Bermuda Hundred. Buder, thus reinforced with his own troops, was to seize Petersburg, a point in the interior lying direcdy on the road to Richmond. It was impossible to advance farther up the James river than Ber- muda Hundred, on account of the elaborate defences with MAP SHOWING THE POSITIONS OF THE ARMIES NEAR PETERSBURG, VA. (330 232 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. which that stream was guarded. Grant, however, hoped to secure Petersburg by surprise, before the enemy could become aware of his intention or fortify the place. Smith moved with great secrecy and celerity, and meanwhile Grant had directed the laying of a pontoon-bridge over the James, by which the Army of the Potomac was to cross. The bridge w^as laid some twenty miles from Petersburg, which is on the Appomattox, about ten miles in a direct line from the James. The idea was for Smith, who went on transports, to advance rapidly and seize Petersburg, while the Army of the Potomac would cross by the bridge and march up at once to his support. Smith reached Petersburg early on the 15th of June, but did not assault until sundown ; he then attacked with a part of his force, and carried a portion of the Confederate lines with ease, capturing fifteen cannon and three hundred prisoners by seven o'dock P. M. Meanwhile, the advance of the Army of the Potomac had been hurried across the James, extra- ordinary exerdons had been made to supply it with rations, and it was pushed rapidly forward to the support of Smith. Hancock was in command of this advance. He reached Petersburg before dark, and, being the senior officer, w^as entided to command. As Smith, however, had already gained so great advantages, Hancock waived his rank and oftered his troops to Smith, to be used as that officer should desire. Smith, however, thought he had ^ accomplished enough, and although it was a bright moonlight night, and there%vere no indications that the Confederates were rein- forced, he did not push the assault. In the night the enemy discovered Grant's withdrawal from the north side and the attack on Petersburg, and before morning Lee was in force in front of Hancock and Smith. Grant, meanwhile, had been superintending and expedi- ting the crossing of the Army of the Potomac, and, early on the 1 6th, rode up to Smith's lines hoping to find him in possession of Petersburg ; for there had been ample time, opportunity, and force. But he found the enemy fortifying, Smith occupying an outer line, with Lee in strength behind the enemy's works, and it was not till evening that the WAR OF THE REBELLION. 333 Army of the Potomac was up in sufficient force to assault the now increased strength of the enemy. Attacks were made on the i6th, 17th, and i8th, and important positions gained ; but the enemy could not be dislodged from his interior line. Disappointed in his hopes of seizing the town, Grant now determined to envelope Petersburg, not attacking fortifica- tions again, but extending his line as far as possible towards two of the railroads, so important to Richmond, and which both passed through Petersburg. Lee, of course, perceived this change in Grant's tactics, and, as Hunter was at this time advancing against Lynchburg, the enemy were able to send off a corps with safety to repel Hunter. But Grant was not idle, although he had determined to cease assaulting Petersburg. His aim was to reach the South-Side road, and he despatched two small divisions of cavalry, under Wilson, to strike that road at a distance of fifteen miles from Petersburg. Wilson reached the road, and destroyed it for a distance of many miles, doing serious damage to the enemy's communications; but, in his return, he was intercepted by a force sent out by Lee to pursue him. He divided his command and endeavored to avoid the enemy, but was foiled in the attempt, and only suc- ceeded in rejoining the Army of the Potomac with the loss of all his guns and trains. Meanwhile Grant had effected a lodgement on the north side of the James, at a point called Deep Bottom, some miles nearer to Richmond than City Point ; and, on the 26th of July, he moved a large force to that place, crossing the James by a pontoon-bridge above Bermuda Hundred. The object of this move was, if possible, to cut again the enemy's railroads on the north side ; or, if it should seem more desirable, to take advantage of the withdrawal of the enemy's troops from before Petersburg, which this demon- stration on the north side would necessitate, and explode a mine which had been dug under the enemy's line at Petersburg. CHAPTER IX. WAR OF THE REBELLION — Continued, Early's raid through ihe Shenandoah valley and Maryland — Threatening Baltimore and Washington — An engagement in front of the defences of Washington — The Sixth corps to the rescue — Sheridan's great raid up the Shenandoah valley — Fisher's Hill — The siege of Petersburg — Co-operation of Sherman — From Atlanta to Savan- nah — Thomas' campaign — Hood defeated — Sheridan's victory at Five Forks — Lee's surrender at Appomattox — Magnanimous treatment of the Confederates by Grant — Assassination of President Lincoln — Andrew Johnson President — Surrender of Johnston's army to Sherman — The collapse of the Confederate government — Grati- tude to Grant. Lee was a great general, and as soon as he discovered that Hunter was retreatnig westward from Lynchburg, and that, in consequence, the Shenandoah valley was left open and Washington uncovered, he determined to avail himself of this opportunity. Before Grant could learn the fate of Hunter, the Confederate chief despatched the corps which had been sent to the defence of Lynchburg into the Shen- andoah valley. The command was under Early, and moved rapidly down the valley, reaching the neighborhood of Harper's Ferry by the ist of July. Great alarm was imme- diately felt at the national capital. The government had reHed so exclusively on Grant, that, he being absent in front of Petersburg, all its action seemed paralyzed. He w^as urged to move his army at once from the James back to the Potomac, and abandon all the advantages he had gained through the two months of fighting and marching, in order to save the capital. He, however, had no idea of doino- this. He felt that he had his hand at the throat of the rebellion, and he meant never to let go his grasp. He saw how vastly more important it was for him to maintain his army at the vital military point; and he had the genius to perceive that point, as well as the courage to do as he (334) (335) ^;^6 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. thought right, in spite of entreaties and advice from soldiers and civiHans of place and reputation at the rear. But he still had no notion of losincr Washinorton. He -. ... ^ despatched first one division, and then two more of the Sixth corps to the defence of the region near the Potomac; he sent orders to the officials at Washington to gather ud all the forces in that neighborhood, at Baltimore, and in the garrison of the capital ; and at last sent the Nineteenth corps, which he had ordered from Banks when he became convinced that nothinof effective ao^ainst Mobile could be done with the command of that officer durino- this cam- paign. This corps arriving north at this crisis 'to join the forces on the James, was immediately ordered by Grant to Washington ; so that, before the Confederate force had reached that city, the Union strength was sufficient to de- fend it. Reinforcements came in rapidly from these various quarters, and Grant telegraphed for General Wright, who commanded the Sixth corps, to be placed at the head of all the troops for the defence of Washington, and directed that officer to move at once on the offensive against Early. Wright obeyed promptly, and Early was driven back into the valley. Hunter now arrived, after his circuitous return from West Virginia, and joined Wright at the entrance of the valley ; he was the ranking officer and took command. Thus Lee's plan of forcing Grant to abandon Richmond for the sake of saving Washington was defeated. It had been a skilful move on the military chessboard, and, with many other generals to deal with, would have succeeded ; but Grant never wavered for a moment. He had no more i^ea of abandoning the goal at which he was aiming, on account of any such distraction as Early's campaign, than he had of returninof to Washinorton after the battle of the Wilderness. He knew what was his real object, and he suffered nothing to divert his attention. Still, he was able to carry on a manifold campaign. Because he chose to direct his principal strength against a certain point, was no reason why he should not control all the subordinate move- ments, which were to tend to the same object, through dif ferent channels. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 337 The Confederates had annoyed Grant by this valley movement, and they were determined to persist in it ; as, in consequence of the addition to their strength, which the fortifications of Petersburg afforded, they were able to afford the subtraction of enouofh men to create a serious distracting element in Grant's campaign near home. Lee annoyed his antagonist considerably for a while, until the Union commander became provoked, and finally turned and dealt a blow to the Confederates from which they never recovered. The weapon with which he dealt the blow was Sheridan. The confusion and mismanagement, and alarm around Washington during all these movements, had convinced Grant that there existed the same necessity for one supreme commander of all the forces in the neiehborhood of the capital. He determined that the four departments of West Virginia, Washington, Susquehanna, and the Middle De- partment must be consolidated, and that a capable soldier must be placed at the head of them, who could be allowed sufficient independence of action and discretion to secure success In his movements, but who at the same time must be really subordinate, and willing to make the movements of his command thoroughly co-operative with those more Important ones of the army in front of Lee. Grant, there- fore, visited Washington in person, informed the govern- ment of his views, to which they immediately deferred, and then went forward to the valley to view the situation for himself, and determined what he wanted done and by whom. He at once decided that the true course was to concentrate all the troops In that region, and push the enemy as far as possible. He, Indeed, never believed in remaining on the defensive. Sheridan, as commander of the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, had already displayed the charac- teristics, the splendid vigor, the persistency, the determina- tion, the sagacity, and the moral courage which Grant re- quired for the position he was now creating. He sent for Sheridan, who joined him at Monocacy, Maryland, and then placed him in command. Sheridan was directed : " Con- centrate all your available force; and if it is found that the 22 338 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. enemy has moved north of the Potomac in large force, push North, follow him, attack him wherever he can be found. Follow him, if driven south of the Potomac, as lone as it is ... ^ safe to do so." Two divisions of his old cavalry were sent from the Army of the Potomac to assist in carrying out these orders, and he was informed: "In pushing up the Shenandoah valley it is desirable that nothing should be left to invite the enemy to return. Take all provisions, forage, stock, wanted for the use of your command; such as cannot be consumed, destroy. The people should be informed that so long as an army can subsist among them, recurrences of these raids must be expected, and we are determined to stop them at all hazards. Bear in mind, the object is to drive the enemy south, and to do this j^ozi want to keep him always in sight. Be guided in your course by the course he takes." These orders show that he believed in always taking the offensive, in concentration of troops and efforts, in " push- ing," driving, following, attacking the enemy whenever he could be found, in keeping him always in sight, but that he was guided in his course by the course of the enemy. During August and the early days of September he re- mained near Winchester. By biding his time for weeks, until the opportunity came for a telling blow, he proved his discretion as he had already proved his valor. The general's old regiment, the Fourth regular infantry, which had been terribly cut up during the Wilderness cam- paign, was now detailed as his body-guard. It did not contain a single man who had belonged to it in the days when he was lieutenant and captain, but all were zealous in serving him, and plumed themselves not a litde that he began his career as a soldier in the " Old Fourth." In August as an ordnance boat at the City Point wharves was discharcrincr ammunition, one case fell to the orround and the whole cargo exploded, killing many men and de- stroying several steamers, and two millions of dollars' worth of property. The thundering reports shook the earth for miles, and planks, fragments of human bodies, and clouds of other (339) 340 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. missiles dropped about head-quarters like rain. Terror- stricken officers and men ran wildly to and fro, wondering if the general destruction of the universe had come. Grant only stepped out of his tent, took his cigar from his mouth, glanced calmly around, and seeing that he could do no good, returned quietly to his camp-chair. General Grant was one of the plainest dressed men in the army, and had always the welfare and comfort of his men in mind. The following is an example of his kindness toward his soldiers : The first time General Grant left Culpeper Court-House, where his head-quarters then were, for Washington, the quartermaster made up a special train to accommodate the sick and such as might have leave of absence. One pas- senger car in the train was reserved for General Grant and the two or three officers with him, and they did not attract any especial attention as they passed into the car. The general was always the plainest and least ostentadous man in the army. All the cars of the train except the one re- served for General Grant were soon crowded, and many soldiers were standing on the platform of the station. General Grant was sitting alone on the side of the car next to the platform and near the door, when a soldier came to the door and was told by the guard that he could not come into that car. General Grant asked the guard what the man wanted, and was told that he wanted to go to Washington. The general then asked why he was not permitted to come into the car, and was answered that "This car is a special car for General Grant and his staff." The general replied quickly, "Let him come in. I only occupy one seat in this car." This was the first indmation the guard had that General Grant and his staff were in the car. The general then asked what the other men were doing who were standing out on the platform, and being told diat they wanted to go to Washington, he said : " Let all who can crowd in get in." The car was soon filled, one private soldier taking a seat beside the general and engag- ing him in conversation nearly all the way to Alexandria, not knowing with whom he was talking. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 341 Having established Sheridan in command, and given him his orders, the lieutenant-general returned to City Point, to hurry up the cavalry which was to join the new commander. It was more than a month before Sheridan could get his army ready to move, and the country, not knowing the man as Grant did, got anxious. Pennsylvania and Maryland seemed constandy threatened with invasion, and Grant paid Sheridan another visit, not being willing to give him a posi- dve order to attack, until he should once more see for him- self the exact situadon. This Sheridan explained, an- nounced he could move the moment he was ordered, and expressed every confidence of success. Grant declares that he saw there were but two words of instrucdon to give his subordinate : " Go in ; " m being, in military parlance, a condensed form for "into batde." Grant asked Sheridan if he could be ready by Tuesday, and the latter replied, - Before daylight on Monday." He did prompdy what he promised, and Grant declared, " The result was such that I have never since deemed it necessary to visit General Sheridan before giving him orders." On the 19th of September Sheridan attacked Early and defeated him with heavy loss, capturing several thousand prisoners. The enemv rallied at Fisher's Hill, and was at- tacked acrain, and again defeated on the 20th ; Sheridan pursued him with great energy. On the 9th of October still another batde occurred at Strasburg, when the enemy was a third dme defeated, losing eleven pieces of ardllery. On the night of the i8th, however, they returned and at- tacked Sheridan's command, from which he was about twenty miles distant at the dme ; the nadonal forces were driven back with loss, but finally rallied; just at this moment Sheridan came upon the field, arranged his lines to receive a new attack of the enemy, and in his turn as- sumed the offensive, defeating the enemy with great slaugh- ter, and the loss of their ardllery, as well as all the trophies which had been captured in the morning. Pursuit was made to the head of the 'valley, and thus ended the last at- tempt of the enemy to invade the North. Their force in the valley was completely broken up, and never again 342 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. assumed an oro-anized Independent form. Gram was tlius able to bring ^back the Sixth corps to the Army of the Potomac, to send one division from Sheridan to the Army of the James, and another to Sherman. On the 13th of August Grant moved a large force to the north side of the James, so as to threaten Richmond from that quarter, and compel Lee to bring back any troops he might be sending to the valley. It was discovered that onfy a single division had been sent to Early ; but this movement had the effect of drawing a large Confederate force from the defences of Petersburg, in order to resist the apprehended attack on Richmond. Grant at once sent the Fifth corps to seize the Weldon railroad, which the enemy held, and by which they drew many of their most important supplies. A fierce batde ensued, with heavy losses on each side, but Grant gained possession of the road, and the most furious efforts of the enemy were in- sufficient to dislodge him. He never afterwards lost his hold of that important avenue of communication between the Confederate capital and the region farther south.^ On the contrary, he constructed a railroad from City Point to the Weldon road, and was thus able to transport his own supplies to the extreme left of his now extended front. Miles upon miles of fordficadons now defended both Richmond and Petersburg, and the besiegers themselves had erected works as strong as those which they opposed. The extension of Grant beyond the. Weldon road forced Lee also to reach out by his own right, or Grant would have overlapped him. This extension of Lee, it seemed, must weaken his force on the north side of the James ;^ so Grant, on the 29th of September, made an advance against the fordficadons of Richmond. The strongest of all the defences of that city was carried by assault, but this was only one fort among many, and no other success was attained. The position was, however, so important and so far advanced, that Grant determined to maintain it. But- ler's entire army was now moved to the north of the James, to remain there. Desperate attempts were made by the enemy to dislodge him, but all failed. Simultaneously with WAR OF THE REBELLION. 343 the capture of this position, afterwards known as Fort Harrison, Meade made a movement on the extreme left of the Knes before Petersburg, with a view of attacking, if the enemy should be found materially weakened by a with- drawal of troops to Buder's front. Several fights occurred, but no result of significance, and Meade returned. On the 27th of October another movement was made to the left, with the view of ascertaining whether it would be possible to overlap the enemy's right, and thus to reach the South-Side road, whose possession would at once secure the fall of Petersburg. This reconnoissance devel- oped the fact, that the enemy's fortifications reached out certainly to within six miles of the South-Side road, if not farther, and, no opening for a successful assault presendng itself. Grant returned within his own lines. In making the return movement, Hancock was attacked, but immediately faced his corps about and drove the enemy, with slaughter, within their works. Meanwhile another portion of Grant's great scheme was proceeding under the skillful management of Sherman. That commander was able to prosecute his campaign with- out fear of interruption. He was certain that Grant would not intermit his operations, and that no support from Lee would be allowed to come to Johnston at a criucal moment. He himself was co-operating constandy with Grant, pre- vendng Johnston from reinforcing Lee, and he had no fear that his commander would forget or neglect him. There was perfect harmony between the chief and his great lieu- tenant. So Sherman, moving from Chattanooga, on the 6th of May, had advanced in a series of skillful movements, somewhat similar to those of Grant in the Wilderness. The batdes were not so fierce, the opposition not so obsti- nate, but the campaign reflected immense credit on Sher- man and his army ; and on the 2d of September it was crowned with success. Adanta, the first objecdve desig- nated to Sherman by Grant, was captured, the result of the last of a series of flank movements, which will always be memorable in military history. Johnston had at first been Sherman's antaoonist, but falling into disfavor with the 344 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Confederate authorities at Richmond, he had, in July, been superseded by Hood, an officer of vastly less ability, but with a more reckless audacity. Hood assisted Sherman materially by the unskillful character of his operations. That which afforded not only Sherman, but Thomas and even Grant, opportunity for the conception and execution of some of their finest desicrns, was a movement under- taken soon after the fall of Atlanta. Sherman, having driven Hood's army steadily back a hundred and fifty miles, and manoeuvred it out of Atlanta, the great railroad centre in Middle Georgia, Hood now thought that, depleted and disheartened as his soldiers were, he could assume the offensive against the force by which he had been so often defeated. Making a wide detour, he advanced to the right of Sherman, and moved so as to strike the railroad in rear of the Union army, along which all its supplies were con- veyed from Chattanooga. Hood's idea evidently was to interrupt all of Sherman's communications with the North, and thus isolate him in the interior of Georgia. Grant, as has been heretofore explained, had never intended to allow Sherman to be placed in this predicament ; but had intended him, after he arrived at Atlanta, to push on still farther, cutting loose from all communication, as Grant himself had done at Vicksburg, and striking for the sea, either at Mobile or Savannah, as might seem preferable. Mobile, it was expected, would be the point ; and, with this view, Grant had early ordered Banks to attack and take Mobile, so that he might be ready to meet Sherman, when the lat- ter pushed on in his interior march. As soon, however, as it was apparent to Sherman that Hood was attempting to interrupt the railroad line between Chattanooga and Atlanta — especially when he saw that this was to be done with an entire army — he proposed a modi- fication of the plan to Grant. Grant had intended Sher- man to hold the line from Chattanooofa to Atlanta, but to cut loose entirely from the latter place ; Sherman suggested the destruction of Atlanta, and the entire abandonment of the line from Atlanta to Chattanooga. Grant thought that, in this event, Hood would strike for the North, and that MAP SHOWING COUNTRY FROM NASHVILLE. TENN., TO DECATUR, ALA (345) 346 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. even now he was aiming at Middle Tennessee, while Sher- man "would meet none but old men, little boys, and rail- road oruards in his march through Georo-ia ; " but Sherman was positive that Hood would be forced to turn and follow him. He thought Thomas, who was now in command of Tennessee, would have no important enemy there. Grant still insisted that Hood would avail himself of Sherman's absence to attack Thomas ; but, after considering the mat- ter a day, he sent the required permission to Sherman, determining to collect reinforcements so rapidly for Thomas, that that officer should be able to withstand any force the enemy might send against him. The government was strongly in doubt about this whole movement, and even after Grant had given Sherman authority for it, the general- in-chief was telegraphed to reconsider once more. The administration would not take the responsibility of pro- hibiting any military operation that Grant ordered, but it was anxious to show him how the movement was retrarded at Washington. Grant, however, was firm. He believed that Sherman would meet with no serious opposition, and that the moral effect of his march through the interior of the enemy's country, cutting the Confederacy in two again, as had been done when the Mississippi was opened, would be prodigious. So the orders were not revoked, and Sher- man began his preparations for the famous " march to the sea." On the 1 2th of November the messasfe " all is well "was o telegraphed to Thomas, the wires were then cut, and Sher- man's army stood alone. By the 14th all the troops had arrived at or near Atlanta, and by orders of Sherman were grouped into two wings, the right and left, commanded re- spectively by Generals O. O. Howard and H. W. Slocum. The total strength of the army was about 60,000 ; Infantry about 54,000; cavalry nearly 5,000; and artillery nearly 2,000. He would be obliged to subsist off of the enemy's country during his campaign, so that even an inferior force might compel him to head for such a point as he could reach, in- stead of one that he might prefer. No definite place where WAR OF THE REBELLION, 347 he was to come out was therefore fixed, but it was proba- ble that it would be at Savannah or Mobile. Atlanta and its fortifications were now destroyed, and two corps of Sherman's army being sent back to reinforce Thomas, the railroad between Chattanooga and Adanta was abandoned. Sherman was thus isolated, and started on his march. His 348 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, condition was in many respects similar to Grant's after crossing the Mississippi, in the Vicksburg campaign, except in these two important particulars : Sherman's army was twice as large as Grant's had been, and Sherman had no enemy in his front, while Grant plunged in between two hostile armies, one of them greatly larger than his own. Grant now bent all his faculties to the task of preparing Thomas to defend himself against Hood, who, as the gen- eral-in-chief had foreseen, persisted in his northward and offensive campaign into Tennessee, leaving the South alto- gether open, and Sherman free to choose his route. "Had I had the power to command both armies," said Grant, " I should not have changed the orders under which Hood seemed to be acting." Every effort was made to reinforce Thomas before the Confederate army could reach him ; troops were withdrawn from Rosecrans in Missouri, from A. J. Smith, who had belonged to the Red river expedition, under Banks, and recruits and men on furlough were hur- ried along every railroad from the North. By dint of im- mense exertions Thom.as was reinforced sufficiently to be out of any extraordinary danger ; and, although he fell back slowly before the advance of the enemy, he managed to detain the enemy till the 30th of November, at Franklin, where the main force of the Union army was posted, under Schofield, Thomas himself having fallen back still farther, to Nashville. Here the enemy attacked Schofield re- peatedly, but were in every instance repulsed, losing 1,750 killed, 702 prisoners, and 3,800 wounded. Schofield's entire loss was only 2,300. During the night, under Thomas's orders, Schofield fell back to Nashville. This was done solely in order to concentrate Thomas's- whole force. On the 15th of December, Hood, having approached still nearer to Nashville, Thomas attacked him, and, in a battle lasting two days, defeated and drove him from the field in utter confusion. Most of the Confederate artillery, and many thousand prisoners, fell into the hands of Thomas. The enemy retreated at once, but was closely pursued with cavalry and infantry to the Tennessee, abandoning most of WAR OF THE REBELLION. 349 his artillery and transportation on the way. His army was almost completely annihilated. Meanwhile, a combined naval and military expedition, planned by Grant against Fort Fisher, the defence of Wil- mington, at the mouth of the Cape Fear river, after meet- ino- with various delays and hindrances, was crowned with complete success. This was a triumph of the utmost con- sequence. Wilmington was the last remaining place on the sea-coast where the blockade maintained by the navy was ineffectual, and through this port suppHes of inestima- ble value reached the interior. When this place was cap- tured, the enemy were indeed shut in from the outside world ; and the ever-contracting coils seemed folding closer and closer around the doomed and guilty disturbers of their country's peace. Sherman had penetrated to Savannah by Christmas day, not a fortnight after the success of Thomas at Nashville. As Grant had foreseen and foretold, he met no opposition of importance on the route ; no batde was fought, and, in the occasional skirmishes with a small body of cavalry that hovered about his flanks, his outguards lost only a few hundred men. The campaigrf was one great excursion. The country was found to be still abundant in supplies, though the railroads could no longer carry its productions to the armies at the enemy's front. Sherman destroyed the railroads, the arsenals, bridges, and crops, everywhere on the route, and marked his course with a broad swath of ruin forty miles across. He reached the outworks of Savannah in five weeks after he had started, captured a fort that protected it without much difficulty, and was met at Savannah by fresh instrucdons from Grant, direcdng his future movements. His march had been unique and interesdng in the ex- treme. Certainly no great army ever marched before so far through an enemy's country and encountered so little opposition. Grant had heard of him by spies and desert- ers, and through the Confederate States' newspapers. He had been able to follow his march on the maps with very litde anxiety, and had felt not half the solicitude for Sher- 350 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. man that the danger In which Thomas had been placed oc- casioned. He had actually started for Nashville, when the news of Thomas' brilliant success met him on the way and relieved his fears. Thomas had so completely placed Hood's army Jiors du combat that Grant determined to find other fields of opera- tion for his surplus troops. Some were sent to Canby, who had superseded Banks, and was ordered to organize the expedition against Mobile, which Grant had contemplated the year before ; Schofield, with his entire corps, was ordered to be sent East, and the remainder of Thomas' available command was to be collected at Eastport, on the Tennes^ see. Schofield's movement in the dead of winter was diffi- cult and painful in the extreme. On the 23d of January his corps arrived at Washington ; then it was despatched to Annapolis to wait till the ice in Chesapeake bay would allow its transportation to the sea, for Grant intended to send Schofield into North Carolina to co-operate with Sherman. The lieutenant-o^eneral had at first thouo^ht to brlno- Sher- man by sea from Savannah to City Point, and there, with the two great armies of tRe East and the West, to over- whelm the last remaining stronghold and army of the rebel- lion. Orders to this effect reached Sherman before he ar rived at Savannah. He answered promptly that he had expected to march by land through the Carollnas and thus join Grant, but that it would be at least six weeks after the fall of Savannah before he could reach Raleigh, in North Carolina, whereas by sea he could join Grant by the middle of January. He, therefore, began at once his preparations to obey Grant's orders. Grant, however, had before this discovered that the difficulty of procuring ocean transpor- tation for a whole army would be prodigious, and he was, besides, pleased with Sherman's confidence of being able to march through the Carolinas. He, therefore, despatched directions on the 28th of December for Sherman to start by land without delay, and march northward through North and South Carolina, breaking up the railroads everywhere. This campaign was likely to be vastly more difficult and MAP SHOWING THE ROUTE OF SHERMAN'S ARMY THROUGH SOUTH CAROLINA. (350 352 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. hazardous than that which Sherman had already accom- plished, for now he would meet an enemy. There were still hostile troops on the sea-coast south of Richmond, all of whom would be collected to oppose him, and Grant feared lest the remnants of Hood's army might be brought across from Mississippi, as a forlorn hope, in the last batdes of the rebellion. Accordingly Schofield, with twenty-one thousand men, was sent to North Carolina and instructed to take command of twelve thousand more, already there, at Newbern and Fort Fisher. He was then to move into the interior of the State, striking for Goldsboro, in order to reach Sherman at that point, as the latter should be coming north, and to fur- nish him with a new base of supplies. A vast accumulation of stores was also directed to be ready for the Western army when it should reach Goldsboro. Schofield captured Wilmington, and, after several skirmishes, which in any other war would be called batdes, he reached a point ten miles from Cox's bridge, near Goldsboro, on the 2 2d of March, 1865. Sherman left Savannah on the ist of February, caused the evacuadon of Charleston, seized Columbia, had a batde at Averysville, in which he was successful, and another at Bentonsville, where he encountered Johnston, who had re- cendy been put in command of all the enemy's forces that could be collected east of the Mississippi, and who were not under arms at Richmond. The engagement was not decisive, but Johnston retreated, and Sherman followed till, on the 2 2d of March, he also arrived at Cox's bridge, which Schofield reached the same day, coming from the sea. Thus one of the most wonderful pieces of military combi- nation that the world has ever seen was accomplished under the orders, and according to the plans and instruc- tions of Grant. A litde more than four months previous the general-in-chief had taken Schofield from Sherman's moving column, and ordered him back to the support of Thomas in Tennessee. At the same Ume that he brought Schofield north from Adanta, he sent Sherman south throucrh the heart of the Confederacy. The latter had WAR OF THE REBELLION. ' 353 reached the Atlantic, and then marched north, capturing cities and fighting enemies all through the Carolinas. Schofield had fought and won the batde of Franklin, had borne a disdnguished part in the batde of Nashville, and then brought his corps through snows and ice across the continent "in mid-winter to the Adandc coast, sailed to North Carolina, captured Wilmington, and advanced into the interior of the State to rejoin and support his old com- mander. Between them they had nearly traversed the whole interior region of the enemy. Each arrived on the same day at Goldsboro, having traversed thousands of miles, No general ever conceived or executed such a combinadon as this prior to Grant, and yet you shall hear ignorant or hostile cridcs tell us that his success is owing to luck. The magnificent scale of his operations; the closeness with which he followed and directed them all ; the complicated nature of his various evoludons under a dozen different commanders; the marvellous skill with which he was able to make Sherman march south and Schofield north ; to get reinforcements to Thomas from Canby and Rosecrans, at the cridcal moment, so as to secure the great triumph of the batde of Nashville ; to capture Fort Fisher and Wilmington, although at extraordinary risk and after peculiar difficuldes, just in dme for those captures to aftord immense assistance to other schemes ; subsequendy to bring Sherman north and to send Schofield south ; while all the while he himself was holding the main force and greatest army of the rebellion not only at bay, but in terror for its existence — this fact alone rendering all the operations of his subordinates possible ; all this may be luck, but it is such luck as never followed any soldier before in history ; it is such luck as it is greatly to be desired shall always at- tend the armies of the republic ; it is such luck as nations have always recognized, securing for themselves the ad- vantages it brings by placing its possessors in civil as well as military power. One beaudful and magnanimous trait of Grant deserves to be chronicled here. While he assigned to his subordi- nates all these brilliant and important parts of his plans. 23 3 54 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and retained for himself not only the most difficult but the least inspiring of all, he never manifested a particle of jealousy at the reputation which he enabled Sherman, and Sheridan, and Thomas, and Schofield, and Terry to acquire. Not only did he urge upon the government the promotion of those officers, as well as of Meade, but he sought every other means to bring them into notice. His wonderful sa- gacity was manifest in detecting not only their ability, when nobody else perceived it, but in recognizing the pecuHar quality of each man's talent: the original genius of Sher- man, which fitted him for the great march ; the brilliant vigor of Sheridan, which enabled him to conquer Early; the splendid determination of Thomas, which alone re- tarded Hood until the hour had come for his annihilation; the sagacity of Schofield, the talent of Terry. But, more than all this, when he had lain many weary months in front of Petersburg, making movements all of which tended gradually to his eventual success, but none of which re- sulted so immediately in what the country desired as to be recognized by the country ; while he was in reality con- ceiving and inspiring and direcUng every one of his great subordinates, he never sought to take from them an atom of their own glory ; nor even when the ignorant bestowed on the executor all the praise, did the conceiver attempt to attribute to himself his own. He was calm, padent, un- selfish, magnanimous. He was not anxious for fame, but for the salvation of the country. When Sherman pene- trated to the Adantic coast and accomplished his wonderful march, Grant, who had taken all of its responsibility, was still sitting quiedy in front of Petersburg ; and the country rang with applause for the brilliant lieutenant, affording no share of this to the chief who had sent the lieutenant on his errand, and by his other movements, a thousand miles away, had rendered the success of the lieutenant possible. It was even proposed in Congress to place Sherman in the rank which Grant enjoyed. Sherman wrote on the subject at once to Grant, saying that the proposition was without his knowledge, and begging Grant to use his influence against it. This, of course, Grant refused to do, and re- WAR OF THE REBELLION. 355' plied to Sherman: ''If you are put above me, I shall always obey you just as you always have me." The history of the world may be searched in vain to find a parallel of magnanimity, friendship, and patriotism. In January, 1865, foreseeing the approaching termination of the war, and anxious to make the downfall of the Confed- eracy complete. Grant directed Thomas to send out several expeditions into the region between the AUeghenies and the Mississippi, in order to accomplish the destruction of all the remaining resources and communicadons of the enemy. Stoneman was sent from East Tennessee into South Carolina, to attract all attention from Sherman in his northward march, and Wilson was ordered into central Alabama, which was now entirely exposed and unprotected. Canby also, who was in command of everything in the reo-ion of the extreme southwest, was directed to organize an^xpedition against Mobile, and Sheridan received orders to move from the valley towards Lynchburg, in the rear of Lee, so as to destroy every possible means by which the last of the great Confederate armies could draw their supplies. Thus, from every direcdon, raids were being made at and into the vitals of the rebellion, while Grant sull held the main army in his front. His plans had annihilated all of the resources of the enemy; his subordinates had attacked all the important outside points ; his movements had con- quered all the Confederate armies but one, and now he was ready to deal the death-blow for which he and the nation had been waiting so long. Now, at last, the country began to perceive the consummate nature of his strategy; now it hQcrsin to recognize the master in the movements of his sub- ordinates ; now it detected the unity of his plans, discover- ing that Sherman and Sheridan and Schofield and Thomas were moving towards one centre, and that that centre was Grant ; that they were all inspired by one mind, and that that mind was Grant's. The enemy, also, too plainly saw and felt, for the first dme, that they had a master; they turned and writhed, they showed a bold front, but they were aware that the hour had come, that their schemes had been met by counter-schemes; that they were outgener- 356 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ailed, outmanoeuvred, outmarched, outfought, outwitted, conquered, although the final blow was not yet struck. In March, Grant ordered Sherman, who had now reached Goldsboro, to come in person to City Point, and receive verbal instructions. Before Sherman arrived, Sheridan had completely destroyed all the canals and railroads to the northwest of Lee, and was ordered to bring his whole force to Grant, who now directed Sherman to prevent any concentration between Lee and Johnston, and to be ready to come to the support of Grant, if the latter should so in- struct. Sherman spent a day at City Point, and returned to his command. On the 29th of March, Sheridan having arrived in front of Petersburg, Grant began the final campaign of the war. On the 25th, Lee had made an assault on Grant's lines, which must have been a mere frantic stroke, with no hope of success. It was promptly repelled, the enemy losing heavily in killed and wounded, and Grant capturing two thousand prisoners. Grant immediately took advantage of this, and made a counter advance on the left, which was successful, nearly a thousand more of the enemy being captured, and many others killed and wounded, and a por- tion of Lee's line taken and held. Grant had been ex- tremely anxious for months lest the enemy should withdraw from Richmond to Petersburo-. He was unwillincr to move o o in attack with the Army of the Potomac until his great plans for the entire continent should be further consummated; until Sherman and Schofield could be brought so near, that Lee could have no chance of escape, even if he attempted it; but now all things were ripened, every command was in its right place ; from all directions he had brought his armies, and, on the 29th of March, he moved. Lee still, by superhuman exertions, had collected seventy thousand men, besides the local militia of Richmond, and the gunboat crews on the James, which amounted to at least five thousand more, and wliich were always put into a fight by the Confederate general. Grant left a large force in front of the enemy's works, in order that, if the enemy should be induced to come out and attack the national WAR OF THE REBELLION. 357 column while In motion, the troops in the trenches might be pushed against the fortifications in their fronts. Sheridan, Grant detached and sent to the extreme left, to be ready to cut and cross the two southern railroads which Lee still retained, the South-Side and the Danville. With the re- mainder of his force, Grant moved to the left for the last time, and began to feel the enemy. He soon discovered that Lee was still confronting him at every point, and con- ceived, therefore, that the enemy's line must be weakly held. He determined, in consequence, to move no farther out, but to send a corps of infantry to Sheridan, who was still on the extreme left, so that he might turn the enemy's right flank, while with the rest of the force Grant would order a direct assault on the Confederate line. Meantime, Lee had not yet lost all spirit ; he hoped still to gain some advantage, under cover of which he could join Johnston, when the two armies might perhaps be able to make a campaign against Grant's united forces in the interior. Accordingly, one or two feeble attacks were made by Lee, but immediately repelled with loss. In these various opera- tions, Sheridan was separated from Grant's left, with a view to making the contemplated flank attack on Lee ; and the latter discovering this, immediately reinforced his own right largely, and moved against Sheridan. Instead of retreat- ing upon Grant wath his whole command, to tell the story of having encountered superior force, Sheridan deployed his cavalry on foot, leaving mounted men only to take charge of the horses. This skilful ruse compelled the enemy also to deploy over a vast extent of woods and broken country, and made his progress slow. Sheridan now informed Grant of what had taken place, and Grant promptly reinforced him with the Fifth corps. On the ist of April, thus reinforced, Sheridan attacked Lee's right at Five Forks, assaulted and carried the fortified posidon of the enemy, capturing all his ardllery, and between five thousand and six thousand prisoners. The defeat w^as decisive. The enemy fled in every direction, and the bulk of the force that had been in front of Sheridan never was able again to rejoin Lee. 358 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. News of the victory reached Grant at nine o'clock in the evening. He at once determined that the hour had come for the final assault. Without consulting any one, he wrote a despatch to Meade, ordering an attack at midnight, all alono- the lines in front of Petersburg, which were at least ten miles long. The corps commanders, however, could not be ready until dawn, and it was therefore postponed to that time. Before daylight a prodigious bombardment was begun, and at four o'clock the various columns moved to the assault. Grant's calculations were correct ; the enemy's works were carried In three different places. Lee's army was cut In two or three parts ; many Instantly fled across the Appomattox, while the main portion retreated into the city of Petersburg, which w^as still defended by an Inner line. Grant got his men up from the extended field which they now occupied, and pursued the enemy Into the town ; several thousand prisoners and many guns were taken before dark. That night the enemy evacuated Petersburg and Rich- mond, flying southwest towards Danville. So the goal that our armies had been four years seeking to attain was woa Grant did not wait a moment, but, without entering Rich- mond In person, pushed on In pursuit at daylight, on the 3d, leaving to a subordinate the glory of seizing the capital of Virginia. The energy with which he now followed the un- happy Lee was terrific ; he disposed his columns on two roads, and marched with marvellous speed. Sheridan, Ord, Meade, vied with each other in their efforts to overtake and annihilate the last ficrhtino: force of the rebellion ; and the men murmured at no labors or dangers. Meanwhile, Grant, as he was pursuing Lee, sent orders to Sherman to push at once against Johnston, so that the war might be finished at once. " Confederate armies," he reminded him, "are now the only strategic points to strike at." Sheridan, with the Sixth corps, came up with Lee, on the 6th, at Sailer's creek, struck the enemy in force, and captured six- teen pieces of artillery and 7,000 prisoners, among whom were seven generals. Ord also engaged the enemy on this day at Farmvllle. Every day Lee made superhuman exer- LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 359 tions to get beyond the pursuer's reach ; everywhere found himself circumvented, outmanoeuvred, or beaten down again. No time was left him to get supplies; his men were sub- sisting on two ears of corn a piece per day, and the arrange- ments he sought to make to procure them rations were discovered and frustrated by Grant. A train of cars loaded with. supplies was captured by Sheridan, and a wagon-train with rations was set on fire by artillery. On the 7th of April, Grant addressed a note to Lee, summoning him to surrender ; but Lee sought to gain time, either hoping yet to reach Johnston with some fragments of his army, or at least to allow Johnston an opportunity to escape. Lee said he was not certain the emergency had arisen to call for his surrender; whereupon Sheridan was thrown around in front of Lee, and drove him from Appo- mattox, capturing twenty-five pieces of artillery. This, probably, rendered Lee less uncertain about the emergency. But Grant declined entirely to treat for peace ; all he wanted was surrender. He now sent the Twenty-fourth corps, under Ord, and the Fifth, under Griffin, to support Sheri- dan, thus completely surrounding Lee, who was fairly out- marched ; Sheridan was planted square across his only road of escape. The great cavalryman at once began to attack. Lee, who, at first believing there was no Infantry in his front,, endeavored to drive Sheridan away ; but suddenly discov- ering the presence of two corps of infantry, which he had not deemed it possible could have marched fast enough to^ pass his own troops, he at once sent word to Sheridan that he was negotiating with Grant. On the 9th of April, Lee asked for an Interview with the commander of the Union armies, for the purpose of sur- rendering his forces, and early in the afternoon of that memorable day the two antagonists met In a plain farm- house, between the armies which had striven against each other so long. Lee had one staff officer with him, and with Grant were about a dozen of his subordinates — Sheridan, Ord, and his own staff. And there Grant drew up the terms upon which Lee surrendered. Grant first announced what he should LEE SURRENDERING TO GENERAL GRANT. (360) WAR OF THE REBELLION. 36I demand, and Lee acquiesced. No one else spoke on the subject. Grant then wrote out the stipulations ; they were copied by staff officers ; Lee signed them, and the Army of Nordiern Virginia was prisoner of war. The terms are world renowned : '* Officers and men were paroled, and al- lowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observed their paroles and the laws in force where they might reside." All arms, artillery, and public property were to be turned over to officers appointed by Grant. These were the stipu- lations, as Lee consented to them ; but after he had signified his acceptance, Grant inserted the clause that the side-arms and private horses and baggage of the officers might be retained. Lee seemed much gratified at this magnanimity, which saved him and his officers the peculiar humihadon of a formal surrender of their w^eapons. He asked, how about the horses of the cavalry men, which in the Confederate army were the property of the private soldier. Grant re- plied that these were included in the surrender. Lee lool^ed at the paper again, and acquiesced in Grant's interpretadon. The latter then said, " I will not change the terms of the surrender, General Lee, but I wall instruct my officers, who receive the paroles, to allows the men to retain their horses, and take them home to work their litde farms." Again Gen- eral Lee expressed his appreciadon of the generosity of his conqueror, and declared that he thought this liberality would have a very good effect. So the Interview termi- nated. The next day, Grant and Lee met again on horseback, In the open air, and for two hours discussed the situadon of aftairso Lee expressed a great desire for peace, believed that his surrender was the end of the war; he acquiesced In the abolition of slavery, the return of the seceded States, and declared his wish for harmony. Grant urged him to use his Influence to bring about such a result. Subse- quendy,on the same day, Longstreet, Gordon, Heath, Pickett, Wilcox, W. H. F. Lee, and every other officer of high rank in Lee's army, came in a body to pay their respects to Grant, and, as they themselves expressed it, to thank him for the 362 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. terms he had allowed him. All manifested the kindest spirit. Many of Grant's officers were present at this re- markable Interview, and not a word was said on either side calculated to wound the feelings of any one present. Many of the enemy declared how unwillingly they had entered the war ; all submitted fully to the inevitable ; many expected to be exiled ; none dreamed of retaining any property ; they expected all their lands to be confiscated, and themselves to begin life all over again. One of the few surviving eye-witnesses of Lee's sur- render at Appomattox was interviewed some time ago con- cerning General Jubal Early's recent denial of the story that Lee's sword was tendered to Grant. The man's name is Benjamin Jeffries, and he is a carpenter by trade and a resident of Des Moines. He served through the war in a Pennsylvania regiment, and at the time of Lee's surrender was a member of Company A, One Hundred and Ninety- first "Bucktalls." When asked as to the circumstances that followed the close of the fighting at Appomattox, he said : "After fighting ceased General Grant rode to the front, where our regiment was deployed on the skirmish line, and ordered that a guard be stationed across the road leading down to the village and that no one be allowed to pass. About two o'clock in the afternoon he returned, accom- panied by an escort of 200 or 300 officers. Leaving all but one aide behind, he rode through the lines and down the slope towards the Court-House, a short distance off. As he did so General Lee, accompanied by one aide, came towards him from the opposite direction. ''About seventy-five yards from where we were stationed on guard stood a small story-and-a-half log-house, near which grew a large apple tree. Grant and Lee met at this point and halted under this tree. Lee rode a large, hand- some roan, while Grant was mounted on a small, black horse. Dismounting, Lee drew his sword and offered it to Grant, but Grant refused to accept it and, declining it with a wave of his hand, it was put back in the scabbard. Then Grant offered his hand to Lee and they shook hands, as did WAR OF THE REBELLION. 363 their aides, and all engaged in conversation for about five minutes, when, remounting, they rode away to the Court- House, where the papers completing the terms of the sur- render were drawn up. " I saw the first meeting between General Grant and Gen- eral Lee. I saw Grant refuse to take Lee's sword, for I stood less than a hundred yards from them at the time, and watched every movement they made. I have as vivid a recollection of that scene as if it took place yesterday." Colonel Charles Marshall, chief of General Lee's staff, speaking of the surrender at Appomattox and of the meet- ing of Generals Grant and Lee, says: "When shown into the room General Grant advanced and shook hands with General Lee. The Federal commander was in undress uniform and without side-arms, while General Lee was in full-dress uniform. General Grant, by way of apology to General Lee for coming without his side-arms, said that his sword was with his baes^aee and because of his desire to reach the place for the conference he had hastened on in undress uniform. This was the only allusion to a sword that was made at the interview." ''After the terms of surrender were settled. General Gran't explained that he was advised that General Lee's forces had a number of Federal prisoners, who, like their captors, were out of rations. General Sheridan said that he could supply 25,000 rations. Grant then instructed him to send 25,000 rations to Lee's commissary. After the in- terview Lee asked for General Williams and thanked that officer for kindness shown to his son. General Custis Lee, who had been captured several days before." When Lee and Colonel Marshall rode off, the Federal officers filled the front porch. Colonel Marshall is not sure that Grant was among them, for his thoughts were busy with Other matters at the time. General Badeau thus describes the surrender of Lee: " The two armies came together in a long valley at the foot of a ridge, and Appomattox was on a knoll between the lines which could be seen for miles. The McLean house (which Lee had selected as the place of meeting) 364 LTFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Stood a little apart, a plain building with a veranda in front. Grant was met by Lee at the threshold. There was a nar- row hall and a naked little parlor containing a table and two or three chairs. Into this the generals entered, each at first accompanied only by a single aide-de-camp, but as many as twenty Federal officers shordy followed, among whom were Sheridan, Ord and the members of Grant's own staff. No Confederate entered the room but Lee and Colonel Marshall, w^ho acted as his secretary. The two chiefs shook hands, and Lee at once began a conversation, for he appeared more unembarrassed than the victor. The con- versation at first related to the meeting of the two soldiers in earlier years in Mexico, when Grant had been a subaltern and Lee a staff officer of Scott. Lee, however, soon adverted to the object of the interview. ' I asked to see you, General Grant,' he said, ' to ascertain upon what terms you would receive the surrender of my army.' Grant re- plied that the officers and men must become prisoners of war, giving up, of course, all munitions, weapons and sup- plies, but that a parole would be accepted, binding them to go to their homes and remain there until exchanged or released by proper authority. Lee said that he had ex- pected some such terms as these, and made some other remark not exactly relevant, w^hereupon Grant inquired : ' Do I understand. General Lee, that you accept these terms?' * Yes,' said Lee, ' and if you will put them into writing I will sign them.' "While Grant was writing he chanced to look up at Lee, who sat nearly opposite, and at that moment noticed the glitter of his sword. The sight suggested an alteration in •the terms, and he inserted the provision that officers should be allowed to retain their side-arms, horses and personal property. Lee was evidently touched by this clemency, and especially by the interpolation which saved so much to the feelings of soldiers. He said at once that the con- ditions were magnanimous, and would have a good effect upon his army. Grant went even further than this, and subsequendy instructed the officers who received the paroles to allow the cavalry and artillerymen to retain their horses WAR OF THE REBELLION. 365 and take them home to work their Httle farms. Lee then explained that his men were starving. They had Hved, he said, on two ears of corn a day for several days. There was a train of cars, he said, at Lynchburg loaded with rations which had come from Danville for his army. Would Grant allow these to be distributed among the prisoners ? Grant, however, informed him that this train had been cap- tured the day before by Sheridan. Thus, at the moment of his surrender, Lee was absolutely dependent for sup- plies upon his conqueror. Grant, of course, acquiesced in the request, and turning to the officer of the commissariat on his staff, directed him to issue 25,000 rations that night to the Army of Northern Virginia. ** The formal papers of surrender were now signed ; a few more words were exchanged by the men who had opposed each other so long; they again shook hands and Lee went to the porch. The national officers followed and saluted him, and the military leader of the rebellion mounted his horse and rode off to his army, he and his soldiers prisoners of war." The following description of the memorable beginning of the month of March, 1865, is given by General Mahone, then a general of the Confederate army, now a Republican and readjuster United States Senator from Virginia : "The first week in April found Lee's army encircling Richmond and Petersburg, and practically surrounded by the Union forces. Our object was to escape capturfe and to retreat in such a manner that we could make a junction with Johnston's army in North Carolina. My division on the 2d of April was posted at Chesterfield Points, facing the enemy. I was summoned to Lee and instructed to fall back to xA.melia Court-House, protecting the rear of the Confederate retreat. At Amelia Court-House we expected to find full rations for the men from Richmond, but were disappointed. From the Court-House, our troops moved by different routes along the line of the Richmond and Dan- ville Railroad, until we came to Sailer's creek. The army moved up the creek, Longstreet's division in front, and mine bringing up the rear. The enemy was in hot pursuit. 366 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and we were closely pressed. At Rice's Station the Federals attacked us, and Longstreet engaged them. I had been summoned to Lee, and while we were talking General Vanable rode up. Turning to Lee, he said: " ' General, did you receive my message ? ' " ' What message ? ' Lee inquired. "'I informed you, sir, that the enemy had captured our wagon train at Sailer's Creek,' was the response. Lee in- stantly ordered me to move my division to the creek, and as I rode off to execute the movement he accompanied me. We soon reached the scene of the engagement, and the sight that met our gaze, as from an eminence we looked down upon the battle-field, made me sick at heart. " The Federal cavalry had completely routed our men and were pursuing them in every direction. Infantrymen had thrown away their arms and were fleeing for life. Teamsters had cut the traces of their harness and were scampering away, leaving guns and wagons behind. One single piece of artillery at a distance was occasionally firing a shot without the slightest effect. "Taking in the scene at a glance Lee exclaimed: ' My God ! has this army dissolved ? ' There was that in his tone and manner which convinced me that the end had come, and for a second I was too much shocked to speak. Then I told him that the army had not dissolved, and that one command at least was ready to fight. The general rode sadly away and I posted my men, being fully satisfied that the enemy would not fight any more that night, for it was then nearly dark. The day's fighting had practically ended, and, after performing my duties, I rode down to the field, where I found Lee sitdng on his horse with a Confederate flag in his hand, surrounded by a shouting mob of demor- alized Confederate soldiers. I took the flag from him and the men were ordered to the rear under the command of General Anderson. ''Our next move was to cross the Appomattox. I took my command to High Bridge, three miles from Farmville, where there were two bridges, one the high railroad bridge and another an improvised wagon bridge. I met Generals WAR OF THE REBELLION. 367 Gordon and Anderson near High Bridge, after moving my men over, and had a talk with them. They beheved that the defeat at Sailer's Creek had settled the fate of the Confederacy. I agreed with them that our army was ruined. I told them that I thought the officer next in com- mand to General Lee should see him quickly and inform him that it was the judgment of his officers that we were beaten. It was agreed that General Anderson should go immediately to General Longstreet and have him tell Lee our views. About two o'clock on the morning of the 7th I left the conference and went over the river to look after my division. All that was known of Lee's movements was that he would cross over to Farmville and unite with us not far from that place, and we would continue the retreat toward Lynchburg. I made a reconnoissance of the roads in the dark, and returned to High Bridge about daylight. The enemy's skirmish lines were advancing toward the bridge, which, contrary to orders, had been burned. "A brigade was sent out to check the advance of the Federal skirmishers. I had found a road leading to Cum- berland Church, which joined the main road over which Lee was expected to approach. I formed my division in line of batde and received an order from General Lee to hold the enemy back. General Miles commanded the advance of the Union forces and he attacked me and we repulsed him ; but this temporary victory closed our short line of batde, and he manoeuvred with his superior force to turn our flank. I ran out a battery of artillery on the flank I saw he was endeavoring to turn, and in a short time he had captured our guns. Just then, fortunately, the advance of Lee's forces came up, and a North Carolina division, con- taining about a full regiment of men, charged the Federals and recaptured the guns. "Lee and Longstreet soon came up in force. During the afternoon General Miles marched a brigade around our flank and got in my rear. While he was executing that movement I marched two brigades in the rear of Miles' men and attacked them savagely. We nearly annihilated the briorade, killing: over seven hundred men in the action. 368 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. In the meantime Anderson had communicated with Long^ street, and, while I knew nothing- of what had taken place, it was evident from the action of Longstreet and Lee that the former had broached the subject of surrender, and that the latter would not entertain the proposition. " That night while I was preparing to cover the retreat of our army, about ten o'clock, I saw a ball of fire sus- pended over the head-quarters of the Union forces, which meant a flag of truce. I obtained permission to receive the flag, and sent a detachment with my provost-marshal to meet the truce party. When the provost returned I was resting myself In a negro cabin. " ' I have a letter for General Lee,' he said. " ' Yes, and J. know what that means,' was my answer. " ' It Is a demand for the surrender of the Confederate army.' " I subsequently learned from General Grant himself that this letter, demanding the surrender, was written on the hotel porch In Farmvllle. "An odd Incident happened at this time," continued Gen- eral Mahone, "and when you hear It you may think I am very superstitious. On my march I always carried at the head of my division an army wagon containing my personal supplies. This wagon had been captured by the Union soldiers. I knew this, because some of my men reported that they had found letters belonging to me on the bodies of some of Miles' troops killed that afternoon. After hand- ing me the letter for General Lee the provost-marshal said : *I have also something for )ou from General Miles.' "'Stop!' I exclaimed. 'I know what you have for me. I have a presentiment that General Miles sent me my wife's daguerreotype, which was In my trunk captured by the Federal forces.' The provost took from his pocket the daguerreotype and handed it to me with a letter Irom Gen- eral Miles, stating the circumstances under which It had been found. I sent my compliments to him for his civility, and about eleven o'clock our army was in full retreat. "We marclied all night and the next day, until about four o'clock In the afternoon, when we went into camp WAR OF THE REBELLION. 369 three miles south of Appomattox Court-House. Longstreet and Gordon were in front, and my division and General Fields' division were drawn in line of battle to cover the rear. At daylight we moved to Appomattox and then halted. I received a message from Lee to come to the front. I found him just this side of the court-house, with Longstreet and his staff, warming themselves by a fire. Lee asked his staff to retire, and then he said that he had sent for me because he was in trouble. "'Well, what is the matter now? ' I asked. '*'I suppose you know that Grant has demanded our surrender,' he repHed. " ' No, I do not know it, but I suspected it,' was my an- swer. " 'Well, he has demanded our surrender, and I want to know what you think about it. We have only 8,000 mus- kets and two organized bodies — yours and Fields'.' " * I take your purpose, General Lee, to be to effect a junction with Johnston in West North CaroHna ? ' " ' Yes, sir,' said the general. " ' In my judgment,' said I, " ' this junction can be formed only in one of two ways — first to cut through the enemy's lines and fight our way out, and that can only be done at a great cost of life. If successful we will only have a mere remnant of the army left, and that remnant cannot be re- cruited and equipped by a government in a wagon. I can- not see how you could supply an army with munitions and rations. We have another chance to get to Lynchburg, but we will certainly be harassed every step of the way, and when we get there we will be still farther away from Johnston.' I told him that the time had come when I thought he was called upon to perform the highest duty that could devolve upon an individual, to undergo a test of the highest degree of manhood ; that the time had come when, in my judgment, it was his duty to surrender the army ; that I believed it would be a crime under the circum- stances to sacrifice the life of another man. I told him that if the terms offered by General Grant were such as we were entitled to receive I should surrender immediately. If not 24 370 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. I would fight it out here. He then handed me General Grant's letter containing the proposed terms of surrender. I read it and told him that I thought the terms were as honorable as could be asked by a defeated army. Lee turned questioningly to Longstreet, who simply said: *I agree with Mahone.' " ' What will the country say ? ' asked Lee. "'You are the country now,' I answered. 'Our people will approve.' He said he did not know where to find Grant. I told him to get on his horse and hunt him up. He left Longstreet in command of the army, and rode away in search of the Federal commander, accompanied only by a courier. I went back to my division, which Fields had put in line of battle, and told him what had occurred at the front. •' To avoid another enoraorement we sent out a flao^ of truce. When the men formed in line they began diggmg trenches and otherwise arranging for what they supposed to be an impending battle. They were ordered to stop work. It was the first order of the kind they had ever re- ceived under such circumstances. The soldiers seemed to understand what it meant without knowing anything of the events of the past twenty-four hours. As by instinct they realized that the war had come to an end. Some of the men began to cry, others threw their arms in joy around the necks of their comrades. Many of them broke their sword-blades and threw away their bayonets. I hastened out of sight of this affecting scene and rejoined General Lee at a little stream near Appomattox Court-House. Colonels Taylor and Stevens and several other officers were with him. I had scarcely reached the general's side when I saw a Union officer riding down the road from the court-house accompanied by a courier. He approached within loo feet of General Lee, at the same time saluting him, removing his hat, and took a note from his pocket, which General Taylor received and carried to General Lee. He read the note and answered it, and the Union officer rode back to the Federal head-quarters. General Lee stood in the dirt road. He took the note, tore it up in WAR OF THE REBELLION. 37 1 little pieces and threw them upon the ground and with his heel stamped them under the dirt and out of sight. I mounted my horse and rode away and General Lee went to meet General Grant. That is all I saw of the surrender." On the day of meeting Lee, Grant started for Wash- ington. He was well aware that the war was closed. He knew that after the surrender of Lee and the capture of Richmond, no other force would remain in arms, and he was anxious at once to proceed to lessen the expenditures of the government, and to muster out his soldiers. He hastened from Appomattox to City Point, everywhere on the route the inhabitants coming out '' to see the man who had whipped Lee." Then, without even yet stopping to enter the capital that he had conquered, or the lines that had withstood him so long ; without apparently a particle of the natural and pardonable self-glorification of a victor under such extraordinary circumstances, this man, as modest in triumph as he had been persistent in difficulty, and saga- cious in council, and daring in danger, went on to Wash- ington, to engage in the unobtrusive but still vastly impor- tant duties of retrenchment. In this concluding and most glorious of all the campaigns of the war, Grant had lost 7,000 men, in killed, wounded, and missing. He had captured Petersburg and Richmond, and won, by his subordinates, the battles of Five Forks and Sailer's Creek, besides numerous smaller ones ; he had broken the lines at Petersburg in three different places, cap- tured 20,000 men in actual battle, and received the sur- render of 27,000 others at Appomattox, and absolutely an- nihilated an army of 70,000 soldiers. Ten thousand, at least, of Lee's army deserted on the road from Richmond to Appomattox, and at least 10,000 more were killed or wounded. From Lee's own field-return, we learn his force at the beginning of the campaign. Such an absolute anni- hilation of an army never occurred before, in so short a time, in the history of the world. On the 29th of March, Richmond was in the possession of the enemy; their de facto government was established 372 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and recognized over hundreds of thousands of miles ; the forces of Lee hned fifty miles of works that defended Peters- burg and the capital ; their greatest commander was at the head of 70,000 veterans. In less than two weeks, Rich- RUINS OF RICHMOND AFTER THE WAR. mond and Petersburg were captured cities, the lines that had defended them so long w^ere useless, except as trophies of the humiliation of those who built them ; their govern- ment, so called, was a fugidve ; their army w^as not only de- WAR OF THE REBELLION. 373 feated, but stricken out of existence ; its general, and every man under him who had not been killed, was a prisoner of war. This last campaign was so short that its history was hardly reported at the time, and its results were so stupen- dous, that its own amazing character has hardly yet been recognized. For splendid marching, for repeated and victorious battles, for capture of works thought to be im- pregnable, for vigor and rapidity of movement, and remorse- less energy, it will compare favorably with any achievements of ancient or modern times. The total loss during the entire year, among the troops immediately under Grant, including those commanded by Butler in the first month of the campaign, amounted to 12,695 killed, 47,822 wounded, and 20,498 missing; total, 82,720. Against this, it is impossible to set off an exact statement of the losses of the enemy, for no reports were ever made by them of the final battles of the war. There was no one to whom to report. But Grant captured alone 66,512 Confederate soldiers in that time, besides the killed or wounded. He absolutely annihilated every army op- posed to him ; that of Lee, that of Early, of Beauregard, and all the forces brought from West Virginia and North and South Carolina to reinforce Lee ; leaving not a living man at the last of all those armies who was not a prisoner. So that, with forces not a fourth greater than those of his antaeonist, and in spite of the enormous advantages of • 111'' defensive breastworks everywhere enjoyed by that antago- nist, and which far more than balanced Grant's superiority in numbers, he accomplished military results that for com- pleteness are utterly without precedent. Thus ended the greatest civil war in history. Lee sur- rendered on the 9th of April, and on the 13th Grant was back in Washington, and at once urged upon the President and the Secretary of War that, as the rebellion was a thing of the past, the work of cutting down the military expenses of the government should begin ; accordingly, on the day of his arrival at the capital, the following announcement was made to the country: 374 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. War Department, Washington, April iT,thj 6 P. M. The Department, after mature consideration and consultation with the Lietcte?iant-Ge7ie7'al w^oYi the results of the recent campaign, has come to the following determinations, which will be carried into effect by appro- priate orders, to be immediately issued : First, to stop all drafting and recruiting in the loyal States. Second, to curtail purchases of arms, ammunition, quartermasters* and commissary supplies, and reduce the military establishment in its several branches. Third, to reduce the number of general and staff officers to the actual necessities of the service. Fourth, to remove all military restrictions upon trade and commerce, so far as may be consistent with public safety. These important reductions in expenditure announced to the nation the absolute overthrow of the rebelHon and the return to peace. The enthusiasm natural over the im- mense success that had been gained at once broke out all over the land. In Washington a ereat illumination of all the public and many private buildings took place, and on the 14th of April, the day after Grant's return, it was an- nounced in the public journals that he would accompany the President that evening to Ford's Theatre ; but Grant had not seen his children for several months, and had a distaste for public demonstrations. He therefore declined the President's invitation, and started on the evening of the 14th for Burlington, New Jersey, where his children were at school. Thus, fortunately for America, did Providence again direct the movements of her greatest captain, and preserved him in peace, as it had done in war, for the future emergencies which he was destined to control. That night, as is too well known in the history of the coun- try, the President was assassinated at the theatre. It was clearly proven, in the proceedings of the trial, that the con- spirators intended also to take the life of him who had so recently preserved the life of the country. The attempted visit to Burlington took Grant unexpectedly out of the reach of the assassin's blow. The Secretary of War at once telegraphed to the general-In-chlef, who returned the same night to Washington, having got no farther than Philadelphia. I 376 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. This extraordinary and melancholy event, and the novelty of the arrangements which it imposed on the government, retained Grant in Washington for several days. The funeral of the President took place on the 19th of April; his successor, Andrew Johnson, having been inaugurated immediately upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, on the 15th. In obedience to Grant's order, of the 5th of April, to "push on from where you are, and let us see if we cannot finish the job with Lee's and Johnston's armies," Sherman had moved up at once against Johnston, who retreated rapidly before him through Raleigh, which Sherman entered on the 13th. The day preceding, news had reached him of the surrender of Lee. On the 14th, a cor- respondence was opened between Sherman and Johnston, which resulted, on the i8th, in an agreement for a suspen- sion of hostilities, and a memorandum or basis for peace,, subject, of course, to the approval of the President. The memorandum was forw^arded first to Grant, who imme- diately perceived that the terms were such as the country v^oulcl not consent to, as they allowed the enemy to deposit their arms and public property in the several State arsenals, stipulated for the recognition of the Confederate State governments by the authorities at Washington, secured to the enemy, without exception, all their political rights and franchises, as well as their rights of person and property, and, in fact, announced a complete and absolute amnesty, simply on condition of the disbandment of the Confederate armies, the laying down of arms, and the resumption of peaceful pursuits by those who composed those armies. Nothing was said about the abolition of slavery, the right of secession, punishment of past treason, or security against future rebellion. Grant forwarded the papers to the Sec- retary of War, and asked that a Cabinet meeting might be called at once, to determine what action should be taken, for there was no time to lose. Grant received Sherman's despatches on the evening of the 20th, and the Cabinet meeting was called before midnight. Grant was present. The President and his Secretaries were unanimous in condemning the action of Sherman ; indeed, their language WAR OF THE REBELLION. 377 was SO Strong, that Grant, while agreeing fully with them that the terms were inadmissible, yet felt it his duty to his friend to defend his conduct from the imputations it excited. He declared that the services Sherman had rendered the country for more than four years entided him to the most lenient judgment on his act, and proved that whatever might be said of his opinions, his motives were unques- tioned. The President was especially indignant at Sher- man's course, and the sympathy for the enemy which it was thought to reveal. Grant was instructed to start at once for Raleigh, and as- sume command in person, revoking the terms, and there- after take whatever action he thought fit. He started before daybreak of the 21st, and arrived at Raleigh on the 24th. There he informed Sherman of the disapproval of his memorandum, and directed him to exact from Johnston the same terms which had been crranted to Lee. Sherman at once notified Johnston that their arrangement had been disapproved ; and a second set of stipulations was drawn up, in conformity with Grant's instructions. Grant mag- nanimously kept himself in the background ; he was not present at any interview with Johnston, remaining at Ra- leigh while Sherman went out to the front ; and his name does not appear in the papers, except where, after the sig- natures of Sherman and Johnston, he wrote, "Approved: U. S. Grant." This the Confederate commander was not aware of, and Grant actually went back to Washington without Johnston's suspecting that he had been at Raleigh. He allowed Sherman to receive the surrender, although he could, in compliance with the especial authority and orders given him in Washington, have had the glory of accepting the capitulation of Johnston, as well as that of Lee. What other living man would have been capable of such self-ab- negation ? and yet, how infinitely greater the glory of de- clining ! One hardly knows which to admire most, at this supreme crisis in the history of the country and of the man — the magnanimity manifested to his enemy at Appomat- tox, or the generosity displayed to his friend at Raleigh. Grant went immediately back to Washington, taking care 378 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. everywhere to defend Sherman ; throwing around his friend the shield of his own great reputation, and assuring every- body that Sherman's loyalty was as unquestioned as his PRESIDENT JOHNSON. own The indignation throughout the land was intense, and nothincr but Grant's own splendid fame, and the per- WAR OF THE REBELLION. 379 sistency with which he fought for Sherman, saved that illustrious soldier from insult, and perhaps degradation. On the 28th of April, Grant was again at his head-quar- ters, now established at Washington, and the same day orders were issued for the reduction of the forces in the field and garrison, and the expenses of every department in the army. The various expeditions of Stoneman, Wilson and Canby had meanwhile accomplished all that they were sent to do. There was no force of consequence left in front of either of them. Canby took possession of Mobile on the i ith of April, Wilson roamed unmolested and almost unopposed through the interior of Alabama, until he was arrested by the news of the surrender of Lee, and Stoneman had a similar career in North Carolina. But as soon as the various Confederate forces, large or small, heard of the dis- asters of Johnston and Lee, and the terms accorded to them, they also made haste to offer themselves as candi- dates for the same mercy extended to their comrades. During the month of May, the last armies of any strength left were those under Dick Taylor and Kirby Smith, who surrendered on the same terms, and, by the ist of June, not an armed enemy remained in the land. The collapse of the Confederacy was one of the most as- tounding features connected with the war. Not a gun was fired in hostility after the surrender of Lee. Not a soldier held out ; not even a guerilla remained in arms ; none hesi- tated not only to give a parole, but to volunteer an oath of allegiance to the government they had offended. Great part of this wonderful acquiescence in the results of the war was owing to the magnanimity of the terms accorded by Grant. No greater stroke of statesmanship can be found recorded in history. Knowing, as he did, the ex- hausted condidon of the enemy — aware that they could hope for no after success, and yet might prolong the fight- ing for a year in the interior, with small detachments ; par- tisan bands, holding out here and there all over the coun- try ; collecting together as fast as they were separated; renewing the fight after they seemed subdued — he deter- 380 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. mined to grant them such terms that there would be neither object nor excuse left them for such a course. The con- summate wisdom of his conduct was proved by the haste which the enemy made to yield everything they had fought for. They were ready not only to give up arms, but, as has been said, to swear fidelity to the government. They ac- quiesced in the abolition of slavery, they abandoned the heresy of secession, and waited in humility to see what else their conquerors would dictate. And they did this in excel- lent spirit. They said they had staked all, and lost all ; they. admitted it was fair that the government should treat them as conquered rebels ; they were thankful for their lives ; they did not know if their lands would be left them ; they dreamed not of political power ; they did not hope to vote ; they only asked to be let live quietly under the flag they had outraged, and attempt in some slight degree to build up their shattered fortunes. Many openly declared they were even more likely to prosper than during the days when the rebellion had existed. Some announced that they were glad that the war had ended as it did, and were proud to be back again under the government under which they had been born. The greatest general of the rebellion asked for pardon. General Lee and the Confederates had returned to their desolated homes on their parole of honor. The victorious Northern and Western armies, under command of Grant and Sherman, were encamped in and around Washington city. Jefferson Davis was an inmate of a casement in Fort- ress Monroe, and Edwin M. Stanton was the power behind the throne who ran the government while Secretary of War. Generals Grant and Rawlins were playing a game of bil- liards in the National Hotel, and two civilians were indulg- ing in that pastime on an opposite table. A major in the regular army entered the spacious room in a hurry and whispered to General Grant. The latter laid his cue on the table, saying: ''Rawlins, don't disturb the balls until I re- turn," and hurried out. The writer remarked to his com- panion : " Pay for the game and hurry out. There is some- thing up." WAR OF THE REBELLION. 38 1 General Grant had reached the street, where, in front of the hotel, stood a mounted sentinel. Grant ordered the soldier to dismount and springing Into the saddle put spurs to the horse and rode up the avenue so fast as to attract the attention of pedestrians. The first civilian questioned the soldier as to the cause of such sudden haste on the part of General Grant, but was answered with the surprise of one who knew nothing. The second citizen appeared, saying, " What has become of Grant ? " On being told of the General's break-neck ride up Penn- sylvania avenue, it was decided to go to the war depart- ment and learn the cause, if possible. Colonel Barroll, of the Second regular Infantry, and husband of Sue Denin, the actress, was disbursing officer in the quartermaster's department, presided over by General Rucker, and to the colonel one of the civilians went for information. Asking him If he knew the reason of General Grant's hasty action and If he had seen the hero of the hour around the depart- ment, Colonel Barroll answered, "Yes," but was surprised at anybody's knowledge of the event. When told of what transpired In the billiard room of the National Hotel, the colonel said : '' Well, as you are aware of the coming of General Grant, I will tell you all about it, providing you promise not to repeat it." The promise being given. Colonel Barroll said : " Secre- tary Stanton sent for me in reference to the execution of certain orders, and while listening to his instructions Gen- eral Grant came in. The secretary greeted the general with a pleasant * Good-morning,' which the latter returned, and in continuation said : ' Mr. Secretary, I understand that you have issued orders for the arrest of General Lee and others, and desire to know if such orders have been placed in the hands of any officer for execution.' " ' I have issued writs for the arrest of all the prominent Confederates, and officers will be despatched on the mission pretty soon,' replied the Secretary. " General Grant appeared cool, though laboring under mental excitement, and quickly said : " ' Mr. Secretary, when General Lee surrendered to me 382 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. at Appomattox Court-House, I gave him my word and honor that neither he nor any of his followers would be dis- turbed so long as they obeyed their parole of honor. I have learned nothing to cause me to believe that any of my late adversaries have broken their promises, and have come here to make you aware of that fact, and would also sug- gest that those orders be cancelled.' *' Secretary Stanton became terribly angry at being spoken to in such a manner by his inferior officer, and said : "'General Grant, are you aware whom you are talking to ? I am the Secretary of War.' " Quick as a flash, Grant answered back : 'And I am General Grant. Issue those orders at your peril' Then turning on his heel. General Grant walked out of the room as unconcerned as if nothing had happened. "It is needless to say," continued Colonel Barroll, "that neither General Lee nor any of his soldiers were arrested. I was dismissed from the presence of the secretary with the remark that my services in connection with the arrest of the leading Confederates would be dispensed with until he took time to consider, and I now^ wait the result of his decision." Like some cases in law, that decision of the great War Secretary was reserved for all time, but whether the game of billiards between Generals Grant and Rawlins was ever played out to an end has never been definitely known, though it was surmised that with the aid of a consoling cigar the game was finished. Among the reminiscences of the silent soldier, that go to show his sterling character, quiet manner and coolness, a story told by a sergeant is as follows : "One of the very marked features of General Grant's life in the field was that no one ever came to his quarters on legitimate business or was brought there a prisoner who was not kindly and considerately treated. He was punctilious in having all persons who came properly to his quarters politely treated and cared for. He never gave offence himself and would not tolerate it in others. No officer in the army ever lived more plainly than General Grant, and none was more willing to divide what he had. WAR OF THE REBELLION. 385 After a successful battle he never exhibited the slightest boastful feeling. To have seen him and heard him talk one would suppose he had had nothing to do with the bat- tle if it were not for the orders he was dictating for the future movements of the army, or for the burial of the dead, or for the caring for the sick and wounded. When Grant had been given command of all the armies in the west he was not as well known in the east as he afterwards was, and men began to inquire about him. Judge Porter asked an old friend who had been made a pension agent, what he knew about him. ' Only this,' was the reply, ' and it singularly impresses me. An old gentleman came to my office about his pension, whose name proved to be Jesse Grant. I asked if he knew this new general. He asked, * You mean Lis ? ' 'And then he told me that he was his son, and he had just received a letter from him, which he showed me. It read somethincr like this: You are perfectly right in thinking that I recognize my unfitness to command this great army. But I look around me and wonder who is more fit. I may not succeed. But if I am beaten it will be so badly that I will never be heard of again.' No man ever saw General Grant speak or act as if he were surprised. His staff officers would try to see if they could not get him to exhibit surprise or astonishment at some of their stories or by extravagant statements. They never succeeded. When every one else was sur- prised he never gave any indication that the matter of the surprise was not perfectly familiar to him. In the most trying times he was the coolest and most self-possessed. Nothing ever disturbed Grant's equanimity. He never lost his head. You miorht tell him the most startlino- news in regard to the enemy, but his face would never indicate that it was news to him. If he was ignorant of a matter about which you were talking, he would draw you out in such a quiet way that you would never imagine that the whole matter was not perfectly familiar to him. Upon one occa- sion a rather cheeky individual was pestering General Grant with questions about some of his campaigns, and the results not being to his taste, finally told the general that 384 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. it was a common criticism passed upon him that he had the soldiers, the money and the power, and that any man of ordinary capabihties would have succeeded with the same opportunities. Grant slowly rolled his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other, and answered quietly : ' I have heard of these criticisms before. There is only one answer that I can make. General Lee surrendered to me. He didn't surrender to any other Union general, although I believe there were several efforts made in that direction before I assumed command of the army.'" A sergeant of the Seventh Connecticut, now a resident of New Haven, gives the following account of his first meeting with General Grant when the army was lying before Richmond : " Day after day we had nothing to do but lie about the camp. On this day I was sergeant of the guard, a detail of eight men being under my charge. Some of the boys had swapped papers with the enemy, whose picket-line was not far from ours, and had given me the Richmond Gazette, I leaned my musket against the trunk of a tree, and, sitting on the ground, braced my back against the tree and read. It was not long- before I became interested in a story and forgot about picket duty, and even the war. Suddenly I heard the tramp of a squadron of cavalry, and looking up saw a number of horsemen ap- proaching. I saw that some of my men were engaged with some of the enemy in a game of poker. The officers did not stop, but quietly rode past, not without looking at me in a peculiar manner. Soon after a single horseman rode up. He had on a slouch hat, an old blouse, and his breeches were tucked in a pair of old boots. Riding up to me, he said : * Sergeant, what are your men doing here ?' "'On picket duty,' I replied. " 'Where are your men ?' "'Oh, over there playing poker,' I said, nodding my head in their direction. " I thought that he was a correspondent for some paper and answered him saucily. Asking my name, regiment and company, he rode away. I flung a parting shot at him as he did so, asking him if he were not inquisitive. When WAR OF THE REBELLION. 385 we were relieved I was called to the captain's head-quar- ters, where I was informed that General Grant had pre- ferrtid charges against me. It was he to whom I had been impudent. When the captain told me that I was under arrest, liable to be shot, I felt like sinking in the ground. A court-martial was held, and I was ordered to be shot at sunrise. In the few hours that 1 was in the guard-house I seemed to live over my life again. Through the efforts of General Hawley the sentence was not carried into effect. I was punished, however, and lor three days carried a knap- sack filled with sand about the camp. When General Grant visited New Haven I called upon him. He recog- nized me, and as I left he said: 'Always do your duty.'" All proclaimed especially their admiration of Grant's generosity. General Lee refused to present his petition for amnesty until he had ascertained in advance that Grant would recommend it. Mrs. Jefferson Davis wrote to Grant, and went in person to see him, asking his all-powerful influence to obtain a remission of some of the punishment of her husband ; and throughout the South his praises were on the lips of his conquered foes. If this was so at the South, the North awarded him such a unanimity of praise and affection as no American had ever received before. Houses were furnished and pre- sented to him, in Philadelphia, Washington, and Galena; magnificent donations of money were placed at his disposal; whenever he stepped out of his house, crowds attended and applauded him; at every public place, theatre or church, the audience or congregation rose at his entrance. If he visited a town, the mayor and other authorities welcomed him; cities were illuminated because of his presence, pro- cessions were formed in his honor, and the whole summer of 1865 was one long ovation. The nation felt that it could not do enough for the man who had led its armies to vic- tory ; men of every shade of political, religious, and social opinion or position, united in these acclamations. Bgt amid them all Grant preserved a modesty as remark- able as the ability which had won them. He made a tour of several months through the Northern States, during 25 386 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. which probably every distinguished man In the country, besides innumerable crowds of less illustrious, but quite as hearty and patriotic friends, combined to do him honor ; and in all this period, his quiet, unobtrusive manner, his sim- plicity of speech and dress, his equanimity and modesty, were as much admired as his deeds. To see him, one would never have suspected that the parade and celebra- tion were on his account. He never spoke of his achieve- ments or his success; he never alluded to the demonstra- tions In his honor ; he accepted and appreciated tlie kindness that was offered him, thanked the people in the simplest and plainest terms, and won their love, wliere before he had only their admiration and their gratitude. The writer has just come in possession of the following letter, written by General Grant from Galena to his father- in-law, Frederick Dent, then of St. Louis, and Is of special interest. We do not remember any other letter from the general written at such an early date in which tJ.ie whole subject of the war Is so fully treated : Galena, April \()fh, 1861. Mr. F. Dent — Dear Sir: I have but very little time to write, but as in these exciting times we are very anxious to hear from you, and know of no other way but by writing first to you, I must make time. We get but little news by telegraph from St. Louis, but from all other points of the country we are hearing all the time. The times are indeed startling, but now is the time, particularly in the border slave States, for men to prove their love of coimtry. I know it is hard for men to apparently work with the Republican party, but now all i)arty distinctions should be lost sight of, and every true patriot be for maintaining the integrity of the glorious old stars and stripes, the Constitution and the Union. The North i.i responding to the President's call in such a manner that the enemy may truly quake. I tell you there is no mistaking the feelings of the i)eo|)le. Tiie Government can call into the field not only 75,000 troo]:)s, but ten or twenty times 75,000 if it should be necessary, and find the means of maintnining them, too. It is all a mistake about the Northern pocket being so sensitive. In times like the present no peoj)le are more ready to give ihf ir own tmie or of their abundant means. No impartial man can conceal from himself the fact that in all tlese troubles the Southerners have i)een the aggressors, and the Administration has stood purely on the defensive — more on the defensive thao she would dared to have < (410) I GENERAL OF THE ARMY. 4I I *' Genilemen of the Committee of Soldiers and Sailors : '' 1 will say that it was never a desire of mine to be a candidate for any political office. It is a source of gratification to me to fed that I have the supi)ort of those who sustained me in the great rebellion through which we have passed, /f I did not feel I had the support of those, 2 would have never consented to be a candidate. It was not a matter of clioice witii me; but I hope, as I have accepted, that I will have your aid and support, from noiv until November^ as I had it during the rebellion^' There is little doubt that this appeal of their old chief to the Union soldiers of the country will be answered as warmly at the polls as it ever was in the field. The same evening (irant was formally notified, by Gen- eral J. R. Hawley, the President of the Republican Conven- tion, of his nomination as President of the United States. He replied in these words : ^' Mr. President a?id Gentlemen of the National Union Convention: *' I will endeavor, in a very short time, to write you a letter accepting the trust you have imposed upon me. Expressing my gratitude for the confidence you have placed in me, I will now say but little orally, and that is to thank you for the unanimity with which you have selected me as a candidate for the Presidential office. I can say, in addition, I looked on, during the progress of the proceedings at Chicago, with a great deal of interest, and am gratified with the harmony and unanimity which seem to have governed the deliberations of the convention. "■ If chosen to fill the high offi; e for which ) ou have selected me, / will give to Its duties the same energy, the same spirit, and the same will that f have given to the performance of all duties winch have devolved upon me heretofore. Whether I shall be able to perform those duties to your entire satisfaction, time will determine. You have truly siid, in the course of your address, thit / shall have no policy of my own to enforce against the will of the people.'' Some of the General's most intimate friends advised him not to accept the nomination, urging his inexperience in civil affairs. To all such he replied : *^ All you say to me is plain. I am aware of the difficulties awaiting any man who takes that position with its present complications. I have no ambition for the place. My profession is suited to my tastes and habits. I have arrived at its height, and been honored with a position to continue for life, with a generous compensation, and satisfactory to the highest aspirations of a soldier. It will be the greatest sacrifice of my life to give this up to the turmoil of the Presidential office. "But if the people ask it, I must yield. For some years the people of America have trusted their sons and brothers and fathers to me, and every step taken with them, in the period from Belmont to Appomattox, has been tracked in the best blood of the country. 412 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. *' If now they need me to finish the work, I must accept the duty if in doing so, I lay down the realizations of my most ambitious hopes." General Grant's letter of acceptance of the nomination was in these words : .-Washington, D. C„ May 29, .868. ** To General Joseph R. Hawley, President of the National Union Republican Co nv edition : ''In formally accepting the nomination of the National Union Repub- lican Convention of the 21st instant, it seems proper that some state- ment of views, beyond the mere acceptance of the nomination, should be expressed. The proceedings of the convention were marked with wis- dom, moderation and patriotism, and, I believe, express the feelings of the great mass of those who sustained the country through its recent trials. I endorse their resolutions. If elected to the office of President of the United States, // will be my endeavor to administer all the laws in good FAITH, with economy, and with the view of giving peace, quiet and protec- tion everywhere. In times like the present it is impossible, or at least eminently improper, to lay down a policy to be adhered to, right or wrong, through an administration of four years. New political issues, not foreseen, are constantly arising ; the views of the public on old ones are constantly changing, and a purely administrative officer should always be left free to execute the will of the people. 1 have always respected that will, and always shall. Peace, and universal prosperity, its sequence, with economy of administration, will lighten the burden of taxation, while it constantly reduces the national debt. Let us have peace. *' With great respect, your obedient servant, U. S. Grant." The Democrats held their General Convention in the city of New York, on the 4th of July, and nominated Horatio Seymour, of New York, for the Presidency^ and General Francis P. Blair, of Missouri, for the Vice-Presidency. General Blair had taken a most active and prominent part in the war on the Union side. The result of the election was the choice of Grant and Colfax by the Electoral Colleges ; they received 2 1 7 of the electoral votes, while Seymour and Blair received but "jj. The States voting for Grant and Colfax were Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mis- souri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennes- see, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin — 25. The States voting for Seymour and Blair were Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Oregon — 8. X GENERAL OF THE ARMY. 413 Of the popular vote cast Grant and Colfax received 2,985,031, and Seymour and Blair received 2,648,830. Some events of Mr. Johnson's administration deserve special notice. One of these is the admission of the people of Nebraska as a separate State in the Union. This took place on the ist of March, 1867, the whole number of States now constitudng the Union being thereby swelled to the number of thirty-seven, and all, according to the Con- stitution, and according to the terms of their admission, being '' upon an equal footing with the original thirteen." During the summer of the same year the territory of Alaska, containing 500,000 square miles, was acquired by purchase from Russia, at the price of $7,200,000 in coin. A treaty was also made with Denmark during Mr. Johnson's administradon, for the islands of St. Thomas and St. John, but was not ratified by the Senate. It may be further noted that it was during his administration that ex-President Buchanan died, at Wheatland, on the ist of June, 1868, in the 78th year of his age. And it should also be noted that just before the expiradon of his term of ofhce, Congress proposed a new amendment to the Constitution of the United States, known as the Fifteenth, to the States for their ratification. At the expiration of his term of office President Johnson retired to his home in Greenville, Tennessee, where he continued to reside until he was again called to the United States Senate. CHAPTER XI. PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT. General Grant inaugurated, and the Forty-first Congress assembled on the 4th of March— The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution ratified— The Civil Rights Bill passed— Completion of the Pacific Railroad— Black Friday at New York— Virginia, Missis- sippi and Texas re-admitted into the Union— Death of ex-Secretary of War Edwin Stanton— Reconstruction in Georgia — Repeal of the Income Tax — The Geneva Conference— Carpet-bag rule in South Carolina and Louisiana — Suspension of the writ of habeas corpus— Gxf\X. conflagration at Chicago— Property to the value oi ^200,000,000 destroyed and 100,000 persons rendered homeless— The Modoc War— Death of Lincoln's Secretary of State, Seward, and General George G. Meade— Removing the political disabilities of certain classes of former Confederates— Certain exceptions— Horace Greeley nominated for the Presidency by the Democrats and Independent Republicans, and Ulysses S. Grant re-nominated by the Republican Convention, at Philadelphia— Grant re-elected— Death of Greeley— Great fire at Boston— The Credit Mobilier and Salary-Grab Swindles— The trouble in Louisiana. For the purpose of having no interregnum in the legisla- tive department of the Government during the process of the reconstruction measures, an act was passed by the Fortieth Congress at its last session providing that the Forty-first Congress should assemble on the 4th day of March, 1869, immediately after the final adjournment of the former Congress, instead of December of that year. On the day fixed the new Congress was organized just after the old one had retired from the halls and at the time of inauguration of the President-elect, U. S. Grant. General Grant's old friend, Ellhu Washburne, was at first made Secretary of State, but later resigned and was made Minister to France. Alexander T. Stewart, of New York, was nominated for the Treasury, but was discovered to be disqualified by the act of 1 789, which provided that no incumbent of the office should be "direcdy or indirecdy concerned or interested in carrying on the business of trade or commerce," and George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, was appointed in his stead. The other nominadons were: Jacob D. Cox, of Ohio, Secretary of the Interior; Adolph E. Bone, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Navy; John M. (4U) k PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT. 415 Schofield, of Illinois, Secretary of War; John A. Cress- well, of Maryland, Postmaster-General ; and E. Rockwood Hoar, of Massachusetts, Attorney-General. General Grant accepted the office of President at the hands of the people as he had accepted promotions in the line of duty heretofore, determined to do his best, under all circumstances, according to his judgment. It had been charged against him that he was not a statesman, but his administration proved an able one, although the peace that reigned did not permit of its being as conspicuous as though troubles were crowding thick and fast. Under his wise policy the work of reconstruction went on more successfully perhaps than it could have done in any other hands, unless indeed we except those of that grand man who is cherished in the hearts of the people as the " Martyr President." In a message to Congress on the subject of public edu- cation, President Grant wrote : "The * Father of his Country' in his farewell address, uses the lan- guage, 'Promote, then, as a matter of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge.' The adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution completes the greatest civil change, and constitutes the most important event that has ever occurred since the nation came into life. The change will be beneficial in proportion to the heed that is given to the urgent recommendations of Washington. If these recommendations were important then, with a population of but a few millions, how much more important now ! *'I therefore call upon Congress to take all the means within their con- stitutional powers to promote and encourage popular education through the country; and upon the people everywhere to see to it, that all who possess and exercise political rights shall have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge which will make their share in government a blessing and not a danger. By such means only can the benefits contemplated by this amendment to the Constitution be secured." The pernicious system of political assessments, which reached its climax in the celebrated circular to the depart- ments, issued by the notorious Jay S. Hubbell during the Garfield campaign, had already come into life, when Grant was called to the chief magistracy. His views on this important question are worth quoting, if only to show the manly stand he took. He says : "The utmost fidelity and diligence will be expected of all officers in ^l6 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. every branch of the public service. Political assessments, as they are called, have been forbidden within the various departments; and while the right of all persons in official positions to take part in politics is acknowledged, and the elective franchise is recognized as a high trust to be discharged by all entitled to its exercise, whether in the employment of the government or in private life, honesty and efficiency, not political activity, will determine the tenure of office." These noble words ought to be written in letters of gold, and hung up in the bureau of every office-holder through- out the land. Grant never sought a nomination to the Presidency; it was literally forced upon him. Speaking of this in after years, he said that the position of General of the Army, which Congress had expressly created for him, was the one he liked. He would have retained it until such time as Congress might have consented to his retirement, with the rank and pay of a general. He would then have gone to a home, where the balance of his days might be spent in peace and in the enjoyment of domestic quiet, relieved from the cares which had oppressed him for fourteen years. But he was made to believe that the public good called upon him to make the sacrifice. The first session of the Forty-first Congress adjourned on the 8th of April, 1869, after passing a bill to secure the public credit and the Civil Rights Bill for the District of Columbia. The most notable event of this spring was the comple- tion of the Pacific Railroad by a junction between the eastern division, known as the Union Pacific Railroad, from Omaha, Nebraska, and the western division, knov/n as the Central Pacific. These two roads unite at Ogden, near Salt Lake City, in Utah Territory. The junction was accomplished on the loth of May, 1869, and trains there- after ran from San Francisco to Omaha. The distance from Omaha to Ogden is 1,032 miles, while the distance from Ogden to San Francisco is 882 miles — commion line, 1,914 miles — and constituting by far the most important railroad yet completed in the world. On the 24th of December, 1869, Edwin Stanton, former Secretary of War, died, after being elevated to the Supreme Court bench. PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT. 417 During the fall of this year also occurred a panic in the o-old market in New York City, which was occasioned by one of the most remarkable conspiracies by money-holders against the interests of the people ever known. It ended in what is known as the catastrophe of Black Friday, which occurred on the 24th of September, 1869, and in which thousands of fortunes were wrecked. The second session of the Forty-first Congress convened in December of this year as usual. Early in January, 1870, Virginia, Mississippi and Texas were reHeved from military rule, and readmitted into the Union upon their adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitudon of the United States. Texas was the last. From that time they were again permitted to have repre- sentation in the Senate and House. Georgia had in like manner been relieved from military rule and readmitted in 1868, upon her adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was at that time the con- dition precedent for her readmission, and her Senators and members to Congress, whose disabilides had been removed under the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment, were thereafter permitted to take their seats. President Grant, on the 20th of March, 1870, issued a proclamation announcing that the Fifteenth Amendment had been duly ratified by a sufficient num.ber of States, and therefore declarc-d it to be part of the Constitution of the United States. Congress soon after went eagerly to work upon a measure to secure the enforcement of rights which they held to be conferred by it. This, bill passed on the 3d of May, and was known as the Enforcement Act. In February of this year the first resolutions were adopted for the establishment of the Signal Service Bureau, for weather reports. From small beginnings then, it has become one of the largest, most important, and useful branches of the government. Its first chief, Albert J. Myers, who brought it to such perfection, died July, 1880. It is estimated that property to the extent of twenty millions of dollars in shipping and merchandise was saved annually, for several years before his death, by his system 27 Ili|.i,.i;i.' '\l;H, (418) ''''''■i'i||.6llr>'' '" ''\;!|ii§i?''^ PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT. 419 of Storm signals. General Myers was succeeded by- General William B. Hazen, who still holds the position. The members of the General Assembly and members of Congress were to be chosen this year, under the State constitution of 1868, and in accordance with an act passed by the Legislature chosen under that constitution. The canvass opened early, and was conducted with a gre^t deal of spirit and energy, both through the press and by speeches on the hustings. The election, according to law, was to come off in the latter part of December, and was to continue for four days, with a detachment of military to attend the voting precincts, wherever they might be required. The result of the four days' December election in Georgia, with the military guard at the polls, under the provisions of the Enforcement act, was an overwhelming majority of the Democratic party, and the redemption of the State from carpet-bag rule. Governor Bullock, who had been declared elected chief magistrate of the State in 1868, under the Re- construction act of Congress, raised great complaints against the elections. He charged fraud at the polls in many parts of the State, notwithstanding the military were present in force. He alleged that there had been gross outrages, and divers violations of the Enforcement act. A part of the State, particularly the Eighth Congressional District, he declared to be in a state of rebellion. A committee of the partisans of the governor were deputed to visit Washington with a view of getting Presi- dent Grant and ConQ;ress to make another turn of the recon- struction screw upon Georgia. The committee waited upon the President. He received them, and heard patiently all they had to say, to which he replied: "Gentlemen, the people of Georgia may govern themselves as they please, without any interference on my part, so long as they violate no Federal law." In the latter part of the last session of the Fortieth Con- gress two important measures were passed. One was the repeal of the income tax, which was very oppressive and offensive in its enforcements. This passed on the 26th of 420 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. January, 1871. The other act referred to was the repeal of the test oath, or iron-clad oath, as it was called, so far as relates to the holding of Federal office by persons con- nected with the Confederate cause. This act passed on the 31st of January, 1871. The Forty-second Congress convened in its first session on the 4th of March, 1871, the first day of its term, as its 'predecessor, the Forty-first, had done. It was, as the one before, largely Radical in its composition, though nothing of great importance was done at this session. President Grant, soon after entering upon his adminis- tration, gave special attention to the damage done the United States commerce by Confederate cruisers fitted out in British ports, in violation of the laws of nations. He brought the subject to the notice of the British ministry, and urged an amicable adjustment of the question. It was finally agreed between the two countries to establish a Board of Commissioners, to determine upon all matters of dispute in the premises. This board met at Geneva, Switz- erland, on the 15th day of December, 1871, andafterapro- tracted investigation and discussion of the principles in volved, awarded the United States the sum of Ji 5,000,000, the amount of damages for which England was justly liable. Another important measure was that known as the Ku- Klux Bill, designed to correct certain abuses in the South in connection with the ballot, and in the course of which trouble the right of habeas coi^pus was for a season sus- pended in the northern counties of South Carolina. On the 20th of June, 18 71, Mr. Hoar resigned his posi- tion as Attorney-General, and was succeeded by Amos T. Ackerman, of Georgia, who held his office only until the 13th of the ensuing December, when he resigned and was succeeded by George H. Williams, of Oregon. Mr. Cox, of Ohio, also resigned the Interior Department, and was succeeded by Columbus Delano, of the same State. One of the greatest conflagrations ever known in the United States occurred during this year. It was the burn- ing of the city of Chicago, Illinois, on the 8th and 9th of October, 1871. The loss was estimated at nearly $200,- PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT. 42 1 000,000 in property. Upwards of 17,000 houses were burned, and nearly 100,000 persons rendered homeless. The saddest part, however, was the loss of 280 human lives. The second session of the Forty-second Congress con- vened in December of 1871 as usual. The most of its time was taken up with the usual discussions preceding- an ap- proaching Presidential election. One act, however, of this session deserves special notice. It was the act, passed the 9th day of May, removing the disabilities of certain classes of Southern men as provided for in the Fourteenth Amend- ment of the Constitution. By this act at least 150,000 citizens of the Southern States were no longer prohibited from holding office. Those excepted from the provisions of this act were all the Senators and members of Congress who had vacated their seats on the secession of the several States ; all United States ministers abroad who had, in like manner, resigned their positions ; and all graduates of West Point and Annapolis who had adopted a simUar course. The Modoc Indians, who had been placed on a reserva- tion in California, left it, and began depredations on the frontier settlements. Open war broke out in 1872. Several members of the Peace Commission, appointed by Phesident Grant, In 1869, to treat with Indians, met the Modocs, and General Canby and Dr. Thomas were treach- erously murdered. The war was thereafter prosecuted with vigor, and the Indians retired to some nearly inaccessible fastnesses among the lava beds of that region. From these they were at last driven, and Captain Jack, their leader, was captured. Hc and three of his companions were hanged October. L^.y-j. The Sioux Indians occupied a reservation among the Black Hills, in the territories of Dakota and Wyoming. Gold was discovered within the limits of the reservation, and a bill was passed by Congress taking away that portion of it lying in Dakota. The Sioux organized for war, and United States troops were sent against them. General George A. Custer, in command of a portion of these, pushed across the country 422 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. from Missouri to. the Yellowstone. Pressing forward, re- gardless of danger, he was met by an overwhelming force of Sioux under Sitting Bull, and he, with two hundred and sixty-one men, nearly his entire force, were killed, June 25, 1876. The Indians afterward retired into the British pos- sessions, where they were safe from the pursuit of the United States troops. On the 2 1 St of October was finally settled the last ques- tion of boundary between the United States and Great Britain. It related to the true channel between the United States and Vancouver's Island. The matter had been re- ferred to William, Emperor of Germany. He decided in favor of the United States. William H. Seward, Mr. Lincoln's great Secretary of State, after making a successful voyage around the world, died on the loth of October, 1872, in the seventy-second year of his age. General George G. Meade, the victor at Gettysburg, died 6th of November, 1872, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. During the fall of this year another exciting Presidential election took place, whereof an account will now be given. Quite a split had taken place in the Republican party. A large portion of that organization had manifested decided opposition to the renomination and re-election of President Grant. They assumed the name of Liberal Republicans and held their convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, and put in nomination for the Presidency Horace Greeley, the great journalist of New York ; and for the Vice-Presidency, B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri. The Democrats held their con- vention at Baltimore, on the 9th day of July, and, without presenting a ticket of their own, simply indorsed the nomi- nation made by the Cincinnati Convention , while the re- gular Republican Convention met on the 5th day of June, at Philadelphia, and put in nomination for re-election Gen- eral Ulysses S. Grant, of Illinois, for President, and for Vice-President, Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts. The re- sult of the election was 286 electoral votes for Grant, and 286 for Wilson, for Vice-President. For B. Gratz Brown, for Vice-President, 47. PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT. 423 Mr. Greeley, having died soon after the popular election in November, and before the meeting of the Electoral Col- leges in December, the votes that he carried at the popular election were only 65, and were scattered in the colleges among a number of persons whose names had never been connected with the office. Another great calamity should also here be chronicled. It is the great fire that occurred in Boston on the 9th and loth of November, 1872. The loss of property was esti- mated at ^80,000,000, and fifteen persons were consumed in the flames. During the remaining portion of the last session of the Forty-second Congress several important measures were passed. The one which, perhaps, produced the greatest effects upon the country was the act demonetizing silver, and striking this precious metal from the list of coins with debt-paying power. ' The two metals, from time immemo- rial, which had been recognized by civilized nations as mone}^, were silver and gold. At the time silver was dis- placed on the list there were, upon the best estimates, in round numbers, $8,000,000,000 of gold and silver circulat- ing as money in the world. Of this amount, $4,500,000,000 was silver. The only unit of value in the United States from the beginning of the government was the silver dollar, which had never been changed. All the bonds that had been issued by the United States had been made payable in United States coin, either gold or silver, at its then stan- dard value. Another subject that greatly agitated the Congress and the country about the time was the Credit Mobilier, about which so much was said and written. It was at this session also that the celebrated Salary Grab Act, as it was called, was passed. Soon after the November elections of 1S72 very great excitement took place in Louisiana. The grossest frauds were charged upon Governor Warmouth, in his attempts at manipulating the returning board, under the laws of that State. The result was two returning boards, each claiming to be the riofhtful one. Owine to this confusion, two lems- lative bodies set up to be each the rightful one. Each one 424 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. of these elected a Senator, claiming to be the rightful one, to the United States Senate. And there were two rival contestants to the Governorship of the State. The Senate raised a commission, who went down to Louisiana and made a thorough examination, and reported upon the facts, which amounted, in a printed volume, to over a thousand pages. Louisiana sent, in the latter part of December, a large deputation of citizens, headed by ex-Justice of the Supreme Court John A. Campbell, to urge President Grant to afford them some relief and especially to send Justice Bradley, United States Circuit Judge, to Louisiana, and set things right there. They waited upon the President on the 19th of December. The committee, having been intro- duced to the President by Attorney-General Williams, Judge Campbell explained the purpose of their coming to Washington, and gave a brief account of the condition of affairs In Louisiana, In consequence of which commerce was seriously affected, and trade generally so injured that the people were dismayed, and this unfavorable condition of affairs had not only Injured that State, but other States havinor close business relations with Louisiana. As there was no prospect of a satisfactory solution of the present trouble, by means of the agency now at work, the people, through their committee, asked that. In this exi- gency. Associate Justice Bradley, of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Judge Woods, of the Circuit Court of the United States, should take charge of the judicial administration of the Circuit Court, sitting In New Orleans. Judge Campbell said that when he occupied a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, he was twice requested by the chief magistrate to perform such duty In order that the force, power and Influence of the court should be felt and respected, and he also went there twice at his own Instance. He did not know of a more serious condition of affairs than that which now existed in Louisiana, and could see no relief except In the manner now suggested. The judges, whom he mentioned, would have greater power and Independence than the judge who now presided in the Circuit Court. m- PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT. 425 The course he had indicated promised a solution of the difficulties so far as the judicial question was concerned. In the second place, President Grant, living twelve hundred miles distant from New Orleans, could not be expected to have a knowledge of all the facts. What the people of Louisiana wanted, what the President wanted, and what all good men desired was the right of this matter about which there were conflictinor statements and criminating remarks. The people of that State, as represented by the com- mittee, also ask the executive of the United States to send to New Orleans three independent, impartial, learned and just men to make a full inquiry into all the facts, to take testimony and thoroughly explore the situation. They desire that all the facts be reported to the President. President Grant, in reply, said he supposed it was com- petent for the Supreme Court to designate any one of its. members to proceed to Louisiana, but he did not think it would be quite proper for him to make the request of them. Congress had power to investigate the facts in the case presented, but he did not propose to interfere with the local affairs in that State by putting one set of officers or another in power, although numerous telegrams, letters, and papers say he had done so. He would not feel at liberty to make a request that Judge Bradley go to New Orleans, particularly as he is wanted here while the court is in session ; although if the court should make the request, it would meet with his approbation. Judge Campbell said there was no authority under the Constitution and laws of the United States for a Federal Court to interfere with the affairs of a State, such as had taken place In Louisiana, and he briefly alluded to the decree of the court and its effects In seating and unseating persons elected to office. President Grant, during a colloquy with Judge Campbell, said his understanding of the subject was, the court had merely decided who were the legal canvassers, and, even it, as stated In this case, the court exceed its authority, its decision will have to be respected until the decision shall be set aside by a superior court. ^2 6 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. It would be dangerous for the President to set the pre- cedent of interfering with the decisions of courts. In reply to the request of Judge Campbell that he would send a committee of three honest men to go down and investigate the matter, and send a report to Congress, he said he could not employ and compensate such men unless by authority of Congress, nor could such committee admin- ister oaths or compel the attendance of witnesses. He said Congress had power — he hadn't. Subsequendy to this, as Congress had taken no action on the subject, President Grant, on the 25th of February, sent a message to Congress upon the subject, in the follow- ing words : * ' To the Seriate and House of Representatives : '' Your attention is respectfully invited to the condition of affairs in the State of Louisiana. Grave complications have grown out of the election there on the 6th of November last, chiefly attributable, it is believed, to an organized attempt, on the part of those controlling the election of officers and returns, to defeat in that election the will of a majority of the electors of the State. Different persons are claiming the executive office. Two bodies claim to be the legislative assembly of the State, and the confusion and uncertainty produced in this way fall with paralyzing effect on all its interests. A controversy arose, as soon as the election occurred, over its proceedings and results, but I declined to interfere until suit involving this controversy to some extent was to be brought in the Circuit Court of the United States, under and by virtue of the act of May 3d, 1870, entitled, 'an act to enforce the right of citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of the Union, and for other purposes.' Finding resistance was made to the judicial process in that suit without any opportunity, and in my judgment without any right to review the judgment of the court upon the jurisdictional or other questions arising in the case, I directed the United States Marshal to enforce such process, and to use, if necessary, troops for that purpose in accordance with the thirteenth section of that act, which provides that it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to employ such part of the land and naval forces of the United States, or of the militia, as shall be necessary to aid in the execution of judicial process under this act. " Two bodies of persons claimed to be the returning board for the State, and the Circuit Court in that case decided the one to which Lynch belonged, usually designated by his name, was the lawful returning board, and this decision has been repeatedly affirmed by the District and Su- preme Courts of the State. Having no opportunity or power to canvass the votes, and the exigencies of the case demanding an immediate de- cision, I conceived it to be my duty to recognize those persons as elected PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT. 7^7 427 who received and "held their credentials to office from what then appeared to me to be, and has since been decided by the Supreme Court of the State to be, the legal returning board. Conformably to the decisions of this board, a full set of State officers has been installed and a legislative assembly organized, constituting, if not a de jure, at least a de facto gov- ernment, which, since some time in December last, has had possession of PRESIDENT GRANT LEAVING THE WHITE HOUSE TO BE INAUGURATED. the offices and been exercising the usual powers of the government ; but opposed to this has been another government claiming to control the af- fairs of the State, and which has, to some extent, httn pro forma or- ganized. " Recent investigation of the said election has developed so many frauds and forgeries as to make it doubtful what candidates received a 428 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. majority of votes actually cast, and in view of these facts, a variety of action has been proposed. I have no specific recommendation to make upon the subject, but if there is any practical way of removing these dif- ficulties by legislation, then I earnestly request that such action be taken at the present session of Congress. It seems advisable that I should state now what course I shall feel bound to pursue in reference to the matter, in the event of no action by Congress at this time, subject to any satis- factory arrangement that may be made by the parties to the contest, which, of all things is the mo^c desirable. It will bi my duty, so far as it may be necessary for me to act, to adhere to that government recog- nized by me. To judge of the election and qualifications of its members is the exclus ve province of the Senate, a^ it is also the exclusive province of the House to judge of the election and qualifications of its members ', but as to the State offices filled and held under State laws, the decision of the State judicial tribunal, it seems to me, ought to be respected. I am extremely anxious to avoid any appearance of undue interference in State affairs, and if Congress differ from me as to what ought to be done, I respectfully urge its immediate decision to that effect. Otherwise I shall feel obliged, as far as I can, by the exercise of legitimate authority, to put an end to the unhappy controversy which disturbs the peace and prostrates the business of Louisiana, by the recognition and support of that govern- ment which is recognized and upheld by the courts of the State. -U. S. Grant." Conoress took no notice of this messaoe and left the state of affairs in Louisiana without any action. On the 4th of March, 1873, General Grant was inaugu- rated for another four years. The ceremonies were very imposing, and the crowd immense. The inaugural was de- livered from the usual place, the east portico of the capitol. Like the first, it was brief and pointed ; and though read was received with great enthusiasm, notwithstanding the severe inclemency of the weather. The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Chase. CHAPTER XII. Second inauguration of President Grant — Kellogg recognized as the Governor of Louisiana — Death of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase — His successor Morrison R. Waite, of Ohio . — Pohtical disturbances at New Orleans — Monetary panic in 1873 — Death of Charles Sumner and Vice-President Henry Wilson — Colorado the Centennial State — The Forty-fourth Congress largely Democratic — Michael Kerr, of Indiana, and, later on, Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania, elected Speaker — Opening of the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia — The looth birthday of the Republic celebrated at Philadelphia — R. B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden nominated for the Presidency. On the failure of the Forty-second Congress, before its adjournment, to take any action upon the state of affairs in Louisiana, Grant, after his second inauguration, recognized Kellooror as the Governor of the State in accordance with what he announced he would do in his message to Con- gress of the 25th of February. In this he acted in con- formity to the decision of the highest judicial tribunal in the State. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase suddenly died of paralysis on the 7th of May, 1873, at the home of his daughter, in the city of New York, and was succeeded some months after- wards by the nomination and confirmation of Morrison R. Waite, of Ohio. In the fall of 1873 a severe commercial crisis, known as the " Railroad Panic," burst upon the country. It was caused by excessive speculation in railway stocks and the reckless construction of railways in portions of the country where they were not yet needed and which could not sup- port them. The excitement began on the 17th of Sep- tember, and on the 18th, 19th and 20th several of the principal banking firms of New York and Philadelphia suspended payment. The failure of these houses involved hundreds of other firms in all parts of the country in their ruin. The excitement became so intense that on the 20th the New York Stock Exchange closed its doors, and put a stop to all sales of stocks in order to prevent a general destruction of the values of all securities. The banks (430) SECOND TERM OF PRESIDENT GRANT. 431 were obliged to resort to the most stringent measures to- avoid being drawn into the common ruin. President Grant and the Secretary of the Treasury has- tened to New York to consult the capitalists of that city as to the proper measures to be taken for the relief of the business of the country. Various measures were urged upon them. A strong appeal was made to the President to lend the whole or the greater part of the treasury reserve of forty-four million dollars of greenbacks to thebanks to furnish the Wall Street brokers with funds to settle there losses and resume business. He at once declined to take so grave a step, and, thanks to his firmness, the credit of the United States was not placed at the mercy of the reck- less men who had caused the trouble. The government, as a measure of relief, consented to purchase a number of its bonds of a certain class at a fair price, and thus enable the holders who were in need of money to obtain It without sacrificing their securities. On the 2 2d the excitement In New York and the Eastern cities began to subside. The trouble was not over, however. The stringency of the money market which followed the first excitement prevailed for fully a year, and affected all branches of the industry of the country, and caused severe suffering from loss of employment and lowering of wages to the working classes. The panic showed the extent to which railroad gambling had demoralized the business and the people of the coun- try. It showed that some of the strongest and most trusted firms In the Union had lent themselves to the task of In- ducing people to invest their money in the securides of enterprises the success of which was, to say the least, doubtful. It showed that the banks, the depositories of the people's money, had, to an alarming extent, crippled them- selves by neglecting their legitimate business and making advances on securities which in the hour of trial proved worthless in many cases, uncertain In most. The money needed for the use of the legldmate business of the country had been placed at the mercy of the railroad gamblers and had been used by them. The funds of helpless and de- 432 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. pendent persons, of widows and orphan children, had been used to pay fictitious dividends and advance schemes which had been stamped with the disapproval of the public. An amount of recklessness and demoralization was revealed in the management of the financial interests of the country that startled even the most hardened. The lesson was se- vere, but it was needed. The panic was followed by a better and more healthful state of affairs. The business of the coun- try slowly settled down within proper channels. Reckless- ness was succeeded by prudence ; extravagance by economy in all quarters. The American people took their severe lesson to heart, and resolutely set to work to secure the good results that came to them from this harvest of misfortune. In January, 1875, Congress passed an act providing for the resumption of specie payments, and requiring that on and after January ist, 1879, the legal tender notes of the government shall be redeemed in specie. In the mean time silver coin is to be substituted for the fractional paper currency. Vice-President Henry Wilson, on the 2 2d of November, 1875, sank under a stroke of paralysis, and died in the Vice- President's apartments in the Capitol at Washington. On the 4th of March, 1875, the Territory of Colorado was authorized by Congress to form a Constitution, and was admitted into the Union as a State, the ist of July, 1876, making the thirty-eighth member of the Confederacy, and by which she received the appellation of the " Centen- nial State." The year 1875 completed the period of one hundred years from the opening of the Revolution, and the leading events of that period — the centennial anniversaries of the batdes of Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill ; the Meck- lenburg Declaradon of Independence in Charlotte, North Carolina — were all celebrated with appropriate commemor- ative ceremonies. These were but preludes to the great Internadonal Centennial of 1876 in celebradon of the Decla- ration of Independence on the 4th of July one hundred years before. The centennial year of American Independence was cele- SECOND TERM OF PRESIDENT GRANT. 433 brated In Philadelphia during the year 1876, with a grand international exhibition, which was Inaugurated with Impos- ing ceremonies by President Grant, May loth, and con- tmued open until November loth, a period of one hundred and fifty-nine days. Its chief object was to show the progress of the nation in arts and manufactures during the first century of its exist- ence, but all foreign nadons were Invited to contribute, and thirty-three of these exhibited their products. The space occupied was seventy-five acres, an area far greater than that of any previous exhibition. As early as 1872 measures were set on foot for the proper observance of the one hundredth anniversary of the Inde- pendence of the United States. It was resolved to com- memorate the close of the first century of the Republic by an International Exhibition, to be held at Philadelphia in 1876, in which all the nations of the world were invited to pardcipate. Preparadons were at once set on foot for the great celebradon. The European governments, with great cordiality, responded to the invitations extended to them by the government of the United States, and on the loth of May, 1876, the Internadonal Centennial tlxhibitlon was opened with the most imposing ceremonies, in the presence of an immense concourse of cidzens from all parts of the Union, and of the President of the United States and the Emperor of Brazil. The exhibldon remained open from May loth to No- vember loth, 1876, and was visited by several million people from the various States of the Union, from Canada, South America and Europe. It was one of the grandest and most notable events of the century. On the fourth day of July, 1876, the United States of America completed the one hundredth year of their exist- ance as an independent nation. The day was celebrated with imposing ceremonies and with the most patrlodc enthusiasm in all parts of the Union. The celebrations began on the night of the 3d of July, and were kept up until near^ midnight on the 4th. Each of the great cities of the Union vied with the others in the splendor and 434 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. completeness of its rejoicings ; but the most Interesting of all tlie celebrations was naturally that which was held at Philadelphia, in which city the Declaration of Independence was adopted. The arrangements for the proper observance of the day were confided to the United States Centennial Commission, and extensive preparations were made to conduct them on a scale of splendor worthy of the glorious occasion. It was wisely resolved by the Commission that as the Declaration of Independence was signed in Independence OPENING CEREMONIES OF THE CENTENNL\L EXHIBITION. Hall and proclaimed to the people in Independence Square, the commemorative ceremonies should be so conducted as to make the venerable building the grand central figure of all the demonstrations. Being anxious that the Centennial celebration should do its share in cementing the reunion of the Northern and Southern States, the Commission began, at least a year before the occasion, the formation of a " Centennial Le- gion," consisting of a detachment of troops from each of the thirteen original States. The command of this splendid body of picked troops was conferred upon General Am SECOND TERM OF PRESIDENT GRANT. 435 brose E. Burnside, of Rhode Island, and General Harry Heth, of Virginia, was chosen Lieutenant-Colonel. Both were veterans of the late civil war. The Legion was readily made up, the best volunteer commands of the original States being eager to serve in it. For a week previous to the 4th of July crowds of people began to pour steadily into Philadelphia. Volunteer organizations from the various States were constantly arriving, and were either encamped at various points in and around the Exhibition grounds, or were quartered at the various hotels. By the night of the 3d of July it was estimated that at least two hundred and fifty thousand strangers were assembled in Philadelphia. The Centennial ceremonies were begun on the morning of Saturday, the ist of July. The leading writers of the Union had been invited to prepare memoirs of the great men of our Revolutionary period, which were to be depos- ited among the archives of the State- House, and all who were able to accept the invitation assembled in Independ- ence Hall at eleven o'clock on the morning of July i, 1876, where they were joined by a number of invited guests. The ceremonies were opened by an address from Colonel Frank M. Etting, the chairman of the Committee on the Restoration of Independence Hall, and a prayer by the Rev. William White Bronson. Whittler's Centennial Hymn was then sung by a chorus of fifty voices. The names of the authors were then called, to which each responded in person or by proxy, and laid his memoir on the table in the hall. The exercises were then brought to a close, and the company repaired to the stand in Independence Square, where a large crowd had assembled. The ceremonies in the square were begun at half-past twelve o'clock with Helfrich's Triumphal March, performed by the Centennial Musical Association. Mr. John William Wallace, the president of the day, then delivered a short address, after which Whittier's Centennial Hymn was sung by a chorus of one hundred and fifty voices, and Mr. Wil- liam V. McKean reviewed at some length the great histor- ical event in commemoration of which the ceremonies were ftenwiipip- 1- IWlStt 'Bil l iii'"' • 'l!S'l°'"tf " 1T'"NI"fir'l«1 I' i|. llf, i IS 4 i fe .ailliliiilMiiiiiM^^^ SECOND TERM OF PRESIDENT GRANT. 437 -held. After the band had played " God Save America," the Hon. Leverett Salstonstall, of Massachusetts, delivered an address, which elicited warm applause. " The Voice of the Old Bell," a Centennial ode, was then sung, and Gov- ernor Henry Lippitt, of Rhode Island, made a short speech. The band followed with a number of patriotic airs, and Mr. Wallace announced the unavoidable absence of General John A. Dix, and introduced in his place Frederick De Peyster, President of the New York Historical Society, who made a few remarks. After a Centennial ode, by S. C. Upham, had been sung by the chorus, the Hon. Benjamin Harris Brewster delivered an eloquent address, at the close of which another Centennial Hymn, by William Fennimore, was sung. Senator Frank P. Stevens, of Maryland, then said a few words, after which the " Star-Spangled Banner " was sung, and the exercises were brought to a close by a prayer from Bishop Stevens. The celebration ushering in the 4th of July was begun on the night of the 3d. A grand civic and torchlight pro- cession paraded the streets, which were brilliantly illumin- ated along the whole line of march. The procession began to move' about half-past eight o'clock at night, and consisted of deputations representative of the various trades of the city, the Centennial Commissioners from the various foreign countries taking part in the Exhibition, the Governors of a number of States of the Union, officers of the army and navy of the United States, civic and political associations, and officers of foreign men-of-war visidng the city. Some of the deputations bore torches, and these added to the brilliancy of the scene. All along the line fireworks were ascending into the air, and cheer after cheer went up from the dense masses of enthusiastic spectators which filled the sidewalks. Crowds had collected around Independence Hall, filling the street before it and the square in the rear of it. An orchestra and chorus were stationed on the stands in the square to hail the opening of the 4th with music. The movements of the procession were so timed that the head of the column arrived in front of Independence Hall pre- 438 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. cisely at midnight. The crowd, which had been noisy but good-natured, was hushed into silence as the hands of the clock in the tower approached the midnight hour, and one hundred thousand people waited in breathless eagerness the strokes which were to usher in the glorious day. As the minute-hand swept slowly past the hour there was a profound silence, and then came rolling out of the lofty steeple the deep, liquid tones of the new liberty bell, sound- ing wonderfully solemn and sweet as they floated down to the crowd below. Thirteen peals were struck, and the first tone had hardly died away when there went up from the crowd such a shout as had never been heard in Phila- delphia before. It was caught up and re-echoed all over the city, and at the same time the musicians and singers in the square broke into the grand strains of the " Star-Span- gled Banner." All the bells and steam whistles in the city joined in the sounds of rejoicing, and fireworks and firearms made the noise ten-fold louder. When the " Star-Spangled Banner" was ended, the chorus in Independence Square sang the " Doxology," in which the crowd joined heartily, and the band then played national airs. The festivities were kept up until after two o'clock, and it was not until the first streaks of the dawn began to tinge the sky that the streets of the city resumed their wonted appearance. The lull in the festivities was not of long duration. The day was at hand, and it threatened to be mercilessly hot, as indeed it was. As the sun arose in his full-orbed splen- dor, the thunder of cannon from the Navy Yard, from the- heights of Fairmount Park, and from the Swedish, Brazilian and American war vessels in the Delaware, and the clang- ing of bells from every steeple in the city, roused the few who had managed to snatch an hour or two of sleep after the fatigues of the night, and by six o'clock the streets were again thronged. In view of the extreme heat of the weather, the military parade had been ordered for an early hour of the day. As soon as the parade was ended, the crowd turned into Independence Square, which was soon filled. Four thou- SECOND TERM OF PRESIDENT GRANT. 439 sand persons were given seats on the stand, and a vast crowd filled the square. As the invited guests appeared and took their seats on the platform, the prominent person- ages were cheered by the crowd. The Emperor of Brazil received a welcome that was especially noticeable for its heartiness. At a few minutes after ten o'clock, General Hawley, the President of the United States Centennial Commission, appeared at the speaker's stand and signaled to the or- chestra to begin. As the music ceased. General Hawley again came forward, and introduced, as the presiding officer of the day, the Hon. Thomas W. Ferry, Vice-Pres?dent of the United States, who was received with loud cheers. After a few remarks appropriate to the occasion, Vice-Pres- ident Ferry presented to the audience the Right Reverend Wil- liam Bacon Stevens, D. D., the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania, whom he introduced as the ec- clesiastical successor of the first chaplain of the Continental Conorress. The bishop delivered a solemn and impressive prayer, during the ut- terance of which the whole audience stood with uncovered heads, silent and attentive, unmindful of the blaz- ing sun which poured GENERAL J. R. HAWLEY. ^own upon thcm. When the prayer was ended the Vice-President then announced that Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, a grand- son of the patriot of the Revolution who offered the reso- lution in Congress, that " these united colonies are and of 440 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. r'vyht ought to be free and independent states," would read the Declaration of Independence from the original manu- script, which President Grant had intrusted to the mayor of Philadelphia. The faded and crumbling manuscript, held together by a simple frame, was then exhibited to the crowd and was greeted with cheer after cheer. Richard Henry Lee, a soldierly-looking Virginian, then came forward and read the Declaration ; but the enthusiasm of the crowd was too great to permit them to listen to it quietly. At the close of the reading Mr. John Welsh, chairman of the Centennial Board of Finance, then, at the sugges- tion of Vice-President Ferry, introduced Bayard Taylor, the poet of the day, who recited a noble ode, which was listened to with deep attendon, the audience occasionally breaking out into applause. When the poem was ended the chorus sang "Our National Banner." As the music died away, the Vice-President introduced the Hon. William M. Evarts, of New York, the orator of the day, Mr. Evarts was greeted with hearty cheers, after which he proceeded to deliver an eloquent and able ad- dress, reviewing the lessons of the past century and dwell- ing upon the great work America has performed for the world. At night the city was brilliandy illuminated, and a mag- nificent display of fireworks was given by the municipal authorides at old Fairmount. During the fall of 1876 also occurred another Presi- dential election. The Republican Convention assembled at Cincinnati, June 14th, and put in nomination for the Presidency, Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, and for die Vice-Presidency, William A. Wheeler, of New York. The Democradc Convendon assembled at St. Louis, Missoiiri, on the 27th day of June, and put in nomination for the Presidency, Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, and for die Vice-Presidency, Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana. The result of the elecdon was the closest ever before held in the United States. Both sides claimed the success of their dckets. The condidon of affairs was assuming a threatening aspect, when a proposition was made to provide SECOND TERM OF PRESIDENT GRANT. 44 1 by law for a Joint High Commission to whom the whole subject should be referred. This was to consist of five members of the House, five of the Senate and five of the Supreme Court. To the Commission thus constituted, the whole subject was referred by special act of Congress. The counting commenced as usual on the regular day before both houses of Congress. When the disputed duplicated returns were reached they were referred, State by State, to the Joint High Commission. This Commission made its final decision on all the cases submitted to them, on the 2d day of March, and according to their decision, Hayes and Wheeler received one hundred and eighty-five votes, and Tilden and Hendricks one hundred and eighty-four votes. The army appropriadon bill of this session of Congress failed between the two houses. The Democratic majority in the House inserted a provision in the bill forbidding the use of any portion of the appropriadon in payment of troops or expenses of transporting troops, for the purpose of interfering in any way with elecdons. This was to pre- vent in the future the state of things then exisdng In South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and perhaps some other places. The Senate struck this provision out of the bill. The House adhered to the provision, and the whole bill was lost. General Grant, on the expiration of his second term, retired from office, but remained in Washington City, receiving marked demonstrations of the admiration of his friends for some months before starting upon an ex- tensive tour through hurope and the Eastern Continent. Unfortunately for the '' hero of Appomattox," he admitted to his friendship men who were not worthy of it, men who were not so honest as himself, who abused the positions of trust to which some of them were preferred. Coming into civil life unprepared, save by natural excel- lence of judgment, purity of intention, and firmness ot re- solve, his administration brought the country each year to that consummation of reduced expenses, lessened public debts, unquesdoned public credits, and peace at home and abroad, to which he stood pledged in assuming his respon- sibilities. 1 iiiifiiiiilHi 442 SECOND TERM OF PRESIDENT GRANT. 443 In his second inaugural address, referring to this very subject, he said: "From my candidacy for my present office in 1868, to the close of the last Presidential campaign, I have been the subject of abuse and slander, scarcely ever equaled in poHt- ical history, which, to-day, I feel I can afford to disregard in view of your verdict, which I gratefully accept as my vindi- cation." During the excitement attending the disputed election of 1876 Grant deported himself with the utmost fairness to- ward all parties interested, and although undoubtedly grat- ified at the finding of the commission appointed to decide whether Hayes or Tilden had been elected, it is not saying too much to assert that had the commission declared Mr. Tilden elected, the General would have taken every means to see him inducted into the high offfce he was about to vacate. The 4th of March, 1877, found him a free man, and he laid down the burden of public life with a sigh of relief. Now he was free, the ceremony of official existence could be dispensed with, and he could again return to the simple manner of livinor that most accorded with his tastes. J: i (444) CHAPTER XIIT. GENERAL GRANT'S TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. Preparations for the Journey — Departure from Philadelphia — Arrival and Reception at Liverpool — Visiting the Docks — Manchester— Leicester— Bedford— London — Pre- sented vi^ith the Freedom of the City — Dining v^ith the Queen and the Prince of Wales — Starting for the European Continent— Brussels—The Rhine — Frankfort- Heidelberg- Switzerland — Strasburg— Metz — Return to England — Scotland — Paris — Visit to General MacMahon — Arrival of the " Vandalia '' at Villa Franca — Naples — Mount Vesuvius — Herculaneum and Pompeii — Sicily — Malta. On the 4th of March, 1877, General Ulysses S. Grant retired from the Presidency of the United States, his second term of office expiring on that day. It had for some time been General Grant's intention to seek in foreign travel the rest and recreation he had been so long denied by his constant official duties. For the first time since the spring of 1861 — a period of sixteen eventful and busy years to him — he was a private citizen, and free to direct his movements according to his own pleasure. He had successfully closed one of the greatest wars in his- tory, had devoted eight years to a troubled and exciting administration of the Chief Magistracy of the United States, and was sorely in need of rest. This, as has been said, he resolved to seek in travel in foreign lands. He devoted the few weeks followinof his withdrawal from office to arranging his private affairs, and engaged passage for himself, Mrs. Grant, and his son Jesse, on the steamer " Indiana," one of the American Line, sailing between Phil- adelphia and Liverpool — the only Transatlantic line flying the American flag. On the 9th of May, 1877, General Grant reached Phila- delphia. It was his intention to pass the last week of his stay in his own country with his friends in that city, who were very numerous. On the loth of May, the day after his arrival, he visited the Permanent Exhibition — the successor of the Centennial Exhibition — on the occasion of its opening. Just one year (445) ^^5 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. before this, General Grant, in his official capacity as Pres- ident of the United States, had formally opened the great World's Fair on the same spot. Beino- desirous of rendering General Grant's stay abroad as pleasant as possible, President Hayes caused the Sec- retary of State to forward the following official note to all thediplomatic representatives of this government abroad; " Department of State, Washington, May 23d, 1877. *' To the Diplomatic and Consular Officers of the United States : '' Gentlemen : General Ulysses S. Grant, the late President of the United States, sailed from Philadelphia on the 17th inst., for Liverpool. '' The route and extent of his travels, as well as the duration of his sojourn abroad, were alike undetermined at the time of his departure, the object of his journey being to secure a few months of rest and recre- ation after sixteen years of unremitting and devoted labor in the military and civil service of his country. " The enthusiastic manifestations of popular regard and esteem for General Grant shown by the people in all parts of the country that he has visited since his retirement from official life, and attending his every appearance in public from the day of that retirement up to the moment of his departure for Europe, indicate beyond question the high place he holds in the grateful affections of his countrymen. '' Sharing in the largest measure this general public sentiment, and at the same time expressing the wishes of the President, I desire to invite the aid of the Diplomatic and Consular Officers of the Government to make his journey a pleasant one should he visit their posts. I feel already assured that you will find patriotic pleasure in anticipating the wishes of the Department by showing him that attention and consideration which is due from every officer of the Government to a citizen of the Republic so signally distinguished both in official service and personal renown. " I am, Gentlemen, your obedient Servant, Wm. M. Evarts." The receptions and attentions indicated in Mr. Evarts' letter, which were tendered to General Grant before his departure, were of a grandiose character, especially those given on the evening of the 14th of May by the Union League Club of Philadelphia, and on the i6th by Mr. George W. Childs, at the latter's residence. On the morning of the departure, Mrs. Grant and Jesse Grant, accompanied by a host of friends, were taken to the " Indiana " by the United States revenue cutter " Hamilton," while the General v^as escorted by a distinguished company on board the steamer " Twilight." The occasion was utilized to give General Grant a farewell breakfast, and among GENERAL GRANTS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 447 those at the table In the saloon of the " Twilight " were ex-Secretaries Fish, Robeson and Chandler, Senator Cameron, Governor Hartranft, General Sherman and Mayor Stokley. - __ _ When the time came for speeches, General Sherman, referring to the welcome extended by the populace crowded on the banks of the Delaware to see their idol off on his trip, said : RECEPTION TO GENERAL GRANT AT THE HOUSE OF HIS FRIEND, MR. GEORGE W. CHILDS. " This proud welcome demands a response. General Grant leaves here to-day with the highest rewards of his fellow-citizens, and on his arrival at the other side there is no doubt he will be welcomed by friends with as willing hands and warm hearts as those he leaves behind. Ex-Presi- dent Grant — General Grant — while you, his fellow-citizens, speak of him and regard him as ex-President Grant ; I cannot but think of the times of the war, of General Grant, President of the United States for eight years, yet I cannot but think of him as the General Grant of Fort Donelson. 448 . LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. " I think of him as the man who, when the country was in the hour of its peril, restored its hopes when he marched triumphant into Fort Don- elson. After that none of us felt the least doubt as to the future of our country, and therefore, if the name of Washington is allied with the birth \ J of our country, that of Grant is forever identified with its preservation, J \\ts perpetuation. ''It is not here alone on the shores of the Delaware that the people love and respect you, but in Chicago and St. Paul, and in far-off San Francisco, the prayers go up to-day that your voyage may be prosperous and pleasant. God bless you and grant you a pleasant journey and a safe return to your native land." To this General Grant, who was deeply affected, re- sponded : ** I feel much overcome by what I have heard. When the first toast was offered, I supposed the last words here for me had been spoken, and I feel overcome by sentiments to which I have listened, and which I feel I am altogether inadequate to respond to. I don't think that the coni- pliments ought all to be paid to me or any one man in either of the posi- tions which I was called upon to fill. ''That which I accomplished — which I was able to accomplish — I owe to the assistance of able lieutenants. I was so fortunate as to be called to the first position in the army of the nation, and I had the good for- tune to select lieutenants who could have filled"— here the general turned to Sherman — "had it been necessary, I believe some of these lieutenants could have filled my place may be better than I did. I do not, therefore, regard myself as entitled to all the praise. '* I believe that my friend Sherman could have taken my place as a soldier as well as I could, and the same will apply to Sheridan. And I believe, finally, that if our country ever comes into trial agam, young men will spring up equal to the occasion, and if one fails, there will be another to take his place. Just as there was if I had failed." The modesty of this address shows General Grant in his truest light, while its tact, and the easy, self-possessed way /with which it was delivered, were evidences of theNdevelop- i ment of a new talent — that of ready speaking on the part [of one who had won the sobriquet of " The Silent Man." VWe need not dwell upon the enthusiastic applause and cheers with which the speech was received by the hearers. When the "Twilight" reached the "Indiana," Mrs. Grant and Jesse were already on board, and amid the booming of cannon and the waving of salutes the ever memorable trip around the world was begun. The " Indiana " was a first-class steamer, and was com- manded by Captain Sargeant, an accomplished navigator GENERAL GRANt's TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 449 and an amiable gentleman. She was regarded as one ot the most comfortable vessels in the fleet of the American line, and is a first-rate sailer. Both the company and the officers of the ship exerted themselves to render the voyage of General and Mrs. Grant a pleasant one, and in this they succeeded admirably. The "Indiana" passed the Capes on the afternoon of the 17th of May, and by sunset was fairly out at sea. The voyage was unusually rough, but the General and Jesse GENERAL GRANT LEAVING THE "TWHJGHT" TO EMBARK ON THE "INDIANA" proved themselves good sailors. Mrs. Grant suffered somewhat from sea-sickness, but, on the whole, enjoyed the voyage. With the exception of the rough weather, there was nothing worthy ot notice connected with the run across the Atlantic, except the death and burial of a child of one •of the steerage passengers. The General and Jesse never missed a meal, and the former smoked constantly — an ex- cellent test of his sea-going qualities. Once on board the " Indiana," General Grant seemed a changed man. He dropped the silence and reserve that had been for so many years among his chief characteristics, 29 450 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and conversed freely and with animation, entered heartily into the various amusements that were gotten up to beguile the tedium of the voyage, and was by common consent regarded as the most agreeable person on the ship. Said Captain Sargeant in speaking of the General's hearty good nature during the voyage : " There is no one who can make himself more entertaining or agreeable in his conversation when nobody has an axe to grind." Indeed the Captain declared that he had found the General the most interesting and entertaining talker he had ever met. The voyage was of great benefit to General vpA\\ -^w^ / mi Grant, and on the first --^^-^''^^ - »ii tain that he felt better than he had for sixteen years, since the begin- ning of the war, and that he keenly relished the consciousness that he had no letters to read and no telegraphic dis- patches to attend to, but was free to do nothing but enjoy the voyage. On the morning of the 27th of May the "In- diana " arrived off the coast of Ireland. Off Fastnet Light she was compelled to lie to for eight hours in a dense fog. _ It finally lifted, however, and the passengers had a fine view of the coast of Ireland. Oueenstown harbor was reached about seven o'clock, and the weather being rough, the "Indiana" ran into the harbor to discharge her mails and such pas- sengers as wished to land at Queenstown. A steam tug came alongside, bearing Mr. John Russell Young, the European correspondent of the New York Herald, and a number of prominent citizens of Queenstown, who came AT SEA.— A CHAT WITH THE CAPTAIN. GENERAL GRANT's TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 45 1 ou board the steamer and heartily welcomed General Grant to Ireland. They also cordially invited him to stay with them awhile, as their guest. On the afternoon of the 28th of May the "Indiana" reached Liverpool. The shipping in the port was deco- rated with the flags of all nations, among which the Stars and Stripes were conspicuous. The passengers were con- veyed in a tender to the landing stage, where General Grant was met by Mr. A. R. Walker, the Mayor of Liver- pool, who welcomed him to Enorland's o^reat sea- ^ port, and offered him the ^ hospitalities of the city, in the following- well-chosen words : "General Grant: I am ^ proud that it has fallen to my lot, as Chief Magistrate of Liverpool, to welcome to the shores of England so distin- guished a citizen of the United States. You have, sir, stamped your name on the history of the world by your brilliant career as a soldier, and still more as a statesman in the interests of peace. In the name of Liverpool, whose in- terests are so closely allied with your great country, I bid you heartily welcome, and I hope Mrs. Grant and yourself will enjoy your visit to old England." General Grant expressed his thanks to the Mayor for his kind reception, and was then introduced to a number of prominent citizens of Liverpool, after which the whole party drove to the Adelphi Hotel, where General Grant was to stay during his sojourn in the city. On the morning of the 29th, General Grant and party, ac- companied by the Mayor of Liverpool and a deputadon of citizens, embarked on the tender '^Vigilant," and proceeded to the extreme end of the river wall, where they inspected the new docks in process of construction. ARRIVAL AT LIVERPOOL. 452 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. After returning from the docks General Grant and his party drove to the Town Hall, where they were entertained at luncheon by the Mayor. Numerous prominent citizens were present. Afterward, with the Mayor, the party visited the Newsroom and Exchange. The General's reception or 'Change by the crowd, which entirely filled the room, was very cordial. He made a brief speech of thanks from the balcony, which was received with reiterated cheering. The Mayor, in the name of the city, tendered to General Grant and his party a public banquet, to take place at some future time. Having inspected many celebrated institutions of Liver- pool, General Grant and his party left Liverpool, on the 30th day of May, for Manchester. After a reception at the Town Hall, General Grant and party were taken to see the most famous manufactories of Manchester, where the process of preparing the different goods was explained to them. They then visited the great warehouse of Sir James Watts, the Assize Courts and the Royal Exchange. Upon reaching London, General Grant found that the American Minister, the Hon. Edwards Pierrepont, had accepted for him a round of invitations that would occupy his time far into the month of June. On the morning after his arrival in London he went to the Oaks at Epsom to witness the Derby Races, that sport so dear to the English heart. The Prince of Wales, learning that the General was on the grounds, expressed a desire to meet him, and General Grant was accordingly presented to the Prince, who cordially welcomed him to England. On the evening of the same day, the General dined with the Duke of Wellington at Apsley House. The Duke, in tendering the invitation, had said that it seemed to him a fit thmg that General Grant's first dinner in London should be at Apsley House — thus delicately inUmating that he would feel honored in receiving within the home of the great conqueror of Napoleon the great soldier who had brought the American struggle to a successful close. On the 7th of June General Grant was presented at . Court and was cordially received by the Queen. GENERAL GRANTS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 453 Among the places visited in London by General Grant were the Houses of Parliament, the Tower, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange, the British Museum, the Mansion House and the Docks^ After a visit at Southampton, where Mrs. Sartoris, his only daughter, Nellie, lived. General Grant returned to London, and on the 1 5th he was formally presented with the freedom of the city of London. This important ceremony V^^ n GENERAL GRANT MEETING THE PRINCE OF WALES. took place at Guildhall. It constitutes the highest distinc- tion the municipality of London can confer upon a person it desires to honor, and has only once before been conferred upon an American — the late George Peabody. About eight hundred ladies and gentlemen, including several members of the Government, American consuls, merchants and the principal representatives of the trade and commerce of London, were invited to meet the General 454 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. at luncheon, subsequent to the civic ceremony. Among the o-uests were Sir Stafford Northcote, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and many members of Parliament. The entrance to the hall and the corridors of the Guildhall were laid with crimson cloth. The walls were decorated with mirrors and exodcs. The guests began to arrive about half-past eleven o'clock, and from that time until half-past twelve a steady stream of carriages poured into the Guild- hall yard. General Grant arrived about one o'clock. The General was accompanied by Mrs. Grant and Minis- ter and Mrs. Pierrepont. He was received at the entrance of the Guildhall by a deputation consisdng of four Alder- men with their chairman, six members of the City Land Committee, including the mover and seconder of the reso- ludon for presenting the freedom of thecity to the General, and was by them conducted to the library, where he was received by the Lord Mayor, and took a seat on the dais, on the left hand of his Lordship, who occupied the chair as President of a Special Court of the Common Council, at which were assembled most of the members of the Corpo- ration, the Aldermen wearing their scarlet robes aad the Common Councilmen their mazarin gowns. The resoludon of the Court was read by the Town Clerk, and General Grant, after an address made by the Cham- berlain, Mr. B. Scott, was admitted to the freedom of the city, the Chamberlain making the official announcement to him in these words : " The unprecedented facilities of modern travel, and the running to and fro of all classes in our day, have brought to our shores unwonted visitors from Asia, as well as from Europe — rulers of empires both an- cient and of recent creation ; but amongst them all we have not as yet received a President of the United States of America— a power great, flourishing and free, but so youthful that it celebrated only last year its first centennial. A visit of the ruling President of those States is scarcely to be looked for, so highly valued are his services at home during his limited term of office ; you must bear with us, therefore. General, if we make much of an Ex-President of the great republic of the New World visiting the old home of his fathers. It is true that those first fathers — Pilgrim Fathers we now call them— chafed under the straitness of the parental rule, and sought in distant climes the liberty then denied them at home ; it is true, likewise, that their children subsequently resented the interference, well intended if unwise, of their venerated parent, and GENERAL GRANTS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 455 manifested a spirit of independence of parental restraint not unbecoming in grown-up sons of the Anglo-Saxon stock. Yet, for all this, there is furnished, from time to time, abundant evidence that both children and parent have forgotten old differences and forgiven old wrongs ; that the children continue to revere the mother country, while she is not wanting in maternal pride at witnessing so numerous, so thriving and so freedom- loving a race of descendants. If other indications were wanting of mutual feelings of regard, we should find them, on the one hand, in the very hospitable and enthusiastic reception accorded to the Heir Appar- ent to the British throne, and subsequently to H. R. H. Prince Arthur, when, during your presidency, he visited your country; and on the other hand, in the cordial reception which, we are gratified to observe, you have received from the hour when you set foot on the shores of Old England. In this spirit, and with these convictions, the Corporation of London receives you to-day with all kindliness of welcome, desiring to compliment you and your country in your person by conferring upoii you the honorary freedom of their ancient city — a freedom which had existence more than eight centuries before your first ancestors set foot on Plymouth Rock ; a freedom confirmed to the citizens, but not originated, (by the Norman conqueror, which has not yet lost its significance or its value, although the liberty which it symbolizes has been extended to other British subjects, and has become the inheritance of the great Anglo-American family across the Atlantic. But we not only recognize in you a citizen of the United States, but one who has made a distin- guished mark in American history — a soldier whose military capabilities brought him to the front in the hour of his country's sorest trial, and enabled him to strike the blow which terminated fratricidal war and re- united his distracted country; who also manifested magnanimity in the hour of triumph, and amidst the national indignation created by the assassination of the great and good Abraham Lincoln, by obtaining for vanquished adversaries the rights of capitulated brethren in arms, when some would have treated them as traitors to their country. We further recognize in you a President upon whom was laid the honor, and with it the responsibility, during two terms of office, of a greater and more difficult task than that which devolved upon you as a general in the field —that of binding up the bleeding frame of society which had been rent asunder when the demon of slavery was cast out. That the constitution of the country over which you were thus called to preside survived so fearful a shock, that we saw it proud and progressive, celebrating its centen- nial during the last year of your official rule, evinces that the task which your countrymen had committed to you did not miscarry m your hands. "That such results have been possible must, in fairness, be attributed in no considerable degree to the firm but conciliatory policy of your ad- ministration at home and abroad, which is affirmed of you by the reso u- tion of this honorable Court, whose exponent and mouthpiece I am this day. May you greatly enjoy your visit to our country at this favored season of the year, and may your life be long spared to witness in your country and in our own— the two great branches of the Anglo-baxon family — a career of increasing amity, mutual respect and honest, -■» GENERAL GRANT's TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 457 spirited, rivalry— rivalry in trade, commerce, agriculture and manufacture, in the arts, science and literature; rivalry in the highest of all arts, how best to promote the well-being and to develop the industry of nations, how to govern them for the largest good to the greatest number, and for the advancement of peace, liberty, morality and the consequent haopi- ness of mankind. Nothing now remains. General, but that I should present to you an illuminated copy of the resolutions of this honorable Court, for the reception of which an appropriate casket is in course of preparation; and, in conclusion, offer you, in the name of this honorable Court, the right hand of fellowship as a citizen of London." When the cheers which followed this speech had subsided. General Grant replied as follows : " It is a matter of some regret to me that I have never cultivated that art of public speaking which might have enabled me to express in suitable terms my gratitude for the compliment which has been paid to my country- men and myself on this occasion. Were I in the habit of speaking in public, I should claim the right to express my opinion, and what I believe will be the opinion of my countrymen when the proceedings of this day shall have been telegraphed to them. For myself, I have been very much surprised at my reception at all places since the day I landed at Liverpool up to my appearance in this, the greatest city in the world. It was entirely unexpected, and it is particularly gratifying to me. I believe that this honor is intended quite as much for the country which I have had the opportunity of serving in different capacities, as for myself, and I am glad that this is so, because I want to see the happiest relations existing, not only between the United States and Great Britain, but also between the United States and all other nations. Although a soldier by education and profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it except as a means of peace. I hope that we shall always settle our differences in all future negotiations as amicably as we did in a recent instance. I believe that settlement has had a happy effect on both countries, and that from month to month, and year to year, the tie of common civilization and common blood is getting stronger between the two countries My Lord Mayor, ladies, and gentlemen, I again thank you for the honor you have done me and my country to-day." This reply was received with loud cheers, after which General Grant signed his name to the roll of honorary freemen of the city of London. The Lord Mayor now conducted General Grant to the great hall, where a luncheon was served upon twenty tables. After the health of the Queen was drunk, the Lord Mayor in a cordial and tasteful speech proposed the health of Gen- eral Grant, which was drunk with applause. General Grant, in reply, said : ** My Lord Mayor, Ladies, and Gentlemen : Habits formed in early 458 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. life and early education press upon us as we grow older. I was brought up a soldier — not to talking. I am not aware that I ever fought two battles on the same day in the same place, and that I should be called upon to make two speeches on the same day under the same roof is beyond my understanding. What I do understand is, that I am much indebted to all of you for the compliment you have paid me. All I can do is to thank the Lord Mayor for his kind words, and to thank the citizens of Great Britain here present in the name of my country and for myself." On the 1 6th of June General Grant and his family dined at Kensington Palace, with the Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lome. The next day they dined with Mr. Morgan, an American banker, residing in London. On the 19th of June General Grant dined with the Prince of Wales, at Marlborough House, to meet the Emperor of Brazil. Marlborough House is the London residence of the Prince of Wales, and stands in Pall Mall, St. James'. It was built by the great Duke of Marlborough, but was purchased by the Crown in 181 7, for the Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold, the latter of whom afterwards became the first King of Belgium. Queen Adelaide, the widow of William IV., also lived here for a number of years. After dinner the General visited the office of the London Times, and was shown over the establishment by Mr. J. C. Mac- donald, the manager of the paper. On the 20th the Gen- eral dined with Lord Ripon, and on the 21st with Minister Pierrepont, to meet the Prince of Wales. On the 21st he attended a reception given by Mrs. Hicks, an American lady residing in London. In the evening, in company with Mrs. Grant and General Badeau, he attended a perform- ance of " Martha," at the Covent Garden Theatre. He wore his uniform on this occasion, and as he entered the curtain rose, showing the stage decorated with American flags, and occupied by the full company. Madame Albani, the prima donna of the evening, sang the *' Star Spangled Banner" (the company joining in the chorus), accompanied by the orchestra. During the singing the General and the entire audience remained standing. On the evening of the 2 2d General Grant attended a banquet given by Trinity Board, at their handsome hall on Tower Hill. This Board has charge of the pilotage, light* GENERAL GRANTS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 459 houses, etc., of the United Kingdom. The Prince of Wales presided at this banquet. Prince Leopold, Prince Christian, the Prince of Leiningen, the Prince of Saxe-Weimar, the Duke of Wellington, the Marquis of Hertford, the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Carnarvon, Sir Stafford Northcote, Mr. Cross and Chief-Justice Sir Alexander Cockburn were among the distinguished company present. The Prince of Wales, referring to General Grant, in the course of his speech, said: *'On the present occasion it is a matter of peculiar gratification to us as Englishmen to receive as our guest G^^neral Gram. (Cheers.) I can assure him for myself, and for all loyal subjects of the Queen, that it has given us the greatest pleasure to see him as a guest in this country." (Cheers.) Earl Carnarvon proposed the health of the visitors, and coupled with it General Grant's name. He said: '' Strangers of all classes, men of letters, arts, science, state, and all that has been most worthy and great, have, as it were, come to this centre of old civilization. I venture, without disparagement to any of those illustrious guests, to say that never has there been one to whom we will- ingly accord a freer, fuller, heartier welcome than we do to General Grant. " On this occasion, not merely because we believe he has performed the part of a distinguished general, nor because he has twice filled the highest office which the citizens of his great country can fill, but because we look upon him as representing that good-will and affection which ought to subsist between us and the United States. It has been my duty to be connected with the great Dominion of Canada, stretching several thousand miles along the frontier of the United States, and during the last three or four years I can truthfully say that nothing impressed me more than the interchange of friendly and good offices which took place between the two countries under the auspices of President Grant." General Grant replied that he felt more impressed than he had possibly ever felt before on any occasion. He came here under the impression that this was Trinity House, and that trinity consisted of the army, navy and peace. He thought it was a place of quietude, where there would be no talk or toasts. He had been therefore naturally surprised at hearing both. He had heard some remarks from His Royal Highness which compelled him to say a word in response. He begged to thank His High- ness for these remarks. There had been other things said during the evening highly gratifying to him. .ALBERT EDWARD, PRINCE OK WALES. (460) GENERAL GRANt's TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 46 1 On the morning of the 23d General Grant paid a visit to Earl Russel , who was living in retirement at his home at Pembroke Lodge, in Richmond Park, a special o-ift to him from the Queen His visit was a pleasint one, and the venerable English leader expressed himself as much gratified by the attention shown him by the General On the 25th General Grant attended an entertainment at the house of Mr. McHenry, the celebrated financier and in the evening took dinner with Lord Derby at his house in ht. James' Square. On the afternoon of the 27th of June, General and Mrs Grant, accompanied by Jesse Grant, Mr. and Mrs Pierre- pont and General Badeau, to whom invitations had also been extended, left London for Windsor. The trip was a short one, the train reaching the latter place in forty-five minutes from London. At half-past eight in the evenino- the Queen, surrounded by her Court, received her ouests m the beautiful corridor extending around the soudi and east sides of the quadrangle, and leading to her private apartments. As the party were assem.bling for dinner the following- dispatch was received and delivered by the Queen to Gen- eral Grant: '' Providence, Rhode Island. ''Fro7?t General Hartranft, Co m?n ana er -in- Chief, to Gei^^rxlV S Grant, C^r^" I t rfflfftl,1Sliffipi 47P 480 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. *' The Italian authorities did General Grant special honor on his visit to Pompeii by directing that a house should be excavated. It is one of the special compliments paid to visitors of renown. Chairs were arranged for the General, iMrs. Grant, and some of us, and there quietly, in a room that had known Pompeiian life seventeen centuries ago, we awaited the signal that was to dig up the ashes that had fallen from Vesuvius that terrible night in August. '•We formed a group about the General, while the director gave the workmen the signal. The spades dived into the ashes, while with eager eyes we looked on. Nothing came of any startling import. There were two or three bronze ornaments, a loaf of bread wrapped in cloth, the grain of the bread and the fibre of the cloth as clearly marked as when this probable remnant of a humble meal was put aside by the careful housewife's hands. Beyond this and some fragments which we could not understand, this was all that came from the excavation of Pompeii. The director was evidently disappointed. He expected a skeleton at the very least to come out of the cruel ashes and welcome our renowned guest, who had come so many thousand miles to this Roman entertain- ment. He proposed to open another ruin, but one of our ' Vandalia ' friends, a very practical gentleman, remembered that it was cold and that he had been walking a good deal and was hungry, and when he proposed that, instead of excavating another ruin, we should ' excavate a beef- steak ' at the restaurant near the gate of the sea, there was an approval. The General, who had been leisurely smoking his cigar and studying the scene with deep interest, quietly assented, and, thanking the director for his courtesy, said he would give him no more trouble. So the laborers shouldered their shovels and mirched off to their dinner, and we formed in a straggling, slow procession, and marched down the street where Nero rode in triumph, and across the Forum, where Cicero may have thundered to listening thousands, and through the narrow streets, past the wine-shops filled with jars which contain no wine — past the baker's, whose loaves are no longer in demand — past the thrifty merchant's, with his sign warning idlers away, a warning that has been well heeded by generations of men — past the house of the tragic poet, whose measures no longer burden the multitude, and down the smooth, slippery steps that once led through the gate opening to the sea — steps over which fisher- men trailed their nets and soldiers marched in stern procession — into the doors of a very modern tavern. Pompeii was behind us, and a smiling^ Italian waiter welcomed us to wine and corn, meat and bread, olives and oranges. Around his wholesome board we gathered, and talked of the day and the many marvels we had seen." On the 2 2d the " Vandalia " sailed from Naples for Sicily, and at noon on die 23d of December dropped anchor in the harbor of Palermo. On Christmas morning the ships in the harbor were gayly dressed with flags and bunting in honor of the Gen- eral. At noon the Prefect of Palermo came on board in GENERAL GRANT S TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 481 his state barge, and was received with a salute of fifteen guns. He tendered to General Grant the cordial hospital- ities of the city; but as the duration of the General's stay would not permit him to accept them, they were declined with thanks. In the evening there v/as a pleasant dinner in the wardroom of the " Vandaiia," given by the officers of the ship in honor of General and Mrs. Grant. From Palermo the " Vandalia " sailed for Malta, passing through the Straits of Messina. The passage of the straits GENERAL GRANT MEETLMG THE UUlvE OF EDINBURG. was made by daylight, and the travellers had a fine view of the shores of the mainland of Italy and of Sicily. At noon General Grant visited the Governor-General of Malta. A regiment was drawn up in front of the palace as a euard of honor. The eovernor received the General and party at the door of the palace, surrounded by his council and a group of Maltese noblemen. On the following day a pleasant visit was made to the Duke of Edinburgh on board the "Sultan." On the 31st the "Vandalia" steamed out of the harbor of Valetta, and turned her head toward the coast of Egypt. 3' CHAPTER XIV. General Grant and Party arrive at Alexandria, Egypt— Leaving of the " Vandalia" — Amval at Cairo — Meeting Stanley— A Visit to the Khedive — Up the Nile — Brugsch Bey — Abydos — Tebes — Luxor — Karnak — Memphis — Port Said — Palestine — Constantino- ple — Athens — Corinth — Syracuse — Rome — General Grant visits King Umberto — Call of Cardinal McCloskey — The St. Peter's Cathedral — General Grant at Florence, Venice, Milan, Genoa — Return to Paris — Visits the International Exhibition — Hol- land — The Cleanest Town in the World — General Grant leaves for Germany. On the 5th of January, 1878, the coast of Egpyt was sighted, and on the same day the " Vandaha" cast anchor in the harbor of Alexandria. The "Vandaha" had hardly anchored in the harbor of Alexandria, when the governor of the district, the admiral and the generals, pachas and beys, the consul-general and the missionaries all came on board. The receptions lasted an hour; and as each officer was saluted according to his rank, and the salutes were returned, there was smoke enough in the air for a naval engagement, and we could almost fancy another batde of the Nile like that fought only a short distance up the coast, one eventful day, nearly eighty years ago. The governor, in the name of the Khe- dive, welcomed General Grant to Egypt, and offered him a palace in Cairo and a special steamer up the Nile. It is Oriental etiquette to return calls as soon as possible, and, accordingly, in the afternoon, the General, accompanied by his son. Commander Robeson, Chief Engineer Trilley and Lieutenant Handy, of the navy, landed in the official barge. As this was an official visit, the " Vandalia " manned the yards and fired twenty-one guns. These salutes were responded to by the Egyptian vessels. A guard of honor received the General at the palace, and the reception was after the manner of the Orientals. We enter a spacious chamber, and are seated on a cushioned seat or divan, ac- cording to rank. The pacha offers the company cigarettes. Then compliments are exchanged, the pacha saying how proud Egypt is to see the illustrious stranger, and the General answering that he anticipates great pleasure in 482 -\ ■ ,\ BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF EGYPT, SHOWING THE PLACES VISITED BY GENERAL GRANT. (483) ^8 f. LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. visiting- Egypt. The pacha gives a signal, and servants enter, bearing little porcelain cups about as large as an egg, in filagree cases. This is the beverage — coffee — or, as was the case with this special pacha, a hot drink spiced with cinnamon. Then the conversation continues with judicious pauses, the Orientals being slow in speech and our General not apt to diffuse his opinions. In about five minutes we arise and file down-stairs in slow, solemn fash- ion, servants and guards saluting, and the visit is over. The General and Mrs. Grant went to dine, and in the evening we had a ball and a dinner at the house of our Vice-Consul, Mr. Salvage. This was an exceedingly bril- liant entertainment, and interesting in one respect espe- cially, because it was here that the General met my renowned friend and colleague, Henry M. Stanley, just fresh from the African wilderness. The General had heard of Stanley being in town, and had charged me to seek him out and ask him to come on board and dine. My letter missed Stanley, and we met at the consul's. Stanley sat on the right of the General, and they had a long conversa- tion upon African matters and the practical results of the work done by our intrepid friend. At three o'clock on Monday we come to Cairo. There is a guard, a carpet way and a group of officers and civil- ians. The General, looking at the group, recognizes old friends. " Why," he says, " there's Loring, whom I have not seen for thirty years;" and "There's Stone, who must have been dyeing his hair to make it so white." The cars stop, and General Stone enters, presenting the represent- ative of the Khedive. This officer extends the welcome of his highness, which General Grant accepts with thanks. General Loring comes in, and receives a hearty greeting from his old friend in early days and his enemy during the war. The General asks General Loring to ride with him, while General Stone accompanies Mrs. Grant, and so we drive off to the Palace of Kassr-el-Noussa — the palace placed at General Grant's disposal by the Khedive. The General dined with his family, and next day called on the Khedive. We reached the palace shordy after '''''■'■'' ''''*''''''"''''ili (485) 486 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. eleven. There was a guard of honor, and the officers of the household were ranged on the stairs. We had scarcely entered when the carriage of the Khedive was announced. The General received the Khedive, who was accompanied by his secretary for foreign affairs, and welcomed him m GENERAL GRANT VISITS THE KHEDIVE, the grand saloon. The officers of the " Vandalia " were present, and their striking uniforms, the picturesque cos- tume of the Khedive and his attendants, and the splendid, stately decorations of the room in which they assembled made the group imposing. In the course of this conver- t».don. General Grant spoke of General Stone, now chief GENERAL GRANTS TRIP AROUND THE WORLD. 487 of Staff to the Khedive. He said he had known General Stone from boyhood, and did not think he had his superior in our army; that he was a loyal and able man, and he was pleased to see him holding so important a command. The Khedive said he was very much pleased with General Stone; that he found him a most useful as well as a most able man, especially fitted to organize troops, and had made him a member of his privy council. At the close of the interview General Grant escorted the Khedive to his carriage. Official calls were then made upon the two sons of the Khedive, who at once returned the calls, and so ended our official duties. During their stay in Cairo General Grant and his party made the usual visit to the Pyramids. The distance from Cairo to the Pyramids is six miles in an air line, but is much greater by the road. The Khedive placed a gov- ernment steamer at the ser- vice of General Grant for the Nile voyage; and, after a few days' stay in Cairo, "on Wednesday, the i6th of Jan- uary," says Mr. Young, in his letter to the New York Her- ald, " we embarked on the Nile. As the hour of noon passed, the drawbridge opened, farewells were waved to the many kind friends who had Slathered on the banks, and we shot away from our moor- ings, and out into the dark waters of the mighty and mys- terious stream. '' We had many friends to see us off, — General Stone, Judge Batcheller and Judge Barringer, with their wives, General Loring, and others. " At noon the signal for our journey is given and farewells ISMAIL, EX-KHEDIVE OF EGYPT. 488 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. are spoken, and we head, under full steam, for the equator. ''Our party is thus composed: We have the General, his wife and his youngest son, Jesse, Consul-General E. E. Farnan, his wife, Khawasse Hassam, and three naval officers. The Khedive has assigned us an officer of his household, Sami Bey, a Circassian gentleman, educated in England. Sami Bey is one of the heroes of our host, and we soon came to like him, Moslem as he is, for his quaint, cordial, kindly ways. I suppose we should call Sami Bey the execu- tive officer of the expedition, as to him all responsibility is given. We have also with us, thanks to the kindness of the Khedive, Emile Brugsch, one of the directors of the Egyptian Museum. Mr. Brugsch is a German, brother to the chief director, who has made the antiquities of Egypt a study. Both were commissioners of the Egypdan De- partment at the Centennial Exhibidon. Mr. Brugsch knows every tomb and column in the land. He has lived for weeks in the temples and ruins, superintending excavations, copying inscripdons, deciphering hieroglyph- ics, and his presence with us is an advantage that cannot be overestimated, for it is given to him to point with his cane and unravel mystery after mystery of the marvels engraved on the stones and rocks, while we stand by in humble and Hstening wonder. "What a blank our trip would be without Brugsch!" said the General, one day as we were coming back from a ruin — a ruin as absolute and meaningless as the Aztec mounds in New Mexico, but which our fine young friend had made as luminous as a page in Herodotus. "The Nile boats seem arranged to meet any emergency in the way of land ; for this river is sprawling, eccentric, comprehensive, without any special channel — running one way to-day, another next day. To know the river, there- fore, must be something like knowing the temper of a whimsical woman — you must court and woo her and wait upon her humors. " On the 2 1 St of January we hauled up to the bank in the town of Girgeh. We found Admiral Steadman and Mr. (4»9; 4go LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Davis, of Boston, moored in their dahabeeah, and they re- peated the same story that we heard all along the Nile, that they had had a good time, a splendid time — could not have had a better time. " ' Here,' said Brugsch, as we dismounted from our don- keys and followed him into the ruins of the temple, ' here we should all take off our hats, for here is the cradle, the fountain-head of all the civilization of the world.' This was a startling statement, but Brugsch is a serious gende- man and does not make extravagant speeches. Then he told us about Abydos, which lay around us in ruins. This was the oldest city in Egypt. It went back to Menes, the first of the Egyptian kings, who, according to Brugsch, reigned 4,500 years before Christ. It is hard to dispute a fact like this, and one of the party ventured to ask whether the civilization of China and India did not antedate, or claim to antedate, even Abydos. To be sure it did, but in China and India you have tradidons ; here are monuments. Here, under the sands that we are crunching with our feet, here first flowed forth that civilization which has streamed over the world. *' We follow Brugsch out of the chamber and from ruined wall to wall. TheViins are on a grand scale. Abydos is a temple which the Khedive is rescuing from the sand. The city was in its time of considerable importance, but ' this was ages ago, ages and ages ; so that its glory was dead even before Thebes began to reign. Thebes is an old city, and yet, I suppose, compared with Thebes, Abydos is as much older as one of the buried Aztec towns in Central America is older than New York. "As we stood on the elevation, talking about Egypt and the impressions made upon us by our journey, the scene was very striking. There was the ruined temple ; here were the gaping excavations, filled with bricks and pottery. Here were our party; some gathering beads and skulls and stones ; others having a lark with Sami Bey ; others follovv- ing Mrs. Grant as a body-guard as her donkey plodded his way along the slopes. Beyond, just beyond, were rolling plains of 'shining sand — shining, burning sand — and, as the. (490 492 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. shrinking eye followed the plain and searched the hills, there was no sign of life. I have seen no scene in Egypt more striking than this view from the mounds of Abydos. " By the time we approached Thebes we were well up in our Rameses, and knew all about Thebes, the mighty, the magnificent Thebes, the city of a world's renown, of which we had been reading and dreaming all these years. And as Brugsch, leaning over the rail, talked about Thebes, we listened and watched through the clear air for the first sign ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TEMPLE VISITED BY GENERAL GRANT. of its glory. There were the mountains beyond, the very mountains of which we had read, and there was the plain. But where was Thebes ? We looked through our glasses and saw at first only the brown caverned hills, the parched fields and the shining sand. We looked again, and there, sure enough, were the colossal statues of Memnon, two broken pillars, so they seemed, with a clump of trees near them. Only the fields, the sand and the hills beyond ;^ only the same cluster of hovels on the shore and the two distant GENERAL GRANTS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 493 columns. This was all that remained of the city that was the glory of the ancient w^orld. " There was one, at least, in that small company whose imagination fell, and who could scarcely believe that so much splendor could only be this barren plain. But this is no time for moral reflections, as we are coming into the town of Luxor, one fragment of the old city, and on the shore opposite to Memnon. The population of Luxor is on the river-bank ; all the consulates have their flags flying. Right at the landing-place is a neat, three-storied stone building, painted white, with the American and Brazilian flags on the roof. " The town of Luxor, as it is called, is really a collection of houses that have fastened upon the ruins of the old temple. This temple is near the river, and has a fine fapade. It was built by Amunoph III. and Rameses II., who reigned between thirteen and fifteen hundred years before Christ. I am not very particular about the dates, because I have learned that a century or two does not make much differ- ence in writing about the Egyptian dynasties. In fact, the scholars themselves have not agreed upon their chronology. There is a fine obelisk here, the companion of the one now standing in the Place de la Concorde, at Paris. There is a statue of Rameses, of colossal size, now broken and partly buried in the sand. The walls are covered with inscriptions of the usual character — the glory of the king, his victories, his majesty, his devotion to the gods, and the decree of the gods that his name will live for millions of years. " In the morning we made ready for our trip to Memnon and the temple-home of Rameses. We had to cross the river, our boatmen singing their Arab music. And when we landed on the other shore, we had, thanks to the fore- thought of our consul at Thebes, a collection of stable donkeys, with a well-mounted horse for the General. "We had seen Thebes; we had even begun to grow weary of Thebes. There was a dinner in state which had to be eaten. " It was served in the upper chamber of the house, and the host sat on one side of the table, eating nothing, in a 494 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. State of constant alarm, that made us sympathize with hhn. I suppose the honor of entertaining the Chief Magistrate of the United States, and the fear lest he might not do us all the honor he wished, oppressed him. The dinner was a stupendous affair, course after course in Oriental profu- sion, until we could not even pay the dishes the compliment of tasting them. Then came the coffee and the pipes. During the dinner a group of Arab minstrels came in and squatted on the floor. The leader of the band was blind, but his skill in handling his instrument was notable. It was a rude instrument, of the violin class, the body of it a cocoanut shell. He held it on the ground and played with a bow, very much as one w^ould play a violoncello. He played love-songs and narratives, and under the promptings of Sami Bey, went through all the grades of his art. " We were to see the wonder of the world in Karnak '* Karnak, which was not only a temple, but one in the series of temples which constituted Thebes, is about a half- mile from the river, a mile or two from the temple of Luxor. The front wall, or propylon, is three hundred and seventy feet broad, fifty feet deep, and the standing tower one hun- dred and forty feet high. Leading up to this main entrance is an avenue lined with statues and sphinxes, two hundred feet long. When you enter this gate you enter an open court-yard, two hundred and seventy-five feet by three hun- dred and twenty-nine. There is a corridor, or cloister, on either side ; in the middle a double line of columns, of which one only remains. You now come to another wall, or pro- pylon, as large as the entrance, and enter the great hall — the most magnificent ruin in Egypt. The steps of the door are forty feet by ten. The room is one hundred and seventy feet by three hundred and twenty-nine, and the roof was sup- ported by one hundred and thirty-four columns. These columns are all, or nearly all, standing, but the roof has gone. The inscriptions on them are almost as clear as though they had been cut yesterday, so gentle is this climate in its dealings with time. They celebrate the victories and virtues of the kings who reigned seventeen hundred years before Christ, and promise the kings in the name of the ROCK TEMPLE OF IPSAMBUL— VISITED BY GENERAL GRANT. (495) m^ 496 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. immortal gods that their glory shall live for ages. We pass into a chamber very much in ruins and see an obelisk ninety-two feet high and eight square, — the largest in the world. This monument commemorates the virtues of the king's daughter, womanly and queenly virtues, which met their reward, let us hope, thirty-five centuries ago. You may form some idea of what the Egyptians could do in the way of mechanics and engineering when you know that this obelisk is a single block of granite ; that it was brought from the quarry miles and miles away. '* Wherever we find walls we have inscriptions. The in- scriptions are in hieroglyphic language — a language as clear to scholars now as the Latin or the Sanskrit. Brugrsch reads them off to us as glibly as though he were reading signs from a Broadw^ay store. The stories will hardly bear repetition, for they are the same that we saw at Dendoreh, at Abydos, all through Egypt. They tell of battles and the glory of the king Rameses, who is supposed to be the Sesostris of the Greeks. We have him leading his men to attack a fortified place. Again we see him leading foot soldiers and putting an enemy to the sword. We have him leading his captives as an offering to the gods — and offer- ing not only prisoners, but booty of great value. The groups of prisoners are rudely done, but you see the type of race clearly outlined. We knew the Hebrew by the unmistakable cast of features — as marked as the face of Lord Beaconsfield. We trace the Phoenician, the Etruscan, as well as the negro types from Ethiopia, and thus learn of the warlike achievements of this monarch, whose fame is carved all over Egypt, and about whose name there is an interesting debate. Again and again these war themes are repeated, one king after another reciting his conquests and his virtues, wars and treaties of peace. It seemed in the building of these temples that the intention was to make the walls monumental records of the achievements of vari- ous reiens. When the walls were covered, or a kinor wished to be especially gracious to the priests, or, as is more prob- able, desired to employ his soldiers, he would built a new wing, or addition, to the temple already existing, striving, if GENERAL GRANT'S TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 497 possible, to make his own addition more magnificent than those of his predecessors. In this way came the Great Hall of Karnak, and in every temple we have visited this has been noticed. As a consequence, these stupendous, inconceivable ruins were not the work of one prince and one generation, but of many princes and many generations. And, as there was always something to add and always a new ambition coming into play, we find these temples, tombs, pyramids, obelisks all piled one upon the other, all inspired by the one sentiment and all telling the same story. It was because Thebes was the centre of a rich and fer- tile province, sheltered from an enemy by the river and the mountains, that she was allowed to grow from century to century in uninterrupted splendor. What that splendor must have been we cannot imagine. Here are the records and here are the ruins. If the records read like a tale of enchantment, these ruins look like the work of gods. The world does not show, except where we have evidences of the convulsions of nature, a ruin as vast as that of Karnak. Imagine a city covering the two banks of the Hudson, for six or seven miles, al) densely built, and you have an idea of the extent of Thebes. But this will only give you an idea of size. The buildings were not Broadways and Fifth Avenues, but temples and colossal monuments and tombs, the greatness of which, and the skill and patience necessary to build them, exciting our wonder to-day — yes, to-day, rich as we are with the achievements and possibilities of the nineteenth century. Thebes in its day must have been a wonder of the world, even of the ancient world which knew Nineveh and Babylon. To-day all that remains are a few villages of mud huts, a few houses in stone flying consular flags, a plain here and there strewed with ruins, and under the sands ruins even more stupendous than those we now see, which have not yet become manifest. " Assouan was to be the end of our journey, the turning- point of our Nile trip. " It was very warm when we gathered under the trees the next morning to make ready for our journey to Philae. We land and climb into the ruin. Philse is not specially 32 498 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. interesting as a temple after you have seen Thebes and Abydos. I can think of nothing useful to say about it, ex- cept that as a ruin it is picturesque. We had seen the Nile for a thousand miles from its mouth, with no want of either comfort or luxury, and had made the trip much more rapidly than is the custom; as Saini Bey remarked, it had been the most rapid trip he had ever known. Now, when there was no help for it, we began to wish we had seen more of Dendoreh, and had not been content with so hurried a visit to Karnak — Karnak, the grandest and most imposing ruin in the world. We now returned to Cairo and remained for a few days, making many interesting excursions and visits, and enjoy- ing the continued hospitality of the Khedive. Bidding adieu to our friends at Cairo, we started for Port Said. The *' Vandalia "' sailed from Port Said in the afternoon of February 9th, 1878, and the next morning the coast' of Palestine was in full view. The travellers were on deck early, and they watched every point of this famous shore as they steamed rapidly past it. Soon after breakfast the "Vandalia" hove to off Jaffa. The American Consul, Mr. Hardegg, came on board to welcome General Grant to Syria, and in a litde while the General and his party went ashore in the "Vandalia's" boat. Landing, they proceeded at once to the residence of Mr. Hardegg, in the suburbs of the town. The party set out from Jaffa in the afternoon, going up to Jerusalem by the road traversed by most modern trav- ellers. "We had expected to enter Jerusalem in our quiet, plain way, pilgrims really coming to see the Holy City, awed by its renowned memories. But, lo! and behold, here is an army with banners, and we are commanded to enter as conquerors, in a triumphal manner! " We were taken to a hotel — the only one of any size in the town. As I lean over the balcony, I look out upon an open street or market-place, where Arabs are selling fruits and grain, and heavy-laden peasants are bearing skins < Pi O 12; pa o Q Pi) H ►-• CO > I w <: en D p5 W Eci O (499) 500 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. filled with water. The market-place swarms with Jews, Arabs, Moslems, Christians. Horsemen are prancinor about, while the comely younij officer in command sits waiting, calmly smoking- his cigarette. A group of beg- gars, with petitions in th^-Ir hands, crowd the door of the hotel, waiting the coming of the man who, having ruled forty millions of people, can, they believe, by a wave of the hand, alleviate their woes." General Grant reached Jerusalem on Monday, February nth, and remained there until the following Saturday, vis- iting the various points of interest, and making excursions to Bethlehem, Bethany and other places. During his stay in Jerusalem the General was the recip- ient of distinguished attentions at the hands of the Turkish authorities and the consuls. The Pacha called upon him in state, and expressed his sense of the honor conferred upon Palestine by the General's visit. The General re- turned this call with due ceremony. The bishops and patriarchs called, and blessed the General and the house in which he lodged. The Pacha entertained General Grant and his party at a state dinner, which was a very pleasant affair. The rest of the time was passed by the General in siofht-seeine. Leaving Jerusalem, General Grant and his party jour- neyed northward toward Damascus. The route lay by Shiloh, where the Tabernacle was set up after the conquest of the land by the Israelites, to Nabulus, where but a brief stir was made. From Nabulus the travellers pressed on rapidly to Nazareth, passing Samaria, and striking across the great plain of Esdraelon, the battle-field of Palestine. Distant views were caught of the scene of Joshua's great victory, of Mount Bilboa, of Jezreel, of the scene of Gideon's won- derful exploits, of Mount Carmel, of Little Hermon, of Endor, of Mount Tabor, and of Nain, the scene of the Saviour's miracle, and at last Nazareth was reached. From Nazareth the travellers proceeded to Damas- cus. The route lay by the Sea of Galilee, Tiberias, Lake Huleh, Caesarea, Philippi and Mount Hermon, from (50I) 502 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. which the travellers passed oat of the Holy Land into Syria. The stay at Damascus was brief, as General Grant was anxious to push on and reach Constantinople. The party jaw the city thoroughly, however, and gready enjoyed it= From Damascus the party proceeded to Beyrout, the principal seaport of Syria, where the "Vandalia" was in waitino; to convey them to Constantinople. General Grant reached Constantinople on the 5th of March, 1878. He was welcomed to the city by the Amer- ican Minister and Consul, and by an aide-de-camp of the Sultan. Immediately upon arriving at Constantinople General Grant paid a formal visit to the Sultan, who received him most cordially, and ordered the Master of Ceremonies to present the General with a pair of Arabian horses from the Imperial stables. When the visit to the Turkish capital came to a close, the General and his party sailed for Greece. The run from Constandnople to the harbor of Piraeus, the port of Athens, was a short and pleasant one. From Pirai^us a short railway trip of a few miles took the party to Athens. General Grant was cordially welcomed by General John Meredith Read, the American Minister to Greece, and a number of Americans, and was escorted to his hotel. The first visit v/as naturally paid to the King, who received the General with endiusiasni and presented him and his party to the Queen. Both sovereigns and people showered atten- tion upon General Grant, who was obliged to decline many of them in consequence of the shortness of his stay. A grand fete was given to the General by the King and Queen, which was attended by the most distinguished per- sons of the country and by the foreign ministers. Every effort was made to render the visit enjoyable in the highest degree. Modern Athens owes its importance solely to the historic renown of the ancient city on the site of which it stands. It is in part a well-built city, with bright, gay streets, but in some of the quarters dirt and squalor prevail. Among the (503) C04 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. public buildings are the Royal Palace, a line building, three stories in height, the Chamber of Deputies, the Barracks, the Mint, the Theatre, the National Academy, the Museum and the Polytechnic School. Like the ancient city, modern Athens is built around the base of the hill of the Acropolis, which towers up one hundred and fifty feet above it. From the earliest times this rock has been the site of a fortress. It rises almost perpendicularly above the city, and was the site of the citadel and most sacred buildings of ancient Athens. The walls stand on the very verge of the cliff, and have a circumference of nearly 7,000 feet. They are of great antiquity, being the work of many ages — of the Pelagians of Themistocles, of Cymon, of Valerian, of the Turks, and of the Venetians. A visit was made to the batde-field of Marathon, and on the 1 8th of March the General and his party bade adieu to Athens and embarked once more upon their ship. A visit was made to Corinth, where several days were spent in wandering through the ruins, and then the "Vandalia" sailed for' Syracuse, where a brief stoppage was made to visit the ancient city. Then the ''Vandalia" set sail once more, this time for Naples, where the General and his party terminated their Mediterranean voyage, and taking leave of the ''Vandalia" and her officers, set out for Rome. General Grant and his party visited all the objects of in- terest in the city, and spent many pleasant days in examin- ing the wonders of ancient and modern Rome. The Eternal CiV was deeply interesting to the General, and he studied it with an eagerness and attention that showed how great that interest was. St. Peter's— diat grandest of all Christian churches — the Capitol, the Vatican, the ruined Colosseum, the monuments of the Caesars, and the remains of later glories, each and all had a charm for him. The General was fortunate in the dme of his arrival at Rome. The excitement over the election of the new Pope had subsided, and Leo XIII. was comfortably seated in the Chair of St. Peter. His Eminence, Cardinal McCloskey, of New York, was present in Rome at the time, and im- mediately upon General Grant's arrival called upon him, GENERAL GRANT'S TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 505 and off-ered to secure for him any facilities he might desire for seemg he churches, the Vatican and the objects of interest under the mimediate care of the Church The Cardmal also arranged for an interview between Gene al WraTand^Mr? r'"'.'^'^°'''>"'>'' °" ^'^ '^th of S General and Mrs. Grant were formally presented to His Hohness Pope Leo XIII., who received"^ them cordiaUy! rf/^T AT ^^.r,"^"^ VATICAN-VISITED BY^ENERAL GR.^STT Se?tL'wni? P' "'f''',^ '■'" P'-esentation. A pleasant interview followed, and the parties separated mutually pleased with each other. ^ Immediately upon the arrival of General Grant at Rome he was waited upon by an aide-de-camp of King Humbert, wha in his sovereign's name, welcomed the General to -Kome, and placed at his disposal every facility he might 506 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. desire for seeine the monuments and museums of the Eternal City. The General prompdy called upon the King, and an interestincr and cordial interview took place. On the I 5th of April King Humbert entertained General Grant at a magnificent state dinner, at which all the Italian min- isters were present. This was one of the most distin- guished honors ever conferred by an Italian sovereign upon a citizen of a foreign country'. From Rome the travellers went to Florence, the favorite of Italian cities with Americans, which was reached April 20, 1878. The stay of the General and his party in this beautiful city was brief, but very pleasant. The authorities of the city showed him every attention in their power, and exerted themselves to make his visit a delightful one. From Florence General Grant and his party went to Venice by railway, and reached that city on the 23rd of April. He was met at the station by the American Consul- General, Mr. John Harris, and a large party of Americans. The city authorities were also present to welcome him to Venice and to offer him the hospitalities of the city. Several speeches of a congratulatory character were made, to which the General returned suitable replies, and then the travellers were conducted to their hotel. Three da)'s were passed in Venice. They were very pleasant, and, as there was much to see, were busy ones. General Grant left Venice on the 26th of April, and reached Milan on the 27th. He remained in that famous city a week. He was received at the station, upon his ar- rival, by the Prefect, Syndic and other city officials, and welcomed to the metropolis of Northern Italy. During his stay in Milan General Grant had a constant stream of American visitors. Paris was reached on the 7th of May, 1878, and General Grant proceeded direct to his hotel. The International Exposidon had been opened on the 3rd of May, and was the absorbing topic in Paris. It was decided that General Grant should make a formal visit to the Exposidon, and in* spect the American Department, and on the nth of June General R. C. McCormick, Commissioner-General for the CATHEDRAL OF MILAN— VISITED BY GENERAL GRANT. (507) .508 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. United States, called on General Grant and asked him to fix a time for his visit. The 17th of May, Saturday, being the most convenient day, was appointed. On that occasion General and Mrs. Grant, together with a large party of friends, visited the Exposition, and were received by the officials of the American Department and escorted through it. The General was much pleased with the display made by his countrymen. General Grant remained in Paris a little more than a month, enjoying a constant round of hospitality at the hands of his countrymen and of distinguished Frenchmen. It was during this visit that President MacMahon declared that *' France was honored by the presence of so illustrious a soldier." The General began to tire of Paris, however, and near the middle of June set out for Holland, intending to make a tour of Northern Europe before returning to France. The travellers went direct to the Hague, the capital^ of Holland, called by the Dutch s'Gravenhagen, where an im- posing reception met General Grant at the railway station. The General was presented to the King of the Nether- lands, and was cordially received by him, and, during his stay at the Hague, a fine review of Dutch troops was held in his honor. He was entertained at luncheon by his Royal Highness, Prince Frederick, the King's uncle, at the royal villa of Hins in t'Bosch, or '* The House in the Woods," about a mile and a half from the Hague, and the entertain- ment proved one of the most delightful enjoyed by the General during his visit abroad. The General's time passed pleasandy at the Hague, for in spite of their proverbial phlegm, the Dutch were en- thusiasdc over their distinguished visitor, and showered up- on him marks of attendon and respect. From the Hague General Grant went to Rotterdam, where he met with a cordial reception from the authorities and from many of his own countrymen residing there. During his stay in Rotterdam General Grant was enter- tained by the Burgomaster of the city at a grand dinner, which was numerously attended. Speeches were made and GENERAL GRANTS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 509' toasts were drunk, expressing the heartiest and most unaf- fected friendship for General Grant and for the United States. It was but a ride of a few hours from Rotterdam to Amsterdam, to which the travellers proceeded next. During his stay in Amsterdam General Grant was enter- tained at a magnificent banquet given in his honor by fifty of the leading merchants of the city. It was attended by all the dignitaries of the city and by a brilliant company. It was one of the most splendid entertainments attended by General Grant while in Europe. A visit was made to the North Sea Canal in company with the directors of the company, and the General carefully inspected that magnifi- cent work. The excursion wound up with a superb colla- tion offered to the General by one of the directors. An- other excursion was to Haarlem, where the grand organ of the Church of St. Bavon, the largest instrument in the. world, was played in honor of General Grant. Another excursion still was to Broek, a town six miles east of Am- sterdam, and was of an amusing charater. This place contains 9,000 inhabitants, and is noted for the wealth of its residents, who "are principally landed proprietors or retired merchants, but more celebrated for the extreme cleanliness of its houses and streets, the attention to which has been carried to an absurd and ridiculous excess. The houses are mostly of wood, painted white and green ; the fronts of many of them are painted in various colors ; the roofs are of polished tile, and the narrow streets are paved with bricks or little stones set in patterns. Carriages can- not enter the town ; you cannot even ride your horse through it, but must lead him or leave him outside. The natives are very much like the Turks : they take off their shoes before entering their houses, and walk in slippers or in their stock- ings. Even the Emperor Alexander, when he visited Broek, was obliged to comply with this custom." Thus passed away two delightful weeks in Holland. General Grant would have been glad to prolong his stay, but he was anxious to be in Berlin during the European Congress, and was compelled to bid adieu to his pleasant Dutch friends and hasten on. CHAPTER XV. Arrival of General Grant at Berlin, the Capital of the German Empire— The European Congress — A Memorable Interview with Prince Bismarck— A visitto Denmark, Nor- way and Sweden — A visit to Russia — Interview with the Czar and Prince Gort- schakoff— Moscow — Warsaw — Vienna— General and Mrs. Grant dine with the Em- peror and Empress of Austria — Munich — Return to Paris — A Trip to Southern France, Spain and Portugal — Ireland— Preparations for his Indian Tour. General Grant and party reached Berlin on the 26th of June, 1878. General Grant was much interested in Berlin, and indus- triously visited its sights and places of interest. He was the recipient of many social attentions, and also met many German officers who had served under him during the American civil war, and who were eager to pay their re- spects to their old chief. The European Congress, for the final setdement of the questions arising out of the war between Russia and Turkey, was in session at the time of the General's visit. Most of the foreign representatives were known to General Grant, he having met them in their respective countries. Visits of ceremony were paid to each. As Prince Gortschakoff, the Russian Plenipotentiary, was too much crippled with the gout to make calls. General Grant called upon him, and had a long and pleasant interview. The Prince urged him to visit Russia, and assured him of a hearty and cordial recep- tion by the Emperor and people. Among the first to call to see General Grant was Prince Bismarck, the German Prime Minister. The General was absent at the time, and the visit of the Prince was repeated. "The Prince wears an officer's uniform, and, on taking the General's hand, he says, ' Glad to welcome General Grant to Germany.' "The General replied that there was no incident in his Germ.an tour that interested him more than this opportunity of meeting the Prince. Bismarck expressed surprise at seeing the General so young a man, but on a comparison (510) niii 11 if i! nil I 'Mr J|!lftfii'l4 'f'' TOWN HALL, BERLIN— VISITED BY GENERAL GRANT. (511: 512 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ot ages it was found that Bismarck was only seven years the General's senior. "'That,' said the Prince, 'shows the value of a military life, for here you have the frame of a young man, while I feel like an old one.' "The General, smilinor, announced that he was at that I >^|ii|li,ij ,)_^,1»HPi|^\^\ n 111 I'l II INTERVIEW BLl VV], .ENER.aL gram .v.nU PivINCE lil^MVK period of life when he could have no higher compliment paid him than being called a young man. " One of the Prince's first questions was about General Sheridan. " 'The General and I,' said the Prince, 'were fellows-cam- paigners in France, and we became great friends.' " The General made a reference to the deliberations o( the Congress, and hoped that there would be a peaceful result GENERAL GRANTS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 513 ^* * That Is my hope and belief/ said the Prince. * That is ^11 our interest in the matter. We have no business with the Congress whatever, and are attending to the business of others by calHng a Congress. But Germany wants PRINCE BISMARCK. peace, and Europe wants peace, and all our labors are to that end.' " Prince Bismarck said the Emperor was especially sorry that he could not In person show General Grant a review/ and that the Crown Prince would give him one. ' But,' said the Prince, ' the old gendeman is so much of a soldier .and so fond of his army, that nothing would give him more 33 5H LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. pleasure than to display it to so great a soldier as your- self.' "The General said that he had accepted the Crown Prince's invitation to a review for next morning, but with a smile continued : ' The truth Is I am more of a farmer than a soldier. I take little or no interest in military affairs, and, although I entered the army thirty-five years ago and have been in two wars, in Mexico as a young lieutenant, and later, I never went into the army without regret and never retired without pleasure.' " ' I suppose,' said the Prince, ' If you had had a large army At the beginning of the war it would have ended in a much shorter time.' "'We might have had no war at all,' said the General; ' but we cannot tell. Our war had many strange features — there were many things which seemed odd enough at the time, but which now seem providential. If we had had a large regular army as it was then constituted, it might have gone w4th the South. In fact, the Southern feeling In the army among high officers was so strong that when the war broke out the army dissolved. We had no army — then we had to organize one. A great commander like Sherman or Sheridan even then might have organized an army and put down the rebellion In six months or a year, or, at the farthest,. two years. But that would have saved slavery, perhaps, and slavery meant the germs of new rebellion. There had to be an end of slavery. Then we were fighting an enemy with whom we could not make a peace. We had to destroy him. No convention, no treaty was possible — - only destruction.' " ' It was a long war,' said the Prince, ' and a great work well done — and I suppose It means a long peace.' " * I believe so,' said the General. " The Prince asked the General when he might have the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Grant. The General answered that she would receive him at any convenient hour. "'Then,' said the Prince, 'I will come to-morrow before the Congress meets.' " Both genriemen arose, and the General renewed the i GENERAL GRANT's TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 515 expression of his pleasure at having seen a man who was so well known and so highly esteemed in America. " ' General,' answered the Prince, ' the pleasure and the honor are mirve. Germany and America have always been in such friendly relationship that nothing delights us more than to meet Americans, and especially an American who has done so much for his country, and whose name is so much honored in Germany as your own.' '' The Prince and the General walked side by side to the door, and after shaking hands the General passed into the square. The guard presented arms, the General lit a fresh cigar, and slowly strolled home. " ' I am glad I have seen Bismarck,' the General remarked. * He is a man whose manner and bearing fully justify the opinions one forms of him.' " The next morning, at half-past seven. General Grant attended a review given in his honor by the Crown Prince. A furious rain was driving across the field at the time, but, notwithstanding this, the manoeuvres were brilliantly exe- cuted, all the branches of the service taking part in the display. After the review, the General inspected one of the military hospitals and the quarters of a cavalry regi- ment. This was followed by an informal mess-room lunch with the Crown Prince and his officers, during which the General expressed his gratification at the spectacle he had witnessed, and proposed the health of the Crown Prince. About noon on the same day, Prince Bismarck returned General Grant's visit, and was presented to Mrs. Grant. The visit proved exceedingly pleasant to all parties. Prince Bismarck entertained General Grant at a grand dinner at the Radziwill Palace. After dinner the Prince and General Grant adjourned to a cozy apartment in the palace for a pleasant chat. Among the notable incidents of General Grant's stay in Berlin was the dinner given to him at the American Lega- tion by Bayard Taylor, the American Minister, and a pleasant reception at the same place. They were both quiet and informal, but very pleasant. From Berlin General Grant set out for Copenhagen, 51 6 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. going- by way of Hamburg, which place was reached on the 2d of July. General Grant left Hamburg on the 6th of July, and pro- ceeded direct to Copenhagen, travelling through Schleswig- Holstein and Denmark. There General Grant spent several very pleasant days, exploring every portion of it, and was so much pleased with the city that he would have been glad to stay longer, but time was pressing, and he had to depart. Leaving Copenhagen by steamer, the travellers sailed up the Cattegat to Gothenburg, in Sweden. From Christiana General Grant made the journey to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, by rail, reaching that city on the 24th of July, 1878. All along the route crowds assembled at the stations to see and cheer the distinguished American General; triumphal arches were erected, and addresses of welcome were read at the prominent places. Upon the arrival of the train at Stockholm, the General was met by the city authorities and welcomed to Stockholm. An immense crowd had assembled at the station, and he was loudly cheered as he passed out on his way to his hotel. Embarking at Stockholm on board of one of the Baltic steamers. General Grant and his party crossed the Baltic Sea to St. Petersburg. The length of the voyage is about four hundred miles. The passage was made in about two days. As Cronstadt was approached, the weather cleared up, and the steamer put out all her flags, and in honor of General Grant ran up the Stars and Stripes to the fore- mast. As the steamer drew near the outer forts, the heavy granite structures were wreathed in smoke, and a grand salute of welcome thundered over the waves. As other forts were passed, salutes were fired, and at length the steamer came to anchor in the harbor. A deputation of the officials of the place came on board and welcomed General Grant to Russia. The trip to the city was a short one, and, upon arriving at his hotel, the General was met by Mr. E. M. Stoughton, the American Minister to Russia, who warmly welcomed him to St. Petersburg. He was followed by Prince Gort- i GENERAL GRANTS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 517 schakoff, the Emperor s Aide-de-Camp, and several odier high officers of die Imperial Court, who brought messages of welcome from the Emperor. This was the 30th of July, and it was arranged that the General should be presented to the Czar the next day, July 31st. Accordingly, the presentation took place the next day. The Emperor manifested great cordiality. The General was presented by Prince Gortschakoff. His Majesty talked of his health and the General's travels. He seemed greatly ST. PETERSBURG— REVIEW IN HONOR OF GENERAL GRANT. interested in our national wards, the Indians, and made several inquiries as to their mode of warfare. At the close of the interview the Emperor accompanied Grant to the door, saying : " Since the foundation of your government the relations between Russia and America have been of the friendliest character, and as long as I live nothing shall be spared to condnue that friendship." The General answered that although the two govern- ments were direcdy opposite in character, the great ma- 5l8 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. jority of the American people were in sympathy with Russia, and would, he hoped, so continue. General Grant also met the Grand Duke Alexis, who had visited the United States, and been entertained at the White House during the General's Presidency. An imperial yacht was placed at General Grant*s dis- posal, and the General and his party made a pleasant ex- cursion to Peterhoff — the Versailles of St. Petersburg — which commands a fine view of the Russian capital, Cron- stadt and the Gulf of Finland. After visiting Peterhoff, a visit was paid to the Russian man-of-war, " Peter the Great," where the General was saluted with twenty-one guns. During his stay in St. Petersburg General Grant was received by the Czarewitch at a special audience. The French Ambassador gave a dinner in his honor, and there was a special reviev/ of the fire brigade of the city. The Emperor was unfailing in his kind attentions, and caused everything that could be done for the comfort of General Grant and his party to be done with promptness and cor- diality. On the 8th of August, General Grant and party set out for Moscow. The distance is four hundred miles, and the road which unites the two places, and which is a very good one, was built by two American contractors, Messrs. Win- ans, of Baltimore, and Harrison, of Philadelphia. The road is also one of the straightest in existence, running in almost a direct line between the two points. The churches are numerous ; some of them are very elaborate, and contain many Interesting historical relics. A few pleasant days were passed at Moscow, and then General Grant determined not to return to St. Petersburg, but to set off direct for Warsaw, in Russian Poland, six hun- dred miles distant. The start was made promptly, and on the 13th of August Warsaw was reached. The travellers were very tired from their long railway journey, and sev- eral days were passed in the old Polish capital to rest.. Then the journey was resumed, and on the night of the 1 8th of August the party reached Vienna. The General was met at the railroad station by Minister Kasson, the (519) 520 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. secretaries and members of the American Legation, and a large number of the American residents. He was loudly cheered as he stepped out of the railway carriage. On the 2 1 St General and Mrs. Grant were entertained by the imperial family, and dined with the Emperor in the evening. During the morning Baron Steinberg accompa- nied the Emperor's American guests to the Arsenal. On the 2 2d Minister Kasson gave a diplomatic dinner in honor of our ex-President, at which nearly all the foreign Ambassadors were present. The members of the Austro- Hungarian Cabinet attended the reception in the evening, •and added to the brilliancy of the occasion. The General expressed himself greatly pleased with Vienna. He was gratified also at the marked attentions of the Emperor's- household and the earnest endeavor shown to honor him as a citizen of the United States. From Vienna the travellers went to Munich, the capital of Bavaria, where several days were passed in seeing the city and its rich art treasures. A halt was also made at the venerable town of Augsburg, from which place the jour- ney was continued through Ulm Into Switzerland. Halts were made at Schaffhausen and Zurich. On the 23d of September, Mr. S. H. Byers, the American Consul at Zur- ich, entertained General Grant at a dinner, at which the Burgomaster and the city authorities were present. From Zurich General Grant returned to Paris by way of Lyons. On the 10th of October, 1878, General Grant and party left Paris for a trip through Spain and Portugal. 'Tt was the intention of General Grant when he left Paris," says Mr. Young, in his letter to T/ie New York Herald, '' to make a short visit to the Pyrenees, and espe- cially Pau. "When Vittoria was reached, there were all the authori- ties out to see him, and he was informed that in the morning the King Alfonso would meet him. Ten o'clock was the hour, and the place was a small city hall or palace, where the King resides when he comes into his capital. At ten the General called, and was escorted into an ante-room where were several aides and grenerals in attendance. He GENERAL GRANTS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 52! passed into a small room, and was greeted by the King-. The room was a library, with books and a writing-table covered with papers, as though His Majesty had been hard at work. When the General entered, the King gave him a seat and they entered into conversation. There was a little fencing as to whether the conversation should be in English or Spanish. The General said he knew Spanish in Mexico, but thirty-five years had passed since it was familiar to him and he would not venture upon it now. The King was anxious to speak Spanish, but English and French were the only languages used. "At eleven o'clock General Grant, King Alfonso, and a splendid retinue of generals, left the King's official resi- dence to witness the manoeuvres which were to take place on the historic field of Vittoria, where the French, under Joseph Bonaparte and Jourdan, were finally crushed in Spain by the allies under Wellington on June 21, 181 3. '' King Alfonso and General Grant rode at the head of the column, side by side. His Majesty pointing out the objects of interest to the right and the left, and, when the vicinity of the famous field was reached, halting for a few minutes to indicate to his guest the location of the different armies on that famous June morning. As they proceeded thence General Concha was called to the side of the King and introduced to General Grant. Several other distin- guished officers were then presented. The weather was very fine, and the scene was one of great interest to the American visitor. General Grant spent the day on horse- back, witnessing the manoeuvres." In the evening he dined with the King, and the next day there was a grand review of the troops held in his honor. From Vittoria General Grant went to Madrid, reaching that city on the 28th of October. James Russell Lowell, our Minister, met him at the station, when the General was welcomed by Colonel Noeli, a Spanish officer of distinction, who was detailed to attend him. Mr. Lowell gave the General a dinner and a reception, where men of all parties came to pay their respects to the ex-President. There was a dinner at the Presidency of the Council, the only State 522 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. dinner given since the poor Queen died. ^ There were arsenals to be inspected and picture galleries, the royal palace and the royal stables. There were long walks about Madrid and long talks with Mr. Lowell, whom General Grant had never met before, but for whom he conceived a sincere attachment and esteem. There were calls from all manner of public men, especially from Captain-General Jovellar, with whom the General had satisfying talks about Cuba, and one from Castelar, whom the General was most anxious to see. Castelar had been so friendly to the North in our war, and he had been also a constitutional President of the Republic, and the General was anxious to do him honor. He contemplated a dinner to Castelar. But Spanish polidcs is full of torpedoes, and the General was in som.e sort a guest of the nation, and it was feared that the dinner might be construed into a republican demonstration — an interference in other people's affairs — and it was abandoned. During his stay in Madrid General Grant visited the Palace of the Escurial, which is about two hours distant from Madrid. " This mammoth edifice, second only to the Pyramids of Egypt in size and solidity, was commenced by Philip II., to fulfil a vow made to San Lorenzo, that if the batde of St. Quentin, which was fought on the saint's day, should result favorably to him, he would erect a temple to his honor; and also to obey the injunctions of his father, the Emperor Charles V., to construct a tomb worthy of the royal family, and most magnificently did he carry out both purposes." From Madrid General Grant went to Lisbon, the capital of the kingdom of Portugal. " The King of Portugal, on learning that General Grant had arived in Lisbon, came to the city to meet him. There was an audience at the palace, the General and his wife meeting the King and Queen. The King, after greeting the General in the splendid audience chamber, led him into an inner apartment, away from the ministers and courtiers who were in attendance on the ceremony. They had a long conversation relative to Portugal and the United GENERAL GRANT'S TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 523 States, the resources of the two countries, and the means to promote the commercial relations between Portugal and America. Portugal was, above all things, a commercial nation, and her history was a history of discovery and ex- tending civilization. The King had been a naval officer, and the conversation ran into ships of war and naval warfare. There were other meetings between the King and the General. The day after the palace reception was the King's birthday, and there was a gala night at the opera. The King and royal family came in state, and during the interludes the General had long conversations with His Majesty. The next evening there was a dinner at the palace in honor of the General, the Ministry, and the leading men of the court in attendance. From Lisbon General Grant returned to Spain, and pro- ceeded direct to Cordova. "After a long ride it was pleasant to rest, even in the in- different condition of comfort provided in a Spanish inn. There was a visit to the theatre, a ramble about the streets, which is General Grant's modern fashion of taking posses- sion of a town ; there was a stroll up the Roman bridge, the arches of which are as fresh as if the workmen had just laid down their tools. There was a visit to a Moorish mill, in which the millers were grinding wheat. There was the casino and the ascent of a tower from which Andalusia is seen spreading out before us, green and smiling. This sums up Cordova. From Cordova the travellers went to Seville, which was reached on December 4th, 1878. "Our stay in Seville was marked by an incident of a personal character worthy of veneration — the visit of General Grant to the Duke of Montpensier. The day after General Grant arrived in Seville the Duke called on him, and the next day was spent by the General and his party in the hospitable halls and gardens of St. Elmo. The Duke regretted that, his house being in mourning on account of the death of his daughter, Queen Mercedes, he could not give General Grant a more formal welcome than a quiet luncheon party. The Duke, the Duchess and their daughter were present, 524 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and after luncheon the General and Duke spent an hour or two strolling through the gardens, which are among the most beautiful in Europe. The Duke spoke a great deal of his relations with America, and especially of the part which his nephews had played in the war against the South." After leaving Seville, the route of General Grant and his party lay along the beautiful Guadalquiver to Cadiz, sixty-seven miles distant. Cadiz was reached on the 6th of December. After a short visit to Gibraltar, General Grant returned to Spain and journeyed direcdy north to Paris. But a brief stay was made in Paris, General Grant and his party proceeding immediately to England. He now determined to redeem his promise to visit Ireland, and Mrs. Grant decided to remain with her daughter, Mrs. Sartoris, in England, during the General's absence In Ireland. He left London by the regular mail train on January 2d, 1879, going by way of Holyhead and Kingstown. He reached Dublin on January 3d, and was met by the repre- sentatives of the corporation. He at once prepared to visit the City Hall to meet the Lord Mayor. The cit)r was full of strangers, and much enthusiasm was manifested. On arriving at the Mayor's official residence they were cheered by a large crowd that had gathered to meet the illustrious ex-President. Tne Lord Mayor, In presenting the freedom of the city, referred to the cordiality always existing between America and Ireland, and hoped that in America General Grant would do everything he could to help a people who sympathize with every American move- ment. The parchment on which was engrossed the free- dom of the city was enclosed In an ancient carved bog-oak casket. General Grant appeared to be highly impressed by the generous language of the Lord Mayor. He replied sub- stantially as follows: 'T feel very proud of being made a citizen of the principal city of Ireland, and no honor that I have received has given me greater satisfaction. I am by birth the citizen of a country where there are more Irish- (525) 520 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. men, native born or by descent, than in all Ireland. When in office I had the honor — and it was a great one, indeed — of representing more Irishmen and descendants of Irish- men than does Her Majesty the Queen of England. I am not an eloquent speaker, and can simply thank you for the great courtesy you have shown me." Three cheers were given for General Grant at the close of his remarks, and then three more were added for the people of the United States. In the evening General Grant was entertained by the city authorities at a handsome banquet. The Lord Mayor presided. On the 4th, General Grant breakfasted with the Duke of Marlborough, and the rest of the day was spent in stroll- ing about Dublin and seeing the sights of the city, and Sunday was passed quietly at the Shelbourne Hotel. On January 6th General Grant and his party left Dublin for Londonderry. The weather was cold and stormy; but in spite of this, large crowds had assembled at Dundalk, Omagh, Strabane and other places, and cheered the Gen- eral enthusiastically upon the arrival and departure of the train. Londonderry was reached at two o'clock. An im- mense crowd had assembled around the station, and Gen- eral Grant's arrival was hailed with a storm of cheers. The General was received by the Mayor in a compliment- ary speech of welcome, to which he replied briefly. The next morning was spent in exploring the sights of the city, and the party left for Belfast, accompanied by Sir Harvey Bruce, lieutenant of the county, Mr. Taylor, M. P., and other distinguished gentlemen. At every station crowds assembled to welcome and cheer General Grant, and among those thus assembled were many old soldiers who had served in the United States army under General Grant during our recent Civil War, and who were eager to greet their old commander. At Coleraine there was an immense crowd. General Grant, accompanied by the Member of Parliament, Mr. Taylor, left the cars, entered the waiting-room at the depot and received an address. In reply. General Grant repeated the hope and belief expressed GENERAL GRANTS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 527 in his Dublin speech, that the period of depression was ended, and that American prosperity was aiding Irish pros- perity. At Ballymoney there was another crowd. As the train neared Belfast a heavy rain began to fall. The train reached Belfast station at half-past two o'clock. The reception accorded General Grant was imposing and extraordinary. The linen and other mills had stopped work, and the workmen stood out in the rain in thousands. The platform of the station was covered with scarlet carpet. The Mayor and members of the City Council welcomed the General, who descended from the car amid tremendous cheers. Crowds ran after the carriages containing the city authorities and their illustrious guest, and afterward sur- rounded the hotel where the General was entertained. The public buildings were draped with American and. English colors. Luncheon was served at four o'clock, and the crowd, with undaunted valor, remained outside amid a heavy storm and cheered at intervals. The Belfast speakers made cordial allusions to many people in America. On the morning of the 8th, General Grant and his party, accompanied by Mayor Brown, visited several of the large mills and industrial establishments of the city. At three o'clock in the afternoon the General left for Dublin. Immense crowds had gathered at the hotel and at the railway station. The Mayor, with Sir John Preston and the American Consul, accompanied the General to the depot. As the train moved off, the crowd gave tremen- dous cheers, the Mayor taking the initiative. At Portadown, Dundalk, Drogheda and other stations there were immense crowds, the populations apparendy turning out en masse. Grant was loudly cheered, and thousands surrounded the car with the hope of being able to shake the General by the hand, all wishing him a safe journey. When the train reached Dublin, Lord Mayor Barrlngton and a considerable number of persons were on the plat- form at the railway station, and cordially welcomed the General. As soon as all the party had descended, the 528 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Lord Mayor invited the General into his carriage, and drove him to Westward Row, where the Irish mail train was ready to depart, having been detained eight minutes for the ex-President. There was a most cordial farewell and a great shaking of hands. The Mayor and his friends begged Grant to return soon and make a longer stay. Soon Kingston was reached, and in a few minutes the party were in the special cabin which had been provided for them on board the mail steamer. Special attention was paid to the General by the officers of the vessel. Grant left the Irish shores at seven o'clock. London was reached on the morning of the 9th of Janu- ary, and the General spent the day and evening at the residence of Mr. John Welsh, the American Minister. On Monday, 13th, General Grant and his party left London for Paris, reaching that city the same evening. The season was so far advanced that an immediate depar- ture for India was necessary. The General spent a week In Paris preparing for his Indian voyage, and receiving many attentions at the hands of the authorises and citizens. On the evening of the i6th he was entertained by President MacMahon at a grand dinner at the Elysee. On the 2 1 St he left Paris with his party for Marseilles, to embark at that place for India. CHAPTER XVI. General Grant Embarks for India — On the Red Sea — Aden — Arrival at Bombay — Hospitalities to the General — Elephanta — Allahabad — Agra — Taj-Mahal — ^Jeypore — Visit to the Maharajah of Bhurtpoor — Delhi — Lucknow — Calcutta — A Visit at Rangoon and Bangkok — Hong Kong — Canton — Shanghai — Tientsin — Pekin — In- terview with the Prince Regent of the Chinese Empire, Prince Kung — Chefoo — The Great Wall of China — Japan — Nagasaki — Yokohama — Tokio — Japanese Hospitality — Grant the Guest of Japan — Received and Visited by the Emperor — Festivities — Departing for the United States. "When General Grant returned from Ireland," says Mr. Young, in his letter to The New York Herald, he learned that the American man-of-war 'Richmond,' which was to carry him to India, had not left the United States. The warm season comes early, and all the General's advices were to the effect that he should be out of India by the ist of April. He concluded not to wait for the 'Richmond,' and leave Marseilles for Alexandria on a steamer belonging to the Messagerie Maritime, and connect at Suez with the Peninsular and Oriental steamer. On the 24th of January, at noon, our party embarked at Marseilles. Our party, as made up for the India trip, is composed of General Grant, Mrs. Grant, Colonel Frederick D. Grant, Mr. A. E. Borie, formerly Secretary of the Navy; Dr. Keating, of Philadelphia, a nephew of Mr. Borie, and John Russell Young. "At nine o'clock in the morning the last farewells were spoken, we took our leave of the many kind and pleasant friends we had made on the 'Venetia,' and went on board the government yacht. Our landing was at the Apollo Bunder — the spot where the Prince of Wales landed. "Our home in Bombay is at the Government House, on Malabar Point, in the suburbs of the city. Malabar Point was in other days a holy place of the Hindoos. Here was a temple, and it was also believed that if those who sinned made a pilgrimage to the rocks there would be expiation or regenera'tion of soul." A State dinner at Malabar Point, closed General Grant's visit to Bombay. (530) PAGODA OF CHILLENBAUM, INDIA— VISITED BY GENERAL GRANT. (531) 532 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. On the 20th the party arrived at Tatulpur, and visited the Marble Rocks, after which the journey was resumed to Allahabad, where a short stay was made. On the 2 2d of February General Grant left Allahabad for Agra, where he arrived the next day. From i\gra General Grant and his party went to Jeypore, to visit the Maharajah of that place, one of the wealthiest and most powerful of Indian Princes, On his return to Agra General Grant stopped at Bhurtpoor, to visit the Maharajah of that place. General Grant and his party left Agra on the ist of March for Delhi, at which place they arrived in the after- noon. ''It was early morning, and the stars were out/' says Mr. Young, in his letter to The New York Herald, ''when we drove to the Agra station to take the train for Delhi. On the afternoon of our arrival we were taken to the palace, which is now used as a fort for the defence of the city. Leaving Delhi General Grant and his party reached Lucknow on the 5th of March." There are few .sights in India more interesting than the ruins of the Residency in Lucknow, where, during the mutiny, a handful of English residents defended themselves against the overwhelming forces of the Sepoys until re- lieved by Havelock and Sir Colin Campbell. The story ol that defence is one of the most brilliant in the annals of heroism and will always redound to the honor of the British name. On the 8th of March, General Grant and his party left Lucknow for Benares, arriving there at ten o'clock the same evening. The day had been warm and enervating, and our journey was through a country lacking in interest. "We were all dred and drowsy and not wide awake when the train shot into Benares station. The English representative of the Viceroy, Mr. Daniells, came on the train and welcomed the General to Benares. The General and Mrs. Grant, accompanied by the leading military and civic English representatives and nadve rajahs, walked down the line with uncovered heads. " Benares is the city of priests. Its population is less than two hundred thousand. Of this number from twenty 1533) 534 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. to twenty-five thousand are Brahmins. They govern the city and hold its temples, wells, shrines and streams. Pil- o-rims are always arriving and going, and as the day of General Grant's visit fell upon one of the holiest of Indian festivals, we found it crowded with pilgrims. Sometimes as many as two hundred thousand come in the course of a year. They come to die, to find absolution by bathing in the sacred waters of the Ganges. The name comes from a prince named Banar, who once ruled here." On the 9th of March, General Grant and his party left Benares for Calcutta, the capital of British India, and reached that city early on the morning of the loth, after a very fatiguing journey. The General drove off in the state carriao-e, with a small escort of cavalry, to the Govern- ment House, where preparations had been made by Lord Lytton for the reception of himself and party. " The Viceroy received General Grant with great kind- ness. Lord Lytton said he was honored in having as his guest a gentleman whose career he had so long followed with interest and respect, and that it was especially agree- able to him to meet one who had been chief magistrate of a country in which he had spent three of the happiest years of his life. Nothing could have been more considerate than the reception. The Viceroy regretted that the duties of his office, which, on account of Burmese and Afghan complications and his departure for Simla, were unusually pressing, prevented his seeing as much of the members of the General's party as he wished. In the afternoon we drove around the city and listened to the band. All the English world of Calcutta spend the cool of the day in die gardens, and the General and the Viceroy had a long stroll. It was dark before we reached the Government House, and we had just time to dress for a state dinner, the last to be given by Lord Lytton before leaving Simla. This dinner was made the occasion for presenting to General Grant the leading members of the native families. We had had a reception of this kind in Bombay, but the scene in Calcutta was more brilliant. The visit to Calcutta closed the Indian tour of General J (535) 536 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Grant. "We left Calcutta at midnight, on the 17th .of March, In order to catch the tides in the Hoogly, on board the steamer 'Simla,' of the British India Navigation Com- pany. After a short visit at Rangoon and Bangkok, where he was received with high honor by the officials and the King of Siam, General Grant went to Singapore, and from there sailed to Hong Kong, in China. This place was reached on the 20th of April. The General was warmly welcomed by the United States Consul and a num- ber of prominent merchants and citizens. A visit was paid to the United States war steamer 'Ashuelot,' which was lying in the harbor. "A pleasant half-hour was spent aboard the 'Ashuelot,' after which we again took the steam launch and proceeded towards Murray pier, where preparations had been made to receive us. ''As the ex-President stepped from the launch and mounted the red-covered stairway, the Governor came forward, and, warmly shaking him by the hand, welcomed him and Mrs. Grant to Hong Kong. "Several pleasant days were passed at Hong Kong, and then the General and his party proceeded up the river to Canton. "It was nine o'clock In the evening before we saw the lights of Canton. The Chinese gunboats as we came to an anchorage burned blue lights and fired rockets. The landing was decorated with Chinese lanterns, and many of the junks In the river burned lights and displayed the American flag. Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Scherzer, French Consul, Dr. Carson, and other representatives of the European colony, came on board to welcome us and to express a disappointment that we had not arrived in time for a public reception. The General and party landed without any ceremony and went at once to the house of Mr. Lincoln, where there was a late dinner. General Grant remained at home during the morning to receive calls, while Mrs. Grant and the remainder of the party wandered Into the city to shop and look at the curious things, and especially at the most curious thing of all, the city of Canton. A CHINESE PAGODA, AS SEEN BY GENLRAL GRANT. (537) 538 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. " The coming of General Grant had created a flutter in the Chinese mind. No foreign barbarian of so high a rank had ever visited the Celestial Kingdom. Coming from America, a country which had always been friendly with China, there were no resentments to gratify, and accord- ingly, as soon as the Viceroy learned of th^ visit, he sent word to our Consul that he would receive General Grant with special honors. The Viceroy is a Chinaman, and not of the governing Tartar race. His manner was the perfection of courtesy and cordiality. He said he knew how unworthy he was of a visit from one so great as General Grant, but that this unworthiness only increased the honor. After General Grant had been presented, we were each of us in turn welcomed by the Viceroy and presented to his suite. Mr. Holcombe and the Chinese interpreter of the Consul, a blue-button Mandarin, who speaks admirable English, were our interpreters. " During this interchange of compliments the reception- room was filled with members and retainers of the court. Mandarins, aids, soldiers — all ranks were present. The whole scene was one of curiosity and excitement. The Chinamen seemed anxious to do all they could to show us how welcome was our coming ; but such a visit was a new thing, and they had no precedent for the reception of a stranger who had held so high a position as General Grant. The question of who should call first had evidently been much in the Viceroy's mind, for he said, apparently wdth the intention of assuaging any supposed feeling of annoy- ance that might linger in the General's mind, that, of course, that was not a call ; it was only the General on his way about the town coming in to see him. The assurance was certainly not necessary, and I only recall it as an illustra- tion of the Oriental feature of our visit. After the civilities were exchanged, the Viceroy led the General and party into another room, where there were chairs and tables around the room in a semi-circle. Between each couple of chairs was a small table, on which were cups of tea. The General was led to the place of honor in the centre, GENERAL GRANTS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 539 and the Chinese clustered together In one corner. After some persuasion, the Viceroy was induced to sit beside the General, and the conversation proceeded. Nothing was said beyond the usual compliments, which were only re- peated in various forms." The next day the Viceroy and the Chinese officials re- turned the visit. On the 9th of May General Grant and his party left Canton for Macao and Shanghai. From the latter place the "Ashuelot" sailed for Tientsin, at the mouth of the Peiho River, from which point General Grant intended visldng Pekin, the capital of China. His Excellency Li Hung Chang, by far the greatest living general of China, was very attendve to General Grant, and the General, on his part, conceived a high admiration for the Viceroy. ''The great Viceroy, Li Hung Chang, took the deepest Interest in the coming of General Grant. He was of the same age as the General. They won their victories at the same time — the Southern rebellion ending in April, the Taeping rebellion in July, 1865. As the Viceroy said to a friend of mine, 'General Grant and I have suppressed the two greatest rebellions known in history.' Those who have studied the Taeping rebellion will not think that Li Hung Chang coupled himself with General Grant in a spirit of boasting. " The General formed a high opinion of the Viceroy as a statesman of resolute and far-seeing character. This opin- ion was formed after many conversations — official, cere- monial and personal. The visit of the Viceroy to the General was returned next day, May 29th, in great pomp. There was a marine guard from the ' Ashuelot.' We went to the viceregal palace in the Viceroy's yacht, and as we steamed up the river every foot of ground, every spot on the junks, was covered with people. At the landing troops were drawn up. A chair lined with yellow silk, such a chair as is only used by the Emperor, was awaiting the General. As far as the eye could reach the multitude stood expectant and gazing, and we went to the palace through a line of troops who stood with arms at a present. Amid the firing (540) GENERAL GRANTS TOUR AROUND THE WORED. 54I of guns, the beating ot gongs, our procession slowly marched to the palace door. The Viceroy, surrounded by his mandarins and attendants, welcomed the General, At the close of the interview the General and the Viceroy sat for a photograph. This picture Li-Hung Chang wished to preserve as a memento of the General's visit, and it was taken in one of the palace rooms. A day or two later there was a ceremonial dinner given in a temple. The dinner was a princely affair, containing all the best dishes of Chinese and European cookery, and, although the hour was noon, the afternoon had far gone when it came to an end." On the 31st of May General Grant and his party em- barked on the Peiho River for Pekin. ''On the 3d day of June, shortly after midday, we saw in the distance the walls and towers of Pekin. We passed near a bridge where there had been a contest between the French and Chinese during the Anglo-French expedition, and one of the results of which was that the officer who commanded the French should be made a nobleman, under the name of the Count Palikao, and had later adventures in French History. As we neared the city the walls loomed up and seemed harsh and forbidding, built with care and strength as if to defend the city. We came to a gate and were carried through a stone arched way, and halted, so that a new escort could join the General's party. "Within an hour or two after General Grant's arrival in Pekin he was waited upon by the members of the Cabinet, who came in a body, accompanied by the military and civil governors of Pekin. These are the highest officials in China, men of grace and stately demeanor. They were received in Chinese fashion, seated around a table covered with sweetmeats, and served with tea. The first Secretary brought with him the card of prince Kung, the Prince Regent of the Empire, and said that His Imperial Highness had charged him to present all kind wishes to General Grant and to express the hope that the trip in China had been pleasant. The Secretary also said that as soon as the Prince Regent heard from the Chinese Minister in Paris that General Grant was coming to China, he sent (542) GENERAL GRANT's TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 545 orders to the officials to receive him with due honor. The General said that he had received nodiing but honor and courtesy from China, and this answer pleased the Secretary, who said he would be happy to carry it to the Prince Regent "As soon as General Grant arrived at Pekin he'^was met by the Secretary of State, who brought the card of Prince Kung, and said His Imperial Highness would be glad to see General Grant at any time. "The Prince met the General the next day. He expected to see a uniformed person, a man of the dragon or lion species, who could make a great noise. What he saw was a quiet, middle-aged gendeman in evening dress, who had ridden a long way In the dust and sun, and who was look- ing in subdued dismay at servants who swarmed around him with dishes of soups and sweetmeats, dishes of bird's nest soup, sharks' fins, roast ducks, bamboo sprouts, and a teapot with a hot, insipid tipple made of rice, tasting like a remembrance of sherry, which was poured into small silver cups. We were none of us hungry. We had had luncheon, and we were on the programme for a special banquet in the evening. Here was a profuse and sumptu- ous entertainment. The dinner differed from those In Tientsin, Canton and Shanghai, in the fact that it was more quiet; there was no display of parade, no crowd of dusky servants and retainers hanging around and looking on, as though at a comedy. "There were some points In this first conversation that I gather up as Illustrative of the character of the Prince and his meedng with the General. I give them in the form of a dialogue: ''General Grant— I have long desired to visit China, but have been too busy to do so before. I have been received at every point of the trip with the greatest kindness, and I want to thank your Imperial Highness for the manner in which the Chinese authorities have welcomed me. ''Prince Kung — When we heard of your coming we were glad. We have long known and watched your course, and we have always been friends with America. America has never sought to oppress China, and we value very much GENERAL GRANT'S TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 545 the friendship of your country and people. The Viceroy at Tientsin wrote of your visit to him. ''Geiteral Grant — I had a very pleasant visit to the Vice- roy. He was anxious for me to visit Pekin and see you. I do not wish to leave Pekin without saying how much America values the prosperity of China. As I said to the Viceroy, that prosperity will be gready aided by the devel- opment of the country. ''Prince Ktmg—Clnm, is not insensible to what has been done by other nations. ''A Minister — China is a conservative country, an old Empire governed by many tradidons, and with a vast popu- ladon. The policy of China is not to move without deliberation. " General Grant — I think that progress in China should come from inside, from her own people. I am clear on that point. If her own people cannot do it, it will never be done. You do not want the foreigner to come in and put you in debt by lending you money and then taking your country. "The ministers all cordially assented to this proposition with apparent alacrity." During his stay at Pekin Prince Kung had an important interview with General Grant, in which he asked him to use his good offices with the government of Japan, in order that an honorable and peacealDle setdement of the question at issue between the two countries concerning the Loo Choo Islands mieht be had. From Pekin General Grant returned to Tientsin, and there met the "Richmond," which soon sailed for Cheefoo, in order to enable the General and his party to see the great wall of China at the point where it comes to an end on the sea-shore. From Chefoo the "Richmond" sailed direct for Naga- saki, in Japan. "There was no special incident in our run from China. On the morning of the 21st of June we found ourselves threading our way through beautiful islands and rocks rich with green, that stood like sentinels in the sea, and hills on which were trees and gardens, and high, com- 35 r46 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. manding cliffs, covered with green, and smooth, tranquil waters, into the Bay of Nagasaki. "The 'Richmond' steamed between the hills, and came to an anchorage. It was the early morning, and over the water were shadows of cool, inviting green. Nagasaki, nesding on her hill- sides, looked cosy and beaudful ; and, it bein our first glimpse of a Japanese town, we studied it through our glasses, studied every feature — the scenery, the picturesque attri- butes of the city, the terraced hills that rose beyond, every rood under cultivadon ; the quaint, curious houses; the muldtudes of flags which showed that the town knew of our coming and was preparing to do us honor. We noted, also, that the wharves were lined with GENERAL GRANT TAKING A MORNING WALK ON BOARD THE STEAMER " RICHMOND." (547) 548 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. a multitude, and that the curious population were waiting^ to see the euest whom their nation honors and who is known in common speech as the American Mikado. In a short time the Japanese barge was seen coming, with Prince Dati and Mr. Yoshida and the Governor, all in the splen- dor of court uniforms. Prince Dati said that he had been commanded by the Emperor to meet General Grant on his landing, to welcome him in the name of His Majesty, and to attend upon him as the Emperor's personal represent- ative so long as the General remained in Japan." From Nagasaki the "Richmond" sailed to Yokohama, which was reached on the 3d of July. There was a special train waiting, and in the afternoon the party started for Tokio. "The ride to Tokio, the capital of Japan, was a little less than an hour, over a smooth road, and through a pleasant, well-cultivated and apparently prosperous country. As the General descended from the train a committee of the citizens advanced and asked to read an address, which was accordingly read in both Japanese and English, and to which General Grant made an admirable reply. The General's carriage drove slowly in, surrounded by cavalry, through line of infantry presenting arms, through a dense mass of people, under an arch of flowers and evergreens, until, amid the flourish of trumpets and the beating of drums, he descended at the house that had been prepared for his reception — the Emperor's summer palace of Eurio Kwan. " The Emperor and Empress have agreeable faces, the Emperor especially showing firmness and kindness. The solemn etiquette that pervaded the audience-chamber was peculiar, and might appear strange to those familiar with the stately but cordial manners of a European Court. But one must remember that the Emperor holds so high and so sacred a place in the traditions, the religion and the political system of Japan that even the ceremony of to-day is so far in advance of anything of the kind ever known in Japan that it might be called a revolution. The Em- peror, for instance, as our group was formed, advanced and shook hands with the General. GENERAL GRANT's TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 549 " The first audience of General Grant with the Emperor, on the Fourth of July, was stately and formal. The Em- peror, before our return from Nikko. sent a message to GENERAL GRANT MEEiiim^ Tnn. EmPEROR OF JAPAN. the General that he desired to see him Informally. Many little courtesies had been exchanged between the Empress and Mrs. Grant, and the Emperor himself, through his no- 550 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. blemen and Ministers, kept a constant watch over the General's comfort. General Grant returned answer that he was entirely at the pleasure of His Majesty. It was arranged, consequendy, that on the loth of August the Emperor would come to the Palace of Eurio Kwan, where General Grant and his party resided. On this occasion the conversation lasted for two hours. "General Grant said he would leave Japan with the warmest feelings of friendship toward the Emperor and the people. He would never cease to feel a deep interest in their fortunes. He thanked the Emperor for his princely hospitality. Taking his leave, the General and party strolled back to the palace, and His Majesty drove away to his own home in a distant part of the city. "There were dinners 2.x\A fetes and many pleasant par- ties during our stay at Eurio Kwan. "Among the most pleasing incidents of our last days in Tokio was a dinner with Sanjo, the Prime Minister, who entertained us in Parisian style, everything being as we would have found it on the Champs Elysees. "On Saturday, August 30th, 1879, General Grant took his leave of the Emperor. A farewell to the Mikado meant more in the eyes of General Grant than if it had been the ordinary leave-taking of a monarch who had shown him hospitality. He had received attentions from the sovereign and people such as had never been given. He had been honored not alone in his own person, but as the representative of his country. In many ways the visit of the General had taken a wide range, and what he would say to the Emperor would have great importance, because the words he uttered would go to every Japanese household. General Grant's habit in answering speeches and ad^ dresses is to speak at the moment without previous thought or preparation. On several occasions, when bodies of people made addresses to him, they sent copies in advance, so that he might read them and prepare a response. But he always declined these courtesies, saying that he would wait until he heard the addresses in public, and his best re- sponse would be what came to him on the instant. The GENERAL GRANT's TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 55 1 farewell to the Emperor the Cjeneral did what he journey. He wrote out making- to His Majesty, ply because the incident it showed General Grant was so important, however, that has not done before during our in advance the speech he proposed I mention this circumstance sim- is an exceptional one, and because 's anxiety to say to the Emperor GLNLRA.L GKANFVIbTfb THE JAPANESE POriERY. and the people of Japan what would be most becoming in return for their kindness, and what would best conduce to good relations between the two nations. ** At two in the afternoon the sound of the bugles and the tramp of the horsemen announced the arrival of the escort that was to accompany us to the imperial palace. Prince Dati and Mr. Yoshida were in readiness, and a few 5^2 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. minutes after two the state carriages came. General and Mrs. Grant rode in the first carriage. On reaching the palace, infantry received the General with military honors. The Prime Minister, accompanied by the Ministers for the Household and Foreign Affairs, were waiting at the door when our party arrived. The princes of the imperial family were present. The meeting was not so formal as w^hen we came to greet the Emperor and have an audience of welcome. Then all the Cabinet were present, blazing in uniforms and decorations. Then we were strangers, now we are friends. On entering the audience-chamber — the same plain and severely-furnished room in which we had been received — the Emperor and Empress advanced and shook hands with the General and Mrs. Grant. The Emperor is not what you would call a graceful man, and his manners are those of an anxious person not precisely at his ease — wishing to please and make no mistake. But on this farewell audience he seemed more easy and natural than when we had seen him before. " The audience with the Emperor was the end of all fes- tivities; for, after taking leave of the head of the nation, it would not have been becoming in others to offer enter- tainments." General Grant and party returned to Yokohama, and there engaged passage on the Pacific Mail Steamer "City of Tokio," which sailed for San Francisco on the 3d of Sep- tember. The voyage from Japan to San Francisco was pleasant but uneventful. A head wind held the steamer back dur- ing the latter part of the voyage, but the run, on the whole, was enjoyable. CHAPTER XVII. HOME AGAIN. Arriral of the " City of Tokio " at San Francisco — Reception of General Grant— A Brilliant Demonstration — Honors paid to him — A Trip to the Yosemite Valley — The General's Visit to Portland, Oregon, Sacramento, Carson City, Virginia City — The Sutro Tunnel, Omaha and Burlington, Iowa — Arrival at Galena, 111. — Entliusiastic Reception at Chi- cago, Logansport, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Louisville Cincinnati, Pittsburgli and Phila- delphia — A Short Trip through the Southern States, Cuba, Mexico — Returning Home. The citizens of San Francisco determined to welcome General Grant back to his native country in the most cor- dial manner. It was half past five o'clock when a puff of white smoke from seaward, from the earthworks back of and above Fort Point, and the booming of a heavy gun announced that the steamer was near at hand. In a few moments the entrance to the harbor was veiled in wreaths of smoke, and as the batteries opened fire in succession the whole channel was soon shrouded in clouds from their rapid dis- charges. For some time the position of the approaching ship could not be discovered, but shortly before six o'clock the oudines of the huge hull of the ''City of Tokio" loomed through the obscurity of smoke and rapidly approaching shades of evening lit up by the flashes of guns, and in a few moments she glided into full view, surrounded by a fleet of steamers and tugs, gay with flags and crowded with guests, while the yacht squadron brought up the rear, festooned from deck to truck with brilliant bunting. Cheer after cheer burst from the assembled thousands as the vessels rounded Telegraph Hill. The United States steamer "Monterey," lying in the stream, added the roar of her guns to the general welcome, and the screaming of hundreds of steam whistles announced that the "City of Tokio" had reached her anchorage. The General and his party were transferred to the ferry steamer "Oakland," and as she reached the dock the band struck up " Home Aofain," and amid cheers from the crowd ^ "* (553) liliillllllillililil^^ (554) HOME AGAIN. 555; General Grant stepped once more upon the shore of his native land. General Grant was then conducted to his carriage and escorted to his hotel by the grandest and most imposing- procession ever witnessed on the Pacific coast. General Grant remained several weeks on the Pacific coast, and while in San Francisco was the guest of the city and the recipient of numerous and fiattering attentions; On the 23d of September, General and Mrs. Grant were formally presented by the municipal authorities to the cit- izens of San Francisco. The ceremonies took place at the City Hall, and were elaborate and imposing. On the morning of the 30th of September General Grant and his party left San Francisco for a trip to the famous valley of the Yosemite. The Yosemite Valley was reached on the 2d of October. A delightful visit to the noted points of this famous Valley ensued, and the party returned to San Francisco on the 8th of October. On the afternoon of the 9th, General Grant and his party sailed from San Francisco, on the steamer "St. Paul," for a visit to Oregon. Vancouver was reached on the 13th of October, at a quarter to six in the evening. General Grant was met at Vancouver by the Governor and other officers of the State of Oregon, and the journey was continued to Portland, which was reached on the 14th. While in Portland, General Grant was handsomely en- tertained by the State and city authorities. His visit was necessarily brief, and he returned to San Francisco on the 20th of October. On the 2 2d of October General Grant and his party left San Francisco for Sacramento, which was reached at one o'clock in the afternoon. In the eveninof the General received the citizens of Sac- ramento at the Capitol. General Grant and his party returned to San Francisco on the 24th, reaching that city at noon, and were imme- diately driven to the Palace Hotel. On the night of the 25th, a magnificent banquet was- 556 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. given, at the Palace Hotel, in honor of General Grant. At half-past eleven o'clock the Presidential party bade good- by, and the company took a special train for Nevada, being accompanied to the depot by many citizens. On the 29th the General and his party visited the Sutro tunnel. They left Virginia City at six o'clock and were driven in four-in-hand turnouts over a fine mountain road to the town of Sutro, where they arrived at eight o'clock, the General expressing himself as much pleased with the early morning drive. His welcome was emphasized by the ringing of bells, blowing of whistles of the company's work-shops and by a heavy discharge of giant powder from the mountain tops overlooking the town. The party were received at the Sutro mansion by Mrs. Adolphe Sutro, Superintendent H. H. Sheldon and officers of the company, and after an examination of the works of the company at the rAouth of the tunnel, and the reception of the citizens of the town and vicinity, a sumptuous breakfast was served. After returning to Virginia City, General Grant resumed his journey eastward in a special train. Ogden was reached at three o'clock on the afternoon of the 30th, and here the General w^as received by Governor Emery, of Utah Ter- ritory. A halt of only half an hour was made, and the General was again speeding eastward. At Cheyenne and Omaha there were enthusiastic receptions. Upon the ar- rival of the General at Omaha, a special train was sent from Chicago to that place by the officials of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad to convey the General and his party further eastward. Omaha was left on the morning of the 3d of November. At Council Bluffs and other points along the route the General was received with enthusiasm. Galena, 111., the home of General Grant previous to the war, was reached on the 5th of November, where he was enthusiastically received by his neighbors and friends. A week's rest at his home in Galena was all that Gen- eral Grant permitted himself to enjoy. He had promised to attend the reunion of the veterans of the Army of the Tennessee, which was to be held at Chicago on the 12 th of 558 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. November, and on that day he set out from Galena to fulfil his promise. Great preparations had been made in Chicago to receive him, and it was determined by the people that their reception to General Grant should surpass anything of the kind ever witnessed in this country. The train from Galena, containing General Grant, arrived at Park Row, on the south side, promptly at one o'clock. At this time the rain was falling heavily, but in a few min- utes the clouds lifted and the sun shone brightly. General Grant alighted with his party from the special car of Presi- dent Ackerman, of the Illinois Central Railroad, and took a seat in the carriage provided for him. The procession moved from Park Row north through Michigan Avenue to Washington Street, thence through Clark to Washington, thence through Franklin to Monroe, thence through La Salle to Madison, thence through Dear- born to Adams, thence through Clark to Van Buren, thence through State to Madison, and thence through Wabash Avenue until dismissed. General Grant left the procession at the Palmer House and reviewed it from a temporary balcony. After the review General Grant was formally welcomed by Mayor Harrison, who spoke in the rotunda of the Pal- mer House, On the morning of the 13th of November the Union Veteran Club gave a reception to General Grant at McVicker's Theatre. In a similar way General Grant was received by the citi- zens of Logansport, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Louisville, Cin- cinnati, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. General Grant and his party passed the night on board of the special train at Harrisburg. An early start was made for Philadelphia, at which point the General's jour- ney around the world came to an end. The great city had made the most magnificent preparations for the reception of its distinguished guest, and there can be no question that the reception was one of the most tremendous ova- tions ever tendered to any man in the United States, and the moving column, which was more than twelve miles in I GENERAL GRANTS RECEPTION m PHILADELPHIA. THE PROCESSION PASSING INDErF.NDENCE HALL. '(559) 560 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. length, was admirably managed. It occupied six hours in passing any given point. The point at which Mayor Stokley was waiting to receive General Grant was reached at twenty minutes past nine. The General and his friends had moved into the fourth car when the fifth was taken Into West Philadelphia, and In this car he received the Mayor. Upon entering the car. Mayor Stokley raised his hat and cordially grasped the extended hand of the ex-President, the latter holding his hat in his left hand. The Mayor then welcomed the distinguished guest to the city. General Grant left the train at twenty-two minutes after ten, accompanied by Mayor Stokley. Then followed Gov- ernor Hoyt, Colonel Jones, the members of the Reception Committee and others. There was a glad, a tumultuous shout of welcome as General Grant was recognized by the crowd. The Mayor and his guest entered a sIx-in-hand barouche, and drove off to take the place assigned in the procession, which, from daylight, had been forming on Broad and all the streets leadlnof into it between Market Street and Girard Avenue. The other members of the party followed in open carriages. Any number of columns might be written about this tri- umphal journey, whose itinerancy led down Broad to the new public buildings, thence around into Market Street, passing under an arch bearing the legend, — "All Honor to the Great Hero of the Nineteenth Century;" down Market to Fourth, through which the column passed to Chestnut. The old Independence Hall was decorated and festooned from the pavement to the roof, and In front was the grand triumphal arch spanning Chestnut Street, decorated with exquisite taste, and showing the motto, — " Philadelphia's Welcome to the Patriot and Soldier." Upon this archway were five hundred ladles. Far as the perspective effect permitted the eye to see up the street was a Hutterlnof forest of fla^s and streamers. To sum up the whole parade in one paragraph. It may be said that the appearance of General Grant's carriage was heralded blocks ahead, — to the car by the shouts of HOME AGAIN. 56I applause, and to the eye by the waving of hats and hand- kerchiefs. Nowhere was any disapprobation shown, but everywhere good humor and welcome. As his carriage reached the front of Independence Hall, a few moments before one o'clock, a round of applause greeted him, the bell tolled forth a salute, and this was the signal for a gen- eral outburst of enthusiasm all alone the line. General Grant remained in Philadelphia about a fortnight and was the recipient of the heartiest and most cordial hos- pitality at the hands of Its citizens. On the 27th General Grant, accompanied by Mrs. Grant, General and Mrs. Sheridan, Colonel and Mrs. Fred Grant, and Miss McKenna, left Philadelphia for Washington. Washington was reached at a little after four o'clock in the afternoon. Several days were spent In the National Capital, one of which General Grant devoted to a visit to the farm of his friend, General Beale, in the vicinity, where his Arabian horses were being kept for him. President Grant and party made a short trip through the Southern States, and finally, on the 21st, they embarked on the splendid new steamer "Admiral" for Havana. At half-past eleven o'clock on the morning of January 22d the "Admiral" entered the harbor of Havana. On landing, the party entered carriages belonging to the Cap- tain-General and were driven to the palace, where, after their reception at the foot of the staircase by General Cal- lejas, Vice-Governor-General, and Joaquin Cirbonell, Secre- tary of the Government, they entered and Inspected the palace. On the 24th an official banquet was given to General Grant at the palace. About eighty persons were present, including General Callejas, the Vice-Governor-General, the Intendants of the Treasury and army, General Arias, Gov~ ernor of the Province of Havana, members of the munici- pality, the Bishop of Havana and other distinguished persons. Those of the guests who were married were accompanied by their ladles. During his stay In Cuba General Grant visited many points of interest in that island, and returned to i Havana 562 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. about the ist of February. On the 2d of February he visited the Vento Water- Works, near Havana. On the night of the 3d a grand ball was given at the Vice-regal Palace, in honor of the American visitors. On the 13th of February General Grant and his party bade adieu to their hospitable Cuban friends, and embarked on the steamship "City of Alexandria" for Vera Cruz, in Mexico, where they were cordially received by the officials and citizens. From Vera Cruz they went to Orizaba, and a few days later to the city of Mexico. ''Upoxi Monday, February 23d, at 1 1 a. m.. Generals Grant and Sheridan, with Colonel Fred Grant and their respec- tive ladies, repaired to the national palace for the purpose of an official call upon President Diaz. "Tuesday afternoon carriages were taken to Molino del Rey, which means simply 'King's Mills.' It was at the portal in the wall surrounding these buildings that the des- perate assault was made by the Americans which drove the Mexicans out like rats toward Chapultepec, half a mile away, and immortalized the spot in our national annals. The ancient walls plainly show the rain marks of bullets and of cannon-balls. A plain monument upon the crest of a hill eives due token of the event. It was here that Gen- eral Grant, then a young lieutenant, won his captaincy." On the evening of the 1st of March, President Diaz gave a grand banquet at the National Palace in honor of General Grant. All the members of the Cabinet and Diplomatic Corps, with many other persons of distinction, were present. After the banquet a festival took place. The plaza was tastefully adorned and illuminated, and was crowded with people. On the 20th of March General Grant's visit to Mexico came to an end. Bidding adieu to his Mexican friends at the capital, he travelled by railway to Vera Cruz, retracing the route by which he had reached the Mexican metropolis, and on the 20th embarked on the steamship "City of Mexico" for Galveston, where he was enthusiastically received. From there he returned North via San Antonio and Houston, Texas. CHAPTER XVIII. GRANT IN PRIVATE LIFE. General Grant at Home Again— He makes New York City His Permanent Residence-* Mrs. Grant Presented with a Residence on Sixty-sixth Street— The Chicago Con- vention of 1880— The Firm of Grant & Ward— The Fund of $250,000 raised for General Grant— Death of the Mother of General Grant -History of the Failure of Grant & Ward— A Loan from William H. Vanderbilt— An Interesting Corre- spondence. General Grant's tour through the Southern States was of great importance to the peace and welfare of the country at large, be- cause it did more than any other effort heretofore made to concil- iate those formerly in rebellion against the government of the United States. Everywhere he was received with great enthusiasm and courtesy, especially by those who had fought against him during our civil war. His visits to Mexico and Cuba had been prompted by the desire to see established closer commercial rela- tions between those countries and the United States. Though not traveling in an official capacity, he was recognized as the repre- sentative of our country. It is due to General Grant that we now enjoy a very advantageous commercial treaty with Mexico. ^ On his return from Mexico General Grant made New York City his permanent residence. His many years of service for his country had brought him fame enough, but only a small fortune, and the competence that he possessed had been greatly diminished by the expenses incurred during his tour around the world. As he had no home to call his own in that great city, his friends purchased a superb brown-stone mansion in Sixty-sixth Street, one door from Fifth Avenue, for the sum of ^100,000, and presented it to Mrs. Grant. There was a mortgage of ^60.000 on it, and although the full amount was raised, only ^40,000 were paid down on the delivery of the deed, and the remainder was placed to Mrs. Grant's credit in the bank. She made repeated efforts to raise the incum- brance, but as it had a long term of years to run, the holder of the mortgage would not discharge it. When the firm of Grant & Ward was started, Mrs. Grant transferred her account to the house, and with it the ^60,000 to pay off the mortgage on their home. That sum went in the crash of the firm of Grant & Ward. General Grant neither desired nor sought a nomination for a third term at the hands of the Republican National Convention, which met at Chicago in June, 1880. No man had more respect for the (563) 5^4 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. unwritten law laid down by Washington, declaring a third term tn the Presidential chair inimical to the best interests of the Republic. The extraordinary enthusiasm which had greeted General Grant on his return home from his tour around the world undoubtedly proved the fact that he was the most popular man in the United States, and that no single man of any prominence in the Republi- can party held the affection of the masses to so high a degree as he.. COL. FREDERICK D. GRANT. This fact naturally turned the attention of the leaders of that party to General Grant as the most fitting candidate for the highest office in the gift of the people, and the one most sure to be elected. They were fearful of consulting him beforehand; they dreaded to allow him the opportunity of declining to be a candidate before the convention, and flattered themselves with the hope that if he were nominated, even against his will, they might be able to induce him to remain in the field. GRANT IN PRIVATE LIFE. 565 Such a firm hold did this delusion have on them, that for 36 -ballots in the convention, 306 of the delegates cast their votes for General Grant, and even on the decisive ballot, when General Gar- field was nominated, refused to make the vote unanimous, exclaim- ing : *' The old guard dies, but never surrenders." The steadfastness with which that band of three hundred and six had clung to their champion was subsequently commemorated by the striking off of medals, which were distributed to each one. A short time afterward the firm of Grant & Ward was started. As is well known, the firm later on failed, ruining its members financially, and many persons, who had entrusted to its •care their wealth as well as their savings of many years. On January nth, 1881, Senator Logan, of Illinois, introduced a bill in the U. S. Senate to place General Grant on the retired list with the rank and full pay of a general of the army. This bill did not pass at that session and friends of the general voluntarily raised a fund of ^^250,000, the interest of which, amounting to j^ 1 5,000 per annum, he was to have the use of during his life; the principal he could dispose of by will. This fund was in no sense of the word a charitable gift, but merely a just recognition of the invaluable services he had ren- dered to his country. Though all of the contributors to the fund were warm personal friends of the general, he had solicited nothing from them, had thrown out no hint or suggestion that he in any wise needed the gift. He was entirely ignorant of its being raised until it was presented to him, and it was only after a great deal of persuasion that he was induced to accept it. For the rest of that year and the next General Grant led a very retired life. On the iith of May, 1883, he suffered the loss of his mother, who died at the ripe age of eighty-four years, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Corbin, at Jersey City Heights. Heaven had permitted her to live long enough to see honors showered on her son, such as no mother had ever witnessed before. On December 24th, of that year, a very serious accident befell General Grant. In the evening he left his residence for the pur- pose of paying a visit. The night was rainy and disagreeable, and the sidewalk very slippery. He passed down the steps and crossed to the curb, where his carriage was waiting; but just as he was about entering the vehicle, slipped and fell. His body struck the sharp end of the curb, severely bruising his side, and the weight of the fall caused serious injury to his thigh, which deprived him of all power to rise. The accident confined him to his bed for several weeks, and it was some months before he could leave his residence again The year 1884 was destined to be the saddest year of General 566 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Grant's life. On May 6th the firm of Grant & Ward closed its doors; and, as was subsequently ascertained, ;^I4,000,000 were swept away in the crash, and with it the whole of General Grant's fortune financially. . The General wished his three sons well established in business, and he had hoped and believed that he would do so when, in the ULYSSES S. GRANT, Jr. summer of 1880, they became partners of Ferdinand Ward in the banking and brokerage business. The firm started out with great brilliancy; and by a number of apparently successful operations, Mr. Ward achieved the cogno- men of the "Young Napoleon of Finance." Mr. James D. tish, President of the Marine National Bank, shortly after became a partner and in November of the same year General Grant himself asked to be admitted to the firm. Neither the General nor his sons had any experience in financial affairs, and trusted entirely to the GRANT IN PRIVATE LIFE. 567 honor and integrity of Mr. Ward. It now appears evident that he carried on a number of real-estate and other speculations without the knowledge of the other members of the firm, and used for this purpose the moneys and credits of the firm, and of the Marine National Bank. The imaginary profits dwindled away into nothing; the deposits of trusting creditors were used to avert the inevitable, and on the Saturday previous to the failure the news came to the General like a thunder-clap, that unless a very large sum of money could be immediately raised, he and his family would be ruined. We will not attempt to picture the horror of the old warrior, who for sixty-two years of his life had borne his good name with- out a stain or reproach upon it, and who now felt that, however innocent, he would be made the target of the arrows of indignation and reproach, which would be hurled from all sides as soon as the terrible calamity should have happened. All night long he kept considering some plan of escape, and on the next day, as a last resource, and with but little hope in his heart, visited the residence of Mr. W. H. Vanderbilt, and asked that millionaire to lend him ;^i 50,000 on his personal check. It is true Mr. Vanderbilt at once gave him the required sum, and the money was deposited in the Marine National Bank to the credit of the firm of Grant & Ward. But this was a mere drop in the bucket. It would not ward off the inevitable. On the fatal Tuesday the Marine National Bank closed its doors, and a few minutes later the firm of Grant & Ward announced its inability to pay its debts. The outburst of indignation which General Grant feared would be directed against him did arise, but only to change into a great wave of sympathy for him and his as soon as it was ascertained how wofully his confidence had been misplaced and abused, and to what a wretched strait he and his family had been reduced. Everything that an upright, conscientious man can do towards satisfying his creditors had been done by the general ; and his family, his respected wife, and his sons and their wives, had nobly aided him in these efforts. His debt to Mr. Vanderbilt weighed especially on his mind, and he did not rest satisfied until he had been permitted to con- fess judgment for the amount. Mr. Vanderbilt made a levy on the personal property, including the valuable gifts received by the general during his tour around the world, and the medals pre- sented to him, and then offered to present them to Mrs. Grant. At first she accepted the offer, but the general would not allow her to receive them ; and as the only way to satisfy the old soldier's fine sense of honor, Mr. Vanderbilt was finally obliged to request c58 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the general to permit Mrs. Grant to remain in possession of them until they could be presented to the nation and preserved in the Smithsonian Institute at Washington. In this connection we publish the following correspondence, JESSE R. GRANT. which reflects credit as well on Mr. Vanderbilt as on General and Mrs. Grant. '' No. 640 Fifth Avenue, y<3;;z. 10, 1885. '*Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant: . '' Dear Madam— "^o many misrepresentations have appeared in regard to the loan made by me to' General Grant, and reflecting unjustly upon him and myself, that it seems proper to briefly recite the facts. '' On Sunday, the 4th of May, 1884, General Grant called at my house and asked me to lend him $150,000 for one day. I gave him my check without question, not because the transaction was business-like, but sim- I GRANT IN PRIVATE LIFE. 569 ply because the request came from General Grant. The misfortunes which overwhelmed him in the next twenty-four hours aroused the sym- pathy and regret of the whole country. You and he sent me within a few days of the time, the deeds of your joint properties to cover this obligation, and urged my acceptance on the ground that this was the only debt of honor which the General had personally incurred, and these deeds I returned. During my absence in Europe the General delivered to my attorney mortgages upon all his own real estate, household effects and the swords, medals and works of art which were the memorials of his victories and the presents from governments all over the world. These securities were in his judgment worth the $150,000. '' At his solicitation the necessary steps were taken by judgment, &c., to reduce these properties to possession, and the articles mentioned have been this day bought in by me, and the amounts bid applied in reduction of the debt. Now, that I am at liberty to treat these things as my own, the disposition of the whole matter most in accord with my feelings is this: *' I present to you as your separate estate the debt and judgment I hold against General Grant ; also the mortgages upon his real estate and all the household furniture and ornaments, coupled only with the condition that the swords, commissions, medals, gifts from the United States, States, cities and foreign governments, and all articles of historical value and interest shall at the General's death or, if you desire it, sooner be presented to the government at Washington, where they will remain as perpetual memorials of his fame and of the history of his time. *' I enclose herewith assignments to you of the mortgages and judg- ments, a bill of sale of the personal property and a deed of trust in which the articles of historical interest are enumerated. A copy of this trust deed will, with your approval, be forwarded to the President of the United States for deposit in the proper department. "Trusting that this action will meet with your acceptance and appro- val, and with the kindest regards to your husband, I am yours respect- fully^ " W. H. Vanderbilt." To this General Grant replied : " New York City, /an. 10, 1885. '' Dear Sir .-—Mrs. Grant wishes me to answer your letter of this even- ing to say that, while she appreciates your great generosity in transferring to her the mortgages given to secure my debt of 8150,000, she cannot accept it in whole. She accepts with pleasure the trust which applies to articles enumerated in your letter to go to the government of the United States, at my death or sooner, at her option. In this matter you have anticipated the disposition which I had contemplated making of the articles. They will be delivered to the government as soon as arrange- ments can be made for their reception. "Papers relating to all other property will be returned, with the re- quest that you have it sold and the proceeds applied to the liquidation of the debt which I so justly owe you. You have stated in your letter with the minutest accuracy the history of the transaction which brought (570) GRANT IN PRIVATE LIFE. 5/1 me in your debt. I have only to add that I regard your giving me your check for the amount without inquiry, as an act of marked and unusual friendship. The loan was to me personally. I got the money, as I believed, to carry the Marine National Bank over a day, being assured that the bank was solvent, but owing to unusual calls, needed assistance until it could call in its loans. '< I cannot conclude without assuring you that Mrs. Grant's inability to avail herself of your great kindness in no way lessens either her sense of obligation or my own. Yours truly, '' U. S. Grant." " W. H. Vanderbilt, Esq." Whereupon Mr. Vanderbilt wrote the following letter : " General U. S. Grant : " No. 640 Fifth Avenue, /.z;^. ii, 1885. " My Dear Sir : — On my return home last night I found your letter ia answer to mine to Mrs. Grant. I appreciate fully the sentiments which actuate both Mrs. Grant and yourself in declining the part of my propo- sition relating to the real estate. I greatly regret that she feels it her duty to make this decision, as I earnestly hoped that the spirit^ in which the offer was made would overcome any scruples in accepting it. But I must insist that I shall not be defeated in a purpose to which I have given so much thought, and which I have so much at heart. I will, therefore, as fast as the money is received from the sales of the real estate, deposit it in the Union Trust Company. " With the money thus realized, I will at once create with that company a trust, with the proper provisions for the income to be paid to Mrs. Grant during her life, and giving the power to her to make such disposition of the principal by her will as she may elect. Very truly yours, ^' General U. S. Grant." " Wllliam H. Vanderbilt. General Grant first accepted the generous offer, as will be seen from the following letter : ^ew York City, 7^;/. 11, 1885. '' Dear Sir : — Your letter of this date is received. Mrs. Grant and I regret that you cannot accept our proposition to retain the property which was mortgaged in good faith to secure a debt of honor. But your generous determination compels us to no longer resist. Yours, truly, " W. H. Vanderbilt." " U- S. Grant." Finally, Mrs. Grant declined the offer of Mr. Vanderbilt by the following note : New York, Sunday, /^;z. ii, 1885. ''My Dear Mr. Vanderbilt: — Upon reading your letter of this afternoon General Grant and myself felt that it would be ungracious to refuse your princely and generous offer. Hence his note to you. But upon reflection I find that I cannot, I will not, accept your munifi- cence in any form. I beg that you will pardon this apparent vacillation and consider this answer definite and final. With great regard and a sense of obligation that will always remain, I am yours very gratefully, " Julia D. Grant.'" "To Mr. William H. Vanderbilt. CHAPTER XIX. GENERAL GRANT'S ILLNESS. ■Gcrtieral Grant's Trouble and Illness — His Physicians Declare it a Cancer — General Grant's Statement in Relation to the Failure of Grant and Ward — Not Engaged in Government Contracts — Ward's Methods — Grant's Opinion of his Partner — Young Ulysses S. Grant on Ward. There is no doubt, that the trouble arising from this ignominious failure accelerated the illness, with which General Grant was threat- ened for several months. A cancer, or a dangerous ulceration of the throat had developed itself, in spite of the best endeavors of the most prominent specialists of New York City to cure it. For a while the General was able to take a daily airing in his carriage, but soon he grev\^ worse, and from the beginning of the month of April up to the 20th anniversary of Lee's surrender at Appomattox, his condition was such that his life was despaired of; some of the bulletins issued by his physicians reading, " his death can only be a question of hours or days." One of his physicians, who makes a speciality of cancer, on the 8th of April said : " General Grant would have been dead weeks ago but for the superior attendance he has had. His will power has done much to sustain him. He is reported to have said that he wanted to die. I imagine that he said this when momentarily depressed. But his stubbornness, the 'never licked' feeling, as Abe Lincoln used to say of him, forces itself to the front, and in my belief, he hopes against hope. It's his nature to do this, and I am of opinion that he couldn't help feeling so if he wanted to. Of course this feeling is an aid to the physicians. From my knowledge of cancer treatment I believe that the plan followed in his case is a constant moistening of the throat with gargles and liquid nourish- ment, thus allaying local inflammation as much as possible and reserving injection remedies for emergencies. While General Grant was lying on his death bed, the trial of James D. Fish, the ex- President of the Marine Bank, which went into bankruptcy on the same day with the firm of Grant & Ward, on the charges of misapplying the funds of the bank and making false entries on the books, was going on. It was essential to have the General's testimony, and on the 6th of March District-Attorney Root and Messrs. Smith and Clark, for the defense, went up to the house of General Grant, accompanied by the court stenographer, in •order to take his deposition, which was afterwards read to the jury. (572) GENERAL GRANTS ILLNESS. 575. Counsel and stenographer reached the Grant residence in Sixty- sixth Street about five o'clock, and were at once shown to the patient's sick room on the second floor. Here they found the General stretched out in an easy-chair, with his slippered feet in another chair. He gave his testimony from beginning to end with a seeming desire to tell all he knew, and without apparent exhaustion, and only a slight hoarseness was noticeable in an otherwise clear enun- ciation. At the instance and by agreement of counsel for both parties, the administering of the oath to the witness was waived, the deposition to be taken and read with the same effect as though the oath were administered. This complimentary action on the part of counsel was entirely exceptional. The direct examination was conducted by Counsellor Clark^ upon whose motion the witness was called. It ran over the entire connection of General Grant with the collapsed firm, and, while nothing of a very sensational character was brought out, there were many points upon which the General failed to throw any light, owing to his entire ignorance of the details of the business of the firm. The General at several points volunteered information which he thought would throw light upon some point. He did not appear in the least vindictive, nor did he at any time refer to Mr. Ward or to any one else in words showing that he cherished any feelings other than friendly for them. The taking of testimony having been completed, the party broke up into an informal conversation, speaking of mutual friends and past occurrences, but the Grant sons were mindful of the fact that their father's strength was waning, and cut the talking seance short by a proposition to adjourn to the parlors on the floor below. This left the old General alone with the faithful Harrison. A letter dated July 6, 1882, and addressed to Fish, was identified by General Grant as in his handwriting. He was asked by the counsel for the government whether this letter was an answer to any communication in reference to government contracts. General Grant replied : " No ; I had told Mr. Ward when it was mentioned that there never must be any government contracts there. There is nothing wrong in being engaged in government contracts more than in any- thing else, unless made wrong by the acts of the individual, but I had been President of the United States and I did not think it was suitable for me to have my name connected wnth government con- tracts, and I knew that there was no large profit in them, except by dishonest measures. There are some men who got government contracts year in and year out, and whether they managed their af- 574 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. fairs dishonestly to make a profit or not — they are sometimes sup- posed to — I did not think it was any place for me." " And you did not find in that letter that you received any refer- ence to anything of that sort ? " '' I did not find anything of that sort or I should have stopped ; but, as a matter of fact, I may never have seen that letter. Mr. Ward may just simply have given me a statement of the contents of that letter when at his office." " Did you at any time know or understand that the firm of Grant & Ward had been engaged in government contracts or in furnishing money to be used in carrying out government contracts ? " General Grant drew no profits from the firm. He left his money there, and never got it out. He said : " Ward came up to see me the Sunday night before the failure, and asked me to go dov/n with him to see Mr. Newcomb to see if he couldn't get $150,000 from him ; that he had himself raised 1^230,000, and ,if he could raise $150,000 more, it would carry the Marine Bank through; that we had ^660,000 in the Marine Bank, besides ;^ 1,300,000 of securities in our vaults; that we should be inconvenienced very much if we couldn't carry the bank through, and he said the Marine Bank was all sound and solid if it had time to collect in or draw in a little of its time loans. I went down there with him, and Mr. Newcomb was not home, and he asked me if I knew William H. Vanderbilt well enough to ask him, and I, after some little hesitation, said I did, and Mr. Vanderbilt loaned it to me without hesitation at all. He said, at the rime he gave it to me, that he was lending this to me, and that he had no recollection of ever having done such a thing before, but that he would do it for me. Well, that has taken all the remaining property that I had." Ward said nothing to Grant about their debts to the Marine Bank. Fish never said anything to Grant expressing distrust of Ward, nor did he (Grant) ever suspect Ward. " I had no distrust of Ward the night before the failure, not the slightest; and I recol- lect that my son, U. S. Grant, Jr., after the failure, said that *Ferd would come out right yet ; he had no doubt he would come out right;' for he had such profound friendship for his brother. Will Ward, that he didn't believe it was possible for him to do a dis- honest act. It took me a day or two to believe it was possible that Ward had committed the act he had." CHAPTER XX. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. General Grant growing worse -Arrival of his dauglUer, Mrs. Sartoris— The General put on the retired list of the U. S. Army by the efforts of Mr. Samuel J. Randall —Bulletins issued about the health of the president— A curious dream— Fanatical Temperance men— Smoking not the cause of General Grant's ailment— The Medi- cal Record on the Case— Sympathy from all parts of the country, friend and foe— The 20th anniversary of Appoma'tox— The progress of Grant's illness— Improving — Is it cancer or ulcer ?— Opinions of prominent Physicians— The men who were daily visitors of the sick-room. During this time the disease of General Grant had made such an unfavorable progress that it was deemed wise to call his only daugh- ter, Mrs. Nellie Sartoris, who lives at Southampton, England', to the sick-room of her father. One evening, when General Grant was sitting in his bed-room, his ear caught the clatter of hurrying footsteps, and the sound of youthful voices reached him. He had been waiting for that sound for two days, and did not need preparation for it. Mrs. Grant stepped out into the hallway. There were a few joyous exclama- tions, and the next instant a slight figure in black, with brilliant cheeks and bright eyes, was in his doorway, across the room, and within his embrace all in an instant. It was his daughter Nellie, whose presence alone had been needed to make the family union complete. Colonel Fred. Grant and Jesse Grant followed their sis- ter up stairs to greet the General. They had gone off in the morn- ing to meet the Baltic and bring Mrs. Sartoris home, and had not .seen the General all day, but just then his eyes and thoughts were only with the loving newcomer. Little was said by either, but the •General showed his devotion and pleasure over her return by little caresses and smiles, and words of affection. Mrs. Sartoris did not stay in the room long. It was evidently a tax on the General to remain up, and although he would not admit it, she was quick to see it, and, pleading her own weariness, left him after a half hour. By 10.30 o'clock Dr. Douglas had finished his night's ministra- tions, and had " good reason to believe " that General Grant was asleep. Mrs. Sartoris had been met at quarantine by her three brothers, and they brought her to the city, with her maid and baggage, in a -revenue cutter. For several years past every recurring session of Congress Lad v575) 576 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 1 been marked by the introduction of a bill to retire General Grant with the rank and pay of general for life. This simple act of justice toward a man who has so amply deserved this recognition of his eminent services has heretofore always failed of becoming a law, on account of mean-spirited political divisions in the National Legisla- ture. It needed the sight of the heroic old man, stretched on the bed of sickness and pain, to awaken Congress to a tardy sense of its MRS. SARTORIS (NELLIE GRANT). duty, and, by the efforts of Mr. Samuel J. Randall, a well-known Congressman from Pennsylvania, the bill was passed on the very last day of the session. It was at once presented to President Arthur for signature, and he immediately signed it, remarking that never since he had become President had it given him greater pleasure to affix his signature to any act than to this bill. From all parts of the country, especially from his old comrades, inquiries came in relation to the health of the patient, and to avoid THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 577 answering hun- dreds of letters, and to notify the public of every- thing of any im- portance in con- nection with this case, daily bul- letins were tele- graphed all over the land and ea- gerly read by hun- dreds of thou- sands of Ameri- can citizens. Even from abroad many anxious inquiries were made about the state of health of General Grant, and the prospects of this unfortu- nate case. Nearly everybody with whom the Gen- eral had the slight- est acquaintance called to see him. First many were permitted to see the patient, but when his illness took an unfavor- able turn, the physicians inter- posed a veto, and from that time only his most inti- mate friends were admitted to his presence. His immediate family, ex-Senator Chaffee, Parson Newman, General Badeau and his at- tendants were the only persons who 37 THE RESIDENCE OP GENERAL GRANT, NEW YORK CITY- SHOWING THE PATIENT'S CHAMBER. 578 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT were permitted to see him. On the morning of the 5th of April, when General Grant rubbed his eyes, looking into the faces of those clustered about him, he exclaimed : " What a funny dream ! " Dr. Shrady bobbed up in his chair in a second. Mrs. Sartoris was dumfounded for, as the doctors say, the exclamation burst as natur- ally from the sick man as from a school-boy. The gas was burning above his bed and the face of the General was fresh-look- ing. These favorable symptoms were noticed by the physician, and af- ter the General's throat had been moistened and the cancer dressed he was asked about his dream. He said it was too ridiculous to be told. His daughter, Mrs. Sartoris, begged for the story, and the General rested himself more comfortably in his chair and then said : *' Well, it was like this : I dreamed that I was off travelling in some far-away country. I had a satchel in my hand, and I was half undressed. I don't know what was in the satchel, but I do know there was no money in it nor in my pockets. I was very poor, and alone. I remember saying to myself that my poverty should not make me faint-hearted, because I had been poor so long. I jour- neyed along and came to a fence with a stile in it. I mounted the stile. I recall very well that I had an av/ful lot of trouble in getting over that stile, and how clumsily I climbed the steps. But I got over, and then to my surprise I discovered that my satchel was on the other side. I said to myself, ' I shall go back for my satchel ; I can't get along without that. Why, I don't know.' " I started to get it, when a gentleman appeared on the scene and said that I would have to pay duty on the satchel. It was on the other side of the line. Now, I was in a quandary. I didn't have a cent, and the law evidently was — no money no satchel. I con- cluded that there was only one way to get my satchel, and that was to go home and borrow the money from Mrs. Grant. I went homxC, and Mrs. Grant only had ^17, not sufficient to pay the duty. I was then in great perplexity, when suddenly I woke up, and I tell you frankly I was very glad I did so, for I was in a very terrible frame of mind." This was the story of the dream. Mrs. Sartoris laughed. It settled one point in Dr. Shrady's mind, and that was that any man who could remember as the General did the details of a dream, and tell it as easily as he did, certainly possessed all his faculties. The dream put the General in very good spirits, and he sat back in his chair composedly. Yet everyone knew that the joy which all day long brightened every nook and corner of the household was arti- ficial, and, as the doctors said, the deadly cancer was still there, and would accomplish its work THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 579 It seems hard, after having had such a career as has General Grant, after conquering enemies by the thousand, to be conquered by so unromantic an aihnent as a cancer. But the suffering that this cancer has given General Grant has been a greater test of his heroism than he has ever had on the field of battle. It is one thing to ride at the head of an army, leading it on to battle, amid the beating of drums and the braying of trumpets, and another to sit quietly down in a room and await the messenger of death, amid the most frightful sufferings that can be inflicted upon a man. On the 19th day of April three weeks had elapsed since the physicians attending General Grant began their continuous watch. In that time their patient has passed through three different stages of a disease for which medical science has no other definition save epithelioma, but which certain people not directly interested in the case find it convenient, for the moment, to term malignant ulcera- tion of the throat. On each occasion the General was supposed to be on the brink of the grave. The first serious outbreak occurred just before dawn on the last Sunday in March, the 29th. Messengers were hastily dispatched for the doctors, and their timely arrival alone prevented a fatal termination. The last attack was occasioned by the rupture of a small throat artery on Tuesday morning, April 7. During these two days General Grant's life hung in the balance of a weak man's struggle against hopeless fate. That he fought his way through with such terrible odds against him, when each successful rally postponed the dreaded end apparently but a few hours, is at once another evidence of the wonderful vitality and strength of body and mind that years ago made him the first soldier as well as the first citizen in the land, and a tribute to the skill and vigilance of his medical attendants The improvement of General Grant and the relief from fear of immediate death have cleared up much which was in doubt earlier m the case. It has not been easy for the public to separate distinctly the danger which sprang from the depression into which Grant fell after the Grant and Ward failure and the risk arising from the cancerous disease whose acute and immediate form was a malignant ulcerated sore throat. Neither one nor the other would have put General Grant in immediate danger of his life. From the start in this case, first the four physicians in the case, Drs. Shrady, Douglas, Barker and Sands, while professionally unani- mous, have personally differed over some aspects of the case ; second, the physicians have kept much more closely to the ambiguous, if accurate, term, '' a cancerous growth," than the public has in gen- eral noticed ; third, there is a good deal of evidence that a change took place in the treatment some time ago which marked. 2 go LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. more or less, distinctly a recognition by the physicians that the malignant inflammation and ulceration with which they had to do furnished opportunity, not merely for local treatment to assuage pain, but for more general remedies, directed to a wider purpose, a treatment not inconsistent with the presence of cancer. Although much has been said with reference to the physicians and the members of General Grant's family, and although the doctors have spent almost all their days in New York, yet it would be safe to say that their faces would not be recognized by one out of every thousand persons on Broadway. Whatever may be General Grant's illness, it is certain that, on that Thursday morning when for the first time brandy was used, Dr. Shrady snatched the soldier from his grave, and thus on the tidal-wave of public opinion the two physi- cians,' Drs. Shrady and Douglas, have risen to the summit of medi- cal fame. Therefore a slight description of these two clever practi- tioners may not be out of place. Dr. Douglas has been with Gen- eral Grant almost continuously for nearly six months. Day and night he has been in the sick-room, and the bond of sympathy which has been forged makes him very dear to the General and to his wife and children. The doctor resides in charming apartments on Fifty-ninth Street, and in his medical home he likes best to be among his books. He is far advanced in life. The ceaseless months of watching have done much to whiten the long silver beard that falls over his breast and to dim his kindly gray eyes. His carriage is quite erect. When he speaks he does so thoughtfully, giving one the impression that he thinks first what questions will be asked him next. A bit of history (which, by the way, was not intended for the public) will illustrate his nature. The other day his carriage was at the door, and a gentleman of the press asked him some questions concerning his patient. " Step into my carriage and we will discuss the question," the doctor replied ; and then, later on, when the conversation turned on where General Grant would go in case he got better, the reporter said that mountain air would be beneficial to reporters, and would not the doctor suggest for the General a place near New York so the gentlemen of the press could make occasional trips to the city, the doctor sat back in his carriage and said very thoughtfully : " I shall lay the matter before the General and explain to him the necessity of not going so far away from the city, and that if he does the reporters cannot accompany him." The good feeling of the physician has naturally been somewhat ruffled at the careless way in which his opinions on the case have been tossed about on the newspaper sea He has been so long on the case that he knows every twist and turn of the disease, and hence when irresponsible correspondents have been filling the mind GENERAL GRANT TAKING HIS DAILY WALK. (581) 582 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. with medical opinions as unique as the mind of man can conjure up, Dr. Douglas has now and again delivered very impressive opinions on humanity in general and far-away correspondents in particular. There can hardly be imagined a greater difference between two, men than that between Dr. Douglas and Dr. Shrady. The former's face is full, slightly rounded, and his neck is set on very broad shoul- ders. Dr. Shrady's face is long and thin. The dark little goatee on his chin m.akes one think unintentionally of French physicians who, in dramas, stand, in the gray of the morning, medicine-case in hand, waiting for quarreling lovers to settle their disputes at the points of their swords. It is a very intelligent face. The lips are REPORTERS WAITING TO INTERVIEW THE DOCTORS. tightly drawn and the mouth decisive. When the physician speaks you feel that he means what he says. As the editor of the Medical Record, Dr. Shrady has already woven many chaplets of fame. His principal glory must, however, come from his connection with the case he has now on hand. As to the decisiveness of Dr. Shrady, the struggle which General Grant waged between life and death a week ago, fully illustrates it. That General Grant's life was one of minutes every one present believed. Human power had evidently been exhausted, and not the gold of another Croesus or the lore of ^sculapius could keep the THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 583 temperature down or calm the throbbing pulse. Dr. Shrady acted then with the decision that saved the life of the dying man. The morphia sped through the sick man's blood and the grave closed again. A quick intellect and a varied fund of medical knowledge are the characteristics of Dr. Shrady. The new York newspapers have set on General Grant what they term the death watch. He may die at any moment and may be alive three months hence. But whenever he does die the news- papers must instantly have the news ; hence some one must watch the house for the newspapers all the time. The chief papers have therefore hired a convenient room close to the Grant residence, and there all day and all night sit a group of reporters waiting for General Grant to die. They have books and a card-table and the daily newspapers, and whatever occurs to them may be of aid to help pass away the wearisome hours. They are well paid for their writing, and among them are some of the most trustworthy news- paper men in the city. It is very responsible work, and men who are of irregular habits are not selected for it. At stated hours in the day and night the Grant mansion is visited, and Colonel Fred. Grant tells the reporters how the General has passed the preceding hours. Twice a day, and just before mid- night, the physicians are seen, and they tell the reporters the con- dition of their distinguished patient. The work speedily becomes reduced to system, and the plan renders both the family and the physicians much more freedom than when the bell was rung twenty- five times a day by the representatives of the press in pursuit of in- formation. Probably it may not be kept open so long as was the room in which the reporters waited for the death of Commodore Vander- bilt. There the watch was kept up for just seven months, and a jolly time, indeed, the boys had. The room became a club-room, known to half the newspaper men in town, and they dropped in and out, and played cards and had a good tijne generally. Charles O'Connor, too, gave the press of New York much trouble and ex- pense, and ended it by getting well, instead of dying. When, years afterward, he did die, at Nantucket, he got a very brief notice. An- other notable newspaper wait was in the long absence of the jury in the Beecher-Tilton suit. There, too, a room was hired, and the newspaper men, all used it waiting for the verdict that never came. The chief newspapers had obituary notices of General Grant, de- scriptive of his last days, headings and everything save the bare announcement of death all set in type and made up, ready to print ibr several months before he died. CHAPTER XXI. GENERAL GRANT'S LAST ILLNESS. A brief sketch of General Grant's illness— Its first symptoms— Doctors Barker, Sands^ Shrady and Douglas his physicians — Grant in imminent danger of life — A subcuta- neous injection of brandy saves his life— Celebration of Grant's birthday— Sympa- thy from every part of the country — The General removed to Mt, McGregor near Saratoga — Failing rapidly — Not able to speak— He writes his farewell to his family, his friends and his physician— His last injunctions. The following brief sketch of General Grant's illness from the time of its inception, is from an authoritative source, and contains many details never before given to the public. Early in the autumn o^ 1884 General Grant was visiting at the house of Mr. George W. Childs, at Long Branch, and with his family and friends was sitting on the piazza one bright afternoon. In the course of conversation the General said: "I ate a peach the other day, and ever since I have had a sore throat." Thereupon he coughed considerably, and Mr. Childs suggested that he should allow Dr. Da Costa, of Philadelphia, who was also visiting at the house, to examine his throat. The Doctor did so, and decided in his own mind, at that time, that the case was one of epithelioma, or cancer of the throat. He at once advised the General to see his family physician as soon as he arrived in New York. *' Who is your family physician?" asked Dr. Da Costa. "Dr. Fordyce Barker," answered the General. "Ah! I am glad to hear that; you could not be in better hands/'' replied the doctor. The General's throat continued to get sore, and troubled him not a little. When he came to New York, he called upon Dr. Barker, and asked him to look at it, which the doctor did, and after prescribing for him, asked him to call upon Dr. J. H. Douglas. In a few days the General and Mrs. Grant called upon Dr. Doug- las. This was early in October, and since that time the doctor has been his attending physician. Dr. Douglas is a specialist in throat diseases. As far back as that time, each of these physicians, and Dr. Barker as well, agreed that the General had epithelioma, or cancer of the throat. Afterward they had a doubt as to the disease being epi- thelioma, and the General was put under special treatment on or about the 23d of October. During the months of November, December and January there (584) 586 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. was no appreciable change for the worse, except that one day the General would feel very well, and the next day very much de^ pressed. About the middle of February an alarming change was noticed. Drs. Barker and Douglas, being unwilling to shoulder the entire responsibility of such an important case, decided to call some one else in. Dr. Barker had met in consultation, a few days before, in another case, Dr. Markoe; Dr. Douglas, in a similar way, had met Dr. Sands; and it was agreed to ask these two physicians to come in. On the 19th of February all four physicians met at the residence of General Grant, and looked at his throat. They decided that the case was epithelioma. The result of this consultation was sup- pressed until February 2 2d, when the newspapers gave a full ac- count of it. Previously Drs. Elliott and Satterthwaite had examined pieces of the throat under a microscope, and they, too, had decided that the case was epithelioma. The next consultation was held on March 8th. Dr. George F. Shrady attended this consultation. His opinion coincided with that of the others; but, the physicians thinking that there might be one chance in a thousand against their diagnosis, again placed General Grant under specific treatment for another disease. As the case went on, Drs. Barker and Sands attended only in consultation, the actual work devolving upon Drs. Douglas and Shrady. In a few days the General grew much worse. Besides the large ulcer in the throat, his system generally became very much depressed and wasted. During the latter part of March his life hung by a thread, and the whole country awaited with feelings of the greatest apprehension the news of each day. The doctors had now become convinced that the disease was cancer of the tongue solely, and that all they could do was to ease the General along until his inevitable death. They remained in the house day and night. At times the General became very much alarmed, and gave up all hope. There were in the house Drs. Shrady and Douglas. Dr. Shrady had stayed up the previous night alone, and was completely worn out. Dr. Douglas, too, being an old man, was very tired. The family were up all night, and with them was Dr. Newman. General Grant was very low all night, and in the early morning had an alarming hemorrhage. The family were gathered around him, every member crying. The General reclined in one chair, with his pillow behind him, and rested his feet on another chair. Dr. Shrady was sleeping in another room. In rushed Dr. Douglas and roused him with the word?, *' It's all over." " What ! " said Shrady, " do you mean to say that the man is dead ?" GENERAL GRANT's LAST ILLNESS. 587 '' No ; not dead, but he will be in a few minutes. Nothing can save him." Dr. Shrady jumped up and ran into the room where the General was. Mrs. Grant, weeping, reached out her hand and said : " Ulysses, do you know me? " The General's chin was resting upon his breast. He slowly raised his head and said : " Yes." Dr. Newman exclaimed: *^ It is all over; I will baptize him." He went quickly into another room, got a silver bowl, filled it with water, came back, dipped his hand into it, and said : " I baptize thee, Ulysses Simpson Grant, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost." The General slowly raised his head and remarked : " I thank you." Then, turning to his family he raised one hand and uttered the words : " I bless you all." To Dr. Newman he observed, " Doctor, I intended to attend to this myself." Meanwhile Drs. Shrady and Douglas were consulting with each other in the corner. Dr. Douglas said : " He will die sure. He has gone ; the pulse has left the wrist." Dr. Shrady, as if struck by inspiration, replied : " I will give him brandy." '* You cannot do it ; he cannot swallow," said Dr. Douglas. *' I will give it to him hypodermically," answered Dr. Shrady. '' How much? " asked Dr. Douglas. " A .barrelful if necessary," retorted Dr. Shrady. Dr. Shrady rushed into another room. " Harrison," said he 'to the man-servant, ''have you any brandy?" Harrison answered *^ Yes," and handed him some. Dr. Shrady rushed back and gave Grant a syringe-full in each arm. The General revived, the pulse returned to his wrist and his life was saved. Dr. Newman walked into an adjoining room with Dr Shrady and asked ; '^ Doctor, how is he ?" " 1 don't think he will die," said the doctor. *' Our prayers have been answered," said Dr. Newman. The General rallied for a few days, and there was no other severe .attack until the night when the spells of choking came on. Then he was convinced that he would soon die. '* I am choking to death," he said, in a feeble voice. " Be quiet, be quiet, you won't," said Shrady ; " it will be over in a moment." Drs. Shrady and Douglas passed up and down the room, looked at the reporters on the sidewalk in front of the house smoking their cigars, and wished very much to change positions with them. 588 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Since that time the General's system and appetite have grown much better. It was no longer necessary to give him morphia to induce rest. During his severest attacks the physicians would almost beg of him not to take any, but he insisted, and it was given him in small quantities only. GENERAL GRANTS BIRTHDAY. The 27th day of April, the sixty-third anniversary of the birth of General Grant was celebrated by his many friends and comrades all over the land. His state of health having greatly improved, he had a happy birthday. He went outdoors twice, met and talked with friends in the parlor as well as in the library and joined his family at the birthday dinner, enjoying the evening with them afterwards. The day passed as quietly in the house as could be expected, and the General was fortunately in condition to make a good deal of it for an invalid, for besides seeing people and talking with them he was able to read many of the messages of congratulation addressed to him. The General rested in the last part of the afternoon, so that he felt refreshed when dinner was announced at 6 30 o'clock. General Badeau, Senator Chaffee, and Mr. and Mrs. Newman had joined the family for this event. The family and guests had entered the dining-room when the General came down stairs. He was joyfully greeted and seemed very happy. In the centre of the table sixty- three tapers were aflame amid banks of flowers. The mantelpiece and windows were also bright and redolent with flowers. Dinner occupied about two hours, the general sitting through it and relishing as much as any one the pleasantries of the event. After dinner there were family devotions. Then all went into the parlor. At 10 o'clock, thoroughly wearied by the unwonted excitement of the day, the General went to his room. During the evening General Grant sent the following for publi- cation : "To the various army posts, societies, cities, public schools, states, corpora- tions, and individuals, North and South, who have been so kind as to send me concrratulations on my 63d birthday, I wish to offer my grateful acknowledg- ments. The despatches have been so numerous and so touching in tone that it would have been impossible to answer them if I had been in perfect health. " U. S. Grant." Since that day the General lingered between life and death. Re- peatedly he was able to take a ride to Central Park ; on other days he was hardly able to rise from his easy-chair. At last it was thought advisable by his physicians to remove the patient to the country, and the kind offer of his cottage on Mt. McGregor, near Saratoga, by Mr, Jos. Drexel, the banker, was accepted. It was not the General Grant of the portraits and busts with GENERAL GRANT IN HIS EASY CHAIR, (589) 590 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. which the public is famihar who left his home in East Sixty-sixth street on the morning of June i6th, to take the cars for Saratoga.. It was a bent, decrepit old man with shrunken limbs, on which his clothes hung pitifully loose, and one whose face was so wasted that its thinness put it out of all proportion to the rest of the head be- hind, which seemed abnormally large in consequence. A murmur of surprise and pity escaped the lips of those who stood with heads uncovered on the sidewalk over which the old soldier shuffled to his carriage. It was half-past 8 o'clock. The Grant household had been astir nearly two hours. Through the parlor windows the furniture could be seen covered over as it was to remain until the return of the family. Two carriages from a livery stable had taken Mrs. Fred Grant, Jesse Grant, and his wife and child, and the Colonel's children. Henry, the white nurse, rode on the box of one of the carriages. Then the family carriage, a closed landau, was driven in front of the door by the colored coachman. Twenty or thirty persons gathered on the sidewalk on either side of the house, and on the stoops up and down the street a few of the neigh- bors stood and watched the house. When Harrison, the General's man servant, appeared in the front door with a valise the laborers on the new building on the opposite side of the street quitted work, and waited to see the General. He was not twenty steps behind Harrison. He tottered as he halted on the top step of the stoop. He wore his familiar old silk hat, now so large for him that it rested on his ears. A white cravet circled his neck, and hid from a cursor}^ glance the frightful swelling on his neck. A black Prince Albert coat, light trousers, a world too wide for his shrunken limbs, completed his outer dress. He leaned on the crooked handle of his stout walking stick, without which he never stirs from his chair nowadays, as he looked up and down the hot street. He felt his way down the steps by putting his cane a step ahead of him, leaning on it, and then following it with his feet. When he reached the sidewalk he made his way to the carriage door. It was then that the low exclamation of pity escaped from the spectators; for it was evident that the hero had little left beside his indomitable will. When the bystanders covered their heads and turned to look after the departing carriage, more than one man said sadly to his neighbor : " We will never see the General alive again in New York." General Grant walked into the station without aasistance. He is not only ambitious but stubborn, and those who are caring for him have learned that while his strength lasts he insists upon hav- ing his own way. It is only when he asks for help or attention in any way that they venture to intrude their offers. At almost every Ba!?T??!ffiSSSBiB» GEN'L GRANT LEAVING HIS RESIDENCE FOR AN AFTERNOON WALK. (591) 592 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. depot there were little knots of people who waved their hands and handkerchiefs at the flying cars. At sight of the brown walls of the riding school and of the dome of the observatory peeping over the dense foliage at West Point, the General beckoned to the Doctor and pointed across the river, nodding and smiling as though he wanted them to know that he was pleased at the sight of the place where, as a lad, he was schooled in the art of war. As long as he could see the buildings, even by bending down and looking out of the furthermost window, he riveted his gaze on the beautiful pro- montory. The journey of 155 miles had been made in 195 minutes. There was a stop of four minutes while the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company's locomotive took the place of the Vanderbilt engine. The run up the mountain would not have been disagreeable to a tourist, but it was evident that it wearied the General more than all the rest of his riding. When the summit was reached and the train stopped Harrison and the nurse were busy, and did not notice that the General had stepped from the car to the platform and was walking up the covered plank walk toward the cottage, his heavy stick thumping the boards at every step. He glanced for an instant at the little cot with its white pillow and sheet resting on the grass by the side of the path, and left there with the expectation that he could not reach the cottage except as the occupant of that cot. General Grant's second day on the mountain top passed without developing any new phase in the disease from which he suffered. The invalid enjoyed the change, and he spent almost the whole day on the broad verandah that surrounds the Drexel cottage. Most of the time he sat in a big, square cane-bottomed chair, with some of the members of the family around him. While alone he several times started up and slowly paced the verandah. During an interview Dr. Newman, the spiritual adviser and friend of General Grant, made the following remarks : — " Dr. Douglas is a fine fellow, and a careful, thoroughly scientific man, but he has taken an unaccountable dislike to newspaper men and they reciprocate the feeling with interest. Consequently he snubs them frequently, and they lampoon him unmercifully. He said the other day, that he believed that 'penny-a-liners' knew more about the General's condition than he did, or, at least, they thought so. But I have always felt differently. I felt sorry for the poor fellows who stood out in the cold, the snow and the sleet all night long in front of the General's house last spring, and frequently when Douglas has refused to say a word I have stopped to give them a thorough idea of the situation. My own views are shared by the General. He is most sensibly affected by the thousand marks of 1 GENERAL GRANT SOON AFTER HIS ARRIVAL AT MT. MCGREGOR. ^^ (593) 594 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. love and esteem that have been showered upon him from every quarter of the land, and while he is too big a man, too sensible to have his head turned, he appreciates the motives and likes to have proper inquiries answered." " It must be a great solace to the old soldier in his suffering to feel that he is so beloved by the entire nation." "It is. It is the sympathy of the children that affects him most, though. He gets hundreds of letters from little ones all over the land, expressing hope that the General may recover. ^'He loves children, and the thought that thousands and thou- sands of them all over the land lisp prayers for his recovery cheers him up as if by magic at times." " The General has faith in the efficacy of these prayers ?" asked the reporter. "The General knows that he is afflicted with an incurable com- plaint, and at times he is despondent, but he is a true Christian, and has a Christian's profound belief in prayer. He has religious ser- vices morning and evening, and takes great delight in them. I call the General's a most beautiful Christian character." Dr. Shrady, on the 25th of June, telegraphed to \\i^ Medical Re- cord {ox its Saturday issue the following official bulletin of General Grant's condition : "The progress of the disease from which General Grant is suffering is, bar- ring accidental compHcations, slow. Comparing the condition of the patient with what it was a month ago, the changes which have taken place can be appre- ciated. Taking this period of time into consideration, it can be said thatthe swell- ing under the angle of the lower jaw, on the right side, has increased and has become harder and more deeply fixed. It has shown a tendency to progress in a direction downward and forward upon the right side of the neck, the in- filtration extending into the neighboring glandular structures. The lancinating pains in those parts, although fortunately not frequent nor severe, have a sig- nificance which cannot be ignored. The ulceration on the right side of the base of the tongue has become deeper and more irregular, although its super- ficial area has not perceptibly increased. This is the seat of the pain occasioned in swallowing and when certain examinations in the throat are made. The destructive process on the right side of the uvula is apparently quiescent, al- though a new portion of the margin of the palatal curtain is showing a ten- dency to break down. The voice has been reduced to a whisper, due partly to inflammatory involvement of the vocal cords and partly to nervous atony of the latter. There is some impairment of general strength and some loss in weight, although the appetite is unchanged and the usual amount of nourish- ment is taken. The removal to Mt. McGregor has so far proved beneficial. It has enabled the patient to recover lost ground, and this, in a measure, has counterbalanced the effects of his local malady." In his moments of utmost distress there was no diminution of General Grant's courage. In his intervals of relief from excruciat- ing pain he welcomed his grandchildren to his side and took pleas- ure while they played about him. On June 23 he had so far regained his voice that he spent some GENERAL GRANT S LAST ILLNESS. 595 time in conversation, but thernext day it had again depai.-d, and when the physicians held their consultation they announced that the disease was marked by uninterrupted progress. Emaciation had brought his weight down to 130 pounds, a decrease of ten pounds in two weeks. Anxious to build himself up, he endeavoured to take as much food as possible, and he astonished the doctors by his knowledge of the use of cocaine, by which the mucus was cleared from his throat, and the necessity of employing morphia to allay his pains and induce sleep. Fluctuations were incessant ; the 27th was the best day he had so far had upon the mountain ; and when Harrison drew him in his chair up the bluff he wrote on his tablets to a newspaper representative who stood by : " For a maa who has been accustomed to drive fast horses, this is a considerable come down in point of speed." On the 29th he wrote this courage- ous note for the benefit of some of the younger members of his family : Do as I do. I take it quietly. I give myself not the least concern. If I knew that the end was to be to-morrow I would try and get rest in the mean- time. As long as there's no progress there's hope. LAST COMMUNICATIONS. While the scientific dogma that there could be no obstacle to the growth of the cancer was daily becoming better authenticated, it was also beyond question that the removal to Mt. McGregor had lengthened Grant's span of life. He knew it when he handed the subjoined note to Dr. Douglas on June 30 : The atmosphere here enables me to live in comparative comfort while I am being treated, or while nature is taking its course with my disease. I have no idea that I should have been able to come here now if I remained in the city. It is doubtful, indeed, whether I would have been alive. Now I would be much better able to move back than to come at the time I did. A medical consultation was held on July 4, and he was informed that exhaustion would doubtless be the final result of his disease. It was the twenty-second anniversary of his victory at Vicksburg, but it was only alluded to when he wrote the date for his wife. The succeeding week was one of ease and quiet. In accordance with his wishes the amount of cocaine used in his throat was diminished, he feeling that it lessened the force of his voice. On the 8th the Mexican editors visiting the United States called on him, and for them he wrote this last expression of his ideas of public policy: My great interest in Mexico dates back to the war between the United States and that country. My interest was increased when four European monarchies attempted to set up their institutions on this continent, selecting Mexico, a territory adjoining. It was an outrage on human rights for a foreign nation to attempt to transfer her institutions and her rulers to the territory of a civilized people without their consent. I hope Mexico may soon begin an upward and prosperous departure. She has all the conditions ; she has the people ; she has 596 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the soil ; she has the climate, and she has the minerals. The conquest of Mexico will not be an easy task in the future. On July 10 General Grant was visited by ex-Confederate General Simon B Buckner, whom he captured at Fort Donelson. The in- cident was made remarkable by Grant's communication to Buckner, which may be quoted as his final message to his countrymen on their national glory and the value of their institutions. I have witnessed since my sickness just what I wished to see ever since the war — harmony and good feeling between the sections. I have ahvays con- tended that if there had been nobody left but the soldiers we would have had peace in a year. and are the only two that I know who do not seem to be satisfied on the Southern side. V/e have some on ours who failed to ac- complish as much as they wished, or who did not get warmed up in the fight until it was all over, who have not had quite full satisfaction. The great ma- jority, too, of those who did not go into the war have long since grown tired of the long controversy. We may now well look forward to a perpetual psace at home, and a national strength that will screen us against any foreign complica- tion. I believe, myself, that the war was worth all it co^t us, fearful as that was. Since it was over I have visited every state in Europe, a-id a num- ber in the East. I know, as I did not before, the value of our inheritance. Monday, July 13, can be set down as the day of the invalid's last rally. His strength had so improved, his spirits were so buoyant, his sallies of humor so frequent, his voice so clear as to surprise the physicians and to deceive others into the belief that actual conva- lescence had set in. But the former warned the family and the country that science — in this case unerring — told them that this epoch of betterment was only a phase of the disease, and did no more than impede its march. Yet up to the 17th the General was in such good condition that Dr. Douglas was willing to permit him to resume literary labor, but the 1 8th was characterized by mental depression and physical weakness. Sunday, the 19th, was an auspicious day, and the swelling at the root of the tongue was much decreased. On Monday, June 20, General Grant was carried to the outlook on the mountain verge, and on the 21st the reaction began which has terminated his life. The early morning hours at the Grant cottage were cool and re- freshing on Wednesday, the 2 2d of July. On the veranda, where the incandescent electric lamps were burning all night, the ther- mometer marked seventy-two degrees. This was the equable temperature maintained in the sick room while General Grant re- mained in New York, and to it was added, this morning, the sweet smell from the pine trees that bend over the cottage roof. A gentle breeze, soft and delicious, swept miles and miles down the valley and from the mountains. It stirred the curtains at the window near which sat the sick man, and it fanned his face more gratefully than could the careful hands that were watching near. Between three and four o'clock this morning the gray tint of another day GENERAL GRANT'S LAST ILLNESS. 597 crept up the horizon beyond the green mountains, perhaps the last earthly day of the sick man sitting within the cottage parlor. Once, at nearly four o'clock, Mrs. Grant, attired in a loose gown, of white, came out upon the veranda and seated herself in one of the many deserted willow chairs that were scattered in groups about the piazza. For ten minutes she sat motionless, and gazed away to the east, where the gray tint of another day had grown to a fuller promise. Her face rested against her hand, and she was evidently wrapt in thought. Suddenly there came the sound of coughing from within the cottage. The General was clearing his throat of mucus. Mrs. Grant left the piazza quickly and seated herself by the General's side slowly fanning his face. The cough- ing was not severe. Colonel Fred. Grant entered the room while the nurse was aiding his father and took a seat at the side and be- hind the General. It was time to administer food. The nurse touched the shoulder of Dr. Douglas, as he lay asleep on a couch in the same room. He arose fully dressed, as he was all night, and seated himself beside the patient. The food was given from a cup and the mouth and throat were cleared by the doctor. It was after four o'clock and the gray of the east had changed to pale orange tints. When the physician laid aside his appliance General Grant leaned forward in his chair, and signified a desire that a lamp should be brought. The nurse brought a lamp, and held it at the sick man's shoulder, and at the same moment the General turned his face toward the light and upward to bid the nurse bring his pad and pencil. His wish was not at the moment understood, and turning a trifle further the General repeated his wish. The General's face, as he spoke, appeared strained and drawn, but its color and fulness were not such as would be expected after such suffering and care. The lips moved heavily and the whisper was husky and low, but the nurse understood, and the pad and pencil were brought. Then while the red light of the candle fell on his downcast face he wrote, but only briefly. The slip was handed to Dr. Douglas, who at once turned it over to Colonel Grant, who had arisen and stood beside his mother at the General's side. It was a private family communication, and, when finished, the sick man re- sumed his half reclining position with his head slightly inclined for- ward and his elbows on the sides of the chair, while the finsfers of either hand were interlocked each with the other beneath his chin. It was 4.30 o'clock, and peaks of the mountains eastward were darkly outlined against the reddening dawn. The faint glow crept between the pines and birches, through the cottage windows, and tinged the sick man's cheek with the dawn of what was believed by the doctors to be his last day. At five o'clock Dr. Douglas was aroused to send a summons to Dr. Sands. The General moved 598 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. restlessly, and his eyes, for a few moments, gazed intently away through the trees where a new day was beginning. Then he settled down in his chair and dozed. The message to Dr. Sands was sent only that the responsibility of the case at the close of the night should be shared by the mem- bers of the medical staff, and not with the thought that any aid could be rendered by any person at that time or through the open- ing day. The General was given stimulants, but he grew weaker hour by hour. The morning was clear, and the mercury at eleven o'clock regis- tered eighty degrees. All visitors were kept from the cottage, and a Sabbath day quiet prevailed about the spot. Drs. Douglas and Newman were with the family, and the day was one of quiet waiting. The General sat as he did last night, his eyes closed much of the time, but coherent and clear whenever he spoke. At I P.M. Dr. Douglass left the cottage. He says the General sat with his head inclined forward and eyes closed the greater part of the time. The pulse was very we?.k and fluttering. With the declining day the physician believed the General would also rapidly decline. At 2 o'clock the members of the family and Dr. Newman were grouped in the darkened room near General Grant. Observing their evidences of feeling, the General said: '* I do lot want any- body to be distressed on my account " The development of weakness of General Grant during the after- noon was not particularly noticeable from hour to hour, but between three o'clock and six o'clock there was a clearly marked increase of weakness. At three o'clock it was possible to measure the pulse beats, but at six o'clock one of the physicians stated that the pulse could not be counted. There were two reasons existent for the ina- bility of the doctors to catch the pulse-beats, they were so frequent and so feeble. During the afternoon the blood-tide had so quick- ened that it more rapidly wore the system and exhausted the frail basis upon which might be placed a hope that the General would rally. The closed and silent cottage had all day suggested the enact- ment of the last scene in General Grant's earthly career. While the physicians were at dinner, Harrison came to the hotel and called Dr. Douglas, who went at once and alone to the cottage. Soon afterward another messenger summoned Drs. Shrady and Sands, and they repaired to the cottage, closely followed by Rev. Dr. Newman. The exits of the doctors and clergyman from the hotel were, however, so quietly effected, that (qw knew that they had been summoned to the cottage. Arriving there, they found General Grant again evidently sinking. The General seemed rest- i GENERAL GRANTS LAST ILLNESS. 599 less. "Would you like to lie down, father?" asked Colonel Fred Grant, who noticed his father's restlessness. The General nodded, and at the same moment essayed to rise unassisted; but the effort was too great, and he sank back into the chair, and the Colonel and nurse aided him to arise, and then supported him to the bed, where he was carefully lowered to a reclining position and partly on his face. Dr. Douglas then rolled the chairs back, and one of the physicians has since remarked, that the General had left his chair for the last time. The belief was that General Grant had at length lain down to die. The family were all gathered around the sick man, and again Dr. Newman, at about the same hour as on the previous night, and at Mrs. Grant's request, knelt beside the Gen- eral and prayed. Heads were bowed, and tears were on the cheeks of men as well as women. As the sun went down, a cool breeze sprang up, and laymen thought that the cool night would help General Grant to rally. The doctors, however, were prepared to attend the General's death- bed at a moment's notice. They stood somewhat apart, and the family was near its fast-sinking head, and then, after an hour, death seemed a little less rapidly gaining on the man it had pursued just nine months; for it is just nine months ago that General Grant walked into Dr. Douglas' office to seek his professional aid for the cancer that has done what war could not. Then the doctors and clergymen strolled out upon the piazza, and sat near the parlor window, and Jesse Grant joined them at times; but the other mem- bers of the family remained in the sick room, and watched and waited, while the General answered *'yes" and "no" to several questions. At nine o'clock the General's pulse was up to one hundred and sixty-five beats to the minute, and fluttering. During the evening the extremities of the sick man had been cold, and in the visible symptoms were the signs that nature puts out when death is chilling the powers. The General, as the night was passing, seemed to suffer no pain, though the lines of his face were drawn and the furrows of the brow were knitted as he lay upon the cot, beside which the family were constantly watching. At eleven o'clock the General was not asleep. The hands and forearms were colder than two hours before. The patient's mind was yet clear and comprehensive of events and utterances about him. Between ten and eleven o'clock Dr. Shrady had accosted the General, and he answered in a husky voice and promptly. The advent of July 23, marked a change in General Grant's con- dition which was significant. The chill at the extremities was increasing, and the use of hot applications to keep warmth in the extremities and vital parts were 6oO LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. resorted to. They were of some avail, but artificial warmth was^ without power to reach the cause or stay the results of dissolution^ which began on the 2ist, and had been progressing steadily, though graduall}^ So weak had General Grant grown at three o'clock that, though he frequently attempted to do so, he was unable any longer to clear the gathering mucus from his throat. It accumulated and remained, and as four o'clock drew and daylight came a point had been reached when expectoration was impossible. There was not left enough of strength, and from four o clock on there was in the throat the significant rattle of mucus that was filling the lungs and clogging the throat. At three o'clock the General asked for water, and after that it is not remembered that he uttered any word: At four o'clock the breathing was quickened, and reached fifty to the minute. One hour later the respirations had reached sixty, and between five and six o'clock, the finger nails had become blue, and. the hands further evidenced the progress of numbness at the ex- tremities, and at every breath the mucous clogging in the throat was growing more noticeable. A few minutes before eight o'clock Drs. Douglas, Shrady and Sands stood on the cottage veranda conversing on the condition of General Grant, and discussing the probabilities of his death and the limit of life left the sick man. Mrs. Sartoris and stenographer Dawson, were conversing a little distance away, when Henry, the nurse, stepped hastily upon the piazza and spoke quietly to the physicians. He told them he thought the General was very near to death. The medical men hastily entered the room where the sick man was lying and approached his side. Upon scanning the patient's face, Dr. Douglas ordered the family to be summoned to the bedside. Haste was made, and Mrs. Grants Mr. Jesse Grant and wife, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., and wife, and Mrs. Colonel Grant were quickly beside the doctors at the sick man's cot. Mrs. Sartoris and Mr. Dawson, had followed the doctors in from the piazza, and the entire family was present. Colonel Grant seated himself at the head of the bed with his left arm resting upon the pillow above the head of the General, who was breathing rapidly and with slightly gasping respirations. Mrs. Grant, calm, but with intense agitation bravely suppressed, took a seat close by the bedside. She leaned slightly upon the cot, resting upon her right elbow and gazing with tearful eyes into the General's face. She found there, however, no token of recognition, for the sick man was peacefully passing into another life. Mrs. Sartoris came behind her mother and. leaning over her shoulder, so wit- nessed the close of a life in which she had constituted a strong element of pride. Directly behind Mrs. Grant and Mrs. Sartoris^ GENERAL GRANTS LAST ILLNESS. 60I and at a little distance removed, stood Doctors Douglas, Shrady^ and Sands, spectators of the closing of a life their efforts and counsel had so prolonged. On the opposite of the bed from his mother, and directly before her, stood Jesse Grant and Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., and near the corner of the cot, on the same side as Jesse, and near to each, was N. E. Dawson, the General's stenographer and confidential secretary. At the foot of the bed, and gazing directly down into the General's face, was Mrs. Colonel Fred. Grant, Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., and Mrs. Jesse Grant, while somewhat removed from the family circle Henry, the nurse, and Harrison, the General's body servant, were respectic^ely watching the closing life of their master. The General's little grandchildren, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., and Nellie, were sleeping the sleep of childhood in the nursery-room above. Otherwise the entire family and household were gathered at the bedside of the dying man. The doctors noted, on entering the room that the purplish tinge which is one of nature's signals of final dissolution, had settled be- neath the finger-nails. The hand that Dr. Douglas lifted was fast growing colder. The pulse had fluttered beyond the point where the physician could distinguish it from the pulse-beats in his own finger-tips. The respiration was very rapid, and was a succession of shallow, panting inhalations, but, happily, the approaching end was becoming clearer, the rattling fulness of the throat and lungs, and as the respirations grew quicker and more rapid at the close, they also became less labored and almost noiseless. This fact was in its results a comfort to the watchers by the bedside, to whom was spared the scene of an agonizing or other than a peaceful death. The wife almost constantly stroked the face, forehead and hands of the dying General, and at times, as the passionate longing to pre- vent the event so near would rise within her, Mrs. Grant pressed both his hands and leaning forward tenderly kissed the face of the sinking man. Colonel Fred. Grant sat silently but with evident feeling, though his bearing was that of a soldierly son at the death- bed of a hero father. U. S. Grant, Jr., was deeply moved, but Jesse bore the scene steadily, and the ladies while watching with wet cheeks were silent, as befitted the dignity of a life such as was closing before them. The morning had passed five minutes be3^ond eight o'clock, and there was not one of the strained and waiting watchers but who could mark the nearness of the life-tide to its final ebbing. Dr. Douglas noted the nearness of the supreme mo- ment, and quietly approached the bedside and bent over it, and while he did so, the sorrow of the gray-haired physician seemed allied with that of the family. Dr. Shrady also drew near. It was seven minutes after eight o'clock and the eyes of the General were closing. His breathing grew more hushed as the last functions of 602 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the heart and lungs were hastened to the closing of the ex-Presi- dent's life. A peaceful expression seemed to be deepening in the firm and strong-lined face, and it was reflected as a closing comfort in the sad hearts that beat quickly under the stress of loving sus- pense. A minute more passed and was closing as the General drew a deeper breath. There was an exhalation like that of one relieved of long and anxious tension. The members of the family- were impelled each a step nearer the bed, and each awaited another respiration, but it never came. There was absolute stillness in the room, and a hush of expectaut suspense, and no sound broke the silence save the singing of the birds in the pines outside the cottage, and the measured throbbing on the engine that all night had waited by the little mountain depot down the slope. ** It is all over," quietly spoke Dr. Douglas, and there came then heavily to each witness the realization that General Grant was dead. Then the doctor withdrew, the nurse closed down the eyelids and composed the dead General's head, after which each of the family group pressed to the bedside one after the other and touched their lips upon the quiet face so lately stilled. After Drs. Douglas and Shrady left the death-bed they conversed feelingly of the latter hours of General Grant's life. The pulse first had indicated failure, and the intellect was last to succumb in its clearness and conscious tenacity, and that after midnight last night, a circumstance at three o'clock indicated cognizance. " Do you want anything, father ?" questioned Colonel Fred, at that hour. *' Water," whispered the General, huskily. But when offered water and milk, they gurgled in his throat and were ejected, and that one word of response was the last utterance of General Grant. Dr. Douglas remarked that the peculiarity of General Grant's death was explained by the remarkable vitality that seemed to pre- sent an obstacle to the approach of death. It was a gradual passing aways of the vital forces, and a reflex consciousness, the doctors thought, was retained to the last. The General died of sheer ex- haustion and a perfectly painless sinking away. "Yes," interjected Dr. Shrady, " the General dreaded pain, and when he felt he had begun sinking, he asked that he should not be permitted to suffer. The promise was made, and it has been kept. Since he commenced to sink on Tuesday night he was free from pain." Towards the last no food was taken, but when a wet cloth was pressed to his lips he would suck from it the water to moisten his mouth. During the General's last night Dr. Shrady was con- stantly within call. Dr. Douglas was all night at the cottage, and Dr. Sands slept at the hotel after midnight. Dr. Shrady sent, under the headline, " at last," to the Medical Record the following official bulletin of General Grant's dying hours: GENERAL GRANT'S LAST ILLNESS. 603 "Since our last bulletin was written the final change has come to General Grant. He passed peacefully away at 8 o'clock Thursday morning. On the morning of the day previous Dr. Douglas summoned Drs. Sands and Shrady to meet him at Mt. McGregor, as General Grant was sinking, and death seemed imminent. On their arrival the patient was found in a very prostrated condition, wiih frequent and feeble pulse, rapid respiration and inability to swallow. He was suffering no pain, but by his lisdess manner was apparently conscious that death was near. It was decided to sustain his vital powers to the utmost, and make his approaching end as comfortable as possible. The disposition to cough had ceased, and the respiration, although much acceler- ated, was not mechanically impeded by accumulated mucous secretions. At the time of the consultation he was in his easy chair, occupied so constantly by him day and night for the past five months. Toward evening, by his own re- quest, he was transferred to his bed, where h-" rested quietly until his death. As was anticipated by the medical gentlemen in attendance, he condnued to sink despite the stimulants locally applied and hypodermically administered. The fear of a painful and agonizing death was, happily for him and his family, not realized. He simply passed away by a gradual and easy cessation of the heart's action. Thus he was spared much of the suffering which would have been inevitable had his general strength allowed the throat disease to progress in its usual way. For so much, at least, there is reason for thankfulness.'* CHAPTER XXII. RECOLLECTIONS OF GENERAL GRANT. How he looked shortly after the war— Plain and unostentatious— Never used a rude word — Always polite and considerate, abstemious and taciturn, modest and a profound thinker; straightforward and frank in all things, a true friend and a magnanimous enemy — What Generals Beale, Sheridan, Horace Porter and Ingalls said of their old commander and friend — Mr. George W. Childs tells of some of Grants charac- teristics — Ex-Postmaster General Creswell's reminiscences— General Grant under fire — Grant and Johnson — What he did on his arrival at Washington after taking command of the armies of the United States — Senator Plawley's recollections of Grant's first nomination for President of the United States— Grant in April, i86i — Farmer Grant's neighbors— Grant's kindness towards the Confederate General Pick- ett— Col. McCaull on Grant's magnanimity — Grant taking risks— Mark Twain on Grant -An official account of General Lee"s surrender — Grant in battle. Notwithstanding the long array of admirable performances that have marked General Grant's career, there is scarcely any character in history in reference to whose real merit so much doubt has existed. The reasons for this are sufficiently indicated by a refer- ence to the remarkable reticence of the man and his utter abhorrence of the arts of the demagogue in whatever shape. He has studiously avoided sounding the trumpet of his own fame, either in public or private, and has been so generous in awarding praise to others, that the world has heard more of his subordinates than of himself Then, too, at the very outset of his career in the great Civil War he was denounced as being intemperate as well as incompetent. His splendid campaign against Fort Donelson, resulting in the capture of an entire army and in the infliction of the first staggering blow upon the Confederacy, was so incomprehensible to the people at large, but so persistently misrepresented, that many excellent per- sons came to believe that Grant had retarded that victory instead of having organized and achieved it by his own judgment and indomit- able courage. The bloody batde of Shiloh, followed by Halleck's disgraceful siege at Corinth, convinced the public that Grant must be entirely incompetent ; and it was not till after Vicksburg that the real truth began to be suspected. First it was McClernand who had " furnished him with brains ; " then it was C. F. Smith who had led his army to victory ; then it was Halleck ; and finally Sherman and McPherson, to whom all praise was due. It was not until Vicks- burg was followed by Chattanooga that the world came to look upon Grant as possessing any merit of his own. It is a safe rule to (604) RECOLLECTIONS OF GENERAL GRANT. 605 judge men by the results of a lifetime, but an unsafe one, particu- larly in reference to military men. to judge from past reputation or isolated actions. In this day of skepticism there are but few people who believe entirely in ability, honor, vigor and manly virtue as the sure means of making life successful. And fewer still who are able to separate from their estimate of successful characters the idea that chance or fate may not have had as much to do with brilliant achievements as real worth and ability. A wjll-known author, some years ago, gives the following de- scription of General Grant : " Grant was a man somewhat under the medium size, though his body was closely and powerfully built. His feet and hands were small and neatly-sha;jjd ; his dress plain and exceedingly unostentatious ; his eyes large, dsep, leonine and very strong, equally capable of blazing with a resolution that nothing could withstand, and of shining with the steady light of benevolence and amiability. His temperament is admir- ably compounded of the sanguine, nervous and lymphatic. His capacity for labor surpassed comprehension; neither mental nor physical exevtion seemed to produce the least wear and tear upon him. He could ride at a dashing gait, hour after hour, witL the same ease with which he planned a battle or issued instructions for a campaign. He was never heard to give ut- teranc ; to a rude word or a vulgar jest ; no oatn has ever escaped his lips. No unfeeling or undignified speech, and no thoughtless or ill-natured criticism ever fell from him. It is this q lality which made him so successful in the per- son il questions which arose between him and his subordinates They usually mistook his slowness for dullness or a lack of spirit, and discovered mistake only after committin^^ a fital error. Grant was as unsuspicious and pure-hearted as a child, and as free from harmful intention; but he was stirred to the very deoths of his nature by an act of inhumanity or brutality of any sort . while meanness, ingratitude or uncharitableness ex- Cited him to the displav of the liveliest indignation. He was not slow in the e.xhibition of contempt or disgust for whatever was unmanly or unbe- coming. In issuing orders to his subordinates or in asking a service at the hands of a staff-ol'ficer, he was always scrupulously polite and respectful in manner. " Grant's personal habits and tastes were exceedingly simple; he despised the |.o np and show of empty parade. He lived i>lainly himself and could not toler.ite ostentation or extravagance in those about him. His mess was never luxuriously, though always well furnished with army rations and such supplies as could be transported readily in the limited number of wagons that he per- muted to follow his headquirters. He was very abstemious, and during his entire Western campaign the officers of his staff were forbidden to bring wines or hquors into camp. He was the most modest of men, and nothing an- noyed him more than a loud parade of personal opinion or personal vanity. He had a retentive memory and was deeply interested in all m liters which concerned the interests of humanity, and particularly his ■ovn country. His understanding was of that incisive character that soon probed a question to the bottom, no matter how much the politicians or newspapers labored to confuse it. His memory was stored with pers nal incidents illustrative of men and manners in all parts of the country, showing that he had been a profound student of human nature throughout life; his appreciation of men and character has never been sur- passed. This was well shown in the reorganization of the army after he be- 6o6 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. came Lieutenant-General. It is well known that he did not fail in a single in- stance where a change was made, in putting the right man in the right place. He warmed towards a bold, outspoken and loyal nature; full of ardor and zeal himself, he naturally admired these qualities in others. Straightforward and frank in all things himself, he respected these qualities wherever they were tound. Indeed the most striking peculiarity of his nature, both as a man and a gen- eral, was a profound and undeviating truthfulness in all things. Those who have known him best will bear willing testimony to the statement that he never told a falsehood or made a voluntary misrepresentation of fact. " Grant having been educated as a soldier at West Point, the first military school of America, and having served under both Taylor and Scott, had, at the outbreak of the Rebellion, received all the training, both theoretical and practical, that was requisite to a thorough understanding of the military art. At the very outset of his career he showed plainly that he had not been an idle or unobservant student of his profession. He did not make the usual mistake of supposing that the private soldier was ignorant and thoughtless, and therefore to be considered as a mere machine to be provided with a musket or sabre, and then to be harassed into a reluctant performance of duty ; but was pro- foundly impressed with the idea that the volunteers were intelligent citizens of the republic, whose business had been to become acquainted with public affairs. " He held from the first that the government, in conducting the war, should have acted upon the hereditary policy of the nation and disbanded the regular army entirely, distributing its officers, non-commissioned officers and privates among the raw and untrained volunteers. By this means one or two commissioned officers and a few non-commissioned officers and privates of the old army could have been put into each new regiment. The Confederates, hav- ing no standing army to maintain, pursued exactly this course with their officers educated for the military service, and although they had comparatively few, their army for the first year of the war was under much better discipline than ours. " Grant knew that no genius, however remarkable, could command the na- tional armies in a war of such magnitude without the assistance of lieutenants who could be trusted to issue their own orders in the emergencies that were sure to arise. He therefore gave more thought to the proper organization and direction of armies upon the vital points of the enemy's territory and lines, and to the selection of men competent to command them, than to issuing the detailed orders of battle. Neither Sherman, nor Sheridan, nor Thomas, nor Canby ever failed him. "The quick judgment by which he discovered the enemy's plan to evacuate Fort Donelson, and the sudden resolution which he based thereupon, to attack at once, are evidences of something more than aggressive temper or mere brute courage. The tactics of Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga Valley and Missionary Ridge have never been surpassed. The grand tactics displayed during the overland campaign are worthy of the highest commendation, and had the execution of details been as fauUless as the conception of the move- ments, there would have been nothing to regret. Grant's conduct at Bel- mont, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg and in the Wilderness was all that could have been wished, and shows, beyond chance of dispute, that he pos- sessed, in the highest degree, that ' two-o'clock-in-the-morning courage' which Napoleon declared to be the rarest thing among generals. His unvaried course of success through four years of warfare shows tliat he was entitled to be ranked in the category of generals who never lost a campaign or a battle, and the easy simplicity with which he did the most extraordinary things pointed strongly to the possession of a remarkable genius for war." RECOLLECTIONS OF GENERAL GRANT. 607 General Edward F. Beale, of Washington, in an interview portrays the character of General Grant in the following well-chosen words : '* I have been a very intimate friend of General Grant for the past fifteen years. My first acquaintance with him was not a personal one, however. It was through the news of his victories at Donelson. We were then in Cali- fornia, where everything was cast in gloom. We had no railroads nor tele- graph, and all the previous news we had was that everything was going against us. We felt as if we were sitting on a powder magazine which was apt to explode at any moment. When we heard of Grant's victories we felt that a man had arrived at last who could save his country. " Later, my acquaintance with General Grant ripened into the warmest friendship. To say that I considered him a great man does not express it. He was the greatest [man I know of. He fought and won battles the like of which have never occurred in modern times. Everybody is familiar wih his military and other public achievements, but in his private life his personal characteristics shone with equal brilliancy. " His three most prominent and admirable traits were guilelessness of char- acter, even temperament and great magnanimity. As I said, and as you know, my friendship with General Grant was of the most intimate nature. In all my daily companionship with him, at home or abroad, I never heard General Grant make a remark which could not be repeated with propriety before a room full of ladies. His character was wholly pure and free from guile. " His even disposition was something wonderful to me, and I have seen him tried almost beyond human endurance. He never cursed and swoie at people, and he never lost control of himself. He was always able to do what he considered right. " When General Grant has been a visitor at my house, children would overwhelm him with requests for his autograph. Often when we would return home late at night from some reception, tired and sleepy, on this table would be a pile of autograph albums a foot or two high. Mrs. Beale would say : ' Come, General, it is time to retire. You are tired and need rest. Don'tStop to write in those books to-night, but wait till morning.' ' No,' General Grant would reply; 'I'll do it to-night. These books belong to little children and they will stop for them on their way to school in the morning and I don't want to disappoint them,' and he would write in every one. " He had a wonderful faculty as a writer. His mind grasped the whole subject, and he wrote without hesitation, I have seen him write for hours » without stopping for a word. He made fewer corrections in his writing than any one I ever knew. " During his military experiences he had learned that it was his duty to do the engineering and planning and to leave the details to his lieutenants. In this way he became accustomed to placing the most implicit confidence in those near him, for -fie supposed they would do their duty as he Avould his. So that to confidence in others alone can his terrible misfortunes in New York be attributed." At a recent dinner of the Gridiron Club at Washington, it was |fc . the privilege of the writer of this article to be seated next General HL Sheridan, who is not only a charming companion but a very enter- ^■taining conversationalist upon topics in which he feels an interest. ^■The suffering and dying condition of General Grant naturally ^■became one of the topics of conversation. General Sheridan spoke <6o8 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. feeling and tenderness that exhibited genuine affection for his old companion-in-arms, and related some facts which cannot fail to be of special interest at this time. The conversation was conducted with all the freedom that marks a casual dinner table talk. In the course of conversation General Sheridan remarked : " It is sad to think of General Grant dying under such physical torture as is inflicted by his terrible disease, and under such mental anguish as I know he endures in consequence of the unfortunate business failure that overwhelmed him and his family. I could never comprehend why the old man [all old soldiers call General Grant "the old man " J went into business, and particu- larly why he set himself up in Wall street. From the time he imbibed this business notion I have thought General Grant had lost that abundance of caution that has characterized all his movements. I have listened to him talk about making money in perfect amazement. He imagined that he had a talent for making money, and that his sons also possessed this talent to a remarkable degree. He'seemed never to tire of talking about this when we were so situated as to be free from intrusion, and when we could talk with freedom of by-gone days. Now I knew very well that General Grant did not possess any talent or genius for making money. His nature is too generous and confiding for that. His talent in connection with money was in an oppo- site direction, and caused him to get clear of money in a very short time. He could never keep money before he set up in Wall street, and you know he is a very bright fellow who can k(;ep money after he gets there. " What most surprised me, however, was that he should talk so much about this newly discovered talent. He talked persistently, and Grant always talked well when he felt free to talk, about accumulating a larger fortune, and as I noticed his earnestness of manner, 1 sometimes thought that I underrated him in this particular. Still I could not entu'tly divest myself of the apprehension I felt on hU account, and his very persistency and earnestness added to my fears. Why. I never knew Grant to talk about the great abilities which he did possess and which the world has recognized. No one ever heard him talk about his great military talents or boast about his splendid achievements in the field. And yet Grant knew he had extraordinary abilities in that direction, because his s- ccessful movements and the brilliant and decisive results that attended them showed him this. Indeed, General Grant had greater talent for conducting campaigns and fighting armies than he was really .aware of. Nobody, however, ever heard him talk about what he possessed in this direction, and the simple fact that he descanted to me with so much earnestness and frequency on his supposed money-making talents, started a suspicion in my mind that his previously strong mental forces were breaking up, and that he was rapidly moving away from his previous well-established lines of prudence and safety. No, the ' old man ' should have never gone into camp in Wall street, but should have settled down into private l^/e after he returned from his tour of the world and enjoyed that peace and quiet he so much needed after twenty years of constant application and arduous labor in the field ;\nd in the executive chamber. This might not have averted disease, but it would have averted financial disaster and the terrible mental distress which 1 know he is now undergoing, and which is far more poignant than the gnaw- ing of his flesh by cancer. Later in the evening, the Lieutenant-General spoke of the reluct- ance with which General Grant left the army to become President of the United States. You have seen statements,'' said General Sheridan, "to the effect that the old RECOLLECTIONS OF GENERAL GRANT. 609 man Liid plans to secure the nomination for the Presidency in 1868. There is no foundation for such statements, and I know whereof 1 speak. I know what his feehngs and desires were at that time touching his tuluie. He wanted, above all things, to remain with the army which he loved and whose idol he was and is still, and had no ambition whatever to become President. He doubted his ability to discharge the duties of President, but above all he had no taste nor inclination for political office. I know this," said the Lieu;en:int- General, with emphasis, " and I know that he was disposed to refuse the use of his name for a nomination for the Presidency, and he would have refused it had it m.t been for myself and other general officers of the army, and perhaps of the navy, who persuaded him to sacrifice his own feelings and desires in response to the call that was being made upon him. I came to Washington for the special purpose of discussing this matter with General Grant, having previously learned of his disinclination. It was apparent that there was a popular desire in the Northern States to have Grant for President, Indeed I believe this desire approached unanimity, and had the ' old man ' said the word he could have had the nomination from either party, such was the high an^ universal estimate in which he was held. But Grant was no politician then,- as he is no financier in his own affairs now. I felt that it was his duty to listen to the popular voice calling upon him to accept new duties and fresh respon- sibilities, a;,d become Chief Magistrate. At that particular period there was a great deal of bad feeling in the country growing out of President Johnson's quarrel with Congress, and the frequent disturbances in the Southern States, which were perhaps incidental to the sudden and violent changes made in all the conditions that existed in those States prior to the war, caused a feeling of great uneasiness throughout the country. We who were in the army regarded these storm indications with greater alarm than was generally supposed, and felt that it was of the very highest importance for the interests and welfare of the country, as well as for our own individual interests and comfort, that a man should succeed to the Presidency who possessed the fullest measure of public confidence, and whose presence in the executive office would give as- surance of peace and order. I knew General Grant was the one person best calculated to fill these conditions and restore and maintain public confidence and tranquillity. Therefore I and others close to General Grant urged him to listen to the call from the people and become President of the United States. He finally yielded to these importunities, but with reluctance." One of the most frequent callers at General Grant's residence was General Horace Porter. They were together in the war, and have been on terms of close and uninterrupted intimacy since. Speaking one night in admiration of the heroism with which General Grant had borne his many ills, and of the nature of his sufferings, General Porter said : " I presume no man in this century has had the mental strain that was put on General Grant from 1861 to 1876. An important command devolved upon him soon after the war began, and he was alwavs weighted with heavy military responsibilities. For four years he endured constant'application in a climate to which he was unused and which was highly malarious. After the war he was given no rest. He had to meet and overcome the difficulties attendant upon Johnson's administration and the initial stages of reconstruction, and heaped upon all that were eight exciting and important years of the Presidency. Few men could have stood it. "The effect of it on him did not appear, however, until his physical suffer- ings began with his fall a year ago last December. Since then he has suffered 39 6lO LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. terribly; no one knows how much, for he never complains. After that fall, when he injured his hip, pleurisy set in. It was a severe attack, ihen he be- gan to suffer from neuralgia, wiui intense pains in the head. His system had been shocked by the fall. The neuralgia helped to reduce it. As a means of relieving the neuralgia he had several teeth drawn. He refused to take an anaesthetic, and had them drawn at one sitting. That exercise of his wonder- ful will, in his then debilitated condition, gave the system another shock, from which it could not rally. Then this terrible disease of the tongue appeared. It has been a steady drain upon him, reducing his flesh rapidly and Vrcakening him beyond any former experience. But he has stood it all Without a murmur, just as he has taken all the reverses and trials of his life. To see him wasting and sinking in this way is more touching and excites deeper sympathy among his friends than if he made some sign of his sufferings, as ordinary men do, by grumbling and complaint." General Rufus Ingalls, who was a classmate of General Grant at West Point and has held intimate relations with him most of the time since, crave some recollections of the great soldier. He said that young Grant came to West Point in June, 1839, a boy of seven- teen, with a fair, frank, yet rather firm-set face. He was several inches below his full growth, and remained beardless even up to the time of his graduation. His warrant described him as *' U. S. Grant," which was not a correct designation, and the mistake Led to a good deal of queer discussion of legal points by cadets as to its effects upon his status as a member of the corps, and long after the error was proved to have no important consequence it remained a subject of pleasantry with Grant and his friends at the Point. Being introduced at the Academy under the initials " U. S," the cadets gave him the nickname of Uncle Sam, and this stuck to him till he was commissioned, when it became shortened to Sam, and as *' Sam Grant " he was known as long as he remained in the army. Cadet Grant had but a few intimate associates in the corps, but his friendships were unreserved and lasting, his manner with his in- timates very genial, and his cadet friends in those days thought him one of the manliest and best of fellows. He was very conscientious in matters of duty, and noticeably pure in mind and speech. He has often said, in after-life, that he never went down to Benny Haven's but once, when he was beguiled by Rufe Ingalls, a stanch patron of that renowned establishment. Grant went through the course of instruction with ease, and probably might have graduated higher in the list if there had been anything to call out exertion on his part. The class was a large one, numbering considerably over one hundred at the beginning of the course, but only thirty-nine came out of the ordeal at the end of four years. After the Mexican war. Grant was stationed on the Pacific coast, and here he would often interest and sometimes astonish his brother RECOLLECTIONS OF GENERAL GRANT. 6l I officers by his clear, luminous description of the actions in which he had taken part as a subaltern, especially the important battle of Monterey, and his criticism on the conduct of the respective sides occasionally induced the prediction that, in the improbable con- tingency of a great war, Sam Grant would make his mark. He left the army in 1854, and, so far as his comrades on the Pacific were concerned, wholly faded from view until he began to be heard of as an enterprising division commander in the West in the early part of the civil war. However much of his success and fame General Grant may owe to his native powers and youthful training, it seems beyond ques- tion that his four years at the Military Academy and his experience of actual war and campaigning in Mexico must be credited with a great influence upon his after career as a commander. And, in' the same line of reflection, it is worth nothing that since he has been in the public view the qualities that especially marked his character while a cadet have remained constant. In mature, as in youthful life, he has always been unobtrusive, quietly self-reliant, silent with the many, free and ever joyous with intimates, constant in his friendships and in language and conduct as guileless as a child. When directing from his headquarters at City Point the operations of all the armies of the Union his knowledge of every fact of the existing situation was always thorough and complete, and such as to enable him to make clear what might be obscure to an unin- formed mind. Not another man in the country knows as much about Genera) Grant as Mr. George W. Childs, who has been his most intimate friend for many years. Whenever General Grant came to this city he stopped at the residence of Mr. Childs, with but a few exceptions, when he made short stays at the houses of Mr. Drexel or the late Mr. A. E. Borie, Secretary of the Navy during a portion of Presi- dent Grant's administration. "When I saw General Grant on the 4th of March." said Mr. Childs. "he realized that his life was drawing to a close, but seemed to regard the approach of death calmly and without the slightest fear. While we were talking of the efforts of his friends to have him placed on the retired list, he testified how kindly he felt toward them, and spoke of the pleasure he felt at the kind remarks of the newspapers advocating his retirement. " While we were chatting I observed that it was half-past eleven o'clock, and the General said: 'I suppose the Senate is adjourning now.' Just then I received a telegram from Mr. Drexel, stating that General Grant had been placed on the retired list. 'There, General,' said I, 'read that.' A smile of pleasure illuminated his countenance, and for a moment he appeared unable to speak. Mrs. Grant entered the room and I told her the news. With a beaming face she cried out : ' They have brought us back our old commander.* The scene was very affecting. The General could hardly express the delight he felt at the compliment which had been paid to him. He bore not the 6l2 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. slightest ill-will toward those who had oppose " PIeadquarters Armies of the U. S., ) " Special Order No.— In the Field, loth April. 1865. ) "AH officers and men of the Confederate service paroled at Appomattox C. H Va who to reach their homes are compelled to pass through the lines of RECOLLECTIONS OF GENERAL GRANT. 625 the Union armies will be allowed to do so, and to pass free on all Government and military railroads. " By com'd of Lieut.-Gen'l Grant. " E. S. Park, Lieut.-Col. & A. A. G. -' By com'd of Gen'l R, E. Lee. " C. S. Venable, a. a. G. (Official.) ''■ O. Latrobe, a. a. G. " John Stephenson, A. A. G. "JNO. W. Kerr, A. A. G. " Copied from the original at Appomattox Court-House, for Frank M. Smith, of Company E, Fifth Texas Volunteers, A. N. Va., by Lieut. Baker." General Adam Badeau, who has been one of the most constant attendants at General Grant's residence during his illness, says: " At the close of the war the man who had led the victorious armies was not forty-three years of age. He had not changed in any essential qualities from the captain in Mexico or the merchant in Galena. The characteristics of the man were exactly those he manifested as a soldier — directness and steadiness of purpose, clearness and certainty of judgment, self-reliance and immutable determination. " I asked him once how he could be so calm in terrible emergencies after giving an order for a corps to go into battle or directing some intricate ma- noeuvre. He replied that he had done his best, and could do no better. He had done what he could, and he gave himself no anxiety about the judgment or the decision. "On the night of the battle of the Wilderness, when the right of his army had been broken and turned, after he had given his orders for new dispositions, he went to his tent and slept calmly till morning. * * Not that he was in- different to human life or human suffering. I have been with him when he left a hurdle-race, unwilling to see men risk their necks needlessly, and he came away from one of Blondin's exhibitions at Niagara angry and nervous at the sight of one poor wretch in gaudy clothes crossing the whirlpool on a wire. But he could subordinate such sensations when necessity required it." In another place Badeau writes of Grant : " His relation with the troops was peculiar. He never made speeches to the soldiers, and, of course, never led them himself into battle, after he assumed his high command. But in every battle they saw him certainly once or twice far to the front as exposed as they, for there always seemed to come a time in each engagement when he was unwilling to use the eyes or ears of another, but must observe for himself in order to determine. The soldiers saw all this. They knew, too, that when he rode around in camp it meant action, and the sight of his blue overcoat, exactly like their own, it was a signal to prepare for battle. "After the batde of the wilderness he rode at night along the road where Hancock's veterans lay, and when the men discovered it was Grant, and that his face was turned toward Richmond, they knew in a moment they were not to retire acrose the Rapidan as so often before, and they rose in the darkness and cheered until the enemy thought it was a night attack and came out and opened fire. When the works were carried at Petersburg, their enthusiasm was, of course, unbounded, and whenever they caught a glimpse of him in the Appomattox campaign the cheers were vociferous. After the surrender of Lee they began without orders to salute him with cannon, and he directed the firing to cease, less it should wound the feelings of the prisoners, who, he said, were 40 62 6 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. once again our countrymen. This sentiment he retained. Soon after the close of the war I was present when a committee of Congress, headed by Charles Sumner, waited on him to propose that a picture should be painted of the sur- render of Lee to be placed in the rotunda of the Capitol. But he told them he should never consent so far as he was concerned, to any picture being placed in the Capitol to commemorate a victory in which our own countrymen were the losers." Mr. Thomas Donaldson, a friend of General Grant, thus describes his characteristics, appearance, manners and his virtues : " General Grant was about five feet seven inches in height. His shoulders were broad and his body, after his 50th year, rather inclined to be rotund. His weight in 1868 was about 150 pounds; in 1877, 185 pounds ; in 1883, 185 pounds ; in December. 1884, 152 pounds. His head was round, full and large, with ears well formed and prominent. His hair, originally brown, began to age, along with his whiskers, in 1875, ^'"^^ became nearly gray after his pecuni- ary misfortunes of i8S_[.. His beard for twenty five years was reddish brown and worn short and full, with moustache. His eyes were blue, his nose rather large and Grecian in shape. His lower jaw was square and massive. " His face had a kindly expression and bore strongly marked lines about the corners of the eyes and mouth. His manner of speech was slow and with a slight hesitancy. He was modest by nature and cultivation as well. He fre- quently expressed his contempt for ostentation and avoided loud men as com- panions. His face had the same mark upon it as there was upon President Lincoln's — a large mole on the right side and near the corner of the mouth. " His voice was thin and peculiar to himself, never loud, but clear. Still, at the end of a sentence or speech he sometimes ran his words closely together. A first glance at his face gave but small indication of what or who he was, but it always forced a second look. There was nothing in his personal appearance to show a man above the average of our intelligent class. Sympathy and affection were deep-set in him. As brave as a lion, in all the war facing death constantly, not a loose word escaped him. His blue-gray eyes put on a more far-away look and his jaws set the firmer " When he shook hands with you — after 1869 — he drew gently back. A ruffian amongst the visitors at the White House one day in 1869 grasped his hand as if to shake it and attempted to break his arm by wrenching it. His hands were small, seldom gloved, and his feet small and neatly bootc d. In his dress he was plain and simple. His clothes were generally dark. His coat was a frock or cutaway. " March 4, 1869, when first inaugurated President, General Grant made his first appearance in a tall silk hat. He always wore one after that. '' His watch-chain was a single strand of gold. In the army he wore a blue blouse and no sword, a plain slouch hat, dark trousers and top-boots. Even his horse equipments did not indicate his rank. When he went to Europe in 1878 he was compelled to buy a new uniform, as his old one was worn out. He bought but three while general of the army. "At table he ate but little, and that of the plainest food, and in the latter years of his life used no wine. As an escort for ladies, the assurance of one of the brightest and most lovely women who has graced Washington social life — that 'General Granfwas the most acceptable of all the escorts she had ever had at dinner' — is warrant enough for the statement that he was a gentleman in social life and at the table. " He was fond of children and they of him — because of positive evidences of benevolence of both head and heart. He stood fatigue. readily, and could go without food or sleep for a long time. On horseback he sat easily and rode RECOLLECTIONS OF GENERAL GRANT. 62/ with grace as West Point men usually do. He had a keen memory for those who abused him, either by speech or in the press, and never forcrot them He hated and liked with manly vigor. He had one old-time virtue, fast becomino- obsolete, developed in the highest— he liked his friends and would stand bv thein " His memory for men and events was clear and strong. A nephew of a member of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet, a private in a Maine battery in the Army of the Potomac, came in his private^s jacket to visit his uncle, with Mr. Lincoln and other members of his Cabinet on a steamer at City Point, Va He dined with them all, including General Grant. Four years afterward General Grant met him in the street m Washington and said,—' Why, Mr. Fessenden, how are you >' " In 1869 the reduction of the regular army to a peace establishment ren- dered SIX hundred officers superfluous. But when Congress proceeded to mus- ter them out. General Grant said,—' Stop, if you remove them I will appoint every one of them to the best civic positions within my province.' Concrress took the alarm and retired them with one year's pay each. ^ *' He had an affectionate regard for the soldiers who had served with him • Sherman was his loving friend, to whom he used to say, ' When this affair (any ceremony at which they were present) is over come around and let's have a talk.' Sheridan he pronounced 'the best soldier of .the century.' Jealousy was not an element of General Grant's make-up, '; He liked horses, but preferred to drive them himself. In 1877, when he arrived at Liverpool, a four-in-hand met him. He got in, rem.arking to Consul Packard, ' Ah, I would rather be behind a pair, in a buggy, with you for a guest.' He had in early days of his public hfe a reputation for marked reti- cence. He was called the ' Silent Man.' He was not a reticent man in private life. His conversational powers developed rapidly and he was a splen- did talker. The few speeches he made in public, beginning after 1869, were models in brevity, force, and compact expression. Directness is evident in all that he ever did. His reserve was natural, and an indication of the gentleness with which he commanded and controlled. In acting upon any important event m civil life, or in the war, he never by sign or word indicated that there was the least chance for a failure in what he was undertaking. " The best picture of him up to 1866 is the photograph taken bv F. Gutekun.^t, of Philadelphia, in that year, in full uniform and w'earing crape as mournin^r for Mr. Lincoln. One taken by Tabor, of San Francisco, in 1879, also does'him justice, but the majority of the photographs of him indicate a much larger and broader man than he was. In early life his path was over rugged ways, but his adversities were lessons to him, and his failures eventually became ele- ments in his success and made him the product and result of more than 300 years of Anglo-Saxon life on this continent. " The greatest man of this century in the Anglo-Saxon race— whom history will place along with the higher and favored few, was in his every-day life a common-place, simple, loveable man. He reached the summit of earthly glory, and in doing it practiced the methods and ways of a gentleman. The following are notable extracts from Grant's lettters^ speeches and conversations : "Yours of this date, proposing an armistice and the appointment of commis- sioners to settle on the terms of capitulation, is just received. No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately on your works. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant." — To General Buckner,com7nanding Fort Do7tclso7i, February 16, 1862, " General : Your note of this date, just received, proposes an armistice of sev- eral hours for the purpose of arranging terms of capitulation through commis- sioners to be appointed, etc. The effusion of blood you propose stopping by 628 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. this course can be ended at any time you may choose by an unconditional sur- render of the city and garrison. Men who have shown so much endurance and courage as those now in Vicksburg will also challenge the respect of an adversary, and, I can assure you, will be treated with all the respect due to them as prisoners of war. I do not favor the proposition of appointing com-' missioners to arrange terms of capitulation, because I have no other terms than those indicated above."- To Geiieral Pemberton. commanding at Vicksburg, 1863. " No theory of mv own will ever stand in the way of my executing, in good faith, any order I may receive from those in authority over me." — Letter io Secre- tary Chase ^ July ^ 1864. " I feel no inclination to retahate for the offenses of irresponsible persons ; but if it is the policy of any general entrusted with the command of troops to show no quarter, or to punish with death prisoners taken in battle, I will ac- cept the issue." — Letter to Confederate General Buckner, 1863. " The stability of this government and the unity of this nation depend solely on the cordial support and the earnest loyalty of the people." — Address to Loyal Citizens of Memphis, August, 1863. " I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." — /;/ the Wilder- ness, May II, 1864. " Victory has crowned your valor and secured the purpose of your patriotic hearts, and with the gratitude of your countrymen and the highest honors a great and free nation can accord, you will soon be permitted to return to your homes and families conscious of having discharged the highest duty of American citizens. To achieve these glorious triumphs, and to secure to your- selves, your fellow-countrymen and posterity the blessings of free institutions, tens of thousands of vour gallant comrades have fallen and sealed the priceless legacy with their lives. The graves of these a grateful nation bedews with tears,' honors their memories and will ever cherish and support their stricken families." — Address to the Armies, June 2, 1865. " It has been mv fortune to seethe armies of both the West and East fight battles, and from what I have seen, I know there is no difference in their fight- ing qualities. All that it was possible for men to do in battle they have done. ^ "^* All have a proud record, and all sections can well congratulate them- selves and each other for having done their full share in restoring the suprem- acy of law over every foot of territory belonging to the United States. Let them hope for perpetual peace and harmony with that enemy whose manhood, however mistaken the cause, drew forth such herculean deeds of valor." — Re- port on the Operations of the Armies, 1865. " This is a Republic where the will of the people is the law of the land. I beg that their voice may be heard."— Z^/Z^r to President Johnson, 1865. "Peace and universal prosperitv, its sequence, with economy of administra- tion, will lighten the burden of taxation, while it certainly reduces the national debt. Let us have ^i^dicer— Letter Accepting Nomination, 1868. " I shall on all subjects have a pohcy to recommend, none to enforce against the will of the people. Laws are to govern all alike— those opposed to as well as those in favor of them. I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effectual as \he\r sinci ^-^Qcniionr—Lnaugural Address, 1869. " To protect the national honor, every dollar of the government indebtedness should be paid in gold, unless otherwise especially stipulated in the contract. Let it be understood that no repudiatior of one farthing of our public debt will be trusted in public ^\d.zts:'— Inaugural Address, 1869. RECOLLECTIONS OF GENERAL GRANT. 629 " We are a Republic whereof one man is as good as another before the law. Under such a form of government it is of the greatest importance that all should be possessed of education and intelligence enough to cast a vote with a right understanding of its meaning." — Annual Message, 1871. " Let us all labor to add all needful guarantees for the more perfect security of free thought, free speech and free press, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments and of equal rights and privilci^es to all men, irrespective of nation- ality, color or religion. Encourage free schools and resolve that not one dollar of money appropriated to their support, no matter how raised, shall be appro- priated to the support of any sectarian school." — Address at Reunion of Army of the Teniiessee, 1875. " The compulsory support of the free schools and the disfranchisement of all who cannot read and write the English language, after a fixed probation, would meet my hearty approval." — Annual Message, 1876. " I am not a believer in any artificial method of making paper money equal to coin when the coin is not owned or held ready to redeem the promise to pay, for paper money is nothing more than promises to pay." — Veto Message of Currency Bill. " Nothing would afford me greater happiness than to know, as I believe will be the case, that at some future day the nations of the earth will agree upon some sort of congress, which shall take cognizance of international^ questions of difficulty, and whose decisions will be as binding as the decision of our Supreme Court are binding onus.'' — -To the International Arbitration Ufiion, Birniingham. " I recognize the fact that whatever there is of greatness in the United States, or indeed in any other country, is due to the labor performed. The laborer is the author of all greatness and wealth. Without labor there would be no government, or no leading class, or nothing to preserve. With us, labor is regarded as highly respectable." — To the Iron-Foioiders' Society, Birmitighani, 1877. " If our country could be saved or ruined by the efforts of any one man, we should not have a country and we should not now be celebrating our Fourth of July.'' — Speech at Hamburgh 1878. " The humblest soldier who carried a musket is endtled to as much credit for the results of the war as those who were in command." — Speech at Hamburg, 1878. " With a people as honest and proud as the Americans, and with so much common sense, it is always a mistake to do a thing not entirely right for the sake of expediency. "When I was in the army I had a physique that could stand anythmg. Whether I slept on the ground or in a tent, whether I slept one hour or ten m the twenty-four, whether I had one meal or three or none, made no differ- ence. I could lie down and sleep in the rain without caring. But I was many years younger, and I could not hope to do that now. "The only eyes a general can trust are his own. " Although a soldier by education and profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it except as a means of peace." — Speech in Londo7i^ ^^11- " A general who will never take a chance in a battle will never fight one. " T do not believe in luck in war any more than in luck in business. " I would deal with nations as equitable law requires individuals to treat with each other. ,1 j j * " The president of the Chamber of Commerce in his remarks has alluded to 630 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the Dersonal friendship existing between the two nations. I will not say the two peoples, because we are one people, but we are two nations haying a common destiny, and that destiny will be brilliant in proportion to the hi^nd- ship and co-operation of the brethren on the two sides of the water. —Speech at Newcastle. "The truth is I am more of a farmer than a soldier. I take little or no interest in military affairs, and, although I entered the army thirty-five years ago, and have been in two wars, in Mexico as a young lieutenant, and later. 1 never went into the army without regret and never retired without pleasure. " There had to be an end of slavery. Then we were hghting an enemy with whom we could not make a peace. We had to destroy him. No convention, no treatv, was possible, only destruction. _ w ui ^ " Too' iono- denial of guaranteed right is sure to lead to revolution, bloody revolution, where suffering must fall upon the innocent as well as the guilty. —Letter to Governor Chamberlain, 1876. " I am not one of those who cry out against the Republic and charge it with beine uncrrateful. I am sure that, as regards the American people as a nation and as individuals, I have every reason under the sun, if any person really has, to be satisfied with their treatment of me. —Speech in New York, 1880. "I have witnessed since my sickness just what I have wished to see ever since the war-harmony and good feeling between the sections. I have always contended that if there had been nobody left but the soldiers we should have had peace in a year. and are the only two that I know of who do not seem to be satisfied on the Southern side. We have some on ours who failed to accompUsh as much as they wished, or who did not get warmed up to the ficrht until it was all over, who have not had quite full satisfaction. Ihe ereat majority, too, of those who did not go into the war have long since grown tired of the long controversy. We may now well look forward to a perpetual peace at home and a national strength that will screen us against any foreign complication. I believe myself that the war was worth all it cost us. fearful as that vfdis:'— Written to Ge^ieral Buckner. CHAPTER XXIII. THE NATION MOURNS THE DEATH OF GENERAL GRANT. Great Sorrow in all Parts of the Globe — Proclamations of President Cleveland and the Governors of the States — General Fitz-John Porter's Kind Words— Outward Signs of Woe — Flags at Half-Mast and Black Emblems in the Streets— Citizens, Soldiers an I Officials pay Universal Tribute — The Southern Press. Shortly after 8 o'clock on the morning of the 23d day of July the President was informed of the death of General Grant. He imme- diately directed that the flag on the White House should be placed at half-mast. The lowering of the flag was the first intimation that the citizens of Washington had of the death of the distinguished man, although they had been anticipating it throughout the night. A few minutes after the White House flag was placed at half-mast, the flags on all the public buildings and many private ones were placed in a like position. The bells of the city were tolled, and citizens who heard them readily recognized their meaning. Business men immediately began draping their houses with mourning, and residences in a similar manner showed esteem for the deceased. President Cleveland sent the following dispatch to Mrs. Grant, at Mt. McGregor: " Accept this expression of my heartfelt sympathy in this hour of your great affliction. The people of the Nation mourn with you, and would reach, if they could, with kindly comfort, the depths of the sorrow which is yours alone, and which only the pity of God can heal." Upon the receipt of the news of the death of General Grant, the following telegram was sent to Colonel Fred. Grant by General S. S. Burdett, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Re- public : " Expressing the profound grief of the Grand Army of the Republic upon the death of the greatest of our comrades, on behalf of its 300,000 members, I tender to your honored mother, and to all the afflicted family, their heartfelt sympathy. I pray you have me advised so soon as arrangements for the last sad rites are determined upon." The Chairman of the Citizens' Meeting to-night was requested to convey to Mrs. Grant the expression of sympathy felt by the citizens of Columbus, Ohio. The following was telegraphed by Ex- Senator Thurman : " The City Council of the City of Columbus, Ohio, and the posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, in this city assembled in public meeting, direct me to convey to you and your family an expression of their profound sympathy in your bereavement and their deep sense of the loss sustained by the country in the death of General Grant. " A. G. Thurman, Chairman." (631) 632 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. The following dispatch was received from Ex-President Hayes : " Fremont, Ohio, July 23. — Please assure Mrs. Grant and the sorrowing family that they have the deepest sympathy of Mrs. Hayes and myself " R. B. Hayes." The following are among the telegrams received by the family : " Augusta, Me., July 23. — Mrs. TJ. S. Grant : Please accept my profoundest sympathy in your great bereavement. The entire Nation mourns the loss of Its first soldier and its first citizen. "James G. Blaine." " Philadelphia, Pa., July 23. — Mrs. General Grant : I have heard with great sorrow of General Grant's death. I offer full measure of sympathy. "Samuel J. Randall, Berwyn, Pa." " Fort Reno, I. T. July 23. — Colonel F. D. Grant : Will you please express to Mrs. Grant my grief at the loss of my dearest friend and comrade, and my sincere sympathy and condolence with her in this hour of her great distress. " P. H. Sheridan, Lieutenant-General." " Washington, July 23. — To Colonel F. D. Grant. The painful news to me of your father's death has just been received. The sympathy of myself and family goes out from the depth of our hearts to your mother and all of you in your great bereavement. The country is filled with sympathy and grief at this news, but the greatness of its loss must grow upon it as the future unfolds the coming years. "John A. Logan." The following proclamation was issued by President Cleveland after a special Cabinet meeting : " The President of the United States has just received the sad tidings of the death of that illustrious cidzen and ex-President of the United States, General Ulysses S. Grant, at Mt. McGregor, in the State of New York, to which place he had lately been removed in the endeavor to prolong his life. " In making this announcement to the people of the United States, the Presi- dent is impressed with the magnitude of the public loss of a great military leader, who was, in the hour of victory, magnanimous ; amid disaster serene and self-sustained; who, in every station, whether as a soldier or as a Chief Magistrate, twice called to power by his fellow-countrymen, trod unswervingly the pathway of duty, undeterred by doubts, single-minded and straightforward. " The entire country has witnessed with deep emotion his prolonged and patient struggle with painful disease, and has watched by his couch of suffering with tearful sympathy. " The destined end has come at last, and his spirit has returned to the Creator who sent it forth. The great heart of the nation, that followed him when liv- ing with love and pride, bows now in sorrow above him dead, tenderly mindful of his virtues, his great patriotic services and of the loss occasioned by his death, " In testimony of respect to the memory of General Grant, it is ordered that the Executive Mansion and the several departments at Washington be draped in mourning for a period of thirty days, and that all public business shall on the day of the funeral be suspended ; and the Secretaries of War and the Navy shall cause orders to be issued for appropriate military and naval honors to be rendered on that day. " In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. " Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-third day of July, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five, and the independence of the United States the one hundred and tenth. " Grover Cleveland. " By the President. " T. F. Bayard, Secretary of State." NATIONAL MOURNING FOR GENERAL GRANT. 6^;^ Adjutant General Drum, by command of Lieutenant-General Sheridan, issued the following order : " In compliance with the instructions of the P-esident, on the day of the funeral at each military post the troops and cadets will be paraded, and the order read to them, after which all labors for the day will cease. " The National flag will be displayed at half-staff. "At dawn of day thirteen guns will be fired, and afterward, at intervals of thirty minutes, between the rising and setting of the sun, a single gun, and at the close of the day a National salute of thirty-eight guns. The officers of the army will wear crape on the left arm and on their swords, and the colors of the iDattalion of engineers, of the several regiments, and of the United States. Corps of cadets will be put in mourning for the period of six months." Governor Hill, of New York, issued the following proclamation: " State of New York, Executive Chamber. " Ulysses S. Grant, twice President of the United States, the defender of the Union, the victorious leader of our soldiers, and General on the retired list of the army, is dead. "To the last he was the true soldier, strong in spirit, patient in suffering, brave in death. His warfare is ended. "After the close of his official life, and following that notable journey around the world, when tributes of esteem from all nations were paid him, he chose his home am.ong the citizens of our State. He died upon our soil, in the county of Saratoga, overlooking scenes made glorious by Revolutionary mem- ories. " It is fitting that the State which he chose as his home should especially honor his memory. " The words of grief and the tokens of sorrow by which we mark his death shall honor, too, the offices which he held, and proclaim that praise which shall ever be accorded to those who serve the Republic. Therefore it is hereby directed that flags on the public buildings of the State be placed at half-mast until his burial, and on that day, yet to be appointed, all ordinary business in the Executive Chamber and the departments of the State government will be suspended. " The people of the State are called upon to display until his funeral emblems of mourning, and it is requested that at that hour they cease from their busi- ness and pay respect to the distinguished dead. " Given under my hand and the privy seal of the State of New York, at the Capitol, in the city of Albany, the 23d day of July, 1885. " By the Governor, " David B. Hill." Governor Pattison, of Pennsylvania, issued the following pro- clamation : " In the name of and by the authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Robert E. Pattison, Governor of the said Commonwealth: "Proclamation: The people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have learned with profound regret of the death of the illustrious American soldier and ex-President, Ulysses S. Grant. Emerging from the quiet walks of a citi- zen's life, at a critical period in the history of his country, he rapidly attained the highest renown in her military service, and on the return of peace was twice called to occupy her chief chair of state. Brilliant and successful in war, magnanimous and conservative in statesmanship, distinguished at home and abroad for his personal virtues in private life, he filled the measure of a useful, honorable and patriotic career, and he bequeathed to his fellow-citizens and posterity a name that will forever be revered. Now, therefore, in view of the 634 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. sad event which has filled the nation with deep sorrow, and as a fitting mark of respect to the memory of the eminent man who, in the providence of God, after a painful and patient struggle with disease and death, has closed his mor- tal life, I do direct ihat the flags on the pubhc buildings of the State be held at half-mast until sundown on the day of his burial, and that on that day the ordinary business of the several departments of the State government be sus- pended. And I recommend to the people of the Commonwealth that, during the obsequies on that day, they do generally observe the great solemnity of those hours by suspension of business, the tolling of bells and such other marks of respect for the distinguished dead as to them may be deemed appro- priate. " Given under my hand and the seal of the State at Harrisburg, this twenty- fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five and of the Commonwealth one hundred and tenth. " Robert E. Pattison, Governor." Governor Hoadly, of Ohio, issued a proclamation recommending- the proper observance of August 8th. Speaking of General Grant, he says : " By his labors and those of the brave men he led, the Union was restored, and six millions of freedmen celebrate the blessings of liberty secured for themselves and their posterity. Tenacious in conflict, he was magnanimous in victory, and the beneficent results of his generous dealings with his foes, and their grateful response, comforted him in the face of death." Governor Gray, of Indiana, was absent from Indianapolis at the time of General Grant's death. Immediately upon his arrival he issued a proclamation announcing the General's death and recom- mending a general suspension of business on the day of the funeral. General Fitz-John Porter took* occasion to speak about the death of General Grant : "We were boys together at West Point," he said, " and officers together in Mexico. Although in after-years he decided against me in a matter that con- cerns what is dearer to me than life, I never regarded General Grant as my enemy. On the contrary, I always esteemed him highly for his great purity of character. His conduct toward me shows that he was worthy of esteem. He was the victim, for awhile, of misinformation, but repented deeply for his hasty and incorrect judgment of my case. The very change proved his man- liness, his nobility and his absolute purity of heart. It also proved his sterling integrity and determination to do what was right and just. He had committed himself as President of the United States and as General of the Army, but when he examined into the facts, without hesitation he reversed his judgment and made every effort a man could to undo an unintentional injustice. I re- garded Grant as my friend and feel deeply his loss. I look upon his death as a calamity to the country, and his record as one for the study of the youths of the Republic.'' Washington, July 24, 1885. Mrs. U. S. Grant: — Her Majesty, the Queen, commands me to convey to yourself and family her sincere condolence on the death of General Grant. British Minister. The sympathy of Queen Victoria, the widow and mother, ten- dered to Mrs. Grant, also a widow and a mother, affected her even to tears. Next came the following missive from the Prince and NATIONAL MOURNING FOR GENERA^. GRANT. 635 Princess of Wales, in whose hearts the flood-tide of humanity ever bounds with warm and generous impulses : London, July 24, 1885. Mrs. U. S. Grant: — Accept our deepest sympathy in the loss of your dis- tinguished husband. We shall always look back with gratification at having had the advantage of knowing him personally. Prince and Princess of Wales. This was quickly followed by the subjoined despatch from ex- President Arthur : Montreal, July 24, 1885. ^ Mrs. Grant : — I am greatly grieved to get the sad news of the General's death. Pray accept my most sincere sympathy. Chester A. Arthur. Among other telegrams received on the 25th day of July were the following : Atlanta, Ga., July 25, 1885. Colonel F. D. Grant : — I sympathize deeply with your family. General Grant was a brave and successful soldier and a generous adversary. G. T. Beauregard. Mrs. Grant ; — Delaware tenders the warmest sympathy of her citizens in this great hour of private and public grief. Charles C. Stockley. Mrs. Grant : — I offer my expression of deep sympathy to the widow of the great leader of the Union armies. Comte De Paris. Metherington, July 24,1885. Mrs. Grant: — Allow me to offer sincere sympathy on your great loss. Lord Ripon. London, July 25, 1885. Mrs. Grant: — Heartfelt sympathy for sad affliction befallen you. Mrs. Mackay- Tokio, Japan, July 24, 1885. Mme. General Grant : — I learned with much sorrow of the death of your husband. I tender you my sincere condolence and deep sympathy Prince Towhito. New York, July 25, 1885. Mrs. Grant: — In the name of the Imperial Government and my own, pray accept the expression of the deepest sympathy. Brazilian Minister. Tokio, July 25, 1885. Mrs. U. S. Grant : — By command, I present to you the condolence and sym- pathy of their Majesties the Emperor and Empress, in the sad death of the illustrious and honored friend of their Majesties. Ito Hirobume, Japanese Imperial Household Minister. Hot Springs, Ark., July 25, 1885. My own grief is overwhelming for the loss of my truest friend, beloved class- mate and noble con.rade. . RuFUS Ingalls. Executive Chamber, Augusta, Me , July 25, 1885, Our people extend to Mrs. Grant and family their profoundest sympathy. In accordance with the order of Executive Council of the State of Maine, I shall attend the funeral ceremonies, accompanied by a committee from that body. Frederick Robie, Governor. 6^6 i-IFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. President Diaz, of Mexico, sent a telegram expressing his sor- row at the loss of so distinguished a soldier and statesman. Ignacio Mariscal, the Mexican Premier, sent the following : " By instructions of President Diaz I send you the most sincere condolence of the Mexican Government for the loss of our great friend, the illustrious General Grant, and personally I tender my own and my family's heartfelt sympathy in your bereavement.'' Mrs. Frelinghuysen, widow of the late Secretary of State, tele- graphed : " Pray receive my loving sympathy. We feel deeply for you all. I so highly appreciated the General's kindness to me in my sorrow, even when he was such a sufferer." Confederate soldiers of Helena, Ark., sent a message of sympathy. The following telegram was sent from Sandy Hook to Colonel Fred. D. Grant by Secretary Endicott : '^ Your telegram received containing the sad tidings of your father's death. The sympathies of the Nation and the world are with you, but nowhere will they be so near personal as in the army, which he commanded and the great department of the Government with v/hich he is so closely identified. Be assured of my sincere sympathy with you and your family in this great affliction." Governor Oglesby, of Illinois, was on the steamer " Colonel Patter- son," with the Grand Army of the Republic excursion from Quincy to Nauvoo, when he learned at Keokuk of the death of General Grant. The Governor made the soldier boys a brilliant speech, de- voted entirely to a tribute to the old commander. He left the ex- cursion and went to Springfield to inaugurate means for a fitting ^ tribute in behalf of Illinois for the dead hero. The news of General Grant's death spread with marvelous rapid- ity, in New York City, and ten minutes after the telegraph had an- nounced it to the newspaper offices it was known from the Battery to Harlem. Flags were soon flying at half-mast all over the city, and no one needed to be told the meaning of the gloomy signal. Gradually signs of mourning spread through the streets. Long streamers of black crape stretched from cornices to sidewalk. Busi- ness flagged. Though the current of trade did not cease, it was checked, and men found time to talk of the Nation's loss. Few men, as they mingled in the turmoil of city life, did not feel touched by a sense of personal sorrow. There were many silent tokens of the universal grief The half-masted flags and the mourning dra- pery, the edging of black, which grew as by magic on every street, the tolling of bells and the gathering here and there of official bodies to take appropriate action were only a few of these manifestations. Every face among thousands seemed to wear an expression of sorrow, and crowds gathered before the bulletins which contained the barren but moving statement that General Grant was dead. Likenesses of NATIONAL MOURNING FOR GENERAL GRANT. 637 the dead hero in windows invariably gathered knots of people, and the features were studied with a new and regretful interest. Even some of the street-car lines decorated their platforms with sable- bordered flags. At Coney Island the various bands performed special programmes, and even in the scores of lesser halls in this city, where people flock for music, the airs were subdued. The gayest excur- sion boats on the bay and river carried their flags at half-mast, and it is a fact that the merriment upon them was subdued. The first building in the city to show signs of mourning was the Western Union, The National, State and municipal flags soon after drooped above the City Hall, and thence the line of mourning emblems ran quickly up Broadway. By noon emblems of mourning were dis- piaved on thousands of small stores. The Times, Tribune, World and Sun buildings were draped with especial effectiveness. Por- traits of the General framed in black and badges of white crape with his features stamped upon them, and medals bearing his face with the date and hour of his death, found ready sale upon the streets. Every church in Trinity parish tolled its bells, and the sad chimes soon rang from Murray Hill to the outskirts of Brooklyn and Jersey City. Every fire-engine-house and police-station was draped with black, as were the departments of the municipal gov- ernment. Mayor Grace found it impossible to get a full meeting of the Aldermen, but, in anticipation of their action, he sent an official telegram of condolence to Mrs. Grant and offered a burial- place in any of the parks in the city. Such of the exchanges as had not already adopted resolutions did so, and this form of ex- pression spread to countless organizations, — commercial, civic, military and social throughout the country. The Neiv York Herald said : "The announcement nine months ago that General Grant had fallen, shot by an assassin's bullet, would have stirred the nation from core to circumference, and excitement utterly unprecedented — unknown to modern life — would have taken possession of the city and dominated the situation. During this greater part of a busy and active year the nation had sat by the bedside of the sufferer ; had watched him during the sleepless hours of the night, when pain and anguish made him sigh for the final outcome ; had followed with great interest the efforts of his doctors and the service of his friends ; had hobbled with him on his crutch to the window, that he might reciprocate the courteous recognition of his com- rades ; had labored with him over the pages of his memoirs, and had read with unaffected interest, the affectionate messages written on the historic pad to his family and his friends ; had attended him in that long and tedious trip to the mountain, where he sought a possible relief, and in the long weeks had sunk from hopefulness to 638 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. hopelessness, and at last had attended him to the very verge and confine of life's fitful fever. Therefore the end was not only ex- pected, but was anticipated, so that its effect was largely dis- counted. " When Garfield was assassinated doubt and uncertainty came with the news ; and although horror and disgust and apprehension were apparent on every hand, there was no cessation of work, no factory closed its doors, no exchange adjourned for the day. Hope told a flattering tale, and for weeks, and for months, while the illustrious sufferer lay and dozed upon his couch of pain, attended by unfeigned sympathy and affectionate interest, everything went on in its accus- tomed channel as m the olden time. This might have been antici- pated m the present instance. There was no surprise of any sort for those who have been lookmg nearly a year for the tidings of General Grant's death. There was no startling sensation to be sprung upon an unprepared people by ambitious panderers, or by dealers in highly-spiced intelligence. Quietly, gravely, solemnly, decorously as one's own family circle might sit in an adjoining room waiting for the death-throe whose painful conclusion the doc- tor alone would care to see, has the nation waited for dissolution so certain, — as certain as fate itself. *' At last it came ! " It came not with the force and vigor of a thunderbolt, not with a quick flash of incisive lightning, not with the blast and fury of a tornado, but in the calm announcement that the Christian hero, the successful general, the two-term President, the world's guest, the nation's favorite son, had finally succumbed, and in the noiseless seclusion of his bed-chamber, surrounded by his wife and children, had with intelligence yielded up his spirit to its Maker in calm confidence that a past so pregnant with good, so fr-aught with blessing, was a harbinger indeed of a happy future, a second term beyond the skies, directed, fashioned and guided by the omnipotent hand of the Creator himself " The sad news of his demise spread like wild-fire, and before many hours had elapsed the whole nation mourned the death ot General Grant." The New Yo?^k Tribime said: "The foremost man of the Nation has closed a career second to no other in the history of the Repubhc. The victorious leader of the Nation in the greatest war of modern times, he was also a leader of the people in civil life. All men have faults, and he was not exempt. But a thankful people would c^ladly forget them and remember only the great deeds and the noble traits of character which remain for the admiration of mankind. He has gone where reticence will no longer be misunderstood. The faults of others which he shouldered through life fall from him at the grave. He lives in the memory of millions who owe to him their Nation's safety, a great soldier, a faithful public servant, a devoted defender of public faith, a sincere patriot, a noble man.'' NATIONAL MOURNING FOR GENERAL GRANT. 639 The New York Times said : " The name of General Grant will be remem- bered by Americans as that of the saviour of their country in a crisis more ap- palling than any it has passed through since the United States became a na- tion. His fame as a soldier will survive as long as the history of our Nation is read. The last of the two greatest Americans of their generation is gone." The New York Sun said : " Thus another great and memorable figure in the later history of the Republic — the most memorable, perhaps, excepting Mr. Lincoln, among all those who performed their parts in the immortal contest for the preservation of the Union— passes away from among living men and takes his place on the records of history. What encouragement for patriotism, for fidelity, for weariless defense of the great interests'of mankind ! And above and beyond all, we see the Democratic Republic greater than all persons, sur- viving every danger, victorious over every foe, preserving the treasure of lib- erty and law, and maintaining alive and undimmed the hope and promise of humanity.'' The New York IVor/d said: " Let us speak of our great chieftain and think of him only as a soldier whose fame has not a spot to mar its brilliancy. If his civil career seems to invite criticism, let us bury it out of sight and honor him as the great captain of the age ; as the devoted leader who led the armies of the Union to triumph, striking the fetters from the slave, showing the magnanim- ity of the hero in the hour of victory as he showed the courage of the hero in the day of battle, and restoring to us the American Republic stronger, more honored and more glorious than it was when handed down to us by our Revo- lutionary sires." The news of the death of General Grant reached Galena, the old home of the dead hero, at 7.20 A. m.. July 23d, via the Western Union Telegraph at Dubuque. The first bell to make the general announcement to the public was that of the First Presbyterian Church, and was tolled by Dr. G. Newhall, whose patriotic wife climbed through the church window and was the first one to toll the bell announcing the death of President Garfield four years ago. The first flag at half-mast was run up by W. H. Blewett on the staff of the De Soto House, which General Grant made his head- quarters the last time he visited Galena, two years ago. Soon after the solemn tones of the first church bell fell upon the ears of our people, the sad refrain was caught up by other church and fire bells of the city, and fiags at half-mast and other emblems of mourning were displayed on public buildings, business houses and private residences. Scarcely a building in the city was without sombre drapery of some kind, in token of respect for the distin- guished dead. The feeling in Galena was one of unbounded sorrow over the calamity which had befallen the country. General Grant was greatly beloved in Galena, and this sentiment was not confined by any means to his personal friends, but extended to all classes of our people. The news of his death, therefore, although not en- tirely unexpected, was a great shock to the citizens of Galena, the former home of the old commander, and brought tears to hundreds of eyes and unalloyed sorrow to every heart. A public meeting of the citizens was held at the Council chamber in the even- 640 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ing, at which memorial addresses were deHvered by Mayor R. Barrett, General W. R. Rowley, Grant's military secretary during the Rebellion, Senator R. H. McClellan, Judge Wm. Spensley and others. Resolutions expressive of the sorrow experienced by the people of Galena, over the death of General Grant, and sympathy for the wife and family of the old commander, were unanimously adopted and were ordered to be properly engrossed. The people of the city of New Orleans and the entire State of Louisiana had great respect and regard for General Grant, and the news of his death was received with general regret. Flags were placed at half-mast, the City Hall was closed, and Governor McEnery issued a proclamation ordering the State-House at Baton Rouge draped in mourning. The public sentiment was voiced by the editorials in the different papers. The Tij7ies- Democrat S2\di: "As the mortal remains of Ulysses S. Grant lie in their casket, and solemn guns are booming the last salute for the dead commander, we of the South forget the stern general who hurled his terrible masses upon the ranks of our fathers and brethren; whose storms of shot and shell mowed down our friends like wheat before the gleaner; remembering only the manly soldier who, in the hour of triumph, displayed the knightly chivalry that robs defeat of its bitterest pang; vanquished by his arms, in his chivalric kindness we were doubly vanquished at Appomattox. Every soldier heart in this wide land will pray God this morning that the generous meas- ures he meted to his foe in time of victory may be remembered and meted again to Ulysses S. Grant in this his hour of defeat and judgment." The Evening States said: "General Grant is dead. Wherever the telegraph has carried this not unexpected announcement there is profound regret. Twenty years have passed since the best of his reputation was earned. That has given time to make a juster estimate of the great soldier than was possible just after Appomattox. Much history has been written since then. All sides have been heard. Much documentary evidence has been sifted, and Grant's unquestioned successes are now generally conceded to have been greatly due to true military genius. Our people have had twenty years of time and abun- dant opportunity to closely study Grant's record, and the almost universal verdict is that, outside of politics, he was fortunate enough to achieve deserved greatness." The Picaytme said: "While the North remembers that General Grant received the sword of Lee, the South will not forget with what generous and soldierly courtesy he returned it. We cheerfully recognize his high place in history, and cannot think otherwise than regretfully of the misfortunes that saddened the last days of his life. The hero of a great war, twice elected President of the United States, the honored guest of kings and nations, the possessor of an ample fortune, the husband of a devoted wife, the father of loving and happy children — what had he to expect but peace and prosperity for his declining years? Alas! the answer has been written; we will not repeat it. Brethren of the North and South, let us join mournful hands together around that newly-opened grave, remembering that while all earthly goods are evanescent, honor, truth and love are eternally secure." The Evening Item says : " Than his, a more checkered career was never pur- sued by any human being. Its lights have flashed and its obscuring shacows have fallen as Rembrandt effects upon the great historic picture in which he NATIONAL MOURNING FOR GENERAL GRANT. 64 1 formed the central figure ! And now he takes his place among the honored dead who yet speak— the teachers who instruct the coming generations by an example which cannot die." Ex- Congressman John S. Wise, of Virginia, speaking about General Grant's death, said : "I believe that our people in the South will mourn Grant's death more sincerely than any man of their own present or past. Grant completely won Virgmia by his course at Appomattox. He was plain, unassumino-, unostenta- tious, and used to go about after the surrender talking to the soldiers in blue and gray alike, wherever he met them. He was always approachable. On a sleeping-car, from Philadelphia, one night, several years ago, I sat beside General Grant, and fell into conversation with him, by mistake for the car conductor. He didn't mind it the least, though it confused me not a little when I discovered my mistake. Grant's entire course towards the South won him the admiration and, in a large degree, the affection of our people who will deeply regret his death." ' Ex-Senator Wm. Pitt Kellogg, of Louisiana, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, said of General Grant : " His highest quality was that of being just. He was, it is true, often sur- rounded by men whose representations and opinions swaved his judo-ment owing to his confiding and trusting nature ; but when he came to knowlill the circumstances of a case, to investigate and penetrate it in all its bearino-s he invariably formed a just judgment, from which he could not be moved ' It was one of Grant's high qualities that he would stand by a friend and bt ind by what he believed to be right to the end." Ex-Governor S. B. Packard, of Louisiana, late Consul at Liver- pool, said : "I was well acquainted with General Grant and had unbounded admiration for him. He was a loyal-souled friend. I held the position of Marshal of Louisiana for seven years under him. It was due to his counsel as much as any man s that I consented to run for Governor of Louisiana acceptincr a nomination about the same time that Hayes was nominated for the Pr?si- dency. I never saw General Grant afterwards. He hesitated to reco^^nize me at the outset, from perfectly honorable and high-minded motives He was much aggrieved because the Republican party did not approve his" Southern policy and so enable him to carry it into efi^ect. But he recognized that this lack of support would make it a dangerous experiment to the peace of the country for him to assert his policy by force, which might have been necessary. General Grant will stand in history as one of the very few ^reat men of the century." -^ t> The announcement of General Grant's death was received in Canton, Miss., with sincere sorrow. All conceded that a great man had passed away. His memory will be revered in the South be- cause he quit fighting them when the war was over. The Georgia Legislature passed resolutions of regret at the death of General Grant, and adjourned for the day out of respect to his memory. Mayor Garland, of Springfield, 111., sent the following dispatch July 23d, after a conference with the citizens : To Mrs. U. S. Grant, Mt. McGregor, N. Y.-In behalf of the citizens of 41 642 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Springfield, the capital of the State of Ilinois, I tender to you a resting place for General Grant in this city, where your illustrious husband began his career as a soldier in the late war. James M. Garland, Mayor. As Governor Oglesby was absent from the city, this was thought to be the best thing to do. The following are among the thousands of telegrams received from all parts of the world by members of the Grant family : Washington, July 23. To Colonel Fred Grant. — The Board of Commissioners of the United States Soldiers' Home are unanimous in their desire that the remains of General Grant may be buried within the grounds of that institution. The commis- sioners have selected, subject to the approval of the family, an appropriate and commanding eminence overlooking the city and surrounding country as an appropriate place of sepulchre. Letter by mail. E. MacFeely. In the absence and by authority of Lieutenant-General Sheridan, President of the Board. Mayor Grace, of New York City, by direction of the Aldermen, sent the following dispatch : Mrs. U. S. Grant, Mt. McGregor, N. Y. — In advance of official action, I am instructed to tender to yourself and family the deep sympathy of the Common Council and of the municipal authorities of the City of New York in your bereavement. I am also authorized, by informal action of the authorities, which will be made official to-morrow, to tender to you a last resting-place for the remains of General Grant in any one of the parks in this city which you may select. I am also authorized to offer the government room at the City Hall for the purpose of allowing the body to lie in state. Mayor Grace. The first intimation that citizens of Brooklyn received of the sad event was about a quarter past eight o'clock, when the bells on the churches and city hall began to toll mournful and measured cadence. " Grant is dead," passed from lip to lip on the streets, on the avenues, on the boats, on the cars, everywhere, in fact, where there were lips to repeat the mournful intelligence. Simultaneously with the tolling of the bells the flags on all the public buildings were hoisted to half-mast, and within an hour afterwards there was not a flagstaff in the city that had not its flag floating from it. The spontaneity with which this was done was only equalled by the zeal of the people in displaying mourning on their residences. Indeed, the day had not half gone before all the public and a vast number of the private buildings were draped in mourning, In the evening the draping had so far progressed that the sable emblems of mourning met the eye at every turn and in- stinctively carried all beholders back to the day when all the houses were draped as a tribute to the memory of President Gar- field. R. E Lee Camp of Confederate Veterans, at Richmond, Va., unanimously adopted the following resolutions : Resolved, That R. E. Lee Camp of Confederate Veterans, with profound sor- NATIONAL MOURNING FOR GLi\ERAL GRANT. 643 row and sincere regret, receive the announcement of the death of Ulysses S- Grant ; Resolved, That the people of Virginia will ever cherish and revere the memory of Ulysses S. Grant as an American soldier and citizen ; Resolved, That the people of the South, and especially the people of Virginia, will always hold in grateful memory his uniform and unvarying kindness of purpose towards this people, and the constancy with which he maintained the inviolability of the parole which he had granted to General Robert E. Lee and his soldiers at the termination of the late civil strife. Stonewall Jackson Camp of Confederate Veterans also adopted resolutions, as follows : Resolved, That, as a body of Confederate Veterans, we mourn with the na- tion the loss of one of the greatest military leaders of this generation, which has been sustained by the death of General U. S. Grant ; Resolved, That we felt the blows he so well directed during the war between the States, on the side of his honor and duty, and we appreciate the kmd terms granted by him when our flag was folded at Appomattox, thus learning that a great man, firm in war, could be gentle and generous in peace to his fallen friends. The meeting of ex-Confederate and Federal soldiers of Galveston* Texas, on the 24th of July, was largely attended, the gray outnum- bering the blue. Colonel Robert G. Street, of the Fifty-first Alabama Regiment, was active in calling the meeting. Judge Gus- tave Cooke, late Colonel of Terry's Texas rangers, was chosen Chairman. Among other prominent ex-Confederates present were Adjutant-General Franklin, Major Lloyd, Captain R. L. Fulton, Mayor of Galveston, Colonel Shannon, and General John M. Clai- borne. After several eulogistic addresses, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted : Resolved, That the death of General Grant is cause for common sorrow to all who love this, our common country ; to all who honor the great soldier, most just and magnanimous in the hour of his greatest victory; to all who admire the simple and homely virtues that give strength and nobility to man- hood. That his misfortunes and long and painful illness, while awakening the most widespread sympathy, have given the world the noble spectacle of the quiet heroism that resides in the breast of a brave man, conscious of the recti- tude of his own purposes in life, shining the more brightly amid the mingled gloom of pecuniary disaster and the sensible approach of the victor, death. To the praise of those who honor him, we add our tribute to the soldier and man , to those who personally knew and loved him we tender our most respectful sympathy. San Francisco, Cal., July 23. The tolling of fire-bells at six this morning announced to the inhabitants of San Francisco the death of General Grant. Meetings were held this afternoon by the Chamber of Commerce, Board of Trade, Grand Army of the Republic and other associations. All of them appointed committees to confer with the Mayor and Board of Supervisors how to most appropriately show their grati- tude for Grant's great services to the country and their respect for his memory. Governor Stoneman proclaimed the day of the funeral a legal holiday and re- commended that all business be suspended. Des Moines, Iowa, July 23. The news of the death of General Grant, although expected, cast a gloom upon the city, and was received with universal sorrow. Flags on ^he goverr*' 644 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANTo ment, State, county and city buildings are at half-mast, and business houses are generally draped with the emblems of mourning. In a proclamation issued at noon, Governor Rusk, of Wisconsin, after eulogizing the life of General Grant, ordered : " That the flag upon the Capitol be displayed at half-staff each day until sundown the day of the funeral ; that the Quartermaster-General cause a gun to be fired every half-hour, beginning at sunrise and end at sunset on the 24th inst., and on the day of the funeral every half-hour, beginning at sunrise and ending when the burial procession moves ; that the State offices be closed on this day and on the day of the funeral, for all public business; that the Capitol be draped in mourning, and that the usual badge of mourning be worn by the Wisconsin National Guards." The following telegram was sent by Governor Rusk to Mrs. Grant : " In the hour of your great affliction, permit me, in behalf of the people of Wisconsin, who gratefully remember the invaluable services rendered the Nation by your distinguished husband, to assure you of their sincere and heartfelt sympathy." Choice of a burial-place : " In regard to the place of burial, it is stated that about the ist of July the General handed Colonel Fred Grant a slip of paper on which was written sub- stantially this : ' There are three places from which I wish a choice of burial- place to be made : West Point — I would prefer this above others but for the fact that my wife could not be placed beside me there. Galena, or some place in Illinois — because from that State I received my first general's commission. New York — because the people of that city befriended me in my need.' " Receipt of the news of General Grant's death in Chicago : " Up flagstaff after flagstaff the colors crept, to be kissed and gently shaken by the faint breezes of yesterday morn. Banner after banner floated o'er the city — but a drooping banner, o'er a drooping city. No flag was pulled to the peak ; at half-mast it sadly fluttered. On distant Mt, McGregor— a mount of anguish for one great soul no longer — Grant lay dead ! Chicago mourned, for in this latter day the greatest surviving son of her beloved commonwealth was taken from her, yet leaving the immeasurable heritage of a hero's name. Like the news of a disaster or the news of a victory, the ill-tidings swept from house to house. By the breakfast table they found many a citizen. They left him and his silent and thoughtful. It was an hour of review of a patriot's career. The stripling who watched the tear well into his father's eye when the news came home will never forget the hour, for he will never be convinced that the man for whom his sire was not ashamed to weep had not been a man full worthy of such tribute. The man that wept for Grant wept, too, for Lin- coln. In the sight of two generations of lads did those tears fall. Such tears * vitalize impressions, and are histories writ in granite for the young. " The city had been prepared for the unwelcome news by the significant despatches of Wednesday evening. Ic seemed at last as though the ordeal were over and the end come. Devotedly had tens, yea, hundreds of thousands, watched the record of his repining months, some wishing him recovery, some, perhaps with just as tender a love and humanity, wishing for his sake that re- lease and the final victory over torment and disease might come in death. But all were friends. In a government of the people and by the people the servant that fights and governs for the people will never know the ingratitude of his peers in life or suffer the oblivion of their forgetfulness after death.. NATIONAL MOURNING FOR GENERAL GRANT. 645 Yesterday Chicago received the nev/s of General Grant's demise, and at once prepared to do that noble memory honor. Upon the day of his burial Chicago, fitly clad, will march with reverent step and mourning mien in the solemn funeral train of the Nation's weeping sisterhood of cities. " With the stars and stripes at half-mast Chicago turned to other proper modes of exhibiting her understanding of the day and her common sorrow in the country's loss. From window to window, here and there along a business front, interwoven streamers of black and white were extended. This work is but begun ; the city will be draped before the dawn of the conqueror's burial- day. With artful hand, but with all suitable decorum, more than one great shop-window will be found this morning transformed — a fit, though sombre transformation that every house-holder in his degree will do well to accom- plish. " The people mourn to-day — the people, all the people. The merchant may be of but moderate means who keeps a store on West Van Buren, Madison, and Randolph Streets, for instance, but he is not too poor, nor is his citizenship so humble, that he does not associate the dead Grant with the living Union, and place in token thereof some bit of mourning about his window and his door. A piece of crape here, a streamer of black muslin there ; a flag with colors tempered by the black drapings o'er its folds, and betore many hours Chicago is a city of sorrow in aspect as truly she is a city of sorrow in heart. There can be little ostentation in the symbolism of grief; therefore let no man, however penniless and obscure, suppress all exhibition of his honest mourning because his flag is not silken and his crape but seedy. Ulysses S. Grant was a plain man and his origin humble. He fought for the humble as well as the great : ' What cause withholds you now to mourn for him ?' " Official and municipal recognition, more or less, of the death of General Grant, was made yesterday, and will doubtless be continued by organization after organization until the merest youth, the proudest citizen, and the loneliest veteran will, with quaver of voice, say ' aye * when the voices of his fellows are raised to indorse one universal tribute to the patriot, soldier and statesman of the people. The trains that bear their daily burdens to and from the city will wear their mourning, as will many a vessel of the lakes. Along the princely avenues and in alleys where the story of his life is but slowly gleaned from the daily press, men, women, and children will talk of Grant and forth- with teach him, too. Across many a page of various lore there will come faint tracings of the 'turned rule,' and the reader's eye, accustomed to the mourn- ing newspaper sheet, will seem to see those lines of black around pages where the name of Grant will ne'er be found. But men, nevertheless, will put him there ; and, as they read of stout hearts and sound heads ; of brains to devise and will to execute ; of soldiers magnanimous in peace, but in onslaught resist- less, they will see the name of another hero glow upon the page — that other hero, greater than all his kind, the Nation's hero, Grant." Action of the City Councils of Chicago in reference to the death of General Grant : " The City Council held a special meeting yesterday afternoon to take action on the death of General Grant. Mayor Harrison presided. After the call for the meeting had been read, the Mayor said that for several hours the atmos- phere had been heavy and the clouds lowering. We had known for hours thai thunder might at any moment be heard and the lightning flash. Yet if a flash came we would be startled as if it were entirely unexpected. P^cr weeks America's hero had been on a bed of sickness, and yet we are startled by the lightning which flashed forth the news of his end. When the bells tolled in 646 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. • the morning there was a feeling of pain, of awe — aye, a shock that came to all, every man, woman and child in the nation. " The Mayor therefore felt it his duty to take such action as might be proper. General Grant occupied a position unique in this country. His was a figure standing out boldly as none other stood during this century, and as no other would stand out for centuries to come. Called from the lowly walks of life, he went out to battle for his country, and it was under his leadership that the war of the rebellion happily terminated for the Union. Called to the Presi- dency, he served his country there eight years. When he laid down his official robes he was welcomed in every land in the broad circle of the globe, and treated with honors vouchsafed only to emperors. And now, when he has been called from life, he is honored more as the representative of that sentiment given at Appomattox, that the American people are one in heart and sympathy, than as the successful General and ex-President, During the months of pain all mankind had stood at his bedside, and the world's sympathy had been with him. " There was no man or w^oman who had not forgotten in these hours all the asperities of politics. Whether Southerner who fought for a lost cause or Northerner who fought to preserve the Union, all mourn with the same depth of grief his demise. His example in the last few months had done more than all else to bury in one eternal doom the strife and bitterness of the past. It was right that the city should take action. The nation mourned, and the nation would be anxious to tread in silence at his funeral. " The Mayor then suggested that some ceremony be adopted, to be held the day of the funeral, such as was witnessed when President Garfield was laid to rest. "Alderman Ryan otfered the following resolution: " Whereas, This Council has heard with profound and solemn regret of the death of U. S. Grant, late commander of the American armies and President of these United States, therefore, " Resolved, That, as the death of General Grant is a calamity affecting the entire nation, and is so regarded by the people of Chicago, the Mayor is hereby authorized to take such steps in behalf of the city on this occasion as may seem fitting and appropriate. "Alderman Shorey followed, feeling sure that the Council would respond as one man to the sentiments of the Mayor. For a quarter of a century General Grant, by his grand achievements, had attracted the attention and regard of the world. He was an honor to his country and to the human race. He had added one more name to the select few who were inscribed upon the nation's roll of immortals. America had, indeed, acted her part well during the last one hundred years, but he thought that it would be the unanimous voice that among our distinguished men there was none, and would be none in the future, whose name would be held in greater reverence than the hero whose demise we were now called upon to mourn. Illinois had reason to be proud as well as sad. When impartial history was written the name of Grant would be asso- ciated with the immortal name of Lincoln. These two names added lustre of which any State or nation might well be proud. During the most mature years of his life General Grant lived amid the fiercest contention, civic as well as military. As the Mayor had said, now that death has come, there were none who cared to renew the asperities which attended those contentions. There was not one who would not gladly, though sadly, bring laurel to put on the grave of the dead hero. Mayor Harrison sent the following telegram of sympathy to Mrs. Grant : Chicago, July 23. Mrs. Grant, Mt. McGregor, N. Y. — Madam : In the name of the city of Chicago and on behalf of its municipal government and people, I tender to- you and to your children profound and most heartfelt sympathy. NATIONAL MOURNING FOR GENERAL GRANT. 647 Yesterday General Grant, the honored citizen of lUinois, was your loving husband and long-tried friend ; to-day his name and memory are cherished by the American people. Carter H. Harrison, Mayor. The news of Grant's death was received with sorrow at the Board of Trade of Chicago. President Blake called the members of the Board to order on the floor, and said : "Gentlemen of the Board: I address you as men, business men, practical men, strong men, and vet as men who feel that there are times when grief is not unmanTy, when it is not unmanly to sorrow. ' Leaves have their time to fall and flowers to wither at the north wind's wrath, and stars to set, but thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death.' " Death must come to all alike ; rank or station or position cannot avert it; love cannot protect it; wealth cannot purchase immunity; it is God's ten- derest way to speak to those left behind. He speaks to individuals and to families, to communities and to States, to nations and to the world. He comes in the person of his messenger, and He calls to a world to-day, ' Be still and know that I am God.' Sympathy for that silent sufferer has gone up to him in his chamber of agony, and now that he has passed away we can only bring our united offerings of tribute to his greatness, to his memory." Mr. Blake then offered the following resolutions : Whereas, God, in His all-wise though inscrutable providence, has removed by death our rightly honored and worthily distinguished soldier-citizen. General and ex-President U. S. Grant, the Board of Trade of Chicago does hereby Resolve, That it is with the deepest regret and keenest sorrow we learn of this Nation's bereavement and loss in the death of him who has filled so large a place in our history. . . Resolved, That with pride we remember the nation s recognition of his worth in calling him from the humblest walks of life, up to elevation after elevation, till it placed him in the proudest position on earth, which he filled, as he did every other, with modest ability, and we recall with great pleasure the glowing tribute paid to his greatness and glory by the kingdoms of the entire world, as they honored themselves in honoring him as their guest. Resolved, That in the death of General Grant there has passed away a noble, unflinching soldier, who achieved a glorious record for himself, while he rendered invaluable service to his country in time of her great peril, and with the rest of the stricken Nation and mourning world we join in offering our tribute to his memory, and we extend to his afflicted family our tenderest sym- pathy in this their time of grief and sorrow. On hearing the university bell at Evanston 111., toll for the death of General Grant, Miss Frances E. Willard, President of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of the United States, com- posed the following poem, entitled, " Grant is Dead :" Toll bells from every steeple, Tell the sorrow of the people, Moan sullen guns and sigh For the greatest who could die. Grant is dead. Never so firm were set those moveless lips as now, Never so dauntless shone that massive brow. The " Silent Man" has passed into the silent tomb. 648 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Ring out our grief, sweet bell, The people's sorrow tell For the greatest who could die. Grant is dead, " Let us have peace," Great heart that peace has come to thee. Thy sword for freedom wrought, And now thy sword is free. While a rescued Nation stands Mourning its fallen Chief. The Southern with the Northern lands Akin in honest grief, The hands of black and white Shall clasp above thy grave. Children of the Republic all. No master and no slave. Almost " all summer on this line '' Thou steadily didst fight it out, But death, the silent, Matched at last our silent Chief, And put to rout his brave defense. Moan sullen guns and sigh For the bravest who could die. Grant is dead. The huge world holds to-day No fame so great, so wide. As his whose steady eyes grew dim On Mount McGregor's side Only an hour ago, and yet the whole great world has learne* That Grajit has died. Oh heart of Christ ! what joy Brings earth's new brotherhood I All lands as one, Buckner, Grant's bed beside, The priest and Protestant in converse kind ; Prayers from all hearts, and Grant Praying we " all might meet in better worlds," Toll bells from every steeple, Tell the sorrow of the people. So true in life, so calm and strong, Bravest of all, in death, suffering so long, And without one complaint ! Moan sullen guns and sigh For the greatest who could die. Salute the Nation's head, Our Grant is dead. CHAPTER XXIV. TRIBUTES OF THE PRESS. The press of the country had warm words of grief and respect for General Grant. The Constitution, of Atlanta, Ga., said : " With the clearing of the eady mists, yesterday morning, which hovered over Mt. McGregor, passed away the soul of General Grant, the most distin- guished of living Americans— the general commanding the victorious armies of his country, and twice President of the Republic. Washington, alone of all men in our history, has equalled him in honors. General Grant was a great commander. The operations of war, in which he was the leading figure of the Union armies, were colossal. Its expenses to his government were over ^4,000,000 per day. In the siege of Richmond he lost 70,000 men, and in a single charge saw 3,000 men struck down. " As a statesman he was honest, but without the larger wisdom of humanity or statecraft. Sincere, but credulous ; sphinx-like to the world, but easy to his courtiers ; stubborn where he should have listened anxiously, and facile where he should have been stubborn. In business he was weaker than in politics. In both it must be said that his personal record was clean, and that he came stainless, as to his own character, from contact with thieves and plotters. It is as a great soldier, brave, simple, generous and victorious, that he will be best remembered. It is as a soldier, even though his sword struck down her cause, that the South loves to remember him. As the conqueror of Lee, refus- ing to take the sword of that great leader, whose heart broke when he surren- dered his arms ; as the thoughtful victor feeding the starving enemies from his own wagons ; as the high-minded man of honor, demanding the integrity of his parole at the hands of a vindictive Secretary of War; as a dauntless man, stand- ing alone, but determined, between the helpless South and the angry North, he held, as he deserved, in all his trials, the deepest and fullest sympathy of our people. He died as he had lived— brave, silent, uncomplaining. He fought against death with manful strength, and when he was overpowered, bowed his head without a word. When his life went out, a great name passed into history, and a great heart was stilled forever.'' The Advertiser, of Montgomery, Alabama, expressed its sym- pathy in the following article : "A splendid sun has set, its light is out, and its dark places have followed its bright ones below the trees and hills. It went down lingeringly, as if in pain with parting from the scenes it lighted with more of majesty in its gathering gloom than its noon had ever known. Those on whose downfall the temple of his fame was builded will sow no thorns on his grave. "Whatever were his faults, his errors and his failures, but yesterday he stood in the eyes of all the world the foremost figure of the Western Continent. His career was finished long years before he died, and when, nine months ago, the wings of Death's angel blew a breath against his cheek to warn of his coming doom, he was already an old man, around whose darkened life had gathered the sympathy and pity of all men. Looking at the life and character of General Grant from the broadest national standpoint, it is true to say that no man since Washington has better illustrated the genius of American institu- (649) 650 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. tionsor the temper of Americans as a people. The close of his military career was in a generous treatment of his fallen foe that sent a thrill of grateful recog- nition through the heart of the South, His conduct toward General Lee and the Southern army at Appomattox, and his firm stand in defense of their rights as prisoners, and his own honor as a soldier, will always be a model for the action of other victorious leaders, and is a green leaf that hides many a shadow on his subsequent career. But amid it all, no personal prostitution of his place for money has ever been traced to his door. He never shirked a responsi- bility, never deserted a friend ; was an honest soldier, and made no war on women." The Courier, of Charleston, S. C, said : " Happy he was, in one sense, in the^time of his death. Had his life ended but a few years ago, the mourning for the great leader would have been more or less sectional in its manifestation. Dying as he now dies, the grief is as widespread as the Union, and the sorrow is as national as his fame. Only a little while ago General Grant belonged to the victorious North. In his last days he was the foremost citizen of these United States, of North and South alike. " It was as General of the armies of the United States that General Grant was held in most joyous and honorable remembrance by the North. And by the act of North and South alike he died as General of the armies of the United States. By this act the whole distance between 1865 and 1885 was bridged over. The North had no thought save of the man of Appomattox, and the South had no thought save of him who told the worn and ragged Confederate soldiers of Lee's armies that they must take their horses home with them, as they would need them for the spring sowing, and who threw his soldierly honor into the scale when Andrew Johnson v/as hesitating whether he should, by arresting General R. E. Lee, violate the terms of the Confederate surrender and the sanctity of the parole. There is so much in General Grant's career that is pleasant to remember, why should any one seek further his frailties to disclose ? Long ago, in a message to the people of the United States, he used words which seemed a mockery. There was then a peace which was worse than war ; but peace has come throughout the land — peace in the North and peace in the South. The country is one again in heart and thought and hope. The great soldier, who laid in blood the foundations of this second and more enduring Union, is now at rest." The following editorials are from the Chicago Inter-Ocean: " The most remarkable career in American annals has ended. In the broad aspect of human affairs, in the measure of a public fame almost universal with the races of men, history affords no parallel to the life and experience of Ulysses S. Grant, and presents no more momentous lesson in the character ot true greatness. Through the profound sorrow of the nation, that will touch millions of hearts as a personal grief, through the reverent sympathies of sister nations thatwill to-day drape about them the outward signs of mourning, there will be seen the clear radiance of this long, varied and extraordinary career, tempering the affliction of mortal loss with the consolation of perpetual re- nown. It is only in the shadow of death that we can fairly estimate the mag- nitude and force of influence of such a life upon the world, for only then are deeds viewed independently of the man ; only then are the jealousies that make human nature envious of justice put aside; only then are the honors and triumphs which rivalry diminished freely acknowledged and fully ac- corded. " Character rises above personality when material environments are with- TRIBUTES OF THE PRESS. 65 1 drawn, and in proportion as that personality was distinguished above the ordinary in hfe will character be allowed eminence in the sublime esteem of men. In this regard of General Grant, whose demise is hardly death the world sees a personal purity that mistakes could never affect, a moral excel- lence that never suffered blemish and a spiritual force that lifted him from the obscurity of stern poverty and narrow circumstance to the brilliant sphere of unshared admiration, a cynosure of the world. "The lesson of Grant's life is an inspiration, not a reproach. From the tan- yard to the Presidency it bears no blot that is not the smirch of partisan malice; from private toil to public state it shows no flaw that does not betray the talons of envious detraction. Grant was not only great by achievement but he was equally great within himself, since the world affords no better ex- ample of perfect self-mastery, a power to receive without assurance the highest honors of his country, and to accept without ostentation the homacre of the world. *= "At various times within the fateful quarter of a century rounded into an epoch by his death. Grant held within his grasp, subject to the operation of his single will, the destinies of this country, of which he was peculiarly rep- resentative. A lesser man would have made greater profit from the oppor- tunities. A man less strong within himself might have turned the victorious patriots into a legion of personal adherents ; for Grant came from the murky night of battle the peace-bearing demi-god of the Western world, and adula- tion swelled to adoration as he marched his armies home. '; Cromwell righted the wrongs of England to carve for himself a protectorate of imperial tyranny ; Grant was most the patriot when most in power The man was ever greater than the temptation, and there is no purer lustre in the immortal crown of brilliant deeds that will grace the image of his fame than the rare quality that sustained the balance of his character, reverence of uni- versal justice. "That Grant was misunderstood in much of his life is true, and that he suffered not a little through misconception is likelv. Conscious of the fact that his course was one of unfaltering integrity,' aware of the folly of trying to correct the speech of deliberate deprecation and malicious slander and believing firmly in the ultimate triumph of truth, he maintained a silence that was never broken through twenty-five perplexing years with an offer of self-defense or personal justification. The people have been his advocates. Ihe people have guarded with jealous zeal the sacred trust reposed in them And from the people he inspired to the last the sweet breath of a devotion that had in it all the tenderness of affection, all the fondness of love. "Throughout the land to-day tears flow from eyes that have looked hardily and fearlessly into the deadly flame of fire belched from batteries and ranks of hostile foes, with memories floating before them of who it was cheered on the victorious charge ; and these veterans of the Northern armies will feel more pain at heart m loss of the Old Commander than stirred them when shot and shell swept from their sides some close, near tie of blood. These surviv- ing soldiers will express what the entire Nation must feel— a profound ^n-ief— not merely for a great man gone, but for the death of one who embraced in his life the elements that make greatness dear to the common people o-reat- ness with humanity, greatness with humility, greatness with manhood. ' ° " It was a greatness of that quality which maintained the respect of those who suffered to give it distinctness. In the heart of the South, that knew the smart of his chastening, Grant has died no more than in the reverence of the North. His character lives in the esteem of the Nation— a character that sprung into strength and fullness from the obstructions of lowly life, bearing with It an ever-abiding sympathy with lowly condition. The man who was great enough to stand admired in the presence of kings and potentates, re- 652 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ceivino- the homage of nations that knew him alone in his glory, was also great enough to hold and cherish the love of the common people, from whom he came. Great as a soldier, great as a statesman, great in heart, great in mind and great in character. Grant lived a noble career possible alone with an American." . " The hand trembles that writes 'General Grant is dead. When Lmcoln fell the hearts of loyal men stood still, then turned in their extremity to the man of Appomattox. The North and South stand together at the grave of Grant and own a kindred sorrow for the man who, more than any other, represented the dignity, the force and the magnanimity of the Union cause. -1 v • t "It is because the career of Grant so well illustrates the possibilities of American life; it is because he entered upon that career without fortune or in- fluence, and with circumstances against him ; it is because he had neither im- pressive presence nor smooth tongue nor taking ways ; it is because he fought liis way in silence to be the foremost man of the age that Americans have grown, independent of prejudices and opinions, to have a commonalty of in- terest in him. " The traditions of Appomatox quicken the heart-beats of Unionists and Confederates. To speak of Grant in the last twenty years has been to speak of the greatest military success of the century crowned by a soldierly magna- nimity "that wrung admiration from the fiercest of foes. "This was the turning of the tide, the mingling of the waves of popular sentiment, that have come in at the flood in the weeks of anxiety which now give place to a common sorrow. "There was never any make-believe about Grant. There is no make- believe about the sorrow felt by 60,000,000 of people. He has been constantly before the people for twenty-five years. Children have grown up with his name on their lips, his character in mind. Men have grown gray in a kindly watch over the incidents of his every-day life. The Nation has grown strong of heart and more considerate while holding him at arm's length always in view. " In this twenty-five years of conspicuous prominence General Grant was studied as never was man before him. Enemies and admirers, beginning at opposite extremes of motive, came out in steady line at a common point of agreement. He was a new type. He was the man of the people, who answered ' here ' and no more when the people called for something or some one willing and ready to close with the exigencies of great crises. He volun- teered without protestations, accomplished without bluster and contemplated results without boasting. " These exceptional qualities invited study. The study invited analysis and comparison, and now the people of his own country, of the civilized world, are ready with their verdict. The standard may have been fixed when the loyal people of the country were in the red glow of a supreme enthusiasm, but the Southerners of this day will not alter a figure. Grant lived to the last fully up to the line where he was placed by a people that idolized him. And the tender, simple and profound sorrow of this hour is that of a Nation that has learned the full value of his work, and has arrived at a just appreciation of the character of the man, the soldier, the statesman, U. S. Grant." " One of the most remarkable characteristics of General Grant was his utter abhorrence of cruelty and of war for its own sake, or for the mere gratification of ambition. " The historical figures whom he most detested were Robespierre and Na- poleon. It was not that he had studied the French revolution with any degree of closeness, and saw in the horrors of the reign of terror and the wars of the first empire the perversion and finally the subversion of what was originally I TRIBUTES OF THE PRE^S> 655 the grandest uprising in history ; but his whole soul recoiled at the guillotine and at the miseries of wholesale carnage. The city of Paris ran blood, and for what? to appease the thirst of a monster; the continent was wrapped in the flames of war, and for what ? to gratify one man"s lust of power and fame. Such was the view General Grant took of those two men and their careers, and he did not hesitate while in Paris, on his tour of the world, to testify to his de- testation of them. He sought no public opportunity for so doing, only refusing to visit the tomb of Napoleon, and in other quiet but significant ways register- ing his opinions. " This appreciation of the sacredness of human life was all the more re- markable from the fact that when it came to military operations General Grant never showed the slightest hesitancy on that score. Whatever the situation seemed to him to demand he did without being checked by the probable loss of life involved. In practical operations he accepted the logic of war in all its sequences. As in mechanics all forces, whether human, brute or inanimate, are merely so many horse-power, so in actual war General Grant seemed to class indistinguishably men and armament as so much am- munition. " When history comes to pass upon the nineteenth century, all contemporary prejudices cold and forgotten, it will undoubtedly credit it with two great soldiers, warriors worthy of immortality for their military genius. Napoleon and Grant. England might insist upon a place for Wellington, but he is not to be named with either of the other two. He did, indeed, conquer the con- queror, but that was only because the Napoleonic wars had depleted France and united against it all Europe, and thus the Corsican's candle burnt at both ends, and the Grand Duke chanced to hold the snuffers just in time to snip the wick as the flame was in its last flicker. Napoleon's fame as a warrior was without modern companionship until the exigencies of our war for the Union developed the latent faculties of the soldier who has so recently gone to his rest. " But these supreme names stand more in contrast than in comparison. They are, indeed, on the same pedestal, but they face in opposite directions, marking ideas of war which are in the sharpest conceivable contrast. "Napoleon belongs to the same era as Alexander, Hannibal, Csesar, Omar, Charlemagne, William the Conqueror and all that class of military leaders who differed from bandit chiefs in the magnitude rather than the character of their operations. A native of an island which never felt the breath of pro- gress, the home of the vendetta, Napoleon belonged to the old regime, when war for its own sake and for conquest was waged as a matter of course by the strong against the weak. To all that immemorial era of unjustifiable carnage he could at least say, ' part of which I am.'' It is certainly to be hoped that his fame marks the end of that age. " After the lapse of half a century, during which no really important war was waged, nor any genius displayed, the mighty conflict opened in this country which had as its underlying issue continental and perpetual peace. If the Union had been broken up, America, like Europe, would have been divided into nations jealous of each other and often at war with each other. The sup- pression of the rebellion was the most important peace measure conceivable. It was the maintenance of civil institutions as a substitute for standing armies and the arbitrament of gunpowder. General Grant was promoted to the leadership solely for his military genius, but it was according to the especial fitness of things that the hero of a war which meant above all else peace should have been in his character and tastes pre-eminently pacific. He knew the science of war, but it was with the object in view, rather than the means necessarily employed, that he was en rapport, and in this, it may be added, he was specially fitted to learn the Union army, made up as it was of soldiers 654 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. who fought for principle and not from any love of fighting. Whatever re- lapses into the barbarism of old-fashioned war the world may yet suffer, the example set by the United States and its supreme military hero will not be forgotten ; nor can it cease to be a wholesome influence among the nations, protesting perpetually against any and all wars not absolutely demanded by the public good." The Toi'onto Globe said : " He has filled a large space in the history of his country, and as the dust of current controversy settles down and the mist of contemporary prejudice clears away, he will, we believe, be univer- sally recognized as one of her chief worthies, one who had a great work to do, and who, upon the whole, did it in a manful, honest and honorable fashion." The New York Graphic said: "The qualities which made Ulysses S.Grant a conspicuous and striking figure in the history of the United States never shone with greater lustre than during the lingering months when the hand of death was pressing painfully upon him. Crippled in fortune and disabled by ac- cident, the tidings came to him that his days were numbered by reason of an insidious and enfeebling disease. Where most men would have given way to despair, his spirit nerved and strengthened both intellect andbody to sustained effort, and he lived to finish his book and feel assured that those dependent upon him would not be unprovided for. This struggle proved, more than any battle he ever fought, the sterling metde that was in the man. Peace to his ashes ! In his entire career, filled with splendid services and distinctions as it has been, there is nothing more noble or inspiring than the uncomplaining gentleness and calmness with which he bore the painful probation leading to his death." T\\^ New York Telegram ^-a^^'. "Wholly free from ostentation, and even from apparent consciousness of his exalted dignity as Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the United States in presence of the enemy, unflinching as steel in the performance of his military duty, though the grief of a people rested upon his shoulders, and as clearsighted as the eagle in his perception of this duty. General Grant was as thoughtless of his own material advantage as was the su- preme commander through the other great convulsion in our American history. Outside of his military duty the famous General was tender-hearted as a woman— too confiding, perhaps, in human virtue, which was sometimes absent where he looked to find it. Day by day, during many months, touched with emotion by the sufferings of the old hero, borne so patiently, men's minds have recalled, especially among his whilom Southern foes, affecting instances of his personal kindness to the vanquished, to non-combatants, to children and to common soldiers of his own armies." The Brooklyn Unio7i said: " The career of General Grant has been marked by more vivid contrasts than that of perhaps any other American. His credit- able service in the Mexican War was followed by a period of such dense ob- scurity that there seemed no more chance of a future for him than for any other plain worker in a tannery. The outbreak of the rebellion brought him his opportunity, and within a brief space he had not only been hailed as the saviour of the nation, but also recognized as one of the greatest generals of history. The Presidency for eight years came to him without a struggle, and later his trip around the world as the honored guest of all its chief rulers placed him at the pinnacle of fame. From this dizzy height he was within a short period dragged down to the humiliation of poverty through a business failure which was rendered especially hard to bear by the discovery that he had been innocently employed as a stool pigeon by a conscienceless swindler whom he believed to be a faithful friend." TRIBUTES OF THE PRESS, 655 The Brooklyn Eagle said : " General Grant is dead, and one more figure of heroic mould stands in the pantheon of American hberty. The patient, puri- hed and dauntless spirit that vanished from the sight of man this morning will henceforth live imperishably in the memory of the Republic. Like gold'from the furnace of the refiner, the character of our greatest soldier emerges from the crucible of disease cleansed from every infirmity and fitted to circulate as ster- ' ling coin in the moral exchanges of the world. To describe the event as a public calamity, or invite the American people to bow down in sorrow, would be to use the language ofthoghtless conventionalism. In the presence of a career dazzling with splendid achievements, brought to a close under every circumstance that could elevate the heart, allay the animosities and sweeten the sympathies of mankind, there issmall room for lamentation, When the promise of youth is nipped in the bud, when genius is smitten to the dust in the press, and middle of lofty adventures, when the pillar of a people's hopes falls in the very hour when its sustaining strength can least be spared, grief may well appear. But no promise of dawning life has perished unfulfilled in the case of Ulysses S. Grant; what he was born to do has been fully accomplished, and every hope that rested upon his sword in days gone by is now an invincible guardian of the land.'' The Philadelphia Times said: "In all the more than century of American greatness no man has more impressed his individuality upon the country and the world than has General Grant. Washington was wiser than Grant ; Jef- ferson was vastly abler and more philosophical : Jackson was more despotic and yet more the man of sentiment ; Lincoln was more sagacious, more patient and more tolerant, and Garfield was more scholarly and broader in statesman- ship; but no one man of our history so distinctively emphasized his indi- viduality in war and in peace, in the field and in statesmanship, as did General Grant. He had none of the ornate characteristics of Clay; none of the ostentation of Scott; none of the impetuous qualities of Sherman. What he was, he was of himself and by himself, a self-creation whose history puzzles the reckoning of the world and makes romance pale before it. The thought- less would scan the surface of his record from the multiplied ill-fortune of early life to the highest stepping in the round of fame, and call it accident; but accidents build no such structures of imperishable renown." The Philadelphia Press said: "The nation's loss is not measured by the vacant place. For nearly a decade Grant had been only a private citizen ; he wielded no sceptre of authority ; he exercised no sway in the public councils; but he was none the less one of the great reserve forces of the republic. He was everywhere felt, not merely by what he had done, but by what he was. Gladstone has laid down the reins of government ; Bismarck has practically completed his colossal work ; but all men know that England bereft of the one or Germany deprived of the other would lose an element of moral power. So Grant belonged to the order of kingly men, and his impress on mankind will be emphasized, as all nations look to America to-day and feel that a pillar of strength has fallen. Great men, said Burke, are the guide-posts and land- marks of the state ; and Grant was the guide-post of a victorious war and a landmark of a magnanimous peace. The American people themselves will judge him now, after the calm evening and the serene repose of retirement, more justly than in the stress and storm of struggle." The Boston Traiiscript said ; " His generous and confiding nature was such that even his mistakes, public and private, added to the universal respect now accorded to his character. His habit of stoutly clinging to friends who abused the opportunities they obtained through his exalted position is seen to have been a rooted element of his nature which found its truest illustration in the iidelity and singleness of purpose he brought to the service of his country in 656 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the crisis of its fate. This grim, imperturbable man, of Cromwelhan will and Scotch ancestry, was a soldier in every fibre of his being. He was born for the camp and the battle-held. If the cannon's roar did not serve to clear his intellect, as was said of one of Napoleon's famous marshals, it hardened his determination never to acknowledge defeat. When others believed important battles lost he had just begun the serious work committed to his hand. He was slandered in the heat of the conflict by being stigmatized as merely a dog- ged fighter — a reckless sacrificer of human life — when no one welcomed the close of hostilities that stopped the further effusion of blood with greater joy and gratitude than did General Grant." The JS/ew Haven Palladium said: " General Grant was great in every way. He was not only a great soldier, but a great man. The qualities of mind with which nature endowed him, linked with a moral heroism equal to any emer- gency — and never more strikingly illustrated than during the past few months of terrible suffering — made him easily a leader of men and a master of affairs. As a soldier, patriot, statesman, citizen, he stands as the peer, if not the su- perior, of any man of his day and generation. Self-controlled, self-centred, modest, brave, he was God's best gift to the Republic in her hour of direst need. His record as a soldier, as President, as a private citizen, taken as a whole, is as clear and clean as that of any American who ever held the same exalted position. As a man he was faithful in friendship, untarnished in honor, kind in feeling and generous and noble in impulse. It has been said of him that he never violated a confidence or betrayed a cause committed to his keeping. Whatever mistakes he may have made lay at the door of his good qualities.'' The Albany Express said: "It is a blessed and comforting reflection to know that North and South, his political friends and foes, everywhere in the land, have been drawing closer and closer in friendliness for the beloved of the nation. He has conquered calumny. He has restored our faith in human nature, by proving that the hearts of his enemies could be won ; enemies no longer, but brothers in this common bond of love and grief which fills our hearts to-day." The Portland Press, of Maine, said : " As the name of Washington instinc- tively recalls the heroic struggle which made us a nation, so the name of Grant will ever recall, not the many and important events of his civil adminis- trations, fraught with deep moment to the nation though they were, but the battles and sieges of that great struggle ending at Appomattox, which preserved the Union, abolished slavery and made America in truth, as well as name, the land of the free. Coupled with admiration for his military genius will be admiration for his patriotism and his unselfish devotion to his country. Napoleon unsheathed the sword to gratify the lonjings of ambition. Personal aggrandizement, the lust of power, were the mainsprings of the Corsican's brilliant campaigns. The world admires his military genius, but it detests the motives that kept it in action. But General Grant consecrated his genius to the service of the nation, and from the day that he unsheathed his sword until he returned it to its scabbard it was for his country that he planned and fought and endured. Rarely, indeed, has the world beheld a commander endowed with genius so brilliant as his ; but far more rarely has it held one so gifted and yet so free from moral blemish. He was one of the verv few cap- tains of ancient or modern times of whom it can be truthfully said that he fought simply to maintain the supremacy of law and break down injustice." The Detroit Post, of Michigan, said: " Only his greatness is immortal, and will still live to influence the destiny and character of the nation he served and loved. Whatever of animosities or differences may have -marked his career will now all be put away, and his memory will become the common heritage and pride of the whole American people, who will remember him everywhere TRIBUTES OF THE PRESS. 657 only as ' one of the simple great ones gone/ whose virtues have helped greatly to make us what we are and shall be, and who will forever shine in history for the admiration and emulation of mankind." The Provide7ice Journal oi Rhode Island said : " The lingering illness of Gen- eral Grant has been a sad tragedy. Lincoln's end was more tragic ; Garfield's taking off was more starthng, and had in it much of the same deep pathos. Both Garfield and Grant excited the tenderest sympathy and pity by the heroic struggle which each made against an inevitable fate. But there has been bomething peculiarly sad in General Grant's fight with death ; the disease itself was so dreadful, the pain so agonizing, the struggle so hopeless from the beginning, the treachery that enveloped the sufferer in utter financial ruin was so "cruel and heartless. ' The mind can imagine few more pitiful pictures than this of a great man silently and patiently bearing bodily pain and mental agony, and warding off death till he could tell his story to the world and leave to his children something of that which thieves had robbed him of." The Philadelphia Herald said : " Perhaps the most interesting and most remarkable feature of General Grant's character was its simplicity ; the com- plete absence from it of affectation. He never posed. He never studied effects. He had a plain, straightforward way of saying and doing things. No great soldier whom this country or any other country has produced was like him in this respect. None of our Presidents, with the exception of Jackson and Lin- coin, were so simple and unpretentious. "It would be impossible, after going over General Grant's life, to find any act of his marked by grandiloquence or vanity or pride of station. His per- sonal demeanor was modest and retiring. No matter how great or dramatic the situation might be in the eyes of the world and of history, it could not move him to make an undue assertion of himself. Some people used to call this mere stolidity, but the glimpses which we have all had of his home-life during the past few months show that this was a mistake, that he was a man of sensitive feelings, and that what we once supposed was indifference was simply his wonderful self-command." The Syracuse Star said : " The American quality which the great commander displayed in an exalted degree was steadfastness. At Shiloh by that quality he held his army against the massive charges of Johnston, by that he wore away the resisting power of the walls of Vicksburg, and by that he sustained the desperate assaults of Lee in the last campaign before Richmond while he closed an iron grasp about the struggling rebel chief. The wonderful resolute- ness of this man entered into most of his sayings which have become renowned, such as ' I shall fight it out on this line if it takes all summer ; ' ' I propose to move immediately upon your works,' and it is an inseparable element in the popular conception of his character. Having conceived a plan and fixed his purpose upon an object, he proceeded with an energy that crumbled all in its way. He represents to the American mind its cool, persistent heroism, as Wellington reflects to the English mind a like virtue of its possessing." T\i& Rutland Herald s-^\6.:'' i:\vQXQ\s one striking lesson in his life which may be seen plainly now, and that is the supreme value of personal integrity. This man was given all the honors and power to be had under our govern- ment ; he stood as the representative of the army of one-half of the country which conquered the other half in a desperate struggle ; he acted as President in a trying time, offended powerful men right and left, was attacked in pohtics for a dozen years with a bitterness unequaled by anything in recent American history, and he was very unfortunately involved in a great financial failure at last; but yet no man ever said that U. S. Grant was not honest, Because of this — of this uprightness within the four fleshy walls of the man, so firm and strong as to command universal recognition — a feeling has been shown toward 42 658 LIFE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. him in his sickness which was very significant and inexpressibly touching. All enmity has disappeared before it in sober fact, and even bitter rebels have joined heartily in the comnioii expression. It is very rarely that men win such esteem from their fellows, and perhaps never in the world has one lived to see it manifested as General Grant saw it." The Cmcmnaii Commercial Gazette smd: " No man, or at least few men, ever lived who will stand higher in history than the dead soldier, General Grant. For him to-day a great nation mourns. This is not assumed either. It IS real. In life he had antagonisms. He had faults. The perfect man has never lived. He was often judged unfairly. This is the fate of men who are thrown into an active pohtical hfe. General Grant is not an exception. Washing- ton suffered more in this respect than he, Lincoln quite as much, and these are the three great names that can be properly and equally linked together in the cause of liberty and civilization, and the difference is so slight, if, indeed, there is any difference, that it v/ould be hard to tell which was the greatest. Wash- ington passed into history as the Father of his Country. Lincoln and Grant have passed into history as the saviours of the country that Washington led into existence, and now these three are united." The Boston Globe, Massachusetts, said: " It was the belief in olden time that none could see the sacred cup sought by the knights of Arthur's Round Table save he who had been chastened till perfect purity pervaded his being. In these days we look not for any stainless man, yet should we search the wide world through we could not find one whom all men would say had passed through the fiery furnace of greatness with less harm, had trodden the rough road of adversity with more grandeur, than this man who has just died. From the day when he entered Vicksburg, past the day when he refused Lee's sword, past the day when he laid off the robes of state, past the day when the treachery of trusted wretches made him a dependent on the charity of others, down to the day which ended the long fight with death, he endured praise and blame, he passed through shame and glory, with a manhness that made him the first of men." 'Wv^ Newark Advertiser S2\d\i: "Not in this generation will the American Republic be called to lament the departure of a citizen so distinguished and so beloved. Some high official may die and plunge into perfunctory mourning the land over which he has held authority. But never again in the lifetmie of mature men, now standing with throbbing hearts by the grave of Grant, can the country be so deeply stirred by the departure of an American so eminent and so firmly fixed in the affectionate respect of his fellow-men. The death of Grant marks an epoch in the history of the United States. A noble and alto- gether unique figure in our national life has disappeared from the haunts of living men. He on whom his fellow-countrymen depended with an unshaken confidence in the darkest hours of the Republic is no more. But so long as patriotism dwells among men, so long as manly courage and fixity in lofty purpose are respected, so long as valor and mighty service are held in honor, Grant's name and fame are secure. His mortal part may be dissolved, but the nation on whose history he shed so much lustre, and into whose stability he built his life and labors, remains his enduring monument." The Richmond Dispatch, of Virginia, said: "There was nothing small about General Grant, no Punic faith, no perfidious element, no jealousy. His chivalrous spirit would not permit him to ask Lee or his officers for their swords or Lee's men for their horses. 'Go in peace,' was the substance of his treatment of the heroes who surrendered at Appomattox Court-House. His fidelitv to his not assumed, but presumed or supposed, obligations— his lovalty to truth and justice— caused him to forbid that General Lee should be arrected or annoyed by the federal authorities. Even Mosby, whom the Northern I TRIBUTES OF THE PRESS. 659 people styled a bushwhacker and guerrilla, was protected in all his ri-hts by Grant, and afterwards by him appointed to federal office. When investigation convinced him that he and the army officers had wronged Fitz-Tohn Porter he at once recanted his former belief and addressed himself to the task of righting the wrong, never for a moment hesitating because General Loo-an and nearly all the rest of the Repubhcan Senators were arrayed against him." The Richmond Whig, of Virginia, said: "It is with sincere sorrow that we announce the death of General U. S. Grant, which occurred at Mount Mc- Gregor, NY on the morning of July 23, at eight minutes past eight. General Grant has been a sufferer from an incurable disease for several months past. During his illness no word of complaint has escaped his lips- resignedly he has borne his great sufferings, and peacefully he passed away' surrounded by his family. ^ v y> "As a tribute of respect to the -reat soldier, patriot and statesman, we place the columns of the Whtsr in mournin